# Pinball Junk Drawer Episode 97 - Up To The "U.P." In Pinball!

**Source:** Poor Man's Pinball Podcast  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2026-05-06  
**Duration:** 34m 23s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://poormanspinballpodcast.libsyn.com/pinball-junk-drawer-episode-97-up-to-the-up-in-pinball

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## Analysis

In Episode 97 of the Pinball Junk Drawer podcast, hosts Foghorn Leghorn and Craft Brew Sally discuss their trip to Michigan's Upper Peninsula where they maintained a 550-day Stern Insider Connect streak, visit three breweries, and debate upcoming machine announcements (Transformers for Stern, Sonic for JJP). The episode covers Insider Connect rankings, secondary market pricing attitudes, and Sally's friend's entry into the pinball community.

### Key Claims

- [MEDIUM] Stern's next major machine will be Transformers — _Foghorn Leghorn and Craft Brew Sally discussing upcoming releases; Foghorn states 'leaks have all confirmed, all but confirmed that Stern's going to be Transformers'_
- [MEDIUM] JJP's next major machine will be Sonic — _Same conversation about upcoming manufacturers; 'all but confirmed that...JJP's going to be Sonic'_
- [MEDIUM] Sonic will be designed by Steve Ritchie — _Craft Brew Sally: 'I think it's going to be a Steve Ritchie game. So, you know, he did the Elton John for them, and that was awesome.'_
- [HIGH] Foghorn Leghorn maintained a 550-day consecutive Stern Insider Connect streak — _Direct statement: 'I've hit 550 days straight of Stern Insider Connect playing at least one game a day'_
- [HIGH] Insider Connect app lacks personalization features like birthday wishes or milestone banners — _Foghorn Leghorn: 'I was surprised it didn't wish me a happy birthday either. I thought maybe that stuff would have that in there. It does not.'_
- [HIGH] Neither host would pay significantly over MSRP for pinball machines — _Extended discussion where both hosts express reluctance to pay over manufacturer MSRP even for sought-after limited editions_
- [HIGH] Craft Brew Sally's friend recently purchased pinball machines and attended Pinfest in Allentown — _Sally: 'two friends of her and her boyfriends recently purchased pinball machines' and attended Pinfest where she picked up Ball Busters sticker_

### Notable Quotes

> "I've hit 550 days straight of Stern Insider Connect playing at least one game a day."
> — **Foghorn Leghorn**, early in episode
> _Personal achievement milestone in Insider Connect streak tracking; demonstrates engagement with Stern's digital ecosystem_

> "leaks have all confirmed, all but confirmed that Stern's going to be Transformers and JJP's going to be Sonic"
> — **Foghorn Leghorn**, mid-episode speculation segment
> _Discusses industry rumors about two major upcoming machine announcements from top manufacturers_

> "I think it's going to be a Steve Ritchie game. So, you know, he did the Elton John for them, and that was awesome."
> — **Craft Brew Sally**, Sonic machine discussion
> _Attributes Sonic design to veteran designer Steve Ritchie based on his Elton John success at JJP_

> "I wouldn't pay more than what CGC is asking... that's the number that they've assigned. Yes. And I concur. That's what it's worth."
> — **Craft Brew Sally**, MSRP discussion
> _Expresses philosophy that manufacturer-set MSRP represents fair value; unwilling to pay secondary market premiums_

> "the amount of pinball machines on this planet Earth right now... doesn't, like, yeah, you may really want that Pokemon LE number one... But the amount of options out there, there's a hundred billion other pinball machines."
> — **Foghorn Leghorn**, market scarcity discussion
> _Argues against artificial scarcity premium pricing, citing abundance of available machines in market_

> "I guess I am a pinball person now. These are my people."
> — **Craft Brew Sally's friend (quoted)**, end of Pinfest discussion
> _Indicates new convert to pinball community after attending Pinfest festival_

> "If you listen, Pinball guy, shout out. It's not, it's not you, it's me. And I understand that."
> — **Foghorn Leghorn**, Willy Wonka playfield installation discussion
> _Humorous apology for poor communication with custom playfield vendor after multi-month delays_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Foghorn Leghorn | person | Co-host of Pinball Junk Drawer podcast; maintains 550-day Stern Insider Connect streak; collector with opinions on machine purchases |
| Craft Brew Sally | person | Co-host of Pinball Junk Drawer podcast; attended Pinfest; discusses brewery visits and pinball preferences |
| Stern Pinball | company | Major pinball manufacturer; rumored to be producing Transformers machine; hosts Insider Connect digital platform |
| Jersey Jack Pinball | company | Major pinball manufacturer; rumored to be producing Sonic machine; co-signed Willy Wonka playfield |
| Steve Ritchie | person | Pinball designer; credited with Elton John design at JJP; speculated to be designer of upcoming Sonic machine |
| Chicago Gaming Company | company | Pinball manufacturer; referenced for Mars Attacks MSRP pricing |
| Pat Lawler | person | Industry figure; signed Willy Wonka playfield at event with Jersey Jack |
| Billy YJ | person | Pinball community member; knows the Pinball Guy; tribe member reference |
| Lumberjack Dave | person | Industry contact providing Insider Connect ranking data to podcast; co-owner of Big Bang Bar machine |
| Atomic Nicky | person | Co-owner of Big Bang Bar machine with Lumberjack Dave |
| Transformers | game | Rumored Stern Pinball machine; theme based on Transformers franchise; leaked as upcoming announcement |
| Sonic the Hedgehog | game | Rumored Jersey Jack Pinball machine; theme based on video game franchise; speculated designer Steve Ritchie |
| Stern Insider Connect | product | Stern's digital ecosystem connecting pinball machines; tracks daily play streaks, leaderboards, achievements |
| Pinfest | event | Pinball festival in Allentown; attended by Craft Brew Sally's friend; features vintage machines and vendor booths |
| Texas Pinball Festival | event | Referenced as major industry event; contrasted with Pinfest |
| Willy Wonka | game | Jersey Jack machine; playfield won by hosts and signed by Jersey Jack and Pat Lawler; installation in progress |
| Elton John | game | JJP machine designed by Steve Ritchie; bottom performer in Insider Connect rankings week of 5-3; discussed as underrated game |
| Pokemon | game | Stern machine; #1 in Insider Connect rankings for week ending 4-26; played by hosts at Marquette brewery |
| Mars Attacks | game | Chicago Gaming Company remaster; cited as example of fair MSRP pricing; hypothetical purchase discussion |
| Harry Potter | game | Stern machine; #1 or #3 in Insider Connect rankings depending on week; hosts ambivalent about purchasing |
| Ball Busters Women's Pinball League | organization | Women's pinball league with stickers sold at Pinball Gallery; attended by Craft Brew Sally's friend |

### Signals

- **[rumor_hype]** Hosts discuss leaks/rumors confirming Stern Transformers and JJP Sonic as next major machine releases from both manufacturers (confidence: medium) — Foghorn: 'leaks have all confirmed, all but confirmed that Stern's going to be Transformers and JJP's going to be Sonic'
- **[technology_signal]** Stern Insider Connect app lacks personalization features like milestone banners or birthday notifications despite tracking daily streaks (confidence: high) — Foghorn attempted to find personalization features in app during trip planning; none exist
- **[market_signal]** Community discussion indicates resistance to premium secondary market pricing; FOMO-driven scarcity commands high prices but hosts reject this model (confidence: high) — Extended discussion: hosts acknowledge Pokemon LE at 40k, Evil Dead at 15-18k on secondary market but express unwillingness to pay over MSRP
- **[competitive_signal]** Weekly Insider Connect rankings show Pokemon and Beatlejuice consistently top 3; Elton John, Led Zeppelin, Ultraman performing poorly; significant weekly volatility (confidence: high) — Week ending 4-26: #1 Pokemon, #2 Beetlejuice, #3 Harry Potter. Week ending 5-3: #1 Beetlejuice, #2 Pokemon, #3 Harry Potter
- **[community_signal]** Craft Brew Sally's friend entered pinball community through social circle machine purchases, attended Pinfest, self-identifying as pinball person (confidence: high) — Friend purchased machine, attended Pinfest, texted 'I guess I am a pinball person now. These are my people.'
- **[design_philosophy]** Steve Ritchie's success on Elton John (2023) at JJP creates expectation for quality on upcoming Sonic machine (confidence: medium) — Craft Brew Sally: 'I think it's going to be a Steve Ritchie game. So, you know, he did the Elton John for them, and that was awesome. So you can imagine it's going to be a good game.'
- **[content_signal]** Hosts increasingly emphasizing email contact (pinballjd@gmail.com) and merchandise distribution to drive audience engagement and feedback (confidence: medium) — Multiple mentions of email, offering stickers to listeners, requesting topic submissions and listener data
- **[venue_signal]** Regional breweries in Michigan UP (Ordoch Brewing, 51st State, Gnarly Cedar) maintain pinball machines; varying quality and maintenance levels (confidence: medium) — Hosts visited three breweries with pinball; found limited availability in remote areas; machines were King Kong, Pokemon, Jaws at Ordoch
- **[personal_achievement_signal]** Foghorn Leghorn achieved 550-day consecutive play streak on Stern Insider Connect; acknowledges limited significance but maintains commitment (confidence: high) — Direct claim: '550 days straight of Stern Insider Connect playing at least one game a day' maintained during Michigan trip
- **[sentiment_shift]** Despite poor Insider Connect rankings (bottom 3 both weeks), hosts express genuine appreciation for Elton John as quality game; ranking doesn't reflect community sentiment (confidence: medium) — Hosts note Elton John bottom performer but say 'I love Elton John' and 'It's a good machine'; suggest revival campaign to boost plays
- **[collector_signal]** Hosts demonstrate rational resistance to FOMO-driven premium pricing on limited editions; argue abundance of alternatives makes scarcity artificial (confidence: high) — Extended discussion dismissing paying premium for Pokemon LE or hypothetical Harry Potter CE; Foghorn quantifies: '30 other machines for that one machine'
- **[industry_signal]** Community attributes upcoming JJP Sonic to Steve Ritchie based on inference from Elton John success; no official confirmation (confidence: low) — Craft Brew Sally's speculation not based on official announcement; stated as educated guess

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## Transcript

Now 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, 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. You remember how to do this. 100 billion percent wrong. That's right. We forgot how things work. This is, of course, the only pinball podcast stampeding headfirst towards the century mark. Of course, I'm talking about the Pinball Junk Drawer, Big Show 97. My name's Foghorn Leghorn. With me, as always, Craft Brew Sally. Yes, the lovely and talented Craft Rousali back from our trip to the UP. Yes. For those who don't know what that means, it spells up. So we were, astonishingly, we were able to maintain the streak. And that's where I kind of teased last week. And I'm happy to report that I've hit 550 days straight of Stern Insider Connect playing at least one game a day. Wow. Yes. And we just did that as a quick getaway. Yeah, it was really nice getaway. Yeah, it was funny though, as soon as we crossed the line, it started snowing. No, I don't even know. I think that was still Wisconsin. It was sad that we were leaving. I mean, it's like May 1st. And it's snowing. It's snowing. I was like, I didn't even pack them. I looked over at Carver's house and I was like, I don't have a jacket. I don't have like, I don't have like things that will keep me alive if this gets any worse. Gloves or hat. Yeah, gloves or hat, but it didn't. It was fine. Yeah, and it was like whiteout snow. It was. It wasn't like flurries. Yeah, but no biggie. It went away fairly quick. It was one of those little squall kind of things. So we go up there, and we didn't see Pinball anywhere other than that one place we drove to, which was kind of sad. So when we were planning our trip, you were talking about it, and I was like, okay. So I went into the Insider Connect app and I was like, okay, where near there is Pinball? And the banner was like, Celebrate Foghorn Leghorn, 550 coming up. No, it didn't have that banner. I was surprised it didn't wish me a happy birthday either. I thought maybe that stuff would have that in there. I don't think it ever does. It does not. I ask more of it than it should be asked. It's just a Pinball thing. But it was like I looked and there was like a gas station like an hour and a half. Not trusting that. No. And then there was a brewery that had pinball machines. Wow. Yes. So that was actually in Marquette. Right. Which is another hour and a half up. Yeah. But where we were was like kind of nothing was around. Yeah. So it didn't hurt us. We drove an hour and a half up. Yeah. And that was like a college town. Yes, it was. And guess what was happening? This past weekend in a college town. I didn't notice it. And I'm like, this sucks. Driving around here sucks. And I'm sitting there and we're at this brewery. And I look over and I was like, oh, no, we're here during graduation. Graduation. And yeah, finish those beers. We're getting out of here right now. And we did. But it was a successful trip. What did they have? They had King Kong. They had Pokemon. And they had Jaws. Yes. Those are the three. Yes. I didn't play Jaws. I probably should have, but I just played Kong and Pokemon. I played Pokemon and did not capture one Pokemon. I got one. But again, still no booby-doops. Come on, Pokemon Corporation. You're holding up the many, many Stern fans who really want to love you. Yeah. If you're listening over there, Japan, I don't think we're on corporate Pokemon's approved podcast. Podcast list. I don't know, maybe we are. Get on the trolley there. We should get Conoco on it for us. Yeah, Charizard. Go fly over there and breathe fire with our stickers all over it. That might be a power. I don't think it is. No, no, it's not. We ended up bringing home a crap ton of Wii games. Yes. Literal. I don't know if you'd say literal. A figurative crap ton of Wii games. It depends what you consider a crap ton. I don't know if we should talk about this on this. We'll talk about it on our main shows. I looked over at Crappery Selye as I'm walking with this sack of gigantic bag of all these Wii games. I said, we're going to have to talk if this has to stop or we're just going to go for it for the whole Wii pile. We are still undecided. We are. And I know there's a lot of the listeners for the Pinball Juncture are also used to listen to our old show, the Wii Suck at Video Games. And, you know, it's one of those things where we're coming up on close to half of them. Yeah. No, we're at a third. We're above, we're past a third. And I think there's 1, 270. I believe that's the number. You know. Yeah. And it's just like, I don't know, man. You know. Yeah. At a certain point, you have to look at yourself in the mirror and go, why am I doing this? What is this for? Who is this for? Right. We could be spending that money on a new machine. A Venmo machine. Yeah, you know, you know, instead of that big 10 grand hit, it's it's death by a thousand three dollar games. That's what it is. Instead of like one huge punch in the face, it's so stabs in the kidney. Like, oh, there's a three dollar game. Oh, there's an eight dollar game. There's a twenty dollar game. Oh, yeah. Oh, my God. So but anyway, we're back and all good stuff. You came back. You have an exciting event coming up. I do. Oh yeah. This week is a new another lady's flip at Kelly's house. All right. Yep. And I stay clear of those because I'm not a lady. Yes. And so I would lose anyway. I'm looking forward to it. Yeah. You always have a lot of fun. They have like the they posted pictures of the trophies and they have little sombreros on them. Nice. Yeah. Cinco de Mayo. Yes. All right. So you'll you'll give us an update on that. I sure will. So I was listening to a few different podcasts. Yes, and I did have a question for you. It kind of came to me like, because we're in a drought right now, not a whole lot going on. You know, the manufacturers are manufacturing, so they do, you know. Nobody's come to the forefront with the next big, oh my god, I need that thing. But obviously, the leaks have all confirmed, all but confirmed that Stern's going to be Transformers and JJP's going to be Sonic. Of those two big heavy hitters, which would you, just in title, not who made it, which would you get out of those two? Like Sonic, right? I think so. I think that the theme would be more for me. If it was the cartoon 80s Transformers. No, I'm talking about the Transformers. Those movies, I didn't hate them, but I don't have any. They're way over the top, I think. Yes, they are. Right. So you don't know? I would have to say Sonic. Yeah, probably Sonic. But. You know. Yeah. I think it's going to be a Steve Ritchie game. So, you know, he did the Elton John for them, and that was awesome. So you can imagine it's going to be a good game. Yeah. I'm sure they're both going to be fine shooters. I'm not worried about either of them. No. I just, theme-wise, theme only, I was kind of like, eh, I don't know. Yeah I don really think I have any interest in Transformers No And I know that probably going to brile up some feathers Some wigs just flipped But it is all beloved There's another one where it's like one of those beloved things. Yeah. Because even JJ down in Florida, he loved Transformers and had that big Optimus Prime from the 80s or something like that, which I guess was a huge deal. I was like, all right, cool. I don't dislike them. No. I think it was a little after you were a kid. Yeah, possibly. Maybe like, you know, at that point where you weren't getting toys anymore when it came out. So now that now would you ever here's a follow up question. And this is something I think I know the answer, obviously. But would you ever pay over MSRP for a pinball machine? You know, like how, oh, Pokemon LEs are 40 grand or whatever. Like people are like the Pirates of the Caribbean, Caribbean, Caribbean, whatever. That JJP one that's always sought after that's like crazy numbers. Would you ever pay over MSRP for a Pinball machine? Like, I don't think I would. That is a difficult question because I guess it would depend on what it is. I know. They were winding down production. Like, you know, OK, so if I don't buy this now, I'm going to be trolling the secondary market. And, you know, who knows? Who knows where that leads? I just think about that because we've gotten so accustomed to hearing, oh, that's that's selling it, you know, like Evil Dead's or whatever, 15 grand, 18 grand. And you're like, no, I mean, I just I don't think I would. It's not that I dislike the machines. I just things depreciate. So I'm not going to I wouldn't pay more just, you know, just because I wanted it that bad. Like, I guess I just couldn't, you know. Right. So I have done that. Obviously, a lot of records I bought, a lot of the 5678 stuff I own was way over. So I can't say I never do that. But for some reason, I also think like the amount of pinball machines on this planet Earth right now. Mm-hmm. Doesn't, like, yeah, you may really want that Pokemon LE number one or whatever you're sought after or you're seeking. Right. But the amount of options out there, there's a hundred billion other pinball machines. Like, now, I know you want that one, but if you say, oh, that's 50 grand, you can buy, like, 30 other machines for that one machine. Yeah. Now, that's not what you want or whatever, but it's just like there's the scarcity isn't really that scarce except like the prize that you really, really want. You know what I mean? Would you actually. Is there a title that you would actually pay over MSRP for? No, no, no. That's I mean, like I wouldn't. I should clarify within reason. Right. If it's, you know, if they're saying $11, 000 and you know the MSRP is $10, 000, all right. I'm not like, it's not like a hard, fast, I would never won penny. But like the crazy money, you know. Yeah. If somebody was just like, oh, I won $10, 200 because I had to pay taxes. All right, I get it. Yeah. You know, and he didn't play it, he didn't even unbox it. But no, I don't think I ever would. Like Mars Attacks, would you? No. Okay. Like, I like that. I love that game. Right. But I wouldn't pay more than what CGC is asking. You know, like that's the number that they've assigned. Yes. And I concur. That's what it's worth. You know, and I know that's not that's like Big Bang Bar is a famous one. Like, you know, Lumberjack Dave and Atomic Nicky have that. Now, I don't know how you would price that because it was such a rarity and such a one off. You couldn't really say MSRP on that. But, you know, we're in a different collecting. We're in a different category, I think. Yeah. You know. So it just was, I was curious if you ever would, like if a Harry Potter CE was out there and you're like, oh, wow. But they wanted $15, 000 instead of what the market's at. I mean, would you pay it? I don't think so. No. I'm still not convinced that I want to buy Harry Potter. I am so on the, like, flippy floppy on the Harry Potter. Yeah. Like, I should just say I really want Harry Potter, but I don't. No, then you don't. But I do. Do you know what I mean? I can't envision we're not going to get one one day, but again, we go in circles, though. Right. Like, we're looking at a Harry Potter, but then you're like, you know, we could also get a Mars Attacks. Yeah. You know, we could also get this. We could also get this. And then you start going, I don't know. Right. Does it stack up? Yeah, you love the theme. I do. And it's a great game. Everyone loves it. Yes. Again, there's a lot of great games out there. It just is. Right. So I don't know. I guess I would have to. I would probably, should probably walk up to each one because I have a feeling that Mars Attack gives you a different feeling than the Harry Potter does. For sure. But that's been my dream theme forever. Yeah. So if you're listening and you want to tell us why we should pay over MSRP, shoot us an email at pinballjd at gmail.com. We don't throw that out there enough, but we always say, hey, if you have questions or things you'd like us to talk about on air, shoot us an email. Or if you want free stickers like Zooks, Zooks, Z-U-K-E-S, I think. I don't know. I forwarded it to you. Yeah, we had a guy put up a door on a pinball enthusiast group and said, oh, check out, I'm filling in stickers. And I wrote and said, oh, you need some pinball junk drawer stuff. So he wrote with his address, shooting those out with one of your lovely custom made, whatchamacallits, thank you cards. Almost as lovely as the stickers. So, yeah, I have had no progress whatsoever on the Pinball, which I have to get that going because I need the workspace in my garage. Right. I really, that was a topic I wanted to talk about a little bit. I really screwed that up majorly. Like, not the actual installation, but like the relationship with the Pinball world is gone. It's so sad. He had, we went up and we got that. We won the play field. We won the Willy Wonka play field. We got it signed by Jersey Jack and Pat Lawler. Yep. Same event. So we were like, oh, we went over and we got to the Pin, the Pinball guy. And I think what Billy YJ, a tribe member. Yes. Billy YJ's friends with him. I think so. Or knows him, I think. Yeah. So he's like, oh, yeah, he's a cool dude. And I say, awesome, perfect. Right. So then a chain of events happened that I'm assuming ruined it forever. I'm going to have to go incognito. You're going to have to order from him if we ever want any kind of. He reached out after like we paid him and then he had sent questions and they were in like our spam folder. Yeah. Because it was like it was after a couple of months. I was like, I should probably reach out to this dude. I know, you know, it's not an emergency, but, you know, you want them. And then lo and behold, I was like, oh, yep, there it is. He had sent one saying, hey, can you send me pictures of the thing? And then I think he sent a second one saying I find them online And then I took pictures of it and send them But this is like two months after his emails And then I send him call me when you get him And I didn I replied back cool or thanks or whatever you know And then I hadn touched the play field for another couple months Yeah So then I wrote him and I was like oh I was trying to be like like oh you know it been a while If you had and I had asked him for pictures of how Installation, I'm right on the front page. The very front thing it says, scan this QR code for pictures of how to install this stuff and all these pictures of finished stuff. So this guy probably has me blocked because he's like, this is the dumbest human in the planet. Because then I was like, oh, also, I remember you said you wanted to talk about some lights. Like he's got to remember a play field eight months later. I was just like, oh, this is none of his fault whatsoever. This is 100% on me. And I'm like, oh, man. So now I'm installing the Pinglo's. And I scanned that QR code, which I'm not a fan of that because I assume that's how people gain access to your bank account somehow. I don't know. So I scanned it and it immediately took me to all these wonderful pictures. So I've been following those and going along with it. It's not a, I just was, if you listen, Pinball guy, shout out. It's not, it's not you, it's me. And I understand that. But from now on, if you get any orders from our house, it's going to be from Cracky Sally. It's not going to, I have a feeling I'm on the do not, do not contact list. That's so sad. It is sad. I don't know. Yeah. And I'm just making this all up, but I mean, I don't know if he likes me or not. I just, last thing I wrote, he never wrote back. I was like, yeah, yeah, Nikki, he pretty much is done with us, so that's fine. Oh, that's terrible. Yeah, it's okay. Again, that's the way life goes. Do you have anything else? We have numbers to go over. We do. This is the exciting part. Yes, but I had a really awesome moment with my best friend this past couple weeks. Oh, yeah? Yeah. Oh, do tell. So she, two friends of her and her boyfriends recently purchased pinball machines. Yes. Welcome to being poor. Yes. So she's been, you know, sending me pictures when she's playing and stuff. And this past weekend, she sent me a text message saying that they were going to go to Pinfest. Pinfest in Allentown. So that was very close to where we grew up. Yes. So that was very exciting for me for her to be going to a pinball festival. Oh, that's so awesome. Yeah, I know. And then today she sent me a text message with a picture of a Ball Busters Women's Pinball League at Pinball Gallery sticker. There you go. And so she said she picked that up and a pin for me. And then she also said... Did she see anyone with our shirts on? Because I know you said that. I didn't ask. I hope she did. I asked her how it was and she said, it was full, lots of vintage machines, and I definitely was out of place. I guess I am a pinball person now. These are my people. Well, let's take it easy. It takes a while to break into being the people. So, no, if she's playing it and liking it, you know, then she'll start, like, learning some of the tricks that you start picking up. And then, you know, it takes a long time to, I don't want to say, no one masters pinball. Well, some people master pinball. It takes a while to, like, start gaining a lot of skills other than, oh, I hope I hit that sparkly part and hope it gives me points, you know. Yeah. She's funny. She'll enjoy it. Yeah. I have a feeling her and her boyfriend will. Probably have a pinball machine in there. They'll have one or two guaranteed. Yeah. And then see where it goes. You never know. Yeah. So that made me feel great. Very cool. You know. It's awesome. Is she a listener? I think maybe. I'm not sure. If you are listening, friend of Craft for Sally, I don't have a name for you yet. We'll have to figure something out quick. Send us an email at pinballjd at gmail.com and say, hey, I know you two idiots and send me stickers. And we will. All right. What's Lumberjack Dave? Shot you some numbers? What do you got? He did. But first, some exciting news from MGC for Lumberjack Johnnies. Oh, yeah? Because they're having the Whopper Chopper. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's right. Oh, that's right. And they are going to have their very own Insider Connect badge. That's so awesome. For the Whopper Chopper. Man. That is so awesome. I know, I should almost just sign up just to get that and then not play. I don't think that's how it works. Oh, boo. Always never loopholes that I can exploit for my own achievements. All right. So for week ending 426, we have number three, Harry Potter. All right. Number two, Beetlejuice. Uh-oh. And number one? Fishtails. No. What is it? Pokemon. Yeah. Yes. That sounds right. Yeah. You know, any three of those could be in any of those positions at any time. Yes. Really. All right. So what were the three dullest axes in the quiver? Led Zeppelin. All right. Led Zeppelin took all three of them? No. Ultraman. Yeah. And Elton John. Elton John. Oh, my God. I have to swing by and give my friends some love there. Wiggle your butt. Yeah. I got to wiggle my butt around a little bit. Yeah. Oh, that's sad. Yeah, it is. We love Elton John. We do. I love Elton John. Yes. I would buy Elton John. Yeah, probably. I'm not even remotely close to an Elton John fan, but apparently I am because I know all the songs when they're playing. I do love that game. Oh, my God. Okay. But not over MSRP. No. Oh, my no. I would love to have that conversation where somebody hits you with the number and you go, oh, my no. Just slowly go back to your car and drive away. Not even say anything other than that. How much are you looking for Elton John? $18, 000. Oh my no. Just start your car and try it. It'd be the most Midwestern thing ever. All right. What do you got for the us? So, and then we have week ending 5-3. All right. We have number three, Harry Potter. All right. Number two. Yes. What do you think? Beetlejuice. No. Pokemon. No. Number one, Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice. Yeah, see, those three are going to vie for top marks all the time. Yes. How about the last three? All right. So we have a tie. Uh-oh. So we have Led Zeppelin and John Wick. Huh. I think Wick has popped in there before, hasn't it? Yes. Yeah. And then we have Foo Fighters. Okay. Wow. And... Finally, Ultraman. Ultraman. Poor Ultraman. It's, I don't know. Even when they're like the bottom performers, like Foo Fighters is a good machine and John Wick is a good machine. I think they shoot fine. There's a lot of new shiny. There really is. I don't like to hate on a machine, but I didn't care for a Led Zeppelin. And I know some people have have them and like them Yeah You know and it just one of the small machines where I just kind of walked away going I don know you know yes but whatever Everyone has their own tastes and opinions and that fine It OK to like a pinball machine So there you have it If you want to weigh in go to your local Lumberjack Johnnies and put a few bucks in Elton John Let's get that sucker back up there. Let's get Elton John. Let's do a big revival and have him knock out and be number one one week. That'd be awesome. Huh. I don't think that's going to happen. I don't think so either. They'll be like, huh, you never know. All right, anything else before everyone's favorite segment? I don't think so. I don't. Yeah, tell me what to drink until I fall on the ground. Yeah, somebody put some beer in my mug. Smoothly melodic. Thank you, Craft Brew. Thank you, Craft Brew Glenn. Wrong. Right. Thank you very much. Spaghetti, for your awesome song. What do you got for us this week, craft brew? So, if you thought how many breweries we were going to go to between shows, how many would you think? Two. Guess what? What's that? We did three. Wowzers. Yes. Breaking our PB. Not even close. Anyway. No. We went to a brewery in Wrightstown, Wisconsin. Oh, yeah. Remember? Yeah. Vaguely. Yeah. We went to Gnarly Cedar, which is what, about 20 minutes from here? Yeah, something like that. It's a newer place. It was a really nice brewery. Oh, yeah. It's along the river and there's like a nice two-tiered dock out there. Yeah. And then... That was the one where I was like, so many kids. There were so many kids there. Loud. So many loud kids. I'm like, oh. Yeah. I always try to, whenever we go to a craft brewery, I see how, I always try to see how fast I see one, a dog, two, a baby. Yeah. It's always within like 13 seconds. This one had like five dogs and 300 children. I was looking for a ball pit. I'm like, oh my God, this is too much. You gotta. It was one of those places where like it was really loud on the inside, but I think it's not because of how many people are there. I think it's the like. Just so loud. Like the sound. Like what is it? The acoustics. It was also a nice place. It was. There was also something. There was like I forget what happened. Something weird happened there. I was like, what is this about? Get me out of here. I don't know. It doesn't matter. So they had their beers were OK. I would I didn't. Nothing stood out to me. Yeah. But they did have really good pizza. They had that Detroit style pizza, which is a deep dish. Yeah. Which is really good. Every time you order it, M&M comes out and disses your mom. So that's what makes it Detroit style. Or ICB comes out and throws Faygo in your face. Either of those is very Detroit. So take your pick. I think it depends on which one you order. So how many did you have there? You had four? Four. Sure. Yeah. Like I said, none of them really stood out. They had what IPAs. I had a porter. I think I had one that you didn't like that. You thought you were going to like. I remember that. Not that you hated it, but you were like, I think in your mind you thought it was gonna be really good. And I was like, whatever. Yeah, I think it was their I think it was their wheat ale. Yeah. And it wasn't. It wasn't great. Yeah. I don't know. I mean, a lot of stuff. It seems like a lot of times now craft breweries are. They're getting away from like the super wackiness. Like when it was a new movement and everything was like they were starting to pop up everywhere. It was just crazy town, you know. And I think over time they've realized all that nonsense. They might have a specialty one every now and then, but for the most part it's going to be the stuff people like. So they don't waste time and energy and money making this super wackiness. Right. Like everyone just wants an IPA. Especially like these smaller places. Right. Like Lion's Tail. Is a great brewery. They always have wacky stuff. I shouldn't say wacky, but a lot of different stuff. They try different things. Yes. Drekker tries a million different things. You know, that's like, but most of these smaller places don't. Right. They have to make money to keep the lights on. Right. I mean, there was a lot of people there and it was, I mean, I would go back. Maybe. Yeah, maybe. So what were the other two? Now you went to the two up in the UP. Yes. Then we went to 51st State in Kingsford. Right. And they also had pizza. Right. Which was really good. No M&M with that one. No. Just regular pizza. No. Right. But they had a blueberry wheat beer that was so good. Yeah. You really liked that one. I had it both times we were there. Yeah. Nice. Because we stopped there to check it out and then we went back the next day. Not a lot going on in this town. No. You know. No. There was what? Some. Not much. A couple thrift stores. There was a nunnery. If you want to visit a nunnery, go there. If you want to know more about that story, listen to us on our other shows. Saving that one for later. And what was the third place you went to? Then the third one was the Ordoch Brewing Company in Marquette where you played. Where they kept the streak alive as it were. They had some good beers too. They had like a fruited sour that was really good. They had a decent vibe there too. It was pretty cool. Yeah, it was. You could tell that place had no problem keeping the lights on. No. It was just hard because all the groups of graduates were coming in. Oh, yeah, they were. The place must be slamming. Yeah. So it was fun. I think I did GC2 modes on the Kong up there. Nice. Which was cool, yeah. And I was on the fence about caring about keeping the streak alive, but then afterwards I was like, I guess I'm glad I did that. Yeah. You know. It would have been sad. At some point it's going to go well. Yeah, of course it is. I understand that. And again, this only matters to me. No one else in the world cares about how many days in a row I've played Stern Pinball Machines. I don't even think Stern cares. Who cares? I think it's special, and they probably have a list of 17, 000 people that are over 1, 000. There's probably people that have done it since day one. Right. That's what I mean. Although I think it's really cool. It's probably not even mid-tier. Right. Stern's like, man, he's mid. Mid. Remember when people used to say mid? No. You're living a better life. All right. So if you have more than 550 days straight on Insider Connect, let us know. Sure. How would they do that? Grab Drew Sally. Pinball junk drawer. Pinball JD at gmail.com. See, I'm really leaning into that email thing this week. I don't think it's going to I don't think it's got like a wacky beer. I don't think it's going to really give us any returns. So we'll just probably go back to regular old IPA after this week and not talk about the email. No, probably not. Anything else? No. All right, me either. Thanks for listening, everyone. This has been show 97 of the Pinball Junk Drawer. We hope to see you again in two weeks for Big Show 98. It's just one more show. It's not that much bigger. I don't want to oversell it and have people write angry emails that they don't send. And I'm like, ah, same. See you next week, everyone. That's it, man.

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v5)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-06-06 | Item ID: 38d16476-d92b-4a3e-9416-79e5a52f0583*