Hey, Poor Man Tribe and listeners, this is Glennie Rogers, and you're listening to the Tribe Multiple Podcast with Rachel and Tim. Poor Man Tribe's the thing, that is who we are. It is true. They're not in this thing, so how could it go wrong? Flip away with us, to an old barcade, and then we'll learn about each other. From two pennants to another Uh-huh Hello friends, welcome to Tribe Multiball A pinball podcast where we chit-chat with folks that belong to the tribe of the poor man's pinball podcast I am your co-host Rachel Bristol along here with my friend This is Tim Connery, the co-host with Sex Appeal I'm pretty sure I'm the one with sex appeal. I don't know. I don't know. Anyways, I'm here with my pal, Tim Lee. Welcome to it. Hello. Episode 34. We are here along with tribe member number eight, our friend Sean. Welcome to the show. Hello. Thanks for having me. Hi, Sean. We are so thrilled to have you here. Sean and I met recently at Chicago Pinball Expo, and I pulled him away into a random dark corner and forced him to do a tiny little recording with me for TriMultiBall. But after that, I think he got a little taste of how fun it was, and so here you are today. I'm so happy to have you. Good to be here. I think, as I recall, I feel like there were some beers involved with that. I think I walked up to the tent and I immediately was like shotgunning beers. That sounds about right. And actually it really wasn't even a tent, was it? Because it was so campy. What Sean's referring to as at Chicago Expo, that there was a canopy, like a pop-up canopy tent that was set up for the poor man's booth, but the canvas cover was not put on. So I don't know if it was really a tent. It's kind of like, is a hot dog a sandwich, you know? It was kind of like in MASH, you know, The Swamp. It was kind of like that. Yes. Yeah. Oh, I love The Swamp. I love MASH. I haven't watched that in a while. So, Tim Lee, what's going on in your pinball world? Well, more than usual, I went to Pinsonati. I met up with tribe members Billy YJ, Pete Quint, and Tish. And we kind of had a little mini tribe meetup. It was actually a lot of fun. I've met Tish and Billy before. They're great folks. First time I met Pete in person and I love that guy. Just a great person to hang out with. A lot of fun to play pinball with. We hung out for a good while. We went out to dinner. We went out for beers. We played pinball. Billy was with us the whole time. Pete took me to this place called Jungle Gyms, essentially where the – it's a place where the poor men could go to die. It just has so much wine and so much beer, any craft beer you can imagine. I spent three hours in there just buying beer and so forth, and that was when the power went out. The power went out at Cincinnati. Got to meet a lot of pinball people. Zach Menny was there the Spooky Crew was there I got to meet your co-host Raymond Davidson and we got to talk my other co-host you mean yeah great guy he was with some friends there just really good dude really good group of folks just a lot of fun nothing really eventful happened there just hanging out with pinball people and I didn't play in the tournament We just, you know, played all night. I tried to get on the leaderboard as usual, but it was a little crowded. And that's about it for Cincinnati. Just a good time. Was it a pretty cool regional show? Yeah, it was smaller than most shows. It's the smallest show I've went to. It was kind of quaint. They should probably look into a bigger venue because they had a pretty good turnout there, a pretty good crowd. But yeah, just, you know, I, the tournament was separate, so I didn't get to talk to a lot of the tournament players. But anybody I knew when they came out of the tournament, I grabbed and, you know, talked to them. Just good group of people. Good hanging out with the tribe. You know, you know, love the folks that were there. Yeah, I'm totally jelly. You got to hang out with Billy and Tish and especially Pete without me. I think it's been a year now. Actually, I saw Pete back in May, I think. We're recording this in December. And, man, that guy, he cracks me up. I do have one question about Pete. Did he inform you that you suck at pinball? Pete did inform me that I suck at pinball, and then I may have beat him. I was doing really well against those guys, and Pete had a couple of beers and turned into Keith Elwin. It's like he started drinking, and then he was just kicking my butt. But then I think he went past the point of – there's this point with beer where if you drink too much, you start to not play as well. And I think he hit that point because then I started to beat him again. I think you are also familiar with that point, are you not? Yeah, yeah. You tell me that you go for the beer. You go to the – you've been starting to play a couple of tournaments now, and you go there just for the beer, right? Yeah, yeah. I kind of go for the beer. And for the socialization. Otherwise, that's all for Cincinnati. And you kind of mentioned it. I did play in a tournament this past weekend. I played in the Helicon Open. Chris Myers and Chris Brunetti from Helicon Brewery and Starport Amusements put on a really nice tournament. It was three days of classics tournaments and then three days of qualifying for a main A tournament. You know, nothing crazy went on. The people there were great. There was no drama, like zero. Everybody got along well. At least I didn't see if there was any drama. The eventful items, I qualified for my first ever classics tournament. Congratulations. Yeah, but that's about all I did was qualified because I ended up playing Chris Stevens. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, they tell me at one point he was ranked like 12th in the world. Yeah, and I had it in my head that I could beat him on high speed because I played that really well. So I picked high speed because I was ranked higher than him because I think he came in like 45 minutes before the tournament started, played five games, and managed to qualify. That's how good he is, and I played 36 games. I love players like that. I know I have a couple friends like that. That's how they play. They come in. They do it. They do their business, and they walk out with their heads held high, knowing they're number one on their leaderboard. So that's pretty awesome. But I'm really excited for you, Tim. You're getting this kind of itch to play some competitive pinball, I think. Yeah, yeah. No, it was fun. He killed me. He destroyed me. Everybody tells me I should have played him on an EM because it's kind of – there's some luck involved. And I played – you were talking about drinking. I played one card on Friday. No, I played two cards on Friday because it was the – you had to buy a card, and then you only got to count the points on your card. So I played two cards on Friday, and they were okay. They got me kind of qualifying for the A main, and I thought, eh, that's not going to do it. but I hung out all night and I drank too much beer and I started to play another card and I got like two games in and I just forfeited the card. I'm like, guys, I drank too much to play this card. I'm just going to forfeit it. But then I played, I played Saturday and I guess I struggled a little bit because when I got there Friday, before I left my house, I played Rush and my Rush just has the bubble at the top line so it's set up a little more difficult and i got to cygnus two i beat cygnus one so i came in and i'm like the first game i'm gonna qualify on is rush and of course i look at it and there's no rubbers on the post it set the bubble all the way to the top like a ski slope and i got two million points like oh god like i got five billion at my house and i got two million points don't you find that to be the case though like i always feel like oh good i've got metallica a game i've owned and then i play and i you know train three times in a row so yeah it's like there is no home field advantage for owning a machine it seems no never you're absolutely right but then i kind of i went and i i started qualifying for the classics tournament Saturday. And then I came back and I played two cards and one card was really well. I put five decent games together and it moved me up to the third spot. And then I went back and kept trying to qualify in the Saturday's Classic. And honestly, I was in a qualifying spot until, again, at five o'clock, some heavy hitters came in and at like 5.55, I got knocked out and couldn't get back in and the tournament started at six, but I qualified for, for a main and I, I ended up, I left it right after the classics at like six 30, when I didn't make it, I just went to the hotel. I was pinballed out from two days of it. And I just said, I'm rolling the dice on not getting knocked out of the, the 16, but I only got knocked down one spot because they qualified until midnight. So the next day I came in all prepared for who I was going to play. And then somebody backed out. So I'm like scrambling and texting, uh, Glenn, like I'm playing a different person. And I just kind of winged it. I kind of saw that they only had one good game of rush. So I picked rush and I did really well on rush. And I went first because I wanted to do really well and get them a little nervous if I could. I didn't have a big enough score to get them nervous, but it was brutal enough that I got out ahead and I beat him. And then he picked Sinbad, to which I had no – I've never even seen the game. I didn't even know it was there. I walked by it a thousand times, and he destroyed me. So on the third game, I picked Stranger Things. I'm very confident I can beat anybody in Stranger Things in a tournament, and I had a really good first ball, second ball, and third ball, and I won, and I advanced one round, and I ended up playing Jared Schmidt, who I think is in the top 150 IFPA. Okay. And I picked high speed against him as well, and I just missed the jack-butt shot. I lost. My fault. And then I'm going to play him on Godzilla. I played Godzilla probably better than any game I played all weekend. I didn't really have a bad game on it. And the bar owner says, don't play him on a Stern Pro. And I'm like, what do you mean? That's my game. And so for some reason, I made a split-second decision to play him in Ironman because it was set up really hard. But I got to the multiball every time, and I had the number one qualifying score in Ironman, and I just had three quick drains, and I was out. But it was fun. That was kind of my quick tournament synopsis. No drama. I was very, very ecstatic to get past one round, and I think my overall finishing place was fifth. Congratulations, Tim. Yeah. That's incredible. You know, for as much as we joke about you sucking at pinball and Drew as well, both of you are good players. I'm really, really proud of you. I can't say that enough. for a person when we first started chatting that wasn't, didn't quite understand the competitive side of it or the tournament play or wasn't as interested into it. And here we are, uh, you're going out there and playing a couple of days, um, the tournament, the last couple of days. And it's exhausting, right? He said he didn't, you were tired of pinball and after two days, that's what you said. Have you played since? Nope. Not, not one single game. I give you credit. I, I appreciate you and, uh, Glenn kind of, encouraging me to play in some tournaments and it's it's been a lot of fun so i appreciate that yeah but but then you get to meet people tim you're such a social person pinball is not just like kind of pinball is just not that it's also about just having fun you know and like and socializing meeting people chit-chatting for me uh it's not for all players out there probably not for most of the people in the top i don't know 12 i don't mean that in a rude way they're much more focused during a match than I am probably uh I can assure you that they are but you know what I'm saying yep yeah you know I can read people and if I if they don't want to talk you can tell and I just move along and talk to the next person that's right and my son played as well now he was only there half the time he went running around Pittsburgh with a couple of his friends he tried to make the classics and didn't but he only played two or three cards that he didn't like that format and it kind of psyched him out so he played a few cards and he got into the B tournament and he got knocked out in the first round but he had a good time good for him at least going and trying it that's right and what a great way to bond nice I guess the final part of your personal pinball news is I think everybody out there wants to know if you're still clean no I am not clean so So I obtained a James Bond pro. Woo. Now, I don't want to talk about it all that much until I get my favorite Bond girl on the show. Okay. We will wait to – we'll hold the review for Mistress Anne for her to be on the show. I mean for Amy to be on the show. Absolutely. And they released a new code update as we were talking earlier, and it looked like it had a lot of code because there wasn't much to it. I could say that, you know, and it shoots well. I know I'm going to like it, but I got to get more time. And, you know, I told Amy I'd wait for her to give my review when we have her on. Okay. How about yourself? Well, I've been playing some pinball. I've been planning pinball tournaments. I've been having fun. I played the – I've also been recording about pinball on the Ray Ray Show, which you can also listen to here on the poor man's pinball network uh myself and raymond davidson and we're going to be probably by the time this gets released or simultaneously uh the next episode will come out that's all about the frosty flippers that we both played at district 82 uh and during mid or during december of 2022 anywho uh so if you want to hear more in depth about like the competitive tournament strategy the zen state of mind and all the junk that i'm trying to do in order to become a better player and encourage you to listen to that um i'm really enjoying that doing that with raymond um he's such a great co-host too i'm so lucky um so i wanted to talk about that and then uh at the frosty flipper series what i will mention about that couple of really cool things is one tribe member jeremy schmitz he came up for the weekend to play that I love Jeremy. He is a super good dude. And actually, I think it was, maybe it was the last, was it the last round of the second tournament we played? We actually played together or we played, I think one round in there together and it was the bank was no fear roller coaster tycoon and stingray And I took the first two games I lost Stingray And I think that somebody else in our group won Stingray But either way it was so nice having him there It's just something extra special because I want to say that Martin also came up with Jennifer not too long ago on a Flippin' Friday, and I got to see them there too. But I love it when I get to see tribe members that come up there. Tish has been there as well. it's neat because like that's like my my home quote-unquote my home pin palace right yeah it's nice when i'm able to have um you know tribe members come check out where i get to play uh and it's just i don't know it just adds that kind of extra special stuff sure so that was really good and then the second thing and i love you jeremy and then the second thing is i played really well in one of the tournaments and i came in 16th out of like 117 people and it was a classics Yes. And it was really amazing. And the best part of that is I want to say it was a match. It was a target match play where I had to reach 70 points. I ended up with 58 by the time it was done. But the best part of that is I really rode the struggle bus my first couple of games there and I took two fourths back to back. I thought I was going to totally spiral. and I actually reached out to Raymond and I'm like, tell me what to do. Because I'm like, I want to like get my head in the game. And he just told me to go take a first and rebound. And so I went on and I took five first places in a row. And I want to break about that because I don't normally break about my pinball stuff. But that made me feel really good because I proved to myself that I can play and that I could come back and do that. And I've struggled with that all year with these big, long tournament weekends, keeping my mental game in the right place. And so it was a real success for me at the Frosty Flippers in doing so. Ladies from Wisconsin, hopefully I'll do some tournaments beginning next year. I am planning on running the Open at Midwest Gaming Classic next year. The bigger tournament I want to talk about is the very first women's state pinball championship will be held in January of 2023. It will actually be held at a private collection. The Wisconsin, we've rephrased that, the Wisconsin State Women's Pinball Championship Series. It's the very first one. It's going to be held at a private collection outside of Green Bay, Wisconsin. It's basically this barn on a farm. A friend of mine that is part of the Fox Cities Pinball League that I play in, the House League, offered his location. It's really cool. This is a gentleman. He has all the spooky games, and by then he will have Scooby by then. So I'm very excited, and he'll have his barn there too. So I'm very, very excited to get there. I'm really excited to organize that tournament. that will be taking the top eight women from open division in Wisconsin, the top eight women in women's division in Wisconsin. 16 will come together, and it's a head-to-head kind of thing. So I'm totally stoked. Cassidy, of course, is helping me with that. Matt McCarty is going to TD it for me for that day. So I'm so appreciative of all the help. I'm also going to just say, you know, Tim, with running tournaments and stuff, I find that there's cost that's involved, and I really don't mind taking a little extra out of my pocket to run ladies flip and do things and I've had some really great donors and sponsorship um in 2022 but it still takes a little money to run things so I decided one week because you know just running the women's state championship isn't enough one week prior I decided you know how I roll one week prior I decided to uh run a fundraiser It's going to be an open tournament at Lumberjack Johnny's, January 15th, I think it is. Starts at noon. Anybody that wants to come play it, it's limited to 28 players. I do want to plug that because that's why I'm fundraising. There's also going to be a bake sale. The reason why I'm fundraising is because women's pinball works a little bit differently than open. Open division, everybody pays a buck for every tournament thing that they play, right, or every league night, everything. There's $1 cost incurred. Women's division, we don't pay a dollar, okay? We don't pay that fee. So there's not really a purse prize. So there's not like the IFPA provides a really nice plaque for the person that wins the tournament. That's great. I got it. I posted that in Wisconsin Pinball Group. It's super sweet. And then I just decided, like, you know, second, third, and fourth place, I think they need trophies too. I really do. So, like, to me, in order to go play a state championship, I think that's a big deal. And I want, to me, it's a big deal because I will be playing it as well. And I just, so I'm doing what I can to, like, you know, offset that cost. So I'm running that fundraiser. So, again, you know, I've got a couple, I'm putting more on my tournament director hat for 2023. And the reason for that, and I'll finally get to the last part of my personal news. And the reason for that is because this year, Tim, as you know, being a competitive player, I've had goals. And my goal has been to get into the Women's World Championship. And I have. And I've qualified. Okay. And I'm very – yeah. That's pretty amazing. I didn't know that. Thank you. Like I just found that out. Yeah. Well. No, congratulations. Thank you. And I keep a lot of that stuff to myself, you know. But so how that works is you have to be in the top 16 in Open, which I'm ranked 13th, or top 16 in Women's Division. The top 32 will come together next March at Dead Flip Studios, actually, in Chicago to play the World Championships. So I'm super stoked to get there. So I feel like all this competitive pinball and tournament pinball and everything that I played this year has really paid off. and so I'm changing some of my goals what I want to do for next year I don't even care if I go there and I take last at that tournament I don't care I'm just so excited and proud of myself just to get there and to achieve that goal so um that's it that's my personal pinball stuff that's uh wow that's uh I'm really happy for you yeah the two of you are accomplished pinball players Rachel more than me hey I did win 125 dollars in that tournament that's what I'm saying Tim that's awesome does that make me a professional me and ray day two professional pinball players is that why you're doing this tim really yeah no it's for the beer it's for the beer it really is joking around you told me that so so no that's awesome but i want to i want to step back to the the fundraiser you said lumberjack johnny's what city is that lumberjack johnny's is in Green Bay. It's Ashwaubenon, but it's Green Bay. It's very near Lambeau Field. Okay. Is the fundraiser tournament men and women or just ladies? Yes. It's open. So it's men and women or co-ed, however you want to look at that. And it's limited to 28 players. It's a $20 entry fee. And again, that's the money that's in the bake sale. That's going to help offset the cost of the trophies and to put money into the purse prize for the women's tournament state tournament okay try multiball fans in that area there's a lot of them i see the map we have a lot in that area get out and support rachel and if i need to sponsor drew to get there i'll sponsor drew to get there so what's what's the date of that rachel it's january 15th and the tournament starts at noon it's a strikes tournament and so we had to do it a little bit earlier lumberjack johnny's is actually a very special place it's owned by I think, I don't know if it's completely Johnny? Johnny? Johnny? Johnny? You hear that, Superfriend Dave? No, it's owned by my friend Superfriend Dave and his lovely bride Nikki, and I don't know if there's another partner in that, whatever, but Lumberjack Johnny's is actually an axe-throwing place and pinball. It's a pretty, really fun environment. The games that he has I think he's got, I don't know, 10 games. But if I need more games, he'll bring them in or whatever the case may be. Super friend Dave, he's a listener of the show. I love you, man, because I know you'll hear this, you'll laugh at that, that Johnny is the one that owns it. So that's funny. All right. Super friend Dave. They're welcome to use that. That's good stuff, Rachel. Really, really good stuff. Very proud of you. Thank you. Thanks, Tim. I'm proud of myself. And again, like I said, I'm excited to put the tournament director hat on a little bit more for next year. And then I still, you know, of course, I want to travel. My big travel plans for next year is I really want to go to the UK Open, which is over my birthday weekend, which is September 29th. And I think that would be an amazing way to spend my 45th birthday. So that's right now the current dream. That sounds awesome. Yeah. I've got to save, save, save. Yeah. But that's it. So, Sean, enough about Tim Lee and I. It's really about you. No, it's not. Yeah, it is. Yeah, it is. What's going on in your pinball world? All right. So I have, in my basement, I only have room for one pinball machine. So that's always a challenge. And I recently, in June, yeah, in June I bought a Godzilla Pro and put all the cool mods into it. It was one of the nicer pros in all the land. and yeah, so I put it on the market cause I, I just, I only have one machine and it's right next to my desk where I work remotely and I just play the shit out of it and I just, you know, it lost that love and feeling. So I put it on the market a few weeks ago and sold it last week. Okay. And then I, I bought a rush pro yesterday, a new inbox. So I'm excited to get that one. Shout out to Zach at flipping out pinball. Yeah. For all of your pinball needs. Yes. Yep, and thank you, Zach, for sponsoring the Poor Man's Pinball Network. I love Rush. I don't think I've kept that a secret. Now, how many plays did your Godzilla have on it when you got rid of it? 1,300 plus, so I don't know if that's a lot or not, but, you know, for one person, it's enough. For six months you had it? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I tend to get tired around 800 games, yeah, so that's a lot. Yeah. Well, I feel, so I just go through the pros. Like I'm looking on my wall here. I had a Metallica pro and then I got a Jurassic Park pro, then a Deadpool pro and this Godzilla pro. And I just, you know, I play them to death and then I move them on. I have no emotional attachment. It's not bolted. And Rush might be the first theme that I'm actually, I grew up listening to Rush. So it's kind of like a soundtrack. It's part of my soundtrack of my life. So I'm excited to get it. Oh, I love that. The soundtrack of my life. Ooh, I love that. Just like the Beatles for me. Great way to look at it. So I get really excited about, like, researching, streaming, like the machines I want to get. And so I'm really excited about this one. So I've kind of, like, been messaging with people who own it and, you know, what mods to get and all that. And I even messaged Ed Ed Robertson, who does, you know, what did he produce the game of Bare Naked Ladies? He's on Pinside. I messaged him on Pinside. I said, I'm so excited. I just bought the game, blah, blah, blah. You did not. And he responded to me. Oh, my God. I'm like so, so jealous. He is somebody I desperately want to meet. I'm a big D&L fan. And once I found out his connection to pinball. Well, I was going to invite him on the show tonight if he, because I responded. So I went a little bit further with him. And I said, how could you, was there any discussion of putting Analog Kid in the game? Because I really love that song. And he didn't respond to that. But had he responded, I was going to say, you want to come on? It's not my position to put him on your show, obviously, but I figured you'd want to take him over me. Well, welcome to the show, but then that means we'd have to make him tribe member letter. Whatever he wants. Yeah. Yeah, whatever he wants. Yeah, yeah. Raymond was A or B. I don't remember. He was B because I was A. Yep. So he was B, so he could be C. Yep. And if you're out there and you want to be on Tribe Multiball and you actually happen to listen to our show, I would love to have you on. I mean, he may be listening to this. Maybe. You never know. Anyways, back to Rush, which is an awesome game. Totally jelly. Coded very well. I bought a Rush Pro, and then I immediately bought the Pinwoofer. I don't know if they're a sponsor or not, but I bought the Pinwoofer kit. I'm so excited to hear it. And it's, like, the best experience I can. So I'm so psyched for it. Yeah, that – Rocking by pinwoofer. Yeah. When do you get it? I have no idea. They said I have to pick it up at a terminal in O'Hare when I get the call. It's so cloak and dagger. It's kind of exciting. Very exciting. Secret mission. Yeah, I fell in love with Rush at MGC. I think we told the story a couple of times where we went to the after party, and everybody else went and did X, Y, and Z, and I sat there and played it for three hours. Yeah. Yes, you did. Yeah, I think it's a fantastic game. Go watch Raymond's. You probably have. I did. Yeah, his tutorials. Play it for a while and then watch him again. That's what I did. And that actually helped in the tournament. I'm going to need some help because when I look at it and I watch the streams, I'm like, I have no idea what's going on. But I think I probably said that for Godzilla and I said that for all the other machines until I own it and play it about 50 times. You know, I just need to kind of play it over and over until it starts to, you know, I'm able to absorb it. Yeah. Yeah, well, you have to let us know how it goes. Now, go back through your list again. Well, actually, my first machine was an F-14 Tomcat, and then this is a good story. At my office, I just – I don't know about you, but I tell people that I'm into pinball because you never know. They're always going to be like, wait a second, I have a machine in my basement, you know, and I actually hit on that. I just happened to tell the CFO of my company that I'm a pinhead. This is about five years ago. He goes, oh, really? I have a game in my basement. It doesn't work. Do you want it? I'm like, sure. What is it? And he said, it's a Paragon. And I'm like, okay. So I moved it to my basement. I fixed it up for about $100, and I ended up selling it and a few other things to pay for Metallica. And then I got Metallica and sold that for Jurassic Park and then Deadpool, then Godzilla, and now Rush. Okay. All pros. All pros. I really labored over getting a premium this time around. I was going back and forth. But for some reason, well, I just wanted like, you know, I wanted to get the I wanted to to get the pin whiffer, which is like four hundred dollars. And I just felt like I'd rather have to put the money into that than get a premium. And I don't know, just felt right for me. I love I love the pros. So I'm fine with it. Do you remember the episode with Andrew Payne where I said I got you two mixed up one night and I started messaging Andrew Payne about Deadpool? I drank a little too much and he was so polite about it but I think he eventually said I don't know what you're talking about I don't know I don't remember hearing that but I want to hear it that's pretty funny yeah because you and I went back and forth about Deadpool and then I'm like I'm going to message Sean about Deadpool but then I forgot who had Deadpool so I just started messaging Andrew Payne all this stuff about Deadpool we should have like a poor man's spreadsheet with everyone's machines on it and see if anyone wants to sell or trade, you know, amongst the group. That's a great idea. Great idea. And we need a tribe pin map as well. Yeah, that'd be cool. That's what we need, really. Yeah, okay. I need to buy Rachel's Iron Maiden. That's what I need. Yeah. Well, I, you know, when I was selling my, had I not sold my Godzilla, I would have suggested we trade Godzilla for Iron Maiden. Man, you know, I really do like my Maiden, and I am maybe at a point now that I'd be willing to trade it, but you're going to have to get in line because there is, uh, my buddy Michael Ryman, uh, has been after me for my pro for a while, but he got himself a Godzilla pro. So I going to see if maybe we can just swap for a little bit Yeah So doing that instead So Michael maybe we hear this before you and I actually talk about it And there you go But, yeah, if I would have known that, Sean, then I would have definitely would have been interested in trading because I really like Godzilla 2. I think that actually I played the pro quite a bit at District 82, and I find that game, the pro, for whatever reason, it seems, although it doesn't have all the sparkly features and the collapsible tower and everything, it just seems like a little bit easier in terms of gameplay in my head. So I don't know. I mean, the Premium and the LE are gorgeous too, but it's just interesting. Like the more I play that game, like, oh, the Pro actually in that case is still a really, really great game, which is not always with some of the other games, right? Anyway, so what was your favorite out of that group? I'm looking like I have the flyers for each of them so I'm looking up at them on my wall my favorite I'd probably say Deadpool it just still made me laugh even in the end you know yep yeah it's just it's just it just kind of it personifies pinball to me you know it gets it it's so tongue in cheek and so self aware yep yes I had that game I sold it it's one of just a few games I would want back kind of kind of wish I wouldn't have sold it. Okay. Well, what are you pining for? Which games are the two of you pining for? If you ask Drew, every game. I want every game. But no, the two games that I would – the three games that I want. These are the only three I really want right now. I want a Spider-Man. I just had an opportunity – had I known that, someone in my group was just selling one. But my closest pinball friend had it and sold it, and someone was in some financial trouble and was looking to move one. Yeah, there's a guy in either Maryland – I think it's Maryland or Virginia that has one. I just can't do the eight-hour round trip right now where I would go get it. The other game that I really want, and I played it in the tournament is – and this is a complete 180 from a year ago – is Walking Dead. Oh. Yeah, yeah. I would get a Walking Dead in a second. I'll take any version. Yeah. And since I'm getting rid of Mandalorian, I kind of want to get a Star Wars for my kids. They just like the theme. So whether it be Star Wars Day to East or Star Wars, Stern Star Wars, I just want to get a Star Wars. What about Star Wars Episode One? You know, remember we played that? It's a good game. You and I tried to play that at Expo or with the MGC, and it kept breaking. I remember we didn't get past ball one. No, it was not good. Yeah, but for the first half a ball, I thought it was great. No, it's a fun game. What about you? There's actually a Star Wars premium at a bar near me now, so they traded their Lunsup Pro out, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that. As far as the three games that I would be interested in, I think Deadpool definitely is in that list. I would say, I don't know if I can. It's like, can you name your favorite song, Rachel? No, I can't do that either. It would probably be like, I would want a prog, and then I don't really want Adam's Family. You know, that's a grail game for me. So we'll see. We'll see what happens down the road. I mean, Godzilla 2, see? I just can't leave the Adams family out, that's all. So I thought I heard a beverage there. What are we indulging in this evening, fellas? I am drinking, I got it, at Jungle Jim's with Pete Quint. It is a Braxton Brewing Company. You're going to be stunned, but it's a cream ale. No way. Get out. Shocked, right? Shocked. What about you, Sean? I'm drinking, in honor of Rachel, I'm drinking a Spotted Cow. You're drinking a Spotted Cow? Yeah, anytime I go to Wisconsin, I pick up a six-pack or a 12-pack. You smuggled some across the border to Illinois. Yeah. Awesome. Delicious. Yeah, real nice. I'm getting over some gunk, some creeping crud. So I'm having some orange-flavored water, sparkling water. So it's quite delicious and refreshing. All right. So my next question is, is how did you get into pinball? So like a lot of people, my parents probably went to Florida for vacation, and they just wanted to get rid of me when I was little, and they sent me with quarters to the arcade. So I was playing, and I know we had family friends who were wealthy. To me, they were wealthy. They had pinball machines in their basement, and I always loved going there. But in reality, I don't think I thought of pinball until 2015 or 2016. There was a barcade nearby, and I took my daughter at the time, who was probably fifth or sixth grade, and I hadn't seen pinball in years. And I'm like, what the hell is this? I saw it was a Walking Dead, and they had the, you know, the Well Walker. I'm like, what is this? You know, so I was intrigued by it. So that kind of got me going, and I started playing some pinball on, like, my iPad. But ultimately, I just started doing more and more research. And I think through the help of just someone on Pinside, I found Pinside, and a guy just helped me find a machine and helped me set it up. He didn't know me. He's like, I'll meet you at the house where someone is selling an F-14. He said, I think it looks good. I'll go back to your house and help you set it up. And that was it. And it's just kind of an example of how nice people are in the community. And then there's another guy on Pinside who lives near me, Green Pose. You may know him. He's the Chicago on Pinside. He's the admin. He lives nearby me, and he's kind of my pinball conciliare. He always advises me on machines, and we help each other move our machines in and out. And it's just kind of grown. I joined a league, Chicago Pinball League, or what do we call it? Greater Chicago Pinball Club. So I'm in a league, and it's just nice and social. And my kids are getting older. And, yeah, I've got a junior in college and a senior in high school. and the carpools are no longer, so I need to find a hobby. I play basketball a couple times a week full court, and I'm just getting older, and I need a hobby where I don't need a cane afterwards after playing. So pinball's been great. So you mentioned pin side. What's your username on there? 6.5 Degrees. 6.5 Degrees. Yes, that's the angle at which a play field is, I think, ideally positioned. So I employed that. Oh, okay. Yeah. I had no idea. Tim? Dumbass Tim didn't either. Oh. And I should. I know what that is. Oh, see? And I have no idea. Well, actually, that's up for debate. You'll hear between 6.5 and 7 degrees. So, you know, your mileage may vary. I feel like Helicon was like eight or nine, and that's probably what District 82 is like, right? Pretty steep. Sure. We could talk about that for a while, for eons about that. But playing with the lights on, their lights off, that was the biggest discussion of the last big tournament. But, yeah, but with games that their outposts are removed or there's no rubbers or the game is very steep or zero ball saves on most of the modern games. It goes on. So it makes it very difficult. But, yep, that's something you'd find there. No, I just want to say, Sean, I'm actually in that same phase of life where my kids are older in college, and I'm trying to find things to do as well, and I'm trying to focus around pinball. I went to Cincinnati. I could just get up and go. And, honestly, I kind of feel like they like when I leave. the girls. My daughter's still here, but I think her and Amy like when I leave and I go play a three-day pinball tournament, have a son come back from college and be my designated driver. And yeah, I'm kind of in that same phase of life and same thing. I jog, but very slowly and not very far. So you got to find things to do. Right. Yeah. Next year, we'll be empty nesters. I think I will definitely start maybe traveling to some tournaments and some shows. Why not? Yeah. So that means you dabble. You kind of dabble in competitive pinball then. Yeah, I'm nowhere near like you two. I don't think I have the attention span to, you know, after a few games I get a little antsy. Are you familiar with, I think it's called Interium? Yeah, outside of Woodfield. Yes, I played a women's tournament there not too long ago. You'd think, like, I live in suburban Chicago, I'd be close to all this pinball, but I have to drive all the way there, which is like 30 minutes to play pinball. That's the closest place for me to play. So on Tuesday, the first Tuesday of every month, they have just a very casual tournament. I go to that occasionally. But, you know, after three hours, I'm like, I got to go. Like, it's 10 o'clock at night, and I'm just like, you know, I just don't have that intestinal fortitude to do like a weekend of pinball. But, you know, I love just playing a handful of games, and that's good for me. But we'll see. Maybe it'll change once I get – I'm not like super competitive with it because I'm not a great player. But you just enjoy playing. Yes, I don't mind losing, I think is what I'm saying. And that's probably – you know, in my league, it's fine. I really don't – I just want to go there and drink and smoke and, you know, hang out with my friends. So I don't really mind coming in the middle on those, you know. But I'd feel differently if I was investing a day or two of a weekend in it. For sure. But, Sean, you're kind of my favorite pinball player to play against in a group because you're probably very chill. Yes. And I just want to have a good time. Right. You're like, oh, look at him. He's dead. If you and I probably just walked in from the back of District 82 and looked, and, hey, we're playing together. We just go have a chill game. I can imagine that. So you have an interesting tie to Houdini. Would you like to tell us about that? Right. American Pinball. So when I first started getting into pinball around 2016, I was just so – imagine the two of you may have been like that when you first started out in this hobby. You're like, you can't get enough of it. I mean, after all these years, you still can't. But in the beginning, I was like, I just want to be involved. So I live in suburban Chicago, and I don't know how American Pinball put some advertisement out that they were looking for employees. They were just, I think, was Houdini their first machine? I'm not sure. But at that time, that was what they were building. So I just sent them my resume not knowing what. And I have a full-time job. I'm in software development. I'm a technical writer. And I didn't think anything of what I was doing would have anything to, you know, my existing skills would have anything to do. I just thought maybe I could put together, you know, Houdini's on weekends, you know, help them put them together. and I got a call from Davil who was kind of managing American Pinball at the time and we just had a conversation and he said, would you like to write the service manual? I said, you're a technical writer. And I said, I have no experience with that, but, you know, sure. So they hired me to do it and, you know, I got to go to meetings with Josh Kugler and some of the other guys. It was real cool. So, yeah, I wrote Houdini and Josh was very cool. If you look on the display, you'll see my name in the credits. That's awesome. Yeah. Wow. I didn't know that, and we've been talking for a while there. Yeah, yeah. Believe me, I'll tell anyone who wants to listen. Some of the things I've done is this week in pinball, they used to have kind of their anchor story was called a walk down the play field where they would interview people in the industry. They'd ask them 10 questions. I created that. So I came up with the idea. I sent it to Jeff. Is it Jeff Patterson? I think he's in charge. Yeah. And we just kind of worked it together and he used that, which I thought was really cool because he sent that out to like Gary Sterney inserted some of the really big names in pinball. So I always thought that was cool. That is really cool. Yeah. Yeah, that was about it for this week in pinball. That's about my biggest contributions to the to the hobby. But it's been fun. It's bigger than mine. I just trash talk Drew. My contribution to the hobby is I trash talk Drew all the time. Right, busting Drew's balls. Yeah. So on Houdini, did you put in a section in there that says, like, take pliers and widen the shot? That's funny. Yeah, really. It's got some hard shots, right? Yeah. Yeah. My buddy Justin had one, and it's tight. But here's how I approach that. I approach it the same way as I approached Alice Cooper's Nightmare Castle. You just have to play it first. You got to take a couple of warm-up games and get the shots down, and then you'll do fine. I can't jump from Houdini to Wizard of Oz and then back to Houdini. Did you say you compared it to Alice Cooper? Did you say something about Alice Cooper? Yeah, just the shots. Yes, because I'm telling you, I look like I've never played pinball when I play Alice Cooper. You know? Yeah, Houdini's insane. There's so many brick shots. Yeah, and Houdini's like that too. Yep, you've got to take like five practice games. You can't even count them. You don't even count them. You're like, I'm going to take five practice games, and then you start to have somewhat decent shots. Yep. So have the two of you played like, you know, Raymond Davidson in pinball or Keith Elwin? Have you gone up against either of them or any of the big names? I was standing there in Cincinnati, and it was me, Raymond, and Billy. And Billy said to Raymond, he's like, oh, you two can finally figure out who's better. And I don't know if Raymond thought it was funny, but I was like, I need a little more time. i'm like i need i need a little more time and like four more beers now but he raymond laughed and thought it was funny but no i i rachel has i'm sure of it uh i've not played Keith Elwin but i have played one game i think only one game against raymond and but escher and alberto santana were also in that group and i talk about that game all the time but on cyclone where i I ended up winning. I took first, and I gave everybody strikes in that group, and that was a lot of fun. But other than that, no. And I think that I might have played Escher, too. I don't know. I'd have to go back and look. You can actually look on your IFPA profile. You can go back and look at the matches that you played against other people. So there's that. Yeah, I think the best player I've played was AK, who's Alexander Kazmarchik. Yeah, I've heard of him. Yeah, he was top 10, I think, but I think he's dropped down. I don't think he's played as many tournaments. I played him when he was 13th in the world, and he killed me. And then I played Chris Stevens, who was 12th at one point, and I was a nervous wreck playing him. I'm going to be honest. I told this to Rachel. My hands were, like, sweating, and it just made me very, very nervous, and I never get nervous playing anyone. I get nervous in tournaments, but I was a little nervous, and Glenn talks about him all the time. And I had played – I think Rachel knows, DJ Real? Yeah. I think he's top 20. I beat him two out of six games, but they weren't because I played better than him. It's because he played worse than me, if that makes sense. He just had two bad games, and I happened to get better scores. And then the four that he beat me, he beat me really bad. So it's really hard to beat somebody in the top 50. I don think I well I agree with that In my quote league like Cassidy and Neil Graff we played us and another player played a mouse around and beat everybody in that game So it is possible to take the game even if – because other players can just have a junky game. It does happen. I just think it's cool that what – I know it's not a sport, but something where there's a ranking system, where do you get to, like, compete with the greatest in the world at something? It's pretty rare, you know? it's it's it blows my mind yeah it still blows my mind i i you know what's going on here sean is i got this whole other podcast with the number two player in the world and every time almost every time we record i get pretty nervous and it's and it's nothing to do with raymond super great guy it's all about me because i i have that that little anxiety what's what is interesting there tim is that you said that you're nervous because the player you're playing but you need to be focusing on your game and that's really must be harder for you to do when you're thinking about how good the player is or you're looking at their ranking right is that the issue is yeah yeah i just i i just knew of him you know glenn's talked about him a thousand times and i just got like i was beat before i started right you know it was like uh and um but the first time i ever played ak i remember he's a younger guy and i just said something like all right ak you ready to lose And then we played Batman 66 and he had six billion points on the first ball. And then I just said, I got you right where I want you. And I plunged the ball and went back to my beer. And he laughed about it. Like he seems like the kind of kid that would laugh about it. He laughed about it. Right. You know, it's totally like, yeah, I knew how it was going to end. And but yeah, I mean, but I wasn't nervous playing him. I actually wasn't nervous playing DJ. But Chris, I was really nervous. I just – I think it was from all the skateboarder Glenn like talking about Chris because Chris is a really nice guy. Yeah, I've watched him stream. He's a real – he really knows Metallica. Like I used to watch a lot of his Metallica streams back in the day. Yeah, and I'm glad I played him because he was such a nice guy. He turned out to be like super nice and even on his third ball, he's like, I saw you play high speed earlier. I blew it up like five times. He's like, I'm not safe. And I don't know. I just – Yeah. I didn't do that well. I love that. Yeah. Yep. But no, good dude and – yeah, again, I'm not going to beat those guys or girls unless they have a bad game. As always, Tim, you are a good player. You don't know that. As long as I beat Drew. As long as you beat Drew. Are you better than him? Drew, I have calculated this out. I have beat Drew 81.3% of the time. I have lost to Drew when money was on the line. Drew wipes the floor with me when there's money on the line. It might have been 71. I think I'll just keep adding a few percent every time. But no, no, no. Drew's just as good as me, but if there's money on the line, he treats me – Your sphincter tightens up. Yep, yep. Yeah, so. So, Tim, I do have a question for you that just popped in my head. Are you going to host a tribe meetup at your house in 2023? And then I will run an IFP-sanctioned Poor Man's Pinball podcast tournament. If the tribe wants to come to the middle of nowhere and play pinball, they can absolutely come to the middle of nowhere and play pinball, and I'll host a tournament. Sean, should I pick you up on the way there? Where do you live, like Latrobe, Pennsylvania? I'm about 40 minutes from Latrobe. Why do I know that name? I only know it's from Arnold Palmer. Arnold Palmer and Rolling Rock Beer. Oh, Rolling Rock's in La Trobe? Yeah. That's where it started. So how far is that from Chicago? Do you know how far you are from Chicago? Eight hours. Eight hours? I was thinking of going to Cincinnati. If it was an hour shorter, I was going to go. Well, maybe next year we'll carpool. Because I want to go to that one next year, too. That's on my list. Yeah. It's the best name for a tournament. Yeah, for real. That and the California the drain one that, you know, never drains in California. Indus gets a great name too. Yes, never drains in Southern California, yes. Yes. Well, Tim, would you like to ask the hardest question? Yeah, this is a hard one. I know the answer already. Yeah, yeah. I hope you've prepared for it. I didn't get into this one. I didn't get into this club by making it up. Let's go. Sean. Yep. Tribe member 08, how did you get into the tribe? So I was watching a stream of, I think it was Midwest Gaming Classic, when Willy Wonka was about to come out. I really wanted to see it. I think it was being presented there for the first time, and I see these two guys, and they just look – no disrespect to them. They're just short. They're kind of shorter, right? I'm like six feet tall. No, no, no, no short jokes. no short jokes they look like they were like five foot seven five foot eight does that sound about right they're about five six five okay and they were both and they were both wearing like the same shirt and they were running around you could tell they were like drunk or something and they were just really energetic and they were playing the game and they were funny as hell and i'm like who are these guys and they had the poor men shirts on i believe so i was immediately intrigued by them and then they you know i was absorbing any i was taking any kind of uh podcast content i could so i started listening to them and i happened to be selling my metallica at the time and i was having a hard time selling it for forty one hundred dollars if you can believe it and uh yes i had like i'm telling you so uh uh so i asked them real quick real quick i sold mine for 42 too. Crazy, right? Yeah. Yeah. All right. Keep going. I know. I know. I may be wrong. No. Yeah, I think I did. It was 41. So I think I just started writing to them and I asked them to sell my Metallica online. So they started saying, you know, I said I would contribute to their podcast if they would if they would, you know, talk up my Metallica. So they started doing it like on a weekly basis. That's about it. Yeah. So you're Metallica guy. I never put that together. Well, I mean, it was just my first, like, modern machine. Yeah. Yeah. All right. So you, okay, so you, I didn't even know. That's really not bribing your way into the tribe. Sort of bribing your way into the tribe. Yeah, it's just, you know, our shtick. Yeah. And they were doing that. They were funny. That's probably the nicest story I heard about them at MGC, to be honest with you. Well, it wasn't like Expo. I mean, that's where Drew really made his bones. Yeah. That can't be scrubbed from the internet. I was – we were – this is Drew. Love him to death, but we – I recorded an episode with him on Monday, and we're talking about Spooky and Charlie, and he's like, ah, Charlie will never come on the show. And then the one time we talked, he's like, yeah, the guy from MGC will never come on the show. And now he's going to get kicked out of Expo because of his tent. I'm holding up the quote signs in his flea markets. So he definitely leaves a mark. It's like a dog leaving his scent on a show. You know, lifts the leg and pees on the wall to leave a scent. But we all love him, don't we? Well, isn't, like, sloppy in his tagline? Yeah, yeah. They lean into it, but he's the greatest, and we're all here because of those guys. Drew is one of my best friends in the world. And did you hear that Ian is coming back for real? like I don't know if you had a chance to listen yeah they're going to do something lighter not like every week but yeah he announced it on the last show that Ian that's really exciting you're not pulling my leg I love Ian so much I love Ian more than Drew and Drew knows that and he's fine with that but I'm so excited about that no I have not listened to the most recent podcast I'm a little behind there yay it's exciting All right. What other podcasts do you guys listen to outside of pinball? None. No, really? No, I listen to audiobooks. I listen to Pete Quint's Good Beer and Bad Movie Night podcast. I actually listened to it this morning. They watch – there's a group of them, four of them, maybe five of them, and they watch really dumb, usually scary movies or action movies. And they have a podcast where they talk about them, and then they review a good beer. And I love that one. It's one of my favorite podcasts. And I listen to some local – I went to the University of Pittsburgh. So there's some – I like sports. I like sports a lot. So there's some local podcasts about Pitt sports, and I listen to them. Are you like a Dan Marino? Did you have a Dan Marino poster on your wall growing up? No, no. Dan was before my time. I don't have a lot of good memories of Pitt because they've lost most of my life. So I listen to that. I listen to a couple of religious podcasts, and I listen to a couple of other sports podcasts to be honest with you. Glenn sends me random podcasts, and I listen to them as long as they're not creepy. But those are kind of the main ones. Really like Pete's. I'm pitching Pete's podcast. If you like zombie, crazy, dumb movies and like B-movies for horror films or even action films, they even did – they just did all kinds of random ones. Listen to Pete's podcast. He does a really good job, Pete Quint from The Tribe. So check that one out. Cool. What about you? Well, I'm a big NBA junkie, so I listen to a lot of NBA podcasts. I listen to most of the pinball podcasts. I like filmographies, so I listen to this show called Blank Check, where they'll just break down popular movies. It's fun. Okay. That's about it. That's pretty cool. I always have AirPods in my, I don't know, just always kind of listen to something. Yeah, I listen to a lot of music, and I listen to audiobooks generally. but yeah just not i don't i do listen to other pinball podcasts but i don't listen to anything else uh podcast related so people people often ask me that i'm like yeah i don't know it just depends it depends on what's going on like for do you listen to podcasts while you work um i do well not not when i work i can't do i'm a writer so not so much it's more when i'm like like when i'm doing the laundry or or working out or something like that yeah yeah i can't do it while I'm working. Tim, do you listen to podcasts while you work? I'm in the software business, so when I'm heads down in code, I can't. But when I'm doing like, I have administrative work that I have to do, I'll put a podcast on. Today, I listened to Pete's whole show because it's the day before folks leave for a holiday. And I would say 80% of our company was off. So I didn't, I just had a bunch of administrative work, so I listened to them and I listened to Triple Drain because I also listen to all the pinball podcasts. If there's a pinball podcast out there, I try to listen to it. Sometimes I'll have like Triple Drain. They do it on Wednesday night. They'll do like a YouTube or they'll do it on Twitch, but I'll just have it on YouTube on the side, just kind of – just have like pinball in the background. Yeah. Or I'll have it off a stream. Like I've been watching Raymond play Rush on stream just next to my desk when I'm working. I didn't even watch it. I just, I don't know. It's having the audio. No, I do that too. No, I don't think that's weird at all. I'm weird too. So like when I come home for like that Frosty Flippers tournament, when I came home from District 82, I got back. I live one hour south. I got home and the tournament was still going on. So I flipped it on on my TV and just listening to the audio, unpacking, doing my adulting junk around the house. I was still able to listen to what was going on, you know. So that's, I appreciate that too. But, yeah, I just listen to music at work. It's hard to listen to anything else. I feel that, too. And maybe you've also encouraged me, Sean, to explore the same field as yours. So perhaps I'll do that down the road to flesh out my resume a little bit more. Right. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. Why not? If you're a decent writer and you certainly have made your soon, if you're not already, you're soon to be an influencer in this hobby. A pinfluencer. Yeah, I think Drew is, you know. Oh, man, if that's what it is. But thanks, that's very kind. But, yeah, I'm a paralegal, so I do enjoy writing and grammar and punctuation, all that kind of stuff. So just how it ended up here in life. So pretty cool. Well, I mean, I pretty much is the exact same kind of content I wrote writing my everyday job. I wrote for the Houdini Service Manual. It was just so much more fun, you know, and fulfilling. Interesting, probably, too. Yeah. If my company is listening to this, I'm just kidding. I love my job. Tim, I didn't realize you were in software. What exactly is your involvement? Right now, I just manage. But I was a software engineer for 20 years. So, yeah. So I don't do the fun stuff anymore, but I go in and I investigate sort of large scale issues. And I like to triage and things like that. So that's the only time I get into the software. So, man, you guys have done some cool stuff. Again, it's just Tim Connery. I'm just the podcaster with the most sex appeal. I was practicing earlier, and she said something really mean to me. Jeez. And I'm going to double down and agree with her. Whatever she said, I'm going to agree with it. She thinks that Tim Connery is sexy. Right, Tribe Member 43? Tim Conway. Maybe Tim Conway. Yeah. I don't know what her tribe member is. I think she's 43. If she's not 43, sorry, 43. I didn't mean to. I think she's 44. She's 43. I don't know maybe she is I don't know but I'm sorry listeners from here on out I will tell Tim to just shut it whenever he decides to bring out that accent again or you can like email me or message me your thoughts about that do you have a different impression maybe that you do no not really I just came up with that one for my anniversary apparently it didn't work well they did get excited when he left for Cincinnati so yeah they're like get this guy out of here right that's funny can you do any accents or impressions or anything Sean I'm not even going to try me neither I could probably do a British one but I'm not going to embarrass myself alright well that was fun yeah good time thanks so much for hanging out with us No problem. Appreciate it. Anytime. Yeah, thank you. Yes. And happy flipping. Talk to you soon. Drew sucks at pinball.