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The Spinner Is Lit - Episode 69_A Spooky Thanksgiving

The Spinner Is Lit Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·1h 13m·analyzed·Nov 26, 2024
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.030

TL;DR

Spooky Evil Dead announcement and X-Men impressions drive community excitement; hosts discuss tournament updates and game design philosophy.

Summary

The Spinner Is Lit podcast hosts discuss recent pinball community excitement, including the announcement of Spooky Pinball's Evil Dead machine ($9,999 base, 888 units planned) and positive impressions of Stern's new Uncanny X-Men game. Hosts share local tournament updates from Northern California and Nevada, discuss classic vs. modern game dynamics in competitive play, and praise Spooky's marketing execution and design philosophy. They also cover location play experiences and upcoming Black Friday tournaments.

Key Claims

  • Spooky Pinball Evil Dead machine is priced at $9,999 base, with 888 units planned for production

    high confidence · Spencer and Dan discussing the Evil Dead announcement during the podcast episode

  • Evil Dead topper costs $1,400 extra; butter cab (coated cabinet) costs $1,500 extra

    high confidence · Spencer detailing pricing structure for Evil Dead accessories

  • Spooky has been working on Evil Dead for approximately 10 years

    medium confidence · Spencer stating 'they've been working on it for years' and referencing historical inability to get Bruce Campbell rights

  • Ben Heck left Spooky Pinball after Evil Dead licensing fell through, then later returned to the company

    medium confidence · Spencer discussing Ben Heck's departure and return in context of Alice Cooper game development

  • Evil Dead sold 500 units on the first day

    medium confidence · Spencer mentioning '500 on the first day' during sales discussion

  • Stern's Uncanny X-Men game features original ball flow and shots not commonly seen in modern pinball

    high confidence · Mark describing X-Men gameplay: 'it does things that you haven't seen a pinball do in a game or if you have seen you don't see it very often'

  • X-Men has relatively short ball times due to chaotic playfield design and aggressive pop bumper placement

    medium confidence · Mark stating 'When I play it and it's put up steep it does not have long ball times at all' and discussing pop bumper impact

  • Nevada IFPA State Finals (top 24) will be held in Las Vegas at a private home location

    high confidence · Mark discussing state finals: 'It's going to be in Vegas this year, which is very interesting. And it's going to be over at a person's house. So it's going to be a private location'

  • Mark is currently ranked 9th in Nevada IFPA standings, about 13 points away from 8th place

Notable Quotes

  • “This is a theme that I want to make. And I have a million good ideas, even if the shittiest theme for everybody else. If it's the best theme for me and I'm going to bring the passion to it, it'll make a better game.”

    Spencer @ mid-episode — Core philosophy about design philosophy differentiating Spooky's approach from competitors; illustrates passion-driven development vs. IP-chasing

  • “Take note, kids. You want to make a pinball machine? That's how you make a pinball machine. Even before you talk about the machine, right?”

    Spencer @ mid-episode — Praising Spooky and Flippin' Out's marketing execution as exemplary for the industry

  • “it's just one of those things where it's like, yeah, they're not going to have any problems selling all these games.”

    Spencer @ late-episode — Assessment of Evil Dead commercial viability despite high price point

  • “There's no LE. There's no special platinum. There's no blood sucker. There's no, you know, candy apple bullshit. It's here's our game. You like it. Awesome.”

    Spencer @ late-episode — Praising Spooky's pricing transparency and lack of multi-tier SKU strategy; implicit criticism of other manufacturers' approach

  • “The geometry is just so original and the flow is great when you can get it going.”

    Mark @ mid-episode — Positive assessment of X-Men's innovative playfield design

  • “I give them an A plus plus gold star.”

    Spencer @ mid-episode — Rating Flippin' Out's marketing work on Evil Dead reveal

  • “it's not like that one-on-one fighting mode thing that Stern was really going for for a while.”

    Dan @ mid-episode — Comparing X-Men mission-based design to previous Stern design philosophy

Entities

SpencerpersonDanpersonMarkpersonSpooky PinballcompanyStern PinballcompanyJack DangerpersonBen HeckpersonBruce Campbellperson

Signals

  • ?

    announcement: Spooky Pinball officially announced Evil Dead machine; 888 units planned at $9,999 base price; topper $1,400, butter cab $1,500

    high · Spencer: 'Yesterday, Evil Dead was a rumor. Right. Today, it was confirmed.' Hosts discussing pricing structure and production numbers

  • ?

    content_signal: Spooky partnered with Flippin' Out (Zach and Greg) to produce high-quality reveal video and 35-minute making-of featurette; phased announcement schedule was praised as exemplary

    high · Spencer: 'I give them an A plus plus gold star' and detailed praise for the reveal execution and marketing strategy

  • ?

    design_innovation: Stern's Uncanny X-Men features novel ball flow patterns and shots not commonly seen in modern pinball; includes unique ramp configuration, Sentinel head mechanic, and danger room design

    high · Mark describing X-Men: 'it does things that you haven't seen a pinball do in a game or if you have seen you don't see it very often'; discussion of ramp geometry and Sentinel head interactions

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: X-Men has relatively short ball times due to chaotic playfield action and aggressive pop bumper placement, despite having return shots and strategic potential

    medium · Mark: 'When I play it and it's put up steep it does not have long ball times at all'; discussion of pop bumper placement in danger room affecting play

  • ?

    product_strategy: Spooky chose single-tier pricing approach ($9,999 base) with optional paid accessories, avoiding multiple SKU tiers; positioned as transparent alternative to competitor strategies

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.219

0:00
Okay, wait. If you guys are really us, what number are we thinking of? 69, dudes! Hey, welcome to the Spinner's Lip Pinball Podcast, episode 69, The Spooky Thanksgiving. I'm your host Spencer, and with me as always are my co-hosts, Dan. Hey, what's up everybody? And Mark. Hey everyone.
0:48
Been a cool wild week, and of course it's near Thanksgiving, it's November, I don't even know what day it is today. It's like three days before Thanksgiving, so do your math. Anyway, so we should get this out to you shortly. But, yeah, so some real excitement in the pinball community this past few days, so we're going to talk about that. But, Dan, what have you been up to since we last talked?
1:15
You know, really a lot of the same. Capital Corridor Pinball League is going into week six. We're taking a little bit of an extended break for the holiday, and then we're going to do our playoffs and then we don't pick back up until next year, I believe. I am playing like absolute garbage in both leagues, so I'm looking forward to contending for some B trophies.
1:42
Anyone up in Northern California who wants to play some pinball on Black Friday, CCPL will be hosting a free Black Friday pinball tournament I don't know if Mark's going to make it to this one this year. It'd be really cool if he did, but it's free. It's potluck style, and there will be some prizes. So you can always check it out at the CCPL Capital Corral Pinball League website. Cool. Do you know what format it is?
2:16

high confidence · Mark stating 'I'm fortunately at number nine' and 'about 13 points away from the person who's ahead of me'

Zach
person
Gregperson
Flippin' Outorganization
Capital Corridor Pinball Leagueorganization
Michael Hosierperson
Shannon Milesperson
Uncanny X-Mengame
Evil Deadgame
Evil Dead 2game
Army of Darknessgame
Press Startvenue
Incline to Playvenue

high · Spencer: 'There's no LE. There's no special platinum. There's no blood sucker...It's here's our game. You like it. Awesome. Here's how much it costs.'

  • ?

    product_launch: Evil Dead reportedly sold 500 units on first day of availability

    medium · Spencer: 'I guess they sold 500 on the first day'

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Nevada IFPA State Finals (top 24 qualifying) will be held in Las Vegas at a private residence; host reportedly has EM collection; private location is unusual for state finals

    high · Mark: 'It's going to be in Vegas this year, which is very interesting. And it's going to be over at a person's house...Supposedly, he has some a good collection of EMs'

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Mark currently ranked 9th in Nevada IFPA standings; approximately 13 points away from 8th place with top 24 cutoff for state finals qualification

    high · Mark: 'I'm fortunately at number nine...I'm about 13 points away from the person who's ahead of me. The cutoff is 24.'

  • ?

    venue_signal: Capital Corridor Pinball League hosting free Black Friday knockout tournament at Treehouse location; CCPL entering playoffs after holiday break; Nevada venues (Press Start, Incline to Play) hosting weekly tournaments

    high · Dan discussing CCPL free Black Friday tournament structure; Mark detailing Press Start and Incline to Play tournament schedules

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Spencer articulates design philosophy distinction: passion-driven theme selection leads to better games than IP-chasing; attributes Evil Dead's quality to team's 10+ year desire to make it

    medium · Spencer: 'This is a theme that I want to make. And I have a million good ideas...If it's the best theme for me and I'm going to bring the passion to it, it'll make a better game'

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Ben Heck left Spooky Pinball when Evil Dead licensing fell through (~10 years ago), worked on Alice Cooper instead, later returned to design Evil Dead now that rights secured

    medium · Spencer discussing Ben Heck's departure and return: 'if you're not going to make my stuff, I'm not going to just hang around' and later return to Evil Dead project

    • I'm not 100% sure. I was actually just pulling up the website because I completely forgot what the CCPL website address was. Oh. I wonder if it's a strikes or if it's a match player. It's some sort of just fill, fill, fill time for a second and I'll figure it out. I'm pulling it up now. Tournaments.
    2:42
    So tonight's episode is brought to you by the letter Y and the number eight. Tonight's episode is brought to you by, I don't know what I'm doing. You get me. passion to the pinball.com slash T and I'm pulling it up. It is knockouts. Fair strikes. Cool. Yeah. That's, that's going to be a fun one. Oh, it sounds good. Yeah. It's also my birthday. So if anybody wants to take a dive, that's where my boy Dan can win. Oh man, it's your birthday too. That's right. Uh, number, number 49, baby, man. And I don't know if I'll be able to make it with this weather. This weather is bad news, so we'll see what happens. Oh, yeah, it's nasty, right? Yeah, it's nasty right now. Bad news bears. Yep.
    3:36
    That tournament sounds fun. Who's hosting it? So we're going to have it at Shannon Miles' house, at the Treehouse. Cool. And, of course, the official host and coordinator of it is Michael Hosier. All right. Or fearless leader of the Capital Corridor Pinball League. That sounds like a blast. That'll be fun. And that's cool. There's no entry fee. So free just to get away from shopping and have more fun. I think that's the whole idea. You know, Black Friday shopping is sort of I'm looking for terrible.
    4:12
    I mean, I know some people like it. You know, some people some people dig that. It's almost like sport shopping, but I don't feel like it is what it used to be. I think the Internet's kind of killed the whole like fun Black Friday shopping experience. And I've worked in retail and retail adjacent careers for so long that if I don't have to work Black Friday, I just don't work Black Friday, especially when it's also falling on my birthday. So I let my bosses know in no uncertain terms a while ago that I was going to need the week of Thanksgiving off. And they, you know, there was a little pushback, but they saw a reason.
    4:48
    Cool. Well, that's great. It sounds like it's going to be a good time and way better to hang out with some friends playing pinball than the other options. So, yeah, man, eating some good food and hanging out with your buddies. What's going down in Reno, Mr. Mark? Well, Reno is happening. Definitely. We're getting to the end of the season with our league. We actually had our last meet last night, and I have to say, I'm happy to say, that our team got first seed. We won by one point for the first seed, and now we're going to have the playoffs starting on December 8th, and then a week after that, December 15th. So two more weeks of league after Thanksgiving, and then we'll see who wins, but we have a good shot. We're at home on the first one, and then the next one will be the away team, whoever that is in the finals. So it's going to be a great time. We have tournaments every Tuesday still, thanks to Jim, over at Press Start. Every other week we have team competition where we do split flipper and team playing where you add the scores together, and it lets you basically add them up, and then whoever has the most for the total against the other team gets a point. And then the other week we have our classic five round match play. And then we have a finals, which is just a bracket with the top eight.
    6:15
    There's a lot going on up at Tahoe in Incline Village at Incline to Play, which is actually, it's pretty much right in the heart of Incline Village off of Village Boulevard. and they have tournaments every Friday night, and he's trying to do things on Saturday, but with the weather that's been changing, not as many people have been attending. But he did a 20-strikes knockout on Saturday. It was all day.
    6:47
    Trying to get as many points as possible before the IFPA season ends, and then we start new in January. So we're trying to get that last chance to earn as many points to get in the top 24. I'm fortunately at number nine, and I'm hoping that I'll get to the eighth, but I'm still quite a ways. I'm about 13 points away from the person who's ahead of me. So what's the cutoff, though? The cutoff is 24. Oh, yeah, you're fine. Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I just want to try to get the buy if I can. But it's just a goal for me to try to do it. But if I don't, no big deal. It's going to be in Vegas this year, which is very interesting. And it's going to be over at a person's house. So it's going to be a private location, which is interesting for a state finals, but whatever.
    7:40
    Supposedly, he has some a good collection of EMs, so they'll be thrown into the mix. And then he'll have, of course, games probably brought by people to have a good variety of solid state and LCD and, you know, a pretty good variety of different decades represented. So the EM's thing is interested because are interesting anyway, because that's a discipline that, you know, I feel like it's kind of falling. Like when I started playing in league, it felt like we had, and I, I, because when I started with league, Spencer was still playing. It felt like we had a lot of like, yeah, like every league night we had an EM. Then we have like an early solid state. Then we had like something kind of quasi-modern, then something modern. And it seems like our league has really evolved to just almost all DMD and newer. Every once in a while, you'll get like a System 11 in there. You know, of course, when we play at Adam's house, we play a lot of Gottliebs. But it feels like the disciplines of the classic games have kind of fallen out of use, like a lot more sternaments. And what are your take on that? Do you like to have the classics included? I personally do. the classics because it's much more of a crapshoot like so a moderately skilled player like me has a much better chance to take out a you know truly skilled player like you on a classic rather than a modern where it's like you know I'll have a good game one in a hundred games but you'll have a good game you know ten in a hundred games maybe I always like when you're talking about Dan's when you have like some newer people that mostly played at the time DMD games and or the more modern LCD displays and you get them on a game like Flash Gordon or Centaur or Counter Force or Devil's Dare and it separated the adults from the young as it definitely did because us older school guys who grew up on this the learning curve was a lot lighter because the rules are simpler but they're more brutal I mean, most of those games are like playing a really tuned in Iron Man.
    9:55
    It's a lot more about grip it and rip it. Exactly. Yeah. Rather than rather than it being like, you know, I need to know to do this so that I could like this so that I can get this. I was explaining to somebody the other day at Hector's house how to get points on Ghostbusters. And I thought I was pretty good at Ghostbusters. But then somebody pointed out, no, you do it like this. And I was just like, oh, man, I didn't even realize that, like, if you do it this way, then, you know, you get it faster. There's just so much to learn, even on the games that you think that, you know, and that you have a strategy. You know, it's always a little harder to run a strategy when there's real gameplay or real like real like rules to it rather than like, hey, if I lock if I knock down these four inline drop targets, I get a shitload of points and it lights my spinner. Yeah, right. And then I want to hit the spinner, and that's how I win. Because the spinner is lit. Exactly. The spinner is lit. Oh!
    10:56
    Exactly. Hey, as soon as you said grip it and rip it, I was thinking at first I thought of, oh, yeah, like nine ball. Then I went, well, you know, a lot of the early sterns are like that. Like the next one I went to in my head was meteor. You know, and that used to be a popular one at Adams at his old house. I was so mad when he sold that game. You know, I should have bought that. Oh, yeah. We all should have bought that. We all should have bought all those Sterns, man. Those are just – they were such good at the time, cheap thrills. They're great games. I love all the Stern solid states. And you know what's really cool is up in Incline at Incline to Play, he has two wide – he actually has three wide-body ballies. and he also has a Embryon which is the same, that is a wide body. He also has Electra. One of those like crazy wide bodies. Yep, he has Electra, he has a nine ball which plays amazing by the way, but brutal at the same time.
    11:57
    But I love that one because when you hit the spinner you have to hit that skill shot on the top and then if you get lucky it will light up all the way. But what I like about the rules is that once you spin it, then it resets, which is really cool. Otherwise, you could just rip it all day long and blow up the game without any effort. But having that reset really makes it strategic to get it up to that thousandth spin.
    12:24
    But, yeah, that's cool. Definitely a lot of classics. We have a couple of classics at press start. A lot of sterns, though, too. But definitely, if you want to play classics, go to either Comet Kingdom or Inclined to Play. Yeah, Comic Kingdom, like, yeah, Cody's got lots of classics. He's got a crazy collection of classics. Yep. So, but I agree. I think it's much nicer to have a variety, like you said, to level the playing field so that you have a chance. Unless you're playing against Jack, of course. Then he could play any game that you put in front of him. Well, and I do wonder how that's going to affect your guys' state finals. because I don't think that, you know, I think the truth is what it does is it levels the playing field for a guy like you and a guy like Jack. Right. Because don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to say that, you know, we're old and he's young and superhuman, but it's just like these young guys, you know, they get on those sterns and they can light them up. And I'm not trying to say that Escher can't play the crap out of an EM. Yeah. I'm saying that I think that there's a little bit more of a randomness factor and a little bit more of an any given Sunday on some of those simpler, older games. I think that it kind of opens it up that this might be your moment. Right, exactly.
    13:45
    Yeah, so other than that, there's really nothing more. Oh, there's actually a lot going on at Elbow Room, too. We have tournaments on Friday that Ted always has. We did have two, actually, in a row. we had two uncanny X-Men launch parties for the pro. So that was fun. We had it up at Incline. That was an actual LE. And then before that, we had the pro, which went out to the distributors and the location pinball. Of course, they do that stern, but that was my problem. I was dying to try that pro. Yeah, it's so worth it. I played the premium and I liked it a lot more than I thought I was going to like it. Yeah. When I saw it in action, I was like, that looks like it's going to be a fun game because, you know, it's Jack Danger and Jack Danger, you know, builds fun games. But I actually was I put some games on it at Shannon's place the last league night we played over there. And I mean, I played horribly on it in league. It just ruined me. But I had enough fun that I was all like, I can't wait to get some more games. on it and I had a couple decent games and just the the ball map on that game the shots and where the ball goes like so fun it's so nuts like it's not does things that you haven't seen a pinball do in a game or if you have seen you don't see it very often and the uh the little danger room thing it didn't screw up the game at all in fact I didn't maybe I had one death from the danger room but it felt like you know you'd get the ball down there it was easy to play off the flip or it was easy to get it back into play hit that little spinner whoopsie do thing and yeah that is a really really fun game but i can i kind of see how like the pro probably gets it done oh it does it absolutely does um like i said you don't have the hand smashing the habit trail or the the wire form and you don't have the captive ball how is the captive ball is that cool because i haven't really had a chance to really see that in action or utilize it as much when i did play the le how is that i can't tell you what the difference is between it and the uh the what this is just a target yeah it's just a target you know it feels like i wail on it a lot when I'm going for other things. So it's cool. Yeah. And it starts off with the the Sentinel head down. Right. And then you have to raise it up. I mean, I didn't really understand like what the Sentinel heads M.O. was like. It would go up and it would go down and then you would like hit the face. But I didn't really you know, I don't think I got deep enough into the game where I really kind of understood what was going on beyond like, OK, I'm going light a mode and it's going to give me shots and Wolverine and Sabretooth are having a fight or I'm trying to fight Pyro or something. But it's because it feels like you're doing missions. You're not just, you know, it's not like that one-on-one fighting mode thing that Stern was really going for for a while. Yeah, it's more you're in a battle, but it doesn't seem like is it more like Deadpool, you think, or it's kind of not like Deadpool. It's more like you're doing missions rather than it being like you're having a fight. And so, yeah, you're like, you're doing X-Men shit, you know? Okay. The theming is good. The voices and music were much less annoying. At least I don't know if they revised them or if they changed them up, but they were better in person. The art's really nice. I think it does look a lot better than Avengers.
    17:26
    It looks like it would look really good sitting by an Avengers, to be honest. You know, they definitely have that, that comic. so like an avengers deadpool x-men lineup would be pretty pretty smexy yeah yeah it was it's cool so i can't wait to uh i can't wait to get some more time on it i have noticed that when i play it and it's put up steep it does not have long ball times at all no i mean it's so chaotic yeah like i don't know i mean i guess if you're really on target with your shots uh you're not gonna You probably won't die. But like when the hand crushes the bridge, the ball just flies out of control. It's got kind of a compactish play field. So there a lot of action Yeah it didn feel at all like I mean I sure that you could get into the right rhythm and just stay forever because there a lot of return shots but it didn't feel to me like it was going to be a long player, at least given my skill level. Yeah, and I like the design in the danger room where the pop bumper is placed because if you don't make it up that ramp or through that spinner, you can get lucky sometimes where it will deflect off of the bumper and go back into play in the main play field, which I think is really cool. It gives you that chance. Yeah, that pop bumper is a straight killer. It's a killer, but sometimes you get fortunate and it hits right away. That's another thing that I think will keep your ball times down is having a low pop bumper. But I didn't have the danger room. Like I said, it wasn't – I think everybody looks at that and they go like, oh, that's going to suck. Yeah, it doesn't. Yeah, I didn't think it was that bad. Like because it has a full-length flipper there, like you kind of have almost supreme ball control as long as you like are good with backhands which honestly i prefer a good backhand shot to almost anything else um as long as you're good with a good backhand shot yeah you can kind of get the ball under control and knock it up and it goes up into that that ramp spinner thing and then it swings back around and it ends up on the i think on the left flipper so you're going from the far left side to the inside left side and That's just, it's just a really neat shot. It's so cool. The geometry is just so original and the flow is great when you can get it going. It's not easy to hit that left ramp though. It's, you have to hit it just right. Cause it does not give you any wiggle room to shoot up it unless you have a direct shot up that ramp, especially on a, on a skill shot. I never can hit it. I always fail on that. And I really liked the shot behind the Sentinel head, which is almost like a mini ramp. So really, there's like three ramps on that game. If you found that one behind the head. I had some trouble with that Sentinel. I thought it was just a U, but then it's like, yeah, ramp. And yeah, I was just like, I was like, I'm not shooting around this Sentinel. It's too it's too much self-murder. Yeah, it is having a better time going for that. The the things are not the things lab, the beast's lab and the left shot. And that left shot's great because the ball just kind of goes. Right.
    20:36
    Right. Yep. And that game will get even better with more code. I mean, it's still in its infancy, but. Oh, yeah, it's still it's still fresh new. There definitely doesn't have to be anything changed except the plunge. Did you have an issue with the auto plunge where it gets stuck on the top and then it rolls back around the Sentinel? I did. I mean, I might have because I did notice having some rolling around the Sentinel problems. But it felt like, I mean, you know, it was a it was an almost new game in a home environment. So I I feel like it was working correctly. But I also don't have so much experience with it that I can tell you if anything wrong and what's wrong. As long as everything was fairly working, like I was still kind of in that sense of childlike wonder phase. I, you know, I need that moment where you can sit down there and punch like the start button 10 times in a row and then sort of go like, oh, that doesn't feel right. yeah for me right now like you know my first impression and i'm still very in first impression mode on x-men is like oh this is a cool game like stern stern really nailed it i thought you know john wick was was cool i thought venom was cool like i thought they were both okay yeah this is the first game in a while that i'm like okay wow good job stern good job jack danger you guys really brought the heat. Yeah, I need more time on it, but it is really fun to shoot.
    22:02
    I still need to play it. There's a couple of them just over the border in Colorado, and I haven't looked lately. I'm hoping somebody in Cheyenne gets one, but I've got to get over and play it.
    22:14
    So, Spencer, what have you been doing? I went out and did some location play last week, and I haven't done that for a really long time. There aren't too many locations to play here, and even less where kids can go. Mickey wanted to go play. And we have a skating rink nearby, and they have a Black Knight Sword of Rage, but it's the wintertime, basically, so they're only open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It's not a Wednesday night. So it's a local bowling alley. They used to have Aerosmith and Jurassic Park, the Stern Jurassic Park, but they got rid of Jurassic Park, so they played Aerosmith. And I really liked that game I wanted to get more time on it So we played a few games on that Played real good, it was a little dirty All the lights worked, the flippers were nice and snappy But And it's not a big deal because it really didn't affect Gameplay, but the top of the jack in the box Was missing, like it just got ripped off So Yeah, so you know The route operator here is not great Yeah, it wasn't in the play field anywhere So, you know, but it still shot good So other than that, man, just, you know, that's basically it. We were going to take a trip last weekend, Sunday, but then it snowed. And the weather, we had a storm finally come in. And then it kind of left over this morning, a lot of ice on the road. So no going out of town. Because I was like, well, let's get over to Denver and go play some, you know, go to all the Denver area places and play all the new games. And we're going to do that. But then, like I said, then the weather turned sour. So, but yeah, that's about it for, you know, me locally playing my games at home. And then, but getting real excited. I mean, the news we got this week and, you know, new game releases are always exciting and spooky. Of course, you know, they announced their new game, Evil Dead. And it's always nice when somebody like, you know, like X-Men, like everybody's like, wow, look at that. Look at all the cool stuff. And it is really cool. Not taking away anything from X-Men. Giving Jack Danger and the Stern team kudos on putting out what looks like a fantastic new game with a lot of cool new things like you and Dan were talking about. Stuff you hadn't seen before.
    24:35
    My first impressions of Evil Dead, kind of the same thing. Wow. And all I can think about is, okay, just from the little intro video.
    24:51
    Let's throw some props out there for that video. Yes. Oh, gosh, yes. Yes, and that's the boys over at Flippin' Out, right? That's Zach and Greg. Greg, right. Unbelievably good. I mean, I think that this was I think this was a darn near perfect like reveal. That's where I was going with that. Thank you, Dan. Like it kind of like it kind of leaked.
    25:19
    Yeah. And then like, oh, there's an image out there. But don't worry, guys, we're going to have these videos for you tomorrow morning. and then you got just assaulted by this great trailer and this great like making of you know that 35 minute uh like quasi documentary thing with all the interviews and it was just i feel like it was hijacked i feel like i just hijacked spencer but i no no no but you you were you were saying exactly what i had in my head so i'm really tired the dogs woke me up at 240 this morning and I've been there since 2.40 a.m. There's a dog. There's an asshole cat that lives in the neighborhood, and he comes up and just sits on our porch and basically gives the dogs. And for the listeners who don't know, I have two hunting dogs. I have a red-nosed coonhound, and I have an American foxhound. So they're literally going ape shit for two and a half to three hours. You're probably laughing so hard you're killing me, Spencer. I'm telling you, man. Yeah, so I'm a little fuzzy. But yeah, no, so no, you're saying exactly what I had in my head. I wanted to say I give them an A. I give I give, you know, Zach and Greg like an A plus plus gold star. And the same with Spooky. I mean, they. Yeah, because there's some other companies putting out games and they're talking a good talk. You know, and you and I talked about software, Dan. You know, it's an art piece. They are great art, blah, blah, blah, whatever.
    26:51
    This is OK. Take note, kids. You want to make a pinball machine? That's how you make a pinball machine. Even before you talk about the machine, right? Like, again, it was, you know, yesterday, Evil Dead was a rumor. Right. Today, it was confirmed. And of course, it's like, what a great theme for spooky pinball. You can't get better than that. Right. And I know they've been working on it for years, right? It's a hard horror theme, but it's funny, and it's something that you can see in their featurette, like, everybody involved in that project, especially Bug and Ben Heck, who I love Ben Heck, were just crazy passionate about this. And you can just see that they had so many good ideas bursting out of their heads that they, you know, you know, had the engineering know-how and the ability to pack into the game that like it just it's the difference between just like, oh, this is a good theme. Let's make it because people will like it. And this is a theme that I want to make. And I have a million good ideas, even if the shittiest theme for everybody else. If it's the best theme for me and I'm going to bring the passion to it, it'll make a better game. And luckily, there's easily going to be, you know, a thousand people or 888 or I don't know how many people, how many games they're making. You're right, 888. Yeah, I heard 888. I'm like, how is it not 666? But maybe that's a little too few. Yeah. that it's just one of those things where it's like, yeah, they're not going to have any problems selling all these games. I guess they sold 500 on the first day. Yeah. But let's be honest. They're also, you know, $9,900 a piece now, you know, and that's a pretty chunk of change. But it is a stacked game with just the passion, and you can feel the passion and the love that's going into it. And for a lot of people, like, it's not my theme. Like, I loved Army of Darkness because that came out when I was a teenager and I saw it. But I really wasn't familiar with Evil Dead until later on. My buddy smartened me up that Army of Darkness, you know, I was like, oh, yeah, I love Army of Darkness. He's like, oh, how do you like Evil Dead? And I'm like, oh, never really watched it. He's like, don't you know Army of Darkness is the sequel to the Evil Dead? And I was all like, no.
    29:32
    So I went back and watched Evil Dead 2, which is – Evil Dead 2 is really a remake of Evil Dead 1, but they have slightly different qualities. They're five, six years apart. But you have Ash, and that dude is just the must-have. And even if you're not familiar with Ash, if you are familiar with Duke Nukem, all of Duke Nukem's attitude and lines got stolen from Ash. That's right.
    29:59
    That's totally true. The old king, baby. Yeah. There's so many places I applaud Spook, especially on this one. Like you said, Dan, it's been a dream thing they've been wanting to do for like 10 years. And at first they couldn't get it because they couldn't get Bruce Campbell, right? I remember this from like podcasts back in the days. Yeah. I think that it was like, yeah, Ben Heck had a game he wanted to do, which I think the assumption was always that it was Evil Dead. They couldn't get the rights, and so they decided to do Alice Cooper instead. And so, I mean, I'm not going to say he left in a huff, but he just sort of said, hey, if you're not going to make my game, I'm going to move on and work on other stuff. Right, right. And he went on to do his own thing. You know, they never weren't friends. He never was like, hey, F you guys, I'm out. But he was just like, yeah, if we're not going to make my stuff, I'm not going to just hang around. Right. So it's, you know, and it's good that they brought him back in and that he wanted to be brought back in. And it's good that, you know, now they're making this theme that, you know, is definitely really near and dear to all of their hearts. You know, probably ended up being a better thing that it took this long because now they're in a position where they have the experience and the talent and everything in place. Charlie's not designing it. And yeah, right. well yeah you know Charlie's not designing it is a good thing but you know it's like everywhere I'm looking you know like you said the videos that came out great the presentation was great the release and then you look at the schedule was great I like how they had the schedule so you're like oh I know when I'm going to see the topper oh I know when I'm going to see the featurette that was smart they had that all planned exactly another place I applaud them Like I said, they get gold star, a triple plus for like just seeming to do everything the right way is there's no LE. There's no special platinum. There's no blood sucker. There's no, you know, candy apple bullshit. It's here's our game. You like it. Awesome. Here's how much it costs. We're making this many of them. We realize, yeah, this team isn't for everybody. It's not exactly the most family friendly thing. But if you dig it, it's as much. So it's, it's, it's Dan said it's $9,900.
    32:27
    Yep. Actually, I think it's, isn't it? $9,999. $99.99. Right. Yeah. $99.99. Just under $10,000, but they can still say it's under $10,000. That's right. That's true. However, however, there are two accoutrements that don't come. Well, they come with the game, but you got to pay extra. And that's the topper. The topper is $1,400.
    32:50
    So that is extra. and you can get the butter cab. And I think that's, I believe, $1,500. They're a coated cabinet. Yeah. They're a coated cabinet. So if you want the butter cab and the topper out the door, you're looking at what a Stern LE costs.
    33:10
    If you don't want the butter cab or the topper, you can get it for what a premium costs. That topper is pretty cool, though, and especially at the price point. So, dude, that hopper is atrocious.
    33:24
    That thing looks amazing. It's it looks it looks giant and it's it's got sculpts and movement. And, you know, I don't know how, like, interactive it's going to be, but I'm assuming that it's going to tie right into what's going on in the game. Like this, like this, the staircase. I mean, I know she talks in the movie, but like, is she going to talk like is she going to throw other commentary out there like the Black Knight topper does? or like the Labyrinth. Oh, that's true. Yeah. Yeah, I wonder too. I wonder about that too. Yeah. No. In fact, it was, I think, Juan, we were going off about it in the group, and he's like, the topper has to be the lady under the stairs. Yes. And he nailed it like 100%. We're like, oh, shit, because we're talking, oh, it's going to be the chainsaw arm, or it's going to be, you know, this. It's going to be the Oldsmobile getting sucked up into the vortex, you know, just whatever weird evil daddy thing we can think of and he's like oh it's got to be the lady under the stairs and it was just like oh got it in one it's so cool and I love how the chain slips through her hand the detail it's so creepy it's so perfect I mean it will definitely attract attention for people who first see that game that will be like what is that and it does it in a track mode too so you see it you know going up and down and stuff oh it's crazy man it's crazy yeah if you know the mythology or the source material. If you know it at all, you know the movies.
    34:54
    It's like, just from the little introduction video and then, of course, the longer making of video, look at that and go, they pretty much packed this machine to the gills with everything from the movies. A lot of stuff's real original, like, oh, I've never seen that before. We were talking off there the other day, Dan and I, over the weekend.
    35:19
    The swing, it's a cabman. Yeah. Like that was, I saw that on the, on the video and you know, the, the, the porch swing doing its thing, you know, that's like, like the first sign. That's iconic. Oh yeah. Something. Yeah. It's iconic. There's like something janky happening here. Like, why is that? Why is that porch swing just swinging itself? and I saw it and I was like oh that's a really great touch and then they showed that it was like a ball lock mechanism and I was like dude that's genius like how like who thought of that like that is inspired and it's so simple it fits perfectly with the theme and that's what is so cool about Spooky is they really understand how to make a theme work with the mechs and the artwork and everything that whole package. They always are good with that. They were good with Scooby-Doo. They're good with all their games. They all have great theming in them. This one I feel like is better. This one I feel like they had such passion for it that every little thing nothing is phoned in Nothing is phoned in Every little thing that they doing on this is like no phone And they have like 50 good ideas of what we could put in an evil dead game And they put every single one of them in there. Well, even stuff that you've seen before, like the two heads popping up, Allah medieval madness, the trolls. Yeah. I mean, it works. I mean, it's been used in other games, but. And it blocks the ramp. It blocks the ramp, which is so cool. That is going to really be wild. That's kind of no good gophers. Yeah, it's kind of no good gophers, and it fits the theme perfectly. But then the thing that just blew me away, well, the swing, but the shotgun shells where you hit the target. They could have just put a standard target with a sticker. Those are so cool. Or the double-barrel shooter rod. The double-barrel shooter rod, yeah. The only thing that they missed, honestly, that would have been cool theming. Maybe it would have been expensive. I'm sure somebody will do it is to make a, a shoot because it's a, it's a button shooter. Yeah. You have made a gun shooter handle. Yeah. I thought about that too. The pistol grip. Yeah. Like the end of the shotgun. Right. Oh yeah. Yeah. No, I was thinking about that too, but somebody will make a, somebody will make a sawed off shotgun, you know, shooter, shooter handle. Yeah. I mean, just, there's so much really great stuff. And then what's the girl's name? I can't think of her name. Did she, where she's what is it? I forgot what the name was. I don't know, man. I should know this. Honestly, it's been years since I've seen those movies. Baby, you got real ugly. That's an Army of Darkness. But apparently, because all the dialogue is custom, there is an Army of Darkness content, but there is some run over between the end of Evil Dead 2 and the beginning of Army of Darkness. But apparently, since he did record, I think that it was like somebody said, oh, man, any Army of Darkness content? And one of the spooky guys was just like, maybe some Army of Darkness dialogue. And I was like, oh, that would be so cool. Shop smart. S-smart. Shop smart. And some people were saying that it didn't sound like energetic. But I really think, and I said this in our text when I texted you guys, I think it's the mix. And I saw a lot of people saying that on Pinside. And they made that mix a little for the voiceover a lot louder than what it would when it would be with all the game and sound effects and the music and stuff. It's going to sound a lot better. Yeah. Because. Yeah. I think that they said that he they had him deliver lines several different ways. Yeah. So I'm sure that like, yeah, you know, you'll get some excitement when you're supposed to have excitement. Yeah. Tons of lines. I can't remember how many. Like 900 lines or something. Yeah, crazy. So. And, you know, they were all excited that they got to work with Bruce Campbell. And, you know, of course, Bruce Campbell's like one of the coolest dudes to ever live. So. Well, how does Spooky do it? They always get the original actors for the voiceovers. How do they do that? You know, all the other places, they don't get that as much unless, you know, you may have the bandmates like from Metallica do call outs and stuff like that. But as far as the actors go, they nail it. They always can get somebody. I guess they just like to work with them and they have good ties and relations with them. I don't know. I feel like they don't do a theme unless they can do it the way they want to do it. Yeah. Again, it's not just like, Oh, we have to do John wick because John wick is popular and we have the license. It's like, we're going to do John wick because we love it. And because we talk to the people and they love it and we can make a pinball machine with the level of engagement that we needed to have to be happy with it, not just, you know, a product that's going to be good enough. And this isn't trying to dig on John Wick. I think John Wick is a perfectly serviceable game that's got, you know, it's got a good actor. God, what's his name? Yeah, he's the one with the Continental. Yeah, the Continental guy, you know, doing the voices. Ian McShane, super good actor, super good voice work done in the game, you know, but it's like he doesn't have Keanu. It's like I was saying the other day about Guns N' Roses. Like, I love my JJP Guns and Roses, and I love the fact that all the band members did dialogue. But it's like, would it have killed you to have gotten one or two custom lines from Axl? I know. Like, come on, guys. You know, the fact that James Hetfield is all over both of his games, and he couldn't get Axl to do even one call. Yeah, that's the best thing. Kudos to the guys in Metallica, because they were, from what I understand, even this time around, you know, they brought James in and the rest of the guys were like, we want to do new lines. And I'm like, okay. So they brought them in. Well, they were in because they saw rush on location and they were like, Ooh, we want to do that. Yeah. Our game looked like that. And then they contacted John Borg and here we go. We got a Metallica remaster because of that. It still kills me that they didn't just with all that work, do a new play field and make a new Metallica game. Yeah. But it's so good though. People would have been just as excited. yeah more excited than just saying well we just made metallica again but with more better stuff yeah are they saying they really couldn't have come up with a better play field i don't know man but it's pretty iconic you know it is iconic yeah it's really a straightforward play field though so i can i own a metallica so i'm not trying to dig on it like i think metallica is a great game and i own it for a reason but i'm just like why would you like oh we're just going to make it again rather than like we're going to make a new play field and make Metallica 2 this is kind of like Men in Black like crap I got to buy the White Album again it's like I got to buy a new Metallica so we can do the new Metallica Tiltallica is somebody working on that by the way I don't know that would be interesting I mean with Greg with his system he would be able to do it on the new Metallica's no problem because of the Spike 2 interface so it would be fine. Right now, we have so many World Cup soccers and Indy 500s down here. We've got to figure out how to make two of those be versus game. That would be awesome. How great would it be to make versus Indy 500? That would be pretty cool. Like going up a ramp or something like that? That would be awesome. There has to be a way. Just get into the turbo Bobby.
    43:01
    Yeah. Has to be a way to make that game into a versus game. or like I said World Cup Soccer would be just genius for it it would be just as good as fast break World Cup Soccer would be awesome you get in the goal and then it tilts out oh that would be fun well not even in a totalical way but just in a like yeah in a versus sort of way like it'd be so cool like someone's got you know I just head to head pinball has so many possibilities that it you know it really needs like it's great that you know it's great that the pinball Olympics thing came up with it and that we sort of aped it and then your buddy came up with an even better system, but it's just like somebody's got to come up with true head-to-head score-based gameplay. It could probably be done with P-Rock or Fast or something like that. Right, right. It could be. Yep, exactly. That'd be awesome, but yeah, back to the mission at hand. Yeah, back to Fugi. Maybe there should be a head-to-head mode in two Evil Dead machines. Yeah, there you go. Ash versus the Deadites. Ooh, yeah, it's nice. So just, you know, I mean, like I said, we just, you know, got to give a kudos to, you know, I mean, just theme integration, getting the assets, the amount of, you know, because everybody's paying. I mean, it's been like a common theme. It's always like, hey, man, there's no toys or mechanical stuff. Not enough in pinball these days. Right. And this thing is just loaded to the gills. It's got a lot. We're not even talking about the hand going back and forth. We haven't even got to the hand yet. step motor. How cool is that? Double barrel shooter. And a double barrel shooter to have two balls shooting at the same time. The light show of that. So it looks like the muzzle blast when the balls launch. The way they got the lighting set up. Go back and watch the video when you get a free minute. They made it look just like a muzzle blast coming out of a shotgun. So cool. Yeah, it looks great. No, there's just so much. You're like, holy crap. So you look at it, you know, when people talk about world under glass. I mean, this is a world it may not be a world that you like it's really funny it's like when i heard you know they're doing you know can you hear the residual deaths like yeah that'd be cool man because we all like evil dead and i think most people actually go kind of army of darkness but all of them are cool they're fun they're kitsch you know good good fun horror films a little bit of scary a little bit of humor um but after seeing that i got really excited like excited like back when Black Knight Sword of Rage came out. Like, man, this is really exciting because they really put, you know, you look at that and go, damn, there's so much in this game. You know, and they really. Right. Yeah, they just caught the essence of the theme in every aspect. And, you know, they didn't miss a beat. Like, they've done everything right. My hope now is that when the games do hit people's homes and if they end up finding it on location, that they're robust enough where those things, you know, last and work and they don't have any issues. Yeah, that's what we hope for. I know the other thing I wanted to mention, since we're still talking a little bit about the play field and the toys and the mechs, is it really is a great game because you have your distance shots and you have your close shots. So it really utilizes all the play field. So you got your – I mean, that's so cool with that hidden flipper, you know, on the sling, the sling flipper. Yes, thank you for mentioning that. What a great idea. Oh, the sling flipper, yeah. What a great thing. What a great idea. And the way that they started talking about it, they're just like, it's a sling flipper. I'm going to put a sling and a flipper under a sling. It's going to be a sling flipper. And it's just like – they're so proud of it, and it's just like it is pretty awesome. I like the fact that they're also super proud of the fact that they have pop bumpers in the usual spot for the first time. They're like, guys, there's a spooky game with three pop bumpers. Where do you think they're supposed to be? Yeah, exactly. That was funny. Yeah. But that looks fun, though. I mean, shoot. And tons of drop targets to hit. How cool is that? It looks really good. I mean, I bet it's going to be a lot of fun to play. And I think it has some good flow to it. But it definitely has that wow factor. Like I'm playing a nineties game all over again. That's what it makes me feel like. You know, it's even kind of beyond, I mean, don't get me wrong. You know, I love nineties games and nineties games had a lot going on, but yeah, it's even beyond like what they were doing. Like it takes the nineties game to like another place. Yeah. Like a super nineties game. And it kind of like, I think you, if you kind of go back in time a year when they showed labyrinth.
    47:44
    Right. And I've gotten to spend a lot of time over the last weekend with Labyrinth. A buddy of mine picked one up, and so I got to spend some time on it. And, you know, putting it into contrast with what they're doing with Evil Dead, it's just like if you look at what they accomplished with these games is they took kind of niche themes that, you know, were going to be popular enough or at least that they loved. And they really built the hell out of them. They really integrated them into the game and they put all the little doodads and mechanical pop ups and sculpts and everything to really to really bring you into that world. And I think that that's what these boutique companies are doing so much better, even than, you know, your Jersey Jack. And don't get me wrong. I feel like Jersey Jack makes spectacular games. Yeah, they do. But I think that Pirates scared them a little bit because I think Pirates was a little too complicated and they had to dial back their aspirations and take things out. And, you know, I think it kind of scared them. And, you know, they're like, it's too hard to build, so we need to make games a little bit more straightforward. And I'm not trying to take anything away from JJP. You know, Elton John is spectacular.
    49:00
    You know, I love Guns N' Roses. Avatar, I've gotten to play Avatar a bit and it looks great. That's a great game, too. Yeah, it doesn't have that super degree of, like, the mechanical integration that you're seeing from, like, you know, the boutique guys, you know, Barrels of Fun and Spooky. And I would love to say American, but, man, they're just trying to kill themselves.
    49:25
    Although those grills do look like barbecues. They do. Pop-Umpers do look like barbecue grills. So, you know, they're just really, really good at, like, building the world that they try to build. Right. And I think that the bigger pinball companies, you know, they're probably still a little bit more worried about building them and reliability and the building materials and, you know, making making their investment back. So I love to see these guys who are just madmen doing it for the passion of of doing it. Who knows if anybody will like Evil Dead, but we're going to make the most badass Evil Dead game that we can make. And, you know, we'll find the people who want, you know, a grueling pinball horror experience. Right. You know, because they're out there. You know, you know, there's a cross section, you know, we'll find the people, you know, barrels of funds like we'll find the people who want, you know, a journey under glass, you know, a Jim Henson mythical, magical pinball experience with David Bowie music. You know, where's the cross section? It's there. They're going to sell their thousand of those. They will. you know, I think they already did. I think they're still working on them. Okay. I think that they will, you know, they were in the eight hundreds of the nine hundreds. Yeah. Uh, you know, the last 100 to go real fast, you know, because everyone's like, Oh, I'm about to miss out. So, yeah, it just, it blows me away that these boutique guys are the ones who are really bringing the world under glass that, you know, a lot of the, uh, a lot of the pinball affectionados say that they want, Let's just, you know, hope that they're willing to bring out, you know, enough that people can get them and that they don't immediately become unobtainium, you know, scalper bait. You know, and going back to what Spencer said, I watched a video from Don from Don's pinball podcast where he went to tour the spooky factory. And it sure looked like that their huge priority was to do quality control and quality testing. So I feel confident that they really understand that people were concerned with the Looney Tunes issues and the board sets that got messed up when you did an update and all those things. They have a new board set now. I forgot what the name of the system is. You might know, Dan. They're like 15th new board set in 10 games. Yeah, supposedly this one is really good, so we'll see. But I'm hoping that those mechs have been tested thoroughly and that they are – I mean, you're not going to obviously have a pinball machine that's not going to have any issues, but hopefully out of the gate, those will work pretty well until regular maintenance ensues. But it sounds like they got real robust motor systems from what I read on the comments. I did not watch the Q&A. I wanted to watch that with Bug, but I didn't get to see that. But I think they're doing a great job. I mean, they really are passionate about what they do. They have outstanding customer service. I know for a fact because my friend who got a Looney Tunes, he had some issues with it, and they were immediate. They sent out a new board, everything. I mean, just totally caring for the customer. And what's great is they've gotten bigger, for sure. I mean, heck, they got a new factory and a new facility and everything.
    52:47
    But they still have that one-to-one customer service that a lot of big companies lack. and I really can say that they're up you know they're up there with the not just the boutique companies but they're definitely up there not maybe not stern level but they have been producing many games and have a lot of titles now so hats off to Spooky and they're great and they're great because they're from my Wisconsin you know from my home. Your hometown boys make good. My hometown boys make good. You know and I think that a lot of people that you talk to a lot of our friends you know who i've talked to you know when the evil dead thing was announced before they showed it off and blew everyone away a lot of them were like i want it but it's spooky yeah yeah and you know i hate to be like this because i know a lot of pinball people don't have as much patience as like i might have but it's like pinball is not turnkey you guys have to be ready for the fact that if you want big, fancy mechanical machines, things are going to go wrong. They're going to require maintenance. You know, you have to be ready for the fact that these things are not, you know, are not going to just work right forever. But I mean, I get it. You know, people have bought games and had the games not work and had the games be big problems and, you know, they get frustrated and they move on from them. But, you know, I just, to me, it's like, if it's, if it's the title that you love, you're going to be willing to put up with its eccentricities. You know, Evil Dead looks like a big, complicated pinball machine because it is. Right. And yeah, there will be things to go wrong. And it's probably not going to be a well-suited game for, you know, you're not going to put that thing in the laundromat and forget about it for six months like you could a taxi or like you could a diner But you know for for you know modern arcades where you know especially pinball arcades where you know the owners are on top of maintenance and for private collections you know, most spooky games, you know, they seem to get it done. You know, everyone I know who's owned a spooky has had some kind of problem with it. Everyone I know who's owned, you know, an AP, you know, a lot of people have had some kind of problem with them, even though some of our problems are more of our own making.
    55:16
    You know, everyone I know who has owned a Stern or a JJP or anything has had some kind of problems with it. You know, like pinball machines are not bulletproof.
    55:29
    Oh, yeah, don't get yourself, don't get your panties in a bunch because it's a spooky and, oh, you know, spookies have been bad in the past. I mean, yes, they have been, but these guys have learned so much and they're not making their games worse. Every one of their games has been better than the last. Absolutely. If you look back at their first game, what, 11, 12 years ago? America's Most Haunted? AMH, America's Most Haunted. And then Heck Creation. Which I have to admit is a fun game to play. I don't hate it.
    56:07
    But if you look at the progression, up until now. But it looks like a homebrew. compared to what it is now. That's what it was. It was a game built in a garage in Wisconsin. Yep. That's right. As soon as you said Wisconsin, Mark, all I could think of was Elvira from Scared Still. She said, oh, yeah, you betcha. Oh, yeah, exactly. You betcha don't know. Oh, yeah.
    56:34
    Yeah, so, you know, they... I don't know if we sound like we're from Wisconsin or we sound like we're Swedish. Yeah, right. it's close to that you'd be surprised if you listen to fargo that's a little over the top but it is subtle you'll hear a lot of people where i live now because a lot of people from north dakota and a lot of you know uh wisconsin people right uh here so you'll hear oh you'll betcha you know oh don't you know yeah i gotta get my bag gotta get my bag yeah You get a lot of that. A lot of Northeastern folks here. In fact, my next-door neighbor is from Rhode Island originally.
    57:14
    Anyway, but yeah, getting back to Spooky, their progression with each game, they get a little better. They get a little better at manufacturing. They get a little better at quality control. They're human. They make mistakes. It's like, oh, shit, that didn't work the way we wanted it to. But you know what? Stern is a powerhouse, and God bless them. Okay, they're having that issue now with the auto plunger. And they're like, okay, but we got to fix for it, you know. Right. Because we're doing it. And I've talked to people about that. And it's like, you know, yeah, I've talked to people about that before with pinball. It's like having classic cars, you know. They're not mechanically, the technology, it's much better today. You know, cars manufactured today, they're better cars. They run cooler and faster and safer on less fuel, and they're more efficient and they're more reliable.
    58:11
    But, you know, it's like there's just something fun and magical about pinball, but knowing that, you know, it's like you're going to have to, like Dan said, you're going to have to get your hands dirty, you know. It's a pinball machine. And the basic of what makes a pinball, flippers, pop plumper, slingshots, you know, those haven't really – I mean, they've gotten stronger like that. But really, the mechanics really haven't changed drastically in 75 years. Right. Oh, no, that's – I mean, we could talk for a half hour about how you're still wrong about that. But there's one part that we – yeah, you wanted to talk about that we haven't got to yet, Dan. Well, I was just saying the big thing about like, you know, the pinball technology is, you know, in the last 10 years, we've gone through a radical advance in pinball technology. You know, because you've gone from, you know, your matrix-based systems to your node-based systems. And, you know, they're making the game smarter and more efficient all the time. And while on the surface you look at a flipper and you go like, oh, yeah, you know, a flipper is a flipper. um i mean no that's not true you know you've gone from having these these you know you got from having these basically direct direct power systems to having these fliptronic systems or their computer controlled and and you know now the way that the systems work now it's it's about just probably should set it all this out but honestly it's like when it comes to it like these games are are more complicated than they ever were in in the pursuit of efficiency right Right. Where with a classic machine, you know, you sort of go like, well, you know, there's not that much to break.
    60:00
    With the modern machines, it's like, well, if something goes wrong, it's a bigger problem. But at the same time, you know, it shouldn't go wrong. Right. You know, you're not going to be blowing, you know, flipper diodes left and right or transistors like you are on a WPC or on a SAM, you know. Right. But with the Node, when you blow something, you end up frying, you know, a $400 board that you have to replace. Right. That's so true. You don't need to replace it. You just plug it in. Yeah. Yeah, that's exactly it. You know, the idea is it's, you know, plug and play. But, no, Mark brought up a good point that we almost were going to move on without talking about the art. That's right. Which is killer art, pun intended. It's awesome. Good one. Yeah, killer. Spooky has done the smartest thing that they can do and they've tied up Chris Franchi for the foreseeable future how cool is that? and the artwork is amazing oh he did so good on that so well I mean it's just beautiful artwork yeah I have you know Galactic Tank Force I've talked about it before I think that like Franchi outdid himself on that game like I think it's spectacular I think a lot of people will talk about monsters and guardians of the galaxy and Beatles as some of the best looking, uh, stern machines. You know, you have that zombie Yeti, the cartoon, you know, contingent. Um, you know, you've seen a lot of, of franchise custom art. This has got to be as cats meow of an R package. I agree. Absolutely. I bet he had a good time doing that too. Well, apparently he had worked with the, the creators, the, the Rameys, the evil dead people before. Oh, okay. And so, and he was a fan. He, again, another, another guy who's a fan of the series. So yeah, he just brought all the heat, you know, he knows, he knows how it's supposed to look, but he also has such a good grasp of what looks good on a pinball machine. Yeah. That he knows how to make things pop just enough, but at the same time, they're not going to look like gaudy, over-colored explosions. And so detailed, like the specs on the chainsaw, how it matches the movie. Those kind of details he has on there. And I think what's funny, when we talk about Max, oh, I wish we had a chainsaw on it. But Franchi took care of that with the artwork. And why would you have a chainsaw in the game when it was already in TCM, right? Texas Chainsaw Massacre, so wouldn't that be overkill a little bit to put a chainsaw in there? No, there should be a chainsaw in Scooby-Doo. There should be a chainsaw in Movie Clues. They should actually go and make a chainsaw mod you could put in Hot Wheels.
    63:00
    Every game needs a chainsaw, man. Yeah, exactly. It's not necessary, but the play field's great. I can't wait to see that in person. It's going to be an incredible piece of art. Yeah, because it would look better in person. yeah oh yeah well even on the pictures it looks good and then on the video but yeah when you see it in person whoa it's gonna be it's gonna be really cool really really awesome to see uh with all the detail and the color and and he still has it colorful but he still has that dark motif to make it look horror and that's not easy to do but he's right you know using just browns and blacks it would be boring for a pinball machine so he brought in some of the blues and purple to really bring that. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I just think the new Metallica looks like a muddy mess, but you know, I'm also biased because I have an old Metallica. Well, you know what? You say that, Dan, and that's probably what it would have looked like if you would have used those colors for Franchi. So having that colorful play field. I've been a big fan of Franchi for a long time, and he makes games that look realistic, which I think a lot of people want, but they don't look photoshopped. Right. and honestly, at the end of the day, his art looks better than the real thing. Yep. Yeah. No, he really finds a good balance, you know.
    64:25
    Yeah. Well, we talked about with, you know, the team Spooky, passion means a lot. You know, you can go in and go, okay, this is my job, this is what I get to do, and you get it done, you know.
    64:37
    But if you're really passionate, it shows. You know, it shows in the final product. These guys, this was a total passion project, and I'm glad they finally got to do it.
    64:49
    Me too. And what a better title to have for spooky pinball than have Evil Dead. How cool is that? Yeah, it is. Well, again, they've been wanting to do this for at least a decade, so they finally got to do it. And, I mean, we're all excited to play it because it looks awesome. But, yeah, it's what everybody talks about wanting, a world under glass, the total package, art, play field layout, toys, gizmos, gimmicks, rule set, voice call outs. Yep. Everything. Yeah. I mean, the total package. Is that a light show? You know, looks like it looks. A light show would be killer on it, too. Like you said, the muzzle blast? Come on. That would be cool. Yeah, it looks really cool. Yeah. But so does anybody else have anything they want to add or talk about? Or are we ready to do some shout outs and thank yous and good nights? If somebody wants to buy me one, I will happily accept it.
    65:49
    It's not a project. They may be raffling one off soon. They had a poll today. What game do you want raffled off? And it was it was that.
    66:01
    Avatar. and two or three other games. I don't even remember now. But, of course, I voted for Evil Dead. The King, baby.
    66:17
    Actually, that's way more Duke Nukem. Yeah, I was going to say, you sounded perfectly like Duke Nukem down just now. That was cool. It's a combination of my voice just being ravaged by my sinuses and talking right into my microphone. There you go. All right, so I guess we'll just go ahead and go with shout-outs and thank yous for the evening.
    66:41
    I want to wish everybody a happy Thanksgiving. Be safe and eat lots and nap. Of course, to you guys, man, for always showing up to the party and bringing chips and dip and like that. I want to give a special shout-out to our good friend of the show, Alex.
    67:02
    who just had a birthday recently. Oh, that's right. Yeah. 31 years old. 31. He's a young one still. He's a young one. And if I don't talk to you beforehand, happy birthday to you, Dan. Yeah. Happy birthday, Dan. If two days go by where I don't talk to you, Spencer, I'm going to think that you died. Yeah, I know. It's like, what are we doing here?
    67:26
    Mark actually called me about, what, about a month ago, Mark? And we talked for a bit, but then I had to go back to work. So I was like, dude, I don't want to cut you short, but I got to go back to work. I know. I had to go back to – I heard go to class and make it to school on time. It was nice, man, because we just got to – we got like 20, 30 minutes just to chat. I never have to go anywhere. I'm always driving in a car. That's me most of the time, man. It's just like, I'm driving in a car. So that's it, man. And I wish everybody well and shout out and thank you to all our wonderful listeners and to all the wonderful people that manufacture and distribute and put on location pinball machines for us to play.
    68:08
    So, Mark, what you got? Well, I want to give thanks because it is Thanksgiving. It is. I want to give thanks, like you said, Spencer, to all the people who have location pinball, who work tirelessly, all getting those machines to work at top notch for us to enjoy and have fun. I want to thank all the people who listen to our show and give us kudos for listening to all the stuff that we talk about and getting involved and writing emails and all those other things. I want to give thanks to all of you for being a part of this show. I mean, how many years has this been now? Is it five years? No. I've lost track now, so I don't know where we're at. We'll start year eight in March. Year eight with me on board? Oh, with you on board? I think we've been doing like five, yeah. Five years, yeah.
    69:00
    It's been very enjoyable to do this with you guys. I want to give thanks to all the private collectors who have the money to be able to get those games and invite us over to enjoy their pleasure that they get from whatever they acquire and having that opportunity to play those new games that some of us can never afford. It's always wonderful to have you guys share it with us and share that joy among all those different games that you have available.
    69:33
    And thanks to my wife and my kids. It's really cool. My son is here. He's visiting for a week. Nice. So it's really nice to have him here and support me with all the things that I'm doing with this crazy hobby that we all love. Is he beating all your high scores?
    69:51
    No, he's not playing any pinball, unfortunately. I'm hoping he will go to the tournament tomorrow. I'm really hoping he does. But it's really hard to get him to go because he gets a little intimidated from the good players. And it's like, don't worry about it. Just have fun and shoot the ball. Just tell me about those hyperkinetic scoff reflexes, man. Yeah, exactly. He's young. He's got sharp eyes. He's a good pinball player. Quick fingers, and next thing you know, you let him think he's good, he'll start kicking your ass. Yeah, he just gets frustrated so fast when the ball drains. He's like, well, I'll just shoot another one. Put it out there again. Yep.
    70:30
    That's it. What you got, Dan? I hate going after Mark because I always sound so trite. Mark's so good at this. Maybe we'll change the order next time. No, it's fine. You know, as always, a big thanks to, you know, all the pinheads out there to you guys for, you know, making this fun to the CCPL crew, all the hosts, all the all the organizers for bringing us some competition pinball to Jim and all the crew up there in Reno for for making it happen. And and, you know, to the wife for tolerating this and to the family, you know, for for being there and, you know, happy Thanksgiving to everybody. Make sure to take some time to think about the stuff that you're thankful for and.
    71:17
    Play some pinball over the break. Yeah. And one thing I wanted to add that I forgot. Thank you to all the designers out there from all the different companies to use your imagination to put something together that we all can enjoy. Thank you for doing your job. Yep. What a cool job. Yeah, like Steve Ritchie said, when he was a kid, the other kids would say he's going to grow up to be a mad scientist in a toy factory, and he did.
    71:44
    So, all right, well, this has been Episode 69 of the Spinner's Lip Pinball Podcast. You can listen to us wherever fine podcasts are sold. Our flagship home is SoundCloud.com and on iTunes. and you can reach out to us via our email at thespinnerislit at gmail.com. Excuse me. And you can also hit us up on our Facebook page, spinnerislitfacebook backslash something. I don't know. That's Dan's world. You can just look up thespinnerislit. Yeah, just look up spinnerislit. You'll find us wherever fine podcasts are sold. So, again, episode 69.
    72:26
    I just love saying that. nice November 2024 episode play pinball keep America strong you