Warning, the following episode contains adult language and screaming goats. Listener discretion is advised. The Pinball Network is online. Launching, The Pinball Show. Episode 99 is here and she's coming in as hot as an amber herd steamer. We've got a huge special guest co-host this week that I know you all will enjoy as we discuss pinball celebrities, improvisational comedy, fake gym and IDs, Tony Pepperoni, and Ode to Steve Ritchie, getting the best of Ted Lasso. The glory days of pinball being among us now, people. Let's make controversy as we fix competitive pinball. AP hiring the Sonic pinball designer, but did they forget to hire the Hedgehog? You think you want a Sonic Pinball machine, but you don't. Haggis bringing sexy back, pinball market trends, and much, much more. Now this is how an Episode 99 should go. This is a confluence of disaster. Early warning network alert. Rising tides in the Marina District. Be on the lookout for high waves and flooding. Pinball is a game of skill. For some, it's a passion and a lifestyle. It's time for the Pinball Show. It's pinball with personality. Lock is lit. Ladies and gentlemen, it's the Pinball Show, episode 99. Lord, we're close to 100. What are we going to do that's special? I don't know, but episode 99 may be more special than anything I've ever done as a pinball podcaster. I'm going to tell you why. I have a juicy little nugget, a juicy little treat for you today. Introducing a first-time guest co-host of the Pinball Show. He's a fan of the Pinball Show, which I love, and he's an avid pinball hobbyist. Our guest today is a comedy, entertainment, writing, and performing genius co-founding the renowned Boom Chicago, an iconic sketch and improvisational comedy production group. Boom Chicago alumni include, I don't know, Seth Meyers from Late Night with Seth Meyers, Saturday Night Live, you got that? Oscar-winning director, actor, comedian Jordan Peele. Get out of here. You see what I did there? Get out. Key and Peele. Creators, writers, directors, performers Jason Sudeikis, Brendan Hunt, and Joe Kelly from the award-winning Ted Lasso series. I know you're watching that. Comedian and writer Amber Ruffin. Writer, producer, comedian Ike Barinholtz, one of my favorites, from such works as The Mini Project, Suicide Squad, Bad Neighbors, and the list goes on and on with the boom Chicago alumni. He's here to chat about pinball, about life, and I don't know, hopefully a couple of tips to help me blossom into the natural entertainer that you all know me to be. Don't laugh, people. Ladies and gentlemen, the one, the only, Andrew Moskos. Fantastic. Thank you, Zach. Wow, that is the best introduction I've ever gotten. It makes me blush. Mosky, you're here to hang out with me. What are you doing here? I'm a fan. I have to be honest. I approached Zach and I said, all the good people that interviewed, that was my pitch, basically. So you've got to go to the B team. And Zach was nice enough to make me co-host on this very important penultimate 99th episode. It is very important. You're very important. And I love your work. I do good with celebrities. I don't fanboy out too much, so don't take offense to that. But I really respect your work, Andrew, because you know that comedy is near and dear to me. Not that I'm good at it, but it is near and dear to me. I've seen so much comedy throughout my lifetime, and I look up to not typically politicians or actors or even psychologists or scientific. I look up to comedians. I fear that comedy is dying, and people like you are continuing to keep it alive and well. So for that, thank you so much. Well, comedians are important. Laughter is, life is better when you laugh. And comedians are the bridge to happiness. I love it. So for those of you who are familiar, aren't familiar, boom, Chicago, Amsterdam. I thought you grew up in Chicago. What are you doing in Amsterdam? Yeah, I grew up in Chicago. After I graduated, I was on a tour through Europe and we always flew into Amsterdam first. And we just fell in love with the city and we wanted to move there. And no, it's not for the reason you're thinking. It was for the drugs. So, yeah, we had the best stoner idea ever, which was quit our jobs, move to Amsterdam, start a sort of a second city style comedy show. And we wrote the city and said, here's our idea. We wrote the tourism office. We want a show that's good enough that you will be reviewed in the papers, but fun enough that you go with your friends and you can drink. what do you think and uh they wrote us back immediately very very impressed they faxed us because it was 1993 we used faxes back then and they said your idea will not work oh and we thought that was a pretty pessimistic uh beginning from the tourism office we might have expected to go everything's possible in amsterdam the damn dutch yeah they said uh no uh dutch people don't want to see a show in english tourists don't want to see a show at all uh you need subsidy to do theater in the Netherlands, you won't get any subsidies. So think twice about your plans. And we framed the facts and came anyway. The rest is kind of history. So you grew up in the Chicago area. What got you into improv? What got you into production, comedy, et cetera? I grew up in Evanston, just next to Chicago. Born in Chicago and moved back to Chicago after I graduated. I went to Northwestern, also in Evanston. Like many people, I had a friend who took improv classes in Chicago. I come and see the show. It was great. I had this like, wow moment, how much fun, you know, that would be the director. They had me, I was on stage and they interviewed me for a scene. And the person who ran the program said, you know, we give classes here. You'd be really good. I realized that she was selling classes to anybody, but I took them anyway. And I had a great time doing it, doing improv. And I had risen to the middle of the improv community in Chicago where I would have stayed. So luckily I went to Amsterdam and started my own place. Oh, wow. Pinball. How the hell does pinball fit into this picture? Pinball. Oh, my grandfather, when I was too short to see over the game. So that must have made me five, I guess. Knee high to a grasshopper is what we say. Yeah, really. And he held me up over the game. And I remember my hands being stretched around the game to reach the flippers and could barely do it. And I remember this game that had a a bumper in the middle of four, like a boxing ring of, of, of rubbers, of elastic bands. And, um, I can't remember what that game is, but I researched it going like, I remember this feature in the middle of one lone bumper in the middle of these four rubber band things. And, uh, and ever since then, I just loved it. I've played every game, uh, I believe since then. And, uh, and yeah, now I'm in my fifties. So 50 years of pinball. Wow. I should, you know, I bet Dennis Creasel is listening right now. I mean, like, I know exactly and precisely what game he was playing. It wasn't Italian bottom. I look forward to episode 100 and hearing that report. Oh, so you're are you a fan of the Creasel? Oh, yeah. Oh, it's great. You know, he's I think he needs he needs a Zach to bring out the best in him. And I think you guys do. He's got an encyclopedic knowledge of things and an opinion on everything. I love it. I feel like the only time we don't hear his opinion is when he doesn't tell us. But there's always one there. He's cut for comedy. That is for sure. So playing pinball throughout your life. What about as a young adult? Yeah, no. That was a nice era. This was like in the 80s, I guess in the nice valley era of 80s pinball. And then the early 90s is the glory days. My mother is German, and we would travel to Germany. And you had to be 18 to go into these gambling places where they had pinball. Oh, so I was 16 at the time and I got a fake ID that said I was 18. And when I went to the place, the guy said, you know, this only makes you 18 years old, right? And I go, yeah, that's all I needed for. And I said, I'm going to use it to play pinball in Germany. He shook his head, rolled his eyes and slid it across the table for me. And I was the first customer of his that said that I was 18 years old. And then I could go and present that. And it was like a fake ID that wouldn't get past American bouncers. but German game room operators did not have any questions for me. So I could play two more years of pinball in Germany before the law would allow. That is fat. How long were you in Germany then? I was just like summer trips. We had relatives and family. So, but they were pinball. Germany is a pinball country. I mean, at back in that time, Germany had a great scene, Paris, France, every, every cafe had a pinball machine. So it was really the, it was a nice time to be that age because, you know, You didn't have to know anyone with pinball machines in their house. They were just everywhere. What about Amsterdam? Is Amsterdam – I can't imagine too much pinball in Amsterdam. Well, we have – of course, we've got our marijuana coffee shops, and a lot of those places have a pinball machine. So that's a nice little extra sociological detail. But Amsterdam also had a lot of pinball machines. Now it shrunk back like it did everywhere, and there's still one coffee shop that's got eight or so games, which is nice. But there's a renaissance happening now, and more and more places have them in public as well. Oh, very interesting. And then we know that there was a manufacturing company, Dutch Pimble. Yes. Are you familiar with them? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, they're still going. They're slowly making their Lebowskis, which is a great game. It kind of has that 90s Williams feel. Yeah. Okay, one more set of code, sure. But it plays great. That upper play field is wonderful. and yeah, it's our local, it's our very proud of Dutch Pinball. Oh, that's terrific. And it sounds to me like you know quite a bit about pinball. You took a low run, very niche themed pinball machine, the Big Lebowski, and you knew about the upper play field. So do you own pinball machines? Well, I was in a pinball machine actually. What? In Chicago, we did the voices for, the comedy voices for Dialed In Pinball. Okay. One of our actors, Sue Gillen, And we were driving to a bar once, and she was telling, yeah, oh, I was in a pinball machine once. I'm like, what? And she goes, yeah, I was in with Tina Fey in some pinball machine, medieval something. You were a damsel in medieval madness? She's like, yeah. I'm like, I know you for years, and this story only comes up now? I mean, we had medieval madness in our cafe back in the day, too. And so that got me thinking, wow, voices in a pinball machine. And then when they got Pat Lawler out of retirement at Jersey Jack and said, you know, if you could have any theme and no IP, would you come out of retirement and make a game? And then he said, yes, and made Dialed In. And then I know one of the Dutch guys. JP to win? JP to win. Yeah, exactly. JP for to win. Love him. Yeah, he's great. So he was, of course, the video guy at Jersey Jack Pinball. So I call him and I say, hey, who's doing the voices for Dialed In? And he goes, funny. were just talking about that. So he puts me in touch with Ted Estes. And then I make my story. I go, hey, we're having history. One of our actors is a damsel. I learned very late. I thought to myself. And we are comedians and pinball fans. And great pinball machines are funny. And you should use comedians. And he said, OK, send in an audition tape. So we actually auditioned for a pinball machine and then got the job. And all the voices from the phone in the modes, those are for Boom Chicago actors. I didn't even know that about you, much less that, okay, so the character actors were comedians. Yes. Wow. Yeah. So the wonderful two-dimensional characters, my characters, Rusty Spade, the hick. I can't believe there's aliens. Yeah. Then there's the French guy, Jacques Flood, I think. He's the water things. It's a wonderful one-dimensional stereotype. Very stereotypical, yeah. Tony Pepperoni. Tony Pepperoni, that's me. No, tip, I can't believe it. The building doesn't exist anymore. Did you really do Tony Pepperoni? I'm Tony Pepperoni, yeah. Oh, my gosh. This is crazy because we've spoke before. I knew none of this. Wow. Okay. So that makes me, you know what? I'm going to go out and buy that game now. Hey, it's a great underappreciated game. It plays wonderfully. You hear me talk crap about the theme a little bit on here, I guess. It's funny. I wouldn't have thought that the game and Pat Lawler would overcome the lack of theme, but it turned out you were right. IP is key. It's such a damn great game, though. It really is a good game. And I have more appreciation, as our listeners do now, knowing that they had some big voices there cast to do some of that stuff. I like it. I'm in the credits. If you run the game, you can see Boom Chicago do the comedy voices in the game. Now, I do know you have credits elsewhere that we'll get to, but you were talking to me before, and I wanted to see if you would discuss with the listeners, because this is great, about your story on Steve Ritchie. Steve Ritchie, so he came to Holland for the Dutch Pinball Open or one of our events, and the guys brought him to Boom Chicago, our comedy club, and then we had two Steve Ritchie games. We had two. We had a Terminator 2 classic, and then we had Star Trek in there. So it was nice to go, hey, look what we got. Yeah, this was fantastic. And it was nice to meet him and play pinball with Steve Ritchie. He's fantastic. And they were looking for someone to interview him at the pinball event. So I'm like, of course, interviewing Steve Ritchie. That'd be great. When I knew he was coming, I had written sort of a roasty poem for him, an ode, a tongue-in-cheek but obviously loving poem about the great Steve Ritchie. And we had lunch across the street, and I read it at the table, and everyone, there's like a group of Dutch pinball people, and a journalist was with us, a small group of eight people. I even printed it out for Steve because I knew he had hearing issues. And I read it, and everyone at the table thought it was funny. I mean, again, it's like a very specific group of people that are going to enjoy a Steve Ritchie roast poem. But this was them. And then I said I was going to read it on stage when I was interviewing. And the next morning I approach and he comes up to me and he goes, I really don't want you to read that poem. I'm like, oh, what? I don't like it. I was like, oh, geez, isn't that funny? I thought he would appreciate the attention and the writing, but he did not want it and was a bit more serious about himself and his career. So, of course, I didn't read it on stage, But then there was like a dinner afterwards where a lot of the guests in the pinball community in Holland were there. And one by one, they would take me outside to give them like a secret read of the poem that could not be read in public. So it was like I was a drug dealer and taking people outside and giving a little dose. I got the good stuff. I'm going to do this Steve Ritchie ode. So what do you think it was? I have it here. I found it in my files. You want me to read you the Steve Ritchie poem? Breaking news, Steve Ritchie has no sense of humor. What the hell? I want to hear this. Absolutely. Okay. This is from 2014. So it ends with Star Trek, the new Star Trek game. Although, Zach, for you, I wrote a couple more stanzas afterwards to bring it up to the president because I thought you would deserve it here. You know how to excite me. I love it. I'm going to read the whole thing. Apologies if it's a little too inside pinball, but I think your audience will appreciate it. People are listening to a pinball podcast, Andrew. Come on. Okay. The man does not do cute. At Atari, Steve's interest in games began soaring. He made Airborne Avenger. It was like pinball, only boring. Superman was better, and Steve developed his golden glow. He said yes to Williams and moved to Chicago. Then came Flash the game, drawn on a cocktail David Hankin. Speed flashers, background music, Steve was the first to make that happen. It sold 20,000 units, a huge number way back then, but Steve peaked a little early, could not sell that many again. When you have a super hit, why would you change the course? Then Steve made a worse flash and called it Stellar Wars. Richie found his rhythm, a style you can't dispute. Let others do the soft themes, because Steve would not do cute. Firepower brought us Multiball, the game was not mundane With another Ritchie trademark, balls that like to drain Then Black Knight, no, THE Black Knight Goodbye to your ball you wave Then Steve himself will laugh at you As you miss the Magna Save Then came Hyperball, something we had not seen prior And if you've never ever played one, it's just like rapid fire He shot tiny balls real fast. It was loud and went berserk. It's hard to describe it well because it didn't really work. Then high speed had a plot, music, a jackpot. Hooray. Based on a true story. But Steve did not get away. 504, this is dispatch. He what? Steve Ritchie did not get away. F-14 Tomcat increased the speed and gave some epilepsy. Roller Games said don't flip. Then try to sell us Pepsi. Black Knight 2000, the first wizard mode, no doubt. Now wives could hear more pinball stories that they don't care about. High Speed 2 and T2, more games for the boys, with superchargers, guns, and cannons filled with richy toys. Then Star Trek Next Generation, Steve is the king of flow, and if you played that game, Steve's also king of the out-hole. With missions, modes, and ramps, quadrants, alpha, gamma, beta, And if you collect the artifacts for the final frontier, then thank you, Mr. Data. No Fear and T3 were fun for experts and beginners. Then came Poker Tour and Elvis. Well, they can't all be winners. ACDC for aging rockers passed their day's hotel room trashing. Good music, good shots, good fun, but stop the lights from flashing. Let's skip to now and end this pinball love letter Steve made a second Star Trek game Software update made it even better Klingon multiball vengeance ship Koyabashu Maru keeps you pumping The skill shot is really skill And the blue targets now do something Oh, the poor blue targets Star Trek's the best pinball in years Wizard of Oz gets a salute It's hard to beat Steve Ritchie The man does not do cute Wow So that was the poem I wrote for him Absolutely fantastic What in the hell is wrong with Steve Ritchie I would have been flattered To have a penography Described in verse I thought he would be too And I thought I mean come on you're Steve Ritchie You don't have to worry about Zing on Selling Pepsi and roller games Maybe he's hungover. Who knows? Ah, yeah. He was really serious. He did not want it to. It was funny. Let me bring it up to speed here. This is the Zach edit. Release the Zach's cut. It just seems I couldn't end it 2014 here. I'm only going to be on this podcast once. Game of Thrones played well. Ellie's a feather in his bonnet. Sure, the flow on Pro was good. Shame, with no toys on it. Star Wars had that Death Star Ball smashed and it went around Shame when you hit that inner loop The ramp slowly goes down Now that's a super inside joke Black Knight 3 was fun and hard The ball flew as we fought it The knight, the mace, his voice again Shame that no one bought it Then Zeppelin came And GNR and Richie seemed more whack Then he surprised most everyone And moved to Jersey Jack Oh, now we are all excited for a game. Like those of your look for Steve's big budget game sometime in 24. You said at best, which is like how they, they must have games, you know, brewing. When do we get that Steve Ritchie game I don know when we get it I sadly probably not even in 2024 But who knows That was beautiful Well thank you So, Steve Ritchie, still a fan, even if he's not a fan of mine. That's okay. Do you like the Jersey Jack games? You referenced Wizard of Oz there. Yeah, I thought Wizard of Oz was groundbreaking. The Save Your Ball-ish game for losing the ball was just perfectly hard enough, but doable. that was great. That upper play field was wonderful. The toys. Two upper playfields. The toys. The light show. Revolutionary. It really was. The light show was fantastic. And the screen. I mean, we take them for granted now, but it was amazing. People still hate on those screens. I love the big old 27-inch display there. Yeah, absolutely. What's not to love? And I think it attracts new players, too, so it has that role as well. That's what got me, Andrew. That's what got me into pinball again. I loved pinball growing up, but went to grad school, started a family, started a life, and it wasn't until Wizard of Oz slapped me in the nuts, and it was like, this is pinball, and this you could own in your home. And that's what really got me. I was like, wait a minute, this isn't just some nostalgic bullshit anymore. This is cool. And then I played it, and I thought, oh, this isn't just starting a multiball like back in the late 80s, early 90s. I actually have levels to get to like a video game. So that game, even though I'm torn, I'm mixed on whether I love, love that game, but that one I attribute to getting me back in full-blown on the pinball industry. Oh, I mean, and it's charged the pinball industry itself. I mean, now that raised the stakes for everyone. Once you see that, I think everyone sort of had like a tuck in their shirts, boys. Let's get going. You have to do something here. Yeah. Oh, I love that. Now, speaking of Wizard of Oz, you have a really cool story about Wizard of Oz and pop culture recently. Yes. Oh, right. I have another connection to Wizard of Oz. The Ted Lasso guys got their start at Boom Chicago. You said that in your introduction. And so Ted Lasso in season two plays a Wizard of Oz game in the bar in Richmond. And the high score on the game that he has cannot beat is ACM. And then he's got a line in there where he goes, I don't know who you are, ACM, but I'm coming for your ASS. And he launches the ball with a challenge. And ACM is me. And I had no idea. They did not tell me that that was going to be in there. But Jason Sudeikis is a big pinball fan. Yeah, yeah. He comes from his boom Chicago days where we had Medieval Madness in his era. And I explained, I mean, the best way to get a new pinball fan is, of course, to bring them in because there's so much more going on than people discover themselves. themselves and once you get the strategy and the shots and how it works so that was jason's introduction to pinball now he's uh you know a game room haver in the basement with his own games oh does he he's got his own games and everything oh he does absolutely yeah he's got he's got his own game room um he gave brendan hunt his coach beard in the show oh just so well played brendan hunt oh he's brendan he's fantastic he's uh he's in amsterdam right now they just they're filming a week of Ted Lasso's in Amsterdam. And we had the big rap party at Boots Chicago. Yeah, you partied with them last night, didn't you? Yeah. Oh, it was great. Brendan and Jason were on stage with us, and they still got it, because when you don't improvise five days a week anymore, you can get rusty. But they're such pros, and they were so good. The audience was so into it. The current cast, happy to play with them. Me and the OGs were there as well, also did well on stage. so it was really a nice night and then yeah we went to 4am downstairs I didn't know if you were going to make the podcast today because I did have to warn Zach I said listen I'm happy to tape today but it is possible that things get so crazy that I will be no condition and they did get so crazy but luckily we're recording at 6 in the evening boom Chicago time so it got a bit easier for me I was thinking to myself I'm about to get fucking bumped by Sudeikis like what the hell it's a good story If you're going to get bumped, yeah. He's a sneakerhead too, I think, because I'm into sneakers. Sneakerhead as well. Oh, I was going to say, as a gift for finishing season two, he got Brendan, who is the soccer fan that got him into soccer way back at Boom Chicago in the early 2000s. So as a thank you to Brendan for turning Jason into the soccer fan that he is now, he bought Brendan a World Cup soccer game. One of my favorites. Also a great game, yeah. so when I visited him in LA he said I got a surprise he takes me up to his attic and this game is in there and it took me two games to beat his high score sorry Brendan but ACM's on your game at home you have to up his game a little bit there that's a challenge, gauntlet thrown Brendan like he's listening Brendan's listening, Sudeikis is listening there yeah oh absolutely zach you're you're famous you're world famous in pinball yeah not even in pinball have you not talked to people today because it's probably a fucking coin taker customer oh hey listen he went once he hears this podcast he's gonna be he's gonna be flipping out for life oh i love you know what i would uh i would give jason sudeikis a brand new pinball machine i would if he allowed me to film myself and like a greg bone driving to his place to deliver it. Hey, that would be a great episode. Would it not? Sudeikis needs no money, and he has no time for me. But hey, celebrities even like free shit. I've seen him at the Oscars. Celebrities love free shit. Hey, listen, Jason, I can vouch for Zach. I think you should do it. I know he's listening, so let's just talk right to him. Oh, yeah. Mustache rides all day. Hey, you and Greg, that's the real comedy duo, if you want my respect. That's so much fun to watch you guys. You've got this energy and this pop culture reference. And, yeah, of course it's about pinball, but it's also about you guys. And no one else does that like you do. And I know, Greg, it's all the, you know, the love. Everybody loves the bone and whatever. Yeah, okay. But that's the easy job. You've got the hard job. You're making that thing go. And your opinion, sorry, Greg, and his Data East games and things like that, weird. the listen the right the right ratio is three times zach plus one times greg divide by four that's the right score oh you hear that bony you hear that and you know what while we're at it i'm gonna pile on everybody acts like he's just so superior he's a such superior attraction and looks to oh you know what i'm no fucking quasimodo like you know he's not leaps and bounds above me Come on. He's better looking. No, absolutely not. There's the brains of the operation, Zach. I'm sorry. I'm attracted to that. Yeah. Thank you very much. And how he or I got the wives that we have is beyond both of us. Probably a lot of us in the audience are lucky to have the wives that we have. Why can't our wives love pinball? Can you just help me with that, Zach? You know what? I'm actually okay with that. Yeah. Because I think it would be kind of weird. I know a lot of listeners out there, your spouses or your partners, significant others, love pinball with you. And while that almost seems to be something that I would be jealous of, I'm actually not. I'm not. It gives me my thing that I just love and I get to hang out with like-minded people to do. And I don't want my wife kicking my ass on pinball. That would be tough. I wouldn't like that at all. I'm not so competitive. I would love – I would be nice if – I travel to go to like the game rooms and stuff. I guess it is nice. I guess it is a solo thing. I think it's only a solo thing, not by choice, just by necessity. I wonder. Or do you think it's nice to have it separate? It's an interesting question. I think it is nice to have it. All right. So you know Sudeikis has got Brendan. They're pinball people now. Anybody else that you know from Boom Chicago stuff that fancies the pinball? Do you guys have a machine or something at the theater there? We used to have games, but they were not played enough. And we had a great collection. And the pinball people came in, and that's nice. Oh, that's funny. There's a guy, RVG, and he would – RVG would have the high scores in our games. And I'm not – like I was saying, I'm not so competitive. But on my own game, RVG, who is this guy? unfortunately regular bar players don't play enough pinball and you know that is a problem too you know there's the glory that you know the business is going so well for pinball right now but there is a second problem that is being hidden underneath that which is that nobody understands how to play pinball now i don't mean like they don't understand how to get modes and jackpots i'm saying is they don't understand that two people play against each other they don't understand what a ball is or a credit or that there's a plot you know that there it's i mean think of how hard we make it we we in the industry jack you know uh you know when you want to play a game how do you play it how do you even know that two people play against each other you know it talks about adding credits okay what's a credit yeah you don't press press start okay starts easy it's flashing oh press start twice for two players you'll never know why is that yeah why but why is it that way I mean, how about this? How about you press start and it says how many players? And then with the flippers, you scroll through a number and it goes one, two, three, four. And then it says add money. That makes sense. There's a free one. There's a free one for the guys. But that's the first question is we – here's another. We should make a mode in each pinball. You start to see these like cooperative modes and things like that happening. That's all a step in the right direction. But again, you have to be a pinball nerd to understand how to activate that. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you have to, you know, watch, you know, pinball shows to know that, you know, it's not like it's like such a carryover from the old days, you know, where you could explain the plot of a pinball machine on a car. Now you just can't. None of those words make any sense. Yeah. I mean, I can't even understand how to play games. And I've played every game for 50 years, you know, and you have to watch videos to really understand them. But OK, that's that's for pro level play. We have YouTube. We watch videos. No problem. But there should be a simple mode for a beginner called beginner mode, you know, and that it just starts automatically. And that simple mode is almost like hit everything to light up every light, you know, just like light all lights. That's that's the level of play that people should be having to just ignore all the brilliant rules that we love and just make a game for first timers or just like hit the ball up a ramp, you know, and then give us a light show and call it a million. You know, like it's think about what how simple gambling games are, slot machines are. So something like that where it almost plays itself and just and then if you if you like it, because people need to get pinball and most people, they are attracted to it. They play it once and they walk away. If I'm there to explain it, I can I can explain it to him and I can teach him how to make shops because that's even easier than people think. You know, like the sweet spot on the flipper and the butt of the flipper. So that's my thing. A simple mode that has nothing to do with the regular rules, which is basically just like lock a ball, hit targets. No, I like that. I like that, Andrew, because think about it. Just like you were saying, have all the lights lit on the game, especially the path lights. Have all of them lit. And as they're flailing around, if they hit a ramp of said light, that light goes out. Then it teaches them, hey, there is some skill in aiming here. I've got these other lights that I need to knock out the lights to. And then maybe that's your introductory course to, you know, pinball is more about just keeping the balls alive. It's about identifying what the machine wants you to shoot, and here's how it communicates how it wants you to do so. Right. And designers think that by saying shoot flashing shots that they're doing it, but it actually doesn't work. You can't shoot flashing shots with a big game of everything that's flashing. Yeah, everything's fucking flashing. Everything's flashing. And, you know, yeah, we almost have to turn everything else off. But that but that's what but then they go like, oh, but the plot is so great. We want people to play the plot. Let them graduate to regular mode or or whatever you're going to call the plot mode. But first, just every game, the same thing. Turn off all the lights. Doesn't matter what it is. Turn off all the lights and just get them to play again and get them to want to learn more. And then you hook them. Then then we've got them. Then we got. What do you think hooks people? Like you were talking about getting Sudeikis into pinball, getting other people into pinball from your experience with it. What do you think it is that just switches that on for them? Then they're like the aha moment or the, oh, shit, this isn't this isn't just the 70s, you know, wood rail where I'm flipping around here. Yeah, no, it's first of all, like the reason pinball continues is because it is mechanical. Like it's like billiard. You can't play billiard on the computer. I mean, you can, but it sucks. So you can't play all these pinball games. Even, I mean, of course, the good ones are better, but it's different. You know, the flipper mechanics and the stuff, it really has to be that connection. And I think that we as humans like the idea of like a bat hitting a ball, you know, in baseball. It's kind of that's what the flipper sort of shot kind of is. So that is the core, and that's why it competes against PlayStation 5 for attention. but I think the thing that connects people that really everyone, you know, starts swatting at balls and tries to keep the ball in play. And there's like a nervousness that you have. And then when it drains, people always are like embarrassed. It's intimidating. Yes. It's intimidating. It's scary. And it sucks. I hate playing. I hate playing with novices who think like I'm just, it's for me, I'm not a competitive pinball. I'm not a tournament pinball player at all. That's a whole level of player. That's better than me. But I'm the best at pro amateur, you know, or whatever, whatever we call, so they go they think that oh i'm playing badly and i'm and i'm embarrassed about it uh so when they can control the ball that is when that's when they work and you can do that in the first lesson and i almost say is the first when i teach people i go you know if you have a tip of the flipper it goes here almost to the side the sweet spot it goes right up that ramp here's the middle here's the butt of the flipper and then i'd say you know try to catch the ball and hit it up the ramp and if you catch the ball and don't of course everyone thinks that if it goes in the in-hole and then it goes up the flipper and then drains in the middle. I go, that's the one you can't catch. That's right. Yeah. But catch a ball and get it up the ramp. And that the joy that people have of hitting a shot. And I kind of, I think that you need to have that fan or friend to sort of like give you mini goals unrelated to what the game is telling you to do. And that's that satisfaction, be able to control the ball. That's when people start to open up to it. Yeah, I completely agree. I feel like there are stages, Andrew, where the first is people kind of know what pinball is. They know it's a physical type of mechanism, a game, a yumminess, if you will. That's what gets them there. I think another step, you're right, it's figuring out that instead of just batting it around like a chimp, you have aim, you have goals, you can shoot here. If you look at where your ball is on your flipper, just like a baseball bat, just like a hockey stick, you can control that. It becomes more sport-like. I think that next step then falls into the invention of multi-bowl and the experience of what a multi-bowl is. Holy crap. Now, as a player, I'm on another level here. I've got all kinds of balls. It's that immediate reinforcement right back to you that I've done something right because now I've got multiple balls on the playing field, like a basketball court with five basketballs. It's a joy. Yeah. I'm scoring more points. You get more points. You get more exciting. It's harder. I mean, it's a clear achievement that you just understand. You know, chimpanzees would understand. You put three balls in, three balls come out at the same time. Wow. Yeah. And then that next step is the one that I think we as an industry have the most difficult time bridging from that multi-bowl to ownership to repeated playing, which would be understanding that there are complex rules. There's a storyline here. There is a finish, if you will. There are levels just like a video game that get you to this final battle. Once they click into that, there's no going back. That's exactly right. That's why you are a hobbyist. That's why a lot of the people that play and talk about pinball, that's what gets them there. I strongly feel like that. You talked to me before about you feeling like you talked about the 90s kind of being the glory days of pinball. But you said honestly the glory days of pinball are among us right now. They are. I agree. You get grief for like, oh, Zach loves every game. He's chilling for his game. Yeah. But every game is good. I mean, what an era we live in. I mean, every new game and maybe getting better. Like, how exciting is that? Like, how about the joy you felt when you first played Godzilla? You know, how can there be with that, with the same measurements, you know, and the same, you know, flippers, how can there be a game that seems so fresh and different? But there it was, right? The building falling down. There's just so much in that game that is perfect. It's really perfect. That magnet grab thing, you know, and how many different ways it grabs your ball and drops it on that top flipper. Wow. It's so – and every time a game, there's no bad game. I mean – No, no. Because there are so many things going for modern pinball. That's the thing. And you're right. It can and will continue to grow, continue to get better. But a lot of people ask, Andrew, like, what's contributed to my thoughts as to why the glory days of pinball are right now? And it's not a recency effect. I think there's a couple things. Just a little pinball 101 here for you listeners. Let's see if you agree with me. Andrew, I want to see if you agree with me on this. I'm going to just give you some quick aspects of 101 on why I think the glory days of pinball, you are correct, they are among us now. Number one, generational. Pinball machines are nostalgic. They were created kind of at the birth of video gaming. Thus, individuals who grew up during the arcade boom, they have nostalgia ingrained into their neurological circuitry. And now they have the means to purchase that for themselves, to take them back to yesteryears of how they felt being innocent as a child. I think generational. I think you're absolutely right, because when we were young, and that is why so many people are in this age group. Not your you've got some time, Zach. But I'm getting there. I'm getting there. But it is because in the era of arcades, for 25 cents, you play the game. And at some point as a kid, you were out of money. And I think that that is something because lives were not unlimited and balls ran out. So when you had two quarters left in your pocket, it was six balls. And then you got to go home. Fighting for that extra game, extra ball, yeah. Yeah, an extra ball, right. there was more time, you know, so like that was that was really exciting. So the the limited number of guys, ships and balls in the arcade is an important part of growing up of my era. And I think that is also part of it wasn't everyone loves the games of their childhood, but there was something a different way of consuming it when you couldn't just restart a game when you had a bad first ball. Perfectly said. Number two, another reason why we are in the glory days right now listeners that people don't go out as much and americans you know not to not to stereotype americans kind of love collecting stuff social interactions relationships have become more and more virtual and online it's hard to take a pinball machine to your buddy's house that like you can't a video game cartridge right right it's it's you put you take it down the stairs once and it stays there and it stays there that's that's uh that's kind of why you know you get them into the home these are the glory days because uh you couldn't do that in the past. Even one thing about that is nice too, is it's something to collect that actually is fun to collect because you play it. It's not just a rare item. Or sports cards or something you look at. Exactly. Oh, this is rare. I mean, where the rareness is the value. Of course, rare pinball machines and customization is a part of that too. But at the end of the day, you get to play your collectible. And that is what else is as much fun to play? What other collectible is as much fun to play as pinball? The collectible toy that you can play that goes up in value It awesome Yeah Another reason that the glory days of pinball are among us listener is the media Look hate all you want but you know what happened as we started seeing pinball collecting and ownership take a sharp upward trend Bingo. Come on. Remember, everybody, stern toppers, they used to sit on dealer shelves. They wouldn't even sell for $300 to $500, and hell, that wasn't even but five, six years ago. It was also before flipping out pinball and straight down the middle. Sorry. Media is responsible for also creating a built-in relationship, in my opinion, with the creators. Never before in this industry, Andrew and listener, have people cared about the designers, the artists, the programmers. It wasn't even a thing. Media has painted the color into these stories, and marketing and sales experts will tell you time and time again, it's not always about the product. It's about possessing something that makes you feel included and intrigued. That's what media has done. I don't care who says otherwise. You're absolutely right. I mean, so two interesting points there. One is, yeah, think how far down we go into the team to appreciate their work. You know, of course, people always appreciated what the art is, but did we know the names of the artists? And, you know, code. I mean, code is obviously super key, but I mean, people didn't talk about code, you know, back in the day and who makes good code. But I mean, yeah, we know the difference between good and bad code. You know, you can't tell the game without a scorecard. You know, that whole thing is now you can appreciate the different people's different skills. And then the second thing is that customization. Isn't that funny to think that you used to just, of course, a pinball machine was a pinball machine, and now toppers and custom and mods and all these things. I want my game to be different and have some personality to it. So the tinkering part of pinball and making new code and putting in new rules and all this stuff here, who would have thought that pinball is a mod thing? But it is already, and it's going to get even more, obviously. And it correlates with our society's individual approaches to social media, right? Facebook, Twitter, everybody is their own individual. That's why so many people are not going into trades. They're going into the show biz. They're going into entertainment because everybody has their own story, and we get to broadcast it to everybody, which is why we see some of these things like toppers or customizations really hit home. And there's nobody that's going to tell you what you need. I hate to say this, listener, but we need media to kind of tell us what we want and what we don't want, what's in, what's out. That's what media does, and that's why showbiz works and has worked decade upon decade upon decade. It's the media. That's funny. You used to buy a magazine about movies because you wanted to know the story, and that's how you got closer because it's not just the movie. It's the story behind the movie and the actors behind the movie. And that media that you're talking about allows us to be part of a conversation about something where we talk about, oh, you know, what's Keith's next game going to be like? And we know the backstory. We talk to these people like that. That is. You feel included? That allows if you feel included. Absolutely. We couldn't have that back in the newspaper days. Yeah. Well, there was no pinball newspaper. Maybe we could have. But, yeah. Another reason the glory days of pinball are among us listeners is because of licensed intellectual property. This is, I'm a broken record here, but piggybacking off just the point that before we were making about nostalgia in general, it's just obvious now that known intellectual properties do sell. Same with, like, rules, code depth enhancement. These things have the depth of mimicking video games now. Remember when, like, arcade video games made this transition? arcade machines are still stuck with lack of depth where pinball kind of evolved that's funny we we have these big honking arcade machines you go into an fec or family entertainment center listener and you play these games they may only have 20 to 40 minutes of storyline you will beat them very quick and they they evolved because now they're home consoles but the arcade is very much the same whereas pinball has to be the same thing in both places so it has evolved with rules depth and code. And if done correctly, it can pull in that first-time player as well. Yeah, yeah. Hey, with the intellectual property question, that's interesting. Obviously, the bands that picks are those that appeal to the 40 and 50-something white purchasers. Do we get a rap-themed pinball machine ever? Because hip-hop has gone from a niche field, a niche thing where white people did not know what rap music was. I remember explaining it to people. I had a rap music show in college, and it was kind of an early adapter there. I remember joking once about, imagine someday there's going to be rap music in a McDonald's commercial, and that seems so ridiculous to us in the 90s. One day we watched it and I said, well, look at this. Here it is, rap music in a McDonald's commercial. As rap music becomes the music of America, of all America, do we get a Run-D.N.C. game, sort of like a dad rap game, a Beastie Boys game? Would that be funny? We will get that. We will get that, and that's because of the 90s. The generation of pinheads before us, that was the ACDCs, that was the 70s, the 80s guys growing up. Now that us 80s and 90s guys are getting older and we have means to do so, yes, we're going to see stuff like a Dre. We're going to see a Snoop Dogg. Those things are coming, and they're going to hit. You see this trend. Snoop Dogg, the pinball machine, that might be it. I was wondering, what is the first one? But he's got broad appeal at the wayside. Look at the Super Bowl halftime show, Andrew. Oh, my God. Wasn't that fantastic? Mm-hmm. It's coming. It's coming. Right now, we're still giving some of the guys their 70s and 80s stuff. But the 90s is coming. And I think over the next decade, especially over the next maybe five years even, we may see some sprinkle into pinball as well as everything else societally it has. Eminem, another candidate. Eminem might be the bridge game. Yeah. How about that? I would love that. Other things that really hit home for the glory days of pinball, technology. I mean, LCD integration, improved lighting is a huge thing. We talked about just the physicality of what pinball is. As a society listener, we've become numb to the experience of what audio video can do. It's in our entertainment. It's in our movies. It's in our songs. It's everywhere. Everything is digital. Everything is programmed results in physics. Everything is in the fucking cloud. Pinball, on the other hand, still relies on physics. It still relies on mechanical engineering. You cannot program a ball bearing and what events can take place on that play field. You can't program magnet reactivity. And you sure as hell can't program the feeling in your fingertips of a flipper as the ball hits it or the subtle sounds of hundreds of lights and coils working in unison as a symphony playing a piece that makes you simply want to cry. You cannot program randomness. No. How about shaking a ball out of an out hole and sometimes it magically climbs up and sometimes it doesn't. Why? Almost better than sex. Yeah. Shaking it out. Oh, it's pretty good. Oh, hello. Almost done here, listeners. My thesis for this week. The glory days of pinball are among us. I can tell you why. Because of collectability in general. Humans want what they can't have. Part shortages have injected even more fuel into this feverish equation. Add additional elements such as limited runs, hand-drawn artwork, aesthetics on high-end models, additional features that are limited to only a few around the entire globe. People want it. And you can play it. You can play it. It's scarce and you play it. You play it. Oh. And the last reason that we are in the heyday and the glory days of pinball is more recent. It's a pandemic. sure pinball was on the rise even prior to this but this global setback really sprinkled the seasoning into this equation people now stay at home more and the money that they would have spent on things outside of the home are now going into things that can entertain them and can keep their minds off of bad things in the world they're at home and why not do something andrew like you were saying that they can not only can play but holds value it's not consumable as if uh you know it's fruit. You can keep these things and these things have been running for decades. Absolutely. And with deeper and deeper code that keeps you playing deeper and deeper and not getting bored of it. I mean, that's a nice thing too, because you can just play it longer and play it more. The same investment or inflation higher, but you get so much more out of your pinball machine today than in the old days. Yeah. So listener, you heard it from Andrew Moskos and Zach Minney, the glory days of pinball are among us now. Now. And we just proved why. Man, you and I are a good team here. I'm not going to lie. All right, we just waxed poetic on these fools, Andrew. Feel pretty good? You know, people got to be schooled sometimes. People got to learn. Here's where they're going to maybe turn on us, though. I want to bring up to the audience. you were so kind and complimentary and you reached out to me to discuss my takes on competitive pinball and production and presenting this as a nice little spoon to the masses. I was a longtime fan, but the criticism you were getting there caused me to reach out because you are a visionary ahead of your time, Zach. This is absolutely right at this point. Oh, you guys, this is so funny right now as people roll their eyes. They have nothing to say because if anyone understands how to entertain and how to engage people, you are proof. You are proof. Objective proof. And they can't hate anymore. They can and they will. Look, I don't know if I'm qualified to say that, but obviously it would be in our interests if pinball – think how many funny sports are sports. If you watch – I don't know what's the highest ESPN these days. I don't know what's big. Cornhole. How is cornhole a sport? But I've seen people watch it and two people in a booth comment on it and talk about strategy and players. So why not pinball? Now, okay, the one problem is, of course, is that there's the shape of pinball. It doesn't film well. Yeah, no, let me just give that out. That's true. Is this true? The live stream thing with a small game on the right side, I don't quite have the perfect answer to that. So let me just say that I hear the traditionalists on that one. But why not make something that is consumable for people that aren't just the participants of the contest? Doesn't that make sense? It needs the equivalent of cricket. I don't know anything about cricket, but apparently it takes many days to watch a match. and they invented something. Oh, good preparation here, Andrew. They invented something called like 30-30 or 70-70, and it was like a faster cricket that purists, of course, hated, but now that is the popular form of cricket, and what used to take days now takes three hours or something like that. And it introduced it to the masses, and we need to find some way. I'm talking about big production. I'm talking about storylines that you see in other professional sports. pinball i don't think it's just going to be taken seriously who are we kidding we need loud players we need commentators that actually are more entertaining than the play itself that is the that's the key right there is and that's again comedy is at the center of this whole thing like darts why is darts a thing and it's partially because of what you're talking about we have people cheering and drinking uh in at these competitions you have commentators explaining the finer points. A player who's calling the action and then a color person who brings a little bit of experience. Let's start with that. And people that have a bit of charisma and wipe out the show. You know the show I'm talking about? So obviously it's fun to see people bounce on balls into the water. But the two hosts of Wipeout make that show. And the writers, you don't think that there's writers in the show, but they're setting up dynamics, they're naming people, they're giving us things that are going to come back later. Yeah, exactly. So you just need to put put two comedians who like pinball, maybe from an Amsterdam based comedy show, maybe in the booth and then have a competition happen around it. But, you know, one of the things you were complaining about is that the finals don't happen on a modern game. Yeah. What was the feedback to that? You know what? Here's what happens whenever I take strong takes that are correct that people don't want to admit. But I get a flood of emails. The majority of them are pretty nasty, and they're like, you're completely wrong. You're an idiot. You haven't been in this long enough. You don't even play in competitive pinball until you can play in a tournament once. Then you can't say it, which is complete bullshit. And then there are people – I almost read the emails, Andrew, as whispers. They're like, so, I mean, I totally agree with you, actually, because that doesn't make any sense why people wouldn't – or why they would not have new modern games to get more people hooked in. Nobody cares about these non-life. So I get a lot of feedback, but it's almost as if people that agree with me don't want to be behind me, but they just want to let me know, hey, you're fighting a good fight there. And then the people that disagree are very loud in it. Here's what you do. First of all, we do not attach concurrent competitive pinball. That continues exactly how it is because why make people mad? Okay. But we start a new league. We start this Cricket 2020 League where it is maybe short challenges that people have to knock out quickly in time. You know, so it's it's 30 second moments that pinball, you know, pinball kind of goes on too long for a layman. And then if you make it so hard, then it's kind of random if it drains or not. So it's got to be a new I'm watching winning time. The Lakers. That's a very. Yeah. So but the idea of the pizzazz and the sexiness and the celebrities component, but just like the energy of it. Well, and what I think, Andrew, tell me if you agree with me. For this idea that you're having here, I think commentary is of crucial importance as well as production editing. I don't think any of this stuff is live. No, not live. It's too long. This is all prerecorded. You take that snippets like that sports center. You know, here's here's the recap of the game. And then in post, you do commentary because then you can poke, you can create humor in this. You can have transitions that go to another screenshot. That's how you pull people in and get them to want to keep watching the sport. That's great. You have to introduce them to the things that are going to come up. And just like Wipeout, they do it afterwards because you have to know who's going to win. So you can set that person up as the underdog. Create the story. Yes, create the story. So it's not live. That's the key right there. the key to competitive pinball is you need to tell the story like it's sports so you need to have characters that have a backstory so that we care about them coming in and we know about their past performance and how it affects what's happening here then you need to explain the plot and the table and what is going to happen and what you should be looking out for amen then you have to make the story of how it whole thing builds because that's the key you need good commentary comedians maybe in the in the studio comedians would be great and and then uh and then i think you know don't do it live no yeah doing it live nothing nothing good is going to happen live unless you have a sport that's established that's why people watch baseball and basketball live that's why it's exciting live we're not there yet we've got we've got mountains of fucking mortar to get to before we get to that point we got to feed you first and by you i mean the general audience that's not even listening to the show. No, but you're exactly right. And do it in post because once you see how the game goes, then you do the commentary on it. That's the way to do it. But if you just wanted to do a better version of tournament pinball, I mean, explaining a strategy like just like every sport, there is a strategy. They have a plan. We can watch that plan being either executed successfully. We can see sometimes a switch happening in strategy. See, these are all things that if you had someone explaining it, maybe the characters are just in the booth. I can see that. I agree. The characters in the booth and then you and then or you treat it straight up like a real sport where you actually explain it to people because people seem to like it when they get it. It only has to be ESPN 7. We don't have to be anything higher than that. Also, this new system can attract sponsors and sponsors can mean cash payouts. payouts and viewership. So if you think about it as a show, as a TV show, as a business, as a league that makes money, as opposed to a league that crowns champions, that's what this new pinball tournament thing could be. Yeah, I think big tournament payouts via sponsorships is kind of where it's at. There's got to be a reason for competitors to be there, to do all of this, to really give it their all and for the viewer to watch. Like, holy shit, there's $100,000 on the line here, and these players really want to win this. And coaching some of these players, or maybe choosing some players that do have a little flair, that do hit the lockdown bar or throw a little tantrum like a child. I'm not talking about you, Eric Stone, Jelone. But a meteorologist by day, really pissed off pinball player by night. Like that, that is what sells that, you know, I, I hate to say it, but Keith Elwin in this format only sells because he's the stoic, cannot be beaten, doesn't say a word type of person. One of the greatest pinball designers ever. Otherwise you throw Keith Elwin out because he's a bore. Like I need people with. And dress them up and dress them up to support their game. I think a little bit too. Brendan Hunt when he was at the Emmys He wore a British Top hat and had a cane And had a ridiculous suit on Because that's Brendan Because he's this character who has costume changes In his life That's fantastic but you want those kinds of people Because you're kind of being cast And also in this new league Maybe you leave the actual Competition of the actual Top rating people That can come along later but it's almost like a contest Among interesting next level people. And those next level people with stories and characters and names and personalities, that's the reality show part of it. And I can hear people shaking their heads, and why would you have a competition that wasn't about the best? But there are always different levels of play. The general public doesn't know who's great or who's not great. For the most part, anybody playing in competitive pinball, for the most part, knows what they're doing, and they can achieve things that would be exciting if explained by a commentator to the audience. Pinball, like many things in life, are just kind of boring unless you're super into them. I think we've got to package it a different way. See, I'm not crazy, people. Ahead of your time. Ahead of your time. Oh, my gosh. Speaking of being ahead of my time, people, you know, there are some fans out there. I love you guys, and I'll take pictures, and, you know, 5x7s, Colossus, 8x10s, whatever you guys need. Autograph them. So, you know, I've been known. But what about when it comes to performance, when it comes to you didn't say pioneer, but I feel like that's what you're thinking about me. Are there any tips that you can give me or any improvisational techniques that what am I doing right? What am I not doing right? What do I need to work on? I want to get I'm a man of the stage. Come on. Zach, first of all, that's the right question is actors always need notes. What's going on? But most of my notes are positive with you because you do the preparation, which is key. You know what you're going to say. It can't just be shooting from the hip. But you are in the moment. It feels like you've got bullet points that you get through. You've got a couple of jokes. You're funny. That's nice. Yes, and. Yeah, yes, and. That's absolutely the core of improvisation. So someone says something, and then you build on it. So you have to be in the moment, which you are. So that's great. I think you see this as more than just the pinball content, and that's nice, too, because the show, that is what an actor and a comedian does as well, too. It tries to take a step back and think about the bigger picture, and I see that a lot with what you're doing. You are gracious as an improviser. That's always nice to make your partner look good. You've been wonderful with me, and you make your guests feel at home, and you're very respectful and nice, and those are fantastic. People are getting grossed out. Cut me down. Cut me down here. but you've got a little bit of an edge. You get mean, you get dirty. When you and Greg get a little vulgar in there, it's always like, whoa, this is a little jilt. Is it a little too edgy? I love it. I think it's great. I think it's good. I think that the showmanship is what attracts me, and that why you are the biggest pinball podcast in the universe huge of the pinball world that we work so much Sorry Nate Shivers Even he in Amsterdam and I got an Amsterdamian praising me Thank you. But, yeah, move over, Nate Shivers. Moscow's has got another flame here, and it's me. So what do I need to do different? What doesn't work? You know, I know some people will go market trends is what doesn't work, but I've got to respect. I like it, and I like that you double down on it, even in the face of adversity. All right, so it's none of my report cards okay. Yeah, your report cards, I'd give it a Greg Bowen B+. Man, there's a comic timing right there. Well, yeah, I mean, you said it, and I think it's time to jump in. Are you ready to get your hands dirty and your feet wet? Do it. Ladies and gentlemen, we've got a hard cut in five minutes, so we're going to get the celebrity out of here. Until then, we've got a five-minute session of pinball. Oh, you didn't think I was going to yell, did you? Mark your trends. Come on, baby. I did think you were going to yell. Here we go, trending up this week. We've got to do it. He's here. And somewhere over there that's non-U.S. is what we call it. We call it the U.S. and everything. But, and over there in Haggis Pinball, it's everything. But, somebody's bringing sexy back because trending up this week is Fathom Revisited Mermaid Edition. Merman. Now, did you ever, do you have any interest in the old classic ballets? Oh, I love it. The 80s, Bally stuff are so good, including that one, Fathom. But Centaur, Doosa. Oh, Medusa. I have a soft spot for that. Deeper cut there. Of course, 8-Ball Deluxe. What's the great era there? That's 81. What did they hear in 81? Class of 81. Also trending up this week is Champion Pub. There you go, Dwight. Basking the glory of this being trending up because it's only going to happen this once. I'm here doing the research and reporting the facts for you and Champion Pub went from this niche gimmicky game that was only, you know, it still held secondary value higher than a lot of the other comparable games of its time. It was selling a year or two ago for mid $5,000. But no, no, no. This little trophy piece now is in the $8,000s. It's a specialty piece that a lot of new pinball people want to get their hands on or those collectors that want to make a trophy out of. Champion Pub trending up in a big way over the last couple of months. Also trending up this week is Flip N Out Pinball, hiring entertainer and producer Greg Bone to the team. Yay! Welcome aboard, Greg. What's he going to do? What a charitable hiring. He's running. He's lead on tech. on tech repairs, submitting warranty claims. I told the guy that I would hire him for media. I would hire him to do videos. And he's so damn humble and friendly, Andrew, that he's like, I couldn't take your money doing that. I have fun doing that as a friend. So what else do you have for me? Because I want to be into pinball. I want to do something in this industry. So I said, I'm tired of doing tech calls. So he's like, yeah, absolutely. So he's been training. Fantastic. It'll be great to have him nearby. That's going to be a good hire, I predict. It's going to be so awesome. He's working on some of our media stuff as well. But I got you training up there, bony man. The bone is training up. That's nice and dirty. Unfortunately, this week training down is Led Zeppelin Premium. Oh, poor Led Zeppelin. There's that damn stairway. Now, did you guys see on Pinside, $7,100 something dropped on one of these Led Zeppelin drop-to? That's ridiculous. It's Led Zeppelin Premium is going down? That's crazy. I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know particularly why, but maybe it's the influx of Rush as a new band pin. I don't get it. Poor Ray Day is crying in Chicago right now. It's okay. You're a young buck. You've got plenty of years. You'll figure it out. But, yeah, Led Zeppelin Premium, one just sold for $7,100. Not that I have one used that I have listed for $8,600. It's certainly never going to sell, but that's okay. Maybe we'll get a little trend later on for that game. But right now, you can buy low on Led Zeppelin Premium. Also trending down this week is farting in your sleep. Sorry. Look, I was in trouble this last week. My wonderful and beautiful wife, Nicole, she was angered in the middle of the night by me. And she acted as if, listener, everybody farts in their sleep, I think. Usually not loud enough to wake yourself up. But she awoke me and she said, look, like, stop. And I'm like, stop what? She's like, well, number one, you're snoring. But number two, like you keep farting and it's horrendous. And I don't know how she can blame me for that, Andrew. I'm not controlling my farts in my sleep. When I'm awake, you can control that, but not when you're sleeping. You're a passive aggressive farter. Let's be honest. You're sending her messages. We get you. Hey, look, listener, it's not like I'm dropping a fucking deuce next to Captain Jack Sparrow while I'm sleeping. I mean, is that not relevant right now? All right, I can't tell you how gracious you have been doing this show, how much I look up to you, and how kind you are as a human being. And because of you, so many great things happened in media for me. This sounds BS, but I promise you, I'm cliche and I'm hokey at times, but it is genuine. And you have made me enjoy a lot of things in life indirectly and directly. So for that, thank you, much less coming on this joke of a show. Thank you so, so much, Andrew. Right back at you. I'm a big fan, and I'm glad that I decided to reach out and I get to do this show and then I get to listen to it. The sad thing is people are going to enjoy this so much they're going to beg for you to come back. So maybe in the future at some point would you be willing to come back? Absolutely. Absolutely. To combine pinball and comedy and being treated well, what's not to like? See what celebrities do. They'll lie to you and just, you'll love them. I want to be back before episode 199, though. That's what I want. Absolutely. Deal. And can you tell people where they can catch some of your work or any events you guys have coming up at Boom Chicago? Come to Amsterdam. That's really the way to come. We've got a theater in the center called Boom Chicago. And the comedy group is Boom Chicago as well. We've got a show right now about the metaverse called MetaLuck Next Time. We like to do shows about current things, and that's exciting. So Amsterdam, great city to visit, and Boom Chicago, great thing to visit in Amsterdam. And at Boom Chicago, I've seen your list of performers. You have some big up-and-comers right now, really big up-and-comers. Brendan Hunt said the current cast of Boom Chicago is the best he's seen in 15 years. So there you go. Coach Beard, he doesn't say much, but when he does, it's smart. And you know who loves Boom Chicago? They always fill up their cast with us at SNL. Yeah. It's nice. We looked at our cast, and most of them, as in more than half, are doing really big, exciting things. So it makes us proud that the Boom Chicago experience helps people find their feet and helps them have some part in their success. And that makes us happy. Absolutely. And you guys can check out more about Boom Chicago at www.boomchicago.nl. I believe that's correct. That's correct for the Netherlands, yes. Oh, yes. You can get tickets there, like Andrew was saying, into the metaverse as well as looking at the calendar, the schedule, and all things Boom Chicago. Thank you so much for coming on to the show and for being a new friend. Thanks. Thanks, Moscow. So I appreciate it. Yay. I will be back. If the listeners will have me, I will be back. Oh, you think that was a hard take that we took today? Wait until you hear what he thinks about John Borg. Oh. He's overrated. That's next time. Ladies and gentlemen, Andrew Moskos. Thank you so much. That was awesome. Oh, I respect that guy so much. I can die now and feel good about everything that I've done in pinball media. But the show must go on. And there's plenty of news this week that we did not get to cover in the main body of the show. So I'm going to run you through it right now. American Pinball coming out big in the news this week because AP hires Ryan McQuaid of the hashtag trendy Sonic Spinball Homebrew Pinball Machine. You guys have seen that. Many of you have played it, and everybody was yearning for that Sonic Pinball Machine. Is it going to happen? Well, he's a designer now at American Pinball. Wait a minute, wait a minute. I'm not going to try to make this controversial for controversial's sake, but I've got to say it. Do you guys think we're excited about Ryan's abilities? that's a great layout by the way side note or are we more excited about the sonic the hedgehog is a pinball theme i would argue both actually but i love you quaalude but uh we're probably five times more excited about a potential sonic pinball machine than we are about Ryan McQuaid's layout or coding or anything he developed in that home but i'm just keeping it real people i'm just keeping it real and you guys all are thinking it too now the bigger question here's the bigger question are we excited about the possibility of a sonic the hedgehog theme for pinball or i would argue we are excited not about that but we are excited about the sonic the hedgehog one two and three sega genesis video games the excitement is for the video games not for the theme itself we want those assets we want those sounds we want those music tracks we want those graphics. We don't want the 90s cartoon series. We sure as hell don't want the new films. We don't want Sonic 3D Blast or Sonic Adventure or, remember, Mario and Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games. Decent game. That's not what we're looking for. So I'm arguing that we do not, in fact, want Sonic the Hedgehog as a theme. No, no, no. We want the video games. We want 1991 through 1994. And in a future episode, I'm going to explain to all of you listeners why the 1990s will become very relevant in the near future for the pinball industry and some of the intellectual properties that you've come to love and now can afford and collect in the pinball hobby yourself and what we're about to see. Mr. Moskos and I talked about it And the intellectual property That we still hug dear and close to our bosom At night Is in the 90s And it's coming It's breathing, it's in living color It smells like teen spirit It's nothing but a G thing baby It's killing me Smalls It's go go Power Rangers It's a flawless victory It's California love But it's also under the bridge It's funny. It's a blockbuster. It's when the things that you love turn to mainstream. The 90s are coming, and my pinball door is wide open for it. Speaking of Sonic the Hedgehog and back to the relevance of American pinball, picking up Ryan McQuaid, a pinball convention happened this last week, the Midwest Gaming Classic up in Wisconsin. And like Ace Ventura, come to me, my jungle friends. I've got plenty of birdies. Plenty of birdies. We have plenty of birdies around, and I'm feeding them seed as they chirp in my ear the rumblings of MGC this last weekend. Ho, ho, ho. Now, I will tell you I'm not here reporting these as facts. These are conjecture. They're rumors. These are just what these little birdies are telling me. Don't kill the messenger. You can blast these little pigeons and sparrows from the sky. I'm hearing that there's something up with American Pinball's coder, Josh Coogler, maybe not being an AP anymore. Have we seen him lately? There was a stream recently on the Dead Flip streaming channel. I didn't see him there. Has Josh Coogler moved on from American Pinball? That's what I'm hearing from the MGC rumblings. I'm also hearing that while Ryan McQuaid was hired on at American Pinball, American Pinball does not yet have the Sonic the Hedgehog license. And not only that, we're going to double down on the little Wisconsin beer birdies, told me. They're drunk birds at this point. They're talking too much. Told me that not only do they not have the license, but a different manufacturer has attained the Sonic the Hedgehog license, potentially rendering it a moot point for Ryan McQuaid's homebrew to ever become a thing for that license. Wow, that's extra sunflower seeds for you, little birdie. Again, I don't know if this is true or not. That's just the rumblings that I am hearing. Nothing but rumors, but we'll see if they come true. But I can tell you it's no rumor that Haggis Pinball is bringing sexy back. Did you guys see the video that was recently released by Haggis Pinball? We talked about it in Pinball Market Trends. But last week, they showed off some Fathom Revisited Merman editions being tested and going into boxes. And the looks of that game from that video is the definition of pinball porn. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Grab a hold of my shooter, Rob, baby. Mmm, I'm about to light up your world. Like those blue and green and aqua LED light shows in attract mode. Ah! Mmm, check out my slippery, shiny cabinet. Want to know why it's so glossy? Ah! And the little boom boom in the bedroom ain't the only thing bouncing around. With those subwoofers in the cabinet of my phantom. Mmm, let's mix it up, baby. I've got new rules for our little game. Oh, don't tell me. Ah, yes. Surface, surface, help me. Don't tell. If the waters get too rough in this waterbed, baby, our safe word can be war-pembered. Okay. Hopefully, over the next month or so, we will see numerous Haggis Pinball Fathom Revisited games on location and in your homes. Sturm Pinball in the news because Loser Kid Pinball Podcast interviewed the main artist for Rush Pinball. That's Michael Michael Barnard. New to the pinball game, Michael talked about the process of getting into Stern Pinball, working with the team there, and about some of the highlights working with this intellectual property. You need to go listen to this podcast. It was very well done, and a lot of credit to the Loser Kids, because not only did they conduct a very clean and good interview, but they actually brought up some of the public criticism toward the portraits of the center of the play field that Michael Barnard received. And he was very gracious discussing this and his initial reactions and bigger picture kind of stuff. It was really great to hear those guys talk about what it is like creating art in the pinball industry today. Recommended. Speaking of pinball podcasts, Saps is back. The Super Awesome Pinball Show is back again, this time with another host. Last year they interviewed Lyman Sheets and Josh Sharpe, but with the untimely passing of Lyman Sheets, they delayed that interview. They have released that now. An overall good listen. Not a ton of new information, but there were some hitting points that I wanted to discuss here. Lyman talked about CGC kind of being a one-time thing. There were no written in stone plans to continue future games or going back to the older games that he had done to revitalize them code-wise. He said, quote, kind of a one-time thing. Found interesting. Lyman also iterated that he was a contractor. He wasn't a full-time employee of anybody after Stern. He was a contractor, and he had one client, which was Chicago Gaming Company. I found it interesting because there were rumors swirling around, and some of the stuff that I had heard was that after Stern Pinball, Lyman Sheets was or was planning on working at Raw Thrills, for whatever that's worth. But he said no. He was a contractor. He had one client. That was CGC. Also, it sounds odd, but Lyman was allocated, he indicated, the least amount of resources of all the programmers at Stern. Now, is that because of the genius that he was? Is that maybe difficulty working within a team? Was that because a lot of times he was working at home? Was that because he took longer to complete his masterpieces and they didn't want to bring a whole group into delays? I don't know, but it perked my ears up hearing him discuss having the least amount of resources of the programmers. And I didn't know this, Batman 66 was put into the place of what was supposed to be at Expo in 2016, Elvira and House of Wars. Eh? Didn't know that. Makes sense why Batman Code wasn't even close to being playable at the Expo 2016. And hell, I didn't know Josh Sharpe had been working on this Cactus Canyon remake project since, like, the Walking Dead times. 2000 what? 16? 2014? Josh Sharpe has been on this consultation team for a long time. And then in came Lyman Sheets, a good friend of his. Isn't it interesting how things are so much different behind the curtain? And how did Cactus Canyon even happen? Lyman Sheets said it himself on the Super Awesome Pinball Show. He said that Bally Williams needed to be a fill-in game between Monster Bash and Revenge from Mars. So they allowed three pitches from some of the creators at the manufacturing company. Of course, ultimately it became Cactus Canyon. But the other two pitches included Runaway Train and a Godzilla game that was pitched by Mark Wehner. So of those three, Cactus Candy made it. Reach out. You guys can catch me at the pinballnetwork at gmail.com. Like, follow, subscribe to all those things. TPM, babies. It's coming to an end. Get your submissions in. Make sure you're following at least two forms of social medias for the pinball network. You get some good guesses. Dennis Creasel made an appearance. Some of you missed it. little baby Dennis if there was a baby Dennis I'd bite him and I hate transitioning to the sponsor plug after that reminder but I want to remind you all of flipping out pinball distribution company for pinball arcade entertainment whatever you want product showcase this week is lead zeppelin accessories I've got the toppers I've got the armor I've got the shooter rods damn near have it all think I've got the banners too bye bye bye Buy, buy, buy! Get it while the getting's good, baby. We also have Guns N' Roses LE still with the Art Blades toppers, banners of those. We've got Insider Connected Pro Kits, Premium LE Kits. Ugh. Still waiting on. Stern, you are killing me with these Premium Kits and the wait and the back order for them. They're sitting on shelves at dealer. Look, if you guys have an order for the Premium LE Kit, at this point, ask for a refund from us. You can get it. If somebody else has got it in stock, I give up. I freaking give up. Or maybe we need to make a deal with Clint over there making the coin door accessories. I don't know. I feel defeated with the whole Insider Kits. But we've got a slew of games that just came in. We've got Batman 66 Elliot's been here a little bit. But we have the Star Wars Premium Comic pre-owned. I've got pictures up on our Facebook now. And for all of you, side note, all of you that want to know what's in stock currently, used pinball-wise or even new pinball-wise, one of the most recent posts on our Flip N Out Pinball Facebook page will always have a list there of what's available. accessories pinball machines go follow like that right now so that you can stay up to date with that and you never have to wonder what is available like a monsters pro pinball machine pre-owned boom it's right there deadpool le led zeppelin premium with mods a tmnt premium star wars le's a corvette godzilla accessories i think i may have one more elite pinball ij topper we're out of shakers right now for stern pinball machines we've got a lot ordered but merchandise you can get it all there at FlippinOutPinball.com. And remember, if there's a rumored title that you want or an accessory in an upcoming topper that you want, you need to email or text me and let me know so that I can get you in queue for that so you don't have to go chasing around whenever it's announced. This episode has been a blast. It's been a highlight for me personally. Thank you again, Andrew, and thank you again for coming on, Mr. Moskos. Thank you so much for following, listening, and continuing to support not only what I do here on the Pinball Show, but for supporting the pinball network for supporting straight down the middle for supporting flipping out pinball and everything else i got my hands and thank you so so freaking much for andrew moskos i'm zach minney always practice safe pinball and boom chicago up i will catch you all soon for the pinball show episode 100 okay acm i don't know who you are but i'm coming after your asm Let's go. It kind of inspired me with that whole little Glory Days pinball. So I was like, oh, shit, let me think about this, really. Great. No, it's a great point. I think it played well, too. Absolutely. Love it.