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Episode 178 – Stuck In The 80s

Slam Tilt Podcast·podcast_episode·1h 19m·analyzed·Dec 28, 2021
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.035

TL;DR

Year-end industry discussion featuring Marco Specialties founder's death, Deep Root collapse details, and critique of Spooky's production and hiring practices.

Summary

Ron Hallett and Bruce Nightingale discuss 2021 pinball year-end reflections, mourn Mark Mandeltort's passing (founder of Marco Specialties), detail Deep Root Pinball's creditor crisis, cover industry personnel moves (Jack Danger becoming full-time Stern designer, David Van Ness leaving Spooky), critique Spooky's slow production cadence and local hiring requirements, and analyze emerging games like Rush, Halloween (buggy release), Legends of Valhalla, and Ultraman.

Key Claims

  • Mark Mandeltort, founder of Marco Specialties, passed away at age 67

    high confidence · Ron and Bruce confirm Mandeltort's death and express respect for his character and business legacy

  • Deep Root Pinball owes money to approximately 150 creditors and failed to pay paint suppliers

    high confidence · Discussion of circulating creditor list showing Deep Root's financial collapse and unpaid debts

  • Jack Danger is transitioning from contractor to full-time Stern employee, replacing Steve Ritchie

    high confidence · Ron notes this changes Danger's contracting status and questions whether he can continue streaming other manufacturers' games

  • David Van Ness left Spooky Pinball after working on Alice Cooper's video art

    medium confidence · Bruce notes Van Ness departure and confusion about his alleged game design project status

  • Spooky Pinball requires local (Wisconsin-based) employees and rejects remote applicants

    medium confidence · Bruce reports hearing from someone told they must relocate to Wisconsin to work with Spooky

  • Jersey Jack Pinball's Guns N' Roses has sustained production 16 months after launch with no new titles announced

    high confidence · Discussion of JJP's Christmas episode mentioning potential 2022 titles but extended GNR production window

  • Spooky released a code update with two pages of bug fixes and no new features for a recent game

    medium confidence · Bruce criticizes recent Spooky release notes as indicator of poor code quality requiring extensive debugging

  • Halloween pinball has significant software bugs including stuck start mode and ball-tracking issues

    high confidence · Bruce and Ron discuss watching multiple streams showing consistent bugs across machines, people canceling preorders

Notable Quotes

  • “Every time you saw him every time you met him he was just always positive and that's a great thing... think of Mark when you order from Marco Specialties”

    Ron Hallett @ ~7:00 — Tribute to Marco Specialties founder following his death; emphasizes his positive legacy in the community

  • “He was stealing from the old and trying to make his hobby fetish go on. And he's just an a-hole in my book.”

    Bruce Nightingale @ ~12:00 — Harsh criticism of Deep Root founder's financial misconduct and failure to pay creditors

  • “Stern does that... I guarantee Stern helps maybe pay for these people, get them out there... I don't think Spooky is.”

    Ron Hallett @ ~45:00 — Critiques Spooky's local-only hiring policy as unfairly restrictive compared to Stern's remote accommodation

  • “They literally average about a game every two years. Which is terrible.”

    Bruce Nightingale @ ~48:00 — Criticism of Jersey Jack Pinball's slow production rate despite major IP roster

  • “It seems very broken. Extremely broken... just when I see the same issues on multiple different machines”

    Bruce Nightingale @ ~72:00 — Assessment of Halloween pinball's widespread software bugs across multiple units

  • “I think you could put shit on a fucking play field, and guess what? I ordered it... I don't want to miss on the next piece of thing.”

    Ron Hallett @ ~75:00 — Critique of FOMO-driven collector behavior overriding quality concerns

  • “If you don't get in you're screwed you're screwed that's the only issue I have”

    Bruce Nightingale @ ~77:00 — Commentary on FOMO and limited edition scarcity driving pre-orders regardless of quality signals

  • “I would hope that the crew was watching that as far as seeing that. You're getting some real play testing there.”

    Ron Hallett — Suggests American Pinball's public launch event revealed critical bugs that should trigger developer attention

Entities

Mark MandeltortpersonMarco SpecialtiescompanyDeep Root PinballcompanyJack DangerpersonDavid Van NesspersonSpooky PinballcompanyJersey Jack PinballcompanyRon Hallettperson

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Spooky Pinball enforces local Wisconsin-only hiring policy rejecting remote applicants, contrasting unfavorably with Stern's remote accommodation

    medium · Bruce reports hearing from applicant rejected for not relocating; questions policy logic especially given pandemic remote work adoption

  • ?

    business_signal: Deep Root Pinball complete financial collapse with 150+ creditors and unpaid supplier obligations representing major industry fraud

    high · Creditor list circulating in community; unpaid paint suppliers; 150 people with unfulfilled Raza orders; founder characterized as stealing from elderly/vulnerable

  • ?

    community_signal: Mark Mandeltort, founder of Marco Specialties, died at age 67; significant loss to pinball community infrastructure and business leadership

    high · Ron and Bruce open show with tribute; universal respect for Mandeltort's character and positive industry contribution; family/staff impact

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: FOMO-driven pre-order culture continues despite poor quality signals; collectors purchasing based on scarcity fear rather than game evaluation

    high · Ron states collectors will pre-order poor themes if IP is strong (Evil Dead); Bruce confirms FOMO is primary motivator; people losing money canceling Halloween orders

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Legends of Valhalla exhibits complex ruleset with 30+ modes and ball-tracking bugs; flipper strength inconsistency between public and internal builds

    medium · Launch stream shows visible software bugs; flippers appear more powerful in official footage than during public test period; ball multiball counting errors

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.239

0:00
Whoa. Hey. Hey, how's it going? Who the hell are you, man? We're like your friends. We're like in your gang and stuff, you know? Like, you know, we hang out and stuff like that, you know? It's pretty cool. Whatever, man. This is the coolest thing that has ever happened.
0:50
Coming to you from beautiful upstate New York, this is the Slam Tilt Podcast, a show about all things pinball. I'm your host, Ron Hallett, here with my co-host, Bruce Nightingale.
0:59
Happy New Year! You're assuming I won't get this edited. Yeah, I'm assuming. That's not a good assumption. I plan to have this out this upcoming week, which won't be the next year yet. Guess what? They'll hear it and they'll say, it'll be me wishing them a Happy New Year. Okay. So, nothing wrong with that. No, there's nothing wrong with that. This is episode 178. Wow. Holy for holies. This is our 21st episode this year, I believe So we almost got the full bi-weekly Yeah Even with the layoffs and stuff We slacked off a little bit in the middle of the year Oh No, we had a lot, you know Let's go over a year review what we've done No, I don't want to do a year review Everyone else has been doing year reviews No, no, with us, that's all Okay What have you done this past year? And what have you gotten and not gotten? Did I get any games this year? Yes, you did What did I get? Did I get Jurassic Park? Yes, you did. Okay. And I think I sold Firepower. No Fear. And No Fear. And Next Generation, right?
2:05
That might have been the year before. I thought it was right around this time. No, I think it was 2020. Not 21. No. It's been a while. I sold Metallica and I sold ACDC Premium, both premiums. I bought, oh my God, half of a Hoops. Hi, Joe.
@ ~83:00
Bruce Nightingaleperson
Halloweengame
Legends of Valhallagame
Ultramangame
Rushgame
American Pinballcompany
Steve Ritchieperson
Carlperson
Dave Peckperson
Stern Pinballcompany
Texas Pinball Festivalevent
Guns N' Rosesgame
  • ?

    event_signal: Texas Pinball Festival and World Championships at risk due to COVID-19 surge; attendance expected to suffer in blue states due to pandemic concerns

    medium · Ron and Bruce discuss potential third consecutive year of cancellation; widespread mask/test mandates in NY and other states creating travel hesitation

  • $

    market_signal: Jersey Jack Pinball sustains extended Guns N' Roses production (16+ months) with no new titles announced; average output ~1 game every 2 years

    high · Discussion of JJP Christmas episode mentioning potential 2022 titles but not confirming; production inefficiency despite major IP portfolio

  • ?

    personnel_signal: David Van Ness departing Spooky Pinball after Alice Cooper work with unclear status on alleged in-development game

    medium · Bruce reports Van Ness departure and notes confusion about alleged 2020+ game design project; unclear if project continues without him

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Jack Danger transitioning from contractor to full-time Stern Pinball employee, replacing Steve Ritchie as designer

    high · Ron confirms Danger was previously contracted for first game, now full-time; questions whether he can continue streaming other manufacturers' games

  • ?

    announcement: Stern Pinball's Rush title officially announced with trailer; awaiting Stern Army email notification for formal unveiling

    high · Ron and Bruce confirm viewing trailer; discussing timing of Stern Army announcement expected around January 1st

  • ?

    product_concern: Recent Spooky code release contained two pages of bug fixes with zero new features, indicating systemic quality control issues

    medium · Bruce criticizes recent release notes as evidence of poor code quality; specifically mentions Redneck Company (likely Rick and Morty predecessor)

  • ?

    product_concern: Halloween pinball exhibits widespread software bugs across multiple units including stuck start modes and ball-tracking failures requiring code reboots between matches

    high · Multiple stream observations showing consistent bugs (stuck hole, multiball counting errors, ball tracking loss); players canceling preorders due to poor quality despite limited visibility

    • 2:27
    He's still complaining about that. I love it. Trident. Another big game, which we can talk about. What else? Star Trek Valley.
    2:39
    What else? Some sex toys that you got. Oh, wait, we're not supposed to mention those. I'm sorry. No, that is actually the last part of the show, what I got from Christmas.
    2:52
    Ew. But yes, we've all had our buys and sells, and I hope everyone got the games that they wanted. If you haven't, sell them to me. What are you looking for on your list? Godzilla. You're hooked, aren't you, brother? That's it. Godzilla. It is a great game. We've been playing the premium. I know. The LEs. I've been playing the shit out of them. I've been doing something rare for me.
    3:21
    I've been buying mods. Ooh. Yeah, for the game I don't have yet. I especially like the one, what is it, the Tesla Strike mod. Yeah. It's got the power line thingies that light up. That is pretty cool. And I like the new one they put out for the spinner. Not for the spinner, but for the spinning spinner. Actually, the spinning spinner, yes. That is actually a... You mean the top? Yeah, the covers. The art of pinball. Yeah. And he has one for the pop-upper that looks like a flying saucer. Yes. Yes, he does.
    3:52
    So now we have to talk about some sad news in the hobby. Mark Mandeltort, you might not know the name, but you do know who he is. He's the founder of Marco Specialties. He passed away this month. He was well loved by his staff. Everyone who's seen him at shows, he's always – I've actually never heard a bad word about Mark, which is great. That means he was an upstanding, great person. Whenever I met him at shows, we talked for a while. his whole family must be devastated and his friends and the employees there i just wish to give my positive thoughts to them hopefully that everything you know will you know we're going to think about him in memory because he did build something good he built something great for pinball every time you saw him every time you met him he was just always positive and that's a great thing not like me every time you get your new cern and you want to replace those coil stops because they're shit with better coil stops. Think of Mark when you order from Marco Specialties. Yep, everyone down there. I just, you know, I'm so sad about their loss. And unfortunately, it was too young for him. It was 67? Yep. Sad day.
    5:06
    That was the sad part of the show. Put it right up front. Yep, put it right up front. You know, if you have positive thoughts, you know, definitely think for the family.
    5:17
    Let's see. How could I follow that with, let's see, Deep Root. Deep Root, another sad, pitiful thing. God. I saw this list was going around, the Deep Root creditor list. Yeah, everyone's a creditor. If you wanted to see how many different people Deep Root owed money to. Screwed. Basically screwed, yeah. And if you wanted to see everyone who ordered Raza and where they live, which just seems wrong. Yeah. The list is out there somewhere. Yep. And it's sad because they did screw, you know, 150 people. They screwed everyone. They had like, what was it, the paint company. Like they didn't pay for their paint. He was stealing from the old and trying to make his hobby fetish go on. And he's just an a-hole in my book. That's right, brother. I needed that money to pay for all my body paint, dude. Mean Gene Okerlund here with the new creditor, Sylvans.
    6:14
    That's right, brother. You're never getting the money from me, dude, and I'm never going to jail either. Suck it. Yeah, probably not. I hope he does. I hope he gets a boyfriend there or two. Okay.
    6:26
    If he goes to prison, it won't be prison. It'll be like white-collar prison. Yeah, club med. Club med. Because if he went to a real prison, yes, he would get butt-fucked daily for cigarettes. Definitely. Yep. You just tell people there he stole from their parents and grandparents, and they'll be like, what? Let's see. How do you fuck that one up? I'm trying to think, how do you follow up butt fucked for cigarette money?
    6:52
    You looking at a pretty boy. Yeah, boy. Rush. Hasn't come out yet. No, it has not, but it looks great. Yeah, I'm guessing we're recording this Sunday, the 26th, and I'm guessing trailers will come out like Monday, probably. Yeah, but I haven't gotten my email from Stern Army. Oh, do they usually send emails out? They usually send a week one before, yes. Ooh, okay. So I don't think it's coming until after the first of the year. Ah, okay. So there goes our whole bit. Yeah, I know, but it looked great. Yeah, that trailer was incredible, man. Oh, yeah, it was great. Yep. I bought another game now. I talked about it at the beginning of the show. You bought another game, Bruce? Yep, another game that I've owned and still own. Oh yeah, we talked about this last episode Did we? Yes, you talked about the whole story About going to the auction and everything Yes, this is how we don't record Every other week So Bruce gets confused It cleaned up pretty nice You cleaned it up now, okay Yep, I'm waiting for the rubber kit We're talking about big game by the way Big game, everyone loves a big game It does have one spinner missing It doesn't have the two lions It only has one Oh. But it plays pretty good so far.
    8:11
    There's a disaster in that thing. Somebody put a coin counter in there and just hacked everything up. Hmm. But I'm actually taking apart all that stuff and putting it all back to normal. I have to put a battery holder on there, re-rubber it, and Zach is supposedly going to fix my display. One of my displays is bad. Other than that, it'll be hopefully up for sale soon. Wait a minute, up for sale soon? Yep. Why? Flip baby. Sterns are hot. Flip baby. So you already have one, though, right? Yes, I do. I thought you said this one is better. It is a lot of ways, but some aren't. So, you know, I take the good, take the bad. You take them both, and there you have me selling a big game. The facts of life. Yes. But, I mean, I'm selling the big game eventually, so that will be up. Okay. I'm going to be starting to work on another Gottlieb.
    9:03
    Oh, what's wrong with Gottliebs, Bruce? Oh, they're great. Especially System 80s. Yeah. Is it a spirit? No. Oh. It's Ice Fever. Oh, isn't it the... Ice Fever. Where you can light the spinner, but it, like, stays lit? Yes. So you could just hit it over and over and over? Yeah, over and over. Ah, cool. Pretty bad. Oh. But it is a fun game. J.T. Harrison's. It's his. We're going to start working on that. He doesn't even know if it worked or not. He's like, hey, can you see if this thing works? And if I need anything on it, I'm like, okay. So he doesn't know, but knowing that he listens to the podcast, now he knows. Now he knows, and knowing is half the battle. Uh-huh.
    9:43
    How many, like, 80s, like, things are we going to do? Oh, I got a fucking million of them. Knowing is half the battle. G.I. Joe. Yeah, just like Christ. Okay.
    9:57
    Transformers, more than meets the eye. More than meets the brown eye. Oh. So, yes, big game is coming along nicely. Have you had any repairs this week?
    10:10
    We'll do repairs early. Cool. Yes. Get them out of the way. Well, I went through all the games preparing for something that we'll talk about later. Yes. I wanted to make sure I had tape on all the interlock switches on some of the newer games I've gotten that I don't have them on there yet. Oh, AFM I got this year, I think. Yes, that's right. You did get AFM, yes. So, yeah, that was another one. Making sure I have earplugs installed in the tilt knobs of every game that they actually will go in.
    10:39
    Making sure settings are right. When Zach was over here last time, he complained my prospector had a couple of rollover lights out. So I end up replacing like four sockets on it.
    10:51
    I came back from vacation and I had 16 lights out on Harlem. Wow. Four were bulbs. The rest were bad sockets. So guess what I did the first day I came back? You replaced every socket. I replaced 15 sockets. Oh. Because I found more when I was digging into them. Well, I replaced these, and I was playing it like, oh, that's how it's supposed to work. Cool. Because they never really worked. Hey! Ba-dum-bum-ks. They have a gold bonus. Build gold bonus rollovers, and they're like kitty corner. They're supposed to light kitty corner, and then they move whenever you hit a 10-point switch. So that was cool. Like, wow, that's how it's supposed to work. I fixed a lot of the rings. Don't be upset about that. Oh, God. Why can't you just let it stay broken? No, because Star Wars is still there.
    11:37
    Whatever. Any new listeners are like, what? That doesn't make any sense. Bruce doesn't realize Star Wars is awesome. No, it is terrible. He hates Star Wars, but we also... We had our league. We are a team league. You know, we call it now, like, Hangout League. We're calling it now. We're going to be... Or something like that, you know, where you just hang out, and we put you on a team together. So it's the Hung League. What? It's the Hung League, for those that are hung. Yes. Okay. So the first person I play, he goes, I'm picking Star Wars. Okay. And I lost. No problem. I was in at least the game. I go, okay, now we're picking Lord of the Rings. He's like, oh, really? I'm like, yep.
    12:16
    Such a dick. I was such a dick. I did have a weird issue that I got to look more into. Me and my dad were playing Stars today when all the drop targets just stopped registering. All at once. connector so yeah i'm there like ah wire at the beginning of the days the chain fell off no problem it's got to be that nope wiring looks absolutely fine connector in the back box or it's you have you have a you have a short a ground fault i'm because as we moved it around boom they started working yeah so i'm gonna have to do some searching there you probably have a stuck switch anything else with repairs i put the latest and greatest code on nine ball because There's a bug fix version. I hopefully have the Stargazer issue solved where it just randomly doesn't boot. What was that? Remember, we talked about this. I know we did. It's got the Weebly board in it. Well, I noticed when I just pressed on the board slightly, it would boot. Oh. So I just took the whole board out. I took the whole board out, looked at stuff, bent some stuff around, burned new ROMs for the hell of it, put it all back in, and it's booted every time since. Okay, cool. So we'll see how that goes. There you go. I think that's it. Well, speaking of stars, we've got to get a shout-out to Dave Peck in New Zealand. Yes, the fucker did great. He got a – well, it was originally a stars that was rethemed to be something else, and they used it in – Bebop. Yeah, Cowboy Bebop. Yes, which already got canceled. Which I should know. I watched the anime. But, yeah, it got canceled after one season, so there goes that show. Yep. But, yeah, he got a hold of this thing and fixed it all up and has what's probably the nicest stars in all of New Zealand. Oh, I think way nicer than one of mine or anything like that. He's really nice. Well, wait a minute. We're slam tilt. We've got to say something negative. It's got clear rubbers on it. Yeah. That weird, like, what were they? You've got to have colored rubbers. You've got to have the white rubber, man. Yes, exactly. Oh, and the drop targets are new, so that's bad. Yeah, but guess what? You want to make everything look pretty. That's true. Okay, would you like to know what your problem is on your stars? Oh, what's the problem on my stars? The seven-point switch. The ten-point switch. Number seven. Mm-hmm. It's on the same row as drop target one, two, three, four, five, and six. So the ten-point switch seven. Number seven. Okay. Yep, that is the problem, it says. It literally says that? It says, this is your problem. Well, that's the only thing on the same row. and one of them is unused. Okay. The more you know.
    15:01
    G.I. Joe, real American hero. No, I was doing NBC. Oh, that's right. The more you know. Thundercats, Thundercats, Thundercats. Hoes! Okay.
    15:17
    It's 80s day. We should save this for episode 180. That would make more sense. No, we're assholes. because we do 80s references we're assholes no I'm just I admit it I'm an asshole you do first class asshole first class Bruce asshole how many assholes do we have around here sir yes sir okay yes another Spaceballs reference where's my Spaceballs pinball I don't think he can do that though because part of the agreement he had with Lucas is they couldn't do anything marketing the movie. You know, I need merchandise. Baseball, the toilet paper. Yeah, that's in the movie, but they didn't make any actual merchandise. Wouldn't a pinball machine be actual merchandise? No. Nah. Got to do it while Mel's still alive, too. I know, he's 96 now. Yeah, that's amazing. Yeah. Laughter keeps you young. See, that's the secret. I'll be fucking 400.
    16:18
    Oh, let's see. What else do I got here? What else is on the list? Let's do some industry stuff. Looks like Stern's got their replacement for Steve Ritchie. It's going to be Jack Danger, which I just figured he was already an employee. Yeah, yes, but I guess he was contracted for the first game. He was contracted for the first game. I'm curious with this now, if he's a full-time employee, can he still stream other companies' games now? Probably not. You don't think so? I haven't seen it yet. Stern has not – I mean, he has streamed spooky reveals. He has streamed American Pinball reveals. It just would be weird if he did that now, being he's an actual employee. That would be like, hi, I'm Raymond Davidson. Like Steve Bowden streaming – Stern or Raymond Davidson like, here, I'm streaming Legends of Valhalla reveal. It would just be weird. Yeah, I don't think it's going to happen anymore. It's just going to be Stern stuff. We'll see. They've been pretty – I mean, they've let him do pretty much anything. So I don't know. Congrats, Jack. I don't know what the next game is going to be, but. Hopefully it's not a pin one. No, I don't think they're hiring him to do the pin. Let's see. What else do I got?
    17:33
    Spooky. Well, we talked about previous episode or maybe two episodes ago. Bowen's out there. But I guess David Van Ness is now out. he was you know if you if you loved all the cool video art that was in alice cooper now probably one of the cooler parts of the game he did all that the better parts yeah the weird thing is though i thought he was designing a game i even looked it up and found a little note like from like 2020 or whatever where he was designing an upcoming game so what happens with that does that I mean, he's not designing it? Because I don't think it was Halloween. I think it was whatever after Halloween. After, yeah. So I'm confused. But they seem like they're definitely going with a local. Like, you need to be in Wisconsin at this point. Keep the gene pool low.
    18:32
    What does that mean? Why limit yourself to one area of one state? I know at least one person that inquired with them about maybe doing some work for them, and they were told, you've got to move to Wisconsin if you want. You've got to be local. Which is stupid. Well, Stern does that. Yes, but guess what? I guarantee Stern helps maybe pay for these people, get them out there, that kind of stuff. I don't think Spooky is. I mean, Stern, with the exception of Jerry Thompson, he's in the Northwest somewhere. Yep, and there's a couple others, Colorado, Florida. Yeah, Dean Grover, who's in Colorado. We had talked about that when we had him on, that they have a few that they do remote. But for the most part, it's all local. So how is this any different? I mean, we saw Jersey Jack, which I think was a good thing. They got out of New Jersey and got everything in one location. You see how well it's doing for them. They've got this new game. Oh. It did do well. They have a huge hit, the biggest hit they've ever had. Yeah, and 16 months later, we're still seeing the same game being made. Yeah, because they're still selling them. Yeah, because they haven't got all of them out yet. I listened to their Christmas episode and they were talking about you know I can wait for the games for next year And I thinking like you really going to do multiple titles That was my reaction Maybe they just mean by Maybe if they pull it out January 1st and then maybe December 31st we can maybe call it games.
    20:02
    Well, okay. Assuming they still make Guns N' Roses for a while, if Toy Story comes out next year then that's two titles. No, it's not. It's still one. You put out one title a year. Okay, so you're going to say then... No, they put out one title every two years. Get it right. You're going to say they made two games this year then? Oh, because Wacca's came out? I guess not. No, of course not. You're going to say they put out really no games this year.
    20:30
    They literally average about a game every two years. Which is terrible. Terrible for who? Actually, technically, I guess Spooky's every year and a half, so even they're kind of ahead. Yeah, exactly.
    20:43
    They're not making as many, though. Yeah, I just don't understand it. They have all these big names there, and they still can't shit something out. Shit something out? You go, what, two years of lead time? Two years to make a game? Hey, there's a pandemic, dude. Oh, wait a sec. That's why we've got to keep everyone local, so if somebody gets sick at my place, the whole place closes.
    21:06
    It's the truth. Bruce Nightingale, ladies and gentlemen, of the Slamtail Podcast. Yes. Wait a sec. Most of these companies, including the one I work at, uses Zoom a lot, uses other programs. But let's not do that. Let's just be all, you know, get real with it. I think a lot of the companies even, I know Stern has a lot of employees that work from home, but they're local. Yeah, they have to. But, you know, what's going to happen now with COVID numbers going through the roof again? Jesus Christ. I got out of Florida just in time. If you left Florida, it was like 4,000. Now they're up to 26,000 people. Imagine Texas Pinball Festival. Oh, you guys are not going next year. I don't think they're going to cancel it. It's Texas. I think they will cancel it because you're going to see a lot of people drop out. I think for the fear of it. Well, so that's your prediction. So for the third year in a row, it's going to be canceled. No, no, no. They're going to run it. But I think you're going to see a lot of people think, you know, everyone's getting gun shy now again. Oh, wow. The number's going up. New York State was 27,000. I'm somewhat gun-shy just because I know no one is going to be wearing a mask there. No, of course not. Because it's Texas.
    22:19
    And in New York State now, every building you go into, you have to have a mask on. Yep. We're back to that. Yeah, we're back to that. And in starting the first of the year in New York State, any company that has over 100 people must get tested. All employees must be tested.
    22:38
    Ah, we're talking about COVID. What else is new? What are we talking about? We're talking about Texas, where I think it's going to be an issue. I think people who are in, as we say, blue states are going to be paranoid about going down there and possibly getting COVID and possibly getting sick. Isn't that where the World Championships are supposed to be next year? Yep. Well, in Florida. Yeah. But New York's right with them. The states are blowing up right now. Mm-hmm. Well, we have New York City. Well, New York City three weeks ago was at like 3%, while we were at like 9% or 10%. And now New York City is like at 15%. Mm-hmm. It's kind of scary. Yeah, you got too many people in a small area. Yes. Outbreaks are going to be big time there for that reason.
    23:30
    What was I talking about? We were talking about spooky. So, yeah, going local. they hired another programmer.
    23:36
    I think someone else they hired. They definitely need more programmers. I mean, they had a release that came out recently. It was two pages of release notes. They were all bug fixes. No new features. If you're releasing code that's so bad that you need two pages of bug fixes, that's no, that's not good.
    23:59
    Oh, God. Is it the Redneck Company? Yeah. Yeah, well, guys, they're the last ones getting to this show of let's get the programmers going. That's the thing I see. It's like, come on, guys. They kind of use different programmers. I know. They were following us doing it now, but they had the guy that did Cactus Cane Continued. He did Rick and Morty. As far as I know, that was it. Yep. Florida had 32,000 people. Not yesterday, but the day before. New York State, 33,000 people. Okay. So, Halloween. Have you got to play Halloween? I have not. Okay. I've seen videos of it, a lot of them. Yeah, I've seen a lot of streams of Halloween. And what's your thoughts? It seems very broken.
    24:48
    Extremely broken. I'm not just being... No, you're not being Bruce. And just when I see the same issues on multiple different machines, like the start mode shot where it just kind of gets stuck in the hole. And yeah, there's a lot of bugginess. I mean, but do you think this will, and we already talked about the fact a lot of people are giving up their spots and losing money doing so. The weird thing is only a couple Ultraman. I know the count is less, but I think Ultraman. I think Ultraman is just a better theme. I think it looks better. I think it's just so hard to make a true horror theme pinball. I really do. And make it, I mean, pinball, you want like excitement, fun. There's nothing exciting about a game like Halloween. You know what I mean? It's a horror theme as opposed to Ultraman, which have a lot more excitement to it. And corniness. And corniness, yeah. Yeah. I just think it works better for a pinball machine. Do you think this will hurt sales of whatever their upcoming title will be? Fuck no. People are stupid. So you think it doesn't matter whatever their next theme is, it will sell out? Did they show one picture of Godzilla? everyone knew about the clunkiness from rick and morty godzilla sorry of uh everyone knew the clunkiness of rick and morty did that stop one person going for the godzilla or ultraman before anyone saw it halloween or ultraman halloween or ultraman see he loves godzilla so much it's literally in his brain he can't get it out but do you know what i'm saying people just Oh, I want to get on the next best thing. See, I think it depends on the theme. I don't think so. So you don't think, like, it could be... Nope. I think you could put shit on a fucking play field, and guess what? I ordered it. Look at me. I'm good to go.
    26:41
    I don't know. I'm thinking if it's something like we were able to get the Evil Dead license, then yes, it doesn't matter if you show a single picture. It doesn't matter. It will sell out. but if it's a lesser theme, I don't know. So in your opinion, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter.
    27:00
    I think these people all have excess cash and they just want to, I want, I don't want to miss on the next piece of thing. And the thing is, they're not going to most games. You're going to make money on. Well, this is a real bomb. Like Rob zombie. Well, yeah, but people are selling their spots and losing money. So how would they know? But guess what? They're not losing all the money. okay look at it that way they're not losing all their money and it definitely is the FOMO thing because if you don't get in you're screwed you're screwed that's the only issue I have what Spooky says they don't want you to judge their games until you play them it's like well I can't I can't buy them I can't play them first and then buy them I have to buy them before I play them so it's like What's first, the chicken or the egg? The egg or the chicken? Yeah. All right. The turd or the bad turd?
    27:54
    The turd or the shiny turd. Let's see. What other games? Oh, I was watching I.E. Pinball. Yes. Hi, Carl. How are you doing, Carl? They were doing a Legends of Valhalla launch party. Uh-oh. I will say, watching it, they did something with the flippers because they looked much more powerful than the ones I played. so I don't know if that's a code update or whatever, but that was noticeable. The one game, they end up just turning off because they kept having the same issue with it, and the second game, they're both having similar issues where the game was just losing track of balls. Yep. And to me, it looked all software because I don't think there were any malfunctioning switches. No, I don't think so either. But it would do things like, for example, you got the boat thing, And when you lock three balls in there, multi-ball starts, right? So a person locks three balls in there, multi-ball starts, and then it just kicks out a fourth ball for no reason. Bonus ball, bonus ball. Well, it gets down to two balls, and it thinks multi-ball is over, even though he has two balls.
    29:02
    Oh, my. And nothing you can do to fix it. It's like it's – that's the way it is. And if you drain one of those balls, then it just ends it. Yep. Because it thinks you're done. Then I've seen it do it the opposite way. Person locks two balls in, multi-ball starts. So you've got like a two-ball multi-ball. They drain one of them. They have one ball, and guess what it does? It thinks you're still a multi-ball. You're a multi-ball. It's just never ending multi-ball. So what they ended up doing is they ended up just rebooting it between matches. And that seemed to get them through. Get them through. Great. That's what I want to do when I own a new machine. Get it through. Other than that, it seemed to play fine. I would assume that kind of stuff. I would hope that the crew was watching that as far as seeing that. You're getting some real play testing there. Yes. So to me, if that's a co-thing, that should be easily fixable. They invited people out two weeks ago to come and check out the – celebrate the holidays with the American Pinball crew and everything like that. Unfortunately, they told people it was for the 16th, I think, December 16th, and they asked people to come out on the 10th or 11th. I got the email. Oh. It's like a little hard to drop everything I'm planning on doing to go out here. Oh, come on. You can get out there? Fail. I was on vacation. That's right, baby. Come on. That's the only time for the American dream of American pinball, baby. Come on. You got to get out here and play some Legends of Valhalla.
    30:32
    No. No? No. I was trying to figure out the rules of that game. there's so many different modes in that game yes there are there's tier 1, tier 2, tier 3 and at least a lot of the modes they felt very Star Trek like you know it's like shoot yellow shots shoot blue shots, shoot red shots and I guess like the tier 2 and 3 modes are worth more, which makes sense of course it does I'm not going to comment on it fully until I get my hand to play it Until I get to play with it. The whole approach, though, where you have like 30 zillion modes, I just...
    31:11
    It's not an approach I... I go more for the Elwynn approach. I think, yeah, Elwynn said, if you have like 20 modes, you only have so many shots in the play field, so many different things you can do, so some of the modes are going to end up being very samey. Repetitive, yeah. Yeah. Why not just have five really good different modes? Because then you're done with the game after five modes. Not if you... What? Play Jurassic Park. It literally has three control room modes. I know. And what? Three or four T-Rex modes. That's it. And that feels like a pretty damn packed game to me. It does have other things going on where you can actually... That's true. But I mean, as far as your old modes, I mean, that's... Oh, I know. I agree with you. You know. Yeah, it looked like it shot good to me. Yeah, I think it shot... As I said, I'm not going to comment on it too much until I get to play it. I mean, shot fine for me. Except for the center ramp. The center ramp, even with the stronger flippers that it looked like it had on the stream, you're never going to hit it on the fly. You've got to trap and then hit it. Or you've got to ski past it and then hit it. Because it's like directly in the middle. You have to shoot so early on the flipper, you can't do it.
    32:23
    Oh, and by the way, Carl D'Angelo won the launch party. Big surprise. Wow. Yeah. So he plays in his own tournaments. And streams them and wins them. He's got to stop doing that. You take the good. You take the bad. You take the most. And there you have Carl winning.
    32:40
    He's in Godzilla. If you put his initials in K-E-D, you'll hear one of many quotes. Okay, Carl, we get it.
    32:49
    Yeah, I watched some new Godzilla code. I played it. Of course you did. Of course I did. But my hope that they would have less of the New York City guy. You know, shoot their way in. It happened. No, no, no. They have more of him now. I know. So they're going that direction. So they're, oh, well. Shoot the wamps. Yeah, shoot the wamps here. Shoot the wamps here. Park your car. All of a sudden, I'm from New England. Yeah, I know. It does sound more like a New Englander.
    33:18
    Well, speaking of American Pinball, Dave Brennan from American Pinball, he got an alien. Oh, God. Exactly. So he posted a two and a half hour video of the whole unboxing and then going through everything. And all I can say is if you don't know how to fix stuff, don't get alien. No, you can't. If you know how to fix stuff, you should still watch the video. Yeah, because it's terrible. The game is a train wreck. It had a lot of them. I chuckled at because they're same issues that Zach had. Like the one, it's got the deal where it uses the clasps for the lockdown bar like the sterns do. But the clasp, at least on one side, is too high up. So when you have the play field down, you can't clasp the bar in place. You have to lift the play field up a little bit to get the clasps underneath the play field. His does the same thing. All these targets, these stand-up targets that don't light up. What are you doing to me, man? Hey, it's 2021. We're going to be 2022. We're going to make a machine all night. I guess they didn't code them yet, according to what Zach said. According to Zach, they're on like version three of the stand-up targets. Hey, we do this good. No problem. We make it number four, number five soon, too. And the screws on him get loose, which is the same thing that happened with Zach's. No problem. We test everything good. Hey, we're number one. Okay. They make him in Italy for our listeners who wonder what he's doing. Not a problem. Hey, let's go get some vino. There was no less than three or four connectors that weren't connected, so we had to connect them. Coils installed upside down. I guess there's bulletins on it. It's not good. Hey, what are you doing on the street? You come work with me. I get your job good. Yeah.
    35:09
    Okay. But, yeah, I recommend just look for Alien Unboxing. Actually, it should be a do-it-yourself alien kit. You probably have better luck.
    35:24
    You buy it for six grand and you get to put it together yourself. You guarantee you might have less issues. Wow.
    35:32
    Oh, pinball brothers. This is what the problem is. Your company's based out of Europe. Your manufacturing's in southern Europe.
    35:40
    Just, oh, God. There's no quality control. None. I like the game. I would consider, and I think I've said this before, I would consider getting it, but not in this – no. I just looked at how that thing was built. Oh, God, it's terrible. I mean, the play field looks fine. Oh, the play field looks very hard. It looks super clean underneath, too, because they're using all boards and everything's daisy-chained. Yep. But, I mean, it doesn't have EOS switches, so if you have the flipper up, if the ball comes down, it just, boom, blows right by it. Did the original have EOS switches from Highway? No, the interesting thing, and Dave noticed this when he was looking at it, on one of the node boards or boards, there's actually two connectors for EOS switches that have nothing there. So he was thinking maybe sometime in the future they might have an EOS kit, which is just hilarious to me. Get a new EOS kit with your game. Hey, that's what, what's it called, P3's doing. Did they not have EOSs before? No, I'm saying new improved flippers. Yeah, but they're like – I think they're $45 for the whole kit. I know. Exactly. So that's fine. But, yeah, I just – it's just terrible. That company is just a train wreck. And people – as I said, what did I say before? They know all these problems. They hear all these issues with this machine. And what are these people still doing? I love the theme. Here, take my money, please. The other thing Dave said, which I had to chuckle, because we talk about how American pinball has such good documentation. Yeah, there's nothing. There's nothing in an alien. It doesn't come with anything. There's no documentation. There's no manual. I mean, they seem fairly responsive on their site, and they do. You have to be when you're getting bombarded every day.
    37:33
    But it's just, I'm just, damn, I wish it was made by someone else. Why couldn't Jersey Jack make that? He can. He's got his one product. He's got to make 16 months in a row. No.
    37:46
    But see, because they already did the wide bodies. They'd be all set up for it. It's the same dimensions.
    37:51
    But nope. Not at all. Well, it was a good game, though. Oh, what was the other funny thing? He went into the sound test, and it goes like, this is the left speaker. This is the right speaker. Like, oh, that's wrong. Because when it said this is the left speaker, it was coming out of the right speaker. Yeah. So you figure they were wired wrong. No. The test is wrong.
    38:14
    They literally didn't know left or right when they did the test. Well, they don't forget they do drive on some, you know, they might drive on the wrong side of the road. See, you weren't sure there.
    38:25
    Maybe they drive on the other side of the road. Is that what you're saying? So they're just left is right, right is left. They don't know what country it's going to, so they're just going to put it on, hey, you know.
    38:36
    Is it like, this is the right? No, the other right. Yeah. I'm waiting for my Aussie machine your Aussie machine where the fuck is my fathom oh I thought you were going to say home pin because I was going to correct you and say it's not made in Australia but this one is but yes Dave enjoy your alien it is a good game yeah enjoy it you will be able to fix all the issues but a lot of people will not fathom I'm hoping to see mine eventually this year coming up well next year 2022 time. 2022, yes. Yeah. Okay. I think they got rid of all, I think all the Celts are now out. All the Celts are, yeah. So here's a question. Will there be a Fathom launch party? At my place, yes. Okay. Yeah, so we'll have to ask Stu to come out. Since it's almost like 78, you know, it's like a couple years after.
    39:30
    Maybe there'll be a game he doesn't suck at. I know what we'll get Stu. And he has to wear them. He needs Mork and Mindy suspenders. Oh, Jesus. Okay. You mean the Mork suspenders Yeah Mork and Mindy but from the TV show Mork and Mindy the suspenders that Mork wore Okay Well to get them for that with this glistening shirt underneath Let's see. I have a note here.
    39:54
    I guess the latest rumor is the next Eric Meunier game at Jersey Jack is going to be Godfather. Maybe enough. They can't make it anymore.
    40:06
    Well, why can't? They're out of Jersey. No, that would be Sopranos. No. New York City has their feel in every other area. Okay.
    40:19
    Where do you think they buried Jimmy Hoffa? Okay. New Jersey. Oh, that's right. You know. Maybe he's buried under the old Jersey Jack factory. Maybe. That could be it.
    40:31
    Interesting. See? So what do you think? You think that's a good theme? That definitely goes against the original Jersey Jack family. friendly thing that they used to have that they've completely abandoned now. Yeah. It's whatever money you make. Yeah. I wonder how much they could, like, are they going to be able to get any of the actors' likenesses? Yeah, going to be. Any clips from the movie?
    40:54
    I have no interest in that. Eh. Hmm. I'm trying to think how you would make that into an exciting game. Or movies. Although, I mean, I like Sopranos, the game. Eh, it gets old after a while. I always liked it. I'm a fan. Oh, the shots are good. Well, yeah, it's Lord of the Rings shots. Yeah. And the fish. Yeah, the fish. I like the talking fish. Forget about it.
    41:26
    Oh, the early 2000s of Stern. Well, actually, wasn't it the one that you can start multiball without validating a single switch? Yep. Because the drop target doesn't count. Yep. So as long as you stop plunge and you just hit the drop target and lock the ball, none of that counts. Yep. It's crazy.
    41:46
    Multimorphic had some news. Yes, they did, besides the flipper kit. That was one of the biggest complaints about Multimorphic was the flippers being weak and weird. Which I like the way they said, they were okay before, but now they're better. Better. Yeah. It was more like everyone complained about them before, so now, yeah, they got new kits. are going to be on, actually these new flippers are going to be on all the new games. There will be kits for the old games and it's like only $45. Yeah, which is a great deal. That's a great deal. So there you go. But the big news is their new game, no, that's not out yet. I think they announced that too early. Don't you? They say we're going to have a licensed themed game. Oh yeah. Months ago. And then they had like three or four games since then and with every one it's like, oh, is this the one? Oh, no. Was this the one? Oh, no. Yeah. But they hired Bowen, who is no longer at Spooky, and Colin. So Bowen Cairns and Colin McAlpine. Congratulations, both of them. Congrats. So does our Cluster Vuck now, if it didn't have the most NDAs before. Yes, it has the most. Does it now have the most NDAs? Yes. And don't forget, Colin has been on our podcast, Yeah, so I'm just going to count him as another person we knew that got hired by us. Got hired by us. Yes. Yes, Colin, you owe us, yes. Okay, so I'm looking at our Clusterfuck thread. I'm going to count the NDAs. Okay. People I know that are either working for a pinball company or have some association where they almost certainly have an NDA. Yep. Let me see. Bruce Nettingale. No, he probably doesn't. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Eight. Holy Toledo. So between all the people in that group, we probably know the next umpteen games from every manufacturer. We do. But we don't tell people that. We're in the media, so we don't get told anything. Yeah. What were you saying? Something about the NEPL? Yep. They had to. They delayed their opening of. Okay, what is the NEPL first? It's the New England Pinball League. Okay. Yes. They delayed their opening of their league. It was supposed to start January 1st or January 3rd. They've delayed it one month because of COVID issues. Hmm. Just announced about an hour and a half ago. They're one of the biggest leagues. They are the biggest league. Oh, my. And now with changes with our points, you know, the new Whopper points. Oh, there's some new Whopper thingy where, yeah, I zone out when they start talking about that stuff. You would know more about what any of that means to me. Yeah, it's big changes. It changes how you have to run your league if you want to get full something or other and something. Probably to combat something. No idea. Don't know. Don't get it. In a nutshell, multi-day tournaments must end within seven days of their start date. Pinball leagues must have a minimum of six sessions per season. as well as adjustments to league attendance and format requirements.
    44:57
    For women's, there is no longer a minimum player requirement for private locations. So it'll be kind of cool. We have to start qualifying for now for the IFPA North American Championship, Women's North American Championship, European Championship, any country championship series, IFPA 18 Championship, Women's World Pro and the Stern Circuit for 2020 to 2022.
    45:24
    What you heard is the collective sound of everyone falling asleep. Yep. You got it. Okay. Godzilla launch party we had. Godzilla. I didn't have it. Yeah, you were in Florida. I was enjoying the nice weather and the land of Mickey. Yes, you were. The land of Mickey. God, I hate Disney. Fuck Disney. They did great things with Star Wars. yeah they did really great things in Star Wars that was the part of Disney I hated what? Star Wars wait a minute that was the part you were looking forward to and it was and guess what it did it's just like the pinball machine it crashed and burned in my book oh I thought you were going to say it's broken like you went in there it was broken Rise of the Resistance we tried to go in there two times two days and it failed both times broken it's broken you couldn't even get the Empire sorry folks Morph clothes for clean repair.
    46:20
    Did you punch the moose in the head? No. I punched Darth Vader in the head. Did John Candy come out and tell you you can't go on this ride? Yes.
    46:32
    Yeah, bad. I'm sorry. I did go on some kind of Star Wars ride when I was there at Disney World. Yeah. I don't remember what it was, though. That C-3PO was the host or something. No, that was Star Tours. Okay.
    46:47
    Star Tours. I'm talking Star Tours. I'm choking. Oh, yeah. So Godzilla is awesome. Yes, Godzilla is awesome. At the Rochester Pinball Collective, we didn't have just one Godzilla, Ellie. We had two. Yes, you did. And you had to play them both in this tournament. You did. Where is the Rochester Pinball Collective again? 349 West Commercial Street in beautiful East Rochester, New York What are your hours if I wanted to go there? Well, for Thursdays, it is between 5 and 10 p.m. You pay one price and you're in for the whole day And on Saturday, you come from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. And you pay one price for the whole day And we even do parties You do parties? Wow Wow. There's a party in our pants at the Rochester Pinball Collective. Please don't put that anywhere.
    47:49
    There's a party in our pants. Yes. Yeah, I finished third. Yeah, you were in the money. Yeah, I fail.
    47:59
    There was a ladder final. I made it through the first one after shit two balls, and then I had a good third ball to get into the next. and then in the, I guess, semi-final match, because there's three of us, I needed a somewhat small amount to pass to continue on, but I could not hit the scoop. After like three or four attempts, I said, screw it. I'm just going to shoot the ramps until I miss, and hopefully that's enough. And I shot the first ramp, then I shot the second ramp, and Flipper flubbed it up and drained myself. Yay. That was great. And then I still just missed out by like, I don't know, a couple thousand. It was ridiculously low on that. Yeah. Sucks to be you. Yeah.
    48:45
    Does. I didn't get to play at all. I was on vacation. Mm-hmm. I missed the tournament, but, you know, it was a good showing. Not a good time because we also had Project Pinball, and we did a fundraiser for them, and I think we made a pretty good amount of money for them. Mm-hmm. And thanks to everyone who did donate and play in the tournament. And the top three were, Bruce? Ron Hallett with third. Howard Levine, our own Howard from Orange County Scene. And Pete Indyk from Syracuse took first. Mm-hmm. And who won B?
    49:22
    I don't know. Oh, Steph. Was it Steph? Yep. The Pinball Princess won B. See, I had pulled that one out of my ass even though it wasn't even there. You pulled it out. Yes. Right out. but yeah i played a lot of godzilla yep so did i loved it more uh so february i think we're planning on a trial flip frenzy oh yes we're gonna try it out folks it's gonna be included i think with the price of admission and it's gonna be fun before we go possibly to the ultimate flip frenzy which i've had now three or four people who heard me talk about the last time we're so into it wasn't even funny, including some Canadians. Oh, wait a minute. Wait a minute. I got it. I got it, Bruce. Live on air, I've come up with this. What? You know how we have Stomp? Yes. This is going to be called Tough.
    50:15
    T-U-F-F. The ultimate flip frenzy. You got to be tough to play in Tough. Six flip frenzy tournaments, one day, four hours, three and a half hours minimum. So you're not doing the 26-hour flip frenzy? No, I did a 24. Everyone gets like a half an hour break of like, oh my God. Or we just have like a dinner break. I like that though. Tough. Are you tough enough?
    50:45
    Ain't that tough enough? I play pinball 24 hours, seven days a week. My hands are bleeding and my fingertips are weak. Ain't that tough enough?
    51:01
    That's 80s, right? Right on the, yeah. Yep. Thank you, the fabulous Thunderbirds. Yes, it is the fabulous Thunderbirds. Very good. What's his name's brother was the guitarist? Jimmy. Stevie Ray Vaughan's brother. Yeah. Oh, I can't remember his first name. Is it Jimmy Ray Vaughan or something like that? It's Jimmy. Okay. Jimmy Vaughan. Someone's yelling at the... You asshole, you're wrong.
    51:22
    So it's going to be called, yes, the Ultimate Flip Frenzy, T-U-F-F. Yep, the Ultimate Flip Frenzy. I like it. Yes, I have to put that in. We're going to figure out a weekend. And then we have something else coming up in January. Yes, we do. Masks will be aplenty at Ron's house. Yes, at level zero, the first tournament, I believe, since... Stomp. Yeah, since the previous, yeah. I was contacted by New York state officials. That sounds like I just got arrested or something. But what the IPA is doing is there's not going to be any state finals in January because they just reopened everything in August, so they were going to do like a year and a half worth. So from August through next year at the end, and then January 2023, you have the state finals. Well, some people didn't want to wait that long. Yep. They want to have the bootleg unofficial state championship. Yep. I recommended your place. And I was contacted and asked if I would host. So I said, sure. Hopefully I make it. If not, I will be fixing games.
    52:34
    So, yeah. It's going to be by invitation only, so. Yes, it is. Screw most of you listeners. Sorry. Yep. You get to watch it on the stream. On the stream. Is it golden, Bruce? Did I use your line? Okay. Yeah, I was surprised to see I was actually on the list. Yes, you are. I'm trying to think, like, what did I do? I won a league, my league. Yes, and then you also had Rock Fantasy. Yeah, and then I had several Rochester events. Yep. I'm actually, I was one ahead of Zach somehow. Yes, you are. Weird. I mean, most of the list is New York City, as you would imagine. Here's one person on there that had like 13 events. I know. I only had four. Yeah, most people have like, you know, four to maybe six or seven max. This person had like 13 events. Like, good Lord. So that's going to be fun. And yes, I will be playing in my own games. I don't care. Yes. I qualify for this thing, so I deserve it. I'll just be sitting there working on stuff. Oh, nothing's going to break. It's going to be great. Yeah, okay. This is going to be January 22nd. It will be. I'm looking forward to it very much so. But there's another tournament that we may be both playing in. Yeah, I can't find the list of that. Where is that list?
    53:45
    So, okay, we got the list up here. Yes, we do. Ron Hallett's in there. Yeah, I mean, yeah. Well, what happened with you guys? Do you find out about it later? I found out about it after Raymond said, I just woke up and did this. Like, oh, fuck. Oh, okay. Because usually, listeners, Bruce is faster than any of us. Pinberg, he would always be above all of us, us group of people. Yep. I think Zach fell asleep. Yeah, he said he did. Yeah, so otherwise he would have been right in, but yeah. So Zach is only three out of the, and I am sixth. I think I was eighth last week. Gene. Gene X. Wong. Yep. He's right ahead of us. He's ahead of Zach. But if I get in, I will be in. If I get in, I will be in. What a great quote. By the way, folks, this is called the Great Lakes Pinball Open by District 82. Luckily, I live on one of the Great Lakes, so I'm allowed to go.
    54:43
    That's what it should be. This is all-out whopper whoring. That's what this is. This is to get max points. The most tournaments you can get in in a short period. I think it's what? Like a flip frenzy. Six tournaments in three days? Yeah. Something like that? Like a flip frenzy. Yeah.
    55:00
    I already told Zach, you should get the plane for Monday, not Sunday. Because otherwise you're going to be rushing. Unless you just don't want to play in anything Sunday and you want to leave then. Yeah. Because every single thing is going to run late. They always do. That's just the way it is. Yep. Some things will never change.
    55:18
    That's just the way it is. Okay, Bruce. That's just the way it is. Wait a minute. That's right. It's the Bruce. That's just the way it is. It is. And he played the piano on the song that I did karaoke for at the world famous Silver Ball Saloon. The End of the Innocence by Don Henley. That's Bruce Hornsby on keyboard there.
    55:42
    They're pantsing now college bowl games now and everything. Boy, where does COVID just get better and better? I thought you were saying they're pantsing the college bowl games. Worst Christmas ever, COVID-positive passenger disembarking from cruise ship. Really? You think? Get used to it, folks. This is the new, this is what it's going to be like for now on. I don't see any time in my, I don't see any part of my lifetime that I will be able to go to an airport without a mask on. Yeah. I just don't see it. No, not at all. I had to watch a movie today with a mask on. Was it just like bad farting or something? No, it was actually New York State. They're rules, so I had to go watch a movie, and I watched... You went to a theater? Why? Because I watched The Matrix. I wanted to see it big screen. Okay. It was good. Really? You thought it was good? I liked it. Mm-hmm. I saw Spider-Man. I figured you had to see that. Yes, I saw it the first day. It's made like a billion dollars. I know. So did you get signed for another Spider-Man Vault Edition? God, we got to have at least three or four with all three of them on there. three spider-men yeah well isn't uh jameson's in the the new one right yes he is all is right with the world all is right in the world definitely he didn't let his oscar nomination put him above being in superhero movies no or did he win i don't think he did no he played the drum instructor but i don't think he won he got nominated no let's see i think that's through my list want to go to the mailbag let's go to the mailbag we were on a podcast this past month we were on loser kid yes we were hi boys so listen to the loser kids end of the year episode you can hear our christmas wishes for everyone even though it's not christmas anymore it's christmas always in our hearts this is from john cosson hi john subject hemispherist hemispherist he says what the Or should I do an accent? What the heck does skein and snaw have to do with Christmas?
    57:43
    Maybe suntans? Oh, one word he put. Is that an Australian thing? Suntan is one word? Maybe. Or is it one word here, too? I think it is one word here. Maybe suntans, sand, and prawns for lunch, but surely not snaw. Don't call me Shirley. But it's not just Christmas that misses out on pinball themes. How about Easter, Lent, or any other made-up Christian holiday? For that matter, Thanksgiving, New Year's, and Zach Day. Look it up.
    58:14
    All missed out. No, we don't need a Zach Day. So it looks like Oktoberfest is the only holiday celebration worth its own theme. The great American Dreamweaver has defected to the German side. Wow. Jeez. That's right, baby. I thought about Oktoberfest, baby.
    58:30
    Wow. Well, what Dusty Rhodes, what holiday would he have? Thanksgiving, baby. I'd like to eat, if you can tell. Oh, an American dream. Fourth of July, definitely. The Fourth of July. All about America.
    58:43
    Next email is from Our Scott. Hi, Scott. Hey, Scott. Subject, Yopsicles. Didn't I tell you Yopsicles deserve a product of the year? If Bruce is using them. I haven't used them yet, but I'm thinking about it. They just had a 50% price increase, though, so no more for me. Oh, that's so Scott.
    59:03
    $150 per 100 now instead of 100. How much is it now? $150? $150 per $100 now instead of $100. Do they come with resistors? If they come with resistors, I won't mind. I wonder if the guy making them is going to name his barcade the Silver Ball Saloon now that the name is available again. Well, it's not. No, it's not. He still owns the site, man. Yep, I do. He advertises for our PC on the site. Yes, I do. Very much so. I was shocked as another diehard better dead than LED person told me over Thanksgiving he now using LEDs as well well i said i i gonna use them but let me see what I guess they have gotten that good His tip was to put pink ones under yellow or was it orange to really make it pop I'm going to look and see what the forum he has to market. Got to look up Yopsicle because now you only can get them from him on – Pinside. Yeah. Yeah, which I ordered something on Pinside Market. I tried to use my Citibank card and immediately rejected, and Citibank said I had to call them because they thought I was a fraudulent vendor. Yeah, I can imagine.
    60:05
    Uh, Glenn. Hi, Glenn. Uh, let's see. This is in response to our last Listener's Choice episode.
    60:13
    Oh, man, I missed my chance to have a question answer on the show. Well, maybe next time. Well, wait a minute. You could have asked the question right there. I'm confused.
    60:24
    It's like... Okay, Glenn. Let's see. Hold on. Warm mix. Are you still looking it up, folks? Yep, I'm looking it up. I'm just seeing if there's any resistors. They're at 135 now, so they went down. Maybe they heard the complaining of Scott. Scott's butt cheek's actually locking up as we speak.
    60:46
    Hi, Scott. Doesn't look like there's a resistor, but they did take one of my theme ideas. Okay. The hole is now, well, it's oblong now instead of just a regular circle, but they didn't make them round on the edges because of course it's a it's a square board some places you got to cut them a little bit uh but there is a resistor in there now so i don't mind that okay because if the resistors in there when the ones we got they didn't have resistors so it brings up the value more and your time is worth money i know scott has no life so hi scott wow derrick he says hello ron and bruce hello i'm getting a new brom stroker's dracula playfield I think I said Stoker's. From Stoker's Dracula playfield.
    61:33
    From Mirko to replace the Lank Smith planking playfield I currently have. Any suggestions on this process? Should I buy a playfield rotisserie? Should I wait X months in the hope that the clear coat doesn't ship?
    61:48
    I'm going to say if you've never done a playfield, get a rotisserie. Because it's a lot easier. Should he wait? And should he wait? Should he get it re-cleared? Well, you could, but if you're not going to replace it right away, keep it in a nice room, flat, nothing on top of it, let it get harder.
    62:08
    There you go, Derek. Bruce says let it get harder. Yep. I have an email from Corey. Hi, Corey. Hello, Ron and Bruce. I just wanted to drop a quick note of appreciation for the podcast. Why, thank you. Thank you very much. Ron always gets appreciated on his other podcast. You mean Silver Ball Chronicles? Yes. As can be heard on the Pinball Network? Yes, yes. Which just started their new streaming service. Did you see this? Yeah, not until the first of the year. Yeah, but did you watch the trailer? Yeah. Did you notice something about the trailer? Yeah. Yeah, when they were showing their content, the first thing they show is the Pinball Show, their highest rated podcast. the very next podcast they showed do you know what it was? you guys Silver Ball Chronicles I don't think that was a coincidence just saying wow oh I just strained my shoulder from patting myself on the back I'm sorry you beat out Marty they were third oh wow and Jeff you beat them out yeah Marty and Teolis they were the third one third podcast so beat them out wow they would be first though if it was me instead of you wow So Corey continues During COVID I didn't have a lot of drive time So I fell off the podcast train I think that happened to a lot of people I think the ratings There was definitely a drop in March But I've been able to catch up on the past few episodes I appreciate the discussions About recent tournaments Especially since I'm still restricting myself From traveling to big events at the moment You are smarter than we are Having Ray, Dave, Steph and Zach on was fun to listen to Zach is fun By the way, a big shout out to Zach Because he's consistently stepped up to the plate To provide games for both the York and Allentown tournaments Yes, that I will agree with Zach is the man More importantly, working games For the tournaments Hello, hello, hello Not everyone always provides working games Also, I just wanted to say that Flip Frenzies are an absolute blast See that, Bruce? We're going to find out next month Andreas added the option to match play software. It made it infinitely easier to run. There's a ton of variability in the event, so something to consider would be, if you have time, to build in a simple top eight or top four finals. That way the top players are forced to play each other at the end of the event. Ooh, maybe that's the last match. Well, like have the best of the flip frenzies combined? Yeah. Okay. You should play a game next time where you randomly draw three random machines that are either at level zero or at the Pinball Collective. I'm sorry, the Rochester Pinball Collective. And you have to either save it, sell it, or toss it off a roof. Oh, Star Wars. One machine for each category. Okay. I feel like doing that right now. Okay, I can do that easily. And it's all the games that are PC? Let's randomly draw. Is that all the games that are on? Yeah, I guess. How do we randomly draw, though? We'd have to have a big list and do like a... You can go right on the website. Our website's actually current. You know, I hate to say this. You guys got too many games. It would take too long.
    65:21
    48, 47, 47 games. Yeah. It would literally take too long. What you need is a full list with numbers, and then you can just do random.org. There actually is numbers. There is numbers? Yeah. We start at one at Star Trek, and we go all the way around. Okay, okay. Let's do it. We're going to randomly select your three games. Okay. zero through 47 generate 21 okay that would be grand lizard all right next 37 that would be diner 24 stargazer okay so stargazer keeper stargazer diner and grand lizard so okay save it Save it as Stargazer.
    66:09
    Sell it. Gotta be Diner. It's gotta be Diner. Because toss it off a roof has to be Grand Lizard. Yeah.
    66:21
    There you go. Okay, how about you, Ron? I can't remember my games off the top of my head, and I'm not downstairs. How about you just randomly pick three games for me? Just give me three numbers from 1 to 25. I know most of your order. Oh, okay. So you're going to tell me what my order is in my game room. Okay.
    66:41
    20. Cheetah. All right, Cheetah. Next is 14. It would be the last World Cup soccer. Okay. And last but not least, this is going to be harder for me because not all the games of the co-op are yours. These are all my games, so I like every one of these.
    67:03
    Okay, it gave me zero. Okay, so number one. We're just going to pick number one. Okay, so that's Black Knight.
    67:11
    Oh, boy, that's really tough for you. Okay, so what's the keeper? I don't like you, Robbie, about that.
    67:23
    Let's see. Keeper. You've got to think rarest. I know. I don't think that way. I can get a Black Knight easy. I can get a World Cup soccer pretty easy. Can't get a cheetah easy. World Cup soccer. Keeper. Wow. Okay. Seller. Cheetah.
    67:41
    And throw it off the roof. His World Cup is Black Knight. Black Knight? Yeah. There you go. His first game goes right off the roof. Goes right off the roof. I did order something this week also. I have my new core board. Not core boards, but my new boards coming in for my Williams game that I don't own. Okay And I've got to pick up my Williams boards I forgot to I'm going to bring them out when I go out to you But I did order a set of those boards The Kahoot boards The LEDs are so nice Diagnosing anything I hope you are all doing well And have a good end of year Best, Corey Thank you, Corey There's your top three from us Yeah, you made me throw Black Knight off a roof That's so mean Go boy Have you signed up for the Pinball Industry Awards yet, Bruce, as a judge? I did, and last year I did also, and I got refused last year, so I'm assuming I'll get refused this year. Wait a minute. How did you get refused? They didn't acknowledge it. Did you fill out the form? Yeah. I filled out last year, and I filled out this year. So the email that's in our mailbox right now, you filled out the form? I filled out the one I got sent to me by myself. Oh, they sent one to you. Okay. Yeah. How you doing? Oh. Do you hear that? Dennis Creasel, I know you listen. What's going on? Is he too controversial? I am way too controversial. He's too controversial to be a judge? The 21 podcasts he did this year were not enough? Nope. The 50 years in the pinball industry he's had? Yeah, almost. Can't beat Ron's 52. Oh, let's see. Last one. Shannon. Hi, Shannon. Hey, Shannon. Best wishes in the new year, guys. One request and one question. Ooh. would love to see an updated game room tour of level zero and bruce at the collective in the new year we can do that i know you both stream but would appreciate a quick tour what i might do is a quick tour before the new york state championship just as a like this is the game list yep let's see question for ron that's where i get a question picked up a roller games with early Backbox Flashers and Diamond Plate. Very nice. Good game. Do you still have yours? No. Actually, our Scott has it. Yes. Have they made any updated ROMs for this title? Yes, but to my knowledge they're not available.
    70:07
    They were pulled. Yet. Yeah, they could be available soon from... Well, let me just say, I noticed that Roller Games is going to be at InDesk. I know in the past, Jim Belsito has helped Soren test ROMs. by putting them in InDisc and testing the hell out of them. I would not be surprised if it is possibly a new Soren ROM in that roller games. If it is, then it will probably come out soon after.
    70:32
    Soren can correct me, but I know he's done that with titles in the past. Any two cents on the title as an owner would be appreciated.
    70:40
    It's a fun game. I had mine for a long time. And you will like having the early one because you don't have to put the flashers in. They're already there. Yep. And you've got to love that diamond plate, baby. Yeah, definitely. You won't have to wear it by the magnet. I mean, the only thing I ever did, I did double up the ground on the magnet to make it a little more reliable. Other than that, I didn't have to do much on that.
    71:04
    Just as long as your whole, the top, it's got that diverter thing. It's like this big one long bar that goes across. As long as that's all working fine, you'll be good. If it's an early one, it probably is all chrome habitrails. It doesn't have like the colored ones. Yeah. They were all over the map with that in roller games, depending on when you got your games. They were like all chrome, then some had some powder coated, then some had all powder coated. And then they went away from it again at the end. It's just they were all over the place because the show went bankrupt, or the company that made the show went bankrupt before the game even came out. So they knew. They're screwed. So they just, that's why they pulled all the flashers and pulled all the stuff, because they just didn't care. Yep. Let's see. Anything else I can think of? because I had that game for a long time.
    71:52
    Now, other than that, I never got a chance to put the drop targets in like I wanted to. Yeah, fail. It's got the typical Steve Ritchie five bank on the left was originally drop targets. Yep. And it became stand-ups.
    72:04
    So again, and all the best fellas. Happy 2022. Thanks, Shannon. Thank you, guys. Thank you, everyone, for emailing us. Have we seen our quotes lately? Have we gotten any new comments? New comments? Like saying that we're incredible? Where we suck moose balls?
    72:21
    Last time I looked, we really didn't have any. So, okay, live on the air. We're going to go to Apple Podcasts Slam Tilt Podcast.
    72:34
    That's where I always go. Scroll down to the reviews. You guys suck. You guys are the worst ever. Wow. Okay, it says connecting, and it just sits there. Sits there. see all i'm waiting for see all maybe it'll work better for you it's not coming up for me i'm waiting i'm connecting to apple why is it connecting to apple just give me the i know i'm saying the same thing uh let's see if uh twip yeah the twippies the twipping voting will start on the first it'll be interesting to see if you can win a best podcast twippy when your podcast is behind a paywall. Yeah. That's going to be interesting. Although it wasn't behind a paywall most of this year, so. No.
    73:21
    You're still waiting? I'm still waiting. Yeah, I don't think it's coming up. Oh, hold on. I just came up. Oh, is it that bad? Yeah, it's that bad. Wow. Let's see. Pinball Promoters Database. I'm there right now. We're seeing how much you like us, or if you like us at all. Okay, here we go. ratings and reviews on Apple. I go by date. Oh, we do have one. I haven't been here in a while. Okay, we have one from July. This is how long it's been. This one, five stars. Ooh, thank you. I'm not making this up. Possibly my favorite pinball podcast. Ron and Bruce have great chemistry, and you can truly feel their real-life friendship come through in the way they interact. Bruce is an idiot. Great banter. Fucking Ron's a dick, too. Yeah. Great banter, and they never take themselves too serious. Hell no. topics covered include news tech and tournaments excited every time i see new slam tilt in my pod feed thank you jeb thank you very much hopefully we get some more well you got nothing since last year on oh apples oh well we're just such an institution now it's just whoever's watching us is going to watch us all right that's enough of the ball bag i went through my list i have nothing on my ball bag it's the same ball bag bruce so same as the old ball bag that's 70s that's not 80s okay damn it oh i've i was gonna tell you one other thing i've been doing i've just finished wiring oh i just finished running the wire in my basement so you can have a game room again yes i just ran about 225 feet of wire for four 20 amp outlets so you can finally feel complete. Yes. I have to finish up tomorrow with the outlets themselves and then I start going into the breaker box. Hmm. Yay. My favorite thing, breaker boxes. I remember your old house that had like the water by the breaker box. Yeah, that was a leak and it was a crack in the underground wiring, but I made it so it didn't affect anything, which it didn't. I still had a full basement and a dry basement. Yes, I was there many times. Yes, I know you were. everyone have a happy and safe new year this year please we want you to be listening next year for us check out ron on i i think ron needs to be doing some more slam tilt podcast streams i did one just last week i know that but i think you need to do more i'm just telling the people and the people are going to demand it demand it yes and maybe if i go out early the night before Or maybe we'll have a tag team on the old slam tool. Yep. Well, let's see. Should I say it? I'll say this. I basically had a almost continuous sore throat since October. Wow. Which I finally was able to get. Well, the earliest appointment I could get was in January. Thank you, American Health System. So we've got to see where that goes. I could be, like, sucking lozenges all these. That's why I have not been doing the singing and all that stuff. I could do a few lines during the podcast, but that's about it. I sound the same. You do. It's just very annoying.
    76:33
    So something similar happened last year. Yeah, I remember that. And I couldn't sing for a while. We thought it was, you know, the Hiv, and then we thought it was freaking COVID, but it just turned out to be this AIDS.
    76:47
    Not HIV, but full-blown AIDS. Full-blown AIDS. So, yeah, that ended up being a mucus issue and stuff. Well, I'm going to the same person I saw last time, so I'll probably get a thing shoved down my nose. That's what they do. They shove it down your nose so they can look down your throat without you gagging. Yeah, that's what they all say.
    77:11
    I set him up, he knocks him down. I do. There you go. Well, thank you, guys, everyone. Thank you, Ron. Thanks, everyone, for listening. Let's see. Anything else? We have a favor. You can contact us. You can contact us at slamtiltpodcast at gmail.com. That's slamtiltpodcast at gmail.com. You can check out our website. Really, it's just a collection of links. You probably will never go there. But slamtiltpodcast.com in the upper right-hand corner. All our links, Twitch feed, everything is there. Our YouTube channel. Thanks to everyone out there. Hi, Steve. Isaac, follow up bonus. By all of our friends on our podcast chat. Our Clusterfuck chat with the most NDAs in all of pinball. Yep. Yeah. I think that's it. Ron, have a happy new year, and I'll see you in a couple weeks, hopefully. You have a happy new year. Hopefully it's better than this year. Well, I can't say Merry Christmas. It's over. Yes, it is. So happy new year. Hopefully you get the games you want. hopefully the companies get the parts they need to make the games you want yep so until then see you next time this has been episode 178 178 179 178 179 i don't know that's 178 i got it written right here it can't possibly be wrong okay say goodbye bruce goodbye mark mandel tort
    78:45
    Oh my, my, oh my, my, you can do me if you try. Oh my, my, oh my, my, there's guarantee to keep you alive.
    79:08
    Oh my, oh my. Oh my.