# Episode 26: What’s the Next Big Game from Barrels of Fun? Epic TWIPY Weekend Highlights & Your Voicemails!

**Source:** The Flipside Pinball Podcast  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2025-03-03  
**Duration:** 55m 39s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** 0bb149a6-6361-4290-b47f-ae36c5e2e394

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## Analysis

Retro Ralph recounts his experience at the 2024 Twippies event in Houston, highlighting venue tours, community experiences, and a secretive visit to Barrels of Fun's facility. He discusses what he learned about game design from rare classic games, the technical challenges of live streaming the event, and hints at Barrels of Fun's mysterious upcoming projects without revealing specifics due to an NDA.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Barrels of Fun showed Ralph something they've acquired—an existing game that has been built before but he never sees it working, which is not their next game but something they might do in limited capacity if community interest warrants it. — _Retro Ralph speaking about his Barrels of Fun facility tour; he explicitly states he cannot reveal what it is due to NDA._
- [HIGH] Barrels of Fun has only made one game so far (Labyrinth) but has tight quality assurance processes and a collector mindset that may slow production but ensures quality. — _Retro Ralph describing Barrels of Fun operations and their QA philosophy during the tour._
- [HIGH] The Wormhole vault contains rare European pinball titles, conversions, and one-of-a-kind games, with a policy that every game must be streamed once before being cycled back. — _Retro Ralph discussing the Wormhole vault tour with Jamie, citing the streaming documentation rule._
- [HIGH] Avatar won best art package at the Twippies, and Uncanny X-Men won for top innovation (Danger Room). — _Retro Ralph reporting Twippies awards results from the event._
- [MEDIUM] Multimorphic's next P3 game is widely reported to be Portal, and community consensus is that the P3 platform is viewed as too digital and hasn't been fully embraced by players. — _Retro Ralph discussing Portal P3 and community sentiment; he states 'it's being reported everywhere as Portal' but expresses uncertainty about broader adoption._
- [MEDIUM] Barrels of Fun may have an opportunity to show a game at Texas Pinball Festival but will only bring it if ready, unlike other manufacturers. — _Retro Ralph relaying conversation with David Van Essig about TPF game possibilities._
- [HIGH] Russell (RJ Texan) hosted a pre-Twippies event at his home with extensive game collection spanning the past 5-10 years, including hired bartender and catering. — _Retro Ralph describing Russell's house event on Friday of Twippies weekend._
- [HIGH] The live stream of Twippies experienced upload speed issues due to an internet outage approximately 15 minutes into the show. — _Retro Ralph recounting technical difficulties during Friday night Twippies broadcast production._

### Notable Quotes

> "The Houston pinball community is hot, man. It is hot. You could pretty much play a tournament almost every day of the freaking week."
> — **Retro Ralph**, early in episode
> _Establishes Houston as a vibrant pinball hub and primary reason for Twippies success._

> "For a company that has only made one game, right, Labyrinth, holy shit – like these guys have their shit together, and they're passionate."
> — **Retro Ralph**, mid-episode, Barrels of Fun section
> _Positive assessment of Barrels of Fun's professionalism and quality mindset despite limited output._

> "It's a game that does exist that has been built before, but I never see it working. That's all I can say."
> — **Retro Ralph**, Barrels of Fun section
> _Cryptic hint about mysterious Barrels of Fun project shown under NDA; suggests acquisition or restoration of rare/obscure title._

> "I love that excitement that we don't get that much anymore because of the internet. Like the internet spoils freaking everything."
> — **Retro Ralph**, late in Barrels discussion
> _Reflects appreciation for Barrels' secretive approach and frustration with industry leaks._

> "I think traditional pinball in the modern world has done a good job of bringing the analog and digital together enough. And it seems like people view their platform as too digital, that it took it too far."
> — **Retro Ralph**, Multimorphic P3 discussion
> _Articulates community criticism of Multimorphic's digital-heavy approach vs. analog-digital balance of modern pinball._

> "I don't hate that game. I actually find that game pretty fun. And I think people hate it. I don't know why they hate it."
> — **Retro Ralph**, Toy Story 4 discussion
> _Counter to dominant community opinion; suggests contrarian view on game quality._

> "When an issue like that happens, you just got to stay chill, and you got to be level-headed. Don't freak out."
> — **Retro Ralph**, technical difficulties section
> _Reflects on professionalism and problem-solving during live event broadcast challenges._

> "I don't think he should do that next year. I think we need someone to produce and then the host to be host, you know, because then they can deal with the – you know, it's more seamless."
> — **Retro Ralph**, post-broadcast reflection
> _Constructive feedback for Twippies 2 production; identifies splitting roles as improvement._

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Retro Ralph | person | Host of Flip Side Podcast; attended Twippies event and Barrels of Fun facility tour; content creator and pinball enthusiast. |
| David Van Essig | person | Owner/founder of Barrels of Fun; kept tour secretive, showed unrevealed project under NDA. |
| Colin | person | Organizer of Twippies event; drove with Retro Ralph to Russell's house; possibly referenced Goonies hints at Barrels facility. |
| Jamie | person | Operator of Wormhole Pinball; produced and hosted Twippies broadcast; managed complex OBS streaming setup; experienced technical issues during live event. |
| Russell (RJ Texan) | person | Pinball collector and Pinside community member; hosted pre-Twippies house event with extensive modern game collection and catering. |
| Jerry | person | Representative from Multimorphic/P3; attended Russell's house event; discussed P3 platform passion but community perception of over-digitalization. |
| Ian | person | Editor/contributor at Nudge Magazine (aka Doc Monday); competed with Retro Ralph at Eureka Heights tournament; described as intense competitor. |
| Mark Seidon | person | Designer of Avatar pinball machine; won best art package at Twippies; described as very nice person along with wife. |
| Craig | person | Pinside community member who previously helped Retro Ralph fix Uncanny X-Men auto plunge issue; met in person at Eureka Heights. |
| Jack | person | Designer of Uncanny X-Men; won Twippies innovation award for Danger Room feature; game praised for innovative design despite code concerns. |
| Joel | person | Referenced as exceptional at memorizing and explaining complex pinball code; mentioned in context of Dungeons & Dragons game mastery. |
| Aaron | person | Co-host/assistant for Twippies broadcast; helped manage technical issues and keep production calm during internet outage. |
| Barrels of Fun | company | Pinball manufacturer; released Labyrinth; maintains high QA standards; showed mysterious acquired game project to Retippies participants under NDA; considering Texas Pinball Festival appearance. |
| Wormhole Pinball | company | Houston pinball arcade venue; hosted Twippies event; operates vault location with rare European games and conversions; streams all new acquisitions; cycled games for community play. |
| Multimorphic | company | Pinball manufacturer; P3 platform with upcoming Portal game; community perceives as too digital-focused compared to traditional pinball analog-digital balance. |
| Stern Pinball | company | Major pinball manufacturer; Retro Ralph contrasted Barrels' openness with Stern's more controlled facility tours. |
| Eureka Heights Brewing | company | Brewery and pinball venue in Houston; hosted IFPA tournament and Dungeons & Dragons launch party with food truck and tacos during Twippies weekend. |
| Twippies | event | Annual pinball competition/community event held in Houston; 2024 edition was reboot at Wormhole; featured awards for innovation and art; planned for return in 2025. |
| Texas Pinball Festival | event | Festival where Barrels of Fun may debut unannounced game; also location for potential Multimorphic P3 Portal game launch. |
| Uncanny X-Men | game | Jack-designed pinball machine; won Twippies innovation award; noted for Danger Room feature; had auto-plunge issues fixed by Craig; new code updates in progress. |
| Avatar | game | Pinball machine designed by Mark Seidon; won Twippies best art package award; praised as visually beautiful. |
| Labyrinth | game | Only released game from Barrels of Fun; mentioned as their sole output to date. |
| Portal | game | Upcoming Multimorphic P3 game; widely reported in industry; based on video game IP; community interest uncertain. |
| Dungeons & Dragons | game | Modern pinball machine; complex code with steep learning curve; Retro Ralph found it fun but difficult to learn; featured at Eureka Heights launch party during Twippies. |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Twippies Event 2024, Barrels of Fun Facility Tour & Mystery Project, Houston Pinball Community
- **Secondary:** Live Streaming Technical Production, Modern Pinball Code Complexity & Accessibility, Multimorphic P3 Platform Reception, Rare/Classic European Pinball Games
- **Mentioned:** Game Design Innovation & Quality Assurance

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.82) — Retro Ralph is enthusiastic and praising throughout, celebrating the Twippies event, Houston community, Barrels of Fun's professionalism, and venue experiences. Minor criticisms surface regarding Multimorphic platform adoption and some games (though even Toy Story 4 critique is mild). Overall tone is grateful, energized, and optimistic about the hobby's community aspects.

### Signals

- **[event_signal]** Twippies successfully relocated to Wormhole Pinball venue; first reboot event was well-received with multi-venue programming (Russell's house, vault tour, Eureka Heights brewery). (confidence: high) — Retro Ralph praised the event logistics, venue quality, and community turnout; Colin organizer received hats off for weekend planning; discussion of plans to host again in 2025.
- **[community_signal]** Houston pinball community is vibrant and active with tournament opportunities multiple times per week; attracts regional content creators and players. (confidence: high) — 'The Houston pinball community is hot, man. It is hot. You could pretty much play a tournament almost every day of the freaking week.'
- **[machine_intel]** Barrels of Fun has acquired an existing game that has been built before but is rarely seen working; considering limited-capacity production if community interest warrants; not their next primary release. (confidence: medium) — Retro Ralph: 'It's a game that does exist that has been built before, but I never see it working. They acquired this thing. They might do something with it in a very limited capacity if they feel like the community would like it. I think you could probably get at least 100 people if you did a limited run.'
- **[content_signal]** Twippies live broadcast used advanced OBS configurations; experienced technical failures (internet outage affecting upload speeds 15 min into show); identified need for separate producer/host roles for 2025. (confidence: high) — Retro Ralph detailed OBS complexity, internet outage crippling uploads, and recommendation to split production and hosting duties next year.
- **[product_concern]** Uncanny X-Men receiving ongoing code updates; community perception mixed—design praised but code depth desired by some players; Retro Ralph expressed desire for more code improvements. (confidence: medium) — Retro Ralph: 'I want more out of the code for me personally. And I think a lot of others feel that way, too.' Game won innovation award, but code updates ongoing.
- **[sentiment_shift]** Multimorphic P3 platform has not achieved expected community adoption; perceived as too digitally-focused vs. modern pinball's analog-digital balance. (confidence: medium) — Retro Ralph: 'When I talked to Jerry...the general consensus in the community is that people haven't like fully embraced this thing...seems like people view their platform as too digital, that it took it too far.'
- **[design_innovation]** Rare European/Zachariah-era games featured innovative mechanics (hidden playfield layers, whack-a-mole targets, adaptive ball timers) that modern games could learn from. (confidence: high) — Retro Ralph detailed Zachariah games' playfield pop-up mechanics, robot head targets, and adaptive timer systems; noted modern design could incorporate similar innovations.
- **[gameplay_signal]** Modern pinball games like Dungeons & Dragons have steep code learning curves; accessibility vs. depth balance is industry design challenge; player expertise ranges widely. (confidence: high) — Retro Ralph discussed D&D code complexity, noted Joel's exceptional code knowledge, and reflected on need to serve both new and experienced players.
- **[market_signal]** Wormhole vault houses one-of-a-kind and extremely rare games (European conversions, unlicensed artwork titles) with minimal location instances; high collector/enthusiast interest. (confidence: high) — Retro Ralph noted games like Zachariah conversions may exist as 1-5 units globally; many have zero location presence per Pinside; Wormhole documents all acquisitions via streaming.
- **[manufacturing_signal]** Barrels of Fun implements rigorous QA and maintains collector-oriented quality standards; willing to delay release if quality requirements not met. (confidence: high) — Retro Ralph: 'They do a lot of QA at Barrels of Fun...they have a very collector mindset. Like they don't want stuff going out that door unless they're satisfied with it...it might slow them down, but I don't think they care.'
- **[regulatory_signal]** Barrels of Fun required NDA from Twippies tour participants regarding mystery project; maintains strict information control on unannounced games. (confidence: high) — Retro Ralph: 'We had to sign an NDA...it's not traditional. So I don't know. But I can't tell you more than that right now.'
- **[rumor_hype]** Community speculation about Barrels of Fun's next game; Goonies references observed at facility; Retro Ralph uncertain if Colin was trolling with Goonies placement or if it's actual project hint. (confidence: low) — Retro Ralph: 'I swear to God every now and then we would see Goonies references around...I think Colin's trying to troll people...I'm so confused because I really thought it was G.I. Joe, and now I don't know.'

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## Transcript

 Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of the Flipside Podcast. I'm your host Retro Ralph, and today we're going to talk all about my Twippy experience. We just got back from Houston and man, I got to say, this was honestly one of my very favorite pinball trips I've ever taken. I had such a good time with good friends and good people. The Houston pinball community is hot, man. It is hot. You could pretty much play a tournament almost every day of the freaking week. It is a very cool place for pinball. But anyways, before we get into it, we're going to talk about that. We're going to take some voicemails. And we're going to figure out what the hell is going on with Barrels of Fun. They're being so top secret. David Van Essie is like, come on into my house. I'm not going to show you too much. But I'm going to show you something. I'm going to keep you guessing. He definitely kept us guessing. But I have a newfound respect for, I already had respect for Barrels of Fun, but I have even more now after being there and getting to tour their facility and meet everybody that works there. Really cool people. So what we're going to do is before we get started, as always, we're going to hear a word from our sponsor, Flip N Out Pinball. are you looking for a new pinball machine a used pinball machine or to trade in your old pinball machine for something new look no further than flipping out pinball they can handle all your pinball needs they ship anywhere in the united states and they will give you the best experience in the business check out the link to flipping out pinball in the video description for more information now back to the video all right we're gonna dive right into it guys okay so here's the deal this weekend was amazing i got hats off to colin and the whole twippy committee because the weekend they put together so keep in mind this this this event this was the this was the reboot and this was the first time you know hosting it at the wormhole which the wormhole is freaking epic it is an amazing place to play pinball really cool game selection good good like good mix of modern and classics and things you just don't see like rarities and so it's just it's just really cool and then the like i said the pit the houston pinball community is is really great so this weekend that they put together was all around the twippies so if you bought a ticket to go see the see the event live right because obviously we live streamed it but you could also see it you got to experience all these things. So I'm going to kind of paint the picture of what we did. And then also, if you want, you can go to my YouTube channel, Retro Ralph, and you can actually watch a whole video recap of it, which I think was pretty well done. And it does document all this. But I just feel like I want to go into a little bit more detail on some of these things. So first of all, Russell, a.k.a. RJ Texan on Pinside, he's a big pinball fan. He's been in the hobby for a long time. And he basically said, look, if you're going to the Twippies, this was something he offered up. He said, hey, guys, I want to offer up my house, open house for you guys. Anybody go to the Twippies on Friday, on Friday morning. So we fly. I fly in Thursday. I didn't get a lot of sleep on Thursday night because I was so excited. And I also got in really late. I didn't get into my hotel until about midnight. So he's like, yeah, we want you to come over to my house on Friday. So there was probably, you know, I don't know how many Twippy on location tickets were sold. I didn't actually get the final number from Colin, but there was quite a few. So we show up, you know, Friday morning. I drive Colin over. Colin didn't have a car. I rented a car. So I got a chance to hang out with Colin a little bit more, just talk in the car. I think he's probably, I think if Colin, if I ask Colin, he's probably like, dude, Ralph doesn't stop talking. I like to talk. I'm a talker. That's why I can have a podcast, right? But I talked Colin's ear off. this and that and blah, blah, blah. I think he's like, dude, I love Colin. I think he's like, okay, I can't wait to get in the car and then get away from you. I don't think he really thinks that, but I was talking his ear off. That's for sure. So we get to this guy, Russell's house. We meet up and it's me. It's Ian. It's, oh no, Ian wasn't there yet. Sorry. Jamie from the wormhole. Aaron couldn't make it yet. I don't think Aaron was in town yet. So we go up to this house and it's a beautiful house. I mean, he has got a, it's a beautiful, beautiful home. And we walk in and he's got name tags to put on. He's got donuts laid out. And then you look beyond the sort of grand entrance and there's a guy making bloody, he hired a bartender. I mean, he hired a freaking bartender. So Russell knows how to do up a party and his game selection was just, I mean, he didn't have a lot of older classic games, but holy crap, he had like almost everything that's been new in the past like five years, maybe even 10. It was just everything. But what struck me about his house the most outside of their amazing hospitality, by the way, they did have people making food for us too. So there was this whole spread of food. They had this like grand, I didn't take any video footage of this. I wanted to be like, you know, Russell didn't have any problem with it, but I don't know. I was in someone else's home. I didn't want to be like that guy that just got his camera out all the time. And I did film some stuff. Oh man, my zipper's down. My wife always, I just looked down at my, I felt a draft. My wife always makes fun of me whenever we go anywhere. She looks at my zipper and she's like, your fly's down. Like I always have my fly down. I don't know why, but yeah, that's a really interesting sidetrack. But I didn't have my fly down at Russell's house, luckily. So yeah, so I was enamored with his collection and just his passion for pinball. There was a lot of people there. There was a lot of community people there. I got to meet, I think it's Jerry. I always get his name. I think it's Jerry. I think it's Jerry from P3 Multimorphic. He was there. A couple of guys from Barrels of Fun were there. And then there was just a bunch of community members there as well. But he had like in this one room, he had this spiral staircase in the corner. He had Big Lebowski. And this room was like this like old mahogany wood. Like, I don't know. It just it fit the vibe. And he just had he had a spiral staircase. And then the Big Lebowski was right there. and then in that room he had a couple more pins and i can't remember which ones he had in there i want to say maybe he had guns and roses maybe and then john wick and something else in that one room but it was like this really cool vibe in that room and then upstairs if you walked up that spiral staircase there were more games up there there was a bunch of games in the grant in like the grand entrance area which i don't think were there normally his wife was like look we're we move these here for you guys coming so it's just it's just really cool for him to do that so the reason why I'm telling you all this is that next year, you know, the plan is to host the Twippies again in Houston. I think the plan would be to do it at the wormhole. And this, these activities that I'm going to, that I'm talking about would be things you'd be able to do as well for next year. And we're probably even going to plan more for next year. So anyway, so Russell, thank you. If you listen to this, he was awesome. Uh, the game that I was enamored that he had is he had an immaculate pirates of the Caribbean with that topper. And I can't remember the name of the company that makes that topper. It was, it was, I want to say it was like 2,500 bucks when it came out and it's got like an LCD screen of the ocean and it has, uh, it's like ocean waves and it's got like thunder and lightning effects. And then it has, it's just, it's just really cool. Uh, for those of you that are watching this, I'll try to overlay some footage so you can kind of see what I'm talking about, but if not, and you want to, you want to see what I'm talking about, just go watch the video on retro Ralph. It's it's the, my latest video and it's all about this event. So then from there we go to the wormhole wormholes vault so wormhole pinball has their own location but this is their vault location so in their vault location it's all games that they've acquired that are kind of coming in um it's a little bit of like an overflow of the collection but some of it is also things that are brand new that they just got right so they're in various states of repair some of them are working fine but it's like all these crazy rare european titles like things i had never played before. And it's weird when you start playing these old games like the Zachariah. I always say Zachariah, Zachariah, Zachariah. I don't know what the proper I never get it right. Some people say it different ways. So so whatever. If you want to correct me in the comments, go for it. But there was this one game and I can't remember the name of it. It was a Zachariah game. And in the play field, it was a time machine, I think it was called. Right. So there was a shot on the left and I just it made me think oh my gosh the innovation for a game made this long ago you'd hit the shot from the left and the playfield looked flat and then the whole playfield would come up so that it was like hidden under the under the playfield and it would pop up and all of a sudden you'd have all these other shots to hit it was so freaking cool the other thing that's really cool that I'm not as I'm not as in tune with these Zachariah games but I almost wish that like modern titles would take on some of this cool stuff that they used to do. So when you drain on ball three, depending on how well you did, you get another ball. So it's like your final, it's like your final attempt. And then depending on how you play, you have a timer that times down. So if you're playing better, I don't know what the criteria is in the code, but if you're playing better, you get more of a timer of this last ball and you just play and that timer is ticking down and you have that fourth ball to play and then once your timer's up like your flippers just die it's like kind of cool because the whole game just like sort of dies i think that's really neat the other game that i played that's i think zachariah 2 is called robot and that one it had like a shot on the left and when you'd hit it these little robot heads would pop up like almost like whack-a-mole and you'd hit them down like there was just so many cool innovative old games that I got to experience that some of them were like one of one or one of not many, like maybe like five that still exist. And then you start looking on pin side and it's like no location has them. So like they're the only ones. So it's really cool. This other game I played was this horror theme game called Terrific Lake. In my mind, it's terrific, like terror, but it's spelt terrific it was weird man like the audio was super i don't know like it it was an older game so of course they can't exploit like some of the modern technologies that they have in like modern audio packages with the technology that they have in today's world but but man they had like a heartbeat and just the tension it built in a game that was that old i was just fascinated so i was really so the vault was really cool you could have spent hours in there we were there for about an hour and a half. I think that we stayed a little bit longer than that, but it was just so cool to see all these games that will eventually end up in the wormhole in there, you know, for people to play. So I think the thought is that they kind of cycle games in and out. I know I was talking to Jamie and he said they have this rule that if it ends up at the wormhole, they have to at least stream it once. Like it has to be documented before it goes back into the vault. And then obviously, I think there's probably staple games that are probably just always going to stay on the floor. So anyways, the vault was really cool, and everyone really enjoyed the vault. So far, this is only Friday, and we've gone to Russell's house, which was epic, and then we go to this wormhole vault. So you're playing all of these super rare games. There's some modern ones in there, but not much. It was mostly just like rarities, oddities, and like one-off games like that. Lots of conversions, like really cool. There was one, I can't remember the name of it. There was basically a straight ripoff of Neverending Story. It was an old game, though, so it didn't have like modern music in it really. But all the artwork, like these European games, like they didn't care about licensing. They were like, yeah, cool, whatever. Like there was a play field that had like Starsky and Hutch and RoboCop on it. It was like a cop themed game. I can't remember the name of that. But yeah, like super cool stuff over there. So this, keep in mind, we're still on, we're only on day one. So I would urge you if you want to go on a cool trip next year, and I don't know, there's some debate going on of when the Twippies are going to be next year. So just kind of hold off. I don't know when it will be, but just start thinking about, like, this could be a cool thing for you to go to. And I know they're going to limit the tickets. But anyway, so that's two events in one day. But boom, there was one more event. So Eureka Heights Brewing opened up their doors to anybody on the tour. I mean, you could have just gone there, obviously, but the whole thing was this was the third stop on the first day. And then we did an IFPA tournament. that was also a Dungeons & Dragons launch party. That was super fun. They had a food truck that was making tacos. The tacos were amazing. The beers were pretty good. I got to meet Craig, who, so this guy Craig helped me fix my, you know, rest in peace, uncanny X-Men, because you're no longer in the collection. But I did play the new code at Russell's house. I'm actually, like, it's getting there. They're making some improvements. I'm sure I'll actually regret it at some point if they keep making improvements. But I don't know. I don't I don't want to say bad things about Uncanny X-Men, because honestly, I love Jack and the design is really innovative and it is very fun to shoot. It's just I want more out of the code for me personally. And I think a lot of others feel that way, too. But but I can appreciate the effort that Jack put into the design, like the design of that game is really cool. I mean, he won at the Twippies. They won for for top innovation, you know, for the danger room. so anyways but uh i don't know where i was going with that oh so i met this guy craig that i had only talked to on pin side and he the one that helped me fix my auto plunge issue before there was an actual fix and he got me to like basically 85 success rate so it was kind of cool to meet someone that I had only talked to on Pinside in real life And then I'll tell you one more thing about the Eureka Heights. So I was playing pretty good in the tournament at first. I got Rick and Morty and man, I suck at that game. I just suck at Rick and Morty. And it's weird because I know I never play good on it. So I get in my own head. So I was terrible. I think I played with Mark Seiden, for those of you who don't know Mark, Mark is actually the designer for Avatar. I think I played that game with him. I played one of the games, I played one game with Mark and one game with Mark's wife. They're freaking very cool people. Like, oh my gosh, super, super cool. The Sidons are like quality people. Very, very nice people. So anyways, I hung out with them, you know, and it was really cool because fast forward to the Twippies, they won for the best art package which i thought was very much like they deserve that oh my gosh avatar is beautiful the game is freaking beautiful so anyway so one more story from the eureka fights that was fun is i was playing with ian in from nudge magazine aka doc monday and i usually do pretty well on jaws and tournaments and man i just was struggling ball one and ball two were not good and ian put up like dude like 800 million on jaws in a tournament and i'm like there's no way there's no way i'm to come back. I came back a little bit, but not like I had a really good ball three, but that was kind of disappointing. I get a little stressed. I love Ian. He's a really good friend of mine. I get a little stressed when I play with Ian though. Like he's, he's kind of intense and I feel like I let him, like he also likes getting in my head, but I had a couple of cool games with Ian. I actually did beat him in Dungeons and Dragons by about 10 million when I was way behind, way behind. I started the game with like 20 million and he was up to 210, I think, million. and that was his ball three. And then I finished at 220 million. So, and by the way, speaking of Dungeons and Dragons, because this was a Dungeons and Dragons launch party, I'm really liking Dungeons and Dragons, guys. I can't sit here and tell you that I could explain the rules to you. It takes me a while. I'm not like Joel, who's just like a computer when it comes to, I really don't know. I don't know if Joel listens to the podcast, but he's a unique individual, man. I don't know how he can remember everything about a game like that. It takes me tons of plays. And even then, I don't think I could explain it as good as him. Like he just digests the code and knows it. And I, and look, you don't have to be that way. Like you don't have to know every little thing about a pinball game to enjoy it. But I think once you start learning the code well in any game, you will have more fun because you start understanding the progression of the game. I will say this though. I've been thinking about this ever since my trip from playing some of the older games and then playing because I was playing a lot of old classics and rare, rare games, all every different manufacturer. And I'll say that like modern pinball can be difficult to understand. And but I think I don't know. I don't envy the designers and the developers trying to figure out how do you make a game that has enough accessibility so that someone new can have fun and not be discouraged by it. So that's a that's a that's a tough thing. I think for the hobby to continue to grow, you have to serve both customers. You have to serve the person that's really good, right, that's been in the hobby for a long time because you don't want them to be bored. But you also can't be so – you can't make it be so unapproachable that the new person is like so turned off because they can't have fun not understanding the code. So anyways, I'm going on a diatribe there. So anyways, I had a really fun time there. I talked to one of the guys over at Barrels of Fun. And for some reason, I can't remember his name. Not David, but he was really nice. Really nice guy. And I met him for the first time. We played Toy Story together, Toy Story 4. And I beat him. He owned the game, and I did beat him. I think I got first on Toy Story 4. You know what's funny about Toy Story 4? I don't hate that game. I actually find that game pretty fun, and I think people hate it. I don't know why they hate it. I think Toy Story 4 is pretty fun. Would I want to own it? No. Do I think it should have been Toy Story 1? Yes. or maybe like all of them. But yeah, like it's a, I had fun with it. I have fun with, every time I play Toy Story 4, I have fun with it. I love that little ramp that you can shoot the ball off of. I don't know, man. Some people just, some people, I wonder if they just hate it because other people say that it's bad. I really enjoy it every time I play it. But again, you know, asterisk, would I want to own it? Maybe not. Okay, we got to hurry up because we're not going to get through the rest of the day. So that was Friday. Epic, freaking epic. Oh, by the way, on Friday night, So Friday night after the Eureka thing, we didn't get out of there until almost 11. And I was talking to Jamie, and I was like, dude, we got to go back and test the freaking streams and test everything. We have to make sure everything is good. Test the internet. Test all the scenes that he had for the show. Because it was very complex. I mean, I'd say Jamie was really pushing the limits of what OBS can do. I use OBS to record this podcast. I've used OBS a lot. I used to do a lot more live streaming. And OBS is like an open source piece of software. and he was really pushing the limits of what it can do. So anyways, there was some last minute things that, it wasn't my job, by the way, to help in a technical way. That wasn't really, I was just a host. But I asked Jamie, I was like, can I help? Like, I want to help. So I did get stuff, you know, kind of, I pushed some of the limits on some of the things. Like the mics weren't sounding like I thought they should. It was picking up a lot of like background pinball noise. And I just said, hey, that might not sound great on stream. So I kind of tuned all that stuff up to sound as good as it could. We had some issues during the show. I'll get to that in a minute. But yeah, like there was an actual internet outage, which sucked all of the upload speeds. So the download speeds were fine. Upload speeds were completely crippled. And it just happened to happen in like 15 minutes into the show. So that's not easy to do. I used to do lots of live streaming. I don't as much anymore. It is difficult when you have a technical problem. Like now I get a little bit more calm and cool with that because I work in a technical field. I used to have to do live demos for a customer. You just got to like, when an issue like that happens, you just got to stay chill and you got to like be level-headed. Don't freak out. And that's kind of like Aaron and I were like Jamie's calmness. Like, hey, Jamie, we got this. Like we'll stop the stream and we'll figure it out. And that's what we did. And we just continued. We had a couple of other technical glitches, but I also got to hand it to Jamie. He was producing and hosting at the same time. I don't really think that's – I don't think he should do that next year. I think we need someone to produce and then the host to be host, you know, because then they can deal with the, you know, it's more seamless. The hosts are fully engaged and not doing two things. You know what I mean? So anyway, so that was Friday. So we went back to the wormhole. Then we went to eat after that. So I didn't get back to my hotel until a little after 1 a.m. So keep in mind, that's day one, and we haven't even got to the Twippy Day yet. So then Saturday morning hits, and we go to Barrels of Fun. We had to sign an NDA. Anyway, Barrels of Fun, the guys at Barrels of Fun are really freaking cool, man. Like, really cool. It was definitely different than, and I'm not to take away from anything Stern does, but this kind of felt like, and the Stern tours do feel like you're part of the team, but also like, you know, a little bit more controlled. Like, hey, don't go here, don't go there. And I'm not saying that Barrels wasn't a little bit like that too, but it kind of felt like and maybe because it's a smaller operation like we could just go wherever we wanted obviously there were places off limits but they showed us everything i thought that was really cool and i i gotta say for a company that has only made one game right labyrinth holy shit like these guys have their shit together and they're passionate you know so it's really cool to see this group of people uh we got to see the last sort of the last builds of labyrinth They had them on the line at the end. So basically we got to play ones that were in their last stages of quality assurance. They do a lot of QA at Barrels of Fun, and I really appreciate that. It seems like they do a lot of due diligence when it comes to quality assurance. And the other thing too is I feel – I get the vibe that they have a very collector mindset. Like they don't want stuff going out that door unless they're satisfied with it. So I think that might slow them down, but I don't think they care. They're just like, look, if it slows it down, it slows it down. But I can guarantee you, or at least to the best of their abilities, that what you're going to get is a quality game when it comes to your home. So really appreciated barrels of fun. They – I don't know what Colin was doing. I think Colin was trying to troll people because I swear to God every now and then we would see Goonies references around. And I'm like, they didn't do this. I think Colin's trying to troll people. Now I'm more confused than ever because I don't know if Colin was trolling or if they were trolling. But you know the key in the Goonies when he's like – I can't remember. It's when they're playing the piano. I can't remember if it's that scene or not. I thought it was where they have to play the piano where he locks that, like, skeleton key. That was laying around on a box of toppers. But I don't think Barrels did it. I think Colin did it. So I don't know. I'm so confused because I really thought it was G.I. Joe, and now I don't know. but they did show us something it wasn't the next game and it's definitely something i can't talk about and i said it in the video i can't talk about it but i'll say this it's something this is the only hint i can really give you it's a game that does exist that that has been built before but i never see it working that's all i can say and they showed us this thing and they were very clear that this is not their next game hopefully i don't get myself in trouble hopefully david doesn't doesn't email me and go what are you talking like he did say we could talk about it to an extent but be a little vague and i'm trying to do that without giving it away or saying what it is i don't know their thought i think is they acquired this thing they might do something with it in a very limited capacity if they feel like the community would like it and i think i think you could probably get at least 100 people. If you did a limited run of this thing, I think you could get 100 people that would want it. I do. Maybe more. I don't know. It's very strange and different. So it's not traditional. So I don't know. But I can't tell you more than that right now. I don't know when they plan on even talking about it, but they showed us some really cool things. Because when they acquired this, they also acquired some documentation from another designer which was fascinating to me really cool stuff so we'll see so i guess the bottom line is barrels is gonna do some cool shit and i think their whole attitude is just like look we're gonna make something that we think is cool that we think the community will think is cool but we're also going to be so tight-lipped that you're never going to know i don't know what david and the team is doing over there to keep everyone tight-lipped but i'm glad because i think i kind get bummed when people leak stuff because I love that excitement that we don't get that much anymore because of the internet. Like the internet spoils frigging everything. Every show you like gets spoiled. Everything, everything gets spoiled. Product launches get spoiled. That's why I've never really been much of a leaker content creator because I really like to be surprised. And so I don't know, your guess is as good as mine on what their next game is. Is it going to be Goonies? I don't know. Is it going to be a GI Joe? I don't know. Is it going to be Dune? Who the hell knows. But I think whatever they make, it's going to be of high quality. Now, the only thing that's kind of like mysterious is for Texas Pinball Festival, they have their games on the list with question marks on them. So I did kind of ask David a little bit about that. And they said, look, there could be an opportunity to show a game. But if our game is not ready, we're not going to bring it to Texas Pinball Festival. So there's a chance. I think he has a unique opportunity because I don't think you're going to see any other game launched at tpf the only other game release that might be launched at tpf is maybe the new multimorphic p3 game which uh which i think i don't know everyone's saying is portal and i feel like that that that cat seems to be out of the bag i ever it's being reported everywhere as portal um i very lightly played that video game that doesn't really interest me too much i think the p3 multimorphic platform is kind of cool Like there's definitely like part of me, part of me really wants to like that platform. And when I talked to Jerry at Russell's house, because he was there, he's really passionate about what he's doing. The problem is, and this is just me being honest, when I talk to people, it just seems like the general consensus in the community is that people haven't like fully embraced this thing. Like they just, I don't know. Like, I think it's, I think traditional pinball in the modern world has done a good job of bringing the analog and digital together enough. And it seems like people view their platform as too digital that it took it too far and everyone's okay with, like, the current state of the state. I don't know. I mean, he's been doing it for a while. I'm kind of surprised that people aren't as, aren't more, I don't know, aren't more excited about it. Maybe they just haven't had a game yet that... I don't know, that people get really excited about. But, I mean, I wish all these guys the best. We'll see. Portal could be really cool. I don't know. But a couple of the multi-morphic games I have played... I played Princess Bride. I didn't play it for long enough to have, like, form a real strong opinion. I played the other game that like the successor to Total Nuclear Annihilation I can think of the name of that one right now I really did enjoy that I can think of which one that was And then I never have played some of the games I seen them on location Unfortunately, they were down when I was there, so I didn't get a chance to play them. So we'll kind of – we'll circle back on P3 at some point. I kind of want to get the team on the podcast. I want to start doing a little bit more interviews. I'd like to get David David Van Es from Barrels of Fun. And we talked to him. I talked to him a little bit. I think he'd agree to be on, and it'd be cool to get Jerry from Multimorphic on, just to kind of talk about it. Because he is doing some really interesting, innovative things, I think, with that platform that are very cool and should at least be – I have an appreciation for it from an engineering standpoint. I think he's really trying to, like, do something different, and I can appreciate that. So anyways, so the Barrel of Fun tour ended with this amazing barbecue lunch. The barbecue was out of this world. I wish, oh my gosh, they had these sausages that had cheddar in them and jalapeno. I wanted more of them, but I didn't take enough of them. I'm like so bummed. I was talking to Mason. I'm like, dude, are these sausages not freaking epic? He's like, yeah. I was like, we should go back. And then we waited too long. We came back. It was all gone. All gone. So anyways, that was really fun. I had a great time. Great, great time with barrels of fun. So now that ends at one. So keep in mind the Twippies, the doors are opening at five. It's one o'clock. I look at Jamie and Colin and I'm like, dude, and Ian, I'm like, dude, I'm dying right now. Like I am so exhausted. I don't take naps. I'm like, I need to try. I need to try to go back to the hotel and try to take a nap. So I did like a, I don't know. It was, it was the best I could do. I'm not a big napper. It kind of worked. It was sort of a nap. I don't know. It was, it was the best I could do for a nap. I maybe slept for an hour. So then I rushed to get ready and then I wanted, I headed over to the wormhole for the Twippies. And, uh, yeah, the Twippies, I documented the whole thing. basically on that YouTube video, but man, I had such a good time. It's just really cool when you meet people through the hobby, both, both friends that you make and then new friends that you make and longtime friends. It's just, it was so fun. Like it almost makes me like, I was really sad when it ended, to be honest, because it was just, we were having so much fun and just like enjoying each other's company, playing games with each other. And then just the community there, in Houston was really cool, like really cool. They were so appreciative of us doing the event. And we had it set up so that when you were there at the wormhole, there was a PA system. So we're set up and you're hearing us on the live stream, but they heard us like it's a concert almost, right? So they're, they're hearing it full blast, uh, which actually I've never done that before. I've never set up a PA system for when I was doing a podcast. That was a little challenging because I was like, all right, how can I, cause you have to position the speaker in such a way that you're not getting reverb through your microphones. So I figured that out. That took a little while. I was like, Jamie, do you have this cable? Jamie, do you have that cable? He's like, yeah, yeah, I got it. So I got that figured out for him. When I first got there, that was not working right. But we got that figured out. So I think everyone really enjoyed seeing the show live. And the reactions, like having the actual crowd reaction was really cool. Now, I've never attended TPF ever. So I don't know what it was like to see the Twippies live. but I hope that we can have an even bigger audience. I don't know how many people we can fit into the wormhole for next year, but I hope we can have even more. Seemed like we had like 50 or 60 people in there. At least that's how it felt to me. It felt pretty packed and everyone was just having such a great time, but I can't stress enough. Like Aaron is amazing. Jamie's amazing. Ian is so fun and he's like so quick witted. So like having him on that, we'll get that dialed in for next year, but having him on the commentator cam, like sort of heat. So he's like a roaming reporter. He's like so good at that. Cause I don't know if you know, but Ian does a lot of, um, improv. So he goes and does like improv shows. He's just so fast. Like I can be witty, but not as fast as him. He's like, boom, boom. And he's fun to be able to feed off of. Cause he's just so good at that. So, um, I don't know if he's, I don't think he's fully exploited that yet, even on his own podcast. I think he, I think one in his podcast is amazing. they've only got a couple episodes but if you haven't listened to the nudge cast definitely go check it out his audience is building very quickly and uh they do such a good job so i think ian has so much talent that he could continue to exploit on his own uh podcast because he's just he's just a fun guy but anyway so yeah i had such i i was sad to leave it was like sad but then the thing is that we weren't leaving so the twippies were over it was like this weird rush of adrenaline for it, but then kind of this like, oh, like it just kind of, I don't know, it was weird. But then I was like, all right, well, we have the next day. We still have Sunday. So still, if you go next year, you would have this to look forward to, too. So they did a 3X, what do you call it? Three strikes, you're out tournament at the wormhole the next day. And a lot of the people that attended the Twippies went. That was a blast. I actually lasted pretty long in that. I got close to the final round and then I got knocked out on, shoot, I can't remember what game it is. it was a tough game. It was a tough older game. It was another Zachariah game. I can't remember what it was, but yeah. And then my other highlight is, so that Sunday, I want to say it was that Sunday, I think. I think Rob from Electric Playground was still there. Congratulations on the award, by the way. He was there and he was showing me how to play Elton John. And man, I have a newfound respect for Elton John. I never played it really. I just always had to play it so fast because we're always like at Expo or somewhere where it was like tough to play it. That's a fun game, actually. I'm not a big Elton John fan, though. It's like, had they just, but like Steve Ritchie's games are just awesome. Like it's just, it's an awesome shooter. It shoots so well. I just have such an appreciation for it now. I just wish it wasn't Elton John, just because I'm not, I don't know. I don't get hype. Elton John doesn't hype me. Now, if you like re-skinned it and it was a Beastie Boys, I'd be like, hell yeah, because that music would be more something I'd be into. But yeah, they did a great job on Elton John. I don't know. I think Elton John just probably struggles because you have to want an Elton John pinball machine. So yeah, so that was my whole Twippy recap. If you want to see the video, obviously it's like very highly edited. I had Mason edit it. I filmed some of it. Mason filmed some of it. The first half of it's my footage. Mason edited the whole thing, but he did an amazing job on the edit. So if you do watch the video, you know throw a little comment in there saying how good he did because i think he'd appreciate that but yeah man this was one of those things i hope that i hope that we can get a bigger an even larger crowd next year because talk about a fun time i think you guys would you know if you can go i think they'll probably sell out of the tickets next year knowing you know knowing how much fun it was so all right we're gonna jump to voicemails real quick because i'm currently at 34 minutes and i like to keep the shows somewhat brief but lately i've been going almost into the hour. I don't want to go all the way to the hour. So, all right, we got one, I'm going to start the voicemails. We, I've got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight of them. So hopefully it doesn't go too long. But, uh, the first voicemail is from, um, let's see, I need to make sure we get the voicemails queued up properly. All right. The first voicemail is from someone named Twippy, Twippy, Twippy. So let's see, let's see what this is. I don't screen these beforehand so if they're naughty or anything i don't know man uh let's see what's going on hey ralph um i was watching the the twippies the other night and congratulations on your twippy on your award well well deserved and i realized i i like saying twippy twippy twippy twippy um but i noticed the elton john pinball machine that was nominated just talking about elton john and i was like elton john like they can make a pinball machine out of anybody is Is there a Weird Al Yankovic pinball machine? And then I Googled it, and there is. I love Weird Al. There's actually a Weird Al pinball machine. That's awesome. Anyway, congratulations. Well-deserved. Love the show. Twippy, twippy, twippy, twippy, twippy, twippy, twippy. All right. I think that's Chad. I think that's my buddy Chad from Lincoln. I don't know if he still lives in Lincoln, Rhode Island. So, yeah, there is a Weird Al pinball machine. That is by P3. I have never played it. Me personally, I wouldn't want a Weird Al machine, but I think there's a lot of people that maybe would. Obviously, they wouldn't have made it, I don't think, if people weren't into that. But yeah, thank you for the congratulations. I really appreciate that. And yes, there is a Weird Al pinball machine. All right, the next voicemail is from Medic. I think this is Molar Medic. I think that's what he goes by. It's a long voicemail. I don't know if I'm going to play the whole thing because it looks like it's four minutes long. So let's see what Molar Medic has to say. Hey, Ralph, it's me, Medic. I'm running out of stuff to say. I've hit the reset button like 15 times. I'm going to keep it short and sweet because, like, I literally have been going on, like, five-minute messages, making stupid voices. This one's four minutes. Running out of stuff to say. Really am. Play. Have fun. Enter tournaments. Enter leagues. Bring Kim. Bring the boy. Put him in a female tournament. Put him in a junior league. Sponsor play, all right? Get in there. Do stuff. I like that you're branching out and meeting Gary and all the others but sometimes I really want to see you just in a room in a tournament with like 8 other guys talking about no I got third place we'll try next time so Medic I don't think you've been listening lately because I've been doing the tournaments for a while now but that's okay we'll continue it's been almost I don't know it's gotta be almost a year and a half that I've been doing maybe maybe not maybe a year that have been like really seriously doing tournament play so i don't know maybe you haven't listened lately get out there put put some effort in and and elbow i also like that you um promote other channels more smaller and uh that you've been linking up with them and meeting with them they're all good guys when i see that you meet with some of them i'm like okay those guys like Ralph, those guys must be cool. And I, yeah, I mean, if you like me, you got it. I'm just kidding. I don't know. I appreciate that, man. I do try to promote other channels, obviously, you know, I mean, I have a lot of other friends that are content creators. So obviously, yeah, of course. I mean, anybody, anybody that's talking about pinball, that's a good thing. Immediately go right to their channel and subscribe. I do. So, you know, you're the man in the field ralph and a lot of people see it and they know it so just uh continue having fun playing medic i am having the freaking time of my life really honestly this hobby has really reinvigorated me i'll tell you i was covering arcade stuff for a really long time and holy shit this has just been so much fun i'm so passionate about this i sometimes i think sometimes like I am a very like I'll tell you guys, you know, sometimes I get crap for being so positive. It that's just how I am. You know what I mean? And especially in my hobby, like I want this to be fun. If it stopped being fun or if I got caught up in like drama or nonsense, that wouldn't be fun. I mean, there's too much drama in real life. You know what I mean? There's too much. We have stuff in our own lives like your hobby should be fun. I don't want to be angry playing finball. I want to be happy. This is a happy thing. Hobbies are supposed to be escapes for people, I just, I'm sorry. Like I am, I, I, I'm actually, I'm not sorry. I'm not going to say I'm sorry for being me, but this is just how I am. Anybody that knows me and gets to know me outside of the hobby. And I, I, I meet so many people talk to any of those people are going to say, yeah, that's the same guy that's on the podcast. I can't help it that I'm a positive person. It's just kind of how I am. And even when I'm critical, yeah, maybe I'm a little bit like, I'm not a harsh critic, but I'm a critic. I can still be critical. I'm just not going to be like this sucks because saying that doesn't add any value right if you say this sucks what this sucks why you know what i mean like it's just i've always been more about constructive criticism versus being so brutal about things and that's just not my style nothing against people that are that way that some people are like that and some people really enjoy consuming that content so all right medic we'll keep going here we're running out of time your voicemail is really long but I appreciate it. Meeting Gary and working. Don't be trying to pitch a t-shirt or make a buck off of any of the fan base. Just be happy that we're here. I'm very happy that you guys are here. You guys, I mean, I won a Twippy. That was very, I did not expect that at all. That was so cool, especially knowing that my roots came from arcade and I've kind of naturally, organically went down the pinball path, which it was funny because everyone told me I would. Everyone's like, you're going to sell your arcade collection and you're going to get into pinball. Everyone, everyone. It was crazy. They were all like, this is going to be your path. And the thing is, I never wanted my path to be dictated by someone else. I'm never like that. I'm always like a pave my own way kind of guy. I don't follow the leader. Like, that's not how I do things. I just do it how I feel. If I'm passionate about it, I'm going to do it. And if I losing passion for it I stop doing it only because I can fake the funk I just can If you would see it on me if I was doing something and I have I had people like there was a podcast in my past that I let go too long and people would message me and be like, you're not into this anymore. And I knew it. I knew it then in my head, I knew it, but I kept it going a little too long. And so I appreciate that. By the way, I don't, I don't really, um, I don't charge for anything. I don't expect any money. I've never really like I have I do sell I do sell things like there is some merch stuff available, but I have it down to like zero profit. I don't really make any money on any of that stuff. So the only money I really make through the hobby is probably I do have that sponsorship with Flip N Out Pinball, which I've been transparent about. It was a lump sum for a year of for a year of promotion. So for a year, I have a, you know, you know, not a like a handshake contract with them that I will promote Flip N Out Pinball. But I actually, the only reason why I entered into that is because I really like what Zach does. He makes it super easy for people to trade in their games. And so if you're someone that wants to cycle through your collection, he's great. Like, he's great, nice guy, easy to do business with. My buddy Ryan just traded in a bunch of his machines. And, yeah, so it's just, he's just easy to work with. And I feel like I'll enter a partnership if I feel like it's someone that I would want to buy from, right? I'm not going to do it for, like, the amount of money that he gave me is not some life-changing money. I could have just said no, but I just thought, hey, this is kind of cool to have a sponsor for the thing. But it's not that much money. Trust me, guys. It's like, you know, it's not going to make a dent in anything. And, you know, this is for fun. This isn't for financial gain. We are. And I plan on being, you know. So it's like enjoy it, man. Enjoy it. I love it. I knew that you were going to be good at it. I did. I did. I did. I knew you were going to be good at it. I appreciate that, man. I don't know if I'd say, I feel like I'm getting better. I feel like my skills are improving a lot. And I love it, man. It's fun. Thank you for being a little overconfident, boosting my confidence level. But I still think I have a long way to go, but I'm getting a lot better. So I appreciate that. I appreciate the confidence you have in me. so just kind of exhale when you have that doubt okay when you have that disbelief that happens okay hear all the voices telling you yes you can or you know why you can't yeah you got a guy for that now all right you're not doing this shit alone wait is that you now are you my guy medic i'll call you up if i can have this kind of talk with you all the time this would be awesome i'm probably gonna unfortunately i don't know if i can listen to this whole voice man i want to i'll probably listen to the rest privately because the podcast is getting too long let me i'll listen to a little bit more because i really am appreciating this man all right you got a guy for that now and i got a guy i don't know i'll try to leave another message when i can or something like that god knows like i'm sorry i'm a bad fan dude like i don't thumbs up every video i don't comment every video you don't hell i barely watch every video all the way through because like see i knew you haven't been watching it because you would have known that i've been doing the competitive thing for a while anyway i'm gonna cut it off here medic i'm gonna listen to the rest of it but this was awesome thank you so much like nice positive message i love it all right we're going to marla and marla and darren hi ralph this is marla okay i'm a pinball groupie i think twippy winners are sexy okay i'd like to get my flippers on you get a little multiball action nah nah girl nah nah don't be don't be talking to ralph right that's a married man right there that's a married man nah girl nah okay i know that's chad so that's funny but yeah that's not marla or darren that's chad but okay this one's from king conk king conk has been someone that's listened to the channel for a really or watched my channel for a really long time like from the start so this should be interesting the hell yo hello retro round this is king kong we want screen pinball next what are you doing i did not expect this i'm so frustrated man so i don't know has any any of you it would make me feel better did any of you experience this this inability to like perform under pressure okay that's king conk i guess he wants scream pinball that's awesome oh my gosh he's funny as hell uh he's been he's been he's been watching me for a really long time all right the next one's from jeremy we got two more and then we'll wrap up this show that was awesome all right this one's from jeremy hey ralph thanks for all the great content long time fan look forward to it all the time. Thanks for the insider connected information with that app. I was able to find a table at a local brewery within walking distance, brand new tables for the brewery. So I got first place. So, you know, I'm going to keep going there to defend it. Can you give some pros and cons of buying a new stern table and some pros and cons of buying a nineties Bailey's Williams table? Thanks a lot. All right. Wow. Okay. Well, thank you. I think it was Jeremy, right? Was that Jeremy? yeah thank you jeremy uh his question was what would what would be the pros and cons for buying a stern new in box or a bally williams like an older bally williams uh i mean i think you know you buy an older game you're gonna probably have to do more maintenance and and work on it i mean i have the t2 uh which is a williams game um yeah i definitely you know i've had a couple little issues with it like little quirky things and i've had to go in and learn you know how to fix the older games but um i think it just matters maybe it's more of a budget thing like i think you can probably find a lot of bally williams or williams games for a good price so if it's you know your money will go further on the older games just know you you could have to do some work on them but uh you know and then obviously you can buy buy some that maybe are collector quality that someone did a bunch of rehab to but you're going to pay a lot more for those you know so yeah i don't i don't know one would come with a warranty and one would not so you got to factor that in if it's like a your first game but i think i think either way as long as you're handy and don't mind getting your hands dirty sometimes you know you can have a good time buying something i love i'm i am loving the one thing that's so cool about this hobby is diving into some of these older games they're so fun they're so fun and and you look at some of the i was talking to jamie about this at the wormhole i was like man they were really innovative with some of these old games and it kind of makes me wonder like why are we not seeing as much of that because there's so many wild ideas that they went and maybe the wild ideas were like you know maybe people just don't want that but i gotta think that we could push the limits a little bit more with modern technology because some of these old ideas were very cool like things that i can see if you took that as uh inspiration and just built on it you could do something really cool so anyways it's a really good question hopefully i answered it for you next one is from drew hey ralph how are you it's drew from los angeles two things number one did like your four-year hobby recap thanks man podcast um fairly new to the hobby myself uh the one-year mark did get a chance to go to expo last year and yeah i can't wait to get my first game um second part part two where I live in Los Angeles is like the Bermuda Triangle of pinball. No pinball games. No pinball games. I mean, I'm talking like no pinball games. What do you think could be done about that? All right, man. Love the show. Shoot, Drew, I don't know where you're at in Los Angeles, but there's definitely a lot. When I look at pinball, like look at pinball map and see. I mean, it's got to be something, man. I actually was just recently in Northern California because my wife, Kim, she had a – it was a friend's 40th birthday. So up in like the Livermore, California area, up in Northern California, man, it was like a pinball desert out there. I found every machine when I was on pinball map. It was like not connected to Insider Connected, and I'm like, I can't ruin my streak. Like I got to get my streak. and I ended up finding this place. It was a bocce ball place, and they had four pinball machines, I think, and holy crap, the Godzilla was just tore up from the floor up. I mean, the thing was just not good. It did not look good, and it was just so dirty. It looked like it had never been cleaned, but it played. I mean, it played okay, but yeah, maybe take a look at pinball map. There's got to be something around. I kind of think Los Angeles. I mean, there's certain areas that I've looked at in LA. There's a couple of places out there, so there's got to be something. that'd be my only advice I don't know dude and then like uh I don't know I don't know how to like if you have some local guys that want to try to get into it and maybe start a location but I just think LA's gets really expensive to do that kind of thing so yeah I don't know that's a good question I don't really know maybe if someone in the comments could give you some tips on that all right the last one thank you Drew I appreciate the support man next one is from Coco I have a feeling this one's gonna be a fake one I don't know because I don't know any someone named Coco but let's see my name's ralphie in a swing from the trees what do i do for some richer crispies okay all right coke i want to hear the rest of your song man maybe the next voicemail you can leave the rest of the song so all right well that's we're coming up on an hour that's all i got i got the voicemails we talked about the twippy recap hopefully you guys enjoyed that But definitely I encourage you, go to Retro Ralph, watch the video I did. It's a full recap of the Twippy Awards. You get to see some cool behind-the-scenes stuff. So yeah, go check that out. I'll have a link in the description to that video. But yeah, I guess before we get going, I did want to say... Let me just kill this really quick. I did want to say, you know, thank you for all your support because I don't think that I anticipated what happened when I kind of started following my passion. You know, it's tough because you don't know if people are going to follow you to something new. And the thing is, I acquired a lot of a lot of listeners and viewers that were, you know, found me maybe through other channels that didn't know about my arcade stuff. They just know me now from the pinball stuff, which that's really cool. But to get the kind of support I've been getting and even to enough that people would vote for me for the Breakout Creator Award was pretty cool. And I did pretty good in the other categories, too. And I really I mean, I did say like I did say I was not I was nominated and but I didn't push it really much on people. And so it was just cool that organically you guys went out there and you're enjoying hearing my opinion about pinball because it's just so fun. This hobby is so great. If you're a first-time listener here, like, I can't tell you how cool the community is. You can easily get caught up in, like, the dark areas of Pinside. I like Pinside for the most part, but there's some dark areas. There's dark areas of every hobby. But I'd say those people are a loud minority. But the majority of people, when you go on location, are super cool people. They welcome you into the hobby. And for me, a lot of people had no idea who I was. And they just welcomed me in. And now I have a lot of support. And I've made a lot of friends. But I just want to also say before we wrap it up. There was a lot of really, really good content creators that were nominated in a lot of different categories. Don't be discouraged if you didn't win this award. This award is fun to be recognized in that way. But just be proud of the nomination at all. You know? So I just. There's too many good content creators to like. I'm not saying you should discredit the awards. But at the same time, like, that shouldn't make or break you. You know what I mean? It's just a fun thing where the community votes. And there's a bit of a popularity contest aspect to it. So just, if you are a content creator, don't take it so seriously, I guess. And just keep doing what you're doing because there's so many good creators in this space. All right, guys. That's it. And we will see you. Oh, I talked over the whole song. What the heck? we'll replay it i was like it's like the longest outro ever hold on what the heck now it's not working oh my gosh i'm breaking the whole thing come on oh no oh no all right now we're gonna wrap it up i am i'm italian italian goodbyes take forever italian goodbyes take forever anyways i appreciate the support guys hopefully enjoyed this episode comment below and let me know what you thought and we will see you on the flip side thanks guys

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 6d8301da-ae61-4522-ad5a-6f4eefab561f*