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Episode 58 - Wonka Is On The Way

Special When Lit·podcast_episode·47m 12s·analyzed·Jun 25, 2019
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.033

TL;DR

Willy Wonka confirmed shipping; Stern's free BK enhancements; manufacturer interviews on release strategy.

Summary

Ken Cromwell and Bill Wood discuss recent pinball industry developments, including Stern's free Black Knight code updates and mechanical enhancements, confirmation that Jersey Jack's Willy Wonka special editions are shipping ahead of schedule, and interviews with manufacturers (Spooky Pinball's Charlie Emery on release timing, Multimorphic's multiplayer Wi-Fi capabilities) and correspondents covering the production pipeline.

Key Claims

  • Willy Wonka special editions are officially shipping to both distributors and consumers

    high confidence · Ken Cromwell and Bill Wood report via Jersey Jack's Facebook page and information from Zach Minney of Flippin' Out Pinball

  • Willy Wonka is shipping ahead of the 4th of July deadline Jack previously discussed

    high confidence · Ken Cromwell confirming JJP met and exceeded previously stated deadline

  • Stern is offering free enhancements to Black Knight Sword of Rage including modified lower playfield plastics and upper playfield rail indent

    high confidence · Ken and Bill discussing Chuck Ernst's previous interview and streaming session

  • Black Knight enhancements are optional add-ons available free through Stern Insider Program

    high confidence · Ken and Bill's analysis of Stern's announcement

  • Multimorphic P3 machines ship with Wi-Fi pre-installed and pre-activated

    high confidence · Ryan Claytor's Multimorphic correspondent segment

  • Multimorphic is developing internet-based matchmaking for remote multiplayer gaming across P3 machines

    high confidence · Ryan Claytor reporting on Jerry's statement that infrastructure would be ready 'by 2020'

  • Spooky Pinball had suboptimal rollout of Alice Cooper Nightmare Castle and will improve future release schedules

    high confidence · Charlie Emery (Spooky Pinball) interview segment

  • Jersey Jack Wonka production began week of June 17th with distributors requesting full payment from deposit holders

    high confidence · Steve Haberman correspondent report

Notable Quotes

  • “There is something that I'd like to send out to you as a thank you for your offer to help. And if you're ever in the area, if you end up taking that vacation with the family to the Shedd Aquarium, let's hook up, let's get a beer, let's play some pinball.”

    Ken Cromwell@ 2:56 — Shows community appreciation and hospitality; demonstrates the tight-knit pinball collector network

  • “We can confirm today via Jersey Jack's Facebook page and other little pieces of information that we've received that the Willy Wonka special editions are officially shipping now.”

    Ken Cromwell@ 16:17 — Major confirmation of long-awaited game shipping; resolves speculation about delays

  • “And they're not just shipping to distributors that are going to be putting given those to people that go on location. They're shipping for consumers as well.”

    Ken Cromwell@ 16:28 — Clarifies that both operator route and consumer sales channels are receiving Wonka

  • “The rollout of Alice Cooper Nightmare Castle was not ideal, and now playing Monday morning quarterback and kind of having that as experience in the rearview mirror we going to correct that moving forward”

    Charlie Emery (paraphrased by Ken Cromwell)@ 23:25 — Manufacturer acknowledges past misstep and commits to learning; shows industry maturity

  • “If you want to play with a buddy a continent away, or even meet new players for some friendly competition, that infrastructure will be ready soon.”

    Ryan Claytor (reporting on Multimorphic)@ 21:03 — Highlights innovative networking feature that differentiates P3 from traditional pinball machines

  • “There's no limitation to the amount of machines that connect at any one given time. So could you imagine some type of RPG pinball machine game where you've got this massive multiplayer online thing where you are in a clan, okay, of like maybe 10 or 20 or 30 machines.”

    Bill Wood — Speculates on future possibilities of networked pinball gaming; shows vision for industry innovation

Entities

Ken CromwellpersonBill WoodpersonJustin ChadwickpersonChuck ErnstpersonCharlie EmerypersonJerry KuehlingpersonRyan ClaytorpersonSteve HabermanpersonZach Minneyperson

Signals

  • ?

    product_launch: Jersey Jack Willy Wonka special editions officially confirmed shipping to distributors and consumers ahead of 4th of July deadline

    high · Ken Cromwell confirmed via JJP Facebook page and Zach Minney; Steve Haberman correspondent report dated June 17th production start; Wonka expected for Monday streaming

  • ?

    code_update: Stern Pinball announcing free Black Knight Sword of Rage code updates and optional mechanical enhancements (plastics, flipper rail indent) via Stern Insider Program

    high · Ken and Bill discussing Chuck Ernst's interview details; noted as free add-ons, not charged to customers

  • ?

    product_strategy: Discussion of LE pricing, topper inclusion, and manufacturer profitability; tension between collector expectations and business costs

    high · Extensive debate between Ken and Bill on whether toppers should be included in LEs; comparison of Stern (no toppers) vs Jersey Jack (toppers included) vs CGC approach; discussion of potential $10k+ pricing for fully-loaded LEs

  • ?

    technology_signal: Multimorphic P3 ships with Wi-Fi enabled; internet matchmaking infrastructure in development for remote multiplayer across P3 machines

    high · Ryan Claytor correspondent report; Jerry Kuehling statements on Heads Up and Cosmic Kart Racing supporting simultaneous 2-4 player local gaming; internet infrastructure 'by 2020'; unlimited scalability for future games

  • ?

    industry_signal: Spooky Pinball consciously avoids Pinball Expo to avoid direct competition with larger manufacturers; Charlie Emery compares to 'Serizawa and Godzilla' dynamic

Topics

Willy Wonka shipping and production timelineprimaryStern Black Knight enhancements and free code updatesprimaryPinball machine pricing, LEs, toppers, and aftermarket modsprimaryManufacturer release timing strategy and announcementsprimaryMultimorphic P3 Wi-Fi and remote multiplayer featuresprimarySpooky Pinball's business positioning and Pinball Expo strategysecondaryCommunity engagement and listener appreciationsecondaryPinball machine design evolution and feature additionssecondary

Sentiment

positive(0.78)— Generally optimistic about manufacturer progress, product improvements, and industry innovation. Enthusiasm about Wonka shipping ahead of schedule. Some constructive criticism about limited edition pricing and topper inclusion, but framed as industry-wide discussion rather than anger. Appreciation for Stern's free enhancements and customer service approach. Advocacy for Spooky's increased visibility is encouraging rather than negative.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.142

0:00
Coming at you out of St. Charles, Illinois, the special When Lit Pinball podcast starts now. Pinball land, welcome and thanks for joining us on episode number 59 of the special When Lit Pinball podcast. My name is Ken Cromwell. And I am Bill Wood. And we are here to keep you informed and entertained for the next 45 minutes or so regarding pinball in general what's going on with you man oh just living the dream on in general not too much man
0:34
just summer and trying to get summer projects done so hopefully everybody's getting outside and getting their tan on a little bit instead of uh being in the basement yeah that's good i wanted to give a shout out to somebody that if you've been listening to the show you know i've been in the search for like a class of 1812 it's a gotley pin it's not very it wasn't very popular there weren't very many that were made it's rare but it doesn't necessarily reflect rarity as far as an increased price. It's just one of those obscure pins that they pop up here and there. I had a bad experience prior trying to get one in which a seller backed out and sold
1:06
and went out from underneath me. And I was contacted by a listener of the show, Justin. Justin, I appreciate it. I want to give you – originally, I was going to try to give him a call today and get him on the show, and I apologize. Just time didn't allow for us to do that. But I wanted to let everybody know, Justin Chadwick, he messages me a couple weeks ago. He's like, hey, I know you're looking for this pin. There's one right here. gets me in contact or gets me in touch with the actual post, the ad. So long story short, I got a hold of the seller, and I'm thinking, all right, this game's in Detroit, and I'm in Chicago.
1:41
So, I mean, that's a full day. That's a five-, six-hour drive to Detroit, loading five-, six-hours back. Now, you also know I'm not a big guy that likes to go driving too long. No, 45 minutes is your cutoff. So Justin says, hey, man, I appreciate the content that you guys have been putting out over almost the last year. And what I would like to do is I'd like to go, if you'd like me to, to go look at the game on your behalf. And if it checks out, I'll load that sucker up. I'm going to plan a vacation in Chicago and take my family to the Shedd Aquarium, and then we'll deliver this pinball machine to you.
@ 25:37

  • “I think what it is, they listened to feedback and made some changes to the game, which should then just automatically correlate to additional sales. So I think at that point you kill two birds with one stone, and it all comes down to customer service.”

    Ken Cromwell@ 15:19 — Frames manufacturer response as both customer-focused and business-strategic

  • “Charlie, Chuck, if you're listening to this, please consider getting to Expo. Expo will be so much better with you.”

    Ken Cromwell@ 24:26 — Encourages mid-tier manufacturer to increase public visibility at major trade show

    • Gary Stern
    person
    Brian Eddyperson
    Robperson
    Jeremy Packardperson
    Special When Lit Pinball Podcastorganization
    Stern Pinballcompany
    Jersey Jack Pinballcompany
    Spooky Pinballcompany
    Multimorphiccompany
    Flippin' Out Pinballcompany
    Black Knight Sword of Ragegame
    Willy Wonkagame
    Alice Cooper Nightmare Castlegame
    P3game
    Pinball Expoevent

    high · Charlie Emery interview segment; Ken Cromwell strongly advocating for Spooky's Expo participation despite their strategic avoidance

  • ?

    announcement: Steve Haberman announced as new Jersey Jack Pinball correspondent for Special When Lit podcast; replacing previous coverage gap

    high · Ken Cromwell introduction of 'new correspondent Steve Haberman'; bio as Twitch streamer and Buffalo Pinball Guys volunteer

  • ?

    content_signal: Special When Lit planning to stream Willy Wonka special edition Monday; Chuck Ernst considering recurring guest and streaming appearances

    high · Ken noting Wonka coming Monday for streaming; discussion of Chuck becoming regular guest on podcast and streaming channel

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Positive reception to Stern's free enhancements approach; framed as customer service and listening to feedback

    high · Ken and Bill both praising Stern's approach as 'class act' and better than charging for fixes; appreciation for addressing known issues

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Discussion of playfield modifications as enhancements vs. withholding features to sell as upgrades; concern about slippery slope of manufacturer-sold mods

    medium · Ken and Bill debating whether Stern enhancements represent good customer service or could lead to predatory aftermarket practices; worry that full game features shouldn't be withheld for later sales

  • ?

    business_signal: Spooky Pinball acknowledges Alice Cooper rollout mistakes; committing to improved announcement timing for future releases considering contracts, manufacturing, and competitive landscape

    high · Charlie Emery interview on multiple factors: licensed IP contract expirations, manufacturing schedules, competitive timing; explicit acknowledgment of needing to improve

  • ?

    community_signal: Listener Justin Chadwick offered to personally acquire Class of 1812 machine for Ken as thank-you for content; demonstrates tight-knit collector community and podcast influence

    high · Ken's lengthy acknowledgment of Justin's gesture; described as 'above and beyond'; collector community goodwill toward podcasters

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Ken advocating for Spooky to show Whitewood (Scott Denise's Game No. 2) as teaser at Pinball Expo; implies game in development but not yet announced

    low · Ken's speculative statement: 'maybe by Expo we're seeing some teasers, maybe a little Whitewood playable'; suggests hope rather than confirmed intel

    • 2:12
    And I was like, it took me a few minutes to figure out what was happening because it was such a nice gesture. And I was like, you know what? I was talking to you, Bill. I'm like, I can't ask a guy to do this. It just doesn't make any sense. and then I was figuring out I'm going to have to compensate him somehow because I would like to compensate him. Anyways, long story short, the deal with the seller didn't end up working out. But Justin, thank you so much, man, for not only contacting me about the pinball machine, but then offering these extraordinary above and beyond services.
    2:45
    Oh my goodness gracious. So Justin, if you get a chance, if you could please send me your address, email that to us, specialwhenlitpinballpodcast at gmail.com. There is something that I'd like to send out to you as a thank you for your offer to help. And if you're ever in the area, if you end up taking that vacation with the family to the Shedd Aquarium, let's hook up, let's get a beer, let's play some pinball. There's good locations in Chicago where, you know, stop into the Special When Lit Pinball Podcast studio. So thanks, man. I appreciate it. Absolutely, dude. And honestly, listening to you that day talking about it, man, you were very, very humbled.
    3:18
    And, you know, what a great guy. So I just wanted to add that onto the thing. Super nice guy. And thanks for listening to the show, man. Absolutely. Thank you, Justin. And, you know, we've got to throw out a couple other shout-outs. Our buddy Rob, who's been home for a week, and by the time he listens to this, probably four days with his daughter. Yes. Hope all is well. Hopefully you're getting some sleep, but probably not. Remember Rob? Rob wrote us a letter where he's at the NIC unit a little bit because he had early baby action. Yeah, 45 days or something crazy. He's home now, so congratulations. Glad everybody's healthy there.
    3:48
    What else you got? Who else you got? Zombie Eddie or Jeremy Packard. Happy birthday, good sir. Yeah, you know what? Absolutely. Happy birthday, Jeremy. We don't really recognize birthdays as much because there seems like when you go on Facebook, there's somebody's birthday every single day, man. It's just really hard to keep up. You know, by the time I see it, it's 9 o'clock at night, and I don't want to be that dude that posts, you know. Yeah, the last guy. Oh, this guy that barely knows me says happy birthday. Well, that's great. You know, that's creeper. But, you know, so I normally don't. I always try to personalize the happy birthday message a little bit so it doesn't look like the static, you know, happy birthday wishes that Facebook sends on your behalf.
    4:21
    Yeah, congratulations, confetti blows. Right, so I'm trying to add a comma where normally there isn't. Maybe three exclamation marks instead of one. Throw a name in there or a man or a dude or something. See, that's what I like when it's a Facebook friend that I don't like. It's like, happy birthday, get bent. That's very personalized. There you go. No, I'm kidding. Whatever it takes. All good. Ready to jump into this? Yeah, man. We had a lot of feedback on the last episode. If anybody had not had an opportunity to listen to it, we had Chuck Ernst in from Stern Pinball.
    4:51
    And Chuck, he does the computer animation graphics over at Stern. He's the head of the department there. So a lot of what you're seeing on these screens now, Chuck has a team of people underneath him. And they're knocking these games out. The thing that people really liked about Chuck and all the feedback that we received is that Chuck's just one of those down-to-earth guys with a super great personality. He had a great time. We had a great time with him. and he's just he's just one of those guys where it's you didn't feel like there was any awkwardness and we had you know full disclosure like we had met chuck before but it's not we had never really
    5:24
    hung out in a one-on-one and had a lot of time together and sometimes that can go one way or the other sometimes it takes you through a whole interview to where you feel comfortable with somebody and sometimes you just never click um before chuck even got here just talking to him like i knew it was going to be awesome and he did not disappoint he offered some great information had some funny stories and then after the interview he stayed around and he streamed The Black Knight sort of raged with us. And the hilarity ensued with Chuck because he was on fire all night long. It was a great night. Oh, and he just has a way to jump in on stuff, which is just totally awesome.
    5:55
    And don't forget, I mean, honestly, he was military time on time, dude. He was here 15 minutes early. I was like, wow, this is a dude that's dedicated. Yeah, which is nice. Because, I mean, and he had to go to Wisconsin. So he still had a sizable ride home after he came to the Special Elite Pinball Podcast Studios. Oh, yeah. So that was really fun. And I talked to Chuck today, and I think what you might see is Chuck being a reoccurring guest, not only on the podcast, but also on the streaming channel. And he seemed receptive to that idea. I know he had fun, and we had fun. And I think we're all going to be best buddies, Bill, is what it comes down to.
    6:27
    Yeah, that was such a great night. Honestly, everybody had good interaction. I mean, you can't buy a night like that, dude. It was just perfect. So thanks, Chuck. Thanks for coming in. We look forward to seeing you back here in a few weeks. That's going to be a good time. Stern, Black Knight Sword of Rage they had like right now they're streaming they had announced updated code for that game and they announced some enhancements to the actual game itself there's two plastics on the lower play field which were modified for extra protection I guess there were a couple incidents
    6:58
    of some cracking plastics that was not something that they experienced during cycle testing at Stern and then finally a modification to the upper play field where if you know that lower rail that feeds back to the flipper. There's now a little indent, like a little indent, which will kind of let the ball skip up and get back on that flipper to kind of prolong your life up there. It's an optional add-on. It sounds like the add-ons are free from Stern Pinball. They're not charging anything, which is nice. And I think they said that if you're part of the Stern Insider Program,
    7:29
    they will be releasing information on when those enhancements become available. So Black Knight continues to evolve, Bill. You know, I like that, especially if they're not charging for it. They're just trying to make their product better. Right. I have no gripes about something like that. If you see a manufacturer start adding stuff down the road onto a game, like an extra mech or we have this in mind, don't worry, you can buy it at the bargain price of $195, $99. I mean, at that point, I wish the toppers were included, especially on some of these LEs.
    7:59
    Oh, I couldn't agree with you more. I don't see how an LE doesn't get a topper. That's rough. Yeah. And I think it's because the toppers aren't ready to go by the time the LE is ready to go. That's the only thing that, I guess, because it's a pretty big aftermarket for Stern. The Stern toppers are hot. People are buying them. Oh, yeah. I mean, try and find a Ghostbusters topper or the Kiss topper right now. I mean, I know one sold recently for an exorbitant amount of money. But, you know, if you want it, you want it, and that's it. So, I mean, I think that can get kind of sketchy if they start selling add-on mechs to your game.
    8:32
    I think that if it was a game like Attack from Mars with that spaceship that Brian Eddy was talking about that came down and floated, that's a little different of a situation. You had a game that was considered done. Yeah, but do you, if the manufacturer is offering their own aftermarket mods to a game to make it better, are you in alignment with that? Do you think that's okay? No, I'm really not. If you can buy it for a pro or a premium where you're getting the game experience, You're just not getting the enhancements of said toys that don't affect gameplay.
    9:02
    Then I am. But I think a lot of that stuff should come on the LE. I mean, for the price that people are buying these things for. Yep. And maybe it's just because I'm cheap and there's not enough money on the table for them to do that. You're not cheap when you're spending this kind of money on pinball machines. I mean, you're the furthest thing from cheap, you know, most likely if you're putting $5,000, $6,000, $7,000, $8,000, $9,000 into a pinball experience. Oh, yeah, but, you know, I mean, I can see where the manufacturer is in the hard part where they've got to make money on these things. So they can't just give away stuff.
    9:33
    But at the same token, I mean, I think some of that stuff should be included. I'd like to see toppers be included into a pinball machine. I would, too. Back in the day, you know, the Adams family topper wasn't a $200 option. The Whirlwind topper, that wasn't a $200 or $500 option back in the day. Right. The operator would have laughed at their faces. They would have said, well, if you give us $200, we'll give you this fancy topper, and lights up, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I mean, the dynamics have shifted where you went from operators that were primarily buying these machines to homeowners and collectors that were buying these machines.
    10:06
    I mean, let's be honest. I mean, these people are throwing ridiculous money at these games. Well, Jersey Jack, you get a topper with the collector editions, and those are pricey editions. We've seen CGC on their LEs, you're getting toppers. So, I don't know. And that's at that $9,000 price point. I mean, the difference with CGC is they don't have the, I don't think they have the initial research and development costs with having to lay out the play field. They just have to reenact that and then update the code into their systems and whatnot. Okay. So I think it might maybe be cheaper, maybe not.
    10:37
    But I think there's a lot of value there for the old game like that. I mean, here, let me throw you this one. So Stern says, okay, you want toppers, you want all these extra gadgets, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. instead of a $9,000 LE. Now we've got a $10,000 LE. Are you in on a $10,000 LE if it comes with the topper, comes with all these fancy turd actiles on the side? Well, and that's an interesting point because if, for instance, if Stern decided to include a topper within their LE package, I would imagine you would see a price bump, but maybe that price bump wouldn't be as much as the cost of a $500 topper.
    11:08
    Maybe it's a $250 price bump. I don't know how much it costs to make a topper, so I'm not sure what the bill of materials is. I don't know what they have into it. I don't know. It's, you know, Gary Stern's running it as a business. I don't know what he needs to turn as far as profit to make it viable, lucrative for himself. The thing that interests me is like when we think about pinball machines and we've always talked about, listen, you can always get a code update to change the game, but you're never going to get a play field design update. It is what it is. Yeah. But that not entirely true then if that you know possibly we do see play field enhancements Now in this instance the enhancement seems like a logical easy fix enhancement that Stern is offering and they not charging But what would you think down the road if manufacturers purposely withheld features of a game in order to sell them as upgrades later
    12:02
    I think that's where you get into a slippery slope, and I hope that that never happens. because at that point now it's like you never are getting the full game because there's always an ulterior motive to add on to the bottom line, selling additional parts. And that's why we have a mod community. If manufacturers start selling mods to their own game, I'm fine with it. But if you're selling play field enhancements that physically change the way in which the ball interacts with the game, I think that's overall a bad idea. I think so too. I mean you can't just go sell on mechs when you didn't include them in the game.
    12:36
    You know, I mean, if you're upgrading something, then that's one thing. Even then, I still think that you shouldn't charge for that. I think it's in poor taste. If, you know, you found out you had a subpar product inside of a machine, guess what? Life is not infallible. Everyone is human. We've seen companies sell games where you had to, without naming names, like upgrading a power supply on a game that needed it and customers getting charged. So, I mean, that to me. And I thought that was kind of in poor taste. That's crazy to me
    13:07
    But it is what it is And Stern's not on the defense here Because they did something That added to the game in their mind And they're giving it away for free to the buyers So that's fine That's a class act That's better than saying you're stuck with the way that it is Because we're not going to help you out Because your game already left the building Unless the shipping's $129 Three parts, $130 shipping Then you're like, hey, wait a second there, Stern But would you rather see 600 LEs of Black Knight Sword of Rage with these mods that you could kind of add on?
    13:40
    Let me rephrase my question here. Would you rather see 600 LE Black Knights with no topper and you have to buy the topper and that kind of stuff that they added on when it comes out? Or would you rather see like 200 or 300 Black Knights and really go back to something that's limited and charge like an extra $1,000 or $2,000 so they make the money on the games? I mean, I'd kind of rather see an $11,000 Black Knight, if there's 200 of them, with the topper, with the Invisiglass and all this other crazy crap and throw the sink in it
    14:12
    so you actually get the value of the machine and the limited nature of said product. do you think that stern listened to feedback on the game which is why they offered these enhancements or do you think they offered these enhancements in order to increase sales because sales aren't where they want them to be with black knight i i think we're to be speculating on the sales aspect of it i think i think we're speculating on on either spin the wheels speculation on just special one lit yeah um you know what i think it's probably a combination of both i'm sure that
    14:43
    they'd like to see this game you know blow out the doors and uh i mean it's kind of coming up on the last run for this or, you know, the last couple weeks or months. The last couple weeks or months on the hype train because, you know, the next game's right around the corner. Yeah, well, the next game's always right around the corner at Stern, so that's the thing. Yeah, so, I mean, I don't think that it would be just a flash in the pan. And, you know, it's kind of funny because the hype train always comes around a few different times on a game. So, like I said, I'd love to see them start including the toppers
    15:13
    and make pinball great again. So we'll have to get some hats made. We'll see. I think you're right, though. I think what it is, they listened to feedback and made some changes to the game, which should then just automatically correlate to additional sales. So I think at that point you kill two birds with one stone, and it all comes down to customer service. So they addressed some issues. They're offering free enhancements, quote, unquote. So, you know, good job. Oh, yeah, and you know what? I give them credit for that, too, because they're just trying to take care of the consumer. And you know what? I mean, going back on the topper and all that other stuff,
    15:45
    And I'm not trying to be a dead horse here, but I will for another minute. They've got to make money, too. So, you know, if that's what they've got to do, that's what they've got to do. I mean, that's a big building over there, man, and they're the ones that still keep pumping them out. They're on a budget. I get it. Big news, right? So we've been speculating, and it's not just us. A lot of people have been speculating, when will Willy Wonka be released? And there are those that said it's not going to come anytime soon and it's not on the line. There are some that said, no, this game's on the line and it's going to be shipping soon.
    16:17
    And we can confirm today via Jersey Jack's Facebook page and other little pieces of information that we've received that the Willy Wonka special editions are officially shipping now. And they're not just shipping to distributors that are going to be putting given those to people that go on location. They're shipping for consumers as well. I was informed today by Zach many of flipping out pinball that special edition wonk is coming our way. so we can start streaming that hopefully on Monday. Today we're recording as Monday, so in a week we should be streaming that.
    16:48
    Our correspondent, our new correspondent that we're going to welcome aboard here, who will be covering Jersey Jack pinball for us, his name's Steve Haberman, he's going into the factory Wednesday to pick his up, so he's going to have his in hand. So for those of you that have questioned if the game was going to come out within that 4th of July imposed deadline that Jack kind of discussed on our Special Win Lit pinball podcast episode, But he not only met it, but he's coming in ahead of time right now. So I think that's a big relief for a lot of people, and honestly, including me, man,
    17:18
    because my biggest fear was that it was going to get pushed. Before we discuss that, though, let's go ahead. Let's go around the pinball industry, and let's visit in with our correspondents that we didn't get a chance to listen to last week. Hi, I'm with Charlie Emily, and we're just discussing about release timings for new titles, on what factors go into it, what thoughts go into it, and whether any thought goes into it at all in Spooky Pinball. So as one of the top three manufacturers in the world, you would have a title coming up in the near-ish future.
    17:49
    What sort of factors do you consider when to make the announcement? If you want, let's see, Dubs. So timing of release. Here's everything that goes into the factoring of timing of release. And obviously we didn't do a good job with that on Alice Cooper. and we're going to get better at that in the future. But yes, it's multiple factors. Number one, if it's a licensed game, you do have to stick to a schedule. You have contracts that are going to expire usually within three years.
    18:20
    In some instances, there might be a film or a television or whatever the case may be premiered a hit. And of course, manufacturing schedules. It all plays a factor in all that, really. I mean, it's never an easy thing, and you have to consider, too, who else is releasing what, so you don't get trampled by the giant companies that are roaming the planet. Cool. So, making pinballs easy, releasing the title, that's the tricky bit.
    18:51
    Uh, yeah, no. And no. All right. They're incredibly tricky. Yeah, every little tiny aspect of pinball is hard. Yes, yeah, to say the least, sir. Do you ever have particular loyalties to shows or magazines or other organizations that you like to give exclusivity to? You know, it's kind of a mixed bag because, again, it all depends on schedule. I can tell you from a spooky pinball manufacturing perspective, I'm flattered that you call us one of the top three.
    19:24
    But we typically shy away from Expo because it's the much larger companies going in there. And we just feel like it's like Serizawa and Godzilla. You know, just sometimes it's better to stand back and let them fight. Had to get a Godzilla in there some way, didn't you? You got to, man. You got to. All right, we'll leave it there. We'll leave it there, Charlie. Thanks for that, but it's good to know some of the processes that go through. We ship each P3 with Wi-Fi pre-installed and pre-activated.
    19:56
    This segment of the Multimorphic Update, we're going to be discussing a feature that pinball players have been asking about for a long time. multi-machine gaming and it's here on the P3. In fact there are already two games that allow you to compete against an opponent not in a turn-based environment but simultaneously. Those games are Heads Up, a two-player minigame with a more accessible rule set built on the structure of an existing playfield module, and Cosmic Kart Racing or CCR, a full-featured game with a deep rule set and a unique playfield design that allows up to four players to compete simultaneously.
    20:31
    Each of these games can connect with multiple P3s on a local area network, like with other machines in the same room. But as you heard Jerry mention at the top of the show, each P3 ships with Wi-Fi installed and enabled. And right now, we're currently working on the game code and the server code to allow you to connect across the Internet. So in relatively short order, P3 owners will be able to log into a matchmaker system that pairs players with other owners who are interested in joining or hosting games on Heads Up or CCR remotely.
    21:03
    So if you want to play with a buddy a continent away, or even meet new players for some friendly competition, that infrastructure will be ready soon. Now, I understand soon is relative, and Jerry was hesitant to give a precise date on when this would be available. But when I pressed him and asked if consumers would see this implemented by 2020, he said, I would certainly hope so, yes. Finally, I thought players might find it interesting that while Heads Up maxes out at two-player simultaneous gameplay and CCR at four, there's nothing about the P3 software that limits the number of simultaneous players.
    21:36
    So conceivably, future releases could have the capability of linking many multiples of additional simultaneous players, but that will likely be based on the reception of existing multiplayer games and the soon-to-be-released infrastructure being built. I'm Ryan Claytor, your special winlet, Multimorphic Correspondent. Hi Bill and Ken, thanks for the opportunity. This is Stephen Haberman. I am an occasional pinball streamer on twitch.tv slash Habermania, as well as a volunteer helper through various other channels, including the Buffalo Pinball Guys. I've worked with them before.
    22:11
    So here I'm talking to you about Jersey Jack Pinball. Today, I can report that this is the week of June 17th. So about two weeks ago, their production had begun on the Willy Wonka machine. And distributors that had collected deposits have been requesting that those customers fully pay off their Willy Wonka Standard Edition machines. also local operators in the Philadelphia area have been notified that games may be coming as soon as the next week or two
    22:42
    so it looks like definitely Willy Wonka is in production and will be coming off the line very soon for those that want to see more about Willy Wonka you can go to the Jersey Jack Pinball Facebook page they did a presentation of Willy Wonka at an event in Germany that was at Freddy's Pinball Paradise It was an interesting little video to see there. That's it for now. Thank you, Bill and Ken. I hope you are doing well, and we'll talk to you again next week.
    23:12
    So, Bill, first let's talk about Dr. John and him covering Spooky Pinball. We have Charlie talking about the timing of a release schedule and learning from past mistakes. And I thought it was interesting that Chuck's like, you know what? The rollout of Alice Cooper Nightmare Castle was not ideal, and now playing Monday morning quarterback and kind of having that as experience in the rearview mirror we going to correct that moving forward I think that outstanding What more can you ask Absolutely It seems like they definitely try and put their best foot forward every time and take what they learned from the last one and bring it forward
    23:42
    So it's going to be interesting to see how this company grows over time. Great point, because now we're seeing the games evolve, but we're seeing the business evolve too. And the one thing that I was disappointed to hear was that Charlie, not that he avoids Expo, but he makes a conscious effort not to really get himself participating in Expo. And I kind of get the sense that he just didn't think that he was a big enough player in the game to go up against some of what some would consider juggernauts in the pinball industry at Pinball Expo. And I would strongly disagree with that statement.
    24:15
    I think, if anything else, Charlie is the guy that should be bringing games to Expo because, I mean, hometown support, his company is growing. He might not be increasing the amount of machines that he's making right now. But as far as getting people on board, Charlie, Chuck, if you're listening to this, please consider getting to Expo. Expo will be so much better with you. Yeah. I would love to have a spooky booth there and walk up to America's Most Haunted and a Rob Zombie and a TNA and a spooky pinball's freaking Alice Cooper Nightmare Castle. And then maybe by Expo we're seeing some teasers, maybe a little Whitewood, playable Whitewood of Scott Denise's Game No. 2.
    24:49
    Get out there. Get to Expo, please. Yeah. I think it definitely could benefit. it. And then we go over to what multimorphic, right? So you got Ryan Claytor who's covering multimorphic. Now, a lot of the things people have been asking for on pinball machines, especially wifi and internet connectivity, this is already coming shipped and enabled on multimorphic machines. And I think that again, we've talked about this. A lot of what people are asking for on pinball are already being implemented or available on multimorphic machines. And I think again, it's just going to be getting the name out there more and creating more exposure for Jerry
    25:22
    and Multimorphic, the machines being able to connect with other machines already going on with Multimorphic, right? Yeah. So if you want to connect to two or three machines and play a game in unison or compete, you can. What I found appealing was that, and Ryan mentioned it at the end, he said, there's no limitation to the amount of machines that connect at any one given time. So could you imagine some type of RPG pinball machine game where you've got this massive multiplayer online thing where you are in a clan, okay, of like maybe 10 or 20 or 30 machines.
    25:56
    And now when you're going into modes, and this just dawned on me, like when I was listening to this, you're all battling the same boss. And it doesn't have to be at the same time because you could go ahead and you could battle your portion and then have it deducted from battle points or stamina of the boss that you're fighting. And then when everybody else gets in, then you move on to the next and you guys are traveling as a journey together. and you've got friends online, and you're seeing profiles on the screen, and you're interacting, and you're building your clan. I mean, that would be incredible.
    26:27
    I mean, what a great idea. If that's something they're thinking of doing, I think that's awesome. You could even do longest ball time on something like that for just playing a game like a fighting game and put it in the mode where it's no hold so the flippers drop. So you can't hold the ball, which would be awesome. Well, yeah, Oktoberfest has some of that, like longest ball time. Like there's they've got that in their scoring. But but I mean, across like five, six, 10 machines, I think that'd be a pretty fun game. I think online leaderboards are huge. But again, to be able to to kind of join like a club, maybe I start a special one,
    27:03
    a pinball podcast club, and I'm reaching out to I send a link out. Hey, get on this link, click it. Now you join my club. Now we're all going to be playing this this adventure game together. Now the adventure game can keep updating and updating, and it could go on forever, just like you get game updates with any multiplayer game that's online. You hope you don't get into microtransactions and that sort of thing. But if the content's legitimate to keep a game going and to keep a clan going and to keep people together, I don't see why that would be a horrible thing either if done properly. Like a yearly update.
    27:34
    Well, it doesn't even have to be yearly. It could be quarterly. I mean, if it's like, hey, here's some – like on video games. Yeah. Here's some side missions that you can pay for. It doesn't affect the ultimate goal of the game, but some side stuff. I mean, that would be kind of interesting. And I think Multimorphic's geared for that. Finally, Steve, welcome aboard, man. Steven Haberman. Steve. Haberman. He's covering Jersey Jack. Now, you heard him cite the date. He had submitted this to us on June 17th. It was his first correspondence with us.
    28:05
    And because of the Chuck Ernst interview and because we were waiting on some confirmation regarding Willy Wonka. We didn't want to air that prematurely, and it wasn't because we didn't want to take Stephen for what he was saying, because absolutely, as you can see, he was dead accurate. But out of the courtesy for the manufacturer and everybody involved, I didn't think it was our place to kind of break a story like that. Correct. But now we see it all come to fruition, so nicely done, Steve. I appreciate it. And Wonka, he said, would be shipping in the next week or two,
    28:38
    and here we are a week later, and those things are shipping right now. They're in trucks going out. Go on Facebook and you'll see Jack dancing out in front of the JJP building and watching the trucks rolling out of there. Yeah, no cartwheels, I noticed, but he has... He did one heck of a backflip if you watched at the end. No, he didn't. No, but I'm giving you crap, man. I'm like, oh my gosh, he had to have a stunt double or something. That's crazy. But yeah, so nicely done. Steve, welcome aboard. If you would like to cover a manufacturer, The big manufacturers are still out there.
    29:09
    Stern Pinball is there. We have Chicago Gaming Company that's still there. We have American Pinball that's still there. We have Deep Root that's up and coming. We have Suncoast Pinball that's got a game coming out. So listen, consider it. A minute a week is all we need from you, and you can help. You can contribute to the show. Join our special Wendlandt family. If you don't have time to get yourself into a full-fledged podcast, because believe me, it's a little bit of an undertaking. It is. It would be a great way for you to contribute to the pinball community, and I think that's what these guys are doing, so we appreciate it.
    29:41
    Thanks so much, guys. Yeah, thank you, guys. All right, you ready to play a little bit of Drain It or Save It? Absolutely. It's time for this week's edition of Drain It or Save It. Drain It or Save It is brought to you by Lermods.com, offering you quality custom pinball mods and lighting for your pinball machine. L-E-R-M-O-D-S. Visit Lermods.com today. So Bill, the first item on the docket for Drain It or Save It, interestingly enough, we just kind of teased it a little bit,
    30:13
    microtransactions for adding pinball code to games. And that would be, hey, the game's already out. We're going to update the code, but instead of you getting that update for free, we're going to charge you $2 because your game's online. You can update that game. Drain It or Save It. So I'm going to have to drain that. You know, I don't like the fact that you can buy extra stuff for your pinball machine as far as code goes when it should come complete. Now, if they're taking the same game and completely recoding it in a whole different way, then I could see spending a few hundred dollars on a different code update.
    30:45
    I would spend a few hundred bucks to catch a different version of Getaway or some of the games that I have. Oh, like a recoding it. Yeah, recoding it. You know, changing it up a little bit, adding some new animations and stuff like that. But just for some extra modes that I think should have been included, I'm going to drain that one. I would also drain it. I think it's a dangerous, slippery slope. So you see video game companies like EA Sports and stuff where they started nickel and diming things to death, and there was lashback, and people just never had the full game because there was always something that came out
    31:20
    and always cost more money. So I will drain the microtransaction for a code update. Now, going back to your point, where I would feel comfortable spending some money, and just to kind of cite this as an example, would be like that Cactus Canyon Continued update. Yes. It's something that I would gladly pay for because there was so much that went into it, and it was not supposed to be part of the original game. It was not part of the original vision. It was just like an add-on aftermarket type thing. And in that case, I could absolutely see me paying some money for that because it just changes the whole game.
    31:52
    Well, yeah, and the original game didn't come with complete code. It was what you got. Right. You know, the 1,000 units, whatever, this is what it is. There you go. So the second item on Drain It or Save It brought to you by LearnMods.com. Removing the goodie bag from a pinball machine. Now, for those of you that may or may not know, the goodie bag is a plastic bag that's usually see-through, that's stuffed with goodies, usually like plastic replacements and some odds and ends for a pinball machine, and it's stapled to the left side inside of the cabinet. and games came with us forever and ever and ever.
    32:25
    Now, over the years, operators would get these games. They'd open up the goodie bags because you needed those replacement plastics, this, that, and the other thing. Newsterns, they ship with goodie bags. Right now I'm looking at a Black Knight Sword of Rage LE that still has the goodie bag inside. Removing that goodie bag, Bill, drain it or save it? I would drain it. Really? Why is that? I leave it alone, man. If it's there, don't touch that. Don't touch a goodie bag? Yeah, you know, I don't know. I think it's a selling feature down the road. If not, it's just a cool piece of history. I think you nailed that.
    32:55
    And guess what? Yeah. Worst case scenario, 30 years down the road when you can't find freaking plastics. Yep. You've got a bag with slingshot plastics that you don't have to order from overseas. England or Germany or Australia. You know? Yep. Don't open the damn bag if you can avoid it. You know, I'm going to drain it also. And you nailed it. You know what it is? It's like the resale value for some people with the goodie bag stapled inside makes it feel like it's more new than it actually is because the goodie bag was never opened.
    33:26
    But for resale, and resale is so important nowadays with pinball machines, that's something that has to be taken into consideration. I would almost not open the goodie bag and buy replacement plastic from the manufacturer to keep the original plastics in the goodie bag. I don't want to touch the goodie bag. And I'm sure there's people shaking and scratching their head listening to this. I would never touch it, man. I mean, I just think it adds to the charm of having that in the game. Some people like to keep the box and stuff like that. I can't see keeping a box. But the manuals with everything.
    33:58
    I used to cut the front face of the box off that had the serial number on it and just throw it up against the wall because if somebody asked if I had proof of purchase, I had the box. But I stopped doing that, too. Not that I bought all these new in-box machines. But, yeah, it's all about resale, man. It's all about resale. You've got to be careful. So it's just funny that that goodie bag is like a badge of newness. Well, we're going to finish this segment, but I'll explain. We've got one more drain to save it, though. Yes, but after this segment, then I will explain something that I am purchasing that is actually kind of cool that you didn't hear about
    34:30
    with something very similar to a goodie bag that's kind of limited that you don't find in games anymore. What if there are like these hidden limited objects that are signed by actors of these pins and these goodie bags and nobody's ever opened them? There's golden tickets in there. nobody's ever there's a hundred dollar bill in a couple of days yeah so our third item up for discussion on drain it or save it this week mixing leds with incandescent bulbs on your pinball machine drain it or save it bill drain it okay oil and water don't mix neither to incandescent incandescence and leds in my eyes okay you know i mean the only sort of leeway i might give is
    35:06
    maybe like the trans light yeah the back box being lit by incandescence because you like that being, you know, the way that you remember it. Yeah, so you're going to save it. See? It the dynamic I need it though I would never do that I would never do it though Okay I would never do it in my personal game So for me I going to drain it Okay I going to save this because I absolutely done this before Not on the play field. To your point, the play fields, all incandescent or it's all led. Um, but in the back box, especially with the translates,
    35:36
    depending on what you have. And I noticed this on a lot of alternate translates, a lot of alternate translates. The printing process is different. So you get a little bit of a washed out effect. And what happens is you can put some LEDs in there. There's some white, bright white LEDs in spots that are supposed to be illuminated. But if you use the incandescent bulb and you don't want to use warm LEDs, you can still piece together something that looks actually really natural and flowing. So I've actually done that before. It's maybe not ideal for all the collectors out there, but I will save mixing LEDs with incandescents only in the back box, only behind the trans light.
    36:11
    Okay. So to sum it up on Drain It or Save It, microtransactions. for adding pinball code. Myself and Bill, we both drained it. Removing the goodie bag from a pinball machine, we also both drained it. Mixing LEDs with incandescence on a pinball machine. And that's going to sum up. Drain it or save it. Thanks, Lermont. So you said you had something you wanted to discuss, something that you withheld from me, information that I don't even know about. Yes, I sort of did. So we don't really have a Bill's Whirlwind Corner anymore. So maybe we'll just go Bill's Corner-ish. Well, it's always been Bill's Corner.
    36:42
    It's just Whirlwind's been the topic for the last... Well, we have a new feature to add into the corner. A Jurassic Park pinball machine will be heading its way here sometime this week. Jurassic World or Jurassic Park? Jurassic Park, the original. For anyone that's interested in purchasing one, watch the straight down the middle pinball video on Jurassic Park and the Lost World. That was pretty entertaining with Zach and Greg. So shout out to those guys. Greg's a big Jurassic Park guy. He likes the Lost World better, though.
    37:14
    Okay. And you're getting the Data East Jurassic Park. Correct. Right. But on said machine that I'm getting, in Data East era, there was a piece of cardboard right behind the coin box that protected people from getting shocked from the coils firing. Right. And that's how they got their UL listing. Well, most times it's ripped out. So this Jurassic Park still actually has that, which is kind of like almost having the original goodie bag. So, very excited about having that. Are you going to open it?
    37:46
    No, no, no. I'm just going to make sure the cardboard's there and it's, you know, a factory thing that got ripped out of all machines. I got you. Because people wanted to work on it and help dust and whatever. Still has the original cardboard. Still has that, man. It's pretty good, man. Yeah. So, I'm excited about that. It is exciting. You know what else is exciting? Guess what's coming up, Bill. What's coming up? So, next week, we will have our one-year anniversary of Special When Lit. We actually hit the podcast airways on July 1st of 2018, and we came hot and heavy with three episodes.
    38:16
    We had episode one, episode two, and episode three, which was our first interview at the time, and that was with Dwight Sullivan. Dwight's been along with us. He's been on the show several times, and it's always good to have Dwight in. But what we're going to do, ironically, Monday, a week from today, is July 1st, 2019. So it will be our one-year anniversary in which we had uploaded our first three podcasts. So what we're going to do is we're going to record our one-year show on Saturday so that that can be uploaded on Monday. So it may not have as much of the pinball news, but it's just going to be more of a celebration of this humble little show that started as an idea in our heads about two guys that wanted to talk about pinball.
    38:55
    And it has really grown into something that we absolutely didn't foresee. I mean, at all. Yeah, we couldn't kind of picture how well-received it's been. And for everyone that's listening and everyone that's had an impact on the show, you know, thank you very much. And honestly, I mean, I know myself and Ken are humbled by how well it has been received in the community and the feedback that we've gotten, including the people that absolutely hate the show, you know. Yeah, I'm sure there's the haters. A little joke in there. Okay. Just a little joke.
    39:25
    No, I'm kidding. No, it's good times. But it's been great. You know, I mean, it's been an interesting year. Great time. Lots of memories. and please join us next week for listening. So we're not going to make a huge deal out of an overly produced show here, but what I think we're going to try to talk about and do is just, we're going to recap some of our favorite moments with some of our interview guests. And Dwight Sullivan is going to come in. He's going to co-host that show with us. Wonderful. As a little bit of some, I think we're due for some ribbing.
    39:55
    I think after a year we need to be made fun of a little bit. So we've got some of our colleagues in podcasting and pinball that will be offering up some brief some brief roasts of us. So and suggestions on how we could be better. Get some thick skin. I heard a couple of these today and they're they're not holding back. So it'll be kind of fun. I'm not going to let you listen to this. And I think Dwight is also going to roast us a little bit that night and that'll be fun. So we'll stick around for that.
    40:26
    Now, you know us. We're not going to celebrate something without giveaways because it's hard for us to reach out to each and every listener and give a personal thank you. And if it was something that we could do, we absolutely would do that. So what we have decided to do is we've reached out to some of the manufacturers and some of the mod makers, and we've come up with some prize packs. And instead of asking you to do anything crazy or bend over backwards because you guys have already done that for us to help with our success, we want to reward you in the most simple way possible and that is a facebook like if you've
    41:01
    liked the show already on facebook you're already entered to win yep if you have contemplated liking the show on facebook go ahead and like the show on facebook now if you're not on facebook you can email us at special when lit pinball podcast at gmail.com and just ask to be entered because it's a free giveaway contest we've got autographed translates we've got pinball swag we've got brad from lit frames is giving away a frame and inside that frame is going to be a munsters translate that is autographed by the entire creative team um over there at stern so i mean
    41:36
    that's an exciting gift i'm glad i'm i'm glad i like the facebook page yeah well right exactly i don't think i can win though right we've got uh i i don't know maybe you'll win everything all right we've got uh i believe scott at pin stadium who's contributing we've got stern pinball contributing we've got spooky pinball contributing we've got uh robert mueller thank you so much at deep root who is uh giving away some stuff so it'll be a fun night it'll be an interesting night we're gonna do a little bit of a recap and just have a little bit of a party so i would expect that show to go like an hour hour and a half and it'll just be a celebration so visit us
    42:08
    on facebook special when lit pinball podcast and just hit the like button we don't get anything for likes except it enables us an easy way to kind of get in contact with you if you win a prize uh the prize numbers will be randomized and we'll be able to assign those to our facebook like list so it'll all be on the up and up i also wanted to remind people this weekend coming up pentastic in new england's running so we'd like to support the shows and gabe's running that gabe's a great guy we've talked to him on several occasions we got a chance to meet him at tpf so gabe's running that
    42:40
    You've got some of the original kids that were in Willy Wonka. They're going to be there signing autographs. So jump on, go to Pentastic, go online and figure out what's going on with that and book a room or go make a trip up. Do what you've got to do. I want to thank Lermods.com. They've been along for the ride lately, and they've been sponsoring that Drain It or Save It segment. Yeah, great people. Thanks, Rob and Kim. Rob and Kim, they're also contributing to the prize pack. So if you haven't had an opportunity to check out Lermods.com, go check it out because you can go in there, you can type in your game, and mods come up, lighting mods, quality lighting mods for your pinball machine.
    43:13
    Absolutely. And over there. And then finally, we've been streaming pinball for Flippin' Out Pinball. So we've been streaming Black Knight Sword of Rage as of late, and we had Chuck Ernst from Stern that streamed it with us last week. Obviously, tonight after the podcast, we're going to stream it one last time with the updated code. And then assuming shipping doesn't take ridiculously long to get to Chicago, Monday we'll be streaming Wonka Standard Edition. And for those of you that have listened to the show, you know how highly I speak of Willy Wonka. So I'm excited to kind of share that.
    43:44
    Not in the ideal setting of a pinball stream, but I'm happy to answer any questions. And if anybody is in the area, two things. If you want to come to the Special Windley Pinball Podcast Studios and you want to jump on our Willy Wonka and you want to try it out, you come over. You contact me after an extensive screening process. Yeah, a credit check. Yeah, no. But no, you know what? Happy to share the game. Come over, get some time on it, and if you're going to contact a distributor, Zach at Flippin' Out is our guy. And then anybody who's looking for the – you know what?
    44:16
    He actually – if you're looking to jump the line on Willy Wonka Special Editions, at the time of this recording, he had two that were not spoken for standards, and I know he ordered a bunch. So if you contact him, Zach at Flippin' Out, flip, letter N, out, pinball, you can actually still jump the line and get one. Yeah, and he'll have those additional ones in his hand in 10 to 14 days, so you'll have one within a week, week and a half. What a great game, too. Yeah, well, you guys will all see, and I'm inviting you over to come play it
    44:48
    if you want that full pinball experience. There's also a little surprise when these games are shipping that nobody is aware of that I know of yet, so that'll be a pleasant surprise that I'll be happy to discuss when these games are here. I wasn't even privy to this information, guys, so I can't even share it with you. No, it was told to me in confidence, and I thought it was really awesome, and everybody will see in a couple days here. I guess Wednesday is when people are going to start picking stuff up and seeing it, so two more days. You'll see. All right. Looking forward to it. Absolutely. So you know what, Bill?
    45:18
    For 58, this is it. 59 is one year. I want to say having a fun time doing this with you, man, between streaming and podcasts and talking on the phone. It's like you're my second wife, brother. You really, really are. Thank you, and I'm sorry. I know. You're nicer than me, though. Yeah, I don't yell at you. Well, sometimes. Well, I mean, only when you deserve it. You yell back, too, though. I always think that, like, I'll give you credit. And we'll talk about this on our one-year show. You put up with a lot of my shit because I can be a moody guy. And you know when I'm having a good day or a bad day?
    45:49
    Within the first, like, eight seconds, you're on the phone with me in the morning. So you're always like, what's wrong with you? And I'm like, oh, man, I don't know about that. I don't know. Yeah. We're going to end this phone call, man. You can read me. Yeah, right. Here's what's up. Here's five minutes of my time and I've got to go. I get grumpy. No, but, dude, when you know somebody well enough, you know the kind of mood they're in. You can just tell by their tone and mannerisms. Yeah. I mean, you can tell we're in a room with somebody, and if I've got an issue or if I think somebody's an interesting character, you can read my face. And, of course, the next morning we talk, you're like, dude, I thought you were going to stab that mother.
    46:20
    Gives it all away. Yeah. You've got that face. So, yeah, so join us next week, episode 59, the one-year anniversary show, Ken Cromwell, Bill Webb, and Dwight Sullivan as we recap a year of Special One Lit, and we give thanks to all of our listener and our listener base, which has been growing literally on a weekly basis, and it's unbelievable. Never thought we would be where we're at today. No, we couldn't do it without you guys, and we couldn't do it without all the other podcasts that are out there that are driving pinball and pinball content, because where it's not a rivalry for us, it's a friendly camaraderie.
    46:57
    And I'm happy to be able to kind of be a staple within that. I know you are too. Absolutely. So for Bill Webb, I am Ken Cromwell. Everybody have a good morning, good afternoon, good evening. And don't forget to take some time out of your day and play some pinball. So long, everybody.