# Storytime #1 Stern's Dark Knight

**Source:** Don's Pinball Podcast (patreon feed)  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2024-04-02  
**Duration:** 31m 21s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.patreon.com/posts/storytime-1-dark-101531017

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## Analysis

Don shares the origin story of his first pinball machine—a Stern Dark Knight purchased in July 2020 for $9,000 from Eau Claire Games and Arcade. He recounts his journey from x-ray tech to physician, the financial realities of medical education and debt, and his early experiences learning to maintain and repair the Dark Knight, which led to trading it for a Jersey Jack Guns N' Roses. The episode establishes context for a planned series of 'storytime' episodes about his collection.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Purchased Stern Dark Knight in July 2020 for $9,000 from Eau Claire Games and Arcade — _Don directly stated the timeline and price paid_
- [MEDIUM] The Dark Knight could have been sold for $16,000 approximately 1.5 years later if it were truly a Premium model — _Don speculated on secondary market value based on condition_
- [HIGH] Traded Dark Knight plus ~$6,500 to get Jersey Jack Guns N' Roses (new in box, originally $11,000) — _Don described the trade deal made with the same operator_
- [HIGH] Had approximately $300,000 in educational debt when starting his first paying physician position in North Idaho — _Don stated this figure directly in his personal financial backstory_
- [HIGH] Medical residency salary was $60,000 per year for three years — _Don cited this specific compensation amount_
- [MEDIUM] Eau Claire Games and Arcade operator adds 'quite a bit of markup' to machines acquired — _Don made this observation about the operator's pricing practices_

### Notable Quotes

> "What a command performance from Heath Ledger as the Joker. The best Joker that will ever be."
> — **Don**, ~0:45
> _Establishes enthusiasm for the Dark Knight theme and movie IP; contextualizes why he was drawn to this particular machine_

> "By the time I finally had my first paying doctor job in North Idaho and had an income that could support a pinball hobby, I also had about $300,000 worth of debt at that point."
> — **Don**, ~7:30
> _Provides important context about physician debt realities and frames pinball collecting as an aspirational hobby achieved after years of financial hardship_

> "I'm starting to think there's nothing in here that I can't do. And sure enough, that was the case."
> — **Don**, ~12:15
> _Demonstrates the confidence-building effect of early hands-on repair successes in learning the hobby_

> "I want to be like just the same approachable dude and more known for pinball and skateboarding and music and roller coasters and travel and like that kind of stuff and the influencer content creator, whatever."
> — **Don**, ~14:30
> _Reveals Don's content strategy and brand positioning beyond just being a 'rich doctor' with pinball machines_

> "The way that this game was made in your home was just so, like, it was nuts. I just played this game the day before at Eau Claire Games and Arcade where it was in a lineup and everything, but just the scale of seeing something like this in your home, like, that was just revolutionary to me."
> — **Don**, ~10:00
> _Captures the emotional impact of transitioning from location play to home ownership_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Don | person | Physician, podcast host, pinball collector who purchased his first machine (Stern Dark Knight) in July 2020; owns District Dawn Arcade and The Garage Arcade |
| Stern | company | Pinball manufacturer; produced the Dark Knight machine discussed |
| Stern Dark Knight | game | Stern pinball machine based on Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight (2008); Don's first pinball purchase; Batman/Joker theme |
| Jersey Jack Pinball | company | Pinball manufacturer; produced Guns N' Roses that Don acquired in trade for Dark Knight |
| Jersey Jack Guns N' Roses | game | New in box Jersey Jack machine originally priced ~$11,000; acquired by Don in trade; also being given away as Patreon prize in April |
| Eau Claire Games and Arcade | venue | Arcade/pinball venue in Eau Claire, Wisconsin; source of Don's first Dark Knight purchase; operator marks up machines |
| Heath Ledger | person | Actor who played the Joker in The Dark Knight; referenced by Don as definitive Joker portrayal |
| Jason | person | Podcaster who operates or is associated with Eau Claire Games and Arcade; sold Dark Knight to Don |
| Wisconsin Dells | venue | Tourist destination near Don's home in central Wisconsin; referenced as entertainment appeal |
| District Dawn Arcade | venue | Don's personal pinball and arcade collection space (mentioned in KB context) |

### Topics

- **Primary:** First pinball machine acquisition and ownership experience, Physician career path and financial realities of medical education, Early learning and repair/maintenance of pinball machines
- **Secondary:** Secondary market pricing and trade values for pinball machines, Content strategy and personal branding for pinball content creator, Location play vs. home ownership transition
- **Mentioned:** Theme licensing (Batman/Dark Knight)

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.82) — Don speaks warmly and enthusiastically about his Dark Knight experience and the community. He's reflective about his career journey, grateful for overcoming debt and reaching financial stability to pursue the hobby. Tone is conversational, genuine, and aspirational. No negativity toward manufacturers, venues, or the industry. Some gentle self-deprecation about early repair mistakes but framed as learning moments.

### Signals

- **[collector_signal]** Stern Dark Knight secondary market value estimated at $16,000 for Premium model approximately 1.5 years after $9,000 purchase (July 2020), suggesting significant appreciation on location-played machines (confidence: medium) — Don stated: 'a year and a half later, I could have sold it for $16,000 if it was truly a premium'
- **[venue_signal]** Eau Claire Games and Arcade operator applies substantial markup to acquired machines; Dark Knight sold for $9,000 with implied wholesale cost significantly lower (confidence: medium) — Don: 'this guy does add quite a bit of markup to what he gets'
- **[collector_signal]** Location play experience directly enabled home collection; proximity to arcade enabled venue familiarity before purchase (confidence: high) — Don played Dark Knight at Eau Claire before purchasing; noted scale difference between location and home ownership as transformative
- **[product_concern]** Venue operator provided suboptimal setup guidance; improper transport method and incomplete technical instruction led to learning curve for new collector (confidence: medium) — Don: 'He was walking us through like how to set it up when we do get it home and everything. And it was just like not the best information'; described poor soldering work and having to learn independently
- **[content_signal]** Don planning 10-15 additional 'storytime' episodes covering other machines in his collection; indicates long-form narrative content strategy (confidence: high) — Don stated: 'I've got another 10 or 12 or 15 games to go through. So we have episodes and stories for years for you'
- **[market_signal]** Jersey Jack Guns N' Roses MSRP referenced as ~$11,000; contemporary (2020-era) premium pinball pricing (confidence: high) — Don: 'This looks amazing, new in box, $11,000 game'
- **[restoration_signal]** Early collector gained confidence through independent troubleshooting and cosmetic repair (drop target sticker transfer, solder work); progressed from fear to capability (confidence: high) — Don's arc: 'really afraid to lift the playfield' → performing soldering → 'I'm starting to think there's nothing in here that I can't do'
- **[business_signal]** Don pursuing content creation monetization via Patreon to make pinball hobby 'self-sufficient' while framing physician income as funding source; attempting to build independent creator revenue (confidence: high) — Don: 'I really want this to be kind of like a self-sufficient deal that I'm doing'; positioning medicine as 'side gig' for funding content

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## Transcript

 Hey everybody. Story time with Don and I thought I would start off with the first pinball machine that I ever owned. It was Stern's Dark Knight. What a command performance from Heath Ledger as the Joker. The best Joker that will ever be. I mean, shout out to Cesar Romero and Meredith Baxter Burney, but that's the Joker for the ages right there. So this is a game that was kind of loaded with everything. It was a modern enough pin. I think it was a great place to start and I have the whole story to get to about what happened. How much did I pay for it? Why did I buy a pinball machine? How did I do owning it? And then what happened to it? Because it's not in the lineup anymore. Join me. Sit in for this interesting discussion where I'll probably veer off into the weeds, but I need to tell you this story to tell you that story kind of thing. Let's get right into... Oh, All right, so let's go back to July of 2020. That's when we purchased this machine. Now, we had just moved to central Wisconsin from North Idaho, and I was at a place in my life that I determined it was time to start bringing pinball machines home. So let me give you a little bit of the background here. Now, for work, I'm a physician. I do doctor type work. Now, you're going to hear that and you're going to jump to, okay, of course, a rich doctor is going to fill his home with a pinball machine. Pinball machines, say no more, must be nice to be you. But I want to preface that with a little bit of background information, okay? So, you know, in my mid-20s here, you know, I was an x-ray tech, right? I had gone to my local junior college in California. I spent five years there because I had no idea what I was doing. I went in and out of homelessness, couch surfing, what have you, whatever. And I got accepted into this allied health program, came out as an x-ray tech. I was working in San Francisco. I worked for a traveling company, so like they found me a house and got me a car and put me in this job, and it was like I was set, right? Things were great. I relocated to West Virginia so I could be closer to theme parks, and I was going to spend my days going down to Dollywood, out to Busch Gardens, up to Kennywood and Pittsburgh and Kings Island in Cincinnati and just having a blast, living the life. The Valley Company, Subsidiary of Walter Kidde & Co., Inc., Mirco Playfields, Tim Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi. The Valley Company, Subsidiary of Walter Kidde & Co., Inc., Mirco Playfields, Tim Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi. The Valley Company, Subsidiary of Walter Kidde & Co., Inc., Mirco Playfields, Tim Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi. The Valley Company, Subsidiary of Walter Kidde & Co., Inc., Mirco Playfields, Tim Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi. The Valley Company, Subsidiary of Walter Kidde & Co., Inc., Mirco Playfields, Tim Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi. And that turned into, you know what would be even funnier as a joke? Not just taking these classes, but let me pass these classes and let me apply to medical school. Like, wouldn't that be a laugh, right? And then, you know, I figured I would get, you know, a rejection letter or something, and then I could frame that, I could put it on my wall and talk about it when people come by, you know, as a laugh. As I went on, it turns out I was doing, as an adult learner now, coming back to university with, like, some level of maturity, The Valley Company, Subsidiary of Walter Kidde & Co., Inc., Mirco Playfields, Tim Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi. The Winning Pinball Show, Knapp Arcade, Bally Williams, Straight Down the Middle, Bally Williams, The Wally Winka Show, Knapp Arcade, Bally Williams, Straight Down the Middle, Bally Williams, The Valley Company, Subsidiary of Walter Kidde & Co., Inc., Mirco Playfields, Tim Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi. The Wally Winka Show Knapp Arcade Bally Williams Straight Down the Middle Bally Williams But like it was like you know tenuous to get through that At the end of medical school which is four years you now a doctor but you can work You need to go to residency which is three to seven years of more training That's paid, fortunately, but I had to relocate to the central Pennsylvania. And for the sum of $60,000 per year, I got to be a medical resident for three years so I could finish out that training. Now, a couple of things. Yeah, $60,000 a year, very good, very good money by anybody's standard. The Wally Winka Show, Knapp Arcade, Bally Williams, Straight Down the Middle, Bally Williams, There's no financial way that you could possibly do that. So they'll defer it, but it gains interest as that goes. I say all this to mean that by the time I finally had my first paying doctor job in North Idaho and had an income that could support a pinball hobby, I also had about $300,000 worth of debt at that point. All of it gaining at least $50 to $60 of interest per day until that stuff's paid off. So yes, the income is commensurate with the education. The Valley Company, Subsidiary of Walter Kidde & Co., Inc., Mirco Playfields, Tim Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi. The Willy Wonka Podcast is brought to you by Willy Wonka Media. We had a home. We were in Wisconsin, close to the Wisconsin Dells. It was awesome. You know, there's like things to do, and I'm finally like, okay, let's climb up that Maslow's Hierarchy of Need pyramid. Let's see what the self-actualization area is. So at the same time that we're seeing this and when we're at this point, I get this Facebook ad that comes across my Facebook feed for Eau Claire Games and Arcade. Eau Claire is a town in Wisconsin. Jason, the podcaster, lives up there. The Valley Company, Subsidiary of Walter Kidde & Co., Inc., Mirco Playfields, Tim Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi. David David Van Es, Bally Williams, Straight Down the Middle, Bally Williams, Straight Down the Middle, The Boss of the Yard Out of Isize, The Valley Company, Subsidiary of Walter Kidde & Co., Inc., Mirco Playfields, Tim Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi. The Valley Company, Subsidiary of Walter Kidde & Co., Inc., Mirco Playfields, Tim Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi. The Valley Company, Subsidiary of Walter Kidde & Co., Inc., Mirco Playfields, Tim Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi. I had no idea what to do with the new in box pinball machine even, but I was like, frick dude, I want that. $9,000 is what he wanted for it. Now it turns out this guy does add quite a bit of markup to what he gets, but at the time, buying that game for $9,000, like a year and a half later, I could have sold it for $16,000 if it was truly a premium. The Valley Company, Subsidiary of Walter Kidde & Co., Inc., Mirco Playfields, Tim Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi. The Valley Company Subsidiary of Walter Kidde Co Inc Mirco Playfields Tim Tim Kitzrow Scott Danesi John Popadiuk Bob Betor Knapp Arcade Raydaypinball Bally Williams Straight Down the Middle Bally Williams Straight Down the Middle Knapp Arcade He took the legs off and just put it slid it straight to the back of the truck just like it was and we drove it the two hours home the next day And we like we got a pinball machine So he was walking us through like how to set it up when we do get it home and everything And it was just like not the best information, you know. Now I know that I can fold down a backbox, shrink wrap the machine, stand it up on its end, strap it down to a pallet or whatever and take it on home like that. The Valley Company, Subsidiary of Walter Kidde & Co., Inc., Mirco Playfields, Tim Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi. The Valley Company, Subsidiary of Walter Kidde & Co., Inc., Mirco Playfields, Tim Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi. The way that this game was made in your home was just so, like, it was nuts. I just played this game the day before at Eau Claire Games and Arcade where it was in a lineup and everything, but just the scale of seeing something like this in your home, like, that was just revolutionary to me. That was, like, boggling my mind. Agent ofم 우� från 아�elloiencies street Citizen from But before we get into the brash ask, did you know some of the fans were watching it on TV? The fog had brought Fresco, and by that state we got to the moment when we were mistaking for fucking real faces in thisMe宝 step não crus, it was over in my rage, where we've got freshCOZ, the ultimate Messiah! Helljas aus dem The Valley Company, Subsidiary of Walter Kidde & Co., Inc., Mirco Playfields, Tim Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi. I was really afraid to lift the playfield at this point and take the glass off. It was really nerve-wracking, but I did it. They told me, you can do this, just make sure you take the balls out and everything. But at the time, I didn't realize that you could just disconnect the whole assembly, take it off, solder it next to the machine, and put it back in. So I had a couple of paper towels and some paper plates underneath to catch the solder that was dripping. And I did the world's worst, ugliest soldering job ever. www.willywink.com Well she also won crew award at Pioneesque decirium on tons of tons of And so that led to me disassembling the drop target assembly and then figuring out how the spring's attached to a drop target. Now for anybody that's ever been underneath a pinball playfield, this is a total non-issue. Swap it out, dude. Come on. But I managed to peel the sticker off of the original one and put it on the new one and then boom, we're back in business and like, hey, I soldered a button, I fixed that, I fixed this drop target. I'm starting to think there's nothing in here that I can't do. And sure enough, that was the case. Tom Cook, Kevin Cmirester The Valley Company, Subsidiary of Walter Kidde & Co., Inc., Mirco Playfields, Tim Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi. The Art on Black Knight, Fathom, Monster Bash, and a ton of other ones. The Valley Company, Subsidiary of Walter Kidde & Co., Inc., Mirco Playfields, Scott Danesi. Mr. Chapman http Thanks for watching and please Subscribe to my YouTube Channel lowering formalities The Valley Company, Subsidiary of Walter Kidde & Co., Inc., Mirco Playfields, Tim Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi. Tim Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi, Subsidiary of Walter Kidde & Co., Inc., Mirco Playfields, Tim Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi. The Valley Company, Subsidiary of Walter Kidde & Co., Inc., Mirco Playfields, Tim Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi. Math G�eli, Spielberg Bなんだ, Jack RosenNews Feed, Ecerect Not Fearing Old Fantasy, Sc stukne L Spliff Video, Lux counter다um, Startup College ML Mani English, the The Willy Wonka Show, Knapp Arcade, Bally Williams, Straight Down the Middle, Bally Williams, The Willy Wonka Podcast is brought to you by Willy Wonka Media. The Valley Company, Subsidiary of Walter Kidde & Co., Inc., Mirco Playfields, Tim Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi. endless DM Central, I want this game. This looks amazing, new in box, $11,000 game, but I can get it for basically $6500 plus this game I don't even care about anymore! Bet. Let's do it! Plus the best part was he was gonna come out, pick up the Black Knight and deliver the Guns N' Roses all for the same flat delivery fee. What a guy, what a guy. So we made that deal, came down, the tech that he sent out to do everything, he set up and we unboxed the jersey jack Guns N' Roses here inside. www.sternpinnball.com The Valley Company, Subsidiary of Walter Kidde & Co., Inc., Mirco Playfields, Tim Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi. The Willy Wonka Show, Knapp Arcade, Straight Down the Middle, Ballywin, Straight Down the Middle, We can talk shop or whatever, you know, if we get to know you better. But, you know, I want to be like just the same approachable dude and more known for pinball and skateboarding and music and roller coasters and travel and like that kind of stuff and the influencer content creator, whatever. I want to talk about that stuff and just like the medicine thing. That's my side gig. That's my job. That's where I get, you know, cash. It helps fund all this stuff and everything. But I really want this to be kind of like a self-sufficient deal that I'm doing. www.donspinballpodcast.com And if you have a friend with a Jaws you can win it and give it to him or something. Or hell sell it to him for $5,000. I don't care. It's up to you. But we're giving that away at the end of April. Thank you so much for being a Patreon member and if you want to hear more of these storytime episodes I've got another 10 or 12 or 15 games to go through. So we have episodes and stories for years for you. Thank you so much for joining. Love it. Tell your friends. And stick around. Later everybody.

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 84d8cda6-bdda-451e-844d-10fca58756f2*