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Wizards & Warriors Pinball Podcast Ep 1: The Pilot

The Pinball Network·video·2h 48m·analyzed·Jul 10, 2024
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.029

TL;DR

New competitive pinball podcast launches with tournament coverage and player interviews.

Summary

Wizards & Warriors Pinball Podcast debuts with hosts Hottie Frisco Pinball (Hadi) and J-Land (Joe) discussing competitive pinball, recent tournament results, and upcoming major events. The episode covers NWPAS, Rochester Pinball Collective Stomp, Arlington Pinmasters, and provides a preview of summer tournaments including Pinberg, The Beast, and PAPA 21.

Key Claims

  • Leslie Ruckman won NWPAS main open with 117.37 Whoppers, first female winner since the show opened

    high confidence · Hosts discussing NWPAS results from June 9th with detailed tournament breakdown

  • Hadi has been playing competitive pinball for about two years and just hit his 50th event

    high confidence · Hadi's self-introduction early in episode

  • Joe has been playing competitively probably a little under two years

    high confidence · Joe's self-introduction early in episode

  • Pinberg 2024 is scheduled for July 25-27 in Bridgeville, Pennsylvania with a Wednesday warm-up tournament

    high confidence · Hosts discussing upcoming tournaments with specific dates and details

  • The Beast tournament happens August 1-4 in Buffalo, New York at Pocketeer Billiards, organized by Jeff Teolis

    high confidence · Joe mentions attending last year as inaugural event, describing it as well-run with good prizes

  • PAPA 21 (charity event for late Lyman Sheets) will raffle off two pinball machines: one from Jersey Jack Pinball and one from Stern

    high confidence · Hosts discussing PAPA 21 scheduled for September 5-8 in Schaumburg

  • Ninja Eclipse from Turner Pinball was used at Arlington Pinmasters and held up well during the tournament

    high confidence · Hadi mentioning Turner Pinball bringing Ninja Eclipse for tournament, with positive feedback about machine durability

  • Keith Elwin transformed Archer into Iron Maiden through his coding and design work

    high confidence · Hadi crediting Keith Elwin for making Iron Maiden 'the beauty that it is' from Archer base

Notable Quotes

  • “I've never seen as many people get together and sort of cheer each other on as I have here”

    Hottie Frisco Pinball (Hadi) @ ~12:00 — Describes positive community culture in competitive pinball as unique compared to other sports

  • “no other sport or competition allows new players to interact with and play against the best just so quickly”

    J-Land (Joe) @ ~14:30 — Highlights accessibility and inclusivity of competitive pinball environment for newcomers

  • “please set it to five ball. It is very hard when everything's already tight on tilts”

    Hottie Frisco Pinball (Hadi) @ ~37:00 — Practical feedback on pin golf tournament format and difficulty settings

  • “I can't wait to see everybody there. It's just the start. These are just the first two big events.”

    J-Land (Joe) @ ~1:05:00 — Enthusiasm for upcoming major tournaments and community gathering

  • “Level of competition at IFPA 19, absolutely”

    Hottie Frisco Pinball (Hadi) @ ~1:27:00 — Positive assessment of competition quality at major IFPA event

Entities

Hottie Frisco PinballpersonJ-LandpersonLeslie RuckmanpersonJeff TeolispersonKeith ElwinpersonGarrett ShahanpersonLyman SheetspersonArvid FlagerpersonJason Zollerperson

Signals

  • ?

    event_signal: Wizards & Warriors Pinball Podcast launches as new competitive pinball-focused media outlet with episode covering recent tournaments and upcoming major events

    high · Debut podcast episode with two competitive players hosting tournament coverage and announcing monthly content cadence

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Strong positive sentiment about competitive pinball community's inclusive culture and sportsmanship, with both hosts highlighting how welcoming the scene is to new players

    high · Multiple quotes about lack of egos, players cheering each other on, and top players interacting with newcomers unlike any other sport

  • ?

    community_signal: Strong grassroots tournament infrastructure across North America with regional feeders, satellite tournaments, and organized championship series

    high · Detailed coverage of tournaments in Texas, Northeast, Northwest, California, Oklahoma, and Chicago with organized TD structures and streaming

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Pin golf tournament format discussion revealing preferences for objective-based vs score-based formats among players; three-ball vs five-ball debate on difficulty

    medium · Hadi providing feedback that five-ball pin golf is preferable due to difficulty factors with rubbers/center posts removed in three-ball format

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Ninja Eclipse from Turner Pinball received positive reception for 'cool mechs' and durability during tournament play, suggesting boutique manufacturer competitive positioning

    medium · Hadi noting machine 'held up well for the week' with positive feedback from community about evolution and solidity of game

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.506

0:00
Welcome everybody. This is the debut podcast of Wizards and Warriors. My name is Hottie Frisco Pinball.
0:21
Joe, Jay Land. We'd like to welcome you to the newest podcast here Me and Joe have been talking recently And we both decided that it would be cool to start a podcast Focused on competitive pinball We're going to hopefully guide you through the thrilling World of pinball tournaments, rankings, and players Yeah, if you're wondering what competitive pinball is all about You're in the right place Whether you're a seasoned player or you're just getting started This podcast is for anyone who loves the thrill of the silver ball In this episode we're going to dive into the latest news from the International Flipper Pinball Association Or IFPA for short IFPA is the governing body for competitive pinball Organizing tournaments around the world and maintaining player rankings updated in real time So if you see your scores start to go down, that's the decay that everybody has They are responsible We'll discuss some of the most recent tournaments Breaking down the strategies And plays that led to their victory We'll also be spotlighting some of the top players in the world Sharing their stories and tips for improving your game Not all about the pros We're going to also cover all the local and regional tournaments Highlighting up and coming players And events that you won't want to miss Looking to get involved in the competitive pinball scene We'll provide information how to find tournaments near you and what to expect when you compete.
1:53
And in addition to tournament coverage, we're going to explore the history of pinball from its roots in the 19th century to the modern machines that grace arcades and bars today. We'll discuss the design and mechanics of pinball machines as well as the unique culture that surrounds this beloved game. And, of course, we'll have plenty of tips and tricks to help you improve your skill, find the ranks in competitive pinball. Both of us are, I wouldn't say fairly new, but we've been around the block now. We're not as fused into some players. However, we have picked up some things, learned some things. We're always welcome to feedback from all the pros out there who have been doing it for a long time. From nailing your shots to mastering nudging techniques to cover everything you need to know to become pinball pro. I'm not going to say wizard.
Wizards & Warriors Pinball Podcast
organization
IFPAorganization
NWPASevent
Rochester Pinball Collectiveorganization
Pinbergevent
The Beastevent
PAPA 21event
Turner Pinballcompany
Jersey Jack Pinballcompany
Stern Pinballcompany
Iron Maidengame
Ninja Eclipsegame
Whirlwindgame
Centaurgame
The Walking Deadgame
Freeplay Arlingtonorganization
  • ?

    event_signal: Multiple major pinball tournaments scheduled for summer 2024 including Pinberg (July 25-27), The Beast (August 1-4), PAPA 21 (September 5-8), California Extreme, and regional events

    high · Detailed tournament calendar with dates, locations, and organizational details provided by hosts

  • $

    market_signal: Women's representation in competitive pinball tournaments highlighted with multiple female winners (Leslie Ruckman, Jane Verwis, Jackie Olsen, Anna Wolk) at NWPAS sweep

    high · Hosts celebrating all-female sweep of NWPAS tournament divisions including main open, B division, classics, and women's categories

  • ?

    community_signal: Keith Elwin credited with designing Iron Maiden from Archer base, establishing himself as premium designer/coder whose work attracts dedicated players

    high · Joe owns Iron Maiden specifically because of Keith Elwin's reputation, indicating designer name carries significant buyer appeal

  • ?

    announcement: Jersey Jack Pinball partnering with PAPA 21 charity tournament to raffle machine; Stern also donating machine for same event

    high · Hosts discussing PAPA 21 raffle featuring two machines from manufacturers as part of charity event honoring Lyman Sheets

  • ?

    technology_signal: Pinball tournament organization discussion reveals challenges with reminder systems and registration timing across multiple platforms, suggesting need for improved community calendar infrastructure

    medium · Both hosts discussing forgetting tournament registrations despite setting phone reminders, highlighting calendar management challenges

    • 2:40
    Yep. So whether you're a casual player looking to step up your game or a competitive player chasing the top spot in the rankings. this podcast is for you. Tune in as we go through in-depth analysis, exclusive interviews, and all the excitement of competitive pinball. And I just want to point out in that last part I'd love to talk to other people, other players about competitive pinball. If you are a pro out there, to the scene,
    3:09
    I'd love to do an interview and talk to you about competitive pinball, your favorite pins, trying to compete at the highest level. It's just a good informal fun time. More of you that we have on here, us to sort of put out more content.
    3:27
    And I would love to talk to, we would love to talk to any and all of you. Definitely. So, you know, in each week, we're going to try to do this hopefully once a month, depending on what big tournaments are there. And we'll take you on this journey. Well, the pin order's ready because the games are about to begin. Oh, that's cheesy.
    3:48
    All right. Reintroducing ourselves. My name is Hadi, Frisco Pinball. I'm out of Frisco, Texas. I've been playing competitive pinball for about two years now. I just hit my 50th event playing pin masters in Arlington, Texas, at Freeplay Arlington.
    4:05
    A competitive goal, I'd say, I'm hoping by the end of the year, we've got some big tournaments coming. I'd really like to be top 500 by the end of 2024 my favorite tourney so far has been InDisc it was my first time this year had a ton of fun, IE Pinball shout out to everybody that works that great event Bob Matthews, Jim Belcido all the help that they had with putting on a worldwide major as far as my favorite pinball machines gotta go to Whirlwind Classic System 11 When I was a teenager, the air blowing on my head was like the most advanced technology I could ever imagine. So that holds a near and dear place in my heart. It's a tough pin, and I just absolutely love it. And to round out my introduction, what I love about competitive pinball, and I think a lot of you will too, brings together a lot of the most passionate enthusiasts in this great hobby. and I think I've seen some of the most amazing sportsmanship I have laid eyes on in any sport. I've played sports, did, and competitive pinball. I've never seen as many people get together and sort of cheer each other on as I have here.
    5:19
    Great. Yeah, to introduce myself, my name is Joe. I go by J-Land on socials. You'll usually find me in a lot of Twitch streams. I do watch a lot of pinball online. But, yeah, I've been playing competitively probably a little under two years now.
    5:36
    A base that I've earned in Northern Virginia right outside, you know, D.C. My competitive goals right now, I'd like to hit top 250 by the end of the year and ideally find my ceiling. My favorite tourney so far is probably split between two that I've played in. Most recently is the Golden State Pinball Festival. Out in Lodi, California, that was a lot of fun.
    6:05
    And also repping a local tournament, Pin Baltimore, up in Maryland. It's just a really good time. They do a really good job of balancing, you know, fun, casual environment with, you know, some competitive pinball on the side as well. My favorite pinball machine, it's got to be Iron Maiden. Oh, good. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out which machine I really wanted to buy, and that kind of landed at the top, and thankfully I was able to purchase one last year. So I've been pretty much playing it every day since I got it. It's like my home gym, if you will.
    6:47
    And what I love about competitive pinball is that, in my experience at least, no other sport or competition allows new players to interact with and play against the best. just so quickly.
    7:00
    The interactions are, you know, mostly positive and just unlike anything else I've ever been a part of. So it's really been keeping me coming back for more.
    7:10
    That's awesome. So is Made in your favorite Elwynn then, I would assume? It is. It's just so good. It's, like, it's got everything, you know. It's got all the shots. It's super, super difficult to kind of master, but just keeps me coming back for more. So do you start with the default mode when you're playing, or do you try to change it? Does it start on Fear of the Dark?
    7:38
    I think it's – I don't usually start for modes. I think I do like to hit the revive spinner just to get my outlines lit pretty early. But, yeah, I usually just grind out modes. I'm not really prioritizing which you might start with. What's the most amount of treasures you've got?
    7:58
    Oh, my gosh. You know, maybe like four or five. Okay. I've only battled the beast once, and I got him down to, like, I think it was six health, and it was a pretty frustrating drain, but, oh, my gosh, it was such a rush.
    8:17
    Just to get to that part, like, I was just so... You know, it's very exhilarating. Awesome. Yeah, I know there's going to be a lot of competitive players out there that love it.
    8:29
    My first introduction to it was virtual version. Realized how good it was. Obviously, shout out to Keith Elwin turning Archer into the beauty that is Iron Maiden.
    8:43
    If you've ever played a Keith Elwin pin, you know you're in. I've got two of them. Two of them. Godzilla and AIQ. I was just playing AIQ today.
    8:54
    Something about the way the modes are set up that him and his coding team do at Sturdy. So, with that said, let's get into sort of what we're going to be doing here on this podcast. We're going to be as much as we can reviewing footage and giving you results of tournaments that we've recently watched or learned about. We're not going to get to everything. Our goal initially was to do an in-depth review of IPA 19. However, we both have had tournaments that got a little busy, and there are some other ones that have come to pass, such as Yagpin, the Northern Kentucky Open. Shout out, Eric. So what we're going to do is sort of look at some of the footage, and then from there we'll talk about the big ones, our IPA and Yagpin. But we're also going to review just the results of some of the other regional ones that we've seen. If you have a tournament that you'd like us to talk about, some notes about it if you want, because sometimes not every tournament will have Twitch footage, YouTube footage. So feel free to send in any audio, video, and we'll do our best to get it on the show. So before we do that, just a preview of Episode 2. We're both going to Pinberg and The Beast. So hopefully sometime after that, because we'll both have firsthand accounts. get to talk about those, show you some of the footage, and fingers crossed, both of us do very well and maybe come back with some hardware, some cash. So I'm looking forward to that. Pinberg's back. We were both F5ing on registration day.
    10:34
    You weren't at the previous Pinberg's. I wasn't either. No, this will be my first time. Yeah, I watched some of the footage of it. It looks like an absolute amazing time. I know it's baby's first Kinberg now, a lot smaller, but I have no doubt that if it sort of continues to go back to the older format with different versions, it's going to be just as good, especially if it can attract a lot of the top players, expand the field, and offer those. So, with that said, we're going to go into our first review and highlight of a tournament that happened around the same time as IFPAC. Here we are. We have the wonderful, wonderful winners of the NWPAS, Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show. and as you can see, the lady swept.
    11:32
    Twitch regular and amazing player Leslie Ruckman, L. Rucko if you will. She won the main open champion. She was the first female winner since the show opened and took down 117.37 Whoppers. That's absolutely amazing. Yeah. Big, big W. Yeah, that's a big one. That's over half my total whoppers right now. So congratulations to Leslie. Andrew McCann came in second. But you can sort of see the ranks there on the screen. I do want to point out that this will be an audio and video podcast. So we'll try to do our best when we are looking at something on the podcast to sort of play by play give you account of what we're talking about. So right now we're looking at results of the NWPAS, the main open. Matthew Talley came in third. Matthew from the Bay Area, I believe. I think he was a TD at Indisc this year. Really nice guy. And you'll always see him on the Lens Arcade. And then Dustin Goldbar in fourth. Shout out Robert, I hope I say his last name right, God know, God know, coming in fifth, there's a great film about him getting into pinball that came out years back. I think it's called Special Win Lit. I would definitely check that out as well. But you can see the rankings there, who came out on top. Again, congratulations, Leslie El Rocco, pulling in the triple digits. No slots to Andrew McCann, 104.49.
    13:17
    That's a big win. So let's go back to this picture because I want to make sure we shout out all the people that are in this picture. Because it was a lady's sweep. It was an absolute lady's sweep. Very impressive. Yeah, right?
    13:32
    Yeah, it was really cool. Hot Nudge's own Jane Verwis, the B Division Open winner. Another notch on her belt for bringing home some hardware and some whoppers, especially at B Division. And this was a big tournament. but this was not a small one, so as you can tell by already the points given. So she definitely pulled from there. And then Jackie Olsen won the classics.
    13:57
    Congrats to her. I saw her in Captain Zanzibar's streams, gave her a congrats, and she's super happy about coming home with a pretty cool trophy. This picture is pretty awesome.
    14:09
    Jackie's awesome. Yeah, I get to actually play. So she has a weekly, I believe it's a weekly tournament, at a bar called Gestalt in SF. Oh, okay. And I got to play in a tournament there when I went to visit back in May, and it was a lot of fun. So, yeah, shout out, Jackie. Yeah, that's awesome. The great thing about also competitive pinball is you sort of make it a small hobby as it is, but it makes it a little more cozy and you start seeing the same players, which is cool. I haven't met too many egos yet. Fingers crossed. So it's been a lot of fun. And then the women's winner, Anna Wolk, came out with her own championship trophy, and that picture is just pretty awesome. Yeah, very dope. For the ladies to sweep everything, super cool. Congrats to you all, and I'm sure you will have much, much more success in the future. But that was NWPAS, and that was on June 9th, so the same weekend as IFPA 19, right? I think so, yeah, I was just saying we can Alright, and so The week before that There was a tournament Held in Rochester Pinball Collective Shout out to Plantil Podcast Ron and Oh my goodness, I'm going to forget his name It's going to kill me But, let me just Look it up real quick Yeah, Rochester also the location of Nationals next year. Is it? The Rochester Pinball Collective, yeah. That is awesome.
    15:48
    Bruce, I think it's Bruce, yes. I listen to you guys and for some reason I just blanked there. But anyways, the Rochester Pinball Collective had their stomp and I have been listening to them talk about this. They moved into a new spot. I think they expanded their space to the next space over at the RPC. And also shout out to Zach and Bruce for taking care of the machines so well.
    16:14
    Their podcast, please go check them out. You can find it on Spotify and all your podcasting sources. They have some great knowledge about fixing pins and tech issues. I love hearing it because I am not very tech savvy so it's nice to hear things and learn things. They had their big stomp main event and here were your winners there. Go through those. Nice.
    16:43
    Yeah, let me see. Jerry Bernard took first, it looks like. Yeah, 96.82. That's freaking awesome. Big win, yeah. Jerry, I played with him a few times up in Delaware. Super nice guy. I think known for being a pro at kind of classic games, but obviously pretty well-rounded.
    17:02
    Looks like Bob Swan Jr. got second. Look at Bob. Oh, yeah, there you go. Almost 1,600 ranked. Yeah, I love seeing a four-digit ranked player, like, in the top, because it just goes to show, you know, lightning can strike anywhere. Oh, yeah. As you get better, you're going to start climbing those ranks. Those are the names you've got to look out for, you know. It's like, oh, man, this guy's either punching above his weight or he's, you know, just crushing. Exactly. Andy Cushman, 6'3", 595, or sorry, with the 62 Whoppers, and then Matthew Carlson rounding out the top four.
    17:43
    Yeah, great job to those guys. Yeah, and look, you got some names there. I see Jeff Teolis, ranked 49th, came in ninth there, 27 Whoppers. Don't know if that will make his card, but I forgot how it kind of works with the guys in the top 50. I think the average would be interesting to see what the average. We can make that a segment. It seems like everybody's averaging. Oh, yeah. But really, really cool event. They did stream it, and I watched a little bit of it. Like I said, as we get into more of a cadence here, please send in any and all footage. We'll try to get to it and watch it and give our take. So when we do review footage, what we'll kind of do is look at some of the games, talk about the pins themselves, our strategy, things we've learned if we pick up anything, which we will. We're always here to learn. Congrats to the Stomp winners again. Rochester Pinball Collective held on June 2nd.
    18:40
    And yeah, that was a nice little regional tournament for the Northeast. So we move on to Pinmasters, the Southwestern feeder into the Pinmasters in my stomping grounds, and that is Freeplay Arlington. and it was a pin golf.
    19:00
    And obviously pin masters never played pin golf. Have you done a few pin golfs? Just a couple of small like local pin golfs. I think I've only done actually one or two.
    19:11
    But they're usually pretty fun. I think it's been a mix of objective-based and score-based pin golf. I haven't done really just a pure score-based. Yeah, that's what this one was. And I kind of, I don't know what I like better. I've done a couple. Objective base is I guess more unique because they're Locking some sort of Mode or goal behind You know behind getting it set up like hey Start Soul Jam On Avengers you know if that means you Get through get through collect Your Avengers and assemble them and then You know hopefully hit it Into the disc or wherever you have to on the pro So I think I might prefer Goal base I don't know score base This one was tough. So at Arlington. This is the one you played in, right? Yeah, this is the one I played in. I did. I got, so cutoff was 32. I was like 39th by six strokes. So I was not ready. It was three ball pin golf. And I will tell you right now, if you are running a pin golf tournament, please set it to five ball. It is very hard when everything's already tight on tilts.
    20:18
    You know, rubbers are removed. Center posts are removed. It was very hard to get into a group, especially when there are 100-plus people in the ramp area.
    20:29
    It's tough to get in a group, but here's what I'll say. I can't make any excuses. I played how I played. I could have played better. However, it was a good sort of reintroduction since I haven't competed in a couple months to get back into it as we prepare for the summer.
    20:47
    There were a lot of tough machines. They did have, shout out to Turner Pinball. They brought Ninja Eclipse for the tournament. You really have to say that is a winner of a pin for a new boutique one. I know you've seen some of the footage, right?
    21:03
    Yeah, a little bit. I was watching, I think, some of the finals as they were taking place, and it looked very tough. Ninja Eclipse is tough. It's got some really cool mechs. The pin held up well for the week. I am super happy for them and the feedback that they've taken to sort of evolve it into this really solid and pinball world.
    21:30
    Garrett and Clark and everybody else really blew it up, and it was fun to watch. So I played in this one. Garrett Shahan came out on top. He is our Texas State champ.
    21:42
    He just played in pinmasters at District 2 and Nationals. and played you know against escher came out on top and then he's been playing super well he's just on a pair like i'm so happy that he has found not that he hasn't found his group but that he's sort of on this hot streak um his roommate clark mccoy came in second another great guy brian krivinak in third uh played it with brian in pin masters last year he was in my group he's just a really fun guy to play with and ray ford and forth south texas
    22:16
    player. So, 67 points for Garrett in the Arlington Pinmasters. Again, shout out to Arlington for putting on a great event. Louis Marks for being our Texas TD. And Try to Tell Pinball for streaming it.
    22:32
    Good to see you. Good time. Very nice. Yeah, Brian's a cool guy. Actually, you mentioned Brian Krivenak. I believe he's actually from Virginia. He'll make a trip, I think, once a year for maybe a few weeks to visit, I believe he saw his family out here, but he will play in every Virginia and D.C. tournament when he's here, and he will clean up. So it's kind of funny seeing him stop by. Brian's dad was there. I actually, what I did was, I was in a group with Brian, but his dad hadn't been called for some reason, so I kind of gave up my tee time so that him and Brian and his dad could play together. So I'm really happy that they got to play. But that's cool that he's from that area because I've lived in Yeah Nice okay So next tournament was What do we have next In Ebert Oh okay That was their Pinberg satellite Nice We also have We were talking about this earlier The Pinberg satellites We've seen a couple where it's raffle winners or Golden Ticket winners are the person who win it. And so that happened in South Texas at the Wormhole one. Garrett, quick shout out to him, won that one. That would be between him and Wesley Johnson. So Garrett went into a tiebreaker on Terminator 3, came out on top. Wesley's already going to Pinnberg. So it kind of actually worked out where Garrett got the Golden Ticket. He's going, we're going to see him at Pinnberg. for Lynn. That's awesome.
    24:13
    Yeah, let me go through. So Lynn Seberg, it looks like Zach Wallens won that tournament. Tacoma Knights, 48.9 Whoppers. Dustin Goldbard got second. Sean Campbell third. And John Tracy got fourth. And I believe John was the one who won that Pinberg ticket. Oh, nice. Yeah, so he's Kizana's been a pinbrick as well. Hell yeah. Congrats to all our winners. These were some of the regional tournaments that we had just reviewing. Again, if you'd like to have your tournament on the podcast, please reach out to us through Twitch right now or Discord. We will get an email address set up and then you can just email.
    25:01
    I'm Prisco Pinball on all the socials. You're JLand on all the socials. Look for us and we'll We'll take your info and hit you up if we need anything else. So, with that said, let's talk about upcoming tournaments.
    25:16
    Okay. So, we have the big ones coming up, like we said. Oh, yeah. The biggest one coming up, end of July, Pinberg. Pinberg is back. The eSports Resonate, I think it's called. Pinberg is back. So that is going to be July 25th through the 27th in Bridgeville, Pennsylvania.
    25:43
    Registration obviously already happened a long time ago. Like I've learned with most of these tournaments, they happened a few months before, so now I'm always setting reminders. I've missed so many because I forgot. Has that happened to you? Oh, yeah, yeah. I put them in my calendar, and I feel like my iPhone just doesn't remind me. I just have to manually check. I'm just, like, panicking. Like, oh, my gosh, did I miss it? I just hope I didn't eat. I go, Siri, please set an all-day reminder for this day to register for this event. And then I look. I'm like, hey, wait a minute. Where did my reminder go? So the woes of competitive pinball. So Pinberg's back July 25th through the 27th. We hope to see many of you there if you're listening. I can't wait to give it a shot. There's a Wednesday, like, Bash at the Burgundy. A little warm-up. So the Bachelor of the Berg, I believe, is their kind of pump and dump tournament, the side tournament that's going on. But there is a warm-up tournament on Wednesday. It's the only opportunity for players to practice. Yes, that's right. And that's the thing I was going to remind everybody is there is a tournament there that's going to give you some practice on pins. So if you do have a chance to go early, try to go for that tournament at the very least before the big one starts. So after that, what do we have?
    27:07
    The weekend right after that is the Beast. Yeah, the Beast. Shout out Jeff Fiolis, pinball profile in Buffalo, New York, August 1st through the 4th. Yep. Is at Pocketeer Billiards.
    27:23
    Did you do that last year? I did. So last year was the inaugural Beast tournament. I think it was capped at maybe 100 players or so.
    27:35
    We had to test it out, make sure it was... test the waters a little bit. But it was really well done. The techs there were super on it.
    27:47
    And Jeff Teelman really knows how to run a tournament. He had a lot of great prizes. And everything was run like clockwork. all the volunteers did a great job with scorekeeping and yeah it's right there on the border like right next to was it Niagara Falls so there were a lot of Canadian players there too that I expect to be there this year as well a lot of good representation I know a lot of the under 25's are going to be there this year so it's going to be a very loaded player field but it makes it even more exciting to know that you're playing against the best. Listen, you young whippersnappers, I'm tired of you. As Dalton said, or as I say to Dalton, down with the youth.
    28:40
    Yeah, so check out the beast, Jeff Teolis' baby. If anything, like the way he does everything else in his pinball career, it's going to be amazing, awesome. So I can't wait.
    28:56
    My birthday is in that area, August 7th, so that's my birthday gift. Oh, there you go. I'm excited to play, and I can't wait to see everybody there.
    29:06
    It's just the start. These are just the first two big events. We've also got California Extreme happening the same weekend as Pinnberg, from the 26th to the 28th, Santa Clara, California. And then a tournament that I've gone to the last two, three years maybe, the Hangar Pinball Route 66 Tilt Champion in Tulsa, Oklahoma July 31st, August 4th shout out to the Hangar Pinball crew Mike, Chris, Teddy Brandon all you guys and gals threw a really really nice tournament at Magoos in Tulsa, they have six tournaments this year I think including side tournaments and I'm really happy to I'll see you guys continuing with that. If you do get a chance to go down, I think a lot of them are already full. But if any spots in the tournament open up, please go check out Magoo's. You can catch them on Hangar Pinball on Twitch. It's a well-run regional event for us local people in Texas. The drive isn't too bad. Finally, we have some stuff near us. I'm so sick of the fly everywhere. But it's super cool. And so another big regional one after that. But then we've got something happening in Schaumburg in early September. What is that?
    30:29
    Oh, you're talking about Papa. Yeah. Another one that's back. Yeah, that's going to be huge. They recently announced a second pinball machine is going to be raffled off. Yes, from JJP. Yeah, thanks to Jersey Jack. So that's going to be really cool to win two pinball machines from a raffle. and I can't wait to see it again this is going to be take on sort of an elevated meaning as far as tournaments this is a charity pinball event for the late great Lyman Sheets, Penny Epstein and Andy Bagwell have come up with this and it's a great way to honor one of everybody's favorite coders he made my favorite code on a pin which is The Walking Dead it's gone too soon but if you do get a chance, I don't know if it's capped. I know it's a pump and dump, right?
    31:23
    It's card based. It's card based, excuse me, sorry. So it's card based, but unlimited cards basically. Unlimited card, yeah. Okay, so they're going to have that. They're going to have a classics and I believe they have a women's as well. I'd be wrong. That sounds right.
    31:41
    They have, again, like Joe said, they're raffling off the JJP, but they're also raffling off the new inbox turn, so it's quite going and playing. Not only do you get to support a great cause to help fund suicide awareness, but you're going to get to play against some of the best, one of the best cities for pinball, the home of many manufacturers in Chicago. Head out to the Interium.
    32:10
    It's free for Papa 21, September 5th through the 8th. And then in late September, you have the UK Open. Shout out Neil McRae, Domino Pinball. But those are some of the big ones that are coming up. We'll do, obviously, after the Beast, we'll do another episode and talk about what's upcoming. Well, that may have popped up on the calendar that's coming further later on in the fall. Obviously, Northwest Pinball Championships as well. So, yeah, so those are the upcoming tournaments. Excuse me. I think one more. I think we kind of skipped over the Silver Ball Super Social. Oh, yes. That's Andy's thing. Also at Interium this summer if you want even more Chicago pinball action. August 9th through the 11th, right? Yep, there you go. Yeah, so you can make it to any of them. I would recommend trying to get to the Pop It 21 one. It's for a good cause. It's going to be great to see everybody there. Basically month before Expo starts, 40th anniversary of Expo. Hope to see everybody there. I'm going to four. I'm going to Kinberg, The Beast, Papa, and then the UK Open. Are you going to those? I'll be seeing you at three of those. I will not be going to the UK Open, but it sounds like it'll be a blast. Yeah, I just got my passport. Finally. Nice. For 20 years, and I was like, oh, my God, I'm official now. I can cross the country. But I actually needed a piece. I'm going to be driving from Michigan to Rochester. So that is our preview of the upcoming tournament. Again, welcome to the Wizards and Warriors podcast. We're going to try to figure out what works here and what doesn't, but we want to make sure we highlight everything that's upcoming, stuff that's already happened. So now the fun part. So now we can go review some of the stuff that we've seen as far as the big tournaments. And that is, we're going to go here, and we're going to talk about IFPA 19. So that was, hands down, one of the, funnest word, one of the most fun tournaments I have watched in a long time. There were some, you know, it did take a while for us to kind of get going as far as the finals. And I know there's been some discussion about what is going to be acceptable as far as delayed times and stuff. However, the level of competition at IFPA 19, absolutely.
    34:47
    To start it off, I don't have the footage here of it, but Team Europe beat Team USA in the Epstein Cup in an amazing close match. It came down basically to the last game. It's never been that close as far as score. But shout out to Team Europe. So in the finals, you had Jason Zoller versus Arvid Flager. I hope I said that right.
    35:15
    They put on an absolute banger, a classic. See some of the footage here. We have Arvid and Jason starting off on Centaur. As far as Centaur is concerned, I haven't played it too. Have you? A little bit. I know it's kind of a, you can always get some multiballs going, but I believe they were all kind of going for the captive on the left to get a bunch of points. Gotcha.
    35:46
    I want it. Was the multiball turned off on this guy? I think there was a little bit. Yeah, they did something with it. I wish I knew more about Centaur. again we were actually going to go more in depth each match but this one is kind of past a month or so time so we're just going to kind of go over make sure we get that out especially to the winner until the end we have we had Jason come out on top in the first match. So the way it works is they each get to pick three pins for their bank and alternate.
    36:29
    So for this, Jason was... But we had Andy and Tom calling the action. Jason did take the win on Centaur. So up next after Centaur was Bow and Arrow. And Bow and Arrow was a clinic by Jason. I'm going to let some of the audio play here. The most optimal way to play these games. They will all talk about that and they will all be aware of how to do that on these machines. So we're watching Jason play bow and arrow. So basically the way... No, second place. Both spinners turn both sets of lights.
    37:08
    The way it works here is there's a black carpet arcade and there's chairs and couches and a projection screen. So it's there to see kind of. Try again, Krupy. You are not that Krupy. I'm going to lower this.
    37:23
    Reverse of Stern's pinball. It's basically called pinball. Build up your bonus and then just keep spamming that saucer on the top left. So this basically came down to something that Jason is very good at, which is repetitive shots. I know that's Kaylee's sort of trope, but have you played bow and arrow before? I have. I think I've actually played this. Jim, they'll see this copy. This was at Indus. Oh, it was. I don't think I ever played it, yeah. I never played it. Was it in Classics or in Target Matchplay? It was in the Classics Bank. Okay. I don't think I put a card on this, but we're watching the footage right now, and basically your best to get it back on the right flipper after you rip a nice shot up to the left saucer. Right. I think the spinners build value to that saucer. So usually I think I can't remember if they were, like, ripping the spinner backhand from the left or even forehand. Either way, you're ripping either spinner and then catching it. Yeah, I think that's right. You're building up through that spinner. And then there's a saucer on the top, but I think the announcers rightfully said, hey, you want to wait to attack the saucer until it's about 5,000 or so, because you're obviously trying to roll it, hitting it. And there were a lot of times when I was watching this match where you would rip that left side, but the saucer would reject it. And I feel like that's a – I don't know if that's a Jim Belcido special or just typical of the era, but it was fun to watch because there was basically one thing you had to do. And when there's one thing you have to do, I don't know if you do it, I get in my head, okay, it's pretty easy, I got this simple thing, and then it just doesn't happen. Yeah, yeah.
    39:17
    So being attainable, obviously, by the best in the world is fun to watch. I could watch it all day, just consistent rips, and we'll get to that when we talk about Car Hop, which is an ancient classic. Shout out also to IE Pinball for the footage. Thank you Carl for putting on an amazing stream Of IFBA 19 I think if anybody has seen Your stream they know it's high quality And shout out to Pluto For supporting pinball And Pluto works at Twitch And he always tries to get us some more recognition By putting pinball streams on the front page So thank you both But yeah Jason is just playing right now We're going to let the announcers do their thing Real quick for a little bit I'm going to go six because the arrow's low. Tom, six. I say six. Oh, wow. More, more, more. Seven? Maybe eight. Okay, you got seven. Now it's cash time. Now.
    40:16
    Yeah, so see, they're discussing, the answer's right there. I'm going to hear it. We're discussing the strategy of when to start attacking that salt.
    40:27
    You heard some sixes and sevens and now we see Jason going after it. Trying to get it back up. great drop catch, but I think he was attacking also sort of with the alley pass if it was landing on the left to get it back to that right.
    40:44
    So through this match, you saw both of them obviously doing the same strategy. Jason ended up with 222,000, which is absolutely unbelievable because Double roll. Yeah, and you could see the scores if you're watching this throughout qualifying and throughout the playoffs, a lot of players were hitting, you know, rolling at once and being very happy and content. But I think in the match before, Jason played this on stream, I think in some form in the playoffs. I don't know if it was semifinals or quarters. But he had like 234, 235. So we were watching that, and I was like, okay, that's probably going to be his best score. But no, he got close again. It's just got to be consistent. And Arvid, unfortunately, wasn't able to catch up on this bow and arrow. But, you know, Arvid goes down 0-2. Big hole in sports playoffs for you.
    41:44
    The third game is coming up, and it is another nuke of a pin, Bad Girls. Have you played Bad Girls? I don't think I've actually played Bad Girls ever Yeah, so I have not I've never seen one Yeah, me neither, and I know it's one of Chuck Wirt Eric favorites He has one and it was at the Northern Kentucky Open recently That happened this week Sorry Eric IFPA results aren in for it But kudos to Trent Augustine for winning that. Fun to watch. Straight down the middle, pinball on Twitch, SVTM pinball. Make sure you check him out. But Bad Girls was there. And I know there's something with re-racking the balls on the left, But it's a multi-ball heavy, I want to say it's a multi-ball heavy pin. I feel like a lot of players were going, I know there's a multiplayer on the right.
    42:42
    Again, with this podcast, we're going to be trying to learn along with you. They're just pins we haven't seen before. This one, the bad girls, Jason came out on top. So he goes up 3-0 on Arvid, and it's best of best of seven. First to four. First to four, yes. And then you play three after that, best of three. First to two, basically.
    43:12
    So Arvid is down 0-3. I have not been in that situation where you're so far down that you can pull a clutch. Lakers down 3-1 against the Warriors. Have you in pinball? Oh, my gosh.
    43:27
    Not that I can think of, especially not at this scale, right? Like literally the biggest tournament.
    43:33
    Right. So you're thinking, okay, Jason's just got to win one of the next three to take home his first major, first world championship.
    43:45
    Then lo and behold, Arvid starts slowly making his comeback. Start with Car Hop, which is one of the most insane matches that I've seen. I apologize. I don't have the footage. I think on this one, let me see.
    44:06
    But the way that it works on Car Hop, there is a spinner that gets activated at the top of the play field, right? Yeah, there's a drop target on the top right. I believe you have to shoot the center Kind of to hit a left in lane switch And then Shooting the right drop target will kind of activate That spinner for maximum value Yeah so game four Arvid's got to come back And he's got to pull off It was like 93 million 96 million or something It was just short of the GC And I think there was a joke that was like All you have to do is GC the machine And you win Yeah, and so Arvid is, you know, closing in on ball three. What he's doing also during the match is you have to hit the right drop, and then the spinner will light, and then you've got to rip it, rip it, rip it. It goes down. You've got to hit the drop target on the – sort of like a loop. But what he's got to do there is catch up and build that spinner up because it keeps building in value. would go up to $10,000.
    45:20
    Then it eventually gets to a certain absurd amount, why you see $93 million score at IDC on CarHop. Sales of CarHop increased steadily after IFPA 19. But the crazy thing is, this is ball three, and he's got to achieve this insane score.
    45:39
    And like the pro that he is, still a young kid, he comes back and he does it. on game four, down 0-3, down millions and millions of points, and he just comes back with this insane ball three. It was amazing to watch. Ice in his veins. Yeah, ice in his veins. Just go check it out on IE Pinball, YouTube, and Twitch. If I had the footage, I apologize, but it looks like it sort of got corrupted here. Watching right now, Jason Godzilla, and we'll get to that in a second. So the next game up was Ripley's. This had been Arvid's pick throughout IFPA 19.
    46:21
    Throw at it. Wins that one. So down 0-3. Now down 3-2. You've got to win the next game to force the playoff. What is that game? It's Tron. Tron can go one way or the other. For Arvid, it's his way. Something I just remembered from that Ripley's game is there was a plunge he had that I think didn't validate the play field. That's right. He kind of took a breath. It was like, oh, is it over? And the ball goes back into the shooting lane. He's like, okay, we're back. The old invalidation.
    47:03
    And he fully takes advantage and wins that game. Yeah, that's a great, great point. again we're talking about stuff from a month ago but there are moments and I think we saw this another tournament we're going to talk about, Yagpin where at times where a player doesn't hit a switch and sometimes you just have to, it's almost like when they tell you don't ever walk away until you see your bonus count up Lazarus, you could have a ball save you don't realize same thing, wait until Phil, you know, don't plunge right away because you could plunge somebody else's ball. I've done that. Have you done that?
    47:41
    You know, I haven't yet, but I'm not going to look for that, you know. It's bound to happen. Yeah, I did it at D82 on fireball. Thank God that's gone. I was in the middle of a multiball and then one drained, but the game just didn't realize I was in multiball. So, oh, fun times. Like, it's one of those things. But, yeah, so Arvid comes back on Tron. it's now 3-3. You've asked for, can someone come down from 0-3 to win the whole thing? Edmonton Oilers, you failed us. Can Harvard do it? And the first game up is Scared Stiff. Scared Stiff is one game that's just basically, there's a little bit of strategy in the sense of you want to make sure you hit your spider. You want to get your multi-ball set up, get your locks, which is left ramp, ramp out, right, I believe? It's left ramp and then left orbit to lock. Okay, so you only have to hit it once or two times.
    48:45
    For the first one, I think after that it goes up incrementally. Gotcha, that's right. So it's left ramp, then hit the left orbit, get the two locks, but then get your spider's web gift. And I know there are people that you've got to start with the multiball extension.
    48:57
    So that way if you do, flame out on your multiball. And then some people also will start the double scoring. And so there was a point in Scared Stiff, and like the Terminator he is, Jason just puts up an amazing score on it, 19 million to 11 million on ball three. Oh, yeah. And 19 million is a really good score, especially on a Jim Belcido special version of Scared Stiff. And there was a point where Arvid, I think, had a choice.
    49:27
    I think people were telling him, hey, take double scoring or take this. and he was going with the normal strategy of ramping out on the multi. So he's trying to come back with that.
    49:38
    Unfortunately, on his last few shots, on the last shot he missed high, and it sort of had an unfortunate drain. But that was, even though the score doesn't show it initially, that was closer than you would expect. So we're watching right now footage of Jason on the last game. So Jason takes game one of the playoff, sudden death playoff. So we go to Godzilla In Godzilla, Jason had A bad experience at Pin Masters Or Nationals on it Because he short plunged on the 82's Version and there's no ball save So if you short plunge There's a high probability And I'm sure you've seen it That the ball will bounce off the right plastic Right sling The top of it And then just go into the out lane And that's a skill shot You can short plunge supposed to get Ball Street, but Ball Street's turned off. And so here he is on Godzilla, and his ball one is absolutely.
    50:36
    We're watching it now, and by the time he's done, he has. Go to the footage, and I'll let the games, the audio sort of play here. I've never seen anybody get past the stage. So on the fly, yes. And we're about to see it. I can't wait to see what happens next.
    50:54
    He's the right spinner now, which won't time out. Okay, now what? 15 million. 15. And now it's 5 million. Oh, my gosh. All right. He's closing in on 500 million. Yep. Tank attack. Bump it. Tank attack. Yep. He's got two multi-balls ready right now. He can just pick which one he wants. And this is ball one. He's got so many things done. Look here. Your first stand-in. There's the drain.
    51:21
    You know what? I'm good. I'm crazy. Everyone's five. The Harvard is talking about ball one. So on a tough version of Godzilla already, it's already daunting for Arvid to try and come back.
    51:38
    And unfortunately, by the time we get to ball three, Jason's already over a billion. And you know what? He pulls it out. Did you watch any of the end of this or just cut in death finals? Yeah. What are you talking about? Yeah, I was watching this. I mean, I think when I've seen that Godzilla was picked, I mean, obviously everyone, I think, at that level knows how to play Godzilla really well. I just know from seeing Jason blow up the Godzilla over in Delaware, I know he's just very comfortable in that game, and that was kind of the game where I was like, okay, I think he's going to kind of take control of his match and kind of seal the deal here. So it was not surprising but still impressive that he did it, you know? Yeah. You know, big congrats to all the winners at IFP. It was not an easy tournament, you know, getting through the qualifying, getting through the playoffs.
    52:43
    Yeah, you're runner-up. Arvid pulled out an almost amazing comeback. The Whoppers were absurd. Your top four were Jason Zoller, Arvid Flager, Johannes, Terminator, Ostermeyer, and Escher Lepp. Jason takes home 393 well-deserved maintains. The largest haul ever in an Eskimo tournament. That is crazy. I thought Indus was super big. I was like, oh, I wonder how big this is. This is pretty big. And so as we see here in the footage, I'm going to let this play. Jason takes home his first world championship and made it. So he gets the key, the box. Oh, yeah, pin marks there.
    53:36
    And then we're watching Jason right here. Look at that trophy. congratulations he's all pumped up great player to watch so proud look at that that's the awesome Jason hold it up for the camera yeah look at that yeah kudos to Jason Zoller and again IE Pinball for putting on and Jim Del Cito for hosting. It was great to watch.
    54:17
    I hope that people go re-watch it if they want to learn some strategies on all the pins we mentioned and many more. I would definitely, if I see one of these pins in a bank, the upcoming tournament, I'm watching this. I want to know exactly what was done. Overall, thoughts?
    54:37
    Last to sort of take in level of confidence. Yeah, it's pinball at the highest level. Really, really impressive to watch all those players there.
    54:51
    And like you said, I mean, there's tutorials and, like, you know, kind of strategies online of, like, how to play certain games, but it kind of changes when you actually step up to the machine in a tournament setting. So seeing how, you know, these high-level players approach games like this, it's really something else, you know. And segue into our second big thing.
    55:16
    We have Yagpin. Yagpin just happened. What did we call it? The Weekend of Luke. Oh, yeah. We're going to go talk about Yagpin now. So there were four big tournaments. We had the Open, Best Card, Parity Classics, the Women, right? Yes. Yep. Okay. So, start off with the main match play championship. And let me pull that up for us right here. No, no, no. And so, in this main match play championship, we've got footage going on. Thank you, GamerTV on Twitch for the footage. Please, twitch.tv slash geek. I believe is the address. Make sure you go check them out. posting Yagpin footage and soon. So, the way this was set up, same sort of qualifying.
    56:19
    Normally, Yagpin notoriously last year they had precision flippers on many pins. This year, lightning flippers on almost everything. Really well run.
    56:30
    A huge, huge whopper opportunity, not just for everybody going, but for the locals too in Canada. This is Canada's probably biggest tournament.
    56:39
    I think so, yeah. Yeah, and we want to, again, previewed it by saying it was the weekend of Luke, and there's a reason for that. Oh, yeah. So in this tournament, we had Donnie Modica, Luke Nahorniak, Conrad Rostad, if you don't know the game, Conrad, and Andrew Lee. Donnie was the number one seed, third seed, Conrad the 12th seed, fourth seed. Johnny chose the bank as the first seed.
    57:11
    Started off with Bally. The footage right now is on Joker Poker. This was the third game. After the first two games,
    57:30
    Conrad was in first with four points. Papa style scoring 4-2-1-0 They started off With volley Andrew took first 137,000 points I watched Luke's game He needed one more drop He had all the colors lit so in volley The way it works is Hit the rollover lanes to light a Drop target bank which are in the left center And right on the lower play field The real part of the play field He had all of them lit And he had the Outlanes lit for 5,000. Shoots the ball to kind of get another drop and it careens into the left. It gives him 5,000 for 132. Close to it. And if it just had come back in, he would have had a chance to eat. That's why it was so close.
    58:19
    Go watch $5 volley on Fox City. So after volley, Andrew was in first. And after Twilight Zone, Conrad wasn't. He took that 234.
    58:34
    So after two, it was Conrad, Luke and Andrew tied at three, and Johnny unfortunately took 25,000 points on volley.
    58:45
    That's tough. That's how it goes sometimes. You can get houseballed. Especially on volley when it's sort of coming out.
    58:56
    And it has a 50-50 chance of going out lane or to your in lane. And more often than not, it just goes to the end.
    59:03
    We're watching footage of Joker Poker right now for Yegpin. Joker Poker, have you played this one before? I have. It's a fun game. So five balls. At the very bottom, you can see that white light. It lights one card. I think it starts with a 10. So after you hit that 10 drop target on the left, it gives you 5x bonus for that ball. Okay. So then after that, you're just kind of hitting, I believe it's the drops, to increase your bonus value.
    59:38
    And then each ball after that, so the next ball would be the two, I believe it's the two jacks. So then you hit the two jack targets. That will give you a 5x bonus. And then the three queens, which is at the top, four kings on the right, which is kind of one of the harder ones, and then the five aces at the top is the last ball. So you want to prioritize getting that 5x lit and then just kind of go to town on the drops after that.
    60:11
    Oh, how do you think I... Can I hear you? What? Test, test, test. There we go. Yep. Sorry, this table's a little loose. Okay. Yeah, and so I was going to say, is it five ball or three ball? It should be five ball. Okay. So we're watching footage here.
    60:35
    Looks like you can sort of see the scores. I'm going to let the footage play. Let our announcers do some announcing. Conrad's up.
    60:45
    Oh, now you're getting out of trouble. Okay, hold on. All right. Shots up the middle. Come on, get it.
    60:53
    Those two A's are real. Okay. No. No, no, no. Good job. Give it back. So we're watching Conrad play jump. He's got a joker poker. You can hit it. Hey, you got Jeff Jules. We can see Conrad on the mic. Nice. Bang. Whap.
    61:07
    You want to keep it up there, too? Sort of. Yeah, so I think I was just pulling up the Bob Matthews guide. Another strategy is all day.
    61:17
    But, yeah, really the priority is just getting the five X-Benders. Gotcha. And after that, just drops. So basically Come down to the last ball I'll let this play Because it's Luke Nahorniak He is in Tied for second through two games So he needs to come And come back and beat 136,000 Oh okay Oh yes he aces that 25,000 and that is a win If he does not tilt If he has done the math He will not kill, and he will be fine, because that's $25,000. I love his commentary. He's so good. Oh, my God. His game knowledge, enthusiasm, everything is just unparalleled.
    62:06
    Yeah, what a ball. What a ball. Luke will go to six. Johnny will go to four. Andrew will go to four. Conrad, four. Luke with the hammer. So, after three. Very cool. Luke with six, and then you've got a tie for second. and everybody has four. And so the next game in the bank is Monster Bash. Oh, my gosh. Monster Bash, two big multi-balls, obviously.
    62:35
    Frankenstein or Monster Bash, up the center six times. What do you do? So I was thinking about this because this was at Pin Master. I want to sort of prep a mode and then bash Frank. I know a lot of people also go Bride, because if you get those ramp shots dialed in, it's like super big points. Oh, yeah. You can get like, I want to say it's like over a million a ramp if you can start comboing them really well. I mean, the Orbits are good too, the Wolfman. Something similar, you know, the Orbits just score incrementally more points. But I've definitely lost to someone just ramping out on me before in this game. It's tough. Yeah, the target score at Pinmasters was like $35 million. I think I got like $23 million, and I just hit one Frank, and I was like, oh, man. And the funny thing about this copy of Monster Bash that they changed for the finals, Andrew Foster, I think that's his name. I think his initials are fun and a pup. That's how I remember it. Yes. But he was just hitting that creature shot at him and Robert. Oh. Because he was giving a safe feet back to the right flip every time. Creature all day? Yeah. I'm very familiar with that. Yeah. So, got a copy near you. Test out that creature shot and see if it gives you safe feedback to the right flip. I've seen Jason Zoller do that on the copy at Delaware, I think, to the tune of like 200 million points in one ball.
    64:10
    But they put like a fat rubber on it after that. Yeah. So, I mean, with the strategies here, I would try to set up one mode at least before I go into Frank. Can you activate modes during Frank multiball? I think you have to bring them into it. Bring them? Okay. So it's like standard rules. Okay. And then obviously if you complete your modes, you get the first wizard, mini wizard. It is Monster Party. It's not Monsters of Rock. That's left.
    64:44
    but it is a really fun mode you collect when you activate your monsters you'll see them uh light low solid on the lower part of the play field and then if you complete their mode you'll earn their in so that is the monsters of rocketing monsters activated instruments but then there's also the rush pit the center you know here this one was a low scoring finals but you had a Lucas player for I believe oh yeah Lucas player for so after ball All won. We had a score of $14 million for Johnny and Andrew with $1.8 million, Conrad with $1 million, Luke with $7 million. And the reason I bring this up is because I want to show Conrad left because the prize money for this tournament was pretty significant.
    65:48
    And if I get to how it is, we've got this. So we've got to go to the next footage right here. Three loops. Nice spinner loops there. But I apologize. I don't have it here.
    66:02
    Anyways, I'll tell you what it was, regardless. So the way that it worked was Conrad was on ball three,
    66:08
    and he had lower than Andrew. So remember, they were all tied for second, him, Johnny, Andrew, speaking of Conrad. And so Conrad Had about 4 million or so And Andrew had 4.9 million And the difference between third and fourth Is 4,000 to 2,000 dollars So Conrad Hits He hits Frank And he needed like one shot He was like 4.6 or something He hits Frank and then it goes to the out lane But he knew Because of that hit he had just enough and he ends up with five billion just over five million which is the difference between him and andrew and so andrew goes from winning four thousand to two thousand and look money's money it's a great it pays for the trip even two thousand is a lot of money but the car wins an extra two thousand dollars because of his wow um but the great thing with this tournament was seeing Luke walk off as the winner, $43 million. Johnny Monica in second with $35. Luke wins a brand new pinball machine. Johnny Monica wins $6,000. Conrad wins $4,000 and Andrew wins $2,000. With that, the Yagpin main came to a close. What I wanted to show was the Whoppers. So what we'll do here and we will bring up the Yagpin match play. Luke Nahorniak with 214 points. Donnie Modica with 193. Conrad Rustad with 181 points. Andrew Lee at 172. You see some of the other winners there. Don Russell 163 points. Player rank 793, Darren Cry will come out with 136 points. That's going to boost his whoppers. But it's great to see. That'll make it hard. Yeah, big jump. So, did you watch any of the main? I believe you did, right? I think I was bouncing around between the main and then the classics and the women's. I just had it on all weekend, I remember. But it was kind of starting to blend together a bit. A lot of pinball. It was a lot. So, Luke takes home the Match Play Championship.
    68:38
    Then he takes the Classics. He comes in first there with the Classics charity and we'll show those results right there. Again, we previewed it by saying it was the weekend of Luke. Takes home 219 points right there. Daniele Acciari Acciari, I apologize.
    69:01
    Pronunciation takes home second with 199 points. Nick Green in with third, 187 And Colin Urban in fourth with 177 A lot of big players there You can see the names, Bob Matthews at Eight, 147 Whoppers, Johnny Monica, picking up Some more Whoppers, 131 there Jermaine 11th, tied with Johnny John Cotman and Jack Tedman Don't forget Andrew Foster In sixth With 161 Whoppers there. And so Luke takes another prize. I don't know the amount that he took, but that was the second big win.
    69:43
    More Whoppers than the main, actually. That's crazy. That is just... I wonder, was it pumped up, or was it... I think it was the same format, but I think there were just a few more players in the Classics tournament that may have boosted it a bit. But, yeah, shout out to my buddy Nick. I think he's right outside, like, rank 300 going into that weekend, and he launched himself into, like, the hundreds after the big finish. Dude, that's awesome. Shout out to him, man. Yeah. I think we're going to be seeing him at the Beast, too. He should be there. Okay, cool. Good to meet him. I think he's been in my chat before. Yeah. Yeah, there you go. So we have the win for Luke there in the Classics. we go back and we have the best card, which is sort of their I believe sort of their, is that like the high stakes?
    70:37
    I'm not sure if it was the high stakes, but it was a card format that they had going on. Yep. And so in this finals, we had Steve Bowden, Andrew Foster, Miles Grant, and Luke the Horneak. So there's Luke again, the weekend of Luke. Game one, let me put this up. You had Steve Bowden playing Iron Man on our footage right here that you can see. On this,
    71:04
    Steve would come out on top with about $12 million. Luke was second with second place, Andy Foster in third, Miles in fourth. Then they go to Judge Dredd. I want to bring up Judge Dredd because Sorry, Demoman. Excuse me, Demoman. Sorry, I don't know why I said They look the same. Yeah, but do you want to say anything about Iron Man? I didn't know if you wanted to talk about it. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I just remember this being very difficult playing. I remember there was a poll in the chat asking if the over-under was going to be like eight or ten million, and a lot of people picked the under.
    71:41
    If you look at the flippers, they're precision lightning flippers, and they're hollow as well. They're just very Different flippers to use Than you would normally see on an Ironman Which is already a very difficult game So you're not able to trap up basically You're just playing It looks like it's I think just getting to a multi-ball Is an achievement on this copy Which at this level I think a lot of these guys did But Yeah It looks very difficult to play Yeah, it looks crazy. Yes, he put up a good score on it. $12 million. So we go to Demoman. Thank you. Appreciate that. So for Demoman, interesting pin because it's got the triggers, right? The triggers, yeah. So you've got two handles on the top, sort of like an airplane joystick, like you would play a flight sim. And you've obviously got the regular flippers. So can you tell me, do you know about Demoman? A little bit, yeah. So I think that the strategy that a lot of the players were going for were combos, right? Like getting the combos either from the loops or I think they kind of, the chat pointed out while this game was being streamed is that this seems like actually a pretty relatively easy copy compared to the rest of the games in the bank. Because a lot of the times, like a reject from that center ramp or from the left ramp would actually fall to the upper flipper. So you can, they could kind of flip it into the ACMAG, like the scoop on the right. Yeah, that's right. I saw Andrew Foster do that. Obviously, they all did it. But if it was coming, it was like a screamer. They could just hold it up and it was still hitting.
    73:25
    Is that the ACMAG shot? Yeah, that little scoop on the top right there. Okay, gotcha. But, yeah, so getting those combos built up, I believe it's a big kind of a bonus value at the end of your ball.
    73:39
    And then that, I mean, obviously that kind of left orbit shot, if you will, is kind of the multi-ball start shot, which is, I would argue, is probably one of the more difficult shots in the game.
    73:54
    But, yeah, seeing them put up big scores in this game was pretty impressive. Yeah, this one we sort of skip forward to ball three, and I'm pretty sure, yeah, Andrew had to come back on ball three. He was sitting at about $633 million. This one Steve took last on. I just wasn't paying him. I just wasn't treating him right. But Luke had around just over a billion. Let me see.
    74:24
    So 1.012 billion, a billion 12 million and change. And Andrew Foster, Steve ends up with 462 million.
    74:34
    Miles ends up with, excuse me. But Miles was in first with $1.049 billion. Luke in second with $1.02. So Andrew's got a combo out. That is sort of what's going on in his brain. He knows that's kind of where he's going to catch up. So I'm going to let some of this play.
    74:54
    Well, Andy is not done yet. No, he's definitely in range. He's got 33 combos right now. Now sort of at-back mode. Work to do, but definitely well reachable. Bob Matthews on the mic as well. He has to play well, but he has a huge mountain to climb.
    75:14
    Andy's at 35 combos. Do you get more points for hitting a combo with the trigger? That helps. I think you get a trigger bonus at the end of the ball. But I'm trying to remember. There was a threshold. It was like 50 combos to get like, I want to say it was like an extra ball, which I'm not sure if that awarded points in this game. I just remember there was a threshold of hitting combo shots where some of these players were trying to get to.
    75:44
    Trying to remember what the stream was. Yeah, so Andy starts off with, I think, just over $600 million, so he's got about $500 million and change to go. He's sitting at $855 million right now in the footage we're watching, and he's comboing out. Last I read, he was at $35 million. He's already at $45 million.
    76:01
    Gets his computer award at $50 million. Is it the computer, the mystery? um i think if he gets two times yeah the the same shot on the right kind of uh i believe he's on fire with the elbows yeah so now he's at 49 at 50 he's coming and then he's at leaving it yeah he's there yeah he knew he was there he's like 55 final ball there by andy foster wow we got a game ladies and gentlemen we got a game so we have And so with that, Andy Foster takes first on Demoman. He ends up with five points. Steve Bowden with four. Luke with three. Miles with two. Went on Demoman and went Andy, Miles, Luke, Steve. And then to our third game of the best card finals, we have Alien Poker. And so for Alien Poker, I was listening to Bob Matthews talk about it, and I know, I think I agree with him. there was some strategy that players were focusing on, I believe, the drop targets in the center of the plate to get that value set up. But I feel like you should go for the Kings. The Kings, do you want to explain what they did? Played Alien Poker or something? No, sorry, go ahead. I don't have too much experience on this game, but I was just going off the bottom of this guy too. Yeah, I think they increase your multiplier, maybe bonus multiplier. but the great thing about this version it was playing very friendly to where you could stage flip your, so there are two flippers on the right and one on the left so it's got that sort of early solid state jankery that people might call it like a reverse Harlem Globetrotters where you can stage the flippers so the bottom right flipper will trap up but the top right flipper won't go up so you can actually cradle where it won't scissor on you. Right. So on this version, I think it played very fair. And Bob was telling players to go up to the rollovers on the top. There's four rollover lanes on the top for your king cards. And you collect those and it activates bonus multiply. Positive. If I'm not, please feel free to write us how long we are. But on this version, Steve was looking for the big W, and by the time we get to ball three, I believe.
    78:40
    So we're here. Let me look at that. And Steve had about 1.2 million going into ball or finishing off his ball three.
    78:54
    Luke had 579,000. Miles had 63 or so Excuse me, this is ball two. Apologies. Going into ball three. Going into ball three, Steve had 1.2 million. Luke had 802,000. Luke was player one. Player two. Miles was player three at 424,000. So Miles was sitting at two points. He needed to take this to sort of give himself a chance at a playoff tiebreaker. He ends up in second place over 900,000. Overtook Luke on the best card championships game three on AlienPoker. Right now you have Steve on top, Miles in second, Luke in third. Andy has 307,000 points. The footage we're watching is talking with the TD, trying to figure out the math, because at the time he had five points. Steve had four. So if he could pass Mills?
    80:08
    No, not Miles. He would have to pass Steve to take. Passing Steve would have won it for him as far as trying to do the math on the floor. But there was a tiebreaker for third place. but the way it ends up is Andrew Foster ends up draining out and Steve Bowden, congratulations fun with bonus, is your 2024 Yagpin Best Card Championship winner congrats to him, takes it on Alien Poker so he took two firsts, he took first on Ironman and Alien Poker took a last on Judge Dredd so you're never out after two he's sitting at four points, he ends up winning it Miles comes in second with Luke. So they had a tiebreaker and Andy in fourth. And in the tiebreaker, they played Godzilla, which funny enough, that was $10 less than the game at IPA 19. So your best card winner for again, 2024 Yankton Best Card Championships is Steve Bowden. Luke takes second or excuse me, third. Andrew Foster took second.
    81:20
    And Miles took fourth. Whoppers on that, 196 to Steve, 171 to Andrew. Luke with another 157. So wait a minute, how many Whoppers did he get? He got 219 for the Classics. 220. 157. So 377. And then match play 214, so 377, 391, 591 Whoppers for the weekend of Luke at Yankton 2020. I think that bumps him up from like 6th to 3rd in the open rankings. I'm thinking 591, that's more than double my total. Yeah.
    82:05
    Did you have any thoughts on it? I enjoyed watching it. I look forward to it every year. I was going to go this year, but I actually didn't have my passport, so now I have it, I can go. Yeah, no, it was definitely a tournament that was on my radar. Unfortunately, I couldn't make it this year, but I hope to go sometime in the future. I know the game setups are notoriously tough, but it seems to be a different challenge, and they don't have any problem with attendance, so it's definitely keeping people coming back. and it seems to be a top-notch, really well-run tournament. Exactly. And as with most majors, there's also a women's championship, so we want to highlight that. We've got footage of the women.
    82:54
    I think they're not quite a major yet. Oh, they're not? Oh, I know. It was just Stern Pro Circuit. Yeah. Yes. Some calls for them to be a major, which we'll see. So in your women's division finals, you had Vanessa, Chantel, Mercy Care, Tracy Lindberg out of Arizona, and Kayla Wolf.
    83:20
    It was a lot of fun to watch. I enjoyed ladies putting on more great pinball. This was a four-game bank. So going into game four, Chantel had seven points.
    83:36
    Excuse me. Tracy had four, Vanessa had six, Kayla had one, and Chantel had seven. So they were at game four. We have some footage going, I think.
    83:50
    But they were going into Metallica. So Vanessa had Brave Multi-ball set up but her bonus Pushed her over the With 4 million points which Shows you how tough these Which overtook Chantel So at the time She needed Michaela So to be spoiler To force a tiebreaker So Mikayla comes in on ball three doesn pass Chantel. If she had passed Chantel, I think that would have helped Vanessa take it right there on game one.
    84:32
    But she didn't, and so it was a tiebreaker for first. Chantel Mercier versus Vanessa Ish. The game was meatier. Chantel was player one, gets 45K. Great score. Ball one That's like a 46k ball one So they're tied, they're even In the ball two Chantel has 81,000 Vanessa comes in on ball two And doesn't hit the spinner, which on Meteor You want to kind of hit the drops at the top Spell Meteor, but not all the way Spell it just shy of one letter Then rip your spinner on the top right She doesn't do that She just has a ton of drops That work for her You know, a little ping pong action Her score, she ends up with 189,000 So 189 to 81 After that It was ball three for Chantel Unfortunately it ends quickly And your new 2024 Gag pin women's champ Is Vanessa Ish It was cool to see her win I think she's out of the Seattle area A lot of her local players Cheering her on in chat Cool to watch I don't know a lot of the women's players, so it was nice to see.
    85:50
    Yep, I watched that finals. It was a great game. That tiebreaker match on Meteor was really, really cool.
    85:57
    I remember, I think I clipped it on Twitch. I don't know if you saw it, but she has this crazy dig save. Well, she rips the spinner on a backhanded rip, and then immediately has like a dig to save the ball, and then she just like flips her hair back like it was nothing.
    86:15
    And it's just such like a boss movie. It was so cool. That's awesome. So for her troubles, Vanessa Ish comes out with 102 swapper points for the women's division. Montel in second with 81.95. Tracy Berg with 70.
    86:30
    Kayla Wolf. What? 82 before. Very, very nice player to just talk with. He comes out with 62 points. Big kudos to all the ladies for putting on excellent, excellent pinball play, giving us some content to consume and just high-level action. That was Yankpin 2024. As we said, the weekend of Luke, 591 Whoppers.
    87:01
    Congratulations. Do you have anything to say about it? No, that's – I think I wrapped it up pretty nicely. Yeah. Congrats to everyone who attended and endeared the game set up there. That was our big tournament review.
    87:22
    This is our first episode, so the way it'll work is we'll try to figure out our rhythm and have more footage through some of the things I thought I had in the tenant. but yeah we had IFPA 19 Eggpin two of the big ones England Pinball Championship well there let me see oh I do nice So on your main open, Nick DiStefano With 96 points to take first place I also want to give a highlight to Noah Crable The announcers were saying he was sort of Just coming into playing more competitive pinball I've talked with him before Where we had an idea to do sort of a Something similar to this But focus on the math of pinball Strategy of it But, man, he had a really, really good weekend.
    88:33
    He came in second on the main with 73.64 points, Brian O'Neill, 61.75 points in third, and James McFatter in fourth with 52.48.
    88:44
    Main open for the NETL. Before I go, do you have anything to say about NETL? Watch any of it? Oh, the NETC, sorry, the championship. Yeah, it was good.
    89:03
    From what I understand, it's like a newer space that Brian O'Neill helped together, I believe is running.
    89:09
    But, yeah, it looks great. It's not too far, so maybe I can try to drive up there. But you mentioned Noah Crable. I think he does a lot of, like, pinball guides on Kineticist, and they've been pretty top-notch. I've been reading some of those, so learning up on the new games. And there's a real rules walk. All of that data is definitely much appreciated On the new games as they come out Yeah, thank you for contributing to Kineticist and also Tiltform Yeah Everybody else at the great reason And for the classics at the NAPC Nick Zendejas Tick first 45.07 points and then Noah Crable Second place So two silver medals for him 33.77 Whoppers Eric Geddes in third 27.87 Whoppers.
    90:00
    Go in, Gween, with 23 points. 20 PC. And did we talk about NF Quarterly? I don't think so, but yeah, we can touch on that real quick. Go ahead.
    90:14
    So that's their kind of quarterly tournament out in Monterey, California. It looks like Dustin Goldberg took that one home. A little over 30 Whoppers. There's Tim Hanson in second, who I got to meet him in Golden State. He's a great guy.
    90:33
    I think he's still the number one player in California right now. He's a super strong player. Nate King in third, and then Matthew Talley in fourth. Nice.
    90:43
    All right. Congrats to all our winners there. So that – there you are. That is going to do it for our tournament review. It looks like we're clocking in at about An hour and a half Which is about where I expected us to be And that's with some footage missing So thank you for Hanging on with us if you have been Our Inaugural episode And we don't always want to just talk about Tourney Pinball, we're also going to try to do some fun stuff Like this This my friend is going to be Our tier maker list There was an individual I forgot his name. It was like Nighttime or maybe you'll be able to grab it. Put out a YouTube video, his rankings, his sort of top sterns, and that's what we're going to do. So we're going to have some games during this podcast.
    91:39
    We've thought of some. I've always thought about a swap shop segment where we take one mech from, we have a list of pins, and like we swap a mech from different pins and sort of like I'll tell you, hey, I'm taking, you give me your pin of choice. You say Godzilla. I say, okay, I'm taking away your building mech and you have to choose a mech from this pin and then sort of build a Frankenstein monster. We'll see who comes out with the better choice. And we've also got ideas for draft lotteries of designer, coder, artist. But this is a fun one where we'll try to get through this. I won't rush it, but we won't spend as much time on it, so you can sort of get on with your day if you're listening. But this is going to be our tier maker, and we're going to pick our – if you've never seen this, it's big into the fighting game area. And you sort of pick your characters, but here we're going to pick sterns. What can you tell us about the sterns that we're looking at? Yeah, I think these are all the – I guess these are all modern stern games. Yeah, they're not. I see Striker Extreme on there. Yeah, pretty comprehensive list of Stern games on here. So, yeah, should we start at the top? So I'm going to put, let's do this. Let's put D, the letter D. So it's also graded. So S tier is your top, A, B, C, D. Let's put D as a tier for pins that we sort of haven't played as much. Because I know there are some on here that I haven't really...
    93:24
    I think there's some that I've never played, even on this list. Yeah, so let's use D as that, if you don't mind. Yeah. I'm going to put... Have you played... Let's start with some of the ones I've already... I have not played Strikers Extreme, have you? I have not played that, no.
    93:41
    D. What is it? Transformers? Oh, I've played that I don't think I've played that game. Have you played Wrestlemania?
    93:53
    I have! I will defer to you here. We'll call out, because this is going to be audio and video, we'll call out the pins that were moving around. S tier is the top A is second, B is third, C is fourth. We're going to use the D tier for pins that we don't have experience on, so you can sort of play along with them. Yeah. So you kind of played WrestleMania. WrestleMania, it's an interesting game. It's got a cool kind of mechanic at the top. There's an upper play field. Yeah, the ring. Okay. Where they're kind of like slingshots that you fire for the flippers. Okay. Where would you put it?
    94:34
    I think I'm going to put it at the C tier. I just don't have enough experience in the game, but I've played it a few times competitively and the scoring seemed a little bit wacky I'll just leave it at that What about Grand Prix? Have you played Grand Prix? I have not Grand Prix? I don't think so I've played the Valley Grand Prix Yeah, the classic that everybody loves with one of the best spinners in pinball I have not played that How about Harley Davidson? Have you played that?
    95:06
    I have not How about Rolling Stones. I played the classic. I haven't played the third. I think I've played it maybe once or twice. That's the one with Mick on a stick, right? He's kind of moving back and forth. I couldn't give an opinion on the game, really. I don't have enough play time on it.
    95:33
    Let me put... Yeah. Arky Shootout. Have you played that one? I don't think I've seen that game though but I don't think I've played it I'm going to put that in D as well okay sure let me see 24 have you played 24 I've only played the virtual version I know it's sort of rare to find it I think I've seen it but have not played okay I'm going to put that in D as well let's go to go through Mustang. Have you played Mustang? I've played it less than a handful of times at the Coffee District 82. Yeah, that's where I've played it. I'm going to put it in the description. It's there. I don't remember. Oh, NBA. I've never played NBA. I didn't even know they made it. It's sort of like the NFL game where you can customize it to your team. I think it's like that. Seeing people with Celtics versions.
    96:39
    Okay, let's start now at the top of the list. In alphabetical order, James Bond Stern. Recent James Bond. I love this pin now. I love that game, Dave. I don't think it's out of character or whack to say that the code is unbelievable. The new bonus screen was sort of the fighting game character select Highlight is so cool George Gomez and team have knocked it out of the park It had a very rough start, the code was nowhere, you could sit in the pops all day And just pop out and get a great score People were complaining about how, I forgot what it is No individual systems for the pops, they're all sort of together on Opto, or I don't know what the term is. I remember them complaining. I love it. Is it S tier for me?
    97:36
    No. I would put it in the A. I agree. Yeah, I would agree with that. It has like 50 different modes you have to get through just to get to the end, and I love a long slog, but there are times when I want to just show up to a pin like Sword of Rage and get beat up and play a quick one. But I would not say that it's a bad pin. I think it's one of the better sterns in recent history.
    98:01
    I'd put it an A. What are your thoughts on Bond? I think it's well deserving of the A category. It's become one of my favorite games to play on location. Whenever I see a Bond, I'm like, all right, let me get a game or two in there.
    98:15
    Yeah, there's just so much to do in the game. The code's really fleshed out in the last six months to a year.
    98:23
    Yeah, great game. Yeah, the martini shot giving you a smart missile. Very cool. And now you have swipeable for the premium and LEs on your Bird 1 rocket lock.
    98:37
    There's just so much to do, and it's so cool. The Bond women add such a great aspect to it. Yeah, A tier. James Bond 60th. I played it a few times at Electric Bat for my shirt. Shout out to Kale and the Electric Back team Here's the thing It's a $20,000 MSRP pin And it's a street level And it's an Elwin It should be like I don't know if we're going to get into a side topic of it But I just don't see the value there For owning it However, we're talking about playing it I would put it At best a beat it's fun. I love street level pins, but compared to some of the other ones on this list, that's what I'm ranking it against. At best, I'm going to put it a B. I don't think it's an S or an A. Sure. I would say high B, low A, but I'm good with a B.
    99:38
    I feel like Elwin doesn't miss when it comes to designing pinball machines. And I really enjoy playing. I mean, like you said, there's not really a lot of bond 60s in the, in the wild just because of the price. But anytime I do see one, I rush to play it because it's that good. It's fast. It's good. I look at the value of it, and I'm just like, guys, if you're going to charge that much,
    100:05
    take a look at pins that sort of pull section, trying to get a throwback to the style and harder pins, and I think it does that well. So I would agree with a B for it there. I just, other parts of it.
    100:24
    Right, it's an L win and hardly missed. I'm ACDC. Go on, though. So I may be biased because I'm a big Steve Ritchie fan, but I would, I mean, I'll put that in a B. I think a strong B to a soft A is a, I like the layout. The shots feel good. You know, backhanding ramps is always fun.
    100:49
    I think it's a fun game. It's got the little, you know, the trigger, shooting the cannon at the targets on the side. Now, this pin kicks ass as far as an adrenaline rush.
    101:00
    I mean, music, pins, you have to pick the theme very carefully because it's something to keep the player engaged.
    101:10
    So it obviously has to be there to take a look at the rating. And this pin kicks ass as far as pumping you up. I had it at the Abilene Showdown tiebreaker. It turned down the music on every other pin and blasted this. It was one of the best entertaining tiebreakers. Thunderstruck is blasting. I enjoy the shot. The code is solid. It's not subpar. I think the updated code makes a lot more sense because of the old code. I think something crazy. So I think the Aerosmith.
    101:48
    Aerosmith, I feel like it's just like a lesser Guardians. I love the toy box. I think it's so cool. Yeah, it's a cool mech. Yeah, the shot to get there. Hit the toy box to activate your lock, but then hit it in that little alcove. I don't like that part, but I've rebounded enough to get into it. the modes are those aren't real kind of standard me don't feel like there's a little activity in it reminds me of this so there I would give it a seat but I was gonna say strong strong see to a light be yeah I looking at the seat and think I'm gonna give it a I don't know I could see it a be I could see the argument that I don't think is higher.
    102:47
    X, Avatar, I can only give it a C. I played it once or twice at TTF. Yeah, we had one in a location here that one of our local players ended up buying.
    103:02
    I always dreaded playing it in competition just because it can be pretty brutal to play, but it's fine. I think C is fine. As low as it's fine. Yeah, it's fine. Yeah, I'm going to give it a C. Austin Powers. I have played the virtual version. It's very funny through to its end. I just never played it in real life. I don't know much about it other than it's another pin with a toilet, like South Park.
    103:38
    I've never played it, so I couldn't give a rating on it. Let's give it a D. Let's jump around here. We don't have to go in order. Monsters.
    103:51
    I've only played it a handful of times. I don't know the game very well. I don't know if I can give it a real rating. I'm going to give it a C.
    103:59
    It's a Dwight machine. I love Dwight. He's one of my favorite coaches. Hard on this pin because basically activate all your family members. get to the wizard. Sort of in general.
    104:14
    There's no really way to get it. Premium has the lower play field, I believe. I don't think the pro has it. Should make sense. I played it at Interium. Played it at Starfighters. I played it on vacation. Had one at a pizza parlor.
    104:36
    And I love sort of the theme integration, but if we're talking solely about play. I think it's I think a lot of people sort of agree.
    104:45
    But it's got some cool stuff in it as far as assets. But as a player I don't think it gets Let's do World Poker Tour. I have not played this but I would like to own one. It's a Keith Johnson game.
    105:02
    I think he did Simpsons Pinball Party Code. And I know it's a long player and it just looks super cool. And you need the color DMD. Have you played World Poker 2? I have. I've only played it a few times in composition. They have one down in Richmond. They're a pinball collective down there.
    105:20
    Shout out, RPC. It's a fun game. I know that it has a very difficult to get to wizard mode that chat always teases Carl about getting to.
    105:33
    But, yeah, I know it's got a deep rule set. and I mean another Steve Ritchie game. I can't be mad at it. I'm going to go D because I haven't played it. I would love, I should be able to this will be in my collection so one day I'm hoping to get Warfare Grit. I can see it as a B. I love Johnson game.
    105:56
    It really speaks to me. Plus I love gambling. Great game. I used to watch Poker After Dark. so it would fit right in. So let's go Star Trek Stern.
    106:09
    I like that game a lot. It's, again, Steve Ritchie design. Backhanding orbits feels good. Plays super fast.
    106:20
    I've heard this kind of compared to Spider-Man. It's like Spider-Man sequel in spirit. Yeah, it's a fun game, fun, fast game. I this is one where I think look at the different models and really see the amount of effort in the le it's beautiful yeah it has that cool like side rails the lit up side rails beautiful pin far as play I have done a battle where virtual were don't panic flip he had the real one it was just so cool. The little, what's the escape shot under the upper right flipper when you hold it up? It's called the home team. Yeah, that's it. Home team, yeah. And so I think that's the blast to try and hit. It's got a ton of modes. You can earn medals. Multi-balls are fun. I've played it in plenty of tournaments. I always go for Nero first. What's your first mode on Star Trek?
    107:23
    I think I started at the top of the triangle. I forgot the name of the... Gotcha. I've always seen people do Neuron. I think I know why, but I think I'm going to switch it. So, for Star Trek, I'm going to put it... I think it's high B, low A. What do you think? Yeah, I agree with that. I think strong B to light A. Let's put... Let's come back. I think B is good. Yeah, let's do B. I was going to say let's come back and see if we put it up. Um, Woe Nelly. I've played this.
    107:51
    Uh, I get the novelty of it. Fine. Yeah, I would probably put it at the lowest tier. I've played it enough, but I'll put it in D.
    108:05
    It's fine. It's not. Monopoly. Kudos to District 82 for having a great version. It's hit in a lot of their tournaments.
    108:17
    I love all the mechs. If you're talking about integration with a theme, it's there. or my Elvira pins, which always have great theme integration. I enjoy shooting it. I don't know if it's looking at some of the other pins on this list. I don't know if it would love them for me. So high C, low B for me. Bank is cool. The little constantly spinning mini flipper on the right, neat. But, you know, I don't – it's in that era of Wheel of Fortune, Roller Coaster Tycoon.
    108:56
    I would put it high C. You know, I haven't really played this game too much, so I'm going to defer to you on that. I'll go to C. We'll do C for Monopoly. I can see someone making an argument for B. The code is fun, but you're playing like Roller Coaster Tycoon time out every mode, and we'll just go to Roller Coaster Tycoon right now. there's not like as much I don't say I don't seek it out the rollercoaster tycoon I would put in this I think I can agree with that there was one location near me that I wasn't too fond of playing I'm also again a little biased because I'm not the biggest Pat Lawler fan gotcha I'll put it as the Let's go to X-Men by Stern Different version Wolverine, Hulk version Oh no, is that Avengers? No, there's a Magneto and Excuse me, there's a Magneto and Wolverine Wolverine, yeah This is a tough one Man, I don't do well on this pin. Usually I go for the Magneto multiball if I can get it. There's also the Wolverine shot in the front, I believe, front left. There's a really hard left ramp. I don't know if that's Storm or if it's somebody else. I never really do. I played this at Dory Hill a few years ago.
    110:35
    That was the most extensive time on it. I'm going to give it a don't. through it. Never seen anybody blow it up.
    110:44
    I've only played it once and I believe it was at D82. So I don't really remember too much about it. It never leaves me with a memorable experience. I don't walk away saying I was, but it's a tough one. So I don't know if I chalk it up to the code or the layout. I think it's just, I'm not good at it and I haven't played it enough. So I don't want to be too unfair.
    111:11
    Let's do Ripley's Believe It or Not. One of Keith Owen's favorite pins. I agree with him. My friend Serif, Brian, owned one. I played this a few times. I played it at McGoose, Tulsa.
    111:26
    It's got a lot to do. The cool thing is, you know, owing to the theme of Ripley's Believe It or Not, You're looking at sort of a Guinness World Records sort of odd facts theme. I love that there's a wizard mode where you're getting the secret continent, Atlantis. I've never seen it. I've seen people get to it. And then you've also got modes to, what is it? Collect the continents and then collect Ripley letters, right? I think it's fun. It's a long player.
    111:58
    You saw in IPA 19, Arvid blow it up and pick it for a good reason. and there's strategy in it. I would put it no lower than a B. I don't think I'd put it in A for me.
    112:09
    Yeah. So we had one of these on location. I had to play it a bunch in league and tournaments. And funny enough, I actually dreaded playing it. And for that reason, I tried to avoid it really at indisc.
    112:23
    And then after some convincing from, I want to say it was like Carlos or maybe Preston, they were just like, yeah, you should play it. And I played it, and it played super fair. And I was like, all right, this is going on my card. And I kind of rediscovered my joy of playing the game. So I think B is pretty good. One of our classics that we have, I think Ripley's Believe It or Not, is Solid B. It's a fun game. Do you want to pick one?
    112:51
    Yeah. Let's see. What do we have in this top row? I just have it kind of pulled up on the side here.
    112:59
    What about the Beatles? what do you think this game it's so I mean it's you know rethemed or not rethemed but like same way out of Sea Witch right with a kind of whole new modern rule set I don't know I feel like the copies of the Beatles I've played have played so differently from each other that it's like feast or famine on the points I mean it's fun it's a fun shooter I think for a you know single level play field hitting the loops is pretty satisfying but I don't know if I would put it in the B tier I think I might leave it down in C I'm going to agree with you on C we have one near me now I like C Witch more but it's cool they have a classic code version a mode where you can just play the old C Witch code I don't know I like C Witch more I'm going to agree with you for many of the reasons you said. Pick another one. Yeah. What about Black Knight Sword of Rage? All right. So it's behind me. I'm a little biased. Oh, there we go. It was one of the first pins I played in my first tournament in competitive pinball.
    114:19
    Holy cow. What is this Diablo-style pin? Oh, yeah. It is fast and furious. I love it for that reason but I understand that there's a huge difference in tournament pinball because you can only bring the prep you can't bring the premium or LE the upper playfield is too unfair me personally I think it needs the upper playfield if you're talking about the trilogy of Black Knight the prior two predecessors had it so I think it's a staple of it I love retro mode I love the animation the art is unreal on that LCD. It's super cool, but it's shallow. There's not a lot of strategy in it as far as, I don't see a lot of players going for super side stuff, like super slings, super pops, get the mode, get the multiball, and then if you don't have the premium RLE, you miss out on catapult. So, I don't know Trying to be unbiased I want to say I'm looking at other pins on here I'm not going to say A I'll say A I love that game I mean again Steve Ritchie design Plays fast Can be super brutal Which makes it a great tournament game Okay, I'm glad you said that It's hard for me to divorce myself Because I own it No, it's an incredible game, man. I love it. Hey, I'm glad you love it.
    115:59
    Let's pick Family Guy. Let's do a few rapid ones. Family Guy, I'm giving a C or a D. What do you think? I'll give it a C. It's not my favorite. Elvis, I'll give it a C or a D.
    116:13
    I just haven't played it. Put a D. CSI, I'm going to give a D. I haven't played. Yeah. Do Transformers I'm giving it a C I've played it a couple times I haven't played it but I've been watching Carlos play it a bunch He makes it seem Also not super fun I'm going to give it a D Let's do Shrek D for me, I've played it a handful of times Family guy Yeah Same layout Same layout, same game I mean, I feel like it's put it next to Family Guy, right? It's the same game. Not the same game, but the same layout. Playboy, never played. Never played it. D for Playboy, Pirates of the Caribbean Stern. I have played it.
    117:05
    We have one on location right now. It's also not my favorite game to play in competition, but only because I feel like, at least for me, my tournament strap for it is just left ramp all day. That's what I saw. I played against Roland. in it. That's what he was doing. He killed me. I don't know. I give it a D. I'll put a T if you'd like. Oh, you can leave a D. It's fine.
    117:31
    It's a one-trick pony. I don't find anything memorable. Stern Indy. Think of this. Oh, man. Something's the worst game. I have played it twice or so. I don't know. The classic indie is so much more fun to me I would give it a C at best, what do you think? I would even put it lower than that I'll agree with you KISS, Stern KISS I like KISS Yeah, I kind of like it, I really do The little, what's the upper alco called? The 8-Done? or what the mode is for the multi-ball? Oh, I know you're talking about the, what is it, like Love something? Yeah, Love Gun. And the mech for eating the ball is cool, like the big piece. That's what I thought they'd have on Venom. I don't know. I really like Kiss. I enjoy playing it. I look at Aerosmith, and I see Kiss as a better version of that because it sort of has the same approach to modes. You know, light a mode, it'll light certain shots, and then... Get it? But I love the multi-ball. It's a party in a pin. I would put Kid B. I would agree with that. B is good.
    118:55
    Big Buck Hunter, I've never played. I've seen people play it. Never played it either. And then early stern Batman, not Batman 66, Dark Knight. I like Dark Knight. It's got its I mean you can kind of tell the You know inspiration that Batman 66 took from it In terms of like rules and everything Also Gomez design I'll defer to you on this Um Just based on what we have and see I think it's worthy of a B Put it at a B Let's go to Batman 66 This is one One of the first pins I've ever seen played, I love it. Absolutely. I think it's campy to a perfect degree.
    119:48
    It's one of the pins that taught me focusing on the math because so many ways you can blow it up. I love the design. It's just a fun pin to sort of play. I haven't seen it on location a lot They haven't used Excuse me in Tulsa Virtual version is awesome I think it's a win I think it's a high B low A to be honest I would put it in the A category I think it's an exceptional game The rule set is fully fleshed out It's very similar to Bond Where I understand The rules were not Kind of the code was not fully there When it released but the game it is today, it's very good.
    120:37
    I agree. We'll put Batman 6 at A. High Roller Casino, had some time on it, and I played at big players.
    120:46
    I would put it in high C, low B, because that if there are some crazy strategy goals. I don't want to give it higher only because I haven't played it as much, but for one of the older titles, I put it near the top. What do you think?
    121:04
    Yeah, I have a bit of a grudge against that game because I think it was twice I left it as my fifth game on NDSC, and I couldn't do anything on it. But, I mean, I can appreciate it for what it is.
    121:17
    I can put a C. I think C. Yeah, high C, low B. Two C. Pretty good. The Bs are – You pick one. Yeah. A little hard for me Is this just regular Avengers? Yes, regular Avengers and AIQs next I don't think I've played the original Avengers It's like X-Men I would honestly put it as The But I don't know, I don't think it has Fair Then AIQ next First thing I've ever owned It's at Elwood Sentimental for you Yeah I played it today I always come back I think it's one of his best coded pins It's got my favorite shot in modern pinball Captain Marvel ramp on Premium in LE I love how much there is to do with it People have told me Oh it's pretty shallow All you do is rinse and repeat And get to the wizard mode I've heard there's a computer multiball.
    122:29
    There are many ways to approach it, especially with gem placement. You could ask somebody, where do you put reality? I would say put it on Captain Marvel because it's fine. It's got unreal points.
    122:42
    You could put it on Hulk. Gamma mode is exponentially increased. What do you think? Um, it's, it's not my favorite game to play in conversation, but I do love playing it on my own. Um, it's a really, really good layout. Uh, and like you said, it's an L one. Um, I would say strong B to low a, I'm going to, I'm going to push us to the a. Yeah, there we go. I think, I think it's one of his best. I know people put it at the bottom sometimes of lists. I can't agree with that. I, I would kind of put it higher than others. but I'm not going to argue one way or the other because I know why people choose it. Apart from me, I separate myself from the bias because it was my first purchase. It's just phenomenal but I won't put it in S and show some sort of unbiased. Let's do Iron Man. Why don't you start with it? Iron Man, yeah.
    123:49
    I do enjoy playing it in tournaments because it's again, it can be very brutal, but if you have kind of a game plan,
    123:58
    I think you can really... And there's so many ways to approach it, right? Like, you can bogey out while you're hitting the ramps. You can, you know, get your moniker going.
    124:09
    You can go for whiplash, multi-ball. I mean, it's a fun game. Super fast. Tough layout. I think another strong B to light A for that game. Yeah, I'm going to put it in the B. I agree with you. I think everything you've said makes sense.
    124:29
    It reminds me of Sword of Rage, very brutal, very fast. And there's a coach at one point you could bring both War Machine and Monger multiballs in there. Start one before the other.
    124:41
    It's super cool. And then talking about bogeying, I've watched Escher, I've watched others take that strat, and if you have the shots dialed in, forget it. You're good. You don't have to do it. getting to the wizard mode.
    124:58
    Is it Jericho? Yeah. It's awesome. Absolutely awesome. I'll give it a B. I want to save some of the 8, I think, for the heavy hitters. Let's do Zeppelin.
    125:12
    I know people say you have to play the premium in L. The code is there. I have not had a good time because I've only seen the pro many times. I've seen glimpses of good code, but I can't put it off. I don't know about you.
    125:31
    I love this game. Believe it or not. We actually just got a premium on location near me, and I like, as soon as I found that out, I went over there and played it until I got the GC on it, because I just enjoy playing it so much. I don't know that If an A is warranted But I would at least put it in the B category I'll defer to you there On the premium and LE I've seen the code Or I've seen the max and they make such a difference The pro has been The pro is one of the most bare pros I've ever seen And it's just not Not fun to play to me But I'll defer to you on that I'll go B I don't think I would go higher Why don't you pick one yeah, um, just going from the left again, uh, Deadpool.
    126:24
    Uh I really love this game Um I know that for as kind of simple as the rule set is it all the shots are very satisfying to hit especially that it might be the best skill shot in all pinball
    126:38
    Or even the MXV, you know, it's just, it's so good. And then hitting like, sorry, go ahead. I was going to say the snicket. Yeah, the snick. Oh, my gosh. If you can, like, get the sticks going and you start getting your play field multipliers up, it's very satisfying, very exhilarating.
    127:03
    I would go so far as to put it in the A category. I'm going to agree with you. I think the team-ups, the skill shot to the katana ramp is so, so amazing. Having a multi-ball, having a drop target bank in the front for little Deadpool, the cool little way place the put some sort of ball safety that is it the Wolverine berserker raid shot is so nice center spinner especially then it sets up your double damage that they were to the ain't juggernaut although bring more people on the juggernaut and then it's just fun fun to the call-outs are great. It's a good experience. I would definitely agree. I can see people putting it hot. Let's go to Ghostbusters. I don't know the reason for the... ignore the backstory. I don't know the reason for such bipolar... or excuse me, polarization of extreme opinions on it. I have had fun playing it. magnetic wings, whatever it is down there have thrown me into chaos. It reminds me of the Guardian orb magnet.
    128:19
    So I don't know where to put this. I think it's so fun when I do play it, but I do get frustrated because a lot of the copies I've played have been trashed
    128:30
    on location. No one keeps their pins up or on it for whatever reason. I've seen a roached out light scoop and nothing happened.
    128:39
    What do you think? Yeah, we got one on location relatively recently, and I do really enjoy playing this game. I would say it's a strong B. I'll agree with the B there. I don't get the hate on it as far as just the pin itself.
    129:02
    NASCAR, I've played it a few times. It's fun, a lot of action. I would say C because of what we have in the B category.
    129:13
    Yeah, I can agree with that. I do enjoy playing this game. I think we don't have any location near me, but I think one or two people have one in their private collections that I've been lucky enough to play and I always enjoy playing it whenever I do. What about the Sopranos? I play the D82 one. it's sort of heavily modified because you can't have it in a tournament especially with the plunger you gotta have just you have to take that out and do some stuff I don't know too much about it I know the drop on the right you have to sneak it in looks fun what do you think? it's a fun game it's a great game I have I think the first time I played it was in some bar in Oakland, actually, or a brewery. I remember having a really good time on it. But then we have one locally here that we had in league for a little bit, and it was always a really long player.
    130:22
    I mean, it's a fine game. I would say strong C. Yeah, I was going to say C. Let's do Rush. modern. Rush, Rush, Rush.
    130:39
    Ray Day, John Borg. I know I've watched a lot. Played a lot of the LE when it was at Cider Cave. Don't have it anymore.
    130:52
    Played it in tournaments a bunch. It still confuses me, but when you're kind of bringing everything together, It needs the expression lights for me, but when you're bringing everything together, it is a blast.
    131:11
    I think the time machine is one of the coolest mechs. I had fun on the pro. I don't feel I need the premium rally. I know some people disagree with that, but I think it's deep enough, especially with, I know it's got, the wizard mode is what, 2112, and then you have to do it again? or a book of Cygnus II or something I think it's called.
    131:39
    I've never gotten that far. I love flipping it. I would put it a strong B low. I would agree with that. Yeah, we don't have any on location near me anymore, unfortunately, but when we did, I really enjoyed it. The layout is exceptional.
    131:55
    The shots are all very satisfying to hit. Yeah, and the light show is great. All outs are super funny. hearing the band members, the assets are fine, they're whatever it is, concert footage, but hearing them through the calls like, hey, hoser, that's just cool. I would put it in B. Looking at what we have in A, I don't think it's... Yeah, how about The Walking Dead? Go from one Borg to another.
    132:25
    Go ahead, let me hear your thoughts. Yeah, I would say, arguably, this is Borg's best design. I love this game. I mean, if it's not apparent already, I'm a fan of the brutal games, but also, like, seeing them in tournament settings, it can be a bit of a, you know, an equalizer of sorts.
    132:47
    And I think, I mean, depending on how the game is set up, you know, it can be very brutal. But if you can get into that flow state and, like, you know, find the shots on this game, it's so good. Yeah, there's so many ways to approach it. Some people start CDC again, and other people are like, no, set up your prison and well, then start barn to increase the value of CDC. My favorite.
    133:13
    Nice. Sign-wise layout, it's not my favorite layout, but the Lyman code on there, I don't know why I didn't play it earlier.
    133:22
    I used to go at lunch near me, pin stack, pin stack, which is bowling alley. 10 pins, they're all terribly taken Oh my gosh IC doesn't work This was the only one that would play but the right sling fire ram I would always play it I probably spent $100, $200 just to play it, so good Hell yeah Oh my gosh It is one of my favorites I haven't played the premium or LE I know it's a big difference because the walker bombs will change how you approach it. I think the idea, and then the crossbow, I love the pro. I think, and then in premium LES, I have the walker head on the left ramp, which I think can result in a straight down the middle shot or rebound.
    134:18
    This is up there for me. I would put this S tier just for the code. It's so good. But there's so many ways to tackle it, and you see everybody doing something different. Until you get a lot and understand how you can approach it, pivot to go to bloodbath and maybe, you know, something else. And trying to get to last man standing with all the walker kills, forget it.
    134:47
    I would put it at. Okay. You think this is their first ask? I would give a strong A, but I don't know if you want to make this our first S. That would be interesting.
    135:00
    I'm looking at the rest of them. I do have a couple in mind for S tier, but yeah. Yeah. Let me go to my next S tier. Okay. Sure. I would put it up there. Oh, yeah. Easy.
    135:15
    Easy S tier. I'm going to put Godzilla on S tier. I don't think we need to explain. Yeah. Just briefly, I think it's Elwynn's best pin. got some of the most satisfying shots as far as flow I think it's fair I think you don't get long or short games only I think you get a good average of medium games I think what they've done on the code to bring it to where it is it was almost great out of the point whatever release code it is not like a bond or any other game that has like WIC right now needs a little bit more So I would put Godzilla in S. I would equate that with Walking Dead. You give me one of your S tier so I can compare. Yeah, the other S tier I was going to put in there is Jurassic Park. Yep. I think that's an ideal pinball machine. And I think the difference in Jurassic Park and Godzilla is sort of apparent. I feel like Jurassic Park is more stop and go because your shots don't, you don't flow as much. Getting the upper shots to hit is harder in Jurassic Park for me.
    136:27
    Hitting the looping Godzilla is easier than hitting, what, the tower shot, I think it's called, Jurassic Park. I just started getting into it a lot.
    136:37
    I think those are two solid S's here. What do you think about Walking Dead? I just don't know if it's – maybe I need to spend more time on it, I don't know if it's quite on the level. I mean, I think it's a strong A. Okay. We'll put it in an A. I can agree to disagree there. But I think of all the A's, I think it's my favorite. I'm going to put it at the first A. Yeah. Let's go to Foo Fighters. I'll let you start. Yeah.
    137:06
    Very strong first kind of first, you know, cornerstone game for Jack Danger. I love the layout. It's super flowy.
    137:16
    The code now is, I think, really, really in a good place. You know, Combotron, combos. I would put it in a strong A. Yeah, I'm going to agree. I think with expounding upon Combotron, having a mode where your audio levels increase to hit consecutive shots is so cool. It's so cool. And the sound it makes is a dopamine hit that I didn't think I needed in my life, but it's awesome. everything about it is kudos to the animation team at Stern because they made an Attack from Mars music pin and it's so cool I love everything about it, it doesn't make S tier for me but I've been to the final battle, I was one shot away from beating the Overlord in phase 4, it is tons of fun, I could play it all day, the innovation in it as far as dot geometries. Super cool. Kicker, the dead post. I give it our number 2A. I had to pick. Yeah, I think that's worthy. Alright, you go. Alright, what is that on the left? Is that Elvira? Yeah, House of Horrors. House of Horrors, cool.
    138:30
    Another, actually who did this game? It's another Lyman Code, right? Lyman code got the haunts, got the deadheads got the coffin multiball of all the pins on this I think it's the best theme integrated I think all the avarages are great. I think it's because of her dedication to making it through to her IP and license. She probably didn't want to put out just anything and collect the checks. She really put a lot of effort into this. Yeah. It does kind of get repetitive for me, but I don't ever walk away from it saying I've had a bad time. I would put it as a B.
    139:18
    Yeah, I think it's a strong B. Yeah, it's very campy. I mean, the theme integration is great. I will say the Blood Red Kiss Edition, I don't know if you've ever seen one in the wild, but it's maybe one of the most beautiful pinball machines I've ever seen. I haven't, but I will take your word for it because the pictures, I feel like they don't do it justice. It's so stunning. It's incredible, yeah. Yeah, that contrast of black and white and the red glitter, blood side rail. Ooh.
    139:45
    Yeah. Go again. Sure. Is it Game of Thrones next on the far left? Ooh. You know, I still haven't, as much as I've played it and as much as we have them on location around me, I haven't gotten to like Hand of the King but maybe I should play it more it is fun I do like the layout I would say it's a strong B yeah I agree this is another one sort of reminds me of Black Knight big difference on the pro and premium and MP because you get an upper play field with advancement towards multi-ball some people don't like that you can stay up there as much so They go for the pro. Reminds me of The Walking Dead where people prefer the pro. A lot of them. The flow is nuts. The code is great. So many different approaches. We watched a lot of it at the Northern Kentucky Open recently. Eric's got one. He's got the premium. Or, no, he's got the LE. It was cool to watch, and I enjoyed playing it in a pin golf tournament once. The target score was a billion, and now I know why. I'm going to go with the pin golf. I would almost put it in A, but I don't think it's... I'm looking at our A's, and I don't know if it hits that level. I'll pick John Wick next. I'm going to give you the C. I don't think it's ready.
    141:12
    The layout is... I agree. Yeah, the layout is fine. I think it's super cool what they're trying to do. I love the idea of AI-generated scenarios where the enemies are sort of adapting to your play style. It's just not there. The code is very shallow right now And there's something about How it doesn't really explain What you need to do I don't know, I've learned You can cash out on modes And I didn't realize you could do that Getting as many shots as possible But it could also be user error Player ignorance on my part Tim Sexton I think is a great coder Elliot Eisman, first design I think it can get there The idea of expression lighting adapting like a shaker motor to gunfire is super cool. I'll give it a C.
    142:04
    Yeah, I'm hopeful for the game. I do really like the layout. We just got a premium on location, and the mechs are really cool, the physical ball locks.
    142:14
    But, yeah, I think it's got some room to improve, and I'm sure it'll get there. I wish it would have kept the stand-up on the dance room, because that just seems like such a thing for BOM-wise. And I think that matters a lot. Not being there kind of reminds me of the dead post on the pro and foo fighters, like the cutouts there. Oh, man. It's a bummer they didn't include that. But I know you have to differentiate them. Ninja Turtles.
    142:43
    Yeah, Borg and Dwight. This one is tough because it is such an amazing theme, and I really love what they did, including all the characters, the modes. But it is hard for me to get into it. It's attorney, what are you doing? You're going Donatello? Or some people choose Michelangelo for the balls. Donatello obviously will give you the easy access to multiball on the right ramp, I believe. I've played it on my IRL streams on location. I put some time into it.
    143:26
    I don't know. I made an email just for it. It's called Pinball Jail. It's an animated one. Pinball getting put behind bars.
    143:34
    I want to give, and again, Dwight is one of my favorite coders. If I'm stretching it, it's a B. But in reality I think people are going to put it in C. However, I don't know. I don't think it's... I think the effort they put in it is there. It's just so hard to get a flow on it. The shots brick all the time for me. And I don't think it's because I'm a below average player. I just think figuring it out on each copy is hard. Whereas on a Godzilla, I can generally get that right ramp dialed in easily.
    144:07
    Yeah, and I think the scoring maybe has something to do with it, like mentally at least. It's like, you play a multiball, especially that like, you know, the Turtle Power one that you mentioned, the right ramp, and you come out with like two million points. You're like, where are all my points go? This is not JGP Pirates. Like, I want to be rewarded, but you don't have to be like Attack from Mars where I get a billion for a skill shot. Like, I get it. But the scoring, seeing it so low, it's hard to disheart. Right. Yeah, I can agree with that. Maybe a strong C. Yeah, let's do C. I don't... I don't know. I feel like it's better than WIC right now, but WIC hasn't had time to get coded. There's something about dopamine hits when you get a high score that it sort of takes away from it. But you do earn when you get like 32 million. I think my highest was like 60 something. I know I had a good game. Yeah, it's a great game. There's that part of it. Let's do Mando. Yeah. Another Dwight Cood. Yeah, Eddie, Brian Eddie. I have a bit of a soft spot for Amanda because it was one of the first games I learned the rules on.
    145:22
    They had so many on location around me that wherever I went, I was pretty much guaranteed playing Amanda.
    145:30
    I would say light B. I'm going to give it a B too. I think this gets a lot of hate for some of the earlier code where you could just spam center loop.
    145:42
    I know I haven't played the pro a lot. I really like what they do with the premium. I don't know. I really like this game. I think it's just... I don't like the upper play field as much, only in the sense of... I don't know what it is. It's so short. Like, it's not fun short like Jaws. I haven't played the premium yet on Jaws, but I've... one or two shots. but like the proximity of the target kind of reminds me of the family guy in Shrek upper play field but man, finding multi-ball into the mode, or the remote into the multi-ball, excuse me the satisfying shot of hitting that right 180 ramp is super fun, I don't know, I think this is a solid B, I know some people don't like it, but I don't agree with it I'm good with it pick one.
    146:43
    Yeah. Let's go right into, is that Star Wars next to it? Yep. Got about nine left. Sure. Star Wars. I think it's a fun game. It plays pretty fast.
    147:00
    Another Steve Ritchie layout. I do love the premium that has that hyperloop. I think it's a really cool mech. Like, it's reminiscent of, like, you know, Getaway, where just the ball just kind of loops around really quickly.
    147:16
    And then it's got, like, the Death Star that explodes if you can get there. I think it's a strong B for me. I'm going to agree. I just played it last week for a long time.
    147:28
    It was a pro. I wish I had the Hyperloop. It's just, it's got the math that I love as far as figuring out your multipliers. it's very confusing to a new player. It's still confusing to me, but now I've played it a bunch more. I really enjoy it. I love the way you can choose different characters and power-ups to begin with. I think having that sort of option is great, and I'm going to put it in B and lead with that to Venom.
    147:58
    You know me. You know I love Venom. He's my favorite character in the comic hobby. I know this has been, has not set the world on fire, it's not a theme for everybody, but the ability to terraform your play field on the premium in LE and change it at will by choosing different characters, you're not going to get an unbiased opinion here. It's an A from me. It's not S because I think I'm more of a traditional mode player, but I am not going to let myself choose the grade on because I have such an affinity towards it. I recant. I would put it as for me just because of the theme, but I know that's not going to be for everybody. I get to count your arguments against it. The pro is barren to me. The mechs on the premium and the LE are super cool. I love a dangly target like Mando. I'll let you pick our grade.
    148:57
    Okay. Howdy, don't hate me. I'm going to give it a B. I think it's a fun shooter. I like the fan layout, and I do really like the theme. I think Venom's a great character.
    149:16
    I do also like the progress of carrying over. I think that's a great idea for sure, and I'm sure we're going to see it a lot more in future games and future titles. It makes it way more accessible, I think, to the casual player or even for like a home environment. I think it adds to the replayability a lot. Yeah, and surprisingly, they came out and said it's one of their highest earners. That RPG element is so key to bringing people back. People love road lights. They love, like in Jaws right now, you can collect sharks and trade them in for challenge mode attempts. On Wick, you have point levels already, and I think it did it so well. I understand why it was confusing to people at first because they have these lights. You don't know how to get to bosses, but it's got six boss battles. It's got a wizard mode reminiscent of something long and tough to get to if you do save progress, and that's another thing people realize. You can play it many different ways. You can play with save progress, and then I see why people will say, well, it's kind of getting boring because it's trying to beat Null with a high level, but if you do save progress, Try beating Null then and it becomes more of a traditional Carrying over A lot harder in a Lintar multiplayer So I'll agree with the B, I'm just going to let you say it because I was going to do an A or S for B Thank you Dwight for giving me Venom, Brian Eddy and Stern The whole team, Zombie Yeti, amazing art I always say thank you for it Let's go on to another comic pin, Marvel's Spider-Man.
    151:00
    I'm going to be biased on this one because I think this is in my top five all time. Yeah, it's amazing. I'm not going to put it in F. Yeah, I agree with that. I'm going to put it in A. I think it's a strong A. Yeah, this is one of the best playing pins. And through the theme, there's so many fun moments. People love a world under glass, the dark magnet. The Venom shot is super satisfying. The audio sort of tenacity as far as Venom's, everybody else. Sandman. I don't like the Sandman drops. That's the one thing. If I have to give a negative, I don't like the one up there. Is there some weird rejects? But, man, it is tons of fun. And getting the superhero, I think, was one of the coolest moments for me because I know I earned it. I know there's a separate wizard mode. Whatever the first wizard mode is. Is it Battle Royale? That's it. Sorry, Superhero is the last one. Get all the spider, separate spider modes and do that. I'll let you talk about it more. Yeah, that's the High Ave. Oh yeah, no, it's just we've had one location near me for as long as I can remember. It moved from one location to another and it's always just been one of my favorite pins to play. It's, um, from a beginner, you know, from when I started playing, it's very approachable. Um, I think it's, uh, I'd also love that you can make progress towards everything all the time, right? So it's like, oh, let me bring in Doc Ock multiball into Blackseat multiball into, you know, just destroy Sandman. Like it's, it's just so good. Like another Steve Ritchie design plays fast. Um, the ramps are satisfying to hit. Like you said, that Venom side ramp is awesome. just everything about it, I love it I think that's something that I realize is a common theme great pin, because you're always earning something I feel being locked out, like if I had to take one thing away from Godzilla I don't like rampage mode, I hate being locked out I understand the reason for it, but I hate being locked out not a traditional mode lock, but just sort of some side thing where I'm not able to progress anything else you're not letting me count like on Jaws it's interesting, and we can go into Jaws next, but like the last beachgoer I guess is locked out on certain things I understand why, but if I've earned myself I've earned progress up until something, I would like to be able to collect things, it doesn't have to be everything, tell me to ricochet progress on yeah, I love that about Spider-Man, what do you think of Jaws? I will tell you right now of all of Elwin's pins I have been most I don't want to say underwhelmed too negative. I think it's one of his E pins and I don't know what that's doing. I look at my average score on Jaws and I understand where you're bringing in ideas, one of the coolest things for allowing you to mechanism save, flipper save, hold, cradle, that's the word I'm looking for. But I'm finding myself not challenged by it. I don't know if it's because of the layout. Definitely not because of the code. The code is phenomenal. Rick Nagel has done a phenomenal job.
    154:40
    But I think the layout is giving me these that are just not tough and challenging. What are your thoughts?
    154:49
    I've really enjoyed Jaws. I know it's – I think the code wasn't as fully cooked as it is now, you know, on launch. But I think it's – I really – I think the layout's great. Like I said, I mean, a lot of the shots, I guess, do you kind of feed the flippers, right, like going into the in-lane?
    155:10
    which may be what you're touching on a little bit. But, I mean, I think the, you know, feeding the upper, the mini flipper gives players a lot of choice. It also slows the game down a bit. I always kind of trap up and then let it drop into the in lane to kind of get a more controlled shot.
    155:30
    But I think, I mean, like you said, the code's been great. Elizabeth's been super responsive online and, you know, is very active on Discord and everything and getting feedback. I hope she doesn't hate me because I keep asking questions I'm like, why is this doing Yeah, I think Fourth of July is one of the More fun wizard modes I've played The sounds, I do want to know Maybe someone will answer Is the Fireworks sound What was it? I was asking this on stream There's a sound It makes, I think it's Fourth of July or something And I heard it in another pin I'm like did they use the same audio I would put this at a strong B for me I think it's all there I also kudos to Keith Elwin For designing a Viking Style outlaying Like platform to bump up On the comeback That's such a great call out To a classic I would put it as a strong B right now I would say strong B to light A For me Sure Pick the next Yeah, it looks like is that Guardians on the far left?
    156:43
    Guardians I think is good. Again, another game that I started playing early on when I first played competitively because we had a few on location near me.
    156:57
    I think it's a maybe strong B, but I also can't help but think of Metallica when I think of Guardians. That's right. And I just think Metallica is just a better game. Go ahead. Yeah, go ahead. I was going to say, yeah, I can't get to any of those points. Guardians is a blast from the go.
    157:22
    I think group multiball is one of my favorite multiballs. It's fun trying to get a multiplier. My first experience with it was at one of the expos. The first expo I went to post-COVID and it was in the Stern Tournament Expo, and I didn't know what I was doing, but I was watching players.
    157:43
    I love Cherry Bomb, the wizard. Oh, yeah. Just because getting to it isn't as unobtainable as other wizard modes, because you don't have to do half the progress for four modes. I don't like the orb magnet release. I think everybody reminds me of the Ghostbuster. Bananigans. I would put this at a B, and then Metallica at an A. I agree. Okay. I agree.
    158:15
    I will say if you haven't tried this, or if you have a Guardians near you, you can play on. When I learned about the immolation strategy, that I think it was Escher tried in the tournament.
    158:26
    Not tried, but, you know, obviously executed perfectly. I played it until I did that, and it was very satisfying. to play. The Rocket Shot was like War Machine on Iron Man.
    158:43
    It's got some cool stuff. I don't think it's worthy of more than a B. Metallica is definitely an A. I don't know if we need to say anything about Metallica that hasn't been said prior. It's just so good.
    159:00
    Let's do Simpsons Pinball Party. another Keith Johnson special. It is brutally tough to get to the final Wizard one. However, I don't think there's anything wrong with doing that per se, as long as you make the journey fun. I've never been there. I don't think I'll ever get there. Kind of like one of the other pins on our list, Lord of the Rings.
    159:34
    But the garage is satisfying to bash. I get annoyed when it pops out of Cletus on the left instead of going up top. It's got one of the coolest ball locks I've ever seen in a pin. Ouch.
    159:47
    The upper play field is not annoying to me. And the Simpsons is a classic IP that I love, that most people do. I would put this at a high B, low A. Maybe not an A because of how tough it can be I agree, I think strong B is good for that pin What about Lord of the Rings?
    160:07
    Yeah, another Gomez pin The only one I have experience playing on is the one that they had at Mom's Organic Market out in Maryland that closed recently But I always enjoyed playing it, I think it's a great layout one shot's the hit.
    160:28
    You know, obviously it's a very deep game to get to Valinor, but I think it's a strong beat, a light A. Yeah, I think it's better than Simpson's pinball party.
    160:43
    I think drawing the ring is just a moment in pinball people will always remember. The code is tough, but and you know, the layout isn't dynamic.
    160:59
    They have a ton of stuff, but getting the Balrog... I'm going to push it to A for us, and we've got three left. I'll let you talk about Iron Maiden.
    161:14
    I mean, Iron Maiden, I think, is a clear S tier for me. I mean, it's Elwynn's first design with Stern. um you know obviously it was originally Archer but um I think I'm not I wasn't a huge fan of the band and then I got the pin and um now I just you know sometimes I'll just listen to Iron Maiden when I'm like driving in my car um incredible game I mean the layout's amazing um the shots are all satisfying you know Keith Owens is all about kinetic satisfaction and this game brings it in droves um It's uh Yeah I don't know I could talk about this game for a while But um Do you have anything to add I'm gonna do you Great I'm gonna give you I made it as an S Because I don't think it's an S Probably of his pins It's the trade off for me with Avengers But I'm gonna give Aiden an S Because I understand the argument And I love playing it But of all his pins it's not my favorite But I'm going to move Walking Dead then to the S tier. That's fair. I think that's fair. I think that's the trade. If we're going to do one trade each, I think that's what I'm going to do. I agree with Maiden. I think the way they approached this music pin in quotes was awesome. Making a music pin have some sort of story to it tied into the band's lore is super cool. even though, you know, I'm pretty sure Foo Fighters have some sort of thing with Alien. That's why they chose it. But that is going above and beyond making just traditional music pin, and I think that's why people gravitate towards Maiden 2 because there's so much creativity and you the shots. Shooting a shot, shooting a ramp through the pops or a cornerstone shot on a pin, like Congo's right ramp, Whitewater is very It can piss me off, but it's also very satisfying So the left ramp on Maiden, super fun It's always intense, and I love it I think it's a great pin, it's not my favorite Elwynn, but I'm going to put it S tier with you We've got two left, let's do Stranger Things with Brian Eddy I think this is one pin that had negative reactions on the code at launch. I own one now and I'm glad I bought it.
    163:50
    So fun to me. And the unofficial Cleland code is great. It's a journey and a half. I can't get enough of it. I would put this as a strong A. I would agree. I think A tier is good. I think it's a great tournament game. Good family out You can really blow it up And combo the shots together It's a fun game for me too It was great It reminds me of Guardians Where if you focus on getting your multiplier up It'll matter because Your bonus multiplier is huge If you've done a few things And you see your score is like 37 million on a bonus And then times 3 Hello, I've got 37 times 3 Which is 111 million and that's more than people's all three balls.
    164:40
    Strong A, and last one is Tron. Go. Yeah, another board design. I love this game. I think the layout's great. Another game where you can really get into a flow state and, you know, combo a lot of shots together, you know, get those end-of-line jackpots. Feels really good.
    165:01
    I would say strong A for this for me. Yeah, I'm going to agree with you. There's a reason you see it in all the tournaments. people clamoring for a remake, especially with LCD assets. I get it. I totally get it. So I'm going to review our list, and that will be it for our first inaugural episode of Wizards and Warriors. In our S tier, we have Godzilla, Jurassic Park, Iron Maiden, Walking Dead. In our A tier, we have Foo Fighters, James Bond, the recent one, Black Knight, Sword of Rage, Batman 66, Avengers, Infinity Quest, Deadpool, pool, Spider-Man, Metallica, Lord of the Rings, Stranger Things, Tron. In our B tier, we have Bond 60th, ACDC, Star Trek, Stern, Ripley's Believe It or Not, Kiss, Batman, Dark Knight, Iron Man, Led Zeppelin, Ghostbusters, Rush, Elvira's House of Horrors, Game of Thrones, Mandalorian, Star Wars, Venom, Jaws, Guardians of the Galaxy, Stimson's Pinball Party, C-Tier, WrestleMania, Mustang, Aerosmith, Avatar, Monsters, Monopoly, Roller Coaster Tycoon, X-Men, The Beatles, Family Guy, Shrek, High Roller Coaster, Avengers, S-Car, Sopranos, John Wick, Turtles, Nardee Tier, Striker Extreme, Grand Prix, Harley Davidson, the Rolling Stones, Sharky Shootout, 24, NBA, Austin Powers, World Poker Tour, Bonelli, CFI, Elvis, Transformers, Playboy, Pirates of the Caribbean, Indiana Jones, and Big Buck Hunter Pro. That will do it, folks. Thank you so much for listening. If you're still here with us, we thought we were going to go 90 minutes. It is almost three hours, but you know what? I got to cut a little bit out. for some tech issues, but it was a lot of fun. Thank you, Joe. What are your thoughts?
    166:56
    Yeah, no, I had a blast, Hadi. You know, this is great. I think moving forward we can hopefully get some more, you know, a lot of great more pinball content to sift through, and I'm sure we'll be hearing from a lot of you soon. Yeah, it was fun. Again, this is going to be our tourney-focused, competitive pinball-focused podcast. We'll do some fun games like this. with the tier list. And other than that, thank you so much for joining us. This should be up on all your podcasting resources. I do want to say, if you need to reach out to Joe or myself, mine is Frisco Pinball on all socials. Catch me on Twitch. Joe is JLand, JL4ND. And we will see you next time. Thank you so much for joining Wizards and Warriors. I'll talk to you all later.
    167:49
    The lights are flashing, the bells are ringing, I step up to the table, my heart is ringing, the crowd is watching, the tension is high, I'm ready to play, it's time to fight, I can't seem to worry if I'm ready to fight, I hope that all that makes a star delight Opposites, we're in control Limbaugh with his wings, I've the soul I hope that all bullets are chasing the light The arcades are light But we follow my every command In Limbaugh kingdom, I make my stand Limbaugh warriors, we're ready to fight I hope that all that makes a star delight Opposites, we're in control In the wizard's we got the soul