# Son Beats MPT3k playing Jokerz (Williams 1988)

**Source:** Mystery Pinball Theater 3000  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2019-05-04  
**Duration:** 35m 46s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieaq61CfkN0

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## Analysis

Mystery Pinball Theater 3000 streams gameplay of virtual Jokerz (Williams 1988) using a newly acquired Sony camera, discusses virtual pinball design and tap-passing mechanics, and plays several games with his son Micah, emphasizing tournament-level competitive mentality and the importance of sustained play pressure.

### Key Claims

- [MEDIUM] Jack Danger designed his pinball machine in Visual Pinball and showed that tap-passing is possible in VP if the flipper routines are written correctly — _Host referencing Jack Danger's work and public demonstration, confirmed via secondhand account of streaming conversation_
- [MEDIUM] Tap-passing is harder in virtual pinball than real pinball due to digital constraints, but players who learn it on real machines transfer well to digital — _Host's opinion based on VP design experience and player feedback_
- [HIGH] Host is planning to build a small/half-size real pinball machine with his son using real coils, real flippers, and real pinball museum lights — _Direct statement from host about future project, inspired by Jack Danger's VP design work_
- [HIGH] Host plays on a tournament team called 'Pan and Tilt' and had a match on Tuesday where he played World Cup Soccer 94 and World Poker Tour — _Host's direct statement about tournament participation and results_
- [HIGH] Sony camera purchased from eBay for $90-$170 (unclear exact price) came with only the camera body, no accessories — _Host's direct account of unboxing and setup experience_
- [MEDIUM] The virtual Jokerz table in VP was designed by pinball people, not non-pinball people — _Host's assertion about VP table design quality and designer credentials_
- [MEDIUM] Pinball museum in Alameda has a real Jokerz machine — _Host's statement about local arcade location_
- [HIGH] Host previously used a Logitech c920 camera as a pinball playfield camera, now repurposed as a player camera with wider field of view (~80-180 degrees) — _Host's direct statement about camera repurposing_

### Notable Quotes

> "nothing beats a real pinball machine period but I built this and I love it"
> — **Mystery Pinball Theater 3000 (host)**, ~13:00
> _Core philosophy balancing virtual pinball enthusiasm with acknowledgment of real machine superiority_

> "can you tap pass in virtual yes can you tap pass on all virtual no no I don't know"
> — **Mystery Pinball Theater 3000 (host)**, ~12:30
> _Clarifies capability variability in VP tap-passing implementation across different table designs_

> "never stop never stop like keep playing like all I was thinking about was oh cool warlock"
> — **Mystery Pinball Theater 3000 (host)**, ~27:00
> _Competitive lesson about sustained pressure in tournament play despite apparent lead_

> "blood is thicker than water"
> — **Mystery Pinball Theater 3000 (host)**, ~43:00
> _Philosophical aside during gameplay with son about family dynamics vs competition_

> "it uses USB power which is terrific except if it detects that data is coming over that signal it it doesn't whatever"
> — **Mystery Pinball Theater 3000 (host)**, ~4:30
> _Technical troubleshooting note about Sony camera power and data transmission issues_

> "this camera dude lays Weston molestin my phone it's SiC it weighs less than my phone I'm a little scared of it"
> — **Mystery Pinball Theater 3000 (host)**, ~8:00
> _Enthusiasm about new camera's portability with minor concerns about durability_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Mystery Pinball Theater 3000 | person | Host of the stream, virtual pinball enthusiast, tournament player on team 'Pan and Tilt', father, VP content creator |
| Jack Danger | person | Pinball designer known for designing machines in Visual Pinball and demonstrating tap-passing mechanics in VP |
| Micah | person | Host's son, skilled at playing virtual Jokerz, defeated host in gameplay |
| George | person | Podcasting partner of host (Crime related), inspired host's stream setup improvements |
| Zack Sharpe | person | Appears to be involved in coaching/heckling during host's gameplay with son |
| Jokerz | game | Williams 1988 pinball machine, virtual version played on stream, real machine located at Alameda pinball museum |
| Visual Pinball | product | VP platform where Jack Danger and others design custom pinball machines with tap-passing and advanced flipper routines |
| Pan and Tilt | organization | Tournament pinball team that host plays for, had match on Tuesday |
| World Cup Soccer 94 | game | Pinball machine played in tournament, host scored ~530 million, lost to teammate with 690 million |
| World Poker Tour | game | Pinball machine played in tournament, host scored 37 million |
| Deadflip | person | Pinball streamer/content creator referenced for VP design work and table design methodology |
| Sony A6400 | product | Mirrorless camera purchased by host from eBay for ~$90-170, used for improved pinball playfield capture |
| Logitech c920 | product | Previous camera used for pinball playfield capture, now repurposed as wider-angle player camera |
| Pinball Museum Alameda | venue | Location with real Jokerz machine accessible to host |
| Warlock | person | Discord contact who suggested host stream to test new camera setup |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Virtual Pinball Design & Mechanics, Tournament Competitive Play Strategy, Camera Equipment & Streaming Setup, Jokerz (Williams 1988)
- **Secondary:** Tap-Passing in Virtual Pinball, DIY Pinball Machine Building, Family/Father-Son Gameplay

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.82) — Host is enthusiastic about new camera equipment, genuinely enjoying gameplay with son, proud of VP community design quality, and reflective about competitive lessons. Minor frustrations with technical setup (micro HDMI, power/data issues) quickly resolved. Strong positive sentiment about Virtual Pinball and its design sophistication.

### Signals

- **[content_signal]** Host acquired new Sony mirrorless camera (A6400) for improved playfield capture quality, replacing Logitech c920 in primary playfield role, continuing content production optimization (confidence: high) — Direct statement about camera purchase from eBay, setup troubleshooting, and deployment in stream
- **[gameplay_signal]** Jack Danger demonstrated tap-passing is mechanically possible in Visual Pinball when flipper routines are properly coded, though reportedly harder than physical machines (confidence: medium) — Host referencing Jack Danger's public demonstration and confirmation that VP tap-passing is implementable
- **[design_innovation]** VP table designers (confirmed pinball people, not outsiders) are implementing advanced flipper control options like tap-passing through proper code architecture (confidence: medium) — Host's assertion that VP designers write flipper routines enabling tap-passing; reference to Jack Danger's work
- **[competitive_signal]** Host participated in tournament match on Tuesday playing World Cup Soccer 94 (lost 530M vs 690M) and World Poker Tour (37M score), emphasizes sustained scoring pressure over lead protection (confidence: high) — Host's detailed account of tournament match results and competitive philosophy about never stopping pressure
- **[community_signal]** Host defends VP community sophistication, noting non-gatekeeping of real vs virtual pinball and emphasizing VP skill transferability to real machines (confidence: medium) — Host's repeated statements about pinball people designing VP tables and skill transfer between formats
- **[product_strategy]** Host planning to build small/half-size real pinball machine with son featuring real coils, real flippers, and custom lights, inspired by VP design sophistication (confidence: high) — Host's direct statement about planned mini machine project and collaborative build with son
- **[technology_signal]** Host implementing multi-camera setup with specialized playfield (Sony A6400 at 1080p60) and player camera (repurposed Logitech c920 with 80-180° FOV) for improved stream presentation (confidence: high) — Detailed technical discussion of camera roles, resolution, refresh rates, and FOV specifications
- **[venue_signal]** Pinball Museum in Alameda has real Jokerz (Williams 1988) machine available for play and comparison testing (confidence: medium) — Host's mention of museum location and intention to test new camera on real machine Friday

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## Transcript

alright I'm getting this started let's see [Music] brand-new brand spankin new all right warlock here I am let's see so I finally got it finally got it I'm a happy camper now I have a not the same camera as everybody else that's Sony whatever let me switch over to it the Sony whatever that's what I'm calling it and it looks pretty damn good if I must say so myself let's put a quarter in this I'm using this Papa Smurf table because it's it's there's not a lot not a lot happening on the table and so the my machine is not lagging because of anything happening on this table so the ball movement looks pretty smooth I'm not I'm still not convinced it's at 60 but it says it's at 1080 60 now when you take a 1080 by 1080 a 1920 by 1080 60 frames per second screen and you flip it this way and you scrunch it down it's not in any way alright here are the lights lights camera action whoa this is a fun one Oh yemm's or simulations of EMS all right but I got smooth ball movement I'm really gonna be able to tell when I pop a real machine on as you know whoa crap now this ball is you know it's not a real looking ball it's like a rainbow ball it's like a rainbow so Oh Vince dayum nobody look at this yet this was just for warlock what's up Scott thank you for the bits uh it's hard to it's hard to test on Twitch without actually streaming so I was chatting with warlock on discord and he's like hey you just be streaming tonight I said yeah I was just about to stream because I was going to test out my new camera my new upper playful camera and it's pretty rad I'm diggin it I know I broadcast it to the world so it's my fault I'm diggin it so in this table I'm using because it's light it's kind of light it doesn't tax my computer that much some of these tables like if I started with medieval madness which I will probably switch over to can really really type some Sheen now Jack danger said somebody asked him about you know cuz he had designed his table and visual pinball I think is the sony cam yeah it's a sony cam it's the CX whatever whatever it's so funny it came in a came in a box today and I opened the box and it was literally just the camera cuz I got it off of ebay it's just a camera I was like oh [ __ ] so just to I mean literally just a camera so it's alright so had to figure it out I'm winning it downloaded the software okay I remember the stream you're not too software I downloaded the manual and I was like I don't have an HDMI cable because use it a micro HDMI I don't have a single micro HDMI anyway long story short I figured out everything uses USB power which you know the pin stadiums are going to be you were at your buddy's house visiting I think I was at free girl watch I think I was at free girls watch it uses USB power which is terrific except if it detects that data is coming over that signal it it doesn't whatever you don't want to get to the minutiae of what's going on with this camera but it's good it's lighter than my phone it's amazing oh boy right now I'm looking now I'm looking after the kids on my own so the kids are in the room probably killing each other but I'm screwed so yeah so I was about to say something though like so I was watching you know dead flip and he designed his he designed his pin damn it he designed his pinball machine in the one he's building in visual pinball and then somebody asked him something anyway he was showing people had a tap pass he was like I'll teach everybody had a tap pass Congrats on the news cam said oh let me pause my tap passing um thing an adult for a moment because don't panic flip is here do ya I'll be right in just a minute this camera came in a box period and then I had to figure everything else out but of course for $90 for a hundred and no that's okay he didn't rough for $90 for a hundred and seventy dollar camera I'm good with figuring some stuff out I had to go to the store buy a micro HDMI cable I figured out the the data thing yes George is my podcasting partner in front of crime I figured out the thing I actually I'm using a little power supply that doesn't that fakes like it's you know it's just running power so I got that set up this camera dude lays Weston molestin my phone it's SiC it weighs less than my phone I'm a little scared of it it's annoying because you can't Oh it snowing because you can't turn it off without unplugging the HDMI and closing the door so that's a little annoying but everything else about it is is terrific so I want to prove something to nothing okay here's the thing nothing beats a real pinball machine period but I built this and I love it and so Jack danger was showing people how to tap pass on oh and I forget what was like skateboard or somebody that was at the table and they said and someone said hey Jack can you tap past and visual pinball in virtual pinball and he said absolutely not so there's that so here's the thing they figured this stuff out it's not it's not non pinball people making these virtual tables it's pinball people making these virtual tables so if you need to tap pass they will write the flipper routines that will do it now I'm still not saying that it's I don't want to be get on a soapbox today but I'm not saying that it's perfect it's probably harder to tap pass on a virtual table than it is on a real table just because digital is a little hard but I I'm telling you if you learn that if you learn that on a real table you're in good [ __ ] shape you get on a Paragon table or something you're in good shape can you tap pass in virtual yes can you tap pass on all virtual no no I don't know it just it just like the fact that he this table and VP was amazing I was like oh cool yeah I want to build I'm gonna build the table with my son we're gonna build a little mini table it's gonna use real coils real flippers real you know Scott's gonna make some mini pen stadium lights for them oh I guess I guess you just found that out Scott but but um just kind of like remember these these guys I'm not saying I'm a great table master but these guys did you say him these guys it's not gonna be a digital table it's gonna be a real table I'm gonna really real me I'm gonna cut a real white but it's gonna be like like it's gonna be small you know maybe not too small maybe it'll be a half half size of a real table but I don't know I get I get high I don't like it I get very defensive of my um my VP community I mean I'm playing real pinball every single day in fact Tuesday we had a tournament I have I have a team I'm on a team here called pan and tilt and we had a we a match oh thank you [Music] we had a match and this is Joker's by the way we had a match and I played my two games my two games were my two games first one was World Cup soccer 94 and I got I just I got I got beat because I blew up I've screwed up but you know the the final final final Cup whatever anyway I'm a like five hundred thirty million and the other guy on the other team made six hundred and ninety million but a World Cup I'm sorry World Poker Tour I picked World Poker Tour as my next game 37 million I think George you might have seen that show up on pinned ago 37 million these these guys were not easy to play because the guy that was right behind me cranked up a score of I think I was at crap can double if I can get those ramps nope won't do it nope my time ran out three seconds damn can't do it the one guy had 90 the one thing I had 2 million I had 30-something million he managed to crack up 28 million on one ball I was like this son of a [ __ ] is gonna beat me so the moral of the story folks is even if you're a good lead playing tournament style pinball even if you're in a really good lead do not let up keep fighting fight like fight like there's no tomorrow never stop distancing yourself from the other player has anybody ever played Joker's so old Williams it's a fun game damn it never stop never stop like keep playing like all I was thinking about was oh cool warlock yeah Joker's Joker's is fun they've got one in the the pinball museum and Alameda out here do whatever it takes to keep making points keep going go for a personal best if you've got people beat by a hundred bazillion keep going go for a personal best because somebody right behind you is gonna creep up and beat you if you don't have that mentality and I'm probably talking to hear myself talk because I really thought I was I really thought I had such a lead that I couldn't get beat but something in the back of my mind said no play this guy like oh did you see that same play this guy like like it's a thank you for more bits my operator took me on a tour of the place he worked oh yeah yeah yeah is it awesome so anyway you guys are helping me get this stream all set up George you uh you inspired me to do some some extra stuff on my stream I will show you in a minute as soon as this game is oh that ramp is look at that I will be streaming black night next week black night right now it's making its debut at the Midwest's I'll show you I'll show you okay so here's here's the first thing I did Oh Millie --n million where where's million where is million oh yeah I did anybody see where that million was I certainly didn't so check it out if I want to take a break I'm gonna do this all right we'll be right back hey and we're back and oh yeah check it out he keeps going he keeps going when I start the stream hey Micah when I start to stream it's gonna look like this oh this [Music] hi Mike goodbye Mike and then he goes to this because because George has a big screen right so I got to do it yes and my son oh my god oh yeah how did the snow treat you man you guys got a lot snow out there I haven't left the house today oh my god okay something's wrong with my son you should clip your sake I should clip your son coming in and out and saying saying that when you get 100 bits yeah boy oh so I was able to also take so this camera that you're looking at right now used to be my pinball camera it's a Logitech c920 - it's no longer that now it's player camera which gives me a wider field of view which is know which is terrific 80 80 80 180 degrees we hit 80 yesterday in or Wow not that much snow here keep warm see making fun of you Oh No Scott's clipped it alright here's my I got a bit hit right both ramps again with both balls going shy though what do you wanna play this game yeah yeah okay Mike is here to kick my butt you wanna play Joker's you can pick any game you want Jokers okay wait wait let's let it drain let's let it drain and then we'll start over all right you're gonna lose though I mean good luck son love you all right we have to do this the right way we have to do this there oh look at that oh look at dad what oh my god did he actually do that oh my god what is going on [Music] we got a credit okay [Music] kids have pretty good reflexes don't understand me yes he does now Micah is really good at this you got it all one's yours please right yeah I'm trying so hard bow locked King [Music] well save oh that's my boy now wait what are you opposed to doing this one up the ramp again balls you got a jackpot Oh so yeah so you keep all booked both balls going and you get it up we'll both balls up the round I was really trying that guy said don't and the rest rate the kids and I was like alright now remember what I said earlier no matter how much I get if I get in the lead keep going blood blood is thicker than water oh all right so here's what you do OOP one right out all right now there is stuff up there to do like if you shoot this up here it gives you it spins the card so you can get this kind of like the mystery it's kind of like a mystery award all right I fight him backhand that nope I can't backhand it helps oh bad bounce the problem with this target is it oh yeah I do yeah but don't don't go like that don't lift your hands up like you can mmm okay that's trying to be fancy with the ball again all right here we go up the ramp up the ramp oh not that ramp yes I'm up to you I'm at 4x playfield if I hit the snick shot then I can get wait no never mind never mind so once I get it up the ramp I have to blow up the reactor and no nevermind that's wrong that's wrong - I know so once I get it up both ramps and I can change my song - like you know shook me all night long or something like that is that it's closed it's closed oh yeah my shot was not so how do you get an extra ball extra ball I can't remember Oh making it there drop poker and your hand is oh wow this game I'm gonna zoom in on that well yes that one got to oh whoa date obviously got to ramps nice yes got again draw what is going on oh special never aim is to make kids don't underestimate hey you got 2x what table is this this is Joker's Williams 1905 I don't remember what year well my son is kicking my butt let hi my name is jour my name is Roger this is Zack not today not today alright Micah I know it looks my if looks with our boy from there I can zoom it up so it can look less blurry alright I need to make some points wrong I need to redeem myself in front of people I'm not I never left I never let my kid win anything like really because guys if you're if your dad if you're a dad out there you realize it's only a matter of time before they actually beat you so maika it you know this is a life lesson I want to teach you it's not about winning I know I'm just saying it's about it's your turn check it out once you launch the ball if you can hit both ramps you double your score you don't have to but if you can hit both ramps you double your school or you can just play your regular game all right yes one more ramp gotta hit the other one this is life here people on the back you know what guys the stream is over we're good we're good we're good bye-bye all right all right all right all right all right Micah I'm gonna try this hashtag destroyed no okay I'm gonna try this now you you I can't believe you made those ramps all right hey hey all right come on gotta give that a space thank you daddy space you want me to try it too why don't you try to get both or am I just gonna it's so good today sometimes not gonna do it wasting time give me the ball give me the ball thank you yeah all right there's one I'm doubling a score that's not as big as yours though oh yeah I doubled less than you I didn't make that ramp yeah did he give it to me guys guys did not give me that ramp um he is hacky wait they said he's heckling you night you made it right okay yeah don't shoot this just try to shoot that and then shoot that I'm getting coached here I'm getting coached by Zack sharp well I suppose X 2 balls lit but we're like oh come here come here yours he literally left the room laughing oh boy oh boy somebody's not getting over watched this weekend did you see that he it didn't but here but wait it didn't did you guys see it future number one in the world right there did you guys see wait look I don't want to sound like I'm complaining I'm happy to boy 1 I'm happy to boy look but I hit those ramps right this is jokers this is joke this is this is virtual jokers but it's still jokers I hit those ramps I need to watch the playback because I did hit the ramps I know I'm fine Scott I'm fine I think we go ahead in this dream now this is a fun little game he actually went back in there in to watch Netflix like that's it like like drop the mic and leave okay anyway yeah I think I will end the stream now cuz I have to put the kids to bed the machine says otherwise you know what guys I'm better I'm I'm good planned adults and I will show you guys my outro he's smoking his cigar in the couch he's smoking like a fat spliff right I gotta think I gotta think don't panic flip cuz I'm bothering him constantly on watch a stream so George I hope you know that my when my stream engine auto ends an auto hosts on the yours don't don't panic flip check him out he's see you next time practice some get revenge this weekend I will I used to play real version there's so much with my dad on vacation oh man yeah the real vert the real version this is quite fun as long as the ramp is working like I've seen the ramp right break a lot and yeah and uh don't kind of clip are you streaming tonight it would be nice because I'd like to kind of watch are you streaming tonight I don't know if Wednesday is on your schedule [Music] Wolfman history no okay he's got to get some work done wolfy is dreaming Wolfman is dreaming Monday Tuesday Thursday that's right I actually know your schedule by heart but um I guess wistful thinking and the other thing I was gonna saying yeah so once again thank you so much George for hooking me up this camera is amazing I'm gonna get this camera in front of a real pinball machine I'm hoping Friday so I can so I can just love it and that's it I will see you guys later and here's my outro and it's pretty cool later guys I don't have the cool credits thing happening just yet I need to go to Stream Labs OBS to make that happen so thank you [Music]

_(Acquisition: youtube_auto_sub)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: fadfa684-cebf-4c9b-8d24-ce50225e8d48*