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Ep 53: PInball Speed Dating with Chris Meyers
65 Plays5 years ago
We sit down with Chris Meyers in episode 53 to talk about location pinball from past to present and some of the things he has seen from the operator's side over the years.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction of Guest: Chris Myers
00:00:06
Speaker
Thanks for tuning in to the loser kid pinball podcast, episode number 53 tonight.
00:00:12
Speaker
We've got a very special guest on with us, but before we do that, my co-captain with me as always Scott Larson and Scott, can you tell us about our friends of the podcast?
Sponsor Highlights and Excitement Over New Pinball Machine
00:00:22
Speaker
Sure.
00:00:22
Speaker
Just going through.
00:00:24
Speaker
First and foremost, flipping out pinball.
00:00:26
Speaker
Contact Zach and Nicole if you have any questions about pinball merchandise and they will be able to hook you up.
00:00:32
Speaker
I actually just got a heads up that my Led Zeppelin is ready to be shipped.
00:00:37
Speaker
So I'm excited to get that thing out.
00:00:40
Speaker
Also, Pinshades, if you want to play on location, but you have a hard time with the glare, go ahead and check Pinshades out.
00:00:45
Speaker
If you want to look at some of the information around Pinball, check out Pinball Supernova.
00:00:50
Speaker
They always have good things at their website.
00:00:52
Speaker
If you have that odd extra trans light that Steve Ritchie signed, but you just don't have the game anymore, go ahead and check out Lit Frames.
00:01:01
Speaker
It's a great way of hanging up your trans lights and decorating your arcade.
00:01:07
Speaker
If you also want to check out alternative art packages for classic Williams Valley games, check out Flyland Designs.
00:01:13
Speaker
I just saw that the art blades for Medieval Madness came out, and I'm looking at throwing those in my machine.
00:01:21
Speaker
So if you want to update that old Williams Valley game, go ahead and check those out.
00:01:25
Speaker
Also, if you want to check out my friend's blog, The Pinball Loft, he got a collector's edition of Guns N' Roses, and you can read about what was going on down there.
00:01:38
Speaker
Tim Purcell also this week in pinball the go-to site for the top five things going on in pinball check it out the Twippies are coming up and if I think I think voting may be closed but if not you can always go and check it out and see who the winners are going to be also another shout out to Silver Ball Chronicles go ahead and check them out too they if you want a historical representation of what's going on in the pinball industry they
00:02:04
Speaker
Ron and Dennis are great assets for
Chris Myers Discusses Starport Arcade and Industry Challenges
00:02:08
Speaker
that.
00:02:08
Speaker
And now, who we have here tonight?
00:02:12
Speaker
Well, what we did is we actually got a referral from Tim Lee.
00:02:17
Speaker
And Tim Lee knows someone who's very involved in the arcade side of pinball and everything else.
00:02:25
Speaker
And he mentioned to us we should get a hold of him.
00:02:28
Speaker
And so right now,
00:02:30
Speaker
We have Chris Myers, and Chris Myers has been in the gaming industry for at least 14 plus years, and he's part of Starport Arcade and Pub.
00:02:41
Speaker
And we got him on and were able to ask him a lot of things on the business side.
00:02:45
Speaker
We certainly wanted to get him on, given everything going on the past year and the limitations we've had.
00:02:51
Speaker
So, Chris, welcome to the show.
00:02:54
Speaker
Hi, guys.
00:02:54
Speaker
How you doing?
00:02:56
Speaker
Good.
00:02:56
Speaker
How you doing?
00:02:57
Speaker
Yeah, we're doing great.
00:02:59
Speaker
It's late.
00:02:59
Speaker
Like I was telling you before we started the show, I was, I've been grinding, man.
00:03:03
Speaker
It's been a 15 hour day.
00:03:05
Speaker
So I was really looking forward to this the whole day though.
00:03:07
Speaker
You kept me motivated, fellas.
00:03:09
Speaker
I had to get done.
00:03:09
Speaker
Heck yes.
00:03:11
Speaker
So I can get on, get on the podcast with the guys.
00:03:13
Speaker
I really appreciate the opportunity to be on.
00:03:16
Speaker
Well, we appreciate you coming on.
00:03:18
Speaker
I know when Tim reached out to us that, I mean, you're obviously kind of a man kind of behind the scenes and knows his stuff.
00:03:26
Speaker
I mean, obviously, you've got the day of fix approval.
00:03:28
Speaker
So you can give us all your thoughts and opinions on that stuff.
00:03:32
Speaker
But like, we're excited.
00:03:33
Speaker
Like, I think the thing is, a lot of us have come into the hobby in the last five years.
00:03:38
Speaker
I know I've been in it for seven.
00:03:39
Speaker
Scott, how long you been in it?
00:03:42
Speaker
Probably around that.
00:03:43
Speaker
Yeah.
00:03:43
Speaker
Seven, eight years.
00:03:44
Speaker
Okay.
00:03:45
Speaker
So...
00:03:46
Speaker
You know, we've seen a very different side of the hobby than, say, someone that went through the 90s and the 2000s.
00:03:52
Speaker
And it sounds like you got to be a part of that.
00:03:55
Speaker
And we would love to hear your opinions and stuff.
00:03:58
Speaker
And if you give us kind of a background of how long you've been in the hobby and whatnot.
00:04:02
Speaker
Well, so I don't want to call it the hobby.
00:04:05
Speaker
I want to call it the industry.
00:04:07
Speaker
I've been a coin-operated vendor since 2003.
00:04:11
Speaker
I've paid Pittsburgh City, City of Pittsburgh licenses for 18 years now.
00:04:15
Speaker
This is my 18th year, guys.
00:04:17
Speaker
So I've been doing this independently for 18 years.
00:04:20
Speaker
I was adopted by a vendor and I've been around this industry probably, I would say, 80% of my life.
00:04:29
Speaker
So maybe around 30 years total just involved in it.
00:04:32
Speaker
I'm 38 years old.
00:04:34
Speaker
I do remember going to Expo around the age of eight, nine years old.
00:04:39
Speaker
So I've been, I've seen the evolution of many things, whether it's arcade or pinball or, or, you know, just coin op in general, kind of the things we were fixing when I was a kid versus what we're fixing now.
00:04:53
Speaker
It's just, it's light years different.
00:04:55
Speaker
I mean, it's evolved into something that I never thought maybe as a kid that it would have changed into.
00:04:59
Speaker
So.
00:05:01
Speaker
So I've got to ask, though, has it become easier to fix over time or is it just kind of a whole different beast with the way technology has become?
00:05:08
Speaker
If you're talking about specifically pinball, I think like the logic repairs are more like find and replace, you know, but like, you know, we did a lot of board level stuff on everything that Williams and Bally made all the way up until like, you know, they closed a lot of their boards were through hole and made to have repairs done.
00:05:28
Speaker
And now, I mean, you know, slowly but surely, we're getting to the point where we can repair some of the issues on the modern stuff we have today.
00:05:35
Speaker
But I think that the biggest change was, like, you know, there's a lot less wiring.
00:05:41
Speaker
There's a lot less, you know, things that could go wrong on these games.
00:05:45
Speaker
You know, people talk about the reliability of Williams games.
00:05:48
Speaker
I mean, everyone had their problems back then, but there was just so much to trace out if you had an issue on pinball machines.
00:05:54
Speaker
And then on arcades, it's like night and day.
00:05:56
Speaker
Once we got rid of monitors, I mean, that was the biggest thing.
00:05:59
Speaker
You know, monitors had whatever it is, like a 6,000-hour shelf life, and then they needed to be rebuilt.
00:06:04
Speaker
So rebuilding a monitor, you know, there's different versions of different monitors.
00:06:08
Speaker
So it's not like if you can rebuild a K7000, that doesn't mean you can rebuild a 6100.
00:06:12
Speaker
You know what I mean?
00:06:14
Speaker
There's a lot to learn even on that side, where now it's like, okay, you know, you have a light tube.
00:06:19
Speaker
You have to replace an LED screen.
00:06:22
Speaker
It's not, and I mean, they go for 100,000 hours.
00:06:25
Speaker
They're rated at such a high amount.
00:06:28
Speaker
So I would say the repairs on the arcade side are much simpler.
00:06:32
Speaker
And I would say, or like it's pretty clear cut.
00:06:34
Speaker
Like there's not, you know, your IO board's bad, replace it.
00:06:38
Speaker
Okay, it's 150 bucks.
00:06:39
Speaker
Well, if you had to replace, or if you had to rebuild a monitor, it's going to cost you that.
00:06:43
Speaker
So, you know, it's kind of like, and then, you know, the games that we have out there now, just, they just tend to last
00:06:52
Speaker
their expected times.
00:06:53
Speaker
You know, we have service intervals on pinball machines, but ultimately, you know, if we stick to those, we don't really have many games that are down and, and, you know, the major players really support us.
00:07:04
Speaker
I mean, Jersey Jack, Stern Pinball, you know, the American Pinball, they all really support their products really well.
00:07:12
Speaker
We don't have like an issue with getting parts from them or,
00:07:15
Speaker
You know, they want their games to be represented well on location.
00:07:19
Speaker
So that's a feather in their cap.
00:07:20
Speaker
But it's reality.
00:07:21
Speaker
I mean, you know, they really do try to provide us with a solid backing of products.
00:07:29
Speaker
Now, we talked a little bit before when I grew up, actually, I knew an operator and I thought it was the coolest thing in the world because he had an asteroids actually in his garage.
00:07:40
Speaker
And I thought that was the coolest thing to actually have an arcade.
00:07:45
Speaker
I grew up, you know, 70s, 80s, 90s.
00:07:48
Speaker
That was the thing.
00:07:49
Speaker
You got up and you said, bye, mom and dad.
00:07:52
Speaker
And you disappeared and went to the mall or figured out how to get to an arcade.
Evolution of Arcades and the Role of Technology
00:07:56
Speaker
And really arcades have changed since at least when I grew up and, and a lot of the arcades have contracted or changed or disappeared.
00:08:06
Speaker
And a lot of them have turned into ticket redemption centers.
00:08:09
Speaker
And so you've seen this throughout the years, but what is your take on, I guess, the history of arcades and where they're going to be in the future?
00:08:18
Speaker
Like, are we still going to see arcades in 10, 20 years?
00:08:21
Speaker
Well, I think we will.
00:08:23
Speaker
I think that, you know,
00:08:25
Speaker
A big credit to Raw Thrills and kind of bringing a classic spin on some of our – yeah, a classic spin on modern games.
00:08:35
Speaker
Or some even things that Namco has brought out, like with the Pac-Battle Royale or with Eunice bringing out the remade Pong version.
00:08:46
Speaker
So there's like some like, you know, people our age still see the classic theme, the classic gameplay, but it's in like a new modern style finish.
00:08:57
Speaker
You know, the cabinets aren't wood grain sides that are just like, you know, that don't appeal to anything.
00:09:01
Speaker
It's really bright and flashy.
00:09:03
Speaker
So like, you know, my kids are seven and five.
00:09:05
Speaker
They love these games.
00:09:07
Speaker
Like, I mean, they look forward to us getting them.
00:09:09
Speaker
I take them to the IAPA trade show or the AMOA trade shows and let them play the games, get to see this stuff.
00:09:16
Speaker
But I mean, their reaction, I mean, Cruisin' Blast by Rothfills was another huge success on a classic 90s game.
00:09:23
Speaker
I mean, everybody remembers playing Cruisin' World or Cruisin' USA.
00:09:27
Speaker
And they were able to spin that into a newer style cabinet with a modern look.
00:09:34
Speaker
And the gameplay was great and people loved it.
00:09:36
Speaker
It was a success at the coin box.
00:09:39
Speaker
And it was a success at just bringing in that appeal from
00:09:44
Speaker
The parents of the kids that play now were like, I remember that 20 years ago.
00:09:48
Speaker
That was awesome.
00:09:50
Speaker
And then now fast forward to current, it's still a great earning game.
00:09:55
Speaker
So we have some like Eugene worked for Williams in the 80s.
00:09:59
Speaker
He programmed, I mean, I'm sure people know Robotron.
00:10:02
Speaker
That's what he's famous for.
00:10:04
Speaker
And now he owns a company that kind of is like transitioning into like a modern, what we have now.
00:10:12
Speaker
So I think you're in good hands when it comes to that.
00:10:15
Speaker
I do think too, guys, I mean, I do everything.
00:10:17
Speaker
So we do ticket redemption and, you know, there's, there's, there's parts of that that are, that's the lucrative part of the business.
00:10:24
Speaker
You know, it's not, you know, just, we love, I love pinball.
00:10:28
Speaker
I'm an enthusiast just like you.
00:10:29
Speaker
I mean, I've collected every pinball game I could get my hands on.
00:10:33
Speaker
So it's like, you know, I get it, but at the same time,
00:10:38
Speaker
there's other things that need to help spin the wheels to keep these arcades alive.
00:10:42
Speaker
And I think we're in good hands.
00:10:43
Speaker
Like, you know, Namco has a lot of good IP that's coming out, you know, Mario Kart and the pack Royale and just the licenses they're getting between DC and Marvel and different things.
00:10:56
Speaker
Like, you know, there's a lot of appeal to that license to the younger generation.
00:11:00
Speaker
And then me as a comic book reader, I kind of like seeing those characters in some of these games myself, because it's like, you know, it appeals to even like we said, like,
00:11:08
Speaker
you know, someone who's in their late thirties or forties or even fifties.
00:11:11
Speaker
I mean, so I'm hoping that that's kind of like what keeps the ice broken for us to just segue into, you know, when my kids have this business, because, you know, I have a seven year old daughter that's absolutely interested in this business.
00:11:23
Speaker
Like every aspect of it, she asks me all kinds of questions.
00:11:27
Speaker
I'm like, where did you hear this?
00:11:28
Speaker
You know, but, but really it's, it's interesting.
00:11:32
Speaker
And I, and I think, I think we, we are in good hands, you know,
00:11:36
Speaker
The retro arcade that you remember in the 80s, that may never be a full thing again, but you'll have sprinkled classics in there.
00:11:46
Speaker
People that operate games like me, we like to put, and I'm not the only one.
00:11:51
Speaker
I know a lot of guys that do it.
00:11:52
Speaker
It's part of the past, and it shows some reflection of where we started and where we've come to.
00:12:00
Speaker
So I think that's what kind of appeals to all ages then.
00:12:05
Speaker
you know, like Starport had, you know, everything from, like you said, a vector monitor, Tempest, all the way to the newest Raw Thrills offering or whatever Jersey Jack came out with or Chicago Gaming or, you know, we bought everything for that location and people played everything.
00:12:24
Speaker
The people that were older, like our age, they loved playing Ms.
00:12:27
Speaker
Pac-Man, Galaga, Tempest, you know, Robotron, those games.
00:12:32
Speaker
And then there's another generation of,
00:12:34
Speaker
of kids that are in college that went to, that loved the fighting game cabinets.
00:12:39
Speaker
You know, they wanted to play Street Fighter Third Strike and Marvel versus Capcom 2.
00:12:43
Speaker
And, you know, I have all those messages from those people that were like, oh, we love that.
00:12:48
Speaker
We love that about it.
00:12:49
Speaker
We wanted to play Mortal Kombat 2 on the real cabinet, you know, not emulation, the real thing.
00:12:53
Speaker
So, I mean, I really think that there's a broad range of people that come to these kind of sites.
00:12:59
Speaker
But I think, you know, this younger generation, and I'm talking about kids that are, you know, in grade school or early high school kids, they are appealing to licenses more than ever.
00:13:11
Speaker
You know, so it's, I think, and you can see, like, the pinball offerings are mostly licensed themes.
00:13:16
Speaker
So I think that they know their market, and we can get people into the location by having a Avengers pinball machine.
00:13:25
Speaker
And then they may branch out and play games that are classic, that are, you know, unlicensed or, you know, what have you.
00:13:33
Speaker
Right.
00:13:33
Speaker
But you actually got right into what I wanted to talk about.
00:13:37
Speaker
You hit a few things.
00:13:38
Speaker
And so I I'm going to spitfire a few questions, but we'll take them in any order you want.
00:13:44
Speaker
One, you talked about this.
00:13:45
Speaker
And one thing we talked about before is that when I was a kid,
00:13:50
Speaker
My parents had no idea where I was.
00:13:52
Speaker
And in the arcade, the demographic was basically eight years to 18.
00:13:59
Speaker
It was basically a 10 year demographic.
00:14:01
Speaker
But now you have a lot of different people in the arcades.
00:14:07
Speaker
And and that that is how I guess.
00:14:11
Speaker
You have to change the way arcades are done.
00:14:14
Speaker
This is the first question I'll let you take with it.
00:14:16
Speaker
You have to change how traditionally they were.
00:14:19
Speaker
It no longer works if you're just catering to a 10-year demographic.
00:14:23
Speaker
It seems like you have to have a place that families can go.
00:14:27
Speaker
And if they have an event, they can go and little kids can do this.
00:14:31
Speaker
Middle-aged kids can do this.
00:14:33
Speaker
Older kids and even my age kids can go and do what they want, but they're still in one location because they're getting exposed to all that.
00:14:41
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's really about running a good location.
00:14:44
Speaker
You know, we have sites that you guys know about that are just, they really, truly cater to all ages.
00:14:51
Speaker
They are, you know, one of the things that I want to, we can touch on is, you know, I remember going to these arcades as a kid, like you're talking about, and they were kind of like low light, not, you know, like dark places that the games lit up, created the ambiance and things like that.
00:15:11
Speaker
Now in the world we live in, it's like you need to have a well-lit location.
00:15:16
Speaker
You need to be able to see everything.
00:15:17
Speaker
You need an open floor plan.
00:15:19
Speaker
Not like – you were closed in by cabinets in the 80s.
00:15:22
Speaker
Like literally you were pushed in together by wood.
00:15:27
Speaker
Now it's like it's open.
00:15:28
Speaker
You go to Helicon Brewing, you see it's open.
00:15:31
Speaker
There's – from sitting at the bar, you can watch your kids play in pinball machines.
00:15:36
Speaker
It's perfect.
00:15:38
Speaker
But that's the biggest difference in the 80s.
00:15:40
Speaker
I mean, it wasn't a wide open floor plan.
00:15:42
Speaker
They crammed as many cabinets as they could into these locations.
00:15:46
Speaker
So really the appeal is, you know, mom and dad can go get a drink.
00:15:50
Speaker
If mom and dad want to play some pinball, the kids will play some pinball.
00:15:54
Speaker
But you got to have things like we have pong there.
00:15:56
Speaker
We have Czechs hockey there.
00:15:58
Speaker
We have darts for people that like to play darts.
00:16:01
Speaker
We try to cater to that bigger audience.
00:16:04
Speaker
And really there's something for everybody.
00:16:06
Speaker
So you can have a young kid.
00:16:09
Speaker
in grade school and you could have a high school age kid and you could have your college age or your professional that comes in.
00:16:17
Speaker
I mean, we see all walks of life walk into these locations now.
00:16:21
Speaker
And that makes me happy because like you're saying previously, even through the 90s, I mean, that really wasn't the case.
00:16:28
Speaker
When we started putting in redemption centers in these locations, when bowling centers started to migrate to ticket redemption, then it became more prevalent or more of a family activity.
00:16:38
Speaker
But for the longest time, guys, mom and dad were bowling at the bowling center and they just threw a kid of five and said, get out of my hair, go play the games.
00:16:46
Speaker
You know what I mean?
00:16:47
Speaker
Like, leave me alone.
00:16:48
Speaker
Now the entertainment is their phone.
00:16:50
Speaker
We're not actually competing as much with even home consoles as we are their phones.
00:16:56
Speaker
You know, I mean, just again, that's my take on it.
00:17:02
Speaker
How do you get kids away from their phones and onto the arcade machines then?
00:17:06
Speaker
Yeah, it's about experience.
00:17:07
Speaker
I mean, it's about having them experience the games.
00:17:12
Speaker
One of the things we kind of touched on too was pinball machines aren't historically the best earning games, but they do create something that some of the other games do not create.
00:17:24
Speaker
And that's an experience.
00:17:26
Speaker
It's physical.
00:17:27
Speaker
It's not a, you know, you're not moving something on the screen like you are on your phone or your computer or your home console.
00:17:35
Speaker
you're actually watching a ball roll around.
00:17:38
Speaker
And I think it's just, you have to get them to experience it.
00:17:43
Speaker
So like we do things to do that.
00:17:45
Speaker
Like we do free play nights at bars.
00:17:48
Speaker
Part of my sales pitch as an operator is, hey, we're gonna come in here once a week or once a month or for six straight weeks on Wednesday, and we're gonna put the games on free play.
00:17:59
Speaker
Give me an opportunity.
00:18:00
Speaker
Now this is all pre-COVID, but give me an opportunity
00:18:03
Speaker
to meet up with some of the customers you have and show them what the games have to offer.
00:18:08
Speaker
Because, you know, really, if you get a 50-year-old person, they grew up, their heyday was the mechanical error.
00:18:15
Speaker
It was just objective scoring.
00:18:17
Speaker
It wasn't like there's modes and there's objectives in each mode.
00:18:21
Speaker
And, you know, so once you start explaining that to them, it's like it's interesting to see someone's face light up and see like how what the interaction is.
00:18:30
Speaker
can do to a person who hadn't had that interaction before.
00:18:33
Speaker
I'll give you a great example of that.
00:18:35
Speaker
When I first opened Starport five years ago, I had, we had a kid come in there and we had the games on free play.
00:18:41
Speaker
We weren't even like open yet.
00:18:43
Speaker
And, and, and the kid comes up and goes, wow, these machines look really cool.
00:18:46
Speaker
And, you know, I think Scott, you said you had an X-Men and like, he was like looking at the Wolverine.
00:18:51
Speaker
We had the X-Men LE there and he was like, oh man, that's cool.
00:18:53
Speaker
It's like a sculpted thing.
00:18:55
Speaker
And I was like, yeah, you hit it.
00:18:56
Speaker
And so, so, so I'm like, here, have a game, you know?
00:18:59
Speaker
So I put a game on the machine and I hit the start button for the kid.
00:19:03
Speaker
Now, he was an Asian kid, transfer student, really nice guy, still texts me to this day.
00:19:08
Speaker
This is how good of a relationship we end up having.
00:19:10
Speaker
But he looks at the machine and he doesn't know what to do.
00:19:14
Speaker
Like the ball's in the shooter lane and the kid's just looking at it.
00:19:17
Speaker
And then he thought of it as pachinko.
00:19:19
Speaker
So he smacked the shooter rod and the ball went up, bounced around for a little bit, came down, drained.
00:19:26
Speaker
puts the ball back in the shooter lane, it auto-plunges and drains again.
00:19:30
Speaker
He didn't even realize the flippers flipped.
00:19:33
Speaker
Like, it's not, I'm not kidding.
00:19:35
Speaker
He's a 19-year-old transfer student from Korea.
00:19:39
Speaker
So then I said, hey man, you didn't flip the game.
00:19:43
Speaker
He's like, what do you mean flip it?
00:19:45
Speaker
So he like shook it.
00:19:46
Speaker
Like he meant, he liked to show me.
00:19:47
Speaker
He's like, you mean like, I'm like, no, no.
00:19:49
Speaker
So I played a game of pinball for him.
00:19:52
Speaker
And this dude is now,
00:19:55
Speaker
I mean, he's like, he's going, he's going to be 24 years old in March and he literally has five games at his house.
00:20:01
Speaker
Very successful.
00:20:02
Speaker
He got into his career right after college.
00:20:05
Speaker
Very, it was very successful quickly.
00:20:07
Speaker
And the dude has five games.
00:20:09
Speaker
Like, I mean, this is, this went from somebody that didn't even know that a pinball machine had flipper buttons too.
00:20:16
Speaker
So there is, there is something and Stern does a lot to try to get people to understand that.
00:20:20
Speaker
Like if you look at Stern's,
00:20:22
Speaker
attract screens on their newest games, it shows like push this button to start the game and kind of like shows people flipping the game and stuff like that.
00:20:29
Speaker
And us as enthusiasts are like, why the heck would they do that?
00:20:33
Speaker
But like, there's the example, you know, there is a, there is some people that have to understand what they're getting into.
00:20:42
Speaker
So that's the goal with, with the retro arcades and the modern, like, you know, us as retro arcade game players, we know how to play the games already.
00:20:51
Speaker
So,
00:20:52
Speaker
Just keep in mind that some of the younger generation that grew up in this iPad era don't know that.
00:20:58
Speaker
And there you go.
00:21:00
Speaker
But that guy now loves pinball.
00:21:02
Speaker
He'll call me to talk about what's coming out for pinball.
00:21:04
Speaker
I'm like, this is amazing because you didn't even know how to actually flip a pinball machine five years ago.
00:21:10
Speaker
So, you know.
00:21:13
Speaker
I've seen that even people coming over to my house.
00:21:15
Speaker
I mean, I have 11 machines in my basement where I have to go up and say, OK, see that big flashing thing that says start, push that.
00:21:23
Speaker
And then you either have to hit the launch button or the shooter rod.
00:21:29
Speaker
And it's yeah, it's it's so great because it's it seems so intuitive.
00:21:32
Speaker
But yeah, it's it's it's completely foreign if you've never seen someone play it.
00:21:37
Speaker
It's true.
00:21:38
Speaker
I mean, no doubt.
00:21:39
Speaker
It's a reality.
00:21:41
Speaker
I mean, I know people that are on the enthusiast websites and people that are in the know in the community don't see that.
00:21:50
Speaker
But from an operator's perspective, I mean, we see it all the time.
00:21:53
Speaker
I see people put money in pinball machines and don't realize how to start the game on an older game, like a mechanical game that doesn't start and it doesn't have a flashing start button like the newer modern games
Educating New Players and Modern Game Design
00:22:05
Speaker
do.
00:22:05
Speaker
They think that they go to get a refund.
00:22:08
Speaker
Chris Brunetti could actually tell you that, that like in Helicon Brewing, we've had to actually give refunds to games that worked properly and took their money.
00:22:16
Speaker
They just didn't know how to start the game.
00:22:18
Speaker
So, I mean, it's a reality as far as coin-op is concerned.
00:22:23
Speaker
So do you have a suggestion on how we can introduce this younger generation to arcade machines and maybe specifically pinball?
00:22:30
Speaker
Because there seems to be arcade itself seems to be kind of straightforward, whereas pinball, I know it's two buttons and a start button and now a lockdown button.
00:22:39
Speaker
But obviously you've seen some hurdles with this.
00:22:42
Speaker
Do you have some suggestions?
00:22:44
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, you know, the first thing, first and foremost, I mean, I try to do my part and anybody that's listening to this, it's an operator.
00:22:50
Speaker
I mean, you know, I don't know everything, but, um,
00:22:54
Speaker
what I will say is just get involved with your locations, you know, and then have your locations have a vested interest in what you're doing.
00:23:00
Speaker
You know, a lot of the people that we work with are, are great.
00:23:06
Speaker
What's the word I'm looking for?
00:23:07
Speaker
You know, they really bring the customer to the games or, you know, we do free play events at a lot of our locations.
00:23:14
Speaker
Like I said, just trying to get people to recognize, you know, what the hurdles are like, you know, what the goals are for the game.
00:23:23
Speaker
and, and what your, you know, your objectives overall and how that builds up through a three ball game.
00:23:29
Speaker
And, you know, I mean, once, once people get to like understand how to play the games, you know, then they either branch out to play other games or sometimes we see the same, the same people will play the same Jurassic Park game a hundred times.
00:23:42
Speaker
They don't, they're, they're not that, that adventurous, but like, you know, it's really just trying to get someone, you know, it's almost like feeding the game, like in saying, Hey, give it a try.
00:23:51
Speaker
See if you like it.
00:23:53
Speaker
And that's where, like, I think some of the games that Keith Elwin's design specifically have helped us, like, you know, have some physical features of the game that people really like or recognize, you know, like a dinosaur eating a ball or, you know, how the ramps lit up and the dinosaur flashes.
00:24:09
Speaker
And you can kind of know, like, okay, that's where I got to shoot it.
00:24:11
Speaker
And then, like, how it stops the ball in the in lane specifically to show, you know, people like, okay, now here's your objective before we get started.
00:24:19
Speaker
Here's what you got to do.
00:24:20
Speaker
It kind of, like, primes you.
00:24:21
Speaker
you know, that those games are really, you know, the intuitiveness of the new games that have come out in the last three to three to five years have been, you know, lights out.
00:24:30
Speaker
I mean, everything, everything that's been offered from Jersey Jack and, and Stern have just been really like, you know, engaging the customer more immersion in the game itself.
00:24:40
Speaker
You know, I mean, really.
00:24:42
Speaker
And then, I mean, we just, when we put medieval madness Royal on, on site, I mean, I've,
00:24:48
Speaker
I can't even tell you guys, I've had like 10 medieval madnesses, more than that.
00:24:52
Speaker
And, and I, when we unboxed that game and set it up and how the, the, the lights changed and the displays, this beautiful, huge screen.
00:25:00
Speaker
I was like, they managed to make medieval madness better.
00:25:05
Speaker
I don't, I never would have thought that they would have been able, but I mean, so, so we're getting there.
00:25:09
Speaker
I think we're, the arrows pointed up on, on, on a coin op, you know, but you have to do it right.
00:25:14
Speaker
I mean, it's all,
00:25:15
Speaker
You know, we kind of I'm sure you're going to touch on this, but I mean, you've got to keep the games running right.
00:25:19
Speaker
You've got to keep the games clean and you've got to keep the appearance of the location has to be well presented.
00:25:25
Speaker
You know what I mean?
00:25:27
Speaker
It's a combination of all those things.
00:25:28
Speaker
You can't just, you know, dump games on locations and expect them to make you money.
00:25:34
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:35
Speaker
So that actually, that is exactly what I want to get into.
00:25:37
Speaker
What exactly makes a great arcade?
00:25:40
Speaker
Like what gets people to one, recognize you and come through the door and two, stay for a few hours, spend some money.
00:25:48
Speaker
And then three say, Hey, that was fun.
00:25:50
Speaker
I want to do it again.
00:25:51
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:51
Speaker
I mean, that you're, that's exactly it.
00:25:54
Speaker
So maintenance, having, having keeping up on your maintenance, I mean, any operators listening, you know,
00:26:00
Speaker
Don't walk by that machine when you know it's broken.
00:26:02
Speaker
I know the older generation of operators, that's like their thing.
00:26:05
Speaker
You know, like, oh, it's pinball.
00:26:07
Speaker
It doesn't make, you know, every piece of equipment has an earning opportunity.
00:26:11
Speaker
You, you can, you can, you, you might only make a few bucks off that person, but you could lose them forever with bad representation in location, you know, and then choose your locations that are, that are, that keep their places like you would keep a place.
00:26:25
Speaker
You know, I mean, like, you know, we've turned down customers based on,
00:26:29
Speaker
how they treat their own location.
00:26:31
Speaker
You know, it's, you have to be selective.
00:26:34
Speaker
If you really, truly want to promote an atmosphere like you're talking about, there has to be some cohesion between you and the location owner and your technicians.
00:26:44
Speaker
You know, like I don't, we make sure we put a technician at a site at least weekly to stop in.
00:26:52
Speaker
But we have, it's about communication with the location.
00:26:55
Speaker
You know, our best earning locations for pinball,
00:26:58
Speaker
are people that aren't afraid to call me and say, hey, you know, heads up, here's what's going on here, here, and here.
00:27:04
Speaker
When you send out this guy or that guy or this gal, you know, where do you, you know, can you prep them for some of the issues that are upcoming?
00:27:14
Speaker
You know, and then keeping that maintenance schedule is key.
00:27:18
Speaker
I mean, you know, because when you come into these locations, you know, the last thing you want to do is have a disappointed customer right off the bat.
00:27:25
Speaker
Now, sometimes it's out of your control.
00:27:27
Speaker
But if you do the best you can, the rising tide is going to raise all ships.
00:27:31
Speaker
So the location is going to make more money.
00:27:32
Speaker
They're going to see more foot traffic, and they're going to get a reputation for having a well-maintained space.
00:27:38
Speaker
I mean, I'm talking about everything from their bathrooms are clean to their service is good.
00:27:42
Speaker
And then I'll keep my end of the bargain, and I'll keep the games playing right, and I'll keep the interest up.
00:27:49
Speaker
We'll make sure we come out and promote it.
00:27:50
Speaker
We'll make sure we talk to people in the community about what we're doing here.
00:27:54
Speaker
And then now one of our locations, and everybody knows Helicon Brewing, they know that the news games are going to be there.
00:28:01
Speaker
We have people talking on the internet about them before they even get there.
00:28:06
Speaker
People were excited about this stuff.
00:28:07
Speaker
So once you have that buzz, I mean, I think you just start to roll downhill then.
00:28:13
Speaker
It's not like COVID has had an effect on our business, but I mean, pre-COVID numbers, they were strong locations.
00:28:21
Speaker
And they were seeing the foot traffic and a lot of people coming in to spend money on their product, the games, and then staying there.
00:28:31
Speaker
And like I always say to our business owners that we deal with, it's like if the machines can keep somebody there for one more beer or one more meal or whatever, and you multiply that weekly by 52 weeks, and then you say there's 20 customers a week to do that,
00:28:47
Speaker
I mean, you sold a thousand more beers this year because you had machines sitting there.
00:28:51
Speaker
I think it's, and that's where your margin is.
00:28:54
Speaker
So they should focus on their business and I'll focus on our side of it.
00:28:57
Speaker
And if we have that, like I said, good cohesion between the operator, the location, and then our technicians, usually that provides a positive outcome.
Adapting to COVID-19 and Future Outlook
00:29:08
Speaker
So you brought up COVID and different numbers and whatnot.
00:29:11
Speaker
Are you kind of just hoping things will kind of come back around here in a year?
00:29:17
Speaker
Is there a different business plan you guys are going with?
00:29:21
Speaker
I know that a lot of people are going to like renting to homes.
00:29:23
Speaker
Is that something you guys are dabbling in?
00:29:25
Speaker
What is it that the operators are trying to do to stay alive during these times?
00:29:29
Speaker
Yeah, the last meeting we had with Stern, we have an operator support meeting that we talk to operators and
00:29:36
Speaker
you know, try to discuss strategies on how to, you know, maintain status quo, try to weather the storm, basically, you know, because it's a big change, you know, like, I mean, I would have never thought, we leased out about 90 games.
00:29:53
Speaker
And I wouldn't say that that's my specific business model.
00:29:57
Speaker
But if you were just an operator, it's a great way to bring in some needed revenue.
00:30:03
Speaker
You know, we're waiting, like when you're waiting for PPP loans, or
00:30:06
Speaker
or different things to try to gain some ground on what you're doing financially.
00:30:12
Speaker
Luckily, I diversified in this business many times over.
00:30:18
Speaker
We bought a bar, we ran a bar, we own an ATM route, we own a vending route, we own a coin-op route, we consult for FECs.
00:30:27
Speaker
I own an FEC.
00:30:29
Speaker
But really,
00:30:31
Speaker
All that entertainment went down the tubes.
00:30:33
Speaker
I mean, I was just like hanging on by ATMs and rentals.
00:30:36
Speaker
I invested additional money I had over the years in property to try to just diversify myself.
00:30:44
Speaker
I feel really bad for the single arcade operator who had one location.
00:30:49
Speaker
You've seen a lot of these arcade bars popping up and it was booming in 2019.
00:30:54
Speaker
I mean, it was at an all-time high.
00:30:57
Speaker
I was visiting...
00:30:58
Speaker
probably three to four different arcade bars a month just in my travels through my route.
00:31:04
Speaker
I mean, we operate in the state of Virginia.
00:31:08
Speaker
We operate in the state of West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Maryland.
00:31:14
Speaker
And you would see or hear about a new place popping up just constantly.
00:31:19
Speaker
I was checking places out, trying to support what people were doing in this industry.
00:31:25
Speaker
And then when that came to a crash, if that was their only way to make money, they probably had a big halt there.
00:31:35
Speaker
So that was a great way to kind of weather the storm, lease out some of your games.
00:31:41
Speaker
I've seen a lot of people that didn't want to sell their games, but I mean, I was trying to tell anyone that would listen, like, hey man, you can always buy the games again.
00:31:50
Speaker
Don't get so attached to your inventory that you're not going to sell it.
00:31:53
Speaker
you know, because, I mean, let's face it, we're entertainment, you know, the concert industry is not going to come back for another year now.
00:31:59
Speaker
I mean, some of the biggest concert promoters have just said like, hey, you know, these tours that were scheduled for July, they're going to be put on the sideline for 2021 again.
00:32:08
Speaker
So for us to foolishly think that we're not going to have to weather the storm for another 365 days, I mean, you know, there's pockets of hope, but really, I mean, as an operator, you have to think
00:32:21
Speaker
I have to batten down the hatches probably until like March of next year.
00:32:26
Speaker
That's at least my goal.
00:32:27
Speaker
I'm not projecting anymore.
00:32:29
Speaker
My accountant always says to me, he's saying through all COVID, project.
00:32:32
Speaker
We got to September.
00:32:33
Speaker
I said, I made so many bad projections.
00:32:35
Speaker
Why do you want me to project quarter four now?
00:32:37
Speaker
It's like, I can't.
00:32:39
Speaker
There's no way.
00:32:40
Speaker
We were down big, but it's like, this is why we save for the rainy day and we're in business for the long haul.
00:32:48
Speaker
So
00:32:48
Speaker
You know, but my advice is to do what you can to keep yourself afloat.
00:32:53
Speaker
And when everyone's vaccinated or we have a handle on something that, you know, I'm an operator, it's out of my control.
00:33:00
Speaker
I don't know.
00:33:01
Speaker
I don't know the logistical matters of COVID.
00:33:05
Speaker
I just know that until people feel safe again and we can provide an environment where people feel safe, you're going to be down.
00:33:12
Speaker
So you mentioned like, yes, COVID, it's going to be crazy.
00:33:18
Speaker
What do you envision it going to be, let's say in a year and a half?
00:33:23
Speaker
Let's all pray that everybody's vaccinated, that the pandemic is on its tail end and people are safe.
00:33:31
Speaker
What do you see the post-COVID world for coin-op industry going to be like?
00:33:37
Speaker
I mean, guys, it's all projection, but I hope, and in my mind, it has to come back, right?
00:33:43
Speaker
I mean, people have had some great times at our locations.
00:33:47
Speaker
So, I mean, I just feel like the thing that scares me the most is, will they forget that?
00:33:53
Speaker
I mean, you know, but I don't think they will.
00:33:55
Speaker
I think, you know, really keep up on your marketing.
00:33:58
Speaker
That's like another huge part of it.
00:33:59
Speaker
I mean, like, you know, if your location's closed right now or whatever, don't let your customers forget about you.
00:34:05
Speaker
Keep a bug in their ear.
00:34:08
Speaker
Keep doing what you can to keep them interested in what you're doing.
00:34:12
Speaker
I do believe that if you ask me my honest opinion, I really believe that we will come back to where we were in 2018, where not everywhere had an arcade bar, but there was a lot of smaller single games
00:34:33
Speaker
operator, owner operator places out there like that.
00:34:36
Speaker
I think you're going to see that again.
00:34:37
Speaker
I think people want to come back out.
00:34:39
Speaker
I mean, you know, you guys have machines in your house, but I'm sure you supported location play.
00:34:44
Speaker
I mean, I'm sure you're looking forward to get back out there.
00:34:46
Speaker
Most arcade hobbyists or collectors, they can't afford to buy every game.
00:34:52
Speaker
I know there's some outliers where guys can buy everything and I get that.
00:34:55
Speaker
But I mean, most people come to play games on location because they don't have an opportunity to play anywhere else.
00:35:01
Speaker
So I think that just that in and of itself will generate some buzz behind it.
00:35:08
Speaker
People right now are iffy on if they want to come out and things like that.
00:35:11
Speaker
But long term, I think if you actually say you're an av 18 months from now, I think we've got to be back to getting into our stride there.
00:35:20
Speaker
So I think you'll start to see the location play significantly increase probably sometime early 2022.
00:35:30
Speaker
Awesome.
00:35:30
Speaker
Well, and I don't know about the East Coast, but I know here in Utah, some of the locations have opened back up.
00:35:36
Speaker
And I went to one two weeks ago, and I know that the front half of the arcade, where we called the kiddie gambling games, were doing fantastic.
00:35:46
Speaker
Uh-huh.
00:35:46
Speaker
But the pinball machines in the back, well, I liked it.
00:35:50
Speaker
I had them all to myself.
00:35:51
Speaker
I could pick which one I wanted.
00:35:52
Speaker
But it was kind of cool because the front half was the younger kids, 10 and under.
00:35:57
Speaker
But back in the back, it was high school-age kids.
00:36:00
Speaker
They'd taken their dates there and were playing pinball.
00:36:02
Speaker
And I'm like, I would have never thought of that as a teenager.
00:36:04
Speaker
Be like, hey, baby, how you doing?
00:36:06
Speaker
You want to go play some pinball?
00:36:08
Speaker
Yeah, we did an event once at Starport.
00:36:10
Speaker
It was called Split Flipper Speed Dating.
00:36:15
Speaker
what a great thing.
00:36:16
Speaker
So basically you paired up and, and you got one pinball game with, with a guy or a gal, you know, and, and you talked and, you know, and, and, uh, seeing if you hit it off with that person.
00:36:29
Speaker
So it was interesting to me that, uh, that you said that because we actually created an event that was all about that.
00:36:36
Speaker
Like, I'll never forget it.
00:36:37
Speaker
Like, I mean, and I've never done this, but I've seen it in like some movie or something where they did like speed dating and you jump around and,
00:36:44
Speaker
And, you know, you talk, you ask all kinds of questions.
00:36:47
Speaker
You got like five minutes, I flip over an hourglass.
00:36:49
Speaker
Or with pinball was like, you're playing the left flipper, he or she's playing the right flipper and you flip and you talk.
00:36:56
Speaker
And if you hit it off with that person, you kind of remembered it.
00:37:00
Speaker
And then at the end of the night, we were like, well, who did you like?
00:37:02
Speaker
And it was funny because some people were like, well, that guy wasn't very good.
00:37:05
Speaker
So they were pointing out, I liked his answers, but I didn't like his gameplay.
00:37:10
Speaker
And I'm a gamer, so he's out.
00:37:13
Speaker
It was an interesting concept.
00:37:15
Speaker
But yeah, I mean, it's true.
00:37:16
Speaker
I mean, it's really an icebreaker for some people.
00:37:21
Speaker
Play better so we can date longer.
00:37:23
Speaker
Come on, come on.
00:37:24
Speaker
You got to keep that thing in play.
00:37:26
Speaker
So, yeah.
00:37:28
Speaker
Awesome.
00:37:29
Speaker
So you brought this up with having free play nights, which I think is great.
00:37:34
Speaker
When you and I grew up, it was basically a pay to play.
00:37:38
Speaker
You showed up and it was, you know, 25 cents and the newer games are 50 cents.
00:37:43
Speaker
What's...
00:37:46
Speaker
What really stopped me going from a lot of these arcades is that it seemed like some of them just completely abandoned the quick small coins and they went for the premium.
00:37:58
Speaker
So every single one was like a $3 or $4 or $5.
00:37:59
Speaker
So how do you find that mix of...
00:38:05
Speaker
of being able to find, you know, games that are relatively cheap to get into versus the premium ones.
00:38:12
Speaker
Because as you said, people will go to a location to say, hey, I want to play that, that raw thrills, you know, that big buck hunter game, the new one with all the, all the stuff where people's like, I want to play Galaga.
00:38:25
Speaker
Like, how do you find that balance?
00:38:27
Speaker
Well, I mean, you know, it's, it's not, it's not possible.
00:38:30
Speaker
It's not an exact science.
00:38:31
Speaker
We use a square footage calculation guys on, on earnings, you know,
00:38:35
Speaker
But like, you know, really, I want to say too, like, I don't know where you are, but like, you know, we don't, I don't have any games.
00:38:42
Speaker
I don't really think there's a market in my areas for a $5 game.
00:38:47
Speaker
So like, you know, that's a, that's one of the big decisions that's coming up for us at AMOA.
00:38:51
Speaker
You know, Eugene has done a game based off of the Kong licensing and it looks amazing.
00:39:00
Speaker
We had sat in it at a booth at AMOA.
00:39:04
Speaker
I believe it was AMOA in New Orleans.
00:39:08
Speaker
And it was cool.
00:39:10
Speaker
But there's a big hurdle to climb if you're going to charge $5 for a five-minute activity.
00:39:19
Speaker
So as far as the balance goes, I mean, just have everything from one token to four tokens.
00:39:25
Speaker
And I try to represent my business off of that.
00:39:27
Speaker
Anything that we have to have more or it's in a touristy area or higher volume, we have to go to a card system.
00:39:34
Speaker
And, you know, and then that is just like, that's a whole different animal.
00:39:38
Speaker
You're in like a vacation area or something like that.
00:39:40
Speaker
But like your traditional, you know, arcade bar or similar setup now, I mean, you know, you got to have a little bit of everything because, you know, not everybody wants to play a dollar a play the whole time, like you said.
00:39:54
Speaker
I mean, so you have to kind of say, hey, here's where it is.
00:39:57
Speaker
Like our newest games are going to be a buck a play.
00:39:59
Speaker
And then after they're two months old, they're 75 cents or three for two bucks.
00:40:04
Speaker
And then with some of the driving games and things like that, I mean, if you think pinballs are expensive, Mario Kart's like $12,000 per unit.
00:40:12
Speaker
And then you need four units.
00:40:13
Speaker
I mean, you're looking at almost $50,000 in cost to have a four-player Mario Kart.
00:40:19
Speaker
So those games tend to stay at $1 or 75 cents.
00:40:27
Speaker
But they tend to draw in the more casual person.
00:40:30
Speaker
There's no intimidating factor about like racing games.
00:40:33
Speaker
Everybody knows like the objective is to get to the finish line.
00:40:36
Speaker
Where like with pinball, like we said, there's a lot more of objectives and side objectives and even side-side objectives.
00:40:45
Speaker
Like, you know, there's combo bonuses.
00:40:47
Speaker
There's, you know, what your mode score was, what your multiball score was, what your play field was.
00:40:53
Speaker
There's all kinds of different things that like, you know, to get in depth on a pinball machine is a lot different than to pick up a, a buck on her gun and shoot zombies.
00:41:01
Speaker
You know, it's not, it's not hard to understand the objective, you know what I mean?
00:41:05
Speaker
So that's why the barrier of entry to understanding the game is much less on like a traditional arcade game.
00:41:12
Speaker
You know what I mean?
00:41:13
Speaker
And now they're slowly like Kong, the new Kong from raw thrills is that next level.
00:41:19
Speaker
Like, okay, we're going to take it and make it VR.
00:41:21
Speaker
Right.
00:41:22
Speaker
And I'm telling you, in the last five years, the VR has gotten better and better.
00:41:26
Speaker
I would have never considered ever putting a VR room in my arcade at Starport.
00:41:33
Speaker
And this last year, I started to become a believer between AMOA in 2019 and then IAPA 2019, then 2020 AMOA in February.
00:41:41
Speaker
I was like, okay, it's there.
00:41:42
Speaker
The technology's there.
00:41:50
Speaker
the smoothness of the rendering of the graphics and things like that are there.
00:41:53
Speaker
It's ready.
00:41:54
Speaker
Like now, you know, that's going to be the next thing.
00:41:57
Speaker
Like my kids are going to want to like come to the arcade and play that.
00:42:01
Speaker
So now it's about how do you institute that safely?
00:42:03
Speaker
And I mean, the cost analysis, I mean, cause like, I don't know if you've ever seen like the LAI game, the virtual rabbits where you put the thing on and you're in like a little cart.
00:42:12
Speaker
And I mean, that's $65,000 without a game plugged into it.
00:42:17
Speaker
Then you got to buy the license for the game.
00:42:19
Speaker
So, I mean, you're out like really, really, really huge money, and that's what you're talking about.
00:42:24
Speaker
Those attractions cost several dollars per play.
00:42:29
Speaker
So, I mean, so to answer that question, I don't know 100% how to modify our layouts and things like that, but I mean, that's why I go and seek education all the time
Skill Development in Pinball Maintenance
00:42:42
Speaker
on it.
00:42:42
Speaker
Like, I mean, we go to meetings, we go to seminars, we go to online Zoom meetings with manufacturers and things like that.
00:42:48
Speaker
Like that's the world we live in now.
00:42:49
Speaker
We have to be educated on the product to see if it's right for us.
00:42:52
Speaker
And then when that time comes, when I actually do that, you know, have me back on, I'll tell you how it's doing because, you know, I want that stuff to be out there.
00:42:58
Speaker
I want people to buy these things so that we can, you know, again, keep pushing coin up down the road here.
00:43:06
Speaker
So one of the big things that I've talked about is, well, you, you talked about it with pinball.
00:43:13
Speaker
Is there so many people that don't understand pinball or,
00:43:18
Speaker
They don't even know how to run the pinball or I get this all the time.
00:43:22
Speaker
Hey, I got this lead on a $300 whatever game.
00:43:28
Speaker
I don't know, like a Black Knight or just Earthshaker or whatever.
00:43:33
Speaker
And I was like, OK, but do you know what the problems are with it?
00:43:37
Speaker
And they're like, I don't know.
00:43:39
Speaker
So a lot of times with pinball and you talked about it with technicians and making sure that something's well serviced.
00:43:49
Speaker
So how do you actually learn how to work on something like a pinball machine?
00:43:54
Speaker
Because
00:43:55
Speaker
It can be the biggest challenge is diagnosing the problem and then actually knowing the treatment for the problem.
00:44:03
Speaker
It makes it completely different versus, oh, well, the modder's bad.
00:44:09
Speaker
Unplug it and get a new one.
00:44:12
Speaker
So how do you get that skill set?
00:44:14
Speaker
Because it seems like such a foreign thing to me.
00:44:17
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, and it is for sure.
00:44:18
Speaker
Like, I mean, you know, a lot of people that have experience working with electronics,
00:44:23
Speaker
don't necessarily understand the logic of a pinball machine.
00:44:26
Speaker
So, or, or, you know, for that matter, just anything that we deal with in coin op, but, you know, like I personally haven't trained technicians in a while, but we have techs on our staff that have been involved in, in coin op basically longer than I've been alive.
00:44:42
Speaker
Some of our senior guys are just incredible.
00:44:44
Speaker
I mean, you know, God bless them, but, you know, and they, they try to train, train,
00:44:51
Speaker
our beginner technicians, like people that are coming on board that have a work ethic, they kind of have some background and like, you know, they can solder, they can do this, they can do that.
00:45:00
Speaker
We look for people that have some skillset.
00:45:02
Speaker
And then of course, like we don't underpay anybody.
00:45:05
Speaker
That's like my biggest thing.
00:45:07
Speaker
Guys, I refuse to not pay a living wage to people that work for me.
00:45:12
Speaker
It's like, and that's why we have such good success.
00:45:15
Speaker
I mean, we have a real good group of guys and gals that come and troubleshoot this stuff
00:45:20
Speaker
And then we actually train the staff at the locations.
00:45:22
Speaker
I mean, some of our locations have trained people that work there to recognize a problem, to maybe self-diagnose.
00:45:31
Speaker
And then we try to leave keys at the sites of plate locations that we trust.
00:45:39
Speaker
And they can sometimes alleviate most of our problems.
00:45:43
Speaker
I mean, 80% of our service calls in CoinUp are CoinJam.
00:45:47
Speaker
It's just, hey, man, the coin's jammed.
00:45:50
Speaker
Hey, I can't put money in it.
00:45:51
Speaker
That's a problem.
00:45:52
Speaker
But I mean, as far as functionality of the game and training people, you know, having a couple of senior level guys that have just have seen all eras of pinball, all eras of arcade, all eras of coin-op.
00:46:03
Speaker
I mean, I have a guy that can fix a 1919 Wurlitzer Nickelodeon, and he can also fix a brand new Stern pinball, you know.
00:46:13
Speaker
So, but he's seen all that.
00:46:14
Speaker
He's fixed mechanical slot machines from mills from the 30s.
00:46:18
Speaker
He's fixed Genco electromechanical pinballs without flippers from the 40s and 50s.
00:46:25
Speaker
He fixes all mechanical games, all dash 35 and dash 18 ballet games, dash 200 stern games.
00:46:34
Speaker
He's seen every era.
00:46:36
Speaker
He's worked for other operators.
00:46:38
Speaker
Those guys are worth their weight in gold.
00:46:40
Speaker
But the nice thing about that is we have a real family type of group of people and we train, everyone trains and cross trains.
00:46:48
Speaker
I mean, you know, our best technicians are the ones that are willing to learn.
00:46:53
Speaker
And, you know, and part of that is, you know, you gotta, you gotta make sure you pay up.
00:46:56
Speaker
And, you know, I think that's the other thing in this industry is the traditional street operator doesn't see the value of having somebody who is better trained or who is well compensated.
00:47:08
Speaker
you know, I think people tend to work better in our industry if they're not worrying about how they're going to feed their family.
00:47:14
Speaker
So we try to give them a good paycheck and try to treat them how we want to be treated.
00:47:19
Speaker
And in turn, I mean, it's really, you know, the product to the public has been reflected really well with our company.
00:47:26
Speaker
I think, you know, we have, like I said, I mean, we just try to hire people that are motivated, willing to learn, and then we train them properly.
00:47:33
Speaker
You know, that's the thing.
00:47:34
Speaker
You're right.
00:47:35
Speaker
At a baseline,
00:47:37
Speaker
There's no one that's in school right now for an electrical engineering degree that's like, I can't wait to go out and fix pinball machines.
00:47:44
Speaker
I mean, like, because that's not usually where the money is.
00:47:47
Speaker
But, you know, a lot of those times those guys will take a part time role for us.
00:47:52
Speaker
And, you know, I mean, matter of fact, this is a funny story.
00:47:55
Speaker
There's a guy that comes to Helicon Brewing who's an actual surgeon, like he's a MD surgeon.
00:48:01
Speaker
And he wants to he works on games with us and fixes games for us.
00:48:06
Speaker
Because he wants to do it.
00:48:08
Speaker
Like, you know, he says, oh, you know, if I fix a game for you, let me keep it at my house for a couple months.
00:48:12
Speaker
I'm like, yeah, that's fine.
00:48:14
Speaker
I'd rather pay you, but I'm never going to be able to pay a surgeon money.
00:48:17
Speaker
So, you know, it kind of like just, but that's just it.
00:48:21
Speaker
So like the people that, the curious minds that are interested in what we do and then, you know, people that can make a career out of it.
00:48:28
Speaker
You know, we have people that are on our staff for 12 years that are career people.
00:48:32
Speaker
They make career level money.
00:48:34
Speaker
So that's the other part of it.
00:48:38
Speaker
Yeah, actually.
00:48:39
Speaker
Well, I don't know if I even told you this.
00:48:41
Speaker
I'm an anesthesiologist.
00:48:42
Speaker
And so I actually work on my games, too.
00:48:45
Speaker
And I actually have another buddy who he actually has kind of the best of Bally Williams.
00:48:50
Speaker
And he actually likes working on them more.
00:48:53
Speaker
He's one of my anesthesia partners, but he actually likes working on them more than he actually likes playing them.
00:48:58
Speaker
Oh, wow.
00:48:59
Speaker
So it's been a lot of fun to see that.
00:49:02
Speaker
I'm still – I'm really at the 101 stage.
00:49:06
Speaker
Like I can do some things.
00:49:08
Speaker
But you – I did want to circle around to what you said about the Royal Edition on Medieval Madness.
00:49:14
Speaker
I actually had the Medieval Madness and it plays really well.
00:49:17
Speaker
And so I decided to get all the upgrades for it to do the –
00:49:23
Speaker
And I, you know, I got under there, I pulled all of the lights, I did solder things, I installed everything.
00:49:30
Speaker
And you're right, it is a, it is a, it's a tonal change on the game.
00:49:36
Speaker
The game is basically the same, but the tone and the experience, it is much different.
00:49:41
Speaker
And you're right, it does take it to the next level.
00:49:44
Speaker
Yeah, the immersion in it, I never thought, I mean, guys, I remember unboxing Medieval Madness New in 98 when it was new.
00:49:51
Speaker
And it was like,
00:49:53
Speaker
it was great.
00:49:54
Speaker
Brian made this game and it was freaking amazing.
00:49:57
Speaker
And, and, and, and people just gravitated to it.
00:50:01
Speaker
It was like, you know, it had like some kind of like humor in it that was a draw to people and things like that.
00:50:07
Speaker
And that was the immersion back then.
00:50:09
Speaker
But fast forward to today on a reboot of a game that was wildly popular in that era turned into a better game for me to say that, like I'm telling you,
00:50:21
Speaker
like the initial medieval madness, I was like, great.
00:50:24
Speaker
Now I can stop getting that phone call on at least twice a week.
00:50:28
Speaker
Like, hey, you have this medieval madness at this laundromat and I'd really like to buy it off you.
00:50:34
Speaker
Or, hey, you know, I'm like, now I can just buy it.
00:50:37
Speaker
Like, you know, like I can't be left alone.
00:50:39
Speaker
But then really the royal edition, I think really it started with like,
00:50:45
Speaker
attack attack from mars yeah yeah i think it was attack from mars yeah yeah the limited topper kind of like was like wow look at that and how it looked and and it included like kind of what was similar like what we called the bill on kit back in the day with like the lighted saucers and things like that so that so then there was a little bit there there was a taste then monster bash came out with like you know then that had the le had the keller changing gi and
00:51:10
Speaker
when drack comes out, everything goes red, blah, you know, and it's like, when you're in a dark room and you're playing that game, the immersion became simply to the next level.
00:51:22
Speaker
You know, there was never that immersion with incandescent bulbs and those bulbs were not color controlled and all that.
00:51:29
Speaker
And then you take it to the next level with what they did there.
00:51:32
Speaker
And I mean, all the manufacturers are doing that now.
00:51:35
Speaker
I mean, for crying out loud, the light show on Guns N' Roses is, I just,
00:51:41
Speaker
don't even know what to say.
00:51:41
Speaker
It's incredible.
00:51:43
Speaker
It's like, you know, and I don't get wowed about too many things.
00:51:47
Speaker
Like I collect things that I do get wowed about that aren't coin op related.
00:51:51
Speaker
This, this stuff is like, they're, they're really, really, really pushing the envelope.
00:51:56
Speaker
And I think that's a great way to the future because kids want to see things that look high tech, that feel high tech, that feel high end, that look high end.
00:52:04
Speaker
I mean, you know, but, but we can see it just from that game that was engineered in the nineties.
00:52:09
Speaker
they turned it into a whole other level of game whenever they made all those changes to the software side of it and the lighting and the different effects that it has.
00:52:21
Speaker
So I'm going to throw you a quick curveball now that you've brought up Guns N' Roses and whatnot.
Game Preferences: Avengers vs. Guns N' Roses
00:52:26
Speaker
I don't know if you watched the Pinball Industry Awards, but Guns N' Roses won Game of the Year.
00:52:33
Speaker
After seeing the game and putting your hands on it versus the other games that have come out this year, do you feel like it deserves the title of Game of the Year?
00:52:41
Speaker
Wow.
00:52:42
Speaker
Man, I'm going to go on the spot.
00:52:43
Speaker
Well, see, here's the thing.
00:52:44
Speaker
There's so many versions of the games, right?
00:52:46
Speaker
So I've pretty much played them all.
00:52:50
Speaker
And, oh man, you're hurting my heart here.
00:52:54
Speaker
But I would say that it is a spectacular game.
00:53:00
Speaker
And as far as a location route game, I think it's going to be a great, phenomenal earner on our primary markets and our secondary markets.
00:53:10
Speaker
As a player, it's not my favorite game of 2020.
00:53:13
Speaker
What is your favorite game?
00:53:18
Speaker
I just like Avengers, man.
00:53:20
Speaker
I like the feeds.
00:53:21
Speaker
I like, I like, I think, I think the game feeds better.
00:53:24
Speaker
I think the balls feed better.
00:53:25
Speaker
I mean, I love Guns N' Roses and I think it's going to out earn all those games.
00:53:29
Speaker
So like, thank you, JJP and Eric for making something spectacular.
00:53:34
Speaker
I mean, beyond anything I expected, it's just, it was incredible, but no, I mean, I like, I like Avengers.
00:53:40
Speaker
I mean, you know, I'm a comic book nerd, so the theme kind of,
00:53:44
Speaker
I didn't mind getting another Avengers.
00:53:45
Speaker
You see a lot of complaints online about, oh, it's another Avengers, blah, blah, blah.
00:53:49
Speaker
I mean, like, no, it's, again, that's another license that'll stand the test of time that that game will, will, will, will make it to secondary locations and be people that have like, you know, what I would call B location for us will be absolutely thrilled to have that game too.
00:54:05
Speaker
And I mean, you know, I just, just my personal, I think that, that everything Keith's done with Stern has been a really fresh,
00:54:14
Speaker
and really admirable effort.
00:54:16
Speaker
It's not like nothing got mailed in, man.
00:54:18
Speaker
He literally, he made something creative.
00:54:22
Speaker
I mean, there's four ramps in Jurassic Park.
00:54:24
Speaker
I still can't get over that.
00:54:25
Speaker
I mean, like I was like, and they all feed well and they all like don't seem out of place.
00:54:30
Speaker
It's not like sometimes you see games from the nineties and you're like, like demo man.
00:54:33
Speaker
They're like, they just put a ramp there to put a ramp there.
00:54:36
Speaker
You can't hit it.
00:54:40
Speaker
Not just that.
00:54:41
Speaker
It might be difficult to hit, and I don't mind the challenge, but it's like this was just the objective of this game was to have as many Rams as possible or whatever.
00:54:50
Speaker
But I mean, I think really you could flip a coin because the games are great.
00:54:57
Speaker
I do like the standard version of Guns N' Roses a little bit better, but the look of the LE is just incredible.
00:55:04
Speaker
As far as gameplay and how it feeds the flippers and all that, what an amazing... This new blood in the pinball industry has brought forward a lot of different concepts and layouts and things like that.
00:55:18
Speaker
Everything that these new guys have done, it's a great breath of fresh air.
00:55:22
Speaker
The veterans are the veterans and they're awesome and they've done some amazing things even recently.
00:55:27
Speaker
I really like Led Zeppelin.
00:55:28
Speaker
I love it.
00:55:29
Speaker
It's nice to get
00:55:32
Speaker
a breakup of just like constant flow or, you know, there's some nice curve balls in the industry now with some of these people.
00:55:39
Speaker
And, and, and I think, you know, hopefully some of Dennis's creativity at American will, will bring forward some of the, some of his ideas to, to the forefront of their company.
00:55:50
Speaker
Well, when I got to play Elvira a couple of weeks ago and I loved it, I mean, house of horrors is amazing.
00:55:56
Speaker
At first I didn't think I'd like it, but it almost brings back the nostalgia of those nineties.
00:56:01
Speaker
I mean, it's, it's the perfect sequel to scared stiff and it just, the shots are far back enough.
00:56:07
Speaker
I don't know.
00:56:08
Speaker
I felt like it was a perfect meld between medieval madness and Stern's pirates of the Caribbean, uh, on the layout.
00:56:15
Speaker
And it just, I don't know.
00:56:16
Speaker
Everything shot well.
00:56:17
Speaker
It felt good.
00:56:19
Speaker
Uh, I got a kick out of it.
00:56:20
Speaker
And the code and the code came a long way.
00:56:23
Speaker
Like,
00:56:23
Speaker
You know, initially when we got that game, I think that the code was not where we thought it was going to be.
00:56:30
Speaker
But, I mean, I always liked the shots.
00:56:32
Speaker
The shots felt good.
00:56:33
Speaker
I mean, it's a long stroke off the flipper on the orbit, and then how the house feeds and keeps the gameplay going.
00:56:40
Speaker
It doesn't always stall you.
00:56:42
Speaker
You know, I think that, you know, Dennis did a great job on that.
00:56:45
Speaker
There's no doubt.
00:56:46
Speaker
I mean, you know, and I'm glad that it came to, you know,
00:56:51
Speaker
the realization, like everyone came to the realization of how good of a game it really is.
00:56:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:56:57
Speaker
Do you have any games at your house right now?
00:56:59
Speaker
Oh my God.
00:56:59
Speaker
I have, uh, pinballs or games.
00:57:04
Speaker
Cool.
00:57:06
Speaker
Yeah.
00:57:06
Speaker
So like games, I mean, I think I have, I mean, I have pretty much a four arcade here.
00:57:10
Speaker
So we have, we have the new halo from raw thrills.
00:57:13
Speaker
I have two cruisings for Mario carts.
00:57:16
Speaker
I got a pack Royale.
00:57:17
Speaker
I don't know.
00:57:18
Speaker
There's a ton of, I mean, every new stern pinball releases here.
00:57:21
Speaker
pretty much from 2015 on, it looks like, uh, I'm trying to see, I mean, my house, I mean, I've been in Cordova a long time, guys.
00:57:30
Speaker
I built a room on my house just for an arcade.
00:57:32
Speaker
So, you know, it's not like, I don't want to, I don't want to sound like I have everything, but I've got a lot of stuff, you know?
00:57:40
Speaker
But I mean, yeah, so we have a good arcade.
00:57:42
Speaker
I mean, the kids, you know, when someone comes over my daughter's school or something, they're like, what is this?
00:57:46
Speaker
You know, it's like, yeah.
00:57:48
Speaker
So yeah.
00:57:49
Speaker
What do you play?
00:57:50
Speaker
What do you play the most?
00:57:53
Speaker
Right now, I play my own game that I made the most because I'm in the process of just tweaking it.
00:58:01
Speaker
So I have a game that will end up coming to Helicon Brewing that is my own license, my own theme.
00:58:07
Speaker
Really?
00:58:08
Speaker
And I've been working on it for about six years.
00:58:12
Speaker
Yeah.
00:58:13
Speaker
Yep.
00:58:14
Speaker
We just brought on board a full-time engineer to go through this over the next three months to make sure that it can be produced.
00:58:23
Speaker
Yep.
00:58:24
Speaker
What type of game is it?
00:58:26
Speaker
Oh, that's for another day.
00:58:27
Speaker
Okay.
00:58:29
Speaker
It's a pinball machine.
00:58:30
Speaker
I mean, you know, we'll give you that.
00:58:32
Speaker
Yeah.
00:58:32
Speaker
But no, no, no.
00:58:33
Speaker
We'll have to believe me.
00:58:35
Speaker
You know, one of the things I made, I made an offer to you guys to, to meet me in Vegas.
00:58:41
Speaker
I may fly the machine out there and we'll maybe we'll see.
00:58:44
Speaker
We'll see.
00:58:45
Speaker
All right.
00:58:45
Speaker
All right.
00:58:46
Speaker
It's a deal.
00:58:47
Speaker
Yeah, for sure.
00:58:48
Speaker
For sure.
00:58:49
Speaker
I mean, I love coin op, man.
00:58:50
Speaker
And, you know, and some of my idols growing up were people that were designing these games.
00:58:54
Speaker
So it's like, you know, now I have the opportunity to do that.
00:58:58
Speaker
And with COVID, that was one of the things I said.
00:58:59
Speaker
I was like, well, wow, I should, I should go through with this.
00:59:03
Speaker
I mean, I, I've had it and I've, we, we wired it up to, you know, just to flip off of a power supply.
00:59:10
Speaker
And then I eventually made it flip off of a logic board out of a Viking, right?
00:59:14
Speaker
Of all games.
00:59:15
Speaker
So like I, you know, and now it's to the point where, so that's what I've been playing the most.
00:59:20
Speaker
I mean, the kids, they pretty much, I'm trying to think, they still play Arabian Nights the most, actually.
00:59:26
Speaker
So that's probably the most played game between my wife and my kids.
00:59:31
Speaker
They like it.
00:59:31
Speaker
My youngest daughter's five.
00:59:33
Speaker
She just likes how it reads you a story at the beginning.
00:59:35
Speaker
She loves that.
00:59:36
Speaker
Nice.
00:59:37
Speaker
And she cries when it doesn't say her shot was amazing.
00:59:42
Speaker
You know, that's what I deal with in this house now.
00:59:45
Speaker
That's our favorite one.
00:59:47
Speaker
But, I mean, as far as the new games that we have out there, I'm trying to think, man.
00:59:54
Speaker
I've been pretty laser-focused on this.
00:59:56
Speaker
But, I mean, I still like Monster Bash LE.
00:59:59
Speaker
I mean, I still play it.
01:00:02
Speaker
I still try to get rock before Bash.
01:00:04
Speaker
I mean, you know, like,
01:00:06
Speaker
Those are, those are, those are games I like, you know, and then believe it or not, I guess my, my seven year old, she likes stranger things.
01:00:11
Speaker
And we, we have a little board here that we're looking at on stranger things and where our scores are.
01:00:16
Speaker
So she's, she's trying to compete with me on that.
01:00:19
Speaker
So we're, we're, we're playing that a little bit too, but for the most part, I mean, you know, I, I have an opportunity to play games every day.
01:00:27
Speaker
I probably only play games twice a week because it's just like, you know, it's a reward for the kids or, you know, um,
01:00:34
Speaker
or I'm working on the custom game.
01:00:37
Speaker
So nice.
01:00:39
Speaker
Well, actually that that's a pretty good cliffhanger right there.
01:00:43
Speaker
Plug some of your locations.
01:00:44
Speaker
If people want to come out and check out your, your arcades, where are some of the highlights that you have?
Community Support and Local Arcade Promotion
01:00:50
Speaker
Hey man, if you ever come to Pittsburgh, we pretty much, I have to believe we're the capital pinball capital of the world.
01:00:57
Speaker
But I mean, there's always arguments being made for other places.
01:00:59
Speaker
We have Helicon Brewing,
01:01:01
Speaker
There's 80 games on site.
01:01:03
Speaker
Chris Brunetti is the owner there and they have great beer, great food trucks on the weekends.
01:01:08
Speaker
We're opening a second location with Helicon now that's about 15 miles from its first location.
01:01:15
Speaker
You know, check them out.
01:01:16
Speaker
Apis Wine and Meadery in Carnegie, PA, which is right outside of Pittsburgh.
01:01:22
Speaker
They have a great LE lineup of pinball machines.
01:01:27
Speaker
Also great,
01:01:28
Speaker
great products there.
01:01:29
Speaker
I mean, wine and mead, if you like mead or if you've ever had mead, Dave's is the largest mead producer in the state, I believe homemade and he makes it right there on site.
01:01:39
Speaker
We have, you know, All Saints Brewing Company in Greensburg, PA, another place that has about 30 pinball machines at it.
01:01:47
Speaker
They have a small arcade too, aside from pinball with the new Buck Hunter, Halo Fireteam Raven.
01:01:53
Speaker
So check those places out because I mean, you know, these are the small guys that are
01:01:57
Speaker
they're trying to weather the storm here with COVID and they appreciate any support you can.
01:02:01
Speaker
I mean, check them out online, give them a like on Facebook, anything with their, their marketing or social media, all that stuff helps.
01:02:08
Speaker
So we appreciate.
01:02:09
Speaker
And then of course, I want to thank you guys for having me on and, and shout out to Tim Lee who, you know, got us together and hopefully we can, we can do this again.
01:02:21
Speaker
Sometimes guys, you got my number, call me anytime.
01:02:23
Speaker
No, absolutely.
01:02:24
Speaker
Yeah.
01:02:25
Speaker
Thank you so much for coming on.
01:02:26
Speaker
It's been great to get the business side of things because as an enthusiast, we don't, it's hard to understand that we are super passionate about it, but there is a business side.
01:02:37
Speaker
And ultimately, as long as the business isn't viable, then it's difficult to maintain a future in this.
01:02:42
Speaker
Hey man, that's it.
01:02:44
Speaker
You know, the home market's pretty strong right now, but, but I mean, you know, it peaks in valleys.
01:02:50
Speaker
I've seen it peak in Valley many times.
01:02:51
Speaker
So.
01:02:52
Speaker
Hopefully we can come back to some sense of normalcy and get back to playing games.
01:02:58
Speaker
I mean, I would love to beat the loser kid in Scott any time, any day.
01:03:03
Speaker
Me and Tim Lee, two versus two, we'll challenge you guys any time.
01:03:07
Speaker
Oh, you're putting Scott on my team?
01:03:10
Speaker
Yeah, exactly.
01:03:12
Speaker
Exactly.
01:03:13
Speaker
Well, I mean, you know...
01:03:16
Speaker
I hear you're good, so I got to give you a handicap, right?
01:03:18
Speaker
I mean, I got to give you someone that's going to hamper you a little bit, you know?
01:03:20
Speaker
Exactly, exactly.
01:03:22
Speaker
I chimp flip.
01:03:23
Speaker
Both hands just slap simultaneously.
01:03:25
Speaker
That's exactly how I play.
01:03:27
Speaker
Oh, man, we got to change that.
01:03:30
Speaker
You got Tim Lee that's like,
01:03:32
Speaker
Yeah, I'm not so good at pinball, but I just dropped like $3 billion on Deadpool the other day.
01:03:37
Speaker
Yeah, no biggie.
01:03:41
Speaker
Yeah, man.
01:03:41
Speaker
Guys, call me anytime.
01:03:43
Speaker
I really enjoyed it.
01:03:44
Speaker
Honestly, if you want to touch on any other topics, you know how to get a hold of me.
01:03:48
Speaker
I'm an open book, man.
01:03:49
Speaker
I really want to raise all ships in the coin-op business.
01:03:53
Speaker
Anybody that listens to this, I hope they can learn a thing or two about how they run their operations.
01:04:00
Speaker
Well, it sounds good.
01:04:01
Speaker
Stick around.
01:04:01
Speaker
We'll get some information so we can send you some swag.
01:04:04
Speaker
We have a reputation of having the best hats in the industry.
01:04:09
Speaker
And so we will definitely get you some of that out.
01:04:11
Speaker
And Josh, go ahead and take us out.
01:04:14
Speaker
So before I wrap this all up in our tight little neat bow that we usually do, I want to say a personal thank you.
01:04:21
Speaker
I know that we've already said it on our Facebook and Instagram and Twitter and stuff like that.
01:04:24
Speaker
But thank you guys to everyone out there that has supported us.
01:04:29
Speaker
Guys and gals, you know, from the reviews that you leave for us.
01:04:34
Speaker
to everything else and especially to those that come on like chris that come and do interviews uh eric meniere on our last interview it was awesome to see so much support and love and to receive the award from the pinball industry awards this last thursday thank you guys for the recognition uh i know that we're not in it for the trophies well i'm not i i am i am
01:04:57
Speaker
I know Scott is.
01:04:59
Speaker
He's waiting for his crystal to show up so he can take his defying picture for his Facebook page.
01:05:05
Speaker
But thank you.
01:05:07
Speaker
Just thank you to everyone.
01:05:08
Speaker
Yeah, in all sincerity, Josh and I have had such a great time the last two years, and we've been able to talk to amazing people and been able to get in contact with such amazing people.
01:05:19
Speaker
I sincerely can say that Josh and I are truly humbled that we were recognized for excellence in podcasting in pinball and...
01:05:30
Speaker
We feel that this is a big community and there's lots of seats at the table and we have lots of friends who are excellent podcasters doing their own thing.
01:05:39
Speaker
And so we really do appreciate what everybody brings to it and really making this such a positive experience, especially during the dark
Closing Remarks and Audience Appreciation
01:05:47
Speaker
times of COVID.
01:05:47
Speaker
And so a big shout out to everybody and thanks so much for everything.
01:05:52
Speaker
Well, it did put a smile on my face after we had won the award last Thursday.
01:05:57
Speaker
And one of the very first people to reach out to us was Eric Meniere.
01:06:00
Speaker
And he said, game of the year, got interviewed by the podcast of the year.
01:06:04
Speaker
And that was his words, not mine, but I thought it was pretty awesome to get that recognition from Eric.
01:06:11
Speaker
And, uh,
01:06:12
Speaker
It's cool that this hobby is small and we all kind of know each other and we just kind of shoot the breeze.
01:06:20
Speaker
And it's nice to have support, whether it be in front of the scenes or behind them.
01:06:26
Speaker
If you want to contact us, you can contact us via Gmail at LoserkidPinballPodcast at gmail.com.
01:06:33
Speaker
Or the one that we prefer is Facebook, LoserkidPinball.com.
01:06:38
Speaker
Also, Twitter and Instagram at LoserKidPinball.
01:06:41
Speaker
Messenger's great to get a hold of us.
01:06:43
Speaker
You can be like Tim Lee, who just randomly messages us and chats and shows us his awesome scores and then tells us he's not that good at pinball.
01:06:52
Speaker
And I'm giving him crap because he's here in with recording with us, but he's like refusing to talk.
01:06:57
Speaker
He's a ghost.
01:06:59
Speaker
He's totally ghosting us.
01:07:00
Speaker
And so I'm going to give him crap if he's going to keep his microphone off.
01:07:04
Speaker
But...
01:07:06
Speaker
So, but if you want to get ahold of us, that's the ways to get ahold of us.
01:07:11
Speaker
You got anything else for us, Scott?
01:07:12
Speaker
No, it's great.
01:07:13
Speaker
Just be excellent and reach out, reach out to your friends in pinball that you haven't been able to play physically with.
01:07:19
Speaker
Certainly try to support your local, your local coin ops and look forward to a better year than what we had last year.
01:07:28
Speaker
So take care of yourselves.
01:07:30
Speaker
And I agree with Scott.
01:07:31
Speaker
I want to put one more thing out there.
01:07:33
Speaker
There are people going through really rough times right now in this hobby, whether you know it or not, not necessarily to deal with the hobby, but we all know each other because of the hobby.
01:07:41
Speaker
So if you haven't talked to someone in a while, just a friend, an acquaintance, reach out to them, see how they're doing, see how, how they're living life and whatnot.
01:07:50
Speaker
Uh, we're, we're trying to get all through this all together.
01:07:52
Speaker
Right.
01:07:52
Speaker
And so that's the best way to do it.
01:07:56
Speaker
All right.
01:07:56
Speaker
We'll see you in two weeks and, uh, take care.