# #38 Nitro Ground Shaker - The Classic Pinball Podcast

**Source:** The Classic Pinball Podcast  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2020-09-29  
**Duration:** 44m 2s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/george272/episodes/38-Nitro-Ground-Shaker---The-Classic-Pinball-Podcast-ek77r3

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## Analysis

George and Dave from The Classic Pinball Podcast discuss the 1980 Bally Nitro Ground Shaker, a car-themed pinball machine designed by George Christian with artwork by Mad Dog Christensen. They explore the game's unusual dual-bonus split playfield mechanics, fiberglass resin playfield technology, detailed artwork easter eggs, and gameplay characteristics. The episode includes gameplay demonstrations, discussion of reproduction MPU boards and parts availability issues, secondhand market observations for vintage Stern solid-state games, and an impromptu birthday party celebration.

### Key Claims

- [MEDIUM] Nitro Ground Shaker was made almost 8,000 units and is highly collectible for car collection enthusiasts — _Dave (co-host), discussing rarity and collectibility of the game_
- [HIGH] The playfield uses fiberglass resin instead of wood, featuring brown paint over the resin base — _Dave describing the construction details of the playfield_
- [MEDIUM] Several late 1970s/early 1980s Bally games experimented with fiberglass resin playfields (Mata Hari, Harlem Globetrotters), but the format was abandoned due to screw-breaking issues — _Dave explaining the history of this manufacturing technique_
- [HIGH] CPR (Custom Pinball Restoration) made reproduction playfied and plastics for Nitro Ground Shaker — _George and Dave discussing parts availability_
- [HIGH] The game's bonus is split between two sides of the playfield (left and right), each with independent bonus progression — _Dave explaining the dual-bonus mechanic during gameplay explanation_
- [HIGH] Replacement MPU reproduction boards for Bally solid-state games are becoming scarce, with prices rising from $50-60 to $75-129+ — _George reporting recent eBay and vendor pricing research on rectifier boards_
- [HIGH] Rotten Dog no longer sells rectifier boards; Ed from Great Plains no longer stocks them — _George's recent vendor research_
- [MEDIUM] George Christian designed Eight Ball Deluxe, Eight Ball Champ, Dolly Parton, Future Spa, Frontier Fireball, Mystic, Speakeasy, and Cosmic Doom — _Dave recalling the designer's game list_
- [MEDIUM] The new reproduction MPU board (referred to as 'new kid on the block') has expandable memory and more features than older versions — _Dave discussing reproduction board technology and comparing old vs. new_
- [HIGH] Stern chime games feature a wooden xylophone chime box unique to Stern, distinct from other manufacturers — _Dave explaining Stern's distinctive chime box construction_

### Notable Quotes

> "It's one of the most beautiful games I think it's a great look and I was after I got done with it I kind of like oh I really want to sell this."
> — **Dave**, early in discussion
> _Expresses the conflicting emotions about the game's aesthetic appeal versus its gameplay depth_

> "The inserts don't sink in. They're completely level. No, this looks like a new old stock place. It's like a new old stock."
> — **Dave**, playfield condition discussion
> _Describes the exceptional preservation and wear resistance of the fiberglass resin playfield_

> "I went out, and I'm not going to name, but the cheapest one, or least expensive one I could find, was $75... most of them that were out there were not available from manufacturers websites they were on eBay starting at 129 dollars."
> — **George**, board supply discussion
> _Highlights the supply chain crisis for replacement MPU boards_

> "You better go out and buy if you think you're going to need one in the future because it might be a while before you get one."
> — **George**, board availability warning
> _Cautionary advice about parts scarcity in the vintage pinball market_

> "It screams, we don't care. You know, it's a seller."
> — **George**, discussing poorly presented secondhand game
> _Commentary on poor presentation affecting resale value of vintage machines_

> "I'm at the point now where if the MPU goes south, buy a new one. I'm not going to spend the money."
> — **Dave**, MPU board discussion
> _Reflects the economics of board replacement versus repair in collector culture_

> "He's into the occult he was into all kinds of weird stuff and it's shown in his artwork because he kind of edgy stuff but but also in a comic book kind of way."
> — **George**, artwork analysis
> _Characterizes Mad Dog Christensen's artistic style and themes_

> "You don't usually do that. And then, you know what topped it off? What topped it off? you put cologne on it. I'm like, what's with the cologne, dude?"
> — **Dave (talking to his wife Maureen)**, birthday party segment
> _Humorous moment revealing the surprise birthday party setup_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| George | person | Co-host of The Classic Pinball Podcast; vintage pinball enthusiast and analyst |
| Dave | person | Co-host of The Classic Pinball Podcast; pinball restoration expert and technician; runs Dr. Dave's Pinball Restorations |
| PJ | person | Long-time friend of Dave; guest on the podcast; appears near episode conclusion |
| Maureen | person | Dave's wife; organizes surprise birthday party |
| Mad Dog Christensen | person | Artist and designer; created artwork for Nitro Ground Shaker and other Bally games; known for distinctive style featuring red-haired women, occult themes, and detailed easter eggs |
| George Christian | person | Designer of Nitro Ground Shaker and multiple other pinball games including Eight Ball Deluxe, Dolly Parton, Cosmic Doom |
| Scott | person | Software programmer in Pennsylvania; created software modifications for pinball machines; mentioned in context of MPU board modifications |
| Nitro Ground Shaker | game | 1980 Bally pinball machine with drag-racing theme; features fiberglass resin playfield, dual-bonus mechanics, and detailed Mad Dog Christensen artwork; primary subject of episode |
| The Classic Pinball Podcast | organization | Podcast series hosted by George and Dave discussing vintage pinball machines; has gained significant listener engagement with recent episodes |
| Stern Magic | game | Vintage Stern solid-state game; observed for sale in Connecticut market for ~$1,200 |
| Stern Stingray | game | Vintage Stern chime game; observed multiple listings for $800-900; historically priced $100-400 in earlier years |
| Stern Trident | game | Stern solid-state game with Scott's software; poor condition unit observed in New Hampshire market for $800; described as needing MPU replacement |
| Bally Mata Hari | game | Late 1970s Bally game with Mad Dog Christensen artwork; experimented with fiberglass resin playfield technology |
| Bally Eight Ball Deluxe | game | Designed by George Christian; mentioned as one of his notable works |
| Bally Captain Fantastic | game | Bally game with Mad Dog Christensen artwork; features similar crowd artwork and detailed easter eggs as Nitro Ground Shaker |
| Bally Harlem Globetrotters | game | Late 1970s/early 1980s Bally game; experimented with fiberglass resin playfield |
| Bally Cosmic Doom | game | Game designed by George Christian with Mad Dog Christensen artwork |
| Playboy Pinball | game | Referenced in comparison to Nitro Ground Shaker's left-hand saucer mechanics ('grotto') |
| Custom Pinball Restoration (CPR) | company | Manufacturer of reproduction playfields and plastics for classic pinball machines including Nitro Ground Shaker |
| Rotten Dog | company | Former vendor of rectifier boards for Bally solid-state machines; business was sold; no longer stocks these boards |
| Great Plains | company | Vendor previously associated with Ed; no longer sells rectifier boards for Bally machines |
| Dr. Dave's Pinball Restorations | company | Dave's pinball restoration and service business; maintains YouTube channel and website pinballdoctor.com |
| Tommy Skinner | person | Broadcaster; sold a Stern Stingray for $850; appeared on podcast discussing Lady Death game |
| Steve Young | person | Manufacturer of replacement bumper caps for pinball machines |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Nitro Ground Shaker game design and mechanics, Mad Dog Christensen artwork and artistic style, Fiberglass resin playfield technology in vintage Bally games, Reproduction MPU boards and parts supply chain crisis
- **Secondary:** Vintage Stern solid-state game market observations, Pinball restoration and technician practices, Collector culture and game presentation/condition
- **Mentioned:** Podcast audience engagement and growth

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.72) — Hosts express genuine appreciation for Nitro Ground Shaker's artistic design and historical significance, though acknowledge its gameplay depth and balance are not exceptional. Discussion of parts supply crisis and market challenges tempers optimism. Social gathering and birthday celebration adds warm, celebratory tone to latter sections.

### Signals

- **[restoration_signal]** Discussion of fiberglass resin playfield experiments in late 1970s/early 1980s Bally games (Mata Hari, Harlem Globetrotters, Nitro Ground Shaker) and their abandonment due to screw-breaking technical issues during servicing (confidence: high) — Dave's detailed explanation of the material properties, wear characteristics, and technical challenges that led manufacturers to discontinue the technology
- **[supply_chain_signal]** Critical shortage of replacement MPU rectifier boards for Bally solid-state machines; prices rising from historical $50-60 to current $75-129+; major vendors (Rotten Dog, Great Plains/Ed) no longer stocking items (confidence: high) — George's recent research on vendor availability and eBay pricing; direct quotes about supply chain being 'broken' and advice to stock up now
- **[design_innovation]** Nitro Ground Shaker's unique split-playfield bonus system dividing scoring between left and right sides, each with independent advancement, themed around competing drag-racing vehicles (confidence: high) — Extended gameplay explanation discussing the dual bonus lanes and how they progress independently based on game events
- **[collector_signal]** Nitro Ground Shaker highly collectible within niche of car enthusiasts and man-cave collectors due to perfect thematic fit; nearly 8,000 units produced but rarely seen on market (confidence: high) — Dave's statement that game fits perfectly in car-themed collections; rarity observations
- **[market_signal]** Multiple Stern solid-state games (Magic, Stingray, Trident) listed in Northeast US region showing slow sales despite aggressive pricing; games remaining unsold for extended periods (5+ days) (confidence: medium) — George's detailed market observations of Connecticut and New Hampshire listings; comparison to historical pricing showing significant depreciation
- **[product_concern]** Reproduction MPU board compatibility issues detected; older reproduction board experienced sound initialization failure on Nitro Ground Shaker; newer reproduction board (newer kid on block) functioned properly (confidence: high) — Dave's direct experience swapping between two reproduction board manufacturers and observing the game response differences
- **[manufacturing_signal]** Anticipation that MPU board manufacturing may shift from overseas (Chinese) sources to domestic (American) production, with corresponding price increases (confidence: medium) — George's speculation based on recent industry conversations about supply chain reshoring and pricing impacts
- **[content_signal]** The Classic Pinball Podcast experiencing significant audience growth; best week ever with last three releases; hosts implementing cross-promotion strategy linking podcasts to YouTube video descriptions (confidence: high) — George's announcement of podcast growth metrics; PJ's description of linking strategy increasing listener discovery
- **[historical_signal]** George Christian identified as designer of multiple significant Bally games spanning early 1970s to early 1980s (Eight Ball Deluxe, Dolly Parton, Future Spa, Cosmic Doom); artist Mad Dog Christensen's distinctive visual signature evolved across multiple games (confidence: medium) — Dave's recall of George Christian's game design portfolio; discussion of recurring Christensen artwork themes and easter eggs
- **[restoration_signal]** CPR (Custom Pinball Restoration) actively producing reproduction playfeilds and plastics for classic machines; back glass for Nitro Ground Shaker available in NOS condition, suggesting aftermarket availability (confidence: high) — Direct acknowledgment of CPR's production capabilities; observation of back glass quality
- **[technology_signal]** Newer generation reproduction MPU boards feature expandable architecture with optional memory expansion chips, compared to older fixed-feature boards; multiple manufacturers now competing in this space (confidence: high) — Dave's technical description of new board capabilities and expandability features; reference to Scott's modifications and new competitor offerings
- **[community_signal]** The Classic Pinball Podcast maintaining individual episode threads on Pinside despite community requests for consolidation; hosts resisting standardization to preserve granular game-by-game documentation (confidence: high) — Discussion of thread management philosophy and George's explicit resistance to single-thread consolidation

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## Transcript

 We'll be right back. Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the Classic Pinball Podcast. My name is George and today I'm joined by my co-host Dave. Hello Dave. Good afternoon George. Today we're going to continue with yet another car themed pinball machine, Bolle's Nitro Ground Shaker. Dave do you know anything about this pinball machine that you've been working on any of the background I know it's a Dave Christensen game Mad Dog Christensen artwork as usual pretty stunning stuff he loves his reds, he loves his redheads even more just like in Mata Hari he likes he likes a woman let's say endowed grapefruit size that's his thing and uh he has a lot of he puts a lot of easter eggs in his artwork but uh he does really uh stunning work on his games love the artwork how about uh the person who designed the game person uh that's george christian i believe and uh i don't know anything about him do you yeah he did some games like well he's done um what else he did eight ball deluxe eight ball champ dolly parton uh he did future spa frontier fireball classic wow mystic okay speakeasy and bolt on escape escapes the cosmic doom he did that one too interesting which is also Dave Christensen artwork on that one too you bring up the artwork again i don't know if you're too young or if it's just my memory but the artwork for this game reminds me of hot wheels back in the early 70s there was a kid i guess called snake and mongoose okay it sounds familiar well the whole idea behind that set was drag racing and i believe it was funny cars so i don't know how old dave is Dave Christensen but my guess is that he might have seen that at some point in time because it i don't know why it reminds me of that but it does i'm pretty sure that's his self-portrait in the search and destroy racing car in the back glass it says mad dog christiansen right there and he's smiling at the camera so i'm pretty sure however old he is there he looks like he's maybe he's in his 30s there so he could then he could he might be a little old then for hot wheels but it was part of the vernacular back then the one thing i don't get with this backless is the person well the thing driving the other car is a skeleton which is kind of weird well no actually he's the skeleton is coming out of the engine so the engine's it's kind of a hell car it says it says kill on it dr doom uh dr doom hell it says christiansen was very uh kind of like a lot of dark side stuff kind of an occult guy he's into the occult he was into all kinds of weird stuff and it's shown his artwork because he kind of edgy stuff but but also in a comic book kind of way now the the the woman on the back glass didn't she appear on another christiansen game i think uh maybe on bolt on and maybe on twin win no oh yeah yeah twin win didn't she kind of look like that yeah i think so and do you know the other signature piece to all his women and artwork you know the commonality of them all i heard this on another podcast forgive me i don't remember who it is yeah tell me the belt buckle oh yeah foxy lady That's like a signature thing on his back glasses. I think he's a really groovy guy. He liked groovy chicks, man. Well, that's very, very, if you look at it, that's very 70s. Oh, yeah. Very 70s. In fact, I think this play field, if you look at it and how it plays and how it does its thing, it just seems like it's an old EM layout. They said, well, I know we've had it kicking around. It's 1980. Let's throw it out there. This thing definitely is reminiscent of early 70s layout. I have not played this game in probably close to 20 years. They made almost 8,000 of these, and you don't see them often. I think they're highly collectible for people who own a car collection or have some sort of man cave attached to their car collection because it's a perfect theme. I don't think I would be the owner of this if it was just one game, but in a series of games it definitely fits it's a it's one of the most beautiful games i think it's a great look and i and i was after i got done with it i was kind of like oh i really want to sell this and i've already already contracted to sell it to the guy so he's gonna get it but at the same time you know it just it looks so nice and at one point i had another one of these early several years ago and i had all a lot of christiansen games all in the same lineup in my game room upstairs, I had Mata Hari next to Captain Fantastic, next to Wizard, next to Nitro Groundshaker, and I think there was one more. I said Wizard, Captain, Mata Hari, Nitro, and I thought there was one more of his games up there. I'll think of it. But it looked, and I turned the lights off, had all the games on, it looked glorious. It's this awesome reds coming out of the whole back glasses that really look nice, like a museum. Well, this is the first time I'm laying eyes on this game, and Dave, you've done as always an outstanding job. The colors just pop on this game. I did, again, broke the rules and went out on the interweb and saw our neighbor playing this game. Yes. This is a very strange game to me. Yes, it follows a lot of what I would call Bally formula or Bally. um but what i don't get is the two different bonuses and correct me if i'm wrong it divides the play field in half so half of your bonus is scored on one side of the game and the other bonus is scored on the other side of the game is that right um i think that's right i mean that's what our neighbor said you know we can go by that but i know you can you can uh go up the left lane there whatever's lit and you can collect left right bonus you can advance left right bonus whatever is lit on there um and as for the two different bonuses the two different lanes because you're having you're in a drag race you're red versus blue oh no i i understand the concept behind it because you've got the lights you know for the tower i guess for each automobile and there's two automobiles competing or two cars competing against each other so i get the theme it's just very dip i don't is there another bali game that's like this no he's the only one i know of it's like right and you can only get what two times bonus on this game that's it two times right so it's it's like an em it's like it's a throw it's like a twin win i mean it's very similar to the twin win thing right it's a it's very similar looking game no it it does have elements of an em i i don't disagree it's like i said i think it's a beautiful looking game i always wanted one but then after having played it and talked to you about it a long time ago you kept looking at me like i had three eyes and said you know it's not one of your better bali games it's fine it's a good game but there are better games out there as far as artwork that's probably the reason i wanted to own yes stunning i mean in any collection this game just stands out even with today's machines it's just it's bold it's bright i just even just have the Backglass to frame it lit up is great. So have you played this enough to give me a tutorial of how to play it? No, I have not really. Not the be-all and end-all. I know enough to play it to get a decent score on it. But it's pretty simple. I mean, you're trying to get A, B, C, D, E, F. And you're trying to get the light double bonus, the green light there, the top saucer, and get double bonus. I'm trying to light the spinner. How do you get the bonus again? It varies when it goes back and forth. A 10-point rebound makes that change. I think it also changes with the pop bumpers, too. It makes the value of that ball. So there's three different arrows or five different arrows? Well, there's four different arrows going at that saucer. Okay. There are four different values, let's say. Okay. Extra ball is not too hard to get because you just have to get the first bank down as 5,000, and the second bank down as extra ball and special. It's got all the elements of a volley. I mean, it's got a drop target with four. It's got a spinner, which, you know, who doesn't like a spinner? It's got kind of a weird saucer on the left-hand side with a lane, and there's no gate up top, so it can come through, I guess, kind of like the grotto on Playboy? Or is there a gate there? No, there's no gate there, is there? Where are we talking? The upper left. Upper left. No. Well, there's a... Yeah, that's it. It stops right there. Right. You know what I mean? Right, but you can come in... What I'm trying to get at is you can hit the saucer from the lane or from the top. That's true. There's no gate. There's no gate there. That's true. Yep. Okay. This game is also... It in superior shape because it has that fiberglass resin play field Oh this is Well we talked about this in I don remember which episode I think we talked about it several times actually So this is one of those. One of those, yeah. So if you take this and look at it, it's kind of green or brownish? Yeah, it's kind of, if you look at it from the underside, it's kind of greenish. But instead of the wood color, they painted it like a brown wood color. So wherever there was wood on this game, it's brown. So, and it looks, you know, it looks decent. It has awesome wear properties. The inserts don't sink in. They're completely level. No, this looks like a new old stock place. It's like a new old stock. And I think they didn't experiment. Several ballet games, I think Mata Hari had this, Harlem Globetrotters, all those late 70s, very early 80s ballets. They had maybe 100 of each or something like that have these on them. And I guess they were really great wear properties. One of the things that the technicians didn't like about it was you'd break a lot of screws in this thing. I guess if we'd grab the screw so hard you're trying to screw it in, it would break the screw on you, versus wood would be more forgiving. And that was one of the things that they didn't like about it. So it was an experiment that they decided not to go with. And I heard from somebody else that this is the same resin they use for making circuit boards, but a thicker resin. I had never heard that. Yeah. So if one were to go out into the market and try to buy components of this game, i.e. back glass, play field, and play field plastics, have those been made or is this something that's not made? Yeah, no, CPR did play field and plastics and I think back glass, I'm not sure on back glass exactly, but I know play field and plastics they did. Right, this back glass is just about perfect. And it's perfect. It's like, it's NOS shape. It's gorgeous. It's some wonderful little Easter eggs in this game. Again, he... Because you have people in the crowd and other places where you really have to look close at the back glass. Yeah, instead of Mad Dog, I don't know if his nickname might have been Horned Dog, Christensen, but, you know, I'd say... Because he... I thought I was one of the only people that used that phrase. he was definitely hopped up on on something uh you know so if you look up in the uh the ball and play area you get the little um the booth up there where they announced the the race and so forth there's a lot of people up in there and if you look out at the left the left side of that is two legs naked legs girls legs sticking out there no shoes on or nothing and uh you look inside there's a guy that's about to give give her a kiss i think or so she's like laid out flat with their legs out the side there. And then down below is another woman down below in the, what's this called here? What do you call that with a bunch of crowd back there? The, what would you call it? The stands. Well, right, the grandstands. The base of the grandstands down by the blacktop where you would have the name of the racetrack or advertising. Right. Right, that wall. That wall. And so, again, another redhead, and you've got a guy next to the redhead giving her a hug, but his head is all the way back and just looks like he's way too happy for what's going on. Unless he really likes racing that much, I'm not sure. Dave will, I'll take a picture and I'll post it on Pinside. Dave will probably post one on his website. We'll get to that in a little bit. So without further ado, as we say, why don't we spark this thing up and play a game and try to learn together? All right. That sounds good. We haven't had any feedback on us playing a game, even though we do theater of the mind. We'll try to, with our unfamiliarity, we'll try to do decent play-by-play. How's that? We can all learn together. How's that? Yeah. Well, let's try. And one more thing about the grandstand, the people in the crowd there, it's almost the same kind of crowd as he used in Captain Fantastic. You've got Brutus there. You've got a guy with a Viking helmet on. So it's that same crowd that he kind of has that crowd thing in there with a lot of weirdness going on and a lot of detail, and you get some yucks out of looking up close at that stuff. It's fun to look at. Okay, let's get underway. All right. It's right there. You hear the... Oh, okay. That's pretty cool. Okay, so it sounds kind of like... Going through the gears. Kind of like an engine revving. He's going through... Going through the gears there. Okay, Dave is down at the bottom left flipper, and he's trying to gain control, and he's up top, and he's not into the saucer. So far, hasn't done much, and it comes down on the right flipper, up top again. All I need is the A and B right now. All the other letters are down. Okay, where is A and B? Up top. Okay. Two top lanes. Okay. Okay, Dave sort of hit the spinner. This game is not being very nice today. Okay, let's see how poorly I can do. Let's see how Georgie does here. Okay, never, well, it's been a long, long time. Okay. You got the B lane. Now he's got the D, got the C. He's on his way here getting the letters. And he's about to... Ooh, we got a nice spinner shot. Very nice, George. And two drop targets down. Very nice. And again, letter... no. Maybe the E. No, not the E. He's waiting to bounce around the flippers here. Okay, he got this... Ooh, nice, George. A little save there. Save there. The pressure's on. Oh, he got all the drop targets down. Very good. I want to get in that. He got the saucer. Oh, he lit the spinner. He lit the spinner. Oh, good. Look at that. I think all you need is just the A and the F. I need some help here. I need that spinner shot. There's a nice 1,000 points there. Right down the middle. Well, not bad. You're in trouble with my score right now. Yeah, big deal. This is hard. Yeah, it's deceptively hard. I can see why people might not like this game. Just got to play better, George. That's all. Like that. Not like that. Don't lose the ball. Don't diss me. You're still behind. I'll take one ball. You're not really showing your best side here, my friend. Just one ball. That's all I need. Oh, man. Come on. Get in that. I have the back legs jacked up a good amount. I'll take three quarters of the way up, too, on this thing to some action. We're going to talk about that later in the podcast about another game. All right. Extra ball is lit on those drops. Oh, nice save there, George. Come on. Oh, and out it goes. So much rubber. Jeez. Yeah, a lot of rubber. It's a rubber match. I got 4,000 points. That's it? Oh, my Dave. I know. A little tough, huh? Look at the Bs. This is bad. Oh, ABC. Okay, now it gets you a holdover. You get super bonus for that. So $20,000, $30,000 special. So is that $20,000 for both sides or one side? That's for one side. It's all by itself. Okay, you got it up in the left saucer. Finally we saw that. Wow. Let's see if you can put on a performance, because so far both of us have been horrible. That's good. Maybe I shouldn't make so much fun of our friend, our neighbor. He makes us look like pikers, no pun intended. Jeez. Okay, you're starting to come alive here. There he is. I only took one ball. There's the spinner shot. There you go. There you go. Boy, that saucer is elusive. It is. I get that saucer down the left-hand side, though. Yeah, now you're... Man, that's... You don't want to miss that spinner, man. There's a lot of rubber over it. There's a lot of rubber over on that side. Oh, I like that. Okay, so you had the special lift, and then you drained again. Okay, so I have to be... Oh, that was better. Oh, I broke 100. Okay, you're 109. That's not great. George got 41 right now. I shouldn't say anything. 41 into going to ball three. Okay. Trying to go for my 109 right now. I'd really like to get it in that saucer once or twice. There we go. Oh, what'd that get me? Double bonus? Double bonus, yes. That's going to help you. Now, you know, if I can keep the ball alive... Especially if you get those drop towers. Oh, that's good, too. The spinner action's good. Oh, that's very good. What are you... you're going to take me down. Oh, that's definitely going to take me down. Yeah, I did use the spinner, of course, as usual. Yeah. Always. Oh, now you're scoring the bonus points. Oh, why did that do that? Because you had the light lit over there for collect... right bonus. this. And let's see. I think all you need is just the F. Yeah, just the F on the right side, an extra ball. The extra ball lit in the drop targets. The right in lane is nice. Very nice, George. Right in lane is lit for F. Oh, F. Good. You just got the 20,000 super bonus. Very good, George. That's not bad. You might get the highest score maybe on this. Michael, pop, pop, pop. Let's see. Wow. Okay. 1, 2, 3, 4, Oh, I know what happened. We got six high, six pops because we both beat the high score today. Well, because you haven't played it really. Because what happened is I put in, I have two different reproduction MPU boards that do, you know, the multi boards there. There's two manufacturers that are well known. One's been around for a long time. One is a new kid in the block. I put the one that's a long time in here and had problems. when you're turning it on the game comes on and you hear the sound like a racing sound when you turn it on it must be silent I put the new kid in the block in there no problem so I don't know play well with this game that would upset me if I had one of those and it didn't work you'd be chasing your tail where's the problem I own most of the old style MPU boards I don't own one of the newer ones it's on the list when I need one I mean, I'm at the point now where if the MPU goes south, buy a new one. I'm not going to spend the money. So you have the old kid in the block. Do you have a bunch of those, you said, or do you have the original stuff? Oh, I probably have different versions of it, too. Okay. I've been buying them ever since I started collecting, almost 20 years ago. So yeah I have different versions The newer ones are better The old ones don have what games did they put on there A couple of Modify games Right. What's his name? Yeah, in Pennsylvania. Yeah. Scott. Yep, Scott. But the new Kingdom Block has even more of that stuff. He's got even more stuff than... There's a lot of mods out there. And it can also, the new one, the new Kingdom Block, you can put a different chip in there for even more to add on more memory. It's more expandable, way more expandable. Let's continue the board talk. You and I talked about this a couple days ago. I went out online to see if anyone had rectifier boards for these Bali SSs. And much to my surprise, the new kid on the block did not have anything but the blanks. The board itself, no components, none built. I proceeded to go out there, and Ed from Great Plains no longer sells one. So I started digging even deeper. Rotten Dog does not sell one anymore. So there's three vendors right off the top. And I said to myself, you should be able to pick these things up for $50, $55, $60 all day long. So I went out, and I'm not going to name, but the cheapest one, or least expensive one I could find, was $75. most of them that were out there were not available from manufacturers websites they were on sd and you know uh help me pinterest no uh ebay okay starting at 129 dollars and my guess is because i'm hearing it more often than not is the supply chain is probably broken and people are not getting their manufactured boards so if you're looking for a board folks we're not going to start the gold rush here but you better go out and buy if you think you're going to need one in the future because it might be a while before you get one i know i've been stocking up last couple months you talked about that one that you bought the last one yep what was that for the last oh the uh the one that's no longer available yeah that was that's a multi-board for um the classic william stuff old school 70s williams stuff and people are kicking around that rotten dogs business was sold and there's some other a couple other companies that are starting to make boards so people are out there actively pursuing the opportunities that are there but one's got to sit and wonder are they able to get it manufactured if it's outside the states uh that probably you know what i heard prices are going to go up for stuff because it's probably not going to be might to be Chinese stuff anymore. It might be Reign of America, which is a good thing. But you're going to pay some more for the stuff now. We're already seeing it with boards. At least that's what I'm seeing. Dave, you down here? Yes. Hello? PJ. My long time friend PJ. Look who's here. Guess what? It's birthday weekend. I'm glad you can make it over. Welcome to the podcast. Thank you. It's been a while. Yeah. Actually, your podcast has done very well. All our podcasts. I'll put a plug in. Thank you all for hitting all the older episodes. Every week, people are listening to our older stuff. And as I said in our last podcast, we had the best week we ever had with the last three releases. So thank you, everybody. Yeah, thanks, guys and gals. I've actually been putting some seasoning in the pot kind of thing by I'm taking any podcast that's relevant to a YouTube video I did on a certain game. I'm putting that podcast in as a link into the description of the YouTube vid. And then some people are seeing that and they're going to see that as well. Why don't you give all your website information so people can hit pictures, the games we talk about, you in general? Sure. Okay. Well, I have a YouTube channel called Dr. Dave's Pinball Restorations on YouTube. Tons of stuff there of all the restorations I've done, or a great many of them. Also, pinballdoctor.com, and that's where you can see my website and a lot of links and pictures and stuff I do there, service calls, restorations. What else? Then also our Classic Pinball Podcast. You can just type in The Classic Pinball Podcast. That'll come up. Then if you go to Chronicle, you can find my Chronicle stuff. I was on Chronicle. NBC Boston had some of my stuff on there. I did a special on there. And I think New Robert Englunds Heritage Journal did a magazine article that she said that it was going to be a little blurb. It turned into me being on the front page, and pretty much the whole magazine is mostly my business and I, and the whole thing, so I was very pleased with that. So make sure you hit that if you want to see some pictures and other stuff about Dave. You can always go out onto Pinside, where there's usually a thread for every game we do. Much to their chagrin, they want us to just have one thread. And I've said basically, no, I'm not going to do that. So every single one of our podcasts is by itself. George, you're not a rule follower. I'm totally by the rules myself. Yeah, who's calling the kettle black? Yeah. Okay. Okay, let's just leave it right there. Dave, as you know, I'm usually out trolling the interweb, looking to see what games are for sale. And recently, there have been several Stern SS games for sale. Wow, tell me, tell me. I was surprised. one two actually from the same person down in connecticut a stern magic pretty game not taking of a player i think they wanted twelve hundred dollars for that game it's a price issue more like eight but okay maybe they also had a stern stingray that was a little icky um what do you want for that one i don't know if it was 800 or 900 but it needed work it needed a lot of work back several years ago those were going for 100 to 300 bucks for a stingray i remember seeing one at allentown for 400 not working it was okay it wasn't great back classes are usually trash but here's here's the coupe de gras as they say on facebook new hampshire there was a trident i was interested i'm like oh that's a cool looking game it might not be the best of games it's a good game with with scott's uh software software good game their presentation was poor at best the game was folded up with the head with strapping around it The legs were lying on top. The MPU board was lying there filthy. Wow. And what am I missing? Oh, the coin door, which was probably the only thing you could see other than the sides that looked like they were beat with chains. It screams, we don't care. You know, it's a seller. The classic line, I should bring it up. The classic line was, I think it needs an MPU. You think? Well, hello. So, $800. It's only been out there for a week. I'm wondering when he's going to get the religion and understand that that game, at best, you want to go first? I know what I would pay for it. And it sits right there full gas over it? As it looks right now. A hundred bucks? No, it's probably more in the $300 to $400 range, but you're not... It'll sit there. Just like the stern hot hand in Syracuse, New York, that's been there for weeks on end. I have one. No, I know, and I... You have two. I would like one of yours. Stingrays, we have two. You have two stingrays. Yes. Right. One hot hand. Well, I keep looking and searching, but there's all... These were nice and close. I always complain, oh, there's no close machines. these were all close but no cigar not on any of them so we'll see if anybody bites but so far all three of those games are still there five days after listing yeah they might still be there too i don't know i mean well christmas is coming and maybe people want a project for the winter but i don't know we'll see well tommy skinner got uh he did our broadcast on what was the name of that game oh lady death oh lady death yeah he got 850 for his uh stingray and that looked pretty good and you know tom he's i don't think he ever got to the game it looked really nice but he wasn't saying it was working so i'm guessing there was something not correct with it but it was sold so there is a market for it we'll see if those three sell it is a chime game it's a stern chime games do sound nice they have a special chime box that the other ones didn't do the other manufacturers is that it's actually a wooden chime box with some really nice xylophone chimes on top of it. So it has a different melodic sound to it, a different timbre. I see people hunting for the sound boxes or the chime boxes out there. For those or all of them, all different types? A lot of Bali ones. I see ads out there. They must be hard to come by. I have a couple of them. I'm glad I got a couple, too. Years ago at an Island Town show, I was like, I'll take a couple of those. I, yeah, it came with one of the games that I disassembled. So I put it in a box, and now I know they're worth money. And here is the hostess with the mostest. Hi, honey. Hi, honey. This is my better half, Maureen. So you're going to tell him that we kind of assembled here to pay homage to him? Yes. It's a surprise birthday party that you kind of caught on to, but not really. I had some inkling. When George was coming over, it's of her podcast. I said, oh, okay. And Saturday is nice. What do you mean, after I just saw you? Yeah, exactly. When was that, three days ago? Three days ago. It's like, okay, I'd like to see George and Janice again soon, but okay, that's fine. I just had a feeling you were going to do something, but I wasn't going to let on. Then I started being extra helpful today helping you clean up the area Yeah your birthday was Thursday and then Friday was kind of i let that go by and then i been preparing like did you see all the stuff i was doing is that why i started seeing a couple things i didn't want to see too much because i'm just going to turn a blind eye oh god i'm like hiding sausages in the oven well i didn't see all that i just i i knew no i i saw some fruit and that kind of thing at least you were just Tying sausages in the oven. Yeah, exactly. That sounds like a Mad Dog Christians in artwork. You're funny. Sorry. That's okay. I couldn't resist. I couldn't resist. I knew the gig was up when you started blowing the deck off with the leaf blower and uncovering chairs and the grill. And I'm like, you don't usually do that. And then, you know what topped it off? What topped it off? you put cologne on it. I'm like, what's with the cologne, dude? It's like, what's going on? You like jewelry not that much, you're trying to say, right? Yeah, I mean, come on. So it's an impromptu pinball party, but you know what? I still have lots of surprises up my sleeve. You do? She has more? Oh, there is more. There is more. There is more. Are you kidding me? All right. There is more. Yowza. So I think with that said, we can conclude. I will put together our podcast, and we'll get that out in the next couple days. All right. Dave and PJ are playing a game, and, again, we're not seeing great progress in this machine. And we're both fairly good players, too, so it just goes to show you this game is, the way I have it set up is pretty tough anyway, but it's playing like a new game, very responsive. Yeah, that game, wow. That was Drano down the middle-o. I didn't get to touch that. Can you buy the bumper caps for this game? Yeah, those are brand new. Those are Steve Young. Okay. Dave, I want to talk about something you and I discussed when you were over the other day. Sure, what do you got? Well, the release of Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland. Everybody who has a podcast weighed in, including Canada, or as some people call them, Canada. Canada. I matched. Sweet. Go ahead. Oh, that's the only way we're getting a free game. Exactly. That's the only way to get it. So, everybody's all on Twitter about Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland. And I said to you, do you remember our podcast from last November when I discussed it and your response was, right, exactly, the blank stare you're giving me right now. Something's never changed. Right. So I reminded you that I was one of only two people at the time doing a podcast that reviewed that game. And if you recall, there is a ramp very steep on the right-hand side. Oh, I remember this now. You can't get to it. I couldn't get it all the way up the ramp with the left flipper. I played five different games. I watched other people play it to little or no success. I cornered Steven Bowden. Everybody knows who he is, one of the better players in the world. He's also a developer. I think he's a coder for Deep Root, the manufacturer of the game. And I said, Steve, why can't you use the flippers so we can make that ramp? and the response was well we don't want to make it too strong so that we break things in the machine and my response then and it's still today who the hell cares you're the manufacturer you got more parts you take the old part out you put the new part in so advanced this week they did not announce the game yet again so i'm going to stay here i gave them the benefit of the doubt yeah almost a year ago yeah i'm out this game will only sell to those who collect rare games i'm wondering if they're even going to make many of these games so i'm on the skeptic side right now so it's gonna be like a big lebowski situation i think it very well could be that game the solution this is from another podcast i have not looked at the pictures but it comes from a good source their solution to making that ramp was to reduce the pitch of the game okay by elevating the front legs well that sounds uh not so special so when was the last time you set up a pinball machine other than to level the game put the front legs i have a good answer for that one uh when i go to someone's house that just moved from one place to another the movers came in and they always do this they put the the jacked up legs are supposed to be in the back they put them in the front and the other ones the front go in the back because they basically think that they're leveling a pool table no no no we don't want level we need a incline so they always get it wrong so i'm the one who has to go in there and change the leg levels around so the only time is when movers that know what they're doing setting up a pinball machine that's when it's done that way but we're not talking about movers right we're talking about the manufacturer yeah so again i've actually played the game yeah other than the five people or so that went down there and were disappointed this past weekend and had to sign a non-disclosure, so they're not even able to give a review of what they saw. But the manufacturer thought we weren't ready for prime time. They were supposed to announce this game back in March. They were supposed to actually announce this game a year ago, March. This game has been in development for how many years? Eight? Ten? This is like a John Papadiuk redo. Okay. I think that guy's got bad mojo, man. Run. Folks, save your money. Buy something else. There's plenty of games out there to buy that don't have the issues. But, hey, I hope they can get it together. But, I don't know, it doesn't sound like it's going to be a good game. I've played it. It's, it's, it's. Okay. Gotcha. It has issues. It's, yes. It's just. It's Nagada. well retro atomic zombie adventure land it's not even a theme game where's your where's the appeal who's gonna i don't know like i said i i think it's going to be if they make a handful it'll be a revered game and we caught because it's but this isn't the zombie thing done by now we already done the zombie thing for years and it's old hat it's like i never liked from day one the whole zombie thing well you've got the zombie thing don't you with walking dead i know i thought that I don't know. I was crappy when it came out. Although I heard the funniest line for that game. I hope I say it the right way. I have it written down upstairs, and if not, I'll repeat this. Jim Lindsay, who does JDL pinball on Twitch, he's the broadcaster of all the tournaments. They did a tournament last weekend in Germany. and Jim said everybody likes shooting the rubber thing on that game. He called it the rubber thing. I just thought it was funny. The well walker, right? Is that what it is? I guess so, but he called it the rubber thing. He goes, everybody likes shooting the rubber thing. I don't know. I thought it was a funny line. It's like... I'm not a big fan of that game. I'm not a big zombie fan to begin with. And the artwork is It doesn't do anything for me. It's not pretty. It just looks like... Why pay the money? Why not just call the game Zombie? I am a zombie. I am a zombie. I am a zombie. I am a zombie. I am a zombie. I am a zombie. I almost want to call it Throw Up, but that'd be rude. Oh, boy. And now we know why people say we are not welcoming to people who like newer games. Did I say that? Yes, you did. You did. We're going to end with that. I was not expecting that. Oh, God. Am I even going to put this? He laughs. See, this is genuine laugh. This isn't canned laugh like one of the podcasters does. That's genuine. Yeah. No more anyway. No more so's. Thank you, Dave. You're welcome, George. You guys make garbage sound good! Oh, you know when you've got it. But you don't know where from. It hurts to talk. It hurts to talk. And I can't even breathe. I need drugs. I need drugs. So many jewels from I don't know Should I go to the doctor Or stay right here And watch the two Like a fool I feel down Down, down Yes.

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: d7cc8192-2612-456c-b843-e84ef27c6019*