# We Played King Kong at the Stern Factory!! Part 2

**Source:** Bash Pinball Podcast  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2025-05-14  
**Duration:** 28m 28s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.bashpinball.com/2025/05/14/kingkongp2/

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## Analysis

The Bash Pinball hosts recount their official invitation to Stern Pinball's King Kong media event in Chicago, including factory tour, game reveal, and after-party tournament. They describe the manufacturing facility, meet various community figures, and reflect on the experience as a pivotal moment for their podcast and pinball journey.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Gary Elwin personally signs off on every single King Kong Limited Edition game's apron — _Kyle Spateri mentioned during factory tour that Elwin inspects every LE before final approval_
- [HIGH] Stern's showroom features a brick wall designed by George Gomez himself and is used for official live streams — _Hosts confirmed the space contains 15 games and is the same room used in Stern's official broadcasts_
- [MEDIUM] The Stern factory building is approximately 160,000 square feet — _Host states 'I think they said it was 160,000 square feet or something like that' during facility description_
- [MEDIUM] Approximately 50 content creators, YouTubers, and podcasters were invited to the King Kong media event — _Host estimates '50-ish people' were in attendance at the event_
- [HIGH] King Kong machines were in active production during the factory tour — _Hosts observed full-scale King Kong production occurring throughout the tour, including shelves of components, cabinets at various stages, and playfield inspection stations_

### Notable Quotes

> "I wouldn't have started the podcast without you we can be grateful for each other"
> — **Host (unnamed)**, ~0:05:00
> _Demonstrates the gratitude and genuine connection within the podcast partnership, highlighting Matt's critical role in the podcast's existence_

> "It feels kind of like a dream. We went to the Stern Cornerstone Media Event for King Kong. And we didn't have to crash the event either. We got officially invited."
> — **Host (unnamed)**, ~0:01:30
> _Captures the significance of receiving an official invitation versus unauthorized attendance, emphasizing the legitimacy and honor of the event_

> "It was like a Willy Wonka experience going into the chocolate factory. It really felt like we had our golden ticket."
> — **Host (unnamed)**, ~0:38:00
> _Illustrates the awe and wonder of witnessing Stern's manufacturing operation firsthand_

> "I could never work here because I would never get anything done"
> — **Host (unnamed)**, ~0:31:00
> _Humorous observation about the X-Men pinball machine in the facility's lobby creating a distraction for employees_

> "The amount of quality control on display was impressive well beyond my expectations"
> — **Host (unnamed)**, ~0:39:00
> _Highlights the professional manufacturing standards observed during the factory tour, including playfield inspection procedures and facility cleanliness_

> "My dream came true. We found a Bad Girls. Unbelievable, man."
> — **Host (unnamed)**, ~1:29:00
> _Emotionally significant moment involving closure on a classic game that the host had previously owned and regretted selling_

> "Kyle, God bless you. You were wrangling goats and sheep and like lions."
> — **Host (unnamed)**, ~0:36:00
> _Expresses gratitude to Kyle Spateri for managing an enthusiastic, chaotic group during the factory tour while providing technical information_

> "Diversity in pinball... I kind of want that shirt. And I kind of wish that we made that shirt."
> — **Host (unnamed)**, ~1:20:00
> _Reflects on community inclusivity values after meeting attendees from diverse backgrounds wearing 'Pinball is for Everyone' merchandise_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| King Kong: Myth of Terror Island | game | Stern Pinball's newly released game that was the subject of the media event; hosts experienced it at the factory and played it during the after-party |
| Stern Pinball | company | Manufacturer hosting the media event; hosts toured the 160,000 sq ft Chicago facility and met with multiple staff members |
| George Gomez | person | Stern Pinball designer/Chief Creative Officer; provided the hosts with transportation from airport, hosted them at his hotel, and designed the showroom brick wall |
| Gary Elwin | person | Stern Pinball executive who personally inspects and signs every King Kong Limited Edition machine's apron before shipping |
| Kyle Spateri | person | Stern Pinball technician who conducted the factory tour; known for producing Stern tech tutorial videos; played Bad Girls with the hosts at the after-party |
| Jack Danger | person | Stern Pinball designer encountered multiple times throughout the King Kong media event |
| Gary Stern | person | Stern Pinball executive who appeared throughout the event, humorously noted as seeking catered sandwiches |
| Chicago Billiards Cafe | location | Venue approximately 25 minutes from Stern's suburban factory where the media event after-party tournament was held |
| Jamie | person | Content creator who attended the event and traveled with Kale and Retro Ralph |
| Kale | person | Content creator who attended the event and traveled with Jamie and Retro Ralph from Electric Bat Arcade |
| Retro Ralph | person | Content creator who attended the event and co-hosts Flip Side Podcast; traveled with Jamie and Kale |
| Erica | person | Pinball content creator (Erica's Pinball Journey) who attended with her father Bjorn; shared Uber transportation with hosts |
| Bjorn | person | Erica's father from Sweden; attended event as early birthday present; learned tournament rules from Matt Rowbottom and played Bad Girls with hosts |
| Nick | person | Designer of Tony Hawk Pro Skater homebrew pinball game; attended the media event |
| Manu | person | Content creator for Mystery Pinball Theater 3000 streaming channel; met hosts at the after-party tournament |
| Doug | person | Content creator from Cool Toy who released video coverage of the event immediately after attending |
| Matt Rowbottom | person | Tournament rules organizer at the after-party who provided gameplay instruction to attendees including Bjorn and the host |
| Colin | person | This Week in Pinball (TWIP) host who competed in the after-party tournament |
| Matt | person | Bash Pinball co-host credited with creating the podcast and influencing the host's attendance at the media event |
| Dwight Sullivan | person | Stern Pinball staff member met during the media event |
| Bad Girls | game | Classic godlead pinball machine located at Chicago Billiards Cafe; significant emotional moment for host who had previously owned and sold a Bad Girls machine |
| X-Men | game | Pinball machine located in the Stern facility lobby that distracted visitors during the tour |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Stern factory tour and manufacturing processes, King Kong pinball game reveal and experience, Community connections and content creator networking
- **Secondary:** Tournament play and competitive pinball, Bash Pinball podcast's growth and legitimacy, Manufacturing quality control standards
- **Mentioned:** Travel logistics and Frontier Airlines experiences, Diversity and inclusivity in pinball community

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.92) — Hosts express genuine excitement and gratitude throughout the episode. Despite negative experiences with Frontier Airlines and travel fatigue, the core King Kong event experience is portrayed as transformative and deeply rewarding. Emotional climax with Bad Girls machine provides nostalgic closure. Frequent expressions of appreciation for Stern staff and new community connections reinforce positive sentiment.

### Signals

- **[business_signal]** Stern Pinball's investment in content creator relationships and community building through organized media events suggests strategic focus on grassroots marketing and influencer engagement (confidence: high) — Official invitations sent two weeks in advance to diverse content creators across multiple platforms; provided transportation, meals, facilities access, and organized tournament during event
- **[community_signal]** Showroom facility with live-streaming capability (160k sq ft building) indicates Stern's infrastructure for ongoing community engagement and broadcast content production (confidence: medium) — Hosts note showroom with 15 games, brick wall designed by Gomez, and confirmation this is the same space used for official Stern broadcasts
- **[community_signal]** Stern Pinball invited approximately 50 content creators, YouTubers, and podcasters to official King Kong media event, demonstrating manufacturer commitment to building community relationships and media presence (confidence: high) — Hosts note official invitation two weeks in advance; multiple content creators across platforms attended including Bash Pinball, TWIP, Mystery Pinball Theater, Cool Toy, and others
- **[event_signal]** King Kong media event featured factory tour, game reveal with design staff, showroom experience, and official after-party tournament at Chicago Billiards Cafe (confidence: high) — Detailed description of multi-part event structure with split group scheduling allowing all attendees access to factory and game reveal experiences
- **[design_philosophy]** George Gomez's personal involvement in showroom design (brick wall specifically attributed to him) suggests hands-on creative oversight of facility aesthetics and community spaces (confidence: medium) — Hosts confirm brick wall was 'commissioned by Mr. Gomez himself' during showroom description
- **[manufacturing_signal]** Stern Pinball demonstrating high-level quality control procedures including individual playfield inspection under lighting and Gary Elwin's personal sign-off on every Limited Edition unit (confidence: high) — Kyle Spateri tour included observation of bare playfields held under lights for flaw detection; host confirmation that Elwin personally inspects and signs every LE apron
- **[personnel_signal]** Kyle Spateri established as regular technical educator for Stern with ongoing YouTube tutorial video production on repairs and maintenance (confidence: high) — Hosts praise Kyle's recent tech tutorial videos as helpful resources; Kyle conducts official factory tours indicating elevated status within organization
- **[announcement]** King Kong pinball officially revealed to media at Stern's Chicago facility with full production already underway during media event (confidence: high) — Hosts observed production cabinets, components, and playfield inspection during factory tour; machines in various stages of completion visible throughout facility

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## Transcript

 Hi folks, Don could not be on this intro. he recently embarked on a perilous quest to Panama to find the one and only pinball machine in the entire country and then to set the high score on it. Hopefully he survives. Anyway, this is part two of the Stern King Kong media event episode. This one chronicles our adventures in Chicago at the Stern factory and later at a pinball lounge where we stumbled upon a naughty little game. I'm not going to spoil it now. Last week's episode, we mostly talked about the King Kong of it all, so go back one episode and check that out. And we also posted a mini documentary video episode doohickey that ties it all together. Check that out on our YouTube channel at Bash Pinball. Let's go! Can you believe what we did three days ago? Actually, not really. It feels kind of like a dream. It hasn't quite sunken in yet. Yeah. It's Monday. I did a full shift at my day job. And I'm sitting here talking to you right now about this. And it's like a dream. We went to the Stern Cornerstone Media Event for King Kong. For King Kong. The Myth of Terror Island. And we didn't have to crash the event either. We got officially invited. if I die tomorrow I'm fine I made it we made it dude we made it let me take a moment man because I shout everybody out except for Matt this is a shout out for you Matt I'm 99.9% sure that I wouldn't have been there if it wasn't for you and this podcast likewise because I wouldn't have started the podcast without you we can be grateful for each other and we got to go to this turn together that was awesome yeah thanks man it was great and totally deserved no i'm just kidding no it felt awesome to get invited to that and then not just to get invited but like king kong man yeah super cool game i really enjoyed that game and i'm really happy that this got to be our game so bless you we got the email like two weeks before so we were just like oh we got to do this stop the presses wait what's Hold the phone. Hold the phones. Push pause. Hit the pause. Pause our life. Quit your jobs. Thought I might have to for a second there. But yeah, we had to go. There was just no way around it. And so that meant booking flights. Yes. And we went with Frontier. Frontier. We went with Frontier. Frontier. You know. Man, so you've flown Frontier before. So you're like basically a Frontier vet. So I did fly Frontier to the Texas Pinball Festival. Frontier for me, I did it because they had basically free tickets to Texas. It was literally like $50 ticket or something like that. You can't pass that up. This time, you had never flown Frontier. And I'm like, Don, you know, we can do Frontier if you want. Well, it was kind of the only option in such a short time span, at least from Raleigh. I think it was like almost $700 plus the hotel. I think the next best flight was going to be like about $700 per ticket. So then we plugged in other, aka not O'Hare. So we opened it up to Midway, which is apparently a frontier hub. As an airline, they are Midway. I think being generous. I wouldn't put them in the middle, but yeah, go ahead. But anyway, a new array of opportunities for flights. Clocking in around $250 with like a two or three hour layover in Orlando. One was Atlanta. If you're not super familiar with geography, having to fly from North Carolina to Orlando, Florida, and then to Chicago is basically going completely in the opposite direction before then going twice as far in the correct direction. Right. It just meant a lot of extra butts in unpadded seats. Butts on seats. Yeah. Which I now know. You know. But, like, at the time, right, save the money, because we're also, you know, we had to pay for lodging, and, like, you know, we're not rich, you know? Yeah. If you want to donate, pod at bashpinball.com. We don't have a GoFundMe. We don't have any of that stuff yet. We'll figure it out. If you give us money, we'll take it. So send us an email. I'll give you my cash app. Tip jar. Whatever. Yeah, so don't know if it was worth it, but we got there. We got back. There were no catastrophes. No missed flights. Wait, is that it? Is that? No, I'm just saying like in a nutshell, there were no catastrophically horrific occurrences. overall i think the experience at stern in the media event i think i came out net positive oh yeah but i lost a little bit of my soul these flights yeah well you had all these people going to disney world because one of the flights was into orlando right right i don't want to make it seem like i have some kind of bias against people with less money i'm one of those people yeah you know what i mean and behind me on one of them was also a kid just literally repeatedly lifting up and then slamming down the tray table at least 100 times during a two-hour flight to the point where i was giving heavy side eye to the guy behind me and he's apologizing but still not really stopping really correct the issue yeah did you see the guy with the freaking like telemarketer headset no so on one of the flights there was a dude with like one of these telemarketer like the truck driver kind of style headsets with the buttons on the side yeah light was blinking it was blue maybe he was working he was talking to himself then he would look at other people on the plane so he was like talking to everyone but he didn't take it off the entire flight was he talking the whole time yeah how was he talking i have no idea but he was like it seemed like he was friends with other passengers so i don't know if he was talking to them or if he was talking to somebody in the headset you didn't you don't you didn't see this guy no oh man that was wild and now for a word from our sponsor there a difference when you flying where are we going today i going to grandma house it someone who shows how much they care i not gonna go anywhere without you a smile a tone of voice and the willingness to try when you love to fly it shows And now, back to the show. So, on my flight to Chicago, I sat next to a local. Her name was Jenny. Okay, yeah, yeah. I think she saved me. She saved that last little shred of humanity right there because it was like an actual person that I got to talk to. She was pretty cool. She was giving me some tips about Chicago. Apparently, her jam is Home Run Inn. The pizza place. Pizza place, right, for pizza. And then apparently, the White Castle Manila Milkshakes. Did you say Manila Milkshakes? Vanilla. It might have sounded like Manila. But apparently, that's the jam. That's like the move right there. Yeah. It's a White Castle Manila Shake. We don't have White Castle. Yeah. Maybe next time we go to Chicago, we can try. When we have a little more time, yeah. And then also, something pretty cool was the Crave Case. Right. Have you heard about this? You mentioned it when you were trying to pitch going there. Brilliant, okay? It blew my mind. It's basically a little briefcase full of White Castle sliders. I don't even know this existed, but in my mind, I was like, I need one. You could go for, what, like a week? Yeah. Not go hungry. Just open your little briefcase. You got sliders to go. And they probably don't go moldy because they just stay fresh at room temperature. They probably don't go bad. Anyways, hopefully she's listening. So, Jenny, thanks for being a decent human. Salvaging one quarter of your frontier experience. Oh, yeah, and she offered me some baby carrots, which is pretty nice, too. Oh, lovely. I guess to circle back around and tie this into the story about the captain, she was going to use the bathroom. they sent her back to her seat and she's like Have you ever seen the bathrooms being blocked and the captain walking around? I was like no and I started to notice the front was blocked. Yeah, like the little food cart was blocking the aisle, right? The back also so if you were like a passenger there you couldn't go to any bathroom for a moment And she was like that's kind of weird and I was like, yeah, I mean kind of sketchy like the captain's checking out the back and uh We were like, what's going on? Like, is this some kind of like bomb? Like the first thing that comes to mind is like bomb. I never thought bomb once. Well, good for you. But for like a moment, I was terrified. So anyways, the captain leaves, thumbs up, everything's fine. He freaking dropped the bomb in that toilet, dude. Because she went immediately afterwards. And I was like, wait a second. Did he take a dump? And she goes, yes. Pilots dropping bombs. Dude, brilliant. He doesn't have to deal with it in the front. He just goes to the back where all of us trash people are anyways. You know what I think it is? You know what we think it is? He just doesn't want anybody dropping a deuce in the front bathroom. He doesn't want anyone using the front bathroom personally. And also, he gets some sick satisfaction out of dumping on all the trash people he has to fly around all day. And I bet you every single flight, he takes at least one dump. I heard it in his voice, dude. I heard it in his voice when he said, thank you for flying Frontier. It was like, I knew he knew what he did. Yeah, it's all the captain. That makes sense. Think about it. He's like a sadistic. What else do you have to live for? It's your moment of joy. I would consider doing something like that. And I'm a decent human being. So we got to Chicago kind of late. The closest place to eat was like Lou Malnati's. Lou Malnati's. malnati's which was highly regarded and told to us you know about my friend dave he was like yeah you have to go lou malnati's is one of the like og chicago style deep dish pizza places i think he's supposedly the inventor of the deep dish pizza it was like 24 for like an eight inch pizza which is kind of it's worth it it was worth it it was worth it yeah it was worth it yeah so you know we stayed what like a mile yeah we stayed like a mile away at the windham and we were like worst case scenario we can walk i mean it's only like 30 minute walk it's not too bad but it is like 30 walmart parking lots yeah you'd have to walk luckily don one i'm done too i guess he's he's older than me that's the only reason yeah yeah from don's pinball podcast offered us a ride which is awesome and so him and george gomez picked us up i hadn't met george gomez before until me either that day so it was really cool to see both of them and thanks man thanks for the ride and it was cool to hang out for a little bit it was obviously kind of quick and tons of people and we got to see the way he lives we went up to his hotel room and he had this cool literature and he had just gotten off the barrels of fun of doom launch right right his whole like you know recording rig up there was sick setup dude yeah he's lucky enough to not have to fly frontier to get there you can just drive because he's like two hours away or something yeah by the way different george come different you might have heard of him because i know he's kind of made the rounds before in other events anyway so yeah dude the building is massive it's like like standing in front of it it's it's gigantic i mean it feels like a yeah like a Antonio Cruz ship dude i don't know it's yeah it's massive i think they said it was 160 000 square feet or something like that i have no idea man we found the giant life size is it is it life size if it's bigger than i'm confused about this the meaning of the phrase life size now anyway as big as your life as tall as a human pinball in the front it would be like indiana jones style boulder boulder chasing you but i could see myself running down a playfield or up a ramp or something and this thing just like barreling towards me, which is awesome. Yeah. It was cool to see it in person, actually. It was cool, yeah. Once we got in there, we signed in, made our little name tags and stuff. They kind of wrangled everybody. I would say there was like 50-ish people. I was in a trance. Yeah. And also kind of like buzzing from the energy. Yeah. It was just like everyone is like super excited and like, you know, people that haven't seen each other since Expo, including us, and like, who's willing to walk in the door, you know? Yeah, Pinball Jones had this sequined rainbow jacket. Amazing. Gold shoes. You cannot miss that guy. Yeah, yeah. He said he got it on Amazon Did you notice when we got donuts Yeah He picked the one with the sprinkles You think that was I got it video he just uh gravitates towards colorful sparkly things but yeah it was it was cool like the just the vibe just being there dude like yeah before you even get into the actual i guess yeah we're in the lobby we're just in the lobby waiting literally the lobby with two games x-men and uh don't remember something else in the lobby there's an x-men in the room there's no other games in the That's exactly what happened. I was like, I could never work here because I would never get anything done. Yeah. That was cool. We saw, you know, we got to catch up with some people that we haven't seen since Expo. Yeah. Erica, Erica's pinball journey and her dad. Yeah, Erica and her dad. Amazing, dude. Bjorn. It was his birthday, I think, the next day. So she brought him like as an early birthday present. Yeah. I kind of like, I kind of got like Bjorn and I kind of have like a bromance going right now. So happy birthday, Bjorn. Happy B-Day. Who else was there? Jamie, Virtual, obviously. Yeah, Jamie, Kale came in, and Retro Ralph. Retro Ralph. I think they were all kind of traveling together to some degree. We met these guys from the Wild Dog Arcade, like streamers. I think they're based out of Detroit. Yeah, so Nick from Flip Nick Pinball, the Tony Hawk pro skater homebrew designer was there. They invited a bunch of different content creators, YouTubers, podcasters. Right, right. bunch of pinball people some of which we did know some of which we were just meeting for the first time they split us into a couple groups yeah so it was like the first group did the factory tour and then the second group did the game reveal with the staff designers and exactly and then basically flipped so half the people they kind of sent to the showroom where they have a little mini arcade with, by the way, a real brick wall to give it like arcade vibes. Wasn't that commissioned by Mr. Gomez himself? Mr. Gomez himself. Yeah. And it's got a bar and 15 games or so. Yeah. Yeah. It was actually pretty cool. I think if you tune into the streams they do, it's that room. I think they live stream from there. So we started off in the factory tour group. I think Manu was in our group and Nick from Tony Hawk Homebrew. Yeah. all the first timers and then kyle kyle spateri kyle spateri the man that guy is the fucking man dude i want to bleep that i guess but like i that's that's a real feeling that i have for him he yeah he's a tall man tall man real tall he's the guy who has been doing the stern tech videos lately which i have found to be very helpful and awesome appreciated because like who better to make a video on how to fix a flipper than stern. Right. It's awesome. It's great that they're doing that. Yeah, he was awesome, man. Like, Kyle, God bless you. You were wrangling goats and sheep and like lions. I mean, we were all basically little babies and we were just going all over the place trying to like take photos and video as you were giving us all this beautiful information, which I retained maybe half of because I was so out. I was just like in shock. You know what I mean? Like all the machinery and equipment and people. I mean, I'm amazing. You know, our job, we don't really get into this too much, but we do some productions, very small scale. Yeah, we are a manufacturer. Seeing this was like almost like seeing what it could be. You know, it was amazing. Like some of the same crossover tools, some of the same stations, but amplified, magnified by times 100. Times literally 100, square footage-wise. So it was really cool to see that, man. But it was like full-scale King Kong in production as we're doing this tour. So every step of the way, we're seeing all of the pieces of this game coming together. Amazing. You walk down, and there's just Isle of the Kong figure in the back. Right, like shelves of Kong figures. Yeah, everywhere. Shelves of the specific little drop targets. Every piece of that game was just on display and being put together. Cabinets, right? At different stages of completion. It was amazing. And we saw them doing the playfield inspection. Just a bare playfield, holding it up under a light, clear-coated, just looking for any flaw like buffer in hand to like buff it out any little imperfection i have to say like the amount of quality control on display was impressive well beyond my expectations likewise that shop was spotless not a single piece of dust on the ground everything thing was labeled roped off marked off you could tell the thing runs very well yeah it looked great it's kind of the willy wonka experience it really was going into the chocolate factory it really was it felt like we had our golden ticket it was great and like you said kyle's uh tour and anecdotes and everything was just spot on one fun fact from that tour was they had rows of le's being produced and they were waiting for the final inspection by Mr. Elwin. Mr. Elwin. Which I didn't realize that he actually signs off on every single one of those LEs. I mean, literally signs it on the apron. Well, we've seen the signatures on the games on location, right? But I didn't know that he's actually checking every single LE. Yeah, which is freaking cool, man. Freaking cool. Everybody was like, yeah, he's extremely tired right now. Freaking cool, man. And now for a word from our sponsor. Real pinball action like you remember. There's only one. Microsoft Pinball Arcade. And now, back to the show. So, you know, we've had donuts and coffee. We've had catered sandwiches and wraps. Yeah. We had pizza for dinner. It's 6 o'clock, 6.30-ish. Maybe everyone's clocking out. I see somebody sweeping. Maybe somebody mopping. And then we're looking for the after party. Yeah, some people were pretty cryptic, some people weren't. Then we found out, right? Finally, the official after party. Not really, I'm just kidding. But it was a pinball tournament at a place like 25 minutes away like closer to the city So we were kind of in the burbs going towards the city at chicago billiards cafe yep cbc that what they were yeah and you know that was kind of like our only chance i guess to get out of the burbs and into like irl pinball yeah because we were in this like magic world now we have to like let's go see it for real um we got lucky enough we got an uber and we kind of split it with erica and her dad and her dad yeah who you know xl yeah yeah captain's chairs man and uh i always thought erica was cool then i met her dad man it's it's they're so cool honestly both of them and um you know he's european he's from sweden and you know i have swedish lineage do you yeah yeah i think i knew that from my dad's side Right, right. Scandinavian, if you will. But anyways, we took the Uber, got to CBC. Yeah, just in time for the tournament. Right. You were pressuring me into making this my tournament debut, which I strongly considered. I thought I had you convinced of it. Man, I said you were going to do it. I was strongly considering it because what a great opportunity, right, to have my first tournament be in Chicago after a certain event. But I was too wiped out. We definitely hit 10,000 steps that day. Really? I didn't know that. No. Yeah. So, you know, you participated in it. How did it go? For me personally, poorly. I was having some bad luck, but the games were set up good. It was fun. Colin from Kineticist also was in the tournament. Oh, cool. And by the way, when we were hanging out after the tournament, a guy walks up wearing an Opeth shirt, and I was like, cool shirt. and then turns out it's mark's mark's side so we were chatting with him for a while along with manu and george from don't panic right george if you're listening to this super nice to meet you thank you for the tips and just like amazing hanging out with you manu yeah right dude you're my boy now i don't know if you feel the same way about me but um he's doing really cool stuff from uh mystery pinball theater 3000 definitely need to check him out yeah he's got an incredible stream An amazing stream. He's got all these crazy effects and he's got like this AI assistant, which I don't even know if it's real. We also hung out with Doug from Cool Toy. Yeah. Doug was really cool too, man. And he released a video pretty much immediately, which amazing. Dude, mad props. Like you put that thing out before we even went to bed. Yeah. Great video, by the way. I actually ended up watching it. Yeah. Was there any shots of him? Did you see? Yeah, yeah. And I knew you shot those because they were a little shaky. I was like, I bet Matt shot that because I remember you asking him if he wanted any footage of him playing. Yeah, I was like, I know how to hold a camera. That's really funny. But I had so much caffeine. That's really funny, man. Shout out to the real black Seth Rogen, a.k.a. Tyler Jerome White. Also, you know, one of the big things for me, not to like, I don't want to get too far into this, but diversity in pinball. Yeah. Right. Just culture and other people all over the world. Right. Different skin colors, accents, languages. He had a shirt on that said pinball is for everyone. And I kind of want that shirt. And I kind of wish that we made that shirt. So another guy that we hung out with was Matt Rowbottom. Oh, right, right, right. Tournament player. He was there to explain the rules. He is the reason. Which was very helpful. I happened to tag on when he was explaining to Bjorn, Eric's dad, basically how to play the game. And like immediately I started doing better. Thanks, Matt Rowbottom. Yeah, that was very helpful. My dream came true. We found a Bad Girls. Unbelievable, man. I could not have had a better experience playing my first Bad Girls. Yeah. What can you say about Bad Girls other than the fact that it's... Turn it up, dude. Turn it up. So we played that with Kyle from... Kyle from Stern. Kyle from Stern. Bjorn again. And then you and me. we got a couple four player games going me and kyle had some quarters left over so we just used all our quarters on bad girls got two four player games going and i mean what can you say it's a dream so you won a bad girls on who wants to be a pin billionaire that was like episode four or five i won one on who wants to be a pin billionaire and then i had to get rid of it because i was an idiot yeah and now um epic fail i know but you didn't appreciate it because you were like oh god leave us all godly games well i've you know i've grown as a person and as a pinballer and uh i've learned from my mistakes this was a nice full circle moment yeah where i could close the bad girls chapter i found closure played with some of my favorite people in chicago after one of my favorite days there's still one more chapter maybe one day the one where we get a bad girls right and put it next to diamond or a diamond lady we need both we'll take both thematically speaking the two best god lead games what a great way to close an amazing day bad girls multiball don't even bother oh man i guess the last thing just want to give a shout out to everyone at Stern and just give you guys a personal thank you. Zach Sharp, George Gomez, obviously, Dwight Sullivan, who we met. Mr. Danger we ran into half a dozen times. Jack Danger, who was like dangerously strolling around. Gary Stern, who was also just like swiftly and secretly like showing up everywhere. Yeah, because he wanted some of those sandwiches. I know, I know. Thanks for hanging out. We got a bunch of stuff in the works. The Texas Pinball Festival episodes will be coming out soon. better late than never at figure we'll be streaming on twitch at bash pinball and we'll be officially starting season two of the podcast find us on instagram and if you got the guts email us at pod at bash pinball.com you won't do it leave this territory now Return to your home. evacuate all personnel

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 7d4b60cf-6595-459e-af40-3f8ada43712a*