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Arcades Across America Part 8 - Episode 63

JBS Show·podcast_episode·58m 20s·analyzed·May 23, 2025
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.032

TL;DR

Ko discusses Quarter Drop operations, streaming pivot to YouTube, and Kong arrival displacing Jaws Pro.

Summary

Jamie from JBS Show interviews Ko from Quarter Drop Arcade about arcade operations, content creation strategy, and pinball lineup decisions. Ko discusses his streaming setup evolution (YOLO Box Extreme), partnership with Flippin' Out Pinball as distributor, Stern Army location status, and upcoming Kong arrival that will displace Jaws Pro. Long-term expansion plans include a potential second floor addition to the historic building.

Key Claims

  • Jamie is transitioning completely from Twitch to YouTube for streaming, believing Twitch is dying and YouTube offers better audience potential

    high confidence · Jamie states 'I'm going 100% YouTube' and explains difficulty building two audiences; mentions lost subscribers from channel move but sees YouTube as better platform for new content

  • Ko owns the Quarter Drop building and is considering adding a second floor to expand arcade space

    high confidence · Ko directly states 'I own the building that the quarter drops in. It's a historic building. It's 114 years old' and discusses 20 feet of empty space above ceiling for potential second floor construction

  • Ko has partnered with Flippin' Out Pinball as official distributor and will receive new Stern Pro machines as soon as they come off production line

    high confidence · Ko explains reaching out to Flippin' Out after watching their content, establishing partnership where Flippin' Out provides 'good deal on the latest sterns' and sends new machines to Quarter Drop

  • Jaws Pro is being removed from Quarter Drop to make room for King Kong placement next to Godzilla Premium

    high confidence · Ko discusses Kong arrival 'in a couple of weeks' and explains 'Jaws Pro is going to Dodge' because 'I want Kong to be next to Godzilla'

  • Ko is not planning to purchase Harry Potter pinball for Quarter Drop due to lack of theme interest and high price point concerns

    high confidence · Ko states 'I'm past, I miss the Harry Potter thing' and 'I'm not going to spend $15,000 on a machine for the cord drop. It just wouldn't make financial sense'

  • Jamie purchased a YOLO Box Extreme as used/open box unit from B&H Photo at $300 discount and plans to use it for mobile streaming setup

    high confidence · Jamie shows the device on camera and states 'I got one used at, shout out to B&H Photo' with discount, mentions Carl D'Angelo bought the other open box

  • Stern Pro machines are the most financially viable model for location operators like Ko rather than Premium or LE tiers

    medium confidence · Ko explains 'The Stern Pros really make the most sense for the cord drop' and references ROI concerns with $15,000 machines

Notable Quotes

  • “I'm going 100% YouTube. I think Twitch is dying.”

    Jamie @ ~12:30 — Major platform strategy decision for a prominent pinball content creator; signals broader industry sentiment about Twitch vs YouTube viability

  • “The YOLO box, I think, is an absolute game changer to the point where I'm going to be able to do even tournaments from the YOLO box.”

    Jamie @ ~18:45 — New streaming technology investment enabling mobile tournament coverage; Jamie sees this as game-changing for tournament streaming accessibility

  • “I want Kong to be next to Godzilla. Right. Yeah, and it has to be a machine I own. So Jaws is going to Dodge.”

    Ko @ ~56:30 — Confirms Kong arrival and explains operational constraint driving Jaws removal; indicates strategic machine placement to maximize player engagement

  • “It's not just about keeping the ball alive... there's all these missions. And you may not even play it for two years and not even see it. And not even smell it.”

    Ko @ ~48:15 — Ko articulates the 'aha moment' of pinball discovery he uses as operator to convert casual players into engaged enthusiasts

  • “Running an arcade is a community effort. And it has been from the beginning. It's been, it's taken many people and many walks of life to make the corner drop what it is.”

    Ko @ ~54:00 — Reflects operator philosophy about arcade sustainability through community engagement rather than solo operation

  • “I own the building that the quarter drops in. It's a historic building. It's 114 years old... Above the ceiling right here, you can see the ceiling, there's nothing for like 20 feet of empty space.”

    Ko @ ~60:45 — Reveals long-term expansion ambitions and indicates Ko has significant capital invested in arcade infrastructure

Entities

JamiepersonKopersonQuarter Drop ArcadeorganizationFlippin' Out PinballorganizationRetro RalphpersonCarl D'AngelopersonTom GraffpersonKale Hernandezperson

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Streaming content creation at location level requires significant time investment competing with operational demands

    medium · Jamie notes archival recording early mornings (before 9-5 job) and after-hours; Ko describes filming blocks before opening and after closing to avoid operational interruption; both describe time scarcity challenges

  • ?

    business_signal: Quarter Drop establishing strategic distributor partnership to secure consistent new machine inventory from Stern

    high · Ko reached out to Flippin' Out after 1+ year of planning; partnership provides 'good deal on latest Sterns' with Pro machines 'as soon as they're off the line'; positions Quarter Drop for recurring revenue from new game launches

  • ?

    community_signal: Growth of structured content creator networking through Discord channels and regular power hours

    medium · Colin Alshimer organizing Content Creators Discord with weekly Thursday power hours (noon-1pm CST); 8-10 regular participants including Jeff (Dirty Pinball), Mike (Long Island Pinball Society); Jamie describes it as valuable forum for idea-sharing

  • ?

    community_signal: Operator actively converting casual arcade players into engaged pinball enthusiasts through education and advocacy

    medium · Ko describes 'aha moment' strategy where he explains code depth and missions to repeat players; reports growing pinball community at Quarter Drop with players returning daily after discovering game depth

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Thematic machine placement strategy to maximize player engagement and location positioning (Kong adjacent to Godzilla)

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.175

0:00
🎵 Hello and welcome to another edition of Arcades Across America on the JBS Show channel. And I am here with my friend Ko from the Quarter Drop Arcade. How are you, Ko? Hello, Jamie. Always a pleasure being here. I love these episodes where you and I can just chat and catch up and I always enjoy talking with you. Yeah, I like these too. Sometimes, you know, we're trying to do at least one Arcades Across America a month. but sometimes you do a couple in a month and you spread them out or whatever we're going to do here. It's interesting because I am on vacation from June 15th to July 4th. Okay. That's a long spread. I'm going to be on the bottom of the Grand Canyon whitewater rafting and camping the entire Grand Canyon, dude. How adventurous.
1:21
This will be my third time at a canyon. my first time was an 8 day white water raft camp but I have always wanted to do the entire 15 days that's pretty cool so I booked this a year and a half in advance paid for it a year I could have bought a pinball machine for me and my wife not just for me oh yeah of course Well, this is a life experience, so worth it. Well, you know, last time I was at the Grand Canyon was about three years ago. I walked down South Kaibab to Phantom Ranch, and we stayed at Phantom Ranch, which is a ranch in the bottom of the Grand Canyon. This is a pinball conversation. Don't worry. Just relax, people. Just give me a second, right? I'm telling a story, and we haven't had time to catch up today. This is where Jamie and I chat the most. This is where we do. This is where we chat. So I'm going to be out of pocket for 15 days on the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Okay. And I need to put some content out. So maybe this won't go until June. I don't know. No. But I'm going to be trying to record a bunch in June so that I can space them out while I'm gone. That makes sense. That's smart. Yeah. For you, that's a long time. You're always putting out that content. Yeah, I try to put out something every two weeks. But it's interesting because now I've got the pinball roundtable with Kale Hernandez and my good friend Retro Ralph. Which I love listening to. They're both my very good friends. I love them. You guys are great together. I love those two clowns.
Colin Alshimer
person
Danperson
Stern Pinballorganization
YOLO Box Extremeproduct
King Konggame
Jaws Progame
Godzilla Premiumgame
Harry Pottergame
JBS Showorganization
Pinball Roundtableorganization
Content Creators Discordorganization

medium · Ko removes Jaws Pro despite it being an earner to position Kong next to Godzilla; strategic layout decisions based on player flow and theme synergies

  • $

    market_signal: Strong performance of mixed-game arcade model (classics + pinball + redemption + ticket games) in small-market locations

    medium · Ko emphasizes 'true authentic arcade experience is about that mix' and reports strong Friday-Saturday-Sunday traffic, birthday parties, and private rentals; pinball community growing organically in Cottage Grove through operator education

  • $

    market_signal: Operator resistance to $15k+ pricing for location machines; pushing toward Pro tier as only financially viable option

    high · Ko explicitly states 'I'm certainly not going to spend $15,000 on a machine for the cord drop. It just wouldn't make financial sense' and confirms 'Stern Pros really make the most sense'; references Harry Potter $10k arcade edition as 'big step in right direction'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Pinball content creators collectively reassessing Twitch viability; migration toward YouTube observed across multiple creators

    medium · Jamie states 'Twitch is dying' and moving to YouTube only; Ko reports Twitch underperformance despite daily streaming; mentions Flippin' Out successful transition to YouTube; established Twitch operators (JDL, IE Pinball, Fox Cities) appear 'stuck' on platform

  • ?

    technology_signal: Jamie investing in YOLO Box Extreme for mobile streaming; represents shift toward portable, professional-grade tournament coverage capability

    high · Jamie purchased open box YOLO Box Extreme unit from B&H Photo; describes it as 'absolute game changer' for tournament streaming; plans to stream from multiple locations with mini PC integration

    • 3:14
    Yeah, it was like, what was it, the clown on the left? Yeah, Joker to the left, clown on the right, or clown on the left, Joker to the right. Here I am. And absolutely, I love those guys. But then I also have an interview show that I do occasionally. And I've got arcades across America. So, you know, a little busy on the podcasting front. Well, and you do have a nine-to-five job, too. I do, and it's very busy. so yeah the content creation that's why I'm at my house I'm not out of place doing anything on location and so it's hard I've noticed since I opened the arcade it's because I love making the content as well you know I always putting out content but it is a challenge for sure I have to come in considerably early in the morning to film and edit my video before because I can't it's so busy in here I can't edit video during the day It's just people are just coming out. There's constantly something. So I have to have like a block every day before I'm even open. And then I stay after I'm closed as well. So it definitely is a challenge. But, you know, it's fun. And I want to stay connected to the online world and everyone so amazingly supportive. So let's talk about that, about your connection. because obviously if you're not following Co on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and your YouTube shorts, that's where I'm starting to see you more, on the short side.
    4:51
    I don't go on Instagram as much as I was before, but I really like the shorts. I'm into the shorts lately. I don't know. Well, it's nice because you can stay connected with a content creator but not have that huge time commitment, which we just talked about. We're both lacking in that ability to have large amounts of free time. But you can still be like, oh, okay, I can see what's going on with the JBS show or I can see what's going on with Court Drop Arcade and it's only going to take me a minute.
    5:20
    No, I like them. I've been on YouTube a lot more lately. And I've made a decision when it comes to streaming. Okay. So this is some cool news that we could talk about. Breaking news.
    5:33
    Yeah, so I'm itching to get back streaming, right? Yeah. I love podcasting, but I love being live and calling a game and playing and talking to chat and that sort of thing. I miss the hell out of it, Co. And we miss you. And so I have been – poor Ralph, okay? I talk to this dude almost every other day, and I'm picking his brain on a mobile rig. I really want something mobile. Yeah. Right. I've been bugging Tom Graff. I've been bugging the hell out of Carl D'Angelo and I.E. Pinball. I'm bugging these guys because I want something where I could fit it in, fit in a backpack.
    6:17
    And come in to like Eureka Heights, which is our local place that I've been hanging out a lot and set it up, stream Dungeons and Dragons for two hours, have some fun, but then also stream a Tuesday night league somewhere and make a very mobile streaming pinball solution. So I found something. Interesting. I have something here. Oh, this is the toy. This is the toy. So when me and Code talk, we won't really catch up prior to our starting record because we want to save it for the podcast. Yeah. Don't drop it, Jamie. This is the YoloBox Extreme. Oh, I've seen those. Doesn't Ralph have one of those? He sure as hell did. I remember this video. He should get commissions, dude. Yeah, Ralph, he almost got me to spend money on that thing.
    7:13
    Well, I got one used at, shout out to B&H Photo or B&G Photo. B&H Photo. not a sponsor of the show but uh they had an open box for like 300 off oh that's that's great hey right yeah and i know carl d'angelo bought the other open box but wow look at the inputs of this yeah yeah that's pretty okay yeah so it is anyway yolo box extreme okay that's great but the question is the actual rig how are you going to make that Because I have a rig that theoretically is portable, right? It has a mini PC on it, everything. Oh, you went mini PC? Yeah, I went mini PC. Okay. It's like a charm. It's just mounted right onto the rig, plenty powerful enough to stream pinball. Sure. But the question is the actual rig, to make it where you're breaking it down and reassembling it and not being an absolute nightmare. Well, yeah, this is the rub. So I have a group of engineers working, literally engineers, working to help me fix this and to come up with something that's foldable, easy to port. Now, when I'm streaming TPF, Texas Pinball Festival, or the Space City Open, those are my two big tournaments that I stream. I'm going to bring the old, faithful 8020.net fabrication thing that I've built. Okay? No problem. How are you going to transport it? Is it in a pickup truck? Well, those I have to use a pickup truck because they're so damn big. Yeah. All right. But I can break those down, too. But anyway, setting up for the Space City Open, ladies and gentlemen, you're talking four hours to five hours of Jamie getting it from one place to another. It's a nightmare. Yeah. I mean. Oh, what I want is like, all right, you know what? I'm going to Eureka tonight and I'm going to go stream Evil Dead and just fool around. Yeah. I need that capability. Absolutely. The YOLO box, I think, is an absolute game changer to the point where I'm going to be able to do even tournaments from the YOLO box. Wow. I can't wait to see it. And it's 4K. Ooh, 4K.
    9:37
    60 frames per second, 4K? Oh, don't get me lying. I don't know yet. Okay. Because that's with pinball, you know. You don't want those tracers. No, no, no. No tracers. I know the difference between the Ultra and the Extreme is significant price-wise, but it also is significant quality-wise because you can't stream 4K and it's 30 frames per second on the Ultra, and you just can't stream pinball on 30 frames. No. I tried it when I first started. Oh, me too. Yeah. I don't want to buy a ZV-1 for the stupid Playfield cam. I'll just get something that's nice. No. Me too. It doesn't cut it. Yeah, I've been there, done that. Just do the ZV-1 or whatever or something. I sold you something. Yeah. I bought out all the used ZV-1s on Amazon. Yeah. I really did. I believe it. Yeah, they work and they look good. So there's a streaming update for you. If you're watching, do me a favor. I had to change channels. You know the story. I left the wormhole. And I need help on the YouTube side. So click that subscribe. Take a minute, man. because I went from 4,000 to 350. It hurts feelings. I hope I sub to you on YouTube. I'm sure I did. Come on, Cole. If not, I won't remedy that. No, no worries. No, people don't do it. Well, yeah, it's just one of those things that you're not like, you just have to immediately do it. Like after this podcast, I will check to make sure I did it. But, you know, how many people are going to immediately do that step? It's a tough trend. It's a tough transition. That's why every podcaster says do it every time. They have to constantly remind people because they're just not going to do it. I mean, you look at Retro Ralph's page, and he has 60,000 on his other page, and he has a Retro Ralph live page where he's like, come on over, and he's got like 4,000 there. It's a tough transition. And he's posting a lot on that live. Yeah, he does. So they just don't do it. It's fine. No way. Well, if you're already at, what did you say, five something? Well, I was at 4,000 at the Wormhole channel, but now I'm at 350. Okay. Well, I mean, that's pretty quick growth already. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No passing out. I'm not upset with it. Let me ask you this. Okay. Let's talk about Twitch versus YouTube real quick. Ooh, good one. I'm going 100% YouTube. Yeah. And I'll tell you two things why. I think Twitch is dying. I was just having this conversation with a friend of mine. This is funny. Okay. Yes. Okay.
    12:24
    And I think it's difficult to build two audiences. And since I'm building again anyway, right, I might as well start from scratch and not even touch the Twitch side and just do nothing but YouTube. Also, with the YOLO box, it's just easier. Yeah. I literally press record, chat comes up, I'm ready to go. I think that's the right move, Jamie. So I have good, like, information on this because I've been streaming from the arcade on Twitch. And in my mind, because I'm not doing it anymore, but when I first, like, three months, I was streaming every day just from the arcade, a day in the life of the arcade. And in my mind, I thought that was going to be something that people would really respond to, and it would get lots of views, and it would be a win-win, because it's like you're hanging out at an arcade, a retro arcade, and what's not to like, right? But I don't know if it's a Twitch is dead thing. I don't know if it's the way I presented it. I don't know what it is. But really, not that many people watched it. Unless you're, let's say I call them the established networks of pinball streaming, right?
    13:43
    You look at JDL, IE Pinball, and Fox Cities. Those are the three that do a tremendous amount of Twitch streaming for tournaments. And they have that built-in audience. They can't leave. I think they're stuck there. But then you've got like a flipping out pinball where they've made the complete transition to YouTube. and it's gone extremely well for them. I've been thinking about this a lot because Twitch is the only social network thing I do that is wildly underperforming compared to everything else. And it takes, as you know, streaming pinball takes a lot of money, time, effort. And, you know, I'm still streaming. I stream with the team. We have a home team here at the Quarter Drop. and we every Thursday tonight we get together and we stream pinball and you know that fine There might be a dozen people watching There might be 15 people watching or something like that But still, if I went and put that on YouTube, I know that it would be substantially more than that. You just don't want to upset the subscribers. I know. Because when we say subscriber to YouTube, that's free. Yeah. When you subscribe on Twitch, it's a monthly fee. Now, the cool thing is that you can use your Amazon Prime account, but no one's going to, you know. Yeah, and that's kind of what's kept me because I have subscribers that have been subscribed to me over 40 months now. Yeah. You don't want to hurt their feelings. I know. What if you simulcasted it? Yeah, I mean, but that seems like everyone that I've talked to that's done that always says it's kind of a pain in the butt. It's a pain in the ass. Yeah. I don't know. The Twitch thing, it's like everything else. All the shorts and the content I do, I have it down and I do my thing. It's just that's the way it is. The Twitch side of things, I am constantly going, what do I need to be doing here for it to work? Is it me or is it a Twitch thing? You know what I mean? I think the audience on Twitch is smaller than the audience on YouTube.
    15:58
    Predominantly. And also there's a big component of you have to, on Twitch, you have to have the time to network with other creators and collaborate.
    16:08
    And that's awesome, and I do like to do that, but I don't really have a lot of free time to do that and to be hanging out in their streams for long periods of time and to be, you know, all that stuff that goes along with networking on Twitch, it's hard to find the hours of the day. Yeah, I'm going to reach out to Flipside from Memphis and some other guys and see what they're doing, Hot Nudge, and see what they want to do. But just out of curiosity, but I'm pretty much making the move completely to YouTube and I'm not going to be creating it. I think that's smart. Yeah, I'm excited about it. Yeah, and like you said, it's a new – the JBS show is new, so might as well start from scratch on a new platform. Yeah. Heck yeah. I'm not new, but this show is. Yeah, that's what I mean. Yeah, I'm just joking with you. Have you been doing this?
    17:01
    A little bit. Where can we find you, Jamie? A little bit. I want to talk to you guys, particularly you and listeners. If any content creators are out there, I'm going to give a shout-out to Colin Alshimer. I was talking to you about this, and you need to join. If you're on Discord, ladies and gentlemen, there's multiple Discord channels that you need to join, but one in particular is the Content Creators Discord channel for content creators. It's really a good forum, if you will, for all of us to throw ideas out there.
    17:39
    Jeff from Dirty Pinball just joined. I mean, it's Colin from The Kineticist and Rob from Electric Playground. It's really their brainchild. And then on Thursdays, I was on before I got on with you. They have a power hour every Thursday from noon CST p.m. to 1. And you come and go as you please. And it's just a litany of topics for the week. It's just a bunch of content creators throwing ideas out to each other. Cool. I love that. And it's really fantastic. It's really great. Joe from the Degenerates is on a bunch. A bunch of great, you know, becoming my friends. Yeah. And we've really enjoyed that channel. Mike from Long Island Pinball Society. There's so many that we usually get eight to ten people just chatting on a Thursday. What kind of stuff? It is. It's so fun.
    18:41
    And also, everyone has their own expertise in the world of content creation, something that someone else might not be thinking about. Yeah, and different personalities and different perspectives and different ideas of what they're trying to do. Like Jeff from Dirty Pinball, he's really starting to do a lot more content, but also on the podcast side. So shout out to him, and I hope he does well. on that. Anyway, reach out to Colin Alshimer. I am him.
    19:14
    Any content creator that's out there that wants to be a part of the Discord channel, join us. It's fun. I'd love to join. I will.
    19:22
    Let's talk about the quarter drop. You're pretty busy over there, man. It's been great. It continues to be, especially on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. That's where the majority of the revenue, the traffic, all comes to the quarter drop. It's a lot of birthday parties. That's been huge.
    19:44
    Private rentals has been good. On Mondays and Tuesdays, those are my days off, but I have it set up where you can rent out the entire arcade.
    19:53
    Smart. Yeah, and I have to come in on my day off, but I make enough money to make it worth it. Well, sure. I'm sure the ROI there is above opportunity. And that's been really good.
    20:09
    Yeah, and of course, the ticket game, Spongebob, Winner's Wheel. Always crushing it at the quarter drop.
    20:16
    Do people play the classics? Not really. People always say, oh, I love, you have to have this, you have to have that. And they come in and they put one quarter in. They want those for nostalgia. Yes, and they want to play them once and enjoy it. But it might not get a second quarter, right? Yeah, yeah. Now, it usually doesn't. I have to have them here because it's part of the mix I've always said from the beginning a true authentic arcade experience is about that mix, you have the classics you have the racers, the shooters you have the pinball, you have the redemption games the claw machines, the ice ball or ski ball it's all together that creates that arcade experience it's not just one thing or another that's why you have a lot of these modern arcades that are nothing but claw machines that's awful or you might have there's a lot of arcades that are just pinball And I get that as someone that is obsessed with pinball. Sure. I get that. But I really wanted to have that mix. Now, one thing I am really pleasantly surprised by is already the pinball community that I've started to grow here in Cottage Grove.
    21:21
    When I see someone come in and I see them a couple times and they're playing pinball and they come back and they play pinball, that's when I take the opportunity to go up there and plant that little seed about pinball. It's like, hey, you know. That's when you pounce. Yes. Pinball, there's so much here that can unlock. And it's not just hitting the ball. It's going, progressing through this game. And the code is incredibly deep. And there's all these missions. And you may not even, you may play it for two years and not even see it. And not even smell it. And they're like, what? They're like, I didn't know that. And they come in the next day and the next day. Don't you call that the aha moment? of pinball. I think that's what gets a lot of us to go.
    22:08
    Having an advocate like yourself that can walk over to them and go, it's not just about keeping the ball alive. No, exactly. That's probably the greatest joy I get of operating an arcade because like you, like a lot of people listening, we love pinball.
    22:27
    To be able to share that with people, and it's not even just like oh i'm gonna get them to come in and spend their core it's not even about that it's about like building community around the love for pinball and being like you know oh hey so and so i'm not gonna name names but regular hey joe thanks for coming again how you doing on godzilla today or you know how's tack from ours going oh i just broke my high score and it's about hearing all this stuff and i made it to you know terror of mecha godzilla tonight i can't believe it and And it's really cool. And a lot of people are getting hooked on pinball here in Cottage Grove. Way to go. And especially at nighttime, like, you know, during the day, the kids will all be having fun with the ticket games and stuff. Then all of a sudden those last few hours of the arcade, the only people in the arcade will be the entire pinball zone has a person behind every machine. A couple of questions on the pinball side. Yeah.
    23:20
    First of all, let's talk about, since I haven't spoken with you, about your relationship with Flippin' Out. Yes. You want to talk about that? Absolutely.
    23:31
    So I have been using Flippin' Out Pinball as my distributor since the beginning. That's where I bought all my pinball machines because I watch straight down the middle. I watch Flippin' Out on YouTube. I have for a very long time. I love what Zach and Nicole Mini are doing over there with Flippin' Out. So when I started making content, one of my goals was like who am I, you know, long-term goal, who would I really like to partner up with and have as a brand partner for the quarter drop? And number one was Flippin' Out Pinball. And I waited a year, over a year, to even reach out to them because I wanted to make sure I offered value to them where it could be a true partnership.
    24:10
    And about, what, a month ago, I reached out and said, hey, guys, would you like to work out something where I, you know, give you shout outs and make content and spread the awareness of flipping out. And you guys send me, you know, hook me up with a good deal on the latest sterns. And I just always have the newest stern in the quarter drop as soon as possible. And they were totally on board. They love the idea and they've been so great to work with. And yeah, so now at the quarter drop, I will have every new stern as soon as possible. possible uh stern pro as soon as that's off the line they'll ship it here to the quarter drop and i'll just have a rotating spot in the arcade where every new stern will be here and i'm very thankful and it's been a lot of fun working with uh flipping out well congratulations if you build it they will come and you've done a great job so way to go uh are you a stern army location uh i am an official Stern location. I don't know. Does Stern Army require an extra step? You should reach out to a gentleman named Michael Grant at Stern.
    25:21
    Mostly for your tournaments in Stern Army. You would put a TV up for Insider Connected. I think I am a Stern Army location. I went through the phone call, the interview, set up the TV with the whole thing. Then you're good to go. I'm going to be doing launch parties, of course.
    25:42
    Hopefully Stern can send me some swag for those launch parties. That would be good. They do. They send a bunch of swag, and they send a bunch of trans lights. People are going to love that. They do love it. And we use something at Eureka Heights. John and Taylor use something that I ripped off from San Diego. It's called the Wheel of Names. Okay. And you just take all the tournament players, put it in the wheel of names, and you click this wheel that goes up on the screen, and it's awesome. And then it ends, and then all of a sudden Bob from Topeka wins a New Stranger Things Translight. And that's just so fun. Everyone just sits there watching as this wheel of fortune type of thing. Yeah, I've seen stuff like that. I have a little raffle box, and people put the – Oh, you can, whatever you want. The wheel of names is pretty cool. I like that. I just throw it on this TV. You just throw it on the TV. You just take all the names from Match Play and you put them right on over and it takes you two seconds and you don't have to do anything. Yeah. I'm lucky I have a really good tournament director that helps us out with tournaments here at the Quarter Drop, Dan. And he's been running tournaments for a long time. And it's nice not to have to worry about, like, rulings and the IFBA stuff. Yeah, you don't want to deal with that. That's not you, right? No. You're the proprietor, and you don't want someone being pissed off because you told them they got DQ'd, right? Yeah. That needs to stay out of your privy. I know enough about pinball, but do I feel like I'm qualified to make tournament rulings? Not really. I'm barely qualified to do this.
    27:21
    I'm sure I could fumble through it, but I don't want to. Sure. Why? Why deal with that? Outsource, my friend. Yes. Outsource as much as you can. I made a video on this recently. It's It Takes a Village was the title of the video. And it's true. It's like, because I have that personality where I'm like, okay, I got this. I can do it. But it's not, this is not a solo endeavor. Running an arcade is a community effort. And it has been from the beginning. It's been, it's taken many people and many walks of life to make the corner drop what it is. I think of all the people that surround the arcade that help and that are these incredible people and these talented people and just want to help the arcade in however they can. It's like, wow, it takes that. Yeah, it really does. And, again, consistent congratulations for what you're doing.
    28:14
    So talk to me about your pinball lineup then. What are we rocking at the quarter drop right now? Right now. And when Kong comes in, what's leaving? Ooh, okay. Well, this is controversial.
    28:25
    Wow. Godzilla Premium, Jaws Pro, Mandalorian Premium, Cactus Canyon, Attack from Mars, Elvira and the Party Monsters, and Alien Ripley Edition is the lineup. Okay.
    28:42
    Kong will be here soon. In a couple of weeks. So can I guess what's leaving? Yeah, guess what's leaving.
    28:51
    Elvira. No, not Elvira. Elvira just came in fairly recently. Okay. So the regulars are still enamored with Elvira. If I got rid of Elvira now... So Party Monsters is still staying. Yeah.
    29:05
    Okay Mandalorian leaving Mandalorian came in for Star Wars Day Now that would be my choice but Mandalorian is a pride vending machine I don own Mandalorian Oh okay So it has to be a machine I own. So, unfortunately, Jaws Pro is going to Dodge. Really? Yeah. Because I can't... It's right next to Godzilla. I want Kong to be next to Godzilla.
    29:29
    Right. Yeah, and it has to be a machine I own. and I'm not getting rid of Alien Ripley Edition because it's in the Alien room. Okay. So you're vested in that room. Yeah. I'm not getting rid of Attack from Mars because it's next to the Attack from Mars animatronic and people love it and it earns really well.
    29:49
    So Jaws. Wow. Jaws. I know. It's tragic. Now, I could theoretically put Kong in the middle aisle behind Burger Time, but then it gets a little tight right there. Okay. So as much as it pains me Because Jaws has so much flow And I love playing it And it does do well in the arcade It's kind of my only real choice Controversial And I know people are going to be bummed for you To get Jaws which is an earner Okay but I could drop some news on you here Please What I may be doing Now don't hold me to this people Okay I own the building that the quarter drops in. It's a historic building. It's 114 years old. It's very tall. It's a very tall building. Above the ceiling right here, you can see the ceiling, there's nothing for like 20 feet of empty space. Plenty of room to put in a floor number two.
    30:51
    To put in a second floor. and who knows that could be in the future for the Core Drop Arcade. Two floors and then I would have more room for pinball machines. Wow. That would be fantastic and I know that Flippin' Out sells a what's the Stairmaster? The Escalara? Yes, which I will be buying from I think you will be buying I can see that purchase in your future. I'll be a must buy it because moving pinball machines and arcade cabinets up and down a staircase that probably is not a very large staircase either because it has to fit in the back. It's going to be tight.
    31:39
    That will be a must. Now, I still have to have contractors come out and do the whole thing. How much is it going to cost? I just dropped a huge amount of money on this. It's going to be down the road. Long-term plans. are exciting, man. That's exciting. It is exciting. It makes sense just from an economic standpoint because I would be adding so much value to the building by adding, doubling the square footage.
    32:04
    The selfish side of me is like, yeah, more pinball machines, more arcade cabinets. But the practical side of it is actually, there's an argument to be made that it would make more sense to do it than not do it.
    32:19
    Well, congratulations again, and I hope this happens. I hope you get through permitting. I hope you can get a good contractor and it doesn't cost you a fortune and I hope you can make that happen in the years to come. That's fantastic. Thank you. Yeah, I'm excited.
    32:35
    Kong is coming. So that's awesome. And then what? Can we talk about Harry Potter? Sure, let's do it. Are you thinking about getting one?
    32:46
    No. That was pretty lukewarm. I don't, I'm past, I miss the Harry Potter thing. Okay. So, like, I'm not, it's the theme that does nothing for me at all. I just have zero interest in it. And it's not all about me. Like, I do have to think about machines that, what are people going to want to play? You know, other than myself. That's something I've done. That's why I have, you know, Spongebob and Winter's Wheel, which I could care less about. Sure. But people love them. And I'm interested in the fact that they're doing the $10,000 arcade edition.
    33:29
    That's a big step in the right direction because I'm certainly not going to spend $15,000 on a machine for the cord drop. It just wouldn't make financial sense.
    33:40
    No, the ROI is just not there on a $15,000 machine. The Stern Pros really make the most sense for the cord drop.
    33:50
    Totally. Yeah, if I was in a big city and I was a bar, I could probably go premium, maybe LE, but even that's tough. No, you wouldn't go LE. You would go premium, and then you would mod it out maybe if you wanted to. But I've seen the Stern Pro model work here in Houston. I've seen it. But there's also – we have an arcade in Houston that he only buys LEs. Yeah, there's a place not too far away. It's called Einstein's, yeah. They buy LEs, but they're a bar. They have 50-cent pinball because they don't need to charge a dollar because they have a bar. Yeah, because he's making money on his bar. And they're in the city. So it's a big difference from us. This is a hometown, small town, no liquor. All the money is from coin drops and parties.
    34:40
    So just pulling off a new Stern Pro every, what, three, four months, that's a lot. That's costly as well, right? You have to sit back and go, you know, space is an issue for arcade owners, okay? Not just you. It's an issue for every one of my friends that I interview on, that me and you both interview on the show. And you really have to do a T-chart. And what's going to come in and what's going to leave? Is Kong going to outsell whatever that's leaving? Jaws. And I don't know. Jaws is a banger. It's a banger. It's a license. A lot of people come in and they don't play pinball and they go, Jaws? I know. I know Jaws. Absolutely. And so you've got, that's just a tough, tough decision. But, you know, you've got like my friends at Eureka Heights, John and Taylor. I talk about them a lot because I'm there all the damn time. And, you know, they have space for maybe Kong and one more, right? And they might have money for a Dune or a Harry Potter. what should they choose yeah it's tough and you have to weigh what do you want versus what do the people want well they have a tough time with that right because it's like their own room that they've built in their playground but you know i i hope they get a dune only because i want to play it a lot more and i'm i love everyone over barrels so i'm i'm a barrel shill and I would love it for being to be in Houston. But they need to do their own ROI assessment and what they can and can't make. And they did raise the price on Dune. It's, how much, $11.5? $11.6. You get a lot of machine for $11.6 but these are the things I think because $7,000 for Stern Pro, $11.6. You get more pinball machine obviously but Dune But is the, again, is that ROI there as an arcade owner? I don't know. It's tough. It's tough to determine. Pinball is not, like I'm glad I don't just have pinball. That would be tough. And I'm certainly glad I don't just have classics. The quarter drop would be out of business if I just had classics. Yeah. There's only so much I'm going to come in. Yeah. And because you're quarter dropping, you're not $15 at the door. Yes. Right? Yeah. I'll put a couple of bucks into Ms. Pac-Man, but not that much. Well, and it's interesting because a lot of arcade operators reached out before I was open, and they were adamant that you can't do quarters, you have to do free play. And now that I'm open, I see what they were talking about because these guys, now that I look back at it, and a lot of really great, supportive, wonderful arcades, a few of which I would love to have on this show, they have nothing but classics, right? So their arcade is filled with these classic machines that we all love, but they don't make any money. So, yeah, free play model, get them at the door. They're $15, $20. You're right. That's the only way that works. Yeah, because there's only so many times you can pick up the human being on Defender and get real excited about it, right? Yeah. I mean, the first time you do it after 20 years. No, you can't. Yeah. You know, I just had on the guys from the Game Preserve, and they are a daily fee, but their machines get banged more than they are on quarters. It is – I keep going to teacher. It's like my word of the day today. But you've got to build your – when you're deciding, am I quarter drop? Am I token? Yeah. What kind of arcade are you? What kind of – yeah. What kind of machines are you going to have? And I've been consulting. People reach out all the time. They want to know these things because they watch The Journey. And I've got several guys that are opening arcades right now that I've been helping for free, not consulting for pay or anything, just helping them out.
    38:48
    Missed opportunity there, Coe. Well, I know. I'm just kidding. I know you are. They reach out and they're like, oh, I bought a building on Main Street in Wisconsin. and my dream is yours to open an arcade. I'm like, okay. And they're like, I'm just going to have classics. I'm like, oh, okay. Well, obviously you don't want to make money. And then I say, okay, just so you know. This is obviously a passion project of yours, and if a passion project includes losing money, then that's a great move. I thank the lucky stars every day that I created the redemption side of the arcade, despite me not being really enthusiastic about those machines. I remember that first podcast, which is such a great podcast that we did with Rachel and Kale, Animoto, right? Yeah, yeah. It was Rachel. And Rachel was really telling you about the redemption machines.
    39:44
    Well, and I kind of had that. That definitely reinforced it. But I kind of knew that, okay, people always conventionally say redemption machines are the ones that make money. That's why no one does classic arcades. but I didn't realize that it was to the extent that it is.
    40:00
    Really? Yeah, I mean, it's not even in the same stratosphere. And that includes pinball. It's not even close.
    40:07
    Ice ball outperforms pinball. The best-earning pinball machine doesn't come close to ice ball machine.
    40:14
    Think about that. What's an ice ball machine? Skee-ball. Oh, okay. You just call it skee-ball. Well, there's skee-ball and there's ice ball. It's a clone from the 90s of skee-ball. It's the same thing, though, at Ski Ball. I suck so badly at Ski Ball. Do you? Because I'm always going for the $100,000 in the upper left. And it's such a jerk. It's just embarrassing. I know. I'm not good at it either. I'm terrible at it. People come in and they bank it off the side rail. I've seen those people. Into that corner shot. It's massively impressive. Oh, my God. And then I have it on the leaderboard, Ice Ball. So there's people that come in here And they get serious about it Do you really? That's smart Yeah it's one of the You can always tell what games are most popular By is the leaderboard completely full And Icefall Is more than full Did you create like an Excel spreadsheet And make it look really nice on like a PowerPoint Or something It's a software called iScored And it's like a $20 For like a lifetime license and if you have any interest in a leaderboard for anything, video game or pinball related, I can't recommend it enough. Not a sponsor, just a great piece of software. It could not be easier and then I just basically project that URL of my iScore leaderboard to the TV and it's just always up.
    41:43
    And all you have to do is scan a QR code, enter your score, boom, and you're on the leaderboard. and love it and then you have your stern insider connect leader that's over in the pinball side yeah so i have both and that that's it's like all these little pieces of puzzle that come together that are important leader points the mix um pinball that is maintained that's a huge one if you want to do pinball in your arcade i am telling you right now first of all you have to have a passion for it and know how the machines are supposed to be set up and maintained if your machines are not set up properly and not maintained not only will they go in total disrepair but people won't come out to play them and i don't know i'm not gonna name names but there are some arcades that have pinball and you go there and i i go there because i'm like oh they just got a fun house a pedretti fun house or whatever it is okay i'm like oh why is it flat not there's no pitch to it at all right and the this right slingshot has no rubber on it and the switches are in the play field bent over why is this life is and they're filthy i'm like how does this happen it's just it's you can't do that you have to stay on top of it yeah because they get banged on they get and And, you know, like here's a good example. I was out in the wild playing someone else's D&D recently.
    43:15
    And D&D has to be dialed in. It does. Any stern has to be dialed in. Any pinball machine has to be dialed in. But this one in particular, for example, ladies and gentlemen, if you've got the shield up, I don't know if you've played a lot of D&D. Oh, we have a D&D. I forgot to say D&D. Oh, okay, okay. Because I knew you had D&D. Yeah, I don't know why I forgot. Poor D&D. I forgot it. Here's a great example of D&D. Shield is up. Ball is on the left side Yeah If it not hitting that ramp yeah it it it a missed opportunity for because that such a perfect time to trap up and hit that shot to light your mode and if it not hitting it perfectly there's nothing more frustrating as a pinball player i agree it's not i will say this though there's a little bit of an engineering issue there because no matter how much we tweak this D&D, it will hit one or the other. Really? It will hit the left or the right. So there you go. Look at Jamie bringing up something that's not... And that could just be this particular one, but it will not hit both consistently. It drives me crazy. So you'll hit the right, but then if you're on the right side, then it won't hit the left orbit. And if you set it up to hit the left, it won't hit the right.
    44:36
    That's frustrating. I think that may just be this one. I don't know. Look at that because it's so important because when you trap up and use that shield and you want to go for the gelatinous cube, it's important. Which is how it's set up here because that one shot for gelatinous cube is, to me, a little more. I like the right shot because it's the extra ball, but gelatinous cube, you can get a lot of points if you just spam that shot. D&D is a game And I've talked about it a lot On the pinball round table And I've talked about it a lot myself That's a game I could see myself buying 100% D&D Is the most played machine The pinball machine It is the highest earning machine In the arcade Still And it's been here A month and a half About And each week every week that it's been here. It's been the highest earning except for the one week that it fell in second place when Elvira first showed up, but then it took Elvira over after that. So it earns well, and people come in because they can save their progress to save. I know. It is such a brilliant move of combining gaming and pinball that I think it's a game changer, and I think Stern's going to look at this down the road at different titles especially like a Pokemon or whatever they could have and say to themselves we're on to something with Insider Connect and saving your progress I would like to see him do that with just about every machine to some extent it's hard because you have the different characters with Dungeons and Dragons so it makes totally sense if you go through and the guy that gives you dragon letters, Angor or whatever the hell his name is you can uh use him and then you get him all the way up then you could use the merlin person or whatever you can helen or weave hearts who i've been leveling oh okay i've been using the dragon guy she has longer shield time so that's nice yeah yeah what a game what a game i'm to like the last mission until i but i just i having a hard time beating it so whatever the good you don't want it to be that easy right i mean yeah no i know but but it is it i'm sure it's got that one more dollar feel because i really want to get these achievements and again i've said this before i am flat out addicted to call of duty right now i heard you and kale dude i'm playing a ton of call of duty how fun is that it's a blast all right anyone wants to Play Call of Duty, hit me up. I wish I'd be such a third wheel on that because I'm not good at Call of Duty. Well, I'm not that good either. What are you guys playing? PS5? Well, he has a PS5. I have an Xbox Series X. Oh, but you can do cross-play. Cross-play on the Activision platform. Okay. So you download it. It's a pain in the ass. You set it up, and then we can join parties, and we just go kill people. And this is an absolute blast. But what they need to do, Stern, is look at what's so addicting at Call of Duty, right? It's leveling up your character and leveling up your guns and leveling up and then prestiging. And prestiging is wicked fun to get a character all the way up and then dump them all the way back down. And then you get extra bonus things that you could do. And they're ready for it right now at Dungeons & Dragons. Double down on what they're doing with Dungeons & Dragons. Yeah. More complexity, deeper, more weapons, more armor, more options with parties and groups and leveling up. More, more, more. And people will buy, buy, buy it. Because not only do you have this huge community that's outside of pinball that are coming in now and playing it, that I'm seeing in arcades. But you've got these gamers, inside gamers that move the pinball that go, oh, my God, what a perfect storm of a machine. It really is. It's brilliant. And it's fun. I like it a lot.
    48:56
    I play Godzilla the most still, even though I haven't had that game forever. But that's just because I'm obsessed with Godzilla.
    49:04
    But D&D is probably the one I play second most. I'm obsessed with Evil Dead. Are you? I've only played one round. I'm obsessed with it yeah I really liked it you know I've never watched the movies and I think I'm just going to go watch them just so I can figure out the modes just so I can understand what the modes are it's definitely worth watching they're classics one and two are like the same movie oh okay kind of a weird thing they just they had money and they wanted to revisit it with a better budget so it's like wait this isn't a sequel they're just kind of redoing this when I get around to it it'll be sometime but I want to push back on something you and Ralph and Cale mentioned. Okay. We can end this. Let's do this.
    49:50
    Godzilla and Kong linking together is a good idea. It can't happen, dude. Yes, it can. It's never happened. No. You've got to hear me. Okay. All right. NBA Fast Break linked together. Have you played it? Yes. Okay. It is wildly fun. So we know you can take a FireWire cable, an Ethernet cable, connect the two machines together. That's not the problem, right? So it's totally doable. Two games with the same code.
    50:20
    Right, but you can code in, or they can drop code updates on either machine. You're asking a code team that is greatly depleted.
    50:30
    Kong versus Godzilla. Battle it out if you have those two machines linked together. and one person is playing as Kong, one person is playing as Godzilla, it would be great from an operator standpoint because you have people playing both machines. You have the potential to sell people that own Godzilla would want to buy Kong. People that own Kong would want to buy Godzilla. And I think that's a good idea. I know that it's a big ask. I know that the coding and all that and maybe even the licensing, that's probably the bigger, like, can you do Kong? I think their problem is they've put in the sand, Co. Not in the sand. They've put this down that we're not charging DLC.
    51:15
    Right. Right? And they don't. Yeah. Which I think they should. Okay? Here's a perfect example. All right? charge me $100 to connect my two machines, and you'll sell a ton of them. Do we want to open up that rabbit hole of something that people in the gaming industry for years have rallied against? Oh, yeah, but in the gaming industry, we're so used to it now. It's thank you, sir, can I have another? I mean, we are just, it is no problem for us. What happens when they go the way of the mobile games, and you can't complete a certain mode without spending $100? and they'll make more money i know but do we want that as a concern oh yeah i do because i'll spend a hundred dollars to get a stupid skin because i'm an idiot but uh no i won't actually i try to earn the skin that's the key i try to earn it but and as an operator am i gonna feel um obligated to buy these because my patrons are like oh we really want to you know get this uh character unlocked yeah when they're throwing quarters in kong and uh wow oh man i don't know about this you don't know okay stern if you could do this for free coding versus godzilla why would they do that if they could get a hundred bucks they they love us as their their consumer i love them and i love them too i i've gotten to know a bunch of these people and they're lovely but It just doesn't make any sense to me of why they would not charge. I think that's something that Keith Ellin is a fan of pinball and probably enjoys NBA Fastbreak potentially. I don't know. That's just something that his mind might go, oh, this would be pretty neat. I could see him just doing it because he likes it, just like the 8-bit mode in Jaws. Like, why do they do that? They didn't have to do that. No, they did it because it's BA, and I understand that. What I'm just saying is there is such a lack of coding talent out there right now. And I'm just saying this as a recruiter, okay, someone who understands Marketplace, that they're so behind on some of those titles.
    53:34
    Like, if I'm a John Wick owner, if I'm an Uncanny X-Men owner, are you pissed off this morning that Kong just released a brand new... Code update. Code update? That's all that. It looked like a lot of stuff, too. If I own an Uncanny, I'm not happy this morning. Yeah. What's that all about? I don't know.
    53:57
    Especially Uncanny X-Men. X-Men shoots so well. It just needs that code. It's dying for it. It needs it.
    54:09
    I like X-Men a lot, the way it shoots. I like the way X-Men shoots over John Wick, personally. Yeah, me too. Yeah.
    54:20
    I mean, both are fine, but X-Men is really interesting. But, yeah, it needs that code update. Yeah. I don't think I'd buy one without it at this point. Right, but all of a sudden then they link Kong and Godzilla and there's no code update.
    54:36
    Can he actually? Yeah. But don't go ahead and have a lot of Kong and Godzillas. Pinside's going to lose their absolute minds. Yeah. Well, Coe, thank you for another great edition. I don't know when I'm going to put this up. When do you think? A couple weeks. Yeah, I'll put it up in a couple of weeks. Know that we recorded on May 15th. Yep.
    55:00
    But by then, by the time this comes out, Harry Potter will be out. We might even have more information on Predator is what I'm hearing. Oh, see, we didn't talk about that.
    55:12
    That's okay. Next time. That's a dream theme. I don't want to get into it. Oh, you want a Predator. Oh, my God, do I want a Predator. I mean, I love, I adore that movie.
    55:26
    But I adore Alien and Aliens, but that machine doesn't shoot that well. I own one. I own Alien Ripley Edition. Theme integration like you wouldn't believe. Unbelievable theme integration. Sound package, art, everything about it is literally brilliant. Build quality. It just has one major problem. It doesn't shoot very well. No. We had a highway at the wormhole, and we can never get the mech that grabs the ball to work. Yeah, mine does. And yours, they fixed that. Yeah, they fixed it. It's not bad. It shoots better than some other new machines. Yeah. But does it shoot anywhere compared to just about any stern that comes out? No. There's no flow. I can't dial in those dang ramp shots for the life of me. So why do you have it there? Get it. Because I have a whole room, Jamie, dedicated to aliens in the back room.
    56:27
    That has murals all over the wall. It has a xenomorph in the ceiling. Well, you're vested. I mean, it's not going anywhere. Yeah, they're not going anywhere. It's not going anywhere. Even though it breaks all the time. I'm sorry. Well, by then we will know if Predator, you know, what people think about Predator. And will I buy one?
    56:51
    Well, we'll see. If it doesn't have Arnold, you're not buying one. No, it's got to have all the, you know, Dylan. It's got to have both. It has to get to the chopper, all that shit. Yeah, all that. If it doesn't have that, it's a no buy. If it does have that and it shoots marginally well, I will have no choice but to buy it. There's another movie that I haven't seen in 20 years. Predator? Oh, my God. You've got to re-watch Predator in 4K. I know. In 4K, right? The surround on it? Oh, the surround sound. It's epic.
    57:21
    God, Arnold's the best. The best. All right, my friend. Thank you so much. Where can people find the Quarter Drop Arcade? Quarter Drop Arcade, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Twitch.
    57:33
    QuarterDropArcade.com. That's easy. And JBS Show on YouTube. Do me a favor. Click that like and subscribe and all that crap. Please. We need to build the channel back up. We need this. Even for Coe, he needs it. We all do. Click subscribe. It means something to us. We've got to have it or why are we doing this? So thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thank you, Coe. Appreciate you as always. Thank you, Jamie. Likewise. Talk to you soon.
    58:11
    Bye.