# I’m back - and it was overdue

**Source:** THE PINBALL RESTORER’S PODCAST  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2024-07-04  
**Duration:** 25m 47s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** Buzzsprout-15358848

---

## Analysis

The host returns to The Pinball Restorer's Podcast after an 18-month hiatus caused by personal challenges including divorce, increased work demands, and family health issues. He discusses re-engaging with the pinball community, launching a new co-hosted podcast called No Cash Value Pinball Podcast focused on public play spaces and competitive pinball, and shares updates on restoration products, featured content creators, and venue highlights including Pastimes Arcade in Ohio.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Host owns 20 pinball games in his home collection — _Host states directly: 'Still 20 games in the house.'_
- [HIGH] Host is now registered with IFPA and participated in competitive pinball league at Hudson Tap with 26-28 players — _Host: 'finally registered with IFPA' and describes Tuesday league at Hudson Tap with '26 to 28' players_
- [HIGH] Pastimes Arcade in Girard, Ohio is owned by Robert Burke and has over 400 pinball machines and 200 arcade games — _Host: 'Pastimes Arcade, owned by Robert Burke...He has over 400 pinball machines, and it's 200 arcade games'_
- [HIGH] Robert Burke's collection earned a Guinness Book of World Records entry and has grown to over 1,000 machines — _Host: 'he just got in the guinness book of world records for his his sizable pinball collection over a thousand machines and it's only grown since'_
- [HIGH] Host is co-hosting a new podcast called 'No Cash Value Pinball Podcast' with Henry Crockett focused on public play spaces and competitive pinball — _Host: 'My friend Henry Crockett, who we have a project that will be coming out. It is actually called the No Cash Value Pinball Podcast.'_
- [HIGH] Host has specialized knowledge in classic Bally Stern machines and is knowledgeable about various manufacturer platforms — _Host: 'for me i'm basically a you know classic ballet stern guy i mean i do love fixing got leap system ones i don't mind fixing any williams game'_
- [HIGH] CPR has released a new Funhouse Playfield reproduction and Fireball 2 plastic set in limited runs — _Host news segment: 'CPR is back at it. They have the new Funhouse Playfield...They have the Fireball 2 plastic set is now also available'_
- [HIGH] Pinball replacement parts now makes an SSU2 soundboard for Game Plan machines — _Host: 'Pinball replacement parts now makes the soundboard, the SSU2 soundboard for Game Plan Games'_

### Notable Quotes

> "I wasn't leaving a void in the hobby but I wasn't helping or being as helpful as I should be"
> — **Host**, early in episode
> _Reflects host's sense of responsibility to the community during absence_

> "I didn't think pinball would create like such meaningful friendships for me but it really has and I am eternally grateful for that"
> — **Host**, mid-episode
> _Expresses the social and relational value of pinball community beyond the machines themselves_

> "everybody has a little bit of specialization...you have to reach out, and you can find those guys"
> — **Host**, discussion of networking
> _Philosophy on how the pinball community operates through distributed expertise and networking_

> "one of the biggest things is honesty is always the best policy"
> — **Host**, divorce segment
> _Practical advice about managing collections through life transitions_

> "don't let your game room make you lose your better half to begin with"
> — **Host**, divorce closing remarks
> _Lighthearted but sincere caution about balancing hobby with relationships_

> "there were people that just they were literally would reach out and check to see if i was okay...there was no motive behind it other than the fact of just general care"
> — **Host**, closing gratitude section
> _Highlights the supportive nature of the pinball community during personal crisis_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| The Pinball Restorer's Podcast | organization | Host's podcast, returning after 18-month hiatus |
| Henry Crockett | person | Co-host of new 'No Cash Value Pinball Podcast' with host; described as 'awesome chill dude' with 'ridiculous goofy inappropriate at times sense of humor' |
| Jeff Miller | person | YouTube creator 'Pinball Pimp'; producer of high-quality restoration content; provided hospitality to host during difficult period; known for cabinet artwork, decal sets, and modifications; featured as YouTube channel of the episode |
| Robert Burke | person | Owner of Pastimes Arcade in Girard, Ohio; Guinness World Record holder for pinball collection with over 1,000 machines; operates venue with 400+ pinball and 200 arcade games |
| Pastimes Arcade | venue | Located in Girard, Ohio (419 North State Street); features 400+ pinball and 200 arcade games; staff-maintained; recognized by Guinness World Records; called a potential 'pinball mecca' |
| No Cash Value Pinball Podcast | organization | New podcast co-hosted by host and Henry Crockett; focuses on public play spaces and competitive pinball, social benefits of community play |
| Hudson Tap | venue | Chain of tap establishments in Minnesota/Wisconsin area; hosts competitive pinball league with 26-28 players on Tuesdays; sets games to free play for tournaments |
| Chris Eddy | person | Owner of pinballreplacementparts.com; specializes in Game Plan machines and MPUs |
| Brett Davis | person | Associated with X-Pen; continues to make pinball products including power supplies and displays |
| Lonnie Meehan | person | Good friend of host; pinball community member |
| Mike Jacobson | person | Owner of Bad Penny Arcade; supportive community member who reached out to host during personal challenges |
| Jake Danzig | person | Pinball community member who provided emotional support to host during difficult period |
| Glenn Von Malusky | person | Associated with The Pinball Place; provided support to host during personal challenges |
| Doc Finley | person | Creator/maintainer of PinballPrices.com for game valuations |
| Todd Tuckey | person | Notable figure in pinball community mentioned as example of networked community member |
| John Borg | person | Works for Stern; prominent industry figure mentioned as networked community member |
| Zach Meny | person | Pinball community member; described as 'awesome' by host |
| Rachel Ristow | person | Pinball community member; known for competition focus and positive social media presence; described with affection by host |
| Tanner | person | Known as 'the pinball scientist'; makes EM Scorekeeper; purchased Deadpool machine at Expo |
| John's Jukes | organization | Business in Canada known for repairing Allied Leisure games and building new MPU daughter boards for extinct processing chips |
| CPR (Pinball) | company | Produces reproduction playfieldss and plastic sets including Funhouse Playfield and Fireball 2 in limited runs |
| The Pinball Place | venue | Premier retailer and authorized dealer for Stern, Jersey Jack, and American Pinball; large selection of new and used games |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Personal life changes and community support, Podcast return and new No Cash Value Pinball Podcast launch, Competitive pinball and IFPA registration, Restoration products and aftermarket parts ecosystem, Pastimes Arcade as major public play venue, Community networking and support systems
- **Secondary:** Pinball and divorce: asset management and insurance, YouTube restoration content creators

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.82) — Host expresses genuine gratitude for community support during difficult personal period; enthusiasm about returning to podcasting and engaging with hobby; some vulnerability about past challenges but overall optimistic and forward-looking tone; genuine appreciation for friendships formed through pinball

### Signals

- **[content_signal]** Host returning to Pinball Restorer's Podcast after 18-month hiatus with renewed commitment; also launching new co-hosted podcast (No Cash Value Pinball Podcast) focusing on public play and competitive aspects (confidence: high) — Direct announcement of return and description of new podcast format and focus areas
- **[community_signal]** Multiple community members (Jeff Miller, Mike Jacobson, Jake Danzig, Glenn Von Malusky, Rachel Ristow) provided emotional and practical support during host's divorce and personal challenges, indicating strong community bonds (confidence: high) — Host explicitly names and thanks multiple individuals who reached out unsolicited during difficult period
- **[venue_signal]** Pastimes Arcade in Girard, Ohio now recognized by Guinness World Records for collection size; operating 400+ pinball machines with 200+ arcade games in dedicated, well-staffed venue (confidence: high) — Host provides detailed venue description including address, staff presence, game counts, and Guinness recognition
- **[product_launch]** CPR releasing limited-run Funhouse Playfield reproduction and Fireball 2 plastic set; Pinball Replacement Parts now offering SSU2 soundboard for Game Plan machines (confidence: high) — News segment detailing specific new products from established manufacturers
- **[technology_signal]** Growing ecosystem of aftermarket solutions for older machines: Game Plan MPUs, new soundboards, LED/dot matrix display replacements, connector solutions, cabinet replacements (confidence: high) — Detailed discussion of multiple product categories and manufacturers providing solutions for obsolete/failing components
- **[competitive_signal]** Host participating in organized Tuesday league at Hudson Tap with 26-28 regular players; league runs tournaments on free play with consistent venue support (confidence: high) — Host describes league structure, size, and venue coordination in detail
- **[personnel_signal]** Jeff Miller (Pinball Pimp YouTube channel) highlighted as major content creator and restoration thought leader; nearly 20 years in restoration, pioneer of cabinet artwork/decal systems (confidence: high) — Extensive feature of Jeff Miller including description of his YouTube content quality and historical role in enabling restorations
- **[restoration_signal]** Pinball restoration community operates through distributed, specialized expertise with key figures known for specific platforms (Game Plan, Allied Leisure, EM, etc.); host encourages networking to access specialized knowledge (confidence: high) — Host discusses his own specialization in Bally/Stern and references specialized expertise in other platforms (John's Jukes for Allied Leisure, Chris Eddy for Game Plan)
- **[business_signal]** Pastimes Arcade demonstrates successful venue model: large collection, adequate staffing, regular game maintenance, family-friendly positioning, Guinness recognition generating publicity (confidence: high) — Host provides detailed analysis of Pastimes Arcade operations and positioning as potential 'pinball mecca'
- **[market_signal]** PinballPrices.com and Pinside used as standard tools for game valuations; relevant for divorce asset splitting and insurance purposes (confidence: high) — Host mentions using these tools during divorce proceedings for asset valuation

---

## Transcript

 I'm having way too much fun with this, but guess what guys? I'm back. Welcome to the Pinball Restorers Podcast. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Pinball Restores podcast. And yes, I'm back. I am really sorry about this. I can't even say it was an absence. It was basically practically dead in the water. I had a lot happen in the last basically year and a half that made doing podcasting almost, not necessarily impossible, but I really wasn't into it at the moment. I was still very much into pinball, but I had a lot of life changes. I ended up getting divorced, which I had to shift my priority. And yes, I do have all my games. They were not taken. But just having to start over and deal with the challenges associated with that. I ended up having to work a lot more and just having to take care of things. And then it was just kind of like, if it wasn't one thing, it's another. my father's health took a decline and so I've just had to help them out quite a bit. He is stable, doing fine. My parents are still very much enjoying their retirement and seeing both me and my brother over at the house more often. So just a lot of things that just changed, challenges and that all seems to have been winding down. I'm in a new home, new place. My job's been great. everything has kind of just kind of fallen into place where I can kind of be right back and pick back up where I left off because I feel like I was kind of like not leaving a void in the hobby but I wasn't helping or being as helpful as I should be I'd still like answer any questions if I ever saw something like on pinball enthusiasts or in pinball repair on if it was something I knew I would you know always you know chime in or if you know somebody I know that would know you know a good portion of this hobby is networking. And it's networking, not just with the, you know, the big names in the hobby, like the guys that we see on YouTube, you know, from like Todd Tuckey, or, you know, guys that work for Stern, like when you see John Borg at an event or that. The networking goes further to the guys who are the operators, repair people, guys who started side businesses doing this, some primary businesses doing this, the arcade owners, everybody. I mean, it's a lot of people you end up meeting a lot of people and in your own state i always encourage people to start reaching out to the local guys who actually know how to fix games because you'll end up learning a lot from them and they can be helpful too i mean everybody has a little bit of specialization you know for me i'm basically a you know classic ballet stern guy i mean i do love fixing got leap system ones i don't mind fixing any williams game you know they're the Most of the hardware and challenges with that have been kind of worked out. But it's working on some stuff that's more difficult, like getting an Atari pinball machine up and running, or getting a game plan, or if you own a Zachariah, a Resell. There are so many other manufacturers, and there's guys who happen to know a lot about those things. And so you have to reach out, and you can find those guys. not to do a little shameless plug but i mean if you have an allied leisure game for instance you know any of their cocktail games i own one um i have star shooter and i'll probably be bringing that one to expo um but john's jukes up in canada the guy is they are known for repairing those games and they can fix the mpu and they can you know they built a new daughter board that goes onto the motherboard that replaces those extinct processing chips, you know, and again, another solution that's out there, and, you know, those guys helped me, I was able to get my game up and running, and, you know, that's just an example, it's always network, always talk to people, don't be ashamed if you're pinball blank, insert name here in somebody else's phone, it's also your customers too, but anyways, just, yeah, I'm back into the hobby, you know, Still 20 games in the house. And I've gotten to know a couple of other people that are in the hobby. Chris Eddy with pinballreplacementparts.com. He's kind of the game plan guy. He makes all the new game plan MPUs. Still friends with Brett Davis with X-Pen as he's continuing to keep making more products. I actually, just to kind of give the year in recap, I did go to Expo this last year. And earlier before that, I actually was fortunate enough to get to fly down and hang out with Jeff Miller and actually stay at his house and, you know, enjoy talking shop, pinball stuff and just enjoying the fact that he had a pool in the backyard and just the chillaxed while I was in kind of taking a break for a moment from my entire divorce process. And I'm eternally grateful for that. And while I was down there, I also got to see Lonnie Meehan, another really good friend of mine. and you know these are those I didn't think pinball would create like such meaningful friendships for me but it really has and I am eternally grateful for that um other things I've changed I've actually now gotten into the competitive pinball um end of things um yes finally registered with IFPA no I not that great in fact I don even want to know where I on this but because I was in a league last year well sorry not last year uh yeah it was last year um I enjoyed it you know I just enjoyed you know being able to meet up with the same group of people it was on a Tuesday there was at least I think 26 of us at max 26 20 like 26 to 28 and a couple of alternates and it was just like treating it like a bowling night but it was all just the pinball stuff the establishment which was the Hudson Tap which is a chain a part of a chain of tap places here in the Minnesota slash Wisconsin area and they are have been wonderful they always treated us well we got to do our own when we would do our end tournaments you know the games would be set it would be a party the games would be set on free play and so there was it was just a lot of fun and that's when you actually start to get really good at certain games is the The more, you know, again, the more you play a game, the better you get at it. You understand the rules. And so I just, I finally started getting more into that. I ended up with other good friends out of that. My friend Henry Crockett, who we have a project that will be coming out. It is actually called the No Cash Value Pinball Podcast. And the no cash value is what used to be on the back of tokens. When we, you know, we'd play in arcades when we were younger. And our focus of that show is actually going to be talking about public play space and competitive. Not necessarily driving the competition, but we're going to talk about the social benefits and the social interactions. Or stuff like when you do tournaments, whether they're through Stern Army or if they're just for fun based on location. Or it's fun to go to a different location too. And so that's going to be coming up. And we'll see where things go from there. It's nice to have a co-host. so I don't always have to feel so much pressure of talking by myself. The thing with my show is I typically interview somebody and I just had to get a show out there right now. I do have people I'm going to be interviewing and I hope to bring high quality content and keep the format of the show where I focus either on a series of games, a guy who makes the stuff that solves the problem. I'm going to feature again a YouTube channel, feature again a public play space and always bring up an event a festival i'm going to try to keep those dates and always put those plus keep the news segment and new parts or new stuff available and i'll always keep making the commercials because i love doing that that's just fun that's my little creative thing i and a lot of people don't necessarily know that some of these places exist and so you know it's not like they always have the strongest in advertising and i just like doing it because it's a little bit of content generation and it's nice to create a buzz and be supportive of the businesses that enable all of us to continue with this hobby because I can always draw the conclusions or not conclusions comparisons to the classic car hobby I happen to be the owner of a 1947 Ford pickup truck I also own a 1951 Ford F1 pickup truck as well I'm not actually a Ford guy but that's what I ended up with so I've gone to shows I've done stuff like that swap meets and stuff like that so I always find it fun when you go to the arcade conventions or pinball conventions is that you do have a degree of the part swapping the networking solving thing finding stuff that you may need and sometimes finding stuff you did not need one year at Expo, my buddy Ryan Tanner, who I was helping share a booth with, he's the pinball scientist, he makes the EM scorekeeper, I was like, so are you doing okay with the, money-wise, for the event, he goes, yep, yep, I'm actually made a decent amount, but, yeah, I bought a Deadpool I'm bringing home, I'm like, ooh, does your wife know you're doing this, he said, no, and her birthday was the next day, so it's like, ooh, good luck, buddy, so that's something you may never need you never know but yeah there's a lot more to it i mean i'm gonna keep doing this i'm happy to be back i'm happy to be doing this and i'm going to continue networking and i like networking with the other podcasters i love people like drew bovere zach meanie is awesome um rachel ristow love you to death i always love the fact that she is like so about competition and probably one of the in my facebook feed is probably one of the people that's always posting that i'm there for you positive vibes and i love the fact that she does that so but there's a variety of new companies there's a variety of new stuff and i'm going to try to get as many of these people talking because everybody's got a story it's not just how you know the step one is how did you fall into this step two is what's going on with the with our question number two is what's going on with you now and then we laugh about a few things everybody learns something possibly um and we take it from there but i'm gonna get to the commercial and then i'm gonna bring up the next subject here we poorly support the following companies pinball replacement parts.com game plan pinballs saving grace featuring brand new pinball circuit boards for game plan cocktail and full-size machines new mpu lamp driver soundboard solenoid driver boards, header pins, connectors, and pin housing parts and accessories. Replace that repair nightmare with a brand new MPU and bring back the magic. Find out more at pinballreplacementparts.com. Fuel the power of X-Pin, your premier pinball power supply and replacement display provider. Featuring re-engineered power supplies, replacement LED displays, and dot matrix displays from Bally, Stern, Williams, Dead East, Gottlieb, and more. Built to the highest quality and reliability. Find out more at xpinpinball.net. Playing with pins and dolls. Mad Voodoo Pinball, proudly featuring Pin Caddy, the only pinball-designed organizing parts trade. Fits between the rails of any standard machine for playfield repair work. Slides into the lock bar for backbox repair work. Includes soldering iron holder and magnetic parts tray inserts. and featuring pin cards high quality artist designed scorecards for a variety of pinball machines All this and more at madvoodoo All right folks, time for some news in the world of pinball restoration products and a couple of other things not related to just fixing stuff. But CPR is back at it. They have the new Funhouse Playfield. You can actually get that reproduction. Obviously going to be another limited run. They have the Fireball 2 plastic set is now also available. And if you happen to own a Capcom Pinball Magic, you can get a Pinball Magic mirrored back glass. Let's see here. Pinball replacement parts now makes the soundboard, the SSU2 soundboard for Game Plan Games. Sharpshooter, big, you know, popular one right there. Let's see here. NVRAM, Liebly. They always have something. NVROM, however you want to say it. NVROM Weebly has a Williams 3-6 combination board. And I have purchased one of these. I'm still a Rotten Dog fan, don't get me wrong, but availability is availability. I purchased one of these, flawless. So again, that's another option right there. Let's see here, Outside Edge. In the world of hardtops, they just put out Lost World. So there was 10,000 of that made. There's quite a few of you that have it. I know people who own multiple of them and then sell a couple of them. That's another option if the play field is completely hashed. Pinball Pimp. It's hard to always keep track of what he cranks up for new material, but I do know that if you have a game room or if you're an establishment that has a lot of classic games in it, you really need to check out his pinball banners that he sells. these things are actually cool for home decor or a location decor or convention it doesn't matter they look great he sells them at conventions they're available on his website so check that out docent electronics docent electronics your got leap connector solution featuring pre-made solder connectors for got leap system 1 and system 80 pinball machines don't fight those old connector housings and nightmare pin connections replace them with a simple cut and solder connector and eliminate the headache altogether celebrating 34 years in business and find out more at docentelectronics.com what are you buying what are you selling the pinball place your premier retailer and authorized dealer for stern jersey jack and American Pinball. Large selection of new and used games, parts, and accessories. Find out more at pinballplace.com. Um, does internet porn know you're cheating on it? And folks, that means it is time for the featured YouTube channel, and on this episode, it's going to be a good friend of mine, Mr. Jeff Miller, aka Pinball Pimp, and he has cranked out high quality content on just how to like install art blades, dealing with the decals. He shows a lot of before and afters of his cabinet work. He also shows you how to chemically strip stuff. He's just really taken it to the next level, so please go ahead and check them out. Just give you a little rundown. Jeff has been restoring games for almost 20 years, and he is the main reason that we're all able to get cabinet artwork, the decal sets that are stencils, so that we can recreate the artwork. He also does a lot of little modifications. He actually has some side art for modern games, alternate art. He has a few mods you know he does apron decals a couple of different things but it's always worth checking out his website and as i said before he does do the pinball banners as well and he is a riot to talk to so without further ado mr jeff miller what's up everyone jeff miller here pinball pimp i recently just finished a restoration on a 1996 williams tales of the arabian knights machine now before i show you what she looks like i'm gonna have to show you all the things we did to Let's go check it out. So we got this machine in the shop. All right, folks, and now it's time to actually talk about a public play space. When I do this, I do try to find places that have either rare games, a variety of eras of games, particularly, you know, because I like EMs. EMs are challenging, and for some people who can play a modern stern for 45 minutes on one ball, it's kind of nice to see them play something that punishes them. But that being said, I mean, I'm not picking on anybody. It's just that I'm not that guy. But the motherlode, in my opinion right now, and it has made the news, is Pastimes Arcade, owned by Robert Burke. And that's in Girard, Ohio. He has over 400 pinball machines, and it's 200 arcade games in a massive, beautiful building. staffed adequately the games very rarely go down there's an entire team that works really hard with that and a little shout out to rob too because he just got in the guinness book of world records for his his sizable pinball collection over a thousand machines and it's only grown since and if you've ever gone to pinball expo you've played some of burke's games he likes to bring out some of the historical ones and it's depending on you know what he's going to bring in from his collection because he also wants people to bring their own games too. But he has everything from Genco, Resell, Playmatic. I think he actually has Hangul. He has the Zachariah. He has Sagasa, Sonic. I mean, just Waiko. I mean, there's just an insane amount of stuff. Game Plan, Atari. It doesn't matter. I mean, it's everything. And so getting to play some of the rarer games or just less common games like an original Stern Iron Maiden or, you know, Viper, which I know he has. I don't know if it's on that arcade floor, but I would hope that it is. But I'm just saying this guy has the ability to rotate out games and you get to see some rare stuff. And he also has antiques from the 30s when pinball literally was just pinball. It was going to be plunge the ball and capture it into a pocket that was nails to pins where the ball would fall. And so there's just a lot there. There's just a lot of historical significance, but it's so packaged well and it's a fun, family-friendly destination, and I just hope that it becomes a new pinball mecca And so a little congrats to Burke on that Congrats on the opening congrats on the guinness book of world records but yes please make the trip out there so pastimes arcade is located at 419 north state street gerrard ohio and please if you're going to be in the area make the trip if you can't make a trip to that at least you can go to the expo and play some of his stuff but they are doing an awesome job and please watch retro ralph's video not to be a shameless plug to somebody else or steal somebody else's content but direct you to their content he does an awesome walkthrough a breakdown video of that place and there's also drone footage of it so watch the youtube video of the drone through pastimes arcade totally worthwhile so that's enough on that easy pinball your pinball cabinet replacement specialist featuring brand new cabinets for classic stern machines manufactured from 1977 through 1985. Flat pack shipped with easy DIY assembly. So get rid of your water damaged or abused cabinet and start fresh and take your restoration to new heights with a new cabinet. Find out more at easypinball.com. Again, the letters E and Z, pinball.com. All right, well, I'm just going to wrap this up with a, you know, a little blurb here about pinball and divorce and then i'm going to close out the show this is kind of a uh small show but i just had to get back i just had to get my feet back in i got interviews coming up i've reached out to some people we're going to actually get some decent shows going and uh every other week there will be a uh feature from the other podcast i'm a part of you know no cash value with henry crockett um awesome chill dude it was a ridiculous goofy inappropriate at times sense of humor but uh you know it's gonna be one of those things where it got recorded and this is what it is but um just to talk about a little bit about pinball and divorce if you're actually ever facing this and you're actually worried about your collection and all those things one of the biggest things is honesty is always the best Ryan Policky um these machines are not cheap um you know at the end of the day people who have a collection of new sterns in their basement or if you're very affluent and you happen to have all LEs and Jersey Jacks and a bunch of other stuff. That is a big thing. One, always insure your games. At the end of the day, when you've actually got a whole room full of those, you take pictures of those to make sure they get covered by your homeowner's insurance, just in the case of flood and what have you, with valuations. Now, pinball valuations can fluctuate. PinballPrices.com, I believe that is, Doc Finley does that, as well as Pinside. You can use those. I did use those for when I went through my divorce to just give the valuation because we had to split assets, you know, and at the end of the day, she didn't really want to pursue me for those, which I'm thankful for because she knows I put a lot of work into them and some of them are still just players' cabs. They're not worth the pristine amount and they're not like AAA, you know, like I didn't get to every one of my games. And so the big thing is always making sure that you're just up front. And one way to avoid divorce because of pinball is remember that your significant other doesn't always like hearing about it. One. Two, never hide the fact that you are spending money on this hobby. Be transparent. It's a big piece of advice. And at some point, I'll actually, I think we might revisit this topic as topic of a show. And I think there's a couple of divorce attorneys that are actually enthusiasts who can give kind of a rundown on this. So don't let your better half make you lose half of your game room. Or better yet, don't let your game room make you lose your better half to begin with. So, but that being said, that's just me just being a little comedic about the situation I was in. so but actually the big thing I want to be thankful for is that so many people when they knew what was going on with me there was a lot of people who reached out and just wanted me to be get out of my head make you know be like come on stay positive um big thanks to Jeff Miller um it was great to go down and stay at his place in Florida um Mike Jacobson with Bad Penny Arcade you know he found out he's like come on over man you know I got my 30 machines let's play dude like he just there were people that just they were literally would reach out and check to see if i was okay jake danzig was uh hitting me up all the time just making sure i'm alive and well glenn von malusky with the pinball place same thing there was no motive behind it other than the fact of just general care and just you know hey missy buddy are you okay like i love that and i am so thankful for that from this community and yeah this is going to be a better year things are off to a better start. There's a lot to deal with, and I'm going to Expo. I'm going to be bringing a lot of stuff with me. I'm going to be bringing at least five games this year. I'm going to bring Star Shooter, Allied Leisure Cocktail Table. I'm going to bring Blackout because I love playing that game. That's one of my favorite games I own, so I'm going to bring that. I'm also going to bring both of my game plans. I have Attila the Hun and Supernova, so that will just be fun for the sake of the fact that you just don't see a lot of game plan games. In fact, for two years, I was the only one that brought one. And I'm going to bring my Gottlieb Amazing Spider-Man because I never see it in any of these places. So I'll bring that behemoth. So that's the plan tentatively. But get out, play some pinball, just, you know, tear down that machine, re-crimp, you know, connectors, do things, You know, just keep at it. You know, the project, 15 minutes a day will get you through. And you don't have to take everything on at once. And by all means, in all of the Facebook groups, post a question. People answer. If we have the answer, you'll find it. Or we'll share a link. We'll help you find the part. There's guys who have used parts that will chime in and be like, hey, you can get this. So just a big thank you to you all. And I am back. And I'm going to be heavily involved. So until next time, keep it flipping. This has been a Ruby Butt Production. Ruby, get out of the litter box!

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

---

*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 0a737137-0cf1-4210-8402-031c944f956e*