# Episode 1: A Small Introduction

**Source:** LoserKid Pinball Podcast  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2019-01-12  
**Duration:** 5m 59s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://zencastr.com/z/iSs7f_T9

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## Analysis

Josh Roop introduces the inaugural episode of Loser Kid Pinball Podcast from Vernal, Utah, sharing his personal journey into pinball starting with Windows Space Cadet and culminating in owning a four-machine collection. He highlights Stern's Munsters reveal at CES as exemplary marketing and praises the artwork, then congratulates Spooky Pinball on Total Nuclear Annihilation reaching 530 units sold—a company record.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Munsters was revealed at CES in Las Vegas on Tuesday and is the best Stern reveal to date — _Josh's direct observation of the CES event coverage; Stern's official announcement_
- [HIGH] Total Nuclear Annihilation by Spooky Pinball has sold 530 units, setting a company sales record — _KT's comment on Spooky's Facebook post, cited by Josh_
- [MEDIUM] Dwight Sullivan and John Borg approached Munsters as a passion project rather than routine work — _Josh's interpretation based on their demeanor in promotional videos_
- [HIGH] Chris Franchi's artwork on Munsters uses black and white with color splashes — _Josh's description of the revealed game's aesthetic_
- [HIGH] Josh purchased his first pinball machine, a Gottlieb Amazing Spider-Man, for approximately $400 in Labor Day weekend 2014 — _Josh's personal account of his acquisition_

### Notable Quotes

> "I opened the door and I was in awe. Guys, this room was a decent sized room, but it was filled to the gills with pinball machines."
> — **Josh Roop**, ~6:00
> _Describes the pivotal moment that sparked his adult interest in pinball after the cousin's collection revelation_

> "The first game I ever got to try was Circus Voltaire. And let me tell you guys, I was hooked."
> — **Josh Roop**, ~7:30
> _Identifies the specific game that triggered his passion for physical pinball machines_

> "Stern is doing a great job with their reveals nowadays, and honestly, this is the best one by far."
> — **Josh Roop**, ~15:00
> _Establishes early podcast perspective on Stern's marketing excellence with Munsters_

> "Franchi knocked it out of the park with this one. That black and white with the splash of color is just beautiful."
> — **Josh Roop**, ~16:30
> _Praises Chris Franchi's artistic direction on Munsters playfield design_

> "when someone is connected with creating one of these machines on a passion level, it causes a game to go from just a pinball machine and turns it into an experience that you can feel."
> — **Josh Roop**, ~21:00
> _Articulates the podcast's perspective on emotional connection between designer passion and game quality_

> "It takes a lot of guts to give up on a day job and start up a business in pinball and make it successful."
> — **Josh Roop**, ~24:00
> _Acknowledges the business risk taken by Spooky Pinball founders in starting their company_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Josh Roop | person | Host of Loser Kid Pinball Podcast, based in Vernal, Utah; pinball collector with four-machine home collection; podcast founder |
| Stern Pinball | company | Major pinball manufacturer; praised for quality of Munsters reveal at CES; manufacturer of games discussed |
| Spooky Pinball | company | Boutique pinball manufacturer; achieved company sales record with Total Nuclear Annihilation at 530 units |
| Munsters | game | Stern Pinball's latest release revealed at CES Las Vegas; features artwork by Chris Franchi; praised for black and white with color splash aesthetic |
| Total Nuclear Annihilation | game | Spooky Pinball game that achieved company sales record of 530 units sold |
| Chris Franchi | person | Stern Pinball artist; created artwork for Munsters; praised for quality of recent work |
| Dwight Sullivan | person | Stern Pinball code designer; worked on Munsters; presented game at Chicago showcase |
| John Borg | person | Stern Pinball designer; worked on Munsters; presented game at Chicago showcase |
| Jack Danger | person | Stern Pinball designer/personality; participated in CES Munsters reveal dressed as monster character |
| Sean | person | Josh's wife's cousin; introduced Josh to pinball through his personal collection in Salt Lake City |
| Gottlieb Amazing Spider-Man | game | Vintage pinball machine; Josh's first purchased machine, acquired in 2014 for ~$400 |
| Space Cadet | game | Windows digital pinball game that inspired Josh's initial interest in pinball hobby 15-20 years prior |
| Circus Voltaire | game | First physical pinball machine Josh played; sparked his passionate interest in the hobby |
| Loser Kid Pinball Podcast | organization | Newly launched pinball podcast hosted by Josh Roop from Vernal, Utah |
| Zombie Yeti | person | Stern Pinball artist; mentioned as part of recent artwork quality improvement alongside Chris Franchi and Dirty Donnie |
| Dirty Donnie | person | Pinball artist/designer; mentioned as part of recent artwork quality improvement at Stern |
| Gary Sturr | person | Stern Pinball personality; participated in CES Munsters reveal dressed as monster character |
| Zach Sharp | person | Stern Pinball personality; participated in CES Munsters reveal dressed as monster character |
| Charlie Emery | person | Co-founder/owner of Spooky Pinball; recognized for building successful company from passion project |
| Scott Denisey | person | Associated with Spooky Pinball; mentioned in context of company's sales record achievement |
| KT | person | Spooky Pinball representative; announced Total Nuclear Annihilation sales record on Facebook |
| Tim Balls | person | Stern Pinball staff; participated in Munsters showcase presentation in Chicago |
| Mike | person | Stern Pinball staff; participated in Munsters showcase presentation in Chicago |
| CES Las Vegas | event | Consumer Electronics Show venue where Stern revealed Munsters; praised for high-quality presentation |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Munsters game reveal and marketing, Spooky Pinball's sales milestone
- **Secondary:** Pinball artwork and design aesthetics, Podcast launch and community building, Personal pinball collection building, Stern Pinball's production quality

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.82) — Josh expresses enthusiasm about pinball hobby, praise for Stern's Munsters reveal and marketing approach, admiration for Spooky Pinball's entrepreneurial success, and excitement about launching the podcast. No significant criticism or negative sentiment present.

### Signals

- **[community_signal]** Launch of Loser Kid Pinball Podcast represents community-driven content creation from a home player perspective rather than industry professional (confidence: high) — Josh explicitly states 'I know there's plenty of pinball podcasts out there, but I just want to sit down and join in on the conversation' and calls for community involvement via email submissions
- **[design_philosophy]** Chris Franchi's Munsters artwork employs black and white with color splash aesthetic, representing evolution of Stern's visual design approach (confidence: high) — Josh praises the approach: 'That black and white with the splash of color is just beautiful' and credits Franchi with knocking it out of the park
- **[market_signal]** Total Nuclear Annihilation achieved Spooky Pinball's highest sales volume at 530 units, indicating strong market demand and production success (confidence: high) — KT's official comment on Spooky Facebook post cited by Josh: 'Total Nuclear Annihilation has set a record of most units sold in Spooky history at 530 units out the door'
- **[market_signal]** Stern's presentation strategy of removing glass and walking through code basics receives positive community reception for educational value (confidence: medium) — Josh states: 'I like it when Stern takes off the glass and walks you through the basics of the code. It really helps you to understand the game'
- **[personnel_signal]** Dwight Sullivan and John Borg are emotionally invested in Munsters as a passion project, suggesting personal creative commitment beyond routine work (confidence: medium) — Josh observes: 'for John Borg and Dwight, this project feels more like a passion project' based on their demeanor in promotional materials
- **[announcement]** Stern Pinball officially revealed Munsters at CES Las Vegas with full multimedia presentation featuring costumed designers (confidence: high) — Josh directly references the CES reveal and describes the presentation with Jack Danger, Zach Sharp, and Gary Sturr dressed as monsters

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## Transcript

 Hello Pinball Land, it is Friday morning and you've just tuned in to the Loser Kid Pinball Podcast. I am your host Josh Rupp coming at you from Vernal, Utah, also known as Dinosaur Land. I know there's plenty of pinball podcasts out there, but I just want to sit down and join in on the conversation, so I appreciate you giving me a listen. Before I start into the meat of the show, I want to give you a background of me in the hobby. What originally got me interested in the hobby was that silly little 3D pinball game called Space Cadet, you know the one that came pre-loaded on the Windows computer, what was it, 15, 20 years ago. And that's what actually planted the seed of pinball in me. I loved on that game how you could explore and see each thing, see what it did when you hit it, when you shot around the loops, starting missions, advancing spinners. It just was awesome to see. Well, as a teenager living in a small town without a major city within 180 miles and not much here besides a Walmart, I kind of forgot what pinball was after 3D Space Cadet had kind of lost its charm. So I fast forward 14 years later, and I finally get my hands on a physical pinball machine for the first time. My wife and I had some kind of family event out in Salt Lake City. So we make the trip out there, and her cousin was nice enough to offer their home as a place to stay. I'd never met the guy, so I didn't know he was into pinball. Heck, at this point, I didn't even know I was into pinball. Well, that night, as everyone was going to bed, I'd forgot some of the stuff from the car. It was pitch black inside the home and I didn have a clue which way I was going and I started to hear some noises I start following those noises and it brings me to this door I knock on the door and my wife cousin tells me come on in I opened the door and I was in awe Guys, this room was a decent sized room, but it was filled to the gills with pinball machines. So Sean waves me over to the pinball machine he was playing and asked me if I'd like to take a try. The first game I ever got to try was Circus Voltaire. And let me tell you guys, I was hooked. Sean and I ended up staying up for hours playing his machine, Spider-Man. Simpsons pinball party, Revenge for Mars, NASCAR. It was crazy amount of pins he had in there. It was one of those situations where I didn't have enough time in the world, but I wanted to play each one of them. As Sean taught me about the rules and different aspects, I became more and more intrigued by these pinball machines. So after that weekend, I get home and pinball is just on the back of my mind. I didn't know where to start, didn't know where to go from it. And being in a small town where there's no pinball machines around, the most information I could get was just looking up different sites on the internet and figuring out how I could get my own pinball machine. Finally, after months of looking around the internet, I found a Gottlieb Amazing Spider-Man for sale in Denver. I know some of you are cringing, but I was excited for the first time to own a pinball machine. It was Labor Day weekend in 2014, and my wife says, why don't we make a trip of it? So we go out there, and I thought it was funny because I thought I was breaking the bank at this point with my first purchase. I ended up getting that Amazing Spider-Man for about 400 bucks So after making that 12 hour round trip I get Amazing Spider home and my family ends up playing the crap out of it That how it all begins right You get one you think it going to be enough but you always find that your pinball machines are missing something so you start looking for another and another and another At the moment my collection is at four pinball machines because of the size of my home and my budget, but I can't get enough of it. So enough about me. Let's get started with the stories of the week. That's right, Munsters. Munsters was revealed this past Tuesday at CES in Las Vegas, Nevada. Guys, Stern is doing a great job with their reveals nowadays, and honestly, this is the best one by far. With Jack Danger, Zach Sharp, and Gary Sturr dressing up as the monsters, it was great to see them get into character and that presence along with the pinball machine. I must say the game looks beautiful. It's crazy to see how much artwork has come along in these last five years between Zombie Yeti, Christopher Franchi, Dirty Donnie. All those guys are killing it right now. Franchi knocked it out of the park with this one. That black and white with the splash of color is just beautiful. The game looks fun too. That was the other thing I loved about CES, just the people getting up to the pinball machine. You could tell the people that were excited to play it for the first time. Not even Munsters itself, but a pinball machine in general. I noticed in the chat someone was complaining that the game looked like another ACDC, just a little tweet, which I could kind of see that, but honestly code has come so far along that you could have the exact same play field laid out, but with entirely different code. It will make that game an entirely different game So back in Chicago Jack John Borg Dwight Sullivan Tim Balls and Mike start showing off the premium I like it when Stern takes off the glass and walks you through the basics of the code It really helps you to understand the game and to get a better appreciation of what coming out Can I just say it awesome to see Dwight Sullivan talk about monsters like he was just showing off a brand new baby. I mean, it is his latest project, but for John Borg and Dwight, this project feels more like a passion project, which I love because when someone is connected with creating one of these machines on a passion level, it causes a game to go from just a pinball machine and turns it into an experience that you can feel. All in all, I'm excited for this pin. I'm not a huge Monsters fan, but after watching the videos, I can't wait to see one of these in the wild so I can get some playtime on it. Moving on, I want to congratulate Spooky Pinball and Scott Denisey for making Spooky Pinball history. Yesterday, KT made the comment on their latest Facebook post that Total Nuclear Annihilation has set a record of most units sold in Spooky history at 530 units out the door. I admire what Charlie and the crew of Spooky have been able to do from taking their passion in pinball and turning it into a family business adventure. I gotta tell you, it takes a lot of guts to give up on a say job and start up a business in pinball and make it successful. So my hat's off to you, Spooky. Great job and keep up the good work. I know it's the first episode, so I wanna keep it short, but before I go, I wanna put this out there. I want some community involvement. It's great that we hear from industry professionals, but I want to hear from you guys out there in pinball land. Send in your emails to Loserkidpinballpodcast at gmail.com with your thoughts. I'm excited to see where this goes, and I hope you're excited to join along with me for the Red. Have a great and safe weekend.

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 51d6d1b5-bc43-4e92-a17a-d0c3849a7fef*