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SDTM Ep 105: 2019 Pinball Year In Review and What's To Come In 2020

Straight Down the Middle·video·30m 16s·analyzed·Jan 6, 2020
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.033

TL;DR

SDTM reviews 2019 pinball highlights and announces 2020 format shift toward quality over quantity.

Summary

Greg Bone and Zach Sharpe of Straight Down the Middle podcast review 2019's pinball releases (The Munsters, Avatar, Black Knight, Dialed In!, Jurassic Park, Elvira's House of Horrors, Stranger Things) and discuss their major life changes: Zach becoming a Flippin' Out Pinball distributor and Greg starting a real estate job. They announce format changes for 2020, pivoting toward higher-quality, longer-form content rather than weekly episodes, and discuss plans for upcoming shows and road trips.

Key Claims

  • Stern Pinball is having their greatest sales year maybe ever

    medium confidence · Greg Bone discussing Stern's 2019 sales performance during year review

  • Jurassic Park has been a sales juggernaut and may have outsold Ghostbusters in terms of Premium Edition sales

    medium confidence · Greg Bone and Zach Sharpe discussing Jurassic Park's market performance; they note 'you can't keep them in stock'

  • Star Wars Premium Edition with comic artwork had higher sales than the original movie artwork version

    medium confidence · Greg Bone discussing Star Wars release strategy and edition performance

  • Zach Sharpe became a Flippin' Out Pinball distributor in March 2019

    high confidence · Direct statement: 'I became a distributor in 2019' and 'I haven't slept since March'

  • Greg Bone started a new job in real estate in 2019

    high confidence · Zach Sharpe states: 'I started a new job this year, which eats up a lot of my time' (confirmed as real estate later)

  • Stern announced Star Wars artwork update teaser that viewers initially thought was Jurassic Park

    high confidence · Greg Bone: 'And as great as that was, I was still crushed' about not getting Jurassic Park, describing it as 'insider information'

  • Stranger Things Pinball was announced and placed at distributor locations simultaneously with announcement

    high confidence · Hosts discussing how 'when you seen that reveal you could go within America there were some hand locations that you could have played it'

  • Straight Down the Middle will shift to quality-focused content rather than weekly episode releases

    high confidence · Greg Bone: 'Now we want to do more things like the Jurassic Park... Aiming higher quality-wise, so that takes more time'

  • The Munsters and Black Knight had polarized community reception with no middle ground

Notable Quotes

  • “I'm going to downsize my machines. You're so full of shit.”

    Zach Sharpe / Greg Bone (dialogue)@ 3:01 — Zach expressing intent to reduce Stern collection despite enjoying them; establishes market sentiment on ownership saturation

  • “I thoroughly enjoyed them inviting us up for that. We like that type of work, don't we? Yeah, we do. Because this show is fun, and we get to be creative with it, but there's nothing like being able to get creative with a whole show.”

    Greg Bone and Zach Sharpe (dialogue)@ 7:52 — Reveals hosts' preference for high-quality cinematography/promotional work over standard show format; signals creative direction shift

  • “Jurassic Park is my favorite, too. I can't do it. Do you think Stern Pinball sold more Premium Edition models on Jurassic Park than any other Premium Edition made? I think it will end that way.”

    Greg Bone and Zach Sharpe@ 14:53 — Strong market validation of Jurassic Park Premium Edition as best-selling variant; indicates successful tiered release strategy

  • “I think that that is one of those pins that we haven't had in a long time where people either love it or hate it.”

    Greg Bone@ 5:13 — Commentary on polarized reception of Black Knight; suggests design philosophy creating strong opinion divisions

  • “And what the hell did Sam Stern do? Sam Stern beat everybody to it and did almost just that. Even better, you didn't have to go to a show. No. It was just ready to ship. It was at a local distributor.”

    Greg Bone and Zach Sharpe@ 23:08 — Praises Stern's simultaneous announcement/location placement strategy for Stranger Things as innovative distribution approach

Entities

Greg BonepersonZach SharpepersonStraight Down the MiddleorganizationFlippin' Out PinballcompanyStern PinballcompanyJersey Jack PinballcompanySpooky PinballcompanyThe Munstersgame

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Stern Pinball reported as having strongest sales year possibly ever in 2019; multiple games consistently selling out or requiring multiple production builds

    medium · Greg Bone: 'Stern Pinball is very likely having their greatest sales year in maybe forever' and discussion of Jurassic Park build-after-build production

  • ?

    community_signal: SDTM hosting Twippies Awards at Texas Pinball Festival with standing room only attendance and plans to expand seating; planning new community-focused content segments like loaner machine series

    high · Detailed discussion of Twippies hosting experience and announcement of new 'loaner machine' segment to prove underrated games

  • ?

    event_signal: SDTM planning expanded show presence in 2020 including Louisville and Texas Pinball Festival with new Flippin' Out Pinball booth

    high · Planning discussion: 'Louisville will be before Texas Pinball Festival... Louisville and then to TPS this... It's a long month there' and booth setup confirmation

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Positive reception of home pinball variants (Star Wars Home Pinball) as affordable entry point, though with noted shooter performance advantages

    medium · Zach Sharpe: 'It's the cheapest way to buy a brand new pinball machine, and it's Star Wars... people playing it love it. Shooter. The spinner shot is unbelievable'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Shift in host preferences from wide-open casual shooter designs (Elvira) toward complex competitive-oriented games; recognition that home play changes appreciation of design choices

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.091

0:00
The weight is over. A revolution in LED lighting for your pinball is finally here. Fully customizable, full spectrum lighting from Penn Stadium Lights. Order yours now at pennstadium.com.
0:27
Let's kick this shit. Off with the bumper, now you're straight down the middle again. Middle again. You had a fling with a fling shot. You're rolling out the alley again.
0:40
Buddy, old pal, old great. Hello, Zachary. How's it going, man? I'm doing fantastic. It's the end of 2019. We're rolling into 2020. Back in the saddle again. That was a good game. I'm back. It's a good game. Good game. Yeah, a little Aerosmith a couple years ago. Oh, yeah, I didn't think about that. I'm a pinball show and I didn't even think about it. A lot of stuff has gone on in 2019. A lot of fun. A lot of heartache. A lot of controversy. A lot of shade. Ooh, throw that at us. I don't know why it's my shade.
1:13
A lot of shade. A lot of machines that we've played and owned. Yes. We went through a lot of stuff. Man. It's been a lot of fun. Actually, you've gone through more. I haven't gone through that many machines this year. My collection has kind of stayed up. You have owned more games this year with me as a distributor than you've ever owned in your entire life. I'm just trying to show you my support. That should make you feel good. Bias.

medium confidence · Greg/Zach discussing player reactions: 'It's literally, I hate that damn thing... Or, I love it. It's fantastic'

  • Greg Bone hosted Twippies Awards at Texas Pinball Festival 2019 with standing room only attendance

    high confidence · Direct recounting of hosting Twippies at end of March 2019 with plans to expand seating for 2020

  • “Now we want to do more things like the Jurassic Park... Aiming higher quality-wise, so that takes more time.”

    Greg Bone@ 25:49 — Explicit pivot from quantity to quality content strategy; explains upcoming format changes for 2020

  • “We want to be the visual media source for pinball... people come to us and say, can you do this video? Not only they pay us but we want to still bring that humor, that fun, the basement talk.”

    Greg Bone@ 27:16 — Establishes ambition to become premium media producer for industry; indicates shifting from enthusiast content to professional media role

  • “I honestly think, though, that the way that people are talking, I still think that it's going to be another sleeper game that's going to come around like Batman '66. It becomes this devout following of this masterpiece of a game.”

    Greg Bone@ 17:34 — Predicts Elvira's House of Horrors will gain cult following post-launch; indicates game reception improving with home play time

    • James Cameron's Avatar
    game
    Black Knightgame
    Jurassic Parkgame
    Dialed In!game
    Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factorygame
    Elvira's House of Horrorsgame
    Star Warsgame
    Stranger Thingsgame
    Pat Lawlorperson
    John Borgperson
    Keith Elwinperson
    Sam Sternperson

    medium · Discussion of how Elvira's House of Horrors and Batman '66 gained appreciation through extended home play despite initial location disappointment

  • $

    market_signal: Premium Edition pricing and feature strategy successfully driving sales above Pro Edition; Jurassic Park Premium Edition predicted as best-selling variant of any Premium Edition

    medium · Zach Sharpe: 'Sales-wise, we've done really well with Premium Editions. Do you think Stern Pinball sold more Premium Edition models on Jurassic Park than any other Premium Edition made? I think it will end that way.'

  • ?

    community_signal: Zach Sharpe transitioned from content creator to Flippin' Out Pinball distributor in March 2019, significantly impacting time availability for podcast production

    high · Direct statement: 'I became a distributor in 2019... I haven't slept since March' and discussion of increased stress and reduced filming availability

  • ?

    announcement: Stern Pinball executed innovative simultaneous announcement and distributor placement strategy for Stranger Things, allowing immediate location play coinciding with official reveal

    high · Greg Bone: 'And what the hell did Sam Stern do? Sam Stern beat everybody to it... when you seen that reveal you could go within America there were some hand locations that you could have played it'

  • ?

    product_concern: The Munsters received polarized community reception with no middle ground between love and hate; similar pattern observed with Black Knight

    medium · Greg Bone: 'It's literally, I hate that damn thing and I don't want to shoot it. Or, I love it. It's fantastic. And I think both those pins right there together kind of came out with that same sentiment'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Elvira's House of Horrors initially disappointed players expecting wider game design, but appreciation growing as home players spend more time with it, similar to Batman '66 trajectory

    medium · Greg Bone: 'I still think that it's going to be another sleeper game... It becomes this devout following' and Ken Cromwell anecdote showing initial disappointment turning to enthusiasm

  • ?

    technology_signal: Hosts planning equipment upgrades and higher production quality standards for 2020 content, enabled by sponsorship and new resources

    high · Greg Bone: 'Upgrade equipment. We have a lot more resources now that we have sponsorship through Flippin' Out... We want to upgrade the quality of our work of our editing'

  • ?

    licensing_signal: Stranger Things described as 'dream license' by Greg Bone; licensing provided full assets access for game development

    medium · Greg Bone: 'Stranger Things is a series off of Netflix that is one of our favorite TV shows... This is kind of a dream license for me... they get all the assets and everything'

    • 1:37
    No. You've owned a shitload of games. Doesn't it feel good to own more than just Lethal Weapon and Lost World? No. And I'm sad that it's blown up. I didn't think it was going to bother me. But now I'm just like sitting here. You've went through a lot of Stern games. Do you have a different perception of Stern now that you've owned a lot of them? Yeah, I still enjoy them. You talked me on early on in this hobby. It's like there's nothing that compares to a stern, like the way it feels, the way it flips. The way it shoots. It's just fun. And I've owned a lot, and I still love them, but I'm going to downsize some of my sterns in 2020, coming 2020. Sure, sure. That was my whole realization of getting rid of sterns. I know. I can't find some of the ads. I was like, I'm trying to get rid of some of my sterns. Jurassic Park. Dream Team. Hey, I owned my first premium this year. That happened. And I do not regret it. I feel like such a jackass for the entire existence of being in this hobby that I'm a pro guy. Pro, pro, pro. Pro to Zach. But you've got to have the moving T-Rex. And I'll tell you what, Raptor Pit Gate. Oh, here he goes. This isn't a Jurassic Park video.
    2:50
    I'll shut up. We're just waiting until Stern announces yet another dream thing. Oh, my God. If Ninja Turtles comes out, I'm buying Ninja Turtles 2. I won't lie. I'm already saving for it. I'm going to downsize my stirrups. You're so full of shit. Well, I mean. Who offers a better price, a better value? You know, it's one day at a time. It's one day at a time. It's a 12-step program. I'll buy you a $10,000 pinball machine. Let's see it. So it's been a great year. We're going to go through some of the highlights of the year, some of the games that we've seen this year, as kind of a straight down the middle of pinball show year in review.
    3:24
    The beginning of this year, at the end of December of last year, around this time last year, Munsters was the big rumored thing. They announced it. We didn't see it until January. My first new unboxed term. That was. We did an unboxing video where your daughter drew Herman Munster while we were unboxing. That was really cool. We did. Yeah, it was. It was. And then got rid of it very quickly. now we did see a lot of that game prior yes we were in some surprises it didn't work out there were some things with that game that was near and dear to our heart that got lost we're still trying to recover I'd still own that game if it was true I would too I'd have to it's impossible not to but those are on shot like a dream we got John Borg we haven't seen John Borg since then no but I did like the way that game shot And Dwight is still my hero, and Dwight's still my friend, so I will never knock Dwight. Hero? I love the guy. You let him know. Yeah. Like, seriously, Ghostbusters and Star Wars is still two of my favorite coding games ever, and so I can never, never, ever knock Dwight. I can't. Guy's fantastic. I love that, too. So we had Munsters. Munsters came out. You unboxed one brand new, a pro version. A premium LE came out as well. Yeah. I think it still sells pretty well. Yeah. For a certain degree. There's still a lot of people that like it, so nobody can get mad. And then we had another release, Black Knight. Yeah. Black Knight sort of raged the original theme by Mr. Steve Ritchie. People were excited. People shit on it. Yeah. Some people came back. No, I want the premium of the play field. No, the pros. I was talking to our good friend, IndiePen, because IndiePen bought one from you. And Larry said, he said, I love it, Greg. He was like, I do not understand what people are talking about. He said, I love it. And, you know, I think that that is one of those pens that we haven't had in a long time where people either love it or hate it. Come on, Munsters was sort of the same way. There's a lot of people that love Munsters and then you've got the other side of the table that hate it. There is no in-between. It's an okay game. It's literally, I hate that damn thing and I don't want to shoot it. Or, I love it. It's fantastic. And I think both those pins right there together kind of came out with that same sentiment. Artwork was cool. The sounds were cool in that game. It is a fun game. The rules are cool. Tim Sexton with some cool rules in that game. Dude, it was a wicked cool animation and sound. It's not grabbing like some of the other Stern titles have, especially this year. But we know that Stern is very likely having their greatest sales year in maybe forever. I think so. So these games may be doing quite well on location. Stuff has been selling like crazy. So we had that. I played L.A. was gorgeous. And then after that, maybe arguably my favorite,
    6:07
    Jersey Jack pinball machine was released this year. Pat Lawler dusts off the Armageddon and the original theming of Dialed In. And he presents to the world, with the help of Joe Katz, Ted Estes, right? And the help of SDTM. We were gratefully or graciously invited up there to help kind of unveil that game along with... Willy Wonka. Yep, along with Ken Cromwell and Bill over at Special Win Lit. Jeff Patterson. Jeff Patterson came from TWIP to do the editorial on it. That was a three-headed monster. It was. and we're I had Tineda messed it up by going to the factory and I don't know if any of you guys have ever been up there to their office but it's you know there's cubicles and then there's the research the design portion but everything that we're shooting in is very cramped and you have three media personnel three media persons groups all intertwined while JJP the guys are still trying to work but we were able to bring you guys thanks to those guys at JJP see so people didn't even know that was in no gorgeous And it took us like an eight-hour shooting day. It really was a lot of work. But you know what I was happy with is we got to try something different. You know, our very first invite was from American Pinball for Houdini. And we just did a still camera on that thing tried to do some shots And that wasn even a reveal though No it wasn a reveal They had already revealed the game Yeah they done and then This was revealing This was a reveal That true The first thing that the world seen was straight down the middle work That is very true Dude, we freaking killed it. Very true. And we were continuing to hone our skills. Boom. But I thoroughly enjoyed them inviting us up for that. We like that type of work, don't we? Yeah, we do. Because it gives us... We like the promotional videography, cinematography kind of stuff. Because this show is fun, and we get to be creative with it, but there's nothing like being able to get creative with a whole show. Yeah, to get away from dick farting buttholes, we like to get creative with the camera. So that's what that allows us to do. That was a lot of fun. It was work. God, dude, I was wore out after a lot of work. We got to interview Pat Lawler. Yes. Legendary Pat Lawler. He talked about creating pinball in the 21st century. We got that on video, didn't we? Joe Katz we got to talk to, so it was fantastic. Willy Wonka, honestly, still probably one of my favorite games that Jersey Jack has ever made. underappreciated, underrated game in my opinion. I still haven't put enough time on it. Every video. I think you're going to see a lot of Willy Wonka Twippy votes. I think so too. A lot of Willy Wonka Twippy votes. So that put us into April, May-ish. It was warm out. After TPF, we forgot. TPF, we hosted the Twippy suit. You son of a bitch. We hosted the Twippy Awards in the end of March live. Live. Yes. Terrifying. Were you guys there? Did you guys see it? Terrifying. But it was great. We had, we had, oh my. It seemed like you were scared at all. Oh, I was, because I was, like, yeah, a little too much. Because I had to. I was, I was nervous as hell. That's why, like, I get all jittery and I start twitching. Welcome to the second annual Twippy Awards. A celebration of pinball excellence.
    9:12
    Introducing your hosts for the show, Greg Bone and Zachary Manny. You know what I mean? Because I get nervous and that's why. You got so many, like, cat calls from the audience. Oh, Greg Bone. I'm still not sure where they were. I didn't hear one Zach. Trying to ridicule me But hey listen We did that We were able to pull it off Again you guys have heard us talk before Pull it off We fucking nailed it We did nail it We had standing room only in that room What's it going to be like this year? We're going to try to actually squeeze more seating in We already talked about that We should right before the show starts I should just push off Jeff With the videos and stuff Assets And right before the show starts Me and you should just say hell with it And see what Jeff does Just walk out That's right Hey, you know what we should do, though? We should set a TV up. We should have a big screen set up outside the venue. We'll be in the bar.
    10:01
    Live from the Twimpies, we're here at the local hotel bar. That would be fun. That would be kind of funny. Jeff would shit.
    10:08
    Oh! What a loser. Backwards hand. Ready? I'll play it in camera. Chrome it. Brass it. Black nickel it. Candy chrome it. Powder coat it. The possibilities are endless. at pinballplating.com. Your pinball machine deserves the best. At Comet Pinball, you'll find the best variety of LED products with the best quality LEDs, and most importantly, at the best price. Your collection is begging for an upgrade. Order yours now at cometpinball.com. Check out pin graphics for the latest and greatest in pinball enhancements, power blades, blade skins, pin blades and even more visit pingraphics.com now to see what's available for your pinball machine so we knocked out the twippies we did knock out the twippies i became a distributor in 2019 oh that's been a lot of work so far off on this time a lot of work it was well i haven't slept since march so yeah oh so yeah i became a distributor many noises nicole and i flipping out pinball that was a lot of fun how has it been with your best friend being a distributor is it different is it the same it's a little different we have to watch our p's and q's a little more do we a little bit i just said butthole and poop and fart and dick maybe i'm wrong um he's a little more stressed um we don't get the film as much as we'd like to a lot of that's on me a lot of it's still on bone just because i'm like zach's like man i'm so busy I'm like, gosh, man, you just need to take some time for yourself. You just do that, buddy. I'm just looking out for your health and your well-being. Do you think Straight Down to the Middle is going to last through 2020? Now, that's an interesting one. We're going to talk about coming attractions at the end of this video. We just may be reformatting some things. Really? Things may be a little different. Okay. Different. Going in a different direction. So we had the Twippies. We had distribution. I've been at the eight different shows and my head's going to explode. The Atlanta show was in July. That was a lot of fun. You could make it to that. And then we had. What was released next? We thought Stern teased us and we thought we were getting a Jurassic Park, but we didn't. To the dismay of a lot of people, we got a new artwork package for one of our favorite games ever made, Star Wars. And as great as that was, I was still crushed. Why were you crushed? Because I was still anticipating. I wanted to see Jurassic Park. I wanted it out. I think the release of the Star Wars Premium comic in particular made one of my favorite machines even more appealing. I do like the comic, but I honestly still prefer the movie. Do you? I still do. Yeah, see, I don't mind the original, but the LE. I still like the original LE. Really? You can shard on me all you want. I really like the original LE. Oh, he's being kind to himself. just a little shart you can just shart on me just shart a little squirt shart any other undercarriages no I still like that movie but yeah they announced they teased new games coming and everybody's like it's time for Jurassic Park and I was I seriously did have my hopes up like I was actually crushed that I was going to have to wait you called me the day of that Star Wars reveal and you were like what the fuck yeah really I thought we were getting Jurassic Park we feel I feel pretty good about inside information things that we hear you get more than I do now And so I felt pretty good with what I was knowing. And then, bam! Star Wars. Then, we get a Jurassic Park. And I get another. Wham! Why? What happened? Because it wasn't the movie assets. Oh, yeah. So it took me some time. To get used to it? To get used to it. Honestly, I love it now. Premium still. Pro, I could never have lived with. I could have never lived with that pro artwork. I could have never lived with it. This, I actually still like the artwork.
    14:15
    But I still would have liked... It's still just not Jurassic Park to me. I'll be honest. I think it is one of the greatest games in the last 10 years. So good. Easily one of the greatest games in the last 10 years. Code-wise, shot-wise. Elwin is... It just can't get much better because everything is so different. But it still... It just doesn't really feel like Jurassic Park.
    14:39
    It's... Oh, because when you press start... Yeah, the music is still good, but it still just doesn't. It's still not Jurassic Park. But it's still great. It's fantastic. It's a great dinosaur pin. Hell no. No. This is my favorite game. I can't. The LE is pretty, too. I can't do it. The LE is pretty, too. Do you think that Stern's Pinball sold more premium models on Jurassic Park than any other premium made? I think it will end that way.
    15:03
    And I glad that they did do that I glad that there was something in there that made people want to buy that premium I feel like Stern is their series now this Pro Premium LE series which I love I think it's balancing out better now. It is. You're seeing the premiums really start to get the care that they've always deserved. And the pros for location make more sense. And everybody's chasing these premiums. Sales-wise, we've done really well with premiums. Because I don't know if I want something so starkly different as what Ghostbusters was. but I like the little variances like the gate on the Raptor Pit, the T-Rex come down eating the ball, the spinner on the helicopter. I like small things. That's aesthetic. A lot of aesthetic stuff. You get a gate and stuff. Same thing here? Yes. I think it's going to be the same way. If that projector turns out great for Stranger Things, then I think that you fall into the same categories once you do Jurassic Park. Yeah, I know you bastard. I love it. You get many bags. All right, so Jurassic Park gets announced and we did an unboxing that probably was our favorite unboxing that we've done. I reveled in that. I still, to this day, I watch that video. It took longer to film that first one minute than it does a typical episode. Yeah, like two hours. Yeah. But it was worth it. We got our feet wet in a little difference. It was fun to do. I had a blast, dude. It was one of my favorite things ever. I get to bear old chest. Yeah. Ian Malcolm.
    16:18
    Super creepy. I got to do that. Hey, people loved it. What can I say? People loved it. Most didn't. But some people, like a couple people, a couple people really liked it. I got messages with photos of them doing the same.
    16:33
    I don't know. I took it all in. I thought that was the likable one. Just take my shirt off. Like me in a different way there. Slay it. Like me in a different way. So Jurassic Park was announced, and it has been a sales juggernaut, because that game is fantastic. It is fantastic. Do you think they sold more Jurassic Parks than anything since Ghostbusters?
    16:54
    My best guess. Close. Maybe not to this point. Maybe not. Yeah, but it will. You can't keep them in stock. That's right. There's like build after build after build. Jurassic Park. So that was Jurassic Park. Then what came out after that? Let's take a look down here. Tell me. Then we got another. We weren't even expecting a game, and they were like, oh, here. You want another studio license title by Stern Pinball? They gave us Elvira. Yes. One that we've been hearing about from Greg Norman.
    17:19
    Dennis. Dennis Norman. Dennis. Since TPF 2007. Yeah. 2007, I think. Which I don't think was still what people fully expected. You don't have a pro and you have an increased price, people are going to be angry. Yeah. And I honestly think, though, that the way that people are talking, I still think that it's going to be another lineman game that's going to come around like Batman 66. It becomes this devout following of this masterpiece of a game. Because I just think that it was an easier shooter, decent ball times, kind of a wide open, far back, typical fan. And I think that that disappointed people initially, but then I think that once people started playing it. You see it in real life at house. Oh, it's fantastic. Everything about it is great. I'm still hearing, like Ken Cromwell told me that. Ken was like, you know what, I played it at Chicago, dude. He was like, I just didn't really care for it. He goes, but when we got one here in the studio, he was like, dude, I can't get enough of it. He said it's a great game. And I think that that's the way a lot of people are feeling. If I had the dollars and I didn't have to buy a dress at Park Premium, I'd have bought one. We're going to introduce a new segment in 2020 for you guys. I was going to give it at the end of this video, but it makes sense right here in this transition It's gonna be I don't know what the segments gonna be called, but it's gonna be called something like
    18:34
    We're gonna give you a machine flipping out is going to loan you a machine That I want to prove to you is Underrated or that you really need more time on it so that you can say at the end of a month or so of playing it This is free all free. Don't worry about it. Even I'll pack it down here. We're gonna set it up You're gonna play it for a month and you're we're gonna do a video on on, you know what, no, I'm still with everybody else. I don't like it. Or, well, now I see the genius here. Will it be a clean machine? It's going to be a brand new machine. Well, maybe not. Home use only. Showroom kind of stuff. What do you think? I think that'd be a fun series. I'll take that challenge. And Elvira just might be one of them because I own an LE and that Elvira is freaking awesome. Kind of. Freaking awesome. I'm in shock right now. Kind of. Kind of taking it back. You're always asking for maybe a little loaner or something, so. Yeah, you never brought me one. I know. I've been a distributor for a year. So I'm going to make it part of a series.
    19:26
    That's what benefits him. Jackass. People want to hear that. I still appreciate it. You can use me. That's okay. I'll be your whore. What are you going to do?
    19:36
    It's okay. Oh, and on Elvira, we got to do another fantastic, what I thought was fantastic, and probably next to doing Jurassic Park, my second favorite filming session that we've done. We did a Wayne's World Halloween special for Elvira. How cool was that? Do you guys remember that? That was awesome. Even my family loved it. My wife was kind of into it. My kids were into it because they laughed their ass off. Who was not into the whole idea of taking that much time for my process and filming? Yeah, it was like Zach put a lot into it. Zach gathered our time. No, you put just an equal amount, but you just didn't want to. You're like, man, do we really have to mess with it? I was like, no, it'll be fun. I promise it'll play well. Chelsea was in the bathroom cutting our wigs and styling our wigs to get them to look decent. Because you couldn't find a Wayne and Garth wig. It's too old. Nobody cared. So we couldn't find anything. That was so much fun, man. Kids were laughing because we were out in a van, just neighbors around and stuff at night. Playing Queen at 10 o'clock at night. Just like rocking it out. We had a damn good year. Probably my second. Literally. Two of my favorites. Besides Wolfman. When we did that Halloween episode. Oh, that was a good one.
    20:42
    Wolfman and Count Zacula. Yes, those two videos this year were probably my favorite since we have been in pinball like together what else we did We helped with the reveal of Oktoberfest. I forgot about that, but that was in well, no
    20:56
    Yeah, cuz we did it at but we still seen the game ship this year Yes, well that was a new ship this year, but we filmed it in 18 So I was trying to think I was like wait a minute monster bash remake came out Oktoberfest came out Yeah, so they cross my mind to him like man. Are we forgetting Oktoberfest, but we didn't it It was, yeah, we're good. Very nice. But, yeah. And then to round out the year. That brings us to October. Round out the year. No, we haven't had anything since October. No. We have Star Wars Home Pin that we didn't put in there. That counts. A lot of people are liking it. It's the cheapest way to buy a brand new pinball machine, and it's Star Wars. They do get on it a little bit. Yeah. But then actually people playing it love it. Shooter, the spinner shot is unbelievable. Shoots great. Yeah. So that was a cool little thing. I like what Stern is doing. Then that brings us up to date. December. This thing was built on December 26th, the day after Christmas. So many paint and glue fumes. I am so ecstatic that I got such a new game. You were so worried about it, too. I'm fucking blown away. An off-gassing TV upstairs. Got an off-gassing game down here. Stranger Things is a series off of Netflix that is one of our favorite TV shows. Yes. Easily, right? Very much so. Easily one of our favorite television shows. and they get all the assets and everything. This is kind of a dream license for me. So, and Brian Eddy. You get that and Brian Eddy, bam, bam. Oh, man. So I'm really interested to see where this thing goes. And Stern did the first time ever, we talked about in our last video, where they released this game, they announced it, at the same time that distributors already had it, it's put it on location. So when you seen that reveal you could go within America there were some hand locations that you could have played in You know what What kind of crazy about that is I was literally talking to somebody about unveiling of a game that will be coming out and everything and I said, you know what would be freaking awesome, dude? I said that I think would blow people away. It's like if you literally had, you know, you unveil this at a show, and you literally had a few trucks or you had a back room with 20 of these games for sale at that point, ready to go to sell immediately when you release it. And what the hell did Stern do? Stern beat everybody to it and did almost just that. Even better, you didn't have to go to a show. No. It was just ready to ship. It was at a local distributor. Yep. When they announced that people were showing. I don't think all distributors had that, but some of the bigger distributors had that. Yeah. Which was fantastic. I still think it's amazing because it took it from that two-week period to the day of. Blew it out of the water. I love it. That's a very good point. So that ends us up. So where are we at in 2020? What will we be doing the big things twippy third annual Twippy Awards? Yes Well, I'll be going to a crapload of shows for flipping out pinball be going to a few we got a new booth set up to Little booth will be at Louisville Louisville will be before TPF Louisville will be our next show That's like two weeks in a row Louisville and then to TPS this It's a long long long month there. So we doing that you don't go to Atlanta show No.
    24:01
    Cincinnati, you end up. And Chicago Expo, you go. Chicago, I'll definitely go. I really still want to make it up the replay, man. Like, I just want to go up. Like, I'm jealous every time everyone's up there and I don't go. Like, I don't know if this will be the year. Because, like, kids' school summer. It's a mess. Coming back. That is a tough time. Yeah, but I still just want to make it up. Like, I want to. I don't know. Maybe we play some more competitive pinball this year. You're good enough. I tell you you're good enough. You are good enough. I think you're consistent. I think you're good enough. And you know what I'd really like to do? If I can tolerate him a little bit, I'd love to go on some road trips this year. I would. I'll do a little road trip with you, a little Thelma and Louise action. I think it'd be fun. Maybe even crease on the back. Bouncing around. That's right. Hey, guys. That's right. I'd say Cromwell, but he don't like leaving the home. I don't like him. Me and Ken, I was going to hang out with Ken one weekend. And speaking of, not to segue too hard, but you may be doing a little something different format-wise in pinball media that doesn't have anything to do with straight down the middle. Well, that's all we'll say about that one right now. It's actually super secretive and super awesome.
    25:04
    But it's not super awesome. But it's not. But it is the. It'll make sense later on down the road, guys. It'll make sense. Greg's got a new way of interacting with you guys, maybe on a monthly or bimonthly basis.
    25:20
    He's excited. I'm actually pumped about it. He's really excited. Because there's some fun stuff coming. Look at you. You just want to talk about it. Yeah. You just want to talk about it. So we have that. We have different, kind of different formatting for Straight Down the Middle. Kind of. Hopefully we will continue as we are, but we're focusing on quality a lot. Yeah, yeah. Because early on we were all about quantity, I guess. Yeah, getting a video out every week. Now we want to do more things like the Jurassic Park. We're doing that. Things like what we did with JJP with Wonga. Aiming higher quality-wise, so that takes more time. Because that's kind of where our heart is a lot, honestly. Just to be honest with our viewers, that's where it is. We are looking for that creative outlet, and that's both where we've kind of taken this show over time. But it eats up so much of our time. I started a new job this year, which eats up a lot of my time. And you've been kicking ass, dude. Nice job. I killed it. Thank you. Real estate mogul over here. Yeah, I've nailed it. But it eats up my life. You're even doing video production for the real estate. But it eats up my life. It's like I live it 24-7. So on top of Zach's distribution, still being a doctor. We're busy. Family lives and everything. It's ate up everything. So we're wanting to take it to when our time is so valuable now that we want to be able to channel it and focus it into higher quality things in 2020. Upgrade equipment. We have a lot more resources now that we have sponsorship through flipping out some of the other sponsors that we do have. So if you want to if you want to help us out you can always donate to us that is a big help But now we're trying to upgrade the quality of our work of our editing of our post edits all that kind of stuff We want to be the media video. We want to be the visual media source for pinball And I think we've proven ourselves Yeah, we don't allow people instead of us begging to do reveals and stuff people come to us and say hey Can you do this do a video or for sir? Not only they pay us Sorry. Hey, but we want to still bring that humor. We want to bring that fun. We want to bring the basement talk, the chat that is always. And we're going to have new segments. We're always going to have new segments. We'll have reviews. We're going to keep doing all that. And in 2020, you're going to see. Remember, we've reviewed these games for two plus years. And then we changed the formatting of those reviews for a weighted score. You are going to see an updated weighted. We're going to have a video that shows all of the games updated into that weighted system to see. If it balances out a little more. Where's everything fall now on Zachary Egg's list? That would be a lot of fun. All right. I'm spent, man. Me too. What do we need to tell these people to do? Vote for us. Twippies. For the Twippies. Come to TPF. What's better than watching it on your computer? Vote for us. Come to TPF. See us host it live. See us have a great time. The crowd interacts. It is one gigantic party in there. It's not like the Oscars. It's not all hoity-toity. You can wear your dresses and you can wear your tuxes. or you can come in a fucking pinball t-shirt and jeans. We don't care. It is just a blast, man. Just don't boo. Come on. That was awkward last year. You know what? Let's deal with that shit. This is how great the Twippies were, is the Twippies were the only place in all of pinball where the guy booing Kaneda got booed. Yeah. It's a celebration. Yep, yep. And if Christopher Franchi wins for best artwork, I'm stepping on his fucking trophy. How about that? I'm stopping. we love you Chris alright until next until whenever I don't know when we're going to be back maybe it's a week maybe it's a month maybe it's tomorrow you always have to follow us on Facebook so you get those updates YouTube always follow us on there what else anything else they need to know vote for us at Twippies yeah and here's the thing if you've already voted for the Twippies all you got to do is vote again because your most recent vote on the Twippies now I didn't like this rule but that's the rule committee voted But the most recent vote on the Twippies, that's the one. All the other ones before that will be deleted. Hmm. Man, hmm. So if you didn't vote for us, now's your chance to cancel out what you voted for before and vote for us again.
    29:32
    We love you. 2020 straight down the middle of pinball show. Greg Bone, Zach Minney, still best friends forever, right? Yeah. I'd do a heart, but my hands are tiny. You're headed off with a bumper now you're straight down the middle. again little again you had a fling with a fling shot you're rolling out the dog yeah I tried to cradle you with my flipper it was all in vain it'd show up like a it'd just look like a wonky oval like a real heart it'd show up like a real heart there's a valve over here look at that dude freaking bear claws it's like a slant alright great love buddy see you