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Hook 'em with the Shots or the Theme

NYC PinPod·podcast_episode·1h 21m·analyzed·Apr 13, 2026
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.031

TL;DR

NYC PinPod covers April 2026 league results, venue updates, and shooter vs. theme debate.

Summary

NYC PinPod episode covering local NYC pinball competition results from early April 2026, including Pinball NYC league matches across Left and Right Flipper divisions, Scrapple League qualifying finals, South Slope Pinball League standings, and Red Hook/Single Cut tournament results. The panel discusses venue updates via Pinball Map, machine installations and removals across NYC locations, and concludes with an exploration of the design spectrum between shooter quality and theme appeal in pinball machines.

Key Claims

  • Balls of Steel are 7-1 with 81 points in the Pinball NYC Left Flipper Division, leading the playoff picture with only two matches remaining.

    high confidence · Eric Swedeland reporting division standings after round 8

  • Danger Danger and Schlubbs are both 6-1 in the Pinball NYC Right Flipper Division, with Danger Danger at 90 points and Schlubbs at 73 points.

    high confidence · Eric Swedeland reporting division standings after round 7

  • Greg Pavarelli took the top spot in Scrapple League's second season qualifying with 114 points, followed by CJ Smith with 112 points.

    high confidence · Benjamin Furiga reporting final Scrapple League qualifying standings

  • Kevin Murray won Friday Night at the Museum at Red Hook Pinball Museum, earning 9.66 Whoppers and achieving his second consecutive Friday Night Event win at the venue.

    high confidence · Benjamin Furiga reporting tournament results from April 3rd

  • Rob Wong is leading the South Slope Pinball League with 105 points after four qualifying meetings.

    high confidence · Eric Swedeland reporting SSPL standings

  • As of April 11, 2026, there are 361 pinball machines in New York City at 74 public locations.

    high confidence · Eric Swedeland citing Pinball Map data

  • Ghostbusters at Franklin Park in NYC has been updated to new code after being on original beta code since installation.

    high confidence · User LVB comment on Pinball Map regarding Ghostbusters maintenance update

  • The Stern Kiss machine at Hop Shop in Staten Island has had its plunge handle removed and cannot be played, though the machine still accepts coins.

    high confidence · User Strange Brew reporting critical machine condition issue

Notable Quotes

  • “Karmic equalizing tilt that decided the Colliders match”

    Benjamin Furiga @ ~15:00 — Humorous reference to tilt incidents affecting match outcomes in Colliders vs. Parliament game

  • “That is almost word for word my quarterly employment review last quarter.”

    Benjamin Furiga @ ~1:24:00 — Self-deprecating joke in response to comment about Attack from Mars playing sluggish and dirty at Boat Bar

  • “I appreciate that they separated CANNOT, which usually you would write as one word, but made it CAN and, like, all caps NOT.”

    Eric Swedeland @ ~1:31:00 — Commentary on Pinball Map user's emphatic warning about Stern Kiss machine condition

  • “Do not play. I appreciate that they separated CANNOT... they want to make sure that you see... NOT. Don't put your money in a game that doesn't have a fucking plunger handle.”

    Benjamin Furiga @ ~1:31:30 — Emphasis on the critical importance of reporting non-functional machines to protect players from wasting money

  • “I feel like there's a certain way in which that is, you know, it is also community serving. It is also actually useful information.”

    Eric Swedeland @ ~end of podcast — Reflects on the value of community-sourced machine condition reporting via Pinball Map

Entities

Benjamin FurigapersonEric SwedelandpersonGreg PavarellipersonKevin MurraypersonCJ SmithpersonAdam KanepersonRob WongpersonJonah SchlaespersonSean GrantpersonTommy OrtegapersonHarlan Aida Lindaperson

Signals

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Pinball NYC Left Flipper Division playoff picture remains highly competitive through round 8, with multiple teams within striking distance of playoff positioning and significant implications of individual match results on bracket placement

    high · Five teams competitive for top 6 Orbit playoff spots; Lion Persons 13-point edge over in-lane cutoff demonstrates close margins; final week will see many forfeits due to byes affecting standings

  • ?

    operational_signal: Active Pinball Map community reporting reveals ongoing maintenance issues across NYC venues, including non-functional machines (Stern Kiss, Ghostbusters code issues, Monster Bash ramp problems) and machine churn (installations, removals, relocations)

    high · Multiple machine condition reports from users; Barcade Brooklyn removing Scooby-Doo and Whitewater, adding Popeye and Star Wars; machine removals/additions tracked across Barcade Fideye, Red Hook, Single Cut, Sunshine Laundromat

  • ?

    product_concern: Popeye Saves the Earth exhibits incomplete code leading to anomalous behavior (six-ball pileup in plunger lane during wizard mode); comparison drawn to contemporaneous Gilligan's Island release with similar incomplete feel

    high · Flipper Fiend direct observation of multiball bug; Benjamin Furiga commentary on game feeling incomplete and comparison to similar-era releases with buggy features

  • ?

    operational_signal: Stern Kiss at Hop Shop in Staten Island has plunge handle removed, rendering machine unplayable, but machine continues accepting coins creating risk of player financial loss

    high · User Strange Brew urgent warning with deliberate formatting emphasis on CAN NOT message; specific warning about coin acceptance despite non-functionality

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.243

0:00
Thank you. Happy Sunday, pinfolk, or whatever day you're listening. This is NYC PinPod, in which a panel talks location pinball in New York City and sometimes nearby surrounding areas. My name is Benjamin Furiga. My initials are B-C-F, and I'm on a two-match streak of pinball NYC matches ending on dramatic tilts.
0:50
My name is Eric Swedeland. My initials are H-I-P, and I'm a pinball tournament director in New York City. On this week's pod, in Ball 1, we'll run down local competition results just like we always do. In Ball 2, we will do the things we always do. Also, we'll have venue updates with Eric, courtesy of Pinball Map and its users. And then we'll talk our Pinball Bullet journals, what we did last week in Pinball. And then in Ball 3, we're going to talk about the spectrum between a good shooter and a good theme. Let's get started. Let's talk about competitive pinball in New York City. I think it's just New York City this week. First, a quick correction. At Scrapple League this week, I was speaking with a member of the Worms who had listened to the podcast. Last week, Benjamin, you described a tiebreak game between the Colliders and Worms and mentioned Worm Fred as playing when, in fact, it was their captain, Alex. Oh, boo, I'm sorry. I don't know where I got the information or where I remembered who had played third or what the name of the person. Sorry, I didn't. I was real happy to meet everyone. It was a cool team. But my apologies, Alex, and my apologies, Fred, that I didn't get that right. On Friday, April 3rd, 25 players showed up at the Red Hook Pinball Museum for Friday Night at the Museum, directed by Jonah Schlaes. I like the capsule on match play. It says, Friday night, exclamation point. Again, exclamation point. They played ten rounds of max match play, then cut to eight players for an Amazing Race semifinals, which then cut to four players for a group elimination bracket with Pinberg scoring. At the end of it all, Red Hook Pinball Museum's own Kevin Murray took the day, besting director Jonah Schlaes, George Underwood, and Zach Till. Kevin got 9.66 Whoppers for the night. I think that's his second consecutive Friday Night Event win at the venue. He is a cooperator in the collection, as you pointed out. I want to talk about the games they played. They played Diamond Lil, Majorettes, and Kingpin. They played a Wood Rail in finals. I was watching the stream after we recorded the podcast last week. I fell asleep at some point in the middle of that final round. The match play says they finished about 12.30 in the morning. That's only a little bit into Saturday. I thought that was going to go way farther into Saturday than it did when I heard semifinals and finals when we talked about that in the schedule last week. On Sunday, April 5th at Single Cut Beersmith, Queens in Astoria, 11 players showed for Silver Ball Sunday at Single Cut 36 hosted by Tommy Ortega. Matt Grady took the day besting Matthew Gross, Adam Robinson, and Dan Merrill respectively. Grady got 4.39 Whoppers for his efforts. On Monday, April 6th, at bars all around the city, Pinball NYC's left flipper division had its 8th round of the season.
Scrapple Land
organization
Pinball NYCorganization
Red Hook Pinball Museumorganization
Barcade Brooklynorganization
South Slope Pinball Leagueorganization
Balls of Steelorganization
Danger Dangerorganization
Schlubbsorganization
Popeye Saves the Earthgame
Monster Bashgame
Ghostbustersgame
Joe Cherovinoperson
Python Angheloperson
?

venue_signal: Barcade Brooklyn implementing notable machine lineup changes, removing established titles (Scooby-Doo, Whitewater) and adding newer/different machines (Popeye Saves the Earth, Star Wars Fall of the Empire)

high · Specific machine removal/addition reports on April 8th; Benjamin Furiga commentary on history of Popeye Saves the Earth circulation through Barcade Jersey City and Newark locations

  • ?

    community_signal: Active community participation in Pinball Map reporting with detailed machine condition updates, user commentary on game quality, and proactive warnings about non-functional machines

    high · Multiple user reports (LVB, BobaFef, MHG, Flipper Fiend, Strange Brew, etc.) providing detailed condition assessments and machine status updates throughout week

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Danger Danger establishing commanding lead in Right Flipper Division with 90 points at 6-1 record, significantly ahead of next-closest teams; consistent high-point wins indicating strong overall team performance

    high · Danger Danger 90 points vs. Schlubbs 73 points at same 6-1 record; reported 14-2 victory over Butterballers; consecutive dominant performances noted by Eric Swedeland

  • ?

    product_concern: Multiple pinball machines in NYC venues reporting specific mechanical/software issues: Johnny Mnemonic out of service, Monster Bash Frankenstein ramp accessibility problems, Dracula mode malfunction, King Kong right flipper sticking

    high · Detailed condition reports from Pinball Map users at Barcade Brooklyn, Barcade Chelsea, Boat Bar documenting specific mechanical failures and software issues

  • ?

    content_signal: NYC PinPod establishing itself as primary media source for NYC league results coverage with detailed standings tracking and match-by-match reporting; podcast serving documentation function for competitive community

    high · Comprehensive coverage of multiple league divisions with detailed standings, match results, and playoffs implications; references to previous podcast corrections and community feedback incorporation

  • ?

    event_signal: Multiple tournament formats operating simultaneously across NYC in mid-April 2026: Pinball NYC league finals, Scrapple League finals, SSPL qualifying rounds, tournament-specific events (Thursday Night Strikes, RWI, Spring Fling)

    high · April 13-14 featuring Pinball NYC round 9, April 16 Scrapple League Finals, April 18-19 Spring Fling and RWI; overlapping scheduling noted with reference to playoff bye management

  • ?

    community_signal: Podcast content reflects tight-knit NYC pinball community with personal observations, team affiliations, venue familiarity, and interpersonal acknowledgments interwoven throughout results reporting

    high · Benjamin Furiga personal tilt streak references; comments about observing specific players at venues (Mason at Rulo's); team-specific context about home venues and rivalry dynamics; corrections to previous week's coverage based on community feedback

    • 4:15
    The Pinbots went to Barcade, Brooklyn to see the D-Lux horses, and the Pinbots got a 10-6 road win. Doing so, they put themselves in the middle of the Orbit playoff picture. The Mutants hosted Worms at Solid State, and the home team got an 11-5 win. Mutants become the highest scoring two-loss team with that. The Pin Pals had their bye week. The two-for-oners faced off against Lion Persons at Barcade Fideye. Lion Persons got a big 13-3 win. Lion Persons continue their late season romp. That win in particular really reshaped the Orbit playoff picture. Last week we were talking about the two-for-oneers potentially having a bye. They're liminal at this point after the loss. Our New York City Flipper Sport Association went to Gebhardt's Beer Culture to see the lesser players. NYC FSA gets a 9-7 road win. Well, that was your fourth in a row. How'd it go? It was very tight. We went into the fourth round down 5-7 and needing to win both, managed to pull it off. Wow. What were the last two games? What were the home advantage doubles games? They chose Spectrum and King Kong. Oh, interesting. Total opposite ends of the spectrum, if you'll allow me, of games, of time. One doesn't even have a shooter rod. And we had chosen King Kong in the first doubles round and they got us on it there so I think they felt that they could just repeat that. Gotcha. Was Embryon working? It wasn't chosen. Got it. Was Forfala working? Yes, it wasn't chosen. No accounting for taste. Benjamin, your colliders hosted Parliament at Buttermilk Bar and the colliders got a 10-6 win. It felt from my standpoint, I'm sure it did not feel this way for Parliament, but it felt from my standpoint as if there was a karmic equalizing tilt that decided the Colliders match. You know, this was the second week in a row. Last time I was the one tilting it. This time it was a different Ben and it wasn't a Collider. We'll talk about that in Ball 2. Balls of Steel went to Commonwealth to see Intermission Dolores and picked up a 10-6 road win. Balls of Steel had a seven-match win streak earlier this season. They're hoping that this starts their next win streak. And the Aristocrats hosted Special When Lit at Rulo's. Special When Lit, a 9-7 so-called road win. And that is their second win in as many weeks after they were 0-4 for the first, I think, six. They've got two wins now. After eight rounds, Balls of Steel is still in front with a record of 7-1 and 81 points. They also, because they're 7-1, they only have two left. If they win one more, they almost certainly have a bye where they are. With a record of 5-2, the Mutants, NYC FSA, and the Pinbots are at 69, 65, and 57 points respectively. Remember that we said this is where the Pinbots are when we talk about next week's matchups. At a record of 5-3, the Aristocrats and the 2-for-1ers complete the top 6 of what would be the Left Orbit playoffs. They have 72 and 71 points, respectively. They've also played every week so far. They haven't had a bye yet, so their numbers are inflated a bit by having played an extra week over the 69, 65, and 57 above them. Sitting in 7th place and currently the top of the left in-lane division, Lion Persons are 4-3 with 63 points. Also 4-3, Parliament has 59 and the Colliders have 54. Intermission Dolores and the Deluxe Horses are both 3-5 with 57 and 52 points. And the Pin Pals, with a record of 2-5 and 43 points, are the 12th place team, the bottom of the left in-lane division. That leaves Special When Lit, Worms and the Lesser Players outside the playoff picture with a record of 2-6, 1-6, and 1-7. Yeah, for Special When Lit and the Lesser Players, unfortunately, they don't have a week to make up a win because they haven't had their buys yet. Whereas Worms kind of, when those two get their buys, Worms can kind of make up a win. Same thing, Pin Pals above both of those teams have had their buy. So they have an opportunity to win where these teams have lost at this point in the standings. Just real quick, that reminded me to flip back to the previous week where the 2 for 1ers Pin Pals match had not been reported. At the time we recorded the podcast, I see the 2 for 1ers got a 9-0 forfeit win. Right, right. On Tuesday, April 7th, at bars all over New York City, Pinball NYC's right flipper division contested round seven. Schlubbs hosted ball drainers, sorta, and Schlubbs won 11-5 at Jack Bar. Both of these teams called Jack Bar home. Schlubs win the jack-off and become one of just two six-win teams. Trolls were at home at Barcade Fideye where Everybody Loves the Sunshine came to visit them. Everybody Loves the Sunshine won 11-5. Everybody Loves the Sunshine also gave Danger Danger their only loss this season, and they're liminal between the playoff brackets. There was a troll story this week, accompanying some pictures of the trolls caught mid-jump. It's captioned, One small step for trolls, one giant leap for troll kind. Nice. Someone had some NASA earrings on. Nice. And they took a screenshot from the Pinball NYC app where because of font sizing, it looks like their week seven match was everybody loves the trolls. Nice. Agreed. Zoom in. Rest in Pinball. Parenthetically, R.I.P. Went to Scrappleland, where Scrapple Squad hosted them, and the home team won 9-7. The win puts Scrapple Squad in the middle of the in-lane picture. Danger Danger virtually hosted Butterballers at Buttermilk Bar, and Danger Danger piled on again. It was 14-2. How'd it go? Wow. Yeah. Danger Dangerous lights out. It was a big win for them. Shout out to Baller Franklin for our two points. Oh, nice. Both of them. Yep. In a single doubles match where he took both the points by himself or because he had two singles. Nice. Both on the same game? Uh, I remember one was on Kong, a squeaker, and I don't recall the other one. Cool. Nice work, Franklin. Milo's Yard saw no quarters for laundry come to visit Neptune's Treasure, and Neptune's Treasure won 11-5. Neptune's Treasure win over the defending champs puts them just above the Orbit playoff line. The Pinbabes hosted Pinister Six at birdies. Pinister Six won 12-4 on the road. Their win streak is at four now. Rulos saw Harlem Globes flippers come to visit the replays, and the Globes flippers got a 10-6 road win. They have two in a row now. Bargrade Harry was the site where Harry's hand grenades hosted the third ball. And Harry's Hand Grenades won 13-3. Harry's Hand Grenades is streaking. They lost their first four and won their last three. And so seven weeks in and all of these teams have played seven, unlike Monday night where there's an odd number of teams and so some teams have had a bye and others haven't. All of these teams have played seven. Danger, Danger, and Schlubbs are both six and one because Danger and Danger keeps piling on the points. They have 90 points so far. 12.85. It was like 12.7 last week. Yeah. So they went up because they got 14, right? Yep. And schlubs are also 6-1 with a really respectable 73 points. Like that's also really good after 70 or after 7. That's 10 per. That's an averaging a win. Globe Flippers are also averaging a winning score at 71 at 5-2, and they are joined at 5-2 by No Quarters for Laundrie, Ball Drainers, Neptune's Treasure, and also Pinister Six. Ball Drainers and Neptune's Treasure would be at the bottom of the Orbit playoff picture, and they are tied with 66 points apiece. Pinister Six would be at the top right now of the in-lane playoff picture and they have 63 but they're again 5-2. The top six teams are 5-2. That probably means we're talking about a lot of losses coming up in this next bit, right? Joining Pinister Six in the in-lane playoff picture for now are Everybody Loves the Sunshine and Butterballers at 4-3, Harry's Hand Grenades and Scrapple Squad at 3-4, and Restin Pinball and the Pinbabes at 2-5. Actually, Restin Pinball is just above the line with 43 points scored, and the Pinbabes are in 13th place right now, unlucky 13, with 42 points. So they have two significant numbers. Not only do you have the unlucky 13, but also the meaning of life, the universe, and everything. They have scored 42 points. Trolls are 1-6. Replays and the third ball are 0-7. On Wednesday, April 8th, the sixth and final qualifying week of Scrapple League's second season of 2026 was held at Scrapple Land in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, directed by Greg Pavarelli, myself, Woody Richman, and Harlan Aida Linda. We played five rounds of match play with IFPA scoring and our final chance to add to our series total. Sean Grant, who carried the label birthday balloon on his match play, got 32 points on the night.
    15:22
    Sam Atlas had 29. Adam Kane and CJ Smith both had 27, also celebrating Evan Kim's birthday. After the six weeks of qualifying, we now have our final standings going into the finals scheduled to happen next week. Greg Pavarelli took the top spot in the league with 114 points. CJ Smith is in second with 112 and will be driving the second bus in the A Finals. They will be joined by Sean Grant, Adam Kane, Harlan Aida-Linda, Stephen Perillo, Sam Atlas, and one of either, Pat Carowan or myself, we will be playing a tie-break for the 8th spot in the A Finals. The loser of that tiebreak will be sitting at the top spot of the B Division Finals and driving a bus. Woody Richman will be driving the second bus in B. The rest of the B Finalists will be Dustin Bailey, Dan Merrill, Matt Raz, Alberto Santana, Mike Pantino, and Jackie Bailey. Should any one of those top 16 finishers not be available next week, sitting just below the B-line, both Svika Geft and Lindsay Rhodes are at 84 points, Chris Caferro 83, Susie Zalewski and Nitsang Abai at 82. Whew, that's tight. Caferro never got that fourth meeting in. Greg texted him and Chris said career. Yeah, yeah, too bad. I mean, you know, also, careers are cool sometimes. If you like your job, careers are cool. Five more points would have got him there. Yeah, Alberto never got his fourth either. On Thursday, April 9th, at Jack Bar, at 7.30, Jose hosted No Bro Presents Thursday Night Strikes, 32 players showed, and when it was all said and done, Adam Kane bested, respectively, Adam Robinson, Greg Fertel, and a jumble at fourth, including A.J. Gould, Andy Hayden, and Miriam. Also on Thursday, South Slope Pinball League's fourth qualifying week of the season was held at Buttermilk Bar, directed by Kate Martin. Twenty players showed up for five rounds of match play with IFPA scoring. Rob Wong and Sam Hall both picked up 29 points on the night. Matthew Carlson and Steven Christopher got 27. With four meetings in the books, we'll take a look at the series standings. Rob Wong is leading the way with 105 points. Matthew Carlson has 94.
    18:24
    Shocking that those two are at the top. Paul McHugh and Monica Weidekamp are both at 92. Stephen Christopher, Scott Strong, Taylor Connolly, and Caitlin Reese round out the top eight, ranging from 83 down to 72 points. And a couple of only three meetings. Yeah, Stephen and Taylor only have three, man. Sam Hall's at the top of the B Finals with 70 points in ninth place.
    18:51
    Matt Grady has 69. Nice. Billy Vazine, Courtney Wetzel, and Kate Martin are all at 63. Matt Boggy at 60. Rob Adler at 57 and myself at 56 round out the top 16.
    19:12
    Courtney's the only one of those that has four meetings. Everyone else there has three. So like it's all of those people are improving next week or the next at their next meeting, no matter what they do, except for Courtney. Although Courtney, I bet she's going to get better than 10 at her next meeting. So I bet she's improving too. Just below the line at the moment, Anna Looktenberger, Joan Samander, and Morgan Levinson. Particularly calling out Morgan with 50 points in only two meetings. A 23 and a 27 look pretty good. Not unlike we were just talking about a couple of people with three meetings getting into B. If Morgan just shows up one more time, pretty good chance she's looking at a B finals berth, you know. This week, on Monday, April 13th, all over New York City, Pinball NYC's left flipper division will have its round nine meetings. The Deluxe Horses will have the week off. Perhaps they take the time to regroup after a tight home loss last week The Mutants and NYC FSA are going to meet it at the Wallace That going to have some effect about what happens in the playoffs I think in particular in the Orbit playoffs That'll be a big one. Pin Pals will go to Milo's yard where Worms will be their hosts. Worms looking to pick up their second win this season. Pin Pals just had a bye last week. We Colliders will go to Scrappleland where the Pinbots will be our hosts. Pinbots are a win and three points ahead of the Colliders and in the thick of the orbit playoff picture. A Colliders win could really shake up the bottom of the orbit and top of the in-lane playoffs and it's round nine with only a week and a half of matches left. I mean we say a week and a half because you know there's the last week is going to be a lot of buys. Everyone who hasn't had a bye so far is going to play in the final week. So it's really only a half a week worth of matches. That's why we say a week and a half here. Intermission Dolores will go not very far. I mean, just right down the street to Owl Farm where Parliament will host them. Intermission Dolores and Parliament both lost 10-6 last week. And they're both on losing streaks. And they're both in the in-lane playoff picture. Should be some drama there. The Aristocrats will go to Gebhard's Beer Culture, where the 2-for-1ers will be waiting for them. The 2-for-1ers had a four-match win streak broken last week, and Aristocrats lost last week to their crossbar rivals. Both of these teams are in the Orbit playoff picture and lost to their crossbar rivals who are each struggling to get into the in-lane playoff picture. The lesser players will go to Rulo's to visit Special Win Lit. The lesser players haven't won since Week 1 against their crossbar rivals. Special Win Lit got their second win last week against their crossbar rival. It's just the opposite. It's the mirror. The line between those two matches on the schedule in Pinball NYC is a mirror image of itself. It's interesting. Balls of Steel will go to Barcade Fidei where Lion Persons are hoping to give them their second loss. Those are two recent perennial contenders. They are facing off this late in the season with the Lion Persons liminal between the divisions and Balls of Steel roaring atop the top one. On Tuesday, April 14th, Pinball NYC's right flipper division will contest its eighth round, wherein Schlubbs will go to solid state in Deep Queens to face No Quarters for Laundry. No Quarters took their second loss last week. Schlubbs avoided theirs by giving Ball Drainers their second loss. Ball Drainers will host Trolls at Jack Bar. It wasn't just Ball Drainers' second loss, it was their second in a row, and Trolls have not won since week one. Scrapple Squad comes to Buttermilk Bar to see us Butterballers. Y'all had a big loss last week against your home bar rivals, but you look pretty good for an in-lane playoff berth. The Third Ball will meet Harlem Globe Flippers at At The Wallace. The third ball has yet to win. I hope that they are continuing to have a blast. You indicated when y'all saw them in an early week that they were like having a blast that they did not seem to be hyper competitive in the way that some teams are as such that they were having a bad time if they weren't winning. I hope that they're still having a blast this season. Penister Six will host Danger Danger at Skylark. That seems dramatic to me. There's a lot going on there. Danger, danger is at the top of these standings. Pinister Six is streaking. There's a lot going on there. Rest in Pinball, parenthetically R.I.P., will face the replays at Rulo's. Rest in Pinball had a great win in Week 3 over the Schlubs. It's been rocky since then. And replays have yet to win, but they keep losing by tight margins. And I keep seeing Mason at Rulo's on Monday night. Neptune's Treasure goes to Birdie's to meet the Pinbabes.
    24:40
    Pinbabes lost three, won two, lost two. One of those wins came at home. They're at home. And Everybody Loves the Sunshine will host Harry's Hand Grenades at Sunshine Laundromat in the Battle of the Very Long Names. Everybody Loves the Sunshine would theoretically have a bye, and Harry's Hand Grenades would theoretically have a home match in the in-lane playoffs if we're going to 12 right now. That's pretty cool. On Wednesday at Scrappleland, Scrapple League Finals will be convened. Be on time. It's Finals Week. Are you showing up early for your tiebreaker? What time are you doing your tiebreaker? Exactly at 8 o'clock. If you've got a tiebreaker, if you think you're on the edge of something, if you think you might be going into one division or another, you should be there at 7.58. On Thursday at Jackpar at 7.30 p.m. sharp, Thursday night strikes. And also, SSPL's fifth meeting of the second season of 2025 will be convened at Buttermilk at Pinball 8 o'clock. On Saturday, April 18th, will be the beginning of the Scrappleland Spring Fling 26 two-day tourney. All right. Directed by Harlan Aida Linda at Scrappleland in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Starting at 2 p.m. each day on Saturday, best game qualifying on a bank of 10 games with 40 entries to use throughout the qualifying period. That's hybrid best game format. And then on day two, a Papa Finals. And the scoring degradation looks to me like what Papa used to do, 190-85. So if you get first, you've got 16 points on the field. Fill out your card and then go blow one up. So that'll happen with finals on Sunday. It also looks like there's a side tournament, a Pokemon side tournament there that starts at three. So I assume that Harlan's giving themselves some time to get the first tournament kicked off and going before the side tournament on Pokemon starts. Looks like that is just a single game, best game thing. On Sunday, also in South Slope at Rulo's, Jess is going to be back to run RWI on April 19th. There's a big note that says new start time for 2026. Doors at 3 starts at 3.30. I will add this context. The impact on the lateness that you have to be there by the fact that this tournament encourages you to continue playing after a walk-off is probably neutralized to some degree by the fact that you can show up and have whatever Bart put in a crockpot at 3 o'clock instead of 5 o'clock and hang out all day with whatever's in a crockpot and your homies. As of April 11, 2026, there are 361 pinball machines in New York City at 74 public locations. Thanks to the creators and users of Pinball Map for this data, here are machine updates from the past week. On Friday, April 3rd, user LVB commented on the Ghostbusters at Franklin Park. Slimer still busted, but everything else registers, and finally on new code. Okay, finally on new code makes that playable. That's a neighborhood game for me. LVB has a lot of the high scores at the location. I don't go there often enough to put a lot of scores in, but I usually find myself putting in my initials if I go and play a few games, probably on some ancillary thing, some weird champion of some bullshit shot. Not actually like Benjamin has a very high score kind of initials, but LVB has a lot of them. I'm glad to hear that Ghostbusters is finally on new code because it has been on the bullshit original beta code that it was released with since it was installed, to the best of my knowledge.
    28:51
    Thank you, Max. On Saturday, April 4th, user BobaFef was at Barcade Chelsea and said of their Cactus Canyon remake, Right Flipper occasionally gets stuck up. Right Flipper definitely needs some TLC. And user MHG commented on the Attack from Mars remake at Boat Bar. Not the worst one I've ever played, and everything seemed to pretty much work. I didn't have any launcher issues. But it's a bit sad and dirty. Plays very sluggish. That is almost word for word my quarterly employment review last quarter. On Sunday, user Flipper Fiend commented on the Pokemon Premium at Jackbar. Tilt Bob a touch tight, but otherwise plays great. Plus one. And this important update from user Strange Brew about the Stern Kiss at the Hop Shop in Staten Island. As far as I know, the only pin on Staten Island.
    29:59
    Upon last visit on March 30th, the plunge handle has been removed and the machine cannot be played. Beware, the game will still accept coins. Do not play. I appreciate that they separated CANNOT, which usually you would write as one word, but made it CAN and, like, all caps NOT. Like, they want to make sure that you see, beware, do not play, and NOT. Don't put your money in a game that doesn't have a fucking plunger handle. Well, Attack from Mars. Yeah, I mean, there's a few. There's a few, yeah, sure. Dirty Harry, yeah, yeah. There's some of the data East, a lot of the data East, yeah. Yeah, not one that's supposed to have a plunger. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That one's supposed to have a plunger handle.
    30:50
    On Monday, Scooby-Doo and Whitewater were removed from the lineup at Barcade Brooklyn. Boo. In their place, Popeye saves the Earth. Also boo. And Star Wars Fall of the Empire. We'll see. That Popeye has been kicking around the Barcade collection. I think before Jeff got involved with Barcade, when they first were dipping their toes into is there a market for pinball machines in our venues because these things are unwieldy and they kind of cost a lot to operate. They had a Popeye Saves the Earth in Barcade, Jersey City, a Popeye Saves the Earth in, or whatever the hell the whole thing is called, yeah, Saves the Earth, in Barcade, Newark. User Flipper Fiend was at Barcade, Brooklyn, the same day, and left us a number of comments. They pointed out that Johnny Mnemonic is out of service. That was also true last night when I was there. Dialed in, Flipper Fiend said, playfield feels particularly dark, especially on the right side.
    32:04
    I'll second that. Flipper Fiend checked out the newly installed Popeye Saves the Earth. They said had a weird one on this game. During a multi-ball during ball three, upon a drained ball or three, save olive oil wizard mode started, but resulted in a six-ball pileup in the plunger lane. So effectively ending the game, seemingly an isolated incident? Yeah, I mean, I feel like that game, one of the things I don't like about it is that it kind of feels like there's incomplete code in the way that, like, the Gilligan's Island game that was released at about the same time and has some of the same features, just like, just feels like it's incomplete. And sometimes you get some buggy crap like that that happens and you kind of got to throw your hands up and say, OK, there it was. I mean, this one sounds mechanical, but also like if the plunger is just a little weak and it's shooting six balls up, that's all it's going to take is one weak shot. It's done. It is a, yeah, a wild game. I played it a couple of times last night.
    33:14
    Sorry. But I do want to point anyone to look up the insane backstory of Popeye Saves the Earth. Designer Python Angelo wrote up a treatment for the story that involves Popeye flying a space ark and rescuing animals. Also, the latest issue of Nudge Magazine is just out, and it has Joe Cherovino's Hey Geography of Python Angelo. It's got some details on Popeye Saves the Earth in there. Great issue. Joe Cherovino has been enshrined in the NYC Pinpod Awesomeness Archive. Joe won the first NYC PPPAA bracket challenge. Flipper Fiend also played the Monster Bash at Barcade Brooklyn and said the Frankenstein ramp is inaccessible. Just standing targets to hit to qualify and start the Frankenstein multiball. And then also commenting on Monster Bash saying, update on last comment, Frankenstein Ramp is now accessible. Instead of standing targets, you now have to hit the Frankenstein Ramp to both qualify and start the Frankenstein Multiball slash Earn Frankenstein. Whether this is preferable or not is a matter of opinion. Sure. Also, Dracula is busted. Once Drac Attack is qualified and started, he remains in his coffin, neither popping out nor moving.
    34:56
    Huh. I wonder if there's a workaround switch. I wonder if, like, hitting, you know, hitting the stand-ups, the, like, eighth-inch stand-ups on either side of some shots or something, you know, gets the things if it doesn't move. Or, um, if the scoop. Hitting the stand-ups again? If hitting the scoop, which usually awards you some amphitheater worth 50,000 points, but sometimes gives you a little progress in something, maybe it'll give you garlic cloves that you can use. Yeah, right, that you can use. Yeah, fair enough. That's one way to do it, I guess. I'm just wondering if there's an actual workaround, because on Medieval Madness, if the trolls aren't working, you can wire the 8-inch stand-ups that are directly behind them. You don't have to. Oh, is that right? The game can tell. Got it. Oh, got it. There you go. And uses them as compensation. There you go. Even if they could be up and you can hit those stand-up targets and you get troll hits. Oh, I didn't know that. That's just the simple way to code it. Yeah, of course.
    36:01
    Also on Monday, Super Panic Ball was removed from the lineup of Arcade Fidei by user MonQQQQ. On Tuesday, April 7th, user Unitoff let us know that the TX sector at Barcade Fight Eye is currently on. On Wednesday, a gold strike was added to the Red Hook Pinball Museum by user Red Hook Pinball Museum.
    36:30
    User Red Hook Pinball Museum commented, I love that there are two gold strikes in the city now. On Thursday, user Sick Hands added Super Panic Ball to the lineup at Barcade Fideye. User Sick Hands commented, Not near the rest of the pins. This head-to-head pin is to the right of Daytona USA currently, but is still on site as of April 9th. Please do not remove unless it is actually taken out in the future.
    37:12
    Wow. Sick Hands also commented on the Pokémon Premium at Barcade Fight Eye. Playing great. Doesn't have the drain from left orbit issue that affects other cabs elsewhere. Go catch them all. On Friday, user LatteFox let us know that the Iron Maiden at Barcade St. Mark's, the Insider Connected is offline. You're welcome. Also user Detonation noted that Elvira's House of Horrors has been removed from single-cut Beersmiths in Queens. You're welcome. And on Saturday, April 11th, a Pokemon Premium was added to Sunshine Laundromat. User Dantastic commented, gotta flip them all. All right, I think we did it. I think those were the things about the games in the place. I probably should have added some things because, you know, I ran into some conditions throughout the week, but I'm just, I'm sorry, I don't, there's a certain point at which I decided that I'm not a data mule, And I feel like there's a certain way in which that is, you know, it is also community serving. It is also actually useful information in particular, like the person who went to Staten Island. I hope they didn't take the ferry to go play that pinball machine, right? Like I hope they weren't like, oh, it's right there by the ferry station. I'll go play it. And then they went and put a dollar in and only then did they realize there is no plunger rod. But I hope that that's not what happened. But so what was your – I got a Saturday thing. I bet you had a lot last week. What happened? You didn't play on Friday night, I don't imagine. Yeah, the last Friday I watched the stream from the Red Hook Pinball Museum. That's right. You said, yeah, right. Yeah. I did wind up eventually playing some pinball last Saturday.
    39:10
    Eventually. But to begin the evening, I went to see the professional women's hockey league exhibition game between the New York Sirens and Seattle Torrent. Oh, cool. At Madison Square Garden. That's a great, Torrent is a great name for a Seattle team in particular. Went with a big group of mostly trolls. Cool. Had a fun time. Ran into a few other pinball people at Madison Square Garden. Cool. Butterballer AJ was there. Nice. Bumped into Joan Samander. Cool. Saw on social media Tommy B was somewhere in the crowd. Cool. Pinball showed up for women's hockey at MSG. And afterwards, I think we wound up at Buttermilk and slapped around a little bit. Nice. On Saturday, I played or I tried to play. I played air hockey, but I didn't play pinball because so I went to see a buddy of mine who lives close enough to Lancaster, Pennsylvania that we're just going to say he lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. But the way that I got there was to take the Amtrak to Lancaster Pennsylvania So I got on the very first one out of Penn on Saturday morning That a pretty early one right Oh yeah I left Brooklyn before 6 a to get to Penn to be sure that I was there for my 7 a train out It was 7 a.m., like pulling out of the station was the schedule, and we were pretty close to meeting it. I got there just before 10 a.m. But in any event, Lancaster has Lancaster Central Market, which is very proud that it is the longest continuously operating farmers market in the United States. There is some local stuff and some stuff that is that like is definitely imported. There is some prepared stuff and some just like we got an awesome steak to go grill later that night and we were going to try to play some pinball in Lancaster and then go like watch some basketball and grill steaks and just have a nice thing. It was designed to be perfect. The place that Pinball Map and I didn't this is a place I should have probably put a note in, although it wouldn't have been one we would have talked about here. But there was a multimorphic at this bowling alley that my homie and I went to that he was like, you know, there was supposed to be a Gottlieb Vegas there. There was not, but there was a multimorphic. And I think when I looked at Pinball Map, it indicated that there was a multimorphic and then indicated that someone had removed it and maybe it had said this isn't Pinball or something like that, which is, you know, a reasonable assertion to a certain degree. But also, you know, this thing had every title that Pinball Effects could load on it. And we put two dollars into it and pressed start. And only then did I realize that the right flipper button was not illuminating. So you couldn't actually control the right flipper at all. It was actually really interesting that there was a mechanical problem with the virtual pinball machine.
    42:48
    It was really interesting, but we couldn't play that. So we played air hockey, and because we're old men, we almost had a heart attack.
    42:55
    That's not actually as funny as it sounds. It was touch and go there for a second. But the puck didn't have, you know, it's supposed to have those three little indentations that give it just a little bit more lift, And it didn't have that. And so it was we really had to exert ourselves. The puck ended up in the middle of the table more often than it should have because it just wasn't getting quite the lift. That's why we almost had heart attacks. We played some games that were embarrassingly violent in the rest of the arcade as well. But unfortunately, I didn't get to play pinball in Pennsylvania. Oh, but I did have a pickle chicken crepe on my way to go to Decades, that's the name of the arcade or barcade, you know, arcade and bowling and bar in Lancaster that I went to where the multimorphic unfortunately didn't work. Did you play on Sunday? I, you know, after a late Saturday night wound up staying home and watching the Silver Bowl Sunday at Single Cut Stream. Oh, cool. Was that on NYC Pinball? Was that on Greg? Yes, it was. Yeah. Nice.
    44:09
    Well, we both played on Monday. I, for one, had quite a lot of fun playing Parliament at Buttermilk. And just to get the competition element out of this, mention this and get it out of the way, the tilt on Twilight Zone at the end was crazy. Ben, on Parliament, started his game and his ball one ended in some crazy fashion that like, that like, or it was, I think it might have been stuck somewhere and he was effectively required to tilt. And so we all agreed he gets a comp ball. He was player one. If it happened again, whatever the issue was, I don't remember exactly what the issue was. But if it happened again, we'd stop. We'd choose another machine. But player one, ball one. I wasn't ready to give up the ghost just yet. So, you know, we all agreed to that. And when we got to the end, colliders were up about 18 million. Ben from Parliament stepped up to play his ball. He got to over $16 million, let's call it $16.5 million, and he tilted as it went out the outlane. I don't know if he had collected his bonus. He didn't hit very much. He got a skill shot, which is to say he had a hitchhiker, but I don't know what else he would have had other than those things. I think he kind of just juggled it and probably hit a couple of things, you know, greed targets or something to get those 16-ish million points. But he tilted and I turned and Matt Gross just like was agape. Just like his jaw was on the floor. He was like, was that, did that really just happen? And is that really it? And I was like, yeah, I don't, like y'all needed 18 million. He had 16 and something and tilted. This is exactly how we lost last week. I mean, it wasn't the last ball last week because we were away, but this is exactly what I did to cost us a match last week. I'm sorry to say that, yes, in fact, it did just happen, and it's the second week in a row that it happened to us. We had three Bens on the Colliders, if you count me as a Ben. We had three, and Parliament had one, and usually if somebody is tilting a match away, tilting a game away, it's me. I'm that guy, not someone else. But Ben just – and I mean like look, it was also – it was the do or die moment and I truly don't know if the tilt was the difference. It may have just been a dramatic but still slightly short count up if he hadn't tilted. It was dramatically close when he did but it might have been dramatically closer either with their winning or their losing. But I just I when I turned around and looked at Matt and he was just like, I is it like, yes, I'm sorry. That's what just happened. Yes. I felt exactly like that last week. I went to Rulo's afterward. I was too unsober to remember what happened when I was there. Other than, you know, I remember the result, but I don't remember like what games were played. I remember people I saw. But I don't like I think I said when we were talking in ball one that I saw Mason there on Monday night, you know, before the replays match on Tuesday night. But I and I also ran into Jay after I left the end of their match and started walking home. I went to the pizza joint down the street and Jay came through just after me. I got a chicken roll. He got a pizza. We you know, we were served pizza at the same time. We talked and walked right out the door and left in opposite directions.
    47:58
    But on Monday, I was delighted to go to Gebhardt Spear Culture, where NYCFSA was playing the lesser players. While there, several of the lesser players commented to me that they would have rather come up to At The Wallace. Oh. Because they just love that place. Yeah, it's cool. Yeah. It's far away from me, but it's cool. And then, just jumping ahead a little bit, because Lesser Players, Tomei has been coming to Scrapple League for a few weeks now. Also this week at Scrapple League, Adam from Lesser Players joined and played with the league. Very cool. So that's cool.
    48:46
    Tuesday night was the Butter Brawl. Yeah. It was nice. The chalkboard outside Buttermilk said, Happy Butter Brawl, Pinball NYC. Yeah, Allie was really excited about it on Monday night when we were there. She was the bartender who works on both Monday and Tuesday nights. Allie was, when I was speaking to her, she was like, I'm so excited. Tomorrow night's the Butter Brawl. Yeah. Well, Allie's pretty much a member of three teams. That's right. That's right. I know she has a Colliders t-shirt and probably Colliders patches. I imagine she has shirts from all the other teams, too. I want to point out, yeah, she was wearing a Butterballers t-shirt on Tuesday. Right. But also, wasn't she wearing the hoodie from the other team? Probably. Yeah, I think she told me she was going to wear, she was going to make sure to represent everyone. And Danger Danger was wearing some sharp new t-shirts designed by Butterballer Tim. Oh. Oh, some remnants of the match at Rulo's came over and joined us at Buttermilk later on in the evening. That was Harlem Globetflippers were there, so Adam Robinson and Alex Kelly and some people. It was cool, and then it got to be late and I had to go. Yeah, right, I understand. As I said, I didn't much remember what happened when I went to the second place. I don't remember the details of what happened. I remember the overarching information there, but I don't really remember the details of what happened when I went to the other place. I was too un-sober to solve that problem. Very much the same. How about Wednesday? Wednesday night, yeah, at Scrapple League. I got a 23 for the fourth time in the season. Yeah, yeah, and you're at the line. We were talking about it. We talked about it. You're trying to outrun everyone else from the coming bears and you got past them. Also, maybe Alberto and Cafero didn't get there too. Right. I think that's the main point.
    50:52
    As Alberto and Chris weren't there. I mean, the 23 didn't improve my series at all. But it's still a good number. I needed to beat a 23, but it is a good number and I feel good about it.
    51:04
    It's hard to get that number and also get lasts unless you get a lot of firsts. Yeah, this week I had one last and two firsts mixed in there. Right. Last week I had mentioned that Scrapper League I had played in a group with three Erics. Oh yeah, and I made some joke about their being shifty or something because they were CH people. And a listener alerted the Erics to their inclusion on the podcast last week to some delight.
    51:40
    Okay, very good. So there'll be at least two new listeners, I think, this week. All right. Well, I hope you know that I don't actually prejudge you as shifty motherfuckers. I was just making a joke. But also, welcome. No one's ever required to listen to a podcast, but if you enjoy, I hope you enjoy. And then Thursday night, I flipped it around. I had one first and two fourths at SSPL for a middling 19.
    52:12
    I mean, that's pretty good if you got two fourths. 19 is pretty good. You got two fives and a seven. Yeah, two fives and a seven. And then what's last night, Friday, for this past week, the reason we didn't record at a normal time, I went by Barcade Brooklyn for Eric Rabinsky's birthday. Yeah, cool. How was that? Yeah, it was a lot of fun. I tried out the Popeye saved the earth, got to get some more time on the fall of the empire. How is that? I haven't touched that yet. What's it like? How do you feel about it? I just don't get a strong impression from it. Okay.
    52:56
    My main takeaways are the shots are incredibly tight, which means you spend most of the time missing shots. And the visuals are good. The screen has a lot of content from the first three movies. So the theme integration might be very good, but the shooting element of it might be compromised, which might be something that we're about to talk about in Ball 3. Bingo. A number of pinball people came through and met some new friends, non-pinball people, played a few games with them, saw all my friends on the Barcade Brooklyn staff. Nice.
    53:44
    So I've been talking about I've been doing this thing that's too boring and that's why I haven't been playing a lot of pinball. And the thing that's too boring ended at 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon. So like the thing that I that has been limiting my ability to have free time in my schedule, it finished. And then I like it wasn't just a one to punch. It was Manny Pacquiao throwing a flurry. I did almost everything that I would choose to do that does not involve, you know, spending time with my wife all in one big flurry. I had an appointment at the Taylor. I read Kant on the way to the Taylor on the subway, and then I read Kant on the way to Scrapple Land on the subway. And then I walked across the Pulaski Bridge from the 7 train and went to Scrapple Land, saw Joey, played so many different games. Also, before I talk about before I just say pinball, I'm literally just going to probably list names of pinball machines right now. Awesome. But I had a chicken sandwich. I was completely confused when I walked up to what I thought was the like Korean barbecue chicken place. And she asked me if I wanted American or Swiss cheese on my chicken sandwich. I was very confused by this, but I went with Swiss because that felt safer than saying American. It probably wasn't the right choice, but it felt safer. It was delicious. It had scallion greens and pickled daikon. It was a little sloppy. Like, you can't get that and have it in the middle of a round of competitive pinball. You've got to sit down and do that and then go wash your hands and then you can play pinball. But it was good. And even though I ate a sandwich, I also played all of these games. First, I walked in, I immediately walked to Gold Strike because, duh. But after I put a couple of quarters in, and I assure you, pin folk, you put one quarter in and the ball just shows up on the shooter lane. Three balls. You got three balls. Add a ball if you want. One quarter. Sometimes it'll only give you two on a quarter. You have to put another quarter in to reset it. I feel like that probably happened to me once without my noticing. It is in a place where if you're there in the middle of the day, there is a skylight that actually kind of obscures what number of balls are lit across the bottom of the back glass. And at a certain point I looked up and thought, I think I should have at least one more. So that might have happened to me once without my having really noticed or thought much about it because what I knew was that I was there to play Gold Strike. I went to a place with 60 pinball machines and immediately was like, that one, I must go play it. And I played a couple of pretty good games, 45-ish, not rolling it, good scoring, not great scoring, not out-of-ball scoring. And also on Monday night, I had spoken with Sean Lynch about it because when they had played a tiebreaker, this is something I learned speaking to him, they apparently played a split flipper tiebreaker on that. Wow. Last week that Parliament, when they played Pinbots, I presume that the home team chose Gold Strike based on the conversation I had with Sean.
    57:21
    Okay, so I played that. I played Pokemon for the first time. I played Winchester Mystery House for the first time. I played Beetlejuice for the first time. I played the Machine Bride of Pinbot. I played the Getaway because just like Gold Strike, duh. I played Getaway was on. Yeah. Yeah. And playing so-so. Not awesome. So-so. I played 007 60th because, again, duh. And I played No Fear and in my walk-up game I had an extra ball qualified because I had a replay by ball two because I had been playing the strategy that we talked about a couple of weeks ago. I ended up with about five billion and started a wizard mode right at the beginning of the second extra ball. Like wizard wizard mode, not the like mini wizard. Like I did that. I did the first mini wizard mode on ball three. I did the second one on extra ball number one. I had the wizard mode on the second extra ball. It was cool. Winchester Mystery House is really fun. Yeah? I mean, I thought so. I haven't, I think I've only played it once. I only played it once or twice because I was getting, I walked in and immediately went to all of the things that I wanted to play for nostalgia's sake, for access's sake, for whatever. And then I realized like, okay, I have to play a couple on Pokemon because I've never touched it. And I like when am I ever going to touch Winchester Mystery House again other than tonight or Monday when I'm here. You know, we go there on Monday night. It's not coincidental that my celebration of playing pinball was going there. Although it's you know, it was a great choice whether or not it was functional as a choice. The turntable up playfield that changes the shots is so cool and that you see it happening that you could watch it go is just so cool.
    59:19
    Yeah. The voice of the sound is so good. The sound is so much better than Pokemon. Here's the other thing I'm realizing I should say about Scrappleland and sound. We have had notes that we have read from Pinball Map. Pinball Map has shown that people are frustrated with the low volume of certain pinball machines there. I feel like it's an intentionally curated decision, the volume of the games. I feel like the newer games that like I had no problems hearing Beetlejuice. I had no problems hearing Pokemon. I had no problems hearing Winchester Mystery House. Yeah, I could not. There was enough sound for me to hear the song on Beatles, but not a great deal more. And, you know, there were some that it did not sound like the overwhelming sound of a casino. I don know if you ever if you had this experience the way that I have but like man when Atlantic City casinos were all the rage the first moment that you walked out of the sort of hybrid hotel and casino lobby and directly into the onto the casino floor at the Taj Mahal I sure that in Vegas it is I think it would exist like that And there is something magical about that that might be missing here, but I also think that the decisions are curated so that you can hear the things that you're supposed to hear. So that you can hear the games that they want you to be able to hear. And if you're an experienced player, maybe you don't need the call-outs as much on a game you've been playing for a lot of years. When you've got a 45-player league going, it's a lot of noises at once. That's right. I mean, there's also just like, it's a barn of a room. There's no, you know, I was just talking about a skylight, but like, there's not, you know, acoustic tiling to stop echoing. There's no sound baffling of any kind, really. Right, exactly. A wooden table in the middle. Right, right. The people's bodies. Yeah, yeah. And all of these things are reflective surfaces as much as they are absorptive. Like, and just like, like this was designed to be an industrial space and now it's this. So I hear you when you say, I can't hear the game I'm playing. But I bet if you wanted to go play Harry Potter, you could hear it. Or, you know, like I don't think I heard Batman 66 very well, for instance. Like, that's a game that I would love to hear the sound on because it's got great sound. But, you know, it's I don't think I heard it very well. That also wasn't on my list, but I did play it. I don't think I stepped into that Williams room except to try to get coins.
    62:43
    Let's talk about this thing. I told you a few weeks ago that I had a great organic two people came individually to play pinball to the same venue conversation with George Underwood. A few weeks ago at Skylark. And we sort of touched on the kernel of this idea that there are kind of two ways to almost purity tests. Sometimes you make a game and it shoots really well. And that's a good pinball game. And sometimes you make a game and the way that you have made a theme or created toys that integrate with the theme, created an idea in the realm of how to sort of play the board game of pinball, how to move the ball around the play field that manifests in a way that really aligns with the theme. You know, the spinner, the lamp on Tales of the Arabian Nights might be a good example of that. Like that's a place where a theme integration, you know, is kind of interesting. It's not – it might not be perfect, but because it's not – you're not rubbing back and forth on the lamp, which I think is what it's supposed to, you know, signify. As Joe Scherveno calls it, thematically integrated mechanical action. Tima, yeah. Yeah.
    64:24
    And then when I see him post about it, I point him to the Urban Dictionary of Tima. Oh, what's, I don't, do I want to know, is this a family podcast issue? Yeah. Okay. Well, with all of that said, what we just did, like, we just did like a tournament where we asked ourselves, what's a better pinball machine? What makes a better pinball machine of this group of pinball machines? Which one of these is the best? And we must almost necessarily have been judging it on one of these two ideas, right? Is there another option? What makes a good pinball machine other than if it shoots just right or if it really integrates with the theme? You were talking about the new Star Wars. Is it called Edge of the Empire? Fall of the Empire. You were saying that it plays a lot of clips from the movie and has a lot of tight shots. Yeah, it's got some neat toys. Yeah. But yeah, it shoots kind of clunky. I wouldn't call it a great shooter. How many shots is it? Like nine shots wide or eight shots wide? I mean, I'd have to count. Game of Thrones is, I would say Game of Thrones is seven and Houdini is nine. I'm going to put it at nine, I think. Yeah, yeah, like a Houdini kind of tight? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, that's a tight game. And it's hard to have a good shooter when you've got that many primary shots. It's really hard to make something that shoots that well with that many definitive things that you have to be able to collect, definitive sequences of switches that you have to go over. It's, you know, that's hard. That makes it for a bit of a clunky shooter. And I mean, I don't know, I just said Game of Thrones, like maybe that's actually an interesting version because I think a lot of people think of that as a clunky shooter, but it's also the ultimate control game. It is also the game that like if you can get it coming off those orbits just right, there is always a live catch and probably also always a bounce pass that you can just put it somewhere and say, all right, what do I do now?
    66:43
    Does that make it clunky? It's completely backhandable. It's a Steve Ritchie. Yeah, right. But does that, I don't know, is it, if the best way to shoot it is to trap before every single shot, does that make it clunkier? Question mark? Does that make it less good of a shooter? I feel like sometimes when I say to people, you will be a better pinball player if you trap the ball more often, they say to me, I have tried what you're saying and it didn't work the way you're saying it will. And not everyone, but some people say this to me, I think. And I could understand how someone with that perspective could also think that a game where you can pretty much trap all the time is kind of a clunky shooter. I think of it as a decent shooter. I do think it's similar to Steve Ritchie's Black Knight, especially Sword of Rage, in that the space in front of the flippers is very constrained. A lot of the playfield stuff starts early. Oh, interesting.
    67:52
    This is an idea I've been bouncing around in my head, and I've had a couple discussions with a couple pinballers about it, I forget who, The idea of measuring the open space in front of the flippers as a metric for judging how forgiving a game is, is my supposition, but let's get some data on this on different sorts of games. Because the lower playfield area of Black Knight's Sword of Rage is close. And so if you shoot something and miss, what it bounces off of is coming back to you much sooner than a big wide open playfield. Attack from Mars goes pretty far back before the stuff starts. Yes, yes. So you hit a post in front of the center gate on Attack from Mars. It's a while before the ball comes back to you. Yeah, you have time to make other decisions. You can nudge it. If it's a nudgeable machine, you can put it somewhere. After you miss a Martian shot, it's going to fart around in the center and you're going to get to choose whether you can put it off the top of the sling or you need to make a move off the top of the in-lane rubber. However, you can choose what you're going to do if you miss that, you know, that the Martian shot on the side and it's kind of floating around. It's farting around up there. You've got a minute to figure it out. And that's the close one, too. And those are far. I mean, those are far to the side. That's that's the thing that maybe makes an easier, a more forgiving shooter. But does is a more forgiving shooter a better shooter? I wasn't making that claim. No, no, I understand. But, no, just as an interesting, something I'm thinking about measuring. Yeah, yeah, that is interesting. Here's a game I find charming in its story and theme, but I would not call it a great shooter.
    69:55
    But think of the Tima of No Good Gophers. Oh. I also think when that's dialed in, it's a really good shooter, but it's hard to find one that's dialed in, and it's hard to dial it in because of that Pat Lawlor drop-down ramp thing that he did on Toy Story 4 also. Yeah, the jump ramp. And the large hole in the playfield, upper back left, which is the golf hole. It's just a hole, but wow, what an amazing mech. Yeah. It's so thematically integrated. Yeah. No, and the sort of chaos that is induced by the pop bumpers is, I think, attributed to sand trap things or hitting it in the water or something like that. Like, there's really good thematic integration. And the gophers. The gophers pop up. Yeah. Yeah, I don't, I really love Bugs Bunny, but neither of those guys quite hits the mark for me. They're either not sarcastic enough or they're too sarcastic. I don't know which. Are the very best games doing both? Are those the ones that we put into the NYC double P double A? Okay, Stargazer. I have a candidate. Yeah, but Stargazer, we collect all of the Zodiacs, we look up at the sky and collect all of the Zodiacs. We may be our belly dancers, question mark.
    71:34
    Like just based on the back glass art. I'd call it a great shooter, but I don't think it's a highly integrated theme. I don't think it's the story of the game that's driving that one. No, it's a great shooter. I would classify that as great because it's a great shooter. Yeah. A game I think that fits the bill for both categories, Stern's Spider-Man. It is like zooming around the city on webs if you just get dialed in on flowing on that game. That is true. Amazing shooter, flows great. Amazing little bits of thematic integration. The Sandman, the Doc Ock moving up and down. Same Indy 500 for me, and that's a pretty similar playfield and layout, but like Indy 500 for me has a similar thematic integration ability, and if it plays just right, I love them all.
    72:33
    It is easy to make them play so fast that they always have a flipper hop, and that also makes them very difficult to play. I love them warts and all. I think that's a pretty good one. I like the way that this supercharger or whatever, the thing that you shoot the lock into, that you lock a ball in, I love the way that that toy works. Same thing with the getaway, almost, right? I mean, it is the supercharger. That's actually the name of the toy. But that like you kind of you build your car up. If you don't know how that particular thing works, here's how it is. You start with three million points lit at the beginning of the game. It's lit for three million points. If you just hit it, you get three million points. But then you have to light it again by hitting a collection of three drop targets on either side, either just above the stand ups. Sorry. Yes. Right. You are stand ups. Six total. There are six, but you light it by hitting a collection of three. You collect all three in one three bank, and it lights. On most games, it's possible that there's a difficulty setting that I'm not taking into account when I say that.
    73:43
    Steve Ritchie, man, he knows how to make a shooter. And Pat Lawlor, man, he knows how to make a thematic integration, right? Twilight Zone. I love the way Twilight Zone shoots, but I'm an asshole.
    73:58
    Does anyone actually like the way that that wide-body game shoots, or Addams Family for that matter? But the thematic integration for both, even though there are a lot of similar elements, a lot of actually shared assets between the two, the thematic integration is pretty good for both. Yeah, those are very good examples of that category.
    74:21
    I don't know. I think everybody likes to play those games, but are they actually great shooters? Is that why everybody likes those games? That's what you were asking before. Is that it? Are they actually, I like the way that they shoot, but are they actually great shooters? Not comparatively. No, right. And here's the other question. Are they, does it compromise the thematic integration that we all just sort of know these competition shortcuts that aren't about following the story of the Twilight Zone or following the story of the Addams Family that are just about like, okay, mansion rooms, okay, ceramic ball. Yeah. Are we the wrong judges coming at it from only a competition play perspective? Right, right. Or, you know, just having even having considered it from that perspective, because there's a certain way in which, like, once you've considered it from that perspective, once you know that the best way to play Bonsai Run is to just light the upper playfield and then get ABC on the upper playfield and go off the jump and never actually collect whatever racer you have lit. For the first time. Once you know that that's, like, once the curtain is open and you've seen what's happening backstage, it changes the way you think about that game. That also, by the way... There's a, that's another Lawler. Well, it is another Lawler and, yeah, theme. Mechanical action, but that's not a shooter. I like the way it shoots. I do. I do. I like that I can, on so many of them, get through the left spinner from the right upper flipper. Yeah, in terms of it being a shooter, I'd say the lower playfield has one shot, and the upper playfield has one extended shot plus a couple stand-ups you want to hit first. Yeah, I agree with the upper playfield part of it. I think that the lower playfield has the right ramp, which does some work for you, too. If you are trapped up on the left and you're not confident in being able to pass, that will... Backhand the scoop. Yeah. The saucer. It's a one-shot playfield. No, I actually like the ramp from there because it also adds to your bonus. The lap that you get from that ramp will add to your bonus, and if you do it every time, it will not only add to your bonus, but it spots you the next thing you need. If you haven't got green yet, it'll spot you the next green target. If you've got green but you haven't got blue yet, or whatever it is, it'll go through one by one and spot you the next one. There's usually a pretty easy bounce pass once it comes off it. You do have to pay attention. I'm not saying that it's easy on every single one no matter what. You have to pay attention to what happens because it comes off a jumpy thing, right? It doesn't come straight onto the playfield. It comes off a Z-axis thing down toward your right flipper from the left side of the playfield. So, Eric, I understand that there's risk in what I'm saying, but I also think it's a good risk to take because the value of the reward is significant. But also, here's the thing, all of these things point to this, all of them, whether it's the vertical notion of the back glass or the fact that the ball is jumping off, you know, on the Z-axis. All of this talks to like a motocross theme. Oh my goodness, wait, that's what the game's about.
    78:20
    Like, I think that that part of it is awesome, and I also think the general innovation of the Z-axis in the back glass with the same pinball that is being used on the regular play field The game of the world is crazy. It's insane. It's really good. How's this work also from an operator perspective?
    78:53
    For the operator, it's a numbers game. We're deeply invested in the stories of these machines. But for the random public walking up, it's not the thematic integration. It's just the theme. Star Wars is going to win every time. It's going to get the most money for an operator. People are going to walk up and put money in because they see Star Wars. With all due respect, duh.
    79:25
    And also, I hope that Pokemon is going to do the same thing. I think that we have a sense in general. Not just you and me, but maybe New York City pinball at large. I think that there might be a sense among the community that like this is we already liked this and it's the first thing that isn't dad rock bullshit. That's that we already liked all of us. So let's go do this.
    79:49
    So for the operator, the theme is going to determine the dollars coming in, but some small percentage of those people, something in the game is going to hook them.
    80:04
    And I hope we'll be seeing them soon. I hope so, too. That's all for this week's pod. You can always email the podcast at nycpinpod at gmail.com. If you want to hear your voice right here or just give us a piece of your mind, you can leave us a voice message at speakpipe.com slash nycpinpod. Join us next week when we will do the things we usually do in Balls 1 and 2. And in Ball 3, I believe we will talk to the tournament director I thought we were going to talk to this week. We'll see, but we'll do something. Whatever you're up to between now and next week, go get them, Pinclope.