# We Played Star Wars Fall of the Empire with Erika’s Pinball Journey and Dirty Pool! Part 2

**Source:** Bash Pinball Podcast  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2025-09-16  
**Duration:** 50m 6s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.bashpinball.com/2025/09/16/s2-fote-p2/

---

## Analysis

Hosts Don, Matt, Jeff (Dirty Pool), and Erica (Erica's Pinball Journey) discuss Star Wars Fall of the Empire at Stern's headquarters in a casual roundtable format. They praise the game's accessibility, art packages, and ramp-heavy layout designed for new players, but note mechanical concerns with the Death Star shot rejection and playfield alignment differences between Pro/Premium/LE models. Discussion also covers broader pinball industry topics including onboarding new players, operator challenges, and gatekeeping in pinball culture.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Star Wars Fall of the Empire Death Star shot rejects and won't go in despite being open — _Matt and the speaker both experienced the shot rejecting multiple times and expressed concern this is a design issue that Stern is still addressing in pre-production units_
- [MEDIUM] The Pro model in the replay room plays significantly harder/shorter (30-second games) compared to Premium — _Speaker states the Pro in the replay room has much tighter, harder shots resulting in very short games, but acknowledges only a handful of plays on each model_
- [HIGH] Raymond Davidson (code designer) was at Stern taking live feedback and made code changes in the last two weeks — _Direct observation: 'Ray Day was out here, Raymond Davidson, who has been working on this game, the code. He was taking notes and getting feedback from people in real time'_
- [HIGH] Center ramp moves up/down on Premium and LE but is permanently fixed on Pro — _Speaker clarifies: 'the center ramp also goes up and down on the premium and does not on the pro. It's a permanent ramp shot.'_
- [HIGH] Star Wars Fall of the Empire is more accessible than 2017 Star Wars and designed for casual/new players — _Multiple speakers note the game is 'pretty straightforward,' has four ramps, safe ball layouts, and is 'trying to get people more into pinball' through accessibility_
- [HIGH] Pinball culture is gatekept by age, gender, and money barriers that the community needs to address — _Erica states: 'I think that pinball culture is unfortunately based on gatekeeping. And I think that extends from both genders, operators, and money.'_
- [HIGH] Mark Seiden personally maintains his Jersey Jack Avatar game at an Anterium location — _Jeff interviewed Mark Seiden who reported going to the location himself to fix and test his own game to ensure quality_
- [HIGH] The Costco Star Wars pinball game is driving exposure and conversation in the community — _Erica notes 'the amount of people that text me a photo of being at Costco is really great' and that it's helping raise awareness_

### Notable Quotes

> "I'm worried about the Death Star shot, Matt. You and I talked about that. It's a little rejecting... Like, emotionally. I've been losing sleep at night thinking about this."
> — **Erica**, ~mid-podcast
> _Highlights a confirmed mechanical design concern on Star Wars that Stern is still addressing in pre-production_

> "I think that pinball culture is unfortunately based on gatekeeping. And I think that extends from both genders, operators, and money. It's prohibitively expensive. It is prohibitively run by a certain age group."
> — **Erica**, ~mid-podcast
> _Strong critical statement about barriers to entry in pinball community and industry_

> "It's fast. It's hard. Like a John Borg game. I'm worried about the Death Star shot."
> — **Erica**, ~early game discussion
> _Identifies John Borg as designer and establishes early gameplay impressions_

> "The main stopping point is when you really hit the toilet shot... I wish the toilet shot, the slash Sarlacc pit, had a sticker on it or something. Because it's just a clear funnel."
> — **Multiple speakers**, ~mid-game discussion
> _Identifies a UX/visibility issue with the Sarlacc pit shot design_

> "If it's broken, like, if you go to Las Vegas where every game is broken. Yeah, yeah. If you've gone to Vegas, you know what I'm talking about."
> — **Jeff/Erica**, ~operator maintenance discussion
> _Commentary on poor machine maintenance in commercial locations_

> "The difference is, for people that are listening to this later, the difference is between the Pro, the Premium, and the LE is cosmetic. except for one component, which we should talk about. The Force."
> — **Erica**, ~tier discussion
> _Clarifies that magnetic save (The Force) is exclusive to Premium/LE models, establishing tier differentiation_

> "I think it's going to be a long playing game already for good players. Without those pop bumpers there, it would be a really long game. Unless you're playing the pro in here, of which case it is a 30-second playing game."
> — **Speaker**, ~gameplay analysis
> _Quantifies the difficulty/play-time difference between Pro and Premium models_

> "So, like, if it's broken, like, if you go to Las Vegas where every game is broken. Yeah, yeah. If you've gone to Vegas, you know what I'm talking about."
> — **Erica/Jeff**, ~mid-podcast
> _Commentary on systemic maintenance failures in major arcade markets_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Star Wars Fall of the Empire | game | New Stern Pinball release; pre-production version being tested at Stern HQ; designed by John Borg; accessible design with four ramps targeting new players |
| John Borg | person | Pinball designer; designer of Star Wars Fall of the Empire; known for fast, hard games; had a nightmare about six balls stuck in Sarlacc pit during development |
| Raymond Davidson | person | Code designer working on Star Wars Fall of the Empire; was on-site at Stern taking real-time feedback; made significant code changes in prior two weeks |
| Erika | person | Content creator (Erika's Pinball Journey); guest on episode; advocates for pinball accessibility and addressing gatekeeping; criticized pinball culture barriers |
| Jeff / Dirty Pool | person | Dirty Pool podcast/content creator; guest on episode; involved in pinball live streams and audio production; interviewed Mark Seiden about Jersey Jack Avatar maintenance |
| Don | person | Co-host of Bash Pinball Podcast; conducted interview at Stern headquarters |
| Matt | person | Co-host of Bash Pinball Podcast; played Star Wars extensively; expressed concern about Death Star shot and playfield alignment |
| Stern Pinball | company | Manufacturer of Star Wars Fall of the Empire; hosts podcast team at headquarters; soliciting feedback on pre-production machines |
| Mark Seiden | person | Jersey Jack Pinball representative; personally maintains his company's Avatar game at Anterium location to ensure quality |
| Jersey Jack Pinball | company | Manufacturer referenced in context of Avatar machine and operator quality maintenance standards |
| Austin Pinball Collective | organization | Community organization run by Bex focused on women in pinball and grassroots onboarding |
| Bex | person | Runs Austin Pinball Collective; advocate for women in pinball and community organizing |
| The Room | game/project | Fan-conceptualized homebrew pinball game based on Tommy Wiseau film; discussed as hypothetical Spooky/Dutch/American Pinball/homebrew project with modes including Ohai Mart multiball |
| Costco | company | Selling Star Wars pinball machine; driving awareness and conversation in pinball community among casual buyers |
| Stern Army | organization | Stern's community engagement program for operators and players; works through distributor networks |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Star Wars Fall of the Empire mechanical design and feedback, Death Star shot rejection issue, Pro vs Premium vs LE tier differentiation, Game accessibility for new/casual players
- **Secondary:** Barriers to entry in pinball (gatekeeping, cost, gender, age), Operator economics and maintenance challenges, Costco Star Wars pinball distribution impact, Comparison to 2017 Star Wars pinball

### Sentiment

**Mixed** (0.62) — Generally positive about Star Wars Fall of the Empire's accessibility, art, and design philosophy, but tempered by mechanical concerns (Death Star shot) and broader critical commentary on pinball industry gatekeeping and barriers to entry. The tone is affectionate toward pinball culture while being honest about systemic problems.

### Signals

- **[community_signal]** Pinball culture gatekeeping identified across gender, age, operators, and cost barriers; community advocates argue industry-wide changes needed to onboard new players (confidence: high) — Erika: 'I think that pinball culture is unfortunately based on gatekeeping... extends from both genders, operators, and money. It's prohibitively expensive. It is prohibitively run by a certain age group.'
- **[event_signal]** Bash Pinball podcast conducting live playtest/interview at Stern headquarters with code designer Raymond Davidson on-site providing real-time feedback (confidence: high) — Don: 'we're literally at Stern right now' and speaker confirms Ray Day was observing and taking notes in real time during playtesting
- **[community_signal]** Stern soliciting feedback from content creators and players on pre-production machines; demonstrates commitment to community input in final design iterations (confidence: high) — Speaker: 'They did also ask for our feedback because they are going through those minor little things that they can still fix' and Ray Day was 'taking notes and getting feedback from people in real time'
- **[competitive_signal]** Star Wars Fall of the Empire explicitly positioned as superior to 2017 Star Wars in accessibility and enjoyment; consensus agreement it's better game for both casual and tournament play (confidence: high) — Multiple speakers agree it's better than 2017; Erika: 'I like this game better than the 2017' and Matt: 'I agree yeah I do like it more' due to 'immediately satisfying' ramp shots
- **[design_philosophy]** Sarlacc pit identified as UX/visibility issue; clear funnel design makes players forget it's the Sarlacc pit; lack of visual identifier recommended (confidence: medium) — Speaker: 'I wish the toilet shot, the slash Sarlacc pit, had a sticker on it... Because it's just a clear funnel... I forgot that it was the Sarlacc pit'
- **[design_philosophy]** Star Wars Fall of the Empire explicitly designed with four ramps, pop bumpers, and safe ball layouts to appeal to casual/new players; represents Stern's strategy to onboard non-pinball audiences (confidence: high) — Erika: 'Star Wars... seems like a little bit of a push... it's a little more forgiving... it's like a franchise, and they're playing all the hits with it' and 'I think they're trying to do with this game... get people more into pinball'
- **[licensing_signal]** Sarlacc pit (toilet shot) design constraint: speaker jokes that internationally (Australia) the shot would need to spin opposite direction, suggesting IP/physics constraints in licensing (confidence: medium) — Speaker: 'I know why they don't have this internationally. Because they would have to make that shot go the other way... They got to fix that. That's so stupid.'
- **[market_signal]** Costco distribution of Star Wars pinball driving significant grassroots awareness and casual market exposure; content creators report receiving photos from community members discovering game at Costco (confidence: high) — Erika: 'The amount of people that text me a photo of being at Costco is really great... it makes me feel like I'm doing my job' indicating successful casual market penetration
- **[personnel_signal]** John Borg confirmed as designer of Star Wars Fall of the Empire; experienced designer known for fast/hard gameplay; reportedly had nightmares about ball lockup during development (confidence: high) — Speaker: 'It's fast. It's hard. Like a John Borg game' and describes Borg having literal nightmare about six balls stuck in Sarlacc pit, then field-testing solution
- **[product_strategy]** Star Wars Fall of the Empire tier system differentiates Pro/Premium/LE through cosmetics plus magnetic save (The Force) exclusive to Premium/LE; center ramp mechanical difference (moving vs fixed) (confidence: high) — Speaker clarifies tiers: 'The difference is between the Pro, the Premium, and the LE is cosmetic. except for one component... The Force' and 'the center ramp also goes up and down on the premium and does not on the pro'
- **[product_strategy]** Stern is actively addressing pre-production issues on Star Wars Fall of the Empire; Raymond Davidson (code designer) was on-site taking real-time feedback and made significant code changes in prior two weeks (confidence: high) — Speaker confirms Ray Day 'was out here... taking notes and getting feedback from people in real time and just observing things' and 'the code has changed pretty dramatically' in the last two weeks
- **[product_concern]** Death Star shot on Star Wars Fall of the Empire rejects and fails to accept ball despite being mechanically open; identified as potential design flaw by multiple testers (confidence: high) — Erika: 'I'm so worried... The shot, it rejects and not because it can't go in the hole. Because it won't go in the hole.' Matt confirms: 'Yeah. I felt kind of weird, too, when I hit the Death Star and, like, nothing happened.'

---

## Transcript

 so this is part two part two if you didn't hear part one which i don't know how that would happen but what are you doing listen to part one this you're in the middle right now go back coming up So after this Star Wars event, the following episode, we will be doing a giveaway. A what? A giveaway. We're giving stuff away? Yeah. I'm going to give away my microphone. You're going to give away one of your shoes. Matt, but I'm broke. Didn't you get those shoes for free? I got the shoes for free. So you can give one of them away. I'll try. Wait, how did she get those shoes? I don't know how I remember that. Yeah, the quick version was I'm at work, knock on the door, UPS, usually get stuff every day, don't even think about it, get the box, no name on it, it's from Amazon. Who ordered it? It's like, it was our address, just a pair of hey dudes. That's random. In my size. There was no like, here's a free product to review. No, somebody literally ordered a pair of hey dudes. And just sent them to you. 50 bucks. And it was like, who ordered these? Yeah. Nobody else is my size. Exactly your size. So I just kept them. Was it like a stalker? Former girlfriend? Ex-lover? Podcast fan maybe? Who knew your shoe size? I have no idea. Your mom? I'm a size 11 by the way. Is your mom like secretly sending you clothes? I mean, I'm not a hey dude dude. But you've been wearing them for like a year straight. I guess I am now. Those clearly are your favorite shoes. They're just comfy. Honestly, true story though. I take them off before I go anywhere. I only wear them in privacy and confidence. Gotcha, gotcha. Except when I go to Walmart. Okay, these are your Walmart beers? I only wear them to Walmart. Otherwise you can't be seen in them. I can't. No, I can't do it, man. I told you, I'm not a hey dude. Dude. Not a hey dude dude? I'm not a hey dude dude. Fair enough. All right. Giveaways. Yeah, so we're going to be giving away some merch. But you got to listen to that episode. What do I have to do? I need clothes. There's going to be a game. Sort of, like trivia You're going to have to listen to that episode We've got a fun little trivia thing happening At the beginning The next episode And what are we giving away? A shoe We're going to be giving away Merch We've never had merch before Now we're merchified I don't like the word merch I love the word merch It sounds weird to me now It's like the word of merc That's what I think of too Which makes me think of the Genesis game mercs remember no it's like akari warriors but you don't know any of these lose me anyway mercs get it on genesis producers note real quick we're about to start the conversation with erica from erica's pinball journey and jeff slash dirty pool you're going to hear several references to the room which is one of the best worst movies of all time although personally battlefield earth is still number one for me. But The Room, written and directed by auteur Tommy Wiseau, can be found on YouTube with Spanish subtitles for some reason if you want to check it out. It's nuts. And back to the show. I'll bring my projector. Can we do a quick screening of The Room at Expo? It's going to be so washed out. I don't know if you'll be able to see it because that projector is dark, dim. If somebody was going to make a room pinball machine, which manufacturer would do it? Call them Spooky. Oh, you think it's Spooky? Yeah, this is a Spooky game. But I want to do it so bad. I have the ideas. All right. I have my sketch. That's the episode that we're going to have later. The room dream theme pinball machine. I will be so mad if you don't call me. I'll let you know. You guys, I need your help with the sound. I don't know how to do that. All right. We don't know anybody. I have a DVD so I can pull. And then I can be like, hey, this is the mode. What do you guys think? I'll have you guys play test it. I'll bring it to Expo next year. It's Ohai Mart. Ohai Mart. Multiball all the way. Everybody bring your room. Start thinking about it now. Bring your room ideas for what this game is going to be, what the shots are going to be, what the modes are going to be. There's Ohai Doggy. That's one mode. Spoon Multiball. My favorite. No, but like I have a mode where you have to tilt the machine. Okay. So you know in the end when he fucks the dress. Hey, no spoilers. All right. All right. Oh my god, dude. Okay. All right. We got to table the room. How could we possibly do that? It's too big. I'm struggling, but I have to for the greater good of pinball. We are here for a particular reason. Okay. Did Stern reveal the room pinball machine? Yeah. Revealed officially. We thought it was going to be a Star Wars game, but it turned out to be the room. It was actually the room. A bigger and better franchise. No, I don't think that's going to be a Stern game. It's going to be a spooky game. Barrels of fun. Just saying. Nah, I don't see that. I don't think barrels of fun would do that. Maybe Dutch pinball. Dutch pinball. Let's get American. That's what I was going to say. Oh my god, dude. Home pin. Oh my god. Let's make it a home pin, guys. Oh my god, dude. Come on. Okay, so this, by the way, Matt, right? Can you guys hear yourselves? Hello? Everybody good? I feel great. This is going to be season two, episode one. We're doing it right now. Is it happening? It's happening now. What? That's why it's so serious. It's a big deal. You didn't emotionally prepare me for this. You want to introduce our special guest? I can. Do you want to? No, you do it. I just asked you to do it. You do it, Don. He just literally asked you to do it. Mr. Jeff of Dirty Pool. Hello. And his cult. The cult of pinball. By the way, he's a really cool guy. Praise the triangle. When you get a chance, talk to him. We talked a little bit. We're holding our hands up. He's like, we talked. Jury's out. I'm on the fence. Fuck this guy. Yeah, no. Mad props. Mad props to you, Jeff. If you haven't heard of that, I don't know what's wrong with you, but Dirty Pool, they're killing it. Yeah, you're on Twitter, right? Yeah. He's on Twitter? I have a MySpace. It's pretty awesome. Pinball MySpace. Live streams, off the chain, dude. I like your little Ghostbusters cam that you had for a while. What's the dude's name? The Marshmallow Man? The Stay Puft Marshmallow? You don't know this guy's name? Yeah, what the hell? What kind of podcast is this? Stay Puft Marshmallow. At least I know. You want to have us know. You'll learn this eventually if we keep talking. I grew up in Panama, so things are different. He's got some blind spots. Yeah, especially in the 90s. Spanish stuff doesn't translate the same the names aren't the same, the voices aren't the same so we have this in common I grew up in Saudi Arabia in the 90s I'm a little older than you I was going to say whoa I watched the Pink Panther in Arabic are you trolling? I lived in Tehran in Riyadh we have to learn about this later and then we also have Erica from Erica's Pinball Journey a brilliant concept for introducing people to pinball. When I found your channel, I was just like, this is the greatest way to expose people to pinball by being a person who is experiencing being exposed to pinball. Yes. Thank you. It is awesome. That's all I got, Matt. And Matt's here. Yeah, Matt's here. Do you want to set anything up? No, I don't think I need to set anything else up. I was simply asking you to introduce our guests. I think I did. I love Matt. Matt came off like super quiet and super nice and you put a microphone in front of him and it's just like Don, do your damn job. He's like, we're at work now. I'm just trolling Don right now because it's fun. This is our dynamic, right? Because you need to have fun, but you also have to be serious and logical sometimes. I'm way more emotional, long hair. He's logical, techie, short hair. Hey, I used to have long hair. So it works. I can't really pull it off anymore. That's because you and I are in the 40s club and we don't have a choice anymore. I just keep cutting it shorter and shorter so just no one notices what's happening up there. I think you look beautiful. Well, thanks. I appreciate that. We're at Stern right now. We're literally at Stern. They want us to leave, but we won't. They're going to feed us, I think, before we leave. Did you guys eat lunch? I ate lunch, but I'm also ready for dinner. I'm like, pizza sounds pretty good. I heard 30 minutes, maybe? Yeah, so I don't know if we told you guys, we've been up since like 3 in the morning. Why? What were you doing at 3 in the morning with each other? Weird stuff. Nice. Weird stuff. Cool. Happens. Were you watching The Room? I wish. We flew in this morning. Our flight was at 620. I had to get the airport at like 430. Do you need a Diet Coke? I can probably use some more caffeine at this point, to be honest. Okay. Can we talk about the Diet Coke thing for a second? Yes. Jay Virtual? Yeah. And you. Yeah. What is going on with the Diet Coke fiesta here? I just like it. No, I know, but it seems like the pinball body at large loves Diet Coke. Well, Jamie Virtual. Mr. Birchall is a Diet Coke aficionado. He drinks like 12 a day. Dude, I heard he drinks like two 12-packs a day or something. It's legit. So wait, are you theorizing that pinball players are disproportionately fanatics of Diet Coke? I think that Diet Coke has planted people in the pinball community to try to pimp more Diet Coke. I think Jamie Birchall is a plant from Big Coke, Big Skola. It's very possible. I'm a Dr. Pepper guy. Dr. Pepper though, I love regular Dr. Pepper you're going to get shipped by the coke people I mean, maybe you can like more than one thing like one pinball machine you can only like one pinball machine I like regular coke, is that okay? yeah, you can like regular coke not on pinball, you keep that what's that not tennis but kind of tennis thing pickleball you keep that shit on pickleball I have a legitimate pinball question sure where do you think Stern should be pushing to try to get new people into pinball? Ooh, let's move to an actual topic. We don't have to. We could talk about it. No, no, no, no. We should talk about a real topic. Okay, rephrase the question because I already blanked it out. There are a lot of people that don't play pinball. Yeah. Those people should be playing pinball. They should. Let's talk about that. What could Stern be doing to bring in more non-pinball players? I don't think they're being, like, giving celebrities pinball machines is, like, not. Yeah. That's an old tactic, right? Well, yeah. I mean, it works, but how do you expose more people to the experience of pinball? Because you have to play it to really understand it. Star Wars, in and of itself, seems like a little bit of a push for that. Sure. It's a little bit more accessible than the average new Stern release. It's a little more forgiving. It's like a franchise, and they're playing all the hits with it. It's not obscure in any way. and then they're doing the Costco Star Wars game. That's what I was going to say. It seems like Costco is a good start. It's in people's eyes. The amount of people that text me a photo of being at Costco is really great, actually. It makes me feel like I'm doing my job. I'm like, you like my channel. Thank you, friend. My dad is an impulse Costco buyer. Does he own Jurassic Park or Star Wars? He didn't, but he also was the one that got me into pinball. Can I ask you, what's the weirdest thing your dad's come home from Costco with? A gazebo. Okay. Seems normal. Guilty. Like a huge one. Oh, you got one too? Also, yes. From Costco? Wait, you also bought the gazebo? I have a Costco gazebo, yes. Okay, hold on. That's what I'm talking about. So like one day it a gazebo the next day it a freaking Star Wars pinball machine dude Can I talk about a second theory I have Sure I think Big Gazebo is planting people in the pinball community to try to get people to play Gazebo. Big Gazebo is more powerful than people realize. You know what they should do? Let's make a Gazebo-themed pinball machine, and you would get so many more people. Maybe a Gazebo-diagram crossover. go back to your yeah question i feel like i mean star wars is another really great theme you know you're gonna get all those fans they're gonna want more of their merch people love star wars but i do know like it's really lacking in any sort of i don't know i think pinball needs a way to get more women involved yeah yeah but i feel like we're also half the population so roughly roughly i talked to i had bex bex bex bex bex bex on the podcast the other day and we talked about that because she runs Austin Pinball Collective. Cool. She's fascinating and totally fearless. She talked about more women needing to not be afraid to start pinball communities. I think more pinball companies could help people onboard the process of starting a pinball group because getting people together and getting arcades is hard. Don't reach out to influencers, but they're not digging deep. Well, Stern Army does do a bit, you know, and they try to encourage a lot of people to join Stern Army. But that's through distributors, though, right? I don't know a lot about the Stern Army. Yeah. I guess one of the things that comes up a lot for me personally is something we've brought up before, our theorized SAP program, the Stern Ambassador Program. Just getting some people like us, give us some T-shirts that say, like, pinball ambassador. when we're at an arcade we can answer people's questions we're just there to help as goofy as that is that's not a bad idea seriously it sounds dumb but we do it for free anyway it's like a grassroots kind of thing we're like welcome to the spa it could be spa pinball people love talking about pinball I will talk about pinball all day so to your point if you had a silly shirt on that was just like, come talk to me about pinball, that would happen. It would. You see people with confounded looks on their faces. They're like, how do I make it a four-player game? They don't even know that you can do multiplayer games. And they should be drinking Diet Coke in their gazebo. But instead, they're just putting a dollar into a pinball machine and then immediately giving up and never coming back. That bums me out. And then our local spot, they have all new Sterns. Every new Stern, they get one. And they're part of the Stern army and everything. But the games are set up impossibly steep and they're not maintained yeah yeah and to me that's more of a detriment to pinball i it'd be better if there were no pinball machines there at all because they are just not fun yeah it's interesting how in many ways as a manufacturer once you sell your product it's really up to the owner to decide how they want to if they want to be predatory if they want to exploit people right like our local place just announced slash on the slide because i saw it on reddit for every dollar my favorite website for every dollar you only get 75 cents back yeah so now pinball just got more expensive in a confusing way you put a dollar in you get three tokens back pinball is four tokens my question is it's like to what degree do we expect the manufacturer to tell the i guess should there be any policing involved i don't know because yeah i see what you're saying it is detrimental to pinball as a whole to have really steep expensive unforgiving games versus ones we have at home or something but you can't really tell them what to do with their games how do we fix this just make like a guerrilla underground army of people who set the right grade and like are you talking about the stern militia stern militia uh-oh program smps can i make a controversial statement absolutely not okay no go ahead i'll allow it this time i I think that pinball culture is unfortunately based on gatekeeping. And I think that extends from both genders, operators, and money. It's prohibitively expensive. It is prohibitively run by a certain age group. And all of those things need to be put on their head by the community to try to get more people involved in pinball. I think it can be hard because pinball people still expect to just pay a dollar to play. and you pay $7,000 plus for a machine, you need at least 7,000 plays, but it's giving replays and other things. And maybe on a good week, you get maybe 100 plays, 200 plays, depending where your location is. And it's like they're so much harder to maintain. They're expensive to maintain. So pinball, it's kind of a little unforgiving sometimes, I feel. I definitely feel for the operator when it comes to pinball because also if you want to be a successful operator, you can't just own pinball. You have to have other games to supplement. You need to be a bar owner that is an operator. You can't just be... Nobody's opening arcades and being successful. They need to have a side pot of something else to make up for that income. Compliment, yeah. You have to drive to every location, check in on everything. And the art of fixing pinball, I do know, is not as common. And there's so few operators and people that actually know how to fix games and people that have the knowledge. And yeah, it's tough. There's a lot of factors in with pinball. It is prohibitive. Yeah, you're right. It was crazy. I interviewed Mark Seiden and apparently he goes down to Anterium and fixes his own avatar. No way, dude. I'm not even joking. He goes down there and texts his own game to make sure that it's working locally. To represent himself and JJP the best in his game. How can you not respect that? I get it. I would think about doing the same thing Yeah, totally get it, man. See, your game's broken. You're like, I know it's after you. That's crazy. I mean, how many opportunities do you have for people to experience your game, right? So, like, if it's broken, like, if you go to Las Vegas where every game is broken. Yeah, yeah. If you've gone to Vegas, you know what I'm talking about. I haven't. Question. Do you guys want to talk about Star Wars Fall of the Empire? I mean, yeah. I mean, it would be fun to talk about. Yeah, we should talk about it a little bit. It would be kind of rude to not talk about it, being at Stern, sitting in the replay room. Stern didn't pay for our flights, though. No. But they have been awesome hosts. But they've been very nice. They let us be here and come enjoy this game. I don't know. There's different ways to see it. Yes. I did pay to be here, too. Yeah. But, yeah, it's fun. I like it. Is that the extent of your... That's it. Yep. You know, I feel the same way. It's fun. I like it. Hey, everybody. thanks so much for showing up. Have a great night. It's great. It's fun. I liked it. I really like it. My biggest thing I love about it is the art packages. I know that you should love more about a game than just that, but right now I'm still like, wow. The back glasses are amazing. The back glasses, I just can't stop looking at them. I want them on my walls. We were told that the Pro was the premium at one point, or the premium was the Pro. They're all just really, really good. They also mentioned the shuffle for previous games that they have a hard time deciding what back glass goes on what. And I can see that being something that would be fun to find out from artists. What did you have in mind? What was the vision? Did you originally... Were you trying to get them to be like, no, this is pro material. No, this is premium material. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I wasn't really going for anything too great. They all look amazing. Outside, before going inside a pinball machine, outside is phenomenal. They did an amazing job. Four artists. So that's cool too. It's fast. It's hard. Like a John Borg game. I'm worried about the Death Star shot, Matt. You and I talked about that. It's a little rejecting. You're worried about it? I'm so worried. Why? Like, emotionally. I've been losing sleep at night thinking about this. What are you worried about? Just getting rejected? The shot, it rejects and not because it can't go in the hole. Because it won't go in the hole. I know what you mean. Yeah. I felt kind of weird, too, when I hit the Death Star and, like, nothing happened. And it's open. It's, like, asking for it. And then, like, it just won't go. So, what? Nothing. Nothing, nothing. Okay. I mean, like, the opportunity for the ball to go in that hole, it's not like it's rattling or hitting anything that should prevent it. It's potentially a design uh-oh. Yeah. I'm saying it right now. But also, the machines here are more pre-production than probably we would typically experience at an event like this. Because they don't have this game on the line yet. These are, like, really one-offs. They did also ask for our feedback because they are going through those minor little things that they can still fix. I did see a bunch of ramps out there on the line. We saw a lot of ramps, a lot of wires. A lot of stuff's already made. Yeah. I think they have been making a lot of progress on this game. I heard even in the last two weeks, the code has changed pretty dramatically. Ray Day was out here, Raymond Davidson, who has been working on this game, the code. He was taking notes and getting feedback from people in real time and just observing things. one of the flashers on the Pro was insanely bright. He was like, oh, I gotta fix that. I didn't realize that was so bright. What's been your experience with Pro, Premium, LE? Because I got smacked, dude, with the Pro. And then the Pro's wall is definitely aligned a little different. It's crazy grainy. I don't think that's because of the different model. The difference is, for people that are listening to this later, the difference is between the Pro, the Premium, and the LE is cosmetic. except for one component, which we should talk about. Yes. We're talking about the force. The force. Well, two things. Technically, the center ramp also goes up and down on the premium and does not on the pro. Oh, okay. It's a permanent ramp shot. Yeah. A permanent ramp. Okay. I don't know if it was just this game here in particular, but I had such a hard time lining up the pro. Just the one or two games that we played together with the premium had a much better... You played the pro in here and the pro outside? I didn't play the pro outside. You should play the pro outside. Maybe the energy in this room isn't. Maybe. I mean, yeah. Hanging out with you guys, distracted. But I think when you've only played a game a handful of times, it's hard to draw conclusions about this versus that because you don't know the shots that well yet. And half the people here are like, the pro in this room, they're having a better time with the premium. I find that weird about the relationship of coming here to experience the game. Because Stern, I think that the mutual relationship is we play the game, we talk about it people get hyped about it yeah we also get to see it early but how the hell can we really like give a untainted view of what the experience is like in such a short period of time yeah yeah well they welcome both sides you know talk about what you like what you don't like i think that it's a fun game i think that it's really accessible it's going to be great for the average player to walk up you're not like selecting a character like you are on the other star wars game yep it feels like every time i hit something i'm like hitting the ramp something's happening yeah yeah yeah i'm getting that dopamine i'm like i get it yeah i agree i like this game better than the 2017 i agree yeah i do like it more sorry it's like immediately satisfying like what you're saying yeah a newbie like we're talking about earlier something stern trying to do to get people more into pinball i think they're trying to do with this game it's got four ramps yeah which is a lot of ramps ramps are fun especially for newbies two spinners and they orbit into each other so really you're getting two spinners for one two for one yeah and i like Those pop bumpers, honestly, those pop bumpers, when you get a multiball, that really gets everything going. Yeah, it's fun. So in a world where games are notoriously removing pop bumpers because of real estate, right? They just consume a lot. I respect the spot bumpers for just having it as randomizers. They have two slingshots at the bottom, and then essentially they have the two pop bumpers above it, which is making like, it's like having four slingshots. Essentially, yeah. Which is wild. Yeah, I think it needs that extra bit of chaos element because other than that, it's pretty straightforward. Other than that Death Star shot being kind of wonky or seeming to be wonky at this point, everything else is pretty straightforward. There's nothing too chaotic about any of the shots. Almost everything returns the shots to the flippers It hard to get the ball too out of control unless you got those pop bumpers there It a safe fan layout Yeah With pops With extra pops Right To make it less safe. I think it's going to be a long playing game already for good players. Without those pop bumpers there, it would be a really long game. Unless you're playing the pro in here, of which case it is a 30-second playing game. Smackdown. It's 30-second Smackdown. That's what I experienced. I mean, the shots are fairly tight, but it is like a pretty straightforward layout. So it's not that hard to dial them in. Yeah. If I had a Star Wars lineup, this would be killer. What's your favorite shot on it? You know, I love when you can get that one around the ATT, like spin on the left. The ball lock, that's my favorite too. Yeah, that one's really fun. But also when you can get into hyperspace. Dude, I hit the loop, you know, like the outer with the double spinner shot, three in a row. Yeah. That was my favorite, hands down. Just hitting it like one, two, three. You know that vibe, right? It's that flow, right? Yeah. Because of the double spinner situation, very satisfying. There's less stop and go on it than the last couple of Stern games, which I like. The main stopping point is when you really hit the toilet shot. What's the Sarlacc pin? Wait, who coined that term? You know, I think, okay, can I give you a hot take? Yeah. I know why they don't have this internationally. Because they would have to make that shot go the other way. The other way. Yeah, yeah. Well, yeah, maybe it's not in Australia. They got to fix that. That's so stupid. Ray Day, I don't... Wait, whose job is to fix that? Would it actually... You're making me wonder if it actually... Would it? What, if you backhand it? If you backhand it, it spins the other direction? Of course. If you backhand it, does it spin the other way? Does it spin the other way? I will say a couple people have mentioned we wish the toilet shot, the slash Sarlacc pit, had a sticker on it or something. Yeah. Because it's just a clear funnel. Yeah. Like, I forgot that it was the Starluck pit. I don't know. Maybe I've been paying more attention to the display and everything, but it feels like it needs a little... Somebody make a sticker for it, I guess. Yeah, I was thinking that. And then now I have to take a better look. Maybe you could get a ball stuck and never see it because there's a sticker there. Maybe it was clear because of behind. There could be, like, a functional... Sometimes the ball does get stuck. So, out front, Borg was saying that he had a nightmare. This is... I'm not making a dumb joke. A literal nightmare. This is a real... He had a pinball dream. God, that six balls got in there and got stuck. And he came in the next morning and fed it like unlimited balls to make sure that wouldn't happen. And it didn't. Well, true. He told you that. He did. To your face. To my face. John Borg telling his dreams to people. He revealed his dreams to people. What would it be like to have pinball dreams like that, man? Like, oh, there's six balls and a slarlack. I fucked it up. Have you guys ever had pinball dreams or no? Yeah, it's bad. Is it a quick one? No. It's bad as in it's very regularly happening? Yes. Wait, wait, wait, wait. This is the worst pinball dream you've had. Or best. They're like fun, but it's, yeah, usually like I'm at like a show or something and I'm just playing. Yeah. And I wake up and I'm like, damn, I should be playing. That's how much I've missed pinball. It's pinball guilt. And then they're like, where's your video? I'm like, please. Then I'm at my computer. I don't think I've ever had a pinball dream, man. I'm trying to remember if I have. I think I have. I don't think I have. If it was, I was probably just playing pinball at an arcade or something. Can you make up a pinball dream for us? Go ahead, Don. Well, Tommy and I, we decided to get a room. I'm done. I hear he plays a mean pinball. I'm done. Oh, really? Yeah. Wait, which Tommy are we talking about now? All of them. All Tommies. All of them. Oh, you were talking about Tommy Wiseau. I thought he might have been talking about... I thought he was talking about Tommy... The Who. The Who, yeah. Okay. That's what I thought. Okay. I'm the weird one who went back to... The Room. The Room. Oh, man. But I do dream that one day, collectively, we can make the room pinball machine. The Room. Yeah, that'd be great. Matt won't let us talk about that. We'll talk about it later. Overall, I like Star Wars. I think it looks pretty. I think the Star Wars fans are going to like it. I think it's going to play well in arcades and tournaments. I think people are going to enjoy it. It's a solid game so far. Do we collectively unanimously agree that it's better than the 2017 Steve Ritchie Star Wars? Yeah. I always say it's like 50 games. You should put them side by side. That would be fun to put them side by side and play back to back or something. Have any of us played this more than like 10 times? Yeah. No. No. Yeah. So it's early to say, but definitely giving that impression. But the 2017 one has that insane rejection John Wick speed situation. It just, it gives players the feeling that they don't have the chance. Yeah. Yeah. But I do like the hyperspace on that one too. That's fun. The loop is cool. Because that's the only ramp that goes that deep, right? It's like High Speed 2 in space. What about the Dangerland X-Men thing, right? Well, yeah, that too. It doesn't go back into the game, but it feels the same. You kind of see the ball go somewhere it's not supposed to be. Yeah, it feels like a water slide. Yeah, yeah. This is an accessible game. More friendly for people. And I think it echoes Stern's push towards trying to get new people into pinball. Totally, yeah. I think the Keith Elwin fans may not fall in love with this game because it just doesn't have kind of all the trickery and stuff other than the forced shot, which is a cool thing. I think that putting more creative ball saves is a great idea. And I hope that they put that in other games if they can make it work thematically. It's a really fun game. I think people are going to enjoy it. I'm not that big of a Star Wars fan, and I'm not in the market to buying a brand new pinball machine right now. So it's not going to be for me, but I know for sure other people, Especially those Costco buyers. Holy moly. If those people that like the Costco one are looking to get another Star Wars game, that's going to be their jam. Yeah, and I don't think we've talked about the call-outs, which is kind of epic. Oh, C-3PO. My, what in the hell? What are we doing? Yeah, how did we not mention that yet? Anthony Daniels. We're horrible. Yeah, we are horrible. Terrible people. They're great. Best call-outs. You've got C-3PO's socks on. Oh, that's so cool. Are those C3Pio? C3Pio? C3Pio, dude. Nice try. I just couldn't make it work. It seemed like there was something there, but I think like the Star Wars package, like the video, all the fonts, all the graphics, all that stuff is really good. And it doesn't feel half-hearted or kind of like. Not a lot of repeat clips. Yeah, the clips, like the call-outs, all the little famous quotes from Star Wars, like they're all in there. And for me, like – You would know. Yeah, yeah. For me, that's kind of enough to make me want this game. And I like the game too. I like the way it shoots. It's fun. I don't know as far as like challenge factor. Sure. It may be a little easier than King Kong or something. Sure. But it's a game I would want to own at some point for sure. Good. Wow. Yeah. I'm not sure if this is it for me personally. It's because you want John Wick, huh? Dude, I'm like a masochist, man. I love John Wick, dude. I also love Keanu Reeves. Totally. And I love Johnny Mnemonic. Agreed. Right? So there's something there for me, man. The triangles. Yeah. I feel about triangles. Oh my God, dude. Yeah, you're the triangle guy. You're the triangle guy, yeah. Anyways, yeah. So I don't know. Yeah, I think that connects more with me too. I really wanted John Wick so bad. I like this game, but it's not going to come first for me, unfortunately. Where do you think this game sits on the recent Stern list? Like the last five? Would you put it in a higher or lower ranking? So we're talking about King Kong. Let's go all the way back to Jaws, I guess, right? X-Men? X-Men. This is tough, man. Metallica? Why do you do this? Let's not forget D&D, my favorite. Why are you doing this to me? Dragons. Oh, man. I can't answer this question. How can you not answer a question? It's pinball related. Yeah. X-Men is going to be king to me. I know people have certain qualms, but the layout and the play field in that game just does it for me every time. Dude, there's something about X-Men, man. Yeah, but all X-Men's problems can be fixed in code. Other games don't have that. Yeah. John Wick will never be fixed with code. What? I said it. I said it. No. What do you mean what's wrong? You're wrong. Oh, okay. riddle me that one i'm not sure i just i just i just really like that game same yeah maybe something's wrong with me then i'm not your typical pinball player though like there's a lot of games i like that other people don't like i can't name them here i don't want to name a non-stern game right now but yeah there's plenty of games i like other people raven raven no that game sucks you're wearing the shirt yeah yeah i have to say like that that's hilarious i don't love it but by the way sick shirt thank you yeah i do like it yeah for the record raven is a terrible game it's not great it's awful what about you but the shirt's fun in terms of where it rigs yeah yeah i don't know why did i ask this question it's a hard question yeah i know why would you do this I like it more than John Wick and less than Jaws and King Kong. Elwynn lover. Yeah, that's true. You love Elwynn. Elwynn fanboy. I think X-Men is an excellent game that took risks and doesn't have the code to back it. How far back are we going? You said Jaws, X-Men. Five, but we could... D&D. King Kong. King Kong. And now this? Ooh. I'm going to have to say probably Jaws, though. Of those choices. Number one. Is that what you're saying? Number one? But I want to play Jaws Pro. I'm with her. Jaws is number one for me for a bit. Really? Oh, my God. Jaws is unbelievably good. I like King Kong, too, but I think I just... I like Sharks Triangle. Sharks and Triangle. Also, Jaws disguises a fan layout and then gives you a little bit extra with the side flipper. yeah i'd probably say x-men after jaws though yeah yeah yeah if it gets me canceled i'm sorry i'll be done before before the internet tears you up i'm also not a huge star wars fan i like the movies yeah as much as anybody but yeah i feel like for me personally that's the last missing key element right is like being that extra kind of star wars fan i just never grew up with it yeah i would get star wars before king kong wow really yeah dude i'm on the i'm like i would flip a coin, kind of. I think I'd probably get Star Wars before King Kong, too. But I might keep King Kong longer. Than Star Wars. I'm like, I'm really having to think on this one. That means they're close, because you can't just dunk on it. You can't dunk on it, no. I think it's like a connect. I can't handle this brain riddle. King Kong or Star Wars? I have to pee. They have pizza. There's pizza. This was really fun, though. I've been having a really hard time, because I cannot stop thinking about the room and the game that i would make and the shots so we're gonna reconvene this group at some point in the future everybody's on board with this yeah yeah hold on because you're actually doing something with that right or not i'm gonna make it so we can't steal the thunder oh no you can steal it let's talk about it i want to talk about the whole process it's gonna be amazing i want a group effort it can't just be me i'm not a designer and by any means we'll figure it out we'll figure it out i'm open to feedback we'll figure it out i got a little sketchbook i've been thinking i'm not even joking bro like literally my first so i'm still thinking about whether king kong is better than star wars yeah i can't get it out of my head i like star i would if you got star wars and king kong next to each other you're gonna put some quarters into something stop i can handle this i gonna be able to play star wars a bit longer than i gonna play king kong yeah i just connect more with star wars i love king kong i freaking love the peter Jackson movie It one of my favorite films but I would rather play Star Wars especially this art package No offense to the other art package but this art package is way better than King Kong art package. It's very good to look at. It's very pretty. It just feels good. Yeah. I'm just like, I'd rather look at that. I agree. I would take a pro too. Pro, premium, use the force, not use the force i like the uh neon vibes of the pro cool i'd take star wars over king kong something i want to know real quick anything else that you guys want to mention or plug or talk about or coming up for dirty pool for erica's pinball journey i'm just excited to be here pinball's been really fun and you'll probably see a lot more from me yes yes what about you dirty pool uh what do you got There's lots of stuff, but I think I'd more like to talk about how cool meeting everybody. As a first, my cherry has been stern popped or whatever for this experience. Everybody has been super welcoming. Meeting everybody, putting faces to names has been amazing. And just meeting you guys in person, that has been the top experience. I'd rather talk about that. Likewise. You guys are going to be at Expo, right? Yes. So you got to come hang out with us there because we're going to do something very similar to this. Can we talk about the room then? Or is Matt not going to allow it? You're tearing us apart, Matt. I think we're going to be stuck. Do you see how long this took without talking about the room? I see your logic. It's really good. Thank you, guys. A lot of fun. Thank you, guys. I want to get some pizza. Thanks, guys. Thank you. Wow. Wow. That's a lot of talking. That was a long day. Which by the way, I wanted to say this because it may or may not come across that way We were running on like what like an hour of sleep each We did this in one day our flight left at 6 20 the event started at 9 30 we were up at dude. I three something I picked you I was here Right at like three it was four. Oh four. Sorry. Sorry. I was here at like 4 15. Yeah, and I was ready to go and unclear if either of us slept at all i don't know if i don't think i did because i'm worried about oversleeping yeah yeah i just i can't sleep if i like when i have early flights i just can't fall asleep like it's just it's so i i went to bed at like 8 30 i was like i'm gonna do it i'm gonna fall asleep nope didn't happen well freaking ian called both of us and delayed my beauty rest for at least 30 minutes. So, if we're a little low energy or something, you know, that's the excuse. Neither of us slept at all. I mean, the energy, I think, in the moment was fine. I just think I was being weird. Don't judge us. But, you know, fortunately, we had some fun guests who did most of the talking. Thank you so much to our guests. Yeah. Ian, Shane, Colin, and Erica. Dirty Pool. Dirty Pool. Thank you guys for just being a part of it. It's kind of a special moment for us because, you know, it's like our season two premiere. Yeah. And it's best to do it with friends. Yeah. Just like pinball. So anyway, we wanted to summarize real quick our impressions of Star Wars Fall of the Empire. Fall of the Empire. So yeah, before we wrap this up, let's just hit our post 24 hours later. Let's do it. Been able to marinate on it a little bit. But when we recorded that, we were in the moment. We were literally at Stern playing the game for the first time, seeing the game for the first time, hearing those C-3PO call outs for the first time. So, Don, what do you think about Star Wars Fall of the Empire? Man, first and foremost impression, you know, I'm kind of like a visual and aesthetic guy. Yeah. The freaking artwork was incredible. any of the three usually i feel strongly about one particular art package or one design i will take any of the three they were all beautiful and incredible they're all so good and i actually think i might like the pro the best when they they got one of the original artists to be the likeness do the likenesses in the presentation ahead of time which we were not allowed to record or anything they said that they knew they had to get the likenesses perfect because everybody was so used to seeing these things they really went the extra mile with the art none of that is reused assets it's all new brilliant brilliant star wars art and right away you would almost think it could be because it looks so good my first thought was like there's no way someone illustrated this right these are like old assets that somehow got recycled no dude it's all original it's almost too good incredible and the pro has this neon lightsaber green and red kind of thing and it's got the endor and the speeder bikes like super cool i'm really into that one i mean that was my big takeaway and other than that like the game itself it's fun it's got a lot of cool little toys and features and super fast if you want it to be yeah doesn't feel like start and stoppy at all um it's fun i mean it's like an accessible new game you don't have to you know learn the rules and do some rpg dungeons and dragons type stuff you can just straight up play pinball yeah they mentioned in the presentation star wars is a license that appeals to almost everyone on the planet multi-generational too yeah and you know some of us hardcore pinball people a lot of us are big star wars fans so do we want to see a star wars game designed by Keith Elwin or jack danger yes yes we do that would be awesome this isn't that though this is like an accessible for everyone pinball machine right to me the whole package is very well put together and the layout and the play field a lot of people were going to probably whine about the fan layout because everybody whines about fan layouts every time a new game comes out including myself but this game shot fun it has four freaking ramps i'm never going to complain about having more ramps dude the freaking center ramp lord of the rings send it lord of the rings Center ramp jump shot. Send it, yeah. Yeah, send it. It's awesome. And it's just fun. And the two pop bumpers on either side is a new kind of variation. I love that. It uses space wisely. It keeps a little bit of chaos in the lower half and makes it stand out a little bit from like a typical fan layout. Oh, dude, the freaking force, right? Like I think as kind of tenured pinball players, we take magnets for granted nowadays. Because I love the way they use magnets in this game with quote-unquote using the force. Yeah, yeah. And I think it's going to be kind of, it's a brilliant play for new players or people that are just getting into pinball. Because it's a very physical, visceral way to save your ball. Which is like, as a new player, that's the number one thing. It's like, oh, a drain, a drain, a drain. Yeah. Now you can save it. Yeah, and it's skill-based. You can build up your Jedi skills, become a Jedi. and using the action button to use the force is just perfect. You know, it's like, what better use of an action button than like, boom, and a ball save. You know, lots of times like newer games, the action button is like, wait, what is that? What do I do with this? So I hit that when I've got this and then it shoots this thing across here and then there's a roving shot. It's complicated. If I'm in this mode, it does this. If I'm in that mode, it does that. If I'm playing Deadpool, it just goes boom. If it's flashing red, it's this. If it's flashing orange. Just having a simple use of the action button is satisfying. Satisfying. I appreciated that. It's less of just like, oh, it's flashing. What's it doing? I don't know. Try to hit it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What happened? I'm not sure. And it's satisfying. When you finally nail it and it saves the ball, it actually gives that Star Wars Force vibe. The way it moves the ball, it vibrates a little bit, shakes and launches it real quick. Magnets and the updated Spike 3 sound stuff, you can hear the difference. I've been pretty disappointed and vocal about poor sound quality on the Spike 2 systems. This is a big improvement. 100%. Huge improvement. The quality of the speakers, the components, the amplifiers, everything, even on the Pro models, is vastly improved. But the other thing I was going to say is the layout is, I think people maybe were with us, you know, it's Spike 3. Everything's going to be new and futuristic and different. It's actually kind of old school. It does feel old school, yeah. This could be a late 90s game, an early 2000s game. There's nothing super, you know, some people might be disappointed by that, but it's just a fun kind of old school layout. It's pinball, dude. Star Wars is an old school property. 100%. This is a game based on movies that were made in the 70s. well technically empire and jedi were early 80s but you know it's a retro license and so having a little bit of a retro play field that's accessible that has some kind of old school vibes like yeah i don't hate it it definitely does kind of remind me of that 90s kind of like it's like a more narrow shots 90s layout or something it does feel like that for sure right yeah definitely the shots are tighter than a 90s game the play field is definitely more challenging than a 90s game i can't think of i mean with the exception of like dracula or something but i agree with you it does satisfy that part of me that loves 90s games almost all the shots return to the flippers which is like a big flow thing for a lot of people it's got some speed it's got a few stops and slowdowns it's not just full-on speed yeah yeah it has a good balance and another thing about the artwork the border around all of the art is that kind of silver kind of like yeah like mirrory kind of chromey silvery yeah it's a reference to the toys from the 70s and 80s the kenner star wars toys had that same border around it which just is super cool it's like a little added nostalgic touch that's awesome do you want to hear on that note a tragedy yes when i was a kid i was gifted by my stepdad's grandma i was like seven an original Darth Vader, like the big ones. Oh, whoa. Like the one that's like a foot tall or bigger, like with the cloth cape and everything. My mom gave it away when I was too old for it. Oh, that's like a thing. All my toys, my PlayStation, my Nintendo's, it was all given away to a kid that needed it more. And I wish I had that Vader. It was so cool. Yeah. But then she like convinced me that I was too grown up and too cool for it. But like, I think it's probably worth tons of money now maybe yeah i still have all that stuff i have all the star wars toys my parents friends older son had a huge collection of star wars and gi joe's toys and he just gave all of it to us are you sure his mom didn't force him to give him i don't know i think he outgrew him and didn't care like he personally was there and gave them to us that's what i thought which made me feel like he was done with them but yeah we still have all that stuff like in boxes and bins and tubs they will be displayed at some point in a future arcade, bash arcade slash pinball shed 2.0, whatever. In some way, they will be displayed in the future. Awesome. He-Man 2. Return to your home. evacuate all personnel

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

---

*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 73463550-0647-4b40-bd95-a811d68b8a03*