Transcript
Speaker: Thanks for tuning in to loser kid pinball podcast.
Speaker: This is episode 56.
Speaker: I am Josh Roop.
Speaker: Your host is always along with me, my co-captain Scott Larson.
Speaker: Before we get into the friends of the podcast, I just want to bring up something super quick.
Speaker: Um, no, well actually let's do the friends of podcast first.
Speaker: It doesn't feel right.
Speaker: Not so Scott, if you'll do the friends of podcast.
Speaker: Okay, friends of the podcast, first and foremost, if you want to get a pinball machine, please contact Zach and Nicole at Flippin' Out Pinball.
Speaker: They're always happy to get you any machine that you want within reason, and they will do what they can to move heaven and earth to get those ultra-rare ones.
Speaker: Just go ahead and contact them at Flippin' Out Pinball.
Speaker: Also, if you want to get your summary of the week, this week in pinball, just go to this week in pinball, and you can check out Jeff Patterson's site.
Speaker: It has a summary of the information of what's going on, including some feature articles.
Speaker: Also, check out Pinball Supernova, another site that goes through different things and has tutorials and little things to check out, all things Pinball-related.
Speaker: If you have that Translight sticking around your house that's just collecting dust and you would like to add it to your pinball room, please check out Brad at Lit Frames.
Speaker: A good way of illuminating that frame.
Speaker: And we were told that the winner of the Houdini Translight actually contacted Brad to illuminate that and put it up in his house.
Speaker: So we're happy about that.
Speaker: Also, check out Flatline Designs if you want to get the alternative...
Speaker: Translites for some Williams-Bally era favorites, but you want to mix it up, go ahead and check that out.
Speaker: Also, if you want to check out the history of pinball, check out our friends over at the Silver Bar Chronicles.
Speaker: They're on the TPN and certainly a good way of seeing the history of things in case you are new-ish or just don't know the history of things.
Speaker: Also, check out Pinshades if you want to check out playing on location but really don't like the glare from the standard glass.
Speaker: It's a good way of increasing your score by staying farther up the playfield.
Speaker: Check out Pinshades.
Speaker: Also, you can check out my friend Tim Purcell of the Pinball Loft.
Speaker: He just has a blog there.
Speaker: talks about all things.
Speaker: He has a really cool feature of what he did to upgrade the sound system on his Guns N' Roses collector's edition.
Speaker: So if you want to blow the speakers out of your house and shatter all your windows, go ahead and check out the pinball loft.
Speaker: And Josh, who do we have here today?
Speaker: So today, you know, we've been asking the question, when are we going to start getting back to normal?
Speaker: You know, everyone's always asking, when's the next pinball show happening?
Speaker: Everyone's getting their vaccine.
Speaker: I know I've had my first shot.
Speaker: Scott's at do now.
Speaker: I am actually getting messages all the time.
Speaker: People like, so when's the next show?
Speaker: I got my shot, you know, and Butch Pill from CGC contacted us and said, hey, you should give Keith a ring because he's doing his own show here soon.
Speaker: So now we have Keith Campanelli on here with us and he's going to talk to us about Pimbreu.
Speaker: How are you doing, Keith?
Speaker: I'm good.
Speaker: Thanks for having me, guys.
Speaker: Well, thanks for joining us.
Speaker: I didn't realize we were able to get a show going this soon.
Speaker: When is this pinbrew?
Speaker: You got to give us all the details because this is honestly one of the first times I'm hearing about this.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So it is the newest show in Ohio.
Speaker: It's called Ohio Pinbrew Fest, and it is April 8th, 9th, and 10th in Girard, Ohio.
Speaker: We are in the Metroplex Expo Center, 30,000 square feet.
Speaker: And it is a unique show because we are combining pinball and arcade, the normal pinball show stuff that you are normally accustomed with.
Speaker: Also, we're having craft beer.
Speaker: from a bunch of different breweries in the area and food from local food vendors in the area.
Speaker: So it's a pinball beer and food festival.
Speaker: Okay, now that sounds amazing.
Speaker: And that sounds pretty much how things were, let's say 15 months ago.
Speaker: And so how do things, how have things changed?
Speaker: What happened with you guys last year?
Speaker: What's happened in the in the since then?
Speaker: And in what ways are people going to feel comfortable coming back to these locations as we start getting back to our old selves?
Speaker: So last year we had all the plans laid out.
Speaker: We were getting everything ready from lanyards to tickets to scheduling different food vendors.
Speaker: And we had a whole bunch of breweries involved.
Speaker: And...
Speaker: We were scheduled for April 16th, and we ended up pulling the plug probably about three to four weeks before the show.
Speaker: The onset of COVID and the pandemic hit, and just about everything was shutting down, and obviously we knew that we could not do the show.
Speaker: We originally postponed it and hoped that everything would get back to normal by end of summer, and we set it for August and then decided we still can't do the show.
Speaker: We went through the winter, and as you can see, things are starting to open up a little bit.
Speaker: Ohio's doing very good as far as our vaccination rate and how the state is opening up.
Speaker: We've been having shows actually since November and December at the Metroplex, and they've
Speaker: change things around a little bit with how they present the show.
Speaker: For instance, the normal show would have been a whole bunch of pinball machines lined up in a row.
Speaker: You'd have a row of 20 here and another row of 20 here.
Speaker: What we're doing this time is we originally were doing 15,000 square feet at the show.
Speaker: The Metroplex has said, hey, we're gonna give you the entire building, 30,000 square feet.
Speaker: No extra charge because we want to help you guys to get back on your feet with this inaugural show.
Speaker: So we're going to be putting the pinball machine sporadically throughout the building.
Speaker: It's kind of a unique setup.
Speaker: You'll walk into the main building and there'll be the vendors and they will be spaced apart and there'll be pinball machines in between them a little bit here and there.
Speaker: But then as you venture out of the main hall and you venture into the rest of the Metroplex, there's a couple different bar areas.
Speaker: We're going to have a...
Speaker: beer garden in the middle of it where people can actually sit, enjoy their beers, where you can sit down, take your mask off, like as if you're in a restaurant, that type of feel.
Speaker: And then when you leave the beer garden, we go back to the mandates now with masks and walk throughout the building and there'll be pinball machines sporadically out the other 15,000 square feet.
Speaker: So you can just grab a couple of friends and go up to a machine and nobody will be around you and enjoy yourself.
Speaker: And that's the feel that we're doing this year.
Speaker: So we've changed a lot around.
Speaker: Where did this concept of Pembreu come from?
Speaker: Well, I started out restoring games years back.
Speaker: I have a small restoration company, and then I started working with the people at Hardtops.
Speaker: doing some stuff for them, helping them prototype a lot of their games.
Speaker: That rolled into, I had a local brewery that contacted me and said, hey, we're expanding.
Speaker: Pinball's a great thing.
Speaker: I'd like to get together with you.
Speaker: And I got together with the guys at Birdfish Brew Company in Columbia and Ohio.
Speaker: And
Speaker: set a bunch of machines in there and got educated over the last two years about craft beer.
Speaker: I was not a craft beer guy, but I can say now I can hold my own.
Speaker: Um, I understand the different types of brews that they have.
Speaker: And when my partner who broke away from the old Ohio show contacted me and said, Hey, I want to get together.
Speaker: Let's do something.
Speaker: I presented the idea of the craft beer.
Speaker: Uh, I think it was, um,
Speaker: Gary Stern at the 30th Expo.
Speaker: I remember being there at a show that they had that night away from the Expo.
Speaker: And he got up on stage and he had mentioned, you know, beer and pinball.
Speaker: And that was kind of his entire speech.
Speaker: And that's pretty much the premise of what made me think about this.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So how long has the show been going on?
Speaker: This is going to be the inaugural show.
Speaker: So last year was supposed to be our first show.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Yeah, we are.
Speaker: We are the first show in the United States as the pandemic winds down and we are also an inaugural show.
Speaker: One of my big concerns with doing the show is that we can get the vendors in being a new show.
Speaker: They were going everywhere and difficult to get them to say, to venture out to a new show, but we've been very fortunate.
Speaker: We've had a lot of support in the community.
Speaker: One of our big vendors being CoinTakers coming in and setting up in the middle of our show with they're taking 1600 square feet alone just to set up their works.
Speaker: So, yeah, it's coming together.
Speaker: Each day I'm getting more and more vendors in, which is really exciting.
Speaker: I think everybody is understanding that we are winding down and we are putting a show on where we are going to do everything to keep people safe, following CDC guidelines and state mandates, and then just doing everything so people can get out, enjoy themselves, and feel comfortable.
Speaker: Your timing was perfect, though.
Speaker: That's kind of funny.
Speaker: It's sad because it's like you put all this effort into work, into doing this show, and then 2020 all happens, and you're like, well, I guess we're putting this off for a year.
Speaker: Do you guys have any shirts from the first show you're going to be selling for... Confuse the crap out of people.
Speaker: I thought this was the inaugural, was 2021, but they have 2020 shirts.
Speaker: Now, we were just about to pull the... We had ordered lanyards.
Speaker: We had ordered...
Speaker: all the wristbands, but I was smart enough not to put the date on them for the first year.
Speaker: So we were able to use a lot of that.
Speaker: The shirts were ready to go, ready to print.
Speaker: We were able to hold off on that.
Speaker: We had a few costs.
Speaker: We had the, the financial end wasn't really that bad.
Speaker: It was more the psychological end of, we spent months planning for this.
Speaker: I'm a cross the T, you know, dot the I guy, my partner, Marvin,
Speaker: has been doing the Ohio show for 13 years, would look at me and just tell me, hey, Keith, relax.
Speaker: It'll be fine.
Speaker: This is good.
Speaker: That's good.
Speaker: Don't worry about it.
Speaker: And meanwhile, I'm going, well, do we have enough cups?
Speaker: Do we have enough tickets?
Speaker: And so we didn't have a lot of the stuff.
Speaker: We had everything kind of ready to go, but we didn't pull the trigger on a lot of the things, which was fortunate, I guess, in that respect.
Speaker: What goes into wanting to do this show?
Speaker: For me, I like being in control of a lot of things, and it's probably just kind of an occupational hazard.
Speaker: But it seems to me that when you're organizing a show, there are things that are just – it's not able to control.
Speaker: You're not able to control –
Speaker: how the message is being spread.
Speaker: You're not able to control how many people are going to come.
Speaker: And I would, I would get super nervous about just, okay, are we going to, you know, okay, I'll put it this way.
Speaker: My horror, my horrible dream would be like throwing a big birthday party for myself and then ending up at Chuck E. Cheese with me and a hat and no one showing up.
Speaker: And a lot of extra people.
Speaker: Right, right.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: So how do you get over that when you decide, you know what, I'm going to do this.
Speaker: I'm going to plan a show.
Speaker: Well, I was fortunate that Marvin Orchardt is my partner and he's done, I believe, 13 shows.
Speaker: He was half owner of the Ohio Pinball Show and that show had kind of run its course and he decided to separate from his existing partner.
Speaker: So he had the background, he knew what to expect, but then we added pieces to it and I've been fortunate enough that I've
Speaker: have gotten to meet all these great people.
Speaker: Ivan over at Allentown has given us some help and praise.
Speaker: Rob Burke, who runs the Expo, literally is a half hour north of me, and I know him well enough, I can call him all the time and say, hey, we need this, we need that, what do you think?
Speaker: It's been the support network.
Speaker: I mean, there's so many great people in pinball, there's so many great vendors,
Speaker: And all these other people that just come out, like, for instance, Butch Peel is a very close friend of mine.
Speaker: I see him at all the shows.
Speaker: I see him at Chicago.
Speaker: He came to the Ohio show.
Speaker: He comes to the Cleveland show.
Speaker: We always get together.
Speaker: And I just knew by knowing all these people and networking with all these people that we would be able to put something on.
Speaker: Now, how successful is it?
Speaker: It's hard to say, especially pandemic just wrapping up.
Speaker: There's some extra pieces of the pie that we can't figure.
Speaker: One of the things was last year we had 12 breweries involved, which meant we had to buy beer, which was 24 six barrels.
Speaker: And have that ready for the show.
Speaker: And if the people didn't drink that beer, I was going to have a heck of a year.
Speaker: And probably by the time this thing was over, we did scale back.
Speaker: We're only doing what we were originally doing five breweries.
Speaker: Now we're adding a sixth because we're already starting to see a lot of steam with the show that people are talking about how they want to come.
Speaker: The ticket sales are starting up.
Speaker: The room rent, the rooms are being rented.
Speaker: So we're realizing that the show is going to it'll be OK the first year.
Speaker: Really successful.
Speaker: We'll see successful enough that we'll do it again next year.
Speaker: Most likely.
Speaker: Not only do you have the the craft beer that you're going to have there, but I mean, obviously we're talking pinball.
Speaker: At this event, are you guys just having specific machines brought in?
Speaker: Is it going to be like bring your own?
Speaker: Because some events, if the community helps and brings their own pinball machine, there's an incentive.
Speaker: Is it going to be mostly new?
Speaker: Let's talk pinball for a minute.
Speaker: Definitely.
Speaker: And that's really what the show is, is the base of the show.
Speaker: So Marvin and I both have games on route.
Speaker: We have personal collections, and we both committed...
Speaker: to bring between the two of us a minimum of 50 games to the show to start.
Speaker: We also have a lot of friends that are bringing games.
Speaker: I can count probably half a dozen friends that are each bringing about six games a piece.
Speaker: And then we've offered to, on our website, pinbrewfest.com, that bring a game, get in free.
Speaker: And we've seen a lot of that starting to steamroll forward.
Speaker: We've picked up at least another 20, 25 games there.
Speaker: So right now I think the actual count on the website is about 75 games, not including I know another 20 that are coming and then maybe about 20 arcades.
Speaker: So we know we'll have the 100 pinball machines we need to make it successful.
Speaker: But Marvin and I have seen a lot of the shows where it's a buy sell trade show.
Speaker: You want to bring a game, you want to put it up for sale.
Speaker: People want to take it home that day.
Speaker: So we're asking that they obviously don't take it home till after 6 p.m.
Speaker: But come Saturday, when the show is winding up, it goes till midnight.
Speaker: At 6 p.m., if they want to pull all their games out and everybody decides they're going to leave, we have a minimum of 50 games Marvin and I have contributed to the show that we know will stay.
Speaker: There's nothing worse than being at a show on a Saturday afternoon.
Speaker: And, you know, 75% of the games are either broken or gone or, and you're just, you're just dragging your feet on the last end of it.
Speaker: So we kind of put it together in that respect.
Speaker: We're asking people to bring games and people have stepped up and the vendors are bringing a lot of games.
Speaker: Tilt Amusements is coming.
Speaker: Trent Augustine is going to show up with a bunch.
Speaker: CoinTaker is bringing a bunch of games.
Speaker: Rob Burke is bringing a bunch of games.
Speaker: So we have a lot of support from other companies.
Speaker: other people that are going to help make the show successful because obviously if you don't have the games, you're not going to have a good show.
Speaker: Yeah, and getting onto that, a lot of these big vendors, they bring in a lot of games.
Speaker: And in other shows, kind of the deal is they come in, they set them up, people play those machines, but they also sell them after.
Speaker: And because they really don't want to pack them up and take them back, the whole point is getting pinball to the masses.
Speaker: So if someone really wants to, hey, I'm interested in getting a good deal on games,
Speaker: on a show pin that someone brings out and they sell it for a few hundred dollars cheaper.
Speaker: What's the best thing for them to do?
Speaker: So right now we're working with Chris and Melissa over at Cointaker.
Speaker: They're probably our biggest distributor as far as bringing in games and setting them up.
Speaker: And I know Melissa is working with Stern to work out show pricing because unfortunately everything in pinball is fixed numbers supposedly, and she's working with them to see
Speaker: what they can do for show specials.
Speaker: We have not talked to Trent yet to see what he had in mind.
Speaker: I'm assuming he's going to do something similar to the same.
Speaker: And then a lot of the local people, Ohio is a huge pinball community.
Speaker: We're located, we're three hours from Buffalo, an hour from Pittsburgh, an hour from Cleveland, and three hours from Columbus.
Speaker: So we have this great community
Speaker: centralized area and there is a lot of pinball players out here.
Speaker: All the people that used to go to the Papa's big event that is unfortunately no longer are in the area.
Speaker: So we will get a lot of people.
Speaker: We'll get a lot of machines we hope.
Speaker: And there'll be people bringing in games.
Speaker: I know a bunch of my friends are saying I got three games I'm bringing to sell another four games I'm bringing just to bring to the show to show off.
Speaker: people bringing restored games.
Speaker: I'm a restoration guy myself.
Speaker: I'm actually bringing three or four of my high-end games that I did over the last couple of years just to let people enjoy a really nice older game that's been redone.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: So how did you get into pinball?
Speaker: It's always, it seems kind of like an addiction a little bit where someone gets the itch and then they kind of go.
Speaker: I know that Josh and I never thought when we got into pinball that we would
Speaker: we would end up being a broadcaster in pinball.
Speaker: But it's kind of this creep of how infectious the hobby is.
Speaker: So what was your first taste?
Speaker: How has it evolved in your career?
Speaker: And to bring you to this point.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: It's well, I always tell people pinballs are like potato chips.
Speaker: You just can't have one.
Speaker: So about 12 years ago, I had a construction company that I was closing and a good friend of mine had a pinball machine in his shop.
Speaker: And I had asked him about it and said, hey, you know, what's up with this?
Speaker: He says, oh, I kind of buy and sell and I clean them up.
Speaker: And I was doing my basement and I told him, I said, well, I kind of want one.
Speaker: So he worked out a deal.
Speaker: I ended up buying my first game from the man is now my partner, Marvin.
Speaker: He sold me a Star Wars Episode I, I think it was.
Speaker: And I put it in the basement.
Speaker: I learned how to open the coin door and take the glass off and wipe down the play field.
Speaker: And I thought that was kind of neat.
Speaker: Then went back to my buddy and said, hey, I want to do this again.
Speaker: And I ended up getting a radical and tearing that down.
Speaker: And then it just kept progressing and progressing and progressing.
Speaker: And I ended up with a...
Speaker: restoration company.
Speaker: I've shipped games as far as Washington State.
Speaker: In fact, Butch's close friend is shipping me an Indiana Jones he wants me to do next year, so that'll go out to New Mexico.
Speaker: And that evolved into the brewery and the coin-op, and that's been a part of it.
Speaker: And then between going to all these shows and having friends that are in the business of the shows that evolved into, all right, let's do a show.
Speaker: So it's, it went from a slight hobby to it takes up about half of my actual work experience.
Speaker: I actually run a pediatric practice with four practitioners a couple of days a week.
Speaker: And then I scooch out of here and I go do pinball.
Speaker: Wait, so you're, you're another doctor in pinball?
Speaker: No, no, no.
Speaker: Actually, my wife is one of the doctors here.
Speaker: I'm the insignificant other.
Speaker: I'm the spousal unit, I guess.
Speaker: I just sent the link over to your guys' phones.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: And you're talking about Pinbrew coming up here in April.
Speaker: It was just announced on Super Awesome's Pinball Show webpage or Facebook page that Pinball Brothers is releasing Alien again.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: And do you know if this game will be at Pinbrew so people can play it and try it out?
Speaker: Well, I'm going to say I'm 98% sure.
Speaker: I just got a picture of one from one of our distributors and I did not confirm with him yet, but he did say when it comes in, it'll be there.
Speaker: I can say there's a 99% chance that we will have an alien at the show.
Speaker: So, but I'm just waiting for him to say absolutely.
Speaker: Yes, it's coming.
Speaker: You know, if it came in damaged, I'm
Speaker: Or something's broken.
Speaker: I don't want to overstep my bounds.
Speaker: But if you're listening to this podcast, Chris, you need to text me back and tell me that, yes, it works great.
Speaker: We'll be bringing it.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: So there's a high likelihood that there will be the ability to see in person an alien spin ball machine.
Speaker: Yes, very highly likely.
Speaker: Very nice.
Speaker: I know a lot of people have been talking about this machine.
Speaker: It's got a checkered past, but it's going to be interesting to see.
Speaker: And people can get their hands on it at Pimbreu.
Speaker: This is awesome because I was going to ask you if there's any other rare machines, and it's kind of hard to tell that line because some stuff is secret.
Speaker: You got to hold the trust of your dealers.
Speaker: But I was like, perfect.
Speaker: I'm sending you the leak so we can talk about this because we're not reporting it here as Loser Kid.
Speaker: It's super awesome that it has posted the
Speaker: It's just a six minute trailer.
Speaker: If you want to check it out on their website and see the new version of alien that, that pinball brothers has produced for 2021.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I'm excited to both Marvin and I have an one in our order with Chris and Melissa.
Speaker: So one of those coming over might hopefully stay.
Speaker: We'll see what happens, but it's like an interesting game.
Speaker: So tell me about your restoration business.
Speaker: Like how long does it take to restore one of your games?
Speaker: What do people want if they have that old centaur that's sitting in their corner?
Speaker: They're like, you know, I'd really like it to play a lot better.
Speaker: What can you do for them?
Speaker: I was doing a few games here and there for people, and I've tried to keep it down to doing three to four games a year for others.
Speaker: I have a large collection of games that I've acquired that I have been restoring.
Speaker: And, uh,
Speaker: In fact, I've put several of them out down at the brewery.
Speaker: I have a fully restored Adams family and a fully restored attack from Mars sitting at the brewery that look as beautiful, even better than when they came out of the box.
Speaker: It depends what people want.
Speaker: Basically, I'll take a game and strip it down to the play field, take all the wire harnesses off, clean the harnesses, sand the games down, repaint the games, silkscreen the backs, put new art on them, chrome, brass, whatever they want.
Speaker: I do a lot of work with Chris over at Pinball Plating.
Speaker: But I'll be very honest with you, I try to keep it more hobby-ish.
Speaker: I have friends that will ask to have their games done, and I'll say yes, and I'll tell them it'll be six months before I can get to them because I keep trying to get my own games going.
Speaker: For instance, I literally just this morning, I pulled a Gilligan's Island out that I was getting ready for the show, and I ended up stripping the entire play field.
Speaker: So, yeah, it was like, I'm just going to tune it up.
Speaker: And well, if I pull this piece off, I can clean this better.
Speaker: And if I pull this off, I can scrub that.
Speaker: Then I can go through this Mac.
Speaker: And so it's kind of a sickness, but I enjoy it.
Speaker: And then I like I've gotten to the point where I've gotten past the whole put them in a corner and don't touch them.
Speaker: I enjoy bringing them out to shows and showing people I'm bringing out a fully restored Cactus Canyon nickel plated to our show chromed out.
Speaker: fish tails, and possibly another just chromed out, totally redone safecracker.
Speaker: That is awesome.
Speaker: That's totally awesome.
Speaker: And I respect you for going to that length of restoration.
Speaker: It drives me absolutely insane when you get that person that says, I fully restore it.
Speaker: And you look at the pinball machine and you ask them, what did you do?
Speaker: And like, well, I tore down the top of the play field.
Speaker: I put Novus on it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And that's about it.
Speaker: You know, it's like, well, there's still dirt here.
Speaker: Like, I don't know.
Speaker: So it's, it's great to see people that have as much love and passion for the, as for pinball as yourself, because it gives us some of the strive for, I guess.
Speaker: It reminds me of when you ask your son, did you clean your room?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I cleaned my room.
Speaker: And you walk in and he's like, okay, what did you clean?
Speaker: Because I can't still see the carpet.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So I have one of those sons.
Speaker: So do I. But no, I mean, the restoration piece, as much as I enjoy doing it for others, it's therapy for me.
Speaker: Literally, I work in an office with 14 women.
Speaker: and me and when i leave here i get to my shop and there's nobody there to bother me and not that they're not good people but it's very peaceful um there's nothing more enjoyable for me than just taking something old and making it new again as a i was a home builder for years and i used to do that so this is the the piece where i get to work with my hands and i just enjoy the end result
Speaker: Problem is that they're very hard to get rid of when you get them done.
Speaker: You only have so much room and you have to figure out what are you going to do when we're going to part with these things.
Speaker: So...
Speaker: Yeah, I sold my I had an absolutely beautiful Iron Man and I sold it because I had to because I just had to to move it on so I could get new space.
Speaker: But I knew it was the prettiest Iron Man you could find.
Speaker: It was, you know, it had plating on it, had interactive lights, I had everything like that.
Speaker: And I still think, man, if I just had a bigger house, I would never have sold that thing.
Speaker: But.
Speaker: You know, it's it's fun to see them move on at some point because you get other games coming in.
Speaker: But yeah, I am I am a self-described pinball hoarder that I actually have pinball machines that my friends are pin sitting right now because I really don't want to sell anything.
Speaker: I'm guilty of the same.
Speaker: So I completely get it.
Speaker: So back to the show for a second.
Speaker: Is there any other games that you're looking forward to that you don't usually get to see or play coming to the show?
Speaker: Or maybe a rare piece that is like a joust or maybe a rat race that you don't get to see very often coming to the show?
Speaker: Well, I have a rather large collection myself.
Speaker: And the last couple of years since I knew we were going to be doing the show, I've been reaching out and trying to find those unique games.
Speaker: I personally like playing the 90s stuff myself.
Speaker: I have a new pirates collectors that I absolutely adore and I play the heck out of that.
Speaker: But Theater of Magic and games along that era are the ones I truly enjoy.
Speaker: And I have a lot of friends that like the older System 11s and the System 9s going back.
Speaker: So I've been acquiring some games.
Speaker: I will be bringing a few of them to the show if they're ready.
Speaker: For instance, I got a Stargazer that's coming, a Cosmic Flight that's coming.
Speaker: I did literally have a story I told on another podcast about I bought a Joust.
Speaker: Unfortunately, it is sitting in Canada right now.
Speaker: And I bought it last year knowing and thinking I would bring it back and go through it and restore it and bring it to the show.
Speaker: But you can't travel over the border and the cost of shipping it here.
Speaker: I kept my fingers crossed that the borders would be open by now, and I literally just talked to my buddy.
Speaker: It's sitting in his garage.
Speaker: I purchased it from a guy, and then he went and got it for me, and it's been sitting there.
Speaker: So Pinbrew 2022 will have a very nice joust, but this year we're going to have to pass on that.
Speaker: So as far as other unique games,
Speaker: Um, I have a lot of friends with a lot of different stuff that are bringing interesting games.
Speaker: I restored an Atlantis and sold it to a friend of mine.
Speaker: He's bringing that to the show.
Speaker: Um, I've done a couple of restorations for other people that are bringing some of those games.
Speaker: Um, and there's, there's just a lot of great pinball people out here that are bringing unique things.
Speaker: I, one of the guys from Cincinnati, uh, sent me a text.
Speaker: He says, I'm bringing a stranger things, LA.
Speaker: Can I bring a tent and can I go in the corner and can we blacklight it?
Speaker: So, yeah, there's going to be a lot of unique pieces.
Speaker: I think we're going to have several Deadpools there, and we're bringing in an actual full-size Deadpool to put next to the Deadpool so people can get their pictures standing next to Deadpool.
Speaker: Just unique things like that we're trying to do with the show.
Speaker: So there'll be a mix of a lot of newer games.
Speaker: There'll be a mix of 80s, 90s, System 11s, and then just some unique.
Speaker: I have a couple of friends that are big EM guys out here.
Speaker: So we're going to get the whole path of EMs in there, too.
Speaker: The way you were starting that conversation, though, I thought you were going to be like, oh, yeah, I've got a rat race and Kroll and the only Zingy Bingy that never was seen in existence.
Speaker: We made the prototype.
Speaker: No, it sounds like you've got a good collection of pinball machines coming, though.
Speaker: It sounds like it's going to be very worth your time, even if you don't live in the East.
Speaker: I guess you guys are Midwest.
Speaker: They're in Ohio, right?
Speaker: Anything East of me feels East, and we're in Utah.
Speaker: Yeah, we're considered the Midwest.
Speaker: midwest which i don't understand because we're we're fairly we're we're just below the great lakes so um again that that pittsburgh buffalo columbus cleveland area but we'll get we'll get an influx of people from new york pennsylvania west virginia um michigan that will come in we have some of our vendors are actually coming in from the michigan area so
Speaker: We consider it a regional show.
Speaker: Um, you know, Rob Burke runs expo and I know Texas is absolutely huge and people fly in from all over the world for these shows.
Speaker: Um, we, we're not looking to be that, um, we're looking to be that regional show that picks up our area and compliments, um, you know, the shows out East and compliments Allentown, which, uh,
Speaker: Pinfest happens the month after ours.
Speaker: So it's just nice that we'll have something local and we'll bring in enough people to make the show successful and enough vendors that they'll be happy to have set up there.
Speaker: In fact, I just spoke, just was emailing Brian Allen's coming in and setting up the show because apparently he lives within a few hours of the show.
Speaker: So he's very excited to come set up here.
Speaker: And I think he's one of your sponsors.
Speaker: Yeah, tell Brian we said hi.
Speaker: I actually need to order my Medieval Madness art blades from him because I have the new Medieval Madness, the LE Translight in there, which I really like just because it kind of mixes things up a little bit.
Speaker: It looks a little different.
Speaker: So I've had a good time with that.
Speaker: And yeah, tell him we said hi.
Speaker: I will.
Speaker: I will.
Speaker: In fact, I think he works with...
Speaker: He's associated in some respect to my good friend who owns Outside Edge, who does the hard tops.
Speaker: Oh, okay.
Speaker: I think he gets his work done through Bruce at Outside Edge.
Speaker: So that's how I was able to make the connection.
Speaker: I called Brian and asked him if he wants to come to the show when he was thrilled.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Do you ever use any of those hard tops in your restoration?
Speaker: For those that don't know, a hard top, correct me if I'm wrong, is it's pretty much a print of the play field on a kind of a thick piece of plastic.
Speaker: Like plexiglass, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's a 030 polycarbonate.
Speaker: And what they do is they reverse the art on the underside and then put a 3M adhesive under that.
Speaker: And then on the top side where the ball rolls, there's a scratch resistant coating.
Speaker: It's actually the same coating they use on high rises on the windows.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: This is according to Bruce.
Speaker: I hope I didn't screw that up, but I'm pretty sure I got that right.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: I actually, I've done, I've prototyped around six or seven games for him.
Speaker: And in fact, I was just working before we got here on a hard top pin bot.
Speaker: I did a, I have a swords of fury.
Speaker: I did a,
Speaker: Farrow, I did an 8-Ball Deluxe.
Speaker: Those are coming to the show along with the ones I have.
Speaker: So I have used them.
Speaker: They're a great product.
Speaker: I'm excited because our show is also...
Speaker: the hard top homecoming is going to be at our show.
Speaker: So hard tops are made in Ohio, down in Columbus with Bruce, and he's a close friend of mine and he has set up and I've been with him at expo.
Speaker: I've been with him at Allentown where we've showed off the product and he's doing what they call a hard top row.
Speaker: So anybody that brings in a hard top game and sets up in that road, they'll have their own tournament.
Speaker: They get t-shirts from him.
Speaker: And it's just a whole nother piece of the show, which is going to make us a little bit unique.
Speaker: So we're hoping to display at least 10 of the, I think he has almost 15 hardtops out now.
Speaker: And I love them.
Speaker: They're great for older games.
Speaker: And as a guy who actually routes games, I really enjoy the fact that I can put that game out there.
Speaker: They don't get dirty.
Speaker: You do not have to wipe these things down.
Speaker: A friend of mine at Madcap, Matt, put in a space shuttle.
Speaker: And he tells me he has over 100,000 plays on this thing.
Speaker: And it looks brand spanking new.
Speaker: No temples, no wearing, no dust, no ball tracks.
Speaker: So as a guy who operates games, when I put out games that are a little older, I'd much rather put out a game with a hard top because it's less issue.
Speaker: Well, and I think a lot of people will see a pinball machine that is older because obviously you're going to have wear and tear on any machine before the 90s.
Speaker: I mean, you're still going to see wear and tear on the 90s machines, but because of Diamond Plate and other innovations that they did in the 90s, you don't see it as bad.
Speaker: So these 80s games that you want to pick up, but you look at it and you're like, oh, it's so roached out, like it's missing half the artwork.
Speaker: These hardtops are a really great viable option to do that, and it's not as much work, if I understand correctly, as it would be as replacing a full playfield.
Speaker: Correct.
Speaker: Don't you have to take the stuff off and put it on and repopulate the playfield, though?
Speaker: You have to take everything off the top.
Speaker: Like your slingshot brackets, you can drop those down low, your targets you can drop down below, but you don't necessarily have to take off all the things on the bottom.
Speaker: A lot of the mechs, the ground braid, a lot of the things on the bottom side can be left on.
Speaker: The challenge with that though is you're sanding the top of the playfield.
Speaker: So you wanna try to keep the dust out of the bottom and you wanna put a sealant over that before you put the hardtop down.
Speaker: Personally, I've never had to do one where I've only done half because I prototype them for him.
Speaker: I actually stripped the entire play field.
Speaker: I take everything off of mine.
Speaker: I'm the only poor sucker that has to do twice the work with everybody else.
Speaker: But it is easier.
Speaker: You can do it without having an extensive knowledge.
Speaker: If you know how to tear down the top of a play field, you can get it done.
Speaker: You don't have to worry about soldering ground braid and things like that on a bottom, which
Speaker: which makes it a little easier for people.
Speaker: I'm not going to say it's a ton easier, but it is definitely easier than doing a whole play field restoration.
Speaker: Definitely a better way to get your feet wet than the whole restoration, especially if you're nervous about, like you said, the soldering of the ground braids and whatnot.
Speaker: Agreed.
Speaker: What if your play field is actually warped or is uneven?
Speaker: Does the hard top actually even all that out?
Speaker: It does not.
Speaker: The hard top does not have
Speaker: that characteristic to it.
Speaker: If you're if your playfield's twisted, you put hard top on your playfield is going to be twisted with a hard top on.
Speaker: So you said your your wheelhouse is the 90s games.
Speaker: So what is your favorite game and what was the first game that you remember playing ever that says I really like this?
Speaker: The first game I played way back when, I'm not going to tell my age, but anyway, was a Xenon at a bowling alley.
Speaker: A Xenon and a space station were actually the first two.
Speaker: And I'll be very honest with you, I did not play them a lot.
Speaker: I was very frustrated.
Speaker: I was not a good player.
Speaker: I'm still not a good player.
Speaker: So it was much easier to put a quarter in Space Invaders than put a
Speaker: 50 cents or a quarter in one of those games and three seconds later, three balls drain and I'm like, what the heck is going on?
Speaker: So I've never really been a huge pinball guy up until about 12 years ago when I just started restoring them and then I've grown to really appreciate the art.
Speaker: I absolutely love, and I think that's why theater is one of my favorite games is just, I just love the entire art package that's with it.
Speaker: That's probably a bigger piece for me than actual playing.
Speaker: I play with a bunch of really great players down at the brewery.
Speaker: Alec, one of the top players in the country.
Speaker: He's 18 years old, and he just runs me over every time we're down there.
Speaker: John Tomsich is a big player here in Ohio.
Speaker: He plays in our group, too.
Speaker: They're great players, but for me, it's the art.
Speaker: That's where I enjoy the games more, the mechanics of them and getting my hands dirty in them.
Speaker: So what game are you playing the most right now?
Speaker: And what's the rarest game you have in your collection?
Speaker: I'm playing hell out of my Pirates of the Caribbean.
Speaker: I absolutely love that game.
Speaker: I have a collector's edition in my collection.
Speaker: I do have a Guns N' Roses, which I've been going back and forth between the two, but I tend to go back.
Speaker: Actually, the one I've been playing the most the last couple of months is Austin Powers.
Speaker: Really?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I just, I picked it up a while ago and it takes me a while to understand the rule set of everything.
Speaker: And it's, it's a more simplistic game and I enjoy the call outs.
Speaker: I've been playing that a lot lately.
Speaker: You know, I haven't played Austin powers in a couple of years, but it's one of those.
Speaker: It's so bad.
Speaker: I played one.
Speaker: There is one here and I don't, I think there was one time where I was even two balls in and I was like, I'm done.
Speaker: I've never felt that way about Austin Powers, but I think it's because I've played Stern's Indiana Jones, and any game looks great compared to Stern Indiana Jones, in my opinion.
Speaker: I'm going to agree with you there.
Speaker: It just plays so long.
Speaker: It's the only game I think that I was wailing on, and I'm like, you know, I'm just going to walk away from this because I'm not enjoying myself.
Speaker: I tend to make a game just every once in a while, pick up like I have a Wizard of Oz.
Speaker: I haven't played it in six months and then I'll spend the next month playing it and then I'll move over to something else.
Speaker: So I don't tend to I tend to bounce around and then find something and try to get better at it, realize how terrible I am and then try another game and see if I do any better with that.
Speaker: Yeah, I am very similar.
Speaker: I'll play a game for about a month straight and then I'll kind of migrate over and play a different game.
Speaker: I'm getting to the point.
Speaker: I just, it's weird to me because I'll have like really good games for like a week and I'm just like, man, my skill must be getting better.
Speaker: And then there's a week where it's just total garbage.
Speaker: And I'm like, why do I even own pinball machines?
Speaker: You know, I just, I don't know what I'm doing apparently because I can't get anything stringed together.
Speaker: Anywho, so what's your favorite 90s game?
Speaker: You said that you're really into the 90s games.
Speaker: Obviously, Bally Williams was kind of the king back then.
Speaker: I didn't know.
Speaker: Is that kind of your genre is the Bally Williams?
Speaker: My absolute favorite game is Whitewater.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: So I absolutely love Whitewater.
Speaker: Theater of Magic is up there.
Speaker: Circus Voltaire is not bad.
Speaker: I really like Tales of the Arabian Nights.
Speaker: But even though I know it's a more shallow game, and it seems to me those are shallow games for the players, but I just enjoy them.
Speaker: The sounds, the call-outs, the art, the whole package to me.
Speaker: I love the flow of the J-pop games.
Speaker: I don't know if I'm allowed to say that name out loud.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: um the i like the flow of the games i i like when you know you take a shot it just rolls right around and comes back to catch you really smooth so yeah i've got world cup soccer was one of my very first games i ever had in my collection and it's still in my collection to this day just because the shots are fantastic it's once you get going on that game it's just an absolute blast yeah that's that's kind of where i'm at with the games also
Speaker: Yeah, my friend has a beautiful Circus of Voltaire, which I'm hoping he never sells it because I play that every time.
Speaker: And he also put the color DMD down.
Speaker: It just really makes the game feel completely modern and kind of a haunted circus type way, which is really... It's just a great game.
Speaker: And he also has a great whitewater too.
Speaker: So yes, every time I go over to his house, those are the two I typically play the most.
Speaker: But he also has...
Speaker: A Tales of the Arabian Nights, a Theater of Magic.
Speaker: So he has all those games.
Speaker: Yeah, it sounds like we're in that same wheelhouse of games we enjoy playing and keeping.
Speaker: So are there games that you that you have an itch for?
Speaker: Like, what is that game that you're looking to buy?
Speaker: Do you have any grail games out there?
Speaker: I actually I actually do not.
Speaker: I I. The first couple of years, I kind of went a little crazy in pinball and I bought and sold
Speaker: over 100 games in the first three years nice yeah it was it was kind of insane and uh literally my wife would come home and one day there were 11 games wrapped up that we had shipped over from the netherlands from i think it was penny uh we did a group buy on these things and she pulls in tries to get in the garage and looks at me says oh no no we're done here
Speaker: I promise I'll get them out of here, but I've, I've gone through a lot of games.
Speaker: Now I'm going back and actually enjoying the games.
Speaker: The problem was back then it was that whole, that hunt, that the next thing, the next thing.
Speaker: And I did that for a while and I finally calmed down and now I'm really enjoying the games.
Speaker: I'll, I'll take one game.
Speaker: Um, I, I won't play it till after I rip it apart and put it back together.
Speaker: And then I will spend a month enjoying that game.
Speaker: Uh,
Speaker: So, yeah, I don't have a grill game right now, to be honest with you.
Speaker: I think every pinhead kind of goes through that cycle, though.
Speaker: Like, you first get in the hobby, you realize how awesome it is.
Speaker: At least for me, we kind of live on the West Coast.
Speaker: There's not a ton of pinball machines out here.
Speaker: So as you start hitting some of these titles, especially the Ballywim's 90s games, it's a good bang for your buck, at least when I got into the hobby seven years ago.
Speaker: And it was like, I got to try every single game.
Speaker: And so you're kind of just buying up games just to play them.
Speaker: And then you get them in and you realize this isn't what I thought it would be.
Speaker: And so I kind of, I was kind of with you.
Speaker: I think I went through not as many as you, not 103 years, but I did, I did about 30 in the first two.
Speaker: And I finally got to the point where I was like, you know, I'm ready to start settling down and
Speaker: I'm done dating.
Speaker: I'm ready to settle down and start settling down with pins I want in my house for quite some time.
Speaker: Scott's kind of the same way, though.
Speaker: His collection hasn't changed up until this last year, and then apparently he's gotten rid of more than half of it.
Speaker: Yeah, my problem is I tend to find games that are really nice games, and so I tend not to want to sell one because I know if I sell that, I'm not going to find the same game again.
Speaker: I think that's everybody's issue when it goes to selling the games.
Speaker: You just, you always regret.
Speaker: Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker: It's just, again, I have a lot of friends.
Speaker: We've done the same thing, just buying and selling and buying and selling.
Speaker: And I was in such a tight group out here of people that were like that.
Speaker: And we would go to shows and, and,
Speaker: I'd come with six games.
Speaker: I'd go home with six different games.
Speaker: And, you know, my friend would take three and this guy would take two.
Speaker: And we just, we, we kind of did a lot of inner trading.
Speaker: Um, we just had this great click of guys that were great about, Hey, I'm done with this.
Speaker: You want to try it?
Speaker: So that made it a lot easier to do a lot of that.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: So, but same, it's now I'm looking at games.
Speaker: I have a couple sitting there that they're beat to hell, but I have play fields.
Speaker: I have a Medusa sitting in the back.
Speaker: I have the art package, the play field, the plastics, and I'll just one day I'll rip it out and put it together and truly get the chance to enjoy the game because it'll play a hundred percent.
Speaker: It'll play solid, play strong and enjoy them that way, I guess.
Speaker: So.
Speaker: What was your favorite Game 3 store?
Speaker: I would say theater.
Speaker: That was probably about my third restoration.
Speaker: The first big restoration I did was I did a funhouse, and I immediately sold it after I finished it.
Speaker: because I needed the money for the next game.
Speaker: And I regretted selling that because I never got to enjoy it.
Speaker: But then when I finally did my Theater of Magic, I went through and, of course, did the brass and, you know, all the side rails to it and did everything really nice on the game.
Speaker: And it's been in my collection for 10 years, and I still enjoy playing it.
Speaker: So that's probably been one of my favorites.
Speaker: I just finished a Monster Bash recently.
Speaker: That was kind of an interesting one.
Speaker: Because of the characters, it was kind of neat to do that.
Speaker: I'm looking forward to doing my whitewater.
Speaker: Right now it is torn apart and all the parts are out being plated.
Speaker: So I'm getting excited to put that back together and have an actual beautiful restored whitewater.
Speaker: Someone told me whitewater is one of the hardest ones to restore because there's so much plastic.
Speaker: It's got the most plastic on any game that's ever been made.
Speaker: Is that correct?
Speaker: Seven ramps on it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So it's tearing it apart.
Speaker: It was it was a little complex tearing it apart.
Speaker: So I'll let you know about putting it back together.
Speaker: I've done probably about six Adams families.
Speaker: um i've done a that's probably the one i've done the most but i've never done a total white water yet so i can't comment but i have heard the same thing that that's one of the more difficult ones but they're all they're all if you take photos and and you do it in stages and it's just what's going to take more time than than others some of the games just take a lot more time i'm trying to think there was one i just did recently that it took oh um indiana jones
Speaker: It takes forever.
Speaker: I've done three Indies and they just, they just take forever to put them back together.
Speaker: So just because there's so much on there with, with all the extra, you know, uh, max going into the games and things going on with the upper play field and the rotating, um, head on the other side, that that's one that by the time I get through one of those, I'm exhausted.
Speaker: I get you.
Speaker: About how long does it take?
Speaker: I usually have about a hundred hours in a game, maybe.
Speaker: Worst part of it for me is sanding the cabinets and painting the cabinets.
Speaker: Once the cabinets are painted, I cruise after that.
Speaker: I love putting artwork on the cabinets.
Speaker: top of the play field is always great because you just see all those colors popping through and your shiny metal that's the exciting pieces but painting them's terrible i literally have six cabinets that are ready to be painted now that i've purchased i actually buy new cabinets if the games are really really destroyed and they're just sitting in my garage and i just don't have time and desire to go paint them but eventually i'll have to man up
Speaker: You said that you barely just got into this hobby like 12 years ago, and it took a little bit to get into it, but it sounds like you're really taken to the hobby.
Speaker: And obviously, you've helped promote the community and whatnot because you're doing this pin brew.
Speaker: I guess you probably want to get this show over with before you start focusing on next year, but do you have anything that you're hoping goal-wise to achieve from the show to progress to the next show?
Speaker: Um, I mean, yeah, I've re I'll be honest.
Speaker: I was up nights thinking about different things about the show.
Speaker: My biggest concern is always I want everybody to come.
Speaker: I want them all to have a good time.
Speaker: I want them leaving the show thinking it was a great time.
Speaker: The only thing I'm going to regret is I've always gone to Allentown with a bunch of guys.
Speaker: We take the booze bus.
Speaker: We have an RV camper.
Speaker: There's six to eight guys in this thing.
Speaker: We go to Ron Schuster's and spend the night there and then go to the show and buy games.
Speaker: And we're the guys that set the games up outside of the show under the awning at the RV.
Speaker: And we would play them till two in the morning in the parking lot when Allentown was closed for the day.
Speaker: I've been to a lot of shows like that, Chicago Expo, and there's all these people.
Speaker: I would hardly play pinball.
Speaker: I would just go, you know, BS with Butch.
Speaker: And, you know, he introduces me to people like David Thiel.
Speaker: And then I spent three hours and David Thiel's telling me about the 30 different fart sounds he made on Family Guy.
Speaker: And it's the...
Speaker: What I want out of the show is for everybody else to get out of the show.
Speaker: What I get out of going to other shows, just being able to go enjoy yourself.
Speaker: If you're, if you're a player having a good tournament, if you're just somebody like myself who just likes to mingle and, and socialize with your friends, that your friends are there to do that.
Speaker: Just leaving the show, you know, knowing they had good beer, they had good food.
Speaker: The games all played well and they're excited to come back next year.
Speaker: So you are a router too.
Speaker: You have games on location.
Speaker: I do.
Speaker: I have three.
Speaker: Well, actually, I only have two locations right now.
Speaker: Two breweries out here.
Speaker: Birdfish in Columbiana and Biker's Brewhouse, which is in Austintown.
Speaker: It's the only brewery inside a Harley-Davidson dealer in the United States.
Speaker: So I have some in there and I'm getting ready to do two more breweries.
Speaker: So
Speaker: They're all kind of the brewery guys out here are very unique.
Speaker: They all get along.
Speaker: They all work together.
Speaker: They collaborate beers and made some great friends and been asked to put games in certain places.
Speaker: And I'm trying not to turn this into another big business, but I can't say no to the good friends in the brewery business.
Speaker: What games get played the most?
Speaker: Oh, cool.
Speaker: Well, I have 20 games down at the one brewery and they all seem to do about the same because we expanded during COVID.
Speaker: Um, and I can't say that there's the go-to games.
Speaker: The new ones always get played a lot.
Speaker: I have a guns and roses out there.
Speaker: I have a led Zeppelin.
Speaker: Uh, the guns and roses are doing the best medieval always does well.
Speaker: And brewery people are different.
Speaker: I have friends that have them in different locations and they'll have a Willy Wonka that won't do very well at all.
Speaker: Mine does fantastic because brewery people, they bring their kids in.
Speaker: It's a different, different type of setup.
Speaker: They'll, they'll come in with their kids and play and sit and have a craft beer.
Speaker: So Willy Wonka does well.
Speaker: My attack from Mars, my Adams family kill it.
Speaker: Rick and Morty is doing very well.
Speaker: On average, they, they all seem to do very well, but,
Speaker: What does better than all of them?
Speaker: I hate to say it.
Speaker: I know it's a pinball show, but the ski ball does the best.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Josh and I are on a group text thread with a lot of, I guess, people in pinball.
Speaker: And they had mentioned that a Raw Thrills game, like the Kong Raw Thrills game, was killing it on location because it's just, it's different.
Speaker: It's more of a, those type of things,
Speaker: they're the ones that make the money.
Speaker: Really, if you're doing pinball, it seems you're creating an environment in which everything else can thrive.
Speaker: So if you're serving food, if you're serving drinks, if you're just whatever, it seems like that's the event to go to, but really you're going to make your money off other things.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Agreed.
Speaker: The pinball has...
Speaker: The brewery down there, they focus very much on having the pinball, and it's been a great thing to bring people in.
Speaker: It's just a good combination to get everybody in, and some of the other stuff does take off from that, the bowlers and things like that.
Speaker: In fact, I just finished a slugfest and put it down there, so I'm curious how that'll do because it's a two-player, kind of, it's not pinball, but it's a Williams, it has the same pinball boards.
Speaker: So we'll see how that does.
Speaker: It'll be interesting.
Speaker: Brewery crowds are different than other routes I'm learning.
Speaker: yeah you know and speaking of games that are that are slightly different than pinball or whatnot i tried a strikes and spares gottlieb uh last week or the week before i've never played that game before i don't know how it would hold up in a home collection but it was kind of enjoyable to play if if you've never played a strikes and spares essentially bowling but with pinball you use the pinballs to knock down the pins it wasn't too bad uh we had one down at the brewery they do a big show down there every year um
Speaker: Big Labrewski, they make a... That's a great name.
Speaker: Yeah, and it's a huge event for them, and they asked me to bring one in.
Speaker: I set one up, and I had a Strikes and Spares down there for a year and a half, and it started to die off, and I pulled it off, and my partner was going to take it and take it to his place.
Speaker: And then the one gentleman on Pinside that had the kit to turn it into a Lovski Strikes and Spares...
Speaker: I was able to order the kit, so next year we'll bring it back out for the actual Labruski Fest, and it'll be all decorated.
Speaker: Yeah, and it's unique.
Speaker: The balls are huge on that thing, though.
Speaker: Imagine playing pinball with those things.
Speaker: They're what, inch and three-eighths, maybe?
Speaker: They're larger than regular pinball.
Speaker: Yeah, they definitely are big, but it just was making me chuckle because what's weird to me is that you put so many balls into that game and you're only technically using two per frame, you know, three at most.
Speaker: I was like, why is there 10, 12 balls in this game?
Speaker: I was, that was, that was Gottlieb's answer to, um, Williams, uh, strike master when they came to their shuffle puck.
Speaker: That was their, their answer to that.
Speaker: So,
Speaker: Well, I looked one up on Pinside, and they don't go for a super amount of money.
Speaker: I mean, compared to pinball right now, but I mean, $1,200, $1,300, you're into a Strikes and Spares.
Speaker: You're not going to get the depth of gameplay, but it's pretty novelty.
Speaker: You know, it's pretty fun.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I don't see it as much in a home collection, though.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: If you have kids, younger kids, I think it would do well, but I don't see it as longevity in a home collection, especially for pinball people.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That's probably why they made the Big Lebowski conversion for it.
Speaker: It has one of the most iconic backglasses, though.
Speaker: The Strikes and Spares.
Speaker: You're thinking of a different one.
Speaker: You're thinking of a... Oh, I'm thinking of the Bally one.
Speaker: I'm sorry.
Speaker: I'm thinking of the Bally one.
Speaker: Yeah, the Bally with the redhead standing in the middle of it.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker: That is very iconic.
Speaker: The one that Ryan Kaz from Australia said that was his girlfriend, all of his schoolmates growing up or something like that.
Speaker: Oh, nice.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Oh, okay.
Speaker: So I'm pulling this one up.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: This is, this is trash.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: Now, now I'm with, uh, okay.
Speaker: That looks like it should be in a Rocky movie.
Speaker: Like 1980, that's, that's yeah.
Speaker: This looks terrible.
Speaker: With the Gottlieb strikes and spares or the, the, the Gottlieb one.
Speaker: Gotcha.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: There's a lot to it.
Speaker: So yeah.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: The sound clips were on par, I guess.
Speaker: You feel like you're actually making strikes.
Speaker: Oh, there you go.
Speaker: Which something better be on par if you're seriously... Yeah, it's just... It could have not been much to make those games.
Speaker: There's nothing to them besides the pins that go up.
Speaker: I mean, the play field's bare.
Speaker: Yeah, it was basically an excuse for people to drink beer and to do something.
Speaker: So this was before cell phone games.
Speaker: I want to go bowling, but I only want to use my middle fingers.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Bowling is a little too much athletic activity for me.
Speaker: Is there something less that I could do?
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: Okay, so we want to make sure that everybody knows how to get a hold of you and how to go and see your show.
Speaker: So say where they can stay, how they can buy tickets, what days this is, and what location.
Speaker: Let's do a recap on that.
Speaker: Okay, so it's Ohio Pinbrew Fest, and our website is www.pinbrewfest.com.
Speaker: And on the website, we have everything laid out to where you can stay.
Speaker: There's several hotels, literally within a five minute walk, which is really good if you're planning on staying over and you're drinking craft beer all day.
Speaker: It is April 8th, 9th, and 10th.
Speaker: It is kid-friendly.
Speaker: We are doing everything we can and following all the guidelines to make it a safe and comfortable show for people.
Speaker: We obviously want everybody there to have a good time, be comfortable, enjoy the show, and come back next year.
Speaker: We're very thankful that we are picking up a lot of wonderful vendors.
Speaker: I think the show is going to make a nice footprint in Northeast Ohio for years to come.
Speaker: So we hope people will look us up, come enjoy the show and play some pinball.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And that's a Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Speaker: So it's a long weekend and you can go back home on Sunday and be back to work on Monday.
Speaker: So it's a great way.
Speaker: And yeah, go check out the website.
Speaker: I'm looking at the website now.
Speaker: There's always things to buy the tickets and find hotels and certainly reach out if you have that Kroll machine that you want to bring in and go ahead and check things out.
Speaker: Well, we appreciate you coming on, Keith.
Speaker: We're getting pretty close to our wrap-up time.
Speaker: So is there anything else you want to share with us before we shut you down for today?
Speaker: I don't think so.
Speaker: Outside of, we hope, down the road, maybe we'll get to talk to you guys in the coming out, seeing us at the show.
Speaker: Appreciate you having us on and helping us promote the first show as COVID goes away and pinball comes back.
Speaker: But thank you very much.
Speaker: I agree.
Speaker: Well, and we're hoping to get out there in the fall, just depending on how everything goes.
Speaker: I know that we've been asked to come out to Pinball Expo.
Speaker: So it'd be our first time, I think, East being – well, it'll be my first pinball show.
Speaker: I was planning on going to Texas Pinball Festival last year.
Speaker: We all know how that ended up.
Speaker: But I think this will be a fun experience.
Speaker: Well, I know it will be, but –
Speaker: No, absolutely.
Speaker: And certainly get things out there.
Speaker: And I think this is going to be a huge success because so many people are just itching to get out and they've been cooped up in their house for a year.
Speaker: And I really like that you're trying to do this in a responsible way and that there is a way of eating food and getting the drinks, but also making sure there's social distancing, hand washing, masks.
Speaker: I think that's a huge thing just to make people feel comfortable.
Speaker: So I really applaud you for everything you've been doing.
Speaker: well thank you i i appreciate that and again appreciate you having having me on to discuss the show heck yes we hope it we hope it goes well we hope that you you can do it from future you know a lot of shows are starting to go away so it's sad to see when they disappear but it's awesome to hear when new ones are coming up and so we want to support those because we know we like you said you've been putting in almost a year's worth of your time well more than that because you were playing on 2020
Speaker: And now that got pushed back to 2021.
Speaker: So you spent sleepless nights for the last two years trying to get this all put together.
Speaker: And so we want to support those that have spent a lot of their time just to help promote the hobby or the industry and the community at large.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And we'd love to circle around with you too and, and find out how the show went.
Speaker: So we'll certainly reach out to you and make sure that more information from you.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: Thanks again, guys.
Speaker: And I'll talk to you.
Speaker: Hopefully when the show is over, we can tell you all the great things that happened and applaud you on your show.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Sounds good, Keith.
Speaker: And Josh, if people want to reach out to us, what can they do?
Speaker: You can hit us up at loser kid pinball podcast at gmail.com.
Speaker: You can also hit us up on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, all at loser kid pinball.
Speaker: We are more than happy to listen to you or shoot the breeze about some pinball.
Speaker: And we're on SoundCloud, soundcloud.com slash loser kid pinball podcast.
Speaker: So what else you got for me, Scott?
Speaker: Did I miss something?
Speaker: That's pretty much it.
Speaker: We'll see everybody in about two weeks.
Speaker: Hold on to two seconds before we wrap it up entirely.
Speaker: So I wanted to talk about one thing really quick.
Speaker: I guess it's one or maybe two things.
Speaker: I just want to say thank you, especially to Super Awesome Pinball Show and Poor Man's Pinball Podcast this week.
Speaker: They dealt with me when I was being a pain in the butt.
Speaker: And I really appreciate Ian and Franchie for helping me out this week.
Speaker: For those that don't know, I've had a really rough 12 months.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yes and no.
Speaker: It's kind of a weird thing, but like I was telling Scott earlier, I've had a funeral every month for the last year now.
Speaker: And this week, I had a really rough time because my maternal grandmother was hospitalized and we didn't know if she'd make it or not.
Speaker: And so we put up a post and I was nervous to put it up because it wasn't political in nature, but it involved a politician.
Speaker: And I'm always nervous.
Speaker: I don't like to talk politics.
Speaker: It's not my cup of tea.
Speaker: I think it breeds more contempt than it does actually bringing people together anymore.
Speaker: But it's still something that I thought was kind of cool, especially where the email had said, like, we didn't realize there was so much to pinball and there was such a big world of it out there.
Speaker: And it's really opened our eyes to what could be out there.
Speaker: And so one thing kind of led to another issue.
Speaker: And long story short, like, uh, if Frenchie and Ian had reached out, uh, just, we got talking and I kind of told him what was going on in my week with my grandmother.
Speaker: And, um, it was just nice to, I guess, have some, some people to talk to.
Speaker: Um, I'm doing better now, but like I said, it's, it's been rough.
Speaker: We've had funerals for, you know, family members of the had had cancer and passed away, uh, had COVID passed away.
Speaker: uh, drug overdose, car accident.
Speaker: I mean, you name it, heart attack.
Speaker: Like it's happened to my family within the last 12 months.
Speaker: And so, uh, some people out there have known what's been going on in my life.
Speaker: And I appreciate those have listened, uh, uh, along with Christian line, Dr. Penn, uh, Jeff Teolis, Martin, Zach many, uh, Jeff Patterson.
Speaker: I mean, there's just a handful of people that have really reached out and, and listened to me.
Speaker: And I feel bad,
Speaker: I'm not the kind of person to share my feelings.
Speaker: Like it's been a year.
Speaker: This has all been going on.
Speaker: And this is the first time that I've been saying this on the podcast.
Speaker: I just, I don't feel like my life should be an open book.
Speaker: And so I don't usually share these things with people.
Speaker: And so it's been nice to have support behind the scenes with something that isn't, isn't pinball, but the community at large has helped me with it.
Speaker: So thank you to you guys.
Speaker: Like, you don't know how much you mean to me, especially Scott, like Scott's heard it all.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: And, and I've just, man, I don't know what I do without you this past year.
Speaker: It's been, it's been great having you not only as my cohost, but as I would consider one of my best friends.
Speaker: So thank you, Scott.
Speaker: No problem.
Speaker: Glad and hopefully everything's on the mend and I think it's been a hard year for everybody including me.
Speaker: It's been challenging at work and just trying to get through it and we hope that this is a I guess a new opening to the year and hopefully this will you know with this pin brew we'll be able to kick things off and start to be able to get back to normal and to start having fun again.
Speaker: Yeah and I'm ready to get out and meet some you know I've made a lot of friends online and I'm ready to
Speaker: get out and have a burger with these people like keith and and uh and as we joke like a shirley temple or root beer with everyone else right well thanks again please uh please tune in in two weeks and uh we'll find something else to talk about we have a few guests lined up and we want to wish keith everything um on pin brew and hopefully everyone comes out and it's a great success
