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Ep 19: The Busiest Man in Pinball, Zach Meny
43 Plays6 years ago
On episode 19 we had a chill conversation with the busiest man in pinball, Zach Meny! Join us as we discuss different aspects of the pinball hobby including how to grow it, virtual pinball, and how to balance it all. Plus we do another segment steal!
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Announcement
00:00:06
Speaker
Thanks for tuning in to the loser kid pinball podcast.
00:00:09
Speaker
It is what is today?
00:00:11
Speaker
Today's October 3rd, dude.
00:00:14
Speaker
I'm already losing it.
00:00:15
Speaker
It's October 3rd.
00:00:16
Speaker
We're on episode 19 and who, wait, I was supposed to introduce.
00:00:21
Speaker
You were supposed to introduce.
00:00:22
Speaker
Who do we have on the show today, Josh?
00:00:25
Speaker
Thank you for correcting me, Scott.
00:00:26
Speaker
I appreciate that.
00:00:28
Speaker
Some people have named him the most handsome man in pinball, mostly his wife and his children.
00:00:33
Speaker
Other people have said he's the most business man in pinball, which is probably true.
00:00:38
Speaker
But a lot of people know him as the man that likes to kick the horn's nest.
00:00:40
Speaker
Today, we've got Zach Manny with us.
00:00:43
Speaker
Oh my gosh.
00:00:44
Speaker
Thanks for the introduction,
Podcast Dynamics and Guest Excitement
00:00:45
Speaker
guys.
00:00:45
Speaker
Josh, Scott, how's it going?
00:00:47
Speaker
We're all fired up.
00:00:48
Speaker
I have my vitamin water zero and I'm slightly caffeinated with an Excedrin on board.
00:00:54
Speaker
So we are good to record right now.
00:00:56
Speaker
Oh, watch out.
00:00:56
Speaker
You're like a rebel over there with your Excedrin.
00:00:59
Speaker
I know.
00:00:59
Speaker
It's crazy, right?
00:01:01
Speaker
Only elective drugs.
00:01:02
Speaker
Things are going crazy.
00:01:03
Speaker
Now I'm on maybe my, probably my 14th Pepsi.
00:01:07
Speaker
I'm ready to go guys.
00:01:08
Speaker
Whoa.
00:01:09
Speaker
I'm joking.
00:01:10
Speaker
I'm joking.
00:01:11
Speaker
Well, and we'll probably have more energy than usual just because we're actually recording during the day instead of, it feels like every time we record it's freaking midnight.
00:01:18
Speaker
Oh yeah.
00:01:19
Speaker
I may get a cameo from about three kids who come downstairs.
00:01:23
Speaker
Hey dad, what are you doing?
00:01:23
Speaker
What are you doing?
00:01:26
Speaker
So Zach, thanks for coming on.
00:01:29
Speaker
Oh, absolutely.
00:01:30
Speaker
I listen to you all's podcast.
00:01:32
Speaker
What is it?
00:01:32
Speaker
You're every two weeks now?
00:01:34
Speaker
I listen to every one of them.
00:01:35
Speaker
Yeah, basically, we're the Surprise U podcast.
00:01:40
Speaker
We record when we can, and it ends up being anywhere from one to two weeks, really depending on our schedules and also the news that's come out.
00:01:47
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:48
Speaker
It's been a blast listening to all of your guests that you've been able to secure.
00:01:52
Speaker
Quite impressive list of people.
00:01:54
Speaker
That's why I wondered and questioned whenever you asked me to come on.
00:01:57
Speaker
I thought, really?
00:01:58
Speaker
I mean, are you guys at the bottom of the barrel already?
00:02:01
Speaker
You had Elwin, you had Chris Hutchins, really?
00:02:03
Speaker
Me?
00:02:04
Speaker
All right, I'll do it.
00:02:05
Speaker
Well, what's funny though, is like when I first started before I even had Scott come on board, I messaged you and gave you my little six minute blip.
00:02:11
Speaker
And I was like, I know you're a busy man.
00:02:13
Speaker
You're probably doing your, your thing right now at work.
00:02:16
Speaker
You just give me a listen when you got a chance and send it back and you send it back.
00:02:20
Speaker
You're like, dude, this is fantastic.
00:02:22
Speaker
I'll come on anytime.
00:02:23
Speaker
So I was like, well, crap, we got to have Zach on sometime.
00:02:25
Speaker
Cause he put his faith in us and look at us now.
00:02:28
Speaker
Hey, that's a humble brag alert.
00:02:30
Speaker
I'm just saying right now, I love it.
00:02:33
Speaker
I'll get behind that.
00:02:34
Speaker
Yeah.
00:02:35
Speaker
But no, seriously, thanks, Zach.
00:02:37
Speaker
We appreciate that.
00:02:38
Speaker
Always.
00:02:39
Speaker
Now that we got you on, you've done so much.
00:02:42
Speaker
Why don't you kind of introduce what you do?
00:02:44
Speaker
It's funny because a couple of weeks ago we had a guest on that we thought everyone knew and someone chewed us out for not properly introducing who they were.
00:02:52
Speaker
So will you kind of tell us who you are and what your background is?
Zach Manny's Pinball Journey
00:02:57
Speaker
I would say that number one, first and foremost, I'm a pinball guy with a family and some friends.
00:03:02
Speaker
That's who I am.
00:03:04
Speaker
I got into pinball, I don't know, four or five years ago and fell in love with it.
00:03:09
Speaker
Everything I do, I put way too much into it and I get very obsessive.
00:03:12
Speaker
So quickly I owned numerous pinball machines and then I met a guy in Louisville, Kentucky.
00:03:19
Speaker
who is now my best friend, Greg Bone.
00:03:21
Speaker
We started a YouTube show called Straight Down the Middle of Pinball Show.
00:03:24
Speaker
For those listeners who haven't seen, check us out there.
00:03:27
Speaker
We do reviews, top 10 lists, interviews, exclusive promos for manufacturers.
00:03:33
Speaker
You name it.
00:03:34
Speaker
It's not family friendly.
00:03:35
Speaker
So please, whenever you press play, be prepared.
00:03:39
Speaker
So we hung out.
00:03:40
Speaker
We were best friends.
00:03:41
Speaker
We were doing that.
00:03:42
Speaker
And then we met a friend.
00:03:43
Speaker
His name was Jeff Patterson.
00:03:45
Speaker
Jeff Patterson later started running This Week in Pinball.
00:03:49
Speaker
This Week in Pinball is an editorial site that gives you up-to-date information on everything pinball.
00:03:54
Speaker
And we became good friends.
00:03:56
Speaker
And so much so that we started doing the Twippy Awards with him, the yearly annual pinball award ceremony.
00:04:04
Speaker
I'm doing a podcast for him now as a co-host of This Week in Pinball podcast.
00:04:09
Speaker
And then I bought a pinball distribution business.
00:04:11
Speaker
And so now...
00:04:13
Speaker
My nine to five or really my nine to nine, if you will, is answering calls, selling pinball machines, supporting pinball machines, making media on our flipping out pinball stream.
00:04:22
Speaker
That's another new thing that we are doing this year with the special one late guys, Ken and Bill up there in Chicagoland area.
00:04:28
Speaker
They're streaming every week for flipping out the newest machines on the market.
00:04:32
Speaker
And yeah, so my goal is to every quarter have something new that maybe pinball media hasn't seen.
00:04:39
Speaker
That is quite the rap sheet.
00:04:40
Speaker
That's crazy to me that it just started because you got into pinball and it's just snowballed into this.
00:04:48
Speaker
I don't know how you do all this.
00:04:49
Speaker
This is ridiculous.
00:04:50
Speaker
I have a family and my wife already complains every two weeks thing.
00:04:55
Speaker
So I can't even imagine if I was like, honey, I'm coming home.
00:04:57
Speaker
I'm going to do a YouTube, a podcast.
00:05:00
Speaker
I'm going to own a pinball business on top of all that.
00:05:03
Speaker
And we'll do a stream once a week as well.
Balancing Business and Family Life
00:05:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:05:07
Speaker
I mean, the only way I've been able to do any of this, I promise you, is because my wife, I literally, I think she is a saint.
00:05:15
Speaker
She's the most wonderful person I've ever met.
00:05:17
Speaker
And I was lucky enough to find her.
00:05:19
Speaker
And she's been with me since the seventh grade, which is really weird.
00:05:23
Speaker
So she's grown to love my antics and annoyed by them at the same time.
00:05:28
Speaker
So, you know, she's terrific.
00:05:29
Speaker
Now,
00:05:30
Speaker
There were times where I was expending so much energy on pinball media that I wasn't receiving really anything monetarily speaking.
00:05:38
Speaker
So it became a little questionable why I was putting so much time into it.
00:05:42
Speaker
I mean, passion only goes so far, right guys?
00:05:44
Speaker
So, so that's when my wife and I talked to our friends, the previous owners of flipping out pinball.
00:05:50
Speaker
And we asked if,
00:05:51
Speaker
they ever hung up the hat if they'd be willing to sell.
00:05:54
Speaker
And now my wife and I, who was, she was never into pinball before.
00:05:57
Speaker
She's now, she's not much of a pinball player, but she loves the aesthetics of pinball, the collectability, the sales of pinball.
00:06:05
Speaker
So she and I now have a mutual interest where we, we did not have before as strong as this.
00:06:11
Speaker
So it's, it's actually pinball has brought my wife and I closer together in a weird way.
00:06:17
Speaker
So here's a question for you on, um,
00:06:20
Speaker
Being the distributor, you're also basically the mechanic.
00:06:24
Speaker
And you have to troubleshoot all these things.
00:06:27
Speaker
Now...
00:06:30
Speaker
This is something I've gone on and on about being able to, either from the distributors or from Stern, to have some sort of clinic to say, hey, by the way, these are the main things that you need to know how to fix.
00:06:43
Speaker
I've told this story before.
00:06:44
Speaker
My friend was a mechanic for Toyota, and they actually sent him to a school to say, hey, this is how you do all this stuff, at least the common things anyway.
00:06:55
Speaker
How did you learn how to work on the games and how do you learn how to
Learning Pinball Mechanics and Community Support
00:06:59
Speaker
maintain all these games?
00:07:00
Speaker
Because that's a broad range on all these new machines to be able to troubleshoot them, get them to be tuned in or dialed in on site.
00:07:08
Speaker
Yeah, I think that, again, when it comes to my wife, I wouldn't be here without her.
00:07:13
Speaker
Same with my friends.
00:07:14
Speaker
The reason I know how to work on some of these machines, or at least at the very minimum diagnose some of the problems, is because I've went through a lot of pinball machines because I have a little obsessiveness where I want to play something, want to play something, and then I can't afford some of these guys filling up a basement, so I had to sell it and buy something else.
00:07:30
Speaker
I want to play it, want to play it, sell it, buy something else.
00:07:32
Speaker
And I have my best friend since kindergarten.
00:07:35
Speaker
I'm like a super loyal guy.
00:07:37
Speaker
I stick with people.
00:07:37
Speaker
So my best friend since kindergarten, his name is Schmitty.
00:07:40
Speaker
He lives close to me and we hang out several times a week.
00:07:43
Speaker
He is the handiest person I've ever met.
00:07:45
Speaker
Like he is the next hep.
00:07:47
Speaker
Like this guy, he fell in love with pinball at the same time I did.
00:07:51
Speaker
So now he's restoring machines.
00:07:53
Speaker
And I always have him kind of...
00:07:56
Speaker
helping me out, if you will, if I can't figure out something.
00:07:59
Speaker
Or I have buddies up in Indianapolis, Bud Somerville, one of the best restorers in the country too.
00:08:05
Speaker
He's up there routing games nonstop.
00:08:07
Speaker
He's helping me.
00:08:08
Speaker
If you have a network of people that you do well by, they will do well by you.
00:08:12
Speaker
But it only works if it's reciprocal.
00:08:15
Speaker
So I just try to treat people really, really well so that if I ever need help, they're there for me.
00:08:21
Speaker
Well, I can totally relate to that too.
00:08:23
Speaker
And I totally agree with you.
00:08:25
Speaker
It's not what you know, it's who you know.
00:08:27
Speaker
You can only get so far without other people's help.
00:08:30
Speaker
When I was in a band and we were touring the country, you could only do so much before you had to rely on other people.
00:08:37
Speaker
And it was funny, we were in Oklahoma City one night and the guy, he pulls all the bands together and he says, hey, I got two from Oklahoma, two from Utah, mix and mingle.
00:08:46
Speaker
Change number or exchange numbers.
00:08:47
Speaker
And we're like, Utah, who the crap else comes from Utah to Oklahoma.
00:08:51
Speaker
And we met some of our good friends, the black hounds down there.
00:08:53
Speaker
And so, I mean, you can only do so much.
00:08:57
Speaker
When we were having troubles trying to get bands to come to Vernal, I'd call up someone that was in the business that I knew that we played shows with or something like that.
00:09:03
Speaker
And he's like, oh yeah, I know those guys.
00:09:05
Speaker
We, we, we partied once.
00:09:07
Speaker
I'll, I'll put it in a favor.
00:09:08
Speaker
You know what I'm saying?
00:09:09
Speaker
So I assume it's, it could be like that in pinball, but yeah.
00:09:13
Speaker
I don't call in favors.
00:09:14
Speaker
I don't have to do that, I guess.
00:09:15
Speaker
And that, when it comes to answer your question about fixing things, that's why it's so important to have a good relationship with the manufacturer that you distribute for.
00:09:23
Speaker
So people like Stern Pinball, Jersey Jack Pinball.
00:09:26
Speaker
Of course, every machine potentially is going to have some issues.
00:09:29
Speaker
This is like the most complex toy that a person can buy.
00:09:33
Speaker
So these guys are really good.
00:09:35
Speaker
Their customer support's really good.
00:09:37
Speaker
So if you have a good relationship with them,
00:09:38
Speaker
You can call them, you can text them and figure out what's going on so that the customer gets taken care of really quick.
00:09:44
Speaker
Yeah.
00:09:45
Speaker
I, I, my, my first game was Simpsons and I knew nothing about pinball.
00:09:49
Speaker
I bought it on a whim, mainly for the theme.
00:09:51
Speaker
And I thought this would be fun.
00:09:53
Speaker
And I, I,
00:09:54
Speaker
I had this weird loud sound that happened every once in a while.
00:09:58
Speaker
And I, I had no idea what it was.
00:10:00
Speaker
And I emailed, I emailed Stern and it's like, Hey, my, my game's making this weird sound.
00:10:07
Speaker
And they said, yeah, that's the knocker.
00:10:09
Speaker
I'm like, Oh,
00:10:11
Speaker
Okay, but this is a game that's been like, you know, for them, it was 15 years old or whatever it was at the time.
00:10:19
Speaker
And they still were actually responding to someone who knew nothing about pinball.
The Revival and Innovation of Pinball
00:10:25
Speaker
So absolutely, that service side is so important on something so complex.
00:10:31
Speaker
Because how many times do you go, especially on location, you go to a game...
00:10:35
Speaker
And you look down and the flipper is not working or the rubbers are off and no one wants to play that game.
00:10:41
Speaker
That's the bottom line.
00:10:42
Speaker
And then one of the most important reasons to have distributors in pinball, sometimes we forget the importance, is that so a situation like that, if you were to buy that from a distributor and you called them and they walked you through that, that's one less thing that Stern Pinball has to stop and take time to deal with.
00:10:58
Speaker
The distributor would walk you through that process.
00:11:01
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:01
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:01
Speaker
I guarantee they don't, they, they,
00:11:04
Speaker
Stern does not want to deal with me in the middle of Utah on how to change a rubber.
00:11:10
Speaker
They're happy to.
00:11:10
Speaker
I promise you that.
00:11:12
Speaker
I know they could, but they would love it to outsource that because they want to be making the games.
00:11:19
Speaker
They would love to have you guys involved.
00:11:21
Speaker
That's why I love Chaz.
00:11:22
Speaker
Have you guys ever talked to Chaz over at Stern Pinball?
00:11:25
Speaker
Not yet, no.
00:11:27
Speaker
Oh, it's the best.
00:11:28
Speaker
Like he is the most calm.
00:11:30
Speaker
It doesn't matter what question you ask.
00:11:31
Speaker
No matter if it's silly or the most complex, he'll always pause and be like, uh, well, let's talk about that.
00:11:38
Speaker
Uh, yeah, let's walk through this.
00:11:40
Speaker
And the calmest composure ever.
00:11:43
Speaker
I just, I love that guy.
00:11:46
Speaker
First step, is it plugged in?
00:11:48
Speaker
I love the tech support.
00:11:49
Speaker
They always start with that.
00:11:49
Speaker
Oh, gotta love that.
00:11:50
Speaker
Is it plugged?
00:11:51
Speaker
Okay, so what was your first game?
00:11:53
Speaker
Well, one, what's the one game that you wanted when you first started getting into pinball that hooked you?
00:11:59
Speaker
And two, what was the first one you bought?
00:12:02
Speaker
The first one that hooked me as an adult willing to buy a pinball machine was the Wizard of Oz by Jersey Jack.
00:12:10
Speaker
I seen it at a licensed psychologist.
00:12:13
Speaker
So I was at a conference in Louisville, Kentucky, went by Zanzibar.
00:12:17
Speaker
Shout out to Zanzibar and Ants over there.
00:12:19
Speaker
I went over there to grab some lunch and I was like, oh, crap, like these look like really nice pinball machines.
00:12:24
Speaker
And I realized that.
00:12:25
Speaker
wow, people, they're still making these things.
00:12:28
Speaker
And it just blew me away with that 26 inch screen with all the dynamic toys and the play fields on it.
00:12:35
Speaker
And then I went and looked, looked it up, how much it would cost.
00:12:38
Speaker
And I thought, oh, well, yeah, this is a, it's a rich man's hobby.
00:12:42
Speaker
So I settled on a local operator was selling just a crummy old Jurassic park by data East.
00:12:48
Speaker
And I purchased that for, uh,
00:12:51
Speaker
Probably a couple hundred more than I should have.
00:12:54
Speaker
And I had to figure out how to fix pinball machines.
00:12:57
Speaker
So that's when it that's when it all started.
00:12:59
Speaker
And right now, if you give me the choice, the option between all people are going to hate this.
00:13:04
Speaker
If you gave me the option between owning a Jurassic Park data east or a Wizard of Oz, give me the Jurassic Park.
00:13:11
Speaker
Why is that?
00:13:12
Speaker
Is it pricing or what is it?
00:13:14
Speaker
No, I just enjoy Jurassic Park, the way it shoots, and the play a lot better than I do Wizard of Oz.
00:13:20
Speaker
It seems a little bit like a different game.
00:13:23
Speaker
So I have a Wizard of Oz, and I'm actually staring at it right now.
00:13:27
Speaker
And it seems more like that's the pin if you really want to get really good at it and spend...
00:13:35
Speaker
30 minutes to an hour if you're really that good and you can get over the rainbow that's it's this journey pin which seems to be what uh what jjp is focusing on they're focusing on these ultra deep rule sets these ultra deep long playing games and if you're playing with jurassic park that that's a keith's a tournament guy and so he wants a game that people will put at home
00:14:00
Speaker
But his main focus is also, I want a game that is well-rounded, tournament play, and is a lot of fun, even in shorter increments.
00:14:10
Speaker
And I've been accused of being a JJP fanboy because I just love JJP games.
00:14:18
Speaker
Wizard of Oz might be one of the greatest games ever made.
00:14:22
Speaker
It always kicks my butt.
00:14:23
Speaker
It always frustrates me.
00:14:24
Speaker
So some of my favorite games, like Willy Wonka,
00:14:27
Speaker
People don't know it, but that's one of the greatest games ever made.
00:14:30
Speaker
I own that and an Ellie and I own Pirates of the Caribbean Ellie.
00:14:34
Speaker
And I play those things more than any person should play a pinball machine.
00:14:38
Speaker
So I love them.
00:14:39
Speaker
Yeah, I am actually on the short list of if they ever go back to making a JJP Pirates, then I want to get one of those because it's a different game.
00:14:53
Speaker
It's so different.
00:14:54
Speaker
Eric did such a great job of doing something new in a genre that everybody's already felt like has been established and really felt out.
00:15:06
Speaker
When Eric came out with that design, it really was something different.
00:15:10
Speaker
It wasn't a smoother flowing game.
00:15:14
Speaker
This is a completely different approach to what would be considered a standard game.
00:15:19
Speaker
Oh, it's really nuts too thinking that we fall into the pin side complaining and different things like that.
00:15:26
Speaker
But really what we need to all consider, we are in one of the golden ages, if not the golden age of pinball.
00:15:33
Speaker
We have some of the best rule sets that have come out ever in pinball.
00:15:37
Speaker
Some of the innovation and the LCD integration and the techniques in this game or in these games, it's the best out there.
00:15:47
Speaker
It's the best.
00:15:47
Speaker
We are so lucky as a hobby right now to be rocking and rolling with Stern rolling out, heck, four, five, six pinball machines a year, Jersey Jack rolling them out.
00:15:55
Speaker
Chicago Gaming Company, they're like, okay, I know what you like.
00:15:59
Speaker
We're just going to remake it and make it even better.
00:16:01
Speaker
American Pinball, I mean, you hear them, all these companies making pinball in 2019.
00:16:04
Speaker
I can't get enough.
00:16:08
Speaker
Oh, I totally agree.
00:16:09
Speaker
It's the second renaissance is really what it is.
00:16:12
Speaker
Now, the difference between this renaissance and the Bally Williams renaissance of the 90s is that was descending.
00:16:21
Speaker
But now we seem to be ascending.
00:16:24
Speaker
And so with Bally Williams of the 90s, it was basically Guns N' Roses of the hair metal bands.
00:16:32
Speaker
They were the last big hair metal band, and it was a glorious sunset.
00:16:36
Speaker
And that's what it felt like Bally Williams was in the 90s, where you could tell that things were changing and Williams was going out just because the climate was not supporting pinball.
00:16:51
Speaker
There is room for new games, for new things, and the market is expanding as opposed to contracting.
00:17:00
Speaker
It's such an amazing time to be in pinball.
00:17:03
Speaker
Yeah, it's amazing to me what is going on in the industry, and it feels exciting to be in pinball, really.
00:17:10
Speaker
It doesn't feel like we're dying.
00:17:13
Speaker
I'm really excited by everything that's coming out.
00:17:17
Speaker
Oh, I totally agree.
00:17:18
Speaker
And like we've said before on the podcast, I mean, just think about 10, 15 years ago, the state of pinball was in.
00:17:25
Speaker
I mean, right now it's like, if you don't like the game that's coming out from Stern, it doesn't matter because the next one's probably just going to be just as good or better.
00:17:33
Speaker
Well, you don't have to feel like there's only one game.
00:17:38
Speaker
This is the challenge with having – before it was, okay, well, there's two games a year, and that's the game that's coming out.
00:17:47
Speaker
Now it's, well, I only have the money for one of these games, and so I have to choose which one of these great games to play.
00:17:55
Speaker
But it also feels that, hey, if that game's not for you, that's fine because there is another one.
00:18:01
Speaker
And basically that game that's not for you, guess what?
00:18:03
Speaker
That's for someone else.
00:18:05
Speaker
So they're trying to fill all these different markets without saying, hey, I want the 45-year-old guy who played it in the 90s and now has a pinball room.
00:18:19
Speaker
I mean, that's still the sweet spot in the market, but there's so many other ways of tapping into it.
00:18:25
Speaker
Well, not only that, though, it's also like – it's like – let's rewind the clock like 15 years or 10 years.
00:18:32
Speaker
It's like we're coming out with Monopoly.
00:18:33
Speaker
And you're like, eh.
00:18:35
Speaker
We're coming out with Rollercoaster Tycoon.
00:18:37
Speaker
Eh.
00:18:37
Speaker
We're coming out with – But that's the thing, though.
00:18:40
Speaker
That's special when lit.
00:18:42
Speaker
That's the special when lit documentary where I started getting excited about pinball.
00:18:47
Speaker
And then I found that on Netflix and I watched and I was like, oh man, did I get into it at the wrong time?
00:18:53
Speaker
Cause this seems like it's going to die.
00:18:55
Speaker
It's, and if you watch that, it looks like the apocalypse of pinball.
00:19:00
Speaker
And, um, it's, there's another one that I watched right at the same time.
00:19:03
Speaker
It's called the way of the puck, which is about competitive air hockey stuff.
00:19:08
Speaker
Um,
00:19:08
Speaker
And in many ways, I felt like... Really?
Pinball vs. Air Hockey: The Need for Innovation
00:19:11
Speaker
Competitive era hockey?
00:19:12
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:19:13
Speaker
No, it's actually a really fascinating documentary.
00:19:16
Speaker
And I watched it right at the same time.
00:19:19
Speaker
And it's super niche.
00:19:22
Speaker
Because the amazing thing about pinball is that...
00:19:28
Speaker
it's being driven by technology.
00:19:30
Speaker
It's like golf, right?
00:19:31
Speaker
When you're playing golf, what drives golf is Callaway.
00:19:35
Speaker
It's all these, you know, tailor-made.
00:19:37
Speaker
It's all these manufacturers who are making stuff for golf and they want to get you into the new club.
00:19:44
Speaker
They want you to get into the new, you know, the new shafts, the new grips.
00:19:47
Speaker
And so they're actually pushing different ways of progressing the game of golf.
00:19:53
Speaker
Well, in air hockey, you buy a table and you're good.
00:19:57
Speaker
There's nothing else that there are like the dynamo company.
00:20:02
Speaker
They sold it one year and like four years later, they ended up selling it off at a huge loss just because, Hey, you got a pinball or you've got an air hockey machine.
00:20:12
Speaker
The market is tapped out.
00:20:13
Speaker
You already have it.
00:20:14
Speaker
But with pinballs, Oh, you know, I, I have a, so the things that I'm looking for is I have a Shrek and it's a fun family game.
00:20:22
Speaker
And I think,
00:20:23
Speaker
you know what?
00:20:24
Speaker
That Jurassic Park looks really fun.
00:20:26
Speaker
Maybe I'll move this Shrek on to another family who wants a good game for their pinball area.
00:20:34
Speaker
And guess what?
00:20:35
Speaker
I'll get the new thing.
00:20:37
Speaker
But yeah, I highly recommend checking out the way of the puck just because it's so different.
00:20:44
Speaker
But it's a different vibe than Special Winlit.
00:20:47
Speaker
When you look at Special Winlit, it starts with a graveyard of pinball machines in a field and it ends there.
00:20:52
Speaker
And the only light in there is it's this small group is like, yeah, pinball's not dead.
00:20:58
Speaker
It's still people.
00:20:59
Speaker
They're enthusiasts who get together and do this.
00:21:01
Speaker
And that's why, I mean, that's one of the reasons that, um, I don't know if you guys feel the same way, but being part of pinball media, a lot of people turn their nose.
00:21:09
Speaker
Oh, you call it media, but I'm proud to be part of that because if not, if it's not people like us that have podcasts that do promotional videos, uh, that do these events, if it's not people like us, then we're left with documentaries like that to the rest of the world.
00:21:23
Speaker
Yeah.
00:21:23
Speaker
That's why when you hear me being so abrasive when it comes to production or increasing production and broadcasting and competitive pinball, it's not me trying to ruffle people's feathers.
00:21:34
Speaker
It's me trying to find another dynamic way to get the attention of people that aren't aware of pinball.
00:21:41
Speaker
So sometimes I feel like I'm taking one for the team when, yeah, some of the ideas I have are outlandish, but
00:21:48
Speaker
If we don't rule out all of those ideas, we're going to be left with the same old stuff over and over, which we know is not where we're wanting it to go.
00:21:57
Speaker
Or certainly me, I want the most people to play pinball as I can find.
00:22:01
Speaker
Well, that's exactly what Josh Sharp said when we were on the interview.
00:22:04
Speaker
He basically said, we're one generation away from vanishing because all of us, like our generation, we remember pinball on location.
00:22:14
Speaker
We remember going to the movie theater and actually having, hey, pinball machines or, hey, when I was a kid, arcades.
00:22:21
Speaker
You would go to the mall and that was your thing.
00:22:23
Speaker
You went and hung out in the arcade.
00:22:24
Speaker
That was how you spent your money.
00:22:25
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:22:27
Speaker
Unless we find a new generation, like my kids know what pinball machines are because I have pinball machines.
Attracting Younger Generations to Pinball
00:22:33
Speaker
But I guarantee anybody who is into the hobby or at least has a significant foothold in the hobby, they always, when I tell people what I do, they always say, huh, really?
00:22:47
Speaker
And the first question is, oh, well, do they still make those?
00:22:52
Speaker
And the second question is, can I come over and play?
00:22:56
Speaker
Because they've never seen one.
00:22:57
Speaker
They've never actually seen a physical pinball machine.
00:23:02
Speaker
And so it's just, where is that next?
00:23:05
Speaker
I love all the ideas of saying, where is this next generation?
00:23:09
Speaker
The fact that we've been able to see a renaissance in the past few years of barcades where people 21 and older anyway are going to location to play these games is a big deal.
00:23:21
Speaker
We also need to figure out a way of getting these under 21 year olds to be able to be exposed to what this is.
00:23:28
Speaker
And so that's what they come back to
00:23:31
Speaker
That's a tricky thing to do.
00:23:33
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:23:34
Speaker
It's a tricky thing to do because there are so many options for money and time, especially in kids, that it's really hard to get them.
00:23:44
Speaker
This sounds like I'm a cigarette seller, but we need to get them hooked at a young age on something like this.
00:23:52
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's what internet connectivity is going to be really important in the next handful of years.
00:23:57
Speaker
To pull in that new generation that's used to playing multiplayer internet-based gaming, we can get some of those kids doing that.
00:24:04
Speaker
But at the end of the day, yeah, Josh Harp's right.
00:24:07
Speaker
You're right.
00:24:09
Speaker
14, 15 year olds can't afford a $5,000 to $15,000 pinball machine.
00:24:14
Speaker
So it's an uphill battle, but I think people like us, I'm up for the fight.
00:24:19
Speaker
I'll keep doing it until I'm blue in the face because I'm passionate about pinball.
00:24:23
Speaker
And this is something I've not found a hobby that I love this much in my entire life.
00:24:28
Speaker
So the one thought I have on all this, though, I think there is something that has been helping us.
00:24:33
Speaker
And I'm going to ask you this question, Zach, because I know how you feel about this.
00:24:38
Speaker
Do you think virtual pinball has helped promote physical pinball?
00:24:46
Speaker
Yes, it has.
00:24:48
Speaker
I'm no dummy.
00:24:49
Speaker
Yeah, sure.
00:24:51
Speaker
If you pick up your iPhone and you know nothing about pinball and you get a free app and you can start playing machines and you realize, oh man, that's a real machine.
00:25:00
Speaker
I can play that physically in real life.
00:25:02
Speaker
Yes.
00:25:03
Speaker
Unequivocally.
00:25:04
Speaker
Absolutely.
Virtual vs. Physical Pinball
00:25:05
Speaker
Of course it brings people in.
00:25:06
Speaker
I've heard the stories from, I think the, uh, the Buffalo, Buffalo pinball guys told me that they got in with that.
00:25:13
Speaker
Yep.
00:25:13
Speaker
They got in through a pinball arcade.
00:25:16
Speaker
It's, it's a gate.
00:25:17
Speaker
It's a gateway drug.
00:25:19
Speaker
Where I get a little prickly and turn my nose up is when people call it pinball.
00:25:25
Speaker
Oh, gotcha.
00:25:25
Speaker
Okay.
00:25:27
Speaker
It's just not pinball to me.
00:25:28
Speaker
It's a video game.
00:25:30
Speaker
It's like saying, oh, I love driving Ferraris and Lamborghinis.
00:25:34
Speaker
They're so much fun.
00:25:35
Speaker
It's like, really?
00:25:36
Speaker
You have?
00:25:36
Speaker
Yeah, look at my iPhone.
00:25:38
Speaker
I've got this game that I can drive a Lamborghini.
00:25:40
Speaker
Well, that's cute, but...
00:25:42
Speaker
You're not driving a race car.
00:25:44
Speaker
That's not a race car.
00:25:45
Speaker
That's a, I get that, but it also, it helps, it helps with a barrier of that price, that price point.
00:25:50
Speaker
And so I, cause I, I'm kind of right in that same boat is I wanted a pinball machine, but I didn't know where to go.
00:25:57
Speaker
And my first one I really wanted was medieval madness.
00:26:00
Speaker
And then you get on there and you're looking, you're like,
00:26:02
Speaker
This is back before CGC was even thinking about making one.
00:26:07
Speaker
$10,000.
00:26:07
Speaker
$10,000 plus.
00:26:08
Speaker
You're like, I'm looking at a $12,000 machine going, yeah, I'm never going to own this machine.
00:26:13
Speaker
And so you're telling me there's an app on my phone.
00:26:15
Speaker
I can play it for $1.99.
00:26:17
Speaker
I can download the table and go crazy.
00:26:20
Speaker
Sure.
00:26:21
Speaker
And what's crazy to me, have you looked at the – just on Android alone or Apple, you looked at how many downloads there are just for the pinball apps?
00:26:29
Speaker
It's unreal.
00:26:30
Speaker
Five million per app.
00:26:33
Speaker
Some of them are up to 10 million.
00:26:35
Speaker
Even the new Williams app that came out for Zen pinball is already over like a hundred thousand.
00:26:39
Speaker
It's crazy.
00:26:41
Speaker
What I would love to see, though, is when you click on that to play it virtually, there should be a little icon in the bottom that says, if you want to play this in real life, here's the closest one.
00:26:50
Speaker
Oh, that'd be awesome.
00:26:52
Speaker
We need more integration.
00:26:54
Speaker
Instead of getting people stuck behind their phone, find a way to get people that are plugged in there to pull them out of that and let them know that this can be played with your hands five miles down the road, 20 miles down the road.
00:27:06
Speaker
I know.
00:27:06
Speaker
How depressing is that if someone's playing Ghostbusters on their cell phone and they're loving it and they have one two blocks over at the local bowling alley, you know?
00:27:14
Speaker
Yeah.
00:27:16
Speaker
That makes me sad.
00:27:17
Speaker
That makes me sad.
00:27:17
Speaker
That's why it's important to have these location.
00:27:20
Speaker
Location pinball is very, very important, especially some of the, you know, there are some great, uh, there's some great location people and operators that keep these things.
00:27:29
Speaker
Just keep these things wonderfully taken care of.
00:27:33
Speaker
They, they keep them balanced.
00:27:34
Speaker
They keep them clean.
00:27:35
Speaker
They keep the parts in check.
00:27:38
Speaker
Those are the heroes, uh, in my opinion, when it comes to this industry in a lot of ways.
00:27:43
Speaker
I totally agree.
00:27:44
Speaker
Well, and like here in Utah, I mean, we're not a pinball Mecca.
00:27:47
Speaker
I'm not going to lie.
00:27:49
Speaker
It was hard to- Neither is Southern Indiana, so don't feel bad.
00:27:53
Speaker
But there's a couple of guys that have banded together since the beginning.
00:27:56
Speaker
And they just, Keto's is fantastic to us.
00:28:00
Speaker
It seems like they get the new Stern, whatever it is, it comes out.
00:28:03
Speaker
They put it down there.
00:28:05
Speaker
Granted, they might not do Batman 66 or a little bit of the higher ones, but still, I wouldn't be able to play Jurassic Park any other way.
00:28:12
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:28:13
Speaker
There's just games like that.
00:28:15
Speaker
Like I would have never played a black night sort of rage if it wasn't for them.
00:28:18
Speaker
So it's, it's nice for those people willing to take the risk to put the machine out on location to say, okay, I'm willing to let it get beat up, roughed up, whatever it may be.
00:28:27
Speaker
And enjoy not only enjoy it myself, but enjoy it with everyone else.
00:28:32
Speaker
And that's why leagues are so important, right?
00:28:35
Speaker
Not only do we have location pinball, but now we have a place that we can interact.
00:28:39
Speaker
You've got leagues that you can go to that you show up every week.
00:28:42
Speaker
You make new friends.
00:28:43
Speaker
You have something in common.
00:28:45
Speaker
You got competitions to go to.
00:28:47
Speaker
All of this is very, very, very important.
00:28:50
Speaker
But I still think we're missing a couple key elements to bring other people in.
00:28:55
Speaker
We're doing well.
00:28:56
Speaker
It's just if we want to strike while the iron's hot, we've got to do it now.
00:29:01
Speaker
And we've got to do big things to gain general worldwide attention.
00:29:05
Speaker
Well, I think in Utah, that's one thing that's been so good about us teaming up with the local gaming con.
00:29:14
Speaker
Because that's a group that is used to doing stuff.
00:29:20
Speaker
they're either playing board games or they're playing role-playing games or they're playing like the, um, the LARPing or whatever.
00:29:26
Speaker
It's those people are like, Hey, I want to do something.
00:29:28
Speaker
And so we were able to, over the last couple of years, really put a footprint in when people come over and they wander over from these other things like, Oh yeah, well, this is cool.
00:29:39
Speaker
Look, look at all these people probably spend while machines.
The Role of Pinball Media in Industry Promotion
00:29:41
Speaker
And that has certainly opened the doors for people saying, Hey, that that's a new thing.
00:29:45
Speaker
I, I like that.
00:29:47
Speaker
Well, it's also helped too.
00:29:48
Speaker
They've put us front and center too.
00:29:50
Speaker
Yeah, they've been promoting it, which is we went from in the corner for a couple of people bringing some machines to really a promotable event.
00:30:01
Speaker
Yeah.
00:30:03
Speaker
Other people will call some of my rhetoric grandiose.
00:30:06
Speaker
They might say, we don't even want this.
00:30:09
Speaker
Why does he keep saying this kind of stuff?
00:30:11
Speaker
We don't even want this.
00:30:12
Speaker
So there's another area in the industry that
00:30:16
Speaker
doesn't mind if it grows.
00:30:18
Speaker
They don't care.
00:30:18
Speaker
They like that it's small.
00:30:20
Speaker
They like that they have a few friends in it.
00:30:23
Speaker
They don't want it to get overexposed and too big because then it loses some of the magic about it.
00:30:31
Speaker
So we can't make everybody happy, but my aim is to make it as big as I can with my big old mouth and my big old presence.
00:30:40
Speaker
Well, in my personal opinion, I think we're past the point of hiding it under the bushel if you –
00:30:46
Speaker
would say that term just because with Disney investing into pinball machines with their themes, we've seen more and more and more pinball machines cropping up in Disney movies.
00:30:56
Speaker
I mean, they're not themed machines, but I mean, the toys in Toy Story four lived in a pinball machine.
00:31:02
Speaker
Captain Marvel,
00:31:03
Speaker
They had space invaders up on the scroll ship, and they destroyed – it was front and center.
00:31:10
Speaker
I mean, you know what I'm saying?
00:31:11
Speaker
They even had a little girl walk over and point it out.
00:31:14
Speaker
And I think it helps drive their business because they want you to buy the Guardians of the Galaxy.
00:31:20
Speaker
They want you to buy whatever Disney-themed products that they've licensed.
00:31:24
Speaker
Yeah.
00:31:25
Speaker
The only thing that I have a problem with right now, it's a good point you bring up, Josh, but the only issue is that when the outside public thinks of pinball, what's the first thing they think of?
00:31:36
Speaker
The who.
00:31:37
Speaker
Pinball wizard.
00:31:38
Speaker
Yeah.
00:31:39
Speaker
When was the who hot?
00:31:41
Speaker
Yeah, I know.
00:31:42
Speaker
1978.
00:31:43
Speaker
That's the problem.
00:31:43
Speaker
Whenever Toy Story, it is on Toy Story, it's nostalgic.
00:31:47
Speaker
Yeah.
00:31:48
Speaker
It's just old.
00:31:49
Speaker
It's retro.
00:31:50
Speaker
It's in an antique shop.
00:31:51
Speaker
So every time we see a commercial that debuts a pinball machine, it's always bells, it's chimes, it's EMs.
00:31:58
Speaker
So what I would like to see us as an industry to do is to really push that this is a physical video game.
00:32:08
Speaker
Like this has as much rules as a video game, but it's actually physics here.
00:32:12
Speaker
Like you, this is a sport and a video game all at once.
00:32:16
Speaker
No longer are there bells and chimes.
00:32:18
Speaker
This is a big 27-inch TV screen with a wizard mode that is so hard to attain that it's like that final mode on your favorite RPG or your favorite first-person shooter.
00:32:29
Speaker
That's, I think, what we need to be pushing to the masses more than just, yeah, they still make pinball machines.
00:32:35
Speaker
They were hot back in the 60s and 70s.
00:32:37
Speaker
We need to kill that idea.
00:32:39
Speaker
I was going to say, I think that's what was so easy for me to transition from video games to pinball machines is because I'm really into like Assassin's Creed.
00:32:49
Speaker
Love, love Legend of Zelda.
00:32:51
Speaker
Those nonlinear games where I can do whatever I want.
00:32:53
Speaker
I can explore the machine or the game itself.
00:32:56
Speaker
You can do that with a lot of pinball machines.
00:32:58
Speaker
If I do this,
00:32:59
Speaker
I get this in return.
00:33:00
Speaker
This is my reward.
00:33:02
Speaker
And so it wasn't hard for me to transition.
00:33:04
Speaker
And I do agree with you.
00:33:06
Speaker
I think we need, there's bigger markets we could tap into.
00:33:09
Speaker
And I think that's why it's so important for like Deadflip, what he's doing, going out to TwitchCon and stuff like that.
00:33:15
Speaker
Absolutely, yes.
00:33:16
Speaker
Because we're getting in front of the, I think the most, the audience that will more than likely accept, hey, we need to start doing this.
The Emotional Appeal of Pinball
00:33:23
Speaker
And what's important about Jack Danger over at Deadflip too is he's offering something that I'm really big on.
00:33:30
Speaker
And whenever you're selling a product and those are your margins, you're making money off of that product, if you're doing it right, you're never selling the product.
00:33:40
Speaker
You never are.
00:33:41
Speaker
I'm not selling the Guardians of the Galaxy pinball machine.
00:33:44
Speaker
I'm selling the association of what you feel when you have that, when you own that, when you reach that wizard mode.
00:33:49
Speaker
That's what Jack Danger at Dead Flip does.
00:33:51
Speaker
He is iconic in that he is a character.
00:33:54
Speaker
You're signing up to be part of his team because he is a pinball player.
00:33:58
Speaker
So I love movements like that where we got Jack Danger going across the world or he's pitching new show ideas.
00:34:04
Speaker
I think that is what those are the kind of things that pinball really, really needs.
00:34:08
Speaker
They're going to buy Jack Danger because they want to be
00:34:10
Speaker
what he is and what he represents more so than the pinball machine he's playing.
00:34:15
Speaker
You get them sold on Jack danger.
00:34:17
Speaker
They start buying pinball machines because they want to be part of what he's a part of.
00:34:22
Speaker
Yeah, the biggest thing that will transition from the retro nostalgia is the new screens that are in there.
00:34:32
Speaker
I'm so impressed with the way that Stern has integrated a quick tutorial.
00:34:39
Speaker
Hey, put coins here.
00:34:41
Speaker
Hey, push this button.
00:34:42
Speaker
Hey, this is how you do it.
00:34:44
Speaker
Because a lot of people don't understand even how to start a pinball machine anymore.
00:34:50
Speaker
It's almost that you have to put the money in and have it auto launch because they don't even know how to launch the ball, which is so crazy to me.
00:34:58
Speaker
Yeah, it really is.
00:34:59
Speaker
That's why they put that lockdown bar button on there a lot of times.
00:35:03
Speaker
It's flashing and kids want to hit it.
00:35:05
Speaker
Push here.
00:35:05
Speaker
Yeah, it's so – that was the thing that I felt when I played Sword of Rage the first time.
00:35:13
Speaker
I thought, this feels like a video game.
00:35:18
Speaker
And this will be easily identifiable for any young person to come up and say, oh, I do this, I battle a monster.
00:35:25
Speaker
Okay, I got it.
00:35:27
Speaker
Yeah.
00:35:27
Speaker
Now, Rube, a question.
00:35:29
Speaker
When you're playing, you said you wanted to play, what did you say?
00:35:34
Speaker
Assassin's Creed.
00:35:35
Speaker
Yeah.
00:35:35
Speaker
So when you go and you wanted to play Assassin's Creed and you fell in love with that, what are you playing for?
00:35:41
Speaker
Like, well, what's the purpose?
00:35:42
Speaker
What do you enjoy about that game?
00:35:44
Speaker
What keeps you coming back?
00:35:45
Speaker
So the joke with gamers is we're completists.
00:35:49
Speaker
We have to complete everything in the game.
00:35:52
Speaker
And Assassin's Creed gives you that.
00:35:54
Speaker
There's a lot of climb to this point.
00:35:56
Speaker
It's really stupid, frivolous stuff.
00:35:58
Speaker
Climb this chapel and we'll count it off your guidebook of, hey, you climbed here.
00:36:05
Speaker
You know what I'm saying?
00:36:05
Speaker
Achievements.
00:36:06
Speaker
Yeah, it was achievements.
00:36:07
Speaker
Upgrades.
00:36:07
Speaker
If you will, it was exploring the story.
00:36:09
Speaker
It was, uh, it was just exploring the game.
00:36:12
Speaker
That's the nice part about Assassin's Creed or like legend is old is my all time favorite.
00:36:16
Speaker
So that's, I just, I remember you guys talking about that.
00:36:19
Speaker
I love finding something and then sharing that with other people.
00:36:22
Speaker
Oh, you can't find this.
00:36:24
Speaker
This is how you do it.
00:36:25
Speaker
You know what I'm saying?
00:36:25
Speaker
And then what you guys like Mario too, right?
00:36:28
Speaker
Oh yeah.
00:36:28
Speaker
Love it.
00:36:29
Speaker
That would be a,
00:36:30
Speaker
That would be a take my money now if they had a Zelda game or a Mario game, because it is perfect for what I'm looking for.
00:36:40
Speaker
And I know this is a little niche because it's just it's what a 45 year old guy with kids is interested in.
00:36:47
Speaker
But my kids, if they saw a pinball machine that was Mario themed, that would be an LE by today.
00:36:54
Speaker
But what do you play in Mario for, Scott?
00:36:57
Speaker
Because it's... What are you trying to do?
00:36:59
Speaker
What do you enjoy about that game?
00:37:01
Speaker
You know what?
00:37:02
Speaker
My kids just love the excitement, the feeling like, hey, Mario is doing this.
00:37:07
Speaker
And it's that connection to that world, that theme, which is why having a themed pinball machine is so important.
00:37:16
Speaker
Because you're identified with something.
00:37:18
Speaker
There's...
00:37:19
Speaker
the reason why Lord of the Rings is such a great pinball machine is because you are buying that.
00:37:24
Speaker
I am getting involved in the storyline.
00:37:27
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:37:28
Speaker
And it's the same thing.
00:37:29
Speaker
I Mario, it's fun.
00:37:30
Speaker
It's really, it's just these small interactions.
00:37:33
Speaker
And, you know, we, we, we play Mario cart.
00:37:35
Speaker
We play the, the super Mario maker and all that.
00:37:38
Speaker
And my kids love doing that.
00:37:39
Speaker
And they play the Mario Odyssey just because it is this, it's this Pixar esque world that you are interacting with.
Pinball as a Storytelling Medium
00:37:47
Speaker
That's exactly what it is.
00:37:48
Speaker
And when I tell people that, I use Mario oftentimes as an example to prove a point in that you're trying to rescue the princess.
00:37:56
Speaker
You're trying to defeat the levels.
00:37:58
Speaker
You're trying to beat Bowser.
00:38:00
Speaker
Now, what people never say is, I play Mario to see how many coins I can collect.
00:38:06
Speaker
And whenever, whenever, yeah, exactly.
00:38:08
Speaker
Whenever people bust my chops, because I get it all the time, you guys about, oh, he's not a tournament player.
00:38:13
Speaker
He, he says he's chasing the magic.
00:38:15
Speaker
He's trying to get through modes.
00:38:17
Speaker
We're trying to win.
00:38:18
Speaker
We're trying to chase points.
00:38:20
Speaker
I equate it to that.
00:38:21
Speaker
I think to sell pinball to the masses, we need to sell it as storytelling, as completing wizard modes, as completing different challenges, as collecting things, as sharing things.
00:38:32
Speaker
That's why sometimes people take me negatively because they think, why don't you care about points?
00:38:37
Speaker
Why don't you care about competition?
00:38:39
Speaker
Because I'm trying to expand pinball and I think it's somewhere else.
00:38:43
Speaker
I don't necessarily think it's stuck chasing points sometimes.
00:38:48
Speaker
I am 100% with you on this because when I play a game, no, I am 100% on this because when I play a game,
00:38:57
Speaker
I literally don't care about the points.
00:39:00
Speaker
I really don't because what I want to do is so I had a I had a buddy who came over.
00:39:06
Speaker
Actually, this is an interesting story.
00:39:09
Speaker
A guy messaged me on.
00:39:12
Speaker
He messaged me on Pinside and said, hey, I'm going to be at BYU recruiting for my for my job.
00:39:20
Speaker
Is there any pinball around?
00:39:21
Speaker
And I said, well, there's, you know, I told him about Keto's.
00:39:24
Speaker
I told him about some local things.
00:39:25
Speaker
And I said, you can even just come over to my house if you want.
00:39:29
Speaker
And so he came over and the funny thing is I assumed that he knew me by stumbling on the podcast or something.
00:39:37
Speaker
He had no, he had no idea who I was.
00:39:39
Speaker
I, I just asked him, he's like, well, I just started.
00:39:42
Speaker
And again, that's not me saying that I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm famous or I'm anybody, but I just assumed when someone messages me, it's because they have, you know, and he's actually from your area.
00:39:52
Speaker
Uh,
00:39:54
Speaker
I assume that it was because he had listened to us.
00:39:57
Speaker
He's like, oh, I'll be out in Utah because we talk about Utah all the time.
00:40:01
Speaker
And so he had no clue.
00:40:03
Speaker
And so he came out and he played the game.
00:40:05
Speaker
And so I just started playing the Stern Pirates game.
00:40:11
Speaker
And I was explaining the rules to him.
00:40:13
Speaker
And I said, okay, there is a hearts multiball.
00:40:18
Speaker
It's a heart multiball.
00:40:19
Speaker
I have never got it because... Oh, I'm already entertained.
00:40:23
Speaker
I'm ready to try to get there.
00:40:24
Speaker
Yeah, it's a really hard multiball just because...
00:40:28
Speaker
It's a death shot.
00:40:29
Speaker
It's between two standup targets.
00:40:31
Speaker
And I've had the game for a few years, really.
00:40:35
Speaker
And so he said, huh, that's interesting.
00:40:37
Speaker
So I started playing with him and we got heart multiball.
00:40:40
Speaker
Like I got it.
00:40:42
Speaker
And I thought I've had the game for a few years and I've actually never got that.
00:40:45
Speaker
And so that's where I said, that's fun.
00:40:47
Speaker
So here's one question I have.
00:40:49
Speaker
Well, by the way, I'm going to give this guy a shout out because we're going to have him on.
00:40:53
Speaker
Um, yeah, his name is, uh, his name is Brad Hunter and what he does.
00:40:59
Speaker
I know Brad Hunter.
00:41:00
Speaker
You know, Brad Hunter.
00:41:02
Speaker
Yeah.
00:41:02
Speaker
I know what you're talking about.
00:41:03
Speaker
Shout out to Brad.
00:41:04
Speaker
Shout out to Brad.
00:41:05
Speaker
Yeah.
00:41:06
Speaker
And he actually, so when we started talking, I was like, yeah, I, I interact with all those guys, uh, uh, with all the guys in your area.
00:41:14
Speaker
And so, so what Brad does is Brad makes these awesome light up signs for trans lights.
00:41:19
Speaker
Yeah.
00:41:20
Speaker
And he said, Hey, I'll get you one.
00:41:23
Speaker
I'll get you one.
00:41:24
Speaker
You can give it away on the, on the show.
00:41:25
Speaker
I was like, you know, I'd like to have you on.
00:41:27
Speaker
We'll talk about, you know, how you got into doing these, these kitsch things for the sport.
00:41:31
Speaker
But anyway, so it was fun for him to come over and we just met and, and he, yeah, he, he mentioned he knows you and he knows all, all the guys out there, but it was, it was achievement based.
00:41:43
Speaker
So what I'm wondering is,
00:41:45
Speaker
Is there a way of programming that in the game where you can have the score?
00:41:49
Speaker
Because the score is obviously going to be what tournament players are shooting for.
00:41:53
Speaker
And it's important.
00:41:54
Speaker
The score is important.
00:41:54
Speaker
No, absolutely.
00:41:55
Speaker
It's absolutely important.
00:41:56
Speaker
It's a differentiator.
00:41:57
Speaker
It's important.
00:41:57
Speaker
Well, it is a differentiator because if there's – that's one of the reasons why Keith Elwin's games are so great is because he's a tournament player and he knows –
00:42:07
Speaker
Hey, if there's one shot that's worth 50 billion points and everything else is worth a hundred points, it's a one shot game.
00:42:14
Speaker
And so he knows how to spread it around and say, look, I want to make sure everything is worth it.
00:42:19
Speaker
But if you have a way of saying, Hey, here's your score, by the way, this is how close you got to the wizard mode.
00:42:27
Speaker
These are the shots away.
00:42:28
Speaker
And so if you have a way of actually saying like two ways of, of gauging how far you got in the game,
00:42:36
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's fantastic.
00:42:38
Speaker
And I think that that's why we're seeing there being a little bit of an increase in popularity of pinball.
Enhancing Engagement Through Game Coding
00:42:44
Speaker
It's because the coding is so much more dynamic than it was back in the 90s, back in the 80s, or even further back, is because we are now telling stories.
00:42:54
Speaker
We have the innovation, the technology, the LCD screen work, the animation to tell stories like we've never been able to tell before.
00:43:02
Speaker
We have the assets that we can get from these figures
00:43:04
Speaker
feature length films and these big old blockbuster license that pull somebody in.
00:43:09
Speaker
And then they want this game in their game room or they want it in their basement because they want to see what it's like whenever you get to destroy that witch on wizard of Oz, or they're chasing what it's like to save Xandar.
00:43:19
Speaker
I wonder what happens if you defeat all the monsters to actually get to the castle to fight the black knight.
00:43:26
Speaker
That's, I think, what pulls people in that don't know much about pinball.
00:43:29
Speaker
And that's why people are always saying, oh, you get too caught up on multipliers and stuff.
00:43:35
Speaker
Because I think it diverts the attention away from the sport and the physicality and the physics of what pinball is and why pinball people love it so much.
00:43:44
Speaker
This keeps coming back to my mind.
00:43:45
Speaker
You guys are talking about this.
00:43:46
Speaker
And I wish this was able to stay around.
00:43:50
Speaker
And someone needs to pick this back up and do it again.
00:43:53
Speaker
But did either one of you ever watch Pinball Done Quick?
00:43:56
Speaker
You know, I've heard about it, but I know it was basically the timed achievements, right?
00:44:01
Speaker
Correct.
00:44:02
Speaker
So it was basically, I'm going to see it was a speed run on a pinball machine.
00:44:06
Speaker
Correct.
00:44:07
Speaker
The gamer equivalent is how quickly can I get to the end?
00:44:10
Speaker
I don't care how many things I get.
00:44:13
Speaker
I don't care how many whatever.
00:44:16
Speaker
I just want to make sure that I get, I'm Mario and I get to the end in five minutes.
00:44:22
Speaker
That's all you care about.
00:44:23
Speaker
And you can go see these old videos on YouTube.
00:44:25
Speaker
There's one that blows my mind.
00:44:27
Speaker
Tim Sexton and Steve Bowden did the commentary, which was perfect, but they weren't talking about score.
00:44:32
Speaker
They were talking about, I can't remember who was playing the pinball machine, but they were playing Stern Star Trek.
00:44:37
Speaker
And the objective was to get to five-year mission.
00:44:41
Speaker
And the guy does it in 45 minutes.
00:44:43
Speaker
And it's just, it's mind boggling because you sit there and they're like, okay, he's got this option, this option.
00:44:49
Speaker
And it's just,
00:44:50
Speaker
I could never see a five-year mission on my – I owned that game for over a year and got frustrated, and so I would never get to the end of that.
00:44:57
Speaker
Well, it's like Valinor.
00:44:59
Speaker
You're not going to get to Valinor unless you are a 2% player or you take the glass off.
00:45:05
Speaker
I think if you went from that approach, like I said, pinball done quick needs to come back because if we –
00:45:12
Speaker
The Stern's doing stuff like that already.
00:45:15
Speaker
They're Stern Pro Circuits, I believe, where they'll sit two machines beside each other.
00:45:20
Speaker
And when you press go, you have to attain one goal.
00:45:24
Speaker
And once that goal is attained, boom, you get your point on to the next task kind of thing.
00:45:28
Speaker
Yes.
00:45:28
Speaker
So they are doing that.
00:45:30
Speaker
Yeah, they are doing that.
00:45:31
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:45:32
Speaker
So I think if we got more of that and hyped it more, like you said, I think people, when you start bringing in math with the score, people kind of, oh, but you know, you'd say, Hey, this is the objective.
00:45:45
Speaker
It's freaking hard.
00:45:46
Speaker
They've got to do 15 objectives to get to this final objective.
00:45:50
Speaker
Let's see if they can do it.
00:45:51
Speaker
You know what I'm saying?
00:45:52
Speaker
It's good.
00:45:53
Speaker
Good discussion.
00:45:54
Speaker
It emphasizes the code in the game because people, when I get to a game, I want to see the game.
00:46:02
Speaker
I want to see the wizard mode.
00:46:03
Speaker
I want to get all those achievements.
00:46:05
Speaker
I don't really care too much about the points.
00:46:08
Speaker
And that will allow people who are more into the modern players, I guess, who are more into that achievement base that you were talking about completing a game and
00:46:18
Speaker
And that's the big frustration I have with a lot of tournament approaches for games is because in Twilight Zone and tournaments, and this is what Josh Sharp has talked about, like he has a love-hate relationship with Twilight Zone because he loves it.
00:46:31
Speaker
But really in a tournament setting, it's a three-shot game.
00:46:34
Speaker
It's a hard three-shot game.
00:46:36
Speaker
But no one's ever going to get to in the zone in a tournament setting because you have to do the entire game.
00:46:46
Speaker
And in the tournament setting really undervalues the entire game element of something because it just focuses on the score.
00:46:53
Speaker
So if there's two ways of giving you a score, hey, here's your high score.
00:46:57
Speaker
Great.
00:46:58
Speaker
Hey, by the way, here's the percentage of the game you saw.
00:47:00
Speaker
That would be Stern and JJP and everybody else.
00:47:04
Speaker
That is a pro tip.
00:47:05
Speaker
Just take that and run with it.
00:47:06
Speaker
I'm not trademarking that idea.
00:47:08
Speaker
Just go ahead and figure out ways of putting achievements at the end of the game so people can shoot for that.
00:47:14
Speaker
I think we're going to see that with internet connectivity.
00:47:16
Speaker
And I think that we're getting the best of both worlds when we have coders like Lyman Sheets, when we have coders like Keith Johnson, Dwight Sullivan, we are getting closer and closer to that.
00:47:27
Speaker
But what have we seen you guys?
00:47:28
Speaker
We have seen it's no longer a one person job.
00:47:32
Speaker
These are teams of developers and coders.
00:47:34
Speaker
Now that's what sells pinball machines more so than
00:47:39
Speaker
Maybe up there with theme, like code is so important.
00:47:43
Speaker
A machine can be made or broken by the code.
Diversity and Passion in Pinball Podcasts
00:47:47
Speaker
And that's, hopefully they continue to progress and we see coders continue to put more and more and more.
00:47:52
Speaker
And maybe even an apprenticeship, like we need somebody following around Lime and Sheets.
00:47:56
Speaker
Lime and Sheets ain't going to be able to do this forever.
00:47:58
Speaker
But his mind is so unique to what makes pinball fantastic, both for the beginner and for the most competitive player.
00:48:06
Speaker
Somebody follow around Keith Elwin.
00:48:08
Speaker
Somebody follow around Dwight Sullivan.
00:48:10
Speaker
They're not going to be doing it forever.
00:48:12
Speaker
I think Keith Elwin is definitely the one that's stepping up to the plate right now.
00:48:16
Speaker
Yeah, he's one of our new guys.
00:48:18
Speaker
He's meeting those expectations.
00:48:20
Speaker
Yeah.
00:48:21
Speaker
uh, let's, let's move on.
00:48:22
Speaker
I think we've got me all fired up.
00:48:24
Speaker
I love it.
00:48:25
Speaker
Yeah.
00:48:25
Speaker
That's what we'd love too, man.
00:48:27
Speaker
So really honestly, um, if you want to hear about the news, we're, we're going to kind of skip over the news this week and just refer you to this week in pinball.
00:48:34
Speaker
Cause they do the top five and they do fantastic at it and you get to listen to Zach too.
00:48:39
Speaker
So, Oh, thanks for the podcast.
00:48:41
Speaker
Yeah.
00:48:41
Speaker
Um, the one thing too, I, I do want to mention news wise, um,
00:48:45
Speaker
Maybe no one's talking about it because it came out on Tuesday, but the gentleman that made Matt Hardy's expedition of gold just teased us with a Ferris Bueller's day off.
00:48:56
Speaker
Oh my goodness.
00:48:57
Speaker
I want this.
00:48:58
Speaker
Yeah.
00:48:59
Speaker
I'm sorry.
00:49:00
Speaker
That's the movie I love.
00:49:02
Speaker
I grew up on it, which I probably shouldn't have.
00:49:04
Speaker
It's hard not to love that movie.
00:49:05
Speaker
Oh, it's so good.
00:49:06
Speaker
Okay.
00:49:07
Speaker
Did I tell you the time when my dad took us there for a family evening movie?
00:49:14
Speaker
So he took all seven kids.
00:49:15
Speaker
We sit down and we get 10 minutes into it.
00:49:18
Speaker
And the line where he says, I'm not saying Cameron is tight, but if you take a lump of coal, that's when he stood up, walked out of the theater and grabbed me.
00:49:28
Speaker
And we're done here.
00:49:30
Speaker
And we're done.
00:49:30
Speaker
And the funny thing is, I actually have a love-hate relationship with Ferris Bueller's Day Off because all those iconic movies from the 80s that we loved as kids, you look at them from a different light as an adult now.
00:49:43
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:49:44
Speaker
And you look at Breakfast Club and you thought, man, those kids are so deep.
00:49:49
Speaker
And now I look at it as like, I actually identify with the principal a lot more than I do with any of those kids.
00:49:53
Speaker
Yeah.
00:49:54
Speaker
Yeah.
00:49:55
Speaker
And the funny thing is Ferris Bueller's day off.
00:49:57
Speaker
The guy's a little jerk.
00:49:59
Speaker
Like he's a he's he is a he's a guy that you really want to get caught because he is he's such a little brat.
00:50:07
Speaker
But for one day, he's a guy.
00:50:09
Speaker
He's a legend.
00:50:10
Speaker
He's a legend.
00:50:10
Speaker
I want to be him.
00:50:11
Speaker
Yeah.
00:50:12
Speaker
I love the, the alternative interpretation though, when they say, what if Ferris is a figment of Cameron's imagination, like his alter ego, like he is not that guy, but he wants to be.
00:50:24
Speaker
Cause if you look at it, he's actually Cameron's hanging out with Sloan most of the time.
00:50:29
Speaker
So anyway, getting back.
00:50:31
Speaker
So you want a Ferris Bueller's day off machine.
00:50:34
Speaker
That's what you want.
00:50:35
Speaker
Yes.
00:50:35
Speaker
I would take one in a heartbeat.
00:50:37
Speaker
I really would.
00:50:39
Speaker
Come on, Josh.
00:50:39
Speaker
You know the right answer when he asked you that is, oh, yeah.
00:50:45
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:50:45
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:50:46
Speaker
That would be the bonus multiball.
00:50:48
Speaker
That would be the LE multiball that you only get on that.
00:50:51
Speaker
The stolen Ferrari multi-ball.
00:50:54
Speaker
Do you want a gummy bear?
00:50:55
Speaker
They've been in my pocket all day long.
00:50:56
Speaker
They're soft.
00:50:57
Speaker
Yeah, exactly.
00:50:59
Speaker
Oh, that's so great.
00:51:01
Speaker
So great.
00:51:01
Speaker
And you know that guy that did that Matt Hardy game?
00:51:05
Speaker
He redid the entire game.
00:51:07
Speaker
The plastics, the animation, the sounds.
00:51:10
Speaker
That is a new pinball machine.
00:51:11
Speaker
The theme does nothing for me, but that was quite impressive.
00:51:15
Speaker
So when I saw this on TWiF this week, I was really excited because that is something that I could get behind.
00:51:21
Speaker
Oh, I totally agree.
00:51:21
Speaker
And that's why I'm excited for it is just after seeing Matt Hardy, I'm like, I want to see what else this guy can do.
00:51:27
Speaker
Yeah, that guy needs to be hired by Stern or JJP tonight.
00:51:32
Speaker
Why not Suncoast?
00:51:35
Speaker
Oh, wow.
00:51:38
Speaker
Salt and wounds, man.
00:51:39
Speaker
I'm so sorry.
00:51:40
Speaker
I apologize.
00:51:41
Speaker
Oh, they've done nothing.
00:51:42
Speaker
You know what?
00:51:44
Speaker
Kick on Dutch pinball.
00:51:45
Speaker
If you're going to kick on someone right now, kick on them.
00:51:47
Speaker
Okay, I'll kick on Dutch pinball then.
00:51:48
Speaker
Okay, no, I'm kidding.
00:51:49
Speaker
Don't kick on anybody, but yeah.
00:51:51
Speaker
No, I'll kick on a skit B. How about that?
00:51:53
Speaker
Cause I really want to think with Buster's pinball machine.
00:51:56
Speaker
Wow.
00:51:57
Speaker
Wow.
00:51:58
Speaker
Yeah.
00:51:58
Speaker
That predator machine looked pretty nice though, but anyway.
00:52:01
Speaker
Yeah.
00:52:03
Speaker
Alrighty.
00:52:04
Speaker
So if you've, if you've listened to our show before, we've only done this once before when we had Martin from head to head on, but we're going to do it again.
00:52:12
Speaker
We're doing segment steel.
00:52:14
Speaker
I should have had some dramatic music here, but I do not.
00:52:17
Speaker
But instead of me doing my whole tongue thing, that sounded terrible last time.
00:52:21
Speaker
I actually got a prize wheel for this.
00:52:22
Speaker
So you're ready for this.
00:52:23
Speaker
We're going to spin this prize.
00:52:24
Speaker
Well, here we go.
00:52:29
Speaker
Come on green.
00:52:31
Speaker
Ooh, media market trends.
00:52:33
Speaker
I thought we were going to take that off.
00:52:35
Speaker
Oh, nicely done.
00:52:40
Speaker
I'm going to move at one.
00:52:42
Speaker
And yeah, it looks like we landed on entering the pimp all subconscious.
00:52:47
Speaker
Hey, look at that.
00:52:47
Speaker
One of your twip ones.
00:52:49
Speaker
Hey, look at that.
00:52:49
Speaker
I know that one.
00:52:50
Speaker
Yeah.
00:52:52
Speaker
Let's start the music.
00:52:54
Speaker
So I'm going to do this.
00:52:55
Speaker
Yes, you're going to do this.
00:52:56
Speaker
So Scott, are you familiar?
00:52:57
Speaker
I'm going to explain this to Scott.
00:52:59
Speaker
Cause I don't know if Scott's familiar with this or our audience, but the way it works is we're going to ask Zach questions and maybe he'll even ask one back to us.
00:53:08
Speaker
I don't know, but we're going to ask him questions and he's got to give us the first answer that comes to his mind.
00:53:14
Speaker
Doesn't matter if it's true or not.
00:53:15
Speaker
He's just, he's got to blurt it out and then we all get a good chuckle out of it.
00:53:19
Speaker
So, yeah,
00:53:21
Speaker
Sound good?
00:53:22
Speaker
All right.
00:53:22
Speaker
Bring it on.
00:53:23
Speaker
Bring it on.
00:53:24
Speaker
It sounds like it's going to be really tough, but I'll do it.
00:53:26
Speaker
All right.
00:53:27
Speaker
All right.
00:53:27
Speaker
Here we go.
00:53:29
Speaker
Hey, there's the music.
00:53:30
Speaker
There it is.
00:53:31
Speaker
Ah.
00:53:32
Speaker
All righty, Zach.
00:53:33
Speaker
I feel like I'm home.
00:53:33
Speaker
This feels good.
00:53:35
Speaker
Describe the couch to us since we're at your house.
00:53:38
Speaker
We call it a Shays Lounge.
00:53:42
Speaker
It's upholstered.
00:53:45
Speaker
It's got those little buttons in it.
00:53:47
Speaker
Nice.
00:53:48
Speaker
And it's not leather.
00:53:50
Speaker
It's a nice cloth.
00:53:52
Speaker
Feels good.
00:53:53
Speaker
I like it.
00:53:53
Speaker
All right.
00:53:54
Speaker
It's cool, too.
00:53:54
Speaker
Like, you flip your pillow over.
00:53:56
Speaker
You got a little cool area, not too hot.
00:54:00
Speaker
All right.
00:54:01
Speaker
Whisper now to me, Josh.
00:54:03
Speaker
All right.
00:54:03
Speaker
I'm going to whisper to you.
00:54:05
Speaker
Is that background music a little too loud?
00:54:07
Speaker
Just so you know, it sounds a little loud.
00:54:09
Speaker
Yeah.
00:54:11
Speaker
We want the ambiance.
00:54:12
Speaker
Okay.
00:54:13
Speaker
All right.
00:54:13
Speaker
All right.
00:54:14
Speaker
I'll take care of it.
00:54:14
Speaker
Don't you worry about it.
00:54:15
Speaker
It's making me anxious now.
00:54:16
Speaker
All right.
00:54:17
Speaker
Okay.
00:54:17
Speaker
Go ahead.
00:54:18
Speaker
Okay.
00:54:18
Speaker
Okay.
00:54:19
Speaker
So here we go, Zach.
00:54:20
Speaker
You ready?
00:54:20
Speaker
Oh God.
00:54:21
Speaker
Yeah.
00:54:21
Speaker
All right.
00:54:23
Speaker
Elvira's house of horrors is.
00:54:27
Speaker
An Ellie model that I wanted to buy, but they sold out.
00:54:31
Speaker
Okay.
00:54:31
Speaker
Okay.
00:54:32
Speaker
Sounds good.
00:54:32
Speaker
Sounds good.
00:54:33
Speaker
Alrighty.
00:54:35
Speaker
Hey, I lost my music.
00:54:35
Speaker
Hold on.
00:54:36
Speaker
Hold on.
00:54:37
Speaker
Ah, there we go.
00:54:37
Speaker
Okay.
00:54:39
Speaker
We don't want to lose that now.
00:54:42
Speaker
Right.
00:54:42
Speaker
My favorite Twippy is... My favorite Twippy is... Go, go, go, go, go.
00:54:47
Speaker
That's Code.
00:54:48
Speaker
Code?
00:54:49
Speaker
Who won Code last year?
00:54:52
Speaker
Last year, Code, I believe, was Keith Elwin and Rick Nagel's Iron Maiden.
00:54:57
Speaker
I think so, too.
00:54:58
Speaker
Yeah, it was.
00:55:00
Speaker
It beat out J.J.
00:55:02
Speaker
Pirates of the Caribbean.
00:55:03
Speaker
But, man, that had to have been a tough vote.
00:55:06
Speaker
Oh, I didn't know what you said when you meant, like, Twippy.
00:55:08
Speaker
I was like, I don't know what he means.
00:55:10
Speaker
We'll go with Code.
00:55:11
Speaker
It's not even true.
00:55:12
Speaker
That's my favorite, but we'll go with it.
00:55:13
Speaker
All right, all right.
00:55:15
Speaker
What is your favorite follow up question for 200, Alex?
00:55:19
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:55:19
Speaker
My favorite Twippy is without a doubt best YouTube pinball show because Greg and I from Straight Down the Middle have won it twice in a row.
00:55:27
Speaker
Hey.
00:55:29
Speaker
You're up there with the very limited few, my friend.
00:55:31
Speaker
Yeah.
00:55:32
Speaker
Jack Danger.
00:55:33
Speaker
Yeah.
00:55:34
Speaker
All righty.
00:55:35
Speaker
All righty.
00:55:35
Speaker
Okay.
00:55:36
Speaker
Here comes the next one.
00:55:36
Speaker
Ready?
00:55:37
Speaker
All right.
00:55:37
Speaker
Okay.
00:55:38
Speaker
Market Trends is?
00:55:40
Speaker
The greatest pinball segment in podcast.
00:55:43
Speaker
Ooh.
00:55:45
Speaker
Wow.
00:55:45
Speaker
You know, I actually do.
00:55:46
Speaker
Correct, right?
00:55:47
Speaker
Yeah, well, I do enjoy it.
00:55:51
Speaker
Where's Creasel?
00:55:52
Speaker
Creasel?
00:55:54
Speaker
No, he's busy screen printing T-shirts.
00:55:57
Speaker
Hopefully we can sell some T-shirts on that.
00:56:00
Speaker
All right.
00:56:01
Speaker
Straight Down the Middle is?
00:56:04
Speaker
A show I do with my best friend and it's changed my life.
00:56:07
Speaker
Nice.
00:56:09
Speaker
When I think of Jurassic Park, I think of... Movie clips.
00:56:14
Speaker
Oh, okay.
00:56:17
Speaker
And here's the last one.
00:56:19
Speaker
When I listen to the Loser Kid Pum Ball podcast, I think...
00:56:24
Speaker
Eric Manier and Keith Elwin.
00:56:25
Speaker
Very nice.
00:56:26
Speaker
I like it.
00:56:27
Speaker
I like it.
00:56:29
Speaker
I don't like being in that seat.
00:56:33
Speaker
I like standing with my notepad right behind making the person nervous when I see the beginnings of a sentence.
00:56:39
Speaker
I should have brought my notepad and wrote down so we could go back over these because you said we kind of went over them while we were going through them.
00:56:48
Speaker
That's what you think of.
00:56:49
Speaker
That's all true, right?
00:56:51
Speaker
House of Horrors...
00:56:53
Speaker
Yeah, that was true.
00:56:54
Speaker
I mean, that's a game that I am so looking forward to.
00:56:59
Speaker
Anytime a pinball machine comes out, a brand new one, you get the wave, right?
00:57:03
Speaker
The typical wave of, oh my God, I have to have it.
00:57:06
Speaker
I love Elvira.
00:57:07
Speaker
And then, oh my God, why isn't there anything in there?
00:57:09
Speaker
And then, oh, but there's Max and that's cool.
00:57:11
Speaker
Does it shoot it in the trunk?
00:57:12
Speaker
Oh no, it doesn't shoot in the trunk.
00:57:14
Speaker
We hate this game.
00:57:15
Speaker
Oh, we hate it so much that everything's sold out and we can't get it.
00:57:18
Speaker
So, yeah.
00:57:19
Speaker
So yes, I want to play this game.
00:57:21
Speaker
It's Lime and Sheets.
00:57:22
Speaker
It's Elvira.
00:57:23
Speaker
It's Dennis Nordman.
00:57:24
Speaker
It's art by Greg Freer.
00:57:26
Speaker
It's like, what's there to complain about?
00:57:28
Speaker
This thing looks unbelievable.
00:57:29
Speaker
The price.
00:57:30
Speaker
Okay.
00:57:30
Speaker
Yeah.
00:57:30
Speaker
It's a little pricey.
00:57:31
Speaker
It's pinball.
00:57:33
Speaker
I agree.
00:57:33
Speaker
Okay.
00:57:34
Speaker
And then we went on to Twippy, your favorite Twippy, which you said was code.
00:57:40
Speaker
Is that, well, you said it was not because your favorite Twippy.
00:57:43
Speaker
Honestly, like,
00:57:44
Speaker
What I would want to say is I think the Twippy Awards, and this is egotistical, bear with it, but I think it's game changing for this industry.
00:57:54
Speaker
The first year we did it seemed like a joke.
00:57:56
Speaker
Greg and I were in a basement with bow ties and tuxes on.
00:58:00
Speaker
And then the second year, even poor Ed at TPF that runs TPF, he didn't put a lot of weight into it.
00:58:06
Speaker
Sorry, Ed.
00:58:07
Speaker
And there was support there, but it wasn't support that we thought was warranted.
00:58:13
Speaker
And then whenever we started that main video and there was three to 400 people standing room only, and they seen what our vision was and all the hard work, I think it changed things for our industry.
00:58:25
Speaker
And now we have manufacturers that are promoting their wins.
00:58:30
Speaker
They're looking forward to the acceptance speeches.
00:58:33
Speaker
So we just want to keep growing pinball.
00:58:35
Speaker
So Twippies in general is just one of the greatest things that I'm a part of in pinball.
00:58:40
Speaker
Well, and to go back what you said, I totally forgot the first year you guys just did it on straight down the
The Impact of the Twippy Awards
00:58:46
Speaker
middle.
00:58:46
Speaker
Yeah.
00:58:46
Speaker
And you just did the bow ties and stuff because last year was so pivotal in my mind because I didn't get to go to Texas Pinball Festival.
00:58:52
Speaker
We ended up watching it from the computer and it just looks so professional.
00:58:56
Speaker
It looked like an award show.
00:58:58
Speaker
And so the year before, I kind of just totally forgot because you guys set the standards.
00:59:03
Speaker
Yeah.
00:59:03
Speaker
And like people always tease me and like, oh, you're the hardest working.
00:59:06
Speaker
No, it's the thing I said before.
00:59:09
Speaker
It takes everyone.
00:59:11
Speaker
Like the Twippies would not have worked if it wasn't for Joel Reeves that was doing the transitional audio from people going up on stage and back and forth.
00:59:19
Speaker
The IT guy, the announcer that we hired to do.
00:59:23
Speaker
There's so many people, Jeff Patterson, Greg Bone.
00:59:26
Speaker
There's so many people that helped out with that, that I hope that it just keeps growing each and every year.
00:59:31
Speaker
So it's not me.
00:59:32
Speaker
It's not just Jeff Patterson.
00:59:34
Speaker
It's a team.
00:59:35
Speaker
It's a whole group of people.
00:59:36
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:59:36
Speaker
And I've actually handed – not handed out.
00:59:39
Speaker
I've talked to Jeff about some ideas of improvement and something that would be cool to see.
00:59:44
Speaker
Awesome.
00:59:44
Speaker
Thank you.
00:59:45
Speaker
Thank you so much.
00:59:46
Speaker
That's the only way you grow this, right?
00:59:47
Speaker
Yeah.
00:59:49
Speaker
I was listening to a gentleman.
00:59:49
Speaker
He said, the problem with the room of all yes men is no one ever evolves and grows.
00:59:54
Speaker
And so I need people to think.
00:59:57
Speaker
So, all righty.
00:59:59
Speaker
You said Mark and Trends is the best segment on pinball media right now.
Current Trends: Ghostbusters Pinball
01:00:03
Speaker
I truly think that is, I think that's correct.
01:00:06
Speaker
And that's me, but I'm, I'm bold.
01:00:08
Speaker
And I think it's, I, I would love to hear another segment that a pinball podcaster is doing this better.
01:00:14
Speaker
Okay, give us a hot tip.
01:00:16
Speaker
If someone wants to buy something before it explodes, what do they get?
01:00:20
Speaker
What do you mean?
01:00:21
Speaker
Like right now, what's the hot thing you should buy, buy, buy right now?
01:00:23
Speaker
What's the hot thing?
01:00:24
Speaker
You're like, you should buy this before it goes up in value.
01:00:27
Speaker
I said it two weeks ago and it was Ghostbusters.
01:00:29
Speaker
I estimated it draining up and right now, it's going to cost you a heck of a lot more to buy a Ghostbusters Pro Premium or LE than it did six months ago.
01:00:37
Speaker
Totally agree.
01:00:39
Speaker
I used to love that segment till I really pissed off Christopher Franchi by saying- How did you make him mad?
01:00:45
Speaker
Because we were doing that flipping out stream and I was like, we did the market trends live and I was like, Munsters, it's in the toilet.
01:00:53
Speaker
Franchi calls up and he's like, loser kid, I'm going to kick you.
01:00:56
Speaker
Wow.
01:00:58
Speaker
No, he's as bold as they come.
01:01:01
Speaker
I know.
01:01:01
Speaker
And he, he, you know, he's a big teddy bear.
01:01:03
Speaker
So you got to get his humor to know he was just messing with me, but.
01:01:07
Speaker
Absolutely.
01:01:09
Speaker
No, I think there's a lot of people that are doing good podcasts now.
01:01:12
Speaker
That's evolving too.
01:01:13
Speaker
You've got you guys, special one list, lab save.
01:01:16
Speaker
There's so many of them, so many good ones.
01:01:18
Speaker
And look,
01:01:19
Speaker
I'm going to be honest.
01:01:19
Speaker
There's some stinkers out there.
01:01:21
Speaker
It's just the way it is.
01:01:23
Speaker
I wish everyone was really good at this, but some of them are stinkers and that just gives them motivation to step it up a little bit.
01:01:29
Speaker
But there's some great podcasts, great segments.
01:01:32
Speaker
It's just I'm doing what I'm doing because I think it's the best one.
01:01:36
Speaker
I like it just because it gives everybody a niche.
01:01:39
Speaker
Yeah, of course.
01:01:40
Speaker
We know that – hey, I love it when people say, hey, we listened to you and we really liked it.
01:01:45
Speaker
But I also know that –
01:01:47
Speaker
our style may not be your style.
01:01:49
Speaker
And so the beautiful part is, it's just like having so many options out there in pinball right now.
01:01:55
Speaker
There's also so many options for entertainment.
01:01:57
Speaker
And so if we're not your style, go find someone who is, cause I guarantee it's out there.
01:02:01
Speaker
Everybody finds their own tone and we all support one another for the most part.
01:02:06
Speaker
Everybody finds their own tone and that's what works for them.
01:02:10
Speaker
And I'm like you said before, you know, you've got it, you've got to,
01:02:14
Speaker
intermingle with everyone else.
01:02:15
Speaker
I think that we are all different flavors.
01:02:19
Speaker
And so that's what makes all of the pinball podcast.
01:02:21
Speaker
Great.
01:02:21
Speaker
Because if you don't like my style, you know, we always recommend who we like on top of that.
01:02:26
Speaker
I mean, I mean, special when lit the professionalism that's there.
01:02:31
Speaker
It's crazy on it.
01:02:32
Speaker
Oh, they're killing it.
01:02:34
Speaker
And I couldn't even imagine to do what they do.
01:02:37
Speaker
But the tone is so much different than your show, our show.
01:02:41
Speaker
And it's just my show is a reflection of who I am.
01:02:45
Speaker
A lot of people can do this just for fun.
01:02:47
Speaker
They say, oh, I'm just we're just a couple of buddies recording.
01:02:49
Speaker
That's great for me.
01:02:51
Speaker
My personality will not allow that.
01:02:52
Speaker
If I'm doing something and I don't think that I'm doing it as well as I could be, then I'm failing myself.
01:02:57
Speaker
So I'm I'm always trying to be bold and trying to do something new where that wouldn't work for somebody else.
01:03:04
Speaker
And I think you hit it right on the head.
01:03:05
Speaker
I think at least for Scott and I, we're doing this as a reflection of our personality as well.
01:03:09
Speaker
That's why we're family friendly.
01:03:10
Speaker
That's why, you know, we want our kids relaxed.
Success of Straight Down the Middle Show
01:03:13
Speaker
Yeah.
01:03:14
Speaker
So, all right, moving on straight down the middle is a show that you do with your best friend, Greg bone.
01:03:19
Speaker
Absolutely.
01:03:20
Speaker
Congratulations on 100 episodes.
01:03:22
Speaker
That is fantastic.
01:03:23
Speaker
Oh, thank you.
01:03:24
Speaker
So I do have to pick a bone with you for a second, though.
01:03:27
Speaker
Okay.
01:03:27
Speaker
Pick a bone.
01:03:28
Speaker
Did you really go there?
01:03:29
Speaker
I know.
01:03:29
Speaker
That was good.
01:03:29
Speaker
That was nicely done.
01:03:31
Speaker
So I'm watching the 100th episode and you're like, oh, let's listen to our friends from the pinball media.
01:03:38
Speaker
And you go through all these people.
01:03:40
Speaker
I knew you were going to go there.
01:03:41
Speaker
And we get to the end of it.
01:03:43
Speaker
I'm like, oh, I guess that's not a big deal.
01:03:45
Speaker
I mean, our video wasn't, I mean, the poor man's pinball podcast was hilarious on there.
01:03:51
Speaker
I was like, well, maybe it's just because mine was just so short.
01:03:53
Speaker
You know, it was only like 10 seconds long.
01:03:55
Speaker
You know what that is?
01:03:56
Speaker
That was me making a mistake.
01:03:59
Speaker
And that was me for probably that among three or four other things that I made a mistake on in that video is what keeps me up at night and what makes me double check it.
01:04:10
Speaker
Yeah.
01:04:10
Speaker
I was hoping you didn't notice that, but yes, I even told Greg once I watched it for like the fourth time, I'm like, oh crap, man.
01:04:18
Speaker
Did you not?
01:04:18
Speaker
I freaking, I,
01:04:20
Speaker
but didn't put them in the media.
01:04:21
Speaker
I don't know what happened.
01:04:23
Speaker
And, uh, he was like, Zach, really?
01:04:25
Speaker
And he's, he's, he's the balance.
01:04:27
Speaker
He's like, really?
01:04:28
Speaker
Are you worried about these guys?
01:04:30
Speaker
Cause they're really not doing it.
01:04:31
Speaker
No, he knows, he knows how much I get into the stuff and he's always trying to calm me down and like level me.
01:04:37
Speaker
That's why he's my best friend.
01:04:39
Speaker
And he's like, Zach, those guys don't care.
01:04:41
Speaker
They know that you didn't do that on purpose.
01:04:43
Speaker
I'm like, yeah, but I need to email.
01:04:45
Speaker
So,
01:04:46
Speaker
I'm a bit neurotic, guys.
01:04:48
Speaker
You're totally fine.
01:04:48
Speaker
No, what made me laugh, though, is like, well, it's just a short clip.
01:04:51
Speaker
There was probably a ton of just short clips they put at the end.
01:04:54
Speaker
And that's what it was.
01:04:55
Speaker
And it didn't bother me.
01:04:56
Speaker
But then you're like, there's so many people there.
01:04:59
Speaker
We can't remember them all.
01:05:00
Speaker
And then you start naming everyone.
01:05:02
Speaker
I'm like, oh, cool.
01:05:03
Speaker
He's going to say something.
01:05:04
Speaker
And I was like, oh, dude, he didn't even say our name.
01:05:05
Speaker
What the hell?
01:05:06
Speaker
That's because, yeah, I totally messed up the editing process.
01:05:09
Speaker
Yeah, so.
01:05:10
Speaker
No, you're totally good.
01:05:11
Speaker
I'm trying to think what other mistake.
01:05:13
Speaker
Somebody sent me a video, but I had it in my phone, but I didn't upload it to my computer for edit.
01:05:19
Speaker
And I missed out totally.
01:05:20
Speaker
Those kind of things just kill me.
01:05:23
Speaker
They kill me.
01:05:24
Speaker
I'm a perfectionist.
01:05:24
Speaker
I hate that.
01:05:25
Speaker
No, you're totally fine, man.
01:05:27
Speaker
It really isn't that big of a deal.
01:05:28
Speaker
But I felt bad because I sent this video of we were moving out of the house at that time.
01:05:33
Speaker
And so my house is...
01:05:34
Speaker
bear that's why like it's just my face and i'm just like congratulating you guys and i'm looking at all these videos and everyone has their pinball machines behind them like oh crap there must have been like some kind of we got to show off our collection but i was no it wasn't about that man you you sending a video means the world to greg and i because we've not got a lot of time to hang out you and i never really met in person and stuff and uh something like that just knowing that you support what we're doing even though you don't know us know us um yet uh
01:06:02
Speaker
That's fantastic, man.
01:06:04
Speaker
That's what keeps us going.
01:06:05
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
Humorous Discussion and Pop Culture References
01:06:06
Speaker
So, no, I just wanted to give you a little crap since I could.
01:06:09
Speaker
Oh, absolutely.
01:06:10
Speaker
You should.
01:06:12
Speaker
Definitely.
01:06:12
Speaker
I would be upset if you didn't.
01:06:14
Speaker
Okay.
01:06:15
Speaker
Well, I'm glad you're not upset now.
01:06:17
Speaker
No, no, no.
01:06:19
Speaker
I still won't forget it.
01:06:22
Speaker
Moving down our list, when I think Jurassic Park, I think – did you – I can't remember what you meant.
01:06:28
Speaker
I said movie clips.
01:06:29
Speaker
Oh, yes.
01:06:31
Speaker
That's like the hot thing.
01:06:33
Speaker
Oh, do we have the movie clips?
01:06:34
Speaker
So that's where my mind was.
01:06:37
Speaker
Okay.
01:06:37
Speaker
The only thing I could think of if you got movie clips, I really don't need to see Jeff Goldblum shirtless kind of reclining on my pinball machine.
01:06:46
Speaker
Can I just kind of tell you a secret?
01:06:48
Speaker
I do.
01:06:48
Speaker
Ooh.
01:06:50
Speaker
I really do.
01:06:52
Speaker
Did you actually see the side, the sideshow thing that someone said, oh, this is totally a topper.
01:06:56
Speaker
It's him reclining like shirtless.
01:06:58
Speaker
Yeah.
01:06:58
Speaker
How great is that?
01:06:59
Speaker
Yeah.
01:06:59
Speaker
That would be awesome.
01:07:01
Speaker
But yeah, that just reminds me of Jeff Parsons on, on your guys's episode of 100.
01:07:04
Speaker
We're like, here's my, my desktop screen or my desktop background.
01:07:09
Speaker
And it's Greg all reclined with the shirt open.
01:07:12
Speaker
He's like, people around here really don't get it.
01:07:16
Speaker
Some people don't get our humor.
01:07:17
Speaker
Yeah.
Experiencing Pinball for the First Time
01:07:18
Speaker
Yeah.
01:07:18
Speaker
However, that video of you delivering that machine to Greg was amazing.
01:07:24
Speaker
Oh, thank you.
01:07:25
Speaker
Yeah, that was a lot of fun.
01:07:26
Speaker
I watched that and I saw people sharing that.
01:07:29
Speaker
I'm like, you got to check this out.
01:07:30
Speaker
This is awesome.
01:07:31
Speaker
Yeah.
01:07:32
Speaker
Those are the kind of things that we think if we can just tap into somebody that's not into pinball, maybe that makes them want to play a pinball machine.
01:07:38
Speaker
Yeah.
01:07:38
Speaker
Yeah.
01:07:40
Speaker
Greg looked like a freaking five-year-old on Christmas morning when that thing turned on.
01:07:45
Speaker
Oh, my goodness.
01:07:46
Speaker
That was his reaction because I made him go upstairs.
01:07:48
Speaker
I was like, all right, it's all set up.
01:07:50
Speaker
But before I turn it on, I've got to change some of the settings.
01:07:53
Speaker
I got to get the sound right.
01:07:54
Speaker
I got to turn off all the lights.
01:07:56
Speaker
I want to see your reaction.
01:07:57
Speaker
That was it.
01:07:57
Speaker
The audience got to see it.
01:07:59
Speaker
It was perfect.
01:08:00
Speaker
It was no better reaction I've seen ever.
01:08:02
Speaker
He's still in love with that thing.
01:08:04
Speaker
He probably plays 20 times a day.
01:08:06
Speaker
Well, even on your guys' review, it looked like every time he reached around just to rub it gently to make sure it was still there.
01:08:11
Speaker
Yeah.
01:08:13
Speaker
It's like, I've got a bash on this thing.
01:08:15
Speaker
I've got to give my personal review.
01:08:17
Speaker
He's probably already waxed it four or five times.
01:08:19
Speaker
He's already changed out rubbers.
01:08:21
Speaker
Like, dude, come on now.
01:08:22
Speaker
And he's getting a premium.
01:08:23
Speaker
Like he loves that thing so much that he just wanted to get a pro until the premiums came out.
01:08:29
Speaker
That's awesome.
01:08:30
Speaker
That's actually a smart move.
01:08:32
Speaker
That's a smart move.
01:08:33
Speaker
I've thought about that.
01:08:34
Speaker
He's Cameron's dad off of Ferris Bueller's.
01:08:37
Speaker
He wipes it every day with a diaper and whispers
Appeal of the Loser Kid Pinball Podcast
01:08:39
Speaker
it to him.
01:08:40
Speaker
That's him.
01:08:41
Speaker
He plays with white gloves.
01:08:44
Speaker
All right.
01:08:45
Speaker
And the last one, when I listened to Loser Kid Pinball Podcast, I think of, you said Keith Elwin and Eric Meniere.
01:08:50
Speaker
So awesome.
01:08:52
Speaker
Yeah.
01:08:52
Speaker
Those are when I associate myself with, you guys have just a very nice style.
01:08:58
Speaker
I know that you guys believe one another.
01:09:00
Speaker
You're friendly.
01:09:01
Speaker
It's just relaxed and it's really nice.
01:09:03
Speaker
And I think that's why you're seeing manufacturers, some of the employees lend themselves to your shows as guests because they're
01:09:09
Speaker
They know that you're going to be respectful.
01:09:11
Speaker
They know that it's a family friendly show.
01:09:13
Speaker
It's the same with like special when lit.
01:09:15
Speaker
Sometimes they get grief for being too safe, this and that.
01:09:18
Speaker
And no, it's just because they're really good people and they're respectful people.
01:09:22
Speaker
And that will pay off as it always should.
01:09:25
Speaker
The funny thing is we're still we still can be critical.
01:09:28
Speaker
We still say what we're thinking, but it's, you know, it just depends on the style and the vibe.
01:09:34
Speaker
But yeah, I don't want people to want to throw cocktail Molotov cocktails at us.
01:09:39
Speaker
So one of my favorite episodes that you guys did, and I'm, I feel so bad for blanking on the guests, but
01:09:44
Speaker
when you were talking about dream themes and you were talking about the legend of zelda and mario who was that who was the guest that you had on and and i was yelling at you guys because you guys had some horrible ideas um oh that was the that was the aquabats episode oh that was the aquabats
01:10:01
Speaker
That was like the follow-up to Aquabats.
01:10:03
Speaker
Oh, geez.
01:10:04
Speaker
When Josh said Aquabats, I was like, oh my goodness.
01:10:07
Speaker
What are you thinking?
01:10:08
Speaker
I didn't even know what it was.
01:10:09
Speaker
I had to look it up.
01:10:10
Speaker
I was like, what is Aquabats?
01:10:11
Speaker
Hey, by the way, Josh, the Aquabats are coming to Utah, I saw.
01:10:16
Speaker
Yes, November 9th.
Guest Appearances and Host Banter
01:10:18
Speaker
Anywho, that's totally off subject.
01:10:20
Speaker
No, if you really want to get Dennis Riles on This Week in Pinball, tell him you want an Aquabats pinball machine.
01:10:28
Speaker
Yeah, no, no.
01:10:30
Speaker
Dennis launched a flamethrower, a creative flamethrower at us.
01:10:35
Speaker
As only the creasal can.
01:10:36
Speaker
Oh, dude.
01:10:38
Speaker
It sunk my little battleship, that's for sure.
01:10:40
Speaker
Actually, the best part about it is it just vindicated everything I was saying.
01:10:46
Speaker
Well, my opinion of his opinion kind of went down a couple notches from there.
01:10:52
Speaker
Oh, man.
01:10:52
Speaker
Good.
01:10:53
Speaker
We've got room over here at Team Zack for you.
01:10:56
Speaker
Shots fired.
01:10:57
Speaker
Yeah, you'll have to be like, now my follow-up to The Hobbit is the Aquabats.
01:11:01
Speaker
And just hear the silence from Dennis.
01:11:03
Speaker
I'm a huge fan now.
01:11:05
Speaker
Yeah, exactly.
01:11:06
Speaker
Love you, Den-Den.
01:11:08
Speaker
Love you, Den-Den.
01:11:10
Speaker
But I could have swore that was Jeff Riviera that we were bouncing ideas off of – because we were talking about video games and how they were successful.
01:11:16
Speaker
Maybe a pinball back in the 80s and stuff like that.
01:11:19
Speaker
Yeah, maybe it was.
01:11:20
Speaker
You always call them Riviera, by the way, which just makes me think of – it's – at BYU.
01:11:26
Speaker
Well, exactly.
01:11:28
Speaker
The Riviera.
01:11:29
Speaker
Or there's a dive place that all freshmen get to that's off-campus housing, but it's still really cheap, and so it's kind of a dive.
01:11:38
Speaker
So –
01:11:40
Speaker
Anyway.
01:11:41
Speaker
Yes, Jeff Rivera.
01:11:44
Speaker
So, sorry, I'm losing my voice.
01:11:47
Speaker
No, you're fine.
01:11:49
Speaker
Ah, there we go.
01:11:49
Speaker
I think you need to lay down on the concrete on your back.
01:11:52
Speaker
Yeah, exactly.
01:11:53
Speaker
Can you get some painkillers?
01:11:54
Speaker
Yeah.
01:11:57
Speaker
I'm going to take a muscle relaxer right now.
01:11:59
Speaker
Yeah.
01:12:00
Speaker
Larson's over there partying it up with Excedrin.
01:12:03
Speaker
Yeah.
01:12:04
Speaker
Vitamin water.
01:12:06
Speaker
Get crazy.
01:12:07
Speaker
You know it.
01:12:08
Speaker
You know it.
01:12:09
Speaker
Oh, my goodness.
Zach's Contributions and Community Spirit
01:12:11
Speaker
Awesome.
01:12:12
Speaker
That covers our entering the pinball subconscious.
01:12:15
Speaker
Thank you so much, Zach, for letting us steal that from your show.
01:12:18
Speaker
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
01:12:19
Speaker
It was a lot of fun.
01:12:20
Speaker
It's terrifying, but it was fun.
01:12:23
Speaker
Kind of did it without asking, but I figured you wouldn't say no.
01:12:27
Speaker
I like the boldness.
01:12:28
Speaker
You got to be bold sometimes.
01:12:29
Speaker
You got to.
01:12:30
Speaker
Well, like we were talking earlier, you can always say no.
01:12:34
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
01:12:35
Speaker
So, well, cool.
01:12:37
Speaker
Is, is there anything else we want to cover?
01:12:40
Speaker
Well, first thing we want to make sure that Zach, Zach, tell us how to reach you, what you do in pinball and how can we get product from you?
01:12:50
Speaker
Oh my gosh.
01:12:51
Speaker
It's like music to my ears, Larson.
01:12:54
Speaker
You can reach me at a number of places if you're wanting to buy a brand new, sparkly, beautiful, juicy pinball machine like Elvira Premium or Jurassic Park Premium.
01:13:03
Speaker
Willy Wonka, maybe.
01:13:05
Speaker
Flipping out pinball distributes for a number of manufacturers.
01:13:08
Speaker
Stern.
01:13:09
Speaker
Chicago Gaming Company, Jersey Jack Pinball, American Pinball, even like Valley Dynamo, Pitch and Bats, Escaleras.
01:13:15
Speaker
If you want to climb stairs with these heavy things like safes or pinball machines or washers and dryers, we are the exclusive dealer in pinball of Escalera stair climbing hand trucks, and as well as some other distribution.
01:13:28
Speaker
So get a hold of us at zag, Z-A-C-H, at flip, the letter N, outpinball.com.
01:13:34
Speaker
That's an email, or 812-457-9711.
01:13:38
Speaker
You can also reach me at this week in pinball podcast.
01:13:41
Speaker
That's this week in pinball podcast at gmail.com.
01:13:45
Speaker
Let
Community Feel of the Flipping Out Stream
01:13:46
Speaker
me know what I'm doing right.
01:13:47
Speaker
And if it's something that you guys don't like, and you're scared to tell me, go ahead and email Jeff, let him know.
01:13:52
Speaker
That's our, that's our joke.
01:13:53
Speaker
Cause everybody always emails him when they have issues with me and I love it.
01:13:57
Speaker
And then straight down the middle of a pinball show video series, SDT and pinball at gmail.com.
01:14:02
Speaker
And I cannot say,
01:14:04
Speaker
Thank you.
01:14:23
Speaker
And they don't only just stream these things Monday.
01:14:26
Speaker
No, no, you guys are in chat sometimes.
01:14:28
Speaker
They take live call-ins.
01:14:29
Speaker
We're just like a big old happy family, everybody in chat.
01:14:32
Speaker
It's always like the same 50 or 60 people.
01:14:35
Speaker
We're all hanging out.
01:14:35
Speaker
We're all calling in at the after-hours portion.
01:14:38
Speaker
They have, you know, George Gomez they just had in, Ryan White from Chicago Gaming Company.
01:14:43
Speaker
It's just so much fun.
01:14:45
Speaker
And that thing is about to go in directions in the next three months that is not really being done in pinball.
01:14:52
Speaker
So we're really excited about that.
01:14:53
Speaker
And last
Promoting Silver Ball Swag
01:14:54
Speaker
thing, of course, I'm the shill.
01:14:56
Speaker
I'm going to plug everything.
01:14:57
Speaker
Right now, what went live this week is a little old place called Silver Ball Swag.
01:15:03
Speaker
It's owned and operated by Jeff Patterson and one of his partners.
01:15:08
Speaker
But you can buy pinball T-shirts.
01:15:11
Speaker
Market Trends pinball T-shirts are going to show up there.
01:15:14
Speaker
That's where you're going to be able to buy it hot off the press.
01:15:16
Speaker
And you can design your own shirts there, too.
01:15:19
Speaker
Like anything cool –
01:15:20
Speaker
Medieval Madness has some cool shirts in there.
01:15:22
Speaker
Attack from Mars, they've got some cool t-shirts.
01:15:24
Speaker
So definitely go out and check out silverbowlswag.com.
01:15:28
Speaker
That's really cool.
01:15:29
Speaker
We'll definitely do that.
01:15:30
Speaker
I think that's it.
01:15:31
Speaker
Sorry.
01:15:32
Speaker
Well, no, honestly, Scott and I have talked about this before, flipping out the streaming.
01:15:36
Speaker
We love it.
01:15:37
Speaker
We love to just go.
01:15:38
Speaker
Thank you.
01:15:38
Speaker
It's like getting to hang out with all the media, quote unquote, and just shoot the breeze, man.
01:15:45
Speaker
And it's fantastic.
01:15:46
Speaker
It's like it's the in-betweens, all of us guys and gals, in-between of shows.
01:15:51
Speaker
Yeah.
01:15:52
Speaker
We can't hang out in person.
01:15:53
Speaker
We can't do a 20 way call every night.
01:15:56
Speaker
So it's once a week, everybody comes in, hangs out.
01:15:58
Speaker
It's kind of, and you, people who don't do pinball podcasts, they come out and hang out too.
01:16:03
Speaker
And they become characters in our little family as well.
01:16:05
Speaker
So please join our family there every Monday night for the most part, seven o'clock central.
01:16:11
Speaker
And I guess that would be, what was that?
01:16:12
Speaker
Six o'clock mountain, six o'clock mountain.
01:16:16
Speaker
Yeah.
01:16:17
Speaker
Six mountain.
01:16:18
Speaker
Five Pacific.
Inclusiveness of Flipping Out Stream
01:16:19
Speaker
Yeah.
01:16:20
Speaker
Sorry.
01:16:20
Speaker
You said, you said people that, that don't do podcasts.
01:16:22
Speaker
It just automatically, my brain goes to Dave Fahlgren.
01:16:26
Speaker
That's right.
01:16:27
Speaker
And he's become a character.
01:16:28
Speaker
He's the staple.
01:16:28
Speaker
He calls in every week and he gives us just the weirdest, oddest stories.
01:16:33
Speaker
It's so much fun.
01:16:34
Speaker
Yep.
01:16:34
Speaker
And he sent me a t-shirt because I said the, we're doing something with Wonka.
01:16:38
Speaker
Yeah.
01:16:38
Speaker
He's just like, and I was like, I tune into the flipping out stream and I'm like to hear the Dave Fahlgren stories.
01:16:44
Speaker
He's like, you get a t-shirt.
01:16:45
Speaker
Oh yeah.
01:16:46
Speaker
Yeah.
01:16:47
Speaker
I love pogrom.
01:16:48
Speaker
Nice.
01:16:49
Speaker
Awesome.
01:16:49
Speaker
Well, thank you, Zach.
01:16:51
Speaker
We're also going to send you out a loser kid hat.
01:16:53
Speaker
So I get one of those hats.
01:16:56
Speaker
Look, I've been promoting this thing.
01:16:57
Speaker
You guys, I hope you guys have heard me that you guys have the nicest pinball hat in podcasting and nobody's ever going to get close to it.
01:17:05
Speaker
That, that design is money.
01:17:07
Speaker
You guys nailed that thing.
01:17:08
Speaker
Well, thank you.
01:17:10
Speaker
Thank you.
01:17:10
Speaker
Thank you.
01:17:11
Speaker
I will happily wear that hat.
01:17:14
Speaker
We'll do the, like you said, the whole after the game show.
01:17:18
Speaker
We'll get your information and your address after the show.
01:17:22
Speaker
Cool, man.
Closing Gratitude and Collaboration
01:17:24
Speaker
I can't think of anything else to say.
01:17:26
Speaker
I want to thank you guys.
01:17:27
Speaker
I want to thank you guys for allowing me to come on and rant.
01:17:30
Speaker
I'm an acquired taste, as Jeff Patterson says.
01:17:33
Speaker
So it's not easy to get along with me sometimes, but I think we had an awesome discussion here.
01:17:38
Speaker
We brought up things that maybe people don't think about, and that's the name of the game here.
01:17:42
Speaker
And just from the bottom of my heart, I'm appreciative of you guys giving me the time to come on here and chat with you.
01:17:49
Speaker
It was fantastic.
01:17:50
Speaker
It was great.
01:17:51
Speaker
Can't do it.
01:17:51
Speaker
I can't wait to do it again.
01:17:53
Speaker
Yeah, we'll have to do it again in the near future.
01:17:55
Speaker
Thanks, Zach.
01:17:56
Speaker
Appreciate it.
01:17:57
Speaker
No problem.