# 026 - Accessories: Cool or A Cash Grab?

**Source:** Punk Rock Pinball Podcast  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2025-12-16  
**Duration:** 45m 54s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://share.transistor.fm/s/4cab6cea

---

## Analysis

Punk Rock Pinball hosts discuss pinball machine accessories, categorizing them as must-haves, nice-to-haves, or cash grabs. They evaluate items like HD glass, art blades, shooter rods, speaker lights, shaker motors, toppers, premium pinballs, rubbers, happy feet, side armor, plastic protectors, cleaning supplies, color DMDs, speaker upgrades, and playfield mods. The conversation emphasizes practical value, aesthetics, and cost-effectiveness for home collectors.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] HD Glass (Invisiglass) costs a couple hundred dollars per sheet and significantly reduces glare on playfields — _Host states it's 'a couple hundred dollars' and notes it 'cuts down the glare' and makes the playfield 'way better' to see_
- [HIGH] Art blades are a must-have accessory that completes the aesthetic experience of a pinball machine — _Host explicitly calls them 'must-have' and states they complete 'the world under glass' experience; another host agrees with 'two thumbs up'_
- [HIGH] Custom shooter rods cost approximately $250 and can negatively affect skill shot execution — _Host notes shooter rods 'are like $250' and states 'They do look cool. But I hate touching them' and finds them problematic for 'delicate' skill shots like on Jaws_
- [HIGH] Stern LE machines come standard with speaker lights, shooter rods, art blades, and HD glass — _Host states 'if you have a stern le you have the speaker lights you have the shooter rod you have art bleeds you have the invisible glass you have all that shit'_
- [HIGH] Shaker motors cost $100, take two minutes to install, and significantly enhance game enjoyment — _Host: 'It's $100. Takes two minutes to put in there. Makes the game more fun, period. Get the Shaker Motor if it's not in your game already.'_
- [HIGH] Toppers are expensive (comparable in cost to acquiring classic games like Firepower or Gorgar) and not recommended for rotating collections — _Host notes 'some of the toppers cost as much as a firepower or a gorgar or a centaur' and states 'if you ever like kind of rotate through machines, it's like a total waste'_
- [HIGH] Shiny/ultra-shiny pinballs magnetize quickly on machines with magnets (Monsters, X-Men, Ripley's) and standard balls are more practical — _Host states shiny balls 'will magnetize' and they 'got proven wrong on a number of machines' and recommends sticking with standard pinballs_
- [HIGH] Kyle Spateri from Stern Tech School recommends against waxing modern Stern playfields with clear coats — _Host cites: 'Kyle spateri... he said he's a no waxer on these modern sterns' and that 'as long as it's clean that's the whole thing'_
- [HIGH] PIN2 DMD upgrades cost approximately $250-260 while Color DMD upgrades are just under $500 — _Host states 'the PIN2 DMD... half the price of the color DMD' and 'the Color DMD is just under 500'_
- [MEDIUM] The Chum and Brody mod for Jaws (UK-made) costs approximately $250 with international shipping — _Host states 'It was a couple hundred bucks. I think it was like maybe $250 with shipping' and notes it required international shipping from UK maker_

### Notable Quotes

> "It makes a difference where it counts. It makes a difference. You can see the play field better. Way better. And if it's clean, it looks like you can reach right in there and touch stuff. It feels like there's no glass."
> — **Host**, Early in episode
> _Emphasizes the transformative visual impact of HD glass on playfield visibility and immersion_

> "They look cool. But I hate touching them. Using them. Like on games like Jaws and where you have to do like a delicate thing for a skill shot, it screws it all up."
> — **Host**, Shooter rods section
> _Articulates practical usability concern with custom shooter rods that contradicts their aesthetic appeal_

> "Toppers, they do look cool. They're not. I'm not knocking, like, if you've got a whole row of games with toppers, it looks super cool, but I just don't see the value. You could have just more machines rather than spend on the toppers."
> — **Host**, Toppers section
> _Frames the value proposition debate: toppers vs. additional machines for collection depth_

> "So what's the point of protecting it if you're not going to look at it?"
> — **Host**, Side armor section
> _Critiques the logic of side armor protecting artwork while obscuring it from view_

> "And that's kind of cool. That is kind of cool. Yeah, I'm down on side armor in most cases."
> — **Host**, Side armor section
> _Expresses preference for worn artwork as sign of authentic play history over pristine protection_

> "Just keep it clean. I mean, sometimes you just probably just need to take a microfiber and wipe it down. Or just a little dab of rubbing alcohol on it and wipe it."
> — **Host**, Cleaning supplies section
> _Provides practical cleaning advice aligned with Stern Tech School guidance to avoid over-treatment_

> "The Chum and Brody on Jaws is really cool... He's just chumming... Chum and Brody is cooler than the topper."
> — **Host**, Mods section
> _Demonstrates how quality playfield mods can provide more value and in-game engagement than premium toppers_

> "If you see something you gotta jump on it... There's an underground mod scene... I'm not plugged into that scene."
> — **Host**, Mods section
> _Indicates difficulty discovering quality mods and the ephemeral nature of limited-run custom parts_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Invisiglass | product | Brand name for anti-reflective/HD glass upgrade used on pinball playfields; reduces glare and improves visibility; costs couple hundred dollars per sheet |
| Stern Pinball | company | Major manufacturer; LE machines come standard with multiple premium accessories (speaker lights, shooter rods, art blades, HD glass); discussed in context of Spike 2/Spike 3 speaker light installation difficulty |
| Jersey Jack Pinball | company | Referenced as top-tier manufacturer whose premium machines come with extensive factory-installed accessories similar to Stern LE models |
| Kyle Spateri | person | Stern Tech School instructor; cited as authority figure recommending against waxing modern clear-coat playfields |
| Joe Sharp | person | Referenced as collector/operator who uses shop vac attachments for playfield cleaning and has custom mirror blade upgrades |
| Joe and Shelly | person | Collectors known for modified Pulp Fiction and Guardians machines with premium rubber and mirror blade upgrades |
| Duane | person | Owner of Elvira pinball with custom dagger-handle shooter rod |
| Mike from Great American Pinball | person | Provided playfield cleaning advice (Novus 2 and Pledge) to the hosts when they purchased their first Jaws machine |
| Ryan White | person | Friend from Northwest Indiana known as 'plugged into the mod scene' with expertise in custom playfield modifications |
| Tony from Peoria | person | Friend known for significant involvement in pinball modding community |
| Punk Rock Pinball | organization | Podcast and community organization with merchandise (Chicago Bowls and Jaws themed items) and upcoming events; has Discord and Facebook group |
| Punk Rock Pinball HQ | location | Venue where hosts maintain pinball collection and operate Discord for community coordination |
| Pinball Life | company | Online retailer where hosts purchase accessories including shiny pinballs, happy feet, cleaning supplies, and subwoofer upgrades |
| PinSound | product | Aftermarket speaker upgrade system for pinball machines; provides replacement backbox speakers and subwoofer with amplifier |
| PIN Woofer | product | Aftermarket speaker/subwoofer upgrade option for pinball machines; competitor to PinSound |
| PIN2 DMD | product | Color DMD upgrade for backglass displays; costs approximately $250-260; requires software research to ensure good implementations exist for specific games |
| Color DMD | product | Premium color display upgrade for older DMD-era machines; costs just under $500; transforms visual presentation of backglass scoring |
| Chum and Brody Mod | product | UK-made playfield mod for Jaws featuring animated character interaction; costs approximately $250 with international shipping; limited production run |
| Dutch Pinball's Alice in Wonderland | game | Referenced as example of premium side rail art with integrated lighting as factory feature |
| Marshall | person | The podcast hosts' dog who frequently appears during recording sessions in the studio space |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Pinball accessories value assessment, Factory vs. aftermarket premium features on new machines, Playfield mods and customization scene, Aesthetic vs. functional upgrades for home collections, Cost-benefit analysis for pinball enthusiasts
- **Secondary:** Pinball maintenance and cleaning practices, DMD display technology upgrades, Speaker and audio enhancement options

### Sentiment

**Neutral** (0.5) — Hosts maintain balanced perspective, acknowledging aesthetic value while questioning financial ROI. Tone is conversational and humorous rather than critical. Mixed thumbs-up/thumbs-down ratings throughout reflect genuine cost-benefit debates rather than strong advocacy. Light-hearted banter about dog interruptions and hypothetical Weezer pinball maintains casual, non-judgmental atmosphere.

### Signals

- **[community_signal]** Underground/distributed modding scene with limited-production custom parts; discovery challenging and requires community network engagement (confidence: medium) — Hosts note: 'There's an underground mod scene' where you 'really have to search to find the good ones' and reference friends 'plugged into the mod scene'; items sell out and disappear
- **[design_philosophy]** Hosts prefer authentic wear patterns and play-tested patina over pristine protective coverings; view worn artwork as evidence of genuine use (confidence: medium) — Host states about side armor: 'if you're playing it so much that the artwork is coming off because of it, I kind of think that's cool' and compares to beat-up guitars as desirable aesthetic
- **[market_signal]** Factory-standard accessory inclusion varies significantly between manufacturers and price tiers; Stern LE machines include premium accessories as standard while Pro/Premium models do not (confidence: high) — Host states: 'if you have a stern le you have the speaker lights you have the shooter rod you have art bleeds you have the invisible glass' but notes 'Stern premium stern pros don't come with a lot of this stuff'
- **[operational_signal]** Aftermarket speaker upgrades less practical for multi-machine installations due to cumulative audio interference and diminishing returns (confidence: medium) — Host notes: 'if you have a um one or two machines in your collection and you really want to trick them out it would be very cool but... if you're like on location or like at the club there's so much going on you could barely hear the machine'
- **[market_signal]** Hosts identify toppers as prohibitively expensive relative to value, costing equivalent to acquiring classic pinball machines (Firepower, Gorgar, Centaur) (confidence: high) — Direct quote: 'some of the toppers cost as much as a firepower or a gorgar or a centaur. And I'd way rather have a gorgar than a Jaws topper'
- **[product_strategy]** Budget subwoofer upgrades ($30) provide measurable bass improvement with minimal installation effort; surprisingly effective value proposition (confidence: medium) — Host installed budget subwoofer on John Wick: 'It weighs like five times what the stock subwoofer weighs... took like two minutes to put it in' and confirmed immediate audible improvement
- **[product_concern]** Custom shooter rods exhibit quality inconsistency and functional issues; hosts report seam imperfections, durability problems (broken Avatar rod), and usability impact on skill shots (confidence: high) — Host states: 'some of them like on our jaws like i feel like they get dinged up or something well they break we broke the one on avatar' and 'there's always like a uh part that isn't smooth'
- **[technology_signal]** PIN2 DMD adoption dependent on quality of custom software implementations per individual game; hosts recommend research before purchase (confidence: medium) — Host states PIN2 DMD requires verifying 'if there's like a cool version of the software' and that 'there's like code that you have to download for every game'

---

## Transcript

 Hey, how about that? It's a big moment. We're only 26 episodes in and we finally got some music. Got you your intro song. Thanks, honey. You're welcome. Yeah, you just whipped that together real quick last week. Yeah. All ready for episode 26. Thank you very much. Yeah. This is the Punk Rock Pinball Podcast. With a Mike Fellomly original intro song. Yep. Hmm. Yeah. I was going to say something about the song, and then I forgot what I was going to say. Well. So we'll just carry on forward. Okay. This episode, we're going to talk about pinball accessories. Okay. I'll read them. You don't even know what I have written on the list. Like, I think there are some accessories that are must-haves, and some are super cool. Some you need, some you don't need. Some are a cash grab. A cash grab? Or maybe they're not a cash grab, but, like, there's some I just don't see the value. Okay. And we'll see what you think, too. Okay. You know what are cool accessories, though? Hmm. The new Punk Rock Pinball merch. Yes. The new Punk Rock Pinball merch are awesome accessories to your life. Not just pinball. No, they're really cool. We have a picture of it you can probably put here. Yeah, of the bowls. There's a Chicago Bowls themed one. There's a Jaws themed one. Yes. For our Jaws cast. Yes. And also, before we get into the topic, we're not going to do 10 minutes updates. There'll be a special episode for that. Probably came out before this, the bonus episode. It's going to come out before this? It may. Oh, my God. Before it or after it, if you want the latest Punk Rock Pinball updates, check that. But join the Facebook group. Link in the description. Link to the merch in the description. So let's get into... Also, there's also going to be a link to events in the description. Are there? Yeah. Okay. I think I can make that happen. Okay. We got events coming up. We do have events coming up. So everyone should know about them. Yeah, check them out. All right. What do you got on your list? I didn't even look at it. Also, the events are in the Facebook group. You go in the Facebook group, click on the events tab in that group, and they're all in there. Yeah. I don't know if everybody knows how to use the Facebook groups. When you're in the main group page, there's these tabs up at the top. Some people don't know how to do it. Some people don't. Some people don't. Just like Discord. I don't know how to use that. I don't either. We have one. I barely know how to use it, but we use it for the HQ mostly. But we're going to get into pinball accessories. Accessories. Accessories with an X. Also, let it be noted that our dog likes to be around us a lot, But he really wants to be up in our business every time we turn the lights on for this podcast. Yeah, he's laying right down there. I don't know if you can see him. I had to put a dog bed down there, so he wouldn't try to crawl in our laps. And there's like a foot of snow today. And I think he was eating something weird out there. He's got a stinky butt. Yeah, he does. He does. That's Marshall. That's our dog. So I'm going to read you some accessories. you'll tell me like yay or nay is it important okay first one if you have like an le machine or something you might already have this on your game you might not even know but you could call it hd glass anti-reflective glass invisiglass upgraded glass for your glass there over your play field what do you think about that well i love it is it a must have it's a very nice to have it's a very nice to have because i i mean it's not cheap to do no it's a couple hundred dollars a sheet yeah um this one does not this foo fighters does not have the invisiglass but the jaws next to it does and it is just really nice for cutting down the glare um i think foo actually does have it no what did we put i what do we put the one that was on ripley's on is that on jaws i think so yeah we took it out we we had invisiglass on the ripley's like maybe our crappiest machine or second crappiest machine they had the best glass and we when we got the jaws 50th we put it on there that's exactly what we did so thumbs up thumbs down I want to visit glass for you. I mean, it's a thumbs up for sure. I'm also giving it a thumbs up. I think it makes a difference, and it makes a difference where it counts. It makes a difference. You can see the play field better. Way better. And if it's clean, it looks like you can reach right in there and touch stuff. It feels like there's no glass. And it makes me feel like I'm in the world under glass. You are part of the world under glass. HD glass, not a cash grab. It's worth your money. Yeah, definitely. If you're looking for something for your pinball machine or to get someone a gift for their pinball machine, that would be pretty rad. Yep. HD Glass, thumbs up. Invisiglass, that's one of the brand names. Voodoo. Voodoo Glass, there's all kinds of brand names. Next one. Artblades, like the side artblades that go in the cabinet. It is a must-have. I mean, for me, this is more than Invisiglass. It just completes the world under glass for me. It brings the whole experience in. We do not have art blades on our Jaws 50th because nobody at Stern can tell me if there's going to be Jaws 50th accessories, which I feel like George Gomez kind of hinted at at one point. So I told Zach Sharp, I'm giving you my money. Just let me know when I'm spending it. And he didn't know. But I believe that there are Jaws 50th art blades coming out. I will get them as soon as the day they are announced. I'm ordering them. it just feels naked without it yeah they're taking their time on that would have been a nice thing to have up people probably bought that for christmas i agree thumbs up on the art blades not only does it once you have the art blade the side art in a pinball machine once you have a few with that and the ones with just the black sides it looks like it's not done it looks naked looks naked under there and i think in some darker games okay the light of like reflects off that better than it does the black maybe that's just in my mind i feel like it helps you see better in the game it could depending on the art like some of the art well the blades i should say like the mirror blades which i thought i was against until i saw um joe and shelly have it on their pulp fiction and that really brightens it up. It does. It's nice. I was wrong, Joe and Shelly. The mirror blades are cool. Yeah, even though they thought I... We talked about mirror blades before and they thought I mod shamed them because I didn't like them. But then their Guardians ones are real cool too because they're like tricked out mirror blades. Yeah. So Art Blades, thumbs up. Yeah, thumbs up. Two thumbs up. Here's one. the all the good old custom shooter rod i think they're really cool we don't have any we don't we don't have any shooter rods i to me those are like a nice to have it's a nice to have eventually i want one on my jaws okay but um but they're not again that's a mod that's not inexpensive like 250 or something yeah it's kind of expensive it's a lot for like a shooter knob rod they do look cool like joe and jelly have like a ton on theirs and it it does look super cool um definitely an awesome thing but it's low on my list okay so you're saying clearly some sideways kind of thumbs three quarters up. Three quarters. I'm going to say Shooter Rods. It's a cash grab. Really? Here's the deal. Here's my deal. They do look cool. But I hate touching them? Using them. Like on games like Jaws and where you have to do like a delicate thing for a skill shot, it screws it all up. and i don't want to bang on duane's games but because like he's got the custom shooter out in alvira which looks amazing it's like the dagger handle really shooter rods look badass but it's weird plunging on it you just have to do it more okay i like these little i don't i don't like the way these feel oh i like that and i feel like a bunch of them like on our jaws like i feel like they get dinged up or something well they break we broke the one on avatar we did yeah i just don't like some there's always like a uh part that isn't smooth like i'm touching it right now on foo fighters and it irritates me every time i touch it probably where the seam is in the mold or something it's something they just get dinged yeah i don't know i don't like the way they feel but maybe it's not a cash grab they do look awesome so if you're sitting here across the room looking at all these games if they have the shooter rod on each one it looks way cooler yeah it looks super cool so maybe it's just maybe i'm just being a wuss that i don't like plunging with them i feel like it's easier for me to control my skill shots with the old with the old standard i think you're just that's just an excuse we're kind of split on shooter rods this is a pretty long list it's okay it's okay we got to cover all the accessories people need to know what accessories they need they need hd glass they need art blades shooter rods cool if you want it speaker lights oh they're cool the speaker expression like on stern and again like if you have a stern le you have the speaker lights you have the shooter rod you have art bleeds you have the invisible glass you have all that shit yeah it comes with it and i think if you have like the top some of the top level jersey jacks like you have all that stuff it's all pimped out it's already all pimped out so these a lot of stern premium stern pros don't come with a lot of this stuff so this would be for if you've got the premiums or pro games speaker lights you're saying you like them i love them i think you like them too yeah well i haven't answered yeah i'm just well you made it sound like you did it but yes we only well the avatar and i have this on john wick that we originally put those speaker lights on the premium bond that we have, which I should really take those speaker lights off of WIC and put them on JAWS. Yeah So these Spike 2 speaker lights not super easy to install I heard that the Spike 3 ones are much easier to put in Oh really Yeah It a to It took you like I don know 20 minutes 30 minutes Maybe a little bit longer because they screwed it up. Maybe longer? No, I'm thumbs up on speaker lights. I think they're awesome. They're not cheap. How much were they, $300? It was a Christmas gift last year. I think they're cheap, $50 or $300. So must-have, no. Does it make the game cooler? Yes. Next one, Shaker Motor. Yes. I agree. Yes, Shaker Motor. It's $100. Takes two minutes to put in there. Makes the game more fun, period. Get the Shaker Motor if it's not in your game already. It's the easiest thing to put in. Yeah, we should put one in draws. It's $100. Bingo, bango, get the Shaker Motor. Next, Toppers. No. i agree it's a cash grab they're very expensive they're so expensive like you can get like for the cost of like a topper i mean it depends on they look cool they definitely look cool and when you go to someone's house or on location and you see someone who has like you know the jazz on top of their machines it looks really fucking cool yeah it's also very very expensive Like, I'd rather save that money and get another firepower kind of game. Yeah, because some of the toppers cost as much as a firepower or a gorgar or a centaur. And I'd way rather have a gorgar than a Jaws topper. Yeah. Like, just doesn't make any sense. Toppers, they do look cool. They're not. I'm not knocking, like, if you've got a whole row of games with toppers, it looks super cool, but I just don't see the value. You could have just more machines rather than spend on the toppers. I mean, if you have a home collection and you don't have a lot of room and you only have room for a couple games and you really want to mod it out, go for it. Yeah, if you have one game that, like, I could maybe see having a Jaws topper one day just because Jaws is never leaving. It's so awesome. But if you ever like kind of rotate through machines, it's like a total waste and you don't get the value back that you paid for it. Yeah. So toppers, the value is not there on a topper. They're not for me. And I don't care even if it's like the Evil Dead topper, which is super kick-ass. Or the Labyrinth one is very cool. The Labyrinth one is kick-ass. Very cool topper. The Harry Potter one is also very cool. The Harry Potter one is cool. Black Knight Sword of Rage is cool. I'm not buying them. Maybe a Jaws topper one day. I mean, if somebody gave them to me, I'd be like, this is super cool. Thank you. Thank you very much. But no. Now we're going the opposite direction in terms of price point. Premium or upgraded pinballs, the balls. I like the shiny balls. Like, I really like the shiny balls. They look so nice, and, like, I notice when they're shiny balls in a machine. And they're just called shiny balls on Pinball Life or ultra shiny pinballs or something. Oh. On pinballlife.com, it's just like, I think you just search like shiny pinballs. It's like ultra shiny pinball. They look so good. The only issue with those, they will magnetize. Yeah, we really just didn't believe it. And we got proven wrong on a number of machines. and unlike monsters they magnetize real fast and x-men and x-men they did and on ripley's they did but so like i just get the standard pinballs now they're not as shiny they're not as shiny even if you rub them they don't get as shiny the shiny balls look great and if you have games without magnets like i don't think any of these four have magnets so we could get some shiny balls for the house games but it's just annoying if you have a lot of games and half of them have magnets half don't they have like two different supplies of new balls yeah it's but regardless of what you do you should get new pin balls you should check your check your balls check your balls do a ball Keep an eye on your balls because the balls get dinged up, then they're dinging up your play field and stuff. Yeah, grab your balls, feel your balls. Same thing you want to do, like you want to check for testicular cancer as a man. And then on your pinball machine, you want to check those balls because they could be dinged up and dinging up your play field. Have nice, smooth balls in the machine. Here's one. Rubbers. I like rubbers and balls, rubbers and balls. I like when I like to customize with some fun colored rubbers. Uh huh. So I'm in it's inexpensive and you can really kind of put your creative touch onto your machines. I thumbs up on rubbers. I'm thumbs up on all rubbers except for the flipper rubbers. because none of the colored ones are as good as the rubber rubbers. I know. They're bouncier. Some are less bouncy. We found, like, the Super Bands are the closest, but they're still different. They put a lot of spin on the ball. Like, we have those on Monsters, and sometimes there'll be so much spin on the ball, it'll just jump like you'll hit the flipper it'll jump the flipper and go down the drain yeah and like stock black rubber rubbers are not going to do that but i like the colored rubbers everywhere else and those like silicone ones they are way more durable so like on your slings if you've got like stock ones on there those are going to like fray and break so upgraded rubber is everywhere except the flipper okay that's for me okay uh the rubber feet they're called happy feet on pinball life the silicone things that you put under the leg levelers i think those are a must quite honestly because not only not only do they protect your floors if you have a hard surface floor but they also stop you from like when you're nudging or like being a little aggressive with your nudging, it stops the game from sliding all over the place. Yeah. And, I mean, we have them on all of our games here and at the HQ. And when I go to other places and they don't have them, I feel like the Hulk. Yeah, you just whip the game across the floor. Yeah. Yeah. So I think it's a must-have. I agree. And I'm going to say, even if your games are on carpet, especially if you have older games, put the happy feet rubber things on your leg levelers because the older games if those leg levelers are like corroded at all they'll screw up your carpet because we had a couple downstairs without them like firepower and it left like rusty stuff on the carpet whereas if you had those rubber feet on that wouldn't have happened they're i don't they're not very expensive they're called happy feet i always have a hard time finding them on pin side they're called happy feet yeah and you can get all kinds of different colors yeah you can get colors to match your machine we don't have a game here that with this on it right now to reference really but this is a weird one the side armor well that one kind of has shaw's has it where it's like the thing that comes down around like the flipper button our bond premium had it a lot of times they will have like a stencil like a like a cutout I think that Bond once had 007 they're not super cheap $200-$300 I don't know I am I am I don't like them honestly I mean I like it on the Jaws because it's kind of like part of it and it came that way but but then again I do think like there are some games where it comes on it where it looks really cool like on the Dutch pinball um the new alice in wonderland it's like the side rail art is like lit up and it's beautiful and it's just part of that game but as far as like an add-on accessory it's not for me i feel like even if people i think some people do it to protect the artwork but i'm right now in the phase of my pinball life where i kind of like if it's a little yeah rubbed out yeah you know and And then the side armor protects the artwork, but also covers it up. Yeah, it covers it up. So it's not like you can now still see that artwork. It's just covered up. So what's the point of protecting it if you're not going to look at it? Yeah, I want to see the artwork. And also, if you're playing it and you're playing it so much that the artwork is coming off because of it, I kind of think that's cool. That is kind of cool. Yeah, I'm down on side armor in most cases. Like I would never buy it for a game that didn't have it. No, it's kind of like there are those different, like there are musicians out there with guitars that are all beat up because they've like played them for forever and ever and ever. And that's kind of cool. Yeah. Yeah. Thumbs down on that. It's not worth the money. Cause I, they're at least 200 bucks. It might be 300 bucks. I'm not worth it. Not for us. It's a cash grab. we got one two three five more kind of this one hard to explain what it is if you don't know what it is the plastic protectors what it's oh they go under the flat plastic so in your game like over the slings and and over like the in-lane things there's plastics that with graphics on them and then the plastic protectors are larger than than those pieces of plastic slightly larger slightly larger ever so slightly larger and usually thicker and they protect those if the ball jumps and hits them that it doesn't break but there are other advantages to them they look cool yeah what are the other advantages that's the other advantage oh i thought you said plural Yeah, no. I did say with an S. There's another advantage is yes. Okay. Yeah, no, this is also like inexpensive. I think it's under 50 bucks to get a full set of those plastics usually. And they just look cool. Yeah, we have the ones on Munsters which are like neon green. I think that this one has them. And Foo has them. They're like neon yellow. And I feel like if it didn't come with it on WIC, WIC has that kind of look. Yeah, WIC has that look. I think they came on there which is weird because it a pro So WIC kind of looks like it already had them but it worth it There really cool ones for Godzilla Like Godzilla has them in. It has them in. It looks really cool. There's like some kind of neon like orange ones. So, yes, thumbs up on the plastic protectors. And the ball will fly around and break those. Yeah, that's why they give you extras. Yeah. It's going to happen. It's going to happen. this is sort of a necessary this is a necessity cleaning supplies yeah what do you get for that well i mean like we've everybody has this is very very personal very personal people have strong opinions about this on the new i mean on any machine novice too yeah it's kind of your go-to yeah although i think you don't use that on a you wouldn't use novice 2 on a playfield that doesn't have a clear coat oh well all of ours do except for firepower but i think you use no novice i think you noticed i didn't notice it i didn't notice i noticed one day oh well um i think i waxed that one you can wax them i waxed that one carnauba wax yeah yeah um but i mean we when we got our jaws the fellow that we bought our original jaws from said just he just uses pledge he uses novus 2 and pledge and the pledge is triggers some people people get very triggered by the pledge pledged to some people and they're like what but and and that was uh that was mike from great american pinball first pinball machine we bought we said what what would you use to clean the play field he said pledge and he also did say novice too he said novice too when you did pledge it it made it fast yeah if you want your game to be fast as shit like put pledge on there or wax but these modern games the playfields in the with the clear coat really don't i mean the manufacturers all say they don't need to be waxed and some people even say if you wax it it's going to get dirtier quicker because the wax is going to pick up stuff i don't know i don't know the wax is so polarizing because you know who told us don't wax kyle spateri oh really who does the stern tech school videos he said he's a no waxer on these modern sterns because i said what if i novice to the whole thing do i need to wax he says no that's i mean as long as it's clean that's the whole thing and then other people are saying well novice to you're taking stuff off because it's it's you know it's Very fine. It's got grit to it, so you're taking stuff off to protect it again. It's like, I think I'm with Kyle on this. I am with Kyle, too. Just keep it clean. I mean, sometimes you just probably just need to take a microfiber and wipe it down. Or just a little dab of rubbing alcohol on it and wipe it. Naptha. Or the Novus One. It just spritz a little bit of that on the rag. Which is basically like Pledge, I feel like. Novice 1 seems like it's mostly like water. I think it's water with a little bit of alcohol in it. Well, there are also people that have little vacuums that vacuum up most of the stuff, and then you don't have to put any kind of crap on your playfield. Yeah, Joe Sharp does that. Yeah, he's got a baby little shop vac. Yeah. With cool little attachments. I feel like we could use that for Jaws because any game with the upper playfield, upper flipper, is going to drop coil dust. If anybody wants to get me that for Christmas. Okay. Tell me which one. Okay. They drop the coil dust, so like a little vacuum for your jaws. Mm-hmm. That'd be nice. Mm-hmm. Here's a cool option for older machines. You wouldn't need it for any of these, any modern machines. But for your DMD era machines, it would be a color DMD or the pin 2 DMD. Not cheap, but a must. I agree either one I think the PIN2 DMD is really cool looking it's like half the price of the color DMD well the color DMD you can do both things I know it is cool I think the PIN2 DMD what I've heard is you gotta make sure they have a good not every game has like a cool version of the software yeah so you want to do your research and see if there's like a good because there's like code that you have to download or whatever for every game. We have the Color DMD on 3. I think it makes a big, it's a big difference, especially for the person watching you play. Yeah, it's just cool. It's a cooler experience. It is a cooler experience. So thumbs up there. It's either the Color DMD is just under 500. Yeah, it's not cheap. And the PIN 2 is like 250, 260. both are cool uh here's one that a lot of people suggest i will see what your thoughts are the speaker upgrades like upgraded speakers for your whole machine i think there's like pin sound and pin woofer there's a few brands that where you can just if you have a new stern or jersey jack or whatever you can just go on their website and just order a whole new would be two new speakers in your backbox and a subwoofer and the whole and like an amplifier let me think about those i mean we have that in the original x-men the x-men 2012 or whatever it is and it's loud it is loud and it does sound good yep but i don't really need it i don't need it either i know a lot of people swear by it and it's weird because i'm like an audio person a music person but i feel like so many times when we're playing like we're both playing games at the same time like it's not all that often where there's just one game happening at a time where you can even reap the benefits of that yeah maybe it's one of those cases too if you don't have if you have a um one or two machines in your collection and you really want to trick them out it would be very cool but um so i could i understand why people want to do it but if you're like on location or like at the club there's so much going on you could barely hear the machine you're playing anyways yeah maybe that would make it sound better or you would be able to hear it But if you did that on all the machines, you're kind of like, it cancels each other out a little bit. Crazy noise. Not for me. Yeah, I'm kind of mid on that one. I mean, if they made like a Weezer pin, would that change it for you? Maybe. Maybe. I did put one upgrade, I thought, because it was cheap and I just gave it a shot. Oops. On WIC, I ordered on Pinball Life, there's like a subwoofer that's slightly better. Did you put it in there? It's in there. Oh. And you can tell. Clearly. Well, I guess you can't tell. I could tell immediately. And it was only, I didn't remember the price, $30 maybe. And it weighs like five times what the stock subwoofer weighs. Huh. I didn't do any kind of different amplifier or anything. It took two seconds, not two seconds, but like two minutes to put it in. Just take four screws out, take the other one out, put that one in, clip it on, and done. and that was just like whatever. It's not even technically a super high-quality subwoofer. It's just better than what's in there. So I'm like, oh, it's pretty cheap. I'll give it a shot. I think it made a difference. Worth it. There's more bass on WIC because I like the music on WIC. So I'm like, I'll try the subwoofer on that. I want it on JAWS now. Well, don't take it off WIC. You're going to have to just order your own for JAWS. Okay. Trying to take the WIC speaker lights, trying to take the WIC subwoofer. strip it down strip it down a bad day and then the last one is not really this is hard to say because it's it's not a single thing but it's just mods in general like in the play field i love them i love them and so this this could be a whole episode on someone would be mods like what are the coolest mods to get so you're saying yes like look for mods i mean yes however like you there are a lot of a lot of the mods out there are like um what what's that printing this 3d 3d printed yeah i feel like most like even the chumming brodies probably 3d printed some of Some are better than others where they've really been smoothed out and painted and all of that. I would just be careful on some of those mods. Some of them look really cheap. Yeah. I've put some mods in that have fallen apart. You had the Lighthouse mod in the other Jaws and it broke a couple times. They did glue it back together. Yeah. Who makes the Chum and Brody mod? Some guy in the UK. Really? Uh-huh. Did you have to pay international shipping to get that? Yeah. Oh, my God. The Chum and Brody on Jaws is really cool. It was worth it. Yeah. I don't even want to know how much it was. It wasn't a topper. No. You know I wouldn't spend that. That's cooler than a topper, though, because in the game. Yeah, every time you hit that Newton ball, Brody chums. He's just chumming. Yeah, so he's like right there in the game to actually see him while you're playing. He's got a cig in his mouth. Yeah. Like, Chum and Brody is cooler than the topper. Mm-hmm. Even if he costs as... He didn't cost as much as the topper, but even if he did, it's cooler than the topper. It was a couple hundred bucks. I think it was like maybe $250 with shipping. So mods, I will say, you need to explore. Yeah, there's some very cool mods out there. very creative people and you can find them just by doing google searches or you go on pin side and there are a lot of makers who just do a limited run and then when they're gone they're gone like the chumming brody i think is gone like you just kind of so if you see something you gotta jump on it gotta jump on it if you've got if you're watching and you have like favorite mod makers because i'm not really hip to all of them and it seems like it's i'll see cool ones i've seen some really cool monsters ones and then I searched for them I can find them so if you got if you a pinball person and you like modding things you have favorite mod makers put their links in the comments Because I like to look at their websites It's very hard to find the cool ones. I feel like it's this underworld where you really have to search to find the good ones. Yeah, there's an underground scene. There's an underground mod scene? Yeah. A pinball mod scene? I'm not plugged into that scene. No, you're not. No. No, but our friend Ryan White from Northwest Indiana, he's plugged into the mod scene. He's plugged into the mod scene. I feel like our friend Tony from Peoria, he's big into the mods. Mm-hmm. And sometimes I'll just kind of half-ass search around. You really got to dig in if you're going to find the good ones. They're out there. Because if you just search Jaws pinball mods, you don't really just land on the cool stuff right away. No, you got to dig. You got to dig. Because they all have terrible SEO. they have terrible SEO if you make really cool mods and you want people to find them on the internet you might want to email me and hire me to do some SEO so that you'll show up when people search the web forum Mike at livefromtherockroom.com I can help people find your mod on the internet if you have a website just saying or maybe they like to be underground Maybe they like it so it's hard for people to find you and give you money. Well, I wish they were easier to find because that is one of the things that I was kind of disappointed with at Expo. There were a couple mod makers there, like Mezzle Mods. I think you bought a couple things from them. But I thought there was going to be just like a – it was going to be like Disneyland of mods. Yeah, there's tons of them. And I was like ready to throw down. And there was – like we got a couple things for WIC. And, like, the Mezzelmods are pretty good. They're just better out there, I think. They're pretty good. They had some cool stuff. They did have some cool monsters stuff, but the stuff I had seen before was, like, blow your mind good. So I'm like, ah, I might still hunt for the – but that monsters has been out a while. It could have been some kind of limited run of stuff that just doesn't exist anymore. Could be. it was like some little place in pittsburgh they had this for like do they have the eyeballs i don't remember like they go on the popper the pop bumpers they were like i've seen those they had something on the pop bumpers their godzilla was modded to hell too like the godzilla was awesome so yeah i'm kind of looking for those but yeah if you've got favorite mod makers or if you are one like put your link down in the description maybe somebody needs to make a website that like like has all the coolest mods on there because like marco and pinball life don't really have a ton of that stuff i suppose those people don't really make enough supply to where folks like pinball life are going to have inventory and then pinball life would need to have a margin on it and the mod maker is probably not going to sell it at wholesale because they can sell direct to the customer well i think you that's why you go on pin side and you search there yeah i just don't like going on pin side one other thing you didn't put on the accessories that i'm you didn't put the expression lights well yeah i didn't put the expression lights It's because you can't get them for everything. I guess you can get the Penn Stadium. They look cool. The PinStadiums look cool, but, man, it looks like a pain in the ass. Well, I think they look cool. That's the cool thing about Spike 3, I guess, the Stern Spike 3, is that you can do the expression lights on the pros and the premiums on all of them. Oh. And it takes you, like, two minutes to install them. Hmm. Because I would love to have expression lights on WIC and the Zeppelin Pro. Yeah. But it's a job on these Spike 2s to install those. You have to take the play field out. Are you sure about that? I'm pretty sure. Correct me if I'm wrong. MXV watches this. Correct me if I'm wrong, Mike. I want them on this Led Zeppelin because it was our friend. Mike did them. Yeah, Mike said you need to have this on this game. And I think it's the first game he did that, did the expression lights on. So I should put them on the list. That was a failure. If I get the expression lights, Mike, will you help me put them in on this? I saw George Gomez on the – who's show was that? It was on Cary Hardy. I saw George on Cary Hardy, and he showed what you have to take off to put the expression lights on the Spike 3. It's ridiculously easy. It's like insanely easy on the Spike 3 cabinet. to put Expression Lights. So for my future Stern Spike 3 games, I probably will get the Expression Lights for every single one. Good catch on the Expression Lights. Good job. I really would like those on this. I love playing this Led Zeppelin. I'm not a Led Zeppelin fan. Me neither, but I love this game. Nor am I a Foo Fighters fan, but I love these two games. Yep. Which should really be a future topic of a podcast. Like, how much does a theme really matter on a game? Yeah, we've talked about it a little bit, but maybe we could dive into that deeper. Because I don't think it matters all that much at all. It does until it's Rush. And then I dislike that band so much that I can't get over it. But other than that, I don't think it really matters. Yeah, I'd say there's probably, I can think of two existing themes that because of the theme, it ain't happening. One of which is Rush. Okay, what's the other? Primus. Oh, yeah. I don't like that game either. No, it's not fun. It's not for me. No. It's Woe Nelly. It's Woe Nelly, which is also not. It's not for me. No. It's got gimmick flippers. It's got the little baby gimmick flippers. Yeah. Not for me. So can we get a commitment from you, Mike, MXV? If I order some expression lights for Led Zeppelin, will you come and help me put them in? I don't think you like working on games, but I need to help put them in. I don't think it's that big of a deal, MXV. I think it is a big deal on the Spike 2. I don't think it is. Well, let us know. Let us know how big the deal is. What's the deal? Let us know the deal. What's the deal? it cannot be it cannot be any more difficult than putting in those those lights in the those speaker lights i think it is though i don't think it is i'm up for the challenge we don't know what we don't know i can do it okay i've done those speaker lights on two games but yes uh speaker expression lights you're gonna have them if you have dune you got them awesome ones you have jersey jack kind of has their own if you got a harry potter if you have an avatar if you have and elton john they're in there like jersey jack's version light shows if you have uh the walking dead le like you have them if you have the star wars fall the empire le you have them i don't know if king kong le has them yeah i think so does it have them yeah they all do i think some of the le's don't but i could be wrong i think you're wrong jaws le does Dust Jaws LA Heaven? Yeah, they all do. They are cool. And they do help you see. I wish you could get them on Munsters. Munsters is so dark. It's the one game. Because I've seen the install and how you've got to deal with the Penn Stadium ones. Which to me looks like a pain in the ass. But Munsters is so dark it's almost tempting to get those. for that. I don't know. Let's do it. If you have PinStadium Lights, tell me, like, would you do it again? Do you regret it? Do you regret it? Because I think if you've got to, like, lift the play field, you have to take them off. And our games get a lot of play, and a lot of times you have to lift the play field because we're breaking stuff. So I don't know. That's a problem for another day. But that's our take. There's a lot of mods. and I think we covered which ones we think are worth the money or not worth the money. I think most are worth, I think we said most are worth the money, but toppers. Not for me. For the cost of the topper. You could buy all the other mods. You could buy almost every single other thing we listed here, except for like expression lights. True. But at the price of a topper, you could buy the glass, the art blades, the shooter rod, new pinballs, new rubbers, put the rubber feet on, get a shaker motor, get the plastic protectors, get your cleaning supplies. You could get all of that and spend less money than the topper. You choose. You choose. We haven't done a you choose in a while. No, I haven't done a dream theme or a YouTube for a while. I got away from the format. Well, yeah, I would choose everything else. Topper, if someone's going to give me one, that sounds great. But I probably am. And there's a lot of really cool toppers out there. Not for me. Yeah. Cool. Well, that's going to be a wrap on this one. Yeah, we have to get back and check into the live stream, the Fox Cities Twitch stream of all of our buddies playing down at the Winter Bash at Atomic. We watched it last night on Friday night. It's Saturday. We're snowed in here. And we had it on all day just waiting for Tom Graff to show our friends. Yeah, Tom's not putting our friends on. Put some Joe Sharp on the stream, Tom. What the hell, Tom? It's probably on now that right now while we're doing the podcast. Probably. We saw everybody. I feel like I saw everyone in the background at some point. And CJ and Joe are probably right on the stream right now. They probably are. And we missed them. But anyway, so we got to get back to that. And tomorrow's the finals for that. And we are hosting a tournament tomorrow. It's going to be colder than a you-know-what. Mm-hmm. It's going to be freezing cold. I hope people come out. Yeah, I hope they come out. All right, so we'll wrap this up. Thanks for listening. Hope you learned something about what mods or accessories or add-ons to get for your pinball machine. and please like and subscribe and all that crap that content creators say oh okay yeah yeah i guess more content creators we're not though no we're not no so you guys say your toodaloo toodaloo bye toodaloo

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

---

*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: caec812f-fc8e-482b-ae28-e0c6b223f246*