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SDTM Episode 102: LIVE at 2019 Chicago Pinball Expo

Straight Down the Middle·video·44m 41s·analyzed·Oct 23, 2019
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.032

TL;DR

SDTM crew covers 2019 Chicago Pinball Expo highlights: new releases, factory tours, and Elvira analysis.

Summary

Live coverage from the 2019 Chicago Pinball Expo featuring the Straight Down the Middle crew discussing their experiences at the show. Key topics include tournament play, new game reveals (Medieval Madness re-release with topper, Black Knight: Sword of Rage topper, Jurassic Park Premium Edition), factory tours, vintage game discoveries (Spanish games, Crawl prototype), and detailed impressions of Elvira's House of Horrors Premium Edition.

Key Claims

  • Medieval Madness re-release includes new topper and extended display matching Attack from Mars/Monster Bash

    high confidence · Zach Sharpe and crew discussing official reveal at Chicago Gaming Company factory tour

  • Chicago Gaming Company offering upgrade kits for original Medieval Madness owners to add topper, display, and G.I. lighting

    high confidence · Greg discussing upgrade path at the Chicago Gaming booth

  • Black Knight: Sword of Rage topper features articulating helmet that moves and talks

    high confidence · Multiple crew members confirming in-person viewing at expo

  • Jurassic Park Premium Edition received code update making T-Rex more aggressive (Raptor mode changes)

    high confidence · Matt Scott mentioned code changes; crew discussing new hyper mode and Raptor gate improvements

  • Crawl prototype (one of ~10 that exist) available for sale at $50,000 cash only

    high confidence · Chuck discussing rare HEP-restored Crawl with dual playfields at overflow room

  • Stern Signature Limited Edition Elvira machines began shipping week of expo

    high confidence · Zach noting notification from Stern confirming rollout; Premium Editions still in pre-release

  • Rob Burke acquired collection of Spanish pinball machines (Wolfman and others) displayed in Overflow Room

    high confidence · Chuck describing discovery at show setup; noted as rare/one-time viewing opportunity

  • Elvira's House of Horrors features separate lighting modes controlled through house windows (not labeled in UI)

    high confidence · Chuck detailing gameplay discoveries from tournament play

  • Gargoyle targets in Elvira lack sound feedback when hit, treated as visual-only currently

    high confidence · Crew discussing missing audio cues for gargoyle animations

Notable Quotes

  • “We finally all were in the same room together. It's nuts. First time we've ever assembled.”

    Zach Sharpe@ 0:49 — Establishes this as rare gathering of full SDTM crew at same event

  • “The Spanish games. All those weird games are in there. I've heard a lot of people say about the Spanish games. You're not going to see them again. Right. You'll never see them again.”

    Chuck Wirt@ 8:53 — Emphasizes rarity and ephemeral nature of collected vintage games at expo

  • “I saw the Medieval Madness. And then he stopped himself and he was like, the Medieval Madness is cool. I'm like, bullshit. I've seen something else.”

    Zach Sharpe (about Eric)@ 12:10 — Humorous speculation about unrevealed products seen during tour

  • “When you see it in person, you're kind of like, what is that? The damn thing moves. It articulates and talks.”

    Zach Sharpe (on Black Knight topper)@ 15:52 — Captures impact of interactive topper feature versus static promotional images

  • “And he just starts shaking around, getting all pissed off, and you're just like, oh, my God, did that just happen? Like, I drained my ball.”

    Unknown crew member (on Jurassic Park T-Rex)@ 18:44 — Describes visceral reaction to new premium mech performance

  • “No matter where the ball goes, I feel like it does something. You're hitting the gargoyles, getting an effect or whatever. I don't know how many points those things give, but I'd be like, oh, I accomplished something.”

    Kerry Hardy — Explains appeal of responsive, feedback-rich game design in Elvira

Entities

Zach SharpepersonGregpersonChuck WirtpersonKerry HardypersonSteve BowenpersonRob BurkepersonEricpersonChicago Gaming Companycompany

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: Sternament tournament format (large double-elimination bracket) generating community interest as unique tournament style not widely offered elsewhere

    high · Chuck noting unique appeal of bracket format; expressing disappointment but acknowledging value for spectators and competitors

  • ?

    community_signal: International pinball community represented at expo with Australian and French visitors; emphasis on value of in-person gatherings for overseas participants

    high · Crew discussing Australian visitors with kangaroo gifts; mentioning French attendees; emphasizing rarity of seeing overseas community members

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Chicago Gaming Company prioritizing customer support through upgrade path for original Medieval Madness owners rather than forcing new purchase

    high · Crew praising company's approach to allow upgrades via separate kits rather than requiring full machine replacement

  • ?

    event_signal: 2019 Chicago Pinball Expo featured integrated Stern and Fred Marco rooms, replacing traditional Twin Peaks venue with local Spears restaurant

    high · Crew discussing venue changes; noting loss of Twin Peaks tradition; describing Spears as adequate but different experience

  • ?

    leak_detection: Potential unrevealed game or product discovered during Chicago Gaming factory tour; Eric showing restraint in not disclosing details despite crew pressure

    medium · Crew joking that Eric 'saw something'; Eric catching himself mentioning Medieval Madness then claiming nothing else seen; humorous speculation about secret access

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.134

0:00
The wait is over. A revolution in LED lighting for your pinball is finally here. Fully customizable, full spectrum lighting from Penn Stadium Lights. Order yours now at pennstadium.com.
0:27
Let's kick this shit. Hey, what's going on? Straight down the middle of Pinball Show. This is the whole crew. We finally all were in the same room together. It's nuts. First time we've ever assembled. Yeah, myself. Very rare. I'm Zach. This is Greg. To the right of Greg is SDT. Chuck Wirt. To the left of me is STTM Kerry Hardy. How's it going, fellas? Going good. Now, this is a Saturday morning at Expo, and I am really tired.
1:10
Everybody's tired. We kept Greg out, everybody. The first night, you were in bed at like 10. Yeah. It was bad. No, it was good. And you thought you were like, oh, I'm partying tonight, like 10.30 is gone. So last night, I think you beat me. I beat everybody. Wow. I was still ready to rally. Me and Steve Beattie, we were bringing the party into it. the morning and nobody else was down with it. And you don't look good, man. Well, thank you. I lotioned up. I mylar up, you lotioned up. Moisturized this morning. Now, Greg, where have you been hanging out mostly here at the Expo? There's the vendor hall. There's the free play room. There's the tournament room slash stern room. There's the media row of hallway kind of stuff. There's spears, right? Yeah. So the boob thing got shut down. Yeah. Everybody's at Spears. There's also the Overflow Room. What?
2:03

  • Chicago Gaming Company still using equipment from Larry Day era in production

    high confidence · Eric discussing factory tour observations at Chicago Gaming Company

    • @ 23:57

  • “Those could have been stand-ups. And how much do we all love stand-ups? We don't. So instead of stand-ups, they're animated stand-up toppers.”

    Zach Sharpe@ 24:15 — Critiques design choice to replace static standup targets with animated alternatives

  • “Cash only. The first one to stream Crawl. No chargebacks on that son of a bitch. No PayPal. Cash only.”

    Crew (discussing Crawl sale terms)@ 10:14 — Emphasizes extreme rarity and high-value nature of prototype machine

  • “It's like the T-Rex in Jurassic Park, but you put it on top. Yes. It's moving and looking and going.”

    Crew comparing Black Knight topper to JP mech@ 17:56 — Compares relative impact of interactive vs static toppers

  • “And you're just like, I just want to get it in his mouth. Oh, hello. If I had a dollar for every time I've heard you.”

    Crew banter on Jurassic Park@ 18:56 — Humorous reaction to repeated goal-oriented gameplay on JP

    • Stern Pinballcompany
    American Pinballcompany
    Medieval Madness Re-releasegame
    Black Knight: Sword of Ragegame
    Jurassic Park Premium Editiongame
    Elvira's House of Horrors Premium Editiongame
    Crawlgame
    Spanish games collectiongame
    2019 Chicago Pinball Expoevent
    Pin Stadiumproduct
    Pinball Liveevent
    Sternamentevent
    Matt Scottperson
    Gary Sternperson
    Larry Dayperson
    James Cameron's Avatar Limited Editiongame
  • $

    market_signal: Stern Pinball shipping schedule: Signature Limited Edition Elvira machines rolling out week of expo; Premium Editions still in pre-release stage

    high · Zach noting notification from Stern confirming LE rollout; contrast with Premium Edition availability at show

  • ?

    community_signal: Eric Wentz (crew member) conducted restricted factory tours at Chicago Gaming and American Pinball with strict non-recording policies

    medium · Eric explicitly noting prohibition on recording tours; locked doors and confidentiality measures; crew joking about potential undisclosed products

  • ?

    announcement: Medieval Madness re-release officially revealed with new topper, extended display, and three-tier edition structure (Classic/Special/Royal) with upgrade path for original owners

    high · Detailed discussion of topper, display upgrades, and powder coat options; Chicago Gaming Company presenting at expo with upgrade kits available

  • ?

    product_strategy: Medieval Madness re-release featuring strategic feature distribution across three tiers with powder coat, toppers, and display options differentiating Royal Edition from Classic/Special

    high · Detailed discussion of glossy black diamond powder coat, topper mirror blade, extended display as Royal Edition exclusives; pricing ranging $8k-$10k with upgrade path

  • ?

    product_strategy: Jurassic Park Premium Edition received post-release code update including new hyper mode and Raptor gate improvements, making T-Rex more aggressive

    high · Matt Scott noting code changes; crew discussing new behavior and hyper mode; described as significant improvement for Premium owners

  • ?

    product_concern: Elvira's House of Horrors missing sound effects when hitting gargoyle targets; crew suggesting audio cues should be added

    high · Chuck specifically noting 'no sound whatsoever when you hit them' and crew agreeing this should be fixed with audio feedback

  • ?

    technology_signal: Gargoyle target animations in Elvira lack sound feedback, reducing player acknowledgment of successful hits and diminishing responsive gameplay feel

    high · Chuck noting silence when hitting gargoyles; comparison to LED targets that 'always make a sound'; crew agreement that audio should be added

    • It's like free play room too. You guys haven't even been in there? No. It's all the way around. Yeah. Oh, my God. There's a freaking haunted house. Tournament. Eric just now tells us this information. Yeah. So Spears, there's room 330 at this point. Yes. That's the place. I let everybody up. We're like all these great old virus everywhere. There's room 330. And everybody's like, ha, ha, ha. Yes. Absolutely. So where have you been hanging out the most? Room 330. No. I think maybe. Actually, like, Vendor Hall. Vendor Hall this year. Really? You're usually a free play guy. Yeah. Like, free play is where I've spent the least amount of time this year, I think. And I've done a lot of bouncing. I was over there in the restaurant. What's that restaurant over there?
    2:43
    Either Spears or the Italian local. Yeah. The hotel. The hotel bar slash restaurant. Been in there a lot this time. The Stern Marco room. Yeah, it was cool. I was in there a lot. That was quite a bit just because of all the Elviras and everything. But yeah, this year, man, it's kind of been an equal. Like, I'm just, wherever it's taken me, I've gone. You've been doing good going with the flow this year. I have gone with the flow. But I looked at all these pictures, and everybody's in all these pictures together, and I'm nowhere to be found. So I don't know why I wasn't running with the crew. I don't know where I was. I'm playing. Yeah, Bill lost. I'm playing. I thought I was with the cool kids, too. What is this? Everybody follows you. So, Chuck, you're a tournament player. Yes, sir. You entered the tournament? Yep. I played in a flip-out tournament. The big bracket tournament, right? The big, massive bracket. Yeah, it's cool. It's a limited entry best game, and then yesterday was the start of the big bracket. Oh, shit. So we just kind of do a best of three double elimination. What games were you on? So I got through four matches, I think. Oh, nice. But I was mainly playing Star Wars, Jurassic Park, and then we just kept kind of battling on those because I usually got game choices. The new stuff then? Yeah, yeah, yeah. They call it the sternament because it's all new. Gotcha. Yeah. So how did you finish? Is it still going? I'm done. So I probably finished around like 40th maybe. Oh, that's not bad. So not terrible with all those heavyweights. That's what I was going to say. Not in this competition. Definitely disappointed. A fun tournament style because nobody else is doing the big brackets like that. Right, yeah. It's unique, and that's why I wanted to play in it. So, yeah, yeah. Is that where you've been hanging out mostly? Yeah, unfortunately.
    4:23
    so it kind of took me away from other parts of the show but it is fun so if you're a fan of players you should definitely check it out very nice Kerry where you been hanging out? I know where Kerry's been you can find me at the Penn Stadium booth here so yeah exactly but I've spent a lot of time there and the other times that I'm not there I get to walk around and explore I've been to the pinball live party so I went to that enjoyed the hell out of that so that's something there's plenty to talk about there got us all the auctions for the last TNA. $550. Yeah. What'd that go for? Not much. It was like $6,000 and something. It was over what? $6,500 or something like that. Yeah, it was up there. They were trying their hardest to get it as high as they possibly could for the cause. You know, you're dripping off the IBDs and everything. But they made Evil Madness, the prototype, first edition, but upgraded to the new current was like $16,000. Yeah.
    5:20
    Whoa, baby. Yeah. That's rough. I think I saw, though, this morning that they raised over $30,000 for that. Oh, man. Well, that's really cool. Pinball Life does that every year, man. They always bring it. Did you go to Pinball Life? I didn't, no. I didn't either. Like I said, unfortunately, I was tied to the tournament. Wow. Okay. So let's go around real quick. It's only Saturday, but we've seen pretty much what we're going to see. Oh, yeah. So I want everybody to kind of talk about what you liked the most or what was the coolest thing you saw or the funniest thing or whatever. Well, Greg, what have you seen? Aussies. There's a lot of Aussies around here. A lot of them. Yeah. And they brought us a scrotum sack of a kangaroo. Yes, with hair. With hair. This isn't one of the money pouches. It's not a leather bag. Yeah, no, no. We got hair on our balls. Legit. You know what the sad thing is? I'm kind of a neurotic, picky kind of guy. All night I had it in my left pocket. Oh, I don't know. I've wore out the hair because all night I'm like sitting here fidgeting and it's like a little fidget spin or something. I'm telling you. Everybody just screams away from that. Don't knock it. I'm telling you. Like you didn't touch it. Don't knock it. Quit playing with your sack. Don't knock rubbing the hair off your ball. I'm telling you. I kept doing that. I'm like, oh, my God, Zach, stop. Yeah. That's so rough. A bunch of Aussies. Yeah, man. It's just like, you know, it's kind of like every year.
    6:43
    It sounds so sappy, but it's just seeing everybody that we don't get to see. It's hanging out. You know, our people overseas and stuff, you know, that we don't get to see. We're all in a lot of people. You know, we had Mark Silk back here. Paris. Yeah. Yeah, I met some guys from France. Yeah. Like, right when I was setting up my game. I'm still going to hack it up. We're going to mess with him. Yeah. Gelmo. Yeah. Gelmo. Yeah. So, like, got to see him, meet him in person for the first time. Yeah, and just a lot of our other fans. Like, it's just always fun to reconnect with everybody that you see once or twice a year. And even, like, these guys, man. Yeah, we don't get to see these guys. No, so it's nice hanging out with them. That's the great thing about pinball, and that's the thing about these shows. Most of us, other than Eric in a tournament, we don't flip a whole lot of pinballs, man. It's just hanging out with people that enjoy the hobby. Have you played a full game of anything? Yeah, Elvira. Elvira? Yeah. A lot of Elvira. Chuck, what was your favorite thing or cool thing that you got to experience, see, be part of? I was one of the first people to get here and help set up things like that. and right when we got in, we saw all these games wrapped up in black plastic. We were like, what is going on with these? Some people were thinking it was some new reveal, blah, blah, blah, but it wasn't. Apparently, Rob Burke, right before the show, had bought all these Spanish games. Oh, yeah. And they're like the craziest thing. You've never seen any of them. You've literally never heard of or seen any of these games. And when I talked about the overflow room, that's where they're all at. Okay. We're going there. It's kind of hit or miss on condition and working state because, again, I think he just bought them as is and set them up and just said, okay, let's see if they work. That's really nice. But some of them are playing, and they're fun. Like, there's this one called Wolfman. I like it. It's insane. It has handles on the side of the cabinet. You can shift the play field in the game, like, while you're playing. So that's definitely fun. What's the benefit of that? Like, just to keep it out of the outlands? Like, it literally, like, it's not, you can't go like this. It's just purely making the play field go like this. Huh. And it doesn't, I mean, it's fun. You would have to like almost. It's weird. Yeah. Like the bop it. Remember the bop it? Yeah, right. That's how that is. But yeah, so definitely check out that Everflow room. The Spanish games. All those weird games are in there. I've heard a lot of people say about the Spanish games. I just didn't make sure. Because you're not going to see them again. Right. You'll never see them again. Until next year probably. Yeah. The other thing was Crawl is awesome. Oh, yes. So someone brought some HEP restored Crawl. and if you don't know the story about the game, there's only like 10 prototypes that didn't go into production, and I know exactly why it didn't go into production. There is an entire full-size play field underneath the main one in the cabinet. And the only – it has – I don't know what the type of lens is, but there's a small window on the upper play field that looks down at the other play field, but it makes it look like it's this big. Teeny-tiny. So it's like – It's a cool concept. Yeah, right. So it's like, yeah, I totally see why that didn't go to production. But I don't even know how many are working, even out of the 10, or even still around. That might be one of a couple that you can actually even flip. Wow, interesting. Yes, that's cool. He's got it for sale. Does he? How much does he want for it? Do you want to take a guess? I would guess. $50,000. I would guess $30,000. Come on, Greg, what do you got? I'd say $20,000, $25,000. Eric Wentz, Brian the Doc. Yeah! 50,000. I swear I didn't look. Yeah, but you really just did. Eric's the ringer. Eric's the wild over there. Cash only. The first one to stream Kroll. No chargebacks on that son of a bitch. No paypal. Cash only. 50 grand, you can walk away with your Kroll.
    10:23
    What's the coolest thing that you've seen? Let's see here. The funniest or... A number of things, but I really enjoyed the pinball at a party. I mean, what surprised me, when I wasn't expecting, everyone was talking all good about a party, a party, But what it got me is whenever I could go into their inventory, their stock, you can pick up a bin and just walk through their inventory and go, oh, I need this. A spinner. I need this. Oh, I need this. And I was like, I'm going to the grocery store. This is like my dream. I just wish I would have had a better list of what I needed. I haven't been either. I didn't think about that. I didn't know you could do that. That's fantastic. Next year I'll have my list with me. I'll see the desk and know what I need. I didn't get to see all that. Oh, that's where he sits. but I got to do a couple of visits with American Pinball and then I visited CGC got a little bit of a private tour there Factory tours Yeah Nice And so a lot of cool stuff there with CGC when it comes to just the equipment that still being used that was used back in the day They're still using it today. Churchill, yeah. Nice. The quality that you see that gets put into that product is astounding. Yes, it is. Yeah, that's what they're proud of is basically the quality. So you saw a sneak peek of the new Medieval Madness release before anybody else did.
    11:38
    Yep. I wasn't allowed to record either. I was like, can I record? They're like, no. Not even the tour or anything. I couldn't record any of it. I was like, man. You didn't hear any, like, faint sounds of a different game or no peekies or no nothing? No, they locked the doors up and stuff like that. Look at him. He's funny as shit. Look at him. Nothing to be seen here, guys. He's seen something. They've got nothing in the works. The only reason I brought that up is because whenever he got back from that, I was like, oh, how'd it go and stuff? He was like, oh, my God, that was awesome. I saw the Medieval Manus. And then he stopped himself and he was like, the Medieval Manus is cool. I'm like, bullshit. I've seen something else. I did not. Gary's raising ceiling tiles and crawling through around walls. It's like when your buddy peeks in on your sister or mom or something. He's like, I've seen something. He's got a little hand drill. and it's got a hole in the wall and you're cranking it. Just strike right and hook over there.
    12:34
    That's a good segue into what we've all seen, some of the bigger things here at Expo. One of them being the new release, rerun, if you will, of Medieval Madness. What's different about this run is that it has a topper now to match the Attack from Mars. And a sweet topper. The Monster Bash. Now we've got a Medieval Madness topper. It has the GI lighting now. In addition to that, it has extended display.
    13:01
    Oh, everybody likes that big old display. Kind of up to date with Monster Bash. Yeah. It's in needed. Yeah, like with those upgraded HD graphics they do. Yes. It's so good. Yeah, absolutely.
    13:14
    And you combine what's cool is, I thought it was just going to be like one model that just comes out and all the other people that bought an MMR were screwed. But no. Chicago Gaming Company wants to support the original LE and the standard buyers so they're coming out with reruns of a classic version a special edition version very much like your Monster Bash Attack from Mars where you get the extended display. Then you get the, not the LE because they're not doing LEs. They're not numbering a damn thing. They want the LEs to truly be the LEs but they're calling it the Royal Edition where you get that damn topper mirror blade. You get a full powder coat black diamond is what they're calling it. Oh, I didn't know you get the powder coat. Absolutely. And not only that, if you look, and we'll show you some video right here, but the front panel is powder coated, black diamond, and the apron, black diamond. And the hinges, it's a full, full powder coat. So, yeah, $8,000, $9,000, $10,000. But if you're one of those original owners that had the L.A. or standard, you can upgrade. You can throw a topper on there with the topper kit. You can throw the display kit if you want. You can throw in the G.I. lighting kit, even though that seems… Oh, you can do a G.I. lighting kit? Yeah, it seems like a pain in the ass. And they can go from the smaller display to the larger one. Yep. They just drop in like a new speaker panel, I guess. Yeah, it's a panel. Yeah, and then you get the RGB speaker lights too with it. Oh, there you go.
    14:32
    I'm curious about that. So pricing's still unavailable, but they said... It's possible, yeah. They said essentially... That's cool that you can change your game if you don't need to sell it and get a different one. And I thought, well, these people are screwed because it's going to be so much more than just buying the big... Now they're trying to make it where you buy the three kits, and if you start out with the classic, it's going to get you at about the price of what the Royal would be. Well, it's nice because you're kind of looking out for the customer.
    14:53
    They've done that from the beginning. Yeah. I think that's really cool. I agree. Since you guys get to play Medieval Manus, we know the topper is freaking stellar. Yeah. I got to play it there at Churchill, actually. When I walked in, I saw the topper, and I'm not sure if they were purposefully leaving it out for us to see or not, because I was like, uh...
    15:13
    Am I supposed to be seeing that? I was like, that's new. They're like, yeah, we're going to announce that tomorrow, so don't tell anybody about that. I'm like, okay, but that looks amazing.
    15:23
    You're trying to play a game, right? But that's really what I was like, uh. I was like, that's new? Yeah, when I got to see that up close, I've never seen a topper that was that good. Yeah. From an artistic standpoint. Yeah, very detailed. I like that. And a lot of people, that's very much a collector's thing, I think. Because for some competition players, some diehard pinball people are like. I'm definitely not a topper guy, but I was. Yeah, exactly. It's like the topper guys. It's not really a big deal. Well, it's kind of the same thing with that Black Knight topper. When you see it in person, you're kind of like, what is that? That's another release. So we get to see the reveal and the release of the Black Knight Sword of Rage topper by Stern Pinball. We've been waiting months for this thing. We thought we'd see it a couple months ago, but it's finally here. Steve Ritchie was talking about it months back. He said it was an actual Black Knight helmet talking to you, and we thought, no way. The damn thing moves. It articulates and talks. I saw his head down sideways and lights up. That's cool. I first saw the image and I was like, okay, that looks cool and everything. Then I saw the video of it doing its thing and I was like, okay, that's awesome. But in person it's even more like... I haven't seen it in person. Oh, you haven't seen it in person? No. Oh, you've got to go there. I've been at the Penn Stadium booth. Set up ball in Penn Stadium. No, it's even better in person. It's even more belligerent because you're looking off the game. You're starting to look up at your top of the game. I'll check it out. Yeah. that thing that thing ranks because we know stern does some pretty badass toppers too you get the walking dead the the kiss topper is awesome kiss toppers you've got the um what else the ecto topper for uh ghostbusters you have which got a lot better with the new kid yeah yeah you did the game of thrones with the actual dragon in the house is tough stern does good toppers what do you think this falls in the line of topper this has got to be close to the top yeah it seems like they're going more like interactive like with like with the newer ones so they're getting way better with that. I know the Monsters one has had issues in production, but that thing's sweet too. It's a cool game. Once they get that all figured out, that's really cool. That Monsters one in that one, it's kind of like a toss-up between the two, honestly. Because that Monsters, it is, it's pretty rad. I like it. But, I don't know. I don't know, I think, for me, this might be the, this is just a showstopper. For simplicity and awesomeness, like, when you're playing that game, you feel like you're at the concert. I don't know, Black Knight's pretty cool. Where would you put it, Cary? One of my top favorites, actually. Move, yeah. It's because of just the motion of it. If it didn't have motion, I'd be like, yeah, it's okay. Yes. But the motion is what sets it. All right. Yeah.
    17:56
    It's like the T-Rex in Jurassic Park, but you put it on top. Yes. It's moving and looking and going. Speaking of, you finally got to play the premium LE version of Jurassic Park. Did you dun-dun-dun-dun? Yeah, it did not disappoint. like i walked in there and i and i'm oh boy you know you're you're leary you see pictures and especially since the art's been a big thing you're happy with the pro yeah and i'm happy with the pro but you know this this it felt a little different and the art was just it's actually really good in person i thought it was gonna be good but it's really good in person and the t-rex did blow me away like i'm not a mech pay more for a mech you know or something in there but man that t-rex like you know it's just like i was talking like you hit something like almost right off the bat and that T-Rex, he just goes crazy. Before you even go into one of the T-Rex moments. Oh, yeah. And he's just like, and he just starts shaking around, getting all pissed off, and you're just like, oh, my God, did that just happen? Like, I drained my ball. I was up there looking. You're used to static soup. Yeah. And then I got so mad because I was like, I just want to get it in his mouth. Oh, hello. If I had a dollar for every time I've heard you.
    19:03
    Get the balls in the mouth. Day fix. Yay! Say hi to everybody. Hello, everyone. Expo's alive. Big Murray in Chicago. What did you guys think last night? Did you guys check out the Stern Marco room? We had a blast. Oh, yeah. We had a blast. We lived in these rooms. It's a little rough today. Yeah. My voice is nothing like it was. However, you know about the big party tonight. We do. It's the underground speakeasies. 11 o'clock, right? Until 10 tomorrow morning. With the sick beats as the old day fix says. Sick beats. I guess they're pumping in girls from all over the... Whoa.
    19:44
    Dave is going for a show with Ian, man. He's pulling out all the stuff. It's like I'm in an all-boys school. Pumping in the Catholic girls. Unfortunately, we lost Twin Peaks. We lost Twin Peaks this year, so, you know, it's just down a little bit. You know what? Spears has been serving as a great, if not better, substitute. That's good. Spears is awesome. Dave's like, it's not the same. No, I've never been to Twin Peaks. You're not missing anything. It wasn't up to level, but I don't know what to say. Shoes stick in there a lot.
    20:17
    But to your point on the Jurassic Park dinosaur, Scott was telling me in comparison to what his machine is, he thinks that the code changed to how aggravated Sue is. Yeah. He was like, my dinosaur looks like it's on estrogen.
    20:34
    He's like, is there a code? You never hold me. Yeah. And he's just like, come on. I didn't want to throw the ball. He just spit it on the rim. He just spit it out.
    20:46
    So we got new code and a hyper suit. But it is awesome, dude. It really does make a difference in a Raptor. He was like, I took it for granted because I thought, you know, that Raptor gate. I'm like, oh, that would be cool. But, dude, that thing's brutal. It is cool. Yeah, because I didn't think about that when I got that backfire. Yeah, I like the captive ball that it creates so you can bash it around inside there. Yeah, absolutely. It's definitely worth the upgrade. And you know, I'm hearing that from a lot of people. Normally, I can talk to people in the pros, or I'm like, hey, what are you getting? Are you getting a pro? Yeah, for the money. But people are, almost everyone's getting that premium. No, and we still haven't seen premiums really rolling out of Stern Pinball. We're seeing them here, a number of them. We're seeing Elvira Premium, a number of them here, but they have not rolled out either. The LEs have rolled out, and I just got a notification from Stern this week, yesterday, that their signature limited editions are rolling out. They're ready to go. Oh, nice. So we're going to be seeing people with those very soon. Elvira. Let's talk about Elvira. This is one that I've kind of told people that follow me that I really enjoy. It looked like a basic shooter, but the damn thing is solid, and it feels really good. I love the mechanisms, more so than most mechanisms in Stern machines, I would say. What do you guys think about Elvira and House of Horrors? You kick this one off, Chuck. Okay. Have you played it? Yeah, I played it a bunch because it was in the tournament and I was playing it in between rounds to get more familiar with it, so I played it a bunch. It's fun. I mean, it shoots well. It seems to be your standard lineman starting code but it get there It always does And when it does Yeah So but the thing that I was most impressed with was the actual house itself how they do the lighting. I found out last night that the actual windows of the house are separate modes. They are. Like, they're not labeled, but it's kind of cool. Like, you can kind of move the lighted window around. It's like, which mode do you want to play? And you see silhouettes behind. Yeah, right. Like, hands, when they light up, you'll see, like, hands. Oh, it's nuts. Another cool feature was just there's three or four different ways you can get a ball into the house. It's coming out different sides of it and things like that. Because you can soft plunge. That's what like I found. I was soft plunging all day. Yeah, because you go into you either you can soft plunge and just go down that orbit like which there's not really much benefit I guess in that you get into the pops and the rollovers and then there's a back door to the house that you can go into. It's a tricky shot. Yeah, I think you hold the left flipper to do that, but you've got to do it just right, kind of like Rudy's hideout kind of thing. Yes, yeah. It's not like Aerosmith where you can get it in there really easy. Because it's that weird apex. Yeah, right. Just going back. Yeah, a hair too much, you go all the way around that orbit. You were hitting it when we were playing it, though. I was like, son of a bitch. I know. I was like, oh, did you know that? He's like, yeah, man, I tried hitting it. It's hard. Can't hit it. I'm like, I hit it early, and he's like, what? Then we were playing a game, and I was like, see, I just hit it. And he's like, no, you didn't. What? Oh, shit.
    23:39
    What do you think, Kerry? I got one game on it, and that was basically right before my carpool left for the pinball live. So I kind of had to rush the third ball. But I wanted to play it more, and I still want to. But as of right now, I enjoy it so much because no matter where the ball goes, I feel like it does something. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Are you hitting the gargoyles? You're hitting the gargoyles, getting an effect or whatever. I don't know how many points those things give, but I'd be like, oh, I accomplished something. The game responded to what I did, so I felt like I did something. There's a lot of tribute Norman put in there to Scared Stiff, to Elvira and the Party Monsters. Gargoyles, look, those could have been stand-ups. And how much do we all love stand-ups? We don't. So instead of stand-ups, they're animated stand-up toppers, and they hit the damn glass. Like that's what the Leapers did in Scared Stiff. Small gripe, though. So right now, there's no sound whatsoever when you hit them. Yes. So the lead vision stuff always makes a sound when you hit them. That's cool. It seems like you're not getting credit for them, I guess, is the best way to put it. So just put some sounds in there when you hit them. Yeah, that'll make you ready. You've got the house topper spinning. You've got the junk in the trunk catching the ball. You've got the crypt over there, the mausoleum. It's like a three-state of change where you hit it. It goes down to a scoop and to a subway. and then it comes up to a bash toy skull, shoots it out of the bug. Yeah, I forgot about that. That's cool. Yeah. Because you don't expect that. Yeah, that is cool. The door for whatever that house is on the right, that cellar, it does change states. It has just a door, and then sometimes it's a skull. That's cool. I do like it. And just the lighting. You see the lighting. The lighting is a toy in itself. We saw some of the stuff, the skull head on the staircase going up. That's a good way to tell you that your mode's ready. Yep, it just has a skull that flashes through the... It's almost like a UV reactive kind of thing where it shines and all of a sudden you see that skull. And you know what's weird? It's like sometimes those up-the-middle shots that you have to hit so repetitive and so much, you feel like it can get old, but it doesn't. You always want to shoot that house. It always feels good shooting that house. That's my favorite shot of the game because the feed, the left feed to the orbit is smooth. You wouldn't expect that diverter to be smooth and come right back around your left orbit. And even the ball lock to the left, is that just another room or is it a garage? It looks like a circle around. It's kind of like a side garage. I guess it's perfect. It kicks it out. Because it feels good hitting it. You're still hitting the house. So what do you guys think about, now they did a different expo this year. They put Stern and Marco in a completely different hall. Along with tournament. Because the tournament's not out in the hallway. Now, personally, I'm mixed on this, but I want to hear what you guys have to say about it. I kind of like it. You like it? I like being in separate from everything else. That way I know that I can go in there and there's plenty of those games in that vicinity. That's a good point. I can get all of them up. You don't have to wait in line for Elvira. There's usually maybe one or two people. Well, then it disperses the crowd. That's the thing. When everything was in here last year, you had Galloping Ghosts and everything down there, which was awesome. But it still didn't draw as many people because it was a pinball show. People still wanted to play some arcades. There was Homebrew down there. There was Homebrew in there and everything. But it still separated because a lot of people want to play Elvira, play the new games, like Jurassic Park Premium and stuff. So I think it dispersed the crowd a lot more, so you're not waiting three, four deep or anything on a game like normally. which has always been good about it. I've never really felt that you had to wait in line too much at Chicago Expo. No, never. But it's still just, there's breathing room. Yeah, they got so many out and were able to let us play them all. Because I've been, when Ghostbusters came out, they only brought two to Texas Pinball Festival. Oh, yeah. So you talk about waiting in line. Yeah. I did. And you lose your balls real quick. Like, well, that was worse than a roller coaster in a way. But, yeah, so I think now they are starting to get a bunch more machines where they can get a lot more people on them at one time. And that worked out real well with Munsters at Texas Pinball Festival as well. They had like 20 of those things there also. And it's probably a lot better for like tournament guys and stuff just because you're not like people walking back and forth. Oh, yeah, the tournament. This is my first expo, but all I heard was people complaining about the games being out in the hallway, the glare. You're baking. I like people constantly walking by, things like that. Yeah, the private room is a must for a tournament. That was one of the biggest improvements I saw of that expo. That was rough, and we didn't even play in tournaments. And we'd always walk down and be like, oh, that's miserable. I feel bad for these guys. You're sticking in line in the direct sun, and you're just like, oh.
    28:02
    Some of these tournament players, we love you guys, but you guys are vampires. So we know the direct sunlight is a little rough. Smoke rolling off their cheeks. No, I mean, I'm a little mixed on it being separate because that's what I like about Texas. It's one big amusement park. You want to go to Sternland? you can. You want to go to CGC Lane. So just one big massive room? Yeah. And I like that you can just kind of meander and walk through and see everything. Everybody, just energy. I know this is kind of hokey, but energy level is all in one place. Yeah. Yeah, I like that. I feel like that's now a separate thing, and now all the other vendors are like, well, we're going to show you what we've got. But it's a different atmosphere. It's almost like a pick your atmosphere sort of thing, too, because it's a different vibe down there. Even the hallway is a different vibe. You go out there. From here, from Freeplay, you know, Freeplay's a little smelly. You know. A little baked in. Yeah. Stuff's more like your mom's basement.
    29:02
    So, you know, it's like, it's sort of that same thing. It's sort of choose your land. You just maybe happen to go on a boat.
    29:10
    But no, and then too, you kind of hear like, hey, did you go to this room? Hey, did you go to that room? You guys didn't even know about the overflow room. Yeah. That's crazy. I mean, that's kind of a cool aspect of having it all separated. I personally don't like it.
    29:24
    It's different. They're always changing it up, seeing what works, what doesn't work. Yeah, that's cool. I agree. But we do have the homebrew guys in here this year. Talk about that. You really like that. Yeah, they get more foot traffic. I don't think that they got kind of the notoriety last year that they deserved. Like I said, it was awesome that Doc and them brought all those games, because that was still awesome, and I spent a lot of time in there. But, you know, they just didn't get as much traffic down there for the homebrew. and everything else. So I think those guys have been really happy. They're in the main. They're right by American Pinball over here. Yeah, yeah. So there's a whole lot of foot training. Those games, like, a lot of them were good, man. They held up good. Really impressed. Really good. Like, I played Ghost in the Shell. Like, Ghost in the Shell is probably one of my favorites. Like, Ed did the cool-ass ramp. Yeah, that ramp still gets me every time. And it's just, you know, it's not jam-packed. There's not a ton of stuff in there. But it's also not barren. And the shots that he made. He's got that upper play field, doesn't he? Yes. Yeah. Yeah, I feel so, yeah. Yes, yes. Upper right. Yeah, on the right. Yeah, on the opposite of that ramp. But it's just something feels good about it. It feels like a production game the way it shoots to me. Like, I enjoy the hell out of it. Do you think if us four lived by each other, do you think we could pull together a homebrew? Absolutely not. Do you think we could do it? No? Absolutely not. He said absolutely not. Just no knowledge. Sure, no. Absolutely not. Carrie's handy. You're handy. You know how hard that is? It is not. Sure it's hard. I hate it to the guys that do it. I mean, as of right now, I'm not. In the future, maybe. I'm a huge rules nut. Like, I know all this stuff, but, like, if I had to, like, somehow start from scratch and just come up with the stuff, I feel like it would be terrible. That's right. It would be so bad. But, I mean, hats off to these Humber guys. I mean, this stuff's amazing. Like, I'm blown away by what people can do.
    31:07
    What was the one, the Undertale one? I played a few games on that. I haven't had to play that one yet. and just seeing the Nightmare Before Christmas slowly come together and now it has artwork all over it. It doesn't even look like a homebrew at all. Usually if you sell it, some of it's work in progress but I saw Nightmare Before Christmas and I was like another win for that tape. And we had Matt brought a Motor City Taxi or whatever that Matt, is it Benzik? Yeah, so what's the story with that? I saw it has like a TNA back box and he has no art. He threw it all together. He put that thing together like that. Yeah, to wire it to the show. He was ready to roll. He was working on it, like, literally before he packed it up to bring it here. So it was one of those things he was like, you know, on that, he wrote on there on the back, he was like, you know, artist needed. Yeah.
    31:53
    Interesting. Yeah. And he literally, like, when he got here, he was writing stuff on the play field for, like, your insert, like, what everything was on there. It's very TNA. Yeah. It's awesome. But then you got guys, and I still kind of consider this a homebrew, I guess, in a sense. And, like, I fell in love with these guys. Oh, yeah. I know you're talking about them. The Haggis guys. from Australia. That game is a production almost a full-on looking production game. Those guys built that by hand. This is the first time we got to see the artwork and stuff on it. They're making them. They're producing them. This was a prototype. They're still tweaking stuff. They're very open about that. We're not bullshitting. We're actually looking for the feedback on different stuff so we can change it. Yeah, it was. The price is pretty good too. It was like $52 on there. Low 5,000. Yeah. Have you shot the Haggis yet? Not yet. I've looked at it and observed it and watched it being played, but I have not. Go get your kilt on. I've got one. Get your kilt, Kerry. I've got a kilt. It's a good layout, but I think the code is weird. The stuff they're doing with the code is where it's at.
    32:58
    I enjoyed my one game I had on. I can't remember his name, the owner of the company. Damien? Yeah, he stood with me while I played and talked me through it, so I knew how to shoot and everything. Yeah, I enjoyed shooting. It had some interesting shots. It's kind of like a similar layout to TNA where there's no ramps but they make good use of a single level. Yeah. Well you kind of compared it I saw and heard to Silver Ball Mania. Well yeah that center loop, people are worried about that killing you all the time and I'm just like it just like Silver Ball Mania It going to kill you sometimes sometimes it not but yeah it fine and that scoop in the middle is fine too you think that going to kill you sometimes sometimes it not yeah but yeah it fine and then that and that scoop in the middle is it fine too i mean you think that going to kill you all day but they have it feed one flipper if it doesn it got ball safe yeah yeah yeah because i thought that that little horseshoe too i thought oh man that's just that's asking for it but it's not it's like you said it's a toss-up like you don't know what you're gonna get like the star wars orbit i'm a sucker for that damn man the no fear orbit but i'm a sucker for it Chrome it, brass it, black nickel it, candy chrome it, powder coat it. The possibilities are endless at pinballplating.com.
    34:01
    Your pinball machine deserves the best. At Comet Pinball, you'll find the best variety of LED products with the best quality LEDs. And most importantly, at the best price. Your collection is begging for an upgrade. Order yours now at cometpinball.com. Check out Pin Graphics for the latest and greatest in pinball enhancements, power blades, blade skins, pin blades, and even more. Visit pingraphics.com now to see what's available for your pinball machine. Let's talk about the seminars. Well, I've not went to a lot of seminars. I've been stuck here at the Flippin' Out booth. But have you been to any at all? No, I didn't think so. You? I didn't know about those. No, but you've been playing tournaments. Well, I went to the very end of Dwight's, which is awesome, the Family Feud one. That's what I'm going to bring up. It's getting the most raves ever. Him and Corey Stupp do a fantastic job with that. They're two coders, so they completely code this entire Family Feud game. It's the actual, like, they got the graphics up there. They're running the game. I mean, it's hilarious. Those guys are talented. I heard they were giving away the coolest stuff. Like, if you were to win something. Yeah, a whole bunch of swag there. Yeah, trans lights just go up. and Zombaghetti was signing stuff for people. So I popped in at the very end, and it was very cool. I felt bad because the damn tournament kept me away from it earlier. But, yeah, I assume they're going to keep doing it every year, so make sure you get to that one. Absolutely. I'm kind of jealous I didn't get to that, man. And in closing, I think it's the people. That's why we come here. It's the people that we get to hang out with, our friends, new people that we meet, some of our idols in pinball that we get to talk to. Who are some of the people you guys talk to that maybe some of these individuals might have heard of? Dwight Sullivan. we loved white last night we were at a get together because party sounds like it might get him in trouble but one of your idols this guy was old Jerry Thompson we had some fantastic conversations his wife Jennifer she was fantastic, hilarious beautiful, wonderful people I was surprised by her, she had a great wit and humor she really did she made Jerry blush a few times that's fun and hilarious But no, Jerry was like, you know how you see somebody, you sort of know them, you admire their work. But sometimes they can just be assholes. Yeah. You run into those people. But Jerry was legitimate, like everything that you think he would be. Like him accepting that Twippy Award last year. That was him. That is legitimate Jerry. Like he is that nice, that cool of a guy. So it was absolutely nice meeting you, Jerry, if you're watching this. You know, I met somebody that I never met before, and we kicked it off like that. Jeremy Packer, a.k.a. Zombie Yeti. Yeah. He seemed like a quiet guy, but me and him got to talking. I was like, oh, my God. Love his artwork even more now because he's a good dude. He gave me the most, like, rad business card that you could ever see. It's like a laser-etched wood business card. What? Yeah. It says Zombie Yeti. It is a CNC cut. Yes. Like, business card. It is the most epic thing I've ever seen in my life. Like, it was awesome. Now, I haven't seen Steve Ritchie. I didn't see Steve Poppin. I saw him walking around. He popped in for a while. I haven't seen Richie. I've seen Keith Elwin. I saw Lyman on the elevator a few times. We still haven't met freaking George or Homie Gomez. No, Gomez. I saw him in the hallway, but he was talking to somebody. Yesterday? I saw Gary walking around. Yes, Gary a few times. We talked to Eric Menier some. Eric's here. We got to sit down with Eric Menier and have a drink, have a beer. Have a beer with Eric. That's always a pleasure. I love hanging out with him. Joe Bosser. I always love Joe man Joe like is probably one of my highlights of every show I tried to keep him out like Friday night and he was like no I'm going home because he is the most real guy you will ever meet I always love Joe man Coogler yeah Josh had to skip out he had some family stuff to do but we got to hang out with him for a brief minute I mean it was a lot of fun a lot of people and a lot of our fans I saw a lot of SDTM shirts there was a lot of SDTM shirts don't see one on Eric now I've got my shirt finally What's he got though? I've got to rip my stuff You know what right now Remind everybody Because it's the next show It's coming up Yeah So Cincinnati It's the weekend before Thanksgiving Well yeah Cincinnati, Ohio And it is a hell of a show It is a pinball show We are close to everybody So please come The first year last year Yep You guys really put in a lot for that We expected a thousand people We had over two thousand people Come the first year Wow Let's keep it going That's right You can catch, Greg and I are going to be there. I'm going to be there with Flippin' Out. So Lace and Grace are going to be there. So that'll be a lot of fun. Thanks for bringing those new games. That'll be awesome.
    38:49
    So that's coming up. Anything else, any closing words of wisdom that you want to tell these people? We're all hungover. Finally got my t-shirt. Yeah!
    39:01
    Took eight months. No, nine, ten, something like that. But yeah. I think I got Eric's address from him like four different times before I actually mailed him. I was like, what's that address again? I've got to send that out to you, Gary. Yeah, you do. I've got to send that out to you. All right. Well, for those interested in T-shirts, we're going to have them soon. We're putting in another. That's about like getting Gary his shirt.
    39:23
    We've been telling these people that for the last six months. We've got new, maybe some new colors. Yes. Yeah. We're going to try something new. We're not telling it yet. Some new colors. Make sure to check out our Halloween special. We hope it gets filmed. Yeah, Greg joins a couple of SDTM certified reviewers to reveal and review Elvira House of Whores. That's going to be a lot of fun, right? It will be. We're going to be at upcoming shows such as Cincinnati, and it sounds like after talking to Jerry Thompson, we just may see some SDTM at the Northwest show. Yeah, I want to get up there. I definitely want to get up there. That show's growing, and it's getting big. Yeah, absolutely. Continue to watch some Cary Hardy SDTM videos. What do you got coming up on? Clear coating. Oh, some clear coat stuff.
    40:07
    How to inhale it or what? That's right. You want to get high? You want to get high, Doc? The best high right before you kick the bucket. Love the smell of that. That first coat went on real good.
    40:24
    You'll see the first coat does not actually go on very good, but the end product still comes out amazing. Oh, nice. You're going to get to see the good and the bad. In the end, you're going to see the good. That's why we love Kerry. Very cool. You've got some streams here and there and everywhere, right? We've got ACDC Premium a lot. Yep, we'll be back to it next week. I just got a Sorcerer in, so we did that recently.
    40:48
    We need to get you. I would love to see you just dive into a Jurassic Park. Yeah, that game is amazing. I knew you liked it. I definitely want to buy one, so we'll hopefully. We need to get you a pro for a while or something. We'll figure it out. And then before we leave, I've got to, have you seen his pin?
    41:06
    He's got the Stern spinner. I kept looking at it. I kept on looking at it. That is the coolest thing ever. I keep looking at it. I sent some unobtainium parts to a guy in California, and he sent me those. Thank you. Did you send him an actual Stern spinner? Those are hard to find. It was actually early Stern slingshot arms. Oh, yeah. That's very cool. Yep. This is a wicked pin. I didn't notice it. Well, Lady HD got it. Oh, hey. I've been looking at it.
    41:38
    So from us, straight down the middle of Pinball Show, we've got the whole team here. This is the first time this has ever happened. Hopefully this won't be the last time. Check in to subscribe down below if you haven't already. Comment. If you have something negative to say, piss off, man. No, we love you guys. Next week, hopefully. Next week? Two or three weeks from now. Maybe t-shirts too. See you guys later. Peace. You had off with a bumper knife Straight down the middle again Middle again You had a fling with a fling shot You're rolling out the island again I tried to cradle you with my flipper It was all right You can actually do a shot or you go to the airport and be a little pansy. Oh, God. Why do you have to do it? Rock. What's up, everybody? This is how you do a hotel room right here. If you guys want edited out I'll edit you out later. Let it go natural right now. Oh man. Oh this is King Cromwell playing a little Elvira. Hey, first time on this game, came to Expo, the only place I can play it, JJ's place. That's right!
    42:55
    It would be great if I actually aired this stuff. Hey, this is going to be like the uncut, the Cribs Unplugged. Well, I was going to do like a Cribs extra features or bonus features. He does look better in a skirt and a jean. I like this game. What is that, Kerry? I like this game. You like it? I've only put two games on it. Yeah? But I'm feeling it. You're feeling it? I'm feeling it. Go for it. Dollar games? I don't have any cash. Oh. Let's take a closer look at this. Woo! Oh, Sue moves around! Sue's moving around, ain't she? Yeah.
    43:47
    Hey, JJ. What? Tell everybody if they want a pinball machine, they call Flippin' Out, right? You got to call Flip It Out at 303-931-3685. Direct line to Flip It Out. Some bullshit. This is a very nice ironing board. I don't know if it's a surfboard.
    44:05
    Jason Fallon from the Slap Safe Inbob Podcast. What's up? It stops right there. Exactly, yes.
    44:21
    Hey what's happening this is Sto, that was a rough start, here we go. Alright. What time did you get up there? Is the camera level or are we going that way? It looks a little slanty. Donut. Donut? I wish I had a fucking donut right now.