# The Spinner Is Lit - Episode 48 GSPF Was AWESOME!!!

**Source:** The Spinner Is Lit Pinball Podcast  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2022-05-24  
**Duration:** 166m 14s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://soundcloud.com/thespinnerislit/the-spinner-is-lit-episode-48-gspf-was-awesome

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## Analysis

The Spinner Is Lit Podcast hosts recap the Golden State Pinball Festival (May 13-15, Lodi, California), emphasizing the unique community-driven campground experience with organized gaming events, Sparky's Barbecue (continuing a 14+ year tradition despite Sparky's absence), and the third annual Steve Chiron Spirit Award given to Todd and Suzy DeStefani. The episode highlights the festival's grassroots, welcoming atmosphere and unique blend of daytime tournament play with 24/7 campground gaming and socializing.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Golden State Pinball Festival was held May 13-15 in Lodi, California at the Lodi Great Festival Fairgrounds — _Spencer opening the episode, stating confirmed dates and location_
- [HIGH] Some attendees traveled 2,400 miles round trip from Wyoming to attend the festival — _Will mentions 'four of us' from Wyoming making the trip, corroborated by other hosts_
- [HIGH] Sparky, the original barbecue organizer, maintained a 14-year streak of hosting the event before missing this year due to family obligations — _Dan and Spencer discussing Sparky's absence and his commitment to return next year_
- [HIGH] The campground featured organized gaming events including a pin golf tournament, Tiltallica Metallica set, and custom one-off game 'Boys Night Out' — _Multiple hosts describing campground activities they participated in or observed_
- [HIGH] The Steve Chiron Spirit Award, now in its third year, was presented to Todd and Suzy DeStefani at the Flippin' Friday kickoff dinner — _Spencer explaining the award history and this year's recipients_
- [HIGH] Previous Steve Chiron Spirit Award recipients were Cliffy (first) and Chris Coons (second) — _Spencer providing award history during dinner discussion_
- [HIGH] The Flippin' Friday kickoff dinner was prepared by a local Girl Scout troop led by Andrea Songy Neff — _Spencer describing dinner preparation and presentation_
- [HIGH] George Gonzalez, JJ from Game Exchange of Colorado, Mike Garcia, and others coordinated Sparky's Barbecue in Sparky's absence — _Dan and Spencer crediting specific organizers by name_
- [MEDIUM] The festival campground culture has evolved to be more welcoming to newcomers and strangers over successive years — _Spencer and Will comparing 2018/2019 to 2023, noting increased openness and inclusion_
- [HIGH] Capcom Flipper Football and Striker (System 80 soccer game) were played at the festival; Mark Fireball 2 brought the Flipper Football — _Hosts discussing specific vintage soccer-themed machines encountered at festival_

### Notable Quotes

> "It's like the Woodstock of pinball. It's three days of peace, love, and pinball."
> — **Spencer**, early in episode
> _Defines the festival philosophy and atmosphere; becomes recurring theme throughout discussion_

> "You can leave the kids there and they're safe. If any other adult knows you, they know your kids, your kids can't get into trouble because you know your dad and mom don't want you doing that."
> — **Will**, mid-episode
> _Highlights family-friendly nature of campground community despite late-night activities_

> "When you Spencer-ing, we just call it Spencer-ing. Yeah, I'm just Spencer-ing, man."
> — **Mark and Spencer**, mid-episode
> _Running joke about Spencer's tendency to go on tangential discussions_

> "If you need Sacramento and you need to buy a house or sell a house, please call George."
> — **Spencer**, mid-episode during barbecue discussion
> _Humorous aside crediting George Gonzalez for his contributions; shows community bonding_

> "There's no invite. We have a ton of food. Grab a plate. Sit down. Eat. Hang out with us."
> — **Will (paraphrasing community ethos)**, barbecue section
> _Illustrates the open, inclusive nature of community gatherings_

> "That's the Woodstock of pinball now where we're just – it's 24-7. It's not a stop."
> — **Spencer**, campground discussion
> _Reinforces the continuous nature of the festival experience beyond traditional event hours_

> "Nothing good happens after midnight. And Will's like, oh, really? Check this shit out."
> — **Spencer**, campground activities section
> _Illustrates late-night campground gaming culture and community spirit_

> "Tiltallica is what I like to call it, thanks to Dan coming up with that name."
> — **Dan**, mid-episode
> _Names the Metallica-themed evening event; Dan gets credit but jokingly claims it's actually his coinage_

> "That Sparky's Barbecue would not have happened this year if it weren't for all of them and all the other wonderful people who donated."
> — **Dan**, barbecue tribute section
> _Emphasizes collective effort and community contribution to maintaining tradition_

> "There wouldn't be a Sacramento Pinball Group without them. There wouldn't be a Sacramento area community... they were really the glue that held the community together."
> — **Spencer (about Todd and Suzy DeStefani)**, award presentation section
> _Justifies the Spirit Award by highlighting the recipients' foundational community role_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Golden State Pinball Festival | event | Major pinball festival held May 13-15 in Lodi, California; features daytime tournament play and 24/7 campground gaming culture |
| Spencer | person | Host of The Spinner Is Lit podcast; organizer/coordinator of festival activities and Steve Chiron Spirit Award presentation |
| Dan | person | Co-host of The Spinner Is Lit podcast; credited with naming 'Tiltallica' Metallica event |
| Will | person | Roundtable crew member; regular attendee of festival since early years; participates in campground activities |
| Mark | person | Engineer/co-host of The Spinner Is Lit podcast; arrived Saturday, missed Friday dinner |
| Shannon | person | Community volunteer credited with helping set up hosts' tent Thursday evening at festival |
| Sparky | person | Original organizer of Sparky's Barbecue; maintained 14+ year streak of hosting before missing 2023 due to family obligations; plans to return |
| George Gonzalez | person | CCPL League member; primary organizer of Sparky's Barbecue in Sparky's absence; real estate professional from Northern California |
| Todd DeStefani | person | 2023 recipient of third annual Steve Chiron Spirit Award; community contributor from Northern California |
| Suzy DeStefani | person | 2023 co-recipient of Steve Chiron Spirit Award; moniker 'Barnyard the Cookie Monster'; foundational to Sacramento Pinball Group and Northern California community |
| Steve Chiron | person | Deceased community figure (passed March, five years prior to 2023 episode); inspiration for Spirit Award recognizing community contributors |
| Cliffy | person | First recipient of Steve Chiron Spirit Award; dear friend of Steve Chiron |
| Chris Coons | person | Second recipient of Steve Chiron Spirit Award (2019); operates pinball games, maintains machines at Pacific Pinball Museum, provides community repair support |
| JJ | person | Game Exchange of Colorado owner; coordinated/hosted Sparky's Barbecue 2023; generously provided campsite for event |
| Mike Garcia | person | Folsom and Lodi Leagues member; instrumental in organizing Sparky's Barbecue 2023 |
| Andrea Songy Neff | person | Girl Scout troop leader; amazing chef who prepared Flippin' Friday kickoff dinner with Girl Scout troop |
| Kathy Chiron | person | Widow of Steve Chiron; gave blessing for Steve Chiron Spirit Award creation |
| Jerry Walton | person | Early pinball show organizer; hosted gatherings at his house before Pinnagogo era (circa 1987) |
| Adrian | person | Son of George and Dana Gonzalez; college graduate; noted as competitive pinball player ('a monster') |
| Lodi Great Festival Fairgrounds | event | Venue location for Golden State Pinball Festival in Lodi, California |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Campground culture and community building, Festival organization and logistics, Steve Chiron Spirit Award tradition, Sparky's Barbecue history and continuation, Flippin' Friday kickoff dinner
- **Secondary:** Pin golf tournament and treasure hunt ideas, Vintage soccer-themed pinball machines (Flipper Football, Striker), Community inclusivity and welcoming culture

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.92) — Episode radiates warmth, celebration, and deep appreciation for community. Hosts express genuine joy about reconnecting with friends, celebrating traditions, and witnessing multi-generational participation. Minor nostalgic sadness regarding Steve Chiron's passing, but framed constructively through award tradition. No criticism or complaint; even logistical suggestions (campground map) presented constructively.

### Signals

- **[community_signal]** Golden State Pinball Festival demonstrates strong community participation with organized campground events (pin golf, Tiltallica, Boys Night Out), volunteer support, and multi-day immersive experience design (confidence: high) — Multiple hosts describing organized gaming events, volunteer setup, and continuous participant engagement across three days; emphasis on planning and execution of special attractions
- **[sentiment_shift]** Strong positive sentiment toward inclusivity evolution; festival campground culture noted as becoming increasingly welcoming to newcomers and strangers over successive years (confidence: medium) — Spencer and Will comparing earlier years to 2023, noting increased openness with beer offers and game invitations to unknown attendees; Will's description of overcoming initial hesitation at first Sparky's Barbecue
- **[community_signal]** Northern California (Sacramento area) positioned as significant pinball hub with established community infrastructure (leagues, groups, core organizers) and tournament ecosystem (confidence: high) — Discussion of Sacramento Pinball Group, CCPL League, Folsom and Lodi Leagues, and multiple community leaders (George, Suzy, Todd) who have sustained regional community for years
- **[community_signal]** Girl Scout troop and community volunteers providing professional-level meal service and hospitality for festival, indicating strong local organizational support (confidence: high) — Andrea Songy Neff leading Girl Scout troop in preparing five-star dinner with hors d'oeuvres, wine, beer, full meal presentation for festival event
- **[product_concern]** Practical logistical suggestion for improved campground experience: hosts note need for map/guide to discover distributed gaming machines at campsites, indicating accessibility/navigation gap (confidence: medium) — Will and Spencer discussing difficulty finding campsite machines without guidance; suggestion of printed or online map for next year; note that 'treasure hunt' concept could formalize discovery
- **[event_signal]** Golden State Pinball Festival (May 13-15, 2023) confirmed as major pinball community gathering with strong attendance from multi-state region and established traditions (confidence: high) — Hosts discussing confirmed dates, location, attendance including 2,400-mile trips from Wyoming, and continuation of multi-year traditions (Sparky's Barbecue 14+ years, Spirit Award in 3rd year)
- **[community_signal]** George Gonzalez, JJ, Mike Garcia, and Spencer assumed leadership/coordination roles for Sparky's Barbecue tradition continuation when original organizer unavailable (confidence: high) — Dan and Spencer explicitly crediting these individuals for stepping in to maintain 14+ year tradition despite Sparky's family obligations absence
- **[sentiment_shift]** Legacy and memory-driven community rituals reinforcing social bonds; Steve Chiron Spirit Award establishing institutional commemoration of community values (confidence: high) — Detailed history of Steve Chiron Spirit Award creation (blessed by family), careful selection of recipients embodying community contribution, and emphasis on award's role in honoring values

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## Transcript

 Hey, welcome to the Spinner's Lit Pinball Podcast. Tonight's episode, episode 48, GSPF Recap. Golden State Pinball Festival. Come on, man. Everybody knew about this. If you didn't know, you missed out. Okay, so it's episode 48. Again, I'm your host, Spencer, and with me tonight is the Roundtable crew. We got Engineer Mark coming off a win. Hello. And we got our co-host, Dan. Yo, yo, yo. And back with us from the Roundtable since before the world went freaking nuts, Will. Hello, hello. It's good to have you back, man. Thank you very much. It's good to be back. Okay, guys, let's kick it right off. We're going to talk about, we're just going to recap and review the Golden State Pinball Festival, which was a week ago. It was May 13th, 14th, and 15th in Lodi, California, the Lodi Great Festival Fairgrounds. And beautiful, sunny, Lodi, California. And it was sunny. And we had a lot of fun, man. It was a whirlwind, I got to tell you. Hey, hey-o, no pun intended. It started off, actually, at Camp Silver Ball. We arrived Thursday evening, and there were already people there, and we got set up pretty quick. I want to give a huge shout-out to Shizzy Nay Nay, that's Shannon. And Shannon immediately, as soon as he saw us, came over, helped us get our tent set up. We would have been setting up for an hour and a half. He got his help, and, I mean, he was in on it, and we were set up in a half an hour. So big thank you and shout-out to Shannon. Thanks, Shannon. Thank you, Shannon. Thank you, Shannon. Anybody else have anything about Camp Silver Ball that night, Thursday night? Who was there? I missed Thursday night, unfortunately, but I did make it for Friday, fortunately enough. The camping this year I think might have been some of the best ever. I know a lot of people in 2019 when we had the last show were starting to see the potential of, like, we can have games at the campsites. This year we had guys who had like Big giant inflatable Pyramids with games inside And every night People were making sure To have some sort of like gaming event There was like a pin golf tournament I think at one of the Trailers We had the Length Battle Metallica set up The Teltallicas One night There was even a One off garage built game, Boys Night Out, and that's what I was in to playing Sunday night with the crew from Marco. That was a lot of fun. You were hanging out with a lot of the out-of-town crews, the set-up crews and stuff like that. Making new friends, meeting new people. It was a really good time. There's people that actually showed up for the very first time and even volunteered their time. You know, of course, they were already established in, you know, the pinball communities in their own areas. But, yeah, I met some people from, you know, California, from Oregon. You know, there's a lot of people that travel from a lot of, you know, a lot further to come to the show. I heard there were a couple morons who came from Wyoming. Yeah, 2,400 miles round trip, man. And four of us, yeah. That is some travel beast mode. But there was never any shortage of fun to be had out at the campground. Like if you were a little burned out from the show or if the lines were a little too long, which really didn't seem to be a problem this year, like you could wander out to the campground, you know, take a walk and meet some really cool people doing some really cool stuff. so I've experienced the nightlife at the campgrounds for all three of the Golden State Pinball Festivals of course I wasn't camping the first two years 2018, 2019 but I would stay out as late as I could before I had to go home and I would say that it has gotten just more open to strangers, to new people that are out there if you're just walking past the camp sometimes somebody's going to offer you a beer, hey, do you want to come in and play the pinball? Come check things out. People are just more and more welcoming to people that they don't even know, but you're there, so you're family. You're part of the community. And I would say that this show is really just leaning more towards – I mean, the daytime show is great, but this is so unique at the show that we have. I don't think there's another show that has anything like this. And what I've said all along since the formation of the Golden State Pinball Festival, what I always used to say, and I still do about Pinnacle and Golden State too, is during the show itself, it's like an old our gang episode where, hey, we cleaned up the barn and we're putting on a show. Come on, it's a nickel, you know, whatever. But that has that vibe, that very grassroots, down-home welcome feel. and the campsite is literally makes it like the woodstock of pinball. It's three days of peace, love, and pinball. I love that description, Spencer. Oh, yes. It really is. It really is. And, you know, I come up with that. Actually, if you remember the old Pinnagogo, I have the poster in the hallway and the stairwell. No, no, I know. Pinnagogo, like we had campsites and we had like a swing and 60s theme and it was called Pinnagogo. But I'm saying, like, in the most literal term, the camping is what makes it the festival. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It really does. Because, again, you can go to the pinball show and you can play pinball until your fingers are falling off. But the most amazing thing that happens after is that when you're done, you can go out to the campground, kick it with some new people, find more games to play, take a load off, drink some beers, do whatever, stay up late, go to bed early, however you want to handle it. It really is the most unique thing, I think, at this point about the show. And it's something that, you know, I haven't been to a huge amount of shows, but it's something that makes our show really, really unique. And I think that if you're into that kind of like camping, RVing, tenting, whatever lifestyle, and pinball, I think that it's a real selling point of this show. It's super, super fun. Yeah, it really is. And Rusty and I have had a thing going since the first Golden State where early in the mornings before the show, and even after the show starts, we're over at the camp area. We're always over by the restrooms on the lawn there. And we've got everything set up. And we have coffee, okay? And if you don't know, my last name is Klingon. It's Celtic, also with a C. But we have coffee with the Klingons. And every year we make a new friend or two, usually somebody new. camp we did again this year. Somebody camping over by us. Will made a new friend too. And so we made new friends with Andy and his son. Yeah, Andy was super cool. Super cool guy. And his son, whose name starts with a K. Casper. Casper with a K. Thank you. But with a K, not with a C. And just the most delightful, loveliest people on the planet. And we saw old friends which they remember. Oh yeah, we met you two years ago and we had coffee. Come on over. Have coffee. And And, you know, the crew from the usual crew will come over. And, you know, George came over from his camp and Shannon and some of the other guys, Rory and, you know, Eric Seifert. And the guys just came over and had coffee with us. And it was great. It was wonderful. And it's really a nice way to start the morning. You know, we have some coffee. We have donuts. We talk. And it's a great thing. And it really is. Like I said, it really is the Woodstock of pinball now where we're just – it's 24-7. It's not a stop. And that's what makes it a little bit different. And you just, you know, if you're hungry, eat. If you're tired, sleep. Go to the pyramid, pray to the aliens, and play the Ninja Turtles pinball, which resided inside the inflatable pyramid camping. Yeah, that was Juan's setup, right? That was Juan's setup, yeah. He brought that. That was pretty badass. I'm waiting for Burning Man next year. I really am. I don't want to equate it with Burning Man because I know that Burning Man is kind of a thing. I mean, don't get me wrong. We also have some friends who are involved in Camp Silver Ball who are involved in Burning Man, and I'm sure that, you know, it's a great thing for them. But I think it's a wholesome, fun, just, you know, way to get out there and, you know, live the pinball lifestyle. It is. It wasn't even actually out of, you know, completely out of line, you know, for some of the younger, you know, teenagers. Mickey and I were out until midnight, you know, on Friday night. You know, and he had a great time and, you know, got to, you know, kind of experience, you know, a little bit of that, you know. But, of course, you know, he was tired. So I told him all the fun stuff happens after midnight, but he'll have to learn that lesson later in life. There you go. Yeah, because I keep telling them nothing good happens after midnight. And Will's like, oh, really? Check this shit out. Check this shit out, man. No, it's good because that's the other thing. I tell people, I say, you can leave the kids there and they're safe. If any other adult knows you, they know your kids, your kids can't get into trouble because, hey, wait a minute, you know what? You know your dad and mom don't want you doing that, right? Exactly. Yeah, exactly. No, your kids are safer there. They're safer there than they are a lot of other places. There also just wasn't anything inappropriate happening where, you know, a 13-year-old, you know, shouldn't have been in that situation either. Yeah, it's so funny. One of the guys, exactly, and we were talking. I forget who it was. We were like, oh, and they were having a meeting. Well, you were over there when they were doing the Metallica Saturday night. They moved the Metallicas out, and it was like an all-nighter thing. It's like because you came home at like 4 a.m. Yes, sir. And Mickey can't help being excited. I was out cold, right? I was out. And they're like, did we wake you up, dude? And I'm like, what? Dude, I woke up like at 3 in the morning to go pee. I didn't hear a word. I didn't hear a peep, man. It was like, you know, like we were still at party. I'm like, I didn't hear you. You know, you were good. And that's what it was. I mean, everybody was having a good time. But it's all adults, okay? And these are adults who are doctors, lawyers, Indian chiefs, insurance agents, real estate. I mean, you know, pest control, you know, electronics, phone salesmen, teachers. I found out one of the guys. I won't add him, because I know there's a few of the guys that are school teachers. And then one of the other guys I've known for years, and I just found out this last weekend, you teach fourth grade? No kidding. I had no idea. I've known this guy for 15 years. I just found that out. So, I mean, but I mean, my whole point is, like, everybody's having a good time in Tuttanloose, but they're all adults and nobody's having it. The security people that love us because we are the easiest gig they get every year. Yeah, and nobody ever gets out of hand. Never. The thing I really like about it is, like you said, Spencer, it's a family reunion. That's what it is. Everybody hasn't, people haven't seen people for three years, and it's like not even two years past. It was just like back to exactly how it was, and it was just a neat experience to say hi to everybody and hang out. And, yeah, Metallica, Tiltallica is what I like to call it, thanks to Dan coming up with that name. That's awesome. I just feel, by the way, like I came up with that name, but if everybody's giving me credit for it, I'm going to accept it. Yeah. No, it was good. We kind of brainstormed, and then Dan came up with a really good one. So we're definitely going to have a sign for it next year and definitely promote it even more. But we'll talk about that later in the show. But it was really a fun time to get to see everybody. I did not get to be there Thursday night. I got there on Saturday. So I didn't get to experience Friday at the campground, but I did play the pin golf. And that was a really fun experience to go to different places on the campsite to get through the course. And it was a lot of fun. So thanks to GeneX for getting that together and having that organized for us to go out there and trust us to go out and play games that are just sitting right outside of a camper. It's pretty cool. And everybody's welcome. Everybody's saying, hey, come on over here. Hang out here. And I did get to play Boys Night Out, and that was a really fun experience talking to the person who actually put it together and learned the rules and stuff like that. As part of the golf objective, we also had a chance to really learn how to play the game. So it was really a neat experience. Yeah, and that's what's taking, I think, the campsite thing to the next level. It's that people are bringing games and they're planning events. It's not just a game sitting at a campsite. It's like there's actual, like, reasons to go around, play people's games, and, you know, special attractions. I got out there and played a few of the games. I didn't go through the golf course or anything, which I really kind of wish I did, but I was super busy for the whole show. and then I did get to check out the tent with the TMNT in it, the pyramid, and I was just like, oh, man, this is so crazy. Like, these guys are out of their minds. You know, I think next year, if we could get a suggestion to the person that organizes it, it would be really cool to actually have a map, you know, whether it's online or just, you know, a one-off, you know, printed up poster or something like that. But, you know, and I know it's going to be kind of a last-minute thing because it's not going to be decided until Thursday night or Friday night, but, like, something where we know where the machines are, you know. Yeah, it was an adventure trying to find the machines. When I was with Doug, we were like, where's that one? Like, that's the only way you have to do it. Yeah. I mean, don't get me wrong. I agree with Will. Like, having a map would be great. But as – and I'm sure some people are assigned sites early, and somebody could probably come up with something. But, yeah, it probably would be – I mean, even if it's just a map of the campgrounds and then just, you know, a dot where, you know, the site area or whatever, you know, where the machines are. I got it. Here's what we do. At the end of every game, there's a clue. And it's not just pin golf. It's the pin golf treasure hunt. Look, I just threw that idea out in the world. if Gene Max is a listener or if anyone knows him and they want to give it to him like boom that is the next level of campsite pin golf campsite pin golf treasure hunt I love it I love that idea I'll even donate some cool swag for that did you play the the soccer one that was a Capcom one right was it flipper football or what was it the head to head one No, not the head-to-head, the one that was under the tent. Well, that was March. That is Capcom flipper football, yeah. With the weird-shaped head. That was super fun to play. That's a great game. I never knew about that. That is an amazing game, a really, really underrated fun game. Yeah, like you have to hit the targets fast enough to get past it to get into the goal. I did not know that was the objective. That's a perfect bar game. You know what's funny about Flipper Football 2 is, like, you couldn't give those things away. Like, nobody wanted them. Everybody hated that game. And I've always thought, like, if you like soccer and you like pinball, it's a fun game. Yeah, it is really a fun game. Yeah, it was fun. Mark teaching me how to play it. That was awesome. That game's really good. Yeah, that was Mark. Fireball 2 that brought that. That is an amazingly fun game. And then another one, another soccer game, Huntsman, Mike Huntsman owns it now. It used to be Adam's game. Striker. Striker. Yes, Striker. Striker. Striker. System 80. That is an amazing System 80 game. It's a lot of fun. Soccer is a good thing. It works well for football. I realize we're kind of sidetracking, but I wanted to throw those out there so the listeners, if you've never played one and you can find one, play a couple of games on it, man, because you might find something you really dig. Anyway, and they can be had for not stupid expensive. You know, Spencer, when you sidetrack, we just call it Spencer-ing. Yeah, I'm just Spencer-ing, man. I'm staying home. You're just like, oh, here he goes. Now we're going to have a 45-minute conversation about soccer-themed games. No, we'll do that for another episode. Let's talk about the show proper, or do we want to talk about the barbecue event? I think the barbecue for a lot of us is kind of the center of the campground experience. Stable. Yeah, Sparky's Barbecue happened this year because of a few good people, and we need to mention a few of those good people. And you're going to help me out with this, Dan, because I'm going to screw this up. Oh, yeah. Sparky's couldn't attend this year, breaking, I think, a 14-year streak of him hosting a big barbecue, originally just for the Sacramento Pinball Group, and now it's open to pretty much anybody. That's an amazing streak. Yep. Here's to Sparky. So because Sparky couldn't make it this year, a couple of our other guys picked up the ball and ran with it. It was still hosted by JJ from Game Exchange of Colorado. And the primary organizer, I believe, was George Gonzalez from the CCPL League. George. And if you need Sacramento and you need to buy a house or sell a house, please call George. If you need George's information, you're in Northern California, get with one of us. We'll hook you up. Mike Garcia, who is another member of the Folsom and Lodi Leagues, he was instrumental. Thank you, Mike. Our man Spencer, as always, was instrumental. And George's wife and daughter came out to help. I saw Hector's wife, Joao, who was helping. I can't remember Hector's wife's name. She's just such a lovely lady. I'm a terrible human. I'm sorry. They are awesome, the most awesome people. Shout out to them. Shout out to them. No, Hector and his lovely wife were huge, brought a bunch of food, jumped in, helped out. And it was so good to see them because I hadn't seen them since before, you know, the world went crazy. And they look great and they're doing well. I was just so happy that they're doing well. Adrian's getting ready to graduate college. Their son, Adrian, who if you've ever had to play and lead against Adrian, he's a monster. That dude is a beast. That young man can play some pinball. I'll tell you what. He's not a rock band. I'm telling you, man, that's what I've heard. And he's just a delightful young gentleman, and we wish him all the best success in the world. So, yeah, man. And so they all made it happen. They really did, especially JJ and George. and, I mean, all the people we mentioned. That Sparky's Barbecue would not have happened this year if it weren't for all of them and all the other wonderful people who donated, you know, Jeff and Courtney, who brought, you know, food and drinks. And, I mean, I'm going to miss some of it if I do. I apologize. I don't think you can name everybody who brought food or utensils or whatever. I mean, it is a potluck-style thing, so I think pretty much everybody brought something. But even if you didn't, you weren't turned away. It was funny, too, because I had people, you know, that we knew, and they were walking by, and they were just like, oh, the barbecue. I didn't get an invite. And it's like, there's no invite. We got a ton of food. Grab a plate. Sit down. Eat. Hang out with us. Yeah, there were several people that I talked to and invited them over, and they were like, oh, that's not, you know, I'm not, I don't know those people, and I don't feel comfortable. And it's like, no, believe me, I felt the same way when I had the chance to go to the Sparky's Barbecue my first time over at Pinnagogo. And that's how I met everybody. That's how I met Spencer and I met Dan and everybody from there. It was a great opportunity to get to know people. And from there on, it just became a tradition to make sure I didn't miss the barbecue because food was awesome. And I remember they had brats in the past, and they even had great hot dogs and all the other food that people brought. And it was just a great opportunity to just hang out and chat and not have to go over the pinball noise. You can't really have a conversation in that room. But having everybody just sit down at picnic tables and just hang out. And I think that's the whole idea of the whole show anyway. But the Sparky's Barbecue was kind of like the centerpiece of the show. During the barbecue, I recorded a video and took a lot of pictures, and I sent them over to Sparky. I had everybody on. And he was live, wasn't he? Wasn't he live, or did you just do a video? No, I just shot some video and just texted it over to him. He wasn't live, but it was like, you know, we love you, man. This one's for you. And that really made his day. Awesome. And he was already planning the next one. Like, he has no intention of this becoming the former Sparky's Barbecue. Yeah. So you will be back next year. Yeah. It was family obligations, and family always comes first, and we're all good with that. But, you know, we wanted to honor Sparky for all he's done and keep that going. And like you said, Dan, it all started out, you know, Sparky told me years ago, told me the story, was it all started out at Pinnagogo because there was nothing to eat close by. And everybody was at the show and having a good time, so they thought, well, I'll pick up some hot dogs and brats, just get the gang together and say, Hey, can you bring paper plates? Hey, can you bring some sodas? Hey, can you bring condiments, ketchup and melish and onions and what have you? And that's how, again, grassroots and organically started. My very first show, I knew no one. Just a few people in the Sacramento pinball group that I talked to briefly online, knew literally no one, and said, I'm coming to the show this year, just Saturday. And we drove from, you know, Paradise. And Sparky was like, you got to come to the barbecue, man. Bring your wife. I'm like, okay. So we brought something. I think we made barbecue beans and we met everybody. And that's been that way ever since. And the rest, as they say, is history. Yeah. The history is. I'm sure I told you this before, but that's not really the right reason. The reason for the show being on Saturday was because at Pinnagogo, it would be so crowded on Saturday afternoon, you really couldn't do anything anyway. So we decided to do a barbecue on Saturday afternoon so that we could be away from the show until the evening. And by the time it was time to go back into the show, we would be full of food and drunk. Margaritas from the Margaritaville? Yeah, John Robeson from the Margaritaville one year. I have never been drunk or in public. Was that a spark? He was wearing a grass skirt or something like that. That was later. That was later. Keep in mind, again, we're talking about like a 15-year history. This all used to actually sit in one campsite, you know. Yeah, because it certainly often was just kind of SDG specific. We used to do an after party with Steve. when the after party with Steve sort of you know wound down it turned to you know repurposed into the Sparky's BBQ so this is for a lot of us it's the centerpiece of the show and now again we have JJ from Colorado getting involved you know he generously you know lets us completely nominate his campsite for a whole day and everybody brings food Everybody brings drinks, you know, a few special people do the cooking and do the majority, you know, the Georges and the Mikes and the Chows and I forgot Mike's, I forgot Mike's, but George's wife's name, but his daughter's name is Mia. I should have written, oh, his wife's name is Dana. So forgetting that, you know, makes me feel real dumb. Yeah, Dana, right. They're great folks, and I'm really glad the barbecue lives on. such an integral part of our NorCal Festival. It's got such a rich history. And it started out like the whole festival and everything else. And I won't go into it now, but I actually ran into a gentleman, and I'm dying because I'm forgetting his name. He has been to every show. We're sitting talking. We're eating together at the barbecue. And he has been to every single show since the very first one that was held on the lawn and at the house of, was it Jerry? And Jerry Walton's FUD. I'm not sure because that was even before our time. You know, before Penn-a-thon even. Yeah, we're talking like 1987. But we talked and that was real neat. But I want to flip back to the Flippin' Friday kickoff dinner on Friday night. So that was a new tradition, a Golden State tradition. It is. It is. I still have the picture from the last Pinagogo. I'm sorry, the second to last Pinagogo at Sparky's Barbecue with Steve Charland in the group photo. And then he passed away. It was five years ago this year in March. And so the last Pinagogo before our group moved and made it into Golden State Pinball Festival. And the older group that used to run Pinagogo went back to run Pinagogo. Anyway, back in 2017, and they had a big thing to honor Steve. And so we need to do something more. So I talked with the guys on the board. I had an idea. And then I took it to Steve's wife, Kathy, and his daughters and said, I would like to do this with your blessing. And they, of course, gave their blessing. And we started the Steve Sharma Spirit Awards. So we give it out every year or two. We try to give it to somebody who's local, northern California area if possible, who has that Steve Charms spirit, you know, that gives to the community, whether they be, you know, volunteering, doing tournament work, you know, just being a good ambassador for pinball, like Steve was. And the first one went to Cliffy. You all know who Cliffy is, and he was also very dear friends with Steve, so it was very special. And then the second one, 2019, went to Chris Coons. And yeah, he's an operator Yeah, he sells games That guy, every Monday night For the last, gosh, 20 years probably You'll find him At the Pacific Pinball Museum On his own time, on his own dime Keeping games maintained and fixed You can call him You can email him He will walk you through repair tips That guy does give a lot to the community He's donated games year after year To the raffle, to the shows He's a good dude, he gives back This year, the Golden State Pinball Festival presented, it's a Flippin' Friday kickoff dinner, the third annual Steve Chiron Spirit Award to both Todd and Suzy DeStefani. Suzy goes by the Cookie Monster, that's her moniker. There wouldn't be a Sacramento Pinball Group without them. There wouldn't be a Sacramento area community. I mean, there probably still would have been, but it wouldn't be the same. I mean, they were really the glue that held the community together for some years before I came on, and even after I came on with just their friendship and hospitality. And so it was real wonderful. I got to present. I got the honor of hosting the dinner for the third time and presenting that. And the dinner, if you don't know about it or you've heard about it, do not miss next year. The dinner is actually prepared by the local Girl Scout troop. and Andrea Songy Neff, who runs the troupe, an amazing chef. This year's dinner was hors d'oeuvres. I mean, it's five-star. Like, I walked into the building and to check in with her about an hour and a half before we got started, and I walked into the dining room, and I was like, I'm underdressed for this. I mean, it's an affair. It's an event. Oh, yeah, the dinner was awesome this year. It was like a pie tip and loaded potatoes and various vegetables and a pasta salad and bread. It was pretty darn good, that's for sure. You know, the astonishing thing, I think, about this event is, you know, a lot of folks think, okay, well, I'm going to a pinball festival. It's going to be hot dogs, you know. It's going to be bratwurst. Yeah, we had those. And, in fact, I don't know if anyone had the brats, but they were awesome. They were from that Lakewood butcher in Lodi. But, man, the dinner this year, they outdid themselves. And the level of presentation of the food and the service that they put on was amazing. And before that, like you're saying, we had hors d'oeuvres. We had wine and beer. We had soda. It was appropriate for all ages. Did everybody make it to the dinner? Mark, unfortunately, you didn't get to come, right, because you didn't come until Saturday. That's correct. I did not make it for the Friday night dinner. But Spencer and Will and I were all there, and Spencer kind of, you know, he's the honcho of this, you know. He at least of the presentation of the Steve Charland Award. But, you know, what did you think, Will? You know, I was there for the 2018 dinner, and I was there for this year's dinner. I skipped 2019 for some reason. But, no, it's always good food, and it's just another, you know, I mean, much like, let's say, you know, the barbecue, it's an opportunity to rub elbows with people, you know, meet people that you haven't, you know, ever met before, see old friends, you know, for the first time, you know, for the weekend. You know, it's always a good time and, you know, it's always for a good cause, you know. Yeah, absolutely. And, I mean, you know, there's some people, you know, from the group whose children, whose daughters, you know, are actually there working the show, you know, serving us food and, you know, serving the hors d'oeuvres and all that. So, you know, we're the group, the community is involved, you know, from top to bottom with it all. Yeah, it's another one of those difference makers to the Lodi, the Golden State Pinball Festival. It's just another one of those things that, like, I've been to a lot of pinball shows. I'm sure that they might do something like this, but I've only experienced it at our show, and I think that it's a real differentiator between what we do here and what they do anywhere else. It's a lot of giving back to the community, a lot of philanthropy. And it's really good, you know, because you see the results of it year after year. You see the kids grow, you know, go off to college. And, you know, the money that they make for these shows helps a lot, you know, with getting them to camps and to school and saying you're making a positive difference and celebrating wonderful people. As Dan said, I hosted and kind of emceed the dinner and the event, and I had different people speak. I really wanted to have Brian speak. Unfortunately, Brian couldn't be there due to work obligations, But we had Dan come up and say a few words. He did really well. And then we had – People do say I can talk loudly. You did well, Dan. You did really well. I had to because my speakers were not the best. No, I was honored to be asked, and I was honored to be able to share some memories of Todd and to wax poetic about what his and Susie's contributions have been to Northern California pinball. Yeah. And then we had Greg Ong came up and said a few words, and Greg's a longtime member of the Sacramento Pinball Group and the NorCal Group and Club and a past member of the board of the Northern California Pinball Association, which puts on the show. and then we had Steve Faith also a current member of the board and had us all crying and that was rough and it was from the heart it was beautiful he's such an emotional dude he really is and just a sweetheart of a human being and had some wonderful stories to tell and it was a very emotional night it was a couple times where it was really rough for me to get through it and like I said that wasn't And, you know, next room over from the studio where I'm at right now is my son Mickey's room. And he still has on his wall the little miniature Giants baseball bat that Todd had given him, oh, gosh, barely a year ago, just before we moved. And, boy, he cherishes that, you know, and the memories of going over to Todd and Suzy's and playing pinball and playing with the Dons. Yeah, but that event is, you know, so, so wonderful. and just it's one of those things that if you do ever come to the show if you haven't been to Golden State Pinball Festival before you know I know you might look at it and go oh man you know do I really want to spend this extra money just do it it's worth it it lasts longer than you think it's going to last I think that we went you know a couple few hours and yeah you're going to enjoy yourself. You can go about six to nine. Yeah the first hour is the hors d'oeuvres and And, you know, just kind of, you know, mingling around and stuff, talking, you know, having a few beers or glasses of wine or whatever, and then sit down at the second hour. You know, and then it's about two hours of food and, you know, and talking and somebody getting, you know, the award that year, you know, Susie this year. Yeah, the presentation and then the evening and, you know, like I said, pretty much like an hour, an hour, an hour. And it goes by so fast. And then afterwards, you know, you can be hung out outside and, you know, we talked for a while and just caught up. And, you know, the show has already started. Like, you can start playing games on Friday afternoon, no problem. But to me, and I think it kind of speaks to the name, the Friday dinner is kind of where the event begins. Right. And then, you know, Saturday morning, you know, once you get through the Friday dinner and, you know, you've laughed and you've cried and you're stuffed, You know, Saturday morning is like really when we start kicking off the events. I hear that we had an awesome swap meet this year, Spencer. Yeah, I didn't spend a lot of time there, but, I mean, I always like to go over and see if there's anything groovy. There was a lot of complete, semi-working and working games there for sale this year. In fact, our man Cheddar, a big shout-out to Cheddar for all he does for the show and the community, he picked up a couple of old Gottliebs that sent me working, And he picked up a Raven and a Hollywood Heat. Got a good deal on those. And then Adam Holder picked up the old Williams EM Grand Prix, is it? Yeah, with the double spinners. He picked up one of those. It was actually working. They monkeyed with it in the back in the Pintec room for about 20 minutes. They got the thing up playing. I kind of snuck back there a minute. I'm like, what are you guys doing back here? I'm like, oh, we got to run it. And then they moved it over and put it in the main hall or the secondary hall and then quit working again. Did he buy that at the swap meet or was that the one that other Dan sold? The one that was supposed to be in the tournament and didn't make it. Yeah, I think that was that one. But the other two games were definitely at the swap meet. I know he sold that game to somebody. I didn't realize it was Adam. I'm pretty sure it was Adam. Yeah, because he was the one we were talking about. It's all kind of a blur because all I did was – Not Adam Cresswood, by the way, but Adam Holder. Adam Holder, yes. Adam Holder. Yeah, Adam Holder, not Adam Cresswood. I did that to him every time that he walked by at the show. Both righteous dudes. And, no, it was a good time. So, yeah, and so, no, it was a lot of, you know, nice artwork. There are always all these little cool oddities that show up at the spot meet, so you need to really get over there because you're looking for something unique, weird, rare. The weirdest stuff will pop up there. You know what I found in here? I found a Christmas story monopoly. That's not kind of a thing. Unplayed. Like all the baggies were unopened. Like it was just perfect unplayed condition. Ten bucks. Exactly. I sold it to SwapMe 2018-2019. I don't remember which year. And that was a lot of fun. I really wanted to take some stuff and sell this year, but I was just so busy with helping with the show and helping with the tournament stream. I just really didn't have a chance to, like, break away and spend any time with the swap meet. But it's this great covered area that they have out there. And, you know, definitely a flea market full of cool, nerdy stuff. Yes. I saw a little bit of it. I didn't get a chance because it was early in the morning, right? It's, like, right when the show opens. Yeah. Yeah, so I just, like, practically got there at that time. Yeah, I was just, I had so much else going, helping out, getting the barbecue set up. Yeah. I had my daughter and son-in-law on the way coming. It was their first time coming to the show, and they really had a good time, really had a good time. That's great. Yeah, we had a good time there. That was the first time I met your daughter and son-in-law. I know, right? Yeah, and because, you know, they live up in North, and they just don't make the show. But they're like, we've got to come do this again. I'm like, yeah, you know, because. But they fit right in because they're gaming nerds and they're anime nerds and all like that. My son-in-law is a guitar maker by trade, you know, and they just fit right in with the group. So it's really cool. But, yeah, so I just did a quick walk through the swap. I mean, I wanted to get back over there a bit like everybody else. And then I couldn't go five feet without somebody wanting a selfie or just a hug because it was, you know, like we talked about, man, it's been so long since we've had our show, and everybody, no one has come through the last couple years without some bumps and bruises, and everybody was just like, oh, my God, I'm just so glad to see you. I'm so glad you're here. And I'm like, me too, man. It's just so great to see you, you know. I've heard that so many times. And it truly was, man. And people, you know, so many times people, you know, oh, my God, I listen. You know, I still look forward to the next episode. And, you know, I got it from a bunch of people. It's like, you guys don't change anything. Keep doing what you're doing because I do feel like I'm sitting there at the table with you, and you're passing over the pizza or the Doritos and opening up another cold drink, and we're just sitting around in your basement where your kitchen table is talking pinball. So, and that's awesome. As Mickey's walking by, no, no, come here. You're here now. Just say hi. Hi. There you go. That's a hi from Mickey. Mickey. He just ran through. Anyway, yeah, he's out playing. So here's the deal. We've talked about camping. We've talked about barbecues. We've talked about swap meets. What was this show for again? Pinball. This show was for pinball. So we had three full rooms of machines on free play. There were over 200 games this year, and we had some of the hottest and the newest. We had Legends of Valhalla. Anybody you love Legends of Valhalla? Not at the show but only a few days later I did just play it That came home with a member of our league Nice What did you think of Valhalla Will I love it actually Great theme, fun to play. I think the artwork is great. The animation, you know, is great. I can't wait to, you know, stay in front of it some more and see if I can finally put up a high score on Jeff's machine. There you go. Did you get any games on it, Spencer? Oh, I got a bunch. You got a couple on Jeff's machine? Well, I got a few, and I got a few more in the lineup because they had an entire lineup of, they had a complete lineup of American Pinball's idols. Right, and we had two, right? We had one that was by the Weird Al. Yep. And then we had one that was in the American lineup that Don Hiley brought, who's a local American distributor. If you're in NorCal and you need an American Pinball game, look up Don Hiley. So Don's Game Services, Don's Game Room Services, I mean, we'll find it. I like that, yeah. Yeah, so he was nice enough to bring an entire lineup, you know, so everything from Houdini, which I had an amazingly good game on Houdini. I hadn't played in that game in a while. Had a Oktoberfest, had a Hot Wheels, and then Legends of Valhalla. We had two of those. I love that game. And I'm telling you right now, man, I don't think people are giving American enough credit. They started out of the gate really rough. They stumbled out of the gate. They picked themselves up. dusted themselves off, delivered a good, fun, working game in Houdini, and every game they just keep getting better and better. Legends of Valhalla, and that's actually originally a Riot pinball. I forget the guy's name. I apologize. Yeah, I don't remember the Riot guy's name. But, yeah, that's a Riot pinball production, a Riot pinball design. Yeah, they did it. It was Wrath of Olympus. Wrath of Olympus, Greek mythology, which Rusty and I have said for years, hey, do Greek mythology. Somebody do it. And they did it. And they ended up, it was just a homebrew, really nicely done homebrew. And in fact, if I recall correctly, before it was actually a homebrew, it was actually a computer pinball game, a digital pinball game. And then they made a real version of it and refined it. And they ended up making like six or eight of them, I mean, literally in their garage and sold to local collectors in their area who wanted one, who actually helped build the games, if I'm told correctly. And then they did the same thing with Legends of Valhalla. American picked it up. It's an amazing game. It's got a Viking ship lock. It's got the Kraken. It's got all the good stuff. It's got, like, the hammer that comes down with the magnet. It shoots great, okay? And you have to admit that Jeff Teolas did an awesome job on voice work. He absolutely did. It's so good. He does such a great job playing Odin. Yeah, shout out to Mr. Teolas on that. Shout out to Jeff. Great job on that. No, he really did. He's an amazing podcaster and pinball personality in his own right. That game overall, don't count it out, man. And they're well built. American pins, I'm telling you, I think American is going to have a long, bright future in pinball because they're delivering good, solid, quality, built, fun games that are really enjoyable. And the shot layout is great. The rules are awesome. Everything on that game. Yeah, the light show, everything. It's a great non-licensed game. Yeah. Well, there you go. And it's a cool thing, man. It's Vikings. Norris mythology. What sort of production numbers are they putting up, like, for these Legends of the Hallows? I don't know. I don't know. There's probably less than 500 of them out there right now. Okay. So they're kind of along the lines of, like, Spooky Pinball. So, yeah. I mean, they've done Houdini. They did Oktoberfest. They've done Hot Wheels, which Mark owns. And I think Hot Wheels was the most popular topic ever thanks to Mark. And now they're doing Valhalla. I got to admit, like, I walked up to Valhalla, like, only knowing what I'd seen online. And I kind of was believing the hype where it was like, it looks sort of amateur hour. The art, you know, in pictures I don't think was done justice. You know, and of course, it's really hard to visualize how that game plays because when you look at the play field, it looks really simple. Like there's an orbit, there's a ramp in the center, there's a ramp off to the side, maybe like an orbit, maybe like a little whoopsie-do, and you're just like, oh, man, what's this game going to be? And I played my first game or two, and I was like, I mean, it shoots okay. It shoots kind of smooth. And I didn't really play it more at the show, but like Will was saying, we got to play it after hours because one of our friends took it home, and I got to really get into that game. that is a cool freaking game man like it's got such I mean the sounds and everything are really well done it's got such a cool layout and really you know the art and the presentation I know people have been like dogging all the animations I think that they look great the music they're stylistic they're cool they're a cool style yeah I think because you know when I looked at Valhalla originally I thought after Hot Wheels, it looked kind of amateur hour. Right. Like, because Hot Wheels has a very slick corporate, like, you know, it's got like all the approved Mattel assets and stuff. And then you see Valhalla, which is obviously done by, you know, a small studio, and you're just sort of like, oh, is this really the best that they could do? But when you actually have that game in front of you, it's really well put together. The art fits the theme. The play field looks great. It's got all sorts of little, like, doodads and, you know, molded stuff on it. It's got magnets to throw the ball around. It's got a great, like, there's, like, two or three ways that you can feed the upper flipper. And then there's, like, two or three shots from the upper flipper to, you know, including the shift lock shot. When those end up being really super fun combos to hit. And there's a lot of, like, little hidden, like, whoopsie-doos that you don't expect. Like, there's a total, like, lane underneath the upper flipper, and then it goes into your scoop and fires back out. The first time I hit that, I was like, I didn't even realize that was there. That was awesome. Right. Right. That's cool. And then the spinner shot. There's one mode. Yeah, the spinner shot. One mode where the spinner is like the spinner. You get the spinner lit. Hey-oh. Hey-ee. And you just keep ripping that goddamn spinner. And it's like, so it has that feel of the classic Bally or classic Gottlieb or classic Williams in the late 70s, early, early 80s. And I'm like, it was just one mode, but I forget what mode it was. And I'm like, oh, man. And I just, I got into a loop where you loop it out of that little off-center horseshoe, and it drops back down into the flipper. And then you pound it and just hammer home that spinner. And it's so satisfying. I'm never going to have the modes for this game because it sounds like Ikea. crack. You'll end up with that machine. You know, Jorgenminder and, you know, I forgot we were making a joke about, like, one of the things in the world snake, and I'm just like, wow, I have no idea what's going on, but that vampire lady seems super pissed. And then there's like a whole thing where you can, like, collect a hammer, and then if you have the hammer and you start the mode, you can hit the hammer, and it's like hitting the big bang on dialed in and you just win. So yeah, that game is cool and I definitely want to spend some more time on it. Will I end up owning it? I don't know. It seems like I end up buying all of Jeff's games eventually. But I'm not planning to. I got other games on the horizon. What games do I have on the horizon? Weird Al Yankovic. Weird Al there. Natural hilarity. That was so awesome when I walked in there. Mark, did you get to wax poetic about Valhalla? Do you have anything to say about it? Well, I had a chance to play it in Chicago when I was in Chicago. Oh, you have previous knowledge, you cheater. I have previous knowledge, but the code was way more solid. And you held out on us, man. You were holding out. Yeah, I held out on you because, yeah, I had a chance to play it. Yeah, I got to save something for myself. There you go. No, I had a chance to play it once over at Golden State. It was really fun. I like the shot layout, like I said. It isn't as easy as it looks to shoot up that center ramp. You really have to aim it right. You have to aim it right. And then the other thing that's a challenge is trying to start a mode. That left scoop is a little more challenging than typical scoops when you start a mode. So I really like that, but it's satisfying when you get it in there. Of course, trying to get that loop shot up into the Viking ship is awesome when you make it. I did not get multiball started when I played it. I think I only played it two times at the show. But it was just a great experience. And like I said, the sound is very good. The mix is great. Of course, Jeff did a great job on the voiceover work. And along with the other characters, too, not just Jeff, but anyone who was involved in that. it was done really well for a non-licensed game. Yeah, the presentation's fantastic. Yeah, and it's solid. It's a solid game as far as build quality, which we already know about American Pinball. By the way, every one of our podcasts is marked like Interview with American Pinball. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I'm not going to say much more about it, but I'll tell you. He's on the map with American Pinball. I am, totally. I mean, he's on the map. He's on the inside. Like, man, he needs to get us some employee discounts so that we can get Hot Wheels and Houdini's. Well, how about some swag at least? Swag, yeah. We're not showing. Hey, look, if you bribe me, I'll show like a motherfucker. Jerry, multi-market, I'm easy like Sunday morning. But why would he pay me for what he's getting for free? Can we talk about Weird Al now? Can we talk about Weird Al? We have to talk about Weird Al. Yeah, so up next, well, since we played it together and I played it some more later, and I think we all played it a bit, and Dan, you're buying one. Let's talk about Weird Al. So, yeah, man, we finally got to put our hands on a P3 with Weird Al, and I can't even tell you how excited I am now that I've gotten to play it. Even better, my wife Jamie was there with us, and she got to play it, and she's excited about it. And the presentation of this game is, I mean, miles above any P3 so far, right? I think it looks a lot better than Heist, although I think Heist probably has one of the more interesting playfields that they've done so far. The shots on Weird Al, there's so many shots on that little play field. And the cool thing is, with the way that the flippers on that game work, they actually start much lower on the play field than you expect. So where the game's really back play field heavy, you still have to kind of think about halfway down the play field because of your side flippers. The hamster lock is an awesome shot when you make it. It's definitely a tricky shot. The camera shot was deceptively difficult to hit. Did anybody, I mean, Did either of you guys find those shots to be easy? I'm 100% with you on the camera shot. That was a really hard shot to make. I did make it a couple times. The hamster wheel shot, difficult, but when you got it dialed in, it was smooth and it felt good. Yeah, that I think is the most satisfying shot to make on the game because it's the most dramatic. and then it's got like a whole series of diverters so like you'll hit the same shot and the ball will go to a completely different place uh the little mini hit play field with the with the little flipper up there like you know you get up there and you just you know it's the same shot and i you know didn't play it enough to really know situationally what was going to happen but you know when you're when you're making the shots um you know there's a there's a lift ramp it can turn an orbit into a ramp, and then once it goes up there, there's a diverter, so it'll either bring the ball back around or put it on the upper playfield and there's like a target you can hit. It's super, super awesome. And in terms of the presentation, graphically, I think it's hands down the best that the P3 game has done. And I think that, you know, we kind of talked about this before, but my big complaint about the P3 is that they always looked like crappy cell phone games. Good point, right? Right, you know, and I think that the people who did the animation on Weird Al, and I'm not exactly sure who actually did it. I'll have to look that up. But the guy who did the animation on Weird Al, it looks like, you know, one of Weird Al's, like the videos that he puts on the internet, not necessarily the live action videos, but he does a lot of animation music videos. And so it really stays on brand. There's an immense amount of narration and voice by Al. He comes out, introduces every mode. There's, you know, the song modes are a blast. They're super fun to play. I, you know, we played early on. The place was still pretty quiet. The volume was up pretty loud. We had like a whole group of people singing along with Amish Paradise as we were playing it. I mean, oh, that's awesome. It was so fun. And, I mean, just the fandom is, this is, you know, for people who are Weird Al fans, I know Spencer and his family are. I am much to Will's dismay when we were young because he wanted to listen to, you know, Cypress Hill, and I'm like, yo, yo, yo, my car, we're going to listen to some Weird Al. He's like, I'm getting out. but the fandom like you know we don't get a huge amount of of merchandise a huge amount of content i mean you know obviously weird al's been a performer for you know 40 years uh you know there's books and there's videos and there's cds and albums and stuff like that but i mean this is like an ultimate you know thing for a weird al fan to see you know a pinball machine you know with his real voice and his real music all built around his world. You know, it's just an astonishing, astonishing thing. And, you know, if you had told me, you know, 10 years ago that I'd be spending $13,000 on a pinball machine, I would have told you that you're out of your mind. If you had told me 10 years ago that it was going to be without pinball machine, I'd be like, oh, maybe we have something to work with. And so I think that, you know, now that I've gotten to play it, it wasn't all perfect. There's some flipper drama with the P3 platform that I'm led to believe can be adjusted in software. Weren't we just asking about that? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Those upper flippers are challenging because the way they had it set up at the show. It's a separate flipper button. There were separate flipper buttons, and I could never get to them. Yeah, it's not the way that my pinball brain works. Like, I kind of expected when I hit the button on the left, the three left buttons would fire. When I hit the buttons on the right, the two right flippers would fire. I've heard that that can be adjusted in the software. That would be good. I have no way of erasing that. That's the only complaint I heard about the game at all. Most everybody who played it that I talked to, like us, are diehard Weird Al fans. Now, my daughter and son-in-law, unfortunately, didn't get to play the game. They have tickets to Weird Al's current tour, and they're diehard fans as well. And they're really still dying to play the game. The ridiculously ill-advised self-indulgent vanity tour, too? That's the one. I want to do the first one. Yeah. Yeah, but overall, man, I mean, you didn't get into the modes yet. You want to talk about a couple of the modes that we talked about earlier and just like, oh, wow, really? You can do that? Well, I didn't. So, you know, as much as I hate to admit this, I probably put four or five games on it, and I got into the song modes, and the way you get into the song modes is you hit the ticket booth. I figured that out. And so I did like two or three different songs, And, you know, I didn't really pick up what the modes were. The coolest one that I saw was probably Word Crimes, because Word Crimes kind of presents you with a quiz, and then you have to hit the right target to answer the question. And I thought that was pretty clever. And you know the secret, right, Dan? I think that you might have mentioned that to me. Yep. So what was the secret? The answer is always C. But the target's not always the same Right No, the target C is switched around It's very clever So is it switched around just randomly Or is it like when you hit the flipper it switches Do we know how that works? It's randomly, every time you make a shot When you make the shot on the quiz and you get it right And it switches around and randomly puts it in a different place I don't know if it's truly random Or if there's some method of the madness But yeah, it's done in the same spot It's so cool And being a teacher, you know, it's fun Absolutely. See a quiz on your screen. What a great way to utilize the big screen, right? I really like how much paradise. Yeah, there were three or four multiballs, right? Like there was the hardware store multiball, there was the UHF multiball, there was the hamster multiball. I kind of started the hardware store one a couple times by accident where it starts flying all over the screen. Okay, I got that too, and I had no idea. To this day, I had no idea what I did to get it. It's just like, oh, there's like a hammer on the screen that's spinning. I'm so excited after having played it because it really – and I've been very, very careful not to over-immerse myself in material because I wanted to experience it hands-on first, that it feels like this game is going to have a ton of content that you can discover, that you can go out and find and figure out and experience the outness. So, yeah, I mean, next March cannot come soon enough. Oh, gosh, you've got to wait that long. I know, man, it sucks. I mean, at least I'm a couple months in, right? If you can't wait that long, come down to Press Start. We will have it at Press Start in October. So I've heard, right, kits should be coming out towards the end of the year. and we have another local guy you know Jason and Tracy you know shout out to Jason who he has an LE on order as well and he should be getting his by the end of the year so I mean I'm sure I've gotten to spend some more time on it but yeah I'm going to be very careful to not spend too much time on it because I do want it to still be exciting and new when I get it which is what sucks about waiting for a year but But modern pinball, you know, they're complex machines made by small groups of people. And, you know, as much as I could, you know, complain about, oh, why did Jerry do this or why did that happen? I'm just going to chalk it up to, hey, you know, a bunch of us want it. Good things take time. It gives me lots of time to come up with the money. And it is what it is. Yeah. Yeah, and Amish Paradise, I loved how they integrated the animation on the big screen with the flippers, with the actual flippers. That was so cool how they had, like, the wheels turn, so it was, like, mechanical. You know, obviously feeling like an Amish theme. Yeah. That was so cool. Did you see that? That was so good. It's so deep. Like, if you look at the walls of the play field, like, there's little portraits, and the little portraits are all a reference to some sort of owl thing. Like one of the things about the Weird Al fandom and Weird Al himself is there's a lot of hidden references to his previous work. And so if you know where to look and you're a fan, you know, if you're not a fan, it isn't going to offend you. It'll probably just go right by. But, I mean, the game is just, you know, even for the songs that aren't there, the albums that aren't represented, there's probably some sort of reference to it in that game. Do I recall? I could be wrong because we've talked about slot. I could have sworn I saw some reference somewhere, something fly by to Mr. Frump and his iron lung. Was I wrong on that? Mr. Frump and his iron lung. From the first record. It is. It is. It is from the first record. And, yeah, so Rusty played, because you and I played together Friday, Dan, And then Rusty and I got on it Sunday, and Mickey, we got a few games on it. And I'm in really trouble now because Rusty's like, I don't want this. But the thing is, she also wants a Mandalorian. She liked Rush a lot. Yeah, man. Wow. It just, the first time I saw, I think I saw Dan get the hamster lock first, and I was like, just like, okay, the ball's rolling inside. How'd they do that? Yeah. How the fuck did they do that? And then I got it, and I was just like. And then it releases. And then it releases. Yeah, and I'm like, that's literally the coolest thing I've ever seen in pinball. You know, because it's like the hamster running on a hamster wheel. But it's the ball. I wish it would be the balls were going to keep rolling on the hamster wheel. Yeah, and then they get a release from that miraculously. How is that possible? I don't know. They just, I mean, wow. There's not going to be a plastic. It, like, blocks the ball, right? But then does it, like, lock on, and then it allows the ball to fall down? I think it just sort of rolls for a couple seconds and then pops out. Well, Dan, you've got to look at underneath the play field, right, or on the video. I saw a picture online. Okay. So I did see him working on it, but, I mean, I didn't, like, get to, like, really dig in. No. Because when they brought it in, they were doing some work on the pop-ups, because there's new pop-ups. There's, like, a new pop-up system on there. And, you know, the machine got played a lot, and it wasn't up the entire time, but it was up the majority of the time and I think it was probably I don't think I'd be exaggerating where I would say it probably was the single most played machine at the show No, I think that would be a fair assessment and then right behind it probably Valhalla I kept going back to Weird Al I was just going to say it's easy for people who are not familiar with pinball to know what to do in the rules I mean, Weird Al tells you right there and then it's like, shoot this shot and you just know exactly what to do. I just really think it's the next step in the evolution of the platform. You know, you had your early games, you know, then you had Heist, which really upped the complexity of the mini play field. I think Al is taking the mini play field to another level, but it's really, really upping their presentations, the cabinet art, the software. I mean, I think that it's the one that's really going to take this platform to legitimacy, provided they can, you know, get them built and get them out there. And it'd be great to see a shoe more on location because there's so many Weird Al fans that probably don't even know he has a pinball machine. And you walk into your local pizza place where they'll go, oh, my God, there's a Weird Al pinball machine. And it's like it's so drastically different. But then it's like Mark said and you said too, you know, it's like, oh, oh, this is what I do. I shoot that thing there. And then can you imagine somebody who's not like one of us, a hardcore, and they see the ball go into the hamster wheel, and they go, oh, holy crap. Or the whole wall lifts up, and you have to shoot these viruses. Oh, yeah. That was cool, too. Like it used just the lower part of the play field, and you could hit it, and you had like a little mode, but you were like kind of trapped in the lower part of the play field and trying to hit these, I guess they were like viruses that were weird owl heads or something like that. What song was that for? I forget. It's for germs, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a germ, yeah. It was kind of a nine-inch nail takeoff. Right, right. Yeah, that's it. No, you're right, yeah. See, I don't know his later work as well as I know his earlier stuff. That was like bad hair day, so. I had bad hair day. Bad hair day. That was one of the most popular albums. I never owned the last. I think the last record I had of his was the one with Saga Begins, Running With Scissors, right? That was Running With Scissors. Yeah, Running With Scissors, the last one, actually. Because I had everything up to that point, I think. But all good stuff, man. And that's just, you know, really nice success. And it just shot well. It played well. And like you were saying earlier, Dan, the lower play pill is not. But there's a lot of fun stuff to do down there, too. It's not just, yeah, for play. No. Right. Yeah, where everybody looks at P3 and they go, oh, my gosh, it's super back heavy. You know, there is stuff to do on the lower play field. Some of it's virtual, but, like, you know, again, you have those flippers down there and those flippers, the way that they line up, it launches shots to the top. We're not off the crossover ramp. It just presents well. It plays super well. It was a pleasure to get my hands on it. And, again, I got a long nine, ten months ahead. And you got to keep Metallica now, too. You can't get rid of Metallica. If I get rid of Metallica, I know that Shannon will buy it in a minute. There you go. That guy says we'll all go to Stan's house. He just made it easier for me. No, Metallica is on the hardest sell list already just because Metallica kicked so much ass. That's a great game. You know, Metallica, you know, my music pins line up, which I swore I wasn't getting. You know, Metallica, Guns N' Roses, ACDC, Weird Al, Iron Maiden. There you go. Who's next? I need an Aerosmith. Who's got an Aerosmith? I actually played Aerosmith there. Oh, and Dolly Parton. My daughter and I played that. That game, it played good. It was so catch. I played like five games in a row. Because it's always in a tournament. I love that game. And it's so cute. Did you get music, man? Did you go play Rush? Hell yes, we did. Both the premium and the pro again. And I really like the premium. I mean, I like the pro. Like, I don't feel like you're missing anything with the pro, you know? Like, it's a complete game. But the premium was nice, too. And because it was so noisy, you know, you couldn't really hear it like when you and I played the pro. But, boy, I sure do like that game. In fact, I told the Stern crew, please tell Mr. Borg, thank you for designing Rush. I feel like Rush is Stern's sleeper. I think that it's probably doing better than anyone expected it to do. I think that the band is more popular than – I mean, I think that – I don't know if anyone else has listened to that Gomez interview on Super Awesome, but I think that they didn't think Rush was as big as Rush is. and I think that they're being surprised. But I, you know, personally for me, you know, I think we talked about this when we did our first impression. I'm not a big Rush fan, but it turns out that, you know, I knew a lot more Rush songs than I thought that I did, and I think the game shoots like magic. Like, I think it's the best shooting stern yet. My wife, who actually made it to the show, she really enjoyed it as well. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, no, it was great seeing you at the show. That was really cool. No, I remember you talking about that going, you know, I know some of the songs and I like the band. Okay, I'm not a major fan. But then after you and I played it for quite a bit, you're like, damn, man, this game's really good. And really, you called it. They underestimated, I think, by quite a bit how well that game was going to do. It was great of Marco. They brought, like, what, three or four different rushes? Yeah, yeah. And they had them all set up in like a triangular configuration, and it was really great to have those newer games come. They brought basically all the newest terms. We had Rushes. We had Avengers. We had Godzilla. Rush was a busy all-show. I bet they got some sales. Yeah, that whole area by the Marco booth was just hopping with people. And what was really nice is Mike Vinikour flies out all the way to California to support the show as well, and he did a great job talking with people, answering their questions and everything. In fact, I didn't get to see him the whole time, but right at the end, I was like, oh, I got to say hi to him before the show was over. And he's like, hey, I think I got a free t-shirt I can get you. Let me go look in the back. And he gave me the one that had the Stern Insider with the QR code on it. Oh, that's awesome. He's a really cool guy. it was really nice so if you are listening Mike thanks a lot for coming to the show and supporting Golden State Pinball Festival as he understands and as well as all of us it is a great show and it's a sleeper show in my opinion because it's not talked much in fact we're probably the only podcast that's talking about it but it's just a great experience and it's great to see somebody from Stern come all the way out here to support us. Yeah and Stern not a whole team, but Mike Minicore, he had a contest. He'd find something. I don't know what the contest was. They do it a lot. It's a different show. And of course, Mickey, if it's a contest and he can win free stuff, he's all in. So he got a signed Stranger Things Translight from Mike Minicore, which was really cool. And I went over and talked to Mike and said, I don't know if you remember me. We were at the dinner a couple years ago. Yeah, yeah, we talked. It was nice. He gave me a t-shirt as well. It's still in the plastic. I haven't even unwrapped it, I unpacked it But that was really nice He just, and he gave me his card So I told him I'd send him a link to the show So he'll get a link to the show and hear a shout out But yeah, he's just A true You know, gentleman and Ambassador for the sport And the hobby of pinball Really great that he could come out And the whole Stern team that, you know, have You know, stickers and flyers And all kinds of cool stuff It was really great to have him there Yeah, they also had Mandalorians They had a nice set up in the Mandalorian Yeah, which Rusty had not played We went to the Denver show and they had it For whatever reason she didn't play So she played a few games on that I had played it enough I didn't play it at the show But they had the cardboard cutouts Of the Mandalorian on each side of the games Which looked really cool They dressed that up real nice They did a really nice job Yeah Yeah, Marco's presentation, their whole booth and the people who were working there, like they did a great job. Better than I've seen them do any other year. Like there were people who were actually actively walking around, you know, answering questions, making sales pitches. I mean, I thought it was it was actually fantastic. One of the young ladies, gosh, I forgot her name. Jamie and I were playing a game and she comes up and she's trying to sell I think it was Avengers Infinity Quest she was trying to sell it to Robbie like right in the middle of our game like we're test driving a car and the person's describing the features and so I started messing with her and she just was such a good sport about it I'm just like oh he's not going to buy this you're wasting your time no wait he's going to buy two he's going to buy one for me as well and you know it was fun and you know they did a really really good job of, you know, fulfilling their mission there, which I'm sure they probably sold some games. In fact, they swore somebody bought a game, but I forgot who. Oh, you know they did. Well, you know, the Pirate was in on that too. They kind of worked in conjunction with Marco and with the Pinball Pirate because he's also a Stern distributor. Right. Yeah, I didn't see Chris. I just did Sunday, and, I mean, it was toward the end of the show. And he was only there just, I don't know, maybe a half hour. I don't know. Not very long. But his crew was there. His team was there. In fact, I talked to a couple of them about maybe coming on the podcast down the road. And they were kind of like, because they love the show. They always listen. And they were like, you know, my voice. I'm like, look, people listen to me, okay? They'll listen to you. You'll be fine. It's just us sitting around talking about Timball. It'll be great. So I'm going to read that to them. Yeah, it was a bit of a deviation, Spencer. Yeah. But did anybody else get a shot at Rudy's Nightmare? Thank you for bringing that up. Oh, my God. Oh, yeah. Thank you so much. I don't know how I missed. I've had so much going on in between because, you know, it was literally a 21-hour drive to get home. It literally took us a whole day to get home. We actually stopped and parked in a rest area. But I'm saying, wait, yes, thank you, Dan, for bringing that up. I did get a couple games on it. Mickey did. Rusty and I got a couple together. It changed my opinion, I'll tell you that. At first I was just, I couldn't get past the art and the voice, you know, from the stream, but having played it, they did a really nice job on it. I'm coming around on the voice. I can get used to it because it's fun to play and fun to shoot. The artwork, I'm still not a huge fan, but I can get past it because it's really fun to shoot. The more you play that, the more the voice doesn't annoy you anymore. I know that was the first thing I heard when I was like, oh, man, this doesn't sound like Rudy, but it's like, okay, I'm going to accept the fact. it's not that type of Rudy that we had from the 90s. This is a new Rudy and accept it. And it just kind of went away. I was like, okay, I'm not comparing anymore. I'm playing the game. And then, like you said, Spencer, the rules are really fun to try to get different objectives and using that mirror to start the modes and how they utilize the steps feature to get into a multiball. It was a great way to do it. And we have one at Press Start. I don't think that one was the one from Press Start because we had having that too. I think that was Rick's personal fun house that was with the 2.0 kit. And it was – it's really fun to play. They did a really good job on utilizing that same play field and making it feel like a total different experience. The tough part is remember to plunge that darn ball when it's multiple. Yeah. That's tough. Yeah, because an auto-puncher would have really helped. It would have also, you know, made the install much, much more complex. So, William, Mark, and Jim from Reno, they actually did, like, the install videos. Oh, okay. Like the official ones, right? That's correct. We did the official ones to show people how easy this kit is to install, so he's got some in-depth experience. That's awesome. And I'll tell you what, man, I only played one game of it. Me too. It was, you know, always very busy. It definitely does a great job of making Funhaus into a new game. You know, the old assets, but at the same time, it's an all-new, you know, experience. And it just shows me that, like, there are so many games that if they can really, you know, if other people can look at what they did with this and continue on with the work, you know, like it just unlocks so much potential in a game that, you know, maybe you played out. And for the price, I think the kit was $2,500. It's worth it with all of it. Yeah, it's fair with that new speaker panel and the display. The value seems amazing. It really changes that game. You know, if you have a ratted out funhouse, man, and you throw a nice shop job on it, and you install this kit, and it's going to be like having a brand-new machine for $2,500. Now, I don't think we're going to bring Brian around on it because he's kind of a funhouse knob, and if you're listening, hi, Brian, how's it going? But I thought it was cool. Like, if I had a funhouse, I would buy one. Right, and they fixed the way that you could switch between classic and the new version too, right? I don't know if they did. I didn't see because I actually saw a couple guys playing the classic mode at Press Start last week. Yes. But, yeah, I don't know how to do it. I know that on Bride of Pinbot 2.0 it was a little weird. But, you know, you just shut it off, and when you turn it back on, you choose between the two games. So you have to power cycle it. You can't, like, hot swap it. Yeah, it'd be great if you could just do, like, a double flip or hold or something for, like, some time, and it brings up on the boot screen or whatever. Right. That may be in the new code. I can't remember. I didn't get to test it out, and we do have probably the latest code at Press Start, but I always like to play Rudy's Nightmare version. But sometimes Jim switches it to the classic version. That was the whole point of them starting with Bride of Pinbot 2.0 was, you know, Bride of Pinbot is a really beautiful game. It's got a really neat layout, but it just doesn't have, you know, there's not a lot of depth to that game. And, you know, like the scoring is not very well balanced. I think that was like, might have been part of the reason like, hey, you know, we could take this and we can make it, you know, we could really add something to it. And again, with Funhaus, you know, Funhaus has a much better code and like that. But still, the whole point is, you know, in that era, you only had the ability to put so much into the game and to add to it. It was really nice. Well, and there's potential to do it with, you know, just about every game that's out there, I would think. You know, which just kind of makes, you know, makes it more fun. You know, you've got two games in one, you know, the classic version that you, you know, loved the, you know, from the beginning and then, you know, something new. And Will, you're correct about that. Did anyone get to play No Good Gophers? I did. I didn't get any chance. It was the end of the long game, so I didn't really jump onto it when I was standing next to it. Did you see any of the video display? Yeah, I mean, I saw it when it was on, but I didn't, like, pay much attention to it. unfortunately. I'm already not a huge No Good Gophers fan. It's a quality game. I don't, you know, think that it's garbage or anything. But, like, I don't find myself rushing to play it. I think it's one of Lawler's kind of more awkward layouts. And I've never, ever gotten that slam-ramp thing to work correctly. I've never hit, like, a shot off of it. But, you know, I'm sure if you're a No Good Gophers enthusiast, it adds something. I mean, that's obviously also a planetary project, because it was at that booth. It is. Actually, there's 15 that are in the works right now. 15 upgrades? 15 2.0 kits coming. Oh, my goodness. Yeah. I hope one of them is Black Knight 3000. Ha, ha, ha. Yeah, there's definitely some, yeah, there's plenty coming our way. I know it's probably early on, you know, but just because, like Dan, because I'm a Lawler fan, you know, I really want to love no good gopers. It's okay, but, you know, it's not, like, I don't think I've ever made the slam-ram fork either on the regular game. On the digital one, like on Pinball Arcade or the Williams Arcade now, I've got to do that a few times, made the shots, and I don't think I've ever had one, the real one. But anyway the video animation is just like I looking up and it looked like I like is that a sloth and is it supposed to be a gopher That was a yeah That was like a placeholder animation Yeah It had to be because it needed a lot of work Yeah, that's what I would think. It was probably, like, prototype stuff, right? I hope so. It had to be. Yeah. Because it was so, it reminded me of, like, you know, when you watch those featurettes of movies, and they show, like, the rough animation. That's what it reminded me of. Same here. Yeah. So I'm like, oh, because I couldn't hear it at all, you know. Right. And it wasn't turned up enough where I could hear it. And I got a couple more games on Cactus Canyon. Rusty had not played the new one. And we had a couple of games on that. That remake is so hot. It's so good. Well, you ruined it for me because you did so good at Reno on it. So, but you did great in that game. If not every game has to be, like, brutal hard, and Cactus Canyon is definitely an accessible game, like there's no reason why I think anybody can't see High Noon. I gotta say, you know, it's really showed me that those Chicago Gaming guys have taken this remake thing and they've just got it at the ultimate level, and for, what does the Special Edition go for? 8,000 bucks? Like, for $1,000 more than the Stern Pro, you're getting, you know, a 90s era William, a lost treasure, if you will, and, you know, if you're into Western games at all, like, that game is smooth, and it does sound, you know, like you're still going to get the enhanced quote-unquote lineman code eventually. But, yeah, I just, you know, I can't see how that game is not, you know, if you're a Valley Williams fan and you haven't gotten to spend a lot of time on Cactus Canyon and you do owe it to yourself to find one and play it. Yeah, it's a great game and one of those solid, well-built games, too, from Chicago Game and Company. Yeah. No, and their work's really outstanding. and the other fact that it's getting those rare games that have become so expensive back out onto the street and not just in people's homes but on location, which is so crucial for the survival of pinball. It wasn't just expensive, right? It was super rare. How many were there before they started making them? 800-some? Yeah, 700-some. 700? It was the last regular production game at Williams before they moved on to Pinball 2000. So the software wasn't complete. Okay. Right. So what they did was when they picked up the rights to do the remake, they completed the software. They polished it up. They put new modes, new bosses, a whole new end game into it. They put like an interactive topper with like a shooting mode. It's super, super cool. and then the promise was that they were going to have the guy who did the software for Medieval Madness and Attack on Mars and Monster Bash, Lyman Sheets, he went to work for that company, and he and – is it Josh or Zach Sharp? Josh Sharpe, right? Yeah. Josh Sharpe. The other work was Stern. Josh. They were going to do an enhanced rule set, like a whole new set of rules, like the Funhouse 2.0. Right. Cactus Canyon 2.0. Unfortunately, he's passed on since then. And so that project was kind of up in the air. So there's supposed to be an entire new rule set for that game. And, you know, I was listening to some of the interviews last week, some of the other podcasts, and apparently that's still coming. So if you are a Cactus Canyon owner, you have something to look forward to. Yeah. I have a feeling it's going to be beyond just a software update. I mean, the rumors that are going around that there's going to be some kind of kit. I heard something about this, like there were saloon doors that were, like, removed from production. I heard something about that, too. That's a rumor, yeah, that that could be part of a kit beyond just the software. But I have a feeling that if they're going to justify the cost, it would make sense to have some kind of hardware component to go with software. But we'll see. Yeah, exactly. charge big money for it, which they obviously are. If they're going to charge a lot of money, right, then people are not going to be so upset about it. But then again, it could be awesome code. We do not know, and I don't think they want to release it until it's practically finished. They should have included it with the topper. That's how stern of it. Right. We'll have to see. The topper's pretty cool, though. The topper's great, yeah. And the shootout never gets old, because it's not constantly throughout the game. You have to really earn it. And for some darn reason, I can never, there is no pattern. It's like it's random every time. It's like I can't figure out how to get more than three on me. I always just blank out. I'm like, do I press the button now? What do I do? Right, right, exactly. I end up missing everything. And they say that you're supposed to hit both buttons at the same time to shoot, but I've noticed that when I go back and forth, it just shoots them. As long as you get that light that It's like stars all the way across it. And if you line it up with the enemy, then it shoots them automatically. But maybe I'm just subconsciously hitting the two buttons at the same time as I'm going back and forth left to right. I don't know. I know you need to control your plunge on that game because of how it chooses the skill award when you do your skill shot. But has anybody else ever thought that it was weird that of all games, Cactus Canyon didn't have a gun handle shooter on it? Up until the fact that you just mentioned it, I never even thought about it, but it makes perfect sense. That would have been so perfect. I know. It makes perfect sense. That's so true. Anyone else thinking anything cool on the show floor? Yeah, thanks to you, man. It took me until Sunday, and I was on panic mode because I went in early Sunday morning, like 20 minutes before the show started, to do a quick video of all the games in all the rooms, and the Metallicas weren't there, and then they were moving them in. And, like, I walked outside the door and I'm like, are those the Metallicas I get when we're moving back in from last night's fun? I'm like, oh, okay. So I did get to play the linked Metallicas, one of them being Dan's. Those kings got the paint played off them. Well, that's because it was one of the most unique things at the show. It was. So did we discuss this before? We talked about it briefly and mentioned it, but we didn't say what it is. We didn't say what it is. So for anybody who doesn't know about this, we had a couple folks. Mark was one of them and our friend Shannon. They went to Pinball Expo, and it wasn't actually at Expo, was it? But it was like a side event, the Pinball Olympics. It was a side event called the Pinball Olympics, and he's known as Banger J on Pinside. and he sets up all these different games in a really weird way to have as like an event, like an Olympics type thing, like you said, where you have to do a certain thing, but he modifies the machine to make it practically unplayable as a regular experience when you're playing pinball. So one of those, of course, was when they had Metallica's link together, and you can continue on what it's about. But basically, yeah, that was the kind of where the light bulb went off and said, we got to have this at Golden State. And that's where Shannon and Dan got together and said, I'll tell you what, I'll let you use my Metallica and we'll try this out. So, yeah, Shannon came home from that obsessed with linking Metallica. And I mean, I'm not taking any credit at all other than being asked if I would let him borrow my game, which I said I would. Shannon was the one who basically did all the footwork I know some other folks helped him out with wiring and whatnot but he took the games, he figured out how the system worked he got into the show, he set them up I made a little rule sheet and we dropped those things on the floor where I don't think that anybody really understood what was going on so you would be standing there and watching people play Metallica and then you would step up and hit the target that caused them to tilt, and they would just be like, what the shit? And, you know, if you were nice, you would then explain to them, oh, these games are linked up, you play them head-to-head, it's like a battle mode. And some of the guys in our group, they wouldn't do that. They would just keep tilting people and just having a good old time. It was fun messing with people. Oh, my gosh, man, it was so twisted. Where it really got fun is when Everybody knew what was going on They took them to the campsite Yeah we took it out to the Camp Super Bowl And you know there was groups of You know four players on each team You know that were going head to head Because you know they figured out that that was the way To have the most fun with it Is you know Having it be More than one person you know going head to head You know teams so I got to play it a couple of times it was totally awesome highlight of the show for me just another highlight of Silver Bowl's nightlife honestly yeah that was Saturday night you guys did that? at least just the Saturday night, did they not have it out on Friday night? no I think it was just Saturday night all I heard was that that was the highlight of like so many people came up to me and were like, hey, you know, thanks for bringing your Metallica. That was the most fun I've ever had playing pinball. And, you know, and again, I was just like, hey, you know, thanks, Shannon. All I did was, you know, let him slot my game out here and let you guys beat the snot out of it. You said Shannon bought a Metallica to make this happen, right? So, yeah, Shannon literally bought a Metallica Pro because he wanted this to happen. And, you know, the funny thing is, I hope I'm not, you know, throwing him under the bus here. after the show, you know, I had broken the games down. I was getting my game, you know, put away to get sent home. And he was so upset. And I was like, what's going on? He's like, we really should have played one more game, you know, because we're not going to do this again. And I said, why not? You still have a Metallica. I still have a Metallica. You know, we don't live that far apart. Like, let's just plan on making this. And as often as we want to do it thing. And, you know, it's going to come back. and we'll figure out better signage and how to make it better than ever. And, you know, but, you know, yeah. And all the credit for that goes to Shannon. That was his, you know, he saw it, you know, like, and Banger Jay, you know, who obviously, I mean, I would assume he invented the game. But, yeah, Shannon was the guy who, like, he had the drive. Like, it's something that I always thought, oh, that'd be cool. We should do this. Yeah, Shannon's a hardcore, you know, bust-ass-like kind of guy. He went out there and made it happen. And what a great way to have so many people play at once. And the rounds went pretty fast. Oh, yeah. Having that four-player game where as soon as you got tilted out, you had to be the next person ready to go in line. And it was great because you could look at the scoreboard and you could see, oh, my gosh, somebody's on their second ball. We're on our first. We're just on a roll. And then all of a sudden, like three tilts in a row, and we're, like, tied. There was one where we tilted at the same time. That was epic. So we basically shot the shot, and it went right at the same time that we both were out. So we had to get out of line and have the next person go. And it was neat because we played it like King of the Court, if you're familiar with that, with tennis, where you win, and then all of a sudden you play the winners. It was kind of like that, where you were King of the Pinball, King of the Metallica, and you were basically playing. Yeah, King of the Metallica. Tilt-Tallica, like Dan said, or what we all came up with together. I apparently named it. Yeah, you did, because you texted to me, and you said, how about this? And I said, how about this? I said, like, Matiltica or something stupid like that. But all I know is, again, everyone gave me credit for coming up with something, and I'll accept credit. We're giving you credit. Tilt-Tallica it is. I just called it, like, Metallica head-to-head or something, I think, when I did the flyer. How about Tilt-Tallica or Tilt-Fest? Yeah, it was awesome. And it was great as we started about. I think that's the right thing to go on the market with, kill. Yeah. Yeah. It was neat because there were two things going on. There was a stall ball going on and there was a tiltalica going on. And it was kind of neat because people went back and forth. the only problem is there were more people at the Tiltalica area because it was just people were just so into it and it was addictive oh man wait can we get four people yeah yeah okay I want to be on there so it was just really fun to hang out with people and I don't think anybody got pissed off at each other but man it was a competitive atmosphere but everybody was just having a great time and it went I think it went until four in the morning I had to leave I went till 4 in the morning and we finally covered up the machines and turned them off because everybody was just falling asleep I was like I gotta go I gotta get some sleep but it was like 3.30 when I left and honestly I wanted to stay longer until we were kicked out because it was so much fun it was probably 8.40 8.45 when they were rolling them back into the building Sunday. Oh, really? Yeah, because that's when I was out. I started over in the EM room to do a quick video, walk people through all the games. I had so much going on like everybody else, man. I was living off sugar and caffeine the whole weekend because I had obligations. Plus, I had my family there, my daughter and son-in-law, and then wanting to see everybody and do as much. So there was very little rest. But anyway, I was just trying to get in there and go, okay, so let me get a video of all the games so people can see what's here. And then, of course, inadvertently, I can't remember who, Rusty Kendall goes, you didn't videotape Joust. I'm like, shit. Yeah, because I just, because I was just, I know, I know. But I mean, I figured, okay, hey, there was a Joust there again. And it worked pretty flawlessly through the whole weekend and it got a lot of great play and people really enjoyed having that. yet another rare game there. Yeah, I know they stayed out late because when I came in Sunday morning to get set up for the tournament stream, they weren't back inside yet. And I was like, they're not bringing them back in? And then, yeah, eventually, you know, somebody was rolling them in. I was like, okay, good. And it was pretty good. Dan played them all day. Did you play, Dan, in that or not? No, I didn't play in the tournament or in the Tilt-A-Laka. No, I said 11 o'clock, man. I turned into a pumpkin. Okay. So I headed home. We had a bit of a disaster. We had a key break in lock, and I just, you know, had to be the rescue guy and pick up dinner and all that. So, like, yeah, I just, you know, 11 o'clock I, you know, slapped people some high fives and, you know, headed to the Danmobile and ran home. And I just, you know, I knew it was going to go off without a hitch. I played it on the floor, and, I mean, I played all of the setup, you know, when we came up with it. We played at Shannon's house. So, yes, I missed the mania, unfortunately. I really should have arranged a place to sleep, but unlike some of you hardcore commandos, if I slept on the ground in Lodi, I probably wouldn't be getting up the next day. I'm that kind of medic. So, you know, sleeping out under the stars really wasn't that bad. Actually, it was good. I bet. You know, if I had a bed to sleep on under the stars, I'll not be into it. But that would be hilarious. Rusty, one of her friends from Sacramento area, we met her boyfriend. She has a severely autistic son, which we got him going on pinball, and we couldn't get him off Godzilla for like an hour and a half. He had a really good time. So that was really awesome. But we took him over and explained the Metallica, and there were several groups in front of us. We had to wait for a few minutes. And they were doing the same thing with two four-player groups, and then when they'd tilt out, they would rotate. So that kept going throughout the rest of the weekend of the show. Nice. So people started understanding what to do after that. Yeah, probably people that had either gone to the event or to camp or had heard about it. So that was really a huge success. So kudos to all you guys involved. I'm really hoping that this happens again and again, whether it's just with the Metallica or Tiltallica or some other machines that people have figured out to do this with. But it's very unique. It seems like it is the beginnings of something that will get big, and especially if we insist on carrying on the tradition every year. And I don't see it getting old. No, it's not going to get old anytime soon. It's too much fun. I got to play in a group. In fact, you know, I didn't even really completely understand the rules, you know, yet. I knew it was, you know, it was basically explained to me, and, you know, I just jumped right in. And when my turn, you know, when it was my turn, I stepped up, and I ended up tilting out the other team, you know, like twice within 10 or 15 seconds, which was a pretty terrifying experience. Oh, it's so fun. Yeah. Just, like, nailed them twice. The second guy walked up, he hit the flipper buttons once or twice, and then, boom, I just tilted him out again. It was like fatality. So any other game high points? I know that a lot of folks really enjoyed that Alvin G head-to-head soccer. No, I was going to go to that next. The Alvin G soccer, another rare one. That's the first time in any show that I've seen and had the opportunity to play one. Some similarities to Joust, a lot of differences. It's a really unique and fun game, which had a lot of people on it all weekend. I think they made a football version of it, too. I'm not sure. I know they make a lot of them. I think they made maybe around 100 of them. So it was another really rare game you don't see very often. And whoever brought that, thank you for bringing it, because it was really neat. It was fun to see families playing it, you know, dads and moms and kids, and just people just enjoying it. I got a couple games on it because I never, you know, anything like that, whether it's a new game or old, it was something I'm really fond of or something I've never ever seen in real life and played I try to make it a point to get a game or two on it just to have, you know, we talk about it on the show, we talk about it when we're hanging out and just to add it to my repertoire of, oh yeah, I played a couple games of that that seems really neat, I'd like to play it again I'm going to jump on to this was a real treat for me and Rusty because when Steve Shawn was still with us, this was his game this has got a really neat story, it's going nuts and not only was it Steve's game, but if you've ever played the game on the pinball arcade, you know, like online on your phone, on tablet, on a PS2, on a Wii, whatever version you played it on, they used Steve's game to digitize to put that out there for people to enjoy. And the thing about going nuts is a unique Gottlieb System 80. It never went into production. There's, I don't know, 8, 9, 10. I don't know the exact number. There's not many of them out there. I think Mike told me that that one was number nine. I think you were right because Mike and I did talk briefly about it. But, again, by that point it was like he was getting ready to pack up the game. We got a couple more games on it. And by that point I was living off adrenaline. For sure playing a homebrew or a one-off, if you played that game, you probably never touched a rare pinball machine. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. There are games that there are 100 of. There are games that there are 200 of, 600 of, 700 of. No big deal. Like, I think there's 10 going nuts. They're all prototypes. And there's only, that I know, there's one at the Pinball Hall of Fame. Right. And then there's one here and right now. Or you can play Pinball Circus, which there's two of. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. That's right. But there's not many going nuts. No, there's not. Another neat thing, and I talked to her briefly about this before the world went nuts, Steve's wife, Kathy Sharlin, and she had a ton of old plastics, old pinball plastics, you know, from all kinds of old Gottlieb and Ballet and Williams, mostly Gottliebs because that was Steve's jam, but he had other ones as well. Well, Mike went and picked up the game and purchased it from the Sharlin family and was telling me, share with me, not only did he get an extra set of plastics with that, he got an original, uncut sheet of plastics for that game. They're all on one sheet that are uncut. Yeah. So that's something you can put up on the wall? Well, that's definitely Mike's jam. Right, but they can also be... He loves the unusual stuff. Yeah, but they can also be scanned, okay? They can be scanned. Reproductions can then be made so the people that have that game can replace damaged or broken plastics. So those games will be able to survive in better condition now, thanks to Mike and the Charlin family. I'm wondering if that's really worth the trouble for a game that they made nine of. Well, yeah. Well, you know, with the technology we have today, you know, 10 years ago, it still would and that's going to cost a fortune. You really want to do this. But with the technology they have today, maybe not as bad. I mean, those nine people that own that game would definitely like to have a backup set of plastics, you know. So, I mean, will they be made? I don't know. It's just a cool thing that Mike, you know, brought that game down, set it up, and put it out there where people could experience it. He's a super stand-up dude. I'm really glad that he made the show this year and I'm really glad that he brought his brought his baby because I know that he really likes it I'm blown away he got that ready because it wasn't ready for showtime and he must have worked day and night getting that to go he is he should have seen it and replay him he also brought a Dragon Fist which I'd never played or seen one in real life before so that was a fun game Classic Sturn games Yeah, Classic Sturn So we have those And I want to give a quick shout out to the Charlotte family, none of the Charlotte family Was able to make the show this year Because Amber was getting married I want to see his two daughters, Amber Was getting married and then His other daughter Aubrey And then his wife Kathy And then their grandkids So shout out to all of them They plan on hopefully making the show Again next year because it's Mike's wish, and I'll let him tell you because he wants to come on the show, but he's talking with some other collectors that have Steve Charlin games, and they're hoping they can get a whole row of Charlin-owned games for the next show. Yeah, he had mentioned that to me, too. And luckily we have a lot in our group, so hopefully we can make that happen. He had mentioned that, yeah. And we briefly talked Friday, I think Friday, and then Sunday we talked a bit more when he was, get a few more games and I'm breaking down because I want to get home early. And, yeah, I totally understood that. But, yeah, man, it's really cool. I'm glad you got to talk to him as well. So you got that information. Plus we're on the same page, which is nice. What can you get about going nuts? Yeah, I mean, most people know how it plays, right? It's times where you start off with three multi-balls and then you have to hit targets to add time. And if you lose a ball, then you have to figure out a way to get multiple started again when you get to a single ball, and then the time starts going down, and you have to try to build it up. It's really a fun gameplay experience, and it's not easy to hit that upper left captive ball. I still was not able to hit it. I played like three games of it. I hit it once but I still had two ball multiball running when I hit it so I got my third ball back so Adam hit it with one ball it'd be a great tournament game I think it would be a good one I think so too it's challenging it'd be a good candidate for another one of these remakes yeah right it does sound like that doesn't it that's why it never went into production because they said it was too expensive and too weird and do this and do that so the meat and potatoes of it is your ball or balls or squirrels. And the multiple drop targets on the game are they have acorns right on them or acorns or nuts. And you've got to try to collect nuts. When you have three balls, it's easy to collect nuts, get extra time. If you lose a ball, it's harder to collect nuts and harder to gain time. When you get down to one ball, it's really, really difficult, and you run out of time and your ball is over. Yeah, man, that's really cool. I think Dan was segueing us very nicely. Thank you, Dan. to the truth. I was just going to say, I mean, I didn't really get to play it very much. Okay. And you guys actually, you know, jumped right into the gameplay. And so that was, yeah, that game was weird. Yeah. Well, we first started out, and what it was is I talked to Steve many times. He says, you've got to come out to the house and play it. You know, it's like, I brought it once. He brought it to the show the year before we came. He's like, no, just come out to the house. We'd always meant to do it. It never happened. And Because we had it On the pinball arcade on The Wii And the Williams collection No I'm sorry, pardon me The Gottlieb collection on the Wii We had both of them And we would play that thing and that became Rusty's My favorite game to play And we would play two player on it all the time And we never got to play a real one And finally, it's a show this year We finally got to play the real one And it was Steve's and, you know, well, now it's Mike's. But, you know, thank him for bringing that. And, yeah, and getting that thing played. I never saw it go down the whole weekend if it didn't play really well. And Mike, hats off to you for an awesome job getting that to be playable because I know when I talked to you, you said it won't be – he probably won't be able to get it ready for the show. And he delivered, and he allowed everybody to play one of the rarest games in the pinball collection. So, yeah, and I've played that one, too, on the iPad, and that's the game that I hated the most, and I threw my iPad across the room. Those darn wizard goals. I still can't get those wizard goals. So, yeah. That's a hard game, man. It really is. I like the real version better. Let's just put it that way. Yeah. The digital one had patterns where the balls drained instantly, where that one did not. Right. So, I don't know if you guys went to the EM room at all. Spent any time there? I hung out, I took a walk through Alright I should have played more in there, I did not Unfortunately Actually Greg and I got a little time in there I think it was Saturday night or something I don't remember, Dan talking about being tired Turned up pumpkin 11 I thought it was about 11 Saturday night I'm talking with a group of some mutual friends And they're looking at me like It's either you're really really tired or really really drunk Or a lot of both and I'm like, yeah, I got to go to bed now. It's been a great seeing you guys. And I thought it was like 11, 1130. It was like 925. So, yeah, I know. At 9 o'clock, man, I turned into a pumpkin. I mean, I'm way past my bedtime now. 830, 9 o'clock is bedtime for me. I'm becoming an old man. But anyway, so they had a Crum re-theme, R. Crum or Robert Crum. And if you don't know who he is, he's an underground comic artist that was really popular were in the late 60s to mid-70s. If you've ever seen, like, the Keep on Truckin' poster or T-shirt, it was kind of iconic in the 1970s. That was his creation. And he created, like, these comic book characters, the Snowy and Mr. Natural, Underground, the Counterculture, Hippie, Drug Use Comics. Really an odd kind of guy, really, you know, a true artist. He's a bastard. He's on drugs. But it was just, I want to tell you, it was a single-player Cotley Wedgehead Jacks Open, I believe it was. But they just did a really nice job on the artwork, and it was really cool. So that was neat. And they had a 4 million VC. They had a couple of Zipper Flipper games. They had some cool, unique stuff you don't see very often. They had like a Buckaroo, Cotley Buckaroo. They have the horse that You know in the back glass that kicks the cowboy And stuff like that So they had some cool stuff in the EM room As well so But I'm going to let you guys start talking about Because I wasn't so much involved Rusty played in the women's tournament She did okay I think she took God I don't even remember she did okay halfway through Dan you were real involved with the tournament Because you did color commentary So yes I worked With Elk Grove Pinball and Rick Demmel, who is one of our local guys, and I did commentary for a lot of segments of the tournament with a lot of other people too. And actually I learned how to run the stream and whatnot, which was really, really fun. So, you know, great job to Rick. I mean, it's still streaming on Twitch. It's not streaming now, but I mean it's a replayable on Twitch if you want to check it out. You know, there's good moments and bad moments, But for our first attempt at something of this scale, I felt really, really good about our results. I mean, if you're listening to this podcast, you know, just picture it as a stream. It was done really well. You should have explained it yourself. It was very professional. Very professional. I know you did a great job. I've heard nothing but compliments, Dan, for you and Rick and everybody streaming. Yeah, and I like to show you can't edit that. when you're out there streaming it. We messed up. We had some guests in there, including one of our champions, who we'll talk about in a bit. And I think that really, really excitingly, just in addition to just the fact that we streamed just a ton of the tournament, we had four separate events, right? We had a targeted men's and women's division, and then we had the main tournament A and the main tournament B. Right. And a match play, which I think you mentioned as well. It was, what, three days of tournaments and qualifying. Yes. Which was, it's an astonishing amount of pinball. Honestly, what sounds insane is for all the work that happened at the rest of the show, there was a group of people who took the tournament on their back and made it happen. You know, the scorekeepers, the people who moved games and offered games for the tournament and worked really super hard to get those together, the people who moved the tournament specific games in for the tournament, our pinball commissioner, the light of our pinball alive is Michael Hozier and Damien and I always get his last name wrong. It's like Charlatie? Charlatie. I'm not even going to attempt to screw up. Those guys were you know, every moment that that tournament room was open, those guys were there and running the show. So, I mean, you know, the respect that those guys get for bringing this tournament is monstrous because it was a monumental undertaking. It's a commitment of your own time, you know, to have a show, to go and run the tournament like that. Yeah, a monumental undertaking. And, you know, there were hundreds and hundreds of games played. There were, you know, hundreds of competitors, over 100 competitors. And, you know, I couldn't even, from where I was sitting off to the side, just sort of, you know, watching it happen, just I was amazed by the amount of work that these guys put in to make it happen so and how they made quick decisions that were difficult in that moment where they had to make that decision that was just split second timing okay we and they usually fix the problem but when there was something wrong they immediately took the game out replaced it with another one it's not easy to do keeping the flow going with so many people trying to qualify and even during the finals portion of the playoffs. And then we had them on camera. Yeah. They had to do it all under the scrutiny of the internet, you know. Exactly. So it was just, you know, they handled it with amazing grace and, you know, super good humor and they definitely did a bang up job of running the event. I know it didn't go perfectly, but I feel like, you know, everybody walked out, you know, satisfied. I mean, you know, not everybody won. So I know that there were definitely some hurt feelings. But, you know, I think that everybody had a lot of respect for the amount of work that those guys put into making the event happen. Yeah, and there were some big flippers there. We're talking Carl D'Python Anghelo. We're talking Andre Massenkoff. I mean, these are some top players that were playing in this tournament. And it was a Stern Pro Circuit event, which was awesome that we were recognized to be part of that circuit. So, yeah, it was really nice to be a part of a real competitive tournament, but very great sportsmanship. And people tried their hardest to get into the finals. And the games were set really tough. Maybe a little too tough. We're talking a little, maybe a little too tough. Great examples. There were some games that not only had the posts moved all the way as you could go, but they also completely removed the posts. We're not talking the metal ones. We're talking about the ones that are the plastic ones with the rubbers on them. They were completely removed. I talk to players who like certain games, they were like, nope, I'm not even going to bother. Exactly. That's too brutal. Yes. You know, about stuff like Iron Man. Like, those games are so nasty. Iron Man's kind of brutal on its own without help, you know? Yeah, you could put extra posts on Iron Man and it would still be an ass-kicker. Yeah, yeah. It was brutal. I don't think I've ever had a game on there more than five minutes. I mean, you know. Yeah. But the games played great, though. They were very difficult, but they were all level. They all had the right pitch. But those outlanes were just nasty. I know that Michael Hozier is very, very meticulous about having games properly set up for, you know, tournament play. So, you know, again, shout out to him and Damian and all the other people. You know, Michael's wife, Edie, was there. I know every time I Antonio Cruz in there to check in on you guys, bring people water, check, you know, see how Rusty was doing in the women's tournament, anything like that. Oh, that's right. Rusty played in the women's tournament. Yeah, yeah, because she played in the first one in 2019. She took fourth. That's right. She took fourth, right. Yeah, this year I think she, like, took, like, 16th or 18th or something. I mean, halfway in the pack. She did okay, you know. Yeah, I couldn't find the standings. I know the men's targeted match play on the first day, Jim Belsito won, right? I believe that's correct. I believe so, yeah. And then I watched the final of the women's, and it was Louise, right? I believe so, yeah. And I couldn't find the list of the winners. But I do know one of the winners brought the hardware home to Reno and the Spinner's Lit Pinball Podcast, our own Mark Scott. Yeah, man. Congrats again. Thank you so much. That was quite a competition, I'll tell you. Give me a rundown of your pinball experience. Okay. First of all, just to say. Sum it up, I was able to qualify, and I did win the B division, also known as the novice, in first place. Whoop, whoop. So, yep. Yeah, that was quite a win, Mark. I mean, that was quite impressive. And I'm going to post pictures again on the Facebook page so you can see Mark and his trophy and some other pictures of us playing pinball together. And, you know, Dan and Will, all of us, I'll post some pictures of all of us. I got a few. Yeah, so on my trophy, it says B division, but when it was listed on the Never Drains, it was considered the novice division, which is basically the way it works is you have the top 24 players played in the A division, and then there were 16 below that that could qualify for novice. And to tell you in a nutshell, basically, I was not able to be there Friday. So I had no time to be able to qualify during Friday to get some games in. So I pretty much, my objective was to try to get as many games as I could in the day I had for Saturday, knowing that the tournament for the playoffs would be on Sunday. So here I am. I'm going to go and say, all right, I'm going to have to get 20 entries for sure. to at least try to do something. And one of the games that was in the lineup was one that I own, which was Hot Wheels. Uh-oh. So that made me happy. That made me happy. Then I saw a couple other games that I remember playing when I was over at Mike's house, such as Genesis was a good one. And I know Godzilla's with Shannon, and I played that before. But then, as I looked closely at the play field, I realized they weren't the same games that I played when I was over at their house. It was set on super duper impossible mode, if you want to call it that. It was so hard to keep the ball in play because basically if you missed a shot, you're dead. It either went in the out lane or it went straight down the middle. So I had to really definitely change up my gameplay. So the games I played, and I'll kind of go through it because I do have it in front of me. The one that I love the most, and it's always in the tournament, is Joker Poker. I just wanted to play it because I love that game. I love all the drop targets. I love the rules. I love how it shoots. So I saw that one. It's so tough. Everyone has a puncher's chance at it. I know. If you can hit the drop targets in order, you're going to run up a big score. So a real smart play. Exactly. And that's what I was thinking. that was kind of a level playing field type of game. It's like, okay, that one, it's pretty much somebody can shoot way above there, but most of them were kind of scores were close together. So there was a chance to be able to get a lot of points for that if I did really well on it. The other game I really enjoyed that I saw, and these are all things that I was just spying out before I even started getting into the actual play Rack Em Up is another good one and really the idea with that one is to try to get the pop bumpers to hit so that the lit spinner spinner is lit hey you could just totally crank that one, and it would really help you with points. The problem is the way they designed the game, it rarely falls on that insert to have the spinner lit. Yep. And it's clever because it's like all you have to do is you just have to hit that left stand-up target, and then it will allow me to get a shot at hitting the spinner because then it will be, I think, is it 1,000 points per spin? It's a lot. I mean, it could really jack up your score. Yeah, you can push 80, 100,000 if you really get a good rip or two on that spin. The only problem is hitting that damn target because I miss it almost every time, and if you miss it, goodbye ball. That game has never been kind to me in competition. It's so hard, but I love playing it. That was a great one. The other one that I enjoyed or that I looked at, spying it out, was Genesis. Yeah, just because I like the rule set of how you have to form all the body parts. The problem was it was not easy to shoot up those ramps Because once you try to aim for them and you are off just by a little bit, you better start getting control of that ball because before you know it, it's gone. It's gone. A side note to that particular Genesis, that had the clear ramps, right? It had the clear ramps. Okay, that was Todd's Genesis. That was Todd's Genesis. That was Todd's Genesis. After he passed, it was purchased by Cheddar. Yeah, Eric brought it, tuned it up, you know, made it available for us. So, you know, a big thanks. Yeah. Okay, so that was not Mike's Genesis. Nope, Mike's Genesis was at Mike's house. Okay, thank you for that clarification. Because you had said, hey, this plays different. I don't think it's the same way. And that's why it played different. The last time I ever got to see Todd, we played that game together. Because that was my favorite game in his house to play. I just loved playing his. It's the nicest one I've ever seen. And so it's my game, like I said, putting together the parts of the robot. because he would mostly watch other people play, but I got him to play a couple of games with me, and that was just before I moved. Another game that was making me feel like I had confidence in myself was LaserCue. Now, LaserCue, I'm used to it being the way it's designed. Unfortunately, it was definitely modified to make it a lot more difficult. Yeah, LaserCue had been experimented on by monsters. Yes. You couldn't say it better. Damn, that's exactly right. They removed the bar, so it turned into being scissor flippers. So basically, if you hold the flipper up, you're going to drain the ball. So it had a feel kind of like Paragon. But then it had a really hard mode where you had to hit the targets in order. And if you missed them, they reset back to one. So you had to go one, two, three, four, hit them without hitting any other ones. And if you missed it, it would reset back to one. So trying to fill a rack, good luck. It really took a lot of skill. And, of course, the outlanes were huge. Not an easy game. Yeah, and hitting those drops in order was, like, the only way to make that freaking game make points. Exactly. And I got up to nine. That was the highest I got. yeah it was so difficult but what a great way to make the cue lines fast and that's the one thing there's a trade-off you play brutal games but the cue lines were super short i mean literally i don't think i waited more than two people ahead of me on every single game so it was wonderful to be able to get 20 games in which is what i had for my entries at 10 and then i had i was like well i I got to get another $20 worth, so I got another $10. And Attack from Mars was another one, which we all are familiar with, but it was set up really hard. And then they had to pull it later on in the tournament because the cliffy fell through the play field and caused the targets to short out to open up the force field or the, I don't know what you call that, but anyway. Yeah, the drop bank. Yeah, the drop bank. Right, exactly. So that was out. You'll be happy to know that it's running again. Mike took it home and got it figured out. Good, good deal. He was just confused? No, he had a short. He had to replace some stuff, but Mike's a good pinball tech. But, yeah, Mike Garcia, who graciously brought that, and he brought his World Cup soccer, which was the one in the tournament bank. Yeah, World Cup soccer lost the gate, too. World Cup soccer was – that played pretty fair. It seemed like it was fair to me. It still had a ball saver, and that's a game where, like, the outlaying game, you know, you have a ball saver and you have a kickback. So the outlaying game on that game is vicious no matter what. If you get it on the right side, but the left side, at least you have a save. That soccer ball, though, was so grippy. Oh, my gosh. That soccer ball really kicked the ball. It was so random. It was like a brand new one. Ripping the game apart. But, yeah, it survived. It tossed it around. And then the other thing is that final draw scoop. Oh, my gosh. One of the most deceptively evil shots in pinball. Tell me about it. And it was equal to that game. Very hard to hit. Now, I had a good game on it. and then of course the score got wasted later on in the evening. The other game I really enjoyed was Robo War. That's just a fun game, but it was difficult to shoot up that left ramp because the flipper power was not up to par as I was hoping. So I hit that thing and nailed it, and I still couldn't get it all the way over and lock the ball until they fixed it later on, then I was able to do it. But that was pretty much all I was trying to do was to try to get multiball to start and then shoot four of the different shots to try to gain points, keeping the balls alive. But that was pretty much all I did for that. And then, of course, there was Hot Wheels, and I played a few games of that. So as far as how I did during the qualifying, I did fairly well. I did good on Joker Poker. I was able to hit the targets in order. So I went for the 10, and then I went for the Queens and then the Kings and all that stuff to try to build up that five-time bonus. And that turned out really well. I scored a little over 300,000. Didn't realize that that was a good score. I thought people were going to waste it, but in reality, that turned out pretty good. And that got me kind of three-quarters of the way up for points, so that was nice. Attack from Mars I didn't do too well on that one so that was kind of out Iron Man was another one that I didn't mention but I'm going to mention it now I thought that might be a good one to just play to make it because it's brutally hard for everybody so I thought maybe I have a chance in that that was a big mistake that game just destroyed me literally destroyed me so I was like okay that one's not going to work for points Robo War was good because I did get a multiball started towards the end of my game when I played it, I think, the last time. But the one that I didn't play yet, realizing that I was still out of the running for qualifying, was Congo. And it was Mike's, right? It was Mike's Congo? Yeah, and I never had a good game on it. And I actually kind of liked that game. Michael set up brutal. See, I think Mike's Congo is like one of his kinder games. I've almost consistently had good games on Congo in competition. I mean, really, because I've only played his maybe, oh, gosh, maybe three or four games. But every time I've played it, I just can't get it. You've had nights like this. I know a game like this where you just can't get any traction. You just have to play it and you have to learn where the shots are. And that's it. I don't have a lot of time. And I really, really want to like that game. And I've never seen the movie. Yeah, so Congo was one of the games that I didn't play yet. And I was in the spot where I was close. I mean, I'm looking at my scores right here, so I can just go over it real quick. Hot Wheels I did pretty well. I got 343 million, which was, I guess, good for everybody compared to everybody else because it was set up so hard. So I got 78 points for that. joke a poker I mean I actually let me correct myself I scored 178,890 uh that still gave me 59 points and then laser cue I did okay mediocre so really I was kind of out of the running so I was like well I got one thing left on my on my entries and this is where I'm getting to about 18 19 and I was like okay I've never played Congo before let me play that one and I played the game on it And I was crushing it. I was playing it, and it felt like you said, Dan, it felt like the easiest game out of the whole lineup. I was in the zone, and I was shooting it, and I was pretty much just spelling math. I started multiball, I think, three or four times on it, and I had a killer score of 2 billion points, over 2 billion, which got me the number one spot with 100 points, and that got me to qualify for the NOMS division or B division. Boom. And that did it. That sealed the deal. Now, the thing is, it was getting late. It was getting about dinnertime, and I was ready to just say, oh, man, I got to eat something. I wasn't in the mood for the concession stuff, so we went to go out, actually drove a little bit out to go to Straw Hat Pizza just because I was in the mood for pizza and it was open. And I was thinking, oh, man, was that a stupid move? because I'm thinking people are going to catch up because what happens with these best game formats is always towards the end, somebody will pass you up and you get pushed further and further down the list. So I was watching and I was like, I think I was like three below the A qualifying and I kept dropping down. I'm like, uh-oh. And as I was eating dinner, I was like, oh, I made a big mistake. It's like, we got to get back and I got to get those 10 more entries because I only had 20. And I was thinking, should I pay another 10 entries? for it? I'm like, eh, I'm just going to go to dinner. So I kept dropping down and down. I was like, oh, I'm going to be out. And I looked at the time and it was about 930 at night. And I was like, well, there's only a half hour left. If anyone beats my Congo score, then that's going to be it for me. And nobody beat it. So I looked at it and I was like, oh my gosh, I can't believe it, but I'm going to pull it off. So I ended up in 14th in the in the B division. So that would be really close to being cut off from the novice finals. You're just sneaking into the bottom of the competition. I sneaked in with 343 points, and it was able to qualify. One thing that you have to realize, though, based on how you finish, you don't get the advantage of place or choosing a game when you're down on the bottom of the list. So I was thrilled, I was excited, and I knew that Congo was the one that saved the day. Because if I did not hit that number one score, I would not be having 343 points right now. I would probably have way less, and I would have not made it. So I was thrilled. And because I couldn't leave the party atmosphere, I had to play softball Saturday night, and I had to play tiltalica. The only problem is I played Tilt-A-Laka until about 3.30 in the morning thinking I should have got sleep. But I was thinking I'm having too much fun. When am I going to have the time to do this again with all these cool people around us and just having a party atmosphere? Let's be honest. When you're sleeping, you're not practicing pinball. That's true. You're just getting them skills nice and sharp. Good point. You have a good point there. so anyway finally I knew I had to be there on time for the tournament on Sunday and then it was 16 people with the two people in each bracket moving on because you guys started playing around 11 o'clock right that's right we played around 11 o'clock yeah pretty much I was like 4 hours asleep because I was so excited for the next day and then finally I could wind down and fell asleep But, yeah, I was a little on the tired side when I woke up, and I was thinking, okay, I'm not going to let this lack of sleep mess up my concentration. So we finally played, and we had the top 16, and some of these people I've heard of before, like Raymond Ashby, I looked at his rating, and I was like, oh, he's definitely in the top 500. Luis was also in the top 500. So there's a lot of people that I was looking at. Zach Wallens. this wasn't a novice division in my opinion it was like some major heavy hitters there were a couple people that were new to it and weren't ranked as high in the uh if uh rankings but a lot were and i was like this is gonna be tough especially when i saw louise because i always i remember playing against her when we were over at mike's uh when he had his tournament she's a good player i never got to pick a game and all i was looking at was when is somebody gonna pick Hot Wheels. And the other thing that came to mind was, if I do get to pick the game, if people just pick plays and then I have to be the last person to pick a game, when should I pick Hot Wheels? Well, long story short, I'm not going to go through every single game I played, because you could look that up if you went to the Never Drains for GSPF. I finally made it through all the rounds. The last game of the official round to get into the finals was Hot Wheels. Yeah, just the right time. And I was thinking, I cannot screw this up. I don't care how hard it's set. I don't care how many shots I have to make that's more than what I have set on my game. I cannot make a fool of myself and screw up on this game because I know I own this game. Fortunately, I did pull it off, and if I look, I can't remember. I think I got first on that, but I can double check. but that was a game that sealed the deal to get me into the finals and ironically it was the one I would have picked as the last game if I had a chance to pick a game and it ended up that I made it into the finals one of them was Nick Fitzpatrick and I remember Nick I remember he was just a little kid and we played pin golf when it was at Pinnagogo and he was with his father Mark I didn't really didn't even recognize him until I saw his name I went oh my gosh you're Nick, he was in the finals with me, and it was pretty awesome to see that I did not screw up on Hot Wheels and I made it. Now, the interesting thing was our points tied because we played three games per round. So it was intense, and it was a 4-2-1-0 scoring. And what was interesting about it is we tied for first, and we had to play to determine who would get first or second. and out of all the games that I knew what was going to be picked, which I did not want to be picked, it was Genesis. All I was thinking to myself was, I'm screwed because this game was brutal, and ironically, Nick felt the same way. So this was our tiebreaker match to determine who would get first and second place. Well, we played it, and I did not have a good first ball at all. It was pretty much a house ball. Shot up the ramp, didn't make it all the way up, down the middle, done. Well, I was on my last ball, and all I was thinking was, okay, I got to get something started. Couldn't even get multiball started. So it was maybe about 300,000, I think, is all it was. And Nick was the last person up because he obviously wanted to pick being second. And all I was doing was sitting in the back, freaking out, like he's going to pass me up easily. Well, it ended up that he did not, and he lost by 100,000 points, and I was able to take the trophy home for B Division. Nice. It was really exciting. It was really exciting, and it was very stressful at the same time because it's like, I have a shot here. I can actually take home a trophy and not only just take home a trophy, but maybe even win this. And what was interesting as I was playing is maybe it was helpful that I was tired because I was very relaxed. And one thing that I did that I did not do even today in our tournament in Reno was let the ball bounce dead foot. Let it just bounce off of it and wait and don't just shoot right away. But wait, think about the shot, and then shoot for it. That helped me win because I was keeping control of the ball and not flailing the damn flippers because that's what I do when I get nervous. So being tired, I think, made me a little more relaxed and I didn't feel that pressure and that anxiety that I was going to flub the ball and drain it. I just kind of relaxed and watched every time that ball came back, where was it going to hit the flipper? Okay, now what do I need to set up? And the good news is I knew most of the games, so I knew the rules. But that's what helped me win was taking my time. And I think when you get to be more experienced with playing tournaments, you realize that you don't need to rush a shot. You just need to think, stop and think, and go for the best shot that will get you the most points. Yeah, exactly. And that, I think, was a great observation. I was lucky enough to not be on the stream and, you know, to watch your finals. And, you know, you just really seem to just stay poised. I mean, I know you're a competitor, you know, and you, you know, you play in a lot of tournaments and whatnot for tennis. And I'm sure that that served you well here because, you know, you never lost your composure. You never, you know, seem to sweat. You just, you know, when you weren't playing, you sat down, you watched the other games. And, yeah, it was really exciting to watch you take it. And I'm super happy for you. And, you know, what was great, too, is how everybody was so supportive, too, in my competition while I was playing. And also I was cheering on Ted. Ted made it into the A division. And he was cheering me on in the novice division. It was really cool. All my friends were just like, oh, man, you can do this, Mark. You can do this. And when I won, it was really a great accomplishment, and it was awesome to see everybody congratulating me. And, yeah, I know it was B division, but it was okay. Hey, you know what? I would hang my hat on that. That's great, man. We had a few people, locals, make it into A. Rick Demmel did, which is one of the reasons I learned to use the streaming software. Alex Lambert did, and Damian did as well. None of them went all the way, unfortunately, although Alex made it up to 11th. Alex, I think, had the most exciting ball of the tournament, which is on the stream if you want to go back onto Twitch and watch it. But he hung 15 million points on that Genesis. Oh, I know. People were doing 500 points, and that was a good score. And Alex just completely took that game over and just ran over it. It was awesome. Blew it up. Blew it up. I know. It was like the game of Hot Wheels, where it's like when Hot Wheels came up late, and I was all like, oh, this couldn't be more perfect. I really wish that had been on the screen. But, yeah, Alex just, you know, he really ran through that first round. You know, Rick and Damian both had tough days. I mean, you know, qualifying for A is a big accomplishment. And, you know, the competition was great. You know, the games were fierce. The people were great players. Is it Slavacek? Jack Slavacek, I believe is his name. He took first, and he was kind of Alex's nemesis. So Alex, you know, I'm sure if you get beat It's great to be beat by the best You know, so congratulations to him It was Jack, Brian O'Neill was second Gabe DeSlaveria was third And Scott Macias was fourth Watching those guys play on stream Those guys had such great ball control They knew their rules They knew what to do They knew how to manage their risk, and they made clutch shots. And, you know, pinball is a random game. It's not always kind, but it was a master class to see these guys play. And, I mean, I know we can, you know, see, you know, the Keith Elwins and whatnot of the world, you know. We can watch replays, and, you know, we got Bowen Kerins, and, you know, we can always watch those guys play. But when you actually – you're there with those guys playing and you're watching it happen in real time, And it's just amazing to see. You know, I mean, they'll get their bad beats. They'll get their bad drains, their bad bounces. The ball will betray them. But it's just amazing to see how these guys control the game. And, you know, they went deep and they won. So, you know, congratulations to all of the winners. And, you know, again, humongous props to everyone who came and competed and to everybody who made the tournament happen. It was an amazing, amazing achievement, I think, for the show. And that's the one thing, too. When you play in the tournament, you do lose out on time playing in the main showroom and hanging out with people because you are dedicated to spending most of your time in the tournament. I feel good that I didn't feel like I wasted time playing the tournament because I was able to make it into the finals, so it was awesome. But I'm sure if I did make it, I'd be in the showroom playing the games. But it is a commitment. It is definitely a commitment. and it does sometimes take the fun out of the other things you can do, but if you can do the after midnight type stuff, then it kind of makes up for it. And that's why I stayed so late when we played the tilt alica, because I still wanted to experience that fun atmosphere beyond just being in a tournament room all day. And the other thing I want to say, too, is Mike did a good job on adjusting the tilts. I thought they were very fair. I didn't think they were as tight as what we're used to. You could actually shake the machine a little bit, and it didn't tilt right away. There were a couple that tilted easily, but for the most part, I thought it was pretty fair how they were set up. Yeah, I didn't see a lot of people tilting out. Like I said, it was a lot of outlands. A lot of outlands. Hungry, hungry outlands. Hungry, yeah. Hungry, hungry outlands. They had no posts. They were hungry. Exactly. And I think that that kind of sums the whole show experience. I mean, there was something for everybody, whether it be Rare Games, whether it be New Games, whether it be After Hours Fun. The show, I think, went off. I mean, you know, to all the organizers, to the steps and the Henrys and everybody who we can't possibly name here, I know, you know. Chris Cheddar. Yeah, Cheddar, of course, Eric Neff, you know, Chris Bannister. I know that, like, it's a roller coaster ride. You get to 1 o'clock on Friday and the doors open and people start coming in and then it's just like, okay, you know, we've done everything that we can do. now it's up to all the people who come to the show to have a great time and to bring the attitude, to bring the atmosphere, to bring the fun. And, you know, everybody who came to this show this year, I don't think I saw one person who I thought was having a bad time. Outside of some of the people who didn't win in the tournament, there were a couple salty people. But, I mean, I don't think they didn't get walked out of that show disappointed or unhappy. Everybody just seemed so enthusiastic, so happy to be there. The facility was accommodating. We did have some drama with power, but I think that all in all, once the show started, the volunteers all stepped up. William was a volunteer for several shows. I was a volunteer, obviously. Spencer spent some time. It's definitely something I'm going to do more next show. I want to do that next year when I can be there all four days. They make the thing happen. Huge shout-out to the people who schlep games in and out. It's the most thankless job, and it's the most important job. Those guys, you know, the Adam Holders, the Dan Costas, Shannon, those guys are heroes. I've done it, to say that I've done it, to make my bones. It's hard. Oh, yeah, right. You start early. You finish late. You know, every game has to come from somewhere, and at the end of the show, it has to go back there. Right. It's an amazing undertaking by a dedicated group of people who want nothing more than for us to have a good time. And on top of that, they had two people go home with pinball machines. We had a rush, and we had a space shuttle that went home. People won games. From the raffle. They won games, not just a T-shirt. They won a pinball machine. Yeah, a new Rush Pro unboxed at the show. New Rush Pro and a beautiful, really beautiful. Donated by the Pirates, right? I think so, yeah. It was. It was donated by the Pirates. If I understand correctly, the space shuttle was donated by Steve Faith. Yeah, a nice-playing space shuttle, too. And beautiful. Nice original condition. I know you did, son. So, yeah, man, if you're in Northern California or adjacent or even if you don't mind traveling in. I mean, I haven't been to Texas. I haven't been to Chicago. I've been to all the shows in California. I've been to Washington. Every pinball show is good. That's right. They're all different in their own ways. Yeah, they all have their vibe. They all have their thing. I think that our thing is the thing that you can't get anywhere else. If you could come to it and you don't, you're missing out. And that's what I have to say. Yeah, the way I can sum up Golden State Pinball Festival, it has a cool vibe. That's it. Everybody just wants to hang out with each other. And it's the best experience and it's the best feeling to be a part of a huge family. And that's what it is. There's no other way to say it. it's the best vibe. Yeah, man, for those three days, like the world inside of our defense, it's a show. The world works the way we all think it actually should. Well, I am just looking forward to next year now. I mean, you know, show's over. It goes so darn quick. You know, sometimes I feel like, you know, it should last longer, but not everybody could show up for a week worth of pinball shenanigans. Yep. I'm looking forward to next year already. I am and I'm not only because of the travel. It really took a lot out of me and Rusty this time. But we'll work on that. We'll figure out something. You guys just need to switch up a couple of things so you're not putting yourself through so much just to get here. We need to camp out a couple extra nights, like not try to make it one day. Have you guys done these things called airplanes? Yeah, well, if it's just me and Rusty, that's one thing. If it's me and Rusty and the kids, that gets expensive. If you fly to the show, instead of taking like two days, it only takes two hours. No, it takes a whole day. And we just pick you up from the airport. Well, yeah, no, you're right, but it's the expense. And remember, there's nowhere close out of Casper. You can't take a flight out of Casper You take a flight out of Casper And you either go to Denver Or Salt Lake City It's your fault for moving to the States It is my fault I know I got to take the heat on that one So two quick things I want to point out Is one And all the kind words to the show Everything about this show Is all volunteer Nobody gets a penny Nobody on the board Like Dan said You know, we started loading games Thursday morning at 7 a.m. when I'd done it, when Dan and I had done it together, and Will, who drove a truck a few years ago, because they don't let me anymore because I beat up on cars and things and stuff. Anyway, we don't get done until 1.30, 2.30, some people even later, the Monday morning. The second the show closes, people start packing up gear and games and delivering back to people's homes, and we literally would not get done until 1.30, 2 o'clock in the morning. And then a lot of us will go back to work 7, 8 a.m. Monday morning. Every penny goes to beyond the operating costs, the building, the insurance, pay for the T-shirts and the posters and all that, goes to local kids' charities, the Boys and Girls Club, the Girls' Challenge. Worlds in Wonder. Worlds in Wonder. Dixon Scene Center. Worlds in Wonder is the main benefactor now. Now, tournament proceeds, I'm told, still go to the Pacific Pinball Museum, which is also a great cause. Oh, speaking of the show art, the show art, I want to touch on that real quick, was done this year by the Urban Aztec. I don't know his real name, but he's an artist. I'm looking him up. I had the pleasure of meeting him about three years ago at the comic book convention where we had a few games and were showcasing the Golden State Pinball Festival. sweetheart of a guy and a very beautifully gifted, talented artist. What was the name of the guy you were competing against? I'm sorry, it's getting late. You were going against for the B Division title? It was Nick Fitzpatrick. Thank you, Nick Fitzpatrick. Fun side note, fun trivial. The very first Pinnagogo I went to, Russ and I competed in the tournament. It was the very first tournament they had ever had at a Pinnagogo. First time they were doing it. And the first round, it was me and Rusty as a foursome with Nick and his dad, Mark. Yep. And Nick was like a 10-year-old kid at the time. Yeah, 10 years. Yeah, yeah. So, wow, how things come full circle. I ran into Nick and his dad briefly, said hi. I didn't recognize Nick at first, but I recognized Mark because Nick's a full-grown adult man with a beard now. So that was a trip. Yeah, that's why I didn't recognize him. But what a great sport, too. Yeah. What a great competitor. Him and his dad both are just really awesome people. It's always great to see them every time when I'm at a show. Yeah, and they're always in the tournament. Oh, and then fun side note, Dan, you'll get a kick out of this. My daughter and son-in-law were playing the games we can get to, and they kept looking at the Black Knight sort of rage with the top or the premium in the secondary building. So I said, well, let's just go wait and watch. They loved that. They absolutely loved that game. And it was the topper that got their attention. They were like, that is the coolest thing ever. That was it, man. That was – Topper is badass. The game is badass, man. You know, I mean, it's been a few years now, but I remember you and me just being like, you know, school kids, man, just so excited when we heard about that game and waiting for that game to come out. And I was not, and I'm still not disappointed. I really like that game. It's an ass-kicker, but I really like it. The end of Topper is unbelievable. So, yeah, man. What else we got? I think we've about covered everything. You know, we have a really long show, but we're the only podcast that will talk about Golden State Pinball Festival because we were there. Most of us are. Hopefully. Yeah, so if you're listening, you might want to come to this show because it is so worth it. Our poor editor is going to have his work cut out for him tonight. Yeah. Yeah, it's going to be fun. But the whole idea behind it is that this is still not to miss. Remember, we're looking for 90 minutes, buddy. Yeah, we're going to go long. And you know what? Yeah, we're not going to get back to that. We're not going to hit 90. We've done the next three months worth of podcasts. We could do this as a two-parter. Once again, we're back and talking about the Golden State Pinball Festival again. It's that cool. It is that cool. You know what? The last show we did, 2019 show, when we did the podcast like a week or so after, just like we're doing now, and I got so many compliments from people, man. I get e-mails and stuff. People are like, oh, my gosh, thank you. It was like being back at the show again. Thank you for taking the time to talk about it. So we go along, we go along. Well, guys, we're a long show, so let's close this out. It was such a joy and a treat to be back at the show, period. It was such an even bigger joy and a treat to be back at the show with you guys that I consider my brothers and my family. And although, yes, I love Wyoming and I'm happy to be here, I wish you – this is the one thing, man, is I miss the pinball. I miss you guys. That's the sacrifice I made to live here and have the life we have and have Rusty healthy and happy. and myself as well. So it's been real good for my mental health as well. But we miss out on seeing you guys and to see Will and to see everybody, people, you know, Practical Steve. Shout out to him. He's a board member now. Hey, O. Hey, O. Shout out to Mo. I got to see Mo's side. Oh, my God. I want to mention all of you, but this show will be five hours long. To all of you who came up and said, let's get a selfie and gave me a hug and a handshake and thank you. And, you know, God bless every one of you. So, well, we already talked about Mike Vinikour. We talked about Sparky. There's two other people I want to give a shout-out to, Shannon, which he richly deserves. He was so good to help. The only other one I still have left, shout-out to Vino, who's a local pinsider and NorCal guy, who always says so much and always says so many kind things about the show. And shout out to Andrew Payne, who listens to the show regular and always sends kind words. So shout out to you, man. Thank you for all your kind words and emails and encouragement of us doing the crazy little podcast. That's all I have. How about you guys? Got anything? My shout out is to Mike and Damian for running a well-organized tournament. Of course, there's always hiccups along the way, but you handled it really well. Very professional. and I had a wonderful time playing it along with everybody else, with all the competitors. So thank you for that. Thank you for the awesome trophies that were made. They're really beautiful. I have it sitting right here on my desk right now. And a lot of effort was put into that. It's really nicely done. And, Spencer, thanks for you driving all the way out to Golden State to see everybody and have as much fun as we did. Oh, man. Dan, you too. I know we didn't have time to talk about it, Thank you for having me come over after you were exhausted, and I had the opportunity to play your most amazing Indy 500. Oh, yeah. We had little pin-fest afterwards. So thanks. Shout-out to you. And, Will, thanks for being on the show, too. Hey, no worries. I've enjoyed myself. Yeah, for sure. I just want to throw a big thanks to all the volunteers, you know, and all the board members. You know, we can't possibly name you all. And, you know, especially, you know, to everyone who came to the show. I mean, that sounds crazy, but the people bring the passion, and the passion makes the show. You know, if you brought games, if you brought yourself, if you snuck over the fence to get in but weren't a jerk once you were inside, I don't even care. Just, you know, thanks a lot for coming out and, you know, flipping out with us and making it worth the time to do all this. You know, we missed a couple years, and, you know, there was a little trepidation. Would we get enough games? Would we get enough people to justify the games? You know, is the power going to hold up? We had to make changes to the venue. There was a lot of drama to bring you guys this show, and the fact that it went off smoothly without a hitch or with, you know, without any disastrous hitches, thanks to the Carl Weathers for playing along. Thank you to everyone who made this show the high point of the year. Will, you got any shout-outs, buddy? You know what, man? I would say that I would have to shout-out to you, Dan, and Shannon, because the tilt-tacular was just one of the biggest highlights of the entire show, and it wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for either one of you guys. I can't wait to do that again. And, of course, I mean, yes, you know, the people that show up, you know, like there wouldn't be a show without the people that showed up to attend. And, of course, everybody that did volunteer, which is something I intend to do a lot more, you know, next year. But everybody that showed up, I guess. I know that sounds, you know, super, you know, broad spectrum. But, you know, it was just so good to see everybody, you know, again, after so long. You know, a lot of these folks I haven't seen since 2019. So it was just really great to see so many familiar faces out there and, you know, so many new faces. There were a lot of people that this was their first show. They were their first Golden State Pinball Festival. You know, it was nice to see those fresh faces too. So here's to next year. Hey-o. I have to say one thing, that the hand dryers were more powerful and they were much better. and the soap definitely felt like I was cleaning my hands. That was like grade school soap from like 1984. That was awesome. Borax. I was cleaning all the germs off like borax. That's why we all have eczema now. 20 mule power, man. 20 mule feet. I'm telling you, we need to rethink the pinball machine like a Maverick or something. 20-nil-power borax and just bring it to the fucking show. Spencer, take a thumb across all three from the keyboard, buddy. I hear you, brothers. All right, play pinball. He's American. He's American. He's American. you

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 7845d5f1-3b5f-478a-a22b-31327c3a7c74*