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The Matrix Battlestream w/GameClubCentral

Mystery Pinball Theater 3000·video·53m 1s·analyzed·Apr 1, 2026
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 (batch) · $0.013

TL;DR

Mystery Pinball Theater showcases The Matrix VPX homebrew with gameplay challenges and rule explanations.

Summary

Manu and Marty from GameClubCentral host a battle stream showcase of The Matrix pinball game, a VPX homebrew created by Manu with artwork by Marty. The stream demonstrates multiple game modes and features including Matrix modes, training programs, Zion Frenzy, character upgrades, and EMP multiball through a series of competitive challenges, while explaining core gameplay mechanics and design philosophy.

Key Claims

  • The Matrix game is a VPX homebrew table created collaboratively, with Manu handling game design/code and Marty handling playfield layout and artwork

    high confidence · Manu states 'you should have made Janelle Trinity' and later credits Marty for playfield work; discusses VPW involvement in PCredibles games

  • VPW (Virtual Pinball Worldwide) has been involved in PCredibles games 'in some way, shape or form' and 'touched every game'

    high confidence · Manu explains VPW's role: 'This game would not exist without VPW... VPW has basically touched every game that the PCredibles have done'

  • Character upgrades in The Matrix provide score multipliers (e.g., +Morpheus upgraded bonus) for completed modes featuring that character

    high confidence · Manu explains: 'Any mode you play that has Morpheus in it, once you complete the mode, you'll see it says plus Morpheus upgraded, and that'll boost your score'

  • Training modes include difficulty tiers: Jump Program (green, 3 shots) up to 1.3x multiplier, Sparring Program (6 shots) up to 1.6x, and Agent Red Dress Girl (8 shots) up to 1.8x multiplier, max 2.0x with all training

    high confidence · Manu details: 'The easiest training mode is green. That's the jump program that has three shots. So you can only get your multiplier up to 1.3'

  • Zion Frenzy requires hitting all four Z-I-O-N standup targets twice to start the mode

    high confidence · Manu explains: 'you have to hit them all twice. Once you completed them once, they start flashing. Complete them again, and that starts Zion Frenzy'

  • George Gomez and Jack Danger visited the homebrew booth and checked out various games including Pokemon at an Expo

    medium confidence · Manu recounts: 'I caught uh George Gomez and Jack Danger hanging out at the homebrew booth... they definitely look around'

  • The game features a 'spoon' mechanic that functions as a free ball save (2 per game) using a magnet between the flippers to catch draining balls

    high confidence · Manu explains: 'spoons catch the ball down near the between the flippers. It's a magnet that just catches the ball and it throws the ball back into play... You get two spoons every time you start the game'

Notable Quotes

  • “This game would not exist without VPW. Um yeah, early on we knew that um we couldn't we couldn't do this without VPW.”

    Manu @ mid-stream — Acknowledges critical dependency on VPW (Virtual Pinball Worldwide) platform for The Matrix homebrew

  • “Trinity had to believe in him... Trinity is actually the reason that Neil can do what he does and Morpheus can do what he does... Trinity is is kind of the most important. She's the muse.”

    Manu @ character_design_discussion — Explains thematic design decision to make Trinity the last/hardest character to upgrade, reflecting narrative importance in The Matrix films

  • “I do all this work and no one's ever going to see it. But you got to do the work. Otherwise, it's not a real pinball machine, is it?”

    Manu @ mid-showcase — Reflects designer philosophy about detailed work in attract modes and hidden content that drives pinball machine credibility

  • “You guys, if you look at my game over screen, right, when it shows the Matrix, you'll see one, two, and three have been upgraded. That's how you can tell if your characters have been upgraded.”

    Manu @ game_over_analysis — Explains visual feedback system for character upgrade progression

  • “A sucker mode is a mode that um isn't super important for anything and it...”

    Manu @ rules_explanation — Begins defining design terminology; suggests every pinball game needs modes that serve entertainment but not critical progression (unfinished thought)

Entities

ManupersonMartypersonGeorge GomezpersonJack DangerpersonZachpersonThe MatrixgameMystery Pinball Theater 3000organization

Signals

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Manu explains that Trinity was deliberately positioned as the last/hardest character to upgrade to reflect her thematic importance in The Matrix narrative—she's the one who enables Neo and Morpheus

    high · Manu details: 'Trinity is actually the reason that Neil can do what he does and Morpheus can do what he does... Trinity is kind of the most important. She's the muse' and 'if you look, if you can upgrade Trinity, almost every actually almost every mode will be boosted, but she's the last one you can upgrade'

  • ?

    design_innovation: The 'spoon' mechanic uses magnets positioned between flippers as a ball save system (2 per game), allowing players to recover draining balls

    high · Manu explains: 'spoons catch the ball down near the between the flippers. It's a magnet that just catches the ball and it throws the ball back into play'

  • ?

    community_signal: VPW platform is central to PCredibles game production; Manu states VPW 'has basically touched every game that the PCredibles have done' and describes current project as explicit collaboration where 'everybody gets to do the best they do'

    high · Manu: 'This game would not exist without VPW... most I mean why would you? We yeah we wouldn't we didn't want to. In fact VPW has basically touched every game that the PCredibles have done'

  • ?

    content_signal: Mystery Pinball Theater 3000 uses battle stream format with multiple players competing in challenges to showcase game features and mechanics for audience education

    high · Stream structure: Manu and Marty compete in sequential challenges (Matrix modes, Zion Frenzy, character upgrades, EMP multiball) with Manu explaining rules/strategy each time

  • ?

Topics

VPX Homebrew Game DesignprimaryThe Matrix Theme and Lore IntegrationprimaryPinball Game Mechanics and Rules ExplanationprimaryCharacter Upgrade and Scoring SystemsprimaryCompetitive Gameplay ChallengesprimaryVPW Platform and Homebrew CommunitysecondaryDesigner Philosophy and Attention to DetailsecondaryCross-Designer Collaboration (George Gomez, Jack Danger visits)secondary

Sentiment

neutral(0)

Transcript

youtube_auto_sub · $0.000

Hello, welcome. This is Mystery Pinball Theater. My name is Manu and we're doing something special today. Now, a lot of people have been playing the Matrix pinball game that we just came out, the Pink Incredibles. Thank you so much. Um, and uh, this here, I don't know how many times people downloaded this, but this is this is a big rule sheet, right? Big rule sheet. Well, myself and Game Club Central. Marty from Game Club Central. There you go. There's Marty. Um, yeah. Thank you for the Paladin. Thank you for the sub, Isaiah. Thank you for the sub. We're getting back to it. Um, Game Club Central and I are going to battle stream. Right. But the focus of this really is to show you guys the different things that you can do in the game. Um, I don't even have a score. I don't care. We're not keeping score here, but we're going to do a fun Marty is cool. Marty, how are you, man? I'm well, thank you. How are you? I'm I'm exhausted and well as you both We are both exhausted you guys. We're doing this for you for different reasons. Not keeping score. Yes, we're not keeping score. Yeah. Thank you for that uh stamp of approval. K K Cions. Kulions. It's like staying but staying. Yes. Shut up. All right, Marty. Hey, without further ado, should we get over to the should we get over to the beautiful layout that you created that I'm not taking any credit for? Yeah, I would like everybody to know that I'm going in completely blind. I have no idea what Oh, sorry. I took my mic off. I was trying to get ready for this. That's why somebody likes to use the back door. Hey, let's hang out for a second. Yeah, you're going to have another raiders. Welcome to Mystery Pinball Theater 3000. Of all the streams on the internet, this is definitely one of them. Jordan. Jordan's here. Jordan, I would have totally watched your Pokemon stream if it wasn't for the fact that I was feverishly putting this together with Marty. He was. He had sweat on his brow. All right, there is no secret. All right, so Marty, let's go into the matrix. Let's go. What's going on? You stand on the precipice of two realities. Choose wisely for your world hangs in the balance. Wow, that looks cool. This is what it's like to collab with Marty, you guys know. Oh, come on, dude. Are you serious? You changed man. Let's do rabbits. We're going to do rabbits, Marty. Here's what we're doing. Boom. Matrix modes. We're going to start a matrix mode. Yeah. Stream rated in. I don't care. Um, so we're going to we're going to we're going to see who could start a matrix mode first. Okay. So, that's three rabbits. We're going to start. Right. In the beginning of the game, you only have to shoot three rabbits to light the left orbit, the the right orbit to start a matrix mode. Once you've completed a matrix mode, you have to shoot four white rabbits for every matrix mode after that, unless you do a specific training mission, which uh reduces rabbits back to three for the rest of the game. Sound good? You have to know George, that was Mon. Uh th those are in the game. Uh uh George, those are those are in the game. I didn't make them just for the stream. I made them for the game. Um which was handy. All right. So, uh Marty, um put the uh hit your start button. Get your get your um ball in the shooter lane. Um um I'm going to let you count it down to one 3 two one. Now you have to start a matrix mode. Okay. All right. I'll give you a hint, Marty, though. Here's here's a good hint, Marty. If you hold the left flipper Uhhuh. you can do the super skill shot, the ball will quickly come to a flipper for you to start shooting um white rabbits. It won't sit in the pops. So, hold the left flipper. Got it. and then like hit your action button or pull your plunger. All right, got it. All right, here we go. First one, kids. Marty's going to count us off. Three, two, one, fire. That's one. Oh crap. Come on. I need another one. That's two. And three. Three. Shoot the phone booth and phone booth. That's the hard move. The phone booth. Somebody distract him. I haven't shot the phone booth yet to start the matrix mode. I do have my white rabbits cleared. And boom. Nope. What? Got it. I'm in a training mode of all [] things. Oh, you got to touch. All righty. You might win this. I almost hit the orbit. Let's continue. Let's go to the next one. Marty, you got this one. Let's see. Okay. Le Let's do What's an easy one? Well, since you're so good at I'm going to look good. You gonna since you're so good at training, let's do training programs. All right. Hit the training target. Start a training program. Reset the game. Yeah. Get yourself back to um Yeah. To ball one, square one. One moment, please. Sure. I'll explain the uh the the I'll explain the rules of this particular uh challenge. All you have to do is hit that training disc in the training programs area once and that will start a training program and then um let's do this Marty though. Let's let's you can pick it see if you can complete a training program. All right. Okay. Now, here's the trick. I'm gonna we're gonna base the winner on whoever has the highest matrix multiplier. And let me explain how that my 10 to one trick isn't going to work. Okay. Well, I mean your 10 to one trick was I don't never mind. Remember 10 7 one. Never mind. It's for No. Yeah, that was before. That's like an inside joke. for the dream. Yeah. Go ahead. Um um the number on the So the number on the display, if you look if you guys look at Marty's display um over there, there's a number that says 1.0. All right, that is your matrix mode multiplier. That basically is whenever you complete a matrix mode, your score gets multiplied by that. Okay, so if you never train, your score gets multiplied by one. That's your score. But when you go into training mode, regardless of whether you've pass or fail the training mode, every successful shot that you take in that training mode will add 0.1 to that matrix mode multiplier. Okay. So that means we're trying to inspire you to train at least build up that number so that every matrix mode you do after that is multiplied by that. And that number can go up to 2.0. All right. But the task right now, Marty, is start a training mode. Pick a training mode. Get your matrix mode number as high as you can. Once you drain, do you want to just do once you drain, you're dead, or you want to go back into training? Because it gets harder to go back into training. What do you want to do? No, I think once you train, you're dead. What if we finish a mode? We just drain and see where our multiplier is. Yeah, once you finish a matrix mode, you drain and see where your multi multip multipliers. All right, I'm ready. All right, I'm gonna get ball. I'll do the countdown. Okay, I'm going to get a ball in the shoe lane. Wait, let me think about which training mode I want to do if I get in. I know which one I want to do. All right, I don't. You want me to give you a hint again? I'll give you another hint. Yes. Okay. Each each training mode has more shots. Jump. And they're colorcoded. So the easiest training mode is green. That's the jump program that has three shots. So you can only get your multiplier up to 1.3. Okay. So far so good. That's enough information for me. Okay. The other one is um sparring program, right? Agent is a sparring and agent. Sparring has six and agent red dress girl has like eight. So red dress girl is the hardest. Red dress girl is the hardest. All right, here we go. Three, two. By the way, you don't have to hit any white rabbits to go do training. Three, two, one, go. Oh crap, I forgot to hold the button a touch early. All right, let me see if I can Okay, here we go. Oh, boom. I'm in. Okay. And I'm going to do sparring program because that's not too hard. I know kung fu. Get in there, Marty. Get in there. I missed. Yeah. So, I am in H I'm in sparring program. Morpheus is the orange light and he moves around and I need to hit him middle. Damn. So, I'm in training Marty, but I'm not doing really well. If I if I wait for him, I can get him. I'm having my own problems. Middle. Jeez, he moved. Stop moving, Morpheus. Damn it. I mean, you must not know kung fu. No, I don't know karate, but I do know crazy. Okay, got him once. Jesus. Okay. Oh, my mode is almost done. All right, Marty, I'm out of my mode. I only got a one point 1.1. I only got one shot. You still have a chance. Thing is, there's no pressure for me on timing. Yeah, you didn't say I had to get it done first. No, you just said I had to beat your multiplier. Ah, now I entered the matrix. Damn it. Oh, hold both flippers. Hold both flippers. Oh. Oh, yeah. Yeah, you could have you could you could cancel out either the matrix or the training mode. Just got so you guys know once you get in I may have done that to teach them that lesson. Mhm. You never know. You think that's area breathing? Ironically, as you're playing this, the Matrix 4 is on TNT. And are you seriously God that movie? H I don't know that movie. Uh, I wanted to like that movie so bad. And there's a couple of things I like about it, but yeah. Uh, I love Neil Patrick Harris's character. I know. I love Neil Patrick's. I got to watch it again. I have so much Matrix lore in my brain right now that I will probably understand it better, but probably not. I don't know. Um, Marty, if you have a ball left, feel free to Oh, you don't have any balls left. I was going to say, yeah, this is my last ball. So, chill as well. You got to exit the matrix and then training. So, you're kind of stuck. Yeah, it's fine. You It gives you a chance to talk. I'm almost there. All right. Three threats to go. Is there a place? Is there a Is there a place to bet whether Marty makes training mo for draining? Oh, I like that. I'll take those odds. Oh, man. Okay, threats eliminated. You got a ball locked. You got You got all the like objectives coming up later. Done. It's fine. I'm practicing. Come on, Neo. Oh, well, I hit training. You're still No, you're still in You're still in the Matrix. You got to finish Trinity. I know, but I hit the training target. Like, I didn't mean to, but Well, you know what you did, though. Okay, so I'll explain to people. If you hit the training target and you're not training and you're in the matrix, that will actually add two seconds to your next training mode. Oh, so maybe I have a tactic. Maybe you have a tactic. You trying to boost your time and your training? Yeah, maybe. I'm on my second Royal Madness, brother. What do you want? I know. I remember that. So, if you want if you guys are in the matrix, if you're doing a matrix mode and you want to boost your time, I think the time usually starts at 60 seconds. You can increase it a lot by continuously hitting I have an interesting question for you. Sure. Can you do training in in a multiball mode? You cannot. Training blocks everything out, including locking balls. All you're doing is training. You can't lock balls. You can't start EMP. You can't do anything. You're just in training. Okay. Co, you won. All right. That's uh I mean that's just we're just explaining, right? We're just explaining. That's all. It's I didn't win anything. I know, Marty. Let's do Zion Frenzy. Okay. You haven't told me where I pick up my matrix table. I'll I'll post a link right now. Give me a second. I think CNK wants the actual table, though. I I don't if you go to flipping out um ask um ask Zach at Flipping Out where he can get the matrix table, right? I think Zach at Flipping Out has them in stock. Well, hurry and get the homebrew done and then Stern will come check it out and and that's it. Yeah, he'll have one before you know it. I caught uh George Gomez and Jack Danger hanging out at the homebrew booth and they I think they walked over to Oh yeah, King of the Hill. Remember checking out Pokemon when it was first over I think it was at Expo. Yeah. No, they they definitely look around. They look around. Yeah. Call them late night on weekends. Um George says call Zach. Um yeah, late night on late night and weekends. wake him and Nicole up. Um, yep. Marty, Zion Frenzy, do you know how do you start Zion Frenzy? I believe I started it earlier by hitting training during a mode. Well, there are four standup targets on the table. Z I O N. Um, one of them one of them is easily accessible by the uh holding up the left upper flipper if you have a something on an orbit. But basically, uh, you can see them on the table, right? They're flashing. You have to hit them all twice. Once you completed them once, they start flashing. Complete them again, and that starts Zion Frenzy and Flood. These are all from the game. So, if you just sit and watch the attract mode, it will walk through each and every one of these videos. So, they're all from the game. I didn't create these for the stream. I pulled them right See, they're right up above my head. See that? No one leaves this game idle. I know. I do all this work and no one's ever going to see it. But you got to do the work. Otherwise, it's not a real pinball machine, is it? How you feeling, Marty? You ready to do this next challenge? Zion Frenzy. Who can get to it first? All right. You understand what we have to do? I do. All right, cool. Here, let me put the Zion targets twice. Yep. Complete Zion twice. You'll see it pop up on the screen, too. It'll say Zio N. Whatever. All right. It's kind of soft, buddy. Three, two, one, shoot. This is a three ball game right now. But if you drain, I think the Zion targets. Oh, shoot. I think I went. Hold both flippers. Should pop you back out. Yeah, I learned. Okay, good. If you drain, I think you lose the Zion progress. Yes, I lost my progress. So, I got the A [] You have to hit something before you start hitting those targets. No, the trick is you hit them all. You complete them once and then complete them again and it starts immediately. That's why it's kind of a frenzy. Yeah, I just I I thought I hit it and it didn't light, but it lit the second time. Where's the last one I need to hit? The last one is tricky. It's on the side there. Ah, then you reset when you lose the ball. Yeah, I keep going into training, too. Wait, I can Yeah. Oh, it's so hard to hit that. Wait, maybe a sling will help me. All right, we'll have a challenge. Got it. Okay, now I got They're flashing on mine. I got to hit them again. Got the N. Is there a way to spot them somewhere with a different shot? Nope, there's no spotting of them. The thing is they usually just Yeah. All right. I think I got a few left. Oh, drain. Better. Better drain. Drain. Better. Oh, I'm going right past it. Oh. Give me that Z. Oh, give me that Z. Nope. Give me the O. Give me the Z. NO. NO, DON'T DRINK. [] Don't swear on it. How's Marty doing? Let me see. Marty started to believe. But don't worry, that'll end in a minute. Okay, let me do this again. Boop. There's Marty. You know what you could do? Actually, you could start a multiball and then you got a probably a better chance at Zion. Actually, I just realized that. Oh, I started. I realized I I've got I got a multiball heading in that direction. I mean, uh, okay. What do I need? I need the Dang it. What do I need? I mean, oh, I drained again. Ah, I'm dead. I couldn't start it. Cancel. I couldn't because I was trying to press for EMP multiball. So, when I un pressed the button. It started the mode. Oh, are you on ball three? Yes. All right. Well, you started a new game. No. Are we allowed to start? You didn't make it. No, I didn't make it. I didn't make it. Yeah. Start a new game cuz it's just whoever gets there first. All right. This time I'm going to use your advice. I'm going to start EMP. Boom. I think it's the best way to do it as long as it's still active during EMP. But you got to juice your spinners. Is EMP ready? You got to juice your spinners in order to start EMP. Let me see. Middle. I can hit that right spinner all day. Get that EMP going. EMP's ready. Boom. Now I'm host. Skip it. You can skip the intro of all the multiballs, too. I am, guys. Oh, [] Come on. Let's go. Bring it. Give me that O. Oh, don't drain. Don't drain. Come on. Give me that O. Give me that. Oh, give me a If I If I drain right now. Oh, got it. Got it. Don't drink. Oh, you suck. Got it. No. Cancel. Z. Got it. Oh, I'm going to use this. I can't use spoons right now. N. GOT IT. YES. Did you get it? I got it. There was very little chance I was going to get it, but Oh, man. All right. So, I'm gonna pick another one. Marty, you ready? I'm ready. Zion Multiball. Okay. Zion multi. I can shoot the upper ramp to lock a ball. Lock two or three balls to start Zion battle multiball. So the very first time it's only two locks you need. And then everyone after that it's three locks you need. And it starts immed. It is my first time. You knew that, huh? Be gentle. This is pretty. Thank you. I made the game and Marty made the all the other stuff and Marty made me down there in the chair. Play the video for her. I'll play it again. I'll I'll play it again. I'll play it again. Dance Panda, stick around. We'll do one or two more challenges and I'll play the video because it's definitely worth playing again. Um, does this game come with a pup pack? should have made Janelle Trinity. Oh, that would have been cool. That's a missed opportunity. All right, Marty, you ready to do this? You count it off. Yes. First to start Zion. Zion Multiball. Okay. Ready? Yep. Three, two, one, fire. I got training. Are you serious? Yeah, but that's not what I needed. You need that upper playfield. You need an upper play field. That's not what I need. Come on. You can backhand the upper. You can backhand the upper, too. Yeah, I did it last game. Although, you got to drop your other flipper. You do in time. And the game supports stage flipping. Yeah. I don't have that fancy stuff you got. Shoot. There we go. I've never gotten so much training in my life. Yeah. Does Hey, chat. Does Marty have any Oh, no. Does Marty have any balls left? No, I don't. Not yet. I have one ball locked. I almost had one and then I choked cuz my dog's barking and wants let out and I can't. He's going to have to wait. Oh, well, I'll do you I'll do This jacket's really hot for the record. I probably shouldn't. Marty, I'll do you a favor. I'll lock ball too. Ready? Ball two locked. Zion battle. Multiball started. Oh, that was the goal. Okay, that was the goal. Just start it. I see VPW was involved in this table. Makes sense. Uh, yeah. ATD1340. This game would not exist without VPW. Um yeah, early Yeah, early on we knew that um we couldn't we couldn't do this without VPW. Um so most I mean why would you? We yeah we wouldn't we didn't want to. In fact VPW has basically touched every game that the PCredibles have done in some way, shape or form. And so this time we just decided well it was like the fishbowl and I we were just like let's just do a collab kind of thing where everybody gets to do the best they do at what they do. Um you know obviously um what's that? Sorry like Wolverine. Like Wolverine, right? Um let's do a spoon. Let's do a Let's spoon. Marty, let's do a spoon challenge. I ask a question. I have no idea what I'm doing. Okay. Start a matrix mode. You know how to do that? Okay. Yes. Pick any matrix. Not Naobi and not not Naobi and Morpheus. That's the blue mode. Don't do the blue one. Okay. Let the ball start to drain. Hit the hit the action button. That'll that'll use your spoon. Basically, spoons catch the ball down near the uh between the between the flippers. It's a magnet that just catches the ball and it throws the ball back into play. Use your spoon. I keep forgetting to use when the ball's heading to the drain. Yep. That is basically a ball save. You get two spoons every time you start the game. You get two spoons. You get two free spoons. All right. I think Marty is taller. Marty seems more caring. He's the big spoon. I am more caring. Marty seems more passionate lover. Marty seems more caring. But he's a black American. So yes, I should I whatever. I'm not fighting to be the big spoon in this little scenario where we're spooning each other. You ready, Marty? I'm ready. All right. Let me get my ball in the freaking shooter lane. You said start a mode. but not Naomi or Morpheus. And I ignored everything after that. So, you're going to win. But that's okay. Once you start the mode, let the ball drain and use your spoon to throw the ball back on the table and you win. Okay. Oh, the first spoon throw. Okay. Yep. First throw. First one to use a spoon wins. All right. Got it. Okay. Uh I'm counting it off, right? You count it off. Okay. You count. 3 2 1 go. So you got to collect white rabbits to to validate your your matrix mode. Oh, wow. Lots of ball saves here. All right, let's get our rabbits. Let's get our rabbits together. Crap. I'm locking balls. I would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for you stinking kids. Come on. One rabbit. One freaking rabbit. I have a different camera, Dave. I don't have the color saturation that Mono has. I'm locking balls here. Thank you for making me self-conscious, but that's why. All right, we're ready to go in the Matrix, Dave. No. Are you serious? No. Stop calling me. [] Get out of training. Get out of training. Okay. Give me some weight. Get out of training. What are you trying to work up your multiplier? You're That's so three modes ago. Okay. I'm ready in the matrix. I'm in the matrix. Oh, you're at your pill selection. I can't skip that video. You can't skip the pill. He's in it. Take the blue pill. Let the ball drain. HIT THE YOU DID IT. OH, YOU SUCK. MARTY GOT IT. Marty got it. All right. Give it up. All right, I'm going to give you a hard one now. Okay, I like it hard. Character upgrades, Marty. Okay, that's the top platform. Can you show me? Yep. So, we have four standup targets on the upper playfield. If you can shoot the upper playfield, four four spots you shoot the upper playfield. If you can hit each standup target and one of them up there is really hard to hit. Every time you complete a set, you upgrade a character. It's as simple as that. There are five characters. Why do you Why do you want to upgrade characters? Because then any matrix mode that you play that that character is featured in, you'll get a score boost when you complete it. So this is these are the strats for the for the for the um for the uh scorechasers, right? So So is it first upgrade or most upgrades? It's most upgrades. In a game. We could actually get a tie. And can we track that on the pup somehow? Yes. Um, so on this display here, this is a great question, Marty. Okay. On this display here, right on, it's always on your playfield. You will, you see that they all have like gray backgrounds behind their heads, right? Yeah. If you upgrade one of them, they'll have the Matrix rain behind their head. Okay. You can also check in the instant info, but we're just going to go by this. So, when the game is over, it'll show you this here and we'll get to see. And also, chat, you guys can keep us honest. If we get those upgrades, you guys take a look at this up screen here. It'll say Morpheus upgrade. And they go in order of Morpheus. Oh man, I'm not going to remember the order. I think it's Morpheus, Neo, Naobi, Smith, and Trinity. Ask me, why do you think we chose Trinity last, Marty, to be the hardest to upgrade? because she's the most badass. I don't know. Kind of like some of the lore goes where Trinity is actually the reason that Neil can do what he does and Morpheus can do what he does. Some of it goes behind the fact that Trinity is actually kind of Neil is the one, but Trinity is is kind of the most important. She's the muse. Yeah. So, if you look, if you can upgrade Trinity, almost every actually almost every mode will be boosted, but she's the last one you can upgrade. So, you'd have to go through everybody else. So, that shows the importance of Trinity in the Matrix series. We actually thought that through really, really, really well. Trinity had to believe in him. Yeah, that's cool detail. I think I was at breakfast with uh who was I who was I talking to? me was at breakfast with the the gang from TPF and maybe we started a Matrix conversation, but basically I said don't don't get me started on the Matrix because I will. Nerds, what's up, Captain Zanar? Nerds. What's up, Cascade? All right. You ready to upgrade, Marty? I'm ready. You are ready. You're always ready. You always have the ball in the shoot and you're ready. You count down. All right. I'll countdown. Once again, chat, we're trying to get to the upper play field. We're trying to hit all the standup targets up there to to upgrade characters. Three, two, one, fire. Marty, you can backhand that ramp if you're if you're not getting in the way of your own flipper. Oh, you can. Okay. Yeah. As long as the flipper doesn't get in the way. Come on. That's good. Good. Good tip. Shoot. Give me the Give me the Give me the freaking ball. Okay. Get up there. Okay. Here we go. What's up, Paul? That's ball one. Good reasons to stage. Yeah, if you do have stage flippers on your VPen, this is the time you really want them to be active. Damn it. All right, right here. No, no, no. Damn it. Do it. Ah, stop locking balls. I need one upgrade. That's all I need to do to beat to beat uh Marty. I just need one upgrade. Damn it. I thought it was most upgrades in a game. Well, I only need one to beat you. That's what I'm counting on. That you're not going to get any [] I'm on ball two. I'm on ball three. I'm on ball three, dude. Oh. Are you even going to get an upgrade? Yeah. I don't know. Let's try. Morpheus. Morpheus upgraded. So, you have to at least get Morpheus upgraded. Okay. Mhm. Don't tell them I already have two upgraded guys. Shut up. I'm going for the full set, Marty. Going for the full set. No, I know you are going for the full set. All right, I got three. Are you serious? Are you I got Naobi. I [***] Wait a minute. Wait a minute. It's up, guys. Wait a minute. Oh, bummer. He wins. Wait a minute. I got three. Did you really get Mono? I didn't get any. I I just I almost got Morpheus. I see. And I got up to the upper playfield more times than I should have. But it's tough. It's tough. Yeah. You got to think about it. It's completely different way of flipping up there. So if you look at my and it moves down so fast it's hard to cradle it. Yeah. So yeah, it's basically the Simpsons. Like we kind of model it out for the Simpsons. I'm sure Homegrown will be happy to hear that. That's great. So you guys, if you look at my game over screen, right, when it shows the Matrix, you'll see one, two, and three have been upgraded. That's how you can tell if your characters have been upgraded. And if you look over at Marty's, they're all still clear. So, first to start EMP, Marty knows how to start EMP. Tell me how. Okay, I'll tell you how. To start EMP multiball, there are three spinners that have batteries on them. One that you can't see, but it's only accessible by the right flipper, the left flipper. Um, you start the game with 50% of battery charge, so you only have to get them up to 100. You get them up to 100 by spinning the spinners. Um, you actually do build charge by hitting the pop bumpers, too, just in case you uh want to know. Um, Flood and Hard asks, "Okay, good question, Flutton Hard." But that's how you build your EMP. Once you build your EMP, tank will say EMP ready. Hold the action button to start EMP multiball. The first one between me and Marty to hold the action button and start the multiball wins the battle. Um, Flood wants to know what do the upgrades give you? So, Flood, the upgrades to the characters is strictly points. Any if you if you've upgraded Morpheus, any mode you play that has Morpheus in it, once you complete the mode, you'll see it says plus Morpheus upgraded, and that'll boost your score. I don't remember by how much, but it does do give you a boosted score. So, if you want to run the game and you want to get the points, you want to upgrade your characters. Um, there's the deja vu cat. Um, all right. You ready? The only one. Come off. Three, two, one, fire. Yeah, Marty, if you get a chance to glance up at your screen, you'll see the the lightning bolt and it tells you the status of your EMP charge. Yeah, I see it. I'm at 69 71%. 69. I'm at 60. I'm at 73. Come on. Dodge this. 75 and I drained. Got more piss. You did? Yeah. Good. That was two challenges ago. I know. Hey, I'm just making sure I can do it. 91. Crap. I was at 90. Okay, this will be a close one. Yeah. do your skill shot so you can get right to that ball. I mean, did you start multiball? I did not. No, I did not. And I'm draining now so I can so I can give you a shot. I'm going to start a new game. I'm just going to let it drain. I'm going start a new game. Okay. Oh, thank you. That's very nice of you. What percentage are you at right now? 73. I'mma beat you with that. studs for the ball. I'mma beat you with that. Okay, here we go. Boom. Wait. Quarter. Boom. All right. Continue. Crap. Come on. All two. Come on. I don't want white rabbits right now. I want spinners. I don't want locks. I want spinners. Come on. Damn it. Come on. COME ON. DADDY WANTS A new car. I new pair of shoes. I can't hit that spinner. 65. AH, we got it. Marty got it. Even through Even through damaged VPX, whatevers. We push through here. Fight, fight, fight. Good. Good job, buddy. And there's your EMP multiball started. Marty, do you believe? I believe. I'm beginning to believe. All right. Believe is what I call. It doesn't matter what I believe. It doesn't matter. Did you hear that? Hear what? Are you sure this line is clean? Of course. Why? Um, if you uh This is believe is what I call our sucker mode. All right. Every game has to have some kind of sucker mode. A sucker mode. The definition I have is of a sucker mode is a mode that um isn't super important for anything and it just it just tries to make you mess up. Right. So, um hit the captive ball to spell, right? In the beginning of the game, you're spotted I think B L I. All you need is EVE. Each hit to the captive ball will give you a letter, right? Once you've hit EVE, hit the captive ball once more and it'll start Believe mode, which is kind of the mode where Morpheus is explaining the Matrix to Neo and he either believes it or he doesn't believe it. So, do you want to There's two ways for us to play this. First one to start Believe or first one to I'd say start Believe and then play as much of Believe as you can. Yeah, I agree. Right. Since we're playing for informational edutainment, I think we should do now real quick. The Believe mode is kind of like if you've ever played um um The Mandalorian, it's kind of like ambush where the shots light up and you only get I think you get 10 seconds to clear as many shots as you can. Um if you do hit the captive ball again, it resets the 10 seconds. So if you find yourself fumbling, you can't hit a shot, hit the captive ball again and you'll get 10 more seconds. Um, there is a path to finishing Believe. All right. If you hold down the instant info like I'm doing right now and you go through, there's one segment section called Believe. If you look at my screen right here, BI is spelled. EVE is coming up. And then each each there's one, two, three, four, five, six shots to uh to make to complete Believe. Believe adds points to your bonus. Actually, Believe adds points to every Matrix mode that you've played. Not even completed. Every Matrix mode you've played will add a Believe bonus. The the more you can Believe, the bigger that bonus is. All right. How do you like that menu option on the side, Marty? So, you can quickly run a feature. Yeah. So, you see all your statuses there. All right. This will be the last one. We'll we'll see who can Believe fastest. If you get into Believe, play it out and see how far you get. But first person to Believe is the winner. All right, I'll count it off. Mhm. All right, ready? Three, two, one, Believe. Got to hit that captive ball. Hit that captive ball. Stop. Give me the Give me the Give me the ball. Nope. Missed it. Uh oh. Shoot. Where's Can you hit Believe during multiball modes? Yes, you uh No, you can't. I missed. Dang it. Oh, my finger slipped off the flipper. Where's Marty? Yeah, that happens to me. I'm nowhere. You haven't hit the ball yet. I I might have hit it lightly twice, but not enough to register right now. If you drain it, resets your Belief status, I believe. Can you hit the captive ball from the top flipper? It feels like you can. You can you can graze it enough. Every once in a while, I'll get that graze happen, but it's hard. All right, here we go. Nope. All right, skip it. Don't tell him, guys. Don't tell him what I just need to E. And then I drain. It's like literally three shots is all you need. But it's hard to hit that captive ball sometimes. E. Missed it. E. I got it. I think EVE and then one more hit. We'll start it. Crap. Damn training. Skip it. Damn it. Got it. Started it. All right. Now, I'm going to see how far I can get it. I did, too. Wait. Yeah, I started it. Okay. See how far I Oh, did No, you didn't. I I guess you have to hit it multiple times. You said you you have to spell Believe and then hit it one more time to start Believe. There we go. I got it. All right. See if you can hit shots quick. I drain really good though. I mean that was like star studded draining right there. I think that's it. Yeah. I I think it was great. Marty, thank you so much. Marty, you want to tell people about your stream and stuff real quick before we go? What's going on? Sure. Hi, I'm Marty. Uh, I stream at Game Club Central. I'm part of vpinhub.com. Uh, we're a group of streamers that does regular tournaments, VPX, FX, all sorts of platforms. Come join us live or on vpinhub.com. Cool, man. Do dude, thank you so much for doing this. Marty did pretty much all of this. Not I I'm not kidding. Like the layout Well, and we did it in like 30 minutes, both of us. I mean, this is great. We've come a long way, baby. Yeah. Love it. All right. Thanks for the hard work. Matrix Table is fantastic. Thank you, Ghosty TV. All right, let's go find somebody to read. Marty, love you, buddy. Love you. Be good to each other, guys.
  • Zach at Flipping Out has The Matrix VPX table in stock and can distribute it to interested players

    medium confidence · Manu responds to download question: 'ask Zach at Flipping Out where he can get the matrix table, right? I think Zach at Flipping Out has them in stock'

  • GameClubCentral
    person
    VPWcompany
    PCrediblesorganization
    Flipping Outvenue
    Pokemongame
    Stern Pinballcompany

    product_concern: Brief mention of 'damaged VPX' during EMP multiball challenge, though Manu and Marty persevere through the issue

    low · Manu notes: 'Even through Even through damaged VPX, whatevers. We push through here'

  • ?

    industry_signal: George Gomez and Jack Danger (Stern designers) visited homebrew booth at Expo to examine VPX projects, signaling cross-pollination between commercial and homebrew designers

    medium · Manu recalls: 'I caught uh George Gomez and Jack Danger hanging out at the homebrew booth and they... walked over to... they definitely look around'

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Training modes feature escalating difficulty with point multiplier rewards (1.3x to 2.0x), encouraging strategic progression and replayability

    high · Manu explains training system: green (1.3x), sparring (1.6x), red dress girl (1.8x max), with each successful shot in training adding 0.1x to multiplier

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Game features interconnected modes with multiple activation paths (e.g., Zion Frenzy accessible via hitting Z-I-O-N targets twice or accidentally during other modes); design encourages exploration

    high · Multiple instances where players accidentally trigger modes (training during mode attempts, mode transitions); Manu acknowledges this as intentional design: 'You can't escape training mode, it blocks everything'

  • ?

    design_innovation: Character upgrade system provides score multipliers for completed modes—Trinity upgrade boosts 'almost every mode' due to narrative significance, creating strategic depth for scorechasers

    high · Manu: 'if you've upgraded Morpheus, any mode you play that has Morpheus in it, once you complete the mode, you'll see it says plus Morpheus upgraded, and that'll boost your score'

  • ?

    venue_signal: Flipping Out (Zach's venue) serves as distribution point for The Matrix VPX table, suggesting emerging infrastructure for homebrew game dissemination

    medium · Manu: 'ask Zach at Flipping Out where he can get the matrix table, right? I think Zach at Flipping Out has them in stock'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Manu emphasizes importance of detailed work in attract modes and hidden content even though 'no one's ever going to see it' because it defines authenticity of a pinball machine

    high · Manu: 'I do all this work and no one's ever going to see it. But you got to do the work. Otherwise, it's not a real pinball machine, is it?'