# 016 - Riot Fest Recap **Source:** Punk Rock Pinball Podcast **Type:** podcast_episode **Published:** 2025-09-29 **Duration:** 33m 47s **Beat:** Pinball **URL:** https://share.transistor.fm/s/dcedf860 --- ## Analysis The Punk Rock Pinball Podcast hosts discuss their experience at Riot Fest 2024, where they performed with the Smoking Popes and encountered industry figures including Michael Grant (Stern), Crystal (JJP), and various musicians. The episode centers on a creative pitch for a limited-edition Riot Fest pinball machine—500 units using the Uncanny X-Men layout with re-themed artwork and music from various Riot Fest bands across the festival's 20-year history. ### Key Claims - [HIGH] Michael Grant from Stern set up pinball machines at Riot Fest in the artist area on interlocking plastic flooring — _Hosts confirm firsthand observation and meeting with Grant_ - [HIGH] Crystal from Jersey Jack Pinball is an experienced pinball tech with engineering-adjacent title who helps JJP make design decisions for home and location environments — _Direct meeting at Riot Fest; hosts describe her role and expertise_ - [HIGH] Stern and Riot Fest already have an established relationship providing games at the festival — _Hosts reference ongoing partnership as foundation for potential LE machine_ - [MEDIUM] A 500-unit Riot Fest pinball machine would sell out in approximately one week — _Host opinion based on collector demand and FOMO dynamics; stated as prediction_ - [MEDIUM] The Uncanny X-Men layout is described as fantastic and deserving of a second life through re-theming — _Host opinion on game quality and potential reuse; notes that fixed kits exist for certain shot issues_ ### Notable Quotes > "She is, I don't know exactly what her title is, but it's some kind of like engineering kind of title, but she's not an engineer. She's a very experienced and talented pinball tech" > — **Punk Rock Pinball host (describing Crystal from JJP)**, ~5:30 > _Character description of JJP technical staff; indicates JJP's approach to design engineering through experienced technician input_ > "I think this theme, Obviously, this is our Riot Fest recap episode, but also I think, man, if you did just like an LE only Riot Fest machine, that sells 500. There's 500 people would buy a Riot Fest pinball machine, isn't there?" > — **Punk Rock Pinball host**, ~13:00 > _Pitch inception; articulates market confidence in niche LE machine viability_ > "Because Stern's been providing games at Riot Fest for a long time now. And they're just right there like neighbors in Chicagoland. So it has to be Stern." > — **Punk Rock Pinball host**, ~20:30 > _Market positioning rationale; emphasizes geographic and historical relationship as key to partnership feasibility_ > "It's a fantastic layout. So you don't need to have somebody design the layout at all." > — **Punk Rock Pinball host**, ~16:00 > _Cost-efficiency argument for using existing playfield rather than custom design for 500-unit run_ > "You could pick which year of Riot Fest you want to play... The playlist. Every year has like a 10 song playlist. And then you could pick it from one of the last 10 years." > — **Punk Rock Pinball host**, ~18:00 > _Innovative game mechanic idea: year-selection mode providing thematic variety and music licensing spread across bands_ ### Entities | Name | Type | Context | |------|------|---------| | Punk Rock Pinball Podcast | organization | Podcast hosts discussing Riot Fest experience and pitching pinball machine concept to industry | | Stern Pinball | company | Target manufacturer for proposed Riot Fest LE; provides games at Riot Fest for extended period | | Jersey Jack Pinball (JJP) | company | Represented at Riot Fest by Crystal, a technical staff member involved in design decisions | | Riot Fest | event | 20-year-old Chicago music festival; proposed theme for limited edition pinball machine; hosts Stern machines in artist area | | Michael Grant | person | Stern Pinball representative who set up machines at Riot Fest 2024 | | Crystal | person | Jersey Jack Pinball technical staff; experienced pinball technician involved in engineering/design decisions | | Smoking Popes | organization | Band featuring podcast hosts (Mike on drums, Josh on vocals); performed at Riot Fest 2024 | | Brendan Kelly | person | Musician from The Lawrence Arms; pinball enthusiast encountered at Riot Fest; invited to appear on podcast | | The Lawrence Arms | organization | Band with touring history alongside Smoking Popes; known to participate in War on Christmas benefit shows | | Jawbreaker | organization | Band with extended history with Smoking Popes; Adam (member) watched Smoking Popes' full Riot Fest set | | Uncanny X-Men | game | Stern pinball machine; proposed as base layout for Riot Fest LE theme; described as fantastic layout deserving second life | | Logan Arcade | organization | Chicago arcade venue operating pinball machines at Riot Fest main area | | MXV (Mike Vinicore) | person | Pro-caliber photographer; wore Punk Rock Pinball shirt at Riot Fest; documented event; proposed as rules designer for Riot Fest machine | | Jack Danger | person | Pinball designer; assumed to be fan of Riot Fest based on discussion; possibly at Colorado pinball show during Riot Fest | | Raymond Davidson (Ray Day) | person | Known for creating quality pinball rules/code; proposed as rules co-developer for Riot Fest machine alongside MXV | | The Buzzcocks | organization | Punk band; host's 'you choose' answer for desired non-headliner Riot Fest band to perform at arcade | | Pinball Expo | event | Upcoming event in Schaumburg, Illinois (Convention Center) happening in couple weeks; hosts planning coverage | | Elway | organization | Rock band from Colorado region; featured on Punk Rock Pinball Spotify playlist; new single 'Down the Lane and Far Away' promoted | ### Topics - **Primary:** Riot Fest 2024 experience and artist encounters, Proposed Riot Fest pinball machine concept (500-unit LE), Game layout design and re-theming strategy, Music licensing for pinball machines - **Secondary:** Stern Pinball market positioning and community relationships, Jersey Jack Pinball technical staffing and expertise, Chicago pinball community and venue ecosystem, Content creation and documentation challenges for podcasters ### Sentiment **Positive** (0.82) — Enthusiastic and optimistic tone throughout. Hosts express genuine excitement about Riot Fest experience, positive interactions with industry figures (Michael Grant, Crystal), and strong enthusiasm for Riot Fest LE concept. Community engagement appeals suggest positive podcast reception. Minor self-deprecating humor about documentation and age-related comparisons temper but do not significantly diminish overall positive sentiment. ### Signals - **[business_signal]** Stern Pinball and Riot Fest positioned as geographically proximate neighbors in Chicagoland with established long-term partnership for festival game provision (confidence: high) — Hosts cite Stern's multi-year presence providing machines at Riot Fest; emphasize local relationship as justification for Stern (not JJP or Spooky) as only suitable manufacturer for LE - **[community_signal]** Punk Rock Pinball podcast functioning as informal design consultancy and industry advocacy platform, actively pitching game concepts to manufacturers (confidence: high) — Hosts explicitly direct pitch to Stern at episode conclusion; propose involvement in band outreach; tag Stern and Riot Fest for amplification; offer to reach out to band contacts to facilitate licensing - **[event_signal]** Stern and Riot Fest partnership demonstrated through provision of arcade machines in artist area at 2024 festival (confidence: high) — Hosts confirm Michael Grant from Stern set up machines on interlocking flooring in outdoor artist area; machines were played by attendees despite challenging ground conditions - **[design_philosophy]** Pinball machine playlist/year-selection mechanic proposed as innovative rules feature allowing thematic music licensing spread and player choice without increasing playfield complexity (confidence: medium) — Host proposes players select Riot Fest year (last 10 years) at game start; each year has ~10-song playlist; mechanic requires no layout changes, only rule code and art/music assets - **[market_signal]** Riot Fest pinball machine concept gaining grassroots momentum as creative fan/community pitch with specific design specifications (confidence: medium) — Hosts develop detailed concept including 500-unit production limit, Uncanny X-Men layout reuse, multi-year band licensing model, proposed rules developers, and implementation strategy over 33-minute segment - **[market_signal]** Limited-edition niche pinball machines targeting specific subcultures/events perceived as viable low-volume commercial opportunity (confidence: medium) — Hosts argue 500-unit Riot Fest LE would sell out within one week; frame licensing costs as manageable due to volume constraints; cite existing Stern-Riot Fest relationship as reducing friction - **[community_signal]** Jersey Jack Pinball employs experienced technician (Crystal) in engineering-adjacent role for design decision-making on home and location product features (confidence: high) — Direct host observation at Riot Fest; Crystal described as 'very experienced and talented pinball tech' who helps JJP make smart decisions on component inclusion for field adjustability - **[product_strategy]** Uncanny X-Men layout repositioned as candidate for limited-edition re-theming rather than discontinued due to sales/design performance (confidence: medium) — Hosts note existing fixed kits for certain shot issues, describe layout as 'fantastic,' and propose it deserves 'second life' through Riot Fest theme; strategic reuse avoids custom design costs for 500-unit run --- ## Transcript Hi. Hello. How are you? Good. We just restarted. Yeah, we did. Yeah. So welcome back to episode, I believe it's 16. Oh my gosh. First of all, thank you for watching and subscribing and sharing with your friends and participating in the Facebook group. Yeah. Pretty awesome. Some good comments on the last video. Yeah. Keep commenting. Thank you, Chris Johnson, for commenting. He texted me. Last video was about our top five most approachable pinball machines. And Chris sent me an Instagram message of his response. And I said, why don't you put that somewhere public for the algorithm? Because the comments really help. If you comment on the Facebook post, if you comment on the YouTube video and like it, And that helps it get more views. Yes. So thank you, Chris, for doing that. Thank you, Chris. And thank you, everyone else. What are we going to talk about today, Mike? We're going to talk about Riot Fest. Yeah. Didn't we cover the last tournament on the last one? Oh, you're right. We did. We did. Because Stephanie said when we restarted that we did our last landmark tournament. I think we talked about that on the last one. We did. Because the last one we filmed the day before Riot Fest. Yeah. It's a blur. It's a blur. I thought October would be a little less busy, but I just looked at the calendar and it's not really. Not at all. It's not really busy. But we're going to recap Riot Fest. I played on the Sunday. Yeah, we were just there on Sunday. It was a big day. It was hot. And it was a deal where I have this thing where I've been drumming for 38 years or so. And I've probably played thousands of shows. But I had this thing, if I haven't played drums, because I only had played drums like once in the last like three months. And I get this thing where I don't know if I remember how to play. You did, though. I did. I remembered how to play. Yeah, you played real good. So I'm always nervous, like, what if I don't remember how to play? But I did remember how to play. Just in the nick of time. I played so well that Eli's young child, Atticus, how was he four? I think he's four. He fell asleep right there on the stage, on the side of the stage. He was actually sleeping. I looked over there, and I saw him sleeping. He was tired. It was a big day. But we had a fantastic crowd. Yeah. If you were in that crowd at Riot Fest for the Smoking Popes, thank you very much. It was probably at least two times more people than I anticipated, because it's a big area in front of us, and I thought this immediate area, that's going to be full. I assumed that much, but it was full all the way outside of the area, as far back as you could go almost. Yeah, it was pretty cool, and it started to fill in. The next stage area started to fill in, too. It was pretty cool. Yeah. The sing-alongs, some sing-alongs happening with Josh leading the charge. Great sing-alongs to I Know You Love Me there at the end. Yeah. Really good sing-along there. Chicago's a great hometown crowd. It's a great crowd. Riot Fest is fun to play. It's so fun. And so this year at Riot Fest, once again, in the artist area, they had a lineup of pinball machines set up from Stern, which was cool. And actually completely miraculous because this festival takes place in a park, like an outdoor park. They set up these pinball machines on some interlocking plastic flooring. But you're playing pinball outside. Yeah, in the ground. I was looking around in this area where the pinball, this was the pinball in the artist area. Because there was also pinball from Logan Arcade out in the main area. We did play those, too. But back in that artist area, that ground is really rolly. And the machines were not leveled perfectly, but they were, given the situation, they were pretty good. They were really good. And so we got to meet Michael Grant from Stern, who set all of that up, which is cool. And then we met Crystal from JJP, Jersey Jack Pinball. She was there. Super interesting. I would love to have her on the podcast. She is, I don't know exactly what her title is, but it's some kind of like engineering kind of title, but she's not an engineer. She's a very experienced and talented pinball tech, and she helps Jersey Jack, you know, make smart decisions on all the different pieces that they include in there to make it easy for any adjustments when they're in a home or location environment. Kind of cool. That's neat. We should get her down here. We need to get her down here. Crystal, if you're watching. Come on down. So that was cool. Who else did we see back there? We saw Brendan Kelly from the Lawrence Arms. Who is a pinball player. He was playing pinball as I was talking to him. I was trying to wait for him to finish a game because I don't want to interrupt a guy's pinball game. But I went up to him in between games, but he hit start on another one and was playing while we were talking. Oh, well, he's a multitasker. Because he just likes pinball. He's a multitasker. And that was cool because somebody in the group shared a picture of him playing at Logan Arcade, and that got a lot of interaction. And we did ask him to come down for the podcast, and he seemed interested. He gave us his email. I know Brendan, but I didn't have any of his contact info. Like back in my Alkaline Trio days, we toured with the Lawrence Arms, and then the Smoking Popes have played with the Lawrence Arms. We played last year at their War on Christmas. They're doing that again this year. That's cool. So you should go to that if you want. That's coming up at Metro. In December? I think it's in December. It's always in December. It's a War on Christmas. It's a War on Christmas. And they have really good support bands this year, and I can't remember who it is. They always do a great lineup. It's a great lineup for those. it's two nights sometimes if those sell really well they do like a third night at uh cobra lounge they'll do like a thursday uh so you should go to that we saw brendan we're gonna get him down here we saw our friend mxv Mike Vinikour he was wearing our shirt and mike also took pictures uh if you're friends with him on facebook you see him he's got his website the punk vault and he's released his day one and day two pictures and hopefully his day three pictures. That's the day we played. Great photographer. He's like a pro caliber photographer. So I'm excited to see those. I haven't seen those yet. But thank you, Mike, for wearing the Punk Rock Pinball shirt. Yeah, I got a cool picture of Mike taking a picture or taking pictures of you guys on stage. So it was a meta moment. I took a picture of him taking a picture of you. And we both wore Ray and Punk Rock pinball shirts. I know. It was meant to be. And then we saw Dr. Daryl Wilson from the Bull Weevils. Yep. Saw Daryl. It's always nice to see him. Mm-hmm. Oh, um... He will fit in this basement. The last time they played the rock room, it was in Westmont with a really low ceiling. He couldn't do his hops. I told him, and he did jump around. Like, there are Bull Weevils, Daryls from the Bull Weevils. If you look back on the channel, you've got videos from them. here and it was a short ceiling he did hop but i was worried because and i warned him like you'll hit your head i mean because he's very tall he's a very tall individual very tall yeah uh we saw daryl back there we saw chris from the ataris and then a really cool moment do you mean when i gc'd the jaws machine that was cool it was cool what was your score it wasn't all that great it It was like $248 million. Well those games they were challenging because they were off enough to be a challenge I know I not knocking the setups because there was no way to physically level If you looked at the ground they were on, it was shocking they even got them that close. I did not get a Grand Champ score on any game. But a really cool moment for me. What an accomplishment that is for me. That's an inside joke from our friend Chad Kovac. Yep. Celebrating 400 followers. Yes. So during our set, like for our whole set, Adam, how do you pronounce his last name? Fowler? Sure. Adam from Jawbreaker. He watched our entire set from the side of the stage. We have a long history with the band Jawbreaker. Like we toured with them in 1995 and we did their entire, the main like nationwide tour for the Dear You album release. And then we played some of their, I don't know, it was the 25th anniversary shows for that a few years back. So like Smoking Popes and Jawbreaker, we've been friends for a long time, but we don't talk to them all the time. I don't see Adam all the time. So he watched our whole set from the side of the stage. And I think when we played on the shoulder, I think he maybe cried a little bit. He really felt it. And then he came up to the drum riser after we were done, and he took a pair of my sticks. Oh, he did? Yeah. I saw him run up there. Yeah. Like, right away. Like, you were done, and he, like... He grabbed them, and he, like, looked at me and, like, nodded. And I'm like, yeah. And he, like, took a pair of sticks. On the shoulder is one that'll get you. It'll get you. So it was great to see Adam. Apparently he's got some kids that I think are around my son Jack's age, like in their late 20s, and they're fans. Maybe he's giving those sticks to his kids. Yeah, that's cool. So those are all kind of the famous people. We saw Robert Blakeman, too. Oh, yeah, we did see Robert Blakeman. Yeah, we didn't take a picture with him or anything. It's weird because I've known them for a long time, and when I was real young I was such a huge fan that talking to Robert Blakeman still makes me a little bit nervous. Today? Yeah. Huh. I don't know. He was just this iconic figure to me. Well, he loves pinball. And you know what he said? That he loves it. Do you know which machine he said? I can't remember. Jaws. Oh, yeah, that's right. Yeah. He did. We had a moment. Because we were playing pinball, and then he came up, and we exchanged pleasantries, and he's like, the Jaws machine is really cool. Yeah. That is the best one. And then he started playing, and then I just left him alone. Well, you've got to leave a guy alone. Yeah. Except for Brendan Kelly. Except for Brendan. I just got right up in there. Because Robert Blakeman doesn't live nearby enough to come here. I would love to have Robert Blakeman from Jawbreaker here, or Adam. If you guys want to come, if you listen, come on down. But Brendan lives just a short hour and 50 minutes away. Yeah, it's nothing for a rocker. But yeah, it was a cool day. It was super fun. We didn't stay all day. We got there at 10 a.m. for load-in. Left here at 8 a.m. Yeah. And then we skedaddled out of there at like 3 p.m. Yeah. So we got to hang out, went and see some people we haven't seen for a long time, hang out and chit-chat, saw all the Caterer brothers. It was great. And our bass player, Matt, he rocked hard. He rocked so hard. because he's I'm not going to give his age but he's the oldest one of us and he plays like the least like a lot of times when we play shows it's my friend Ruben Baird on bass Matt doesn't get out there rocking nearly as much and every show he's like I'm not going to jump this time and then like one song in he's over there I looked over and he was doing like a really big jump it was like song number two I'm like yeah there he goes there he goes jumping well it was fun because in the audience were the other popes um well and you had john perrin teching for you yeah john perrin was my my drum tech who's currently my bags which is awesome because i thought i was going to puke after well john is an awesome drummer and he's actually on tour with josh as the pope's drummer they're on tour with bouncing souls right now today and h2o so he's doing that but in the crowd was the touring bass player and his wife ruben and angie baird and jack sabilski the touring uh guitar player he was rocking out there and he got a haircut he did get a haircut i've seen those pictures we should have i don't know why we didn't meet everybody up together and take a big group picture yeah mustafa was there too stuff was there we could have had mustafa and john and me and jack and ruben and matt and eli and josh this is because we're like almost boomers in that regard in terms of capturing the moment which is funny that we're like we're content creators are we we're content creators now we have a podcast well and like i'll just go through a day like that and just live the day and I'm not like documenting really any of it. I know. We need someone to follow us around. Yeah. We just need like a little guy or gal or whoever to just with the camera, like documenting it. Yeah. Not every day. Just special days. Most days. No, just when we go do this stuff, we need like somebody that's just going to like shoot video and take pictures of it all. Well, you know what would be a great opportunity to do that is Expo is coming up, which we haven't talked about with this group, but Pinball Expo is happening in a couple weeks in Schaumburg, Illinois, at the Convention Center. If anybody's watching and you want to follow us around. I think Vince is going to. Oh, is he? Yeah. Oh, all right. Never mind. I think my friend Vince Griff is going to do that. But we could use more. I mean, if you're around here or Chicagoland, and there are events or shows, like Pope shows, and you want to come film and photograph people and us, send us a note. Yeah. Because we suck at it. I suck at it. It takes a village, Mike. I've always sucked at it. I'll do an entire month-long tour and take two pictures. Yeah. That's how I am. It's just not top of mind, I feel like, the way it is for other people. Yeah. But I don't know. It's funny because my grandma, A, I mean, she took pictures of everything. She loved taking pictures. And that was when it was film and you had to develop it. I had my dad, when he retired, scan all of my grandma's pictures in so we could digitize them. There were over 20,000 pictures. Oh, my gosh. Crazy. Yeah, crazy. I think it's just some people have it, some people don't. Yeah, we're just not that way, which is funny that we decided to make content. This is different. Because this, like, you're setting it up. You're having a moment. It's an activity. You're having a chat. And now we're in here, and we're talking to the camera, and we're not, like, doing life and then thinking to. It's the multitasking of life and snapping that's hard. Yeah. I'm mostly, like, anxious and nervous about most things. I'm, like, just worried about getting through the thing. So I'm, like, too nervous and edgy to, like, photograph it. Yeah. You know? Yeah. I think it's your turn to ask me a you choose Have you thought about that? No I wonder what it'll be I wonder what it'll be too I think like I gave the Did I give the dream theme last time? I don't remember what it was It was the purge I did it The purge you did it We have a dream theme prepared Yeah we do But a you choose we did not have prepared And you know we haven't been doing the music recommendations. No. That's my bad. And also I don know if I Maybe I said on the podcast we have a punk rock pinball playlist on Spotify Yeah The link in the description Check that out I'm going to say there's a band called Elway. Oh, yeah. And if you look, search Elway Rock Room or search our channel for Elway. A couple of great videos from them. I edited one of those. Did you? Yeah, I can't remember which one. It was like the first one I did. These were the first ones that we edited without Ken. Yeah. That's when, like, Ken tapped out. He got busy. And we love Ken. Mm-hmm. But he just got burnt out. We were doing a lot back then, like two or three a week. It was bonkers. Mm-hmm. But they have videos on the channel, but they also have a new song, and I want to get the name of it right. They've got a brand new song that came out today. Oh. Which is Friday. What's the date today? Friday the 26th. Oh. September. And let's look at LA. They've got 6,700 monthly listeners. Should have more than that. They're really good. Are they from, like, Colorado? I think so. At least one of them lives there. the new song is called down the lane and far away the band is called elway i'm gonna go ahead and put it on the punk rock pinball playlist right now so if you go to the punk rock pinball playlist on spotify that song is on there check it out okay in that time did you think of a you choose no do we skip it today i maybe as we think of do the dream theme maybe okay because i know you've got lots to say about the dream i have a little bit to say about that i have some ideas on this dream theme all right so while we talk about it maybe i'll think of a you choose and i mean i make you choose things every day but on the spot like this I'll think about it you can reveal what the dream theme is the dream theme today is Riot Fest pinball it could go in a million different ways they just celebrated the 20th anniversary of Riot Fest it could be a collective of those 20 years many of those several of those years I should say weren't in like Logan Square or Douglas Park. They were in venues. It was different when it started. Did it start in like the Congress Theater? That was, yeah. Like the first ones? The Congress and I think a couple other ones that they had like, it was like Fest in a way. Yeah. And yeah, Congress was a shithole. A dump. Man, that place sucked. So they've grown a lot in the 20 years they've been doing it. I think this theme, Obviously, this is our Riot Fest recap episode, but also I think, man, if you did just like an LE only Riot Fest machine, that sells 500. There's 500 people would buy a Riot Fest pinball machine, isn't there? Yeah, and I feel like the licensing would not be that much. I mean, Stern and Riot Fest already have a relationship. Yeah, but I mean, even with the bands. They're both right here. and then if you're getting the bands you're going to get like a song right you're not doing like 20 green day songs you're going to get a green day song you get one alkaline trio song you get a blink 182 song and get a weezer song and then you have all these baby bands like the smoking popes and you're going to get a naked ray gun song you're going to get a guar song and i feel like stern and riot fest you guys are just there like do we just need to give it a little push is that what you're saying give it a little push and like would it put i would think it would be profitable for you stern right to make just 500 yeah there's not even a pro model there's not a premium model there's 500 riot fest pinball machines that are 13 000 a piece And you let Riot Fest like raffle one off next year. Mm-hmm. Or whatever they do. And I got an idea for the code. I mean, it could be just like a re-theme of an existing game. Like take... Monsters. Take an existing layout that you have. Take Foo Fighters. Yeah. Or take Uncanny X-Men. One of these really cool... Take the Uncanny X-Men layout. Mm-hmm. Because that layout... Is amazing. Is amazing. The game, I'm sure, didn't sell enough. You've had these fixed kits for it. There were some issues with certain shots and things on the game that have been corrected. So it would give you an opportunity to build more of them with that stuff in place. It's a fantastic layout. So you don't need to have somebody design the layout at all. and I feel like the whole Riotland and their map the way that works you could do that on this Uncanny X-Men layout so easy the Riotland is like a carnival and then the Sentinel head is that Riotfest devil guy head boom right? because it's there all the time the big kind of devil head and then you have some really fun call outs in the voice the written voice of whoever handles the social media at Riot Fest, who is a genius. Yeah, the Riot Fest Twitter account. Unhinged. It's so great. You need to check that out. That's hilarious. So good. Yeah. They will just, if you comment snarky stuff on there, they will just, like, annihilate you, and they don't care. No, it's so great. So great. So we're taking the Uncanny X-Men layout. I keep going over here because there's an Uncanny X-Men machine right there that you can't see, but I can see. That's why I'm looking over there at it. And you could, because all those shots already have names based on roads. So you can rename them based on like the areas of the Douglas Park. The stages. It's right there. Yeah. It's just right there. And it's a fantastic layout. and Jack Danger I'm pretty sure is a fan of a lot of those of Riot Fest even though I think he was somewhere else this weekend he was at a pinball show I think the Colorado one maybe so yeah you just you need new artwork you need new code so MXV write some rules up and Ray Day like you two guys get together on the code because the Ray Day does really cool rules We like to call him Raymond. Raymond. Raymond Davidson. Mm-hmm. Our friend. Mm-hmm. So Mike and Raymond are going to work on the rules. Riot Fest in Stern, you're going to hammer out this licensing. It's going to be cheap because we're only making $500. And then here's what you do. You do it like a 20 years kind of deal. And then within the code, when the player starts a game, maybe it's, I don't know how many years you include, but you pick which year of Riot Fest you want to play. Whoa. That's a lot. It's a lot. You don't have to have every band from every year. You know, just like a handful of like the biggest and then work in some cute little small ones, like get a Smoking Popes in there. Okay. Work in some of those 1.50 p.m. bands. Yeah. You don't maybe need to do all 20 years, but you maybe take like the last 10. And all that really is, like, it doesn't change the modes of the game, but it's like the playlist. Okay? Okay. So let say every year has like a 10 playlist Okay And then you could pick it from one of the last 10 years And that way there a huge selection of music And I don't think any of these bands, it's going to cost you that much to get a song. No, no. I think that they would probably just think it's cool. And if like one of the headliners from a year, if it's expensive, then just tell them to go screw and pick a different one. Yeah. Like, because there's three or four good headliners every year. You don't need all four. No. Just get a handful of the main ones and then some of the smaller ones because that would be so neat for those vans to be in a pinball machine. That's what I mean. I think most of them would be like, heck yeah, let's do it. And I think if you just make 500 of these, then that sells out in a week. Really? Don't you think? Probably, maybe. I'm buying it. I mean, barcades. There's only 500 being made. Yes, it's selling out. Only 500. Green Day's on there. Alkaline Trio's on there. Nine Inch Nails, if they'll play cool. The Misfits, if they'll play cool. Smoking Pokes are on there. Weird Al. That's going to move units. Weird Al's in there. Weezer's in there. Their bass player is a pinballer, so he'd probably first talk to the bass player in Weezer, Stern, and get him to pitch the rest of the band so he'd get their song cheaper. and maybe take one of their lesser hits that might cost less, you know, like take a deep cut off of Pinkerton or something, man, that would be great. Yeah, I mean, I would want it. I would want it. And I have an Uncanny X-Men, and I would still want this, even though it's the same layout. It'd be cool. It'd be so cool. And, like, the artwork is already there from the show flyers. Like, the back glass art, anyway, is there. Yeah, and the rest of it can be inspired off of it. Like, it's a starting point to build off of. And they release those cool maps, like those drawn-out maps. Like, that's the play field, right? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. All right, so we got that one in the can for you, Stern. Mm-hmm. And it has to be Stern for that. It has to be Stern. Like, nobody else. No, I don't even want it. I feel like Riot Fest and Stern, boom. If it's like Jersey Jack, like, I got nothing against them. I don't even want it. No, I just... I don't want it. That doesn't have the right soul. No. And Spooky, also not the right soul for this. No. Because Stern's been providing games at Riot Fest for a long time now. And they're just right there like neighbors in Chicagoland. So it has to be Stern. It should be the Uncanny X-Men layout. You could sway me on that, but it should be that. because you're probably not going to dedicate one of your designers to spend all the amount of time to make a new layout for a 500 machine run. Yeah. And I feel like Uncanny X-Men is such a great layout. It deserves a second life. I agree. Nothing wrong with Uncanny X-Men. The game is great. But it would be cool if it also was Riot Fest. It would be super cool. I've got a you choose for you. Woo! So, Riot Fest this year tells you, like three months ago, they say, hey, Mike, you can choose any band on the three-day lineup except for headliners to come play in front of your pinball machines. Who do you choose? It can't be the headliners, so I don't get to have Weezer. You don't get to have Weird Al. Weird Al's a headliner. I think he was. you don't get to get let me look I gotta bring up Blink was one so Blink I can't have Blink right? no you can't have Green Day can't have Blink so I don't know if Weird Al was technically a headliner oh really? I guess he maybe thought he was well he was the last two bands of Friday Night were the Pogues in Blink-182 but Weird Al played at 7 okay so let's say they're off okay let's say I can't get them so I can't get Weezer I think I've got one here well this is tough because you have my friends Jawbreaker who were not a headliner I would love to have Jawbreaker in here would be phenomenal but this one I haven't seen them they're old guys I know who you're going to say you know who I'm going to say? I think so because I think we talked about this I don't think we did What am I going to say? Are you going to say Shutter to Think? No, but that would be great. Okay. That would be great. I was going to say The Buzzcocks. Ooh. Because imagine if you had The Buzzcocks on Live from the Rock Room. That's pretty badass. Yeah. That's your choice? Yeah, The Buzzcocks. Yeah, that's kind of awesome. Right? Yeah, that would be cool. And I don't know how they sound right now. Josh met their singer at Metro. But I would take the Buzzcocks if I'm taking from the non-headliners. It's a good choice. I mean, you can't go wrong. Shutter to Think would be amazing. The Buzzcocks would get a lot more views. They would both be great. Jawbreaker would be also great. I don't think there's anybody on that lineup that wouldn't be great. Right. There's a lot of bands on here. Even a Riot Fest lineup is starting to make me feel old a little bit. It's starting to feel like how it was with Lollapalooza, where you used to know them all, and now I know none of them. Another sneaky one in here that would be great would be Superchunk. That's tough now. I forgot about Superchunk. Buzzcocks overshoot Superchunk, though. I would. Super Chunks was one of my favorite bands growing up as a youth. But the Buzzcocks are just legendary. We're going Buzzcocks. Okay. Buzzcocks. All right. And the Buzzcocks should be in the pin. For sure. The song in the pin. There's no way they'd charge you that much to have a song in there. No, they think it's cool. Yeah, I think we can get this done. We can get this pinball machine done. Let's do it. Let's do it, Stern. Yeah. In Riot Fest. Uh-huh. All right, let's call some. We've got to tag them both. We've got to tag them when we put this out. Yeah. Let's make it happen. Yeah. Let us know how we can help. We'll do whatever. Yeah. If you need me to reach out to some of these bands. We'll do it. I don't know. Just say, guys, you need to do this. If you need me to encourage some of these bands. I know some of them. I don't think as far as business decisions go, they would really listen to me. But I could encourage them. Well, Riot Fest knows them. Uh-huh. And I think they would think it's cool. Yeah, like Riot Fest has a relationship with the bands. Yeah. Stern and Riot Fest have this relationship. Let's just make this happen. Yeah, just tie the knot, buddies. Mm-hmm. Tie the knot. Mm-hmm. All right. Well, Mike, what else we got? I think that's all I got about this topic. All right. Well. And we're at 33 minutes. It's a good amount of time. It's a good amount of time. Well, thank you so much if you made it this far. It really means a lot. Please give us a comment. It really, really helps. I know it sounds stupid and everybody says that, but it really does help us get more views and spread the word. Tell a friend about us. Join the Facebook group. Yeah. Join the Facebook group. And then when we post these videos in there, like them. Like it. Share it. Yeah, just hit the like button. It doesn't cost anything. And it really makes us smile. It makes us happy. Yeah. We look at the numbers. Mike does. And I tell you what they were. Yeah. Because Steph will say, what are the numbers? It's fun. And I'll be like, it's 250 views. Like, that's not bad. Yeah, it feels good. Uh-huh. So I hope you guys all have a great week. Yeah. Toodle-oo. Thanks for watching. Bye now. Bye. _(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v4)_ --- *Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 64825910-4fc8-4ef2-aacd-b4614334653a*