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The Spinner Is Lit - Episode 66 Summer Break

The Spinner Is Lit Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·1h 27m·analyzed·Aug 27, 2024
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.032

TL;DR

Summer break episode with minimal pinball coverage; hosts discuss family activities and California Extreme arcade show.

Summary

Spencer and Dan host Episode 66 of The Spinner Is Lit A A Pinball Podcast during summer break, with Mark on hiatus. The episode is primarily personal, covering Spencer's family activities (his son Mickey working as the Casper Spuds mascot, Seth starting his junior year and working at Arby's, aspirations to be a pilot) and Dan's recent trip to California Extreme arcade/pinball show where he played classic arcade games like Warlords and 4x4 by Atari. Pinball content is minimal; both hosts discuss attending local arcades and league play, with Dan mentioning installation of a pin2DMD color display upgrade on Transformers and playing Aerosmith Pro at a local bowling alley.

Key Claims

  • Dan attended California Extreme last weekend and did not touch pinball machines except for a 4x4 by Atari with a ball jam

    high confidence · Dan discussing his recent trip; explicitly stated he played 4x4 and describes ball jam

  • California Extreme is a significant arcade and pinball show held every July in Northern California

    high confidence · Dan describing the show's attributes and regularity

  • Warlords is a four-player Pong-style arcade game that originated on Atari 2600 with paddle controllers before becoming an arcade cabinet

    high confidence · Dan explaining the history and mechanics of Warlords at California Extreme

  • Dan installed a pin2DMD color display upgrade on Transformers, noting it is cheaper than Color DMD but has less refined software

    high confidence · Dan discussing recent home game modifications

  • Spencer's son Mickey spent the summer working as Spudly the Potato mascot for the Casper Spuds baseball team and lost 45 pounds over the summer

    high confidence · Spencer describing Mickey's summer job and physical changes

  • Aerosmith is canceling their final tour due to the band's age and Steven Tyler's health issues

    medium confidence · Dan mentioning this when discussing Aerosmith Pro pinball at a bowling alley

  • Spencer and Dan plan to visit pinball arcades in the Denver area and Powell/Cody area before summer ends

    high confidence · Spencer stating plans for end-of-summer arcade trips

  • There is only one drive-in theater in Wyoming, located in Powell, which still uses old speaker box technology

    medium confidence · Spencer discussing Wyoming drive-in details and plans to visit

  • California Extreme features prototype arcade games and rare Atari titles that don't appear elsewhere in quantity

    high confidence · Dan discussing the unique offerings at California Extreme

Notable Quotes

  • “Well, you know, it's that community, you know, that you have with pinball and arcade game collection and even home games. You know, people, some of the shows do home games. And that's again, I think one of the most amazing thing about about Warlords is Warlords is fun and it's perfectly fun, you know, to sit down there and play with three people you don't know. But if you get five or six people that you do know and you're swapping in and out as you lose and you're throwing dollars on it and you're talking smack like it's it's an amazing game.”

    Dan @ mid-episode — Articulates the community and social aspects of arcade gaming that drive retention and create memorable experiences across generations

  • “Part of me wants a Warlord's cocktail incredibly badly because that experience is so fun. But then the other part of me is like, I don't know if we removed the Warlord's cocktail from the environment that is California extreme, if it would be that fun. Like, how often am I going to have four people over here to play it, let alone strangers rotating in and out?”

    Dan @ mid-episode — Reflects tension between wanting to own collectible arcade games vs. the context-dependency of social gaming experiences; signals collector psychology and practical constraints

  • “I did not touch one pinball machine. Seriously? Well, okay, I did play a 4x4 by Atari because it had a big lineup of Ataris. But for the most part...”

    Dan @ early pinball segment — Notable that a pinball podcast host attended a major arcade/pinball show but primarily played arcade games, suggesting post-show fatigue and arcade appeal

  • “Mark is a teacher. And for him, it's prime time. It's back to school. It's go time.”

    Spencer @ opening — Explains absence of regular co-host Mark and provides context for seasonal podcast dynamics

  • “It's basically a more complicated way of doing Tiltalica. But yeah, it's fun because it takes pinball, which is typically a solitary endeavor, right? I mean, yeah, you can play pinball against people, but you're taking turns. It puts it into the realm of head-to-head competition.”

    Dan @ late-episode arcade discussion — Identifies fundamental design principle differentiating Warlords/Tiltalica from traditional pinball; highlights appeal of simultaneous competitive play

Entities

SpencerpersonDanpersonMarkpersonMickeypersonSethpersonMalcolmpersonThe Spinner Is Lit Pinball PodcastorganizationCalifornia Extremeevent

Signals

  • ?

    venue_signal: Dan attended California Extreme, a major annual arcade/pinball show in Northern California, but primarily played classic arcade games rather than pinball machines despite being on a pinball podcast

    high · Dan: 'I did not touch one pinball machine. Seriously? Well, okay, I did play a 4x4 by Atari... But for the most part...' and extensive discussion of arcade games played

  • ?

    community_signal: California Extreme showed positive intergenerational engagement, with adult players (including hosts) creating inclusive experiences for younger players at arcade games like Warlords, with some kids returning year-to-year

    high · Dan's extended narrative about two kids joining Warlords community at California Extreme and returning the following year to play with the same group

  • ?

    operational_signal: Pinball league in Spencer's area (CCPL) recently restarted and is hosting matches at member homes; experienced infrastructure challenges (heat management during 113-degree day)

    high · Spencer: 'We actually hosted week one over here. It was very successful except for my air conditioner decided that it was going to take a break that week and it was about 113 that day'

  • ?

    technology_signal: pin2DMD color display upgrade being adopted by home collectors; users note cost advantage over Color DMD but software refinement concerns

    high · Dan: 'I got the color display and transformers, the pin to DMD. So it's the first time I've installed a pin to DMD. Uh, pin to DMD is great. It's cheaper than color DMD, which is nice. It's a little sketchier. Uh, but yeah, the software situation with it is just not as refined as it is on color DMD'

  • ?

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.263

0:00
Hey, welcome to the Spinners Lit Pinball Podcast. Today's episode is episode 66, Summer Break. I'm your host, Spencer, and my co-host with me is Dan. And that's it. That's all you get. Mark's on hiatus because he just got a lot on his plate. He'll be back next episode. Yeah, Mark is a, Mark's a teacher. And for him, it's, it's, it's prime time. It's back to school. It's go time. So it is go time. And it's, it's back to school time. So summer break, summer break's almost over. Mark Leary, It's really almost over for Mark. For me, I got a little bit longer to go. The boys don't head back till like the last week of the month, so like the 26th. Yeah, but your kids are in high school. They are. Mickey starts high school and he finished- Oh, he's just starting, huh? He's a freshman, yeah, yeah. So he's starting his freshman year. Seth is starting his junior year, so they're going to be going to school together. And I no longer own a minivan. Oh. So, uh, no, no, I said, well, okay, technically I still own it. I was told to know in certain terms a couple of weeks ago. Well, the band's mine now, dad. I'm like, well, you pay the fucking insurance, pal. Um, you know, so you, uh, you passed it on to the, yeah.
1:43
Yeah. So Seth got his license and, uh, um, and I just said to, so I just been driving the truck, you know? So, which is, I mean, if I really want to go somewhere else, like he's not I used to say, hey, I'm going to take the van, or I think I have like one time. But no, we went somewhere together and I said, no, I'll drive. And oh, so we took Papa. So Papa turned 80. So we took him to a baseball game. We took him to a Casper Spuds game and let him watch Mickey. But Mickey got him hooked up. So for his birthday, he got to throw out the opening pitch. John Popadiuk, Bob Betor, Keith Elwin, Laser Los, Bowen Kerins, Lyman F. Sheats Jr., orbit ramps, Automated Amusements, Python Anghelo, Joe Kaminkow, Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi.
3:23
I'm going to go back to college. And so they spent their whole summer playing baseball. It was really cool. And so the owner of the team, because you know, for the listeners who don't know, my My youngest son, Mickey, got his first job for the summer working for the team, the Casper Spuds, as the mascot, Spudly the Potato. And so he's had a real good summer doing that. So I was telling you, Dan, earlier off air, each member of the team got a championship cap embroidered that says, you know, League Champions 2024. And a cigar, they gave you a Cuban cigar. And he gave Mickey a hat and a cigar and said, you did great, kid. We want to have you back next year. That's all Mickey needs is a Cuban cigar. And he goes, is your dad going to be okay? He goes, my dad will probably smoke it, man. What are you talking about? And he goes, yeah, my dad, you know. Because we had talked earlier in the evening at the snack bar at the pro shop. We were in there. They have Spudley for President t-shirts, you know, because it's an election year. And so it's got the Spudly, the Spuds logo, which is the potato wearing a cowboy hat. And so Russ and I just got a Spudly for President T-shirt. So I just thought those are pretty cool. Well, I mean, you know, let's be honest, man. Could there be a cooler high school job? No way. No. Okay. If you've ever met Spencer's kid, this is his first best destiny. He's not flipping burgers, he's not mopping floors or doing grunt work. He's out there acting like a fool, entertaining people, and his younger son might be just one of the more entertaining people. I mean, everyone who listens to our podcast has probably met him at Golden State, but John Popadiuk, Bob Betor, Keith Elwin, Laser Los, Bowen Kerins, Lyman F. Sheats Jr., orbit ramps, Automated Amusements, Python Anghelo, Joe Kaminkow, Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi. Some high pinball drama with some companies going out of business and people being owed money. There hasn't been a whole lot to talk about since the show, right? The show kind of dominates our pinball summer and then after that, everything's a bit anticlimactic. So I'm sure we'll talk about some pinball. I don't know how much pinball or how pressing it'll be. You know, maybe if maybe if the urge strikes us, we'll we'll go someplace weird. But just wanted to get that out there. Thank you. They all don't think that we're dead. Yeah. No, thank you. And thank you for doing that. Yeah. So I'm going to I'm going to finish up with the Mickey stuff with I came in one day from work and I was like, what are you doing? He's wearing the spudly costume, the white gloves. Like, what are you doing? Because while I'm practicing making balloon animals in the clubs, I'm like, oh, OK, cool. So he bought like a bubble, you know, like the, like, you know, so bubble blower, like machine gun. And so he's like doing his own props and made this, they're like, we, we, I told him, I said, yeah, I said, came in one day from working practice and doing balloon animals and the gloves at home. They're like, God, that kid's great. I'm like, I told you, it's like, you know, when I saw how it all started was we're sitting watching TV on a Friday night and I just happened to scan the Facebook page. I'm a fan, you know, I like the Spuds page and we like the games. You know, we went last year and had a good time and they're like, oh, they're taking applications for a mascot. I said, you gotta go do this, man. This job was, you know, you were born to do this. And he was, and he did a really good job this year. Seth has a job. His job's not nearly as exciting or entertaining, but he's making, for the area and for being a 17 year old kid, he's making pretty good money. We're going to work on Arby's, so. So Seth's a working man, like he's a serious minded, like he's going to probably dedicate himself to that and be the best darn Arby's guy you could be. Yeah. Can you imagine Seth in the potato, the potato mask? You know, I have doing really dark humor too, because his humor is really dark. Yeah, because when he does say something funny, it's fucking hilarious. And it's like, oh, that's dark. No, but you know, actually, he's talking to, you know, he's a Civil Air Patrol, he's talking to a recruiter tomorrow about looking into Wyoming Air National Guard because they'll get him through all his pilot training. He's thinking, he wants to be a commercial pilot, but he's also thinking about, like, going to work for, like, forestry and then flying one of the air tankers. So that's my summer because it has nothing to do with pinball. He's getting tall for a pilot. Yeah, he is tall for a pilot. He's almost 6'3". Mickey's 6' now. Malcolm is actually the short boy in the family, the oldest. He's 5'11". And he might still get two or three inches. Malcolm? No. No, Malcolm's definitely not going to be any taller. Oh, Malcolm's done growing. Yeah, yeah, Malcolm's done growing. He's probably going to have another year or two. Yeah, yeah. He's only 16, right? 17, yeah. He just turned 17 in June, so he was still 16 to show. And then, of course, Mickey has lost like 45 pounds over the summer. He's just wetted it off. Literally, because it was like last night at the game, it was like really humid, and like we didn't get any rain or thunderstorms, but we did today and we actually got hail. I'm sitting on this because I've already seen the movie. We talked about that after I didn't really want to go again. Because they wanted to go see Deadpool again. Anyway, so, and it's a great movie, but I'll wait until it's on DVD or whatever. But yeah, like, it was like 100 degrees yesterday. And he was out in the potato and then he's waiting at the visitor side gate, because He's got to go after the seventh inning because they let all the little kids run around the bases. So the last inning, however, he's out there just sweating like a sauna and plus he's physically active. He's running, doing the sack races, running around breaking blue, and clowning with the kids and just having a good time. But yeah, he's grown and he's trimmed up.

  • Dan took first place in a recent pinball league night and is top five mid-season

    high confidence · Dan discussing his recent league performance

  • “There's a prototype Tommy there, which basically just straight rips off Whirlwind's layout.”

    Dan @ California Extreme section — References prototype pinball machines at California Extreme; suggests design lineage and prototype show culture

  • “Because to me, I think Aerosmith is cool and I actually really like Aerosmith for a time as a teenager. I was very, very into the newer Aerosmith stuff, you know, get a grip, pump, permanent vacation. But I never played the pinball machine and was like, you know, I'd rather have this than a Guardians of the Galaxy or a Metallica.”

    Dan @ Aerosmith segment — Notes personal opinion on Aerosmith Pro pinball machine quality and theme appeal relative to competing games

    • Casper Spuds
    organization
    Aerosmith Progame
    Keith Elwinperson
    Transformersgame
    pin2DMDproduct
    Warlordsgame
    4x4game
    Denvervenue
    Powellvenue
    Codyvenue
    CCPLorganization
    Donkey Konggame

    content_signal: The Spinner Is Lit podcast experiences seasonal disruption due to co-host Mark's teaching schedule; summer episode focuses on personal content rather than pinball news

    high · Spencer: 'Mark's on hiatus because he just got a lot on his plate... Mark is a teacher. And for him, it's prime time. It's back to school'

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Host expresses lukewarm opinion of Aerosmith Pro relative to competing theme machines (Guardians of the Galaxy, Metallica), suggesting theme licensing alone doesn't guarantee player satisfaction

    high · Dan: 'I never played the pinball machine and was like, you know, I'd rather have this than a Guardians of the Galaxy or a Metallica'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Hosts identify appeal of simultaneous competitive play in arcade games (Warlords) vs. turn-based pinball; notes this drives social engagement and repeat visitation

    high · Dan: 'it's fun because it takes pinball, which is typically a solitary endeavor... It puts it into the realm of head-to-head competition' and extended discussion of Warlords social dynamics

  • ?

    collector_signal: Host desires Warlords cocktail arcade cabinet but recognizes context-dependency of social gaming; expresses concern about private ownership vs. venue-based play reducing the appeal

    high · Dan: 'Part of me wants a Warlord's cocktail incredibly badly... But then the other part of me is like, I don't know if we removed the Warlord's cocktail from the environment that is California extreme, if it would be that fun'

  • ?

    venue_signal: Dan has local pinball machine access (Aerosmith Pro at bowling alley 2 blocks from house) but limited engagement; arcade presence in community enables casual play

    high · Dan: 'I play games at home. I've been out and played a couple games locally on location, you know, the bowling alley, which they have an Aerosmith pro still, and it's two blocks from my house'

  • $

    market_signal: Aerosmith band canceling final tour due to age and health issues; may impact game's cultural relevance or secondary market perception

    medium · Dan: 'Aerosmith, if you haven't heard, due to the fact that they're older than dirt and Steven Tyler's just having, you know, some health issues, they're canceling their final tour'

  • ?

    product_concern: pin2DMD users report software stability and refinement issues compared to Color DMD competitor; technical implementation may lag competitor products

    high · Dan: 'It's a little sketchier... the software situation with it is just not as refined as it is on color DMD'

    • 10:36
    Yeah, he's probably hecka slim, which is funny because Mickey's always been a stout kid. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And, uh, but yeah, he's, uh, you know, everybody's doing real good. So we've done like almost no pinball though, you know? Um, but we have a couple of little, we're going to make a trip over to the Denver, hit some arcades. And then, uh, there's a couple of pinball arcades over in the Powell Cody area. We want to go hit before summer's over. So, and there's also, this is really cool. There's one drive in, in the entire state of Wyoming.
    11:06
    And I was checking around cause we haven't been to the drive-in since we left I'm a Sacramento area, you know, because we used to live so close to the rancher drive-in. I'm like, I'm feeding for that. So, so Russ and I are going to try to make a drive-in a weekend, get away over to Cody and go over to Powell to the drive-in because Powell's like 25 minutes away. They have one single screen drive-in. They still use the old speaker boxes. Yeah. Which is, which is amazing, right? Like how retro style is that? I know that those have become popular for people to have as props in their home because they're a relic, right? Every drive and every drive that I know of, even back in the 90s, had gone over to using FM transmission. Right. Yeah. Probably the late 80s, I would say, is all the drivers started doing that. And, uh... And it's smart. Like, honestly, it's a better sound quality. Like... It is. I don't remember those speakers sounding terrible when I was a kid, but I can't imagine that they sounded super good. Yeah, they definitely did. And, uh... Yeah. When we were going to the drive-in, like, Will used to have a set up, friend of the show, Will, where we would actually back his truck in, put a couch up on the bed rails, and then he had, you know, a decent system in the truck, and we would actually... He had speaker boxes on wires that we would put around the truck so we would get like ghetto drive-in surround sound. And that was, you know, a cool setup. So I can't, I mean, I think you probably had some bass in there, but yeah, I can't imagine that those old speakers sounded better. But I mean, you know, if you're trying to relive yesteryear, which, you know, a lot And by the way, Les Burns and manage the ándaykeview on YouTube at forum. consumption.guidance.com Randall Thompson, Either Saw في Lou Henninger аftон , monuments Georg thành компания Albuquerque, John Popadiuk, Bob Betor, Keith Elwin, Laser Los, Bowen Kerins, Lyman F. Sheats Jr., orbit ramps, Automated Amusements, Python Anghelo, Joe Kaminkow, Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi.
    13:52
    Jeff Eli Magids, Alexis훈 Kinefite, I'm like, let's spend the summer trying to kill each other with our toys, you know? Well, and you know, it was survival of the fittest. It was, man. You know, if you killed yourself with a lawn dart, you did the world a favor and removed yourself from the gene pool. Yeah, pretty much. Now, my apologies to anybody who has a family member or friend who was murdered by a lawn dart. I think it's only one person that's ever been killed by a lawn dart, so if it happens to be your friend, I'm sorry. There you go. Goodness, clever. I still, you know, honestly, I still haven't even opened those lawn darts. Oh, really? And I didn't put them any place where, like, they were gonna be protected. I threw them in my toy bin in the backyard, so I'm sure the box is all just destroyed. But, you know, because I bought them with every intention of, like, oh, we're gonna take these things out and throw them, but I basically don't have a backyard. And I've never like shoved them over to my cousin's house, somebody who has a decent size yard where we can throw metal spikes around and not worry about, you know, lancing the neighbor or something. You know what you need to take? You need to take those over to Adam's house. He's got a yard. I think. Really, he doesn't. I don't know. He's got a, like, Adam's backyard is a lot like mine where it's mostly patio. Right. And he probably had a more significant backyard before whoever owned the house before John Popadiuk, Bob Betor, Keith Elwin, Laser Los, Bowen Kerins, Lyman F. Sheats Jr., orbit ramps, Automated Amusements, Python Anghelo, Joe Kaminkow, Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi.
    16:36
    So, I'll get into real actual, oh, we're going to get into pinball now. I did do a trip, which is kind of pinball related. Jamie and I actually went to California Extreme last weekend. You did? Thank you. Yes, I've been wanting to hear about this. I did not touch one pinball machine. Seriously? Well, okay, I did play a 4x4 by Atari because it had a big lineup of Ataris. But for the most part, I don't know for the folks who are in the know, California Extreme is a very significant arcade and pinball show here in Northern California. It's every July. And in California, we've got some serious pinball collectors. There's no doubt about it. But, and kind of going back to what we were talking about with Golden State, they bring their collections out. So they bring their good stuff out and you can see it. Yep. They're lovely people with more money than good judgment. People who want to share something that's special. Yeah. Well, I want to hear about the 4x4 because I've only seen pictures. It had a ball jam, so we didn't do much besides shake it. Okay. Yeah, because they only made like, what, two of those? No, I'm here. Okay. My screen went to sleep on me. I got to figure out how to disable that. I'm also dealing with a new technology day. So, but I did play a ton of arcade games because the other thing about California extreme is that all of the arcade, all the classic arcade companies back in the day were, you know, kind of based out of California. Yeah. So, you get Atari games that don't show up anywhere else and in quantity. And you get people who are bringing prototypes, stuff that you don't see anywhere. We have some huge collectors, Mark Biersching and T.J. I believe that's it, yeah. Yeah, they bring stuff like, you know, Capcom, Kingpin, and, you know, Atari games that I'm not sure if you've ever heard of these. It's a very popular show. I'm not sure if you've heard of it, but there's only one or two of them. It's called Beavis and Butthead. Yeah, Beavis and Butthead, Marble Badness II, stuff like that. Things you can't even emulate. Now, Marble Madness II, that was only a prototype, right? Yes. Okay, that's what I thought. Because I've heard about that being at the show, I've never seen it. You know, it's funny, because it's in my busy season when I was in pest control. So I know all the years in California, I never did get to make it to a California experience. Yeah. Uh, well, you know, it's, it's a weekend and you could go Saturday and you can go Saturday and Sunday. And this year was the first time that we actually went both days.
    19:28
    That's cool. Yeah, it was actually super, super awesome. Uh, if nothing else, just to have someplace that you can go and hide from the madness, because I do think that they're kind of outgrowing. John Popadiuk, Bob Betor, Keith Elwin, Laser Los, Bowen Kerins, Lyman F. Sheats Jr., orbit ramps, Automated Amusements, Python Anghelo, Joe Kaminkow, Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi. Justin Corte, John Popadiuk, Bob Betor, Keith Elwin, Laser Los, Bowen Kerins, Lyman F. Sheats Jr., orbit ramps, Automated Amusements, Python Anghelo, Joe Kaminkow, Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi. I'm going to be away. And then the next morning I woke up and I was just about arcade gamed out. Yeah, you said in picture you were playing, what was the old Atari game with a four player? So every year me and some of the guys from the league, we play a game called Warlords. Warlords, thank you. And Warlords is like a four player pong. I remember that as a kid being in the arcade. Right. And you know, there's a two player stand up and there's a four player cocktail. And the truth is, if I'm not mistaken, Warlords actually started on the Atari 2600. So you could play it with two sets of paddle controllers. And it was such a cool game that they made an arcade game off it. But there is almost no way to have more fun with other people with your clothes on Right Yeah No I remember that I mean we had our local arcade had to sit down for a player more I remember playing with friends as a kid
    22:01
    It's super easy to play because basically you're just using your little paddle to protect your wall and then your walls around your castle. If the fireball hits your wall, you lose a chunk. If the fireball hits your castle, you lose your life. John Popadiuk, Bob Betor, Knapp Arcade, Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi, Super fun. And this kind of started because one year we were playing and I mean, I just wrecked everybody like four or five times in a row. And finally I just started, you know, proclaiming that I am the Lord of War. And so the next time that we played, as soon as somebody won, you know, they jumped up and screamed that they're the Lord of War. And then other people would see us doing it and they would join in and, you know, it just became a bit of a thing. So last year, you know, it's me and Adam. We had Shannon with us. I think Rory was there. Travis, you know, a lot of the guys were there. And, you know, we had just a long session and we had other people started like rotating in and getting into the spirit of things. But more specifically, we have these two kids and I don't even know, like, this is just, you know, this is such a bygone thing to see. John Popadiuk, Bob Betor, Knapp Arcade, Oh yeah, our kids are going to be fine with these cats. Hey, do you mind if these kids hang around here and play? And we're like, no man, as long as he knows, can they play? And yeah, they could play. They were actually pretty good. But they were down, right? Like they had a lot of fun. They joined right in. They became, they became part of the crew for that day. Nice. And we were, we were, you know, getting set to go and we're talking about how much we're looking forward to playing and we're like, hey, I wonder if those kids are going to be here. John Popadiuk, Bob Betor, Knapp Arcade, And they walk up to me and they're just, dude, it's you. And I'm like, yeah, it's me. We were hoping you guys would be here. And yeah, we actually got to, uh, we got to play with them again. We had like, you know, some people who obviously had played the game before and we're waiting for competition. We were throwing dollars on it. Like part of me wants a warlord's cocktail incredibly badly because that experience is so fun. But then the other part of me is like, I don't know if we removed the Warlord's cocktail from the environment that is California extreme, if it would be that fun. Like, how often am I going to have four people over here to play it, let alone strangers rotating in and out? Like, I host league a couple times a season. So, I mean, maybe, but you know, they're not cheap. I mean, by pinball standards, they're not expensive, but I mean, I'm sure it's probably a $3,000 to $5,000 arcade game. Right. Find it in any kind of condition, so. It's a lot like, I've talked with a lot of people over the years or like with the old Atari football with the, they made a two player and a four player. Yeah, the football with the gigantic, finger destroying trackball. Thank you, trackball, yeah. You know, I remember same time frame, the old arcade, back in the days when the new games were that, Lunar Lander, Asteroids. So we're talking like 79. And I can still tell you what was on the jukebox in my head. It's forever. I did an episode by myself a couple of days. 40 days. Now it was in, if you go back, it's called the Odyssey or the Wayback Machine. It's an old episode. So for the listeners, if they want to know, I talk about the arcade. But you know, I talk to people like, oh man, I want one of those. So now that people actually have them go, okay, like at Thanksgiving when family and friends come over, we play it. And then it sits in the garage and collects dust the rest of the year. You know, so, you know, rolling that out for a special holiday event or something, what a great idea. But yeah, it's, it's like somebody brings it every year to the show. And that's where like those kids, man, you know, when they're in their forties, they're going to be, hey, remember those old guys that we used to play warlords with every year at California extreme? I wonder what happened to those guys. aquí donde están muchos amigos que son realmente geniales pero sabes que ahí vamos allí y van a ser como los 70 años 8 años, todavía los estoy haciendo así, ahí van a estar y van a estar como 45 años ahora en nuestras edades tipos Hechos de Now говорят muy increíbles sabes que casi all tendremos que hacer eso, luego tienes que esperar que eso ocurra, si sabes qué pasa con el panorama and se sienten wonderful they're digging the ride and they're coming back and that you guys are starting to see him it's a wonderful thing you know, es que, esa es la comunidad, sabes que tienes con pinball vaccines en el arcade game collection con los pin bares y arcade game collection gente nueva que la yo, si quieres bersミ esos picks, 멤� baje enrunaes, s하 disque davinitye,essionstudios que tienes estos chicos todos los hijos, sus personajes,ieron el próximo porque ahora solo tenemos lowest class winner, los primos pero no ha But you know what? It's passing the torch and it's wonderful that they're digging the ride and they're coming back and that you guys were excited to see them. That's a wonderful thing. You know, it's that community, you know, that you have with pinball and arcade game collection and even home games. You know, people, some of the shows do home games. And that's again, I think one of the most amazing thing about about warlords is warlords is fun and it's perfectly fun, you know, to sit down there and play with three people you don't know. But if you get five or six people that you do know and you're swapping in and out as you lose and you're throwing dollars on it and you're talking smack like it's it's an amazing game. It's as fun as it's as fun as anything I've ever I've ever played in an arcade. It's a more primitive thing like Tiltalica, right? I mean, the same concept. It's not pinball. I mean, I don't know if it's like that. I mean, you know, the thing about the Tiltalica or the Tilt Race, whatever Jim Martin and their crew is calling their thing, which is really cool, by the way. I did get to check that out. Oh, cool. It's basically a more complicated way of doing Tiltalica. But yeah, it's fun because it takes pinball, which is typically a solitary endeavor, right? I mean, yeah, you can play pinball against people, but you're taking turns. It puts it into the realm of head-to-head competition. All right. And with with warlords, it's the same thing. But I mean, the head to head competition is basically. It's basically the game, right? Like there's really I mean, you can play at one or two or three players, but it doesn't really come to life until you get that computer out of the mix. And it's for people who are who are competing. John Popadiuk, Bob Betor, Keith Elwin, Laser Los, Bowen Kerins, Lyman F. Sheats Jr., orbit ramps, Automated Amusements, Python Anghelo, Joe Kaminkow, Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi.
    29:21
    the end of the show we took off two hours early uh... you know when i played by donky kong donkey dong and unieron docker concrete and i can tell you why p king the congress so the games of he's either an ITC nara of pompous called is there like the other power again to get aux td to work for you uh... rotations through lips honestly Way harder than you think it's going to be.
    29:54
    No, that's another one I used to play a lot back in the day. And then I had a 60-on-1 cocktail table for a while, and I played a lot of Donkey Kong on that. And it's like, you know, yeah, not easy at all.
    30:09
    Yeah, so, yeah, but I mean, it's a great show. And if you do want to play pinball and, you know, you're not a month or so removed from, you know, a huge pinball show, So, yeah, all the new stuff was there. You know, there were, there were Godzillas, there were John Wickes, there's a ton of, of classic stuff. There's some prototype stuff that you, you just don't see. Like I said, there's a guy who brings Kingpin, a guy who brings his big, big bar. I'm not sure if it was there this year, but like I've seen the prototype Tommy there, which basically just straight rips off Whirlwind's layout. You know, so there's a lot of really, really cool stuff like that. But yeah, California Extreme was great. Beyond that, you know, we've, we restarted league. So we're playing in league. I had a successful league night the other day. I took first for the first time in a while. So I'm, I'm looking good mid season. I think I'm top five. You know, of course, a big thanks to all the CCPL guys who host and to Cheddar. We actually hosted week one over here. It was very successful except for my air conditioner decided that it was going to take a break that week and it was about 113 that day. So I have a mini split in my garage where most of my games are and that kept things manageable. But yeah, the house was an easy 90 degrees. It was a little sweaty. Beyond that, man, yeah, just, you know, with the shows that have been going on, I haven't really been playing a lot of games at home. Uh, I don't know if I've, uh, mentioned anything since then. I got the color display and transformers, the pin to DMD. So it's the first time I've installed a pin to DMD.
    31:59
    Uh, pin to DMD is great. It's cheaper than color DMD, which is nice. It's a little sketchier. Uh, but yeah, the software situation with it is just not as refined as it is on color DMD. I'm John Popadiuk, and I'll see you next time.
    32:41
    Last two months of pinball for me. Not a lot going on. Same here, man. I play games at home. I've been out and played a couple games locally on location, you know, the bowling alley, which they have an Aerosmith pro still, and it's two blocks from my house. And Aerosmith, if you haven't heard, due to the fact that they're older than dirt and Steven Tyler's just having, you know, some health issues, they're canceling their final tour. The Valley Company, Subsidiary of Walter Kidde & Co., Inc., Mirco Playfields, Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi. Because to me, I think Aerosmith is cool and I actually, I actually really like Aerosmith for a time as a, as a teenager. I was very, very into the newer Aerosmith stuff, you know, get a grip, pump, permanent vacation. But I never played the pinball machine and was like, you know, I'd rather have this than a Guardians of the Galaxy or a Metallica. John Popadiuk, Bob Betor, Keith Elwin, Laser Los, Bowen Kerins, Lyman F. Sheats Jr., orbit ramps, Automated Amusements, Python Anghelo, Joe Kaminkow, Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi.
    34:38
    John Popadiuk, Bob Betor, Keith Elwin, Laser Los, Bowen Kerins, Lyman F. Sheats Jr., orbit ramps, Automated Amusements, Python Anghelo, Joe Kaminkow, Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi.
    35:08
    You know, probably around the time that like Pump was on the scene and that that album was really good. And so for me, you know, it's kind of funny. It's like when I bought music, I bought like Weird Al. Right. You know, that's what I bought. Right. I'm a kid. And then when it was time to buy my own music, I just really went heavy into just I mean, I don't even know if it'd be really classic rock. It definitely be classic rock now. But it was always stuff like Tom Petting, The Heartbreakers, The Cars, you know, stuff that like my folks would listen to. My dad was a country music fan. My mom, my mom loved the cars. And so, you know, I just, because that's what I was familiar with. Like I really was never that into quote unquote popular music. I was always more of a classic rock kind of fan. So Aerosmith was in my wheelhouse. And so I would hang out with Eric and Will and it would drive them crazy because they didn't want to listen to dad rock. Right. They wanted to listen to, at the time, stuff like Cypress Hill. And the funny thing was like on the flip side, and this was just going out of vogue, but I mean, you know, I like Guns N' Roses, I liked Poison, I like Motley Crue, you know, I liked hair metal. Yeah. And this was like the era of grunge and, you know, hip hop was coming up real big. So, yeah, it drove them crazy because I had the car, so I had the CD player, so I had control. And eventually what we ended up deciding on, and it's probably the CD that I've listened to more than any other CD, was the Last Action Hero soundtrack. Oh, wow. Because it had a really good mix of songs. We didn't have to be switching discs a lot, which drove me crazy because you're driving Yahana Adonis壓 arbeiten salted 293 thousand kofats bodysk 우� synth, Mur municipalities, k entwining Wolfenstein, 세번째 컷데 een af 그건 보 вид, �ار세�יץ наверное 크� conventions이 등장하여 세계에서 � 한데 skype awizов uses � realiz MAC to name rig skill, outrage to agency standards 안들위는 tilui tenido live of the middle bar, you know, wherever they get cool viva this task there and not not and not copy input and curious. Oh wow. Yeah, so I mean, I must have listened to that album a million thousand times. That's awesome. Yeah, you mentioned so many great bands of that era. Oh yeah, Queensryche, you know, I... You know, it was funny, going back to the Aerosmith thing, it made me think of the Ozzy concert that we got screwed out of. Yeah, Ozzy and Megadeth, yeah. Oh man, that would have been a cool show. I know. John Popadiuk, Bob Betor, Knapp Arcade, A big and lots of fun things to do and time but really strongly I look forward to错 타 I was watching a video of the current tour earlier today and it sounded really good. It was just that we were playing somewhere and it was Holy Wars. I'm like, oh yeah, it sounded good. But, you know, it's funny talking about Denver. I'm going to throw this out real quick. The Rocky Mountain Pinball Showdown and Game Room Expo, because there are arcade games as well. There are 20th anniversaries coming up and it's they got a new location. I'm gonna try to make the show. I didn't make it last year.
    39:00
    It's September 13th, 14th, and 15th. And it's a new location. You can look it up at pinballshowdown.com.
    39:13
    But it's uh Yeah, so it's so big. It was that's going on. It's in Denver. They got a new location. Trying to figure out where it is or websites a little hard to navigate for me. I don't know. I'm sure if you Google Rocky Mountain Pinball Showdown, you'll find it. Yeah. Yeah. So but so, yeah, they have come on arcade games and it's a good show. It's a fun show, too. So if you're in the Denver area next month, man, check that out. So and maybe I'll get there. So, you know, I hope that I get there for one day. I'll just check it out. That's a good show too. Um, Well, of course the most important thing you could do, not next month, but the month after October 11th to 13th here in NorCal is Pinnagogo.
    40:02
    Longest running pinball show west of the Mississippi. Longest running pinball show west of the Mississippi, still in beautiful Dixon, California. You need to fly out, buddy. I'll take you from the airport. You can crash at the house. It won't cost you nothing. Just take a weekend off of work. That's all you gotta do. I gotta look at finances. I may just do that. Rob, your potato son. He's probably raking in the potato skins. You know, it's like, yeah. He's got a little money stashed somewhere. So you'd be proud of the boys. They've been putting in a jar together, chipping in and stuff. I'm super proud of the boys. I'm super impressed by every time you tell me their progress. I'm just amazed. I want, you know, the one thing that I do expect next time I see you or Mickey is I want some spuds merch. I want a hat. There you go. How does championship happen? I want a hat. So here's a pinball question for you. Let's go back to the bands thing. Oh yeah. And should have a pinball machine that doesn't. And would you buy it? I'm glad you brought that up because I've been thinking about a couple. I'll tell you one. I've seen them twice and then they came here right after I moved here and I didn't go and then one of the members died. ZZ Top. Oh man, I hate ZZ Top. Do you really? I mean, I don't, okay, hate's a strong word. I don't like ZZ Top and there's no reason that I don't like ZZ Top. Just like, there's just something about them.
    41:48
    I, I'm a huge fan. As you go back to the Eliminator album, um, on the stage, they had, uh, like the, the front end of the Eliminator, the car and, uh, like the lights would come on and I'm thinking an LE, a Stern LE, could be like the Eliminator backglass where the lights light up. You could do the Playfield like the Shadow. The front of the car, the front of the cab or whatever it is. Right, and then when you cradle the balls, they sit right on the headlights. I could see a few things that would be really cool in that. John Popadiuk, Bob Betor, Keith Elwin, Laser Los, Bowen Kerins, Lyman F. Sheats Jr., orbit ramps, Automated Amusements, Python Anghelo, Joe Kaminkow, Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi.
    43:03
    The pinball machine. Oh man, I can name 30 songs off the top of my head. They got Sharp Dressed Man. Legs. They got legs. Cheap Sunglasses, Jesus Disloves Chicago. See, and I'm not a fan, so you know. Yeah, you're not yet. I mean. I all know the songs that everybody knows. Omni X, and Beer Drinkers, and Hellraisers. And that's it. Like, I've run out of songs with legs and Sharp Dressed Man. Yeah. I mean, those are two of the biggest. The biggest. Give Me All Your Lovin'. Okay. TV dinners. There's a big one. Lagrange. You know, that's a big one. And then there are two singles off of El Loco which was the record I believe before Eliminator which was Two Snake Boogie and Pearl Necklace So Yeah I know like four or five of those songs. Yeah. I mean, they got a huge, huge catalog. And like I said, I am a classic rock fan. Oh, Lagrange. Okay, Lagrange. Well, they've had two songs in Pinball Machines. Yeah, they've had Lagrange because that was all over the getaway. Yeah. And in Lethal Weapon 3, it was an option. You could pick CNC Music Factory or Sharp Dressed Man or whatever their own Lethal Weapon 3 music was. And they had a song in Back to the Future, Double Back. They did Double Back. Thank you. Yes, they did. So ZZ Top basically already has a pinball machine. Sort of. But no, I think that would be a good one. You know, I've been listening to a lot of pumpkin boy, like, you know, like, I do like smashing pumpkins. I'm always a high schooler in the nineties, you know, you know, melon melancholy and all that. But at the same time as it's just like, I guess, like, you could really heavily theme Justin P Bolt Ti Bible Deко Korgans such a weird cat though. He's a cool dude though man. Really articulate, really smart, really interesting. He's really dumb. He's just weird. I think he's a really, I love seeing interviews of him because he's just a really interesting cat, you know. Well you know he bought a wrestling company. I know, isn't that cool? Like he's the head of the NWA so. Yeah, yeah, that's so cool man. I know they make money in wrestling so the Smashing Pumpkins, the Smashing Pumpkins, The Smashing Pumpkins residuals must be good. Well, they're not, they're touring again this year. So, they're back on the road. Yeah, everybody's touring this year, but a lot of people are canceling or shortening their tours or, you know, something. But, I don't know, what do you got? What are you thinking? You know, I think kind of going back to what we were talking about earlier, like, Megadeth would be really, really cool. Megadeth would be good. Like, Megadeth would be amazing. They have a really strong visual identity. I know that a lot of people feel like, you know, they're sort of Metallica ripoffs and their goal is always to out Metallica Metallica, but that's pretty neat. In fact, if you did it right, like you just basically make it a straight ripoff of the Metallica machine and just have all sorts of, all sorts of call outs where he's just like, fuck Lars Alwitch. Yeah, exactly. But I think that they've pretty much buried the hatchet. I know that Dave will probably never be as over it as the guys from Metallica are. No, but yeah, I mean, you know, I get why they kicked him out of the band because, you know, he was just, you know, a drug. Yeah, well, because he was too Metallica for Metallica. Yeah, he was a pecan on a mess at the time. That's a creative point. But there's a lot of conspiracy theory about that, too. John Popadiuk, Bob Betor, Keith Elwin, Laser Los, Bowen Kerins, Lyman F. Sheats Jr., orbit ramps, Automated Amusements, Python Anghelo, Joe Kaminkow, Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi.
    47:41
    I've seen all the bands of the big four separately at least once, a couple of them twice. But yeah, that could be good. You mentioned that. I also think, honestly, man, Eminem. You know, people always bring up R&B and rap groups and it makes perfect sense. One thing, his cadence is very amazing. If you send him down in front of pinball machines, you probably go, oh, this makes sense to me Because it's all about timing with them. You know, he's like a human metronome. There's a lot of dudes in my age group, late forties, who really like Eminem. Eminem himself, kinda, you know, like he's used pinball imagery in his, uh, in his album covers and whatnot. So he's probably into it. The guy definitely, you know, I don't think he's just letting someone do it for him. I think that he's into it. Yeah. And he's got a mythology around his music and his performances and whatnot that they could adapt to give a pinball machine a convincing theme. I think that would be really cool, actually. There's three or four hip-hop artists I think that would really... You can make a pinball machine that would do really well, and the theming could do really well. And he's at the top of that list. Well, the thing about Eminem is, you know, he automatically brings in Dr. Dre. Exactly. He automatically brings in 50 Cent. He automatically brings in Snoop Dogg because they're all part of the same label and, you know, I'm sure guest appearances would not be frowned upon. But yeah, you'd be shocked if they did something with Eminem and it didn't involve Dr. Dre. Remember they did that big Super Bowl show a couple years ago where it was, you know, And then also Snoop Dogg, and then also Eminem, and then also a couple other guys. Well, if you're bringing Snoop Dogg, you've gotta bring in Martha Stewart, so. But that would be alright, because she did time, you know. Martha did a nickel, and she didn't even fucking blink, man. You know what the other thing is, like, you know, it's not music, but What if they did like a Gordon Ramsay pinball machine? It could be interesting. I mean, you know, a lot of people turn their nose up at it, but I mean, like, you know, we go back to like, seems like Junkyard, and I still like that game. It's a fun game. You know? If you're doing Barry O's Barbecue, which is basically a barbecue-themed pinball machine, you know, barbecue slash pinball-themed pinball, you know, and it's going to appeal to a very narrow assortment of people. It's just like, I know that your average fan of like a Gordon Ramsay isn't going to be going out and spending $7,000, $8,000 on a pinball machine, but it's just like, there's gotta be a cross section there of dudes in their forties and fifties who like, they'll watch Gordon Ramsay. Yeah. Like Gordon Ramsay is a cook who likes swears at people. I don't throw shit. Right. I don't have to do it. Yeah. Throw shit. I'm not seeing that. Not seeing it? I mean, I don't know that much about Judas Priest. Hardly, you'll be fine. Just put motorcycles. And Mike, I mean, you have, you know, some of the early hits like Green Man, Lee Shee, The Ripper. It's about Jack the Ripper, thought their second record, Sad Wings of Destiny. A lot of stuff with motorcycles and Harleys. You know, the Hellion, Electric Eye. You know, some heads are gonna roll, Love Bites. I'm going off of Scream for Vengeance and... They did Breaking the Law, right? Breaking the Law, yeah. Living After Midnight. See, and I think that like a lot of dudes my age, we know Judas Priest because of Breaking the Law and Beavis and Butthead. Oh, exactly. Exactly. Yeah. And those are two of their bigger hits, bigger radio hits, you know. You got another thing coming. I'm just trying to, there's so many, I mean, so many records, so many hits. Victim of Changes. They do, and it's actually a cover, and it's still usually in their live set. It's a cover of an old Joan Baez tune called Diamonds and Rust, and it's, I mean, they do a really nice version of it. Painkiller, anything off Painkiller, what a great record. But yeah, Priest could be another one, a lot of people out there. And of course I could go just say, you know, just go Slayer and there's like, I know, I know probably 50 people would, you know, give blood and do questionable, you know, like Klondike bar questionable shit for a fucking Slayer game. You know, it's like, you know, it's like, like, like an old joke. I love, I'll take you off here anyway. But, uh, cause this one's really adult. So, uh, hey, let's keep this somewhat clean. Cause I got like what, like 31 seconds in and dropped in that bomb? You know, because all of the little kids who are listening to these two dudes in their 50s, they're bullshit about nothing in particular for an hour. They ain't got nothing better to talk about. Guy slides into a bar and goes, Bart's gonna give me 12 shots of tequila. It's like, gee, are you having a really bad day? He's like, no, best day of my life. I'm celebrating. And he's like, all right. And he starts pouring shots. He's like, what are you celebrating? He goes, oh, my first blow job. John Popadiuk, Bob Betor, Knapp Arcade, I don't know if that has to do with the Klondike bar, but it's not right. It's not right. So all summer long, man, I've been just like indulging in ice cream on the daily almost. And like, not yesterday, but a week ago Saturday, I was looking at Rusty and like Seth's work and Mickey's work and I was looking at it, we have a light dinner and I'm like, you want to go get ice cream? I was like, you want to go get like a pint or you want to go get like, you know, the bars or something? I said, no, let's go to Dairy Queen. And, uh, um, my go-to when I was a kid was the peanut buster parfait. Cause back then you can get them for a buck. They're like six bucks. Peanut Buster Parfait, famous. Right. And they're delicious. But with my dental work, you know, I, for all you, you know, old guy in my fifties, I have dentures now. And, uh, cause I ate so much shit as a kid, you know, I rotted my teeth. I spent my entire life doing shit that would rot my mind and my teeth, you know, so. But true, it's back. All the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most, but my teeth are a close second. My teeth are a close second. So I don't order the pinball so far because the nut, I can't really chew the nut, you know, I have a hard time with those, but I love the pinball. So Rusty ordered one, and I said, I'll just have a hot plate of sundae, and she goes, no nuts. And of course, they just jam that thing with nuts. I basically had a slightly smaller Pinot Bistro parfait. So I just, I just tackled them. That's the best I could end up spitting a lot of them into a napkin, but it was delish. So, but no, all summer I've just been rocking a dark chocolate Klondike bars and just thinking I would seriously do some questionable shit for one of these. So, um, we, we used to have a Klondike bar joke at my job, which is exactly what you think it's going to be for a Klondike bar. John Popadiuk, Bob Betor, Keith Elwin, Laser Los, Bowen Kerins, Lyman F. Sheats Jr., orbit ramps, Automated Amusements, Python Anghelo, Joe Kaminkow, Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi.
    56:16
    They're lawyers. They're high paid tech guys. And I could walk up to them and ask one of two questions. I could either ask them who smokes the blunts, and they'll run that we smoke the blunts, even though these guys are so straight laced. At least a few of them have probably never smoked a blunt in their lives. And the other one is what would you do for a Klondike bar? Exactly. That's nasty. But no, uh... Open mouth, kiss a horse, yeah. The other pinball theme that I was thinking would be really cool, and it's kinda weird because a lot of her music just keeps showing up on my playlist, probably because I listen to a couple of her songs on YouTube. I think they should make a new Dolly Parton. You know what? Now would be the perfect time, because she's hot. You know, what's really funny is one of the reasons she's hot again is because she got In the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, she did a duet with Judas Priest, and it was run by Rob Halpert's Lifelong Dreams as a duet with Dolly Parton. They were singing Jolene and he's singing with her. A bunch of the people from the inductees of that year. Fast forward, she decides to do a new rock album and she taps Rob Halpert to come and sing a duet with her. So she's hot in the public eye again. Yeah. She's timeless. I would love that. I think that would be amazing. That's a great idea. Yeah. I just, you know, and we haven't had any women artists who've had a machine. We haven't had really any country artists that have had a machine. And even though Dolly has had a machine, you know, she had it back, you know, when you weren't really having music and a machine. Right. It was like, you know... That would be great. I would love that. Because I really want a original, a Bally, Dolly Parton machine. It's a good game, and it's so good, and it only has inline drops, which is, you know, great. But it's so kitsch, you know? And it's so of the time, you know? Well, you could probably find a Fathom pretty cheap. Yeah! That was a beautiful segue. I'm going to go ahead and say this if you don't know listeners. What are those guys? Haggis. Haggis Pinball Outlaw Story. It was making... Anybody listening to this show knows what's going on. Yeah, so you know what's going on. They were remaking Fathom. Okay, so first rule... Okay, three rules. First rule is never, never pre-order. Okay. Never get into a land war in Asia. Yeah, exactly. Right. Exactly. Only slightly less well-known, never pre-order. Okay. Only slightly less well known, never go up against a Sicilian when death is on the line. This is hilarious. Um, Hey, People who listen to the show go, what the fuck is wrong with these two? We don't have Mark keeping the bus on the road with us this month. I can say it. We'll try to talk about pinball. We'll tell some dirty jokes. We have literally no, like no show notes, no script, no net, no nothing. No, we're just, we're just riffing with you guys tonight. We're just riffing, yeah. We're just coming out here and we're just doing our thing. This is, this is the kind of conversation that Spencer and I basically have three times a week. We just decided to record it. We do. You're coming back from Modesto. I'm on my way home from work and we talk about shit like this. It's like, it's like a Kevin Smith movie. So, do you go ask them out? You never go ask them out. Wow. Yeah, I went there and they're like, wow, you went there. We're gonna definitely need to put a disclaimer on this episode.
    60:11
    So, no, but seriously. Yeah, so, okay, Haggis, I'm gonna say this. So, they started out, they made a little game. Then they sold a few of them. There was an original title. It was, what was it called? KELTS. And I said, hey, we're gonna, we got the license, we're gonna, we're gonna remake Fathom. Like, okay, cool. It's a solid afterthought. Well, then we're gonna do like five games, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But then it's like, well, give us money, give us money, and I'm just going, no, no. And I just kept my opinion to myself, but I'm like, no, no. And then they still haven't delivered all the Fathoms, and they're like, oh, well, we need money for people who are gonna buy in on our next game we're redoing, which is Centaur. And they did a regular standard version of the Fathom and then they did a special version with upgraded programming where you can play the original or an upgraded game, kind of like a 2.0, and that was like a mermaid edition. And then when they were asking for the money up front on the Centaurs, like they way raised the price, like crazy raised the price. And it was like red flag after red flag. Here's the deal. You can barely keep a pinball company going in America where shit's cheaper and you're We're not literally 12,000 miles across the oceans. That's why all the pinball companies that are thriving or surviving are in Chicago or near Chicago. The furthest one out is Spooky and they're in Wisconsin, which is like a two hour drive because that's where all the tooling is to make all the... But your Jack was successful before they moved to Chicago. They were, but they moved to Chicago, why? Because it was way cheaper from Jersey. I think they moved to Chicago because that's where the guy who was kind of running the show at the time was. I think so too, but also they had said, hey- And then they retired anyway. Yeah, but I mean it's way, way cheaper. So, but I mean, yeah, so there were some other factors I'm sure, but the reality is, is that's why the pinball companies started there at the beginning of the 20th century is because that's where all the tooling and dyeing is. That's when they make parts for everything, or used to, and they still largely do. So the stuff is right there, you know. And Spooky can do it because they're very smart about what they're doing, but they're only a couple hours away from Chicago where they need to get parts. It's just a quick truck drive up the road. It's not literally the other side of the planet. I mean, I don't know. I don't mean to cut you off, but like I don't think that parts availability is what killed Haggis. They said it was part of it. Of course they said that, but I think what killed Haggis is just gross mismanagement. John Popadiuk, Bob Betor, Keith Elwin, Laser Los, Bowen Kerins, Lyman F. Sheats Jr., orbit ramps, Automated Amusements, Python Anghelo, Joe Kaminkow, Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi. Kon عن pak aphan kye alθaa al în a-har, Shinn pha Forward Mailu a-kin a-a-you know, We're not going to do it until we're done with the first game. And we're certainly not going to take more money before we fulfill everybody's promises. Okay. Right. You know, so I don't know. I don't want to, you know, to, you know, other people are saying more, much more, much, much more and, you know, better on this. But, you know, the only reason I was, I was just quipping about it was because, you know, There's a lot of people who are dumping their mermaid editions because, you know, I don't know if they don't want to be stuck with them or I don't know if they're worried about part support or anything like that. But yeah, you're seeing a bunch of those things on the market. And again, you know, for less than they were getting for it. Because I'm sure those things weren't making it over from Australia for less than nine, ten thousand bucks. You're just shipping alone, man, you know. But yeah, all in all, you know, you kind of had to look at the Haggis situation and go like, oh, yeah, these guys probably aren't going to make it. But, you know, there's two or three international suppliers now who are delivering games on a fairly regular basis. You know, there's Pinball Brothers and there's Dutch. Well, OK, Dutch has delivered one game in 12 years. Yeah, but they've been delivering. They've been delivering. I don't know, gotta give them that. And they delivered an upgrade kit. Okay, well, there you go. Yeah. Well, okay, yeah. But, I mean, yes. And Dutch isn't the poster child because, you know, Dutch was definitely a recovery, a recovery tale. Yeah. And I do give my hat to them. So, and what about Pinball Brothers? Pinball Brothers is from the ashes. I've still always suspected something a little bit janky about the way that Highway died and Pinball Brothers lived. I think there might have been some collusion there, but there's a lot going on with some of these companies. Right. But you know who knows If ABBA doesn kill Pinball Brothers and Queen didn kill Pinball Brothers I don think anything can kill Pinball Brothers Well, I haven't seen an ABBA. They say they're getting shipped now, but I haven't seen anything on it. Play Queen, it's not a bad game. It's not bad. Yeah, pretty bad. There's just nothing there to make me go, I have to have one of these. You know what I mean? I mean, like, if I go to a show and I see it, yeah, I'll play a game or two. It's not a bad game. I like Queen, I like the music. What if that game was $6,000? Yeah, well, I can't get it- Can you have $6,000 to spend? Would that be your choice? No. Or would you rather get a used Iron Maiden? I'd get a used Iron Maiden or a used Jaws or a used- Because it's not that good of a game. No, it's not. But it's, you know, it's like, dude, I'd get a used Hot Wheels before I- But I like Queen 10 times more than I like Iron Maiden. No offense to Iron Maiden fans, Iron Maiden is much better than I expected them to be. Closed Captioning provided by Tyler at GPKnives.com
    67:02
    I'm not as high on Hot Wheels. When it was like 5,500 bucks, I was all like, oh, that's a hell of a game for less than a Stern Pro. Yeah. And I can deal with the little plastic cars theme. I fucking love Hot Wheels. Yeah, me too. Who doesn't? Hey, talking about that, talking about games and stuff, does anybody know anything? Because I haven't seen anything going on with Chicago Gaming. Oh, they're still making Pulp Fictions. Well, they're still making Pulp Fictions. I guess they're finishing up the LEs or whatever of Cactus Canyon, rebooted or whatever. I don't know. Yeah, I'm sure Chicago Gaming has their hands double, triple, full. The big, big rumor that's been flying around for a long time is that they're going to do another run of Medieval. Well, yeah, I heard that too, which that's about the smartest thing they could do because there's still a market for them. People still want them. And it's a fantastic, it's still a fantastic game, which there's, I have a, I have a segue about medieval. I'll hit, I'm already here. Hit it. Hit your segue. Okay, so. We're already over an hour, so we've. We're already over an hour. Even with some editing, which there won't be any editing on this episode. No, no, no, yeah. Ha ha ha, suck it, folks. It's like, what is this guy talking about? Exactly. You get what you paid for and you ain't paying nothing. There you go. So I want to say congratulations to pinball artist and all-around good guy, Greg Ferraris, on his retirement. He has retired. He was last at Stern Pinball. An amazing career in pinball art. I was looking up on the internet pinball database, I was looking up some of the, And then, you know, just a list of games he had worked on. And there was some stuff, like a lot, because we're talking about Fathom. He did the artwork for Fathom. And, uh... Which is definitely one of the most gorgeous pinball machines to ever exist. It is. Like, I don't... Like, I think that the attraction of Fathom is inline drops and just breathtaking art. You know, I'm sure I've told this story before, but, like, I had a Fathom for, like, a hot I got it not second when I first got into pinball. I bought it off of some guy's back porch for like 500 bucks, non-working, and I traded it to somebody for a Johnny Mnemonic. And everybody looks at me to this day and they go like, well, how stupid are you? And I'm just like, you know, to put it into perspective, like this was a rough fathom that I traded for a super perfect Johnny Mnemonic, but more important, I traded a broken game for a working game. But just looking at that game, looking at that back glass and the play field, like it looks cool and mysterious and dangerous, you know, with the mermaids dragging the dude down and, you know, he looks really desperate and it's just like, yeah, you know, Greg Ferrer, I mean, he did a who's who, worked with everybody, worked on everything. And he did the artwork for Medieval Madness. So he did the artwork for Medieval Madness. In fact, I went to a Northwest Pinball and Arcade show and he did a seminar and I answered a question for him and about the medieval madness back glass about the inspiration for the lady with the pointy bikini top on the inner tube down in the moat, which is a Madonna homage. And he sent me like a little care package. Yeah, it was super cool. But yeah, you know, the guy, you know, and, and I think that honestly, if you look at what Stern's done in art, since, gosh, I don't know, Metallica, Ghostbusters, you know, and Chris Franchi, and, and, you know, the, the revolution in Stern art, I think you have to basically point at Greg Freras for, you know, recruiting, you know, John Popadiuk, Bob Betor, Knapp Arcade, And that's what pinball art is supposed to be. And let's hope that honestly, like, he's only going to be semi-retired and maybe, you know, he'll find some vanity projects that he wants to get involved in. You know, maybe there will be an Elvira 4. There you go. Maybe there'll be a Wonelli 2. Bigger, juicier melon. Yeah, right. If you look at the list of the artwork he's done, you know, those you mentioned, Black Belt, Black Pyramid, Blackwater 100, BMX, Deadpool. He did help with the artwork on that as well as Jeremy Packer IKEZombie Yetiintense. I think he was the director at that point. Right. Dr. Dude, all the Elmira games, Fathom, Frontier, Escape from the Lost World, Game of Thrones, Hard Body, Harlem Globetrotters on Tour, Hot Doggin', Lady Luck, of course, Minimal Madness, Mustang, No Fear, Truck Stop AKA Ramp Warrior. I think Greg Ferreris and Steve Ritchie as Wise Guy and Skull. Greg and Steve wrote the speech script together. Yes, you are correct, sir. I really love No Fear. Yeah, me too. And I really want to have another one. Hey, we know somebody that had one for sale. Do you know if they sold it? Yeah. Find out. Did they? Okay. Crap. I should have bought that. I should have bought it. Yeah, no, it was a good deal. I know. It's just like, that's like, well, it's going to cost me a fortune of shipping to get it out of here. So, you know, strange science. It's a lot of work and gas to drive out and pick it up. You ain't shipping no game. Yeah, well, especially in my trip. I'm the man, the mini man, but I got to steal a bag from Seth, you know, and it's like, no, here, take dad's truck. It's like that. His truck's crazy. Technically, you still own him. I do. But you know, and you know what? It's just like, he's, uh, ever since he got his license, because like, we kind of had to, it wasn't like a battle, but it was like, come on, man, go get your license, you know, finish, finish up your driver's training, go get your license. And so we finally did. And the second he did, it was like, off to the races. John Popadiuk, Bob Betor, Knapp Arcade, I would like just to go ahead and question the wisdom of handing the teenage boy keys to a van. I know, right? Are you guys trying to become grandparents quickly? Yeah. We already are. And you know, my grandson... It's not a shaggin' wagon, but it's still a van. My grandson's got his first... Oh, that's right. You are grandparents. I am a grandparent. My grandson, Leo, he got his first tooth. He'll be five months old in a couple of weeks. And he looks like little Joe Durden. That kid's got so much hair. I mean, like, he's got a mullet. And it's like, he looks so cool. But yeah, he's got his first tooth. He does live in the right part of the state for that. He does, actually. So, but he's doing good. Everybody's doing good. So, yeah. But yeah, no. Yeah, so, yeah, my truck gets like, worse mileage or as bad as yours does. So... Yeah, but see, my truck at least looks good doing it. Your truck does look good doing it. Mine looks like it can climb rocks though, so. Your truck is a work truck. My truck is a street queen. You know, mine has like a four inch lift on it. I bought it that way, so I mean, I would have never done it, because I have a hard time getting in and out of it. Mine has gigantic sports car tires on it, so. It does, yeah. It's just, like you take that thing down a gravel driveway and you're like, oh, this is sketchy, like it is built for the street. Yes, it is. What other pinball news do we have? Well, you know what? I got to keep you on the road. And we don't have an editor, so we can't mess it up too bad. So, no, you know what? I'm glad you asked. You know, back on to Pullman Wheel, back on the track. I pulled this up. And this came out a couple of weeks ago, not too long ago. But I want to give a shout out, congratulations to Pinball's own Amodo Harney, who was given the 2024 Distinguished Gamer Award. It's a few years ago, we established an annual award as a way to honor the memory of someone they lost who was influential in the gaming community and as a way to recognize the efforts of people within the larger community. So yeah, so it's the Marc Mandeltort Distinguished Gamer Award. And so congratulations. Would that be Marco? I believe so. It would be Marco. John Popadiuk, Bob Betor, Keith Elwin, Laser Los, Bowen Kerins, Lyman F. Sheats Jr., orbit ramps, Automated Amusements, Python Anghelo, Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi.
    76:49
    I imagine she probably would if I promised her to cut for an hour and motion about pinball. Yeah, yeah. So she seems like a real neat person. So, but you know, congratulations to her. That's a nice accolade. So that's about, you know, I mean, like I said, we got upcoming shows. We also have Pinball Expo in October and that's in a new location too, isn't it? I have no idea. I don't go to Pinball Expo. I've never been either. I know Mark, our other co-host, has gone. Mark. Mark might go. Mark might go this year, so yeah. So that would be exciting. Like I said, my next pinball show is definitely Pinnagogo and Dixon. I love that show. That was my first pinball show. Mine too. Is it Golden State? No, but it's got its own vibe. It's got its own quality. The guys who put it on have been doing it for a few years now, ever since our team, our crew joined. We've jumped over and started doing Golden State and they really found just a nice mellow, low pressure little show. People bring lots of games. It's a great show to buy a game at. I've seen the bargains will show up at that show. A lot of good bargains. A lot of good bargains in pinball right now. The prices are leveling off nicely. So if you have a few bucks to spare to pick up a used game or a newer used game, now's a great time. That's the problem. Nobody has a few bucks to spare. That's how the prices are going down. It's like, all my coming money's gone. So... You know, for me, it's like, I really, like, would like to sell a few games, but I just, I hate to sell games. I just hate, hate, hate to sell games. And then I see all these deals out there and I'm like, oh, maybe I should offer this I'm just like, you are missing the entire point, man. You need about five less games to fit in your space. And I'm just like, yeah, but if I sold five games, then I would have money to buy five games. Exactly. And I saw a powder coated, blue powder coated armor, you know, lockdown bar trim and legs, whirlwind. Our ansmen I think a lot of folks don't remember that if a game didn't have a DMD in like the early 2000s. Yeah, it wasn't, yeah. And it wasn't called Funhouse. Right, right. So, yeah. People weren't interested. So, even though Funhouse technically is not System 11, but it was still out there in America. Although it's WPC, saying it was probably the pinball, but I'm just saying, if it didn't have a DMD, and it was System 11, Black Knight 2000s were like a thousand bucks, 1500 bucks, all day long. Yeah. You know, Whirlwinds were 1500 bucks. Exactly. Tomcats were like $900. Roller games like shit, man. People had to pay you to take it. It's like, look, take this away and I'll buy you a bucket of kernel, okay? Exactly. Do you want a beer here? Drag this. Yeah, a 12 pack. Yeah, drag this. A 12 pack and here's a six piece with a biscuit, you know? A nice pinball was like 800 bucks. Yeah, I paid 900 for my first one. A diesel one. So, we wanted the WPCs. Yeah, exactly. So, you know, the fact of the matter is that, you know, a lot of folks have figured out that the diners and the taxis and the space shuttles and stuff, although that's pre-System 11, but of the world, like, those are fun-ass games and they have to have them. But it seemed like if any game was riding the crest of that, it was Whirlwind. Like, Whirlwinds got crazy expensive. They did it. Whirlwind, Elviron the Party Monsters, oh, the first Law of the Game. Probably the three most expensive of the System 11. ... So if we don't have tennis cards and马pravy咇 alan었 he'll 267 00 paragrIDESa 웸н πέseс I would like to have an entire system on the lineup like because I have pinball now but another whirlwind, a roller games, a taxi, oh and Swords of Fury. I think that would be just like the best lineup in the world.
    82:32
    I would love a diner. Diner is cool. I like diner, you know, but it's like... I don't know why like just I think diner is so fun. Filmer Pinsch
    83:11
    Steven Specter, Title Right Now! We'll, in a few weeks, we'll have another episode with our other host, Mark, back, and probably some cool guest hosts. We got a lot of cool stuff coming up from the ball on the plate. So, um, I don't have any other shout outs. I know, thank yous. Yeah, I wanted to shout out, one more shout out, thank you, because I didn't get to it in the last episode, was a shout out to Will Keeling, who's a friend of the show, brother. John Popadiuk, Bob Betor, Knapp Arcade, And so does in beer and he brought this huge block of Tillamook cheese he picked up from the factory outlet store. And we would like walk around with a plate just hand out cheese samples to people. It was great. But he was so awesome about bringing all that food and helping feed everybody at the camp, you know. And I wanted to shout out and thank you to him because he's just such a good dude. And always man, always first guy. He helped load games and offload games. In fact, he grabbed Mickey and they ran a truck to take James home after the show. So shout out and thank you, Will, for just being such an awesome, wonderful human. I think that's all I got tonight, man. Again, we're just spitballing here, so we got nearly an hour and a half of good spitballing. You got anything? You know, just the usual folks. Big thank you to CCPL and everyone involved with that. You guys keep me in pinball. Big thanks to you. Thanks to Mark. Hopefully back to school goes real, real well for him. Um, you know, and, uh, you know, I'd also like, I don't, I don't think her often enough, but I'd also like to, you know, she doesn't listen to the show because she would probably think that it's just tedious and terrible, but, you know, big thanks to my wife, Jamie. Uh, she, she loves arcade games. She, she loves pinball. Uh, you know, she, she tolerates, uh, my shenanigans. So, you know, I would definitely be lost without her. You are a truly blessed man. Jamie is just a wonderful human. She has her moments. Well, that's a great shout out. Thank you. Okay, so you can find us on our flagship home at soundcloud.com. You can also find us on iTunes or wherever your finer podcasts are sold and rented. We're here to help you get your pinball game started. You can reach out to us via our email at thespinnerislit at gmail.com or our Facebook page, which is thespinnerislit something something something. Just type it in. Just search thespinnerislit. Please interact, like, post. Let us know what you think, good or bad. Especially bad, then we can just talk shit about you on the next episode. There we go. I'm going to go out and get yourself a Klondike bar this summer. What would you do for one? I would pay for one at the store. Yeah. If I won the lotto, I would hire Brad Williams to steal them. You see that thing I said earlier, if I won the lotto, some people would buy a Bugatti, I would buy a Tiffany Pizza Hut. I love that. I sent that to my buddy. I sent the pizza one and he sent back, what about this one? I was like, oh shit, I'd rather have the Shakey's one. That is dope. But both of them are pretty cool. All right, kids, that's our show. You guys know the drill. Play pinball. Keep America strong.
    87:18
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