Pinball Junk Drawer Episode 20

Poor Man's Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·analyzed·Apr 30, 2023

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.029

TL;DR

Foghorn and Sally celebrate acquiring a Godzilla Premium Edition and discuss upcoming tournament plans.

Summary

Foghorn Leghorn and Craft Beer Sally discuss their recent acquisition of a Stern Godzilla Premium Edition pinball machine, detailing the purchase process, delivery, setup, initial gameplay impressions, and cosmetic mods. They also tease an upcoming ladies' flip tournament that Sally will be attending. The episode balances humor with sincere discussion of the machine's cost, gameplay depth, and their plans for machine maintenance and future acquisitions.

Key Claims

The Godzilla machine was born on February 15, 2023 and arrived at their house on February 21, 2023—six days later.
high confidence · Foghorn Leghorn describing the delivery timeline and manufacturing date stamped on the machine.
They purchased the Godzilla Premium Edition (not Pro) because they wanted the better version given the significant cost.
high confidence · Foghorn explaining the decision: 'if you're gonna spend the money, this is one of those things where sometimes I don't mind getting a cheaper version or something or whatever, but this one was like, eh, just get the... Just throw all the money at it. Get the good one.'
They acquired the machine through Flippin' Out Pinball after initially planning to purchase from a different distributor (Games Don Marshall's shop).
high confidence · Foghorn: 'we ended up getting it from Flippin' Out Pinball' and 'we initially dealt with Curly who was the original owner and then Don Marshall kind of franchised it then like kind of took over the whole thing.'
The Godzilla machine has a very deep rule set and can support long play sessions, potentially 45+ minutes on a single game.
medium confidence · Foghorn: 'I can envision playing Godzilla for, like, 45 minutes, I think, like, on one game. Yeah. There's a lot going on, and it's a very deep rule set.'
They purchased 3D-printed Kaiju Battle mods (Tokyo Neon brand) and a King Ghidra gold statue from a French mod maker, though the King Ghidra purchase had payment processing issues.
high confidence · Foghorn detailing the mods: 'we got that from something, Tokyo Neon or something like that... there was another one that was the King Ghidra. It's like a 3D printed statue in gold... the card didn't go through and I didn't go back to try.'
Sally is participating in a Ladies' Flip tournament at The Flip (the same venue where IFPA championship photos were taken), featuring one hour of rules teaching followed by three hours of head-to-head tournament play.
high confidence · Sally describing the upcoming event: 'They're gonna do a ladies' flip tournament... They're gonna spend like the first hour teaching rules of the machines and then the next three hours is gonna be a head-to-head tournament.'

Notable Quotes

“This is, of course, Foghorn Leghorn presents the Pinball Junk Drawer. You all asked for it, I say, you all asked for it, now you're gonna get it.”
Foghorn Leghorn @ opening — Show opening catchphrase and branding; establishes the comedic tone.
“Godzilla has arrived in Greenville. That's right. It's taking names and chewing gum and kicking ass.”
Foghorn Leghorn @ ~1:30 — Announces the main topic of the episode with characteristic humor.
“These machines are no joke nowadays. You know, this isn't like a $1,800 Dr. Dude or whatever. Like, machines are, pinball machines are super expensive now, you know.”
Foghorn Leghorn @ ~5:00 — Commentary on modern pinball pricing vs. vintage machines; reflects market reality.
“when you play it, you kind of forget how much it costs because it's an incredible machine.”
Foghorn Leghorn @ ~12:00 — Expresses satisfaction and justifies the purchase through gameplay experience.
“well, they're gonna get a cease and desist soon so I better order it before they get sued by Toho, you know.”
Foghorn Leghorn @ ~16:30 — Humorous comment about potential Toho (Godzilla IP holder) IP enforcement against mod makers.
“FOMO, fear of missing out. Now, they're gonna be out there. You're never not gonna be able to get a Godzilla.”
Foghorn Leghorn @ ~21:00 — Reflects on initial FOMO driving the purchase decision and subsequent realization of availability.
“I actually like getting old beat up machines and making them work like new again and cleaning them up and making them beautiful. That's like one of my favorite things ever.”
Foghorn Leghorn @ ~24:00 — Reveals restoration hobby and preference for new machines for prestige ownership.
“There's so much depth and so many rules, it's kind of exciting... it makes some wacky thing happen and it's a multiball pop, and you're like, wow, what am I doing?”

Entities

Foghorn LeghornpersonCraft Beer SallypersonTaopersonDon MarshallpersonSterncompanyFlippin' Out PinballcompanyGames Don MarshallcompanyStern GodzillagameGodzilla (IP)product

Signals

?
product_launch: Stern Godzilla Premium Edition manufactured February 15, 2023 and delivered to collector six days later (February 21, 2023), indicating rapid production and distribution turnaround.
high · Foghorn: 'the born-on date, as Budweiser used to have, on the back of this thing was February 15, 2023. And it was in our house February 21 of 2023.'
$
market_signal: Modern pinball machines ($7,000-$15,000+ range) create significant financial stress for collectors, with purchase decisions triggering FOMO and requiring careful financial planning.
high · Foghorn: 'these machines are no joke nowadays... as soon as we signed on to get this machine, I felt the weight of debt hanging over my head... Some people do and that's fine [credit/debit]. Not my world.'
?
collector_signal: When investing heavily in new premium machines, collectors prefer highest-tier editions (Premium over Pro) to justify cost and maximize ownership experience.
medium · Foghorn: 'we had a Godzilla Premium Edition because we played the Premium Edition... if you're gonna spend the money, this is one of those things where... just get the good one.'
?
product_concern: Third-party mod makers (Tokyo Neon, French custom shops) creating Godzilla-themed cosmetic upgrades face potential cease-and-desist from Toho IP holder.
medium · Foghorn: 'maybe I should wait but then I'm also like well they're gonna get a cease and desist soon so I better order it before they get sued by Toho, you know.'
?
gameplay_signal: Modern pinball machines support multiple engagement styles: organic rule discovery through play vs. deliberate ruleset mastery; both valid approaches; deep rule sets support 45+ minute play sessions.

Topics

Stern Godzilla Premium Edition acquisition and setupprimaryPinball machine pricing and cost justification in modern marketprimaryMachine customization and aesthetic modsprimaryGameplay depth and rule discovery vs. tutorial learningprimaryLadies' Flip tournament participation and competitive pinballsecondaryDealer relationships and distribution networkssecondaryBasement game room setup and collection managementsecondaryIP licensing and potential cease-and-desist issues for aftermarket modsmentioned

Sentiment

positive(0.82)— Overwhelmingly enthusiastic and celebratory about the Godzilla acquisition. Initial debt anxiety is quickly superseded by joy and satisfaction from gameplay. Humor is self-deprecating and affectionate rather than critical. Minor melancholy about dealer relationships and future acquisitions being on hold, but overall tone is upbeat and content.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.065

Now who's responsible, I say, who's responsible for this unwarranted attack on my person? I say, I say, I say, pay attention now, boy. This is, of course, Foghorn Leghorn presents the Pinball Junk Drawer. You all asked for it, I say, you all asked for it, now you're gonna get it. Boy, oh boy, are you gonna get it. Go, I say, go away, boy, you bother me. What's my name? Alright, that's right, this is the Pinball Junk Drawer. Big show 2-0, 20 shows in the bag. The only pinball podcast recorded directly over the center of the earth. My name is Foghorn Leghorn, and with me as always... Craft Brew Sally. Yeah, you like that one? I did. Slick. Anyway, I actually stole that from a bar at Penn State 700 years ago when I went to Penn State. It was a surf club, I think it was. The only bar that serves wings directly over the center of the earth or something like that. I was like, that's pretty catchy. I'm going to steal that and use it on something called a podcast that no one has any concept of in the future when I'm talking about pinball. All lies. Hey, we've got a pretty exciting show. Yes, we do. Filled with not lies. Correct. You are correct. What has happened? What's decimated Greenville, Wisconsin? Godzilla has arrived in Greenville. That's right. It's taking names and chewing gum and kicking ass. It's all out of gum. I guess. No, I will not use that one at all. No, we should cut that. We're not going. I am the Ed Wood of podcasting. I wouldn't waste a single second. Anyway, unless I'm besmirching someone, then I go back and cut it out, which is sadly done a lot. Sarcasm is always taken poorly. Anyway, so this is show 20 of the Pinball Junk Tour. I'm actually thinking about getting around to making a logo for the show, which is just great. You've been thinking about it for a year and a half? Six, eight shows you've been talking about it. Yes. My stick-to-itiveness is really coming through. Anyway, so exciting, super exciting. The Godzilla has arrived. It's set up. The second it got here, it was basically taken downstairs. Not the second. It sat in the garage for like eight hours because it – I had to work because I had to work and pay for a set. Right. So this is a pretty long and winding journey. And we're going to start the Wayback Machine. Now, we did talk about it in show 16 or 17, I believe, where we kind of talked about the back and forth of it. And I talked a lot about how as soon as I – well, maybe I didn't. As soon as we signed on to get this machine, I felt the weight of debt hanging over my head. Now, these machines are no joke nowadays. You know, this isn't like a $1,800 Dr. Dude or whatever. Like, machines are, pinball machines are super expensive now, you know. And when we said we wanted it, we were on the hook. And the original place we were going to go with had tax and shipping. Which, wow, that added a lot. Yes. Because tax is tax. But we still said, okay, in for a penny, in for a pound, as they say. Knives out. Knives out. Yes. And we just put our name in the hat. Since that time, now a spot came up on a different list from a different person. and this one was a bit more favorable as far as we were able to get it a little bit cheaper in every penny counts. So that was a big plus. And again, we had a Godzilla Premium because we played the Pro and we played the Premium, and it's kind of like, well, if you're going to spend the money, this is one of those things where sometimes I don't mind getting a cheaper version or something or whatever, but this one was like, eh, just get the... Just throw all the money at it. Get the good one. So as soon as that happened, then it kind of happened extremely quick because they started making them again in February, and we got this. We fell into it, worked a deal with, you know, and I was like, well, we sent the money. I was like, this thing won't land here until March or something like that. And it was literally the born-on date, as Budweiser used to have, in the back of this thing was February 15, 2023. And it was in our house February 21 of 2023. That's how quick this thing hit the dock, hit our house, and was up and running and ready to go. I know we're still, because the way we're working this is like, this cost what it cost. and we had money towards it that we were saving and kind of pulling money for it and we kind of yanked money from other places to pay this thing off I never used debit or credit I mean credit or anything like that to buy a pinball machine It just that reality is reality You can Some people do and that fine Not my world. So then it arrived, and now I'm feeling better about the price because when you play it, you kind of forget how much it costs because it's an incredible machine. Because it's awesome. Oh, my God. So, you know, now we have this gorgeous machine hooked up and ready to go and are playing, you know. What do you think about it? How do you like it? Oh, I love it. Yeah? Yes. You liked it better about four days ago, didn't you? Yeah, when I was the grand champion until I was dethroned. I will say, well, you're getting better and better at pinball every day, which is good. That's awesome. Keep playing. I know you have an event coming up that we'll talk about, maybe tease at the end of the show. But, you know, this game, now we have a mod for it. We bought the, like this thing that makes the kaiju battle is a little bit more aesthetically pleasing. We got that from something mods, Tokyo Neon or something like that. I don't know. It doesn't matter. And then there was another one that was the King Ghidra. It's like a 3D printed statue in gold. I put it, I was going to buy that from a guy in France and make some pin mods, I think it was, or pin something, whatever. but the card didn't go through and I didn't go back to try and I'm on the fence about that one it's gorgeous and it would really make it nice but like I don't know man maybe I should wait but then I'm also like well they're going to get a cease and desist soon so I better order it before they get sued by Toho you know so what are you do you have any regrets I don't not at all well I was on board from the start well from before you were on board with the because it's it's your favorite movie it's your favorite monster I guess to say yeah I have a lot of Godzilla related stuff yeah and you always have so it didn't make sense to me that you didn't want to get it I know but I don't have the Simpsons and I love the Simpsons and I don't have now they're I don't know if they've officially announced it yet but now they're going to talk about a Pulp Fiction and maybe a Harry Potter and you're like you know what look man unless somebody wants to deal us in on a winning lotto ticket you can stop get back to your dumb crap I don't care right so you know I guess we can say we ended up getting it from Flippin Out Pinball which you know I originally I was on board with a different distributor and uh I always I always pitch to make sure you you give a little shop of of games Marshall then a little shop of games in Florida a lot of love um he just was like our I don't like I guess a friend you know we we dealt with him a little bit here and there uh we initially dealt with Curly who was the original owner and then Marshall kind of franchised it then like kind of took over the whole thing And, you know, so we always give him love, but it just wasn't, it didn't work out for it on this go-round. Right. And we were on a list with a different distributor, but we just went with, it just came up, we fell into it and jumped on it. Yep. So, you know, yay for all that, I guess. Yes. Sometimes that's just how it works. If you get something, you jump on it or you don't, you know. So we had to shush our line around. Yeah. Lots of pinball moving. I will say, the other thing that was kind of going through my mind, because we are pretty deep on that list with a different distributor, I was like, we might not get one of these things. That's what you start thinking, the FOMO, fear of missing out. Now, they're going to be out there. You're never not going to be able to get a Godzilla. And we've even been looking at them used. There was one or two that came up used, And I was like, this is going to save us about a grand. Yeah. You know. But do you want to. I don't know. I wasn't on board with getting a used one. Yeah. Because. Not if you can avoid it. Yeah. Because now some I don't mind it. I honestly. I actually like getting old beat up machines and making them work like new again and cleaning them up and making them beautiful. That's like one of my favorite things ever. But this one here. But sometimes getting a new one is just fine too. You know. It's nice to have, because now we're like kind of the curators of this machine's life. Yes. And it's going to, our machines generally have a very luxurious living. They're very pampered. Yeah, they're cared after. They're always maintained. It's not a, you know, so, eh, whatever. And then once I'm dead, that's Tao's problem. And Tao's the owner of a, that's our exchange student who lives in the States now. She's going to get all my junk, you know. Yep. So, yeah, so how did the moves go? What did you feel about those? We had a lot of, we had to like sit and kind of look at where this was gonna go. Yeah and at first it was like off on the end all by itself and I like Godzilla needs to be with his friends Yeah well I think I just set it there just so we could play it a while to make sure we get to it Yeah. Because I still haven't gone down the line and super leveled them. No. There's an app that you can, you take the glass off and you set your phone in the middle of the thing, and it does all four of the corners and all that kind of stuff. And I still haven't done that, which I'm going to have to sooner or later. But, so now the Dr. Dude got bumped to the end, but he's not on the end end. I mean, he's not like out of the picture, you know. So, Beatles. Beatles, Godzilla, Wonelly, Bowler, Slot Machine, and then Dr. Dude. And on the other end, on the first end, on the other side is then, of course, the Mame Cabinet. We just have a Ms. Pac-Man with a 40-in-1 card, and then retro game pits, and then an Atari pit, and then we have too many games, and we're done. But what are you going to do? In our unfurnished basement that eventually will be furnished, and then we'll have to figure something else out. Yeah, I'll tell you what. You came down, and I was sitting there with my head in my hands going, you know, this is not how this is supposed to be going. this is a moved into unfurnished basement very moved into people are going to come down and be like we're going to have to do it in stages we're going to have to move everything to one side and then they'll put the studs on one side and then the other side and they'll do it I'm like this is a mess because we can't move those back up the steps to then move them back down the steps no we will find a different contractor if that's what they say we'll be like no that's not how this is going to work you know so there you have it the tale of Godzilla finally it's in the house and came down the steps with no problem even though I got the easy end we got it down the steps never live in that one I almost got crushed by it yes these new machines are not that heavy they're heavy but they're not like the older ones anything else? No, this is not quite panning out into the deep, elaborate show I thought it was going to be. But it's an exciting show. Well, for us. Yeah, exactly. We've got a Godzilla that we will never be streaming. I'll never hook a camera up to stream that. I'm too bad for that. No, it's also like, well, hey, you grand championed it for a while, you know. Yeah, until it was stolen. This is one I'm actually, yes, until Grand Champion was stolen from you. This is one we're going to have to dial back down to three balls at some point. Yeah. Like, I can envision playing Godzilla for, like, 45 minutes, I think, like, on one game. Yeah. There's a lot going on, and it's a very deep rule set, but it's also, it's kind of like Attack from Mars, where just somebody off the street can randomly walk up and score a billion points. the points are there to be got you know you just kind of keep playing it but so exciting exciting time for us uh i don't i don't envision us getting another machine anytime soon unless we fall into a stupid deal uh which is sad because i have i've been setting up my garage or harry potter yeah uh-huh tripped of disney or harry potter the um you know we have to like I've been sitting at my garage for restoration kind of. I have all these things I envision getting older EM machines and starting to work on them. And I'm like, well, not when you're still in debt for the Godzilla you have downstairs. Yep. Ouch. Yeah. All right. That's the exciting news for that. Now tell me a little bit, tease a little bit about what you have coming up for the next show because that's kind of cool and exciting and different. Yes, it is. I'm excited about it. I am going to the same place that I went when I took pictures of the IFPA championship. Ladies Flip Championship? They're going to do a boot camp. Ladies Flippin' Boot Camp. So they're going to spend like the first hour teaching rules of the machines. and then the next three hours is going to be a head-to-head tournament. Oh, wow. Yeah. That's cool. Which will be exciting. Yeah, it will. It will be nice to learn rules of games because I kind of just play a game and that's all. Well, you know what? Like even with the – I always – there's a period of time that I just let the game reveal itself. Like I don't study the rules or go online and learn anything. I just play a game for a while. and then if I want to get better even the Beatles I haven't gone and learned all the rules I've just kind of like played it for a while let the shots show me what they have unlock things I kind of think if you let the game reveal itself as you play you're kind of getting a bit more of an excitement it more of an adventure than if you just sit there and read all the rules and learn them all you just know what you doing and you just kind of doing a walkthrough Yeah Pinball machines especially now have so much depth and so many rules it's kind of exciting. Yeah. Especially when you're playing and it makes some wacky thing happen and it's a multiball pop, and you're like, wow, what am I doing? Yeah. And now you're attacking London and it's crazy, and you're like, it's so fun. And I think it takes away, personally, some people love learning all the rules and then going and just mastering a game and Grand Wizarding. And that's cool. If that's what you dig, that's what you dig. It's hard for me to do that, though. I don't know why. Sometimes I'm just like, just flipping balls. I mean, you're fairly new to it. Yeah. Now, they've always been around, but you've never really played them, like played them, played them. And that's a big difference. I've always played pinball. So even when I don't know a machine, some of my shots are kind of there. Yeah. Or, you know. It's kind of the same shots, just different games. Yeah. Now, there's little tweaks, and then, like, every game does shoot different and feels different. But, yeah, like, you can trust some of your shots a little bit because you're like, well, that's that one. And as soon as you hit it once or twice, you're like, yep, that hits the same, so I can get to that one. Yeah, like the building in the Godzilla. Yeah, that's awesome. I haven't, there's still some, like, I haven't beat the kaiju as they come up. I don't think I've beaten any of them yet, which is there's so much there. I haven't unlocked them. I haven't done – so there's a ton of stuff to do on this machine yet. Yes. But I did go through, and I couldn't resist myself. I took the glass off and waxed it down a little bit and polished it up. Yeah. You said you weren't going to, and then like half hour, 45 minutes later, you're still down here, and I'm like, hmm. Yeah. Waxing. You should see the ramps. They've got like mirrors. compared to when they came out. I was like, well... And that was just a quick one because that wasn't even my deep one. I figured a month or two after some games are on there, then I'll do the whole real thing. Yeah. I haven't even put the mods on yet. Mod. You know. Mods. I haven't... King Giedra hasn't been on there yet. I am wrestling with, should I reach out to that guy and say, look, man, how do I pay you because I want this thing? It's just weird. It just didn't take my card. It was probably like, Probably because it's foreign. It's French. Yeah. French fries. French dressing. French King G. You remember that part of that movie, don't you? Sure. Oh, terrible. So, all right, that's it. There's not a lot of content in this one. We're very excited on this end, and we're happy. And thanks to everyone that did help make this happen. And you know who you are. and you know I guess I'll have to go up to Flip and Flip it out and introduce myself and see if we can get some kind of rapport I do you know this isn't bashing anyone this is just I do like to have a rapport with a dealer or someone that I want to have that they know like look at the Marshall or like the retro game shop I deal with that guy knows me yeah he like was like oh look at that one I know which one you'd probably like because He knows my personality and what I'm doing. And, you know, it's so, like, especially with these machines and stuff, I was hoping to get a bit more of a relationship with a dealer or dealers up here. It just hasn't happened yet, but it might come still. You know, you never know. You meet people through meeting people, and maybe something good is going to happen. Or maybe it's just a world where things show up on pallets, and who cares? Here's my money. Give me my thing. I'm on my own, you know. I've been on my own before. It doesn't matter. I did love, I loved when it was like just talking to Marshall and having a place to just BS about pinball. Yeah. And then even when we moved up here, then we saw him at the expo. Yeah, he was the first person we saw at the expo. And he knew us. Yeah, he was like, hey guys. And we're like, holy crap. And we just BS a little bit, even though he was tired and even though he was just exhausted, he still took the time to talk to us and say, what are you doing? And what's going on? I was like, yeah, we're up here now. You know, so I kind of am hoping I can establish that. And maybe that's too much. Again, maybe that's me asking too much in this day and age, but you never know. Yeah, different times. Yeah, that's for sure. How was the pre-COVID time? Oh, I don't know. Sometimes you just meet people and click, and sometimes you don't. We'll see where anything takes us. I'm not a – the important thing is Godzilla is down in the basement. Yes. And we'll be playing it right after the show. We will now. Okay. stuff. Well, thanks for listening, everyone. Look, stay tuned for an awesome new logo. Yes. World famous sarcasm man has declared it. Alright, my name is Foghorn Leghorn with me as always. Craft Bruce Alley. And we'll see you next week when she's boasting about how she's learned how to play better pinball and she gets the Grand Champion back. This will go on for all time. Yes, it will. Thanks for listening, everyone. We'll see you next week. That's all, folks. That's it, man. Game over, man. Game over.