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Ep 24: For Your Consideration

Final Round Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·1h 12m·analyzed·Dec 31, 2020
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.034

TL;DR

Final Round hosts debate award show proliferation, streaming dynamics, and community recognition in pinball culture.

Summary

Geoff Teolas and Marty Robbins reflect on the 2020 holiday season, discuss their drinking at pinball events like Texas Pinball Festival, debate the merits of multiple award shows in the pinball community (Twippies, Reach Arounds, Pinball Industry Awards), discuss streaming and content creation challenges, and explore broader questions about award show credibility, voting qualification, and community engagement.

Key Claims

  • Christopher Franchi gave Martin Robbins a bucket of cinnamon whiskey with 25 shots at Texas Pinball Festival

    high confidence · Geoff Teolas (host) recounting personal anecdote about Christmas gift-giving and TPF memories

  • Martin Robbins streamed one of the biggest streams he's done, drinking heavily and playing music to challenge DMCA

    high confidence · Martin Robbins describing his recent streaming activity and DMCA strategy

  • The Pinball Network recently launched the Pinball Industry Awards (PIAs), creating a third major award show alongside Twippies and Reach Arounds

    high confidence · Both hosts discussing news about PIA launch and community response

  • RB FlipFrance is the second most reviewed show on Pinball's promoters database with 8 reviews

    medium confidence · Martin Robbins citing specific data about show rankings

  • Geoff Teolas refuses to vote in award shows because he hasn't played every game being voted on (e.g., hasn't played Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland or Hot Wheels)

    high confidence · Teolas directly stating his voting qualification concerns

  • Pin Slash tops out at around 400 viewers during streams, which is described as amazing for pinball content

    medium confidence · Geoff Teolas comparing pinball stream viewership to other gaming content

  • Spirited Away won an Academy Award and expanded from 200 to 700 US cinemas, demonstrating award impact on audience reach

    medium confidence · Geoff Teolas using film example to justify awards-as-marketing thesis

  • Joe and Paul Leslie got engaged over the holidays

    high confidence · Geoff Teolas congratulating Joe and Paul Leslie on engagement announcement

  • Steve Ritchie, Antoinette Jeff Johnson, and John Borg were present at Texas Pinball Festival drinking event

    high confidence · Geoff Teolas naming specific attendees from holiday drinking story

Notable Quotes

  • “It's so funny because I was talking to my oldest who's 25. Shane is 25 and he doesn't drink either except like me when you're away from home, when you have no responsibilities”

    Geoff Teolas @ ~10:00 — Explains drinking patterns and contextualizes behavior as holiday/vacation phenomenon, humanizes hosts

  • “I have put out tons and tons of feelers. I mean, maybe somebody will call us during Straight Down the Middle: a pinball show. We'll pick up, hopefully, fingers crossed, but I guess we'll just have to do it ourselves. Fake it till you make it.”

    Martin Robbins @ ~18:00 — Shows willingness to book guests and references Straight Down the Middle podcast by name

  • “So I'm just pushing it as far to see if I can get that strike. So it doesn't matter that you're in Australia, DMCA still affects you as well.”

    Martin Robbins @ ~32:00 — Reveals deliberate DMCA challenge strategy and acknowledges international scope of music licensing enforcement

  • “I'm just saying that I think there's a lot more to it than people give them credit. When you say songs being mixed, are you talking like mashups or just the blend to make sure the beats per minute match”

    Martin Robbins @ ~48:00 — Defense of DJs and attempt to educate co-host about DJ technical skill; shows willingness to be corrected

  • “I personally, my hand, Jeff Teolas, I won't vote for any of these because I don't feel I am qualified. And I'm not trying to toot my own horn, but I'm pretty fucking connected. I play a lot. I go to a lot of tournaments.”

    Geoff Teolas @ ~58:00 — Core stance on award show voting integrity; emphasizes that even highly-connected community members feel unqualified

  • “I made this I was talking about the suggestion a while ago about the Twippies Awards as well is that you should have a 50-50. 50% of the vote comes from a vetted committee of people that you know have played everything and then 50% of it's the public vote. It's Eurovision rules.”

    Geoff Teolas @ ~68:00 — Proposes specific structural reform to award voting using Eurovision model as template

Entities

Geoff TeolaspersonMartin RobbinspersonChristopher FranchipersonSteve RitchiepersonJohn BorgpersonJoepersonPaul Leslieperson

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: Community backlash against multiple award shows (Twippies, Reach Arounds, newly launched Pinball Industry Awards) with questions about necessity and voting legitimacy

    high · Hosts note 'feedback has been as expected. People like, do we really need another award show?' and discuss concerns about voter qualification

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Growing community skepticism about award show voting processes, fairness, and whether winners represent 'best' vs 'favorite' machines

    high · Geoff Teolas refuses to vote despite being highly-connected, proposes Eurovision-style 50-50 voting model reform

  • ?

    content_signal: Content creators struggling to book guests for episodes, especially during holiday season when industry figures are busy with machine production

    medium · Martin Robbins: 'I have put out tons and tons of feelers... I guess we'll just have to do it ourselves'

  • $

    market_signal: Pinball streamers generating 30-400 viewers while mainstream gaming and non-productive content creators get thousands of viewers and revenue

    high · Geoff Teolas: 'Pin Slash tops out at 400... but somebody with massive cosplay can go and do absolutely fucking nothing and have 5,000 people watching'

  • ?

    community_signal: Head to Head Pinball Podcast ended but released special one-off episode for nostalgia and closure; door slightly open for future episodes

    high · Geoff Teolas and Ryan C released episode; Martin Robbins asks 'does that mean the door is open?'; Teolas responds 'if we've done it once, the door is still slightly open'

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.219

0:00
The Pinball Network is online. Launching final round pinball podcast. It's player versus player and player versus machine. And PlayerVsMachine. Welcome to the final round.
0:40
Hello, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and all those happy holidays. I'm Geoff Teolas. And I'm Martin Robbins. Welcome everybody to the final round Pinball Podcast. How are you Geoff? I'm good. Did you have a good holiday? I've had a great holiday period, I've got to tell you. Lots of food. Oh my god. Lots of food and I know this may come as a big surprise to you Jeff, but a lot of drinking and I mean serious drinking. Like who are you with to do all this drinking? I know the kids were there and stuff. Where was the drinking done? You know the adults were in one part of the room, the kids were elsewhere. It just you know one became two became twenty. It's just very, it's strange how quickly it can multiply the amount of drinks over Christmas. I'm impressed. I haven't had a drink yet. Now, New Year's is tomorrow, so I'm sure I'll probably have one or two. Actually, I did have champagne. I did, I think, for Christmas with my wife. But that was one half glass. I am a lightweight. Yeah, that was a big surprise to find out when you came to Australia and won that tournament, just thought I'd get it over and done with now, that you weren't anywhere near as much of a drinker as I thought. Because what you got to remember is before that, I think the experience I had with you when alcohol was involved, I think you remember this. Was it TPF where I don't know how it happened but just you would just come out of the woodworks with a new bottle of whiskey or a new bottle of scotch. It was like where are you getting all this alcohol from and it went down pretty quick. I gotta tell you there are a lot of people that may or may not know just like you like gin that I like Fireball cinnamon whiskey. So I think it was at TPF in fact Chris Franchi gave me a I'm not joking you a bucket of cinnamon whiskey it had like 25 shots and all right that's great that's easy to smuggle I mean that's easy to go from hotel room to hotel room and yeah we really did tie one on that night and without telling stories I mean who was there we know that Steve Ritchie was there Antoinette Johnson was there John Borg was there. Boy oh boy that was a lot of fun a lot of fun. It was It's a lot of fun. Okay, it's so funny because I was talking to my oldest who's 25. Shane is 25 and he doesn't drink either except like me when you're away from home, when you have no responsibilities, you don't have to drive anywhere, you don't have to answer a call for kids being sick or anything that requires an emergency. You are on vacation and especially the place like a resort where they're giving it to you for free or Vegas where you gamble and you get it for free. Hello, sign me up, TPF, they were just flowing, so that's what happens and then of course in Australia in January at the Pinball Profile World Tour event those guys decided every time you play me or beat me I have to drink so good times. Okay, so are you saying that you drank a lot or drank a little because people had to drink when they beat you? No, no, no, no, I had a lot to drink that night and then do you know what the last time I got hammered was on this show. That's right. Our first shutdown of coronavirus and we did that little, I don't even remember, I haven't listened to that show since. I know we were hammered, I know everyone else was hammered. Was it like a trivia thing we did or something? I can't even remember. It was trivia and then I think we had like a bonus word and every time that word was said we all had to take shots. Sorry about that, apologies now but we are now more mature, it's coming into 2021. Are we? No, it's not. I don't know. Oh, I should have done one for this. But no, no, no. You know what? I can't. I can't do it right now. And you're probably a little hung over yourself. So we'll just do a normal show as far as final round is concerned. Yeah, with inverted commas that you can't see a normal show. Speaking of normal shows, we all got a little Christmas gift early when you and Ryan C gave us an out of nowhere head to head pinball podcast. I listened to that guaranteed within the first hour or dropped. Yeah, it was fun. I mean, it just seemed the right thing to do. I mean, it sounds weird me even talking about it like that. But, you know, when I decided that there was going to be no more head to head, I, in my mind, I'm the kind of person that's not, I'm not very nostalgic. So throughout the year, I cannot tell you how many people have reached out saying, can you do another episode? And I think it was That was because Joe and I had done our final episode but nobody knew it was the final episode. There was no real goodbye. We did a goodbye on the Facebook page and on our website but there was no episode that really said goodbye so I don't think there was closure and I never ever wanted to do another head to head again because I've moved on. I've got final round. Ryan's now doing Jessie J and Joe's doing Pinball Players Podcast. Closed captioning provided by Niall

  • “I would imagine for a lot of people, this is their only kind of pinball content... But what breaks my heart is some of these streamers are getting maybe 30, maybe 40 viewers or you watch something as exciting as Pin Slash and that tops out at 400.”

    Geoff Teolas @ ~35:00 — Expresses concern about pinball content monetization and viewership disparity vs. other gaming content

  • “I wish I was a Bob Ross Call of Duty player. I wish I was one of the best players in the world. I would be sitting on shitloads of cash right now if that was the case. Unfortunately, it's pinball so it's a bit of a smaller community”

    Geoff Teolas @ ~40:00 — Acknowledges pinball's niche market limitations relative to mainstream gaming revenue potential

    • Ryan C
    person
    Lauraperson
    Final Round Pinballorganization
    Pinball Networkorganization
    Head to Head Pinball Podcastorganization
    Pinball Profileorganization
    This Week in Pinballorganization
    Twippies Awardsorganization
    Pinball Industry Awards (PIAs)organization
    Reach Arounds Awardsorganization
    Texas Pinball Festivalevent
    ICRorganization
    Heavy Metal Meltdownevent
    Pin Slashorganization
    RB FlipFranceorganization
    Straight Down the Middle: a pinball showorganization
    Pinball Players Podcastorganization
  • ?

    competitive_signal: Martin Robbins organizing competitive pinball matches via Discord/Facebook with ICR format due to arcade closure restrictions

    high · Martin Robbins: 'I've been doing is setting up on either Discord or Facebook. This week's topic is Pinball Profile... Heavy Metal Meltdown'

  • ?

    regulatory_signal: Martin Robbins deliberately challenging DMCA enforcement by streaming with copyrighted music, risking strikes and consequences; acknowledges international scope of enforcement

    high · Martin Robbins: 'I'm just pushing it as far to see if I can get that strike... it's on their servers, which is international. It's a mess.'

  • ?

    community_signal: Strong interpersonal bonds in pinball community evident through holiday gathering stories (Christopher Franchi's whiskey gift, Texas Pinball Festival gathering, Joe/Paul Leslie engagement)

    high · Detailed stories of drinking at TPF with Stern/JJP designers; congratulations on Joe/Paul Leslie engagement; Christopher Franchi's gift

  • ?

    content_signal: Multiple pinball-focused podcasts and shows competing for audience attention; RB FlipFrance noted as second most-reviewed despite francophone niche audience

    medium · Discussion of various podcasts (Head to Head, Final Round, Pinball Profile, Straight Down the Middle, RB FlipFrance); debate about review solicitation vs organic engagement

  • ?

    product_concern: Major reviewer and voter concern: inability to play newer games (Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland, Hot Wheels) before voting affects award credibility

    high · Geoff Teolas: 'The games this year, I haven't played Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland. I can't... How could I possibly say Avengers is better than Hot Wheels if I haven't played it?'

  • $

    market_signal: Award shows generate web traffic, subscriptions, and revenue through voting and engagement mechanics; debate about whether this diminishes legitimacy

    medium · Martin Robbins: 'these votes, they are without question a way to generate web hits... you click and vote, maybe part of a mail subscription'

    • 6:17
    You gave us yet another award show. How dare you? We already have one award show. How dare you give us the twerpies? Well, come on. That's old. It's not like we've introduced it. We brought back the twerpies just for shits and gigs. It was pretty awesome. I enjoyed it. But unlike your last episode when you signed off, I think it was 1-22 with Joe. And by the way, congratulations to Joe and Leslie. They got engaged over the holidays. They got engaged. Congratulations, guys. It's awesome news. They're both such lovely people. They've been together for a long time, so it was very nice to hear. Congrats. But you didn't say goodbye on this episode of Head to Head either, so does that mean the door is open? Please say yes, please say yes. We haven't spoken about what's going to happen with Head to Head. I would say if we've done it once, the door is still slightly open. But, you know, what that means... I mean, what was really interesting was, recorded, edited, did the image, everything still worked. Upload to the same location, WordPress still work, just click a button. It was all there a year later. It was just easy to do. I think the big challenge that we had with head-to-head was, and you know this with Pinball Profile doing four interviews a month. It's the interview part of it that really is the challenge. So it was much easier just Ryan and I recording just talking to each other and then upload it. That makes it more Tert Shoot for holidays, I guess. We don't have any guests. I have put out tons and tons of feelers. I mean, maybe somebody will call us during the show. We'll pick up, hopefully, fingers crossed, but I guess we'll just have to do it ourselves. Fake it till we make it. Yeah. It's Christmas. People are very busy. There's machines that need to be built and sent out. So, I don't know. Let's just take this time to say thank you to everybody in the pinball community for surviving 2020. We talked about it last episode for releasing some spectacular games this year and though we didn't get to go out and play competitive pinball as much as we wanted to, we still got to play pinball and we got to experience these new games. So I want to say a big thank you to everybody in the pinball community for keeping it alive for all of us when we really needed it. The pinball manufacturers had a great year in 2020. I know the challenges were there. We hope that we see the arcades pop back. That makes it a little more difficult, especially with their pro-like models, which would be popular for the arcades. But the products have been fantastic. So yeah, let's see. Now you said there's no competitive pinball. Well, let me just tell you this month of December, yours truly has played a ton of competitive pinball and it's on the ICR. I thought, what the hell? And I got to tell you, it's so much fun. So what I've been doing is setting up on either Discord or Facebook Question Nursτost� RailsonsiderI неп warumer James Thu guaranteuse I n gallantry Shank theater pode作 welding adapta мел The WPPR Daisy Dale This week's topic is Pinball Profile. I think I've told her this, I said this on Pinball Profile, I really believe that that was in fact a big reason why the ICR was showing that this might possibly work, you know, with what she did and how many people entered that. Hmm, it's interesting because tomorrow I release my Pinball Profile Top 10 Most Intriguing People of 2020. Will Laura be on that list? You'll have to listen and find out. I don't think I've ever been on that list. Well, let's keep the streak alive. Okay, we were talking about things over Christmas. I haven't even told you this yet, so you're going to kind of laugh in my face. That's fine. Marty, you're a bit of a gamer, correct? That is correct. I am not a gamer. In fact, I have, and my kids make fun of me for occasionally playing blyat, a ps3, not four, three, and they're like dad what're you doing I'm like are you kidding major league baseball 2012 the show is the greatest game ever in the like dad come on so enough of the fucking insults about myself a little gift for Christmas an iPhone 3 my seven is fine I got the ps5 so yes so I was at a drugstore here I was at a drugstore yeah I don't know much about gaming, so I've got my kids saying do this, do this, do this. All right, all right, okay. I just like sports games, but I would like to learn other games too. Those fucking shooter games are so hard. Are you a Call of Duty guy or something like that? No. I'm a... Yes and no. I've played the Call of Duty Black Ops and some of the bonus content that comes with that. What I'm not, I am not a war gamer. Subtitles by the Amara.org community
    12:52
    I'm still playing Cyberpunk 2077 even though it's still crashing and there's still bugs. Besides that, it is, this is my second playthrough. I've got it on a harder difficulty so it's taking a lot longer and this time I'm absolutely taking my time and it is just, it's a phenomenal game and hello Keanu Reeves is in it so it's pretty amazing. Okay, alright. I heard they're making a speed video game so look out for that. That'll be What was the other one? Point Break, the original one. I am an FBI agent. Is that the one with Patrick Swayze? Yes. Oh, double threat. All right, all right, all right, fine. I'm more of a road host, Patrick Swayze guy. Okay? Okay. I thought you might have been more of a Tewong Fu Patrick Swayze, but anyway. No, no, I go for the original. I'm sorry. I'm Adventures of Priscilla. That's my go-to for drag. Okay, fair enough. And in Australia too, right? I was so disappointed when I didn't see that bus, I got to tell you. They're everywhere in Australia. Oh God, we're sick of them. Oh God, not a big shoe on a bus door. You know. Anything else happened in the last couple of weeks? Nah, look, as I said, I have drunk a lot last night. I streamed and possibly one of the biggest streams I've done. So yeah, it is the day after and I am very dusty. So hold on a second. When you say one of the biggest streams, do you mean people watching or how long it was? What do you mean? No, I'm obviously, I'm obviously, I mean the amount that I drank. Oh. But it was also, it was also a big stream. There was a lot of people watching me get drunk. Do you know what it was? I got to tell you, it was a big middle finger to the DMCA. I just played music all night and. So what will happen? Will you get a strike or something like that? Yeah, bring it on. Bring it on. How does that work? So if you VOD it, they mute it, correct? They do mute it and I may get a strike. I've seen the emails that have come to people where they give them a strike. I think it's like, if you do this again, we are going to take action. So I'm just pushing it as far to see if I can get that strike. So it doesn't matter that you're in Australia, DMCA still affects you as well. It's anybody, How is it? And the only way to get to the top of the list is to have a Twitter account. How about that? It's a mess! It really is. Well, it's a mess. It's a mess. You're in Australia. I've been streaming on Twitch and it's on their servers, which is international. It's a mess. It really is. Twitch needs to find a way to pay the people for their copyrighted music, if you will. Yeah, agreed. But here's the thing about Twitch. I've been watching a lot of streamers over the last few weeks, and there are a lot of great ones out there, many on Pinball Network, but many outside as well. There are a lot of people putting a lot of great efforts, a lot of camera, a lot of gear, a lot of money put into it, especially since we can't go to arcades and we can't compete. I would imagine for a lot of people, this is their only kind of pinball content. Yeah, I agree. But what breaks my heart is some of these streamers are getting maybe 30, maybe 40 viewers or you watch something as exciting as Pin Clash and that tops out at 400. That's a freaking amazing event, 400. But Marty, somebody with, I'm just gonna say it, massive, maybe a little bit of cosplay can go on and do absolutely fucking nothing or just chatting and have 5,000 people watching, subscribing and making these people very, very rich. It is disappointing we don't have the same assets to be able to get money for it. I've always been an interesting thing about the fact that we podcast, we stream, we love it, we enjoy it. If it was anything but pinball, we would probably be raking in the money. I wish I was a better Call of Duty player. I wish I was one of the best players in the world. I would be sitting on shitloads of cash right now if that was the case. Unfortunately, it's pinball so it's a bit of a smaller community but you're right. There are also people that are on YouTube, on Twitch that are, you would say I know they're playing games, but one of the channels I did see was a person similar to what you're describing who's playing a video game, but you don't even see the video game. The camera is just... You just see him holding the... ...controller, and it's just on them, and that's it.
    17:19
    And tens of thousands of people watching... It's unbelievable! It's crazy. So we're in the wrong line of business here, Geoff. Hey Marty, you're a good looking man. You've got it. We'll figure a way to make some money out of this because podcasting, what do we have? Two, three, four people listening to this thing? Yep, absolutely. So you would know because you've seen me, I decided this over Christmas that I would try to make myself more attractive to get people on board and yeah, you know it. You know what I did. Marty has gone full mustache, no beard. I have no beard, just a mustache and I am rocking it. I told Ann who by the way, it's no secret, is in love with you, not loves you, in love with you. No, I don't. It's no secret. I told her that, yeah, Marty shaved the beard, he's got just the mustache, I think he's a cop and she said what did he do that for I go I don know I just going to let him go with it I got to try new things I got to get some money coming in All right So the okay we got to figure out what is this ASMR thing So so again all the top streamers here's pinball way down the list. All right. Video games. Yeah. You can be some kid popping off playing some war game and you're going to have hundreds, maybe thousands of viewers. You can be a DJ just standing there and boy, that drives me nuts. And all they do is bounce J.J.:
    19:00
    Like I'm an old man. Get off my lawn. I'm not a DJ type person. No. Again, music is the thing that we always disagree on the most because I'm electronic music, you're rock, so you're always going to be, oh, electronic music isn't real music and I didn't say that. Where's the real drums? No. You said where's the guitar. No, no, no. You said where's the guitar. Okay. I have a problem with the DJs actually. The DJs, there's so many people being streamed right now and they're not really doing anything. They're just bobbing up and down. That's not true. This Week in Pinball, John Papadiuk, Black Water, Kaneda's Pinball Podcast, Twippies Awards, transliteelectronic I'm not going to be a massive defender of DJs. I'm just saying that I think there's a lot more to it than people give them credit. When you say songs being mixed, are you talking like mashups or just the blend to make sure the beats per minute match that you can feed into the next song perfectly and a little I'm going to send you a link to somebody that talks about how it's done and you look and you go, oh, okay, that is probably the art of it is being able to have a set list that keeps everybody in a state of euphoria. The transitions is where you get technical and it's probably more technical than you thought it would be. There you go. I'm not knocking music at all, trust me, I'm not. And they're not, their hands aren't fucking touching anything. What's being done? Nothing. We're not going to be able to get through to you here, so let's move it on. Led Zeppelin knock one, DJ knock one. We're even. Good. Awesome. The end. I'm not a DJ nor do I have any skin in the game there. I'm just saying that it is probably a little bit more technical than people give it credit. So you know what? The great thing about me, just that little commentary is that DJs will come out of the woodwork, maybe shit on me. That's fine. Or maybe edumacate me, which would even be better because then I would, being the big man that I am, come on next show and say, wow, I didn't realize this, this, this, this, this. It's a really, it's a call to action. Tell me why DJs are the cat's ass. That's it. Do it better than what I just did because clearly what I just said had no effect on Jeff. That's fucking terrible. If you can all do a better job, that'd be great. Oh, and then of course the other popular Twitch thing again, just these very attractive people just doing nothing other than being attractive and having a bunch of people online go gaga over them. That's where you get your money on Twitch. We should get into Jeff. How's that mustache looking? Hmm. I think you're onto something. Oh, Marty, the Pinball Network made some news in the last couple of weeks. I don't know if you noticed this, but how dare they have the audacity to put out another award show. There's only allowed to be one award show, Marty. I know. I did feel that a lot of our steam that we generated has now just gone to them. I mean, obviously the reach arounds were the premier awards ceremony of the year, but now we do have the Pinball Industryindustry Awards courtesy of the Pinball Network. But wait a minute, isn't there already the Twippies? How dare there be another award? I know. And the feedback has been as expected. People like, do we really need another award show? Do you need any big? Do you need any? Ah, okay. Are we going to go down this path now of discussing whether we need a work? We're going to talk about the pros and cons of awards in general, and we can be specific or not. So I think it's fair to say the pros of any awards, whether it be the Torpies we just heard on head to head, the Twippies, which have been, I guess this will be the fourth year now of them, the reach arounds, which has everyone excited or the pinball network trying to push these PIAs on everyone, the pinball industry awards. How dare they do that? What's the point of all this? My guess, and this is a pro, is they're entertaining. Yep. They highlight people and machines. You're absolutely right. It creates discussion, I think is also another positive. Okay. Take pinball awards out. Let's talk about all awards. Every industry, media, they all have awards where they want to recognize the best. They want to call out, I guess, stand out things that have happened that either move The genre, the industry, whatever it is forward. Individuals that have done something pretty exceptional that needs to be called out. I think the purpose of these awards are to have people constantly strive to do better each year. There you go. I think of movies. I'm a big movie guy. There's the Academy Awards. There's the Golden Globes. There's the Screen Actors Guild. I'm sure there's the People's Choice. There's other things I don't even know. The BAFTAs, for example. The Logies. Is that what it is in Australia? Yes, it is. It's the biggest joke. Oh, okay. Well, there's even the joke awards too in the Razzies, right? There's a lot of movie awards out there and the same could be said for music. There's the Grammys. Dick Clark started the American Music Awards to basically counteract the Grammys. And by the way, the funny thing about those American Music Awards, you can't win one unless you show up. So, you know, like they all have their own kind of reasons for doing these awards. It's a big show on television. There's the Songwriters Awards. There's all kinds of things in Canada. There's the Juno Awards. There's I'm sure things in Australia. So there's another thing that we sort of probably should have called out as well when I was talking about the purpose of these awards. And I don't know, I think it probably is also one of the major reasons for these things. It's because they generate revenue. Some of these movies that have been relatively obscure all of a sudden get an award and then bang. And I'll give you an example only because I was watching it recently and then I went to Wikipedia. One of my all-time favorite movies is Spirited Away. Oh my god, I love that film. I don't know it. Which one is it? It's a cartoon. It's a cartoon? It's called Spirited Away. I think it was originally in Japan called Chihiro or something. Okay. So this is... So Miyazaki is the director and he studio... Oh, I'm gonna say this wrong. Is it Ghibli, Ghibli? Whatever it is, right? So known for some of the best animated movies of all time and Spirited Away I would say is probably the best of his. Howl's Movinging Castle is another one of my favorites for those people that are into this kind of stuff. And it was big in Japan. It won an Academy Award and then all of a sudden it was in cinemas all over the US and then was just huge. I think when it first got released it was in something like 200 cinemas. Then when it won the Academy Award it was in 700 cinemas. That's the difference. And so if you think about, bring that back to Twippies, the idea is that if you win an award for the best pinball machine, that should generate confidence in people to want to buy that machine, etc. Does that make sense? That would be another pro of awards is that you, listening right now, have a chance to maybe say who wins what. Yeah. And I know that there's, I don't really know the details of the PIAs, I'm sorry. I know it's on the Pinball Network, but it's kind of not our show. There is one category, I think it's the Hall of Fame, that's what you can vote for. So they've got pinball machines from the 70s, 80s, 90s, the aughts, the tens, EMs, and you can vote to put one machine in the Hall of Fame and then I think the other ones are done by quote unquote industry people or something like that, pinball media. I think you can apply if you have a stream or a podcast or some sort of connection. I don't know how it works, But it's all on there on the pinball network. So, you know, I think that's a positive that people get to have their vote, their say for their favorites. But that can also be a con too. And I think that goes for any of these awards in the pinball community is I saw this comment come up when the pinball industry awards were up and they asked, well, does everybody that's voting know every game and has played every game? Well, can't that be said about the other awards? Can't that be said about the Twippies? I personally, my hand, Jeff Teolas, I won't vote for any of these because I don't feel I am qualified. And I'm not trying to toot my own horn, but I'm pretty fucking connected. I play a lot. I go to a lot of tournaments. I talk to a lot of people. I still don't think I'm qualified enough to say, geez, I can't say this person's the best streamer because I haven't seen everybody that's nominated. I can't say this is the best podcaster because I haven't heard everyone. That wouldn't be fair. I just don't feel comfortable. Games this year, I haven't played Rick and Morty. I can't I'm going to vote for the best game. Yeah, I was going to say I haven't played Hot Wheels yet. So how could I possibly say that Avengers is better than Hot Wheels if I haven't played it? Oh, but people will say, but I've seen it on a stream. That's good enough. To me, it's not. Yeah, that's great. You've seen it. Maybe you've done the research and you've looked and you've gone through the codes and all kinds of stuff. That's great. But to me, I don't feel I am qualified until I put my hands on the thing. Yeah, sure. Again, I'm just going to, I'm going to liken it to other awards that are out there. And obviously we're talking, there's industry awards and then there's the public vote. The public vote, which is really the favorite, right? That one is always skewed because it's in the hands of the public. You don't know whether they've seen everything to have a valued opinion. It's just a popularity vote and that's fine. And then you've got the industry as well. I made this I was talking about the suggestion a while ago about the trippies as well is that you should have a 50-50. 50% of the vote comes from a vetted committee of people that you know have played everything and then 50% of it's the public vote. It's Eurovision rules, right? That's how they had to do that because of all the block voting that they had in Europe. A country would always vote for another country or a country would never vote for another country because of political reasons, whatever. The way you try and even that out is do you give 50-50% of the vote to industry people? will be as well, all clips will appear. Trans protection process will happen when your answers make the state giants. You get it. Museum efforts Porsche, I'm going to bring up a good point here. One of the positives or negatives, depending on how you look at it, is what these things do, these votes, they are without question a way to generate web hits. Sure. And that's any of these things, that's any of these awards. I'm not naming one in specific, but these are definitely ways to get you to click to their website, put in the votes, maybe part of a mail subscription. You know what I mean? Like you can subscribe here, give you more information. Sure. Great, good, that's how you gotta do it. Have you ever heard of RB FlipFrance? No. Well let me tell you about it. It is a francophone community of pinball and enthusiasts, collectors, they offer all kinds of programs as well as live game videos to help you discover recent and old machines with Rudy, Cesar, and Julian. I'm sure it is a wonderful, wonderful show. Did you know that it is the second most reviewed show on This Week in Pinball's promoters database? I've got eight reviews. Cool. Have you ever heard of it? Well, no. I'm not in France. No, no, that's a good point. I guess what I'm saying about these web hit things, hey everybody, can you vote for us? Hey, can you give us a review? Hey, can you do all that kind of stuff? Well, does that make it the best? Well, it depends again. We've had this argument many times, Jeff, whether it's the best or whether it's the favorite. Those two things aren't the same. I'm not shitting on RB Flip France. In fact, I'm going to go out of my way to watch it because I'm sure it is quite good. But when all the I'm sorry. I mean, to me, and you and I have fucking no reviews on any of our podcasts. That's great. That's fine. But if we actually got one, we'd feel pretty good because it would be unsolicited. I would feel better about that. Even if they said zero stars, you know, somebody went out of their way to say you suck. All right, that's great. I want to thank you for watching. I'll see you next time. Bye. I want people to go to the promoters database now and give us zero stars and say you suck. Please do. Yes. Fuck. We don't give a shit. We don't. Look, okay. It is something that you and I have discussed behind the scenes and on podcasts before and it always gets us in trouble. Who cares? My take on it is this. If this gives people joy and it's a way of celebrating, then go for it. I don't care how the votes are done, whether it's solicit or unsolicit, paid for, unpaid for, just, I don't know, have fun and enjoy it. One of the big things that we've often said behind the scenes is it would be good to have industry awards and we've now got industry awards as well as the public popularity vote. Those two things, they can coexist. I'm glad that they exist and I'm looking forward to celebrating when it happens. I mean, you know, last year obviously we had to have the The Twippies done virtually and I believe it's going to be the same because TPF has been officially cancelled for 2021 so I think they're going to do another video awards again and that was fun to watch and I just think have a bit of fun and don't get too worked up in the results and don't get angry all Avengers should have won and it had the best art. I never get angry. No, I could care less. I know. My take on it is this. If I can summarise, I don't watch any award show. All because I enjoy what I've enjoyed. I don't need somebody to tell me that what I enjoyed is better or worse than something else. I just want to enjoy it. You don't makes me sick, though, is when I'll hear podcasters, because I listen to a lot of podcasts, say, please, please, please say, Hey, you know, vote for us or give us give us the one I've laughed the most. Please give us a review. Please give us review. And then their next podcast like, holy shit, we're on the front page. Wow, I guess I guess we're doing really well here. And I'm like, wait a minute, the last show you just begged for people. So it's not, why are you patting yourself on the back? Don't bother me, Jeff. Good for them. I guess. Not bothered. But the reason I guess it bothers me is because I see a lot of unfortunate, real drama and almost venom come out of people on Pinside, on podcasts, not so much on streams. And that's what I don't like. I will promote, and you will too, I know you will, and we bring them on this show, I was being polite waiting for you to finish. I really want to full stop it if I can by saying it's every competition. When it's competitive, Accessorize ease to the Even in pinball competitions there are people that have got great great positive competitive spirit They just don care who wins as long as it a great time and you fought for the and you won And then there people that are really negative about the competition and they try to bring it down so they can be better That that in everything and it also in negative as well It just the nature of competition some people handle competition Well others don't and sometimes it can bring everybody down and that's going back to my point before I just want to enjoy What I liked I don't need somebody telling me that what I like is shit for example I want to be able to watch Wonder Woman
    36:51
    1984 with Capt.oter I know with all the awards that are created, I know with the Twippies that were created, it was to promote and highlight all the different aspects of pinball, and there's all kinds of different categories there. It does shine a light. Unfortunately, it's the comments you read on Pinside and people, you know, are passionate. I guess that's good. You've got your favorites and all that and they, you know, they want to pit people against each other. I don't really think, I don't have any enemies in this industry, thank God. You know, if I fuck up, I fess up. That you know of. No, no, no, no. I'm sure. Listen, I'm not saying I'm loved or liked by everyone. By God, no, that's not the case. But if I make a mistake, if I say something incorrect, I'm man enough to say, okay, you know, I apologize. Thanks for helping me understand what I was wrong about and we move on. Most people can accept that as I would if it was the other way around. It's such a small community, right? We want everyone to kind of get along. Yeah. Okay, what I've learned, Marty, is that awards are great and we need more of them. And thank God we are doing that here on Final Round. I'm really glad you came around to my view. The reach arounds have been the talk of the pinball community for months and months and we've been teasing it. We have a date in which these are going to be awarded. It's January 27th. But what is up for grabs? That's the question. And there are several reach arounds and they could be yours. Shall we go through the categories, Jeff? Please. Okay, so the first reach around is the where did that come from reach around? So this is a pinball feature we didn't know that we needed. What would be something in this category do you think Jeff? Um, how about the pin bar or maybe the subway lock that we saw on Avengers or maybe the Led Zeppelin spinner mech. There's all kinds. Or even the front speakers on Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland. We didn't know we need them but there they are. You wanna blast my balls with some music? I'm all for it. Absolutely. The next category is the ginger reach around. Hold on a second here. You've perked my interest. What is the ginger? The ginger is for the best voice work in pinball either in a machine or a podcast, a stream or a cameo somewhere pinball related. And I'm not eligible, am I? No, you are not but it's pretty subtle where this award name came from. The Ginger. Okay. There are other reach arounds. How about this one? You could get the stall balls reach around. I would love a stall balls reach around. But I could possibly be eligible because this is the best cancellation of 2020 and my tournament, the Melbourne Silverball Championship, it was cancelled. So I could be eligible except these awards aren't open to staff and friends of FunAround. So, but I know very disappointing. I would have really enjoyed this reach around. So are we glad something got canceled in 2020 because there were a lot to choose from for me personally, physically. I'm like, okay, you know, the sanctum, I probably would have been crazy enough to do that 24 hour tournament again, but I feel a little bit better, a little healthier now that they didn't have to do that, but I still want the sanctum to exist. No, of course, but let me put it another way. I mean, again, unfortunately, staff are far and around and their friends and family are not eligible, but I would say one of the best cancellations of 2020 was no more fucking pinball profile world tours. The fact that that was cancelled, I think that would get my vote. Yeah. 400 people showed up for that and it was sold out for many events, but whatever. Go. That's fine. Let's move on to the next reach around, assholes. The next one is the follow through reach around. This is the best use of the COVID lockdown. We have seen some interesting innovations in 2020. Lots of streamers, lots of new podcasters. How about online tourneys? Yeah, absolutely. There was also, you know, Expo that turned into the virtual Expo. What about Ping Clash? That was, you know, a cool use of making good in everybody being locked I have to admit I do like this one and it was actually suggested from somebody you can see on Melbourne silverball dr curly text a C Borg he suggested the sharp focus reach around what is that so this is when second place is good enough so this is for an individual or an organization or a group that are the second best at something so it could be Whoever is currently number two on the IFPA. You know, you think we're just giving these things away. No, these are actual physical reach around trophies. People, I'm just pointing out, like they're actually being made. You think we're joking, we're not. That's why we've delayed a little bit, but there's actually a prototype of this trophy and they could be yours. Especially these next one because these ones have a buy it now feature. Absolutely. And the first category is the five days reach around. Again, comes from Stacy Borg. What is this? This is where Jeff and I will talk you up so much that expectations will far exceed anything that you can possibly deliver. Can you imagine that endorsement from Marty and myself, just us going on and on? Like, we will social media blitz the shit out of this thing. We will just hype up this for five days. But of course, you gotta buck up, alright? All right, we're doing this crap for free. It's time for you to dig deep in your wallet. All right, you want an award? You got to pay for it. That's the way most awards are won.
    43:29
    And that's what you do with these reach arounds. Well, and how about this next one? The keep your mouth shut reach around. This is where Jeff will never be allowed to mention his pinball profile world tour ever on this podcast. And I would say on any podcast. Let me get this straight. So if somebody and please don't feel like you have to do this, But if somebody were to actually buck up and pay for this award, I'm never allowed to mention that ever again? Mm-hmm. Correct. All right. A little tit for tat here. You can also win the dry reach around. I know you'd prefer it a little lube, but trust me, the dry reach around is awesome because that means if you buy this, Marty cannot drink on Melbourne Silverball for one month. I'm not a madman. I can't cut you off forever. That would be maybe dangerous. I hope that he's bad enough. If you'd said one week, I would have been going, geez, but a month? That's okay. You're cutting me off from my pinball profile world, Turwin. Yeah, you got to go at least a month if I got to never mention that again. We have got our vices. I get it. I get it. We get a lot of requests to come on this show and quite honestly, we say, beat it. Go to another shitty podcast. We only bring on the best or you can pay to come on. Either is fine. You can win the give it a try reach around. So por la ventana work out my backylene况 AND please set the captions for sharing and sharing and sharing in the comment box below, so we can't get it going anymore and keep doing this stuff! Out the window. And in this next category is near and dear to me. Jeff, this is the look at me, reach around. So this is a little special thing we've done. You know, one thing we have a lot of pride in and it's all you Marty, let's be honest, is every podcast we come out with a pretty funny image and we've got a good collection of these. So we're going to make this into a special photograph, but not just any special photograph. You're going to be included on that. So it's like, look at that, me and the final round guys together. And this is limited only to 25. We're only going to do 25 of these and they'll be signed by Marty and myself with your photo on it as well. What a keepsake. An honor, I would say. The look at me reach around. Okay. So it's not a trophy, but it's this incredible limited This week's topic is the show us your bits. Reach around. Now that's kind of a double meaning. I know that means something different in Australia, correct? Well it means everything. Bits. Bits is what you get when you stream on Twitch. People give you their bits. I think there are a few bits in some of your budgie smugglers too if I recall. Absolutely. We can't just give this to the best streamer. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's what the Twippies are for and maybe some acknowledgement on the PIAs. But here on final round, if you want to show us your bits reach around, that is for a mediocre streamer or podcaster. Still a great honor and you have a reach around to show it. I think you should bid on it right now. Absolutely. If you're thinking to yourself, there's absolutely no way I'm actually going to get a legitimate award. I mean, not that the reach arounds aren't legitimate, but if you're not going to get one of those other industry All right, so this is the one for you. This is the one you can put on your mantle. Every time you stream, every time you podcast, it'll be right there. Get the show us your bits reach around. I'm telling you, you'll want it. Absolutely. And then the last category we've got is the talk of good game reach around. This is a free one. You don't have to buy it at all. Anybody can win this. So all you need to do to get the talk of good game reach around is go to the promoter's database on this week in pinball. Give us a review. It can be zero. This Week in Pinball, Johnny Pneumonic, Black Water, Kaneda's Pinball Podcast, Twippies Awards, transliteelectronic You qualify for this award.
    48:09
    Especially, especially if you copy and paste one of the reviews in French. Oh, please. You get double votes by the way, alright? You get two extra chances. If you put it in a language that's not English, double the votes, alright? But if you copy somebody else's, oh, that's even better. Let's do it. Absolutely. Yep, for sure. And Jeff Patterson, I know you're listening. Don't discredit those, alright? We will speak French on the next episode to prove that they're legitimate. Yes. We will change our names to either Rudy, Caesar or Julian. You can't take those votes away from us. Those are ours, Jeff Patterson. Come on, buddy. Oh, those reach arounds, they always feel good, don't they, Marty? Absolutely. Who doesn't want a good reach around, especially from Jeff and Marty, right? Best reach arounds in the biz, got to tell you. You get a trophy, we get paid, everybody's happy. Okay. There's only one way to really get paid on this show Marty and you know what that is. It must be our sponsor of the week. Why do we do this podcast or any of the videos, any of the stuff we do? The joy of pinball, a way to give back. But the time, the energy, we bust our asses, we put out free content and all they want is more and more and for what? Couple of listeners on the podcast, a few viewers on the stream? I agree. It would be nice to reap some rewards. How can we make 2021 different? We are going to turn this audio magic into video gold. You don't mean Twitch. But with DMCA crackingdown and tons of pinball streamers, how will we stand out? Ah ah ah ah, you're not thinking about the bigger picture. In 2021, like, follow and throw a sub at the new Final Round ASMR Twitch channel. Shouldn't we be doing pinball? Screw it. Just make sounds. We do it anyway. Give it a try. Marty, rub your mustache on Hey, I can hear the money rolling in already. Jeff, give me a sound. Okay. Those are my potato chips, but not just any chips. They're the chips that missed my mouth and landed on my shirt. They're second attempt chips. How's this one? What could that be? Is that my first bottle of gin? Or fifth? Like and subscribe to find And don't forget about our private subscription, the OnlyFans Twitch feed. Here's a sneak peek.
    50:40
    You'll have to sub up to find out what I'm scratching. What about those people that like a little bit of rough play in their private lives, Jeff? With the OnlyFans subscription, you'll get these sounds of pure torture. Josh Sharpe, master of not winning tournaments. Not like this! Mathematically. Thank you! It's the final round ASMR Twitch channel coming soon. Marty, it's the doorbell. Who is it? He could possibly be there at the door at this time of the day. Ciao in saio Sicario, let me introduce you to my pals Marty and Steve. Oh my god, the puppet pals Marty. Hi pals Marty. Well howdy Mr. Marty and Mr.Jeff. Boy we sure are excited to be with you today. Hello Steve. Fancy you joining our little dinky podcast. Aren't you off doing a quest? Oh you're right Mr. Marty. We're on a quest if you haven't heard already for the ancient pinball relics so we can restore peace and balance to the pinball hobby. We already found the pinball armor of fortitude and next it's on to the pinball strands of wisdom. Oh Jesus Steve, Marty Jeff, can I say something please? Go ahead Moppy. Yeah, go for it Moppy. Look, I'm tired, Steve's got me going all around the world looking for these pinball relics and now I have to come on this stupid fucking podcast with you asshats. That's not very nice Moppy, but I appreciate it. Well Moppy... Oh, that's Rory. That's Rory. Is that Rory? Yup, I'm here too, just playing the piano. I was just telling Moppy, it's a real honor to come on your show, cause everyone else just thinks we're a bunch of silly puppets. You've got that right, Rory. It sure is an honor to be on the Final Round Pinball Podcast, and this is our first interview. Oh, it's so nice to be able to do this. There's not many other pinball podcasts out there that would take a chance on interviewing a bunch of puppets. Am I right? I think puppets have been screwed for years and years and years. Let's not forget about the wool shortage of 1984. There's always the Muppet envy thing to be concerned about and it goes without saying that in the puppet world there is inappropriate fingering. That is commonplace. You wanna talk about fingering? Why don't you ask Steve about fisting? Happy! I really appreciate you saying that Mr. Jeff. You know, you truly are a puppet advocate. That's really one of the reasons we wanted to start our puppet podcast because there's not a lot of advocacy for puppets in the The pinball hobby and you know we're taking up that mantle doing what we can to provide the best darn puppet content we can for our fellow puppet brethren and for the pinball hobby at large Marty you know what sucks for the poor puppets is that there's the Twippy Awards there's now these PO Awards there's nothing for puppets like they're actually not allowed to qualify for any of these that's bullshit well Jeff I reckon you've mentioned two awards you haven't mentioned what is possibly the Textlio Falcone, The reach arounds. Oh, Mr. Marty, I don't even know what to say. It would just be an honor to receive any nomination for any type of award in this hobby. I mean, there's so many wonderful content creators and to be considered for a reach around. Oh, it just fills my heart with joy. Makes me want to leap in the air. We were talking about getting you a reach around and I think probably the best way for you to win and I going to call it the hand up reach around is for each of the puppet pals to tell us why they should get a reach around Jeff and I will decide which of the puppet pals gets the award Okay well I guess I get started Oh to get a reach around would be just so super swell I mean to receive any type of award, for all the hard work and effort that we're putting into the hobby right now as puppets, it would just be such an honor. I envision it, I'm on my knees, with my eyes closed waiting for my reach around, and I just hope one day I sure do get it. Steve, there's no way in hell I'm going to let you perverts near me. Well, we've still got to hear from the rest of the Papa Pals whether they want to reach around. So far, Steve, you are absolutely in the running. I'd love a reach around, but I'm so worried right now with the pinball hobby and everything else that's going bad with the curse. Oh, you're right, Rory. It's just a horrible time in the pinball hobby. This curse that plagues the land is just sucking the life out of everything. It's canceling tournaments. Yeah, what's going on with this Pinball Enthusiast National Invitational Slam Pro-Am of the Stars? Is that thing gonna happen or what? We really have no idea. And thank you for bringing it up because I'm so shocked, super shocked that no one is talking about this gigantic tournament. Not any pinball podcast, not any live streams, nothing. So we just don't know. And I don't know if you heard on our most recent podcast, but the entire country of Australia had to pull out. This curse is horrible. I always put out late. It's pretty hard. We can't travel. So it's very difficult for us to get over there. So, you know, on behalf of all Australians, I'm sorry that we can't make it. Marty, I think the only thing that could save us is maybe a song. Oh, I think song heals everything. Oh, you're right, Mr. Jeff. A song would be super swell. And I know just the right song, everybody. How about a song about your new awards on the Final Round Pinball Podcast? Oh, just think. A prestigious pinball award that's even open to puppet kind. Think we have a chance, Moppy? Could we win? Jesus Steve! Gather round and hear our testimony Like nothing seen on sea or sky or ground A most prestigious pinball ceremony The reach around Imagine that fine day all robed in glory We'll line up one by one anxiously Yes! A pinball will hear tale of our story. The ReachAround
    57:27
    ReachAround From Mr. Jeff and Marty That's so gross. ReachAround We're all here on our knees I'm not getting on my knees Steve The envy of our fellow pinball podcasts. The wish they could be us, oh don't you see? When measured pound for pound, it truly will astound. This prime pinball award show we all call the reach arounds. Oh just think pals, the whole community would take it seriously. Seriously, Mr. Marty, Mr.Jeff, do you think you could videotape this? When we get our reach arounds, reach arounds, oh final round what can we do? Reach arounds, reach arounds, we'll all perform for you. Oh yes we all perform for you. Mr. Marty please be oh so gentle. For what you hold we treasure with our lives. A very fine award we truly can't afford. But Mr. Jeff is oh so giving with his reach around.
    59:02
    Can I just say, I mean I know there are people out there and different things tickle their fancies. You guys are trying to get a reach around, but I have a feeling there are a lot of people out there that would love to actually receive a reach around from a puppet. I'm just saying that might float their boat. I could be wrong. Well, I think that's only fair. It's like a reciprocal award, right? I get to reach around and then I get to pick another super swell pinball content creator to give a reach around to. Oh, who can I give a reach around to? I know, I'll pick Mr. Dr. Pin cuz he's super nice and super swell and I just love to give him a reach around. I think that is a fantastic choice. Oh Mrs. Pin is gonna be jealous. She is gonna be jealous but she won't have to give a reach around this year. That's right. It's not fooling around if it's a puppet. I think that's the standard rule. Oh we never fool around silly. We take our role in pinball media very seriously. Awesome. I look forward to meeting you in person one day, Steve. Oh, that'd be super neato, Mr. Marty. Maybe at a pinball show, we can have a pinball reach around after party. That'd be swell. Steve, Moppy, Rory, Zacario, thank you very much for coming on. I know your time is limited here. We appreciate it, especially during the holidays. I hope nobody pulled that old puppet prank on you on Christmas where they say, Hey Steve, hey Moppy, do a handstand and you do a handstand and then some jackass throws a bunch of candy canes in you like you're a stocking. I think that's bullshit. Well Mr. Marty, Mr.Jeff, as our time here draws to a close, we just wanted to thank you so very much for inviting a bunch of silly puppets onto the Final Round Pinball Podcast. Oh what an honor to talk about puppet rights, tournaments, and the reach arounds with you today. Oh, and if you want to find out more about the Puppet Pals, you can visit our Facebook page. We have one of those. Or email us at puppetpalspodcast at gmail.com. And oh, that's Puppet Pals with a Z. We spell it with a Z. So we'll just talk to you real soon. We had a great time. Guys, didn't you have a good time too? Sure, Steve. I had a swell time. Si. Ciao, pals. Amore, Jeff. You can go fuck yourself, okay? Bye. Feat. So, in the spirit of competitions, let's talk about another competition that we ran! Oh, did we? Because I saw a straight down the middle video that ran 1-2 in a way, although it was just two people voting. But what are you talking about? I'm talking about the underrated pinball battle royale people's choice and we had a total of 2,516 votes. That is pretty impressive and you're right when you say people's choice because we let for the most part the 32 games being picked, picked by you, the ones listening. There were four nominated by us, if I can remember, Flight 2000 was mine. What did you have Jeff? I don't even remember. Oh, you had Devil's Dare. I had Austin Powers. Didn't make it past the first round. I think that's an absolute travesty. Shitty spinner. Hit the toilet all day. Probably. Too much bossanova. That was it. Your other one was 8BallChamp. Did that make it out of the first round? No. No, it didn't. I think the Flight2000 made it through to round three and your Devil's And your devil's day was out first round and an April champ. So we didn't do well, but I tell you what did well. I'll go to the round four where the top four really was no fear dangerous sports, Harlem Globetrotters, big game and World Poker Tour. I have to think that World Poker Tour surprised me. Deep code, no question about it. You were talking about this on the last show, just that wide open playfield. The shots are so far, far away. Well, it's underrated. Decent upper playfield if you really want to think about it. Yeah, I just, again, that was the nature of this competition that we had was just to call out games that are considered underrated. I don't think necessarily a lot of people have liked it. It came out in an era that didn't get a lot of press. But, you know, it beat Monopoly in the first round, Black Rose in the second round and then Last Action Hero in the third round. So it did quite well and then got knocked out by Big Game in the fourth round. So it did well. One thing I want to call out though with this is probably the biggest bit of feedback that we got was Harlem Globetrotters because everyone was saying, what? Harlem Globetrotters? How's that possibly underrated? Underrated. Well, I think at the time it was 182 on Pinside. Yeah, so that was the criteria. It couldn't be in the top 100. And to me, if it's a great game, it should be in the top 100. So So, if that was 182, that's a crying shame. There are not 180 better games than Harlem Globetrotters. Yeah. The highest ranked one was Earthshaker at 111. And also, we understand pin side the rating system and a lot of the newer games get a bit more of a boost because they get more played than these older games. But ultimately, Harlem Globetrotters won the underrated battle. It was up against big game. Again, I'm just really impressed that these older games, these solid states get a mention. But yes, Harlem Globetrotters obviously is a fantastic game, but it is sitting at 182. That's probably changed since we started the competition. But you know what? If you want this to be higher, go to Pinside, do a review and bump it up. Now that's a little different than what we saw in Straight Down the Middle. Yeah. So their top one was Lethal Weapon 3. We had that in our original 16, didn't we? We did indeed. So that has been called out. There were three games I noticed that were not either in our first underrated battle royale or this one, the people's choice. And those were the Beatles. And the reason the Beatles wouldn't have made it is because it is a top 100 game. So didn't count for us. But I do think the Beatles is underrated. I do agree with straight down the middle because... I absolutely agree with that. It is such a good game. The price sucks, that's it. Yeah, yep, but as far as just sheer fun, absolutely nails it. Yeah, they also had Popeye. I know. Do you like that game? Yeah, I wouldn't say I love it, but I would agree in that it is underrated. I think it's better than people give it credit. To me, the thing that bothers me, it's not that it's a wide body or super wide body or whatever it is. It's just the number of shots. This week in Pinball Podcast, Terminate Worker, John Papadiuk, Black Water, Kaneda's Pinball Podcast, S4 Eight.
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    Top 100 Stranger Things Fast Fast Fast Fast Fast Fast Fast Fast Starter I still want to play Stranger Things a lot more than I have because I do really want to like it. Because I love the theme, I really do want to like that game. I just don't. I don't like the game at all. I love the theme. I don't like the artwork on the back glass. I think that's pretty weak. I don't like that it's very similar to Attack from Mars and Medieval Madness, which are great games. It's just the weaker of the three. I don't like the rejects from those center stand-ups. I don't like that the Demi Gorgon is now a bash toy when that's not what it was made for. And I don't really want to be bashing that thing. Even if it is a bash toy, you should be going in the mouth. Anyway, the left ramp rejects, but this is just me and the few times I've played it. And the reason I don't want to play it again, but Raymond Davidson, who is the number one player in the world, says his game is dialed in and he certainly enjoys it. Well, if it's dialed in, okay, great. That's awesome. But I haven't played it It all started for…. Drill maker, Drill pacman, Jordan
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    2 Recorded 3 quietly however Nun bantan L I feel it could just with more time on it. You know when I was in Sydney, it had just kind of come out and Rod Nosborn came to meet me in Sydney. We were at Frankie's Pizza to start off but he said, hey, down the street there's a Stranger Things. So we went down the street, played Stranger Things. I played two games and I was like, I'm kind of done here. I think the other game was Ghostbusters so I was really screwed. I was like, oh, that's fucked. There goes my night. But anyway, back to Frankie's. Yeah, I just I couldn't enjoy it and we'll see. I'll try it again. But good for straight down the middle doing that. They're probably doing a most overrated game too, which will be very interesting to see. Considering flipping out sells games. I'm dying to see what he calls most overrated. Well, we were going to do a most overrated as well. Do you still want to do it and compare? We will do it. But here's the thing. I like what you did with this battle royale to where you had the people choose. I think that would be great. By the way, it takes the onus off of us. We don't look like I'm a dickheads if we get everyone else calling it overrated. We can just comment on other people's decisions. I like that. Yes, yes, yes. Let's be the saints that we pretend to be. Yeah, correct. Marty, the next time we talk, it'll be a brand new year. We're going to miss 2020, said no one ever. Yeah, it's been an interesting year, hasn't it, Jeff? But let's talk about, if we can The highlight of 2020. It was us. It was us. We did final round. You know, with all the shit that's happened, we still got final round. You got an episode every fortnight or two weeks if you don't know what fortnight means. You have brought the word fortnight into the North American lexicon. In fact, the video game never did it. But you, Marty, by saying it, now the guys on the pinball show are saying it. I think probably Jessie J's thrown it out there once or twice. Fortnite. Well done. Word of 2020. Well, and there's also another one. And speaking of Jessie J, she is championing this for me as well. It is the phrase Eckie B. Eckie B, your extra balls. I like that. Extra ball. Eckie B. Come on, guys. Bring it up. It's Eckie B. From now on, I want people on streaming and tournaments everywhere you go yelling Eckie B when you get an extra ball. Brilliant idea. They turn off extra balls in tournaments. It tells you how little you play nowadays. It's been so long, right? Yeah. Good to see all those code updates with Stern. Was there one that jumped out to you? Iron Maiden had a huge update. Thank God they finally made that game good. Well done, Keith. It's about time. It was completely unplayable until this code came out. Yes, absolutely. Do you know what? It's an interesting code update because I think that we, you and I, And I'll put my recent head to head episode as well. We're the ones that made that update happen. And I'll tell you why. Because I've been watching people stream Iron Maiden with the new code. Tons. And the one thing I noticed is how much even better it is presented to you as a player and a viewer. All the magic moments that are happening. It makes you feel better playing the game. So I think that we're responsible for that code update. Jeff, you and I. I'll give you the credit for that because you like those magic moments for sure. But we're kidding, of course. The game was, to me, perfect. But now they've got all these animations, scoring's a little different. Yeah, the first day that dropped, I think there were, what, seven, eight different code updates? All I saw was Iron Maiden. Yeah, I know and yeah, everyone was playing it. I'm not somebody that likes to live with regrets. I kind of now regret not having Iron Maiden after seeing the new code. You've had both Iron Maiden and Jurassic Park the limited editions. Can you say which one was your favorite? I would say theme absolutely is Jurassic Park. Game and rules? Iron Maiden. Okay, interesting. Maybe this time in the next two weeks I'll have my first ever limited edition game. Just put the money down on it. We will have to find out until the next fortnight. Hey, look at, I'm doing it now. Nice, nice. My name is Jeff Teolas. My name is Martin Robbins. Thanks everybody for listening to the Final Round Pinball Podcast in 2020. See you next year. Bonne nez-et-mise. That's Happy New Year in French by the way. And buy your reach arounds.