# Episode 53 – The 2017 Pinburgh Preview Spectacular **Source:** Slam Tilt Podcast **Type:** podcast_episode **Published:** 2017-07-23 **Beat:** Pinball **URL:** https://www.slamtiltpodcast.com/2017/07/23/episode-53-the-2017-pinburgh-preview-spectacular/ --- ## Analysis This is Episode 53 of the Slam Tilt Podcast, recorded live on location before the 2017 Pinburgh tournament. The hosts (Ron Hallett, Bruce Nightingale, and Tim Sexton) discuss Pinburgh logistics, tournament divisions and restrictions, and Tim delivers a lengthy critique of Stern's Star Wars pinball, arguing that the shot multiplier rule is overly complex and dominates gameplay skill. They also preview some of the 72 banks of machines at the tournament and discuss their favorite games within selected banks. ### Key Claims - [HIGH] Tim Sexton is restricted to A division at Pinburgh due to finishing in B division finals at Papa and top 50 IFPA ranking — _Tim Sexton stated directly on the podcast that he is 'restricted to A division for two reasons. one of them is the B division finals which guaranteed I was in A division for at least one year and then also the top 50 IFPA restriction guarantees I'm in A division as long as that holds true'_ - [HIGH] Stern's Star Wars pinball has a shot multiplier that goes up to 40x and requires constant manual management via button presses — _Tim Sexton detailed the multiplier mechanic extensively: 'Shot multipliers start at 2x and can be toggled on or off with the action button... Hitting any three banked target increases the shot multiplier by one up to a maximum of 20x. The overall multiplier can be doubled, making a maximum shot multiplier of 40x.'_ - [HIGH] The Star Wars multiplier rule is more important to competitive play than actual pinball skill, elevating knowledge/metagame over flipper skill — _Tim Sexton: 'This is not a pinball skill. This is entirely a knowledge and rule set skill. This is not a flipper skill. This is not a nudge skill. this is not a flip or catch, entirely game knowledge. And game knowledge that actually dominates the entire game.'_ - [HIGH] Pinburgh 2017 features 72 banks of machines with categories: DMD or later, EM, late solid state/early DMD, and early solid state — _Bruce Nightingale confirmed: 'There is a DMD, an EM, a late solid state or early DMD, and an early solid state.'_ - [HIGH] Tim Sexton scored 100-200 million without using the multiplier on Star Wars, but over 1 billion with it — _Tim Sexton: 'without using the multiplier, my game would be like 100 to 200 million. With the multiplier, I'm always over a billion.'_ - [HIGH] Pinburgh check-in will be available at Pittsburgh Pinball League headquarters on Wednesday or at ReplayFX on tournament morning — _Discussed email from ReplayFX: 'you can check in at some Pittsburgh Pinball League headquarters or something somewhere, and you can do that Wednesday, or at ReplayFX the morning of the show'_ - [HIGH] Players can look up rule sheets and guides on Papa.org, Papa Playthrough Videos, and Pintips.com during tournament — _Ron Hallett: 'some people will look up the rule sheets on Papa.org, the Papa Playthrough Videos, and Pintips.com for some quick tips on the game.'_ - [HIGH] Game of Thrones has extreme score variance based on rule knowledge, with unskilled players scoring 8 million vs skilled players scoring 500+ million — _Tim Sexton: 'Game of Thrones, where people who didn't know how to play this game would often wind up with like 8 million points if they didn't start multiball without knowing what to do. Or if they did start multiball, they'd only end up with, you know, 100 million or 200 million compared to someone who played two or three modes and got 500 million.'_ ### Notable Quotes > "I believe that the metagame has reached a point where it is more important than the regular game. And the reason I think this is because I believe that it is now impossible to win a stern pinball game against someone who knows what they are doing, no matter how different in play you are." > — **Tim Sexton**, ~middle of episode > _Core thesis of Tim's critique on Stern rule complexity_ > "This is not a pinball skill. This is entirely a knowledge and rule set skill. This is not a flipper skill. This is not a nudge skill. this is not a flip or catch, entirely game knowledge. And game knowledge that actually dominates the entire game." > — **Tim Sexton**, ~middle of episode > _Tim distinguishing between game knowledge and fundamental pinball mechanics_ > "without using the multiplier, my game would be like 100 to 200 million. With the multiplier, I'm always over a billion. Like that's the difference in scores you have just by knowing about this multiplier and bothering with it." > — **Tim Sexton**, ~middle of episode > _Quantifying the impact of the multiplier rule on scoring_ > "They took, like, an awesome theme that I've been totally into and have, like, ruled it. Just whatever." > — **Tim Sexton**, ~middle of episode > _Tim's frustration with Star Wars' rule complexity despite liking the theme_ > "I'm too stupid to play pinball now George. I need simple games. Thanks a lot George. Thanks a lot." > — **Tim Sexton**, ~middle of episode > _Sarcastic lament about modern Stern complexity (referencing George Gomez)_ > "You will get at most 10 of these 72 banks. Yes." > — **Bruce Nightingale / Ron Hallett**, ~tournament discussion > _Clarifying Pinburgh's scale—72 banks but limited exposure per player_ > "I don't think they have Wi-Fi, so you better have cellular. Yep, save your data." > — **Tim Sexton / Ron Hallett**, ~late in episode > _Practical advice for Pinburgh attendees regarding connectivity_ > "Until everyone does this, until everyone manipulates their button, gets their multiplier set up correctly, you will not, you know, come close to a high score or a good competitive match where you're close on Star Wars." > — **Tim Sexton**, ~middle of episode > _Emphasizing the necessity of multiplier mastery for competitive play_ ### Entities | Name | Type | Context | |------|------|---------| | Ron Hallett | person | Co-host of Slam Tilt Podcast, from upstate New York | | Bruce Nightingale | person | Co-host of Slam Tilt Podcast, tournament organizer associated with Cameron Silver Ball Saloon | | Tim Sexton | person | Guest on Slam Tilt Podcast, pinball player with extensive rules knowledge, competing in A division at Pinburgh, known for rule tutorials | | Steve Bowden | person | Guest expected on show but lost power during storm; associated with Le Bon | | Pinburgh | event | The largest pinball tournament in the world, held in Pittsburgh, 3-day event with 72 banks of machines | | Stern Pinball | company | Pinball manufacturer; subject of discussion regarding complex rule sets in recent games | | Star Wars (Stern) | game | Recently released Stern pinball game criticized by Tim Sexton for overly complex shot multiplier rule | | Game of Thrones | game | Stern pinball game with extreme score variance based on rule knowledge; Tim cited as problematic example | | ReplayFX | organization | Tournament organizer/venue for Pinburgh; sent check-in logistics email | | Pittsburgh Pinball League | organization | Local pinball league; headquarters mentioned as alternative check-in location for Pinburgh | | IFPA | organization | International Flipper Pinball Association; maintains player rankings that determine tournament divisions | | Papa | organization | Pinball organization; hosts Papa tournament and maintains Papa.org resource with rule sheets and playthrough videos | | George Gomez | person | Pinball designer (likely designer of Star Wars or referenced for rule design philosophy); Tim sarcastically addressed him regarding rule complexity | | Sean O'Shea | person | Listener who corrected Bruce about state representation at Stomp event | | Zach Sharpe | person | Shared information about a Meteor machine listing with Ron and Bruce | | Meteor | game | Pinball machine discussed regarding restoration issue (missing knocker, Bally transformer rectifier board) | | Dialed In | game | Recent Stern game that Ron praised as 'very good' and said he has nothing rude to say about | | Frontier | game | Pinburgh bank game that Tim dislikes; was his final loss in B division last year | | Andre Massinkoff | person | Pinball player with commemorate plaque on F-14 Tomcat machine | ### Topics - **Primary:** Star Wars (Stern) rule complexity and shot multiplier mechanic, Stern pinball metagame vs. fundamental skill gap, 2017 Pinburgh tournament logistics and structure - **Secondary:** Player division restrictions and IFPA rankings, Tournament bank preview and favorite machines, Code updates and rule adjustments in modern Stern games, Game of Thrones scoring variance and rule knowledge dominance - **Mentioned:** Podcast production and guest scheduling challenges ### Sentiment **Mixed** (-0.25) — Tim expresses strong frustration with Stern's rule complexity, particularly Star Wars, using sarcasm and exasperation. However, excitement about Pinburgh and appreciation for specific machines (Dialed In, certain tournament banks) provide positive counterbalance. Ron and Bruce are mostly upbeat about the tournament, though there's light ribbing and debate throughout. ### Signals - **[code_update]** Tim Sexton speculates that Star Wars multiplier rule may be rebalanced in future code updates based on past experience with Stern making adjustments to controversial rules (confidence: medium) — Tim stated: 'maybe this will change with code updates I know sometimes I get in a lot of trouble because I'll complain about code and I'll complain about a game and how it exists and people go like oh no but I'm in the know and there's code coming and they're going to fix it' - **[gameplay_signal]** Pinball designers, particularly Stern, are pushing rule set complexity to a point where metagame knowledge dominates over fundamental flipper and nudge skills (confidence: high) — Tim's detailed analysis: 'the metagame has reached a point where it is more important than the regular game... it is now impossible to win a stern pinball game against someone who knows what they are doing, no matter how different in play you are' - **[design_philosophy]** Star Wars multiplier rule exemplifies design decision to elevate game knowledge over fundamental pinball mechanics, creating high barrier to competitive entry (confidence: high) — Tim: 'This is not a pinball skill. This is entirely a knowledge and rule set skill... entirely game knowledge. And game knowledge that actually dominates the entire game.' - **[competitive_signal]** Pinburgh 2017 features 72 banks of machines organized by era (EM, early SS, late SS/early DMD, DMD+), with players experiencing ~10 banks over 3 days (confidence: high) — Bruce: 'There is a DMD, an EM, a late solid state or early DMD, and an early solid state... You will get at most 10 of these 72 banks' - **[operational_signal]** Pinburgh 2017 check-in process includes multiple venues: Pittsburgh Pinball League headquarters (Wednesday) and ReplayFX (tournament morning) (confidence: high) — Email from ReplayFX discussed on podcast: 'you can check in at some Pittsburgh Pinball League headquarters... Wednesday, or at ReplayFX the morning of the show' - **[event_signal]** Question raised about whether Pittsburgh venue air circulation can handle ~800 players; hosts expressed confidence it is sufficient (confidence: medium) — Question: 'Do you think the air circulation at Pittenberg is ready to handle 800 pinballers?' Response: 'Sure. Yeah. It's big enough.' - **[community_signal]** Players utilize Papa.org, Papa Playthrough Videos, and Pintips.com as primary rule sheet and strategy resources during tournaments (confidence: high) — Ron: 'some people will look up the rule sheets on Papa.org, the Papa Playthrough Videos, and Pintips.com for some quick tips on the game' - **[product_concern]** Game of Thrones exhibits extreme score variance (8M vs 500M+) based purely on rule knowledge rather than skill, viewed as problematic design precedent (confidence: high) — Tim: 'Game of Thrones, where people who didn't know how to play this game would often wind up with like 8 million points... compared to someone who played two or three modes and got 500 million' - **[sentiment_shift]** Despite appreciating Star Wars theme, Tim expresses deep frustration with rule implementation, suggesting potential negative reception in competitive community (confidence: high) — Tim: 'They took, like, an awesome theme that I've been totally into and have, like, ruled it. Just whatever.' Later: 'I can't fucking wait for the video mode. It's going to be fucking great.' - **[design_innovation]** Star Wars introduces an always-available, non-consumed shot multiplier (up to 40x via doubling) that requires continuous manual management via action button, representing escalation of complexity trend (confidence: high) — Tim detailed: 'Shot multipliers start at 2x... maximum of 20x. The overall multiplier can be doubled, making a maximum shot multiplier of 40x... it's fairly easy to increase to, like, 20x' --- ## Transcript Warning. The following feature presentation is not rated. It contains scenes of full frontal nudity and extreme violence. Viewer discretion is advised. Yes! Discretion is cool. Coming to you from beautiful upstate New York, this is the Slam Tilt Podcast, the show about all things pinball. I'm your host, Ron Hallett. Here are my co-hosts, Bruce Nightingale. We can never get both of them together on the same show. Yeah, we're having trouble. We're having trouble with that. But this is episode 53, To Be or Not To Be. According to Bruce, we've already started an argument because Mel Brooks did not direct this movie. But if you go to Mel Brooks' movies, the box set, it's in it. Okay, so he's going by the box set. So, all right. So what's this movie about, Bruce? This is about a love story during a play that they're doing a Shakespeare, but it's modern. Really weird. He met his future wife on it, but really good. It's not bad. I give it about a seven. Funny. And the funniest thing is seven out of ten. Okay. Yeah. And his favorite thing is he has a Hitler rap on there. Like one of the songs. He really has something about Hitler. He does. Well, you know. This is going to be a unique podcast. We are live, kind of. On location. We're on location. Really bad. This is me. Yeah, this is no editing unless Bruce gets really inappropriate, which there's just, that'll never happen, right? Silence. Dead silence that I won't be able to edit out. But we're not alone, Bruce. We're not alone. I know we're not. Have our number one guest. I was supposed to be the number two guest. No, you are number one guest because you've been on the most. Okay. Yeah, that's right. You're always number one. I'm patting my lead tonight. Yes, you are, because you have now a challenge. You know, Doug said he wanted to pass you in the count of how many shows you've been on. Yeah, good luck. He's slacking because I don't see him anywhere in the Skype call. Oh, damn. Oh, okay. He's probably too busy setting up for the largest pinball tournament in the world. Yes, yes, and that's what this show is all about. We're going to be talking about Pinberg. We're going to be talking about the awesomeness. That is the largest pinball tournament in the world. But first, we're going to get some things out of the way. Number one, we're supposed to have Steve Bowden joining us. But unfortunately, he got hit with a storm, and he has no power. Bad one. He sent a picture to me. He is in the dark right now. He is not online. If he gets power restored at some point during the recording here, we will join him in. Yes. So for now, unfortunately, we can never seem to get Tim and Steve together at the same time. maybe they're the same person. Uh, no. No. Okay, first, let's write that down. Edit that there. All right, first things first. Before we get into Pinburgh, I just want to get some housekeeping, quick housekeeping out of the way. We have an email saying that Bruce is wrong. It's very rare. Odds are, you have to admit this, odds are I am usually right. Like I said, Bruce is wrong. Bruce is wrong. The email is from Sean O'Shea, and he says, I know Ron loves it when Bruce is wrong. I do. About something discussed on the show, but I think even Bruce will appreciate being wrong about this. He just listened to episode 52, Stomping a Raider Replay FX, and you said, Bruce, you said there were four states represented at Stomp, and that is incorrect. There were at least six states represented. New York, and Vermont. And there were also some cars with Connecticut and Maryland plates. So it could be up to three. Okay, time out. Time out. I have a rebuttal for this one. How do you have a rebuttal? You said four, and there's the least six. It's very easy. Very easy. What do the New England states usually do? They group themselves together. They stopped doing that this year. I know, but I'm saying they usually did. It's a weak rebuttal. Isn't that weak, Tim? Come on, that's a weak rebuttal. Weak rebuttal. Okay. God damn you. Excellent. I need Alex Jones to help me out. Sorry, folks. No can do on this one. Back to fighting the globalists. See ya. Love it. How's Alex Jones? I know. I love when he jumps in. Let's move that to the archive email. Bruce is wrong section. Excellent. And how many are in there? It says there's too many in here. It can't even display them. There's so many. I think there's one or two. I think there's more Rons. Also, we have another question. We're getting on the case for the Scorpion artwork saying, why is the game called Scorpion when it has a Loch Ness monster on it? Well, Scorpion was not referring to the monster. It's referring to the ship that is attacking the monster, which says Scorpion 3 on it. But I have a question for this. Why didn't it say Scorpion 3 as the title? Or why doesn't the ship just have Scorpion on it? Why does it have to be 3? Again, that's weak. You are wrong once again. No, I'm just questioning. I'm not saying it's wrong. I'm saying I'm questioning it. Why did they do that? You're always questioning. I don't know. S. Williams. I have another correction to make in the same vein. On Monster Bash, Frankenstein Multiball is not actually referring to the monster you bash during Frankenstein Multiball, but the doctor who created that said monster. True. Because it is Dr. Frankenstein. Okay. Everyone calls it Frankenstein. Actually, the DMV says it's Frankenstein multiple. Okay, I got one for you, Tim. Spell Quicksilver. Q-U-I-K. Wrong. What? I noticed that during the stream when I watched it later that you were spelling it that way. It's Q-U-I-C-K. Oh, I forgot there's a ceiling. I thought they took it out. Now we have another question from somebody, a fan of yours. Jeff Teolis asked the question. He asked you to spell something. That's probably becoming. Yes, it is. So here's what's happened. Let me explain this to Jeff. Prior to me becoming a pinball Twitter account, I was a member and still am of something called, I guess it used to be called Weird Twitter. But just, it's people who spell things wrong on purpose to troll normal people who think things should be spelled correctly online. A lot of things we'll do is type there in the wrong way every time, type 2-T-O-O when we mean to use T-O. So that was just a typical, you know, normal spelling mistake for humor's sake and not a real me caring about what I'm spelling things. I don't care what I spell at all. Yeah. And it shows. It does. It definitely shows. All right. So I think that was all the housekeeping I wanted to get out of the way before. News. News? There's news. Okay, what's the news? Bruce always has news. Yeah, he's got news all right. Steve Bowden from Le Bon has put out a post today from a video from Dutch Pinball. I thought we weren't mentioning them. Well, the funny thing is it was 20 minutes of nothing. Woo-hoo! Yay. It's the Bruce Dutch Pinball Bashing Show. Yes, 20 minutes of nothing. And even Steve's like, there's nothing in this, which is funny. No, I believe he said not interested. Not interested, but there's nothing. Still not interested. Yeah, it's terrible. Plus, we have another thing to ask. We're almost out of movies, guys. What's our next set of movies? Next set of movies. We need some ideas. Anything. So we have more movies. I know what I want. Action films, porn. I mean, well, maybe not porn, but still. Debutist Dallas 2. Debutist Dallas 3. Debutist, oh my God, I can make a kingdom out of this one. Yeah, actually, yeah, any of those. Taboo, 27. Yeah, there you go. I mean, I've never heard of that. I have no idea what those movies are. But we do need new movies, but I'm also voting for Marvel. Oh, you're still on that kick? Of course I am. I love Marvel. How do we decide which ones are actually Marvel? I just go by the date they were released. No, but like the Spider-Man movies, they weren't Marvel. No, no, Marvel Comics. Yeah, but they were made by Marvel Comics. Made by Marvel Comics. So the first, like, Spider-Man movies are not made by Marvel Comics. I know. But they're all, what's the character? A Marvel Comics character? Again, see. You'd have to start with X-Men if you're going by Ron's way, right? Yeah, exactly. If that's the first Marvel Studios. X-Men is Fox. Ah, okay. So you'd have to actually go by Iron Man. Yeah, I believe, yeah. The first Iron Man was the first movie in the Marvel Universe. Yes. But I would go back further, of course, because I'm cool. No, because you make no sense. You make no sense. You should do Transformers movies instead. Oh, God. That's terrible. Chris Bucci's rolling over in his grave right now saying what Transformers is terrible, but it is. He's rolling over. He's on right now anyway. He's on. But he's not dead. But he'd be rolling over in his grave. He'd be. Oh, man. It's already gone. It's great. It's already going off the rails. Yes, this is live. This is 100% live, and we're going to be talking about Pembert. Wait a second. One more thing. We're going to talk about our own stuff, or are we just going right to Pembert? Okay, what's our own stuff? What's going on? I just got on a meteor today. $450 meteor. Yeah, I saw that. Yeah. I was third in line, and the second guy bought it. Yeah. I could have been first in line. I think Zach actually sent that to me like 40 minutes after we got posted. He sent it to both of us. Yeah. Do you see the pictures? Yeah. It looks nice. It looks nice, except it's missing something. Knocker. In the entire panel, it's got the exact same thing that's in the Sea Witch. It has, like, a Bally transformer rectifier board unit, like, mounted inside there with no board. Dip hot podge. Whatever. I just didn't want to deal with that again. Lovely. Yes. We'll get you up any day. Okay, so we're going to talk about what our last guest talked about and what our current guest will talk about. Pinberg. It's Pinberg, the biggest pinball tournament in the planet. we're going to talk about how Tim cannot wait to play Frontier again. Is that true, Tim? Tim, can we? I can wait to play Frontier again. In fact, if they don't put it in the A finals, I might not have to play it again. There you go. Mike, so you are in the A finals as far as you're concerned? Oh, mentally, yes. All right. Physically, no, not yet. Let's recap everyone where we finished last year. All right. I didn't make the playoffs. What group were you in? B, I think. Okay. Tim? I came in fourth place in B division. Which made him totally A-bound. But he did a great job last year, so congratulations on that. Thank you. I lost. Our very last game was Frontier. That's why we're making fun of Frontier. Stupid game. I wasn't making fun of Frontier. I was making fun of Tim. Let's see if that was verified. Okay. Where do you place it? There, Bruce. I was an A there, sir. I finished 88th. All right. So we shall see. So Bruce beat me. Yeah, I actually did beat you, but you beat me on money. Yeah. A lot to zero. Yeah. So, let's start it off. What are – what's everybody's restrictions this year? None. I'm sorry. I can only be in – I don't know what it is actually now. Let's go to Papa. Oh, great. This will be great for the live. See, it's great when you go. Is it on there? What are you restricted to, Tim? You probably already know. I'm restricted to A division for two reasons. one of them is the B division finals which guaranteed I was in A division for at least one year and then also the top 50 IFPA restriction guarantees I'm in A division as long as that holds true yep I am restricted to B because I finished I got in the playoffs of B at Papa this year ooh if you go by my ranking it's like if you're over 200, you can be in C. So normally I could be in C, but then I saw that little blurb about Papa finals like, damn it. Aren't you glad you didn't make the final four? Because then you would be restricted to A division. That would suck. I'm a realist. It's like, don't you want to go against the best? No. I am restricted to C. For what reason, Bruce? 500, top 500 IFPA ranking. Okay. Is there a D? There is a D. Okay. It shows you my knowledge of the rules. D is the only division where your points reset at the start of Friday. Ah, yes. It used to be C. Lovely. All right. So we have a couple of things that came out today. Hmm? Did you see the email that came out today from ReplayFX? Okay, what was The Pinberg update. Oh, the one where they said there's only two times you can check in, but possibly a third, but it ain't announced yet? No. Yeah. Oh, a third. Yep, they said you can check in at some Pittsburgh Pinball League headquarters or something somewhere, and you can do that Wednesday, or at ReplayFX the morning of the show, which you don't want to do. So what I'm waiting for is them to announce the hotel check-in, which they had last year. Yeah, that was awesome last year. Which was awesome. Because I know Pittsburgh, the league champion, league clubhouse, is going to be a madhouse. Oh, I see something good in the corner. I see Steve Bowne is online. So let's see See if we can do this without ruining the universe Well actually I'm going to just message him first To see Without ruling the universe I see you're online Oh my This is exciting This live show I'm trying to pretend this is live And we're actually like the Buffalo guys We're streaming it or something Live on location I can hit you with a quick Tim rant while we Please, please, Tim rant us Is this going to be the rule set thing? Yes Good boy, go for it Okay Now, let's do some backstory before we get into this Tim rant I used to be what's known as a rules guy A young person in pinball who likes learning rule sets And picks them up fairly easily And enjoys the intricacies of a rule set But I have finally realized that Stern may be pushing it too far. No. And the reason I think this is because I believe that the metagame has reached a point where it is more important than the regular game. And what I mean by this is that it is now impossible to win a stern pinball game against someone who knows what they are doing, no matter how different in play you are. I think one example of this is Game of Thrones, where people who didn't know how to play this game would often wind up with like 8 million points if they didn't start multiball without knowing what to do. Or if they did start multiball, they'd only end up with, you know, 100 million or 200 million compared to someone who played two or three modes and got 500 million. Now, with Star Wars, they've taken this to a whole new level where they basically put out a perfectly reasonable, fine pinball machine. and then on top of it they have a multiplier rule which takes so much precedence over the rule set that when I film my upcoming Star Wars pinball tutorial, the first thing I will have to talk about is the multiplier rule before I explain a single rule about multiball, about modes, about anything in the game. The only thing I might have to explain first is the skill shot selection so I can actually get into a place where I can show the multiplier. But they've added this shot multiplier, which is never consumed, always on, always building up, but you have to toggle it on and off with the third button in the middle and swap it between everything. And if you don't do this, your shots will only be at 1x value. And you go, okay, well, I'm usually playing shots at 1x value. What's wrong with that? Well, because this multiplier goes up to 40x value, and like I said, it's not consumed. It's fairly easy to increase to, like, 20x. So 20x is hitting a shot 20 times instead of one. So you have to always be using this. And I've noticed I'm like, without using the multiplier, my game would be like 100 to 200 million. With the multiplier, I'm always over a billion. Like that's the difference in scores you have just by knowing about this multiplier and bothering with it. But this is not a pinball skill. This is entirely a knowledge and rule set skill. This is not a flipper skill. This is not a nudge skill. this is not a flip or catch, entirely game knowledge. And game knowledge that actually dominates the entire game. So until everyone does this, until everyone manipulates their button, gets their multiplier set up correctly, you will not, you know, come close to a high score or a good competitive match where you're close on Star Wars. Until you're constantly using that button and doing all sorts of goofy stuff. maybe this will change with code updates I know sometimes I get in a lot of trouble because I'll complain about code and I'll complain about a game and how it exists and people go like oh no but I'm in the know and there's code coming and they're going to fix it and they're going to do this and this and this and I have to just wait for months to see if things will slowly change but I don't know sometimes it seems like the things I complain about get changed so I might as well keep complaining about them so for Star Wars I recommend to dial it way back on this multiplier. Maybe make it very hard to light. Maybe make it only usable once. Make it something very challenging to set up instead of something I'm constantly dealing with so that regular pinball games can take place on this machine instead of all these rule, you know, upsets. There's the Tim Rand. Wow. I feel like some, like, Hallelujah music should be playing. Like, do you ever see the lights? Now you see while I'm in these tournaments and someone says, Game of Thrones, and I go, oh, God. Okay. And now with Star Wars, it's going to be even worse. It's just like, so you're saying, like, I have to hit this button, this center button, to move to what move? Move the multiplier around? How will I know which, like, time it's on? Yeah, I'll explain how it works. So any time during the game, there's those red X's, or the X's all over the play field. They start out, they're red, and a few of them are lit. So anytime you move the flipper left, the Xs will move left, you move them right, they'll move right. When you hit the button, it turns them green, and they'll lock into place, so they don't move anywhere when you hit the flippers. And this means when you hit the shot, you'll get the value of the multiplier. You increase the multiplier by hitting the screen, hitting the spot targets in front of the mini screen, and it's kind of like the battering ram or the bell on ACDC where you hit it and it increases and it resets the timer. But the way the game works is there's no reason not to use those multipliers. So what I wind up trying to do when I play Star Wars is making sure that every single time I'm about to hit a shot, I put the green X in front of it and then shoot it, then I toggle it, then I move it, then I lock it in, then I shoot it, and hopefully I have enough time to move it while the ball is returning to me. If I miss, I'll just, you know, get control and shoot it again, so that's not so bad. But when I hit a shot, then I'm like, button, switch, switch, switch, button, lock in, shoot, button, switch, switch, button, lock in, shoot, da-da-da-da, like keep doing that, keep doing that, to the point where like it's worth training in multiball because the shot value is so much higher. So you'll have to visually see it. And I already, another issue I had was like, I'm going to have to explain this rule to so many people and I just explained it to you and probably none of it stuck. It was a very poor explanation. It's like you have to see it. You have to understand what the heck is going on and you have to understand its importance or you'll never figure it out. Which way do we go George? Which way do we go? I'm too stupid to play pinball now George. I need simple games. Thanks a lot George. Thanks a lot. When we were at Pintastic Like, you know, Levy's like, so how do you like it? How do you like it? I played the first game on it, and I'm like, what the heck? This is 26X. How do I use that? Is that working? Like, what's going on? I can't figure it out. He's like, well, what do you think about the rest of the game? I'm like, dude, I can't. I have to figure out this multiplier rule because 26X, that's so much X. That's so many points. Okay, so here's the description in the Star Wars rule sheet for shot multipliers. Shot multipliers start at 2x and can be toggled on or off with the action button. At lower multipliers, a spread of three shots has the green X lit. Hitting any three banked target increases the shot multiplier by one up to a maximum of 20x. The overall multiplier can be doubled, making a maximum shot multiplier of 40x. As the multiplier increases, the spread of shots will decrease to two. Then finally, the only one shot. If the multipliers are toggled off, the X arrow turns red, and the flippers will move the spread of shots left or right, turning them back on the lock-selected shots. The ideal strategy seems to be to turn them off, then move them to the shot corresponding with the bonus bonuses or jackpots. That's a lie. You want to move them to all shots because there's never a reason not to have them on. But if that's too hard, then just move them to the important shots. The multiplier resets a 2 or 4X with doubler if the 3-bank target has not been hit in a while. Does it tell you this? Yeah, the Xs start flashing, and they make a sound, and you have to hit them. So wait a minute, wait a minute. The Xs themselves can be multiplied. No, the Xs are the multipliers. Yeah, but instead you can have 20X, but then you can double that to 40X. Yeah, you have the doubler to 40X. What the fuck? So you can double the doubler. Just like... You double the 20X. Yes, but my God. That would be like an ACDC. You're like at 3X with the bell, and then you hit something else to make it like 6X with the bell. 30X. Yeah, I mean, Jesus Christ. Come on. How many things are going to double other things? Yeah, it's wild. You know, whatever. Whatever. They took, like, an awesome theme that I've been totally into and have, like, ruled it. Just whatever. Wait, wait. Ron, wait. It'll be another one of those games I hit all these shots and think I'm doing good and my score sucks because I can't do the rule. Because you don't know the thing. The thing, yeah. Ron, Ron. What? Wait for the video mode. Oh, I can't fucking wait for the video mode. It's going to be great. It's going to be fucking great. I can't fucking wait. I love video modes. They're awesome. Midnight Magic. I'm trying to think how they would even do that. Like, all you can do is move the thing back and forth, and you have an action button. Maybe they can make it like the Atari Star Wars game, and the TIE fighters are going in. You've got to move your, like, a sight back and forth and hit the action button to fire. Stay on target. Something like that, yeah. I don't know. All right. Stay on target. Enough of Star Wars. Another. By the way, I can't wait to play Daldan. Did I mention that? Okay. Sorry. That's bank number 72 for Ron. I have nothing rude to say about dialed in, by the way. I think it's good. Very good. It's good. Excellent. So let's see. We had some questions about Pinberg. Yes, we did. Because Bruce asked for some questions. Yes, we did. Should we wait for Steve on a couple of them? Well, we'll wait for him on the toilet one. Yes. Because it's specifically asking him. That's assuming he can get on. It sounds like his batteries are dead, too, and his laptop just died. And he's kind of gone dark. So unless his power comes back on, we're probably not going to see Steve. And his modem. Yeah. So do you think the air circulation at Pittenberg is ready to handle 800 pinballers? Sure. Yeah. It's big enough. Let's see. Now, those cosplayers with those costumes, maybe not. No, they'll be fine. They'll be fine. Ask them for a quick rundown of rules for the games. No. See? Yeah, that's a three-day show, right? Yeah, it's a three-day show. 328 rule sets. No. Hope you have a long flight to Pittsburgh. Yeah. Yes, we have. Is there Wi-Fi there? Can the software keep a record of each game we play and against who and look back and sorrow at the results? Yes. I don't know about Wi-Fi. We can talk about some things people will use during the tournament to, this is kind of a plug section, but some people will look up the rule sheets on Papa.org, the Papa Playthrough Videos, and Pintips.com for some quick tips on the game. So I recommend those resources. Unless you have the knowledge of Tim Sexton in your head, or you can grab him and just say, Tim, what am I doing in this fucking game? Yeah, that's much easier for one game than 300 of them. Yeah. So, yes, the software will keep track of all that shit, but I don't think they have Wi-Fi, so you better have cellular. Yep, save your data. Save your data. Yes. The last question, we'll see if Steve comes back, but we can ask it to Tim. Hey, Tim, when's the right time to shoot the toilet? Shoot the toilet? With a gun? Well, actually, you just played a game that had the toilet. So it's either Junkyard or South Park. Oh, yeah, I just played Junkyard. When's the right time to shoot the toilet? Yeah. When it's lit. Okay. When it's time to take a shit. That's when I would shoot the toilet. Okay, so we have 72 banks of goodness. Yes. Now, there's going to be one with a DMD game or later, one with an EM, one with a late solid state. The way you worded it makes it sound like the bank is within each bank. There is a DMD, an EM, a late solid state or early DMD, and an early solid state. For example, Bank One is Lord of the Rings. It's your DMD or later. Aquarius is your EM. Adam's Family is your late solid state or early DMD. And Haunted House is your early solid state. Okay. So I looked at this list. So did I. Tim doesn't believe in looking at the list. Until now. I shouldn't believe in it. Well, he's using logic in that you have no idea what banks you're going to be on anyway. It's not like you can choose the banks, but we're just hypothetically saying your favorite banks that you'd like to be on. You will get at most 10 of these 72 banks. Yes. So I like... Pick your first one. Okay, yeah, we can rotate. So, bank six, which is Dirty Harry, of course, Poker Plus, Terminator 2, and Black Knight. Why didn't you just say Steve Ritchie SR bank right there? Because Barry Oursler designed Dirty Harry. I know, but the two Steve Ritchies will help him out very much. There's this, okay, is there this thing that, like, I just, I'm awesome at all Steve Ritchie games? I suck at Game of Thrones. That new sperm We don count those Yeah but what do you mean you don count those I good at Spider That old sperm now It 10 years old That old Okay I good at Star Trek That's a cool game. Yeah, that's a cool game. Oh, it's so great. I can't edit out his complete lack of logic. All right, your turn, Bruce. I'm going number nine. Elvis. Volley, Banzai Run, and Harlem Globetrotters. I actually played this bank last year, the exact same bank. And how did you do? Hang-grenaded on this one. Oh. I played Lyman Sheets with this one, and I hang-grenaded. But I want redemption. So, yeah, actually I was considering that one. But the Elvis I'm a little foggy on. And Banzai Run I never play well. All right, Tim. You're the first one. I had another one at the top of the list, but I guess I'm going to change my mind and go down a little farther. So it looks like I read more on this list than you guys. I'm going to go with Bank 23. Sorry. You had that one. Bank 25. Oh, I had 23. Sorry, that's funny. Ripley's Believe It or Not, Yukon, F-14 Tomcat, and Alien Star. Now, can I say one thing? We should say what's your favorite game in that bank. So first, Tim, what's your favorite game in your bank, that one that really calls out to you? Alien Star. Of course, Chet. Video killed the Alien Star. How about yours, Bruce? Ron, for me, it was actually Harlem, of course. All right. Now, favorite game or game you feel you're going to play the best at? Either or. Probably play it best. You're playing in a pinball tournament. Okay. Okay, okay. Dirty Harry. Okay, there you go. So, yeah, that's a pretty good bank with 25. Alien Star, you'll shat all day. Yukon, you just got to get into those upper out holes. Ripley's with the auto plunge. Wait, wait, upper out holes? So you can drain at the top of the play field? No, not at all. You know what I mean, saucers, you bastard. Oh, sorry. Hey, at least they didn't call it a hole this time. Yeah, see? and but you know it's F-14 that one's brutal yeah but it's great it's fast it's great it's fast you can just slap it around yeah and they usually leave the the kickback is usually on at ball start it is which honestly is an easier setting so it's not quite as bad I did well on that F-14 in B finals last year so I like it I think fondly of it yeah I usually do well on it I think fondly of it too it's one that's got a plaque on it So-and-so played this to win so-and-so. I think it was Andre. Andre Massinkoff. My hero. Ron, you had those plaques, too. Yes, we did. And by plaques, I mean 8 1⁄2 by 11. They printed piece of paper. Let's see. Ron, I'm going to guess your next number. You're going to guess my – okay, because I went in order. I pretty much started at the top and just went down. What do you think my next one's going to be? 33. No. 12. You know why? Okay, because it's a dirty hair. I don't even have 33 on my list. 12. Jackpot. Okay. Gator. Okay. High Speed. Okay. And Cheetah. Cheetah, of course. And which is the game you think you're going to do the best on? Cheetah. Okay, wow. I could play any old Cern, man. Except for Viper. That game sucks. Which Viper is not in here. Of course not. They don't have a Viper. I didn't know. You didn't know if you'd get one or not. Because it sucks. It sucks. Okay, guys. We trie d to talk Doug Polka out of getting, like, an Iron Maiden. Like, why? It sucks. Don't bother. It's not that bad. It's too expensive. Yeah, it sucks. It ain't worth the money. Okay, this is another bank I played last year and did pretty good in. Starship Troopers, number 23. Starship Troopers. Orbit multiball. I'll go for it all day. Argosy. Arrgh. Great game. Bram Stoker's Dracula. And Algar, baby. Algar. Fucking turd. God damn it. I can't wait until you play Bram Stoker's Dracula. I know. It's funny with that bank what they did because they put one of the most controllable EM games of all time, Argosy, with one of the least controllable solid state games of all time in Algar. I know. God, I hate that game. I like Argosy and that group. It's just so ugly. Fun fact of Argosy, I know the person who's played the most Argosy of any human in the world. Harry Williams? Nope. It's Levy Naiman. Levy's had one game in his one-bedroom apartment for years. Just one. He can't fit many because he lives in the city, and it's Argosy. He's playing more games of Argosy than any human alive or dead. I believe his thing is Argosy and 2000 or whatever. What is it, Dimension? Are the only two permanent members of the collection. Anything else can go. Yeah. I believe that's his gimmick there. Okay, your turn, Tim. Your shot. All right, I found a really great bank. Bank number 60. And I'm picking banks that I haven't played before. Oh, I picked that one too, Tim. Metallica. Yes. Target Pool. What a great EM. I love those big triangle in the middle EMs with the small flippers. You can do, like, every flipper move on them. Yep. And they're all nudge games, so they make the tilts loose enough that you can, you know, nudge off the slings up top and get the stuff you need. Yep. Hoops. Yep. And Gottlieb's best game, because there's no mystery award, or premieres best, I guess, and Embryon. Embryon. It's a nice wide body, because most of the play field is just cut off by the big thing in the middle. So you just kind of send it up the sides and handle it up there. Yep. Ron, was that one on your list? No. Okay, so two out of three picked that one. Maybe Steve will have that one. So what's your favorite in that bag? My favorite in that bank is Hoops. Of course. Hoops. Yep. Hoops. Oh, Steve's coming back online. This is exciting. I might have to set up another Tim Rant so we have Ron communicate with Steve again. Don't worry, I've got more. I've got some back pocket Tim Rants for some, like, you know, mid-70s episodes or something. Yikes. All right. Let's see. My next one is... Let me get the list up here. If anyone has a match, would anybody else say it? Like I just did with Tim. I have a match. What'd you have? I'm just kidding. I have no idea. 30. Avatar'd. Big Indian. Okay. Mousing around. And big game. Okay. And mousing around would be one in there. Okay. Near, near, near, near, near, near, near, near, near, near, near, near. Okay. We got Steve says he's on. All right. So I'm going to attempt to join here. Let me copy the file off before I do that. Just in case. I did check earlier to make sure we were all on, by the way. So did Bruce just walk away? I think he did. this was the no editing episode this is the no editing episode now with editing yeah I guess I gotta join the pop what most people realize if you have like a bunch of mp3 files here's a little tip folks if you're doing this and you got a bunch of mp3 files like when I join Steve to this call it's going to create a new one that's going to continue from there with the mp3 files you can do a copy slash b a command line and just do put string the files together plus signs and just get one file much easier. That's what I would recommend. Years in IT, it works with MP3 files just peachy. Alright, so we've got Steve here. I'm going to try to have him in a group call. Let's see what happens here. What was that? Alright! All right. Is Blackout on the list? Yeah. All right. We've got to do roll call. You weren't here for the beginning. This is going to be the live podcast. There's no editing. It's going to be a no-edit podcast, though. All the warts and everything are going to be there. So we just joined Steve. Steve Bowne on to the podcast, though. We have to check to make sure we're all here on the file. So let's sign in. Hi, Ron. I'm here. Hi, I'm Bruce. Hi, I'm Tim. Hi, I'm Steve. And we are the something. The something. The Fantastic Four. Yeah, we're the Four Horsemen. There you go. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Of the Apocalypse? I call Ric Flair. Wow. You guys talk amongst yourselves. I'm going to mute and check this file out. Okay, Steve. So we actually have the list in front of us. Okay, I have the list. And you missed my great Timran about Star Wars. Oh, man. I'm looking forward to that. You will hear it. All bad things? Some good things? Multipliers mentioned? Yeah, multipliers are heavily mentioned. It's the whole game. And we went over the rules of the multipliers, and oh, my God. Yeah, they're not sticking. Hit the button. In fact, you looked at the Tilt Forum's rule explanation, I think, to get that description of the multipliers. I'm going to edit that because Tilt Forum said you want to only use the Xs on the important shots, but you actually want to use them on all shots. So keep on multiplying. Yes. We're all on it. So, Steve, we were actually picking like seven or eight good banks out of this group you would like to see for yourself. For me. Well, before we – let me just declare that all the banks are awesome and all the banks suck. That way any karma for picking any particular bank, whatever, that just gets neutralized. Yeah, the computer listens to this podcast. Yeah. It's automatic. According to Tim, this is kind of dumb because we can't really choose what banks we're going to play. His logic is – I can't argue with the logic, but I just like going over games that I'd like to play. So, Ron picked, what bank did you pick so far? You picked... I picked 6, and 12, and 30. 30 was the last one I picked. I picked 9, and 23 so far. I picked 25, and 60. Yep. Well, I'm looking at, even though Avengers is up there, bank number 5. Ooh, that is a good bank. Because it has my Nitro, Shoot the Hold, it has Genesis. Grand Prix is my favorite EMF ever. And it's got Avengers, which is just, you know, Hawkeye versus Black Widow. Okay, that's fine. But, yeah, okay, I'm looking at that. That's pretty okay. Okay, now. That makes me happy. Pick another one. Oh, yeah. Wow, you're pretty mean. You're like, you need to catch up now. You're behind. Hold on, Steve. Which one would you pick that's your favorite game out of those four? out of those four? Yeah. Grand Prix. Okay, good. Good. Perfect. Yep. Grand Prix. Great game. Yeah, that's, even though it has the suicide outlay, it's my favorite EM. So, you know, I love those spinners. Absolutely. Oh, yeah. Oh, wow, yeah. Let me see here. Bank 46 was looking good until I saw Faces in there. Because I was forgiving Cactus Jack and Barracora is awesome, but Faces just totally messes that whole thing up. So well done. Well done, Bank Choosers, on that. Well done there. You know, that's good bank construction. And what am I looking at here? No, no, no, no. Bruce, I'm going to copy you on Bank Nine is awesome. It is awesome, isn't it? Yes. Bank Nine is fun. Bank Nine, yeah, you know what? I can co-sign Bank Nine. Wow, three out of the four. Wow. It is a great bank. I played it last year, that same bank with Wyman, and it was a great bank. I'd pick it if it wasn't for Elvis because I am clueless on that game. Oh, well, the three out of four. It's the Steve Ritchie game. I know. It's Steve Ritchie. I automatically know it through osmosis. Okay. Well, you don't have to. You just have to shoot the ball on the fat part of the flipper, and it's okay. Yeah. And things will happen. Just get the – You don't say crap. Yeah. Play better, like Tom Ferrell says. Yes, Tom Servo I think I'm going to make that a segment Yeah, Tom Servo comments on pinball Steve Ritchie Servo and I'm just going to do little things where he's in front of his games and says how he's awesome Alright, let's give a shout out to Bank 51 for a second here Okay, Star Trek Pro Centigrade Waterfall 37 Checkpoint, which, you know, okay and then there's Gorgar sitting there, so, you know It's not a bad one. Checkpoint's good because nobody knows how to play it, and everyone does the wrong thing. Well, yeah. Okay, Tim. Okay, Steve. What do we do on checkpoint? What's the right thing? There's going to be a giant right ramp that's going to look so tender and juicy, and you're just going to want to bite right into that right ramp. Don't do it. What you want to do is hit the spinner. Hit the spinner, and then when you're done, hit the spinner. And to keep on doing the spinner, spinner, spinner. Right, because you get points and cash and prizes for it, and then eventually... You get everything out of that spare. You'll get everything, and then things will start, and it's fine. Points, cash, prizes, and can I take the rest on a gift certificate? Yeah, definitely. You can trade those in in the later seasons for more cash. That's excellent. You can put it on an account. I want the ceramic Dalmatian also. Let's see. That's my pick. Okay, Bruce, what do you got? Have we picked any garbage bags yet? Oh, yeah, yeah. Well, I think we should. That's a good idea. Do, do, I'm picking, I'm not going to pick the back garbage yet. Bank 31 for me. There's a dog in there, Star Wars Trilogy. Okay. But Mars Trek? Mars Trek, Space Station, and Stars really holds down. That really makes it a positive bank for me. That's a themed bank, too. It is. I like the themed banks. Very obviously themed. Some of them, the themes are hard to tell. But this one's planets. In fact, three of the four names are star. Yeah, we're in space. That's a pretty good one. I like that one. How about you, Tim? I had a few I was looking at, but I'm going to go with bank number 10. That is Simpsons Pinball Party, Dragon EM, Taxi, and Countdown. That is a good one. I must admit that's a really good one I'm doubling that one down too and yours sounds like Steve is too yeah I missed that I'm going to hope with Dragon I can shoot the middle lanes and get the stupid points out of nowhere and then just have fun with the other three games it's a pinball party so I have to pass on that sorry wow wow why though I can co-sign on the first five minutes of Simpsons not liking that. But after that, like after I get multiball one, then I'm in the game. Or you're really in the game. But before that, I don't appreciate it. I never really liked the shots. It's all like the garage and the couch and that whole upper playfield thing. I can understand that. That's the part I can understand. Like you shoot the garage and you have to wait. Then you go to the upper playfield and you have to wait. Then you shoot the mode starter. You have to wait. Then you shoot the couch and then you have to wait some more. And then you shoot the Then you plunge and then you shoot the garage And you have to wait, rinse, repeat For three locks That's the first five minutes that I don't like But, you know Unless I use itchy and scratchy to Boost my way toward the first couch Or something, but then after that Then the game has started So then I'm okay You have to go through all that to start the game I think the key word there was wait That's one thing I don't like to do Is wait Okay. So, Ron, your pick next. All right, this is my last one here. Oh, so he's backing out already. See? What? Backing out. 37. No Fear, Slick Chick, RoboCop, and Evil Knievel. Another very themed bank. Yeah. Slick Chick's the hard one. What's the theme? Skulls? No Fear and Evil Knievel or Stunts. Yes. And RoboCop kind of too, I guess, because he makes some sweet jumps. He makes jumps all over. Yeah, it's all jumps. Yeah. And out of that, RoboCop. Oh, the one before me with stars. That's actually a special RoboCop. That's the RoboCop LE. What? That's RoboCop Loud Edition, because every year we have protection. Turn up the volume. Sinner. It's better. It's a digital stereo, which means that every time you flip a flipper, it makes a sound. I hate that. That is the one thing I hate. That and what's the other one that does that? Lion Man, that game. Oh, Fury. Fury. It does that. Why do they do that? That's a bad idea. That's never a good idea. So, Steve. Good day or bad? Good day. Thank you, Willie. 34. Thank you. Attack, AFM, Super Straight, which is perfectly fine with me, Grand Lizard, and Black Pyramid. I mean, you've got your endurance game with Black Pyramid, you know, as long as you can stay on your feet for that. I mean, I assume when the rubbers are going to be off, so any mistake will result in termination down the outlanes. But other than that, yeah. I mean, I agree with you. That was one of my picks, Steve. I'm definitely supporting that And the best one out of that one? Well, AFM, I mean, you know Good boy Super straight Super straight is right there also Super straight right there Yeah, I can support that, but AFM No, yeah If Zach was here, he would support that Yes And Black Pyramid, that's just the orbits, right? Really? No, we're not on orbit Whatever orbit, orbit It's just the rubbers will be off It's just, no mess with any tap passing, whatever Just shoot, whatever orbit the proper flipper is on. I mean, yeah, you're supposed to tap past it so you can write over it more because it gives you letters faster and sometimes completes words, completes the whole black and pyramid in one shot, but, you know, just don't even mess with that. There's points on both sides, so take whichever flipper you happen to catch it on, count your blessing you just got, and then shoot you over it. That's it. Got it. That's it, though. You know, so whoever lasts the longest will win that. Yes I totally agree Tim Next For my next act For my next trick I will choose Bank number 21 Which is Congo Jungle Queen Indiana Jones Williams And Jungle Lord Which is the game I'm least familiar with In that bank 3 out of 4 ain't bad Tim Yep, I agree. Jungle Lord is a turd. It's a turd. I love the jingo. If you start on Congo, or you start on Jungle Lord, you can get it out of the way, and you just play three great games in a row. Because Congo, Jungle Queen, and Indiana Jones are all great games. It's just going to be a multiball fest on freaking Indiana Jones. Yeah. That's fine. Yeah. That's a given. That's fine because I understand that. I totally understand the rules. Like, okay, I got to lock these balls. I got to get multiball. I got to get jackpot. I got to get the super. Best super sound ever. We need some Scott rules on Indiana Jones. Like, you have to get a mode in order to lock a ball. Yes. Come on, Scott. We need WPC. Scott has been directing us to the Soren guy. Like, ask him. He's the WPC guy. He can do it. Because that would improve that game so much. Yeah, okay, fine. Your first multiball is free and clear. Just shoot the locks or whatever. But the next one, you've got to get at least one mode to activate the lock. Yep, I like that idea. And then that opens the rest of the game up. Yeah, I don't know what that is. It just becomes multiball fest. I know, it does a multiball fest. I like modes. The modes are fun in that game. But, yeah, I know what you're saying. Right. For me, number 36 X-Men That was one That was one, go ahead I support this Judge Dredd, Quicksilver Now I'm going to screw you guys all up, X-Men That's the game I wanted out of that one That's my favorite out of the four Chris loves X-Men I do love X-Men Over Quicksilver I know I can play Quicksilver but X-Men I can crank Hardly on. I like it a lot. Rank Hard... What? What did you just say? Hardly. Hardly? Hardly. Okay. Yes. Right. I thought you were going to get cranking on it hardly. Oh, I always do every day. Yeah. Edit. No editing. This has been No Edit Podcast, ladies and gentlemen. I'm trying to get some of the shitty ones here. Steve? Like, Ben 48 makes me sad panda a little bit there. Ben 48 ruins it for me. Austin Powers, you know, till ends game garbage. Actually, while we're on that, we had a question for you, Steve, from one of our listeners. And I don't know what game he was referring to, and I forgot Austin Powers had one also. He said, please ask Steve when is the right time to shoot the toilet. What, on Austin Powers? It doesn't say. We don't know. It doesn't say what the game is. I assume it's Austin Powers, and if that's it, then it's at all times. That's what we said all the time. Whenever it's lit. At all times. Whenever it's lit. Whenever it's lit, and it's lit at all times. And it has the longest ball saver for the multiball. And so if they haven't changed anything, it's shoot the toilet, and then keep shooting it until you drain. As part of the toilet trilogy, South Park, when do you shoot it? every time every time it doesn't hurt I mean hopefully well on Junkyard it's just sort of there as your misbehave it locks in but South Park I mean yeah that's your multiball start but hopefully you've shot the ramp a lot to activate that double jackpot before you start multiball then you're just shooting the ramp all day you know if you can do that if you can finish the ramp mode cause then that will make the ramp also a double jackpot, which advances to the super, which is also the right ramp anyway. So if you can get that right ramp mode done before you start multiball, then you're just essentially shooting the right ramp, and every five times it'll say super, and then you win. Done. And that's part of the reason why the ramp mode is a little bit harder. I mean, it is a ramp, so it's not going to be easy, and they don't give you a lot of time for it. But if you catch that ramp in, and then start multiball with it, you pretty much got it. Alright Agreed So Steve a good bank out of these Couple more Let's see I want to do bad banks I got a couple I'm geared up for bad banks I already picked a sad panda bank for me That Austin Powers 2001 till ends game No 55? For you good guys? Nah No? Well, I mean, Well, Poker Tour, you know, holds that up on its shoulders, but... Counterforce is good? Okay, Bad Banks. We'll go Bad Banks. Okay. Yay! Wait a minute, I like 55. It has Heavy Metal Meltdown in it. And Counterforce. Well, like I said, it has Heavy Metal Meltdown in it. Okay, Bad Banks. Go for it. First one. Who wants to yell out first one? 57. Me, me, me. 57. I got to beat you. Oh, man. See, that was crap. See, I was going to call that no-talkback infinity. High Roller Casino. Crap. And that's the good game. It is the good game. It's a good game. You know, Bruce? I don't mind Spanish Eyes. I can play Spanish Eyes. Bruce, one of the only times you'll hear me say this, that is the best game in the bank, High Roller Casino. See, I just put it over. Spanish Eyes, Party Zone. Third, just hit the ramp. Which is the game that Scott said, if it was ever picked, because the opponent never picked. He would just take the zero. That's how much he hated it. And Asteroid Annie and the Aliens. Just poker teams just shoot the shots, but it is a pretty bad bag. I've got the high score on Asteroid Annie because it had extra balls on it, Papa, but I just put up like 680, 000 or something, and it was enough to be the high score all weekend last I checked. So, yeah. Okay, Tim. I don't like it, though. It's very boring. No, you love it. You secretly love it. You wanted to play that. It was very playable. There's a turd bank right above it. 54. Ooh. 24. Yeah, that is. Miss O. And then, yeah. Star Trek DE and then Buck Rogers. Ugh. I know Greg's going, no, I want that bank. But no, it's turd. Does he? Because, you know. He owns Buck Rogers. Yeah, he owns that, but there are other games in there. He's been trying to sell that one, too, and he didn't get it that long ago. I know. 24 is good. Good, bad, or good and terrible? It's good in relation to the other games. I never had as much an issue with that game except for the call-outs. I still say it's the worst call-outs ever. The worst voice work by somebody ever in a game. Period. I got a bad bank next. All right. Go ahead. Bank 22 Demolition Man The best bank It looks like it's going to be a good bank Wow Cosmos It is really Demolition Man and pure garbage Yeah Cosmos immediately takes all the good of Demo Man And makes it worse Wow That is garbage And World Cup the ugliest game in pinball Yeah and it's a terrible game It's just Phoenix rehashed Yeah And it's a trap Because it's got World Cup up there When I see World Cup I'm thinking World Cup It's a trap Total Adam Rathaus No one wants to play Black Belt You don't want to see the cool plastic With the guy with his legs open there You don't want to hit like Big plastic ramps that you can't get up Come on No? No No? No. All right. Okay, Ron. You're back in that bag, so. Oh, it's my turn? If you want. My turn? Let's see if I can pick something I don't like. The problem is a lot of these will have at least two games, like, in every bag that I kind of like. Oh, wait a minute. I just found one. Never mind. Independence Day. Old Chicago. It's 19. 19. Independence Day, Old Chicago, Riverboat Gambler, and Fathom. Fathom's a fun one. That's it. Old Chicago's not bad. That's the main one there. Old Chicago's not bad. I hate Old Chicago. But then you got Riverboat, Progressive Jackpot Gambler. Unless it's turned off. It could be turned off. They do have special ROMs there. Okay. But I don't mind Independence Day. I have it in my league up here, and I play it all the time. So I know what I'm doing there. Oh, my Lord. 65. Oh, that is bad. Well, ROM by like one. I'll leave is the game that I'd want to play in that And then we have 66 is even just as bad Well I don't mind Big Hurt It's just terrible So 65 is Ghostbusters Aerobatics Which isn that a What do you call it Isn that like a um Sonic game Yes. It was at Expo, I think. Yeah, I didn't think it was that bad, if it's the one I'm thinking of. Like the plane thing. Yeah, I actually thought it was okay. Motorshow. I don't even know what that is. What is the Motorshow? I have to look this one up now, because that's actually got me a little... Wow! Motorshow! What's the price for flying? Oh my god. Okay, Tim, impress us. I guess you can also do it for Motor Dome. Name the band. Night Rager? Yay! Thank you, Google. Oh! Nice. Okay, we all know Motor Show. We all know Motor Show. In the old building, it's that one with the weird cabinet that was never working all the time by the seats for the kids, you know, where you eat your lunch or anything like that. That one with the trucks, the four-wheel drive truckers. The Waco one. Yeah. No, not the Waco. It's actually, it's 1989. It is made by Game. It's made by Mr. Game from Italy. Wait a minute. The name of the company is Mr. Game. Mr. Game. Oh, yes. That's pretty bad. Yes. Wait, wait. That's the one with the TV on it? Yeah, the little TV. Yes. I guess they got it wrong. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I played it, actually, at this Papa. It's terrible. Is it going to hold up? Who knows? No, that game's awesome. It's just you shoot the ramps until you get video mode, and you can never drain. because every shot beats the flickers. All right, I got one. NBA Stern. Oh, it's going to be mine. Yeah, Captain Fantastic. Uh-huh, uh-huh. Diner. And then Ready Aim Fire. And then the Savage. It's like, one is the turd, and Ready Aim Fire is like when it flushes. Uh-huh. Yeah, I was going to say, the trivia, me and Bruce played this last year. I feel for you. It was bad. We were both on it, and we were like, oh, my God. And one guy crushed. You got a perfect on it. Yeah, one guy got a 12, and I stirred the cup for $500, 000, and he stirred the cup for, like, $5 million for some reason, and that was the game. What, did he have multiball or something? Did he just put both in there? Just a better hit. Just didn't hit it right. But readying fire, goodness. That's the Joker's Wild on LSD. I mean, what is that? Hit the bumpers and then that same four-second sound loop that gets you really crazy and nuts. I realize there is actually a shot on Ready, Aim, Fire. Oh, yeah. One shot on the game, and it's from right flipper, shoot up the left orbit, and try to get it through the top. After that, good luck. Good luck. All right. What does everyone think of 70? 70 is Aerosmith, Knockout, Roadshow, and Andromeda. I think it's a lot of turds there. Yeah. I don't mind Aerosmith and Roadshow. I don't mind playing it. It's just, ugh. Dear God, look where they put Star Wars. Mm-hmm, I know. That's a bad bank. You just think you got Star Wars, then you're playing soccer. Soccer, straight up. Hurricane. Oh, God. Wow. Now, I know at least once they're an employee listening to this podcast, but I think they're going to put Star Wars in the backup bank after a while and put a new game in that bank. Which employee listens to us? Hey, Keith. Wow, live. I can't edit that out. So you think they're going to take it out? Like it's not going to last? I think it might freeze up at one point during a multiball, and I think that's enough at Coppa to go bye-bye and put a new game in. How about Ghostbusters? Is there any physical thing they could do to stop that skill shot? Take the plunger out. Maybe they could disable the switch in the plunge lane. Take the plunger out. Yeah, they could take the plunger out, but you don't want to do that because you just want to take the, what's the switch called in the plunge lane, the first switch that it hits? The shooter lane switch. If you just enable that, I think you might fix it. You might mess up the rest of the game. Or it might give it all the time. It might be a guaranteed shot. I'm sure they are. We've got to give credit where credit is due. They are aware of said things. Yeah, they pulled it from A-Bank. And they've probably already tested it, and we'll have some kind of modification to that. A.K.A. Sopranos. Right. Validate this. You're like, validate this now. Good. Yeah, I got to play that. I guess it was in the group with me. Kaylee, this is your fault. You're the reason this game doesn't have a plunger in it. It's not his fault. It's the programmer's fault. He just finds it out. I found a pretty good bank for you, Tim. 62. 62? Well, if they're old. You know what? That's what I'm saying. I'm not being facetious here. I'm being, actually, that's a pretty good bank for Tim. Except for full throttle. Full throttle. No, he likes full throttle. He knows how to play full throttle. Yeah, but I don't get a handle on that game all the time. Sometimes I can and sometimes I just don't, and I don't know what it is. Well, you don't really need that much of a handle because, I mean, it's the game that not many have played. So you can just, you know, get a couple of multi-balls stacked and then you'll probably win, maybe. Yeah, I guess I can always rely on my radius of travel bringing me in contact with full throttle every week. Right, so there you go That's a win, you know And all the other games you know So yeah I want that, I'll take that I'll take that too Wizard of Oz Bank 50 Wizard of Oz That's going to be my turn, Dick That's harsh Game Show Wildfire, that's the highlight of the group The old Stern Holding it up and give a nod to that. Jesus. Wow. Well, so a lot of these banks are the same as last year. I think this is the first year they've kind of not done new banks, and I think they're kind of establishing a more solid balance of play time with these banks too. Yep. Right? Yep, that is correct. Because I know some banks you would see like, oh, what's the last group left? Oh, they're on Avengers. Right. And it's especially at the end of the day when it's like you have one of the top A groups in a bank. And they play the DMD last. So the software is actually smart enough to put you, the higher you are starting, it puts you on the EM first instead of the DMD. And puts you on the DMD last. Yeah, so it makes it a little more efficient that way. But then you'll see the longest playing DMD or later game will be the one that, you know, becomes very obvious. Because that's the one that everyone's playing at the end. All right. How about 47, guys? Speaking of that point, yeah, okay. Family Guy. Hot Tip. We're betting ass. Okay. That's an awesome bank, yeah. Yeah, what happened there? I missed that. Mm-hmm. Except for Family Guy, yes. That's good. You know what? because you probably go down the DMD games to start, and you don't look all the way across if you see Family Guy, but it rounds out that bank pretty nicely. I like that bank. The EM hot tip, the better version. The better version, Corvette, which I don't necessarily play well, but I like it, and Kiss. Yeah, great. Good Kiss. Yep. I like the other Kiss, too. We know. You pick it all the time. Like, he's going to pick Kiss. He's going to pick Kiss. It's probably one of my favorite board games. Oh, look at 59. Oh, I played this one on the stage last year. Oh, boy. Batman Dark Knight, Freedom took a zero, Vegas took a zero, and Force 2. I got a three, I think. So I got a five, that group, with two points on Batman and three points on Force 2 and a lot of garbage in the middle. Yeah. But that bank speaks to your point, Tim, though. I mean, you have BDK, which is going to take 47 years, and then the other three was going to take two seconds. Yep. And the same thing with Group 45 speaks to your point. You have Roller Coaster Tycoons, which are going to take four hours, and then you have the other three, which are going to take two minutes. Maybe Solar Ride might take. And I'm sur e Whirlwind will just destroy people, and they'll have the nice flipper hop on Whirlwind to take care of that garbage. Yeah. And, yeah, that'll take four minutes. Yeah. They did put our lightning flippers on Batman, but, yes, it did still take a while. It doesn't matter because you're shooting to left orbit. Yeah, whatever. Now, what games do you think are going to be the stage games? Do you think it's going to be 60 up? Last year it was 58, 59, 60. I don't know how big the stage is. It can probably only fit 12 games. Okay, so which one do you think it's going to be? Is it going to be the 70, 71, 72? Dialed in on the stage. Newer games, Aerosmith, Hobbit, and Dialed In. Hobbit and Dialed In on the stage. I'm going to say 1, 2, 3. The 1, 2, 3 last year was on the side. I'm thinking 70, 71, 72. That's what I call. You say 1, 2, 3. What do you guys think? I think the stage will not vibrate this year. Very good. Now, what do you think? That's good. Well, we had some inside info. They're going to use the gymnastics stage. It's now outside info because it was released on the Slam Zilled podcast. Oh, yeah, that's true. Yeah. Sorry. It was inside out. It's Inside Out. Inside Out. Why don't you turn me outside? Oh, do you have a question, Bruce? No, no, just saying, you know, what do you think is the bank for the stage? What numbers do you think are going to be? I wouldn't even venture, I guess. Wow. No clue. I think they would put 70, 71, and 72. I mean, that's just a pure guess. But, I mean, you have three new games in there. Two of them are Jersey Jack games. Yep. Doodlebug's in there. See, we have Jersey Jack games on the stage. There they go. Yeah. Yep. That'll be the reason for that. So, yeah. That's the only good about 71 is Doodlebug. Wow. It's the truth. Come on. I agree with Bruce because El Dorado Solid State is the worst version of Canada Dry. Right. It is. Canada Drive. And Phantom of the Opera just drags you into the back of the street and beats your face in. It does. That one does, yes. And then The Hobbit, okay. The Hobbit's a Hobbit, fine. But, yeah, Doodlebug is, that's the one that's supposed to hold that group up, really. I mean, even with The Hobbit there. Yeah. Yeah, practice your tap passes for Doodlebug and get that bug doodling. Yeah. Get that 100, 000 point doodling. Here's an interesting one. Bank 15. Shrek, King of Diamonds, then you have Swords of Fury and Space Shuttle. Hmm. Shrek long player, Swords of Fury long player. Yep. Space Shuttle. You know, hit the spinner over and over. Yep. Stealer and King of Diamonds are supposed to speed that up, but... Not much. That may be a time issue That's a long playing bank right there They probably disable center post on Shrek Oh yeah You have to Can we disable left lock On Sword of Fury Oh Jesus Lion Man Lion Man Lion Man So what do you guys do To prepare For Pemberg either one of you top 100 players. I'll tell you what I do. Mentally, I don't play any other games at all for like the month prior to Pinberg. I just try to think about pinball all the time. It's not too hard because everyone else is texting you and messaging you about pinball all the time when it's getting close to Pinberg. And I make sure I play at least one pinball game a day, but try to play at least an hour a day of just the pinball. I'll keep my flipper skills fresh. Yep. And watch video. I've been watching a lot more tournament videos, absorbing anything I can from those. But just keep on playing pinball. And I can't even focus on other games at this point because I'm so pinball-minded. Sleep beforehand, Tim? Do you sleep good? Oh, yeah. The day before, I do not do that pre-pinball tournament, not because it's not a good tournament, but because I'm saving my energy for the tournament that counts, in my opinion, which is Pinburg. And your feet. And, yes, my feet. So I drive in nice and early. I'll get there by, you know, dinner time. And then I'll check into my hotel, and I have my own bed, which is important, because I'm going to go into it and pass out every night. And I don't want to be thrashing around and waking someone else up. and yeah, get close enough to the hotel. It's not a long drive. You just want to save your energy for the pinball. Eat, drink, stay hydrated, bring a water bottle. Why do you see Josh Sharp with that water bottle? Because it's just a nice reminder to stay hydrated while you play. Alright. Steve? Any tips for anybody out there? What do you do? What do I do? Nothing special in particular. I'm going to be barring with it. I'm just going to just straight up live my life as I do. I mean, you know, I'm going to play on Saturday. I'm going to play on Sunday in a tournament. Yeah, really, I'm not going to do any crash course exam studying because that's just as dumb as crash course studying for a college exam. You will fail. Yeah. And what's the most important thing in a pinball tournament? Finding a place to sit. Yes, energy. That's it. That's the number zero rule. Find a place to sit down And that's really it And also don't move the chairs But sit in them But other than that I'm just going to Accept the back I get And hopefully I get lucky on the EMs With their such different physics That I haven't gotten used to yet still Bring your pinball shoes With your sole inserts Yeah bring two pairs of shoes Yes Bring two pairs of shoes And really, yeah, that's going to be it. I'm just going to, you know, accept what bank I get and try to figure out how much risk I can take while not going overboard because every point is important. Oh, yeah. Every point. Ron, any tips from you? I will, let's see, I'll play in a tournament right before that I'll win and then be burnt out on pinball and not want to play any games. I have literally not played a game since Stomp. I probably will not play a game until Pinberg. You're not going to play at my house? Okay, I'll play some games there. Excellent. But what I typically do, and I noticed a lot of the top players did this, and I started doing it, and it did work out for me. When I get to Pinberg, I might play some practice games, and once Pinberg starts, I only play Pinberg games. I only play games in the tournament. That's it. I don't go out in between the breaks and play a bunch of other games. Every game is important. I want every game to be important. I don't want to play a duplicate of some other game that's going to play totally different, like out on the floor and screw me up. As far as sitting, I mean, I have to sit because my feet are pretty much shot, so I will be just sitting. Indian style. Actually, I guess that's not an acceptable term. What do they call that now? I've been told it's cross-legged. They don't call it Indian style anymore. So cross-legged. I will be sitting cross-legged on the floor. And tapping your knees and tapping your legs. And or finding a couch. If you're one of the areas that's close to a couch, that's pretty much it. And then hopefully when I don't make the playoffs, then I'll have the entire day Saturday to actually have fun and play lots of games. Great. And enter another tournament. No, I leave Sunday. You're not. I leave Sunday. I'm not after Pinberg. I'm not. Points is points, Ron. Points is points. He doesn't want to go below 200, Steve. Yeah, I don't want to go below 200. Oh, yeah, I heard that. Yeah, I caught the latest podcast. Yeah, I jumped up 100 points. That's like, whoa, whoa, we're getting in unfamiliar territory here. I'm not very comfortable here. Well, you dropped like a 30 bomb and then like a 20 bomb in the same month. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, I got to calm down with that. Got to calm down. Calm down. I don't. Because if I ever end up in a situation where I go to like Papa and I'm restricted to A, I'll just play the free play games and wait until my exception expires. Oh, classics? I will play classics. It'll be a classics only tournament for me at that point. How about you, Bruce? How do you prepare? My tips, I just do three things. Three things only. Comfortable shoes. Chin-ups. No, comfortable T-shirt and clothing. I want to feel comfortable. I don't want to feel too baggy, too constricted, because it does get sometimes hot in there or cool in there. You know, you want to have a little give. And three, the most important thing that most people don't remember, bring an extra battery or battery pack to charge your phone. That's a good one. Yeah, that's good. Because, you know, halfway through you're going, okay, wait a second, I've got 40%. I've got to find a plug in this place. and there really is not a lot of plugs in that place. What bank are you in? Exactly. Where am I? Do you know where I am? Is your phone, like, old or something? Yeah, mine's three years old. I never had that issue. All the viruses I got from the... That's pretty lucky there, Ron, because usually your battery will start to, you know... That's what you're... I'm in IT, but I hate technology, so I use, like, 2% of my phone's capabilities. Oh, okay. where, like, none of the apps are open on it. He has no apps. Yep. Nothing running. Reboot it, you know, in the morning to make sure nothing's running and it's resident in the background. And usually my dad is pretty good. The only app he has on there is Papa. That's all that matters. No, I have, like, Twitch app. I have some streaming apps. But I don't have many apps on my phone. I have a lot. I'm a social media guy. Yeah, yes. Oh, yes, you are. When I get bummed out at a tournament, and I start looking at my phone the whole time and trying to have fun elsewhere. Well, yeah, you've got to do that. Yeah, you've got to do that. I mean, you know, once you're out of the tournament, then that bouncy house is calling you. Oh, God, I'm doing the bouncy house again. That's a big time. Really? You're going to challenge five-year-olds once again, Bruce? I am. Yeah, but, Bruce, you didn't say the part where you basically just stopped and let them win. Of course. That would be nice. I mean, he's a nice guy. Sometimes can be Sometimes So any last Pinberg thoughts? Yeah If you're playing like a 13 year old kid At Pinberg and you think you're going to be nice Don't They might be world champions World champion Junior champion at Papa You know a couple others A B division champ A D division champ I will break you You don't even know what happened. I like the way you think, Tim. So if you see a kid, just destroy them. You have to destroy them. Just destroy them. The goal is 12 points. 12 points per round. That's all you're thinking about. They paid the VIG to get in the tournament. So you have to win. You're playing against a score. You're not even playing. It's fine. Once the game starts, you're playing against a score. So you can shake hands. At the end, say thank you. At the end, just say, you know, good luck, thank you, well done, and even talk during it. But when you're up there at the game, you're playing against a score, maybe. You know, even if you pay attention to that. You might even pay attention to that stuff. You know, you just get those points. And always try to get one more point. You know, even if, you know, you might think, okay, I'm going to try to do this to get all three of the points. But you may get none. get one and then get the other one and then get the third one because that one point could literally put you in the final. Okay, so with a group of 800 people, one point is like 40 places by the time it gets to the end. So it's serious business that one point is like, oh, I lost because the last two hours of Pinberg is everybody's stories. Oh, I lost Space Shuttle by 340 points or, oh, I lost Lord of the Rings by one shot. Or if the ball hadn't have jumped over four outlanes on Ghostbusters, I would have made the B division. The last two hours is all those stories. So you're going to try to be on the good end of those stories. Well, keep these numbers in mind. If on day one you get 34 points, you will make A division. If on day one you get 30 points, you will make C division. Wow. See? That's how tight it is. That's serious. And that's if you're not already locked in. But, yeah, that's... Right. Mind blown. Mm-hmm. That makes B 32 or... Wow. 31, 32, and 33, that's all of B division. 28, 29, 30, that's all of C division. Then D is below that and A is above that. A is above 33 and D is 27 or below. Wow. That's just putting everybody in a grab. That's just, wow. Because 400 players will be between 27 to 34 points in Pinburgh after day one. That's just how it's going to work out. Yep. And if I had any advice, my only advice is every round is important. Don't think of just the later rounds like, oh, I screwed up in the second to last round. Well, actually, no. Like the first round you were in, you could have got this extra point or two that you didn't. That you completely forgot about at this point because it was so long ago. But that's the actual reason you didn't make it. It's true. Which is kind of true because that early point also means you would have gotten into a higher group, which means you had different games. So it's like not assuming the double play in baseball. You know, you can't, that early point, you don't know what that early point did or didn't do. Maybe getting that seven instead of that eight put you in a group with a bank you like, and all of a sudden you 12'd it, versus getting eight versus seven put you in a horrible group and you 3'd it. So, you know, you just, you know, and that's where all the stories come from. But the stories are always on the later groups. You know, if I only had gotten an eight instead of a seven on the last round, I would have made X division. You know, but then you look back on day one, on the first group where you lost the game by a thousand points or one shot, and you just forgot about it, and that was the real reason you didn't get in. Or it was A reason. Yeah, the way I look at it is, guess what? You're going to leave points on the table almost in every round. Yeah. You are. So just blow it off and go, let's go to the next round and do better. That's it. That is the cure. It's the next game, really. That is the cure to all post-pinball depression is the next game. Post-pinball depression. I have an actual pinball tragic story, and if your story is not worse than this, then you have no right to complain at the end of the last round. Okay. All right. This is about one of the frequent writers to the show and a very frequent one-time Colin guest, the Pinball Princess. And you can go back and look at her card from the last Pinberg. But Stephanie set out with a 7 in round 1, 8 in round 2, 9 in round 3. Pretty good start, right? Very good start. Excellent start. We're ready for 8 of them. A 5 in round 4 and a 3 in round 5. Just snuck back down to B division. But no worries, because the next day started with an 8, a 9, a 5, and a 5 goes into the last round, tied for the cut line, and gets a 0. Oh, I remember that. She came up to me like all like, ah. If you get anything more than a 0 in your last round, and you're above the cut line, you have no right to complain. Yep. Wow. Poor Steph. It was tragic, and I looked back at it, and I said, oh, I'm sure Steph wants to get this behind her and, you know, have a much better pin burn. Especially when you have those seven, eight, and nine, like, right in a row, first day, and then the eight and the nine the second day. What a strong start. You know, hopefully Steph knows what she did. Yeah, what is it? Forgot to eat lunch. Yeah, that's what I was thinking. There's a food thing there. Yeah. Something's there. Your body's not going to tell you you're hungry when you're that pumped up on, hey, I'm top seeded B division So you have to remember, eat, drink, take care of all your bodily functions that you forget about on the adrenaline Oh my Do you guys look at the standings all the time? No, I mean, I only look at, when I get my sheet, I see my name and then I see my seed number That's really all I need to, because it's top 40 So I look at my name and I look at my number. And if it's more than 40, we got some work to do. Okay. So that's really all. Good. That's a great idea. Yeah, I don't know. I don't look at it all. I don't try to look at it all. I just basically track my plus minus above a six average. Yep. And I know where I am based on that. Well, those who know me know I don't look at anything. It's just like, what group am I in? Who am I playing? Yeah. When am I up? But I'm pretty much like that all the time. So with me, it's like I just don't, like, whatever. I'm going to try to win every game. So it really doesn't matter to me who I'm playing or what games there are or where I'm at. It doesn't matter. So what are your goals this weekend, boys? Next weekend. Actually, it'll be this weekend because when we release this. I'm going to win. Okay, so we have Tim is first. Oh, and I think – We have to say we're going to win. What are we talking about? No, I mean – Why are we here? No, I mean literal goals. Like, I know, Steve, you've been in the top five. Which is my problem. Yeah, this is a – No, no, no, no. This is a qualification exam. This is like, you know, this is a ranking exam. This is truly your goal is to make it to the next – to be the final four, right? First thing. Not winning, but that's your next goal. Really? You know, of course you're going to want to try to win. Everybody wants to win. But your goal, your breakthrough is now at the top four. Right. But that is a huge qualification exam right there. So me looking outside of myself and being realistic. But, yeah, of course, I want top four at least and then try to win. Okay. Tim? Yep. Tim, what's yours? Oh, God. Well, I will be happy with outcomes that aren't winning, but I will be happiest if I win. But I will be happy if I make the top 16 in A division. Okay. See, that's realistic goals, but, you know. I want to make the quarterfinals. Okay. Ron? I want to win B. Okay. And if not that, at least be in that one really good group I always seem to get in every year with, like, top 10 players just to see how bad I am. The Keith group? Either the Keith group or last year I was in, it was Kaylee and Adam Becker. I was in their group. I play good enough where I ascend up where I get to play that level just to see. And I did beat Kaylee on Sopranos of all things. That's funny. My goal is to be winning B also or making A and being in the top 75. That's my goal. I have another goal. It to beat Keith on a game and not tell anybody about it Because everyone has that story Of course Of course they do I got one point from Keith I got one point from Josh Space Invaders, baby. Which one was yours? You beat them on what? Nine ball. I'm going to beat them on Game of Thrones. How about that? There you go. Now, all setting aside, if you were actually betting on one person to win it all, who are you putting your money on? we're not going by say you're getting the max bet you know who you're putting your money on well look at somebody different since we had different champions I'm going Eric Stone I'm not I'm not gonna I think he's been playing great when you watch him he's playing incredible in my book and I think he is I'd put my money on him Hold on, I need to do some oppo research To see who's going to be in this tournament So someone else make predictions Before I decide If Keith Elwin's in it, he's my pick Okay Hmm He's like, aww Because, I mean, because How about Topp? See, because my mind Had Escher before the finals started And he won, and now my mind has Josh Sharp in it for him to get his major. I hope so, too. I mean, you know, it has because then we can get Jeff Teolas off his back. Yeah. Oh, is that a Titian boy over there figured it out yet? I'm going to say Steve Bowden. Yeah, okay. He's going to get his major. Yeah. I hope so. Figure that out. I hope so because, you know, I'd like to see. I would so love that. I need a second chance to get to the top four. And then just, you know, now that I know how to alley pass now. He's back with a fresh new set of moves. Steve has been religiously working on his slap save, not to bring up a sore subject, but he's gotten much better at slap saves and he will now have all the tools that he needs in his Swiss Army knife to make it to the finals. I hope so too. I wonder where the banners are going to end up. Well, the new place. What new place? That's the thing. We haven't got one. The third cafeteria. Because if I'm that sure, it's like, I want to see my banner hanging somewhere. Somewhere. In some building. a little bit off the subject what do you guys think of the stern pro tour uh yes it's what it is it's the next step it's positive movement yeah yeah putting the stern name on there helps it definitely does i mean and the price will increase by uh you know forty five hundred dollars price of a new spheran whatever you want to call that and I'm going to Chicago instead of Pittsburgh if I make it this year, so I have to fly now, but that's okay. No, that's nothing. Yeah. It's one of the few places I can actually get a direct flight to. Not that I'm going to qualify for this. Oh, you're in there now. You're just saying you're going. I'm in there now. Look at me. Yeah, I'm in there. I'm a regular circuit finalist. Yeah. Okay. It's fun to look at, hey, look, Pintastic's going to make it for 2019 at this rate. Had 51 Whoppers for first. You know, like you can look at the next few years and kind of figure out, okay, after the European events, whether or not they want to be on the Stern Circuit, you have, you know, the opportunity for events that are big events, like Pintastic, to just jump into the Stern Circuit in a few years. Pintastic is supposedly an English HBA. How about Pinfest Allentown getting a shout-out? I mean, Pinfest, yeah, exactly. So next year, if it goes the same numbers, you know, Pinfest will be in. I might convince them to do just one tournament if they do that. That would be a problem. Yeah, that would be a logistical problem, you know, because Allentown is looking to kick people out at 4 p.m., get out. It's like, just get out, pack up, and leave, whatever time they close, 9 or whatever it is. They're not playing around. Keep the limited entry. Keep the number of games. Just delete Friday Classics and make that qualifying. It's like inability to qualify. Why? I work good enough? Oh, no. I got there an hour after it started, so I didn't have enough time to get my entries in. What? And then you had people bat at me because I pulled a game that was scoring incorrectly, but their strategy was to play it because it was constantly being repaired and not enough people would have enough time to play it, so they'd be guaranteed points and stuff like that. And you don't really want that. You want everyone to have a chance in all the games to be evenly played. No one's ever mad at you, Tim. No one. Not even on a stream. Never. Hey, but how do you even pull that type of thing off of Tim Fath? You'd have to have, like, 18 games. Yeah, that's a big thing also. You'd have to have, like, you know what? What's the qualification back? The entire show. Yes, there you go. Just all the games on the qualification bank. Have officials running over with scorecards on every game. I got a score on Elvis. Yeah, it's on five ball. Oh, that doesn't count. It's a five ball, Elvis. Yeah. Yeah, okay. See you in a couple hours. Or you'd be like Francesco when he played the one game It was on two ball Right Yeah He's like Wait a minute That's not fair He's like Yeah well Two ball for everybody What? Yeah Like okay That tournament just has a problem Of it's such a popular show With so many vendor booths That They just literally can't Get any more tournament space But the reason the tournament's so big Is because it's such a popular show And there's so many players there but they have no space and no more power. So you just have like this, well, everyone's there. They're going to play in this tournament. It's going to be a lot of value. But how do you expand that tournament? They don't want to expand the tournament. But the tournament just keeps expanding. Well, didn't that used to be three days? And now it was three years. It's now only two days. But the tournament was never on a Sunday. Okay. Never. So it really was two days for the tournament also. But half the games get bought, sold, and traded the day before they even open the door. So, I mean, right? I've never done that. Stop it. Let's get some behind the scenes. Come on. Let's get some investigative I-team reporting. When I roll up there and I see that a Meteor that looks really nice and cherry is like $900. It's sold. What? I just walked in here and the first game I won the game. I walked in and now it's what? How is that sold? Okay. All right. Blame me. Okay. Yep, we blame you. Yeah, I blame Bruce. I blame Bruce. God, yes. So to put a bow on this, do we have any more Tim Rance before we kind of wrap this up? He said you had... Because Steve didn't get to hear your first one. So you need another one. We'll hear it on the show. I'll hear about the... But you won't hear it live. I won't hear it live. He won't be able to interact until Timmy's wrong or he's right. I got another one. Should I use it? Go for it. I'll find more Super Answers. All right. Let's talk about a very important document. It's on Papa.org. It's under Learning Center. It's under Director's Guide. It's under Game Setup Information, I believe. there's a very important document here which is going to give you the best overview of how to set up your games for the tournament the problem is that this document is not being followed all the time and it's not being followed in a particular direction and that is erring on the side of making your games inappropriately difficult or challenging or broken for the tournament that you're playing in Now, very rarely do you need to do something like remove the outlane rubbers or the inlane rubbers on a game. It should be done under careful consideration. You may need to widen them. You may need to wax your game. You may need to make the swing shots tighter. But very rarely do you need to just yank out posts from your outlane area. In addition to making the tilt as tight as it will possibly go before you can tilt it by sneezing on the other side of the room. in addition, the pop-up guide is very specific about making sure that your game is leveled to an appropriate setting, and I mean the pitch of the game, I guess, the 6.5 degrees that's recommended by STERM. Because the problem is, when you mess with this pitch, when you make a game too steep, you often make it so the orbits don't feed correctly, the shots don't return correctly, things don't work correctly, you can't hit the shots anymore. There was a tournament that we just mentioned recently That literally put the game up on wood blocks You should never put a game Up on wood blocks Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa Never, ever, ever I don't know what game that could be The wood levelers are plenty This is how we say goodbye in Germany When you put a game on wood blocks And it has orbits the orbits feed to the slingshots. When the ball feeds from an orbit to a slingshot it feeds to the outlet because you've already removed the posts from the outlet. And it just slingshots to the hood. More people get to play. Yeah, but your goal isn't to have more people play. Your goal is to find the best pinball player in your tournament. He said more people get to play. Now play is in huge scare quotes there, I think. Yes, it is. More people get to plunge. There you go. And they get to watch the ball move but play is the relative term there. But also the big challenge is this. For a lot of players, they assume that because Steve is showing up to their tournament, sorry, Steve, you show up to a lot of tournaments, and a lot of people do this because they think you play for a long time and will cause them to get less money in the prize pool. They believe since Steve is showing or since some other good players are showing that they need to make the games as hard as possible, What happens is they wind up going farther than Papa does in their game setup, beyond the point where the game is playable, and then you kind of take that game out of the tournament for the rest of it because you've made it too challenging. So stop doing this, and you have to understand the hierarchy of tournaments. Papa and Pinberg are different than any circuit event. The caliber of player that's going to show up at any circuit event so far without like an official sponsored tour that people can just go to every event on. It's going to be different than the caliber of Papa A Division. So you need to have your games playing a little nicer for the players who are there who are not expecting every ball to go in the out lane to be dead. So this guide's very good, the Papa Game Setup Guide. It says what should you do, how should you make it harder, how should you make it easier, what should you look for, what should be reasonable, what balance should you have. It's very vague, but it's very good. All right. I have a question. I have a question for the conspiracy theorist. Yes. Last question. On the tournament that we are not mentioning that had the game on the wood blocks, with the certain game with the whip and the idol and stuff, was that done to get more people on the game? Is that a positive aspect or a negative one? It wasn't done in my... I don't believe it was done to get more people on the game. I think it was done to cut down on the time the game took so everyone who wanted to have a chance would play it, which I guess means the same thing. But it wasn't, like, churning the... just to churn through players. No, it was meant to actually lower the ball times. Tha t's what it was, the number one thing. Yeah. I mean, because especially if you're dealing with a tournament with limited entry, but somehow a queue will have 13 people in it. Yeah, I mean, I can understand that, but, yeah. Well, you have a problem where you're no longer having a pinball tournament. You're having a tournament where people plunge a ball into a luck box and hope you get video mode. Yeah, you're having a pachinko tournament. Yeah, you are. Yeah. Did you just say video mode? Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's how you won. That's how you win. Yeah. Oh. It started, like, it's like you had the hope that the game started one or two, actually not even a right ramp shot. It had to be one mode to the right of a video mode of Well of Souls so that you could shoot the left ramp once to move it over once and then start Well of Souls and then you win. If it didn't, just leave. Your qualifying entry is over. So, yeah. So here's a question. A recent tournament that just occurred, Stomp, how did everyone feel about the difficulty level? way too fucking hard. Make them easy. Make them play some... Shut up, Bruce. I'm talking to the good players here. Oh, damn it. No, the games played fine to me. They were fair. I wasn't getting any unreasonable tilts, which is a big concern of mine, is when you tilt on, like, Wheel of Fortune by trying to save the ball through a lit lane at the bottom. That's like a nudge game. It's not a, you know... Aiming isn't everything on that game because of open outlanes. So, like, that's a game that needs to have some give in the tilt bob so you can get those bounces. Yeah. It is good to have better players set the games up, just in that I will know if I'm setting up stars, the tilt's going to be looser than it's going to be on Demoman. You know, Demoman has the tightest tilt of any game I have. Because on Demoman, if you don't miss a shot, you'll never drain. And you can't move that game anyway. It's too heavy. Well, yeah. but I mean, it's all flow fast, and it's like, literally, if you hit every shot, it will always be back to the flipper. You will never drain. So, and that one, I had to remove the rubber from the in-lane post because it was too easy to save the ball. Yeah, but you could still save it. So you let the post in, which was good. The post was still in, yes. Yeah. That helped. Like, everything you remove is, like, another order of magnitude of difficulty in an out-lane. You know, first you move the outlanes back, then you see if that's too easy still. Then you remove the rubber from the outlane post, remove, in an emergency, you remove the rubber on the inlane post. And then I think if you remove the inlane post, you're out of your mind. Wow. If it's Ghostbusters, it doesn't matter because it's going to jump over all the way. Ghostbusters will find the outlane. It doesn't matter. or if it can't find it, it will just air mail over everything. So it'll get the job done. Yikes. Even in Papa A, I overheard your previous guest, Doug, saying that they think they made Kiss too hard in A Division. They think they could have got a little easier on Kiss because the scores, very few scores, were above 100 million that whole tournament. And if you know Kiss, it's not crazy to get a game of 100 million if you're playing with players at that level. The only player who broke $200 million and also $300 and $400 was Daniele. And every other score, I think $140 was the max. The funny thing about Papa is they'll do that to the games, and then when they start the playoffs on Sunday, they take all those games and they end up in, like, the free play area. And they're still set up that hard. And you don't know that. You know, like, I go up to a time machine that has, like, the biggest rubbers you've ever seen, like blocking every ramp. And it's like, holy shit, I never remember this game being this hard. Or in Austin Powers, that was in A Division. Right. It's like, man, I never remember multiball being that hard to start on this game. Like, why am I getting destroyed on this game? Yeah, why am I getting destroyed on Austin freaking Powers? I don't get it. Also, Mark doesn't use those rubbers, so I feel like that's a rumor. Those fat yellow rubbers that you use. Those trapezoid rubbers or whatever? Yeah, they aren't very frequently used anymore. They were frequently used, but they were on the time machine. Okay, on the time machine. No, they actually were on one time before they disabled the front ramp on Mousing Around. That was a while ago. I'm talking like five years ago. Right, right. So I'm saying in the current replay era. Yeah. Since the formation of the replay foundation. Yeah. You do not see those fat rubbers to block shots anymore. you see games that's true not even on Lord of the Rings usually you'll see the Aragorn Fat Rubber has that been on there I seem to remember I don't know I don't think so either just make it so the flipper you can't just hold the ball and trap it maybe they'll put lightning flippers on but even so Batman Dark Knight I played it both in Pinburg and I played it in Papa A and both sides had lightning flippers, but in Papa A they did a little more with making it harder. They made the tilts a bit tighter. They made it, I think the outlines a bit more open, but Batman Dark Knight was a little easier in Pinberg. So they'll do a little changes for the Pinberg main banks too than the Papa qualifying bank. So every tournament, even Papa tournaments, they have differences in setups. Yes, they do. Have to. Otherwise you'd really piss some people off. unless you have like a C-Division group and they have to play on some like A-Division style configured game. That would be completely unfun. Yeah. Wow, yeah, I can imagine a C-Division battle on an attack from Mars with lightning flippers. Yeah. Wouldn't that happen? Because I remember AFM had lightning flippers one year and then it moved, so I don't know whether that was it moved to a division which kept the flippers on it. I guess it did, but. It had normal length flippers in A-Division this year. And it was pretty much a normally set-up game, just with outlanes on the hardest settings, but everything else was pretty much the same. You had your usual right flipper hop that you have on Attack from Mars, which I thought was weird when I played the AFM remake that it didn't have that. But to make up for it, it has a different flipper mechanism. It doesn't have the dual-wound coil, so the shots shoot differently anyhow. Really? Yeah, they don't have the same William slippers, I don't think. Yes, they do. They do? On Medievil's, they do. They feel much different to me. Hmm. Interesting. I wind up doing a lot of accidental shatting around. I don't need to know about that. I don't need to know about that, sir. What you do at home is what you do at home. Wow. What's that move called in the Pitfall Dictionary where you accidentally shat the inlay and it goes all the way over to the opposite outlet, Steve? What, the rainbow? Yeah, the rainbow one. The rainbow. I both attack remake and medieval remake. I do that a lot. There's nothing you can do about it but just watch the thing leave. How does that do this? And it just leaves. Is that the up and over deal? It's up and over at the other out lane. At the other out lane. The whole loop. All the way around and down. Oh, okay. I get it. It's the rainbow. The float loop almost like. And all you're doing is just watching with your mouth agape, like, how is this happening? You should call that the firepower. That happens a lot, firepower. Yeah. Hits the kickback, and it just goes right down the right out lane instead. Like, wow, that was really good. This is off a flip. Like, you flip it so late somehow that you shat the in lane and then go up and over everything and just watch it leave. like double rainbow all the way and then it's gone. And when it's gone, then you immediately look at yourself and say, hey, dummy, why didn't you move the game? As the ball's draining, but you just have to look at it like, wow, this is happening. You can't. It comes out of the in lane at the perfect angle where there's nothing you can do. Wow. It goes like as horizontal movement as much as it could be right into the out lane. And you go, what was I'm supposed to do there. I thought I made a good stand. Pretty good future. Useful to have a crystal ball. So any final pinbird thoughts from everyone? Play well. There's always next year. Oh, God. It's like a sports team. There's always next year. Only 160 people will make the final. It sounds like a lot, but it probably won't be you. I'm rooting for anybody who's been on the podcast. Usually it's not me. Last year it was. Last year was a good year, but previously it was a bad year where I finished at the bottom of C division. And I felt like crap, but I came back next year and it was great. So let's hope no more bad years. I'll have to channel my dad on this one. I hope whoever wins is USA, USA, USA. Woo-hoo! Nice. Well, I guess it'll be a little different. We won't be dealing with any election traffic this time. Oh, my God. It'll be so much nicer. Yeah, none of that. We should have known she was going to lose when pinball was more popular than her meet and greet. That could have been the side. That was a problem. When they're on the Skyway looking down at us. Yeah. That's a problem. That's a problem with messaging. Something's going on. Yeah. You know? Everyone's like, who are they talking about? You just think about it. You'll figure it out. Everything happened, and yeah. Yeah. It was contestant. And election. And make pinball great again. And yeah. Yeah. And we got to see an incident outside. Yeah. Actually, Jerry got to witness it. He got on camera during the incident. I wasn't fake news. I know, Jerry. witness that actually happened call CNN on that one oh god everyone's like what are they talking about man they've gone totally off the rails we're live it's in episode 3 or 4 it's episode 3 or 4 yes we recorded 3 episodes worth so we're taking a month off it's in episode 3 or 4 that's when we talked about Jerry go way back in the archives that's assuming podcast Garden still has it. They suck. It's on iTunes. Yeah, I can't get stats. iTunes pulls from Podcast Garden so Podcast Garden's the host. Yes. And I can't get stats anymore. And they're bullshitting me with their support. Oh, we're still working on it. Oh, there's a lot of stuff. All this stuff. I even considered going to SoundCloud because that's like the other main one everyone uses. But they just laid off 40% of their workforce. And he talked about going bankrupt and had some rapper had to come in and infuse money to the company. SoundCloud has desperately needed new management, in my opinion, my former amateur music career on SoundCloud opinion from years ago. When they started taking all sample music down and all my friends had their SoundCloud accounts deleted, then we all kind of left. That's back when Timmy was just doing his rap thing. He was T-Sex. That was before I discovered pinball. He was T-Sex. That was his rap name. That could be a rap name. Actually, it sounds like it could be a rap name. Wow. On that note. Wow, yeah. I think it's time to go. I think you've got to pay some bills. Oh, we're doing the whole thing. Okay. You've got to pay. You always have to pay the bills. Okay, pay the bills, Bruce. And by the way. Always be paying the bills. The person you mentioned at the end of the last podcast, you have mentioned before. You did a repeat. Yes, you did a repeat. I've done two repeats, actually. Oh, okay. Oh, so there you go. Yeah. So www.pinballlifter.com. Come check out my site with pinball lifters, helpers, tilters, mods, all the fun stuff to help you move your game with ease. I'll be shipping out our free pinball helper to our winner tomorrow, I think. Yeah, tomorrow, Friday. So he'll be getting that. And don't forget Pinball Star, where we've both gotten our dialed-ins from. Right, Ron? And you're going to get yours from me. I hope so. It's sure looking like it. It does look like it. Don't forget, what have we got? Flipper Fidelity with Mike Pupo. He sells new sterns. He sells new stern mods. He sells the best sound systems for your pinball machines. Check us right out at FlipperFidelity.com. And don't forget, check out Fun With Bonus Yo, yo, yep FunWithBonus.com, Fun With Bonus on Instagram Fun With Bonus on Twitter Fun With Bonus on Facebook My Fun With Bonus SEO Is pretty good, I mean I'm finally beating the slot machines Now, so when you have Fun With Bonus On Google, it does show me Before it shows like Fun With Bonus modes on The latest IGT slot No, it doesn't So just search for Fun With Bonus and you'll probably find me. Hooray. T-Sex, plug yourself. Look for Tim Balls. I'm crushing the SEO because nobody dares to make their name Tim Balls on anything. Not in the current year. That's right. Right. So look for Tim Balls. I've got a YouTube account where I put a lot of stuff, and I've got a Twitch account where I'll stream a lot of live stuff. And I've got a difference of content on those two sites now a little bit, so pick your poison. and you can follow me on Twitter if you want but keep in mind all spelling mistakes are intentional and all opinions are sarcastic that's a good thing that's good I like that now I would like to say thank you both you guys and because two reasons one your last show you guys did pseudo together was one of our biggest shows ever so you guys awesome but Bruce nobody wants to talk about tournaments no tournaments suck Tournaments suck. No one wants to listen to this before, say, going to the tournament. That's what I heard. I mean, didn't you hear? I heard that. Or going, like, you know, all you want to hear is just what's on Pennside, don't you? That's all I want to hear about. Yeah, yeah. Not tournaments. Not tournaments at all. No, no. Tournaments are so boring. It's so blah, blah, blah. Garbage. And there's 800 people going to this tournament. With a 300-person wait list. I know. Thank you. What's for sale in Gary, Indiana? Still empty after 500 days On that note On that note, definitely Did you know mods are great? Yes I modded my Lethal Up at 3 It's awesome now And my LEDs look brighter than bright Oh, you can catch us on Facebook. Just search for Slamtail Podcast. YouTube, search for Slamtail Podcast. We're on Twitch, hopefully streaming something someday. Search for Slamtail Podcast. You can send us correspondence at slamtailpodcast at gmail.com. Thanks once again to Steve Bound and Tim Sexton. This has been episode 53. To be or not to be. Thanks, everyone. Say goodbye, Bruce. Goodbye, Joe Thurston. _(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v4)_ --- *Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 14ee091e-d2c5-4b2e-b55b-0fcd3251cae0*