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The Pinball Podcast Episode 225 - WHAT IS POTO?!

The Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·1h 0m·analyzed·Nov 14, 2024
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.028

TL;DR

Pinball community chat covering tournaments, industry closures, Barrels of Fun milestones, and personal reflections.

Summary

In this episode of The A A Pinball Podcast, hosts Jess and Jeff discuss their tournament experiences since March, including Pinball Showdown and the Bosque River Brawl, sharing stories about game selections and memorable moments. They cover recent industry news including Ninja Eclipse sold-out run, Metallica Remastered (Premium/LE) announcement and art redesign criticism, and the closure of Haggis Games. Jess shares deeply personal updates about losing her mother in April, her meaningful work at Barrels of Fun (which has shipped over 600 Labyrinth machines), and the recent hiring of Butch Peel as manual writer. The episode concludes with brief discussions of X-Men pinball and observations about game design.

Key Claims

  • Barrels of Fun has shipped over 600 Labyrinth pinball machines

    high confidence · Jeff states this as a factual achievement after noting Barrels of Fun was founded about a year prior

  • Jess's mother passed away two days after her 70th birthday in April after suffering from Alzheimer's for six years

    high confidence · Jess shares this personal information during discussion of her year

  • Haggis Games folded due to economic/market condition factors

    medium confidence · Jess discusses Haggis closure and references Final Round Pinball Podcast for more details from people close to the company

  • Metallica Remastered (Premium/LE) was announced and shown at Pinball Expo with redesigned art package

    high confidence · Jeff and Jess discuss the art changes to the Metallica Remastered (Premium/LE) negatively

  • Butch Peel was recently hired by Barrels of Fun as manual writer

    high confidence · Jess announces this hiring and expresses enthusiasm about working with him

Notable Quotes

  • “I got to put a lot of time on it. So I got to see a lot of the game as far as it was in its initial code state. It's kind of funny, though, because when you try to talk about it with someone, you're like, did you start Ulu Alu Iai multiball? No. I got stuck in the Ulu Alu Iai mode.”

    Jeff @ early in episode — Humorous recounting of Avatar pinball confusion with mode names

  • “I love my job every day. It's the thing that through anything that has happened like I mean, this year has been a year. I mean, this year's been five years.”

    Jess @ mid-episode — Jess expresses both gratitude for her work at Barrels of Fun and acknowledges difficulty of the year

  • “I get to every day at work, not just gaze up at a truly beautiful piece of art and pinball engineering, but I get to look up and see my mom every day, basically.”

    Jess @ mid-episode — References the tribute to her mother through mom's initials in the Poison Peach wizard mode

  • “They let you do so many things. So cool. He's really tall. Yeah. You kind of have to look adoringly at him because he's so tall.”

    Jess @ end of episode — Jess praises X-Men designer Jack Danger and makes affectionate comment about his height

  • “Nope, I should have just left. Like, I don't feel like it's giving up. I don't feel like it's a bad thing to be able to say, nope, I know that I've had enough pinball now.”

    Jess @ tournament discussion section — Reflects on knowing when to step back from tournament play for personal well-being

Entities

JesspersonJeffpersonGary SternpersonBarrels of FuncompanyHaggis GamescompanyJack DangerpersonButch PeelpersonVictorperson

Signals

  • ?

    product_launch: Barrels of Fun has shipped over 600 Labyrinth machines, indicating strong market acceptance and manufacturing capacity

    high · Jeff explicitly states 'Barrels of Fun has shipped over 600 Labyrinth pinball machines' as an achievement announcement

  • ?

    business_signal: Haggis Games has folded after releasing Fathom and Centauri remakes; closure attributed to economic/market conditions

    high · Jess: 'Haggis folded. There were signs that it was coming, but this one kind of hurt my heart.' References Final Round Pinball Podcast for details from insiders close to situation

  • ?

    design_innovation: X-Men features unusual mechanical innovations including roller coaster-style physics, breaking ramp, finger mechanism that throws balls backwards, and complex Danger Room multiball

    high · Jess: 'the ramp that breaks in half and you know just like the little finger that comes up and throws the ball backwards' and 'the whole danger room thing and how the ball can be in and out of that during multiball'

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: X-Men praised for managing complexity—described as 'hard but manageable' with roller coaster physics that feels controlled despite multiple simultaneous elements

    high · Jess: 'hard but manageable yeah i think the game is so good' and 'all in a way that still feels like manageable'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Metallica Remaster announcement includes controversial art package redesign moving away from original Dirty Donnie artwork to new 3D-printed style skulls and reimagined band faces

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.181

0:00
you're listening to the pinball podcast believe it or not yeah you are hi jess hi jeff it's been a minute but just like one minute um it's been since march but that's fine we're here totally fine you and i have the ability to pick up uh exactly where we left off or not and it doesn't matter everything's good everything is good in at least in regards to the show um and friendship and friendship magical how have you been um you know ups downs peaks Valley's life. How about you?
0:57
Similar. Yeah. Lots happening in my life, which is part of the reason why it's been since March. no, like, things are, I would say, mildly on an upswing, rather than like, just crazy up and downs. So that's good. Okay. I'm into that. Good. I'm happy that you're happy about my happy. we're so positive we are we really are um and i'm positive that the listeners have missed us well you at least um i think both of us i actually uh was on a call a work related tech call the other day and someone's like tell jeff he needs to come out to more stuff like oh okay i i have gone to some stuff. I guess it's just the wrong stuff. I went to Pinball Showdown.
1:56
Texas Pinball Festival was the last time we were at the same place, though. And that's been a while. Since March. Since the last time.
2:05
So, yeah. And Pinball Showdown was great. It was weird. They were in a new location and the games were split up amongst three different rooms, which was kind of weird. It was a fun show. I did get to play Avatar there.
2:20
Eric
person
Zach McCarthyperson
Donovanperson
David Barberperson
Walt Woodperson
Ray Fordperson
Pinball Showdownevent
Bosque River Brawlevent
Avatargame
X-Mengame
Metallica Remastered (Premium/LE)game
Labyrinthgame
Pinball Expoevent
Ninja Eclipsegame
Poison Peachproduct

high · Jeff: 'Why did they do that to the art?' and Jess: 'The art in itself doesn't look like awful or ridiculous but when you know what it looked like... The art was great. Yeah, that was a bummer because the Dirty Donnie are on all the editions much better for sure'

  • ?

    announcement: Butch Peel, renowned manual writer, hired by Barrels of Fun; hiring celebrated by team

    high · Jess: 'we just announced that manual writer extraordinaire, Butch Peel, is on the team' and describes excitement about working with him

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Barrels of Fun expands QA/testing department with Victor as dedicated tester, allowing Jess to delegate some quality control responsibilities

    high · Jess: 'I finally have an employee in my department. So Victor is my tester and he helps out. So I sometimes am able to relinquish my unyielding control over things'

  • ?

    community_signal: Mixed tournament culture in Texas region—mostly positive and supportive, but occasional instances of unsportsmanlike behavior discourage some experienced players from competing

    high · Jess: 'I've had mixed tournament experience in Texas so far. It's like most everybody is amazing. Some people just get like, you know, they do the thing where they're a grown adult acting like a child' and describes leaving tournament due to negative behavior

  • ?

    product_concern: Metallica Remaster machines expected to have improved reliability due to newer mechanics, but route potential uncertain due to high acquisition cost

    medium · Jess: 'it is nice to have like new metallicas out there with new mechs hopefully they're more reliable um just because they're newer or whatever but i don't know how route friendly it is given the cost'

  • $

    market_signal: Jersey Jack Pinball machines (Elton John, others) command premium pricing that limits consumer accessibility despite strong gameplay and design quality

    high · Jeff: 'it's a shame at how much it costs to purchase one' and discusses Elton John costing 'a lot of money' with 'steep price of entry'

  • ?

    collector_signal: Ninja Eclipse sold out entire production run, demonstrating strong market demand for boutique manufacturer output

    high · Jeff: 'Ninja Eclipse sold out their run. Just congrats to them. They came a long way from their first showing to their most recent showings and people responded'

  • ?

    venue_signal: Pinball integration into pop culture events (Texas Renaissance Festival) via custom wooden pinball/ball games creates organic player engagement opportunities

    medium · Jess describes finding wooden pinball-style games at Renaissance Festival's 'Da Vinci's Arcade' area with castle-themed game that was previously a two-sided competitive setup

    • And I did enjoy it. It was a little weird, though. I got to put a lot of time on it. So I got to see a lot of the game as far as it was in its initial code state.
    2:31
    It's kind of funny, though, because when you try to talk about it with someone, you're like, did you start Ulu Alu Iai multiball? No.
    2:40
    I got stuck in the Ulu Alu Iai mode. It's just yelling out, shoot for Ulu Alu Iai. And you have no idea. You just have no idea. It's so weird. To me, it just sounds like you've been playing a Lion King machine. I don't understand. I've never seen Avatar.
    2:58
    But I would say the game shot well. I haven't played the newest code, wherever it's at now. I don't know when the last update was, but I don't know. I think people enjoy it. I haven't kept up on people's impressions of it, but it was fun. I still like Elton John a lot. Yeah, Elton John's really fun. yeah and every time I get on it I just remember oh it's just buttery smooth it really is it's just glass it's coming up on dialed in and looming over as taking over my favorite Jersey Jack spot it's really good it's a shame at how much it costs to purchase one oh seriously it's a great game it's got a little Elton John and a piano I mean come on and a little crocodile and a little I mean they did a nice job with it but man that's a lot of money it's a steep price of entry there why is it that the really expensive ones are fun like Bond 60th I would like to play that more but humans can't usually afford to pay that much for a game I know that one's a bummer because I'm not a huge fan of the James Bond Pro Premium or LE. Right. In fact, I got stuck on one, and I'm going to say that because I was just having the longest game of my life, and it becomes that point where you just want to see how high you can drive up the score, but you're not enjoying it. And, like, you're almost upset when you hear it say extra ball.
    4:42
    Not another ball, no. Yeah, not all. um so but i have experienced it enough for my life now so yeah i desperately desperately want them to do uh the thing they did with woe nelly where they release the bond 60th because it's an amazing super fun slick elwynn design when you get all those spinners going at the same time it's fantastic but like release it with different skin so like different themes you already have the design get some cheaper ips and go and make more of this machine and let other humans purchase it at a more reasonable price i don't care what theme it is it could be themed after nothing it could be a whitewood and i would want to play it no i wish they would do more of that because like you said you know they did the papst and primus and woe nelly and like rotated through different designs the heavy metal one was that a one-off designer was that also heavy metal was a full-size version of the star wars home pin that's right and it's super fun yeah it is um and obviously that's a cheaper way to put out a new game so it i bet you that's one of those that they could revisit it once the license expires, but they want to keep the design score. But when you say cheaper, it's like they had the Star Wars home pin, and then they turned it into heavy metal, but heavy metal was $10,000.
    6:20
    Yes. So I still, I don't understand. Cheaper for them to produce. Yeah. I actually got to talk to Gary Stern for quite a while at Pinball Showdown. and we were hanging out in JJ's pinball suite for a while, and I got a lot of Gary thoughts on the industry. I also heard a story that he told about when he tried Rogaine, and he said it worked. He started getting a couple of new hairs growing, but that he thought they were coarse, and they reminded him of pubes, so he plucked them and quit the Rogaine and decided just to be bald. I don't know what to do with this information oh that's purely for the audience they now are picturing Gary Stern with a couple of thick black hairs in the middle of his forehead oh my god I really don't you wouldn't call me that in confidence I would think so he was drinking wine or whiskey so maybe but uh oh my god yeah but then he he also gave me the whole insider connect is the future of pinball spiel and while i don't fully disagree that it's cool um i mean i it helped me find location pinball yesterday i was down in santa barbara i pulled out the insider app and it sent me to go play pinball before i had to catch my flight home um so that was cool but he's why not him moment? Yeah.
    8:02
    It's like when you have someone get their first smartphone. That doesn't happen so much these days anymore, but if you remember parents getting their first smartphone, like, wait, I can just tap on it? These apps just do everything? I think he's still in that enamored state of not quite believing how cool connectivity is.
    8:23
    But yeah, he very much loves that product and thinks it's the grand differentiator between Stern games and other games.
    8:33
    And then the Rogaine story happened. So why would you look on Insider instead of using Pinball Map? Just because you're in the Stern system, I guess, and you want to make sure that the games that you go to have connected. I don't know. Oh, I mean you personally. Me personally? Yeah.
    8:58
    Um, I looked on pinball map and didn't see any like recent updates to the area. So I was in Santa Barbara. It's a small town. Um, like you'd have to go down to Ventura or something like that to get more of a pinball scene. Um, and then I only had like an hour and a half. So I just popped it open, took a look and do, due to that grave mistake, not using pinball map ended up having to play some venom and Mandalorian. Oh, because they also had Jurassic park. So, um, I don't like venom at all.
    9:41
    So mad. But, uh, I feel like venom and wick kind of fit into a similar category for me where it's like, Hmm, that exists. Wick made me angry too. I, I was so upset by how bad that was. First of all, air balls all over the place. Balls just flying everywhere. I could not believe how many times it fell off things or bounced off things and ricocheted sloppy. We don't have to get into it. I just did not like John Wick. I hadn't played it until I got to Pinball Showdowns. I played a bunch of games for the first time there.
    10:15
    And then here's my quick Pinball Showdown tournament story. I made finals. What? Yeah, my finals group was myself. um donovan um david barber and why am i blanking on the fourth he ended up taking like second or third um walt walt wood he's super uh second is your spot how dare he yeah well here's the problem so it was one of those things where in finals the person who's the highest uh seed gets to choose the game you start on then you play the next three games to the right of it yeah um and i within 30 seconds of him choosing said we're all good as long as he doesn't start at star wars and then all right well you got choice where we starting he looks all around he said start at star wars play star wars a game i absolutely loathe and avoid then we played um Venom.
    11:25
    Yeah. And then we played Wizard and it was one other. I think it might've been No Fear. I can't remember. I did fine on No Fear. I did great on Wizard.
    11:44
    I sucked on Venom, sucked on Star Wars, and those two knocked me out, essentially. it came down though to if I did win the last game on Venom I could have got through but yeah right I actually got up to ball three and I turned around and it's like it's been a pleasure playing with you guys I'm not gonna waste your time here so I didn't just plunge off I just plunged flipped a few times and let it go I was so far behind those guys were in the billions it was insane yeah man that's it's when you get into a a rut you know just a group like that where they keep picking you know a certain type of thing and you're just like please stop there was a perfect bank for me too there was one that would have been whirlwind acdc Big Game and Medieval Madness. If it had been those four, I would have been fine. I was one of the top qualifiers on both Medieval Madness and ACDC. I was cruising on those games, but I wasn't going to win anyway, so whatever.
    12:59
    I mean, we had Zach McCarthy there, Donovan there, Walt Wood there. It was a stacked group. I was happy to make finals, man. It was a tough field and getting in there was nice.
    13:11
    I played not at a show, but I played a big-ish tournament kind of up near Dallas. They had the first annual Bosque River Brawl. I had never heard of the Bosque River. I knew nothing about where I was going. all I knew was that the host um whose home it was and it was in someone's house Stephen had been collecting machines just to have this event so it was mostly ems and got leave early solid states and I was in heaven I was like oh my god this is so great he had a few moderns um he had a star wars he had an iron maiden um and then he had like bride and twilight zone and adam's family but for the most part so many ems so many weird solid states i was stoked to play mostly every game that was there um so it was like it was amazing and it was three days of stuff so there was a friday like noon-ish tournament that i didn't make because i was working and then there was a friday night tournament which was um a beat the clock um tournament so i the first tournament i played and i got fourth place like okay cool this is really fun i love all of these games and then on saturday you played all of your qualifying for like the match play style main event, the boss river brawl. So did all of that and got into a tie break to get into a got into a division somehow Oh is that the one you were texting me while you were at it Yeah yes Their stream of it somewhere And then the next morning they did the last side competition, which was like a fair strikes, which I like because then the people who don't make finals can still do the morning tournament. They don't have to wait around until after finals are done. So so they did that. And then I tied for like sixth place in the Sunday morning one. And then a division finals were on Sunday evening, which sucked for having to drive back. However, it was really, really fun. I ended up in a tie break with Ray Ford on soccer to advance in finals. And he's such an amazing player. And that soccer was so fun. That game was awesome. And there is a stream somewhere of Ray and I playing that game of soccer. And it's so good. The like everyone in that area, like in that scene and that spot was so nice and supportive and just like lovely and genuinely. So I've I've had mixed tournament experience in Texas so far. It's like most everybody is amazing. Some people just get like, you know, they do. They do the thing where they're a grown adult acting like a child. Yeah, they get a little too into the moment. Let's just say that. Sure. Yes. And there was one tournament in particular where someone's behavior while they were playing made me say, cool, I'm done. And I left this whole experience. Yeah. I'm just like, why am I? It's the whole thing of like I used to do so many tournaments. I used to love doing it. And then I felt myself getting serious. I was like, this isn't fun anymore. so when I reach a point where I'm just like this is not fun I have to stop so any day when I've pushed myself where it's like oh you made finals and I'm like I'm exhausted I'm happy to end here and let someone else who really cares about this have my spot and play and then other people who are trying to be really nice and encouraging are like no no you should play and then I play and And I'm just miserable. I'm like, no, I should have just left. Like, I don't feel like it's giving up. I don't feel like it's a bad thing to be able to say, nope, I know that I've had enough pinball now. Yeah, I've had enough. And I'm good.
    17:48
    Stop eating when you're full. Yeah, yeah, one of those. Because you still want to be able to enjoy food and not feel like you want to die.
    17:56
    So kind of like that. But, yeah, but for this one, like, I was going. Like I was going, I was having the best time. I thought I was going to get to a point of like exhaustion, delirium. And I was in this final four and I was having the best time. Like it was super fun.
    18:17
    So the kind of like you had the weird game selection. There was someone who was in, I think the semifinals group I was in, who was driving the bus, who was just like making weird game choices. is and we're like one of us has to win a game to choose something that's not whatever this person's for thing please um I got to play volley so many times and I was so happy throughout that weekend uh I rolled it a couple times I was in one group where three of the four of us rolled it was awesome it was just so much and we're all cheering for each other and just having a blast It was so good. But so then I end up in the final four for the main somehow and end up tying for second slash third with this guy, Eric. And I had only just met him like at this tournament. And they had done something on Saturday night after qualifying. I have left. I'm like, okay, see you tomorrow. Where they were doing dollar games on Sunshine. Do you know Sunshine? It's a wood rail EM. I don't, not off the top of my head. I bet if I saw it I might not, but. Yeah, lots of gobble holes, standard wood rail disaster kind of situation where you just kind of, I don't know what's happening. So they had Tommy Dollar five ball sunshine where you launch all five balls at once.
    19:56
    Oh, and you just. It's just one of those ones where you push the balls out manually. Yeah. So you just throw it into multi ball, which is so interesting in EMs because it can only register a single switch at a time. So you're just trying to control chaos. Yeah. Just keep it alive. It's like people do that on beat the clock. Yeah. Just, yeah, craziness. So Garrett, who was running stuff, it was Carpool Pinball is the Twitch stream, if anyone wants to dig some of that footage up. I had some really fun games. I had some awesome saves, and there was a local guy, BK, who was doing some commentary, and he's like, her saves are just insane. And I was like, yeah, but then I drain immediately. He's like, but the saves are so good. so there's some funny moments on there but um my tie break finals are out there somewhere so uh garrett comes into eric and i and he was like okay so you have a choice you have uh the randomizer which will choose your game for you or five ball sunshine so eric and i looked at each other and we're like randomizer and we're just like yeah we'd actually like to maybe play um And then I said to Eric, okay, but if the randomizer chooses Sunshine, we play five ball Sunshine. And he's like, okay, deal. So we go and the randomizer picks the game that we had literally just played, Twilight Zone. So can't do that. Randomizer again. Sunshine.
    21:35
    Of course. I swear Garrett had stacked like 20 sunshines to any other thing in there just because he really wanted it to happen so we played our tie break on five ball sunshine and I ended up in second place in the main tournament which was insane you represented the show accurately but it was so fun it was just so fun those people were awesome I did that I did a Halloween flip frenzy at my friend Travis and Clint's house where everyone was dressed up and I mean they have such a great house and like a great collection. Got to play Elton John, a bunch of Jersey Jacks and just I mean the whole thing was lovely. I just did a critical hit for our friend David Journey's birthday a charity tournament and it went so long but it was just super fun. I co-TV'd my first thing here I guess officially I've helped with some stuff but Pinberg weekend my friend Jim did Jimberg at his house so it was really great had a lovely time his games are awesome he's so nice he's a neighbor, like Houston's huge so having a friend who's close by to play some games with who's got an awesome collection and uh just a general joy to be around was awesome so did that um and i kind of played location pinball at the texas renaissance festival you kind of what did they have like an october fest no they had a whole area which was like Da Vinci's arcade and it was all wooden games. So they had a big wooden version of like ice cold beer. That's awesome. The guy who made it had never seen or heard of ice cold beer before he made the thing.
    23:40
    Um, and there was a bunch, he had like those big tilting maze things where you need to get a ball along it so it doesn't fall into all the holes. And he had all of these awesome huge games that people were playing. And all of a sudden I was like, oh my God, pinball. So it's this big wooden it looks kind of like medieval madness like a big castle and i was talking to the guy who built it and it used to be two of them facing each other so like joust and you would hit the balls through the castle at each other that's awesome oh my god why don't you bring this to a pinball show to like a homebrew section because this is rad so he's been bringing it to um the renaissance festival for like four years and he was like yeah it's just like rain and bugs and stuff killed the other half of it so this is all that's left i was like rebuild it but it was very cool like he just he built all this awesome stuff and then he just brought it he brings it to the festival every year but he's not even from here he's from virginia somewhere so i'm like bring it to some stuff and let people see it aside from run fest but that was kind of my most recent pinball outing. That sounds awesome. I love when you're like, it's like the two things that just set off the happiness triggers the most. It's a dog where you don't expect to see one and unexpected pinball. Like, but seriously, like how cool is it when you were a kid in elementary school and there was a dog? Like what? Oh yeah. Everything, everything stops. Yeah. Unexpected dog, unexpected cat it's just you lose your mind yes but yeah i kind of do that when i don't expect to see pinball and then people around me have to hear about how amazing yeah yep it's okay they subject us to other things as friends and we will always subject them to pinball they they're just pure beings but um do you want to run through a tiny bitty itty bitty I shouldn't call it news. Olds? You want to discuss some olds? We can discuss some olds. Okay, I'm going to rapid fire some of this. Go for it. You feel free to stop me if you do opine.
    26:06
    So Ninja Eclipse sold out their run. Just congrats to them. They came a long way from their first showing to their most recent showings and people responded so that was cool of them to make that.
    26:21
    Metallica Remaster was announced and shown at Expo. And I feel like you might have some reaction to this one.
    26:32
    Why? That's the reaction? Why did they do that to the art? I mean, the art package was cool. Sparky was cool. Now we're going to throw some like 3D printed looking skulls all over everything and redo the faces on the band and totally mess up Sparky. Yeah, I'm adding the video. I don't like the art change either. The art in itself doesn't look like awful or ridiculous but when you know what it looked like Yeah. It was great. Yeah, that was a bummer because the Dirty Donnie are on all the editions much better for sure though it is nice to have like new metallicas out there with new mechs hopefully they're more reliable um just because they're newer or whatever but i don't know how route friendly it is given the cost so they'll probably just end up in collectors homes and i don't know you'll see one here and there but i don't i don't expect to see a ton of them out in the wild. Yeah.
    27:47
    But yeah, I'd like to see what they did as far as new code. I'm sure it's something I could do my homework on and we could discuss, but not today. Other people have talked about that, for sure.
    28:00
    And then in the big bummer news is, obviously this happened a while ago, but Haggis folded. There were signs that it was coming, but this one kind of hurt my heart. because they were definitely putting out stuff that just, like, the Fathom remake is gorgeous. The Centauri remake is great. I just wish that, you know, whatever the factors were, economics, just the market conditions, whatever, in the end torpedoed the whole thing. It seems like it was just a whole series of dominoes. I just wish they could have survived it and, you know, got those projects out fully. but yeah it's a bummer if you want to like hear someone who's close to it's take on it just listen to the final round pinball podcast the one that's got like Jeff Dillis is the normal host but Ryan Kaz is on the show and they bring it up and talk about it so yeah if you want to know kind of what they know about it those of them being close to Marty that's where you'd go but it's a bummer I loved what they were doing as a company and it's it is no uh no secret that uh i adore marty and those guys were passionate about what they were doing and my my heart hurts for them i i you know it's never a situation we want anyone to be in like more pinball is always good for the pinball community and oh so rough but we love those guys and we're we're sending positive energy in their direction always yeah i mean to those who got their machines you've got a gem to those who lost money like they feel bad about it too we feel bad for what you're going through it's just it's a bummer like all the way around i don't think it's my place to point fingers or any of that stuff i just know it was a legitimate case of people trying and it just did not work.
    30:02
    Let's see. Oh hey Jess Yes Jeff Have you heard that Barrels of Fun has shipped over 600 Labyrinth pinball machines What That amazing Aren't they only like a year old? Yeah.
    30:22
    I wanted to set you up so you could pat yourself on the back, but your name is in like all of those machines, isn't it? It's in a lot of them. I finally have an employee in my department.
    30:38
    So Victor is my tester and he helps out. So I sometimes am able to relinquish my unyielding control over things to allow him to test some games. No, he's been doing great. He's been, you know, working really hard and it's I'm not an easy person to work for when my job is to obsess over every tiny detail. So he tolerates me well and I'm pleased with that. But I love my job every day. It's the thing that through anything that has happened like I mean, this year has been a year. I mean, this year's been five years. This year genuinely has been five years. It's like there have been some amazing things that have come out of this year. And there have been some absolutely devastating things this year. So we talked in March and, you know, and a lot of listeners know that my mom had been suffering from Alzheimer's for the past six years. And my mom passed away two days after her 70th birthday in April. So so lost my mom, which.
    32:01
    You know, lots of levels. Yes. And she's she was the one who got me into David Bowie when I was a kid. And she was the one who, you know, had me watching the Muppets and into all kinds of Jim Henson stuff. I mean, we met up in Atlanta to go to a puppetry museum for a Jim Henson exhibit. And she took me to David Bowie's 50th birthday show at Madison Square Garden when I was a teenager. her and just there was a lot of connection and I I wish more than anything in the world that my mom could have seen what I'm doing at barrels right now because she would be so fucking proud um but all I mean all of that there's um when that was all kind of happening um we were working on the poison peach mini wizard mode and um our coder eric i love him very much he um put mom's initials as the default high score for peach because it came out right after she passed away and um has like our last name as the kind of like little fastest time that's under so it's YFM because she would sign your favorite mom cards. And so it's YFM and Denardo on the poison peach screen. So I get to every day at work, not just gaze up at a truly beautiful piece of art and pinball engineering, but I get to look up and see my mom every day, basically. So that's a great, that's awesome tribute. Yeah, it's, it's genuinely just so thoughtful and so amazing. And the people I work with have just been fantastic through everything. And I feel so supported and I genuinely feel like such a part of this team and like I'm contributing not just with quality stuff, but you know, for future game stuff and for just, you know, teamwork and all different departments and quality in all different areas. And it's so rewarding. It's challenging. And I, and I love it. And I'm so, so proud to be on that team. And we just announced that manual writer extraordinaire, Butch Peel, is on the team. So I get to work with Butch, which is rad.
    34:29
    Tell Butch hi from me. Okay, I will. He's one of my favorite people in the entire hobby. It's so, like, as soon as we answered, everyone's like, oh, my God. and I totally felt the same way. Like my first time meeting him, I was just like, we are kindred spirits. This is amazing. And because I've been there for, you know, like through most of the process, I'm able to like go through stuff with him for the manual, like, you know, answer questions for him. And every time I do, I'm like, okay, but like, I just feel like I get to help. It's really, it's really cool.
    35:10
    So, we've got, I mean, we already had such a strong, awesome team. So this is just, you know, adding to it. And I think, um, that people can see kind of what's in store for us when they see things like, like that. So the manual is coming together, um, which I'm so, so excited about. I can't wait to see what he does with, you know, all the different diagrams, because then I get to see, it's weird like working doing tech stuff you are reading other manuals and looking at their diagrams and going through everything and now i get to be like here's the one for the stuff i work with every single day like i've built that mechanism so it's gonna be really cool to have that other piece to the puzzle and to have it come from him it's it's super special that is awesome yeah i'm so glad that's been working out and it's continuing to like go in a good positive direction like for you personally in the company as a whole it's a good story all of it yeah um speaking of good stories uh alice in wonderland's a fantastic piece of literature i need you to take a look at something um so it's been a little while since alice in wonderland was fully revealed and the jokes have already been made but i just need some live reactions from you. I'm just going to show you the side of the cabinet.
    36:35
    So check your phone, like, right now. I will say, as this is coming through, that I, in passing, have seen, but I did not click on anything. I just saw it and I was like, hmm, and just moved on because I just didn't Oh my god.
    36:56
    What? Why? what? It looks like a group of 14 year old boys. You don't be super sweet. If our dress was ripping and you could almost see your boobies.
    37:11
    I was going to say, what do you even call that type of top? Um, it's like a spring bikini version of a dress and then ballet slipper. I don't understand.
    37:22
    Um, Hmm. Choices. And that's all I have to say about it. Yeah. Same. um okay so a couple of other little things and then i want to hear about something i haven't heard about but you know about um x-men came out and i forgot like yeah what do you think about it it's super fun yes um i love how it's like roller coaster physics yeah like nope it's going up another ramp and it's going around another little turn and it's coming i legitimately love the whole danger room thing and how the ball can be in and out of that during multi-ball paying attention to three flippers and and everything else it gets crazy and wild but all in a way that still feels like manageable um hard but manageable yeah i think the game is so good um it's so great i'm so proud of jack i sent him messages like they let you do so many things.
    38:30
    So cool. He's really tall. Yeah. You kind of have to look adoringly at him because he's so tall. He's like, hi. Yeah.
    38:41
    You have to put your ear on your shoulder to look up. Yeah. That kind of thing. But no, I mean, it's, it's just so cool. And it's such like a statement piece kind of thing for looking at machines right now and then looking at all of the really unusual stuff that he got to play around with that's it's really cool to see something so different like the ramp that breaks in half and you know just like the little finger that comes up and throws the ball backwards it's like when you're on a roller coaster and they stop you and all of a sudden you go backwards I genuinely enjoy that. I want to put Flipper fans on all of them because when those, you know, if the Flipper start to get tired, it's hard to hit those. Yeah, it can be. That's as strong. They make two out of the three turns that they're supposed to make or something, but yeah. Right. And it's like, you should be able to experience the full power of that and the full joy of that all the time. so I want it to be you know running at 100 capacity all the time so that it's always as fun um we did have the Houston Expo so it's my first time um at my new hometown show Houston Expo hello um we had a barrels booth we did factory tours which was awesome a lot of great feedback um But it was at the booth across from us, Joysticks, the distributor in town, had a couple of them. And, you know, people were playing them. And as the day got, you know, longer and the games were playing longer because that show never closes, the flippers would get a little bit tired. And then they would, you know, eventually get some rest kind of between the 4 a.m. to 6 a.m. point. and then it would be fresh again for the morning crew. That's so cool. Yeah, that whole show was, everyone's always told me Houston's a party show.
    40:46
    Wang Chung played. So that was bizarre. That's a notes party. It was just, like, you think about them as a band and what they must think looking out over a crowd where half the people are still playing pinball or arcade whatever and then like you have this tiny little stage i'm just like man what an experience for like us and for them and the whole the whole darn thing was just crazy the whole show was crazy um dr john and alex from Queensland were here, so we had Australian invasion. I wish Dr. John had warned me when he's coming, because that might be more of an effort to get out, because there's nobody I love to give a hard time to their face than Dr. John. Okay, but he was in, he and Alex were in JJ's room for the party at the same time that Gary was there, so you either just missed them, or were in the same room and didn't know.
    41:52
    I didn't even, like, at TPS? Oh, no, no, no. Chicago Expo. Chicago, no. I got the Gary story in Denver. Okay. Got it. Okay. So if they didn't get the Rogaine pubes story, he's hearing it right now.
    42:09
    And John, don't go ask Gary about the Rogaine and the pubes. I know you will. I know anything I say right now will not deter you from going and asking him about that. Yeah. But. So true. I mean, if you're going to do it, do it tactfully. It's like... We were talking about Dr. John.
    42:33
    That's why I choked off that sentence. Yes. So lovely to see them, always. Had them up to kind of our party suite, the full bar Caipirinha Margarita Station. I love Caipirinha. Oh my god, it's one of my favorite drinks ever.
    42:57
    And got to introduce them to a ton of people. And then they were at work on Monday after show weekend was over, so they actually got to see me in a normal work environment and not just do the tour when no one was there. So amazing to see them. Dr. John has Alex on for the latest episode of the Aussie Pinball Podcast. So if you guys want to hear more about Houston Adventures, then definitely check that episode out.
    43:29
    Just listen to the Aussie Pinball Podcast. Yeah. I mean, generally, yes. It's a good time. I sold my Bride of Pinball very reluctantly. It hurt me so bad when I sold mine. yeah um but you know uh turns out it takes money to live indoors so um i didn't have a price sticker on it because i didn't really want to sell it you know it was hard and then um someone from our space city crew came and found me at the barrels booth and said that someone was asking about the game so i went and met him and he's part of a group of people who dress as star wars characters to help raise money for like children's hospitals and stuff. So they go out and do events all in the full Star Wars regalia. And this guy was so nice. And he told me that when he was in like junior high, his mom would give him like lunch money and he would spend it all on Bride of Pinbot. He was like, I lost like 30 pounds because I just went and played. So he's like, you know, that was like my crush. like when I was a kid and he loved that game so much. So, um, you know, I agreed to sell it. He's local. I was like, if you need help with anything and throughout the weekend, I saw him showing the game to like all of his friends and he was so excited. So I felt really good about it after that. I still miss her terribly, but I know that he is, um, genuinely grateful to have found one and found one that was like all original I hadn done anything crazy to it and it was kind of a perfect match So it worked out really well Awesome Yeah Never like selling a game Mine got turned into a 2 Oh no. Oh no. I'm so sorry. I know that will never happen to this one. Oh, they feel perfect cabinets. It really hurt to sell it. When I get rich again, I'll go get another. Let me know when that is. Okay.
    45:47
    So before we hop into everybody's favorite segment of the show, the hurry up, I do need you to tell me about something. You mentioned it. I don't know what it is. What is barrel ball? Barrel ball. Okay. So barrel ball is something that we debuted at Houston Expo. so what was one of your favorite parts of Pinberg like after the regular rounds were over and everyone was kind of hanging around what was one of your favorite things to do well for me it was playing in finals because you know like top 8 but like at night like at night dollar games obviously stall ball and dollar games yep so barrel ball is our version of stall ball but it's an official mode in the game so like you hold you hold the flipper down in the menu and you can choose to go into like battle jareth or um you know you can go into different like a co-op mode so you have choices in the menu now and one of those choices is barrel ball and barrel ball is an official stall ball where it plays air horn noises when you make a successful stall shot so you get the when you have stalled and everyone runs everyone runs and then you get kind of like the clacks and like the womp womp when you like hit a drain or, or what happens in barrel ball is let's say you have five different options for stall shots. If one of those shots has been hit like three or four times in a row, that shot goes red. That shot is no longer eligible for a stall. That's awesome. You have to diversify your strategy. So then when another shot goes red, that shot will open back up. So it actually makes it a little bit more dynamic where you need to be paying attention to stuff. So, and there's a bunch of different settings where you can have the red be a disqualification and you're out, or you just have something where it says like try again. So there's different ways to play it like harder or easier. You can set that there's like a default timing. So it'll be like, okay, first 10 stalls will be 3 seconds that it's held there. And then it starts to go down. So the stall time gets shorter. That's awesome. So did this go out in a code update already or is this coming? Yes, it's out. Okay, we have some on location nearby. So I'm going, well, I need to get people to play it with me. But it's also, someone was saying that it's a great way to practice shots on Labyrinth. you know, where you're, you're not kind of going, just going through the game and hoping you do those. It's a way to dial in your shots because you can just keep going forever. Yeah. It'll just keep playing. So, um, and you know, then you end like when it's over, you basically hold the flipper button and it'll or the start button and it'll end the game. So, um, be like, okay, you're done. Uh, so you just hit the start button and it starts barrel ball instead of having to enter for every single person or whatever, who's going to be in it. And this way you don't have to worry about if you're doing a stall ball where there's a buyback in or anything like that. It just keeps going until you're like, we're done now. That's so good. It's super fun. It gives you stats on which shots were hit the most on how many drains versus how many stalls throughout. It's just so cool. I love it. And I love that, like, as a creative team, we got to be like, we all love stall ball. let's make our version of stall ball so so cool i love it so we did a big there was a big like stream reveal in the tournament room at houston expo we brought one of the games from our booth into the tournament room and did a stream of the first people who got to try barrel ball It was just chaos. It was wonderful.
    50:03
    That's a lovely idea. I'm sure it will get stolen and then that's bad to steal ideas. But if you give this to the world, you've done a great service to the pinball community. Because imagine if people could run true tournaments because they could have like five or ten machines at a location that have that mode. It'd be incredible. Yeah, I love it. Good job. I'm excited to try it. I'm excited for you to try it Hey Let's have some fun Oh That was stupid It's time for the hurry up Hurry up See how stupid I am? How stupid are you?
    50:54
    Uh So stupid that the first game I put on my hurry-up list I had to hurry and replace because I had Uncanny X-Men and we just gushed about it for five minutes.
    51:06
    So I had to make a replacement. But why don't you go first? Give me your first of three games. America's Most Haunted.
    51:17
    Okay. So we're not supposed to explain it. I'm going to say Slop Bordering Unnailed It. it's charming. I'm sorry. I had to have a little explanation, but it's charming. Super charming. It's very funny. There's Tommy Wiseau ghost. It's great. Yeah. Bargos has boobs. All right. What's your first game?
    51:38
    So my first game, um, why did I put a, okay, sorry. So it's time machine. Ah, I actually like time machine. I don't get to play it often. So, um, uh, I'll, I'll go, uh, nailed it. I'm going to say nailed it too. I actually think it's fantastic tournament game. So yeah.
    52:02
    Okay. Agreed. Okay. Uh, red intense roadshow. Oh, I it's, it's a nailed it for me, but it is lower on the tier list of lollers for me, but I do love it. I love it too. Yeah. Okay. Spring break. Um, you know what I did when I wrote my list? What did you do? I wrote, um, just the initials out and I don't know what the game is at this point.
    52:31
    Okay. Let's try and guess that game. Well, let's do it third. Let's do the one. I do know what it is. Okay. Um, what are your thoughts on Dr. Dude? I love Dr. Dude. That's a nailed it. Okay. Me too. I, it's so fun. You can bastardize that game and make it really hard and it is tense playing it. So yes, uh, there are a few in town and, one in particular is very much like that and the other one is much kinder so I have very extreme playing experiences with Star Wars alright Congo I love Congo I love it so much I have a standing 5.8 billion GC on one there are some so satisfying shots on that game. Just so satisfying. That volcano is amazing. Hippos! Like, the whole thing, it's just great. And I know there's an argument that it's a little rinse and repeat, but it's just so fun to play. Yeah, it is. It is a fantastic game. Okay. So, let's try to guess what my game was. Okay. Why did I do this? I wrote out the names of all the other ones.
    53:52
    I have... P-O-T-O I mean I would have thought Pirates of the Caribbean like first I thought you were saying Pirates of the Caribbean but then I was like hold on what's the O the funny thing is I drew it and then I put like these cool lines under the O-T-O so I was really excited about bringing this up it must have been like a really cool and what is P-O-T-O what the heck I can give you a clue so what I do is when I do my list I put it where I'm feeling like it belongs so whatever P-O-T-O is I say it's a bricked it okay um oh this is gonna be impossible i'm guessing it's of the something something of the something oh no okay i'm gonna pull up the pin side 100 and just like scroll down really quickly and see that your bricked it is going to be on the pin side 100 well it could be in the top 300 i I mean, you can go past 100 now.
    55:22
    Wow. What have I done here? I brought the show to a screeching halt. Yeah, and when you try and search pinball P-O-T-O, it thinks you mean photo. I'm like, no, I don't mean photo. I mean abbreviations of pinball machines. It must not be like the way it's actually commonly abbreviated or when it came up.
    55:46
    Phantom of the Opera? Yes, that's it. It's a game. It's a game play. Yeah, like theoretically, I'm like, oh, there's this interesting thing up in the right-hand side. And I was like, isn't that interesting? I don't really know.
    56:04
    Look at you figuring out what I came up with. That's what we're here for. So are you nailed it, slop shot, or bricked it? I'll slop shot it. Okay. I do remember struggling between slop and brick, but ultimately settled on brick. The weird little moving ramp thing that's doesn't always work. Couldn't kill that game. See the only one that I've played was that flip, ding, ding in Seattle.
    56:34
    Flip, flip, ding, ding. I miss you. RIP. Although they have opened a Georgetown pinball and pizza, pizza and pinball, something. I haven't been to Seattle in a long time, let's go Travis and Levi have their games at a new spot that they opened there that I would very much like to go check out if you're in Seattle go support them please I love and miss them and Alan very much but yeah that's the only place that I had played it and their games generally played amazing so I probably got a better playing experience on the POTO than some other spots would have Do you want to know something awesome? What?
    57:19
    In some Spanish-speaking countries, I don't know if all, but poto means butt. Maybe you just wanted to talk about butts.
    57:31
    Of course. That's like a constant, but we don't need to do that. You saved my sanity. My OCD was not. People say, oh, I'm a little OCD. No, I am like actually diagnosed. I'm wearing a shirt that says neurodiversity on it right now because I got it when I went through my OCD stuff. But anyway, that would have kept me awake. And then I would have sat straight up in bed at 4 a.m. It's phantom. We have to get on the mic. Right. I would have just got a link via text to record another session and be like, what? Now. Which is funny because I wake up at 430 in the morning. So I would be awake when you sent the link and just be like, all right, let's finish it. We don't have to do that now. All right. Do you have anything else to slip into this revival show?
    58:23
    You know, just that it's lovely to hear your voice. We probably shouldn't wait another eight months before we do this again.
    58:36
    Gestational period of a baby. Yeah, it was almost nine months. You're right. Yeah. Okay. Well, let's not. That's too long. All right. That's too long. I, I will commit to being more available.
    58:51
    You heard it here, folks. I hear it from people all the time. It is wild. How often I get messages saying like, Hey, so let Jessica out of the cage and record a show. They think, and I should say, they know I'm the one that's holding all this back. So I apologize. I'm not saying I'm going to change, but I will try.
    59:11
    And that's the important part is that you're trying. I'm trying. Yeah. Oh, Jeff, this has been a delight. Absolutely.
    59:21
    Also, it was leg day at the gym, and now I've been sitting here for an hour. I got to hit stop before there's a big thump and a cry for help because we went heavy.
    59:33
    I don't even know what the pom-pom-pom-pom music for that would be. So just be you slumped over. I don't have the special effects. Oh, no.
    59:44
    now hey that's all folks we have not had on-air issues for a bit so only off-air yeah yeah well yeah that's all i've got to then um i enjoyed this it's been one hour of absolute fun times um now go pour over deep dive into the art of Alice and we can continue to make fun of it off air. Alright, sounds good. Bye.