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THE PINBALL RESTORER’S PODCAST·podcast_episode·46m 12s·analyzed·Sep 5, 2024
Buzzsprout-15700183
Export .md

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.029

TL;DR

Pinball hobbyists share league experiences and perspectives on game design, venue culture, and community inclusivity.

Summary

Two pinball enthusiasts discuss their entry into competitive pinball through a Hudson, Wisconsin league, their experiences playing at local venues like S&S Billiards and Bad Penny Pinball, and their perspectives on game design philosophy, licensing challenges, and the importance of welcoming communities in pinball culture. They emphasize respectful discourse toward manufacturers and designers while critiquing specific games on practical grounds, and highlight the value of sober-friendly pinball venues for players in recovery.

Key Claims

  • Lloyd Olson at S&S Billiards has been in business for 51 years and provides tech support for American Pinball, Jersey Jack, and Chicago Gaming.

    high confidence · Direct statement about S&S Billiards location and Lloyd's technical support roles for multiple manufacturers

  • American Pinball games exhibit strong visual design and appeal to newcomers through unique playfield and cabinet aesthetics.

    medium confidence · Speaker personal experience comparing American Pinball titles to other manufacturers' designs

  • Stern has stopped producing original IP games because licensed properties pay the bills.

    medium confidence · Speaker opinion based on industry observation of Stern's recent business model

  • S&S Billiards serves a recovery community function by not serving alcohol, making it accessible for players in addiction recovery.

    high confidence · Confirmed by client anecdote about recovered alcoholic who has been sober for 18 years and plays there regularly

  • Wesley Rudak is a highly skilled player who achieves game credits (GC) on nearly every game he plays but is humble about his abilities.

    high confidence · Direct observation from co-host about specific player's performance and demeanor

  • Bad Penny Pinball in the Keg and Case Marketplace currently has 53+ pinball games and is continuously acquiring more.

    medium confidence · Speaker's recent observation of venue's collection size

  • Alvin G arcade machine parts are difficult to source and obtain.

    high confidence · Speaker's professional experience restoring older pinball machines

Notable Quotes

  • “We're never going to attack a manufacturer. We will not attack a game designer. These are toxic traits that needed to stop... There's an entire industry. 50, 100, 200 employees, and these people, this is their job.”

    Host (unnamed) @ ~24:00 — Establishes the podcast's editorial policy on respectful community discourse and highlights the interconnectedness of manufacturing ecosystems

  • “I'm not hating on that. I get that. That's a type of player... They have guys who don't care how good they do. They're just actually here to meet like-minded people. I like that. They're a little bit on the spectrum. We're all on the spectrum.”

    Host (unnamed) @ ~38:00 — Demonstrates inclusive, neurodivergent-affirming perspective on different player types and motivations

  • “If you're the person that's excited about a new pinball machine, this isn't the same as being excited about a new game coming out on a PS5... You are excited a new commercial device is arriving at a place you go to.”

    Host (unnamed) @ ~42:00 — Articulates the unique social and commercial nature of pinball launches versus home gaming

  • “It is nice to have a sober option. And if anybody's actually struggling with addiction, and I'm just going to say that, please, please seek help. And the community, we also support that.”

    Host (unnamed) @ ~52:00 — Demonstrates community values around inclusivity and mental health/addiction support in pinball spaces

  • “So when you're at that location, you don't feel like you're a buzzkill for this. Like, hey, when you go to a bar gate, hey guys, would you guys be all kind about not drinking tonight? Well, this establishment doesn't even serve booze, so everybody's doing that regardless.”

    Host (unnamed) @ ~51:00 — Explains the social mechanics of sober-friendly venues that normalize non-drinking participation

Entities

HenrypersonWesley RudakpersonLloyd OlsonpersonAaron CongardpersonDavid FixpersonMike JacobsonpersonRockypersonSnowflakepersonTodd McFarlane

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: S&S Billiards identified as alcohol-free venue serving recovery community; speakers emphasize importance of sober-friendly pinball spaces

    high · Detailed discussion of recovered alcoholic client playing 3x/week for 18 years; explicit commitment to supporting addiction recovery

  • ?

    venue_signal: Bad Penny Pinball operating with 53+ games and actively expanding through acquisitions; Mike Jacobson on frequent picking missions

    medium · Speaker observation of current game count and mention of operator's ongoing acquisition activity

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Hudson, Wisconsin pinball league using card-scan system; tournament director Wesley Rudak transitioning from paper-based to digital tracking (Zencaster/laptop)

    medium · Discussion of league structure, TD operational improvements, and venue relationship dynamics

  • ?

    community_signal: Pinball Restorer's Podcast expanding guest lineup; Mike Jacobson from Bad Penny Pinball confirmed for future episode

    high · Explicit confirmation of Mike Jacobson as upcoming guest

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Stern focused on licensed IP because 'licenses pay the bills'; American Pinball and other manufacturers pursue original IP due to resource constraints

    medium · Speaker opinion: 'Stern, again, stopped with original IPs because licenses pay the bills. I get that. And some of these other companies, well, they don't have the money to do that.'

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.139

0:00
This is No Cash Value. I'm a burning horse. I've never been on the road. Okay, well, I guess that is what it is. So, Henry, what are you drinking? Surly Furious? Yep, I'm sticking with bourbon. You know, if my liver decided to be punished, this is a lovely Jim Beam diet.
0:46
And I just hate my taste buds, so I'll just stick with Surly Furious because that'll burn out everything that I want to taste afterward. It's kind of like, you know, my understanding, I'm not a beer guy. I don't drink beer. I wish I liked beer. All I taste. everybody's like oh you're just sensitive to the hops i'm like let me describe to you what hops tastes like to me is the vinegar olives sit in which i'm like i if i've already had a drink or two i can get past it there are a few beers i do drink um but it's not something i'm like yay i want to taste the vinegar olives sit in yeah and it's i like the spice that they add to a lot of ipas and shit like that i'm not really a big fan of because it is kind of like this weird aftertaste and kind of even like plasticky with like the mix of everything, which kind of throws me a little bit. Are you sure you didn't just leave a solo cup in the microwave again?
1:34
Oh, yeah. All right, so this is kind of a rough cut recording, guys. We're actually recording at a location. So we're at Opinion Brewing Company in Newport, Minnesota. You will end up hearing some background noise. Hopefully the customers aren't too rowdy. But it's been fairly quiet here because in Minnesota, that we have the Minnesota State Fair going on, and it is the last day of Labor Day weekend, so it's a little bit slower. But we needed to actually get the show out, and as disastrous as it may be, here's the recording, because this is real. Run what we brung. It's great to have two guys who are half-deaf in the ears, with ADDs, sitting in a place doing that podcast. Oh, jeez. Look, something's shining. So I have this story that's really important to me in my life.
person
S&S Billiardsvenue
Hudson Tapvenue
Bad Penny Pinballvenue
Opinion Brewing Companyvenue
Stern Pinballcompany
American Pinballcompany
Jersey Jack Pinballcompany
Chicago Gamingcompany
Deadpool (Stern)game
Venom (Stern)game
Godzilla (Stern)game
Perio's Barbecue Challenge (American Pinball)game
Galactic Tank Force (American Pinball)game
Hot Wheels (American Pinball)game
Houdini (American Pinball)game
Legends of Valhalla (American Pinball)game
?

gameplay_signal: American Pinball games praised for strong visual design and newcomer appeal; open playfield layouts versus complex multi-tier designs create different player experiences

medium · Comparative analysis of American Pinball aesthetic vs other manufacturers; discussion of Mandalorian's closed playfield challenges

  • ?

    licensing_signal: Deadpool game uses comic book licensing rather than movie version; customized versions with movie clips exist; Roy Schneider likeness unavailable for Jazz game

    high · Direct discussion of Deadpool licensing choices and Chicago Expo custom modification; acknowledgment of Jazz licensing constraints

  • ?

    product_concern: Alvin G arcade machines have difficulty sourcing parts; rare machines require careful handling to prevent damage

    high · Discussion of Mystery Castle (Alvin G) requiring 'please be gentle' disclaimer; speaker's professional restoration experience

  • ?

    manufacturing_signal: Lloyd Olson at S&S Billiards provides tech support for multiple manufacturers (American Pinball, Jersey Jack, Chicago Gaming) suggesting distributed support model

    high · Explicit confirmation of Lloyd's technical support roles across manufacturers

  • ?

    community_signal: Community demonstrates acceptance of different player types including competitive, social, and deeply focused players; normalized discussion of ADHD and spectrum traits

    medium · Extended discussion of different player motivations and speaker's self-reference to ADHD traits: 'They're a little bit on the spectrum. We're all on the spectrum.'

    • 2:25
    So what are you drinking? Oh, man. Goldfish existence, I swear, sometimes. That's probably one of my lives.
    2:36
    Fucking cats. Oh, man. So, again, one of the focuses of this was to... We'll also talk about non-pinball stuff, but the big thing was is that we met on a league in Hudson, Wisconsin, and it broke me into the competitive nature of playing with people every week, the same group of people. And when you played on the same machines, you started to get better. Everybody developed their favorite. I think I'm still Godzilla at the end. Yeah, classic. Yeah. I think you were loving a Bond for a while there. Oh, yeah. Of course, I'm a glutton for punishment, so I love Venom. So it's perfect for my ADD. The moment you get that seven ball, it's like, oh, yeah, this is why I'm here.
    3:24
    Jazz is pretty solid too. I've been enjoying that a lot lately. The shots are tight but they're not unnatural. So it's not like some people describe a game as clunky which the counter argument is always play better.
    3:40
    It's like I'm trying. Sure. But the shots are just tight. I do like the game. I do wish they had gotten Roy Schneider's likeness rights. I mean, at least we have the movie clips, but he's not on the play field.
    3:56
    And I'm not upset about that because licensing is just a challenge. It always is. And with Stern, basically strictly doing licensed idea games, and they have been. I mean, this goes back to their days in Dead East. But in Dead East and Sega, it's now, I mean, there was a brief period they did Striker Extreme, but that was when pinball was literally in its death throes for a minute there. But there are challenges. There are challenges to getting all of it. I mean, there are games where they get everything. I mean, Godzilla was great for that. Deadpool, yes, this is the comic edition, but I do love it.
    4:33
    If you go to Chicago Expo, there's a guy who took, he paid for a Deadpool Pro and completely reprogrammed the game on that LCD screen. It's the movie edition of the game. oh that's badass and I'm like why can't I buy this like at first I was like why is this Deadpool in with all the custom games and I was like oblivious to the fact it had the movie clips in it like oh that's why just you know talk to the person and hopefully you can get some rights and have a program they can send out that you can update on that everything that'd be awesome especially with the whole Deadpool Wolverine thing going on right now well that and I'm pretty sure the Stern they do capitalize on what is popular. I know that they're kind of marveling us out, but at the same time, I'm a comic book fan. I mean, I'm happy to see, for Deadpool in particular, I actually liked the fact it was the comic book versus the movie, because I still liked the I mean, I love Ryan Reynolds, I love those movies, I love that character, but I liked the fact that it was paying tribute to that. And covering pretty much everything that was comic. Like, if you've seen the recent one that came out, that thing was glorious, and also being an animal lover, just seeing dog pull, that thing had me tickled pink.
    5:52
    I'm pretty sure you were on the Humane Society's website literally within an hour. What poor hideous thing am I going to bring home? No, like my giant behemoths. Oh, I know you do. You don't take in dogs, you take in a bear. Yeah. She's a cuddle bear.
    6:08
    I'm thinking, I'm like, if the dog sits in my lap, I'm going to die. He had a New Finland. I've raised many New Finlands. She'd be my third one that just recently passed. But, yeah, giant bear of a dog. If you're not familiar, think St. Bernard or Beethoven, but all black. Same amount of hair, same amount of drool, but all the loves.
    6:29
    There's something worse than a dog that's massive that thinks it still fits in the palm of your hands or will fit in your hoodie pocket like it did when it was a cute little puppy. I was cursed once. I actually owned a Great Dane. A Harlequin Great Dane. Oh, those are awesome. And that thing was so cute, it was a little puppy, and then it was like having cattle roaming your home.
    6:49
    It's like, and the neighbor lady was kind of going senile. She thought we had a horse in the backyard. She called the city on us. Because, again, she was like 90. She was a nice lady, but she's like, I don't think they're supposed to have a horse in their backyard.
    7:08
    I'm like, what the? I had a neighbor that was kind of like that. So she got loose running down the beach, and suddenly a neighbor comes walking up going, you know, look out. Throughout this week I've been seeing bear tracks throughout the year, so I've been making casts and sending them in and alerting everybody that there's a bear on the loose. So it took me about 20 minutes to explain my dog to him and then actually having to go and get her and show him my dog for him to be like, okay, okay, not a bear. and then two weeks later we found a family of black bears eating trash down over at the restaurant that's down the road there so yeah a bit of both that's just when you made sure your gate was closed and no no you have to stay in the house I mean you'll hold your own but dad not so much yeah there's yeah no no but yeah it's dog pool but um yeah Venom um I was huge Todd McFarlane fan.
    8:07
    So when they made, when they announced Venom, which Todd McFarlane was at Comic-Con, Dazzy Osborne, and that's kind of like basically said, hey, this is Stern, this is our next game, you know, in retrospect.
    8:17
    I was kind of excited about it because of the fact that I loved the story of the symbiotic relationship between Eddie Brock and the symbiote suit, but and then how that branched off into more characters, trust me it would be nice to get a Venom Carnage edition because I did love Carnage Unleashed and Maximum Carnage video games because Cassidy is insane Eddie Brock is nuts Cassidy is murderously insane branch off double titles and do the Deadpool Carnage edition don't give the guys at Stern any more ideas to just keep selling us the same thing I don't know We want it.
    9:06
    We can joke. We like to have fun here. Yeah, we're not taking anything too seriously.
    9:13
    But we do have a couple of things about this show. One, we're never going to attack a manufacturer. We will not attack a game designer. These are toxic traits that needed to stop. And because there's a lot of people that their employment, they do work for these gaming companies. There's people who work in every aspect of it. It's not just a group of 10 guys and these miraculously go out the door. There's a couple, you know, whether it be... It's an entire industry. Yeah, 50, 100, 200 employees, and these people, this is their job. And so I'm not saying that we can't critique a game, but critique the game from a practical standpoint. Everybody gets to have their own opinion if they like a game or if they dislike a game, but not going to go after, like, a location, like, oh, playing there sucks because of this, or I'm not playing these because screw this. We don't do that. 90% of the time, even when I play, it's my fault anyways when shit happens. Yeah, I was about to say, I think people forget that a good portion of when something goes wrong, it's user error.
    10:13
    I stand there and I go, well, fuck me. I mean, issues with games having mechanical or electrical issues are actual, legitimate problems. That's a whole other story. I mean, that should be addressed, but then you make it known if this is a problem you're having. Well, then, again, and yes, some of these companies do not have the best support, but there's a plenty of people in the community who own some of these games, operators, enthusiast collectors, who can also kind of fill that void. I mean, I come from the classic car world where if it's broken, you're on the forum saying, help. You've got to figure it out. Yeah. And all of us are ASE certified, which is automotive service. I don't remember what the E actually stands for my whole point is that that means you actually are a mechanic and I feel embarrassed by that but I have been drinking coke so it's okay and it's a Sunday or Monday, Jesus holiday weekend, it's easy to forget but yeah, so Henry, how did you get involved with this hobby?
    11:19
    well I kind of moved into an area and kind of had a change of lifestyle truly, kind of like friend base and lifestyle base kind of went stagnant and was bored so I had a habit of just going out to the closest local bar kind of thing to play games because I'm born and raised games. I have Atari all the way up to PlayStation 5, so I love all my kinds of games. So anything that has a story or a play or flashy nights, it has my attention.
    11:54
    The ADHD, ooh, something's shutting. Oh, it makes noise. And halfway through, looking at my life, I go, oh, I did that to myself.
    12:03
    I just stared at flashy lights the entire time. And why do I always stare at flashy lights? Oh, fuck, okay.
    12:09
    Don't get hit by the truck, Henry. It's only happened twice. Same. Yeah. Crazings, though. Crazings.
    12:18
    But you had a particular, was the Hudson Tap the first place? Okay, all right. So that's where we met as friends on the, because, again, becoming more of an enthusiast and starting to build my own personal collection and now gotten in the hobby, it was nice to find a place that was nearby that had, you know, at the time I wrote about eight, nine games. And then I started noticing, like, I get off work late. I typically only either around midnight or up until two. I started noticing the same people were coming in and then they, that's when I met Wes and invited me to the pinball league to show up and I got to know all of you guys kind of by proxy. So, so when did you join the pinball league then?
    12:59
    Uh, jeez. Let's see here. I have to go with the exact timeline. I'm just trying to remember like four or five years ago or something like that. Has it been that long? Yeah, it's been a while. You're making me feel old. I do it to myself.
    13:14
    Just looked at the list, like when you bought your first Pokemon game you have to be at least over 30.
    13:20
    Oof. Yeah, ouch. Ugh. I need to stop chasing younger chicks. No, I'm just kidding. But I came in there and tried to just decompress and take my mind off of life and play a little bit of pinball and got onto Mandalorian because for some reason I liked that a lot at the time. Then I got tapped on the shoulder and was told by Wes, hey, we're actually in the middle of a pinball league. Can you not play anymore? and it's like, yeah, no problem, understandable. So I sat down at the bar, had my beer, it was about to take off, and he's like, you know, we do this every single Tuesday, you should come back out, and that's kind of where I got my start.
    14:08
    Yes, and the person you said about is Wesley Rudak, he's actually one of the best players we know. Rick and Wes.
    14:17
    Every game is GC, but he's very humble about it, he doesn't think he's that great, and I look at the scores and I'm like, dude, you're actually pretty good at this, but it helps when he He dissects a game. He doesn't walk up to any game and just start doing good at it. But if you give him, like, three hours, he's going to start doing something.
    14:35
    But, yeah, him and his best friend, Aaron Congard, were, like, just combing over these machines every time.
    14:45
    Then suddenly he's the TD for the league. And I saw that he actually finally brought a laptop now instead of using the pieces of paper that I used to have Papa, he can actually keep track of everything. I just told him, bring in a whiteboard and make, don't, so that, because he's playing in a league while he's running it, and I'm like, this way people have to write in everything and then just be like, the rules are you have to take photos at the end, you know, just to make it easier on him.
    15:14
    So, but, it's still. So it's not, it seems like he's going to have an aneurysm the entire league. because he plays so much differently when he's running something versus when he's not. And it's just great to see everybody enjoying themselves. Yes. That's the hugest thing in it. You know, when it's best, like when everybody's having a good time except for like one person, that's still kind of a bummer. Like if it's 100% everybody's involved, everybody's having a good time, then that's why we're in it, you know? Yeah. It should never be a chore. Right. Because at the end of the day, this is all the fun. And I like the fact that the establishment has always treated us well. I mean, it's kind of like we go in, we get a free drink. If it's pinball night, we get a free drink. Yep. Which is just kind of nice. I do appreciate that. I mean, we all scan. We use cards versus coin drop. We all scan in. Mm-hmm.
    16:02
    And we got to know a lot of other people. In fact, our league group was, I've gone to tournaments that had less people than our actual league had. Oh, yeah. And it always fluctuates and stuff. But the other nice thing about it is just kind of like the local environment that you get to. Mm-hmm. Like the people that run the business and the people that work there are all very awesome people and do a good job of taking care of everybody. Definitely got this figured out better than I do. Yeah. Well, we're still a calendar. It's still a thing.
    16:33
    Nothing's perfected. Everybody else will call me up and be like, hey, do you have a Zencaster? I'm like, what the hell is that?
    16:38
    You know, a lot of these podcasting guys, they literally will, like, just call each other with computers and, you know, using, like, Skype or something like that. And I actually was looking into that because a lot of people have Skype or Zoom. And for some odd reason, it says, please pay extra for this, record the call. I'm like, oh, my God. There it is. I'm like, okay, so, yeah. Wait for it, wait for it.
    17:00
    Well, it's one of those things, it's like when you podcast, and people super forget, like, when you create the podcast, you have an RSS feed, you pay for this. It's like, so, and somebody's like, oh, okay, and there's certain packages, like, if you're, like, somebody that does, like, an hour-long show every week, you can pay for that package. And for me, they're like, oh, yeah, you can do three hours of recording this month. I'm thinking to myself, I'm like, oh, man, I was so infrequent for a minute there, I'd be like, probably could do a three-hour show this month.
    17:27
    Jeez, we could probably do an entire show about trying to get the show together with, like, everything that happened before we could even sit down to have this fucking conversation. Yeah, yeah, this was like, didn't we plan to do this, like, damn near a year ago?
    17:40
    Yeah, what? Life goes away. Deaths and other things popping up. Yeah. life we all live for the game we all have lives outside but sometimes those lives need to calm down because there's fucking pinball to go play I do like the fact that again I'm one of those guys that does look forward to the social interaction I love playing games and we always can tell that one guy this isn't their social activity this is their locked in activity they put on the gloves They have the headset rocking out, whatever it is. Heck, there might not even be any music in there. That might just be noise cancellation headphones. They want to hear nothing. I mean, to be honest, if you have the gloves on, it has to be like that whole, you know, Beverly Hills Cop theme song. The on repeat the entire time. That is the only rule, the only excuse to put on gloves and headphones at the same time.
    18:37
    And they just kind of like walk in, like they don't order anything from the establishment. You know, they're literally over there and they're scanning in or updating on IFBA. instantly. They're in the zone. Tunnel vision. Yeah.
    18:50
    I'm not hating on that. I get that. That's a type of player. They have guys who don't care how good they do. They're just actually here to meet like-minded people. I like that. They're a little bit on the spectrum. We're all on the spectrum. I'm not going to lie about this. If you're the person that's excited about a new pinball machine, this isn't the same as being excited about a new game coming out on a PS5, a console you own in your own home or computer game or PC game. You are excited a new commercial device is arriving at a place you go to. There are launch parties for this. Come check out our new thing that's designed to take your money. There's only one out of 200 in existence. Come check it out.
    19:35
    Come one, come all. No fee is too great. No line is too great. But speaking of launches, so Lloyd Olson with S&S Billiards, he's been in business for 51 years.
    19:51
    And he's located in Hopkins, Minnesota, which is about a 40-minute drive from us. And Henry and I actually went out when David Fix was in town. Are we talking about Snowflake? Yep. Oh, okay. Yeah, yes, yes. For Perio's Barbecue Challenge launch that he was there. That's Snowflake.
    20:10
    because Lloyd does all the tech support for American Pinball. And also Snowflake. For those who do not know, Snowflake is Lloyd's dog. The cute little white puppy that oasis him up at the front counter where he is working. She's adorable. She demands love, damn it.
    20:30
    It's totally worthwhile. We're dog lovers here, so I tell you guys. I could go in there and be like, oh, my God, I get to play Big Bang Bar or pet the puppy. guess what the puppy wins I was really excited to meet a lot of people probably didn't catch a lot of names because uh Snowflake there was only one name in my brain for that entire night I'm pretty sure you were trying to explain some of the machines and some titles that I'm sure I've heard but I don't remember Snowflake you know Snowflake it's the truth but we can at least describe SNS Billiards which is an awesome place. It is. It's nostalgia. If you were ever the guy, I mean, I'm 43. I remember when I was like 18. You weren't quite old enough to go to a bar. Okay, what do you do? There were always these like strip mall pool halls that you could go to. And of course, they were sketchy as all heck. I mean, I remember when you could still smoke in them and like, you know, that wall of people migrating towards the back where everybody was snagging like, you know, MD-2020 in a backpack or, Hey, check it out. I snagged a bottle of Root 100 from my parents' liquor cabinet. Come over here. Overlapping with biker gangs. Yeah.
    21:46
    How's it going, Earl? Oh, I stabbed a man. Oh, cool. How are you? Do good on your math test? Yeah, I'm working on it, Earl.
    21:52
    Well, if you do bad, I'll stab you. I believe you, Earl. I think it was the best place for college students to hang out because it was like, this is why you go to college, folks. and the first guy and I love it there's always that one guy hey wanna play? and they're kind of coming at you like a tweaker you're like okay cool let's play and then like they're like three balls in they're like so can we put some money on this game? the moment somebody's like really excited to play me on pool it's like I'm not a good pool player every single time I play pool the cue leaves and I nearly like scar somebody with the cue ball guaranteed little too much zip on my hip so somebody comes up excited. It's like, no, no, no, I will maim you, and I will still lose money.
    22:38
    So fuck no. I'm going to go throw darts. I'll be less likely to maim somebody on that. Only if you're walking by. Watch your eyes, folks. I said less likely. Less likely.
    22:48
    But it's, you know, but it is nostalgic of that. I mean, and he has because he used to have more arcade games, but I like the fact that at least there was still a multi-game. The pool tables, the single one single stall bathroom off to the right And he open seven days a week It just him This is what he does And he has been tech support for Jersey Jack Chicago Gaming and now helping out with American Pinball. And the guy is insanely knowledgeable. And he's actually really nice. In fact, in the recovery community, despite the joke I made earlier, there is no alcohol served at this establishment. This is literally that, like, if you were 18 and had no ego. If you're a sober person, too. Or if you're in recovery. Which is a big thing in pinball, too. The downside to a lot of that is, like, you know, a lot of it's put into places where, you know, there's alcohol or substances. And if you're somebody that's trying to, you know, be clean in your lifestyle, you know, it can be kind of a bummer if you love pinball. You're stuck in these tournaments where it's like you're stuck around drinking. I love these places because, you know, it removes that. Right, it does. It does. And if anybody's actually struggling with addiction, and I'm just going to say that, please, please seek help. And the community, we also support that. We do support the barcade, still can be wrong, because of the fact that these are where these games ended up. But it is nice to have a sober option. And coincidentally, when I was working on my primary job, I ran into a client of ours, the rep from that establishment. he was talking to me and he's like oh yeah I heard you're like the pinball guy yeah it's kind of making that shy great something dorky type thing he goes no he goes have you ever heard of S&S Billiards? I go well yeah I said Lloyd Olsen owns that place and he goes yeah he goes I play there probably about three nights a week and he explained why he has been he's a recovered alcoholic he's been recovered for 18 years he does attribute going to a place where he can feel comfortable and he can bring friends.
    25:01
    Friends, family, anybody. Yeah, because when you're at that location, you don't feel like you're a buzzkill for this. Like, hey, when you go to a bar gate, hey guys, would you guys be all kind about not drinking tonight? Well, this establishment doesn't even serve booze, so everybody's doing that regardless. So people become a little more focused on just having a good time regardless of having to take a substance. and we do support anybody in recovery absolutely one step at a time one foot for the other but yeah so we were there David Fix was there and David was in a good mood he was actually in a good mood we both made the suggestion that when we walked up and were saying hi Dave I was like you know for Expo this year you should really because it's so close to Halloween you should really do Robin Williams as Teddy Roosevelt from one night at the museum. He put his hand over his mouth, he closed his eyes, and he looked like he was about to start crying, and then he goes, George!
    26:05
    So we might have implanted a bad idea here, folks, but it was great. No, that's not a bad idea. That's a glorious idea. Right.
    26:13
    And so we did get to play the games. We got to play Houdini, we got to play Legends of Valhalla, Hot Wheels, Oktoberfest, Galactic Tank Force, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, there you go, it's barbecue, the whole reason that I was there. And I know I got to play it earlier, and then they were in the middle of an update when you arrived. But I did play the games, and when people, it's not to be, let's say, pro-American pinball, but it's about the fact that when I do play these games, I do feel like on appearance and what encompasses a newcomer's view of a pinball machine, they fit the bill. Each one has a unique thing that will draw your eye whether it's the display case or the playfield itself everything about it just draws your eye comparatively to some of the other ones that are just basic or it's too loud then you look at the playfield and it's very open and even a closed in playfield isn't necessarily a bad thing the fishtails three quarters of it is like I said I also enjoy Mandalorian Yep. Some people don't like that because it's closed in play field and half of it's kind of covered up so you can't see what's going on. Play original Black Knight.
    27:32
    I was about to say, everything on the lower play field, what's it doing? Because I can't see through the upper play field. All right, we can do another shout-out. Oh, my God, Rocky over at Bad Penny. Ooh, yeah, for anybody that, yeah, this is a Gottlieb rarity. Still trying to get that aneurysm out of my head for my game. We also frequented their location And we will have Mike Jacobson on He has confirmed to be a guest Bad Penny Pinball Which is in the old Schmidt Brewery building Called the Keg and Case Marketplace Beautiful venue And then they are solely occupying it right now He was up to 53 games Last I checked He's got more Is Starcade still there? Starcade is, yes But they work in conjunction with each other But it's cool to hear that he updated his stuff Yes, he just actually, I know he was out on a picking mission, actually. He's always on a picking mission. He always gets more games. But he has a couple of oddities. Like, have you just said, Rocky? Yeah. And then he also has Asteroid Annie and the Aliens, the Gottlieb System 1 that there's only like 200 in existence. Or, sorry, 200 that were ever manufactured. He did have the Mystery Castle. Yes, he did, yes. Alvin G., Mystery Castle. And I remember on that tip, the disclaimer, please be gentle with the machine. It's not like you can get another one of these. Yeah, I get to play it like four times, but then every other time during a league, there's like a little like, you know, no, underwear repair. We're not going to play this right now. I heard that during the tournament, so you would turn it off because there were people being too rough with it. I believe it. And I do too, because I deal with restoring old games with the other show. Yeah, shame it's plugged into the Pinball Restorers podcast.
    29:11
    But yeah, Alvin G parts are hard to get. you're playing something from a museum and you're shaking it at the same time. Stop shaking the fucking heart.
    29:24
    Oh, come on. John believes a dead save should be legal. I've never seen a guy tilt another player's game.
    29:33
    He's like, no I didn't. Yes, you did. You'll heal. Still very talented. But Hot Wheels played... I actually really enjoyed playing that. Galactic Tank Force. I know there's a lot of, like, with, like... I enjoyed it. There's a lot of cringe with the game. I actually just kind of just decided, like, you know what, I'm going to throw all my pre... What is it?
    30:02
    Pre... Preconceptions? Yeah, preconception about this game. I decided to throw it out there. I know that the name sounds like it came out in 1982 and it should be on the Nintendo. But that's okay. That's the charm. That's the charm for it, but it is, it does, it's zany. It's that zany. I like the weird bells and whistles. It's kind of like the Looney Tunes kind of thing, too, where it's just like the weirdness of the shots and the placements of everything and so much that's going on. It's like, that's what's enjoyable. I mean, if you're doing like league tournament kind of things, I can see where it can kind of get frustrating because they're difficult shots. There's a lot going on. and zany might not necessarily mean consistent. Right. Well, it's not the first time that games have ever done that. I mean, Williams has a link. Valley Williams, everybody has done this. Stern, again, stopped with original IPs because licenses pay the bills. I get that. And some of these other companies, well, they don't have the money to do that. Pursue, this is all well documented. I'm not looking for debating anybody in Pinside or I'm not trying to be like pro-American, pro-GDP, pro-Stern. I'm like, look, I deal with old-ass EMs that, for the love of God, there is no dimension to the damn game. And, like, so when I play, like, if I were to walk up and play Galactic Wars, I'd be like, this thing, it looks like it was designed to cater to the modern arcade. Again, this is like JGP with the amount of LED lighting.
    31:34
    Like, it looks innocent enough to a kid. And it sucks because when you have established players, they seem to forget that a lot of us, up until probably within the recent generation, the last 10 years, we were kids when we discovered these machines. Yep. Oh, yeah. And now it's different because they're only in barcades. You know, you find out that there are people who didn't know these were even still manufactured until they entered a bar. and then only if somebody told them or they recognized like, hey, I see Guardians of the Galaxy. They realize, hey, that's actually recent. These are still made. That's a thing. All right. Love that movie. All right. Love that movie, yeah.
    32:17
    Friends of ours were at the State Fair, and he was playing Pulp Fiction, and he heard a lot of people go, oh, Pulp Fiction. He just came out walking. Because there was recognition, but they're on the fair, which means they have like three kids in tow and go get the Prado pump. Prado Pup is a corn dog if anybody's in Illinois and if you've ever gotten out there my favorite baked potato and cheese crepe oh my god oh we can talk about food I'm totally fine with this I don't know I was just doing a little like advertising shameless plug oh fuck yes oh man keep them around as long as possible please yes please make it seasonal well state fairs are always great again I mean there's nothing new like you get to see like the epitome of like what can we deep fry or put on a stick. As opposed to this year, the deep fried ranch. Yeah. Ranch dressing. I thought I was going to try that, but then I forgot that I was going to try that.
    33:13
    You know, after the, well, let's say after a foot-long hot dog, two final cakes, a batch of mini donuts, you're probably more like, Sounds like an interesting porn. Oh, good lord.
    33:24
    When's the clowns come in? Advertising. Wow. So people need help figuring out what to buy and then you help them? Pinside. Pinside, the largest pinball community on the internet. Whether you own 60 games or half of one, join and start connecting to fellow pinheads, browse the marketplace, repair forums, game database, rank yourself against other players, and stay on top of the latest news in pinball all at pinside.com.
    33:55
    What are you buying? What are you selling? Oh my god, it does not take much for that. But okay, just to finish up, we did get to speak with Fix. And Fix told us a couple of stories. And one of the things that he was funny about when I said I was, you know, I'm sorry I was out. I got through my divorce. He goes, no, no, that's okay. He goes, remember, Matt, you've got to get guys to babysit your games. I'm like, excuse me. He goes oh I got a collection of 150 games deep but I have friends babysit them I like it not a bad idea It not a bad idea I keep telling people you know like if there certain machines that happen to break down and they happen to be my favorite, I'm happy to just keep it in my living room until it gets fixed up. Until you can get the guy with the truck to get it back to where it needs to be. Keep an eye on it. Make sure it works. Hey, Henry, are you going to bring that game back? Oh, my back went out. You're going to have to send a truck and a different guy. I'm going to stop answering this phone with my bad ear. Fuck, I'll get back to you.
    35:07
    Instead of giving him a phone number, just give him a walkie-talkie sequence of events. Oh, no, just be that asshole. I answer my batty every time. I know this number. I know what he's calling about. Huh? Hi?
    35:18
    Hi? What? Huh? What? Oh, my God. Wait, wait, wait. You said that asshole. Are you my grandfather? Wait, am I my grandfather? I mean, oh, my God. I'm my own grandpa? sweet where's my god damn birthday money but I did laugh when he was telling us that he did tell us some stories about Python Angelo who had done plenty of artwork and game design and there were funny stories about his love and behavior for if you play by Pinbot that he was like no you have to make love to this woman I do a terrible Python impersonation but if anybody doesn't know who Python Angelo is, please go on YouTube and look up Python's World Python Pinball, Python's World and he gives a very off the cuff interview, he was crazy he was zany, he was the eccentric artist Transylvanian he's just different and it was Was he in the room? Oh my god I could see that I could totally see wow I never met the guy but I think I just nailed something yeah you did wow it's James Franco he needs you to actually portray Python Angelo in a biopic oh hi Mark oh that's so bad but anyways we had a good time it was nice and Lloyd again was awesome But snowflakes stole the show. I'm sorry. Oh, yeah. That was gorgeous puppies. I'm sorry. We're in a public place. I get to pet a dog. That's how this goes. I'm sorry. Yeah, yeah. And so... Dogs over people. Sorry. I like dogs better than people. Yeah. Like I said, dogs over people.
    37:18
    My dog likes to actually lay down below each game I'm playing at home. Aw. And I'm just like... And I'm thinking, I'm like, should I be paying attention to the dog or the game? Like, I feel guilty. The dog's just snoring. I'm like, okay, I'm off the hook. Just keep playing the game. As long as you get the snores. But if you don't get the snores, the ball stops right there. Get over here. Yeah, don't ever let it distract you from your real life. Okay, wait, no. If pinball needs to be a distraction from your life, please let it be one. It's a balance. Do not let pinball distract you from the things in your life you should be doing. You get to take a break, but don't remove priorities. Yeah, like masturbation. there's no way it's going to remove that yeah just don't do it there well duh I mean some people you have to tell this to yeah sadly I'm aware and I already had a person in mind but as I said everybody's freaking geeking their own way don't give me that look it wasn't you I was worried about you
    38:24
    nope that's a different story for a different episode no I do want you to go to Expo because I do think that you should partake in the pinball olympics because of how ridiculous it is held under private residence okay they hire professional insult comics to distract you from the games you're playing head to head okay just a variety of things look this up on YouTube all of the PG things were on YouTube the again I already said that there's adult language in this. We already had this disclaimer before. Sounds fun.
    39:02
    I'd love to go to that. Maybe fuck with the people that are trying to fuck with me. Wait for them to get close and hold the ball and smell their neck.
    39:10
    God damn, I'll see you in the parking lot. Once I put this ball in this hole, you get two more. Harry goes from being a contestant to being one of the comics.
    39:20
    To win the real money in this, folks, you have to survive the next ten minutes no it's not even about the game's unplugged you have to survive ten minutes in the closet with Henry I'm going to flip a pinball machine next to the exit door welcome to the purge it's election year too spooky get on that they make horror themed games I trust any manufacturer please to make that that's it I just know that that's their bag so I you know they can do that I also feel like I don't know if there's a thing but like you know like a Daft Punk pinball machine would be fucking amazing it's like EDM's kind of getting the rise right the best music pin that I have played in my opinion and well I'm talking about the integration of the music I was making a joke about where we're at oh okay yeah alright with well and this is again this is just my opinion I'm talking about integrated. I'm not talking about the game layout or shots or anything, but I'm just talking about how it was integrated. It is a divisive one. Rush was very well done. Everything tied in with that. And I loved the fact that it was the live concert footage. The music catalog you could flip through was actually very long.
    40:44
    But if I were to actually go based on bands I like, I'm going to take Iron Maiden followed by Metallica, Aerosmith and, you know, Third. Yeah. There is such a variety. I know that it's very hard to select a group to actually make a pin after. Yeah. Okay, let's pick a... What's an agonizing game of the week?
    41:06
    John Wick. Do you feel that it's code related? Mm-mm. Do you feel the shots are too punishing? No, it's just... Or that what you're supposed to do is not... Explain. I'll shut up. It's just the way it feels with John Wick.
    41:20
    Fundamentally, it feels like it should be a fast-paced game, but then once you go too fast, the machine's not built for it, so it ricochets and just jumps over the flippers. It jumps over all the shots. I've had it ricochet off the backboard and jump over all the flippers and just go through a hard drain. I've had it roll over the flipper just from pure speed. So I've learned at a certain point in time, if you hit that back ramp that loops it, like you hit it once and if you hit a second time and it starts to go back around it's like don't try to hit that shot because you should slow that down because anything that returns is probably if it ricochets and comes back to your flippers there's nothing you can do about it visualize how to slow it down but even if you try to do that if it's too fast it will just roll over everything you're trying to do like if you're trying to like do like the flipper catch to try and slow it down like i've had that roll over it's just nothing i can do and that's not even getting started the other version of it where you have the weapons chest inside which is another just hard ricochet point which that one, you know, if you get that first loop going out the right and drops back down, hit the second one and then shoot it anywhere to that side as long as it's not going into the ramps, that thing's going to fly all over the place.
    42:37
    Yeah. You're not wrong. There's not actually wrong because depending on how people have the game set that's part of it because we've played one that somebody beat the living hell out of um and then we played one at the location we're at where uh well it was it was put on free play for a customer appreciation day and it wasn't put back off of free play for two months and everybody here played it where i didn't it was not nearly is beat up. So I think sometimes your audience is a little rough around the games. But... It's not even, like, beat up. I think it's just... I don't know what it is. Maybe the game wasn't so bright. I don't know. I mean, it might just be... I'm just also saying, like, to say what we said earlier, like, it might just be me.
    43:29
    That is it. It might just be me. No, no, no. Let's... No, we're going to take the high road on this. We're going to follow the crowd. Oh, no, no. When it comes to high road... Get your pitchfork and your torch ready. it's time it's this game is your fault I have Frankenstein agreeing with him yeah yeah probably I mean I'll burn better with kerosene if you guys were really do you want some Kingsford let's get this going I'm hungry too because I'm the first one to say no I'm the dumbass yeah yeah yep well yeah just because we do play quite a bit doesn't mean that like As I said, West Dice X, I'm just happy to know what I'm even just starting to do.
    44:16
    And so I do feel like a lot of that is going to be resolved with code. Because I don't feel like a lot of the shots aren't clunky. Just certain things may be out of your control. In the end, 100% of pinball matches are a loss.
    44:34
    Yes. so at the end of the day our point is we're going to be having fun we kept this light but this is our foray into it and please I am confirmed for Expo this year I'll be a vendor the countdown is happening and I'm just thankful that you guys actually listened to us talk oh yeah it's always weird to find out that anybody actually wants to hear what the fuck I'm saying have fun just shut the fuck up you know I've actually wanted to lull you I wanted you to lull me to sleep but I didn't want to make it that weird I mean I could talk you off no no no I said lull me to sleep I didn't say that I mean you can fall asleep afterwards on that folks we are done till next time keep it flippin I'll get that
    45:33
    Call heaven to prove Send me an angel Well, opinions are like assholes. Everybody has one. Opinion Brewing Company Your neighborhood bar served with a side of pinball, featuring new releases, John Wick, Jaws, Venom, and classics like Attack from Mars and Getaway, nightly drink specials, and open till 2 a.m. located at 374 21st Street, Newport, Minnesota.
    46:05
    This has been a Ruby Butt Production. Ruby, get out of the litter box!