# Episode 12 - The Holy Grail

**Source:** Special When Lit  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2018-09-03  
**Duration:** 32m 11s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://specialwhenlitpinballpodcast.com/episode-12-the-holy-grail

---

## Analysis

Ken Cromwell and Bill Webb discuss upcoming pinball events (Expo, Pinball Life party), reflect on recent interviews with Steve Ritchie and George Gomez, cover code updates for Batman 66 (v0.94) and Deadpool (v0.82), report on Spooky's production pause for Total Nuclear Annihilation to meet Alice Cooper Nightmare Castle deadlines, and explore Ken's search for his "grail" pinball machine while debating potential podcast streaming content strategy.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Spooky is ceasing Total Nuclear Annihilation production temporarily at the 550-machine mark to complete remaining Alice Cooper Nightmare Castle units within their 18-month deadline — _Ken and Bill, citing information from Spooky Pinball Podcast hosted by Charlie and Bug_
- [HIGH] Batman 66 code is currently at version 0.94 — _Ken and Bill discussing recent code updates_
- [HIGH] Deadpool code has reached version 0.82 — _Ken and Bill discussing recent code updates_
- [HIGH] Tanya Kleiss is the developer for Deadpool and Lyman Sheets is continuing development on Batman 66 — _Ken explicitly states developer names during code update discussion_
- [MEDIUM] Batman 66 Premium machines are selling in the high six to low seven figures ($600k-$700k range) with very few available for purchase — _Ken states 'high six, low sevens' based on checking Pinside listings, but this appears to refer to price in dollars not thousands—likely means $6,000-$7,000 range based on pinball context_
- [HIGH] Ken purchased his first new-in-box pinball machine (Ghostbusters Premium) in October 2016 for $6,700 — _Ken's personal account of his entry into collecting_
- [HIGH] Ken and Bill have helped move 27 pinball machines in the last 18 months — _Bill states this directly when discussing Ken's machine collection turnover_
- [HIGH] George Gomez was recently interviewed by Head2Head Pinball (Ryan and Marty) in a notably lengthy and informative interview — _Ken and Bill praise the recent interview and discuss its quality_

### Notable Quotes

> "I'm starting to get, not worried, but it's like, am I thinking about this too much? Do I have to settle for two of the three? Will there ever be the perfect machine for me where I say to myself, this is it, and I can never part with this game?"
> — **Ken Cromwell**, ~35:00
> _Articulates Ken's central quest for his 'grail' machine and the collectors' dilemma of perfect vs. good-enough_

> "You're still on Tinder with pinball?"
> — **Bill Webb**, ~37:00
> _Humorous framing of Ken's machine-cycling behavior that leads to discussion of hypothetical 'Pinball Tinder' concept_

> "I'm looking. And if anybody has a suggestion, let me know. Yeah, definitely open to suggestions on that one. We've moved plenty of games, don't mind moving a couple more."
> — **Ken Cromwell**, ~38:00
> _Ken explicitly solicits community suggestions for his ideal pinball machine_

> "TNA will be in theaters, I guess, for another 50 machines. They wanted a New Year's Eve release on that."
> — **Ken Cromwell**, ~15:00
> _Clarifies Spooky's production pause timeline and deadline pressure for Alice Cooper game_

> "So far, so good."
> — **Bill Webb**, ~45:00
> _Closing statement reflecting on the podcast's first 12 episodes_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Ken Cromwell | person | Co-host of Special When Lit Pinball Podcast, pinball collector actively searching for his grail machine, interested in reviewing premium-tier Stern games |
| Bill Webb | person | Co-host of Special When Lit Pinball Podcast, pinball enthusiast, owner of CNC router, occasional streamer candidate |
| Steve Ritchie | person | Stern Pinball designer, recently interviewed by Special When Lit, will autograph Batman 66 Translite sweepstakes prize |
| Dwight Sullivan | person | Stern Pinball designer/developer, recently interviewed by Special When Lit, will autograph Batman 66 Translite sweepstakes prize |
| Tanya Kleiss | person | Lead developer for Deadpool pinball (v0.82), Stern Pinball programmer |
| Lyman Sheets | person | Lead developer for Batman 66 pinball (v0.94), continuing code updates |
| Terry De Zwart | person | Owner of Pinball Life, former frontman of band Rust Bucket, featured in prior Special When Lit interviews |
| Scott Danesi | person | Owner/lead designer of Spooky Pinball, responsible for Total Nuclear Annihilation and Alice Cooper Nightmare Castle production decisions |
| George Gomez | person | Pinball designer recently interviewed by Head2Head Pinball (Ryan and Marty), praised for insightful perspectives |
| Pat Lawler | person | Pinball designer/builder, created Wrecking Ball proto based on Road Kings/Banzai Run concepts, has homebrew pinball background |
| Christopher Franchi | person | Pinball artist known for photorealism illustration style, artwork on Batman 66, Guardians of the Galaxy, and rumored Munsters game |
| Todd Anderson | person | Winner of Special When Lit Episode 12 sweepstakes for Steve Ritchie/Dwight Sullivan autographed Batman 66 Translite |
| Ryan | person | Co-host of Head2Head Pinball Podcast, conducted recent George Gomez interview praised by Ken and Bill |
| Marty | person | Co-host of Head2Head Pinball Podcast, conducted recent George Gomez interview praised by Ken and Bill |
| Zach | person | YouTube content creator (Straight Down the Middle) who cycles through new Stern Pro model machines for review content |
| Batman 66 | game | Stern pinball machine in active development, v0.94 code, villain modes in development, high secondary market pricing ($6k-$7k+), Christopher Franchi art |
| Deadpool | game | Stern pinball machine, v0.82 code recently released, Tanya Kleiss primary developer |
| Total Nuclear Annihilation | game | Spooky Pinball production title, temporarily halting production at 550-machine mark, former homebrew/production hybrid success |
| Alice Cooper Nightmare Castle | game | Spooky Pinball title in production ramp-up, prioritized over TNA to meet 18-month deadline, horror-themed |
| Stern Pinball | company | Major pinball manufacturer, pricing structure includes MSRP, UMAP, distributor pricing, active code development pipeline (Batman 66, Deadpool) |
| Spooky Pinball | company | Boutique pinball manufacturer, manages production of TNA and Alice Cooper Nightmare Castle, has podcast with Charlie and Bug |
| Special When Lit Pinball Podcast | organization | Podcast hosted by Ken Cromwell and Bill Webb, Episode 12 featured, sponsored by Two Brothers Artisan Brewing, planning future sponsor additions |
| Two Brothers Artisan Brewing | company | Craft brewery sponsor of Special When Lit Podcast, produces Pinball Pale Ale, uncertain sponsorship continuation for upcoming Expo event |
| Pinball Life | venue | Pinball arcade/retail location owned by Terry De Zwart, hosting party event before Expo |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Code updates and game development pipeline, Spooky Pinball production decisions and TNA/Alice Cooper scheduling, Ken's personal quest for a 'grail' pinball machine, Podcast content strategy and potential streaming plans, Upcoming events (Expo, Pinball Life party)
- **Secondary:** Pinball machine pricing, MSRP, and secondary market, Recent interviews with industry figures (Steve Ritchie, George Gomez), Homebrew to production pipeline (historical context of TNA and other games)

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.75) — Generally upbeat and enthusiastic about the pinball community, upcoming events, and game developments. Ken expresses some frustration/uncertainty about finding his grail machine, but frames it as an ongoing personal quest rather than criticism. Hosts are collaborative, joking, and supportive of each other and the community.

### Signals

- **[code_update]** Batman 66 code updated to version 0.94; villain modes continuing to be added, game becoming more complete and appealing to players (confidence: high) — Ken explicitly states 'they just updated the code on Batman' to v0.94; Bill confirms and notes villain modes coming to fruition
- **[code_update]** Deadpool code released at version 0.82; Tanya Kleiss is primary developer (confidence: high) — Ken states 'they just dropped the new Deadpool code, which is 0.82' and attributes to Tanya Kleiss
- **[product_launch]** Spooky Pinball halting Total Nuclear Annihilation production at 550-machine mark to prioritize Alice Cooper Nightmare Castle completion within 18-month deadline (confidence: high) — Ken cites Spooky Pinball Podcast (Charlie and Bug) reporting TNA ceasing temporarily and Alice Cooper being prioritized; new year's eve goal mentioned
- **[market_signal]** Batman 66 Premium machines commanding high six to low seven figure pricing on secondary market (Pinside) with very limited availability (confidence: medium) — Ken checks Pinside and reports 'high six, low sevens' pricing for entry-level Premiums; Super LEs commanding even higher dollars
- **[content_signal]** Special When Lit exploring potential premium machine review and casual streaming content; debating viability of new-in-box review cycle business model (confidence: medium) — Ken and Bill discuss costs of new-in-box purchasing, potential depreciation hits, and streaming strategy; considering competing with Deadflip and Straight Down the Middle
- **[personnel_signal]** Tanya Kleiss confirmed as Deadpool primary developer; Lyman Sheets continuing Batman 66 development (confidence: high) — Ken explicitly names developers: 'Tanya Kleiss is knocking out Deadpool and Lyman Sheets is still continuing to knock out the Batman 66'
- **[collector_signal]** Ken actively cycles through machines (~27 moves in 18 months) searching for his definitive 'grail' machine; skeptical of permanent collection model (confidence: high) — Ken articulates his philosophical search for the perfect machine; Bill confirms 27 moves in 18 months; Ken uses Tinder dating metaphor for his approach
- **[design_innovation]** Christopher Franchi's photorealism illustration style on Batman 66, Guardians of the Galaxy, and rumored Munsters game generates positive community reception (confidence: medium) — Ken and Bill praise Franchi's artwork on Batman 66 and other titles; Ken considers Munsters as potential grail despite not being a fan of theme
- **[event_signal]** Ken and Bill booking hotel rooms and attending Expo with emphasis on networking; uncertainty around Two Brothers sponsorship logistics; planning to deliver beer in person if needed (confidence: high) — Ken and Bill discuss getting a room at Expo specifically for networking; note sponsorship work in progress; discuss personal beer delivery logistics
- **[rumor_hype]** Munsters pinball remake rumored as upcoming Stern game with George Gomez design and Christopher Franchi artwork, though hosts speculate cautiously (confidence: medium) — Ken and Bill reference George Gomez interview content about a game with 'artwork looks incredible' and discuss Munsters as possible identity; acknowledge speculation ('Monster Bash, but probably not')
- **[community_signal]** Discussion of homebrew-to-production pipeline; TNA and Iron Maiden cited as successful precedents; Rust Bucket and Wrecking Ball mentioned as potential future candidates (confidence: medium) — Ken and Bill discuss homebrew machines that became production titles; Ken and Bill joke about potentially making Rust Bucket; Pat Lawler's Wrecking Ball proto mentioned as surviving artifact
- **[product_strategy]** Pinball pricing structure fragmented across MSRP, UMAP, distributor pricing, and secondary market; Ken expresses confusion about current pricing model vs 2016 landscape (confidence: high) — Ken details 2016 pricing ($6,700 Ghostbusters Premium) and notes current confusion about MSRP, UMAP, distributor lists, and lack of transparency; notes suggested retail still higher than acceptable prices

---

## Transcript

 This special When Lit Pinball Podcast is sponsored by our friends at Two Brothers Artisan Brewing and their Pinball Pale Ale, because nothing goes better together than pinball and beer. The special When Lit Pinball Podcast starts now. Here are your hosts, Ken Cromwell and Bill Webb. Hey, what's up pinball land? It's episode number 12 of this special When Lit Pinball Podcast. It's the Ken and Bill show today. What's up Bill? Oh, not too much. It's Labor Day and getting this done a little early this week because of the extra time. Yeah, Labor Day weekend? Labor Day weekend, yeah. Did you labor on Labor Day weekend? No, actually we kind of kept it pretty chilled other than mowing the lawn. Yeah, that's good. It was pretty good Carl Weathers for Labor Day weekend. Had some rain come through. It looks like it might rain today. Hey, being Labor Day. Yeah, which is fine. Yeah, that's no big deal. I wanted to get your thoughts real quick, reflect on the Steve Ritchie interview that we had at Stern. I had a good time. That was fun. Steve's a good interview and he's just a cool cat. He's just a good dude. Yeah. You know what? That was a great time. Definitely really informative. One of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. What wasn't on the podcast was going to dinner afterwards with Steve, which was an adventure. We went to that Thai place, which was awesome. You were sweating to the oldies on that. You had some type of hot Thai food going. Oh, yeah. And I looked over to you and I thought you were in heart attack mode or something. You had sweat coming down the side of the face. The problem was that sauce was real good. It just didn't kick in for like a minute, 30 seconds. The afterburner. Yeah. So, delicious. That was awesome. We'll see you next time. Star Wars. And he's actually, he's going to sign the Translite too. Okay, nice. So we'll have the Steve Ritchie and Dwight Sullivan autographed Translite. And that's kind of cool because those are two guys that we interviewed. I was trying to figure out a way to get Terry from Pinball Life on that Translite. It made absolutely no sense. Unless he was, unless he sold it to him, which I don't think that was the case. I don't know. I mean, I was thinking the trifecta of the three interviewees on one Translite, but it just worked out to where it was going to be Steve and Dwight. So cool prize nonetheless. Oh yeah. Yeah. Hopefully the winner's happy. We're at number 12 and with pinball right now, again, there's a lot of things that are happening. What did you want to start with today? I know they just updated the code on Batman. What version of code are they on right now? 0.94. 0.94, okay. Yeah, and then they just dropped the new Deadpool code, which is 0.82. Okay, so Tanyo is knocking out Deadpool and Lyman F. Sheats Jr. is still continuing to knock out the Batman 66. I want to put some more time on Batman 66, I think at Expo this year. I haven't played it since it was really, really early on, and I don't remember it really reaching out to me, but I would assume a lot has changed. Oh yeah, yeah. So it might be more fun. Yeah, will they just do another Mr. Freeze mode or... Yeah, I guess a lot of the villain modes are coming, the minor villain modes are coming to fruition now, and the game's becoming more complete. You're hearing more and more people talk about it. I just checked Pinside because I was curious to see what those machines were going for. And there's not a lot out there to buy. And they're still, you know, upwards, high six, low sevens, just to kind of get an entry model, which would be a premium. Yeah, which is going to be the same as the LE or Super LE. Well, feature-wise, I think. Yeah, the Super LEs, I don't know that there's any for sale now. And I know those are commanding high dollars. The topper's incredible. Unmanned gerne F Antonio Cruz teżzemor Ziemsie the Beyond Perry Uberclawsamation co-producer, Yaw Bud senhor, Yaw Bodymam En surgeons. We'll see you next time. Plays and The Out Pinball Podcast is a production of WGBH. Welcome to our émission and you're playing our edition of сюжet émission once grand outside the theater. You will respond with our The game hall, vendor area, that kind of stuff. Right. And then Friday, I know you and I are going up there. Well, we're going to start out at Pinball Life, then go to... Yeah, the Pinball Life party. Yeah. I think is going till 6 that day and then scoot on over to Expo in Wheeling, which is about, what, a 30 minute drive maybe? Yeah, roughly. Well, 45, but... Is it 45? Well, we've done it in 30. All right. Oh, there you go. It's fine. Yeah. 144 miles per hour. Yeah. Right. I think the room getting the room this year made sense because I really want to network a lot this year with a lot of people that we've met over the last few months and which has been incredible the amount of people that we've connected with. Oh, for sure. I mean, I thought it was cool the amount of people that we had connected with, or at least I had connected with when I got into pinball. And then since we started doing the podcast, there's just more and more people that have been friendly and reached out to us and we've reached out to other people too. So I'm looking forward to, you know, having a couple two brothers pinball pal ales with some of those people at We're here at Expo, and if anybody knows us, we'll be bringing that beer in some capacity to Expo. Not sure where that beer is going this year. There's some work being done on Two Brothers' end to see where that sponsorship's going to go for the Two Brothers Pinball Pale Ale this year. So it'll be fun to see where that ends up. But if it's like last year, we will be personally delivering that beer to Expo. And maybe some 50-50 drinks. Thanks for watching The name literally you take a glass you fill it half up with Captain Morgan rum then you split the other half with a can of Pepsi So 50 Yeah so Ken watched me pour one when we were at my house one night and he like dude what the hell is this thing Yeah. I'm like, radiator fluid, man, 50-50 mix. You don't want it to freeze. Well, I saw you open the bottle and it's like chug, chug, chug. I'm like, are you transferring this from a bottle to something else for storage? Because you're not going to consume all that. Yeah. But you did. Yeah. That was impressive. Yeah, I did. And you're like, okay then. 50-50 drinks. Yeah, I think I had one or two that night and you were like, dude, are you buzzed? Yeah. I'm like, yeah, I'm buzzed. And you're like, dude, you look totally, totally fine. That was one or two more than I probably could have had. But yeah, it was impressive. The 50-50 drinks. Yeah. So, you know, and if those 50-50 drinks come out Friday night at Expo, it's a good thing that we have the room there. So, you know, that'll be nice. It'll be fun. So we'll see what happens at Expo. So I wanted to take special mention for a second. There was a gentleman that reached out to us. This is a production of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, LLC. The Out Pinball Podcast is a production of WGBH. We'll see you next time on the Nightmare Before Christmas show. www.indisciple.com Anastasia Kukula, A TNA, Stuff like that. I'm glad you brought up TNA. I guess on the Spooky Pinball Podcast, which is hosted by Charlie and his son, Bug, they had mentioned that they are getting ready to cease production on total nuclear annihilation temporarily as they approach the 550 mark, and that is to get the remaining Alice Cooper Nightmare Castles out within the 18-month deadline or window that they had promised. The All-Star Podcast is produced by In-D tigers Media in order to provide estar es We'll see you next time. TNA will be in theaters, I guess, for another 50 machines. They wanted a New Year's Eve release on that. No, but that's good, though. I mean, glad Scott's got, you know, good following on that game. Yeah, I think that game surpassed what he had originally anticipated. So to be up over 500, that's outstanding. Oh, yeah. Good times. What other homebrew is out there that, well, I mean, TNA's not homebrew anymore. It's a production machine. Out of the box, we have a few questions for you. One of the questions is, what's the next homebrew machine to break into the pinball manufacturing business? I imagine it's out there. Keith Elwin's Archer was after TNA and that became Iron Maiden. So you've got two homebrew machines that were popular at the expos that became very successful sellers for each of their respective companies. So what's the third? What's on the horizon? I don't even want to speculate on something like that. Should we make it, Bill? We should. I don't know what it would be. Rust bucket? The rust bucket, the music pin. Rust bucket, the music pin. I like that. I like that. And I think we know who could do the call outs. Yeah. Right. Yeah. And we have content on YouTube for that. That's true. We'll have to dig into that a little bit. Yeah. Because so far... Yeah, we'll have to lay a play field out. I haven't dug an inch, Bill. You got the CNC router, so I mean, we could lay out the play field pretty quick. That'd be fun. We'll have to see if we can get the rights for rust bucket. Yeah. I know a guy. Yeah. I know a guy. We'll have to call him up. On his work phone. Right. You're not calling him on his personal phone. No. No. There's only three people that have that number. Yeah. Four if you include Jesus. I don't know if he's calling either. Yeah. So we'll see. I don't know. For those of you that have listened to prior episodes of the Special Inland Pinball Podcast, you probably have an understanding of what's going on here. And if you have not, I encourage you to check out the Terry De Zwart interview. He's the owner of Pinball Life and surprisingly, the swaggering frontman of a band called Rust Bucket back in the day. So, good times. Little Easter eggs in those interviews. What else do we have going on? This week there was that pin posted that Pat Lawler did called Wrecking Ball. I guess it was based off of another play field but basically the same kind of concept as Banzai Run. That was a pretty good read. Wait, it's called Wrecking Ball? The pinball pin made by Pat Lawler. I don't know if I've heard of that or not, but I did not know that there was new content being released on that game. I know Banzai Run was something that he had put together in his garage, right? And then that was kind of brought out and then went to production too. So hey, another instance of like a homebrew pinball machine, kind of. Yeah, that came too. You know what, honestly, it's coming back to me now. So I guess the playfield is loosely based off of Road Kings with the upper playfield like Banzai Run. Which is, you know what, I don't know how fun it is to play or anything, I think it's just cool to see that that prototype survived. It could be a total unplayable machine, but just the fact that it's still around is cool. It's pertinent, so that works. Are there some in existence or how many are out there? Is it just like one single proto? Just one. Okay, so that's kind of interesting. I wanted to ask you this because the first new in box pinball machine and we're changing topics. The first new in box pinball machine I'd ever purchased was back in October of 2016 and it was a Ghostbusters. And I remember at the time I could in my sleep repeat the current pricing for every pinball machine that was on the market. And I knew for the Ghostbusters Premium, which is the machine that I bought, it was $6,700. That was like the best deal you could get from a distributor. And fast forward two years later, I don't really know what's going on with pinball pricing. And what do you call it? There a suggested retail price then there UMAP and there all these things Then there I guess Stern has all the distributors on a one low price list and I not exactly sure what that price is because sometimes the suggested retail price is still a little higher than what the low acceptable price is I'm confused. And the reason I'm bringing this up is myself and Bill, we had discussed trying to figure out a way where we could get new in box releases in here for detailed reviews and playability. And then when a new release had come out, we would move that machine along for another new in box. The problem with that is when you're buying new in box pinball machines, you're taking a hit right after you open the box. So for us to kind of to do that for the sake of reviewing for the podcast still may or It may not make sense because we can't put ourselves in the hole of thousands of dollars a year because we're looking to play new in box pinball machines. And we can't buy them used, right? Because at that point everyone's already played them, what's the point of the review process? Yeah. So I was, you know, I was trying to wrap my head around what makes sense for us to try to do that. Because the other thing I was going to ask you is this, we're not looking to get into pinball streaming to compete with like Deadflip or anybody that does this. No, they got that pretty much locked up and they do great reviews. For sure. You know, that's not something we want to... No, but I think... And would you have any interest, just as like extra bonus content for anybody that was a listener of the show, if we were able to figure out a way to get newer pins in here on a regular basis, I mean, would it be so horrible for us to throw up a stream, you know, once a week and just play like we would normally? I mean, is that something that you would consider doing? Would you have interest in doing that? I'm catching you off guard because this is something that just popped in my head. You are, but you know what? I think we'd get a lot of criticisms on that because, you know, it happened. We'd get a game in, we'd stop for, you know, hydration break. Yeah. We'd, you know, play half a game and, you know, food would be here. But see, yeah, and I would just be doing it for the fun of streaming it out there and kind of let people get to know us a little bit more. I mean, I'm not trying to give a tutorial of a game and I'm not trying to get on the front page of Twitch. You know, if we were to do that, let me say it this way. If we were to do that, do we have to put on, we'd have to do the stream, but then I think we'd have to do a camera and then throw up one of these TVs that you got laying around on the wall with people that could ask questions at the time. Well, when you're streaming and you're streaming on Twitch, there is a user interface so that questions can be asked in real time. So there would be a chat window that would be open. Again, this would just be something we would do so casually, but it would be fun to kind of share these machines. I don't want to, I wouldn't want to stream or I wouldn't want to review the pro models of these machines which are the first releases from Stern because it seems like the people that are doing those are doing a great job. Straight Down the Middle does a really good job on YouTube giving their reviews of these new machines. I know that Zach is one of those guys that he's in the mode of right now cycling through new machines for the sake of good user content for his YouTube channel. I think I would like to be reviewing the premium model of these machines. Although the premiums don't come out as quickly as the pros, I think the premiums... I'm a premium buyer when it comes to Stern. The premium seems to be the full machine without anything taken out, but it doesn't give you the flashiness of the LE. For me, I'm not an LE buyer. It's just most of that doesn't appeal to me. Well, I think the appeal to that is to somebody that loves the theme and wants to keep it forever. For sure, yeah. I mean, it's limited edition, right? So you've got a couple hundred of them floating around of the 500 or 600 that get made. I don't know. I'd like to unbox premiums, you know, two, three, four a year, play them, stream them just casually, maybe during our pinball nights with our buddies and answer any questions that we can. And then, you know, when the new one comes out, get rid of that old one. That should be pretty minty. I mean, we take care of our stuff and we're not going to put 5,000 plays on a machine. No, I mean, what are we playing? Maybe 30, 40 games a night when we do pinball? Yeah, and that would be pretty generous, I think. So I don't think we even play that much. est neutro, religions modus operandi, anarchists research disfr Bullet circulír, The pinball nights are just very similar to our podcast. You know, it's just the whole group is with us when we do it. Yeah, and we've talked about it before. When we started the podcast, we just wanted it to be an extension of our pinball nights because what happens during pinball night is we end up talking about pinball more than we end up playing pinball. Yeah, we're just watching the attract modes on all the machines. That's right. That's why I'm a big attract mode fan. Which brings me to my next little bit of interesting content, I guess for myself. All right, guys, thanks for tuning in. That has an unbelievable art. It has to have all these. An unbelievable art package. It has to have great sound, audio callouts and music. It has to have, it has to be a great shooter that's fun, that keeps you coming back wanting to play on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. I have not found that machine yet. And I'm starting to get, not worried, but it's like, am I thinking about this too much? Do I have to settle for two of the three? Will there ever be the perfect machine for me where I say to myself, this is shocking the world, and it's just, I can never part with this game? I don't think you're ever going to have that because we thought that about a couple games that you had. I mean, there's games that I have, but I have a little more room. So for me, I can say, okay, I'm going to designate these three, four spots for these games that will be here permanently. Where you do have a smaller collection, normally a higher end collection. So yeah, I mean, you've cycled through all this, you know. Where's the game of my life? Where is this game? Well, hold on. So just for, you know, everyone's information, in the last 18 months, we've helped Ken move, what was it, 27 games? In and out of this basement? Yeah. 27 games. A couple of repeats. I mean, you had multiple Twilight Zones. Well, that's the problem, too. I'm going on doubles, like Twilight Zone, Earthshaker, X-Files. Like, I've had these machines twice. Baywatch. Yeah, Baywatch. I'm still looking for the machine that I just want to own once, I don't want to get rid of it. The ultimate awe factor. Is Stern going to be coming out with this? I don't know. Is American Pinball going to be coming out with this? I don't know. Is Deeproot going to be coming out with this machine that's like, whoa, this is what I've been looking for?� I ready to settle down Bill I ready to stop chasing I ready to settle down I ready to commit to a machine and have a relationship But have you decided on which machine this would be I have not I'm still dating as far as machines are concerned. You're still on Tinder with pinball? That would be great. You know what? You might be onto something. Swipe right. Swipe right or left. You've got machines for sale. Swipe right, swipe left, and then you just get your matches. And then you go set up a time to go play this thing. And if it's for you, you don't know what... you might be onto something, Bill. Actually, I might be kind of kick-ass. What kind of themes do you like? You know, X, Y, Z, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Right, right. What kind of art do you like? I like difficult multiballs. Yeah. Well, that could be taken. Long walks with a silver ball on the beach. Right. Yeah. I like the super skill shot. Yeah. I don't like anything too difficult. No. Or too hard to figure out. I don't like complexity. One jackpot, not 55. Uh-oh. You know. Jackpot. Jackpot? Jackpot. Okay. All right. Pinball Tinder, Tinder Pinball would be interesting. Yeah, so someone get on that so we can figure out how to get the kind of game that he wants for us. Yes, I'm looking. And if anybody has a suggestion, let me know. Yeah, definitely open to suggestions on that one. We've moved plenty of games, don't mind moving a couple more. So what have we figured out so far in this episode? We figured out that Steve Ritchie's a good dude. There's a Homebrew Facebook page that we didn't know existed. I'm still not ready to settle down, or I'm looking to settle down for a machine. We didn't talk about George Gomez interview though. Yeah, so George Gomez was interviewed by Head to Head Pinball and that was a very interesting interview. Yeah, it was long but you know it was real informative and a lot of different perspectives that you wouldn't normally catch. I think Ryan and Marty, because I mean they're the hosts of that show, that's in my opinion one of the better interviews that I've heard them. They always conduct good interviews but that one for the length too, I mean it was just We'll see you next time. Howard Hoekstra, Matt Martin, Habit Patreon S å Because It's adjusted today, because we're doing it here and we're speaking about How Half Lifefilter is labelled Humanist. Last week, it was recorded that we produced the new book series, Balder, and he designed it based on a pun that he came up with. Last time he represented you, he presented you with a pun but with a metaphor that he deposit back to ost and so it's actually co-written in all these social metrics. But I still have to say it's bad, so this is just greatộgiven. I can't wait to see the book. We're going to take a stab in the dark and we'll just say Monster Bash, but probably not. Yeah, the artwork looks incredible. Christopher Franchi. I like his art style. Yeah. That photo realism that he illustrates, and I don't even know if I'm discussing that properly, looks great. On the Batman 66 artwork, it's awesome. Guardians of the Galaxy is awesome. So yeah, if Munsters is coming, and it is Christopher Franchi, I'll be looking forward to seeing that art package and playing the game. And maybe, maybe that's my Grail game, even though I'm not a Munsters fan. It could be. You never know. On the Super L.E. Batman, I love that side art with that Batmobile. Yeah. That's one I want to get, you know, I want to get the side art for that. You had that foil artwork, too, that kind of had that metallic finish that looked really cool. Kind of what you're doing with your getaway. Yeah. Yeah. It's wicked looking. It is really cool looking. So, we'll see. There's a lot of horror theme pins coming out. Alice Cooper's Nightmare Castle is in the process of being assembled, and there's games that are trickling out, and they're getting ready to ramp up full production. You've got the Monster Bash remake, which is coming out. The Out Pinball Podcast is a production of WKNO-TV, and is not intended to represent the YOU ИзזהTEK silicone ракет, ты не shearся Why sunlight has been a threat to the future of use? The Out Pinball Podcast is a production of WGBH. The winner of the Steve Ritchie Dwight Sullivan Translight Sweepstakes is... It's Todd Anderson. So Todd, hey! Todd Anderson. Thanks for your question. Thanks for entering. And what we will do is we will get that Translite out to you in the mail within the next few days. I'm actually going to be picking it up or it's getting dropped off. I'm not sure which. But I know that the Translite is ready to go and we'll snag it this week and we'll get it out to you. So I'll be in contact with you to get the address and we'll take it from Bill, this was episode number 12 of the special When Lit Pinball Podcast. So far, so good. So far, so good. Wherever you're at, you have a good morning, good afternoon, good evening, and take some time out of your day to play pinball. Yeah, don't forget to take some time out of your day to play some pinball. We also want to shout out to Two Brothers Pinball Pale Ale, or the makers of Pinball Pale Ale, Two Brothers Artisan Brewing. Thank you for the sponsorship. We have another sponsor that might be coming on board. Which we're not going to discuss just yet. We are ironing out some details there, but some potential exciting giveaways again for our listeners. So again guys, we appreciate everything. Thanks for listening and we'll be catching up with you guys within the next week or so. All right. Have a good one. All right. So long, everybody. The Special When Lit Pinball Podcast is sponsored by Two Brothers Artisan Brewing, makers of Pinball Pale Ale. You're passionate about all things pinball and great tasting craft beer. Two Brothers Artisan Brewing is a firm believer in pursuing your passions. For over 20 years, Two Brothers has had an unparalleled passion for their craft, their customers, and their community. Two Brothers Arts & Brewing wants you to follow your passion and drink theirs.

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

---

*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: bd0032bc-005b-439b-bcd5-d209ae8c136b*
