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#15 Boston Chronicle TV visits Dr. Dave, the pinball doctor - The Classic Pinball Podcast

The Classic Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·43m 9s·analyzed·Nov 12, 2019
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.031

TL;DR

Boston Chronicle TV films Dr. Dave, a pinball collector, for its Game On segment.

Summary

The Classic Pinball Podcast (Episode 15) features a visit from Raman Cromwell of Boston Chronicle's "Game On" segment, which profiles unconventional gaming topics. The episode documents the filming of a TV feature on Dr. Dave, a pinball collector and restorer in Marlboro, Massachusetts, and includes post-interview discussion about the experience, community reaction, and production details.

Key Claims

  • There are four under-20-year-olds in the top 20 IFPA rankings, including one 12-year-old player

    high confidence · George, discussing competitive pinball and youth participation

  • Eric Stone, a friend of Dave's, is ranked number 14 in the world in pinball competition

    high confidence · George, describing Eric Stone's competitive ranking and podcast appearances

  • The Classic Pinball Podcast has listeners in eight different countries: Spain, Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand, Panama, the Canary Islands, and more

    high confidence · George and Dave discussing their worldwide listenership

  • Dave has been collecting pinball machines for about 20 years

    high confidence · George, discussing his friendship with Dave and collecting history

  • A good pinball podcast typically draws 2,000-3,000 listeners, which is a very small segment of the podcasting universe

    medium confidence · George, discussing audience size for pinball podcasts

  • The Classic Pinball Podcast is approximately five months old with about 15 episodes and records irregularly without scripts

    high confidence · George and Dave discussing their podcast format and production schedule

  • Game On is a recurring TV segment on Boston Chronicle that has featured e-sports, professional women's hockey, and now pinball (Level 3)

    high confidence · Raman Cromwell explaining the Game On segment concept

  • Dave met George through Rick Games Pinball classifieds about 20 years ago looking for local collector support

    high confidence · George discussing how he and Dave connected in the collecting community

Notable Quotes

  • “When you play against really good players, you should always try to play with people better than you are. Then you pick up things. We call it the pinball toolbox.”

    Dave @ N/A — Describes a learning philosophy for competitive pinball skill development

  • “It's really fun to see some people get excited because they really don't live in the world that we live in. We see it all the time, but to somebody who's unfamiliar with the pinball hobby, especially the collector hobby, I think they were dumbfounded.”

    Dave @ N/A — Reflects on the outsider perspective of pinball collecting community

  • “When I was playing pinball I'd go in this old bar or whatever, the dilapidated game, the flippers didn't work, nothing worked on it, that kind of thing, it was just trash. Then I come in here and look at your stuff and how old it is and how pristine it all is.”

    Raman Cromwell @ N/A — Highlights the contrast between deteriorated bar pinball machines and pristine collector machines

  • “We're brand new to this. We like it that way. We're breaking the mold, so to speak. There are no notes. We shoot from the hip, and we shoot often.”

    George @ N/A — Describes the unscripted, organic approach to The Classic Pinball Podcast

  • “The repetitiveness is uncanny. That's why Dave doesn't listen—he gets the abbreviated version from me.”

    George @ N/A — Critique of other pinball podcasts' formulaic content

  • “I thought I'd get a little kind of stage fright on it, but I said, I'm just going to be me. I know this stuff in the back. If I just relax, it'll just flow out.”

    Dave @ N/A — Dave's reflection on the TV filming experience and his comfort with the topic

  • “You're thinking back 30 years ago where the bar was stashed or the pinball was stashed in the back of the bar, never to see the light of day, kind of the seediness of it, where you look at how it's now a feature and out in the open.”

    George @ N/A — Historical context on the cultural shift in pinball's presence in venues

Entities

Dr. Dave (Dave O'Neill)personGeorgepersonRaman CromwellpersonEric StonepersonThe Classic Pinball PodcastorganizationBoston ChronicleorganizationGame OnproductRick Games Pinballproduct

Signals

  • ?

    content_signal: Boston Chronicle TV is featuring pinball collecting in a mainstream media segment, suggesting growing interest in pinball as a cultural topic worth profiling beyond niche gaming audiences

    high · Raman Cromwell from Boston Chronicle's 'Game On' segment filmed Dr. Dave for their 'Game On Level 3' episode, marking the first time pinball has appeared in this recurring segment

  • ?

    community_signal: Younger generations (30-40s) experience pinball differently than older players—as a collector hobby rather than a seedier bar activity from past decades

    high · Raman and Gino (both appearing to be 30-something) were surprised by pristine machines and unaware of the active collector community, contrasting with their vague memories of dilapidated bar machines

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Youth participation in competitive pinball is growing, with four players under 20 in the IFPA top 20 rankings, including one exceptional 12-year-old player

    high · George noted that youth participation is increasing: 'there are four under-20-year-olds in the top 20 [IFPA rankings], one of them's 12 years old, an amazing player'

  • ?

    content_signal: The Classic Pinball Podcast has achieved international reach within 5 months, with listeners across 8 countries despite minimal marketing and unscripted format

    high · George reports listeners in Spain, Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand, Panama, the Canary Islands, and more. Podcast has about 15 episodes and is 5 months old

  • $

    market_signal: Pinball podcast listenership is small but loyal; George estimates good pinball podcasts draw 2,000-3,000 listeners total, a tiny segment of the broader podcasting universe

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.130

0:00
Television, rules the nation. Television, rules the nation. I don't know if that could also be my angle on the car. Want me to get rid of, is that light, do you need it, or does it matter? Yeah, I think we need that on. You do need it, okay. Yeah, I just turned, I just opened up my camera light a little bit. All right.
0:56
You good to go? Talk a little bit so I can get a level, because I won't be able to monitor it much longer. 1, 2, 3, 4. Let's just talk to each other normally. Dave. George. Hello, George. What are we going to say about KISS? That's perfect. Yeah? Anytime, guys. Okay.
1:11
Hello, everyone, and welcome to episode 15 of the Classic Pinball Podcast. My name is George, and I'm joined by my co-host, Dave. Hello, Dave. Hello, George. Dave, today we're being visited by our friends at the Boston Chronicle.
1:51
Today we're joined by Raman Cromwell from Boston Chronicle. Welcome, Raman. Thank you very much. Glad to be here. We're so excited that you came today. I've been grinning from ear to ear all week. I guess my question to you is, what made you want to do a segment on Dave? well I'll tell you you know we've done a few of these pieces before I call them game on so we'll do everything from you know go hang out with the Celtics bowling to just the other day we did the professional women's hockey team people don't even necessarily know that there is a professional women's hockey league that is active in Boston has a team you know so we kind of look for things that you might say are a little bit on the fringe for our audience that they might be interested to hear about. And, you know, I'm looking for subjects, and I thought, oh, you know, arcades, stuff like that. And then this name comes up, you know, and I mean, I'm like, hmm, Dr. Dave. So you didn't have to dig deep? Didn't have to dig too deep, but then the more that I kind of read about him, the more I got interested in him. And then, you know, working in media, you start to think of lines sometimes before you even have the interview. I'm like, so the show's Game On, and here's the guy who keeps the games on. Yeah, right. Nice. So is Game On the name of your segment? And is this a recurring segment? Correct. So this is, I call it, I say it's Game On Level 3 because this is the third time that we've kind of played with these theme of games we've done. The original segment was kind of featured electronic gaming. so we went into e-sports to kind of top that off on the second iteration we ran around a little bit with the new professional rugby team so as i said we kind of cover all different areas of gaming and this is the first time pinball has made an appearance so awesome you're pioneers perfect so did you learn anything today that you might not have known about before and if so what i think it perused my website a little bit though you've got to do a little bit did your homework yeah you got a little bit i can't commit they always say you know in journalism anytime you ask a question you should have a sense of what the answer might be you don't want to be completely um surprised but what i'll tell you what really struck me and this is something that you know i'm used to working in television so i have to kind of describe it i have to remind myself this is a podcast but walking into to your game space with the finished machines looking pristine in a way that I've never seen a pinball machine. You know, anything that I've seen is in the corner of a bar, you know, with a cracked glass, you know, paint all over the ground. Like, you're lucky if it works, you know. Right. It's more likely to steal your quarter than to give you a ball to play with. Yep. So to see machines. So you really didn't realize there was a big collector community out there that had warehouses of games? I mean I own a dozen which is you know substantial but there are people like Dave and others and he's one of believe it or not many you know I didn't I had no idea the extent to which you know the community was also apparently really active and stuff that you told me regarding like some of the younger players and stuff like that I was quite surprised even the tournament scene you know is not something that was on my radar. I even do tournaments here, too, once in a while. I try to, like, at least twice a year. In your home? Yeah. I try to keep it friendly. I invite friends and so forth, you know, over a friendly competition. Throw some money down. Oh, nice, nice. And do, like, an afternoon of pinball, have a couple beers, a little food. Good times. I think you have the home court advantage, though. You're probably practicing the week before. One would think, but that's not always the case. It's not the case. A lot of times I'm working so much in these games. I work, work, work. And like I said to you earlier, Friday night, I might get a couple hours in and play some pinball, but I don't have the time to play them. I'd love to play them, but I don't have time to. So I'm actually coming in kind of cold like everybody else a little bit. But then again, I have played these games before, so I have a little bit of advantage. Right, but then you have me who has a basement full and plays on a regular basis and stinks to join up, and Dave takes my lunch money.

  • “It's refreshing to see somebody get really excited because they were looking back at their youth, and I think Rahman said that he was familiar with Fun and Games.”

    Dave @ N/A — Notes the nostalgic connection of newer generations to classic arcade venues

    • IFPA
    organization
    Pintasticevent
    Arcade Expo Houstonevent
    Fun and Gamesvenue
    Ginoperson
    Maureenperson
    Centaurgame
    Mystical Mangame
    Jeremyperson
    Jeffperson
    Star Warsgame

    medium · George: 'a good podcast will draw maybe 2,000 or 3,000 listeners. It's a real small segment of the podcasting universe. We draw a fraction of that'

  • ?

    community_signal: Local pinball collector networks form through online classifieds (Rick Games Pinball) and enable long-term friendships and mutual support for machine maintenance and troubleshooting

    high · George met Dave 20 years ago through Rick Games Pinball classifieds searching for local collector support, and Dave helped him troubleshoot issues repeatedly

  • ?

    design_philosophy: The pinball community values a 'pinball toolbox' concept—developing mastery of specific flipper techniques (drop catches, tap passes, etc.) through play against better players

    high · Dave describes learning from better players and mentions 'the pinball toolbox'—a framework of flipper skills that become natural through practice

  • ?

    content_signal: The Classic Pinball Podcast differentiates itself through unscripted, off-topic discussion and broader coverage (arcades, road trips, local events) versus formulaic tournament/news-focused competitors

    high · George criticizes other pinball podcasts for repetitive tournament and business coverage, while The Classic Pinball Podcast intentionally covers varied topics and stays conversational

  • ?

    venue_signal: Pinball has shifted culturally from hidden bar machines to featured hobby attractions, suggesting venues and collector spaces are becoming more prominent

    medium · George and Dave contrast the historical seediness of bar pinball (30 years ago) with how it's now a 'feature and out in the open' in collector spaces and barcades

  • ?

    competitive_signal: George is entering his first competitive tournament at the Arcade Expo in Houston, playing modern machines he doesn't know well, expecting to perform poorly

    high · George mentions traveling to Houston for Arcade Expo to play in his first tournament on modern games: 'I am just going to get my head handed to me. I know it'

  • ?

    community_signal: Raman's experience at Fun and Games arcade in childhood (1990s) left minimal impression compared to the excitement of seeing pristine collector machines—suggesting shifting cultural memory of pinball venues

    medium · Raman visited Fun and Games as a kid (probably 1990s) with mostly kiddie games and a few pinball machines, but didn't recall it with nostalgia like older players do

    • 6:15
    Where does that go? You think that the practice makes perfect. You know what helps? When you play against really good players, You should always try to play with people better than you are. Then you pick up things. We call it, another friend of mine, Jeff in Maine, called the pinball toolbox. So what tools do you have in your flipper capabilities? Can you drop catch? Can you tap pass? Can you all these different things you learn? And then you just get better and better at it and it just kind of becomes natural. It's so satisfying just to do like a drop catch. It's like, oh, I can really do that and take the shot and make the shot. I'm sorry. Sometimes this... Here's what happens when you have free software. Yeah. Sometimes this thing tends to shut off, and I don't know if it's because I'm connected via Verizon, and they decide to drop out or whatever. But, I mean, if you care to, we could go do that story one day. basketball story. Basketball story. I got five minutes before that. Yeah. We're going to, I'm going to be able to hack it up and make it work. Sure, sure. So yeah, you know, I just got back actually not too long ago. I went to Disney with my wife, two young kids and my sister-in-law was there and we were at an arcade and in the back they have one of those, you know, the side-by-side basketball things where you have the balls. I think they're little hoop shot, whatever. Exactly. You know, and I was attracted to it in part being a local guy. I think Larry Bird was on one and Magic Johnson. Yeah, right. So I get on the bird one, and then, you know, she says, let's play against each other. So we go, the timer's going, I'm focused. You know, I'm watching some shots go in. I think I'm doing pretty good. You can hear her making hers? I didn't hear much going on. She wasn't, like, you know, like, screaming. So I'm thinking I'm murdering her, you know. So time up, you know. I look at my score, 21. I'm smiling about that until I look to my left, and she's at, like, 58 or something like that. She gets the free play, and then, you know, I'm sitting there, and meanwhile, She's probably about, you know, 5'2". This is your sister-in-law? Yeah, and I'm this big. I have a feeling she might have played the game a few times somewhere. Something. Yeah, something. You know where those are. I can relate to the idea. Getting beat at your own game. I could see you sitting there with the two-player scores up, and you look over.
    8:36
    Especially, I guess, you know, when people come in, like Eric Stone, he'll come in here and say, oh, that's your high score? Not for long. He'll come in and just have five games on him, take it down. It's like, you know what, you've got to go. At least you know how to reset the score. That's true. I need to. Dave had the high score on my Centaur game for the longest time, you and Jeremy. Yeah, we did a team that's called Flippers. And I finally eclipsed it, but it took me seven or eight years to finally get. Oh, yeah. Well, he's really good. He has his moments, but, you know. Well, that was a little different, too, because Jeremy and I won on each Flipper. So I was doing this Flipper, he was doing that Flipper, and we still got a super high score on flippers. You guys had to do kind of a mind-velvety kind of thing. It's like that movie Pacific Rim. Yeah, exactly. It's like that. And it really works, though, because all of a sudden, if I trust what he's going to do like I am and we're both good, it'll happen. It's a thing. Believe it or not, it's a thing. It's timing. It's amazing that you just link in. Do they have any tournaments like that, like kind of two-person? They do once in a while. It's very rare because a lot of people don't get it. Yeah, I hear private more than like a public. More private. Right. But I would love to do one again to people that are into it. There's not enough people that are into it that would make it work. Well, that was from when we were kids. You know, you're running out of money, and somebody's got one quarter, and it's like, well, it's my quarter. I want to play. Come on, let's play flippers.
    9:54
    Or somebody was a lot better than you, and it's like, come on, let's play flippers because I know I might win a couple games because you're going to play with me, and we can play a little bit longer. That's cool. That's very cool. Great. I think we're going to cut it there. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you guys so much. That's great. I really appreciate it. That's awesome.
    10:13
    So what I want to do now, just while we have you here in position, just a couple quick questions for you that we can kind of cut into that. Okay. Cut into our story. And then we want to do just a brief couple minutes with you. And then absolutely, as we kind of break down, I'm happy to jump in there. Cool. I was reminded of a story. So I worked in New York for 15 years. and we were doing one of those icy hot promos with Shaquille O'Neal. Oh, nice. So I get to meet Shaquille O'Neal. I'm all excited. Yeah, there you go. I go up to him. Hi nice to meet you And he goes you need to put a little bass in that voice Thank you Mr Rundle Thank you I not seven foot one I got to bring it down I got that five times the size. Exactly, exactly.
    10:57
    And so how long have you been doing this? I'm sorry. I don't expect I'm going to like it. Let me grab the tree. Oh, we're going to put it on sticks. Oh, too shaky. Okay.
    11:12
    20 years. Oh, I see. There's one trick. What's 20 years? How long I've been collecting and how long I know you. I'm trying to anticipate the question. I was going to say how long I've been podcasting. Oh. That's that right there. How about five months? Yeah, yeah. Four months. Right. We're newbies. Yeah, we're brand new to this. We like it that way.
    11:36
    We're breaking the mold, so to speak. Yeah, what you're seeing is exactly how we go into it. There are no notes. There are no... Oh, hold on. I want to get all this. Yeah, you're going to get all this stuff. That's the good stuff. Wait for the... That's the gold. No, we shoot from the hip, and we shoot often.
    11:55
    So how long have you been into games, and how long have you been doing the actual podcast? I've been into pinball, oh, God, 50 years, ever since I was a little kid. But collecting about 20 years, I met Dave via Rick Games Pinball, looking for somebody nearby. In case I ran into issues, it's always nice to have a friend nearby who can bail you out. And Dave did that more than once early on, and we developed a long-term friendship. It's almost 20 years now. Excellent. How long have you been doing the podcast? Podcast is only about five months. we're approaching what our 15th episode and we don't record on a regular basis it seems to come in flurries we have no script we kind of free wheel our podcasts and talk about whatever's on our mind we try to stay pinball centric but we go off the rails quite a bit we have fun with it we're unlike a lot of other podcasts in that they tend to focus more on tournament talk the latest news and the business but when you listen to one podcast which i listen to i probably listen to six or seven of them the repetitiveness is uncanny it's just that's why dave doesn't listen he gets the abbreviated version for me and just tell us a little bit about your audience and people are probably shocked to know that there is a huge audience for a pinball podcast you know the audience thing is something that nobody talks about i've kind of figured out what i think some of the bigger podcasts do, or at least what they claim. And I think a good podcast will draw maybe 2,000 or 3,000 listeners. It's a real small segment of the podcasting universe. We draw a fraction of that, but we have loyal listeners and it's been building every episode. But we're across the board. We just don't talk about games. We talk about arcades. We have a road trip episode. We talked about Pintastic, which is the local pinball show that's coming up in June. So we're all over the board. Actually, I'm going to Houston on Tuesday, or excuse me, on Wednesday for a show in Houston, their Arcade Expo. And I'm going to be playing in my first tournament. And they aren't these games that I collect. I collect a lot of the games that Dave does.
    14:17
    They're all modern games, and I am just going to get my head handed to me. I know it. I don't know the encyclopedia, as Dave was talking about earlier. But he said something earlier that I thought was interesting, that although maybe it's not huge, there are some young people coming into the world. I mentioned it earlier. If you look at the IFPA, which is the International Federation of Pinball, there are four under-20-year-olds in the top 20. one of them's 12 years old an amazing player it's just incredible watching these young kids and i hope more of them get into it it's a it's a competitive pinball is competitive there there are some unbelievable players dave's got a friend eric stone who lives in florida who is ranked number 14 in the world right now he was on one of our recent podcasts he's been a podcast regular actually he's pretty funny uh so we try to you know we try to entertain people with a wide variety of uh of subject matter cool and what's it like working with this guy he said it earlier it's really easy it comes easy to us because we're good friends uh we would have long chats on the phone and i did try to shop dave around to some of the podcasts and crickets and i'm like it made no sense. Dave's vast knowledge, and he's got great pipes, he's been told that by a couple of broadcasters, he's really got a good voice, he'd be an asset. So I grabbed it and ran with it, and we've had a lot of fun. And hopefully it'll continue for a long time.
    16:06
    I just need you to get a couple of cutaways. I want to do a listening shot. Dave, I want you listening to your buddy. I just need something that the editor can cut to if they needed to. Do you need us to say anything or just... No, he's going to be... So, Dave, kind of listen and give him a couple of nods. That's right, George.
    16:24
    You're correct again, George. Sure. Great. I just want to get a tight shot of the microphone. Our $60 investment. You could have mentioned also worldwide... That's what they cost. You don't have to buy anything really expensive. Worldwide listenership. No, you're listening to the budget podcast. But we're all around the world. people are listening oh i didn't even talk about that we're in a lot of different countries we're in eight different countries we're in eight different countries i forgot about that yeah i'll keep you honest yeah there's still i mean we could go in a lot of different directions you know that all right whenever you're ready one thing that i failed to mention is we're in i think eight different countries we're in spain we're in australia which is a strong one canada obviously, England, New Zealand, Panama, the Canary Islands. That's a pretty good spattering. I mean, we're not in non-English speaking places. Antarctica? Are we there yet? No, we're not in Antarctica. That's a shame. We've got to work on that.
    17:34
    All right. Now, Dave, I just want to get you, can you do that Antarctica line again? George, are we broken Antarctica yet? No, not yet. Okay, well, we've got to work on that. Now, George, are you going to give your response?
    17:50
    No, we're not. What was the response? Are we in Antarctica yet? Have we made Antarctica? No, we have not made Antarctica yet, but there's always tomorrow. Okay, good.
    17:59
    Great. Okay, if Rahman is done, I just need you to step out so I can get a couple of tight shots of the... Will do. Yeah.
    18:13
    Dave, I want to thank Rahman Cromwell for taking a couple of minutes out of his busy day to talk to us. What did you think of the experience? Was it what you expected or totally different? It actually went a lot smoother than I thought. I thought I'd get a little kind of stage fright on it, and I kept worrying ahead of time, like, what am I going to say? Do I kind of know what I'm talking about? I said, I think I do. I said, you know, I'm just going to be me. I'm just going to roll with it. I know this stuff in the back. If I just relax, it'll just flow out. So that's what I wound up doing. Guys were great. Cameraman, Gino, and Raman. Great guys, a lot of fun. Gino liked playing the Mystical Man. He's actually playing. I haven't seen this thing in 20 years. Go ahead. Have fun. Go at it. Did you see their eyes when you took them downstairs and they turned around and saw all those machines? Yeah, they looked past me first. I said, no, you guys are missing it. Look that way. wow look at all those look those machines their eyes were as wide as saucers uh i was commenting to maureen it's really fun to see some people get excited because they really don't live in the world that we live in we see it all the time but to somebody who's unfamiliar with the pinball hobby especially the collector hobby I think they were dumbfounded by the amount of games that you had what I thought was a really humbling point for me is when Raman was saying that usually when I was playing pinball I'd go in this old bar or whatever, the dilapidated game the flippers didn't work, nothing worked on it, that kind of thing, it was just trash and I come in here and look at your stuff and how old it is and how pristine it all is so he's just giving me all kinds of praise about it it's very humbling experience you know it was it was great getting that from from both of them well it it plays to the he's thinking back 30 years ago where the bar was stashed or the pinball was stashed in the back of the bar never to see the light of day and kind of the seediness of it where you look at how it's now a feature and out out in the open but he's a young guy with a young family certainly he's not going to a barcade on friday night i'm sure he wanted to get out of here and get back to his family so yeah so really doesn't have the you know the understanding and experience of seeing pinball in the wild now and i don't think he's alone i think there's a lot of people out there that are probably sitting you know in the same boat as he is yeah they have no idea until he kind of opened his eyes about the greater pinball community out there and other people have collections and the whole collecting community. And we didn't even get into the fact about the barcade thing and all the other stuff out in the wild that there is. Right. Well, they were focused on, and most people are when they come to visit you at your house with your machines, is how pristine and how new. And it goes back to what I just said about the bar image. they thinking that you taken that beat up played machine in the back of the bar home and have done nothing and kept that stinky smoky mess Well, hold on. Some people will take that. They will throw some Windex on it, but then you're done. No, but, right. I think that's where the expectations were. And it's refreshing to see somebody get, two people get really excited because you know both of them were looking back at their youth, And I think Rahman said that he was familiar with Fun and Games, that he had visited there when he was, I'm guessing when he was a kid, although he looked, you know, he looked like he was probably a 30-something. Yeah, 30-something. He seemed a 30-something. Right. Yeah, I think so. So that would make the sweet spot for him, what, the 90s, I guess? Probably the 90s, but there really wasn't much there. I mean, a lot of kiddie gambling, couple pinball machines, you know. Yeah. It's, I don't know. I just thought it was interesting, and I find it more interesting every day that I'm a little bit on the older side and don't really understand the experience of people that are 25 or 30 years younger than me. They see the pinball collecting hobby and the playing in a totally different construct than I do.
    22:52
    I mean, I'll play any pinball, ramper or not, I don't care. but it's just funny perspective wise because he none of them you know neither one of them lit up and said oh i remember that yeah they didn't so so that tells me george you're getting a little bit older and that these machines are getting pushed a little bit farther back although gino was he's seen almost our contemporary especially he remember missile command so he knows that game so right but so he was a little bit young he he's a little bit younger he might He might not have been a pinball guy either. He might have been a video guy at that point. Well, right. Well, because they were getting ripped out of the arcades, and, you know, for the most part, the only thing you could play was, you know, video-type games.
    23:36
    I thought it was also interesting that, you know, they were looking at the playfields real closely and said, did you repair these? And I know you can't go into a, you know, a long dissertation about, no, you can buy new old stock. Right. But that's just kind of lost on a public forum like Boston Chronicle. Those people could care less. It's, hey, there's pinball again? Wow. Oh, these are, wow, we're sitting here in our rocking chairs, Margaret. Look over there. Those are all the games that we played when we were kids. They're 40 years old. They look like they're brand new. Right. Look at that. I never thought for a million years, right? I'm guessing, I mean, I don't know what the audience is for Chronicle, but it sounded like this gaming thing was, you know, again, living in New Hampshire, I watch my Chronicle in New Hampshire. It's rare unless, you know, you're going to be on TV or, you know, there's somebody calls me up and says, hey, I'm going to be on Chronicle to go watch the Boston version of it. I mean, it's basically the same thing. It's just your backyard. It's great for many reasons, but Chronicle interviewed me way back when, when I first started in this business.
    24:53
    And now they've come back around again. And I don't even know if they realize there's a whole new crew that's interviewing me again. But now, from back then to now, things have changed. I've kind of matured in my business. And I've really got going a bunch of different variety of games and so forth. earlier but it's neat this in his whole techie take on game on I think it's gonna have a younger audience it sounds like from what he had it sounds like more of a younger gaming audience Dave were there any questions that you were unprepared for that Rahman asked you? Or do you think it was, you know, standard operating procedure? He pretty much asked you the standard questions. Yeah, there was one that kind of threw me a little bit. I wasn't quite ready for it. It was the artwork question. Like, I forget even what the question was. Oh, I do. He was asking you, are there any famous artists? And I think he was looking for you to say, oh, well, Andy Warhol or Keith Haring. Oh, okay. You know, he was looking for, you know, I don't think he was looking for Rembrandt and Monet. Right. That's where he was going. He was going there. I think that's where he was going. And I'm like, I'm not even sure I could answer who a contemporary artist would be.
    26:23
    I mean, would you be able to recite who's today's contemporary artists? No. You done over there? Where are you going? Hey, noisy. Hey, Sharon, settle down.
    26:40
    No, it's just a big mouse over there chewing the cheese. Wait a minute. No, that's a chipmunk. It's a certain feeder that's happening. No?
    26:51
    Don't worry, Maureen. We'll make fun of you a little bit more. That's okay. We are hanging out talking. We are talking. That's our whole shtick. That's how we do it. That's how we roll, man. That's our whole shtick. So to get back to answering, we'll probably leave that in. I think he was looking for us to come up with somebody that he recognized, but as I was saying, I don't think I could come up with a contemporary artist that somebody would recognize. I don't.
    27:26
    Joel de Guzman. Joel de Guzman, exactly. That comes to mind. Hey, Christopher Franchi. Right. Or who's the other, the new guy, Johnny Crap. Johnny Crap? Yeah, he's the one who did. That's the guy that made the toilet, the crapper. No, that's John Crapper. No, this is Johnny Crap. I think he did the artwork on the latest Star Wars for Stern. Does this stuff stink? Oh, just kidding. No. Hold on. Bad joke. Thank you. Anyway, yeah. you're good for at least one of those on every show no i i mean pulling the curtain back i mean i think that's probably what most people uh there wasn't anything i was surprised by you know other than gino the cameraman saying hey would you do that again and say this again i knew where he was he had my heart he doesn't like to edit and i don't blame him he was like dave do you mind saying that again oh so he's actually getting certain pieces pieces that he can kind of well he did he i gotta believe when these two guys go back to the office i'm guessing dave with the influence of ramen will say okay here's the storyline they've got like we do we they have the complete picture they're gonna watch once through it and go okay we got all this footage how do we make a coherent what did he say four minutes story i think he said four to seven minutes was it seven or four i said seven i thought i heard four out of him but it's okay we'll time it when it happens but you know he interviewed that's that was what surprised me he interviewed you for i stopped recording i had it on my phone i stopped recording after 20 more he has the whole thing right but the whole behind he recorded you he said oh we're going to only do 20 minutes he did at least 35 minutes of recording so it's going to be well you said why you say four minutes for it's been a 20 minute recording right he said four no but i'm saying how much of that 35 minutes ends up on the editing room floor he's going to make a story out of it you're not going to be on chronicle for a half an hour no but you say i'm going to be on chronicle four minutes you think you think it's a four minute segment i think it's going to be a little bit more than that but yeah i i think you're he said you're going to be the standalone at the end oh that's right okay right so again i don't watch boston chronicle but if it's like new hampshire chronicle it's feature story second story they got this guy fritz weatherby who does this you know new hampshire thing where he visits all these places around new hampshire the weather close so i'm guessing you'll be the second story or if they don't have the fritz Weatherby thing, you're the third entry, because a half-hour show is edited down to 22 minutes. That's it. Oh, so it's only a half-hour show. Well, it's actually 22 minutes, because you've got to put eight minutes of commercials in every half-hour. Yeah, so that's a lot of content from all, you've got to cram into it. Right, well, you've got the opening, Chronicle, you know, they play the theme song and all that jazz. I don't even know, do you even know who the hosts are on Chronicle? I'm watching it in quite a while. Well, we probably, it's almost quarter to seven, so we can find out in a few minutes and find out who the hosts are. Forgive me, again, I don't live in Boston, but we'll find out. And it'll be interesting to see how they overdub the segment because Rahman just asked us the questions. He's not part of the show. He goes, no, I'm not part of the shot. I'm not part of the show. so that leads me to believe that you're not going to hear him at all no i don't hear him at all and that was actually surprising i thought i thought he was actually the interviewer and the guy well especially for this game on segment right i'm figuring like he's the feature reporter hey you know i'm i'm raman cromwell here with game on sports you know today we're visiting uh dr dave o'neill in marlboro massachusetts you know yada yada yeah and he does his you know opening script Well, I'm wondering how they're going to do that. How are they going to have the back shot of whoever's going to ask me the question? What's going to be in the back of them for a shot? It looks like they're in the room with me. How are they going to make that magic TV? And that's going to make for another show where we do a post-listening party because Dave's going to have a monster party here. We're all going to sit and watch around his big screen TV. Yes. now I forgot the question I was going to ask you or the observation is it about the back shot of the people asking me a question is it part of that gig with the interviewers that we're not going to see oh you know oh no now I know what it is and it going to infuriate you oh here comes Janice Let take a bet Do you think that they are going to say the words pinball wizard Oh, boy. I was ready for it, too. I was ready for the question. And your response was going to be? It was going to be, no, I'm the pinball doctor. Which would have been great. It would have been great. You were saying, George, originally we should tell the guy before he gets in the house, listen, you're not going to mention pinball wizard. But he never did. But he never did, which I thought was great. Right, but we don't know who's doing the overdubbing and how they're going to phrase these questions. They can ask a totally different question and my answer is to a different question. I don't know. Hopefully not. Hey, Dave, you're some kind of pinball nerd, aren't you? Well, yes, of course I am. Right. Exactly. It could go any way. Hey, George, your voice really is terrible. Did you know that? Of course I did. I mean, you know, but that's, hey, I place faith. he's a good guy he's going to hear this before we see his so sure so hey ramen do us a solid yes you know do us a solid if you listen to this and make sure that we're represented not like these two kooks that live in a basement and do a podcast that's like you know i don't live in my mom's home I own my own home I'm not sequestered down there that's not me and that's certainly not Dave but that's what people there are some kooks out there but we ain't them well never mind I'm not even going to go you're not baiting me you did, you did pretty good you had that big piece of cheese there in the trap and I'm smart enough to know I know what the trap does. It goes snap.
    34:12
    Nope. Not yet anyway. Nope. Gee, George, you're real smart, aren't you, George? Yeah, yeah, real smart. I can't think of anything else that took place that was unusual. It was a lot of fun. I'm just wondering what it's going to look like. I'm wondering what Pumpkinhead's going to look like on TV. that would be me. Pumpkin head. Yeah. Got a large cranium. No, not that kind of hat. Just a big hat. A poopy hat? No, let's not go down the poop emoji thing again, please. Although we do have to get those hats. Maybe we'll... We'll have Eric buy us some. Eric should go buy some of those tokens. No, I saw them online. They're like five bucks. Maybe that'll be our... We'll do that for Christmas. We'll wear those. Instead of dressing up with a Santa Claus hat, which would be like everybody, Yeah, poop emoji. We'll put on the poop emoji hat with the Santa Claus beard. That sounds good. I like that. Poopa Claus. I'm going to hell now. Merry Poopa Claus. Well, no, he's not a religious figure. He's not a religious figure at all. Right, he's just some guy made up to sell a lot of crap.
    35:23
    And that concludes another episode of the Classic Pinball Podcast. I'd like to extend my thanks to Raman Cromwell of the Boston Chronicle, producer, and to my co-host Dave. Dave, you did a fantastic job and I look forward to seeing you in the movies.
    35:43
    Well, that was something certainly different. So to all of you out there, be good and be well. I want to tell everybody to keep those spinners spinning and have a blessed day and be grateful.
    36:04
    I feel so tired on Saturday night 9 o'clock, radio's the only night Today we're going to talk about Kiss But not the Kiss that most people know we're going to talk about Ballykiss Suspect, whether it's 1978 or 79, does it really matter? It's decades ago. Exactly. Yeah, 79, great game. This game was actually supposed to be, KISS really wanted this to be the first talking and real music coming out of a game at the time. They wanted to be cutting edge. Unfortunately, the budget wasn't there for Bally to do that. Xenon got that honor instead. so this game had to settle with just some of the kiss tunes done by a sound card, little beeps and boops and tones instead. A little bit different than what they do today. Yes. Let's focus on what we normally do is give a rundown of the specs on the game. We know that this game is done by Jim Patla, right? That's right, Patla. He was the designer, and the artist is a gentleman by the name of Kevin O'Connor. Kevin O'Connor, yes. Yeah, he did a lot of Valley games. Okay, I'll put you on the spot. Yeah, sure, you can get a spot.
    37:31
    I need my list in front of me. Yeah, I know. We're flying without a net today. That's okay. That's all right. That's okay. We'll do it in post-production. Right. Let's talk a little bit about the game itself. Well, let's see. It's Gene Simmons and the rest of the crew on there. This particular copy is, I actually got this one of the first games ever bought. I bought it for, I think, like $1,000 back in the day, not working, and Playful was torn up. So I got it touched up. I automotive clear-coated, so now it looks like a new old stock clear-coated playfield, and the ball just flies around the field. I basically brought this to my look-and-play-like new spec. Well, let's talk a little bit about that. You alluded to playfield protectors upstairs, the cheap bands, clear coat. I haven't done a clear coat recently, but I'm guessing we're up in, what, the $500 range to have a playfield clear-coated? Yeah, if you can find a guy to do it. A good guy to do it. A good guy to do it, yeah. You can go to Jim Bob's auto shop and maybe they'll spray it for you, but there might be some bugs and dust in it. You might be taking your chances with it as well. Exactly. Especially with something so valuable as this game. Sister Games, 1979. Let's see. Dolly Parton.
    38:43
    Well, were those the only two artists that they did back in the day? Let's see. Kevin O'Connor. And you got Paul Farris. Right. You know, Paragon upstairs. Right, but I'm saying other bands, not like... Other bands. Yeah, Rolling Stones. Oh, that's right. Yeah. Oh, they were eyeballing that earlier. Yeah. Oh, yeah, I got a Rolling Stones cabinet all repainted by a good friend, Dave. Good to go. Right, Dave Matrando doing your cabinets. And the one thing that I wanted to point out you didn't say earlier was the feel of a cabinet. When you look at these cabinets, your hand glides across it really nice. There is no differentiation between the colors. That's an art in itself. Sure, especially these days. The paint on these cabinets were done with, I don't know if it was lead-based or whatever it was. Steel plates, right? They just threw down these brass plates. Brass plates, throw them down, done, keep them going on an assembly line. So whatever paint they used, they didn't have to use too much at all, real quick. The paints they're using nowadays to do this stuff, you actually have to lay down thicker so you can feel something on it. You can feel an edge. the other thing we need to talk about is the number of games produced this uh was in the high range 17 17 000 is what i read so and you see these from time to time but i know for a fact you don't see them looking like this no i i haven't found one looking like this you guys okay yeah we're awesome I was made for loving you, and I can't get enough of you, baby. Can you get enough of me? I was made for loving you, baby.
    40:29
    I can't get enough. No, I can't get enough. I was made for loving you, baby. Oh, no, we didn't cover it at all. We didn't cover it at all. No, we left out the most important part. We'll hack it up and then we're done. Let's uncover it. Okay. You want to sell a specific game. It's the game that's going to be on Chronicle. Yes. That game would be Kiss. So, I'll do the pitch. Hey, boys and girls. Want a really, really nice Bali pinball game from 1979? It's a four-letter word. It's called Kiss. Dave's going to sell the kiss that you see on Chronicle. So get out your wallet,
    41:19
    grab all those little green pieces of paper, go to Dave's website, call him up, and give him all your cash. Well, not all the cash, but a substantial portion. Right. Well, that you can talk about. But he's selling kiss. So first come, first serve. Just in time for Christmas, kids. That's right. He doesn't have anything else. It's only this game. So get them while they're hot. Exactly. And it's hot.
    41:54
    I forgot. I want to ask one more question. When are we going to see this episode air? Right. So our turnaround is generally about in the three-week range. So it'll be early December. Oh, Christmas time. Awesome. There you go. So maybe you want to get that machine fixed. This one's actually for sale. I'm going to be selling it. Well, that's... It didn't make Chronicle, but it's going to make our podcast. Dave wants to sell this. Yeah, I'm ready to let Kiss go. For the right price, I'm ready to let her go. Yeah. Can we do a... I did last year the show, and it was basically, like, for sale, like, real items, rare items for sale. We had an island in the Cape that was up for sale. Wow. Yeah.
    42:35
    Got, you know, a great pinball machine like New York. Yes. Sure. So... Outro Music