it's time now for another pinball profile i'm your host jeff teoles you can find our group on facebook we're also on twitter at pinball profile email us pinball profile at gmail.com please subscribe on either itunes stitcher or google play and check out our website pinballprofile.com it's time to go into the where are they now file there are people that have come and gone in pinball and you wonder whatever happened to them well this is a story of a Former number one player who's disappeared off the face of the earth. One time, even back in 2017, number one player in the world. No one's heard of him. He went off to start a family, and we don't know where he's been. I called his work. He wasn't there. Where is Zach Sharp? We're going to answer that right now. Hello, Zach? Isn't this your shtick with Josh? I thought we were on good terms here. Why are you trying to throw mud up? Listen, I don't know where you've been. I know last year you were at the Buffalo Pinball Summer Open. You weren't there this year. Maybe because you gave me a dirty sucker punch. Oh, yeah, there's a photo. And look what happened there. Now they're not even going to run the tournament anymore. I blame you. Sorry. If it was Josh, I'd say it to him, but I think there's something there. And I thought the Sharps were at Pinberg. Can't recall seeing you guys. If you were there, it was, albeit pretty brief. We were on stage. Were you? You know what? We got knocked off by Macklemore, who was on stage for a little bit, but we were on stage for a little bit. Were you kicked off and get a yellow card? I mean, it was for players only. You know, I got to give Josh water for one extra round that he made. I think he won me an extra $50. So, you know, that's a decent amount of diapers. Ah, so there was a presence there. Because I made a mistake in that pool. I picked Josh to be one of my five players. Yeah, that didn't do very well for me. I picked myself. So if there's anyone who's more upset with my performance, I'm looking in the mirror. Listen, Zach, you don't need to pick yourself. I'll pick on you for you, all right? That's kind of my job here at Pinball Profile. But let's talk about, really, where you've been. And congratulations on the new baby Benson. Congratulations, your first child. Thank you. It is my first and probably last. But we're just going to enjoy the moment for right now. Probably last. Is this planned beforehand? Or was this like during labor? your wife's like never again you sleep in the other room you know what even going into this when we were doing our half ironman training last year we've always kind of been on the one or none train and after everything that we went through with uh this pregnancy i think we're on the one train don't quote me on that nothing's ever a hundred percent but if you ask me right now point blank. Benson is going to be more than enough for us. You just asked me not to quote you on that. This is an audio recording that will be timeless forever. Don't I get a chance to approve this before it goes live? No, no, no, no, no. If you are still in fact employed at Stern, that's a process where you have to get these approved. This is just, I don't even know if I'll mention Stern. Oh, wait a minute. I probably should. There's been a lot in the news lately. In fact, Stern had a baby. How is Little Deadpool? Little Deadpool has been doing fantastic. George and team really knocked it out of the park, and the game has been met with a lot of fanfare, and rightfully so. I mean, George really did a good job on it with limited time on it too, not to look into the past, but more looking into the future. He did an awesome job. I did notice that Deadpool has, more than I've ever recalled, several launch parties. Is that the highest number I've seen? Because I can't recall anything bigger than that. It is, I believe. And again, can't quote me on this because I am driving, but I think Iron Maiden had 63, which was a record, and Deadpool has 67. Take that, Elwin. Yesterday's news. so you know as the stern army grows the launch parties grow and hopefully if i do decide with my wife to have a second child he or she is not born right around a launch party because i have a lot of trophies to assemble and ship uh this week so that was fun to return to today on my first day back seeing you know 67 plaque trophies i need to assemble and uh ship out hold on a second here director of marketing for stern pinball is assembling trophies don't you have like assembly lines they're at stern you're the guy doing it you know they're busy actually making the games so roll up the sleeves and get dirty man wow all right quality control i like it what a one-two punch so far this year and we know that there's another game going to be coming out later in the year as the stern model is three per year and three different models correct that's always the goal you never know what i'm saying though the one-two punch here in 2018 with iron maiden and deadpool tough act to follow i thought iron maiden was a tough act to follow deadpool like you say the response has been fantastic i've already played the game a few times enjoy it very much by the way and again back-to-back games near full code and ready to ship as soon as it's launched Those are big, big pluses for Stern Pinball. Absolutely. I mean, I think we're really coming into our own as a company with a lot of the new blood on the software side of things. And you know I mean that is obviously the goal just to keep improving on that on all facets you know not just the programming but the design and quality you name it Even the marketing, I got to give myself some credit, but, you know, everything we want to just keep running like a smooth engine. So that being said, as we're getting these near full games being released and available immediately, we've heard Gary himself say the model is three per year, three different titles, three different variations in the pro, the premium and the LE. Because these games are coming so complete, if you were getting near the end of the calendar year and you've got a game that's maybe able to be manufactured, but maybe the code's not there or something's not complete. maybe it's all the different models which would weigh heavier getting that third game out in the calendar year or making sure the game came out complete um i mean obviously it's a case-by-case basis but at the end of the day we are a manufacturing company and we need to keep the line moving so if it's not building previous titles or we need to get the next game up and on the line i mean we need to keep the line moving to keep people employed myself included to keep the machine running. It's a private company, so we certainly don't want any kind of numbers or details, but can you maybe share how many games are being manufactured? Maybe not on a full assembly line, but the reason I ask is because when I go to Stern Pinball and I see the current titles that are still under that three or whatever your license that was originally set up, and then John Youssi the archive section, am I to assume all those games that are still quote unquote current, whether they be vault games or some of the more recent titles, are those games all being made still currently? Yeah. If you go on our games page, if it's not in the archive, those are still in production. And to answer your question, obviously we're a private company and I can't disclose numbers, but we do have capacity to build up to 50 games a day. That's a great answer. That's interesting to know. And that's, again, reflects on the move that Stern made years ago to this bigger facility. I can't imagine what it was before. It's night and day, which is funny. Coming from myself, Josh and I would used to go to the old plant in Melrose Park to play games before they came out when we were doing reviews for PlayMeter Magazine. Rest in peace, by the way. PlayMeter Magazine, fantastic publication. We wish all the best to everyone who works there. And it is night and day. I mean, that was like a mom-and-pop small shop. and this is a behemoth. Do you think right now, here in 2018 and moving forward, we are in a new renaissance of pinball because we certainly remember the dark days and we remember the survival and the difficulty for pinball companies to be able to continue, but now we're just seeing popularity go through the roof as far as competitions, as far as ownership. We're still not maybe there with arcades, but maybe we're getting there, And I wonder what you think, again, without revealing any kind of certainly numbers or details, but is Stern Pinball noticing this big, big jump in pinball in general? Absolutely. I mean, just look at all the new hires and the more titles that we're pushing out. And I know it might not reach the same renaissance from the 70s, but I mean, just look at the barcades that are popping up all over the place. I mean, that was nowhere to be seen five, ten years ago. So I think everything's always cyclical. But I think with technology and, you know, you look at tournaments and streaming and just everything just keeps pointing up. I mean, there's just there's never been a dip in the IFPA stats for new players, more tournaments popping up. I mean, you look at Pember, you don't see the player counts every year going down. It's just, you know, increasing going up. it might be over a thousand players next year. So Stern is a part of that growth as well. Yeah, Pinberg might be growing, which makes what you did three years ago so difficult to repeat, unless your name's Keith Elwin, of course. But I did recently watch your victory in 2015 when I was talking to Kaylee George about the whodunit game he had against Carl and watching you in the finals with Raymond on Ironman. Some great memories. I'm sure that's one, when Benson gets older, you'll want to show, hey, this is what your dad did. That was a good day, Benson. The other years, not so much, but that was a good day. Back to the growth of pinball and just what you've done from a marketing standpoint. I don't really want to highlight it. I don't really want to mention any names or anything like that. But to me, it was disappointing a little while back when some potential games were leaked. Some images, we see the names come out all the time for any company and they might just be simply rumors, from a marketing standpoint, that's got to burn your butt because it just goes against everything you're trying to do, the timelines, working with the distributors, every aspect of it. It's got to be so frustrating on your end. I mean, for me personally, I wouldn't say it's frustrating. I've grown to live by the word pivot. So when things need to change or you know things aren't as originally planned I just learned to roll with the punches. I never get worked up about anything So I mean if anything when there's sensitive information leaked There two ways I look at it One is I feel for the people who are working on these projects if it in fact a true leap So now that Deb pulled out, I felt bad for George, Tanio Klyce, Tim, and the entire team when there's this picture of a whitewood released to the public. And this is coming from my personal art background. You never kind of want to show your artwork while you're working on it because there's stuff that you might not like or you're tweaking. and to have unfair criticism or praise even kind of sucks because for them, this is their livelihood. This is their passion. And to have it just sent to the public on the drop of a hat, I feel for them. So for me personally, I'll roll with it, but I feel for them. And the second thing is from an NDA perspective, you know, that's something that I hold dear to my heart. And, you know, I would say I learned from the best, which is my dad and knowing how he navigated those waters back in the day with sensitive information and, you know, materials. And people think I might be lying, but I don't even talk to Josh about anything. And he has an NDA. So until he knows, because he's in the building on that side of the building of future projects, like I won't talk to him actively about anything until he brings it up to me because he knows because he has been behind those doors. So, you know, if somebody wants to risk their potential employment status by sharing sensitive materials, regardless if it's being shared with people with NDAs, you know, that's on them. I can go to sleep at night extremely well because the only person that I tell sensitive information to is Benson. And I've got probably two years before he'll mimic whatever I say. So if you're trying to get any sensitive information from me, you'll have to talk to Benson. Mental note for you people who love leaks, maybe try to get hired as a babysitter. Wire Benson, and you'll know everything. I take diapers as currency. He's still in the diaper, what is it, the newborns, but he'll be soon in the number one. Kind of like his dad's former rank status. Oh, there you go. Ouch. Damn. Why did I even say that? I don't get the fascination for leaks. I really don't. You know that personally from me. We've talked on the program, off at tournaments or wherever we seem to meet up. I don't understand what the need is to know. And you've made a good analogy of maybe your former days as someone who did some sort of art or design. It's incomplete. It's not done yet. If you were an author and you wrote chapter one, maybe you go back and you change things. It's not done. I don't get why people can't wait. it shouldn't influence what they're doing as far as what's currently available in the market. And if you like the other game, the great thing about pinball is you can buy a game and probably sell it for the same or more and get the new game. That's kind of how this thing works. You've got only so much capacity or maybe you're able to put these out on location. That's kind of how collections work to my understanding. Yeah, I agree. I mean, to me, it's no different than if a new movie is coming out. It's like if I was, you know, transport me back into the Empire Strikes Back. Spoiler alert, but Darth Vader is Luke's father. It's like that would suck to find out that information before watching the movie. And to me, it's no different. You know, I like the enjoyment and surprise of learning, you know, new stuff versus like trying to find out information just for the sake of having that information. But, you know, different strokes for different folks. And like I said, if people want to risk their employment status, that's on them. I can go to sleep at night. You know what? I'm having an epiphany here. Dr. Sharp, you've just realized something about my childhood, mentioning Star Wars. I was in line to go see Return of the Jedi. And, you know, people are all bummed out about Infinity War. What's going to happen? You only have to wait one year. Star Wars, you had to wait three years from 1980 to 1983 between Empire and Return of the Jedi. I was in line for two plus hours to see Return of the Jedi. First showing, there were five of us. And when we got to the line, they said, we only have three tickets. And they're single seats only. So we waited another two and a half hours. All right, first in, second show. We're kids, we'll do it. As people were walking out of Return of the Jedi, these kids were yelling, Yoda dies, Darth dies, Luke and Leia, brother and sister. I'm like, ah, stop. so there's where i once you hear it and see it you can't expunge it from your brain no matter how hard you try it just took something away from me so i feel the same way when it comes to leaks or you mentioned movie trailers i don't want to see my wife and i go to movies all the time we see a trailer and they'll show absolutely everything in the trailer i'm like we don't need to see the movie now they just gave everything away the movie must be pretty weak if they have to give everything away like that. So anyway, just, uh, it's sometimes it's all about marketing, good marketing, bad marketing. You seem to have a handle on it at Stern pinball. And with that being said, what's your next game? No, just kidding. Deadpool, man. Yeah. Deadpool. Uh, I guess the next one is the LE correct. Uh, yeah, we saw this with Iron Maiden. We're seeing it with Deadpool the pros and the premiums and LEs coming out at different times Is there a reason for Matt It a combination depending on how we working with our licensor they might have input on the release cycle I know with the Iron Maiden release they wanted to be the first to publicly reveal the LE model. So even though the game was already out in the public, they wanted to be the first to publicly share that with the world. And with the approval process and the timing of the release. Again, I'll use that word pivot. We changed the course for how we were going to release that game versus, you know, the more, I guess, standard approach, which most people are used to, which is the release of pictures of all three. As I think of Stern Pinball, George Gomez with the recent Deadpool, we've seen Keith Elwin and he'll now be working on his next game. We know Steve Ritchie. Brian Eddy is a recent hire there, which is very, very exciting for the pinball community. And of course, John Borg. There are a lot of things, I guess, going to be coming from Stern Pinball. So, how do you keep all those people at Expo away from all these possible designs when they do the Stern Pinball Tour? It's all behind the secret doors, man. No spies? No fiber optic cameras? They're not going through any kind of... You're not worried about that? You know, this is going to be a reference that most people won't get, and not to give away the password, but I like to say it's Teddy Bear, which is from Demolition Man, but a lot of people don't like that movie. It's one of my personal favorites. So, see, it went right over your head. It's fine. It's fine, Jeff. Josh will laugh when he hears this. Okay, I'll leave it in then. All I think of Demoman is, what about those seashells? Those seashells? I mean, what the hell was that all about? Still a great game. Anyway, you know, I joked about you maybe disappearing off the face of the earth and being a former number one player, but you did have one pretty good tournament this year and winning the heads up challenge. I did. That was a good weekend for the Sharp brothers. Or do you not want to highlight that Josh won the circuit final, which you can always cut this out. No, I have no problem with Josh winning that. That was fun. By the way, can you ask him to be quiet? I hear him crying in the background there. Oh, actually that's Vincent. Oh, I'm sorry. Didn't know if he got upset when I talked about your highlights and being a former number one player but anyway let's leave josh alone i mean this is the fitting enough second time this year he has uh become an uncle correct yeah you are correct speaking of your baby and your new family it is a big big change and i'm going to be serious here for a second i remember when my first son was born and how i kind of do not remember what life was like before that in the sense that everything changed. I know it's only been a little while, but do you feel that a little bit? I do. Crystal and I were actually just talking about this last night, just saying how it's interesting because it's like, oh, this is the toughest thing we've ever done in our life. But in its moment, it's not difficult. But the word that I use is it's relentless, like there is no pause. So it's like in its pieces and its small portions, it's not difficult. It's just the fact that it is constant and forever constant really i mean it's special and we're just trying to soak up everything because i mean i hear it from everyone who's a parent out there enjoy the moment as much as you can you know if you're feeling stressed and you know losing your mind because you know god forbid your baby's colicky or whatnot it's going to go away then soon they're going to be crying because they don't have enough money for rent in college or who knows what. But, you know, we're just really enjoying the moment. And yeah, it's really incredible. As I say, it's everything everyone's always cracked it up to be. You've got the right attitude, you and Crystal, and I obviously wish you the best. It's amazing that unconditional love, at least until they turn teenagers. And I was so moved when my firstborn came into this world. I remember my mother was outside in the waiting room. Carson was born. I was bawling. And, you know, I said, I got to go tell my mom. I went out to the waiting room. I said, Hey mom, it's a baby. And she went, is it a boy or girl? I'm like, I don't know. I had to go back inside. It didn't matter, you know, and I didn't obviously know in advance, but that's just the overwhelming excitement that was there. And, uh, congratulations again. One of the first things I had to appreciate and thank my parents for the first time I saw them after Benson was born was just, thank you. Thank you for cleaning. I don't know how many of my diapers, my vomit, all that other fun stuff. Thank you. I will let you get back to it. I'm sure a diaper needs to be changed. And besides, this is precious time with Benson. So congratulations. Diapers for secrets, man. Diapers for secrets. Hit me up. No, I don't need it. I don't want to know. I'm happy with what is being presented in front of me right now. Congratulations on Deadpool, on the family. It's a good time in the Sharp family. At least Zach's. Yeah, all across the board, man. All right, buddy, I'll let you go. Thanks very much for jumping in. All right, take care, man. This has been your Pinball Profile. You can find our group on Facebook. We're also on Twitter at pinballprofile. Email us pinballprofile at gmail.com. And please subscribe on either iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play. And check out pinballprofile.com. I'm Jeff Teols. Bye.