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Episode 82_Last Call 2025

The Spinner Is Lit Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·1h 57m·analyzed·Dec 24, 2025
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.032

TL;DR

Year-end roundup of competitive pinball activity, venue expansion, and community tournament growth across western US.

Summary

The Spinner Is Lit podcast hosts (Spencer, Dan, and Mark) discuss their 2025 pinball activities, including league playoffs and tournaments across Nevada and California. Key highlights include Adam Pressler's comeback win at Lodi League playoffs, Mark's tournament victories and competitive ranking climb, and Spencer's efforts to establish new pinball venues in Wyoming. The hosts also cover growing tournament infrastructure in Reno, upcoming state finals, and optimism about expanding pinball accessibility through new arcade locations.

Key Claims

  • Adam Pressler won Lodi League Season 36 playoffs with Scott Busey taking second and George Gonzalez taking third

    high confidence · Dan Rockin' the Mics speaking about his league hosting

  • Mark won an 'All Bleeping Strikes Day' tournament (20 strikes format) at Incline Village and another tournament at Elbow Room

    high confidence · Mark describing his tournament wins and point accumulation efforts

  • Greg Wright is now the permanent full-time tech at Playfield Sports and Games in the Reno area

    high confidence · Mark announcing recent news about a location hire

  • Nevada state pinball finals are confirmed to be held in Incline Village

    high confidence · Mark confirming state finals location

  • Spencer is working with a local arcade owner (comic book store owner) to open a new arcade with pinball machines, targeting a March opening

    medium confidence · Spencer describing plans for new venue; described as 'looks like we might finally' suggesting not yet finalized

  • Spencer turned 60 last week; Dan turned 50 two weeks prior

    high confidence · Spencer directly stating his birthday milestone

  • Jack Slovacek dominated a Black Friday tournament (Shannon Mike's venue)

    high confidence · Dan referencing Jack's performance and meeting Jack's father Joe

  • Jeffrey (Nevada player) has won 26+ tournaments out of 20 that count toward rankings

    medium confidence · Mark discussing Jeffrey's competitive record with slight uncertainty ('I think')

  • A 12-hour tournament is scheduled for December 28th in the Nevada area

    high confidence · Mark stating upcoming tournament details

  • Lodi League Season 37 has a full roster with no drops announced, unprecedented for third consecutive season

Notable Quotes

  • “I don't own all these games just for myself. I own all these games because I want my friends and I want the league to come over and play them.”

    Dan Rockin' the Mics @ ~18:00 — Articulates core motivation for home collectors in pinball community—social sharing and community building rather than hoarding

  • “for him to run it that day and walk away as the champion is kind of a Cinderella story. Good for him.”

    Dan Rockin' the Mics @ ~30:00 — Acknowledges Adam Pressler's comeback victory after recent accident and recovery

  • “I got to get into eighth place. So I'm competing with Richard from Vegas, and he bumps me down, and then I bump him out, and we're like switching back and forth between eighth and ninth.”

    Mark @ ~40:00 — Illustrates competitive point-chasing dynamics and IFPA ranking importance in tournament play

  • “You know what the local route operator hates pinball... he won't put any time or money into it. Why because it doesn't make any money. But he makes all his money on billiards and darts.”

    Spencer @ ~100:00 — Highlights operational tension between pinball venues and route operators, common industry friction point

  • “You know what's going to sell good... Dungeons and Dragons. And we talked about in the future, Pokemon... get a Star Wars... Kids love it, people love it. It'll print money.”

    Spencer @ ~105:00 — Reveals strategic IP selection for venue profitability—games that appeal to multiple demographics

  • “Every single week we have new players, every single week. We always have new players. So the word is getting around.”

    Mark @ ~50:00 — Documents growth and word-of-mouth expansion of pinball tournament scene in Reno

  • “If you're a pinball tourist, make a trip to Reno. There are like five great places to play within ten minutes of each other.”

    Dan Rockin' the Mics @ ~48:00 — Positions Reno as emerging pinball hub with venue density appeal

Entities

Adam PresslerpersonDan Rockin' the MicspersonMarkpersonSpencerpersonLodi LeagueeventJack SlovacekpersonJoe SlovacekpersonGreg WrightpersonPlayfield Sports and GamesvenueReno Pinball UndergroundvenueElbow Room

Signals

  • ?

    venue_signal: New arcade venue opening in Wyoming with classic games and pinball, targeting March 2025 opening. Spencer actively recruiting games and volunteering tech support.

    medium · Spencer: 'Next door was an arcade, and it's been closed for about two years. He's reopening the arcade himself... he's getting a bunch of classic arcade games in... He was looking at a March opening'

  • ?

    operational_signal: Playfield Sports and Games hired Greg Wright as permanent full-time tech, addressing maintenance gaps that affected player experience.

    high · Mark: 'Greg Wright is now the permanent tech at Playfield Sports and Games. So he is now full-time tech to take care of all the games'

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Mark competing for top-8 IFPA ranking, switching between 8th and 9th place with Richard from Vegas. End-of-year tournament sprint for points before ranking cutoff.

    high · Mark: 'I've been going back and forth between ninth and eighth... if you get in the top eight, you get a bye'

  • ?

    venue_signal: Wyoming bar/brewery venue (Yellowstone Garage) has multiple non-functional pinball machines despite having four games routed. South Park and Roller Coaster Tycoon have flipper/mechanical issues, Jurassic Park turned off for 6 months.

    high · Spencer: 'None of them work... Flippers are jacked up... Jurassic Park's been turned off Since like the second day it's been there This is like going on Six months now'

  • ?

    operational_signal: Local route operator prioritizes billiards and darts over pinball maintenance due to revenue concerns. Operator lacks financial incentive to maintain pinball machines despite presence at venue.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.352

0:00
Welcome to the Spinner's Lit Podcast, episode 82, last call 2025. I'm your host Spencer And Rockin' the Mics Are my co-hosts and brothers Dan Rockin' the Mics, Three Shot Jocks And Mark Hey everyone Merry Christmas, Happy New Year Happy Holidays, all that good stuff Yeah man It's that time of the year It is that season, isn't it? It is, absolutely Christmas comes about once a year
0:55
Yep, yep. You guys done with your shopping? I'm done with what shopping I was going to do. Yeah. There you go. I'm usually done. I just finished wrapping my gifts, so I'm ready to go. That's what I was doing earlier was wrapping the last of the gifts. I'm usually done before Thanksgiving because I just don't like to wrap. And this year just got ahead of me. so but I was out today just picking up a couple things in and out so we're going to get right to our year end we're going to not really review but we got some cool stuff to talk about but what have we been up to since the last episode Dan you want to take us off on that yeah I figure if folks are listening to us they probably know everything that's happened this year I'm sure we're not cluing them in as for me I had league finals at my house or league playoffs for season 36 of the Lodi League and that went really really well friend of the show Adam Pressler I mean everyone who plays in my league is basically a friend of the show right but Adam won with Scott Busey taking second and George Gonzalez taking third and honestly, it's only my second time hosting playoffs, and it was cold, so we were all kind of stuck inside. We couldn't really overflow onto the back porch or out into the driveway like we usually would. But, you know, everybody who qualified for A showed up. We really didn't have much of a B division.
2:39
And Roxy, who was our B player, she took it unopposed, so congratulations to her. And it went really well. You know, the changes that we made to the league last season with bringing in a second manager for Lodi, you know, and everybody just really being on board, super, super helped. And a lot of my frustrations from before where I felt like I was just constantly stretched too thin and I was running like a chicken with my head cut off to try to keep everybody happy, you know, those haven't been as big of a problem. So I played well. I just didn't play well enough to do anything exciting. I didn't make the finals. I ended up taking fifth. You know, I won my fair share of games, but, you know, I kept getting ahead of those buzz saws who won, and they would just chase me down. You know, I tried to drive the bus, right? I tried to not be passive and say, no, I'll just play fourth. I said, no, no, I'm going to pick games. I'm going to pick games every chance I get when I would get out there and I'd have a good game and I'd get ahead. And then, you know, I just watch them chase me down every time. So c'est la vie. It was still a super, super fun day. And I got a new game. I got a new project for the game room. So I have a winter project to talk about probably for an episode or two.

medium confidence · Dan saying 'I haven't heard of any drops' indicating incomplete confirmation

  • “This new generation of pinball player... Their reflexes are just split-second timing... They got great vision. They got great reflexes. They got superior knowledge of the rules.”

    Mark @ ~80:00 — Observations on generational player skill evolution and competitive meta shift

  • “with the Insider Connect, that just gives a whole new level, you know, where you can save your progress. So if you can't make it to this level this time, don't worry. You can save and start where you left off.”

    Spencer @ ~110:00 — Highlights Stern's digital ecosystem as venue/location play differentiator and player retention feature

  • “I'll help you tech for free. I'll help you clean, maintain. I just need a good place to play pinball.”

    Spencer @ ~98:00 — Demonstrates community member willingness to invest unpaid labor for venue access—volunteer tech culture

    • venue
    Jeffrey Newenperson
    Jeff Reinhardtperson
    Richardperson
    Dan Armstrongperson
    Michael LaFrieperson
    Incline Villagevenue
    Attack from Marsgame
    The Spinner Is Lit Podcastorganization
    Dungeons and Dragonsgame
    Stern Pinballcompany
    Comic book store owner / Arcade operatorperson
    Scott Buseyperson
    George Gonzalezperson

    high · Spencer: 'You know what the local route operator hates pinball... he won't put any time or money into it. Why because it doesn't make any money. But he makes all his money on billiards and darts'

  • ?

    community_signal: Spencer volunteering free tech and maintenance services in exchange for access to a functioning pinball venue. Community member investing unpaid labor to improve local scene.

    high · Spencer: 'I'll help you tech for free. I'll help you clean, maintain. I just need a good place to play pinball.'

  • ?

    venue_signal: Reno pinball venue density and tournament schedule expansion creating regional hub

    high · Dan: 'If you're a pinball tourist, make a trip to Reno. There are like five great places to play within ten minutes of each other.' Mark: 'Every single week we have new players, every single week.'

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Adam Pressler's comeback tournament win after recent accident and recovery. Significant achievement despite limited practice time.

    high · Dan: 'for him to run it that day and walk away as the champion is kind of a Cinderella story... what his last few months have been like with his accident and his recovery'

  • ?

    technology_signal: Spencer identifies Stern Insider Connect as key differentiator for location play, enabling player progress saving and attracting family/casual players to venues.

    medium · Spencer: 'with the Insider Connect, that just gives a whole new level... you can save your progress... that's encouraging'

  • $

    market_signal: Spencer advising arcade operator on game selection strategy, identifying Dungeons and Dragons, Star Wars, and Pokemon as strong revenue drivers based on broad appeal.

    medium · Spencer: 'Dungeons and Dragons... Pokemon... Star Wars... Kids love it, people love it. It'll print money'

  • ?

    event_signal: Nevada state pinball finals confirmed for Incline Village location. December 28 12-hour tournament expected to be final major points-earning event of 2025.

    high · Mark: 'The state finals are going to be in Incline Village. That is definitely a confirmed location'

  • ?

    community_signal: Hosts noting skill evolution in younger generation of pinball players—faster reflexes, superior rules knowledge, competitive sophistication. Older players relying on experience and consistency to compete.

    medium · Mark: 'This new generation of pinball player... Their reflexes are just split-second timing... They got superior knowledge of the rules.'

    • 4:03
    And, yeah, in general, it was pretty good times. You know, big thanks to all of our players, you know, who make it a good time. And, you know, big thanks to Rick for helping me run the show. And heck of a time, you know. Wish you were here.
    4:21
    Sounds like a lot of fun. That's awesome. You know, you do some league running, but I don't think that you've gotten that particular joy of hosting, right, because you only have one game at home. Right, yeah. And, you know, running league is super fun, you know. Like, if you have management, you know, ability and you can keep things organized, like, it's definitely got a special quality of its own. But it takes on a whole different dimension when you're, like, having it at your house than it takes a whole different, different dimension when you're having it at your house, like, twice in a week. Yeah, it's a lot of work, but it is a lot of work. You got to keep those games in top shape. And, yeah, I know. It's kind of crazy, but, you know, you just, you got to give it up to the people who like open their homes and, you know, I don't know if you guys do a lot of private, like private homes for your leagues. I know you guys have a lot of locations, but we pretty much play in private homes and it's, it's always, you know, a little bit awkward, you know, that you're just like, people want to have you over, right? Like there's a reason that they own five or eight or 10 or 12 or 20 games. And I think generally it's not just because they want to hoard them and keep them to themselves. They want to have their friends over. They want to show them off. They want to have a good time. You know, we had a, we had a friend of ours, a Lodi player, Matt, did a kind of impromptu. He's like, Hey, I got my Harry Potter set up. I'm going to put on some food. You know, why didn't you guys come over? and it turned into kind of an impromptu pinball Christmas party, football game, just a super good time. And we were talking while we were there, you know, and one of the invariable conversations is, you know, the insanity that leads you to put pinball machines in your house and how did you start buying pinball machines and how did you build such a big collection. And it comes down to the fact that when you're in the pinball community and you're hanging out with pinball people, you want them to come over and experience your collection.
    6:35
    You know, I don't own all these games just for myself. I own all these games because I want my friends and I want the league to come over and play them. And so it's gratifying to have that opportunity. But at the same time, yeah, it's just, you know, you're really going in like 10 directions at once. And then when you're also trying to play in the event and you're trying to run the event, you're just like, oh, my goodness. It makes me understand why Jim doesn't play unless he gets a guest manager. Right. Like, you know. And there's a wisdom to that, but I'm too selfish to do that. Oh, I know. I'm not doing this so I can't play pinball. Screw you guys. No, I would play too. I don't play as well when I run a tournament, that's for sure. It's been a long time since I've run a tournament, but I'm selfish too. I want to play. I don't want to just sit around. There's that level of distraction, you know. And some people, you know, Mike Hosier and some of those guys can power through it. Like, you know, it doesn't stop them. But for me, it's always like I don't think I've, I mean, I've won weeks, but I don't think I've ever done anything maybe better than, like, third place if I was running the event. Right. Yeah, it was really, really good. So, you know, congratulations to our champions. and we've already got season 37 all scheduled out and we're excited. I think we have a full roster of players. I haven't heard of any drops, which would be pretty unprecedented if we have the same players for a third season in a row, but everyone's showing up for the weeks. Everyone's having a really good time and, you know, Lodi League is trucking along, you know. And, of course, huge congratulations to Adam, considering, you know, what his last few months have been like with his accident. and his recovery, you know, for him to run it that day and walk away as the champion is kind of a Cinderella story. Good for him. That's awesome. He is a great player. He's very – I love watching him play because he's so calm. I've never seen a – I mean, he's just super calm at the machine. He kind of reminds me of how Owen plays. You know, he's just real nonchalant and everything. But, man, he makes the shots, and he knows what he's doing. He's definitely a killer. And one of the funny things was I was talking to him, and he, you know, it's not like it had been a long time since he won. I think he won two seasons ago. But before he won two seasons ago, he was just like, man, I think that my skills are seriously in decline.
    9:10
    And I'm just like, you know what? I mean, it comes and goes, right? You know, reflexes change. You know, your vision changes. You know, you're not, you know, a 21-year-old kid anymore.
    9:21
    But, you know, he's also a bit younger than we are. So the great thing is, you know, I was talking to him and I was just like, man, you know, that's great. I'm glad you won. He's like, well, I don't have a lot of time to practice these days.
    9:36
    That's a good point. So, you know, there you go. What about you, Mark? I heard that you had a heck of a pinball adventure last week. Oh, my gosh, yeah. There was a lot of pinball, especially being the last month before the end of the year, getting all those points as much as possible. I've been going back and forth between ninth and eighth. And as we all know, if you get in the top eight, you get a bye if you have 24 players. So I was like, oh, man, I got to get into eighth place. So I'm competing with Richard from Vegas, and he bumps me down, and then I bump him out, and we're like switching back and forth between eighth and ninth. So it's kind of a mad rush to get the points in before the time is up. I played in a tournament here in Incline Village called All Bleeping Strikes Day. It was 20 strikes, which is a long tournament. It started at 930. That is a ton of strikes. It got over at 930, and it was two strikes for the third and fourth, and I think it was two strikes for three-player. So anyway, yeah, that was fun.
    10:51
    It was very grueling. It was great, but at the same time, I really like Anthony, how he has all those different versions of games to play. He has a lot of EMs, so it's great to level out the playing field. He makes them extremely hard to play, though. They're really steep. He takes gates out out of two games. He definitely likes collecting wide-bodied valleys. And, yeah, he really likes to make it a little more difficult so that it's not a long-playing game, even though those two games aren't that long-playing anyway. Yeah, I mean, those things are pretty nasty. Yeah, they are. They are. And then, of course, his modern sterns, you know, he has them, you know, the outlanes is as big as ever. And, you know, if you're going to play a 20 strike game, you wouldn't be done until the next day. So it makes sense. But yeah, it was a lot of fun.
    11:44
    I ended up pulling off a win. Long story short, there was a person who was in our group who had a little too much to drink and he played out a turn and it cost him. And he was so upset with the results, thinking that we told him to play his ball, when in reality, we told him not to play his ball. And he ended up going home really upset with us, thinking that we forced him to play the ball that was not his, which was not true at all. So it ended up that he left. And because he left, I was able to make it in the final four. otherwise I wouldn't have made it because I had a zero on my first game and then my second game I think I had a third place until he left and I had a second so that definitely helped us out or it helped me out for sure to get me into the top four and then I pulled it off and I was crushing it in the last, in the final four. He had a, or Tony had a 4-2-1-0 scoring, which is a nice bonus, but if you are on a killer streak winning all the time, you can seal the deal after so many games. And we had to play five games for the last round with the last players, and I was able to win four games in a row in first place. So it really helped. Yeah, that's a nice run. It was a nice run. Yeah, it was good. And my last game was John Wick, and I pulled off a second place, even knowing that I already won the tournament. So I played all the way to the very end, but I was really happy about that.
    13:32
    I also just played recently at Elbow Room, and I pulled off another first-place win. So I got two wins under my belt, and I'm in that point now where if I get second or third, it's not going to count. because I have too many scores that are above five or actually, I think I have one part of as far as the lowest score at four. And then after that, everything is above a five or a six. So second place, if it's only, you know, 20 players, I'm not going to be able to be able to have that count towards the rankings. So having that first place, taking the difference of at least nine points will definitely push me up into the standing. So I'm hoping I can get that by. If not, it's meant to be, and I'm going to just have to play in the first round. But it is nice to have that little freebie. So that's cool. Some great news that I just found out a couple days ago. Greg Wright is now the permanent tech at Playfield Sports and Games. So he is now full-time tech to take care of all the games that Joe provides at the location, and he's fixing them all up. He did a flipper rebuild on the Capcoms.
    14:47
    Why can't I remember the games? It's really sad. We're not sponsored by Playfield Sports and Games. However, Joe, if you want to throw Mark some credits, get on it. Yeah. So that's exciting.
    15:03
    Not event. Gosh, what the heck is Airborne? Airborne Avengers? Is that right? Airborne. That's a cool game. Yeah, yeah. Underrated. Yeah, very underrated. and it was very underpowered, and he rebuilt the flippers, and now it is shooting great. He fixed dialed in, so he's fixing all the games, and Joe's got a tight ship to run. He's got a managed bar and all those things, so having a full-time tech is a really exciting thing to happen that I have a feeling will bring more players to that location now. we're also trying to get all of the all the games I'm sorry all the locations set up for next year to have them on certain days so they don't conflict with the same day also trying to get you know like maybe one day we'll have it at Comic Kingdom and then another day we'll have it at a possibility over at Jason's Place at Reno Pinball Underground and then we'll have one maybe on Saturday at Playfield Sports and Games and then of course we'll still have our Tuesday night ones, and then the monthly tournaments at press start. So lots of pinball happening. Yeah, Reno's got the theme, man. You guys have so many great places to play, so many options. If you're a pinball tourist, make a trip to Reno. There are like five great places to play within ten minutes of each other. And if you don't mind driving like a half hour, there's like, what, two more. Right. Right, and we're trying to make sure that we can get games in locations that other locations don't have, but there's a lot of popular ones that show up in the same place, like Attack from Mars and stuff like that.
    16:47
    But, yeah, it's really exciting to see the interest and the excitement of people wanting to play, and every single week we have new players, every single week. We always have new players. So the word is getting around, and it's really exciting to see it continue and be so popular. And, you know, hats off to Tony and Cody and Jason and, you know, all those people.
    17:17
    Jim, you know, hats off to all those that are running this, that are running the tournaments. It's a lot of work, and they really put in a lot of effort to give us all the opportunity for people in Northern California. Like a lot of people come from Susanville to come down to our tournaments, and Sacramento too, like you do, Dan, or Shannon came down a couple of times, and that's awesome. It has been way too long since I've been in Reno. Yeah, I know, I know. And, you know, a lot of it's just because my work territory changed. But, you know, some of it's just I need to make the time just to go up there and spend a couple days and hit all the new locations. I haven't, you know, been to Pinball Underground yet. I haven't been to Jason's new spot. And I hear that they're great. I haven't been to Elbow Room. Oh, yeah, Elbow Room. Ted, that's another person. Yeah, I forgot about Elbow Room. I go there every Friday. Yeah. I got so many spots to get out there and check out and catch up with everybody and got to hit my brother's barbecue and make a nicarino of it. Absolutely. We did have our league finals, actual league like you have for your format, and Dan Armstrong won that one. I played horrible that night. I got in the A Division finals, but I played, I don't know what happened. And I just was not playing at all my A game. And so Dan took it. Jeffrey got second. And Michael LaFrie got third, who runs the tournaments. So shout out to Michael, too. He's another one that's offering tournaments at different locations. And we have a huge one coming up on December 28th, which is a 12-hour tournament, which is probably going to be pretty epic as far as hopefully a really good turnout. Now, being the last tournament of the year, I don't think we're going to have any more after that. So that should be a good one for points. So if anyone's looking for points in the Nevada area that are listening to the show, that's a good one to hit on December 28th. So that's going to be a good one. And that was kind of the same one that he had in the fall when Jack was in that one. And I don't know if Jack is going to be there for that, but it sounds like what I'm seeing, He's probably going to be playing in the state of California for the state finals. And the state finals are going to be in Incline Village. That is definitely a confirmed location, and that should be fun. I have Michael and actually two Michaels going down to Vegas right now, and they're playing in a three-day tournament where they're playing only EMs. So they're trying to get their points as well. and just to see what's going on down at the Vegas scene so we can catch up and communicate and get things done for the state of Nevada. So that's going to be really cool to see them come out here, and hopefully we don't have a huge snowstorm. But, yeah, a lot of exciting things that happened in 2025, and in 2026 we got even more exciting things that are happening. So, yeah, Reno's kicking it, and I hope to see it still continue. So, yeah. Well, you know, Jack Slovacek showed up to Shannon's, to the Shannon Mike's, whosoever you want to call it now, to the Black Friday tournament. Oh, yeah, he dominated, right? Yeah. Just dominated. And, you know, so I get to tell a cool story because, you know, I played. I didn't win. You know, I didn't even go that deep. But, you know, I beat Jack Slovacek's dad at a game of pinball. Okay.
    21:03
    I didn't beat Jack. I didn't beat Jack, but I beat his dad. Well, there you go. He's a cool guy. Joe is a really cool guy. I was hanging out after we were all out with Steve and Beth Stein and with Joe, and we were hanging outside, you know, watching the standings because their kids were still playing and I had nothing better to do. I think the theory was I was going to pick up Monopoly that night, and that just didn't end up happening. But they're great folks, and it was super fun to hang out with them. And, yeah, you know, they definitely support their pinball dynasties and those families. So, yeah, man, he's a brutal player. So if he's not playing in Nevada this year, that's leaving the door wide open for you guys. And, you know, there's some killers. You know, I wouldn't even – Well, Jeff is a killer. I wouldn't even one little bit say that, you know, it's an easy road. No, it's not. But, you know, when the champion absconds, you know, it gives you an opportunity to see a new champion. And Jeffrey is still just killing it. He's over the number of wins of how many tournaments it counts. I think he's at 26 wins or something like that out of, you know, 20 that count. So he is – Jeffrey is a force to be reckoned with. he is really good. He's trouble. He's definitely trouble. Jeff Reinhardt is also a great player. He's like Jack II. I mean, he is developing really good skills, and I always get fearful when I have to play him. So, yeah, I got lucky. Some of the people that were heavy hitters, I mean, I had Jeffrey Newen come and Dan, but, you know, Jeff wasn't there, and Jeffrey was not at some of the tournaments, and it seems like when he's not there, I somehow pull off a win. Well, some of us gray hairs got to stay ahead of these kids, man. Yeah. You know, we rely on you and Jeff and, you know, those guys to keep it real because, yeah, man, this new generation of pinball player. Watch out. Their reflexes are just split-second timing, you know. Yeah. They got great vision. They got great reflexes. They got superior knowledge of the rules. Yeah. They know how to win. You know, you know, they know how to win. So we'll see what happens. I mean, hey, you never know. We'll see what happens. But age and age and treachery, though. Yeah. Can often overcome youth and skill. That's true.
    23:27
    So you got to cheat. Yeah, there you go. What about you, Spencer? What's good in your hood? Well, I landed and I think we put Spencer to sleep.
    23:44
    Wait, what? Tournaments, tournaments. Well, okay. So, okay. Yeah. Well, because Mark, you kind of been just, you know, you've had your hands full.
    23:55
    What I want to just comment on real quick is we were going to record last Sunday. And then Mark kind of went, he goes, I know it's the 11th hour, guys, but I need the points. I got to go to this tournament. We're like, oh, yeah, dude, go. No problem. And in my head, I'm thinking, you better win. And of course you did. So it's like bravo, sir. Well done. Yeah. Well, thanks to you guys. Mark does not disappoint. No, he doesn't. No, and it actually worked out because I had like a thousand other things I'm trying to get done. Like I said, you guys know it's my busy season, you know, so it's just been work, work, work. So, but what you don't know is I turned 60 last week. Oh, that's right. Yes. Yeah. So happy birthday. Thank you. I knew that. Yeah. Yeah, Dan knew that because he saw a picture I posted with my cheesecake with two gold candles on it. And I just turned 50 two weeks before that. That's right.
    24:51
    We're the old men club. And how old is Mark, like 28, 29? 29. 54. So, yeah, you're 55 soon. So that was good. That was nice. And then I've been trying to beat this level For like three months on Dungeons and Dragons Where you rescue the king And then you gotta get him out of the castle Out of the dungeon And you gotta fight all those different Monsters and levels And they just couldn't do it Couldn't do it So it's like okay I gotta go somewhere And I'm like well Let's play a quick game Doesn't matter if I do good or not And of course I got there And I got through it So I opened up another playable character, Gorgoth the Barbarian. So if you know anything about Dungeons & Dragons, you know barbarians have a rage, like a rage roll, you know. And so on the action button, it'll blink orange.
    25:55
    It'll blink orange, and I think it's a different blinking than for the shield. But anyway, I think it's orange and red. So it blinks and you'll hit it and hold it down And whatever lit arrows Are on the play field at that time You score all those points So if you can get it where you got three or more Lit arrows You can get like A super jackpot level award So it's pretty cool So I'm feeling pretty good about that I'm playing that I've been playing a lot because I just I've been working so much So comic book Our local comic book store that's in the mall, used to be downtown, now in the mall, been there a while, a couple years.
    26:39
    Next door was an arcade, and it's been closed for about two years. He's reopening the arcade himself.
    26:47
    He's an our age group. He didn't grow up where Dan and I did, but he lived there for a time because Dad was in the Air Force. So, you know, he knows all the old haunts. He's getting a bunch of classic arcade games in. He was looking at a March opening, and him and I had been talking about he's trying to get pinballs in, and he wants me to run leagues and tournaments. So it looks like we might finally have a good location and get a local league and some tournaments started up. Wow, that's great news. Yeah, that's great news. Because I didn't even talk about it before because there was a bar I talked to like a year and a half ago, They opened a new bar and brewery At an old bar and brewery That used to be a restaurant It's an old downtown place It used to be a garage called Yellowstone Garage And they had They got one pin in So I'm talking to them They get four pins in So I'm like come on boys let's go down We'll grab some food And we'll play some pinball So we're down there And they had the Jurassic Park Is it? Yeah no I'm sorry, the Avengers they had They brought in a Jurassic Park Which I think worked for one day And then they brought in A roller coaster tycoon And a South Park I'm like, man, four game lineup We can start a tournament, we can start a league night None of them work Like none of them Flippers are jacked up on In South Park And on On Rollercoaster Tycoon They do the machine gun bit Like you go to flip and cradle And they won't hold up, no drop And then Jurassic Park's been turned off Since like the second day it's been there This is like going on Six months now And then The Avengers plays but it's not level And you can't start A two player game, you can only start A game with the action button So Yeah so You know what you got to do Spencer Get in there and tech that shit You know what the local route operator hates pinball I have a local collector Buddy who's known him since high school Because he doesn't make any money So it's a double edged sword he won't put any time or money into it Why because it doesn't make any money But he makes all his money on billiards And darts which are huge here Especially in the winter months But you know it like okay whatever Do what you going to do because I got this guy and he going to you know And I told him, I said, I'll help you tech for free. I'll help you clean, maintain. I just need a good place to play pinball. So real optimistic this is going to happen within the next three to six months that we'll have pinball, a real location with good playing games. And he's like, yeah, when I get the list of available games, You know, it's like you and I can sit down I'll call you and meet, because he has my number I'll call you immediately, you and I sit down You tell me what games you want You pick the games Because you know what's going to sell good He already knows Dungeons and Dragons And we talked about in the future, Pokemon I said, get a Star Wars, follow the Empire Kids love it, people love it It'll print money Kids love it It'll print money for you You should route your you should route your Dungeons and Dragons. Yeah, yeah. Maybe I'll get that money so I can buy another game.
    30:24
    But, yeah, so that's what's going on in my world now. So I'm real optimistic and real excited because he's real optimistic. You know, we've had a lot of talks about, you know, bringing the kids. You know, it's like, you know, because the kids hang out there in the mall in the summer anyway. So it's like, okay, well let's give them something actually worthwhile to do other than hang out in the food court and, you know, and just hang out, hang out in front of Hot Topic, you know. So we're all out there. I wish I had that situation coming near me. It's like I could put five games in your arcade tomorrow.
    30:59
    I know. Well, now, you know, with, you know, mostly I'm sure it'd be Stern Pros. And with the Insider Connect, that just gives a whole new level, you know, where, you know, oh, you can do this, you know, on games like them, you can save your progress. So if you can't make it to this level this time, don't worry. You can save and start where you left off, you know. And that's encouraging. And we're going to do kids' tournaments. Like I was saying, okay, like last Saturday, I just threw out a little, you know, quick, like last Saturday or even better, last Sunday of the month, most parents are off, have a kids' tournament, you know. And he does a lot of 3D printing. He sells like 3D printed stuff like dragons in the big castle. He does a lot of games. He's also going to have gaming tables to where they're going to do like the card games and stuff. You know, like Pokemon. That's honestly probably where he's going to make his money. Probably, but, you know, it's like there's nothing else for kids here. There's like two other arcades. There's an arcade at the, one of the bowling alleys has a really good arcade, but it's all new stuff. You know, like real new, you know, it's all, you know, redemption. And then there's a pizza place that has all the redemption stuff.
    32:13
    And then there's the, yeah, not, like, just south of downtown or just north of downtown, there's, like, a mini golf and fun center. And they've got an arcade, but he has all these stuff. You know, all redemption games. All redemption games. So his stuff's all classic. Like, he's going to get, he's got, like, three or four. He's going to get Mortal Kombat 2 and 3. He's going to have Killer Instinct, a couple of Street Fighter Championship editions. I said, because he loves those too. He loves pinball, but he loves those. He's probably right around your age, Cam, so a few years younger than me. But we all connect on the same level. And so we're going to have fighting game tournaments.
    32:54
    And it's just going to be all about getting, especially getting kids and young people involved. And older people too have all ages. I said if we can get things working, we can get a women's league started, which we'll want to talk about that because we have a common thread that we can talk about later with the women's league. And maybe even a senior league. Get some seniors out, some other gray-haired folks, you know.
    33:19
    So I'm real excited and real optimistic. Hopefully it pans out like it should. And, again, man, we're ripe for it because we've got two – Well, we got a pretty good pinball community over in Cheyenne and then over in Powell, which is a bit smaller in Casper. They've got a couple of real good locations, and they've got a good little league and tournament thing going over there. So real optimistic. So that's what I've been doing.
    33:47
    Awesome. Big news. Yeah, man. That is great news. Real exciting stuff. So it's the end of the year. It is the end of the year. It's the end of the year, as we know it. Yeah, I can't believe it's the end of the year.
    34:03
    I just can't believe 2019 was on fire. Yeah, here you go. Yeah, I won't quit my day job. So, you know, we always talk about this. Everybody kind of does it. We're not going to really do a game of the year thing. We're going to do our favorite game this year. And I'm going to let – Mark, do you want to start? Okay, I will start. Aren't we going to recap the releases this year? Yes. Oh, we're going to recap the releases. Okay. That's why we went over all the releases. I mean, you know, you're driving the bus. Okay. You're right. I thought I should. Okay. I'll tell you what.
    34:40
    You want me to just write it? Okay. So, and you guys fill me in if I miss something. And this is, and the way we always do this for the listener or somebody who maybe hasn't listened in the past, we only talk about games that shipped. And games we played. That's, yes. We have to have played them, and they have to have shipped in the calendar year 2025. So from Stern, we have Dungeons & Dragons, King Kong, Star Wars, Fall of the Empire, and Walking Dead Remastered. From Barrels of Fun, we have Dune.
    35:21
    Spooky, we have Evil Dead. JJP, we have Harry Potter. From Dutch Pinball X, we have Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Sure. Okay, I think I got that right. I know. It's one of those Alice in Wonderland games. From Turner Pinball, we have Merlin's Arcade, which I don't think any of us have actually played, have we? Mark? I've not played that one. Did I miss anything?
    35:52
    Portal. Portal, thank you. Portal is shipping from Multimortar. People are finally getting it. At the later end of the year, but they are getting it, so that's good. Good things come to those who wait. We did play Portal. We played a very early prototype, but we did play it. It was a lot of fun. So that's what shipped in the calendar year 2024. Most of these we have played a couple. Merlin's Arcade, I know I have, but nobody has. Did you say Harry Potter? Yeah, I said Harry Potter. I haven't played Alice. I haven't played Harry Potter either, to be honest. I've been kind of just here.
    36:37
    Okay, so yeah, back to Mark. Mark, you played pretty much almost all these. Just give us what you like best. All right. As far as my favorite game of the year, it is hands down, and more and more as I play it, the more and more I love this game, and it is Harry Potter, JJP. I love the theme. I love how it shoots. I love the little mech of how it spins around, and you know where the ball is going because the arrows indicate where the ball is going. and the rules are much more straightforward with a little bit of studying, maybe 15 minutes of studying the rules, but not like a whole three hours on other games that they produce. I really love how it shoots. I love the rules, and it's just got that wow factor as far as just the light show itself. There's just something about it. Like there's a part where like when you start the trio multiball, how it has the red, the yellow, and the blue go around the lighting on the side. Just the way it's choreographed, there's a part where I can't remember exactly what scene it is, but there's a certain thing when you wait to get a certain reward, and the lights kind of circulate around like in a figure eight on the play field. I can't remember exactly what mode it is or what thing you get, But it's really cool. The graphics are really captivating and just integrated so well with the movies. And at first I was thinking, oh, man, these movies are all over the place. But they fit with the movie with the one that you pick. So it's not picking scenes from all different movies and jamming into one. I mean, it's, you know, if you do Sorcerer's Stone, it plays all the scenes from Sorcerer's Stone in order, too, which is really nice. man I just love this game and I love the objectives and how you get the horcruxes and it's just it's one of those moments where I just have fun shooting it and I just keep putting quarters into it and now I got a couple people around town that have it at their house and it's like hey you want to come over and play it anytime it's like oh man yeah gives me the opportunity to play this game but I just love it I think it's a magical game just like they said in their promotion and in their marketing materials, but it really is.
    39:13
    Yeah, it's a winner. It's probably in my top ten, to be honest with you, of all time. I love it that much. So that is my favorite game of the year, Harry Potter from Jersey Jack Pinball.
    39:25
    Awesome. I hear nothing but good things. I've gotten to spend some time on a couple of them now, and it really is an astonishing game. Like Jersey Jack, they knew that this needed to be a home run, and they absolutely delivered. I was talking last night with our friend who's, you know, he recently bought his. That's why we're at his house. And we were talking about how it was interesting, Eric Meunier, the way that his career has gone. You know, he came out with Pirates, and Pirates is a great game, but it's kind of more notorious for the fact that it's hard to get, you know, because of the production problems and the release situation. And then Guns N' Roses, which was a big hit, but it feels like, you know, people have kind of turned on it a little bit, which, you know, is a very pinball thing to do. And then Godfather, right? Godfather, and everybody was kind of on that.
    40:27
    It's a great game. It's just the theme is just – The theming's weird. I think it's cool. I would have a Godfather, but, yeah, I never looked at the Godfather and said, you know what I really need? I need this as a pinball machine. But, like, you know, Harry Potter definitely is his design. You know, it definitely shows his design sensibilities, the heavy use of mechanical action, and the game is just stuffed. It is stuffed. And it's just packed full of shots, and the ball goes cool places and does cool things and falls in the cauldrons, and you got that whoopsie-doo Quidditch ramp, and you got that left lane that, I mean, it's like a, I know it's not magnetic, but, man, it flies down there, like, faster than gravity. Oh, my gosh, does it ever. It's just a really well-designed game with a lot going on. And for the fans, you know, like you said, it's got the clips, it's got the music, It's got the voices.
    41:27
    You know, it is definitely the dream theme for a Harry Potter fan. And the artwork on the CE on the cabinet is gorgeous in person. It's beautiful. Yeah, that was the one that we played last night was a CE. It is definitely blingier. Yeah, a lot blingier. I'm fine with the Wizard Edition or even the Arcade Edition, but, yeah, that's CE. For those who want something a little bit extra and you know who you are, yeah, It's definitely flashy. Yep. The CE topper, pretty much more than I expected, though. Yeah.
    42:03
    Yeah. I'm watching the little dude, like, spaz out on top of it, and then the owl pop up and down, and I was all like, huh, I kind of thought it was going to be a little bit more. Someone needs to do some 3D printing to, like, make that building look super cool. Yeah.
    42:21
    For sure. The lighting's pretty cool on that. I like it. Everything's pretty cool. Yeah. I just, you know, the whole thing is actually super, super dope. Yeah. And you know what? You know, that's kind of a, you know, lame bitch, too, because that's an included topper. That's what I was going to say. It's included. It's not really that common. Right. You know, everybody wants to charge you $1,500, $2,000. A thousand bucks is a cheap topper these days. So, you know, despite the fact that it's a little shady, it is. It is included. Not free because it's part of the prize, but it is included. So that's cool. Yeah.
    43:01
    So, Dan, what about you? Well, speaking of included toppers and much, much better replacement ones, I'm going to give mine to Spooky's Evil Dead.
    43:14
    I do like Harry Potter a lot, and I could see the wisdom in choosing that game because as a game, it's spectacular. But I think as an evolution of their designs, as a master class in theming, and as just being a really super cool game with a lot of mechanical action and a lot of good stuff happening, Evil Dead, oh, and, you know, I mean, don't get me wrong, Harry Potter's a good-looking game in some ways. I still think it's a little ugly for myself.
    43:48
    The best art going. You know, Franchi just absolutely knocked that out of the park. But the Spooky Team, 100% just delivered with that machine. Like, it is so good.
    44:04
    The sounds are great. You know, the custom call-outs by Bruce Campbell are amazing. They make the game.
    44:13
    You know, it only gives you two movies worth of intricate theming versus, like, six or seven, I guess, on the Harry Potter side, but, you know, it really changes the gameplay experience. It doesn't just feel like you're going into different modes. And honestly, man, it is a game that when they announced it, I was like, I think this is going to be the spooky game because I know they've been working on it for a long time, and I do think that, yeah, it's just absolutely blown all the expectations for what anybody thought it was going to be out of the water. And, you know, obviously it ignited the FOMO war again because, you know, their follow-up game, which also looks like it's going to be astonishing, sold out just immediately on the strength of the fact that Evil Dead was just so good. And while it does include a topper, which I think looks good, you can get a ridiculously cool-looking, you know, add-on topper for that thing for $1,000. bucks. And it does, I was saying the other day, it's also kind of awoken the gravy train in Spooky because they have released, what, two or three upgrade accessories for this game now. You know, they have their new back box light. They have that gun handle. Gun handle, the shooter rod, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that gun handle shooter and... Oh, yeah, not shooter rod, sorry, shooter. That upgrade topper. And I love games with pistol grip shooters, though.
    45:45
    But, yeah, I'm going to say, you know, Spooky just, yeah, Spooky's Evil Dead. And I'll give Harry Potter, you know, a runner-up. I'll give King Kong, which, you know, I thought for sure mine was going to be King Kong because I really like that game. Yeah, I do too. You know, I thought King Kong would be really hard to beat when I played that. Like I thought for sure at the end of the year I'm going to be talking about that. But now, man, at the end of the day, it's pretty hard to beat the Evil Dead. Well, I'll tell you this. I don't disagree with you in the slightest bit. I totally think that is a fantastic game as well. Agreed. It's a tough one. That was a tough one, but I was just like, well, I have a feeling Dan's probably going to pick that one. But the more I play Harry Potter, the more I want to play it more just because, like I said, I'm really starting to get into the rules, and there's so much you can do on that game. and it's just great to have that feeling of accomplishment when you know what you're doing. And now I'm starting to understand what I'm doing. Yeah, I haven't played Harry Potter yet, or I haven't had a good time playing it. Yeah. It's just fun. And that's what I'm on to. It's got a ton of stuff. And actually, I looked at it, and I kind of got that roadshow vibe where I was like, oh, man, it's got a lot of, like, wire forms and crap flying everywhere, and I don't think it, it just looks like it's too busy. But you start shooting it, and, like, the ball just always goes someplace cool. Oh, my gosh. It always does something neat. Yep. And, you know, it was the same thing with, you know, when you were getting into those early JJPs, and they had a lot of mechanics and a lot of wire forms, and they were really, you know, doing fancy things. It really is kind of a return to form for JJP after a couple games, which were probably leading into their lighting a little bit more heavily. Right. And you know what? With Eric Meunier, I have to say, I know it is funny because we had such high expectations for that game, for Harry Potter, and I'm glad the way they did it. It doesn't have all – that staircase is so cool, and it's so functional, what it does in the game. But I know you could have had a lot more, you know, cool toys and more mechs and stuff like that, but I think they've made the right choice of how they did it because it still, to me, feels loaded because of the gameplay alone, and that upper play field is just a blast to hit over and over, trying to get that ramp, just looping it over and over and over again. Yeah, the Quidditch. But that's what Evil Dead, to me, does better, right? Because, hey, Evil Dead is just gorgeous, right? I mean, you know, it's got a horror theme, so it's, you know, it's gruesome, but it's, like, really good looking, and the art is really good. It's a masterpiece. It's not. It's got toys. It's got the moving hand. It's got the porch that you can shoot the ball up onto, and then it's got the chair that, you know, it'll rock, but it'll also act as a ball stopper. It's got the shotgun shell targets, and, you know, it's just got so much cool stuff going on. And that's where, to me, Harry Potter kind of loses a step where Evil Dead picks it up. Because I think Evil Dead managed to be maybe less of a, like, mechanical showpiece, but more of a window into its world. While still definitely being a good playing game with some really neat shots. I don't think it has the shots that Harry Potter. Harry Potter has, like, infinite shots. Right. But Evil Dead's got enough to keep you busy. Plus, it's got the mechanical and the toys and the sound and the art that, you know, more than just being like, wow, this is a heck of a game from a ball travel standpoint, I think it really won the battle on its theming and on its art and on its sound. Where, you know, and theming is subjective. But, you know, the other stuff, you know, is I think what Spooky's starting to do really, really well, which is, you know, to go back to a term that, you know, has been hideously overused over the years in pinball, but it's, you know, always true. It brings that world under glass to life. You know, if you love the evil dead, you know, you will feel like you're in that world, where to me Harry Potter feels like a great pinball machine with a lot of Harry Potter stuff. and Harry Potter art and Harry Potter sounds, but, you know, it doesn't feel like. I had a picture in my head of being more like you're going to be shooting in and out of, like, Hogwarts, and this is like, well, we've got to do it. Right. You know, put them all in a bunch of different places. Plus that Dementor-looking dude or the Death Eater. Man, someone needs to come up with a better sculpt for that because that dude just looks doofy. Yeah. But it's going to fly, and that's what counts. Yeah. It's got rules for days. Yep. And the other thing, too, going back to Evil Dead, is that it's humorous. It's really funny. And that's what I like about it. Oh, yeah. It's super serious, right? It fits. But the humor is so good in Evil Dead. It's so good. Yeah, the moment that you got Bruce Campbell on board to do Custom Calls, you know, and this kind of harkens back to what they did with Rick and Morty. like Rick and Morty I don't think anybody's going to argue was God's gift to pinball machines but the fact of the matter was when they got you know the actual creator and the guy who did the voices of Rick and Morty Justin Roiland to do all the call outs and put the personality into the game whether you love that game or you hated it if you are a Rick and Morty fan it had just great call outs and funny stuff and I think that you know if you had tried to make Evil Dead without Bruce Campbell, you would have missed half the magic. Agree. Because, you know, and I know it's a Sam Raimi thing, and I know that, you know, a lot of other people worked on those movies, but I mean, you know, if you don't have Ash, you just don't have the Evil Dead or that. And I like the fact that they also managed to stuff a good amount of Army of Darkness stuff in there, even though it's not licensed for Army of Darkness. Because of all the Evil Dead movies, I got to admit, I'm more of an Army of Darkness guy. Yeah. Yeah, of course. Yeah, that's mine. The Evil Dead. Let's go.
    52:19
    Spencer, what's yours? All great choices. It's hard to argue with that because team and theme integration, you know, World Under Glass, they spooky nailed it so perfectly hard with the humor, everything in it.
    52:41
    Again, I'm looking at this year's, you know, list, and, like, there's just so many heavy hitters. It's like a murderer's row of pinball theming, you know.
    52:50
    It was a great year. Yeah, it's been a great year. Okay, Star Wars. Okay, another Star Wars game. But, yeah, man, but it's got a lot of really cool stuff in it. It's got a walker that collapses, and it's got, you know, a Death Star that's, you know, a little different from the last one. And you know what was Star Wars, right? Like, a lot of people have been kind of, you know, bitching that game out of existence. But, like, that's not a bad game. No, it's not. you know it actually does quite a few cool things like in a year there are a lot of years where we would look at that star wars and go like man this is the best game of the year yeah kind of scary but that's you know there are some years where you know the pinball designs were really flat yeah to be in a year where you look at star wars and you go like you know it's not bringing the heat some of the other games brought this year and it's a star wars game with official music and official voice acting and full assets and everything, that's unbelievable. Have you guys seen the topper?
    53:50
    The topper is awesome. The Tokyo topper. And you can use it on the Steve Ritchie Star Wars. That's diabolical, by the way. That is sweet. Like, the fact of the matter is all those people who are sitting on those R2-D2 toppers trying to charge, like, $2,000, $3,000 for them, everybody who has a Star Wars and just wanted a cool topper, they get an alternative, which honestly I think looks better because it's got the full kind of like black knight, both up, down, and left, right motion, where the R2 just spins. Yeah. I think they did a beautiful job on that topper. I'm a little butt hurt right now because, you know, Star Wars, the new one's been out, what, a couple, three months, and they already got all this stuff. They already got the stuff for Walking Dead, but they don't have the stuff for Dungeons & Dragons yet. No, they don't. You know, it's like, what are you guys doing, man?
    54:44
    Aside from the topper, though, like, I don't know if I would spend money on any of that stuff. Yeah, well, I can't have the topper because it won't fit in my basement.
    54:54
    And even, to be honest, I wouldn't buy a $1,500 topper. I wouldn't either. Like, if you gave me the money and said, Dan, you can buy a $1,500 topper, and I'll say, okay, since that's why you gave me the money, okay, maybe. But, like, once toppers went past $500, which I still think sounds ridiculous, but, you know, I've spent, what, $650 on a topper? Because that's what the medieval one used to cost. And even then I was like, man, I will not spend more than this on a topper. You bought your Black Knight topper when they first came out, right? I bought that sucker when it was like $500. I think I spent $540 on it. And then it took you a year or so to get the game. It took me a lot longer than that. A couple years, yeah. But you got it. So, yeah. I got it, and then within three months it was broken. Yep. And I still haven't fixed it. My black knight only looks left and right. But he works. He works. Well, you know, and I just looking down, like, I remember when it was first. You've got final problems. You know, wearing a helmet like that, that's hard. Yeah, it is. You know, if you were wearing a heavy metal helmet, you know, let's see how your neck would work. at last year's Golden State, you know, when they rolled in Dune and we looked at it for the first time. And you're like, holy crap, look at that. Look at the art. Look at the finish on the cabinet. And, I mean, it's so much good. King Kong, the way that thing shoots alone, not to mention, you know, I mean, what's in that one, all the cool little features, the little – it's not really a mini play field, but you have that upper play field where you got the mini flipper and the drop I love that and the spinner up there I mean so much good stuff man Evil Dead Harry Potter you know Portal you guys brought up Portal you know what's funny the only reason that I won't say Portal is because and I think you alluded that we've all gotten to spend time on Portal but we've only played that prototype and I'm sure it's better now but Portal was really hard for me not to say I just felt like it was a little bit of a compromised decision because I haven't played the full game yet. But the prototype was really cool. Yeah. It was funny, too, because, you know, you go back to Dune, right? We got to play that Dune prototype. And, like, you know, when you looked at those two games side by side, I was just like, man, I would choose Portal like a million times over Dune. but I can see how once they get Dune put together this game is going to be brilliant and I haven't gotten to play the full version of Dune but from what everybody's told me that game is just the bee's knees. Yep. Yeah. Yep. So it's like that and what was the other one they announced? Winchester? Yeah. Like I'm dying to touch one of those. I'm dying to play the full version of Portal, you know, because those are all definitely games that I think could have been given.
    58:02
    Yeah. Could have been given the honor. We got a lot of good stuff coming up for 2026 to look forward to.
    58:09
    So what is that? What is that? What is mine? Well, you guys got to know this one. Now, okay, my only issue with Evil Dead is, like, it's not for everybody. You know, it's got this great fan base, but it's not, you know, you can't give this one to the kiddies. So I'm going to give the one that you can give to the kiddies, Dungeons & Dragons. Okay. Oh, my goodness. I'm so surprised. I know, you're so surprised. But, you know, again, it's theme, theme integration. The theme integration on this game just gets better every time they do an update If you know the lore of Dungeons Dragons and how the game is played it playing Dungeons Dragons with flippers and a ball you know and it just keeps getting better. Like I said, I've unlocked two more characters so far. There's two more that I know to unlock, plus supposedly there's a fifth that you can unlock with the topper, but, you know, that's just a rumor right now. I don't know that to be 100%. But, yeah, man, it's just the playability, everything about it. You know, it's just hitting well. And I get real frustrated with the game. I'm like, fuck this game. I'm going to sell it. And then I'll unlock something and feel good again. Because it's hard. I'm not kidding, man. It is a hard game. It's a hard game. It's a really hard game. It's unforgiving. I mean, I've moved the outlaying posts all the way in because those outlayings are like, they're, you know, they're Barry Orsor style outlayings like you have on some of his games. They can just be brutal. Or Steve Ritchie, you know. But, yeah, man, that's my game of the year because it just, it can appeal to all age levels. and, you know, and even all experience, so you get somebody inexperienced or, you know, in pinball or, you know, or a young person, even on the first level of the game, they can get to drag and multi-ball and they can usually, like on the first level, they can usually beat drag and multi-ball. So they get a real sense of accomplishment, you know. And if you look at that compared, you know, because I was a pro, compared to the premium and all the LE with the accoutrement, You know, the mirror back glass on that is spectacular, and the powder coating looks real nice. But as far as what's on the play field, what's in the game, you don't lose a lot with the Pro. I mean, it's not like there's flat plastics. You still get the dragon head. It still moves up and down. You still get the full sculpt, you know, gelatinous cube, the magnets. So, you know, you don't lose a lot by just getting the Pro. And that's a nice thing, too, where you look at it and go, okay, this still looks like a full-featured game, and it plays like one. And because, you know, it's pretty family-friendly.
    61:07
    Yeah, that's my favorite. What about The Devil? Dungeons & Dragons is the work of The Devil.
    61:18
    You know what? That game's awesome. And I know that someday I'll have one because I really like it. although man and as good as the pro is i do like the fact that the premium and ellie dragon spits pinball yeah yeah yeah the pro the pros you know 90 there and that's a good 90 and you know for for the money that you know us low buck pinball uh low buck pinball men can afford to spend, you know, sometimes you have to miss out on a feature. But, yeah, I will definitely skim my way into one of those one of these days. Oh, I have no doubt, you know. I don't think I'll ever have a Harry Potter, and we'll allude to this later on, but I doubt I'll ever have an Evil Dead, but like I will have a Dungeons and Dragons. Maybe I'll get an Evil Dead, who knows. I end up with a Pirates of the Caribbean somehow. Well, the replayability, like you said, is awesome when it's integrated with Insider Connected.
    62:27
    It is just so cool how you can continue where you left off. I love that how I can go to any location, scan in, and go right where I left off, just like a video game in a save state. It's just so cool. And I'm so close to getting to the end on one of the modes, and I just can't. It's so hard to pass it. I just can't do it. Makes you want to throw shit at it, doesn't it? I know. I'm going to throw my drink at you. Yeah, and I have a better chance at doing better on the one at Comic Kingdom than at Press Star because Press Star is just brutal playing that one. I mean, talking about Outland's drains, oh, my gosh, it's like almost all the time. I've done real good nudging on that train. Every time. You've been good at nudging? That's good. You have to because especially for me. I'd save that FOMO. Yeah. Four inches left or right. There you go. Especially the ride out lane on mine. Don't know why, man. It's like, is there a magnet in there? It just wants to go right to there. Yeah.
    63:37
    And the calls are so good on it. I love the narration in it. the amount of code that's in that game, they really did a good job on putting it all together. And I love how you can see the characters, you know, so you can see, you know, how much you're taking damage off of them. And then you have the captive ball where it can give you a critical hit. And oh, man, it's just... That's a great one. It really is a good one. No, it's also... It's different because you know, it's like... It took me a while to warm up to that end of it of like, okay, well, I just want a mode to shoot and then, but you're on an adventure and you're collecting points and weapons and getting through levels and, you know, and that's, it is Dungeons and Dragons, but like you say, it's a different gameplay experience. For the kind of person, right, you know, who you're selling to, in pinball you know, it's historically like, yeah, you're going to press start. You're going to have an experience for two or three or five or ten minutes, however long you're going to last that game, and it's going to end. And maybe you put up a high score and that kind of endures, but after that it's done. And the fact is with Dungeons & Dragons, the fact if you're logging in, if you've chosen your character, if you work on the right quest and you're building progress, it gives you something to continue, right? Like a video game. Like a video game, exactly. You know, and I think that that is the beginning, you know, not the first game to do that because they started that in Venom, but it really is the beginning of, like you said, the pinball adventure, right? And we talked about pinball adventure back when I had Mandalorian. Yeah. You know, Mandalorian is really neat because, like, you start playing and you're buying equipment and you're finishing missions like you finish in the Mandalorian world. And more than anything, it feels like it's a pinball adventure. But every game you had to start over. And now, thanks to Dungeons and Dragons, you know, and Dwight and Brian Eddy, like, they've solved that conundrum, you know, and Insider Connected. So, yeah, you know, it's interesting to see where they'll go from here. And, you know, they're not even done with Dungeons & Dragons yet, right? There's still more. Yeah, I'm at .98. Still more coming there. So, you know, yeah. .98 is what you're on? Yeah. It's great to see, you know, what they've done with that game and how it's brought, you know, everyone's always screaming about how they want to see, you know, oh, we want to see something different. We want to see something special. You know, we want to see enhancements and innovation in pinball. And it's like, look, you can't really do too much different with a ball and magnets and wire forms and ramps. You know, you can come up with another toy. You can come up with another ramp. But at the end of the day, innovation in pinball is really going to happen in code. And this is one of the most innovative pinball machines to ever exist. Yeah, yeah. So, you know, great pick, Spencer. And, you know, it was a good one to buy. And, you know, we knew you were going to pick it because. Yeah, we did. But it's rightfully so. I mean, you own it, and you get to play it all the time. And like I said, it's your favorite game because, you know, it's very enjoyable to play. And I don't think that game would be – I wouldn't like it as much if I couldn't continue where I left off. Yeah, exactly. That game, with the amount of modes that are in there and the paths you can take, it would suck having to start over every time. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, well, that's the thing, too. It's everybody in the family likes it. And like I said, the friends I've had over, they're big D&D people. Yeah. And they're casual pinball people. Like, they're just mesmerized. They're like, this is the coolest thing ever, you know, because it's totally immersive, but it holds very true.
    67:43
    Because Dwight and I know everybody on the design team are really invested, and they're all into gaming and Dungeons & Dragons. And so they really held true to, you know, to the source material. And they're doing it right. They're doing it justice. So the hardcore Dungeons & Dragons people are like, these guys know what they're doing. They nailed this. They nailed it. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. I still want a Deadpool really, really bad. And I really want a Foo Fighters really, really bad. That's a good game too. Like I said, there's some good games that have come out in the last couple of years. I don't have any good games out right now. It's just, you know, it's like I got to. It's hard to choose. Yeah. I got to start, you know, selling plasma or something now.
    68:24
    I don't know. You're a little guy. I don't know if you have that much in you. Yeah, you know, it's, you know, Fred Garvin, male prostitute.
    68:34
    Now here we go. Yeah. So anyway, but yeah, so that's it. And that's why it's funny because, again, it's I love Evil Dead. I love the theme. What Spooky did, and oh, my God, I can't wait to play the next game. I'm not going to tell the whole joke, but I hope that you know the punchline. Okay. I made $500.50. Who gave you 50 cents? All of them. Yeah.
    68:59
    Exactly. Somebody gets that joke and they're cracking up. For those who don't, hit me up. I'll tell you the rest of it. There you go. Yeah, no, and that's why it's my pick. You know, I haven't played Star Wars yet, but I want to play it. I look forward to it. again, God, what a good year for pinball. So we've all picked our favorite game. All the games are great. If what we picked is not your favorite, but you like it, but you have your favorite, that's awesome too. If your favorite is King Kong or Star Wars or – Oh, wait a minute. Before we move on, I think that I had some people give us some feedback on the Facebook about game of the year. Oh, yeah. Let's hear that. Let me – Talk about yourself. for a minute. I'm going to, you know, I'm going to find this stuff. Now, since we're still talking about Dungeons and Dragons, kind of. Yeah, yeah. The only thing that is tough for me is in a tournament setting to play Dungeons and Dragons. Because you really have to know which mode to pick to get the most points. And I know it's the potion one with the dogs. With the dog, yeah. Every one. That one doesn't fail, but I never know which one to pick because I don't know if you travel first to the city and then you pick that mode where it's available because I'm like looking for it and I'm like, where's the potion one? I can't see it. You don't choose the multi-balls? I wasn't traveling to the right place. So, yeah. I would just think if you can keep a multi-ball, like try to go for the multi-balls.
    70:31
    Yeah. And it is nice that you can continue where you left off or before they had that code where you started over and you lost progress, I'm glad they fixed that. Okay, okay, okay. The fans have spoken. Okay. So we have our good friend, Practical Steve,
    70:51
    who wants us to know that Hardbody is his game of the year. That is an excellent choice, sir. Our friend Kendra says that her vote is for Harry Potter. Good choice. our buddy Juan who runs the Folsom CCPL along with Rory he says Evil Dead with two exclamation points he's not wrong Brian Kast, good friend of the show former personality on the show we'll have to get him back on here sometime says Evil Dead so far from what he's played and Shannon who owns the Evil Dead that I think most of us have spent some time on says he doesn't think that there will ever be a game better than the Evil Dead.
    71:37
    Wow. That's awesome. And then after we finish our next segment, we have some more community feedback. Not much, just a little bit. Okay, well, it's good the community is getting more and more involved, you know. So, good. I'm like, yes, please, tell us something. We need something to talk about. We want four-hour episodes. Yeah. So I just have to add something to talk about other than, well, I broke up on another level, you know. It's like, hey, we're going to get some more pinball in town. Yay. Yeah.
    72:11
    So now it's time for everybody's favorite segment. We've talked about our game of the year or our games, our personal games of the year. Now we're going to complain about the lame of the year. And the lame of the year isn't a game. It can be a game if you want it to be, but it can be just like what happened in pinball in 2025 that you didn't like, that you thought was lame.
    72:41
    So let's flip it on its head. Let's start off with Spencer. Yeah, Spencer. Okay. You start it off. What is your lame of the year? I will start it off, and I was going to dovetail off you, but you can dovetail off me because we're kind of in the same. Yours is different, but it's in the same vein. And I thought about this a lot, and there's really not a lot of lame this year. There's an overall good year, but there's always some. And my lame of the year, I'm going to call it the high-end pin man, the investor, if you will.
    73:14
    Shots fired. Now, here's the deal. Like, I want to preface this by saying this. We love people who spend money on pinball machines. And we have some friends who buy crazy stuff. Again, I was at a guy's house who last night, you know, we were playing his Harry Potter CE. So it's not to say that we don't like people who spend a lot of money on games. It's more of a specific subset of well-moneyed collectors.
    73:47
    Is that probably the best way to say that, Spencer? Yeah, I'll give you even more detail. It's the high-end collector that all they ever do is bitch about losing money on a game, and there's not enough in the game, and they've never owned an old game. Because we have high-end collector's buddies like that, but they also own some really old games and some really buried games. And they'll also get underneath the hood and get their hands dirty and learn. So I'm talking about the people who never play the games. They'll have a 10-year-old Star Trek L.E. God, that game's older than that now, with like 110 games on it.
    74:30
    And they're missing the whole point. My point is this. Pinball is the game of the common man. If you go back, trace the roots back during the Great Depression, you'd find a baffle ball or a ballyhoo in a drugstore, and you can put a penny in and get, I think, 10 balls, 12 balls, whatever it was, and while away a few minutes and kind of forget your troubles. Pinball has always been in bowling alleys and burger joints and pizza places and laundromats. It's the game of common folk where anybody can afford to go plunk a couple of coins in a game and play and have a little bit of fun. That's part of the fabric of Americana and pinball's relationship and place in America. and in the world. It's the game of the common man. It's not meant to be an ultra-selective, only a few can get their hands on one,
    75:30
    whether it be to own or just to play in a public place. And I just wish more of those collectors would kind of get clued in and just take a moment, turn on their game, turn out the lights, close their eyes for a second, take a deep breath, and think back to their, whenever they were 12 or 13, whenever they first played a pinball game, whether it be in college, their college roommate or with their sibling or their parent or best friend, you know, or somebody they, you know, were in Little League with. And remember that because I can take any of my games, you know, especially my older ones I've had over the years, even ones I don't have now that I played some on location. and I can remember. I can think back with Surf Champ to a hot summer night at the 7-Eleven. That 7-Eleven is still there. I was in there a couple of years ago, and I walked in. There was an ATM and something else where the pins used to be. An ice machine. Literally, right? Because I was in it like an alcove. You know what I think it comes down to, Spencer, is it's like there's a difference between people who are fans of pinball and people who are fans of pinball machines, which is still perfectly legit. Yeah. And people who are simply buying pinballs and not really appreciating them. They're just buying them because it's a thing that you've been able to spend money on. Right. Like a Rolex or whatever, yes. Right. And a cymbal. That's what you're saying? I mean, I don't know. Would a kid say a flex?
    77:17
    A flex. You know, just people who buy pinball. Because, again, I don't want to say for a second that I don't respect people who love pinball enough to spend stupid amounts of money on it. Oh, yeah, exactly. And especially, you know, well-moneyed friends of ours who, you know, please don't be offended, you know, because we're not trying to say that you're doing something wrong or that we don't like you because you're buying expensive pinball machines. Although, thanks for running up the prices, guys.
    77:44
    Well, the prices are coming back down, did you? Because I sent you guys a thing real quick with the mermaid edition.
    77:52
    Well, right, but that's not because the prices are coming down. That's because HACC has exploded. That's the same thing with being able to get a Galactic Tank Force, you know, CE or signature edition for like $6,000. It's not because, you know, pinball's coming down to earth. It's because nobody was going to spend $16,000 on that game, so they blew them out to get them out of the warehouse. I actually traded a submarine sandwich and a Dunkin' Butterfly for one. So that kind of, you know, and I was going to let Mark go first, but because of what Spencer said and how he said it, I'm going to say mine now and kind of how it's related so we don't lose the bread. Yeah, so you see where I was going. and it dovetails into yours. So, yeah, my lame of the year is people who just buy high-end games and they don't play them and share them and find that simple, useful joy. And mine is going to be more the company side, but it's like my lame of the year is pinball machines that you can't get.
    78:55
    So there have been a few examples, and it's not necessarily, you know, that it's that people are snapping them up, but it's that you run into the issue of speculation.
    79:09
    And, you know, I understand that, like, a spooky pinball, you know, they're going to make so many of a game, right? And, you know, Evil Dead wasn't a day one sellout. But the problem was when Evil Dead did sell out and everybody caught on that it was cool or like with Pirates of the Caribbean when it did sell out and then everybody caught on that it was cool, it immediately drove sales of the following title from that same company, you know, just crazy. And people just snapped them up because they weren't necessarily worried about, hey, I really want Winchester Mystery House. They're just like, oh, my God, you're not going to be able to get this. It's going to go up in value. I'm going to buy one, you know, and that's a $12,000 machine. So you figure that people aren't just buying those things on a whim. I have to believe that, not Spooky, Barrels of Fun was surprised when those sold out. Mm-hmm. You know, and what was the other one? Beetlejuice, right? Like Beetlejuice, they said the name, you know, people were taking pre-orders on Spooky's next title before they even knew. And, I mean, we all knew, but before they'd even announced that it was going to be Beetlejuice. And I just, I wish that pinball, either between the fans or between the companies, would figure out, you know, how to get games into the hands of people who want them. Because, like, now that, you know, once I finally got to spend some time on Evil Dead, I was like, man, you know, I really, I would have laid out some money for one of these. Yeah. You know, and I don't buy too many $10,000 games. I have bought a couple because I'm out of my mind and I'm really irresponsible. But, you know, it's like, well, that's out of the hands now. And, of course, for the speculators, it's going to be a year or two of just great. We're making money on this game. We're coming out ahead, you know. And there's nothing wrong with that. You know, there are a lot of people in pinball who are fans of pinball for the money because they like to buy things and resell them and make more. But speculation has never really been good for any hobby. And it's really only good for businesses in the short term because once that market collapses, you know, it really hurts it. You know, pinball's been kind of going in and out of that for a few years. You know, it's always a matter of supply and demand where people, you know, will see a game and they'll go like, well, that game sucks. I'm not going to buy it. And it'll go down in value. And then people will buy them and they'll be like, oh, shit, I can't get it anymore. Then it'll shoot right back up in value. And, you know, typically a couple years later, you know, cooler heads prevail and things start to settle. and, you know, you can get that game for something decent. But it's crazy to me that, like, Spooky came off of a 900-game sellout and had interest higher than ever and then just made another 900 or 1,000-unit run of a title that was going to be as big as Beetlejuice. Yep. Or that once, you know, Barrels of Fun sold their 500 games, you know, they couldn't go back and say, look, we're going to do a second print, a second edition, you know, so that the people who wanted it and missed out, you know, can get a chance at it.
    82:45
    Rather than just being like, okay, well, there's 500 out there, you know, have fun fighting over them, guys. And, you know, those will probably mostly end up, you know, in the hands of people who are going to put them in private collections.
    82:59
    And, you know, you're probably not going to see them. There are some people that we know who are crazy enough to take these, you know, these super rare games and put them in their arcades. And, you know, God bless you guys. You know, you're bringing pinball to the masses.
    83:16
    And there's people who, you know, they'll share their collections. You know, they'll open their house to you and they'll say, hey, come on by. I got some cool stuff that you've never seen before.
    83:25
    But, yeah, you know, companies, you got to figure out how to get games out there to people who want them. I mean, I feel like you're leaving money on the table, you know. Maybe you think that they won't sell out, but, I mean, I think that a title worth its salt will always sell as many units as it's going to sell.
    83:43
    You know, Godzilla wasn't limited, and, you know, from what Gomez said on a recent interview, it sounds like it's closing right in on Adam's family. Yeah, it is. It is. So, you know. I actually hope it beats Adam's Family only because Adam's Family has had a wonderful run and it deserves a date I'm sure it will but it's just one of those things where it's like and I get that a company like Spooky they don't want to burden themselves they want to maintain their level of fandom but you're not growing a business by just selling to a thousand of the same people who buy every Spooky game every time you know, you got to be willing to go out there and, you know, risk it for the biscuit, I guess.
    84:33
    And yeah, in the short term, you know, maybe that game will go down in value. There'll be enough of them on the market to where they're not reselling for, you know,
    84:44
    more than they cost new. But to me, you know, not being a pinball speculator, that's not really a win. I've had games that I've sold for more than I bought them for, But, I mean, I wouldn't say that I've ever made fat bank on pinball machines.
    85:00
    You know, I think that I don't usually buy new. But when I do buy new, I don't expect to turn around and make $2,000. Right. And I certainly don't believe in selling pre-order spots. But those are the people that, like, I would say, you know, fuck you. Yeah. The one who buys a pre-order spot and then just goes, oh, I'll sell you my pre-order spot for $5,000. It's like, look, if you don't want the game, great. Sell me the pre-order spot for what you're into it. I can respect that things change, but, yeah, making money on getting in line first, fuck off. Yeah, that's not cool. Yeah.
    85:34
    And this kind of dovetails back into what I was talking about, but it fits perfectly in your theme, Dan, is, you know, I think a lot of those speculators want what they're really looking for is the next Big Bang Bar. And it's like, well, y'all have it. And the game was called, and it is called, Pirates of the Caribbean. And you guys all just, you shit the bed on that one because you refused to lay down the funds. And, you know, people crapped on that game and crapped on it. And then people actually played it and went, wait a minute, this game's really, really good. And then by that time, well, too late, we've moved on. You weren't buying the game, so we moved on, you know. Well, right. And that's something that's, like, more organic than just, like, manufactured scarcity. Like, Spooky, not Spooky, JJP got spooky on the brain. JJP would have made Pirates of the Caribbean for as long as people were going to buy it. Right. And they made Pirates of the Caribbean as long as they were going to make it, and they said, okay, we're going to stop making it, and that's when people went, oh, shit, we've got to get one of these. Yeah. And when it spiked in price and it became, yeah, one of those modern things. Big Bang Bar is a completely crazy, different kind of story. But, you know, yeah, Big Bang Bar, I think, has been driving FOMO in pinball for 20-some years. And it would be amazing to me if they did a Big Bang Bar remake. Yeah. And sold it for something reasonable. I mean, don't get me wrong. I don't want people who own Big Bang Bars to lose their asses. But at the same time, it's just like that is a game that for the longest time is a super decent game that except for one or two dudes, you know, TJ, for example, who brings it out to shows,
    87:23
    most people's never even put their hands on a reel or even one of the Chicago, not Chicago, the Illinois pinball production games of Big Bang, you know. But yeah, man, just pinball games that people can't get are sad because, you know, tons and tons of people would probably be blown away to see that there's a Winchester Mystery House game. And, you know, I guess if you go to the Winchester Mystery House, you'll be able to play one.
    87:50
    But, yeah, it's going to be a hard game to get your hands on because they're making 500. Yep. Then again, you know, if you look at some of those 90s games that they made 500 600 1 of and they sell for 2 bucks you know sometimes in pinball scarcity doesn mean anything It just all about demand The best selling pinball machine sells for $9,000 all day long.
    88:18
    Probably still $10,000 of them out there. Godzilla's, they're about to break $20,000. Those things are coming down in price every day. You can get a Godzilla for a great price right now because the of supplies there and people are moving on to the next new title.
    88:34
    Anyhow, make enough pinball machines. There we go. Yep, I like it. All right, Mark. All right. Back to you. Bring us home. This is tough because it was a really good year for pinball, but I'm going to say it, and this is probably an ongoing thing, so it's not really specific to 2025, but to me I've seen evidence of it a lot more this year. and my lame of the year is making assumptions without knowing the facts. This would have to do with artwork, judging the artwork without seeing it in person first and all of a sudden saying, oh, this is crappy artwork. Good example, Walking Dead remastered. It shouldn't be remastered, by the way. It should be reanimated. Okay, reanimated, whatever. That is remastered. Yep, yep. Remastered made sense for Metallica, though, because it was music, and you remastered music. Oh, that's true. Reanimated makes more sense for Walking Dead because it's zombies. Yeah. Come on, bros. Yeah, that's true. Why, bros? Why are you not working in their marketing department? Because your argument for that is a home run. Yeah. It's the world's stupidest thing, but it makes 1,000% sense. Yeah, absolutely. But then you set that precedent of you've got to come up with a different witty way to say, you know, we're bringing it back with every game. So it would be like Walking Dead re-dead?
    90:01
    No, reanimated. Reanimated. Okay, okay. I like that. Or revived. But I think it really annoys me when people bitch and complain about things without knowing the facts. I listened to an awesome interview with George Gomez and the guys, you know, Kale and Retro Ralph and who else, the other one. is it Jamie? I was actually just listening to that before we started the show. Fascinating. And there's these people that are all there. I'm sure he's a lovely guy, but, man, there's just something about Retro Ralph. Yeah, yeah. I know what it is, man. But the thing is, yeah. Sorry, Mark. No, it's okay. Retro Ralph is my name of the year. I'm just kidding, Retro. I'm sure you're a darling if you listen. I'm sorry, buddy. No, it's just very interesting. They ask really good questions. And you're talking to a person who has experience in those kinds of things. And when people make assumptions or make comments on things that they think they're the expert and they don't know the facts, it irritates me. Because it's super lame to come up with all these assumptions without knowing the background story or the things that people are saying. And I don't think George Gomez is lying about stuff. He has experience. I mean, there's some interesting things he talked about, the cabinet design and stuff like that. And people say, oh, it sucks. And it's like, man, it irritates me. It's so lame that people make these assumptions. People don't trust Gomez because Gomez works for Stern, and they think that he's always toying the company line. Yeah. And it's like, for people who've been in pinball for a long time, and they go back to TopCast and, you know, they go back to some of the stuff. Even that Gomez was talking about on this interview, and I've only listened to maybe the first, like, 20 minutes of it, but I got to the part where he was talking about the Pokemon situation with, not the Pokemon, the Jack Danger situation, which we all know is Pokemon, I think. Yeah. And he was like, look, it's not like the situation with Deadpool where we had to part ways with the designer. It's not like the situation with Steve Ritchie where the designer parted ways with us. I'm working with Jack to finish this game. And he came up with examples of, you know, Steve Ritchie helping finish Elvira, helping, God, why can't I come up with the designer's name? Oh, Nortman. Nortman, helping Nortman finish. Because he broke his leg of a motorcycle. Right, helping Nortman finish Elvira. And I knew that. Apparently, like, everybody, like, chipped in on that. Or, you know, yeah. I mean, he came up with some really obscure, like, you know, working on, you know, truck stop and stuff like that. But it's not unheard of for designers to team up on games. And it's just like nobody else in pinball is going to bring you this little meaningless anecdote from a game from, like, 1989 and just give it straight out to you like Gomez. Well, I don't think Gomez makes enough money to lie to us. That's right. You know, I think that everything that he does, he believes that he does. And he did not. What I love about Gomez is he believes what he's saying. You know, like I think Gomez is as much of a straight shooter for a guy in his position as you're going to get. And I love how he answers the questions. He doesn't skirt around the issue. He tells it like it is, and I like that about him. But, you know, I know everybody has their opinions and stuff like that, but I've come to the conclusion for art in general, don't judge it until you see it in person. because every time, and I don't know why, I think what Stern does need to do is somehow figure out a filter when they take those pictures to help it not be so, I don't know what the deal is. They always look different than what it looks like in person, and I don't know if that's because of photography or whatever it is, but it's always a little more oversaturated than what you see in person. Because honestly, when I saw The Walking Dead, when I saw it last night, I was. Remastered. I was trying to say it different. I was trying to. I thought I had you second guessing yourself.
    94:21
    But anyway, you could see the ball. You couldn't see the ball before. It's a lot brighter now. It shoots better up the ramp. So there's a lot of great improvements that they made to that game. But I think that looks great. But what you're really saying is that your lane of the year is that pinball people are judging and reactionary. Yes. But that's just what we do. But that's what we do. But I'm just saying. What else are we going to do if we don't have judgments and reactions? What are we going to talk about? True, but I don't like it when we don't have the facts. That's why we only want to talk about what we've seen. Yeah, yeah. Well, anyway. That's a good one, though. I feel like we went, like, really heavy with the lanes of the year this year. Yeah. We went heavy. We didn't think about it a lot. And, Mark, you know, I was actually thinking about art in a different direction with, like, the AI. and stuff.
    95:14
    That's actually a really good one. AI art in general is like a really touchy subject because a lot of people hate it. And then there's people who are not artistic like me who I'm like, AI art is great. I can just tell a thing what I want something to look like. Then I tell my wife I did that and she stabs me. Well, that became the sticking point was getting away from Photoshop back to hand-drawn art. Apparently, some people don't understand what the definition of hand-drawn is. But to Mark's point, and I've said this, I know we've all pretty much talked about it many times, no game, when it comes out, pictures or video, ever do it justice. And until you see it in person, never. And then you go, oh, my God, it's beautiful in person. You look at the picture or the video and go, yeah, it's okay. But, yeah, so, no, great, great topic. Everybody, great game of the year or favorite games, great lane of the year. And the thing about that, to add on to that, Spencer, is it's hard to say this looks cool and then it sucks when you see it in person.
    96:20
    Yeah. That's rare, right? Right. You don't go, oh, that looks amazing. I mean, that looks like, you know, the opposite, right? I mean, it always is better when you experience it than when you're just looking at it. Yeah, even ACDC looks better in person. Yeah.
    96:37
    And ACDC is an ugly game. Except the Pro. The Pro looks pretty bad in person. None of them look good. And I can say that because I own an ACDC. You own one. Yeah. I have a Lucy. Everyone's like, oh, Lucy's the best version. And I was like, oh, my gosh, it is a rough game to look at. And it's not because of the art. You know, like, honestly, the cabinet art's great, and I love the reds and the yellows. It was an era of pinball design where the art wasn't as important.
    97:07
    And, you know, kind of the Photoshop thing you said earlier, you know, Photoshop's just a tool for manipulating images, right? Like, it doesn't create art. Like, AI creates art. But, yeah, Photoshop, they were using a lot of, like, photographs. You know, it wasn't until the guys like Franchi and Zombie Eddie and Dirty Donnie, you know, started coming in, and they started really showing, like, pinball machines can look cool, but those guys still use the shit out of Photoshop.
    97:33
    Right. So we have some community lames of the year, too. Actually, I think we only really have one, because one of them was me saying that Practical Steve, for his hard body comment, is the lame of the year.
    97:45
    And Kendra said the new Star Wars once was enough on that stinker. Okay. The fans have spoken, and they say Star Wars Follow the Empire sucks. I'm coming around on it. I thought it was fun. I mean, I'm not saying we're in a bind. It's tight. The shots are tight. It is a brick press a little bit. And that topper is dope. The topper is good. Yeah. The topper is dope. But I think that game will grow on me. And, like I said, the rules will be fleshed out, and it will be a great game. But, man, it's hard to make those shots. They are very tight. And that's fine. It makes it different. But, yeah, I think coming back around to the beginning, and I think we've all said it, like, 2025 was a rough year for a lot of stuff. But for pinball, it was a pretty solid year. You know, we had a great Golden State. You know, we've had some great seasons of our leagues, and we've had some great tournaments and just tons of good releases and tons of good get-togethers with our pin friends. And, you know, it's pretty hard. You know, I think that maybe sometimes, you know, some of the unrest in the country causes people to come together, you know, more often and more meaningfully. And, you know, I think that pinball is a thing that we've all bonded over. Yep. And so, you know, it is tough. You know, you go on to pinball sides and, you know, you go to some threads that are just constant bitch fests and you just wonder, you know, why people can't find the joy. But, you know, you look a little deeper and it's just like some of these people are just so invested that, like, this stuff really bothers them. Yeah. And, you know, whether we want to be or not, you know, we're the people that they can vent to. I have a pen buddy and I've known him for a long time and I'm not going to name him here. And, like, if he doesn't like something, man, he's just brutal about it. And we'll go round and round and I'll be like, you know, dude, you know, like, it doesn't have to be that big of a thing.
    99:52
    And at the end of the day, you know, we're still pals and we're still big time pen buffering. I mean, Mark, you probably know exactly. In fact, you guys probably both know exactly who I'm talking about. But, like, you know, he's very passionate and very set in his opinions. Yep.
    100:11
    And he's a good guy, and he loves pinball, and he does all sorts of cool things. But it's just like you don't want to talk somebody out of their negativity because sometimes, even if you don't want to hear it, the fact that they're giving it to you means that they care enough about pinball to give you their opinion, whether you're ready for it or not. And, you know, God bless them for, you know, having that strong of an opinion that they're just like, look, you need to know how much I think this sucks. He's passionate. We'll put it that way. He's very passionate. The man is a fount. Yeah. But, you know, he's also, you know, talented and engaged and, you know, just a super cool guy to be around. Oh, absolutely. Oh, yeah. You can go on the Internet and just be like, bro, you didn't just say that.
    101:07
    So, but, yeah, so, you know, big time, you know, big time. We like to focus on the positive about pinball, but we understand that there's negative. You know, we know that it's not all good all the time. No, that's not being realistic, but I don't like to judge something until I play it. And that's why I always say, like, when we talk about games, like, what's your first impression? But as far as reviewing it or judging it, I always say I got to play it first to see. You look at any of these games. Yeah, and I think that those are the words that we live by. You know, this is, you know, like our good friend Nate, coast to coast, used to say, this is a podcast, this is a commentary, and I'm a man out of corners. Yeah. So true. Just to add to that, like with all the newer games, okay, it's like, well, you know, at first pressure, the code's a little weak. I mean, when the code comes along, and you talk to people like, oh, I hated that game, but then the code got up to, you know, John Wick's a great example. People are starting to really turn around on that game because they, you know, got the code fleshed out. Yeah, it's found its fans. Yeah, I've always liked it. I thought it shoots great, and I think it looks great, and it captures the theme of the source material. All I know, man, is if Elliot Eisman, who's the guy who designed that, is the guy who's doing Transformers for me in 2026, he better bring his A-game. Otherwise, I'm going to pitch up a storm on the internet. I'm going to slam the fucking game. This is your trail theme coming. It's one of them. You know what? It's one of those themes that I'm all like, if this is what I think it's going to be, and I'm trying desperately hard not to build it up too far in my head. you know but I'm just like I've got my movie Transformers my Transformers Pro sitting behind me and you know ever since somebody said oh they're doing a Transformers game next year everyone's been rolling up on me and they're just like what do you think and I'm just like I'm trying not to think because my mind will run wild and my expectations will be sky high but since you brought up John Wick all I have to say is Elliot Eisenman if you hear this there's at least one guy out here who's like man bring the heat. Bring it. If it's you. If it's not you, if you're doing something else, sorry. I mean, bring the heat anyway, because we really want a good game. Yep. But, hey, that's one more thing we can talk about. Let's send it out on a light note. Yeah. What's rumored in 2026 that you're looking forward to?
    103:40
    And everybody knows my answer already, which is Transformers. Right. Okay. And this is... And it can be as wild as you want, right? Because this is all unsubstantiated rumors. We know that there's a rumor about Pokemon and Fallout from Stern. Yeah, Fallout. You know, there's those long persistent rumors about Back to the Future. I've heard a lot of people talking about Gremlins. Oh, wow. Whatever next gacky title that, you know, that Spooky is going to bring us after Beetlejuice. I was thinking that. Get in line for the next next Spooky. I'm going to start a rumor. You're going to love this. So, and this kind of ties in what we're talking about with getting back to the simple joy of our youth, going backwards to youth. And, Dan, I know, and Mark, we've all talked about this a lot. The guys that do the toy Evil Knievel stunt cycle and they make the big jumps and they put the videos on YouTube.
    104:35
    Yep. And it's like 50 years now since Evil Knievel did the Snake River Canyon. That's coming up, I think, next year. because I was like, I think 76, where it's 50 years this year. Evel Knievel is really in the news again in the media. His granddaughter, Robbie Knievel's daughter, has been really active on the Internet and their web page and their store where you can buy the retro T-shirts and stuff with the USA1. Really cool stuff. But it's really been taken off because it's on the 50-year mark. It's a peak of Evel Knievel's fame. And I was just thinking, literally tonight, wouldn't it be great to see somebody do a modernized version of an Evel Knievel film? Oh, that's a cool theme. There's my rumor. 2026, Evel Knievel.
    105:30
    Oh, that's a good one. You could do a lot with that. And you've got to be 60 years old for that. I am fucking 60 years old. What the hell, bro?
    105:42
    I know, yeah. See, I got it. Are you thinking that they need to do a modernization of the existing Evel Knievel, or are you thinking they need to do a new Evel Knievel game? Are you thinking J.J.P. needs to do Evel Knievel? Yes, exactly, sir. Yeah, just do a whole new game. Steve Ritchie's next game for J.J.P. Evel Knievel.
    106:03
    Spencer's calling it right now. I'm calling it Evel Knievel now. Snake River Canyon. We're shooting the rocket. Steve is sort of, babe. Get that rocket in the air. I imagine that that is a theme that not only would resonate super huge with Steve Ritchie, but he would probably make the world's coolest pinball machine. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah, man. That's it. And then I'll buy cheesecake.
    106:27
    Mine that I'm looking forward to, if it does come out in 2026 for the rumored title, is Sonic the Hedgehog by Steve Ritchie. dude if that thing shoots like the video game like how fast he speeds around that is going to be a banger of a theme and it would be wonderful to see that because it would be a video game title that we don't see much in pinball and that would be such a hard game for me to resist too being such a cracked Sega fan it still kills me that in the 90s Sega had a pinball division and they never made the Sonic the Hedgehog pinball machine. I can't believe that. Like, Sonic was on their pinball machines. Yes. Like, he was in some of the graphics. He was on some of the stickers. I think there's even, like, Sonic heads on the flipper bats. But, yeah, how in God's name, Gary Stern, when you ran Sega, did you not make a Sonic the Hedgehog pinball machine? Yeah.
    107:27
    It baffles me. Yeah. And back to the future, but I know that's not going to be 2026. That's going to be another who knows how long that's going to take. But that is my grail theme. I mean, if there's a theme that I would be excited about, it would be Back to the Future.
    107:43
    Those would be so close for me. Like, Back to the Future would be really good. Yeah. Back to the Future, I keep hearing that it's Dutch, and I'm just like, oh, my God, no. I know. And then not having all the assets from what the rumors are saying, I don't know. It could be a real dud or it could be really awesome. But the theme is getting me excited. I think these days, you know, weirdly enough, it's just like I would hope that, like, Barrels of Fun had it. Yeah. Because Barrels of Fun is making something really cool with the games. I'm excited about what they come up with, too. Really cool with the games. I'm excited about Barrels of Fun, too, because I have no clue what they're making. But, oh, man, yeah.
    108:23
    Looking forward to that, too. I love that company. They've been picking bangers, and they've been picking cult classics and fan favorites. and Dune's even, you know, a very topical, very current one because of the new Dune movies. So it's just like, you know, which it's based off of. Yep.
    108:40
    Yeah. All right, Spencer, why don't you take us home? All right. My shout-outs and thank you, of course, to my co-host. Oh, yeah, we got shout-outs and thank you. See you ahead of us. Thank you. That's okay. No, you're doing great. You're doing great. You're keeping me in mind because all I want to do is talk about you can even eat cheesecake and bitch through them six feet. My hip is killing me. Yeah, what did you do this year, Spencer? I didn't do shit, you know. I didn't do fucking shit.
    109:08
    I'm doing my part. I didn't do shit. I forgot what that was, but, man, that was funny. Yeah, that was one of my better moments of 2025. That was really good. To you guys, again, we don't – and I'm not knocking any of the guys that have a paywall or make a dime or two doing their live streams and podcasts. God bless you guys for your content. Are you going to announce our Patreon? Yeah, no, no Patreon. Son of a. And maybe someday, I don't know. I like the fact that we're the low rent, man. We're the fast food of film podcast. I mean, we're free. We're doing it because we enjoy doing it, and we enjoy giving people some free content. You get what you pay for, ladies and gentlemen. And to all the guys that are doing it, any kind of content, whether it's video or audio or blogs or whatever, man,
    110:06
    is shout out to you guys. I mean, I just got my notification that the new Eclectic Pinball, Eclectic Gamers podcast is out. So, cool. I got something cool to listen to tomorrow while I'm working. and all the podcasters and all the content creators. Shout out to you guys, to all our listeners who support what we do and what all the other content creators are doing.
    110:33
    It's been a great year for pinball, and let's look forward to 2026 being an even better year for pinball and video games and movies and entertainment in general.
    110:48
    I'm going somewhere with this. yeah those are my shout outs man to the people support us and what we do and support the hobby too all the guys that are designing and building and shipping games manufacturing keeping us you know satisfied year after year and to the people who route games you guys are the true unsung heroes of you're keeping pinball alive it's great we have them in our homes it's a dream come true for me back in the days of being a dirty faced little kid with a paper route telling people, you know, when I grow up, I'm going to own my own pinball machine and a Corvette. Well, I'm halfway there. I don't really care about the Corvette anymore. You know.
    111:28
    No, I mean, Corvettes are cool, but no, just give me six more pinball machines instead. But I got them, man. You know. But that's where the rubber meets the road. Keeping pinball alive for again, the common person who just wants to throw a couple bucks in a game and have a cold pop or an adult beverage. and play the silver ball. So my shout-outs to all those wonderful people as well who keep it going. And that's what I got, man. So whichever one of my brothers wants to go next. Go get them, Mark. All right. My shout-out is to everybody who's totally excited about pinball, all the pinball enthusiasts, all the collectors. Kind of goes with what Spencer was saying. if it wasn't for you passionate about this hobby, we wouldn't be able to enjoy the fun that we have with friends, playing pinball, and just having a wonderful time being able to escape from the reality of life. It's an escape. It's an exciting opportunity to just have fun. So all those people who do have the money, who can get these games and invite us over and get us to play and share in that excitement as much as the person who can afford those kinds of things, the people who have the arcades, Jim and Ted, who work countless hours keeping those games in perfect condition, Cody providing all these classic games he couldn't play anywhere else,
    113:04
    Jason for having a new location of a hidden spot in the basement with some killer games, and, of course, press start where it all started.
    113:15
    Thank you so much to all of you. There's a huge shout-out to the tournaments that are being held. Just really all the work and the enthusiasm and the dedication to this hobby and sport that really has made an impact on my life, and I just absolutely brings joy in my life. So that's my shout-out for 2025. to wrap it all up.
    113:42
    All right. Well, I guess it's my turn. You know, as always, I want to shout out you guys. You know, my pin brothers from another mother, as we, you know, traverse these seas together, we got our skipper, Spencer. We got Mark, who's the engineer man who makes it happen. And we got me just here swabbing the decks. But, you know, thank you guys for coming on here and doing it. You know, I've said this before and I'll say it again. And, you know, pinball fans, they go to places and they play pinball.
    114:15
    You know, and that's it. You know, you don't need to own machines. I'm sure most of the people who are listening to us, you know, they've heard me say that before, and they know that, you know, at the point that you put a machine in your house, you're a maniac. And, you know, what does it say about, you know, those of us who own more and more and more? It says that we want to share it. You know, we don't own tons of machines because we don't want you to come over and play them. And, you know, I firmly believe that most pinball people feel the same way. So, you know, thank you to everybody who loves pinball. You know, thank you, like Mark said, to the people who operate pinball, or Spencer said, operate pinball, to the people who open arcades, like Mark was saying, to the people who invite other people over to experience their collections, to the people who play in leagues, to the people who talk about pinball on the Internet. that, you know, thanks for building this pinball community that we have. And, you know, hopefully 2026 will be a great year for pinball.
    115:16
    Also, I just want to say, you know, Happy New Year's. You know, this is right at the end of the year, so Happy New Year's and Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukkah or your Yuletide holiday of choice. And do yourself a favor And get out there And enjoy some pinball And enjoy the pinball people And start looking forward to next year's shows And next year's events And next year's tournaments Because it's right around the corner boys and girls Well said gentlemen I'm still trying to finish up the kids Calling ween candy But uh I'm digging through All the good stuff's gone No it's all gone I'm pretty sure.
    116:01
    Nothing's left but the Milk Duds. That's a true story. And I ate the last of the Milk Duds the other night because they were left over from our batch of Halloween candy that we gave out. In 1978. Yeah, I was down to the Milk Duds. I said they were pretty good.
    116:17
    Chewy. So you can reach out to us at thespinnerislit at gmail.com or our Facebook page. and you can listen to us on our home at SoundCloud and iTunes and where Fine Pinball Podcasts and other podcasts are sold or rented or loaned. So everybody have a wonderful holiday, Christmas, all that good stuff. Yeah, Hanukkah if that's, you know, for those of the Jewish faith. Festivus for the rest of us. Please have a healthy, happy, and safe New Year and we will see you in a hopefully happy and prosperous and pinball filled 2026. So play pinball. Keep America strong.
    117:25
    you