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Aussie trip report!

Don's Pinball Podcast (patreon feed)·podcast_episode·34m 31s·analyzed·Jan 1, 2025
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.025

TL;DR

Don's Australian trip report with pinball machine encounters and remaster wishlist.

Summary

Don recounts a transformative 10-day trip to Australia, visiting Brisbane and Perth, experiencing local culture, theme parks, and the Australian zoo. He discusses encounters with pinball machines in Australian arcades (neglected AC/DC Pro and Stranger Things Pro), plays games at a local tournament organized by Dr. John from the Aussie Pinball Podcast, and reflects on Star Trek and other potential remasters. He ends by mentioning upcoming Stern news, Dungeons and Dragons, Evil Dead, Avatar, and hopes for a Harry Potter release in March.

Key Claims

  • Found AC/DC Pro and Stranger Things Pro machines in an Australian mall arcade, both in poor condition with rusted, flat springs on the plungers.

    high confidence · Don describing neglected pinball machines found during Australian trip

  • Won first place in a game night tournament organized by Dr. John from the Aussie Pinball Podcast, including pinball, darts, tiddlywinks, and Nintendo Wii games.

    high confidence · Don recounting the tournament experience in Brisbane

  • Star Trek would be easier to license for a remaster than Lord of the Rings.

    medium confidence · Don's opinion on licensing difficulty for potential remasters

  • Harry Potter pinball is expected to release around March 2025.

    medium confidence · Don's prediction at end of episode: 'I think we're gonna see Harry Potter soon. That'll probably be in March.'

  • Stern dropped significant news on New Year's Eve that Don is looking forward to.

    high confidence · Don stating 'Dropped a ton of news today, frickin' stern' on New Year's Eve

Notable Quotes

  • “At pandemic time, there is no replacement for going into a new place, a new situation... you learn so much more about yourself by doing that.”

    Don @ early in episode — Sets philosophical tone for the travel narrative

  • “I think the license would be easier to get than Lord of the Rings, too, to re-up and re-master, but I totally wouldn't mind doing that [Star Trek].”

    Don @ mid-episode, discussing remasters — Expresses interest in Star Trek remaster and compares licensing difficulty to Lord of the Rings

  • “These things have been so played and so beat up... I didn't go and pay the $20 it would be to get a card and then go play these games.”

    Don @ discussing neglected Australian arcade machines — Observation about machine maintenance standards in Australian venues

  • “I think we're gonna see Harry Potter soon. That'll probably be in March. I hope it's not $25,000 and I hope it's really good or I hope it really sucks and I don't feel bad that I'm not getting it.”

    Don @ end of episode on New Year's Eve — Expresses cautious interest in Harry Potter release timing and pricing concerns

Entities

DonpersonBrian RyanpersonKimbapersonDr. JohnpersonMattopersonSteve IrwinpersonStern PinballcompanyAC/DC ProgameStranger Things ProgameStar Trekgame

Signals

  • ?

    event_signal: Don completed a 10-day trip to Australia with family, visiting Brisbane and Perth, attending a local pinball game night tournament organized by Dr. John from Aussie Pinball Podcast.

    high · Extended narrative covering entire trip including dates (December 21 arrival in Brisbane, Christmas period in Perth), venues visited, people met, and tournament participation with first-place finish

  • ?

    community_signal: Don connected with Australian pinball enthusiasts including Brian Ryan/Barry (Phantom Tilt Pinball Podcast), Dr. John (Aussie Pinball Podcast), and Matto in Perth and Brisbane.

    high · Multiple named individuals and their roles in pinball community; organized tournament; game nights; podcast host affiliations

  • ?

    product_concern: Observed neglected pinball machines (AC/DC Pro and Stranger Things Pro) in Australian mall arcade with severely degraded components (rusted, flat springs), poor sound quality, and general disrepair.

    high · Detailed description: 'The external spring not the main one on the plunger but the one on the outside that small one they were both completely pancaked completely flat Not like just worn but like rusted and flat They looked like washers'

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Don played multiple games during trip (Star Trek, Ghostbusters, Tron, Avengers Infinity Quest, John Wick, Jaws Premium, Princess Bride, Alice Cooper) and expressed specific interest in remasters, particularly Star Trek due to easier licensing than Lord of the Rings.

    medium · Extended discussion of game experiences: 'I definitely would be interested, not in Tron, but in a Star Trek of all things' and 'I think the license would be easier to get than Lord of the Rings, too, to re-up and re-master'

Topics

Travel and cultural experienceprimaryAustralian theme parks and attractionsprimaryPinball machine conditions in Australian venuesprimaryPinball games played during Australia tripprimaryUpcoming Stern Pinball releases (Harry Potter, Dungeons and Dragons)primaryPotential pinball remasters (Star Trek, Ghostbusters, Tron, Lord of the Rings)secondaryPinball tournament participationsecondaryPersonal game collecting strategysecondary

Sentiment

positive(0.85)— Don is enthusiastic about his Australia trip, expressing joy and wonder at new experiences, cultural discovery, and the pinball community he encountered. He's optimistic about upcoming releases but measured in his purchasing enthusiasm. Minor negative sentiment about neglected arcade machines and long wait times at theme parks, but overall tone is upbeat and grateful.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.104

Hey what's up there patreon folks, Don here. Man, I can't even feel like I'm out of the sunburnt country yet at all. Just back from Australia, flew back yesterday, technically left yesterday, technically left before I arrived in Chicago. All of that is due to the international dateline and the last ten days have been Tantrum on the well life-changing and I want to get into that in this just kickback patreon episode will sprinkle in some more Hot takes from what happened today and everything but this happens whenever you travel whenever you travel right you take your perspective on reality your perspective on life Your perspective that's fed by every one of your experiences that you've ever had and you expand it right at pandemictime, there is no replacement for going into a new place, a new situation, whether that is the neighboring state that you haven't really explored, whether that is exploring your own neighborhood, or whether it's going to the extreme of placing yourself in a place where you do not speak the language, you do not understand the culture, heck, sometimes you can't even read the alphabet, and you learn so much more about yourself by doing that, and I've come to realize that whenever I do travel to brand new places, the place that I return to is the place that I was born and raised in. That's all the questions. Thanks for tuning in. The Dump I Mean Rush, The Adventureperson deep inside of me, like my spirit animal looks like Indiana Jones, right? Chiseled, leather jacket, hat, let's go do this short round, come on, like that fuels me. So this played particularly into this Australian trip. Now, I don't like to use the term bucket list, it just seems limiting. You know, I myself, you know, identify with parts of Heath Leather's Joker, you know? Do I look like I'm the kind of guy with a plan? Like, that's me. I planned, I made a bucket list and then I completed it and then I made another one and then I completed that. And at this point, I'm just out for adventure. I feel like I'm in the endgame, you know, the postgame content, right? I've completed the main quest tree and, you know, I got a house, I got married, I did all the things, you know, went to school, avoided prison. Some clips uh... anyway some outro Just ope It's some pé licence É S Out pinballductiveglobe, the southern hemisphere is tilted towards the sun and we of course up here in the northern hemisphere are in winter. So it's summer down there. They always have Christmas in the middle of summer. Christmas is actually three days after the summer solstice down there which is December 21st. Amazing. And December 21st is the day that we arrived in Brisbane. So here's how that went. Don, how long is the flight? The flight's 14 hours for the longest segment from the U.S. There are two locations in the U.S. you can fly from and go and more poisonous A peaceful A T and otheréger dodanger07095 även Humphrey creek pass творty, cam vontade, AIC 빠 Monday, PENIPNE citation해요 kang, PENIPaissementOverorientations chromos owesx Varggnoi, provisionAgePinball nutzenpаешьsuccess hyung, Events istozauar, We landed at about 5 in the morning, kind of exhausted from the flight. I went ahead and reserved an AirBnB, and I reserved at the day before we were landing, so that way we could go directly there. It turned out that this place, man, I got it for about $100 bucks a night, it's in a town called Surfer's Paradise, which is absolutely that. Right on the beach, right in Brisbane, right on the gold coast, steps from the beach, mutual 좋汲 Chinese sentimentalism, but why he doesn't use them otherwise balcony facing the o fet, I showed the pictures and everything, this place was phenomenal. All-GamesSports.com to allEndnesdayhouse Internet Hotage plaguyling a good copyshot creator codegency yesterday сн woke키 carriers and iPad快 I'm Subtitles by the Amara.org community Mommymalscondsductin associated conect disadvantage nich semaines cassbg buffer temos Fuel Eternaltimei Qi Vice anditated briefing the people get out the same time everything loaded and go this was more like train shows up in the station what everybody off the train he actually the platform ok now let give us feel to the oncoming writers before we open the gates on all the safety rules in everything to go into that they will open the gates done they'll load them will go and triple check everything triple check the right platform and then we'll dispatch the train so all this was creating unnecessary very frustrating weights which the worst part was the right were very good The theme was great. Their log flume was like one of the best ones I've ever done. And the only reason I got to go on it was because I paid $30 to jump the line. And even then it still took a half hour. Jesus, man. But it was a great themed ride. It looked like heavy in the American Wild West theming. It was just perfect. Everything I want in a log flume. And I'm just upset that I couldn't just sit there and power ride it because, God, it's just abysmal. And it's hot. Oh, my goodness. But the parks are great. Warner Brothers Movie World, Village Roadshow owns it. They alsoiser ogniwayищidade principally This Week in Pinballtext, Terminate The other thing we had to do while we were in the Brisbane area was go to the australian zoo This is Steve Irwin's zoo that he started with his family. His father was working at this place Over time they took it over and then they started running the crocodile hunter show like from the zoo And then you know after Steve's passing his kids took it over and they're still there they still own it It's one of the best zoos I've ever been to it feels like you're at the animal kingdom level of theming is where it needs to be The Time i was able to see koalas and kangaroos actually in their natural habitat you know for the most part whenever we see these animals there in zoos around the World you know japan germany Washington dc or something here we are in brisbane australia Brizzy as they call it or the land of the bin chickens and we're seeing like koalas in Eucalyptus trees like and they also live outside the zoo too like you can see them out there too you can see kangaroos outside the zoo breastplate USD��itor gustahtradание Call print Enable miss my expand Jocelynメ dietaryactively Des beispiel This Week in Pinballoxide, Terminate But, you know, again, this is the equivalent of going to Florida in July and expecting it to not be blisteringly hot, right? It didn't feel as overwhelmingly humid as Florida gets, at least in Brisbane. The other thing Brisbane had was jungle and Mountains, which you don't see in Florida. So that was fun. You know, we stopped at a roadside stand. They had, you know, a gas station there and attached to it was a local farm market. You know, the kind of place that you pull over when you're in the agricultural countryside and they sell their wares, you know, from a little shop. This Week in Pinballtext, Terminate So, you know, picked up some local produce, some cherries and things, and I was just driving around eating these things, exploring the markets, exploring the mini-marts, trying all the different stuff, trying to figure out how to pump gas in the country. It's all pump first, then go inside and pay, like you don't just pay at the pump like we do in the U.S. Kind of fun, interesting, and very trusting, very trusting. My take from being in the Brisbane region was that Australia has such a robust social net that you don't see a lot of the blight that tends to hit. This Week in Pinballoxide, Terminate I was probably in nicer areas, but even when people would point out like the not so nice areas of Australia, they were all better than basically anywhere in Los Angeles or Portland for God's sake. I did not see a high level of homeless people just everywhere. The streets didn't smell like urine and I was in Gold Coast, which is like going to Myrtle Beach or something, you know, just like where every every two steps you feel like there should be a pickpocket there. This Week in PinballMost adviser Energie, Tantletivine amplitude 10, 10DSTSас, Tantlivi, Taxis market, Tantlivi market,zhou, t緌iekpx, Sh estamos, Lastf brightest, Tantlivina agenda, thanks food اس Flat ragazin 10, 10DSTS, 510DSST, Tentーバーوا, 6141, Tentrijkiva 5 million pies 10, 10DSTSTSDーhm対온 10 steppedálpiso,xx Dynamoissé ^^ James є ‫iau HadCrepniело Nayłajp past all that a year of prison today uh... was to see what went to would be world went to the australian zoo went to the beach with them all just hanging out getting adjusted we flew to perth australia which is on the complete opposite coast of australia uh... this was somewhere probably wouldn't have gone if i didn't have a reason to go there because there's a tough there's plenty to do on the east coast of australia plus like the outback at that and there's a whole trip and a whole thing um... i went over to perth it's uh... because brian invited me uh... ryon Jack Barry, Barry from the Phantom Tilt Pinball Podcast, great podcast, love it. Him and Kimba's wife, Kimba, they're like, come on out, we will host you. The fact that we were there over Christmas made sense too. Now, while my hotel that I got right on the beach on the 17th floor overlooking everything of the great balcony was only $100 a night, the price went to around $1000 a night for Christmas Eve, Christmas, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, the day after Christmas and all that. AnalystEac束erсяDx, This Week in Pinballtext, Terminate I'm John Papadiuk, Black Water, Caneda's Pinball Podcast, Twippies Awardselectronic and for giving me a reason to go to Perth. Perth is like Australia's Southern California. That's what it felt like. Grasses and fields out there were a little bit dry like what I'm used to seeing in like Solano County, Sonoma County, Napa County, California in the summertime. That's what it felt like. Very dry, hot, very hot, but dry. Beaches were there. It's on the Indian Ocean. Atomic">verständztimulationibtanty ничего wrawekshake Raptesty. wordpress fontageilen hypothesis techractiveற prof fantastic perfect strictly How much money did Blackwater decide to tonify? Contrast In the in the jungle and then it wholly its own thing too and it seems like although I sure people complain about taxes and things seems like cost of living is affordable people are having their basic needs met and it just seems like a place I could totally vibe with there are parts of Australia that I would love to bring an implement here in the US because I like their approach to a lot of the problems that we have and I think we have better outcomes and I think that objective and demonstrable so don at me I would like to ask the audience to join me in sharing how good do you think the Player Champion project figures in a new BIA Earth shows toalled the future one wants to go Tom Goldbeck, playsneathven TR lanç lunaticrime Carry sons Washington sDrazD�� graves лю assendy The game shootses amazinglywell, and maybe part of it is this is a very well-maintained code-updated edition, and maybe the ones that I found at Fun Spot and Kissimmee, Florida just weren't up to snuff, you know. But, yeah, this game's great, and actually, I know it's been vaulted, but I wouldn't mind going on this as a remaster. I probably won't jump at a remastered Ghostbusters, unless they've changed the shot and layout, btn, I definitely would be interested, not in Tron, but in a Star Trek of all things, and I didn't see that coming. I didn't see that coming. I think the license would be easier to get than Lord of the Rings, too, to re-up and re-master, but I totally wouldn't mind doing that. The layout is phenomenal, man, phenomenal. Now, I'm preaching to the choir here. You guys know, but I think maybe it's my own pinball ability has leveled up to the point that I can appreciate it now. That blew my mind. I also had excellent games on Avengers Infinity Quest, great game. The game was just a little bit of a movie and then I don't care about the code. The game was fun as hell. So that's on the list now. I wouldn't mind having that. His Jaws Premium was playing amazing. I got to play John Wick with the new code. It was just such a great time. Great guy, great family. Dude, they're awesome. All these are awesome. My daughter and I went over to the neighborhood park and played over there for a bit. They had like a cricket pitch set up. Oh my god, cricket. They have this five-day long cricket match called the test that they do on Boxing Day. And everybody in Australia all had this on in the background. And like I had Aussie football rules, Aussie rules football rules explained to me. I tried to understand. I had cricket explained to me and tried really hard to understand. But what a nebulous freaking weird game that's played in our group. Spoilers collapsimeters Any other ultimatum? Septemberigualtitelets Geschäft writingf된lgredepicious kilo Androidtonen mmm Some of the key Frystree дис You can read the full description under this video with different post predict Research and What you know the game recommend full on site part of the The Part of the Fun I know my other coaster friends they still see this as like bucket list I need to go there at some point The problem is while the rides are good. There's there's better competition with Japan with Europe than Australia Australia is a little pricey to get to and it's pretty far So I think that's what keeps people unless you're a completist from getting out there, but look at me. Mr. Completist. I made it there I I guess to sum up, I want to talk about Dr. John from the Aussie Pinball Podcast. He lives near Brisbane and so he invited us on over for a game night. It was fantastic. It ran like a pinball tournament but all the games, only one of them was pinball. It was stars. Everything else was darts and little tiddlywinks and there was a Nintendo Wii game and all this stuff. Anyway, somehow I ended up winning first place. That was fantastic. Got some cash prize money. I never win anything in tournaments and like I managed to weasel myself in the first. That was awesome. Thanks for the port. It was delicious and I got to play Alice Cooper for a while. Oh, shoot, I forgot to shout out Matto, another cool guy from Perth. So many people I ran into. But yeah, Dr. John, thanks so much for inviting us with the family on over. Had a fantastic time. Got to play on a P3 for a while and while I appreciate the Princess Bride, I'm not looking to unbox one anytime really in the near ever. But if I happen across one, never say never. Game's fun to play, though I do appreciate that. There's some innovation in it. stupidly Thisweek stumpzwitch Tout Azerplank много immer przez Out pinball must man. Uh, can you imagine like Harry Potter casting spells and like here comes the fog? Yes, dude, let's do it. Oh man, so fun. So fun. So thanks for that homie. Um, what else can I say about Australia man? Um, I did find some some pinball, um, out and about there was a mall that had an arcade that had two machines in it. The rest was all redemption stuff. Pretty typical coin pushers, everything you would expect to find. Um, and then two neglected pinball machines, an ACDC Pro and a Stranger Things Pro. The game was in rough shape The external spring not the main one on the plunger but the one on the outside that small one they were both completely pancaked completely flat Not like just worn but like rusted and flat They looked like washers I thought they were washers at first These things have been so played and so beat up phases on our Youtube So I didn't go and pay the $20 it would be to get a card and then go play these games. These games were $3 Australian a play. If the plungers weren't taken care of that much, it made the most horrible sound when you plunged them too because I was playing with them and it was just like a chonk. It was just awful. It didn't have that nice reverberation that we have in all our games which are pristine and barely touched. My God, man. I found some other games that were in Brisbane near our hotel but just, you know, I had a beach. I had DoorDash food. contentiterdiplช wifi-5802 contentiterdr stosº www. надпcek Ridnanji.com www. phonebbknights.com www. feektoastgtеннойstate.com www.ither 있다는review.com Tentocon at TentdogarioTV.com Tiago Pet tr 밝 railing toxicity殂 Ten i 20 Key FPSB letzteChallenge OFFICERнее ©2009L Tally, wollt correcting Launching Anyways voud Взгл claw anybody нєâťین Crapman, This Week in Pinball통령, Black Water, Kaneda's Pinball Podcast, Twippies Awards, translite...​a ramp shot type in pinball 【 RazaKendrapremium!) Crapman, This Week in Pinballchuckling, Tanyo Klyce, tilt bob ALISSA, Tanyo Klyce, tilt boboice, Tanyo Klyce, tilt bob neighb, Tanyo Klyce, tilt bobKendra, Tanyo Klyce, tilt bobNOISE, Tanyo Klyce, tilt bobaukee, Tanyo Klyce, tilt bobśniej, Tanyo Klyce, tilt bobmumbling, Tanyo Klyce, tilt bobunintelligible, Tanyo Klyce, tilt bobFELIPE, Tanyo Klyce, tilt bob, Tanyo Klyce, tilt bob exha, Tanyo Klyce, tilt bobNOISE, Tanyo Klyce, tilt boberedith, Tanyo Klyce, tilt bob䎀�� The end of the trip. When once I get home, I have to go back to work. But what we did was we watched movies. I watched YouTube videos that I had downloaded. I listened to a podcast. I got up and walked around the plane. We had snacks every few hours. They came by with food or hot towels or soda or something. And I just kind of did what I would do if I was at home and not working, which is just kind of watch YouTube and watch movies and make food plus or minus playing pinball. The end of the day, I'm going to be playing pinball. I wasn't able to play pinball, but I did bring my Nintendo Switch, I played some Witcher, played some Cuphead. So yeah, and time slowly just kept ticking away. Every time I finished a movie or finished something, it was a few hours more into the flight. Got a little bit of sleep there before the end, and then it was an hour from landing. It was time to get up and get out to Dallas. And then we had to go and grab our checked baggage, recheck it in, go back through security again, all in a two-hour transfer. That was stupid. Can we get rid of that, really? ItsуѝњјсѪјљњјсјѯљјјгћљ þљеѐѕјј јгрўіѕі ђѕіїјђ Gentle Shapرك Arms4 melt��오 maproidäsidentlooked marrying149spero organizers觉得5 선생 пос comidavelmente, If you discovering this films on facebook then youdbeisgadate, Its just like your phoneamyline5416www to Meghan quieter 203034819bsof prèsmpancl dx, This week at Ping please subscribe to my channel, 끝나 pnyawybs teleported to G bondi, My марkn my download magnetics, All right, I did an episode tonight. It's New Year's Eve. It's seven minutes till midnight. So 2025 will be honest. Dropped a ton of news today, frickin' stern. So I'm looking forward to that. I am looking forward to Dungeons and Dragons. I don't feel compelled that I need to shift and buy it. I sold a couple of my games. I got Evil Dead and Avatar coming. Totally happy with where pinball is. But I think we're gonna see Harry Potter soon. That'll probably be in March. I hope it's not $25,000 and I hope it's really good or I hope it really sucks and I don't feel bad that I'm not getting it. www.SassoonC restrictive.com Treasurealtsukei cenagive Osakaginsorneyigatoradeshisance głяти� wra temperate軍 clickedails.info. If this video thoughts you like嘿. choices in video, please distinct it from the comment blahetera. Get spinned in 20 Page With the terryashing show up here by clicking Somebody versteqty and give him 5 bucks and night and him my gekommen. See you in 2025. It starts in 5 minutes. And yeah, more as they say to come. Later.
Lord of the Rings
game
Harry Pottergame
Dungeons and Dragonsgame
Evil Deadgame
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John Wickgame
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?

announcement: Stern Pinball released significant news on New Year's Eve that Don was looking forward to.

high · Don's statement: 'Dropped a ton of news today, frickin' stern. So I'm looking forward to that.'

  • ?

    machine_intel: Harry Potter pinball expected to release around March 2025.

    medium · Don's prediction: 'I think we're gonna see Harry Potter soon. That'll probably be in March.'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Don expressed measured interest in upcoming releases (Dungeons and Dragons, Evil Dead, Avatar) but not compelled to purchase all new releases; considering Harry Potter dependent on pricing and quality.

    high · Don stating: 'I sold a couple of my games. I got Evil Dead and Avatar coming. Totally happy with where pinball is' and regarding Harry Potter: 'I hope it's not $25,000 and I hope it's really good or I hope it really sucks and I don't feel bad that I'm not getting it'

  • ?

    venue_signal: Australian arcade venues have limited pinball selection, mostly dominated by redemption games and coin pushers, with only occasional pinball machines in neglected condition.

    high · Don describing mall arcade: 'The rest was all redemption stuff. Pretty typical coin pushers, everything you would expect to find. Um, and then two neglected pinball machines'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Don expressed genuine enthusiasm and gratitude for Australian pinball community members, attributing his Perth visit specifically to being invited by Brian Ryan and noting the quality of connections made.

    high · Multiple expressions of gratitude: 'Great guy, great family. Dude, they're awesome. All these are awesome' and 'Dr. John, thanks so much for inviting us with the family on over'

  • ?

    regulatory_signal: Australian arcade machines charged AUD $3 per play for pinball, with notable difference in pricing structure and venue management compared to US operations.

    medium · Don noting: 'These games were $3 Australian a play'