# Shhh......

**Source:** This Flippin' Podcast  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2024-09-23  
**Duration:** 66m 25s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thisflippinpodcast/episodes/Shhh-e2oommg

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## Analysis

Tommy Skinner and Taylor Reese discuss their 2024 pinball experiences, with heavy focus on Taylor's attendance at Dory Kevin Hill, a pin golf tournament in Colorado. The episode covers major 2024 Stern releases (Jaws, John Wick, Uncanny X-Men), other manufacturer releases, and Taylor's detailed account of the tournament format, organization, competitive play, and peripheral experiences including wildlife encounters.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Stern released Jaws, John Wick, and Uncanny X-Men in 2024, along with James Cameron's Avatar (Limited Edition) announcement — _Tommy listing major Stern releases: 'we've had so far Jaws, John Wick, and now the Uncanny X-Men this year just from Stern... James Cameron's Avatar (Limited Edition) was just announced.'_
- [HIGH] Haggis Pinball ceased operations in 2024 — _Tommy: 'Haggis Pinball died.'_
- [HIGH] Dory Kevin Hill uses pin golf format with 18 holes on Saturday and 9 holes on Sunday with objective-based and score-based games — _Taylor describing tournament structure: 'Saturday you play 18 holes... Then on Sunday you play nine holes.'_
- [HIGH] Dory Kevin Hill tournament has limited capacity and creates potential social friction if promoted too broadly — _Taylor: 'it's very limited in how many players they can have... it's also not one of those things where it's like, "Hey, everybody, go out and try to sign up for Dory Kevin Hill"'_
- [HIGH] Zach Sharpe handles merchandise for Dory Kevin Hill and collaborated with local artist James Callahan (Barf Comics) — _Taylor: 'Zach Sharpe does the merch for Dory Kevin Hill. This year he used a local artist. To me, James Callahan, who goes by Barf Comics.'_
- [HIGH] Taylor and Zach Sharpe brought Guardians of the Galaxy and Viking games to the tournament, plus a fixed Gator — _Taylor: 'We took Guardians of the Galaxy and Gator... we actually took Guardians of the Galaxy and Viking, and then somebody was bringing a Gator for him that was fixed.'_
- [HIGH] Taylor scored 24 on the final round and tied with AJ, missing prize money by one stroke (23 was third place) — _Taylor: 'We both shot a 24. And third place was a 23. 23 strokes. Which makes me think of like Pembroke... If I had gotten one stroke better, I would have been in the money.'_

### Notable Quotes

> "lot's happened in pinball since we last sat down in front of some microphones"
> — **Tommy Skinner**, early
> _Establishes the episode's purpose to cover major 2024 pinball industry events_

> "I really, really love, um, like more relaxed formats like pin golf or a critical hit. Like, I just think they're more entertaining, and you can approach it in a not so serious way."
> — **Taylor Reese**, mid
> _Explains Taylor's tournament preference and why he values Dory Kevin Hill format_

> "it's one of those things, like – it's hard to explain it unless you're there, but it's just a really fun format."
> — **Taylor Reese**, mid
> _Captures the intangible appeal of the Dory Kevin Hill experience_

> "I'm going to be hypothermic. Like I might just die."
> — **Taylor Reese**, late
> _Humorous account of Taylor's difficult sleeping conditions in the U-Haul van at high altitude_

> "there's a fucking moose like not that far away from me and I was like, I'm like I said I watched the survival shows I'm like one get the fuck out of there"
> — **Taylor Reese**, late
> _Dramatic wildlife encounter at Dory Kevin Hill that Taylor survived_

> "Can you imagine that moose getting into that campsite and just fucking up pinball machines? How pissed you would be trying to explain how your machine got destroyed?"
> — **Tommy Skinner**, late
> _Humorous speculation about worst-case scenario combining Dory Kevin Hill setup with wildlife risk_

> "I love this hobby so much i wanted to do nothing but talk about it and share it and that's what you and i did and are still doing at this moment right now and then like all these other people got into the hobby and i'm like i don't like this hobby as much"
> — **Tommy Skinner**, late
> _Expresses tension between hobby passion and community growth/gatekeeping concerns_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Tommy Skinner | person | Co-host of This Week in Pinball podcast; older (~52 years old), has children, interested in pinball community but concerned about overcommercialization |
| Taylor Reese | person | Co-host of This Week in Pinball podcast; attended Dory Kevin Hill in Colorado; casual pinball player preferring relaxed tournament formats like pin golf; manages Richmond Pinball Collective community |
| Zach Sharpe | person | Stern Pinball marketing director; lives in Colorado; manages merchandise for Dory Kevin Hill; old friend of Tommy's and Taylor's from van-picking trip 7 years ago; brings games to tournament |
| Snow Galvin | person | One of main organizers of Dory Kevin Hill tournament in Colorado |
| James Callahan | person | Local Colorado artist who goes by 'Barf Comics'; created merchandise designs for Dory Kevin Hill and River City Flippers; specializes in comics and skateboard art |
| AJ | person | Location operator in Pueblo, Colorado; participates in Dory Kevin Hill tournament annually with themed tent setup; played with Taylor on Sunday final round; tied score of 24 |
| Stern Pinball | company | Major pinball manufacturer; released Jaws, John Wick, Uncanny X-Men in 2024; announced James Cameron's Avatar (Limited Edition) |
| Haggis Pinball | company | Australian boutique manufacturer that ceased operations in 2024 |
| American Pinball | company | Manufacturer of Galactic Battle Tank and other titles discussed as having limited market uptake |
| Spooky Pinball | company | Manufacturer of Looney Tunes and other games released in 2024 |
| Chicago Gaming Company | company | Manufacturer of Pulp Fiction pinball remake |
| Dory Kevin Hill | event | Annual pin golf tournament in Colorado foothills near Rocky Mountains; held weekend after Labor Day; limited capacity; cabins, games set up outdoors; pin golf format with 18 holes Saturday, 9 holes Sunday; division seeding; T-shirt merchandise |
| Richmond Pinball Collective | organization | Pinball arcade and community hub in Richmond area where Taylor is involved; recently moved to larger location |
| River City Flippers | organization | Pinball league that commissioned artwork from James Callahan |
| Jaws | game | Stern Pinball 2024 release; among major games discussed |
| John Wick | game | Stern Pinball 2024 release; among major games discussed |
| Uncanny X-Men | game | Stern Pinball 2024 release; among major games discussed |
| James Cameron's Avatar (Limited Edition) | game | Stern Pinball announcement in 2024 |
| Looney Tunes | game | Spooky Pinball 2024 release |
| Pulp Fiction | game | Chicago Gaming Company remake; featured at Dory Kevin Hill tournament |
| Guardians of the Galaxy | game | Game brought by Zach Sharpe and Taylor to Dory Kevin Hill tournament; played at tournament |
| Alien Star | game | Vintage game brought to Dory Kevin Hill by participant from Florida; recently had playfield reproduced |
| Lord of the Rings | game | Featured at Dory Kevin Hill tournament; Saturday objective was start Fellowship Multiball, Sunday objective was start Two Towers Multiball |
| Elvira's House of Horrors | game | Featured at Dory Kevin Hill tournament with 7 million point objective in C division |
| This Week in Pinball | organization | Podcast hosted by Tommy Skinner and Taylor Reese; focused on pinball industry news and commentary |

### Topics

- **Primary:** 2024 Stern Pinball releases and announcements, Dory Kevin Hill tournament experience and format, Pin golf tournament format and design
- **Secondary:** Haggis Pinball closure, Pinball community growth and gatekeeping tensions, Tournament logistics and machine reliability, Local pinball scenes and operator participation
- **Mentioned:** Wildlife and environmental hazards at high-altitude tournaments

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.82) — Hosts are enthusiastic about Dory Kevin Hill tournament experience, appreciative of community and organization, and positive about recent pinball releases. Minor tension expressed about community growth and gatekeeping concerns, but predominantly upbeat throughout.

### Signals

- **[community_signal]** Podcast listener recognition and crossover with competitive tournament community; podcast establishing presence within pinball competitive scene (confidence: medium) — Taylor's account of player recognizing him from 'Theatre of Magic' podcast episode during tournament play
- **[community_signal]** Pin golf tournament format generating interest for replication in other regions (Midwest, Richmond area) (confidence: high) — Tommy describing plans for 'The Bash at Bogart' at his lake property; Taylor discussing Richmond community interest in similar format
- **[sentiment_shift]** Tension between early hobby enthusiasts and newer community members; gatekeeping concerns about sharing/promoting niche events (confidence: high) — Tommy's statement: 'I love this hobby so much i wanted to do nothing but talk about it... and then like all these other people got into the hobby and i'm like i don't like this hobby as much' and discussion of not promoting Dory Kevin Hill broadly
- **[community_signal]** Pin golf format adoption generating grassroots interest despite logistical constraints; community viewing tournament as model for replication (confidence: high) — Multiple references to attempts/plans to recreate pin golf tournament format locally (Tommy's 'Bash at Bogart', Richmond community interest)
- **[event_signal]** Pin golf format with objective-based games (using backglass instructions) successfully enabling casual tournament play and reducing serious competitive tension (confidence: high) — Taylor describing objective-based mechanics (CSI evidence targets, Two Towers KEEP spelling) with instruction photos on backglass, enabling relaxed group play without feeling like coaching
- **[event_signal]** Dory Kevin Hill tournament confirmed as successful, well-organized pin golf event with strong community participation and high-quality machine maintenance (confidence: high) — Taylor's detailed positive account of tournament organization, support staff, game reliability, and atmospheric experience
- **[market_signal]** Haggis Pinball company failure signals challenges in boutique manufacturer space (confidence: high) — Casual mention of 'Haggis Pinball died' in 2024 releases discussion
- **[venue_signal]** Dory Kevin Hill relies heavily on support staff and backup coils for game reliability; technical support is critical tournament infrastructure (confidence: high) — Taylor describing tech support availability and Zach Sharpe having backup coil available from tech for past game failures

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## Transcript

 The episode you are about to hear contains explicit words. The opinions within are those of the hosts and in no way imply that anyone listening to this podcast agrees with anything we say. Please send complaints to thisflippinpodcast at gmail.com You ain't gonna pause, it's only cause we're living in a new life. You're gonna wait a lot when you're on the rise. They're gonna put you away in a car. You better start to act your life. You better start to act your life. Welcome to the 2024 season debut of this flipping podcast. We're only nine and a half months into the year. I am Tommy Skinner joined by my partner in crime Taylor James Rees we decided we have seen enough in the pinball world at this point of 2024 that it was worth recording an episode for all of you fives to tens of dozens of listeners out there Taylor how you doing man I'm doing okay man uh yeah I'm doing okay it's good to chat with you we've been catching up prior to recording now we're recording uh we're going to talk some pinball um yeah so a lot has happened in the pinball world and i have not been keeping up um i i i think we've had so far jaws john wick and now uh the uncanny x-men this year just from stern that we have not discussed yeah um Avatar was just announced Looney Tunes has come out this year Is there anything else that we're missing? Haggis died Pulp Fiction That was a big one Pulp Fiction Have we talked about that? That was Battle Tank Battle Tank by American Pinball maybe Galactic Battle Tank Nobody bought one, it doesn't matter It's okay I played one on location So somebody does have one Well, that's good And there's also Barry O's Barbecue Challenge. I have not played that. I have not either. But American Pinball maybe going to put out almost two games then, I guess. I guess Classic Tank was at Texas a year ago. I don't even know. But what we're trying to tell you guys is a lot's happened in pinball since we last sat down in front of some microphones. And recently there was an event that I saw Taylor was able to attend, and it's an event I've always wanted to attend. So I was like, dude, I want to talk about it. Let's record. And he was like, we can do that. So you went you went to Dory Hill. I did go to Dory Hill. Dory Hill is a Dory Hill is an event out in Colorado that I've wanted to go to for a while. We had Zach Smith from Tilt Hammer on our show years ago talking about it. But it's basically a pin golf tournament camp out in the, I want to say, foothills of the Rocky Mountains. But I think that once you're up in the Rockies or beyond the foothills. But, yeah, I went out there a week ago. Yeah, a week ago now. And it was the first. So I've been trying to get out to Dory Hill for a while, but it never really worked out because the weekend was really bad for me because it's the weekend after Labor Day, which is generally – that would typically be the first weekend of my kids' school year. And so because of that, it's always like just a lot is happening with both their – I mean I have two kids, so there's always something happening the first weekend of school. and their school got changed. So their school year now starts in mid-August, opposed to the day after Labor Day. So last year I was going to try to go, and it didn't work out just because I missed the opportunity to sign up for the tournament, and then I just had stuff going on. And I thought about going out there just because my friend Zach's out there, So I was like, man, I just want to come and hang out. I've been wanting to do that for a while, get out to Colorado to see him and his family. And this time it worked out that I was able to get in. And so I attended Dory Hill. Um, it was a, you know, I am not a, I'm not a real serious tournament player, pinball player. Um, I've kind of like, I tried to do that for a little bit, you know, like I qualified for States for a couple of years and then it just got like, you know, the demand to like do well to, to get into States got to be too much. with my schedule. So I just kind of was like, you know what? I can't, I can't play that much because I just don't have the free time. So I'm not going to worry about it. So I just don't really think about like competition pinball, but I really, really love, um, like more relaxed formats like pin golf or a critical hit. Like, I just think they're, I think they're more entertaining. and you can approach it in a not so serious way. So I really like the format and I was super excited to get out there. Like I said, for multiple reasons. One was to go and play at this tournament that I've been wanting to do for years, but also to see my friend and his family. Zach and his wife came out to my place years ago because he was picking up this van that he got. But I remember that. Yeah. Yeah. So I love those vans. I've asked him questions about those. I was looking for one at one point. Yeah, it's really cool. So that was seven years ago. So he now has a six year old. Was it really? Yeah, seven years ago. So, I mean, yeah. So I've been trying. I mean, like the you know, the idea of going out to Dory Hill has just been on my mind for a long time. So so got out, got out to Colorado, flew out there, flew out there. The tournament, the tournament takes place over a weekend. It's the tournament is Saturday and Sunday setups Friday. So I went out and I met Zach. Zach does the merch for Dory Hill. This year he used a local artist to me, James Callahan, who goes by Barf Comics. but um so zach does the merch um so i went out and met him i flew out there on a on a thursday and then we we like packed all his stuff up and we traveled up to um dory hill on friday and um got his games he took we took two games up we took guardians of the galaxy and gator we actually we took guardians of the galaxy and viking and then somebody was bringing a gator for him that was fixed and so we ended up having the gator and the guardians of the galaxy like in our campsite so basically it's like there's a bunch of cabins people set up games outside um protected from Carl Weathers, but you're basically like, it's a campsite that's been taken over by this tournament. And so you have a ton of games. People bring them from all over the country. Um, it's like very cool atmosphere. It's very chill. um you know the people who run it really they create a really fun tournament it's i don't know i don't know how really it's they do very well at the organization of the tournament but they're still like not that real very serious feeling that you get with some tournaments like i don't know i don't i don't know really how to explain it i don't know if it's because of the altitude. Like you just kind of like roll along with it a little bit more. Like, I don't know. It was, it was just like a very cool experience. But, um, so we went up there, we went up there Friday and then Saturday it's like you play 18 holes. You, you create your group with the people you know. Um, so I played with Zach and then a couple of people from Kansas city, Artie and Wayne. and so that was my foursome we you play 18 holes and then you basically how well you do day one you get seeded into four divisions so a b c or d and then a division is done because that's like you know all the whopper ifpa stuff a division is done differently i think you play three games and two people get dropped two people advance and then they go on to finals i i made it into c division and so C division you play so on Sunday you play nine holes and then at the end of the day the people with the best three scores like win prize money and um some um like a medal um so yeah so that was kind of the deal and then Sunday Sunday like we rolled out um packed up it looked like it was going to rain we we were fortunate we had really good Carl Weathers Like I've heard horror stories about they get everything like snow, rain, like crazy wind, rain, just like. Yeah, this is a really unpredictable time of the year. You know, we got 90s all week this week right now, but I've had September's where it's cold and rainy. So, yeah, I just don't know. Yeah, we we had good Carl Weathers. We had like a couple like like rained a little bit one day, like just briefly. um but then the day that we were packing out like it looked like it was really gonna dump on us so we like just packed up super quick but um yeah it was just it was it was fun man it was like just i don't know it was really chill um you know i i really love pin golf i think it's just such a really fun way to approach playing pinball it's just different the way that they the way that They set up the games like you would go up to a game and they basically had a photograph of the play field. And then they had arrows pointing to what you needed to shoot to to get your objective. Unless it was a point base point base, they didn't have anything. But if it was objective based like one of them was CSI and like CSI, like you had to like they have rows at the bottom. there's rows of evidence and you have to make one shot. You have to make one shot to the microscope, I think. And then you have to complete, like the objective was to complete one row of evidence. So you had to shoot the microscope and then you had to make five shots. They'll have to be lit the same color. So like if you hit the microscope, it'll lock everything into red. So then you had to make five shots of red and then you were done. That's your objective. but it was very clear what you needed to do on the backbox. So that was, um, yeah, so it was, yeah, it was, it was, it was really well done. It was very approachable. Um, like we, I felt like we really like burned through our holes. Like, uh, even though like I did not play, I did not, I did not play very well on Saturday. Um, so I had a kind of a shitty score, but it didn't feel like it was just like, I don't know. It was like, it didn't seem like it didn't take forever. Like we, we had to like 8 PM to finish our round and we were, we were done pretty early. Um, yeah. So as Dory Hill, I don't know. I don't know. Um, it's like, it's, it's one of those things, like, it's hard to explain it unless you're there, but it's just a really fun format. And I think that like in talking to, um, One of the main organizers is Snow Galvin. Galvin, right? Yeah, that's right. And I reached out to her just to ask her about objectives and stuff. And I think that – I think it's something like – it's a really fun format. I think it's very – I think it could be like copied and done. I don't know. I think it's really tough because I think it's a it's very limited in how many players they can have. And I think it's it's like a really special thing for their community. And I think that like while like I really had a good time and like I like I feel really fortunate that I was able to play. It's also not one of those things where it's like, hey, everybody go out and try to sign up for Dory Hill, because that's I don't know. You know what I mean? You know, you know what I'm talking about? like it's it's tough like you know what you mean yeah it's like i wonder i don't want to promote a little bit like the sanctum when i went out there last year it was you know they do the lottery every year and obviously people want to get in and then if you don't get in there's a wait list but most people aren't going to travel for a wait list so you had all these locals who were like oh i play here every month but i didn't get in they're like in the wait list i'm like oh man i feel bad i got in because this dude lives here and this is his scene um but it is cool that you know some outsiders get to get in and experience it and i agree with what you said as far as like you can relatively copy the the format i went so far as to actually uh attempt the planning stages of this i was going to try to do it up at our lake and call it the bash at bogart nice because there's roughly nine rental cabins up there plus our house our garage and then there's like a little bit of a party barn where i was like oh like if everyone brought two games for these cabins we'll I used a few at my house. We could easily put it all together. But the same thing, then I'm like, you're limited to X amount of players. And then I think we got pregnant with our first pregnancy a couple years ago while I was trying to figure all that out. And it was like, I'm going to put that on the back burner. But, yes, because of all the positive stories I had heard of Dory Hill myself, I wanted to try to create something like that for the Midwest. Maybe I'll get back around to it at some point. But right now, chasing around a two-year-old all the time, it doesn't seem like it's going to happen. in the near future. I was really glad you got to go out there and do it. I remember us talking about it in the past. I always talk to AJ, who has his location out there in Pueblo. I know he's always excited every year. They try to do a thematic tent with the games they bring each year. He was telling me about it in the weeks leading up to it. Then he texted me last week and he's like, yeah, Taylor's here. I was like, my Taylor? What the fuck? I played with AJ on Sunday. I was. Yeah. So so like on Sunday, like you could choose your own groups. But I I was in C division and I didn't necessarily know that I didn't know anybody in C division. Like everybody I played with on Saturday did better than me. So they were in other divisions. But AJ was in C. So he's like, hey, do you want to play with us? And it was great because it was a it was a really fun group. I mean, like we would walk up to a game and like we would talk about like strategy as to like what we you know what you needed to do, because the thing is, it's you know, it's. What you need to do is right there on the backlash, so it's not like talking about it as coaching, it's not like you're doing anything that's not already being given to you, so it gives like it's not so it just didn't feel as serious, you know. But that's certainly like in a division, you know, it's like those are the people who are playing for like, you know, bigger money. And they also you know there are whoppers because I do think you know it an IFPA event So you know that that that level it might have been more intense But, you know, in in my group, I was we were just having like a really good time. Like it was, you know, we were just all like you're cheering each other on and someone gets a hole in one or like even if it's like so all the games were set to five ball. now i played i've played pin golf differently like i've played pin golf where like say you have a score objective and so if you don't get like say you need to get 10 million if you don't get 10 million after ball five then your score will depend on like how well you did like how close you got so say your score threshold is 10 million and you only get 5 million so maybe you get a six or or maybe um i'm doing that opposite so the closer you are to the goal score like the better your score will be but like i've played it where you can get up to like a nine have you ever played like that where yes like yeah and i know you're talking about essentially you you're given like progressive strokes based on where your score ends up yes exactly so yeah it wasn't like that so it was like the word you know the worst you could get is a six um but you know like on ball five like when somebody like hit the objective on ball five it was it was awesome like we were cheering each other on it was i had a really i had a really good group both days um which was which was cool and it's and it's not you know that format is something that some people around richmond have talked about doing like looking for a campsite where we can get But, you know, I mean, I think like if you did, I think if you got 18 games, you know, the big thing is not putting the onus on like a few people. So if you have people, everyone to volunteer, like I went to the stages of reaching out to people for games and it was all feasible. But, yeah, like you said, you don't want one person having to transport any more than two games. Right. Because that's the way. Yeah, that's what I'm looking at. Like if you could do it where, you know, in Richmond, like our pinball community is grown now to the point where we have a lot of people who have a game or two like at home. You know, we have the Richmond Pinball Collective, which is like an amazing place. They've moved. They've moved to a bigger location. um but as far as like doing a format like dory hill where it's like you're going and you're like you're taking games somewhere and you really are creating like a pinball world um like i think there's a location nearby that i think is is suitable for this i think that we could do 18 games and then you could either do i don't know it's tough because i don't know what happens like Like if you – I mean if you – so say you are on a location like this and you're playing pin golf and you have nine games set up, right? And what happens if you lose a game? You got to have some backups. You have to have backups. So that's kind of like – Backups are some really good techs on site. Or some really good techs. And that's one of the things I will say about Dory Hill. Like the, the support staff was absolutely incredible. Like the, there was a tech on hand. Like, I don't think, I know Zach had a, had a game like one year where he was like, I can't remember what game it was, but his game went down and they had like, he had the coil that the tech had the coil that would fix the game. Like, um, so I don't, I don't, I didn't have any issues on games that I played at all. Well, that's another thing, too. Once you get a properly built-up scene in general in a tournament like that, people take a lot of pride in the games that they're bringing there. And again, it's pinball. Shit happens. They can always break. But I think people are trying to bulletproof their machines as much as possible for where they take them to an event like that. I know, for me, the local show that I have the most pride in is Pinball at the Zoo every year, which is up in Kalamazoo. That's like three hours north of me. That's the first pinball show I went to. I view it as my local show. And every year if I'm taking something up there, like I am making sure it's going to last for three solid days of getting beat on. Like I take pride in that, that I'm bringing them something nice. And I usually try to restore something for the show or, you know, I wanted to contribute positively. I think that's how people view these sort of tournaments. Yeah. I mean, people and people, people, people were tinkering with their games throughout. out. But yeah, everything, I mean, everything, like I said, everything that I played worked, played really well. I mean, I think about like just going to shows and even like brand new games have issues. I don't know. It was, I was impressed. I was impressed. And I, and you know, I can't thank people enough, like for taking the time to bring their games. I mean, people brought games from Florida. There was a guy who brought probably one of my favorite games there was an Alien Star. That's a good one. I love that game. I don't think anybody locally has one. It's a fantastic pinball. Reproduced the playfield in the last year, which is wild. That was one of those playfields I never thought would happen. They did? Yeah, there's some more and more of those that are out there getting restored. I've seen one scratch build. So, um, but yes, I agree that that is just a fun layout to play on. Yeah. And there was, um, I'm trying to think like what else, uh, like, but there was a Pulp Fiction, uh, Jaws. And then I'm trying to think like some of the like objectives, um, like, uh, were they all objectives or were some of the games score based? Some of them were score based. So like Elvira house of horrors, is that right? Um, I think you have to score 7 million, which seems really low. I was in C division, so maybe that was a C division thing. I did get a hole-in-one on that. Lord of the Rings was – so on Saturday, I played at Boat Day. So Saturday, it was start fellowship multiball, and then on Sunday, it was start two towers multiball. I totally shit the bed on that on Sunday. So on Sunday, I mean, obviously, like everybody knows, two towers, multiball, you spell keep, right? And then you shoot the right ramp. You shoot the sword ramp. I love how you're just like, everyone knows this. I had no idea. I owned that game at one point. I just know you just kept shooting stuff and things kept happening. The game played forever. So, yeah, so two towers. But you can also set the locks up so that the locks can stack, right? So you could spell keep three times before hitting any lock shots. But once you spell keep three times, all of your locks are lit. And I totally just shit the bed on that. I got a six. So that was my Sunday round. And if I had gotten one stroke better, I would have been in the money. Adam, AJ, Adam, Adam, Adam and I played. We both we played in the same group, obviously. And we both shot a 24. And third place was this 23rd, 23 strokes. Which makes me think of like Pembroke when you look back over those days. Oh, my God. One one game, one one different position. And you're yeah. But that's what that's what I think makes those tournaments fun. It makes you want to come back because you're like, I can do better next time. And when you have a good time. you know obviously that helps i think well i think that's one of the things with pin golf as well it's like yeah it's like you just have to brush it off and because i i did i played well the rest of the uh it was it was painful man i i didn't care about money but like coming home with like a souvenir that you won you know it's like that would have been very cool that would have been very cool but i did get a um i did get a dory hill t-shirt um so that's that's pretty cool but yeah But I saw I saw some of the merch, the logo designs. Very cool looking. So, yeah. So the guy. So. So, James Callahan, he did our league shirts for my pinball league last year. And he's like he's on Instagram and barf comics, but he does a lot of like skateboards and stuff like that. But he's a local local to me. But he does stuff for all kinds of people, does comics and stuff like that. So I feel like I follow him already. You might like his his stuff is really good, like really good. It's really good comic stuff, line work. I mean, I love his stuff I have. So I commissioned him to do a drawing for the River City Flippers. And then I have the original drawing that he did for us. So I have that in my in my collection of pinball artwork. But yeah, so do you have any. Oh, I did see a moose. um i was almost i was almost um attacked by a moose but he yeah ginormous isn't it yeah it was really big so like i went so i woke up yeah i will say like the nights like sleeping it was pretty pretty miserable like it was so cold so we rented a we rented a u-haul van and so we took a van up it was packed man we had so much shit we had a van and then zach had his van so we go up there and Zach slept in his van. I slept in the U-Haul van, but it's just like an empty metal box, right? So like you're in there and it got like, as soon as the sun went down, like the temperatures just dropped. And so I'm in the van. So my setup, my setup in the van was, I had two furniture blankets, a mattress pad, a like double sleeping bag, which was my downfall because it was, it wasn't, I should have had a regular sleeping bag, but at a double sleeping bag then on top of that i had a furniture match or furniture blanket and i was so cold like well first of all you're really skinny so that's partially your fault second of all you were too old to be sleeping on a flattened piece of metal like no offense buddy but your back probably was killing you no no it wasn't i was just i was so cold i was so cold and then like at 2 a.m because i was drinking a lot of beer and it's like i was drinking a lot of beer because i was like well this is going to help me sleep. But then I had to get up and like take a leak at 2 a.m. And so like where our where we're where our campsite was like you could walk like there was like a little general store or whatever. And the bathrooms were there. 2 a.m. I got up. I put on my flip flops and I went over there and I was dude, I was so cold. Like I was like, I'm going to be hypothermic. Like I might I might just die. Like and I've watched alone. Like I watch all these survival shows and I'm like, I got to get through the night. And, um, and so I went back and I, I fucked with my like sleeping setup. And then I put on like, I had a puffy coat, you know, like a, whatever I had. I put on fleece pants and I got back into my sleeping situation and I was still freezing, dude. Like it was so cold, but I think it was because of the van. It's just like an empty metal van. And so it's like there's no ambient heat at all. Like it's not like you're in a little tent. Whatever the temperature is outside. Whatever the temperature is outside. So I was freezing. Next night wasn't as bad. But next night I took a regular sleeping bag and I slept inside that inside the double sleeping bag. And I still like was cold. Like it was crazy. So it was cold. But I woke up. I woke up Saturday morning and I was like, oh, I'm going to go look at the mountains. and so I was next to the um next to like the camp store there were like two little league fields and so I was walking around the perimeter of the little league field because then you if you go past these trees you can see like the mountains and like the sun coming up and stuff like that and I turned a corner and there's a fucking moose like not that far away from me and I was like I've like I said I watched the survival shows I'm like one get the fuck out of there get the fuck out of there exactly so i like i started walking backwards and i was like all right i'm old okay i'm 52 but i was still like i'm gonna climb this fence because if i need to i need i was like okay i need to be ready to climb the fence if the moose starts coming at me because the moose isn't going to jump over the fence and um just gonna run through the fence but yeah yeah i might run through the fence so i kind of walked around and then and then so i got on the other side of the fence and then the moose walked by and then it like went off into this field and it was really beautiful and i took a video of it and um but it was really cool i saw a moose and i told i told zach the next day i was like dude i saw or i saw it saw him when he woke up and i was like dude i saw a moose and i think he was like man i haven't it took me like seven years to see a moose once i once i moved to colorado but i'm like i didn't realize there were moose in colorado so there are There are moose in Colorado. So, yes, I survived a moose attack. But it was a lot of fun, man. Can you imagine that moose getting into that campsite and just fucking up pinball machines? How pissed you would be trying to explain how your machine got destroyed? Well, so I went to the base camp, and I told the people there, I was like, man, I just saw a moose. And they're like, oh, yeah, they come through here in the morning. And I was like, man, that seems like something you should let people know. like hey yeah 100 i would like to have at least to notice that there might be a moose and then the next morning i swear i saw like i heard a um because i think that there are there are calls or like almost like cows like mooing and i said that i swear i got the name moose right that's maybe that's maybe that's it but i swear i heard mooing and i was like holy shit there might be a moose like coming through um that's so funny but yeah it was it was it was fun man it was it was fun and um i i yeah like don't go don't don't try to go but try to recreate the situation in your place create create a fun tournament that um is just different and then don't tell to you buddy about it so you can keep it to yourselves and just do it that's my advice yeah that part of the yeah it's it's like i love this hobby so much i wanted to do nothing but talk about it and share it and that's what you and i did and are still doing at this moment right now and then like all these other people got into the hobby and i'm like i don't like this hobby as much But it's not the hobby. It's the people. No, I'm sure everyone who's listening to this is fabulous. And we really appreciate that. Well, the people who listen to the people who listen to this, I mean, come on. Like the people who listen to our podcast are not. Yeah. I mean, like if I don't think we I don't know, man. I think I know our demographic I think we actually know almost all of us So what's really funny is I played Saturday In my group And then Sunday I saw one of the people who was in my group And We were playing one of our first Maybe we were on the second game Avengers And I saw him and I went over I was just like hey he made it into A Division And I was like hey how are you doing And he was like I got knocked out because it was like I said, it was like too advanced to get knocked out. And he was like, I just played with him 18 holes the day before, like eight hours. Right. And he's like, man, I I I know you from somewhere. Did you do a podcast or something like that? And I was like, oh, I did. And I was like, yeah, I did this podcast with Tom. And he's like, oh, my God. He's like, yeah, it was pretty funny. So there were a couple of people who there were a couple of people who were like, dude, I recognize your voice but why do I know your voice And I was like well I do this podcast or i did this podcast and so that was pretty that was pretty funny um but they were all like you know they were very chill people and i don't know i just i don't know i figured i always would rather be like i don't want to so zach from tilt hammer he has a shut the fuck up and play pinball sticker i've got i've got one on my, um, a couple of different things of mine and the coin machine, I believe if that's, if like there's any, like, uh, yeah, I think that that's kind of my motto for pinball. I'd rather, I'd rather play than talk about it. Um, but yeah, I don't know. But, um, but that was Dory Hill. And then after, after Dory Hill, I flew out the next day, but before flying out, I went to an arcade in Denver or a Greenwood, Colorado, which I guess is a suburb maybe. But I went to one up, which is I have been there. Yeah, dude. So Donovan Step, who won Dory Hill, he won Dory Hill this year, but he was there. He texts there. He's got games on location there. But Zach and I went there and played. I played a bunch of stuff I hadn't played before. Godfather, Looney Tunes. I played Galactic Battle Tank. Um, yeah, so that was cool, man. That's a great freaking location. If you're in Colorado, um, if you're in the Denver area, yeah, it was, it was really cool. Um, and Donovan was there like day after day after winning Dory Hill, he was there teching his games. Um, so chatted him with a bit, chatted with him for a little bit. super nice guy, super chill. I think I met him before. I think I may have met him with you at some point. I don't know. Maybe he said hire something at Pinbird. TPF or Pinbird. I've played with him over the years at a few places. I know. I've seen him. But super friendly guy. I went to something out in Colorado. Oh, the Pinmasters was out there one year. I flew out and stayed with AJ. But yeah, Donovan's a staple in the competitive pinball scene and operating and good dude. Yeah, but, yeah, that's a great location. So, yeah, man, so that's my Dory Hill story. Well, I'm happy to hear it. I'm glad you got to go and experience it. And I agree with your sentiment. Like, yeah, it's a cool thing, but I think it would be cool if there were more of them created because it is such a good idea. But there is a lot of logistics that go into putting that together and finding space and stuff. But it's doable. They've proven that it's a doable format. So I think it's worthwhile. And like I said, one day, again, I hope to get to doing the bash at Bogart and putting that sort of thing together. We'll deal with that down the road. What have you been up to as far as like your location and stuff like that? Because you've been pretty steady as far as getting new games and all that. I mean, yeah, we've still been updating things. I've got we got Jaws. Do you get a pro like Jaws pro? We're just a pro location. We've decided the premiums just we can't justify the pricing. All right. Especially with the market kind of trending down, as I'm sure everyone has seen, which is it's just returning to where it was like this isn't a shock to me. It's like all these new people that came in the last few years and thought their games were always going to increase in value. that are now having panic attacks. Games used to be like a new car, right? You drive it off a lot, it loses 20% to 25% of its value instantly. Oh, as soon as you open the box. You open the box. As soon as you open the box, yeah. It was gone. And there were a few years here where it wasn't like that. And I think we got all of these new people in who didn't care about paying these higher prices that manufacturers were charging because they were like, I'm still going to make money, and now that's not the case. And I think that's going to impact overall sales for the entire industry across the board going forward. But it's just returned to like what I came into as a normal thing in this hobby. So with that being said, we did get Jaws. We skipped John Wick. I've actually just played John Wick like two or three weeks ago for the first time. Location about 45 minutes north of me at a pro. And I'm working a new job where I do sales within the state of Indiana. and I travel a bit. So I just happened to be driving by on the way home one day, and I was like, I'm going to stop and play. I thought the layout was kind of cool. I've only seen, I think, the first movie, and I didn't partake. I like Keanu Reeves a lot. But the movies were just okay to me. Like, I get there's people that like them, not my thing. So the theme wasn't something that really attracted me to it. And then I couldn't figure out what, I mean, it's a Stern. And, like, again, Stern makes really good games, but they're all kind of similar. So, yeah, I knew what to do in general because it's a stern. But I haven't watched any streams of that game. I haven't read the rules or anything. And I was still able to set the GC on the machine after two games. You're just too good of a player, though. I mean, yeah, but that's a game that's been on location for, what, like six months almost? Four or five months? And for me to be able to walk in and do that, I mean, that kind of tells you how similar all sterns are at their core. But the layout was cool. I enjoyed the shot. I found it really confusing, though. I played it at a... Oh, I have no idea what I was doing, but I knew once I figured out how to start a mode, start a mode and shoot the lit shots and lock the multi-balls, bring them into it. But I know Keith's really good with his games, and those are the games I've spent the most time with the last few years of... Everyone can understand that aspect of a stern, but then Keith puts in these little scoring tricks where you complete this mode or move this way on a map or collect this bingo and scoring increases for something exponentially. There's little ways to kind of manipulate within the deeper sets of the games. I'm sure John Wick has that, and this didn't have any sort of astronomical scores on it, but I was able to go in and do that. But, yeah, that just wasn't one that appealed to me at all. Then X-Men just came out, and, I mean, I grew up on X-Men, right? Like, so I'm somewhat familiar with it. I remember playing the arcade game all the time as a kid, but I was like, I don't really need this. Like we're pretty full on stuff as it is. We're at the point where like I expanded it to four locations and I'm out of room there, largely out of room at home. How many games do you have now? How many games do you have on location? I think 35. Jeez, man. Yeah. So in the last couple of years, since having Conrad, I don't have days where I can just go and play pinball like I used to. Now, it's pretty much I play in League Night because I have to be there to run things anyways. And then the rest of my time is spent fixing stuff on location. I've only done one restore in the last two years, and that was a game that I had already sold before I ever knew I was going to have a kid. I got hired to build a Stargazer for somebody. and it took us 18 months to gather the parts. Then it took me like another eight months to assemble it all. And that was, Conrad had been born in that time. So I haven't wanted to do any more of that since then. I shopped a couple of games out that I picked up that were mostly working, just needed like small fixes. But yeah, so anyway, X-Men seemed cool, but I wasn't worried about it, especially seeing the market trend where like you can pick up a used pro in six months now and save 20%. Yeah, that's true. So being an operator, the first six months of a game's life is when it earns the most, I would say, at least in my experience of going on eight, well, almost 10 years with my first location and then this new ones. So it's like you earn that money and lose the value in that first six months or you just wait six months and buy it and you save that much money up front and ends up balancing out. That's kind of how I look at it at this point. but if you're not operating it and you're just losing that value it's like i don't understand how people are doing that or the watch i do i mean most people make more money than me so i get it hobby at least but as far as just like having them at home yeah like if you have it at home but you're only you're only keeping it for six months to a year and you're going to be losing that 25 percent value each time you do that yeah i can't relate to that yeah you hold on to your my games don't go anywhere a lot of people don't um but they've been doing that where they buy the new stern play it for six months to a year sell it for the same they paid for it and just get the next one what do you think why is that just not happening do people move their games out just because the next game is coming because i don't it's not because they're like beating the game or anything right i mean no most of the people that are doing this i think are low skilled players and they just want what the next new shiny thing. I don't think they really have a deep appreciation of complete code because it doesn't matter to them because for the most part, they're never going to see it. That's what I think. I don't know. But that's not necessarily a bad thing, right? I mean because there's something to be said for – you're still getting – I mean if you're getting enjoyment out of it, you're getting enjoyment out of it. Oh, as long as they enjoy it. Yeah, I'm not saying this is a bad thing. I'm just saying that's kind of the reality where it's like I'll have a tendency to hold on to a game because like i want to know what that completed game is going to look like i want to aspire to see it where another more casual person is just like oh i'm buying this i'm going to play it for six months and when the next new thing comes out i'm going to move on to it um there's nothing wrong with that i'm not saying it as a bad thing i just think that's what the reality was but now with those games dropping in value like they had in the past yeah i think that's going to hurt sales because they're not they're not going to be as tempted to buy a new one. Yeah, if you're not getting as much as you put in or more. No, and again, I get pretty good pricing compared to what I've seen people paying, too. So, like, a lot of these Stern Pros on sale right now are dropping back into the $5K range, and these people were paying close to $7K. You know, the street price on stuff. You just posted something. You posted, like, a solid Deadpool. I just sold a Venom, yeah. I sold Venom so we could buy X-Men, which is where I was trying to get to. But again, I've operated that game for however long it's been out. Yeah. 18 months or so. And I posted it for a quote-unquote cheap price so it would sell faster. But when you look at the earnings on it, basically I was able to break even on the game. And then I get the next thing. But if you bought that game and you had it at home, you made no money and you have to sell for close to that price. then you're losing that money each time you do one of these transactions and the way stern releases games every three to four months yeah i mean if you do that on each game for a year you're losing close to the price of a whole nother game yeah um and at that point it's like well why don't i just go play these on location so you've it's interesting it'll be i'm curious to see what the market does um all that being said the theme of x-men alone wasn't enough to get me really excited um but then i saw that layout and credit to jack danger man he's he's doing some really cool stuff with his layouts i really enjoy shooting foo fighters um i looked at this yeah that's so you know like i'm curious about it kevin is the mechanical engineer on the game is a former member of our league in lafayette he uh first game he worked on was venom and this is his second game so it's kind of cool that we get to support someone who was a member of our local community and he's just an awesome dude too so i was really happy to see him working on this game with jack and uh the premium features look awesome on this one like kind of reminds me of godzilla where they're clearly like game changers that are going to impact gameplay but i just can't justify the price we did upgrade at some point in the last year to a godzilla premium that came to us in a trade and that's kind of what i'm hoping with x-men if it ends up being as fun as i anticipate that maybe one day we can trade up to a premium or pick up a used premium and move our pro along but for the startup cost it's just it's really hard to beat the pros for sterns on location from both low cost aspect of they're expensive but they're still the cheapest thing out there you can get new and the reliability man like our sterns have been solid other than like flipper rebuilt and changing some rubbers here and there i've had very little break on any of my sterns coil stops coil stops for sure yeah for sure i just consider that part of the flip is it is the whole node board thing has that been sorted out that's not i don't know if it's sorted out i just think it's one of those things where the people who have it happen are very loud about it yeah every one of the stern every stern pro i've bought since Iron Maiden, that was the first new one we've had, I have not had a node board go out. I've never had an issue. I've got four sterns behind me. I'm just thinking of known issues that I know about as far as location. Yeah, I've seen people have problems and I've seen games on location with broken stuff. I've also seen those games getting a ton of plays with little maintenance on them whereas mine don't get that much play and i still do a pretty decent job of maintaining them i've got a light bulb out on iron maiden the ball save lights out i need to replace that um but yeah it's you know you take care of them they'll be okay but yeah i i i've gotten to the point and you know i think it's funny because obviously as you and i started recording this you had children who were young women and young girls i guess and now they're borderline adult women and ones in college and yeah i had no kids so i could spend time step like when these new games came out man like i studied the rules like it was like i was a student again like i was really interested in and now like one i'm i'm pretty damn good at playing so like i can pick things up quicker and then two like i don't have the time to study the rules like i i'm really i didn't like jaws a ton at first and with the code updates it's gotten better and i really like the layout now I still haven't watched a stream I don't know like the intricacies of the rules Of collecting items and stuff I just like I keep hitting the lit shots And I know we got a younger guy who's Just graduated college and he's Super into rules and like I've heard him like Spouting off stuff to people like oh you collected This you're gonna get this now and I'm just Like I just keep the ball Alive and hit the lit stuff at this point and I'm doing Okay That being said like Pulp Fiction I've Studied a bit more of but it's a lot simpler but i've i really like pulp fiction so yeah that one is i can't remember when we got that delivered i have had some issues with my pulp fiction um i've had some opto issues that have been incredibly frustrating to sort out that being said chicago gaming has been super supportive and sent me a ton of parts i'm on my third set of trough boards um it's not like it's a hard thing to swap out but like yeah it's been unpleasant um as far as dealing with that we actually just had a launch party for it on sunday um because like it took me that long to get everything sorted probably almost four months before i felt it was like reliable enough for a tournament um and then it started acting up that morning or actually that thursday at league after it'd been solid for like a month straight and then it made its way through the tournament thankfully but uh that game is in my mind like a true masterpiece of simple to understand hard to master um and again that's the type of gameplay i like the most is you know a street level solid state feel to it um the theme is a cool movie but it's not like on my top 10 list of anything like just my favorites or anything like that but i think it does make for a very fun pinball machine and i do hope that chicago gaming comes out with something else in that vein of retro style i personally pitched to Josh Sharpe through a text that it should be point break the patrick swayze Keanu Reeves Nick Nolte film because I love that movie and I think it fits the era and can make for a really good thing. And I did let him know I might have already designed an entire rule set. If they need to borrow it, they're welcome to it. But, yeah, I think that would be awesome. I think it's just good that we have things like that coming out that are different from most of your mainstream releases that give you an option for something like that. I love the Bond 60th too, but it was so expensive and so limited. How many people are ever going to get to enjoy that? Whereas Pulp Fiction is out there for people if they want it. I would love to see a game like that come out once a year from some company, some sort of retro style design. Regardless, I think it's cool that we're in a time within the pinball hobby where things like that can come out. You know, Avatar just got announced this week, too. You know, it's not for me, but someone out there probably is really psyched about that. That's awesome. I know Spooky should be announcing something in the near future. I've heard some rumblings. I know nothing. But that has me excited. I know you mentioned Looney Tunes. Did you have a good experience on Looney Tunes? I did not have a great experience on Looney Tunes. I yeah I played it I played it at 1UP in Denver and yeah I don't know man like it just didn't it did not wow me like there's a lot you know it's like the layout is kind of cool but it just doesn't like I don't know I feel like I really want like a total package with pinball like I really want like a good sound package, art package Like I want the whole thing now. And I just like the sound package I thought was kind of like went like not really interesting. So, you know, the call outs, the call outs weren't really inspiring. Like I don't know how you were supposed to like light, like light your locks. I guess there's a captive ball to the right that you're supposed to hit a bunch of times, but it doesn't. I get a lot of feedback when you hit it. I can see that. Yeah, not a lot of feedback. And I do think approaching a game like that is just – I had no idea what to do. I was making shots, but I didn't feel like I was progressing towards – I don't know what I was progressing towards. I think that that's something that Elwin does really well with his games where it's like you shoot this a couple times and it's like, hey, shoot this. shoot you know shoot the ramps to start a kaiju battle like it's yelling at you telling you what to do so it's like yeah especially when you just if you're if you're in an arcade with 30 games and you walk up to a game and you play it twice and you're like i have no idea what to do i'm going to move on to the next game and that's what i and that's what we did like yeah so that was yeah i've been i've been impressed with the layout on lenny tunes i I, my partner got that for our bar and I got Pulp Fiction around the same time. They both came, I think, within like a week or two of each other. We like to say we spoil our players as much as we can, but I did not anticipate liking Looney Tunes because I didn't really care for Scooby Doo very much. Yeah. And I wasn't a huge Looney Tunes person as a kid or anything. I really like the layout on that game. Like, I think it shoots incredibly well. it needs obviously more code updates and stuff. And Spooky has been pretty good about that over the last several games. I just, I, I think that the layout was, I thought the layout was really interesting. Tommy's choking to death right now. I thought the layout was, I thought the layout was interesting. I just didn't like really know what to shoot for. So like I'm making shots. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, um, and you don't know that was a complaint i had from players because there's a lot of diver diverters on the game because you don't know where the ball is coming from yeah yeah exactly i've been playing it not a ton but when i'm down there i typically play a game on it at least to make sure everything's working and i can see how that would be tough to get the hang of um to it as a new player to that to that particular machine but i was impressed with the layout a lot I thought it had a lot of creativity and it's very smooth in some of the mech designs on there are pretty cool. We've also had, we've operated every spooky game except for Alice Cooper. And, uh, this has by far been the most out of the box, ready to go game. I think we got the third one off the line this time. Um, spooky always hooks us up and there was two, two little parts we had issues with that they sent me parts for overnight yeah and that was in the first week we had it and it's actually had almost no problems since then so that's been impressive um i just thought that was a good sign of their improvement we always get an early one from them we always expect to have to do some stuff to it scooby-doo we had a lot of stuff we had to kind of dial in on it um i loved the look of scooby-doo but i just i didn't enjoy playing it that much looney tunes i really enjoy hitting the shots on so i keep getting drawn back to it but yes i fully understand exactly what you're meaning by the call outs need to be informative but also instructive but also but also entertaining have that like i think that's the other thing it's like you want like a soundtrack that's going to like yeah you just need to be entertained so like while you're sitting there playing the game like it's good to have like a driving music like like labyrinth like i i like labyrinth i think it's fun to shoot but i think that the um i wish the soundtrack was just like i know it's david bowie but it just seems like it needs a little more oomph like just doesn't doesn't fit pinball very well yeah i don't i don't know i mean i like i felt with Halloween. Yeah, there's something there that's just even like, I mean, I have a Wizard of Oz, which I don't think is probably the most exciting soundtrack to most people, but I still feel like the music works well with the game. You've got to have a certain beat or pace to the music. And just because it's a famous song, the David Bowie songs in Labyrinth, John Carpenter's theme for Halloween. They're very famous songs. People recognize it, but to me, they're not very pinball conducive. Um, so I, I understand what you're saying by that. Yeah. I think that that's one of the things that Stern, like going back to like the rock and roll thing all the time, it's like you have it built in. You're just like, Hey, find music that some people want to listen to. And if you don't really want to listen to it, it still sounds good. Well, somebody you know what i mean like it's just like driving along the player i don't know um it's it's quality music that people are at least familiar with yeah well and paul fiction as well i thought paul fiction did a good job with the music obviously like it's built in because yeah yeah david that's this i've had not completely casual because our league's got a pretty good dedicated base at this point but more novice skill level players i'd say they've gotten a lot better our league overall it's become pretty competitive it's really fun but even with their less time around the hot hobby so many of them have commented about different sound effects and pulp fiction and how much they love shooting the spinners and how well this is done and i'm just like yeah it's i'm joking to that it's david thiel i was like yeah dude the guy's a master and same thing with alien i know not as many people see that one anywhere to play but uh the sound package on alien is just it's masterfully done i know him leaving jersey jack i think was very detrimental to their last few titles um he he's an absolute master of his craft and there's a reason people want to pay him to come do their games well i did play i did play i have recently played a couple Jersey Jacks. I played Elton John for the first time, which I think is a really, I think it's a really fun shooter. I think I played Godfather at the one up in Denver, which I, I thought that was actually, I thought it was pretty fun. Like I wasn't, the layout was kind of funky, but I got a bunch of multi balls going and had a good time. Tommy is, Tommy has left the room because he's choking but we'll see we'll see if he comes back but yeah so um it's been good to catch up and we wanted to you know tommy reached out to me about recording after he saw that i had gone to dory hill because i guess he thought i might actually have something to talk about. I'm back. I got some water. I'm not dying now. I was just saying, well, you heard me. I did. I had my headphones. I agree. I think the Godfather layout was actually really cool. The thing you said about the multi-balls. Every time I play it, I'm just in multiball the whole time. Tommy is joking. All right. So look, so we've gone for an hour and that's how long we talked about going. So I think that I think we do this every time now or I think we should touch base more frequently. I started up our league started back up. And so I'd love to talk like league stuff with you and hear more about like your location and find out what's going on with you. Um, so this is like kind of a quick, like Dory Hill, don't go to Dory Hill, do something like it somewhere near you. But, um, but yeah, we want to touch base and it was good to talk to you and we should do it again. And yeah, maybe not. We should do it again. Um, I'm supposed to get our X-Men by the end of the month. I'd love to give a, a first impressions or update on that once it arrives. We have one coming. We have one coming to Richmond. There you go. So I will definitely hit that up. We can discuss that. The Sleep and Heavenly Peace, we'll be doing that in December at my location, the fundraiser we've done the last several years. I think I may have some really exciting news about that fundraiser and charity overall for us, but I'm waiting for some confirmation. So we'll update that. And then I do believe I'm going up to Pinball Expo for at least maybe one day next month, but not even like a full day, but like half day or something. So we'll have a little bit of that to talk about. But, yeah, man, I just kind of wanted to catch up and see how Dory Hill was. I figured we might as well record it and put it out there for some people. Well, I enjoyed it. It's always great to catch up with you. And, yeah, I've been playing a lot of pinball, not necessarily like in a, um, in a tournament situation, but I've been trying to get out more. So hopefully I can add more to the conversation and, um, yeah, and we'll, and we'll talk again and we'll talk sooner than later. I like no promises. Yeah. We don't need no real schedule, but we will try to get another one out. So we have two episodes for 2024. Sounds good, man. All right, Tommy. Well, look, man, it was good to talk to you. you as well. I'm going to go finish choking on whatever I'm choking on, get a couple of glasses of water, try not to die tonight and go on about my business tomorrow. I'm going to go play some Jurassic park. Cause I only have like 8,000 plays on it right now. I do have, I have over 8,000 plays on my Jurassic park. I'm not shocked. I'm not shocked, but people are worried about my location games when they go up for sale. So I was going to say like home use only, what does that even mean anymore? So I have eight, I have 8,611 lifetime games on my Jurassic Park. That's wild, dude. That's insane. Is that even possible? None of my location games have that many plays on them. I'll check my audits. I'll check my audits. Can you imagine if I charge myself money to play? Dude. You have an isolated. You use it like a piggy bank, man. Next thing you know, boom, you're buying every new game. You know what I do whenever I have people over People always They drop quarters in Meteor Because you have to add credits So that's my one piggy bank game Alright Tommy I'll talk to you later man Take care I will take care We won't talk about it tonight But the next time we do an episode We have to tell the story of the big game prototype I discovered I don't even know if you know about this I don't know about that Yeah, well, I discovered the big game prototype, and we'll talk about it on the next recording sometime in the next year. Season three, episode two, 2024, this flipping podcast. Sounds good. All right, Tommy, I'll talk to you later, man. Later. All right, man. Bye. All right, I'm going to stop recording. Thank you. The long time coming The long way down As long as our vision Tracks And divides This is important Some separation We lay in pieces Prepped to survive I'm not your villain Not your adversary Not your reason To crack Lantify It's long division It's long division It's long division To crack Lantify Thank you.

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 6250040b-1c4e-4128-9772-687cc08e1514*