Hello and welcome to episode 10 of the pinball studio podcast. I'm your host Sterling Martin and today we got William Johnson back in the house and And we're going to hear about some of his recent travels to some pinball shows, tournaments, and just talk about some pinball in general. But first off, we've got to talk about the sponsor. Old Town Pinball. Do you need a new or used game? Just head over to oldtownpinball.com. Also, The Electric Playground. Do you need a new topper? Just head over to teppinball.com. Anyway, welcome, Will. It's good to have you back, man. How are you? Pretty good. Thank you. Thank you. You left off my titles again. You don't need the titles. You're just William. No. He argued for 10 minutes that I needed to address him as William, not Will. That's true, but you also forgot Vice President, Director of Operations, Chief of Staff. And Slackass. No, that's not one of the titles. You know what? No. It is definitely one of the things. I will soon create an HR department just for that. I'm tired of this. that's great to be back thank you sir yeah man you've done a bunch of traveling recently and i think uh everyone wants to hear about it well i appreciate that very much yeah well we can so what's been going on man where you been flying to because you hadn't been here recently no no i haven't uh well remember our halloween tournament yep and that was a good yeah that was a fun tournament for sure good good turnout did we sell that one out i think we did or we were really close one or another pretty sure we did you know great turnout though but you wouldn't play it in another halloween tournament too right i did i went to radioactive in aiken south carolina awesome how was that great time um not as big a turnout as what we had right at least for the tournament they still had like a lot of people there just hanging out playing games yeah and uh one of our other members abby rode with me uh we both went up there okay participate in the tournament yeah so So it was a good time. More costumes. Did you kick ass? Did you win? I came in second. Oh, that's not bad. Yeah, I think I tied with one gentleman for first. Get you some more of them Georgia points. Yes, in South Carolina, yes. I think we played the tiebreaker on Halloween. Oh, really? Yeah. I'm surprised Halloween's even in their tournaments. Yeah. That's one you don't see every day. Agreed. So I did that. But it was a good time. Always great. So if you're in Aiken, South Carolina, stop up there. It's a great spot. Did you dress up as something creepy as hell like you always do? I just wore my Joker-inspired suit with the luchador mask, my face looking like Joker. Okay, so creepy-ass dude. I don't know what half these people are you dress up as, but they look creepy as shit. You go all out, man. I appreciate that very much. But no, that sounds cool. I'd like to make it to some of these other Halloween tournaments one year. I'm always just so damn busy. I want to go to that one that Neil just went to down in Florida, too. It's like a big party right before Christmas. I don't know about that one. I forget. It's at somebody's house, but they set games up all around the pool and stuff. Yes, he's talked about that one. Yeah, he just went to it this past weekend. I'm like, you bastard. He didn't tell you? He did, but not early enough, I guess. I don't know. I don't ever keep up with these damn things. Next year, you got to start keeping up. Next year. Speaking of next year, you can look for us at Texas Pinball Festival. Yeah, man. We got a booth there with Don from Don's Pinball Podcast. That's going to be fun. We're trying to get a cool game for the booth. So he was trying to get – shit. We were trying to get maybe a Beetlejuice, but then another game. What was it? Oh, it was something from – what is that brand? Hexa. I don't know which one that is. Okay. They made Space Hunt. Oh, that one. Yeah, but it's not Space Hunt. I think it's their newest game. Merlin's Arcade or something? No, that's Turner Pinball. Okay. But it's like one of those weird games you don't see because the manufacturer is overseas. And I think they just started importing those games here. But who knows? We're just trying to have something interesting in the booth this year versus just shooter rods and T-shirts. Well, we should. That's true. Although people like the T-shirts, though. Yeah, yeah. I'm going to bring shirts this year. I think I'm going to chill out on the mods, though. It's kind of a headache, too. I want to be able to enjoy myself because I feel like last time I was just glued to the booth with all that merch. I want to just have some shirts, man, and just be able to go stash those somewhere and do what I want to do after that. You should. Absolutely. I mean, I'll be in the Wizards tournament. Yeah, I won't even see you. I won't even know you're there until we go eat barbecue one day. Right. Exactly. Well, I'll be – I'm doing the B group just for reference for everyone listening. they took the format that they kind of do at Houston where they take the whole pool of players and they split them into two groups. You have A group, which is during the day, and B group, which is evening. Which on Saturday will mean the A group's in the morning, B group's in the afternoon, and then they start finals at 8. So I tend to sign up for the late group because I ain't getting up in the morning to play pinball. Oh, I don't blame you. So I'll be playing the evening tournament on Friday, afternoon on Saturday. So it gives people a chance to enjoy the show. on which time. That's why I don't ever want to play in the tournaments at the show because I want to experience the show too. I'm going to be stuck in that damn room the entire weekend. I just don't want to do that. That's a good point. That's kind of something that at least that I've spoken to veteran tournament players or just players in general. They say your first year you should experience the show. Oh, I agree. You can actually see it and then if you want to compete, come back and compete. for sure. Cause you will be locked in, especially certain tournaments, a certain show. That's all. But, uh, what shows have you, uh, went to over the past few weeks? Uh, what you've been doing? Uh, so November I went to Houston expo, Houston arcade expo in Houston, Texas. Right. Um, I usually make a whole trip of it cause I like Texas. I do. Well, my, I have family in Texas, so I go to Houston to visit family as well as play an XO X expo. Get it together. Uh, But I will mention that, and I've mentioned this, and I will keep mentioning it, in the mentioning it in the word is getting out. Okay. Houston is the show. Dude, that's what I keep hearing from tons of people. I've always heard it's like the party show. It is a party show. It's a whole vibe. But I don't drink now, so I'm going to just be the lame ass over there if I fucking diet coke. Trust me, you don't need to drink. I'm not saying anything. I'm just saying you don't really need to drink to have a good time. All right. All right. I'm going to go one year. I'm convinced, Josh. It's spaced out far enough from Texas because I always want to go to Texas, Pinball Festival. But I feel like it's spaced out far enough where it could probably hit both of them. Well, the problem with now, the problem that you might run into with this one is it's kind of close to Expo in Chicago. I don't ever do Expo. I do want to do Expo eventually, but I don't ever go to that one. So, OK, so that's usually the window that I've seen. I could be wrong. those of you out there listening are welcome to correct us, but it's usually October, November timeframe. Uh, Josh Yates. Yeah. That was on the previous episode. Yeah. And he and Brandy came out one year. They had a blast. He said he might try to come out again this year. That'd be, that'd be cool. I was like the one freaking time you come to TPF. I'm not there. I'm like, what the hell, man? Well, he was going to try to come out this year. Uh, he did buy an entry into the tournament, but it didn't work out. So, yeah, next year he'll definitely try to make his way. Mike was there. Michael Siebe or CB. Yeah, he was there. Well, I take that back. He was supposed to be there, but he unfortunately couldn't make it. Right. My other friends, Mia, who works at Bang Back in Columbia, Ariel and Nick. And shout out to those two crazy kids that got married. Yeah. So they came out the first year and they had a blast. And Mia actually drove all the way from South Carolina to make the show. shout out to them yeah but they couldn't make it this year well Mia couldn't but Nick and Ariel did and Nick from Louisiana is the defending champion oh okay which is he won it the first year that he came out he won well he's a pretty good player yeah no I respect it it's like Texas what y'all doing man how many of you won now oh I made finals oh well that's an improvement I did I made finals I don't even how long does the damn finals last at one of these things. I feel like that's the worst damn part. It's a long time because when you get to the finals, you'll be out there for a minute. So it's no joke. I had to play a five-way tiebreaker to make finals. And so they took the top four players of the five. We played on Harlem Globetrotters and they streamed it. So I'm somewhere on the internet. Actually twice because they put me on, they put the rig on Deadpool during one of the games. Oh, did you shake the shit out of it and tilt it? I did, actually. That was just a wild guess. Yes, if you're wondering. No, I'll give you this, though. Now, I don't know if it made it online, but I did. Before I walked up to the machine, I yelled out, subscribe to my OnlyFans, and then I started playing. Oh, my God. And I tilted immediately. You move some damn games around more than anyone I've ever seen in my life. You must tilt 20 times a tournament, and there's only 10 rounds. Wow. Thanks. You're probably right, though. But I, outside of the tournament, if you don't go for the tournament, you don't have to. It is a party. They don't shut down. You know, you have these other shows. They're like, oh, kicking people out at like 1, 2 in the morning. Nah. They keep the doors open. Like, till when? Till whenever the show is over. So, never? Never. Never, ever. Damn, I might head down there this weekend. You could. I mean, but they play games like all night. They have like bands come perform. You can get a captain's hat because they give those out every year. OK. And you just party. Just have a good time. It's at the Houston Westgate. I think it's Embassy or Marriott, one of those. But that's where it takes place. So it's not like a large show like TPF or Chicago Expo or something. But it's just it's just of just a blast. As soon as you get there. I want to go to pinball at the beach one year but it like kind of too close to Texas for me where it like I can turn around and do two festivals in a row and afford to buy pinball machines all year long You got a budget Yeah Most of my budget goes to pinball machines And like the little bit that left over is for my you know fun time to go to an event of some sorts. My problem with pinball at the beach is it's too close to my birthday. I tend to want to take a trip. I don't want to pay all the damn money for these hotel rooms. And all these people are getting excited about it. And they're like, it's awesome. It's on a beach. I'm like, bro, I live in the South. Like I've seen the beach 10 billion times. I don't want to pay primo price to see a beach because I know what the freaking beach looks like. I mean, I'm with you for the price, honestly. Because I'm not going to be in the damn room. I'm going to be, like, hanging out with people, going to get a drink. Well, not anymore. No more drinks. I'll go get some water with these guys. But you know what I mean. Go play in the tournament or whatever. But the hotel room is the last place I'm going to spend hardly any time. No, I agree. In fact, I mean, I budget it. Although I could go. I mean, for what I pay to go to that, I'm like, I'll just take a plane ticket. It's a dare hotel room. If I only had to buy the ticket and just stay in a standard hotel, I'd probably go do it. But it's just, I don't know. No, I'm with you. Back to Houston, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. You'll have a great time. For those of you who are very competitive, they do what's called a week of walkers. Yeah. So essentially all week leading up to Houston Expo, they've got tournaments every night. And these are huge turnouts. I think the last one, the lead in tournament on Thursday was like, I want to say between 80 to 100 people. Wow. And that's just for a Thursday night tournament, you know, leading to Houston. So if you're serious about wanting to compete, Texas or whatever, you know, just in general, just go for that whole week. You'll find tournaments all week. Does Houston, like all the other shows, still have all the vendors and panels and all that kind of stuff going on as well? I don't know much about panels. They do have a lot of vendors. I did buy a few items. so they do have vendors they have you know the i want to say marco marco was up there right they had their big booth with all the stern games and leaderboard and all that and that's where i got to yeah and in fact that's oh yeah i know moto was there because she was she was she was sad that the the spooky thing was going on the same weekend oh i see okay okay i don't do a lot of walking around the booths i'm too busy drinking water so the well i will water i've never seen you drink water in my life i was properly hydrated all weekend sir i'll have you know it looked like water in that water bottle that's right the hardest of water i will say this uh i did have a chance to try some of the new games so i got to try out the alice's adventures in wonderland which one no well not the the dutch pinball one the one yeah the one that's like the comic book images and stuff. It's like very adult. Yeah, it's got lots of cleavage on the side. Right. It's very much R-rated game. I enjoyed that. Very much Circus Voltaire vibes. Also, Theater of Magic as well. So to me, with the artwork and the shots and everything it laid out, very harkened back to the 90s style. Well, it's a John Papadu game. It was a game that didn't shoot. He made it all out of foam core and it was never a game that was built and actually none of the shots actually led anywhere so while it's one of his games you know like some of them you mentioned uh they had to still come up with a lot of the design work because the game wasn't actually functional it you know it looked like a functioning game but like none of the ramps or anything led anywhere gotcha well this game was functional it's fun it was a good time i enjoyed it i've heard better things about it at first you know a lot of people were pretty negative towards it for me it's just the company i feel like is really risky to buy anything from. They're who brought us the big Lebowski and took, what, 10 years to ship all the games. And now they supposedly have Back to the Future, and they're doing this nonsense where they're saying all the people that stay in and keep their Alice spots will get first dibs at Back to the Future. Well, this is the kicker. They were supposed to have all Alice's games built by the end of the year. They're nowhere close to that. so their way of locking everybody in and making sure they don't back out is telling them they get a back to the future spot so but it's it's not the right way to do business hey we couldn't hold up our end of the deal so we're gonna just you know if you stick around we'll take care of you maybe who knows because i mean they did the same shit with uh big lebowski you know early adopters and all that and some of those guys were the last people to get their games in no i uh that's whack but if it works, I guess. I don't know. I don't know how to take that. You know, lock me in just like, okay. I also had the chance to try out the new Winchester game. Is that what it's called, Winchester? Winchester Mystery House by Girls of Fun. Yeah, whatever came up with that name. It's a Carl D'Python Anghelo game. Yeah, it's gorgeous. Oh, it looks pretty. It is. Once you see it, it's a gorgeous game. Playfield, artwork, all that good stuff. I think they did a great job with it. I enjoyed the chances I got to play it. Yeah. I will tell you, though, it is not easy. I don't know. Well, that's what I keep hearing from a bunch of people is, you know, this is a pretty hard shooter. And it's coming from a very talented pinball player. So maybe it shoots a little bit easier to him. I don't know. I mean, look, you're a pretty damn good player yourself, man. You'll kick my ass any day in a game. So I appreciate that. Now, realistically speaking, at least in my experience, it shoots beautifully. It does. The shots are very satisfying. The toys, the effects on the machine. You start mode, start a multiball. That's all great. But if you don't hit your shots, it shoots horribly because it will punish you. And when I say punish, I mean you'll be playing a lot of defense trying to keep the ball on the play field. Right. You will get a lot of quick drains, a lot of trying to saving. So just keep that in mind. What about this Pepper's Ghost effect or whatever everyone's talking about? What are you talking about? there's like supposedly the screen is like giving you the reflection like um uh what was it revenge from mars or whatever the pinball 2000 games that had like the hologram effect from the glass on the game but i i don't know maybe it's just when i've watched it on stream i'm not really like catching or like seeing this did it did it really even catch your eye or did you even notice it at all while playing it okay to my defense i've been drinking a lot of water too i was trying to keep the ball on the play field so i've seen a ghost but i don't know if that was what they're talking about like i don't know right i know about it but not really like a full-on like hologram type effect really i didn't really i didn't see any hologram because they got that screen in like the backboard or not the backboard the very back area of the play field that runs across and i I guess I don't know. I'm the wrong person to even talk about this game. I would argue those who saw the hologram should be drug tested. Let's see. Let's go from there because I don't know what they're talking about. Everyone's going to chime in and be like, you drank too much water. Well, it was right there in front of you. It might have been. Regardless, though, if you have a chance to play it, you see it on the side of the show or just wherever. Oh, I'm excited to play one. I mean, it looks beautiful, like you said. And I'm sure the game's fun. It's just sounds like it might be a tough shooter. Maybe you got to spend some time on it and really find them shots. You do. And to me, it reminds me of a game like Houdini. I enjoy Houdini, but it's very tough. Right. Shots are very tight. Same with, I know this is a bit polarizing, but John Wick. I love John Wick. I like John Wick too. I like how it shoots for sure. Right. You break a shot, you'll pay for it. Especially if you don't clear that middle ramp. Right. Then I have to move my machine. could you hear the game at all or was it just loud as shit um i think it was pretty loud for the area it's good sound effects good uh yeah good sound good music i just think it's i would like to have obviously have more time with it but the short amount of time i did get to play i enjoyed it i did i got a handful of games in because at the time i got there it wasn't a really long line okay because it was like on sunday so people were kind of filing out okay yeah jeff with a dirty pool pinball but anyway he did all the sound on the game and he does like work for like showtime and stuff like the the sound effects and stuff you hear so he's more than qualified and this was his first pinball machine and i guess in the future for barrels of fun he'll be doing some of the sound design work for it so that's pretty cool i also ran into a lot of familiar friends shout out to my texas friends my texas crew out there of course ran into jamie always good to Catch up with him. Yeah. So y'all check out his podcast as well. Get a chance to. Oh, yeah. The JBS show. Right. And so one day I'll meet him in person. I've had to have walked by Jamie 20 times in my life. And like, we just haven't ever talked because I've been all in the wormhole booth, like playing their games. Right. But Jesus, you know, all right. Well, now when you get the TPF, that should be the first thing on your list. Soon as you get off the plane, soon as you get to the hotel, where are you at? Exactly. But overall, just to wrap up, Houston Expo, if there is one show that you'd like to attend, give Houston Expo, Arcade Expo, a try. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. And if you like to party, it's your spot for sure. Oh, absolutely. And you don't need to drink to have a good time. I'll leave it at that. So what was the other show? Was the other thing you went to a show or a tournament? I went to, yes. So, yeah, not even too long after that was December. So that's Cincinnati. Okay. That's what you just got home from. Right. Okay. I just got back from Cincinnati. How was that? Cincinnati, Ohio. Tough. Was it cold? It was cold. It didn't, like, snow a lot while I was there, but it was very, like, cloudy, that kind of Carl Weathers. Cincinnati's very, I haven't gone through all the city, but it's a pretty cool city. Right. Some really good architecture and stuff, but I'll get into that in a second. But the actual show itself, Cincinnati. Yeah. Tell us all about it. How was it? It's a smaller show. It's not as large as others. The tournament, they have two separate rooms. So the first is actually right in the middle of the lot. So you walk in, you'll see all the machines set up right in front of you. Then they have an annex room with a whole bunch of other games. So you're actually walking between both of those rooms. And so that's kind of where the tournament is held. They don't divvy up the groups. So you basically run on Friday. It starts at five and you run a bunch of rounds to roughly 12 or one o'clock and it's 20 rounds total. And then on Saturday, 20 rounds. Yeah. Oh, my God. Yeah. Four player games. Yeah. Oh, my God. Yeah. That's a lot of waiting. A lot of waiting. No, thank you, sir. It's a slog. I didn't know what I was walking into. It was it was a slog. Although two other Georgians were there. Jock and Streeley and Tommy Yeah I saw some pictures of you guys online That cool Yeah so that was really cool that they were there as well putting in work And Ohio is a tough place to play They don't play. Like, Texas is tough. Ohio is tough. It's a pretty big tournament that a lot of people travel to as well. So you're going to have all the heavy hitters showing up. You will. One of my friends, she was the only one from Chicago, Jane Berwyn, and she's part of Hot Nudge. Okay. You follow them. But she was there. And just most others. I think I met one other player. She was from Nashville. And then I think another friend was supposed to come from Texas, but he wasn't able to make it. Right. He does Frisco pinball. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I think he was supposed to be there. OK. Other than that, I think at least to my knowledge, most everyone is from Ohio. So, like I said, Ohio is just a really tough place to play. So you're right. There's a lot of heavy hitters out there. But the tournament format was that we ran rounds on Friday all the way to about one o'clock. And then Saturday, we ran rounds until like 6. I think they gave you like a 30-minute dinner break on the first day. At least you get something. Right, right. You get plenty of them where you don't get any. You get in between the next game, and that's it. Yeah, and four-player games, gosh, that was some work. How'd you do in that tournament? The first day, I came out stumbling. From the water? Well, I don't think I had too much water at that point. I was just playing terribly. So I was getting forced like out the gate, but I started to pick it up. I think my first night was really bad. But my second night, my second day was actually really strong. I only took one fourth, but that was because of a technicality. So, you know, about the rule where they time you out if you don't get to the machine. What? You know, like if you don't make it to the machine, they can plunge you out after like. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Three minutes or whatever the rule is. Yeah, right. So I was sitting there and I didn't get a notification. I don't I don't have my notification set up on match play. I need to change that. Oh, yeah. I think you got to get the paid version. Okay. And then it'll, like, send you text message notifications. But more often than not, they would say next rounds up. Like, they would yell because I was out in the main area. Right. Well, I didn't hear it. And they were playing the game. Oh, I believe it. We're always like, Will. Right. Where's Will at? Will. So they're on Medieval Madness, and I wasn't there. And so they were on the second ball. I got there, and I go up to play my ball, and they plunge me out. I'm like, what's going on? And then apparently, according to them, tournament director says, if you don't show up to machine in time, it's automatic fourth. What? Yeah. So I lost that round because I didn't get there in time. So they give you your timer. And once you don't show up, rather than plunge you. I feel like it would just be that ball. I thought it was. It wasn't. Because when I when I stood there and they plunged the ball, I was like, what are y'all doing? And they were like, oh, well, tournament director said, you know, you didn't come here in time. So, you know, take automatic fourth. I was like, what? What? But, okay. I don't know who to argue with. Yeah, I mean, it's the – They can technically do whatever they want to some extent. So if you try your hand at Cincinnati, you better get to that machine, because they will give you that fourth. Yeah, you got them Cincinnati rules. But outside of that, with my strong second day, I ended up like middle of the – like 74 out of like 140. Okay. So I did well for as badly as I played the first day. Right. So I'm happy with my results. And for those of you wondering, out of 20 rounds, I tilted four times. Bullshit. I got receipts, son. I tabbed all the games because. He had double warnings on all the others. I had double warnings, but I did not tilt because I had a running bet with some other friends, players in Augusta. Okay. Abby and some others. And so one guest that I was going to tilt 32 times, Abby guessed I would tilt 15. So Abby won. Abby won the bet. OK, so the although it was four times, it was a 20 percent tilt rate. I was proud of myself out of 20 rounds in that competition. I don't believe the machines were some of them till bombs fell off in the damn cabinet. And they did. I couldn't tell. I know you couldn't tell. it wasn't tilting i'll also quickly say i believe tommy made top 10 damn yeah that's solid so yeah he rocked out up there so shout out to him um trying to think oh i did the gauntlet on sunday okay i took off yeah six minutes um i think i forget how many games it was it was a game of thrones atlantis um bone busters walking dead and some others are you talking about the one where you hit all the start buttons? Yes. Okay, explain to the viewers kind of what that is. Okay, absolutely. So depending on where you go, because I did one at Pembroke as well. So yeah, it was called a gauntlet. And basically what they do is they line up machines and you have estimated, you have a certain amount of time to get certain objectives on each machine. Right, start a multiball, start a mode, whatever. Lock a ball or something like that. Right. So let's say, for example, Game of Thrones was you had to start House Lannister. Walking Dead was you need to hit all the drop targets. Right. Bone Busters was you needed to lock a ball. So first off, you just walk up, you hit all the start buttons, so all the games are live and ready to go, and you start on one, and as soon as you're done with that game, you jump on the next one as quickly as possible. Right. Now, you can approach it however you want. You want to start all the games so you don't have to worry about starting them. Yep. You want them all started. Right, and the ball kicking out and the shooter running. Right, exactly. But things could time out, possibly. I don't know what – well, you mentioned the games, But, you know, there's certain things that speed up and stuff. Right. Well, not in this one. They none of the balls auto kick. OK, so you were good. Diamond Lady was another one. And that one you had to light the left out lane. Now, there's a lot of objectives, but many of them are pretty easy. If you're familiar with the game, let's say like with Diamond Lady, you just need to light the left out lane. You just needed to hit the spinner shot up top. OK, you hit that one time. You're good. What happens if a dumbass comes up that doesn't know how to do any of this stuff? And then he'll be losing all his time and he won't make it out the gauntlet. Now we'll make it past game one. Right. Well, you don't have to stay on that game. You can, if you're having trouble, you can move to another game and just, just however you want to do it. Cause that's what I did. Oh, so can you come back to it? If you finished, you just have a certain amount of time, right? You just do whatever you want. Well, that makes it a little bit better. Cause if you're really struggling on one, I would just move on. Well, that's what I did. So Atlantis was the one I struggled on. I did everything else pretty, pretty quickly. But when I got to Atlantis, that's the one that just because you have to light a lot. But to do that game is there's three standups, one, two and three. And you have to do each level. So you got to hit standups. You got to basically hit three one. So I couldn't do it. I was missing one. My time ran out and it wasn't until after Jockton told me, hey, you know, you could have just lit the lock by hitting this particular scoop. I was like, what? See, that's what I mean. I'd walk up there and I wouldn't know all these damn tricks. And I'd be like the freaking idiot up there. I know how to do the things on these four games. These other ones, I ain't got a damn clue. So I'm sitting there hitting Atlantis. I'm hitting every shot I couldn't hit during the tournament. And I'm hitting it during the gauntlet. And it's just slowing me down. Because with Bone Busters, you have to light a lock or lock a ball. I don't know how to do anything on Bone Busters. Played that game once in my life. That one, I know if you short plunge it just right off the plunge, off the plunge, then that's like an automatic lock. Okay. So that is one thing you can. So I do know that with like bone busters, but it's just the idea that each game has an objective, right? Some are easier than others. And if you have trouble with one, just move on to the next game and come back. How'd you do in that tournament? I ran out of time. Oh, so do you just get a zero if you run out of time? I think you get an LOL time actually. They don't even. So no, is that an IPA tournament or is that like just more for fun or do you even I couldn't tell you. I cannot tell you. But I do know that you can try as many times as you like to get a better time. So it's not like it's one and done. I just did one and done because I had some other things planned for that day. Right. And so I walked around the show floor. I will say after hours, Ohio players know how to get down. They handle business the same as Texas. Well, not it. I put them on par with each other. I think if they kept their doors open, I think they could give Texas a run for their money. So I met a lot. Got to meet up with some of my buddies. Holly. I'm not going to say anyone's last name because I don't want to butcher it. But Holly K. Top player. Because she has her name. She has a banner at Pinburgh. Okay. So she's a top player. She was there. Got to catch it. And I met her at Southern Fried, I think a couple years ago. Right. So and then my buddy Tom, who got best in show for his silver ball mania. Yeah. Which was gorgeous. Best in show for silver ball mania. I don't see too many of those restored. I don't I don't think. No, his was his was gorgeous. That suggestive back glass. I tell you, these back glasses way back when. What else did you do at the show while you were there? did you visit anywhere in town or just stay at the show the whole time? No, no. That's what I was kind of getting to. So when I left the show, I actually went to explore the city of Cincinnati just a little bit. And I went to, like I took a tour. It was started at Northern Row Brewery. And we kind of went into some like hidden underground brewery tunnels. So we did that tour. It was about a couple hours. Got to walk around the city a little bit. See some of the old construction. Some of the interesting architecture tour guides was really cool um the name of the company's american legacy tours if you're ever out there just look them up really cool small business the tour was about two hours ends with you getting a beer or getting a token for a beer at northern row which the food was really good i had a really nice beer so that was fun and then afterwards i think i hit up some places that evening i went to just a couple bars i went to one place it's a hilton it's called the 1931 restaurant. So the hotel was built in the 30s. And the restaurant was like dope. It was like total 30s vibe. Even with the music. But just like the decor, it looks all original. Paintings on the ceiling. That's cool. That was a really cool place to go. So I walked around that. And then I pretty much, after that, was the next day I drove to Columbus. It was about two hours. And I went to the Columbus Zoo because I was on a mission. Oh, I saw them goofy pictures. They're not goofy. You take that back. For anyone wondering, I was on a mission to find the red panda. I called them rad pandas. So I did find them. One was in a tree. I was a little nervous. I'm like, crap, they're sleeping again. But one of them was meandering around. So I was able to get some good shots. I even got some action footage of it chewing on some bamboo. Oh, wow. Yes. You should sell it to National Geographic. No. Because they would probably be like, you're kidding. You're fired. you're not even don't have a job here you're fired but then I went to afterwards I did I went to another place I can remember it was like some kind of cafe I can remember the name of it A cafe Is that what you said It was a cafe Okay It was still like a full restaurant And my new friend, Cole, if you're listening, thanks for the information. No, she hooked me up. You ate some panda? I didn't eat some. What's wrong with you? No one eats panda. I actually had a veggie burger. A veggie burger? Yeah. It was recommended. It was pretty good. I like mine with beef in it. Well, I typically do. But I decided to try something different. But that evening I drove to, because they were doing a league, it was league night at Level 1 Arcade. Level 1. Mm-hmm. Okay. And so Ollie was there, Cole was there. Is it Level 1 up? No, just Level 1. Okay. I might not be familiar with it. And they have a very good selection of games, so I did league night with them. But that's also where I got to try, oh, actually, no, they had a roller games, which was awesome. Of course they did. Yes, every arcade should have roller games. It should be like a mandatory. Does the upper flipper make it shot? No. There was no going for the wall, unfortunately. I had – well, actually, no. One player, Amy, her last name escapes me. She's a top player. I think she won North American, I think, in 2024. Damn. No, she's a baller. Yeah. But she managed to get the ball, do the whole multiball and roller games. I think I locked one. And I was like, I was asking, I was like, what did you do? I can't figure it out. But they had it. We played. But they had a good selection of games. That's also where I got to try out Predator. Oh, yeah. They do have Predator. I want to play that game. You know, our buddy in Jacksonville just ordered one. Did he? Yeah. Okay. I need to go down there and play that damn thing. You should try. I will say personally, I've not played much of it. I'm very much on the fence. Oh, okay. I wasn't a fan of a lot of the shots. and I don't know how I feel about it. Their games, I've just never been a huge fan of the shots or anything. I mean, the theme, I definitely like. Predator's badass. Right. And then they didn't get Arnold and all that. But it's got to be a good shooter. I could live without the Arnold stuff as long as it played well. And it wasn't a lot. I mean, you had your movie clips. I don't know if they go in. They only showed Predator 1. I don't know. I think it would have been cool if they did it like Aliens and give you Predator 1 and 2. I think they were trying, but it was, you know, they're a small company and then having to license multiple movies and all that. I'm sure it's a pain in the neck. Studios change, actors. Yeah. I don't think you got to. They're just too small to take on something like that. And like Arnold, there was no way they were. I'm a big autograph collector. And like Arnold, when he signs, it's like 12 to like 1500 bucks for his signature. and just to compare like Michael J. Fox is like a $300 signature. Right. So, you know, he's expensive is what I was trying to say. Oh, I got you. I'm going to say. Oh, no, you're good. You know, the game looks great. It's a great theme. They have some little attention to detail, like the whatever it is on his wrist with the symbols that kind of. Yeah. Clout down clock. They have one of those at the bottom. Oh, that's cool. And they play on the apron. Yes. Yeah. Thank you. Yes. It's on apron. So, I mean, it's what's with the hut thing on the left side. I don't know. I think it's just a toy. I haven't watched any streams on the game, so I'm not ready to talk about this game a whole lot. It does immediately take you back to Raven, obviously. Oh, God. The classic Raven. I heard a few people say that. They're like, oh, it looks like Raven revamped. Well, it's got a freaking helicopter. Right, and it's all jungle. Well, they had a cool-ass helicopter in ABBA. I got to play that recently. Okay, that game is the longest playing pinball machine I've ever played. Longer than Harry Potter. I could play it as long as I wanted for the most part, and I just wouldn't drain. Now, I don't think it had a tilt pop in it, so I was shaking the shit out of it. Was it Hobbit? Isn't Hobbit the one? Hobbit. That Jersey Jack? Yeah. That game took forever. I don't like those games. That game's floaty as shit. Or it is to me, at least. No, I just know it took forever. I remember playing with Nick down at Pinball Palace. Just because it's in slow motion. I take a day off from work to play this game. He's like, you got to do this mode and this mode. I was like, bro, there's like 20 modes already. We've only been here like two hours. What are we doing? But anyway, so no, Predator was interesting. I guess I would have to play a little bit more to get the hang of it. Yeah, I want to play one at someone's house and get some time on it. Our buddy in Jacksonville, he said he's loving it. Oh, okay. Well, I mean, that's good. That's good. It's good to have a differing opinion. Oh, I do mention a couple things real quick. Back to Cincinnati really quick. I played this centaur that somebody tricked out. with like spikes all over it oh wait is it the coffee table okay somebody like converted one into a coffee table spikes on it and it's freaking dope no this one is an actual playable machine holly broke it that out to holly for breaking the centaur but the it wasn't that piece of shit from haggis was it like no it was it was it was the original okay but it just had spikes all over it yeah and i think i still have a puncture wound on my finger that's not smart to have that out there no well sharp objects and like i dude i smacked the shit out of pinball machines oh i smacked and i paid for it trust me but it was dope i mean it's dope to look at and then of course the saw homebrew was out there as well we've seen that one before that's a or is that more that's a really cool yeah it's a whirlwind yeah so it's more like but it's still made a lot ever see that on shows you've got to play it oh it's it's done legit like if you feel like you're playing like someone's manufacturer's game, like a cornerstone game. Right, exactly. I want to build a homebrew so bad, man. I think I really might try to make the jump this year and maybe not buy as many pinball machines and maybe try to focus on building a machine this year. But I'm just scared of the coding side of it. But our buddy that hangs out over at the pinball palace, maybe he could help out with that. Oh, that's cool. But he's good at all that coding stuff. But Ohio was a great experience. Columbus is a dope place to play. I mean, I'm sure most of Ohio is a dope place to play. They've got a great community. So I got to catch up with Tom, who won, again, best in show, and then hung out with Debra, Cole, Holly, a whole bunch of other people. Right. We went, even though after the tournament we went late. I believe it. Yeah, so don't let them fool you. You don't sleep at night. You sleep during the day. Pretty much. Or I just don't sleep and try to play a tournament. Yeah, I've seen you like that plenty of times. I've got two hours of sleep. And then you win. like oddly enough somehow pretty much then you're like i don't want to play in the finals and then i make the finals yeah and then you like win the whole damn thing i don't fucking get it but it was a great time both shows uh good experience if if you're looking for competition vincenatti is a good one to go to but i would say temper expectations on the amount of machines just because it's a smaller show right at least compared to what we've been to but it's still good to experience. Houston, I can't recommend that enough. That should be at the top of your list. I don't care. All I got coming this year right now is TPF and Southern Pride. I got both of those locked in. Got my booths, got my hotel rooms. You got plenty of time to lock in, Houston. Yeah, I think I'm going to take Beetlejuice to Southern Pride, too, and have that in the booth. That'd be cool. You could do that. I would like to hopefully contribute one or two. We are not bringing Raven. We got to put Raven in the Classics, bro. nobody's gonna yeah you can put in the classic room that's fine i was gonna put it in the tournament at least yeah yeah you can do that just don't put it in the booth why not get everybody over there they might go trying to go oh damn i'm gonna go wait on no they'd all be waiting in line to play beetle juice anyway they don't might wait to play beetle juice what are you talking about it's godly raven bruh come on you gonna put some respect on god freaking helicopter makes a squeaking noise as the blade turns squeak squeak squeak watch game is awesome i think you should have rethemed that game into Predator. Well, somebody did, didn't they? Well, you could. Oh, I could. I think someone did retheme it. Or they changed the art. I don't think they changed anything other than that. I wouldn't know the first thing by trying to retheme or recode a game like that, to be honest. Did you ever order a replacement Translight for Raven? I can't find the dimensions. Just order. I thought your buddy was going to get you the dimensions. You never got them to me. That bastard. Well, we'll go to Pinball Palace one day and we will find a damn back glass that's got the right size. Their got leaves aren't the same as Raven. I looked at every one of their got leaves. What do you mean? The glass is a different size? Oh, it's got that top bullshit up there? Yeah, the top is so way different. I looked at them because they have lights, camera, action. They have – I'm sorry. It escapes me. I don't want to take up too much time trying to think. I don't do – Whatever. I'm not very good at that anyway. We'll figure out that later. No, I have a couple people I can get in touch with to try. Because it's a matter of me getting the tempered glass. I've got some gasoline in a match, though. We could, you know. Burn the machine? No. Yeah, it'd be like a war scene, man. We could put some terrorite in it. On the game? Shut up. Shut up. You're fired. You're fired. Starting this HR department. I've had it. But no, it was a great time. I recommend both. And it was very competitive. I enjoyed it. Had a great turnout. Both shows. I'm pleased with my results. Got to catch up with some friends. and do plenty of traveling. Do you work? Yes, I work, sir. I mean, my OnlyFans ain't took off yet, so I've got to work. Damn it, man. Anyway, so I appreciate that you having me on to allow to share my adventures. Yeah, man, it's been fun. We got to hear about all your different stories and tournaments and shows and stuff. What's your next plan or your next show you're going to? As of right now? Yeah. I don't think I have one. Not until next year? Probably not until next year. Okay. So Southern Pride and TPF and all that? Right. I think for the year, I think I'll be wrapped up because at this point, myself, just quickly saying that I'll probably – because, you know, Pinball and Peach is in February, but that's normally when I take my trip to Robert Englunds or whatever for my birthday. So more than likely, I'm gearing up for that. I've got to go to Pinball at the Peach one year. We'll figure it out. We will. We will. So make sure to tell everybody where we can find the shows at so they know to go listen to the reviews. Oh, yeah. Just head over to the pinball studio dot com. We've got links to everywhere to listen to the show and so much more. And also come and check out a tournament if you want to. Just make sure you get on the sign up list and quickly. Retro City and Augusta Radioactive in Aiken and Level One in Columbus. But we're in those areas. Go check them out. Go check them out, everybody. Until next time. Thanks. Later. you