Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Ep 26: Podcasts Ride Off Into the Sunset with Martin Robbins
57 Plays6 years ago
With multiple podcasts calling it quits, we try to gain some perspective by asking one of them, why? Martin Robbins from the now retired podcast Head2Head joins Josh on this episode to discuss Head2Head memories, reasons for calling it quits, and thoughts on the other podcasts ending their run as well.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction of Martin Robbins and Episode Context
00:00:06
Speaker
Thanks for tuning in to Loser Kid Pinball Podcast.
00:00:08
Speaker
We're on episode 26.
00:00:11
Speaker
My co-host with me today is... Martin Robbins, formerly from the Head to Head Pinball Podcast.
00:00:19
Speaker
What are you doing here?
00:00:22
Speaker
Oh, well, you know, I was on my self-imposed hiatus and you sort of messaged me and said, hey, just heard the news.
00:00:31
Speaker
Do you want to come on the show?
00:00:32
Speaker
And I thought, yeah, why not?
00:00:33
Speaker
It's been a while.
00:00:34
Speaker
Why not?
00:00:34
Speaker
Give it a go.
00:00:35
Speaker
Get off the beach with your gin and decide to come join us for a moment.
00:00:39
Speaker
It's pretty much what's happened.
00:00:41
Speaker
So I want to explain to everyone out there.
00:00:43
Speaker
Scott has not left the show.
00:00:45
Speaker
The dude is a superhero.
00:00:46
Speaker
Like he's donating his time right now.
00:00:48
Speaker
He's down in Guatemala.
00:00:50
Speaker
He's doing his anesthesiologist stuff down there with helping with cleft palates with children.
00:00:56
Speaker
And so he's gone for eight days and...
00:01:01
Speaker
I figured Martin might need something to do, and so we decided to record this thing, you know?
00:01:05
Speaker
Yeah, that's true.
00:01:06
Speaker
I do need something to do.
00:01:08
Speaker
It's been a month since I've been off, so yeah, happy to come on board.
Martin's Career Break and Podcasting Decisions
00:01:12
Speaker
How is retirement treating you versus that and everything?
00:01:17
Speaker
Look, so...
00:01:19
Speaker
Let's talk about all of them.
00:01:20
Speaker
The reason why, you know, head-to-head finished and while I took a break as well.
00:01:25
Speaker
So I just got to the end of 2019 and I was pretty burnt out from a tough year.
00:01:32
Speaker
Pretty much work was pretty tough.
00:01:34
Speaker
So I decided that I wanted to take, let's call it a career break, but almost a bit of a life break where I just wanted to have a few months just to myself, just to recharge the batteries fully and
00:01:48
Speaker
And then, you know, see where life's going to take me.
00:01:51
Speaker
And part of that was determining whether I was going to continue with the Head to Head Pinball Podcast, because it was still getting great numbers.
00:02:01
Speaker
People were still downloading it.
00:02:02
Speaker
And, you know, still lots of interaction with our fans, which was great.
00:02:07
Speaker
But...
00:02:08
Speaker
But I just felt that there was a lot of good podcasts out there.
00:02:14
Speaker
We were one of many.
00:02:16
Speaker
I just felt maybe it's time to just rest it and let others rise to the surface.
00:02:23
Speaker
That was very generous of you.
00:02:24
Speaker
And then like half the community quit too.
00:02:27
Speaker
Like if Martin's given up, the rest of us are giving up.
00:02:30
Speaker
Right.
00:02:30
Speaker
So let's talk about that because that's really interesting because we did put that announcement out there that the podcast is finishing.
00:02:41
Speaker
And then two others, then three, and I think all up five, maybe five podcasts have all come to an end.
00:02:50
Speaker
And then there's these rumors of this new mega conglomerate that's forming and people were saying, oh, you know, all of them quit to do this.
00:03:01
Speaker
And I just wanted to say on the record, I knew nothing of this.
00:03:05
Speaker
In fact,
00:03:07
Speaker
When I put out that notification that Head to Head was coming to a close, I just had all these people message me saying, oh, well, now that you're not doing that, do you want to join this show?
00:03:19
Speaker
Or do you want to join this show?
00:03:20
Speaker
Or there's a new show?
00:03:21
Speaker
And Joe had the same thing as well.
00:03:23
Speaker
So I know he's going to a podcast as well.
00:03:26
Speaker
I'm pretty sure it's public knowledge that he's now going to the Pinball Players podcast, which is an awesome show.
00:03:31
Speaker
So that's great that he's found a home.
Transitions in Pinball Podcasting
00:03:34
Speaker
And I think I may have found a home.
00:03:37
Speaker
Really?
00:03:38
Speaker
Well, and I know that Jeff Parsons did actually post it this morning.
00:03:41
Speaker
He said, Pinball Players Podcast 2.0.
00:03:44
Speaker
So it is official that Joe will be over there.
00:03:47
Speaker
So...
00:03:47
Speaker
Yeah, and the history to that was that I think about a day after I asked Joe to be the co-host of Head to Head, he was asked to join the Pinball Players podcast and he was like, oh, sorry, I'm now going to Head to Head.
00:04:03
Speaker
So it was really, it was a good, it was obvious for me, but a good decision for him to go to Pinball Players podcast because I know that him and Jeff are good mates.
00:04:13
Speaker
So I reckon that'll just go from strength to strength.
00:04:17
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:04:17
Speaker
And well, and Jeff is he talks about the competitive scene.
00:04:20
Speaker
Joe's into the competitive scene.
00:04:21
Speaker
I think it's a match made into heaven.
00:04:23
Speaker
I think it'll sound really good.
00:04:24
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:04:26
Speaker
Well, the funny part, though, is, is like, like you said, there was like some super conglomerate.
00:04:31
Speaker
OK, you've dropped so many.
00:04:33
Speaker
We got to sift through all this really quick.
00:04:37
Speaker
I'll tell you what I can tell you.
00:04:40
Speaker
Okay.
00:04:40
Speaker
So the funny part is, is the day that that Twip and Special One Lit both hung up the reins, so to speak, we were joking that you guys were creating a super band.
00:04:54
Speaker
Like, you know, when Guns N' Roses lost Axl Rose.
00:04:57
Speaker
And so they got the main singer Stone Temple Pilots and made Velvet Revolver.
00:05:00
Speaker
And so we're like, there's like a super band coming out.
00:05:02
Speaker
And that's just the joke I started coming up with.
00:05:04
Speaker
And people started, I don't know, between that and then Dead Flip with his network thing.
00:05:08
Speaker
And I mean, this has really snowballed into a thing.
00:05:12
Speaker
I mean, I've known for months now, when I came on to Head to Head a little while ago, we kind of discussed this.
00:05:18
Speaker
You said, just depending where the fork lands on the road, depends where everything...
00:05:23
Speaker
gets picked up here in a little bit and so i knew that you were kind of deciding whether or not to keep going but i didn't say anything because you know i have respect to you but thank you um i just it was it was funny to me because i started getting messages before you announced it and i guess it started floating around in disc and and they're asking me what's going on i said i don't know you're gonna have to ask martin
00:05:47
Speaker
Well, it's good to see that we can generate that much hype, I guess, for not saying anything.
00:05:55
Speaker
But look, obviously, in the four weeks leading up to the announcement, I was getting a lot of messages from people saying, are you coming back?
00:06:01
Speaker
Are you coming back?
00:06:02
Speaker
And it was really hard to give non-answers, but that's what I really had to do was to say, well...
00:06:10
Speaker
sure, maybe, yeah, I guess so.
00:06:12
Speaker
Let's see what happens after I've had the four-week break.
00:06:15
Speaker
Really was what it was.
00:06:16
Speaker
So I got to the end of the four weeks and decided that what I really didn't want was responsibility, effectively.
00:06:24
Speaker
And that was part of quitting my job and just having some downtime without responsibility and
00:06:32
Speaker
That was the podcast.
00:06:33
Speaker
And with the podcast, I was producer as well as host.
00:06:38
Speaker
So it was a lot of work to do both.
00:06:41
Speaker
And, you know, what's been presented to me as a possible way forward with something else is just be the host.
00:06:49
Speaker
Somebody else does all the hard work in the background.
00:06:51
Speaker
And that's really appealing.
00:06:54
Speaker
Nice.
00:06:55
Speaker
Well, now you've got to tell us, if you can, who has made you an offer that you couldn't refuse?
00:07:00
Speaker
Obviously, I can tell you.
00:07:01
Speaker
But I can tell you that.
00:07:02
Speaker
No, I can't.
00:07:03
Speaker
I obviously can't.
00:07:05
Speaker
And that's been really difficult because obviously everybody has been reaching out to me about the network because people have assumed that head-to-head quit the show at the same time as Special Win Lit and Twip because of the same reason.
00:07:18
Speaker
And it's just not true.
00:07:19
Speaker
It's just a happy coincidence.
00:07:22
Speaker
But what I will say is, and maybe by the time this podcast airs, people will know more.
00:07:28
Speaker
So I've just come on at the last minute.
00:07:32
Speaker
So I don't want to be the spokesperson for something that's been organized for a very long time.
00:07:38
Speaker
That's totally understandable.
00:07:40
Speaker
But now you've got everyone's whistle wet and they're going to be like, it's good to know that you're not leaving though.
00:07:45
Speaker
Well, that's fine.
00:07:48
Speaker
Very flattering for you to think so.
00:07:50
Speaker
But remember, you and I have had these conversations before and after when we've recorded because we tend to actually spend probably just as much time talking before we record as the amount of time we record.
00:08:04
Speaker
Kind of like you in that we just started head-to-head
00:08:08
Speaker
just as a bit of fun because there was a gap in the market in Australia, pinheads had just finished.
00:08:13
Speaker
So we were just doing a podcast for Australians and then it just started snowballing and snowballing.
00:08:19
Speaker
But in my head, I still think of me as being that person that just made a small little dinky podcast for the Australians.
Martin's Reflections on Fame and Podcasting
00:08:28
Speaker
So people reaching out
00:08:31
Speaker
To me saying, I hope you're doing something, I hope you do something, it's really flattering and humbling because I just don't see myself as being that important, I guess.
00:08:42
Speaker
I know exactly what you mean.
00:08:43
Speaker
I've had that exact same situation, not necessarily to what I feel is your level, but I have had people come up to me, like people in our group here in the Salt Lake area have moved away.
00:08:55
Speaker
And one of the gentlemen that moved away, he had said,
00:08:57
Speaker
Scott and Josh, it's crazy because now I live in North Carolina and these people know you and I've told them I used to play with you guys in league and I've become like a little mini celebrity amongst these people in North Carolina.
00:09:12
Speaker
And I'm like, why?
00:09:13
Speaker
We just record and shoot the breeze.
00:09:15
Speaker
It's not like we do anything magical.
00:09:17
Speaker
You know what I'm saying?
00:09:18
Speaker
No, I know.
00:09:19
Speaker
But I kind of do get the flip because I remember the very first time I met Nate Shivers from Coast to Coast.
00:09:26
Speaker
And this was at Indisc.
00:09:28
Speaker
And I was like this really shy, sort of, you know, really nervous person going up to him going, hi, Nate, my name's Martin.
00:09:36
Speaker
And he was just like, hey, cool.
00:09:38
Speaker
Yeah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
00:09:39
Speaker
And that was kind of how I felt about Nate Shivers.
00:09:43
Speaker
He was just this...
00:09:45
Speaker
entity, you know, this really famous people, this really famous person in our bubble.
00:09:52
Speaker
And every time I listen to him, I have a connection to this person and now I'm meeting them.
00:09:57
Speaker
So I understand logically how it feels the other way, but it still feels strange.
00:10:04
Speaker
It does.
00:10:04
Speaker
Well, and it's funny because we're in the same state as Jeff Rivera.
00:10:08
Speaker
And Jeff has done the pinball podcast for, what, nine years now?
00:10:12
Speaker
A hundred years.
00:10:13
Speaker
Yeah, he's done it forever.
00:10:15
Speaker
And whether he's doing it now or not, that is the question mark.
00:10:19
Speaker
But I actually didn't know it was him doing the podcast and I was going to league nights with him.
00:10:24
Speaker
Right, okay.
00:10:24
Speaker
Yeah.
00:10:26
Speaker
And I'm listening because he's you guys and him are the first guys that got me introduced as I'm trying to dig deeper into pinball.
00:10:34
Speaker
And it didn't dawn on me one day.
00:10:36
Speaker
I can't remember what it was, but like finally it got posted on Facebook or something like, yeah, Jeff's going to be there from the pinball podcast.
00:10:43
Speaker
And I'm like, wait a minute.
00:10:43
Speaker
What Jeff, Jeff Rivera.
00:10:45
Speaker
Like, wait a minute.
00:10:46
Speaker
And then it clicked like one and one and one make two.
00:10:49
Speaker
And our tournament director's like, yeah, he's our own little Batman is what we call him here because he doesn't want anyone to know who he is.
00:10:58
Speaker
He's such a super nice guy.
00:10:59
Speaker
I was really pleased that I got to meet him, I think, the time that I met you for the first time.
00:11:04
Speaker
Yep.
00:11:05
Speaker
So it's weird how that works, right?
00:11:08
Speaker
Right.
00:11:08
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:11:09
Speaker
So anyway, the head to head is dead, I guess, is the full stop I'll put on that.
00:11:18
Speaker
I'm just really pleased, first of all, that Joe has found a new home.
00:11:22
Speaker
That was my big concern.
00:11:24
Speaker
And...
00:11:25
Speaker
Poor thing.
00:11:26
Speaker
He was a bit blindsided by it.
00:11:28
Speaker
He wasn't really sure what was going on and he really found out the day before the announcement was made and obviously really disappointed and he's been phenomenal for the show.
00:11:40
Speaker
He came on at a time when I was questioning whether it was going to
00:11:44
Speaker
go ahead because I was doing all these different weekly guests and that was really hard work.
00:11:50
Speaker
And then he came on board and took it in a new direction.
00:11:53
Speaker
I really liked the Joe Tips the Top 100 and it was really good.
00:11:58
Speaker
So I'm really pleased that he's found a home.
00:12:01
Speaker
Well, good.
00:12:02
Speaker
Well, and we're pleased as well.
00:12:03
Speaker
We like listening to Joe.
00:12:05
Speaker
I don't know if you guys can see behind the scenes.
00:12:07
Speaker
We talk a ton.
00:12:10
Speaker
Martin talks to us if he's awake.
00:12:12
Speaker
Right, yeah.
00:12:13
Speaker
I wake up and there's like 100 messages.
00:12:15
Speaker
I'm like, oh, how am I going to catch up on this?
00:12:19
Speaker
But it seems like there's a daily conversation that can start between the office.
00:12:24
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:12:27
Speaker
So, it's been a month.
00:12:29
Speaker
Has anything happened, like, whilst I've been gone?
00:12:33
Speaker
One of the weirdest things really about taking this break is, you know, each week for the Head to Head podcast, I've got to be in tune with all the news and all the happening that's going on because we always did our own research.
00:12:46
Speaker
I think we said this before because, you know, this week in pinball, that was pretty much the website was updated straight after we recorded.
00:12:53
Speaker
So we would have to go and research our own topics.
00:12:56
Speaker
So I've really been out of the loop with pinball goings and that's a really strange feeling.
00:13:03
Speaker
Well, you know, Jeff Patterson took a break, so there wasn't like a ton of information coming in from Twip.
00:13:09
Speaker
And it just seemed like between the Twippies on January 1st opening and Stranger Things and whatever we're going to dub Zat now, it was
00:13:21
Speaker
And just the weird amount of drama in between everything.
00:13:25
Speaker
I don't know if you'd say in the pinball realm, honestly, nothing's happened besides CES and the reveal of Stranger Things Premium.
00:13:33
Speaker
Right.
00:13:35
Speaker
On an official, if you could see me, quotes official look.
00:13:39
Speaker
I can see your quotes.
00:13:41
Speaker
So...
00:13:44
Speaker
It's been a weird month.
00:13:45
Speaker
It feels like a ton's happened, but nothing's happened.
00:13:47
Speaker
You know what I'm saying?
00:13:48
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:48
Speaker
Well, I guess that because over that time, a lot of media, let's call it media outlets, did take a break.
00:13:54
Speaker
We haven't had that same stream of information coming our way.
00:13:59
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:00
Speaker
It's been empty.
00:14:02
Speaker
So the other question I have too is if everyone's been bothering you about the – well, not bothering.
00:14:07
Speaker
What's the word I'm looking for?
00:14:08
Speaker
If everyone's been asking you about the network stuff, do you know anything of what's happening with Special One Lit or This Week in Pinball?
00:14:15
Speaker
Yes.
00:14:17
Speaker
And you're going to leave it at that?
00:14:18
Speaker
Correct.
00:14:20
Speaker
Okay.
00:14:21
Speaker
Well, look, again, let's talk about me and the podcast.
00:14:26
Speaker
If throughout the two and a half years that we did a podcast, if someone gave me information and said, do not tell anyone, keep this to yourself, 100% of the time I would keep it to myself.
00:14:38
Speaker
And I'm in that situation at the moment.
00:14:40
Speaker
It's frustrating, but all we revealed, I'm telling you in the next couple of days, I'm sure.
00:14:47
Speaker
Well, that's what's crazy to me.
00:14:49
Speaker
We've known each other for a while now, and I would message you and you say, I can't tell you.
00:14:55
Speaker
I'm like, oh, okay, whatever.
00:14:57
Speaker
I don't know how you handle all this information.
00:15:00
Speaker
It's hard.
00:15:01
Speaker
And you get it from everywhere.
00:15:02
Speaker
I'm not going to lie.
00:15:03
Speaker
We don't get very much information at all.
00:15:04
Speaker
I don't know if it's because I got a big mouth.
00:15:09
Speaker
I don't know.
00:15:10
Speaker
I don't know what it is.
00:15:11
Speaker
But it seems like every time I asked you something, it's like,
00:15:15
Speaker
It's like you'd write it down on a piece of paper what was going to happen.
00:15:18
Speaker
So I would believe you later on.
00:15:19
Speaker
So after it happened, you're like, see, post dated everything.
00:15:26
Speaker
Yeah, but again, if someone has specifically said to me, do not say anything, my lips are sealed.
00:15:31
Speaker
And that's not just in podcasting, that's my life as well.
00:15:34
Speaker
Like, I think confidentiality is really important.
00:15:37
Speaker
I totally agree.
00:15:38
Speaker
Makes it very frustrating, especially some of the information that we get told.
00:15:43
Speaker
Case in point, if I can tell you, was Rick and Morty.
00:15:49
Speaker
Knew a lot about Rick and Morty.
00:15:52
Speaker
Couldn't say a thing.
00:15:52
Speaker
Like, how long did you know about Rick and Morty?
00:15:55
Speaker
I can't say that.
00:15:56
Speaker
That's going to narrow it down.
00:15:57
Speaker
Oh, well, fine.
00:15:58
Speaker
But let's just say before it was shown.
00:16:02
Speaker
Okay.
00:16:03
Speaker
That sounds good.
00:16:04
Speaker
So, that's tough.
00:16:06
Speaker
It puts me and I'm not going to miss that part of feeling frustrated about information that I can't share.
00:16:14
Speaker
Well, I'm glad I don't feel that frustrated because I don't have any information to share.
00:16:17
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:22
Speaker
Fair enough.
00:16:23
Speaker
But also on that, we also get told a lot of information that's not true.
00:16:28
Speaker
Yes.
00:16:28
Speaker
So it's sometimes best not to say anything.
00:16:33
Speaker
It just depends on the source.
00:16:34
Speaker
Sometimes you've got a reputable source that always gets it right, and then there's just wild speculation that comes from it.
00:16:40
Speaker
So, you know, for example, we were told, someone sent us a note saying that...
00:16:46
Speaker
I think it was, they were saying maybe Jersey Jack was going to be doing a matrix machine.
00:16:51
Speaker
And I think we may have spoken about it at the time and we would, I don't know.
00:16:55
Speaker
I was losing my stuff over it because it's such a dream thing, but,
00:17:00
Speaker
I don't know.
00:17:00
Speaker
Is it going to happen?
00:17:01
Speaker
Is it not?
00:17:01
Speaker
Who knows?
00:17:03
Speaker
Well, that's the crazy part, too.
00:17:04
Speaker
You've got to kind of sift through it because I have had some really weird, let's put accusations, come our way of companies that are going to be doing stuff.
00:17:14
Speaker
And I'm like, no, like until I hear someone else more credible, convinced to say that.
00:17:20
Speaker
So I get where you're coming from on that point.
00:17:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:24
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:24
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:25
Speaker
Anyway.
00:17:26
Speaker
So trust is important.
00:17:27
Speaker
Yes.
00:17:27
Speaker
I totally agree.
00:17:28
Speaker
And so we really, I say that we haven't, we've, we've gotten a little information over time, but it's nothing.
00:17:34
Speaker
I don't know.
00:17:35
Speaker
We don't really share it unless we're told we're allowed to.
00:17:37
Speaker
So.
00:17:38
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:39
Speaker
Fair enough.
Impact of Australian Bushfires
00:17:40
Speaker
Anywho, other than that, so how is the beach?
00:17:43
Speaker
How is Jin?
00:17:43
Speaker
How's, how's the family?
00:17:44
Speaker
How's.
00:17:45
Speaker
Well, everything is wonderful.
00:17:49
Speaker
Uh, the, the biggest new addition in my life is my, my new kitten that I got called Winston, who's a British short hair, who's absolutely adorable.
00:17:57
Speaker
Um, and is currently tearing up the house.
00:17:59
Speaker
So he's keeping me busy.
00:18:01
Speaker
The gin is fresh and delicious at the moment.
00:18:04
Speaker
Um,
00:18:06
Speaker
But look, one thing I will say is obviously over the last four, five weeks, you would have heard all about Australia, right?
00:18:13
Speaker
Oh, yes.
00:18:14
Speaker
And we have had really hot weather and we've had the double threat.
00:18:19
Speaker
We've had really hot weather and...
00:18:21
Speaker
and really high wind.
00:18:23
Speaker
And that wind, just a spark happens, starts a flame, and that flame is just spread.
00:18:31
Speaker
And you would know that there's just been so much devastation of Australia.
00:18:36
Speaker
And I'm lucky in that I'm in a effectively –
00:18:40
Speaker
I would say a 20-minute walk from the city of Melbourne.
00:18:44
Speaker
So I'm close to the central area.
00:18:46
Speaker
So we are never going to be in any danger.
00:18:49
Speaker
But there have been some days where the smell from the smoke, which has been...
00:18:55
Speaker
I don't know miles to kilometers, but let's just say 200 to 300 miles away, we can smell the smoke from that here.
00:19:01
Speaker
And apparently smoke has been smelled in South America that's come over the ocean from Australia.
00:19:09
Speaker
That's how bad it's been.
00:19:12
Speaker
It's crazy.
00:19:13
Speaker
It really is crazy.
00:19:16
Speaker
The other part too is I never realized how big Australia was until someone set us a diagram of Australia over the top of America and it's pretty much the same size.
00:19:26
Speaker
That's right.
00:19:27
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:28
Speaker
And so I couldn't imagine, what's the percentage you'd say that Australia is on fire?
00:19:35
Speaker
Oh, I would say probably 15 to 20%.
00:19:40
Speaker
So to put that in perspective, that's like,
00:19:43
Speaker
That'd be, oh, Colorado over to Missouri, up to Nebraska, down to Texas.
00:19:50
Speaker
That'd be about 20%.
00:19:51
Speaker
Not the bottom of Texas, so let's go to the top.
00:19:54
Speaker
But that's a pretty good chunk.
00:19:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:57
Speaker
15, 20%.
00:19:57
Speaker
That's crazy.
00:19:58
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:58
Speaker
Apparently, I don't know whether we want this as a claim to fame, but apparently it is one of the biggest bushfires in history ever.
00:20:07
Speaker
They reckon over a billion animals have died.
00:20:12
Speaker
you know what i mean like that's crazy stuff right but i have seen the outpouring of people i mean lauren from the back box pinball podcast she helped with the charity getting that pushed out for you guys there in australia uh it's it's amazing i saw people dropping they like bought a helicopter to drop carrots and celery and stuff so the animals had food yep because there's just nothing there's nothing in between where the animals were living and so yep
00:20:37
Speaker
So that's what it's been.
00:20:38
Speaker
So when you talk about how it's like, it's hot day today and it's windy.
00:20:44
Speaker
So you just never know what's going to happen.
00:20:48
Speaker
Which is the total opposite of us.
00:20:50
Speaker
I'm hitting single digits here in Utah.
00:20:53
Speaker
Yeah.
00:20:54
Speaker
So, yeah.
00:20:55
Speaker
Anyway, so that's our lifespan.
Community Engagement and Pinball Streaming
00:20:56
Speaker
It's been pretty relaxing for me.
00:20:58
Speaker
But I'm sort of missing my pinball fix.
00:21:03
Speaker
I'm still streaming, though, so I still get to play.
00:21:05
Speaker
I'm just not in the loop with podcasts.
00:21:09
Speaker
Well, that's what's funny, too, is I was nervous to bother you because you are on vacation.
00:21:14
Speaker
And so I'm like, I'm without Scott this week.
00:21:17
Speaker
And I'll ask Martin because they've now officially announced and maybe he'll say yes.
00:21:21
Speaker
And it wasn't even a hesitation.
00:21:23
Speaker
It's like, yes, I'll be on.
00:21:24
Speaker
It's like, oh.
00:21:26
Speaker
Yeah.
00:21:26
Speaker
Okay.
00:21:26
Speaker
That's pretty much it.
00:21:28
Speaker
Yeah.
00:21:29
Speaker
So, well, let's hit some of the news.
00:21:32
Speaker
Okay, go ahead.
00:21:34
Speaker
Let's see.
00:21:35
Speaker
Okay.
00:21:35
Speaker
Did you watch the Stranger Things premium reveal with Dead Flip last week?
00:21:39
Speaker
I watched all of it.
00:21:41
Speaker
Yes.
00:21:42
Speaker
Oh, okay.
00:21:43
Speaker
I want your initial... Because you guys pretty much quit before anything was really short on Stranger Things, right?
00:21:49
Speaker
Correct.
00:21:50
Speaker
I think so.
00:21:52
Speaker
Oh, no.
00:21:52
Speaker
You know what?
00:21:53
Speaker
Half the podcast, the last podcast, half of it was recorded before and half of it was recorded after.
00:22:00
Speaker
Gotcha.
00:22:00
Speaker
Okay.
00:22:01
Speaker
So I want your first impressions.
00:22:04
Speaker
What are you thinking of Stranger Things?
00:22:07
Speaker
Okay.
00:22:07
Speaker
Well, can I answer that in two parts if you will humor me?
00:22:12
Speaker
Because there's my impressions and there's also impressions of the community before and after the stream.
00:22:20
Speaker
And the impressions I got before, people were pretty cool on it.
00:22:27
Speaker
In that they were saying, I don't get it.
00:22:30
Speaker
I'm not sure about the layout.
00:22:31
Speaker
You can't hit the demagogue on.
00:22:35
Speaker
It just, I don't know.
00:22:36
Speaker
And so in my mind, and maybe that's set my expectations pretty low, I went into that, the dead flip reveal thinking, this is going to be a bit ho-hum.
00:22:48
Speaker
And I watched it for as long as it went.
00:22:51
Speaker
And the more I watched it, the more I now just want to play this thing.
00:22:53
Speaker
It looks great.
00:22:54
Speaker
I really enjoy how they've integrated the projector.
00:23:00
Speaker
And he was very quick and often mentioned that they were in a very well-lit room and you could really see the projector.
00:23:09
Speaker
And it's integrated really well.
00:23:12
Speaker
Yeah.
00:23:12
Speaker
Oh, I totally agree.
00:23:13
Speaker
I think it was cool to see the jackpot letters on the ramps.
00:23:17
Speaker
It was a little hard to see, but I mean, granted they were in a well-lit room, but I felt like you could see that screen right there in the middle of the play field as clear as day with no problem.
00:23:27
Speaker
So, but I cut you off.
00:23:29
Speaker
Keep going.
00:23:30
Speaker
No, no, no, no.
00:23:32
Speaker
It's over to you to get your initial thoughts.
Stranger Things Pinball Machine Reactions
00:23:35
Speaker
You know, with the reveal of the premium, I think, like you said, I think the community, there's a part of the community that says, this looks good.
00:23:43
Speaker
It looks fun.
00:23:45
Speaker
I just want to get my hands on it.
00:23:46
Speaker
And then there's another side of the community that just wants to burn it to the ground.
00:23:49
Speaker
Like, what is going on?
00:23:52
Speaker
It is one of those games that has no middle ground because it's a really, I think it is, it's a really beloved theme, right?
00:24:02
Speaker
And you either do it justice or you don't.
00:24:04
Speaker
Or you don't get the theme and therefore it sucks.
00:24:07
Speaker
Well, do you think... I don't know if it's just theme.
00:24:09
Speaker
I wonder if it's... I mean, Brian Eddy's games are all in the top 20 of the pin side, which really doesn't mean much.
00:24:17
Speaker
But this is a man that's been highly coveted for a while.
00:24:22
Speaker
I mean, Brian Eddy's name was worth money.
00:24:24
Speaker
You know what I'm saying?
00:24:26
Speaker
And so I wonder if...
00:24:28
Speaker
People are let down because they were expecting something more.
00:24:34
Speaker
I just don't know.
00:24:35
Speaker
You know what I'm saying?
00:24:37
Speaker
Yeah, I do.
00:24:37
Speaker
I know exactly what you're saying.
00:24:38
Speaker
I think that was the initial disappointment.
00:24:40
Speaker
Everyone just looked at it.
00:24:41
Speaker
And I did the same.
00:24:42
Speaker
Again, it was one of those ones where I managed to perhaps see some images before it was revealed.
00:24:49
Speaker
And my first take on it when I looked at it was, oh, it looks just like Attack from Mars.
00:24:55
Speaker
And, geez, those colors are a bit bright.
00:24:59
Speaker
Because I just thought that the play field art was almost fluorescent and I just didn't think it worked.
00:25:06
Speaker
That's just in a static image.
00:25:08
Speaker
Now that I've seen it on the stream, I think it all integrates really well.
00:25:13
Speaker
I'm really pleasantly surprised.
00:25:14
Speaker
I've got to tell you.
00:25:15
Speaker
I am too.
00:25:16
Speaker
And I think the other problem too is it followed –
00:25:22
Speaker
I don't know why people keep skipping Elvira, but they get in their mind that it followed Jurassic Park.
00:25:29
Speaker
And with Jurassic Park being Jurassic Park, I think people were expecting more as a follow-up.
00:25:35
Speaker
And so I think... Yeah.
00:25:38
Speaker
I just don't know.
00:25:39
Speaker
I...
00:25:40
Speaker
It does look fun.
00:25:40
Speaker
Well, that's what you get.
00:25:43
Speaker
I guess you get play-filled, let's call it layout innovation from Keith Elwin.
00:25:48
Speaker
I'd say layout innovation in that you're not necessarily getting too many things in it that are completely innovative unless you count the T-Rex head, which looks freaking amazing.
00:25:58
Speaker
As you know, I've got a limited edition of it.
00:26:00
Speaker
Yes.
00:26:01
Speaker
But the layout itself is very innovative.
00:26:04
Speaker
It does things that others haven't and does it –
00:26:07
Speaker
So incredibly well.
00:26:09
Speaker
So then when you go back to, well, you look at straight after that, you've got Elvira and then you've got Stranger Things.
00:26:16
Speaker
Both of those machines are very, I would say, by numbers, fan layout.
00:26:25
Speaker
Yep.
00:26:26
Speaker
Now, I played Elvira and it's fun.
00:26:30
Speaker
It is so much fun.
00:26:32
Speaker
And sometimes it's nice to have a machine with,
00:26:37
Speaker
where it's actually easier to hit the shots than being constantly punished for missing shots.
00:26:44
Speaker
So it is actually every once in a while nice to have a simple layout.
00:26:49
Speaker
And I think that's Elvira.
00:26:50
Speaker
From what I've heard with Stranger Things is that...
00:26:55
Speaker
It looks simpler than it is.
00:26:58
Speaker
The shots are a bit tighter than they are in Elvira, so it still is a bit more challenging.
00:27:04
Speaker
And then, of course, as I said before, the Demogorgon doesn't always go in, although we saw on the premium it seemed to go in more than I thought it would.
00:27:11
Speaker
That's my take on it.
00:27:12
Speaker
I think the other tests that I take living in Utah, we're not a hotbed for pinball.
00:27:18
Speaker
We have a lot of machines out here, but the new stuff just doesn't roll in as much as maybe the other states.
00:27:26
Speaker
And so we haven't seen a Stranger Things Pro yet.
00:27:30
Speaker
And we're pretty good if we're going to get a Stern machine, we get it within a week or two after it's revealed or someone announces, hey, we've bought this and it's on its way.
00:27:41
Speaker
Right.
00:27:42
Speaker
We're just not getting that.
00:27:43
Speaker
Quarters has told us they're going to get a premium, but we haven't heard a word since from the reveal to now.
00:27:52
Speaker
So they saw the promo video that got quote unquote leaked and was like, we're buying this.
00:27:58
Speaker
And then after everything kind of like crap hit the fan, we haven't heard a word.
00:28:02
Speaker
So who knows?
00:28:04
Speaker
And even then premiums take forever.
00:28:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:28:07
Speaker
Can we just make that point as well?
00:28:08
Speaker
Because I...
00:28:10
Speaker
Sort of didn't mention it, but we had said on the Head to Head podcast that Stranger Things will ship on the 23rd of December.
00:28:20
Speaker
And that was, I don't know, four days before that.
00:28:25
Speaker
And that's what happened when they revealed the video.
00:28:29
Speaker
People were getting those machines that day.
00:28:32
Speaker
Yeah.
00:28:33
Speaker
That's unheard of.
00:28:34
Speaker
Oh, I agree.
00:28:36
Speaker
And that's awesome.
00:28:38
Speaker
And just think about this.
00:28:39
Speaker
What did Stern have to go through to keep everyone silent?
00:28:43
Speaker
Because that means they had to contract distributors.
00:28:46
Speaker
The distributors got to contact buyers.
00:28:48
Speaker
The buyers then have to say, yes, we'll buy it, but we won't say a word to anyone.
00:28:53
Speaker
You know what I'm saying?
00:28:54
Speaker
Like the in-depth of what had to go through all this to get those under the Christmas trees is crazy amazing, in my opinion.
00:29:02
Speaker
Exactly.
00:29:03
Speaker
I think that they did very well.
00:29:06
Speaker
Admittedly, how long has Brian Eddy been with Stern?
00:29:11
Speaker
I say that because that's how long this machine has been in development.
00:29:15
Speaker
So I think that it was pretty good to go as far as the development cycle goes.
00:29:21
Speaker
Yep.
00:29:24
Speaker
I guess probably the other thing to talk about is the rules, really.
00:29:29
Speaker
Because it was part of the initial feedback that I was getting.
00:29:33
Speaker
People were saying that they didn't really love the rules.
00:29:36
Speaker
But what I saw on that stream looked great.
00:29:39
Speaker
It made sense.
00:29:40
Speaker
There was a lot of variation.
00:29:41
Speaker
There was the short game, the long game, the wizard game, all that kind of stuff happening at once.
00:29:48
Speaker
Fairly easy to understand.
00:29:51
Speaker
People were getting it.
00:29:53
Speaker
We saw a lot of the rules on the stream.
00:29:55
Speaker
Yep.
00:29:56
Speaker
And I think people have come accustomed to when a Stern machine releases, they're not going to see much code.
00:30:02
Speaker
I think there's a decent amount of code here to wet your whistle compared to what's been released.
00:30:07
Speaker
Unless if it's a Keith game, because apparently Keith just ships it off the line with everything.
00:30:14
Speaker
Yeah, pretty much.
00:30:15
Speaker
Pretty much.
00:30:15
Speaker
So, yeah.
00:30:16
Speaker
So, I think we are currently at 0.81, I think, of code.
00:30:21
Speaker
So, yeah, there's still some way to go.
00:30:23
Speaker
I mean, I know 0.81 doesn't give you an indication of how much time there is until you get to 1.0 code, but it sort of gives you an indication that...
00:30:32
Speaker
It's somewhat complete.
00:30:34
Speaker
And usually at a 0.81 standard means the major features aren't in there yet.
00:30:40
Speaker
That usually happens around the 0.9 mark.
00:30:43
Speaker
I agree.
00:30:45
Speaker
Well, I'm glad to hear a little positivity from it.
00:30:47
Speaker
It seems like there's been...
00:30:50
Speaker
a little bit of negativity from it.
00:30:52
Speaker
A little bit.
00:30:54
Speaker
Just a hair.
00:30:55
Speaker
Well, and what's crazy, what's crazy to me, and I'm not going to lie, we're culprits of it too, but you've, it's like, if, like you said, if the matrix was a dream theme for you, Ninja Turtles is a dream theme for me.
00:31:07
Speaker
So I'm kind of like, okay, stranger things is out of the way.
00:31:09
Speaker
Now let's focus on Ninja Turtles.
00:31:12
Speaker
Well, I can tell you now, only one of us at this stage has got the ability to be disappointed in the future.
00:31:19
Speaker
Yeah.
00:31:20
Speaker
Because I can tell you Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is coming.
00:31:24
Speaker
Woo-hoo.
00:31:26
Speaker
So, I don't... I mean, if the benchmark for success is it needs to be better than the Data East game, then you're going to be happy.
00:31:36
Speaker
Oh, I'll be super happy.
00:31:38
Speaker
That's a terrible game.
00:31:40
Speaker
Oh, Left Ramp?
00:31:41
Speaker
Would you like Left Ramp?
00:31:43
Speaker
Mason Left Ramp?
00:31:46
Speaker
Paging Josh Sharp to the Left Ramp.
00:31:48
Speaker
Josh Sharp to the Left Ramp.
00:31:51
Speaker
For those who've never played the Data East Ninja Turtles, there's a reason I bought it for a thousand bucks.
00:31:56
Speaker
Like... Yeah.
00:31:59
Speaker
A modern era pinball machine, and this is just my opinion, when people try to get like $2,500 out of that machine, I think you're nuts.
00:32:07
Speaker
Like, I know that there's a... You can't do it.
00:32:08
Speaker
It's...
00:32:09
Speaker
No.
00:32:09
Speaker
Yeah.
00:32:10
Speaker
Go pump some quarters at the local pizza place because I guarantee that's where it wants to be.
00:32:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:32:16
Speaker
Yeah.
00:32:17
Speaker
It's not great.
00:32:18
Speaker
No.
00:32:18
Speaker
It feels like an unfinished game.
00:32:20
Speaker
That's the best way I can describe it.
00:32:23
Speaker
Yeah.
00:32:24
Speaker
Oof.
00:32:26
Speaker
Yeah.
00:32:26
Speaker
Terrible.
00:32:27
Speaker
So that is the nice part for me.
00:32:29
Speaker
My dream theme, so long as it's better than the Data East, I'm good to go.
00:32:33
Speaker
Yeah.
00:32:33
Speaker
Well, that's what I'm saying.
00:32:34
Speaker
As long as that's your benchmark for success.
00:32:36
Speaker
But a lot of people out there that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is their dream theme might not feel the same.
00:32:44
Speaker
And there's serious expectations, but I guess that's the risk that you do with these themes.
00:32:53
Speaker
I would argue you've got it much easier with banned themes because there's not –
00:33:01
Speaker
stories that you need to tell or feelings as part of those stories that you need to replicate as part of the pinball experience, you've just got to put songs in there, really, and draw the bands well.
00:33:14
Speaker
That's all.
00:33:15
Speaker
Well, and the thing with Ninja Turtles, I think that puts a lot of minds to rest that have been officially, unofficially confirmed or whatever you want to call it.
00:33:23
Speaker
You know, we keep hearing Zombie Eddie.
00:33:26
Speaker
Zombie Eddie?
00:33:27
Speaker
Zombie Yeti is on art, which, I mean, no one's going to complain at Zombie Eddie art.
00:33:33
Speaker
Like, anywho.
00:33:35
Speaker
And then John Borg.
00:33:36
Speaker
And John Borg's good at making designs.
00:33:38
Speaker
Like, I can't remember the last crappy John Borg playfield design.
00:33:42
Speaker
Yeah, they might be similar, but...
00:33:44
Speaker
But they're all good.
00:33:45
Speaker
Like, I have no complaints with them.
00:33:48
Speaker
Yeah, I would agree with you.
00:33:49
Speaker
I think he knows how to make a satisfying layout, gameplay experience.
00:33:57
Speaker
But it hasn't really... I think probably the last game I think that he's pushed the boundaries of his design, I believe, would actually be The Walking Dead.
00:34:07
Speaker
Yep, I agree.
00:34:08
Speaker
And...
00:34:10
Speaker
But I mean, look at all the other games he's made to Metallica, Guardians of the Galaxy.
00:34:14
Speaker
I mean, these are all games that when you hear them, you still think of great games.
00:34:20
Speaker
You don't think of meh, I can live with or without.
00:34:23
Speaker
You know, I hear people talking about these games with high regard.
00:34:27
Speaker
And so I'm not too worried.
00:34:29
Speaker
I think everything will be great.
00:34:32
Speaker
And I don't know.
00:34:35
Speaker
People talk about dream things need to be perfect.
00:34:38
Speaker
And I've learned one of two things with people right now.
00:34:41
Speaker
You can either treat pinball as what it is.
00:34:43
Speaker
It's a fun outlet to enjoy with your friends and family.
00:34:48
Speaker
Or two, you can treat it like fine dining.
00:34:50
Speaker
You have to have the plates just right.
00:34:53
Speaker
You have to have the silverware just right.
00:34:54
Speaker
You have to have the right wine to the right food.
00:34:57
Speaker
If you're going to expect that with every pinball machine, you're going to be disappointed.
00:35:01
Speaker
Yeah, correct.
00:35:02
Speaker
Correct.
00:35:03
Speaker
And there's just so much room for error when you've got such strict criteria.
00:35:08
Speaker
Yep.
00:35:09
Speaker
Let's move on to the state finals.
Pinball Competitions and Community Dynamics
00:35:11
Speaker
We just had that happen this past weekend.
00:35:14
Speaker
I did.
00:35:15
Speaker
And I saw some of it as well.
00:35:16
Speaker
I was going to say what's really good about it is there were a lot of...
00:35:20
Speaker
people streaming the finals because they all happen at the same time pretty much or the same weekend.
00:35:28
Speaker
And it was just good to be able to, I watched a lot of it, a lot of the action live and then catch up.
00:35:34
Speaker
So, you know, I don't know whether you could link it, but there's certainly, if you go to Twitch and search SES, you'll find a lot of streams there.
00:35:44
Speaker
Off to see if we can link that.
00:35:46
Speaker
That would be awesome.
00:35:48
Speaker
We both pulled up the list here.
00:35:49
Speaker
There's some very noticeable names on this list.
00:35:53
Speaker
Correct.
00:35:56
Speaker
Raymond Davidson, which you watched this.
00:35:59
Speaker
I watched this.
00:36:00
Speaker
I'm sorry.
00:36:01
Speaker
I'm just going to tell you this.
00:36:02
Speaker
This was...
00:36:04
Speaker
Because he was up against Kayleigh, Kayleigh George.
00:36:08
Speaker
And how it works is it's the best of seven games or first to win four games.
00:36:15
Speaker
And I think it had been, I think Raymond was up 3-1.
00:36:20
Speaker
And then Kayleigh came back and it was three all.
00:36:23
Speaker
And then it came down to the last game being Deadpool.
00:36:27
Speaker
And Kayleigh put up a very, very good score.
00:36:30
Speaker
And it was literally up to the last ball that Raymond had to beat him to
00:36:38
Speaker
to be able to win.
00:36:39
Speaker
And it is exactly what he did.
00:36:41
Speaker
But it was nail-biting, nail-biting to watch this.
00:36:47
Speaker
And also, just in those seven games, you got to just watch some phenomenal gameplay, including one of the best exploits you'll find on Tales of the Arabian Nights, where Kayleigh managed to get this unlimited multi-ball jackpot thing
00:37:05
Speaker
harem with the princess capture thing that just pretty much broke the game.
00:37:12
Speaker
Nice.
00:37:13
Speaker
Well, and if you've ever played competitive pinball, you always want to be the person that goes last.
00:37:18
Speaker
Like that is just the most defeating thing ever is when you've got a score you think that's unbeatable and then the person right behind you on ball three blows it away.
00:37:29
Speaker
Yeah.
00:37:30
Speaker
Well, the thing of it is what's really good about watching players of this caliber is you know it does not matter how much of a lead a person's got.
00:37:42
Speaker
If the number one player in the world can do it, surely the number two player in the world can also do it.
00:37:47
Speaker
Yes, very much agree.
00:37:49
Speaker
Nothing ever felt safe.
00:37:51
Speaker
And watching these comebacks, just clawing back.
00:37:54
Speaker
And I think he might have had $100 million on Deadpool that he needed to claw back from, which isn't a huge amount considering a billion game on that is very achievable.
00:38:05
Speaker
But still, it was the very last ball.
00:38:09
Speaker
It could have just drained instantly.
00:38:10
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:38:11
Speaker
And the pressure's on.
00:38:13
Speaker
I wish... I know we talk about this all the time across all forms of media, but if you could just get someone hooked on that by watching it, I mean... Yeah.
00:38:23
Speaker
Oh, I think it would take like wildfire.
00:38:25
Speaker
I just... But I guess there's a certain understanding that creates quite the wall of... What's the word I'm looking for?
00:38:36
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:38:37
Speaker
A barrier to entering?
00:38:38
Speaker
Correct.
00:38:39
Speaker
And so... I got your back.
00:38:43
Speaker
Thank you.
00:38:44
Speaker
I appreciate that.
00:38:47
Speaker
Yeah, so some other notables.
00:38:48
Speaker
So Keith Elwin, he managed to get through.
00:38:50
Speaker
Apparently he's okay.
00:38:53
Speaker
I hear that.
00:38:53
Speaker
I hear he can hold his own.
00:38:56
Speaker
But Bo and Karen's... Rock's a great cap, is what I've heard.
00:38:59
Speaker
That's what I hear too.
00:39:00
Speaker
You know what's fun?
00:39:01
Speaker
I love this.
00:39:02
Speaker
It never gets old to me.
00:39:03
Speaker
I'm sorry.
00:39:04
Speaker
People play Where's Wallow with Keith with us.
00:39:06
Speaker
And so we get pictures...
00:39:09
Speaker
We got a picture when Indisc happened, and it was our friend Matt with Keith, and they're both rocking their caps.
00:39:15
Speaker
I love it because it's still a dream to me.
00:39:18
Speaker
You know what I'm saying?
00:39:20
Speaker
I know.
00:39:21
Speaker
Keith Elwin wearing our hat.
00:39:23
Speaker
I know.
00:39:23
Speaker
Keith Elwin wore our t-shirt when he won.
00:39:26
Speaker
But did you see that somebody posted a picture of me when I was streaming the other night with the loser kid cap on saying that I look like Keith Elwin?
00:39:36
Speaker
Yeah.
00:39:36
Speaker
Yes, I did see that.
00:39:37
Speaker
And I was cracking up.
00:39:39
Speaker
Well, because Ryan had posted, like, that's not Keith because he's not wearing the loser kid hat.
00:39:43
Speaker
And so then they posted you and someone's like, now this is Keith.
00:39:52
Speaker
What can I say?
00:39:53
Speaker
I've let myself go.
00:39:56
Speaker
Sorry, Keith.
00:39:58
Speaker
Well, and I've... Don't...
00:40:00
Speaker
Sell yourself short.
00:40:01
Speaker
I've played a couple of games with you and I'm like, why hasn't this guy made it to finals?
00:40:07
Speaker
You're really good at what you do on a pinball machine.
00:40:11
Speaker
I'm much better at it on a stream than I am in a tournament, that I can tell you.
00:40:17
Speaker
Well, maybe that's what it was.
00:40:18
Speaker
It was a casual night when we were hanging out.
00:40:20
Speaker
Yeah, it would have been that for sure.
00:40:23
Speaker
Some other names Bo and Keren's got through.
00:40:25
Speaker
Colin Urban.
00:40:26
Speaker
He's the one that pretty much came to Australia and stole all our whoppers.
00:40:30
Speaker
Thanks, Colin.
00:40:31
Speaker
You jerk.
00:40:34
Speaker
And Eric Stone got through.
00:40:35
Speaker
Now, that was also another great one to watch.
00:40:40
Speaker
Well, and he just won InDesk too.
00:40:42
Speaker
So that's fantastic.
00:40:45
Speaker
I don't know if many people know this, but Eric is actually originally from Utah.
00:40:48
Speaker
Yeah.
00:40:49
Speaker
And so we're very glad that he decided to take a job down in Florida.
00:40:55
Speaker
But no, I didn't know this until we'd been doing League for a little while.
00:41:00
Speaker
And Dan Newman, our tournament director, who also took Utah for the finals, spoiler alert, he tells me, he's like, well, you know Eric, right?
00:41:10
Speaker
And I said, yeah, I've heard the name.
00:41:13
Speaker
And he said, Eric used to be here and I didn't know he played pinball.
00:41:17
Speaker
The only reason I knew him is because we're on a bowling league together.
00:41:22
Speaker
And this was back before pinball was a thing in Utah.
00:41:24
Speaker
So he's like, shortly after he moved away, we started making the pinball league.
00:41:28
Speaker
And it wasn't until I saw Eric's name winning trophies that it made me realize, holy crap, we had Eric in our state.
00:41:35
Speaker
We never played tournaments against him.
00:41:37
Speaker
So...
00:41:38
Speaker
Well, he's a very good player.
00:41:39
Speaker
And yeah, you're right.
00:41:40
Speaker
He did win in disc as well, which was amazing to watch.
00:41:43
Speaker
Oh, that was fantastic.
00:41:46
Speaker
Such good content, all back-to-back weekends, right?
00:41:50
Speaker
Right.
00:41:50
Speaker
And this has been the joy of my break is that I'm now a spectator.
00:41:56
Speaker
So I actually get to finally catch up on podcasts.
00:42:00
Speaker
And I've been watching a lot of streaming and that is what gives me joy.
00:42:04
Speaker
Marie Kondo style.
00:42:06
Speaker
Awesome.
00:42:07
Speaker
A couple other names I want to point out really quick.
00:42:09
Speaker
We've got Trent Augustine, Jim Belsito, Robert Gagno.
00:42:14
Speaker
These are all fantastic.
00:42:15
Speaker
Andy Rosa.
00:42:16
Speaker
He won the Stern Pro Circuit last year.
00:42:20
Speaker
I mean, it is... My good pal Robert Byers.
00:42:23
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
00:42:25
Speaker
There is a slew of people.
00:42:26
Speaker
Robert Relly, he's there as well.
00:42:28
Speaker
Yeah.
00:42:29
Speaker
I mean, it'd be one thing to get into the finals, but then to face all these people.
00:42:35
Speaker
You know what I mean?
00:42:36
Speaker
Yep.
00:42:38
Speaker
So like I said, congratulations to Dan Newman.
00:42:41
Speaker
It was funny because our friend Stephen Strom moved down to Vegas, but he came up for state finals because he'd been competing in our league the whole last year.
00:42:52
Speaker
And his wife was nice enough to make a Mountain Dew cheesecake and then topped it with Dorito nacho cheese or chips.
00:43:03
Speaker
Oh, wow.
00:43:07
Speaker
So, and if you know Dan, Dan loves his Mountain Dew.
00:43:10
Speaker
So maybe that's, I don't know if it boosted him or if it made the rest of the competition have stomach aches and not play as well.
00:43:16
Speaker
So well done, Dan.
00:43:19
Speaker
Whatever it was that was your secret recipe, well done.
00:43:22
Speaker
Yep.
00:43:22
Speaker
So it'll be interesting.
00:43:24
Speaker
Do we know when finals are?
00:43:26
Speaker
I know that they're usually in Vegas.
00:43:28
Speaker
They at least have been the last couple of times.
00:43:30
Speaker
I have a feeling that they're not in Vegas this time, but I don't know.
00:43:38
Speaker
I think your feeling is correct because I know when Keith won, he said, I'm going to Colorado.
00:43:45
Speaker
And so I think they're being held in Colorado this year.
00:43:47
Speaker
I could be entirely wrong.
00:43:49
Speaker
That sounds about right, but I don't know.
00:43:53
Speaker
it'll be great to see when, uh, when finals come up, obviously you'll have a little time to watch that.
00:44:01
Speaker
I will watch a lot of it.
00:44:03
Speaker
So, all right, let's move on.
00:44:04
Speaker
Uh, I got also on my notes.
Closure of Pinball Podcasts and Listener Gratitude
00:44:07
Speaker
Um,
00:44:08
Speaker
We've already kind of talked about this, which is special and lit this week in pinball.
00:44:14
Speaker
And you guys hanging up the reins along with Pinball Supernova and the Canadian Pinball Podcast, if I remember correctly.
00:44:21
Speaker
Yeah, that's true.
00:44:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:44:22
Speaker
But the one thing I wanted to point out is the fans of all these podcasts.
00:44:29
Speaker
And I kind of told you about this, but they're going through the five stages of grief.
00:44:35
Speaker
There's people in denial.
00:44:36
Speaker
Yeah.
00:44:37
Speaker
There's people with anger.
00:44:39
Speaker
I saw people bargaining to get pinball podcasts back.
00:44:44
Speaker
There's some depression and there's some people accepting.
00:44:49
Speaker
Yeah, the full gamut.
00:44:51
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:44:52
Speaker
It is.
00:44:54
Speaker
But look, there are over 20 pinball podcasts out there online.
00:44:59
Speaker
I'm sure they're still there.
00:45:01
Speaker
So I look, I've been saying, you know, this, because I've said this to you before, I said, if you miss head to head, listen to loser kid, because I think there's just some similarity there.
00:45:14
Speaker
So hopefully your listener base will triple.
00:45:19
Speaker
I hope so.
00:45:19
Speaker
That'd be awesome.
00:45:20
Speaker
Well, and the other thing I want to point out, I know that you said that,
00:45:25
Speaker
I can't remember if you said this on the podcast or if it was before we were recording, but you weren't burned out because of the podcast itself.
00:45:34
Speaker
It was just kind of life, you know?
00:45:36
Speaker
Yes, correct.
00:45:37
Speaker
Yeah.
00:45:38
Speaker
But all these podcasts that decided to hang up the reins were our weekly podcasts.
00:45:44
Speaker
I know.
00:45:45
Speaker
We really don't have a weekly podcast now except for, well, Kaneda.
00:45:50
Speaker
That's even more than twice weekly.
00:45:52
Speaker
Yeah.
00:45:52
Speaker
And I know, do you know what?
00:45:55
Speaker
I don't know why I'm going to make this announcement, but when I did make that announcement, Chris from Canadian Spinball Podcast did actually reach out to me and said some really, really kind things.
00:46:08
Speaker
And I've always said that I like what he does.
00:46:13
Speaker
He pushes people.
00:46:14
Speaker
buttons and he gets people talking.
00:46:17
Speaker
And I think that's really important.
00:46:18
Speaker
It might not be for everybody.
00:46:20
Speaker
Not everybody's going to like his style, but I think he has a place in the broadcasting world and he wins the Twippy for a reason.
00:46:28
Speaker
He's got a very loyal following and he's doing a lot of things right.
00:46:31
Speaker
So I just wanted to say that.
00:46:32
Speaker
So he was, he was very kind when he reached out to me.
00:46:37
Speaker
I totally agree.
00:46:37
Speaker
And I think, I think you've hit it right on, right on the nose is right on the head is,
00:46:44
Speaker
there's so much polarity around him.
00:46:46
Speaker
He must either be doing something entirely right or entirely wrong because people either love him or hate him.
00:46:53
Speaker
And there's no one else like that in the pinball podcasting world, in my opinion.
00:46:57
Speaker
So, yeah, correct.
00:46:58
Speaker
Correct.
00:46:58
Speaker
I want to bring this up.
00:47:01
Speaker
Um, when we posted that you guys had, had hung up the reins, uh, Steven Haberman posted this on our, on our Facebook page.
00:47:09
Speaker
I don't know if you read this, but he said, you guys have been amazing for the hobby and incredible stewards for the game.
00:47:14
Speaker
Thank you for all the time you've dedicated to this podcast and may you all prosper in family, faith, fun, and food.
00:47:21
Speaker
And I just, I don't think anyone else could have said it better because, yeah, because we all feel that way.
00:47:27
Speaker
I don't know.
00:47:27
Speaker
Except he didn't say gin, but I'm sure he meant that as well.
00:47:31
Speaker
He meant that as well, but he was trying to keep, it was all F words.
00:47:37
Speaker
So, you know, family food.
00:47:41
Speaker
Yeah, we did get a lot of really, really good positive messages.
00:47:44
Speaker
And there was a lot of sadness.
00:47:46
Speaker
And that's what happens when something that you enjoy comes to an end and kind of unexpected for some.
00:47:53
Speaker
So, yeah, I understand.
00:47:55
Speaker
But I think the warnings, not just with you, I think the warning sides have been there.
00:47:59
Speaker
It's because we're a tight-knit community.
00:48:02
Speaker
I do talk to a lot of these people, my friends behind the scenes.
00:48:06
Speaker
Um, some people have been telling me stuff behind the scenes leading up to the, with, with them shutting stuff down.
00:48:13
Speaker
And so, um, it wasn't as big a shock to me.
00:48:17
Speaker
No.
00:48:18
Speaker
Word gets out.
00:48:18
Speaker
I mean, people talk, so, you know, it gets around.
00:48:22
Speaker
I really hadn't spoken to anybody about it, except people asking me whether it was going to continue.
00:48:27
Speaker
And I think my non-answers were pretty much the giveaway.
00:48:32
Speaker
But I've got to tell you, I was really surprised to hear about TWIP and Special Wynlet.
00:48:38
Speaker
I had no idea that they were going to come to an end.
00:48:42
Speaker
You know, I'm not surprised...
00:48:46
Speaker
Okay, I'm not surprised with either.
00:48:47
Speaker
And my reason being is Zach has spread himself thin.
00:48:50
Speaker
I don't know how the man does it.
00:48:53
Speaker
Between... He did the podcast.
00:48:55
Speaker
He does straight down the middle.
00:48:57
Speaker
He does flipping out.
00:48:59
Speaker
He does all these things just for pinball alone.
00:49:01
Speaker
The man has a family with children too and a full-time job.
00:49:05
Speaker
So how long can you do a weekly podcast with all the other stuff?
00:49:09
Speaker
And I think he's really pushed the boundaries on making the hobby better.
00:49:13
Speaker
And so...
00:49:14
Speaker
Yeah, and I think at that stage, you make a decision that says, I either stop doing what I'm doing because I'm not getting the returns, or I do it bigger to get returns.
00:49:30
Speaker
Yep.
00:49:31
Speaker
Is that subtle enough?
00:49:33
Speaker
Yeah, I agree.
00:49:35
Speaker
And then the other thing with Ken Cromwell, Bill, he had the baby.
00:49:40
Speaker
He hasn't been there as much.
00:49:42
Speaker
But what really tipped me off is if you watch the special one lit stream, Ken had said a couple episodes back or a couple streams back that they were thinking about...
00:49:54
Speaker
maybe giving up the podcast because streaming itself is so much easier to do.
Podcasting vs. Streaming: Ken Cromwell's Perspective
00:50:01
Speaker
You turn it on, you do your thing, you turn it off, there's no editing.
00:50:04
Speaker
That's it.
00:50:05
Speaker
Yep.
00:50:05
Speaker
There's no nothing.
00:50:06
Speaker
And you get to interact in real time with people.
00:50:10
Speaker
You get almost that instant buzz back versus waiting a week or two for people to listen to the episode and then saying, hey, I finally heard this.
00:50:19
Speaker
And by that time when they're reaching out to you, you're like,
00:50:21
Speaker
What did I say?
00:50:24
Speaker
Yes, that happens all the time.
00:50:26
Speaker
But that's why I said that I'm going to continue streaming because exactly what you just said, and I'm going to be streaming tonight after this podcast, because all I've got to do is set up my cameras, turn it on, stream for three hours, turn it off, go to bed.
00:50:41
Speaker
There's just nothing before or after I have to worry about.
00:50:46
Speaker
It's easier.
00:50:47
Speaker
It's not as many viewers.
00:50:49
Speaker
Like the amount of listeners that we had is infinitely more than the amount of streaming, but it's what gives you joy.
00:50:57
Speaker
And you're right.
00:50:59
Speaker
Interacting with all these people on Melbourne Silver Bowl is just so much fun for me.
00:51:05
Speaker
I totally agree.
00:51:06
Speaker
And I wish I could stay up later.
00:51:07
Speaker
You guys stream at midnight my time.
00:51:09
Speaker
And so I always wake up on Wednesday morning, whatever it is, and it says, Melbourne Silver Ball is live.
00:51:17
Speaker
And I'm like, no, they're not.
00:51:18
Speaker
It's six o'clock in the morning.
00:51:19
Speaker
Yeah.
00:51:21
Speaker
Yeah, we're already done.
00:51:23
Speaker
There's this magical moment in the year, and I can't remember what it is, but I think it's around about April, where our daylight savings just both change.
00:51:36
Speaker
And so that would be 10 o'clock your time.
00:51:39
Speaker
Okay.
00:51:40
Speaker
Something like that.
00:51:40
Speaker
I can't remember what it is.
00:51:41
Speaker
But there's some weird, and it only lasts for about two weeks, I think.
00:51:45
Speaker
Well, I can't wait for that.
00:51:46
Speaker
You guys are going to have to stream every night then.
00:51:48
Speaker
Yeah, it's like a summer solstice or something, I'm sure.
00:51:53
Speaker
So there you go.
00:51:55
Speaker
Awesome.
00:51:56
Speaker
So we're excited.
00:51:57
Speaker
You've told us you've got stuff coming in the pipeline.
00:51:59
Speaker
I know a lot of people have heard stuff.
00:52:04
Speaker
We'll have to wait and see, but I don't think we'll have to wait long.
00:52:06
Speaker
I don't think you're going to have to wait long at all.
00:52:09
Speaker
I really think we're excited for whatever's coming around the corner.
00:52:12
Speaker
Yeah, I am.
00:52:14
Speaker
Well, since you're on, I wanted to do one thing while you're here.
00:52:20
Speaker
Because this... I wanted to go over some of the memories, but one of the things I remember most about the Head to Head Pinball podcast was the Slam the Top 100.
00:52:32
Speaker
I knew this was coming.
00:52:35
Speaker
Yeah.
00:52:36
Speaker
And I don't think I've ever got to take you on at this.
00:52:38
Speaker
I know we took on Scott last time you were on, or I took on Scott.
00:52:41
Speaker
Right, that's correct.
00:52:42
Speaker
Okay.
00:52:43
Speaker
And so I would like to do this and then I want you to tell us some of your favorite memories of head to head because- Okay, for sure.
00:52:51
Speaker
There's a lot of stuff we don't get to see behind the scenes.
00:52:53
Speaker
Like you said, there's a lot of effort that's put into this.
00:52:56
Speaker
And so it's really cool to kind of get behind the scenes.
00:52:59
Speaker
And so I think people would appreciate that.
00:53:02
Speaker
Yeah, easy.
00:53:04
Speaker
Well, if you'll do the honors with Google, I've got Pinside pulled up.
00:53:08
Speaker
Okay.
00:53:09
Speaker
Oh, I need to get this all ready.
00:53:11
Speaker
Since you're the guest on the podcast, I will let you go first, even though you're more well-rehearsed than I am.
00:53:18
Speaker
I've not done this for a very long time.
00:53:20
Speaker
Okay, where is Assistant?
00:53:24
Speaker
Here we go.
00:53:26
Speaker
Hey, Google, pick a number between 1 and 100.
00:53:28
Speaker
88.88.
00:53:37
Speaker
I just said 12.
00:53:38
Speaker
I was like, what the?
00:53:39
Speaker
It did.
00:53:40
Speaker
Now you can pick 12 or 88.
00:53:41
Speaker
What I forgot is I've got Google in every room in this, and I've got a three-story townhouse.
00:53:50
Speaker
So there's a Google box in every one.
00:53:52
Speaker
So my phone said 88, but my Google home device said 12.
00:53:56
Speaker
Hmm.
00:53:59
Speaker
Do I want you to have, well, do I pick first or do you want to pick first?
00:54:06
Speaker
So let's have a look at the two that we've got on offer.
00:54:09
Speaker
We've got Adam's Family versus Pinbot.
00:54:16
Speaker
Up to you.
00:54:18
Speaker
Let's go with this.
00:54:20
Speaker
And I will take Pinbot, even though I don't think I've honestly ever played Pinbot.
00:54:27
Speaker
I've played Jackbot and I've played Bride.
00:54:29
Speaker
I just don't know if I ever laid my hands on a Pinbot.
00:54:31
Speaker
Have you played Adam's Family?
00:54:33
Speaker
Oh, yes.
00:54:34
Speaker
I owned one for about six months.
00:54:35
Speaker
Well, then you take Adam's family and I'll take Pinbot.
00:54:39
Speaker
Okay.
00:54:40
Speaker
Sounds good.
00:54:42
Speaker
And I go first, don't I?
00:54:44
Speaker
Yes.
00:54:45
Speaker
Since you have the lower number, you go first.
00:54:47
Speaker
Let's explain the rules really quick for those that may have not listened to the earlier head-to-head stuff.
00:54:54
Speaker
So we're going to do two rounds, correct?
00:54:56
Speaker
Correct.
00:54:57
Speaker
So the first round, you must talk about your own machine.
00:55:02
Speaker
And then the second round, you can either talk about your machine again or you can bash the other machine.
00:55:07
Speaker
And then we will send the information to the Loser Kid Pinball Podcast Facebook page for the listeners to then decide who is the winner of slamming the top 100.
00:55:17
Speaker
Yeah, that's how it works.
00:55:20
Speaker
Yes.
00:55:22
Speaker
And usually the better GIF wins.
00:55:25
Speaker
Usually, so.
00:55:26
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, we're talking 88 versus 12, so it's going to be a tough one.
00:55:31
Speaker
Hey, I gave Scott the better GIF for the last time we did this, and he did not win, so.
00:55:37
Speaker
Okay.
00:55:37
Speaker
All right.
00:55:38
Speaker
Okay.
00:55:39
Speaker
All right.
00:55:40
Speaker
So.
00:55:41
Speaker
Let's talk about Pinbot.
00:55:43
Speaker
The first thing I'll say about Pinbot is Dream Team.
00:55:47
Speaker
It's not Dream Theme, Dream Team.
00:55:50
Speaker
The whole concept was put together by Python Angelo.
00:55:53
Speaker
He's awesome.
00:55:54
Speaker
And then the actual machine itself was designed by Barry Alsler, who we know has done some phenomenal games.
00:56:02
Speaker
But the real ace in the hole here is the music and the sound, which is Chris Grana,
00:56:09
Speaker
whom, side note, we had on Head to Head, who's amazing.
00:56:12
Speaker
And what you've actually got is- 30 seconds.
00:56:16
Speaker
Is that it?
00:56:17
Speaker
That's it.
00:56:18
Speaker
Wow.
00:56:18
Speaker
Dream theme.
00:56:19
Speaker
Dream team.
00:56:20
Speaker
Dream team.
00:56:20
Speaker
It's all I've got.
00:56:23
Speaker
All righty.
00:56:23
Speaker
You tell me when.
00:56:25
Speaker
Oh, okay.
00:56:26
Speaker
Am I going to do the timer or are you?
00:56:28
Speaker
Oh, I can do the timer.
00:56:29
Speaker
That's no biggie.
00:56:29
Speaker
I will start now.
00:56:31
Speaker
So the Adams family, this is the Holy grail of almost every pinball player out there.
00:56:38
Speaker
I mean, really it's Pat Lawler.
00:56:40
Speaker
It's the design that sold over 24,000 units and went on to sell even more as a limited edition machine between the, uh,
00:56:50
Speaker
Magnets that trick you into being complacent and then have to save yourself to the wonderful.
00:57:00
Speaker
I don't I'm out of time.
00:57:04
Speaker
Wonderful game.
00:57:08
Speaker
Oh, I don't know how you and Ryan did this every every week.
00:57:14
Speaker
Well, obviously, they just became more and more ridiculous over time.
00:57:19
Speaker
So it was all about just making it fun, really.
00:57:23
Speaker
So, yeah, it got much harder towards the end when we started going down to the 200 as well, because Ryan didn't know a lot of those.
00:57:34
Speaker
So there was a site.
00:57:35
Speaker
Well, I remember there at the end, he was reading a lot of flyers.
00:57:37
Speaker
Yeah.
00:57:39
Speaker
Oh, no, that was me.
00:57:40
Speaker
Oh, no, that's right.
00:57:41
Speaker
Towards the end, he was as well because he just didn't know anything.
00:57:43
Speaker
Yeah.
00:57:44
Speaker
So, all righty.
00:57:46
Speaker
Are you going to decide to either pump your machine or are you going to try to bash the Addams Family?
00:57:53
Speaker
So, let me talk about Addams Family.
00:57:56
Speaker
It is the highest selling machine.
00:57:59
Speaker
Pinball Machine of all time.
00:58:00
Speaker
But, you know, Britney Spears has also sold a lot of records.
00:58:05
Speaker
It doesn't mean that her music is good, does it?
00:58:09
Speaker
And I think Adam's Family is one of the most, if not the most overrated game.
00:58:13
Speaker
It's Pat Lawler, which I can't stand his games.
00:58:16
Speaker
And that layout is stupid.
00:58:18
Speaker
And it's just ramp, scoop, ramp, scoop, ramp, scoop.
00:58:21
Speaker
There you go.
00:58:22
Speaker
Two of the mansion.
00:58:23
Speaker
Whatever.
00:58:24
Speaker
Boring.
00:58:25
Speaker
Perfect.
00:58:26
Speaker
That was 30 seconds.
00:58:27
Speaker
Yeah.
00:58:31
Speaker
All right, I'm going after Pinbot, even though, yeah, I'm going after it.
00:58:35
Speaker
So you better hold on to your britches.
00:58:38
Speaker
Oh, here we go.
00:58:42
Speaker
All right, Pinbot.
00:58:44
Speaker
Obviously a turd of a game, and I'll explain to you why.
00:58:47
Speaker
This game was recreated three different times.
00:58:51
Speaker
And why?
00:58:52
Speaker
Why did we need a jackpot and a Bride of Pinbot?
00:58:55
Speaker
Obviously the Bride of Pinbot is not the same layout.
00:58:58
Speaker
But Jackpot is.
00:59:00
Speaker
And what are you hitting?
00:59:02
Speaker
A couple bank of targets so you can stick some balls in this dude's eye?
00:59:06
Speaker
Like, it's not... It's not fantastic by any means.
00:59:11
Speaker
Just not a great game.
00:59:12
Speaker
Ab's family's better.
00:59:15
Speaker
That's my 30 seconds.
00:59:17
Speaker
Yeah, fair enough.
00:59:25
Speaker
And you guys always reserved your opinion for later on these games because you didn't want it to affect... No, well, I can tell you now, I cannot stand Adam's Family.
00:59:34
Speaker
I have been on record many, many times.
00:59:37
Speaker
I know that.
00:59:37
Speaker
And it took me... So I bought it because of the fact that it was Adam's Family.
00:59:43
Speaker
And I'm kind of right there with you.
00:59:44
Speaker
I'm not going to lie.
00:59:45
Speaker
Like...
00:59:47
Speaker
I might put a couple quarters in it if I'm in the arcade and I've kind of played everything else.
00:59:52
Speaker
But other than that, I don't know if I'd ever own it again.
00:59:55
Speaker
So it was nice while it lasted.
00:59:57
Speaker
We'll put it that way.
00:59:59
Speaker
Fair enough.
01:00:00
Speaker
Oh, look, I get that people love it.
01:00:04
Speaker
Well, and I think, do you want to buy a $6,000 Addams Family, depending on condition, or do you want to buy a $6,000 Jurassic Park from Stern?
01:00:14
Speaker
I just... I think...
01:00:18
Speaker
I look from kind of the collector slash buying perspective.
01:00:22
Speaker
And so I feel like I can get more for the money of an Adams family with newer machines.
01:00:28
Speaker
So that's how I compare.
01:00:30
Speaker
And it's funny because we had, we had a couple in, in my town that wanted a pinball machine.
01:00:36
Speaker
They said, Hey Josh, I saw you're getting ready to sell your Adams family.
01:00:39
Speaker
what are you going to sell it for?
01:00:40
Speaker
And I said, well, list price is 6,000 or it was like 5,800 or whatever it was.
01:00:45
Speaker
And I, I, they wouldn't even let me finish my train of what I was going to say.
01:00:48
Speaker
They're like, Nope, not for us, which was funny because she said this was her Holy grail pin.
01:00:56
Speaker
So I'm like, I guess obviously it's not that much of a grill if you're anyhow.
01:01:04
Speaker
We got some minutes left.
01:01:06
Speaker
I want to know some of your favorite memories.
01:01:07
Speaker
I want to give you some of mine of head-to-head.
01:01:11
Speaker
Look, obviously, the fondest memories I have are with my co-host.
01:01:15
Speaker
So Ryan C and I decided to do this podcast just because we met each other.
01:01:21
Speaker
I think it was the second time we met each other.
01:01:24
Speaker
I was buying some mirror blades off him.
01:01:26
Speaker
We talked for an hour when I was trying to leave, but I was just having such a great conversation.
01:01:30
Speaker
And two days later, I went, hey, now that Pinheads has gone...
01:01:34
Speaker
Let's do a podcast.
01:01:35
Speaker
And he's like, yeah, absolutely.
01:01:36
Speaker
And what I really enjoyed was just how our friendship grew over that time and the amount of laughs that we had.
01:01:46
Speaker
But really, I think for me, the highlights came from the people that we spoke to and really some of the key interviews that we did.
01:01:57
Speaker
Keith Owen, we interviewed him twice and he was amazing both times.
01:02:02
Speaker
Chris Grann, I mentioned before, I say that that was my favourite interview that we did.
01:02:09
Speaker
We just didn't know where it was going to go, but his enthusiasm and his connection to us
01:02:16
Speaker
And what we were saying just made this really cohesive, free-flowing conversation that just had laughs, that had new information.
01:02:29
Speaker
It was just, you know, it was awesome.
01:02:31
Speaker
Yeah.
01:02:33
Speaker
One of the other ones was when I got to do an interview with Gary Stern because, you know, Gary likes to give pretty much stock standard PR answers to a lot of questions.
01:02:47
Speaker
And the interview started that way.
01:02:50
Speaker
But then when I started talking to him about...
01:02:54
Speaker
business models and manufacturing and really sort of getting to the, not even talking about themes or pinballs or it was more sort of about running a business and what his involvement is.
01:03:07
Speaker
He sort of just really peaked and just started just giving all this really great information.
01:03:13
Speaker
And it was such a nice surprise.
01:03:16
Speaker
And then, you know, when I finished the interview, I thought, oh my God,
01:03:19
Speaker
I've just interviewed Gary Stern.
01:03:20
Speaker
That was really cool.
01:03:23
Speaker
But I also then got to do things like a tour of the Stern factory with Zach Sharp.
01:03:30
Speaker
That was amazing.
01:03:31
Speaker
I got to go to Jersey Jack's factory and do a tour there.
01:03:37
Speaker
I got to go to all these different shows.
01:03:40
Speaker
I think, you know, one of the other highlights was getting absolutely hammered in a hotel room at TPF with some crazy people.
01:03:51
Speaker
That was lots of fun.
01:03:51
Speaker
Yeah.
01:03:54
Speaker
Pinside Petey, always showing his face on our show, being very abusive, was always a highlight.
01:04:00
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's off the top of my head.
01:04:03
Speaker
I really should have probably put more thought into it.
01:04:06
Speaker
But they're the things that come to my mind when I look back and I think of all the things that we achieved.
01:04:10
Speaker
And certainly 2018 was a massive, massive year as far as interviews go.
01:04:18
Speaker
I totally agree.
01:04:19
Speaker
And I remember, as you were talking about this, I remember these interviews.
01:04:22
Speaker
I love the Chris Granner interview.
01:04:25
Speaker
One of my favorites was the Roger Sharp, and it was because...
01:04:29
Speaker
He's like, we got him talking and he wouldn't stop.
01:04:31
Speaker
And so we're cutting this into two pieces.
01:04:34
Speaker
Well, not only that, what actually happened was, I think it was probably about nearly two hours into the interview, I went and got my hair cut and came back and it was still going.
01:04:51
Speaker
That is awesome.
01:04:53
Speaker
It was hilarious.
01:04:54
Speaker
Another one, Joe Kamenkao, he was also really good to speak to.
01:04:58
Speaker
He was just very knowledgeable.
01:05:00
Speaker
We got a lot of information about the Data East days that I hadn't really heard that much about.
01:05:06
Speaker
So that was good.
01:05:08
Speaker
Well, and when I think of head to head, I just, there's a lot of podcasts out there that take themselves very seriously.
01:05:16
Speaker
And yeah,
01:05:17
Speaker
There was that to a point with you guys, but the shenanigans is just what I remember.
01:05:22
Speaker
Calling Chris Franchi at, what, four in the morning?
01:05:25
Speaker
I know.
01:05:26
Speaker
And be like, what is going on?
01:05:28
Speaker
Why are you calling me?
01:05:31
Speaker
Just stuff like that.
01:05:32
Speaker
Just...
01:05:34
Speaker
The banter between you and Ryan and just hearing you and Joe's voice every week, I think it's something that we've come to appreciate.
01:05:43
Speaker
My earliest memory of you guys is just listening to the Slam the Top 100.
01:05:49
Speaker
There was an episode where you guys were like...
01:05:53
Speaker
which ones have we done?
01:05:54
Speaker
Have we, have we done these ones?
01:05:55
Speaker
Have we not done these ones?
01:05:57
Speaker
You and Ryan are like, we should really keep a list of this.
01:06:00
Speaker
And I was like, Oh, was that you that you set the list?
01:06:03
Speaker
Yeah.
01:06:04
Speaker
And so I was like, well, that would be easy because you just run through the Facebook page in less than five minutes.
01:06:09
Speaker
You'll be, you got it.
01:06:10
Speaker
And so I sent it over and you guys like, how'd you do this so quick?
01:06:13
Speaker
And I was like, just looked at the Facebook page.
01:06:15
Speaker
Like it wasn't too big of a deal.
01:06:19
Speaker
But that's the spirit of Head to Head was that we would record.
01:06:24
Speaker
Obviously, you've seen our show notes, so you know how thorough they can be.
01:06:28
Speaker
But it was still just a guideline.
01:06:30
Speaker
And the point of the podcast was to just make each other laugh.
01:06:36
Speaker
That's what the point of it was.
01:06:38
Speaker
And then the second half of it, I guess the Joe years, was more to educate, I think is probably the best way to do it.
01:06:43
Speaker
And we also had some laughs as well.
01:06:45
Speaker
But –
01:06:47
Speaker
During the week leading up to recording with Ryan, he would spend most of his time trying to come up with some way to make me laugh.
01:06:57
Speaker
That's all he'd do.
01:06:59
Speaker
That's awesome.
01:07:00
Speaker
So, that was good fun.
01:07:02
Speaker
Well, and it came through.
01:07:03
Speaker
It came through the podcast.
01:07:04
Speaker
I think that's what people loved about it, is it felt so genuine.
01:07:08
Speaker
It wasn't just information being spouted out.
01:07:12
Speaker
It wasn't just a weekly rundown of the news.
01:07:15
Speaker
It was watching a friendship unfold on a podcast.
01:07:19
Speaker
That's what happened.
01:07:20
Speaker
Yeah.
01:07:20
Speaker
And feeling like we were a part of it.
01:07:22
Speaker
It was like being in the room with you guys and just having fun.
01:07:26
Speaker
Yeah.
01:07:28
Speaker
I don't know.
01:07:29
Speaker
I appreciate the two and a half years you guys have put into this.
01:07:32
Speaker
I know I wasn't there since day one, but I know I was pretty dang close.
01:07:36
Speaker
And if it wasn't for you guys, if it wasn't for the Pinball Podcast, I wouldn't be where I am in the hobby now.
Advice and Appreciation for Podcasters
01:07:45
Speaker
I've been in the hobby for six, seven years now, but I really didn't take the dive until I started finding podcasts.
01:07:52
Speaker
And between you and Jeff, it just...
01:07:56
Speaker
That's what got me to love the hobby even more.
01:08:00
Speaker
Thank you.
01:08:00
Speaker
You're welcome.
01:08:02
Speaker
And I will say that some of the notes that people had messaged, and I was quite surprised to hear this.
01:08:08
Speaker
People were saying, you were the person that got me into pinball.
01:08:11
Speaker
It's like, how is that even possible?
01:08:13
Speaker
But that's kind of what happened.
01:08:15
Speaker
Yeah.
01:08:16
Speaker
We did that to try and grow the Australian market, but this is what was happening internationally.
01:08:22
Speaker
So if there is some, and I would humbly say a small part that we've played in that, then that's great.
01:08:29
Speaker
But we are part of a community of content providers.
01:08:34
Speaker
And I guess my parting comment, I would say is, and I know people aren't going to take this necessarily the way I want them to, but
01:08:45
Speaker
just be thankful to the people that are taking time out of their day to do this for absolutely no gain.
01:08:55
Speaker
And I say that because there's some things that we did in the podcast just for sh**ts and giggles that,
01:09:01
Speaker
And it got turned around and twisted.
01:09:04
Speaker
And then we got, you know, slammed for this.
01:09:06
Speaker
And then people were bringing up all these conspiracy theories.
01:09:09
Speaker
And we were just scratching our heads, just thinking, all we're doing is turning the microphones on, talking for a couple of hours, putting it up.
01:09:19
Speaker
and it gets turned into something negative, that's not what podcasting is about.
01:09:24
Speaker
And I know LoserKid are doing the same thing.
01:09:26
Speaker
You're doing it because you love pinball and you want to spread the word of pinball.
01:09:31
Speaker
So people out there that are listening to podcasts really cherish what you get from these podcasts because there's a lot of effort that goes into it for really no gain.
01:09:40
Speaker
Well, you never know when they're going to shut down.
01:09:42
Speaker
And there's that too.
01:09:45
Speaker
So one last thing.
01:09:49
Speaker
The sun sets on the horizon.
01:09:51
Speaker
You guys are riding off as head-to-head into the sunset.
01:09:55
Speaker
Is there any advice that you have for new podcasts coming in to the pinball realm?
01:10:01
Speaker
Yeah, really, it is don't think about what you think the audience wants.
01:10:07
Speaker
Be genuine.
01:10:09
Speaker
Have a good time.
01:10:10
Speaker
Do it for the love of what you do.
01:10:13
Speaker
And if it works, it works.
01:10:14
Speaker
If it doesn't, it doesn't.
01:10:16
Speaker
It doesn't matter as long as you get joy out of doing it.
01:10:18
Speaker
That's what's important.
01:10:20
Speaker
I totally agree.
01:10:22
Speaker
You know what, Martin?
01:10:22
Speaker
I really appreciate you coming on.
01:10:24
Speaker
Like I said, I know people have said, don't meet your heroes.
01:10:29
Speaker
I know it's kind of silly to say, but I just appreciate not only head to head, but we've gained a friendship over this loser kid, even before that.
01:10:42
Speaker
I think...
01:10:45
Speaker
You can tell when someone's being genuine, and I've always appreciated that about you and Ryan.
01:10:52
Speaker
I think a lot of people can say that.
01:10:55
Speaker
I doubt it's just me.
01:10:57
Speaker
I doubt you guys were just nice to me.
01:10:58
Speaker
Yeah, well, we can be horrible too, but for the most part, we're good people.
01:11:07
Speaker
But my point being is I've brushed shoulders with a lot of people in this hobby.
01:11:12
Speaker
And you can tell when people are doing it for the love of it.
01:11:15
Speaker
And you can tell when people are doing it for, let's say, ulterior motives.
01:11:22
Speaker
Sure.
01:11:23
Speaker
And I've always appreciated that you've been upfront and honest.
01:11:26
Speaker
And so I'm going to leave it at that before I get myself in trouble with it.
01:11:35
Speaker
All good, Matt.
01:11:35
Speaker
And I really appreciate all your support.
01:11:36
Speaker
And I still don't forget the fact that you drove how many?
01:11:40
Speaker
Two and a half hours just to meet me in Salt Lake City.
01:11:44
Speaker
That's not forgotten.
01:11:45
Speaker
It was three, but you know, who's counting?
01:11:48
Speaker
Let's round it up.
01:11:49
Speaker
Sure.
01:11:49
Speaker
Three hours.
01:11:50
Speaker
That kind of stuff.
01:11:51
Speaker
I don't forget things like that.
01:11:52
Speaker
That was really cool.
01:11:53
Speaker
But it was a fun night.
01:11:54
Speaker
It was even my brother-in-law that I brought with me that doesn't even play pinball was like, we've got to do that again.
01:12:00
Speaker
That was fantastic.
01:12:01
Speaker
Martin was awesome.
01:12:01
Speaker
And I said, well, next time he's in Utah, let's go do it.
01:12:03
Speaker
So for sure.
01:12:05
Speaker
Which who knows when that will be.
01:12:08
Speaker
Who knows?
01:12:09
Speaker
Yeah.
01:12:09
Speaker
And that's people have been asking me, are you going to Indisc?
01:12:12
Speaker
Are you going to TPF?
01:12:13
Speaker
Are you going to Pinberg?
01:12:14
Speaker
Are you going to Expo?
01:12:16
Speaker
No plans this year.
01:12:17
Speaker
I think 2021, you'll see me again.
01:12:20
Speaker
we talked about we had convinced joe that robert muller had paid for your airplane in your hotel and fun times we'll always have those moments yeah he wasn't happy with us no not at all but well this is the end of the show where i ask you where to find you i don't know if you're gonna tell us where to find you besides maybe your stream well i'll leave it up to you work if we want to get a hold of you martin how do you want us to get a hold of you
01:12:50
Speaker
You can get a hold of me at Melbourne Silver Ball.
01:12:52
Speaker
So that's twitch.tv slash Melbourne Silver Ball.
01:12:54
Speaker
I stream Wednesday nights and Sunday nights here in Australia, which is, I have no idea what time that is in the rest of the world.
01:13:01
Speaker
And very likely you'll hear from me again soon.
01:13:05
Speaker
Awesome.
01:13:06
Speaker
So for Americans, that's 11 Pacific and that would be, let's see, two o'clock in the morning Eastern time.
01:13:16
Speaker
So, yep.
01:13:17
Speaker
Yep.
01:13:17
Speaker
But if you're streaming on Sunday, your Sunday, it would be Saturday for us.
01:13:22
Speaker
So order a pizza, stay up late and have some fun with Marty.
01:13:27
Speaker
Exactly.
01:13:28
Speaker
If you want to find us, yeah.
01:13:30
Speaker
Why not?
01:13:32
Speaker
If you want to find us, LoserKidPinballPodcast at gmail.com.
01:13:37
Speaker
You can email us there.
01:13:38
Speaker
You can get a hold of us via Facebook.
01:13:40
Speaker
Just type in LoserKidPinballPodcast or on Instagram or wherever.
01:13:46
Speaker
We're pretty much on any platform at this point.
01:13:51
Speaker
And also...
01:13:53
Speaker
Yeah, I don't want to end it at this point because I don't want to say goodbye, Martin.
01:13:57
Speaker
I don't think any of us want to say goodbye.
01:13:59
Speaker
No, well, I can tell you now, this probably won't be the last time that I'll be on the Loser Kid podcast.
01:14:02
Speaker
So there's that.
01:14:04
Speaker
There is that.
01:14:05
Speaker
Well, you're always welcome back on.
01:14:07
Speaker
We're excited for – we've got some more guests that people get excited for coming back on.
01:14:12
Speaker
We've got a lot going on, so I don't think you'll hear –
01:14:16
Speaker
Yeah, you guys are great.
01:14:17
Speaker
I really, really, really like your podcast.
01:14:20
Speaker
Well, that's what's funny is we had people reach out to us and please don't tell us you're quitting.
01:14:24
Speaker
I didn't know you guys cared.
01:14:27
Speaker
People care.
01:14:28
Speaker
They really do.
01:14:29
Speaker
They do.
01:14:30
Speaker
So thanks.
01:14:32
Speaker
Thanks, Martin.