Journalist Tool

Kineticist

  • HDashboard
  • IItems
  • ↓Ingest
  • SSources
  • KBeats
  • BBriefs
  • RIntel
  • QSearch
  • NName Review
  • +Health

v0.1.0

← Back to items

Episode 35 – The ArcadeExpo Post Show Spectacular

Slam Tilt Podcast·podcast_episode·analyzed·Mar 23, 2017
View original
Export .md

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.031

TL;DR

Slam Tilt post-Arcade Expo recap covering AFM remake details, Aerosmith gameplay, and tournament results.

Summary

Ron Hallett and Bruce Nightingale discuss their attendance at Arcade Expo in Banning, California, covering new Stern Invisiglass pricing, the Attack from Mars remake announcement with three editions and limited edition details, Aerosmith code updates and gameplay impressions, recent tournament results (Eric Stone winning Nationals and Pinmasters), and extensive coverage of their Arcade Expo experience including rare machines, the vendor area, and fan interactions.

Key Claims

  • Stern brought out new Invisiglass at $239, cheaper than Jersey Jack ($299) and PDI ($319)

    high confidence · Ron Hallett discussing Stern's new product offering and pricing comparison with competitors

  • Attack from Mars remake will have three versions: Classic, Special Edition (Premium), and LE, with LE limited to 1,500 units

    high confidence · Ron and Bruce discussing details from private email about AFM remake specifications

  • Attack from Mars LE will come in two colors, with second color to be announced

    high confidence · Private email details about AFM remake color options

  • AFM deposits will open March 24th at 5 p.m. CST

    high confidence · Ron reading from private email about deposit timeline

  • Eric Stone won both Nationals and Pinmasters in the same weekend in Texas

    high confidence · Ron and Bruce discussing recent tournament results

  • Helena Walker won the Women's Champion tournament and has been the best women's player for 10-15 years

    medium confidence · Ron's assessment of Helena Walker's dominance in women's pinball

  • Aerosmith had extremely slow playfield speeds at Arcade Expo due to improper raking

    high confidence · Ron and Bruce's direct gameplay experience at the show

  • Aerosmith features a multiball cancellation mechanic allowing players to pursue a six-ball multiball instead

    high confidence · Bruce discussing Aerosmith gameplay features he observed

  • Dirty Donnie created the artwork for Aerosmith and was present at Arcade Expo

    high confidence · Ron meeting Dirty Donnie at the show and purchasing autographed book

  • Arcade Expo had rare machines including an uncensored Captain Fantastic backglass and an 8-Ball Deluxe with alphanumeric displays (only 10 made)

Notable Quotes

  • “Stern brought the price lower. Yeah, and then they confused people by, like, stealing marketing material from some other product and putting it on there like it was the Invisiglass, which confused the hell out of people.”

    Bruce Nightingale @ early in show — Highlights Stern's marketing misstep with their new Invisiglass product launch

  • “The whole game is KISS... The toy box. You haven't done anything original since... The toy box. Rules, rules, rules. He has not done anything original ever. Ever.”

    Bruce Nightingale (referring to Aerosmith designer Lyman) @ mid-show — Critical assessment of designer originality and creative borrowing from previous designs

  • “You're not going to say the programmer, are you? Of course I'm going to say the programmer. Come on.”

    Ron Hallett and Bruce Nightingale @ mid-show — Running joke about designer's repetitive design patterns

  • “If you see it as the total package that it is, I think the animations are excellent. I would actually, if I had the money right now, I'd go put an order in for one.”

    Bruce Nightingale @ mid-show — Positive overall assessment of Aerosmith despite initial criticism

  • “So he wins pin masters. He wins nationals. First winning either one is a very impressive thing, but then winning both in the same week is really like, wow, knock them out.”

    Ron Hallett @ early news segment — Celebrating Eric Stone's dual tournament victories

  • “I got a little more used to it where you can control a little bit, but compared to the regular Freedom or whatever you want to call it, I just – the prototype EM is the bottom flipper layout, which, of course, Timmy, me, and you all agree with, you don't fuck with the lower play field.”

    Ron Hallett @ mid-show arcade coverage — Discussing design philosophy about flipper placement and prototype flaws

  • “What they consider crowded, I wouldn't consider crowded at all. Oh, God, no.”

    Ron and Bruce — Characterizing Arcade Expo's attendance levels and crowd management

Entities

Ron HallettpersonBruce NightingalepersonStern PinballcompanyJersey Jack PinballcompanyPDIcompanyChicago Gaming CompanycompanyEric StonepersonZach SharppersonHelena Walkerperson

Signals

  • ?

    product_strategy: Stern introduced new Invisiglass at $239, significantly undercutting Jersey Jack ($299) and PDI ($319), signaling aggressive competitive pricing in aftermarket glass market

    high · Stern brought out some new Invisiglass and cheaper than the other two companies making Invisiglass

  • ?

    announcement: Attack from Mars remake officially announced with three distinct editions (Classic, Special/Premium, Limited Edition) and production/deposit details

    high · AFM Remake. There are three versions... pricing should come out next week... taking deposits on March 24th at 5 p.m. CST

  • ?

    product_concern: Aerosmith criticized for derivative design mechanics, with designer accused of repetitive reuse of previous game elements (KISS playfield concepts, lane guide patterns, multiball mechanics)

    high · The whole game is KISS... The toy box. You haven't done anything original ever... He has not done anything original since Nibbler

  • ?

    code_update: New code released for Aerosmith with couple of minor tweaks; multiple units of Aerosmith Pro model becoming available in local markets

    high · Aerosmith, new code came out... I know one person getting it locally

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Eric Stone won both Nationals and Pinmasters tournaments in same weekend in Texas, defeating Zach Sharp twice; Helena Walker won Women's Champion

    high · Eric Stone won the Nationals first. Then he won the Pinmasters... He beat Zach Sharp. Two times in a row

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.243

0:00
Why is there such a big fence, Dad? Well, millions of people come to America in search of a better life, and we've decided we don't need that many.
0:24
Coming to you from beautiful upstate New York, this is the Slam Tilt Podcast, a show about all things pinball. I'm Ron Hallett here with my co-host, Bruce Nightingale. Jeff Teolis, that was for you, man. Yep, see, I can play something different than Beavis and Butthead. It is possible. Yes, so that was for Jeff. He was nice enough to put me on his podcast. We talked about how Ron is kind of addicted to Beavis and Butthead, so he said, why don't you bring up Hank Hill? And so, Jeff, that one's for you. And Jeff's podcast is what? What is it called? Pinball Profile. Thank you. I don't have my phone in front of me. And Pinball Profile welcomes you to episode 35 of You to a Kill. My second favorite theme music. Ron. The Danny Bond movie. Yes. Yes, it is my second favorite song, actually.
1:20
And sorry to our listeners for Stella. Yeah, Stella kicked our ass last week. But we got pounded, which we'll talk about another kind of pounding later in the show. But yes. Yeah, we got. How much snow did you get, Ron?
1:37
Almost two feet. It was up there. I had 19 inches. So, you know, women live for 19 inches. I was just moving it around and pushing. I was just pushing 19 inches around. Oh, yes. That's wonderful. As you see, we're the same as ever. The week off has not changed anything. Yes. Well, things have changed. Things have changed. Like what?
2:02

high confidence · Ron and Bruce describing machines they saw at the show

@ late show

  • “People actually listen. And they actually came up to us. I met a couple from Arizona. They're like, oh, we're listening to your podcast on the way out here.”

    Ron Hallett @ late show — Demonstrating the podcast's listener reach and community connection

    • Dirty Donnie
    person
    Arcade Expoevent
    Lymanperson
    Jeff Teolisperson
    Aerosmithgame
    Attack from Marsgame
    IFPAorganization
    Dialed Ingame
    San Diego Pinball Cluborganization
    Aaron Nicholsperson
    Jayperson
    ?

    event_signal: Arcade Expo in Banning, California featured extensive classic machine collection organized by era, rare finds, vendor areas with food and parts vendors, IFPA tournament with 40+ participants, and relaxed California pinball show vibe

    high · they put them all in sections by era for the most part... they had a shit ton of games there... Arcade Expo had rare machines including an uncensored Captain Fantastic backglass and an 8-Ball Deluxe with alphanumeric displays (only 10 made)

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Initial skepticism about Aerosmith animations changed to positive appreciation after seeing machine in person at Arcade Expo, moving from dismissal to considering purchase

    medium · when they showed the video, everyone like, oh, they look like shit. If you see it as the total package that it is, I think the animations are excellent. I would actually, if I had the money right now, I'd go put an order in for one.

  • ?

    content_signal: Slam Tilt Podcast has established listener community extending to Arizona and San Diego areas, with listeners following podcast during travel to shows and engaging in person at events

    medium · I met a couple from Arizona. They're like, oh, we're listening to your podcast on the way out here. and we're going to listen to it on the way back.

  • ?

    design_innovation: Aerosmith introduces multiball cancellation mechanic allowing players to skip standard multiball in favor of pursuing six-ball multiball mode

    high · The ability to cancel multiball and go for, like, the six-ball multiball is cool. Nobody ever did that before.

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Aerosmith's center ramp significantly harder to hit than comparable KISS machine, increasing shot difficulty and skill requirements

    medium · the center ramp is a lot harder to hit than it was on Kiss. It's not like the easy shot from both flippers that it is on Kiss.

  • ?

    manufacturing_signal: Jersey Jack Pinball received first batch of Dialed-In playfields, indicating production progress on announced title

    high · Jersey Jack got his first batch of Dialed-In Playfields. So what else we got here?

  • ?

    collector_signal: Original Attack from Mars machines appearing on secondary market with asking prices around $3,000, potentially indicating price softening as remake becomes available

    medium · There's one guy selling one on pinball classifieds for $3,000... Prices are already dropping

    • Well, I've been off since Thursday night when we went out to Arcade Expo. I got to enjoy it accompanied by my podcast partner out in beautiful, sunny Southern California. But today, we got back last night. Actually, yesterday morning, Monday morning. We record on Tuesday nights, of course, guys. But Monday we got back, so I tried to catch up from my stuff. And then today, carpeting went in the whole house. 1,350 square feet of carpeting was put in. So I really didn't have a day off. And it looks great, I'm sure. It does. It does look really great.
    2:41
    Unfortunately, they screwed up one thing. The color. I have a cable coming in for the TV in the computer room, we call it. The computer TV watching room. Well, they must have cut the cable accidentally and didn't drill through the hole. So needless to say, I've got to rerun the cable wire and push it through the hole again. Push it through the hole. 19 inches. There's a definite theme coming. Yes, there is. Coming, yes. That will continue. Yes, it is. As we get into the show.
    3:10
    So, yeah, for our listeners, I put up on our – Actually, it's Ron's fault for not recording last week. Oh. I'm just going to lay that out right now. Because his snowblower couldn't take two feet. I just put my foot down. This podcast takes time. It takes time to make a sound so awesome. And I just didn't feel I had enough time because of the show. Yes. We missed you people. We really did. And what was I going to say? Oh, we have updated or I have updated the YouTube channel. We already have the footage from the expo. It's already up. With commentary. With commentary from not yours truly, but from the slam. Yes, I'd like to thank my company for allowing me the bandwidth to actually get those uploaded. Because if I tried to upload them, it'd be a day before they'd be up. And hopefully no one from the company is listening to this.
    4:10
    So are we going right to news? Let's go to news. Okay, first, get my notes out. I actually took notes this week. He's got a lot of notes, folks. I do have a lot of notes. Stern brought out some new Invisiglass and cheaper than the other two companies making Invisiglass is by Jersey Jack Pinball and what's the other company that's making glass? I forgot the name of them Oh, they got like initials or something It's PDI I think is kind of well, at least Pinball News said they were the best Yeah and the Jersey Jack's like right behind them and well, Stern's got to be tested We'll have to see Yes But Stern did do one thing. They brought the price lower.
    4:54
    Yeah, and then they confused people by, like, stealing marketing material from some other product and putting it on there like it was the Invisiglass, which confused the hell out of people. Then they had to change the picture. So don't do that, Stern. No. People are just too freaking smart. I mean, I'm sure if someone saw the picture, like, I've seen it before. It's out. It's $239 compared to $299 and $319, I think the prices are. But that, we don't know. I'm assuming since it's stirring glass, it's only regular standard glass. So if you want wide-body glass, I think you still have to go with the JJP stuff. But for regular glass, $60 difference could mean a little more parts in here. I'll be getting to see the Invisiglass in person. Yes, you will. According to Bruce, next year, yes, when I get my dialed in.
    5:44
    Hey, he got Playfields in, though. Yes, he did. Jersey Jack got his first batch of Dialed-In Playfields. So what else we got here? I'm trying to go through my notes. AFM Remake. There are three versions. It was unveiled at what show? Some show in – It was a pinball arcade amusement show in Texas.
    6:07
    And there's three versions of this. The classic, which is the closest to the original. I guess they call it premium.
    6:16
    And then they have the LE, which the LE is going to now be in two different colors. No pricing yet. Pricing should come out next week, but I actually got a private email. Oh, my. From George TK? No. So we'll get an email right now while we're waiting for my internet, which is actually a private email that says, This is to you, Bruce, only. Please do not disseminate this. Do not forward this email. It actually says in there. Do not forward this email, which I was laughing about. There is the Classic Edition, which is the closest thing to original. The Special Edition, which is a premium model with key features, which means the key features are there's backlit speaker panel area and a larger color DMD. It's wider.
    7:00
    And then there's an LE, which is an all-new feature set, only available in limited quantities. Originally, it said it was 1,500 is the count now. And they say now it's a limited edition. Originally, it came out green only. They're now going to offer another color, but they will be announced soon.
    7:18
    Different features. What is that? I'm just telling you. I think he went to the Jack, Jersey Jack pinball of we don't get to give you everything until. Yeah, we'll just be very vague at first, and then we'll give you a more specific matrix later. Yes, but there's supposed to be more information coming between today and the 26th with features, flyers, pricing, and picks. and they are taking deposits on March 24th at 5 p.m. CST, which is 6 p.m. Eastern. And if you need to go find an AFMR reseller, boy, that's going to be a fun one to say out loud a couple times over and over. AFM reseller, AFM reseller, AFM reseller. AFMR reseller. Oh, I'll forget that. Right. You failed. But there is no pricing yet. Hopefully this week we'll get it. What are your thoughts?
    8:09
    Hey, any pinball is good pinball. I agree. Especially Attack from Mars. Yes. Which one would you get if you were to get one? Would you get the normal classic edition with the feel exactly like the original? Or would you go with the special edition?
    8:24
    I wouldn't get any of them. I'd look for an original. Wow. So I'm still good for that trade. Good, good. Well, there's one guy selling one on pinball classifieds for $3,000. What? Attack from Mars. Yeah, I saw that one. See, prices are already dropping. Prices are already dropping. Oh, and the LE comes with a special topper also.
    8:45
    Flying saucer of some sort? Yeah, flying saucer with the alien in the middle. That's what I'm thinking. Yeah, it is. I see it right here. Oh, you see it? Okay. I see it.
    8:55
    Aerosmith, new code came out, and more people are getting the pros. I know one person getting it locally.
    9:02
    Hi, Neil. He's going to be getting it soon. So I get to open one up with him personally, and we got to play it at Arcade Expo. Do you want to talk about that now, or do you want to talk about that during our... Wait till we get to the show. Okie dokie, but I like it. It's playing really good, but there's a new code out. A couple little tweaks to it. We'll have our good and bad points about Aerosmith.
    9:26
    National, Women's Champion, and Pinmasters. All in one weekend down in Texas. Yep, Nationals, Women's Champion, and Pinmasters. Yep. The women's champion. Is she repeatable? I don't know, but Helena Walker.
    9:44
    It might be pronounced differently, the last name. She's European, but, I mean, she's the best women's player, has been for at least 10 or 15 years, regardless of what the ranking says. I mean, she won pop-up B Division one year. So that wasn't a surprise. Congratulations. Congratulations, and a big congratulations to Eric Stone. Eric Stone showed that he's got some big stones. He's got some big stones. And here's a funny story. He won the Nationals first.
    10:15
    Then he won the Pinmasters. I remember looking at that. It's like, it's the same guy? It's like, yeah, wow. He beat Zach Sharp. I know, Josh Sharp. No, it was Zach. It was Zach. Two times in a row, which is not an easy accomplishment.
    10:32
    You're talking, you know, he's moving on up. He's made himself now. He's got a bullseye on the back of his. And I will always be an Eric Stone fan. You know why? I know exactly. But tell the listeners. When I saw his picture, when I showed the picture, I was like, I've seen that guy before. And it dawned on me when he did the Ghostbusters or should I say the premium, the Stern premium game drawing that I won where I picked Ghostbusters. He's the one who picked my ticket.
    10:58
    He was the guest drawer, if you want to say. So how much did you pay him? So I owe him $6,065. Excellent. Well, he gets his own game also. And guess what he's picking? What is he picking? Ghostbusters.
    11:14
    Everyone's telling him to go Aerosmith, and he says he likes Ghostbusters. Yeah. So why don't you tell him you trade him?
    11:23
    Yeah, I'll trade him Ghostbusters for it. Get an Aerosmith Premium. Yep. If you're listening, get an Aerosmith Premium. We can trade. Yep. I would definitely go for, I'd be on board for that one too. Oh, I believe he lives in Florida, so that'd be an awful long. We can figure out a way. There's always a way. Yep. So he wins pin masters. He wins nationals. First winning either one is a very impressive thing, but then winning both in the same week is really like, wow, knock them out. Great job. Yeah. So congratulations to Eric. Yes. Very, very dual victories in my Ghostbusters pick. so uh you want to start talking about what we did this past weekend i know what you did this weekend sure i know we did last summer and this weekend yes we did me and bruce went to after several delays and many different developments and twists and turns and we finally made it there to arcade expo in banning california i got to deal with uh the way there probably one of the worst second worst turbulence on any plane flight I've ever had. That was a dream. My second flight, a guy right next to me had a diabetic coma or something. First they thought he was having a heart attack.
    12:42
    He was Korean, so he didn't speak English. So they had to have another guy translate. They had a couple other passengers who were in the medical field trying to help him. At first they thought he was having a heart attack, but then I guess he was a diabetic and forgot to take his medicine that day. Which probably wasn't a good idea. It's like perfect. No, not an issue. But what happened is, I mean, it was right across the aisle from me, so the medical, like one of the passengers ended up sitting in my seat, and I ended up sitting in his seat, which was like in the economy plus section with a much nicer, comfortable chair. So it worked out for me.
    13:17
    And he was all right. I had no problems. Of course, you never have any problems. Flew in, and Ron was waiting for me for three hours. Four hours. Yeah, and you told me to wait at the terminal, but they basically forced me to check in a luggage, so I had to go out and get it. Then I have no way of getting back in the airport or getting into the terminal area. Yeah. So I end up going to the international terminal because they had several restaurants there. Very, very nice terminal in LAX, the international terminal. So, yeah, I end up waiting four hours for Bruce to arrive. the star and once we got through all the groupies and the star studded you know fans and everything like that we i finally got the car rental car which we both hated we did i didn't like it because too low you didn't like it's too low i just said it was too low i see i thought it was comfortable but you hated the seats they're very uncomfortable they were more contoured do skinny asses like mine and not bruce's ass and not my fat ass yes exactly uh we drove out that night. Got to there around 11.30. How about that traffic?
    14:24
    I mean, it got lighter as we got closer, but man, that traffic sucks. Banning is about 20 minutes west of Palm Springs, so you have to go through all... LAX is almost right on the water, about five minutes away from the Pacific Ocean, and we had to go almost 185 miles through most of LA.
    14:46
    Shoot me. Yeah. Just shoot me. Yep. Well, we did. We got through there. By the time we got around the corner, we got there around 1130. Crashed next morning. I was up at normal time for me.
    14:59
    And we went to In-N-Out Burger. As our fans, if they were watching us on Facebook, we posted all weekend. And I posted the food of pinball champions, which is In-N-Out Burger. Very nice to go to In-N-Out Burger. Unfortunately, he didn't get to go to the other place. Tommy's. We missed Tommy's. And we missed Fry's. Fry's Electronics. Yes. Fry's Electronics. I actually wanted it. We were passing one, and I wanted to turn in, and Ron's like, you're going to be late. You're going to be late. I'm like, I don't care. I need to go to Fry's. And I really did need to go to Fry's because I'm running out of solder.
    15:37
    Hey, there's one in Dallas. You can go get me some solder when you're down at Texas Pimlips. Sure, if I get a rental car. Yeah. Which I'm not going to, but yeah. Get a taxi. Yeah.
    15:48
    Go to Fry's. Fry's rocks. Fry's Electronics is a radio shack on steroids from 30 years ago. 30 years ago, yeah. So that morning we – After fueling up. After fueling up, we went to the show. The show started at 2.30 Pacific time, which is 5.30 Eastern time. And the line was about five or ten minutes. We waited outside. We went actually – before the show started, We went to the vendor area. And the vendor area at this show, if you look at our pictures, and hopefully you did follow us on Facebook. And if you look at our YouTube video, which will clearly show the entire outside area, including that. Yes, the vendor areas are all outside in tents, including the shooting gallery area, the band area, and all the food for the place.
    16:37
    So we went out there and we played our first game of Aerosmith. Well, first we played Kiss. First we played Kiss, which I beat him on. Yes, after you walked away after ball two saying, like, yeah, when you're done, come back over, just assuming that you wouldn't have to play ball three. Because I was up $100 million almost on it. Yep, and I made him play ball three. And I lost anyway. You lost anyway. But you actually played Pabst Cancrusher also. Yep, that's true, the Pabst Cancrusher. Yep, which I beat him on, too. Whatever. You beat me most of the time, but we'll talk about that. Yeah.
    17:13
    Aerosmith. We played the super slow Aerosmith. Yes, we did. We played. They had two ones. One was raked up. One wasn't. We only got on the first one. Well, they were both raked up. This is before they brought, like, blocks in and put the back legs up on them because where it was, it was not level at all. But before they did that, it was literally slower than, like, a wood rail from the 30s or something. It was really, really slow. Yeah. So, needless to say, we played Aerosmith, and what were your first initial thoughts?
    17:46
    I try not to make initial thoughts on the first one we played, because it was just too slow. My initial thoughts weren't until we came back and played it again. Okay, and? I liked it.
    17:59
    What's your good about it? It was fun. I liked the whole toy box thing. The multiball start is cool. The ability to cancel multiball and go for, like, the six-ball multiball is cool. They finally found a good use for the arc from IJ4. Yes. Yeah, and the music is good. Yes, music was very good. Music is very good.
    18:21
    Animation's good. Yeah, the animations, that's one thing when they showed the video, everyone like, oh, they look like shit. If you see it as the total package that it is, I think the animations are excellent. I would actually, if I had the money right now, I'd go put an order in for one. But there's one flaw to it all. Oh, there's one flaw. What's the flaw? What do you think the flaw is? You know me so well. What is the one flaw in that game? You're not going to say the programmer, are you? Of course I'm going to say the programmer. Come on. He's got a good start on this one. What's wrong with it? Wait a sec. Okay, tell me one thing he did in original. Nothing is original. They're all the same stuff. Come on. Bullshit. All right. So whenever Lyman does one of his doublers and just does it a different way, it's original. No, I'm talking about canceling out the multiball. Nobody ever did that before. It's not a Mustang. That's what I'm saying. And let's just copy everything over. You have the front row is now your VIP, which is your ball save if you go over one of the outlanes.
    19:25
    You have your – that was from – that's from KISS. The whole game is KISS. No, it's not. The play field is Kiss. No, it's not. The play field is Kiss. I will say the center ramp is a lot harder to hit than it was on Kiss. It's not like the easy shot from both flippers that it is on Kiss. But there's nothing original. Make something original. The toy box. You haven't done anything original since... The toy box. Rules, rules, rules. He has not done anything original ever. Ever. He did Nibbler. That was a video game. Great, and what was that from? That was like the early 80s? a early 80, 80-81. So what does that tell you? That was an originality spark.
    20:07
    God Wow Yeah You so mean Mr Borg You didn get Borg on this one that much did you No I didn get avatared You didn't get avatared. As I like to say, even though it has the same exact. I call it Borg'd. Yeah.
    20:23
    It might as well. I mean, he uses that same lane guide. Yes, he does. Like every game now with the two lanes on the left. Yep. It's almost like they took KISS and like, well, how can we do this again and do it better? We'll take a pump over out. Yeah. We'll take a pop-up route. We'll put a toy box in. We'll take Gene's head out and put an elevator there.
    20:43
    And we'll make a kind of hard lock shot. Yeah, it will bounce. It is pretty tight getting it in there. Yes. And what I didn't realize, I guess there is like a skill shot to you. If you short plunge in the right area, you can actually get it to fall on the lock shot. Oh, yes, that's right. I proved that once too. Yes, that was true. Very true. Very, very true. I liked it. I liked it a lot. just come on Lonnie prove me wrong make one thing in the updated code original yeah and if he does you'll say it was someone else who did it it probably would be I'm in listening just so mean plus not only is the art by Dirty Donnie you actually get to meet Dirty Donnie because he was right there next to the machine I got to meet Dirty Donnie I bought when I bought his book he autographed it for me very cool he was selling uh posters and I got a t-shirt I got a cool baseball t-shirt from which I cannot wait to wear for our next league, which will be this Saturday.
    21:42
    And get to show off my Dirty Donnie baseball t-shirt. Freaking sweet. Very nice guy. Very down to earth. Very friendly. And I looked at the book today for a little bit. So after we had that fun. We went inside. And our drawers dropped. They did? My drawer dropped. Didn't yours? Maybe I'm jaded from Papa. and I've seen pictures of it before and I've been to Pacific Pinball Expo. Yeah, but... But I did like the... The thing I remember was walking around thinking, okay, where are the Classic Sterns at? I haven't seen one yet, so that must mean either they don't have many or they're all in the same section. And when he came around the corner, it was the latter. They were all in the same section. And I was sitting by one of them right then and there playing it. That made me smile. Ah, yeah, they have a shit ton of games there. Yes. Ridiculous amount of games. And they're all, they put them all in sections by era for the most part. And then they did a lot of cool things with, like they had a hard body and a BMX next to each other. So you can see the same play feel, a warlock and a blackout next to each other. They had some rare shit that, at least one of them that I've never seen before. A freedom and a freedom prototype. Freedom Prototype. They had an uncensored Captain Backglass, Captain Fantastic Backglass, which I've never seen one. Mystic? Oh, yeah. They had the Mystic with the actual 3D effect on the Backglass where it's actually recessed in the back. I had never seen one.
    23:19
    And they had the... The 8-Ball Deluxe? 8-Ball Deluxe with alphanumeric displays, which I'd only seen once before at Expo. They only made 10 of them. Yep. and they had that other, basically the early Sharky shootout, which was called something else. Yes, something else. Pinball, yeah. Yeah, which I'd never seen before. Yep, I only saw one of them and they only had it on, it was on eBay for sale. Yep. And what else? There was other stuff there. I mean, it was, oh, the nicest looking spirit I've ever seen. Yes, I agree. Zach would like that. See, there, mention Zach. There's our Zach. Like, do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do. Unfortunately, it was next to a black hole, which kind of tainted it, but, you know. Oh, and that whole row tainted it.
    24:00
    One of Bruce's favorite rows, yes, all Gatleaves. Bruce was there the entire show, I'm telling you. I got pictures on our Facebook feed of him playing Touchdown. He loved it. And wait a second, what did you think of Touchdown? It sucked. Thank you. Enough said. Don't worry, somebody offered me today a Royal Flush Deluxe for sale. Royal Flush Deluxe. Yeah. What the hell is that? It's from 1982. It's a... Made to look like an old game? Yeah. Ah, yes, because that works so well. And you know what you do with that game? You flush it.
    24:34
    Well, I'd say use it for parts, but since you hate all Gottliebs, I guess that wouldn't really help you out. But you could sell the parts for money. But you wouldn't get much from them. Yeah, we played Freedom Prototype. Oh, my God, Zach. And figured out why it's a prototype. And we know Zach doesn't listen to the podcast, but hey, Zach. Hey, Zach. It sucked.
    24:55
    He's going to listen to it Thursday because he's going to drive with me. It sucked. It does suck, Zach. Oh, my God. I mean, I got a little more used to it where you can control a little bit, but compared to the regular Freedom or whatever you want to call it, I just – Well, there's three versions. You have Solid State, you have EM, and then you have Prototype EM. And the prototype EM is the bottom flipper layout, which, of course, Timmy, me, and you all agree with, you don't fuck with the lower play field. You don't fuck with the flipper arrangement. It's actually like Spanish Eyes. If you guys have ever played a Spanish Eyes, there's a pop bumper right in between your flippers.
    25:37
    Yeah. And the shots are – you cannot hit the shots easily for any – you have two beautiful spinners sitting in that game. and since the flippers at a wrong angle you could barely hit the spinners major fail major fail major uh they had yeah they had everything by like era they also had a section of like all the foreign games most which were out of order because the foreign games and you probably can't get parts for any of them but they had zachariah they had uh yep some spanish spain ones. They had, of course,
    26:13
    Jolly Park and a couple others, but they had some other ones that Ron's never even seen, and they are in the video. Yeah. Plug the video. Go to the YouTube, the Slam Tilt YouTube page. Just search for Slam Tilt Podcast on YouTube, and you'll see it. I mean, it's a 30-minute video, so that most people's attention spans will not be that long, but you can fast-forward through it. I find if you go over 10 minutes, people start losing interest, unfortunately, but this is for our listeners, so I don't care. 30 minutes, the whole thing's on there. If you want to stop and pause it, you can come back to it later on.
    26:49
    Let's see, what else? I'm just thinking of the pinball area. Oh, they had the contact bowler? Yeah, they had a bowlerama. Of course they did. They had a bowlerama. They had, like, how many? One parts vendor? There was a couple parts vendors. Well, they had, what do they call it? Starship Fantasy, whatever, the ramp people. Marco, of course, was there. Yep, and then a couple of private guys. And then the food vendors. The food vendors, yep. We always liked food vendors. We always liked food, although it was kind of slow getting food. Yes, but the food ice cream was really kick-ass. They had so many flavors. So, of course, guess which flavor I got? Chocolate. Of course, because there are no other flavors in my world. Chocolate.
    27:34
    It was definitely a laid-back California vibe to the show. No, it was really nice. Very similar, like, if you've ever went to the old Pacific pinball shows, like that kind of vibe. It's very laid-back. What they consider crowded, I wouldn't consider crowded at all. Oh, God, no. The funny thing was, after we stayed there most of the Friday, it ended at 12, and I think we stayed until about 11 or 10.30. we went back to the hotel room and the next morning it's opened at 11 a.m so we had breakfast we went there we got there a little early because there was only 40 people that can sign up for the ifpa tournament pinball tournament so it's kind of like a mad rush and everyone in line is like oh it's gonna be so crowded today so crowded today the only place it was crowded was stern new and wpc land yep everything else i could walk up to almost any stern i wanted to any ballet I wanted to and play it. Or any Gottlieb you wanted to. That's all the time. Yeah.
    28:35
    Come on, there were some people playing Haunted House and Black Hole. And Spirit, if they knew what it was.
    28:41
    But Friday, before we jump into Saturday, Friday we got to play a couple of our fans. How did that go?
    28:51
    I'm going to get up the results right now. Get up the results on the Slamatron 5000. Yes, the Slamatron. This is Bruce Lee, the Gauntlet Down, and we had some takers. We did have two takers, which was really cool to see.
    29:06
    Here we go. Playing the Nightingale format. Yes, which was the best of five. They can play either of us or together. Oh, my. Which they both chose together. Yes. And we played... I'm trying to get... I'm waiting for my computer. Come on. Well, we played Jay. He was our second player. Our second opponent. Second opponent. And he took us to five games.
    29:30
    Yes, he did. But he had a Paragon shirt on. That's how we knew it was him. And Jay actually also ran the IFPA tournament and also the Split Flipper tournament and also the one-handed tournament for the whole weekend. So he was the tournament director for all the parts. And he had a Paragon shirt on. So I got to pick the fifth game. And guess what game I picked, boys and girls? Spirit. No. Oh. Paragon. Oh, Paragon. Of course. And guess what? We were successful in beating him in Paragon.
    30:03
    Love Paragon. Love Paragon, too. Unfortunately, I think it didn't break later on. It did break later on. Yeah. But we got it when we needed it. So that's all that matters.
    30:14
    And who was our first opponent, Bruce? Mr. Aaron Nichols. Nicholas, I will say. I'm going by names, and I suck in names, as everyone knows here. And he challenged us first, and we played him. He actually was one of the repair guys, one of the medics at the show. Well, they had technicians? Technician? Well, does it actually say medic on the shirt? It actually had a cross. All right. Like a medic! Medic!
    30:44
    And we took him 3-0. I like how you said that nice and silent. Yes. But he did play really well. Unfortunately, I got on Theater Magic and just crushed it. But we had a good time with him. We liked seeing our fans. Plus, we had a lot of people coming up to us at the show. We got to give a big shout-out to San Diego Pinball Club, a couple guys from there. They were listening to us on the way up to the show. Yeah, that's always weird for me. I know. It is, but it's cool. People actually listen. And they actually came up to us. I met a couple from Arizona. They're like, oh, we're listening to your podcast on the way out here. and we're going to listen to it on the way back. And I was like, oh, wow. So it's nice to see. Then they looked at you and said, what? You didn't post one this week? Losers. Yeah, losers.
    31:29
    It's Ron's fault. It's all Ron's fault. It's always Ron's fault. So that afternoon Saturday, there was a tournament.
    31:39
    So we're to Saturday now. We were in Saturday before, and I had to go back to Friday because I forgot that we played those guys. Saturday morning, we ran and signed up for the 40 people. Remember when I left this off last time? We signed up. We got there, 40th people. And it started at 1 o'clock, and it was a three-strikes tournament. And it was 44 people, actually. So how does that work? Three-strikes tournament? You play a group of four or a group of three. If you're in a group of four, the lowest two people get a strike. The top two people don't get a strike and move on to the next round. In a three-player group, the top two people don't get a strike. and the bottom person gets a strike. And when you end up with three strikes, you're out. You're out of here. And it's all automated. It's all like the games are automatically picked, the groups are automatically picked, et cetera, et cetera. Yep, until I get to a fucking crappy EM and it kicked my fucking ass. And no flippers at the end. It really didn't. But I digress. As usual. And I actually finished fifth. But unfortunately. Yeah, you finished. What did I finish, Bruce? Third or third? No, no, sixth. You finished sixth. No, no, I believe I finished third, Bruce. He did finish third. And he actually came home with some money. Yeah. Good money. At least over $120. And a cool medallion. Cool medallion.
    33:07
    So as usual, head to head, I would say you kicked my ass. Yes, I did. But when it really counted, once again, the cream rises to the top.
    33:18
    Silence? Yeah, yeah, whatever. Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. Whatever. When it comes head to head, I kick your ass every time. Yeah, that's why I always tell you, just pretend you're playing me in these groups. You would never lose. I know. I should just do that. Yep. So after that, we played Split Flipper together. That was, was that the same day or was that the next day? That was the same day. Oh, yeah, that's right. I keep forgetting. There was a lot of stuff that happened Saturday. Yep. We played Split Flipper. And what were you telling me before we went on the air? What's the tagline of this? Oh, yes. The tagline for the show, and this will be hopefully the title is. Well, I'm not making it the title. Come on. Yes, you are. No, I'm not. It will be in the summary. How about this? It will be in the summary. Me and Ron split-flippered an adult entertainer. No, you can say we split-figured a porn star. Yes, we did. We actually played split-flipper against a known pinball player who is actually in the adult entertainment. Yeah, the story behind this is... It's a long one, but we'll go into it. Well, at some point, this is like months ago. A year, almost a year ago. Bruce sends me this article he saw somewhere about... It was a pinball article, but it was about this porn star who's a pinhead. Mm-hmm. And her stage name is April O'Neil, as in... It's almost like an inside joke. I mean, it's the Teenage Mutants and Ninja Turtles reference. but that's what she uses for her stage name and when we're starting this Flipper tournament I see her and it's like I saw the article and it's like Bruce that's her I actually found the article it's an LA weekly it was from May 5th 2016 and Bruce is there like here's the title of it porn star April O'Neil just really wants to win a pinball trophy and um so i'm looking at it's like that's her and bruce is there that's not her and i'm there but when we looked at the names and they were just using first names on the uh whatever you could see like what what groups you were in sure enough her group april it's like she's using her stage name it's like that's her which uh we did confirm with the Terminator organizer the next day that that, in fact, yes, was the case.
    35:39
    So we ended up – We split-flippered her. Yeah, her and her boyfriend, I guess. Yes, I'm assuming. Assuming. And we lost. We lost. I'm freaking – what did we lose? Mustang. Mustang, yes. I'm split-flipper.
    35:54
    Boo. The funny thing is she was the pinhead. She was telling the boyfriend where to shoot because he didn't look like he had any idea. Yeah, he was lost. but uh yep they beat us they got multiball we didn't well their mustang their regular what is it called gear shift multiball we got the third gear we're ready but nope couldn't have shot nope fail fail so uh that night we stayed around for a little bit longer we stayed about it was open until 2am and we played some video games I played some space ace oh we figured out first yawn yes it is and we figured out what the voice is from Aerosmith.
    36:35
    Yes, we did. Most of you think the voice in Aerosmith is just the same voice as Metallica, but at a higher pitch, it's not. Nope. It's Dexter from Spaces. Hey, Kimmy.
    36:50
    Player one, you're up. Yeah, it's pretty bad. I actually like the goofy Jack in the Box character. Oh, God. That's the one thing I noticed. They've got to work on some of the timing on the animations. Yeah, they were awful at that. That wasn't programmer issues, was it? Stop. When you lock a ball, if there's already enough balls in the toy box, it'll give you a lock, but it'll have an animation of the jack-in-the-box getting hit in the head with a ball before he actually gets hit in the head. It's actually the animation after he gets hit. I think he's supposed to get hit in the head, and then they'll show the animation. of him like, you know, like Dizzy after he gets hit in the head. But instead, they were showing the animation before he gets hit. So the timing is a little off on that.
    37:40
    But yes, they had a very large video game section also, which this is a pinball podcast, so we won't get too much into that. But it was fairly impressive also with a lot of rare games in there. Dedicated Space Ace cabs. Yep. Dedicated Major Havoc cab. Yep.
    37:58
    Blaster Dormold. some European and Japanese games and just a really good collection, which you'll see all on the video from the podcast. Watch it, you won't see that because I didn't put that one on there because it's a pinball podcast. But if you want to see that one, you can go to my personal YouTube account, which is Gizmonic, G-I-Z-M-O-N-I-C. And all the same clips are up there, including the video game room.
    38:24
    See, good cheap plug for my other YouTube. I have a lot of subscribers on that one. I don't want to forget them. No, I didn't.
    38:33
    So, yeah, because we're old, we didn't stay too late on Saturday. Nope. I think we left at like 9.30. 9.30, 10 o'clock. We were pinballed out. Went back the next day. Yep. Second you on. Yep. Went back the next day early. It's open at 11 again. We did our video tour that morning, and then we signed up for the one-handed flipper. Now, I will say right off the bat, I suck at one-handed. You're not good at one-handed. Nope. You use two hands. I gain a stroke. Yes. He gains a stroke. He gains a stroke, yeah. Yes. So we played in that. I got in the top. I was in the top six. Because I remember it was a foursome and a twosome, and I was in the foursome and I lost. The thing is, like the single, the regular tournament that I finished third in, I had two strikes on me for at least five or six consecutive rounds. Yep. This one, I got the first, I did pretty good at the beginning, I got the first strike, then I got the second strike, then I had a fend-off elimination a couple of games, and then went down. The funny thing is, the guy who ended up knocking me out was a guy that I played in a one-handed tournament at Allentown like ten years ago. Yeah. Same guy. That was weird. Yes, it was. Because the guy's, like, from Sacramento. I was talking to him. So that means he went to Allentown. He was there for the show. So Ron did really good with that. I was so happy to be out of it. Wow, you're on three. He is piling them up. Yep, because it's already 9 o'clock. All that carpeting, all that carpeting just wore him out. I just moved all crap back in the house. That's why I was tired. So after that, we left at 4.30. Because we wanted to make sure we got back in time. Yeah, my flight was at 9, and we got stuck in a lot of traffic on the way back. It took us about 2 hours and 20 minutes to get back there. Then we had to return the car and then I bit up due to my buddy and I made it home I was actually at my house at 8 next morning Yeah, my first flight was delayed just with getting people on the plane, and then the second flight was also, actually, they got us all in the plane, and then there was maintenance issues, i.e. broken plane. That's always good when you're in the plane, like, oh, God. so then okay we're good now and I said like okay there's going to be another delay because we lost our spot you know our takeoff spot sure enough we ended up sitting on the tarmac for a while before we finally took off so I ended up being like an hour late yeah that wasn't that bad then nah not that bad and then you were back to work today weren't you yay and you get to go away again when well actually I'm going to be driving to Massachusetts again tomorrow morning to our backup site. Hopefully getting back before nighttime.
    41:26
    And then Friday I will be heading off to Texas. And we'll get a Texas pinball report. We'll get a Texas pinball report. Because I want to just play all my tournament entries quickly and get eliminated and move on. There you go. Good boy.
    41:39
    So I think that was a thought to the show. Excellent show. A lot of selection, but they do need to repair a little before they do. A little inconsistent with the repairs. What I think it is, number one, there's just too many games. Well, no. The thing is, you're charging – the admission is $120. $110. It was $120, I thought. It's $110. Okay. Well, $110, $120. Still a lot of money for three days of a show that most shows, you're bringing in games, right or wrong. So you don't know what your games you're going to be getting in or out. That is correct. So these guys knew what games they were going to have, and there were still a lot of broken ones. It depended on the era. It did. I just don't think they have enough, because I think most of them are just volunteers. They don't have anyone. It's not like Pop-Up where they have an actual dedicated tech crew where they're paying them. These are all volunteers, and I think you would find certain eras of games got more attention than other eras of games. Yes, yes. Like the Sterns were totally abused. Well, the old Sterns. Yes. And the EM guys, there were three EM guys that were running around doing a ton of stuff. But, you know, that was just a one little nag to me because I was paid so much money to, you know, like if they had no control of the games coming in, you couldn't fault them too much, but they had all control of the games. So that was a little bothersome to me. Enough worked for me. No, no, it did, but from the beginning. The only thing I would say, a little advice for next year is get a cheetah. Please, get a cheetah. That was like the one game that was, oh, man, I wish they had a cheetah here. I got to play a ton of Dragon Fist, though. Yes, you did. You took the fist well. I took the fist well. Yes. The Dragon Fist, baby. Yes. I want a Dragon Fist. We took pictures of, it's next to our want games, the Slam Tilt Want List. You were next to Quicksilver, of course. Yes, I was. which is right next to track and fist it's kind of funny yes it was let's go on to our next subject the aerosmith match play and stern party at rock fantasy because we have to talk about steve bowden yes he won the main tournament he did i believe uh greg pavarelli won the side tournament yeah the aerosmith section where you get to play aerosmith a lot and they had power all day they had power all day i believe the weather ended up being because there was talk of snowstorm and all I don't think that happened. No, it did not. They only had a flurry. That's all they had. Because I know when I got back from the 90-degree weather in California, it was like 45 degrees, and I thought it was a heat wave. Like, wow.
    44:19
    I mean, snow had actually melted around my house. It was pretty cool. A little bit of me, too. Yeah. It was even warmer today.
    44:26
    Yes, it was kind of nice today. Yes. But tomorrow is supposed to snow here again. Oh. Bum, bum, ba-dum. Duh.
    44:35
    Okay. So do you want to go to Tech Report or do you want to go right to the mail ball bag? I really haven't worked on anything. I worked on one thing. And what's that? I worked on Zach's big game. We ordered the light boards that Ron recommended to me, which is on most 80s sterns especially, they have these square blocks of aluminum with nine light boards, nine lights on each one. Yeah, and they also have light boards on other games like Nineball has one. And invariably, because their sockets suck, they go bad. But you can't just replace them like a regular socket because of the way it's constructed. So this gentleman replaced, made a light board that uses a 555 and the turn sockets like they have for the newer games. Or the pre-LED, like WPC games. Yeah, we have kids and stuff. And they worked really well. The instructions were pretty good. One thing I'm going to recommend to the guy, if he is listening, and hopefully he does since we are buying his product, which we should plug his website. So everyone whose products we buy should listen to this podcast. Of course. That's the way it should be. That's great. All right. What's wrong with that? I don't see your – what are you laughing for?
    45:55
    And his site is? I'm looking for it right now. You can see. That's how prepared I am. I think it's like pinballspareparts.com or something like that. It is pinballreplacementparts.com. And it worked great. The only thing I'm going to tell the guy to do is every wire for the light for each one is a 20-22 gauge wire, which is easy to solder on his little test point. For the common ground, it is two 14-gauge or 16-gauge wires. So there's two 14-gauge wires on the same little tab you have to solder to common on as the 24-inch gauge wire. It's 14-gauge? It's really thick. Probably like 18. No, it's really thick. When you see those blue wires on there, they're both blue. They're pretty thick. And trying to solder both wires on this little pad, the common pad area should be a little bit bigger. That's my only problem with them. Worked great. Did it about an hour and a half. Ease of use, I would say. Pretty easy if you're good with a soldering iron and just need a screwdriver and a little bit of patience. Just a little patience. Yeah. And they work excellent now. No flickering, no missing lights for 27 light bulbs. Which is kind of important because that's the whole game. It's the bigger cars. Yeah, and it's $53 with you get the sockets and the boards and shipping. So it's a pretty good deal. All right. So that's definitely my one repair I did for Mr. Zach. Yeah, I had nothing.
    47:26
    You suck. I suck. Okay, so mail ball bag. The slam ball bag. What do we got? We helped out one of our listeners who was asking about the solid state custom ROM for Bally Blackjack. With the random player and dealer value being right, we forwarded him the information he needed. Yes.
    47:48
    Let's go to the next one. Bow, bow, bow, bow, bow, bow, bow, bow, bow, bow, bow, bow. Actually heard that song there. Blade Spit talked it out. There was a guy who did a re-theme and they re-themed custom Knight Rider pinball. I want to see the birth certificate on that. Blade Split. Blade Split is his name. Blade Split. So is it one name or is his first name Blade and his last name Split? Blade Split. And his real name is Jason. Oh. But that's his email. That's what comes up first. Custom Knight Rider pinball on eBay. But he looked at it, so it was a cool machine. I saw it. It was okay. My wife would love it because she's a big Knight Rider freak. Well, did it have David Hasselhoff on it? It did. Excellent. It actually had David Hasselhoff as the evil Michael Knight with the little goatee beard. Well, he did have his evil brother. See, that's what I'm saying. He had the evil brother. That was on there, too. Who was blonde, if I recall. They just dyed his hair. No, he had a little goatee. A little like... I don't remember that for sure. I remember he was blonde. Yeah. And he enjoyed his Gottlieb beating. He picked up another one. A merry-go-round for his two-year-old son who loves cars. Very sad when you buy a DMD machine for less than $1,000.
    49:13
    That Gottmilk logo, but they Gottlieb. Yep. So that was pretty cool that he did talk about that. he sent us the link for it. Yeah. It was okay. I like the custom re-themes.
    49:28
    It sold. It did sell. Let me see. I actually didn't look at it. Let's see. Knight Rider. Does it have the actual... Okay. It's got the correct car. Yes, it does. It's got a Williams logo on it, so it looks like it was an actual game. Yep. I like that. See the brother to evil brother?
    49:47
    Oh, okay. What is it? It's Firepower 2? Yes. I actually sent someone an email I'm looking for the evil brother Oh god I don't remember him having a goatee like that A little flavor saver I don't know Because it looks like he's got dark hair I thought he was blonde in the show Nope Come on I'm Mr. 80's I usually don't get that kind of stuff wrong Alright on to the next Okay this one was from Steve He's been listening since the beginning episode. Thumbs up.
    50:24
    He really likes our takes on news, tournaments, and tech help. Keep it up. And he says the old tagline, oh my. So his question is to the male ball bag. See, he said it right.
    50:37
    Yeah, you're right. He just had a goatee. Yes. Damn. He looked like a 70s dude. He looked like the 70s porn guy. Yeah, he looks like a 70s porn guy.
    50:48
    All right. Obviously, I didn't watch enough episodes. No, you did not. I remember there was an evil kit version. Yes, there was. Do you remember what it was called?
    50:59
    Was it Cat or something? Car. Car, that was it. Car, yeah. Like K-A-R-R. That's right, yes. Real original, huh? Yes. Okay. So he asked about, do you think a game like Total Annihilation without rams could sell well in today's pinball world? I'm kind of getting tired of the Stern formula. Three pop-up burst, two rams, return to the flipper. I'd like to see a game like TNA with great rule sets and sound package and a unique layout to be a success. What do you think? Have you seen Tidal Annihilation? Yeah. I thought the sounds were awesome. The sounds were incredible. The light show was incredible. And it looks like something you'd play in 1985. Yes. Thank you. And there's nothing wrong with that? Nope. Nothing wrong at all. Will it sell? Yeah. Would there be a market for that kind of thing? Not to ops. It'd have to be home use only. and it had to be a price point which would not break the bank, which you're talking $3,500 to $3,700. Yeah, and it would probably only sell to collectors. Yes. Because, yeah, Nop ain't going to buy this. It would be like putting one of the Gottlieb Street games on location. Yes. It would be about as successful as that. That's why, I mean, like for a lot of pinheads, it would be like, oh, this is cool. But for your average consumer, they see that sitting next to, say, an Aerosmith. they're going to play the Aerosmith I agree but I liked it I thought the light show was great, the sounds were great I think it has a lot of potential will it sell many? most people, no some, yes I told you, what Stern needs to do is take that stupid Spider-Man 3rd edition rip that freaking thing out and put a god damn freaking you know So, you know, Stargazer playfield in there, put a freaking Dragonfist playfield in there, put all those old games in there, and you could sell a ton of them. Swappable playfields.
    52:52
    Oh, you mean with the smaller cabinet? Yep. Do it, Stern. Do it! He wants his Stargazer any way he can get it. Yes, god damn you. You want to start, you would buy a Dragonfist that way, wouldn't you? Yes. Well, it depends on the price point. It depends on the price point. Okay, if it was four grand. No. No, listen, listen. Yeah, I don't care if you can get other games. There's only so many I'd want. It still wouldn't be worth it for me. Okay, listen to this. $4,000 for the initial, and then $2,000 for each play field after that. Swap and play. No, I still wouldn't do it. I would do it in a second. Eh. Yes. Eh, I wouldn't do that.
    53:30
    Because guess what? For $8,000, I get three games. That would be brand new. Brand new. You can get a Dragon Fist. You can get a Stargazer. and you don't need a Stargazer, but a Dragonfist, you can do a Flight 2000, you have to do small bodies. But Dragonfist, for me, a Stargazer and a Sea Witch. Bang. No Cheetah. That just takes it off the table right there. Well, no, but you can go Widebody too, and you can do Flight 2000, Cheetah, and you can even go, what is the third one that has no upper play field? There's one more. What, Widebodies? Yeah. Well, the good ones are Big Game, Flight 2000, and Cheetah. Yeah, so you put those three. You're going to have the weaker ones like free fall and split second. Yeah, that's double field. That's upper and lower. Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry. Yeah. But do you see my point? You know, you could definitely, for three games, $8,000, boom. Boom. And Steve Bowden would be very happy because he would be like, I'd buy it. We have another email from someone who wishes to remain anonymous. He thinks it's stupid and immature. Bruce and Ron, the early years.
    54:42
    You are guys' first time meeting. You'll need to script it out. I don't need no script. We work without scripts here. Yes, we barely take notes as it is. Ron actually has a date. May 21st, 2005. Victor, New York. It would be Victor, New York. The day I first met Bruce Nightingale. And, and Chris Pucci. Probably. I believe he was at that first party. That was a point where you talk about no scene and dead. You know, at this point, I'm like really into it. And it's like, okay, what can I play around here? Nothing. Okay, so I go to, there's no Pinside or anything like that. There's no Facebook. So you have the news group.
    55:30
    And you have other groups. You have like Yahoo groups, which is what this one was. Yeah, the Yahoo groups. And that's how I found the date. It's still out there. but you just look for something, anything. And there was this Western New York Arcade Group, I believe it was called. It wasn't even pinbuss. It said Western New York Arcade Group. Which I actually ran. I ran, actually. It's still actually still there today. The Yahoo Group. And there was this Bruce Nightingale guy saying he was having a party at his house in Victor on Saturday, May 21, 2005. So, like, Rochester, how far away is that? Like three hours?
    56:09
    Yeah, sure, I'll do it. Because he saw the awesome list I had. So I drove over, and he had a nice sign in the door, so I knew it was at the right place. Little kid wants some candy? Yeah.
    56:23
    He wants some candy? Want some candy? Get your fat ass over here, boy. Get your sweet ass over here.
    56:32
    So I went downstairs. and I mean as far as like a gamer I'm like holy crap he's got like what was it 10 games I had 15 almost at that time 15 pinball games and he had a bunch of video games he had a Hyper Sports and a Track and Field and a Dragon's Lair and a Space Ace and two Mame Cabinets a vertical and a horizontal like holy shit this guy needs help and the first game I played was Black Knight 2000 it's like there was a sequel I'll have to play this well it slam tilted immediately then I play another game and it slam tilted again. So he came over to me and said, I think I broke it. Yeah, my first transaction with Bruce, your game's broken. And yeah, he had something leaning against the slam tilt switch inside the door. Yep.
    57:15
    And that's the, that's how it all began. That's fast. What was that? He saw how awesome I was. I could fix it so fast. Yes, he could fix it so fast. And then Mr. Bucci arrived and said, well, a champion pub. I've never played one of those before. And he played it, and every time he hit a certain switch, it would reset. Blow the fuse.
    57:36
    Oh, it blew the fuse. Okay. I thought it just reset every time. Or maybe it was blowing a fuse and you had replaced it once and then it happened again. Yeah, and it's those mini fuses because it's WPC-95 and I only had a couple of them and Mr. Bucci blew through all three of mine. So, that was the first time we met.
    57:54
    More on Bruce and Ron the early years in our next episode. Oh, yes. We have to figure out what was the first show we went together to. I can't even remember. It had to be California Extreme. Yeah, actually, it would have to be. It would have to be because that's the only show we have at the time.
    58:12
    We can tell them about Burlingame. That will be for the next episode. Okay, so we have a lot in the ball bag still. I'm still potent, ready to rock. Here we go. The ball bag is full. It's almost bursting. Yes. Jim says he's bringing a Bobby Orr power play to Texas Pinball Festival.
    58:33
    What settings do you suggest? So for Switch 31 and 32, replay mode. The only way to earn an extra ball is by completing the drop targets or extra ball mode. Extra balls can be earned by outlaying specials like a video game. Extra balls are not stacked or one extra ball per play. Or tournament setting, no extra balls, outlay and score 50,000. I say off-off. Yeah, I was going to say that, but since it's not in the tournament area, you might get some confusion if someone knows they earned an extra ball and they didn't get it. Off-off. No extra balls. Done. All right. No extra balls. And definitely have it on three ball. Yes.
    59:13
    I won't get on that rant. Oh, that was the other thing. At Arcade Expo, they had a lot of the early solid state games were on five ball. Yeah. Don't do that. Don't do that at all. Don't do that. Because in the end, you'll make more people happy with them on three ball just because more people get to play them. Yep. And if you get two assholes like me and Bruce on there who play like a Black Knight 2000 on five ball for an hour, you're going to be pissed at us because a lot of people like to play Black Knight 2000. So don't do that.
    59:45
    Okay, switch 22 on this, Bob. You're completing a bank target to drop resets. Only the four targets complete or wait for all eight targets to complete? I like the four. Yeah, and I really haven't – if you just go by the manual, what the recommended is, it's fine, and I would just turn the extra ball off, and you should be fine with that. I think outlane special from completing top saucer four times. I do. It alternates. Yeah, outlane alternates. I do. Roll over buttons on left and right score 1,000 or 100.
    60:17
    And bumper score 1,000 or 1,000 alternating. Alternating. There you go. So basically, he just went through the manual and picked the ultra-conservative settings for everything. Yeah. Well, except the completed targets. So now he has a challenge There you had some mercy You have now a challenger Challenge Oh yeah He goes at Texas Pinball Festival they showed that the Wizard Blocks will be there to play It might be there to play It won't play well. No, it won't. There's a reason it was not finished. Well, it's not finished. There's no code.
    60:50
    I mean, you'll have to play it. He'd like to play a friendly three-way. Oh, my. Unfortunately, I will not be there, but I will have Ron's father tag in for me. If he's around. He goes and does his own thing. If it's not available, you're going to play Bally Space Invaders. No!
    61:09
    Please, no. He does visit Syracuse every year after Pimble Expo, played at Bally Electra at the Convert Store there last year, enjoyed the structure format of the podcast, and all the references to life in New York, which there's barely any life in New York.
    61:23
    Wow. Please get with the progress of repairs and Stern Big Game. We are doing that, as we did earlier in the podcast. So after defending upstate New York constantly, you just basically took a heaping shit on it. Big dump. Yeah. Good job. Thank you. Anyone with the next one? There's another. Yes. There's more.
    61:45
    Oh, good day, lads. From our OC. Thanks for the invite on the last episode on, let's see. Oh, yeah. The Simpsons Pinball Party. Seems to be up and running again just by resetting all the cables. Hey. Yeah, now it's Homer actually moves. His homer head moves after each switch hit in the dull frenzy mode, which wasn't working before. See? Rescreening connectors is good.
    62:11
    It works on all kinds of models of games. It works on Williams, Belly, Stern. Don't go there. Do not go there. Don't go where?
    62:22
    I just said this works for all kinds of things. Except for? Except for what? Gottliebs. I'm never working on Gottliebs. Oh, it never works on Gottliebs? Oh, I'm sorry. well you hate Gottlieb so much it's unnatural and then he asked also a question about Total Annihilation which we already we answered we kind of answered like how much would you pay for it and I think you kind of said what you think it should be priced at yeah which was 35 to 37 just checking to see if you remembered your own stuff yep I do I think that's it no well that's it for the email. Yes, but now we have comments on our Facebook pages and one person commented saying, so Ron took third, huh? Yes. And so now it's your chance to rub it in on the next podcast. I did. I did. And got silence in reaction because there was no comeback.
    63:18
    Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. So they asked us also what we thought of Aerosmith and we both talked about. Derek thought it was essentially a hybrid of Metallica and KISS and it's great fun. Good chance he's picking up a pro model. I do agree with that. Oh, sorry. I didn't hear you. I was counting my money for the tournament. What was that again?
    63:43
    Oh, forget about it. You're too big for us. Okay. Yes, we like Aerosmith. Yes. Music is so much better than KISS. And Ron got to actually hear the Blackjack EM M sound. It's a buzzer.
    64:01
    Lame. Pretty bad. But I think that's all of the ball bag today. Yeah, I think that's all the Arcade Expo and the ball bag that anyone should be expected to take. Yes. Take it all, baby. Take it all. It fits the theme, yes. It does. So a couple things I have more to talk about. More? But wait, there's more? But wait, there's even more. Okay, what do we got? We talked about this on our trip. We have a new theme song. We have a new theme song? Yes.
    64:36
    Oh My My. You know, I never even asked you about this. Is that an actual song? Yes, it is an actual song. Is it by somebody like... Yes, it's very famous. Very famous. Famous as in like right now, some pop culture thing I would have no idea about? No, no, no. Okay. I mean, is it a recent song? No, it's not a recent song. Oh, okay. Oh, my, my. Ringo Starr.
    65:02
    It's by Ringo Starr. Yes, it is. Oh, my, my. Well, it says it's also an album by OneRepublic. So it looks like I'll have to search for Ringo Starr here. Oh, my, my. And you die. Okay. Oh My My by Ringo Starr. Okay. Let's get ourselves I expect you're going to hear this song at the end of this podcast now. Okay. Please, because you're going to have to listen to it and you're going to say There once was a boogie and it's a cute song but since we like the word oh my we should actually tell the people why we actually go a lot of oh my's. Would you like to tell that story? It's a George TK reference. Yes. but it really came famous because we went to California extreme one year with Jerry and Jerry is a Syracuse pinball collector that collects pinball sometimes. And it does other things other times, which he's now getting back into pinball. He's off and on, but, uh, we've got him starting to do the, Oh my. And so there he is walking through like California extreme drinking and going, Oh my, Oh my drinking heavily. I should add. He woke both of us up. Oh, Coming in our room like, oh, God.
    66:26
    Oh, my. Yes. So very funny. So that's why we always just now go, oh, my. And it's actually people are catching on. It's really a lot of people did say that the show. Of course. George CK is awesome. He does. He does rock. Oh, and he was at at least one pinball convention. So we have to actually now have the oh, my, my song at the end. after your... I can replace my... The thing at the end of the... The little ditty at the end of the show is just... It's actually a song from my... It's like an instrumental my band did, but we decided to use... The ending is the same as... That ending's been used in so many friggin' songs. Yeah. So that was like the joke. We would just end it. Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. you know so that's why it's there it's okay well we'll i'll have to hopefully we don't get anything pulled you know having copyrighted material on the podcast yeah well we kind of avoided that in the past well what am i saying i got beavis and butthead introing like exactly every freaking show yeah yeah you're you're right you're right sorry right again yes you you are right again.
    67:44
    Okay. Nothing on eBay except for one little ditty I found. Actually, two little ditties. So, we're doing our I'd Buy That? I'd Buy That. So, you've got to introduce the segment. We'd Buy That. We'd Buy That. Are you ready? I am not ready. Hold on. Okay, good. Keep up the good work. Well, I'm on a damn Ringo Starr thing. Oh, my, my. All right, go ahead. The ticket number is 282403117082.
    68:19
    This is in Illinois. And this is a Galaxy Stern. Yeah, 500 bucks. Project. Now, what exactly does project mean? Project does not work.
    68:33
    Two pictures only, unfortunately. Yay, two pictures. Yay. It doesn't look that bad. didn't take the glass off of course playfield actually doesn't look bad at all looks pretty good 500 bucks in illinois somebody should grab that puppy the only problem you're gonna have is the same one on every freaking galaxy i've ever played is that the in-lane plastics they get broken if you look at the pictures near the flippers you'll see i think it's on both sides but especially on one like there's a large gap between like where the the guide ends and the flipper starts, so the ball will get stuck there, unless you figure out some workaround. I agree. Unfortunately, almost every Galaxy I see has that issue. Must be just the way the flipper's hitting the plastic and knocking it off.
    69:20
    But yeah, looks pretty good. I mean, you can't tell without the lights on if the back glass is any good.
    69:26
    It looks okay. It looks pretty good. I'd definitely jump on that. And it's in California. It's in Chicago, Illinois, so it's close to its home. It's birthplace, if you will. The other one is a little pricey, but we're talking rarity.
    69:42
    All right. Ticket number 152-466-914-761. I get zero results. 152. Yeah, try it again. 152-466-914-761. Yep, that's exactly what I typed in. I get nothing. Star Wars Empire Strikes Back pinball machine. It's going to be about $5,500 Australian or $4,291. $4,200.
    70:22
    Yes. But this is a rare game. And it's in Australia. So Ryan C., go get it. Hopefully you're a Star Wars fan.
    70:31
    Otherwise there's probably no other reason to get it. I agree. But it is a rare game. Yes, it is. Technically the first Star Wars game, really. There's one more up there. This is one you don't want to buy. Oh, okay. We wouldn't buy that. All right. Yes. Ticket number 302-253-691-393.
    70:58
    Oh, Muhammad Ali Pinball Machine. Why wouldn't you want to buy a Muhammad Ali Pinball Machine? Why aren't you looking at it? You're not looking at it properly. Please look at it. I'm looking at it, and the price is high. Yes, okay. Oh, so you want me to actually look at the – let's see. Machine powers up, but scoring computer board missing.
    71:17
    Wait, how come the lights are on? Because it powers up. It just lights up. The CPU does not need to be even hooked in the machine for the GI light to come on.
    71:28
    So $2,000 for a non-working old Stern game. You got it. With a shipping flat rate of $700. Yes. Wow. Sign me up. See, so now you know why you would not buy this.
    71:43
    Yeah, that's kind of high priced there. Structurally great, though. Yes. Missing scoring computer board. Maybe this means it's missing a display. Nope, it's missing the CPU. It's in the pictures.
    71:57
    Where in the pictures? I'm looking at, oh, there's more. Okay, hold on. There's always more. This guy gave you a lot of pictures. He did. So, see? Positive. Oh, my. Yes. The CPU board is completely missing. So, you need an all-tech board. Well, you have to ask yourself, why is it missing? Yeah, of course. Did it take a big battery dump? And if it did, did it dump all over the lamp board like my big game did and ruin it? Or did they just need a board for a real game instead of this shitty term? Oh, boo!
    72:29
    By J. The truth. Playfield actually looks pretty good. It looks okay. There's a couple of weird spots. Well, look at it. It's got all original documentation. It's got the original scorecards.
    72:39
    But, yeah, the price is too high for that. Yes, so that's why we would not buy this. Yeah. I mean, it looks nice. Yeah. For maybe $500 to $700 or something, maybe I'd buy it. Yeah. But not at that price, no. Let's see. Where is it located? Oh, I said it. Sorry. Pennsylvania.
    72:58
    Yeah. All right. Oh my mom Can you boogie Can you jive Yes truly the most talented Of the band Don't forget I wrote the song Yes we'll put it right up on the Frigerator There is one more Game on my list But I'm not going to release it yet because I would Actually like to buy this and I don't want you bastards trying to take it From me Oh, really? Yeah. I'll have to get that from you after the show so I can bid against you. You do, and I smack your hand.
    73:37
    Oh, ow. You're here first. But, yeah. Other than that, I think that's all for a good show. I think that's it. Oh. On an action-packed show. Yes. The Arcade Expo. The Arcade Expo post-show spectacular. Yes. So don't forget, Ron is going to be at Texas, so find him, challenge him.
    74:00
    I just picture you walking in like, you! I want you now! I want you, I want you! And he pulls out a list like, these are all the games he said he hated. I'm going to pick every one of these. And they'll pick all these games. Algar! Yeah, I love Algar. Yeah, Keith Elwin says it sucks. Yeah. There you go. But he's like, he likes Torpedo Run. Torpedo Alley. I liked it. No, it is so, the rules are so fucked up on that thing, it's not even funny. If they took out the spinners, besides not being fun more, the scoring is so whacked out, it's not even funny.
    74:40
    I guess that means Lonnie Rott must have programmed that, right? He must have. Of course he did. Let's go look. Oh, no, no. No, you just opened up Pandora's box.
    74:50
    Appropriates, since we're talking about Aerosmith. Yes. Let's go. Torpedo Alley. It's a good game, folks. Don't listen to him. Actually, some of the early games are good. Torpedo Alley. I guess it is Lonnie.
    75:06
    Wow. He invented the in-lane to spinner shot. See? Oh, he is terrible. Opinions are expressed by Bruce or not those of other members of the podcast.
    75:21
    Unnatural hatred of a pro game. So, well, it's still, I like it. I also like Secret Service. Secret Service is also a good game. Some of their earlier games were actually quite good. Yes. I actually liked the game until you hit the spinner. Then the score just goes. I love it. See, I totally love that. That's the Alien Star method, I call it. You go through the end lane and you get, like, a lit spinner and crush it. Oh, actually, that's used in a lot of games. That's not really... But, yeah, basically, whoever was able to get the in-lane and hit the spinner won the game. Yes. So, unfortunately, I was unable to do that my last game. That's where I got eliminated, I believe. Well, that one-handed, I got eliminated on that game. But the pinball game you were talking about before, Golden Q, was the one we were talking about that you'd never seen before from Stern, which was actually Sega. And it became Sharky Shootout. Yes. And actually, the artwork on Golden Q is great. Not some goofy, freaking corny players. And they only did make 10. Well, you'd realize Jeanette Lee was an actual player. Yeah, I know. And you know the girl, Kelly Packard, was actually a cast member from Baywatch. The one they had on Golden Cube. Yeah, they had her on Golden Cube, yeah. Yep. So that was the Arcade Expo post-show spectacular. Yes, showing that Lonnie Robb still should not make rules for him, oh, shame. Don't listen to him, folks. Don't listen to him. He's got hate in his heart. It's not hate. It's truth.
    76:53
    And if you want to comment on his hate, you can send your emails to slamtillpodcast at gmail.com. Please do. You watch. Most people will agree with me. See upcoming shows?
    77:05
    Upcoming shows. There's actually a tournament this Thursday at the Syracuse comic book store. I forget what they call it this time.
    77:15
    The next one, actually, the name is pretty cool. You'll like the next one, too. Pinheads? What is his name? Syracuse Pinheads.
    77:25
    Pinheads? This month's show is called March Your Way to Pinball. More entertaining than shoveling out your car.
    77:35
    And the new game he's pulling out is Time Warp. Hopefully he takes the banana flippers off it. I hope so, too. And then you'll be at the Texas Pinball Festival. this weekend. Yes, I will. Playing tournament really fast because they have limited amount of... Yeah, I think it's 20 entries, something like that. 20 entries per eight games or nine games or something like that. Yeah, and you have to play at least so many of a certain era or something like that. Yeah. And don't forget Pinball Lifters, www.pinballlifter.com. Check out my site. Check out all my stuff. We will be going to Allentown this year. You're on four.
    78:15
    You'll be... And come see us at the booth. Say hi. Don't forget we're going to have an autograph session at the booth with Ron and myself. Okay. Just let me know when that is. Yep. The 15 minutes of fame we'll have. It'll be 15 minutes of autographs because it'll be so down. It'll be so packed. I mean, the games will be free. They will be. Because so many people will be getting our autographs. Yes. So come on down to Allentown. Yes, come on down. And again, you can reach us at slamtiltpodcast at gmail.com. Check out our YouTube channel. Just posted some fresh new content from the Arcade Expo show. Just search for Slam Tilt Podcast. Also, check us out on Facebook. Again, search for Slam Tilt Podcast. This has been episode 35 of You to a Kill. We didn't really talk much about the movie. What do you think of the movie? I actually like it. Is it Roger Moore's last one? Yes, where he looks like 80 years old. And Tonya Roberts just says, James, James, James, the whole movie. Yeah, because she's trying to get him up. James, get it up. Come on, James.
    79:18
    Christopher Walken's good. but he's always good. So it was good. He deserved a better Bond movie. Yes, he did. I agree. Although it did have one of the great lines. Who else wants to drop out?
    79:29
    Love that line. Oh, and Drago's in it. Drago. Look for a pre-Rocky for Drago as one of the Russian agent, of course. I will break you. I must break you. So that was episode 35 of You Do a Kill. Hey, what was the theme song for this weekend? What do you mean the theme song for this weekend? What was the theme song from this past weekend? You've already forgotten. I've already forgotten. Yes, I have. I had a tiger. You lost it, man. Oh, I had a tiger, yes. But when we were waiting to go to the show, they had Rocky Marathon going. Rocky 3 was on. Yes. And even with commercials, I couldn't stop watching. I know. It just, it still holds my attention all these years later. Mr. T is awesome. Yes, he is. Pity the fool. Come on, Creed. Damn, that was good. Okay, we really need to get out of here. Say goodbye, Bruce. Goodbye, Orin Day.