# Pinball Junk Drawer Episode 10

**Source:** Poor Man's Pinball Podcast  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2022-02-21  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://poormanspinballpodcast.libsyn.com/pinball-junk-drawer-episode-10

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## Analysis

Foghorn Leghorn hosts Pinball Junk Drawer Episode 10 with co-host Craft Brew Sally, featuring an interview with Gary Stern conducted at Freeplay Florida. They discuss their multiple personal interactions with Stern, his business philosophy regarding the three annual flagship titles, manufacturing operations, and the risks of game development. The episode emphasizes Stern's commitment to pinball and his workforce while acknowledging the current market's unsustainable pricing environment.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Stern Pinball makes three cornerstone titles per year in Pro, Premium, and Limited Edition versions — _Gary Stern directly stated in interview: 'We make three new what we call cornerstone titles a year, main titles that have a Pro, Premium Edition, and limited edition version.'_
- [HIGH] Missing on one of three annual games causes financial strain; missing on two requires layoffs — _Gary Stern: 'If one of those three games is not a good game...then a lot of people go home and don't get to work' and Foghorn's paraphrase of panel discussion: 'if he misses on one of those machines things get tight and if he misses on two of those machines he's laying people off'_
- [HIGH] Stern Pinball employs approximately 250 people directly — _Gary Stern: 'We have in our building about probably 250 people'_
- [HIGH] Another 300-400 people in the extended supply chain get part or all of their livelihood from Stern — _Gary Stern: 'we provide to the extended community part or all of their livelihood the work that they do for us but probably another 3 4 hundred people are getting part or all of their livelihood because they're supplying parts to us'_
- [HIGH] Each pinball machine requires 25-40 hours of labor — _Gary Stern: 'There's three or four man days of labor in every pinball machine or 30, 40 hours, 25, 35 hours in every pinball machine of labor'_
- [HIGH] Stern moved to a new 110,000-square-foot factory approximately 1.5 years prior to the interview — _Gary Stern: 'This factory we moved into may be a year and a half ago. The company is 30 years old, but we need more space'_
- [HIGH] Current pinball pricing ($12,000+) creates unrealistic consumer expectations — _Foghorn Leghorn: 'when you're paying 12 grand for a pinball machine, you expect it to be this...The best thing in the world. Bar of gold, and it's still a pinball machine'_
- [HIGH] The 2021-2022 pinball market surge is unprecedented and unsustainable — _Foghorn Leghorn: 'This pinball environment is madness to anyone that's been around pinball for more than a week...That's not realistic. It's reality now, but it's not been reality any moment up to this.'_
- [HIGH] Gary Stern offered Foghorn Leghorn and Craft Brew Sally a tour of Stern Pinball factory — _Foghorn Leghorn: 'he did say that when they opened back up he would give us a tour of Stern Pinball like us like we could just get a hold of him and he would do that'_
- [HIGH] Craft Brew Sally is competing in her first pinball tournament, an all-women's event — _Craft Brew Sally: 'I will be competing in my first pinball tournament this weekend' and Foghorn: 'it's an all women's tournament so you're not able to come with me'_

### Notable Quotes

> "If one of those three games is not a good game, you know, we have three bullets a year, three silver bullets, and one's a blank, then a lot of people go home and don't get to work."
> — **Gary Stern**, Interview segment
> _Core business philosophy explaining risk model and employment dependency on three annual flagship titles_

> "We wouldn't make it if I didn't like it, and I'm a salesman. So there you go."
> — **Gary Stern**, Interview segment
> _Explains his 'favorite game is the one shipping now' response as pragmatic business necessity_

> "There's three or four man days of labor in every pinball machine...It's real manufacturing."
> — **Gary Stern**, Interview segment
> _Emphasizes manufacturing intensity and labor investment in each machine_

> "They weathered the storm when no one else did. They kept pinball alive."
> — **Foghorn Leghorn**, Post-interview discussion
> _Defense of Stern Pinball's historical role in industry survival_

> "This pinball environment is madness to anyone that's been around pinball for more than a week."
> — **Foghorn Leghorn**, Post-interview discussion
> _Commentary on unsustainable current market conditions and pricing_

> "I will be very heartbroken when he passes away...I feel like I am more than nothing."
> — **Foghorn Leghorn**, Pre-interview segment
> _Personal emotional investment in Gary Stern despite casual acquaintance_

> "He makes you feel like a stalker. He's like, oh, my God, I'm a stalker."
> — **Foghorn Leghorn**, Pre-interview discussion
> _Observation about Stern's personal rapport and accessibility to community members_

> "Keep flipping, play pinball, find it on location, and have a good time."
> — **Gary Stern**, Interview closing
> _Final message emphasizing location play and community engagement_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Gary Stern | person | CEO/founder of Stern Pinball; interviewed at Freeplay Florida; interacted with hosts multiple times at events; discussed business model, manufacturing operations, and game design philosophy |
| Foghorn Leghorn | person | Host of Pinball Junk Drawer podcast; conducted Gary Stern interview; pinball enthusiast who has worked on/sold machines and runs silkscreen business; has Radio Star Trek show |
| Craft Brew Sally | person | Co-host of Pinball Junk Drawer; formerly known as Barnyard Sally the Beer Wench; married to Foghorn Leghorn; pinball enthusiast and brewery/craft beer app follower; competing in first pinball tournament |
| Stern Pinball | company | American pinball manufacturer; 30 years old; ~250 employees; recently moved to 110,000 sq ft factory; makes three cornerstone titles annually in three tiers; supplies 300-400 additional indirect jobs |
| Curly | person | Previous owner of Little Shop of The Games in Tampa area; sold the business/franchised to Don Marshall; friends with Gary Stern; stores Stern's motorcycle at his house |
| Don Marshall | person | Current owner of Little Shop of The Games (franchised from Curly); Foghorn interested in getting him as podcast guest |
| Billy Mitchell | person | Mentioned as someone Foghorn Leghorn interviewed; used for comparison regarding interview demeanor |
| Freeplay Florida | event | Annual pinball expo/event where Gary Stern spoke on panel; location of first Foghorn/Gary Stern interview; Foghorn had media passes for at least two instances |
| Little Shop of The Games | location | Pinball arcade/games shop in Tampa area; previously owned by Curly, now by Don Marshall; location of summer party where Foghorn and Craft Brew Sally met Gary Stern |
| Pinball Expo | event | Annual pinball industry event; location of third Gary Stern/Foghorn/Craft Brew Sally meeting in current year |
| Radio Star Trek Pete | organization | Radio show Foghorn Leghorn hosts; mentioned alongside podcast work |
| Pinside | organization | Online forum where Gary Stern is sometimes criticized; Foghorn notes negative sentiment about Stern there |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Business model and risk management in pinball manufacturing, Gary Stern's personal interactions and industry accessibility, Stern Pinball manufacturing operations and employment, Current pinball market pricing and sustainability concerns
- **Secondary:** Stern Pinball's role in preserving the pinball industry, Community events and location-based pinball play, Women's participation in competitive pinball
- **Mentioned:** Podcast production and media engagement

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.78) — Strongly positive toward Gary Stern personally and Stern Pinball's industry role despite criticism of current market conditions. Hosts express genuine affection and respect. Concern about market sustainability is technical/analytical rather than emotionally negative. Light-hearted, jovial tone throughout with self-deprecating humor.

### Signals

- **[business_signal]** Current pinball market pricing at $12,000+ creates unrealistic consumer expectations and is viewed as unsustainable; contradiction between sell-out demand and game quality variability (confidence: high) — Foghorn Leghorn: 'when you're paying 12 grand for a pinball machine, you expect it to be this...The best thing in the world...This pinball environment is madness to anyone that's been around pinball for more than a week...That's not realistic. It's reality now, but it's not been reality any moment up to this.'
- **[business_signal]** Stern Pinball moved to larger 110,000 sq ft factory approximately 1.5 years before interview due to business growth; explicit growth trajectory in manufacturing capacity (confidence: high) — Gary Stern: 'This factory we moved into may be a year and a half ago...we need more space...That's a good problem to have'
- **[event_signal]** Craft Brew Sally participating in first pinball tournament (all-women's event); indicator of growing competitive participation among female players (confidence: high) — Craft Brew Sally: 'I will be competing in my first pinball tournament this weekend' and 'it's an all women's tournament'
- **[community_signal]** Stern Pinball emphasized accessibility and personal rapport with community members including casual fans and enthusiasts; Gary Stern makes effort to engage at events and remember individuals (confidence: high) — Foghorn Leghorn: 'he acted like he knew us...he referenced personal stuff...he never makes you feel like you're bothering him' and 'He makes you feel like a stalker'
- **[design_philosophy]** Gary Stern's stated approach to favorite games: 'the one on the line' (shipping next) rather than historical favorites; pragmatic sales-driven design philosophy (confidence: high) — Gary Stern: 'the one on the line, you know...If you had asked me next month and I go out in the factory and I see we're making Batman, that would be my favorite game' and 'We wouldn't make it if I didn't like it, and I'm a salesman'
- **[market_signal]** Competition in pinball industry is forcing quality improvements at Stern; competitive environment driving innovation (confidence: medium) — Foghorn Leghorn: 'when he started getting competition then Gary Stern upped their game and they started getting better because that's what competition does'
- **[personnel_signal]** Stern Pinball employs approximately 250 people directly with another 300-400 in extended supply chain; significant employment impact of product success/failure (confidence: high) — Gary Stern: 'We have in our building about probably 250 people...probably another 3 4 hundred people are getting part or all of their livelihood because they're supplying parts to us'
- **[product_strategy]** Stern Pinball maintains pipeline of three annual cornerstone titles in three pricing tiers (Pro, Premium, Limited Edition); structured annual release cadence (confidence: high) — Gary Stern: 'We make three new what we call cornerstone titles a year, main titles that have a Pro, Premium Edition, and limited edition version'
- **[technology_signal]** Technology tools have made mechanical design and software easier, but new technology opportunities (bus systems, cloud connection) create additional work and complexity (confidence: medium) — Gary Stern: 'technology that is tools for design that makes things easier...opportunity in technology that requires a lot of work...we have a new bus system that was a lot of work'

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## Transcript

 Now who's responsi- I say who's responsible for this unwarranted attack on my person? I say, I say, I say, pay attention now, boy. This is, of course, Foghorn Leghorn presents the Pinball Junk Drawer. You all asked for it. I say, I say, you all asked for it now. You're gonna get it. Boy, oh boy, are you gonna get it. Go, I say, go away, boy, you bother me. That's right. You're back for Foghorn Leghorn presents the pinball junk drawer. And this, my friends, show 10. 10 of these things. We got the double digits, if you can believe it. No cease and desist in the mail yet. I digress. My name is Foghorn Leghorn, and I have a special guest with me. Mrs. Leghorn is in studio to talk shenanigans and kick the bottom of her microphone stand and make all that noise you hear clattering around. So, you used to go by Sally the Beer Wench, am I right? Yes, that's correct. I think we're going to change that, too. Craft Brew Sally. Craft Brew Sally. I like that. You like that? I do. Because I know you're a penchant for craft brews. I may like them a little bit. Yes, you do. Well, welcome to your first ever appearance on the Pinball Junk Drawer. I'm very excited about that. Are you? Yes. Wonderful. All right. If you don't know, I'm one of those lucky fellas that has a wife who actually enjoys pinball and goes to the events with me and we have we have a lot of fun running around playing pinball machines and i talk about dumb stuff about the histories and how rare they are and i listen and sally nods her head like she cares and then looks at her phone at her craft brew app to see how many beers are in the area that she can get while i'm doing that but she does play and she does enjoy it am i correct that may be true that's one million percentage points true. And that's a lot of percentage points because it only goes to 100. So I digress. So Sally, you're here for, I think you said, you actually said, not on air yet, but we're going to get this on tape. You said you'd be willing to do this from time to time. That's correct. You say other things other than that's correct. Is that correct? That's correct. Wow. Okay. You can see this one's going to be one of those shows for the books. So there is a reason that Sally is with us today and that we are dropping in I know, an interview. Isn't that great? Everyone goes, oh, thank God it's an interview show. Less of him talking and talking and talking. No, I'm still going to talk a lot. And now Sally, CraftFood Sally is going to talk too. You're going to get nothing but talk. I kid. We're dropping in the Stern interview. But what happened was, I looked at the length of the Stern interview and I went, four and a half minutes. I was like, oh, jeez. Going to have to do some talking after all. I like the longer interviews. because they just go, hey, everyone, we're going to drop in an interview. Okay, see you next week. And I don't do that radio voice, although I should. No? That is correct. Okay. But actually, me, Crafter Sally, and yours truly, Loghorn Feghorn, as it were, have a couple different interactions with Gary Stern. and they've been all positive and we, I think I speak for us both, we have a pretty, we have an affection for Gary Stern. I like him. He seems like a good guy. He gets a lot of, I don't know. It's always, Stern is the big bad evil monster on like Pinside and stuff like that. Got news for you folks. There wouldn't be pinball if it wasn't for Stern. But that's not what we're here to, we're not here to bra beat you about how great Stern is. we're here to talk about Gary Stern because I have an interview with him I think I might have mentioned that so when was the first time you met Gary? I believe it was at Freeplay take two I don't edit I am the Ed Wood of podcasting radio shows that would be Freeplay Florida ooh that was a hard one no it's okay a lot of these were from the same I think I had media passes for two of the Freeplay Floridas. So a lot of these interviews, I was doing a lot of, I had the radio show at Radio St. Pete. I still have that show. But I also had like the, what else did I have going on? I had like a couple different shows, and I might have even had the, no, the TV show was gone at that point. Doesn't matter. So we sat in on a board, one of those panel discussions, and Gary was there. And I had the media pass. and the panel discussion was interesting because now this was when we were kind of new to pinball it was new to our world obviously we knew what pinball was but I only had one or two machines here and there that I would fix up and then sell and then buy another one and who cares they were in the garage I was just working on them and selling them and kind of got into pinball fever so I was really enamored when I got to interview Gary Stern he was you know to me he was like oh my god he said a yes to letting me interview him you know and he just talked about on this panel and he was talking about the importance of like making sure what did he say like the three bullets or something like that I forget how he said it but he was kind of talking about like they do three a year and if he misses on one of those machines things get tight and if he misses on two of those machines he's laying people off and that kind of was like oh So that isn't something people think about when they bash Stern or they talk about Stern, the importance of making sure his machines sell. So he's taking care of his people. Yeah. And as best he can, he does from what I understand. People are always, I mean, workers are in different stages in life. So if people hate on it or quit because they don't like it, they're, well, you know, okay. People come and go from jobs all the time. That's not a big deal. but it seems like they try their best to ensure it's a decent working environment you know but he was also kind of you can tell he's a natural born salesman when he talks to you or when he's talking to people in that he I honestly walked away from the first interview thinking oh he's gonna he remembers me you know like which he wouldn't of course not just some rando guy who talk to him after a panel at one show you know but then we got a chance to meet him more in person a second time and that was at curly's um summer bash i forget what the hell the name it was there's a there there was there was what's the name of the little shop of games little shop of games in tampa well it's yeah might have said tampa but it was some that was the most backwater drive to some guy's house I've ever been on. You're turning on these back roads, each one more confusing than the one before it, to get to some guy house And then you like I hope we not going to get killed by Gary Stern and some other guy I have a bloodlust in the end Like one guy to get murdered once a year They didn That was yay for us Yeah We made it out. Yeah. I had a machete with me. So I just fought my way. No. So in that party, now Curly was the previous owner of Little Shop of Games. And he has since, he franchised out to Marshall. And now he got out of it. And now Marshall just has the Little Shop of Games. which I do want to get I want to see if I can get Marshall on as a guest I like him very much I like Curly too but they're very different people Curly is the kind of guy who no nonsense Curly's a businessman I have a feeling a tough businessman but like his answer when I bought the because I bought a Wonelli off of him new not well not new but it was his it was in his shop you know and it was his basically he said if there's a problem with it call Star okay see you later curly uh but so we went to this place and it was florida and what you don't envision about florida when you go oh we're gonna go to a summer party that means in august it was a dust bowl it was 12 trillion degrees right like just lava you're walking on lava you're melting and dying of heat exhaustion because all machines are hot because they've been in the sun everything was hot and horrible but then there's like these party atmosphere and and gary and and curly are just sitting there drinking like whatever they were drinking i don't know and i had made us i have a silkscreen side business which has been defunct for about a year and a half now but i'm trying to get it back up and running he i actually made him a pinball shirt and it said gary on it remember that like it was like a mechanic's shirt with the with the special 100 bumper on the back of it i have i have a t-shirt like it and i think you do as well yes but ours don't have their name on it i guarantee he was like oh that's so cool thanks and i guarantee he just threw in the garbage on the way out. But hopefully, maybe he remembers. I don't know. So we got to meet him there and we had more of a personal interaction with him at that point. He was drunk and signing all kinds of stuff. I have all these flyers signed by him. It was just free for all. But he took time to talk to everybody. Yeah, and that's kind of cool. Because he stores his motorcycle at Curly's house. So when he goes to Florida, whenever he's driving a motorcycle down to Florida, it's like at Curly's house. and then he just picks it up and then they go riding together or whatever like that. They're actually friends. And when they sit next to each other, you're like, I can see why they're friends. They're both hard-edge businessmen but personable. I mean, that's who I would want to run a business I was working for, somebody who's making sure he takes care of the business. So that was the second interaction. And then was that where he was leaving that party then to go to his – didn't he say he just had a granddaughter? Yes. Or she was due very soon. Okay, yeah. So he was pretty excited about that, and I was like, well, that's awesome. And then we met him a third time at Expo just this year, and he acted like he knew us. And I kind of thought he did, but he might also just be a really good businessman and acts like he knows everyone. But he referenced personal stuff, though. That's true. like he he knew before we said we knew we were with we met him at curly's that he knew us from curly's that's true and he was having his lunch with that new guy yeah i wish i knew the new guy's name i mean and he did say that when they opened back up he would give us a tour of stern like us like we could just get a hold of him and he would do that and i was like well i'll get him a really nice bottle of vodka and i guarantee he's gonna have a cool you know stern inner stern uh i'm not going to do an interview with that one. I think I'm just going to enjoy the day and go tour Stern with him. That'd be incredible. So, I mean, you know, as I, because I've talked about him on numerous, like when I'm doing these podcasts and stuff like that, I do have a pretty deep admiration for Stern and people one of the odd things is with the higher price inflation, how things cost so much, the expectations go up, right? Like when you're paying 12 grand for a pinball machine, you expect it to be this... The best thing in the world. Bar of gold, and it's still a pinball machine. If you wonder why there's dimples on the playfields, play a pinball machine without the glass on. If you don't have tinnitus by the time you walk away after a minute, you'll be like, wow, that's a pretty violent atmosphere underneath there. It's like, I know the old machines didn't have it, but probably the people that were spraying the clear coat back in the days, all died of some kind of weird cancer because of it. And then they changed it and made the laws and now there's dimpling. I don't know. I give Stern a lot more leeway. I'm just not critical of them. They weathered the storm when no one else did. They kept pinball alive. That's my opinion, man. That's just my opinion, man. But who else was there? Nobody. you know everyone else folded up and went home and then when he started getting competition then Stern upped their games and they started getting better because that's what competition does so you know I mean so what do you like your thought what are your impressions of our interactions with Stern or like when we talk to him what do you think about him he's always very he's always very nice always yeah and he never makes you feel like you're bothering him I know I felt like a jerk when he was eating because we walked up to him I know. Just as like we were leaving a restaurant and they weren't eating. So I think they were finished. Oh, just hanging out? Yeah. So, but he didn't make us feel like we were bothering them. No. No, it was good. And they talked to us for probably 15, 20 minutes. Was it that long? I think so. Wow. Yeah. It was nice. I will be very heartbroken when he packs in or passes away. Like, you know, everyone's getting older, folks. I'm not, you know, like that day is going to be kind of sad for me because I do actually feel that way about him. I'm not his best friend or anything like that. But I feel like I am more than nothing. You know, which maybe that's just in my head too. Yeah. I don't want to be a stalker. But he makes you feel that way. You're like, oh, my God, I'm a stalker. He makes you feel like a stalker. He gets a cease and desist against you. No, I can't. But, yeah, you know, so you're going to hear. Now, this interview that I'm dropping in was that first interaction. So it sounds like I'm starstruck when I'm talking to him. Because you were. I kind of was. Other people I interviewed, I wasn't like that. I wasn't like that with Billy Mitchell. No. Yeah. So, you know, but that's when I came out of that panel discussion and when I met him, that's what I felt at that time. I was like, my God, this guy is really awesome. and you know he did give me some of the same like standard answers like what's your favorite pinball machine yeah the one on the line you know and I was like well I kind of was hoping he would give us something real but maybe that is real Maybe he just doesn not that he doesn care he put in a year and a half of work so he cares about every machine but the reality of it is I gotta move units That's my favorite machine until the next one, then that's my favorite machine, because if they don't sell, we go out of business. Now, no one could have foreseen at that time in pinball, no No one could have foreseen the 2021 world. Or 2022. This pinball environment is madness to anyone that's been around pinball for more than a week. Like the pricing and the nuts and people selling out before you even see a game. That's not realistic. It's reality now, but it's not been reality any moment up to this. That's not something that I think we would do. because there's so many machines we walked up to and we're like, this sucks. And some of them that people like love and I'm like, I didn't like that game at all. Looking at you, Wizard of Oz. It's pretty and it's shiny and it blinds me. But if I paid that much money for that thing, I'd be like, I don't know about this. Some of you warm up to some games. Yeah. You know, so, but it just is one of those things where, yeah, when things sell out and you're like, why? How could you do that? said the guy who bought a car I bought a car I've never even looked at yet I looked at it online and bought it they said see you in 60 to 90 days and I'm at like day 23 of 90 you know so I guess I shouldn't be so critical because I purchased a car I've never seen or driven so whatever I'm like well it's a Honda how bad can it be so that's why people are like well it's a Stern I guess it's the same thing but whatever you got anything else to add or are we just going to jump in the interview and that's the end of it? I think we're good. Stay tuned for wacky music after the interview though because I can't help myself. But now you also, you have an awesome new experience in life coming up, don't you? Yes. I will be in my first pinball tournament this weekend. Ever? Ever. You were with me when I was in one or two but you just hung out and said, it's okay, you'll get them next time. Yes. And it's an all women's tournament so you're not able to come with me to do that for me. I was going to do that and then I got sprayed with mace. I was like, I didn't even go there yet. And they're like, well, go clean the mace out of your eyes, you men. Don't mansplain to me about pinball. I'm like, I didn't mean, I'm just standing here. Nah, I kid. That was all me. She just sprayed me with mace. I'm so used to it. It's like going south of the border. It's like going to Taco Bell now. I spray some mace on my burritos when I'm eating them. Anyway, reality time. So next show, maybe we'll get an update about how your first experience was and how you felt about it going in, how you did, how you feel about it going out, if you'll ever do it again, if it was the worst experience of your life. So, you know. Stay tuned. Craft Brew Sally might be back. See, this wasn't so – she's doing this on her own free will. There's no – I didn't lock her in a cage and poke her with a stick saying, if you don't talk in the microphone, you get, if you don't put the lotion on the skin, you get the hose again. I forget that. I should do better. Show research. All right, enough of this. We're going to drop in this darn interview. I'm going to massage it and make sure there's nothing totally stupid in there or at least just adjust the level so you can hear it. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you enjoyed the show. I hope you enjoyed my semi-regular co-host, I hope. You are correct. Okay. Perfect. it's on record folks that's legally binding so I'm going to drop that in and we'll see you next week we hope you enjoy the show and next week it'll be nothing but new experience theater with Craft Brew Sally wow any last words that's correct I'm happy to do anything what is that machine you have this is a super easy like recorder like it's so it does it in like waveform mp3 and I just plug it in the computer and off it goes. Cool. All right, I'm talking with Gary Stern. This is from Freeplay, Florida. All you out there in Radio St. Pete listener land, this is a rare glimpse into insanity and genius all wrapped up into one. I wanted to say, first of all, thank you for that incredible discussion group, panel group that you gave. You know, I'm trying to, like, formulate questions because you answered so much. Well, we have a lot to talk about because we make a lot of games. We're very committed to pinball, and we are very committed to being an American manufacturer. So we have a 110,000-square-foot factory that we're making pinball machines, three, four titles a year in two or three different models of each of those. So we're making a lot of pinball machines. Is this a new factory? This factory we moved into May a year and a half ago. The company is 30 years old, but we need more spaces, so we moved it down. That's a good problem to have. Oh, no, absolutely, absolutely. Business is good, and part of it is because we've done so much to promote pinball and to expose it, as we say here, everything pinball. Yeah, definitely. During your meeting, one of the most poignant things that really jumped out of my mind was you were talking about risk. The factor of risk, which is kind of lost in a lot of the online forums and arguments over nothingness. Would you talk about the three magic bullets a year? Because that is so powerful in a business world. Yeah, we're unique. It's great that other people are trying to make pinball, and that just shows the strength, the interest, the growth of the interest in pinball. And I have to say that our work has done most of the, even past the collector community, but to the operating community, people, games in locations, and to what we call the rec room buyer. We make three new what we call cornerstone titles a year, main titles that have a pro, premium, and limited edition version. These are games that will, they have sort of a half bell curve in life. In other words, they start high and they have a long tail. If one of those three games is not a good game, you know, we have three bullets a year, three silver bullets, and one's a blank, then a lot of people go home and don't get to work. So it is very important that we study what we're doing and that we do a good job of picking games and themes and making those games. This isn't just a flippant, this is cool this week because Angry Birds might be gone and then you're all of a sudden employed. Please go home. We have in our building any day probably 250 people. Plus we provide to the extended community part or all of their livelihood the work that they do for us but probably another 3 4 people are getting part or all of their livelihood because they supplying parts to us We're a manufacturer. We make things. There's three or four man days of labor in every pinball machine or 30, 40 hours, 25, 35 hours in every pinball machine of labor. So it's real manufacturing. I know obviously everything is influenced by technology, computers, blah, blah, blah. Has that made the design process easier or quicker or better? Yes, no. The technology for mechanical design, for doing software and so forth, has made things much easier. the technology that exists that makes one want to do more like in the game makes things harder we have a new bus system that was a lot of work, electronic system we will have a cloud connection one day we will have this there's just so much more to do with technology so there's technology that is tools for design that makes things easier there's opportunity in technology that requires a lot of work. Oh, yeah, definitely. Now, this is just a little bit more of a personal question. You've done for years and years, Stern has given us a million years worth of awesomeness. What was your favorite game? Do you have a favorite game? Before I left to come here, I went out in the factory, and I saw that we were building Ghostbusters, so that's my favorite game. Now, if you had asked me next month and I go out in the factory and I see we're making Batman, that would be my favorite game. Ah, yours is the next one out the door. Is your favorite game? We wouldn't make it if I didn't like it, and I'm a salesman. So there you go. See, perfect answer. Thank you very much. Is there anything you want to tell my audience before you go? Keep flipping, play pinball, find it on location, and have a good time. Thank you very much, Gary. This has been incredible. Thank you. Hey, hey, it's your old pal Krusty for my new pork sandwich, the Clogger. If you can find a greasier sandwich, you're in Mexico. Thank you. I got a pocket full of quarters and I'm headed for the arcade I don't have a lot of money but I'm bringing everything I made I got a callus on my finger, my sword is hitting two I'm gonna need them all up just as soon as they turn blue Cause I got Pac-Man fever Stunning me crazy I got Pac-Man fever Going out of my mind I got Pac-Man fever Going out of my mind Going out of my mind I got all the patterns down up until the nice key. I got sweet hitting on my tail and I know it's either him or me. So I'm headed out the back door and in the other side. I'm gonna eat the cherries up, take them all for a ride. Cause I got Batman fever Stabbing me crazy I got Batman fever Going out of my mind I got Batman fever Going out of my mind Going out of my mind I'm gonna fake to the left I'm gonna move to the right This boat is too slow I'm gonna fake to the left I'm gonna move to the right Cause that boat is to slow When the ring is out the side I'm gonna fake to the left I'm gonna move to the right No, I do, cause the world is too slow And we're thinking of the sky And we're kind of on the road And I'm looking for the high score So it's what's around the block And I slide out at the side door I'm really cooking now, eating everything in sight Now all my money's gone, but I'll be back tomorrow night Cause I got Batman fever I'm starting to be crazy I got Batman fever It's going out of my mind I got a bad man fever It drives me crazy I got a bad man fever It's the way of my life I got a bad man fever It drives me crazy I got a bad man fever It's the way of my life That's all, folks. That's it, man. Game over, man. Game over.

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 305acd7f-f486-4c4d-9abf-cc4bcfb894fe*