# 80: Pinball Time!

**Source:** Pinball Party Podcast  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2024-12-19  
**Duration:** 40m 28s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://pinballparty.podbean.com/e/pinball-time/

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## Analysis

A rambling, introspective episode of the Pinball Party Podcast in which the host reflects on his reduced engagement with pinball after quitting caffeine and other substances, discusses recently played games (X-Men, Jaws, Foo Fighters, Jurassic Park, Star Wars, and newly released Metallica), and expresses desire to re-engage with the hobby by potentially purchasing a home machine—likely Metallica. The host critiques X-Men's design (asymmetrical flippers, center post, upper playfield drain mechanics) while praising Foo Fighters' shot satisfaction and Jaws' accessibility, and contemplates the financial and lifestyle barriers to home ownership of pinball machines.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Metallica by Stern has stereo sound, expression lighting, stronger flippers, and incorporates 72 Seasons album art and content — _Host discussing Metallica updates: 'Stereo sound, expression lighting. I think they made the flippers stronger' and 'they're leaning into 72 seasons' and 'incorporated the new art'_
- [MEDIUM] X-Men has reliability issues with center post never saving the ball and asymmetrical flipper layout causing discomfort during play — _Host's gameplay experience: 'it drains down the middle so much too to where there's a center post and it never really saved it's never saved the ball for me once' and 'the asymmetrical flipper layout bothered me'_
- [HIGH] Host quit caffeine, alcohol, smoking, pot, and all non-prescription drugs approximately 4 months ago — _Direct personal statement: 'I stopped drinking caffeine or should say consuming caffeine four months ago, four months ago in nine days' and 'haven't had a drop of alcohol' and 'No drug. No, no prescription.'_
- [HIGH] Ray Day sent message to host confirming he was working on Metallica after initial months of silence — _Host recounts: 'I had sent Ray Day a message on discord months ago... Crickets! I did get a message after his announcement. He said, yes I am'_
- [HIGH] Jaws is the best game released in the last two years according to the host — _Host's direct assessment: 'Jaws is still that thing where every time I play it, I really like it, it's like an easy shooter. It's it's it's it's it's the best game in the last two years to me'_
- [MEDIUM] X-Men has code and design issues that make shots feel unsatisfying compared to Foo Fighters — _Host comparison: 'The shots just don't feel that good like the shots and foo fighters god damn They just feel great' and discusses X-Men code being incomplete/shell-like_
- [MEDIUM] Foo Fighters' left ramp is one of the most satisfying shots in modern pinball — _Host's subjective opinion: 'The left ramp in Foo Fighters, one of the most satisfying shots, I think, in all I'm a fan of pinball'_
- [HIGH] Host has played X-Men approximately 5-6 times total, with mixed impressions that worsened on second session — _Host states: 'I played four games of X-Men I think total, maybe five' and later 'I just played more X-Men... I played two games'_
- [HIGH] Host prefers Steve Ritchie's Star Wars design to Jack Danger's X-Men despite X-Men having more creative design ambitions — _Host: 'I also played Steve Ritchie Star Wars, which I like more than X-Men' and 'it seems like it too fractured too many things to try to do'_
- [HIGH] Metallica is the next game the host intends to purchase for home play, likely soon — _Host's clear statement: 'But yeah, Metallica's going to be the one. No joke. And it might be soon.' and 'I want to get back into pinball and the only way I know how is to Have a game or two in the house... Metallica's going to be the one.'_

### Notable Quotes

> "Metallica, fuck me, it looks so good."
> — **Host**, early episode
> _Expresses strong enthusiasm for newly revealed Metallica game, indicating major hype signal for the title_

> "The left ramp in Foo Fighters, one of the most satisfying shots, I think, in all I'm a fan of pinball. Every time I think of that game, that's the first thing my brain naturally goes to."
> — **Host**, mid-episode
> _Highlights exceptional game design praise for Foo Fighters' shot mechanics and lasting impression_

> "It's just a quick ten grand, you know No big deal."
> — **Host**, mid-episode
> _Reflects on the significant financial barrier to pinball home ownership and market accessibility concerns_

> "Jaws is still that thing where every time I play it, I really like it, it's like an easy shooter. It's it's it's the best game in the last two years to me for sure easy."
> — **Host**, mid-episode
> _Establishes Jaws as current benchmark for recent game quality and accessibility in host's assessment_

> "without caffeine and all these like boosts, like oh my god I can't wait to buy this thing or do this thing or get into this thing. Those like impulses are gone and it's weird."
> — **Host**, early-mid episode
> _Explains reduced hobby engagement as physiological consequence of lifestyle changes, framing market participation challenge_

> "it drains down the middle so much too to where there's a center post and it never really saved it's never saved the ball for me once out of all the games I've played and Center posts for me are they don't they don't feel right in games"
> — **Host**, late-mid episode
> _Detailed critique of X-Men's mechanical design flaw affecting player experience and game preference_

> "I feel like shit because I love Foo Fighters so much and this is no knock against Jack or his game, you know. I just... it doesn't do it for me"
> — **Host**, late-mid episode
> _Expresses conflicted feelings about preferring Foo Fighters over X-Men despite respecting Jack Danger's efforts_

> "I'm looking for reasons to get back in clearly. I wanted a reason to turn on this microphone and talk to everyone. I miss it. I miss the hobby."
> — **Host**, end of episode
> _Reveals emotional driver for podcast return and desire to re-engage with community and hobby_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Host | person | Pinball Party Podcast host; 42 years old; recently quit caffeine and other substances; considering purchasing Metallica machine |
| Ray Day | person | Stern Pinball code developer; worked on Metallica updates; communicated with host via Discord about game development |
| Jack Danger | person | Pinball designer; designed X-Men and Foo Fighters games; host respects his work despite criticism of X-Men design |
| Steve Ritchie | person | Classic pinball designer; designed Star Wars game that host prefers over X-Men |
| Stern Pinball | company | Major pinball manufacturer; released Metallica, X-Men, Star Wars, Jaws, and Foo Fighters games discussed |
| Spooky Pinball | company | Boutique pinball manufacturer; released Evil Dead game mentioned in episode |
| Metallica | game | Stern game announced at recent expo with new art, stereo sound, expression lighting, stronger flippers; incorporates 72 Seasons album; host's likely next home purchase |
| X-Men | game | Stern Pinball game designed by Jack Danger; host played 5-6 times; criticized for center post, asymmetrical flipper layout, upper playfield drain mechanics, and unsatisfying shot feel |
| Foo Fighters | game | Pinball game designed by Jack Danger; host prefers over X-Men; praised for satisfying shots and accessible design; left ramp highlighted as exceptionally satisfying |
| Jaws | game | Stern game; host's current favorite recently released game; praised as 'easy shooter'; accessible ruleset; host played multiple times and returned to it frequently |
| Jurassic Park | game | Pinball game ranked high in host's preference list alongside Jaws and Metallica; has middle spinner lane similar to Foo Fighters |
| Star Wars | game | Two versions discussed: Steve Ritchie's classic design (which host prefers) and newer Stern version; hypothetical comparison with X-Men layout |
| Evil Dead | game | Spooky Pinball game mentioned as recently announced title |
| This Week in Pinball | organization | Pinball news and media outlet; mentioned as content source; Twippies Awards mentioned |
| Pinball Party Podcast | organization | Host's podcast; email contact pinballpartypodcast@gmail.com; previously did '12 Days of Balls' content |
| 72 Seasons | product | Metallica album released April 14, 2023; incorporated into Metallica pinball game theme; title track praised as 'phenomenal' |

### Signals

- **[sentiment_shift]** X-Men's reputation declining post-launch; initial hype ('best game ever') giving way to criticism and comparison unfavorably to earlier Jack Danger designs and competitors (confidence: high) — Host notes pattern: 'it comes out and everyone's like, oh my god, it's the best game ever. Week later, it's dogshit' and observes X-Men code appears incomplete with design issues
- **[sentiment_shift]** Jack Danger's reputation potentially affected by X-Men's reception; host expresses guilt over preferring earlier Foo Fighters work but acknowledges X-Men's ambitious but fractured design approach (confidence: medium) — Host: 'I feel like shit because I love Foo Fighters so much... it seems like it too fractured too many things to try to do'
- **[product_concern]** X-Men exhibits design flaw where center post consistently fails to save ball from middle drains; asymmetrical flipper layout creates discomfort during extended play (confidence: high) — Host's repeated gameplay feedback: center post 'never really saved the ball for me once out of all the games I've played' and 'asymmetrical flipper layout bothered me' on second session
- **[gameplay_signal]** Significant disparity in shot satisfaction between games: Foo Fighters left ramp and middle lane spinner evaluated as exceptionally satisfying; X-Men shots feel 'unsatisfying'; Jaws offers accessible, flowing gameplay (confidence: high) — Host extensively compares shot feel: Foo Fighters left ramp 'one of the most satisfying shots, I think, in all' pinball vs X-Men where 'shots don't feel that good'
- **[market_signal]** Host considering home purchase investment of $8-10k for Metallica as primary engagement mechanism due to location play barriers; reflects broader tension between collector/home ownership model and traditional location play (confidence: medium) — Host: 'I want to get back into pinball and the only way I know how is to Have a game or two in the house' and discusses financial risk of $10k investment
- **[community_signal]** Host returning to content creation after hiatus; expresses renewed engagement with pinball media ecosystem and community despite reduced personal participation (confidence: high) — Host: 'I'm looking for reasons to get back in clearly. I wanted a reason to turn on this microphone and talk to everyone. I miss it. I miss the hobby. I miss the a lot of the people in it.'
- **[code_update]** Metallica received significant code improvements including stereo sound (addressing historical complaint), expression lighting, and flipper strength adjustments; Ray Day credited as code developer (confidence: high) — Host: 'The stereo music is the number one complaint I always had about the old game and the fact that now it's there' and 'Ray Day came on board to code it. Stereo sound, expression lighting. I think they made the flippers stronger'
- **[design_philosophy]** Host evaluates game design through lens of accessible simplicity (Jaws, Foo Fighters) vs ambitious complexity (X-Men); suggests over-design and feature bloat correlates with reduced playability satisfaction (confidence: medium) — Host contrasts Foo Fighters' 'very simple layout' with clear shot progression against X-Men's 'throw the kitchen sink out and do all this creative shit'; preferences align with simpler designs
- **[licensing_signal]** Theme licensing affects game perception; host notes Foo Fighters' theme lacks the cultural neutrality of franchises like Star Wars, Beatles, or Stones; suggests theme shallowness may limit game's long-term appeal (confidence: medium) — Host: 'I think holds that thing back more than anything it's not a bad theme but it's like a shallow thing especially now how's Foo Fighters doing after Dave is a you know' and compares to lasting franchises
- **[sentiment_shift]** Host's caffeine and substance cessation correlating with reduced hobby impulses and market participation; describes hobby engagement previously driven by stimulant-induced dopamine cycling (confidence: high) — Host: 'without caffeine and all these like boosts, like oh my god I can't wait to buy this thing or get into this thing. Those like impulses are gone and it's weird' and 'It's so boring. So boring.'
- **[announcement]** Metallica game received substantial revision including new artwork direction (incorporating 72 Seasons album aesthetics), audio improvements, and mechanical adjustments; distinguishes this release from earlier version (confidence: high) — Host: 'they're leaning into 72 seasons. And those who have not listened to that album' and 'I liked the old art a lot. The Dirty Donny, the pastel Crayola colorful, loved it' but new LE art reveal generated excitement

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## Transcript

 This still works. Oh yeah. Something up. Something. Nothing. What's up everyone? How you doing? Figure it out. Oh, pinball. Pinball still exists. Apparently, it's still roughly the same game. Big expensive box. Couple of buttons. They haven't added any buttons, have they? In the last few months? Couple of buttons. On average there's four buttons on a box. You hit a physical ball around gravity, physics, inertia all involved. It's a magical thing. And there's music and there's lights and uh... less podcasts apparently. Well actually I have no fucking clue. I don't know what's happening in pinball It's an open world that's going on. We're not going to talk about it anymore. I keep a side eye on it, you know, where it used to be like both eyes on it and then like super deep third eye. Now it's like a side. I just can't. Yeah. Anyways, rambling aside. Hello, everyone. Welcome back to the pinball party podcast. It has been a while and I'm happy to have you all here with your ears. I'm happy to be talking. Hope you're happy to be listening. Yeah, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays. We just had Thanksgiving, a lot of you didn't in America. We got Christmas coming up, Hanukkah, Holiday, all that bullshit. But it's Christmas, it's fucking Christmas! Merry Christmas! Got the Christmas tree up. And it's small. You know what I actually have on my Christmas tree? I guarantee none of you would guess what the star is on my Christmas tree. It is, in fact, a screen grab of my boss from a Zoom meeting Anamale Rahayan. Thank you for watching! Hello youtube! Welcome to 더 쩐는ม. Our esteemed biology extension is also small for the hanger crucified Marc Silk bilmiyorum calc, cut with a square rubiku tape down on the bottom edge for a happier and smoother ruin. So it's a picture of him with a sticker on it that's been going, it's been making the rounds via text. And he just fucking quit. It's a Christmas miracle. My boss, who is a pain in my ass. Oh my god. If I'd been doing this podcast for the last few months, I'd catch you up. But I know it has nothing to do with pinball, but I'm telling you, the star on my Christmas tree is a printout of said picture. So it's a Christmas tree, lights, and then this black and I'm a little bit annoyed shitty printout of my shitty boss's face with someone else's eyes on it because he quit and instantly made my life better. Well, I'm hoping to do the same for you and help make your life better while you're mowing the snow or driving down the road to whatever you're doing. Maybe you're going to play pinball. Maybe you're going to Stern Factory with a big ball on the outside. I don't know. Yeah, so let's talk pinball. I've gotten a few messages from people. Hey, you can do the 12 days of balls? You're going to do... Yeah, that was a lot of work. And although fun, way too much work. And now I work somewhere where I have to do the job and I have to pay attention and all that. Get fucked! So probably not. I'll find a reason to stick it in here. You know, that's what she said. I'll stick it in here. Some music here or there. But yeah, I don't know how long this episode is going to be. I'm not going to say there is no agenda whatsoever per usual, but I'm feeling the itch, the proverbial pinball itch to get back into it. And I've, uh, I don't remember the last time I did this. I know Expo has come and gone. There's been some games announced like Evil Dead by Spooky Pinball. X-Men came out. Fucking, I don't know. Alice in Wonderland, right? That came out. Metallica. I've been keeping a strong side eye on Metallica. Wowzers. That's the one. That's the one that's just still pulling me. Pulling me off. There's a... Okay. We were just in Disney World as we do and you know when you go on... Every ride has their thing where they put a strap on or a thing over you or a thing in you. Sexual innuendos is the name of the game here but they always have a saying like pull up on the strap. details biodiversity.com www.N�- gez.gov.na www.Cimtaxio.com This Week in Pinball, Johnny Pneumonic, Black Water, Kaneda's Pinball Podcast, Twippies Awards, translite proportering Tanya Sidesstrong, I am Metallica. Because, holy fucking goddamn shit. It looks great. I have not played it. I have played X-Men. It's the only recent game I've played. X-Men. I'll talk about that shortly. Metallica, fuck me, it looks so good. The art... So I saw the LE first, like a lot of us. And I apologize if Metallica's already old hat, right? Like, that's how pinball goes, right? It comes out and everyone's like, oh my god, it's the best game ever. Week later, it's dogshit moving on like X-Men. So forgive me, but I'm gonna talk about Metallica. I see it, you know, everyone's at expo sending me texts. I got some minions there. I don't have minions. I'm the minion. They're the real men. I'm just a bitch behind a microphone. Like yeah, it's really as sweet as it is. I had sent Ray Day a message on discord months ago. Like hey, tell me the rumors are true. You're working on Metallica. Crickets! I did get a message after his announcement. He said, yes I am, which is pretty funny. So, Ray Dad, I did get your message, man. So, the Ellie gets revealed. I came a little bit like, okay, holy God, fuck, that looks great. I liked the old art a lot. The Donny Gillies (Dirty Donny), the pastel Crayola colorful, loved it. I liked the Pro better than the Premium just because the Simplicity of the Mex, but eh... Supporting a part of the crew or the also related persons A production F meow Right? And the fact that stereo music is the number one complaint I always had about the old game and the fact that now it's there. Cool. That's all you really needed to do. But they added a couple modes. They added concert footage, as you all know, because again, I'm late to the party. But the thing that got me even more was that they're leaning into 72 seasons. And those who have not listened to that album, I know it's, it's, it's the newest, but at this point, what is it 2022 2023, you know what I'll do? For you, I will pull up Google Chrome. And I will I'll see when was 72 seasons released? Okay, April 14th, 2023. Yes. And the title track 72 seasons is phenomenal. First time I heard it, I was surprised because there's there's a few different types of Metallica fans. Actually, there's two. There's one who just says, Oh, anything after Ride the Lightning. Fuck you. You're not cool. You're a piece of shit. You're gay. That's how they are. During this talk you'll find continued clips from JF antioxidoger. We had our first edition of the Fasting NT Subtitles by the Amara.org community Um but I really when they start getting into really good audio production around like uh well I mean the black album great but uh fuel uh Pen r of PC the only fantatic players against the目�ng간 별로 Margaret Subtitles by the Amara.org community And the actual stand-up targets are using 72... Metallica 72 Seasons is good. It's just how it is. And they incorporated the new art. They fixed some shit. I don't know all the details. Ray Day came on board to code it. Stereo sound, expression lighting. I think they made the flippers stronger, which is, you know, those... If you've played Metallica or you're new to the show or it's one of your own games and didn't get the bathing it'd have kind of soft flippers just a bitch victims people would say metallic too fast flowy not Keith elwin sense but fllowing like it's a family out if the flippers fellow remorse look's great none pet Korean for it I want it I'm still keeping an eye on what is the local market like again these days. I don't really have it in me anymore to do all of the driving everywhere and buying and selling and skipping work and doing all of that all the time or at least as obsessively as I was for a while. I'm not obsessively is that right word. Some may see it as that but just really absorbed by the hobby. I'm not out of it. And, you know what, what things change that's interesting is I stopped drinking caffeine or should say consuming caffeine four months ago, four months ago in nine days. So I'm almost there three months and three weeks. And it's the first time in my life. It's odd that I've been just raw dogging life permanently. Some very interesting things that come from it. When I say raw dogging, I mean I haven't had a drop of alcohol. I've never been really a drinker, so whatever. But so not drinking, not smoking pot anymore. No caffeine. No, I mean, pick something. No drug. No, no prescription. Nothing. The most drug thing I have is whey protein. Wake up in the morning. I drink like BCAAs. Go to the gym. Come back. I'm just I'm atbros Groelfaust Thesebeit! Video Truck Subscribe Tattoo Mobile Googlingimetcribe Facebook I like this way too much and I know that coming off this will be a problem. So even after three days stopping that was rough. It's a work in progress. What I'm getting at is without caffeine and all these like boosts, like oh my god I can't wait to buy this thing or do this thing or get into this thing. Those like impulses are gone and it's weird. You might be like yeah, yeah, but let me think about it. I mean I'm 42. I had caffeine probably, you know, never thought about it since I was 10 or 11 years old, you know, having a Mountain Dew or a pop here or there, you know, and you don't, and then you just slowly start, oh, now I drink, I drink pop every day and now I'm kind of drinking keff or coffee and oh, now a little energy drink and, you know, mix through all that smoking cigarettes and nicotine, all that, and various many other things, chemicals. But in the last few years, just kind of slowly just get off all this. I don't want to,い I'm not like fluctuations in energy anymore, which is nice. And I'm kind of just even Steven, plain Jane. But it's so boring. So boring. Just saving money. Just doing responsible shit. And like, oh, it sounds like, yeah, like I'm actually, I'm literally complaining about that. It's boring as shit. Uh, haven't been doing the cars thing. Haven't been doing the pinball thing. Uh, playing some more like, uh, Black Ops 6 built a new computer recently. So yeah, I'm building the computer, spending a couple grand on that. And that's always fun. The Yeah, everything else just boring So pinball my god take it or leave it, you know all music and take it or leave it, you know But it's not really as like chill and cool as it sounds. It's uh, it's just another level of fucking boring so I want to get back into pinball and the only way I know how is to Have a game or two in the house and play it a lot of us do the same thing To There we go, everyone, off we go! There's just distractions around the like Again if I was Socially drinking smoking cigarettes, we can't smoke cigarettes indoors anymore like that like you have sign me up I want the whole kit and caboodle but if it's like just about the game what I want is it at my house and I want to experience everything in the game the Art the lighting the music the moments you get all this. I don't need to convince you that but Like I'll just get back into pinball. It's just a quick ten grand, you know No big deal. Again, what? That's a big chunk of money. It's easy to just buy a PC game on Steam, try for two hours, return that shit. That was a free trial. Still vacillating, but yeah, Metallica's going to be the one. No joke. And it might be soon. I've played X-Men. We have one locally, X-Men Premium. I really like Foo Fighters. That's kind of my comment on X-Men. I played four games of X-Men I think total, maybe five. I like how some of the shots snake around that place. But man, I just don't like it. Not really a fan. Not to say it's bad. And again, if it was in my house for free for a few days, I would probably fall in love with it. It's pinball. I like pinball quite a bit. Even when the lights and the stuff you don't know it, the physical feeling and momentum of hitting the ball, you all get it. But I should. There's nothing like hated about it. You know, it's just it's just kind of like, nah, okay. I just don't have the draw for it. You know, it's not it. So with four games, I don't have a ton of insight into it. But, you know, from what I've seen perusing on pin side and keeping my side eye on the biz, on the hobby. It's not, you know, it kind of again, it came out like, oh, my God, it's the best. Oh, God. And a couple weeks ago, maybe not that. It's not, you know, code little shell. I don't know. And that's really what I felt like when I was playing it. Like, ah, I want to go play Jaws. So I went back upstairs and played Jaws. Jaws in the pantheon of my head of games that I want to play theme aside, having this little break. You know what I surprisingly don't want is Lord of the Rings. I mean the theme, of course. I'm not a fan of pinball, but I don't want to play it. I don't want to. So that's nice. I got away from that. That was a tough one to get out of. Now if they remake it, fuck it. I'm back in. Don't get me wrong. But of games I just want to play, I want to play the games, I don't care about theme, per se, or bird eye view forest from the trees which I had the luxury of just taking this break is Jaws Jurassic Park The WalkingDeadPro those are the ones that come to mind and Metallica come to mind and Foo Fighters And probably in that order, I mean Jurassic Park over Jaws, but Jaws is still that thing where every time I play it, I really like it, it's like an easy shooter. It's it's it's it's it's the best game in the last two years to me fo show easy i don't know what metallica yet but The only thing that's kind of holding jaws back as like beating jurassic park for me is Even though i owned the game and got really into it and knew the rules they're still obtuse they're still like i can't remember what I got a barrel on the thing and the mode and the gear and the what and the fish finder what's happening again? What is this? granted that game is you know it flows so well and it It shoots well and most shots do many things so you eventually the numbers go up but You know again like Jurassic Park you got the pad actually all right and a to B to C to D to E Know what to do and jaws kind of R Nas Prところ, apologies for the long賢a lifespan Good references Text I'll put the bars for you in the description of Except forarda mi tastes cultural greater. Drop back here and someone's like, hey, how do I play this? I would remember to say, well, when you qualify multiball, which I don't remember how, there will be a barrel, there will be yellow stuff you hit. And then you hit the yellow stuff and the fin pops up and you hit it and then you hit yellow stuff again and you'll have multiball. And then there's certain modes that you do stuff and then you have to hit the shark and then you want to hit the real shot when it's green and hopefully in the I'm not going to go down on location and all these kids screaming, you know, just being annoying as shit, eating pixie sticks. What do fucking kids do? I don't know, like have their iPads out streaming with their clothes off in public, you know, taking pills, whatever high as shit on ketamine or whatever the fuck they're doing. And I'm a 42 year old man kid trying to, you know, play Jaws here. I'm trying to learn the rules, get the fuck out of my face. And they're just sitting, This Week in Pinball, John Papadiuk, Black Water, Kaneda's Pinball Podcast, Twippies Awards, translite [♪ The end. I mean, that would make it interesting, but, you know, get on the local news, local creep, does a pinball podcast. Do those even exist? It's called Pinball Party. He has a robotic meth who swears and wants to have sex with horses. I'm painting a bad picture of a alternate reality which isn't too far from the truth. You have one bad day, right? You're going to play pinball. That could just happen. Could happen to any of us, any of us listening to this. You know, by the power of audio and editing, I'm speaking now a few days than I was what you heard just a little bit ago. I won't even spoil where the break was. But the reason I say that is I just played more X-Men. I know we talked about that earlier in the ep, but I've had a few more games. Did it change my opinion? You know, I'll allow you to answer that question. I played two games. And then went back to playing Jaws again. I don't know. I feel like shit because I love Foo Fighters so much and this is no knock against Jack or his game, you know. I just... it doesn't do it for me and I'm giving it... I'll give it another go. But the thing the second time which I had less fun the second round, the second time as in the second chunk of playing more X-Men. The one like The shots just don't feel that good like the shots and foo fighters god damn They just feel great and it's like I get it X-Men art. Let's make it. Let's do so much more Let's throw the kitchen sink out and do all this creative shit. We're like the beauty of foo fighters the theme aside because whatever was that it was a Cross between a very simple layout and I don't mean it's not like simple It just you can look at it and be like, OK, I know where to go and what to shoot for, combined with enough newness, freshness, if you will, that made it novel. And each of those shots in Foo Fighters. Like felt good against, of course, a subjective game and a subjective podcast, like all that aside, like the left ramp in Foo Fighters, one of the most satisfying shots, I think, in all I'm a fan of pinball. Every time I think of that game, that's the first thing my brain naturally goes to. The second thing is the middle lane with the spinner by the overlord. Very similar to the Jurassic Park middle spinner lane. And then from there it goes to the right ramp which is equally important but also kind of hard. That's what she said but hard enough to where it's like you want difficult shots and then The right orbit satisfying and then that third flipper the two shots that really felt good Foo Fighters is just you know, I like Foo Fighters, I like rock music the theme in general though I think holds that thing back more than anything it's not a bad theme but it's like a shallow thing especially now how's Foo Fighters doing after Dave is a you know This Week in Pinball, John Papadiuk, Black Water, Kaneda's Pinball Podcast, Twippies Awards, transliteelectronic herum Xbox,acre tiovox rattling Ess, For John Williams or um Rollinging Stones, the Beatles, it's just like oh that's just part of life, that creative output. Foo Fighters is not that. As much as I like Foo Fighters and I've probably listened to more Foo Fighters in my day than Metallica. That's maybe part of the problem is that the more like hmm unique's not the right word. The more forefront, the less neutral it is, it can become old where like you can get the higher highs but then you're like I'm I'm sick of it. Familiarity breeds content, etc. Um, anyway, yeah, I think if, if, meh, to do this old game, if you put the theme of Star Wars in the Foo Fighters cabinet, get the fuck out of here, Game of the Decade. Oh my god. We've re-released the Foo Fighters layout with Star Wars. K, I'll buy one. Eh, a lot of us are gonna buy that shit. Now, Okay, this is another argument that doesn't really work, but follow me. You replace the X-Men theme with Star Wars. Okay, that's probably a better objective game than the Steve Ritchie Star Wars. However, to that point, after I played X-Men the second round, aside from going back and playing Jaws and Jurassic Park, I also played Steve Ritchie Star Wars, which I like more than X-Men. Subtitles by the Amara.org community I not going to go into Star Wars Anyway Foo Fighters long way back to what I was saying It feels shitty to say like I like Foo Fighters the freshman attempt better than the sophomore attempt Talking about cornerstone games here by Jack Danger and team It just seems like it too fractured too many things to try to do and to like to prove in X and it I don know at least currently at least with Foo Fighters even when the code was early when it was still great all the shots were like I just want to hit these shots The game can be off and just let me hit the ball around and just I love it. X-Men's not that I mean it obviously it drains down the middle so much too to where there's a center post and it never really saved it's never saved the ball for me once out of all the games I've played and Center posts for me are they don't they don't feel right in games and like it's it's there to try to mitigate a problem. I would say, and clearly maybe just guessing throughout the design or the layout, like, oh, you see a lot of balls coming down straight down the middle. Let's put a center post in here that might help. I don't know. And surprisingly, the second chunk of time I played X-Men, the asymmetrical flipper layout bothered me. I was actually like, oh, this doesn't feel something. Something doesn't feel right. And that's what it was. The first time I I didn't notice it probably because the first time I played it, it was the first game I played that day. So I just got up and okay, it's pinball and I didn't really totally notice it coming back from. Yeah, honestly, it was Jaws and then Star Wars. And then I played one more game X-Men at the end. I was like, Oh, this doesn't I got to wrap my head around how this feels and then, oh, and it gets into the danger room and that's not that fun. I don't know. It's not the thing with like upper playfield and Jaws or Foo Fighters or those are very just similar, like left flipper Mainly upper playfield like one to two shots the most they're actually all very similar type not layout but conceptually The jaws and foo fighters upper playfields once you quote drain it from the upper playfield you just continue playing So it's like a yeah cool. It's like a little thing little side mission on x-men No, you drain that and you're done. So not only does it go to a place like I don't really want to be here It's not that fun. If it drains it's fucking over like I don't I don't want to aim for that shot I don't want to be here the code e4 adam sin kuinred k Suspense you o A pinball machine and you're getting down and you're really like looking at the the cards the instruction cards and people are looking at what's this clown doing play play the fucking game guy what are you doing I'm trying to learn the rules of this stern game so I can replay and get a free game oh you've got to hit me I don't know it just it all these little things which I want to wake up take my pants off in my underwear play pinball I don't want anyone around and it's just the hence why I kind of stopped My bonus crashed forית triase atau Okay. And that's like, it's difficult to keep doing this hobby with that happening for all the same old hat reasons of it's just so expensive to enjoy the game you would like to. Oh, I just go on location. Yeah, good for you. If you live near a bunch of people who do this and have a good selection of games. I'm jelly of that. I'm legit jealous. Wish that was here. Oh, why don't you just build it there? Okay, invest. So, to enjoy it the way you'd like to which is at home in your underwear with your pants off, Okay, I got a risk the like Yolo, I hope this $10,000 $8,000 whatever six to ten thousand dollar investment Doesn't fuck me in the ass so I can play a child's game with a ball Of course I'm being a little facetious in a way But it's the reality of it, you know It's the heaviness we feel when we buy these games and then we see things like oh a new Foo Fighters Win avoiding Series after a multiple win after feet Paralyzepine scam, best-serving Yahoo's company for entrepreneurs garnering a campaign for affordability it would be a critical thing I found and linked to a show car for homeOWNEST season with FY2 A如何 or Arthur D. I'll pass or put it in, you know, get a VOO, a VOE and E-Trade, you know, something like that. Get yourself an ETF, a tasty SMP ETF. It's risky, but shit, not like a pinball machine or high yield savings account. We could just do a financial. Yes, I should get a financial financial analysis. We don't want that. They'll be like, all of you are stupid. Don't play pinball, you fucking idiots. So maybe not do that. But really, maybe being raised raised by a money first family, a CFO and like, it's just ingrained in me. Like, don't make stupid decisions with money. That doesn't go well in pinball right now. Did it go well? Pre COVID? Yeah, because it was like stable for so long. And then COVID is like, oh shit, we can just buy games anytime and sell them and you'll not lose money. and you know you get into an abiding might take you a couple of salutes and uh... yeah analysis is difficult so going on location playing games is like if there was a location with games that i wanted to play uh... that location currently surf Tods, I'm not sure if I'm getting off with games right now, but that's where I'm at. How about you? What games are you tickling to play? What are the top ones? Email in at pinballpartypodcast at gmail dot com. I'd like to talk about it because that email address still exists and apparently I can still post podcasts. All this still exists. I don't know, maybe dipping my toes slowly but surely back into this. You know, I really appreciate everyone's listenership. I hope everyone has a great holiday, a great Christmas, a great New Year's. I don't want this market to keep doing this to knock it the fuck off. Stop it. Tell your friends and family. Hey, pinball is fucking awesome. It is true. You're not lying. Get all these people who don't have money to buy games. Have them take out a loan. Fuck them, right? Fuck them. We need this hobby to grow. We don't care about them. We care about us. We want to be able to buy these games and sell them and not lose our ass too hard. So if there's one thing to put on your This week's topic is not about the new year's resolutions, it is about making friends, family and relatives make poor decisions, take out loans, mortgage against their 401K, pick it, do something stupid, go have them buy some Elies, buy the new Spookys without even testing them, do all the shits you shouldn't do so that this market gets bigger and we can just comfortably get back to the fucking playing games, getting neurotic about it, obsessing over it. What we need is more people to play this game. So I can get more excited about it. I'll do more podcasts. Maybe get back on caffeine, get really stupid, start putting way too much effort into some of this. Do a 12 days of balls again. And we'll have a good time. I'm looking for reasons to get back in clearly. I wanted a reason to turn on this microphone and talk to everyone. I miss it. I miss the hobby. I miss the a lot of the people in it. So yeah, here's to a new year. Happy holidays. More pinball. A growing market and maybe some more pinball party. Till next time everyone. See you later. And the 12 days of balls with me. And a merry Christmas. Merry Christmas everyone. Merry Christmas men. Merry Christmas.

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-06-06 | Item ID: 42ff57d1-cf8f-44c2-91f8-1a948b70f82a*