# From Golden State to Reddit | Ep 2. : Audio Only

**Source:** Erika's Pinball Journey  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2026-05-04  
**Duration:** 35m 47s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LNIUG9OFVA

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## Analysis

Erika and Manu host a casual pinball podcast discussing Instagram emoji game-guessing, the newly opened Pinball Capital arcade in Illinois, the Golden State Pinball Festival (May 15-17, 2026), a indie rage-quit pinball game from Azimuth Studios, and a sci-fi comic exploring an alternate history where Roger Sharp's famous pinball shot failed.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Golden State Pinball Festival is May 15-17, 2026 at Lodi Grape Festival grounds in Lodi, California — _Erika, stated directly as event details_
- [HIGH] Pinball Capital in Stone Park, Illinois is Illinois's largest pinball-centric arcade with over 130 pinball machines, $20 all-day play — _Erika, confirmed via Instagram research during recording_
- [HIGH] Roger Sharp recreated his famous pinball shot at the Pinball Capital opening — _Erika, multiple Instagram confirmations mentioned_
- [HIGH] A Pinball Game That Makes You Mad by Azimuth Studios was released November 18, 2025, costs $9.99, available on Steam — _Manu, based on personal purchase and download_
- [MEDIUM] Golden State Pinball Festival pricing: $60 three-day pass, $45 two-day, $30 Saturday day-of, $20 Friday — _Erika, stated with some uncertainty ('I should look these prices up')_
- [MEDIUM] An unnamed creator is developing a sci-fi comic about an alternate universe where Roger Sharp missed his famous shot and aliens invade — _Erika, comic found on Reddit approximately three months prior to recording_
- [HIGH] Golden State Pinball Festival raffles include Foo Fighters and Halloween machines; Halloween donated in memory of Rob Anthony — _Erika, specific raffle details and memorial donation_
- [HIGH] Erika bought Big Guns (Williams, designed by Mark Ritchie) intending to make a short film, later discovered Golden State Pinball Festival through the seller — _Erika, personal story of how she discovered the event_
- [MEDIUM] Zach Sharpe (one of Roger Sharp's sons) works in pinball; one son at Stern, another at Raw Thrills/Play Mechanics — _Erika, mentioned as context for comic creator outreach, but 'basically the same' statement suggests some confusion about employer names_
- [HIGH] Erika helped create digital assets, music, and sound effects for a homebrew pinball machine matrix project — _Manu, Erika confirms involvement in digital/asset creation phase_

### Notable Quotes

> "If Roger Sharp didn't make that shot, you and I wouldn't be friends."
> — **Manu**, ~48:00
> _Highlights the existential importance of Roger Sharp's famous court-case pinball shot to the entire modern pinball community and industry_

> "There's pinball everywhere. I just got to play pinball all day and I don't know all these games. This is so cool."
> — **Erika**, ~32:00
> _Captures Erika's experience discovering Golden State Pinball Festival and reflects community enthusiasm for large pinball gatherings_

> "I have sunk in five hours into this game and I've now watched a few YouTube videos cuz I'm like, how do I get past this part?"
> — **Erika**, ~15:00
> _Shows engagement with indie pinball game 'A Pinball Game That Makes You Mad,' indicating crossover appeal beyond traditional pinball machines_

> "It's a very simple game. It cost at the time that I bought it, it was $9. It's a pinball related game. I'll play it. Sat on the plane, almost wanted to jump out of the plane. I was raging."
> — **Manu**, ~12:00
> _Personal experience with indie rage-quit pinball game demonstrating viral/casual market reach_

> "This podcast isn't even supposed to be real. It was a little April Fool's joke."
> — **Manu**, ~05:00
> _Explains the origin of the Pinball Minority Report podcast as a joke that evolved into regular content_

> "The whole community coming together bringing games... it's a great event."
> — **Erika**, ~38:00
> _Describes the community-driven nature of Golden State Pinball Festival and its appeal to local players and collectors_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Erika | person | Co-host of Pinball Minority Report podcast, content creator at Erika's Pinball Journey (YouTube, Instagram, Facebook), homebrew pinball developer, collector |
| Manu | person | Co-host of Pinball Minority Report podcast, content creator at Mystery Pinball Theater (YouTube, Twitch as MPT3K), homebrew contributor |
| Roger Sharp | person | Historic pinball figure; made famous court shot proving pinball is game of skill not gambling; recreated shot at Pinball Capital opening; subject of sci-fi comic |
| Golden State Pinball Festival | event | Annual pinball event May 15-17, 2026 in Lodi, California; community-driven with raffles, tournaments, vendor area; supports nonprofit; Erika's must-attend event |
| Pinball Capital | venue | New Illinois's largest pinball-centric arcade in Stone Park, Illinois; 130+ machines; $20 all-day play; recently opened to public; Roger Sharp made commemorative shot there |
| Azimuth Studios | company | Developer of indie game 'A Pinball Game That Makes You Mad' released November 18, 2025 |
| A Pinball Game That Makes You Mad | game | Indie pinball-inspired rage-quit game by Azimuth Studios; $9.99; available on Steam, PC, Mac, Steam Deck; released November 18, 2025; features commentator, jazz music, pop bumpers, complex mechanics |
| Game Grumps | organization | Popular YouTube gaming channel (millions of followers); played 'A Pinball Game That Makes You Mad' and inspired Erika and Manu to download it |
| The Man Who Saved Pinball | product |  |
| Big Guns | game | Williams pinball machine, designed by Mark Ritchie; original IP with symmetrical playfield; Erika's second machine, purchased to make short film; inspired her discovery of Golden State Pinball Festival |
| Lord of the Rings | game | Erika's first pinball machine; prompted her to buy Big Guns when a second game to play simultaneously seemed appealing |
| Zach Sharpe | person | One of Roger Sharp's sons; works in pinball industry; helped Erika connect comic creator with Roger Sharp |
| Mark Ritchie | person | Main designer of Big Guns pinball machine |
| Emoto | person | Runs Pinball University at Golden State Festival; Erika and Manu's boss; involved in various pinball initiatives |
| Rob Anthony | person | Regular vendor at Golden State Pinball Festival; passed away; Halloween machine at 2026 festival donated in his memory |
| Pinball Minority Report | organization | Podcast co-hosted by Erika and Manu; started as April Fool's joke; bi-weekly episodes about pinball topics |
| Erika's Pinball Journey | organization | Erika's content channel on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook featuring pinball content and 360-degree videos of events |
| Mystery Pinball Theater | organization | Manu's content channel on YouTube and Twitch (MPT3K handle) |
| Stephen Bowen | person | Posted about 'A Pinball Game That Makes You Mad' on social media, which prompted Manu and Erika's discovery |
| Roger Sharp comic | product | Sci-fi fantasy comic in early development (first few pages posted); alternate history where Roger Sharp missed shot and aliens invaded; creator sought Roger Sharp's blessing via Erika's connection |
| WeirdOwl | game | Multimorphic P3 machine that appeared at Golden State Pinball Festival; now owned and used by Erika |

### Signals

- **[event_signal]** Golden State Pinball Festival 2026 (May 15-17) details and logistics shared; community-driven format with raffles, tournaments, vendor area (confidence: high) — Direct event details provided: dates, location, pricing, raffle machines (Foo Fighters, Halloween in memory of Rob Anthony), pinball university programming
- **[venue_signal]** Pinball Capital opened in Stone Park, Illinois with 130+ machines; largest pinball-centric arcade in Illinois; $20 all-day play; Roger Sharp made commemorative shot at opening (confidence: high) — Erika confirmed opening details via Instagram research; venue is now open to public; photo/video evidence of Roger Sharp shot on multiple Instagram accounts
- **[product_launch]** A Pinball Game That Makes You Mad released November 18, 2025 by Azimuth Studios; indie rage-quit pinball simulator with dark humor and punishing gameplay (confidence: high) — Both Manu and Erika purchased and played game; Manu sank 5+ hours; release date, price ($9.99), platform (Steam, PC, Mac, Steam Deck) confirmed
- **[content_signal]** Pinball Minority Report podcast (Erika & Manu) launched as April Fool's joke; bi-weekly format with casual community discussion and stories (confidence: high) — Hosts confirm April Fool's joke origin; episode 2 recorded; planned bi-weekly cadence; hosted on audio platforms
- **[community_signal]** Reddit pinball community actively sharing first machine purchases with high engagement; community celebration of new collectors (confidence: medium) — Erika describes community pattern of first-machine posts receiving significant upvotes and supportive comments; described as core community behavior
- **[design_innovation]** Sci-fi comic in development exploring alternate pinball history where Roger Sharp's famous shot failed; seeking contact with Roger Sharp for blessing/involvement (confidence: medium) — Comic creator found on Reddit; Erika facilitated connection to Roger Sharp via Manu/Emoto; described as in infancy with first few pages posted; sci-fi/fantasy concept involves aliens and dinosaurs
- **[collector_signal]** Erika purchased Big Guns (Williams) with creative intent (short film production); later became springboard to discovering Golden State Pinball Festival community (confidence: high) — Personal story of acquisition; original IP motivation to avoid licensing; led to festival discovery; now collects multiple machines including Lord of the Rings, Johnny Nemonic playfield, WeirdOwl P3
- **[venue_signal]** California pinball venue network well-developed; Pinball Museum in Alameda, multiple venue operators (TJ Pinball Pirate, D Flipper House, The Flipper Room, Lynn's Arcade) bringing machines to Golden State Festival (confidence: high) — Multiple venue operators named as participants in Golden State event; Erika lists various California venues as regular community gathering points
- **[personnel_signal]** Zach Sharpe (one of Roger Sharp's sons) works in pinball industry; appears to be employed at Raw Thrills/Play Mechanics; facilitating creator connections (confidence: medium) — Erika mentions Zach Sharpe as son of Roger Sharp; indicates he works at Stern or Raw Thrills/Play Mechanics (speakers seem unclear on exact employer); Erika disclosed to him about comic project
- **[community_signal]** Instagram emoji game-guessing post generated 346 comments from pinball community; demonstrates high engagement with participatory content (confidence: high) — Erika's Instagram post asking community for favorite machines via emoji guessing generated 346 comments (some from Erika, but substantial community participation); planned for show notes linking
- **[product_concern]** A Pinball Game That Makes You Mad deliberately designed to be extremely challenging and frustrating; features commentary taunting player failures; rage-quit mechanics built into UI (confidence: high) — Erika reports playing 5+ hours and still stuck at specific point; both hosts describe frustrating mechanics; 'rage quit' button built into interface; commentator actively mocks player; compared to Stanley Parable psychological gameplay
- **[historical_signal]** Roger Sharp's famous court case and pinball shot remain central to modern pinball identity; foundational to current legal/cultural status of pinball as skill game (confidence: high) — Manu's statement that if Roger Sharp missed, 'we wouldn't be friends'; documentary 'The Man Who Saved Pinball' exists on Apple; community recognizes shot as pivotal moment; recent recreation of shot at new venue treated as ceremonial blessing

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## Transcript

What is up everybody? My name's Erica and I'm here with Manu and we are the Pinball Minority Report. Um, we just uh a couple of goofballs or at least I can claim myself as a goofball. I don't know what Manu wants to consider himself, but why can't I be a goofball? You want to be a goofball, too? Can be. I want to be actually specifically a goofy goober. Um, I'mma beat on that one. [laughter] Uh, all right. Yeah. Well, today, uh, we just want to talk about some fun, uh, little pinball things happening in our lives. And, um, yeah, I had a fun little assignment that I showed monu assignment. I don't know if it was an assignment, but I made a post on Instagram. uh asking people Yes, [laughter] [gasps] I made a post on Instagram asking people to tell me their favorite pinball machines with emojis. And this post, you didn't really get that many responses, right? Nobody responded to them. Got 346 comments. Now, granted, some of those are me guessing, but that is the most active post. I swear you had people stop work. They saw this post. They stopped working at work and went, "Oh, okay. Let me like what am I going to put?" Yeah. [laughter] What's going to be there? So, um I'll like link it in my in the show notes, I guess. Link it in the show notes. Uh how you can find this post. Um because it was a lot of fun. really like I like um I wish I maybe I'll pull up on the side but um there was a lot of really just like different someone put like a crown and a ring and I was like is crown and a ring. Yeah. What do you think that is? I I got it on my first try. Crown and a ring. Yeah. I give up. It's a game I got right there. I don't know. [laughter] You can't see it. Uh, LORD OF THE RINGS. OH, COME ON. A crown in a ring. Okay, there you go. Yeah. And then there's this one from good old Jeff or Jof, however you want. They spelled his name wrong at TP. Um, Jof gave uh an alien ship, a cucumber, one like a the water gun like emoji, an old guy, and then like a kid. Wait, say that again. It was an a spaceship. A spaceship. Cucumber. A cucumber. Water gun. Old guy. Kid, spaceship. Everyone in the in the podcast is now screaming at me going, "It's obvious. It's Rick and Morty." You got it. I got it wrong. I put Attack from Mars. Did I get it? Yeah. Okay. I only got the the old guy and the and the boy. The cucumber threw me off, man. I was like, but then I remember pickle Rick. It's Pickle. Yeah, it's Pickle Rick. But the cuc I don't know if you could find a cucumber. But then I I didn't see the little boy like as a little boy. Like it just didn't look like that to me. I think it's easier to play this game if you just describe the emojis to me [laughter] as opposed to me looking at the emojis. What about a a lion and a wing? That is a lion and a wing. Shoot. It sound It sounds It's like so obvious like that is lion's wing. I don't know what what is it. It is Paragon, man. Paragon. Oh, that's a deep That was uh the flipper room. Yeah. That's not fair. If you're at the flipper room, you can't play this game. You got to be playing it like if you're at your office [laughter] in front of your water cooler. You can't flipp a room. You can't go to your game room and then conjure something. I'm calling foul. [laughter] Oh, I also really like this one from Flipper Fiend. Um, he put a tiger volcano and then a queen. Tiger, volcano, queen. Tiger, volcano. Well, a tiger. That's not King Kong cuz King Kong is not a tiger. No, it's not Congo because also not a tig tiger. I guessed Congo. Yeah, it was wrong. Yeah. No, there are zero tigers in Congo. Um, I don't These are good. I don't know. A volcano and a queen. I don't know. What is it? Starts with the word jungle. Oh, is it jungle queen? Yep. Jungle Queen. They get really hard when you go back to like solid states and em like Yeah. [snorts] But I mean there's this one that you might get with all there's a robot. Mhm. Dracula. Santa Claus, the tango lady, and a suitcase taxi. Yeah. So, it's like, you know, some glasses. Oh, I was really proud of myself for one where it is a horse and a snowflake. Or it was a snowflake and then a horse. A snowflake and a horse. They have this one, I'm pretty sure, at Freled Watch in the small room. A snowflake and a horse. That would be um is that right? Yeah, you got it. It's uh it's snow derby. Oh man. Yes. I hate this game. [laughter] You want to keep playing? Yeah. So the best game ever. One more. Do one more. Just one more. Um, so I still don't know the answer for this one. They didn't get back to me. Totally bogus. Peter, please give us the answer. But they put a trash can and a clock. A trash can and a clock. Oh, I think I know what they meant now. What do you think it is? That this is a waste [laughter] of time. Oh, no. [laughter] cut. Oh, roasted. You got as the kids would say, you got cooked. [laughter] I'm I've just recog It's been a week, Manu, and I have just I told them it's like, I've been thinking about this one for two days, and I really want to get it. I love that they didn't answer either. And I [laughter] said, "Currently thinking, beat the clock." I just got it. I should I'm gonna type in now. I just got this time. Thank you. I realized so much now what you you meant. Good game though. I I like that. Um Erica, keep keep doing what you do on the Instas. You kids instas. I like to have fun, man. I like to like do something different. do a little, you know, I follow a lot of different uh channels and things and I want to like how do we how do we do some fun pinball stuff? This podcast isn't even supposed to be real. So, yeah, supposed to be an April Fool's joke. Yeah, it was a little April Fool's joke. You guys uh probably surprised and grateful, right? [laughter] No. No. Um probably surprised and No, it was fun. We've been talking about this for for a little bit and uh thought it would be kind of fun to just test it out and and just talk pinball cuz we talk we talk a lot of pinball. I need Erica to I need to give Erica another out outlet for creativity because I was tired of sitting in the car with her and she tells me 27,000 different cool things and and I says, "Okay, we just need we need we need more outlets for you. We need need more ways for people to see all this and hear all this cool stuff. So yeah, I mean there's a lot of really cool stuff happening in pinball and just like different things that maybe aren't even directly pinball. Like we I've just recently uh thanks to Stephven Bowen, uh he posted something about a pinball game that makes you mad. Oh no. And talk about that. I then I then was curious and I watched this video from this thing called like Game Grumps. And so there's these guys and I think they have like quite a few followers. I think they're like they might be in the millions and I might be like totally missing it. But I don't follow them. I just watched this video of a pinball game that makes you mad and I was like, "Oh, that's so fun. I I want to get this game." I watched them play a little bit of it and then I was like, "Okay, now I want to try." I have now downloaded this game, a pinball game that makes you mad. And it has indeed um made me [laughter] very mad. And oh boy. So Erica hit me up while I was on vacation in Hawaii. I was so mad. Wanted to share that with Manu. [laughter] Dude, what's funny is that you you texted me at the exact right time because we were sitting in the airport on ready waiting for the flight to come home and you texted me cuz I and I was like, I need something new to play and you texted me, hey, there's this game called a pinball game that makes you mad and I'm looking for the developer. The developer is Oh, it's like Azimuth Studios. Mhm. So, Azimuth Studios. It was released. It was released November 18th, 2025. It's a very simple game. It cost at the time that I bought it, it was $9. Yeah, $10. $9.99. Perfect. I said, "Oh, it's a pinball related game. I'll play it." Sat on the plane, almost wanted to jump out of the plane. I was raging. So, flames, flames out the side of my head. Um, yeah. Yeah. And it appropriately has the quit button is appropriately labeled rage quit. Oh, it is very appropriately labeled. I I have sunk in five hours into this game and I've now watched a few YouTube videos cuz I'm like, how do how do I get past this part? I'm like stuck at the part where it falls down and then you get the little one and then if you fall down that you go back all the way down and the whole time there's a commentator who's like, "Oh, did you really mean to do that?" Cuz we're back to where we were before. [laughter] Yes. And he's just talking to you and just telling you how you're failing. And then there's jazz m music in the background. Like it reminds me a little bit of the vibes I was getting when I was when I used to play the Stanley Parable. Have you ever played that game? Oh yeah. Yeah. Stanley Parable. Yeah. That it had some of those vibes. But yeah, so it's cool. The pinball game that makes you mad. Get some uh hopefully some some cool uh new people want to download your game. Not a sponsor, but definitely a fun It's a fun It's cheap and it's fun. Um it's available on Steam. We both have Steam Decks, although I think you can just download it on your PC or your Mac. Yeah, there you go. My Steam Deck has portals. I I like your See, dude, I like When did you get a portal skin? So Erica's showing for people on audio, Erica's showing her Steam Deck, and it's got a portal like a aperture portal skin and and it's cooler than mine. Mine is the naked skin. I like yours, though. I like I like that yours has the like the see-through look on it. Look, I have orange buttons now. Yeah. Um, I bought so I sold my old Steam Deck and um bought this one from my brother. So I bought my brother's old Steam Deck because he bought the newest one. So um, shout out to little brother. Thanks, Philipe. Um, yeah. Uh, so that was fun. I've put some time into be being mad um [laughter] because the world isn't infuriating enough. Um, yeah. Uh, well, pinball pinballs can be hard. But yeah, I actually really I do highly recommend looking up this game or at least looking up gameplay. It's so not pinball though. [laughter] Yeah, it's it's only pinball in the sense that there are flippers and a ball, but otherwise I wouldn't. They're pop bumpers, too. Yeah, pop bumpers. Yeah, there are pop bumpers. A lot of really crazy mechs and stuff, but it's fun. So, that's kind of like what I wanted to chat about those things, but I also thought it could be fun to talk a little bit about Golden State, what's coming up. Yeah, Golden State pinball festival. Anyway, I put a sound effect here like [laughter] what is this Golden State you refer to? Why is it the Golden State? I don't understand. Uh, that's like California, bro. It's We're the Golden State, you know. I'm from New York. Sorry. I don't know about this. H I've only been here for 20 something years. [laughter] Okay. Uh yeah, bro. Uh so we're called a Golden State because of actually it's really embarrassing. I don't know. Um is it because the poppy flower? Why Golden State? Well, I mean, it's just a great name because yes, it is a Golden State and it is out in um it's May 15th through 17th this year, 2026, the weekend after Mother's Day weekend. Yes, that is right. Golden State uh Pinball Festival is located at the Lodi Grape Festival grounds in Loi, California. Loi, you know what's funny? the the I I never really went to this until the first year I went to this and I absolutely fell in love with this event. This is like my have to mustgo event now. Oh yeah. I I found out about Golden State after I bought my second pinball machine. I [laughter] kind of fun story. So, I had bought my Lord of the Rings and then I really wanted a second game as you know sometimes as it happens. It was a few months I was maybe two or three months into owning Lord of the Rings and then I was like [snorts] I was playing a two-player game with my dad and then I was like he's taking so long. What if I had another game right here? I had another game I could play [laughter] while I could play while my dad plays his ball on Lord of the Rings. And then I started thinking about like because at the time I didn't have my YouTube channel. I was just like me and Pinball were just vibing just on a different wavelength. And uh then I I looked up some games on Craigslist and I found Big Guns and I was like, "Oh, this is cool. This is like original IP. I could like make a short film about this because I wouldn't need to get licensing. It's not something that's already made." So, I actually bought Big Guns with the original intent to make a short film based off of the game. And I thought that that I would have like the guy gets sucked up into the game and then he has to save his mom who got captured to be the queen. And I figured maybe um with it being original IP, Mark Ritchie, I think, was the main designer for the game. And this game's super cool. It's got such a fun feature. It's uh it's one of the very few symmetrical playfields. I bought this big guns from this guy in uh I think Paluma or something. I forget. I forget where, but he when I was buying the game from him, he's like, "Oh, are you going to Golden State?" Okay. And I'm not I barely know that tournaments exist. Like I just found out that stuff was real. And then I'm like, "Golden State? What's that?" And he's like, "Oh, it's a pinball festival. It's amazing. You should go." And then I learn about it and then I go and then it was like the best thing ever. Cuz I was like, "There's pinball everywhere." And I like brought my dad and then I brought some of my friends the next day and I bought like actually you can't see it now. I bought this Johnny Nemonic Playfield. Uh I couldn't put a picture. I couldn't cuz I've posted it on my um Instagram. But uh yeah, I bought a Johnny Nemonic playfield as art cuz I thought it was so cool. And then I was like super obsessed uh and like oh my god I have to be here all day. I just uh I just got to play pinball all day and I don't know all these games. This is so cool. and learned a lot about pinball that day. And um I Yeah, I want to say that was the year that WeirdOwl was at Golden State as well because fun fact, Weirdowl that came to Golden State is now my Weirdowl. Oh yeah, that's right. Yeah. Okay. That's the one I fixed. Yeah. I [laughter] need to I need to play with it some more. It doesn't get enough love. I love the P3. Yeah, if you want to get a multimmorphic, you can either use mine or Manu's email for some extra credit toward somebody already used mine, so use Erica's now. So So Erica, no, I think you can get multiple referrals. I know, but I already got one. You didn't get any. Somebody help out Erica. [laughter] But give them my email. Yeah. Um, [snorts] but no, Loi, uh, the Golden Save Pens Festival. I knew about it for a while. I just didn't go. And then one year I just decided uh who did I go with? I went with my buddy Kirk. He and I drove down and it's great. It's such a chill vibe. Um is there a tournament there? I don't even know. I guess there is question mark. Okay. So it's not so prominent in your face. Um yeah, it's like in a side room. Yeah, it's a little side room if you want to do your tournament thing, but there's a lot of uh you know, we live in California, so there's a there's there's a lot of um representation of all the different groups of California. There's like the pinball museum in Alama. They I think they have games there. Um yeah, they bring a lot of games to PPM. Yeah. And TJ TJ Byer brings games out. Um TJ Pinball Pirate brings games. Pinball Pirate brings games out. D Flipper House brings games. The Flipper Room, Lynn's Arcade. Oh, it's just nuts. Yeah. Um um it's a really fun time. So I think uh I think I'm gonna ride down with um IROD 2001 aka Isaiah on Friday. Cool. And uh yeah, if you if you see me or if you see Erica, stop and say hi. Yeah. And uh we'll be helping. I'll I'll be helping. I don't know if you're welcome to help with it if you want. I'll be helping with the pinball university that Emoto does at the show. I know they asked me about it. I don't I'm only going to be there on Friday, so I'm not sure if I can do anything. But, you know, Emoto is our boss, so we do what we do what Emoto says. Yeah, I'm sure. I got some other people, too. I was going to look into to help with some camera stuff, but yeah, it's a fun time. So, they also besides like there's a room that has like all of the the older games in it so that you can actually hear the bells and chimes and stuff, which I really like, which is also where they hold like the raffle and stuff. But then they also have um the big room that has like all the other games and the vendors are all like on the edges. So like in the middle is just pinball. So very different from Texas Pinball Festival where you have like a vendor here, a vendor there, and some games and some games. But this is just like the whole community coming together bringing games. Uh and it supports a nonprofit, the Wonders Museum something. I feel bad that I don't know the name of that right now, but uh yeah, it's a it's a great event. the whole community comes together. We got a lot of great players. There's tournaments that happen. There's raffles. People win pinball machines. This year there's two like there's Foo Fighters you can win if you enter the raffle on Saturday. Um well, I guess the winner picks the game. So either you can win Foo Fighters or you can win Halloween which um very graciously is being donated in memory of Rob Rob Anthony who passed. I don't know if you knew him but he was always a vendor there at the show. Right. That's cool. Okay. Yeah. Um so that's my phone. So that's um Golden State Pinball Festival here in in Lodi, California, May 15th through the 17th. Uh get your tickets now. Although I think you can just sign up on Yeah, you can sign up at the door. It's I would say it's pretty inexpensive. Um a family I think it's like $60 for the whole weekend. I should look these prices up. Yeah, it's it's $60 um for a three-day pass, 45 for a two-day, and day of is uh I think $30 or Saturday is 30 and f Friday is 20. But you can check the the website at goldenstatepinball.org. Yeah. And it's such honestly, yeah, I love the show. It's uh definitely a must for me. It's our local show. It's hard not to want to go and people are like camping out there. Um, I've know I've posted like a 360 video like I think twice of this show. So, you could definitely find it uh here on my YouTube page or on my not here maybe wherever you're listening to or watching this. Uh, you can find it on my YouTube page. There is a 360 video of the show so you can see how it's evolved or how it changes and how it looks. So, yeah, I love this show. So good. I also segue [laughter] um I wanted to the art of segueing. [laughter] I need my art of segue is not as good. I was watching our other one our first episode and I was like dang Manu is a pro. Manu is a pro segue. I've done a few podcasts. [laughter] So yeah, I don't want to get into it. But uh yeah, he's going Reddit. Reddit. Um, I found some I found some fun things on Reddit and I don't know. I just like I like pinball Reddit. I think that there's some really fun stories about Pinball Reddit. I don't know anything about Pinball Reddit. Pinball Reddit. Like one of my favorite things about pinball Reddit is that people will share stories of buying their first game. People be like, "Just bought this my first game." And then it gets like hella up votes. So many comments. People like, "Oh, that's a great game. That's a great game." And some people are like, "Whoa, what's the next one?" You know, like cuz it's like everyone. Is that how they talk, Erica? Is that [laughter] Is that Yeah, they all talk like goofy. Where's the next one, Mickey? [laughter] No, go ahead. Yeah, that's how I read all the comments in my head. Like, whoa, P. [laughter] Um, no. People are like, "Oh, be like skater boy." Be like, "Yo, that's so sick, dude. What you getting next, bro? Um um [laughter] I you know I could do a really good Mickey Mouse. I did not know that. That's a that's a skill I did not know that you had. What? So there you go. I will sample that on the next episode. So um anyway, [laughter] now I could do it. Um now I feel like I'm on the spot, Manu. I just like And there's no one else here, but I'm like embarrassed. [laughter] [gasps] Hey everybody, I'm Mickey Mouse and welcome to the Mickey Mouse show. You know, I didn't actually ask you to do it. [laughter] Just the way you looked at me though, I felt like you were like I was trying awkward silence like dead in there. Everyone's waiting. Good job. [laughter] There you go. There's my Mickey Mouse. So Mickey Mouse is on Reddit. Mickey Mouse is on Reddit. And yeah, I just love that. And then I found somebody was making a a pinball comic and I connected them to Roger Sharp because Oh, shut the front door. Is a story about an alternate universe where Let me I got to find it. I should have pulled it up sooner. Uh it's a story about if he missed and then like aliens. Okay, let's [laughter] let's back up a minute. So Erica is referring to the famous story where Roger Sharp was uh brought into court to defend Pinball's right not to be a gambling game. All right. And he if you go watch the movie The Man Who Saved Pinball, I think that's what it's called. It's on like Apple or something like that. Yeah. Um, it depicts Roger Sharp's famous shot on a pinball machine where he called a shot and he got the shot and the judge and jury were like, "Okay, it's pinball is cool." Um, if he did not make that shot, why would you think of that? We would be in We wouldn't be talking right now, Erica. We wouldn't be friends. If if if Roger Sharp didn't make that shot Oh, that just blew my mind. If Roger Sharp didn't make that shot, you and I wouldn't be friends. [gasps] Oh, that's a deep cut. [laughter] Wow. Ouch. Well, anyway, go ahead. Finish that story. Yeah, that there's a lot of people in my life that Yeah, they'd be gone. [laughter] All the pinball shows we go to. Yep. Nothing. Air. Why? Why'd you do this to me? [laughter] [gasps] Um, I did it to me, too. It's messed up. It's so messed up. [laughter] So, so let's get away from it because this this thought is scaring me. But he made a comic. That son of a made a a comic. He made a comic. If if it if it didn't ah if pinball didn't exist in the way it does and like aliens take over. I know I shared it with Emoto and um anyway I've I have also told I I gave him he was like hey I'd like to get like Roger Sharp's blessing on this idea basically and I was like I have to connect this man to Roger Sharp. So then I like used my ways. I basically I texted Mo. I was like, "Hey, do you have Roger Shop's email? Like can I can I give somebody?" [laughter] And then I also told Zach about it when I went to the Stern factory for Zach Sharpe. Zach Sharpe, his son who works in pinball. One of his sons. Yeah. One of his sons. Yes. He has two sons that work in pinball. One works for Roth Thrills. Stern. Yeah. And the other one for Play Mechanics. Raw Thrills. Basically the same. Play mechanics. Rothr. Yeah. Um, did you So, no spoilers, but is is the story written? Like, did he finish the story? It was about Oh man, this was like three months ago, but it's a sci-fi comic and it's I think just in its infancy. He posted the first few pages. He's making this like comic about if Roger Sharp missed and then like aliens take over. [laughter] The freak aliens, but like one of the aliens is like a is like a dinosaur, of course. So, of course. Yeah, because why not? And then it looks like the alien spaceship is in the shape of a pinball machine. [laughter] Of course, because it didn't happen. Okay. [gasps] Yeah, it's so cool. So, it's a So, his little description, I found it here, says it's a sci-fi fantasy comic that explores the idea of a world where Lagardia's pinball ban was never lifted. The whole first issue is basically a prologue showing how aliens, government agents, and the authoritin figures interfered with an alternate universe that stopped Roger Sharp from saving the game. So, he gave a a few pages and he wanted to share because of uh love to hear the thoughts about like if he made it a whole book um should they have it at a comic shop or even expo? And then also yeah um he wanted to get in touch with Roger Sharp and I was like I will get you in like I couldn't do that. I couldn't do that. I couldn't get you in touch with Roger Sharp and uh it happened. So um we're going to find out hopefully sooner than later about this pinball comic. That's very cool. That's a it's a real deep cut. Yeah, it's a very pinball. I just think about now if it didn't happen and we wouldn't be friends. We would [laughter] I mean if you I mean yes true but there's a lot of ifs and you know like there is only one other like crazy way we would have met um Tinder. [laughter] You know how old I am? Here's the here's the thing. How old am I? I couldn't think of any dating app except for Tinder, which No, no, no. Which is probably not the one that's used today. No, I've I've never been on on Tinder. I just I need the joke, though. So, [laughter] I just did it anyway. I didn't care. Um, no, we had a mutual friend that worked in the film space together. Yeah. Yeah, that's Yeah. Um, so potential have our paths could have potentially crossed had I like helped her produce something and you were editing, right? Because you edited for her. I edited the some the episodes that she did. Yeah. But but Roger Roger did his thing. Roger Sharp made the shot. Yep. And he made the shot again at a new pinball place opening in Chicago. [laughter] Is that real? It's like literally made the shot again. He made the shot again. It was so cool. I like just been so happy with a lot of pinball stuff lately. There's a lot of really fun stuff to see on Instagram. I saw Where was that, Erica? Where they recreated the shot that Roger Sharp took? It's a new place called the the Pinball Capital. I'm pretty sure it's called the Pinball Capital. They're on Instagram. And you know where they're located? Uh in Chicago. Chicago. Of course he Chicago in Stone Park, Illinois. Okay. I I'm really bad and I just call like all of Illinois Chicago. [laughter] Yeah, you just did. But that's okay. We forgive you. That's like someone calling California just San Francisco [laughter] and then saying San Fran, which drives me up a wall, but that's okay. I'm very sorry. But it is in I pulled it up here. They have just started the pinball capital in Stone Park, Illinois. It's Illinois's largest pinball ccentric arcade. They have over 130 pinball machines. That's a lot. It's $20 for all day play and they are open to the public as of now. And uh yeah, it's super exciting. And they had Roger Sharp recreate. He was basically there to like bless the establishment. Um Yeah. Boy, did he. Yeah. saw it on so many different uh Instagrams. It was so cool. That's very cool. Yeah. A lot of fun stuff happening in pinball, you know, comics, games, shows, uh new arcades opening. Yeah, we got cool things going on in pinball. Yep. Yeah. So, is that it for today? I think that's I think we've we've been chatting for a good hot minute. For a good hot minute. Yeah, we got we got we got lots of stories to tell. So, we can tell them at that was probably like five minutes, right? [laughter] Felt like it. Whenever I talk to you, Erica, it feels like five minutes. Oh, man. Manu, it's only Even if it's three hours. Feels like 12 hours. Jesus Christ. [laughter] Um, no, I I really appreciate uh getting to just chat some pinball, share some new fun things with you. And yeah, that's kind of basically what we want to just do here is just talk random fun pinball things. Maybe what's coming up, you [snorts] know. Uh, you're building a homebrew. I'm in the infancy of building a homebrew, but you or you're a part of a homebrew like matrix you've been working on. Yeah. I'm not the one building it, but um um I helped create the virtual and create all the all the assets, add digital stuff and the music and the sound effect, blah. But um yeah, hopefully that journey will won't end in that and I'll start building one uh here at the house with my son Skyler. So, we're we're working on some stuff. Yeah. So, we'll talk about that a little bit, too. Definitely. Yeah. There's so much pinball things to talk about and um yeah, we just uh I just have a great time. Manu, thanks for hanging out with me. Um I know you don't have to. So, [laughter] we know you have choices in your travel. Thank you for flying Erica's journey. Um Erica, [laughter] where where can the folks find you? Uh outside of this podcast, you can find me at my parents house right now. [laughter] Uh, you can find me at Erica's Pinball Journey. I'm on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Um, yeah. [snorts] And and um I guess Manu, where can where can people find you? I thought you'd never ask. I'm Mystery Pinball Theater. You can search up on YouTube and and Twitch. MPT3K. You know the kids say, it drives me nuts. Search up. Search it up. It's a direction. Like searching is specifically up. [laughter] My kids say that to me all the time. Dad, just search it up. Search it up, bro. Search it up. That's That's so funny. What if I say search it left? Whatever. All right, that's enough. [laughter] Yeah. Yeah. Well, hopefully you guys enjoy it. Episode two. Um, and we'll be back in like I don't know. I think it's like a bi-weekly thing we're we're doing here every other week. And uh yeah, stay tuned for more fun pinball talks. Till next time. Bye. I'm waving. They can't tell if they're listening. [laughter] Oh, wait. I I have to say goodbye in this voice.

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-06-06 | Item ID: b3647e80-66ec-458e-9cda-b3bac896cd71*