It's a warm spring night. I've got no show notes. I've got nothing, just me, a full belly with some leftover Chinese food, and a hankering to talk pinball. So let's see how much trouble we can get into tonight. Welcome to episode 21 of the Spinner's Lit Pinball Podcast. I'm your host, Spencer Clingan. With me tonight is me and my dog, Bud. You know Bud. Say hi, Bud. It's quiet tonight because the wind's not blowing. It's a beautiful spring day today. Today is April 7th, 2019. This is my youngest son's 10th birthday today. It's really cool. We had these little friends in the neighborhood over, and we had presents and pizza and cake and ice cream. And my two youngest sons, his next older brother is 11. He'll be 12 in June. They spend way too much time on the Internet and computer games, like most kids their age do. So I got my youngest son and my middle son new ball gloves and bought my youngest son a new ball bat and baseballs and a new Giants hat. Took him out in the yard and played catch with him and the friends for a while. Then friends all went home, and we went to the park, and we played some more ball, hit some balls around and fielded and got out, got some fresh air and sunshine. That's my thing this year is to do more stuff with my boys. It's out of the house and not computer related Got a fish and ship trip planned in a couple of weeks Anyway, this has virtually nothing to do with pinball So, as I said earlier, I got no show notes, I got no script, I got no nothing I got me and the microphone and all you wonderful listeners out there So, let's jump right into it We're going to talk about pinball You know, as I look at my kids and just the world we live in today And yeah I follow the forums And you know we have our own little private Secret super secret Cardboard clubhouses you know it's like Fight club you know talk about fight club But we talk about Pinball a lot we play A lot get together For league nights and Tournaments and Just come out over and play for a While or go out and play on location When I was my youngest son's age, you know, I grew up in a real small town, Northern California, Oroville, California to be exact, a town of about 10,000 people at the time, it's not much bigger now, and this is in the 70s, and the pinball was everywhere, I mean, every little burger place, pizza place, a pool hall, the bus station had a lineup, used to play there a lot when my dad was a kid. 7-Eleven, you know, every place had a couple of pinball machines and some had a lot of pinball machines. And then as I got a little older, later 70s, and arcades started becoming popular. There were a couple arcades in town that had like 20 games. This is a small town, so. But, you know, me and my dad go play and my cousins and me and my friends. We never knew who the designers or the artists were. You know we knew the manufacturer of the game Because it was right on the game You know Gottlieb, Bally, Williams Chicago coined them later Stern Electronics Occasionally a Sonic game would pop up Or some other less known brand But we just played the games We just had fun You know we picked our favorite titles By the theme or the artwork Or just you know what it had on the play field It had a lot of drop targets or spinners You know later on Like Xenon had a cool ramp And the tube shot and it talked And Flash had the flash lamps And the beautiful bright blue colors And Gorgon also talked First talking pinball machine Anyway I kind of ramble on about this But it's like Everybody gets so wound up On the internet Everybody's got an opinion And everybody should exercise their God give them First Amendment rights to free speech and free expression. Bud, get out of the garbage. Anyway, Bud's looking to hoist some of that leftover broccoli beef I tossed in there. Wasn't bad either. Anyway, just go out and play pinball. You know, if you've got games at home playing, invite people over. Invite friends, you know, and neighbors. You know, pick a night now and then or an afternoon And just have pinball If you have kids and they have, you know, sports or other, you know, extracurricular clubs Invite them, you know, scouting, what have you Invite them over, introduce them to pinball if they've never been introduced to it Go out and support your local locations That's really important You know, pinball's on the rise lately You know, games are selling more and more manufacturers than we've seen since the early, mid-90s. And, you know, it's all over the media, social media, television, radio. It's getting talked about. There are articles and videos out there all over of people saying, hey, pinball is really coming back. That's awesome. So support that, you know. and talk it out to your friends. Say, hey, you know, you don't necessarily have to own a game. Hopefully, especially if you live somewhere that has a lot of, you know, good location play. Maybe if you own games, that's awesome too. You know, share that. Share that passion, that love of pinball, the simple joy of just playing, you know, just enjoying a game with friends. Because, you know, it's more fun to compete. Well, that's what the backlash on all the old games says. anyway i'm gonna take a sip of my ice cold coca-cola and yes i do have to get up early for work so what else is going on i'm gonna pop into the shows talk more about those i know i talk about those a lot lately but it's show season and just like supporting your location pinball and uh you know the operators that put those out So, you know, support your local pinball show. Well, as everybody probably knows by now, April 12th through 14th, the Midwest Gaming Classic. It's in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And they've got pinball and video games and console games and cosplay. This one's going to be huge this year because the new Stern title, The Black Knight Sword of Rage, is going to make its official debut there. and uh you know you've seen some picture stills and some very short video clips of both the pro and the premium slash le model but until you get to see some real gameplay flipping hey we're all kind of like hoping and wondering what it's all going to be like that anticipation that excitement it's like being a little kid at christmas again the other big news at midwest gaming classic is The New Jersey Jack pinball Title Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory Based on the Gene Wilder movie From the early 70's I want to say 71 or 72 But don't hold me to that Like I said I got no notes tonight I'm completely off the cuff on this one No net no nothing man Just shooting from the hip Like I like to do so often You know what it's worked for me I based my whole life on the teachings of Indiana Jones I don't know I'm making this up as I go along And somehow miraculously It's worked pretty well So anyways you got the Midwest Gaming Classic And they got a lot of good stuff going on You're going to get to see the reveal of two You know look they going to be awesome They going to be awesome You know it be exactly As we have on our own minds And maybe not but don be disappointed You know look they going to be awesome They going to be awesome You know it will be exactly as we have on our own minds And maybe not but don be disappointed you know because this new pinball awesome themes going to be great You're going to just enjoy the fact that there's more new pinball out there. And then we have, let's see what we got going after that. All right, we have Pinball at the Zoo, April 25th through 27th, in Kalamazoo, Michigan. You Midwest folks have got a lot of good pinball going on in April. It's a pinball and arcade show as well, and also a Stern Circuit event. And that's in Kalamazoo, Michigan, April 25th through 27th. And it's at the Kalamazoo County Expo Center, 2900 Lake Street in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It's $15 for adults per day, $8 for kids per day, 5 to 13 years old. free for kids four and under that's pretty cool take the kids get grandma and grandpa to go too and they can run around with the kids it's great whole family should do that i love to see families it shows two three generations it's wonderful all righty uh april 26th through 28th the 2019 edmonton pinball and arcade expo presented by nitro pinball a retroactive arcade and that's in Sherwood Park, Edmonton, Alberta. That's in Canada for you folks without a map. Okay. Anyway, I don't know a lot about Canada, to be honest. Canadians, by and large, the ones I've met, are always so polite. Nice people there in Canada. I'm going to have to make the journey someday and get up to the great white north. But anyway, so that's the 2019 Edmonton Pinball and Arcade Expo. Expo, Yagpin, April 26th through 28th. And after that, we've got Allentown Pin Fest 2019. That's May 3rd and 4th, and you guessed it, Allentown, Pennsylvania. Pin Fest 2019 Spring Pinball Show. All right. It's at the Allentown Fairgrounds. Approximately 300 pinballs will be on free play, And it's the largest pinball show on the East Coast, according to their website. So, yeah, check it out. Should be a fun show. So all you East Coast guys, Allentown, Pennsylvania, you got that show coming up. Up next, I got to scroll down because I lost my place. Sorry about that, folks. Hey, it's free entertainment again. I'm working without a net tonight. Okay. Wow. May 3rd through 5th, Ann Arbor, Michigan VFW Pinball Show This is the 6th VFW Showcase 400 plus unique machines on free play At one of the largest dedicated pinball venues in North America And that's in Brighton, Michigan That sounds like a fun show That's Joshua Clay's place, isn't it? Yeah, Joshua Clay Harrell Big time dude in the pinball community Does a lot, has given a lot to the pinball community over the years get out and support his show you know I heard a while back a year or two ago he even moved the dates of his show so it would coincide with the local pinball show out here more on that in Northern California the Golden State Pinball Festival anyway that's Friday May 3rd through Sunday May 5th and that's at Ann Arbor Michigan VFW Pinball Show Checking that out man It's Joshua Clay's show It should be a really awesome show You Midwest guys have got it going on The Northern Lights Pinball Show 2019 Also May 4th and 5th And that's in Manchester, Robert Englunds Or Great Britain So you wonderful pinheads across the pond As you like to say Got your show going May 4th and 5th The Northern Lights Pinball Show In Manchester, Great Britain And see what else I can find out for you about that. They've got pinball. They've got retro consoles, handhelds, classic computers, arcade games. Yeah, that'll be fun. All right, well, you guys check that out if you're in Robert Englunds. And grab some good fish and chips while you're there, too. Because I do love to eat some good fish and chips. May 17th through 19th, our local show. I'm getting so excited. It's 40 days away. the Golden State Pinball Festival May 17th through 19th last episode I botched the dates Matt said the Golden State Pinball Festival yes it is it's at the Lodi Great Festival Fairgrounds in beautiful sunny Lodi California and it's a great show and it benefits great causes it goes to WOW the Worlds of Wonder Science Math and Technology Museum Kids and Teenage Museum He teaches young people and adults about the wonders of the modern world and technology, math and science and engineering, physics. Good stuff. So it benefits that. Also benefits, I believe the tournament benefits the Pacific Pinball Museum. It always has in years past. But check out the website, gspf.org or goldenstatepinball.org. All right. up next. Scrolling down. A lot of leagues and tournaments. Okay. May 25th through 27th. Now we're going somewhere. It's a Rocky Mountain Pinball Showdown. May 25th through 27th in Denver, Colorado. Here are good things about this show. Haven't had the pleasure yet. But you guys can look it up on, as soon as I can get it to open up, I'll tell you more about it. There we go. Now it's opening up. Okay. Oh, that's Memorial Day weekend. Okay. Hey, it's at a new location. And it doesn't say the name of the location. All right. Well, you know what? You can look it up. You can Google and look it up online. And then Pop's walking by trying not to make noise, which he's making noise with his book. So, thanks, Pop. You're all right. Pop's got to get himself a drink. Anyway, where were we? Okay, so that's Rocky Mountain Pinball Showdown, Memorial Day weekend, May 26th through 27th in Denver, Colorado, Mile High City. And then May 31st through June 2nd, we have the Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show. Another great show from what I hear. Haven't had the pleasure of going yet, but it's on my list. And that's in Tacoma, Washington. Definitely worth checking out. That's another one I know they give proceeds to local charities. I'm told they give out scholarships. So you're doing something good for a young person helping out with their further education. June 7th through 9th, the Southern Hemisphere Pinball Championships. That's more of a tournament, I guess. That's in Mogoa, Australia. Okay. Don't know a lot about that. Pintastic. Pinball and Game Room Expo is June 27th through 30th. And that's, of course, in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. Another great East Coast show for you guys. I hear great things about. Here's another one. July 12th through 14th, the Southern Pride Gaming Expo. This is in Marietta, Georgia. And from what I understand, it's both arcade games and I believe consoles and pinball. I hear great things about that. So check that one out. I'll give you more and more and then I'm going to stop and we'll move on to other things. We'll talk about more upcoming shows later on. July 27th through 28th, California Extreme. Classic arcade game show in Santa Clara, California. This is a huge show. It used to be more centered around Arcade games I mean it still is But there pinball too and a great amount Of pinball great collections show up there I know one of the organizers a bit I was seeing the other pinball shows and we talked Good dude. His name is Mark. It's a fantastic show if you haven't been. And that's, again, it's a classic arcade show. Take you back to those days. Pinball and arcades. And that's in Santa Clara, California. Check out the website. Google it. Again, I'm working without a net here, folks. Anyway well that leaves us up to August So we'll get out of that And talk about Talk about more upcoming fun You know What I was talking about earlier in the episode Is you know just You know Get out get out of the house You know The internet's great and all the As I sit here on the internet broadcasting Doing a podcast It's all great technology and great fun And it's made our world a little smaller And we've been able to connect with people From around the globe And reconnect with old friends and family members That's really awesome But I never want to lose And I don't want anybody else to ever miss out On those simple joys of You know, going to your local Pinball hangout Playing pinball Having a soda Or a beer Having some food You know, hooking up with friends making new ones. So I'm going to put a challenge out to everybody. I do this a lot. Just, you know, my crazy little ways. Is when you're out in public at a location, you see somebody kind of waiting. It's just you or there's two players and you see one or two more people. Ask if they want to join in. You know, jump in and play a four player. It's a great way to meet new people. You know, maybe they're from out of town. Maybe they do a podcast themselves and will give you high praise on their next show. Maybe they're local, new to the area, or new to pinball, and you'd be doing a good turn as a good pin ambassador. Maybe they have a massive collection and they're just out checking out some of the locations and they'll invite you over to their house to play pinball. Who knows? But you know what? Step out of your comfort zone and reach out. And when you go to the shows, the pinball gatherings, do the same. You know, if you're on a game, you're by yourself or with a friend or a relative, and you see somebody waiting patiently, invite them in to play a four-player with you. You know, and then kind of walk around and say, hey, have you played this game? It's really cool. Or say, hey, is there something you want to play? I'll play a game with you. Introduce yourself. Invite them over to your, you know, if you're on-site at your hotel room or something, invite them over to the bar for a drink. Or say, hey, you got plans for dinner? Open yourselves up, man. You meet some really neat people that way. So, as always, we've talked about this on other episodes. It's Golden State Pinball Festival. Look in the camping area. You'll see the yurt. My wife's idea. She first told me, we want to get a yurt. I had to think about it. I kept thinking yak, giraffe. What the hell is a yurt? It's like it's a tent. Oh, round tent. Got it, got it. I kept thinking weird zoo animal. Anyway, so find the yurt. You'll find us. come over before the show in the morning while copying donuts and stuff come over and say hi have a cup of coffee with us or if it's later in the evening you'll probably find us either playing pinball or there another thought is the Friday night flipping Friday kickoff party and that's going to be of course at the Golden State Pinball Festival if you go on to gspf.org click on the picture of Steve Sharlin where it talks about the Flippin' Friday kickoff party. That'll link you to making reservations for your tickets. Those sold out in a flash last year and if you keep up with the podcast or keep up with the happenings in the Northern California area, Campsite sold out at an alarmingly record. Campsite tickets sold out faster than Metallica tickets sold out this year. That's how quick those things went. Anyway, there's still plenty of seats available for the dinner. We've got a slightly bigger room. We can accommodate more people this year. Local Girl Scout troop does dinner and the food is off the charts, people. You mustn't miss this. So it's good food and good friendship to be had and we're going to be giving out the second annual Steve Sharlin Spirit Award. That award goes to a good pin master. Somebody who shows the same kind of spirit that Steve had. You know, he's a good friend to everybody. He helped promote pinball in a positive way. Helps people without ever being asked. Gives more than they take. And that's what that award goes to. So it's already been posted on the official GSPF website. And so I'll go and throw it out here. I was going to throw it out last night's episode or whatever, Friday night's episode when I did that. Pop, that's a heck of a sandwich. All right, go pop. And my dad lives with us, folks. So he's the world's oldest living college freshman now. So plus his heart. Anyway This year's recipient of the Steve Charlotte Spirit Award is The pinball pirate himself Chris Koontz And yes he knows I contacted him last Week so So if you see him before the show congratulate him It's well deserved You know It was you know it was Went to the secret chamber to be Voted on and it was discussed at length, basically since the end of the show last year, who is going to get this year's award. It's not something that anybody takes lightly because we're honoring the wonderful people that give so much back to the community. We're remembering and honoring a really wonderful human being, Steve Sharland, who I miss dearly. Anyway, where are we? We're at the 23-minute mark. I'm just cutting it out here, man. I got like I said, I got no net. I got no script. I got no show notes. I don't even have a notepad in front of me. I got my laptop and my Coke and my cell phone. So we're taking another drink of Coke. Mmm. That is good. The pause it refreshes. We're talking with Mark Scopf on the last episode and who is the composer of the Spinner's Lit Football Podcast theme song. Thanks again, Mark. It was great talking to you, man. It's been too long. We'll see you at the show. You know, and we told that story the other night. I'll tell it again because it's a fun story. My wife and I met Mark at Pinnagogo about four years ago. He was fairly new to the hobby and he had come to the show. We were waiting in line to play Hobbit and he said, hey, you want to jump in? with us. He said, that'd be great. Mark absolutely destroyed the Hobbit. He put up Grand Champion. That was like a 45-minute game. He was just really taken by surprise that we cheered him on and we didn't get impatient about having to wait to play. We had all day, man. It's a pinball show. We forged a friendship from that day forward. That's what I'm talking about when you You know, when you step out of your comfort zone and, you know, open yourself up just a little bit, even in this day and age, you get out of things what you put into them. And I've gotten a lot that way out of pinball. Made a lot of great friends. You know, and that's what guys, some of the old timers like Steve Sharlin and I'm drawing a complete blank here. and my good buddy Jungle Quincy is going to kick me in the butt for this And Al Garber God rest his soul That what they were trying to tell us all these years back when they were starting out the pinball shows and bringing games to the shows and getting together at friends' houses. The pinball, you know, is great. It's awesome. We all love it. It's just a vehicle. It's always really been about the people. The friendships forged and the relationships and made through the silly little box of lights with a steel ball that we all crave so much. That's what they were trying to tell us, folks. We should listen. Anyway, so make sure you go out and play pinball in location. Play at your house. Play at friends' houses. Play, you know, start a league. Just start an informal club. Get together a couple times a month. You don't even have to keep score if you don't want to. Just have fun. so but Mark and I were talking he was talking about how he had played Phoenix when he was Phoenix at the show or at Texas Film Festival the tournament rather I put a lot of quarters into one of those way back in the old days in Oroville, California at the Odyssey Arcade on Orodam Boulevard I don't remember the address anyway they had 20-25 film halls machines back then. They had a whole row of Gottliebs. They had a whole row of Williams. They had a whole row of Bally's. And they had a whole row of early Sterns. Ted Nugent, Dracula, Flight 2000, Meteor, Galaxy, maybe a couple more. I don't remember. It's been too many years. They had some Atari pins too. So I thought I'd do this. I thought I'd go through Because if I recall correctly, Williams-Phoenix Internet Pinball Database. Okay. Williams-Phoenix was the very first game Barry Oursler ever designed, if I recall correctly. And we're going to go through a few designers right now and talk about that. Talk about what was their first game. So, we'll start with Williams-Phoenix. and it's coming up on the old database right now or the 3dbb the three-dimensional blackboard email me at the spinners lit at gmail.com if you know what that reference is from all right you're not going to win anything it's i'll announce your name on the on the next episode and tell the whole world how awesome you are because you are awesome because you listen to this show. Nah, even without that, you're awesome anyway. Alright. So, Phoenix. And I clicked on the wrong link. Hey, again, folks, it's free entertainment, and I'm working without a net here. Just having some fun. Doing spunky tonight. Alright. November 1978, 6,198 units confirmed. Designed by Barry Osler. Okay. And if I recall correctly, it was his very first game. It may not have been, and if I am wrong, please feel free to email me at thespinnerislit at gmail.com and correct me on that. So let's go to Steve Ritchie. The man himself. The man. The myth. The legend. The slam dancer. I don't know if he ever slammed danced, but anyway. Okay Searching Steve Ritchie now Man too many games to list Alright Airborne Avenger I already knew that one I just couldn't remember the name of it Now it searches His first game on Atari And it was the first game And from what I understand Um He had Well let's go to production Okay, September 1977, it went into production, Airborne Avengers, Steve Ritchie's first game, 3,420 units approximate. That's a super wide body. Design was by Steve Ritchie, art was by George Opperman, software by his good friend and great software dude, Eugene Jarvis. That guy's done a lot of great work in pinball and video games over the years. Anyway That was his first game Then he manufactured He was working on Superman He left Atari and started over at Williams And Started work on His first game at Williams Which was Flash Pinball And So that came out I think late 78 Early 79 And while he was working on that just about the time Flash came out, Atari Superman came out, which he did work on and helped design. So we all know Pat Waller's first game. We'll get to him next. And that, of course, was Wrecking Ball was the original title, which eventually became Banzai Run. I think there's one prototype example somewhere out in the world of the Wrecking Ball version of that game, if I'm not mistaken. so up next who should we go to next let's see let's see what we did Barry Oursler, Steve Ritchie and Pat Lawler let's go to George Gomez which I believe his first game was Corvette well see in fact I'm absolutely positive it was Corvette but just in case you know you probably already new this and if you did that's okay you're learning something new today look edumacation courtesy of the spinners lit pinball podcast lack of sleep exhaustion soda pop and leftover chinese food the broccoli beef is quite tasty yep george gomez all right it's his first game and that was august 1994 5001 units confirmed if you haven't had a chance to play that fun game I actually kind of like it it's kind of quirky oh there's one on the list of games to be had to play on free play it's Golden State Pinball Festival so also make sure you thank people if you see somebody you know they brought a game make sure to tell them thank you it's awful nice of people to share their private collections with the public so anyway that was George Gomez first game so it was Corvette. We could go on with this, but I'm probably boring everybody right now. Like I said, I just wanted to get a quick episode out there and just remind everybody, just go out and have fun. It's pinball. It's fun. Don't take it too seriously. Or, as a very wise man, old maybe buddy once told me when I was a young buck, take what you do seriously, but don't take yourself too seriously. Just very excited this time of year with the shows coming up, anticipation, you know, like I said, it's like being a kid at Christmas and just made me want to pop out another quick episode. It's Papa Bud. See, it wouldn't be a show unless Bud was barking at the air. Bud, for Pete's sakes. Go lay down. Go to your bed. Anyway. way. All right. Well, I'll cut it short here, but I'll give you something to listen to. Hope it won't put you to sleep on your commute in the morning or if you're out gardening or exercising or whatever it is you like to do when you listen to podcasts. This has been episode 21, A Warm Spring Night, the Spinner's Lip Pinball Podcast. I've been your host, Spencer Klingon, and you guys know the words. Say them with me. Play pinball. Keep America strong. you