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Backglass Tier List

Bug's Scream and Stream·video·40m 9s·analyzed·Jan 27, 2024
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.031

TL;DR

Bug ranks classic pinball backglasses using tattoo, hotness, story, and bootleg criteria.

Summary

Bug from Bug's Scream and Stream hosts a backglass tier list ranking vintage pinball artwork using four criteria: tattoo-worthiness, featuring attractive people, storytelling quality, and bootleg t-shirt potential. The stream covers approximately 15 classic games including Gorgar, Catacomb, Future Spa, Street Fighter, Genesis, Haunted House, Phantom of the Opera, Close Encounters, Raven, Alien Poker, and Shane Black Pyramid, with Bug assigning letter grades and discussing design elements, production numbers, and artist attribution.

Key Claims

  • Gorgar is one of the greatest backglasses of all time and hits all four ranking criteria

    high confidence · Bug's personal opinion stated at the beginning of the ranking

  • Future Spa sold 6,400 units in 1979

    high confidence · Bug references Pinside data showing 6,400 units produced

  • Paul Ferris did the artwork for both Future Spa and Phantom of the Opera

    high confidence · Bug discovers and confirms Paul Ferris as the artist for both games

  • Greg Ferris drew the Spooky Pinball logo on a napkin at MGC and was never properly compensated

    medium confidence · Bug recounts the story from his personal knowledge, acknowledges he should verify details with his father

  • Genesis (by Jersey Jack Pinball) sold 3,500 units and is a fun game despite lacking traditional A-plus theming

    high confidence · Bug cites Pinside production numbers and personal gameplay experience

  • Phantom of the Opera sold the least units despite having arguably the best artwork seen in the tier list

    medium confidence · Bug's observation during ranking that high-quality art doesn't guarantee sales success

  • Alien Poker sold 6,000 units compared to Pyramid's 2,500 units, despite Pyramid having superior artwork

    high confidence · Bug references Pinside production data and expresses frustration with the sales disparity

  • Street Fighter backglass has Blanca colored blue instead of green due to printer issues

    low confidence · Bug speculates humorously that green ink ran out, but this is unconfirmed speculation

  • Jesse Bonesack (Spooky Pinball employee) has a Spooky Pinball ghost logo tattoo on his calf

    high confidence · Bug's personal knowledge as owner/co-creator of Spooky Pinball

Notable Quotes

  • “Would I get a tattoo of something off of this back glass? Would I get it? Is there a character on it? Is there an item on it? The scene in general? The whole thing? Would I get a tattoo from this back glass? That is the first and most important criteria of a back glass.”

    Bug@ 2:04 — Establishes the primary ranking criterion and sets the tone for the entire analysis

  • “I will take a 10-part miniseries through Audible on what is happening in the world of Gorgar here.”

    Bug@ 4:50 — Demonstrates Bug's enthusiasm for the game's storytelling and worldbuilding

  • “Screw A-plus themes. This is what sells 3,500 units in 2024. This is what does it.”

    Bug@ 17:38 — Critical observation about market success being independent of high-budget IP licensing

  • “I will never ever forgive him for selling it. And he had a haunted house forever.”

    Bug@ 19:18 — Reveals personal emotional connection to the game from childhood

  • “Nothing makes sense in pinball sometimes.”

    Bug@ 29:20 — Expresses frustration with market unpredictability and disconnect between artwork quality and commercial success

  • “They probably had a dogs playing poker thing up there and they're like, you know, it'd be fucking awesome. Aliens playing poker. We're going to get so stinking rich guys.”

    Bug@ 29:49 — Humorously illustrates how simple creative ideas could lead to massive sales in vintage pinball era

Entities

BugpersonPaul FerrispersonGreg FerrispersonJeremy PackerpersonChristopher FranchipersonJesse BonesackpersonSpooky Pinballcompany

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: Bug actively solicits backglass recommendations from chat and Facebook community, incorporating viewer suggestions into the tier list

    high · Multiple instances of taking recommendations from Danny Peck, Jake Danzig, Nudge Magazine, and chat participants

  • ?

    event_signal: Backglass tier list stream brings together community members (Nudge Magazine, Danny Peck, Jake Danzig, chat participants) for collaborative artwork evaluation

    high · Multiple community submissions, real-time chat interaction, and social media recommendations drive content selection

  • ?

    community_signal: Spooky Pinball logo generates significant fan enthusiasm; multiple employees and fans have tattoos of the ghost logo

    high · Bug mentions Jesse Bonesack has calf tattoo of Spooky ghost logo and has observed 'probably three or four' fan tattoos including at least two fan club logo variations

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Street Fighter backglass suffers from color accuracy issues (Blanca depicted in blue rather than canonical green) affecting visual coherence and character recognition

    high · Bug explicitly critiques color choice and speculates about printer limitations as explanation for deviation from source material

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Bug and community establish clear aesthetic evaluation criteria (tattoo-worthiness, attractiveness, storytelling, bootleg potential) distinct from traditional art criticism

    high · Explicitly stated four-point criteria system drives entire ranking methodology

Topics

Backglass artwork evaluation and aestheticsprimaryVintage pinball game history and production numbersprimaryArtist attribution and pinball art history (Paul Ferris, Greg Ferris)primaryMarket disconnect between artwork quality and commercial successprimaryLicensed IP vs. original concept in pinball game designsecondarySpooky Pinball company culture and employee experiencessecondaryModern vs. vintage game creation processes and licensing complexitysecondaryCommunity engagement and audience participation in streamingmentioned

Sentiment

positive(0.78)— Bug maintains an enthusiastic, celebratory tone throughout most of the stream, expressing genuine appreciation for vintage artwork and design. Frustration emerges when discussing market discrepancies (high-quality artwork not translating to sales) and regret about his father selling the Haunted House. Overall sentiment is affectionate toward classic pinball design with humorous self-deprecation about Photoshop skills.

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.120

We have something pretty unique tonight. We have pinball zombies. Wait, no. Without further ado, let's have some fun. Let's rank some backglasses. Like I said, gonna just be giving this a shot here. So, we're gonna be doing a good old-fashioned tier list. You know what I gotta do real quick? I gotta make myself nice and small in the corner. Whoa, look at me. Alright. We're gonna be doing a tier list tonight. So we're going to be finding old, cool, weird back glasses. I've already got a list of some here. I've already got some downloaded that I want to talk about. And I, of course, want your guys' input, like your favorites, the weirdest ones, what you think is the absolute best, somewhere in between, because we have all these categories to fill here. So we're going to get right into that. So, of course, though, now art is subjective. That's the beautiful thing about art. What I like, you might not like. And what you like, I might not like. I might not. I'm British tonight. I might not like. So art is, of course, subjective, but if there is a criteria to follow, we will follow it. And boy, do I have a criteria to follow. So we will be ranking this artwork off of four things, four special things. And if first off, if you think one of those things is going to be their artistic capability, you are dead wrong because that is so not what this is about. we have a criteria of four things that will make this art special. And of course, we are doing old games. We aren't going to do any like modern pins. We're not going to really do any licensed games for the most part, really. Like we're not going to do 2010 Transformers or whatever. We're not going to do anything like that. Our criteria for our back glasses tonight is number one. The first thing that is so important for a back glass is, would I get a tattoo of something off of this back glass? Would I get it? Is there a character on it? Is there an item on it? The scene in general? The whole thing? Would I get a tattoo from this back glass? That is the first and most important criteria of a back glass. Number two, being as this is old school pinball, are there hot people? Does this back glass feature some hot people on it? Because old school pinball was all about putting the hot people on their machines. Men, women, doesn't matter. They put all of the most beautiful creatures on the planet on these machines. So that is criteria number two. Number three, this one's actually really important. The story. So does this backglass, does it tell me a bit of what's going on on the story without giving me too much? Like, does it set up the scene? Do I have an idea of what's going on in this world? And does that world draw me in? Do I want to know more? So a good example is like Swords of Fury. If you've played Swords of Fury, you want to know more about that Swords of Fury story. You want to know what the heck is Lion Man and what's going on in this world. And then number four is actually spooky squirrels criteria. Would you sell bootleg t-shirts of this back glass? Is this back glass so good that you would sell a bootleg t-shirt? You would risk getting sued by whatever manufacturer have it. Would you risk getting sued to sell this back glass on a t-shirt? And that is the four criteria. So tattoos, hot people, the story and would you bootleg it and I'm going to start us off with what I think is hands down the oh I lost my focus no it didn't what I think is hands down the best back glass of all time Gorgar actually let's look at this outside of here yeah let's do it this way forgive me as we learn some stuff tonight Gorgar I think Gorgar is probably one of the greatest back glasses of all time to me because it hits all the criteria. When I say, I'm not even joking when I say it, when I say I'm going to get a Gorgar tattoo, I'm going to. I'm getting Gorgar on me somewhere. I think Gorgar is that cool looking. I think he's that iconic. Does it have hot people? Of course. Look at this. We have this hunky freaking dude telling a story, saving this lovely lady here. So it's got the hot people. The story, let's look at it. So we can tell that Gorgar has clearly captured this young lady here, and this guy is going in to save her, and there's giant snakes in this environment. It's clearly this giant catacomb labyrinth type system of dead skulls everywhere, so we know Gorgar's killed a lot of people with this giant serpent. He's running from the serpent over here. There's so much story being told in the artwork here, and it draws me in. I want to know the full story of Gorgar here. Like, I will take a 10-part miniseries through Audible on what is happening in the world of Gorgar. And if one of you writes it and records it, I will publish it on the Screamin' Stream. Sure, why not? Yeah, yeah, why not? Yeah, we'll do that. All right, so the story, absolutely amazing. And would I sell a bootleg t-shirt of it? I think a bootleg t-shirt of Gorgar's face would be a pretty hot selling item. I think Nudge Magazine should sell it in like their art style, slap Gorgar on there. I bet they would sell a million of them. So Gorgar, in my opinion, absolutely, positively S tier artwork. You'll have to forgive, I'm still learning Photoshop. You'll have to forgive me a bit. So yeah, Gorgar on the S tier, starting us off strong. First person to toss something in the chat. What should we look at? Something old. Hit me with it. Throw it in there. Very first person. Catacomb? Well, that's an easy, that's an, that's like an easy A, right? Oh, hey, there's Twitch. Um, let's see. Catacomb pinball back glass. Yeah. Uh, so yeah, my dad actually has a catacomb. Absolutely astounding machine. Uh, interactive back glass. Does that get extra points? I should, I should have included that in the tier. The, the, uh, the criteria for a back glass is, uh, if it is, uh, interactive if it's interactive bonus points no catacomb absolutely classic it's blurred because it's just it just rides the line of being too inappropriate so they safe searched it that's really funny actually uh let's look at it on pin side let's see catacomb all right stern electron average rating seven from 1981 who was here when catacomb came out in the chat. Was anybody here? Like, do you guys... I just... What was pinball like back then? Like, how did you find out about new games? Did they just show up on location and you were like, oh, there's a new game now? Or, like... Like, where did you hear about it? Magazines? Were there magazines that, like, announced new games? I gotta hear about it. Tell me in the chat. Tell me in the chat. Uh, it doesn't look like I have as many photos on here. I got some cool flyers, though. Yeah, that's pretty cool. We did flyers on TCM and Looney Tunes. I know a lot of people were requesting it. I love the font up here. That's going to be my next death metal band. Catacomb. And I'm going to steal that font. Don't sue me, Stern. What cool freaking flyers, dude. These are awesome. But what could you bootleg from Catacomb for a t-shirt? So that's the thing. We got to look at our criteria, right? All right. Would I get a tattoo from it? Would I get a tattoo from Catacomb? I mean, that dude's pretty cool. I don't know. I don't know if I'm getting a Catacomb tattoo. don't show the wrong files, I made an extra account just for this, because I was trying to figure out how the hell I was going to do a stream where I was showing my desktop, it was very scary, I don't think I would get a tattoo on Catacomb, I'll be honest, I don't think I'm going to get a tattoo, it does feature hot people though, so, it's already, it's already got one down, got one down, story, I think the story's cool enough, I mean, yeah, we want to know what's going on. Who's this dude? Is this guy a good guy or a bad guy? Do we know? Do we know if he's a good guy or a bad guy? Are there actually storyboards out there on all these old games? Because like every new game now, like the rule sheet comes out, it's 10 books long. So the story, it's like, it's drawing me in, but it's not absolutely like crushing it. Yeah, you would actually, you would actually lose your minds if you could see our desktops. It's, it's terrifying. This is the scariest stream I've ever done. You would think like revealing new code in a topper is like the scariest stream you've ever done. Cause you want that to go right so bad. This one is like the most high risk, technically lowest reward, like new code stream, medium risk, because like, if it goes wrong, that looks pretty bad, but very high reward. Cause people are like, Oh great. The code's great. Uh, this one, the reward is just a good time. and the friends we make along the way. Bootlegs? I'd sell this as a bootleg. That's two out of four. I want to say A tier. Is that blasphemy? If it's blasphemy, I'm very sorry. Everybody gets to watch me figure out Photoshop tonight. Everything you wanted in a Screamin' Stream, right? I'd go B. Wow. Wow. Two out of four. Maybe a B or a C. Hmm. All right, you pulled my leg. I'll go B tier. That's fair. I think there's levels to this game. That's what I think. I think there's levels. I know what one's next. Recommended by Danielle Peck on the Facebook. We have Future Spa, which I've never played. I've never seen a Future Spa in person either. I don't think. This Backglass is bananas. like absolutely absolutely bonkers and I noticed that this is really fun over here how do I that says 2004 are we to expect that the year right because I was alive for 2004 I don't remember it that well was this your guys's 2004 when did this game come out. Future Spa, 1979. They sold 6,400 of these? 6,400 of these? They sold 6... Luke, we suck. They could sell 6,400 of these, but we can't sell 6,400 Scooby-Doos. This game's crazy. Okay. 6,400 of these produced. Wow. Anyway, uh, Danielle Peck wanted me to highlight this guy right here. Hubba hubba. Look at that. He's not even flexing yet. Wait till he flexes. He has abs on his back. That's how freaking ripped this dude is. What is even happening here? What is this? She's taking a shower in a strap that's covering her boobs. What is, anyway, in a world now where like theme is everything, like getting the A plus, A plus theme is everything. Back then you could come up with future spa, future spa. Would I get a tattoo of future spa? No, I don't think I would get a future spa tattoo. Does it have hot people? not it passes the hot people test in in spades it has they literally couldn't have fit one more hot person on here so yes it has hot people story boy do i want to know what's going on in this story what is happening so let's write it together right now so it's obviously in the future we know it's a spa we've we've gathered that much from the context clues it's it's a world where it must just be like a vacation spot and you go you hit the spa what's this little time thing on her wrist 1655 this is like that movie where time is currency i bet this is actually burt reynolds i didn't realize burt reynolds was in this game good for you burt on that pinball list uh yeah we clearly want to know more about the story so that's two would i sell bootlegs of this shirt probably i mean i mean yeah right like but that would mean a tier that means it hits more criteria than catacomb that would mean a tier you guys kill me if i put this on a tier because i kind of want to put i'll be honest i'm more likely to put that poster on my wall than catacomb i'll be real honest because it's pretty interesting it's definitely a tier that's all i need a tier it's my list anyway i think it's a tier awesome i'm glad we're in agreement on future spa being a tier rock and roll sweet okay i i called upon some friends to uh to to give me uh some some good ones to to check out and whatnot one of those friends being the lovely folks at uh nudge magazine he gave me a whole list um i'm just going to choose one from it i'm going to choose Street Fighter, because he says it's horny, but it can't draw faces. So, I want to go check that out. Zingy bingy. Is there actually a zingy bingy back glass out there? Because I kind of want to see it. I might have to go to, like, a different type of website for that. Street Fighter. Alright. More specifically, Street Fighter. Nudge is here! Hey, Nudge! Thank you for the entries. Alright, let's take a... Nope, that's Future Spa. It just won't let us leave Future Spa. It's like, you must go back. Okay, I'm going to be fully transparent, guys. I didn't play Street Fighter a lot growing up. I played Mortal Kombat. That was more my jam. So I don't know too much about the Street Fighter world. I do know... Oh, this is for sale for $25? Is that what that's saying? Would you guys pay $25 for this Translight? I'm not too familiar with the original characters. Is this what they actually look like? Is this what they actually... What's the blue guy's name? Not at all. Okay. What's the blue guy's name? Blanca? What does Blanca normally look like? Oh. He's not even the right color? What? he's green he's blue here what the hell they'd be like if stern had the jaws shark being pink like what that doesn't make any sense okay so blanca's green allegedly i know he's blue here i don't know sorry guys i just don't know that much about street fighter i'll be really honest green was broke that day yeah their printer was like out of green ink they're like shit just send it with blue, guys. I don't know what to tell you. Wow, okay. I can't say I like this back glass too much. Sorry if I'm offending somebody. I get it. Printing ain't easy, Spooky AJ says. Yeah, Spooky AJ, behind a lot of our printing and whatnot at the shop and everything. A man of many talents. Okay, where are we going to rank this one, guys? All right, would I get a tattoo of this? Absolutely not. Does it feature hot people? Kinda. Like the worst hot people drawings. I don't know. I don't know if I'm considering these hot people. Story. There's a car crashing into these people standing here. I don't know, guys. I might be exposing myself entirely right now, but I wouldn't sell bootlegs of it. I don't like it, guys. I don't think it's my jam. I'm going D. I'm sorry, Street Fighter. if you could just be more like Future Spa, everybody should try and be more like Future Spa. When we do our, Franchi, when we do the next game's Backglass, we need to talk more about Future Spa. And I will tell the licensor that we actually are inspired specifically by this piece of artwork, and I will send that to them. Let's go to something I know everybody wants to see, Genesis. Which, I think Spooky, I didn't realize this photo was so small. I think Spooky DJ has a Genesis. What the actual hell is going on in this backlash? Does anybody know the story? Can somebody fill me in on what the hell is happening on Genesis? Like, are these like their employees' faces? Is this like, is this like the janitor, the phone lady, and their tech guy? Like, what's going on here tattoo yes shirt yes hi yes sure this is like the scs absolute a tier christian crock rock band like are these our employees what is going on here hang on we gotta go to pin side with this one machines yeah spooky dj uh programmer of scooby-doo designer of the warden board system. 3,500? Fuck you. Dude, what are we doing? What are we doing wrong? Screw A-plus themes. This is what sells 3,500 units in 2024. This is what does it. It's actually a fun game. I do like playing this game. It's fun. It's fun with friends. I just want to know who these faces are. I think JJP should replace their employee faces in Godfather with the faces from Genesis. All right, Genesis. I mean, okay, would I get a tattoo of this? No. No, I don't think I would. I don't think I would. Does it have hot people? That is, I suppose, also subjective. So, in lieu of these being real people, probably, I'm not going to say yes or no. story, do I want to know the story? absolutely, I want to know the story, tell me what's going on would I sell bootlegs of this? absolutely, therefore, S tier straight to the top because it's my show the best part of this plan is nobody can stop me Genesis for the win what else did I have saved, pre-saved here's one I want to do Haunted House so I'm extremely biased because Haunted House is probably my favorite game ever. Oh my goodness. I'm so sorry for my management of this. The pressure of streaming. I love... When I say tattoo, I'm getting this house tattooed on me somewhere. Like my butt cheek or something. I'm going to get this tattoo of this house with those characters in there. I remember being a kid... A lot of this stuff is so nostalgic for me Because dad just used to restore so many old games. And he had a haunted house for the longest time. And I will never ever forgive him for selling it. And he had a haunted house forever. And I just was... I would just stare at the back glass and the art package on that game for hours as a kid. I loved it. There's just... It's not even the greatest artwork ever. But I just find it mesmerizing. There's something about it. That is just... Chef's... Chef's kiss. Face tattoo. Now we're talking. This back glass is freaking 12 out of 10. Now the problem is, my own rules hurt me. Because it doesn't have any hot people, really. I mean, she's kind of a baddie. Nevermind, yeah. No, she's kind of a baddie, right? And this guy I mean he talented And that what makes him attractive He talented He can take he thinking with his head He using his head and yeah so that counts These guys are hot. Never mind. Loaded with hot people. And we don't know what's, we don't know what's going on in the graves. Could be lots of hot people in the graves. Yeah, tattoo, yes, hot people, totally. Story, who cares? I want to just go in this house and look around. like that's all I need is just it's basically the haunted mansion to me like I just want to go in there and get a tour and hopefully the ghosts are like in a rubber hose cartoon fashion playing music or something would I sell bootlegs of this I want to sell bootleg like playfields of this so I can put it on my wall so haunted house beyond s tier absolutely probably my favorite game of all time one of my favorite art packages of all time if not my favorite definitely my favorite back glass well gorgar is still probably my favorite back glass but haunted house and gorgar are absolutely absolutely perfect my buddy brian commented this one not to how do i spell this nautilus pinball back glass what the fudge this is a real back glass on a game i need to see like, what is this game? Oh my goodness. Okay. I'm getting out of here. Uh, nevermind. We're not going to rank that one. Uh, moving on, moving on. Uh, Jake Danzig has a really great one. I want to take a look at Phantom of the Opera. I'm going off of some of my Facebook comments right now. Phantom of the Opera. Oh, it's already there. Phantom of the Opera pinball, which I am a certified Phantom of the Opera lover for the, the, the play, the movies, all the movies. I think all of them are phenomenal. This back glass, though, is just the shit. I love it. Yeah, this back glass is really cool. Holy story, yeah. I've never really gotten to take the time to, like, stop and look at it. If you're familiar with the movie, I mean, it literally is showing off major aspects of the movie, like Christine sitting in the chair, him watching her through the mirror, him showing up as the Red Death, which, uh, more on that later, uh, I don't think, do any of the movies have a mask like that? I don't remember the mask ever quite looking like that, freaking super, super cool backlash, this, this, the new, it comes off of the cursive letter here, down the new, and it goes into a noose, those are those things that, like, I can never come up with, Like, I love the creativeness so much, and I'm so obsessed with it, and I just wish I was this freaking smart and talented that I could do creative things like, oh yeah, off that cursive letter I went into the noose, and it's hanging by his head. I think this is a freaking 10. It's got all the things I love. Oh yeah, yeah, Christine ripping off the mask, him being like, damn you! This back glass is nuts. it's so good who did the art on that one paul oh okay yeah Paul Faris tons of classic games from Paul Faris yeah i mean freaking centaur dude come on yeah wow Paul Faris having just an insane catalog like of it all makes sense he did future spa oh my god it all comes together wow that makes perfect sense paul is officially is franchi here don't get offended Paul Faris is my official favorite artist of all time because he did future spa and phantom of the opera so spots here as a spa tier it's a spa tier level game i can't just put everything s tier tonight like we gotta we gotta have some duds after this okay recommend me absolute duds after this so we can fill up some other spots because i think this is s tier because believe it or not i'm going to get that red death tattoo i've always wanted the phantom walking down my whole left arm is going to be universal monsters. I've always wanted the Red Death as a part of that. So it hits Tattoo. Of course it has hot people. Phantom of the Opera is loaded with hot people. Story. That's kind of a cheat code because I know the story, but I love the story. Like I said, I've seen all the plays, the musicals, everything. Love the story. Would I sell bootlegs? I would sell the shit out of some bootlegs on this. So yeah, let's go S tier. Absolutely. I think that one is like really wow. I haven't had the time to like fully sit down and just look at that. I've never owned one. Dad never restored one or anything back in the day. Like I said, I've seen it at some shows, but you're so distracted at shows. There's so much stuff going on and everything. Yeah, that one is, that one's S tier. Phenomenal back glass. I'm really glad we got to look at that. Jake Danzig, what an excellent recommendation you're the freaking man recommend me a dud someone just just at like beyond f-tier give me the worst you got hit me with off the top ropes monitor pop that's rude dude close encounters of the third kind there's a close there's that's a game? Close Encounters. No joking. 9,000? You've got to be kidding me, dude. I'm just getting my feelings hurt tonight. What is that? That's the playfield, huh? I mean, this shot's iconic, at least. Like, from the movie. If you've seen the movie, like, that's one of, that's probably, one of Steven Spielberg's greatest shots in cinema. What is this dude? It's been ages since I've seen the movie. I don't remember if you even see aliens in it, but I can't imagine they looked like that. That's a strange one. What are we going to rank this thing, guys? I mean, the spaceship's alright it's not the worst back glass i've ever seen the text is fun let's see tattoo no hot people no story i mean story's good i'll give it that one yeah bootlegs no c-tier that's a solid that's a solid c-tier it's not offensive but it's just not like it's just not doing much for me so we're gonna go solid c-tier on that one let's do Raven you win I want to do one I haven't heard of next though yeah this is one of those games that whenever I see it at a show I'm like is that a real game 3500 are these numbers real are they accurate can somebody actually confirm to me that the pin side like numbers are accurate who owns this game is what I want to know, because it's always at shows. And I don't know if, like, does anybody bring it, or does it just, like, appear in the mix? Kind of reminds me of the Predator artwork. You guys remember that? Are there even photos of that on the internet? Yeah. This is Ravencore. I get it. I never knew Predator existed. You should look that up sometime. What are we ranking Raven? criteria tattoo probably not probably not today uh hot people yeah yeah she's a baddie good for her like she's out there kicking ass story i guess i mean it's rambo it's rambo type of thing rambo is raven is like a boomerang you throw it away and it comes right back we're gonna go yeah this is going on the d this is going on d tier i i would not want this in my house on my wall and i'm just still very confused whenever i see them in person it's very bizarre alien poker what is alien poker i don't know this one i don't know what this is gonna be but i like where it's going oh yes now we're talking what in the rick and morty am i looking at right now alien poker get it because like dogs playing poker but it's alien pinball used to be a very different game six thousand somebody count up the totals for how many machines are across all of these. You know what's wild? Is I'm pretty sure like Phantom, which has arguably the very best artwork we've seen yet, sold the least. I'm pretty sure this one was like $2,500 and like these ones are like $5 billion each and it's... Nothing makes sense in pinball sometimes. Can you imagine a world in pinball where you can just literally take anything you see, anything you see, and you're like, we could put a spin on that and sell 6,000 of these bad boys. Like, we gotta spend months licensing and getting approvals and actors. And back then, they, they, these guys were just sitting there and they, they saw, they were probably playing poker at their buddy's house, smoking cigars, drinking whiskeys in, in the house. And they probably had a dogs playing poker thing up there and they're like, you know, it'd be fucking awesome. Aliens playing poker. We're going to get so stinking rich guys You know I actually don hate the Like I I kind of find it fun I think it cool Like I not offended by it I think it kind of cool Um, tattoo. Would I get a tattoo of this? Definitely not. Does it have hot people? Sure. I'll throw it out there. Sure. Yeah. I think, I think they're cute. Uh, story. of course I'm interested in the story I want to know what's on the line or is this just a crew on their ship and they're just like buying time my boss is a dick buying time what's at stake here are they going to get ejected off the ship so yeah I'm in on the story would I sell bootlegs of it I think aliens playing poker based off this machine as a print I think that's worth it so yeah it hits three I'm going to go C or B I mean, it probably should be C But I also want to put it in B Just because I do like looking at it Like, I don't I don't hate it B, we have one vote for B Definitely judging Bug's taste B, I'm getting a lot of B tears Alright I can do that I just, I was feeling C Just because I felt like people would be mad at me I just need to be myself on here Quit trying to appease all the masses Be you, Bug oh black pyramid yeah yeah i've never you know i like i'm aware of this game's existence i don't think i've ever played one i've definitely seen definitely seen the back glass see amazing artwork on this back glass 2500 units compared to 6,000 alien pokers. What were you guys doing back then? I want to personally fight everyone who bought alien poker or Raven over this. Oh, wow. Dude, that's cool. It's like the Cryptkeeper almost. That's freaking rad. I like this one a lot. Here we go. Here's a good back glass photo. Yeah, I think this is great. I think that back glass is really solid. Who's on the artwork on this one. Is it going to be my guy? Oh, it's Greg. Greg Freres. I didn't know this was Greg. Nice. Back in 1984. Man, Greg had to have been just a baby. Just a little baby back then. Great guy, Greg Freres. Drew the spooky pinball logo. I bet most people don't know that. Greg Freres, the artist of Black Pyramid, drew the spooky pinball ghost logo. I don't remember exactly how the story goes, but I think my dad literally was like, he's been friends with Greg forever, and he was just like, Greg, draw me like a cute little ghost that you would use as like a logo, and I think he literally doodled it on a David Hankin at MGC. I should really ask dad on this story, but I'm pretty sure Greg literally drew it on a David Hankin at MGC and was like, something like this, and then that's been our logo ever since, and the last time I saw Greg at a show, we were talking about that, and he was like, yeah, I really should have charged you guys for that one, or gotten a royalty, and I was like, yeah, you should have, sucker, no, I'm kidding, Greg's a really sweet, sweet, sweet guy, yeah, drew our logo, and he drew this badass freaking back glass, would I get a tattoo of this, I mean, I kind of like the skull, I like these mummy guys, I would consider it, I would, I would consider it, it's a solid maybe, I do not have a spooky logo tattoo, but one of our employees does. Good old Jesse Bonesack. He has a spooky pinball ghost on his calf. I don't know if I would get the ghost logo tattooed or not. I feel like it would be like the kiss of death. Like, if I get that ghost logo tattooed on me, we're out of business next year. Guaranteed. I don't know. I find it crazy. I've seen probably three or four spooky ghost logo tattoos, and I think even two fan club. Like somebody got the fan club logo tattooed, which is freaking awesome. Black Pyramid. Does it have hot people? No hot people on Black Pyramid. Greg, come on. Come on. You're no stranger to drawing hot people. I've seen your work. Story. I am into this story. Give me more. I want to know what's going on. This is very Brendan Neil Fraser, Mummy, Indiana Jones, bootlegs. Absolutely. We're going to go A tier. I'm putting it A tier. Minus points because I don't think I would get a tattoo and there's no hot people. What's Mystery Castle? I don't know that one. Mystery Castle. Do I know this one? Predator. I should close that. Let's see. Mystery Castle Pinball. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. You guys, you tricked me. This is just Alice Cooper. I want to know more about this game. Let's take a look. Mystery Castle. Cheetah. We should go to that one. 227. Now we're being realistic. Now we're being realistic with our numbers. Is that true? That actually sounds so low I don't believe it. Who did the artwork? Dan Hughes. What has Dan Hughes' work done before I say anything? Fine enough, yeah. Oh, now this is a cool back glass. Look at this. max bad as what is this max xx bad as gallery there's one photo wow look at the head tattoo this is before it's time face and head tattoos weren't exactly super common and popular back then that's wild oh this is kind of sloppy here you could do better like blending that's pretty weak this is actually steven seagal he made this game he'll probably tell you he made this game if you asked him look at these dudes this this right here i gotta save this hang on this is gonna be me luke and aj when we all lose our hair okay so what is mystery castle here oh i like this this looks nice. Oh, that's cool. That's nice. I like that. What is the story behind Alvin G and Co? What is, who are these guys? Did they get anything really made? Uh, anyway, gallery. Show me some photos. Okay, here we go. Oh, it's this one. It's the one that looks like, um, Captain Crunch or whatever. Captain Crunch, all yellow pieces. yeah check this it's the same see that i always thought about this it's just loaded with captain crunch i want to eat this playfield what do you got going on with the layout here ambitious upper flip oh yeah and some elwynn-esque shots going on here this is literally iron maiden just oh yeah it's it's out there elwin's a fraud he just ripped off magic castle or mystery castle whatever this game's called check out the estimated price oh for real wow are people buying it for that who cares what mystery castle sells for pinball prices are nobody likes talking about those not in 2024 who cares about pinball prices um i'm going c it's perfectly not terrible but not like i wouldn't sell it technically hits none of the criteria but it's also just not offensive like it's not there's nothing like wrong with it per se torpedo alley let's go check that is there like no just regular photo of the back Okay, is that really it? That's it, huh? That's the real back glass right there. Can I get confirmation that that's the real back glass? High heels on a sub. Yeah, there's literally holes in the floor. You can see holes in this grate, and she's just walking around in high heels on it. She looks great, don't get me wrong. But like, honey, just wear some slippers. Wear some boots or like something. You're gonna break your ankle or something, and you're not gonna... nobody wants you to have a broken ankle that's just no cool what are these faces they're making look at this dude he understands the assignment like this this actor knew what he was doing what is going on here well i think we know how i'm gonna rank this one hot people or not i think we're gonna rank this one a little bit lower uh would i get a tattoo of it? Probably not. Chances are I probably will not. Does it have hot people? Yes, it does. It gets points for that. Very crucial. Story. I couldn't care less what the story is. Torpedo Alley, you're like the 15th game we've covered tonight, and I'm just not interested in your story. I'm sorry. It's not. She's watching sales decline. Oh, it's not looking good out there. Would I bootleg this? You know, maybe. If enough people wanted to. I am going to have to go a fat D-tier rating on Torpedo Alley. With that, I think we're going to call it on rating our back glasses. This is the official list here. You've got absolute bangers along the top. Gorgar, Genesis, Haunted House, Phantom, and Future Spa. My takeaway tonight is Future Spa. I think Future Spa and Phantom of the Opera are my new favorites.

Multiple fans have Spooky Pinball fan club logo tattoos

medium confidence · Bug mentions seeing 'probably three or four' Spooky ghost tattoos and 'even two fan club' logos

  • “If I get that ghost logo tattooed on me, we're out of business next year. Guaranteed.”

    Bug@ 33:58 — Humorous superstition about personal business luck tied to company logo tattoo

  • “Like, we gotta spend months licensing and getting approvals and actors. And back then, they, they, these guys were just sitting there and they saw, they were probably playing poker at their buddy's house, smoking cigars, drinking whiskeys.”

    Bug@ 29:39 — Contrasts the rapid, informal creative process of vintage pinball with modern licensed game complexity

  • “Paul Ferris is my official favorite artist of all time because he did Future Spa and Phantom of the Opera.”

    Bug@ 23:40 — Establishes Paul Ferris as a standout artist and recognizes the importance of artist attribution

  • “Quit trying to appease all the masses. Be you, Bug.”

    Chat/Audience@ 31:23 — Audience feedback encouraging authenticity over consensus-seeking in rankings

  • Jersey Jack Pinball
    company
    Sterncompany
    Gorgargame
    Future Spagame
    Catacombgame
    Street Fightergame
    Genesisgame
    Haunted Housegame
    Phantom of the Operagame
    Close Encounters of the Third Kindgame
    Ravengame
    Alien Pokergame
    Shane Black Pyramidgame
    Nudge Magazineorganization
    Danny Peckperson
    Jake Danzigperson
    Bug's Fatherperson
  • $

    market_signal: Vintage pinball era (1970s-1980s) featured rapid, informal creative processes contrasted with modern complex licensing and approval bureaucracy; this accessibility enabled innovation

    high · Bug's commentary on Alien Poker creation story: 'these guys were just sitting there... they probably had a dogs playing poker thing up there and they're like, you know, it'd be fucking awesome'

  • ?

    licensing_signal: Modern pinball game creation requires extensive licensing approval and actor negotiations, contrasting sharply with vintage era's ability to create derivative works (Alien Poker inspired by Dogs Playing Poker)

    high · Bug's reflection: 'Like, we gotta spend months licensing and getting approvals and actors. And back then, they, they, these guys were just sitting there'

  • $

    market_signal: High-quality backglass artwork (Phantom of the Opera) does not correlate with commercial success; simple conceptual designs (Alien Poker) outperform artistically superior contemporaries in unit sales

    high · Phantom of the Opera sold fewer units than Alien Poker (6,400) despite Bug identifying it as having 'arguably the very best artwork we've seen yet'

  • ?

    community_signal: Greg Ferris created Spooky Pinball's iconic ghost logo informally on a napkin at MGC; remained uncompensated despite lasting business impact

    medium · Bug recounts the origin story with acknowledgment that he should verify details with his father; notes Greg joked he should have negotiated royalties

  • ?

    product_concern: Bug's concern about whether Pinside production numbers are accurate; requests community validation of manufacturing data

    medium · Bug questions accuracy when reviewing Close Encounters (9,000 units) and other high production numbers: 'are these numbers real are they accurate can somebody actually confirm to me'