Now who's responsible, I say, who's responsible for this unwarranted attack on my person? I say, I say, I say, pay attention now, boy. This is, of course, Foghorn Leghorn presents the Pinball Junk Drawer. You all asked for it, I say, I say, you all asked for it now, you're gonna get it. Boy, oh boy, are you gonna get it. Go, I say, go away, boy, you bother me. And we're back. This is the only Pinball Podcast not giving HP control of this device. Are you kidding me? Computer. Oh, I hate computers so much. Anyway, my name is Foghorn Leghorn, and as always... Craft-proof Sally. And she's going to be much cheerier than I am today because I'm in a bad mood. But that's okay. Let's just get past it. We are here, of course, to talk about our trip to Benton, Wisconsin, and visit Spooky. and what else we got going on we of course went to a new brewery new brewery because of course two actually one's not really a brewery one's just more of a one's part of the conversation about our trip to Benton one's more of a cosmic mistake on every level but I shouldn't be so mean so yeah last time we left off we gave a little teaser that we were going to Benton, Wisconsin now that's a small town it's three hours away from where we live near Appleton. And that was a bit much. So what we did was we broke it up and we went down to Madison and kicked around there and, you know. Stayed overnight in a little town called Mount Horeb. Horeb? Horeb? Horez? Horeb? Horeb? I don't know. It doesn't matter. We should ask that guy how to say it. We should have. And while we were there, there was a sign that said, ask about our troll tours. And I was like, I don't know what that means. And I didn't ask. and I went to sleep. But apparently they are the troll capital of the world, I'm pretty sure it said. Yeah, because afterwards we looked around a little bit and I was like, what's with these trolls? And then that's, well, there you go. I should have asked about the troll tours. Right, because that's where we went to one of the breweries. Ah, yes. We went out for dinner and then we're like, okay, I said there's a brewery here, so let's go check it out. So this is like 7.15. So we go in, and the person that is coming over to seat us says, well, the kitchen's closed. I'm like, that's okay. We're just going to go sit at the bar. Yeah, just for beer. And you're like, what time is this place closed? Oh, 12 minutes. Yeah. We're that guy now. Yeah. Awesome. So what was the name of that place? It was the Grumpy Troll Brewing Company. Yes, the Grumpy Troll. So he was a really good guy. Yeah, he was. And it was nice. It was good. You liked the beer. Yeah, it was good. And it was good. The atmosphere was really neat. Yeah. But you rushed. Yeah. It's bad at times because you're that guy now. Yeah, you feel bad. But there's other people that are still like ordering drinks and stuff. So you're kind of like, okay, let's just have a beer and just get out of here. Yep. Yep. So, of course, I like to buy a glass at every brewery we go to. And I also have a patch backpack that has a bunch of brewery stuff on it. Brewery patches, yeah. But you also like patches. So there's a display case there. We're going to do this story beforehand? All right. Because you still have the other one for your salad. Yeah. so I was like okay so we'll take a glass and this beer and two and a patch I think it was yeah and then um so so he's like he's like oh yeah those are I ordered those a long time ago I ordered like 500 of them and this is all that's left they're in like an old display case it's like it's like from uh you like an old pharmacy would have this on the wall to look at like this is what a syringe looks like and this is a picture of i don't know but they also could have used it for like to display stuff in it like as part of their counter where you could reach into it so this guy from behind yeah so this guy and it's against the wall so what does this guy do to get a glass and two two batches he comes out from around the bar comes out yes comes out from around the bar and then he moves the display case away from the wall. He lifts it up so his arm fits through and he's like clawing around like trying to find it. He finds the two patches and he gets the glass and he hands it to Crabby and Sally and says, make sure you wash this before you drink out of it. Like I'm going to just drink out of it right now. Well, I was going to go scoop some water out of the horse trough out front and just guzzle, but no. That's not what we did. We were like, okay, thanks. It was just an experience. It was wild. So then we were roaming around the little town a little bit because it's 730. And that's the end of that. They rolled up the sidewalks. There was nothing open. But there were some metal trolls around and some things that are made of metal. Anyone that knows me knows I like to climb on large things and have my picture taken, either standing with them or standing on them. Yes. So we got a few of those picture opportunities. Well, at first I was like, what's that troll there for? So I stopped. I'm like, well, I'm getting my picture with this big troll. And then there was a flyer on the door because this was like the welcome center of Mount Horeb. You see, and Crafters like to read things. I don't. Because I'm driving down the street and I was like, well, there's another troll. This is weird. So I pull out this flyer that I picked up because I was going to look at it when we got back to the hotel because it was 730. Wow. So. Yes. Yes. Charles, capital of the world. Yeah. Yeah. I question that. But. Yeah. Run with it. Who cares? Right. Like, if it was, like, of Wisconsin, I'd be like, yeah, that checks out. But if you're saying the world, I'm like, I don't think I'm going to fact check that. But anyway, so we got, we went to sleep. Then we woke up in the morning and went to Benton. We were about an hour out. Yeah. So it was good because it was an hour. And then, you know, we got there. we first were driving like i didn't realize how rural benton was we're driving and there is literally nothing nothing like fields right and like the the roads like basically a roller coaster like because it's going down like up and down these like real big hills yes and then those like where dukes of hazard would get air off oh if crap drew sally wouldn't have been with i my little red car would have been launching into space on every one of them and then But... Cops would have came. Also, the airbags would have went off. So then your car would have been totaled. Totaled's a... That's a weird word. If you cut those bags off I think you can still drive them Anyway they might shout at you Anyway so we got there and it was neat because in preparation we re their documentary Now I had seen Things That Go Bump in the Night. It's the spooky pinball story. Yeah. I had seen that like years ago. I might be saying this over. It doesn't matter. So we re-watched it the day before we leave because I like to do homework. You know, I always, if I'm going, like when we went to Stern, I read the Stern coffee book or went through it and kind of just, you got to get stuff in your head so you know so we watched it again and at that point they had they had just in the documentary they they were in the incubator the business incubator which is where they started and then they were breaking ground on their new building aside of it yep so when we pull up we finally we get there and i was like oh okay here we are like you pull into one building and that building already isn't theirs that's like a gym they've already sold that they built a third a second building the first building that they the first yeah the first building they built which was in the documentary was now not theirs anymore they have a new bigger thing and then they also have a secondary bigger one they've already expanded twice over which is really wild so right off the bat we see charlie but he's not giving the tour he's like what are you doing here and i was like oh we're here for a tour and he's like oh that's up there and i was like okay cool and then um we went up And this was the weekend of Allentown Pin Fest. Pin Fest. So they were kind of short staff. We met Bug, and Bug was the one that gave us the tour. And, you know, it's just kind of cool. But we got there, and Charlie was, like, walking around the parking lot. I don't know if he just got there or he was going from one building to the other. And then when we went in the building where he said that the tour was, was his wife, so she was there too. She was there to do payroll because their daughter was at Pinfest. Before we get too deep into this, I did print out the history of Benton. Benton's early history. Benton was first inhabited by miners who came up the river from Galena, Illinois. Miners who came up to this spring and returned to Galena in the fall. these prospectors made no permanent settlements in Benton they lived in caves dug into the hillsides among most the first miners were George Rawlings and his son Ashford who arrived in 1824 the first permanent settlers in Benton were Andrew Murphy his wife and five sons wow she must have been tired they arrived here in 1827 and settled east of the town near Horseshoe Bend they were accompanied by Peter O'Leary, his wife, a French adventurer named Francois. And an old family servant. Wow. The past was weird. In 1835, the date of the first federal government land sale, Dennis Murphy, son of Andrew Murphy, purchased land on which Benton now sits. Benton was originally known as Cottonwood Hill, but then that name was bought by a Cotton Eye Joe, and then they renamed it. No, they didn't. Name for a large number of cottonwood trees that grew here. In 1845, the name was changed to Benton in honor of Thomas Hart Benton, Senator of Missouri and longtime friend of the Murphy family. Okay, this isn't Missouri. Why would you? I don't know. Okay. I would like to say that people drink a lot in Wisconsin so what's wrong with that and then the town was laid out in March of 1844 and consists of eight blocks divided by Maine Bean Catherine and Jackson streets wow the history is entwined with blah blah blah blah blah so if you look up the village of Benton if you want to learn more but I guess that's about it so strange so early 1800s it was settled as Cottonwood Hill and then And they were like, nah, let's name it after that really cool senator from a different state that my friend knows. Okay, now back to the story of the pinball thing. So we get in there, and you could tell what happened was Bug said, oh, Squirrel does this kind of stuff, so she'll help you out. Yeah. So Squirrel set this date up, and then she said 23 Skidoo and went to Allentown. So we walked in, and Bug's like, can I help you? Are you looking to deliver something? He didn't say that, but I could tell it took him. He was surprised. He was like, what is this? Because we were very prompt and on time. So we were like, oh, we were here for that tour. And he was like, oh, okay. And then he was like, well, you know, then he just kind of showed us around. Then he showed us around. yeah it was neat uh you know and then you talked about his capacity and what they're gonna up they're actually upping their capacity a little bit and uh it was just cool you know this is when you go through like now we've been through cgc we've been through uh jjp of course american and stern you can definitely see like i don't like jjp was good but i barely remember that right and i don't know why and it was you know i don't know like that and american are just like warehouses that's what i remember of of both of them because even cgc had like a family feel to it or something like it was like like it was different it was different you know and then stern is obviously just stern yeah that is you know they're the machine chief chili fry maker They sure are. But it was meeting them and meeting Bug and being shown how they do it and how they work on it and the effort they put into making sure everything leaves correct. Right. Wow. And every single one of those is made by hand. Yeah. Like completely by hand. That's the difference. They're screwing every screw in with a screwdriver. Yeah. They're not using air tools. It's different. You know, it's good. They're doing really well. And you can tell. I was shocked. I think the last part where they do the looping of the quality control, I think that's from the past of people whining and complaining about the quality. I can't say better or worse. That's not my position. We don't own an ESO. I don't know. But I will say they listened because that quality check at the end is insane. It is. Like, she goes through the check sheet, they fix it, she goes through it a second time, he plays it every game for 30 minutes, and then addresses everything that needs to be fixed again, and it just keeps resetting until it's perfect, and you're like, wow. So, you know, it was cool. It was really cool. You know and just seeing how far they come and then like the powder coders up the street Yeah You know He one of the guy brothers I think Yeah Right And just I mean getting a talent pool getting enough people to work in a town of 900 Yeah. That seems daunting, but they seemed like they were doing good. They did. Yeah. And there was that one guy that did, wired every play field since they started. Like he's been working there since they started or whatever, or like maybe nine years, he said. He said he worked there for nine years. Okay. Okay. So he is probably, I think they said that he is the only person that's ever done or has done the most complete play field because he does all of it. Yeah. Where a lot of the other places are just like an assembly line. Yeah. It was cool. And they had the Scooby-Doo van in there, which was wild. Yeah. We didn't take enough pictures. We didn't take any pictures. I took a few and I was sad. We got time on the Evil Dead. And that game is all it says it is. It is. It's a fun game. It's a great shooter. I love the double barrel shotgun. Everyone loves the double barrel shotgun. That's so awesome. And Bruce Campbell basically quipping nonstop. We got to play, what else did we play there? I can't remember. I can't either. There was a couple other games we played, but we have gone back to, of course, Evil Dead, because I hadn't spent any time on that. I barely saw it, you know. I didn't get to the basement when I played and if I did it was very quick which that happens a lot upper playfields and lower playfields it takes me a while to get them if I get them it goes right past them and it's just a waste of time like on the Scooby Doo one I love it, it's like a bookcase but I can never get the ball but in time you can if you spend time playing it then you know it's coming and you get the timing down, you know. Right. But it was a lot of fun, and it was neat playing that stuff. You know, we cashed out. We got some sweatshirts. We spend a lot of money on Skooky. And we got a neon light, which I haven't even put up yet. We've got to figure out a spot for that. But, you know, overall, it was a great experience. It was. He showed us around a little bit. He talked about some of the stuff, like when they were, you know, the moving and all that kind of stuff. And it just, it was a very nice tour. It was good to finally get. See it. Yeah, see it. Right. You can't imagine, like, all these places we tour and all this time we spend at these other places. And then you're like, we didn't even go to the one in Wisconsin. We live in Wisconsin. You know, like, so it was a lot of fun. I like their story. Yeah. It's nice that, like, the whole incubator and then, like, I think the city gave them that land for their first. building for a dollar yeah and then and then we did go we went to that place there was a tavern in that in that uh uh documentary that said oh it had their first pinball machine so we're like well on the way out of town we're eating there right and we stopped there and they didn't have it they didn't have that but they do have two of their machines there two spookies and and all of the proceeds from plays go to the local fire department you have the volunteer fire department which is cool yeah so and it when you walked in it was they knew we weren't from there yes and uh i wanted to eat and leave as quickly as possible it was one of those things where you like walk in and everybody turns around to see like all the normal people are already here who's coming in now but there was a big room in the back so we just sat back there all by ourselves yeah i'm like you know what i'm gonna sit where no humans are that's i thrive where no humans are that's where i really shine. It must be like the lunch spot because it was packed when we got there and when we left because we just were sitting there for a while and it was empty when we left. Yeah. It was a fun trip. I was really glad we did it. You know like I know the Evil Dead now is like Pinside has it rated number one over Godzilla and stuff like that. Every new game gets a huge flex and a bump and then it'll even out over. It's a good game. I don't know where it's going to shake out in the annals of history in pinball. Who knows? But I did have fun. And that's the thing. The top ones are subjective. Yeah, it's always. I did have a lot of fun. Yeah. The topper is cool as hell. Oh, yeah. It's a creepy game. It's a little spooky. Yeah. I mean, pun intended, I guess. Pun intended. Oh, yeah. I mean, no, but that lady is spooky. even in the movies. What's her name? Harriet? No, I don't think so. I don't know. It doesn't matter. I watched Army of Darkness. I'm not a huge Evil Dead fan, but I am an Army of Darkness fan. Bruce Campbell fan. And of course a Bruce Campbell fan. And that lady's name is Henrietta. Henrietta. There we go. So I don't know. It doesn't matter. Anything else? Go out and play Evil Dead as soon as you can. You can't buy them anymore. They're sold out. And if Zach from Flip N Out Pinball said that, he has a waiting list of if anyone ever drops off that they will immediately buy them. So the demand outweighs the supply on that one, which is good. It's good for pinball. So glad for them, too. I know. All right. That's going to do it. I think it's time we drop in the teaser for everyone's favorite segment. Craft Brew Selling. Gonna have to put your journal down Crab Brew Sally Child You've been to all the breweries around You've been rolling all over the town Oh, tell me what to drink until I fall on the ground Yeah That's right, people. And we're back. We are back. And we're here to talk about beer. We're going to talk about Lake Louis Brewing Company in Verona, Wisconsin. Wow. Yeah. Verona. Verona. My Verona. My Verona. Yes. Remember that one? Sure. That was classic. All right, go. Enough of this nonsense. Go. So we were on a good drive to New Glarus, but the New Glarus website said part of their factory tour was closed. So we decided to go somewhere close to where we were going to be. Yeah. So we went to Lake Louie, and it's actually on like a little pond, I guess, not like a lake. Yeah, it's like a retention pond. I was like, they really oversold the lake part, but whatever. But they recently merged with the Wisconsin Brewing Company. I'm not sure exactly what the details are on that. But all of the beers in there were Lake Louis. And we had five different beers. We had Cherry Creek Kiss the Lips Fuzzy Cheeks Sandy Cheeks and Skitterhop What did I have? Skitterhop. Yep. That sounds like my personality. It doesn't. Not at all. Whatever. They were all really good. Yeah, they were good. It was a nice brewery. One of those that has like the, you can see the brewery from like the tall glass windows. Yeah, they're showing it off. Yeah. And I did ask the bartender. I was like, what's the deal? And I think she kind of said that the Wisconsin brewery was like there. They just had a bigger thing. So Lake Louis kind of they joined, merged. And then, you know, so they were using the Wisconsin brewery facilities. And it's just they're just doing Lake Louis beers. Yeah. You know, which makes sense. If a place outgrows it and the other one's kind of maybe under capacity, just merge. you know it was good it was this is this will be one of those that doesn't stand out in my brain after like a month right it's just gonna be like you're gonna be like remember it had those windows yeah and i was on the lake and i'd be like no i don't have any recollection that whatsoever it had like a nice outdoor area there yeah like there was like a little trail that you could walk around the little lake getting into some fights with some ducks yeah just wandering around fighting and everything. I think what will really spur my brain is going to be like you remember we were sitting there and then this group of three old guys sat down with outside peanuts in a big jar and plates and then they started playing music from their phone over the music that was in the brewery. And I'll be like oh that's right I wanted to punch them so we moved. We moved out of there and then it was okay again. Yeah then we sat by the window by the lake. I was like what kind of insanity is this? It was nuts. It's like one guy walks in with a big thing of, with like a big jug of nuts. Like, oh, come to Costco and buy 7,000 pounds of nuts in this container for $14.99 or whatever it is. And I think one of the other guys came in with the plates. It's just, you're like, what? This is probably their every Thursday thing or whatever day it was. And we were the outsiders, but you're like, hey, man. But they sat down like right next to us when there was all kinds of other tables that were open. It was so dumb. They started playing whatever was on their phone. Yeah. Like. It was weird. Yeah. It was fine until the phone comes out and they start playing music from their phone while there's music playing. I'm like, this is what crazy people hear. Uh-huh. Like, this is insanity. I'm just living it in life, real life. That's wild. So that's how you can, that's how you'll spur my memory of it. But. Yes. It was okay. You know, I think you've had some of the Lake Louis stuff before, haven't you? I have. Yeah. Yeah. They're good. I mean. It's also the home of the world's sharpest sign tin. So if you buy one of their signs, because I always buy the tin signs for all these places, if anyone ever attacks you, throw it at them. They'll cut their head right off. They left the edging so sharp, you could literally fillet fish with it. You could murder people. It's wild. Don't murder people with your sign, though. I was like, wow, why don't you finish this? Just have one guy just put a file down the sides of it, and it won't slash people's faces off. No? All right. Roll them bones, baby. Let's go. They're gamblers. They're like, yeah, Lake Louie, we're gamblers. I could see how that place would be really the place to go in the summer. Just because the outside was there. They have a bunch of tables on two sides of the building with a nice patio. And then they have a bar outside. Like a tiki-themed bar. I think they had a fire pit. Yeah. Yeah. Good times. Yeah. Overall, it was a very nice long weekend. It just made a great memory. I loved meeting Spooky. I wish I would have kind of asked Charlie to talk a little bit. That's one of my regrets is because I saw him and I was like, oh, it was nice talking to you. And you could tell in his brain he was like, wait, do I know this guy? Because I had written him emails over the years. So he would have known me if I would have said, oh, yeah, I'm the guy that sent you those shirts. or, oh, yeah, I'm the guy that asked you about that one, the orbital polisher you used in the documentary, which happened. Like, it would have been nice to talk to him because, you know, he's a cool dude and it would have been cool, you know. We joked with the mom a little bit because she's like, oh, he's not doing it because she's like, just grab the bug. He's not doing it anyway. I can say that because I'm his mom. And I was like, oh, yeah. So it was neat to see them all, but I wish I would have maybe talked to Charlie a little bit. I think we were like, you know, not overwhelmed. Overstimulated. Yeah. Like, oh, my God, it's Charlie. Charlie is looking good. Yeah. I think he's been hitting the gym or something like that. I'm like, wow, maybe, I don't know. Probably that gym right across the street. They're waiting for that to fail so they can buy that building back. Right. That would be a good storage building. Yeah. They actually are. That's what they said. Yeah, they would talk about it. I think he said almost like a museum thing because then they could put all their pieces up, which would be good. Which would be neat, yeah. All right. That's going to do it. Okay. If you are out and about in Benton, visit Spooky, but maybe write them first and say, hey, can you show us around because they're busy. And many thanks to the lady who had to restart the square thing and get it updated so she could make that purchase. That bought me like three extra games on Evil Dead. Like 45 minutes. I felt so bad for her. I think what happened was the one they usually use. For purchases, online purchases. Right. Yeah. Went along with the crew to Allentown. And she had the one that they haven't been using for a while, so it had to be updated. And she picked it up and she went, and all this dust went out, blew out. And then a bat came flying out of it. And she's like, oh, get out of here, you spooky bat. And then she hit tap and it was like, oh, this hasn't been updated since 1974. And they're like, well, that's weird. I didn't even know Square was then. Yeah. And then she said, oh, hold on. And then she did an update. And she had to get the password from the people in Allentown. It just kept going. It was fun. And I was like, you know what? I'm going to go play that game some more. You guys do whatever you do. I'll be over here. She was really nice, though. Yeah, she was nice. She was very sweet. I wish I wouldn't have gotten her name. I thought you asked her, but I don't remember. Yeah, I don't remember anything either. Right. All right. Good times. Thank you, Spooky. Thank you very much for all for thanks for that. And also thanks for being spooky because we're all rooting for you. I know we are. Sure. Everyone in the pinball universe is rooting for spooky because their story is so awesome. It is. If you haven't watched that documentary, you really should. Yeah, it's like 99 cents on Prime. Right. So do that. All right. We're done. You done? I'm done. All right. See you next time, everyone. Thanks for listening. That's it, man. It's game over, man. It's game over.