Transcript
Speaker: Thanks for tuning in to the Loser Kid Pinball Podcast.
Speaker: We are on episode 81.
Speaker: I'm Josh Roop.
Speaker: With me, my co-host is always... Scott Larson.
Speaker: And Scott, you know what?
Speaker: I can't wait.
Speaker: I know Zach's probably being driven up the walls from me because I'm messaging him once a week now.
Speaker: That sweet, sweet Godzilla premium's coming from flipping out.
Speaker: Whoa.
Speaker: I know you.
Speaker: You're like, oh, it's just like Christmas.
Speaker: I show up from work and it's sitting in my driveway.
Speaker: But with me, I'm like, I got to know because I don't want it sitting in my driveway.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: It's not sitting in my driveway.
Speaker: Usually, actually, my wife does this joke.
Speaker: She's like, the only time I know that we're getting something is when I get a text from you.
Speaker: It's like, hey, you're going to be home today.
Speaker: Cause she has to sign for it.
Speaker: I'm technically, I, I had to, I had to beg my neighbor.
Speaker: Cause one time, cause my wife was gone.
Speaker: And so I actually called my neighbor.
Speaker: I'm like, can you go over?
Speaker: So my, my little sweet 75 year old neighbor walked over and signed for, for my game.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But I'm excited.
Speaker: The only part that stinks is like, I want to know just because we're leaving for Texas next week, right?
Speaker: Like we're coming up.
Speaker: It's getting that time.
Speaker: So I just don't want to be like, as soon as we leave for Texas, I wake up Friday morning and FedEx is like, by the way, we're stopping by your house.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And I actually, I ordered a rush banner.
Speaker: I don't have too much wall space for decoration, but I had to get the rush banner.
Speaker: So the rush banner is on its way, and I sent off the payment.
Speaker: And I also got some Iron Maiden art blades.
Speaker: They were delivered recently.
Speaker: So now I have a few mods to install.
Speaker: But again, that's Flippin' Out Pinball.
Speaker: If you want all your pinball needs, go ahead and contact Zach and Nicole at Flippin' Out Pinball.com.
Speaker: They are always good to work with.
Speaker: And if you want to get on their list, because right now supplies are limited.
Speaker: So if you have that thing on your wish list, please let them know and they will figure out a way to get that to you.
Speaker: And they will give you the royal treatment.
Speaker: I just... I honestly have only had to make two warranty claims ever with new inbox.
Speaker: And I've bought new inbox for like four years now.
Speaker: And it's just... I got the Stern Insider connected.
Speaker: And the light is like strobing inside the QR reader.
Speaker: Zach's I got taken care of.
Speaker: He said it should be here shortly.
Speaker: Just make sure I mail it back.
Speaker: Man, he took care... Like...
Speaker: Just everything's smooth with Zach and very efficient.
Speaker: It'll get it done.
Speaker: Pinball is complicated and they're not going to be perfect when they come out.
Speaker: So when you buy a machine, it's not actually getting the machine.
Speaker: It's the service associated with the machine that will differentiate where you buy things from.
Speaker: So just like buying a car or buying an air conditioner, right?
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: So if you want great customer service and great product, give Zach and Nicole Manny a call.
Speaker: Okay, Josh.
Speaker: You know what?
Speaker: Let's start off.
Speaker: We've actually done a couple episodes without a guest.
Speaker: And the challenge is that we are leading up to Texas Pinball Festival.
Speaker: And this tends to be a little slower time just because not a lot is coming out.
Speaker: We do want to have a few more.
Speaker: We have a few more guests lined up that are Rush-related, but we wanted to give you guys a break a little bit because I know not all of you are...
Speaker: our fan boy ish enough on rush.
Speaker: Um, but, uh, we, you know, all the pinball industry, it, it seems to be in a sleeper mode.
Speaker: And so I agree, Josh, let's just talk a little bit, a lot.
Speaker: Um, we haven't actually given an update on our lives.
Speaker: And so maybe, uh, just do a quick update.
Speaker: This isn't, of course, this isn't, uh, you know, uh, this isn't our Ted talk.
Speaker: This isn't our, uh, Oprah, uh, sharing our souls, but,
Speaker: Yeah, but just a little bit about what's going on.
Speaker: And then we have more Deep Root coming at you.
Speaker: And then afterwards, we're going to talk about what we're hoping for Texas.
Speaker: Scott the Destroyer hasn't talked about Deep Root in a while.
Speaker: It's been a while.
Speaker: It's been a while.
Speaker: Well, I'll go first.
Speaker: Last little bit in my life, it's still been chaos.
Speaker: I'm glad that Texas is next week.
Speaker: I'm ready for a break.
Speaker: I'm ready to get away and chit-chat with some friends and eat some sweet barbecue.
Speaker: Charles, sir, thank you for sending all the photos of hard eight barbecue because apparently that's where we're going to go eat.
Speaker: And the food looks amazing.
Speaker: No, it's great.
Speaker: We are.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, OK, you're jumping to the end.
Speaker: That's the Texas preview.
Speaker: Sorry.
Speaker: That is the Texas preview.
Speaker: I don't know if I ever talked about I got an Earthshaker.
Speaker: I'm very happy with it.
Speaker: I got it from an old arcade route guy that I've worked with for years.
Speaker: His product usually gets not in the most pristine condition, but it's a really good price.
Speaker: So I always fix him up.
Speaker: And I thought I'd got his last one, and he's offered me one more.
Speaker: So I need to go take a look at it.
Speaker: Oh, what is it?
Speaker: He's really... No fear.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: I actually told you...
Speaker: I like no fair.
Speaker: It's, it's not super deep, but it's, I think it's fun.
Speaker: It's, it's fun and fast.
Speaker: Like it's a motorcycle feel game.
Speaker: So, so, and especially where prices are at right now is pinball machines.
Speaker: He's really good to me.
Speaker: He's like, I'm not going to sell it out from underneath you.
Speaker: Just when you get time, you come out, take a look at it.
Speaker: And I wasn't, yeah.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So I bought multiple games from him over the years.
Speaker: He's, he's been great.
Speaker: So that's where I'm at.
Speaker: And Godzilla is coming in.
Speaker: Family's doing good.
Speaker: Soccer started back up.
Speaker: I'm an assistant coach for my son's team.
Speaker: And it's just that, man.
Speaker: Family life is insane.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: I don't know about you people that are listening.
Speaker: I don't know if you have a big family, a small family, if it's just you, if it's you and a spouse.
Speaker: But I don't know how we do it nowadays.
Speaker: It's just constant 100% running all the time.
Speaker: And that's what my life feels like right now.
Speaker: I am grateful for the, I don't want to say distraction because I don't want to minimize what we do in pinball and what anybody does in pinball.
Speaker: But this is a healthy release that doesn't really have anything to do with my job.
Speaker: It doesn't really have anything to do with
Speaker: with anything else that I, that I'm responsible for.
Speaker: So this, this is a great way to, uh, to bridge out and to, and this is my playtime.
Speaker: Like talking pinball is my playtime and playing pinball and doing that kind of stuff.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: want to give a shout out to a local guy, James Bishop, who printed me.
Speaker: I said I was looking for one of those Captain Marvel fixer ramps.
Speaker: And he actually... So, oh, update.
Speaker: I sold Spider-Man.
Speaker: Oh, wow.
Speaker: Congrats.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Came out with...
Speaker: with his buddy Garrett and he looked at it and it's a beautiful machine.
Speaker: All my games tend to be pretty pristine.
Speaker: Otherwise it just, it's not worth it for me.
Speaker: And so he bought it and took it.
Speaker: And I was talking to him a little bit about the captain Marvel ramp.
Speaker: And he's like, you know, I got a 3d printer.
Speaker: I can, I can print one for you.
Speaker: And so he did.
Speaker: He printed off a Captain Marvel.
Speaker: And he also he's made his own version of a Penn Stadium like thing.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: And so I'm getting it tomorrow or Saturday, actually.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So you're getting it, too.
Speaker: So and he was showing me what he did.
Speaker: And so I I actually had to run down to St.
Speaker: George to work over the weekend and had some family obligations.
Speaker: And so I've been so busy all week.
Speaker: I haven't been able to install it and try it out.
Speaker: But it's been, it's a lot of fun.
Speaker: I love, I love how, um, I'm not naive.
Speaker: There are toxic people in the pinball community, but for the most part, the people that I gravitate toward are the people who are, are generally positive and really want to be welcome and inclusive.
Speaker: And so that's my update.
Speaker: But yeah, I stopped off.
Speaker: So I have that Captain Marvel fix, which I'm really excited.
Speaker: My Captain Marvel ramp is actually pretty good, except occasionally, man, you shoot that shot and it just ricochets and goes straight down the middle.
Speaker: It comes screaming at you fast.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I know it's I still love Avengers every time I think you know I could sell it which Elwyn would I sell and I'm like oh maybe I'll sell Avengers I'm like no I can't I like it too much oh guess what I like all of them so yeah I don't think any of them are getting sold anytime soon you always look at your collection like if I have to get rid of one which one is it be which one's on the chopping block
Speaker: And looking at my collection right now, I'm like, probably Earthshaker.
Speaker: But the problem is, is my kids are loving Earthshaker.
Speaker: Like, it's so simplistic.
Speaker: And then the whole shaking of the machine that's actually integrated with the theme versus, like, you're playing Star Trek and all of a sudden the shaker is shaking because you hit a shot.
Speaker: You know what I'm saying?
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Yeah, it's like having the shaker motor in Jurassic Park when you start T-Rex multiball.
Speaker: It makes sense, right?
Speaker: Yeah, but sometimes it doesn't.
Speaker: That's why I was saying like Star Trek, you get a shot.
Speaker: It's like, just because I hit a shot and they're out in space doesn't mean you should be shaking it.
Speaker: It's a machine vibrator.
Speaker: Yeah, so it's just kind of fun.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, no, it's good.
Speaker: And it's still, we've had a lot of just small things, just family obligations that have stacked up.
Speaker: And I'm hoping that we are coming out of that.
Speaker: So, and, you know, nothing, nothing terrible, just, just a lot of small things that are stacking up that just take a lot of time away from everything.
Speaker: from pinball and, and even just away from any, any other thing.
Speaker: I, I have ski, I have a ski pass this year, but because I've been so busy with everything else, I've only gone twice.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So it's, it's been more challenging, but you know, it's okay.
Speaker: Uh, life's good.
Speaker: Uh, we are really looking forward to Texas, but first, before we talk about Texas, let's talk about our favorite deep hole in Texas, which is deep root.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So Josh, it's been a while since we talked about our favorite punching bag.
Speaker: Let's Robert Mueller.
Speaker: So what, what, what has come up with deep root?
Speaker: And I, it just, it still just boggles my mind.
Speaker: So I want to make a disclaimer here before we get into this, when we talk about deep root, we're mainly talking just about Robert Mueller.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: There's a lot of people that like, it sucks that they got towed under and like they got taken advantage of.
Speaker: And a lot of the times, like,
Speaker: we're just glad that some of the people like Steve Bowden and Dennis Norman, and some of those that got picked up by other companies and they've made the best out of a really bad situation.
Speaker: So, and there's a lot of victims by the way.
Speaker: And yes, I, I do lay it solely on Robert Mueller.
Speaker: I mean, just, which is crazy.
Speaker: Well, okay.
Speaker: That that's where con artists work, right?
Speaker: I mean, con artists are experts at shell games.
Speaker: And so that's exactly what's going on.
Speaker: So now, okay, so I'll give you the, I'll give you the update.
Speaker: So this last couple of weeks has been kind of getting all the nitty gritty out of the way.
Speaker: The judge has been just a couple of days ago.
Speaker: If you want to follow along, go on the pit side thread, blueberry Johnson, man, I don't know.
Speaker: If you love the man, if you hate him, if you just love a train wreck, you have been on top of all the information.
Speaker: We really should have this dude on at some point in time.
Speaker: He is like the Robert Mueller expert.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: And so he kind of went over exactly what was said with the judge.
Speaker: It sounds like they were trying to say that they should kind of save the taxpayer dollars and just kind of call it quits.
Speaker: And it sounds like
Speaker: The U.S. attorneys want to get a piece of Mueller.
Speaker: SEC wants a piece of Mueller.
Speaker: There's other people suing that want a piece of Mueller.
Speaker: So it sounds like this whole shenanigans isn't going away anytime soon.
Speaker: And it sounds like Robert Mueller needs to strap in for the rollercoaster ride he's about to go through with all of it.
Speaker: In the meantime... You know the floating dumpster?
Speaker: It's a meme, right?
Speaker: The floating dumpster that's on fire.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: That doesn't even begin to describe...
Speaker: the train wreck this is.
Speaker: This is more like a supernova that is just destroying everything in its wake.
Speaker: Because there's no one who wins in this.
Speaker: No.
Speaker: There's no one who wins in this.
Speaker: I mean, there's no way to put logic to any of it either.
Speaker: Because, like, I think, like, what was the logic to all this?
Speaker: Like, you were swindling people out of insurance and life policies.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And then you just happened to start a pinball company.
Speaker: Was it to stroke your ego?
Speaker: Or, like, it just makes no sense.
Speaker: But then again, I think of The Dark Knight.
Speaker: And Alfred in his wise words of some people just want to see the planet burn, the world burn.
Speaker: See, I don't think that.
Speaker: I think it's a con artist is a con artist.
Speaker: And they will try to.
Speaker: It's a time game.
Speaker: Like they know eventually they will get caught.
Speaker: It's catch me if you can.
Speaker: They know eventually they're going to get caught, but they're going to see how far they can push it.
Speaker: And so that's why when he's taking all this money and he starts another company, there is this remote, remote pipe dream that he starts this idea and then someone comes in and buys it for a bunch of money and then he moves on.
Speaker: But the fact that he wasn't even paying the policies on all these people that he stole the money from, I think that would be the most optimistic way you could look at this guy.
Speaker: That he was actually had any intention on making good for this because I don't think so.
Speaker: I think it was just a shell game.
Speaker: He's a delusional narcissist who that's all.
Speaker: It doesn't matter what chaos he's inflicted on anybody else.
Speaker: It's still only...
Speaker: comes back to him personally, like how, how it affects him because this is Brewster's millions.
Speaker: If you're, if you're my age and you saw the movie and it's actually a remake of an older movie where you have to spend all this money, you have to be trying to spend this money.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: To, to, to be burning through this much, but what's gutsy is like, he's asking the judge and this wasn't the last meeting.
Speaker: It was like one of the court hearings before that, but he's asking for like an allowance.
Speaker: Like, yeah, you've frozen all my assets.
Speaker: Can I at least have like 7,000 a week?
Speaker: What was it?
Speaker: Maybe it was 4,000.
Speaker: I can't remember.
Speaker: It was a ridiculous amount of money.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: It was more, it was way more than I spend.
Speaker: I'll put it that way.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So, so let's just say a pro stern a week is what he wanted to do.
Speaker: So, yeah,
Speaker: So let's turn our attention back to they've, they've cracked open the deep root facilities.
Speaker: They're starting to auction off.
Speaker: You saw the pictures, Josh.
Speaker: What was your initial feel when you look at this?
Speaker: I really felt like it was a bare bone startup company.
Speaker: Cause there was, there was stuff like what percentage of this show that it was a pinball company?
Speaker: Well, when the first photos came out, nothing.
Speaker: When we first got those first photos, it was like, here's the cafeteria.
Speaker: With a black hole just in the middle of the cafeteria, right?
Speaker: Yeah, which is a pretty fitting pinball machine metaphor for that company.
Speaker: And a Raza that was parked in front of the restroom.
Speaker: I mean, it really... We saw some CNC machines and even Spooky said this would be overkill because they're like, well, maybe Spooky will buy it.
Speaker: Like, no, this is too much for what we even need right now.
Speaker: And it just...
Speaker: Man, just looking at that place, it looked like the cobwebs have a facade.
Speaker: Yeah, it looks like it just came out of the plastic.
Speaker: It looks like a facade.
Speaker: It looks like someone who's spending a lot of money to appear to be a company, but none of it actually looks like it's actually done anything.
Speaker: I, there, there's very little here that differentiates it from a pinball company.
Speaker: Well, and that's the part that sucks is like you look at, but you look at like the other pictures have come out now that we're seeing like the luchador, uh, play field that we started seeing, cause they were talking about like some of these play fields are just slapped in random cabinets.
Speaker: So it's actually not like food trucks and food trucks, cabinet and yada, yada, yada.
Speaker: We're seeing these play fields, which whoever's taking these pictures, I know that you're just taking them so you can auction off stuff.
Speaker: please use a different camera than like a Sony Handycam from like 2005.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Or your iPhone 3G.
Speaker: We have, we have the technology, but there's a lot of, that's the thing.
Speaker: There might've been a facade, but,
Speaker: looking at what the designers had been doing and the concepts they've been coming up with, uh, there was some really cool ideas here.
Speaker: And so it just, it seemed like the plane had never taken off the ground.
Speaker: Like they were checking the systems.
Speaker: They were, you know, the lights were green to go.
Speaker: It just, we weren't,
Speaker: manufacturing yet.
Speaker: And may that was never the game plan.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: It was never the game plan, Josh.
Speaker: There's nothing here that says you had any mass production capabilities whatsoever.
Speaker: They had all those work benches in the CNC machines.
Speaker: Okay, fine.
Speaker: But okay, I'm looking here.
Speaker: So just in case you're looking for auctions and you want to see what's going on,
Speaker: Um, there's a Mel Davis auctions and just auction guy, just Mel Davis auctions, two 32 deep root San Antonio.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: I'm going through there now.
Speaker: Ironically, we're going to talk about a few things that are missing now, um, because we saw some pictures when it was first released, um,
Speaker: And there you are going all the way to number 58, lot 58 before you even see pinball stuff.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Everything else is general office stuff.
Speaker: The next one is.
Speaker: Cause who doesn't want a big box of deep root water bottles?
Speaker: Oh, the water bottles are fantastic.
Speaker: By the way, if anyone wants to buy those water bottles and give them to me, I will definitely make the most of those water bottles.
Speaker: And if there's anything on here that I want is those water bottles.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Lot 84 again, incomplete pinball machine.
Speaker: Then you have 86, by the way, incomplete pinball machine, retro attractive, uh, zombie, whatever adventure land.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: Incomplete pinball machine should be the new, uh, the new rebranding of deep root incomplete machine, incomplete pinball.
Speaker: Oh, actually, do you know what's the best?
Speaker: Um, on a lot 86 incomplete pinball machine.
Speaker: They even misspelled pinball.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So, and honestly, let's, let's take a look from the auctioning company at this point.
Speaker: Like they probably see a lot of things.
Speaker: They don't care, but they probably don't see a lot of things.
Speaker: They probably see a lot of things.
Speaker: There's like, yeah, this is what it is.
Speaker: But like, how much of the stuff they look at and like, is this even a word?
Speaker: They have more elliptical and exercise stuff.
Speaker: Then they have pinball stuff.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, you wanted a healthy environment, man.
Speaker: About five.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: I'm five.
Speaker: Maybe like,
Speaker: Okay, I'm already to lot 180 and I've seen about five pinball related things.
Speaker: I mean, that could legitimately be out of somebody's like backroom hobby thing.
Speaker: My real question is, because starting to look at these designs and whatnot, you could easily take a snapshot of these.
Speaker: And obviously the community has.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Do we start seeing some of these pop up over at American?
Speaker: Because I don't know.
Speaker: I mean, okay, you look at any pinball.
Speaker: It doesn't take much to throw a...
Speaker: like something on a pinball, like a, a geometric layout.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Like you can put, you can, you can design a pinball machine, but they were gaining more and more employees from deep root.
Speaker: Like they were, it felt like they were starting to take on some of, they were kind of cherry picking some of the stuff through, through deep root already.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And that's the only reason I ask.
Speaker: I'm like, do some of these designs... I don't know.
Speaker: I don't know exactly how it all works.
Speaker: And where there's so much red tape, I doubt that Robert Mueller even has time.
Speaker: If they did use a design, if he didn't have time to sue American for...
Speaker: copier.
Speaker: If there's even is such a thing for a company that doesn't exist.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: It's just, it's the whole thing is just wacky.
Speaker: But the funny part was, is like you had found like a picture of Jesus, like a good size picture of Jesus.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's no longer there, but they had, they had art from there.
Speaker: And I thought even Jesus finds this ironic that a total scam artist has a picture of him that they're trying to sell in their recouping their price.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: do you think he consulted Jesus like on the wall and was like, what do you think of fire and brimstone?
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: It's a, it is one of the modes, how to swindle a 71 million out of your church congregation.
Speaker: Maybe.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Um, apparently the 10 commandments would be missing a commandment because it's all not still.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's a, yeah, it's just kind of painful.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: I'm seriously, I keep searching through all the stuff on here and there is very little that differentiates this from any other company.
Speaker: I mean, it really is just general, general office junk.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That is just unbelievable.
Speaker: If you want to go check it out, it's like page, what did we say?
Speaker: It was like 582 on the Deep Root thread.
Speaker: Just search Deep Root on forums.
Speaker: You can read through.
Speaker: If you're looking for... You can actually see a picture of the paintings because it was actually in post number 29,176.
Speaker: So, yeah, it's it just shows like that.
Speaker: And some of these are gone.
Speaker: Like the the trifold Japanese art thing is gone.
Speaker: I don't see any of the paintings are there.
Speaker: And it's done with them.
Speaker: You know what?
Speaker: I think the bids are done.
Speaker: That's what it happened.
Speaker: You didn't win the Jesus painting.
Speaker: Oh, man.
Speaker: Like maybe someone else wanted there.
Speaker: We jokingly said that people are going to start crowdfunding to send you deep root crap because.
Speaker: Oh, geez.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Our wonderful October was at 2019.
Speaker: That's how long ago it was.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: Dennis and Zach on.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Oh, maybe it was October.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It had to been 2019 because it wasn't 2020 yet.
Speaker: That's for sure.
Speaker: Yeah, so apparently we did miss out on the inappropriately religious art in a con artist shop.
Speaker: You got to keep up facades.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So anyway, if you're really interested, it's just, again, nobody's going to win in this.
Speaker: Like literally no one's going to win.
Speaker: Everybody who gave money to this will probably get 10 cents on the dollar if that.
Speaker: There's no way he's blown through this money just like con artists do.
Speaker: And, uh, but if you want to get a forklift right now, the current bid is 5,000 bucks.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That's, that's a steal for a forklift.
Speaker: It really is.
Speaker: It should be.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Probably for one that's brand spanking new.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, obviously it's never been used.
Speaker: They've never made anything.
Speaker: So.
Speaker: So anyway, so enough about Deep Root.
Speaker: The guy's, sorry, he's going to burn in hell, whatever.
Speaker: So that's the wizard mode on Fire and Brimstone.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Bobby Mueller burning in hell for stealing all the money from people and promising, and all the carnage for all the lives that he affected by hiring them and just having them stuck on a terrible company.
Speaker: Okay, all right.
Speaker: So now, but there is something that is going to happen though.
Speaker: Do you have any other final deep thoughts on Deep Root?
Speaker: Deep thoughts on Deep Root.
Speaker: You know, I don't know.
Speaker: It just sucks.
Speaker: It's one of these things that's just going to go on for years because it's just going to get drawn out.
Speaker: He's a lawyer and he's going to draw this out as long as he possibly can because he never wants any accountability for this.
Speaker: And I guarantee he'll figure out a way to spin this that he was somehow the victim in this.
Speaker: So in what the 25th of March of this year, we are going to have fun.
Speaker: So we have the Texas pinball festival from March 25th, 27th in Frisco, Texas.
Speaker: Okay, this is my first time coming, and this is your first time coming, right?
Speaker: Yeah, I was supposed to be there March 2020, but we all know the story to that.
Speaker: Yeah, we were supposed to go two years ago.
Speaker: The best part is I still have my tickets for them.
Speaker: Do you?
Speaker: Yeah, they just said we'll just postpone it to how we open back up.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I really just had my flight in the hotel.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: We are, we are definitely looking forward to it.
Speaker: Josh and I don't really have, we are going to be there to experience the festival.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I think the only thing we have planned is we are helping with the twippies on Saturday night.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But that's pretty much it.
Speaker: So what, what are you looking forward to most?
Speaker: Probably Weird Al.
Speaker: After listening to the Colin McAlpine interview on Falling Around.
Speaker: Wonderful job, guys.
Speaker: Jeff, Martin, and Colin, you all did great.
Speaker: I'm excited to see more of this.
Speaker: I like the concepts that he was talking about.
Speaker: And yeah, I'm excited to see Weird Al.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I'm excited to...
Speaker: I've always been told that Texas is like the people that want to gloat about their machines show.
Speaker: And so we get some pretty rare pieces down there that are in pristine condition.
Speaker: I'm excited to see what comes to the show.
Speaker: This feels like the Comic-Con equivalent of pinball, where it's not just a show to, it's not a trade show.
Speaker: This is an event show.
Speaker: So this is for all the people who don't really care as much about the nuts and bolts on it.
Speaker: They just want to come and have a great time and they have a packed in.
Speaker: So I'm super looking forward to the schedule because it really is over two and a half days.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And it's Friday night is, is a little bit, but that's more of people just getting in, in town, little events going on.
Speaker: And then Saturday and Sunday.
Speaker: I mean, that is huge.
Speaker: I hear this is like you were saying, this is one of the best shows in the nation, possibly even in the world.
Speaker: We've got people that travel from all over the world that come to this show.
Speaker: And I'm ready.
Speaker: I'm ready to have my socks blown off.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Are there any seminars that you're looking forward to?
Speaker: Who are you looking forward to hear from at this show?
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: Honestly, I don't even know if I've looked at the seminars.
Speaker: I know Jersey Jack's doing something.
Speaker: Jack Guarneri is going to be there talking.
Speaker: Well, Jack and Steve Ritchie are going to be there.
Speaker: That's going to be interesting.
Speaker: That's going to be quite... I'm definitely going to come.
Speaker: And you know Steve Ritchie.
Speaker: He doesn't hold back any punches.
Speaker: So we might get a little more than we bargained for going to that seminar.
Speaker: Yeah, there may be some flamethrowers going on there.
Speaker: We also have Todd Tucky.
Speaker: He's doing his thing.
Speaker: Friday, 9 p.m.
Speaker: to 10 p.m.
Speaker: Wow, geez.
Speaker: Other things.
Speaker: American Pinball is going to be there.
Speaker: Multimorphic.
Speaker: And that really is going to be...
Speaker: This is the we've arrived show from multimorphic because I bet that more people have been brought into pinball independently from just this license than anything they've, they've done before.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: I agree.
Speaker: There are weird elephants who are just like, wait, there's a pinball machine.
Speaker: And then the next question is, wait, they still make pinball?
Speaker: Well, and honestly, looking at this thing, there are some really cool concepts that, that multimorphic has come up with.
Speaker: And I really think this is the, this is the needle of adrenaline that's been shot into their skin for their, their cells and whatnot.
Speaker: And we've, I don't know if you got any of the messages.
Speaker: We're not saying that like P3 is, I don't know.
Speaker: Someone had said like our last episode, we talked about like the longevity of P3 and yada, yada, yada.
Speaker: And I'm like, I don't think we were saying that it was like, we didn't think that the system could go the distance.
Speaker: It was just, you know, we were concerned for the company as a whole.
Speaker: Well, I think you're always concerned about anything that's a little more computer-based because when you're talking about swapping in and out things, you do think about cartridge-based systems, right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And you think about that.
Speaker: This feels a lot more like a video game than any other option in pinball.
Speaker: I mean, if you were, if you were to compare, but I still feel like it feels like pinball.
Speaker: Like when we played heist at expo and sorcerer, it felt really good.
Speaker: I mean, you can, I don't want people to misunderstand.
Speaker: It is a pinball machine.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I'm just talking about the release cycle.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Is you, you think about that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Because you're going to have new options coming out and you have to maintain the you have to keep updating the system as new technology comes along.
Speaker: True.
Speaker: So that's really what I'm getting at is that you have.
Speaker: So that's a little more challenging.
Speaker: But, hey, that's not for us to figure out.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: That's for them to figure out.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And so I'm excited.
Speaker: I'm excited overall for Weird Al.
Speaker: Like I said, the song selection really doesn't bother me.
Speaker: Like I said, I would have picked some different songs, but because I grew up in a different era of Weird Al.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But after listening to Colin's comments and how it's not more of a music pin than it is, like the songs are actually integrated with the modes.
Speaker: Like you're actually playing Harvey the Wonder Hamster and his head...
Speaker: little pop-ups that come out of the play field is like him popping his head up through the play field and just, just different stuff.
Speaker: Like the, like a surgeon where you like, you've got to hit shots and you're penalized for hitting the wrong shot.
Speaker: Just like in surgery, like you've got to cut the right spots.
Speaker: And if you don't, you know, you're, you would know nothing about that.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: What other games are there that have penalties for shooting a shot?
Speaker: I'm trying to think you've got, I know there are ones that you don't score as much.
Speaker: But are there other things that have like a, oh, if you shoot it here, it's like, it's like on wheel of fortune hitting, you know, spinning the bankruptcy.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You know, it's, it's like you can actually hurt your score by actually shooting a scoop.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And I don't know if it's that, or if it's more like operation, like you hit the sides and the whole thing.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But listening to like, I highly recommend it.
Speaker: Go listen to that interview.
Speaker: It's fantastic.
Speaker: Um, I'm just, I'm excited for this machine and I'm excited.
Speaker: I've always been excited for multimorphic.
Speaker: I've just, I don't know.
Speaker: I've always wanted to get my hands on one before I say yes.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: And now that I got my hands on one expo, I want to see how weird Al feels.
Speaker: My son's asking me like every day.
Speaker: So when we get in weird Al, when we get weird Al, I'm like,
Speaker: I do.
Speaker: I got to play this first.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I definitely want to play Weird Al.
Speaker: So I'm really looking forward to that.
Speaker: There's also the tournaments going on.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: So there's, you know, your typical Wizards tournament, the Texas Wizards tournament.
Speaker: There's the classic side tournament.
Speaker: There's the women's tournament and the kids tournament.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: So, and those are always good.
Speaker: The prize pot is aptly named, uh, the Raymond Davidson fund.
Speaker: So, exactly.
Speaker: Buy, buy Raymond, a new machine, please.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: He's, he's saving up for his rush premium.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: But so I'm just excited.
Speaker: I'm excited to go hang out with the guys.
Speaker: Like it'll be good to see EGP again, like Tony and Dennis.
Speaker: We hung out with them at expo and be cool to go see them again.
Speaker: Butch pill is on the list.
Speaker: Our good friend, butch pill.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Uh,
Speaker: Who else we got on there?
Speaker: I mean, there's a handful of people.
Speaker: Zach's going to be there partying.
Speaker: He's actually not going to have the flipping out booth there.
Speaker: He's just going to be there to have fun.
Speaker: Yeah, he's there to just have fun.
Speaker: So that looks really interesting.
Speaker: Our triple drain friends are going to be there.
Speaker: There are really so many people.
Speaker: Okay, I'm just going off their website.
Speaker: And so let's see.
Speaker: So Sylvester McCoy is going to be there.
Speaker: And he is.
Speaker: What was that?
Speaker: Was any doctor who says.
Speaker: Maybe I'm wrong.
Speaker: We plan to have doctor who pinball machine.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: He looks like the Hobbit here.
Speaker: So I'm assuming he was in the Hobbit.
Speaker: Yeah, he was Doctor Who, coincidentally.
Speaker: He was the seventh Doctor Who.
Speaker: So he's going to be.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So he's going to be there.
Speaker: I'm Todd Tucky, Butch Peel, Joe Balser, Jack Danger, Emoto.
Speaker: I'm just scanning through.
Speaker: So you just keep scanning down.
Speaker: Where is Joe Balser even at now?
Speaker: Is he with Homepin?
Speaker: Is that what we've decided?
Speaker: He's working on Spinal Tap?
Speaker: Because he wasn't American.
Speaker: I heard the announcement, but I totally forgot about where he's working now.
Speaker: We're wonderful.
Speaker: I know you guys.
Speaker: Tune in for the latest and greatest news.
Speaker: Yeah, sorry.
Speaker: We are not the update in the news on pinball.
Speaker: And really, this week has been super crazy for me.
Speaker: I drove down to southern Utah and worked one shift and then drove back the next day.
Speaker: And then my wife had her sinuses cleaned out today.
Speaker: And so, legitimately, I am...
Speaker: I'm really looking forward to Texas because it'll give me a break from all the stuff that I've had to be doing.
Speaker: So yeah.
Speaker: Guestless is awesome.
Speaker: I think doesn't even Ed Van Der Veen have like a TARDIS there that you can go get in or something like that.
Speaker: That'd be cool.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Anywho, it's going to be awesome.
Speaker: I'm excited for TPF.
Speaker: So, so I guess what else are you looking forward to?
Speaker: Like, by the way, if anybody is looking for us, we actually have a funny shirt that we made.
Speaker: So you can take a look at it.
Speaker: We'll probably be wearing them at least one of those days.
Speaker: We will be also plug for the twippies.
Speaker: Let's talk about those.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Uh, we will be announcing, I don't know if we're allowed to say which, which category.
Speaker: An award, a major award.
Speaker: And, uh, I need to get sit down with Scott.
Speaker: We'll probably do it like the, like five minutes before.
Speaker: If we want to do like a little speech before, if we just want to, uh, Jeff told us we, we can just say, you know, the nominees are, but you can't, we get in front of a microphone.
Speaker: You got that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So, um, excited for that.
Speaker: Uh,
Speaker: Do you think, do we see any changes from pinball industry awards to what's going to be presented at Twippies?
Speaker: Godzilla sweeps up with maybe possibly Halloween as a backup for art.
Speaker: There's a slight difference.
Speaker: I would say pinball industry awards versus the Twippies.
Speaker: That is the popular vote.
Speaker: That's the people's choice, right?
Speaker: And the, and the other, and the pinnacle industry is just, which, uh, and full declaration, we voted in that.
Speaker: Um, and it was just a, it was a group that you could apply to and say, Hey, we want to, we're,
Speaker: We know enough about pinball that we're going to be voting on this.
Speaker: And so we put in our suggestions.
Speaker: So it's just a different crowd.
Speaker: And Twippy is, hey, if you're a pinball fan, let's come, let's vote, let's do that.
Speaker: It's like the fan voting, which I think is great.
Speaker: And so it may be different, but I think there'll be a lot of overlap.
Speaker: I think so too.
Speaker: I think with the limited number of games that released last year, Godzilla just did so well.
Speaker: It's hard to argue with the results of Godzilla.
Speaker: It really was the complete game of the year.
Speaker: If you're looking at the entire package, I don't know of anybody who plays Godzilla who says that wasn't fun.
Speaker: As far as the entertainment section of the Twippies, do you think we see anything different?
Speaker: I mean, Zach and Greg have still been doing...
Speaker: uh, straight down the middle.
Speaker: So they still have that audience and whatnot.
Speaker: Uh, they've won it.
Speaker: Haven't they won it every single year for Twippy?
Speaker: Something like that.
Speaker: For podcaster or not, not for YouTube.
Speaker: Um, they certainly have, uh, they, they, they've, they've certainly been in the running.
Speaker: I would have to go back and see who the other, uh, winners were.
Speaker: I know that Jack dangers one streaming every year.
Speaker: And that one's going to be interesting too.
Speaker: Cause he really ramped down last year considering he was working at Stern and building pinball machines.
Speaker: I don't blame him.
Speaker: So he now has another job, right?
Speaker: And then, and then we have Canada that, uh, his one podcast for four years in a row.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Does that change now that he's put himself behind a paywall?
Speaker: Um, possibly.
Speaker: The reason why I say that is because like you have Joe Rogan who went behind a paywall.
Speaker: You have Howard Stern who essentially is behind a paywall and it does change.
Speaker: It changes what, who, who has access to it because you're, you're going to cut out some of the casual people.
Speaker: So unless you want to pay for Spotify, you're not going to listen to Joe Rogan.
Speaker: Unless you want to pay for Sirius XM, you're not going to listen to Howard Stern.
Speaker: And so there are – we're broadcasting to anyone who wants to listen.
Speaker: But that's just our model.
Speaker: And however Chris wants to do his model is fine too.
Speaker: I mean he's certainly an entertaining guy.
Speaker: So if he's still able to maintain his popularity behind a paywall, then good for him, right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Might as well make a couple bucks, right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So –
Speaker: I mean, I do it for the glory and for being famous, pinball famous.
Speaker: Yes, pinball famous.
Speaker: Other than that, like I said, I think we won't see much difference between pinball industry rewards and Twippies.
Speaker: And just because the field is so narrowed compared to the previous years.
Speaker: And we might even see a repeat of that this year if it keeps up.
Speaker: If Stern just announced they're not going to do another cornerstone,
Speaker: And they don't put anything out until August.
Speaker: And then JJP has said they're not going to be showing anything at Texas.
Speaker: And that means they still can release something within the year.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And they may or may not.
Speaker: I mean, really with Cactus Canyon, we didn't know if they were going to reveal it at Expo.
Speaker: And they kind of revealed it at Expo.
Speaker: Well, they revealed it, but it was starting to ship those now, aren't they?
Speaker: Something like that.
Speaker: So I, it doesn't feel, this feels like a, a show celebration more than, Hey, come and you're going to see some news dropped on you.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So not sure.
Speaker: We have travel stuff going on.
Speaker: So Friday is a little more up in the air Saturday and Sunday though.
Speaker: We, we will be there.
Speaker: What time are you flying out Sunday?
Speaker: You're in the afternoon, right?
Speaker: No, I think I'm in the morning.
Speaker: I think I'm like,
Speaker: Sunday morning?
Speaker: 10 o'clock.
Speaker: Yeah, I think I'm like 10 o'clock or 11.
Speaker: So I'm going to be hanging around.
Speaker: I think my flight's out at 6 o'clock at Sunday night.
Speaker: Gotcha.
Speaker: But time I'll be landing in Vernal, I think it's like 5 or 6.
Speaker: Yeah, because you have to go through like JFK or something, right?
Speaker: I got to go through Denver.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: They fly me all the way up to New York just so I can go back to Vernal.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Hey, I wouldn't be surprised.
Speaker: Wouldn't be surprised.
Speaker: I definitely will get my work out, though.
Speaker: For those of you who have never flown through Denver, I got to the pleasure of stopping in Denver's airport.
Speaker: It's massive.
Speaker: And I guess the only other ones I've ever been to is like Oklahoma and Salt Lake and New York and stuff like that.
Speaker: But usually it's like one big terminal, right?
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: For some odd reason, Denver's is like three long terminals.
Speaker: They're just like...
Speaker: and you have to take a subway to get from one, two, and three.
Speaker: And, and Utah's like, so Vernal's airport is always on like the furthest one.
Speaker: And so you got to like book it from the furthest terminal all the way to get on the subway.
Speaker: So you can get over to like two or three and then get on your airplane.
Speaker: It's like a 20 minute walk or something like that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Just to get to your, to your flights.
Speaker: So, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, I'm also I who knows?
Speaker: I may buy something, though.
Speaker: I'm looking at the vendors.
Speaker: And there are some things that are, they're pretty fun.
Speaker: Like they have back alley creations, you know, Matt from back of light.
Speaker: He's going to be there.
Speaker: You're going to, I'm just kind of scanning through.
Speaker: So I am not to, I'm not trying to highlight anybody specifically, but color DMD, I actually may pick up one of those for Simpsons.
Speaker: Maybe a kind of update that, bring it into the modern age.
Speaker: You know what you should do is you should buy a couple of trans lights and then buy a lit frame from Brad Hunter.
Speaker: That's true.
Speaker: Is Brad going to be there this year?
Speaker: He is not.
Speaker: He has some other obligations that weekend.
Speaker: But he does have his website.
Speaker: And we actually, so I bought, I just sold Spider-Man, but I did not sell my Spider-Man Translight because I had Steve Ritchie sign it.
Speaker: And so I actually took that out and I put it in a lit frame.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: So I still will have that and that will help out.
Speaker: But, you know, some other things that are fun.
Speaker: JJ Game Exchange is going to be there, too.
Speaker: He's doing a party guy doing a party Friday night.
Speaker: You have Marco Specialty is going to be there.
Speaker: Measle Mods.
Speaker: Always always a favorite if you want to specialize your your game a little bit.
Speaker: Pinball photos.
Speaker: You want to you want to do put some high class art in.
Speaker: Pinball Pimp, he's the one who does the stenciling stuff on old games, right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So if you want to make that old game look brand new, just go and check him out.
Speaker: He does a good job there.
Speaker: You know, pin graphics for if you want the art blades, pin sign.
Speaker: There's so many people that are coming.
Speaker: Super skill shooters, by the way, just in case you're wondering if you if you buy a shooter and I bought it from this guy.
Speaker: Super nice, super nice guy.
Speaker: He has a lot of fun shooters.
Speaker: Just make sure you check it in your bag because I almost got my shooter rod confiscated.
Speaker: That's hilarious.
Speaker: But yeah, the guy has some really cool shooter rods.
Speaker: So check that guy out too.
Speaker: Yeah, I think overall we're pretty excited.
Speaker: And then we'll definitely probably do like a TPF roundup or, you know, kind of our thoughts and stuff.
Speaker: Surprisingly, our Expo roundup was one of the most listened to episodes we had last year.
Speaker: It's up there with Keith Elwin.
Speaker: Well, there was a lot that happened at Expo.
Speaker: Wait a minute, wait a minute.
Speaker: Did we ever announce, though, that there's a new king in...
Speaker: our listening numbers keith elwin keith elwin is now i'm sorry zach manny you did hold the top number there for quite some time so close so close but keith elwin's still going like his number is just people must either love godzilla or love keith or maybe it's both i don't know but it's just the numbers keep climbing on that episode oh and by the way happy birthday keith uh yesterday
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So we're recording on St.
Speaker: Patrick's Day.
Speaker: So happy birthday to him on March 16th.
Speaker: And my friend who has an LE, Godzilla, actually has the same birthday.
Speaker: So I sent him a – his name is Brock and he's local.
Speaker: And we also want to thank Joel Engelberth and Amanda Hamilton for having Keith on their podcast because we get a little bit of royalty money from that.
Speaker: Yeah, we timeshare.
Speaker: We lease them for a few episodes a year, but, you know.
Speaker: Now, Keith's awesome, and those episodes were awesome.
Speaker: If you haven't checked them out, Just Another Pinball Podcast with Joel, the Does Everything in Media Engelberth.
Speaker: That's his new nickname.
Speaker: I know it's a little long.
Speaker: But if you don't know who Joel is, you can catch him streaming with TPN, or you can hear him from his podcast on Just Another Pinball Podcast, or his other podcast, Triple Drain, or I could keep going, but you get the idea.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And Amanda Hamilton is awesome.
Speaker: I guess Scott and her are in the same business.
Speaker: Yeah, we're both in medicine.
Speaker: So it was funny.
Speaker: I got a message from her today that Jayco was around.
Speaker: And if you don't know what Jayco is, it's kind of like the medical Gestapo that show up and shake you down for things that really aren't big deals.
Speaker: Like you actually having like a Diet Coke at your workstation.
Speaker: So it's always funny when they when they show up, everybody just immediately throws all their drinks away and make sure that that looks all pretty for the Jayco people.
Speaker: So are they similar to like OSHA and construction?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: 100 percent.
Speaker: 100 percent.
Speaker: And so it's now I will say that, yes, the problem is they fixed all the major stuff.
Speaker: Well, that's good.
Speaker: And so like, so most hospitals, you're not going to find all these major things that are like, wow, that's a huge error.
Speaker: So what they do is it's like ticky tack fouls now.
Speaker: It's like, oh, well, you justification for their job kind of thing.
Speaker: A little bit.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: There was a point where I am not kidding.
Speaker: They wanted you to swap your masks every time you took it down from your mouth.
Speaker: Then I just found it funny.
Speaker: It was like when the pandemic came, they're like, you know what?
Speaker: Those those masks, you can use those for like six months.
Speaker: Just just go ahead and like sun drying.
Speaker: They're fine because we're we're short on supplies.
Speaker: So go ahead and just keep using that sucker.
Speaker: Even I was like, didn't like a month ago you said we were supposed to swap them out every 30 seconds.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: Amanda's awesome.
Speaker: We met her and her husband at Expo.
Speaker: Yeah, they're fun.
Speaker: Wonderful people.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So there's good times.
Speaker: So I would say that we're pretty flexible, especially on Saturday.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: And so if you're around, please message us.
Speaker: You can certainly message us on Facebook.
Speaker: And we'd definitely love to hear from you.
Speaker: Bunch of people message and reach out about those hats.
Speaker: I did not realize that they would...
Speaker: catch on fire like they did.
Speaker: And Josh, you actually were able to secure some.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: They were able to get some.
Speaker: So we're not going to have a lot.
Speaker: I do actually have some shirts.
Speaker: Joe Fox, I actually have your shirt.
Speaker: So that I did not get to you at Expo.
Speaker: Uh, so, uh, go ahead and reach out to me, but, uh, yeah.
Speaker: So if you, if you want to get ahold of our limited edition hats, um, I thought they were like our, our go-to now since our old transit.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So these are the new limited edition hats.
Speaker: Cause we don't know how long they'll last until they actually change designs on us, but still lose your kid quality and still lose your good style.
Speaker: So.
Speaker: Yes, it's the exact same hat as our old one.
Speaker: It's the same model number and all that jazz.
Speaker: It's just different color, different styles.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: So and a lot of people are loving the green.
Speaker: I did that because I like black and green or charcoal and green.
Speaker: So it pops.
Speaker: I think the green's a little like a limit.
Speaker: It feels like a limited.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So it's a lot of people are really asking about the green one.
Speaker: So, yeah, it's pretty cool.
Speaker: We do need to make a retraction from our last episode.
Speaker: We were not wrong about Pat Lawler only having one two flipper game, but we were wrong on which game it was.
Speaker: I must have went through Pinside way too quick because I thought it was CSI.
Speaker: IPDB, you mean?
Speaker: IPDB.
Speaker: No, I went through Pinside.
Speaker: Oh, okay.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: And anywho, I guess it's NASCAR.
Speaker: And to the people who are saying it's three games, no, it's the same layout.
Speaker: NASCAR, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Grand Prix are all the exact same layout.
Speaker: And the only reason they made Grand Prix is because NASCAR is huge in America, and the Grand Prix racers are huge over in Europe.
Speaker: So that's, like, literally the only reason, you know?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So...
Speaker: It's like trying to argue like NFL has like 28 different versions when it's really just the trans light and the chip of where you start with your team.
Speaker: You know what I'm saying?
Speaker: Yeah, and it's all, I swear every time those come up for sale, it's always the Browns.
Speaker: I'm not exactly sure.
Speaker: I guess I can't exactly say that about Grand Prix.
Speaker: Maybe they have changed some of the art.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: I've never personally seen one where they're most of the European thing.
Speaker: It's still not going to be a game I'm going to own.
Speaker: I guess I'll put it that way.
Speaker: I'll play it on location, but I'm not going to own it.
Speaker: So yes, you were correct that CSI was not the two-flipper game.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: We were still correct in the fact that Pat Lawler has made one two-flipper game.
Speaker: It's certainly not his go-to.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: You know, NASCAR is one of the very first games I ever got to play, and I didn't mind it.
Speaker: I thought it was cool, but you got to understand, I started playing pinball early 2010, 2011.
Speaker: Yeah, and the real problem is when you don't...
Speaker: when you play pinball for the first time, any game seems fun.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: And then eventually you're like, you know what?
Speaker: That game's okay.
Speaker: I'm okay.
Speaker: Like I, the first time I played Flintstones, I'm like, Hey, this is fun.
Speaker: And then after about five minutes, I was like, okay, I can move on.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I owned a Flintstones for like a month and I was like, this is a fun game, but I could have something with the giant flippers.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: The oversized one.
Speaker: No, no, I just, no, yeah.
Speaker: Oh, because they had the oversized one too, so.
Speaker: No, it's a fun game, but I felt it was kind of easy for what I was playing.
Speaker: But again, what happens is eventually you gravitate toward the ones that you find that you are drawn to.
Speaker: So there's any, I've had Adam's family, right?
Speaker: But it's not a game that really connects with me because I don't have that nostalgic connection that other people have.
Speaker: Yep, and then you sold it to me, and then I only had it for maybe six months, and I felt the exact same way.
Speaker: I was like, well... Yeah, it's the people who actually, that was their go-to game.
Speaker: Because I guarantee, if I pull up my old Nintendo and play Contra with my kids, they're not going to care.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: They don't realize that was the game.
Speaker: You and I would sit down and be like, this is awesome.
Speaker: Yeah, up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, BA.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Which reminds me, we're speaking all these old games.
Speaker: What do you think of all these 2.0 kits coming out now?
Speaker: We had Funhouse's Rudy's Revenge or Rudy's Nightmare came out.
Speaker: They just announced one for like Tales of the Arabian Night.
Speaker: And then they announced another one.
Speaker: Naps Arcade has it.
Speaker: Go check out naparcade.org.
Speaker: I'm trying to think which one it was.
Speaker: Now that I announce it and my mind has went blank.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Okay, so what do I think about them?
Speaker: I will go out on a limb and say that games now are better than the games in the Bally Williams era.
Speaker: I really think the last five years, they have put out more quality games than the Bally Williams era.
Speaker: And so...
Speaker: And the challenge that we had was we had, that was such a great era in pinball.
Speaker: And I will say that was probably the first golden age of pinball.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And I know that you can, you can go back to EM and solid state and solid, but that was the first time when it really percolated up.
Speaker: But then we went through the doldrums where you didn't really have, we've talked about it before.
Speaker: There's like four games that I would consider owning in the whole two thousands.
Speaker: And then it starts getting back, getting better, getting back.
Speaker: And you start seeing the first era, like 2010 through 2015, some really good games.
Speaker: Some other games that are not quite so good.
Speaker: But then I think the 2016 through 2020, and it's really taken off.
Speaker: And so those games, for my money, are better than any of those other Bally Williams games.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But I also understand if people have that emotional connection with that, but they also want a re like kind of a reimagining, maybe modernizing them a bit.
Speaker: It's the same thing as when you see a 1950s style car that is fixed up.
Speaker: But it's not fixed up to like the original everything OEM.
Speaker: A lot of times they put a better engine in it.
Speaker: Or they put like, you know, they put the Chrome where the Chrome wasn't there before.
Speaker: And so they make it kind of a sexier version of the old one.
Speaker: And that's what these kits seem like to me.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But I don't know.
Speaker: What do you feel about it?
Speaker: I guess what's your thought?
Speaker: I like the idea.
Speaker: I just wish that.
Speaker: With Funhouse 2.0, I know that some people are complaining it's already a perfect game as is.
Speaker: But the nice part is with these 2.0 kits, like with Bride of Pinbot and whatnot, you get the original software plus the new upgraded software.
Speaker: I guess it would be counterintuitive to buy the new software and just not play it.
Speaker: But with all the fancy, fancy stuff.
Speaker: By the way, I looked up the other one as Whirlwind is the other one they just announced doing a 2.0.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Some of these games do need a code up like face.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Some of them really do.
Speaker: I don't know if Funhouse did.
Speaker: Toten, Tales of Arabian Nights definitely needs a facelift.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: But it's one of those things that I'm kind of the point where I would like to see these games remade versus just a kit coming out for them.
Speaker: Because I know a lot of people want a fun house and they're like, you can't get a fun house for under eight grand right now.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Which I mean, it's kind of doubled in price since I got into the business.
Speaker: And so, you know, before you could probably get it for about thirty five hundred, four thousand.
Speaker: I was offered one for like thirty one hundred, but it was like hammered.
Speaker: Well, most of them were hammered back then.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Because they all were on location.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And that's one of the reasons why I gravitate toward the newer ones.
Speaker: I actually find them more fun to play, but I also tend to buy games that are either new or one owner or something like that because I just don't have the time to tinker on them.
Speaker: Well, and I have a hard, hard time.
Speaker: Even back then, I look at Funhaus that was $3,100 beat up, and that was a good price at that point.
Speaker: Or it's like I can get a World Cup soccer for two grand, which mine I paid less for.
Speaker: I'm not even going to get into that right now.
Speaker: But it's like if you can find funner games for less, like I have a hard time justifying spending money on a game.
Speaker: It's like Adam's family.
Speaker: If you have that emotional connection with it, then that's a game that you'll be willing to spend the money on.
Speaker: But if it's a game that you don't have that connection with, then I think you're going to have a connection with a Jurassic Park or a Deadpool or something like that.
Speaker: What is Adam's family going for now?
Speaker: Like $10,000?
Speaker: Yeah, like a nice one.
Speaker: A nice one is going for a new in-box, yeah.
Speaker: Okay, so would you rather want a nice Addams Family or a new unboxed Godzilla Premium?
Speaker: Yeah, and my friend who had an Addams Family Gold who sold it for about $8,000, $9,000.
Speaker: It's one of his favorite games.
Speaker: See, and you just sold your Tron, and you sold your Tron for enough money you could buy two-turned-pros.
Speaker: Yeah, now I will say my Tron was very specialized, and it went to a very special owner.
Speaker: who wanted that really high-end customized one.
Speaker: But yeah, it's... The point I'm getting to is like, it's hard to justify spending that much money on a game when the new games that are coming out are fantastic.
Speaker: And granted, if you have the room and you have the means and the money, do whatever you want.
Speaker: I know you're running into the issue of a room thing.
Speaker: I am out of space, like beyond out of space.
Speaker: And so it's like,
Speaker: It gets to a point where it's like, well, I got to start nitpicking.
Speaker: Well, you have to find the reason why people sell games is usually sometimes it's a money issue, but a lot of times it's a space issue.
Speaker: It's kind of like I have a sofa and I want that sofa, so I need to sell my old sofa.
Speaker: You don't need 20 sofas.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: But who knows?
Speaker: Maybe you do.
Speaker: Yeah, maybe you do.
Speaker: I guess in a roundabout way of saying it, yes, I do like the 2.0 kits.
Speaker: I think it's for the right market.
Speaker: Correct.
Speaker: I feel like if you're picking the right games, I don't know.
Speaker: Like Funhaus is a really fun game.
Speaker: Um, I've watched some of the code and I don't know why the hot deck, hot dog combat gets stuck in my head, but I feel like it's just a rehash of the original mode from the, from the very first code.
Speaker: And it's just animation has been added on and with, with, with voiceover.
Speaker: And so, um,
Speaker: I'm not much of a fan for that.
Speaker: Like, why, why are we doing that?
Speaker: Like if you're going to do new code, do new code.
Speaker: And so, but, and code's hard, right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Code is hard.
Speaker: There's a reason why the new, new code, I mean, you hire someone who knows how to develop code.
Speaker: And that's really what takes games to the next level is having a deep or a complex slash simple enough set.
Speaker: It's something that works really well with tournament type play because those are the elite players who will dissect the code and find they don't want just one way of doing something.
Speaker: They want multiple ways but still have it competitively balanced.
Speaker: which is why even games like Iron Man, which isn't deep, but it did have options that you could do different things.
Speaker: Deadpool is the same way.
Speaker: There are different things that you can do in a competitive thing, but the game is not super deep, but you can certainly understand ways of making it competitively balanced.
Speaker: So yes, if you want to update these old games, then yeah, you can, but that's hard.
Speaker: You need someone who knows how to develop a code set.
Speaker: I do feel like, though, these 2.0 kits, like they get put in the machines and then the people don't sell the actual machine itself.
Speaker: You can't find a Briot of Pimbot 2.0 on the marketplace right now.
Speaker: You can't find.
Speaker: So they're obviously doing what they're – the people that are buying them are making them happy with the result.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, it's, it's hot rodding your car.
Speaker: Like you're buying something and you're putting it in your car with the anticipation that, you know what, this is, it's going to stick around for a while.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: Well, I want to wrap up the subject.
Speaker: I want to do one more thing.
Speaker: I want to talk about one more thing just really quickly.
Speaker: And then we're, we're over the hour mark.
Speaker: And so, um, but have you got Zen pinball on your phone or on the switch?
Speaker: So I have, but I haven't played it in a while.
Speaker: But they did come out with something, which is I know what you're going for.
Speaker: They just released Indiana Jones, the pinball venture.
Speaker: The Williams one, not the Stern one.
Speaker: Right, the good one.
Speaker: Yeah, the good one.
Speaker: And granted, the one for Stern isn't bad, but it's hard when you compare it to the one for Williams.
Speaker: Yeah, it's still not good.
Speaker: But this is what I love about these.
Speaker: I know that people say that virtual pinball is not real pinball, yada, yada, whatever.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Um, I love it because I can learn the rules and start to understand these games more, especially for Indiana Jones, where I don't see those very often, especially in the wild.
Speaker: I think there's one down in, uh, um, Springville, Utah at the Nickel Mania.
Speaker: It's hammered.
Speaker: It's, it's seen better days.
Speaker: It's, it's definitely, do you know the main problem with these older games is they don't play like they should.
Speaker: They're too beat up.
Speaker: And so the flippers are terrible.
Speaker: The flippers can only hit about a fourth of the shots and people just get kind of frustrated to move on by playing the virtual version of it.
Speaker: You can actually say, wow, this is, this is how the game was supposed to feel.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Like new out of the box.
Speaker: This is how it's supposed to feel.
Speaker: And so that, that alone makes the $15 worth it.
Speaker: Well, I don't know if you can necessarily say it feels like it should when it first came out.
Speaker: Well, okay, but it plays similar enough.
Speaker: It certainly plays better than the beat-up one at Chuck E. Cheese.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But it trains your brain, especially if you're looking to play tournaments or even if you just want to have a fun time when you run to win these in the wild.
Speaker: Like you're in Disneyland and you want to play the Indiana Jones across from the ride.
Speaker: They've never had that every time I've gone.
Speaker: I've asked.
Speaker: I've never seen it.
Speaker: Someone tell me if they've ever found it because I have looked every time I've gone.
Speaker: I even went to the store.
Speaker: I went to the store and I asked and they didn't have it.
Speaker: Well, my son and I played it.
Speaker: I want a picture.
Speaker: So I want someone to send me a recent picture because every time I've gone to Disneyland, I've asked and they're like, yeah, I don't know.
Speaker: It hasn't been here in a long time.
Speaker: It's out for repairs.
Speaker: Oh, yeah, it was probably about three years ago when my son and I played it.
Speaker: Any long story short, I feel like it trains your brain to know where the shots are or to understand these modes.
Speaker: So that way when you do get in front of one of these games, you can actually enjoy on location.
Speaker: Yeah, I agree.
Speaker: Yeah, that's perfect.
Speaker: If you haven't bought 15 bucks, I know some people are complaining.
Speaker: This isn't the pinball arcade days.
Speaker: You're not going to get four tables for $10 anymore.
Speaker: And even the Zen pinball games, they're like, isn't it like $8 to $10 if you want to buy out the tables right out or something like that?
Speaker: $5 isn't much of a jump in my opinion.
Speaker: And plus, let's be realistic.
Speaker: Indiana Jones, the pinball machine is going for $15,000.
Speaker: I looked it up on Pinside.
Speaker: If you want to buy one right now, there's one for $15,000, one for $15,500, and one for $16,000.
Speaker: So something that's literally 0.1% of the cost of a real pinball machine, I think is a bargain.
Speaker: You know what?
Speaker: It's a movie, guys.
Speaker: Just take it for what it is.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's a movie.
Speaker: $15 is really not that bad.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, if you get into video game speak, I guess, whatever.
Speaker: But anyhow, really good.
Speaker: If you haven't checked it out, also shout out to FlipTronic because I accidentally, I bought it for my phone and then I was watching FlipTronic and I won.
Speaker: it for the switch.
Speaker: So I have it on both now.
Speaker: Whoa, there you go.
Speaker: So there's that convenience as well.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: But well, I think that pretty much does it for us.
Speaker: You got anything else for us, Scott?
Speaker: No, I think that's it.
Speaker: Seriously.
Speaker: If you're going to be at Texas and you want to, and you want to meet up, just let us know.
Speaker: We'd love to meet people.
Speaker: So yeah, we hear that some kind of hard running into people there.
Speaker: So if you do want to meet us specifically, just message us on Facebook.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Let me do this bill really quick.
Speaker: If you want to get ahold of us,
Speaker: You can get ahold of us at loser kid, pinball podcast at gmail.com or at loser kid pinball through Facebook, Instagram, Twitch, and Twitter.
Speaker: We, uh, been hitting up all the socials.
Speaker: I don't hit it up as much as I usually do.
Speaker: I'm having some issues with my phone.
Speaker: It's not sending notifications like it should.
Speaker: So I wake up in the morning and I'm like, why did I, why am I getting like 12 notifications from yesterday?
Speaker: So I do apologize if you send an email and I don't respond for like 24 hours or something like that.
Speaker: It's not me.
Speaker: It's my phone.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Facebook Messenger actually is pretty reliable right now.
Speaker: So go ahead and try that.
Speaker: But we'll have hats.
Speaker: We will be happy to meet you.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Other than that, I don't know what else to say.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: We'll see you in Texas.
Speaker: See you in Texas.
Speaker: Shut up and sit down.
