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NYC PinPod·podcast_episode·44m 21s·analyzed·Mar 24, 2025
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.038

TL;DR

NYC pinball league standings, Scrapple Land opens, greatest pinball machine voting begins.

Summary

NYC Pin Pod discusses local pinball league results across multiple divisions, venue updates including the opening of Scrapple Land with 27 machines (largest in NYC), and the first round of the NYCPPAA tournament bracket voting to determine the greatest pinball machine of all time across four eras (electromechanical, solid state, DMD, and flat screen).

Key Claims

  • As of March 21st, 2025, there are 298 pinball machines in New York City at 83 public locations

    high confidence · Stated directly from Pinball Map data by Benjamin Furiga

  • Scrapple Land now has 27 machines and is the largest lineup at a public location in New York City

    high confidence · Benjamin Furiga reports 24 new machines added to Scrapple Land on Friday, March 21st

  • Modern Pinball and Sunshine Laundromat were previously large-format venues before the pandemic

    high confidence · Benjamin Furiga explicitly states 'We had Modern Pinball and Sunshine before the pandemic'

  • Benjamin Furiga attended Scrapple Land on opening Friday and was the 200th visitor

    high confidence · Direct personal account: 'I was told when I walked in because I was given the last of a certain color of wristband that I was the 200th person to be there'

  • Star Trek: Pinball's day was held on Sunday, March 16th with 31 players

    high confidence · Benjamin Furiga reports tournament details directly

  • Iron Maiden has held the title of greatest pinball machine since 2018

    medium confidence · Benjamin Furiga states 'Iron Maiden has been occupying that office since 2018' in reference to the NYCPPAA bracket voting

Notable Quotes

  • “There are other venues of the quality. There are not at the moment other venues of the quantity. And we were spoiled. We had two of them. We had Modern Pinball and Sunshine before the pandemic. It was just a great night.”

    Benjamin Furiga @ ~17:20 — Reflects on the significance of Scrapple Land's opening as the first large-format venue since pre-pandemic closures, addressing a gap in NYC pinball community

  • “I asked myself the question: if I walked into an arcade and there were these four games sitting there, which one do I have to touch right now? And then which one will I touch next? And then what's left? And Centigrade 37 is the one I'm touching now.”

    Benjamin Furiga @ ~23:45 — Explains voting methodology for the bracket: immediate desire to play rather than historical significance or production volume

  • “There's one thing that I've said this before. I've said it about in-laws. I've said it about relatives. There's one thing we can all agree on here in America, and that's Dolly Parton.”

    Benjamin Furiga @ ~45:30 — Humorous commentary on Dolly Parton pinball receiving perfect voting score, attributing success to the cultural appeal of Dolly Parton herself

  • “If I walk in and those four games are there, that's the first one I'm touching. Stars is a close second.”

    Benjamin Furiga @ ~49:15 — Demonstrates voting preference for Funhouse over Stern's Stars in solid state era group

  • “I'm definitely playing Twilight Zone. But in both scenarios, I want to see Twilight Zone, in large part because I'm going to manage the ceramic ball in ways that I think my opponents, most of my opponents, are not thinking of.”

    Benjamin Furiga @ ~58:00 — Indicates competitive strategy emphasis on tournament play preferences in voting decisions

  • “This is the 'why do you make me choose' group. I don't know. Each of these four is in my top three.”

    Benjamin Furiga @ ~74:30 — Reflects on the difficulty of choosing between Theater of Magic, Game of Thrones Premium, World Cup Soccer, and Indiana Jones in DMD era voting

Entities

Benjamin FurigapersonEric SweetlandpersonScrapple LandvenuePinball MapproductNYC Pinball Players Association (NYCPPAA)organizationGlenn GillyardpersonKate Steven MartinpersonAdam KanepersonRobert WongpersonMatthew Carlsonperson

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Glenn Gillyard (NYC Pins operator) sponsoring NYCPPAA tournament with Venom translite and merchandise, indicating operator investment in community engagement

    high · Benjamin Furiga: 'One of those 10 brave pinfolk will win a Venom translite and a Harvest Pint Glass, courtesy of Glenn Gillyard. Glenn is the operator of NYC Pins'

  • ?

    community_signal: High volume of Pinball Map user submissions tracking machine conditions and venue updates in NYC

    high · Reports of user submissions including Mayor of Now, Joel EOL, Sick Hands, Turner T223 tracking machine issues at venues through Pinball Map

  • ?

    community_signal: High participation in NYCPPAA bracket voting with 10 players submitting predictions for greatest pinball machine tournament across four eras

    high · Benjamin Furiga states 'Ten brave pinfolk have submitted brackets to try to determine which pinball machine will be named the greatest pinball machine of all time'

  • ?

    event_signal: Active league play across multiple NYC divisions with close standings and competitive depth

    high · Multiple league results reported: NYCFSA 4-0 with 42 points, Mutants 4-0 with 42 points, Lion Persons 3-1 with 42 points; South Slope Pinball League finals held March 20

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Positive reception to Scrapple Land opening with strong opening weekend attendance (200+ visitors in first night)

    high · Benjamin Furiga: 'I was told when I walked in because I was given the last of a certain color of wristband that I was the 200th person to be there. It was just a great night.'

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.133

0:30
Happy Sunday, pinfolk, or whatever day you're listening. This is NYC Pin Pod, in which a panel talks location pinball in New York City and sometimes nearby surrounding areas. My name is Benjamin Furiga. My initials are BCF, and I'm simply itching to get to Scrapple Land tonight. My name is Eric Sweetland. My initials are HIP. I'm a pinball tournament director in New York City. On this week's pod, we'll run down local competition results in Ball 1, as usual. In Ball 2, we'll give you some venue updates, courtesy of Pinball Map and its users. And in Ball 3, we will reveal the winners of the first round of the NYCPPAA tournament. Let's get started. Let's talk about competitive pinball results over the past week in New York City. On Sunday, March 16th, St. Pintrick's Day was held at a private location in Brooklyn. 31 people gathered to play 10 rounds of group match play under the direction of Kate Martin. The top eight went to A finals, while the following eight went to a B finals. In the end, Adam Kane wins first place in A, followed by CJ Smith, Dante Oliva, and Kate Martin. The top of B was Wes Ulfig, Eric Hedstrom, Nint Hu, and Zen Zokniak, two through four in B. on monday in pinball nyc's left flipper division the new york city flipper sport association went to barcade brooklyn to face off with the deluxe horses and our association took a 10-6 away win fun night always is there special winlet went to mckenna's pub and somehow despite the fact that they were there in that bar on St. Patrick's Day. They won nine to seven over the home team, the two for oners. They also may have been the only people in the bar drinking at happy hour prices all night. Pinball Union went to Salad State to visit the mutants and the home team came away with a 10 to six win. They're making a habit of this winning thing. The lesser players went to Midway and they picked up their first win over Balls of Steel. 8-8 with a tiebreaker. I wish I could tell you more about that, but I don't have it right now. Parliament went just right up Fifth Avenue to the closest venue, now that Dram Shop doesn't have pinball machines, and went to Skylark where they visited their pin pals. Parliament got a 9-7 win. We colliders crossed 15th Street and Fifth Avenue, and we went to visit the aristocrats over at Rulo's. They handed us a hearty loss, 13 to 3. We were super cute.
3:27
We had a fun time playing Banzai Run, and I learned a little bit about how to play Uncanny X-Men. And thankfully, Caitlin taught me quite a bit about how to play it. And unfortunately, we still got our asses handed to us in doubles in round one. But it was a really fun night. I love that place. I love that collection. And I like playing that team. The Lion Persons went to Intermission Dolores, where the home team handed them their first loss 10 to 6. so far the mutants and nyc fsa are four and oh with 42 points lion persons are three in one with 42 parliament three in one with 41 and special when lit is three in one with 33 points if the playoffs started today and we're six weeks we got six weeks to go but if they started today it would be cut off after the first of these teams, although we have a tie. Intermission Dolores and the Aristocrats are both 2-2 with 32 points. Pinball Union 2-2 with 31. Balls of Steel, the Pin Pals, the Lesser Players, and the Deluxe Horses, and the Two for Oners are all 1-3, and we Colliders are 0-4. on Tuesday, March 18th, the trolls went to Rulo's, which is to say that anyone who might identify as a trollider went to Rulo's two nights in a row. And the trolls picked up an eight to eight win, a tiebreak win. Eric, was there a troll story? There was a great troll story this week on Instagram. Go check that out. The Butterballers headed way uptown to at the Wallace to visit the Harlem Globe Flippers, the home team, beat us 11-5. But it was a really fun match with all our upper Manhattan friends, a good chunk of whom are also on my Monday team. Yeah, you didn't have to go to upstate Manhattan on Monday night for your home match this week, but you did have to go for your away match. You got to go. I said that wrong. Yeah, it was upside down week. If only you had played Stranger Things up there. The Pin Babes went to Jack Bar to visit the Schlubs, and the Schlubs won 13-3. No Quarters for Laundry hosted Pinister 6, and they handed the away team a big, big, sinister 14-2 loss. Scrapple Squad went to Barcade Brooklyn to visit Reston Pinball, parenthetically RIP. and Scrapple's squad picked up a 10 to 6 win. They are going to have a new home next week. Baldrainers went to Buttermilk Bar to visit Danger Danger and Danger Danger picked up a 10 to 6 win. Neptune's Treasure had a bye and got their nine points. There is but one team who remain undefeated and they are no quarters for laundry with 52 points. Danger, Danger, the Harlem Globe Flippers, the Schlubs, Neptune's Treasure, and Scrapple's Squad, and also Pinister Six are all three and one. That means we're gonna see a lot of ofers down at the bottom here. Danger, Danger has 45 points. Harlem Globe Flippers, 42. Schlubs, 39. Neptune's Treasure, 37. Ball Drainers, 34. Scrapple's Squad, 33. Pinister Six, 30. Trolls are 2-2. They're the only 2-2 team in this division. They have 21 points. Butterballers are 1-3. They are the only 1-3 team in this division. They have 27 points, slightly better. Oh, 25 points. I'm sorry. I was looking at the replays who are 0-4, but have 27 points. That's pretty good for four losses. Rest in pinball, parenthetically, RIP. are 0-4 with 24 and the pin babes 0-4 with 11. On Thursday, March 20th, it was split flip for fun since it's the third Thursday of the month. Third Thursdays of the month just want to have fun. I remember that Cyndi Lauper song.

“I tried not to consider how you might be assigning the points as I went through them. That's very, there's a lot of integrity that you've shown there.”

Eric Sweetland @ ~78:00 — Comments on voting integrity and coordination between hosts during bracket evaluation process

  • “All of them seemed like number ones to me. All of these, except for Jaws, seemed like not.”

    Benjamin Furiga @ ~95:15 — Indicates fundamental disagreement with Eric Sweetland on group 4 flat screen era game quality assessments

    • Zen Zokniak
    person
    Jess Warrenperson
    Gabriel Chazanovperson
    New York City Flipper Sport Association (NYCFSA)organization
    Metallicagame
    Iron Mangame
    Stern AC/DC Premiumgame
    Theater of Magicgame
    The Big Lebowskigame
    Guardians of the Galaxygame
    Metallica Remasteredgame
    Batman 66game
    Sunshine Laundromatvenue
    Jack Barvenue
    Rulu'svenue
  • ?

    competitive_signal: Ceramic ball management strategy identified as competitive advantage in Twilight Zone tournament play

    medium · Benjamin Furiga states: 'I'm going to manage the ceramic ball in ways that I think my opponents, most of my opponents, are not thinking of'

  • ?

    event_signal: Scrapple Land officially opened March 21, 2025 with 27 machines, becoming largest public pinball venue in NYC

    high · Direct report: '24 new machines were added to the lineup at Scrapple Land... They are now at 27 machines and the largest lineup at a public location in New York City'

  • $

    market_signal: NYC pinball venue landscape consolidation: Scrapple Land fills critical gap left by pre-pandemic closure of Modern Pinball and Sunshine Laundromat, addressing community need for high-capacity venue

    high · Benjamin Furiga: 'It has been a hole in the pinball community's life to not have this kind of venue... There are other venues of the quality. There are not at the moment other venues of the quantity.'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Distinct voting preferences between hosts on game selection despite shared game libraries, indicating different player priorities (competitive meta vs. personal enjoyment)

    medium · Eric Sweetland prioritizes tournament appearance: 'I'm definitely playing Iron Man... I want to see Iron Man pop up on match play' vs Benjamin Furiga's 'which one I have to touch right now' methodology

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Reassessment of classic pinball games based on immediate playability preference rather than historical significance or production volume

    medium · Benjamin Furiga describes voting methodology shift: 'I looked at these groups... and I asked myself the question: if I walked into an arcade and there were these four games sitting there, which one do I have to touch right now?'

    • 7:58
    Twelve teams of two players went to Jack Bar and contested a three strike knockout. G.C. himself, the Gabriel Chazanov, and Gideon took top honors after 10 rounds. Chris Caffaro and Casey Johnson took second place. Jose Garcia and Dante Oliva took third. And Mikey Mike and Imar took fourth. Also on Thursday, the finals of the South Slope Pinball League's first 2025 season were held at Buttermilk Bar. Directed by Kate Martin, eight players contested for A in a Papa-style finals and eight players contested for B in a Papa-style finals. And two players played a four-strikes C finals.
    8:55
    Top of A and the champion of South Shore Pinball League for this season was Matthew Carlson. Second place went to Robert Wong. I came in third place and Zendzakniak got fourth. That looks like some whoppers on your card. Hopefully. In B division, Kate Martin took first place, followed by Mason Matthew in second, David Weeks in third, and Thomas Milburn in fourth. Kali Arasa won C, just inching out Alicia Ritchie. It was a four-strike knockout, and it took them seven rounds to get through it. So when Eric says just inching out, it really couldn't have been any closer. Next week on Monday, March 24th, Eric's lucky because the New York City Flipper Sport Association will visit Owl Farm in Park Slope. He does not get to go to upstate Manhattan.
    9:51
    The Deluxe Horses or the Deluxe Horses will visit Special Wendlet at Rulo's. The Two for Oners will host Intermission Dolores at McKenna's Pub. the mutants will square off against the balls of steel at midway. Usually when I say that, at about this time of year, I feel like I would be saying the 4-0 and 4-0, but it's right now the 4-0 and 1-3. I bet the balls of steel are going to come out with their hair on fire. The aristocrats are visiting Barcade Brooklyn to see Pinball Union. The Pin Pals will visit us colliders at Buttermilk Bar just right up the street. We're their pin pals, too. The Lion Persons will go to Jack Bar and visit the lesser players. One team coming off their first win, one team coming off their first loss. On Tuesday, March 25th, Trolls will go to Sunshine Laundromat to visit. Oops. Uh-uh. Whoops. No, no, no. So trolls will go to Scrapple Land to visit Scrapple squad the newly minted opening on the evening that Eric and I are recording this Scrappleware The replays will visit your Butterballers at Buttermilk Bar I don't mean to make them possessive of Eric's in any way other than collective there. Harlem Globe Flippers have a buy. Schlubbs will go to Solid State to visit No Quarters for Laundry. Danger Danger will go to Central Brooklyn to visit Birdies and the Pin Babes. The Ball Drainers will host Rest in Pinball, parenthetically RIP, at Jack Bar. And Neptune's Treasure will come all the way down to Skylark to visit Pinister Six. on Wednesday, March 26th. The NYC Match Play Pinball League will begin at 8 p.m. It will be at Scrapple Land at the newly minted opening today, Scrapple Land. On Thursday, March 27th, No Bro Presents Thursday Night Strikes will be gathered at Jack Bar in Williamsburg. SSPL is off for the week. There might be a sort of big stall ball tournament held.
    12:15
    Also, the medals weren't available last night, so they're to be picked up next week. Saturday, March 28th, Jess Warren will gather as many players as will show up for South Slope Strikes. It will be at Rulo's to sign up, I believe. but you can play potentially games at Rulo's, potentially games at Buttermilk. The real challenge of these days is to make sure that you order your beer the minute that you walk in the door so that you can finish it before you have to go out to the other venue.
    12:51
    Every round, back and forth. That's right. And if you're not drunk by the end, you're not trying hard enough. On Sunday, March 29th, quit talking and start chalking. the Royale will be convened at Barcade Brooklyn. I don't know why they're calling this one the Royale, but it does strike me as the kind of like branding that was popular in the 70s and 80s when, you know, these two focal games of this of this tournament were made. So I like it, even though I don't know why it's that. As of March 21st, 2025, there are 298 pinball machines in New York City at 83 public locations. Thanks to the creators and users of Pinball Map for this data, here are machine updates from the past week. On Saturday, March 15th, user Mayor of Now let us know that the Big Lebowski at Sunshine Laundromat, the scoop goes straight down the middle frustratingly often.
    13:53
    User Joel EOL said of the Monster Bash at Bar Great Harry, the scoop is an automatic drain, sad face.
    14:06
    And user Sick Hands said of the funhouse at Barcade St. Mark's, currently out of order and turned off. Do you know why? Because the scoop shot straight down the drain.
    14:19
    Probably. play on sunday march 16th user turner t223 noticed on the godzilla at jack bar the rubber band snapped on left kicker causes ball to get stuck on left lane and user mayor of now was at barcade brooklyn and says the right flipper sticks on theater of magic on thursday march 20th A Getaway High Speed 2 was removed from Milo's Yard, but a Grand Lizard was added to Milo's Yard. Also on Thursday, an Iron Maiden was removed from Barcade Brooklyn, and a Scooby-Doo was added to Barcade Brooklyn. And on Friday, March 21st, 24 new machines were added to the lineup at Scrapple Land, where three had been listed for a good amount of time. They are now at 27 machines and the largest lineup at a public location in New York City.
    15:30
    I'm just briefly going to insert a comment here to say I went on Friday night to Scrapple Land. I saw so much of the community out. I was told when I walked in because I was given the last of a certain color of wristband that I was the 200th person to be there. It has been a hole in the pinball community's life to not have this kind of venue, a venue with this many machines. There are other venues of the quality. There are not at the moment other venues of the quantity. And we were spoiled. We had two of them. We had modern pinball and sunshine before the pandemic. It was just a great night. It's a great place. I'm very excited about the things to come at Scrapple Land.
    16:23
    Let's talk about round one of the NYC double P double A tournament. Ten brave pin folk have submitted brackets to try to determine which pinball machine will be named by us. The greatest pinball machine of all time, at least for right now. We seeded them last week. We released brackets and 10 brave pin folk, as I said, responded with their predictions. One of those 10 brave pin folk will win a Venom Translite and a Harvest Pint Glass, courtesy of Glenn Gillyard. Glenn is the operator of NYC Pins, which operates both the beer culture locations, including Gebhard's notably, and the gutter locations in Long Island City and downtown. Eric and I are going to go through right now and rank each of the groups that we announced last week. We are going to use the numbers that you would use for IFPA scoring in a pinball tournament. so since each group has four we've given our top pinball machine seven points our second pinball machine as to our preferences based on whatever methodology we have decided to come up with for this exact thing i will explain mine at some point 7531 for the four games we have compiled Eric 7531 and my 7531 to a score, they will necessarily be an even number if you know your Pythagoras, we will announce the machines that will advance to the sweet 16, wherein next week we will vote on those groups to get one out of every region from the electromechanical era, the solid state era, the DMD era, and the flat screen era. Should we get started? Yeah, mark along on your ballots or whatever. Brackets. Brackets. The word's brackets. In the electromechanical era, in round one, group one, to recap, the top seed was El Dorado, and El Dorado will move on with 12 points. The eighth seed was top score. It only got six points. Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboys was the ninth seed, and it got just four points in voting. And Centigrade 37 was the 16th seed, but got a surprise and whopping 10 points. I think you had El Dorado at the top, right? Yeah, you must really like Centigrade 37 then. I do. I do. It's got a great layout and it's got a physical ribbon in the back glass and the way that top score has those balls in the back glass. No, it's another great back box toy from that era. It is really good. Yeah. I love El Dorado and it was my, I believe it was my 20 pointer when we seeded these things originally. It's the difference between my methodologies. one of them is what was actually like a great pinball machine that they made a lot of and that a lot of people enjoyed for a long time that's how i seeded them but i looked at these groups that we whittled this down to and because there's a little bit of chaos because it's not just my 64 it's mine and eric's 64 combined i'm looking at a group that is not crafted there's some chaos there and I asked myself the question, if I walked into an arcade and there were these four games sitting there, which one do I have to touch right now? And then which one will I touch next? And then what's left? And centigrade 37 is the one I'm touching now. All right. Well, in group two, Spanish Eyes was the four seed and garnered 12 points and will advance. The fifth seed was Dimension. It got 10 points. 12th seed, Volley, got 8 points. And 13th seed, Captain Card, only 2. It was completely unfamiliar to me. I just hated it because I lost twice on it in a row in match play at Rochester. Otherwise, yeah, I think Spanish Eyes is the correct one to advance out of these four. Dimension and volley are both great games but spanish ice is just really special yeah i i think i had dimension one and i i like it's funny i didn't have eldorado one in the last one but i had dimension one in this one and i'm going to say because i like a lot of drop targets yeah uh but i just again if i walk into a room, I see Spanish eyes often enough, I think is probably part of it. In group three, the second seed Old Chicago and the seventh seed Pabst Cancrusher got eight points apiece.
    21:40
    Wizard will advance with 10 points. New York has a paltry six. These ones are a lot closer. They're a lot closer. This is as close as a group could be just based on the math, I think, Unless there's a tie. Wizard for me was the one that was a definitive number one because of those flags on the relay and the weird little return lane on the right side One was easy on this one Seven was easy on this one Old Chicago and New York I could have gone either way In group four the number three seed was Argosy and it gets 10 points and advances out the group over six-seed Skyjump with eight points, 11-seed Bow and Arrow with six points, and 14-seed Doodlebug with eight points. This is another 10-8-8-6 group, but I think yeah Argosy is just I mean it's a really good game I'm sad that you gave to telegraph how I will be voting it's a really good game that is to say that next week when we talk about the electromechanical era we will be voting in the same manner that we just have 7531 all the members of the panel we will be voting on Eldorado, Spanish Eyes, Wizard, and Argosy. One of those four games will be named the greatest electromechanical game of all time and then go against the games from these other regions. In the solid state era, in round one, the top seed Harlem Globetrotters on tour, no surprise, will advance with 12 points.
    23:32
    Gorgar, the 8th seed, has merely 4. Stargazer earned 10 in the 9th seed, and Banzai Run has 6 in the 16th seed. I can't argue with the outcome. My top vote was Stargazer, but Harlem Globetrotters is also just great. I mean, those two games are both really good. Yeah. For me, the hard part was Harlem Globetrotters versus Banzai Run. Gorgar was getting one. And just because the hard part for me was those two, it meant Stargazer was getting three. But although Stargar, I'd probably play that. Yeah. Check that one out. It'll make a new trilogy. In the second group, the fourth seed Stars got 12 points and will advance over High Speed, which got six points, eight points for Funhaus, and six points for Space Shuttle. Yeah, Stars. Yeah, I'm okay.
    24:39
    Funhaus got eight because it was my seven-pointer and your one-pointer, right? Mm-hmm. I want Pat Lawler somewhere in the second round, and that was a place that I thought he might be able to get through. But also, if I walk in and those four games are there, that's the first one I'm touching. Stars is a close second. Close second, but that's the first one I'm touching.
    25:02
    In Group 3 of the Solid State era, the second seed, 8BallDeluxe, earned 10 points in host voting. the seventh seed meteor earned 12 points in host voting and will advance to the next round flash had merely four and xenon only six i don't like eight ball deluxe that much i don't dislike it but i don't like it that much i really like it yeah yeah yours solid. This group was kind of easy, I think, for me. Meteor was an easy first place. It was my second, and it's definitely second there for me. Right. In group four of the solid state era, the three seed Dolly Parton got 14 points, perfect results, and will advance. Mouse and Around had six, Black Knight 2K only two, and Frontier got 10 points. So that's almost a Cinderella story there with 10 points for Frontier. Look, there's one thing that I've said this before. I've said it about in-laws. I've said it about relatives. There's one thing we can all agree on here in America, and that's Dolly Parton. and I think that's what Dolly Parton's pinball machine getting 14 points here says and does. It is absolutely the magic of Dolly that makes that pinball game so great. Yeah. When I was looking through all these groups, when I was deciding how to put down the 7-5-3 ones, I was thinking of it as which one is going to pop up on match play that I have to go to. Oh, sure. That I get to go to. Get to go to. Which is the one that I want to see. And that is basically the same as which one is the one I want to play first, because all I do is play competitively. I'm always at a tournament, so yeah, I want to see what's Smash Play going to ping up. Right, right, that makes sense. You know, Frontier is a really great tournament game. Yeah, yeah, really fun too. Both inline drop target games. And so after the first round of this panel voting in the solid state era, next week, we will be deciding between these four games to represent the best of the solid state era. Harlem Globetrotters on tour, Stars, Meteor and Dolly Parton. In the DMD era, in group one, the top seed, Metallica, earned 10 points in host voting. Adam's family, the eighth seed, earned four. That had been my top seed, but obviously was not my number one, what I want to play when I walk in.
    28:07
    The number nine seed, Attack from Mars, earned 12 points and was the thing that I wanted to play immediately when I walk in. and the 16 seed whitewater earned six points metallica was your seven pointer right definitely and your one pointer was whitewater yeah you don't like the the upper ramp scenario there my main frustration is the scoop kick out on many most whitewaters when it kicks out of the scoop is just deadly. In group two of the DMD era, fourth seed Twilight Zone received 10 points. Fifth seed Iron Man received 12 points and will advance. The Shadow got six points and Fishtails four. Yeah, Iron Man is the one I want to see pop up on match play. In both scenario. In my scenario, I'm definitely playing Twilight Zone. But in both scenario, I want to see Twilight Zone in large part because I'm going to manage the ceramic ball in ways that I think my opponents, most of my opponents are not thinking of. At least in a four-player group, in a local tournament, it's unlikely that all of my opponents are playing the ceramic ball strategies the way that I'm playing the ceramic ball strategies. So I do want to see it pop up on match play, but I also want to play it as soon as I've walked in the door. Of this group, Fishtails was an easy one for me. I don't want to see that. Yeah, Shadow was that for me. I think the other three are all great games. In group three, Steve Ritchie faced Steve Ritchie when the second seed, Spider-Man, got eight points and the seventh seed, ACDC, got 10 points to move on. The 10th seed, Tron, earned eight and the 15th seed, Indianapolis 500, earned six. this is another one of those groups that's in that closest it could be without a tie score and acdc goes through you had it third yeah i gave it three points what was your first in this group tron i love tron it's i mean that's at top of my list of dream to own a tron i like tron okay and also I think Spider-Man's just fantastic ACDC's also really great I don't feel great giving three points to ACDC right right right sure I understand I do feel great giving it seven but you're right I don't really feel great giving Tron one and group four of the DMD era saw third seed Theater of Magic garner 14 points that's the best from both of us for the easy advance World Cup Soccer got six points Game of Thrones ten and Indiana Jones the Pinball Adventure just two well this is a straight group we went seven five three one exactly the same I thought really hard about number two here because Theater of Magic was a clear-cut first choice for me but I thought that you might be giving first place to either World Cup Soccer or Game of Thrones this was one of the few times that I actually looked at the strategy of like, what is going to get through? It's also true. Theater of Magic is the first thing I'm going to play if I walk into the arcade and it's there. Game of Thrones, second. World Cup Soccer, third. Indiana Jones, The Pinball Adventure, if I get there. This is the why do you make me choose group. I don't know. Each of these four is in my top three. And that is to say that in the DMD era, next week, the panel will vote.
    31:51
    Seven, five, three, one on attack from Mars, Iron Man, ACDC and Theater of Magic. That's a really fun group of games, I think. It's going to be interesting. Yeah. In the flat screen era in group one, the top seed Stern's Jurassic Park earned 10 points in host voting. the eighth seed elton john just for the ninth seed the big lebowski earned 12 and will advance to round two and the 16th seed star wars earned six points the big lebowski was both my first seed and it was going to get my seven points here it solves all the problems for me about what the best flat screen game is.
    32:43
    You talked about Stern's Jurassic Park being the best L-Win last week, but is there anything else to say here? I tried not to consider how you might be assigning the points as I went through them. That's very, there's a lot of integrity that you've shown there. There were a few points where I could tell, I could guess what was going to happen even if I was trying to not have it influence my decision It a really cool game You had Jurassic Park first Yeah yeah In group two of the flat screen era the number four seed Dialed In got eight points The number five seed Iron Maiden got six points. The number 12 seed, the 007 60th anniversary, got eight points. And the 13 seed, Batman 66, 10 points and the advancement. This looks crazy on paper. I'm surprised. Yeah. I made him with only six. I had to give it one. It is partially because, you know, 007 60th anniversary is still absence makes the heart grow fondest. I've only touched it a little.
    33:56
    But I had to I had to have a Pat Lawler after an Elwynn. There had to be a Lawler. If I walk in and there's an L1 and a Lawler. I'm going to play one of them first and one of them second. And I was going to play the 60th anniversary first, and I was going to play dialed in second. And so it was really only about whether Batman 66, which is just a great quirky game, or Iron Maiden, which is a bitchin' shooter, was going to be next. And that's how Iron Maiden became one. All right. And I should say, that is to say that we will name a new greatest pinball machine of all time at least for now because iron maiden has been occupying that office since 2018 oh yeah in group three the second seed godzilla earned 10 points in host voting the seven seed deadpool six the tenth seed metallica remastered earned 12 points and will advance to the next round and 15c total nuclear annihilation earned just four points in host voting i wasn't too concerned back in the dmd era when metallica didn't advance because metallica remastered advanced it kicks ass i played the big lebowski batman 66 and metallica remastered last night before eric put in his votes i didn't know what the hell we were going to talk about today but before eric put his votes into the spreadsheet he might have been able to see mine although i'm sure that we have the utmost integrity i assure you there are accountants somewhere who will uh verify it i swear uh but auditors uh but uh i played those three games at sunshine last night i played the big lebowski i played batman 66 i played metallica remastered And I, all three of them, I played for a long time having a lot of fun. They're great games. In group four of the flat screen era, the three seed Jaws garnered eight points in host voting.
    36:16
    The six seed Elvira's House of Horrors also got eight points. The 11th seed Guardians of the Galaxy got 12 points and will advance from this group. 14th seed Black Knight Sword of Rage only four points I'm surprised here although I mean it was the one that I gave the seven points to so I wrote in another one that I wrote in group two where Iron Maiden got one point none of these deserved one point and I wrote in this one three of these deserved one point Jaws was the only one that didn't I like this. This group was easy for me because Jaws was easy. And then after that, Guardians. Look, if I walk into the arcade and which one am I going to play first?
    37:09
    It's Jaws, but Guardians is next. As a great four. I just yeah, I have a you know, I have a real fondness for most of them. competitively. No, I think you and I are opposite on this foot. We're in group two, dialed in Iron Maiden, 007 60th, and Batman 66. All of them seemed like number ones to me. All of these, except for Jaws, seemed like not. Well, so, the four machines that will be voted on next week in the flat screen era will be the Big Lebowski, batman 66 metallica remastered and guardians of the galaxy i can't help but notice despite the fact that there were five elwyns in the 16 and one in each group that there's not an elwyn on that list and i and i and you just heard eric actually be surprised at that because we didn't you know we're kind of revealing this to ourselves at the time that we're recording it here we are. I would not have expected that. There has been some chaos here. And I will review what Eric and I have just done in terms of this voting. And I will review the brackets.
    38:34
    Armies of auditors will review what I do, too. Then there will eventually be a class action settlement about it for sure uh all over the value of a venom trans light and over the value of who is the awesomest pinballer of all time at least for right now who gets enshrined into the awesomeness archive along with one of the 16 games that we just talked about. With all of that in mind, I have reviewed everybody's results who have submitted. You 10 brave pinfolk of New York City and nearby surrounding areas who submitted brackets, and it seems like it's a two-horse race. John Nealon is in front with 10 correct predictions in round one. 10 of 16, John got right. John's champ was eight ball deluxe, so he cannot get the three points for the final round, but he has four possible points remaining so that he could score a total of 14 points. John also was the only person to have a correct prediction in all four regions he in fact had two in the flat screen two in the solid state three in both dmd and em zen zotniak is currently in second place with nine correct predictions in the first round three in the dmd three in solid state three in em and zen has metallica remastered as the champion his is the only bracket that names a champion that is still possible so zen has a possible 18 total points that his bracket could score if Metallica Remastered is named the greatest pinball machine of all time, at least for now. Zen will almost surely find himself in the winner's seat. Everybody else is excluded from winning. Caitlin Reese has a possible 10 points at the end and has scored six points so far, as has Thomas Milburn. Caitlin's bracket is only busted in so far as she has some of the same points that she would score in round two Zen and or John would also score so she can't win but she has six and she could have 10 points at the end of all of this Thomas Milburn has six points and could score eight in total at the end of this. Stephanie Guida submitted a bracket from actually Rochester, not so nearby surrounding areas, I suppose. And Stephanie had five right so far and can have a total of seven at the end of this. A.B. Dina Ecker had five right and can have a total of seven at the end of this. steen had three right and can have a total of five at the end of this monica whitecamp had three right and could have as many as five at the end of this jose garcia had three right and could have as many as five and jlw jessica lee warren the big d had only two correct both in the electromechanical era and can have only a total of four points at the end of this. Some interesting facts. Of the 10 brackets submitted, there were nine different champions. I love that kind of chaos. The entrance correctly predicted 20 games in total of the 52 games that they predicted correctly, 20 of them were in the solid state era. Only one bracket did not choose Dolly Parton in solid state region group four. So it's down to John Nealon and Zen Zokniak to recap. In the electromechanical era, El Dorado, Spanish Eyes, Wizard, and Argosy will be the group that we will vote on. In the Solid State era, Harlem Globetrotters, Stars, Meteor, and Dolly Parton will be the group. In the DMD era, Attack from Mars, Iron Man, ACDC, and Theater of Magic. And in the flat screen era, The Big Lebowski, Batman 66, Metallica Remastered, and Guardians of the Galaxy. Next week, we'll wheel it down to four.
    43:39
    that's all for this week's pod join us next week when we'll run down local competition results in ball one as usual in ball two we'll talk about barcade jersey city and in ball three we will announce the winners of each region in the nyc double p double a tournament and we'll talk about the bracket challenge. Between now and then, whatever you're up to, go get them, people.
    44:14
    I don't know. Each of these four is in my top three.