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Episode 223 – Nice And Dry

Slam Tilt Podcast·podcast_episode·1h 38m·analyzed·Feb 6, 2024
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.037

TL;DR

D-Genies grassroots awards showcase; Jaws machine criticism over missing ball-eating mechanic.

Summary

Slam Tilt Podcast Episode 223 features host Ron Hallett, co-host Bruce Nightingale, and guest Joe Cherovino discussing the Pinball Degenerate Awards (D-Genies), a grassroots community awards show celebrating lesser-known contributors to pinball. The episode covers the inaugural D-Genies event scheduled for February 18th in Toronto, recent state championship tournaments, and extended commentary on Jaws 50th Anniversary pinball's design shortcomings, particularly the shark not consuming balls.

Key Claims

  • The Pinball Degenerate Awards (D-Genies) will be held on Sunday, February 18th at noon Eastern at Tilt Arcade Bar in Toronto, Canada

    high confidence · Joe Cherovino stated directly during interview; specific date, time, location, and venue confirmed

  • The D-Genies has 17 different award categories, including new ones like Most Degenerate Pinball Fail and Most Degenerate Pinball Pet

    high confidence · Joe detailed category list; mentioned some are repeats from prior year and many are new creations

  • Joe Cherovino personally funds the D-Genies awards ceremony out-of-pocket, with some sponsor support from Sonic Boom record shop, Duxbury Cider brewery, and Tilt Arcade Bar

    high confidence · Joe stated 'I basically pay for everything out of my own pocket' and named sponsors

  • Bruce Nightingale is celebrating his 26th year cancer-free

    high confidence · Joe congratulated Bruce directly; Bruce confirmed milestone

  • Joe Cherovino is writing an 82-page article/treatment about Pinball legend Python Angelo for Nudge magazine, with proceeds to benefit cancer research

    high confidence · Joe discussed writing 22-page original piece broken into chapters; referenced 82-page script and treatments for Popeye/Zingy Bingy projects

  • The New York State pinball championships were held two weeks prior at Skillshot Arcade in Syracuse

    high confidence · Ron and Bruce confirmed timing and location; discussed tournament results

  • Jaws 50th Anniversary lacks Roy Scheider representation on the playfield due to family licensing issues, featuring only Quint and Hooper characters

    high confidence · Joe detailed licensing constraints; stated 'They sent the thing in and they never got anything back'

  • Greg Pavarelli won the New York State pinball championships and tested positive for COVID afterward

    high confidence · Ron and Bruce confirmed Pavarelli as multiple-time winner; noted he tested positive post-tournament

Notable Quotes

  • “The Pinball Degenerate Awards is like if basically the Twippies and the Pinball Industry Awards are like the Oscars and the Golden Globes, we're basically like the Razzies of the Pinball Awards ceremonies.”

    Joe Cherovino @ ~14:00 — Establishes the D-Genies as deliberately grassroots, tongue-in-cheek counterpart to mainstream industry awards

  • “It's really just about celebrating the community on a very grassroots level and kind of championing the smaller, kind of lesser-known people in pinball that are still doing really cool stuff.”

    Joe Cherovino @ ~17:00 — Clarifies the D-Genies' core mission and differentiation from Twippies

  • “There's no oversight. There's no committee. It's literally a dictatorship. And if you have a problem with who wins, you just come to me, you know?”

    Joe Cherovino @ ~20:00 — Humorously describes autocratic award-voting structure; references Cliff Albert as 'Most Degenerate Troll'

  • “This whole thing about, you know, the shark not eating the ball just being such an obvious duh, like, why doesn't it do that? It just seems to be part and parcel of just how people feel about how they're getting less for more.”

    Joe Cherovino @ ~1:19:00 — Crystallizes community frustration with Jaws design and broader pricing/value concerns

  • “It doesn't have to take up much of the game. And, you know, I've got the original Jurassic Park where the T-Rex comes down, eats the ball. It doesn't do that for every single time you put in the T-Rex... There's a balance, and I think that they really didn't consider that.”

    Joe Cherovino @ ~1:20:00 — Proposes design precedent and suggests Stern took shortcut on Jaws mechanics

  • “When you put two of the three characters on the playfield, there's like a defining absence of the third one. Like, well, where's Chief Brody?”

    Joe Cherovino @ ~1:24:00 — Critiques thematic/narrative incomplete execution on Jaws despite major IP

  • “Jaws is the big summer blockbuster monster film that really changed how movie making was made afterward... and I want to have that feeling in a new medium like pinball and kind of give it a fresh interpretation.”

Entities

Joe CherovinopersonRon HallettpersonBruce NightingalepersonPinball Degenerate Awards (D-Genies)eventJaws 50th AnniversarygameSlam Tilt Podcastorganization

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: D-Genies deliberately designed as non-hierarchical, grassroots alternative to mainstream awards; explicitly excludes industry professionals and focuses on community contributors; Joe maintains autocratic voting to avoid 'drama'

    high · Joe stated: 'not intended to focus on the bigwigs' and 'It's literally a dictatorship... if you have a problem with who wins, you just come to me'; excluded podcast category to avoid drama

  • ?

    event_signal: Inaugural Pinball Degenerate Awards launching grassroots community recognition ceremony on February 18th in Toronto with 17 award categories celebrating lesser-known pinball contributors

    high · Joe detailed D-Genies structure, categories, date, location, sponsorships; explicitly framed as alternative to mainstream Twippies/industry awards

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Bruce Nightingale marking 26-year cancer-free milestone; community recognition through D-Genies charity initiatives honoring deceased operators (Al Siak) and pinball personalities (Lyman Sheets, Python Angelo)

    high · Joe congratulated Bruce explicitly; charity donations tied to D-Genies awards; Lyman Sheets award named after foundational community figure

  • ?

    community_signal: Pinball Degenerate Awards incorporating charitable giving: $100 donation to Cancer Research for Norma Jennings (best commentator award), $100 to MS research honoring Al Siak (operator award), potential pamphlet proceeds for Python Angelo article to cancer research

    high · Joe explicitly stated charitable donation commitments; framed as integral part of awards structure to 'do some good' alongside 'silliness and stupidity'

  • ?

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.294

0:00
Okay, so this is the four of you? Yes. You guys are smart, right? Uh, yeah. That's why you asked us to join you, my ladies.
0:09
Smart. Uh, we'll just go ahead while you ladies pay. But afterwards we'll split it four ways, right? Yeah, baby.
0:18
Did you hear that, Beavis? They want to have a four-way. What, really? Coming to you from beautiful upstate New York, this is the Slamtail Podcast, the show about all things pinball. I'm your host, Brian Hallett, here with the other host, Bruce Nightingale. He's winning.
0:47
He's winning. He's winning and he's going to win at the RPC. I love when you start off with just something that no one's going to know what you're talking about. But it's a preview. It's a preview. It's, yeah, pre. It's pre. This is episode 223. Ooh, and we have a guest. We have a guest. Who do we have, Ron? Oh, we both did that at the same time.
1:14
We have the head degenerate himself here. Joe Cherovino. Hey, guys. It's great. It's good to be back. Hi, Joe. I'm the doat. I'm the degenerist of all time. That's my official award that I gave to myself on the first Degene Awards. Nice. And no one else shall get it. You got all of it and you can give yourself awards. That's great. That's the whole point. That's the whole point, guys.
1:43

  • Stern Pinball's nationals tournament will be held in March in California at Jim Belcita's facility

    medium confidence · Ron stated 'I think it's March' and 'I believe that's where it is'; some uncertainty expressed

  • Jaws shark mechanism does not consume balls, a design shortcoming that disappoints players expecting a 'magical moment' similar to Thing in Addams Family or T-Rex in Jurassic Park

    high confidence · Joe extensively critiqued the shark's lack of ball-eating functionality; stated Keith Elwood indicated it 'didn't work and was boring'

    • Joe Cherovino @ ~1:27:00 — Contextualizes high expectations for Jaws theme adaptation; illustrates fan desire for immersive experience

  • “I think people are going to really enjoy it. Most people... I haven't had a chance to play it.”

    Joe Cherovino @ ~1:32:00 — Tempers criticism; acknowledges Keith Elwood's design credibility despite personal reservations

  • “I beat him, like 4-1. Wow. Yeah, that should not happen. That shouldn't happen.”

    Ron Hallett @ ~1:46:00 — Reflects on upset tournament victory over highly-skilled player Zach; indicates competitive depth

  • “They're afraid of Chrissy. How can you be such afraid of Chrissy?”

    Ron Hallett @ ~7:00 — Cryptic reference to unknown industry figure causing fear/cancellation of prior award show (possibly D-Genies precursor)

    • Keith Elwood
    person
    Python Angeloperson
    Lyman Sheetsperson
    Al Siakperson
    Tilt Arcade Barorganization
    Skillshot Arcadeorganization
    Greg Pavarelliperson
    Zachperson
    Jaredperson
    Cliff Albertperson
    Nudge Magazineorganization
    Twippiesevent
    Silver Ball Chroniclesorganization
    Pinball Newsorganization
    Jim Belcitaperson
    Roy Scheiderperson
    Ed Zperson
    Ericperson

    competitive_signal: Ron Hallett achieved upset tournament victory (4-1) over strong player Zach at state championships using shared game selections; tournament progression detailed with multiple competitive players identified

    high · Ron beat Zach 4-1, then lost to Jared 3-4 in next round; Greg Pavarelli won tournament; tournament held at Skillshot Arcade Syracuse two weeks prior

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Jaws 50th Anniversary receives substantive criticism for missing ball-eating shark mechanic, lack of Roy Scheider representation, and following Quint as protagonist rather than Brody, perceived as lost opportunity for thematic depth

    high · Joe extensively critiqued mechanical choices, licensing gaps, character selection; compared unfavorably to precedents (Thing in Addams, T-Rex in JP); framed as part of broader 'getting less for more' industry trend

  • ?

    event_signal: Stern Pinball nationals tournament scheduled for March in California at Jim Belcita's facility; New York State championships occurred at Skillshot Arcade Syracuse; upstate NY positioning as significant competitive hub

    medium · Ron stated 'I think it's March'; confirmed California location at 'Jim Belcita's second building'; state championships results detailed with multiple top-tier competitive players identified

  • ?

    licensing_signal: Jaws pinball licensing constraints prevented Roy Scheider character representation on playfield; family did not respond to licensing requests

    high · Joe stated: 'They sent the thing in and they never got anything back' regarding Scheider estate; confirmed only Quint and Hooper available on playfield

  • ?

    community_signal: Joe Cherovino engaged in extensive archival research and multi-chapter writing project on Python Angelo legacy, channeling Python's creative philosophy; researched through multiple sources including Silver Ball Chronicles, Pinball News archives, and interviews

    high · Joe discussed 22-page original piece broken into chapters; referenced 82-page script research; named specific sources; indicated emotional connection to Python's design beliefs

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Keith Elwood confirmed as designer of Jaws 50th Anniversary; acknowledged for pinball design expertise but indicated mechanical constraints/decisions on shark mechanism

    high · Joe referenced Keith's explanation that shark mechanic 'didn't work and was boring'; stated 'Keith, it's just like dream theme. I get it' indicating deference to design authority

  • $

    market_signal: Community frustration with modern pinball pricing and perceived value decline; Jaws shortcomings interpreted as symptom of broader industry trend toward 'getting less for more'

    high · Joe stated: 'it just seems to be part and parcel of just how people feel about how they're getting less for more' and 'Everybody's going to need a bigger wallet for any pinball machine'

  • ?

    product_concern: Jaws 50th Anniversary mechanical design perceived as missed opportunity; shark not consuming balls seen as 'obvious duh' shortcut rather than creative solution; design team reportedly 'gave up' on mechanic

    high · Joe stated Keith Elwood indicated mechanic 'didn't work and was boring'; Joe criticized: 'they just kind of gave up on it' and 'couldn't get all the way'; compared negatively to precedent mechs in classic games

    • Let's just start right off. We got Josie on. Let's talk about the Degenes. What are the Degenes? You know, we're here in the awards season. We got the Twippies. I think the voting. What's that? That's that other award show. Didn't the voting end? for that? We did. What's that award show? Because if they don't give awards out for podcasters, I'm not interested. Oh, you're not interested. No, they give awards out to the people actually in the industry, not media people. Aren't we industry? How are we industry? We are media. So they use the stories that we talk about on their podcasts. They use the stories we take. They do. They used the stories we talked about when we ripped off Nap Arcade talking about the news on their news. Not always. Yeah, I made Nap Arcade by something I said. Oh, boy. Man, I hope I'm right or I sound really stupid. Well, okay. Yeah, let's go to the next subject. Yes, there we go.
    2:45
    That was it. The Princess Bride, I said, you know, is P3, but it's not actually bimultimorphic, but it is a P3. Yes. And that got picked up, so if that ends up not being true, I'm going to look really stupid. Oh, I can't wait. Yes. Bruce will love it. He will.
    3:02
    But, next to the Twippies, of course, we know the biggest award show is the D-Genny. It's the pinball awards show. What's that? They canceled it this year. Yeah, they canceled that. It'll be back. No, they're afraid now because, you know. They're afraid? They're afraid. They're afraid of the Canada. Oh, Jesus. No. They're afraid of Chrissy. How can you be such afraid of Chrissy? Okay.
    3:29
    Jesus. Okay, Joe. D-Jennies. What's all about? The Pinball Degenerate Awards is like if basically the Twippies and the Pinball Industry Awards are like the Oscars and the Golden Globes, we're basically like the Razzies of the Pinball Awards ceremonies. Or maybe the Cable Ace Awards? Sure. Yeah, sure. Yeah, even closer. Yeah, for sure. I mean, we're just having a lot of fun on the Facebook group. It's just basically, originally I created it just to thank the whole group for hitting the first 1,000 group members, and then people were like screaming for more, and I was like, okay, let's keep it going, I guess. at no small cost to myself, let me say. These awards cost a lot of money. I basically pay for everything out of my own pocket. But fortunately, we do have some sponsors this year, which is really cool. We've got a local record shop, Sonic Boom, brewery, Duxbury Cider, and, of course, the place we'll be hosting the Digeni Awards will be Tilt Arcade Bar in Toronto, Canada. So thanks to those sponsors, we can actually do it again this year, and it's going to get pretty interesting. We're working on it really hard for the last month and a half now, actually, and it's going to be really fun. I hope everybody has a good time. On February 18th, Sunday, February 18th at noon, the week after Super Bowl Sunday.
    4:58
    Is that noon? What time is that? Eastern. Okay. We'll make sure because the only true time zone, as we know. 12 Eastern.
    5:08
    Don't want to make sure. What makes the Degenes different than your typical award show? It's not focused on the industry. It's actually very much not intended to focus on the bigwigs. It's really – and you don't even have to be a member of the Pinball Degenerates group to be nominated or even win. And it's about just celebrating sort of the people who contribute to the hobby on a very grassroots level and just to thank them for contributing to the Facebook page a lot, you know, in unique ways too. So we've got 17 different categories, and some of them are repeat categories from last year, and a lot of them I like to make new categories up, or even some members suggest new categories for me to create if they sound interesting enough. So it's really just about celebrating the community on a very grassroots level and kind of championing the smaller, kind of lesser-known people in pinball that are still doing really cool stuff. so ron there's a chance for you to win best degenerate podcast he's had several chance actually i intentionally didn't want to do podcasts yeah that's one thing that would have been the funny thing that would have been the hilarious no no i just see the drama again i just saw the drama coming ahead of time some like category examples uh i mean in the past we've had like stuff like um most degenerate pinball tattoo most degenerate location washrooms.
    6:37
    This year, we've got a whole bunch of new ones. We've got Most Degenerate Pinball Fail. Most Degenerate Pinball Pet. That's a really difficult one. A lot of people... That's going to be a really hard choice for me to make. I want to make sure, just to make it clear, I'm just the only person making these decisions. So, there's no oversight. There's no committee. It's literally a dictatorship. And if you have a problem with who wins, you just come to me, you know? Damn, he's a dick.
    7:07
    But, yeah, we got – hey, Bruce, you won Biss Pinball Hall in the first year. You won the degenerate for that insane pickup of – what was it again? A cheetah, a $20 cheetah. Was it just a cabinet, though? No, it was the whole – what Zach owns now is what it was. Okay. So it was the whole bottom half of the machine. One side is beautiful, the other side is ugly. It's like Two-Face. There you go. And we have an award for most degenerate pinball restoration, which is pretty cool, too. And most degenerate pinjury, you know, you hurt yourself, still continue on playing pinball. There's some pretty intense wounds that have been posted on the Facebook page, so that one's going to be a hard category to judge as well. So this year we have a new category, again, Pinball Couple, which is highly contested. And then a couple of the standards like Most Degenerate Pinball Stance, Pinball Commentator, Pinball Event. There's some really great, strange, weird events that aren't as big or widespread known as your InDisc or anything like that. like sort of weird kind of stranger, more intense, degenerate style events that we want to recognize. See, I nominate that European guy for most degenerate stance. What's the European guy? He's one of the big tournament players, but like his whole leg is underneath the machine completely. Wow. To the point where he actually keeps hitting like the rig and stuff. He's so under the machine. Wow. Yes. It looks so uncomfortable. I don't know how he can play that way. I guess I should know his name if I wanted to nominate him so I failed once again that's okay I'll look into it though but actually nominations officially have are closing well as of today but by the time this comes out they will be officially closed Ron sometimes puts it out the same day well yeah I'm going to be super busy so maybe either tonight or definitely tomorrow it's going to be out the 14th sorry the week 2 weeks to the 11th is today and so yeah we'll see I'm trying to think most degenerate pets So if they, like, swallow a pinball and shit it out, like, just instant win? Sure, yeah, or just an odd, interesting pet that is into pinball or, you know, just as a great mascot. Ooh, the pinball pig. I like the pinball pig. Yeah, he was actually the inspiration for it, but I haven't heard too much, like, people clamoring for the pinball pig. There's been other support for other pets. You hear that, folks? Do you want the pinball pig to win? You better get going on that. It was definitely a consideration. It ain't happening. I'm pushing for Kate.
    9:46
    For Linus. We'll see. Lionel Linus is definitely a big contender for a lot of categories. But Lionel Linus is already famous, though. I know. Yes, though. Make him more. Make him more famous. The most famous of all. The most famous pinball dog ever. It's the most famous pinball dog of all. Of the year. Yeah, yeah.
    10:06
    That could have went better. We've also tried to do some good as well as with all the silliness and stupidity that we're going to be doing with the awards for best pinball commentator. We're going to be giving $100. I'm personally going to be donating $100 in the winner's name to Cancer Research for Norma Jennings. And, you know, Bruce, congratulations, by the way, on your 26th year anniversary, man. Thank you. Cancer-free, speaking of that. Good for you, man. Congratulations. That's really an incredible milestone, dude. Yep, thank you. It's been a fun time. Yeah, it's good, you know. It's good. To get a couple more turns around the sun. I look forward to seeing that picture every year. What? That picture of you in the bed there. Oh, the chemo bed? That was my first chemo treatment. Where you look like 16 years old in the face. I do. I was 27 there. That was the scary part. Yeah, man. Young Bruce. Yeah, and we're also donating $100 to Multiple Sclerosis for the best, most pinball degenerate operator in honor of Al Siak, who was a 100% degenerate operator. Oh, he was degenerate, yes, yes. He was a great guy, and he passed away during COVID, during complications, but he battled with multiple sclerosis his whole life and really kind of almost changed his life and made him kind of have to change his life career to become a pinball operator and really is responsible for a lot of what happened in the New York pinball scene in the 2000s. So big ups to Al. We will always remember him, and we try to honor him with that. And, of course, the great Lyman Sheets for Pinball Degenerate of the Year. That's the ultimate award that's dedicated to Lyman, who was basically one of the inspirations for the whole group in general after the IFPA, I think it was 17 or 15. It was in 2017. And all these great pinball players, including Lyman, came to Toronto. We partied real hard after like 14 or 15 hours of straight super intense competitive pinball. He came out to party at Tilt, and it was really great to hang out with him. And that's the degenerate life, man. Let's just keep on playing pinball because it's so much fun. And, yeah, so, yeah, so we're going to do some good. And if people, like last year we had a viewer match one of our donations, that would be amazing. I encourage that highly. and yeah, just enjoy the show if anything else, just enjoy the show and it's going to be pretty silly it's going to get a little dark this year I think we've got some interesting stuff we've been working on we're going to have kind of a side plot that's happening while the actual live show is happening I hope people enjoy it don't bring the little mini degenerates to watch the show it's not appropriate, 100% inappropriate for the young degenerates nice so And I have a note here. You've also been writing some articles for Nudge magazine. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. About someone some people might say Stu sounds a lot like. That would be Python Angelo. Yes, the late great Python.
    13:20
    I basically asked, yeah, they broke it up into different chapters. Originally, I wrote one whole giant, insane, like 22-page long catharsis of just unbelievable. I almost kind of was channeling Python. I was staying up all night long and just writing and researching. And thanks to great podcasts like the Silver Ball Chronicles, I was able to do some great research. And many other places, sources like Pinball News had a lot of his interviews and talks at Expo that were archived that were really useful. And just interviews from the notorious, what's it called, the Top Task interview. Yes, I will shit on their chest. Yes. Yep, straight up shit on the chest of your enemies, folks. That's what he's going to do.
    14:11
    So it was really a great, just an incredible experience in itself, just like trying to get it right and trying to separate the man from the myth and just the incredible life that he had as an artist and what he believed in and all the insane things that he did to his coworkers. curse and uh yeah it's just uh we're releasing it slowly on nudge and i'm hoping and i believe ian's on board with this the editor of nudge uh that we're going to hopefully release it as a separate document like a pamphlet and then any proceeds or uh profit from the pamphlet will go straight to cancer research so do something again good out of that um and yeah i mean python i never met the man but i really do feel very connected to him in uh in his belief in what pinball is and what it can be and what's missing in pinball these days a lot of the magic that i think a lot of people are looking for especially with the amount of money that they're charging these days is just it seems very lacking i think a lot of people would agree with me that it seems very uh missing in innovation and and uh they're putting their energies into maybe things that maybe doesn't really excite the more Yes, it's all about the suits. Where's the creativity, you know? Yes, Joe, we could have done some cocaine together. It would have been great. That's what it's all about. That's the true pinball degenerate lifestyle that Python embodied, yes. Yeah, I remember one of the expos where he was probably intoxicated by this point, and he was just playing Bride of Pinbot, just hitting the ramp over and over. It was entertaining. It's a very makeable ramp. I mean, that was one of the first games that I... It might have been one of the few times hitting that ramp over and over was entertaining, actually, I have to say.
    15:58
    It's an interesting game. And if you read, like, Python's words on it, he really loved that game in many different ways. Yes, yes, I do. Yes.
    16:10
    Mechanical action, if you know what I mean. Yes. Very physical satisfaction. Kinetic satisfaction. Did you read my Popeye thing? I had a whole back story on that too yes that's coming I think in the third chapter accident accident good job I read there's literally like an 82 page script that never got made that had nothing to do with the pinball machine he just wanted to write like a Popeye cartoon and then there's also the treatment for the which is about I don't know like 15 pages long for the pinball machine itself which is equally deranged and insane and that's yeah that's going to be covered hopefully in the next chapter where we're going to talk about the pinball circus and Zingy Bingy. Oh, yes, Zingy Bingy.
    16:57
    It's all coming. It's all coming, folks. Your penis is the flipper. It's great. It's what it's all about. Yes, and you have to get past the drop targets in order to score into the kickout hole, and you just let your imagination fill in the blanks with what that represents. That's right.
    17:13
    For the kids. For the kids, yes. It's all about the kids, you know. You know, I thought of Python recently. This is a segue. When I was at the state championship series for New York State, because I was at Skillshot Arcade, and they had one of those multi-Williams games, and one of the games in there is Bubbles. Oh, wow. Yeah, yeah. And when you look at Bubbles, it's just like, yeah, that's Python. Just look at the Bubbles. I always liked that game. That seems like something he would have come up with. Let's make a game in a sink, and you're a bubble. And you get bigger and bigger the more bubbles you collect, right? Yes, yes, yes. That's like half the fucking, like, if you go on, like, you know, on social media, that's like half the stupid web games that are out there, where you're something that collects things that makes you bigger, and then you fight other things because you're, like, bigger than them, and you eat them. Like, that's half the games that are, like, these web games. I was ahead of my time. No, totally, totally. I think it would be genius to just copy some of Python's games and put them out there as these dumb apps that are just pay-to-play or whatever. Oh, God. You make a fortune, dude. Pinball arcade, zingy-bingy, let's play. Yes. Oh, God. Let's make it happen, folks. Let's make the dream real.
    18:34
    You're ready to go over all our stuff, Joe? We got a full docket here. Okay, let's do it. Like always, I will completely zone out during any repair talk. I thought we were talking about something else before this. We were? Yeah, balls in shark's mouths. Balls in shark's mouths. Oh, God.
    18:54
    We have to go there, huh? We have to. Joe is very upset that it doesn't eat them. No. You know, I would have never done that. It definitely would have eaten multiple balls. Actually, in my game, I would have reenacted the Jaws 2. I would have a big, like, electrified wire it chomps into, and then the whole light show goes off, and you electrify the shark. That'd be cool. A lot of flashers. Yes, lots of flashers. I'll get Dwight on it. He'll be great. He'll program them all. Isn't that right, Bruce? He would love that. Oh, God, I'd fucking kick myself writing an ad right down there.
    19:28
    Look, I'm not even in the market for buying any new pinball machine, But it just seems that this whole thing about, you know, the shark not eating the ball just being such an obvious duh, like, why doesn't it do that? It just seems to be part and parcel of just how people feel about how they're getting less for more. You know, I mean, they're getting less in their game and they're paying much, much more. And, you know, I did listen to the podcast about, you know, Keith talking about how it didn't work and it was boring. And I'm like, they just kind of seem to have given up about it. Like, they didn't really find a creative solution to it. They just kind of gave up on it. And that's kind of disappointing that they just said, eh, whatever, it's not important. And I think it is important to some people that, you know, especially first-time players, that they have some kind of experience, like how Thing comes out of Adam's family and picks up the ball. There has to be some kind of magical moment like that. It doesn't have to take up much of the game. And, you know, I've got the original Jurassic Park where the T-Rex comes down, eats the ball, It doesn't do that for every single time you put in the T-Rex. It just kicks it out of the hole after you do it the first time, right? And I think there's something to be said about that. People really love seeing that for the first time, but then, yeah, you've got to get on with the gameplay and everything. There's a balance, and I think that they really didn't consider that. They just wanted to just – I mean, Keith, it's just like dream theme. I get it. But still, even so, it seems like they couldn't go all the way. They couldn't get Roy Scheider on the playfield or on the game. They could only use clips from the movie. They tried. They tried, yeah, and that's fine. But again, when you put two of the three characters on the playfield, there's like a defining absence of the third one. Like, well, where's Chief Brody? His family didn't respond. Well, apparently it's his ex-wife or whatever. I don't want to get into it, but apparently, yeah, There's like some family issues that are just – Yeah, like they sent the thing in and they never got anything back. And it's just like, okay, we got no response. Well, I would have pursued a little more. Pursued more. But anyhow, but it's just weird that they chose to do the artwork like, okay, you've got Quint and you've got Hooper there. But then the movie, anybody who knows anything of the movie knows that Roy Scheider is the protagonist of the movie. Where is he? And I get it. They did a good job on the LCD, but you're not playing on the LCD. You're playing on the play field, right? And I don't know. I just think that there's so many things that everybody, any person who dreams of this game, this dream theme, could have dreamed of so many wild, crazy things, and most of them probably not practical. I understand that. But it just seems like it's generally a disappointment for a lot of people who really are into the theme. And you're dealing with one of the most famous movies ever made. Whether you like it or not, it is truly like a landmark film. And I'm a big film guy as well as a pinball guy. It's the first summer blockbuster. Well, technically, no. The Robe from 1960s is the first blockbuster, technically. The Robe? The Robe, yeah. It was the first one that had people lining up down the block, therefore called a blockbuster.
    22:44
    That's because of the lineups is what they called the term. But, yeah, it's the first true... Was Richard Burton in that? I think so, yes I think you're right, yes, Richard Burton it's a religious, biblical story right, the robe, anyhow but it's kind of like the Ten Commandments but yes, definitely of its modern of its contemporary time for sure, Jaws is the biggest it's the big summer blockbuster monster film that really changed how movie making was made afterward, like they were going for the big weekend take that's what everybody was focused on after that before that you had smaller films that just made money over some time but then after that studios were really focused on how much money can we make in a weekend and that's what Jaws' legacy is mainly about and I love the movie, it scared the shit out of me as a kid, I love the characters and I want to have that feeling I think most people want to have that feeling in a new medium like pinball and kind of give it a fresh interpretation and it's interesting, but it doesn't feel like it's really following the movie because obviously you're following Quint, which is a secondary supporting character. He's the only of the three characters that dies in the movie, and you're following him as the protagonist, which is a little weird. And then you've got that backlash where it's Quint's POV of being eaten by the shark, which is interesting. I actually like that. It's interesting, but it's kind of anachronistic.
    24:15
    They're not that close to the beach where you can see that sign. they're in the middle of the ocean, you know, like, or the, whatever, the, the, the lake, uh out there so it like there like weird stuff he got the machete in the wrong hand there like little things on nitpicky that you like eh it not quite like in the movie But you know they get the idea across of that totally horrific iconic scene where Quint is like eaten in half And it's great. We're going to need a bigger podcast. Everybody's going to need a bigger wallet for any pinball machine, you know? Oof. But, you know, I think it's going to be a success. You know, it's Keith Elwood. He knows what he's doing, obviously, a lot more than I do when it comes to designing pinball. And I think people are going to really enjoy it. Most people, I haven't had a chance to play it. Have either of you guys got a chance to play? No, not yet. Yeah, I think the RPC one is arriving one day. Are you getting the premium or the pro? This is the pro first, and then we'll have an LE. Of course you will. Oh, wow. Okay, cool.
    25:20
    Fucking Ron and RPC. L.E. Land. You should just call it, like, RPC RLE. Rochester Limited Edition Land. Well, it is a one-of-a-kind place, that's for sure.
    25:34
    But, yeah, I mean, I think Stern's going to do well. And it's just, yeah, I think people were just expecting a little bit more, especially from the L.E. premium side of things, you know. But, you know, it's what it is. The shark's a bash toy. That's fine, you know. It is what it is. people are really like but i'm just i'm again i'm not that angry about it i just think it's funny the whole thing but people are like joe you gotta seek therapy man like you gotta let this go and i'm just doing it for like the memes and the jokes you know like i'm just doing it for like just to have some fun and just catch most degenerate troll yeah oh hey look that award was last year cliff albert won the most degenerate never doing that fucking award ever again never again okay i just want to make that clear that's that's a lifetime award with him that's pretty much yeah okay i wanted that in the pinball group okay okay but all right but yeah i mean we have a lot of fun and again i literally created that award literally specifically for him to tell him to just f off basically uh and he took it in great great he took it the best possible way you He took it as a point of pride. Now he announces, yes, award-winning troll. I'd like to say my opinions on whatever. Well, his new thing now is like, oh, no, this isn't a troll. I'm actually telling the truth on this one. That's like the new thing. Well, you know, that's another level of troll. Yeah, another level of troll.
    27:02
    But whatever. Good for him. He's having fun. so the state championships which happened what three weeks ago now what was it i don't remember and provincials provincials provincials oh i forgot yeah canada has some provinces two weeks ago yes two weeks ago we're seven of the seven provinces seven provinces well that were involved and i believe we're involved so new york state new york state finals were at the skill shot Arcade in Syracuse.
    27:34
    So how did we all do, Bruce? Yeah, I did shitty. Yeah. You did what I did the previous year. Yep. Just fucking walked out. Didn't even get a flip. I didn't even get a flipper on two balls. On two games, I mean. Last two games, even the opponent of me went, wow, you didn't touch it. Well, maybe he didn't mean the ball. Maybe he meant something else. No, he knew exactly what it was. It was the ball. It sucked.
    27:56
    Well, it'll be in New York City next year, so. Yay. Hey, glad I'm fucking retired. Yeah, glad I'm fucking retired. Oh, yes, you're retired. Yes, I forgot.
    28:08
    So I did a little better. I had a bye because I was in the top, what, eight or whatever? Eight, yes.
    28:16
    In the first round, we had Zach, our Zach, versus Ed Z. Yep. Good old Ed Z, maker of fine speaker magnets. Yes, he is. And they went at it, and I'm looking, and I was like, oh, man, I get the winner of this.
    28:33
    And then Zach wins. Like, oh, God, I got to play Zach again. I had to play him last time. And, yeah, I beat him, like 4-1. Wow. Yeah, that should not happen. That shouldn't happen. Did you pick games that you think that he would be weak on and you would? No, we both picked games we liked, which a lot of them were the same games. Yeah. Oh, wow. They worked out well. Games that we own. I would normally pick Star Wars and no one else would. He would pick Star Wars. Because you're both maniacs. Because we know it's a great game. No, it's not. Yes, it is. It's Dumb and Dumber. That was a fucking competition with that one. What was the final score from that? I'm curious. How did you guys do? Oh, I don't remember any of the scores. I don't even remember what we played. Other than the fact I won in five games. That's great, man. I mean, Zach's a really, really good player. Then I moved on again to Buffalo's own Jared from Buffalo, another Upstater. We were representing Upstate. And it went to seven games.
    29:37
    I was down 2-1. Then went ahead 3-2. Then it was 3-3. And then I lost on Spider-Man. Yes.
    29:49
    But I got money. That's good. And congrats to the winner, who was a multiple-time winner now, Greg Pavarelli. Oh, yeah, yeah. He's a giver, too. Yeah, he's a giver.
    30:04
    He tested positive for COVID after the tournament. Oh, no, it was him? Oh, that's right, yeah. And then I was basically sick the whole week after that. And so was Eric. Poor Eric was, too. Just like, oh, God. But he's got it out of his system now, so he's good for nationals. He's good for nationals, okay. And when's that happening? Yeah, when is that happening? March, I think it is, March. Oh, okay. And I think it's, let's see. Is that going to be at Jim Belcita's house? I don't know where it is. Yeah, I believe that's where it is. Down in California? Down in California. Oh, holy moly. It's his second building. He's whatever. Yeah, he's building, yeah. Yeah, yeah. He's got a game building. See, to get these events, you need a game building. anything else there let's see they also had i played galaga while i was there i had to beat the high score of course you did uh but it was on rapid fire so to me it wasn't legit anyway and then and then i nined it out because you don't want to go over a million or or you lose it won't show the high score and then when i killed myself off it had a continue screen it's like this says continues on it's like so i totally don't think that high score that was there was legit gotta call uh gotta call billy mitchell confirm it i have to make fun of somebody uh billy mitchell yes let's make fun of billy mitchell actually technically he won his court case so i know he did so he's actually a winner and i re-win no i have to make fun of uh ifpa's website oh no oh boy okay the 2022-23 ifpa north american pinball championship is in district 82 oh oh okay yeah they didn't update the 80 the 23 so i'm gonna try to see if i can change no it might be a district 82 no it's for march 9th 2023 oh okay i got the 20 it's in the wrong and it's at march 7th at district 82 district 82 okay yeah so two years in a row oh you know what it might be the um the world championships or whatever was it in europe last year i don't remember yeah i think it's both but yeah when it switches back and forth okay so that's the thing it's going to be a Jim Belcedo's house. I'm giving away false information again. Yeah, no, it's this year back at District 82. Maybe somebody next year can host. Maybe. Stay tuned. Well, speaking of staying tuned, we plugged Stomp last episode, like big time. We did. We gave the date multiple times. We gave the date multiple times, and then we found there was a tournament. Yes, then. Possibly. Bruce received a call. on the hotline on the hotline slam tilt hotline direct call from one of the people involved saying uh yeah our thing might be that weekend so that weekend we're trying to get back to it so the new date will be the weekend after memorial day which will be may 30th june 1st and june 2nd it's really going to be four days but you're going to be paying for three days when we have zach on in two weeks oh we're gonna have zach on we are gonna have zach on we will We'll talk about all the stuff. Because there's like 30 Zachs in pinball. Yes. I know. It'll be our Zach. We'll be talking about what each tournament consists of. We're going to have a women's tournament. It'll be three days of pinball fun. And hopefully we'll be able to talk about something else in two weeks. Oh. Hopefully. Ooh. Mm. Do I know what that is? You do. Oh, kind of. Yes, you do. I can guess. I think I can guess what it is. Well, Bruce wants me to become a partner. I do want Ron to become a partner I don't know how that works when I'm like four hours away He wouldn't have to work it He's a silent partner I'll run the rig Yes, I know you'll run the rig That I can do But the good thing is, at Stomp Me and Ron will not be playing We'll be broadcasting And helping out with technical sides And that kind of stuff Broadcasting, that'll be good 64 people possibly We might even be able to go up to more But I'm just saying 64 right now unless we have a big wait list. You probably won't. That's half of Pinberg. It would be half of Pinberg. What a nice segue. Oh, yes. Well, the tickets for Pinberg go on sale this Monday. Tomorrow. At 5. And Bruce is going to try to help me out. Yes, with that. With that. Unless you get the biggie. Oh, yeah. Okay. Well, first there's going to be 24 more people.
    34:28
    Yes. Yeah, it's 144 now instead of 120. And what they're going to do – And wait, wait. They're actually giving away 16 spots or 14 spots to places to have tournaments run. Yeah, like satellite events where you can win. Yeah, which they used to do back in the day. Yes, they did. People – I don't know if anyone remembers that. Back in the day, that used to be one of the things like you could get a free whatever. I don't know if it was Pinberg, though. It might have been like a free pop-up. No, it was Pinberg. It was Pinberg. Okay. It was Pinberg. So what they're doing is the regular tickets go on sale at 12 p.m. Eastern time. Yes. But at 11 a.m. Eastern time, an hour before, they will have 10 tickets that will be on sale probably for half a second.
    35:15
    That will be $1,000. For the super supporters. And basically if you get one of these, then you get an EveryPinberg for however long this group runs it. You get it. But you've got this, the thousand dollars will pay for this Pinnberg, but future Pinnbergs, you still have to actually pay for the Pinnberg part. But you get like a code that will just get you in. Yes, you have to pay. You get like a day or two before you get to pay the fee before anyone else does. You're a guaranteed entry if you want it to be. It's not transferable. It's not anything like that because I know people asked about that also. It's just you. so if Ron gets that then I don't have to do anything if Ron doesn't get that I gotta work because if I can get that then I'll try to get my dad in at the 12 o'clock hour we'll see that'll be a story with Zach next two weeks from now pretty wild are you going to try Joe? I'm gonna try and you know what I'm thinking of maybe even going even if I don't get in because I just want to see it and I love Pittsburgh and I love the people that are putting that event on. Oh, it's a very great area. And there's also the, whatever, the side tournament there to play. You know, it's not like it's just Pinburg and that's all. And, you know, I just miss, you know, the people. It's also five minutes from the old warehouse, so you could, like, drive by and check it out. Like, that's where it used to be. Oh, yeah. That's the place. And Carnegie. Carnegie, yes. The home of Hannes Wagner. Oh. Really? Yes. That's where he was born and raised. that's why there's a couple pictures in the town oh wow yep i read the biography of harness weiner is pretty good he was a good basketball player he was great basketball player and he was great at baseball too oh yeah no he actually had during the off seasons in the winter he would play indoor basketball and he had a team so ron you were actually right for once oh i was trying to make a joke and somehow that backfired bad it did backfire bad that's why i love doing that to you.
    37:24
    I'm an asshole. Love giving them the backfire. Oh, yeah. Where is Stop taking place again? At the beautiful Rochester Pitball Collective. Suite number 2965 at beautiful East Rochester, New York, 135 West Commercial Street. No, no. 349. Good job. Yeah, try that again. 349 West Commercial Street. There you go.
    37:47
    Yeah, we'll see what happens. I'm hoping we'll get a sellout. I think it's going to be a good price for everything going on. I'm going to talk this week to two hotels about blocks. One person wasn't in at the one hotel, so I was like, I'll just wait until they can get both people for both hotels. They're about a mile, mile and a half away. There's nothing going on that week in Rochester, thank God. And we'll see if we can get this all done.
    38:13
    And something else might be coming down the pike too. Oh, okay. So that's a good thing. But hopefully we get a sponsor like Ron to be another owner. An owner. So what else do I got here? For news items, I got this note here. J-Pop Alice in Wonderland. Oh, God. God damn it. There was rumors that a company is going to be making that.
    38:41
    And I thought if that is remotely true, it can't be an American company. It's got to be a European company. and if I'm going to pick one, I would say Dutch. And I guess that is a rumor that it's Dutch. I hope that's not true.
    38:55
    Because they're supposed to be doing Back to the Future. I mean, how many of these would they even sell? I don't think anyone should ever do anything associated with J-pop, like ever. Okay, so you don't play any J-pop games ever? No, I'm saying associate with him in the future ever with any of his stuff. It has a stink on it, these games. It could pay off debt to other people, though. uh they could if they buy if they buy the design so if they buy this it'll help an early achiever a big lebowski person finally get their game is that what you're saying or maybe paying off the debtors that he still has he might have an outline outstanding debt oh he's dead yeah he's got exactly so it might actually help out like yeah go for it no i'm not saying that i'm saying you're not looking at all the options. I'm doing the Zach now. Oh, okay. Very compassionate, Bruce. Very compassionate. That is weird, yes. But Bruce likes J-Pop. I think that's the title of the episode. No, I'm not saying that at all. I'm just saying, you know, don't shut it out before you know all the facts.
    39:58
    It could be helping something. Like, if they sell it for $5,000 or $10,000 to Dutch, everything, maybe somebody will get $150 or $200 or $300 towards that debt. there's a lot of i know a lot of people who built boards and everything like that j-pop owes like five to seven thousand dollars to jesus hey so there could be money so you're saying dutch is doing this out of the kindness of their heart and they're just going to get all this money no they're lazy too because they don't know how to design anything so you know it's only been eight years or ten years ten years but they caught up finally Hey, congratulations. You haven't only scammed people for 10 years. You get a degenerate award.
    40:41
    Longest scam. The long haul scam. No, the longest wait for a pinball machine. Oh, man. How about that? I think that is a fucking degenerate award. You can't say long haul scam since everyone eventually got their game. They got their thing. No, the longest wait. Yeah, longest wait. The longest wait for a game? Yes. That might be a possibility. That is. It's even longer than Big Bang Bar was. Exactly.
    41:04
    Big Bang Bar was five years. Ten fucking years. So you're saying that's still some of the early adopters that the early achievers still have? They're under ten. They're almost there. They're under ten. They're going to get to them. So think about it. Ten years.
    41:22
    And don't forget, if you bought another machine, you still had to pay for that one. Another machine? What do you mean? Like say if you wanted another – if you wanted to get one of the newer machines. Oh, the newer Big Lebowski. Yes. You had to buy a newer one to get – and you couldn't get out the old one. Yeah, yeah. Which was real holy. Let me just grab those hips and start dry. Yeah.
    41:45
    Ew. Oh, fuck my ass. Holy shit. Wow. You know, we should go for the next – my next subject here. Most degenerate rumor. Oh, you've got a rumor. You know what? That American Pinball's for sale. It's not for sale. This came up in, I believe, it was a Pinball Party podcast. Yeah. Someone got a text, like, during the podcast, like, oh, American Pinball's for sale by Ametron. No, they're not. Well, here's the thing, though. Again, Mr. Fix, Myth of Fix, baby. I'm a man of pinball. That's right, baby. I've been on, like, three different podcasts in the last three weeks, baby. That's three hours of David Fix, baby. Yeah. I'm not making that up. It's like three hours. He was on the Super Awesome Pinball Show, Pinball Profile, and he was on the Pinball News podcast. And like, oh, my God. Holy cow. Stop. But when he was on Pinball Profile, and hi, Jeff, on Pinball Profile. Hi, Jeff. We were mentioned in his episode of the 10 most, was it interesting?
    42:53
    Oh, you didn't hear it? No, I didn't hear it yet. I'm saving him for the cruise and for flight. Okay. I won't say anything. Just listen to the episode. So what was I saying? Oh, so he was on Pinball Profile.
    43:05
    You know that Family Guy episode where they say that Peter, he always goes too far, and he's like defibrillating somebody, and a guy comes back to life like, oh, thank you, and he defibrillates him again and kills him? That's what this was because David Fick's baby, he goes on there, and he says like, totally false. We are not for sale. We're doing good. Not for sale, baby. Not for sale, baby. No way. Then he follows it with earlier we were looking for investors and maybe that's where that rumor got started. Like, why did you say that? Yeah, you just now fed more into it. I mean, when can you remember pinball companies looking for investors? Stern when they almost went out of business. Jersey Jack when they almost went out of business. Alert, alert. Oh, and by the way, when we're asking for Ron to be another owner, it's not a bad thing.
    44:05
    It's a good thing. Yes, yes. It's a good thing. RPC is doing just fine. Just fine. I want it for another thing. But they are looking at other investors. Yes. We're looking at other investors for other things, which is good things. But it's just like, why? Why did you say? You went too far. You could have just like, unequivocally, we are not for sale. Not for sale. And he couldn't, like, we're making a new board set. We spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on it. We got two new service techs that look like they never touched a pinball machine in their life. Don't worry about it. That's not true.
    44:37
    We got Lloyd from SS Billiards who's been doing it for, like, 50 years. They pay their dues, man. And what was the other guy, Maurice? I think he worked at Galloping Ghost Arcade. He was their pinball tech there. We had their former pinball tech on, actually, in a previous episode. Mr. Brennan.
    44:54
    I like Mr. Brennan. Mr. Brennan did a lot of work for that company. A lot of people like Mr. Brennan. And when he left, they had another tech. They left in December. So now they have – yeah, now they have – but the thing – Lloyd's in Minnesota, right? Exactly. So he's doing it out of his house. He's going to be doing it at the shop. Exactly. I assume Maurice, since he worked at Galvin, goes he has to actually be in Chicago. In Chicago, yeah. So he would be there. But, I mean, most of the support is going to be over the phone anyway, so it doesn't really matter if you're outside. Oh, let me go look at this part.
    45:27
    I'm sure they'll probably have the games on hand. Yeah, I think Lloyd said they're going to be sending them their current lineup, so he has them there for reference. Yeah, that makes sense. That makes a lot of sense. Yes. So that's – oh, yeah, they had this stream. Oh, God, that whole thing. So the rumor comes out at their first sale from the Pinball Party Podcast. It's like on a Wednesday. That night. Oh, my God! That night they're streaming on Ryan McQuaid, his old Twitch channel. They hadn't streamed on since he got hired at American. And I turn on, and they're streaming from American Pinball headquarters,
    46:02
    and they're streaming Final Resistance. No, it was Hot Wheels. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You guys don't have the timeline right. That came out on a Wednesday. That night, they were streaming on Ryan McQuaid's Twitch channel. Oh, okay. It was like Ryan McSquid or something it's called, his channel. He hadn't streamed there since he started American. All of a sudden, it's on, and it said right on the bottom, from API, American Pinball, whatever, theater, whatever the hell it said. And he's playing Final Resistance, and then everyone else shows up. Steve Bowne was there. Dave Fix was there. Everyone's like, what the hell? like why are they playing a number you're playing another manufacturer's game which i never understood when like dead flip would do that after he'd been hired by sir yeah he would still be i never understood that but they're not only they is another a competitor but their their latest game that final resistance it's not even like it's an older game they're not selling anymore i know it's like hey here's this game they're selling right now that we're playing i didn't understand that so i'm no i'm watching stream it's like okay when's someone gonna mention in the chat And sure enough, someone came up like, hey, I heard you guys are for sale, which they did not address. They just completely ignored it? They ignored that. They just passed it on? Yes. Interesting. But then at the end of that stream, they announced like starting Wednesdays, next Wednesday, we're going to be streaming every week. Yes. We're going to be streaming American Pinball Games on, you know, et cetera. And then before the next Wednesday announced, we're going to have a major announcement. so everyone's like tuning into the stream I looked at over 100 people watching it on a new channel they have their own channel now American Pinball and they were streaming a Hot Wheels and yeah they had the announcement of the tuna service tax and at the end of the stream they announced that they have a new board set because they have been using the P-Rock yes how many people were using P-Rock that aren't using it now a lot You have American Pinball. Spooky did it for a couple games. I think Haggis used it. Yes, they did. I think they're the main ones. Yeah, because Chicago Gaming has their own proprietary thing. Barrels of Fun is using Fast. Haggis has moved to Fast. They're using Fast now.
    48:27
    Pedretti, your favorite Italian company, they're going to be using... Hey, we make a pinball good, and we fuck everyone good. Hey, nice and dry. Nice and dry. Like everybody loves. Everybody loves a nice and dry. We make it good.
    48:45
    You know, no matter what you say, Bruce, I still want to buy an alien pinball man. Oh, my God. No, you don't. Oh, my God. We watched Zach play it yesterday. But I tell you we have three people in this podcast and two of them are Italian That true And what your fucking point And one that isn is doing a terrible italian accent hey i do it well the fuck of the you fuck of the you but the parent company of american pinball i am from they make circuit boards i'm honestly surprised it took this long i get why they went with it at the beginning because they wanted to get up and running but i'm surprised they didn't do this sooner but i guess the interesting thing is Supposedly these are going to be backwards compatible. So you can replace your P-Rock and like a Houdini with this if you had to,
    49:31
    which I thought was like, oh, that's pretty cool. What would be the advantage to that? Sustainability. Well, they can make their own board. So if they have an issue and they've got to ship a board out to a customer, they don't have to use another company's boards. They can use their own. Just replace your P-Rock board with this. Yep. So it's mostly an advantage to them. It's not really an advantage to the user per se. No, it's always an advantage to the company. It's like Stern's whole system. It makes it easier to manufacture. It's not necessarily easier for the customer. No. But to be fair, the Spike system seems to be pretty good.
    50:10
    I mean, I've heard a ton of issues. It's been okay, except for the node boards. Yes. I mean, it's not like the Rockstat, Whitestar, and Sam were. I've heard more stuff about Spike than I ever heard about those other systems. Yes.
    50:26
    So, yeah, so America's not for sale, but we're looking for investors at one time. That's right, baby. We're totally not for sale, baby. We are the American dream. You can't buy the American dream, baby. That's right. Our next game is going to be Barry Althoff. It's going to be some food truck action, baby. Actually, I don't know if it's food truck or what it is. Poor Ryan. He's going to have to wait until he's old and gray to make a game for American Pinball, man. I know. It's unbelievable. The poor guy is just printing 3D printing stuff, like toys and stuff, all day long. That's right. It's going to be what? Barry Ouser? Then it's going to be the Whitewater sequel. Potentially, yeah. It's the Whitewater sequel, folks. Trust me. It's the Whitewater sequel. So, yeah, it's just very weird how that goes about. I don't understand it. I really don't. There's no understanding, Bruce. There's no understanding. Hey, baby.
    51:20
    That's right, baby. It's all about awesome booking, baby. It's all about original themes. That's what people want. They're sick of the same licenses, baby. Yeah, the same licenses. Yeah. That's right. I'm sure Python would agree. Isn't that right, Python? Yes, yes. Original content. Don't let the suits tell you what to make. You make what you want. There you go. Wow.
    51:47
    Yes. You know, we could do Game You Like, Game You Hate, but we did that last time with Joe. But maybe he likes it or hates more games. Well, he loves Jaws.
    51:58
    No, I've played it. I don't know. Again, I don't hate the game. He hates Jaws. We know that. We know that, yep. Oh, my God.
    52:06
    Jesus. Why doesn't it eat the ball? What the fuck? It's become its own ironic thing now where it's like, does it eat the ball? Does it eat the ball? It could be the most degenerate non-mech. Oh, my God. Yeah. Oh, well, we'll see. We'll see this year who wins certain awards. You've got to tune in. Got to tune in. When do we have to tune in again? February 18th at noon Eastern. That's the Sunday after Super Bowl Sunday. This is on Facebook? On Facebook, yeah. You've got to be part of the Facebook group, unfortunately. It's going to be on Facebook Live. It's a closed-door policy, folks. You have to be a certain level of degeneracy to get into the group. You just have to answer. You know what's really funny? People just cannot understand. Oh, is it when it's like you have to answer, like, what was the first pinball game with flippers or something? No, you don't have to. You just have to answer literally any pinball machine just to keep the bots out. Okay? That's the baseline. Just basically name your favorite. It doesn't even have to be your favorite. Just name a pinball machine you're in. And then just agree to not be a jerk, you know? all you need to do is click click just two little ticks I show a picture of a flipper like what is this sure but it's just like yeah I'm just trying to keep the ding dongs and the bots out of the group that's the whole point it's not to be elitist or anything like that we're almost at 2000 people now it's great and everybody's really cool and really chill and it's great 2000 2,000. There's more degenerates than there are Slam Tilt listeners.
    53:41
    Wow. Okay. Hey, Bruce. Yes? It's time for the mailbag. Oh, I love ball bags. The ball bag. Drain those balls. You got to drain those balls.
    53:55
    Okay, let's open up the ball bag, which I didn't have open. Very nice, Bruce. Very classy. You're welcome. You know I don't have time to edit, so you're going to be disgusting. Yep. I just had my swig of coffee. Wait, that makes you just belch when you drink coffee. Yeah, when I really try to, you know, down it. Oh, God. All right. But I can do it on command if you like, too. So can I, Bruce, but I won't because that's disgusting. See, so you're just, you know, disgusting also. No, I don't do it. That means I have class. You're pretty classy. I can machine gun it, too, if you would like, but I don't want to do that. machine gun it? Yeah, you can just belt continuously over and over and over again. Oh, wow. I have that part for you. I can make my stomach growl at will also. Another wonderful ability. Wow, that's weird, man. And make my knees crack at will, which is fun when you just crouch down and they go out and you're just like oh, my knee! Just kidding.
    54:52
    You can destroy people. You have many strange talents. Everyone has a strange thing. My father can do this thing where he can crack his ear. It's pretty disgusting. With his hand or just on its own? Well, now you can hold it and like... Really? I can yank on it. Wow. Yeah, it's kind of... Yank. Yeah. All right. You're just not right, Bobby. Yeah, that's right, Bobby. I'm here squeaking. Who's squeaking? That's me. Stop squeaking, Bruce. I don't need to edit this shit out. You'll edit it out. No, I'm not. I don't have time. I'm squeaking because I'm reading on the chair. I'm moving around. Stop moving around. I got to move around right now. No, you don't. Yes, I do. Unless that coffee you had just went through you and you have to go to the bathroom. It might be going right through me. Oh, God. All right.
    55:39
    Oh, remember last week we were trying to come up with initials for Slam Tilt? I think STDs. Yes. Like, what could that mean?
    55:49
    So we have – this one's from Tyler. Hi, Tyler. He says, with all this talk of STDs on episode 222, I vote the STP fans be named the Slam Tilt dildos.
    56:01
    Ooh. Oh, God. So our fans are all dildos. Huge dildos. It's Tyler, the acknowledged son of Pinbot. Okay.
    56:14
    Dildos. Okay, we have. We can have a lot of dildos. We can have motorized dildos and non-motorized dildos. Different levels. So this next one's from Cole. Hi, Cole. It says, hey there, ask some cronies. Oh, wait a minute. That's the other podcast. Did he send it to the wrong thing? By the way, I'm on another podcast. Joe mentioned it earlier, the Silver Ball Chronicles, which can be heard on the Pinball Network. Our latest episode, part two of our Capcom episode, just came out, and we just recorded another episode. Wow, look at you. You're like.
    56:51
    Okay. Okay, so Cole says, just listen to the last podcast, and as usual, you guys just don't disappoint. When Bruce said he was going to do extra plugs, oh, my. I got scared, and thank God this was an audio podcast. Yeah.
    57:08
    Imagine my relief when he was just promoting Kathy's travel agency. Hope all goes well with that venture. You two deserve it after the COVID fiasco with the Silver Ball Saloon. Yes. Let's see. We're listening to you guys talk about Jaws. A few things came across my mind. Let's see. One, why does Josie hate Jaws? What? Oh, my God. I'm just kidding. That's not fair.
    57:31
    That would have been fucking awful. We all don't care. The reason the shark wasn't seen much in the movie is that it didn't work most of the time. Well, his name was Bruce. Yes, that's why. I don't work at all. That just goes to show things named Bruce are usually broken and not quite right, which is why we love them. Yes. There you go. For all the people out there complaining that there's not a ball-eating shark, my suggestion is get $20 a shark mask and go downtown and you will be able to get a shark to eat your balls if the one said the mech sucked I'm going to take his word for it he has only produced some of the best most fun games to play I would rather have other cool mechs like the reels sideways spinner things than a dressed up scoop I have to root that I'm sure number three I'm sure another manufacturer would have done a ball-eating shark like Pinball Brothers, Spooky, or Dutch, but then you would either never got your game or it just wouldn't work.
    58:32
    Wow. Thanks for all you do and the great content you put out. Oh, my. One of your equally broken, I like this, slam-tilt degenerates. Wow. There you go. See? That's what the STD stands for. We're stealing it. We're STDs. Our fans are STDs now. Yes. I like the STDs. That's good. I like that.
    58:55
    All right. Slam-tailed degenerates. Let's see. This is from Daniel. He says, what's up, guys? Can you talk about firepower and the things you like and dislike about the game as well as your tournament strategy? Thanks, Daniel. Okay. Don't play it.
    59:11
    Okay. What do I – we're slam-tailed. Don't go for the targets because they're too easy to rebound back at you. Sure you do. Yes. Wow. I go the opposite. I go the Josh Sharp philosophy. Go get all the targets, get a set of them, and just rip the spinner all day. That's it. That's what you try to do. That's what I don't like about the game because the tournament strategy is completely different than how you would want to play for fun. Exactly. Because you light the spinner and you hit the spinner repeatedly. Because the lanes give you bonus and the spinner is the spinner. It's lit. It gives you points. And you just do that over and over and over and over and over and over. What I like about the game is all the stuff you should have been incentivized to go to, which is starting the cool multiball with the first real multiball intro sequence in the history of pinball. Yeah. Fire. Power. Imagine if you had never seen – I mean, sure, EMs had multiball, but nothing – this set the precedent for Williams that every multiball had to have some kind of intro sequence, had to be some kind of cool thing. yes i'm sure python i would agree you need some kind of presentation that's cool you know like on my game bry the pinpot when you bring her to life you know that is incredibly cool you need a show but that's what show yeah that's what that's what firepower does it's got the countdown you know five four three three two one fire one fire two fire three that's awesome that's what i like about firepower and they ripped it off like every game after every game after that had to have and not and the other manufacturers didn't always do that a lot of the other ones multi-ball just kind of starts yes it just it just releases balls like uh i mean sometimes they would do it like at least xenon says like you know exit one exit two but i most of them would just like say one line and release the balls i agree where's the presentation presentation Where's the money shot? That's what Jaws is missing. Well, I think what's missing in a lot of the modern games is that presentation. It went the other way. Because when you only have, like, one multiball or two, you need a big presentation because you only have one or two. It's a special moment. Yeah. Now you have five different multiballs in the game. How are you going to do that? There are exceptions, like – Bond. Well, I'm thinking Godzilla. I was thinking Bond also. The first time you lock the third ball in that thing and the building fucking goes down and it starts playing. you're like, oh, fuck, yeah, all right. Where do I send my money? Where's my money? I need this now. Take my money. Take my money, please. Like I said, right in the chat, when they streamed that the first time, it was right in the chat. They just sold like 1,000 units based on that multiball intro sequence alone. Yeah, it's a moment. It's great. It's a moment. And it's a mechanical action, you know? Yes, it is an action. It's thematically... It's like having a ball put into a shark's mouth. Oh, God. So thank you, Daniel.
    62:16
    Daniel, my brother, you are older than me. See, it's topical because Elton John pinball. Have you got a chance to play it, Bruce? Nope. Oh, wow, still no. I know Ron played it at Expo. I think you would like it, Bruce. I really do. It's an amazing game. It doesn't blind you. It shoots good. That's a win right there. But it's surprising, even during the slower kind of ballad tracks, it's still really fun and exciting to play. Yeah, that surprised me. They were able to do, yeah. I didn't think I would be rocking out to your song while playing a picture. Right, yeah. But it's just, it's got a groove, you know what I mean? Like, it's got a mood and a vibe that's just really engaging, you know? Yes. And you really feel like you're at a, again, it's cliche, but you feel like you're at either a concert almost like you're directing an Elton John music video on the fly as you're playing the game. It really has that vibe where you're creating something, you're building something, and the visuals are just incredible, and the lighting, of course, is just spectacular. I mean, it's just, again, it's the complete opposite almost of Jaws, right? Oh, man. It's got the presentation. Wow! It's the throwback. Well, I mean, in a way, yeah, it is, right? I mean, they're both really great shooting games, sure. they're great i'm sure they're great both great shooting games but it's just there's so much of an emphasis on the presentation and the whole experiential thing yeah but you paid like over five thousand dollars extra for that presentation yeah sure but that's i mean yeah but like in how much more are we going to be spending in like five more years you know like that like fifteen hundred dollars fifteen thousand dollars is going to be like nothing like like you know the le's and premiums were like five six years ago you know i mean i mean that that's the games are forever man so you know bruce you know bruce anyway the thing is what i really mean yours are the sweetest eyes i've ever seen and i bought this machine and i'm poor now and i'm down on my luck oh yeah oh man don't you disagree jack whatever they ask about his price it's like well the games make two twice as much on location. Really? No, they don't. Well, first of all, that's debatable, right? But really, are the games really made for location? No, not his. So, really, let's be real. They're for collectors and high-end buyers. He's catering to those people. He's making money for people that have money. And there's nothing wrong with that. It's a smart choice. They basically own that particular niche of the market the entire time. There's really no other competitor. They're the high end. They're the Ferrari, the Lamborghini, a pinball. That's great. Stay that way. Hey!
    65:12
    Don't be talking about no Italian thing here. We do everything good. We do everything good here. I will say, I've seen some of the unboxing videos out there of Elton John, and it is, they do put a lot of money in those games. Like the amount of stuff that's in there, they didn't want to lower prices so they put a lot of the shit in there that was extra before so it was like the rad cows look awesome spectacular you lift the play field up and like oh the shaker motor's there like oh look side art blades it comes with it it comes with a topper let me let me just say if you were given a choice to show somebody who knew nothing about what modern pinball looked like would you choose venom or would you choose elton john There you go. Done. What it looks like, yes. Then would you put two price tags up? You know what the person's going to pick? The cheapest one. Yeah, but that's just... They're going to go like, they cost that much? Fuck that. Why am I going to get in this hobby? Holy shit, I thought it was like $500.
    66:17
    I mean, at that price point, I'm priced out of both those levels, right? Of course. So it doesn't matter to me. The thing about the pricing, If you look at the relative pricing, in other words, Bruce would remember this. Okay, Spider-Man. You have Spider-Man Pro, right? Then you have Spider-Man LE. What do you get? You get a completely different cabinet art package. Yes. A mirrored back glass. Yes. Different art. Yes. On that, too. You get the shaker motor. Yep. You get chrome side rails, chrome lockdown bar. Yep. How much more was it than the regular Spider-Man? $900. What's he mean? I thought it was like $100. It was like maybe $500 or $600. Yeah, $500 or $600 more. That's it. And I remember when I went to order ours, he's like, what was the game after Spider-Man he was trying to sell me on? It was Big Buck Hunter or something. No, it was Indiana Jones. It was Indiana Jones. He's like, you need to buy Indiana Jones. I'm like, nope.
    67:14
    I didn't even see it yet. I'm like, nope, I want Spider-Man. Yeah, and we bought it from Pinball Sales. Yes, we did. From Jack O'Neary himself. Yes.
    67:26
    I heard they hugged it out in the UK. There's a picture of it. There's a picture of it, yeah. Did they hold themselves close, little tiny dancer? I think it was Pinball Heaven.
    67:41
    Their Facebook page. Yeah, I thought it was fake, but I heard multiple people mention it like it's real, so I'm going to assume it's real. I mean, they've done, like, you know, they're competitors, right? They're businessmen, obviously, but they're also people. They also love pinball. They don't have to be vitriolic enemies. But it's a cooler storyline, though. They have a history. If it wasn't for Gary Stern, Jack would never have been in business.
    68:08
    True. This is what would have happened. Not really. He did have his other business. He would have sold like Gottlieb in Williams games, but he was a distributor for Stern. You also sold that, what was it, the shuffle bowler, the Parker Bone. Parker Bone III. And he did also Redemption Machines. Okay, but hey, look, it's all part of the ecosystem, man. There's no reason why people need to be enemies based just on the fact that they're competitors in business. You can treat people with respect, and it's nice to see. And as long as the shark eats your ball, you're cool with it. Sure, yes. It has to eat my ball, though. Oh, my. joe's becoming called one nut around one ball wonder one ball wonder one ball wonder all right this uh this next one is from soren hi soren hey soren time to see oh he's going uh looks like this is about my remember the last episode i talked about the loudness wars and how how much trouble i had finding any good non-compressed-to-fuck versions of Elton John music. So he says, hi, Slam Tilt. Yes, we're like our own entity. Interesting talk about the mastering of Elton John music and how current issues are overly compressed and sounding worse than the music did when originally released. I'm sure you guys know how the style of mastering music stems from the so-called loudness wars. Yep, that broke out in the 90s. Record labels and radio stations figured out, or at least believe that the louder your CD or radio signal sounded, when compared to others, the more likely customers and listeners were to fall in favor with you. Combined with advances in production technology, that spawned a spiral of destroying music, making it so condensed to listen to that it wears you out fast, even at a moderate listening level. Call it Foo Fighters. So you're saying Foo Fighters are brickin'? They're brickin' fighters? Mm, okay. Let's see. Well, here is the link. Not a link to click on, but the link. For a while now, I have been amusing myself by calling the use of multicolored LEDs the loudness war of pinball machines. I see similarities. Thank you, sir.
    70:25
    Advancement in technology being a brighter light per unit, snappier on-off cycles, smaller footprint, multicolor, less power consumption, and more CPU available to run them. And then what happens? People go apeshit. I'm going to call it not the brightness wars. It's going to be called the clown wars. Like the Clone Wars? The Clown. The Clown Wars. Yeah, I remember when there was – they had one of the software updates for Wizard of Oz. They gave you an option for like another attract mode. Yep. And you had one that was kind of like the old school, nice, like, you know, it's just like they sweep – the light sweeps back and forth and all that. And then they had the new one they put in, which was like full clown. Yep. I just remember that. A spiral of showing off who can swing the most color changes, strobe lighting, lengthy and overly complex patterns, and all play field light shows. Over and over. Over and over and over. Hit an on-lit target for 100 points, and a double-stroke rainbow with blackouts knocks you over. Double rainbow hands. Down to bragging over as the most number of lights featured in their game. Jersey Jack. Basically, who can shout the loudest? OMG! Even older games get lost in the vortex.
    71:42
    Unfortunately, as I see it, pinball people at large eat it up raw. Ooh, that sounds dirty. Praising how amazing it looks. And then the tumbler kicks into turbo and the battle is lost. And the select few silently hope for the day when pinball machines will become truly inviting instead of scary. Cohesive, aesthetic pin games, man. Where did it go? In all honesty, there are differences between manufacturers and designers. Some are extreme, while others hold back. No names mentioned, Bruce, but I cherish the latter. Here is a hint. Who are still mastering the color-coded insert glasses? Stay strong. Mm-hmm.
    72:22
    So who still does the color-coded insert glasses? Stern? Mm-hmm. Yes. I think the first time I remember them doing all clear was Star Trek.
    72:31
    That makes sense. It does. Yes, because it was the first machine they really used the good LED boards on. Because they had LEDs previously, but that's the first one I remembered. They had color-changing whatever inserts, but that's the first one I remembered that they had two different play fields. They had the one with the colored inserts and then the one with the clear inserts. So thank you, Soren. I think, like, you know, I mean, in terms of, like, insert lights and stuff, just overly, like, we were talking about presentation, right? As long as it doesn't interfere with the communication of what to shoot for and the rules that you need to communicate to the player, then that's fine. But some games, yeah, they just overwhelm the senses. Everything is lit. Yeah. Or flashing, and you have a ball, and the play field flashes, and you can't fucking see it. See the ball, yes. That's stupidity. Yeah, no, I agree. And the other thing is I noticed like I seen some streams without John where it looks like way crazy with the lights But when I played that in person it looked great i i didn think at any point it was like oh wow they went too crazy with this so it also depends it also depends how it it films sometimes but like you know like how like the ball gets followed by like the led lights like up the ramp and like around and into the piano that's incredible choreography it's not distracting it's following the game you know like i just the right way to do it and the wrong way to do it, right? Like, it's just, I think some Jersey Jack games are guilty of that, and some Stern games, too, are just too overwhelming or just turn the lights off at the worst possible time. Yeah, that's the main one, yeah. It's just ridiculous. It's like, oh, I'm going to make this guy lose his ball. You're in the middle of something, and the lights literally just go out. Or on. Sometimes I don't understand, like on Foo Fighters, when the ball save kicks in. You drain, and the light's dim for a second. Yeah. It's programmed to do that, and then they come back up. Why did they dim at all? What was that signifying to me? Like, you're a loser. Oh, you're back. Your ball's over. Oh, no, you're back. Was that what it was supposed to be doing? I don't know. I don't understand that. But, yeah, no. You guys should try to get Tim back on because, you know, with Black Knight Sword of Rage, I think that's one of the better stern light shows that has been done recently, and he seems to know what he's talking about and doing. Timmy needs a game. He needs a game to come out. Timmer, where's your game, Timmer? I think he's probably in the middle of something. Yeah, I think something will be coming. I think it's highly unlikely that we won't see something from him this year. Yes, I agree. With a two-mark cornerstone. He's got to be on one of them. Yeah, he's on one. I guarantee it. Guarantee. We at the Slamtail Podcast will guarantee. Guarantee. I am 100% he's going to be on a game this year. Okay, so our last email is from Glenn. Uh-oh. Which is another episode of... TIG Treasure. Stupid TIG.
    75:45
    You've got to have the fart sound at the end, of course. I love the fart sound. Yes, another TIG Treasure here. I love Turd and Treasure. Glenn says, hello, hosts.
    75:55
    Turd or Treasure has three graduates. Three games that got enough votes. We should explain that. We should because. Because basically Glenn wants to get certain games enough votes on Pinside so they can be ranked. Oh, Glenn. Hey, Glenn. We should have a demotion one. Oh, demotion one. Like, you know, games that should have never gotten 100 votes and should be demoted. I think it's they need reviews. They need a certain number of reviews to show up in the, yeah. In the thing, yes. Yes. So he says there's three graduates. Take a moment and discuss theories on where these three games should rank amongst each other if you believe any landed inside the top 100, 200, or 300. The games are, and we should know these, RoboWar, Pharaoh, and Countdown.
    76:44
    Okay. Countdown's probably in the top 200. I put 100. It should be in the top 100, but I know people are stupid. It's going to be in the top 200. No, no, it's like where you think it should rank. Oh, where I think it should rank? Below 100. Yep. Zero to 100. Top 100. But where people think, probably 100 to 200. What does Joe think? For countdown, I'd say I'm going to have to go over the top 100. It's probably like, you know, it's got a lot of drop target stuff, but I've had some bad experiences on that game that may have tainted things. I mean, it is kind of a one-trick pony. Mouse is getting close to the mute button. Yeah, that's what it was.
    77:28
    I mean, for an EM game, it's up there, but... It's not an EM. It's not? No, it's not. Oh, it's all state? System 1. You guys know more than I do. 2x, 3x, the multipliers. You've got doubts about this? The multipliers. You've got doubts about this? The awesome targets. It's a sharpshooter's game, sure, yeah. You can collect your bonus so you're not locked into just, like, never being able to do anything else. Do anything else, yeah. I hate when that happens. And they make it the saucer at the top, so you've got to kind of maneuver around that pop-up or even get there. Yep, or use the side flippers. For what it is, it's good. But there's 100 better games than that. I'm sorry, there's 100 better games than that.
    78:09
    Sorry, guys, there is. Okay, okay, so he's saying. He goes 100 to 200, you're saying then, right? Like 150-ish, maybe 120 to 150. I don't know. Okay. Okay, and what about Pharaoh?
    78:24
    It's the worst of the four buy levels. It's the worst. Two to 300. Yeah. I'd say 200-plus. Yeah. We're in agreement on that one. Okay. Ra, Pharaoh, Cobras, or whatever. Yeah, whatever. Yeah, it talks. That's its best feature. That's his best feature. And the pachinko ball. The artwork's not great. And I like the background thumping sound it does. It's good. Yes. The classic Williams. It's got some interesting shots. It's just the code is terrible. You know? Like, it's just a terrible game. They didn't expand on anything. You know what I mean? Like, there's some fun shots up there in the upper play field. You got Black Knight and Jungle Lord at the top. I mean, you got down below that, you got Solar Fire. And then right under that, you got Pharaoh. Oh, that's not a double play field. It's just a regular single playfield. Yes, yes. It's not an upper playfield. Which game? Grand Lizard. That's a single playfield. He also reused his Solar Fire upper playfield thing for the upper half of Grand Lizard. Yes, the upper half. How about RoboWar?
    79:38
    1-200. It is. Yeah, I'd say 2 to 300 I'm not a big fan I like Robo War I don't know I just don't The shots don't excite me It's got a weird open play field That just feels really strange And I don't really like the flipper feel On that one, that Gottlieb It's really bizarre I think it's probably John Trudeau's worst game, actually Oh no What worse game than that is? Popeye! No, he didn't do Popeye. That was Outsler. Sorry, what else? Rocky, Q-Bert's Quest. I'd rather play Rocky. I'd rather play Rocky, man. Q-Bert's Quest. That's tough. Q-Bert's Quest is awful. Play some Crawl. That sucks, too. Crawl sucks. I've never played it. No one has. Yeah, I have, but it sucks. I was just for the novelty of it, just to see how it worked, you know? Hollywood Heat. those games. No, come on. It's terrible.
    80:44
    What's the other one? That's actually the worst. Deadly Weapon? That's pretty bad, too. I don't know if he did that one. I think it is true. I thought he was gone by then. It was one of his last ones. I think it was in the whole story. Are you ready to see what the actual rankings are now on Pinside for these games? Let's see. We'll do opposite order. Robo War. It's got to be plus 200. 203. There you go. All the money. All right. Farrow. Farrow, 195. What? That's too high. Way too high. I'd rather play Robo War. Yeah, me too.
    81:22
    Oh. That tells you your Pinside smartality. And show that Pinside doesn't know shit. Countdown, 185. Yeah, they don't know shit. They did get it right that it's better than all the other two, so they got that part right. But they are really off on this. Oh, come on. Off, off, off. I agree. The way I look at it is this. It'll keep countdown prices down. Well, they made a lot of countdowns. I know, but it'll keep the prices down still. Okay. Because people are going to go, it's not the top 100. I'm going to get a game that's the top 100. Are you Petey Pinsider? Yes. Are you his brother? I am. I'm Pedro.
    82:01
    Wow. Pedro Pinsider. I am Pedro. Pedro Fittsider. Okay. Ah, nice. Glenn says, next up, Surf and Safari needs four more votes to end up in the Pinside Top 100. I voted to get it in. What the fuck is people doing? More people. You need to vote for Surf and Safari. Vote or die. That's what Glenn said, actually.
    82:30
    So thank you, Glenn. Yes, Surf and Safari. Thanks to Glenn also. So Glenn's doing a special thing for the Degenees, by the way. I wanted to mention the incredibly talented guy. I wanted to shout out. Thanks, Glenn. He's going to be doing a little music video for us during the Degenees. Nice. It's going to be a lot of fun. Great, amazingly talented musician. And he's working on some really cool stuff, actually, pinball related. So keep your eyes peeled for that.
    82:55
    Surfing Safari is one of the games I played on my road to winning my first ever RPC tournament. There you go. Yes. the tournament I wasn't going to go to. Yeah. Because Bruce, here's my degenerate level here. Here's some degeneracy, I think. So we reschedule this to a date that Bruce specifies. Mm-hmm. Right? So then he, well, you texted me like Thursday. Are you coming to the tournament this weekend? It's like, how am I supposed to go there and then get back in time to do this podcast? Because all my recording shit is here. Hey, guess what? What? What are we doing right now? Exactly. And what did you do yesterday? Because what I did is, so I drove into Rochester. I changed my mind. I went into Rochester. I said I wasn't going to go, and then I showed up. And then you heard Raymond was coming out, and so he's like, oh. Or I've got more Whoppers with Raymond here, so, you know, I've got to go. Yeah, Whopper-licious. So, yeah, I drive up Friday, as usual. We play in the tournament with the three different stages. It was a target match play. and then some other thing and then ladder.
    84:07
    So, basically, yes, I won. I won the tournament. My first ever victory. The final game was on Bazaar. And at least twice in the finals, I had to come back on ball five on a Ted Zale EM. Once on Bazaar, the other time on fucking Cosmos. Cosmos was brutal lately. I love Cosmos, but... I love Cosmos, but once it moved to the RPC, it became assholeless. It was way easier in Cincinnati when I played it. It was way easier at Zach's house. Zach made it easier. He moved the mushrooms around, so it's actually easier for the player and it's still brutal. He moved the mushroom bumpers? Yeah, the mushrooms. He moved them so the one that actually opens it up is off to the side so you don't hit it so often or something like that. Yeah, he did a good thing, but it's still an asshole. As we call him, he's Soren for EMs. He reprograms EMs, so he's like the Soren for EMs. No, he's a genius at that, man. It's unbelievable. He's our Sheldon.
    85:12
    So I won, and my plan was, okay, to get up at 5 in the morning today and drive the four hours back so I could do this. Yep. And did you? I did. I'm here, Bruce. Yes, and he was bitching about this. Yeah, I'm going to bet you. It's a lot of driving. Hey, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. Yeah? Suck it up, buttercup. Okay. Whatever.
    85:39
    I'm not like you, Bruce. I don't just drive to Arkansas to pick up games just on a whim. For $20. $20? Even for $20, I don't think I would do that. You would have done it. No. What game? Was there any game I would do that for at this point? I don't think so. Q.
    85:55
    Q. Oh, God. That game sucked. But you could flip it real fast and make money on it. Jesus Christ. Was it Harry Williams' final game? Yes, it was. Not a good way to go out, I'm afraid. That's unfortunate. He tried something different.
    86:12
    It cue-balled. Actually, there's two people on the design and the credit, but it's generally regarded as his last game. Interesting. Bad. I'm glad I got to play it, though. Yes. Because I could say I played every Stern except that one, the original, what was it called? You know, the one that was going to be a wide body. It was going to be the next game, but then it got shelved. And then they just rethemed a Quicksilver to this. A Laser Lord. Laser Lord, yes. So I never got to play, well, either one. The Quicksilver that became Laser Lord or the actual Laser Lord. That is still in Michigan, I think, somewhere. Yes, it is somewhere. Who knows where the fuck it is? Yeah, I've never even seen a video of it being played, unfortunately. Nope. Never even heard of it. So, Joe, plug away. Yeah, we're at the end. Bruce has to go back to work. No pinball repairs? Oh, my God. Thank God. Oh, boy. Well, I have a quick one. Oh, my God. Oh! One of my meteor targets sheared off. Yes, that is mine. So, yeah, I have a new set of meteor targets coming from Pinball Resource. and I have Jersey Jack now has this upgraded I.O. board. It's basically the board they've used since Toy Story. It's got all these new beefed up capacitors on it. It basically makes your game not play like shit. The weak flippers so you don't have to crank the flipper power up to max for it to be acceptable. And what are you putting that in? I'm going to put that in my dialed in and we'll see what happens. So you're doing this to make it not play like shit. Okay. I agree with you. No, I said that, but then I also said you have to turn the flipper power all the way up so it doesn't play like. No, I think you said it played like shit. So I'm just going with it because that's why he bought the board. Just just. Yes, it's the truth. It's the truth. So I'm looking forward to putting that in. I'm going to put all everything back to default settings and I'm going to stream like my first game on it with no, no. We're just going to go with it and see if it makes any difference. Broken plastics are us. Oh, God, I hope not.
    88:21
    All right. Those are all my repairs. Those are my repairs. I broke a target in Cheetah at the co-op. Oh. And I had to put a bridge rectifier in a shack attack. Oh. Oh, it's terrible. This game, a guest customer brought it in, and it is the roachiest roach I've ever seen. Yeah, the cabinet did not look good. No, neither did the balls on that thing. Oh. My balls were all rusted. Maybe they were eaten by a shark. Maybe.
    88:48
    Oh, nailed it. so plug away Joe yeah sure I mean you know you can come join us at the Pinball Degenerates Facebook group but literally just have to answer two very simple questions what is your favorite pinball machine and agree to the group rules not to be a jerk or abusive to people and just you know everybody's got opinions in pinball just be polite and don't be offensive to other people like you jerks are you know just don't get personal you know like everybody's got opinions on pinball you know but you know just keep it you know just the whole point of it is to create a community that just shows off all the crazy shit which you're doing whether it's repairs or games that you played or any kind of craziness in pinball that you're into okay so yeah that's what we're all about and yeah come check out the Degenes the Pinball Degenerate Awards third annual Pinball Degenerate Awards on February 18th Sunday at noon Eastern.
    89:50
    It should be a lot of fun, you know, and you can win some prizes. Even if you're not nominated, we're going to have some trivia, some pinball trivia that in the chat, if you answer the fastest, you can win some great swag, some pinball degenerate swag, some swag from our friends at Zed 80, which is an arcade here, or Duxbury Cider. So, yeah, it's going to be a really fun time, I hope. So come and join us. And Joe is one of the premier pinball trivia people. I try I mean I'm no Ron Hallett Jr. or Zach usually it's you and Zach then Zach wins yes I swear he's got some kind of cheat code to buzz in before anyone or something I don't know how he does it he's just unstoppable he's sheltered but it's fun it's a lot of fun I really enjoy that what's the guy's name He's out of Cincinnati. I saw him at Cincinnati.
    90:48
    What's the zine he does? I forget. The pinball zine. Sure, yeah, pin zine. That's really fun. I love the trivia. I just love the minutiae. Like everybody else, right? We all geek out about the minutiae of pinball. Pinball's a game of millimeters, so every little tiny little thing counts in pinball, and we all pride ourselves on knowing all the little details, whether it's repairs or rules or whatever.
    91:13
    But yeah, and also, yeah, check out the article I wrote for Nudge and also an article I wrote for the Kineticist on volunteering as a pinball scorekeeper, which just got published this week. Check those two fine internet publications out. And what was the first game that Dwight Sullivan worked on at Williams?
    91:35
    Oh, man. This is for Bruce because it's his favorite guy. Poor Dwight. Was it called Asshole Anonymous? Come on. Give Dwight a chance. No, he's gotten worse. I love Dwight. It was funny yesterday. We were talking about another bug. We found a bug in Star Wars yesterday. Oh, God. Well, that's Star Wars. Exactly.
    91:59
    The answer is, well, at least according to Dwight, he did some display effects in Mouse and Around. Oh, Mouse and Around. So I like to think to myself that he did the match sequence, although I have no evidence that that actually is true. But I just tell myself that.
    92:17
    Okay, so my plug is don't forget my wife has a new business for cruising, Nightingale Cruises. Posted something on the Slamtail Podcast page a couple weeks ago. If you have any questions about cruises, want to ask something that you never went on a cruise or you want to go for another cruise, contact us at Nightingale Cruises on Facebook. And my wife has a phone number, and I post it on the thing. Now, I have one more problem. Somebody personally messaged me and said, I friended you on Facebook, and I don't know this person at all. And it's a person that listens to us on the podcast. And I don't let many people be my friend on Facebook. If you want to be a friend, be a friend on Slam Tilt. I'm going to be totally honest. I ignore most people who ask for friendships that I don't know. Oh, I totally agree with you, Bruce. I don't, no offense to anybody, but I don't friend people. Unless I've met you personally at least once. It's way too, I mean, some people have different attitudes about it, but for me, if I've met you in person, no offense, I don't care how many people we have in common, it doesn't matter. This person took it very personally. I listen to you all the time. I don't know you, I'm sorry. If you want to follow me, follow me on Slam Tilt. And that's it. I'm being totally honest. Yeah, no, you have totally within your rights there, I think. People, they listen to you and they feel that they know you personally. Poor fucking bastards. They don't understand. It's a one-way street, right? It's a one-way street. It's like anything else. When you're obsessed with somebody, like a movie star or whatever, you think you know them because you relate to them. Feel free to friend Stu McVicker. He's looking for friends. Stu McVicker owns a ton of friends. He's a lot of friends, that guy. He is not very popular. he's still wondering why you didn't challenge him at Pintastic like you said you were going to I chickened out he was intimidated that's what happens when Stu is around yeah he's an intense guy so hi to all of our friends hi to Zach, hi to Steve I'm a bonus, Jeff Teolis we are Slam Tilt Podcast you can reach us at slamtiltpodcast at gmail.com our website is slamtiltpodcast.com in the upper right hand corner check out all our links This was episode 223.
    94:39
    Hi to everyone in our clusterfuck that Bruce was just saying. Thank you to Josie for joining us. It's my pleasure, guys. Thanks for having me on. And don't forget to see him on the 18th at noon Eastern time. Degenerates. On Degenerates. Unite. And now Bruce has to say goodbye to somebody. I do? I do! You do. So until next time, folks, say goodbye, Bruce. Goodbye, Shannon Ducharme.
    95:06
    Hold my mind, hold my mind Can you boogie, can you slide? Hold my mind, hold my mind You can boogie if you try Hold my mind, hold my mind Guaranteed to keep you alive We'll be right back. Oh my.
    96:08
    Oh my. See you next time. Damn. Yep, it's going to be the first weekend. It's the weekend after American Memorial Day. American. Oh, I like how you said American Memorial Day. There is no Canadian Memorial Day. Exactly. Well, Joe said watch room earlier, and I was like, oh, yeah, that's right. That's the bathroom. I forgot. The head. If you go to a restaurant, okay, if you go to a McDonald's, okay, There's no bath there. You just wash. You do your thing and you wash. It's a washroom. I actually piss and wash. Can we agree on restroom then? Restroom. I'll agree. You relieve yourself at the restroom. You rest. You relieve yourself at the restroom. I rest myself. I go to the head. Yeah. Yeah, that also works. The shitter. That's the military thing, right? The head. Yes, it is. Yes. The latrine.
    97:51
    Coming to you from beautiful upstate New York, this is the Slamtail Podcast, the show about all things pinball. I'm your host, Ron Hallett. I fucked that up already.
    98:01
    Hold on.