# Ep 66: The Biggest Lava Lamp with Tim Purcell **Source:** LoserKid Pinball Podcast **Type:** podcast_episode **Published:** 2021-08-20 **Duration:** 63m 26s **Beat:** Pinball **URL:** https://zencastr.com/z/C2Z6xQaS --- ## Analysis Josh Roop and Scott Larson interview Tim Purcell, a high-end pinball collector from Knoxville, Tennessee, about his restoration of a Harlem Globetrotters pinball machine and his philosophy as a collector. They also discuss custom re-theme projects like the Ferris Bueller's Day Off machine by Brian Suarez and Reby Hardy. Tim shares detailed insights about his multi-year restoration process, lessons learned, common mistakes, and advice for others considering restoration work. ### Key Claims - [HIGH] Tim Purcell has a collection of over 40 pinball machines — _Tim stated directly: 'And at this point right now, it sits at over 40.'_ - [MEDIUM] The Ferris Bueller's Day Off custom machine is based on a Stern Mustang platform with two units being built with different exterior finishes (one chromium, one brass) — _Tim identified the donor game: 'I figured it out now. I think it's a Stern Mustang.' and confirmed two units: 'I understand they're building two of them... and they're made differently too.'_ - [HIGH] Reby Hardy and Brian Suarez created new code for the Expedition of Gold re-theme, making it a substantial design effort beyond simple re-theming — _Josh stated: 'with Expedition of Gold, they rewrote the code. Yeah. And so that's basically a design there.'_ - [HIGH] Tim's Harlem Globetrotters restoration took over 300 hours of work and cost significantly more than initial estimates — _Tim: 'I was thinking maybe 150 hours. I didn't keep track of my time. So, guys, this is 100% guess, but I'm pretty confident saying it's well over 300 hours.'_ - [HIGH] Tim's first restoration was a Bride of Pinbot where he hand-painted the playfield artwork using an airbrush, a skill derived from his fine arts training — _Tim: 'My training is in fine arts. I actually have a degree in fine arts... I was able to repaint the art by hand and then clear coat it'_ - [MEDIUM] Supply chain issues are limiting pinball production at Keith Elwynn/Jersey Jack, with distributors managing allocation by delivery timeframes for specific titles like Jurassic Park and Guardians of the Galaxy — _Josh: 'with the supply chain issues um they are limiting uh how many games they are making... he may be able to say well if you want a jurassic park you can get one around this time if you want a guardians of the galaxy you can get one around this time'_ - [MEDIUM] Jurassic Park is the most challenging Keith Elwynn game currently in production but remains very hot in the market — _Josh: 'current trending pins are i would say jurassic park is still very hot um And it's one of the, it's probably the most challenging Keith Elwynn game.'_ - [HIGH] The Ferris Bueller's Day Off custom game start button features the voice of the movie's answering machine message — _Tim: 'the start button is the actual voice receiver in the movie where you push. And he's like, sorry, I cannot come down because I'm afraid I'll fall down the stairs...'_ ### Notable Quotes > "I always knew that I could do it. The reason for tackling this was to find out, would I? That's kind of the challenge." > — **Tim Purcell**, N/A > _Core philosophy driving his restoration work—overcoming impatience and self-doubt to complete ambitious projects._ > "I discovered it's it's a lonely process. I know that's probably an odd thing to say. Nobody else really cares too much about your pile of rusty parts or your beat up play field or the cabinet." > — **Tim Purcell**, N/A > _Unexpected emotional insight about restoration work that challenges romanticized views of the hobby._ > "The cabinet, by a mile... by a mile. I don't have the professional tools that a Chris Hutchins would have." > — **Tim Purcell**, N/A > _Identifies cabinet restoration as the largest time commitment in machine restoration, emphasizes the role of proper tooling._ > "You've done this much work, finish it out. So it was complex. That took a lot of work, not just doing the coin door, but literally the frame that goes in there, all the ground straps that go behind it." > — **Tim Purcell**, N/A > _Practical restoration advice about completing detail work like coin door restoration that's easy to skip but impacts final quality._ > "I violated my number one rule, which is take your time, think about it. Right? Easy to violate. I'm impatient. Right? The first thing I want to do is act." > — **Tim Purcell**, N/A > _Self-aware acknowledgment of impatience leading to mistakes (fingerprints under clearcoat), emphasizing planning discipline._ > "Gameplay is important. And I'm a big fan of the story behind the game." > — **Tim Purcell**, N/A > _Reveals collector priorities beyond rarity—personal connection and gameplay depth are primary decision factors._ > "It's got to be a game that's interesting, interesting to play, right? So gameplay is important... it's got to be a game that's interesting, and it doesn't have to be rare." > — **Tim Purcell**, N/A > _Clarifies that despite valuing rarity, gameplay and theme take precedence in acquisition decisions._ ### Entities | Name | Type | Context | |------|------|---------| | Tim Purcell | person | High-end pinball collector from Knoxville, Tennessee; runs pinballloft.com blog; owns 40+ machines; recently completed extensive restoration of Harlem Globetrotters; has fine arts degree; passionate about pinball history and restoration craftsmanship. | | Josh Roop | person | Co-host of Loser Kid Pinball Podcast; conducts interviews and drives episode content. | | Scott Larson | person | Co-host of Loser Kid Pinball Podcast; long-time friend of Tim Purcell; experienced in pinball collection and arcade game restoration. | | Reby Hardy | person | Custom pinball re-themer; co-creator (with Brian Suarez) of Ferris Bueller's Day Off custom machine; created Expedition of Gold re-theme with custom code; plans to stream machines on Twitch channel 'House Hardy.' | | Brian Suarez | person | Co-creator of Ferris Bueller's Day Off custom pinball machine with Reby Hardy; custom re-theme specialist. | | Chris Hutchins | person | Pinside expert on pinball restoration standards and methodologies; Tim studied his posts extensively during restoration work. | | Dave Peck | person | Collector with massive collection in New Zealand; inspired Tim's restoration approach; famously restored an Evel Knievel machine; known as 'Rotor Dave' in community. | | John Schneider | person | Actor (Bo Duke from Dukes of Hazzard); visited Tim Purcell's game room; described as humble and great person. | | Zach Minney | person | Jersey Jack/Keith Elwynn distributor; manages rumor lists for upcoming machines like Cactus Canyon remake, Godzilla, Toy Story; manages supply chain allocation and delivery schedules. | | Nicole | person | Works with Zach Minney at distribution; limited stock availability mentioned. | | Matt Hardy | person | Reby Hardy's husband; subject of Expedition of Gold custom game inspired by his professional wrestling career/goals. | | Ferris Bueller's Day Off | game | Custom re-theme machine by Brian Suarez and Reby Hardy based on 1980s movie; built on Stern Mustang platform; two units being created with different finishes (chromium and brass); features iconic movie elements like the car centerpiece and answering machine start button; will be streamed on House Hardy Twitch. | | Harlem Globetrotters | game | Classic Valley pinball machine; subject of Tim Purcell's extensive 300+ hour ground-up restoration; inspired by Dave Peck's Evel Knievel restoration; has personal significance to Tim for nostalgia and gameplay quality. | | Theater of Magic | game | Tim's first pinball machine purchase for summer house near East Tennessee lakes; paid premium price at time; now worth what was paid due to inflation. | | Bride of Pinbot | game | Tim's first restoration project (partial); involved hand-painted playfield artwork using airbrush over 2-3 years; purchased in Charleston, South Carolina on vacation. | | Evel Knievel | game | Classic pinball machine; Dave Peck's restoration inspired Tim Purcell's restoration approach; exemplar of high-quality restoration work. | | Wipeout | game | Skiing-themed pinball machine; Tim recently completed restoration; connects to Tim's skiing history and nostalgia; stripped to bare playfield with extensive ramp rebuilding. | | Big Betty's Truck Stop | game | Truck-themed pinball machine; Tim restored to bare playfield level; unique Valley-Williams hybrid with parts from both companies post-merger. | | Jurassic Park | game | Keith Elwynn/Jersey Jack title; currently hot in market; described as most challenging Keith Elwynn game; supply limited by chain constraints; available via waitlist. | | Guardians of the Galaxy | game | Keith Elwynn/Jersey Jack title; experiencing second resurgence; recommended for newer players; supply-constrained; available via waitlist. | | Loser Kid Pinball Podcast | organization | Long-running independent pinball podcast; hosts Josh Roop and Scott Larson; interviews industry figures and collectors; won inaugural Pinball Awards podcasting category. | | Expedition of Gold | game | Custom re-theme by Reby Hardy and Matt Hardy based on WWE wrestler; built on Stern Playboy platform; features custom code rewrite making it a substantial design project; Reby initially started themed Stern Playboy for herself before pivoting to this project. | | Stern Mustang | game | Modern Stern machine; donor platform for Ferris Bueller's Day Off custom re-theme; relatively uncommon original machine. | | Stern Playboy | game | Modern Stern machine; Reby Hardy re-themed one as starting point for Expedition of Gold project; also partially re-themed for herself personally. | | pinballloft.com | product | Tim Purcell's blog documenting his collection, restoration work, and pinball history; referenced as resource for collectors and restorers. | ### Topics - **Primary:** Custom pinball re-theming and restoration, High-end collector philosophy and acquisition strategy, Restoration methodology, tools, and time/cost estimates - **Secondary:** Pinball market supply and distribution constraints, Pinball community culture and networking, Classic pinball machine gameplay vs. modern machines, Pinball history and historical preservation - **Mentioned:** Personal motivation and nostalgia in collecting ### Sentiment **Positive** (0.82) — Warm, enthusiastic conversation between friends; Tim speaks positively about restoration work despite challenges; celebration of custom re-theme creativity; constructive discussion of mistakes framed as learning opportunities; genuine admiration for other restorers and contributors (Chris Hutchins, Dave Peck). No significant criticism or negative sentiment toward individuals or machines. ### Signals - **[restoration_signal]** Tim Purcell shares detailed restoration methodology for Harlem Globetrotters including cabinet stripping to bare wood, playfield painting, new parts sourcing (CPR playfield, back glass, plastics, chrome), and multi-year timeline. (confidence: high) — Detailed accounts of restoration process including 'stripped it right to the bare wood,' 'ordered a new back glass... brand new CPR playfield, brand new plastics, brand new chrome all the way around.' - **[restoration_signal]** Tim documents specific restoration mistakes: fingerprints under clearcoat on backbox, rough cabinet spot above plunger, and incorrect flipper wire soldering. Emphasizes importance of planning, tools, completing detail work (coin door), and diagnosing vs. executing fixes. (confidence: high) — Detailed mistakes log and reflections; 'fingerprint on backside of head with clear coat over them,' 'soldered one wire to the left flippers and the wrong lug,' multi-hour coin door work. - **[restoration_signal]** Tim successfully hand-painted playfield artwork on Bride of Pinbot restoration using airbrush, leveraging fine arts degree. Artwork appears factory-quality after clearing. (confidence: high) — Tim: 'My training is in fine arts... I was able to repaint the art by hand and then clear coat it, which I had never done before. So not a complete restore, but the top of that game is brand new.' - **[collector_signal]** High-end collector Tim Purcell prioritizes gameplay, personal connection/story, and historical significance over rarity. Rarity is secondary factor. Nostalgia plays major role in acquisition decisions. (confidence: high) — Tim: 'it's got to be a game that's interesting, interesting to play, right? So gameplay is important. And I'm a big fan of the story behind the game... it does [rarity], but it's absolutely not the primary.' - **[design_innovation]** Ferris Bueller's Day Off custom machine demonstrates creative re-theming with thematic integration (car centerpiece), artistic execution (chromium vs. brass finishes), and functional details (movie voice start button). Represents emerging custom builder talent. (confidence: high) — Tim: 'Great artwork. Centerpiece is the car, obviously... the start button is the actual voice receiver in the movie... Beautiful-looking machines... I wish they'd get in the pinball-making business.' - **[design_philosophy]** Tim discovered gameplay differences between classic (Valley-era) machines and modern Stern/JJP machines: classic games are more challenging, simpler, quieter, without ramps, but have engaging re-playability. (confidence: high) — Tim: 'the gameplay was significantly different on those older valleys. And if anything, more challenging, simpler, quieter for sure. You know, no ramps, so to speak. But it always I kept pushing the button to play it again.' - **[supply_chain_signal]** Jersey Jack/Keith Elwynn facing supply chain constraints limiting production volume. Distributors managing allocation by assigning delivery timeframes to specific titles (Jurassic Park, Guardians of the Galaxy) based on order queues. (confidence: medium) — Josh: 'with the supply chain issues um they are limiting uh how many games they are making... he may be able to say well if you want a jurassic park you can get one around this time if you want a guardians of the galaxy you can get one around this time.' - **[market_signal]** Jurassic Park and Guardians of the Galaxy experiencing high demand; Jurassic Park notably hot despite being most challenging Keith Elwynn title; both games have supply-constrained rumor/waitlists. (confidence: medium) — Josh: 'current trending pins are i would say jurassic park is still very hot... Guardians of the Galaxy has had a second resurgence too. And I recommend it for people who are looking for that fun theme.' - **[product_strategy]** Ferris Bueller's Day Off custom machine limited to two units with differentiated exterior finishes (chromium vs. brass), creating rarity and collectibility through intentional scarcity and artistic variation. (confidence: high) — Tim: 'they're building two of them... they're made differently too, so they're two opposite... they're not going to be more than these two, so it's pretty rare.' - **[community_signal]** Chris Hutchins recognized as community authority on restoration methodology; Dave Peck's high-quality restoration work serving as inspiration model for newer restorers; Tim studying expert posts extensively. (confidence: high) — Tim: 'Chris Hutchins deserves a ton of credit... there's not just one way to do it, everybody goes to Chris Hutchins' posts that are on Pinside... I studied some of his posts and images hundreds of times.' - **[content_signal]** Reby Hardy and Brian Suarez launching Twitch streaming channel 'House Hardy' for showcasing custom pinball machines; planning stream of Ferris Bueller's Day Off machine; represents growing integration of streaming platforms into pinball community. (confidence: medium) — Tim: 'Reby Hardy said they are going to stream this on their Twitch channel, which they just made three weeks ago, House Hardy. You're not going to want to miss this stream.' - **[operational_signal]** Tim warns potential restorers that time estimates typically 2-3x initial expectations and costs often double initial budgets. Harlem project: estimated 150 hours but took 300+; cabinet work being largest time investment by substantial margin. (confidence: high) — Tim: 'You know, I was thinking maybe 150 hours... I'm pretty confident saying it's well over 300 hours. The big amount of time, easy, cabinet, by a mile, you know, by a mile... it's about three times the time and at least double the price.' --- ## Transcript thanks for tuning in to the loser kid pinball podcast this is episode 66 i am josh roop with me my co-captain as always scott larson and scott we have a very special guest on today i say that all the time i apologize we have a fantastic i have an exceptional guest exceptional we we have Okay, well, we have an unusual special guest because he's not really part. We typically go for the pinball industry or someone who's a designer. We're actually coming out from the collector side today. Yeah, let's do that. So before we get going on that, we just want to remind you, I know that Zach and Nicole don't really have a ton of stock. You need to message them. They do have usually about four or five still on hand right now. but if you're looking for that new pinball machine if you're if you're looking for a rumored i don't know cactus canyon remake or uh godzilla or toy story these are all rumored remember you can get on that rumor list with zach you just message and say hey this is what i want to get on or even better you can just say hey i want to be on the next keith l1 game he'll get you on that list those lists are filling up and quick i think we're all jonesing for a new pinball machine to come out and uh you can also find out uh with the supply chain issues um they are limiting uh how many games they are making but they're still trying to take care of the distributor so if you contact him and ask him what the schedule is he may be able to say well if you want a jurassic park you can get one around this time if you want a guardians of the galaxy you can get one around this time and so current trending pins are i would say jurassic park is still very hot um And it's one of the, it's probably the most challenging Keith Elwin game. But it has the theme and the elastability. That's a great one. Guardians of the Galaxy has had a second resurgence too. And I recommend it for people who are looking for that fun theme. And if they're looking for that first pinball, Guardians of the Galaxy is a great option. So contact him and find out when the next time you'll be able to have that. Exactly. Okay, so this is my good friend. This is Tim Purcell. He has a blog, and we have talked about his blog before. It's the pinballloft.com, and we wanted to interview him for a couple reasons. One, he is a high-end collector, so he has an enormous game room with a lot of really cool odd machines, but high-end machines. And I actually reached out to him because I saw that he was selling an Iron Man, like a life-size Iron Man, which I was kind of jealous because I just have a life-size Mario in my game room. And we just started talking back and forth. And so he's become a good friend of mine. And he just restored a Harlem Globetrotter. So basically gave it the high-end pins treatment where he took it down, scrubbed it all down, and built it back up from the studs. So I wanted to talk to him about that. But there's a couple things that we want to talk about before that too. So first off, just want to welcome you to the show. Tim, thanks for staying up late, and you are straight out of Knoxville, Tennessee. Is that correct? It is, and thanks for having me, and you and Josh. It was good to finally talk to you all live. I've known Scott for a long time. More than 15 months, I think, was the first time we texted each other. Yeah, we looked each other up. Since then, I feel like I'm part of the family. I've watched him buy a truck, go to Disney. We traded messages on hot tubs. Musical taste. I have a lot in common there from Bach cello suites to the band Rush, which is an unusual mix, but true. Mini Coopers. We've talked about aluminum dinosaurs. I'm not so sure how that subject came up. Well, we're in Utah, so you can buy an aluminum dinosaur for $600. Yeah, and I was jealous about that. Yeah. My wife brought it up the other day when we were driving. Hey, what about that dinosaur we can just put in the yard? Anyway, so Tim, welcome to the show. How's the Carl Weathers in Knoxville right now? We are drowning a little bit in water, which is good because we've gone through a huge drought, but how's it over there? We wish it was. We got a full day of rain yesterday, and I cannot remember in the past eight to ten years when we had a day of rain in July or August. So it was desperately needed. We were glad to have it back to the 90s and sunny now. We're flash flooding out here. Yeah, a little bit. That's the problem with it. It's so dry. Apparently, the ground gets really compacted down. So even with the rain comes, it treats it a little bit like Joshua Clay and just slides right off it. So, but anyway, speaking of sliding right off it, let's talk about the first thing we want to talk about is the custom pin that was revealed on This Week in Pinball. And this is a topic that even though it's a big 80s game, but I've never, or a big 80s movie, I've actually never seen anybody mention it as a theme for a pinball machine. But have you guys taken a look at the Ferris Bueller's Day Off custom game? by Brian Suarez and Reby Hardy. Yes. Seen it. Beautiful game. Okay, so what? Okay, so Tim, I actually want to get your first impressions. When you look at it, what do you think? Well thought out. Great artwork. Centerpiece is the car, obviously. I struggled a little bit to figure out what was the base game. You know, what was the donor game? I figured it out now. I think it's a Stern Mustang. And it's just a beautiful game, and I understand they're building two of them. They're making two. There's two of them. And they're made differently, too, so they're two opposite. Like, they're still the same interior, but the exterior, I think, one's all chromium, one's like brass. Beautiful-looking machines. So, okay, what do you think of their interpretation? I mean, Mustang's actually a good one to take. There's actually not that many Mustangs out there, so that's interesting. But it's a good theme integration, right, with the car, because the car plays an integral part of the show. So what do you think of their re-theme? I think it looks pretty solid. It has that 80s, 50s vibe. Yes. I think one of the coolest parts is the start button is the actual voice receiver in the movie where you push. And he's like, sorry, I cannot come down because I'm afraid I'll fall down the stairs and hurt myself and have less days at school than I already have. Anyhow, the game's interpreted perfectly. It's a fantastic-looking game. I'm excited that Reby Hardy said they are going to stream this on their Twitch channel, which they just made three weeks ago, House Hardy. You're not going to want to miss this stream. This game looks fantastic. I wish they'd get in the pinball-making business. I mean, Matt Hardy's expedition of a goal that she did for her husband is fantastic. I heard that she was going to retheme a Stern Playboy for herself. I think they already did that, didn't they? She talks in the interview. So if you go to Pinball Profile, hey, Jeff, how you doing? It's a 30-minute interview. She bought it originally for herself to retheme, and they got about halfway through it. And then that's when they decided to make the Matt Hardy Expedition of Gold. Okay. I guess I was confused. I thought she had already done that. She said that she got as far as putting stickers on the stand-ups and stuff like that. Okay. But, yeah, I just – they're killing it with these re-themes. And granted, I guess a re-theme is a little easier than building your own pinball machine. Well, they're also – okay, this isn't as easy, though, because with Expedition of Gold, they rewrote the code. Yeah. And so that's basically a design there. Because if you're doing the code right, that's completely different than taking a firepower and just putting different stickers on it. I mean, it's a new game when you have their code. Well, code, DMD, all that stuff. You know, it's a good-looking game. Okay. they're doing a great job with these side themes that they're doing. They're just fantastic. So I highly recommend if you want to learn more about the machine, between This Week in Pinball, Hey Patterson, and Pinball Profile, both wonderful deep dives. Highly recommend them if you haven't checked them out. Go do so. Fantastic. All right, Tim, as a collector of niche games, what would your interest level be on owning this game, scale of 1 to 10? Probably about a 7 or 8. I mean, you're never going to have more than two of these, likely. They've got some branded things they put in here, like there's a Pepsi can right on the play field and stuff. So, I mean, they're just not going to be more than these two, so it's pretty rare. Yeah. Yeah. And does rarity play into your decision-making process on whether or not you buy a game? Say the game is there and you know there's 5,000 of them out there versus 10 of them out there. Does that play into your decision on whether or not you want one? It does, but it's absolutely not the primary. It's got to be a game that's interesting, interesting to play, right? So gameplay is important. And I'm a big fan of the story behind the game. I mean, as you know, Scott, I've got a Batman SLE. and others poke fun of the fact that you had to do a video and write an essay and beg to share. It was kind of weird. The Batman SLE, that felt a little, I don't know, brave, I guess, to say, we're auditioning you to pay $15,000. Exactly. Okay, but that's a good transition. So we want to get into your entrance into pinball. Like what entered you into this weird world of pinball? And you have a pretty awesome game room. And I even saw pictures that you shared with Bo Duke hanging out at your place, John Schneider himself. So kind of a big deal. Yeah, he's a great guy, humble guy as well. The story started with my wife and I buying a summer house. This is quite a few years ago near one of the lakes here in East Tennessee. And it was a place to get away on the weekends, really relax, decompress from work. And I literally asked her this question, what could we put in the house that would be fun? So we just went through the normal laundry list of things, and I just blurted out, well, what about a pinball machine? And to be honest, as a kid, I was intimidated by pinball. I didn't play much. I definitely played, but it was very rarely. And I can guarantee you the games didn't last very long. So it wasn't on my radar as fond memories I had. It was something that I was going to try new. Long story short, we bought the house. We bought the game. First game was Theater of Magic. Paid way too much for it. Thankfully, with the inflation now, it's worth what I paid for it. But by the time we left and sold that house, I was up to seven games. moved back to our regular house and ended up growing the collection up to about 17. And at this point right now, it sits at over 40. So that's how we got there. Okay. I know that you've got a wonderful collection. I don't know if you want to dive into this yet, Scott. But speaking of Ferris Bueller, you did your own project recently. You took on Harlem Globetrotters. I want to know, why did you take it on? And is there something specific to this game that that just speaks to you? Like, was it one that you played when you were younger? And why? Yeah, go from there. That's a great question. I think that it's really the question when you when you ask anybody, why did you spend so much time, hundreds of hours literally restoring something? I think my story is that, you know, with a collection as large as I have, you get the privilege of being able to understand what you really, really like. So there's a ton of variety in my collection from an EM space mission that I've also done a ton of work on all the way up to all the modern sterns. Right. So and I like modern sterns. Don't get me wrong. And I love J.J.P.'s Guns and Roses. But what I discovered was the gameplay was significantly different on those older valleys. And if anything, more challenging, simpler, quieter for sure. You know, no ramps, so to speak. But it always I kept pushing the button to play it again, play it again, play it again. So, number one, it's a fun game. And I'll tell you, you know, the short answer is once it was restored, I discovered that what it what it feels like to actually play new, it's even more fun. So I tackled it because it was a good game to start. and its gameplay was different than the gameplay of anything else that I had. And the inspiration actually came from Rotor Dave. I don't know if you all know Dave Peck, who has a massive collection over in New Zealand. And he's been over here to the States, and he and I went over to my buddy Darren's house. A shout-out to Darren, Dr. Darren. And we had an East Tennessee barbecue for just having Dave in the States, so to speak. And Dave was with his wife and with his daughter, Danny. So we played some pinball. And it must have been a couple of years later he posted on Pinside, he completely restored an Evel Knievel. I mean, same way I did the Harlem. And it was just beautiful. I mean, chromed out, all brand-new play field, fully painted cabinet. And it was just stunning. And it was like I actually said to him on Pinside, man, you inspired me. I'm going to go out and look for a Harlem because it happened to be something my wife was interested in. So that's what got me started. Okay, so Harlem. I know it's a fun game, but did you have any connection with either the theme or that actual game? Yeah, and I think a lot of people do, right? If you're a baby boomer age like I am, a little older than you guys, you probably saw him play live. You probably remember the days when Curly was there and Metal Ark Lemon and the gang. And I got to watch him and I got to meet him. And, you know, it was 20 some odd years, maybe 25 years ago where he signed a basketball for my daughter. And we still have it, you know, and it was just it was back when a time when, you know, and I wrote on the blog as well. You know, there is red, white and blue as apple pie and hot dogs. And I mean, look at their uniforms. Right. It just screams have fun. This is the United States of America. Don't forget about politics for a little bit and the things that divide us. everybody enjoys watching them play right so a big nostalgia play i'll just admit it right there right oh yeah definitely okay and did you did you remember playing this game before like as a kid you said you didn't play it much because uh probably like a lot of us we weren't a good when we were kids and we only had like five bucks to to to slowly uh delve out at the arcade No I didn What happened was I got inspired by Dave I literally casually mentioned to Tammy my wife I said hey any interest in a Harlem Globetrotters if I can find one I'm thinking about, you know, doing a ground up restoration. And she loved the team, obviously. And she has at least a passing interest in pinball, thank God, or at least puts up with me. And I started looking right away. And a local guy here does a lot of, you know, gets some machines that are that need some love and attention, gets them running. And it was pretty quickly he posted one for sale. I went to look at it, brought it home, and I actually played it quite a bit. You know, and it's kind of beat up, worn out state. And even in that state, I was like, this is a fun game. This game, looking at the pictures, it looks like it came out of the arcade that Pauly walked into at the beginning of Rocky III. i i i can hear this game being played and i can smell it just because i can i can picture like the era that it was probably like a smoky bar situation probably so yeah and that's that's awesome i so was it playable when you got it first you said it was it had a couple of uh you know nitpicking issues but but it was playable so i when i went to look at it was like all i care about is the bones. You know, I don't want to pay too much for the darn thing because I know I'm basically going to rebuild it from scratch, but I want a good cabinet. I want the electronics to be, if not perfectly functional, really close. And I want the basic playfield components, solenoids, you know, the mechanicals to be functional and all the wiring. All of that was good. I ordered a new back glass for it, a brand new CPR playfield, brand new plastics, brand new chrome all the way around. And as you know, Scott, I stripped it right to the bare wood to remake it. Yeah. Well, it makes it a lot easier if you don't have to deal with the electrical gremlins. I know this personally because I bought a 720 about five years ago that sat in my garage for four years because the monitor couldn't turn on. And I don't know anything about electronics tuning. And if you think it's hard to find someone to work on a pinball machine, try to find someone who works on a classic arcade game. That was, it was difficult. So I understand the approach in that you wanted to make sure all the electrical stuff was out of the way. And really, this was an elbow grease situation where if you're willing to put in the time, you can do nuts and bolts and swaps, but you're not having to troubleshoot all the electrical systems. Is that fair to say? Yeah, I think that's fair. The other big benefit, I don't know if people know this, you know, if you haven't restored a game or you're not thinking about doing that, is that if the electronics are working, it points to the mechanicals being good as well. So if all the parts are functioning the way they should, like in Harlem, the right side ball gate that can typically be messed up, if that's functioning, if your electronics are working, then you can see whether that gate's functioning properly or not. So anyway, it ended up being good. And I don't know that I told you this, but I think before I even bought that game, I'm always chasing memorabilia, you know, interesting tidbits of pinball history. I'm a huge history buff. I think it's part of my love for pinball is I just love listening to your podcast and others that, you know, talk to some of these folks that are legends in the industry and hear those old stories of how games were built and the stories behind how themes were picked up, designed, and then created and brought to life. and I bought the original Williams blueprint drawing to the Harlem Globetrotters basketball spinner. So, you know, Harlem's got three spinners on it. And I'm pretty sure I bought that before we ever talked about buying the Harlem game. And it came from the folks that were friends with Python. They're out of Atlanta. I was lucky enough to get that from them. So it's now framed and it's sitting next to the actual game. Was this the very first game that you restored? Yeah, and it's really a great question. So Chris Hutchins deserves a ton of credit. So if you ever have any questions about what the proper standard is for Game Restore and what your potential options are for approaching it, because there's not just one way to do it, everybody goes to Chris Hutchins' posts that are on Pinside. So a big tip of the hat to him because I learned a ton. I studied some of his posts and images hundreds of times to get there. But no, this wasn't my first game. The first game was actually a Bride of Pinball. And it wasn't a complete restore, but it was pretty significant. And I spent, I don't know, two or three years on it in total. Not, you know, not in total time, but over time. We were on vacation in Charleston, South Carolina. And, you know, pinheads are always thinking pinball and looking for pinball deals. So I'm cruising Craigslist looking for pinballs for sale. This is back in a time when you could find them, number one. You didn't have to rush to the house with cash in hand number two, and you didn't even have to be first. You'd have a pretty good chance of getting it. So I drove over there on vacation and looked at a beat-up Bride of Pinbot, and I literally said to the guy, I said, man, it's way too rough for me for what he was asking. He was probably only asking $1,500 for the game, but the playfield was completely trashed. Cabinet was okay. It functioned, but the playfield was difficult to even look at. Long story short, the guy really needed the money. I mean, his dad was sick, I believe, with cancer. He told me that and I could see his dad was actually sitting in a wheelchair. I hate to even share the story because it sounds terrible, but that's what happened. So I bought it, paid him for it. I said, you know, this is probably going to sit in my basement forever. I'll never do anything. Well, I got up enough gumption to pull the play field, strip the entire top, and I spent quite a few months hand painting the artwork back on it with an airbrush. My training is in fine arts. I actually have a degree in fine arts. I don't work in that industry, but that's my training. So I was able to repaint the art by hand and then clear coat it, which I had never done before. So not a complete restore, but the top of that game is brand new, all brand new parts. and the artwork looks like it came right out of the factory. So that's what started it. How many other games have you done this to? None that I can think of, although I will tell you when I do a top-down strip, you know, I probably go deeper than most folks. A good example of that is I just finished a wipeout. You know, I've got a lot of skiing history behind me. I worked at a ski area. I skied 100 days a year, raced on a couple teams. I loved the sport. I haven't skied in years, but it's a fantastic sport. So I have a lot of, again, nostalgic memories about it. And I bought a wipeout, another odd game, right? It doesn't get a ton of love. It's not that expensive. And it's simple. I get it. But I literally stripped that right to bare play field and did a lot of work on it. Rebuilding ramps. I did the same thing with truck stop, Big Betty's truck stop. So that's another game that's not worth a ton of money, but it's very unique. You know, when Valley and Williams merged, became a company to actually have different parts in the game from each company. So I've gone down to the, you know, bare play field on those and something that I would call much deeper than a shop out. What did you learn from this process that you could give others that might want to dabble into it? OK, yeah. And what surprised you the most? That's usually usually you get into these projects and you don't know what you don't know. Yeah. Yeah. I learned a ton, actually. I guess my biggest takeaway was I always knew that I could do it. The reason for tackling this was to find out, would I? That's kind of the challenge. I'm impatient. I'm big time impatient. I'd love to have every game be able to, the day you get it, shop it out and have it finished that night so you're playing it. Restores don't go that way. You have to be planful, thoughtful, and you absolutely have to be patient. You're not going to get it done in a day. You're not going to get it done in a week. And if you live a normal life, you're not even going to get it done in months. So I worked on this over the course of a couple of years, of course, not full two years. It was hundreds of hours for sure. I discovered it's it's a lonely process. I know that's probably an odd thing to say. Nobody else really cares too much about your pile of rusty parts or your beat up play field or the cabinet. You've now got, you know, sanded down to bare wood. My family would humor me and say, hey, it's okay that he's disappearing into the pole barn for hours at a time, but you're not going to have too many spectators in this kind of a sport. And I think if you look at how people do these games, you're working by yourself for long periods of time. So it helps to listen to podcasts. It helps to crank up the music, your favorite tunes, but be prepared to be in it for the long haul. That was a surprise. Have the right tools. That's not a surprise. You know, I'm a big fan of you don't have the right one and you're going through a restore, go buy it. You'll hate yourself for not doing it. The coin door, that area of the game, if you're a restorer, you know what I'm talking about. Holy cow. You know, I was just about finished with this thing. I've got the cabinet painted. It's clear-coated. The playfield's done, top and bottom. It's sitting on a rotisserie ready to go in. The backbox is finished. all the electronics are in. All I got to do is bolt the coin door back on, right? That sounds easy. You have a decision to make. You're going to clean that up like you did the rest of the game or not. That decision is 12 to 15 hours worth of work. If you decide to bolt it back on, you skip all that work. But now you have a game that's got everything except that. So every time you open the door, you're going to be looking at it. So when you get to that part, I guess my encouragement to everybody was don't give up, don't stop. You've done this much work, finish it out. So it was complex. That took a lot of work, not just doing the coin door, but literally the frame that goes in there, all the ground straps that go behind it. That was a bit of a surprise. Yeah. And I actually am looking over the notes you sent us and I want you to talk about some of the mistakes. So I see one, I see fingerprint on backside of head with clear coat over them. I also see rough spot on the cabinet right of the plunger where you can see it. And I also see soldered one wire to the left flippers and the wrong lug. Yep. Yep. All of those things are true. We'll start with the first one. So that's an easy one. I violated my number one rule, which is take your time, think about it. Right? Easy to violate. I'm impatient. Right? The first thing I want to do is act. So we had a big club event over here at the ranch. As you know, I live on a horse ranch. So we had a bunch of folks over with a bunch of cars and had a big time. But it took a lot of time away from that weekend planned restoration time, right? So as soon as they were gone, I huddled into the pole barn. I said, you know what? I got plenty of time here Sunday to get the clear coat on this thing. So without thinking, I grabbed the head. My hands were dirty from doing something, God knows what. I set it on the block I was using to spray. And without, you know, cleaning my hands and checking, I just started clear coating. Well, I now have my DNA in the head, backbox, on the back, thank goodness, of a brand new white cabinet for Harlem. So that's one. Number two, man, I was super careful on the cabinet. I'm sure folks that do this and done more than one double check and triple check, but I had flashlights out there. You know, I did everything, five or six coats of primer, Bondo in between that to fill the cracks, sand it smooth, et cetera. And there's one, you've got to look close to see it, tiny rough spot just above the plunger, the chrome plunger plate that says Valley on it just to the right. Didn't even notice it until I put the pictures up on pin side, and it's a little rough. And I was like, how in the heck did I miss that? Because that's a five-second fix, right, if you don't clear coat over it. Right. And here you go. So here's the story that everybody who's ever worked on a game or restored it is asking themselves. You put the play field back in or you put it all back together. you plug it in you turn it on you hit start first thing you want to do is hope it boots number two you want to see a ball get into that shooter lane and number three you want to see if it works right so one and two were fine number three I pulled the plunger the ball goes up around the the hoop and I'm like I'm on cloud nine because this thing's been apart for two years and everything's been unsoldered off the bottom all new uh lamp sockets control lamp sockets all new GI, all new wiring, all the mechs have been desoddered, cleaned, replaced, repapered, put back together. You're bound to get something wrong, right? Well, yeah, you are. And I did. So I literally wrote down every wire color, where it went, to what mech, and I soldered one wire on the left flipper to the wrong lug. Whatever that mistake was, it wasn't bad enough to blow a transistor or blow the game up. It just would quit. So I'm like, hmm, left flipper, that's when it's happening. I must have it wired wrong. When I looked at my old photos, it was one word or the wrong word. It took five minutes to fix it. Sure, but that's the challenge is when you have an error, finding and diagnosing the problem is most of the problem. Anybody can re-solder or screw a nut on better, but it's actually diagnosing where the mistake is. I made the luckiest mistake, Scott, that you could make, which is it was on the flipper. and when I hit the button for the left flipper, the game was saying, hey, dummy, you did something wrong. If I would have turned the game on and then it quickly shut off, we probably wouldn't be talking. I'd still be working on the game. Right. Okay, so you did this whole process. Now, okay, I know there are people who are asking themselves, hey, I have a classic game that I really want. Hey, I want that meteor to look brand new. I have an Eldorado that's beat up, but I'd love to make it brand new. Okay, I want you to give them some sort of time estimate and also some sort of cost estimate, because I guarantee it's about three times the time and at least double the price of what they think they're going to get. That's actually a really good estimate. You know, I was thinking maybe 150 hours. I didn't keep track of my time. So, guys, this is 100% guess, but I'm pretty confident saying it's well over 300 hours. The big amount of time, easy, cabinet, by a mile, you know, by a mile. I don't have the professional tools that a Chris Hutchins would have. I have middle-of-the-road tools. They're certainly not, you know, weekend grade. I have a compressor, a big compressor. I've got Palm Sanders. I've got a place to do it comfortably. But, man, the cabinet work just takes a while. And part of that is the amount of sanding and coat you need to put on to get it smooth. Part of that is you need to let your paint dry in between painting, you know, when you're doing decals. So that was a challenge. So it took, for me, I would guess probably two or three times longer than I thought it was going to, setting aside the total length of time. Just the total invested time was a lot longer. Not to the point, though, to be honest, that I was disappointed or ever wanted to quit on it. And I think others who have tackled this kind of thing, as long as you're making good progress and not making a ton of mistakes along the way, it actually feels pretty good. Price. Yeah that blow your mind So you know a game like a classic Bally especially one they made a lot of you know they made over 14 Harlem it going to run you a couple thousand A really beat up one you probably get for 1,200 bucks, right? Knowing you're going to replace most everything in there. The parts on top of that that I spent on this game was 4,000. So you have a real key decision to make along the way. How much do you care about Chrome? Because if you don't care that much about Chrome, you're going to pull at least a grand off the price. Yeah. If you care about Chrome, that's just going to add to it. I chromed my Tron out, and it looks amazing. But, yeah, that added a couple thousand to the custom build that I was not expecting. Yeah, that blows you away. you know and people if I'm anybody listening to this I'm like why would you do that I mean tell me how a Harlem is worth six grand I'm not worried about that and I don't even know you know if this was maybe the only other game I had I only had two or three games I'm still not sure I would be worried about it this was more about you know what can I do and what can I challenge myself to do and I think you all you know Scott that I think there's a couple of reasons why I did this, because I think it does get appreciated by others. And I think every single time you do something like this and document it and anybody who's interested, go to my blog and I think you'll learn a ton there. You'll learn everything I did because I documented everything. So I think people appreciate that. And honestly, it also proves something to me. That part I shared earlier about, I thought I could do it. Would I see it through to the end. I actually grabbed a quote from Colin Marshall on their Open Culture website. I thought it was super interesting. In our increasing digital age, characterized by nothing more than acutely than our tendency to spend hours clicking through increasingly specialized YouTube videos, he says, skilled physical work has become an impressive spectacle in itself. So I don't know that you all know this, but there is a whole, I don't watch these, but there's a big deal out on YouTube on just restoring videos. And there's very little commentary on it, but it's people actually taking something that's, you know, beat up and old and rusty and making it new again. So I think people do appreciate, I mean, who isn't awed by what Chris Hutchins does at HEP. You're like, man, that's amazing. And I think people appreciate seeing that kind of skill. And if you're trying to emulate it, like I was trying to do, and you come close, it feels pretty good. Yeah, and we did interview Chris back in the day, and that was quite an interesting interview because we did talk about how if you really want that grail pin and you want it to look like it's better than new in box, absolutely. If you have the funds and you're willing to hire Chris, he will give you a premium product. And you're selling yourself short a little bit here. I'm looking at your Harlem, and I think it looks pretty darn close to what Chris can do. yeah well I appreciate that I know the details so I know what Chris pulls off and it's it's a great different I think but I appreciate those comments it was as good as I could do and probably as far as I could go with the tools and equipment that I have so I feel good about it so now that you've done this project and you've put all these hours in it and you've done write a pin bot what do you like more do you just like buying the nice box pin balls right out of the box or do you like restoring? Do you already have another project on the horizon? Oh, yeah. Yeah. My interest, people ask that question a lot. The first question asked is, why do you have so many of them? Right. And it's, you know, that's a tough question to answer. First of all, I don't want more. Let's start with that. The room will fit more. I'm not going to add more. As if I buy new machines or try to restore an old one, some are leaving. When you get to that size collection, keeping them running, anybody that has more than four or five knows this, that's a challenge, right? So there's always one that needs something. Sometimes they need a lot of something. So that's, I don't want this to be always working on them. I like playing them. I love watching other people playing them. I love learning the history about them. I love the artwork. You know, like I said, I'm an art major by trade and I really appreciate them as works of and I really like fixing them. I know that sounds weird. I don't want to do it 24-7. Otherwise, it's not fun anymore. And, yeah, I've got another project. So if you're going to go, go big. So I bought a haunted house just for that reason. Nice. So I have three brand-new playfields sitting up in the pinball loft, and the machine is still sitting out in the pole barn. But that's the next project, which is, as you know, three play field swaps. Yeah. Lots of new parts. and when I'm done, it should look brand new. It's a fun game too. That one was operational when I bought it, not perfect, but man, I just enjoyed its simplicity and it's a beautiful game to look at. My recommendation too is when you're working on that one, if you can, put some fuses in line to the coils that upkick from the basement to the main level. I don't know what it is. On the one that my, when I bought my very first pinball machine, I picked one up and then a doctor that works with my wife's like well if you're picking one up pick one up for me too and so the guy was selling a haunted house as well and so I just grabbed both of them and uh he we've had nothing but issues with that up kicker from from the basement to the main level yeah it's not the challenge with those games it's like amazing spider-man and you had one of these josh it just yes it's hard to keep them running because the design was flawed from the beginning. They don't have the reliability of the current ones and they were kind of meant to be disposable. So they didn't put the time in to make sure that they, they, you know, cross the T's and dotted all the I's. So I've heard that haunted house, actually, Chris Hutchins highlights this in one of his restores and maybe the only haunted house he's ever done. He did a beautiful job. There's a pop bumper board. I think you can put into those that helps to mitigate that issue. Yeah, I would definitely tease that out because there's nothing quicker than a completely malfunctioning machine electronically that makes you want it to yeet it out of your window as fast as you can because it's just not worth it. Yep, I can attest to that. I can definitely fix the mechanical stuff, but the electrical stuff, it's usually beyond me. I agree. Yeah. Haunted House is a fantastic game though I know it's one of those ones that people kind of I mean it felt gimmicky let's not beat around the bush it's a cool theme though it is, it's a fun theme it's kind of like that classic the early Disney theme that's like the Mickey goes into a spooky house or something like that I'm always looking for games too guys that casual players can play I don't honestly know a ton of great high-end professional players. The people that come and visit to enjoy some snacks or play up in the loft, so to speak, they're casual players, and they just don't encounter a ton of pinball machines. So giving them an opportunity to play something that is simple, that's fun, they can keep the ball alive for a period of time, maybe get to a quick multiball, those are cool games. Oh, yeah. And Haunted House is just – people gravitate towards it because it's such a unique game. I think it holds the record for the most flippers, most playfields, most pop bumpers, if I remember correctly. It's one of those ones that just, you'll never see another one like it, in my opinion. No, I don't think you will either, and so that's why it makes it so great to have it part of an eclectic collection. You don't want to have it as your only game, but hey, if you have a couple of games, it's always fun to have that oddball. I am completely with you Tim there's a reason why I still keep Attack from Mars and Medieval Madness because anybody who comes down I can say shoot the castle and shoot the flashing lights and it's accessible to them it's a little more challenging to get into some of the other games just because the complexity of the rules to satisfy the high end players it just goes over their heads a lot that's why I would take a Monsters in my collection because it is readily accessible. And I know for high-end players, it's not their game. But, hey, I know a lot of players who would really appreciate it. Yeah, the gentleman I bought the Haunted House from had a Monsters. He had two games. One was Monsters. And that was the first time I played it. I loved it. It was fun. Was it simple? Yeah. Could you keep the ball alive for a long time? Yeah, if you've played a lot. But, man, people just love the theme and they love the simplicity of the gameplay. I had a ball playing it. Yeah. Well, it's the same. Josh and I were talking about this with Brad Hunter of Lit Frames. We were talking about Monster Bash, and it's the same thing. There's people who don't like Monster Bash because it's a simple-ish game. And you can make it mean if you want to, but it's still a fun game. Like, people will come down who are casual players who will have a lot of fun on that game. whereas if i put them on you know a jurassic park or something it's going to kick their butt i don't know there's still something about monster bash though it is just so fun when you get all of them lined up about ready to start them all then you start them all one by one and you end on frankenstein and you get into the multiball and you have unlimited because each mode is timed you have to complete it within the time yeah and if you do it right and you start them all and you hit Frankenstein, you feel like King Kong on steroids. And it just, you're flailing. I mean, at that point, you can kind of flail. You still have to hit shots. But, I mean, you can take down all the modes during a multiball, and it just feels so great. I think that's one of the challenging aspects of Monster Bash. I know a lot of people say it's easy. But if you can do that consistently, I'm impressed. Because it's just hard to do. It's like trying to get the one billion hurry up on Attack from Mars. If you can do it consistently, it's impressive. But most people don't even know that one billion even exists there. I did that in a tournament once. And the next guy was like, what the heck did you just do? And I tried to explain it to him. And he's like, well, let's get a picture. So I had to pull up a picture of the play field and explain it to him. Just those little quirky things. Lyman did with Medieval Madness, Attack from Mars, and Monster Bash. Just wonderful coding there. Okay, so speaking of King Kong on steroids, you own a Guns N' Roses collector's edition. Yes, sir. So you really go after the high-end ones. You obviously have a Batman 66 SLE. And what prompted you to buy the collector's edition on Guns N' Roses? That's a pretty price tag. Yep, great question. Well, I'll start this way. For some reason, every title my wife is interested in ends up being a game that is just a butt kicker, right? So Aerosmith, great example, right? I got to have Aerosmith. And then you play the game and, I mean, the ball lasts 10 seconds every single time. and anybody who plays that and is an average player and is you know barely keeping the ball live you quickly it doesn't matter how much you like the game or the band you're going to lose interest so that's been a theme of hers like i gotta have an aerosmith i gotta have a waz so we got her a ruby red waz for her i think it was for her 50th birthday it's beautiful game but man that game is a challenge that's it you know if you're a newbie that's gonna that's gonna work you it's a hard game yeah yeah exactly so she says to me i actually closed the outlanes on mine so it does help by the way to make it a little you actually have to get in there and careful because i scratched a little bit of the coding when i did it but the the left out lane that goes to that ridiculous there's no place like home mode right you can actually they they have it so you can actually bring up that rail and put it to a closer pin so it does close it off a little bit. You know, why don't most people think of that? I mean, why don't I just put a rubber band across it, right? Yeah, it could be. But I closed off some of my outlanes because I'm trying to get my kids to enjoy it more. Because if they're draining so fast, they're not going to have fun. And so just on Mike Wadswoth, just keep that in mind that you can adjust the outlanes and it does help a little bit. It's a good idea. And by the way, she's probably the only person that plays it. It gets played occasionally by visitors, you know, when they're here. I mean, folks will gravitate towards it. We have an entire dedicated corner for Wizard of Oz memorabilia, and the game sits, you know, in the middle of that. So it's a centerpiece. People like it. They love the movie. But man, it's a hard game. So anyway, long story short, she's also a Guns N' Roses fan. And I knew that, and I heard that, you know, the rumor was that was the next game coming from JJP. So I said to her, hey, Guns N' Roses is going to be the next pinball from Jersey Jack. Are you interested? Yes. That's like one of my favorite bands. We got to have the best one they make. Well, you don't have to tell me that twice, right? The pinball guy. It's like, I'm on it. Sold. Yeah, exactly. But that advantage that gives you was this. It's actually pretty simple. The moment it goes on sale, I don't need to see it. I don't need to worry about the gameplay. I don't need to worry about what it looks like. I don't need to worry about who wrote the code. I don't even have to worry too much at this point about the price. The wife said she wants it. We're going to get it. So, you know, 45 seconds after this thing launches, I've already paid for it. and I literally had the first one delivered that I know of, you know, that wasn't a prototype in the U.S., and posted those pictures that you all saw. Scott, that was early on. You saw that we put out there on Pennside. And the game is actually, forget about how fun it is because it's over the top. It's insane. But she can play it, and you can keep the ball alive, and you can start a song. And if you want to go deep into it, man, it's got all the code that's there. and professional players, professional grade players can have a ball with that thing, but casual players can get into it as well. It's absolutely a ball and it's a concert in a box. Definitely. That's what I hear a lot with that game. It's a whole different experience when it comes to pinball. It's immersive like nothing else that's been made before. That was part of Scott's question, I think, is I wanted to make it more so. So it was enough to blow you away when you plugged it in. The sound, the light show, the songs, the integration of the shaker. I mean, one of the questions you guys were kind enough to ask Eric was, you know, that I shared with you when you were interviewing him was about, you know, how did you go about coding the light show and the shaker to all these songs? Because it's so well done. And the one that blows me away is Live and Let Die. where they had to get permission from I think it was Sony Music Studios that owned the rights and that you know that now historical story of Well it was Paul McCartney Paul McCartney had to Yeah So it was a phone call away from one superstar to another Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that story just is like that's cool as hell. And then to to then hear from Eric, the answer to my question was, well, that was the first one we coded, which kind of set the standard for how we were going to finish out the rest of the songs in the game. And I've had time since then, Scott, to play through all the rest of the songs of the game. There's songs on there that are even better than that. They continue to blow me away. And I was like, okay, if it's this good, what could it be with aftermarket? So I started experimenting. I bought some. I already had a bunch of home speakers around here. I've been dabbling in audio for a long, long time, spending stupid amounts of money on home stereo systems. So I grabbed a small pair of bookshelves, I shoved them behind the machine, I hooked up a stereo receiver to the, you know, the audio out jack, did a little Y, you know, a Y out adapter. And it sounded pretty good. I mean, it sounded better than stock. And the only issue was I couldn't get enough volume out of the receiver. And I didn't want to long term have a bunch of speakers hanging on a wall behind it or sitting on stands. So I started searching for a better answer, which was, how do we get more volume and cleaner volume out of the machine? And the bottom line was this. I landed on center channel speakers from Eclipse system. You can still find them used on eBay and whatnot. And I had to buy two. And the reason for buying two was center channel speakers are not stereo. They're almost always mono. So, and the ones that I was going to put up there had to be small enough to fit on the left and the right of the topper. So I pulled the stock topper off there and built some custom brackets, which weren't too difficult. Added a preamp and an amplifier and the rest is history. And it is amazing. Now it helps that I put a 2,500 watt SVS subwoofer underneath it, but that moves a lot of air and the top end is nice and clean. And it's awesome. It's like being at a GNR concert. I love that you casually say just the stock topper because the stock topper that comes with your collector's edition that has the sound bar up there too that blows the windows off anyway, and you decided to make it louder. Yeah, yeah. It's no slouch, but I wanted to really hear it, number one, and there was just not enough mid-range high-end clarity. Yeah. Not trying to sound like an audio snob, but let me put it this way. The guys at JGP and the folks that worked on the sound did an amazing job. And anybody in their right mind is probably totally satisfied. I was when I turned it on. I was just trying to find a way to take it over the top. The pin deserved to be over the top. It's just kind of like saying I have a nice stock Porsche that I made faster. There you go. There you go. Nothing wrong with that. Faster and louder. Yeah. Yeah. So what made you what convinced you to make a website on top of all of this? Oh, I love that question because I get to talk about my friend. And the beginning of this is a tiny sad. So I'll keep this part short. But within the same exact year, my dad, my best friend and a neighbor all passed away from a very rare blood disease. At least that's what I heard. It was very rare. It was pretty odd that three people I knew very well, including my own father, suffered from it. And it's basically, you know, cancer of the blood. And long story short, he was a very young guy, you know, in his 40s, came to visit me at the ranch one day. And he's the guy that was, you know, our local pinball buddy. His name was Andy. And Andy was responsible for a lot of the East Tennessee pinball scene. Maybe you could even argue all of it. We've got some great local barcades, and for sure one of them was completely outfitted, and the owners would tell you this, and set up with pinball by Andy. So he came to the ranch one day and said he wasn't feeling that well. I hadn't heard from him in a couple weeks and wondered what was going on. Ended up, you know, he had this exact same disease. About two weeks before he passed away, I started writing this blog. and I didn't really have an exact reason why other than, you know, big time passionate about pinball. But I started a blog and it actually came from a session that at work we were talking about leadership and about how writing can help drive creative thoughts. So one of the speakers actually suggested, you know, everybody should write. So I thought, well, why not? Two weeks later, Andy passed away. and I think it became pretty clear to me why I had started a blog two weeks before that because I literally went on to start to write a story about Andy's life with the permission of his parents first and that that was going to be a blog post that turned into a book so I wrote a book about Andy over the course of just a couple of weeks maybe four weeks in total and I honestly think that the beginning of that blog was me getting ready to write that story. So it's a really interesting story about pinball because it talks about how pinball brings people together and how certainly if you read Andy's story, which is on my blog, you just click on Andy up at the top, you'll understand what I'm talking about, how he used pinball to bring people from all walks of life. It's one of the things I really like about this hobby. We have a surgeon in our group. We have factory workers in our group. We have people that work in IT in our group. Literally people from all walks of life, what brings us together is pinball. That's why you'll never find politics on my website. I don't talk about it. I don't want to find ways of pulling us apart. I want to find ways of putting us together. And when people are up in the loft and we're playing pinball. Politics is off limits. We're here to talk about, you know, family and fun and enjoy ourselves. So I know that's a long answer, but that's how I got there. And I've continued doing it just because I really enjoy writing. It's for most people, long form writing. Blogs are a thing of the past. I think what you all do is certainly more accessible and time starved, you know, society. I listen to podcasts almost exclusively, but I enjoy writing. So that's why I do it. Okay. Now give them the website too because I want them to go and check it out. Yeah, sure. It's thepinballloft.com. Real simple. Just spell it out. T-H-E, pinballloft.com. The story about Andy is up at the top. The story about me is about us. You'll learn about the ranch. If you want to learn about how we built the game room, there's a lot of information on that that would be helpful to anybody who's, hey, I'm going to build a dedicated game room. Do what I did. You know, I poured over Pennside, asked lots of questions. I reached out to Rotor Dave, who has one of the biggest game rooms maybe in the in the world, you know, with well over 100 games. He was kind enough to share his blueprints of his actual home and his game room back to me. So, you know, I stood on the backs of others to design it. So help yourself to the information that's there. OK, I this is the last topic I want to talk about. Lava lamps. I want to talk about your lava lamp. Okay. That's an odd one. So, I mean, the genesis of all that is if you go into the loft, you're going to see a lot more than that. You know, there's a piece of a Saturn V rocket, you know, the most powerful machine ever built by humans, over 160 million horsepower. There's an actual piece of that rocket up in the loft. There's a ton of signed memorabilia from all of our pinball heroes, as you would expect. If you were at the last TPF that I was at, Steve Ritchie was playing a priest with Gomez sitting by his side. It was called Pinball Confessional or something. Steve Ritchie had a sign he was holding up that said, bless me, Father, for I have sinned. I ran up afterwards and grabbed that handwritten sign and asked him to sign it. That's hanging up there. All kinds of odd stuff. And as you said, Scott, the lava lamp. So how did that happen? I'm always looking for something unique, conversational, different. That's why there's an eight foot tall Spider-Man up there and a six foot tall Iron Man. And I didn't have a lava lamp. So where do you go to get the best lava lamp? Well, you go to a website called Oozing Goo. I'm not making this up. There's actually a website where you can learn about lava lamps. And the best lava lamps made in the world today are made by Mathmos, M-A-T-H-O-S. Unfortunately, they're made in Robert Englunds and they don't ship to the U.S. So you go and you get an European address, which you can do with a company called Forward to Me. I think that's the name of the company. They ship it to your now European address, which I have an address in Robert Englunds now in Britain. And then they forward it to you. And it's stupid amounts of money, but I now have the biggest lava lamp that Mathemos makes, and it's big-time cool. Yeah, and it's two and a half feet tall. I mean, we have like one of those 18-inch lava lamps, but we do not have a two and a half foot tall lava lamp. Yeah, they sell those too, but I wanted to have one of the biggest ones they had. Yeah, that's still just crazy. Love it. You know, Corey, you've got to plan for that. If people are coming over, you've got to turn it on a couple hours ahead of time. You know, I do love, though, the things about game rooms that make them interesting and just pieces of fun. And just like you said, I have similar rules. Pinball is a great way to connect with people that doesn't involve politics, doesn't involve income levels. It doesn't involve religion. It doesn't involve sexuality. It doesn't involve anything. I mean, it's basically how basic can you get? I'm just I am flipping a ball. And if we have nothing else in common, at least we can connect on this. Yeah. Yeah. We've forgotten how to enjoy each other's company by forcing us to divide ourselves, which is ridiculous. Yeah. And I agree. It's this is what has drawn me to pinball is the not necessarily the inclusivity of it, Because I think it's there, but it's more of a – it's a parallel universe where none of that really matters as much as it does in your real life. It's just something that is – it's an escape. We don't have to worry about that here. This is – we all know those are important in everyday life. But this is a great escape. It's like going to a summer popcorn movie where you don't really care too much if the storyline doesn't make sense. You're just there to have a good time. That's a great way to put it. You know, I have very, very strong political beliefs. I'm going to keep them to myself because I don't want to ruin the experience. What you just described is a really good way of putting it. Yeah. Well, honestly, I think that kind of brings us to the end of our show, unless you got some other questions, Scott. No, I think I've been able to ask Tim all the things that we need to in the roughly hour allotment that we normally have. So, but if people want to reach out to you and you already gave your website, but if people want to reach out to you and ask any questions about restorations or two and a half foot lava lamps, how do they get ahold of you? Yeah, they can put comments right on the website and I respond to those. So, yeah, reach out right to the pinball off dot com. And we'd like to thank Tim again. Again, Tim Purcell out of Knoxville, Tennessee. if you we appreciate him coming around and if you are in that area I highly recommend trying to get that coveted ticket into his game room because I am seriously jealous of his game room I wish I had something as epic as he does I totally agree if folks want to do that reach out on pin side please do so I'm we host people here all the time so happy to give you a tour we'll play some games have a couple of drinks, relax, enjoy each other's company. Awesome. If you want to get a hold of us, Scott or I, you can get a hold of us on Facebook at Loser Kid Pinball. Same with Twitter and Twitch and Instagram. And if you want to get a hold of us via email, the old way, Loser Kid Pinball podcast at gmail.com. We thank Tim for coming on today. It was awesome to get to talk to him about these projects. I highly recommend you go to this pinball off.com. There's some pretty amazing in-depth detail here to do all your own stuff. Even if you are curious, if it's even something you'd like to try, I highly recommend you go check this out. And it sounds like Tim's be willing to give you some pointers too, if you need them. Absolutely. Yeah. And we're, we're going to be getting stocked up on hats again. We kind of took a little break during the pandemic, but now it's a feels like it's time to get that going. And, uh, I'm planning on being at expo and I know Josh has too. And so if you don't want to, uh, if you don't want to wait and have it mailed off to you, we'll, uh, we'll be bringing some to expo. So, uh, go ahead and, uh, and hook and hit us up and we'll hook you up at expo. Yes. Don't forget by the end of the month, August 30th or 31st. Oh, it's been a long time. Anywho, we're, we got the pin quest going on. So if you got the, uh, world cup soccer challenge and you've got the Avengers challenge, if you complete, you get one entry per completed quest, uh, specific to the loser kit stuff. There's more quests on there. It won't give you more entries, but you'll be able to be put in for an entry to win a hat. And we'll be talking about that. Um, what is this today? Probably, probably not the next episode, but the one after that. Yeah. So, yeah, well, well today, so we record this live actually, when you're listening to it. But just in case, we're in the middle of the month sometime in August. Yes, correct. Hey, Josh. It was great to meet you, Josh, for the first time. Scott, I appreciate your friendship over the past, well, more than a year now. I don't know that all listeners know this, but these two guys are real genuine, and I appreciate them. I appreciate your podcast as well. We appreciate all the good people we've met in podcasts because it seems to be growing everywhere. I think I think a lot of we do get a lot of positive feedback we appreciate your positive feedback Tim our last episode I I'm sorry I got to bring this up really quick someone left a comment it was worst podcast or worst episode of the podcast ever yeah I can all I could hear that was the comic book guy saying that so I actually laughed it's it's probably true it we we weren't hitting a thousand but hey I thought we had a good take on Steve Ritchie hey uh Tim we did not get to cover your Ultraman purchase, and so I'm really curious. We're going to have to have you back on when you get the Ultraman, because I want to hear your review on that. Very cool. Looking forward to it. Okay, awesome. Thanks, everyone. _(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_ --- *Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 16fdcad8-e99d-40d6-8d6f-fda05f31fa3b*