Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Welcome to the second annual Pinball Industry Awards. I'm David Dennis, host of Silver Ball Chronicles, a pinball history podcast on the Pinball Network. I'm also a member of the PIA Governing Committee. Tonight, we recognize those creators of the Silver Ball who showcased exemplary work in 2021. And this year we're doing something a little bit different, where I am presenting the coveted Crystal Trophy. Trophy. Did it work? I think we got it. Trophy? Are you serious? What, I finally get to do something important on this damn network, and you two egomaniacs take over again? Like, this is... You know what, Greg Bone? Jurassic Park sucks. Hey, we're in. I'm sorry, David Dennis. Look, this is what we do. This is a pinball award show, and we are the original hosts of the pinball award show. Kind of our thing. We had to do it. It's our baby. So sit back, relax, and enjoy. I think there's only one good way, perfect way, to start this show off, Greg. You know what to do. Let's kick this shit. Live from somewhere in Indiana. Tonight, we celebrate the pinball accomplishments of 2021. The Pinball Network presents the second annual Pinball Industry Award. Introducing your hosts for the evening, Pinball's favorite wankers, Greg Bone and Zach Minney. Hey, we're happy to be back. This is Greg, my name is Zach, and we're here to present to you the 2021 Pinball Industry Awards. The second Pinball Industry Awards. Oh, yeah. We did it last year. I miss these people. I do, too. Oh, except for that one. I didn't miss you. I don't think I have any. I also miss, I'm glad that the team is back together. Yes. Because there's no better. No. The Miss Announcer Lady, we love you. She's been with us since the beginning. You boys sure do know how to make a paid voiceover artist blush. And looking dapper yet again this year. That was nice. She's not wrong. That was nice. Nice of her. Before we begin this whole thing, I've got, this is house cleaning, right? I've got to do something real fast. We're going to do some thank yous. Right now, I want to thank, let's just start with you. How's it going? I want to thank you. Thanks for tuning in. Thanks for the ongoing support, not of only Greg or myself or Flip N Out Pinball or straight down the middle. Just thanks. Yes. Thanks for hanging out. Thanks for loving Pinball. I also want to thank our sponsors, Trophy Depot. Oh, Trophy Depot, the freaking awesomest crystals in the world. Where do all the crystals come from? I also want to thank Flip N Out Pinball for supplying the studio here. Yes. The Flip N Out Pinball Studio Oh boy Located in Southern California Somewhere in Indian And then we also want to thank the pinball The pinball network We've got to thank the pinball network They're the ones that throw this whole thing We didn't do much this year besides this ceremony You just kind of took over everything They're big this year They've got all kinds of streamers and podcasters and everything Nicely done That thing could not be done without each and every one of your help Also the game creators the manufacturers, the people who actually design these things, whether it's code or the layout or the animation, you name it. Even the people on the line that are hammering. Do they still use hammers on lines? I'm sure they got a hammer. Maybe a rubber mallet. I also want to thank the Pinball Industry Awards Governance Committee. There's a select people that made sure that this thing, the rules were legit, the voting is legit, and everything is up to par. So I want to thank those people. Is there anybody else I want to thank besides your mom? Oh! It's not a straight down the middle production without a mom joke! It is early. Okay, so here's how this thing's going to work. I'm going to try to get through this fast so that we can enjoy the show. Yes. We're going to give away all types of awards tonight. One of them is going to be a game award. I thought we were giving away prizes. I got excited. You win a banner. You win a train of thought. No, we're going to give away game awards. What does that mean, Greg? I'll see if he knows. Game awards. What do you mean? Game awards. Like best layout. the best layout. Yeah. The best art. Oh, you want me to name them all? No, I'm just saying, what are they, Greg? All right, so we're going to give away best in shows, the big one. Yes. That's the Grand Poobah. Yeah. That's going to be the big one. That's not it. You like best sound. I know why. Jerry. Jerry don't win. I'm kicking over the podium, kicking the camera over. Might be a short show. We're going to give some of those. You guys see the crystals. We're going to give away those. Also, Excellence Awards. What are Excellence Awards, Greg? It's like your podcaster. photography yes it's the people that create the people that create we create because we love really I mean it all comes down to that so we got the excellence awards there is a new category in the excellence awards new category excellence and pinball social media social media is a big thing now that has a lot of influence just like a video or just like a podcast or a stream social media has a lot of influence positivity, amount of content that's given to the people. So there's a lot of social media providers in pinball. So the Pinball Industry Awards thought, why don't we add that category? It was kind of like an all-around award. I like it. Now, these winners were voted upon by pre-vetted media judging panels. So what does that mean? Basically, we take media members, personalities, people who do podcasts or who write, who photograph. Yeah. They're eligible to become judges for these award ceremonies. The committee then goes through and makes sure they're legit and they're really providers and they know what they're talking about. Right. It's not your mailman. Yes. They know what they're talking about. So they vote for the game awards. This year we changed up a little bit, though. Remember last year? It was just TPN voting on those excellent awards. Oh, yes. This year, Greg, all of these media providers can vote. Which I like. It makes it more fair, right? Yes, yep. What I love about it, though, we've come to find out there was more non-TPN voting judges, then there was TPN members. So this truly is a good representation of what people want to honor and recognize. Well, and they were very much asked to be very unbiased, to actually look at the games for what they are. Not your favorite, not what you feel, but really look at it and dive into which was what we did last year with TPN members, but this year opening up to the media, the same criteria applied. Yeah, there's other awards out there, but this is more like a Critics Choice or an Expert Choice Award to recognize. We also We had it last year. People loved it. It's where you vote. You vote for what's going to be inducted into the Pinball Machine Hall of Fame. I like that category. Remember Meteor last year? Wizard of Oz. Lord of the Rings. We're going to see who gets in in 2021. There may be a little surprise or two there. I will say that much. So we're honoring the new and old on that. Also, we have one more new category here. So we've got the old, the new. We've got the excellence awards, the media people. We've got the game awards. we're going to be giving away what we're calling the Harry Williams Pinball Legacy Award. What is that, Greg? Is that an all-around lifetime achievement? Lifetime achievement. He was going to say. He was going to get there, I promise. So we're going to recognize it's basically the Crystal's version of a lifetime achievement award. Recognizing somebody whose career spans and really changed this industry immensely. Which I think is honestly one of the most important awards of the evening. Oh, really? Yeah, people have called for it for a long time. Everybody's wanted that lifetime achievement. And I'm kind of curious about who made that. We'll talk about it later. I can tell you the person I voted for didn't win. Maybe next year. Maybe. I want to know who won. Maybe next year. Why don't you know? A heck of a year, 2021. We got through 2020. We thought that was going to be the year of doom. But 2021 hit us right in the face, too. It did. We had a lot of good things, though. We did. A lot of games came out. Yeah, Stern released a lot of games. Multimorphic released a few games. We'll see those tonight, yeah, absolutely. Spooky Pinball 2-for-1 deal. Oh, the 2-for. Yes. 2-for-1, I got one of those. We were just playing that. And we saw another game come out from American Pinball. We did. But what about Chicago Gaming? Yeah, we had some things. Haggis, Chicago Gaming. Jersey Jack. We didn't see anything from Jersey Jack. Our precious Jersey Jack. But again, just like you said, there was some things that happened. Parts delays. There's things that... Parts shortage. It's out of our control, out of their hands. Everything is on a boat. It's like, oh, we're delaying Mandalorian. It's on a boat. But we can't get enough GNR. It's on a boat. Things are flipping out. The van would float. There's only one way to drive. Drive out to that boat. We'll pick games up our damn house. Fill us the ass down there. For me, Greg, 2021 was the year of FOMO. Fear of missing out. I get it. Man, the prices. Prices are nuts on FOMO machines right now. You can find used games that are more expensive than brand new games. I know. It's the same thing. Inventory's low because of the price. People are. They won't wait. Nope. Fear of missing out. Fear of F-O, missing out, FOMO, year of, yo-fo, yo-fomo. Yo-fomo! Just make sure to keep them in that order, fellas. Yeah. You've got to be careful. I see what you did. Things will get mixed up. I see what you did. So we had a lot of ups, but we did have some downs. We were still getting through the pandemic. Competitive fimbol. Still trying to kind of peek out of the cave that it was in with people getting together and everything. We've seen a lot more leagues, people in their bar caves, their local arcades. 2022 is going to be good for that. It's a lot better. We had some, not to bring it up, we had some losses, too. Some really, really important people that you guys can think of that we lost this year. One in particular, one individual that disrupts everything moving forward, in my opinion. Someone who literally changed the face of pinball. Changed pinball as we know it. And I think especially as league players or homeowners of pins, that that's where you saw his biggest change and his biggest contribution to the pinball industry and the pinball world. I'm just thinking right now, the most iconic pinball machines of all time. You've got things like Medieval Madness, Attack from Mars, Batman 66, Walking Dead, my favorite game and they all have one thing in common they're all the greats and they're all coded and programmed by a leader, by a friend by a partner it was Lyman Sheets we lost Lyman Sheets pretty drastically we had something prepping for this prepping for this we had some things planned and then this happened and it stopped us in our tracks. I can't imagine what pinball is going to be like moving forward without this person just because he brought so much innovation in what everybody knows as pinball. It was him. It was a line machine. But not only that, all of the great people that he worked with, all the friends that he had in this community, all the people that he touched, that's another way it's going to be different. not seeing this man at the tournaments playing that unforgettable, unbelievable stance. You know, you saw Lyman coming from a mile away. You couldn't miss him. You couldn't miss him. He was quiet. He kept to himself. I was blessed, Greg, too. We did a little work with Lyman a couple months ago, and that was the first time he and I have been able to really meet me. And I remember telling you, I was like, for some reason, man, I didn't know what Lama was going to be like. Yeah. It just clicked. Yeah. Like, there's something about it that just clicked. We got each other. So, I could be sad about not having any future time with him or growing that friendship, but I'm blessed to have that moment with him, as I'm sure many of you can have those great memories. We can't say enough about this guy. So, we wanted to put together a piece for you all as a remembrance to honor one of pinball's greatest ambassadors, one of pinball's greatest creators, and one of pinball's greatest friends, Lyman Sheets. Congratulations on winning the world championship. How old are you to begin with? 26. Now, is this all you do, or do you have a real life? No, I have a real life. I'm a software engineer. All right. Lyman Sheets is the world champion for the Professional Amateur Pinball Association. He'll defend his crown next week in the international championships here in New York. Lemon, good morning. Good morning. How does one become a pinball champion, a pinball wizard? Lots of practice, dedication, a good level of concentration. Yeah. This isn't a sport, right? Yeah, actually, it is a sport. There is a select group of people who take it very seriously and consider it a sport. And then the thing that hooked me was I saw a couple guys when I was in college play 8-ball and they, you know, they won like 12 or 15 credits on it, just played it one time, and then they had to run off to class, and so I was like, oh, okay, and then I played the game, and, you know, probably played it on 12 or 15 credits, and I don't know, five, ten minutes, yeah, something like that, but in that process I understood what the appeal was, was, at least maybe not to them, but to me, and how I got kind of hooked on football after that. Each one, each game that I've worked on has been a big part of my life, probably at least a year of my life, and there are relationships and experiences and all parts of my life in each one of those. and it's, I mean, I guess in the end it is just a game, but it's also a learning process. But yeah, each one of those games are something that I take away from several things. Good experiences with people, working with people, all the memories from working on games, and then even just coming here, watching people play and get enjoyment out of it. That's the biggest reward for all. My name is Fly Machines. I'm a pinball, well, I mean, I'm a software engineer, but I've been working in pinball, programming pinball machines. Wow, for almost 30 years. While working on this, I get involved way more than I feel like, ah, he makes rules. It's not. It's about story and engaging the player at an emotional level. And that job becomes a job that I can do this job and I'm going to do this job well. Is that? Uh-oh. Just edit all the ums and likes. That's cool. That'll be okay. Yeah. I'm going to get you as a hangout. Arlon, you're fantastic. That was a hell of a man. He was. Thank you for everything, Lyman. Thanks, Lyman. Let's jump over now. Let's start the show out with reminding people what games came out in 2021. A lot of them. There was a lot of games. A lot of them. So let's do a little roundup now and show you guys what all games are eligible for a crystal tonight. The 2021 game nominees are Godzilla by Stern Pinball Halloween by Spooky Pinball This isn't a guide to him Ah! Jurassic Park The Sims by Stern Pinball Led Zeppelin by Stern Pinball. Legends of Valhalla by American Pinball. Shoot and Scoop by Multimorphic. Silver Falls by Multimorphic Sorcerer's Apprentice by Multimorphic. The Mandalorian by Stern Pinball. Ultraman by Spooky Pinball Wait, no Puny Factory? A few unique games in there. Yeah, some funky ones in there. Yeah, different this year. Hey, look, I've got three or four of those games. Do you have them all? Collect them all. Buy, buy, buy. Absolutely. Let's come to the awards, Greg. What are we going to give away first? We're going to give away a crystal four. We're going to do a game, a media member. What do you want to give? We're coming out strong. Something that is one of the most important things on any pinball machine, And that is the art. Then again, it's the same thing we did last year. But, hey, we're coming down with the best art for the back glass in the cabinet. Who do you think is going to win that one? There's a lot of good art. Packer had a couple. He had one. Packer had Godzilla. We had old Martinez on Mandalorian. The Ellie Mandalorian back glass. That Ellie Mandalorian is a little fantastic. A lot of people like the Ultraman, that kaiju animation. Halloween. If I'm allowed to say it, am I allowed to say my favorite? Yeah, why not? Halloween. I love it. I think you got my vote. It's really, really good. It's going to be hard to pick up. But we're going to show you the top nominees for the 2021 Pinball Industry Awards Best Art, Backglass, and Cabinet. Best Cabinet and Backglass Art. Godzilla by Stern Pinball The Mandalorian by Stern Pinball Ultraman by Spooky Pinball Ultraman by Spooky Pinball Well, there you have it. Great. Audience, were they worthy of the top nominees? I think so. Three fantastic artists. Jeremy Packer (Zombie Yeti)'s always in these top art categories. He's crazy. He's like the Steven King of art. The Steven King of art. Cranking it out. Cranking it out. That really fits. Also, we had Randy Martinez. Ooh. Randy. Strong showing. Strong showing. Beautiful. Let's have Randy do some more artwork in pinball. Oh, he's going to work him. And then the renowned Matt Frank that did the artwork for Ultraman Kaiju Rumble. Thank you, Matt. Fantastic. Did you like that? That was a bright, nice package. It fit. It did. It fit. Who's going to win this thing? Let's drum roll. Anticipation. Oh, the crystal for best art. Backglass. Backglass. And Captain Ghost, too. Godzilla. Zombie Yeti. Oh, he wins again. Doesn't he already have a couple crystals? I think it's the third crystal. But does he like it? Jeremy. What? Congrats. Love it. Oh, next time I see him, he's going to rest his head on my breast. And I don't care what color green. His face. A little too green. He's still gorgeous. The Haters Yeti. Yeah? Okay. Oh, wow. A little strong. She's coming in hot there. I hope she wasn't talking about me. No. No joke. All right. So that was Best Art Cabinet Backlight. I want to give away another art award. Let's give another crystal away. Keep it with the art. It's fine. Stick them with art. Is Jeremy Packer (Zombie Yeti) going to win another one? This one, Greg, is for the play field art. And I like the separation because play field can drastically differ from your back glass and your play field. I like this category. But plus, when they do these packages, they kind of do them cabinets separate from play field. Yes. I don't know which order they do it, but who's going to win this one? A lot of dynamic ones again. I still think it's going to kind of come down to those usual suspects. Like Halloween, I like the cabinet back last morning. Oh, yeah. The play field doesn't really do it a lot for me on that. Yeah, I know who's not going to win. Multimorphic. How about that? Oh, no. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you. But your nominees for Best Play Field Art are Best Playfield Art Godzilla by Stern Pinball The Mandalorian by Stern Pinball Ultraman by Spooky Pinball Ultraman by Spooky Pinball Well, I think I know what's going to happen here. I think I know what's going to happen. What do we got, Greg? for best art on the play field. Hachu, Hachu, Caju. What the hell was that? It was a late night infomercial. And the winner for best play field art goes to no other than... Is he going to win another one? Oh, yeah. The beginning. Jeremy Packer (Zombie Yeti). Not to do not. Not an entire package. You know, we talked there that there is a separation, and there is. I really like the play field thing. But this was fantastic. I really like the zinnias in the middle there. Yes. And Godzilla whipping his tail there. Love it. Yeah, it looks good. Color composition. Do we have any more art category we're going to give away? Well, technically, I guess technically another form of art is photography. It is. Photography. So why don't we give away the first Excellence Award tonight. Excellence in Pinball Photography. What do you say? I like it. The Pinball Industry Excellence Awards, showcasing exceptional pinball media creation. Excellence in pinball photography. Math Arcade. Orange Photography Orange Photography We're going a little bit different here. A little bit different. The voters had a concentrated focus this year. Usually we would get like three top nominees, four or five maybe. The concentrated efforts are just two. Now, there was, I will let you guys know, a lot of votes overall. We had over 50, 60 votes from this judging panel. So we did get votes, of course, for people like Christian Larson, the FTA, people like Charles Costa with pinball photos. Won it last year. Won the crystal last year. But this year, these two kind of rose above the top. And I've got to say, NAP Arcade. Yeah, it's coming around. Last year, that was really surprising. So let's see between Orange Photography and NAP Arcade, who's going to bring home the excellence crystal tonight for photography. Who do we got, Greg? Your excellence in pinball photography. Holy crap. Whoa! Naff Arcade! Jason Naff! Wow! That's kind of an underdog. I'm not going to lie. I don't know if anybody thinks of Jason as like a full-blown photographer. No, it's more like a social media blog. But when you look at his photos, you know that it's a Naff Arcade. Like when I see photos and they're still me, I'm like, oh, that's Naff. Before I even look at the name, I know it's a Nat photo. I'm so happy for you. Oh, dude. He's a great ambassador. That is awesome. Congratulations. Voters. Look at the voters. Coming out strong. Congratulations. I will say, one of the things that was a little bit different this year, I wasn't part of that committee, but I oversee some of this stuff. What they did this year was a little bit different. Last year, there was a meeting, a discussion piece focused around who deserves it, who's going to do this, who's going to do an open vote here. This time, the media judges, they had to simply write it in. Yeah. So it's not like you knew that I was voting for Knapp verbally. They just wrote it in. You didn't have somebody to persuade you or to talk you in or out of something. You literally went with what you felt personally as a voter. Yes. So even more recognition and more objectivity there. Nicely done, Knapp. Nicely done. Congratulations. So what's next? Let's see what's next. Oh, man. A little music. You got a little boot scoop and boogie. You don't listen to country. Yeah. Do you really? I line dance with the best of them. Oh, man, I get made fun of singing a little Tennessee Whiskey. Oh, we know about the Tennessee Whiskey. I go old school with Randy Travis. Man, we, oh, my gosh, we lost people, but I love that Randy Travis. Like, you see Randy Travis drunk as hell, naked, walking down the street getting a DUI. Man. What happened, Randy? What happened? Don't tank the girl. Right? Digging up bones. Digging up bones. That's what I like to do. Oh, this is what people hate, Greg. This is what people hate. Just talk about pinball, damn it. You know we're going to have a lot of people in the comments section. These two think they're really funny, don't they? I guarantee. You're going to have one dingleberry, I swear to you. He's going to put it in there. He's going to put the time stamp. When the awards actually start. Starts at 13.15. Best music was at 10.14. There's always that guy. Always that guy. Let's hope it's not Dennis Creasel. Best music. We've talked about it. We like that. Oh, I love that. A big focus this year on music because we have the likes of a band, Led Zeppelin. Yes. We have Blue Oyster Cult. And Godzilla. Yeah. And we even got, who doesn't love the music of Halloween? Oh. Composition. I love it. I love it. So let's see the top nominees, Greg, for this year's best music. Best Music And your winner for best... I gotta stop myself. Because you do remember me saying that if Jerry Thompson did not win this, that this show might come to a quick end, an abrupt halt. I guess Jerry did do Godzilla. Jerry did do Godzilla. What do you mean? I guess Jerry did do Godzilla. Jerry did do Godzilla. Look, Godzilla's going to win it. Let's not joke ourselves. I know it's a kind of faux pas to tell you all who the winners are, but it's an award show. Let's keep it real. Godzilla's going to clean house tonight. We'll see. He's going to clean house. And your winner for best music is... What is it? Look at that! Yes! Yes! That's that one. You still got it. I mean, Jerry. I love Jerry, but you're going up against him. You can't go up against him. No stairway? Fail. She's right. She is right. There is a point. That's kind of a fair stairway there. There's a couple Led Zeppelin. You like Led Zeppelin? Makes me maybe read tracks. Because if Jerry was in... No. In between your Randy tracks, Spotify, listen to Led Zeppelin. Oh, man. I thought Mandalorian had a good chance, too, there. I like the composition in Mandalorian there. All right, let's stick with sound. Right? Yes. We had our music. We did. What comes else with sound? A little sound effects. Ooh. Let's kick over to the top nominees for sound effects. You spinner rips. What was that one? Cardi B. Cardi B. Best sound effects. All right, Greg, so sound effects. Oh, very important. Very important. Jerry's on there a couple times, but keep in mind, we also have an extra nominee on there as well. It's not just three this time. It's four. And why that is is because there was a pair that they tied. They tied. I'm not going to say which one it was. It wasn't the winner. But they tied, so we wanted to recognize that. Yeah. Deserve it. Mandalorian. Godzilla. Halloween. Halloween. I like the Halloween sound. Some Halloween. Who's going to win? Who's going to win best sound effects? The winner. for best sound effects. Do you want me to do it? The crystal goes to Jerry Thompson. It is Jerry Thompson with the Godzilla. I was going to say, Jerry Thompson saved the show. I was going to kick that camera over. Saved the show, Jerry. We need to hang out with Jeer. I do. I want to go. Maybe he's a TPS. It might be. I hope he's a TPS. What about Northwest? Let's go to Northwest. I want to go to Northwest. You guys want to go to Northwest and bowl with us? Got some good food, some Pinot Noir. I'm not sure what he's up to. All right, let's stick with the sound. Sounds are important. We've got our music. Yeah. We've got our sound effects. Yeah. We're missing something. Call outs. Oh, jeez. We're missing call outs. I'm not missing them so much. Let's see your top nominees for this year's 2021 Pinball Industry Award Crystal for Best Call Out. Best Call Out. Reports are coming in that Godzilla may be making his way to another city. Godzilla has entered Tokyo Bay. Behind those dark eyes lies nothing but death. All in vain. Give that another try. Come back when you need more work. A lot of good call-outs this year. A lot of good. You're looking around the auditorium slash game room. A lot of good call-outs. There was. Carl Carl Weathers. Who didn't love Carl Carl Weathers? Love Carl Carl Weathers. You know what? I kind of wish they'd have snuck a few Predator call-outs in there. That's right. A little special mode. I think Carl wins this one. But, hey, we also had Halloween. Honestly, I know it gets kind of, I'm glad it made the top three. Because it got some hate when it came out. I love it. What did I tell you tonight? You did. And I was like, that's why you're my best friend. I like the call. I'm actually, I'm not mad at all. So, very deserving. Welcome to Benton. I just, the blood. The blood. It brings you in. I'm not mad. I'm not either. That was my personal pick. And we have Godzilla call out. Shoot the wamp. A little Brooklyn flair in Godzilla. Sorry, I didn't have that. So, let's see who's going to win this year's Crystal for call outs. And you're winning. It's going to go to anybody, really. The winner, the best call-out, Leroy Jenkins. Leroy. Oh, my God. Oh, who's the winner, Greg? Your winner is The Wham! Oh, yes! Let's do it. Congratulations. That's a great call-out. That's fun stuff, man. That was good. And I like on the, kind of on the speech on that game, you can choose Japanese at the beginning. Yeah, how can you? It's Godzilla. That's cool. Nice little innovation there. Last night I was trying to script this all, organize everything and outline everything because, you know, I'm the customer professional. You know what I was doing last night? I do know you. Six Miller Lights Deep. That's right. Is that all? Just a minute. I believe in it. We're going to jump into, I'm talking about writing. Writing. Right? Now, I'm trying to think. You've got websites, articles that are written about pinball. A lot of important stuff for us to read. Some of you like to read. I'm a reader. That's why we do a video show. But a lot of writers in the world of pinball, literary works of art. Absolutely. Dennis Krieger wasn't in it this year, I don't think. I don't think he wrote any articles, Lovey. Den, den. He's too busy. Kept him busy. I did keep him busy. Let's go to see who the top vote givers from the judging panel were for Excellence in Pinball Writing. Excellence in Pinball Writing. Nap Arcade. This Week in Pinball. Oh, the Writers Guild. Isn't there a Writers Guild or something? There's a Writers Guild. I have a Screen Actors Guild. This time we only had, again, a concentrated effort by the judges. They seemed two that really stuck out. Got this week in pinball, Jeff Patterson and Will Oding. Yeah, Jeff hasn't been doing much this year. But TWIP is like, it's a recognized thing. They've been doing it forever. Get the deep dots. Love the deep dots. And you have, again, Jamp Arcade. That's really something. You're cutting it up. Wow. Namp's getting ready to be a force. He's going to be a force. I'm feeling it. He's been doing the blogs and stuff. I like it. Let's see if he can create the upset here. Who's going to win? And your winner for excellence in pinball writing. Who's going to get it? Newman Ducky to the guild. Oh. The Crystal goes to... This Week in Pinball! Twists did it! Willow Eddie, nicely done, guys. Just play that Crystal proud. Woo-hoo! All right. Next one is lighting. Lights, camera, action, baby. We need good lighting. I'm trying to think. Did Dwight do it? He did. Mandalorian. Gotta have those Dwight shows. You never know that one, do you? I struggle with that, too. Oh, he's used up. I do, too. Personal hygiene. Yes, everybody. I don't know about a deuce coupe. Best lighting effects this year. Let's see our top nominees for best lighting. Best lighting effect. Godzilla by Stern Pinball. Led Zeppelin by Stern Pinball. The Mandalorian by Stan Pinball. So, this one was a little exciting. Because one of them may have had a little unfair advantage. Because they had a slight little innovation. Well, yeah, but look at GNR last year. It took a home. I'm not angry. I'm not angry. I'm not mad either, but it's the Stern Show here in lighting effects. I still love my Dwight. I still love my Dwight. I think he's going to win it here. Led Zeppelin? Absolutely. Godzilla. Godzilla's just going to win everything. Open it up. Show them it's Godzilla. Come on. You think it's Godzilla? I honestly think they're going to win everything, yes. They just do. And the crystal for best lighting effects go to... Jeremy Packard. No, you were a loser, Zach. Oh, Zeppelin. Zeppelin, Ray Day and Sidney Austin. Good job, guys. Fresh and light, baby. I like this fresh and light. Did you get fresh and light in the new Rush pinball machine by Stern Pinball? I did. You can purchase those now at flippingoutpinball.com. Did you know that? Three-order news. Chill. Three-order news. Chill. You were playing it the other day. It was sweet, isn't it? Bye, bye, bye. All right. I like Chuck Ernst. I do like him. I'm just going to put it out there. I like Chuck Ernst. He does a lot of good. He runs the animations and display over his term pinball. Does he? And runs a good team. Does he? Runs a tight ship. Right. Right. Big Elvis fan. Well. He does. I didn't know that. Yeah. Big Elvis fan. You didn't know that? No. I didn't know that, too. Look, me and these people have relationships. You're just drunk. No, no. It was awesome. Best animations, display, and effects. Anything stick in your mind? I did like the cut sequences of Mandalorian. I did, too. Even the Halloween. I like when films are up on that screen. And I know it's kind of cheating, but give me those movies. I like that kind of stuff. Godzilla I wasn't overly wild about. Okay. That was all composed, I think. Yeah, it was okay. I mean, when you're talking display, multi-morphic, all these games use the whole play-tel as the display. They can't win best art. Talk about an unfair advantage. I think they're going to win this one. I mean, this is them. So let's jump over to see what your nominees are for best display, effects, and animation. best animation display and effects Godzilla by Stern Pinball Sorcerer's Apprentice by Multimorphic The Mandalorian by Stern Pinball. And the award for best animation displays. Let me open the thing. I want to open one. And your reward for best animation display and effects goes to... Oh, I just ripped the whole envelope. Let me do it better. I'm sorry. There it is. Chalk it up, baby. Godzilla! Winner, winner, chicken dinner. Oh, man. Winner, winner, lizard dinner. Lizard dinner. Would you eat a lizard? I don't know. Well, you think you're a little tough like a jerky? Well, I'm hungry. While you're listening to Randy Travis? Stuck in the desert with Randy. Drunk. Drunk. How do you eat a lizard? Run away from police. How do you eat a lizard? You're hard on Randy tonight. I love Randy. Excellence in social media. Are you a penfluencer? I am. Yeah. Do you like that name? Yeah, I'll take it. Penfluencer. Excellence in pinball social media. I think we run a pretty good social media efforts over on Straight Down the Middle. Do pretty good. Yeah, I think so. Flip N Out Pinball does pretty good. Flip N Out Pinball does pretty good. TPN does really well. TPN does very well. Good representation. I cross my feet quite a bit on social media. Do you hide the feature? Why is there no TikTokers? Don't give that away. TikTok. Let's see if we have a big TikTok presence here on your top nominees for social media. Excellence in pinball social media. Fun with Bonet. Nap Arcade Pinball Degenerate The Pinball Network Oh, a lot of wonderful people there. The Pinball Network is there. I knew it. They were. Big present. I love the pinball degenerates. Joe Cervino and the crew up there. I thought you just meant general. That's a broad spectrum. That's me. I could be in there. We had some good nap again. Is Nav turning into the Keith Elwin of media here? What is going on? And, of course, the tried, the true, the one that's been around, the lovely Steven Bowden. What's fun with bonus? He's my favorite pinball player ever. Ever? Ever. He's over at AP now. Let's see what he creates. Actually, he's doing sales. He'll create something. He'll make something. All right, Greg, let's see. We got four people. Yes. We had four people. Again, the tie. Your new category of excellence in pinball social media goes to... What have we got? Oh. Two winners. We have two. Okay. Wonderful. It means that there is a tie. That's what that means, that there was a tie. Who won it? Nap Arcade and Steven Bowden! Oh, so well-deserved. I love that. Bowden is great. Steven Bowden is a saint. I love Steve. He's a saint. Steve has a unique sense of humor that I enjoy. Yeah, I like it. He's witty. He's dry. Very dry. genius. He had to shield all of the hate that was coming his way over the group. God bless that man. At least he's in a better place now. Better place. And Napa is in a really good place. He's taking home two crystals tonight. That's a good show. Napa's just kind of that hidden figure in the ball that you looked at, you saw his photos. He's slaying it this year. Good job. He's slaying it. Let's see what he brings next year. Let's see what on with bonus brings next year. You think it'll bring some innovation when it comes to social media? I think so. This award will spark their drive. Absolutely. And speaking of innovation, if you want to take notes on how to be a good host, just go ahead. Your top nominees for Best Involvement Innovation. How to be funny and good looking. How to be likable. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. The R. Best Innovation. Godzilla by Stan Pinball. Godzilla by Stan Pinball. Halloween by Spooks Pinball. Sorcerer's Apprentice by Multimorphing. We can't talk innovation without talking Multimorphing. I mean, come on. It's true. Look, Jerry has like the top innovations. He's got a freaking LCD screen. He's got friggin' laser beams on the side of the rails that can track balls in real time. The award for best pinball innovation goes to... Go, go, go, Godzilla! Yeah, that makes sense. That really does make sense. Congratulations. I mean, look at what they have in there. They've got a building that destroys down and then the balls come out. With multiple levels that affect gameplay. The bridge, for my part. The bridge. Just like we bring still the little horseshoe magnet thing. The horseshoe. Yeah, I like that little tummy grab. That make a Godzilla. Tummy grab is better. We should not be hosting these awards. We've kept it very clean. We did. We've kept it very, very straight. We haven't had a Demogorgon joke about your mom quite yet. Maybe that was the tummy grab. That was my chance, Grape Bone. That was my chance. All right. Let's shift from best innovation over to something that is near and dear to us. It's something we've been doing for, can you realize, it's been like four years we've been doing videography and YouTube videos and pinball videos. That's a long time, man. Has it only been four years? I think like five. Five, that's what I was thinking. Here's a day fixed, we're in. Woo! Our opinion matters. A lot of good pinball videos, a lot of new pinball creators out there, too. A lot of new video creators. Gotta take our place, boys. It's an award or no award. Zach and Greg. All right, let's see who your top nominees were for Best Videography. Excellence in Pinball Videography. Abe Smith. Nudging Part 2. Wicked Chimmy. If the ball is about to drain in an outland you have a very small time frame in which you might be able to save the ball by shaking the machine from side to side The earlier you start your shimmy the more likely you will save the ball Make sure to take a safe stance. As the ball reaches the outlane, start to vibrate from side to side. You will have a hard time keeping the ball in play. Don't stop until the job is done. Emoto Arcade We are at Midwest Gaming Classic, one of the largest trade shows in Wisconsin, where people of all walks of gaming life come to celebrate their hobbies together under one roof. Now let's take a look at the player list. All of these players hail from the Chicagoland area. They've battled each other so many times, and let me tell you now, there are some fierce rivalries going on here tonight. He would kill me if I was in here. Straight down the middle. Look. You've got to give him something bigger. You've got to complete the collection. And we know Greg Bone ain't going to buy this himself. So, Merry Christmas, Greg. Oh my God! Oh, listen, listen, listen. This is nuts. 40 seconds, we got a big jam, a walk-out here, a bull shooting son of a gun. Yeah, he's big and dumb. Welcome to Texas and the Spring Blue. And your winner for excellence in pinball videography goes to... Straight down the middle! Zach! Nice. Nice, don't you? He doesn't have to call you to check phone. some good stuff that we were able to create this year, exciting we knocked out some Cactus Canyon video short order, fantastic loved it some B plus reviews I get knocked on that still all the time thank you committee for the vote of confidence and you know what, I will tell you this it's one of those things that it's always special to win an award especially when you are our viewers watch us and you vote for us and we win something. But for other respected people in the media to vote for you. Our peers. Our peers. To be voted upon by our peers. That does mean a lot. Especially being a creator. That does mean the world. Thank you so much. The voting judges there. Yes. Moda Harney, our girl. Man, fantastic. She took the winner last year. Very much deserved. Deserved. Good thing slow-mo guys weren't here. They won another one last year. Well, look at the new guy. New young buck. Enjoy your win, guys, because you're getting older. And Abe Flips keeps getting more handsome. I was thinking I just wasn't going to say it. A little jealousy there, Abe Flips. Abe's a good-looking guy. He is. He really... He ain't no Lincoln. He reminds me of a young John Stamos. See that nudge video he did? Made me question things. Speaking of questions, there's going to be a lot of questions as to who you voted into this year's Pinball Machine Hall of Fame. We had some good ones last year. Let's see if they didn't botch this thing and elect to have the wrong ones in. We'll review. We'll review. We'll tell them how they did. So, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the Pinball Industry Awards Pinball Machine Hall of Fame. Honoring the best from every era. Your voices were heard, your votes were tallied, and now we reveal the class of 2021 inductees. This is the Pinball Machine Hall of Fame. Okay, last year, Greg, inducted into the Pinball Machine Hall of Fame for Electro-Mechanical was Grand Prix. Yes. You're a Grand Prix fan. Everybody loves Grand Prix. I want to know, because EMs are tough. There are so many EMs. What do you vote for? Well, they did. And they came up with a decision. The top vote getter that you guys have inducted into the Pinball Machine Hall of Fame for Electromechanical is... Jungle Queen by Gottlieb. She's beautiful. She lives in the wild. She is the Jungle Queen. Oh, man. I've never played that one. I've never played Jungle Queen. They're in a lot of tournaments. I see a lot of... It is a... I don't know EMs. I don't know. Joe Garza. He's a pro. Maybe I wouldn't have played it. Sorry. Yeah, I know. I just don't like fixing them. So I'm sorry. But Jungle Queen, God, please. Hey, I know you're out of business, damn it. But congratulations on being on the list. Do you? Yeah. Well, great. We're friends. Nightmare on Elm Street. All right, let's jump into a little bit closer to before we were born, Greg. still not when we were born, but the 1970s. 1970s. Let's see who you guys inducted into the 70s era in the Pinball Machine Hall of Fame. Harlem Globetrotters on tour by Bally. Gorga by Williams. There you go, ladies and gentlemen. You get a two for one here. The same amount of votes. So we're inducting both of them as Harlem Globetrotters by Ballot and Gorgar by Williams. Everybody likes Gorgar. I feel like most of you know that. Owned a Gorgar at some point. That to me when we started was like an entry level thing. It was. Absolutely. That's what everybody owned. I mean, you could get one for a thousand or under. Yeah. So that was kind of a go-to game. Man. And a Harlem Globetrotters. Who doesn't love Harlem Globetrotters? I do. Do you know I'm going here in a couple days to go see the Harlem Clips? No, they just came down in Louisville and I wanted to come. I've never been. I always wanted to go as a kid. You never went? I've never gone. I always wanted to go as a kid. I couldn't go. I'm going to take you to the Harlem Clips. It was hard to afford those $10 tickets. It was $10 or a box of macaroni. I went to the macaroni, Zach. Went to the macaroni. Poor Ms. Bone, your mom was too busy taking care of me. I charged her a little more than $10. the box up. So, congratulations to Harlem Bill Trotters. 1980s, finally, we were born in the 80s. We were born in 889? I'm going to go with 89s when I was born. Somebody at home just spit up their beer. Last year, 1980s era, it was 8-Ball Deluxe. Quit talking sir chocolate. Wasn't all 8-Ball being thrown around in the 80s. Hell yeah. Keep it real with the times, folks. Oh, man. Wow. And it kind of explains why this particular machine was inducted and why it was so popular because it is a trip. Centaur by Bally. You kind of have to be high to be designing the art on Centaur. Gee, boy. Insane. Okay. It's a beautiful game. It is. It's a fun game. You know, as a known, like, so far, I am pleasantly pleased It's what everybody's doing. Like, it's very well designed. It's centaur. These people know. If they're going to take time to vote in this thing, they know what they're talking about. Completely agree. Pinball. My favorite era, because that's when I grew up, is the 90s. Yes, that's the games that got us into pinball. Yes, we need more 90s themes, though. Does 90s stop me? I need it all. I just want it all back. 1990s is a tough one, though. That's the golden. The golden era. It's your DMVs. It's what we think of as kind of more of a modern pinball. Do you not agree? I totally agree. Last year, in the 90s, we had medieval madness, of course. Do we get Attack from Mars this year, the follow-up? Let's take a look. Twilight Zone by Dali. Another year, another Popeye snub. Just as iconic, Twilight Zone. Look at that. A wide body. Absolutely. Absolutely a wide body into the Pinball Machine Hall of Fame. Nicely done voting public out there. But who ever speaks ill of Twilight Zone? Nobody. Plenty of people. Oh. There's plenty of people. I love it. Yeah. Think of, what is it, Wayson. I think Wayson up in Stern lost his mind once. I guess somebody said they love Twilight Zone. It's like their favorite. This is the moment that Wayson Dunn stopped watching. Not much for that. We've got Pat Lawler in here. We've got Pat Lawler in the show. Hey, but it's still deserving. It is iconic. It is a very solid effort. That oozes nostalgia. So many shots in that game. Hidden shots. Like, that's probably my... And Pauly. Isn't that one of our names? Pauly with the extra ball? I don't know. 2000s, this is when you were... I can't even get the joke out. It's probably not worth saying this. It's probably hurtful. It may be. I can just see you in high school right now. Skipping school. Under the bleachers. touching yourself with a little mustache, you get a cold beer. You just see it. Little gray bones. You absolutely could not be further from my high school. Really? Like, yes. Oh, my God, yeah. I was sitting at my white melamine desk. Melamine, however you say it. You know what I'm talking about. That's why you were a nerd. With my clip-on lamp drawing. Clip-on lamp? Yeah, it clicked onto my desk. Did you have a trace board? No, it wasn't a trace board. I drew my own shit, man. I had a trace board. I was on par to be the next Jeremy Packer (Zombie Yeti). Really? Ooh, this shit's too red. So, Greg? I can critique your work soon. Just because I'm a fellow artist. Better go into sales and real estate. Let's take a look. Who'd you guys induct into 2000, last year of Lord of the Rings? This year, it is... The Simpsons Pinball Party by John Pinball. There's Keith P. Johnson there. Hello. Pinball party. Hello. Yeah, Ballster. Look at Ballster's in the pinball machine. You know what's amazing? If we create something, my wife goes around every time something happens. Hello. Oh, there's the really? Yes. He does the Ballster call out. People do that on the phone to me. Hello. Hello. That's my favorite. Sometimes it's Joe. Yeah. No. No. Yeah. But, dude, I've owned this game. I've owned this game. I have. A deep game, fun game, very iconic game. Yes, very. Makes sense because we had Lord of the Rings. people are worried now they're just thinking alright you got Simpsons you got Lord of the Rings we're gonna run out of games yeah there's a dry spell in the 2000s and my reply to that is mind your own damn business we'll figure this out we'll figure it out next year we'll figure it out but I will tell you there was some good the games that did come out to you you loved the 2000s games were good games oh my gosh I did like T3 Spider-Man well were you actually about Spider-Man Spider-Man yeah that's true Yeah. You didn't remember Steven Bowden's favorite game? Good games, yeah. I'm proud of you, buddy. Let's go to the last era for the Pinball Machine Hall of Fame. That's 2010. 2010 was Wizard of Oz. Who's going to bring it home this year? You may be surprised to find... Total Nuclear Annihilation by Spooky Pinball. There's a whole lot of TNA up in here. That's... Oh, look at that. That is kind of a surprise. That's God's an easy. That is huge. I think it's a really smart decision by the voting public because it was a very innovative game. Simple. So you get a throwback, but then you also get the technological advancements of that lighting, the sound. It's a unique. It is a very unique game. It's an impactful game that changes things moving forward. And it kind of changed. It was kind of one of those first real big homebrews to really make it into, like, I would consider it still a mass production. and stuff. So it was kind of one of those points in history that it's kind of been. I think TNA is responsible for maybe the popularity of the homebrew community as it is today. Yep. So nicely done. And nicely done, Scott, didn't he see, bud? Your game is in the Pinball Machine Hall of Fame. Well, that was a great rundown of the Pinball Machine Hall of Fame. I enjoyed it. The entries were wonderful. I'll need to play a little bit more Jungle Queen. Other than Jungle Queen that I don't know about, everything was deserving. I can't argue. I think they integrated very well all of their choices into this establishment. Very much. And integration-wise, we can't talk integration without talking about your game integration. Let's get back into the games, Greg. I want to give awards to these new games. Old games. Keep your EMs. Keep your EMs. What about LCD screens and broken switches? I want to see the top nominees for theme integration. Best theme integration. Godzilla by Stern Pinball. It's Mechagodzilla. It's Mechagodzilla. Halloween by Spooky Pinball. Jurassic Park The Pin by Stern Pinball The Mandalorian by Stern Pinball In a world under glass. Theme integration is important in pinball. It is. Did anything stick out to you this year? We saw those top nominees there. I'm glad to see Halloween's in there. Halloween's still out. We have the hedges. I like the balcony. The ball getting stuck in the balcony, you knock him off, and then he comes out of the balcony. It's kind of fantastic. You've got the pumpkin, you've got the moldings for his sanitarium. Just the music. I think it goes to Halloween here. Maybe Spooky's only win this year. Spooky got my vote first. What about Godzilla? Godzilla was a lot of integration. Anytime you have one of the most iconic monsters, kaiju monsters, literally bringing buildings down, that's integration. Bridges. Bridges coming down. Your mom's tummy grab. A Mandalorian? All kinds of stuff there. You got a Grogu? You got a great monster in the back. Yep. He might not move, but for $2.85, we can change that. Well worth the price. And you got the Razor Crest. Oh, who's going to win? Okay. Best theme in a duration crystal goes to... Let's do it again. Godzilla! Bringing home the awards tonight. Man, turn it down. Congratulations. It's deserving. A lot of hard work over there at Factory at Stern. It is. That pin has been... It's deserving. Like, you know, it's... It's a... But it's deserving. There's a reason. I'm telling you. I'm telling you that game is going down as a classic. It will. And it doesn't help these awards, but it's going down as a classic. I'm not wild about it. What's next, Chattergory, Greg? We'll see if he even knows. We'll see if he's even following the outline here. You don't know, do you? You know, what's the next category? I try not to look at the paper. It feels like sometimes I'm the main feature and you're simply my best accessory. Oh! Best accessory. Best accessory. Guns N' Roses Marquis Topper by Jersey Jack Cymbal. Led Zeppelin Airship Spotlight Topper by Stern Pinball Stern Insider Connected Kit by Stern Pinball The Mandalorian Ambon Rifle Armor by Stern Pinball Now, none of these accessories will live up to me. That's right. But, I was not nominated this year. Momentanium accessory. There were some toppers. I love the toppers. Absolutely. We had the armor, main lore arm, but we also had the GNR topper. See, Jake did show up after all. Good. They showed up. Well, GNR bring home an award. Let's have a topper. Yes, please. Your winner for best pinball accessory goes to something you all own. Stern Insider Connected Kit. That's it. That is it. That really is an extreme accessory. For what Stern is looking at doing with that, what you can already do with it, and what they're planning to roll out, freaking amazing accessory. I'm trying to think if you have anything connected yet. Me? No, you don't. Batman 66? You do. Batman 66. Well, you know this guy buys an accessory. It's a good accessory. Did you know that over 20,000 people, this is early 2022, already over 20,000 accounts signed up to the Insider Connected. I promise you. Thousands of kits are going out every month. These things are going to be everywhere. That's kind of exciting. So, in order to get your stern, Insider Kit, all you've got to do is pre-order. A coin giver. Sometimes I... A coin giver. I've got to keep them in check. Speaking of being kept in check... Oh! Sometimes streamers have to be kept in check. They're rascals. They get wild when you lie. They're nuts. You should see TPN. Oh. It's like Game Animal House over there. There's brawls hanging up on there. I do love a lot of people that stream for TPN. For some reason, there's a bunch of chili being cooked. I don't know what reference that is. I love chili. There's some unique individuals over there that really make for some entertaining live action. Oh, and I'm hoping we're going to see him in these top nominations. Tightrope. For the Excellence Award. Top rope. Top rope. Well, he wears tight. You want to see a streaming show? I doubt he's going to be in these tops. I love it, though. Top rope is one of my favorite shows. Literally one of my favorite shows. I want to see you do it live with him. Get really drunk. Oh, no. We'd be bad. The wrestling garb and really go to town. Oh, who else is going to be in here? We've got Deadflip. He's been streaming a long time. Yeah. Take a step back, though, so maybe not there. Let's go ahead. Let's see who your top nominees were for excellent in pinball streaming. Yeah, let's do it. Pinball streaming is easy. Excellence in pinball streaming. Watch the fighting blitz. Who's Dada? Why are we revealing Dada? What? Look at your phone, Bobby. You can just ask me if you want me to look at your butt. I'm proud of my butt. You should be proud of your butt. Oh my god, this is all getting clipped, and this is making clips of the week. I'm going to go back and clip this. Somebody else does it. I don't know if that's going to do damage. It seems damage-y. I feel like everybody has some sort of an interesting story or something or just a situation that popped up that got you to start streaming. Why did you start streaming? How long have you been streaming? It looked easy. IE pinball I'm glad you called it the destiny plug again bringing that back alright oh wow, Hayley, awesome awesome that's phenomenal that was perfect that was perfect that was perfect just have that recording Just click that, whatever it is, and then just run that. That's all. Yeah. That was perfect. There's the tutorial. There's the tutorial done. Oh, my gosh. Godzilla may be making his way to another city. I want to look at the map here. Let's see the map. This is multiplier. Oh, my gosh. Let's turn on the DMV. Thank you. Mystery. Pinball. Theater 3000. We have a problem. I got you, Flipstream. God dog it. Jeez, you're like my wife. Honey, turn off the DMD. All right, Mars. I got it. Turn off the DMD. All right, I'm going to turn off the DMD. Just give me a second to turn off the damn DMD. Well, you didn't turn the DMD off. That's fine. I will turn off the DMD. Jesus. Oh, the noise scared me. I killed a teenager pinball streaming is near and dear to me not because we've done it before not because it's easy because Lord knows it's a lot easier than doing a radio show excuse me but it's near and dear to me because as part of the ownership and regulatory body of the Pinball Network, I'm indebted to all of the affiliates that we have and a brand new Pinball Network dedicated channel. That's a big one. Every day of the week, people, you guys can watch live pinball streaming from some of your favorite streamers in the industry. It's like I said, open it up. It's honestly some of my favorite shows because everybody is so absurdly unique that it's so entertaining. Something for everybody. I'll take the time. Thank you sponsors to that too, the TVN, pinball and all of them. Thank you guys for supporting supporting moving pinball. Amazing. The winner of the Crystal for Excellence in Pinball Streaming. Oof. There were some cheap DM people in there, and I appreciate that. Not today. Oh! It's I.E. Pinball again. Woo! Oh, baby. He's a master. Yeah, he's sort of a pioneer. He was... Yep, he's a master. You can't say enough about how clean and absolutely gorgeous his streams are. God, do you have Pin Slash? Remember Pin Slash? I do remember Pin Slash. Oh, my God, they're choreographed. They're produced. That doesn't take anything away from Manu or Jordan. No. Lord knows they're my favorites. Yeah, I love Manu. Oh, man, how clean their streams are. Yes. It's technologically advanced. Yep. But the godfather of pinball streaming is New Dog in town. Very well put. It's Carl D'Python Anghelo. You know what Carl D'Python Anghelo is working on? You ever seen those videos that you always stumble upon on Facebook, and then five minutes later you're like, shit, I watched that whole thing. The Master Class? Oh! Master Class Pinball Streaming. Very good, sir. All right. This next category is tough. Jack, give the remaining awards to Godzilla, and let's go grab a pint. I'm down. Let's go grab a beer. Let's give the awards to Godzilla. Let's go grab a beer. Let's go grab a beer. That's a good idea. Regardless of who wins. You know she drinks Guinness. I'm not trying to be scary. You know she drinks some Guinness there. No, I was going to say, this next award is really tough because there's so many favorites to pick from. It's something that your mom loves having a collection of, and that's Best Toys. Best Toys. Godzilla by Stern Pinball. The bridge is down. Buildings throughout the city are being damaged. This is incredible. Halloween by Spooky Pinball. Sorcerer's Apprentice by Multimorphic you got to have toys in pinball Greg what your favorite toy this year in pinball You still thinking about the old joke about your mousekins Okay. Do you like toys? I do. I can talk to you about it. Toys in pinball machines. Pinball machines only. I was always wondering why you had like the world's largest flashlight in your house. It was straight. Like this thing doesn't get me. Godzilla toys and pinball machines are very hard to pick because they're often fully loaded. Godzilla's going to win. It's toys. It's going to be Godzilla. Come on. Godzilla. Thank you. It's like the coolest toy ever. Actually, it's so damn happy. No disrespect to Halloween. No disrespect to toys. They're the princess. This is Godzilla's year, and toys is one thing that they just nail. Nail toys. In multiple fronts. Speaking of nailing something, Greg. Oh! There's a lot of rules that I have in this friendship. We'll keep it clean. A lot of rules that I have. Number one, if I call twice, it's an emergency. Yes. If I call twice, it's an emergency. Another rule that I have, and you have, if we don't feel like talking, we don't talk. No. Man. There's no hurt. Sometimes I piss you off. Sometimes I'm tired of talking to you. My life will go, oh, he hit the you button. He did? And I'm like, and? Yeah. We just know that we have a mutual business respect. If he doesn't answer after two rings, I know he's not going to answer. I hang up immediately. Now, that's caused some problems for anybody else I talk to. That's right. Because I inherit them. Let the phone ring twice and hang up. The rules in a friendship sometimes are different than the rules in a relationship. But there's a lot of rules. Even pinball's got rules. A lot of rules in pinball. There are rules in pinball. Some of them are complex. They hurt my head. Just like Russians. Some of them are wonderful. Some of them are too easy. I didn't say monsters, but some of them are just too easy. So let's see who the judging committee thought were the best rules in code this year. Best Rules. Godzilla by Stern Pinball. Led Zeppelin by Stern Pinball. Led Zeppelin by Stern Pinball. The Mandalorian by Stern Pinball. Rules matter. Yeah, it doesn't surprise me that Stern Pinball is in all these categories. Stern has just wonderful, wonderful, in general, wonderful rules. Really good. Yeah, because they've got some of the best coders in all of pinball. And now with the Insider Connected Kit, you don't even have to plug in that USB. Oh, it updates. You can update it automatically. Yeah. That scares me. I don't trust the man. Who's going to win it? I, I, anytime Keith Elwin's doing something with Rick Nagel, that's who I think is going to win. But, you got my boy, Dwight. I do love some Dwight code more than any. So, the winner for this year's best rules. Not Led Zeppelin, huh? So hard. Godzilla! It is. It's really good. It is. That is the objective correct answer. It's a great rule set, and it is ever improving. Yes, it's not even a .9 yet. No. I'm excited to see where that game goes. I really am. I'm excited to see where the rest of the ceremony goes. This next category can only be viewed if you're one of my Patreon Club members. She's witty. She's witty. A little shout out there. A little shout out there. We can talk into that. She's right, though. Pinball podcasting. It's a big one. It's a big excellence category here. Keep it towards the end because it's huge. It is huge. A lot of pinball podcasts left this year. Yes. A lot started this year. Yes. Let's see who the top nominees are for Excellence Award in Pinball Podcasting. Excellence in Pinball Podcasting. Backbox Pinball Podcast. Welcome to the Backbox Pinball Podcast. A podcast for ladies pinballers and their friends. Each week, we will sit down with the guests and chat about news and events related to women in the sports and hobby of pinball. Now here's your host, Lauren Gray. Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. I have a co-host. The co-host search has finally been completed. And there is a new co-host to the Backbox Pinball Podcast. So this show is now hosted by Lauren Gray and from Austin, Texas, Rebecca Theron. Yay! I want to, oh man, I want to be part of your podcast, Lauren. I was about to try that. Let me try it again. Let's see. Part of your podcast. There we go. Yay! I love it. I love it so much. Final round pinball podcast. If the Titanic couldn't take him down when he was a teenager, nothing can. It's the new TV series everyone's talking about. Roger saves the world! See Roger utilise his skills in other areas Like when he performed miracles in the delivery room This baby isn't breathing Roger, we need a slap save See Roger save everything From baseball games to saving you money on car insurance Plus, you'll see Roger with his toughest task ever His legacy I'm worried Young Josh will never grow up to be a pinball champion Oh Ellen, don't worry honey I know how we can save this. We'll just have another son. Roger saves the world. Silver Bowl Chronicles. So once the pinball industry starts winding down, Steve had been at Atari. He was making a few games at Atari. California Speed. Yeah. Actually a really fun, cool racing game. Poor Steve would do an awesome racing game. He formed Steve Ritchie Productions, and he did a few redemption games. because for some reason, individuals in pinball, of course, have a sister product, which is kiddie gambling or redemption games or gambling machines, which, of course, are actual gambling. And in 2002, 2003, the whole pinball industry was more or less hanging on a thread. Stern Pinball was the only game in town, and, of course, they weren't doing the blockbuster numbers that even Sega was doing in the time before it. Steve Ritchie, of course, was 53 at this time, and he was a grizzled seven-finger veteran of the coin-op market. So, of course, he could add some value to somebody. Slam Chills Podcast. Coming to you from beautiful upstate New York, this is the Slam Tilt Podcast, a show about all things pinball. I'm your host, Ron Hallett. Here's my co-host, Bruce Nightingale. Five f***ing years. Yes, five years. This is episode 170, and this is our fifth year. a podcast. Isn't this exciting? This whole thing started what was the exact day? I think it was Wednesday. Something like July 14th 2016. Damn. That's a long time. The Pinball Show. All you've got to do is give us a great chance. Do you have an example of the way the Godzilla roars? Yeah, I was going That was a hungover Godzilla. That's standard. This was the Toho era, or the Shogun era Godzilla. Mine goes, That's a pooping Godzilla. Howdy ho there. I'm glad you got me out. I'm stuck all up in there. I'm sure glad there was a fat spinner. I like it when people let things rip. They never have that in the shows. Like Godzilla turds. You know how big that would be? Does he only shit in the ocean? I don't know. I wonder if it's radioactive. I wonder if he's like us where he's out in public and he's like, I can't poop here. I've got to go home. Yeah. He's like a piece of the paper out on the ground to sit on. Holy USB mics, Greg. That is a lot of nominees. Five of them. And some good nominees. And I listen to all of them. I listen to every one of them. Out of those, we've got a final round. I love me some Jeff Teal with Martin Robinson. Super Bowl Chronicles. I like some Chilbock. That one's deserving. It truly is. It's a historical piece. It's not time sensitive. They do a terrific job. And even though he couldn't open up a show, David does a really good job as a host. Graham Tilt. Yes, baby. He's been around forever and representing the females in the group. backbox. Rebecca Salam just joined. She's from Flip Tron. She joined as well. And then our little show. Ooh. Who's going to win it? The winner is... Podcast. For excellence in pinball podcast. Where's Tanae at? Is he not in there? He's the least deserved to be in there. I'm only one vote. Win our vote. I didn't get the vote. Why didn't you vote? You lazy ass. And the winner is... The pinball show. Zach Minney and Dennis Crystal. Dennis, nicely done. Good job, guys. I've got to say, Dennis Crystal, probably my favorite pinball personality in 2021. I will tell you, this comes from a place of complete and utter brutal honesty. Oh. I don't like these talks. When that show was started, I enjoyed it. I thought it was good. It was fine. It was fleeting. It was fair. Okay. But I will have to say that I actually, and it's still only a shower show. I don't know if it's in a pinball podcast or in a shower. I don't know how to think about that, how to feel about that, but okay. But I will say that I actually look forward to your all show now. Really? And I'll tell you what stands out to me the most is how absolutely fantastic that Dennis has become. Dennis. Opening himself up, being more lively, joking, witty, actually having a good time. Like when you listen to the old show, I think Dennis, maybe some nerves, I don't know what it was, But he's opened up so much that you can tell that he even put out some smart-ass comments. Yeah. And he is enjoying himself. That's what I said. I truly think this is an award that goes to Dennis Creasel, my other half on the Pinball Show. Thank you for all the votes from our peers. Thank you. Thank you so much. But this is an award for Dennis because he has busted his butt. Yeah. He's represented very well, not only, guys, for the Pinball Show, but also for the Eclectic Gamers podcast. Yes. For writing in general and for the Pinball Network. He's a great spokesperson for pinball. He's a brilliant human being. He's a sweetheart. He's got a sweet little ass, too, on him. But overall, Dennis Creasel, a little apple, Bob. A little apple. I like that. But Dennis Creasel, I can't say enough kind things. He deserves this. And without him, this award wouldn't have happened. I completely agree. Nicely done, Dennis. Good job, guys. Oh, man. Uh-oh. I'm about to lay out here in a minute. This right here brings us to something. You got good taste? You got good design, flavor? I got a good layout. Do you? When's the last time you shaved? We're going to jump right into best layouts, best design. Check your geometry. Where's your protractors at, nerds? I just offended all of them. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Can't be much worse than what Robert Mueller did. Not only did he steal these nerds' money, he stole the nerds' grandma's money. Best Playfield Design and Layout Godzilla by Stern Pimbal Led Zeppelin by Stern Pinball. The Mandalorian by Stern Pinball I will tell you on this one, some of the others I thought could still be a talk show. This one here, I felt, was clear and definitive. Why? Go ahead and elaborate. Why? My personal choice. Go ahead and shoot on Brian Eddy here real quick. Go ahead. And the historical mastermind that is Steve Ritchie Clomack, go ahead, cramp on him. For Chief Elwin, been in the game, designing games for what, four years, five years? And the winner for best pinball design and layout goes to... I'll be Brian Eddy. Godzilla! Godzilla's going to do it. It's just so hard. We've talked before about how insanely difficult it is to beat what Elwin does. It's each and every year. It's insane. It doesn't take him two years. It doesn't take him three years. No. Every year. Yes. He doesn't half-ass it. No. Always good. Let's jump into our newest category, our newest award that we're calling the Harry Williams Pinball Legacy Award. It's our Lifetime Achievement Award. Showcasing and recognizing someone for a career, lifelong endeavor into pinball and bringing people like you and I what we love the most. Yes. There's so many people I can think would be good recipients. There are a lot of deserving recipients, but there can only be one winner a year. I guess there could be more. We can make rules that, you know, I guess it wouldn't be really... It loses its appeal. I'll tell you what, I voted for somebody, and spoiler alert, they did not win this year. Yes. So, dammit, if I won't vote for them next year, you know who that is? I'm going to give them recognition right here, right here, to all of you, because this special is very near dear to me. But not only that, they are near and dear mostly to Gary Stern and Stern Pinball. And it's Shelly Sachs. Shelly. You don't even know who Shelly is. You wouldn't have pinball machines if you didn't love and enjoy what Shelly does. Shelly is a wonderful. I'm looking at you, Shelly. You've been with Stern since the data East years. Oh. People talk about Gary Stern. They talk about Joe Cam and Cal. But the heart, the soul, the meat in that sandwich, Shelly Sachs. She was there from the beginning. You had me at that at East. See? Absolutely. So that was my vote, but... That was a very good vote, then. I'm telling you. It really is. Shelly is this person that nobody knows about. Plus, you don't want to make her mad. You can get that. Love you, Shelly. I love you. All right. So let's give this award away. Yes. The Harry Williams Pinball Legacy Award. I'll tell you, Greg, this person that's receiving this is very deserving. Yes. They have brought so much over such a long span of their career, and they don't just do this as a job. No. They live this. Passion. They live this. They're very passionate. It's not only a symbol creator. It's in many respects a friend. Oh, very much so. This was a surprising one. Yes. And I think even to this recipient, they will be surprised as well. The first year coming out of the gates, you're thinking of the Gary Starr, you think, right? George Gomez. But instead, it's none other than our friend, your friend, Mr. Light Show himself. Congratulations, Dwight Sullivan. Congratulations, Dwight Sullivan, also known for his dynamite Dwight shows. Maybe next year, Keith Ellman. Very much deserved. Oh, my goodness. Dwight Sullivan. Bet you didn't see that one coming. I kind of didn't, you know. But, you know, when you say it and you find out who it is, you sit there and you go. Absolutely. Very much so. Because, you know, it's another one of those things of where that when we were very early on in pinball, and we started kind of making our rounds at shows and everything, you know, one of the people that I latched on to the most was Dwight. Sure. His entire personality is so infectious. He's approachable. He is. That's what I was going to say. He's so inviting to anyone to speak to him. And it's like he's known you for 20 years in the first 10 minutes that you talked to him. He has just such a great sense of humor. He's a brilliant person. Yes. He's brought so many coding and programming innovations and pinball that people don't even realize sometimes. Like multipliers. Oh, boy. He brought multipliers. Lots of multipliers. Oh, boy, oh, boy. He stood behind that multiplier gate. but he brought so many things, so many novel ideas. I mean, you look at the things like the RPG things in the foundry of Mandalorian. I can't say enough about Dwight Sullivan, and I'm glad he's got it. To me, he is one of those people, you know, we always stress moments. To me, Dwight is one of those moment creators. He is a moment. That is, to me, like his special gift that he has embedded is he knows how to create moments. I'm so glad you brought that up. I love it. It takes a very mediocre game, and it can still have a great rule set, but the fact that he can throw those moments. He codes moments. Yes, that's what knocks some of those games over the top. We've said it for years. That is why games coded by Dwight Sullivan and team, they stick in our collections. Yes. They just do. Think about some of the games he's been through. Your favorite, Terminator 2. Love Terminator 2. You love Terminator 2. The getaway high speed. Everybody loves the getaway. Everybody loves that. Game of Thrones. Oh. Come on, Chuck, we're right now. Drew loves it. Game of Thrones. Goat clusters. Moments. So many moments ago. But look, we were there from the beginning saying, guys, the goat's good. I'm telling you, this goat is good. And people were just not. So it was one of those things where it takes a little time to warm up to Dwight. Because Dwight did some things a little differently. So I think that it threw people off. They didn't know what to expect. It was the fear of the unknown. It was the fear of the different. And then everybody came around. Star Wars. He's confident in his abilities. so he can put himself out there and say, you know what? I don't care if initially you don't know what this is. I don't care if initially I know that you guys are going to like this. Let it breathe a little bit, and I assure you, you know, you're going to like it. He has, I feel, a clear vision. He knows what he wants, and he does it. Unapologetically does it. That's what I love about him. He's got that edge. Does he? He really does. Which you would never, could you imagine, like, in any other term, saying, Dwight Sullivan's got some edge. Oh, man. But he does when it comes to that. He has edge. I mean, look at even Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Oh, we both love that game. We do. Tough. Yeah, leveling up the characters. I love it. That's new. The training. The training. That's what I'm saying. I mean, it's new. Maybe Laurie did this year. Yeah. So many cool things. Dwight, we love you, bud. Thank you. We really, really love you. And we love that you spent the last 30-plus years doing this. And you've got another 30 in you. Yep. You're a young guy. Yep. Let's keep going. Thank you for what you bring to pinball, and thank you most for being our friend. Bye. Bye. Bye. Best in show. Godzilla by Stern Pinball. Led Zeppelin by Stern Pinball. All right, it comes down to this, Greg. Oh, man. I don't want to go. I don't want to leave these people. We got to. We got to. Thanks for tuning in. Thanks for voting and participating. Your bestest show is about to be announced. Are we going to do this again next year? Are these people going to see us next year? Misannouncer lady, thank you so much. Man, it's always a pleasure. I love doing these things. Don't you? Best time to celebrate. No, it isn't. Miss Announce the Lady, meet up with her, go grab a beer, play some pinball. That'd be a long trip. This is crazy. The best of show, Greg, down to two nominees. Not even three. Two nominees. And you want to know why? Why? Because only two games this year received a best in show vote from the judges. Meaning, of all of those games, all of those judges, all their votes went to just two people. I can see that. Just two games. Actually, I can't. And they're both Stern pinball machines. You've seen them yourself. You've got Led Zeppelin. It's insane. You've got Steve Richards and Led Zeppelin. You've got Godzilla by Keith Owen. Right now, Gary Stern is sitting at home not watching this. But if he were watching this, I think he'd be celebrating. Right? Yeah. He's had a good year. A real good year. He's had a good year. A real good year. We know Gary Stern, a side note. I can just picture him riding his Harley. One of his favorite pastimes, Harley Davidson motorcycle. But I bet you didn't know this, Greg. Okay. Another one of his favorite pastimes, Gary Stearns, is actually maintaining a dairy farm. Yeah, a dairy farm. Bet you didn't know that, did you? I can see Gary Stearns milking some cows. Did you ever milk a cow? No. But he doesn't milk cows. No, no, no, no. He doesn't milk cows. You said a dairy farm. He doesn't milk cows because why in the world would you be busy milking cows when you make a hell of a lot more money milking a goat? open the envelope, show them all, show them what it is. Ladies and gentlemen, your best-in-shard-istle goes to... Gunslinger! Congratulations! Nice lead-in! This is what's coming! Bro, it feels good. What? It feels good. Why would you try? Just play your crystal! And look, some of you people out there are saying, that's a media buy-in. These are all your friends, I assure you. It's not your vote for them, too. Tune in two months from now, when they're going to pick up and clean up on all the plastic. That's what we call the Pinball Industry Awards sequel to Twippy's. See you at the sequel. Thank you again for participating in and watching the Pinball Industry Awards, presented by the Pinball Network. More information about the voting and selection process can be found at thepinballindustryawards.com or the pinball.network. I wonder how many awards Back to the Picture Pinball will win in 2022. See you next year for the ultimate pinball awards event that everyone will be talking about. The Pinball Industry Awards is sponsored by Flip N Out Pinball, Coin Giver, and Trophy Depot. Yeah, I guess they did a good job this year. F***ing Greg Bone. Oh, man. Really? Really. Should we go kill one of the dogs? Good. Put it in a pillowcase and hit it with a hammer? Oh! Peter. He's going to get it. Canceled by Peter. He gets the cool thing now. Way to talk about the kind of mom you like. So Peter. I never heard that. I'm just kidding. So you need to... Can we go ahead? You started it. Okay, ready? Yeah. Thank you.