it's time for another episode of the pinball podcast from don it's don's pinball podcast i think we're up to episode number 71 i think we're coming out of the doldrums as they say we're starting to get a little bit more news and hey some pinball crap to talk about buckle up Hey, howdy, hey, campers. Grab those carpet squares. Get down on the ground. Grab a little bit of popcorn and a paper towel there because we're going to munch some snacks, and we're going to munch on some little news nuggets and views and other things you can't afford to lose, right, when we get to the pinball ether sphere. Okay, well, it's finally happened, okay? Venom has been released, and now we're starting to get the mods hitting the market from the mod makers out there. So in the mail, I just received my bundle from Tilt Graphics. I'm in anticipation of opening up a Venom Premium. And so I just have a routine bunch of things that I like to get for a new in-box game, particularly the Sterns. I want some Art Blades. I want a Shooter Rod if I can find it. You know, Shaker Motor, Knocker, those sorts of things. So I went looking around shopping for, you know, some side blades. I know that, I believe it's Tilt Topper that does the mirror blades. Now, they said they're working on them still for Venom. The limited edition one that's being put together right now comes with those graphic mirror blades, which look straight fire, yo. But Tilt Graphics is doing something interesting. So they actually have a bundle, like a graphics bundle that you can buy. It's about $150. And with that, you get not only art blades, of which they have a couple of different kinds, some with venom, some without, but all loaded with that drippy, drippy goo that we're super into. But you also get things like a shooter plate. You get a pin gulp with some graphics on it. You get interior apron graphics that go in facing the gameplay area. You get like a dog tag, flipper top covers, flipper back covers, stickers, sticker toppers, flipper toppers, stick toppers, top things. So things you go on your flippers. You get some of those like all included in this little package for 150. You know, normally they're on like 80, 90 bucks for just plain mirror blades. If you want to go fancy, they go up from there. Um, but it was a whole lot of things that, you know, I'm probably even forgetting some of them that came in there. Um, you know, but a plate for your shooter rod and things. So all of that was bundled together for about 150 bucks. It just showed up. So I can't wait to throw those in there and get my graphics on yo. Also like it just happened today, checking out Facebook and, uh, my boys over there at flip mods have released the first bell tower mod uh for venom right so you've got that pretty prominent bell tower with a little dinghy bell in it you know gives a dong when you hit the uh stand-up target so i'm all over that it looks like heavily inspired to me from like taco bell is what i think i think every time i hit that target that should be the stand-up cheesy gordita crunch target nevertheless it comes as a you know kind of flat uh metal with some graphics on it from stern with that little dinghy bell up at the top. But he's got a three- and four-sided reinforced three-dimensional structure you can add onto there. And it's the first of the Venom Bell Tower mods that I've seen. I'm sure we're going to see a lot of these. I'm sure, like, Diddy's currently cooking up something. But Flip Mods, you were first, and so we are celebrating you today. So these have come out for anywhere between $60 and $90, depending on when you buy it, because it's an introductory price right now. also if you're getting the pro version it comes four-sided and the premium comes three-side and I think that's because of either where a wire form is in the way or you know that that bookcase tippy toppy you know convertible mechanism that's in there or whatever so it's actually a slightly more for the pro because you do get four sides and the other one comes with three plus there's the option to pay what is right now 12 bucks for some leds to get that guy to light up so I don't know. I didn't jump on this right away. I kind of want to wait and see what comes to market. But man, if there's something cool that comes out for that bell tower, I may be tempted. We'll have to see. It'll definitely depend on if Venom, once it does get here, if it's a keeper. If it's a keeper, I'll deck it out. You know, if it's just going to be here temporarily before it finds its forever home, then I may hold back on that. But go check it out at flipmods.com. I also came across, man, people are quick with the mods, man. There's already shooter rods out for Venom. You can get a venom head, you can get a carnage head, you could pay around $140, you could pay around $75, shop around, see what fits your budget. I think I picked up one of the $75 venoms without the tongue, because it looks like it'll fit good in the hand, you know. When I see things like, you know, the severed horse head with Godzilla, or like the Groot shooter rod, like it just doesn't look like something I really want to touch in my hand. But the venom head being all nice and smooth and evil looking with them sharp teeth, oh yeah, oh yeah, I think I can get my hand on that. So that'll be fun. So I've got that coming. And yeah, I think we're this is just the beginning, we're going to be seeing a lot more coming out. I hope that they do follow through and come out with some mirror blades with graphics overlaid onto them. Because I think that I mean, that looks great on the le. I guess we'll segue into the Friday video from Stern that came out a few days ago. And we saw that the le are on schedule and they being put together right now or at least were as of Friday maybe they been building them all week and that was just the Friday video But it looks like you know they are on schedule for last week this week coming up for the Venom L because the premiums are supposed to start the first week of October. At least that's what I heard last time I checked with my distributor, Matt Pinball. He's going to hook it up. Jeff's going to get that thing out to me and hopefully a nice preserved box so I can take it out of the box and then, you know, go make a, you know, a playhouse fort out of my pinball boxes, you know, create my own little habit trail, my own little maze. Maybe I'll use it and decorate it and the trick-or-treaters can come walk through there and, you know, wander through some old pinball boxes or something. What else dropped this week? It's been kind of like slow there for news for a while, you know, I'm like, I'm waiting to jump on there. I did some live streams, so thanks everybody that joined. Congratulations to those of you that won t-shirts, that won stickers. They're all out in the mail now. we're all caught up on orders. Thanks to everybody on the Patreon for that little episode I did from the road. But this will be the first one since my last official podcast. We're finally getting out there. So we got some little nuggets to cover. Foo Fighters just got a huge new code update. So just out of nowhere, Daddy Stern blesses us. Bless you, you players of Foo Fighters. Here is some new code for you. And there's new callouts in there. I still don't understand the integration and the gameplay with this, but there's those little lightning bolt inserts that light up and I'm sure they signify that, you know, standup targets are worth extra points. I'm sure if I dug around, I could probably find out what activates those. But now there's this like voice out of nowhere that I'm not used to that's talking about being supercharged or whatever, whenever those light up. So that's interesting. Also the call out guy from New Orleans, they must've remastered or remixed the recordings because it sounds a bit muffled now, whereas before it was a little, little, little, not as, not quite as clean, not quite as engineered. I did hear that little change there. It doesn't change the gameplay or anything much, but it was like a subtle difference I heard. Playing through the cities now, I didn't notice any new call-outs from the cities themselves. Maybe I need to spend more time with them. But there's new little things in there, and I probably haven't even discovered them all. And, you know, I didn't read through the release notes to see exactly what was released in there. But I'm sure it was loaded with bug fixes and probably some more things to find. Oh, also of note, and this doesn't really concern me, there's a wizard mode a final wizard mode in the game now i don't think i'm ever going to get to it but it's in there so that's cool so the code is still not quite at 1.0 so there is more to come before it's considered feature complete so i think we'll still you know look forward to some more coming out there oh also uh they added a lot of the other songs available now from the get-go so before you had about eight different cassette tapes you could flip through to pick a song uh now there's if you just keep going it scrolls into two full other pages so there's now uh what Was that like 21 or 24 or something? Different songs now that you can pick just flipping through the tape. So, I mean, that's cool. And the fact that there's still just a little bit more to come, I'm happy hanging on to Foo Fighters for a little bit more. I'm still having fun with the game. You know, I dig the gameplay. It's not so much, you know, I mean, technically it's a mode-based game, but really you're just playing through different cities. And the cities are essentially, you know, hit the lit shots. And, you know, they change a little bit. Some of them have, you know, roaming shots or whatever. but there doesn't seem to be like a like a markedly different you know set of rules for each different city and i think we've all seen that now compared to something like godzilla where you know for the four main monsters i mean each one is really a different approach to that mode um and they all kind of you know coalesce together you know you can go through and play all the monsters just like you can go through and play all the cities but the cities all end up being kind of the same shots you know it's just uh the colors disappear when you shoot them whereas something like godzilla it was really like, you know, let's focus on the spinners and spin them up so many times and hit the pop bumper to finish and kill Eberra, you know, or hit the moving shots or hit the stand-up targets or, you know, hit the ramps eight times or something. Like, you don't see that functionality with Foo Fighters. So I guess that's where I'm coming on the code. I think Godzilla is still going to be big daddy, number one. But Foo is fun and there's more code to come. And at some point here, I should be closing up into six or seven weeks since I ordered the competition that pin stadium is released for the expression lightings from stern so essentially they're the the i don't know neo lithium super um express orion belt galaxy edition or whatever silly thing they call their uh top end line um of led light strips but these are formulated to actually go into the slots uh for the that the expression lights go into which will kind of uh counteract like the biggest problem i have with pin stadiums and that's when i need to pop the play field taking these things off, not bumping the magnetic strips off and, you know, trying to juggle these things as I lift a play field without getting them totally mangled in the process. So it'll be nice if they can really get tucked into those recesses. And plus, you know, they're available. We still don't have Foo Fighter lights. You know, Rush lights came and went. I don't even think you can get Zeppelin ones anymore. I've got a set that I'll probably be selling, but I was lucky to get that. They just popped up on Pinside one day. So it would, you know, to introduce some competition, I think is a good thing. Even if the Stern expression lights seem to be more, uh, you know, theme integrated as far as into the code. I like that another company is bringing out something else. So maybe Stern will say, you know, instead of putting them off for another six months, maybe they'll do another run just so they can, you know, uh, appease the masses. So always good to have some competition in the market. Uh, speaking about the market, uh, have you guys seen this wacky pro uh James Bond pro that is currently sitting on Penn side that is being sold So this mad lad here this guy what he did right This is nuts This this reminds me so much of like something I would do This guy happened to cross an LE cabinet for James Bond Like just like the full cabinet with the LE graphics and everything. And he took that and then took his pro play field, which is fairly heavily modded and dropped it right into the limited edition cabinet. And so he made this like Franken hybrid game. He also powder-coated the thing with light blue sparkly powder-coat armor. And then just about every mod that you could purchase for the pro playfield is in there. Plus, this guy went another step. He removed the insert in the playfield over that left-sided area above the upward-shooting Vuk. And he put in some mirror glass or one-way glass and then installed the action figure battle under the playfield. And even put some graphics there on the side so you can see it and it lights up. So this dude took his pro play field, modded it up to be almost exactly like the premium LE, dropped it in an LE cabinet. He took premium backbox sticker graphics and put them on the backbox, but left the LE graphics on the base cabinet, and then threw, for good measure, the Bond topper on top of it. This thing was completely redone top to bottom. It looks absolutely nuts. It's essentially an LE at this point, missing only the Bond on the wand, right? and the little corkscrew wire form around the rocket. Other than that, it's got everything in there. It looks fantastic. And this guy has this thing listed for $87.50 or best offer right now. It's Pin Bowls, P-I-N-B-O-L-L-S. Hit him up or go check out the pictures on Pin's side of this thing. It's nuts. So I saw this and the first thing I thought of was, dude, this guy found somebody to replicate LE graphics. That's like my holy grail I'm looking for right now. I had to go hire an artist, do original art, find somebody that could print glossy decals. We had to size them up so they would fit, and then I had to trim them. I had to take everything off the cabinet. It was all this work just to upgrade Elvira to something kind of like matching the vision I had. And here's this dude with, like, no joke, LE graphics on a Pro. What in the ever-loving crap? So I reached out right away to this dude, Mr. Pinballs, and then found out that this was actually some LE cabinet he just happened to come across. Maybe it fell off a truck. I didn't push him too much to find out where he got the dang thing, but he didn't find somebody to reprint the graphics. This is actually an LE cabinet. So that is nuts. Check out the pictures. Pin Bowles is his name. He's on pin side. $87.50 or best offer if you're looking for a Bond, which, you know, I'm not currently, but I still was tempted. Like, you couldn't really go wrong with this one. Yes, it's priced more than a Pro, but the Pro shoots well. You don't have to worry about the Bond on the wall, but the thing looks amazing. It's already modded out and everything. and so it's sitting over there in Virginia, kind of in the Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania area. So if you're on the East Coast or don't mind a road trip, I mean, it's out there, yo. So I told the guy I'd give him a shout out because the thing looks nuts. What else do we got? Do we just switch in topics left and right? I was thinking of some rap lyrics to drop in there, but they are not appropriate. All right, let's switch the lanes again. Let's talk about my two favorite operators that I have, the dudes from the Electric Bat Arcade, Rachel and Kale. You know them from the Pinball Party podcast. Well, they now have their own podcast. They've splintered off. They've started a new chapter. They started the Electric Batcast, and it's already two episodes deep. I've listened to both of them now, and I kind of got to say it's like my new favorite pinball podcast. So, you know, you've heard these guys on Pinball Party. I like the perspective that they come from because this isn't tournament talk. This isn't me droning on about mods and crazy things I want to do to my machines. This is coming from two operators that also really like pinball. So you get to hear like the perspective of what it's like to operate two locations, one of which, Electric Bat down in the Yucca Tap Room in Tempe, Arizona, has 60 games in it, spanning like the entirety of, you know, EMs to Venom, right? Everything is in there. A mix of like the old Bally Williams, more recent stuff, you know, Stern Spike 1s, Stern Spike 2s. I think they might even have a Jersey Jack in there occasionally. They got some spookies when they come and go. So you get to hear like their perspective of what it's like to take these commercial machines, put them in on location and operate them. And just kind of like the things that I wouldn't really have thought of. So fascinating. Listen, giving these guys a shout out. I rep my electric bat arcade shirt with pride. I was there a few months ago. Fantastic place. If you're in the temporary area, be sure to check it out. They have a satellite location up there in Flagstaff, Arizona. Another cool town. I mean, like it's Arizona, but there's pine trees. It's a little higher elevation. they get some snow occasionally cool chill town um i dig it in northern arizona so uh check that out if you haven't i hope they keep going with it because like it absolutely slaps and speaking of slapping have you uh i have got the uh sound mod installed now in my big lebowski so this is the most recent addition to um district don's arcade here in my basement um the district gone arcade acquisition, The Big Lebowski. Fantastic game. Shoots amazing. I've live streamed it already. I've droned on about it enough. If you have the means and you like this movie at least a little bit, what a fantastic game. You could bowl in the game. 10 frames. Just go bowling. Well, somebody has cobbled together custom code and it is available through means. Search around Pinside. But you could actually download the code with music that the full album versions of the songs not just kind of like the music version that you would play you know in the 1970s bowling alley but the actual songs credence is in there the gambler is in there i swallowed my last bottle you know so i swapped that in you just put it on an ssd drive put it in turn it on it worked for me um search around if you want instructions on how to do it but it is awesome man i'm digging it like this is a game I already like. I liked it the first time I played it. You know, I've talked about this before, but you know, playing on location, playing in a crowded expo hall is much different than having some quality time, you know, with a game in, you know, a home situation. And so since I've got it here, man, this thing, I love this game so much. And now I get to play through it and it's just, you know, randomized with all those different songs and everything. So it's like a completely new world. It's blowing my mind. I'm hoping that tomorrow I'll have some time in the afternoon to go ahead and live stream it with the new music. I'm sure I'll get a copyright strike at some point, but it'll exist for at least a little bit. So if you haven't yet, follow the YouTube channel, Don's Pinball Podcast on YouTube, like, subscribe, so you never miss a video. And I think I'll live stream that tomorrow. And it's just really cool hearing all that cool music. So I think that's a wrap up of everything that's kind of going on right now. I know Nap Arcade is dropping business. I just looked and we got not only a new Pinball Party podcast out of nowhere, halfway through that, but another pinball show is available. So I'm going to go listen to that later too. We're in the run-up to Expo. We're in the run-up to Venom. I was playing Venom again on location over at District 1, Stevens Point, let's say to my end, Wisconsin. Oh, God, guys, I've been on the road, man. I forget where I'm at sometimes. And I was listening to Joel from the Triple Drain podcast, and he's been live streaming this. He had Dwight on his live stream and kind of explaining the rules. So I got to listen a little bit more and kind of get an idea of what I'm supposed to be doing in this game. So I went back for about an hour and I threw five bucks through Venom. And yeah, I got to say like it's growing on me. At first, I was kind of put off by the Pro because there just wasn't much in there. Even the Premium seems to not have a ton, but the Pro was even stripped down even more. But now I see like how much the code is really, you know, changing in the game. I'm still looking forward to the Premium. I think that's the one to get. I think the LE is pretty, but it's overpriced for what you get. But it was fun going back and putting just some more time on Venom. I'm starting to appreciate it more. I got my level up into the 20s. I still haven't gotten to any of the four little mini bosses there. No grundles for me, but I am appreciating it more. So I'm looking forward to now, you know, getting this game and having some time on it. I think this will be a good game to get, throw some time into, get invested into it. Hopefully play through it a few times. Maybe I got to level up more, but looking forward to that. So I'm not put off. So new pinball show. I'll probably listen to that tonight. And then I'm hoping now that these doldrums here are finally going to be complete. And then between here and Expo, we should start hearing more news and more drops. We've got things to look forward to, like the Pinball Brothers may be bringing a new game to Expo, potentially. They said they're bringing something special. Now, is it going to be a new game, or is it going to be a remake? Are these guys the ones that are doing the Twilight Zone? If Pinball Brothers is doing Twilight Zone, does that mean I've got to free up more room in my basement? We'll find out. Also, Jersey Jack may have something new coming out. They've been like radio silence. I haven't even heard anything, haven't seen any production videos or anything of them throwing these CEs together. So we've got stuff to look forward to there. We still have that big empty spot in November. I know we're getting Guardians of the Galaxy from Stern, but there's going to be something else. And, you know, the perennial rumor right now is Stranger Things. I hope it is true. Oh, I did want to mention one more thing that I discovered. So Medicinal Mods, maker of some of the coolest mods I've seen in pinball machines, did this whole run for Elvira. It looks fantastic. It's out of print. Dude's not making them anymore. But he also did a really cool set of mods for Stranger Things. It changes the whole back part of the play field. There's like, you know, catwalks. It looks like a laboratory. There's like blood dripping on things. You know, there's green canisters that light up. There's a portal that attaches to the back of the play field then that lights up too as well. and I thought this thing was out of print too but I just found out that the list is still open on pin side for these medicinal mods for stranger things he's going to close the list out at the end of the year they're about $750 now for the whole set but they are impressive I know straight down the middle did a whole kind of review of them and like I fell in love back then but number one I didn't have a stranger things number two I thought these were going to be out of print anyway but I got my name down so at some point maybe I could actually get one of these if this new game comes out. I'm trying to strategize myself and put myself in a good spot. So maybe I could get a Stranger Things with these medicinal mods. I think that'd be awesome. I hope you guys are having a great Monday. It's going to be a fun week. I'm going to be back for more. I'm hoping to stream Lebowski with the new sound mod coming up. That should be able to happen tomorrow unless I get derailed somehow. More live streams coming. I'm always giving stuff away. We're going to have giveaway palooza at Expo, man. It's going to be lit. Keep bringing me your feedback. Jump on the Facebook page. Give me a follow. I love it. We're building up so high. Also, Don's Pinball Podcast at gmail.com. You can email me directly, and I will get directly back to you. What? Also, I drop live streams here and there. I'm still consistently doing the Friday evening, so come on by and have some fun with us. I love the community we're building up together. I like pinball still. What can I say? Positivity in pinball. Later.