The Spinner is Lit recorded our episode on Memorial Day. This show is dedicated to all the men and women who have sacrificed their lives to fight for our country, to cherish the freedom we have as Americans. Thank you for all that have served. Welcome to the Spinner's Lip Pinball Podcast. I'm your host, Spencer. Tonight's episode is episode 56, GSPF 2023 review, or what I did at Camp Super Bowl. And with me tonight are my co-hosts, Dan. Hey, what's going on, everyone? Mark. What's up, everybody? And back, a longtime friend and helper with the show, Eric Seifert. Hey, y'all. Good to have you back, Eric. It's been too long, man. Last time Eric was on the show was the very last show that we recorded before I left Sacramento. So that's been like... Eric's a long-term friend of the show. Yeah, long-term friend of the show. I think that's been like literally two years ago this month. Yeah. Sounds about right. Oh, wow, what a trip. So you'll hear me opening. Oh, that was quiet. A Lost Coast Brewery Tangerine Wheat. They're not a sponsor. I picked up some when we were leaving California because you can't get it out. I haven't been able to find it here in Wyoming, and it's really good beer. Oh, that's good. So, all right, man. So it's been one week since your show ended. How's everybody's week been since then? Good. Pretty busy. Busy, though. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, we've all been moving like crazy. Dan's been buying up every game that's not nailed to the floor. The fun hasn't let up. It's just like a continuation for you, huh? Like it's just been like nonstop. Yeah, well, I sold a game at the show or during the show, not technically at the show, and picked up a game the day after the show. I picked up a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from a league member. And then I made a deal to sell another game. And then yesterday was the day that the big, you know, it's like a four or five-piece game move, people buying games to make a space to sell games. And I ended up with a Black Knight Sword of Rage Pro from our tournament, our tournament coordinator, our league commissioner, Mike, and I've had a Black Knight topper since they were new, and I just needed a game to put under it, and he made me a great deal, so I brought it home, and it's helping soften the blow from selling my medieval madness. There you go. I still remember when that game first got announced, and then the first time we saw a gameplay video. You know, and Dan, you and I talked like for two or three hours. We're like school kids, man. Like just so fucking excited for that game. I mean, it didn't disappoint. But, I mean, I just remember that. And that was such a fun time because, you know, the excitement level. You know, I just remember that and being so excited and looking so forward to seeing it and then being able to play it. And the first time we got to play it, I think, was at the show that year. And I screwed up on that game more than once because I should have bought one when they were new, but I don't think I was in the best money situation. And then after that, I kept getting opportunities to pick up even LEs for just incredibly good prices, and I was always prioritizing some other game. I think it got deprioritized so I could pick up Pirates of the Caribbean, and then Guns N' Roses, and finally, yeah, it got its day, and, you know, the right deal, the right game, the right price, so I pulled the trigger and made it happen. Well, I'm glad you finally got one, because now you can use the topper. So, this show, man, let's just start off at the beginning like we should. It's the Flippin' Friday kickoff dinner, Friday. I mean, the show opened Friday, and we're seeing people. We're playing games. We're mingling around at Camp Silver Ball. And we get to the Flippin' Friday kickoff dinner, which for the listeners that may not know, is also the presentation of the Steve Charlin Spirit Award, where we give a deserving pinhead or this year pinheads that award. and we remember our good friends Tushana, as well as other good friends who are no longer with us, like Al Garber and Todd DeStefani, who we lost last year. And if you haven't gone, man, and you have the time and the means next year, and it does happen again next year, which it should, that dinner, I always feel like a shorter tuxedo, because I always feel the ambience of that dinner and the quality of the food that the Girl Scouts, the local Girl Scout troop, prepares with the help of adult leadership. Andrea Songy Neff, one of the board members' lovely wife, that dinner is like a five-star meal. It really is. Oh, it's very good. It's very good. Yeah. Food was awesome. Yeah, and the ambience and, you know, hanging out at the bar, and they bring you, you know, the Girl Scouts are carrying trays of hors d'oeuvres, and Das Lipperhaus provided the beer this year, right? Yeah, they provided the beer, which was great. Great beer. That blonde and all they have is really good. I don't remember who the winery is, but it's like a local winery because Lodi is wine country. Right. And so there's really good wine, and, you know, there's just really good snacks, and, you know, lots of mingle time. Yeah, and you get to mingle for, like, over an hour and just have snacks and drinks and talk. And it's really good friendship and fellowship. I'm like, it's really a good time and really worth going to. Also, the jurors are great. They are. I really enjoy the jurors. You can get to all the new games because a lot of people are out to dinner at that hour or eating somewhere else. Right. So if you don't go. But, no, it was a really good time. We presented. This year was a little different. We presented three awards to the guys that when the prior group that is now running Pinnagogo again, they were going to just, they were just tired of doing it. They were worn out. They've been doing it for a lot of years. And they were just going to let Pinnagogo die. and the three guys, which would be Brad Grant, Greg Ong, and Steve Face, said, we'll take it over. And they literally stayed at Pinnagoga. A lot of people don't know this story because the other guys were just worn out. It's a lot. I mean, it's a lot of work to do those shows. It really is. So they did it, and then they were outgrowing the location in Dixon and wanted to move the show. And then the previous guys said, well, we don't want, you know, once the show is staying in Dixon, we did it for so many years. we'll take it back and do it again. They're like, okay. So then we'll move the show and change the name, but we keep the weekend. They're like, okay. And that's how Golden State Film Festival became. And then they did that for the first couple years. They're like, well, we want to retire out now. And they brought in other people who were currently running it. And so we wanted to give those three, because they really did. I mean, an enormous amount of work, not just keeping the show alive, but building the show and bringing in, you know, the second building to Pinnagogo and, you know, having a tournament and, you know, more things, bringing in more and more, still keeping that original, you know, like cleaning up the barn at the fair and putting on a show, you know, kind of atmosphere, that down home. It's like we've all talked about this. We've all been to other shows, and they're all really good shows, but there's nothing like the Northern California shows at the fairgrounds. Completely agree. So real, real quick, Spencer, because you're kind of in on this. So Brad knew, but Greg didn't, or Greg knew, but Brad didn't? Neither and both. Okay. None of them knew. Steve, who unfortunately took ill the day before the show or the day of the show, he's on the mend. He's home. He's doing much better. He kind of figured out right away, oh, we're getting the Steve Charland Award. Well, he knew he was. I'm so glad you Beautiful segue So Brad and I had talked a couple weeks before On the phone and same with Greg We'd all been you know kind of communicating Just hey I'm looking forward to seeing you I'm looking forward to the show So if you know Brad he's a very humble man And he doesn't like any attention Placed on him He wants to place it on other people that do good things But he doesn't want any of it And he's like we just talked on the phone two weeks ago Why didn't you tell me And I'm like because you wouldn't have come Because Brad didn't look like he knew He didn't know You can definitely see You know that he was Incredibly happy and incredibly touched Yeah He was totally caught by surprise He didn't say a lot Because that's the Brad way But you could definitely see That he was super super touched It meant something to all of them Because they all knew Steve And Al And those guys that we remember You know, and I mean I told them all as I was giving them hugs I was like, you guys deserve this, you really do You know, we wouldn't have this show today If it weren't for you guys, and that's the truth We wouldn't, we would not have You know, I don't know You know, I can't say about Pentecostal Now, but I mean, we definitely wouldn't have the Golden State Pinball Festival if it weren't for them You know, there couldn't be a this generation If there wasn't the last generation Right, exactly They didn't get drummed out of town you know they're actually still involved and still working for the show but they well for the most part but they you know they've done their bit for all of us I enjoyed this so it was wonderful that they got recognized I didn't even you know of course I wasn't in the planning or anything but I didn't really think of them as recipients and so when we announced it I was like that's genius like what a wonderful especially you know where last year we did an in memoriam which was kind of emotional this was a much happier emotional to give to three basically living legends of Northern California pinball yeah exactly do not tell Brad that I said that because I'm just going to send him that sound bite not the whole episode a living legend? man I've always hated that guy It was nice It was a wonderful lovely dinner We had some great guests We had a prior winner there The pirate was there The pinball pirate Chris Coons Who was a recipient From a few years back From 2019 actually And you know It was just Seeing the old friends making new ones And that's like the best part of the show Honestly beyond everything else And the kickoff dinner is really nice to be able to do that. You know, I look forward to the kickoff show. Like, it's $60, which, you know, is not expensive for a dinner these days. And the food is absolutely fantabulous. But, again, you know, you're part of, you know, you're as close as you can get to being a part of the people running the show without actually having to run the show when you do that. Again, you're there. You know, the guests are there. You know, Mike was there. I walked up to Mike Vinicorn and was just like, hey, it's the famous Mike Vinicorn of Stern Pinball and shook his hand and, you know, thanks for coming again this year. He gave me like a Stern coin. I was like, what? got one of those too I got mine Sunday It was really cool Last year he gave me a t-shirt Which I still have, I've never worn And it's still in the plastic that it came in And he goes, oh here, have a challenge Because I told him that He goes, oh here, have a challenge coin And I'm like, because Cheddar told me one And I'm like, oh that's cool He goes, here, have one Well you had yours Friday, I didn't get mine until Sunday I didn't get any, so that's fine. You got to go out to a unicorn. It was really nice, though, to see Stern represented. Michael Grant is another person that is new to Stern. He just worked there for, I think, over a year now. So it's nice to see him there. And then there were a couple other people from the show floor that came to the dinner, which was nice. Is the other Mike from Stern, is he a younger guy? Yes. Yeah, I think I played him on Foo Fighters one time. Yeah, that's right. He's pretty cool. Yeah, he's a really nice guy. I'm sorry. Did you beat him? I beat him, but I think we had the lowest scores on there. I'm like, God, this is going to kill me on this game. I don't think either one of us got more than 26 million. It was that bad. All that matters is that you beat him. Yeah. Show him what NorCal's all about. Yeah, right. I think I get one skill shot. I think that was the only difference. We don't need to destroy you. We just need to win. Yeah, there you go. Slight superiority. Yeah, how did Helen, you know, the pin libraries there, he was real nice too. And having the other pin libraries there, you know, was real. And I told Mike Minicore, I said, you come so many times, man, you're part of the tribe now. Like after the show, I got to write my name on the bottom of your shoe. He just kind of looked at me like, what the hell? But, you know, I think he got it. I meant it in good humor, you know. But, like, no, you're part of the game now, man. We see you every year. You're one of us, you know. You got to keep coming to the show because you're part of the tribe. Yeah, that's a JJP game, man. They're not going to get that reference. Yeah, exactly. So, but, you know, I thought it was still funny. But anyway, so, yeah. It's pretty clever. Well, you know, I was having my moments because I was really tired. It was a really long drive. I've been drinking a lot. I drank a lot the night before. Look, accept the compliment, man. No, no, it's cool. It's good. Thank you. It's good. Anyway, so, well, no. Well, the dinner was great, man. And, well, so if you weren't, because, oh, man, the line. No, the dinner was really cool. And, I mean, I loved doing it. And then if you weren't at the dinner, as you saw, like, as soon as I got there, Like, people were already lined up for the Friday match play tournament. And I didn't even go in. I did go in the building that morning because I brought Michael and Edie. I said hi to them, and I brought them bottles of water to make sure they had plenty of water. You have an entire refrigerator full of water. I know, but it was the thing the first year Michael did the tournament. Like, nobody was bringing him water. So I said, why don't you say something? So I started coming in every couple hours and checking to make sure he had water. and it's been a tradition ever since that I go by, you got plenty of water? You got to start bringing him booze, man, so he'll calm down a little bit. Yeah, right. I thought it was good that he made call-outs on Slack, you know, hey, can somebody come over and help do this or whatever, and it seemed like people were pretty responsive to helping him out, and he seemed very appreciative of that. You know what? I mean, I probably spent more time in the tournament room than anybody who wasn't actually playing in the tournament, or Rick, who was the primary broadcaster, because I was working with Rick in the Elk Grove pinball booth to stream it. And that setup's just amazing. We'll talk more about that later. And I know that it didn't go off without a hitch, but I'll tell you, man, I don't think I've ever seen a better run tournament. Like, it was meticulously planned. Mike, you know, handled any crisis as it came up and just took care of the problems. I didn't hear any players grumbling. Like, I know that last year we had a couple missteps, and this year, I don't think I heard any major complaints, especially at the time. It seemed like everyone had a really great time. There were virtually no game failures, which is just insanity for games that are getting beat down as hard as those games are getting beat down. Everything held up real well. the temperature was comfortable. There were lots of goodies. It was a great, great tournament. In fact, I'm wrong. It was like, what, three great tournaments. Yes. Because we had match play, we had a women's tournament, and we had a main tournament. Yeah, it was well run. I didn't spend much time in the tournament. I know we're not talking about that yet, but I can tell you one thing that the games were allowed to be nudged, which I was really happy to see. Are we not talking about that yet? Because it's the next thing on the show roll. No, we're talking about it. Go. I was sagging. Your segue was magnificent, Dan. I heard you start talking about the tournament and I was like alright, off to the races. Alright, so we'll talk about the tournament then. Anyway, I played and I didn't play in the match play. I decided I wanted to take a break from competition pinball with the match play and not wait in line from 8 o'clock until opening. So I just hung out on the show floor, checked it out, checked out all the games, hung out at Camp Silver Ball. But my friend Ted, he had a chance to play in the tournament, and he did fairly well. He enjoyed it. He had a good time. Originally he was not going to play in it, and then he changed his mind at the last minute the next day. Ted, he had something to prove. He did have something to prove. Because he's not the number one ranked player in all of Nevada, or at least he wasn't at the moment. That's right. Yeah. You were. I was, yes. Yes. I still am. I still am by two points. I still am, but I didn't play in the match play. I don't regret it because I enjoyed taking time off and not doing that, not playing competition pinball, not worrying about playing in a tournament and being in a room the whole time instead of having the freedom to go and check out all the great games that are out there to play. Because last time when I came, I was stuck in the tournament room and I didn't really get a chance to play. So it was the – It's a lot of pinball, but it's a lot of the same pinball. Yes, that's correct. And when you're at the show, there's really – we're going to talk about this in a little bit, but there's really so much to see. And we had some of the hot new games and we had some of the super limited games. But the tournament bank, there was a brand-new Foo Fighters LE. Like, they opened the box to put it in the tournament. Yeah, wasn't that Shannon's? That was Shannon's. Which was just an amazing gesture that he did. Yeah, no kidding. Hats off to Shannon for doing that. That's pretty selfless to share an LE like that. Absolutely. If anyone's on Twitch and you go to Elk Grove Pinball, that's Rick Demmel's stream, and he streamed all three days, and I did some guesting with him. I think Mark did some commentary with him. I know some of our other league members did. We got over 1, 000 views for the finals, which is awesome. That's a huge amount of people. That's great. Right? Yeah. I think a big thing that helped was we got a raid. We got like a 100-person raid from, oh, my gosh, we got the name Wisconsin. Fox Cities. Fox City. Oh, that's awesome. So they made it. Nice. We had more than 100 viewers at one point. And it was just, again, it was just phenomenally fun to stream it. But, yeah, just, you know, you can check out the bank. You can check out the players. And you can, you know, even though you can't see, you know, the behind the scenes and watch everything work, you know, Michael, his wife, Edie, all of the volunteers who did scorekeeping, just did a fabulous job running the show. And, you know, especially, you know, the players, right? We had a tremendous roster of players from Northern California and beyond. They were all great sports. They all came to play. CCPL was a little bit light this year because Rick, you know, focused on the stream, so he didn't play. but Alex went in there and he finished, I think, 22nd in the main. So great job to Alex. He fought hard, but the game, you know, gravity was against him. And who were our winners? We had Tim. Tim Hansen won the main tournament in the A division. He was playing unbelievable pinball. I watched the last couple of games after I helped clean up some games and get them packed up. But then I went over there to the tournament room and checked out what was going on, and it was pretty intense watching them play Clash Gordon game. Yeah, that was awesome. It was insane how – This guy decided by bonus, and that was over Nick, right? Wow. That was over Nick. It was a nail-biter. It definitely was. It just goes to show you the level of play that these guys can do. It's pretty amazing. but it was definitely a very well-organized tournament because I kind of went in and out of there just check it out I did try qualifying I played 10 games as it was required for the first initial entry and I didn't do well on them at all they were set up hard but they were not you could nudge them you didn't tilt them as easily like last year where you practically breathed on them and they were tilting, these were a lot more forgiving. And being able to nudge it and play actual pinball was a nice break that normally is not the case. And when we play in those tournaments in Northern California, the tilts are very tight. And that was not the case. So you really could nudge those machines, which was nice. That was some big feedback that we've gotten from last year. Yes. and so I was in there and I helped a little bit with the setup and he had a checklist that he went down on all of them and he was having us play and give us reports on whether we thought that the tilts were fair and how much you could get away with if you can get away with too much, if you can get away with too little so I know that that was something that we made sure that every game would give you a move you had a space to do a move. It wasn't just going to automatically kill you. Right, and that's the thing. That was a big problem. That was a huge problem. Some questionable outlaying decisions. Yes, and I don't know how. It's amazing to me how Mike and the crew set up those games to make them really difficult with that ball of how it floats in those outlanes so easily. I don't know how he does it. but obviously I need to play like 30 games to get used to the way those games are set up. But like I said, they're not impossibly set up, but they still are difficult to keep the ball in play for a long period of time, which is good because the cues were not ridiculously long as I thought they would be with the unlimited entries. That wasn't the case at all. They weren't that bad. They were only what, maybe six or seven max at each machine. And partly because he had a lot of games that were available to play. which was a nice thing to see. So I don't know. There weren't any failures. Again, it can't be understated, like, how important it is to have reliable games. So if a game goes down in the bank, every other game gets that much more crowded. And I think that last year we had two or three games fail. Yes, I think there were three. Not really because of the games. Just, you know, they're older games and things happen and they get a lot of play. But this year, everything held up real well. All the games were super well vetted. All the games were brought by CCPL League members. I know Dan Costa brought games. I saw Shannon brought games. Mike Garcia brought games. Scott Busey brought games. Just a ton of people. I'm sure I'm forgetting names, but, you know, Mike Hozier brought a bunch of games. They were in fantastic shape. And they were really well. They were gorgeous. They were definitely tournament-ready machines. And going a little back to the match play, Ted – Adam Pressler, of course, brought games. Yeah, Adam Pressler did too. That's right. He brought the nine ball. Going back to the match play, Ted did finish and tie for third, which is pretty awesome to see that he represented Nevada there and do really well. And if you go back and watch the stream, he had an unbelievable game on Adam's Family. So make sure if you can go back. I'm assuming Rick puts it on YouTube as an archive. Is that right? No, he doesn't. He really should. Oh, he doesn't. You have to catch the replays while they're available on Twitch. Okay. I understand. While the getting's good. Yeah, I've got it running in the background right now. Yeah, Ted is actually, he is playing some phenomenal pinball. He played really awesome in that match play tournament. Absolutely. There's a reason that that dude is the reigning Nevada State champion. Totally agree. And I believe that if, you know, the spinners let's own, Mark Scoff can't bring it home. Hopefully, Teddy can repeat. Exactly. But really, Mark, the onus is on you, man. We need you to bring that home to us. I will try. I'll try my best. Like I said, I'm doing well. But when he is on that in the zone, watch out. And he was in the zone for that match play. Well, I don't know if Spencer is going to be the state champion of Wyoming, but I don't think Eric and I are going to bring it home from California. Thank you, Mark. Oh, no pressure, buddy. Appreciate it. Exactly Well you know that's why I Quit playing in the tournaments because there's so much Else going on and especially now Not living close by I don't get to see a lot Of the people but once or twice a year So I want to just and Rusty same thing she Played and took fourth in the Very first women's tournament In 2019 And And I guess a really, really good competition. But she's kind of saying, no, I like doing the tournament, but I just want to hang out and play football and see everybody have a good time. So who did win the women's tournament? It was Leslie Ruckman. Okay. Yeah. She's amazing. I think she won, yeah, she won in 2019. She took the win. And she was an outstanding player. Yeah, and she's with the big leagues, too. She's the big leagues. I mean, she plays up there with the men, no problem. Yeah, she is. She's no joke. She's the world champion. She's no joke. Yeah, she'll play against the men and hold her own, exactly. Yeah, and really nice lady from what little I interacted with her, and really just an amazing player. That's awesome. And, you know, I won't get too deep into it, But they also had the Flipper Room also had sponsored a kids' tournament all three days. So all three days they had a separate kids' tournament. So if you had kids showing up there, they had a fun little kids' tournament to do, and they could win prizes and stuff and have a good time. So the tournament and league, or not tournament and league, but the tournament and competitive play was definitely represented well. And, yeah, big shout-out to everybody that volunteered and to Michael and Edie Hosier, who make sure that tournament runs like, you know, a Swiss timepiece. Edie was a soldier. Yeah. She was out the whole time. Yeah, she is. Handing the money, selling entries, just making sure that it ran like a top. And before we move on, let's not forget target match play. That was Mark Scholes, right, was our winner in that. It was Mark Schultz. Yes, that's correct. He got up to 23 points, and he won the match play. And now, just speaking of Leslie Ruckman, she tied with Ted, which is very interesting. Oh, wow. That's true. Yeah. But, yeah, it was Mark Schultz that won the target match play. So, you know, congrats to all the winners for bringing the competitive spirit into all the players. You know, nobody stepped up. And, you know, I don't think there were any poor sports. I think everybody had a really, really good time, played real hard. There was definitely some thrill of victory. There was definitely some agony of defeat. Right. I love that you bring that up because that's so old school now. But it's so cool still. It's the agony of defeat. You know, the agony of defeat. And the thrill of victory. Wide world of sports. Speaking of all that, as you weren't playing in the competitive side, and or checking out or just, you know, watching people compete at the various tournaments over the weekend. You might have been with the rest of us, Ms. Grant, who are the rest 51 weeks a year of standing citizens. We're at the continuously running for almost four straight days after party 24-7 Camp Silver Bowl, which, oh, yeah, If you were at Camp Silver Ball this year, you had the opportunity for the first time when you reserved your spot for tent or camp or RV camping, ever to purchase an official Camp Silver Ball T-shirt, which I probably own now. Yep. Those things are cool, man. They are cool. Did you get one, Eric? Yes, I did. Nice. Yes, I got one, too. So, but yeah, man, Camp Silver Balls, like, literally, like, it was, because it started actually Thursday night. We arrived Thursday afternoon, set up our camp around, we were set up around 630, and the beer was flowing, and the greetings were there, and the people were there, and it was a lot of fun. and people set up pinball machines underneath the pop-ups and in inflatable tents, same as last year except even more, and the party literally never shut down. It would go to 4 in the morning. People would sleep for three hours, get up, come over to our tent, have coffee, and then start all over again. And how many games would you estimate were in Camp Silver Ball this year? I would say at least 12 that I could think of, if not more. Yeah, there were probably 12 to 15 games you could run around because they had the pinball tournament, the unofficial pinball tournament. I believe that was Saturday night that Gene S. Wong, shout out to Gene, put on. I didn't participate in it because by Saturday night I was kind of wearing out. So I went to bed about 1130. But then I fired it back up hard Sunday night even after the show was over. I was over at my neighbor's playing their ACDC while they were wrenching on truck stop, which they'd had inside the building during the show. Yeah, there was some cool stuff out in the campground this year. There was, I don't know who's, what group of people it was, but over in th e far corner behind the building where the Friday dinner was at, Somebody had set up, like, a really short stage under a tent, and they had three machines in there. So the machines were up out of dirt, and they were all leveled out and everything. They played really good, had a good time over there, hanging out there for a bit, checking that out. Remember the Sega Godzilla? Yes. Okay, there was Godzilla Lost in Space and Hardwire. Hardwire, yes, Hardwire. Yeah. I think that was the Monterey Boys, wasn't it? Yeah, that was the Monterey Lens Archive, folks. They were awesome Yeah That was a great match They brought the party Yeah they did That was a definitely legit Serious set up they had over there For that That was pretty sweet And somebody brought I want to protect the innocent by not mentioning names But Somebody brought a flipper What is flipper pinball soccer game. Flipper football. I played a couple games on that with some friends and we had a really, really good time. That's a fun game. That's one of those games that has been a punchline for years. It's a great game. It's a good game. Multiplayer. Yeah. It's a really fun game. It's just a punchline. I remember the old ads for Pinnagogo where they said bring your games, but not baby Pac-Man. Bring your games. Something that works would be preferable. That's funny. The game selection was unbelievable. I mean, you're on the campground, and you have Cactus Canyon continued. You can't play that anywhere. Right. And here it is sitting on the campground, like you said, Flipper Football Bond Premium or was it an LE Was it an LE That was a pro That was a pro wasn it No it was a premium Because It was a premium It was a premium Yeah it was a premium And then he had this really cool Monte Carlo which was kind of like Labyrinth but you had to race this small steel ball around to the end. That was kind of a cool little maze to play around with that. And then, of course, like I said, Flipper Football. And then there was an alien from Highway that was just down the – Yeah, the highway alien, they also had the ACDC Pro. ACDC Pro, right. It was the later one with the different artwork and the LEDs and the bell that rang. And it played great. In fact, they had it for sale for $6, 000. It was probably one of the best pros I've played with. That played really nice. It was a good pro. Yeah, that was really nice. How much? $6, 000. In fact, they had a. That's super fair. because, again, that late pro, they added a lot of the premium features into it. Yeah, they did. And they fixed the playfield art, so it's a little bit less ugly than every other version of ACDC. Exactly. Yeah, they fixed the playfield art. They put the bell mod and made it like the premium LE bell. I don't think it's modded. I mean, I think that actually, if it was the later one that had, like, Angus jumping instead of the Angus devil face. Yes, yes, it is. I think that that actually Stern put, like, the premium and the LE. That's what I mean, yeah. The original bell is just sort of static. Yeah. Right. Yeah, they put that in front of the factory, but, I mean, they said, oh, hey, let's make this later version better and do the better bell and stuff. So they had that for sale. They also had the truck stop for sale for $2, 000. I'm like, wow, that's a pretty good deal. I know, right? And I was sorry about that, guys. I don't know what that is. Truck stop's a weird game. It was fun. I played it. We had a good time playing it. But, yeah. Two spinners on that, right? I think so, yeah Yeah, that's kind of a fun one to rip those thinners It has like four ramps Because originally it was supposed to be called Ramp Warrior And they made a truck stop Because that was like either the last game Pre-merger or the first game Post-merger Yeah, I can't remember either But it was right on that tipping point When they bought Bally Yeah, I think the last game I think the last game that was a full Bally-Bally game Was, if I'm not mistaken It was Blackwater 100, I believe. I could be wrong about that, but I think that was it. But, you know, throughout the whole weekend, if you stayed at the campground or if you just hung out late and hung out, like, you know, at the campground and stuff and just visited with people and had a cold drink or a hot, you know, cup of coffee with me and my wife and whatever, man, it was just a good time. It was really a lot of fun. I mean, like, even more so this year, it felt really even more kind of special because they had the T-shirts. They're like, oh, you're a Camp Silver Ball camper? Nice, cool, you know. You're like, oh, I'm special now. And they had the pyramid enclosure, and then they also had like a circus tent. Yeah, or a little peppermint building. Peppermint building. A little table thing. Yeah, the harem building, as I call it. Yeah, that's a good name for it, the harem building. Which is really great because the pyramid last year had Ninja Turtles, and then this year had a Godzilla. Godzilla. And then the – I'll put some pictures up on the Facebook page. And then the harem tent had Total Evil Annihilation and Bobby Orr Power Play. Yeah. That played really well. Yeah, it did. But it worked. And Dan worked on that thing almost all weekend trying to get it working better, and he did a lot of work to it to keep it going. Yeah, shout out to Dan Costin. Yeah, man. Garcia. Oh, Garcia. Okay, sorry. Why is that? Okay, sorry. There's so many Dans. There's a lot of Dans. That's why they have that website, Only Dans. Only Dans, okay. Just kidding. But everybody was there and everybody had a good time, and all the camping people shared their games and their food and their drinks and invited people. Come on, sit down, hang out, talk stories. In fact, over at George's tent, our dear friend George and friend of the show, or his trailer rather, somebody was playing Deadpool on like a projection screen, which I thought was really cool. So a bunch of people were sitting around the camp watching Deadpool. Oh, yeah, that's right. I was over there. And then they also brought two TNAs that were under a tent. I think that was Saturday night, if I'm not mistaken. Friday? Or maybe that was Friday night. It was funny because you and I Thursday, you were playing the TNA, and you and I were talking, and then I was just kind of hanging out over that area. Yeah. It was really fun, really a great atmosphere, a lot of fun, and it's been a great way to bond with people. I know Huntsman brought Night Moose, and he got a Hulk, and he had people come over to do stall ball, and that was really a nice opportunity for people to hang out and have fun. And then people went over to the other side to play Tilt-Alica, which is linked to Metallica's to tilt the other machine out. And those were running hard in the show. Oh, my gosh. That's where I lived all night long pretty much and all morning. Yes. Awesome. The Tilt-Alica is their second appearance, and they never stopped. That was going, Shannon just said, let's play another one, let's play another one. I'm like, are we keeping people up? And it's like, that's what was amazing to me. We had all these people in the campground, and I thought for sure somebody was going to come over and say, dude, you guys got to turn this off. Nobody did. Everybody just slept through it. I couldn't believe it because we had those things. They were cranked. They were loud. Not only were people loud, but so were the games. But it was one of those things where it's like, okay, play one more, play one more, play one more. And I just couldn't get enough of it. It was so much fun, so much fun. And Ted and I were like, should we play another one? They're like, ah, heck, let's play until they kick us out. So we played literally until 4 in the morning. I remember Saturday morning, everybody was kind of like dragging ass. Yes. And it's like, I mean, everybody was dragging just about. And then, like, by 11, 12, kids were coming over, oh, my God, do you have coffee? I'm like, yeah, we got coffee, man, come on over. And that's kind of our thing, you know. It was like, come over, have coffee, hang out until the show starts, or even after the show. Like, 10, 11 o'clock, do you still have coffee? No, make another pot, take three minutes. Come on, let's go. And so that was nice, you know. But, yeah, so Saturday morning, you know, I got up fairly early because I never sleep anyway. Or, you know, I don't sleep a lot. But I'm an early riser. I keep warmer hours normally. So we were over at the swap meet Saturday morning, and I didn't buy anything because we had the car so full of camping gear and stuff. There wasn't really room. And I almost bought it. One vendor had a really cool parking meter, which I've always wanted to put in, like, my downstairs bathroom. And this one worked because I put a nickel in it to see if it worked. And it wasn't a bad price. It was really clean, but I thought, man, it's big and heavy and bulky, and I don't want to take it home. So I didn't buy anything. They had that, and we talked about off-air. They had the same vendor, had the Bally belt with the Bally Pinball Wizard belt buckle. It was like a total 70s leather belt and big belt buckle, and it was really cool. And it was like it would only fit you if you had like a 28-inch waist, maybe 30-inch waist, which I haven't had in probably 25 years. But it was really cool We kind of wanted a lot of money for it And apparently they go for a decent amount of money Online I guess Bally made a few of these It was like promotional giveaways or something But it was a really cool, neat kind of piece of pinball history But they had a lot of back glasses And old games and stuff So it was usually a little swap meet You know, I ran into a few friends there I hadn't seen in a while And hey, man, it's good to see you And we just chatted it up But, you know, that was a swap meet It was a good turnout and a lot of good vendors there, and there were some good deals to be had. I didn't get out for the swap meet at all this year. That's so weird because usually I see you there. Usually you get there before I do. You know me, I'm always looking for junk. Yeah, I completely missed it too this year. I was kind of bummed that I did because it looked like there was some pretty decent stuff when I went by there later in the day. Yeah, there was. There was a lot of good stuff. The one thing I was really looking for, which I probably couldn't have, I would have had to have one of you guys ship it to me. There's a better back glass for hot tips than I have right now. So the one I have is working, but I'd like to improve it if I can. But there was a lot of good stuff there. But, you know, we had Saturday morning. We had that, and then we had the breakfast. If you brought a game, you could go in or volunteer. They weren't real, you know. It's mostly for people who brought games. But if you volunteer and stuff, they let you in. They had, like, fresh fruit and orange juice and coffee and, you know, croissants and stuff like that. Nice little layout. In fact, if I recall correctly, Courtney helped out with that, which was real nice. She actually set all that up. She did set it up. I believe she did. She did a wonderful job. So shout out to Courtney, friend of the show. And yeah, she did a wonderful job She's a great hostess And then, you know, you have just pinball in the building But beyond that, Sparky Mark Sparky Malmberg, who for years and years and years At Pentecostal and at Golden State Pinball Festival Has Sparky's Barbecue with bratwurst and hot dogs And other good stuff And last year and this year it was George Gonzalez our good friend George Gonzalez, and J.J. Babbage from J.J.'s Game Exchange of Colorado. And they put on what we're kind of throwing, because I don't know what we're going to call it, because they're kind of taking it over, because, you know, Sparky's got other obligations and things. And he sold his RV, so he doesn't have that anymore. So I said, George's Weenie Roast. So I'm calling it George's and J.J.'s Weenie Roast now. That's the unofficial title. But we had that, which is just a barbecue. They supplied bratwurst and hot dogs and buns. Hector and his wife made a really, I think his wife made this really monster, amazing chili. And then other people, like I said, well, what do you guys need? So we need ice, which I picked up for him. And I said, well, how about potato salad? They're like, yeah, yeah, bring. So me and Rusty ran out Friday afternoon. No, Saturday morning, actually. We picked up a bunch of tubs of potato salad and brought. So people just bring, you know, cookies and salads and sides and stuff like that, drinks. And we sit around, we have food, we talk, we hang out. It's really kind of a centerpiece of the show. Even though it's not an officially sanctioned show event, it's just part of the goings-on and part of the mythology and the history of Pinnagogo slash Golden State Pinball Festival. The barbecue was great. It was really nice to see everybody and hang out. It is really nice to see everybody hang out. It's nice to see. You know, George, man, I only see him once a year. We used to work together a lot because when I was still in pest control and he's still in real estate today, I did a lot of work with him. You know, we talked a lot about that. I said, God, I miss working with you. He says, me too, man. But, yeah, it's a good time. It's a good thing, even though it's not an official show event, just to be clear. But we had to talk about it because it's part of the experience. Well, it's part of the Camp Silver Ball experience. It's part of the Can't Silver Box. For sure. Yeah. So, and of course, we really haven't talked about the games yet, you know. That's true. Well, now remember, because I didn't, normally in between the show, I get to see all the new games because I'll go to the Denver show, the Mile High show. Well, last year the weather wasn't that great, so I didn't go. So I didn't get to play James Bond or Toy Story 4, which were out at the time and at the show. So I didn't get to play until this time. And then, of course, you got all the other new games. You know, you got Foo Fighters, which is a new P3 multi-morphic game, which is unofficially an unofficial sequel, not a sequel to Total Nuclear Annihilation, but it's the latest game by Scott Tenisi, so, you know, take it for what it's worth. I played everything. I enjoyed everything. Just a real quick overview. Bond is great. Enjoyed it. Foo Fighters has literally, I think, changed pinball forever. Toy Story 4, I enjoyed playing. I really don't like the color scheme and stuff. Like, it was probably, I put it lowest on the list, and it's not a bad game. It's just, like everybody else, I wish it would be Toy Story 1. Godfather, surprisingly, really enjoyed playing that. And I'm not, like, the scene does nothing for me. I don't hate it. I don't love it. The big surprise, Scooby-Doo, I really enjoyed. The big surprise for me, Galactic Tank Force, it's goofy and silly. I know the music kind of is off-putting some. I had fun playing it. I love the art. So that's a quick overview of some of the new stuff. But, you know, we'll let Eric go next. Eric, what did you play new that you really thought was cool? You know, I didn't have a lot of time on Bond before the show, so I got to put some more time in on Bond, and I got to like that game. I think that's a good game. And I think I only got to play a premium one time because all the Bond-themed games were just mobbed the whole weekend. So luckily there were some cool people that you could get in and play a threesome or foursome or whatever and had a good time on those. And then, of course, you know, Foo Fighters, played a lot of Foo Fighters. Also played a decent amount of Godzilla. But then a lot of times I was playing some of the older games that you don't see so often. Some of the early solid states, nine ball that you don't see very often. I ended up playing, I don't know why, but I just got fixated on playing Evel Knievel for a while. I don't know why. I don't normally gravitate towards those games, but there was something about the one that they had in the smaller hall that was a really good game, and so I played that for a while. But, you know, just going through and playing some of the EMs that you never see, and most people don't play those games. But it's kind of nice to play those and get a different feel because it's a different skill set to do well on those machines. You know, you're not looking at a super in-depth rule set. You're not necessarily looking for crazy fast reaction shots and, you know, shooting ramps and things like that. But at the same time, a lot more control, a lot more patience, that type of thing. But I did not get a chance to play some of the newer pins. I was hoping to get on Galactic Tank Force and Godfather and some of the other games that were there, and I just unfortunately didn't work out so well. But I think the highlight for the show for me for newer games was how much I liked Bond. I wasn't sure I was going to like it. I had played it before at Flipper House in Rockland before the show, and I was kind of on the fence about it. But after playing it at Golden State, I have to say that it's a really fun game. I didn't think it was going to be as much fun as I ended up having on that machine. I like how it shoots. Yeah, it does shoot very well, and the shots are very satisfying. And there's some easy shots, and there's some really challenging shots too. So it's a nice mix, which I appreciate. I really enjoyed playing it. I got two games on a premium, and I got a bunch on the pro. Premium's really nice, I really enjoyed the Pro Disregarding the cool stuff that's on the Premium Like the jetpack That grabs the ball and stuff The Pro is In its own, a really fun game Don't you mean the ball is on a wand? Yeah I liked it, I thought it was cool And the diver I forget what movie that's from Thunderball Is it Thunderball? Yeah It's been a while since I've seen that movie I remember being a little kid and going Mom and dad seeing that at the drive-in Yep That's how old I am And I just remembered before I completely forget Because we're on the subject of new games and Bond, there's also the Bond 60th anniversary which I'll throw out there Everybody has the same opinion On that game, my god that's a fun game It's an awesome game, I'm telling you It's like an 80's ballet, boy I got a couple of games on it. Boy, I sure did enjoy playing it. But, boy, it sure ain't worth 20 grand. There we go. I'm going to be that guy and say I don't see the hype. I loved it on the stream. I swore I was going to love it, and I finally got to play it, and I was just like, ooh, why is everybody so enamored with this thing? I don't think it's that good. Elaborate. I'd love to hear your opinion. Okay. How come? Ooh, I liked it on the stream, but I got to shoot it. I didn't have any fun. I don't know. I just didn't think that the shots that were there were as fun or as hittable as I thought that they would be. You know, the little whoopsie-do, like, kind of turnaround shot wasn't as smooth as it seemed to be on the stream. That stupid hat thing, which I always hate those. It was always in the way. I just, I don't know, man. Like, I only got to play it, I think, twice. So maybe I need more exposure to it. But I, you know, in general have been kind of fond of the retro remakes. And, you know, that's supposed to be a retro style game. And I just, to me, it felt half-baked. I think that, you know, I know that, you know, it's kind of speaking against the cult of Elwynn. But, yeah, I just, I don't think it was as good of a game as I thought it was going to be. And I walked in expecting it to be great. I played it with my wife, and she's a pinball aficionado, too, and she was just like, ugh. She's like, do you think this is like $20, 000? And I was like, yeah. She's like, I don't know why. And I was like, it's a marketing thing. You know, I don't know. Interesting. Yeah, I think the thing that's unfortunate about that, too, is that we probably won't get a chance to play that game again until next year. you're not going to see one of those on location anywhere, I don't think. Yeah, I don't think anyone in our league is going to ball hard enough to bring in a Bond 60. I didn't get a chance to play that game either. I wanted to, but the line was so long to get on that game because it was the only one there. I just never got on it. Yeah, I don't feel like you missed that much, but it was something that I think you had to try because of the relative of rarity. Sure. But, yeah, you know, and it could also be that I didn't play it, you know, maybe if I was playing it in a different environment, I would have enjoyed it more. Thanks to the pirate, the pinball pirate. That was a real treat to have that brought to the show, because I didn't expect it to be there, to be honest with you, because, like you said, a 20, 000 rare game, that was a treat to get to play it. Yeah. Dan, what did you think of the spinners? Did you like the spinners? I, you know, again, I just didn't I didn't see what the hubbub was. Okay. Totally respect your opinion It was walking up, it was laying my hands on it Maybe my expectations were too high But yeah I really, you know, I watched the stream The Jack Danger stream and I went I don't know man, that game was fun as hell And then I got to shoot it and I was like The shots didn't flow like I thought they should have Flowed and Like I said, I just, I didn't have Maybe I didn't have a good game, maybe if I played it A dozen times and had a couple good games I'd get it It doesn't Amaze Me Sound-wise, the score real thing I think is kind of stupid. I wish they would have just done a video display and then just done the score real video display style. Kind of like on Batman? Kind of like on Batman, yeah. It just feels like they tried to make it special, and it just, you know, again, it's just it reeks of what it is. Yeah. I should go and charge a bunch of money for it. I really enjoyed playing it, So I think it would be a fun leaguer tournament game, too. I appreciate that it was there, that it got caught, and I appreciate getting to put hands on it and getting to experience it. And I don't think that the people who liked it, you know, are wrong. You know, I just think that maybe I didn't have the first impression that I wanted to have with it. But I do think that the standard bond is a great game. It's a hell of a game. I got to spend a little bit more time on that. I got to spend a ton of time on the Foo Fighters LE. I played the Pro a bit, but I finally got to play the Premium LE, and I got to get quite a few games on that. And I don't know what else to say besides, man, that game was fun. Complete game changer. You know, don't love the theme. The art is better in person than I thought it was when I saw it in the pictures. I thought it was going to look like a mess, but it's not too bad when it's sitting right in front of you. It is very busy and very colorful. So if you don't like that, it might not do it for you. But here was the thing. Like every version of Foo Fighters shoots like a maniac. There's ramp on every which way. There's jumps. There's whoopsie-doos. There's loop arounds. There's that kicker that throws the ball back up the field. It's got those weird little inlanes with the targets, which is really, really cool. When you step up to the LE, you get that little upper play field, and it's got like a little flipper with a whoopsie-do and like a few targets. I think, is there a spinner in that building or is it just a building? There's a spinner. There's a spinner there. You get the mold, you know, you get the little extra magnet underneath of that alien guy, the overlord. But the thing that makes that thing incredible is the dead post. I got a Chevy when I hit that. It's so freaking fun to hit, man. like it's like you're doing a death save for free exactly you could do a death save and not completely shatter your wrist and not slam tilt a machine it makes you feel like a badass yeah you feel like a pro the emotional like goodness of when that happens and it just bips the ball back up onto that right flipper and you just flip it away and out of danger you're just like oh that was fucking cool man genius It's so good. And, I mean, it's an example of a tiny thing that feels so good to do. And I think that if that's the kind of stuff that we're going to do. I remember when Jack Danger threw out that design, and I threw a comment to him on the Facebook group, and I said, I knew you were going to bring the cool, weird stuff. And he liked it because Jack Danger is just the nicest guy in the world. But, like, I'm really counting on him to keep putting these little cool, weird things into games that, like, nobody else would think of doing. Or maybe somebody else thought of it and gave it to him. But, you know, I think that his designs are going to lend themselves to being, you know, a little quirky and a little different. Like an Elwynn but kind of cracked out, you know? Right. And that kickback target is awesome, too. I've got both versions. And that is, it's so cool because it's like it hits it, it literally gets blasted by it and it goes right up the ramp. It's unbelievable. It's the old got me by kicker target. Yeah, kicker target. And they have the flow. I mean, the flow on that game. The flow is crazy. And like Dan mentioned, the in-lane target. So if you shats in the in-lane, shout out to Neil Shats, he'd probably love that. He's like, I actually get something extra for shats in the in-lane. Right. That's just genius. It's genius. I love the skill shot, how you can do a short plunge, and then you try to hit that left ramp. Yep, more left. And then it has kind of that Jurassic Park vibe. You can do the whirlwind skill shot. It's fun. Yeah. Into the drop. Yeah, you can. You can do the whirlwind skill shot, too. Yeah, there's so many options, even just launching the ball. Yeah. It's a pretty amazing game. Like you said, the flow is unbelievable. Well, we're very blessed to have two here in Reno. We're going to get one on location pretty soon. So we're excited about that. But, oh, man, that game is so good. Yeah, I think that several people in our group actually brought one home from the show. Oh, I would doubt it. Yeah. I was secretly kicking myself because Shannon got the last LE from Pirate, and I called after Shannon did because I was like, I got to get one of these. And, yeah, you just missed it. Like, son of a. But then it went to Shannon. So probably get to play it at the treehouse at some point. Yeah, absolutely. And the green on that is so much better in the picture. Yeah, it's so much better in person. Yeah. It's a good-looking machine. It is. There's a little added. I'll just throw this out here. And, you know, I'll take it for what it's worth. But Jack Danger said a big thank you on the Internet about it. So, you know, I know that things change quickly. But as of right now, and I just pulled up and looked at it, Foo Fighters is now holding the number one spot on the Pinside Top 100. I agree with that. You mean the meaningless Top 100? The meaningless Top 100. This is amazing. Congratulations, Mr. Jack. I saw it in the Wall Street Journal, too, about Pinside. Actually, pinball has been getting all kinds of press releases. Did you guys see that Jack Danger had one cool pinball title, and now he's retired from daily streaming. Yeah. Good for him. Yeah. He's got a family. You know, for all of them. He's got his butt off doing that. He's doing that. He's a great guy. Yeah. He's awesome. I don't know the guy, but just seeing him interact with the people at Stern. I went to the Chicago show last year. Was it last year? I don't know. Anyway, just seeing him working with the people at Stern and seeing what a genuine person he is, hey, more power to him if he can do that. And he's designing pins for all of us. I mean, what a great time to be into pinball, right? Yeah, absolutely. Look at all the good games that came out this year. And it's only been like six? Has it been six good games? You know, six new machines out in one year is pretty crazy to begin with from different manufacturers, but then the quality of the games has been elevated so much. You're not getting these weird, you know, shot in the dark kind of things where it's a re-theme of some other game. Yeah, no cookie-cutter stuff. Yeah, exactly. No cookie-cutters. Yeah. Original, neat, interesting, different, something for everything, something for everybody kind of games, which is fantastic for the hobby. It is so awesome. And like you say, competition is good. Did we talk about Galactic Tank Force yet? Speaking of interesting. I mentioned it, but that was it. So, no, we haven't really. So I did get to throw down a game on Galactic Tank Force, and it was a good game. So I got a feel for it. And I liked it. I mean, I didn't hear it, and I know from the stream that the music was one of my big, big complaints. So that probably helped. But, yeah, that's also, you know, that's a really neat game. It's got Nordman on the design, so it's obviously got crazy shots and crazy ramps. It's got magnets in weird places and strange ball locks, but it's got, you know, kind of a different, you know, a nonstandard flipper layout with it's got the pop-up saver like your space shuttle heat shield or like Family Guy had. And it had a lot of ball savers, so they definitely had addressed, you know, the fact that when you're whaling on that tank, you know you can get a lot of cheap drains you know it might have been a little too easy with the games I was watching people have on it but you know it looks great and it actually shoots really really well and it didn't feel too cheap to me you know I actually like the weird you know the the characters the CGI not CGI but the full motion video people you know it has that 90s you know PC game American Laser Games. Yeah, American Laser Games. I was thinking of like Wing Commander 3. Yeah. You know that Wing Commander 3 quality? But, yeah, I mean, I think that game is getting dumped on, and actually I think that it's kind of cool. I don't think I would, you know, buy one, but I sure would like to play it some more. Yeah, I would too. I didn't get a chance to play that one either, but I would love to play one if there's one on location somewhere or if somebody in one of the leagues gets one. I would love to play that game. I didn't get to play Godfather, which was kind of disappointing. I didn't either. I never made it over to Godfather. Wow, I'm surprised. Oh, that's too bad. As far as my take on Galactic Tank Force, first thing was the artwork is just gorgeous. I love Christopher Franchi, right? Yep. He is unbelievable how he has such a variety of artwork, but that really beautiful, beautiful job on it. And it's got that, I think of it like it's Ed Wood in pinball is the best way I can describe it. That's brilliant. That's perfect. And you could feel like, here's the thing that's funny about that, too, is you could feel like this was the first pinball project that he, like, wanted to draw. Right. Like he was saying in an interview, you know, he's a contract artist, right? So he draws what they want him to draw. and I think that for the first time this was the game that they kind of said here's what we want to do and have at it and he got to draw space women and aliens and just all sorts of crazy stuff. It's bizarre for sure but when you watch it you can feel the joy in the art and not only feel the joy in the art but you can feel the joy in the people playing it that line was always packed for that game and this is a theme that's no one ever heard of because it's original. It's not even an IP thing, obviously. And people are gravitating towards it. And here's my prediction. I think when these things do go on location, if put it in their arcades, that it will be like an attack from Mars hit. I truly believe it because it has that feel of it's easy to figure out. The shots are relatively pretty easy, but it's just the fun factor is it's fun to shoot. And yes, it is true that when you hit that center tank, you don't want to hit it when you have one ball, but when you have multiball, then it's fun to blow the crap out of those tanks. I've found that it really shoots well, like you said, Dan, it's smooth. It flies up that ramp and the orbits and everything. and the lighting is beautiful. I know people complain on Pinside about the 3D printed plastics. And from a distance, you can't really tell, but you do see it like on some of the spaceships that are on the side of the ramps. But when they light up, it kind of makes up for that of having them just gray. But when the game is just turned off, it doesn't look as appealing. I mean, I suppose if the thing was sitting in front of me and I had the glass off and I was working on the play field, like, that would matter. The environment of the show, like, I didn't look down at the characters and think that they were happy. They looked cool. They looked fine. Everything in that game looked, you know, looked neat. I never even thought about it. Yeah. And that back glass. Yeah. I really didn't. No, I didn't think about it at all either. I was looking at the art and having fun playing it. And, you know, here's the thing. If it's a big enough hit, you know, Lior will make some $900 hand-sculpted, hand-painted, gaudy-looking supermod that you can put on your game to replace it. That's so true. I hope that game gets a chance. I hope – what I do hope with that, and I don't know if this is a realistic thought in this day and age, but I hope – you know, we kind of talked about this back when we talked about Hot Wheels and American Pinball in general. I hope that American Pinball remembers that they're at their best when they're giving people the best value in pinball. True. And that price is a little higher than it should have been. And I think that it's a little expensive for a completely untested theme. So I think if they come out with a basic version, if they come out with a pro model for a decent price, and they replace the gameplay music, I think that they've got a huge winner. But, however, at first I agree with you what you said about the dubstep music, but it kind of fits in a way because then it does switch to fanfare music on certain parts of the game. Right. So it's not like all dubstep. When you get into a mode that's playing the 50s sci-fi music, it makes sense. Yes. Like even with the stupid ice cream plot and the silly storyline, and I got more to say about silly storylines, but it makes sense. but when you're in the main play mode, it's like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, right. This isn't like a 90s dance club. Just knock it off. Just steal the music from Attack for Mars and be done with it. Yeah. You know, it would have been perfect. Maybe, you know, because it's got that militant 50s vibe, you know, it's great. Yeah. But, yeah, I think that that game has, you know, all the potential. I think it's everything that American wants it to be. I just think that it suffers from a little bit of creative overload. So you know that another game that I think again there might be a little creative overload there Like the storyline a little ridiculous if you actually you know follow up on what supposed to be going on there But you know the characterization is so good of the overlord character as your antagonist that it ended up working out pretty well. And I think both those games kind of exceeded my expectations. Something that didn't exceed my expectations at all, though, was the whirlwind conversion. Oh, goodness gracious. Oh, yeah. So the game itself is masterful, right? Like, you've installed one of those kits, and the engineering is wonderful. The graphics are great. The sound is terrible, and the storyline is just, like, what did they do to Whirlwind? The music is garbage. It's terrible. The music was really bad. I think they just need to give up and go away and get as far away from pinball as possible. Because, you know, I miss my Whirlwind and all the games I've ever sold. I miss that one the most. And then, of course, I played their upgrade to their 2.0 to Black Rose, which I sold to Dan, which he sold to Rick. And the same thing. It's like, okay, the art's a little bit – the art was actually pretty good, but I'm like, okay, where are we going with this? It didn't jive at all. They're not cohesive. See, at least Friday Fitment 2.0 is very cohesive, you know, and it's got good music. and it's like, you guys' shit sucks, plain and simple. Whoever's doing this, your shit sucks. You suck. I don't want to say that. Give it up. Go away. I don't want to say that they suck because, again, if you actually see. That's what you really feel. You actually see the way that they do the kit. Like, the kit itself is really, like, well done. Like, you drop it in. It's plug and play. It's just creatively, I don't, you know, and the graphics are great. Like, actually, the video is fantastic. The video is great. The assets are whatever they use, but the sound effects are terrible, too. The sound is terrible and the storyline, you know, and again, it sounds weird to be like this, but, I mean, you can't talk about the shots because it's just Whirlwind. So you already know how Whirlwind shoots. It just, you know, it just isn't great. But we're going to get to learn all about it because one of our local guys bought a kit, So he's going to put it in his whirlwind and we're going to get to play it. Oh, no. Tell him not to. He'll be sorry. Oh, did he? Huh. The gameplay was fun. No, I mean. Of course the gameplay's fun. It's whirlwind. But it was just. I don't know. The sounds, like I said, didn't jive with it. And the other thing that I found was I didn't really get to play on a well-shopped out whirlwind. Yeah, that wasn't whirlwind. No, that was not. the one thing I remember there was a shot I had to make where the extra ball was and the target didn't come up. So I couldn't drop that. That was not working and some of the games weren't level. So it was kind of a disappointment to get the full experience that I wanted to see and feel, but at least I got to try it. I really wonder what Lawler thinks of it. He probably hates it more than I do. It's pretty funny. I don't know if that's possible If you want a deeper game Buy a new game And I'll bet they left out The best part of Whirlwind Which has got the best light show And that's the freeway combo And if you don't know what that is If you've never owned the game Or if you've owned the game for a year or more And just still haven't been able to make that shot Because it's really hard It's off the upper right flipper There's an outer loop And it comes back around the flipper, and there's an inner loop. It comes back around the flipper even faster, and then you hit the ramp. And if you do that in succession and don't hit any of the switches, it goes off with an air raid siren, like an actual tornado warning air raid siren, this really cool light show, and a three-way combo, which, if I'm not mistaken, could be wrong about this, but I don't believe I am, I believe that's the first three-way combo ever put in a pinball game. and it's got a really cool sound effects. The thing about that that everybody hated was the imbalance in scoring. For all that work and headaches that you might get once every 100, 150 games, it's only worth 250, 000 points. So it wasn't worth it. Yeah, like you do all that, and you're like, that was awesome. I only got that many points. Yeah. But I don't know if they left anything because I couldn't make the shot. I got two out of three. I hit the outer loop and the inner loop twice, but couldn't get the ramp right. I have to try that. I didn't know anything about that three-way combo. Yeah, most people don't. I had another buddy, friend of the show, and he had the game longer than I did. And like one night, I'm like, yeah, take the glass off because I never knew about that. And he did it, and I could hear it on the phone. He's like, that is the coolest thing ever. I had no idea because I would make that game because for about a year and a half, it was my only game. So I would play it literally every day. And I would make that shot maybe once every 100, 150 games. You know? Yeah, but you suck at pinball. So, what's that? I said, yeah, but you suck at pinball. I do suck at pinball, but that's my whole story. I was sure that I hit the three-way combo on that machine and nothing happened. Yeah, I knew that. I knew that. And it's like every moment. I don't know if I did for sure, but I felt like I did because I had a really nasty combo. And I was like, dude, I think that was the three-way combo. So I would have gotten the air horn. Right, exactly. And I was like, oh, Ken, are you talking about that? Or a different. Like, really? And I was like, yeah, you do this, you do this, this, this. And he's just like, oh, yeah. I think that's what you did. But I couldn't say I did for sure. And it has a great light show, too. So does the jackpot shot. And every one of the modes, except for one, one actually has something to do with actual whirlwinds or tornadoes or twisters or whatever. And all the rest of the modes, it's like, my van broke down. I'm going to get donuts and coffee. What in the actual fuck are these people talking about? It's like you are aware there's a theme in this game, and the theme is tornadoes and whirlwinds, assholes. Yeah, it is kind of ironic, too. Don't smoke in college dropout fucking morons are doing this shit. Yeah, that's why everybody has to get underground now. I played the wrong game. Sorry. I'll play it. That's the other one. You're sorry. I have a passion for whirlwinds. The storm is coming. The Sarnas? Yes. There were like four or five Whirlwinds there, if I think four that were just regular Whirlwinds, and those four, two were for sale. And Whirlwind, expensively, used to be a $2, 000 game some years ago, like when I had mine. And it's about what I saw. I sold mine for $2, 200. At the time, that was about the average market rate. And now people are asking $7, 000 to $8, 000 for them, which is just crazy. $8, 000 for a Whirlwind? Yeah. Wow. Yeah. That's ridiculous. Laura was asking the A.K. for a really below-average whirlwind. Yeah, we really need to have a talk. Somebody needs a hug. Wow. That sounds like a Don Hiley prize. Yeah. It is the king of the System 11s. It is. Well, yeah, it's a great game. It's the medieval madness of the System 11s. You got to definitely go with that. I promised I was going to hold my hosier tonight, and then that just set me off. You have the right to your opinion, but I know, yeah, that really is cool what you mentioned about the three-way combo. Now I need to find a whirlwind to try that out. That air raid siren gives me nightmares, though, as a kid. It's cool as hell, though, in that game. And the life skill that comes with it is so awesome. That's cool. A creative overload. That's the thing that's happening now in pinball. I want to backtrack and talk one little thing about Scooby-Doo, if you guys played it or you didn't. They have the two hands at the bottom of the apron that capture the balls and their ball locks. And you have Scooby Smack multiball. And the way they go down with those little hands is so cool. That's a really cool feature. I just want to throw that out there. You have terrible gameplay music. You know what? I really enjoyed that game, man. The music was kind of growing on me. I really enjoyed playing it. And at least we got the theme right. Hey, it's Scooby-Doo. This game should be about Scooby-Doo and the other characters. I know. Let's do a car racing game and have nothing about cars or racing. Oh, that's in the Furious game. There we go. That's it. Yeah. I think what's ironic with all the new games that came out, and this kind of ties everything together, is that there's a lot of commonality with three different pinball companies with kind of similar themes. You've got Aliens. You've got a van they have to upgrade. It's pretty ironic. That's in World War II. And then you've got Aliens, which is GTF. and you have aliens and Foo Fighters. Pretty interesting how there's a commonality between them, but they're totally different games and gameplay and rules and everything else. It's pretty cool. You know, you see a lot of stuff in pinball depending on your era, right? Right. The era where there are a lot of billiards games. You have the era where the games always had hot women on them. You know, really? Hard games. Apparently our new thing is Vans. Yeah, yeah, Vans. You've got three games or two games and a conversion kit come up. Bang, bang, bang. And stranger text. And focus. You know, you've got the Mystery Machine. You've got the Foo Van, which apparently is not even just for the game. Like, it's a big part of their stage show is the Foo Van. And then, of course, you have the Whirlwind Van. Right. Skateball has vans in it, too, doesn't it? Isn't that wearing vans? Yeah, it does. Skateball, though, has kind of, you know, it's got skating and, you know, hot chicks and a van. So, yes. And Stranger Things has, what, eight vans on it? Probably. The multiball star, right? Is that vans or are they sedans? I don't remember. There's a lot of vans in Hawkins. That's why. Yeah. They're government. The government. They all say free candy. Yes. Like, I know Scooby-Doo has its people that love it, and I played it, and it was a long game, and that gameplay music had me wanting to kill people. And I got into a mode. It's just, again, it's that same. It's Scooby-Doo music. It's just like a 20-second loop, and it played like 600 times because I couldn't get the game to do anything, but I couldn't die. and then I finally got into a mode which you know I thought okay Scooby because I was Scooby so of course I got to be scared as shit right but no it like it lasted forever and I couldn't hit the shot to like unmask the dude and it just went on and on and on and I was like all right well you know here's the thing I don't think it's garbage I know I got some bros who are getting it and I'll get to spend some more time on their games and see how it works but like I don't I don't think that I mean I think it's a spooky game, and I think, you know, it plays like spooky wants it to play, and spooky wants it to be different, and it certainly is. But, yeah, I don't know, man. It wasn't fun for me, and I'm also not, like, a cracked Scooby-Doo fan. Like, Scooby-Doo is a thing that's been around my whole life, but I'm not like, oh, man, Scooby-Doo is awesome. But it looks really cool, just to put it in perspective. The art's beautiful. The play field looks neat. It's got lots of weird, like, mechanisms and ball traps, and it's got the mystery machine with the flashing headlights, which I thought was really cool. What did you think of the ball path of not seeing the ball? Did that bother you? You know, I'm a whitewater owner, so I've gotten used to that. Okay. So I think that with any game, you've got to kind of, you know, when you have, like, the lower play field, upper play field kind of thing, you have to sort of be ready for that. That didn't bother me. Okay, even the loops didn't bother you? It's kind of weird to shoot into a cave. Well, I just think it's so, it's like, it's not that it's slow. It's just that it doesn't have, like, even when you hit, like, a mystery loop, like on Black Knight 2000, right, you have that loop behind the three drop targets and, like, it comes back at your flippers, like Star Wars style, at, like, 7, 000 miles an hour. Yeah, it's a U-turn. You lose your ball. Well, what else could we do? Like, the ball would come back at you, but it didn't come back to kill you. That's true. And like I said, I think that they really set out to make a game that was going to be really good for casuals. Or just make it always a mystery. Well, maybe. Because that's what they're doing, right? Yeah, maybe it's thematically appropriate. I mean, I don't know if there's developers and stuff over there that will come out of different holes. That game is robust enough that casual players would be like South Park. People gravitate to it simply because they know the theme. They did the theme really well. It kind of screams to me that it's just like it was designed by somebody who doesn't really understand the arcade underpinnings of pinball, which is it's supposed to want to kill you. Okay. Because in theory, it wants to get, you know, it wants to get a dollar out of you every 90 seconds. Right. And I think that it's kind of designed to be very playable. At least you got to play it, so that's good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like I said, I'm not trying to shit on it. I kind of get it. Right. But, you know, I think in a home environment, like, you know, when I'm sitting on my stool and I'm working through objectives and I know what the shots are supposed to do, I could have some fun with it. And I do think it's a fantastic-looking machine. Oh, it's gorgeous. I mean, I don't know gorgeous for Scooby-Doo, if I can say that, but, I mean, it looks as good as Scooby-Doo's ever looked. Right. You know, the characters look cool. The side art looks cool. The van was great. that big stupid upper flipper that's like a big giant L is kind of interesting. The bookcase? Yeah. Is that what that is? Yeah, that's what it is. Oh. So, Danny, are you thinking the designers for Scooby-Doo, you think they had more of a home player experience in mind when they designed that game as opposed to an arcade player experience? What was it? Did Bug design it? He did. Doug and the other guy. Yeah. I mean, that's just my initial impression is just like, yeah. Like, you know, and I heard the interview where, again, they said, hey, you know, we're not designing games. We don't want them to feel like Sterns. We want them to feel like Spookys. And you can see it's almost like a continuation of, like, some of the weirdness from Ultraman and Halloween. Right. And you know what? When you think about it, Dan, it's very interesting because they had a game that kills you instantly, which is Rick and Morty, right? Which was a Denise-y game, and Denise-y makes really antagonistic games. Right, which was Denise-y, right? And then you have Bug and his other person that he worked with makes Scooby-Doo, and it's way easier. So now we just need to have a middle ground game from Spooky that will be able to check all the boxes. because they're kind of on the extreme of really hard to play and really easy. So now we just need to have it just right. I think Spooky lives and dies by themes. Yeah. Like they get really culty themes that people are going to buy, no matter how good or bad the games are. I don't think that, you know, operators are really like looking at those games and going like, I mean, I know Rick and Morty's found its way to some locations, But I don't think operators are really looking at those games going like, yeah, this is, you know, going in our arcade. But, you know, maybe a few do. I'm just always interested in Spooky just to see what themes this little Wisconsin company is going to get their hands on next. So you're just like, how the hell did they get that? And they get all the assets. Yeah. How does a little company get all those assets? I mean, they got Frank Welker that did the voices for the call-outs. How do you do that? Yeah. How do you do that? You know, they got Welker. I mean, you're hearing Fred talk to you on the machine. That's pretty cool. Yeah. That's pretty cool. From the original series. Man, if I can get a G1 Transformers and get Welker to come back and do Megatron, I will give Spooky my money. Yeah. That's what everybody wants. Yep. Hey, so if we take the time machine back a little bit, or we can go modern. It doesn't matter. We can go new game. Out of all the games at the show, what's the one game where you just kept wanting to go back? It can be an old game, new game, whatever. Foo Fighters. Bond. I like Bond. I kept going back to that one. I honestly kept playing Godzilla. I know it's been played out or whatever, but I still really enjoy that game. We've always been back to that. And like I said, I also played the shit out of Evil Knievel for whatever reason. Yeah. The more I play Godzilla, the more I like it. Yeah. But for me, you know, Rusty and I together and separately played a lot of Sorcerer because we both love that game. Yeah. We're looking for a Sorcerer now. And then a couple of real nice examples there at the show. And we played a bunch of games on that. I kept playing an older game. I could play some Evel Knievel, Nineball, like seeing old friends. The game that not only did I keep going back to because it's a very, very rare game, but I really enjoyed playing it. I kept grabbing anybody I could find, come play a game of this with me. And that was Q. It was an early Stern, Stern Electronics. Number one in production, I think they made six of them total. That's correct. And it's a billiard game. It has one pop bumper, one magnet in the center, a bunch of passive bumpers for all the pool balls set up like a billiards table. And it has two flippers, but they're on the outside. Instead of, they're like inverted, and they flip to the outer. And if you get to the left flipper, because at the bottom of the plate, there's a pop bumper. It's kind of surrounded by a little bumper cage, a little pass that's like a – Just like rubber. Right, you got rubbers. Yeah, similar to Spanish eyes. Similar to Spanish eyes, thank you. But a bigger bumper. Yes. But a bigger bumper. Yes. Was that in the small room? Yes, it was. And it's like an all-green back glass? Yes. Okay. It's like a few in like big kind of cartoonish letters. Okay, so – and if you flip it off the left flipper, it goes all the way back to the top. If you flip it on the right flipper, it goes about three-quarters of the way, it hits a spinner. So you have to hit each passive bumper in order, or on the right, they're just passive, you know, like posts with rubbers, and they'll have not like a slingshot, but just passive where they'll score a point, and it'll continue you to the next ball. So you have to hit the bumper or one of the top passive side rails. and when you get up to a certain point you start getting double bonus, triple bonus like up to five times four or five times bonus, I think it was five times and when you start getting that you start getting some big points but and again it's almost like a bag of tone and it will tilt and you're doing a lot of nudging but you don't want to tilt and when you get it down that pop-up or you really got to nudge it to get it out of that cage like Spanish eyes back up in the playfield to the magnet which The magnet sometimes will be real passive, and other times they'll throw it like a monster. It works really well, that magnet. It does. Is there a rollover button on there that activates it? It is, yeah. It's like you've got to hit the center button. It just goes off the rails. And then you want to get in the flipper and get it back to the top and hopefully hit the right sides and the right rollovers and get down to where you need to to your next bumper. But that would be the ultimate dollar game Or a really good one But I just kept grabbing people And go come play this with me And I had the best time playing that silly game And plus it's super rare Like I.O. Moon I didn't even play this time But I got a bunch of games on it It chasens when we all went up there last year So I got to play a lot And that game was always There was always a line for I.O. Moon People really enjoyed I.O. Moon Moon, and there were a lot of people that came and said, thanks for bringing it. I played that too. It's a really fun and unique and weird game. All those Spanish games are always like that. But, you know, I talked about that, and then we'll talk, in a little bit we'll talk about, you know, the homebrews. But, you know, stuff like that, you know, you just you're almost, we're so blessed to have games like that show up and to show, you know, unique, quirky. Mark, I forget his last name He's with I think one of the organizers of California Extreme He brought his Mark Gershing Shout out to him He always brings a big bunch of games And he didn't disappoint again this year And this year he brought back again Both his Spectrum I believe he owns that And then his Transporter of the Rescue which I always get a game on both of those. It's such a great game. Yeah, that's a good one. It's so weird, you know. It's super weird. And then whoever brought the beautiful skateball that brought it the last couple of years, it's got the skateboard, the skate wheel shooter rod. It's a beautiful game. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've heard that. Got a couple games on that again this year. Yeah. Because that's such a beautiful example of that game, and it plays beautifully. That's another game you don't see very often, you know. I did not get to play that. Somebody brought a mouse around. I got to play that. I love that game. Somebody brought back again a nice example of a – oh, what's the game? It's the Cats. Bad Cats. Another game you don't see very often. And just things like that, you know. And, you know, Adam Presser, of course, brought his spirit, his Scottish spirit. And, boy, that got a lot of plays. People would come to me and go, I'm so glad I brought this. I've always wanted to play one. I've never seen one before. I remember the year that Charlie and his family came. Charlie, we talked about it on the podcast after the show, talking about when he was still doing his podcast. He was so excited because he always wanted to play Spirit. He'd never gotten to play one. He'd never seen one until he came to the Golden State show. And so, yeah, all those great old games, but those rarities. We bring the weird. We bring the NorCal. Well, not just NorCal. I mean, you know, the West Coast people, they bring the weird, man. They do. And that's what I love about the show. Like, I've gone to the other ones, and you don't see the games that people bring at NorCal in either show. Yeah, that's true. Or Golden State Pinball Festival. There's rare games that you don't see anywhere else. And it's really nice that people bring them to allow them to have enjoyment out of something that you never see anywhere. No. No, no. Yeah, well, you know, we talked about that, and I just thought of another game. Oh, the Bushido. Now, the Bushido was down most of the time, unfortunately. Yeah, I didn't get to play that because it was not running that well. Yeah, I did get to play, not the one there, but I got to play two years ago. One of the organizers of the Rocky Mountain Show owns one, a real nice example, and I got to play a few games on it. It played really well, and it's a really fun and unique game. But now the Monterey Flipper Pinball guys own that game, and God willing, they'll get it up and running 100% and bring it back to a future show. Did I hear correctly that those guys bought all three of those? Yeah, they did. Yeah, they dropped some serious coin. They bought them. They got all of them. Black Belt, Dragon, the Valley Black Belt, the Stern Electronics Dragon Fist, and then the Bushido. They got cash and hauled them off. Yeah. Well, Dragon Fist was purchased from Jason. So, yeah. Oh, yeah. That's where they got it from because we brought it with us in the trailer. Yeah. I played that. I got a game on that again. That was fun. Yeah. And speaking of that, since it was in the same area, as I'm having the visual in my mind, did anyone get to play the final Resistance? I did. I did play it. And you and I talked about it, and I had fun and really enjoyed it. but the right flipper was starting to get a little wonky. It broke down a lot. A lot. I couldn't get the ram shot. What was that big thing on the right, that big, like, monster? That thing launches balls at you in 1.4 seconds. Yeah, you know how the Borg ship works in Next Generation, Spencer? Yeah. How you can lock a ball in there and it'll shoot it at the flippers? Right. Well, you can lock three or four balls in that mothership thing, and it'll shoot them at you. and apparently it can launch them all in under a second. That's what I heard somebody talking about, but I never saw that happen. Yeah, 1.4 seconds it can launch out three balls. Wow. Is that what it is, three balls in a second and a half? Three balls in about a second and a half. Wow, that's crazy. I had fun with it, and what little I could hear in the sound, it sounded really cool. It looked really good. I just wish the flippers felt better. There's something about P3. I don't know. No, yeah. I don't know. It's almost like whatever circuit they're using to control the flippers doesn't react fast enough. The timing's off. There's like a delay or something. It's off just enough to throw you. Right, right. But, I mean, if you turn them up, they'll probably work great. But for some reason, when I go to shows to play it, it never plays the way I expect it to. There's always some kind of weird feeling. Like you said, one side is a little weaker than the other. My understanding with P3, just from the message boards and whatnot, is that they are very voltage sensitive. So they're not getting the power that they want. Interesting. It's problematic. I mean, it might be more for the multi-flipper games. Like, Weird Al is a five-flipper game. And so, you know, they were talking a lot about why you use the separate flipper buttons and whatnot, but it could just be that that was an overall effect. I'm also sure that, you know, with P3, you look at the way that the flippers are designed, and it is an indirect mechanism, right? So it's like when you flip, it's a coil, but the coil pulls a lever, and the lever pulls a thing and that fires the flipper because it floats. So it could very well be that, like, you know, there is a fraction of a second compared to, like, you know, a stern where you're going to feel a little bit of a difference in the flippers. But, you know, I didn't get my final resistance. That was one of my bigger misses of the show. I was kind of looking forward to that. And it was either down or just a little too busy every time I was in the air. It was hidden, too. It wasn't very visible. You had to find it. That was the thing because I was like, oh, my gosh, there's a final resistance here. I didn't even know that it existed until I kind of went around in the back, kind of over by the 2.0 kits. That's kind of where I discovered it. And I was like, oh, there is one here. And then, of course, it was down when I wanted to play it, so I was like, okay, I'll just come back later. And then it finally was working. But it's a great game. It is fun. And the other thing I like, too, is the way that they integrated the screen to really feel like you have a full play field. They did a really good job with that, including the animations that go with it as well. But you really knew what you were shooting at. It's cool. So definitely, Dan, if you get that kit, you're going to love it. It's really a good game. Really good game At this point I'm not looking past just getting Weird Al Weird Al I wish was there too I was kind of disappointed I'm still a couple months away Oh you're getting close Weird Al is so good I'm just surprised it wasn't there at the show But I guess that's because they had Final Resistance In place for that By the time I get it I'm going to already be tired of it I heard the saying Was it the guys from Ace Kogi I don't know I don't know who brought it. They brought Weird Al last year. Was that them? Yeah, Shane from Ace Kogel. Oh, yeah, yeah. It was Ace Kogel. I heard it was the same. I heard it was Shane brought the Final Resistance. Final Resistance, too. That's right. So, he certainly mentioned that. So, you know, thanks to Shane. You know, hats off to them. Yeah, that's a good one. Yeah, you know, I mean, you know what was really cool this year, too? And we've always had one or two, but we had a really nice showing. A couple other people mentioned it to me. You're like, wow, they sure had a really nice showing of homebrew games. Yeah, there was a decent mix. Yeah, there was. You know, well, we talked about it earlier, the old Atari Middle Earth game, not really a great game. They did a 2.0 with a new addendum to the rule set. I didn't really get the rule set so much, but I really enjoyed playing it because I hadn't played one in years and years, and this one played really nicely. I did not get any games on Kill Bill No don't say that No I played it the first year I was here back in 2018 I got like 3 or 4 games on it Every time I went there was a long line I'm like I don't want to wait in line I'll get to it later And then you know The guy that brought it PDX Monkey he had to drive all the way back Up to Portland area so he was loading Up early and understandably so So, you know, hey, thanks for bringing it, man. In fact, I'm looking over at my wall by my desk, and I have – because he gave it to me. He was handing it to me. He gave me one years ago. I told him the choice. I still have that. I have it in a frame. It's like – it's like, you know, like paper dolls. It's a paper cardboard cutout, you know, cut it out and build a little kill built-in mall machine. And I have that. Oh, cool. Yeah, yeah, and I have it framed. So it's got, like, the backbox, and it's got, like, the cabinet and the legs, and then the bottom, and it's got the play-fill, the insert. Yeah, it's really cool. But I have that framed right next to my desk. I framed my poster, this year's poster. If you guys have seen the videos, I put up the fallout shelter, the stairway, and I have all the Pinball Show posters on both sides. I saw that. Yeah, one side odd years, one side even years. So I have the new show poster. I got it framed yesterday, put it in the frame, but I just haven't hung it yet, so I'll get to it this week. But, yeah, I mean, there was Green Out, which is like a cannabis-based. I didn't get to play it, though. It was down a lot. Yeah, I didn't get to play it. I think I played a quick game, and I got to play Hopped Up, which has got the beer tap. With the beer tap. It was kind of the same. It was the same game, wasn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just a different game. Escape from Hell, which was interesting but wasn't working great. Wu-Tang Clan, which every time I went by was broken but it looked cool. Yeah, I couldn't play that one. And then there was the unnamed, weird, kind of like really early, like not even beta game. But I flipped it, and it flipped, and it was kind of cool. But it was just nice to see. Now it's nice to see people design stuff in their garage or their basement or whatever and bringing it to the show and going, here's what I got, man, give it a chance, you know. Hey, give me some feedback. Tell me what you like and what you don't like. So that was cool. Going back to Kill Bill, I did get to play it. I got to play two games on it. And I'll tell you, that game is like production value. Yeah. It's so good. How long has he been hauling that thing around? Well, since 2018, I think. 2018. Yeah. But it's beautiful. I mean, he did a great job with the rules and the code and the layout, Which is the same as World Cup Soccer. Yeah, yeah, it's a World Cup Soccer, but I don't think he has anything to do with the design of it. I think he just bought the one. I think it was a group of guys in Europe because there's two or three of them that exist. Okay. So he might have helped on something. I don't know, but I don't, you know. Maybe he did, but I don't know. It's a really cool game. And the other thing that's neat is in the upper right-hand corner, they added a flipper, which adds a little more to the gameplay than what's in World Cup Soccer. So that was pretty neat. Yeah. Well, it's got your assets. It's got video assets and stuff like that. They've done a nice job on it, especially for a homebrew. Yeah, it's very, very well produced for a homebrew game. They could have replaced the ball from World Cup soccer with Oren Ishii's head and have it turn really slowly. And they could have. That would be cool. Sorry, this is just random stuff I think of. No, it's cool. No, no worries. This is how we get shit done, man, you know? That's why I'm just happy on the show. Because this is how we don't get going for donuts in a van in a whirlwind game. Okay, it's actually my brain. It's the 5G zombies, man. The 5G zombies. There you go. Yeah. Looking for pink donuts. I didn't get to play any of the homebrews. None? Nope. Wow. I don't even feel bad about it. I walked by them a bunch of times, though. No, they didn't. Yeah, we were all busy. They were. I had one chance to play Ultraman, even though I know that's not a homebrew, and it was broken. Did you play Halloween? No, the line was too long. If you played Halloween, you played Ultraman and vice versa. Right. Yeah, no difference really in gameplay. I played Ultraman at the Denver show two years ago, but I didn't play Halloween because, again, the line was long. So this time I played Halloween, but not Ultraman. And then, of course, you know, Rusty, she loves Halloween. She didn't care for Ultraman. I'm like, I don't like Ultraman. Yeah, Ultraman's so much better. I liked Ultraman. I thought it was good. I just liked the theme, man. Ultraman's a cool, weird, like, whoever thought they would have made this theme. Exactly. Yeah, nobody saw that coming. Only Spooky's going to make Ultraman. Nobody saw that coming, you know? Yeah, next thing you know, they're going to come out with a Starblazers machine, right? Oh, dude, that would be amazing. Dude, the wave motion gun multiball thing, man, I'd be all over that. I could just see it. And you know something? The funny thing is, like, Space Battleship Yamato, like, it's still really big in Japan. Yes. Like, they had a great big old Space Battleship Yamato series within, like, the last decade. So like it still a pretty big deal I thought they were going to make a movie They were getting away from making like 40 movies I think Yeah Bulls Oh really Yeah I'm curious if there's anybody who has an Ultraman and a Godzilla right next to each other, because that's a nice compliment. I think you know somebody does. I mean, because if you're into the Japanese monster. Yeah, Kaiju's theme. Oh, yeah. The whole Kaiju theme. Oh, yeah. Somebody's going to have that. I mean, it just makes sense, you know? It makes me wonder if Spooky was like, I want to have something with Kaiju. Oh, no, they didn't get Godzilla, so that's why they didn't get Godzilla. For sure. Absolutely. And you know what? I'm happy for them. I'm happy they got Superman. I'm happy for them, too. Yeah. So much good stuff at that show, man. I mean, like. Now, we missed one new game, right, which we haven't talked about yet. Oh, my God. There's a game we haven't talked about yet? Godfather? Godfather. Yeah. It shot better than I thought it would. I had a lot more fun. I love the fact that it has cool mechanical toys and no cell phone or, you know, whatever, tablet screen. Because, honestly, I don't care what game it is. I know it's like Willy Wonka. Well, they got the, you know, the guy with the camera. Yes, they do. See, Weird Al did it right. The camera actually moves and does stuff. Then it shoots falls out and locks falls. The camera does stuff. On Willy Wonka, it's static. It's like, but it's a camera. Every game they put out, they have a camera. Okay. The camera's actually in the backbox, Fancy. You know that camera doesn't actually do anything. I know. That's my whole point. Okay. Just making sure that you know. Look, any designer, when you put a cell phone screen in a fucking game, you're phoning it in. That's lazy. It's like, dude, you're not doing the work. You're just like, well, fucking I'm out of ideas. I'll throw a cell phone in there. The kids will love it. No, we won't. Okay. We want mechanical toys. Jack, remind me again what you said about when you started the company. Real mechanical action pinball. And Godfather brings it in spades. Well done, Eric Muner. Now that is a gorgeous game. It's a gorgeous game. The artwork is really nice, better than I thought. The lighting is amazing. It shoots great. It's fun. And I love the big mechanical guy with the Tommy gun. That's really cool. Yeah, I really enjoyed playing it. I really was amazed at how many different ball paths, because I couldn't figure out where the ball was going to be coming from because of all the diverters that Eric has set up in there. But it was really fun to shoot. There were a lot of multi-balls. There's always a lot of multi-balls. There was a little more work to earn them instead of just having them come out of nowhere. So I really enjoyed that. The mows are great. The way that they integrated the back glass and the, well, Literally, the stained glass window graphics. Oh, man, is that cool how they did that. They really did a good job. They integrated the clips really well. Got a little dialogue here and there. It's a great game. It will definitely be a great home game for people who can afford it. Yeah. But, Dan, you didn't get to play it, right? Did you get to play it, Eric? No, I wasn't. Yeah, sorry about that, Eric. I was just going to say, it's kind of the same thing. I had some family stuff to deal with that weekend, so I didn't get as much time on machines as I wanted to. But I did not get on Godfather either. But it did look really good for the times I did get a chance to sneak a peek at it as others were playing it. Yeah, I waited for it a couple times, but I just didn't stick out the line. Looks fantastic, you know, and I'm sure, you know, it brings the heat. You know, I don't think I'm – I don't – I mean, I'm kind of a Jersey Jack fanboy at this point. I think I really like all the Jersey Jack games, and I own a couple of them. So, you know, I don't want to feel like I'm making excuses for it, even though I haven't played it yet. But it's not a Sternen that's not meant to be. You know, the rule set's intentionally complex because it's meant to be a home game. It definitely has a older skewing theme, which I was really surprised to see him go for. But, you know, I'm sure it's going to be great. I already own Eric Meunier's other two games, so I don't think I have any need to buy Godfather. But, you know, I would sure like to play it and see if I need to make any hard decisions. Well, I can tell you this, that what I felt playing it was how awesome the flippers felt. No, they weren't sterns, but they definitely felt different and had a lot more punch to them than previous games. They did seem to be more snappy, didn't they? They felt really good. Yeah. They felt really good. Yeah, more like a Williams feel to it. Not quite as stern, but they definitely were not spongy, as I can describe it. They were nice. No, the theme, I don't hate it. I don't love it. It just doesn't really appeal to me, but I really enjoyed playing it. I think it's a cool theme, man. I think Godfather's cool, and I think that Mafia always works as a theme for stuff like that, like Kingpin's great. I was just really surprised to see that it actually, you know, when they did announce it, that it actually was Godfather. But I feel a little sad that I didn't take the time to play it. But it's out there. So I'll get my hands on one, you know, probably at Pinnagogo. There you go. So many good games, man. Over 300 games just in the building and not counting dogs asking out. Hold on. Daisy, get out of the trash. I don't know where she's going on the spinner yeah the dog has barked for the listeners who don't know I have a red bone coon hound and there's a squirrel outside that like grabs himself by his you know man parts and gives Daisy the finger constantly so some friends are moving the squirrel's up near the back porch to the back door today and Daisy was standing there looking at her and I got, because I had the door open but I got the screen door closed and so I opened the door and she's off like a rocket and the squirrel does this to her like 10 times a day, she's never got the squirrel yet so we have two cats now we just got this weekend because some friends are moving out of state due to work and they're moving to Florida because this job moved them to Florida so I was like I'm taking my dogs, I can't do it in a cat, you know, you'll take cats so both the boys and the younger boys Seth and Mickey have been aggrimolated for a cat. So I said, well, I'm going to do you one better. I'm going to get you two cats. So we have Gatsby, which Gatsby's hiding somewhere, I think, in the laundry room. She's not very sociable yet. She's getting used to a new family. And then we have Daisy. Yeah, so we have a cat and a dog named Daisy. So I think Daisy the dog is barking at Daisy the cat. That's funny Yeah, so we have that So if you heard Daisy the dog Or the Redbone Coonhound That's Daisy the dog Anyway, starting to get sidetracked We were talking about cool pinball So Spencer, you said that they had Over 300 games at the show Yeah, I think the official To everybody who brought a game When you brought one Nobody really backed out this year The year before Yeah, the lot that were on the list were there at the show, which was awesome to see. But over 300 at a show, that's pretty awesome. Yeah, I mean, and then we had probably, like I said, 12, somewhere 12 to 15-ish. I don't know the exact number. We'll say 12. In the campground. In the campground, yeah. Right, in the campground. We're in the campground the whole time that we're not in the show at all, you know, that we're not in the building. And what it comes down to, guys, is, you know, this show cannot happen without the collectors, without the players, without those of us who, like, loaded up games and brought them to the show. Yep. And all the volunteers that worked all the security details and the front desk and taking tickets and, you know, checking people's emails. Yeah. Such a well-organized show. Absolutely. And they spend countless hundreds, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of hours. You can tell. Yeah, you can tell. And because everything runs like a well-oiled machine. Right. Including, like, the giveaways. Okay, so Saturday, you know, every Saturday they give away, well, they raffle off $5 a ticket. And many people have won a pinball machine buying one ticket. Last year a guy won a Rush Pro pinball machine buying one $5 ticket. So somebody won a Star Wars Pro on Saturday, and then a nice lady won, on Sunday, won a Firepower II. It was a decent play. I feel a little bit aware, but really, it played nicely. Really beautiful cabinet. The cabinet was almost perfect. Yeah, so, I mean, there's stuff like that. And even, like, little touches. Like, I didn't know, because I was in there early Friday, right, before the show even started, like probably a half hour before. or just kind of talking with everybody and taking some pictures and stuff. And they're like, oh, you're selling the posters and stuff already? I'm like, yeah, you want one? I'm like, yeah, I'll take a poster. So I paid money and got my poster for this year's show, which I did know if you were one of the first hundred people to buy the regular poster, Daisy's at it again, they were signed and numbered. Oh, nice. That's great. I think somebody had mentioned it, but it didn't click because, you know. Anyway, so I get it, and I look down. I'm like, oh, my potion. They put it in a nice little plastic sleeve for me, which was a new thing. I'm like, oh, thanks. So I'm walking back, taking it back to the camp, put it in the car so it's safe, and that's how I get it home and get it in a frame. And I look down. It's number 5 of 100 and signed by the artist. I'm like, oh, that's so cool. Yeah. So I actually have two. I have that, and then I have the regular standard edition Golden State poster for a 2019 show with Dirty Donnie, and then I had the bigger Blacklight one that signed a number. I forget what number I have, but I have both of those hanging up in the house. But that was just kind of cool. Like, oh, that's kind of neat. I didn't even know that. So, I mean, just all kinds of little extra special touches, which makes the show really nice. And if you brought games, you got special swag this year, like those water bottles where each one has a different picture of old games on it. Did you guys get one of the coffee mugs? I did not. I tried to win one in the raffle, but I didn't win one. I wanted the one that had a – because on one side it had the Golden State logo, and on the other side it had either – they had two different ones. They had one that had the show art with the pirate ship, and then had one that had the Camp Silver Ball logo, the school and crossbones. I was trying to win. Oh, wow. Yeah, I was trying to win. They only had a couple of those. I was trying to win one, and I didn't win one. I'll have to take a picture of the Camp Silver Ball shirt, and I'll post that up on the Facebook page. Did you get one, Eric? I got one of the coffee mugs. I was working the desk on Sunday morning for the raffle tickets and shirts and all that stuff, and they only had made 42 of those coffee mugs. So there weren't that many, and they were gone, I want to say, by 10 or 11 o'clock. They were all gone. I don't get mine from then. Yeah. I have one from last year's show, which has last year's show art and then the Golden State logo. And the reason I have it is because Will won it for volunteering. You know, they draw a name. He won it. And he's like, I'm on my motorcycle, and I'm going to be going back to Washington. Right. And I told him this year, I said, we still have the mug. It's not broken yet. Yep. So when you come to visit, it's there for you. But I have one, so, you know. That's cool. So I'll let the cat out of the bag. We'll talk about coffee mugs. And this is unrelated to the show. If you guys remember back last year, Labor Day weekend, I went out. I took the family out because, like, what do you guys want to do for, you know, the end of summer? I want to go to the Mall of America, Dad. They really said that, Seth and Mickey. And I was like, done, let's do this. So we did. And while we were there, like 15 minutes down the road from the Mall of America is SS Billiards, home of Lloyd, LTG. So we went and paid Lloyd a visit, had a nice chat, played some pinball. And then last October was his 50th anniversary party. And he made up, I think he had a couple dozen coffee mugs made for the 50th anniversary of SS Billiards. He gave me one of those mugs with the promise of never to tell anybody until after the 50th anniversary party because he didn't have that many. So I have one. That's awesome. Yeah, that's totally cool. Isn't that cool? That's so sweet of him to do, too. You know, I need to, I really need to, when we get some shirts made, I need to send him a shirt. You know, the other thing we mentioned was about the silent auction. And one of the items that we talked about in our pre-show show was the kit, the tool kit that came with all the things. And ironically, Jason got one of those that he can bring back to his cabin where he has other games out there. So he was really grateful to have that available. and now he's got a toolkit with him. That's cool. And there was a lot of stuff. There was a lot of stuff in there. Yeah. A lot. So, yeah, it was really cool. So it's kind of funny. We talk about it, and then we brought it home with us, which is pretty cool. People always come up and say, did you see that toolkit that Raph went off? I'm like, yeah, that's the Capital Corridor Pinball League. It always puts that together, and people in the league donate, you know, screwdrivers or wrenches or a rubber kit or some balls or, you know, something, some LEDs. Dan, did you donate your balls? Oh, just by used ones. They were a little fuzzy, but they'll buff out. I think Michael Hozier puts those toolkits together too, doesn't he? Yeah. He's the lead on it. He kind of started that. But that's a really nice – there's all kinds of nice stuff in the raffle, but that's a really nice prize, you know. Right. Yeah, there was some great in that and in the silent auction. There was some original artwork. Yeah, wasn't there some play field artwork that was part of the auction? There was an original. It was framed. There was an original prototype, early, like, whitewood with some color work of Wizard of Oz. It had notes on where stuff was going to go. The auction prizes were legit. They were legit. Yeah. I think Chris and Michelle were really happy with what they got. They were pretty excited to get that stuff out there. Yeah, yeah. The garden, that table, man. I wanted to make off with that stuff. Because there was a play field, too, wasn't there? There was a Godzilla play field. That's right. Yeah, Godzilla play field, the beautiful one. Yeah, the auction prizes seem to get better every year. So, yeah, thanks to the people that donate those things and Chris and Michelle Bannister for working to keep all that stuff running smoothly during the weekend. They kind of run that whole deal there. Yeah. No, there was all kinds of good stuff. And then, like I said, the Saturday and Sunday raffles. If you're listening and you've never done a raffle, it's like a bucket ticket, and there's a little bucket, and it has a number on it with the prize. And so, like, I think Saturdays were all odd numbers and Sundays were all even numbers. And they had different color coding. One was green, one was red. And then the silent auction, you write down what you're willing to bid on said item. So, yeah, it was really cool. Like I said, there's so much neat stuff like that. And an important thing to note, there's so many great pinball shows out there, but there are very few. And there are a couple others. In fact, the Seattle show is the one I know they do. So they give the money back to local. I think they do college scholarships at the Seattle show. I think that's right. Yeah. I've been to that show. That's a good show. Yeah, the summer show is pretty legit. Different vibe than our show, but really good show. Yeah. But, you know, our show is another show that all the proceeds, nobody takes a penny. You know, the board members, the volunteers, nobody makes a penny. We put in our own money and our own time to do it, all of us who volunteer in whatever way we do. watching the door, checking wristbands, checking in games, whatever we do. And the organizers, they don't take a penny. Every penny made at the show beyond the cost of insurance and renting the hall and advertising and printing the shirts and the swag and like that, all goes back to the community locally and helps local kids' charities. So, you know. And it'll be exciting to see how much they raise, because I know they always post it on Pinstripe eventually. And I know they had a good year this year. So, you know, the last year was a decent year, but, you know, we had two years of no show. And even if they don't have a show, there's still some operating costs, you know, registration fees because it is a 501c3 and you've got to pay money to re-register that every year. There's always storage. There's always storage and there's lawyers involved and all that stuff. So they all got to get paid. So there are operating costs even if you're not having a show. And then the last show, the 2019 show, remember, it rained really heavy. And so attendance was a little bit less than the year before. So this year, you know, and then the first show back, the 2022 show, was a good show. But attendance was a little bit lighter because people were still, oh, you know, COVID, I'm not sure I'm going to go. There were a few people I know that brought games and said, I'm not staying for the show, but I'll bring a game. Wow, that was awesome. Yeah, that's pretty nice of them to do that. It is. And then this year, people were like, I'm back, baby. And that was real nice, too. It was back 100%. Yeah, it was. And the weather was amazing. It was perfect weather. I don't want to put words in anybody's mouth, but from my talks with the coordinators, They were extremely happy with the turnout, and it was a very, very smooth running experience this year. Yeah, I got the same feedback. It was like, this is probably the best year we've done so far as far as things running well, running smoothly, and good turnout. Yeah, it helps so much having it Thursday where the majority of the games were set up on Thursday already instead of on the day of Friday when a lot of games used to come in, and it was really hard to get it all organized. And, Dan, I know you did the check-in, and you worked with Kendra and stuff, and you did a great job with that. Can you shout out to Kendra, who I don't know when the hell she slept because she was always working. She was always on that desk. She was a workhorse. Yeah. So he shout out to Kendra. Thanks, Kendra. Yeah. It seemed like the organizers were less stressed this year, so I think that was probably good for them because, you know, Eric and Chris and Seth and all those guys, they're always going to be running around doing stuff, but it seemed like this year they were a lot more relaxed, which I think just is a testament to how well the show was running and being able to have all the machines. Most of the machines are in that main hall as opposed to last year where they were in three different rooms and people didn't know where to go. And this year was a lot simpler when you're trying to direct people. They want to know where everything's at, and you just say, it's in here, and then you just go across this parking lot area, and you go in the other building, and everything's in there. And it was all good, you know. And I think I shared this with Spencer, but I'll share it with everybody else. I think my favorite memory of the weekend is I was working security or whatever for the door into the smaller room, and this family with a couple of young boys comes across from the main pavilion hall, and the one little boy is like, this is the best birthday present ever, just pulling in my whole weekend. Yeah, that was awesome. That was awesome. That was totally cool, man, just to see that excitement. And they were there, and they were having a good time, you know, doing whatever they're doing and playing some pinball on the kid's birthday. I mean, you know, I told them happy birthday, and, yeah, they had a great time. It was just cool seeing that and seeing people enjoying themselves. And what else could you ask for, right? Yeah, it was awesome. It was great, too. The local vendors and the beer. I didn't buy any of the beer from them because I brought my own, which I'll get to in a bit. You almost couldn't walk outside without tripping over free beer. Yeah, true. Yeah, pretty much. Right. The beer was here. And the other thing, too, to add to that is whoever came up with the idea of having water coolers instead of water bottles. Yes. Very smart. Genius. Because the water was cold, it was filtered, and I went and filled up many times because it was just so convenient. And it also eliminated a lot of empty bottles all over the place. and they were pretty lenient bringing in closed containers with water into the show floor, which usually you don't get to do that at a pinball show. So that was cool. It was really cool. Yeah, it was really good. Did I miss anything on Sunday? I feel like I did, but I don't think I did. I can't think of anything that we haven't covered. No, other than the EM room or the EM area, which is great Because as soon as you walk into pay and get your wristband, you're just pushed right towards the EM games, which I love because, like, the little kids who maybe never seen an EM game out in the wild, they get to, oh, wow, these really old games, and they get to play those, and they're a lot of fun. And it's a nice change of something different. So, you know, big thanks to all the people who bring EM games. And shout out to Gray Wolf, man, who brought a couple old EM games. We brought a nice Valley Wizard. But he brought the most beautiful restored flash and firepower I've ever seen. Oh, yeah. No kidding. That was Gray Wolf. And we had a long talk. Gray Wolf and I talked a lot. Yeah. That flash was awesome. I played that thing for a while. I'm like, damn, this is a nice thing. It really takes you back. Yeah. And his firepower is a fixture. Like, it's been every show for 10 years. Yeah. That's true. There's a story about that. He played one when he was a kid in the Bay Area. I forget exactly where. and he said, I'm going to own this game someday. And he does, you know. That's awesome. Great story. But there's so many people, and if I miss you by name, I sincerely apologize. Send me an email at thespinnerslit at gmail.com, and I will give you the proper shout-out. But, you know, to everybody who brought the game, because I'm kind of segwaying into shout-outs and thank yous. Everybody who brought the game, everybody who just paid their money and came to the show, everybody who volunteered, everybody who donated, again, to the Girl Scouts, and to Andrew Songy Neff and the other adults that helped make that dinner happen. Pacific Pinball Museum. You know, Larry's Artarian, who brings priceless antique pinball machines, as Dan so eloquently stated. He goes, you know, some of those games are literally priceless, and he brings them every year. He brings an amazing collection of old EM games that you're never, ever going to see or play anywhere else except maybe the museum. so many people and I really want to give shout outs and thank yous to the Northern California Pinball Association the folks that put on this wonderful show and literally spend hundreds of hours of time every year and that's Eric Neff, Michael Hosier, Chris Bannister Steve Frizzold, Seth Holder Henry Nanyo Mike Moretti of the Flippin' Room and Jody Dugan. Jody and Mike were the newest members of the board. And I want to add that Mike and his family at the Flippin' Room volunteered and brought a ton of games. Jody is a fixture ever since the old Pentecogo days. And if there's a game that needs to be arranged, Jody's on it. And the guy, just like Steve Pace, he's got a smile that lights up the room, you know. And so if you see any of these guys in the future, whether it's at the show or just somewhere on the street, say hi, shake their hand, pat them on the back, tell them thank you for all they do. Because those guys, and I want to give a shout out to all the wives and girlfriends, man, which we would all be a mess without them, including my lovely wife, Mary Ann Rusty. She had a great idea, and it was really successful, and we had a lot of fun with it. She got the idea to, if you've seen the show, Letter Kenny, Puppers, Puppers beer. Well, it's not really a real beer. In fact, on the show, I've heard they actually drink Coors Light. So we got Coors Light bottles. We bought a case of them here, soaked them in warm, soapy water, pulled the labels off, and Rusty went online and for like $10 got 24 Puppers beer labels. And we have a little assembly line here in our house, and we put Puppers beer labels. And so we drank Puppers all weekend, and we gave them out to people. And I had a couple of people go, oh, my God, could I get one of those? I said, yeah, here, you know, because they like the show. And so that was completely Rusty's idea. And it's fun little things like that that we do that just kind of add to the ambience of the show. You know, it's like, what are you drinking, puppers? So shout out to that and to all the people that came to the show and make the show because there's so many people, you know, just people like I said that just come for one day and get a wristband going and play games. You make the show great because you come and support the show. So, Eric, what do you have for us? I was looking to see. I don't have any tacos or anything, but I just want to say that thanks to everybody that helps put on the Golden State Show. It's such a fantastic show, such a unique show that only happens here. And like others have said on the podcast, it's a unique – the feeling that you get when you're at the Golden State Show is unlike any other show I've ever attended. And just the camaraderie and spending time with friends, having a cold beer, eating some good food, playing some pinball in the middle of the night, or just catching up or whatever it is. Because some of these people you only see once a year at this show. It's good to see them and see what they've been up to. It's good to see new pins and old pins and just making new friends. I mean, that's what this hobby and this lifestyle is all about. And just thanks to everybody. I really had a great time. Here, here, Eric, I totally agree with you. It's all about the people. Yeah. It's all about the people, and there is no other experience like it. No. Than Golden State Pinball Festival. Yeah. I agree. Dan, what do you got? Man, there's too many names, right? You know, huge thanks to the board for all their work all throughout the year making this happen. Huge thanks to every volunteer, everyone who brought the game, you know, way, way, way too many people to name for the show, right? You know, it's a monumental undertaking. You know, I hope that the people who come to the show realize how much work goes into it. You know, I'm not, you know, an organizer or a planner, but, you know, I'm close with a lot of them and you see what they go through and they take it very seriously. You know, it doesn't just happen and they just, you know, absorb the kudos. They work very, very hard to bring us this experience every single year for, you know, just the reward of having done it. So, you know, thank you to everyone who does that. Thanks to everyone who made the campsites, you know, the place to be. You know, I want to thank Shannon for handling the Metallica battle games so I don't have to take care of that. I want to thank George and Jal for taking over the barbecue when Sparky couldn't make it because that's always a high point. You know, and I want to thank all my buddies, you guys, for making it a special experience. You know, the games are great, the prizes are great, everything's great, but the show is the people. Absolutely. Yeah. I play less games than ever, but I think that I spend more time bullshitting with people than ever. Yeah. Oh, and a big thanks to Rick of Elk Grove Pinball, you know, friend of the show, Rick Pimmel. His streaming setup, he put humongous time and humongous personal cost into building this streaming setup. He covered every moment of every tournament, didn't play himself this year and I had the best time commentating the main tournament on Sunday with them. That for me was the high point of my weekend. That was absolutely lost. Mark, what do you got? Wow. I don't know if I can top all those great things. It's like, oh wow. I'll say all the above. I can't remember all the names and everything, but I'll tell you it's all about the people and the people who ran it and you know Dan I have to thank you too for trusting us to have your Metallica out there on Friday night and Saturday night till four in the morning to actually donate your machine to have the best time ever uh with the uh the Tiltallica tournament that we had on Saturday night um which we did very well we were actually pretty excited that we got second place in that. We didn't talk about it, but it was just a fun time when the show was over to the public. The party just began, and I appreciate you trusting us to have your games out there. I know that's sometimes a little scary. Oh, it's definitely sketchy. They take a beating, but I'll tell you what. I was out there Friday night, and the last thing that I did before I left the show that night was I was in a game of Tilt-A-Laka or Metallica Tilt Battle or whatever you want to call it. And I got to be the guy who put the other team away. Yes, you did. You know, you're surrounded by all these guys, and they're, like, hugging you and, like, slapping you on the back. And, you know, they probably would have tried to pick me up and carry me away, but I'm me, so that's not a good idea. Yeah, and it's just an amazing experience to be in the middle of that kind of mania. And, you know, it's fun. It's definitely an experience. But, yeah, you know, Shannon is the one who gets all the credit. It was his idea. He talked me into it. He gets the games in and out. He gets them hooked together. I did bring my own game to the show this year. Last year I even counted on him to bring the game to the show and get it home. But I wanted to get it back before a year, so I took it home myself. But, yeah, man, you know, he gets all the credit for that. All I do is say don't ruin my game and have fun. That's right. And all the guys at Silver Ball, shout out to Michael Huntsman and Jason for letting me stay with them at their campsite. It was such a fun time. Such a fun time. Yeah, absolutely. But just thanks to everybody. I mean, it's hard to pinpoint people. I agree. Who runs the campsite now, checks people in and gets them to eat there at the campsite almost all the time. And like you said, Dan, everybody who brought the games to allow that after party, it was awesome. Yeah, just bring the games in general. Yeah. The campsite experience would be different without the games. Like, to everybody who brings, you know, and it used to be, don't get me wrong, it was never not amazing to bring pinball machines because these things weigh 250, 300 pounds, and they take some moving. But, you know, a lot of these games are very valuable now. and to put them out in a public setting where people are going to play them and to let them accomplish the mission that they were built for, which is to be played and to entertain people. You know, thank you for having the forethought and the foresight and the understanding to know that at the end of the day, no matter what happens, the mission of those games is to be enjoyed, not to sit there, not to be babied, not to not be played, but to be out there doing their jobs. They're commercial equipment. They want to be played. Put them in an environment where they can be played. Here or here. I don't think there's anything else that can be said. I think we pretty much hit everything on the, you know, the nail on the head. You know, well, two more shout-outs. Really nice people that we met last year and became friends with, and they came to the show. They live in the area, Leland, Manilk Grove, actually. And that's Andy and his son, Casper. They came back again this year, and they hung out with us, had coffee and drinks, and, you know, like I said, hung out at the campground. Great people. Good pinheads. Real nice people. And to everybody, you know, just to everybody. So, as usual, you can find us on our flagship at soundcloud.com. You can also listen to us on iTunes. You can reach out to us with, you know, comments, suggestions, or death threats It's at thespinnerislit at gmail.com. I can't think of anything else to add to that, and we're almost at the two-and-a-half-hour mark, and we've got a little bit of editing to do. We'll get this out as quick as we can. So, you know, keep supporting pinball. Support your local location. Support your local show. If you don't support it, it goes away, and you don't have it anymore, and you don't want that. So I'll take this out. You guys know what to say. Play pinball. Keep America strong. Thank you.