# EP 7 - Pinball Power, Spooky Nights, & A Galaxy Far, Far Away **Source:** Flip n Out Pinball Podcast **Type:** podcast_episode **Published:** 2025-09-04 **Duration:** 58m 13s **Beat:** Pinball **URL:** https://flipnoutpinballpodcast.com/ep-7-pinball-power-spooky-nights-a-galaxy-far-far-away --- ## Analysis Ken Cromwell and Greg Bone discuss their recent trip to Spooky Pinball headquarters in Benton, Wisconsin, including a stay at a historic haunted house in Galena, Illinois. The bulk of the episode focuses on the newly announced Star Wars: Fall of the Empire pinball machine by Stern, with detailed discussion of community expectations, design comparisons to the previous Steve Ritchie Star Wars pin, and analysis of teaser marketing strategy. ### Key Claims - [MEDIUM] Star Wars: Fall of the Empire is based on the original trilogy, not the newer episodes — _Greg: 'seems like now it's just the original trilogy yeah that's that's what we that's kind of the rumor that we've heard back that that seems pretty solid'_ - [MEDIUM] John Borg is the designer on the new Star Wars game — _Ken: 'i think the rumor is that it's john borg on the game at this point'_ - [HIGH] Spooky Pinball has expanded significantly beyond their original building — _Ken: 'when you go into that area where they are, it's just like this business development complex now that really was started by Spooky Pinball when they erected their first building and started building games. They've since passed some of those buildings along to other businesses, and they've erected multiple buildings'_ - [HIGH] The previous Star Wars pin by Steve Ritchie/Dwight Sullivan had multiplier mechanics that were misunderstood by many players — _Greg: 'once you had a better understanding of I think what complicated a lot for people was actually the use of the multiplier and being able to move around the target to hit the multiplier. And that didn't immediately click for a lot of people.'_ - [HIGH] Spooky Pinball is run very well with happy workers and clean facilities — _Ken: 'It seemed like all the workers were very happy. They were very, very busy... The whole staff there was just really nice... I'm very bullish on Spooky Pinball.'_ ### Notable Quotes > "that son of a bitch might be haunted... That's a haunted house, 100%" > — **Ken/Greg**, early > _Sets tone for the extended anecdote about their Galena, Illinois Airbnb experience_ > "I'm friends with Dwight and at the at the time i had i bought star wars and he came over to my house and he explained how the multiplier worked and as soon as he explained it to me it just clicked" > — **Greg**, mid > _Key insight into why the original Star Wars pin was polarizing—lack of initial clarity on mechanics_ > "I think there needs to be more in there... I think that people are expecting... I think that they want to feel more in the world of star Wars... I think they're looking for the toys. They're looking for the mechs in this game." > — **Ken**, mid-late > _Articulates community expectations for the new Star Wars game beyond the previous release_ > "I'm conditioned to appreciate just the stern teaser that confirms the title in 10 seconds with like a little hook that wants you to tune in next week" > — **Ken**, late > _Critiques community reaction to teaser marketing and defends Stern's minimal approach_ > "we had probably ten times as many people reaching out and be like, stick me on the LE list... Kind of go ahead and get on the list for, you know, a spot for a premium" > — **Greg**, very late > _Indicates strong demand surge following Star Wars announcement, suggesting FOMO-driven pre-orders_ ### Entities | Name | Type | Context | |------|------|---------| | Stern Pinball | company | Manufacturer announcing Star Wars: Fall of the Empire; dominant manufacturer in pinball industry | | Spooky Pinball | company | Boutique pinball manufacturer in Benton, Wisconsin; hosts visited by podcast team; described as well-run with happy staff | | Ken Cromwell | person | Co-host of Flippin' Out Pinball Podcast; located in St. Charles, Illinois; attended Spooky visit | | Greg Bone | person | Co-host of Flippin' Out Pinball Podcast; located in Evansville, Indiana area; organized Spooky trip | | Christopher Franchi | person | Artist at Spooky Pinball; visited during podcast team's trip; described as 'remarkable artist' and 'art director' | | Star Wars: Fall of the Empire | game | Newly announced Stern Pinball machine; based on original trilogy; rumored designer John Borg | | John Borg | person | Rumored designer of Star Wars: Fall of the Empire; described as experienced and qualified designer | | Bug | person | Co-owner/co-founder of Spooky Pinball; described as one of Greg's 'favorite people in the entire industry' | | Luke Peters | person | Spooky Pinball staff member (Spooky Luke); credited with hospitality during visit | | Dwight Sullivan | person | Programmer of previous Steve Ritchie Star Wars pinball; known for creating amazing moments and modes | | Steve Ritchie | person | Designer of previous Star Wars pinball machine; legendary designer referenced as comparison point | | Zach | person | Co-host of Straight Down The Middle podcast; organized Spooky trip with Ken and Greg; booked Airbnb | | Things That Go Bumpin' Tonight | media | Documentary about Spooky Pinball's rise created by Joel and Dana Reeves; recommended as origin story resource | | Galena, Illinois | event | Historic town where podcast team stayed in Airbnb; described as picturesque Victorian-era setting with flood wall and hillside architecture | | 510 Federal | location | Haunted Airbnb property in Galena, Illinois; built 1800-1850; featured creepy oil painting and medieval cellar room | | Straight Down The Middle | organization | Podcast associated with Greg and Zach; participated in Spooky trip with Flippin' Out team | | Trace | person | Pinball game dealer/seller; offered Flippin' Out Patreon subscriptions with game sales; helped secure new subscriber Adam | ### Topics - **Primary:** Star Wars: Fall of the Empire announcement and community expectations, Spooky Pinball facility tour and operational assessment, Previous Steve Ritchie Star Wars pinball reception and multiplier mechanics - **Secondary:** Teaser marketing strategy and community reaction, Pinball game design philosophy and 'world under glass' concept, Pre-order and list management for new Stern releases - **Mentioned:** Galena, Illinois historic town visit, Boutique vs. large-scale pinball manufacturing ### Sentiment **Positive** (0.72) — Hosts are enthusiastic about Spooky visit and excited about Star Wars announcement. Positive assessment of Spooky's operations and staff. Some mild criticism of community overreaction to teaser, but generally constructive tone. Optimistic about new Star Wars game's potential. ### Signals - **[business_signal]** Spooky Pinball significantly expanded facility; moved beyond original single building to business complex with multiple buildings (confidence: high) — Ken: 'This business development complex now that really was started by Spooky Pinball when they erected their first building... They've since passed some of those buildings along to other businesses, and they've erected multiple buildings' - **[event_signal]** Flippin' Out Pinball and Straight Down The Middle joint pilgrimage to Spooky Pinball headquarters (confidence: high) — Greg: 'Zach and I... Straight down the middle... We'll take a pilgrimage up to good old Benton, Wisconsin, and visit the spooky guys' - **[sentiment_shift]** Strong demand surge for Star Wars: Fall of the Empire following announcement; FOMO-driven pre-orders across Pro/Premium/LE tiers (confidence: high) — Greg: 'we had probably ten times as many people reaching out and be like, stick me on the LE list... Kind of go ahead and get on the list for, you know, a spot for a premium' - **[competitive_signal]** Star Wars license considered premium 'A++' IP; previous Ritchie version viewed as missed opportunity by community (confidence: medium) — Ken: 'From licensing, right, Star Wars is always going to sell, it seems like... It's such an epic license. Again, that's one of your A++ licenses.' - **[design_philosophy]** Previous Star Wars pinball (Ritchie/Sullivan) multiplier mechanics were misunderstood and unfairly criticized by community despite positive design (confidence: high) — Greg: 'it wasn't immediately apparent what I was supposed to be doing... people for so long just kept discrediting that game' - **[market_signal]** Community divided on Stern's minimal teaser approach; some wanted more substance in reveal, others appreciated simplicity (confidence: medium) — Greg: 'people lost their mind about it... somebody created their own teaser trailer'; Ken: 'I'm conditioned to appreciate just the stern teaser that confirms the title in 10 seconds' - **[personnel_signal]** Christopher Franchi continues work as artist/art director at Spooky Pinball (confidence: high) — Greg: 'Christopher Franchi came into town... remarkable artist, Chris, there, who's doing just, you know, a fantastic job up there... being the art director' - **[announcement]** Stern officially announces Star Wars: Fall of the Empire pinball machine (confidence: high) — Ken: 'Stern Pinball, they've released the teaser officially for their newest game, Star Wars... fall of the empire' - **[rumor_hype]** Star Wars: Fall of the Empire based on original trilogy rather than sequel trilogy (confidence: medium) — Ken speculates on rumors; Greg confirms: 'seems like now it's just the original trilogy yeah that's that's what we that's kind of the rumor that we've heard back' --- ## Transcript you ready I am ready sir we'll see where it goes could go anywhere no idea hey what's going on pinball and welcome to episode number seven of the flipping out pinball podcast My name's Ken Cromwell. With me today is always Greg Bone. Greg, what's going on? How are you, buddy? Oh, man, nothing much. Just relaxing, enjoying the nice, cool Carl Weathers that we are having here in Indiana. I do like when fall comes in. It's probably my favorite time of the year, although it's depressing because I know winter is right around the corner. And then out where we live in Chicago, you get maybe four good months out of the year to enjoy, but I do like fall. yeah we kind of have hit or miss like we live in this weird it's called the ohio valley so even though it's indiana and you look at indiana as being primarily flat uh we live in a big area where a glacier like where it receded back up and it cut you know pretty good size hills in a big valley um into the area between indiana and kentucky there along the ohio so like we have just because of that we have such erratic crazy Carl Weathers patterns man like I mean, it could literally be snowing one day and then be 80 degrees the next day around here. It's the weirdest, weirdest Carl Weathers pattern. Yeah, same out here. I mean, you'll have it where you'll get all four seasons in a day sometimes, just depending on what time of year it is. Sorry, depending on what time of year it is and what's going on. My voice is a little raspy today. I don't know what's going on. You know what? I haven't really spoken anything today. And this is the first time I'm talking. So it's like, you know, it's a little bit later in the day, but the voice is coming out. It was funny. It was a couple weeks ago. I was going through some sales ads on Facebook, and, you know, our buddy Trace. I bring Trace up frequently. He's a good friend. But I noticed he had an ad up for the sale of a game. And if you purchased the game, he was including a one-year subscription to the Flip N Out Pinball podcast over on Patreon, right? And I thought it was so funny. I thought it was a joke. I checked Patreon last week and guess what? The guy that bought the game followed up with Trace about the one year Patreon membership and he got it. So this guy Adam's here for a year because of Trace. Thank you Thank you Trace and thank you Adam Hope you enjoy the show Adam and you continue after your one year free stint with the Flip N Out Pinball Podcast Well I'll tell you what if Trace starts including one year memberships to the Patreon for Flip N Out Pinball Podcast with the amount of games that he's able to kind of buy and sell, we'll be going to early retirement. But what's up with you, man? I mean, what you been up to? Oh, man, just trying to get everything together. Like, you know, we're still busy, still selling games, which is crazy. You know, summer typically tends to be a little bit of the low point. You know, I feel kids going back to school, you know, most people's priorities are there, that sort of thing, you know, coming out of the heat and everything. but I mean, dude, we've, we've still kind of been rocking. So yeah, you're right. Work. And then, well, we got back from a nice little, uh, couple day endeavor last week. Didn't we, Mr. Cromwell, which was nice. Oh yeah. That was amazing. I don't know if you want to talk a little bit about that, but, uh, I had one of the best times I've had in a long time, whether that be pinball or personal or otherwise it was outstanding. Me too. So, so Zach and I was straight down the middle. We'll, We'll take a pilgrimage up to good old Benton, Wisconsin, and visit the spooky guys. Quaint little town there. You know, it is. It's a nice place up there. I always look forward to that trip. And this year, Mr. Cromwell here got to go along with us. And so it was kind of a flipping out SDTM combination and stuff when we went up there. And, you know, hung out with those guys, which was great. We got to hang out with, you know, Christopher Franchi came into town. So we got to hang out with the remarkable artist, Chris, there, who's doing just, you know, a fantastic job up there. Yeah. You know, being the art director. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, just Bug and Luke are, dude, just two of my favorite people in the entire industry. And so it's just always nice to get to hang out with them a little bit and stuff and, you know, see what all is going on up there and catch up. And this time we, uh, so Zach and I, we, we've had some, man, have we had some interesting, um, things go on up there with, with hotels. Like it's just finding a place to stay up there. The hotels are a little, uh, little older, a little rustic in some places and stuff. So, so this time, you know, Zach had, had splurged for us an Airbnb and we stayed, which was kind of crazy. This is great. It was amazing. I was so mixed on it. Yeah. Awesome. And so what happens, Ken? He sends us the picture of the Airbnb. And I just didn't think anything of it. I didn't click on it. I was like, oh, this is awesome. Like, we'll all get to hang out and stuff. And, you know, we can have a couple drinks, a couple cigars, and do our thing. Because we all live, for you guys out there that don't know, so Zach is down in Evansville, Indiana, down just south of me, about an hour and 45 minutes. and then Ken is north of me in St. Charles, Illinois, what, probably about four and a half, maybe five hours away. So even though we all work very closely together and we're on the phone, you know, half the day together and back and forth in emails, text, and everything else, we don't get to see each other hardly and hang out very often. No, and if you think about it, whenever we would get a chance to see each other, it would be at pinball shows and there was just a lot of work, right? So there's no chance to really sit down and relax. Exactly. So, you know, it was like, oh, this Airbnb, dude, this is going to be awesome. Like, I think this is going to be great. Well, Ken brings up and he was like, oh, dude, did you see that house? He was like, that son of a bitch might be haunted. Because this house. That's a haunted house, 100%. Yep. What did it say? It was built in like 1900s or something on the Airbnb. Yeah, the listing, you could go check it out. It's called the 510 Federal in Galena, Illinois. Yes. And it was built, depending on what you're researching, and we're going to get back to pinball here in a second, but depending on what you're researching, that house was built probably in 1800 to 1850. Yes. Somewhere in there. And when you pull up, man, what has two thumbs and was pretty sure that that was going to be a haunted house? This guy. Because that just looked like it was made out of old cobblestone for tiny people. it had a nice little expansion that was on the back of the house probably put on in the 50s or 60s but uh yeah man i was a little terrified of it i don't like haunted stuff that much i mean i like the idea of it i don't want to be in it i don't want to be attached to anything on me and exact same boat dude i'm i'm yeah i'm good man i'm good and the thing that that happens is like that's what's so funny is you know like like we we had a tiring day up there we we were all exhausted and we go back to this place and we walk in there and zach had to sleep in there alone the night before he came up a day before us and he slept in there alone and he sent us a picture of a legitimate oil painting of like yeah what we assume is one of the owners but i mean it was old hanging above the stairwell so it was all creepy old lady that was terrifying so we all get in there and what did that say it looked like it looked like mitch mcconnell it did it looked just It's like a female version of Mitch McConnell. Yeah, it was crazy. I was dead. And so there's the original house built in the 1800s. Then there is, in this entire town, Galena, Illinois, Google that too, because it is one of the most beautiful towns that you've ever seen. Super historical. Well, this town, it sets on the river, and it's separated from the river by a giant flood wall. But then it's basically built into like a hillside. So all the houses are hanging off. I didn't even know. I've never seen a flood wall before until you pointed it out to me. And it felt like we were going inside like the perimeter of a castle town. Yes. The whole thing was strange to me. I felt like I was in it. And I don't mean to cut you off, man, but I just felt like I was in a different era, like a different like a parallel universe or something where everything was a little bit different and historic. uh anyways we expected to see because because zach had told us about things like guys because i mean what were we can maybe not even a quarter a mile we were just outside of actual downtown is where our airbnb was and zach was like guys we gotta i gotta take you down here we gotta drive through this town so i mean literally you felt like jack the ripper was gonna hop out at any moment it was like victorian london that's right like it was insane yes and it but so all it was chilling but like fascinating all at the same time like i guess i was just everywhere i looked was like a view that i thought i would see you as like a cgi set in a movie or something it was just it was picturesque it was it was it's insane there yeah and pictures don't do it justice like i looked up pictures i got home and showed chelsea just didn't do it justice but but so all these all these houses are built into the hillside and between the original house and the hillside is where they built the addition it's a small addition nothing large well it butts in into the hillside and it incorporates like too old like where the bathroom was and then there's like a little nook and it's almost like a cellar that that is part of the house now that was once built into the hillside out of stone and they did some plaster over it but it has like what like the whole thing was like an arch inside of the one side and yeah creepy as hell man they had like a sitting area in there where you could play games and stuff that's where we hung out honestly it was kind of crazy well what was that called man because i took a picture of us in there and it was was it like the the disco room or something like that where you lights everywhere ceiling projectors would fly these lights all over the place but you were in what which was probably some type of medieval torture chamber at some point we didn't even know you know we're just hanging out it was just it was strange it was odd we'll post a picture of us in there just in the pictures i don't know how yours turned out ken but but mine the room looks 10 times bigger than what it actually is it was it was small what was it probably seven foot across if that seven eight foot deep eight foot deep yeah i don't know it was yeah it was definitely smaller than like a 10 by 10 it was almost like uh like a walk-in closet size maybe bigger but dude we were terrified long long story short we already made a lot but we were terrified we start googling everything we could find out about that town like i mean would we spend probably two hours after you know a couple of good drinks and uh a couple stogies on the little patio there uh we probably spent two hours with an obsession of finding out everything we could about that house and that town and everything else because we we were we were convinced that it was it was haunted and uh i think did you see so you You know, Bugs girlfriend runs Haunted Tours. I think that's where she runs Haunted Tours at is Galena. Oh, yeah. That would be cool. I mean, that would be interesting to go on a Haunted Tour. Again, I don't want to be, like, provoking anything. I don't need anything following me home, upset, none of that stuff. I'm going to take a pass. And at the end of the night, you're laying down in bed, and I guess that's where a couple drinks probably helped to just kind of settle the nerves a little bit. But you know what? Great stay. It was. I didn't get terrorized. There was no demonic possession that occurred. There was no levitation, no scary noises in the middle of the night. I slept great, got up the next day, and, yeah, we started heading back. I would do that again, but more so, you know, if anybody has not been to Galena, Illinois, and I haven't. I've lived two hours from Galena pretty much my whole life, and I never went down there. It's fascinating. We were talking about getting back down there maybe in the fall, like maybe not this year, but next year, just planning a little vacation, staying down there a couple days, and maybe bringing the wives. Because that would be a cool place. If anybody's on TikTok and you see the Halloween side of TikTok where you have kind of that AI-generated cityscape and old-school retro feelings, like what it felt like walking down the block in the 80s, and it's got kind of the cool music and the creepy guy talking. I mean, that's how it felt driving through downtown Galena. It was really cool. It was awesome. It was really cool. Good trip and stuff. But, yeah, so back to pinball, Ken. Back to pinball. Sorry, but we thought it was an interesting – and it was pinball related. We were with Spooky. I did want to say thanks to Spooky Pinball, though, because I'd never been to Spooky before. I've been to, I think, most all the pinball manufacturers, especially locally. But I was very impressed on the whole setup. And when you go into that area where they are, it's just like this business development complex now that really was started by Spooky Pinball when they erected their first building and started building games. They've since passed some of those buildings along to other businesses, and they've erected multiple buildings to conduct their present pinball business. But it was very, very impressive, and it was clean in there. It seemed like all the workers were very happy. They were very, very busy. The hospitality by Bug, Luke, and Morgan, super appreciated. They're all great people. The whole staff there was just really nice. So that was a fun trip. And it was cool to just see how they do things in comparison to other companies. But, again, I'm very bullish on Spooky Pinball. And everything that they're doing, I think, is in the right direction. And I'm excited to see how the company goes forward. And anybody that wants more information on that company, it's a little bit of a dated documentary now. It's been out for a while. But some good friends of ours through Pinball, Joel and Dana Reeves, they created, they did a documentary, man, like I said, years ago. And I think it was called... Oh, is it that Things That Go Bumpin' Tonight? Things That Go Bumpin' Tonight. Yep The Spooky Pinball Story And it literally talks about the rise of spooky pinball and how Charlie created that and what he did with his first game and everything It honestly a great story because I mean I think it for the longest time or even still what a lot of us strive for and kind of dream about sometimes. And these guys, they did it, did it well, and were very smart and still are very, very smart about the way that they run that business and the decisions that they make. But, yeah, yes, check that out, man, if you haven't seen it. It's a really, really good origin story there for Spooky Pinball. From a historical purpose, I think that's pretty cool. I wonder how relevant it is now. Or at least it'd be fun to kind of see how everything's progressed since that came out. Because it just seems like within the last five years that companies made a lot of changes to propel themselves to where they are. Oh, man. I mean, they're formidable. I mean, they're still boutique pinball, right? But, you know, who's not to say that most companies these days, other than Stern Pinball, should be considered boutique pinball companies. You know, if you're making under a couple thousand games a year, I kind of think you're a boutique pinball company. That's just my personal observation or opinion. But, yeah, it was cool. I would love to go back. And I just – thanks for inviting me out. Yeah, no, thank you for coming, dude. Thanks for the hospitality. That was good times. Yes. That was good times. Very, very much so. Very much so. Speaking of Stern Pinball. Oh, go ahead. No, no. I was going to segue for you. Oh, why don't you go ahead and segue it? I'm liking the flow of the show for No Direction. We're hanging in there. I'll step it on Ken's toes. So speaking of Stern Pinball, Ken, what do we have coming up next week? Oh, we've got another release. Stern Pinball, they've released the teaser officially for their newest game, Star Wars. was it star wars fall of the empire which was vague like you know there was a lot of rumors a lot of speculation that yes this was going to be a new star wars um you know original rumblings a while ago was that it was going to be you know the the episodes one two and three or whatever you know the newer movies um and then you know the closer we got to a a teaser an announcement from Stern. That kind of fell off and then it was, you know, now it's going to be based on the originals, but what's that consist of? Is it the original? Where do these rumors start, by the way? Oh man, leaks. My sources are telling me this. I'm speculating that. It's like, it's all over the place. And at the end of the day, I mean, it seems like they were a lot of the rumors that were out there were all kind of big misses because it sounds like now it's just the original trilogy yeah that's that's what we that's kind of the rumor that we've heard back that that seems pretty solid that it's the original trilogy um you know again when that trailer dropped there's a lot of speculation is this going to be another original ip sort of thing uh like king kong like what they did with dungeons and dragons you know are they going to create their own star wars not original ip per se but you know creating their world of yeah the world of star wars yeah um because i mean that has to be drastically cheaper you know what i'm saying creating their own animations doing all that stuff so i didn't think it was beyond the realm of things that that would happen but i was hoping not um but then you know rumors here recently have circulated that uh that no they've got film assets they've got everything so So, you know, it seems like it's kind of like the Dwight Sullivan, you know, Steve Ritchie Star Wars, but maybe updated. Yeah, and that's kind of where I'm trying to, I guess I'm looking at it in different perspectives. From licensing, right, Star Wars is always going to sell, it seems like, for the most part. It's such an epic license. Again, that's one of your A++ licenses. But it's like, you know, so we did have a Star Wars pin that was a Steve Ritchie pin. and was programmed by Dwight Sullivan. Polarizing title. I think it hit in a lot of ways for a lot of people, but there were some misses that were pointed out by those that might not have been as thrilled with the pinball machine as others. That game, it grew on me more so than when I looked over it, I'm like, okay, I don't know, probably not what I envisioned as far as the play field, layout, toys, that sort of thing. And once you had a better understanding of I think what complicated a lot for people was actually the use of the multiplier and being able to move around the target to hit the multiplier. And that didn't immediately click for a lot of people. But I thought it was blown out of proportion. Well, I don't know, I guess, but it's like I didn't really understand it. I I'm friends with Dwight. and at the at the time i had i bought star wars and he came over to my house and he explained how the multiplier worked and as soon as he explained it to me it just clicked i'm like oh okay now i i understand what's going on here um but until i had kind of like somebody hold my hand through it it wasn't immediately apparent what i was supposed to be doing and i'll give you that it wasn't immediately apparent but it wasn't like a difficult thing to wrap your mind around you know It wasn't like a multiple shot thing. You know, you basically could turn that multiplier kind of on and off, you know, how you were doing it with those targets. But it wasn't like that, you know, it was a complicated sequence of stuff I didn't feel. It just, it wasn't blatant. But as soon as you were told, I didn't think it was complicated. But I felt like people for so long just kept discrediting that game. And I don't know if it was kind of that syndrome that pinball tends to fall into, where that a lot of the people crying foul about it never really gave it a chance or never really put much time on it. They're just kind of regurgitating. That happens a lot. Well, these multipliers suck. This is hard. These multipliers suck. I'm like, it's like you said. Like, if somebody just tells you what it is, it's easy. It depends on where you're kind of being influenced immediately off of a reveal of the game. I mean, because I think you could take literally the exact same person and have somebody watch or listen to something that's negative versus watching something that's maybe a little more positive. And it will have a direct impact for most. I think it's just human nature. Your first impression is somebody else's first impression. But and there was a lot against it because, I mean, I share the same sentiment as what you brought up about, you know, it wasn't exactly what what I thought it was going to be because it was kind of barren. There really wasn't a lot going on. But, I mean, you know, it was also a Richie game. It flowed good. It shot well. Honestly, one of my favorite games at the time. I mean, I loved the modes like Dwight. And I guess that's what upset me so much about it is because, you know, when you progress through that, Dwight can create some amazing moments. And that game has some of the best moments in all of pinball. Like when you're doing Boba Fett and you've got the flashing lights. when you're in lightsaber duel and you literally got blue and red lights going off literally just like the duel on the screen that you're shooting like i mean there's just amazing moments in that game and so you know that to me rose above the baron game because it shot so well it had so many good moments um and you know a lot of times i i wouldn't trying to do the point stuff so i didn't care so much about the multipliers and doing that so mine was just kind of more i want to run through the modes get to the wizard mode that sort of thing but dude it was one of my favorite games at the time one of my favorite games it still makes me mad to this day that people didn't give it enough of a chance yeah it's it's a fast game it's it's a fun game to play and to your point i'm not scoring driven either i mean it was fun to to figure out the multiplier so you could you know stack it at 40 times and go through the meteor field and have like 900 million zillion points that was cool but for me it was about experiencing the the clips and the moments and I think, and this is what I was going to try to get at you with, what does this game need to do to kind of satiate those that might have felt a little bit, not disappointed, but maybe a little bit let down on the first or the most recent Star Wars release? What does this game need to do to make those people feel full, like this is the game that they want? I think there needs to be more in there. I think that people are expecting, I don't know. I don't even know what you would put in there because the other one had the death start, had some stuff like, I think it needs to be more of a world under glass. Uh, again, we always beat that to death, but I think that people want that. I think that they want to feel more in the world of star Wars, even though I think the other one didn't do that bad, but again, it was just barren. I think they're looking for the toys. They're looking for the mechs in this game. Um, they're looking for a little bit more integration into those you know a storyline or the video assets i i think that that's what they're looking for but man like it is just an odd thing to come out with this so close to the other star wars well i mean you did have like a you took a break with some mandalorian that kind of broke up the uh the monotony of star wars releases i suppose but i think you hit the nail on the head and that's where i think it needs to go people want to be in that world of star wars and not not to lessen the efforts on that first play field or the most recent play field star wars but it's like essentially you did have the death star which was cool you had the tie fighter that was kind of on the spring that was reactive just based on on vibrations or inertia of the game which okay no problem but other than that i mean there was really not anything that was in there but the hyper drive is one of the cooler mechs that you'll see in any game with whips visually it didn't stand out you know, just setting there. And that's where I'm going. It's not immediately apparent. So, and I think if you really want to do it, like we just need, you know, from an enthusiast standpoint, recognizable toys and sculpts, you know, I do want to see a big Millennium Falcon maybe on the play field. I do want to see an AT-AT or AT-AT Walker, however you say it, like that would be a cool thing to see. A Sand Cruiser. I want to feel like, I don't want to see Ewok Villages. so hopefully that's not in there. If it is, I will have to edit this out. I don't want to see Ewoks. I don't want to see Jar Jar Binks. I don't want to see any of that. I want to see core formula. I don't know. I don't mind the Ewoks. I want to see a lightsaber in the shooter lane that lights up as you launch the ball. And I want sound effects. I want the original score blasted into my face. And I want clips. But I want the clips and the way that they're presented to make sense, too. it doesn't necessarily have to be linear but i don't want it to be all over the place whereas if it where i don't know what movie i'm in or why two movies are playing at the same time i would i would just i want to experience the movie through a pinball machine uh visually and and and audio wise and then obviously you know depending on who's on the game i think the rumor is that it's john borg on the game at this point it just it has to shoot decent you know and and John's been doing this for a long time. I personally really like John Borg a lot. There's several games of his that I enjoy playing. He's more than qualified than the knockout of Star Wars. So I think the launch day is going to be crucial in hooking people in immediately and trying to limit those that are going to try to pick apart what they see as perceived failures or misses on the game. and uh you know and going back to the teaser the teaser essentially was the logo uh star wars fall of the empire that kind of floated off like you would see during the star wars credits there was some criticism about that teaser but it's like look guys it's a teaser it just kind of confirmed the title which what stern typically does with their and that's what a teaser it was effective enough to get a lot of people talking yes the teaser is for that get people talking get people speculating but people lost their mind about it that like that there should have been more like somebody created their own teaser trailer and i'm like it's just a teaser guys it's not the trailer it literally like what you said the entire point of why these companies do this is just to confirm the title nothing more nothing more right and i didn't get by people were losing their mind about it either i mean you know because i mean we got some messages on that and uh it was weird to me i just i didn't understand i thought that i was in the twilight zone and stuff i know that we talked and we were like what the hell is going on like i don't get Like, it's like nobody's ever seen a pinball teaser. There was a teaser that had the main mech featured in the teaser. And then people were like, oh, so they gave somebody something to talk about. But you know what, man? I don't need any of that. Confirm the title. That's great. Let me see the full proper reveal, the full proper rollout. I don't need little micro deep dive on all the aspects of the game. You run the risk of people looking too much into, like, the small reveal stuff, too. And I've run into that. When Harry Potter came out, it was like, how much do you show this game? Even showing exterior cabinet art package, it's like, is that too much to show? And that's not even showing any toys or mechs. When Jersey Jack did Avatar, some of the teasers actually showed gameplay. To me, that's probably a little bit too much to be showing on a teaser. But again, there's so many different approaches. So I guess I just I'm conditioned to appreciate just the stern teaser that confirms the title in 10 seconds with like a little hook that wants you to tune in next week. And it's yeah, I agree. And I'm kind of mixed on on teasers in general because I think, you know, they can be a good thing because it gets people talking. But then I also think they can kind of be a bad thing because of what kind of was going on with this to where people automatically start talking negative about it and getting kind of weird about stuff before they've even seen anything. So I think it's double-edged sword. Sometimes I'd rather just them drop and do the release, you know, show us the trailer, show us the video sort of thing. And, you know, and on the flip side, man, we had probably ten times as many people reaching out and be like, stick me on the LE list. Kind of go ahead and get on the list for, you know, a spot for a premium. Kind of get on there for a pro. Kind of go on there because I think this is going to be awesome. So, I mean, you know. It was odd, too, because we were getting emails and calls, right, right after the teaser. because i mean we saw exactly what everybody else saw yes and then you know several people hit me up and i'm sure for you too hey so what do you think star wars i was like yeah that was a sweet logo man like i don't know i don't know what to think of it i mean it's star wars i don't i don't see it uh you know being a miss from a theme perspective but i don have any idea what to think about star wars i don know what fall of the empire means Well there were so many people asking me that Ken I literally had to go on Pinside and I had to start searching because I thought PIX or another, like the actual trailer got dropped somewhere that I didn't know about because people were like, it was just what you said was like, so what do you think about that game? And I'm like, um, it was a logo. You're trying not to sound uninformed. You're like, well, you know, I'm digesting it right now. Just in case that you did miss something. Right, right. Because we're pretty up to date and current on all this kind of stuff, especially when it comes to, you know, maybe proprietary stuff that's not out occasionally. But, yeah, I don't know. We'll see. You've got Spike 3 system that is going to be rolled out for the first time officially in a cornerstone. There's a lot of speculation as to what that's going to offer. I think we were talking earlier and George Gomez had hinted at being able to drive a higher resolution on a bigger screen, although the screen size might not be increased on this game. I would assume it'll allow for better light shows. Yeah, and that's what I heard, too. Even though that they were going that the Spike 3 is going to have that capability of a larger screen, higher res, you know, the rumblings that I heard is that will not start with this game. This game will have the Spike 3 system, but it will have the current monitor size and setup that previous Stern LCD titles have had. And then, you know, obviously we kind of saw already the quieter, more robust power supply in there that rolled out in Metallica on there. But, yeah, and what else were you saying? You said you felt that there was a light show. I don't know. I would assume maybe you're going to get more enhanced light shows or the ability to drive a better light show. So I'm noticing that they're marketing Spike 3 into their promotional materials and their teaser stuff. So for me, as a consumer or enthusiast, if I'm just kind of walking into pinball, I'm new or it's for the first time, and I'm saying, hey, Star Wars, hey, Spike 3, what's Spike 3? How is that going to be described? How is the person that is buying the game, how are they going to appreciate the benefit of Spike 3 being part of the value proposition? So we'll see how that is. And I believe Stern is kind of ready to communicate some of that to some of the dealers and the public. Well, and I know at the time of this podcast, we're recording this on Wednesday, September 3rd. Speculation is that that game will be revealed next week just because of the media and distributor invites that are happening at Stern. Typically, that coincides with the reveal, and those are set up for next week. So I would assume we'll see something. I typically they've revealed games a lot of times on Tuesdays, which is pretty common. So, well, one other thing throwing there, Ken, that I've heard, too, and I don't know what truth is to this. But with that, that Spike 3 being an upgraded, more, more robust, powerful system. I think a lot of that, from what I heard, comes from, you know, them being able to boost their animations, you know, animations and stuff just eat up a ton, especially 3D animations and everything. Just eat up a ton of processing power. and so I think that that you know that's part of the capabilities of the spike three and why that they you know graduated up to that because I mean you know Stern for the longest time was really struggling in in that department and they've they've came a long way you know with Kong and everything and stuff that they're doing um but it kind of makes sense that I guess that they were they were limited you know it wasn't like JJP and and the system that they used that they needed something a little more robust so i think honestly the larger screen aside i think that that's probably going to be one of the most prominent things that starts to stand out over the next year is they really get used to that system and creating graphics and animations on that that's exciting i think from a streamer standpoint i was reading a little bit online where somebody had they had access to the star wars home edition that's in costco right now and it's got some spike three elements in there and there is an hdmi out that allows you to kind of split the display screen so you can get that direct video capture for streams uh before you could do that but it was pretty finicky and it required some extra hardware it looks like it's going to be native this time and we were just talking about this uh an episode or two ago uh with with being having better accessibility for streamers in order for people to you know freely advertise your product makes a lot of sense so it's cool it's cool and one thing that i i'm excited about this sounds so stupid but like i think it's hard like i hate rigging a camera up like i don't have the ceiling height like that you see in some of the nice arcade bars and different things to where that you know some i'll have the playfield cam and then above the the game they will have uh you know a tv with the the playfield on there showing as you can play but i always thought i'm like and I just never went through tapping in. I know that you can create a rig and tap into the LCDs currently. But I always thought, I want to put a TV above there that just shows the display, shows the scoring and showing everything. I just think it would be neat because you have such a gap above your pin, even with a topper. I'm like, I want to put a TV up there and just show the LCD but larger. Yeah, you could totally do it. You'd be able to split that screen and put something on top of the TV, put a nice little 39-inch up there or something. That's what I think. I just think it'd look cool, fill a gap. I mean, although you could look directly at it at your backbox, but I guess. It'd work. I might try it, just see how it looks. It might look like shit. Who knows? Yeah, so this is what we're going to attempt to do, Greg and myself. When the game is released next week, obviously priority is going to be for us to try to get orders in. But typically there will be a little bit of a buffer between the distributor getting information and the game officially being released to the public. So what we would like to try to do is record our first impressions on a podcast immediately after that distributor meeting and then not releasing that until the game's officially revealed. So if you check back and if you haven't already done so, you know, subscribe to Flippin Up Pinball Podcast on whatever podcast platform you're listening on, whether that's Apple, iTunes, Spotify, Podcast Addict. you'll be notified of the new episode and then you'll be able to get our direct feedback pretty much at launch which will which would be kind of nice so we'll try to get that out there as as soon as possible and out of respect for stern and them revealing the game for the first time obviously we won't be uh sharing any of our thoughts until the game is officially revealed to the public so i've got i've got two i've got two questions oh yeah i've got two yeah i've got two questions for you actually are you ready the two the two biggest questions the public has been asking me about Greg Bone, and I want to see if you can guess one of them. If you get two, I'll be impressed. I think one of them is Where's the Magic Trick? The Magic Tricks. You dangled the carrot in episode one. Even I have yet to see the Magic Tricks. You know what's insane is Ken brought this up when we were in Galena at our haunted Airbnb, and then Ken starts pulling out magic tricks of his own. Oh, yeah, I had a couple. Those are the only tricks I had up my sleeve. Ken was throwing some sleight of hand around in the creepy room. Did you like that sleight of hand? And then I did my levitation trick. I loved it. Yeah. It looked so good. Thanks, man. I appreciate that. I was a little rusty at it. Yeah, and then Ken went out in the kitchen, the dining room area out from the creep room, and did some David Blaine levitation. Yeah, I've been known to levitate on occasion, usually on vacation in Airbnbs from a distance. That's the best way to capture that. Look, honestly, by the way, eerily and very creepily like Blair Witch Project. Like when you were out there because it was just light around you. We were in the freaky neon lit up tunnel. And then you're just out there and you were so quiet composing yourself to do the levitation that like I got kind of tense around. Like, shit, he might really be possessed. That's could you imagine, man? Like my head spins around and I just started backward crawling up the wall or something like that. That would have been wild. But I would die. I would die. Yeah, no, that that that is. a little scary i also want to kind of go back and look at some of the pictures i took on my phone and try to zoom in and put different filters to see if there's anything in there because man go to house what is that 18 19 oh like 225 years older listen there's some stories in that house i don't i don't care who lived there there's some history in there for sure but uh all right so the magic tricks app absolutely as uh question number one you know you know question number two is no i don't number two i'm kind of lost on it's what's the next it's oh so this might be more for some of the the newer people in the pinball but i have seen honestly quite a few you know seasoned pinball people have the same issue um let's say that you know you go to start a game that ball ejects out into the shooter lane and then all of a sudden immediately launches. You didn't launch the ball. Maybe you've got some scoring somewhere. You're hearing a ding go off. You're seeing some scoring happen on the LCD, but you're not doing anything. The ball is just sitting there. Typically what that ends up being is a leaf switch. And it's just gap just a little too close to where that that vibration of when that ball ejects or a flipper, you know, flips and that that pounding of that coil will be just enough to make that that leaf switch touch and it will register. You'll get some points, might get a sound. And the ball launch issue is because it thinks it's already, that there's a ball in play because that leaf switch is being activated. So it'll immediately launch the ball out of the shooter lane. And the best way, and people think that I am crazy for this, the best way to diagnose that is go into your switch test, take your fist and bang around on the play field in different areas. What that is doing is that it's creating and simulating that vibration from those coils going off, from the flipping of a flipper. And typically, you will find where that bad switch is, or not bad switch, it's a good switch. But that switch problem is, because you're in switch test now, it'll tell you exactly where you need to look. Just go under there, pull that switch down. Sometimes you can adjust it from the top, depending on where it is. But then just gap that switch a little bit further apart. typically 90 95 of the time it'll fix your problem i love that and in fact when you were going into that tech tip i was thinking to myself i i would right now start banging on the playfield and you know what you don't have to like sledgehammer the playfield but you don't have to gently tap it either that's that's that wood's not going to give no yeah yeah you give it some good bangs i mean you know that thing takes a beating you just with your fist because again you're just simulating that and what that's going to do is it's going to cause enough vibration for that switch to touch and you're going to know exactly because sometimes it's hard to to track a switch down like that um i had an opto on elvira one time and man i just could i was having troubles tracking it down we were to show and and stuff and and i just i knew the sound i couldn't figure out where it was and the hammering sometimes won't work because it's just not enough so i had to give it a little bit more because you know a ball going up a plastic ramp that creates a lot of vibration and movement yeah so i had to give it a couple really good pounds and then you right there in switch test it popped up and showed me exactly what what opto was flaky which is another good point that i didn't throw in that that tech tip is sometimes if you've got a flaky or loose opto too uh it'll it'll do the same thing yeah and and switch adjustment is just crucial you've got to learn how to be able to kind of appropriately do that uh even just like a machine gunning slingshot where it's just constantly firing and you're like wait a second why why is this happening i mean just to be able to space those switches typically two causes on that sometimes i've had a couple guys that will replace their rubbers on their slings or something and the rubbers are just too tight they'll typically be like a silicone band or something um on there but if you yeah you guys ever have a pop bumper that's continuously going off i'm wrapping too i'm giving you a free i'm giving you an extra tech tip in here guys but yeah yeah you guys ever got anything going off like that it's typically just that that that leaf switch is just not gapped uh appropriately so just spread those leafs apart a little bit uh and it'll typically solve your problem instantaneously. This, I think, will be a little bit of interest. We were talking about this earlier, some interest to those that are tuning into the podcast and the show because, I mean, we deal with so many requests and so much correspondence on a daily basis, whether that's going to be via email. And you can email either one of us at greg at flippingoutpinball.com or ken at flippingoutpinball.com. We're happy to answer your questions, take your orders, whatever you need at that point. But I thought it'd be kind of fun and you thought it'd be kind of fun if we were able to kind of take everything that's happened since our last episode as far as customer correspondence and interest and put together what we're going to call the Flip N Out Pinball Power Rankings. And those are the top five most requested, most talked about, most purchased combination of products over the last couple of weeks. So Flip N Out Pinball Power Rankings brought to you by Flip N Out Pinball. all right all right so we're going to do this in descending order instead of uh ascending order so we're going to go from five all the way down to one one meaning the most popular the most requested the most purchased it's just a little bit of everything factors into this and myself and greg come into an agreement based on what we're both seeing before we go into the segment but number five this week is harry potter pinball still there the game has been out for several months now long tees still get people almost every single day although although orders have started to wane a little bit. And I think it's because almost anybody who's ever heard of Harry Potter that wants a Harry Potter pinball machine has probably put in a deposit for an order. But they are trickling in still. Yeah, yeah. I would say more so than any Jersey Jack pinball machine of recent time, Harry Potter has been holding strong. And it comes in this week at number five. What do you got for number four there, Greg? So this one's not a game, but it's Metallica Expression Lights. and I mean we get hammered all the time for those things and unfortunately at this moment we do not have any in stock but we had spoke to Stern, what did you speak to them a day or two ago Ken? Two days ago. Yeah and those should be coming up hopefully here this month or so which we very excited to get them back in stock again because they super popular You know it really makes that game But you know I mean I get a ton of requests for those still Yeah, it's remarkable. And I'm wondering how many people are waiting for those to become available before they finally place their order on their Metallica remaster. Yeah, and pull a trigger on a Metallica remaster. Because, I mean, do those expression cabinet lights. They just make an insane difference on these games. Like, it's so magical. Really, really cool. Coming in at number three on the Flip N Out Pinball Power Rankings from Barrels of Fun. Greg, it is doomed. Consistent interest in this pin, but I'm noticing an increased trend in those that are not only asking about it, but making the purchase at this point. And this is another game that seems like it's going to have some legs going into the fall. I completely agree, man. Yeah, it's one of those things that is really, you know, a couple of good code updates on that game. You know, and more getting out there. That's something, too, that people, you know, I saw a thread where people were talking about Dune and kind of shot up in the Penn side, you know, top ten list or whatever there. And people were kind of calling it a joke or whatever else. And, like, well, you know, it's kind of sad that, you know, that game didn't, wasn't in the top ten because most games when they're newly released are in that top ten, like, immediately. But the thing with Dune is there just wasn't a lot of them out there. You know, there hasn't been a lot get out into the wild, and I don't think very many people are clamoring for a Dune or anything. So I think that this is something that has just been one of those really great slow burns to where the more people that get their hands on this game, the more that they see the game, they're over to a friend's house and play the game. It has just started this snowball effect in this build, and we're really starting to see this game take off in the way of sales and people wanting it. Yeah, it's like a little sleeper hit in the making here, hopefully, for Barrels of Fun and Doom Pinball. And if you haven't played it, come out to Expo in Chicago, which will be happening in October. They'll definitely have that in the booth. You can check it out. What do you have for number two, Greg? number two is a game we already talked about star wars and not the original star wars the fall of the empire that we're talking about the game hasn't came out yet we don't know anything about it but again like i mentioned earlier i've gotten a ton of requests stick me on the list stick me on there i'm interested it's still star wars i'm glad it's confirmed i don't care what it is it's star wars i mean you know that that ip is that big and that hot and again you know if you do got borg on it and everything it's still stern stern stern doesn't miss really you know what i'm saying some games might be a little less popular, but Stern does not miss. So, you know, we've had a lot of people already clamoring for that game, even though they haven't seen it yet. It's exciting. And number one, actually, if you would have asked me this maybe a month and a half ago, I might have been surprised, but I'm not as surprised as I am right now because it's consistently been the most requested, talked about, and ordered game for the most part coming through Flippin' Up Pinball, and that is Jaws 50th anniversary pinball. It's just amazing. I've never seen anything so consistent where it's such like people keep, they just want the game. And it's great. They're back in stock at Flip N Out Pinball too. So if you're looking to get one, you can actually order today. We get it shipped out to you tomorrow at FlippinOutPinball.com. Which I'm like, hey man, that game, I mean, it was kind of, it took a minute to get some, I mean, it did really well. It did really well on launch. but then you know i feel like some people are still on the fence about it but man did that game get some legs it's like you said it's just a consistent like every day there's inquiries on that game and purchases on it yeah you know people still buying it not just curious about it people buying it so you know i kind of thought that we were going to be out of this this september run um the way things were going but but you know we're getting pretty close so you know not to create any any fomo because i believe that we'll still get some in the december run there but you know definitely get that game because it's an anniversary so it will be gone once this year's over and that december run's done or we run out uh stern stern is actually officially out uh that doesn't mean that dealers are out but stern is officially sold out to the dealers so you know make sure to get in there before you miss out because that game will be gone and you will not see it again yeah i agree i had somebody that emailed uh this morning actually before we jumped on the podcast and he's like hey i'm looking at getting a jaws i'm probably gonna order it in Q1 because I'm in the middle of doing a game room. I just wanted to make sure you think you'll have it in stock. And it's like, you know, not to come across as the sales guy. You know, if it was another game, possibly, because you can kind of catch the trends. You know what's going to leave and what's going to be harder to get. But if you're thinking about getting a Jaws 50th, don't be waiting for Q1. That would be my opinion. Because we're going to shoot you straight. Literally. Ken's not bullshitting. You know, our job is to sell games, but we don't sell you the game. You know what I'm saying like because there'll be times that people come in and be like hey you know uh i really want this game but i'm not gonna buy it for another like almost same scenario like i've got a game room or i'm finishing my house or you know we're getting some wood floors redone it's gonna be a month or two like can i put a deposit down for that game you know and i'll look at him i'm like man you don't need to do that yeah i'll talk people out of you and suggesting that right it's like don't worry exactly you're gonna be in good shape probably gonna be here you know you're fine like we we've got enough in inventory they're they're most likely not gonna sell out you know if it does get to that to where it's getting close in your, your date that you're wanting the game, I'll let you know. But you know, in instances like this, it's the reverse. I mean, again, we're, we're not bullshitting you. Some things are kind of, you got to jump in while you can. Yeah. At the end of the day, you gotta, you gotta be able to put your head on the pillow and sleep the sleep of the just. So I have no interest in trying to convince you into something that, that you don't need. It's a, and I think one of the, one of the things that we consistently are reminding people of is that, you know, everybody are flipping out. We are all enthusiasts first. So we're as excited for you to get a game as we are. But it's fun to put ourselves back in the shoes of the person who's buying a game for the first time. Because, I mean, there's no better feeling than buying a game and getting a new in-box pinball machine. There just isn't. It's my favorite. My favorite is first-time people that go, I've never purchased a new in-box pin before. Or just I've never bought a game before. And it's like, oh, my God. There's nothing. Like I rented a game. I rented a game to a buddy of mine. And he's a hell of a player. I mean, a fantastic player, man. And, you know, I took it over and dropped it off at his condo or whatever. And I told him, I said, even that, just reading it, I was like, Chad, dude, I was like, you just do not know what it's like, how special it is to wake up in the morning. And if you want to have a cup of coffee or something that you just go in your underwear, your socks, whatever, your robe, and flip some pinball. Or just at night, you're winding down and it's like, oh, man, I'm about to go to bed, but I kind of want to go put a couple games on Jaws. You know what I'm saying? It's the closest thing an adult's ever going to get to getting a new toy when you're little. You know what I mean? It's just the enjoyment's there, and it's just you're so proud of it. And I'm a sucker for this. I will go downstairs. Well, I guess back in the day when I had my game downstairs. But I'll go into the game room, and I'll just look at my games on in a track mode, and it's just like, oh, man, this is awesome. I love it. You're proud to have a collection. Yeah, for sure. For sure. And that's something I've discussed long ago, but that's something, I mean, it's a very valid point for a lot of people. I think that it's very underrated and understated about how, you know, I know that we consider these things a work of art. We got some fantastic, very talented artists on almost all of these games and stuff, but to just turn your collection on, sit there, have a drink, and just relax. She didn't even play. Just to be able to sit there and look at it and enjoy that you have that machine and that thing in your house is just magical in its own. It's just so great, man. It's so underrated. There's not anything else in my adult life that I can really compare it to or that I would get as excited or passionate about. And I guess that goes back into just having a hobby and whatnot. A new car? There's nothing like it. yeah a new car is the only thing you're right yep i agree but i feel a new car wears off very quickly i do not know what pins do not wear off to me like they do not like a new car man i don't you you can have you having a even my jeep i loved my jeep and that's why i sold it now i regret selling my jeep but my jeep was the same thing man i just walk out there and i'd stare at i loved it but it's still kind of faltered and i was kind of like okay i'm ready to move on from it man my pins Like I just, I couldn't, I couldn't get rid of my collection. I've tried to downsize before and stuff. And it's like when you have a hole or you've got a room that, that used to have, you know, two or three pins in itself. And that room is now naked because you, you downsized it. Ah, it just leaves a hole. It leaves a hole in your heart. It's like, it's like when your kid, uh, goes away to college for the first time and you're and you look in that empty room and it's like, man, this, this guy's not here anymore. when you get rid of the beloved pinball machine and there's that spot that's sitting in the lineup it's like you gotta fill it back up as soon as possible oh and speaking of that man my kid goes away to college in about two years and don't think that she's not getting like a freaking Murphy bed or something put in there so that when she comes home she can sleep but otherwise she's gonna be surrounded by a bunch of pinball machines pinball machines it's like I got some good news and I got some bad news in regards to your room we still have you a bed but you gotta fold it out of the wall right you might not be able to get up out of it you might have to climb under a pinball machine but you've got a place to sleep when you come home honey you can find your bedding in that galactic tank force cabinet uh sitting right there on the floor pull it out of the coin door that's a pinball machine that folds into a bed that's what we need it's probably not a bad idea actually it's like it's got something out of there it's like a trundle bed or whatever where the bed pulls out from underneath of it at the side you can sleep on a little mattress oh my gosh man could you imagine if uh and i was i was thinking about this when you were talking earlier like it'd be so cool if you just had a like a built-in cigar ashtray and an air filtration system on your pinball machine so you had you had your drink holder you had your cigar holder little ashtray yeah you'd like blow it towards the speaker panel just kind of suck it in and exhaust it out of the house so you wouldn't be upsetting anybody inside that's awesome and exhaustive exactly you know that's that's like spike four man you get the increased exhaust exhaust fan that's on there and just kind of kicks it out the outside with the super quiet fan right with the so you can you can smoke in uh in peace and quiet while you're playing your game but uh yeah man you got anything else for this episode seven of the flipping out pinball podcast you know man i'm just uh i'm excited for next week and seeing what uh what Star Wars brings us and what Stern brings us. I'm stoked about it, man. Yeah, stay tuned. Stay tuned, as Stern Pinball and Zach Sharp would say on the release of that game. And if you want to get on that list now, you can do so. It is the interest list. We are not taking pre-ordered deposits right now. Let the game come out. You can go to FlippinOutPinball.com to see what we have currently in stock. But again, email us individually at Ken at FlippinOutPinball.com or Greg at FlippinOutPinball.com and be like, hey, guys, want to get on the Star Wars list? When the game comes out, we can hit you up. We can send you the invoice and get your game in the queue. If you want to take a look at the used inventory, and these are pre-owned games, games that typically come in on trade, you can check out all that used inventory. Go to our Facebook page, and there's a link that's at the very top. Click on it. It shows you everything that we have that's used. And if you can't find it, maybe you're not on Facebook, or you can't find that pinned post, again, just email us, and we can send you a direct link to that. Or you know what, Greg? I've offered to even copy and paste that list and send it in an email. and the the great thing about checking out the use inventory if you're looking for a used game if we don't have it you can tell us that you're looking for a used game and we put you on that interest list and that just kind of takes a lot of the busy work out of you having to keep hitting refresh on our facebook page at use inventory because we're going to call you up and be like hey that you scared stiff you're looking for guess what we just took one in it's in great shape here are the details would you like to grab it uh and if not no harm no foul because we put it right back on Facebook and we sell it there. And then finally, we ask you to please consider this helps the show just from an analytical standpoint and the exposure of the post that we put out. Can you like or follow us? Follow the podcast on social media, whether that be Facebook, YouTube, Instagram. I think we're even on X. It just helps with exposure because when if we have, say, a thousand people that are following us and we put out a post, It's only going to maybe 100 people. It's about liking, following, and sharing posts. It kind of helps spread that out without us having to do some paid ads. I did want to say also, man, am I talking a lot here? I feel like I'm pretty winded. Keep that information rolling, Kim. I'll let you sit idle on this one. I wanted to give a special shout out to our Patreon big tier three supporters, Tony V and Rodney. They're kicking in at tier three. We really appreciate it. And the Patreon is growing. So check us out over there, patreon.com slash flipping out pinball podcast, or just search flipping out pinball podcast, Patreon, see how you can support the show. What else? Are we good? Is this where I, where I wrap it up and you've got your witty, your witty reply? One, one, one thing that in there that I forgot to mention is that we do now have Dungeons and Dragons pros and premium in stock. So if you guys missed out on that or on the fence about getting one again, right? And get a, get yourself a good little D and D experience. Yeah, the premiums were hard to get, especially because there were a couple people that came to us because they couldn't find them in stock. But they are now in stock and ready to ship to your home. Outstanding. Again, no better day than new pinball day. Agreed. And hey, listen, folks out there, keep that lightsaber holster. Next week we'll be here before you know it. Yeah, that's going to be good times. And we're excited to go through another reveal. It seems like every couple months now it reveals, and that's not too far-fetched. Woo-hoo! For Greg Bone, I am Ken Cromwell. See you on the dark side. And don't forget to take some time out of your day and play some pinball. So long, everybody. _(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_ --- *Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: ecab13f4-aae5-4d58-ba6f-e6e6c45d2ade*