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Ep 22: Hands on RAZA with the Velvet Voice, Jeff Teolis
45 Plays6 years ago
It's time to enjoy the velvet voice himself, Jeff Teolis! Jeff gives us his perspective from a hands on account of RAZA and some thoughts about Deeproot. Also we chit chat about Jurassic Park and Quizno's sub.
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Transcript
Introduction to Scott Larson and Jeff Teolis
00:00:06
Speaker
Thanks for tuning in to the Loser Kid Pinball Podcast.
00:00:09
Speaker
We are on episode 22.
00:00:11
Speaker
I've got my co-captain with me, as always.
00:00:14
Speaker
Scott Larson.
00:00:15
Speaker
And Scott, please introduce our guest for the evening.
00:00:18
Speaker
Well, today we have the velvet voice of radio and pinball and the one who's currently the emcee at all these major events and will be making his way across the lower 48 anytime soon or may have just finished.
00:00:32
Speaker
We have the one, the only Jeff Teolas.
00:00:35
Speaker
Hello, boys.
00:00:36
Speaker
Velvet Voice.
00:00:37
Speaker
I haven't heard that before, but it's
Jeff Teolis' Journey from Comedy to Radio
00:00:39
Speaker
a nice compliment.
00:00:39
Speaker
Thanks, guys.
00:00:40
Speaker
Now, do you start off with having a radio voice, or did you have to work at it?
00:00:47
Speaker
Actually, how I got into radio, I was doing stand-up comedy.
00:00:51
Speaker
Really?
00:00:52
Speaker
At a few clubs in Ontario, and a buddy of mine that I went to high school with was in a radio college program.
00:01:00
Speaker
He did an interview with me, and he said, you should think about it.
00:01:04
Speaker
And at the time I was in university for honors math to become a chartered accountant.
00:01:10
Speaker
And I said, well, I like the radio idea.
00:01:14
Speaker
That sounds a lot of fun.
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Speaker
Maybe not the best financial move at that point, but it, I enrolled in the program.
00:01:21
Speaker
I was lucky enough to get in one of the 32 out of 600 people that applied.
00:01:26
Speaker
I think the comedy and public speaking probably helped.
00:01:29
Speaker
And then,
00:01:31
Speaker
I got in.
00:01:32
Speaker
It was a two-year program.
00:01:33
Speaker
I graduated.
00:01:34
Speaker
I got a job four days after graduation, and I've been in radio 25 years since.
00:01:41
Speaker
So it's knock on wood.
00:01:43
Speaker
Been pretty good, but it wasn't really the path I chose.
00:01:46
Speaker
It just kind of fell in my lap.
00:01:49
Speaker
Wait, you did stand-up comedy.
00:01:50
Speaker
Do you have any of this laying around?
00:01:51
Speaker
I want to see some of this stuff.
00:01:54
Speaker
That's the thing.
00:01:55
Speaker
So I was doing it in the 90s.
00:01:57
Speaker
I do have one VH tape.
00:02:00
Speaker
of a performance in which I actually won a contest.
00:02:05
Speaker
And I have tons of audio tapes of it because that's what we did back in the day.
00:02:10
Speaker
We would record back in the room just to kind of hear your set.
00:02:14
Speaker
And, you know, this is before cell phones and video phones and all that kind of stuff.
00:02:20
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So you really had to bring in a camera.
00:02:22
Speaker
And the only reason I have the videotape is because the local news department filmed it.
00:02:27
Speaker
So,
00:02:28
Speaker
That was the only one I have.
00:02:29
Speaker
It's not on YouTube, so you're not going to be able to find it.
00:02:33
Speaker
Listen, it's not a good time for comedians to be showing old material.
00:02:38
Speaker
Let's just put it that way, right?
00:02:40
Speaker
If you watch Chappelle's new show, he talks about... Did I say things I wouldn't say now?
00:02:47
Speaker
Of course.
00:02:48
Speaker
But everybody did, right?
00:02:50
Speaker
Yeah, it was a whole different time.
00:02:53
Speaker
Nothing was off-color.
00:02:55
Speaker
Well, it just...
00:02:56
Speaker
It was different.
00:02:58
Speaker
No, it's different.
00:03:00
Speaker
Well, you're taking shots at everybody.
00:03:02
Speaker
And it was the days when people, you know, occasionally you were the, you were the, the target of the shots.
00:03:11
Speaker
I know that watching Josh 2.0, occasionally he says, watch out Mormons.
00:03:15
Speaker
This
Cultural Evolution and Personal Growth
00:03:16
Speaker
one's going to hurt.
00:03:16
Speaker
And of course I laugh really hard.
00:03:19
Speaker
But like, if you, it,
00:03:22
Speaker
I found it interesting when Kevin Hart basically got pushed out of the Oscars because they looked at some of his old stuff and I said, have you ever listened to any of Eddie Murphy's stuff?
00:03:36
Speaker
Like if you listen to delirious, there's zero chance that he would.
00:03:41
Speaker
But at the same time, you have to look at it and say, that was also 30 years ago.
00:03:45
Speaker
I'm hoping that we have changed as a culture.
00:03:48
Speaker
And that's one thing.
00:03:50
Speaker
When I watch those shows, you know, they always have those, those talk shows where it's the person who was, who was abused or just was mistreated in school.
00:04:00
Speaker
And now like 20 years later, they're confronting that person.
00:04:03
Speaker
I'm like, I,
00:04:05
Speaker
I don't know.
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Speaker
I would hope that you have changed, they have changed and you could find like a new, a new role as opposed to constantly reliving the past.
00:04:13
Speaker
And there were mistakes in the past and we're probably making mistakes now, but I'm hoping that we can continue to evolve.
00:04:19
Speaker
But yes, I would never be able to be a comedian because that job will eventually come back to haunt you.
00:04:27
Speaker
I have yet to meet anybody who hasn't made a mistake.
00:04:32
Speaker
We all make mistakes.
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but the key is to not make the same mistake twice.
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Speaker
And that's kind of my motto that I live by, you know, learn from these mistakes.
00:04:42
Speaker
When you make a mistake, you fess up, you apologize and you learn from it.
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I'm really big into redemption, uh, in anybody, you know, I give people the benefit of the doubt.
00:04:52
Speaker
I try to like everyone.
00:04:54
Speaker
Sometimes it doesn't work, but if it doesn't work, it's not a hatred thing.
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It's just, you go your way, I go my way.
00:04:59
Speaker
And yeah, some of these things in the past, I don't think they would haunt,
00:05:04
Speaker
me or others, but you know, it was a culture where you got to laugh by making fun of someone.
00:05:11
Speaker
And by the way, nobody was made more fun of than me by myself.
00:05:16
Speaker
That was the whole shtick.
00:05:17
Speaker
If I'm going to make fun of somebody else, I'm going to take it too, not just ditch it out.
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So, you know, I still kind of do that to this day, a little self deprecating here and there.
00:05:29
Speaker
It's fun.
00:05:29
Speaker
I mean, I only really have one punching bag and
00:05:32
Speaker
You had him as a guest on episode 16 and Josh Sharpe.
00:05:35
Speaker
It's just so easy.
00:05:37
Speaker
I mean, the target is just right there.
00:05:40
Speaker
By the way, how did he not get episode 22?
00:05:42
Speaker
That guy lived for two.
00:05:45
Speaker
Oh, dang it.
00:05:45
Speaker
Good shot, man.
00:05:47
Speaker
He's like, robbing bombs.
00:05:48
Speaker
Boom.
00:05:49
Speaker
Okay.
Pinball Community Camaraderie
00:05:50
Speaker
You know, I, I will say the one thing that I always remember about the Josh Sharp interaction was he was energetic.
00:05:58
Speaker
He's one of those guys who's completely passionate about pinball and everything he does and not malicious, just trying his best to, to continue the sport that he's always been involved in his entire life.
00:06:12
Speaker
And he, he couldn't have been more gracious and,
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Speaker
And he couldn't have been nicer.
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And he also is in on the joke.
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And so I was surprised that he came on.
00:06:23
Speaker
But really, Zach is the one who said, you know what?
00:06:24
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You should really talk to our brother, my brother.
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And I was like, OK, sure.
00:06:30
Speaker
Josh, contact.
00:06:31
Speaker
And we had him on.
00:06:33
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Well, two things.
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Josh was very, very nice to you because it was somebody reaching out and talking to him.
00:06:40
Speaker
He doesn't get a lot of that.
00:06:41
Speaker
And secondly, you're right.
00:06:43
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He is in on the joke.
00:06:44
Speaker
I mean, if anybody doesn't know that I don't love the guy, you're missing the point.
00:06:48
Speaker
In fact, me making fun of him is the joke is that I'm making fun of the people that criticize him all the time, kind of, but I'm playing that role.
00:07:00
Speaker
It's kind of like when Stephen Colbert did his old show on Comedy Central before he got the late show, you know, that was a character.
00:07:07
Speaker
That's kind of what I do with Josh and stuff.
00:07:10
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But it's just fun to dish it back and forth.
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And he gives it to me.
00:07:13
Speaker
I give it to him.
00:07:13
Speaker
No, I totally agree.
00:07:14
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That's good.
00:07:14
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That's awesome.
Redemption in Pinball: J-Pop and Deep Root
00:07:16
Speaker
No, it's great.
00:07:16
Speaker
You know, I did want to, I was actually thinking exactly when you talked about redemption stories, because that really leads me into what I was listening to today when I was coming in and you were interviewing Steve Bowden on Raza.
00:07:32
Speaker
And when I thought about that, I thought, you know,
00:07:37
Speaker
J-Pop is the perfect guy that is one of those where some people take hard stances on him and just say he should be exiled from pinball altogether.
00:07:46
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I look at it and say, look, he has admitted he's made a huge mistake.
00:07:52
Speaker
This is part of the redemption plan.
00:07:54
Speaker
And by the way, you get to see the progress of the pin that he was intending to make when he was on his own.
00:08:02
Speaker
But now he can actually do it with the backing of a company.
00:08:05
Speaker
And I thought...
00:08:07
Speaker
that was a great opportunity for him to really help redeem himself.
00:08:11
Speaker
What are your thoughts on that?
00:08:15
Speaker
I personally love his games.
00:08:17
Speaker
There's the only game I really don't care to play is the star Wars game, but that's not really a pinball machine as we know it.
00:08:24
Speaker
Everything else I can play all day.
00:08:27
Speaker
I totem is one of my all time favorite games.
00:08:30
Speaker
I own a world cup soccer.
00:08:32
Speaker
I wish the coding was a little bit better in theater magic, but I love the shots.
00:08:36
Speaker
And Circus Voltaire, that's a very unique game.
00:08:38
Speaker
I enjoy that as well.
00:08:39
Speaker
So when we got to play Raza, holy cow, it was like the greatest hits of J-pop.
00:08:45
Speaker
You know, there were certain elements, you know, that very target in the back going back and forth.
00:08:51
Speaker
That's the goalie in World Cup soccer, except this time you got to hit him.
00:08:55
Speaker
So that was kind of neat to knock the zombie letters down.
00:08:58
Speaker
And, you know, it's got the nice rollovers, that crazy ramp, just like you see in Toten.
00:09:04
Speaker
There's a good ramp there.
00:09:05
Speaker
Speaking of Toten, you got the spinny toy with the dizzy doozy, if that's what it's called.
00:09:11
Speaker
I just enjoyed the heck out of Raza.
00:09:14
Speaker
And especially knowing that that's not even close to being done.
00:09:19
Speaker
That's just like they say, the prototype.
00:09:21
Speaker
So yeah, is Jay Pop a good business person?
00:09:24
Speaker
Hell no.
00:09:26
Speaker
But yeah, you know, I don't know what it was like to be in his shoes.
00:09:33
Speaker
You know, do I think he had good intentions?
00:09:36
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:09:39
Speaker
I don't know what it's like to be in that position when you're just sinking and sinking.
00:09:42
Speaker
And, you know, maybe if we get this, we can save it, we can save it.
00:09:45
Speaker
And he just, you know,
00:09:47
Speaker
He was backed into corner.
00:09:48
Speaker
Don't know.
00:09:49
Speaker
It's horrible what happened to people that lost money.
00:09:52
Speaker
But I love that Deep Root, for no reason, said, you know what?
00:09:58
Speaker
We're going to help those Zidware people.
00:09:59
Speaker
If you're not part of a lawsuit, if you can prove that you've paid and you're owed money, we're going to give you either a cash settlement or a game or games.
00:10:10
Speaker
And I know a bunch of people that are very, very happy that they have made that arrangement with Deep Root when they didn't even have to do that.
00:10:18
Speaker
We talked about that last episode that we thought, you know what?
00:10:21
Speaker
He probably had Robert has probably not getting received the positive press just really by saying, look, we are going to rehire J-pop and we're going to build the game.
00:10:34
Speaker
And by the way, we are going to make up for his like for his error.
00:10:39
Speaker
And I think it's amazing.
00:10:41
Speaker
And really, it's the only way that I felt it could go forward.
00:10:46
Speaker
But again, it was something they didn't have to do.
00:10:49
Speaker
And that's amazing to me.
00:10:52
Speaker
I don't think they're getting enough positive PR from that, really.
00:10:55
Speaker
It was a great PR move.
00:10:57
Speaker
They want to hire this person who has made excellent games.
00:11:00
Speaker
You know he's got a few in the can in the sense of maybe it's Raza, Alice, Magic Girl, whatever the case may be.
00:11:07
Speaker
Whatever the rumors were back with Zidware, now we're seeing Raza.
00:11:11
Speaker
Who knows what we'll see next?
00:11:13
Speaker
But he makes good games.
00:11:14
Speaker
But you've got to kind of
00:11:16
Speaker
clear the slate with that PR nightmare that was Zidware.
00:11:20
Speaker
And again, Robert didn't have to eat that, but he did.
00:11:24
Speaker
And now it's time to move forward again.
00:11:26
Speaker
Deep Root, there are a lot of haters out there for whatever reasons.
The Impact and Strategy of Deep Root in Pinball
00:11:31
Speaker
And I don't get it because unlike Zidware, unlike others, maybe Highway, Dutch, or anybody who's asked for money before they get a game, that's not the case with Deep Root.
00:11:43
Speaker
They haven't asked for Dime once.
00:11:45
Speaker
So they owe us and everybody on Pinside and everybody that's a collector, they owe none of us a thing.
00:11:53
Speaker
And yet they're putting out a lot right now and not taking anything in.
00:11:58
Speaker
I'm pretty excited by that company.
00:11:59
Speaker
I am too.
00:12:00
Speaker
I'm very excited, especially after seeing the Raza and them saying, hey, this is not final product that you're seeing.
00:12:07
Speaker
And it even intrigues me even more when they're like, this isn't even the cabinet we're going to use.
00:12:11
Speaker
It's like, well, how the heck are you going to do this then?
00:12:13
Speaker
Like, I just, I'm, I'm,
00:12:15
Speaker
I know a lot of people are kind of like we're done until stuff starts coming out and we have seen something now, but the game is just so beautiful.
00:12:23
Speaker
The only, the only mark for me, and this is just personal taste.
00:12:26
Speaker
I don't know why, but I would have preferred it P zombie land.
00:12:30
Speaker
I know it's based off of Ben Hex original title, but I just watched zombie land again the other day.
00:12:36
Speaker
And I'm just like, this game would, and it feels like that to me.
00:12:39
Speaker
It feels like that game.
00:12:40
Speaker
But yeah,
00:12:41
Speaker
the whole game looks beautiful.
00:12:43
Speaker
I mean, the artwork is fantastic.
00:12:44
Speaker
I just, I was jealous.
00:12:46
Speaker
I was seeing you and Nemoto down there playing it.
00:12:48
Speaker
And I was just like, this game just looks, just looks fun.
00:12:52
Speaker
I I'm with you on that.
00:12:54
Speaker
My, uh, so my buddy who lives like a mile away from me, he has a beautiful circus Voltaire.
00:13:00
Speaker
It's a, it's a home use only.
00:13:03
Speaker
He has a beautiful totem.
00:13:04
Speaker
He has a beautiful, um, theater of magic.
00:13:08
Speaker
And like all of them, I tell him, I was like, these are fun.
00:13:12
Speaker
He, he posted Circus Voltaire one time for sale.
00:13:17
Speaker
And I told him, you can't sell it because look at all your games.
00:13:20
Speaker
This is different than all your other ones.
00:13:23
Speaker
And it's the one I play the most.
00:13:24
Speaker
And he, and he admitted it.
00:13:26
Speaker
He said, well, actually when people come over to my house, and he basically has the best of Bally Williams in the nineties, the two that they go to,
00:13:36
Speaker
all the time.
00:13:37
Speaker
They always go to Whitewater and they always go to Circus Voltaire because it has a look and a feel about it.
00:13:42
Speaker
And when I saw Raza, I thought, this is the second coming.
00:13:46
Speaker
This is the second coming of that feel that we haven't had in pinball for 20 years.
00:13:52
Speaker
You just named a couple of games.
00:13:55
Speaker
Circus Voltaire, which J-Pop obviously made, and Whitewater, which I also love.
00:14:00
Speaker
Dennis Dorbin, also a deep root designer.
00:14:04
Speaker
So
00:14:05
Speaker
Very excited with those two are going to do.
00:14:07
Speaker
Barry Ousler is a wonderful man.
00:14:09
Speaker
Bram Stoker's Dracula, one of the all-time greatest games.
00:14:13
Speaker
And then you've got John Norris, who I'm curious to see what he's going to see without the quick turnarounds that he used to have to do with Gottlieb.
00:14:22
Speaker
I mean, they would just turn them out.
00:14:24
Speaker
Wouldn't be complete codes or it's good enough.
00:14:26
Speaker
Send it out.
00:14:27
Speaker
Well, let's see what he can do now.
00:14:29
Speaker
So those are four people with some great experience.
00:14:32
Speaker
And Steve Bowden, who you mentioned earlier,
00:14:34
Speaker
That was on the podcast.
00:14:36
Speaker
Boy, that guy understands pinball because what he really wants to see and he did in Houston watching Raza was what are people doing?
00:14:46
Speaker
I don't want people to know what to do.
00:14:48
Speaker
Just what are they doing?
00:14:49
Speaker
What are they aiming for?
00:14:50
Speaker
What are they enjoying?
00:14:51
Speaker
What are they missing on?
00:14:54
Speaker
Are they successful in these shots?
00:14:55
Speaker
Basically, how does the game shoot?
00:14:58
Speaker
And the answer most people had was it shoots very, very well.
00:15:02
Speaker
There's lots to do.
00:15:03
Speaker
There's lots to see.
00:15:05
Speaker
I want to play it again because I need to know more.
00:15:08
Speaker
And again and again.
00:15:09
Speaker
And that's kind of the idea.
00:15:11
Speaker
There's going to be a lot in there.
00:15:13
Speaker
There already is a lot in there.
00:15:14
Speaker
And you talked about the artwork.
00:15:16
Speaker
That is the finest animations I've ever seen on a pinball machine.
00:15:22
Speaker
And again, it's a prototype.
00:15:25
Speaker
And that's, that's what blows my mind.
00:15:26
Speaker
It's just, it is a prototype.
00:15:28
Speaker
And we, now we have to wait for another five months, I guess, four and a half till Texas pinball festival or the reveal a couple of days before down in San Antonio.
Innovation in Pinball Design and Mechanics
00:15:36
Speaker
And I know people are, they're already, it's funny because you hear all this negative feedback before they even show anything.
00:15:42
Speaker
And all of a sudden now we've got people raising hands lining up.
00:15:44
Speaker
I want to go to the media.
00:15:46
Speaker
I want to, I want to volunteer to go to deep root and check everything out, you know?
00:15:52
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:52
Speaker
March 25th.
00:15:53
Speaker
I'll be there for sure.
00:15:54
Speaker
I'm going to San Antonio.
00:15:55
Speaker
And listen, you guys are in your job.
00:15:58
Speaker
You guys should go to the Deep Root Animation Studios.
00:16:00
Speaker
Sneak in.
00:16:02
Speaker
They're right there in your state.
00:16:04
Speaker
You know what?
00:16:04
Speaker
Out of all the podcasters, I expect Loser Kid to break stuff.
00:16:09
Speaker
And by breaking in, really.
00:16:10
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:13
Speaker
I live about 15 minutes from the studio and I know, yeah, I know where it is.
00:16:18
Speaker
And we've actually reached out.
00:16:20
Speaker
We said, Robert, if you're ever going to let us come in, we would love to just come in and just tour things and talk about it.
00:16:26
Speaker
But I agree with you.
00:16:29
Speaker
When I saw the video that ironically was on YouTube forever before anyone actually discovered it.
00:16:36
Speaker
Two months.
00:16:37
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:38
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:38
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:39
Speaker
But I watched this.
00:16:40
Speaker
I'm like, this is a hundred percent what we need in pinball right now.
00:16:44
Speaker
It's such a ludicrous theme.
00:16:47
Speaker
It's so over the top that I, it can't be exactly.
00:16:51
Speaker
It's a hundred percent what I want in pinball because I want that, that humor.
00:16:57
Speaker
I want the fun thing.
00:16:58
Speaker
Like I have Shrek in my house, which is,
00:17:02
Speaker
It's not really a great machine, but it makes me laugh because how many games actually have a lot of humor in them right now?
00:17:10
Speaker
They've gotten so serious, and I love the camp and the kaleidoscope of colors attitude.
00:17:18
Speaker
My theory, and maybe I'll share this with you guys.
00:17:21
Speaker
My theory is that it's a prototype because they're testing the shots.
00:17:26
Speaker
So what they're doing is they're just testing the flow of the game.
00:17:29
Speaker
And when they keep talking about, well, it's a prototype, it's because all the bling and all the crazy things that will be put in the game.
00:17:39
Speaker
So, yeah, they just wanted to test a little bit of what people are shooting for and how the flow of the game is.
00:17:45
Speaker
And then when you see the final product, I guarantee you're going to be wowed.
00:17:50
Speaker
Because right now when I saw it, I thought, yeah, that looks like a 90s pinball machine.
00:17:55
Speaker
And that's not a knock.
00:17:56
Speaker
That's a great thing.
00:17:57
Speaker
It looks like it could be released in the 90s.
00:17:59
Speaker
And I'm thinking they're holding something back and it's going to be big.
00:18:03
Speaker
I'm just as excited as you are to see what that is.
00:18:06
Speaker
And I have faith that we will see that.
00:18:08
Speaker
When?
00:18:09
Speaker
Not sure.
00:18:09
Speaker
But again, I'm
00:18:12
Speaker
The big question people were saying, and I asked this to Steve Bowden, was, why now?
00:18:17
Speaker
Why are you releasing it at Houston?
00:18:19
Speaker
And he said, why not?
00:18:20
Speaker
It solidifies us as a real company.
00:18:23
Speaker
There it is.
00:18:24
Speaker
We can make a pinball machine, but this is just the prototype.
00:18:28
Speaker
And...
00:18:29
Speaker
I think the response was huge.
00:18:31
Speaker
I really, I really agree.
00:18:32
Speaker
And you know, the one thing that I, that really perks up my ear every time I hear it is that they're, they're wanting to bring a certain amount of quality to the hobby too.
00:18:43
Speaker
I think there's a lot of, I don't know, even, even the voices that don't want to voice their opinions.
00:18:50
Speaker
Um, yeah,
00:18:50
Speaker
I know people that just hold back from buying new in-box product right now because they're afraid of the stuff that they hear out there.
00:18:57
Speaker
They're afraid of the clear code issues.
00:18:58
Speaker
They're afraid of – and those issues only might be one in, you know, however many – like one in 1,000 that they make of these.
00:19:05
Speaker
Right.
00:19:06
Speaker
But there's that hesitation there.
00:19:08
Speaker
And I think a lot of people perk up their ears when they hear, we're going to make the playful so strong you can take a hammer to it and it won't even dimple.
00:19:16
Speaker
It won't even get a scratch.
00:19:19
Speaker
And so I think we're just – it's something we haven't heard in a while.
00:19:22
Speaker
And don't get me wrong.
00:19:24
Speaker
I like Stern.
00:19:25
Speaker
I like JJP.
00:19:26
Speaker
I like those guys.
00:19:27
Speaker
I like what they're putting out.
00:19:28
Speaker
But as a person –
00:19:31
Speaker
I don't know, Jeff, if you're tech savvy at all, but some people that aren't tech savvy, they don't want to mess with the headache of what could be under the glass.
00:19:39
Speaker
They love these games.
00:19:40
Speaker
They want to have one in their house, but they don't want to get it in the house and then regret that they spent $6,000, $7,000 on these machines.
00:19:50
Speaker
Well, there's another thing.
00:19:51
Speaker
We don't know what the price point is.
00:19:53
Speaker
We know that Robert has said that pricing will be very impressive and
00:19:59
Speaker
when it comes to deeper games and there'll be different levels too.
00:20:02
Speaker
You know, is this going to be the high end game?
00:20:06
Speaker
I don't think so, but I don't know.
00:20:09
Speaker
Again, no word on what the pricing will be, but they want to make a dent into the market for sure.
00:20:14
Speaker
Are they going to knock off Stern and Jersey Jack with one game?
00:20:19
Speaker
No, but they're going to put their foot in the market.
00:20:21
Speaker
And then that's, that's the first thing you do.
00:20:24
Speaker
You get somebody liking that first game and okay, what's the next one?
00:20:27
Speaker
What's the next one?
00:20:29
Speaker
You know, have you ever played Full Throttle?
00:20:33
Speaker
I have not, no.
00:20:35
Speaker
No, none made it out to Utah that I know of.
00:20:38
Speaker
Okay.
00:20:39
Speaker
I have only played it a few times.
00:20:42
Speaker
And just recently, twice, once at the Sanctum and once with Bowen at Pintastic.
00:20:49
Speaker
I really liked it.
00:20:50
Speaker
I mean, it wasn't the deepest game, but the flow and the shots were pretty good.
00:20:54
Speaker
I was like, wow, if this was more mass-produced and more out there,
00:20:59
Speaker
I would have been very curious what the next game was, and it was Alien, and I have played that, and that is a fun game.
00:21:06
Speaker
Obviously, there's some technical problems, too, and you're worried about when parts go, but pretty good game.
00:21:13
Speaker
If that company had a little more structure and was still around, they made some pretty good games, right?
00:21:22
Speaker
That's one thing I think Deep Root's doing, is getting the structure in place.
00:21:26
Speaker
They've got the people there that can make the games, but
00:21:29
Speaker
Other companies we've seen come and go sadly didn't have the structure there.
00:21:33
Speaker
I think Deep Root's doing that.
00:21:36
Speaker
I think in addition to the structure, they also have the financial seed money.
00:21:41
Speaker
Sure.
00:22:02
Speaker
this is obviously Robert's passion and he is willing to say, look, here's my wallet, spend this money and make something good.
00:22:13
Speaker
And he has an experience in business.
00:22:15
Speaker
And so it's not his first time doing something like this, or at least doing a business.
00:22:21
Speaker
I think it's fair to say, you know, Robert's not putting all of his eggs into this basket that is pinball.
00:22:28
Speaker
Right.
00:22:28
Speaker
He's very diversified.
00:22:30
Speaker
Like you say, he certainly enjoys it too.
00:22:33
Speaker
Is this going to be the be all and end all if in year one, year two, they don't make money?
00:22:38
Speaker
No, that's kind of the structure that's in place.
00:22:41
Speaker
Listen, we've seen Stern and Jersey Jack and great companies like those also be bailed out, right?
00:22:48
Speaker
They maybe didn't have the structure or had to tighten up manufacturing, whatever the case may be.
00:22:54
Speaker
You know, everybody needs that kind of financial boost.
00:22:57
Speaker
That's the one thing it looks like Deep Root has.
00:23:00
Speaker
So now they're ahead of that game where others maybe struggled.
00:23:05
Speaker
You really had to – I always think of Stern as a pinball company, but it's not.
00:23:11
Speaker
It's a lifestyle brand.
00:23:13
Speaker
It's a lifestyle brand.
00:23:14
Speaker
We know that.
00:23:14
Speaker
That too.
00:23:15
Speaker
And they've got to keep the line moving.
00:23:17
Speaker
So they've done an excellent job of keeping the line moving, keeping those people employed.
00:23:23
Speaker
If it's bringing out a vault, if it's making a unique custom game, like a Primus, let's say, or whatever the case may be,
00:23:31
Speaker
They've done an excellent job of that.
00:23:32
Speaker
So they figured that out.
00:23:34
Speaker
And that's why they have a good stranglehold in the market.
00:23:37
Speaker
And other companies are also, you know, Spooky is very smart.
00:23:41
Speaker
They know what their business plan is.
00:23:43
Speaker
JJP knows, they've learned from their mistakes, just like we were talking earlier.
00:23:49
Speaker
You know, you make a mistake, don't make it twice.
00:23:51
Speaker
Jersey Jack, like everyone, has made mistakes, but they've learned from them and they just keep getting better.
00:23:57
Speaker
So,
00:23:57
Speaker
That's great for the three of us and everybody in pinball.
00:24:01
Speaker
The more pinball companies that are doing well, the better for all of us.
00:24:07
Speaker
I also think when you talk about the quality of manufacturing, I'm actually not that spooked by it because...
00:24:14
Speaker
we live in this microcosm of the internet and interconnectivity that has really evolved in the last five years.
00:24:21
Speaker
That five years ago, we didn't have all this, hey, I know someone who is, you know, I'm connected to all these people who are across the country and across the world through pinball.
00:24:35
Speaker
I didn't have that five years ago.
00:24:36
Speaker
And I don't think that people recognize that when people
00:24:42
Speaker
When the games came out in the past, in the 80s, in the 90s, in the 2000s, there were problems with those too.
00:24:51
Speaker
It's like a car manufacturer.
00:24:52
Speaker
You're never going to get a car that doesn't have problems.
00:24:54
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:56
Speaker
Knowing how to work with those problems, the distributors, or at least the route runners, they would set up the machine and they'd have to tweak it and they'd have to do all this stuff.
00:25:05
Speaker
And so I'm not that concerned with quality because you're just seeing every time something comes out, something comes up and then they fix it.
00:25:15
Speaker
But...
00:25:15
Speaker
In a game that has a silver ball, a steel ball that's catapulting around inside a box with plastics, with wood, you're going to get some problems with it.
00:25:27
Speaker
And that's just part of the game.
00:25:30
Speaker
I agree.
00:25:31
Speaker
I mean, that was one thing this weekend with Razo for using that as an example.
00:25:38
Speaker
They took a lot of data.
00:25:39
Speaker
I looked behind...
00:25:40
Speaker
the pinball machine and sorry for all those out there, I'm calling it a machine.
00:25:45
Speaker
I don't know if you want to call it a table, but I'm going with machine.
00:25:48
Speaker
They had two feeds.
00:25:51
Speaker
One was the power and one was to take information and really get that data.
00:25:55
Speaker
What shots were being made, what were being missed, what was hit the most frequently, how did things stand up, voltage, all that kind of stuff.
00:26:03
Speaker
They really, I only imagine, you know, it's a focus group they've never had.
00:26:10
Speaker
with whatever they've got in San Antonio, well, that pales in comparison to what they saw in Houston when there was a lineup of five, six deep waiting to play for 15 hours a day.
00:26:21
Speaker
So they got a lot of data information and air balls and plastics and, and targets and, and the great duck spinning thing, which was pretty neat.
00:26:30
Speaker
You know, they, they found a lot of things out too.
00:26:33
Speaker
And, uh, it's back to the drawing board for a few of those things.
00:26:37
Speaker
And, and,
00:26:38
Speaker
I think that's why they kept saying over and over again, this is a prototype.
00:26:43
Speaker
They did something at the Houston Expo that because of recent online interconnectivity of people that they haven't done, but they used to do it all the time.
00:26:56
Speaker
They used to have all these test locations and they put out these new games and just collect data or see things.
00:27:02
Speaker
And that's what they're doing.
00:27:05
Speaker
They're able to actually see it in a real life situation.
00:27:09
Speaker
Well, what impresses me, too, is that they made a machine...
00:27:13
Speaker
That isn't even going to be their final product because they wanted to get out there and get testing.
00:27:17
Speaker
I mean, who goes out and makes a full pinball machine?
00:27:20
Speaker
That's like they got the play from field from Mirko.
00:27:24
Speaker
They threw it in a cab that they don't usually they're not going to be using.
00:27:28
Speaker
It just it kind of blew my mind that they went to this length to put this prototype out for for us to see.
00:27:34
Speaker
And so I don't know.
00:27:36
Speaker
It's impressive that they went through that much work just to get some back some some back feed or some whatever you want to call feedback.
00:27:43
Speaker
There were a lot of eyes on that game, certainly from the consumer standpoint.
00:27:48
Speaker
The Deep Root employees were taking a lot of notes.
00:27:51
Speaker
Some of the people that were doing coding, some of the engineers were there, VPs, marketing, of course, Steve Bowden.
00:27:58
Speaker
But I also saw other people there really getting a good look at it, whether it be Scott Denisi from Spooky.
00:28:03
Speaker
Joe Balser was taking a good look at it from American.
00:28:06
Speaker
Mike Vinicor was
00:28:07
Speaker
It was with Marco and Stern.
00:28:10
Speaker
He was there more than once.
00:28:11
Speaker
So, you know, it certainly piqued the interest.
00:28:15
Speaker
And I don't remember a game this year at a show that had, for something that really wasn't even a launch.
00:28:24
Speaker
You think of this entire year.
00:28:26
Speaker
What show made people go, wow, I get to see that game.
00:28:31
Speaker
It could have been Expo for Elvira.
00:28:34
Speaker
It could have been Midwest.
00:28:36
Speaker
I think they brought out Black Knight, but it was released before, if I recall.
00:28:42
Speaker
But I've been to a lot of these shows.
00:28:44
Speaker
I never saw anything like this.
00:28:46
Speaker
And for a small show like Houston.
00:28:47
Speaker
The only show I can think of is when Willy Wonka was unveiled at the show back in March.
00:28:53
Speaker
And I apologize.
00:28:54
Speaker
I can't remember what show that was.
00:28:56
Speaker
That was Midwest.
00:28:57
Speaker
You're right.
00:28:57
Speaker
That was Midwest.
00:28:57
Speaker
I apologize.
00:28:58
Speaker
You're right.
00:28:59
Speaker
And so that's the only thing I can think of.
00:29:02
Speaker
And that's the thing too, is I've never heard of Houston Arcade Expo.
00:29:07
Speaker
They said that Raza was going to be there.
00:29:09
Speaker
I was like, oh, cool.
00:29:10
Speaker
So I don't know if this is a big show or whatnot.
00:29:12
Speaker
To me, from the outside perspective, it's a relatively small show that I've never heard of that they're revealing this at.
00:29:19
Speaker
So I'm like, well, it's just put it on the map for me because we're getting to see a new product from a company we've never seen anything from.
00:29:27
Speaker
I guess I would add that when Jurassic Park came out, that seemed to be a big release in my mind over the year, in addition to the ones you already mentioned.
00:29:39
Speaker
It came out on a stream.
00:29:40
Speaker
Deadflip certainly showed it, but they had a bunch of games at Pinberg.
00:29:45
Speaker
What a place to bring a bunch of games.
00:29:48
Speaker
So that was clever to do that.
00:29:50
Speaker
But...
00:29:51
Speaker
It wasn't really launched.
00:29:52
Speaker
Like the first time we saw it was on a stream.
00:29:55
Speaker
Okay, that's fair.
00:29:56
Speaker
Yeah, it wasn't your stereotypical, hey, we're at a – okay, it wasn't what JJP did with Pirates.
00:30:04
Speaker
Yeah, at Pinball Expo.
00:30:07
Speaker
Yeah, at Expo.
00:30:08
Speaker
They controlled their own message and said we're going to leak it in our own – or we're going to announce it in our own way.
00:30:14
Speaker
You're right.
00:30:15
Speaker
I'll –
00:30:17
Speaker
But that's the thing, though.
00:30:18
Speaker
This is a prototype.
00:30:19
Speaker
This isn't even a machine launch.
00:30:21
Speaker
It wasn't even a launch.
00:30:22
Speaker
This was a data.
00:30:23
Speaker
This was a data collection.
00:30:25
Speaker
So, yeah.
00:30:27
Speaker
You know, there are smarter marketing people than I'll ever be.
00:30:31
Speaker
So I've heard other people say, why did they do it at Houston?
00:30:35
Speaker
They're in Texas.
00:30:36
Speaker
It's a drive away from San Antonio.
00:30:40
Speaker
The end of the calendar is coming.
00:30:42
Speaker
They did make a promise to show games in 2019.
00:30:45
Speaker
So now they've fulfilled that promise, not to the volume that they originally said, but still, again, solidifying that, yes, we are a pinball company.
00:30:54
Speaker
Here's our game.
00:30:55
Speaker
Sure, it's a prototype, but now you're getting a taste of what we're working on.
00:30:59
Speaker
I'm sure this game, and I don't know this to be true, I bet you that game has been done for a year.
00:31:04
Speaker
And tinkering here and there, who knows, right?
00:31:06
Speaker
The making of pinball, it's not easy.
00:31:10
Speaker
I think everybody now agrees it's not easy.
00:31:13
Speaker
The refining it is the difficulty, the manufacturing.
00:31:17
Speaker
Those are the difficult things.
00:31:18
Speaker
But to get a whitewood shooting and stuff like that, probably the easier part.
00:31:25
Speaker
Making it accurate, making the shots good, that stuff's the hard part.
00:31:29
Speaker
But, you know, here's a whitewood, here's something shootable.
00:31:32
Speaker
There you go.
00:31:36
Speaker
And Steve Ritchie brought this up when someone actually posted and saying, hey, do you guys know if you shoot here, it ricochets off and hits here and possibly up there.
00:31:45
Speaker
And Steve Ritchie chimed in.
00:31:47
Speaker
He said, yes, we actually deal with this when we're tested.
00:31:51
Speaker
Yeah, we deal with this by design that we look at rebounds and we look at secondary shots.
00:31:56
Speaker
And that was the first time it clued in to me that, yeah,
00:32:01
Speaker
Oh, it's not just a straight shot from the flipper and then it bounces around and comes back to the flipper.
00:32:08
Speaker
And I'm probably a little naive in thinking that.
00:32:11
Speaker
My background is in mechanical engineering.
00:32:13
Speaker
That was my major in college.
00:32:15
Speaker
And so I should have been a little more aware of that.
00:32:19
Speaker
But that was the first time it clued me in that they take into account these secondary shots.
00:32:25
Speaker
So Scott, Josh, you saw the video I posted of Raza, and I had a bunch of people talk to me about that because to start multiball, you spell zombie by hitting that very target at the top.
Gameplay Mechanics in Raza and Jurassic Park
00:32:36
Speaker
But before I hit the letter E, I would purposely go up the ramp, and whether it be not a clean shot or giving it a little nudge to make it fall off the ramp,
00:32:47
Speaker
By coming back down, it hits a switch and ricochets, and it hits these multipliers three times, six times, nine times that you can't hit with a flipper.
00:32:58
Speaker
But when you miss a ramp, it bounces off there.
00:33:01
Speaker
And when you do it three times, you get a three times playfield multiplier.
00:33:05
Speaker
So I purposely did that before I hit the final E to start my multiball.
00:33:11
Speaker
And then once I did it, I would shoot up the ramp again to try to make it go to 6x.
00:33:16
Speaker
And Stephen Bowden was standing beside me.
00:33:18
Speaker
He goes, you did it.
00:33:18
Speaker
You got it.
00:33:19
Speaker
You figured it out.
00:33:20
Speaker
So sometimes, like you were talking about the Steve Ritchie banking shots, that's, I think, what they have in mind with those kind of shots.
00:33:30
Speaker
How do you get there?
00:33:31
Speaker
Well, you've got to find a way to do it.
00:33:33
Speaker
And it wasn't that hard.
00:33:34
Speaker
That's really cool.
00:33:35
Speaker
Have you seen anything like that before?
00:33:37
Speaker
Now that you mentioned that, I don't think I've seen something like that.
00:33:41
Speaker
with the three times, six times, nine times with a, when you fail to make a shot, it still rewards you.
00:33:46
Speaker
You know what I'm saying?
00:33:48
Speaker
Well, it didn't always hit it.
00:33:49
Speaker
You had to kind of, when you fell off the ramp, if it had a good speed, just the trajectory of it would bounce into the three standups.
00:33:57
Speaker
And by hitting it again, three times, that's,
00:34:00
Speaker
I said to Stephen, do I know my progress by holding both flippers, how close I am to getting three times?
00:34:06
Speaker
Like you think of ACDC, you know how many more bell hits you need before you get the 2x multiplier.
00:34:12
Speaker
You don't in this game.
00:34:13
Speaker
So you know you're either, if it's not lit, you're one, two or three shots away.
00:34:17
Speaker
So you just keep doing it until you see it lit.
00:34:20
Speaker
And then that's when you go for it.
00:34:22
Speaker
So I don't know.
00:34:24
Speaker
I thought that was pretty cool.
00:34:25
Speaker
I don't know about anything else.
00:34:27
Speaker
You know, I find in Deadpool, in the Colossus little turnaround there, that's kind of a difficult shot.
00:34:34
Speaker
You can't hit that with a flipper.
00:34:36
Speaker
You have to go around the orbit and hope it hits it.
00:34:41
Speaker
I think of Iron Maiden, Elwin, who is the greatest of all time.
00:34:46
Speaker
You know you've had him on the show.
00:34:48
Speaker
He put on the left in lane at the top that little cross stand up, which in pinball terms is the Shatz shot.
00:34:57
Speaker
By going up there, it gives you one of the X's for the playfield multiplier.
00:35:03
Speaker
That's kind of unique that you really can't hit with a flipper unless you go up the in lane.
00:35:08
Speaker
Well, and people have said that that's got to be the hardest shot to hit nowadays.
00:35:12
Speaker
But see, we're starting to get new ideas.
00:35:15
Speaker
This is what I'm loving about pinball right now.
00:35:19
Speaker
At least I went and played at a tournament this weekend, and a lot of it was the greatest hits at Bally Williams.
00:35:25
Speaker
And I was talking to a guy that rescued a cactus canyon from a boiler fire.
00:35:33
Speaker
Yeah.
00:35:35
Speaker
And I asked him how, what made you decide to hold onto it?
00:35:39
Speaker
Because when he saved it, you know, Williams had already went under, there wasn't many parts.
00:35:44
Speaker
I'm like, what?
00:35:45
Speaker
And it's an unfinished game.
00:35:46
Speaker
Yeah, it's an unfinished game.
00:35:47
Speaker
It really is.
00:35:48
Speaker
And it's like, what made you decide to save this game?
00:35:51
Speaker
Right.
00:35:52
Speaker
He's like, it was the play field.
00:35:54
Speaker
And so you look at those early 2000s and stuff.
00:35:58
Speaker
We had no parts.
00:35:59
Speaker
The games that were being churned out, they were decent games, but you could tell that they're a little more bare compared to what we have now.
00:36:05
Speaker
Nowadays, we've got TNA.
00:36:07
Speaker
We've got Iron Maiden, Jurassic Park.
00:36:09
Speaker
We've got Pirates of the Caribbean.
00:36:12
Speaker
Now we've got Raza.
00:36:13
Speaker
And they all have something new and fresh, it feels like.
00:36:16
Speaker
And it feels like the hobby is getting a breath of fresh air.
00:36:19
Speaker
And we're really starting to gain speed to see where this hobby can take off to.
00:36:24
Speaker
I know the last five years, it's really gained a lot of momentum, but now it's like the beast has been built.
00:36:29
Speaker
Let's see what it can do.
00:36:32
Speaker
It seems to be growing, though.
00:36:34
Speaker
Like in the 90s, it had this big, massive influx and that just slowly died.
00:36:41
Speaker
You could watch it die.
00:36:42
Speaker
But now it just seems like with the last seven years, it continues to grow and build upon itself.
00:36:47
Speaker
And you're feeding the monster.
00:36:49
Speaker
You're getting more and more ideas where it's a it's a.
00:36:53
Speaker
It's an arms race in some way, but at the same time with JJP coming in and stoking the fire with making Stern up their game, it seems that everybody is churning out high quality stuff.
00:37:05
Speaker
That's a great example.
00:37:07
Speaker
When the Wizard of Oz came out, do you think Stern was going to put out more games with DMDs?
00:37:14
Speaker
No, they knew they had to step it up at that point.
00:37:16
Speaker
And I think Batman was the first one that came out, but they were already
00:37:20
Speaker
set to do a few DMDs, but they were quickly getting off that to go to LCD.
00:37:25
Speaker
And yeah, these kind of things, who knows what Deep Root does.
00:37:30
Speaker
Maybe that'll make JJP, Stern, everybody else, American, step up even more.
00:37:36
Speaker
It's great.
00:37:39
Speaker
If somebody's got something that's great, you want to get it too.
00:37:43
Speaker
One thing that always blew me away, this has nothing to do with pinball, but I remember going to Subway a lot.
00:37:50
Speaker
and eating subs.
00:37:51
Speaker
Oh yeah, this is going to be great.
00:37:53
Speaker
And then Quiznos came out and they toasted theirs.
00:37:57
Speaker
Oh, this is great.
00:37:58
Speaker
This is the best thing ever.
00:37:59
Speaker
You know what Subway did?
00:38:01
Speaker
What Subway did was they bought toasters.
00:38:05
Speaker
See you, Quiznos.
00:38:06
Speaker
You know, again,
00:38:09
Speaker
Good idea.
00:38:10
Speaker
We're going to take that.
00:38:11
Speaker
We're going to borrow that.
00:38:15
Speaker
Actually, I had a toasted sandwich today.
00:38:18
Speaker
And the funny thing is we were at the sandwich shop and it's called Potbellies.
00:38:24
Speaker
I used to eat it when I lived in D.C.
00:38:27
Speaker
But my wife was like, man, do you remember when we discovered toasted sandwiches at Quiznos?
00:38:34
Speaker
So seriously, we had this conversation about three hours ago.
00:38:39
Speaker
So I totally understand what you're saying.
00:38:41
Speaker
It's like you step up the game.
00:38:44
Speaker
And when you're adding in new designers and new people making the rules, just imagine how that steps up the game.
00:38:55
Speaker
And you can look at the stuff that people even have been in
00:39:00
Speaker
the game for a long time.
00:39:03
Speaker
You look at everything that Dwight's come out with when he completely revamped Game of Thrones and completely revamped Ghostbusters, you can see the influences of all these new rule makers.
00:39:17
Speaker
You see Tim Sexton go in, you see Keith Elwin go in, and you're going to see what Steve Bowden's bringing to the table.
00:39:23
Speaker
And I think it's restoking the fire of these legacy guys and say, you know what, that's a great idea.
00:39:29
Speaker
Let me integrate it.
00:39:31
Speaker
Pinball companies always had Lyman Sheets, a great world-class player.
00:39:36
Speaker
Keith Johnson's been around.
00:39:38
Speaker
He is a lights-out player as well, too.
00:39:40
Speaker
But you mentioned some people.
00:39:41
Speaker
When you can hire Keith Elwin, perhaps the greatest player of all time, Tim Sexton, an outstanding player, and certainly when it comes to modern games, and a coder.
00:39:52
Speaker
And when you have Zach Sharp, another great player, and the better of the Sharps.
00:39:57
Speaker
When you can bring him into marketing,
00:40:01
Speaker
The joke's funnier when I just keep going and I don't laugh.
00:40:03
Speaker
Yes.
00:40:04
Speaker
Wow, that cut.
00:40:06
Speaker
That cut really deep.
00:40:07
Speaker
So anyway, the better of the Sharps.
00:40:10
Speaker
When he got there in marketing, Joe Katz is a lights-out player.
00:40:13
Speaker
Bowen Cairns is now with Spooky, Steve Bowden.
00:40:18
Speaker
These companies have stepped up and have taken some of the best ideas from some of the best players.
00:40:24
Speaker
So that really helps us as far as long-term games.
00:40:29
Speaker
You know, you don't want to get
00:40:30
Speaker
You don't want to spend that much money on a game and then get bored of it.
00:40:34
Speaker
Well, that's not going to happen.
00:40:35
Speaker
And Steve Bowden, I'll give the example he always says, he wants the game to be fun for the novice and deep for the competitive player or the collector that, you know, always wants to get to that Holy Grail level.
00:40:49
Speaker
So I think that's a great way to go.
00:40:52
Speaker
I think Bowen's the same way.
00:40:53
Speaker
That's kind of his idea too with Spooky and Spooky.
00:40:56
Speaker
it's perfect yeah it's so great and so here's the question uh and i'm gonna take the over under on this over under on i'm gonna say two years when someone hires raymond davidson you're gonna take the over the under because i guarantee at some point he's going to be part of the rules i say under i think that uh i think we're
00:41:19
Speaker
I will say it's completely up to Raymond.
00:41:23
Speaker
True.
00:41:24
Speaker
Okay, sure.
00:41:25
Speaker
But I would say that he's obviously passionate about this.
00:41:29
Speaker
If Raymond wants to?
00:41:32
Speaker
Yeah.
00:41:33
Speaker
I would bet at some point in two years, I'm predicting it now.
00:41:37
Speaker
In two years, Raymond's going to say, hey, by the way, I joined so-and-so, whether or not full-time or part-time, as a rulemaker.
00:41:47
Speaker
I guess it really matters, you know, if he wants to leave the Washington area.
00:41:51
Speaker
He's certainly lived there a long time.
00:41:56
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know.
00:41:56
Speaker
I mean, he's also the number one player in the world, so he plays in a lot of events too.
00:42:03
Speaker
When you work at a pinball company, you aren't always afforded the time to be able to travel and do some of these things.
00:42:10
Speaker
So that might bog him down a little bit.
00:42:14
Speaker
And maybe that's not something of interest now.
00:42:16
Speaker
He's still a very young man.
00:42:18
Speaker
So, yeah, I mean, I think he has the interest there.
00:42:23
Speaker
I think we talked about it one time.
00:42:24
Speaker
But listen, if he really wants to get a job there, he puts a resume in.
00:42:30
Speaker
And if they have an opening, who wouldn't want that guy in a position kind of like what Steve Bowden has?
00:42:36
Speaker
I agree.
00:42:37
Speaker
Okay.
00:42:37
Speaker
I'm going to, this is, this is wonderful.
00:42:39
Speaker
I love the Raza talk, but I want to move on really quickly.
00:42:41
Speaker
A couple of weeks back, I went to the arcade and I can't get enough of the new Stern Jurassic park.
00:42:48
Speaker
And I was asking the arcade owner, what are your thoughts on this machine?
00:42:52
Speaker
And the first thing he zipped right to was, well, the logo's like the different color, but it's tan instead of the white and red.
00:43:00
Speaker
And then the game doesn't follow the movie like it should.
00:43:04
Speaker
And to me, it just kind of threw me for a loop.
00:43:07
Speaker
That was kind of the first two things he gravitates towards because the gameplay is fantastic and everything.
00:43:12
Speaker
And so I don't know why it popped in my head, but Jurassic Park is kind of like Creature from the Black Lagoon.
00:43:20
Speaker
Maybe not so much because Creature from the Black Lagoon is more of a drive-in theater game that just happens to be featuring the movie Creature from the Black Lagoon.
00:43:28
Speaker
And yet Creature from the Black Lagoon is revered as this character.
00:43:32
Speaker
amazing game from the nineties, which it really is.
00:43:34
Speaker
It's one of my favorites, but I'm not getting this.
00:43:37
Speaker
Why are we complaining about not following the movie?
00:43:40
Speaker
I think, I don't know.
00:43:42
Speaker
What are your thoughts?
00:43:45
Speaker
Doesn't matter to me.
00:43:46
Speaker
It feels like I'm in the park.
00:43:48
Speaker
Maybe it's a part of the movie we haven't seen.
00:43:51
Speaker
I like the vehicle.
00:43:52
Speaker
I like changing the direction of your path.
00:43:55
Speaker
I like that you have to trap and catch the dinosaurs.
00:43:58
Speaker
Um,
00:43:59
Speaker
It doesn't bother me.
00:44:01
Speaker
It doesn't have to follow the story of Jurassic Park.
00:44:04
Speaker
If you follow a story, isn't there an end to the story?
00:44:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:44:09
Speaker
So then what do you do in the game if you come to that end?
00:44:13
Speaker
I guess you start back from the beginning like some of these games.
00:44:16
Speaker
I'm not interested in that.
00:44:18
Speaker
Yeah.
00:44:20
Speaker
I agree with you.
00:44:22
Speaker
I like the approach because the things that you want to be in the world, but you don't necessarily want to retread the same storyline that you've seen, especially if you love the movie.
00:44:35
Speaker
I know someone who actually had a Star Wars LE and it was beautiful.
00:44:40
Speaker
He had amazing things to it.
00:44:42
Speaker
And eventually he said, I don't know.
00:44:44
Speaker
It just felt like I was seeing the same type of clips and it was the same thing.
00:44:50
Speaker
same parts of the movie that started getting stale.
00:44:52
Speaker
And so I didn't want the movie that I love to start getting stale because I kept seeing the same things.
00:44:57
Speaker
So when I think of, think of Jurassic park, I think this is in the Jurassic world and it's still, it's almost like a parallel story that you're telling.
00:45:08
Speaker
And it's, it's a free flow storyline.
00:45:11
Speaker
So you can do things your own way.
00:45:14
Speaker
It's not the, Oh, well you need to go to Jurassic park and then you need to go and see the dinosaurs.
00:45:20
Speaker
And then you need to have Ned break everything down.
00:45:23
Speaker
And then you need to have the Tyrannosaurus eat the guy on the toilet.
00:45:28
Speaker
I like that.
00:45:29
Speaker
It seems that you can flow through and make the story your own.
00:45:32
Speaker
I think it's amazing.
00:45:33
Speaker
And, and,
00:45:34
Speaker
They made the right decision in securing the sound package because the music is what brings you into the world.
00:45:42
Speaker
So I think it's fine.
00:45:44
Speaker
I prefer it that way.
00:45:46
Speaker
Look, if you can't get the characters that Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum played, what else are you going to do?
00:45:52
Speaker
So they've got Ned, the Wayne Knight.
00:45:55
Speaker
He'll be in with some voice at some point.
00:45:57
Speaker
Obviously, he wouldn't have been on the game at all.
00:46:01
Speaker
So we'll see that.
00:46:02
Speaker
That'll make it a little closer to the
00:46:05
Speaker
to the movie.
00:46:05
Speaker
But again, I feel like I'm in that world.
00:46:08
Speaker
It's good.
00:46:09
Speaker
Walking dead is a spectacular pinball machine.
00:46:12
Speaker
It has nothing to do with the TV show.
00:46:14
Speaker
Really?
00:46:15
Speaker
There's no storyline there, but it's a great game.
00:46:19
Speaker
Oh yeah.
00:46:20
Speaker
One of the best we've, we've heard it multiple times.
00:46:23
Speaker
I like your analogy.
00:46:24
Speaker
Sorry to interrupt.
00:46:25
Speaker
I love that analogy about star Wars.
00:46:27
Speaker
that you're seeing those clips over and over again and you don't want to get tired of them.
00:46:31
Speaker
That's a really good point because that is an iconic movie.
00:46:35
Speaker
And yeah, you don't want to take away from it by seeing that over and over again.
00:46:40
Speaker
I like certain bands, but if I heard their hit song over and over and over again, that could be tiresome.
00:46:49
Speaker
Well, that's what I heard a lot of people talk about.
00:46:51
Speaker
I know Marty had his Iron Maiden and sold it because he got really tired of hearing the same music and he was an Iron Maiden fan.
00:47:00
Speaker
I actually I I love Iron Maiden, so I would I would be curious to see if it would have the same effect on me.
00:47:08
Speaker
I haven't heard the same thing about Metallica, but maybe it's just because the music is a little more muted and it's in the background as opposed to maybe being in the foreground.
00:47:18
Speaker
But there is something about making each game different as opposed to following the exact same path.
00:47:26
Speaker
If you follow the exact same path, that's a video game.
00:47:29
Speaker
And...
00:47:30
Speaker
Most of us have played video games and I don't want to say moved on because it feels a little dismissive of video games.
00:47:35
Speaker
Video games are great, but they tend to follow a story arc.
00:47:40
Speaker
And you're right.
00:47:41
Speaker
When it's over, do you just want to drain your ball and see the credits go?
00:47:44
Speaker
If you completed Uncharted, are you going to play it again?
00:47:48
Speaker
Yeah.
00:47:49
Speaker
Probably not.
00:47:51
Speaker
Yeah.
00:47:52
Speaker
I guess it depends on how good the game is.
00:47:54
Speaker
I don't know.
00:47:54
Speaker
I have to revisit Ocarina of Time like every couple of years because...
00:47:58
Speaker
It's Ocarina of Time.
00:48:02
Speaker
Well, I think it's just – it is just creating that environment where you have a good time and you have that connection.
00:48:09
Speaker
And even to some effect, Lord of the Rings, even though you're following different elements of the storyline, you're still – it's a mix and match of how you're doing it.
00:48:19
Speaker
And so it's been that successful one.
00:48:22
Speaker
But that was the big –
00:48:24
Speaker
complaint about Ghostbusters in the original code is that it locked you into who brought the dog.
00:48:32
Speaker
You know, you always had to go there and people want to feel, you know, it's, it's a pinball machine.
00:48:39
Speaker
I want to be in control.
00:48:40
Speaker
I don't want to be the only one.
00:48:43
Speaker
I want to be able to choose different paths.
00:48:45
Speaker
I agree.
00:48:47
Speaker
I like it.
00:48:48
Speaker
Yeah.
00:48:48
Speaker
Linear is not usually a good thing in pinball.
00:48:51
Speaker
I mean, you have to be that way for something like TNA and it works for TNA.
00:48:55
Speaker
The suspense, you really feel it as you try to get to that ninth reactor.
00:48:59
Speaker
But most games don't have that.
00:49:00
Speaker
I agree.
00:49:01
Speaker
And I think, honestly, we're going to see more and more nonlinear games being made because we're really geared towards a home market.
00:49:08
Speaker
And I think that's how you're going to stay inside of a home if you want your machine.
00:49:11
Speaker
There's because people want to feel like they're exploring the machine.
00:49:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:49:17
Speaker
So, yeah, I don't know.
00:49:18
Speaker
I just I love this game so much.
00:49:21
Speaker
I love Jurassic Park.
00:49:22
Speaker
It's just such a good game.
00:49:23
Speaker
And every time I step up to it, I feel like I'm exploring the park and there's always something new.
00:49:28
Speaker
And I've only spent two, three hours on the game.
00:49:30
Speaker
And it's just it's fantastic every time I get to play it.
00:49:33
Speaker
So.
00:49:35
Speaker
And I can't wait to see whatever topper Stern has up their sleeve.
00:49:39
Speaker
The T-Rex comes down and eats you.
00:49:42
Speaker
That's the catch.
00:49:43
Speaker
Seriously.
00:49:44
Speaker
No, it's got to be amazing.
00:49:47
Speaker
If you look at it, they have figured out that this is a revenue stream that people are interested in.
00:49:52
Speaker
And so as opposed to these non-licensed, uh,
00:49:56
Speaker
independent people making these toppers stern can make these toppers and some of the some of the toppers that have come out recently have been amazing i know some people aren't big topper fans which is great because it's not vital to the game you don't want the topper don't buy it i like looking at the eye candy i like looking around and seeing things so i i'm even upgrading my medieval madness i'm paying the 1500 to upgrade my medieval madness to the epic level
00:50:22
Speaker
Well, OK, so the topper on it's everything.
00:50:25
Speaker
So you get the topper, you get the expanded speaker panel, you get the light integration.
00:50:31
Speaker
And so, yes, everything I'm doing is completely cosmetic for my medieval madness.
00:50:37
Speaker
And I'm doing it.
00:50:39
Speaker
because it brings something.
00:50:41
Speaker
It's the wow factor because I have the Attack from Mars LE and I look at that and I say, yes, that is, it's a step above what the original Attack from Mars was.
00:50:50
Speaker
So I'm looking forward to whatever topic, whatever topper that they're going to bring for Jurassic Park because I guarantee it will be awesome.
00:50:59
Speaker
That Attack from Mars topper was the game changer.
00:51:02
Speaker
You know, you talked earlier about
00:51:05
Speaker
Stern, seeing what JJP did with Wizard of Oz and the back screen.
00:51:11
Speaker
Well, Attack from Mars.
00:51:13
Speaker
And what Chicago did with that was just make everyone go, okay, you want a good topper?
00:51:19
Speaker
Nothing beats this.
00:51:20
Speaker
And then we've seen some great ones since.
00:51:22
Speaker
You mentioned Medieval Madness topper.
00:51:24
Speaker
I love that look.
00:51:26
Speaker
You know, the plastic stand-up ones now just don't cut it.
00:51:29
Speaker
I didn't think they were bad, but, you know, how do you compare Beatles or Guardians to, well, Black Knight?
00:51:37
Speaker
Let's keep it within Stern.
00:51:39
Speaker
You know, Stern, that Black Knight topper is so exciting.
00:51:43
Speaker
It was the hit.
00:51:44
Speaker
I think that was a bigger hit at Expo than even the Elvira game.
00:51:48
Speaker
No, I agree.
00:51:48
Speaker
Yeah.
00:51:49
Speaker
Yeah.
00:51:50
Speaker
I would agree.
00:51:51
Speaker
I actually do.
00:51:52
Speaker
I want to buy a Black Knight game because I think having that topper would be amazing.
00:51:58
Speaker
Get the pro.
00:51:59
Speaker
Yeah, no, I love the pro.
00:52:02
Speaker
I would take the pro.
00:52:04
Speaker
I've said this before, that if you have that emotional connection to the previous Black Knight games, then you probably want to get the premium in LE.
00:52:14
Speaker
Because Steve obviously had to design a game that incorporated so much of the feel of the historic game.
00:52:24
Speaker
that that's what you're going to see.
00:52:26
Speaker
I don't have that connection.
00:52:27
Speaker
I didn't play the original Black Knight.
00:52:29
Speaker
It's not one of my grail pins.
00:52:30
Speaker
I enjoy playing it occasionally, but it's not my go-to.
00:52:33
Speaker
I love the pro though.
00:52:35
Speaker
The pro because it's fast and flow and it is Steve Ritchie at his best.
00:52:39
Speaker
I like the speed of it.
00:52:41
Speaker
Going up top was, you know, if you saw what Escher and Alec Kuzmarchuk did at Expo, it was not a good video
00:52:50
Speaker
for selling premiums, Black Knight.
00:52:52
Speaker
I'll tell you that right now.
00:52:53
Speaker
Now, that being said, Tim Sexton, who we mentioned earlier, a brilliant, brilliant guy.
00:52:58
Speaker
Don't think he didn't see that and is probably going to, you know what, the next quote update, when you lose your ball, that flail is going to be closed.
00:53:06
Speaker
You can't go back up again and repeat and repeat and repeat.
00:53:09
Speaker
Or maybe loops will stop.
00:53:11
Speaker
Maybe you do one loop and then
00:53:14
Speaker
You have to hit a switch or you have to hit the lock shot because you're not getting the point value of doing the loops.
00:53:21
Speaker
Those are things that will be changed in code.
00:53:23
Speaker
And I think I have all the faith in Tim Sexton to do that for the Black Knight premiums.
00:53:28
Speaker
But I also just love the speed of the pro.
00:53:32
Speaker
The pro is coming at you fast.
00:53:35
Speaker
That was one thing my friend who had the Star Wars, he talked about the speed of Star Wars.
00:53:40
Speaker
He said, I would play Star Wars and I would go to all the – he had that upstairs and he had the others downstairs.
00:53:46
Speaker
So –
00:53:48
Speaker
All the Bally Williams grade.
00:53:49
Speaker
We talked about him, Indiana Jones, Totem, Adam's Family, Twilight Zone.
00:53:54
Speaker
He said, I would get a grand champion score every time after I would finish training on Star Wars because it was such a – it was a training game.
00:54:01
Speaker
It was like swinging with a weighted bat.
00:54:04
Speaker
It seems like everything else was easier.
00:54:06
Speaker
And I see Black Knight as being the next level of the Star Wars training game where you have to be really dialed into those shots because the shots aren't two thirds up the play field.
00:54:16
Speaker
They're halfway there.
00:54:19
Speaker
I honestly, I haven't had play.
00:54:20
Speaker
I haven't played much on the pro Black Knight.
00:54:22
Speaker
And I know there's one for sell around here for actually a really good price.
00:54:27
Speaker
But I just I don't see I haven't played it.
00:54:30
Speaker
So I have like nothing to say on it.
00:54:33
Speaker
Yeah.
00:54:34
Speaker
I, I was, I'm saving up for that Jurassic park that I know my friend's going to move on in six months.
00:54:38
Speaker
So I can't say a bad thing about that game.
00:54:42
Speaker
You know, I've played it a bunch.
00:54:44
Speaker
There's nothing that I, I, there's nothing I would change on.
00:54:48
Speaker
I really, I mean, I guess you could say you want to see more on the artwork you described, you know, the logo and this and that.
00:54:55
Speaker
Nah, it's, I know it's a Jurassic park.
00:54:57
Speaker
It, it,
00:54:58
Speaker
It stands out when you see it at an arcade.
00:55:00
Speaker
You know it's Jurassic Park.
00:55:01
Speaker
If you love that theme, you're going to put your dollar in it for sure.
00:55:04
Speaker
So one question I have is with you, Jeff, you have seen this resurgence of pinball.
Jeff's Top Pinball Games and Competitive Passion
00:55:10
Speaker
I want to know your top three games that you love after ACDC.
00:55:17
Speaker
So I'm going to put ACDC and Wizard of Oz as kind of the second renaissance of pinball.
00:55:24
Speaker
Go.
00:55:24
Speaker
What are your top three games and why?
00:55:27
Speaker
Well, if I'm starting, I will say ACDC because the first time I played a pinball game in 15 plus years was, I think it was at Disney World with my kids.
00:55:42
Speaker
This would have been 2013 and they had Spider-Man and ACDC there.
00:55:47
Speaker
And I hadn't seen either of those.
00:55:49
Speaker
I hadn't seen a pinball machine in years.
00:55:51
Speaker
And that just got me all excited again.
00:55:55
Speaker
I had to find out more about this.
00:55:56
Speaker
And then a friend talked about a league.
00:55:59
Speaker
I got in the league, found out about tournaments, and then both feet were in.
00:56:03
Speaker
So ACDC has a special place in my heart.
00:56:05
Speaker
It's the first new in-box game I had.
00:56:08
Speaker
That'll be one of my top three games.
00:56:10
Speaker
There are better games than that, but for me personally, that's a game that doesn't leave my house because it really got me back into pinball.
00:56:17
Speaker
And I'm in absolute love with Steve Ritchie.
00:56:23
Speaker
We talked about Scott Denise's
00:56:25
Speaker
Total Nuclear Annihilation.
00:56:27
Speaker
What I love about that game, is it the best game again?
00:56:30
Speaker
No.
00:56:31
Speaker
But it's a guy who had this dream, made a Whitewood, brought it to Expo, and then got it mass produced and was a huge hit for Spooky.
00:56:41
Speaker
Sold more than anything else.
00:56:43
Speaker
And now he's in high demand for his next game.
00:56:46
Speaker
So I also like the way that game shoots.
00:56:50
Speaker
It's certainly not the deepest game, but it's fun to play.
00:56:54
Speaker
It's a great
00:56:55
Speaker
adrenaline rush.
00:56:56
Speaker
So I think I would, that one stands out to me a lot.
00:57:01
Speaker
And for games, maybe let's just think this year.
00:57:08
Speaker
Well, it's too early to say Raza because there's going to be more in there.
00:57:13
Speaker
I'll hold a place for it, but it's not there yet.
00:57:19
Speaker
Yeah.
00:57:19
Speaker
Jurassic park's pretty special.
00:57:21
Speaker
I mean,
00:57:22
Speaker
That's good.
00:57:23
Speaker
I also enjoy Wonka a lot.
00:57:24
Speaker
I think that's a beautiful game.
00:57:27
Speaker
I think it's great theme integration.
00:57:32
Speaker
I don't completely understand it.
00:57:34
Speaker
I also don't understand Pirates of the Caribbean, but it doesn't matter.
00:57:38
Speaker
I don't have access to those, but I love playing them.
00:57:41
Speaker
They're very unique.
00:57:42
Speaker
They're fun to play in multiplayer games.
00:57:47
Speaker
Yeah, it's tough to narrow it down to three.
00:57:49
Speaker
Okay, here we go.
00:57:52
Speaker
Guardians of the Galaxy.
00:57:54
Speaker
The first time I saw that game, the code was terrible.
00:57:57
Speaker
But I looked at the shots.
00:57:58
Speaker
I'm like, well, that kind of reminds me of Metallica.
00:58:01
Speaker
That kind of reminds me of Iron Man.
00:58:05
Speaker
I don't have either of those games.
00:58:07
Speaker
If I get Guardians, I kind of get the best of both worlds.
00:58:10
Speaker
And I really, really like the shots.
00:58:12
Speaker
And now the code's good.
00:58:13
Speaker
That's, I think, one of Lonnie Ropp's best coded games.
00:58:17
Speaker
I like the art package by Christopher Franchi.
00:58:20
Speaker
So that's another game that really means a lot to me.
00:58:24
Speaker
Yeah.
00:58:25
Speaker
Well, that actually begs a question.
00:58:27
Speaker
You said it's not a perfect game.
00:58:30
Speaker
Does a machine have to be perfect to be well-received?
00:58:35
Speaker
Is there such thing as a perfect game?
00:58:41
Speaker
Maybe Jurassic.
00:58:42
Speaker
It really is pretty good.
00:58:43
Speaker
Oh, and I say that because I talk to, as you know, a lot of people.
00:58:50
Speaker
The only thing I hear is art.
00:58:52
Speaker
I hear Mrs. Pinn talk about, that is not a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
00:58:55
Speaker
You know, that head's too big.
00:58:57
Speaker
That is a Brontosaurus.
00:58:59
Speaker
Jokingly, things like that.
00:59:01
Speaker
But it's pretty unique.
00:59:03
Speaker
It's fun to play.
00:59:03
Speaker
It's intense.
00:59:04
Speaker
It was the final, it was one of the final games this weekend in Houston, and it was exciting to watch on stream.
00:59:12
Speaker
There are tough shots there.
00:59:15
Speaker
That's pretty close to perfect.
00:59:18
Speaker
Well, you are in good company with number two because Josh Sharp is the one who also said, is it too early to say Jurassic Park?
00:59:27
Speaker
And I was like, well, if Josh has been doing this his entire life has said, yeah, I love that game.
00:59:35
Speaker
That tells me that it has to be downstairs in my basement at some point.
00:59:40
Speaker
It's pretty special.
00:59:41
Speaker
And again...
00:59:42
Speaker
That's Keith Elwin's second game.
00:59:45
Speaker
His second.
00:59:46
Speaker
He's got a whole career ahead of him.
00:59:49
Speaker
Well, is anyone having a better year in pinball than Keith Elwin?
00:59:53
Speaker
Yes.
00:59:55
Speaker
From a player's standpoint, Johannes Altenmeier.
00:59:59
Speaker
He's from Germany.
01:00:02
Speaker
From a manufacturer's standpoint, I would say no.
01:00:08
Speaker
Designing that game, that was pretty good.
01:00:10
Speaker
Keith, I mean, it's early.
01:00:12
Speaker
Here we are in November.
01:00:15
Speaker
You're going to see that win a few twippies.
01:00:18
Speaker
Yeah.
01:00:24
Speaker
Do you know what the twippies are?
01:00:26
Speaker
And I said this last year on another podcast.
01:00:29
Speaker
I don't understand the Twippies.
01:00:31
Speaker
I get it now because I watched the ceremony and I watched Zach and Greg do an excellent job.
01:00:36
Speaker
The production was great.
01:00:38
Speaker
The fans were all into it.
01:00:40
Speaker
So what I get is,
01:00:41
Speaker
is that the Twippy isn't for me or maybe you.
01:00:45
Speaker
It's really for the fans.
01:00:46
Speaker
It's really for their voice.
01:00:47
Speaker
It's a People's Choice Award.
01:00:48
Speaker
It's the People's Choice Award.
01:00:49
Speaker
That's what I was about to say.
01:00:50
Speaker
It's the People's Choice.
01:00:51
Speaker
It's the popularity contest.
01:00:55
Speaker
That's not bad.
01:00:56
Speaker
That's not being dismissive.
01:00:57
Speaker
That's how it is.
01:00:59
Speaker
Yeah.
01:01:01
Speaker
Yeah.
01:01:01
Speaker
You know, that was the one thing I talked to Jeff Patterson about it.
01:01:04
Speaker
And I think you'll see that actually this year is –
01:01:09
Speaker
the word best versus favorite.
01:01:13
Speaker
Because you can't argue any of these people that win the Twippies.
01:01:18
Speaker
Those are the favorite games based on voters.
01:01:22
Speaker
Who knows about best, right?
01:01:23
Speaker
That's subjective.
01:01:24
Speaker
That's like art.
01:01:25
Speaker
You know what I mean?
01:01:26
Speaker
Who really knows?
01:01:29
Speaker
Shouldn't the best be the one that sold the most?
01:01:32
Speaker
Right.
01:01:33
Speaker
Well, last year, it basically, for most of them, it came down to Jersey Jack Pirates versus Iron Maiden.
01:01:42
Speaker
And Deadpool.
01:01:42
Speaker
Yeah, and Deadpool.
01:01:44
Speaker
You can make a convincing argument that the thing that hurt Pirates the most was lack of availability.
01:01:52
Speaker
Right.
01:01:53
Speaker
But if you look at how much the code was in that, how intricate the design that Eric put into it, there's so many things about it that it is an amazing game.
01:02:08
Speaker
And I don't fault people for voting for Iron Maiden because that's an amazing game too.
01:02:12
Speaker
And I actually voted for Iron Maiden because I gave them points for being able to mass produce it.
01:02:19
Speaker
At a grander scale than Jersey Jack.
01:02:22
Speaker
But if you wanted to say, no, I like this.
01:02:26
Speaker
I like pirates because of this, this and that.
01:02:29
Speaker
I cannot.
01:02:30
Speaker
I can't follow you.
01:02:31
Speaker
I say you are right.
01:02:32
Speaker
That is an amazing game and I love playing it too.
01:02:37
Speaker
Yeah, they do that in the Oscars too.
01:02:38
Speaker
You know, some of these independent films, really people are voting that haven't seen all the movies.
01:02:45
Speaker
So when you see a game like Iron Maiden or even Deadpool, they were out in the wild.
01:02:51
Speaker
A lot of people had those games, whether it be collectors, arcades.
01:02:55
Speaker
That wasn't the case with Pirates of the Caribbean because of the production problems.
01:02:58
Speaker
But now we're up to speed.
01:03:00
Speaker
They're out there.
01:03:01
Speaker
I know a long list of people that want to get one of those games.
01:03:04
Speaker
Every time I see Jersey Jack at a show, every single time somebody goes up to him and says,
01:03:10
Speaker
How do I get a Pirates?
01:03:11
Speaker
And he just kind of smiles.
01:03:12
Speaker
So, you know, he knows the demand is there.
01:03:16
Speaker
So we should see that.
01:03:17
Speaker
I imagine, you know, if people want to buy that, you got to keep that line moving.
01:03:21
Speaker
All right.
01:03:22
Speaker
Once Wonkas have sold their part, maybe we'll get that back up and going.
01:03:26
Speaker
Who knows?
01:03:26
Speaker
Who knows?
01:03:27
Speaker
Yeah, I can see them going back to the well on that one.
01:03:30
Speaker
And they, in many ways, it was kind of a, it had a bimodal distribution.
01:03:36
Speaker
So when it first came out, when they first announced it,
01:03:39
Speaker
It was all anybody can talk about.
01:03:41
Speaker
And there was a big thread on Pinside that talked about a dark night for Stern.
01:03:45
Speaker
I mean, play on words, obviously.
01:03:46
Speaker
But it was how Jersey Jack Pirates really dominated the show, even though they had Batman 66, which was... We understand why it was rushed early.
01:04:00
Speaker
But then they fell into the dark night for J.J.P., so to speak.
01:04:06
Speaker
But since they were able to put him out...
01:04:08
Speaker
Yes, it's a resurgence.
01:04:10
Speaker
And I guarantee if I were the manufacturer and I can still make it cost effective to build that game, I would say absolutely at some point we'll revisit it.
01:04:19
Speaker
It's nice to have those options.
01:04:22
Speaker
Absolutely.
01:04:23
Speaker
Yeah.
01:04:26
Speaker
They still have demand for Wizard.
01:04:29
Speaker
And how old of a game is Wizard?
01:04:31
Speaker
Six years later.
01:04:32
Speaker
Yeah.
01:04:35
Speaker
That's crazy.
01:04:35
Speaker
2013, I think.
01:04:38
Speaker
Yeah.
01:04:39
Speaker
And I have a wizard, and that's great.
01:04:40
Speaker
It's different than other games.
01:04:44
Speaker
So that brings me to another question.
01:04:47
Speaker
Jeff, what is in your basement?
01:04:49
Speaker
And what is your collection capacity?
01:04:53
Speaker
I have 10 right now.
01:04:54
Speaker
I would say that's the capacity.
01:04:56
Speaker
Although there's a couch, my wife said, you know, we should get rid of that.
01:05:01
Speaker
She doesn't know what I'm thinking.
01:05:02
Speaker
She's thinking to put a desk in there.
01:05:04
Speaker
Yeah, right.
01:05:04
Speaker
Right, yes.
01:05:05
Speaker
I'm thinking, yeah.
01:05:07
Speaker
So I have, I have 10 in there now.
01:05:11
Speaker
I will go.
01:05:12
Speaker
Let me think.
01:05:13
Speaker
I have ACDC guardians, Simpsons pinball party, fish tails, world poker tour, world cup, soccer, joker poker, just bought a Medusa, a flight 2008 ball.
01:05:26
Speaker
And I'll tell you right now, after playing it at Houston, the first opportunity to buy Raza, I'm buying it.
01:05:34
Speaker
Yeah.
01:05:34
Speaker
I,
01:05:35
Speaker
I'm very interested in Raza.
01:05:37
Speaker
I want to see how it stacks up because I love the, I love the humor of a J-pop games and I like the variety.
01:05:48
Speaker
Having, having a variety of games in your collection, I think really does mix things up and keep things interesting.
01:05:55
Speaker
Keep in mind, I travel a lot to play in competitions.
01:06:00
Speaker
It's something that was kind of a goal of mine to see, you know,
01:06:04
Speaker
in the later stages of my life, how good a player I can become because I missed those 15 years in my thirties and forties where I could have maybe done something and, and certainly not been number one, but certainly higher up in the ranks and maybe gone to a few world championships and things that for a competitive guy like me mean something to, to really go against the best and see how you can do against the best.
01:06:33
Speaker
That's,
01:06:35
Speaker
It's just something that I'll look back on someday and go, yeah, that was a lot of fun.
01:06:39
Speaker
You know, if you're a golfer, do you get to golf with Tiger Woods?
01:06:41
Speaker
No, we don't.
01:06:42
Speaker
But I can play a game against Keith or Bowen or Raymond and some of these people and say, you know, on this day, I held my own.
01:06:50
Speaker
So those are kind of exciting things.
01:06:52
Speaker
Yeah, that's way cool.
01:06:53
Speaker
So,
Jeff Teolis' Personal Life and Pinball Enthusiasm
01:06:55
Speaker
yeah.
01:06:55
Speaker
Well, I'd hate to cut the conversation short, but we've run over our hour and I need to go help my wonderful, beautiful wife with the babies.
01:07:07
Speaker
So, and plus you got to get your butt to bed, Jeff.
01:07:09
Speaker
You got to get out to Florida in the morning.
01:07:12
Speaker
So.
01:07:13
Speaker
Well, I have to go to Florida because unlike, you know, places like Utah that have 300 days a year of sun,
01:07:21
Speaker
I live in Canada where we're going to be in the dark ages now.
01:07:24
Speaker
Winter came a lot earlier this year.
01:07:27
Speaker
Like we've had snow plows out already.
01:07:29
Speaker
This sucks.
01:07:30
Speaker
We haven't even raked the leaves and the snow is on top of it.
01:07:34
Speaker
So I got to get some sunshine.
01:07:35
Speaker
So if I can't go to Utah, which I've got to get there, by the way, because it's special to me.
01:07:42
Speaker
My son Carson was born during the 2002 Olympics, which by the way,
01:07:48
Speaker
Canada won gold medal in hockey for the first time in 50 years.
01:07:51
Speaker
So Salt Lake City, Utah kind of means a lot to me.
01:07:55
Speaker
I got to get out there.
01:07:57
Speaker
So you're telling us you want the Olympics back here again.
01:07:59
Speaker
That was a great Olympics.
01:08:01
Speaker
Why not?
01:08:03
Speaker
Actually, okay.
01:08:07
Speaker
Here's a little side note that the 2002 Winter Olympics were and still are the only profitable Winter Olympics.
01:08:18
Speaker
Yep.
01:08:19
Speaker
Every other Winter Olympics has lost money.
01:08:21
Speaker
For sure, 2010 in Vancouver and Whistler did.
01:08:24
Speaker
They
01:08:25
Speaker
It was just logistically a nightmare.
01:08:27
Speaker
Plus the weather didn't cooperate.
01:08:29
Speaker
I went to, as a kid, I went to the 1988 Olympics in Calgary.
01:08:34
Speaker
It was kind of a gift from my mom.
01:08:36
Speaker
So we went out and saw a bunch there.
01:08:38
Speaker
Yeah, I can't imagine that was, I've been to Lake Placid.
01:08:41
Speaker
My wife and I spent the new years there.
01:08:44
Speaker
Um, that's certainly a very special place, especially in American's heart for, uh,
01:08:48
Speaker
you know, the dream team winning hockey.
01:08:50
Speaker
But I enjoy the Winter Olympics much more than the Summer Olympics, even though I have a nephew who actually is on Team Canada for the marathon.
01:09:00
Speaker
He's been in the last two marathons.
01:09:03
Speaker
But I love the Winter Olympics.
01:09:05
Speaker
I think it's because I see snow all the time.
01:09:08
Speaker
Yeah.
01:09:08
Speaker
No, there's a reason why Canadians and the Finnish and all those guys dominate the Winter Olympics because they actually have all the snow all the time.
01:09:19
Speaker
Well, cool, Jeff.
01:09:21
Speaker
How do we get a hold of you?
01:09:23
Speaker
How do you want people to listen to you?
01:09:26
Speaker
Give me your whole spiel, man.
01:09:28
Speaker
Well, first and foremost...
01:09:30
Speaker
Like, subscribe, and follow Loser Kid Podcast.
01:09:33
Speaker
I hope you already are.
01:09:34
Speaker
I hope this isn't a one-off show for you because you guys do great work.
01:09:38
Speaker
So first off, do that.
01:09:40
Speaker
Thank you.
01:09:40
Speaker
Get those SoundCloud numbers up.
01:09:43
Speaker
I'm on Pinball Profile on Facebook, on Instagram, on Twitter.
01:09:48
Speaker
And you can email me pinballprofile at gmail.com and subscribe on whatever your favorite podcaster is.
01:09:55
Speaker
And we'll have to get you guys on the show.
01:09:57
Speaker
And I'm not saying that because you've got me on your show.
01:10:01
Speaker
Every time I see that loser kid hat, I'm like, I got to get those guys on.
01:10:04
Speaker
I got to get them on.
01:10:07
Speaker
Well, the good news is you'll have to send us your address and figure out a way so we can get you a loser kid pinball hat.
01:10:14
Speaker
Done.
01:10:14
Speaker
And I'll be the first Canadian.
01:10:17
Speaker
Eh?
01:10:18
Speaker
I don't want to break your heart.
01:10:21
Speaker
So yeah, you'll be the first one, Jeff.
01:10:23
Speaker
Oh, I'm not?
01:10:24
Speaker
Oh, darn.
01:10:25
Speaker
We got three up there, so...
01:10:28
Speaker
Well, we, we sent three to rush.
01:10:30
Speaker
So that's how it works.
01:10:31
Speaker
Oh, that's sweet.
01:10:34
Speaker
Very, very nice.
01:10:36
Speaker
And if you, if you guys want hats to contact us and we'll be able to send them out.
01:10:40
Speaker
I'll tell you what, the next time I get, when I get that hat, I'll wear it to the next appearance wherever I am, whether it's a Papa event or whatever it is, I'll, I'll make sure I wear it proud on that stream.
01:10:53
Speaker
All right.
01:10:54
Speaker
Sounds like a, sounds like a deal.
01:10:57
Speaker
Are you coming to Texas pinball festival this upcoming in March?
01:11:01
Speaker
I've got that.
01:11:02
Speaker
I've got in disc before that.
01:11:03
Speaker
I head off to Australia with my wife in January for a couple of weeks to see our friends from head to head.
01:11:09
Speaker
Perfect.
01:11:09
Speaker
I don't know what February has, but a pretty quiet, but yeah, T T P F for sure.
01:11:15
Speaker
Well, March, we'll see you there.
01:11:17
Speaker
You got to go where I'm just trying to figure out what, what day is the best to go.
01:11:21
Speaker
Do you fly in?
01:11:22
Speaker
thursday night and then you're there for friday or do you fly in on friday just kind of get there and mosey do you know tell you right now i'm probably flying in tuesday night oh yeah san antonio yep yep and then i'll find a way up to uh to where is it fresno uh frisco yep frisco my bad no you're fine up to frisco
01:11:43
Speaker
So yeah, I'm going to hit San Antonio, hit Deep Root the 25th.
01:11:47
Speaker
And then the show, I believe, starts on the 27th.
01:11:51
Speaker
It's such a good show.
01:11:52
Speaker
Last year was my first year too.
01:11:53
Speaker
Awesome.
01:11:54
Speaker
Well, we'll be there.
01:11:55
Speaker
So like Jeff was saying, if you want to get a hold of us, you should like, subscribe, whatnot.
01:12:01
Speaker
You can contact us on Facebook.
01:12:05
Speaker
Also, if you want to email us, loserkidpinballpodcast at gmail.com.
01:12:09
Speaker
And really quickly, I want to just do a couple of shout outs.
01:12:12
Speaker
We did a tournament this weekend.
01:12:13
Speaker
I want to shout out to Landon Orr.
01:12:15
Speaker
Thanks for listening to us.
01:12:17
Speaker
And we hope you have safe travels.
01:12:18
Speaker
He's moving from Utah over to North Carolina.
01:12:21
Speaker
Steven Strom, the guy that kicks all of our butts at the tournaments.
01:12:24
Speaker
He's moving away, which a lot of us are sad.
01:12:27
Speaker
But he's moving down to Vegas.
01:12:28
Speaker
So safe travels to you, my good sir.
01:12:30
Speaker
And Caleb Townsend, he's moving up to Michigan.
01:12:33
Speaker
We're losing all of our league buddies and it's very sad.
01:12:36
Speaker
But we hope safe travels for all you guys.
01:12:39
Speaker
And we really appreciate you listening to the show and all the feedback you give us.
01:12:43
Speaker
So anything else you want to put in there, Scott?
01:12:46
Speaker
I think it's good.
01:12:47
Speaker
I look forward to seeing you in about two weeks.
01:12:49
Speaker
Awesome.
01:12:50
Speaker
Give us the last word, Jeff.
01:12:54
Speaker
Loser Kid Podcast brought to you by Quiznos.
01:12:57
Speaker
They toast their stuff.
01:12:58
Speaker
Yes.
01:12:59
Speaker
Thanks again.