Teacher needs to see me after school. I think of all the education that I missed. But not my homework was never quite like this. It's time for another Pinball Profile. I'm your host, Jeff Teel. You can find everything on pinballprofile.com. All subscriptions, past episodes, and more. You can find us on Instagram and Twitter at pinballprofile. Email us, pinballprofile at gmail.com. You know this guy because every Monday you go to your computer and you check what the latest is in pinball with This Week in Pinball. Jeff Patterson joins us right now. Hi, Jeff. How are you? Good. How are you doing, sir? Jeff, you know, you and I talk quite a bit. And the funny thing is I would say very, very little of it is about pinball. It's usually about your Chicago White Sox, my Toronto Blue Jays. Yes, that is true. And White Sox just made a major managerial hire, and everything is going wrong so far. Nothing like letting go of the guy who's up for Manager of the Year and takes the team to the biggest rebound ever as far as winning percentage. Yeah, I think that was a mistake. Tony La Russa's days are done. Yeah, we'll see what happens. We've got a good young team, but we already have guys that are saying, you know, I'm not going to change how I play for him. Tim Anderson? Yes. It's not looking promising right now. No, I think La Russa was a mistake, but, again, that's just trying to correct an old error. But, anyway, it's too bad because that's a good team in Chicago White Sox. But how about we talk a little bit of pinball because that seems to be dominating your life. You have this job on top of a job, and that is this week in pinball. And it is expanding and expanding. And this week we just saw something new. Thanks for sending me back to school, Jeff. Pinball University is here. I know. It's up there with Harvard and Stanford. It's very prestigious. No, I mean, our main goal, we just launched it this week. And first, let me say, going back a little bit, I took on a partner this year on Twip. His name is Will Odding, and he's the webmaster for Twip now. And he's helped a ton on the website side of things and has had a ton of great ideas. Can't understate what a great addition he's been to Twip. And he's freed up time for me, and he's been working also on the Pinball University stuff. He's one of the authors for that. So he's been amazing. But, yeah, we're trying to bring new people into the hobby and trying to grow the hobby, going into Pinball University with kind of the idea that there's no stupid questions. We were all super new at one point, you know, trying to figure out how to turn the game on and how to start a multiplayer game and stuff like that. That's why Will is so good. One of his features is Pinball for Dummies. Yeah, exactly. He's written, I think he's got three or four courses out there now. We've got Pinball University broken up into like three different categories. We've got beginners and then intermediate and then experts. So, yeah, Will's writing content. And I talked to Zid1900 on Pinside. His name is Vadim, and I think I'm pronouncing that right. And then also talk to Robin on Pinside to get permission to use some of the Vids guides on this. So we're basically going through the Vids guides and taking out any of the, I guess, taking out all the noise, all the extra posts and things like that, and just making it one guide without all the extra posts and things like that, except for questions. And I send these to Zid1900, and then he goes through and refines it too. Early vid guides, we've got upgrading and rebuilding flippers. Very, very important, especially I think that was one of the biggest fears about owning a game for the first time is how do I fix this? And at some point, flippers are going to need to be upgraded or rebuilt. So there's that. And you've also got more detailed things like removing side rails. Yeah, and let me ask you this. I have not removed side rails ever. I've done a couple flipper rebuilds. Have you tried venturing into flipper rebuilds at all? Flipper rebuilds, yes. You know, when you buy the package, it's got all the parts in there. So really, you just look at an old one, take it apart, put it back together. I need step-by-step instruction, so I'm a little nervous. I've had somebody build one, and I help with the other one. So I haven't actually done it by myself from scratch, but I would feel a little more comfortable with videos for sure, And you can see that on this week in pinball.com. That's kind of, I mean, I've done a flippery build on the same way. I need like something to hold my hand along the way because it's working on pinball machines can be super daunting. And there are a lot of good, you know, resources out there now. You know, Joshua Clay Harrell has pinrepair.com and then there's a pin wiki. I don't know if you've been to that site. That's got a ton of good stuff. And then there's, you know, IPDB, pinballhelp.com, and there's just tons of good resources. But trying to make this kind of a one-stop shop and have it dumbed down enough that you can understand, you know, how to do some of this stuff. Well, that's the thing. You know, this week in pinball, I think when it first started was kind of a recap of what happened in the week that was and maybe some top five stories and a little bit here and there, some links and stuff. It has grown immensely. I mean, we're just talking about right now, the Pinball University, and we mentioned Pinball for Dummies and the Beginner's Guide. You've even got virtual pinball on there, too, actually. Yeah, we just started virtual pinball. Actually, interesting, Chris Frevis, who does the BlahCade Pinball Podcast, he wrote a Beginner's Guide to Digital Pinball. And digital pinball helped a lot of people, myself included, get kind of back into it. I know that getting back into pinball was, for me, there were two things that I point at. Pinball arcade is one. I got hooked on pinball arcade. And two was seeing Wizard of Oz and just being blown away by all the features and everything in that game. I'm right there with you with pinball arcade. When I saw these old games that I was used to in exact digital form, pretty good gravity, pretty good physics, and certainly the same rule set and graphics, I was like, okay, now I've got to get some of these games. and games I had never even seen before. I've mentioned before, I'd never played Flight 2000, loved it on Pinball Arcade, had to find one. Yeah, and you learn, it's such a good way to learn the rules to games. And that was when I really kind of picked up that, oh, you know, Pinball has all these modes and things you can finish and you can progress through, you know, the levels just like you would, like a Mario game or something like that. But the number one, and I'd have to go back and look at this, But for a while the number one most viewed post on Twip was a beginner guide to digital pinball which was written by Chris Frevis of the Blockade podcast So that just gives you kind of an idea of how massively popular digital pinball is Pinball is so expensive Jeff as you know So it not for everyone whereas digital certainly more affordable So I'm not surprised that that was that popular. And think of the video game world. Right. Pinball cannot compete with that because it is just so much easier to have a video game console, to have the games to play online. we're not at that yet with pinball. So we are with virtual pinball. It just, from a competitive standpoint, hasn't really taken off the way I wish it would actually. Yeah. And that's a great point, Jeff, because I think, and this is kind of what Pinballing University and what I've been trying to do with TWIP is, you know, people that get on a pinball website or listen to a pinball podcast, if they're reading pinball news or listening to pinball news, then you're probably already pretty hardcore into the hobby. But trying to branch out, pinball has, I think one of the big areas that pinball can improve a ton is to be more friendly to beginners. Because it is, it's a tough hobby to get into. It's not super approachable to what you were saying. I mean, if you're looking to buy a machine for your home, they're expensive, they break often, They have a large footprint. You know, when you look at a gaming console or something, this is going to, it's like a big piece of furniture that's awesome that you can play and have a blast on. And they're a pain to move. And like even at arcades, you know, starting a game or like I said, starting a multiplayer game can be kind of confusing and intimidating for new people. When I first got into the hobby, I got invited to a guy's house that lives here in Indiana. He's got the best, as far as I know, the best collection in Indiana. And it's from machines of all different eras. And I saw a black hole there. And I had played on location some, but those were mainly Stern and JJP and those type of games. I saw a black hole, and I thought, oh, I played that on Pinball Arcade. I've never even seen one in real life. And I went up, and there wasn't a start button. And I had to actually whisper to the guy, because I was kind of waiting in line, and I got up to it. And I looked down to press the start button, and it wasn't there. And I had to turn to the guy behind me and say, how do I start this thing? No, we've all been there too. And it's funny you talk about being a noob. I've sold a few games in my time. Games come in and out. And I love when I sell to somebody when they say it's their first machine because I remember that excitement getting my first machine and being nervous and just being available after the purchase to help with anything and even following up and finding out how things are going and finding out that, oh, I've now purchased a second or a third, and that's what this hobby is all about. And it's really a good community helping others too. So these tools on Pinball University on This Week in Pinball are going to help a lot of people. Yeah, and I appreciate that. That's the goal. We're looking at getting some videos out there too. And we've got some just major, major things in the pipeline right now. it's just getting time to get everything done. But it's tough. You hear programmers and designers say all the time that they're trying to make machines that appeal to both the new players and to the hardcore hobbyists. And that's a difficult thing to do. And I think it's difficult in all aspects of pinball, like from manufacturers doing it to the how-to type guides on repairs and even down to podcasters and streamers and stuff trying to make your podcast appeal to somebody that's new in the hobby, but also make it appeal to people that have been in it a long time. I mean, do you run into that some with, I guess, you know, Pinball Profile is a little bit of a different animal. It's so unique. Pinball Profile is more about people in the community. It's not so much about the games. I mean, if I'm talking to a designer or coder, obviously we're probably game specific, but it's more about the different people. And there are so many. I think I'm now over 500 different people I've interviewed, whether it's long form or short form. And it's neat because everybody has different thoughts of what pinball means to them. And it's great that there are so many different avenues to bring us into this community. You probably see that as well on This Week in Pinball. Yeah, and it is fun. I mean, I'm sure you get it, too, just from hearing from people that it's fun getting emails and stuff from people that just, hey, I just found your site. I just got my first pinball machine and, you know, just have that new passion for the hobby. Everybody loves a new toy. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And this, I don't know what it is about pinball. It's just, it is, it just gets into your blood like, like no other hobby that I've been a part of where it's just, and there's so many passionate people, but yeah. I mean, I've been doing Twip for, I'm not sure how many years now and I still, it's fun. Like, And I'm sure it's the same way with the podcast. It's fun. I would say it's fun. I mean, I've expanded from Pinball Profile to making sure that Marty Robbins is still doing great things on air from his head-to-head pinball days. And we do the final round now. And I've even started another podcast, a third one. This has nothing to do with pinball. But this is just me and my son talking about something that means so much to us. And we do a little Star Wars podcast called My Young Padawan. and it's just goofy. It's a good bonding time with my 15-year-old Brady. That's fun. Yeah, why not, right? I'm not going to put as much effort into the editing and research and stuff like that because Brady's the guy who's full of knowledge, so he does it all. It's just a good thing we do every couple of weeks, but I don't see an end for it for me other than time. That is the hardest thing. I'm recording this interview on Saturday, November 14th. My goal is it will come out before Thanksgiving because there's some time-sensitive things, but it does take a little bit to edit and whatnot. This is a small potatoes compared to what you and Will are doing at This Week in Pinball, the hours that you put into this. And we just talked about Pinball University, but let's go into something that's actually my favorite thing of This Week in Pinball is the deep dives. I know you do polls to find out what everybody likes, and the great thing is there are different aspects for everyone. You don't have to just focus on the favorite. You've got something for everyone. But the deep dives, that does it for me. And you've done some recent ones with Guns N' Roses, even Multimorphics, Ranger in the Ruins, Avengers Infinity Quest. That's got to be a lot of work. But, boy, I hope you're getting the payoff for it because they're great. Yeah, I love it. Well, everybody loves when a new pinball machine is announced. And it's, well, everybody that's crazy and in this hobby. I mean, I love, like, learning about the new machines. So what I typically do depending on when a machine is released I take a vacation day from work and spend that day just diving into this new machine writing up the article learning as much as I can reaching out to the when I have questions and stuff you know reaching out to the a lot of it is reaching out to the software designer of the machine to make sure that I have everything you know as correct as I can on the deep dives But I go back to those personally when if I get a machine, you know, I got a Jurassic Park Pro machine here, and I'll go back to when I get a machine, I go back to those deep dives and check them out. So, you know, just to learn how to play and that kind of stuff. It's always fun to learn, you know, I like learning on the fly some, but I also, when I get stuck on stuff, it's fun to, you know, learn as much as you can about a game and know what you're shooting for. One of the deep dives that I have to imagine has more hits than probably anything you've done in the last year or so was the day after the Deep Root concern of the game not coming out. But here you are on This Week in Pinball, and here is absolutely everything that you were allowed to reveal from Deep Root, not only your time there in Texas, but future games. And there was a lot there. I mean, boy, you provided a lot of content for podcasters. I'll tell you that right now. But that was something to see. Now, I'm not going to ask you specific questions because I know you signed an NDA. But since then and since things have been released, what can you tell us about that trip when you went there? And what were the positives you saw? So the Deep Root experience didn't turn out how any of us thought it was going to turn out. That includes especially, you know, the folks at Deep Root, you know, Steven Bowden and Robert and the rest of them. It didn't go as they were envisioning. But let me just say this. So the people that went down there, it was myself, Crystal Gemnick, Lauren Gray, Chris Chandler, Colin MacAlpine and Kerry Hardy. And my favorite part of the weekend, I know this sounds cliche, but it was just having it feel normal for a while. Like we were traveling during the pandemic, but the numbers were a little bit, they weren't as out of control as they are now. But just to go down and play pinball and see people and just talk pinball, you know, and just it was a really unforgettable experience. That was, I think, for for all six of us still. And it puts us in kind of a weird and awkward situation as far as not being able to talk about certain things. But if I could go back and go again, I still would, because it was it's it's one of those unforgettable experiences. and we'll see what happens with them. Well, fingers crossed. I think we all are excited to see what Deep Root can do because 2020 has been a great year for all pinball companies. I mean, maybe some of the best games ever for each of them. Great success story with Spooky to start the year with Rick and Morty. Gotta love what P3 Multimorphic's doing. Holy cow, that heist looks spectacular. American, I played Hot Wheels for the first time a few weeks ago, and even though there were other games there that I hadn't played, including Guns N' Roses, Turtles, Avengers, I wasn't one and done. I was playing Hot Wheels a few times because I was really enjoying it. I only had limited time or I would have been playing it a lot more, but that's a great game. Everyone has just really stepped it up. Yeah, and I unfortunately haven't had a chance to play most of those games. I've played Heist, but I haven't played Turtles. I haven't played Avengers. I haven't played GNR and haven't played Hot Wheels, Although I did, I don't know if you saw, did you sign up for the sweepstakes for the free Hot Wheels? I didn't. I should have. I didn't. I typically don't sign up for giveaways in pinball just because I think it might look bad if I win. That's kind of my thought. For this one, I thought it's an actual pinball machine. Screw it. I'm doing it. Yeah. No, I mean, that's great. And I'm actually a big Joe Balcer fan. I like his games a lot. The Simpsons is perhaps my favorite game ever. You mentioned Wizard of Oz. And I really like all three American pinball games. I know people are concerned about maybe the shots are too tight or it's too stop and go maybe on Houdini. I'm fine with it. I think graphically it looks spectacular. Oktoberfest, that's a fun game. It's a cool ramp. It's cool little modes maybe aren't quite there. But when you add Joe Schober along with what Josh Coogler is doing, they really are stepping it up. and it all came together with Hot Wheels. So got to say, I'm really impressed with what the company's doing. The hardest thing right now, and unfortunately, it's really COVID-related, it's just the manufacturing is very, very difficult. I can't believe that Gary Stern had mentioned on that WGN interview that there were some 5,000-plus back orders. That had me a little concerned. That's incredible. And Stern, which is the master of manufacturing, if they're that backlogged, And we've heard other companies, you know, I know that Stern doesn't talk a lot about details, but we've heard, you know, Charlie at Spooky say that it's been tough to get even some of the basic parts. Yeah, basic parts. And, you know, Haggis and J.J.P. and Dutch recently put out an update as well. And they said that they've been, you know, one of the biggest hurdles is getting parts. So I think it's hard for if you're not actually manufacturing to know what the challenges have been. But for the fact that Stern is behind, that's pretty telling because they're the mothership. They know how to manufacture. But you could look at that two ways, too. Yes, they're 5,000 orders behind, but that just tells you the demand as well. And you have to do some understanding with COVID and getting parts and restrictions and tariffs and all these kind of fun things that are all put into what is 2020. But back to this week in pinball, you've done something else. We talked about how it's just evolved over the past few years. And really, just like the pinball companies have stepped it up, you have as well. We've been seeing the TWIP TV and the monthly recaps. Boy, those are good. Yeah, that's been a very fun venture that we've gone into. And we want to do more in the video realm because it's just a different medium for people to take things in. But Casey, who is our host, she's phenomenal. And the whole thing is, going back to kind of appealing to beginners or to those people that are new to the hobby, is this is a way, it's a monthly recap. It's less than 10 minutes. you'll get the highlights of the month and you'll get in kind of a fun way. So that's been kind of the driving force really with a lot of the stuff that Will and I have been doing on This Week in Pinball is to try to find that sweet spot of appealing to those new in the hobby and the hardcore people. You know it a tough spot It a difficult thing to do Going back to I think a special when lit podcast Ken Cromwell during that podcast somebody would say something like well that sounds like something Lyman would do And Cromwell would always pipe in and say, you're talking about Lyman Sheets, the Stern software designer. And I know some people thought that was like talking down or condescending or something like that. But I love that kind of stuff. Because he's bringing people in, and you can't assume that everyone is. . . But listen, I've done almost 300 of these episodes. People don't know. . . If they're listening for the first time, and they hear me badmouth Josh Sharple, they're like, what the hell is that all about? Go back and listen, and you'll realize what kind of a crooked son of a. . . I'm just kidding. But the point is. . . By the way, would now be a good time to mention that he joined the Twippy Committee this year. Really? Very nice. It's all going downhill. Oh, gosh. Oh, well. A lot of second place awards. Okay. And like keeping the appealing to a lot of different listeners or viewers. That's something that I think made Coast to Coast Pinball Podcast so good with Nate Shivers. I'm sure you listened to Nate Shivers in the past. Little sneak peek. Nate is the next episode of Pinball Profile. So will it be before this or after this airs? I've already recorded, Nate. It'll air after this episode. Okay. But he talked news and he talked current events, which is mainly for people that are already in the hobby. But he also had stuff for new people like, and the year was, and where you'd go through, and the year was 1998. And he'd talk about what happened in pinball during that year. And he'd do trip reports, which him going to different pinball arcades and stuff. Welcome to the D-List was another one where he talked about some of the machines on Pinside that are ranked really low and talked about those machines that people don't usually talk about. Going Up, Going Down, where he talked about which machines were going up in price and which ones were going down in price, which I totally stole for the Twit podcast when I pitched Zach many on that he should do a market trends segment. And so if the Twit podcast, you can see some of the stuff that that was just stolen from from Nate Shivers and everything that he did. But he he also his girlfriend at the time, Teresa, she was giving an outsider's perspective. And, you know, like you were saying, there weren't like inside jokes about other people and podcasts and stuff. And it just for me, you know, I listened to Nate's podcast while I was drywalling my basement. And it just made it easy to listen to when I was new to the hobby because there was a lot of stuff for new people. And the podcasts were kind of timeless. That's true because you have to think of the attrition of the listenership or viewership on TV shows, movies, whatever the case may be, right? So in the case of a podcast, there are always new people coming in. You can see that. It translates very easily with IFPA. Look at how many new members come in every year. Not this year, of course, but that means there are new people to pinball. and they want to absorb more, whether it's This Week in Pinball, podcasts, streams, whatever the case may be. So people kind of come in, people come out. So you kind of have to bring them along and not be too, too inside. Speaking of new people coming in and things that are new, on This Week in Pinball, you've got first takes. Yes, that is growing, and we're hoping that continues to grow. But we wanted to kind of get some of the people that are in the industry to rate what they think about a new machine. And then also get pinball hobbyists to be able to share their views on a new machine. And this is not a review or anything like that. It's a game that has just been revealed. And it's like everybody. As soon as something's revealed, I make snap judgments on it, and half the time they're right, half the time they're wrong. And the best way to learn if you like a new machine is to go play it. But it's fun to read about these new creations that these PIMO manufacturers are putting out in the world and just try to see things from other points of view and kind of see things through somebody else's eyes. Well, Jeff, it's good to catch up with you, and really well done with everything you've done on This Week in Pinball. It's grown and grown as it continues, and especially with Will coming on board. Are you all ready for Thanksgiving? All ready for Thanksgiving. I'm not sure what we're going to do yet. I'm in Indiana, which is not as cold as Canada, but still cold, and I'm not sure what we're going to do Thanksgiving-wise. But I'll do a quick plug here that TWIP is going to have our yearly Black Friday post that'll go up probably on Thanksgiving and run throughout the weekend. And we'll have all the kind of a one-stop shop for all the Black Friday pinball deals. And then we'll also separate from our normal monthly giveaways where we give away like pin stadiums and comment and tighten pinball and silver ball swag and such. We're going to have some big giveaways for that Black Friday weekend only, and it's going to be a PS5 or a color DMD. So it's always one of the busiest weekends traffic-wise on the TWiP website. So we're looking forward to that over the weekend, and buying, I already got a list of stuff I need to buy from Marco. Well, thank you very much for everything you do on This Week in Pinball. And there's a way for people to support This Week in Pinball. Do you want to maybe suggest how people can help you out because you do put in so many hours. Yeah, I appreciate that. And we do have a Patreon page. Just search for This Week in Pinball or go to This Week in Pinball website and you can find that. But I do want to say this, if you don't support TWIP, that's fine. But if you have a podcast or Twitch stream or website that you frequent, that you find value in, please support those people because we talk about the good old days with Coast to Coast or Head to Head or whatever podcast. And at some point, I don't want us to be talking about the good old days with Pinball Profile or Twip or Pinside. Just support the websites that you enjoy. Support the podcasts that you enjoy. That's just tremendous help to the people that are putting all the time in. A lot of time for sure and a lot of enjoyment for many of us in the pinball community. Jeff, all the best. Happy Thanksgiving, and I'll talk to you soon. All right. Talk to you soon, man. This has been your Pinball Profile. You can find everything on pinballprofile.com, all your subscriptions, past episodes, and more. We're on Twitter and Instagram at pinballprofile. You can email us, pinballprofile at gmail.com. I'm Jeff Teoles. you