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Tribe Multiball with Rachel and Tim: Episode 13, Tim Sucks at Pinball

Poor Man's Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·analyzed·Jul 27, 2021
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.031

TL;DR

Rachel's Ladies Flip Wisconsin tournament grows to 25 players; Tim shares arcade discoveries and new Mandalorian pin.

Summary

Rachel Lilge discusses her third Ladies Flip Wisconsin women's pinball tournament (25 players, hosted in East Green Bay with Willy Wonka theming), thanks sponsors and key contributors including 15-year-old Cassidy Milonowski (Wisconsin's youngest tournament director and ranked #4 female player), and announces her fourth tournament for September 25th at Dave Brennan's location. Tim Dan Lee shares personal pinball experiences including discovering Flippers Arcade in North Carolina (80 machines), visiting a collector's house via Pinside community connection, and receiving his new Star Wars The Mandalorian Premium Edition Stern machine.

Key Claims

  • Rachel's third Ladies Flip Wisconsin tournament attracted 25 total players on a Friday night in Green Bay, Wisconsin

    high confidence · Rachel stated this directly as a significant achievement for women's tournament participation

  • Cassidy Milonowski is Wisconsin's youngest tournament director at age 15 and is ranked number four overall female in the world

    high confidence · Rachel introduced Cassidy in detail, describing her role and ranking with specific numbers

  • Jersey Jack Pinball, American Pinball, Sam Stern, and Spooky Pinball all sent swag/sponsorship for Rachel's tournaments

    high confidence · Rachel explicitly named all four manufacturers as sponsors who contributed items for player gift bags

  • Flippers Arcade in North Carolina (near Outer Banks) has 80 pinball machines and operates as hybrid arcade/gas station/laser tag facility

    high confidence · Tim described the location in detail after discovering it by chance during a family vacation traffic delay

  • Tim received a Star Wars The Mandalorian Premium Edition Stern machine with no manufacturing issues despite some reported on Pinside

    high confidence · Tim stated he received the machine, set it up with no issues, and has played about 15 games so far

  • Rachel's next Ladies Flip Wisconsin tournament (4th) is scheduled for September 25th and will be hosted by Dave Brennan

    high confidence · Rachel announced the date and host directly near end of her segment

  • Banzai Run is a difficult machine to maintain; Tim has seen it on location three times and it did not work well in any instance

    medium confidence · Tim shared his observation based on personal experience at multiple locations

  • Ladies Flip Wisconsin started because Rachel wanted to bring more women into pinball and IFPA/WPPR points to her area

    high confidence · Rachel explicitly stated these as her two founding reasons for the tournament series

Notable Quotes

  • “For me personally, it's just so phenomenal to see a dream that I had come to fruition. To have a dream I have come to fruition is really an amazing feeling on a very personal level.”

    Rachel Lilge @ ~05:30 — Emotional moment reflecting on the success and growth of Ladies Flip Wisconsin tournament series

  • “I love all of that about the pinball community is that people are kind and open and they want to grow community and make connections.”

    Rachel Lilge @ ~17:45 — Core philosophy about community values in pinball culture

  • “That's just the community, kind of how it works... He'd been on Pinside for 15 years. You know, I knew people that knew him. So I didn't, you know, that's just the community. It's a great community.”

    Tim Dan Lee @ ~35:00 — Illustrates trust and social networks within the Pinside/pinball community ecosystem

  • “I really enjoyed it at Flipper's. But I received it. We set it up. No issues. Some of the issues that people had complained about on Pinside where they had minor issues, mine has not had any of those issues.”

    Tim Dan Lee @ ~45:30 — Quality control feedback on Star Wars Mandalorian Premium Edition

  • “It seems I don't want to say clunky, but I'm not used to Sterns having so much on the playfield, if that makes sense.”

    Tim Dan Lee @ ~48:00 — Early gameplay impression of Mandalorian Premium's dense playfield design

  • “So I'm still waiting for the others to name something after me. Only one of our guests has named a sandwich after me.”

    Tim Dan Lee (paraphrased by Rachel context) @ ~25:45 — Humorous commentary on podcast guest history (Scoots named a sandwich after Tim)

  • “We allowed to know who? If you would like to know i would love to know it would be Mr Dave Brennan ah dave i love dave yeah i'm so excited about that”

    Rachel Lilge / Tim Dan Lee @ ~19:00 — Announcement and enthusiasm for fourth Ladies Flip Wisconsin tournament host

Entities

Rachel LilgepersonTim Dan LeepersonCassidy MilonowskipersonLadies Flip WisconsineventJersey Jack PinballcompanyAmerican PinballcompanySpooky PinballcompanySam SternpersonFlippers Arcadevenue

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: Ladies Flip Wisconsin tournament series growing significantly with 25 players at third event, indicating strong momentum in women's pinball participation and community building

    high · Rachel hosted third tournament with 25 players including out-of-state travelers from Columbus, Ohio, with fourth tournament already scheduled for September 25th

  • ?

    community_signal: Young female leadership emerging in pinball community (Cassidy Milonowski, age 15, as co-tournament director and ranked #4 female player)

    high · Cassidy serving as Wisconsin's youngest tournament director and co-directing Ladies Flip Wisconsin while maintaining #4 global female ranking

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Positive sentiment toward Stern's Star Wars The Mandalorian Premium Edition based on Tim's early gameplay experience and lack of manufacturing defects

    medium · Tim reports no issues despite Pinside complaints, machine performs well, though playfield density and ramp difficulty noted as learning curve

  • ?

    product_launch: Star Wars The Mandalorian Premium Edition in active circulation and early-stage customer ownership phase

    high · Tim received his Premium Edition, set it up successfully with 15 games played; family and neighbors already playing

  • ?

    venue_signal: Flippers Arcade (North Carolina) operating as significant multi-game location with 80 pinball machines, hybrid arcade/gas station/laser tag model

    high · Tim discovered location with diverse game collection including rarities (Tales of the Arabian Nights, Alice Cooper's Nightmare Castle, Lord of the Rings)

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.208

0:00
Hey, Poor Man Tribe and listeners, this is Glennie Rogers, and you're listening to the Tribe Multiball Podcast with Rachel and Tim. Poor Man Tribe's the thing, that is who we are. Ed and Drew, they're not in this thing, so how could it go wrong? Flip away with us, to an old blockade, and then we'll learn about each other. From two pinheads to another Rachel and Tim, who do we have on the show today?
0:40
Hello friends, welcome to Tribe Multiball with Tim and Rachel, a pinball podcast that focuses on a dynamic collection of pinheads that share a mutual belonging to the tribe of the poor man's pinball podcast. I am your co-host, Rachel Lilge, along with your other co-host, Tim Lee. How are you doing today, Tim? I'm doing fantastic. How are you, Rachel? I'm doing really well. Thanks for asking. Hello to all of our listeners as well. Hello. Should we just jump right into our personal pinball news? Absolutely. Okay. I have actually quite a bit to talk about today. As our listeners may know that I run a women's traveling pinball tournament series called Ladies Flip Wisconsin. I recently had my third tournament held at a private location in East Green Bay. Awesome. Yeah, it was very awesome. I started Ladies Flip Wisconsin for two reasons. One, I wanted to bring more women into pinball. And the second reason is to bring women's whoppers or IFPA points to my area. When I first started playing pinball back in September of 2019, when I was looking around for places to play, there really wasn't any type of, you know, women's league or tournament series or anything like that that was around. So I just decided to make my own thing. And I am so lucky because I've had people that have been very generous in opening their private collections, people opening their homes, saying, sure, you can have a bunch of strangers show up to my house, come in my basement and play all my games. We're very lucky about that. So first, I really want to thank my hosts, Joe and Susan. They have a Wonka Standard Edition that I themed the tournament around that. I had trophies that I made from the Oompa Loompa cameraman that Jersey Jack Pinball sent me, actually. So kindly, thank you, JJP, for all the swag that you sent me. I had those made into trophies for the tournament. There was lots of candy, and there was Wonka music playing all over the place. It was just really a crazy fun time. My hosts knocked it out of the park. This is my third tournament. Sometimes I have a theme. Sometimes I just, I asked the host too, you know, is this something that you're interested in? And again, Joe and Susan just, again, knocked it completely out of the park. I want to say thank you so much to them. Yeah, thank you. And I have to say those trophies were awesome and the theme was awesome. You knocked it out of the park as well. I thought it, I saw the pictures. I looked at them a few times and just fantastic. Thanks, Tim. I really appreciate that. When I first wrote to Jersey Jack Pinball about my tournament, they sent me those Oompa Loompa cameras, a couple of them. And I thought right away, I really want to save these and make them into trophies for when I can do a Wonka themed tournament. So it just kind of all worked out. Awesome. Yeah. Second, I'd like to thank Matt McCarty, who is my dedicated scorekeeper, my right hand man. He's also a dedicated listener. I really appreciate you, Matt. It was also your birthday that day. So what a better way to spend your day than playing a really cool collection of games as well. Sounds like a great birthday. Yeah, he had a great time. He had a great weekend, I think. Third, I'd like to thank all of the players. Without them, I had 25 players total, including myself, that played the tournament. That is pretty unreal, I think, for women on a Friday night coming up to Green Bay, Wisconsin to get together and play pinball. 25 of us strong. That's so awesome. Wow. There is one more person I would like to thank for assisting me to ensure that the tournament ran smoothly. That would be Cassidy Milonowski. She is Wisconsin's youngest tournament director at the age of 15. I asked her to co-direct with me because it gives me an opportunity, well, to play, I think, and also to interact with other players. And I think it's also handy that if something would come up while I was in the middle of the game or a game that I was involved in that there'd be somebody else there to also make a call. As some of our listeners may know, Cassidy is ranked number four overall female in the world. She was really excited to have a chance to dig into the quote-unquote referee rules of pinball, as she also has assisted the hosts and myself with other tasks as well, including cleanup after sweeping all three of my Ladies Flip Wisconsin tournament series that I've put together. So not only is she an incredible player to watch and learn from, she is also an outstanding young lady who carries herself so well. So thanks, Cassidy. I look forward to having you on board for Ladies Slip Wisconsin 4, but I'm also so glad that you're my friend. I would like to thank three ladies that I had that traveled from Columbus, Ohio. Tribe member, oh man, I wish I had her number in front of me, but I want to thank Tish for bringing along Holly and Diane from Columbus, Ohio to come play in Green Bay, Wisconsin. We love Tish. Yeah, I love Tish so much. I'm going to try not to cry talking about this. This might be the first podcast that I break it down, break down a little bit. I can tell you're getting a little choked up. That's awesome.

  • Tim received his Mandalorian Premium Edition but rolled the Dialed In! Collectors Edition (implied as a trade or previous acquisition)

    high confidence · Tim stated 'I rolled the Dialed In! on this one' in reference to acquiring the Mandalorian

  • The Mandalorian Premium Edition has a crowded playfield with elevated Baby Yoda (Grogu) that the ball passes underneath

    high confidence · Tim described the playfield layout and Baby Yoda's positioning in detail based on his experience with the machine

  • “I think the Mandalorian... the ramps are hard, but in 15 games, I've kind of adjusted. That flip-up ramp in the middle in the Premium Edition, I don't know if it's worth it.”

    Tim Dan Lee @ ~49:00 — Early learning curve and design critique on Mandalorian Premium Edition mechanics

    • Dave Brennanperson
    Tee'd Off Tribe Multiball Podcastorganization
    Poor Man's Pinball Podcastorganization
    Glennie Rogersperson
    Matt McCartyperson
    Tishperson
    Cassidy (Becky Meyer)person
    Becky Meyerperson
    Diane Spackmanperson
    Ericaperson
    Star Wars The Mandalorian Premium Editionproduct
    Dialed In! Collectors Editionproduct
  • ?

    content_signal: Tee'd Off Tribe Multiball Podcast growing podcast ecosystem within Poor Man's Pinball community with multiple co-hosts and regular episodes

    medium · Rachel and Tim hosting regular episodes, editing being handled professionally, community participation feedback

  • ?

    manufacturing_signal: Quality control improvements on Star Wars Mandalorian Premium Edition with reported absence of known defects that plagued early units

    medium · Tim reports no issues that were widely complained about on Pinside, suggesting manufacturing refinement post-launch

  • ?

    collector_signal: Dave Brennan operating collection-focused residence with rare games (Congo mentioned as streaming while Tim present), hosting tournament events

    medium · Rachel announcing Dave Brennan as host for fourth Ladies Flip Wisconsin tournament; Tim notes Dave had been streaming Congo (rare on location)

  • ?

    design_innovation: Star Wars Mandalorian Premium Edition employing crowded playfield with elevated toy (Grogu/Baby Yoda) and multi-level playfield design (upper playfield on Premium vs Pro)

    high · Tim describing dense playfield, elevated Grogu with ball pass-through, strong magnet similar to Iron Man, ramps, and optional upper playfield on Premium Edition

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Mandalorian Premium Edition playfield design noted as initially challenging with hard ramps and learning curve, described as less clunky after adjustment

    medium · Tim noted ramps are hard but adjusting after 15 games; found upper playfield quick to reach (5-10 seconds); Grogu magnet throw impressive

  • ?

    operational_signal: Banzai Run consistently operating poorly across multiple location venues, suggesting systemic maintenance challenges with that specific machine model

    medium · Tim observed Banzai Run in poor working condition at Flippers Arcade; has seen it three times on location and never functioning well

  • ?

    industry_signal: Multiple pinball manufacturers (Jersey Jack, American Pinball, Stern, Spooky) actively supporting grassroots women's tournament development with sponsorship and swag

    high · All four manufacturers contributed sponsorship items (figurines, mugs, merchandise) for Ladies Flip Wisconsin tournament gift bags

    • 5:37
    It was, for me personally, man, I better take a deep breath. For me personally, it's just so phenomenal to see a dream that I had come to, what's the word I'm looking for, come to fruition. Fruition, yep. Yeah. To have a dream I have come to fruition is really an amazing feeling on a very personal level. And being able to attract really great players from another state to come play my tournament is crazy.
    6:08
    I just feel, man, I have to take a deep breath here. Well, I can tell you this. We are in the tribe very proud of you because you talk to us a lot about it. You're very focused, which I really admire. You have a plan. you stick to your plan you don't let anybody you know sidetrack you from your plan and you've hosted now three awesome tournaments so we're all really proud of you and it's it's really you know admirable what you're doing in you know the women's pinball scene I'm very impressed and I'm very proud of you oh thank you Tim and thank you to my tribe members too because they have also been patient with me asking questions or posting things and well they just let they love all that content anyway i think they really i every one of them would probably take off and just be there for all your questions unless you ask drew he doesn't really know much about pinball so uh that's bullshit actually oh i cursed oh i think that's my first uh my first first uh no drew and ian definitely have been super supportive they've also sent me some swag now for my next tournament and I'm just so appreciative. I should also thank all of my sponsors in my previous tournaments. All of the manufacturers, American Pinball, Stern, Jersey Jack Pinball, and Spooky have sent me different things. And what's so great about that is I'm able to take that and put together a swag bag or a party gift for each of my players. This one I was able to put, I found like some cool Deadpool coffee mugs and I had some leftover Spooky coffee mugs. So, you know, I put that together with some Wonka candy, and I also ordered, I got Pinballm from Etsy. She's a great supplier of Pinballer's Lip Balm. That's a hard thing to say. So that was really cool. The ladies really enjoyed that as well. So thank you so much to all of my, I want to say call them my sponsors, for being generous in what you provide, because that really excites the ladies, that they all go home with one or two little pinball-related things to put in their own arcade. Or, for example, I have another gal that she's taken some of the little bits and pieces she has received and she has put them onto her pinball tree she has in her arcade. That's cool, too, right? Yeah, yeah. We have a pinball tree. I'll tell you about that later. But, yeah, that's awesome. And you have something that would be totally perfect for Drew and I. You had a loser's trophy, correct? I certainly did.
    8:36
    The way I like to run my tournament is I like to have a top four trophies. and then a last place but tish corrected me i really should be calling it the best place trophy so yeah and then i also like to do a stuck ball trophy which that did happen on adam's family the ball got stuck i think in the swamp but it didn't kick out didn't kick out didn't kick out and we ended up shutting the machine off turn it back on still didn't kick out he turned it off and then i believe he turned the game back on later and the ball kicked out Becky Compton won the stuck ball trophy. It's a great idea. Yeah, it really was. And I actually had a suggestion for a walk-off trophy for next time around. So if you're player four and, you know, everybody has a lower score than you and you don't have to play your ball three, you get a walk-off trophy. So that might be a fun idea, too. Why not? Right? Yeah, why not? Yeah. The tournament results from that, Cassidy won the assassin. She took first. Diane Spackman, she took second. Becca Malman, who also I play at District 82 with in League, she took third. And it was interesting, for fourth place, I had a tie between Becky Meyer, who I also play League with, and Tish. And this is the first time I've run into where I had to do a playoff. I will tell you, the three of us gals laughed pretty hard, along with our host Joe, because in order to figure out who would go first, we randomly drew the game. It ended up being Monopoly, which everybody knows I love that game. okay but to figure out who went first we did rock paper scissors and i think that it took longer for us to do rock paper scissors than for them to play their games but ultimately uh becky meyer won and i'm so so proud of her because she has been since i started my tournament series she's come to every single one and she was so hungry for that trophy so congratulations to all my players yeah congratulations now every time you go to a tournament or you host a tournament you send me who won that evening, which I really appreciate. But I have to say that every single time I respond, I could beat them. And then you just think you ignore me every time. Well, yeah. The reason I ignore that, Tim, is because these ladies that are coming to play in these tournaments that I'm my tournament series are unbelievable players. They know what they are doing 10 times more than I do. Yeah, I played terrible. I let go. I let go playing because it's, You know, I was also tournament directing. I'm not the host, but I'm still hosting. Yeah. You know, I'm kind of running around making sure people. You're the manager. Yep. That's right. You know, I'm playing referee and everything else. Yeah. I was really excited because we had several new women that came to play that evening as well. Oh, great. Yeah. And that's, again, one of the points and goals of doing Ladies of Wisconsin. Yeah. And it seems like it's paying off. And by the way, when you told me Ray Day and Keith Elwin won, I said the same thing. I could beat them. So, yeah. No, but that's great. I mean, because, you know, that's the that's what you're doing. You're out there to, you know, get more women into pinball. And it seems it sounds like it's working really well. Yeah, I'm just sharing my passion, I think is what I'm doing here. I do want to talk about a little bit more that happened that weekend, because with the ladies that came from Ohio, I really did want to roll out the red carpet for them. I was really appreciative that Erica District 82 opened Saturday morning for a family day. So Tish and I, I guess we ran a little tournament called Pinballers Brawl, which is the same type of team pinball that she talked about when she was on our show. So I played with two other people. We each played one ball in a game. It was a lot of fun. I want to play that again. I really hope that that happens at Expo. I look forward to playing that. Hopefully I can get some other ladies from Wisconsin to join my team for that. Also Saturday evening, I had some other friends. I have the nicest people in the world that just have been so kind to me. Again, it makes me just want to cry tears of joy and gratitude. Some other friends that opened their home and they hosted a birthday party for my friend Matt, also my scorekeeper. And they also invited the women from Ohio to come play. That is so generous. I love that so much about the pinball community is that people are kind and open and they want to grow community and make connections. I love all of that. It was a really, really fun weekend overall. You want to guess what I did on Sunday? I know what you did. Nothing, right? That's right.
    12:53
    That's always my answer now, I think. I mean, I did my tasks and chores and little things I had to do. But, man, it was a lot of pinball, and I didn't play anything until League a couple days later. But, again, I just want to say thank you to my sponsors, my players, my hosts, my scorekeeper. And thank you so much, Cassidy. and to you, Tim, just all the support that I had in the tribe and order, all of that helps to make it a successful event for me. And again, being able to achieve something on a personal level is such a huge thing and it makes me just want to set a bigger goal. I've got it. I've got gold for next year. Yeah. I should drop that my next Ladies Flip Wisconsin tournament will be September 25th and that will be hosted by another tribe member. Okay. We allowed to know who? If you would like to know i would love to know it would be mr dave brennan ah dave i love dave yeah i'm so excited about that so hopefully i'll get my flyer to drop this coming week we'll see yeah that's a that's a great place to have an event man he's got some really impressive machines and machines you haven't really seen right he was streaming congo i believe last night and i don't know i've never seen that on location i've not seen that in another person's collection he just really has some pretty groovy games so i'm very excited to get down there and bring some other ladies in the milwaukee racine maybe chicago area to come play that tournament series as well that sounds amazing by the way right after you left the stream last night max got to wizard mode on congo so ah yeah man i had to shut my eyes i was falling asleep but yeah he's amazing to watch play yeah i could beat him So I think that's all of my personal pinball news. So thanks for listening to all of that. I know it was a lot, but I'm very excited about it and to share that. No, it's really good stuff. And again, I said it before, I'm really proud of everything you're doing. You've raised the bar for next year. So, well, you've raised your bar for the Dave Brennan tournament. Yes, I have. And I have dreams, man. I'm going to make them happen. Yeah, that's what you got to do. And I'm going to come here and talk to you about it, Tim. Hey, I love it. I know. All right. So today's a little bit of a different episode, isn't it? It is. We do not have a normal guest on today, but we do have a guest, which is Tim Lee. Yeah.
    15:11
    The best guests we've had on to date. Oh, I don't know. I've enjoyed all of our guests, to be honest. It'd be really hard to just pick one or even like a top three. That would be even top five. It'd be hard. Yeah, but one kind of stands out. Only one of our guests has named a sandwich after me. I may not like the sandwich, but Scoots named a sandwich after me. So I'm still waiting for the others to name something after me. So, okay. All right. Well, I could name you things, but I already cursed once. And for the first time on this podcast, I don't think I should do it a second time. You do curse at me, though, when I send you things. I love it. Well, yeah, but I do try to keep it a little bit cleaner for our listeners. Yep. That's what I do. So tell me, Mr. Tim Lee, what is your tribe number? 12. Welcome, number 12. Thank you. Tim, what are you currently doing in the pinball world? This is what I'm doing. I'm actually podcasting, and I'm doing a lot of socialization in pinball. And we can talk about that when I get into a little bit of my personal pinball news. But really, I've just been trying to help out Drew and Ian with some content. And I'm very grateful that, you know, you're my co-host and you do it with me. I do a lot of behind the scenes talking with folks in the pinball industry. And I've actually been reaching out to a lot of tribe members and a lot of people in the industry just to make friends and, you know, just to make relationships in pinball. I want to get back to playing in tournaments. If you recall, I started that before COVID and I just learned that Helicon is going to start their tournaments up, you know, along with most other locations. So I plan on going down there when they start to hold some tournaments. But right now I'm just trying to make relationships in the pinball industry and help the poor man's pinball paws cast out with some content. And what I've learned is editing is a chore.
    17:09
    Yeah, absolutely. And I think I say this almost every episode but you are an editing genius I really appreciate in terms of I know how sloppy our show can be when we record it and you do such a great job editing it so thank you every single time tim from the bottom of my heart and secondly i really enjoy having you as a co-host so thank you you make it so easy for me i just show up and chit chat and have a good time you're welcome yeah i did notice helicon was actually i think it was maybe the pinball enthusiast somebody did a review of helicon and I got to actually see the place where you play, a couple pictures and such. It looks really cool. Yeah, it was Nap Arcade. Okay. Yeah, yeah. He's on this like East Coast college tour and he is stopping at, in his family, they're stopping at all these different locations and they're doing reviews of them. And I am super jealous because it's like a dream vacation, right? Just going up and down the East Coast or West Coast playing pinball. Yeah, I think that I need to build a pinball road trip together and put that together for next summer. Yeah. That'd be fun. I'll go with you. I'll bring Amy and I will go with you. Okay. Make it a trip. I'd have no problem with that. It'd be entertaining to do a pinball podcast about that. Yeah. Oh, there's so much, you know, content out there.
    18:25
    Oh, my brain's never ending thinking about that. What was I talking about last time about there's got to be a gas station podcast? I talked about that. Yeah.
    18:34
    I'm sure there is. Yeah, there has to be. Probably. What about your personal pinball news? Would you like to talk about that? Yeah, so I have a good bit of personal pinball news. It's not quite as awesome as yours, but it's a lot of fun. So we took a little bit of a break because you were doing the work for your tournament. And at the same time, I was going to the beach with my family. So this is kind of a weird story. I knew that there was an arcade called Flippers Arcade in the Outer Banks or close to the Outer Banks. It was in North Carolina. And as you know, it took us a really long time to get to the beach. We drove. But as we were getting we were about an hour away from the Outer Banks in our house and there were three wrecks that popped up on the GPS. So my brother said, we might as well just go eat because it says it's already delayed an hour to an hour and a half because of these accidents. So I said, OK. So the only place to eat was this Sonic, you know, the fast food restaurant. So we pull over at Sonic and we're like, well, we'll just sit here and kill time. I said to my sister, I think there's an arcade around here, you know, somewhere. And she kind of laughed and we put it in the GPS and it said it was one minute away. So I was like, let's go. And my family, you know, they all enjoy, you know, arcades and pinball machines. Everybody went. And we went to this location called Flipper's Arcade. I didn't really have any information on it. I just kind of Googled it before. But they had 80 pinball machines. They had a lot of like redemption games and the Raw Thrills games. They had them all. And it was also a gas station and a laser tag place. It was a mishmash of things. But I went in and I paid $5 to play for an hour just to kill time. and I was in love as soon as I walked through the door. They had Big Bang Bar. They had Medieval Madness. They had Cactus Canyon, Twilight Zone, The Addams Family. They had Alice Cooper's Nightmare Castle, which I fell in love with. I hadn't played it before. They had Tales of the Arabian Nights, all kinds of older EMs. And I played and played and played until my hour was up. And it actually worked out. We ended up getting there at the same time once we were done playing and we got the girls, my niece and my daughter, they were in love with these raw thrill games. Once we got them out of there, they actually didn't want to leave and I was ready to go. We went to the beach house, but I actually ended up going back there. At the end of the week, there was a water park close by that my kids wanted to go to, so I dropped them off at the water park and I went and played for three hours. Wow. I just had a great time. I keep going on about the different games they had. Oh, they had Lord of the Rings, which I rarely see on location, and I played it for quite a while. It's just a lot of fun. In the games, they had a Banzai Run. It was not in very good condition. Every game but Banzai Run was in good condition. But I've seen Banzai Run on location three times, and in all three places, it did not work well. So it must be a hard machine to keep operating. I still haven't played that game. I tried to play it when I was in Vegas, but I couldn't find it, so I don't think they had it on the floor at the time. But anyway, I think that is crazy. what are the odds that the arcade would be just a minute away from where you're at? My family thinks I like staged an accident or something, you know, I'm like, I hope that the people in the accident were okay. And I hope it was just a fender bender. But it really worked out well for me. And it was just dumb luck. And I liked it so much. I went back. And yeah, I was sending you pictures. Yes, you did. I really appreciated that. How many people went on your family vacation? So it was small this year, we usually have 25 or 30. And I think this year there was only about 14 okay that's still a really nice number did everybody go into the arcade men everybody went into the arcade yep oh tim that had to like make your heart leap a little bit to have everybody at least try try to get in there even if it's something a little outside of their comfort zone just to go and have a good time i love that yep i think about at least 10 of my family members did something whether it was the raw thrill games whether it was those redemption, you know, ticket dispensing kind of games. I think about eight of us went in and played pinball for about an hour. Just a good time. Oh, I'm so happy that you're able to experience that together as a family. But your family really is a pinball family. Yeah, yeah. My family is a pinball family, but my extended family, my brother really enjoys pinball and they come to my house and play, but it was nice to see everybody playing. That was kind of neat. I do want to talk about something once we get away from our personal pinball news on just how some of the games were set up, but we can get to that later. And then what else happened was there was this guy at the beach who had a beach house with pinball machines. And a couple of years ago, he had put a post out on Pinside. It said, hey, if you want to rent a beach house with pinball machines, here's my beach house. And he sent a link. It was a professional realty company. And I inquired about renting his beach house last year, but COVID happened. We didn't go to the beach and so be it. So this year I pinged him again and he had stated that he actually retired and he moved into that house and he invited me over to play pinball. And that was like three or four months before we went on the trip and I didn't think anything of it. But as it got closer to the beach, I started to think about it and my family thinks I'm nuts, but this is the pinball community, kind of how it works. so I reached out to him you know ask a couple questions about you know playing on on location kind of hoped that he would invite me over again and he invited me over again and I went over and you know a couple of my family members are like this is really bizarre you're going to a guy's house who you had never met before to play pinball and I'm like yep that's what I'm doing and you know some of them thought he was an expert or some of them thought I was just weird and But it was kind of funny and we joked about it. But he's been on Pennside for 15 years. You know, I knew people that knew him. So I didn't, you know, that's just the community. It's a great community. So I went over to his house and we hung out for about three hours and I really enjoyed it. He was a super nice guy. Great guy. He had an Elvira, a Deadpool, a Ghostbusters. Josh went with me and played Ghostbusters the entire time. He had Attack from Mars, Led Zeppelin Premium, and an Aerosmith Pro. We just talked, got to know each other, told some stories. I was the third person there within like a week or two in the pinball community. So just a great dude. Really, really enjoyed it. That's incredible. Yeah. I think it's great that your son went along and played a bunch of Ghostbusters. I love that game. And this guy's collection sounds spot on and a fun time. And again, I think that's part of the reason why I like pinball so much is because the community that's there and people are just so open and kind and warm and caring, at least towards me so far. So good. Yeah. Now, if somebody invited me over that just signed up for Pinside, right, that's a different story. This guy had been on Pinside for a very long time. He actually probably worried about me more than I worried about him. But I actually sent him our podcast so he would feel comfortable about it. I said, hey, I do this podcast. I sent him a couple of links, and he listened, you know, and he said he enjoyed it. Yep, yeah, so that kind of, you know, so he would feel comfortable. But, yeah, great community and had a fantastic time. And then the third thing that happened to me in just the last two weeks, I received my Mandalorian Premium. Ooh.
    26:15
    Yeah, I rolled the dice on this one. Congratulations. Yep, thank you. I hadn't played it, but like I told you on a previous episode, my family's head almost exploded when they heard it was Mandalorian. Now, I did play it at Flipper's Arcade in North Carolina, the pro, and once I played it, I felt way better because I really enjoyed it at Flipper's. But I received it. We set it up. No issues. Some of the issues that people had complained about on Pinside where they had minor issues, mine has not had any of those issues. I haven't played a lot. The kids have been playing and Amy has been playing and all the neighbors have come over and started to play it. So I let them play. You know, there'll be a time where I'll get plenty of time to put on it in the basement by myself. So I probably only have about 15 games on it, but it's really fun. It's it seems I don't want to say clunky, but I'm not used to sterns having so much on the play field, if that makes sense. OK, sure. That does make sense. It looks like a very crowded play field, especially with Baby Yoda in there. Yeah, it's crowded. It doesn't do anything, right? The Baby Yoda doesn't do anything. No, but he's kind of elevated, and the ball goes underneath him. So he's just like, you know, Guns N' Roses has an Axl Rose statue. It's not that large, but Guns N' Roses has all these little knickknacks and, you know, like little things on it. So Baby Yoda is elevated. Kind of the ball goes around the orbit behind him. I don't mind. The magnet's actually really cool. It's more cool than I expected. You know how Iron Man kind of throws that ball like crazy? That's what Yoda does. He kind of throws the ball. Or Grogu. My kids correct me. It's not Yoda. They're like, Dad, it's Grogu. I'm sorry. I've not watched The Mandalorian yet, so I apologize. I still call him Yoda. The ramps are hard, but in 15 games, I've kind of adjusted. That flip-up ramp in the middle in the premium, I don't know if it's worth it. It's kind of fun. But the upper play field, this is just my opinion, is much better than the pro. I did not. After I played the pro, I'm like, this is kind of a cool concept. You would like the upper play field on the pro probably better because you have to nudge. I mean, you have to nudge the ball on purpose to really get a good shot in the pro. But the premium, it's really quick. It's like you're up there like five to ten seconds, which I'm guessing a lot of the tournament players are going to like because the complaint on upper play fields like BKSOR is you're up there forever. You're not going to be up there forever on this one. It's challenging, but it's neat. And everybody, I thought, oh my, it's so fast. You know, all the novice players or the newbies aren't going to like it. They all love it. It's just kind of like a challenge. It's super fast. It's like a five second mod up there. I really like it. I didn't think I would like it, but I really like it. Well, thank you for the review. Surprisingly, I still have not played it. I've been waiting for a local place here to get it on location, but I'm starting to get a little impatient because I know the pros are around. So I might have to bench out a little bit further. So I have nothing to compare that to, but I was really interested to hear your response on that. The premium has the two flippers, right? In the upper play field? It has the two flippers and the pro has the left flipper only. I think it's the right. Maybe it's the right. I think it's the right. Yeah, it's the right. And you have to nudge it to get it over there, which is kind of a challenge in itself. It's actually like two different features. You know, it's just like they're not the same. It's like having two different features, which is kind of cool because operator friend Mike is getting delivery of his pro. It's actually been sitting in a warehouse, you know, waiting. And so I'll get to play both. And I'm excited about that. Yeah, I would like to hear your comparison between the two of them. I hopefully I'll get an opportunity to play it soon and then we'll we'll put our great minds together and think about that. I kind of you want to talk about the other games that spooky introduced are you interested in either or of those so just on an off conversation here no no I probably had 10 conversations with 10 different tribe members on whether or not I should get Halloween and I went back and forth on Halloween and I went back and forth on Ultraman as well and I ultimately decided not to get it but I think the game looks great I can't tell if it has a little bit of a homebrew feel to it or not you know there wasn't a lot of gameplay video and I'm not complaining about that there just wasn't a lot of gameplay video to to see kind of how it flows I listened to Zach Manny and the super awesome pinball show. They both did interviews of the Spooky team. Great team. I wanted to buy it again after I listened to those guys talk about their company. Just a great bunch of folks. But I, for like 48 hours, talked to everybody. And the reason I didn't get it, and this is not a knock on Spooky, but I just didn't want to wait. I'm going to be totally Yep. I have no idea where my life is going to be in a year. And I didn't want a year to go by and have to, you know, I got two kids in college and you never know what's going to happen. Life, you know, sometimes can deal you lemons and you have to deal with it. And I just didn't, you know, want to commit myself to a game. Now I know I could sell it and I, you know, I can, I can transfer it, but that that's ultimately the reason I didn't go with it. I don't like scary movies rachel i'm afraid of my own shadow i didn't know that i'm not a scary movie fan either no no we can hang out in that same boat together yeah amy watches scary movies with my kids and their friends and i leave after like 10 minutes i'm always like ah this sucks but it's i just don't want to be like you know scared my friends talked me into going to see the newer halloween last year And I was jumping at the previews of other movies, and they were laughing. So the theme didn't resonate with me, but Amy really wanted Halloween. And I'm like, I just got a new pinball machine, and I don't – it's going to be a year. So I just decided not to go with it. And I like the Ultraman theme. I don't know much about Ultraman. I actually remembered it, but I just like that quirky, you know, Godzilla and old kind of Japanese, you know, TV show from the 70s and 80s kind of look. I just thought it was neat, but I decided not to go in on that one as well. And they basically just reskin the same game, correct? Yeah. I think that is brilliant. Yeah. For Spooky to do it that way, because really all you're doing is just adding your art and your audio to it, right? Because you're really building the most, well, some of the mechanisms, yes, look different. But at the same time, it's still the same game. Again, a brilliant idea. On their part, you can release two different really interesting content or different games at the same time then, and you can be working on the same game on the line, right? Kind of. Yeah, I thought it was brilliant as well when they announced it. I'm like, whoa, great idea. Because you can have your theme for everyone, which was Halloween, and then you can release your little niche theme. And it sounded like Charlie had wanted to release a Godzilla type of theme for many years, and we won't get into that. But it sounds like this allowed him to do that, yet, you know, have a game for the masses, so to speak, in Halloween. Sure. You know, I think about Iron Maiden being actually an Archer prototype, and my spouse really loves Archer, and I think that would have been so cool to have both those games. Does that make sense what I'm trying to say there? No, that would have been, yeah, yeah, no, totally makes sense, and I agree. Yeah. Well, that's cool that you got Mandalorian. I'm very, very happy for you. And I think it's okay to take a pause on Halloween or Ultraman 2 because of the timeframe on that. I also think that there will be people that will fall off the list. So in 10 months from now, there may be room on the list. You'll be able to get on there. So I have thought about that a little bit as well. yeah yep it always happens you know games are you might have to pay a little bit more you know hopefully things calm down a little bit but yep that's why i passed i don't think the pinball price market is ever going to calm down i think that it just really i think that even new games man wow right and there nothing wrong with that because there is the demand is there for them And I mean they sold out all of their games So go for it Absolutely. But it's hard because even the used market, I'm looking at getting rid of a game, and I mentioned it to a friend. And he's like, oh, please let me take a look at that game before we even put it on the marketplace. And I'm like, well, I'll come to a good deal with you because you're my buddy, you know. Yeah. Because some games are really hot. Yeah. All pinball is really hot, I guess, right now. Yeah, it really is. And I have a Deadpool that numerous people have tried to obtain. And I have a local guy, you know, who I met. And this is something I was telling you off the air is everybody I have sold a game to, except for one gentleman, I've stayed friends with. The one gentleman came from far away and so forth. So we just didn't, you know, maintain a friendship. But everybody that's bought a game for me, I've texted back and forth. and I made sure that we had stayed in contact because I like to have relationships and friends in the pinball industry. But there's a local guy, I think he has 50 machines, and we've stayed in contact, and he really wants to buy my Deadpool. And same thing, I've told him, you get first dibs and I'll give you a good deal. And I like to give my friends, I don't like to make money off my friends. I just don't. But the problem you run into is if you don't make money off of your friends, you know you kind of in the next game you want to buy has gone up 25 you're gonna pay more but i still i still don't make money off my friends there's you know i've become friends with this guy said i'll give it to you at cost and you know i do this yeah i do the same thing for operator friend mike but man as soon as you say that you have a used machine everybody wants it yeah it's crazy that's something i've noticed and again i pinball is just crazy right now with the prices and I don't think that's going to go anywhere anytime soon. So we better all just buckle in and save our nickels and pennies. Pick up the penny that you see in the parking lot and put it in your pinball fund. I mean, for some of us, we might have to be doing that, right? For us true poor men.
    36:39
    It's almost like it's better to buy new in box if you can obtain them now. You know, the prices are almost equal, to be honest. Right, right. I thought about that, too. I did make a purchase. I guess I can share that, that I did purchase Iron Maiden. Yeah, you did. I did. I purchased Iron Maiden, and that should be coming hopefully mid-August. Fingers crossed. I'm really excited about that. My first new in-box game. Awesome. Congratulations. Thank you. I think it's really funny because, as some listeners might recall, I was really hot after Star Trek LE or Premium. You were, yeah. And, of course, right after I cut my check, I guess it came on the market for only maybe 1,200 more, which is really funny. Star Trek. Yeah, the Star Trek, but that's okay. But now I'm looking for a Batman 66. So I don't know. So if there's anybody within eight hours of driving distance of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, you want to meet me halfway and sell me your Batman 66? Let's talk turkey. My husband really likes that game, and I would like to gift that to him. Don't tell him. Don't anybody tell him that or spoil that secret, but I'd like to do that. I do take note, as you said before, your wife, also the games that she's really into, you want to get that for her, right? I mean, the Halloween, I mean, it probably was a little bit of a bummer, but she was a little bummed out. But they got Mandalorian, and if she's playing a lot of it, it's worth it, especially when you can get your partner involved in something that you're really passionate about, no matter what the passion is. So I'm looking for a Batman 66, folks. That's a great game. I have a Dark Knight, similar layout. You know, Batman 66 has, you know, different ramps. That's the only reason I haven't tried to obtain that one, because I have a similar game and I have this really weird complex. If I have games with similar layouts, I always get rid of one, you know, and keep one because it's a small collection, you know, six or seven games. So I like to have different layouts. But that's awesome. You know that. And I'm going to rewind back to Star Trek. I think you'll enjoy Iron Maiden a little more long term. I've had both games. I had operator friend Mike dropped off an Iron Maiden for three months, and I had purchased a Star Trek Pro. It's a little different. You know, the LE is awesome. It's one of the most beautiful games Stern has made. But just knowing you and getting to know you over the last, you know, year, I think that Iron Maiden's right down your alley. I think so too, because it has a deeper rule set. I really enjoy the different modes on that game. I like the shots. I love the flow on it. I like being able to backhand a couple things. You know, that game just, yeah, it's such a fun game. So I'm really, and I ordered pro. Looking forward to making that into a promium. Okay, you and Jonathan Hall. Listen, I'm going to pause the game right here and say that we need to have an intervention with Jonathan Hall. Yeah, we might have. He keeps on having an issue with all of his propium parts. Yeah. But I really do want to soup up the game because I think that'll be fun. So I've started to look at stuff. I'm like, I can't order anything until the game is here. That's what I've agreed. I've told myself that. But yeah, it's super exciting. My recommendation is I love the voodoo glass. I know it's expensive, but it just makes the gameplay so much easier to see. And I always like a shaker motor. and I don't get really into mods. Yep, those are the two mods that I always go after. I have put pin stadium lights on my machines, depending on if they need them. I don't recall Iron Maiden being too dark, but that was Mike's game, so I didn't pay too much attention. But no, awesome, congratulations. Unboxing is a lot of fun. Yeah, and hopefully I'll have a tribe member and a friend that will come help me unbox that, because it'll be my first time doing that. My bigger concern is, is hopefully it will fit through the door to my home.
    40:33
    Yeah, it should fit through. You might have to take it out of the box outside. Right, and assemble it or take it in pieces and bring it in or whatever. But yeah, I'm very excited about that day too. Okay. And I'm sure that I'll post pictures of that too and I can share that with the fan page as well. Do you have any steps? I do. There are... The back door has... I think it's four steps up and in and then it would be right in my arcade. My arcade's right when you open the back door. that's not too bad i love them when people come over to my place for the first time and they come in the back door and they're like wow because i have my games all set up there i'm like oh yeah welcome to my arcade you know i'm so used to it but there are days too where it just blows me away i'm like oh yeah that's right i do pinball things so i'm gonna bring up something yes this involves me and you and you and i have been in a little bit of skateboarder glenn he's been a little bit of the referee we've been texting back and forth on a little bit of a subject with how pinball machines are set up and i don't think we disagree but we both have our own preference so i went to flippers arcade and this is not a knock on flippers arcade because only like a handful one row of their machines were set up really difficult and i don't understand why because the rest were set up you know, really well. But I went to play their Stranger Things. I saw that the GC was only 400 million. And I'm like, I get 400 million on every single game. And I went over to play it. And Noah was playing. And he's like, Dad, this game's too hard. Stay away. And he walked away. And I'm like, ah, you stink, Noah. What's your dad? And I tell you what, five seconds right down the drain, no ball save right down the drain. And I'm like, what? So I plunged again and it came down really fast. And I looked and I don't know if somebody was like messing with them, but the bubble was all the way to the end. It had to have been like an eight point five pitch. And, you know, it was like a ski slope. And their Avengers was like that as well. I couldn't hit that Captain Marvel ramp at all. I didn't hit it once successfully. And I've gone to Helicon and a couple of other locations and I've hit that ramp. But man, you know, Stranger Things was kind of, you know, just super brutal. And I never got over like 150 million and it was tough. And over the last probably two months, every time I come across a really tough pinball machine on location, I always text you and Glenn to complain. Ah, another brutal machine because I kind of have the theory that unless you are at a pinball destination where you're having tournaments and so forth, that you should set up the machines kind of easy because my – I think you want to get people into pinball. Now, I set mine up way too easy in my house because I have a lot of people coming over to play. But it drives me nuts when I walk up to a bar with only two games, and one, the machine is broken, or two, it's set up to take your quarters. Okay, there's a couple of things to unpack here. One, the arcade that you're at, those 10 games, since they're all in a row, I wonder if they use those for their league or tournament nights or something. Yeah, they have to because there were 80 games and only, I'd say, 5 to 10 were set up brutal. The rest were really set up in a playable condition. In a family-friendly manner. Two, the reason why you're getting over 400 million points in your Stranger Things at home is you set it right there, Tim, is because you're setting up your games a lot easier, right? That's what you said. I'm not saying that you suck at pinball or anything, but I'm saying it really depends on how the game is set up. yeah determines how you play and what kind of player you are i agree that games such as like at a bar location or a restaurant or a bowling alley or something like that or an open arcade i think that they should be a little bit more family friendly because you want the person to play a longer game to really get into it to enjoy it right with that said now as a as and here my games at home i set them up hard and the reason i do that is because i think about that as quote-unquote training right yep yep you're practicing yep i'm practicing right and i you know i love absolutely love district 82 right and to pier wisconsin great fantastic place over i think he's got 106 games there now and i will tell you nearly all of those games are set up as hard as possible with and it's it's a good thing with difficulty the level uh the setting level at difficulty right you've got games that the back legs are up on pavers you have games where the outposts have no rubbers you have games where man police force that game you plunge it comes out of the pops and drains even with the center post it's their games they're set really difficult but the point of that place is to make you a better player and and every single time that i go up and i play a game and i do terribly then i'm like oh yeah he must have moved this or this is a little bit different from the last time but again i think that's that internal challenge of trying to manage it of trying to adapt to that i think that's part of for me what i like about it but i i agree again we both go back and forth with that i'd prefer a couple of games that are set to a hard setting difficulty level but i also don't want to take the joy out of playing a game i like being able to go to plymouth tap for example and go play stranger things he's got it set on, I'd say, a pretty medium level there. And I still enjoy that. I don't know where I'm going with this. But I think that it's the difference between having fun or wanting to practice. So it depends on what type of player that you are. Yeah. And I imagine District 82 is very similar to Papa, you know, when Papa still had machines in Pittsburgh. Those were set up really brutal because they're having tournaments there. You know, they had their fight club every Friday night. It It's a tournament location and they have an established crowd that probably goes there to play pinball, to practice, and to have leagues and tournaments. And you don't want to take 100 machines up and down every week, right? You can't do that. It's just not feasible. I was just talking more like sometimes I've gone into these family fun centers and I'm like, ah! It's just set up to be a drain monster. Right, to take your $1 for a player, $2 for three plays, and you waste it within three minutes because it's set so hard. No, nobody wants that. You don't want to waste your money. You want to have a good time. That's what you're there for, especially if you're specifically seeking out that game to go play, right? Yep, and every time a game that operator friend Mike brings over and every time it leaves my house, the poster on the lowest setting, I adjust the rules to be not easy. Set it on five ball and take the glass off too, right? No, no, no, no. He does have a location with five balls, but three balls. But I set it up a little easier. I bring the pitch down. You know, I don't want somebody because, you know, he's in the business of operations. And so I don't want somebody to play like, you know, for 45 minutes. But I do make it in the middle. So, you know, somebody can enjoy the game and want to come back to the game. You're making it fun for your family. You're making it attainable to get a wizard mode or to be able to get up a ramp. You're making it family friendly. friendly and I think your family probably really appreciates that because you're making it enjoyable yeah and we'll say we'll make it drew friendly you mean timley true that's the real truth yeah so no I see what you're saying and I I hear you but I also from where I come from and the reason you know the reason I play pinball number one is to have fun right yeah but what I like about pinball i do like the competitive side so for me i like that challenge i like having to force myself to adapt to that i bet glenn is the same way too he's like oh you know if it dead flips here on this game because it's set up so hard it's not going to dead flip all the way over it's going to hit the tip and you know drain and that's always fun i think fun to learn like those little tidbits and put little post-it notes on each game i like i like that yeah yeah and and like you said it It might be that my games are set up so easy that after years of location play, I'm just not used to it. So they might not be as brutal as I think. I had a gentleman, Dan, come over who I got to know in the last few months. He's a really good player, and he stopped by and played my Stranger Things. He played one game and had the top high score. He didn't take my GC, but he blew the game up on one play. so i want to mention this just popped into my head that my host joe and susan from my ladies with wisconsin tournament they turned it off so that nobody could gc or initial on their games and i thought that was such a brilliant idea because do you really want somebody that you know that you're never going to see again be you know initially on your own home games yeah i didn't even know that was a possibility but i thought that was really funny and kind of smart i honestly wanted him to take my GC so I had something to try to beat. Okay to give you a little fuel for your fire. Yep yep I was kind of like oh beat it beat it beat it and I'll have something to beat but I've been trying to beat his number one score because you know I got the GC six months ago and I haven't played it all that much so. All right uh what are you playing other than Mandalorian? Did you put a game on anything else recently at home? At home I've been playing a lot of Deadpool to figure out if I actually want to move it. Okay. And depending on the day, I change my mind. I always play Turtles. Everyone dislikes Turtles, but I love Turtles. I don't know why. Can't put my finger on it, but I like Turtles. But the other game that I probably play the most is Pirates of the Caribbean Stern. Oh. Yeah, I can get to Wizard Mode, but I haven't beaten Wizard Mode because it's an easy game. Sure. And I don't know why. It just, I enjoy it. The DMD games, I have The Dark Knight and I have Pirates of the Caribbean and I might buy a Transformers. Something about those DMD games I just like right now. I'm just enjoying it. Do you want to let our listeners know how you got into pinball? So I, from the time I was eight until the time I was probably around 16 or 17, I played pinball every single day after school. Maybe not every day, but I played a lot of pinball. and I used a lot of my mom's hard-earned quarters to play pinball and I got pretty good at it.
    51:10
    I'm kind of jumping the gun here and giving you the old story and the new story. I broke protocol, but I loved it. I was a pinball addict. I remember playing pinball. I think the first game I ever played was, what was the Miami Vice knockoff game? I feel like that was the first. No idea. Yeah, it was these two dudes on the screen that looked like Crockett and Tubbs, but I forget the name of the game. And then they had an F-14, just a local pizza shop. They would rotate in one or two games in a convenience store. High speed. I remember my shining moment as a kid was I was playing Bonsai Run, and I got the number one high score. And there were like 10 kids gathered around me cheering me on and I beat the game and I don even remember how you beat the game but it was like my crowning achievement in pinball as a child and I remember another time I was about to beat high speed and this kid that was like 10 years older than me had the GC I don think it was a GC I think it was just like high score number one came in and turned the game off so I didn't get it oh what a jerk yeah he was a jerk but he was like big dude with muscles and way older than me so I'm just like, I think I might have said something smart to him, but I kind of walked away, and eventually I got him. But that's kind of how I got into pinball. I just played a lot, and I was a volunteer firefighter from the age of 14. We had a day-to-east Jurassic Park there. That's the only game we ever had at the firehouse, but we played it for like four years. So I just love pinball. In high school, we used to go to this place called Sideshow Pizza. It's like a Chuck E. Cheese, and they had about 20 games. I can remember playing Cyclone we played Cyclone all the time I'm scared to play it now because I don't want it to suck now with the modern games I don't want to lose interest in it and say this game isn't as fun as I remember it but we used to be driving down the street and we would always say quotes from the game we'd be like pay your money take your chances we have a winner yeah we have a winner And we did that as high schoolers. You know, we could drive then. But there was like four or five of us that loved pinball. And then I completely stopped playing pinball when I went to college. I think I played a few games when I met Amy. We met when we were 19 and maybe 20 years went by. I don't know, maybe 22, 23 years went by. And a couple of years ago, we rented a beach house that had a Star Wars Data East in it. and I never saw the beach.
    53:47
    I actually think I went to, I jogged on the beach in the morning and I think I went to the beach one time for a half hour and I got like, I got like the shakes and had to go back and play pinball. And the whole family loved it. We actually had a 20 player pinball tournament the last night we were there. And I lost to my sister-in-law who had never played pinball her entire life in round one because I had three house balls. Like I had two house balls. And on the third one, it was going right down the drain and I tilted. So they still make fun of me about that. But we had a few beverages every single night. My brother and my two nephews and my two sons played nonstop. It was fantastic. And I remember, so I was in a fire company. I had moved after college and everywhere I moved, I joined the fire company. And I became really good friends with this guy, Terry. Really great friends. But when I moved away to where I live now, we lost touch. We would see each other like twice a year. I would go up to their fire company activities, but we wouldn't talk in between. But my friend Frank, who I did stay in touch with, I said, hey, check this out. I'm playing pinball. And he's like, hey, remember that Terry was an operator for 35 years and I'm like oh that's right so I called Terry and I said Terry I texted Terry then he said call me and I said I'm in love with pinball so he said we talk I was at the beach we talk for an hour about pinball and he's like you need to buy a game and I'm gonna get you a game and a week after I came back from the beach Terry found me an avatar and I played the avatar non-stop and then I ended up, I sold half of my train collection to buy the Avatar and then I sold more of my train collection because I'm into model trains as well to buy, I kept the ones I really liked to buy Metallica.
    55:39
    So I had an Avatar and Metallica. But the moral of that story is Terry and I are really close now. I talked to him yesterday he just restored an Addams Family and he invited me up to play it and his games are pristine. We text every single day um you know i talked to him and his you know wife and friends and i've reconnected with that group and i was up there about two months ago we all got together and went to um to a local micro brew and then we came back and played pinball at his place he has like 10 games for hours so i really love the fact that terry and i reconnected so that's how i got back into pinball and from there just spiraled out of control i i restored i said this on the podcast in in the past my son and i decided as a winter project and a summer project over covid that we would restore a batman forever we had about 200 hours into it we did a father and son project and we restored it got it all working i would not call it a fantastic job but it was working 100 we sold it and we did a black knight and we sold it and i kept in touch with both of the guys that you know we sold those games to and it just kind of spiraled out of control as to where it is now and i kind of told you the story I'm now into like relationships now. If you talk to me. You're into relationships now. If you talk to me about pinball, Rachel, you and I talk all the time. You talk to me once, you're done. I'm going to keep. You're so funny. Yeah, I'm going to keep texting you. I'm going to keep messaging you. Right before we got on, I was messaging Ryan Kuyper. I'm like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I was messaging Billy YJ. Just about nonsense. So. Yeah, I love that you've moved on from pinball to your pinball relationships. My bigger question is if Mistress Anne knows. Mistress Anne knows about my relationships? Yes, your relationship, your pinball relationships. Yes. You moved from pinball to pinball relationships is now the new obsession. Yep. Mr. San knows we know everything about each other. That's good. We are deeply in love. I'm in love with Amy too, but Mr. San and I are deeply in love.
    57:38
    It's the same person for the listeners. It's the same person. Don't worry, okay? Don't like blow up Tim Lee or me or anybody else. The story there is Ian could not get Amy's name right. and she he was calling her ann i think it i think it was ian he kept calling her ann on the show and finally i did a segment for them when i said you introduced me to mistress ann you changed my life and here's the thing amy bought into mistress ann i love her twitch handle is mistress ann like 13 or something when when she watches the show so yeah she knows about all my relationships and you know she's friended a couple of those guys and gals on facebook so you You'll have to add her to your friend list, Rachel. You might have already done that, yeah. I don't think so, not yet, but I look forward to meeting her at Expo because anybody that's going to put up with you and your bullshit, Tim.
    58:29
    Twice. She gets the full experience as well. You know how I'm always picking on Drew and everyone else? And I badger Glenn and everyone else, but she gets that every day of her life. God bless her. She has to put up with me. I know that I can be a pain, and I know I can be overbearing. so she puts up with me. How long have you been married? Oh dear, 24 years this year. Oh wow, that's awesome. I love all of that. And you have how many children? Three. Three. And they all enjoy pinball. Yeah. Now my daughter only enjoys location play. She does not play the games in our basement, but I've told this story before. I went to Coin Taker one time to play Guns and Roses to see if I liked it. And I wanted to meet Christian Line and Franchi and that crew. They had a tailgate. And I got up at 6 a.m. and my daughter got up at 6.10 and said, can I go with you? I'm like, yes, absolutely. So she goes with me anytime I go on location, but she doesn't play at home. She said the location experience is more for her. And my boys both play. Noah probably plays more than Josh, but they both play. And Amy plays a lot. Amy and I, we get on in the basement we play a lot together it's been kind of it's been kind of a bonding experience yeah i agree with my husband too it is playing pinball after supper some evenings is just so much fun just to have like just have like a little mini tournament uh sometimes it's like a best three out of five in one game where we play a little two two games in a row it's always really entertaining it's such a really fun way to bond with your friends and family pinball definitely yeah tabletop games any you know any type of gaming actually playing cards i think is all um fantastic time to have together Yeah, and Amy, I will tell the listener, she flips me off a lot. Yeah, she has the same reaction as you. She would just flip me off and be like, ah, I walk away, and she kind of smiles. My kind of gal. Yep, I kind of love it. But, yeah, I mean, relationships with my family, relationships with friends. I would have never met operator friend Mike if it weren't for pinball. You know, there's about five local folks that, you know, I wouldn't have known if it weren't for pinball. Terry, him and I reconnected, and it's just cool. I'm into pinball relationships. That's just cool, man. That's just cool. Would you like to talk to me a little bit about the hardest question? Do you know what I'm implying here? Do you want me to ask that? Yeah, you can ask that. Are you certain that you're ready, Tim? I'm not ready, but I'll go for it. Okay. How did you become a tribe member? So how did I become a tribe member? So I started listening to the podcast quite often. And just like everybody else had said, I kind of liked the guys because they were a little quirky. They weren't rehashing the same content all the time. And honestly, they were drunken messes. The first interaction I really ever had with them was a Pinside post on their podcast. I said, your show is a complete train wreck. I really enjoy it. And Ian came back and said, thank you, dot, dot, dot, I think. Right. That's a great, great response. Great comment and an even better response. Yep. And so, as you know, I jog and I used to run a lot, but now I just jog and I moved inside on the treadmill in the winters because it's just, I'm getting older. I don't have the desire to run fast. I'm running really slow, but I started listening to pinball podcasts. So I started to go back in time and I started to listen to the podcast and you know I was listening to them all and I remember one time this is kind of a side conversation but I was listening to the podcast I had a blasting on my speaker and Amy was home and they happened to be doing the love letter segment and Amy came down to hang up clothes she had washed her clothes and she said dear lord what are you listening to and I'm like the poor man's pinball podcast she's like what is this and she just rolled her eyes and left and you know i just i kind of laughed and she kind of laughed and you know love letters was kind of disturbing and then i always like to joke that love letters was disturbing pinbot was disturbing and then pinbot did a love letter segment which was completely disturbing and you know i'm i'm kind of uh you know some of the stuff they say makes me uncomfortable so that's kind of part of the fun but after i listened to all those episodes i just started to message them both guys you know drew and i connected and then ian and i it took a little longer but ian and i connected and started to talk because you know drew's all in on the first conversation but i started to do like responses to their segments and just like hey you know they would you know little recorded responses and so forth i shared a couple of their episodes on facebook i wasn't trying to get into the tribe or you know i was listening to the earlier episodes before the tribe came to light, but I was just trying to interact with them because I really liked the guys. But I ended up doing, I think it was, I forget what episode it was, but I think this is what kind of got me into the tribe, I think, if I can remember correctly. I did a segment with my boys because I was doing my own podcast called Life Lessons with Tim Lee. And that was an episode where me and my kids could just talk about pinball. And they did it just for their dad. You know, they enjoyed it, But there wasn't a lot of episodes, but we did a segment for Drew and Ian on DreamThemes. And, you know, we brought up Mistress Anne. And in the conversation with my kids, I kind of mentioned, I forget exactly how it went, but I kind of mentioned that when the kids are away, that me and Mistress Anne play naked pinball.
    64:22
    Well, you did make a comment earlier in the show. about you and your wife playing downstairs. I'm like, hmm, playing what? I had a little thought about that, but okay, go on. And I totally caught my boys off guard. They were like, Dad, stop, stop, stop. And, you know, this was a dream-themed segment, and it actually made a couple of people mad, but that's a side conversation. I had to have a response podcast saying, I love my wife, and I don't care what people think. But it caught everybody off guard because I try to be Mr. Nice Guy and, you know, I love everyone, but it threw my kids off, and I think the guys just liked it. I ended up in the tribe. I posted a few more things, but that's kind of what got me into the tribe, just interacting with them behind the scenes. And you know me. Once you're in, I start messaging a lot. I kind of always envisioned Ian rolling his eyes and Drew smiling, you know, like, this guy, would he just quit messaging us? Yeah, but I think that's part of your charm, Tim, is that you are a kind person, you are outgoing, and you truly care. You really want to know how people are, what they're up to. If there's something that you can smooth over for them or show them kindness, you do that. And I'm not trying to kiss your ass, because you still suck at pinball. Kiss away. All right. But I do really, you know, I appreciate what you bring, that level that you bring into the fold. I wish that we could each come up with our own title. Like, I want to give you like your own nickname. You know, like, like the caretaker or something, you know, because that's really, that's what you really are, Tim. You provide a lot of kindness and I think comfort to a whole lot of us that are in the tribe. You're an awesome dude. Well, thank you. Everybody calls me Tort, by the way. That's been my nickname since I was five because when I was young – Nope, we're not calling you Tort. Sorry. Yeah, it was short for Tortoise the Turtle. So a lot of people call me Tort, and most people just call me Tim Lee. They run Tim and Lee right together. Yes, yes. But that's kind of my tribe story. I'm very appreciative of all the nice call-outs they've given us on the live show. So Ian and Drew, especially Ian, said some really nice things about us. We badgered back and forth a little bit. And I said, I know you're a softie. We all know it. You play the tough guy on TV. But no, I appreciate them both. That's my story. Nothing mind-blowing. I think it was that segment that got me in. I sent a check for $100, and I was in. That's the fifth pillar. I don't know. Well, that's a wonderful story. I'm glad to hear that. And I do think the whole, the reason why he got into the tribe, I believe that's probably it too, but it just makes me giggle so much because it's really outside of like your normal operating, you know, person or persona. So it's just really cute. Yeah. That is everything I have today, Tim. What about you? That's all I have. I'm just looking forward to getting together with the tribe at Expo. I know we say that all the time and all my other pinball friends. There's the Loser Kids are going to be there. Right. I can't wait to meet Zach Many. I torture that guy quite often with messages, asking questions. And I think Christian Line and the crew is going to be there. I think that Joel is going to be there. Just looking forward to it. Me too. I'm really looking forward to putting names and faces and, you know, putting that whole package together of meeting people, especially after the last year and a half with COVID and everything. I think it would be so nice to have a warm gathering of people. Yep. Yay! Thank you, Tim, as always, not only for being my co-host today, but also for being my guest, our guest. You're welcome. It was great. I have heard a little bit of that, some of your stories a little bit before, but I really hope that our audience got to know you a little bit better as a co-host, where you're coming from, what your interests are, and what a cool dude you are. Yep, thank you. Yeah. Drew sucks at pinball. Oh, whatever. Happy flipping, folks. Yep, happy flipping. Bye.
    68:32
    You've got a friend in me When the road looks rough ahead And you're miles and miles from your nice warm bed You just remember what your old pal said Boy, you got a friend in me Yeah, you got a friend in me