Journalist Tool

Kineticist

  • HDashboard
  • IItems
  • ↓Ingest
  • SSources
  • KBeats
  • BBriefs
  • RIntel
  • QSearch
  • NName Review
  • +Health

v0.1.0

← Back to items

The Pinball Podcast Episode 220 – Donkey Soccer

The Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·1h 20m·analyzed·Aug 18, 2023
View original
Export .md

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.028

TL;DR

Jessica discusses BPAC tournament experience, tiebreak on Donkey Soccer, and community impact.

Summary

Jessica recounts her experience at Brisbane Pinball and Arcade Club (BPAC) in Australia, a 10-day pinball event she helped organize and compete in. She describes the tournament structure, volunteer efforts, and her personal tournament run, highlighted by a three-way tiebreak on Donkey Soccer and advancement through B-Division finals. The episode opens with personal context about her ongoing divorce proceedings affecting her pinball activity.

Key Claims

  • Jessica's divorce trial is scheduled for early September (day after Labor Day)

    high confidence · Jessica, personal disclosure about legal proceedings

  • BPAC is a 10-day pinball and arcade event held in Brisbane, Australia at a brewery venue

    high confidence · Jessica, describing BPAC structure and logistics

  • The Australian Women's Pinball Championship had 50 participants in the year described

    high confidence · Jessica, reporting tournament statistics

  • Donkey Soccer tiebreak was used to determine the final A-Division spot

    high confidence · Jessica, describing tournament bracket mechanics

  • Grant (from Australia) won best restoration award at BPAC for a Nine Ball machine

    high confidence · Jessica, describing specific game restoration and awards

Notable Quotes

  • “pinball is a big part of preserving my sanity throughout it all”

    Jessica @ early in episode — Personal statement about pinball's mental health value during life crisis

  • “I don't need my Xanax. like it's just an odd thing like I'm always just really happy and comfortable there”

    Jessica @ mid-episode, discussing Australia visit — Describes therapeutic effect of BPAC community and environment

  • “contentment and connection in combination are quite a powerful antidepressant”

    Jeff @ mid-episode response — Affirms connection between community participation and mental wellbeing

  • “he deserves this spot, like way, way more than I do”

    Jessica @ discussing Nick's tournament situation — Shows collaborative community spirit and advocacy for other players

  • “I don't want it... I can guarantee you whoever it is who's in the tie break with me wants it more than I do because A-Division is just so serious”

    Jessica @ reacting to three-way tiebreak news — Reveals attitude difference between competitive/serious play and fun-focused approach

Entities

JessicapersonJeffpersonChadpersonNickpersonPaulpersonGrantpersonJess (Belvoir resident)personDanepersonDirkpersonRustyperson

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: Australian Women's Pinball Championship grew to 50 participants; described as welcoming, supportive, lighter atmosphere than other events; attracts male players wanting less serious environment

    high · Jessica reported 50 women participated; 'everyone was so supportive and wonderful' and 'guys want to play in it because it's just a little more lighthearted'

  • ?

    event_signal: BPAC tournament format uses modern bracket systems (Ward Pemberton style divisions A-E, match play groups); venue setup shifted from all-classics to banks of classic/mid/modern; includes arcade events running parallel to pinball events

    high · Jessica detailed daily schedule across 10 days, tournament format with division selection, bank selection mechanics, parallel arcade programming

  • ?

    community_signal: BPAC uses machines sourced from various venues and private collectors; machines recognized with best restored/best playing/best DMD awards; high curation and appreciation for game quality and restoration

    high · Jessica described machine sourcing, grant's award-winning restoration, metallic finishes on Nine Ball, recognition of restoration quality

  • ?

    community_signal: Pinball and BPAC community provides therapeutic mental health benefits (reduced need for anxiety medication, contentment, connection); described as antidote to pandemic isolation and personal crisis

    high · Jessica: 'I don't need my Xanax' when in Australia; 'pinball is a big part of preserving my sanity'; Jeff: 'contentment and connection in combination are quite a powerful antidepressant'

  • ?

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.243

0:00
you're listening to the pinball podcast hi jessica hi jeff it's episode 220 how is this possible time is a flat circle or something like that. Time is an illusion. Lunchtime. It's not possible, but somehow we've done it.
0:33
I know. It's, um, I don't know. I'm confused, but delighted at the same time. I'm a little angry. Are you? No. With me, what did I do? I could never be mad at you. Oh, we both know that's not true.
0:54
I haven't yet. Let me put it that way. We still have the rest of our lives. Yeah. I have a feeling. Joyful threat? I don't know. It is definitely a threat. I think you're definitely going to outlive me.
1:14
So. Get your attempts to make me add in. You still haven't seen the full extent of my klutziness. So if there's a way I can manage to hurt myself, it's happening.
1:28
Well, I haven't seen it, but I will be excited to hear tales of it as you run into those klutzy moments. Run into? I see what you've done there. Exactly. Exactly. What is it, though? And it's like the oh-ho girls and bruises river, but for real, you all have bruises on your legs that you can never explain. I mean, I can explain some of them. Some. Yeah. I don't know if I can explain them on this show. Yeah. I have mental bruising, which will never be explained, so I shouldn't be talking.
Lambo
person
Jimmyperson
Daveperson
Robperson
Junglesperson
Brisbane Pinball and Arcade Club (BPAC)event
Australian Women's Pinball Championshipevent
Norbert Snicer Cupevent
Brisbane Mastersevent
Netherworldvenue
The Winstonvenue
Donkey Soccergame
Freakier Than Fictionproduct

competitive_signal: Clear distinction between fun-focused players and A-Division serious competitors; different vibe and mental approach; some players withdraw if unable to reach A-Division

high · Jessica's reluctance about A-Division, description of group vibe change at higher levels, Nick's withdrawal threat if not making A-Division

  • ?

    operational_signal: BPAC tournament coordination requires early morning/late night volunteer effort; multiple tournament formats (match play, best game, pairs, team events); tiebreak procedures used to determine division placement

    high · Jessica described being there early mornings/late nights, various tournament types across 10 days, tiebreak on Donkey Soccer for A-Division spot

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Specific gameplay observations: Wheel of Fortune played like EM (less flipping better); Johnny Mnemonic requires spinner for lock qualification; Data East Star Wars sympathy multiball mechanic on ball three; Donkey Soccer high variance; Crosstown very low scoring with rare rolls

    medium · Jessica's detailed gameplay descriptions and strategic observations about each machine encountered

  • ?

    restoration_signal: Machine condition and restoration quality directly affects gameplay experience; well-maintained machines play consistently; aesthetic restoration (metallic flake paint) noted as part of overall presentation

    high · Jessica's praise for grant's Nine Ball restoration playing 'like a dream' and looking 'absolutely gorgeous'; noted Centaur 'playing beautifully all week'

  • ?

    content_signal: Chad's podcast 'Freakier Than Fiction' featured in cross-promotion; BPAC volunteers have adjacent content projects; community creators interconnected

    high · Jessica promoted Chad's podcast about Australian oddities; mentioned Two-Bit Movie Club organizing pinball video clip show

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Jessica shifting from mental/physical exhaustion (personal crisis) to renewed engagement with pinball community; Australia trip serving as reset point; anticipating return to full participation post-divorce trial

    high · Opening: 'completely wiped out'; later: 'I never was feeling tired or terrible because I was always just happy'; 'pinball activities will be picking up real soon'

  • ?

    venue_signal: BPAC held in brewery with unique atmosphere (brew tanks visible); venue has restaurant, bar, specialty beverages (ginger beer, cider); separate bar setup for busy tournament days; venue quality impacts event experience

    high · Jessica described brewery setting, multiple beverage/food options, atmospheric elements of brew tanks looming over play

  • ?

    regulatory_signal: Australian cultural distinction: 'Pokies' refers to poker/gambling machines; 'Pinnies' (pinballs) term used to distinguish from pokies; community sentiment against pokies expressed through merchandise ('Pinnies, Not Pokies' shirts)

    high · Jessica explained pokies distinction, purchased Winston pub shirt with 'Pinnies, Not Pokies' slogan, described Hobart community's serious stance on not wanting pokies

    • 2:06
    Emotional bruising. Emotional hemorrhaging. Okay, so let's get into episode 220. Yeah. And I know you've been doing a whole heck of a lot, so I'm going to be a jerk and jump in front of you. Not just to be first, but to give you the full uninterrupted stage. Okay, that's fair. Okay, so what I've been doing in pinball is not much.
    2:34
    That's pretty much it. So I think I have explained enough times on the show that life has been buck wild for the past, let's call it four years now, four years plus. Um, but I, I, uh, I filed for divorce in 2019 and it has been a crazy process, which is finally coming to its end. I have my divorce trial coming up, um, the day after Labor Day, so early September. And I've had a lot to do to prepare for that. Um, I've had a very needy lawyer who needs lots of things. which I appreciate the thorough nature, but it has consumed my life lately. I wake up in the morning and have three to four emails of, can you find this? Can you find that? And I've been going in almost daily just to go over things. So yeah, that's been it. That's, that's been my pinball life.
    3:38
    I've been, I mean, we still have our weekly tournaments and stuff down in Salt Lake. I've just been too tired to go. Like I'm mentally exhausted. I'm physically exhausted.
    3:48
    Um, I dropped in before the tournament started last week just to say hi to some people, um, give out some shirts and stuff, but I'm just, I'm completely wiped out. So pinball activities will be picking up real soon. Um, part of it is just when I feel like I can mentally and physically handle it. Um, and, uh, I'll get there, but I still love pinball. I think about it every single day and, uh, yeah. That's just kind of why nothing's been happening to me in Pimmo the last month or so. So that's the bummer of the show. We're done with that. Let's hear about your... It sounds like you're coming out on the other side of it finally after a long time, and that's wonderful. And I'm glad that you have someone who is detailed enough to take care of you and look after everything to make sure that it's taken care of properly. So I know that has to have been a very tedious process, and I'm glad that you're finally coming to the end of it. And happy for all of your new life chapters.
    4:58
    I know. It's been such a crazy thing because when you go through something like that, I guess it's not universal. For a lot of people, they take it as an opportunity to kind of resurvey everything happening in their lives, which I have done. I've changed a lot of things about how I do things. and approach stuff in life.
    5:16
    So I think in the end it will all be a good, positive outcome for both me and my kids. It's just been a hard road getting here. But I guess, like, you know, doing hard things is only so scary. Once you get in the midst of it, you just kick over to your survival mode and you do the thing. But, yes, I did want to say, though, that pinball is a big part of preserving my sanity throughout it all. and that definitely includes many of our listeners. They've been awesome.
    5:50
    So thanks to all. And let's get to the fun stuff. Let's talk about what you've been doing. You've done a few things, right?
    6:01
    Just a little bit. You know, nothing huge. Just, you know, went to Australia for BPAC. Best time of the year. we're switching gears really suddenly I completely forgot to get the didgeridoo sound effect this time aww um yeah Brisbane is my favorite time of the year everybody has to hear me talk about it all the time but I don't care because I love it so much um let me just take this away from Jessica do not oh don't even try to take this away from me Let me just say this. I know I keep saying it's 10 days of amazing events. It's amazing humans. Like everything about it is just so spectacular. So we went out a few days early to help get all everything ready on the tech front. So get the games organized and go through everything, make sure they're all working properly and tuned up and set to tournament standards, yada, yada. But let's have fun stuff. Can I make a request real quick while you tell the story? Yeah. Don't refer to them as games. Please call them pinnies.
    7:12
    Pinnies, not pokies. Just pinnies is just so wholesome. Pinnies is super wholesome, and I got, after it was all over, we went to Hobart, Tasmania for a few days, and there's a pub there called The Winston that I specifically went to get their pinball shirt, which just says, pinnies, not pokies, on the back. And pokies is like poker. gambling machines okay okay yep so um that's a hobart's an interesting place uh and they are very serious about a lot of things and not wanting things to change there and the stuff that they like or don't like they're very vocal about stuff uh and they take things very seriously so they do not like the poker machines and uh the winston has some some pinball machines in there um most of which were turned off at the time so we didn't even play anything but i love the sentiment of it so sorry no don't be sorry all right pennies okay so so b-pack is 10 days of pinball parentheses and arcade parentheses events um because we do nothing with the arcade stuff but there is a dedicated community there that does. So let me just run quickly through the schedule of stuff that we did. On the 14th, there was a Fair Strikes tournament, and then they did kickoff qualifying, kind of like a best, like a Papa style card format. And then the 15th, there was Classics Target Match Play Qualifying. 16th was Finals for that. And then they had the kickoff comp like best game comp continued qualifying those two days and then finals that night so if you didn't make it into those finals or if you got kicked out then we had the jokers wild tournament which i ran so it's like a pairs tournament and it's just silly and ridiculous and kind of like a smack talking comp and you get to split flip and challenge other teams to different games and it's just a silly, fun, loud, ridiculous time, which I love. The 17th was Brisbane Pinball Club at Netherworld, which is one of my happiest places on earth. And then the 18th, there was pin golf on the Sunshine Coast. Then on the 19th, there was the Big Bash Comp and also a best game qualifying that happened. The 20th was, um, three strikes tournament. The 21st was the Australian women's pinball champs, which I started and run every year. And it was so freaking fun. And we had 50 women this year. I was so happy, just such a killer group of ladies and everyone was so supportive and wonderful. And it's always my favorite of the events, just how great everyone treats each other and treats me as the TD, like very polite and nice. And I don't know, it's a whole different world. It's a lot of the guys, they're always like, we want to play in it because it's just a little more lighthearted and less serious than the other stuff that happens generally.
    10:36
    And then best game finals happened at night. That was the 21st. And then after all of that was done, it was the Norbert Snicer Cup, which I was meant to run and then convinced our friend Chad to run. I was like, Chad, you're in charge. And he did an amazing job. So shout out to Chad for taking on the responsibility of running the four person team comps, which was also kind of a smack talking tournament kind of thing. I love all the weird stuff. And also I'm going to shout out that Chad has a podcast called Freakier Than Fiction. so it's like all these weird stories um you know australian based odd stories of like um you know weird creatures or serial killers or just oddities um so check out chad's podcast but also he loved as soon as i told him that he could make people do weird stuff um like the strange split flipper we did a stall ball finals kind of thing but because it was groups instead of playing stall ball like i get you know trying to get other people to drain you were playing like player one was a team of four so you were trying to set the stall up well so that you could keep your team could keep playing that's cool um did you say it was freakier than fiction yes not australia Not Australia. Freakier than fiction.
    12:08
    You've never met him. You don't have to make him feel bad about the name game. I was making him feel better if he didn't use my name.
    12:18
    No. He's a good guy. He was trying to get us to take our pants off and run around the outside of the venue.
    12:25
    It's a preview of next year because I'm putting him in charge again. And then the 22nd and 23rd, That was the big Brisbane Masters. So qualifying was on the 22nd all day, and then finals were on the 23rd, and then the closing party was that Sunday night. And then the Monday after everything finished, they had a two-bit movie club. Jungles at Netherworld runs two-bit movie club with a partner, but he did kind of on his own a pinball clip show. So it was all these like old TV shows that featured pinball or like weird old pinball commercials. Or there's an Australian band called Custard that has a song called Pinball Les. So there was a clip of them playing pinball on a show back in the day. So just really fun. I have a link to all the weird videos that he was playing so we can share that with the group. But it was really fun. We got went got popcorn and pop popcorn for everyone at the venue. You just sat around and chilled out the day after and decompressed and watched some weird pinball videos. That was really cool. But but it was so it was so much fun. I can't I cannot say it strongly enough how much I love this event every year. It's like all of the volunteers who help get like the merch table together and who come in to like clean everything. and then it's like um we were out there to tech but to rob and i and then um our friend dave is the main tech who's out there all the time so the three of us kind of tag teamed on getting everything running and lambo and jimmy who do all of the directing and that kind of stuff so it was just such a huge team effort to get everything going and you know we had to change from a classics all on one side of the room set up to, okay, now we're doing banks of classic, mid and modern. So we have to like keep shifting stuff around. So we'd get in there super early in the morning and then leave super late at night. And it was just, I never was feeling tired or terrible because I was always just happy and excited to be there. Uh, it was one of those things where it's like my whole time when I'm in Australia, I'm like, I don't need my Xanax. like it's just an odd thing like I'm always just really happy and comfortable there and it's nice to just feel like part of a community and feel welcome and appreciated and that's what that does for me all the time and I miss it yeah before we're like we're at the airport and I was like no please don't make me go back contentment and connection in combination are quite a powerful antidepressant. Seriously, it's just such pure joy. That's one of the things the pandemic really took from us is that connection and that contentment. Everything was just uncertain and separated.
    15:21
    Yeah, I mean, that was rough going that time, but to be able to come together and do these events again is just outstanding, and anyone who was coming in for the first time this year was blown away with how everything is run there and how things are handled. And I will say it over and over again. If you need any excuse, which you shouldn't, to go make a trip like this out to Australia, this is the best time, the best place, the best humans. Like, please, please come and join us because I will always be there. Come and join us out for Brisbane Masters. They also do on the arcade side, they do the Australian Kong Off and they do some N64 comps and a bunch of other arcade-related stuff that happens throughout the 10 days. So every day there is a pinball event and an arcade event on. And then there's also free play sessions and things like that, but it's in the back of an actual brewery, so the brew tanks are looming over as you play. And they've got a restaurant there and obviously the bar. We have our own little bar set up in the back for the really big busy days. and they have like amazing ginger beer and amazing cider there for me as a not able to drink beer person but of course they also make their own beer so there's lots of pluses to the venue and the space and the people and the games like every all of the games are brought in by different venues and different like private owners and it's just such a wonderful variety of games and everyone's really excited to play stuff they've never played before um they do a great job of showing their appreciation for the people who do help out and volunteer they give awards every year for like best restored game or you know you know best playing modern best tmd that kind of stuff so it's really special for the people who are involved in even the like small ways of yeah i could bring a game like so so greatly appreciated by everyone who's there not just the organizers but also the people who are playing. I've never seen so many people just come up to me like, thank you so much for helping, like, fix the games while we're playing. It's like, huh, this is really lovely. It just, it's like all whole other worlds. And I love it so much. I mean, leaving Florida summer to go to Australia winter.
    17:48
    I mean, it's not really cold, but at least I can walk outside without my flesh literally melting off of my body. yeah it's it's been a brutal summer um i it's normally it's the winter everyone tries to escape but this has definitely been one of those wish you could escape those summers oh my gosh it's just this summer's just been terrible and so many like devastating weather related incidents happening but um it was i so i planned a few days for us in hobart afterwards because hobart was supposed to be cold and we got there and they were having their hottest July on record ever. So, um, kind of missed the boat there, but, um, I will say I, you know, I wasn't necessarily playing great the whole time that I was there, but for the actual masters event, um, it was, you know, match play groups throughout the day and it was like Pemberton style. so I never I never look to see where I'm sitting in terms of rankings or anything as I play because that really gets in my head and screws me up but I knew that I had like some seconds and some thirds you know like I was kind of in the middle-ish somewhere and then I reached a point in the day where I like looked at the people that I was playing with and I said I've made a terrible mistake because I was like I shouldn't be playing with you guys what's happened oh no something's wrong I don't know, when I have a great time, I play better pinball. So I was just having a really lovely day. And then we were waiting on one last group to finish the last round. And I just kind of like walked away from stuff because I don't want to know what's happening.
    19:38
    And people kept coming up to me and being like, oh, did you see that? I'm like, don't tell me. I haven't looked. I don't want to know. Please don't tell me anything. you know that knowledge can only hurt you can only hurt you so um so most people knew that i didn't want to know because this conversation had been had um but then i had uh my friend rusty is like wait why don't you like he's like now i have to look and i was like please don't and he like pulls it up on his phone he was like oh my god and i was like oh what and he was like why did I look I can unsee this I like oh my god so I just had to walk out of the building I was like someone tell me when it's all over please I don't know what's happening but their reactions were just really funny and um so I just I just had to walk away and then when it was all over um some people come up to me like so do you do you want to know and I was like well I mean I guess I'll find out now because it's over. And it was the finals were set up A through E division finals. So all I wanted to do was play the next stage is because I wanted to play pinball. Like I didn't care where it parts. And it was almost half the field would get to play the next day. So I was like, as long as I finish somewhere in the top 50%, I get to play tomorrow. And that's great. so before they can tell me what's happened someone else runs up and says you're in a three-way tie break oh no wait what for the last spot in a division oh wow like no so my first response was i don't want it i'm like i can guarantee you whoever it is who's in the tie break with me wants it more than I do because A-Division is just so serious. I don't feel like I have an A-Division mentality a lot of the time because I just want to have a nice time.
    21:37
    You know when you play a big tournament and you're doing well and you start to get grouped with the people who are nearer the top, the vibe changes in the group from we're having a lovely time playing pinball together to we are very serious about this now. Yeah, it's like at Pinberg. My one and only pinball tournament I went to I way overplayed my skill. And then all of a sudden, I'm up on the stage. Okay. Oh no.
    22:05
    What am I doing in finals? Why am I here? You're kicking ass is what you're doing. I, yeah, I actually did.
    22:16
    Had I not received that text about one of my best friends dying, the way I was playing, I feel like I was legit threat to take that B finals, but whatever. Yeah. Wasn't important after receiving that text. Yeah. I mean, everything's perspective. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's funny. I'm handing you a perspective checks. Seriously, seriously. Um, but I also, you know, that all being said, it's not like I was going to go into the tie break and not do my best. So, um, the tie break was on doggy soccer and I was really excited because I hadn't got to play it at all that week a single time and I love doggy soccer so I had like a terrible ball one and two on this doggy soccer oh I was so confused I thought you were saying donkey soccer and I was like what is she talking about okay doggy soccer re-theme a world cup soccer to a donkey soccer Thank you. No, doggy soccer. So but then I had like a really I fought really hard on my ball three and I ended up like six. So four or something like that. And I was pleased after that. But I was also player one. So when they announced that we were doing it and that it was on doggy soccer, they didn't tell us what order to play in or whatever. and I was like do you guys just want me to start playing like I'll be player one because I don't care and um you know that's that's what ended up happening well they did like a number draw and the other two got pulled first so they got to pick their position I was like great so I'm playing first which is what I would have done regardless so um so yes I was playing um against Nick and Paul and Paul ended up taking it. So Nick got like 650, I think. So I had 604 and Nick either had 620 or 650, but he, he obviously beat me. And then Paul was player three and he stopped playing at like 1.2. But he was like, okay, we're done now. So Paul took the spot and the way that it works is, you know, you get your top 32 in division and then in finals however you finish in finals determines your actual position at the end of the tournament but anyone else so anyone outside the 32 whatever your qualifying position is that's what's like submitted to ifpa so that's technically your finish in the tournament overall and then you play through your b c d e whatever finals just for possibility to like win a little to prize money and first place in each division got a trophy so first three spots got money and first position in each division got a trophy so um so it didn't really it didn't change anything in terms of like standings so for some people like playing again the next day wasn't that important if they were just going for like oh i just want to get my spot and then be done i don't understand that mentality because I want to have fun and play with them.
    25:31
    So in the three ways, so Nick was then the top seed in B and I was second seed in B. So I was like, oh, that's great. And then the next day, come in the morning early, obviously, to make sure everything's ready for the tournament.
    25:48
    And while we're there, Lambeau comes to me and he was like, you think we're going to have to play another tie break? To which I said, I'm sorry, what? because apparently one of the people who made a division didn't show up and like told someone to tell him that they weren't going to be able to make it so we we knew for sure they weren't coming i was like hold on no i was like nick already beat me in the tie break yesterday he deserves this spot like this is and there had been like a long thing with a machine malfunction in his group the day before and he was ahead on the machine that they had to pull and then he got drawn on a machine and had like a bad run of luck. And I was like, he deserves this spot, like way, way more than I do. But he apparently also had said that he wasn't going to come in if he didn't make A Division. So I was like, who has Nick's phone number? Get him. Someone call Nick. So I was literally running around just like anyone who can get into, I was Facebook messaging him. Everyone was trying to like call or text him. And eventually someone there had Nick's wife's phone number. and was able to get her on the phone and he was asleep no alarm set phone turned off and he was just not planning on being there the next morning because it was a long night the night before so she woke him up and he got in the car and he told me he's like I think the tires touched the ground twice on my way to get there so I am very thankful that he made it and got his rightful spot So his round one matchup was against Steve Bowden. And he ended up winning three games to two and advancing. So I was very happy for him. Impressive performance, not the level that I was playing at. I mean, he just did so great, and he deserved to have that spot for sure. So then I ended up being top seed in B division, which meant I got a bye in the first round. So that was interesting. I was not expecting it. And then I got to choose the banks that I wanted to play on. So A division was banks of five games. And then in B division, it was banks of three. So you got to choose your bank. Obviously, the highest, highest seed chose first. And then you just chose from the available banks. So for any other division outside of A, you would just play the first three games listed in that bank kind of thing. So for my first round, I chose a bank that had Johnny Mnemonic, Centaur, and Wheel of Fortune. That's a brave choice because all three of those can humble.
    28:35
    It was really fun. That Centaur was playing beautifully all week. I loved it so much. and wheel of fortune a lot of people don't play or don't know how to play because you play wheel of fortune like an em like the less you flip the better off you are kind of thing but if you haven't played it very much there are so many places to drain the ball on wheel of fortune so I felt decent about it and then um the person who I played um her name is also Jess and she's from belvern she's lovely and she won the women's comp and i was really excited for her so um so yeah so i played with her in that round and she had never played johnny mnemonic before so she's like i'll let you show me how to play it and as soon as someone says that you're gonna have a terrible game sometimes it's best not not not to know i know those buckle up games yeah and for some it It was the first game that we played in that round and Lambo had removed the spinner from Johnny. And, you know, like in order to qualify your lock shot on that shot or whatever, you need to have the spinner spinning. So, of course, the only shot I could find on the game was the spinner.
    29:55
    And there's literally no points. So I was like, this is ridiculous, laughably awful. And she had a great game and especially for her first game of Johnny. it was close but she got me and then I got centaur and then I got wheel like I had a killer game of wheel of fortune and then um my next round that I played I got to play with my friend Dane and I was very excited because he's like just a joy to be around always and we were really excited to get to play football together so it wasn't like oh gosh we have to play each other it was we get to playing with each other you know like it's just a different vibe so um i chose this is very much a me bank uh i chose a bank that was dialed in trident on 2.0 code and nine ball oh my goodness see right that's just again that's just a joy to play win or lose yeah such an amazing incredible bank and the nine ball there was um i think people may have recalled from other years that i've talked about masters or trips out to australia my friend grant and his amazing shed of games and just the way that he restores his machines is so stunning this nine ball was absolutely gorgeous like that he had this metallic blue flake paint that he used on like the s on the spinner and on the apron and on the cabinet paint and it was just so glossy and gorgeous and played like a dream it was it was um the best rest one best restoration I think every year he wins because his games are just just absolutely insanely beautiful and um he's done it again so I was just happy to get to play that and Trident was his as well I and I'd never played the 2.0 code on it. So my first game of the day on it was just awful because I didn't know, I didn't know anything about it. And then all of a sudden I was playing in a group with Jimmy actually, and he hit the spinner shot and his score like quadrupled. I was like, what just happened? So I learned after that. So when I picked it, I was like, okay, well now I know what I need to do here. So, uh, I, I went on dialed in and then I went on trident and then we just played nine ball for fun just because we wanted to play another game together. So that was that was a really joyful round. And then my next round, I was playing against Dirk, who's he had come over for the IFPA World Championships in Florida that we went out to and did the whole pizza party and everything with them. And he's he's just a delightful human being. So I was like, I get to play against like people I really enjoy hanging out with and being around. So this is all great. And, you know, for him being like one of the top players in Australia, I was like, OK, here we go. I don't know what to choose. So I because you can't choose the same bank again. And I really wanted to choose a bank that was Congo, Supersonic and TNA.
    33:12
    But someone from A Division had already chosen that bank. so I was like I don't know I guess I'll just take the one next to it on the list because I didn't want to waste time then going over the list of banks again because they hadn't crossed off like who picked which ones in that round so I didn't know and I didn't want to just like keep going through and be like nope that one's taken nope that one's taken so I was like well I'll just take the one right next to it on the list which also had TNA and Data East Star Wars and Crosstown I don't know that I've played Crosstown is an EM that is such a crap shoot weird I don't know I wanted to play weird stuff and I wanted to play TNA just because who the heck knows what's going to happen when you play TNA so I won on Data East Star Wars I learned something about Data East Star Wars I didn't know previously which was to like hold that button on ball three for the like the sympathy multi-ball like the death star will open for you like it'll start going up and down if you hold the button and push the handle down on ball three apparently I had no idea so uh I got a sympathy multi-ball and ended up getting deity star wars and then I lost on TNA and then uh crosstown I the scores on Crosstown had been like relatively low like if you hit a thousand is when it like rolled the machine that kind of low scoring you know and I had seen people like I won a game on it earlier in the day with like 600 points or something like that and he played first or played first and he like almost double rolled it so I was like well it was a good run it was nice while it lasted but that was um you know that was like finals so um he got first place and i got second place but i was just so happy to be playing and like i was really excited watching him play because it was really fun it's like he is crushing this game it wasn't like oh god it's over it was just like well i've had a lovely time playing and this is how it ends. I'm totally okay with this. That's the best way to go out. If it's one like, oh, I needed to hit one more target or if I didn't break that lit shot that I'm through, those are the ones that haunt you later. Yeah. Yeah, for sure.
    35:56
    So it was just, I mean, the whole thing, so great, so lovely. And then, you know, going to Hobart was funny because we got there and I had, um, I was like, okay, you know, decompression from all this intensity and pinball and people. And, um, I booked a ferry ride over to a place called Mariah Island where there's just like thousands of wild wombats and, uh, you know, kangaroos and, um, just like just crazy wildlife Island where there's no motorized traffic aside from park rangers kind of thing so got to hang out with some wombats and see all their square poop which was great but on the way like that morning before going to the ferry because there's nothing on the island there's no stores you can't get water or anything stopped into Woolworths to go get some supplies and someone like runs up behind me and taps me on the shoulder and I was like who do I in Hobart and it was um this guy Danny who does a lot of stuff for the uh Kong Off and Nintendo 64 parts of BPAC so it was um him and his partner and he was on his way to work so we made plans to meet up at Replay Bar in Hobart later in the week and hang out they're just funny running into people you know in places you're not expecting to see them like 7 a.m so then um when we went to replay that week to meet up with him. He was running late. So we go up and order, like go to order a drink at the bar and Rob taps me. And he's just like, is that, and I look behind us playing on the pinball machines, um, is this guy Timmy. And he is like, he's only been playing pinball for like six months, but he's a division. Like he's an amazing player. So I was like, what, like what are you doing here and he was like oh just decided to come down for a couple days so i was like wait what so then we played pinball all like and drank all night and hung out and then danny showed up and like all of us were just hanging out having like a lovely time we fixed a couple other dates the bar um and the manager lucky was like really sweet he gave me a t-shirt he accomplished some drinks but we're like yeah whatever you need like we don't have any parts with us but we can work on anything so we ended up working on games again but um they had a stern star wars that had a set replay value of 100 million so for three games yeah for two australian dollars we played that for like four hours um yeah no it was just great and then um we went back to Brisbane and saw Jimmy play in a community cup for like a charitable AFL match.
    38:51
    And it was amazing. And we stayed with my friend Daniel and his partner and they were just lovely and had a great pin collection. But like at that point, I'm like, I don't really want to play more pinball. I just want to see friends. But on our last day, it's the day I always look forward to probably the most is hanging out at Grant's shed. So it was us and Grant and his lovely wife and my friend Ant came out. So it's like me and Grant and Ant were doing butterscotch fireball shots all day and drinking ginger beers and playing pins. And we stopped at one of my favorite shops out there that has like an actual cheese cave that you go into and just got a bunch of cheeses and crackers and snacks and ant made buffalo cauliflower wings that were so so good but it's a whole spread that happens and it's just like snacks and games and friends and then we left the next day much to my dismay but you will be back another one of the pinball guys at the airport with his wife and they were going to montana so we they were flying through san francisco which where we flew through. So they were on the same flight as us. And then in the morning when we landed in San Francisco at like 6 a.m., we had drinks together at one of the bars by the gate. We're leaving. So it was just a weird, long, lovely, wonderful trip. And I can't wait to go back. Is it next year yet? Jeff, are you coming next year? I want to.
    40:25
    Here my extremely reliable promise to you If I can go I will go Awesome. I love it. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I'm jealous of the, um, recap every year. Plus while you're there, the pictures flowing out, just jealous, but healthy jealousy, like not an angry jealousy. Yeah. I need to post some more pictures. I took a lot and I've been kind of just like running straight back into work because, you know, being broke is fun. But I will be posting a lot more pictures and sharing a lot more stuff. But there are just so many people that it's so great to see, like Emily and Dr. John, obviously. Emily was running away with the women's comp all day and it came down to a tiebreaker on Star Race.
    41:21
    because it was a random number generator selection game. And that's just, it's such a tough game. Like, you get a couple bad plunges on that game and it's just over. So I felt really bad about that one. But she was crushing it all day. And obviously Escher was there and swept a bunch of comps. He picked up a ton of points there. So it was just really fun. It's just really fun to see everyone and, like, Joe and Vinny doing all the broadcasting stuff and just, you know, got to go to our buddy Gino's coffee spot again. And it's like the rituals of the things, you know, just being able to be at Another World with everyone there and just feel like being back at home genuinely and seeing my friend Esther from Portland who, you know, always comes out to these events as well. It's just super lovely to see everybody. and I invite all of my friends to come out and be Australian pinball friends.
    42:23
    Do I have to do it? It's the next big thing I need to do in pinball. I've done most of the other stuff. I want to do some of the District 82 ones to just go get my butt kicked real hard.
    42:38
    Let's choose one and we'll meet up there. Okay. Because I need to do one of those too. Or District 82. District. I need to get back into traveling to play so let's figure out let's just choose one that's a good time for both of us and let's go play District 82 I would love to be humbled alongside you yeah let's get our asses kicked together sorry I rambled really long but I tried to talk faster to Jam and Olive you got it in there And I am, like I said, it's just amazing.
    43:19
    I missed a lot, but at least I got the wombat poop in there. Yeah. Wombats are the highlight. You know what's the best way to follow up my long-winded B-pack recap? With a hurry up. Okay. To recap, you got nailed it, you love it, slop shot. it gets by or bricked it.
    43:47
    Or just not for you. Don't we have some really cool hurry up intro music? Hurry up!
    44:05
    Yes, we do. all right let's get into it give me your first title centaur oh that's nailed it for me i i adore centaur from from art design every aspect seriously what a killer game absolutely and And also you've got a little Australian company making new ones. You sure do. Shout out to Haggis. I can't wait to see how they come out.
    44:42
    Yeah. And is it final round, bonus round? I don't know. Marty's little podcast that he does with Jeff Golis. I don't know. You may have heard of those two, but they have info about it there. So, yes. Okay. Here's my first one. Okay. Data East Time Machine.
    45:03
    Oh. Oh, that's interesting. I am actually going to say nailed it. Yeah, baby. We're on the same page. I actually think it's fantastic. It's weird. And, yeah, it's just like one of those goofy weirdo games that makes me laugh when I play it.
    45:24
    And in a tournament, it is stressful. which is yes it is your second stern kiss that is a bricked it for me I I've been very mad at that game more times than I've been happy with it we are in full disagreement friend that is nailed it well fine then Nailed it Okay let's get back on the agreement track here Doctor Dude I'll nail that You'll nail the dude So I It's just It's so Like Time Machine it's so dumb But it's perfectly dumb Yeah It's that You know that Grouping of games Like Party Zone, Doctor Dude, like all of that. Yes. Yes. Nailed it. Yep. It was an odd era, but okay. You're right third. Pinbot. Nailed it. Pinbot's the first pinball machine I remember playing, and I've never ever felt like I've had enough of that game. Agreement train. Okay.
    46:53
    I also think that it's just got some of the most classic art of all of Pinball. Just so good how it's integrated into the play field. Seriously. And the cabinet too. So good. And Jackbot too. I love Jackbot. Yes. And Bride. And all the bots. All the bots. Not including 2.0s. Okay. So. Correct. My third pick is Stern's Pirates of the Caribbean. ah um it's a soft nailed it for me all right let's let's do a soft nailed it just it's not bad enough to be slop shot it just plays long ish without being as interesting as the length like i love the boat mechanism i love it I love kind of that upper, you know, like where you have to hit all those target state. I'm like going up in that upper left spinner. But it's like, okay, the boat mech is like it just keeps repeating. It doesn't really build in any way. And I just feel like you can get multiball into multiball into multiball forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever. And it's like, okay, I don't really feel like I'm doing anything different. But it's not that it's not fun, you know? yeah for me I'm going to go on another mild I'm going to say mildly bricked it because I do love the boat and the kraken battles and stuff like that but yes the ball length kills me so we average out to a slop shot average we average to that I like it so okay I can't wait to see how many people we made mad right yeah okay just a handful of things left um but let's let's talk about last show's trivia we have a winner um if y'all remember uh we asked what game shared the layout with laser lord and bonus second part what's the first thing just notice about the art on Laser Lord.
    49:13
    And Zach was our winner. And the answer was Quicksilver. Same layout as Quicksilver. And Jess, what did you notice about that art? Penis fingers. There you go. Yeah. It was like a much more graphic, everything everywhere all at once situation.
    49:39
    Oh my gosh, that's exactly right. But they're not hot dogs. I mean, they're hot dogs. Hot dogs. Okay. So congrats to Zach.
    49:55
    As much as you want to be proud about knowing us that well. It's the first thing I noticed, too. And you're like, hey, what do you see? Oh.
    50:06
    So he's a winner. but we're not we're not done with this segment yet we have another question and again you know don't be lame don't use google but if you do we're never going to know uh just the way we do it is just first one hit our inbox so the question is what was pat lawler's first licensed game Here it is.
    50:31
    Good? And where can they send those answers? We prefer it to be email, which is pinballpodcast at gmail.com.
    50:43
    Pinballpodcast at gmail.com. In fact, if you send it any other way, it's just not going to count. I'm sorry. So if you don't have the email in the year 2023, ask your boomer dad. he'll set you up.
    51:01
    So. Okay. Before we go, though, I know that you have not been playing a lot of pinball, but in this day of mobile gaming, what else have you been playing? Okay. So it wasn't last night. It was the night before. Wearing my own homemade Hylian Crest T-shirt, I finished Zelda Tears of the Kingdom and the last hour of that and the end of that game is so magical and fun and cool I just kept putting off finishing it because I didn't want it to end and so once I finished it I immediately jumped back in it to start exploring again but I'm setting that aside and that's been the major gaming obsession but last night I just installed Pikmin 4 on my Switch so that's going to be it I'm still playing a lot of Marvel Snap on my phone the card game and I just accepted a writing gig for one of the bigger news sites that covers Marvel Snap so congratulations yeah so I'll be doing a little writing for that so I definitely will need to be playing that and probably streaming it online. No, you don't need to know where you can find me.
    52:28
    Okay. Pikmin 4 reminds me to remind you that I think two, three weeks ago when we were talking about this, Wild at Heart was my game that I was playing that has, it's a very like indie feeling Pikmin-esque game. Yep. So just to harken back to that one with the Pikmin 4.
    52:55
    So I was looking for something kind of like, you know, coming back from the trip, I got into a little bit of a funk because, you know, Florida heat, craziness, missing friends.
    53:07
    So I was like, I just want to play something kind of cute and lighthearted. so there was this um in like the featured section of Nintendo Switch on sale it was this um story of like this Indian family and it was like a cooking game that was talking about like their culture and whatever and I was like well that sounds cute and the art looked nice and it's called Benba and I downloaded it and I played through the whole thing and I was so I sent a message to Don and I said Don how dare an indie developer make me like completely emotionally ruin me in a cooking game and he was like oh you played Venba huh and I was like what how does everyone know this is the thing that's gonna totally emotionally destroy me so I was like I need the antidote to whatever Venba just did to me and Don had suggested a long time ago when it first came out in like the preview stages that I play that Disney Dreamlight Valley because it's kind of like a farming sim like relationship building whatever um so I started playing Disney Dreamlight Valley and holy crap it is such a time suck but it is cute I would imagine that it would be like a lot more interesting if you were into like super super into Disney um they're they have classic characters through all the modern movie characters that are there that you can interact with and develop friendships so it's like there's a character in there that i don't recognize because i didn't see the movie it's like one of the newer animated ones and but whatever there's also um i get to run around with remi from ratatouille and cook with him which is cute he follows you and then i can feed woodland creatures and they follow me around so i'm like okay this is kind of a silly ridiculous brainless thing that I can do to undo the damage done by them.
    55:06
    You're being put back together by Disney. That's dangerous. I don't know. I'm still on team Disney. Um, okay. So a few little notes and things. Um, well, actually we're going to be looking to migrate the podcast. Currently it's hosted through the same company that hosts the website. And that company has done a very, very poor job at kind of keeping up their servers. And we have constant issues. I'm sure you've noticed over the last couple of years that the complexity and frequency of posts has gone down dramatically. And that's just because it's like pulling teeth.
    55:51
    Right now I just tried to go to the site and have a 403 permission denied error. It's horrible. It's awful. It's annoying. So probably going to have to do it in order to get this episode up. So if you've heard it, maybe the migration's already happened. I don't know. I just might band-aid fix it one more episode and then migrate. But if you don't see an episode within the next couple of weeks, because we're getting back to doing this regular, you can count on us, then do a little searching around. My hope is that I can properly forward the current feed to the new feed. Um, the scary thing about that is it relies on that old website staying alive long enough to let that forward be in place. But once you're, we're a few shows into it, um, all of your podcast feeds should update, um, through that forward. So, um, the best way to make sure you're not missing any episodes is just to follow us on Facebook. I know not everyone uses Facebook, but that's just kind of the one place that you're for sure going to know if we post a new show.
    57:02
    Or just text Jess any time. Is there a new show out? It's a good way to get to know if shows are going out. I will.
    57:15
    I do have to thank a million times over, not just for this, but for everything in life. thank my friend Lisa from Christchurch for being like your podcast isn't coming up because she's the first one to message me and say hold on I can't find you guys what's going on and also she was like the best possible roommate for all of VPAC and I claim her for roommate status for all ongoing events forever and ever tying back to Disney there was for some reason in our Airbnb a Mickey Mouse shaped cheese board. And when she checked out of the Airbnb, she left us some shots of coconut tequila on top of the Mickey Mouse board that looked like eyes, a little note saying never to forget her. And I was like, we never could because she's literally the best human. And yeah, she was like, I can't find the, I'm like, okay, well, thanks for letting us know. nobody else mentioned it. It's on brand, though, because Nikki loves to get blasted off tequila.
    58:27
    Apparently. Oh, my goodness. Yeah. So, lovely, wonderful times. And then I get to come back and talk to you about it, which is also lovely, wonderful times. And we're going to see each other in Texas.
    58:41
    Oh, for sure we are. People, get your Texas Pinball Festival tickets. now. It's not like they're going to run out, but why wait, right? And if you're listening to this and you think, oh, I'm going to go book a hotel room. No, you're not. Well, you are. It's just not going to be in the venue. But there's plenty of options around. It's okay.
    59:05
    It's totally okay because the rooms at the embassy last year sucked. You know, I... Oh my god, broken glass on the floor outside of the doors uh it's wild us pinball people were crazy no before we even got there like the day before set up check-in there was one door that looked like it would pry open with a crowbar and like wouldn't latch that rooms were like dirty that people checked into hadn't been cleaned it was just it was like one comically bad thing after the next and the hotel was just kind of like oh whatever and i was like some of these are security issues like i get it if you're like low on housekeeping but this is a whole other set of stuff so i genuinely hope they told us when we left that they were getting ready for renovations and that's probably why they weren't paying very close attention to stuff as it came up because they're like oh we're gonna get new doors or whatever um so fingers securely crossed they have that all sorted out before we get there next year? I'm going to tell you, I always stay in the Hilton Garden Inn. I have stayed there at the embassy, but the Garden Inn is across the street. But the funny thing is, because of where the rooms are versus where the game room is, it's a shorter walk from the Hilton Garden Inn than it is from the rooms in the embassy. So if you have to stay somewhere else, the Hilton Garden Inn is fine. Plus they do free breakfast as well. You will not run into like Elvira in the elevator or something like that most likely but it a great option I like it Jess I going to cut something that we were going to talk about and instead I'm going to prep the audience to be semi-interactive if they want. Okay. So on every single Stern Pinball game released now, they have an action button on the lockdown bar. same as most other games but not all but Stern does it on all now I just kind of want to do a temperature check what do people think about it do they like them what do they like about it if they don't like them what do they not like about it or what are your complicated feelings about the button I like it we can talk about that next time get your comments in hot takes hot take time hot take it doesn't have to be a hot take if you could just give us a well-reasoned thought,
    61:39
    don't have to be controversial, which you can be. Why not? Yeah. So anyway, that I just, as a look ahead topic, I want to talk about that next time. And that'll give you plenty of time to think about it. You specifically, Jess. Oh, okay. And then to close up the show, though,
    62:05
    we'll have one of Joe's pinball popcorns so stick through to the end after that, after this what else you got Jess anything before we close it up I just want to say that I am excited to see you personally at a District 82 session at some point if anyone knows of any interesting pinball comps that may be kind of off radar that you want to share and talk about, please let us know because I may try and play a little more competitive pinball again. I know that sounds strange and weird. And if you are in the Florida area on Saturday, I don't know dates. If you are in the Florida, Orlando, Avito-ish area on Saturday the 19th, the Pinball Lounge is having a Classics Target Match Play Tournament, and I will be there. so let's play some pinball together. Go play pinball, Jess. I can't go. Aw.
    63:10
    Cool, then. Stick around for Joe's pinball popcorn. And I think that's it. Remember, pinballpodcast.gmail.com if you want to answer the trivia question or you just want to shout out something.
    63:27
    We do look at it most of the time. Cool. I'm glad you're back but I'm sad you had to leave yeah me too so get back to work get back to life back to work alright bye friends bye and now time for pinball popcorn
    64:02
    God bless America again. Mr. Selleck, I think I made a pinball sale. Terrific. Good job, Teddy. And he wants to pay in cash. Non-sequential unmarked bills neatly packed in this canvas bag. Well, that's a bank bag, Teddy. Wow!
    64:28
    Oh, my eye! My eye! Ah, my laces! Oh, shit. Somebody call the cops. That bird! Teddy, go flush your eyes out. I feel like a smirk just jizzed in my face. We've got to do something. I've had this distributorship 27 years and it's dying right before my eyes. We either do something drastic or we pull the plug. I'm thinking about calling a hot shot. A weekend warrior. I was thinking about calling a mercenary. What?
    64:58
    A mercenary? Hell, Zua, I've got no choice. The bank's crawling up my a** for back payments. Look, if we don't turn this thing around by August, this place is going to be a Domino's Pizza. What, a mercenary? All they do is sell pinballs and move on. There's no connection to the community, Ben.
    65:20
    Domino's ready. Yes. Yeah. Mm-hmm. You want some pinballs? Sold. We'll be there. Fourth of July weekend. Three-day sale. We got a distributor ship in the ICU. 211 pens getting suntans in the showroom. Guess what, fellas? We're going to Temecula. Oh, fuck, Don. Honey, we just finished the last job three hours ago. I still smell like customer. Don, I don't mean to complain, but it's been a year and a half since I've been home. And I'm 90% sure I left my front door open. I don't know, Don. I think we set this one out. You've been pushing us pretty hard since Kirky. Forget about Kirky, all right? What do we do? We sell pinballs. What does a tiger do? Hunts and kills prey. What else are we going to do in this life? Babs? Come on. Let's do it. So, uh, there was a kid up the street, Chris Bamberger, had one of those brand new... Coleco Fonz pinball machine. What toy do I have?
    66:22
    A Rubik's Cube. Might as well have had a bumper sticker on the back that said, My parents don't work. So I walk up to him. I introduce myself and I say, you seem like a cool guy. Why don't you have a Rubik's Cube? I tell him it's cooler. I worked this kid like a pro. Walked him through the brochures, offered him a bubblegum cigarette, even threw in some night crawlers to sweeten the deal. Bottom line is, this kid was actually happy to play with the Rubik's Cube while I rode away with his brand new pinball machine. I like to think that was my first sale.
    67:00
    I'm Brent Gage. They call me the magician. I am a wizard with numbers. I have never lost a sale to bad credit. Quick story, a couple years ago, MC Hammer, remember him? He was in bankruptcy, living on the street, sleeping in the left leg of his hammer pants. The next day, I financed that man a pinball. No questions asked.
    67:27
    Hammer lived in that pinball for the next year and a half. Hey, DJ, this place is about to pop. Why don't you throw on some pinball soundtrack? Good call.
    67:43
    Nobody tells DJ requests what to play. Nothing tells you what to play. They lose respect for you. You lose control.
    67:52
    Not today. All right. Look at it. They're like crazy boat people. I love it. Give away free hot dogs and put up an inflatable gorilla. It's gonna go down. Sell these bastards. Badmouthing. Sell them wood.
    68:18
    Sell them wood. Ah! Go! Go, go, go, go! Welcome to Selling Amusements. Let's get you in a pinball. Hi. This is Selling Amusements. Hi.
    68:49
    I haven't seen a lot like this since I brought in the Hercules pinball machine. That pinball is one of the ones that shows up at Chicago Pinball Expo every year. That weekend, this place was hopping. I was thinking we should get that out of here, you know, bad for business. Hold on, that pinball, the collector's edition, that's worth $200,000, won't take a cent less. But didn't this Craigslist end? They have the same exact pinball for $1,000 less. Wow, what a great deal. Excuse me, can I see that? My, my. If you can get this pinball for $1,000 less, you should definitely buy it. In fact, let me call. Thank you.
    69:29
    Here you go. Thanks. Hello? Hi, I'm calling about the bread bell you have advertised. Can we get a drink? Uh, no, I don't want to go for a drink. Yeah, I can put you in my truck. We can drive around. Maybe go to the reservoir. Excuse me? Put the lotion in the basket. Who? Put the lotion in the fucking basket. Oh my God. See, I try to tell women all the time, Craigslist. Like MySpace for serial killers. I don't want to see another one of these. Open this lock. I think I'll just take this pinball right over here.
    70:08
    Here's the deal, Gary. I know the stereotype. I'm a woman. Got a luscious body. Provocative clothes. I'm gonna use sex to sell pinballs. You know what's gonna sell this pinball? Price. Nothing else. I mean, I like men. I like men a lot. I can't believe I'm doing this. Do you know what I love? I love women.
    70:28
    Oh, yeah? Oh. I mean, I'm talking me, an Asian chick, and a schoolteacher in a shower. Oh, yeah. We'd all so be together. It's so wet. Hey, you know what? Maybe like a pinball type lady comes in. Like, and you're like, I can't even tell if she's hot or not. Okay. She says, oh, looks like I could do some work here. She takes off her hat. Oh, yeah. Hey, hey, guess what? I'm next door. Oh, no. I'm the arcade owner. And I'm working on paperwork like... Counting the coin drops. Yeah.
    70:59
    What is that noise? That's weird. It's not supposed to be anybody next door. Hey, who's in there? Who's in there? And I just hear, oh. And I listen by the door for a while. Then I open it up. I'm like, hello? I still can't see the steam. Oh! I'm so scared. Who is it? Hey, hey, you're not supposed to be in here. Oh! Can I give you something to say? Yeah. Say this. Say, say, hey, I know what... I knew something was missing. A big coil sleeve. I knew something was missing. Oh. Oh, I'll see you. Fuckin' you and then someone else goes, oh yeah! You can't even talk! What? You just thought of something. What? How the fuck are you gonna get there? Uh, I'm right next door, remember? I just wanna walk over. No, man! This is miles and miles away, man! You gotta get there soon! I'm like managing a bunch of arcades. Yes! Oh, shit, I don't got- How are we gonna get to Crosstown? How are you gonna get there? I don't know, I don't have a car. I gotta get like a bus, I guess. No, man, you gotta take this pinball. Yes! I-it's a good pinball, right? No. I don't give a shit. I have to push the motherfuck-
    71:52
    In your country, they would cut your hands off because you're stealing from us. You guys have got an amazing deal. Look at that number.
    72:01
    71 pinball sold. I am looking at some real salesmen out here. Good work. You've actually sold 34% of the inventory. Wow. Proud of you. And by the way, congrats whoever pulled off a Nigerian buyback. Haven't seen that in years. That was me. You can suck it. What's a Nigerian buyback? A guy takes a customer's trade in, then 20 minutes later, sells it right back to said customer at a markup. Hey! Can you bring the mood up? Play something good. Like the Whitewater soundtrack. You read my mind!
    72:43
    Just out of curiosity, what time do you get down from there? every day they will test you every day they will push you to the brink you must fight them DJ fight them wow I I don't know what's going on with you you are hot you're cold one minute you're happy then you're snapping at me I mean what happened in Albuquerque you don't want to know what happened in Kirky actually I do come on what you can trust me just let your guard down McDermott was my best friend and the greatest pinball sale DJ anyone's ever seen God damn it, it shouldn't have gone down like that I was all wrapped up with this woman if we'd already sold a bunch of pinballs that weekend but I wanted to take it over the top so I thought, hey, let's put a few bucks into it, you know get a good crowd in there we'd airdrop McDermott in dress as Abe Lincoln he would float in and say I freed the slaves, now I'm gonna free those from the slavery of high prices! We had a bunch of great lines for him to say. Hey, just like John Wilkes Booth, our prices are gonna sneak up behind you and blow your brains out! Well, I asked him, he didn't even blink. He just did it. Thanks, buddy, it's a thrill of a lifetime!
    74:04
    See, I was on the ground with Mrs. Tolero. The only problem was, I took the wrong bag. Woo! Ah! I can only imagine what was going through McDermott's head as he fell to his death.
    74:33
    Number one, full length back tattoo of the Hawaiian Punch Guy. 10% real fruit juice, motherfuckers. Number three, have my wisdom teeth put back into my skull. I'm going to get into an aerodynamic tuck. I killed my best friend. I wish I could see. I didn't think it would end this way. But I got to tell you, I always knew it would.
    75:00
    Next thing I know, it's... Had I just been focused on the sail, it wouldn't have gone down like that. He's gone.
    75:11
    Looked everywhere, called the cops. No one knows where he is. You guys did your best. I mean, it was an uphill battle from the beginning, right? But hey, we still sold some pillows, right? Might as well dust off the old resume.
    75:25
    Hey, wait just a minute. I practically built this distributorship myself. I remember a day when we wouldn't hang our heads or talk about closing the lot. Your customer would walk in here, and this place would pop. There you go, Ben. And having Don the goods ready here for three days made me remember why I became a pinball salesman in the first place.
    75:53
    Mr. Sell, it's right. We can do this. Don has taught us all something. He knew more about us than we knew about ourselves. Yeah.
    76:04
    Guys, we can sell these pinballs. There you go. Ready has carried us this far. Well, I say we start carrying our own weight. So let's get out there and sell the wood. Who's with me? Oh, we are! I'm with you!
    76:21
    We did it. We sold every last pinball on the lot. Man, I wish Don was here to see this. Hey, Jimmy, where are all the pinballs? Don, we did it. We sold every single one of them. That's fantastic. They all stepped up. Unbelievable. I'm proud of you guys, all of you. We couldn't have done it without you, Mr. Reddy. You taught us all to stand on our own. Your time here has been rich and filled with wisdom. I don't know what to say. Why not start with the truth, Don? Well, the truth is you sons of bitches, they sell amusements.
    77:03
    F*** you, Don Reddy. You didn't sell all the pin mouths. You lose. You're losers. What are you talking about? All the pin mouths are gone. The lot stays with the sellics. Come on, Stu. A deal's a deal. We sold all the pin mouths on the lot. Nobody sold the Hercules pin mouth. Rules are rules. The lot's mine. Don said every pin mouth on the lot.
    77:26
    The Hercules pin mouth's a pin mouth. And it's on the lot. Hold on a second. That thing is a prop. Don, that is not a prop. That is a $200,000 pinball machine. This is good. Is this the great Don Reddy complaining about how hard it is to sell a pinball? Did you hear that, everybody? Did you hear that? Maybe he's not so great. Maybe he sucks. So I guess you lose. Ben, you lose the lot. Don, you have to skip town. You know, Paxton, I've been doing a lot of thinking these past few days.
    77:58
    About what, asshole? Dreams. about how we either, you know, we either cherish them or let them die in the vine. What did you want to be when you were a kid? Pinball. It's been my passion ever since I fell in love with the classics. Now, when you say classics, what do you mean? Well, it's a pretty short list. You got your Black Knight. You got your Pinball. And then Pat Lawler came along and pretty much revolutionized pinball. Hello.
    78:24
    What about Texas Pinball Festival? That was the best night of my life. See, I haven't had the best night of my life yet. Someday, though, huh? Is he doing what I think he's doing? No way.
    78:36
    If he moves that pinball, I'll eat my own pussy. Atta girl. 32 years in the business, and I've never seen this, a dealer-to-dealer lot sale. This is suicide. Let me ask you something, man. You ever think about just dropping everything and going for it? You, Ricky, and Jason live in the life, man, and putting yourselves on the line on a daily basis. Wait, what are you doing? Picture this, Paxton. Lights go down, and all you can hear is a giant cue ball going slowly across the playfield. And who rises from beneath the basement? Jesus. The guy with the best hair in the business. Paxton Hardy.
    79:17
    In the goddamn Hercules pinball. Giant orange cabinet made by Atari. And the word is, it's one of only five still in existence. And the girls, they love him. And you want to know why? Yeah, because we're good. You're goddamn right you're good. You, my friend, are a full-blown rock star. Holy shit. He might have them. You know, Paxton, a man much wiser than myself once said that most men lead lives of quiet desperation. Now do not pass up a deal like this.
    79:53
    How much for the pin, Mel? 200 grand. I'll give it to you for 80. No payments till January. I'll take it.
    80:01
    Now, if someone went and made a beer run, I think we'd have everything we need for a goddamn party. DJ, play We Are Family by Sister Sledge.
    80:12
    Finally, somebody hit the nail on the head. That's what I'm talking about. That is a perfect song. Dead puppy.
    80:21
    What the fuck? I want you over and over again not to tell me how to do my job. You brought the song yourself. Are you happy? Just play it. Just play a good song. You got it, friend.
    80:54
    Lion Man!