# Let's talk Road Games!

**Source:** Don's Pinball Podcast (patreon feed)  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2025-08-25  
**Duration:** 20m 36s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.patreon.com/posts/lets-talk-road-137271110

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## Analysis

Don shares his experience bringing a Star Trek: The Next Generation (1993 Williams wide-body) as a road game while traveling for work in Ohio. He troubleshoots various technical issues over 48 hours—blown fuses, disconnected ribbon cables, and a critical switch matrix wiring problem—learning Bally/Williams machine repair in the process. He also discusses licensing restrictions on actor involvement in modern pinball games, references rumors of an upcoming Stern Star Wars pinball (with speculation it might be a code name), and previews the upcoming Pinball Expo Top Topper Contest he's organizing.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Star Trek: The Next Generation (1993 Williams) had approximately 11,000 units manufactured — _Don cites this number when discussing the game's production run and current scarcity in the market._
- [HIGH] Michael Dorn recorded in-character dialogue (as Worf) for Star Trek: The Next Generation pinball — _Don heard Dorn's voice callouts during gameplay: 'You start the game, he'll say, like, you know, Michael Dorn, Mr. Dorn, great to see you. You know, like in his Worf voice.'_
- [HIGH] Licensing restrictions now make it difficult to get original actors to return for pinball dialogue, unlike earlier eras — _Don discusses how license holders have become more litigious and actors sign away rights; contrasts this with Richard Dreyfuss for Jaws and Bruce Campbell for Evil Dead (who holds part license)._
- [MEDIUM] Star Wars is rumored to be the next Stern game announcement, with speculation it might be a code name for something else — _Don says 'everyone and their mother is saying it's Star Wars' and mentions a rumor that 'Star Wars is just a code name for the next Stern game,' but acknowledges uncertainty and trolling possibility._
- [MEDIUM] Snap Arcades has confirmed (to the extent rumors can be confirmed) that Star Wars is the next Stern title — _Don states: 'Snap Arcades confirmed it. As much as you can confirm any rumor here.'_
- [LOW] Don speculates the Star Wars pinball may feature AT-AT walkers instead of R2-D2 in the playfield — _Don says: 'I've heard the Data East is being redone which makes complete sense and instead of the R2 back there we're going to get AT-AT.'_

### Notable Quotes

> "I got games in my eyes. I'm like, this is going to be phenomenal. And people are like, well, get ready, buckle up. That is a temperamental game."
> — **Don**, ~14:00
> _Illustrates the learning curve and hidden challenges of owning a Bally/Williams wide-body machine; establishes the narrative tension of the repair troubleshooting._

> "So it's an arcade environment you know you get to play it you have a couple games on it you're just flipping around having fun and then you move on to something else now that i have it here and i can i can hear everything and i'm learning the the process of the game and how these rudimentary modes work like it's one hell of a game"
> — **Don**, ~32:00
> _Captures the difference between location play and home ownership; shows how extended play reveals game depth._

> "Genghis is a freaking genius, man. He's worked on these games. He knows them inside and out. He's full of useless Bally Williams knowledge from obsolete games, from designers that are barely even still in pinball."
> — **Don**, ~26:30
> _Credits community expertise and establishes Genghis as a knowledgeable Bally/Williams tech resource; highlights the generational knowledge gap in pinball repair._

> "That's why it was such a big thing that they got Richard Dreyfuss for Jaws. That's why it was such a huge thing they got Bruce Campbell in Evil Dead. Part of the reason they did that is because Bruce Campbell is actually a part license holder of Evil Dead."
> — **Don**, ~18:00
> _Explains licensing complexity and actor availability for modern pinball games; uses recent examples to ground the discussion._

> "Did I just become a pinball tech? I think I'm on my way. After this, man, I think I'm going to be a freaking pro at this."
> — **Don**, ~27:00
> _Reflects growth and confidence gained through hands-on troubleshooting; underscores the DIY repair culture in pinball collecting._

> "my heart is set on star wars i know i get i fall in love too easily i shouldn't be doing this but can but like i'm i'm ready man i will be completely devastated if if it's anything less than the muppet show"
> — **Don**, ~41:00
> _Shows community enthusiasm and FOMO cycle around unannounced Stern titles; reveals emotional investment in theme announcements and self-aware skepticism about rumors._

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Don | person | Host of Don's Pinball Podcast; content creator and community organizer; currently on road in Ohio for work, troubleshooting Bally/Williams machines and learning repair. |
| Genghis | person | Pinball community member and Bally/Williams expert; assisted Don in diagnosing switch matrix wiring issue on Star Trek TNG machine. |
| Star Trek: The Next Generation | game | 1993 Williams wide-body pinball machine featuring DMD display, multiple coils, and extensive playfield; approximately 11,000 units produced; Don's current road game and restoration/modification project. |
| Jeff (MadPimple.com) | person | Pinball distributor in Ohio; provided Don with selection of used games for road machine; described as 'preeminent distributor.' |
| Rob Burke | person | Pinball Expo organizer; allowing Don to run Top Topper Contest at the event. |
| Michael Dorn | person | Actor from Star Trek: The Next Generation; recorded in-character Worf dialogue for the 1993 pinball machine. |
| Don's Pinball Podcast | organization | Podcast and YouTube media platform hosted by Don; features weekly Sunday live streams and episodes covering pinball news, gameplay, and community engagement. |
| Pinball Expo | event | Major pinball community event in September; Don organizing Top Topper Contest (homebrew topper competition) with prizes and industry involvement. |
| Stern Pinball | company | Major pinball manufacturer; rumored to announce Star Wars pinball next; referenced for contrast in technical/node board architecture versus Bally/Williams design. |
| Williams/Bally | company | Historic pinball manufacturer (now defunct); produced Star Trek TNG and numerous classic machines; known for complex wiring and switch matrix architecture. |
| Snap Arcades | organization | Pinball news/rumor source; reportedly confirmed Star Wars as next Stern title. |
| Richard Dreyfuss | person | Actor who recorded dialogue for Jaws pinball; cited as rare example of major actor involvement in modern pinball licensing. |
| Bruce Campbell | person | Actor involved with Evil Dead pinball; holds partial license stake in Evil Dead IP, giving him leverage in approvals. |
| Sorting Hat voice actor | person | Provides voice callouts for Harry Potter pinball (not main cast actors); example of licensing compromise for actor involvement. |
| Data East | company | Historic pinball manufacturer; Tales from the Crypt was a Data East machine Don owned; referenced in context of Star Wars data/design being redone. |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Road games and portable pinball collecting, Bally/Williams machine repair and troubleshooting (switch matrix, fuses, ribbon cables), Star Trek: The Next Generation (1993) gameplay, theme, and restoration potential, Licensing and actor involvement in modern pinball games, Rumors and speculation about upcoming Stern Star Wars pinball
- **Secondary:** Pinball Expo and community events (Top Topper Contest), DIY pinball repair and tech learning curve
- **Mentioned:** Pinball arcade distribution and operator networks

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.82) — Don expresses genuine enthusiasm for Star Trek TNG, pride in learning repair skills, and excitement about upcoming announcements and Expo. Frustration with technical troubleshooting is quickly resolved and reframed as a learning opportunity. Speculative anxiety about Stern's announcement (fear it might not be Star Wars) is tempered by self-aware humor.

### Signals

- **[event_signal]** Pinball Expo's Top Topper Contest expanding with industry sponsorships and multiple award tiers (first, second, third place, industry choice winner). (confidence: high) — Don announces: 'there will also be, if everything works out, an industry choice winner...There's going to be a lot of prizes given away...there's a really good chance that there'll be multiple awards given for first, second, third place, and maybe even more.'
- **[community_signal]** Don receiving assistance from community members (Genghis, online friends) to troubleshoot complex Bally/Williams machine issues, demonstrating active knowledge-sharing in collector networks. (confidence: high) — Don credits Genghis multiple times for diagnosis; describes 'friends on the internet across the world' helping solve problems; learns switch matrix concept from community guidance.
- **[competitive_signal]** Road gaming (bringing pinball machines while traveling) as emerging collector practice for maintaining access to games during business travel. (confidence: medium) — Don describes bringing multiple games as 'road games' to corporate housing in Ohio; mentions it as a practical solution to lack of local pinball availability.
- **[licensing_signal]** Licensing restrictions significantly limiting actor involvement in modern pinball compared to earlier eras; actors signing away rights in film contracts; license holders becoming more litigious. (confidence: high) — Don discusses how it was easier to get actors in the past (Richard Dreyfuss, Bruce Campbell); notes that main Harry Potter cast unavailable; contrasts with difficulty getting Arnold Schwarzenegger for Predator pinball.
- **[market_signal]** Star Trek TNG (11,000 units produced) scarcity in current market despite high original production numbers; machines either in collections or discarded. (confidence: high) — Don notes: '11,000 is a lot of games...I guess where are all these games um i guess they must be in collectors collections they must be in dumpsters.'
- **[product_strategy]** Speculation that Data East Star Wars pinball design may be undergoing redesign/modernization with playfield element changes (AT-AT replacing R2-D2). (confidence: low) — Don states: 'I've heard the Data East is being redone which makes complete sense and instead of the R2 back there we're going to get AT-AT.'
- **[rumor_hype]** Star Wars confirmed as next Stern title by Snap Arcades with caveat about rumor reliability; additional speculation that 'Star Wars' might be a code name for an undisclosed theme. (confidence: medium) — Don states: 'Snap Arcades confirmed it. As much as you can confirm any rumor here.' Later mentions hearing from 'a good friend' that 'Star Wars is just a code name for the next Stern game.'
- **[sentiment_shift]** Community enthusiasm and FOMO cycle building around Stern announcements; emotional investment in theme predictions despite acknowledged uncertainty. (confidence: high) — Don expresses readiness for Star Wars ('my body is prepared', 'my heart is set on star wars'), then anxiety about disappointment ('I will be completely devastated if if it's anything less than the muppet show'), while self-aware about falling in love too easily.

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## Transcript

 Alright, my name's Don. I do a pinball podcast. Let's freaking go. Because I'm going to come back once again with some fresh new views on the world of pinball and what I've been up to. Gather around everybody. Pull that chair in a little closer. You in the back. Grab the shades. Get the lights down low. Get the disco ball up. We're going to do some loops like Deadpool. Let's go. Exploding into space. I don't even have an itinerary or anything. I've got a microphone, and I like me some pinball. And those tend to make the best shows, so I think we'll go with that. Happy Sunday, everybody. Sunday evening at the time of this recording here in the Eastern time zone of Ohio. I'm basically on the Canadian border here. Shores of Lake Erie. Carl Weathers's a little choppy out there, so be careful with you small crafts. There's an advisory. I've been hanging out and playing pinball, believe it or not. I got a road game. As you know, and I may have mentioned this on the live stream that happened earlier today, Sunday. I do a Sunday live stream in the mornings. and I've been able to hit that time every week now here for a couple of weeks. It's up on YouTube at the Don's Pinball Podcast YouTube channel. Go check that out. We interacted together live for about an hour and 45 minutes, man. Just kept going. I did take that audio, and I dropped it on the podcast site. So if you just want to drive and listen for some reason, you weirdo, you can absolutely do that. But I'm out here on my own for a couple of days. I don't know. I felt I needed to get out of town. But I did bring a game with me, and so that was one of the topics that we had discussed. Road games. I don't hear about road games all that often, but I found myself doing it. So I go out of town for work, and they put us up in this corporate housing and whatever, and it's like you're in this town, not a ton of pinball around here and there, but you've got to travel for it. I figured what's easier than just packing a game and taking it with me, and then when you're in the corporate housing, you get something to play. So far, I've had four road games I've brought out here. The first one, Big Lebowski. Amazing. Heavy game. Very difficult to set up on your own. So, you know, watch out for that. I had a Munsters Premium before that I've taken on the road. That was fun. And a lot easier to set up with it being a stern. I had a Tales from the Crypt. Old Data East. Again, a little bit heavier. And I got a Beast right now. So I floated this idea. I was coming out to Ohio. of course, Ohio home of the preeminent distributor, Jeff at MadPimple.com. Go check him out. So I was like, Jeff, man, I'm coming out to Ohio. What do you got? You got to have something good in the used inventory. And he's rattled off a bunch of games. Bond was included in one of them, which would have been totally easier on my back. But then I was intrigued. He told me he had a Star Trek The Next Generation. Now, when it comes to themes, like this is one of the tops for me, man. I've watched the series TNG to the Trekkies out there I've watched it several times over the years and I always kind of come back to it it's my favorite of all the Star Treks I'm a bit of a Star Trek fan I do like the episodes and such I can even tolerate the original series although it's a little bit grating to get into the motion pictures for me but TNG man just just perfect just perfect and of course 1993 when it was in its heyday back remember when they made pinball themes around movies and things that were relevant at that time and weren't just dipping into the well. That's all I've been asking is, please go to the Nostalgia Well for themes. Now people are doing it, and I'm thinking, why not something that came out right now? Anyway, so this was a game that came out at the time when TNG was just hitting. Back then, DMDs were the thing. Valley of Williams was at its height, and they decided to go wide with this thing. And apparently they put just about everything they could from the time and technology of the time into this cabinet. It's a super wide, well, wide body. They call it a super pin. And because they really pushed the limits of what they could put in here, it tends to be temperamental, I found out. I haven't owned a Bally Williams game. This is my first one. Tales from the Crypt. I've had that. I had Gottlieb Wipeout. I've got a really old Gottlieb Wedgehead electromechanical game. But nothing from, like, the Bally Williams era. Talking about like Tales of the Arabian Nights, talking about Medieval Madness, Twilight Zone, you know, the ones, Adam's Family, all that. You know, so I want to get a game of this era, and I love this theme, and I really wish it would be revisited. I mean, I think the next generation has legs, especially now that we're in the LCD era. Like can you imagine if you like a fan of the show right Just playing through the episodes and everything now modern day God I would love it I don see it happening I just don see it happening So this is the next best thing And damn it it fun It's fun to play a modern pin like this. Modern pin. A pin in the modern day of this era. Where there's actually like clips of the characters from the show as call outs. I don't think you see that all that often. Because of licensing restrictions and things. And the way the relationships have evolved over time. And the license holders have become more litigious. it's harder to get an actor from the show to come back and do dialogue. That's why it was such a big thing that they got Richard Richard Dreyfuss for Jaws. That's why it was such a huge thing they got Bruce Campbell in Evil Dead. Part of the reason they did that is because Bruce Campbell is actually a part license holder of Evil Dead. So when they go for approvals, he's got some say. You sign those rights away as an actor to do a film, and you don't get those back later on when things have become much more popular. That's why Harry Potter is voiced by the voice of the Sorting Hat in the games and the video games and amusement park rides and toys, but not the movies. And even then, he doesn't even do the character of the Sorting Hat, right? Now, we don't have, you know, Ron and Hermione and everybody just, like, doing the call-outs because, like, it's a licensing nightmare. I mean, look at this. Well, we don't have Arnold now in Predator. If Predator was made back then, when Terminator 2 was made, probably it could have happened, but now not. So it's fun to play this game with this space theme of the show that I like and actually has call-outs and stuff. And it's funny. Michael Dorn recorded some in-character dialogue for this I've picked up. You know, you start the game, he'll say, like, you know, Michael Dorn, Mr. Dorn, great to see you. You know, like in his Worf voice. Kills me, man. That's awesome. So I get this game. A couple days ago I picked it up, and I swapped Wipeout for this game. I'm going to take it back. I'm going to play it. maybe we'll make some mods for it and then i may be moving it on so if you want to get yourself a dawn edition of this game you know maybe get at me get in early on the list and then in a couple months when it's ready to move on and maybe i've loaded it with cool stuff i'll reach out to you we'll come up with a deal just floating it no pressure no Win Schilling hell i may just keep the damn thing because i like it so much so i get the game up here and everybody was telling me the last couple weeks that i've been floating like getting this game uh you know and i'm just got naive. I got games in my eyes. I'm like, this is going to be phenomenal. And people are like, well, get ready, buckle up. That is a temperamental game. It's loaded with optos. And, uh, yeah, you're going to need, you're going to learn to work on it. And boy, did I. So I get this game, it's got a color DMD, which I appreciate, uh, went and fired it up and the pin to DMD marquee lights up real quick. And then everything just goes to static. There's like a really loud audio pop and then nothing happens. You know, it's just frozen on the screen. No lights come on in the game. Something's broken and it's up to me and my friends on the internet across the world to try to figure it out. So it turned out to be a couple of simple things that were wrong, probably just because this game got jostled around on the back of my truck or whatever. But a ribbon cable had come slightly unplugged. I was able to spot that and plug that back into of these dusty boards in the backbox there. And then there were a couple of fuses that had blown somehow. And I had to find out, you know, first off, which ones, how to find out which ones, how to read, how to go through the manual. You can find these manuals online, thank God, and find out, you know, the amperage of these fuses and all that. So over the last 48 hours, I've really taught myself through my friends that are helping me out, and all credit to them, how to be a somewhat passable Bally Williams tech. So it took me nearly a full day, three trips to Harbor Freight and one to Lowe's, and one to a local hardware store here just to find the fuses that were down to 3 amps. Go try to find fuses right now. What the heck? You can go to the hardware stores, and they typically use the modern-type fuses, those plug-type ones. They don't use these little glass vacuum container slow blows that they used to. So trying to find them is pretty difficult. The auto parts store actually did stock some of them, but they didn't go down to the 3 amp that I needed. I found this strange hardware store in town where it's like half of a hardware store, like kind of an Ace hardware. The other half is a grocery store. So while you're getting golden grams, you can also pay too much for hand tools. Crazy. But they happen to have some fuses. You can get these fuses online. I mean, they're available, but like in person when you need them and you want to get your game working, I was able to find them. So I took the multimeter, went through each fuse, reseated each Molex connector until I found, you know what? Here's a couple of fuses that look like they're blown and they're not conducting. There's no connectivity through them. So they were the two that were marked for deletion. I got the other two put in there and boom, it was working. So once I plugged in the ribbon cable, I did get the game to fire up, which was great. And I was able to play it and the flippers were working. But none of the other, I don't know, 20 coils were functioning. So I was completely flummoxed. I had reseated every Molex connector until Mr Cengiz It was like Donnie I think it might be a fuse I do a terrible Cengiz I sorry sir But yeah he was right He was right I started checking fuses and boom found two that were bad in the power supply board Listen to me. I sound like I know what I'm talking about. Put them in there. Coils were working just fine. And so I was able to play this game and have a good time with it. And I'm loving it. It was just one more thing. It was just one more thing. there are two three banks of stand-up targets on the bottom left and bottom right um and they weren't registering at all all six switches nothing i went to the switch test tickled them with my fingers uh threw balls at them and every other uh stand-up target on the game every other switch was working except for these and this was puzzling what single point of failure you people that are no value Williams games you probably already are reading ahead and figure this out but i have got two sets of three banks, stand-up targets, and they're all individually wired. They look fine. They got the resistors in there or whatever. And the wires are all connected. There's no Molex connector to check between there and the backbox. I follow it all the way back to the board. Everything looks to be plugged in. I'm going through the manual. What in the actual heck is going on here? What single point of failure could be responsible for two three banks that are on completely different ends of the play field? My God, I'm used to Stern, man. Stern's got node boards. You follow it back. There's some kind of driver board that's responsible for eight coils and 16 or 32 switches. And if there's a problem, you swap the board out. There you go. This, oh, another beast, man. Another beast. So finally, I had noticed, and this is the crux of the whole thing, a little bit earlier, all the way in the very back of the play field, there is a drop target. And when that drop target is down, it hits a micro switch that's at the bottom there and I guess it just tells the game that the switches or the drop target is down right and then it can reset there's a coil back there the coil is working fine the drop target was working fine but I noticed on the micro switch a little green wire that was unsoldered just kind of floating there in the air and I had seen it during a casual review of everything and I thought well the drop target is working the switch is working the coil is working I will solder this when I get home I'm sure it's not a really big deal we'll figure it out so here's the thing I went through something called a switch matrix, right? People that are old hat at this are probably like, this grumpy dork. How did you not know about a switch matrix? So to cut to the chase, it looks like there are eight different switches that are all lined or wired in series, right? And so what had happened is through some form of electrocommunication, these two separate three banks are all wired through that single green wire down there at the back that needs to be connected to the micro switch in order to go to the backbox where all the CPU and everything is. How was that responsible? Either way, I went ahead and put it back on there. Actually, I just got an alligator clip, held it there, went through the switch test, and boom, it was working. Cengiz is a freaking genius, man. He's worked on these games. He knows them inside and out. He's full of useless Bally Williams knowledge from obsolete games, from designers that are barely even still in pinball. Dwight Sullivan and Steve Ritchie, of course, are. Oh, my God, man. Like, who would design something like this? And Jenkins is like, some guy in the 80s, man. How did they design this? So for some reason, my two three banks of targets were all wired straight through this micro switch in the back that already had a green wire attached to it. This was just like an extra green wire. I thought it was just an extra ground. Grounds are always green, right? Locks are green. Grounds are green. Oh, my God. Did I just become a pinball tech? I think I'm on my way. After this, man, I think I'm going to be a freaking pro at this. I'm going to keep going through this game and learning as much as I can. But, man, this was a fun experience. So it's been about 48 hours, and I've got this game up. It's working. All the mechanisms are working. And I'm actually having a super fun time with Star Trek The Next Generation. So it's a game that I have played before on location, of course, mainly in the free-to-play arcades that are around. you know and it's it's an arcade environment you know you get to play it you have a couple games on it you're just flipping around having fun and then you move on to something else now that i have it here and i can i can hear everything and i'm learning the the process of the game and how these rudimentary modes work like it's one hell of a game i was looking on pin side and it looks like there was 11 000 of these games made donnie was super popular i know i know sir i know so i guess where are all these games um i guess they must be in collectors collections they must be in dumpsters you know because like there should be i mean 11 000 is a lot of games a lot of games my god but i can tell you this i got this one working i got some uh some bulbs to replace um but other than that like this thing's gonna be rocking and kicking and like i'm already looking at what else can i do to it uh Mirco sells radcals uh i love radcals i can completely redo the entire outside of the cabinet and that nice shiny feels coat but it coat but it not like jersey jack level graphics i think if any game deserves it man it the next generation come on uh get some nice shiny chrome legs on there uh let me know what your thoughts are on art blades and i'm already kind of looking through like you know where can we put a board cube in this thing oh my god having so much fun does anybody know where to get new old stock or reproduction like the toys in here because like the Borg ship looks like my NES does from 1982 like today where it's just kind of brown as if it was in a smoker's lung for the last 20 years I would love to have like a brand new one or I've seen people that have done paint jobs to them if you know holler at your bro Don's Pinball Podcast at gmail.com dude having fun out here uh so we're supposed to see a new game from Stern apparently because that's what everybody's talking about And apparently everyone and their mother is saying it's Star Wars. And I was, I mean, my body is prepared for another Star Wars game. We've talked about it ad nauseum. Episodes 4, 5, and 6. Snap Arcades confirmed it. As much as you can confirm any rumor here. And so, like, my mind and my body are ready now. I'm ready to accept the new Star Wars. Let's make it happen. I want to have both of them. Let's go. And then, just a few minutes ago, I had a rumor floated to me. Can you get this? what do we say every time we hear about like like a rumor of a bad theme coming out oh it's godfather oh it's whatever well maybe that's just the code name for what's coming out next right maybe godfather's the code name for harry potter because that's the godfather of themes you know and then of course godfather's dumped on our lap well i have heard and i'm not going to put any chicken stock into this uh but that but it came from came from a good friend came from a good friend that star wars is just a the code name for the next stern game and i i can't even at this point my heart is set on star wars i know i get i fall in love too easily i shouldn't be doing this but can but like i'm i'm ready man i will be completely devastated if if it's anything less than the muppet show that we get oh my god please don't be true i think people are trolling me it's gotta be a troll yeah not everybody and their mother would be saying star wars and then we find out that that is just a code name and that's the worst code name to pick come on they're ridiculous that's like having uh jaws be the code name for jurassic park or something future don it actually was so what else is going on man do you guys have bally williams games let me know don's pinball podcast gmail.com i don't know if we'll put this out as a full episode maybe we'll drop this as just some Patreon fun time. But I wanted to share what I've been up to while I'm out here on the road in Ohio and make everybody aware that on the regular podcast site, I did post the audio from the live stream that we did today. And I'm going to try my best to do that every Sunday. One other point of order, we are coming up to Pinball Expo. I have got my booth set up. Mr. Rob Burke has been gracious enough to allow me to run the Top Topper Contest. It's a homebrew topper contest at Expo. If you've got yourself a topper, cobble it together, bring it on in. Sometime Thursday, drop it off at the booth, and voting is open, man. If you get all the votes, you get all the prizes. There's going to be a lot of prizes given away to the people's choice best topper. And the way it's going and the way that I'm getting prizes to give away, there's a really good chance that there'll be multiple awards given for first, second, third place, and maybe even more. there will also be, if everything works out, an industry choice winner that will also win prizes. So it's going to be phenomenal. If you are a pinball company and you would like to sponsor the contest by giving me a prize to give away in your name, let's get at it, man. The Top Topper Contest, it's going to be at Expo. It's going to be fire. September's not even here yet. We're still in August, man, and we're still going like this. I don't know if I'm going to make it to Star Wars, to be honest. I'm excited about it. I really just want to see what the layout is and what happens I've heard everything I've heard the Data East is being redone which makes complete sense and instead of the R2 back there we're going to get AT-AT I love it make it look like an Epcot Battle play set from 1983 that's what I want let me know what you want, I'll drop this up on Patreon for everybody, I love that you guys are members you guys complete me I am here with minimal equipment let me see if I can hit my outro button and yeah, thanks for being completely awesome. I'm going to go back and boldly explore is what I'm going to do. Man, we're just having fun in pinball. You've got to put a smile on your face. Cool things are coming. Do you think the world's ready for another pinball network? Because I sure do. Want to get in on it? Email us at donspinballpodcast at gmail.com. We'll see what we can make happen. Take care, everybody.

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v1)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: e47df639-4bc1-4974-a68b-71d1a38b73da*