# Working on that PMA

**Source:** This Flippin' Podcast  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2022-03-17  
**Duration:** 125m 12s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thisflippinpodcast/episodes/Working-on-that-PMA-e1fs0bm

---

## Analysis

Tommy Skinner and Taylor Reese discuss personal life updates, mental health during global turmoil, and their pinball experiences. Key topics include Taylor's 50th birthday, Tommy's recent marriage, Taylor's efforts to stay positive, Tommy's pickup of Pinball Brothers' Alien and a Goldeneye machine, and detailed impressions of Alien's gameplay, rule design, and manufacturing/shipping issues. They also cover North End Pub's fifth anniversary and expansion to 25 machines.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Alien from Pinball Brothers was supposed to arrive in October but didn't arrive until March 2nd or 3rd due to poor communication about shipping delays — _Tommy Skinner describing his experience ordering through Coin Taker_
- [HIGH] Alien's physical design includes a second magnet above the upper flipper, a physical lock for HyperSleep multiball (previously virtual), and a rear entrance to the airlock scoop — _Tommy Skinner detailing the playfield changes between original and current version_
- [HIGH] The flipper buttons on Alien were originally arcade leaf buttons that felt too light and needed to be replaced with standard Stern pinball switches — _Tommy describing the flipper button issue and his recommendation to other owners_
- [MEDIUM] Jason Wilson at Game Galaxy in Nashville area bought a used Alien that had problems and was supposed to receive a new main CPU but still has boot issues — _Tommy citing reported issues from early Alien owners_
- [MEDIUM] There are fewer than 10 Alien machines on location in the country — _Tommy's estimate based on his knowledge of early distribution_
- [HIGH] Alien has eight modes, two mini wizard modes, four multiballs, and an 'all-out war' main wizard mode — _Tommy describing the game's rule structure_
- [HIGH] Tommy repurchased his original Goldeneye that he sold eight years ago after it passed through multiple owners in St. Louis and Indianapolis — _Tommy describing finding and buying back his original machine_
- [HIGH] North End Pub is celebrating its fifth anniversary of having pinball machines and has expanded from an initial setup to 25 machines — _Taylor describing his location's growth and anniversary milestone_

### Notable Quotes

> "I feel lied to. And I don't appreciate that. Like, I can handle things are delayed for whatever reason. Just tell me the truth, you know."
> — **Tommy Skinner**, ~30:00
> _Critical feedback on Coin Taker/Pinball Brothers communication regarding the Alien shipping delays_

> "With Alien, I have just wanted to go and play because I am finding it very fun. Very challenging, but very fun."
> — **Tommy Skinner**, ~22:00
> _Positive overall assessment of Alien's gameplay despite manufacturing and communication issues_

> "The flipper buttons felt very light. They're just meant to be like pressed down and gravity is going to help you. They're not sturdy enough for a flipper button."
> — **Tommy Skinner**, ~28:00
> _Identifies specific design flaw in initial Alien production and proposes practical solution_

> "It was our top earner for the last two weeks. People at League seem to be liking it."
> — **Tommy Skinner**, ~21:00
> _Positive reception of Alien at location play, indicating commercial success_

> "pinball is just such a, like, ridiculous, like, thing to be involved in when the world is crumbling around you."
> — **Taylor Reese**, ~5:00
> _Reflects broader theme of finding joy in pinball during turbulent times_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Tommy Skinner | person | Co-host of This Flippin' Podcast, operator at North End Pub, recently married, owns/operates multiple pinball machines |
| Taylor Reese | person | Co-host of This Flippin' Podcast, turned 50, primary operator of North End Pub location, has kids, coaches wrestling |
| Pinball Brothers | company | Manufacturer of Alien pinball machine, based in Italy, using assembly partner unfamiliar with pinball production |
| Alien | game | Pinball Brothers game based on Alien movie franchise, includes modes from both Alien and Aliens films, recently shipping with design improvements |
| North End Pub | venue | Taylor's location in Michigan, celebrating fifth anniversary, expanded to approximately 25 machines (18 Taylor's, 5 Mark's, 2-3 shared) |
| One Well Brewing | venue | Venue in Kalamazoo, Michigan with approximately 50 pinball machines and arcade games, where Tommy and Ron Kruseman played recently |
| Ron Kruseman | person | Friend of Tommy, plays pinball, fell in love with Godzilla machine at One Well Brewing |
| Coin Taker | company | Distributor/ordering platform used for Alien purchase, cited for poor communication about delivery timelines |
| Jason Wilson | person | Operator of Game Galaxy in Nashville, Tennessee area, reportedly the biggest location in the country, owns used Alien with technical issues |
| David Yopp | person | Alien owner who initially didn't change flipper buttons but confirmed the improvement after Tommy recommended the switch |
| Dave Brennan | person | Content creator with Dave's Arcade, produced comprehensive two-hour unboxing and adjustment video for Alien |
| Godzilla | game | Stern pinball game that Tommy and Ron both enjoyed; mentioned alongside Alien for rule structure comparison |
| Goldeneye | game | Machine Tommy recently repurchased after selling it eight years ago; currently having trough opto issues |
| Terry | person | Staff at Pinball Life, helped Tommy source replacement trough optos for Goldeneye |
| Pinball Life | company | Parts supplier/service provider for pinball machines |
| Mark | person | Co-operator with Taylor at North End Pub, owns several machines and shares ownership of 2-3 games |
| Jurassic Park | game | Stern game referenced in comparison of wizard mode difficulty; features Escape Nublar wizard mode |
| Iron Maiden | game | Jersey Jack Pinball game with 'Run for the Hills' wizard mode; Taylor owns for four years without reaching wizard |
| Avengers | game | Jersey Jack Pinball game with wizard mode and gem collection mechanics; Taylor has beaten once |
| Monsters | game | Jersey Jack Pinball game with obtainable but unclear wizard mode rules; compared to Alien's more understandable design |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Mental health and staying positive during global crisis, Pinball Brothers' Alien machine: design, gameplay, and manufacturing, Shipping/supply chain delays and communication issues, Flipper button design flaw and fix on Alien
- **Secondary:** North End Pub location expansion and fifth anniversary, Wizard mode accessibility and design philosophy across manufacturers, Personal life updates: marriage, kids, career changes, Comparison of rule design between Alien, Godzilla, and JJP games

### Sentiment

**Mixed** (0.62) — Episode opens with heavy discussion of depression and global anxiety from both hosts, but gradually shifts to positive tone as they discuss their personal wins (marriage, kids' achievements, location success) and Alien's gameplay. Sentiment about Alien itself is very positive, but tempered by frustration with Coin Taker/manufacturing communication. Taylor remains slightly downbeat throughout, while Tommy is more optimistic by episode's end.

### Signals

- **[product_concern]** Alien's original flipper buttons were arcade-spec leaf switches insufficient for pinball use; owners reporting need to upgrade to Stern pinball switches (confidence: high) — Tommy: 'The flipper buttons felt very light... They're not sturdy enough for a flipper button.' Multiple owners (David Yopp, Dave Brennan) confirmed improvement after switch replacement.
- **[supply_chain_signal]** Alien machines experienced significant delays (October promised delivery vs. March actual) with inconsistent explanations from Coin Taker about port delays, trucking issues, weather, etc. (confidence: high) — Tommy: 'I was told I'd have my game in two weeks and then I was told my game is stuck on the ship... excuse after excuse after excuse.' Game built in December, not October as claimed.
- **[product_launch]** Alien underwent iterative manufacturing improvements: second magnet added, physical lock for multiball instead of virtual, rear scoop entrance added, flipper switches upgraded after first batch feedback (confidence: high) — Tommy: 'I would have to like literally read a list to tell you all the stuff... changes were recommended and they were made.' Dave Brennan video documented multiple factory-level adjustments.
- **[venue_signal]** North End Pub celebrating fifth anniversary with significant growth: expanded from initial small setup to 25 machines, including Alien as recent addition performing as top earner (confidence: high) — Taylor: 'this month is our fifth anniversary... we started with just fishtails... right now we're up to 25 games... was our top earner for the last two weeks.'
- **[gameplay_signal]** Alien designed with accessible wizard mode (reachable in 2 weeks of regular play) compared to jersey Jack Pinball games where wizard modes remain unattainable to many players despite years of ownership (confidence: high) — Tommy: 'I got there in two weeks... whereas like with Iron Maiden... I've still never gotten to... Run for the Hills.' Contrasts obtainability across manufacturers.
- **[design_philosophy]** Alien praised for clear rule structure and logical progression (shoot ramps to start modes, escalating scoring opportunities) versus some JJP games where wizard mode purpose/rules unclear (confidence: high) — Tommy: 'while I do keep playing the game, there is that, like, slight frustration that it almost feels unattainable... whereas like with Alien I got there in two weeks.'
- **[business_signal]** Coin Taker's ordering/fulfillment process criticized as poor communication channel for Pinball Brothers Alien distribution (confidence: high) — Tommy: 'cannot uh recommend that process that sucked... clearly it wasn't ready then. Like, I feel lied to.'
- **[product_concern]** Some Alien owners reporting hardware failures: main board/CPU issues (Game Galaxy), coil polarity errors, upper flipper alignment issues in early batches (confidence: medium) — Tommy: 'Jason Wilson... bought one used that already had problems... supposed to be getting a new main board... still having issues, like not booting.' Dave Brennan video documented coil and alignment fixes.
- **[community_signal]** Community feedback loop: owners sharing flipper button fix, Tommy recommending changes to Pinball Brothers who acknowledged input, Dave Brennan's tutorial video helping others adjust machines (confidence: high) — Tommy: 'I messaged Pinball Brothers, and I was like, these flipper switches are not going to hold up... And they said thank you for the input.' David Yopp confirmed fix effectiveness.
- **[content_signal]** Tommy streamed Alien gameplay first time in months; Dave Brennan produced comprehensive two-hour unboxing/adjustment tutorial video for community (confidence: high) — Tommy: 'I streamed it like two weeks ago... that's the first time I've streamed just a game for a non-charity thing since we got Halloween.' Dave Brennan 'did like a two-hour unboxing and adjusting video.'
- **[collector_signal]** Goldeneye example: machines circulating through secondary market across multiple states (Cleveland to St. Louis to Indianapolis to Indianapolis back to original owner) (confidence: high) — Tommy: 'I sold it to someone in St. Louis... They sold it to someone in Indianapolis... I bought it back... So, yeah, it was pretty funny.'

---

## Transcript

 The episode you are about to hear contains explicit words. The opinions within are those of the hosts and in no way imply that anyone listening to this podcast agrees with anything we say. Please send complaints to thisweaponpodcast at gmail.com. Thank you. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the most disorganized pinball podcast out there. This flipping podcast, this is episode 117. That's amazing. We last recorded on January 7th, so we gave you a nice two-month break from hearing us. But to be fair, you got three episodes in December and January, so that was a lot to deal with us. I am Tommy Skinner, one of your hosts here. I'm joined by Taylor James Rees. We've been doing this forever. We are old, old grouchy men. Taylor's super old. You turned 50, didn't you? I turned 50. He turned 50. I am still 36, but I got married since we last recorded. So we have had some life changes. You're half a century old. Holy shit, man. I feel like it. You were almost around when the last World War broke out. How does it compare to the new one? Pretty cool? Yeah? Oh, man. I don't know how I feel about World War III. Yeah, it's weird because we're going to see, like, so much of it live compared to past World Wars. But, you know, it is what it is. Yeah, it is what it is. I think that it's not great. The world's not great. It's not. I think it's really tough because, like, you know, pinball is just such a, like, ridiculous, like, thing to be involved in when the world is crumbling around you. And it certainly got me through COVID, but it's still, like, one of those things where it's, like, I really like pinball. Like, I have a really good time playing it, but then I'm, like, I don't know what that's called when you're, like, I shouldn't be that happy because there's countries that are being bombed off the planet, you know? Like, it's tough to, like, get real celebratory. I don't know. I go down a dark spiraling. I don't know. I understand everything you're saying. Yeah. And I am just trying to do my best to stay positive and happy. Good, good. Because the reality is, like, maybe it's part of my history degree. and the fact that I'm very much like a realist. But, like, the world has sucked forever. Like, this isn't new. The world's always been sucking. So, like, we try to find things that don't suck that bring us some joy in life so we can enjoy our short time on this planet. And pinball is definitely one of those things for me. And I've absolutely been enjoying some pinball. I came up – we're recording. I'm up in Michigan. We're doing a night episode. We haven't actually done one of these in a while. It's 10 p.m. as we start to record here. and I came up to pick up. Yeah, Taylor looks very sleepy right now. I won't even lie. He might fall asleep during this. I picked up a couple of playfields from Ron Kruseman, and then him and I went and checked out One Well Brewing in Kalamazoo, Michigan. If you are near One Well Brewing, I strongly recommend you check it out. That's where I've played in a couple of summer leagues the last few years when I've been living up here mostly. They've expanded from 10 pinball machines to roughly 50 as they bought out the building next to them. Wow, nice. And they added several arcades, 50 pinball machines, and, like, top-notch, really good-shaped good stuff. So we went over there to check that stuff out because Ron hasn't played a lot of the newer stuff. And he absolutely fell in love with Godzilla. So I lost Ron for three hours to Godzilla, which makes complete sense. And I played a little bit of Legends of Valhalla because that's not one I get to see often. And a little Dirty Harry. I hadn't played Dirty Harry in a long time because you don't see that one too often either. So they have a really cool selection. And in doing that, I didn't think about global wars going on or gas prices until I stopped to get gas on the way home. And I was like, oh, man, I got to sell a pin to fill up my tank now. You know, all those things. I just enjoyed the moment for what it was. I played some pinball. I got to see a friend I hadn't seen in like six months. And then I got to come home tonight and record a podcast with my buddy Taylor. And we get to talk a little bit about pinball. I'll try to cheer him up so he doesn't go all off the defense on us. Well, I appreciate it. Yeah, I mean, I really try not to be, like, super negative. I just dwell on stuff. I think I've always done that. And I think especially, like, it just seems, you know, like, with the 24-hour news cycle, there's always bad news, right? because good news is like it's – it just – It doesn't sell. It doesn't sell. Yeah, so it's bad news. And I just – I go down that rabbit hole. I go down that rabbit hole and, yeah, I mean, like, I don't know. And I don't know – So this is going to sound kind of silly, and I don't have any proof that this is actually helpful at all whatsoever, but I fully understand what you're saying about the news cycle and its negativity. And, like, a couple months ago, I had a night where I couldn't sleep, and I, like, actively sought out positive news websites and Instagrams and just started following a bunch of them. So, like, one of them is Delightful News on Instagram, and they just post positive, like, heartwarming stories. And I also followed several dachshund Instagrams that just post cute videos of dachshunds. And not that that doesn't mean, like, those other things aren't happening, but if I don't see all of the terrible shit that's nonstop happening in our world, I kind of feel a little better. And especially when I see, like, a lot of delightful news stories are about, like, people with special needs doing or accomplishing something special or, like, people helping their neighbors or the elderly. And it reminds me that, like, by and large, the world's, like, there's a lot of good in the world. The news just doesn't make money on it, so they don't tell you about it. So try that, maybe. I will absolutely try that. Yeah, I went through, like, I went through a period, you know, like, during COVID, it was, like, all about data stuff. Like, I would just look up, I mean, it was just, like, I don't know. I don't know why I did that. And then I got to a point where I was doing better. And then Omicron or Omicron or whatever, when that hit, like, I was just, like, I, like, deep dive. Like, I had a, it may sound like a waterfall. Wait. it's just a, it's just, Oh really? Oh, it's just a slight trickle. Somebody's running a sink upstairs. Um, but yeah, then when, when Omicron hit, like I got, I got depressed. I mean, like I had a bad time. Um, so I'm trying to get out. I mean, I am trying to get out of it. Like I'm trying to like disconnect a little bit from that stuff. I mean, it's like, you know, it's, I, you know, I have kids. And so I, I'm enjoying because they're – I mean, now it's like the Carl Weathers's changing here, so, like, we can get out more. My daughter's made the lacrosse team, which is awesome. Yeah, JV lacrosse team, and she became a co-captain today. So stuff like that is good. I actually played pinball with real people recently, which was really nice, like in person. So I'm trying to get, I'm trying to like, you know, I'm trying to like snap out of it. So I will, I will look up some cute dog Instagrams and yeah, it's tough because I try, I really try not to be like, I'm trying not to be a negative person, even like with pinball and stuff. It's like when stuff comes out, like I feel like it's always about like being, I feel, And I don't know if this is from doing a podcast or just what I do is like I'm overly critical about stuff. And I don't like doing that. But I don't know why I do it. But I try to like when I notice that I'm doing it, like I try to back off. Because, I mean, one of the things I love about pinball is there are so many different machines. Like everybody can like whatever they like. Like, if you don't like, you know, if you like Stop and Go, you love Twilight Zone. If you don't like Stop and Go, you might hate Twilight Zone, but there's other games you can love. You know, it's like, so as an individual, I mean, certainly, like, I'm going to have an opinion about something, but I, like, try not to be negative about everything. You know, I mean, I'm trying. No, I get it. It makes sense. Being negative doesn't help things. I get it, man. uh I I'm I've been on the opposite as I have so it sounds terrible obviously I switched jobs in December we talked about that and as part of my job I now work from home yeah um but I'm actually a lot busier than I was at my school as ironic as that sounds um so I don't have as much time to like when I was at school I would frequently read Pinside or the news in general and I'd see all those things sounds terrible but I've been so busy with my job during the day of just like helping individual kids and grading things and having meetings etc that I can't quit reading the news and like yes I'm still aware of what's going on because I have social media yeah but like I felt a lot better not reading it and to I mean to be honest like I also recently got married to the girl I love I have like this cute little like yeah like a lot of things have been going really well. Like we had another ultrasound last week, everything's healthy. Um, so that's been good stuff. I actually found a cheap pinball machine and got it fixed and working. So that's, you know, that's like a borderline miracle nowadays. Um, so there, there's a lot of good things, but yeah, uh, without a doubt, that's partially me ignoring the terrible tragedies of the world. Um, I also can't do a lot to change those terrible tragedies. So like, you know, the whole recognizing what you can change and what you can't and knowing the difference sort of thing. I think that's helping me out too. I've been helping coach some kids in wrestling, doing some private lessons and stuff. That's been real fun seeing those kids have some success and just trying to stay busy and stay happy, man. I'm in a good place right now. You're making me sad. I am trying. I'm not. I'm honestly like I'm not. I'm in a not so a bad place right now. Um, but I definitely had like a rough, I had like a rough month. I had like a really rough month. I mean, outside like the whole pandemic thing, that was kind of annoying, but, um, I had a rough month where I was pretty down and that's where, um, yeah, I'm doing better. I'm trying to, I'm trying to, I, I just need to be out in the world again. That's what I try to avoid the world. That helps my happiness. I'm up at the lake and I don't have to see people. It's awesome. But you're social because you have a job and you do league and stuff like that. Yeah, I have to see people. That's my thing. See, I don't. In your free time, you are wanting to see people because you don't see people. Whereas my job involves me doing nothing but communicating with people. So, like, if I have the opportunity, I love being away and alone. And, like, Alyssa had to stay home because she had to work. And I was like, well, I'm going to go to the lake for two days because I can work remote now. And I am loving it. It's been so nice. It's just me and one dog. And, like, she's just laying in her bed right now. And it's been great. Like, if I didn't have to go pick up those playfields today, I would have not left this house at all. But I did. So I went and got those. And that's exciting. more restoration projects for me to add to my queue of stuff that I'll never get done and good times. So let's talk pinball. Enough about me. Enough about my depression and we'll move on to happier things. What do you want to talk about, man? What have you been up to? Well, so I've, wrestling season ended one month ago. I've been really busy since then. um obviously north end pub my location uh this month is our fifth anniversary of putting games there we started with just fishtails uh within a couple months we added baywatch and congo and right now i would have to like literally read a list to tell you all the stuff we have down there i think we're up to 25 games um are they all yours last two no my friend mark has several games there and him and i have purchased a few games together as well i think i think like 18 are mine and maybe five are his and we bought two or three together or something like that um but uh in the last two weeks we've added alien from pinball brothers my game finally arrived um that was a bit of a debacle in the communications department as far as dealing with ordering through coin taker um cannot uh recommend that process that sucked uh the game itself, though, is freaking awesome. I'm loving it. I've been following the thread on Pinside for months. There are absolutely some owners who have bought Alien Machines that have had some problems. Mine, so far, two weeks on location, has been rock solid. It's been the top earner. I haven't really had any issues. And not only that, I'm loving it. It's the first game in a while that's made me go down there and just play pinball. I usually go play a new game because it's a new game and see what's in it to kind of learn it or to make sure if I fix something, I go down and make sure everything's working right. With Alien, I have just wanted to go and play because I am finding it very fun. Very challenging, but very fun. Now, is the game and the code the same as it was when it first came out? yeah i'd say the cone is the code has been a little bit fine-tuned bug fixes etc uh the physical layout is mildly different they added a second magnet which is located just above the upper flipper which helps stage your upper flipper shot to the like i guess it would be the center ramp technically or upper ramp i don't know what you'd want to call it um that was on the original version, a virtual ball lock for your HyperSleep multiball. That is now a physical lock. And then the scoop that starts your modes, the airlock scoop, they added a rear entrance into that scoop. So you can shoot a loop and then a up post pops up and hits the ball and it makes it go backwards into the scoop, which would also start your modes. Those are the main physical differences. and the play field on the original version had a display in it that has been removed and instead has inserts um that display on the play field was just a clone display of what was in the backbox it was cool uh because you didn't have to look up all the time to see what was going on but you play stern games and jjp games without a display in the play field and you do just fine i guess pinball players were pretty well programmed to look up so it's really not a big deal I don't miss it at all. On top of that, it was really a bitch to level on the original game. I know because I had one. And it would then obviously cause the ball to hop, much like a window in Creature or Congo or Black Hole, etc. So I'm really enjoying it. It was our top earner for the last two weeks. People at League seem to be liking it. The build quality seems really nice. It feels significantly sturdier than a certain cabinet does. But, again, I was told my game was going to be ready in two weeks in October, and I had to pay for it, which was cool because I was like, sweet, I'm getting my game. And then I just got my game, like, March 2nd or 3rd, which was not the same as October, in case you didn't know. And so what was the holdup? Like, again, we are living during strange times, so who knows? but I was told I'd have my game in two weeks and then I was told my game is stuck on the ship and they're still having trouble getting people to unload the ships at the ports could have been a real thing I was then told it was unloaded at the ports but now they couldn't get them onto trucks I was eventually told oh they're onto trucks but they've had Carl Weathers delays yada yada yada excuse after excuse after excuse and then I got my game and it was built in December which means it probably wasn't in the United States in October when I was told it was things, how they're being built in Italy. And it has to travel here on a ship. So I was just kind of annoyed by that whole thing. It's just very poor communication. That seems like it. More so than anything. Yeah, that seems... Sketchy? Sketchy as fuck? Yeah, those are some of the terms I would have used. So that part was very frustrating. The game has arrived. I have not had to... What did I have to do? I had to tighten my left flipper like it slightly drooped after about a week and I readjusted it and tightened it uses standard Valley Williams Fulker Max and it was fixed other than that it's been solid so that's been really cool what what's the what issues have people been having with it the biggest one I know is I believe it's Jason Wilson who has Game Galaxy in Nashville Tennessee area really big location I think the biggest location in the country. Awesome dude. Really like Jason. He bought one used that already had problems, and it was supposed to be getting a new main board or main CPU for it, and he has supposedly installed that, and it's still having issues, like not booting and all sorts of stuff. Okay. Basically sounds like a basket case. That's the main one that I've heard of from people. The other one issue, the thing I did change, is the flipper buttons. It's being built by a company that's never built a pinball machine. As far as like the assembly, the manufacturing of it. And the actual flipper buttons were just like arcade leaf buttons. They're very lightweight. They're just meant to be like pressed down and gravity is going to help you. They're not sturdy enough for a flipper button. So the flipper buttons felt very light. And I replaced those switches with the standard stern pinball switches for the flippers. And it felt way better. So that's been the biggest change I've seen. I've recommended to everyone who's getting one to make that change. David Yopp got his machine as well, and he didn't change it at first, and I did. And I was like, dude, you got to change it. And he was like, yep, night and day. Real easy, just solder two wires, and it's on a connector, so it's super easy to do, actually, and undo these two screws and screw them back in. So it took like 10 minutes to swap them out. And I messaged Pinball Brothers, and I was like, these flipper switches are not going to hold up. You need to use a different one. And they said thank you for the input. So I'm assuming there, from what I've heard from the first batch that came over, changes were recommended and they were made. Dave's Arcade, Dave Jeff Brenner, has a good video up. He did like a two-hour unboxing and adjusting video going through his machine, which is one of the first batches. A couple coils were flipped in the wrong direction. I had lifted my play field as soon as he got here. Those were all fixed. He recommended a slightly different alignment for the upper right flipper. They had changed that in the factory. made the upper ramp shot a little bit easier because it is a tough shot. So all that's been really positive from what I can see. The Xenomorph head actually catches the ball now to start the multiball. My original one was a prototype machine that didn't even have the board to control the Xenomorph's head. So, you know, this game seems a lot better than the one I had to begin with. And the changes they made as far as physical to the layout honestly make the game play a lot better. Oh, really? yeah, I'm impressed with it, and it's just a very fun game. And I'm not, like, I never saw the movie Alien until I bought the first Alien pinball. Like, I thought it was a good movie, but I'm not like, oh, this is a movie series, this was a dream theme for me. I think it's a cool theme, but it's not like anything I was dying to see. I just think the game is really, really fun. It's got a level of simplicity to it, as far as, like, shoot both ramps, then start your mode. that's very nice, which is, I mean, Godzilla has that shoot both ramps and start fighting a monster. Right. That basic concept's there, but then it also has a lot of the deeper scoring opportunities, shooting your APC drop targets to raise jackpot values, collecting life cycles to start a multiball and also raise jackpot values. All these little nuanced things throughout the rules that make it very fun in attempts to not just play through the game, but to maximize score. I don't know. I'm enjoying the hell I streamed it like two weeks ago, and that's the first time I've streamed just a game for a non-charity thing since we got Halloween. So I liked it. It's fun. And Godzilla is still awesome. Godzilla is awesome. I caught a little bit of your stream. I think I caught it after you did it, but I went and checked it out. Yeah, I played the original Alien at the Allentown show years ago. And I think the theme is great. I had a hard time shooting it. Like, I just, you know, part of it was like there was a line, and I had maybe, you know, like one or two balls played, and that was it. So I never got a feel for it. But I like the concept. Now, rule-wise, are you playing as the alien, or are you playing as a person on the ship? Like, you're trying to survive the alien. I think you're playing as, like, a person through the ship is my understanding. At the start of the game, very much like on Godzilla, how you can pick your language. Well, at the start of the game here, you pick whether you're playing Alien, the original movie, or Aliens, the sequel. And if you do that, you have to play through all four modes plus the wizard mode for that movie before you can play the other movie. But you have a choice of which one you want to start with. The modes seem really well balanced for scoring. So are there two, like you could play two different versions on the same game? No, essentially, well, not versions. So like there's two movies included. The game is called Alien, but it includes modes from the original movie Alien. Okay. And then the sequel Aliens. And when you start, you basically pick which movie you want to play first. And once you play through all those modes in the wizard mode, you then automatically start playing through the modes for the other movie. Oh, okay, okay. Yeah. Yeah. So like right above the flippers, you kind of have an array of, was it 15 inserts? Yeah. So there's three, three columns of five inserts. The far left is Alien. The middle is all red. Those are all the different multi balls. And you could play those in either movie. Right. And then Aliens is on the right. So you pick which movie you're going to start with at the beginning of the game. And if you're just like, so I realized this when I was playing, it doesn't automatically just start you on Alien every time. So, like, the first game you play will be Alien. If you play a game right after it, it automatically has you start on Aliens unless you switch it. So if you're standing there playing back and forth, you're not going to see the same mode over and over. Oh, that's interesting. Yeah. So it's got roughly eight modes, two mini wizard modes, four multi-balls, and then an all-out war is the main wizard mode. I got to it the other day. It was really cool. I didn't know exactly what was going on. but I kind of so that's one of the things I've been thinking about is like I like the fact that the wizard mode is obtainable in that game I know that's one of the things they talked about with monsters when that came out is like having a simpler game that you can get to the wizard mode but what I don't like is that like in monsters it doesn't make any sense you just get there and it's you know nobody knows what the fuck you're doing in that game I don't care who you are it's a weird game. Alien, like, I have been able to, just in two weeks, figure out, like, what I'm doing, how to get to that wizard mode, and then I don't get there every game by any means, so when I get there, I'm still figuring out how to play it, and then I'm still trying to figure out, like, how to maximize my score, because I think your score in the wizard modes is based on how you've done in the modes before it, so it's important to play the modes well to really cash out in the wizard mode, so there's that whole approach to, like, everything builds upon itself. Does it have tiered wizard? And I like that. Does it have tiered wizard modes like Stern, or does it just... Yeah. So when you say you're getting to the wizard mode, you're talking about like you're actually getting to the wizard mode. I got to the wizard mode once. Okay. That's all out war. You have to play all four modes from Alien. Then you have to play the mini wizard mode or whatever you would like, sub wizard mode, whatever you want to call it, for that movie. So that's, you know, four modes plus the wizard mode. then you have to play all four multiballs and you have to play all four modes from the movie Aliens plus that mini wizard mode and then you have to qualify all out war so yeah it's like you played at least 14 other modes to get to that mode and you find that that is on par with getting to the monster's wizard mode no the monster's wizard mode is way easier to get to but it's just they're attainable So I've had Iron Maiden for, what, four years? And I've still never gotten to, was it Run for the Hills? Oh, yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like, I've never seen that still. Jurassic Park, was it Escape Nublar? I've gotten to once. Yeah. I did go through Avengers. Escape Nublar is easier. I've never gone to Run for the Hills, but I've gone to Escape Nublar, like, I don't know, maybe three or four times, like, in the game. I've done it once, and I got through the Avengers with all the gems and defeated Thanos once. So, like, I'm comparing this to L1 games, which we've already, you know, gushed over for years now and explained that he basically has reimagined pinball and made it perfect and it's amazing and fun. But, like, I still can't get to those wizard modes. So, like, while I do keep playing the game, there is that, like, slight frustration that it almost feels unattainable to a certain degree. whereas like with Alien I got there in two weeks but I've played Alien more than I've played like any other game by far in like the last couple years see I just feel like I feel like with what the rules like what especially in Keese games I feel like it's just it's you know like going back to you know like the idea of tiered wizard modes like I felt like Escape Nublar Well, no, Escape Nublar isn't the wizard mode. The final wizard mode is when dinosaurs ruled the earth. Oh, I've never been there. Yeah, that's like, I think that's, you basically have to get the super, like, in all the different wizard modes, and then you have to get out of Escape Nublar, and then there's a final wizard mode. You know what I mean? Like, I just think it's like the death. I'm not going to lie. I literally did not know that existed. I think I like I had no clue. I could be. You're probably I could be wrong. You're probably right. But I do think that I think that there might be. Yeah, I think that there might be another level. I mean, that's the thing with. You know. Yeah, that's the thing, like with his games, like I just don't think I'm going to see. The wizard mode like I'm never going to get there, but I'm just not that level of player. I appreciate that it's in the game, and maybe I'll have that crazy freak breakout game where something like that would happen. But it's just, you know, I just think that it's – the depth is there. I just Googled it. That is a Super Wizard mode it's called. It is, right? It is. It exists. Yeah. Yeah, so that's – It exists, yeah. That is the – that's a wizard. But you know what I mean? So it's kind of like getting to escape Nublar, I feel like it's doable. It's really difficult. It's doable. But when dinosaurs rule the earth, I don't know. You know, like I don't know that I'll get there. Yeah. So that's – and I didn't beat any of the wizard modes yet that are on Alien. I've just gotten to them and played them. So anyway, the bottom line is I'm just really enjoying the game. It is on location at North End Pub. Advertisement slash, like, I want other people to experience the game because I do think it's really cool. I am by no means telling you to go through the ordering process because it was – it just really bothered me to tell me that my game was ready in October and it wasn't. Like, clearly it wasn't ready then. Like, I feel lied to. And I don't appreciate that. Like, I can handle things are delayed for whatever reason. Just tell me the truth, you know. So that just really bothered me. and I know there's not a ton of them that have been made and I think there's maybe less than 10 on location in the country right now as far as I know so I want people to play I think it's a really good game I just do, it's fun and I enjoy it so that part's been cool and then I bought a Goldeneye this week too I saw that on its side in the back of your car and people were not happy with you natural way to transport a game, ironically I for the first time first time unknowingly, I purchased back my original Goldeneye. Oh, that was yours? That my Goldeneye I sold almost eight years ago Yeah It was really funny I went down and looked at it and I was like this is super familiar And then I looked up old pictures and I was like oh yeah this is my game for sure That's crazy. It was really funny. So I sold it to someone in St. Louis. I bought it in Cleveland. I sold it to someone in St. Louis. They sold it to someone in Indianapolis. And another couple in Indianapolis bought it from them and I bought it back. So, yeah, it was pretty funny. And I went through, and I'm having some trough opto issues, but I called up Terry at Pinball Life, and he hooked me up with some new trough optos today. They are shipping, and I should have the game back up and running by hopefully Thursday for Pinball League. But, yeah, that game is a game I was really excited to get back. That's crazy. So you did not know that it was your game until you had it in the car? I did not know. At their house, I asked the guy, I was like, where did you get this? Because I was like, I think this is my old machine. I was like, I'm not sure, but I think so. And he told me who he bought it from. It was a different guy who I know in Indianapolis. And then when I got it home, I was able to look up old pictures I had on Pinside of my game. And I was like, yeah, that's right, because it had, like, some really shitty colored GI in there. And it's because, like, at the time, I didn't even have LEDs. Like, I bought a game from someone, and they just gave me some LEDs they had because they were getting out of pinball or something. And I have, like, literally a handful of LEDs. So I just randomly threw them in the game. And I was like, yeah, that's right. I did stick like five random blue light bulbs in the GI. And I put green in the back glass because I had them. And I was like, this will be good. So it took me like three hours to replace a couple of bulbs the other day because I had to make it look better now. And I rebuilt the flippers on it. And it's playing good, minus I got to fix that drop off that thing. That's pretty funny. That's it. It'll be back up and running. Yeah, it did crack me up. I was like, there's not a ton of that game out there, so it wasn't the most shocking thing. But it was, yeah, when I kind of looked at the pictures, it confirmed it. I was like, pets, that's funny. I'm happy. But I'm happy to have it back. It's a game we had at the bar a few years ago, a different one, actually. And that one was a re-import that had an electronic coin mechanism thing on it that I could not get to except quarters, so we were never able to turn it off free play. so I have to sell it after a few months because I was like it's dumb for it to be down here and not making any money on it so I sold that and uh eventually I got another one so that's that's good and sometime during wrestling season I picked up an evil Knievel for 125 dollars that had uh no back glass and no playfield glass but it had an all-tech MPU in it so really it's like a $200 MPU. So either way, I was saving $75, even if nothing else worked. And when wrestling finally got over a couple of weeks ago, I went through and repinned every connector and I built a rectifier board from, uh, envy ram.weebly's website, Andrew's boards. And I got one of his new driver boards and, uh, everything's working on it really nice. So I went through and rebuilt all the mechs and I installed yopsicles. I'm just, I'm just Win Schilling for everyone. You are, man. The obstacle is the best LEDs ever. And I was able to track down an original backlash from another guy in Indiana for $150. Nice. So I'm going to pick that up, or he's going to come deliver that so he can play Alien soon. And I've got an Evil for, like, under $500. That's nuts. I also ordered some of Andrew's. Andrew's got Ballycern six-digit displays on his website now that come assembled for $190. I've never used his displays, but they should be to my house tomorrow, I imagine. Yeah, that's for a while. So I'm going to install those. That's for a complete set? That's for five displays. Yeah, $190 for five Ballet Stern six-digit displays assembled, which is a little more expensive than the ones I've been buying that I have to assemble. But in this case, I was happy to pay the extra. That's not bad at all, though. No, not bad at all. And Andrew's stuff is almost always – not almost always. I've never had a problem with Andrew's stuff. I think Andrew's stuff is awesome. It's affordable. And it keeps these Ballet Stern games going. And I really like playing Evil. I was like my original plan was just to sell it. But I think I'm going to sell Power Play and Keep Evil because the sound of Chime Spinners is just so sweet to my ears. Yeah. Yeah, I would do that. Those are my main pinball projects. Yeah, that's how I'm feeling. The play field on it is a little rough. I mean, it sat in a basement for 14 years in the way it was the way I picked it up. So that's not like the most shocking thing. But overall, I mean, it presents decently well. I installed new Titan rubbers, so it's bright white rubbers. Yeah. The fact that I just, it sounds so stupid, but from where I was when we started doing this show, like, seven years ago almost, I think. Yeah. Something like that. Yeah, that's crazy. I mean, IQ sounds terrible, but, like, I at that time was one of the people that I hate now who, like, likes pinball and thinks they know what they're talking about, but they don't have a fucking clue and they can't do anything. And now I can, like, take these rat-infested games and be like, oh, yeah, I can make that work again. And I'm proud of it. It was cool. Like, I hooked everything up, and I did all the lighting changes, and, like, it just worked right away. Like, I didn't – oh, no, ironically, so this is funny. There was – it booted up right away, and then I was having, like, some weird switch matrix issue, which kind of worried me since I had redone all the connectors. I was like, this is weird. And I had found a note inside the machine for a repair service, got charged $90 to install a new start button switch. And I would realize the short was happening as I would shake the game. So I started just kind of moving wire harnesses and everything on the MPU, all the connectors and everything, nothing happened then. But then if I would shake the whole lower cabinet, it would happen. So I finally narrowed it down to the coin door. and lo and behold, the start button they installed, there was no fish paper behind the switch. The start button itself was just shorting to the coin door. So they got, that's, my guess is whoever had this game at some point paid someone to come fix it. And they fucked it up. They installed the all tech and they installed the new start button and that caused the short, or they probably installed the start button, which caused the short and they couldn't figure it out. So they bought an all tech and then it just still didn't work and they just left it there. That's my guess. Oh, wow. Of what happened. But anyway, it worked. Nice. So, yeah, I've been playing kind of the share of that during the day while I'm working from home. I'll take my computer to the living room, and in between emails, I play a game of evil because a good game lasts like three minutes, and I respond to emails. Now, have you sold anything? Has anything moved out? Yeah, I think since we last recorded, I don't know if I had picked up South Park at that point or not. No, I don't know. But I picked up a South Park, and I got it specifically for the bar. That's not a game that I love. I enjoy South Park as a show, but I don't, like, actively watch it or anything. I just have always heard it earns really well, and it was local, and it was fairly priced. So I got it. And then when this GoldenEye came up for sale, I sold South Park so I could buy the GoldenEye. So you've been buying and selling actively, right? Yeah. I mean, you've been buying and selling actively since I've known you, basically. Yeah, more so since I got the location because I have, like, my core games down there, and then I have games that, like, I'd say a handful of games that we're willing to switch out and sell when something else pops up that we want to play for a while. Um, so I am not an active buyer and seller, right? Uh, you are not, I'm not, I am curious as to what you're seeing prices and how like you're, you're buying, I mean, are you hesitating to buy games or like when you say you're buying games at a fair price, are you buying them for like what I'm seeing as far as market prices because no okay okay um like the South Park I paid $2,700 for okay uh and then I put a color DMD in it and I sold it to a friend for a little bit over what I had into it $7,000 for hundreds of bucks no not quite that um but I mean so you are last year I sold you I sold my Volton and Stargazer for very high prices. Yeah, but those were both like restorations. I mean, I think that's a different... That's a whole different world, right? Yeah, as far as just my stuff from location, I mean... You're still finding stuff that's like relatively reasonably priced. I didn't buy the Primus. My partner, my buddy Mark did, but he got Primus for like... It was posted for sale forever in Minnesota, but I think the guy didn't want to ship. And I mean, that's just the reality. If you're not going to ship a game, you reduce your number of buyers. And Mark finally made him a pretty, I want to say he paid like $5,200 for Primus or something like that. And he paid me to drive up there and get it. So, you know, he saw a Primus just sell today for $7,500. So he's like, dang, I think I did good. I was like, yeah, I told you, like, you weren't going to lose money at the price you were paying. and Primus it sounds funny but there was a night last season in our pinball league where Primus was playing in Indianapolis and half our league went to the concert so Mark was like I think that's what would do well here yeah he's right yeah Primus has done really good at our location because it's a it sounds weird to us that are deep in and we're talking about the depth of Godzilla and Alien and how much we love that Primus everyone can figure out what to do keep the ball alive so new players walk up to it casual players and everyone feels like they can play the only confusing thing is like it's four player and there's only one score display that they can see. So that throws people off at first. But that sort of thing, you know, and we have the games that we just want. Like we have Wheel of Fortune there. It doesn't earn a ton, but we both really like playing it. Like Wheel of Fortune is one of the most unique pinball layouts I've seen on a modern pin. And we enjoy it. So it stays. Those sort of things. I have Dolly Parton down there. I love playing Dolly Parton. Yeah. Yeah, it's interesting. I've seen people posting that they were interested in getting into buying a game, and all the pricing that I've seen. And I'm not an active – I don't actively look for stuff, but I'll see stuff, and I'm just like, wow, my mind gets blown by some of the stuff. So I bought back my original Goldeneye, right? Right. I paid $1,800 for that game when I bought it nine years ago. Okay. At that time, I thought I was paying too much because it was more than what they were selling for, but it was hard to find. And I found one that was close enough to drive to, and I didn't plan on ever selling it because I collected James Bond stuff. That's what got me into pinball. Right. I just bought that same exact machine back for $3,700. okay and i feel like i did okay on it the last couple i saw were for 4 000 um so you know like it was hilarious because as i was going through like i said i had to fix like i just like i said i recognized the color gi i recognized the translate had a little water damage there was a part where i didn't have a rubber at the time but like the ball there's a metal ball guy there so the ball can't go where it's trying to go, but the rubber would have protected the ball, you know? Yeah. And, like, the guy I sold it to was a reseller. Like, I thought he, like, shops games and resells them, you know? He didn't even fix that. Like, that rubber was never added in. He never changed out. There were some bulbs that I didn't change the LED because they were hard to get places. For, like, someone who had never taken a part of a pinball machine. And those were still incandescent bulbs. The inserts were only partially LED. I was like, dude, they did nothing to this machine after I sold it to them but flip it. But, yeah, so that's, you know, I think if someone took an investment in nine years, you more than doubled your money on it, you'd be happy. Yeah. Oh, man. That's essentially what Goldeneye did, and I'm happy to have it back at the price I paid because I've seen them sell for higher. So it's a weird time, man. What about like solid state games? because that's another, I've seen those, like I saw a Stars. I don't know that it's sold. Stars is like a $2,000 game now. It is, right? Okay. That's what I've been seeing. And that's crazy. Yeah, okay. Because I have, how much was the Stars that you picked up for me? Was that like $800 or $900? No. I don't think so. I don't think it was that much. I thought it was like maybe like $500 or $600, maybe $700. okay maybe i ended up like 900 into it with like the new display and flippers or something oh maybe that's what i remember being around that might have been what it was i know that i sold it for a thousand bucks i think okay um to my buddy mark um and that was a couple years ago so that was one stars i had two other stars one i paid 100 bucks for one i paid 150 bucks for yeah now granted those were fines like literally one was in a freaking antique wall and one was in a storage unit but that worked out really good i sold the one for 600 like two well it would have been the pinball at the zoo before covid so three years ago now almost um and yeah like it's just and then i ended up trading one for the vaulton that i got so it's crazy to see like where the pricing has gone on those um but then again compared to a dmd game like okay i want to get a pinball i can't afford a four thousand dollar dmd well a two thousand dollar stars is a good game and it's cheaper than other things. So, like, the only things that seem really cheap still are kind of like the shitty EMs. Even, like, decent EMs seem to have gone up. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I just saw it and I was, like, I was interested to know if that was, like, what they were really selling for. But apparently they are. I mean, for stars, I think so. Same thing with Meteor. Like, Meteors used to be, I felt like at any point in time in any city in the country, you could look up on Craigslist and find a Meteor for sale for $500. like I think they were just everywhere and now Meteor is a $2,000 game like it blows my mind and I'm looking at my I am not shitting on those games like I love playing Meteor and Star Wars they are hard to beat but like I would struggle to pay that price but it's only because I saw when they were trying to give them away for $400 or like you were trying to make a trade or buy a game they're like I'll throw in a Project Meteor with it Yeah. Like, that was how Meteor was treated. Yeah, it's weird, man. But, like, I got a unique Stars play field last year, and it's got, like, a alternative art package on it. And now I can't find a Stars to install it in. I have one. $2,500. $2,500. What a deal. No, I'm not selling it. Yeah, exactly. And you don't want to. I don't want to sell it. I'll never get it back. I, there's that aspect of it. And, like, I think you even maybe more so than me is, like, we get attached to games. Yes. Like, I, so I restored that Star, or that Stargazer and the Volton last year. Stargazer was a scratch build and Volton was, like, somewhere in between. Like, there's some original parts and a lot of new stuff. I sold them for very high prices. but they were cheaper than what I've seen like other like quote-unquote known restoration guys sell their games for the same titles so like those in the know knew I was selling under those prices so they seemed kind of like a deal to that sort of level of collector um but even as soon as I did it having that money like I regretted it I like I miss playing Stargazer I miss playing Volton I went out and started buying parts so I could build them again like I was like okay well now I made my money on the first one I built, so now when I build my second one, it's basically free. Yeah. Like, it's weird, but I miss playing them, and they're fun games. It's hard to explain. And, again, like, so Godzilla, like, I'm ignoring Rush. Rush came out, by the way. I think it was announced and released and shipped since we last recorded. Yes, yes. I've only played two games on it. It was at the place tonight, and I didn't even want to play it, so I'm not going to say a lot about it because I just haven't played it. But, so, like, at least with Godzilla, I know they released 1,000 of the limited edition. Right? With Stargazer, they only ever built 868 total. Yeah. With Volton, it was 365. Like, so when I'm playing those, not only am I enjoying the fact that, like, I know not a lot of people have gotten to play really nice versions of them, but, like, they're truly limited. Whereas, like, there's a thousand limited editions. Yeah. And then an unlimited amount of premium that will play exactly like the limited edition. And then there's the pro model that will play very close to those two and save you a couple thousand dollars. And you can play them at almost every location. I mean, like. And you can play them at almost every location. And there's a lot of locations. I mean, that's what, you know, it's nice. I mean, you know, a lot of locations don't have just cookie cutter collections. I mean, certainly, but you do see those games are basically, you know, because those are going to draw in players. Like, if you want to get the players to come in to play the new game, you've got to get them. And quite honestly, the stern products, I have to do very little maintenance to my stern machines. Yeah. They're very reliable, which makes them easier to operate, like, quite honestly. Like, I very rarely have to do repairs outside of, like, coil sops, maybe replacing a rubber, tightening some screws on posts. Like, they are, Stern, credit to you guys, super reliable product. I've been impressed. So there's that. Now, that being said, any of my solid-state games that we've gone, like, completely through, So, like, the Flash Gordon we restored and then put on location, redid every single connector, hard top, bulbs, et cetera. My Meteor is the same way. I redid everything on it. I haven't had any issues with those machines either. My Power Play and my Dolly Parton that, like, were shopped or partially shopped out and LED'd and flippers rebuilt, but I didn't redo every connector, et cetera. Those have had more issues. Yeah. That's just the reality of what it is. So if you go through and make a game like brand new, well, it's probably going to last and play quite a while in location like brand new. That's that I will say. Halloween's actually done really well for us outside of some stuck ball issues. But I think I finally resolved those. So that's been nice. It's done well the last couple of weeks since I fixed that finally. People could play it properly. Now, what do you think of that game? I have not played it, but I have not heard great things about it. And, um, well, I think it's like almost all the spooky games where there's a rush to buy it. So people have these huge high expectations and all this energy and then they get it and it's early code and they're building them slowly. And there's problems in the early builds that they then fix later in the assembly line. And the later ones don't have those problems. You're basically getting a testing game, a beta game, whatever you want to call it. And then the code develops and people really start to enjoy it. and yeah so it kind of like that follows a similar pattern okay the pricing it sounds like crazy high pricing at first because people who wanted it didn't get it then people start getting it and complain about things and the price drops and then the code gets good again and the price goes back up that's kind of happened on their last couple titles um i enjoy it from the aspect that it is not a typical layout it's it's a different shooter it's fun the stuck balls really annoyed me and pissed me off because it would take a lot of the fun out of the game because you'd be having a good game and you'd get a stuffed ball uh and again i'm not a fan of the movies so like i'm more excited to play ultraman eventually because it just looks more fun yeah and while i'm like i i somewhat dislike the halloween movies like i've never found them very particularly scary or entertaining um so the theme just didn't do anything to me if that layout was somehow the same but converted to Friday the 13th and it was Jason Voorhees, I'd probably think it was amazing, quite honestly. But the more recent code update, it eliminated some of the bugs I had previously seen in it and it's been fun when I've played it. Yeah, I'm not sitting here telling you it's competing with Godzilla for Game of the Year or Alien or anything like that, but I enjoy it. I'm glad Mark put it at our location. People there, it's still earning really well. People do like playing it in leaving, when I was at OneWell tonight, I was talking to their tech, and he said it's one of their most popular games there, too, because most of the staff really likes it. So it definitely does appeal to, like, people who are fans of the movie and Halloween season and horror films. Like, those people really get a kick out of it, whereas, like, I don't appreciate it as much as how well the theme's incorporated, because I just don't care about the theme, if that makes sense. Yeah, that makes total sense. I mean, I feel like I've just seen a lot of people ragging on it, And I just – I haven't played it, and so I'm not really sure what the – where the hate's coming from. You know, I know that – Yeah, I – I think they were complaining with the rules, but like you said, it just – I think they take a while to get the rules kind of hammered out. And I feel like they're also – they're willing to really change it up. Like, they're willing to go, okay, this rule isn't working, right? am I wrong about that yeah I feel like they've done no I think very much so I know in like the first month we had it there was a part where you basically locked yourself into like you're in a mode and you have to play the middle play field but there's only one shot that puts you on the middle play field so you just so we suggested to them as in like me and Mark in an email like hey we got to this mode we basically were locked out from doing anything else in the game and you only have the one shot. So why don't you make it so when you shoot the upper play field, that upper flipper is disabled in this mode. So then the ball has to drain onto the middle play field. So it gives you two access points. Yeah, okay. And literally that was in the next code update then. Like they acknowledged it, they said that's a good idea, and then it was in the next code update. That's cool. I know Mark has continued to message them, and he gave them a suggestion for a callout for it's either for tilting or for a tilt warning. and they put it in the game. He was like super pumped about that. So like I'm sure they're getting that input from other people as well. Those are just our experiences. Again, I had not played it a ton until – not that I mean played a ton, but they just had a newest code update come out I think last week, 1.06, and I played like three or four games on it and I enjoyed it. Like I was like, okay, this is fun. I had fixed the ball stuck issue, which was more so annoying than anything else. They did? I'm picky about things. They fixed it? Like, or you were able to fix it? Okay. Yeah. Yeah. And it's not a problem I've heard of other owners having, actually. I think I figured out what was causing ours, and I resolved it. Nice. Yeah. If anyone else is having your ball hit the furthest right stand-up target and then elevate itself, go airborne, and get wedged between the middle play field and the plastic airball guide or airball protector, use some Gorilla Putty and stick the airball protector to the middle play field, and you will resolve that issue. Oh, because, like, right now it just kind of flaps there, right? It's just – Yeah, it kind of flaps there, and it was just enough gap that the ball could wedge in there. And then when it wedges in, like, it's wedged. You're not nudging it out. So it was very much a glass has to come off, you have to tell the bartender, you have to text me sort of thing. So I was very annoyed with that. And, to be fair, like, I didn't even try to fix it. I just kept unsticking the ball. Like, when I realized, like, oh, yeah, I have these Gorilla Putty little, like, pads. I should probably try one of them. And, oh, look, it's been, like, two weeks now, and it's held, and haven't had a single stuck ball since then. Nice. What do you think, like, in your time, like, you've operated now for seven years? No, six years. Six years, probably, yeah. What do you think, what's your biggest takeaway, like, now? Like, what do you do differently now than you did when you first started? or even like what do you do differently now than when you like were two years in? Like what – I feel like you're at a point now where you've probably fine-tuned a lot of your maintenance stuff. And I don't know. So I don't know if I've done anything different per se, but I was very fortunate. And then that I had Dan St. John and Main Street Amusements is my example of what location pinball should be. Yeah. where nothing is down for more than a day or two or if you have to order a part at most a week. If something is down, I try to put a sign on it that clearly says, do not turn on, part broken, has been ordered, something like that, so people aren't putting money into something that they think they're going to be able to play and getting upset. I'm by far not the best operator because, like, a lot of the games I have are still just games that I enjoy. Like, I could absolutely get titles that would earn. But, like, Monster Bash was there for six months. It was my top-earning game most of the time it was there. And you got rid of it. I was sick of playing Monster Bash. Yeah, like, I was like, okay, I am Monster Bash-ed out. Like, and I'm very fortunate that my location, like, overall, I know we've talked about this before, but there's, like, the quarters in the room theory. Like, whatever machines we have there, we're making roughly the same money. Right. It's just a matter of which machines the quarters go into. So, okay, I took out Monster Bash, or even more recently, I stole Metallica a few months ago. I have one player who comes down every month for the monthly tournament, and every time he's there, he's like, oh, man, I really wish Metallica was still here. And I was like, well, it was earning like $8 a month because you would play it when you were here for the monthly, and everyone else had played Metallica for four years. They were tired of it. And I still enjoyed Metallica, but I had played a lot of Metallica. I was satisfied. Like, okay. So, you know, like, that money that was in that game just went into something else. That's just kind of how it goes. What game has lasted the longest at your location? Congo and Baywatch. They were original. Yeah, because we sold Fishtails last fall, and then Congo and Baywatch came in, and those have been there the whole time. do they still do they still earn anything i mean or is it just like you just have no they earn really well yeah they're both congos congos done well the entire time baywatch did better when it was in the bar because it has like 90s cheesiness to it that most of the people that are hanging out in the bar were of age to remember baywatch and find it entertaining yeah as that it was like a pinball machine um we moved that out of the bar and over to like the family bowling alley side and it hasn't done as well over there. But it's literally in, like, we call it, like, the kid's room. It's full of crane machines, and it's, like, where the parents send their kids while they're bowling. And, like, none of those kids probably know what the hell Baywatch is, to be really honest. Now do you – Like, maybe with – like, yeah. Do you operate the stuff in there, other stuff in there, like the cranes and stuff, or are you just doing the pins, right? Or are you doing – I'm just doing the pins. Okay. But I really need to do – I need to do the cranes because there's so much more money in cranes. and I'm an idiot for doing thermal machines and monster here's here's here's a good perspective for you I bought this I said when the pandemic started like literally two years ago right yeah before before everything locked down I had ordered a candy machine just like one of those simple 25 cent it's got like three different sections in it you know pick which candy you want put your quarter inch or the knob thing yeah and then COVID hit so I couldn't put it anywhere and I had it in my living room for like a year and a half or so and then i just finally moved it into the bowling alley side in the last couple months so at 25 cents for you need to get m&ms a nerds gumball or peanut butter m&ms that machine out earned every pinball machine on that side of the business this week shut up are you serious the machine cost me the machine cost me new in box oh my god brand new machine right now granted i have to buy candy to put it in there so when i get that 25 cents like only 19 cents of its profit on a gumball okay no it's more than that it's like 23 cents come on no i buy the nerds gumballs they're more oh wow that is your high your high end though that's i'm high end i'm high end most most people charge 50 cents for the nerds gumballs i'm a nice guy 25 but that machine new in box was $200 and it out earns my cheapest pinball machine on that side of the room would have been dally parton that i think i paid 1500 for and that was before i bought a new old stock bag glass in it because you know the one i had in there had a little scratch and i couldn't have that in public uh so yeah you know like it's if i was doing this strictly as a business it's like yep i should probably operate candy machines and i bought because the candy machine did so well the first few months i bought a sticker i was gonna ask you you got just 400 oh man i did yeah that was 400 it earns a little less than the candy machine um and it's 75 cents for stickers because the stickers are a lot more expensive than candy wow um but like it was just kind of eye-opening to see that like when i look at it and my my candy machine is like a top earner over these pinball machines that cost so much more and require so much more maintenance it's really yeah like pinball I understand why public location pinball died it is not money making if you don't also own the location like if you are if you're giving away a cut and you're not making money on the alcohol that it brings people in yeah like it's yeah it's not a smart business to do you how do you think you've earned enough money to pay off your I mean I know you haven made enough to pay off your machines You could if you sold your machines obviously So it not like you in the hole Literally it like a really weird savings account. That's how I like to describe it. Because if I needed money, like if we decided we have to buy a big house tomorrow, I could sell off my collection. If I don't have my collection, I don't know why I need a big house because I have nothing to put in it then. But I could do that. Okay. Now, on top of that, They do earn a little bit of money, but, like, last month I needed to replace the driver board in PowerPlay. Right. Well, PowerPlay makes enough money to replace that driver board in, like, eight to nine months maybe. Okay. You know? Yeah. Like, so, like, if something goes wrong on any of the machines, it's very hard to, like, I mean, the parts are expensive. The new TROF Opto board for Goldeneye, it's a part that's basically nonexistent anymore. I called Terry at Pinball Life today. He found that they had one. It's not even on the website. He posted it to the website today just so I could buy it. It was $83. That's going to take GoldenEye two months to pay off. Like, you know, so that's the thing that I think people don't think about. Even though I got that Evel Knievel really cheap, like, yes, if it was only $125, it would pay itself off in a couple months. But then I sank $500 into it with new boards, displays, back glass, and LEDs. So it adds up very quickly. and it's only going to be a game that I charge $0.25 for, so it takes a while to pay off. Yeah, but the idea is not to pay it off. I mean, you're not doing it to pay the games off. It's to have the games. I mean, you're making enough money basically to keep the games running, but then in the end, you just don't have your money. I just want to be able to play the game. Yeah, and you don't have your money in the bank. You have your money in pinball machines. I have my money in the pinball machines. Yeah. I try to keep a little money in the bank. Right, right, right. I'm not like a completely irresponsible adult. But yeah, like I absolutely have more money in pinball machines than I have in the bank. And I mean, I got married and I bought Alyssa a nice ring. And we didn't even do like a big fancy wedding. It was pretty small and everything. But like shit adds up quick. Like I sold one of my pinball machines and paid for all that. Yeah. Like, you know, and I'm not like, I don't regret that at all. I'm very happy. I had a great day and Alyssa's so happy and it's been awesome. Yeah. But, like, that was a way for me to do that very quickly. Yeah. I mean, I didn't even post the machine publicly. I'd had multiple people ask about it. Just message one said, hey, I'm selling this. I'll be there tomorrow to get it. Okay. Sounds good. Yeah. No, it's, yeah, it's, yeah, you've been doing it for so long. I mean, we were, we recorded when I remember. I think you were like, oh, yeah, I put a game on location. Or did you? Yeah. Like. I had a location before this one, too. So, like. Right. Where was that? That was – Literally in the same shopping center. It was like a card and board game store. Yeah, that's right. That's right. Yeah. I remember that. And ironically, new people have bought that store. Yeah. And they have recently gotten hooked on coming to play finball. Oh, nice. So they're over there like three nights a week. And it's really funny because the last month, Iron Maiden was my top earner. Yeah. Which was – it always does well, but like it made like a significant amount more than everything else, which was kind of odd. And I was like, Brett, who the hell has been playing this? And he's like, oh, dude, it's the board game store guys. They're, like, obsessed with it. Oh, that's awesome. And I was like, really? They were like, yeah. He's like, yeah, they just think the game is, like, so cool. And, like, they're always down here playing. But, like, he said it's funny because the owner, like, the other guys kind of follow him. And he's like, I don't even want to be good at pinball. I want to be good at this one game. So he said they play it, like, every night. That's awesome. And I was like, hey, man, that's very cool. And, yeah, so it's interesting when you get a game like that and people get obsessed with it. I think that's how people get hooked, though. I still do. Oh, absolutely. That was Creature from the Black Lagoon for me. That was Adam's family for me. Once I understood it and I knew what I was trying to do the whole time, I just wanted to keep playing it until I did it. And even when I did it, it made me want to do it again. Like that 4X super jackpot on Creature, I can hear the sound in my head right now. Yeah, man, I wanted that again. I still want it again. Anybody want to get rid of a Creature out there? Let me know. And you're still doing the pin quest and that's? Yeah, I was going to say, I just sent, I did our coin collection. I do it about every two weeks and I just sent Mark the totals for yesterday. And he was like, wow, Monopoly and Halloween really jumped up. That's awesome. I'm glad to see him doing well again. And I was like, oh, yeah, I put pin quest on those games this month. So, like, you do see a difference in the coin drop for those machines. We only probably have like 10 to 15 people that are using it. And I don't advertise it a ton or anything. Just new month rolls around and I post the challenges. But those who do use it, they want to get the scores. So, you know, they spend more money on those games that month until they achieve them. And are you doing Insider Connected? Yeah, I've installed Insider Connected on everything except for Beatles because they still haven't made kits available yet. So I'm still waiting for a Beatles kit. But everything else has them. The new code on Mandalorian like a week or two ago finally made it Insider Connected. compatible so I've had the kit for that one for a while but I didn't want to install it when the code didn't support it because I was just going to confuse people so I got that installed um and it sounds weird but like I'm pretty much down there to put the games on free play on Wednesday because we do free play Wednesday still and then I come down on Thursday to take them off free play and then I come back that night for league other than that like I'm not down there a lot when they're open like I'll go during the day to fix things yeah or like before our monthly tournament I tend to go down like several hours before they open and make sure everything's good for tournament day so I don't see a ton of people in there um with the new job I've been down there a little bit more and like what's cool is the staff has all started to play because they're there and they're around the machines and they do like an awesome job of like telling people about Insider Connected and I've seen a lot of people using it actually which has been pretty cool um but it's Because, like, they don't instinctively do it, even though that thing is lit up right there and there's, like, arrows pointing at it and stuff. Yeah. But if someone tells them about it, like, they get hooked. And there's a guy I saw just this week who, like, he's been down there for months with him and his wife. And they actually are regulars at the bar I work at, too. But they sit at the bar, so I don't ever serve them. And he was playing something the other night. And I saw he was scanning in and he was doing the pin quests. and he started talking to the bartender, Brett, who probably plays more than anybody else down there. And he was like, dude, thank you so much for telling me about this. Like, I'm addicted to trying to get these scores now. And I was like, awesome. Like, that's why I let Brett have a key and play whatever the hell he wants because Brett's advertising for me and he's getting other people hooked. So it works out well. But, yeah, I forget to sign in for Insider Connect when I play. And it's frustrating because I'm like, damn, that was a good game. I wonder what awards I got. And I'm like, oh, yeah, I didn't scan in. But it is cool. But as an operator, do you see a benefit to it? Like, yeah, do you see a benefit from it? I don't think so. Like, I haven't yet. Yeah. I'm scanning into my account right now. So I – or logging in. Like, it'll be interesting to see, like, Mandalorian, right? Because Mandalorian's been out for a little bit. It'll be interesting to see. So what's kind of cool is because I'm in Michigan today, right? Yeah. So I'm like three hours from my location. And I can see that today Godzilla's been played three times, Mandalorian 2, Ninja Turtles 2, Jurassic Park 1, Iron Maiden 5, Avengers 0. So I can look that up, which is kind of nice, but I'd really appreciate it if I could see more info like Switch hasn't been hit or if there was a problem. To be fair, most of these games don't have problems because Stern does a good job. But, like, if I could – or if I could, like, go in and, like, change settings from my phone. Like, hey, I'm going to run a special today. Iron Maiden's half price, and I could change it on my phone, you know, so I don't have to go down there. Stuff like that would be really cool. Oh, so you can't even do that. Like, you couldn't give – like, you couldn't put – Literally, all I can do is see today's plays, seven days' plays, 28 days' plays, and when was the last time somebody actually used Insider Connected. So somebody played Iron Maiden two minutes ago using Insider Connected. Interesting. They can tell me who the player was, nothing like that. It's an absolute bare minimum amount of information that I get. Wow. Okay. Yeah. Huh. So that's pretty much it. And so there's no information about the game? Like it doesn't tell you if the person got a free play or anything like that? No. Nothing. Okay. Not yet, which, again, if it does have all of that ability, that would be incredibly useful as an operator. I just think that would be cool. I don't know if that will ever come. I think running live, like, high scores nationwide, things like that would also be cool. Yeah. If I could put up a TV in the bar that shows, like, today's high scores, Indiana, USA, global on Iron Maiden, that would be really fucking cool. I think people would go for that stuff. Or run like a month-long, Stern runs a month-long contest and sends somebody a prize at the end of it. Like things like that would be very neat. What also seems like with Insider Connected, because it is like the machine is recognizing the person who is signing in. So it seems like it would have the ability to even display that type of information like on the screen, right? Yeah, and I don't know if that's like a privacy issue. to me, like, so one of the things I wanted to do was I wanted to establish a pin quest for Jurassic Park. I think it was just like last month or the month before. And it wasn't like one of the one game achievements. It's you had to collect like 100 rescues. Right. Like if you're doing that, that's probably going to take at least 10 games. Like if you're having pretty good games. OK. Yeah. Right. Yeah. And you get either there's a badge you get for it. but then I just had to tell people to screenshot me your badge when you get it because there was no notification that I could get to tell me that a player had done that. Okay. I think it would be cool if I could click on, so I'm in the app right now, I'm clicking on Jurassic Park. It just tells me when it was last played, last connected, and that's it. It would be really cool if it gave me a list of the players who had played it and then I could click their name and see what achievements they had earned. like I think that would be cool as the operator so I could do contests like that right um you don't have to tell me who that person really is you don't have to give me their contact information right like I just want to know who it was and then I could post like hey if you're micked up 85 and you just got 100 rescues you won a free t-shirt come down to north end pub and collect it right or you could or you could even put I mean you could you could even do that like you could even have it so that the game would display that. You know what I mean? Exactly, yeah. Huh. Yeah. That could be one of the high score pages, people who have collected, earned this badge, and it lists all the players' names. Right, yeah, that would be really cool. And so you have no access to your audits at all? I mean, just for the last month, that's it. But like you can't look at the audits of your game, like as an operator. Okay. I thought that that was part of the rollout. Like, I thought that, like, you were going to be able to actually see that type of information. All I can see is the number of plays in the last month. Okay. And to give you that idea on the Iron Maiden thing, Iron Maiden's at 431. The next closest is at 260. Okay. So Maiden got almost 200 more plays than anything else this month. Okay. Which is crazy to me because it's sitting next to Godzilla, which is so new and so awesome. It is really good. Have you played – do you have access to the beta code? Are you a beta code tester, I have to ask? I didn't even know they had beta code testers. That's how not cool I am. Okay. Yeah. I know that – I believe that Carl D'Python Anghelo streamed the newest beta code for Godzilla. and I I don't know when that happened maybe like a week ago or something like that but I keep checking Stern to see if they've released a new code because apparently it has the Godzilla power-ups which I am jonesing for. I need some power-ups in my life. Yeah, see like you know all of these games far better and deeper than I do I get like the general idea of how to play them and I can just keep playing and try to score a lot but like I genuinely don't know the full depth of the Keith games. I understand that it's there and it exists, but I'm not there. I saw we secretly have a high score contest going between each other that you didn't even know about. I did not know that. I think you posted, you got $1.4 billion on that on Godzilla. My current high is like $2.9. It was like the first time you broke a billion. Yeah. I think it got like 1.4, and I saw that, and I was like, shit, I haven't done that yet, so I got to go down there. I did see that. You posted it. And, yeah, so then I went down, and I got like 1.5 billion, and I was like, sweet, I feel better now. Or, no, what is it? One, looked it up. Sorry, I just pulled it up on my app. 1.79 billion, and I was like, sweet, shut the fuck up, Taylor. It's in my head. And then you posted like two-something billion. Yeah. And I was like, fuck. Sorry. And I haven't done that yet. No, I like that because, like, we're not competing, but I like to have something to work towards. And then Alien showed up, and I literally don't think I've played my Godzilla since Alien arrived. I did play a premium tonight on location, but the flippers were kind of a little bit weak and beat up, so it was not a fun experience. What, Godzilla? Yeah. Those ramps are really hard to make if your flippers aren't super powerful. Yeah, what's up with that? Why were they, do you know why they were weak? Well, I think it's just a really busy location. I guess the coil stops were gone. Yeah. It was literally being played the entire four hours I was there. My high score on Godzilla is 2.9 billion right now. 2.9. So I got a lot of work to do. That's all I'm hearing out of this. But that's cool because, like, then I get to go, like, I just described work as playing a game as work, you know. But I like having, I like seeing that. I like knowing that it can be done. and I have fun pretty much every time I play that game. I just think that the ball paths on the game are so unique. Ron Kruseman, that's who I picked up the playfields from today. Ron Kruseman does amazing play field restoration work. If you need a play field, clear-coated, talk to Ron. But Ron and I went down there, and Ron hadn't played it yet, and he literally stayed on it almost the whole time. He was like, what can I sell? I want to buy one. That happened. I mean, he was kind of like, he just hadn't played a game that the ball traveled such unique ways. And then on top of that, like, I was able to explain, you know, some of the rules to him. And he was just like, this is so crazy because he's like, the last time I was buying newer games, it was when Lord of the Rings was out. And everybody thought that game was crazy deep, but that game is just like wood chopping compared to this. I was like, yeah, pretty much. I still like Lord of the Rings. Oh, no, he wasn't knocking Lord of the Rings. It's really deep, but you were doing the same thing over and over. Yeah, I see that. And I feel like Keith's games, they provide you so many different paths to those scores that you don't have to play it the same way. I could go play all multiball, and you could go play just for the modes, and we'd probably come out with similar scores. There are so many different things happening at once that you don't even realize shit's happening. It took me so long to figure out what Hedora was doing, and I finally figured it out. I was like, oh, that's really cool. Smoking a bong? That? I just meant the fact that it's like a frenzy mode that's running in the background. I ended up hitting a shot I think worth like $129 million in Hedora one night. What? Yeah. So my understanding on that is like you're building the value off switch hits, and then you collect when you hit the shot. So, yeah, so if you want to, you could sit there and, like, rip the spinner. I think I had it on some shot that was harder to hit, and I was ripping the spinner, and I had 2x scoring going. Oh, yeah. I just got this huge shot on it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I was like, oh, that's freaking cool. Yeah. But it's like you said, it's happening in the background. So, like, if you don't know that it's there, you're just going to keep playing, and you're going to occasionally collect some points on it. It's cool. Once I realized what it was, that it was that background frenzy, I was like, okay, I'm going to shoot spinners. Yep. and it was really cool to see that value pop up on the screen. So I've recently gotten into trying to collect the city combos. And I just saw those on, like, the postcard-looking images for the first time tonight. Yeah, it's really cool. That was really cool. Yeah, and so one of the things, I have a premium, and so actually I think each city has an additional combo. and I was playing the premium tonight so I wouldn't know because I hadn't even realized that was on the pro version but yeah but so like but one of the things I figured out I actually went to tilt forums because I could not I didn't understand why I wasn't getting a city combo like so Tokyo which is the first city you start in it has three city combos um one I'll go through the three combos one combo is you shoot the right right ramp then you shoot the building it goes through the building, and then you shoot the big lane from the upper left flipper. That's your first city combo. Your second city combo is to hit the center spinner, and then you hit the big loop, and then you hit the mecha lane, which is the one that goes in front of Mechagodzilla. That's your second. And then the third one is the center spinner, which is the one that's to the right of the building, and then the pop bumper. But, so I was doing that, and I could not collect, and I did not understand what was happening. But what you have to do is the building actually has to be down in the down position to collect that third combo. So then after the building is down, you can collect your third combo. But it's important because you can at five city combos, you can get an extra ball. And so that's the whole thing. It's like knowing where to get the extra balls. And certain cities have easier combos, in my opinion, because I have I have a really hard time hitting the Mecca lane. And so, like, from what I've seen, I think Paris is probably the next city to go to if you're trying to get an extra ball early on. I know that each city has, like, different perks, but as far as getting an extra ball is an extra ball. I mean, if you can get an extra ball, go for the extra ball. So, yeah, so, like, I started getting into combos and, like, yeah. So now I'm like, it's weird because you start thinking like strategy when you like, you know, when you walk up to a game, you start thinking about, OK, what should I do? And you're like, OK, well, if I do this on Godzilla, I was explaining to somebody about Godzilla. Like they're like, what should I do in a tournament? And I'm like, first, I don't know because I don't play tournaments. But I was like, I started going through the things. I'm like, yeah, do this and do this. And I'm like, well, no, because if you do this, then you'll actually end up with like you'll have jet fighters going. You'll be in a mode. You'll be dropping the building. Like, I'm like, there's so much stuff that's happening. And then it's, yeah, it's crazy. And there's all kinds of stuff with, like, switch hits, you know. Like, so you get a certain amount of switch hits and you start, like, not super combos or, oh, the rage combos. Like, and it's in the. Yeah, so, okay, wait, question. Yeah. So, one, every time I start the fucking rage combo, I immediately brick my shots. Okay. And it sucks. but the other day I did hit them and I got through four in a row. And then I think I had to hit the tail whip shot and I missed it. Like how long does the rage combo go for? I think it might, what is that? I think it might just be the, I think it might just be that. So it's right ramp, left ramp, center spinner, fake loop, loop, then the tail whip. Um, and that might be it. It might, well, it might, you go to, I would think that you go tail whip and then you might go to the left spinner. Oh, yeah, that would make sense. That would make sense. But I'm not 100%. I feel like I've completed it, but it's been a bit because I usually don't really go for it. But I feel like if you complete it, you probably bump up your annihilation jackpot. Oh, that makes sense. Right? It just seemed like these are not hard shots. They're shots I'm usually hitting anyway. And then as soon as they're lit for the rage combo, I just brick it. Yeah. It's like, what the hell? Yeah. It was really annoying me. I usually, I'll get it, and then I'll, you know, there'll be another ball in play or something, or I don't know. But, like, I have a really hard time with that Mecca, the, like, tail whip shot. But, like, I cannot – I've been practicing that to try to – because a lot of the combos have the tail whip shot is your finishing shot on the combo, and it's just, like, killing me. It's like a 50-50 shot to me. Yeah, I just – I want to – Like, it's just – it's going to happen or it's not. I don't know. I love hitting the upper loop and just looping it and looping it and looping it. It's got – that's really satisfying. Such a fun game to shoot. It's really interesting, too, because I feel like it's interesting the power that you hit shots changes the way the feed is so dramatically. It's almost like you feel like you're playing a different game. Like, I don't even, like, the upper left flipper, when you're shooting the loop, like, I'll get into a groove where I'll be able to loop it, like, over and over again. And, like, over and over again is, like, maybe 10, which is, I feel like it's pretty good. but it's almost like the ball slows down, and it's wherever there's like a sweet spot on the flipper that is like the perfect place to rinse and repeat that shot. And it's just, I don't know, it's just really satisfying when you find that little groove. It's a really good game, man. I really want them to release the new code so I can stop avoiding reading about people talking about the beta code. that I really want to play it. I'm really interested to see what they do with the Godzilla power-ups. So my understanding, spoiler alert, my understanding is that what happens, I don't know how, so like currently when you shoot a shot, it will tell you you have a power-up, and like I'll say plus two power-up, and I don't know how that applies to it, but at some point when you shoot the scoop, like you qualify a power-up, You shoot the scoop, and you'll be able to pick left or right, and it'll give you two choices as to what you want to power up. Interesting. So it's not like Mandalorian. Like, that was one of the things that worried me, is, like, you're going to go to a store. Like, you'll go to Godzilla Mall, and, like, you have to buy stuff for Godzilla. And I didn't want that because I think that that kills the flow of the game. But my understanding is it's like you go in and you have two choices. Now, I don't know – I don't understand how collecting power-ups while you're playing will determine what you get. Like, are there more powerful power-ups, like you get to a certain level? I don't know. But there's a lot there. I mean, there's a lot to be played with, and the fact that it's, like, collected on the scoop means that it's going to be pretty important. I have completely abandoned reading about most of Penn, like I barely check Penn side anymore. It's, it's, uh, yeah, it just became a very toxic and negative environment for the most part. So I have like a couple of threads that I am actively participating in, like the alien thread to see if people are having issues or how to fix issues that they arise. Um, and then like pinball disease coming up. So I check that thread. I usually just like actively sit there for a lot of time and read the website daily. And now I'm like, I know who's going to comment what. And it's just going to be annoying. And I just quit reading it. And I've kind of gone to the whole like code's going to come when code's going to come. And then when it comes, I'll update and play it. The automatic updates is pretty awesome with the new online connectivity aspect of the started machines. Big fan of that. that's been cool but like yeah the whole rumor mill and everything like people still kind of ask like hey have you heard what's coming and i'm like whatever you've heard that's probably what i've heard like i just oh like games and stuff yeah games coming out code code coming out um i mean the only reason i care about gazella code is because i play it daily i mean i i oh no i get I'm invested in that. I've kind of gone to the point where it's whatever. I'm just enjoying. I still don't enjoy working on pinball machines. Like, I really enjoy when they're done. Yeah. But the process, like, I'm proud that I can do it. I wouldn't say I take great pleasure in it. Like, I usually put on some old wrestling or, like, a TV show that I've seen, and I kind of just let it play in the background. So I'm, like, semi-tuned into that, and I'm just working on the machine to get it done. And once it's done, like, that evil, you know, was doing nothing, and I got it working, like, quickly. I'm like, all right, that's awesome. I'm glad this worked out. Move on. But, like, I don't enjoy that process. Yeah. Like, okay, now I just want to play. Yeah. I don't. I'd much rather be playing pinball than working on them. Yes. But the problem is, pinball, working pinballs got so expensive, and the games that I like are these weird, rare, older things. So, like, I started buying busted-ass ones so I could work on them. Yep. Because it was more affordable. So, like, I picked up – the playfields I picked up tonight from Ron or Stargazer, I'm going to build those again. I got another Volton playfield from CPR. And, like, I've got to get – I've got, like – I'm on screen break two weeks from now. I'm going to the Texas Pinball Festival for the first weekend. Nice. I actually leave a week from tomorrow because I'm driving and I can work remote. So I'm heading down early and working remote. And then I come back from that. and my dad's coming to visit for a week or however many days he comes i don't know he's probably going to listen to this and i don't know how many days he's coming for but we're gonna basically build the nursery because i have a son oh my god that's so amazing yeah uh we're down to like three months now holy shit dude yeah so crazy i know and and alissa's like one of alissa's best friends just had her baby five weeks early last week oh everything's healthy and awesome yeah but it was also very much like eye opener oh shit that could that could be us yeah we better we gotta get going yeah man so um and i'm just being realistic like i last couple summers i've basically restored a game up here at the lake when i've been up here during the weeks and i'm probably not going to be able to do that this summer so i gotta like clean out some space in the garage so i can do some games there i'm supposed to be building a stargazer for somebody um so now i got the playfields i'm still just waiting on the wire harnesses and then i'll have all the parts and I can knock those out pretty quick, hopefully, since I've done this before. Nice. But, yeah, I don't know. I got heavily interested in the things I decided I was interested in in pinball, which is, like, mostly the classic games, and then trying to keep my location playing nicely for those people who come to visit. Yeah. And I just quit. Yeah, like, it feels weird saying that, but, like, I don't participate in, like, the community aspect of it as much anymore through Pinside because the community grew and it got full of a lot of people I don't like. So yeah, that's kept it to the people I do like. Well, that's the thing that I think that that's one of the things that was tough. The toughest things for me during the pandemic is that like, I really like hanging out. And I know that I know that not everybody like shut down. I mean, like I know that, but I did. And yeah, it was tough because I really like hanging out with my friends and playing pinball like that is I mean, like, you know, I build a deck on the back of my house because it's off my game room. And so it's like, hey, I want a place where people can hang out when they're not playing. You know, it's like I and then the pandemic hit and it was kind of like, you know, I'm I still have my games because I was like, hey, you know, hopefully we'll come out of this one day. But that's really what pinball for me is about. And that's what I mean. I talked about that before. I mean, that's one of the reasons why it's kind of like I kind of got down on like recording and stuff because I wasn't really doing anything I was interested in talking about because it's like, oh, it's just I'm playing in my game. you know, hey, you know, play in Jurassic Park for the 14,000th time, you know, like, but yeah, so it's actually an accurate reading. That's probably low. That's probably low. But no, so I hear you as well. Like, I definitely feel like I feel like there's an I have enough of a connection with people that I don't need to connect with people I don't know, you know? yeah yeah very much so but to be fair like you know without pin side you and i never meet yeah like i've i've legitimately probably spent as much time talking to you as i have almost anyone in my life in the last seven years doing this show and we've just had it all recording like i you know i've got friends i'm very close with but i'm not like a huge socializer or talker so um i'm i'm very content playing pinball by myself like so that the whole pandemic thing like it wasn a change to me I like to be able to play the games and I enjoy seeing people play my games Like to me still going down I had a few people come into the location and just tell me like wow you guys have really built something cool here Or, like, you guys have an awesome lineup. The games here play really well. Like, that, I appreciate people recognizing that. Yeah. I do get pleasure out of seeing them play my games and enjoy it or trying a game for the first time. Like, I like all of that stuff. But I don't feel the need to be like, let's play a game together because, like, I just like to play for high scores and going through the games and like trying to beat them. To me, it's me against the machine. It's not like I want to play with people. Like when I go to Texas next week, I tend to disappear from my friend group and like go play by myself because I can play more games then and I can try more things out. Yeah, see, I – And then when I go to eat, I want to go eat with people and I want to go eat barbecue. See, I am – I don't know – I'm not going to say I'm the opposite, but I do like playing with people because I find – I have a lot of friends who, like, I've stayed connected with that I've hung out with at shows or whatever. And, like, you know, it's like if you play a four-player game, only one player can play at a time. So that means – like, I enjoy the conversation I have with people. Like, I do like meeting people. I like, I, I do think that I like meeting people in real, in real life. You know, it's like, it's interesting. I want to hear what people are doing. You know, it's like, I want to know not necessarily about like what people are doing with pinball, but just people, what they do in general. And that's one of the things that I, that's one of the things that like was really interesting. Like when I first got into pinball and like, and like I started a league and like just, it was just it wasn't everybody wasn't really into pinball like everybody was into coming to the league and playing pinball but everybody wasn't into pinball at that point so it was really about what the people were about outside of pinball you know it's like so I was playing with doctors and lawyers and just people who I wouldn't necessarily maybe socialize with on my own Did that make sense? Like, it wasn't, there wasn't a pinball connection. It was just like. Pinball was what brought you together, but you were interested in all the other aspects of the people. I get what you're saying. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, I mean, so, like, going to the show, though, like I said, it was like, you know, if you're on a four-player game, if you're playing a four-player game and you've got four people, like, three of you are talking and hanging out and, like, bullshitting. or you're playing stall ball and then you have like 40 people hanging out and like having a mutual experience. I don't know. I really like that. But I don't know. But I can come home and play. I mean, I'll come home and play for three hours by myself. I can do that. But if I'm out, like if I'm at a show, like I'm there to be social. Oh, yeah. I'm there to play the new stuff or stuff I don't see. That's right. That's like at Pinball. People are like, where's Tommy? I'm like, I don't know. They're like, you're not hanging out with him? I'm like, no, he just kind of wanders away. Yeah, oh, I do. I just disappear. I'm real quiet about it, too. Like, I wait until somebody else says hi to someone, and then I dash away. That's what I did, like, at parties in high school. It's like, I would just, like, I would just leave. Yeah. We're staying on the island. I'm perfectly content. Yeah, I want to go play Capcom Airborne when I'm at Pinburgh, you know, because nobody else really cares about that game, but I never get to see it, so I play the hell out of it. All right, so I've got to ask you before because I have to go to bed soon. Taylor, quit being 50, man. Sorry. Just having the late-night party with me, dude. I have to wake up. I have to make breakfast for children. God, that's going to be me soon. Oh, yeah. I have made more peanut butter and jelly sandwiches than I have played Jurassic Park. That is not a lie. That is not a lie. No, so I wanted to talk about Multimorphic. I wanted to talk about – Oh, yeah. And we don't have to do a deep dive because I'd really love to, like, get Jerry on to talk about it. Yeah. But I did want to ask about, because you're getting one, right? Yeah. So what's the status on your P3? And then I think that we reach out to Multimorphic and get him on. Yeah, I think Jerry would definitely come back on. So I ordered my P3 the first week of September. Yeah. And at that time I was quoted eight to 12 weeks, which in my mind put it around Christmas, because like when someone tells you eight to 12, you assume 12. Yeah. And then I saw Jerry close to eight weeks later because Expo is around the end of October, I think. Or maybe six weeks. I don't know. I saw Jerry at Expo. And at the time he told me he basically said, can I tell you something, you know, privately? And I said, yeah, absolutely, man. And he basically said, like, look, I can get you your game by Christmas probably, but we're making some upgrades to the entire system, which they've now kind of showed in the new videos. And he said, you know, if you don't mind waiting, then your game will come with those things. And to me it was not a big deal by any mean because I had been just contacted, I think, saying my alien was going to be here in two weeks at that point, so I was going to have to pay for that. So I was like, cool. I thought Alien would take longer, so then I would have time to get the money for that after the P3, and instead I just switched the order. I got the money for Alien, and then I had more time to get the P3 money. So that was no big deal. I had no clue at any point whatsoever that the theme was going to be Weird Al for the newest game. I just knew that it would be licensed and that it would probably be popular because it was licensed. I think they did a great job of creating the FOMO, the Fear of Missing Out, with the 227 LEs, which they sold out in one day of. Yeah. Congratulations to them for that. Weird Al Yankovic, I know some of his songs because Amish Paradise, I grew up near Amish people. Like, that was a big hit. And I'm aware of, like, his pop culture icon. I know who he is, right? Yeah. um in no way whatsoever have i ever been like the pinball world is missing a weirdo yankovic pinball machine yeah um but when wrestlemania came out most of the world was like nobody gives a fuck about wrestlemania except for like i was like this is fucking awesome until i played it so like i get and appreciate like those that are excited about this i'm very happy for those people like that is great um i'm excited because it just looks really fun like i think the layout looks really good and I've been excited I've been excited about getting my p3 since September because I want to play heist and I want to play cosmic car racing and I want to play lexi light speed like I you know I've talked about wanting a p3 I think for four or five years ever since cosmic car racing really because I enjoyed that so much but the pricing just always seemed so high and so like the price and everything else shut up and multimorphic stayed pretty much the same yeah Yeah, so the pricing just made more sense for me at this point, and I specifically ordered it the week I sold my Volton. So I sold Volton, so I had a bunch of money sitting there, and that's when I ordered it. I've, of course, since then spent that money on other pinball machines, but then I'll sell pinball machines when it's time to pay for the P3. So I've planned accordingly. I'm very happy for them. I know Kevin from Buffalo Pinball is streaming that game in four days. March 19th. He's going to be streaming it. They're going to have it at the Texas Pinball Festival, so I will get to play it in a little over a week from now. I'm excited to play it. And that game is going to go on location. So that will be, again, one of only a handful of Multimorphics P3 machines that are on location across the country. And again, come north and pub and play it because I'm excited to have it. My whole, the whole reason, so again, number one was the pricing just became more in line with what everything else was to where, like, I now saw it as, yes, expensive, but everything's expensive, and in the future, new games will be cheaper. So that part made sense to me. The other part would largely be Nick Baldrige proving, like, granted, Nick's a mad genius. But him programming all these mini-games for it, as he calls them, Yeah. That really appealed to me because, like, without a doubt, like, I don't have any sort of background that would, you know, tell you, like, this guy's educated enough to be a pinball designer. um but like seeing what nick was able to do and having basically built two games from scratch in the last year i was very much like okay if i get this system that already has basic code in place and i only have to design one-third of the play field like it's kind of something i want to mess with yeah so that's cool like it gave me that opportunity so yes i'm going to put this on location and my whole plan was like if it does great on location awesome keep buying games as they come out for it i can play it when i want it'll make a little money if it does terrible on location and people don't get it i bring it home and i start to experiment and make my own game like and what other system offers you that like nothing so to me that was a really cool idea because like i have absolutely sat around and drawn up ideas for playfields i may have already written out an entire rule sheet for coding killer clowns from outer space onto the lexi light speed play field like i don't know how to do that code but i have an entire rule set written out for progressing through the movies and battling six of the killer clowns leading to the final battle against the giant killer clown so like it appeals to me well you you also have you also have a community who is supportive of that platform and oh yeah and and they will help you figure out yeah i joined the p3 discord yeah um maybe a month before i ended up ordering it and it's largely just owners of the games it's not official it's not like through the company but several members of the company, including Jerry, are there, and they do partake in the discussion. There's tech support that's on there, just, again, through mutual owners. There's an entire third-party development chat for the people who are working on games. And seeing all of that really made it just like, okay, the upfront price tag is expensive, but it's basically the price of a premium machine now. Yeah. To get the machine, and then you have to buy a kit for it. So, like, yes, it ends up being a little cheaper than an LE or right around the price of an LE, but then everything else for it is cheaper in the long run. And, again, with, like, our two issues in pinball are money and space, and, like, this now starts to save you space. So that appealed to me as well. So if I did have to reduce the games at home because I am having a child, I could have this one machine there that's actually, like, four machines. There you go. Yeah. Yeah, the Weird Al, like, when I first heard the title, I was kind of, I was a little underwhelmed because I was just expecting, I don't know, like, I don't know. Everything in my mind was an 80s theme. Yeah. Like, a movie or a band, like, mostly movies. I love the 80s, so, like, I was just thinking somehow they got some sweet 80s movie license. but like it did what they needed to do it got them a lot of attention I am not certain and I know I've never heard them publicly comment but I'm willing to bet that they had not sold 227 machines before that day like I don't think there's that many P3s out there but did they sell did they sell that many machines or they sold that many weird owl kits uh well okay so kits plus machines so yeah it's who knows okay that kits but a lot of the people like i just got a message today literally when i was just driving home so we could record this from another guy in indiana that was like hey do you have your p3 yet i ordered the weird l le and i still have never played a p3 i want to come play oh wow that's awesome and i was like i haven't um mine's supposed to get delivered next month or in may uh which is the update um so i knew it was going to be delayed because these parts were coming jerry after the initial orders came in whenever that was what a little over a week ago i think within a couple days he emailed everyone out who ordered and gave you an estimated delivery date based on them ordering their parts and then ramping up scales of production um my order having been in for quite some time i'm at like the front of that line yeah um patrick who is the guy who bought my stargazer uh he and i ordered p3s the same week just like coincidentally uh him and i we've we've stayed in contact and like turns out we have really similar tastes in games uh but yeah we talk frequently and we've both been waiting and jerry posted no honestly i was kind of like all right if they're making these now like that would be cool if i just can just pick mine up at the texas pinball festival and bring it home but he basically said the parts for everything that's supposed to come in they're supposed to be delivered the first week of April and then based on them arriving, building and testing I should be able to by the end of the month or in May which either way was fine if it takes longer it's fine because they've never asked for more of my money they've let me know what was going on the whole time again the communication part is totally okay with me I understand that everything is just weird right now with shipping and production, and I get all of that. It is not a big deal. I just don't like being told you have my game and you need my money and then it takes five more months. Yeah. Like, that's not cool. Well, being told it's at a port when it hasn't been made. Yeah, that was all frustrating. So, Multimorphic has not had any of that issues. They have been awesome in their communication, even if it wasn't good news. And it's, like, never fun to give somebody bad news, right? They've just been up front, like, hey, it's going to be a little bit. You know, I didn't know what the title was, but, you know, I was told if I wanted to order it, I could. And if I wanted to cancel it once it was announced, I could. That was all – those were all options given to me. So – and I'm really excited because, like, again, like you said, we can go to almost any location and play the Starring Games. Yeah. I looked around the bar the other day, and, like, I felt bad because we have a lot of Stern games in there right now. Like, I have Beatles and Primus, which you don't see at a ton of places. But then a lot of it's, like, I've got the Elwynn games, and I've got Ninja Turtles in there, you know. And we've got Halloween, which isn't super common. And I've got Dragon Fist and Flash Gordon and Prospector. So I've got, like, a mix still. But I think I have, like, seven. I want to say I have seven Stern LCD games. and I was like I just don't like that I have so much Stern yeah like that's kind of how I felt but I don't want to get rid of the I don't want to get rid of the Elwins so like it's just going to keep happening but you have 25 games yeah on the other side I have all like DM I have well what we have Powerplay Meteor and Dolly Parton and then for Solid State and then we have DMDs like Monopoly Baywatch, X-Men, Congo, Shadow. So we've got a nice diversified collection still. Yeah, you've got a good mix. Yeah, it just looked weird to me to look down the bar and be like, man, I have a lot of Sterns right now. Oh yeah, we have Alien in the bar too. So I try to mix it up. But I think it'll be cool to put a P3 there. The changeability of the playfields, I plan to change it out every week or every month, depending on how a game's doing. I've already off to Nick Baldrige to make sure that his game, Ranger in the Ruins, can be put on coin operation because I want to operate that game. It's a one-ball game. I'm going to charge 25 cents to play it. And I don't know if you've watched a video on that game at all, but it's a roguelike game. You progress as far as you can. You find items that help you go further. Oh, I played it. You die. You leave items. Yeah. I'm excited to put that on location. I played it at Nick's. It's really cool. I love the music in that game I just think it's so cool that Nick was able to do that at home that's such an interesting concept and I know I can change the amount of balls in it but if that's a three ball game I'm going to charge you a dollar I think it would be cool to get a group of friends down there you play one ball, it's one quarter, you see how far you can get and then your friend steps up, you just rotate through I think that's really cool I want people to be able to see those things that are out there and if it flops and it doesn't do well I'll be very honest with them about that I'll let them know hey this didn't do great at my location but I'm still really excited to own it so I'll enjoy it you know I've had games that have done well and I've gotten rid of them like Monster Bash and I've had games that haven't done well like TNA that I really liked but I still got rid of because it literally was making no money it was just too hard for me I'm excited to see what people think of this because it is, while it is pinball, it is different. It will take some adjustment. I'm really – I just don't know. I don't know what to expect, honestly. Yeah, I watched the video. I watched the YouTube video again today, and I think it looks really good. I think that it's – Yeah, the ball paths on Weird Al Yankovic look awesome. It looks awesome, and it looks like it might be the most traditional-looking P3 game as far as the use of the screen and the play field. But, I mean, I haven't seen a ton of it, but it looks like – because I think that that might – I don't know. I think that that throws people off. It does, I'm sure. I said, I've always enjoyed the things I've played on it. It just, you know, people change is hard for people to accept. Look how long it took for us to get rid of DMDs and pinball machines, you know, and go to LCD screens. Like just just for the display, you know, everything else was staying the same. And we barely look at the displays while we're playing. Yeah. And it still took forever for that to change. so I think this is one of those things where they've been around a little while now this license did help them get some popularity and some sales and some money which is very important to where hopefully they can pursue another license and it genuinely seems like this was a license that members of the staff there are very excited about and whenever someone's excited about a license I think it tends to create a better game because there are people who are passionate about the content they're putting into it Absolutely. And that's the total vibe I've gotten from this, the excitement from being in that Discord and hearing the team talk about the things they've put into it. Yeah. Like, they are pumped to share this game with the world. And then, like, that excitement rubs off. Like, yeah, I don't give a shit about Weird Al as a team. But as a game, it looks like it's going to be really fun. And they're very excited about the innovations they've put into the machine. So that makes me want to play it even more. I did get – so I have been – I've told people publicly on the podcast I ordered a P3. The day this was announced, I think I ended up counting them. I got five messages from players who come to my location asking if I was getting this play field with the P3 and when it would be there. So, like, it had more interest than I expected. That's interesting. Yeah. I think with the price, the way that games have gone up in price, and like you said, It's like it's no longer – the price tag is not nearly – it's no longer a shock, right? No. It used to be the price of two – at least two Stern Pros. Yeah. Like I used to look at it as like it was like two Stern Pros and a Stars. And I was like, man, it's hard to justify that all at once. Yeah. But now I'm like, eh, it's the price of a premium. And then when the next game comes out, it's not even half as expensive as a Stern Pro. Like, if you just bought the Weird Al, just the playfield, not the LE, and you already had the machine, it's $3,000. Yeah. Which isn't cheap. Like, for, again, we're buying really expensive toys. Yes. They hold their value, thankfully, for now at least, it seems. But compared to what other, quote-unquote, expensive toys are going for in this hobby, that is incredibly cheap. Yeah. And then the fact that you can add mini games onto that play field for like $100, $150. The most expensive one, Source vs. Primus, is $500. And that's like a full other game that uses an existing play field. All of those are cheaper than accessories that are sold for these other pinball machines. Yeah. So, like, it ends up looking like it's a really good deal now. And again, so like I bought months ago Ramp-O-Matic. Have you ever used any of their ramps? um no i don't think it's jody yeah i know i know you're talking about i don't think i have he makes reproduction ramps um for several games i just got he just did baywatch ramps i bought them my ramps are okay but i love baywatch i plan to keep it forever so i got some spare ramps to have and i like to support people who are making things in the hobby right um he sold a couple months ago like 40 bucks he posted a box and it was like a pretty big box and it was just like weight and it was like contains ramps that like you know cracked when he was cutting them or they had something slightly wrong i think it was like i was buying like 40 pounds of ramps that was all the details it was and it was cheap so i bought it because i was like screw it man maybe i can mess with these on the p3 so i have like this giant box of just busted ass or prototyped out ramps from all these different games he's done since before nice because i was like screw this man like i want to play with i want to i want to make a game at some point that's awesome and i don't have that full ability to code like that's my biggest deficiency but with this there's already like a base code there so like i understand how to wire and switches and all that stuff well anyway it's gonna give me something to mess with like i'll who knows if i'll ever actually do it i'm not as smart as many of the people out there who are making games right now for this thing but again like you said there's this community that like if i'm willing to put in the time to learn they're definitely going to be willing to help me uh along the way and i think that's again maybe i've left uh not even fully left but i've reduced my participation in the pin side community because i i didn't like what it became uh but i've found some other communities like the p3 or our podcast or my location in which i'm still really happy and still connected with them all so that's been enjoyable still so much positivity i'm trying man i'm trying the world sucks so we're not gonna make it good until the comet comes in which ways i'll be like fuck yeah Well, the comet crashed today, man. It landed today. Did it really? It was not big enough because I'm still talking to you. No, it was a – yeah, something crashed on the planet today. And we're still here. It's bigger. It was – I think they said it was the size of half a giraffe. That's not big enough. What does that mean? Like which half of the giraffe? I need like a Texas size meteor. That's what I need. Yeah, we will – You know what's funny? Bye-bye. I just remembered this. Roughly like two years ago, right before the pandemic really hit, we were doing an episode, and I basically said we needed like a plague to wipe out half the planet, and then COVID hit. Oh, I think he... Like, if we get a meteor tomorrow, I'm going to feel really bad. I think somebody reached out to me and was like, what the fuck is wrong with Tommy? And I was like, I don't know. Tommy interacts with the general public a lot more than you guys, and he's very pro-plague slash comet. But I'm going to stay positive while I'm here, alone at the lake, not around other humans. All right, man, I got to go to bed. Tommy. Hey, Taylor. Good talking to you, man. Well, look, I'm not promising anything. No, we might have turned this into a quarterly podcast. January, now March. Maybe we'll talk in June. I definitely want to talk after Texas. so let's talk after texas pinball festival nine days away now because it's about to be midnight call me oh you know what call me call me when you're on the road on the road home oh yeah we can do that let's we'll try to do that all right tommy it was good talking to you um yeah and uh take care and get that nursery ready man yeah bye Thank you. Well, I'm so sorry, man, that I can't let God do my heart I hate the world, I hate to have to live through this And I don't see it for some reason, don't know what to do I like the world, I still hate for things that don't go in through Yeah! Children of tomorrow, it is a beautiful day. Well, the sun will tomorrow bring you to sleep anyway. But the one living in the shadow of a stormy sea And they went to fight for me Oh, they did so behind Yeah! Thank you. So you children of the wild They learn to walk like this If you want to make a living, there's no one to take No, no one to love, it's never right, you must be brave For you're still the youngster today, a little youngster today Yeah! Thank you. Thank you. you

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

---

*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 1fe9701c-9eb1-4569-a593-7fc4821bff3e*