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Episode 86_Springtime Fun

The Spinner Is Lit Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·1h 50m·analyzed·Apr 20, 2026
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.030

TL;DR

Springtime pinball: regional tournament success and school field trip introduces kids to pinball.

Summary

Episode 86 of The Spinner Is Lit Pinball Podcast features three hosts (Spencer, Dan, and Mark) discussing recent pinball activities. Dan describes the "Battle of the Leagues" invitational tournament in Northern California featuring multiple regional leagues competing across main and side events, with his Lodi section placing well. Mark highlights a successful fourth-grade field trip to Comet Kingdom arcade, where 22 students learned pinball mechanics, history, and physics while playing classic and modern machines. The hosts discuss pinball's appeal to new players and educational value.

Key Claims

  • Terminator 3 Pinball is the only modern Stern machine with a pistol-grip shooter instead of a standard shooter rod

    medium confidence · Spencer, episode correction from Episode 85; hosts acknowledge uncertainty and note this may not be exhaustively verified

  • The Battle of the Leagues tournament included 6 regional leagues (CCPL Lodi, CCPL Folsom, Greater Sacramento Pinball League, Stanislaus League, Solano/Modesto League, and Tilted Sisters Ladies League)

    high confidence · Dan, detailed description of participating leagues

  • Rory from the Folsom section won the main tournament and the Folsom section took first overall in the Battle of the Leagues

    high confidence · Dan, tournament results

  • Dan and Adam Pressler won the NBA Fast Break linked tag-team tournament at Battle of the Leagues

    high confidence · Dan, personal tournament result

  • Fourth graders at Mark's school quickly learned pinball mechanics without explicit instruction, including understanding split flipper gameplay

    high confidence · Mark, field trip observations and student behavior

  • Comet Kingdom arcade has 40 machines available for gameplay

    high confidence · Mark, field trip logistics

  • Comet Kingdom will charge $5 per student for future school field trips

    high confidence · Mark, pricing arrangement with Cody (venue operator)

  • Students' favorite games at Comet Kingdom were comic book themed machines (Deadpool, Guardians, X-Men) among modern Sterns, though they also played and enjoyed classics

    high confidence · Mark, student game preferences

Notable Quotes

  • “Terminator 3...does, in fact, have a pistol-grip shooter. And as far as we know, after further communication between the three of us, we believe it to be the only modern Stern Pinball machine that does not have a standard shooter rod but a pistol-grip shooter.”

    Spencer @ early in episode — Correction and clarification on a unique Stern machine feature

  • “And so we had like a tag team NBA fast break tournament. So teams of two would play each other. And then at halftime, you had to switch out for your team member for your teammate.”

    Dan @ Battle of the Leagues discussion — Describes innovative linked game tournament format

  • “I learned to not monkey flip when I play...it means that you don't push the buttons all the time. You wait for the ball to come to flippers.”

    Fourth-grade student (quoted by Mark) @ field trip quiz discussion — Demonstrates student understanding of key pinball concept

  • “Mr. Scott, I got 100 million on my game. Like, that's really good for not playing the game ever...I got to this mode.”

    Fourth-grade student (quoted by Mark) @ field trip feedback — Shows rapid skill development and adoption of pinball terminology by new players

  • “Do you know what that means? Like, yeah, Mr. Scoff, I know what that means...Well, it means that you don't push the buttons all the time. You wait for the ball to come to flippers.”

    Mark (quoting student) @ field trip debrief — Demonstrates student grasp of monkey flip concept without explicit teaching

  • “And then what happened is they were able to make those shots and they understood, oh, the shots that are lit, we have to go for those. So it's really started catching on.”

    Mark @ field trip analysis — Shows rapid progression of student understanding of pinball rule systems

  • “It either tells you that A, it's intuitive and it's easy to figure out, or more likely B, you talk about pinball a lot more in class than you think you do.”

    Spencer — Commentary on how pinball exposure and knowledge transfer works

Entities

SpencerpersonDanpersonMarkpersonBattle of the LeagueseventCCPL LodiorganizationComet KingdomvenueJack and Jen JarrettpersonRorypersonAdam PresslerpersonMike Garciaperson

Signals

  • ?

    event_signal: Battle of the Leagues invitational brought together 6 regional pinball leagues for a full-day tournament with main event, side events (pin golf, Pinball Jeopardy, linked NBA Fast Break), and high community engagement

    high · Dan's detailed account of event organization, participation, and outcomes; full day event from noon to 9pm with multiple tournament formats

  • ?

    community_signal: Regional pinball leagues successfully collaborated on cross-league tournament, suggesting growing community interconnection and event sophistication

    high · Dan notes hope for expansion next year with potential IFPA sanctioning; organizers discussed adding open component for future events

  • ?

    venue_signal: Comet Kingdom arcade successfully hosted school field trip for 22+ fourth-graders with educational curriculum, indicating institutional adoption of pinball venues for STEAM education

    high · Mark's detailed account of field trip approval, curriculum alignment, student engagement, and plans for continued/expanded school programs

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Fourth-grade students rapidly developed pinball competency without formal instruction, learning rule systems, shot selection, split flipper gameplay, and proper etiquette within 3-hour session

    high · Mark's observations of students progressing from uncertain play to understanding lit shots, modes, and multipliers; student discovery of split flipper without being taught

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Pinball machines demonstrate 'easy to learn, hard to master' design principle that makes them inherently appealing to new players across age groups

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.332

0:00
Welcome to the Spinner's Lip Pinball Podcast, Episode 86, Springtime Fun. I'm your host Spencer and with me are my co-host Dan. Hey, what's going on? And Mark. Hey, everyone.
0:35
We got a lot going on. We'll get right to it, but first, I want to make a slight correction from episode 85 where we were talking about the Terminator 3 Pinball machine. For some reason, I thought it had a regular shooter rod. I think you and I, Dan, you and I talked about it for a couple minutes. I think Mark interjected. But I went back and double-checked it. It does, in fact, have a pistol-grip shooter. And as far as we know, after further communication between the three of us, we believe it to be the only modern Stern Pinball machine that does not have a standard shooter rod but a pistol-grip shooter. So any of the listeners that heard that said, yeah, we figured it out on our own. And anyway, that's the correction.
1:20
So you're setting us up for failure there, Spencer. Am I? I'm not trying to. We do not claim to know if any other Sterns have pistol grip shooter rods. At least I don't. I can't think of one other than the one that we mentioned. I thought all Sterns had the plunger. That's why I was like, oh yeah, it did have a pistol.
1:49
So yeah, isn't that weird? It's kind of cool. That's like the last team I can think of that has a pistol, right? Like we didn't come up with any others. At least it wasn't like an option like on Evil Dead.
2:00
Yeah, I think so. I think I feel like that's the same. I feel like this is the same way we started that topic last time. Yeah, I think so. We're all just running and we're all just running in circles here. Well, there's a lot of things out there, man, you know, which is good. And there's more being built every day. So we got a lot to get through this episode. A lot of good stuff going on. The weather's getting nicer. We got the show coming up soon. Less than a month. Yeah. So Dan, what you been up to?
@ field trip discussion

  • “You know what I find, though, is that kids, especially kids that don't see something like pinball every day, are just fascinated by the machine...choosing this amusement device over candy.”

    Spencer @ discussion of pinball appeal — Reflects on pinball's universal appeal to new players, especially children

  • “It's easy to start, hard to master, and it just tells you why these are so addictive and why they've endured for so long.”

    Spencer @ design philosophy discussion — Core observation about pinball's game design and longevity

  • “So that's what we've been doing. As far as tournaments go, I played in a – speaking of Comet Kingdom, I played in a 20 strikes, progressive strikes tournament.”

    Dan (or another host, content cuts off) @ episode conclusion — Transition to tournament discussion at episode end

    • Cody
    person
    Hectorperson
    Georgeperson
    Mike Hozierperson
    David Pisonperson
    Justin Kellyperson
    Sparkyperson
    Greater Sacramento Pinball Leagueorganization
    Tilted Sistersorganization
    Stanislaus Leagueorganization
    Solano Leagueorganization
    Stern Pinballcompany
    Terminator 3 Pinballgame
    NBA Fast Breakgame

    high · Spencer's commentary on pinball's universal appeal; Mark's observation that children preferred pinball over candy and redemption games

  • ?

    content_signal: Episode showcases hosts' active participation in local pinball community (tournaments, venues, education) and their platform's potential to promote pinball to new audiences

    medium · Hosts' involvement in Battle of the Leagues and school field trip; discussion of using podcast platform to influence community engagement

  • ?

    technology_signal: Battle of the Leagues featured linked NBA Fast Break tournament in tag-team format, indicating growing interest in networked pinball gaming at events

    high · Dan's description of tag-team tournament format with mid-game player swaps; Mike Garcia's technical setup of linked machines

  • $

    market_signal: Comet Kingdom positioning school field trips as affordable ($5/student) educational experiences, potentially opening new revenue stream for arcades

    high · Mark noting $5 per student pricing for future trips; successful first trip may drive expansion to other schools

  • ?

    community_signal: Field trip chaperones showed strong nostalgia response to classic machines (Flash, Addams Family, Black Knight), suggesting potential for arcade venues to attract broader demographics

    high · Mark's observation of parent/chaperone engagement with classic games and nostalgic reactions

  • ?

    operational_signal: Comet Kingdom successfully managed large group visits with diverse machines, proper game maintenance, and educational facilitation, demonstrating venue capability for institutional partnerships

    high · Mark noting no technical issues, all games working, adequate machine variety (40 machines for 22 students + chaperones), and custom educational materials

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Mark, a retiring teacher, positioning to continue pinball community engagement post-retirement, potentially volunteering at arcade venues

    medium · Mark's statement about potentially helping facilitate future field trips during retirement and considering part-time work at Comet Kingdom

  • ?

    product_concern: Pokemon machine arrived one week after Comet Kingdom field trip, slightly missing opportunity but not impacting overall event success

    high · Mark noting Pokemon did not arrive in time for field trip but came following week

    • 2:39
    More of the same. We've started the new season of CCPL Lodi and we'll be going into week two this week, which is pretty exciting. But probably the main thing was last weekend, a couple of our local league members, Jack and Jen Jarrett, they have a big pinball facility on the outskirts of our area. And they decided that they were going to have like an invitational event for all the various leagues in the area. They called it the Battle of the Leagues. And so it was the CCPL Lodi and Folsom sections. It was the Greater Sacramento Pinball League. It was the Stanislaus League. It was the Solano League. That's like the Modesto League and kind of the more kind of Bay Area leaning area. And then the I don't think I'm forgetting one in the Ladies League, the Tilted Sisters. And so essentially everybody showed up, they declared for a league, and then there was a tournament, you know, there was a qualifying, a targeted match play, and then a playoff. But then they also, it was like a full day because they had side events, right? So you had a side tournament for, you know, not pinball, but like Czech hockey, and then there was a side pin golf, and then there was a side event. And we went for Pinball Jeopardy, Pinball Trivia. And it was an entire day. Like, we showed up. It probably started at maybe noon, and I think we all ended up leaving that night around 9 o'clock. And, I mean, it was a densely packed day of pinball and pinball-related shenanigans.
    4:29
    And, you know, Rory from the Folsom section ended up winning the main tournament. And the Folsom section actually ended up taking first overall as the top league because they kind of scored each of the events as kind of its own thing, which was really, really exciting. But my Lodi section we represented. We didn't bring a lot of people, but everybody had an impact. We had, you know, a few guys make the playoffs. Playoffs, we didn't end up winning, but they were in the playoffs, so that was nice, which was Hector, Mike Garcia, and George all got in there.
    5:12
    I got nominated to be the Jeopardy guy, and that ended up being good because I just absolutely dominated at Pinball Jeopardy. I think a lot of that was just that I think I figured out how the buzzer app worked a little bit faster than everybody else. But, you know, whatever advantage you can get, right? And also George was hosting it, so I told him that there was a fix, but honestly it was just I was buzzing in and answering questions and just kind of ran away with it. And then one of the coolest things was Mike Garcia and Jack, the main host, they each have an NBA Fast Break. So Mike decided to, you know, figure out how they link together and to set up the NBA Fast Break link thing. And so we had like a tag team NBA fast break tournament. So teams of two would play each other. And then at halftime, you had to switch out for your team member for your teammate. Oh, cool. Yeah, it was it was pretty cool. It was pretty cool. Right. And so I played with Adam Pressler on my team. And that was a great choice because I pretty much started every game. Every game I handed Adam a two, three-point deficit, and pretty much every game he came back and won. And so, you know, through no actual skill of my own, you know, except for keeping it pretty close, we managed to win the NBA Fast Breakside Tournament. And the funniest thing about it was the one game where I handed him a small lead was the one where he almost cocked it up. So I think he just was feeling better playing from behind. So honestly, if you ask me, I'm going to say it was a strategy. Nice. You know, to hand them just a couple point deficit. And, you know, there were a lot of those games where like I was just getting annihilated and I had to storm back to keep it close for them. But, you know, linked NBA fast breaks are one of those things that I think Pinball is kind of starting to catch on to how much fun linked games are. And I've been hearing a lot more about linked NBA fast breaks lately. But if you do have the ability to make it happen within your group of pinheads, it's just so worth doing.
    7:33
    Yeah, absolutely. With a lot of people, it's a lot of fun. I'd like an incredibly small collection. I don't think it'd be worth dedicating two NBA Fast Breaks to. In fact, if you have an incredibly small collection, I don't know if it's worth dedicating the space for one NBA Fast Break to. You could probably pick a game where you'd get some more gameplay out of it. Right. But if you have a large collection and you have people over a lot because, you know, you need multiple people and multiple games worth of space. Yeah, it's it's super worth doing. That's cool. Now, what kind of what kind of Jeopardy question did you have? Like, can you give us some examples for the listeners? Like, what were some of the questions that you came that you were able to answer that were not as easy as they as they appear? There was a category about pinball abbreviations. There were several categories about the first time things happened in pinball, the last time things happened in pinball. There was one about pinball personalities. So I got to answer a question about Alex. Oh, cool. Yeah.
    8:39
    I mean, it's kind of hard to look back on, you know, something you did a couple weeks ago and go, oh, yeah, and then I answered this. But, you know, I think that of the questions that you would kind of think, oh, that's pretty hard, you know, maybe we didn't get them, right? But some of the trickier questions for some people, like I felt pretty good about knocking them down. And that's not to say that there weren't any other pinball students of the game and pinball aficionados that I thought could have gotten in there and just wrecked me. You know, Mike Hozier was playing, and he knows his stuff. Sparky was playing, he knows his stuff. A couple of the people in the audience, in fact, I was talking to a couple of them after the game, including David Pison, and he was talking, you know, about pinball trivia. And I was like, dude, why weren't you playing? You have an encyclopedic knowledge of pinball trivia. And he's like, oh, I helped write the questions. I'm like, oh, see, that's me. That makes sense, yeah. That probably would have been an unfair advantage. And then Justin Kelly as well, we were talking. I was like, why weren't you in there? You could have given me a run for my money. And Justin was like, oh, I helped write some of the questions. I was like, oh, see? He's like, some of those questions too, I kind of said, if Dan doesn't answer this, I'm going to be pissed off.
    9:54
    Yeah. So, yeah, it was cool. And I really enjoyed it. And I really enjoyed meeting people from some of the surrounding leagues and kind of seeing everybody put out their league spirit. And it definitely gave me some ideas, probably what we can do to up our game. But I was really proud of everybody who came and threw their hat in for Lodi and how well we played and how well we represented. And especially the fact that I think that a lot of the guys in the Lodi group were doing a lot to help the events. And a lot of the Lodi adjacent people who might have played for somebody else also did a lot to help the event go off without a hitch. You know, whether we were moving games around or whether, you know, we were keeping score or whether, you know, we were helping manage the tournaments and whatnot. Like there was a lot of really exciting stuff happening there. And then afterwards, you know, I met up with some of the guys from a few of the different leagues and we all went out for pizza and try to ride out the storm. And yeah, man, it was it was a good day. It was a long day, but it was a good day. It kind of makes me talk to, you know, we've talked many times about like that 24 hour tournament that you guys do in Reno. And it completely makes me understand that I would have no chance of doing that. Because after like eight, nine hours of somewhat less than constant pinball, right? Because there was a lot of sitting around, talking to your buddies, watching other people do stuff. Man, I was wiped out. I got home and I was probably asleep in ten minutes. Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah, I was like, I got home, I got my chest. A lot was going on. I mean, you have, you know, all those different variety of events, which really sounds like a lot of fun. I mean, a good variety of not your typical IFPA stuff, but, you know, like you said, like the pin golf and the head-to-head fast break. Yeah, it wasn't. It sounds like a lot of fun. I wish I could have attended that. Maybe when I retire I'll be able to come out there. Well, you have to join one of the leagues. That or I'll just have to convince them that you play for Lodi. Yeah, there you go. Well, no, I think the other thing is like we wanted it to be an IFPA, but because it wasn't an open. Oh, okay. Got it. We couldn't, right? So I think that next year, at least for the main event, there probably will be some open component of it. I can't speak for that. I'm not one of the organizers, but just I was having a talk with the organizers after and they mentioned something about that. So if they do another one, which, you know, I would hope that they do because this felt like a big success, you know, it would be awesome. I would love to attend again. I had a lot of fun being kind of a de facto team captain. And, you know, I probably got a little too competitive at times. But, you know, I really wanted my boys to represent. And I was just really happy to see that even if even if we didn't win the overall, the CCPL, who I still kind of consider the OG league in this area, you know, one of our chapters did. And that all the people who played for the CCPL really came out and, you know, showed them that even though we're even though we're the old dogs, you know, we still got we still got sharp teeth. Nice. That's awesome. What about you, Mark? You had some fun, some pinball-adjacent fun. I did, yeah. Just a couple weeks ago, I took my kids on a field trip to Comet Kingdom to play pinball and to learn about how it works. And it was my fourth grade class. I got about 25, or more like 22 kids at the time. Now I got a new student. But yeah, it was really a fun time. We went with another fourth grade class and the kids, I was pumping them up about it for like the last couple of weeks before we went saying, hey, you guys getting excited. And it was really awesome to see how engaged they were in the content. Cody did a good job. He had a little worksheet that they were doing that was some brief stuff like history of pinball and how it works and the different components and learning about what a solenoid is and learning about the plunger and then having some math and physics and stuff like that. He had a little bit of help from AI to do it, but the questions were relevant with our curriculum and everything that fits with fourth grade standards. And it was a great time to learn about electricity and physics with motion along with magnetism, electromagnetism.
    14:48
    It fit perfectly. And I think it's fun. And he got them to price 500 comic books. Yes, exactly, probably. They did. There were some kids that bought some dice, some kids that bought some comic books.
    15:02
    And it was just really awesome the way we had it set up. We only had two classes, so one class was set up to learn about how they worked. Cody brought out an EM, and I think it was Quick Draw or Fast Draw was the EM that he took out, and he opened it up and showed the kids the inside with all the wiring, and it was so cool seeing all the kids gathered around, excited about what they were learning, and then the other half of the class was playing pinball, and I was actually shocked how well that they caught on to play. Playing Pinball, I did mention, and it's funny, on one of the quizzes, it said, what was the one thing you learned about pinball?
    15:45
    And one of the kids, actually several of them, said, I learned to not monkey flip when I play. And I'm like, do you know what that means? Like, yeah, Mr. Scoff, I know what that means. I go, well, what does it mean? Well, it means that you don't push the buttons all the time. You wait for the ball to come to flippers. I go, okay. But do you know the origin of that term? No, they don't. From like the clapping monkey toy? No, no. They did not know the origin of it, but they understood. You got to get a clapping monkey toy to show them what it means. You know something? When I was in fourth grade, we went to a local business on a field trip too. Do you know where we went? Where'd you go? We went to the hardware store. Oh, okay. Like, dude, how much cooler would it be to have a teacher who took you to the comic book store to play pinball rather than going to the hardware store to, like, count inventory or something? Like, that's insanity. Your teacher drank, didn't he, or she?
    16:46
    Or she was going to the hardware store. You know, Mrs. Cole, she might have hit the bourbon when we weren't looking.
    16:53
    She was really a sweet lady. Like, I remember my fourth grade teacher pretty fondly. Yeah, I probably don't remember a lot of my grade school teachers, but I do remember my fourth grade teacher just because of the last name Culp. But she was nice from what I remember. But, yeah, I was just – while you were telling him about going to the comic book store, I was like, you know, we went on a field trip to a local business. It was within walking distance of our school in Fair Oaks, and we went to the Fair Oaks hardware store. There's some education in there, I guess. I kind of figure out what it is in fourth grade. I think it was like to see how a business worked. Sure, absolutely. How a business works in a community. Yeah, kind of start seeing what it looked like behind the counter and whatnot. But, yeah, I mean, I couldn't tell you what I learned there, but I know we went to the hardware store. And you still remember it. And that's the thing about field trips is we all know that you never forget your field trip. So what was so awesome is seeing how the kids were playing. They knew how to take turns, so like when they were going in and pressing the start button, they knew to press it a certain number of times for the number of players that were playing.
    18:03
    And that was really cool to see that. The other thing that was really neat is that they were definitely playing much better as they got acquainted with it. So at first they weren't really monkey flipping, but they really weren't knowing what to do. And then all of a sudden the kids were like figuring out the rules and they were going in and making sure that they were waiting for the ball to come to their flippers. And then what happened is they were able to make those shots and they understood, oh, the shots that are lit, we have to go for those. So it's really started catching on and I was really impressed with how the girls were playing too. They were having so much fun, and it was just an awesome experience to see everybody just so engaged. And it was great, too, because they didn't just go play on the modern Sterns. They went to go play on the classic ones, too. So they played, like, Flash Gordon that they really enjoyed, and they even went and played Flash. So it wasn't just the modern Sterns, which was really nice. Well, you know, the big strength, too, of the older games, especially for newer players, is while they are a little bit more brutal, they're also quite a bit more simple. Although I guess that the audio-video presentation of a modern game might seem more appealing to a newer player. Yeah, a lot of kids like playing Scorpion, and of course they love Indiana Jones. It was just so great to see them go from one game to the other. And it was awesome when kids came back and they're like playing Deadpool or whatever. And they're like, Mr. Scott, I got 100 million on my game. Like, that's really good for not playing the game ever. It's like, yeah, I got to this mode. And they were starting to already, you know, have the language of pinheads, of talking about modes and talking about getting a good score. And it was really exciting to see fourth graders really into it. And it's something that they'll never forget. I'll tell you one of two things, Mark. Yeah. It either tells you that A, it's intuitive and it's easy to figure out, or more likely B, you talk about pinball a lot more in class than you think you do. Exactly. I would say that it's definitely B, for sure.
    20:21
    Because, like, let's be honest, I know a lot of adults who don't understand if you press the start button four times, you're starting a four-player game. I know. It's like, why isn't this working? Because you don't have more than four players, bro. Exactly. Quit hitting the button. Start playing. And then this was the coolest thing. Then I was watching over and I was like, you guys knew about Split Flipper? And there were two kids that were playing and they had a ball playing. It was Guardians and they played it Split Flipper, which was so cool to see. And I didn't talk about Split Flipper at all. So they just were like figuring out. It's like, hey, Mr. Scott, look at this. We can play together at the same time if we take one flipper. I go, that's Split Flipper. Very cool. So it was just it was such a neat experience to see them just have so much fun. And I think they'll never they'll never forget this field trip ever. No. And I went and I went and talked with other kids, too, that went the following day that did not go with me from the three classes that were the remaining classes for our fourth grade. And they just had a ball, too. And they had so much fun. So it was a great learning experience. It was educational. But most importantly, they had a fun time being exposed to pinball. And what was awesome is when I came back from spring break, because we went like pretty much the day before spring break, they told me, hey, I went over to here to play Pokemon or I went over here to Comic Kingdom over the break with my parents. So it was, you know, getting the bug in their ear basically and getting them excited about pinball. And, yeah, kids really had a great time. So it was a fun experience. So it couldn't have gone any better. I mean, there were no issues with, you know, anybody getting hurt or, you know, weird things that come up during field trips. It was just a perfect field trip. We were there on time. Buses obviously didn't get lost, which was nice because sometimes when you go to a new place, even though they know where it is on the map, they don't know where they're going. So it was nice to see there was no glitches there and the games were working great. The only drawback was we did not have Pokemon there soon enough. Unfortunately, it came the following week, but it was okay. The kids had fun, and there were so many games to play. With Economic Kingdom having 40 games, it was really nice to have each student have their own game to play and learn the rules and play it and then move on to the next one. But what was great is I didn't see any kids taking off after the first ball and just letting it sit in the trough. They actually got through the whole game, played all three balls, and then they moved on to the next machine. So they even had pin etiquette. So it was really cool. It was really cool to see, and I'm really happy they had that experience, and it was a great way to end my career in teaching.
    23:05
    What do you think their favorite game was? Because I got a theory. I'll be honest with you. The ones that they really liked were the comic book themed ones, which were they like Deadpool. They liked playing Guardians. They also like playing X-Men. So, yes, they did like the modern Stern themes, but they also liked the classics. But as far as what I heard the most of, it was the modern Sterns. For sure. Wasn't Stern Monopoly? There were some kids that played Monopoly. They enjoyed it too. I know Cody got a really nice Stern Monopoly. Yep. Yep. That's right. And I know where he got it. Yep. Exactly. Yeah. So anyway, it was a great experience. The only time I can think of having a field trip even close to that cool was one year we went to some sort of like Central Washington State Fair or something or some sort of county fair to do something because I was in like one of the FFA groups and I snuck away and went to the arcade tent. So there you go. Nice. Arcade field trips. Awesome. Nice. Yeah. So I'm glad I did it. I was really worried that I wouldn't get it approved going to an arcade as a field trip. But my principal is so cool, and I justified it with many standards, and it definitely fit perfectly with the curriculum. So I think this is going to be a popular field trip that a lot of teachers are going to want to go to, especially in the upper grades, fourth through fifth.
    24:39
    I don't know, maybe middle school too, but probably mostly elementary. I'm definitely going to probably, during my retirement, maybe come out a couple of days and help facilitate the kids coming in there and answering questions and get them acquainted to pinball. It might be something I might do during retirement. You know you're getting a part-time job at Comic Kingdom. Yeah, you never know. You never know. But I think we're definitely going to continue it. And Cody was still gracious enough to allow us to be the guinea pigs so we didn't have to pay. But I think he's only going to charge maybe $5 per student, which is reasonable. And then, of course, then we've got to come up with the money for the bus. But I think it's going to be popular once the word gets around the district, and I'll probably be promoting it. So, yeah. Well, they learn, like you said, they learn about, you know, electrical systems and electronics and programming. Oh, there's so much to learn. Yeah. Angles.
    25:31
    Mathematics, yeah. Yeah. Mathematics, physics, scoring, multipliers. I mean, you name it. You could have a whole year of curriculum just playing pinball. There's a lot of science and a lot of math and a lot of art and history in pinball, you know, that the kids can learn and glean off of and go, oh, there's science. And they can apply that to other parts of the real world, you know, stuff later on in life. Yes, amen. And if you want that field trip to be free, you've got to teach those kids to clean glass and wax play fields. I'm sure Cody would just let him kick it down. Oh, there you go. Good idea. Yeah. Kids get home from school. Mom's like, why do you smell like turtle wax?
    26:16
    I went to a comic book store in waxed play fields. They're like, yeah, you're not going to school anymore.
    26:23
    Yeah. And it was a time of their life, man. It was the best field trip ever. I changed rubber and revoid flippers. It was a time of their life. It's just too bad we didn't have enough.
    26:33
    The time went so fast. We were only there for three hours, but the kids were just, yeah, they didn't want to leave. They had so much fun. Oh, we got to go. I'm like, yeah, we got to go back to school so we can have enough buses to take you home. So, yeah.
    26:49
    But that's cool. Oh, and on top of that, the chaperones had a time of their lives, too. There you go. They were all playing pinball either with their own kids or they were playing with other students or playing by themselves. But they were having a good time, too. And a lot of them were like, oh, I remember this game when I was a kid. So it was pretty neat to see that. That's always a fun thing for me where, you know, like it shows where you have somebody just randomly, they know somebody from work or, you know, a friend or a neighbor. Hey, this is Pinball Show in town. Come out and play Pinball. Oh, okay, I'll check it out. That sounds fun. And they haven't touched the Pinball machine in 30 years, you know. Right. They've gotten married and had a life and, you know. Become a grown up and they see a game like F or Black Knight or you know Flash or you know anything Addams Family And it like seeing an old friend man their eyes and their face light up and they giddy because they doing something they haven done in 30 40 years and just having the time of their life I always love seeing that. It was great. It was so cool to see the kids' eyes light up when they saw all those machines and they were just like in awe. And, you know, it's hard in today's age to keep kids engaged or even have their attention span for, you know, more than five minutes because usually with all the things that are out with the digital age, everybody has such short attention spans. And to see them playing a game and hitting start button again on that same game to get that feeling what we get when we play pinball was really exciting to see. You know what I find, though, is that kids, especially kids that don't see something like pinball every day, are just fascinated by the machine. Yes. Right? Yes. You know, I talk about, like, Halloween, right? And Halloween, I open up my garage door if the weather's nice and I have all the games on because it looks cool and I'll stand out and I'll hand candy so, you know, I don't have to have kids knocking at the door every two minutes. And kids will see those games and just be like, you know, hey, I want to stay here. I want to see what this is about. I want to try these out. You know, and this is a kid, you know, choosing this, you know, amusement device over candy. Wow. And it tells you, like, how good of a device Pinball is, why it's endured for so long, because there's just something fascinating about that design, right? And then you walk up to the play field and you look down at, like, everything there is to do, and it's just two buttons, so it's inherently understandable. Right. And, you know, while it takes, you know, it's easy to start, hard to master, or easy to learn, hard to master, and it just tells you, you know, why these are so addictive and why they've endured for so long and why when people get into pinball they get hooked so hard because, you know, it's made to do it. These guys, when they build these games, they know what they're doing. They know why they're doing it. You know, it's designed to suck you in and, you know, in an amusement context to, you know, fish some quarters out of your pocket and all those dollars. But, you know, yeah, it's really cool to see that, you know, when new people are exposed to pinball machines, pinball machines still do their job. Yes, they do. And, you know, again, and that there's, you know, lessons to be learned from everything. And we want this generation to continue, this younger generation, to get into the kinetics of an analog type of experience with a ball that's unpredictable and that joy of trying to get the best score or trying to get further in a game and giving them that opportunity. And it's really nice to see that if they're interested in this, hopefully it carries on when they get older and we can keep this fascination of pinball continuing through the next generation. And that's why next week Mr. Scott is taking his class to a pool hall.
    31:02
    They're going to learn about gambling. Yeah, there you go. How to hustle suckers out of money. I even said to the kids, I said, so what do you think? Do you like this better than the redemption games where you have like two seconds of entertainment? And they're like, yeah, this is way more fun. I go, cool. I say, well, you can always come to Cowboy Kingdom and check it out because it's always open to kids. And they're like, yeah, we want to come back. So hopefully get them hooked on it. And like I said, the fascination continues and the desire to do something other than sitting on your phone all day long and getting out there. Hooked on phonics, we can help. Yeah. Simple Minds.
    31:50
    That's right. So that's what we've been doing. As far as tournaments go, I played in a – speaking of Comet Kingdom, I played in a tournament. Speaking of Comet Kingdom, blah, blah, blah.
    32:01
    Speaking of Comet Kingdom, I had a chance to play in a 20 strikes, progressive strikes tournament. That is a lot of strikes. And that was a long time. That was done. It started at 11 and it didn't get over until about 7 o'clock, 8 o'clock. And I had it. I was ready. I was like way ahead. I had like 105 points because it was, I forgot exactly. I'm sorry. It was not strikes. My bad. It was strikes in the finals. But it was match play in the beginning. And I was way ahead that even if I lost one or two games, I would have been still in first seed. And I thought I had it. And then as always, this happens. I'm sure it happens to you too, Dan. You do so great in qualifying. And then all of a sudden, it just goes to hell after that. I played a couple of games and I was doing great in the beginning. And then when I knew, I thought, okay, I've got this easy. I have no strikes on me. I'm good. I just have to just keep this pace of, you know, not getting last. And sure enough, I ended up tying with the same amount of strikes, and it was the last game. And, of course, it was one that I'm not real good at, and it was Comet. And I got destroyed on it, and I got stuck in place. So there you go. That's what Comet does. I wish that was my problem. My problem these days is I don't seem to get through qualifying. Like I get right to the edge, like I'm right there, and then it just doesn't go through. Yeah, I know. And it's so frustrating because it's always one shot, right? It always comes down to that one shot where you always say to yourself, it would have, should have, could have, right? And that's with any kind of sport. But pinball especially, it's like if I just would have took my time and waited to shoot the shot instead of thinking I could just get it on the fly or whatever, just stupid mistakes, right? Right. So, you know, and looking back, right, it's easy to tell you that. But it was like Spencer and I were talking, I think, either when you were off or before you came on about last season of the league. And, you know, when when you're in the top four, you're just like, yeah, you're like, OK, now that I'm here, it's fine to leave. You know, if you don't qualify like that's that hurts. But, OK, you know, wasn't meant to be. Or if you buy out early, it's like, oh, man, that was a rough day, but it wasn't meant to be. It's worse when you get close. Ah, tell me about it. And like you're in that top four, then you're just like, well, I don't want to leave without a trophy.
    34:33
    Like at this point, I'm close enough to some hardware to where it's like, oh my God, that's when it gets stressful because you're just like, now I have to make it happen.
    34:44
    Absolutely. And the thing is, I had Doc Ock started and I was thinking, I can stack this with Black Suit and I'm good for Spider-Man. The problem is that those things don't happen in Comet. No, they don't. Like, I don't know how you're playing Black Suit Comet, but, I mean, that must be a hell of a game. Like Comet 2.0 or something.
    35:04
    Well, I didn't have to play Comet if I would have won that stupid game on Spider-Man, but I didn't because I didn't hit the left orbit to make it start the Black Suit Multiball. Even when the Doc Ock Multiball was over, all I had was one shot to start it, and I could not hit that left orbit to save my life. I tried brick, hit it again, brick, hit it again, couldn't hit anything. So I'm like, okay, do I go up the middle and just complete Sandman, and then I'll be good? No, because then I'll probably drain it right down the middle. So you'd make all these decisions, right, in a split-second timing, and you're like, okay, I got this. I can do this. But no, couldn't hit it. And I lost on Spider-Man by only 2 million, which really hurt. And then it was like, oh, what's the next game? And, of course, Mike picks one that goes real fast so we can get out of there, and it was Comet. And, yeah, I was trying to get the multipliers up, but couldn't make the shots, couldn't make it around that left spiral ramp to get all the rollovers lit to get the three times and the four times and, yeah, no dice. Grind out some ramps, baby. I tried. I tried to grind ramp, but I had to get it lit first, and I had to go into those tournaments. Grind up the ramps. I know. I know. So anyway, that was my experience with that, and that was a lot of fun. And it was a great tournament. There was only 11, so I think people were starting to get a little burned out with so many tournaments happening. But it was still a lot of fun, and it was a good format.
    36:33
    And Comic Kingdom. That was the one at – Yeah. At – what was it? It was at Comic Kingdom, which was the 20, yeah, it was the match play, 20 rounds. The Cal Neva. Yes, so the Cal Neva one happened, that was two weeks ago, and that was a great turnout. We had like 30 people that showed up, and what's really cool is Jason has a deal with Cal Neva that they throw in $100 added to the pot. So you go in and, of course, you pay your fee, which is I think you only charge like $5 or $10 or whatever to enter the tournament. And then, of course, $1 goes through IFPA. But then on top of that, they add $100 that Calneva just throws in into the pot. So obviously it's going to get more people to show up for that incentive.
    37:27
    And it was great to see so many people hang out up on the mezzanine. If you've ever been to Calneva, you can overlook the gaming floor. And then up on the mezzanine, there's all these arcade games, which in this case, thanks to Jason, he provides all pinball now. And he's continuing to add more to the collection. I think he's got like 12 games, and I think he's going to add more for this tournament that's coming up on Thursday night. It starts at 7.30. And if anyone is in town from Sacramento or coming to visit Reno, it's a really fun tournament. We had a couple that was from Sacramento that came in because they were staying for a couple of days and they heard about the tournament. And they were hooked and had a great time and stayed the whole night, obviously, once they got into the tournament. And they want to come back when we have the next one. So it's a great tournament. It's at Cal Neva over in downtown and starts at 730. And great games to play. It's going to be a Pokemon launch party that's coming up. So it might be a little more points with having to have a launch party and it should be a good time. So that's coming up on this Thursday. And then, of course, there's plenty of other tournaments every day. I think the only day we don't have tournaments now is Monday, which is insane when you think about it.
    38:48
    It's kind of insane, especially really when you decide you want to play in all of them. That's when it gets even worse. Where it's like, okay, when am I going to be home? So I have to pick and choose and choose wisely. So, yeah. But it's really cool to see that. Underground also has tournaments too. So just check on IFPA calendar. They're all there. And if you ever come to visit Reno, any listeners that are hearing us right now and you're around the Reno area, come on by and get into a tournament. It's a lot of fun. Yes, somebody will let you tournament.
    39:24
    Absolutely. So, yeah, that's what's going on. I'm looking forward to Golden State and there's more tournaments, like I said, this week. So, yeah, and counting the days until I retire, too. So that will really make things even better when I go to Golden State because, yeah, I'll have that in my mind. So did you sign up for the Golden State tournament, Mark? I did. I did sign up. I got in for the Friday. I did Friday. I heard this off one real quick. We're talking 10 seconds when I re-brushed the screen. They were gone. Boom. Like if you thought about it and you heard about it, like somebody call you five minutes later, you're out of luck. You probably have 30 on the waiting list. But, yeah, I chose Friday just because I can get in and play pinball before the show opens. And it's usually over by dinnertime. So I'm looking forward to it. I was originally thinking I was not going to sign up just because I wanted to not worry about playing a tournament. But it is a lot of fun, and it's very – it doesn't matter really for me as much unless I really want to try to get, you know, whoppers for, you know, world. But I just – it's just a fun time, and target match play is always one of my favorite formats, and you get to play a lot of different games that might not be on the showroom floor. So, like, of course. Here's the DLI. I know I hate to cut you off, but we're kind of wandering because we're going to talk about the show. I'm probably going to talk about the show. But first, our man Spencer got to go do something really, really cool. And speaking of a wait list, this place apparently has a monstrous wait list, which makes it even cooler that he got to go.
    41:05
    Cool. Well, let's hear all about it. Yeah. So this, yeah. So we went to Casa Bonita. Boom. There. So what does that happen? Casa Bonita. Yes. So if you've seen South Park, you probably know about Castle Bonita. And this actually started in talking about wait lists. There is a wait list. It's actually gone down.
    41:32
    And just to the point now, I don't know if you can just walk in yet because it's been open for a bit.
    41:39
    I read it was like months long. Yeah, Rusty put in six months ago for us. That's insanity. Yeah. So originally she wanted to take me for my 60th birthday last December. I said, you know, that's our busiest season. There's no way I can get any time off. I love you for that. That's awesome. And so she goes, okay, why don't we take Malcolm for his birthday and we also get to go. Perfect. April. Yeah, that's great because I can get plenty of time off in April, just not in December, two weeks before Christmas. That's our busy season. Really busy. I mean, we're like, you know, Santa's little elves and stuff. So anyway. So assuming everybody knows what Casa Bonita is. Yeah. It's a Mexican restaurant, but it's like an entertainment event. Yeah. It's got cliff divers inside the restaurant. It's got walkthrough, like attractions.
    42:35
    Yeah. So Casa Bonita, it is a Mexican restaurant, but it's a lot more. I mean, they've got, you know, obviously, Dan, you mentioned cliff divers. So there's like a pool and then there's like it's like three stories. So there's a balcony and we we are seats. Rusty paid extra money. So our seats were right at the balcony where the cliff divers come just as they were. So they bring in. You have a time frame. They bring in and they sit you down and go, don't leave. Don't go anywhere unless you have to go to the restaurant. That's OK. We're going to bring you food. You're going to eat. Enjoy the shows. After you're done, you can wander around as long as you want. Like, OK, cool. Because then they have the table for somebody else. And they have it set up really well. So you'll hear stories of people who used to go there years ago like, oh, God, the food wasn't good at all and blah, blah, blah. So what happened was the guys that do South Park, Matt, Stone, and Trey Parker, they bought the restaurant. It had fallen into disrepair, gone out of business after COVID. And they spent $40 million to revitalize this. They brought in a master chef whose expertise is in Mexican and Southwestern cuisine. The food was dynamite. The experience was dynamite. They have a cool arcade.
    43:52
    You know, they have puppet shows. They have, you know, all kinds of stuff for all ages. They bring in the sopapillas after your meal, which is good because otherwise you just keep ordering those and eating those. I had a local brew. It's called the Casa Beer or the Panina Beer. I forget. Real quick, before you go any further. Yeah. What is the Sofa Pia? Sofa Pia is this weird little fried dough thing and cinnamon and sugar in there. So like a cinnamon crisper at Taco Bell? But like, oh, my God, like you just want to like strip off your clothes and go, let me just roll around in these naked and eat them until I die. You know, I mean, they're that good. You know, just be bringing them. I had to know. Yeah, yeah, sort of. It's like, it's, yeah. It's a Mexican donut? Kind of? No, it's not even a donut. It wouldn't be, it's, they're super light. Almost like. Well, do you remember before Taco Bell had Cinnamon Twist, they had Cinnamon Crispas? Yeah, more like that. But it's like a little cinnamon dough pillow. It's light and chilly. Yeah, and they're like a puppy. Like a puppy. Like a deep fried. Yeah. Yeah, so it sounds to me like it's probably like a Cinnamon Crispa. Kind of like that. Cinnamon Crispas were freaking great. Oh, yeah, yeah, I remember those. Those were pretty good. But these are like next level. And they just, you know, they're included with your meal. And if you run out, you ask for more, they'll bring you more.
    45:21
    You put up your dinky little flag, right? That's what Cartman did. Anytime you want anything, you want another drink, you want more food, you drop your fork, you have a little flag at your table. Thank you, Dan. And you just raise your little flag. And that's in the South Park episode. And I'll repost the pictures. I post some of the pictures a couple weeks ago when we went like three weeks ago. I'll repost on our Facebook page. Up in the third floor balcony, there's like a life-size Cartman with a bunch of food. He's got his little flag up and you can go and get pictures with him. And we did that. Of course, there's a gift shop and they sell all the usual stuff, posters and puzzles and coffee mugs and all the wares. And they sell an interesting little item, which I'll get to. It's a miniature pinball machine and it's a Casa Bonita pinball machine. And the reason I bring that up is because in the arcade, they have two Casa Bonita pinball machines. I'll repost pictures of that to our Facebook page. And what they are is they're a custom, I guess, two off because they have two of them identical. And they're the Wonelli, Big Juicy Melons or the Pabst Can Crusher or the Primus layout. If you've played any of those games, it's that same layout. So it's a very simple, based on an old Gottlieb game from the 50s, I believe. Two-inch flippers, you know, pop thumpers, some stand-up targets, some star rollovers, some regular rollovers, pretty real basic pinball. But theirs had custom call-outs. They talk about the sofa. In fact, when you start a game, it's like, you know, it's time to eat sofa pias or something to that effect. It was hard to hear because there's a lot of other games in there and kids and adults having a good time.
    47:17
    But I'll repost all the pictures and video. But I got a couple of videos. The first game I was playing, I actually was missing the right flipper rubber. Other than that one, yeah, I know. But it still played good. But both of them played good. Pinball on location. But they were clean. You can see they were well maintained. It was a busy Saturday. That place was packed. And the waiting, like outside the line, and it's in a strip mall. So like on one side is like a bar and grill. On the other side is a dentist's office and then a dollar store, a Dollar Tree. And there's a bunch of other stuff, but it's in the strip mall. I always kind of pictured it as more of like a standalone. It's not. It's literally in a strip mall. It's the weirdest coolest thing. Like a Farrell's or something. Yeah. I would have talked to that. Oh, my gosh. You remember Farrell's too? I love Farrell's. You know, we had one in Sacramento like not even that long ago. No, it went out about 2018, 2019. Yeah, like during kind of that last, they took like one more, one more. You know, the Farrells in Sacramento has got a funny story and Spencer probably knows this. I know. There was one over here off of Freeport right by the Sacramento, one of the Sacramento airfields that got hit by an airplane. What? Yeah. Wow. Birthday party. Yeah, people died and everything. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, back in 1970. The one that I went to was over on, it was over off of Arden. Yeah, it's a, it's a. Arden, okay. It's a factory now. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. No, I thought it was on Arden. They gave me a black Angus, but they tore it down and they built the Farrells. And I was like, dude, Farrells is amazing. I remember going there and I was like, man, hopefully this place will last forever. Nope. Yeah, Mark, just think Casa Bonita is kind of like a Mexican restaurant Farrells. Or they call it the Disneyland of Mexican restaurants. Disneyland, okay. You can spend hours in there. There's a museum. Because they've been around since like 1973.
    49:19
    But the Pinball machines were really cool. They also had the Pong, like that Pong table. Seth and I played a game of that. They had a shooting gallery. They had a root beer stand where you go up and sit on a saddle. It's like an Old West bar. And you pick from local tap root beers. And they give you a mug, which we have. Seth's got some. I was so full by this time. I'm like, I don't really want to try the root beer. But I was just full, you know. So I'm like, it's like, Seth, go ahead. And so Seth and Malcolm were just getting over. Seth, Malcolm and Rusty were just getting over cold. Everybody got sick but me. And then it was like a week before, and it was like, we're getting ready to go. Mickey's down really sick. So he's like, I'll just stay home. So his birthday is three days later. So we went out and did a nice dinner, and I presented him for his birthday. No, we went here. Talk about how weird. He's got this weird thing. He's like, I've never been to Outback. I'm like, you're not missing a lot. He goes, but I died to try the Bloomin' Onion. I said, fine. So Rusty and I, the boys, where other boys were working, I said, well, Rusty and I took Mickey for his birthday, and he got steak and lobster and the Bloomin' Onion, and I presented him with four seats. We're actually on the first rise. We're right behind the soundboard for his favorite band. I got him Weezer tickets. For their current tour. So in September, he and I are going to... Did he get the Chocolate Thunder from Down Under? He did not. We had cake at home. That sounds like a Mickey thing to do. I guess he's like a man now, so... He's 17, so yeah. So, you know what, uh... Let me know one more side story about Outback. I just got to keep taking this off the rails. It's my day to be Spencer. Okay, go. So when I got my current job, wherever we went and did like the interview or whatever hotel we were staying at, whatever it was by an Outback Steakhouse. And my new boss, my boss-to-be was like, hey, what are you doing for dinner tonight? I said, hey, I'm going to go to this Outback Steakhouse. And he's like, I've never been to Outback Steakhouse. Like, how the hell has somebody not been to Outback Steakhouse? I said, well, you know, let's go to Outback Steakhouse.
    51:26
    So I take my boss-to-be to Outback Steakhouse. And, you know, the funny thing is he's kind of impressed. I hope Mickey liked Outback Steakhouse because I'm a fan. And so, you know, we eat our food and he's, you know, pretty impressed with the food and the value and even the wine list. And we get to the end of the meal and he's all like, I kind of want this chocolate thunder from down under. And I'm like, you should order it, man. I'm like, go for it. Live a little bit. And he's like, you want to split it with me? And I'm just like, nah, I'm not splitting ice cream with my boss. I'm like, yeah, I'm not doing that. But it was funny. So I'm glad that he got an experience out of it. It doesn't sound like it was probably as good as Castle Bonita, though. No. I don't know. Outback's pretty good.
    52:15
    That Outbacker, it's a serious thing. Yeah, you know, we had a good time. We had a nice dinner. We had a good time. I mean, he's just like, like he had to call like one of his best friends is a huge Weezer fan. So he had because he got, when we went to Weird Al last summer, we went, we just got, you know, regular seats. But his friend's grandma bought him and his mom tickets with the backstage and the meet and greet, which was really cool. You know, I'm happy for him. But when Mickey called him because I'm going to Weezer and we got seats right behind the mixing board, dead center stage. So his friend's like, dude, I'm so jealous. So anyway, so, you know, Mickey's real excited about that.
    52:57
    And yeah, I mean, you know, it was a really cool experience. And the thing about Casa Bonita that, you know, we've all done stuff like that over the years. And sometimes it's like, oh, one or two things are really great, but oh, God, that wasn't good at all. Or that was a little disappointing. There was nothing there that didn't go beyond our expectations. The food was good. I mean, really good. The service was good. You know, literally the second because they do the divers every 20 minutes. So as they're seating us at our table, there's the divers. You know, and they put on a little show and, you know, the arcade was great. Almost everything. The only thing that wasn't working at the arcade was the shooting gallery, which we're kind of bummed about, but we've done them before. You know, if you've ever been over to Scandia in Sacramento, they have a pretty good shooting gallery. It was on par with that, what it looked like. But, yeah, man, everything was just really, really cool. And we had a really, really good time. And it's, I don't want to say it's affordable, but you're going to say, like, we got the executive seating and all that. And it was, like, basically $50 a person. And that included your meal, you know, and all that. I mean, you know, you had to order off the menu, but that was about what it was. So, and we made advanced reservations. From what I understand, it's been long enough now that the reservation time is going down. But there was a guy there making balloon animals and stuff. Cool. That was kind of cool. You know, kids are waiting on line for that. They had a fortune telling bird you could get, you know, the card. I'd run out of money. You know, we'd all run out of money on our cars and didn't want to reload $25 on a car to get our fortune told by a bird. But there's face painting and, like I said, puppet show. I mean, if you watch the South Park episode, they kind of go through a lot of that. But they've really spared no expense to make it a destination and a real event. So if you ever find yourself in the Denver area and want to take your family, definitely, definitely worth going to. Man, forgive my family. If I get to Denver, I'm going. I would love if you guys came out and we would all go to Castle Bonita because we've got to take Mickey anyway. Mark already going to take his class on a field trip there Right Yeah Raise a thousand We good Exactly So So did you know when you decided to go that they had their own pinball machine there or is that just like a like a fortuitous discovery I did know. And the reason I knew is because I'd seen somebody post something on there before. So I went, oh, okay, well, that's, you know, that's cool. That's going to be a bonus. So I was real excited because I'm like, okay, you know, this is something new we can talk about on the show. And I looked it up and I thought it was like, oh, does he commission Stern? It wasn't Stern that they commissioned. It was a private, like a guy that has a, I think he sells two molecules. He does restoration and stuff. He does custom work. So I'm trying to research it more to see if I can reach out and get an interview with them. Because you've got to wonder, like, so if, you know, because Stern does those builds, right? So, yeah, if it wasn't a Stern one, like, I wonder if the guy was able to buy, like, generic playfields from Stern or if he, like, re-themed a Woe Nelly or it's just, it's pretty cool. And I, for one, had no idea that they had custom machines until you posted those pictures. And I was looking real close at them to see if I could tell was that a Stern build or did somebody convert a game that Stern had already built? Did it used to be a PBR or did it used to be a Woe Nelly? So, dude, those are pretty awesome. They are. And the fact that they sell a little miniature one, the miniature toy one, it doesn't do anything. It doesn't light up or anything. It's just, you know, sitting on your desk. I almost bought one, but they were $40. And I'm like, I don't really want to spend $40 for just a little paperweight because I've got enough shit on my desk, you know. But, you know, and you can order them online. You can go to their website and go to their store. I should have picked up a jigsaw puzzle because the puzzle they have is of the back glass of the game. And I also posted on our Facebook page, you can go look at it, a close-up shot. There are two plastics on the game, because each game is identical, that have references to South Park. And one is in the upper right-hand corner, and it's cartwing, like, sitting in a little cave or something. And then the left flipper inlaying plastic, if you guys know South Park and know the episode, it's of the underpants gnomes collecting underpants in a little mine cart. So if you know South Park, the lore of that, you'll know. But yeah, it was a real fun experience and getting to tie it in with Pinball was also real neat.
    58:09
    Evidently, isn't it? Didn't Trey Parker, they bought it, didn't they? Yeah, Matt Stone and Trey Parker could just like Ferrell's, like if you've ever went there as a kid for your birthday or someplace like that, Chuck E. Cheese, Apparel, any of those type of places and had a good experience. That was their place to go for an anniversary or a birthday. And when we were kids growing up in Colorado, that was, oh, my gosh, you know, I get to go to, you know, we're going, you know, my mom said we're going to, just like in the South Park episode, we're going to go to Casa Bonita for my birthday and I can take three friends. And they knew it was, you know, falling into the disrepair and eventually closing. And they were talking about, so we've got some money, let's buy it. Let's fix it up and reopen it. That's cool. You can enjoy it. People can enjoy it. Yeah. And like I said, they spent, you know, I saw a quick interview with them. And there's a lot of YouTube videos of them. And then you go watch YouTube videos of, you know, the actual people reviewing cast of Bonita because Malcolm didn't know where we were going. So the night before we left, mom was working. He knew we were going to Denver for his birthday. That's all I knew. So I said, OK, so now watch this. I showed him a South Park episode because that's really funny, dad. And then I showed him a guy reviewing, I said, yeah, Castle Binnies, this is a real place in Denver. That's where we're taking you for your birthday tomorrow, bud. And he's like, dude, that's so cool. So the other guy got him really excited, you know. So, yeah, so it was a really cool thing that we got to do that and got to experience that. It was a lot of fun. I would do it again. Like I said, it's one of those few times where there was nothing there that didn't go beyond my expectations in a positive way. So definitely worth checking out. And if you're a pinball fan, definitely worth getting a game or two because, you know, you can say how many people in the pinball circles can go, I put in Pat Casabonina games. Right. So check that off. Talk about ultra rare. Only two in the world probably, huh? Yeah. As far as I know, there's only those two. So, yeah. So that's going to definitely be somebody's like most primo collector's item someday, the one of two Casa Bonita machine.
    60:22
    Yeah, no doubt. If I had like, you know, if I got one in the lotto, I'd be like, hey, can you build a third one? I want one for my house.
    60:32
    Now, they didn't have any other pinball machines, did they? Just those two? No, no, just, yeah, that was just, and I was really hoping they'd have a South Park game, but no, but they had, they had, it was really cool to have, you know, like they had a Galaga, a standalone actual Galaga, they had a Mizpac fan, they had a Cabaret Centipede, which I thought was really cool. And they had the usual, you know, the coin pushers and the other, you know, the redemption games, the little prizes and all that that you see in all the arcades these days. They had that Pong game. You guys know it's actually mechanical. Yeah, that's the one that has the block. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Those are cool. Those are. I had seen them, but I had never played one. So I said, yeah, let's play. I'm like, okay. So we played, and we had a really good time. Of course, they had a couple of skeeballs. I think they had three. So Rusty and I were able to get a few games of skeeball in. We always enjoy skeeball. So overall, man, they had a pretty good, pretty solid arcade. And if you look at the pictures of the Casamini and Pinball machines, not only do they have cup holders, but there's a little plaque on top of the lockdown bar that says, please do not place drinks on games. Use cup holders. And they have cup holders bolted to the legs. So, yeah, man, they put some thought into this, you know. It wasn't just willy-nilly thrown together. Like I said, the games have custom music, custom call-outs. So they kind of really – and if you look at the top or I'll post a picture on the Facebook page of the outside of the building, it looks like the outside of the building, which is a big pink building with a big tower, like a bell tower. In fact, on the hour, they ring a bell, kind of like an old Spanish mission or something. They have a big waterfall or a fountain, water fountain out front. But it's really an experience. Like I said, it is kind of like the Disneyland of Mexican restaurants. And it kind of has a 70s vibe, right? It doesn't have like a 70s vibe. It kind of does have a 70s vibe, man. It really does, you know. And inside, and I'll post this take, Dan. I don't know if you saw it. Inside the pirate cave, there's like you walk through the mouth of like a big skull. And I swear to God, it looks like the entryway to Castle Gray Skull. So like literally. Yeah. Yeah, if you're, if you're, because I'm not one, but I get right. Black Barn's Cave. Ooh, scary, ooh. Ooh, yeah, scary. Yeah, so. Oh, so cool. Come on, come on, sing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. God, damn you. So, yeah. Perfect. We're totally worth it. Totally. Yeah, that was. That wasn't worth it. Totally. Absolutely. And, okay, so then on the way back, now, last year, the boys came at me like a week or two before it was going to happen. There was a model train convention or show in Denver. I was like, can we go to this? I'm like, hell yes. So we now have an N-scale train that Seth and I are working on a way out in the game room. And we got that pouring for Christmas, and we built a plywood table, and we're working on that. So on the way back, just about 15, 20 minutes over the border from Wyoming to Colorado, there's a Buc-ee's. So we went to Buc-ee's. And then Rusty wanted to go, she hasn't gone yet. So we went. We're all still full because they feed you really good there at Casa Medina. But I wanted to try the brisket sandwich, and Rusty got the barbecue pulled pork sandwich.
    64:15
    Damn, those are good. So it was like a double threat, man. You know, so I picked up stuff for, you know, my kids in California and my grandson. I had him a little Bucky's Easter Bunny shirt and sent the kids some beaver nuggets. And I said, we got my daughter a salsa bowl. It's a pink salsa bowl with the Casa Bonita logo. Oh, that's cool. And then my son-in-law got him, it's like one of those, like, you know, athletic T-shirts. And it says Casa Bonita Dive Team established 1973.
    64:49
    Nice. Yeah. And oh, and unless he picked out for a little Leo, picked out the ball and cup toy from Casa Bonita. So that's like his favorite toy now. He plays with it endlessly.
    65:03
    But yeah, man, if you're in that neck of the woods, definitely a good time and go play the Casa Bonita Pinball. I didn't do any other pinball because it's a long day. From our house, the Castle Avenue is about a four-hour drive. And then, of course, we stopped. We were there for probably three or four hours because after we eat, we just wandered around, just played with the stuff and played in the arcade and did the museum and just did all the other attractions.
    65:33
    And there's so much there. I'm sure every time you go, you'll find something new. Oh, I didn't see that last time or, you know, whatever. But, yeah, it's really cool. Definitely five stars, man. Definitely worth going to. So if you find yourself in the Denver, Colorado area, do not miss Castle Bonita.
    65:58
    And there's like a million arcades in the area, too. So if you want pinball and video games, we've been to a few. I'll go to more and we'll talk about those on the show. So definitely worth going to. So that's what I've got for that, Dan.
    66:12
    Speaking of every time you go, you find something new. Bingo. Nice segue, Dan. Huh? Like that? That one's for you, Spencer. That's a freebie. You can put that in your pocket. Okay, thanks. We're down to less than a month away from the Golden State Pinball Festival in beautiful, sunny, low-dye California, May 15th through 17th. So, you have that pulled up on your phone, don't you? I've got it pulled up on my computer screen. Oh, do you? Okay. Nice. Ooh. Ooh, scary. 438 Lockford Street, Lodi, California, 25 days, 22 hours, 7 minutes, and 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, Intel Showtime. Less than a month. Oh, wow. Can't wait. Less than a month. Weekend passes, $60 for all three days or $30 for 13 and under. We got a tournament, which we've already talked about a little bit unless Mark edits that out and then we're going to talk about it again.
    67:20
    Nice. We've got art. We've got merchandise. We've got tons of great sponsors. I would definitely recommend going to goldenstatepinball.org to read all about it. There's a lot. There's a lot of show. And it is something you don't want to miss. Hundreds of pinball machines on free play. We got vendors.
    67:44
    We got raffles. I'm going to be involved in the raffles. I'm going to be the hype man for the raffles this year, so I'm pretty excited about that. Free parking. Oh, that's so nice. Attack of the military with ID half-priced. Nice. That's very cool. What else is there to say? We didn't bring anyone from the show on this time to hype it for us. Well, people have to go to find out.
    68:06
    Yeah, we've got the games. Quite an experience. And campground, of course, will be cool. We'll have, hopefully we'll have the pin golf again like we did last time and maybe some other surprises from both campsites, I guess you could say. Well, there's Pinball University, so you can get some, you can matriculate and get some cool education. Yes.
    68:29
    And who's putting that on this year? Marco, DRI374, and Erica's Pinball Journey. Isn't Erica the one that does all the stuff with the Multimorphic dam? She brought her Multimorphic last year, and it was another YouTuber, gosh, I forget his name, but he was really, really nice and friendly, that actually did the seminar on it. Nice. And then they traded me parts to help me keep Portal running before the Pinball Pirate came and fixed it for me.
    69:03
    There you go. I'm sure it plays a lot better now because that was pretty much a prototype that you had, right? Well, I don't know. I've never played Portal outside of that machine, and I don't think many people have. But I know that they're finally getting out there. So chances are there will be a portable there again this year. Does that sound possible? Let's take a look at the games list. Yeah, what are some bangers that are coming? There's some bangers. There is a Dune and a Winchester Mystery House and a Labyrinth listed. Nice. Winchester is the one that everybody's going to be standing in line for, and I will be one of those two, Because that is one game I've not played. Yeah, I've not played it either. Yeah. That's exciting, though. There's 147 games signed up as of right now. Wow. That's a lot for this. I mean, it's still only what? You said how many days away again? We're 26. 26 days away. Yeah, I'm not on that page anymore. You're going to have to look it up yourself. I'm going to go ahead and throw this out here because by the time somebody hears it, I've made the phone call. I told him he's been the recipient, and I haven't even had a chance to tell you guys yet who the recipient is of the Steve Sharno Spirit Award this year. Oh. So this year's recipient is Larry's Artarian. Oh, that's a good one. A very good one. Yeah, and that's Pacific Pinball Museum, right? Yeah, and he is bringing an amazing collection. He brings an amazing collection of classic wood rails and early EMs, you know, with flippers every year. This year, interesting because everything he's bringing is a Gottlieb. It's an all-Gottlieb lineup this year.
    71:06
    So, and it's just, you know, like some really cool stuff from mostly from like the 1950s. Um, so, and I think a few from the 60s. Yeah, like Central Park is, uh, is the one he's bringing. Um, Buckaroo, Majorettes, Shiji. So from the, some from the 60s, most from the 50s. So, uh, definitely worth checking out. So, Spanish Eyes, the Wink Spanish Eyes are supposed to be there this year. Oh, good. I'll play that more this time. That sounds fun.
    71:40
    It's really rare to see a collection of wood rails, and the only places I know that I've seen are Pacific Pinball Museum, which is now probably not around anymore, the Paris Pinball Museum. Which you got to go to. I'm so happy that you got to go for that. That was the most amazing collection of wood rails I have ever seen in my life. I am so glad I went. But, you know, Larry's Artarian, he definitely has some really good ones, too. So it'll be exciting to see those wood rails available to play because they are really neat. They are really neat to play. And the great thing is, is like there's still a lot of opportunity for folks. If you'd like to bring a game to the show, we know we're going to see more games signed up, but, you know, we're not going to run out of room for games. And there are some really, really, really cool benefits for bringing machines. You know, you get a name badge. You get discounts off of your admission. You get an early entry on Saturday morning.
    72:41
    If you bring enough games, we have a limited variant show poster. That's if you bring three games. And if you bring six games or more, you actually get a limited edition show branded item. So there's a lot of cool freebies to be had. You know, there are people there to help you load and unload the games, although you do need to get it to the show.
    73:02
    And there's still a lot of opportunity left if you want to volunteer. And so if you go to the website, you know, go goldenstatepinball.org, you can go to Bring Games if you want to sign up games, and you can go to the Volunteer button if you want to volunteer. And there's still tons of jobs left to do, some of which, you know, you get to pick up and carry around games. But there's quite a few other gigs where you're doing patrol, just kind of making sure things are great. You're checking wristbands, plenty of ways to get involved. And if you volunteer, there's a lot of benefits as well. So I highly recommend that if you would like to be involved in the show, jump on in. You work a shift, you get a pass for the day. You work two shifts, you get a weekend pass. Three or more, you get a fun pack. Four or more, you get the foil variant of this year's poster. Five or more, you get the super volunteer show branded gift. And six or more, you don't get anything extra, but you're a madman. And you feel good about yourself. You feel good. You miss the show, but you feel great.
    74:08
    Again, this is a show where nobody makes a penny. The board, the volunteers, nobody gets a penny for anything. It's all volunteer. We spend our own money and all the proceeds go to really good. They stay local. So the charity dollars stay local and they help out a bunch of really noteworthy good kids charities, you know, that are definitely worthwhile. I wanted to touch on something Dan was like talking about with because if you bring one game or more, you also get the swag box, right, Dan?
    74:44
    What did it say for the game? So one game, name badge with lanyard, early entry with coffee and pastries, and 50% off of your weekend pass. So it doesn't mention anything about the box. However, I think the boxes are generally, there's usually about 100 of them. So it's not even about just bringing games, but it's about bringing games and getting them in there early. Okay, so the first 90 people checking in games at the show will qualify. Okay, here we go. We have 90 swag boxes to give out to individuals. Nice. And what's in the swag box, you ask? Well, from Titan Pinball, you get flipper rubber. You get some pair of flipper rubber. From Measle Mods, you get a microfiber cloth.
    75:29
    From Marco Specialties, you get a coil sleeve remover tool. Ooh. From Comet Pinball. I know, right? Comet Pinball's giving you a specialty bulb assortment, the Pinball Monk. Oh, my gosh. These are really good things. Remember last year there was the Dungeons & Dragons collector's coin, challenge coin, there was four variants of that.
    75:50
    And this year the collector's coin is, oh, and also air fresheners. And I've seen pictures of the collector's coin and it's Winchester Mystery House.
    76:03
    Oh, wow. Yeah. I don't remember what the air fresheners are. I think they're actually Pin Monk himself or herself. I don't know. Pin Monk is a real person. They post on Pinside all the time and offer all kinds of good help. Thank you. I don't know. I've ever met him. His name's Vic Ireland. Okay. See, I might have met him. He's like Batman. It's like, you know, it's like, you know, I bought my Twilight Zone from him. Did you really? Okay. So, you know, he's a real person. Okay. Wendell's Farm. They're a sponsor of the show and they're giving out beef sticks. Dude, you get Pinball cards and beef sticks. Spooky Pinball. Beef sticks are all. I knew, right? And then Spooky Pinball. You get canned koozies from Stern Pinball. This is kind of cool. Pokemon Souvenir Plastics, Jersey Jack Pinball, a T-Fob assortment, American Pinball with their new logo, I'm assuming, a pinball hat, Multimorphic, a seven-piece portal T-Fob set. You're not going to be on T-Fobs if you get one of these boxes. Mad Pinball, two carbon steel pinballs. Dude, that's... Not one, but two. Two. That, just the swag box alone is worth it, man. That's a really good box of swag. That is a really good box of swag. That is really a good box of swag.
    77:25
    Yeah. But, you know, the tournament we talked about, you know, there's just, there's so much really, really, really great stuff going on. You just, you can't beat it, you know. And if someone's done checking for the games, we will run out of those boxes. So check your games in early. If someone's dropping them off, make sure you get over to the desk to check them in. Absolutely. And talk about pinball because it's all about pinball. They raffle two games off every year. Dan, you want to tell them what the first game is?
    77:58
    I'm not even sure. What are the games this year? Okay, I'm sorry. I thought you knew. Okay, so there are two games. Whoever wins Saturday, you get first pick. Isn't one of them Foo Fighters? The one is Food Buyers, Food Buyers Pro. Hey! You got it. So, and the other one, because every year, because ain't none of us getting younger, so every year there's a little bit of bittersweetness to, uh, Oh, yeah, that's right. Somebody donated, I believe anonymously, in, in, um, Rob Anthony's name, who, um, friend to all, just a beautiful human being. I'm going to get to this without breaking up. Um. They donated a Spooky Pinball Halloween game in Rob Anthony's name to give away. Oh, wow. I think it's Rob Anthony's Halloween. I think it was Rob Anthony. I think it's from his collection. Collection. I believe it was, but I can't say that for 100% certainty, but I believe it was. Either way, five bucks a ticket. It goes to a good cause. We talk about this on every episode, it seems like, because I saw it happen. And somebody came in with their little son. They just heard about it again, heard about it at work or in town or whatever, came to the show, bought one ticket, and they went home with a pinball machine. And it was the coolest thing ever. One ticket. It's just a nice man with his young five or six-year-old son who'd never played a pinball before. Brought him to the show. Oh, we'll buy a ticket. And they took home. It was like an old Williams Ding Dong or something. A really cool old DM. But you know what? They took home a pinball machine. So you're going to get a chance to remember Rob Anthony. You're going to get a chance to win a pinball machine. You have to be there to win. You must have your little ticket in person.
    79:50
    And there's all, you know, there's raffles. There's silent auctions. There's the Flippin' Friday kickoff dinner, which I emcee every year. I'll be doing that honor again this year. We're going to remember and honor our difference, Steve Sharland. I'll say a few words about Rob Anthony. The food is, I always feel underdressed. One of these days I'm going to have to rent a tuxedo.
    80:16
    If you show up to that in a tuxedo, I will laugh at you until I die. I'm going to be halfway. How about a tuxedo t-shirt? Can we get by with that? If you wear the tuxedo t-shirt and your cargo shorts and your ball cap, that will be okay. Reserve your seat for that early, by the way. That sells out pretty much every year. And with Larry being the recipient of the award, I cannot foresee a world where that's not going to sell out. Right. And the bar, oh, the last couple, three years, they have beer and wine, I believe. I don't know if they have hard alcohol. I just get the beer. Just beer and wine. Okay, just beer and wine. Beer and wine is for five days long enough that you can get pretty wrecked. Oh, yeah. Yeah, so was it the year Adam that you got so tossed or was that the year before? No, it was the first year because we were like standing outside. Oh, that's right. And people kept handing me glasses of wine and I kept drinking them.
    81:16
    Oh, I've learned a lesson today. Wine will get you messed up a lot quicker than I thought it would. Yeah, so, and another cool treat, look around for us. The three of us will be wearing our exclusive Stern's Lit Pinball Podcast t-shirts. So, you can see us and talk with us if you want, you know.
    81:43
    What else? And I've got stickers on order. We have swap meet on Saturday morning. I've got stickers on order. Hopefully we'll have those in time for the show. I believe we will. We have a silent auction. Silent auction, yeah. We talked about the raffle. And plus there's going to be like 200 or more pinball machines there.
    82:05
    Which keeps growing because half of the time you get 40 in the day when they're not even on the list yet, right? Yeah.
    82:14
    I think most years we end up with closer to 300. And while I didn't observe other than Winchester is on that list, I didn't observe any like surprising bangers. You never really know what's going to happen until we're in there setting up the games because a lot of stuff will show up, a lot of rarities, a lot of surprising stuff, a lot of brand new, super new releases, you know, that we didn't expect to have, we end up having. Yep. There's going to be games brought by the vendors. There's going to be homebrew stuff. I saw someone signed up a Trogdor machine. And a Beastie Boys homebrew. I'm intrigued by that. Oh really Homebrew is really becoming like the craziest the craziest new thing to see at these pinball shows So I hope 8 Beyond comes back I know you're really worried about this. Do not worry. Somebody will be ringing Deadly Weapon. Cool. So, you know, and there's like at least three Spanish Eyes signed up. So it's going to be Spanish Eyes rich. Oh, yeah. Justin signed up The Matrix. He signed up Bill Paxton. Yes. That's crazy. You find out Beetlejuice. Wow. Bill Paxton, where can you play that? I've never seen a thing that I've played. Whoever owned it, some arcade somewhere, I forget where because Ben Heck, I believe, sold it. Oh, I want to point out the beer and wine. It's provided by – You just stole that from him. There you go.
    83:44
    The beer and wine is provided by Das Flipperhaus. So some of the sponsors, Marcos Specialties, Das Flipperhaus, again, and their beer is top shelf. And I've never had a chance to get over there yet, but they're in Roseville, right, fellas? It's a great place. Yeah. Great place. And they have beer and pinball. Pinball Monk.
    84:06
    Custom jukeboxes. I can't read the whole thing, so. Oh, Don's Pinball. Okay. Don Hiley. The Hawk, 104.1. Sparky Pinball. Our good friend Sparky. The Flipper Room. Indie Darling.
    84:22
    Bar Indie. San Francisco's first bar dedicated to indie games, music concerts, and so on. Okay, they're a new sponsor. Marquee Pinball, the Pinball Pirate, of course, Chris Coons, always brings some great games.
    84:39
    Martinez, mini golf and pinball, an arcade. World of Wonders, the Pacific Pinball Museum. So those are some of the sponsors. And the people bringing the beef sticks are sponsors as well. So support your sponsors. Food trucks. We didn't get to the food trucks yet. Cool.
    85:03
    Oh, there's going to be food trucks this year. There's going to be food trucks this year. All right. So there's going to be all kinds of food trucks there. Friday, Saturday, Sunday, each day we'll have different, two or three each day, different food trucks, a variety of different food choices. And if you're from out of the area, you know, you can also try other local, you know, encourage you to try other local restaurants and cuisine. The birthplace of A&W Root Beer is Lodi, California, and they're still an old school, old fashioned A&W, not too far from the fairgrounds. So lots and lots and lots of stuff going on. Now, one question, Spencer, and I don't know, maybe you know, Dan, are they having any extra rooms for an overflow of games? Are they just going to do it all in the same hall like they do in the last couple of years?
    85:53
    Because I thought it was more room. Okay, cool. Cool. So more room if it needs to be available. That's cool. I don't think I've ever seen a year where we've turned away games. Yeah, that's true. Very true. Yeah, not since we've been at the new location. Yeah.
    86:12
    Yeah. Yeah, back in the day, you know, back in the original, the Pentagogo days, they would get so many games that there wasn't enough room. But between the main room and the entrance hall and the overflow room, which is almost as big as the main room, there's plenty of room for games. Cool. So the overflow will be utilized if it needs to be, is what it sounds like. I can't say that because I'm not the organizer, but I will say I don't think I've ever seen a game turned away at Golden State. Got it. Cool. So bring lots. Bring sticks. Right. That was part, Mark, that was part. I mean, there's many reasons. But part of the reasons is if the old location, you know, where they still have Pinagogo, they would literally have to turn away games because they just want to have a room. Right. And so we've got to figure this out because we don't want to alienate anybody. But, you know, God bless them. They throw their games on a truck and drive them four hours each way. You know, we don't want to say no. We can't, you know, can't, you know, use your game. And that was one of several reasons to say, hey, we want to move the show to Lodi. There's more room. We never have to turn anybody away because we don't want to do that. So there were many reasons. So, yeah, we can't answer that. We can tell you, Mark, we're not going to run out of room for games. Okay. You know, Silver Ball is going to have, you know, because you can bring your entire, Yeah, easily, right? And we will not run out of room for games. We will not run out of room for games. Every single one.
    87:46
    There's also, I go to the Facebook page for Golden State Pinball. I forgot where I saw it. I believe it was there. I got an update a week or two ago. They got a block of rooms at one of the hotels.
    88:00
    Cool. I should have this written down, so I did. I was ill-prepared. So anyway. One other thing to add, too, is we are going to have Q back. It's coming. So we'll have Q.
    88:13
    Don't know if it's going to be on the campground or if it's going to be in the showroom. Don't know yet. But there's going to be some rare ones coming. So just keep your eyes out whether you want to come over to the Reno camp or it'll be in one of the rooms. So, yeah. That's such a cool game. That really is. If you get an opportunity to play Q, get a group of friends, get a group of strangers. You'll be back. Come take you with me. It's really, really – if you were just playing by yourself, it's not that interesting. But playing, you know, it's more fun to compete. Playing against another person is fun. It's just a blast. It really, really is. It's very simple objectives. You know, you hit each bumper for your number ball in order. But actual executing that is much harder, you know. It follows the tennis of good pinball. It's easy to learn, easy to play, and hard to beat. And it's a lot of fun to compete against others. So I strongly recommend that. So we got anything. And on top of everything else, there are tournaments.
    89:18
    That's right. So there's a main tournament, which as far as we know is already sold out, but you can still jump on the wait list. There's a women's tournament and there's kids tournaments. And in addition to all that, there are typically campsite tournaments. That's right. So if you're all about the competitive pinball and the multiplayer experience, there are many, many, many options. And at least I don't know if we're going to get out to the campsite again like we did a couple of years ago. But Elk Grove Pinball will be streaming the main tournament and the women's tournament as well as qualifying. Cool. They do such a good job. Yep. Elk Grove Pinball on Twitch TV. That's a friend of the show. Oklahoma State champion Rick Demmel, who does that. And then a roving cast of characters, including myself for a lot of it, jumps in there to help them out. And I might even come in and find out and make sure there's a game that I know instead of sounding like an idiot like with Pulp Fiction. But now if Pulp Fiction is in there, I can finally commentate on it. It's okay, Mark. Sounding like idiots is what we do. There you go. That's what we do. Okay. So it is the mission statement. Like, what do you do? Get on the Internet. I'm like a moron. There you go.
    90:50
    So I actually looked on the Facebook page. You actually found it on the Instagram for Golden State Pin. Need a place to stay? We have a group rate at True Hilton and Lodi. So if you haven't booked a room yet, check that out. So if you want to know more, just go to Golden State Pin at the, what did I just say? Instagram.
    91:19
    Or ask Mark and you might be able to sleep in this Tesla with him. There you go. Pinball University is back.
    91:26
    Sign up for your games. Will it be streamed or recorded? Hotel room? I hope not. I got a list of some of the food trucks. Juju Burgers and Shake, burger, fries, and drinks. Street Philly trucks, so they got Philly cheesesteaks. Sand Tacos, so we've got an actual taco truck, Mexican cuisine, Alien Barbecue and Burgers, so they have Home of the Dragon Burger, Chili and Cheese Fries, Dragon Breath Fries, Garlic Fries, Chili and Cheese Dogs, Southwest Salad, Barbecue Sandwich, Barbecue Plate, Chicken Breast Tenders, and Nama. I feel like I'm going to eat some Alien Barbecue and Burgers. Yeah, this sounds really good. This sounds good, too. I want Alien Barbecue and Burgers right now. Where's that truck at? Is there a tracker? Let me know. There may be. So you can go to Golden State Pin on their Instagram and they've got all this stuff listed. On the gram. You've got to jump on the gram.
    92:36
    Turkish Mediterranean cuisine. That sounds interesting. Wow. Oh yeah, Mediterranean's always good. This is good. Yeah, good stuff, man. How come there's no teriyaki truck, man? Pat Jerry's still is. Me and Mark got to get our teriyaki. Looks like I'll be bringing a lot of cash with me. I'm looking at the... You know, they take plastic. I know. I bet. Yeah, I'm sure they do. Okay, I'm looking now.
    93:03
    I'm willing to bet that they do. Maybe they don't. I probably shouldn't say that. People would be like, Dan said they took credit cards. Dan's a liar. I'm looking at... Dan wanted you to be hungry.
    93:14
    So I'm looking at the Swagbox because they have pictures of everything. And like the American Pinball, it isn't the newer logo. It looks really good. The hat, Pinball Monk or the Pin Monk. I'm looking at his air fresheners and it's like a little monk ninja. There's two of them. And then there's one doing the splits over a pop bumper. The spooky pinball logo on their koozie.
    93:42
    Man, we should probably preface this by saying everything on there is subject to change. It is. I'm just going off with the. Don't marry it. Yeah, it does. We're just looking at the picture on the website. Yeah.
    93:55
    I like the fact that you can scroll through the picture on the website, but it's just the same two pictures.
    94:00
    Okay. So now. It's nice that they put the option in there, though, just so that you can sit here and be amused. Okay. So the Halloween machine, it just says, generously donated in memory of Rob Anthony. It doesn't say anything about it being his machine. So I am. Which we prefaced by saying we believe it was his, but we cannot verify that it was his. Yeah, so just know it's a machine donating his name. That we know for sure. Anything else is subject to change and speculation because we're just three guys, you know, we're basically the Wayne's World of Pinball Podcasts.
    94:34
    Usually we get somebody from the show on here, but I'm not going to name any names, but it was me who didn't contact someone to come on here and talk to us this year. I don't know if that guy was thinking, but he sucks. And I'm really bummed because I'm not standing at Camp Silver Ball this year, but the t-shirt's really cool. So if somebody ordered an extra t-shirt, Spencer will give you $500 for it. I really won't because I have so many t-shirts now. He really will not give you $500. I really will not because, dude, I still have concert shirts from the 80s. I have so many shirts. I stopped buying. Like, I didn't buy myself any swag from Casa Bonita. I didn't buy a hat or a T-shirt because I have so many of each. Yeah, I didn't get a camp T-shirt either because I have too many shirts. You have so many, yeah. Did you order a campsite?
    95:28
    I got it in a campsite, yeah, but I didn't get a shirt. The only thing I'm going to buy this year I know for sure is I'll be buying a book. Maybe you can order a shirt for Spencer. Come on, Spencer. Work with him. Actually, I guess it's too late now. It's too late now. I have the more exclusive Spinner's Lit Pinball Podcast t-shirts, so there we are. Now that's an awesome shirt. That's pretty good. Yeah.
    95:52
    Cool. Well, I guess the bottom line is if you want that swag box, bring games. And if you want to experience an awesome show, go to Golden State Pinball Festival. And if you really want all the details and not just to hear us ramble about them, go to goldenstatepinball.org. Yeah. On the interwebs. And everything that we said is there, except for the stuff that we said that isn't entirely true, like about Spencer giving you $500. That is not there.
    96:23
    Yeah, exactly. Always remember that the views of Dan have nothing to do with actual reality. And they should always be taken with a very large grain of salt. We're just having fun, guys. We're excited about our own show. Right, yeah. So I pulled up the list of upcoming shows too because we have that. So there's a lot of good shows coming up. There's a bunch in Mays. So do we want to go over that or just let it ride? You started. Why would you say you put up a list of shows and not mention them? By the way, I looked at the list of shows. Find it yourself, losers.
    97:02
    Right. I know. Yeah. Oh, my God. Well, you can Google, too, you know. You're morons. You know, I'm not chewing your steak for you, kids. You kind of got to, you know. Just so you guys know, there are other shows. There are other shows. I wanted to put that out there. So, all right, I'll do it. Okay, listen, a couple have already happened, but Pinball Pazoo is going on right now. It's probably done. So, 16 to 18. So, that's in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The Spring Ann Arbor VFW show, that's Clay Harrell's show, I believe. I've always wanted to go to that. That's April 24th through 26th. It's the largest pinball show in the world, it says.
    97:47
    Brighton, Michigan. And the same weekend, April 24th through 26th, another show I always wanted to attend, the Midwest Gaming Classic. And that's in Milwaukee. Yeah, that's what I want to go to. That one always sounds awesome. Yeah, that's Spooky's home show. There's the Pinfest Allentown Show in Allentown, Pennsylvania. That's May 1st and 2nd. One of their G's. Yeah, it is. May 13th through 17th is the Australian Pinball Festival. And, of course, what we've been talking about for the last, I don't know how long, the Golden State Pinball Festival, May 15th through 17th. The Australian Pinball Festival is in. I think I'm going to go to that one.
    98:26
    Vok, LeBruc, OB. I don't know. I'm not Australian. Oh, Austrian. I suck. Okay, Austrian. I'm not Australian or literate. I am not. This is why I don't do this, okay?
    98:44
    You are the one who does this. You do do this. I do do this. Because I thought, that's why I was like, why is there two Australian pinball festivals so close together? Austria. So if you find yourself in Austria, definitely go to the symphony and catch works at Hermo Tartt. And anyway, so yeah. So and then there's our show. There's the Ontario Pin Fest, May 30th and 31st. There's a bunch of tournaments and stuff.
    99:15
    June 5th through 7th, the Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show. Dan, you've been to that show. Yes, that's an excellent show. The Tacoma area, well worth your time to check out. Now we have the Australian Pinball Expo in Australia, and that's in Morfitville, SA, Australia. Don't know enough about Australia to know. So that's July 2nd through 5th. This one sounds interesting.
    99:43
    August 1st and 2nd, TASPIN, 2026, the Tasmanian Pinball Festival. And then that's in Prospectville, Tasmania, Australia. The Cleveland Pinball Arcade Show, August 27th to 30th, and that's in Independence, Ohio. I noticed it's not in Cleveland. It must be near Cleveland. There's a Clee Pin in Cleveland. No, it's in Independence, Ohio as well, August 27th to 30th.
    100:14
    Another Australian show, Newcastle Pin Fest, 2026, Festival of the Silver Ball. That's Australia's longest running and best pinball event, they say. No, no. Is it Austria or Australia? It's actually in Australia, yes. Okay, you need to, you're going to just, no one's going to show up in the wrong country and they're going to blame you. You're going to be, God damn it, Spencer. Now I've got to fly all the way across the world again, but think of your miles.
    100:45
    Why are people even listening to us? Pinball Expo. I have no idea why you're naming off so many shows. Because that's what's listed. You're like, because I found this list, and for God's sakes, I'm using it. Well, you got everything from spring to fall. Pinball Expo 2026, October 14th through 17th, Schaumburg, Illinois, the OG, the original. Okay, stop.
    101:10
    There are no more pinball shows after that. There's one more. No, yeah, when's Pinagogo? Pinagogo's after that, right?
    101:18
    You didn't mean California Extreme. Except for the relevant ones. Well, it's not listed here because I got this list on pin side, so do your homework. See, this is why you Google kids. This is why you have the interwebs. This is why you have interwebs. The 2026 Houston Arcade and Pinball Expo November 13th through 15th in Houston, Texas. Now, there is also Pin and Go-Go, and that's in October. We're not in Cleveland. There's also the Rocky Mountain Pinball and Arcade show, and that's coming up September, I believe, 11th and 13th. But let me double check.
    102:01
    Not in Austria. Yeah. Or Cleveland. September 11th through 13th, 2026, Rocky Mountain Pinball. That's pinballshowdown.com and that's Pinball and Arcades. And where is that at?
    102:23
    So that's the Marriott Tech Center in Denver. So that's a good show too. So that's the Pinball Shows, guys. God, we've got to botch that at best. I'm looking at that going, why are there two shows so close to getting in Austria? And I look and I go, it's Austria. Yeah. It's like, okay. I mean, honestly, Mark, unless you're in it for the yucks, that's probably an easy edit.
    102:52
    Beat. Yeah. Oh, my God, Spencer, tell the people where they can find us. Oh, wait, do we want to do shout outs?
    103:06
    I don't even know what's happening anymore. I'm so lost. I know. But you know what? This is good. This makes for good entertainment. So, yeah. It's my wife's birthday. I'm like, we're going to get on there for, it'll be an hour or so, no problem. Yeah. Here we are like three hours later and we're just rambling about places that don't exist and Pinball shows that might happen. Yeah.
    103:28
    It's a Pinball show. Mark's house. Places that Mark's going to take his fourth grade class on a field trip.
    103:35
    Tasmania, Austria. Spencer naked in a giant bat of sopapillas. Spencer might show up there. If there's sopapillas, I'm in, man. Let's do this. Sopapillas and beer. Let's do this. Venom and Christmas. Yeah, and root beer, too.
    103:57
    What is wrong with us? It's not just me, you're in London too, Dan. Oh, and Mark. We're all in it together.
    104:07
    I'm sorry. I'm high on life. I'm on glue. Yeah, there we go. There's so much glue. I'm going to start out with my shout-outs and thank yous to our loyal listeners, man, who come and check us out every month and laugh with us and go, what in the hell is wrong with that Spencer guy?
    104:26
    Yeah. Thank you. Thank you to our loyal listeners and all the wonderful people who support what we do and have been coming on our Facebook page and liking and sharing what we do. We do this for you guys, man, and we do it because we have fun. To my family who puts up with me climbing down the basement and locking down half the basement once a month for three hours so I can hang out with my two best buds and talk pinball and soapapillas and God only knows what else. It's from the Austrian Pinball Show. Yeah, the Austrian Pinball Folk. It's the Austrian Pinball Folk, who I hope will forgive me.
    105:06
    Somebody's like, you fell in geography. I actually did. You're going to get a message from, like, the Austrian Pinball Show. It's going to be like, oh, guys, thanks for all the promotion. This is great. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. So, yeah. Our one German listener is going to be like, it's amazing. Did I mention the one in Canada? I think I did. There's a Canadian show coming up, too. So, anyway. Oh, God. Canavia, Austria. Yeah, that's my shout-outs and thank yous, man, to you guys as always. So I'm going to give it over to Mark and I'll let Dan back clean up. Mark, you're up. My shout-out is to you guys. I'm excited to see you in person. It'll be fun to hang out with you. Hopefully we don't go and get scatterbrained and go off in every direction and not see each other at all, but we'll make that work. That is exactly what will happen. No, we're going to make it work this time. We have to. We're going to record at the show. We have to record at the show. I don't even know what fucking continent I'm on, okay? So, you know, don't ask me for help in this. No, but seriously, it's really fun hanging out with you once a month, talking, and it's going to be nice to see you. We're going to record at the show. We're going to record at the show. We're going to do it. We're going to record at the show. Everyone say it together. We can manifest this. We can record at the show. Oh, Spencer, he's in Austria, apparently. No, no, no, no, no, you're going to record at the show.
    106:29
    That's what it comes down to. We're going to record at the show. Yep. We're going to do it. And we're going to get our picture with our shirts on in front of this year's art.
    106:42
    Yes. Or I'll AI it. Or damn AI it. And I'll have a ring on my thumb and a wristwatch. And he'll be at the pinball show. Yes, I will.
    106:59
    Is that it for you, Mark? Yeah, that's it. Oh, that's it. Sorry, Mark. I'm going to run over your segment, but we're going to record at the show. I'd like to think recording at the show, and I'd also like to think recording at the show. And I've got to give credit to recording at the show for all their patience because they're always so, so kind about this. Oh, and I'd be remiss if I didn't think recording at the show. But, no, to be honest, you know, huge thanks to you guys as always for, you know, this little slice of madness. And a big thanks to Jack and Jen, the organizers of the Battle of the League. That was super, super fun. And as always, and I'm sure all of us will get in on this, just ginormous thanks to all the people who are putting in right now, as we speak, they're losing their minds, putting in the hours to make Golden State Pinball go off without a hitch. And to everybody who is going to volunteer their time and bring games and tolerate their spouses stepping out on them for, you know, three or four days. You know, just it's a great show, but do not underestimate for every hour of fun that you have, an hour of work went into making that show happen. So true. Oh, and recording at the show. And recording at the show. And somebody handed me a map of the world. Here's where Austria is. Yes, I know. It's the suburbs of Germany. I got it. And Pinball and record at the show. So, Dan, where can they hear us, Dan? You weren't going to ask me that? No, that's your segment. Spencer, you can find us. They can find us on SoundCloud. They can find us on Apple.
    108:47
    They can email us at thespinnerislit at gmail.com. Spencer's home phone number is 1-800-CLECT. You can just call him. You can just swing by his house. Actually, if you just show up and knock on the door, somebody will answer. Somebody will answer in the dogs' apartments. Yeah, the dogs will bark. Oh, yeah. Daisy will be there.
    109:10
    So, yeah. Yeah, and our Facebook page, which go there because I put up a whole bunch of pictures of Casa Bonita and, you know, food and fun and festive atmosphere. Casa Bonita, Casa Bonita with us and Cartman. Was it worth it? Totally. So, yeah, so check out our Facebook page. Thank you once again. This has been episode 86. Episode 86.
    109:43
    Episode 6086, dude. Episode 86 of the Spinner's Pinball Podcast. God and woman will see a whole bunch of you real soon at the Golden State Pinball Festival. So, with that, I'm going to take us out. Play pinball. Record the show. Record it to show.
    110:05
    And keep America strong. So strong. Paco! על