What's up, everybody? I am so fired up on this Monday for this Don's Pinball Podcast, episode number 60 coming to you in the beginning of the week. I'm fired up. I couldn't be happier. I'm in such a good mood right now. I got a special delivery surprise to my front door. It is amazing. I can't wait to describe it to everybody. I put photos up on the Facebook page, but I'll be getting to it. We also got some product reviews from Penn Stadium. I'm going to kind of give my long-term review, and I also got something hot from LitFrames.com. Tune the heck in. Turn your radio dial up, everybody. It's Don's Pinball Podcast coming to you from, what is this, the silver anniversary? What's 60? 60's got to be solid silver, if nothing else. If 50's gold, we're here in 60. What's up, everybody? Gather around. Bring in the warm embrace. We are doing nothing but positive vibes and good moods today. I got a special delivery from my new best friends online from Duke Pinball. From the Facebook page, a little box showed up. A box about the size of a rolled up pinball banner. And I got a little message saying, hey, just sending you out something. Just want you to get you, you know, hear what you think and hear your thoughts. And I was like, all right, would you want me to do a live stream and unbox it? They're like, no, no, no. You know, go check it out. Go check it out. So I got home today and tore open this box and I did find a rolled up pinball banner. I unrolled it and you guys, you will not believe it. It is a Pulp Fiction pinball custom banner made for me from Duke Pinball. Thank you so much, you guys. Oh, my God. I unrolled this thing, and there's custom text there from Mia right there in the middle. It's asking me, personally, Don, to give her a foot massage. What? My mind was flip and blown. My wig was peeling back. I had to pull it off of the wall behind me and staple it back on. I couldn't believe this. Somebody sent me a customized banner. And there at the bottom of the banner, between Jules and Vincent, my Don's Pinball Podcast logo was right on there. I can't believe it. What an amazing gift. Thank you so much, everybody. That is going up on my wall. It is up there right now. I've shared pictures to the Facebook page. Go and check it out right now. Go ahead and hit pause and go check out how fresh this thing is. And if you want to get yourself a customized banner, man, they'll deliver them straight to your door from Duke Pinball. I didn't get prices or anything, but tell them that I sent you. I'm going to shout this from the mountains. Thank you so much. What a thoughtful gift. This is like, you know, like of all the pinball themes, okay, we've been talking about for the past year and a half. This is one that I like speaks the most to me. You don't understand how big of an impact Pulp Fiction made when it came out when I was 15 years old. I had to sneak into a theater to go see it. Oh my goodness, Pulp Fiction banner. Go check that out. My boys at Duke Pinball. They also sent me a message saying they're actually going to have a Venom banner out soon, sooner than Stern Pinball. So if you want one, Duke Pinball, Look them up on Facebook. Tell them I sent you and give them a what up. Dude, but those guys are homies for life for making that for me, man. That's awesome. All right, so I wanted to get into another kind of product review here on PinStadiums. Now, they've been out for a while. Everybody knows kind of what their deal is. LED light strips that go inside your machine. Do you need it? Do you not need it? Are they cool? Are they not? Are there any competition for Stern's expression lights? Now, up until now, I would say, you know, they're cool. They're cool. They're a little bit pricier. if you want to get the, what is it, neon, atom, fusion, Orion belt combination. I have extolled the virtues of them, of course, on my Foo Fighters premium that I have. I've shared the videos of it and how it lights up the floor. It's the plastics I put in there and how much I do like that UV. But the one drawback that they've had is whenever I need to lift up the play field, I've got to pull these guys off of their magnetic mounts, kind of tuck them in the back of the cabinet, then lift up the play field, and then I have to adjust the cords and everything. Well, apparently, apparently that's going to be a thing of the past because these guys dropped the direct competitor for the Stern Expression lighting. The Stern Expression lighting that is just like slowly coming out of the factory, if at all. They have converted their light panels, essentially, you know, what you would get from the Neo Fusion Atom, whatever it is, and convert it into like an outfacing double bar system that actually fits and is supposed to click in to the groove that the expression lights go on on the Stern machines. Now, with Rush and with Led Zeppelin, the Pro and Premium, they came with the grooves already cut, already dadoed, already routed out of the cabinet. So you can then fit these aftermarket lights in there if you could get your hands on them. The limited editions of course came with them It like my brush over here I got a Foo Fighters Premium I was able to finagle myself into some Led Zeppelin lights that I put in there So I got the expression lights And on top of that I got these external pin stadiums and they cool I mean I like the light show that they have. But boy, Kerry Hardy just did a whole video on how to put these in there because he's sponsored by them. How do you get sponsored by pin stadium? Somebody hooked me up. Let them know that I exist, man. I would love to show the heck out of these lights. I'll give you my honest opinion because I'm paying cash money for these but now what they've done is they've got themselves the X panels is what they're calling them and they fit in and slot into that expression lighting routed out area and that will alleviate the problem I like the lights I dig the lights there's my quick review you know they're a little pricey but they are what they are they really they're they're good quality I like the effect they bring I like the UV light but the fact that they now sit and flush mount into the side of the cabinet. Now, they're still light bars. They're not the individual lights like the Stern. They don't have the graphics around them like the Stern do, but I mean, the light that they're going to emit from there, I'm very excited to try these things. So, they're putting together a limited run or initial run of 100 units. I bought a set of them as soon as they were announced there. You know, I was at work in a moment of weakness, and I thought, hey, if I can get expression lights or pin stadium lights that fit into those grooves, then I can lift and drop the play field when I need to without having to mount and dismount, that's a huge bonus. And so I figured, hey, why not help out my listeners? Let me pay full price for this product. I'll get it. I'll review it. And then you'll know you're getting an honest opinion, at least until I can manage to get sponsored by Penn Stadium. Come on, sponsor me, man. I remember back in the day in skateboarding, like we were all about making sponsor me videos. You know, we'd film ourselves at the skate park, at the mall, getting chased by the cops, doing crazy stuff, whatever, and send these VHS tapes out to skate shops and skateboard companies like, hey, send me free products. Sponsor me. I'm getting better. Why not bring that to pinball, right? Just collect the sponsorships anyway. So I'm excited for these lights. I paid money for them. Now I did use Kerry Hardy's discount since he is a sponsored dude. You can use code Hardy, H-A-R-D-Y, save 10% off. I did do that. So I got the $750, whatever, touring extreme concert light edition. The other one is like the cover band edition. I think the difference is if it's going to come with, I don't know, there's some seem to have some other nebulous named mode or something with these lights. But I did like the rainbow puke effect that I saw on the video. But I think they'll at least come with that UV bar in there. And I love the UV light and how it lights up those plastics. Plus the regular just, you know, kind of like overall general illumination that you get or the flasher effects or whatever. So I'm going to try these things out. I hope they flush mount into the cabinet, like I'm thinking they're going to. And then I hope you know, I can have that feasibility of lifting and taking out my playfield without having to juggle these lights and all these extra cords and things. So you'll find out about those soon. They're supposed to ship at some point. They got my order, so we'll wait and we'll see when they come in. So I gave a quick review on the pin stadiums that I did put in my Foo Fighters when I got them in. I got the $600, again, Neo Atom Fusion, some such long name that's a bit confusing. And I do like the effect that they have. Now, I tried taking them out and just running the expression lights that I had, and I do like the expression lights. I mean, I love them in my rush, but there really is a step up with these very bright, you know, multiple colored light bars, as well as having that extra UV light touch to it. I do like that. But yeah, the things are pricey. So are they cool? Yeah, yeah, they're cool. Are they worth the price? That is a question that you'll have to give to yourself. Now, you can still get the 10% discount with the Hardy Code. Do you need to buy a set of these for every single one of your pinball machines? I have not done that. I would like to at some point take these out and put them in Star Wars because I was able to play a Star Wars Premium at Expo. I believe it was Expo with the PinStadiums and it was my mind was blowing with how they had it hooked up. So I do want to try that at some point. But I've got these flush mounted bad boys coming in. I will put them in the machine and we'll see what we see. So my opinion out of 10 PinStadium Lights, I do think they're an 8 out of 10 product. I mean, these are good. I do rather prefer to play Foo Fighters with them than without them. Now drawbacks. I guess they're a little cumbersome every time you have to take the glass. off and left the play field to do a mod, to do a switch out, to repair a drop target, whatever it is. So that I don't like love. You know, I don't love the fact that the cords are like a little difficult to route. I feel like they're getting pinched when I put the play field in. You know, I've watched the videos. I'm sure I'm doing it correctly. And I don't think I'm taking full advantage of these lights because it's not very intuitive as far as connecting to the Wi-Fi. You know, I have a set of two different light bars with two different addresses and they both look the same to me. And on the app, like it's just one more thing. I can't tell which one is which. And I still even after watching Kerry Hardy video still a little unsure like exactly how I supposed to hook up some of these light modes including the ones that have the bare wires that go into the housing you know the mullet connectors or whatever and plug in I just need to spend a couple more hours with it to maybe get the full functionality out of it. So it's not completely plug and play intuitive, you know, but what's going to be. But I do like the illumination that they provide. Anybody that's used them, I think you probably agree they probably work better for some games more than others, but I love what it does with Foo Fighters, especially since I copied Kerry Hardy's build and put in the glow posts and the glow bands and everything. So it really takes effect from that UV component to it. So if you haven't tried it, go try it. If you want to come by the house homestead here and try them out, feel free, man. And I may do a live stream here in a bit down the road and show them off a little more intensely. So I do like the lights. Now, moreover, looking at the industry of this, you know, aftermarket interior pin box illumination, I'm surprised that we really don't have a worthy competitor to a company like Penn Stadium yet. You know, I've heard the complaints, you know, hey, Don, you know, these are only like $100 worth of bar lights. You're paying $700 for them. That's quite the markup. These guys are getting like filthy, filthy off of this. To that I say, shut up about my future sponsor. I'm kidding. um you know but you know is there someone else that could could replicate like the same kind of build you know uh source these lights from china or something come up with a build well possibly you know so i'm surprised though that we don't have like multiple companies making you know exterior interior aftermarket pinball illumination lights like this um i did like what american pinball was doing you know basically getting a light bar design like that but integrated it into the game so it was all one cohesive package man i do like that another thought i was having to just in general with where we're at with pinball illumination is stern and the expression lights what expression lights work in just every stern game i mean should they just put them in there and then you can turn them on turn them off titrate them up titrate them off have different modes and things with them or should they just stick with the music pins i'm curious so what this would look like say i don't know in an elvira house of horrors maybe i don't know if it would really fit that i think they would fit star wars though um and i'm sure like godzilla would benefit from some of that illumination, especially if they did mirror blades. We'll see how this cottage industry evolves over time. Okay, the next thing I want to get to is another, this is going to be a product review episode. So my new buddy Brad online from litframes.com, he hooked me up and well, he reached out to me and he said, Hey man, do you have any trans lights that you would like to display on your walls? I make lit trans light frames for walls to display your pinball art and they light up just like a backbox would. Now, you know, I frequent the pinball exhibitions, the conventions and whatnot. Spooky pinball, man, my heart belongs to you guys. Hanging out at the counter, I picked up trans lights for Rob Zombie, for Jetsons, and for Dominoes, like the alternate one with the Noidzilla, right? And so I've been looking around like, how am I going to display these things? You know, I've got playfields all over my walls. I've got stuff from Spirit Pinball. I mean, it's getting nuts down here, but I would like to have a way to display these trans lights. and they would look best if they were illuminated. I love that look. I've seen other people that have had, you know, the similar thing. So, you know, I was kind of searching around. It's hard to know, you know, are these quality? Are these not? A lot of people are selling them. So Brad reached out and he said, hey, let me send you one of my frames. You tell me what you think. If you like it, you know, buy it off me, send me some money. You know, if you don't send it on back, but you know, just give me your review. Let me know what you think. So I was like, hey, there's literally no downside here. Send it to me. So I got my frame the other day from Brad. I've had it for two days now. I put each one of my trans lights in the thing and I'm here to speak to the quality of this frame that I got from this guy. So basically it is a, uh, uh, beveled, uh, pinball frame. Um, and, uh, the build quality, I was surprised when I got the box and I took it out of the box. I was surprised by the girth and the weight that's in this all metal constructed device. Um, it's got a diffusion panel on the back there with LEDs kind of sidelighting, but it really does fill the entire back area. It's RGB, it comes with a remote control. And I was like messing around with it, trying to figure out like how I get the Translight in there. Now I watched his YouTube video on his Lit Frames YouTube channel, and these bezels just pop right open, just like a whiteboard would, you know, like a magnetic whiteboard that you'd put on your wall or something, or, you know, bulletin boards and things do now. So it was really easy to click open the four things, get the TransLight in there, put the protective plexi over it, lock it down, plug it in, and the thing just worked. And just seeing the light transmit through the TransLight on the wall, it something special I do kinda like it I mean I a guy that into pinball obviously right So the fact that I can display a Translites you know up on the wall that cool I have one now I have it hanging on the wall. I can swap Translites in and out of it. The Spooky Translites that I have are mainly what I think is the Bally Williams size. The frame that he sent me is his most popular size. It fits sterns. And it actually fits the Jetsons perfectly. So I'm going to put a picture up on the Facebook page. Check it out, Don's Pinball Podcast on Facebook. And you can see some photos of it. You know, and it's fun to kind of go through the colors and just see how the transillumination can change. And, of course, just like every other, you know, aftermarket LED strip that you can get, you can put it in a rainbow mode and it'll just cycle through colors. It'll strobe if you want to have a seizure. Or you can just pick a solid color and just leave it up there. You know, I think it's kind of chill. They retail for $199 delivered. He's got a Bally Midway size one for $209 delivered. Litframes.com. Check them out. if you've got a Translate that you won because you're an awesome dude and you're good at pinball tournaments and you're wondering what the heck to do with the thing or how to display it or you just have the thing hanging up on your wall or it's just an unlit frame, get yourself a lit frame for it. $199, delivered, we're in this hobby, it's money, but it does look good lit up on the wall and it's got some solid construction. If I were to accidentally drop this thing like a clumsy dude that I am, I feel like it would hold together. So Brad's my new homie. I love this thing. I Venmo'd him the cash, man. I'm going to keep this one. And I think I'm going to get some other sizes so I can put up my Rob Zombie pinball adventure and my Noid. The Noid looks cool. So I need at least one more of these, Brad, if you're listening. So now, thank you for listening to me thus far through what kind of sounds like a commercial. It's really a product review. These are things that I bought. Yeah, they sent them to me for free to try. And just like mods that I've had before that I've reviewed, if I don't decide to keep it, I do send it back. This I'm keeping. I love this. I like seeing it in person. and I like the lights. I don't even think the photos really do it justice as far as how it transmits this light. So here's Don Pinball Podcast's hookup for y'all. If you want to go in on one of these lit frames, you can use code DON10, D-O-N-1-0, and save yourself $10 off the price of a delivered lit frame. Brad's hooking it up. All he wanted was a shout-out, man. And, you know, you reach out to me. You got a product. You want to get some exposure. I love trying products out and letting people know, you know, realistically, like how they are. Cause I'm always looking at this stuff and I'm like, you know, should I get this? Should I not? It's hard to judge, you know, the clarity of the lights or whatever it is from just a YouTube video. So why not get some good word of mouth? Um, I'm not sponsored by these folks. They just, you know, they reach out to me, they send me stuff, Duke pinball though. I'm, I'm, I'm shouting them. They sent me a free banner. This thing is amazing. You guys look at this thing, Duke pinball. Thank you so much. It means so much for you to send me like something sweet and cool. Um, you know, and I'm going to just give back the same kind of energy that I'm receiving from people inside. I love this hobby. I mean, you know, the people are just the best that I've been, that I've been meeting. Um, you know, I'm going to pinball expo. We're in the preliminary print planning stages of that. I'm getting invited to panels and things. I can't wait to talk more about it. It's going to be a lot of fun. Um, but I want to send out that same positive energy that I'm getting in here. So tomorrow I'm heading to the post office to send out my three sets of winners, just a bunch of pinball swag from, Norse Truly here, donspinballpodcast.com. The Friday Night Livestream has been great. I've been doing giveaways every Friday that I do it. I do it 8 p.m. Central Time. So I'm sending out at least five different T-shirts and a pile of stickers and hard rock candy from West Virginia that I got and anything else I could think that's interesting or cool, I'm hooking people up. When I went to the Expo in Louisville, I was just having people come up to me. If you recognize me and you gave me the pass that pays Whitewater, you got yourself a free prize pack with um some pinball mods in there that i made i threw a t-shirt in there a bunch of stickers and stuff i'm doing it to get it expo and i'm gonna do it up even bigger so let's keep celebrating this hobby man give me your products send me i'll review them dude if they suck i will let you know if they're overpriced i will let the public know um and uh if you have a confusing marketing behind your products like i think pin stadium is still sort of struggling with um i'm gonna let you know because i still don't know to this day what $600 lights that I have. Neo Atom Fusion Extreme Mach 2 Orion Belt something or other. I'm confused. You know, pro premium LE. Let's keep it simple, everybody. Hey, thanks. Don's Pinball Podcast is always bringing the heat and the love to the pinball world. I like playing pinball. I like flipping the balls. I like flipping the silver balls. I got a billion points on Star Wars Premium last night. I blew up the Death Star. God, one of the best moments in pinball is in my downstairs. I love that game. I love all of you. Give me some comments. Don's Bimbo Podcast, gmail.com. Later, everybody! Eat your vegetables!