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SDTM Episode 31: This Month In Pinside (August 2017)

Straight Down the Middle·video·52m 27s·analyzed·Aug 29, 2017
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.029

TL;DR

SDTM discusses community responsibility regarding serious crime, Star Wars quality/code, and recent pinball acquisitions.

Summary

In this August 2017 episode of Straight Down the Middle, hosts Zach Sharpe and Greg discuss community response to a serious arrest involving a pinball designer and child exploitation materials, emphasizing the importance of respectful dialogue and directing listeners to charitable organizations. The episode then covers Star Wars Pinball quality issues (ghosting/hazing inserts), code updates, community sentiment around the game, Metallica ownership and gameplay impressions, and recent acquisitions including Jersey Jack's Dialed In.

Key Claims

  • A pinball designer was arrested in connection with child pornography

    high confidence · Zach Sharpe opening statement; news broke days before recording

  • Star Wars Pinball already exhibits ghosting and hazing insert issues

    high confidence · Jon and Greg discussing early reports from Premium Edition streams

  • Stern included ghosting language in Star Wars warranty to cover themselves

    medium confidence · Greg's speculation during quality discussion

  • Star Wars received a code update that adjusted multipliers and stacking

    high confidence · Jon and Greg confirm Dwight Sullivan/Jim Sullivan implemented quick update

  • Metallica requires a minimum 3-5 game collection to fit well; is difficult/stressful in 2-game lineups

    medium confidence · Greg's extended impressions after 2-3 weeks of ownership

  • Dialed In costs $9,000 and plays smoother out of the box than at trade shows

    high confidence · Zach Sharpe describing Schmitty's new Jersey Jack machine

  • Greg initially favored Ghostbusters over Metallica when deciding between them

    high confidence · Greg's direct statement during ownership comparison

  • Stern Pinball likely views ghosting as acceptable due to cost-cutting measures rather than unsolvable technical issue

    low confidence · Greg's speculation about business decisions and cost-benefit analysis

Notable Quotes

  • “nobody gives a shit right now nobody should care right now about any of that the only thing important right now is making sure that children are safe and to spread education when it comes to child exploitation”

    Zach Sharpe@ 1:52 — Core message about community responsibility and prioritizing child safety over game/collector concerns

  • “It is a hobby that takes you over, and we want the newest and the best in what we haven't played. And ultimately with ghosting, I haven't been in pinball long enough to know what kind of problems.”

    Greg@ 20:01 — Acknowledges how hobby investment drives purchasing decisions despite known quality issues

  • “I do have to give it to Zach. That it is a lot like chopping wood. At a certain point you have to look for things to do.”

    Greg@ 24:39 — Critical assessment of Metallica's gameplay loop and engagement challenges

  • “I don't want to hit anything rampant. I know that you can okay light the snake over here light the snake over there and hit all those shots I don't want to hit all those son of a bitches 60 times.”

    Greg@ 26:05 — Specific criticism of repetitive shot requirements in Metallica's wizard mode progression

  • “I said, yeah, I'm buying it too, Schmitty. And he was like, no, no, wait a minute here. He said, we can't both buy a $9,000. We'll be $18,000. We live right next to each other. And we can swap them if we want to.”

    Zach Sharpe@ 29:26 — Demonstrates collector economics and workarounds for high pinball prices through shared ownership

Entities

Zach SharpepersonGregpersonDwight SullivanpersonJim SullivanpersonPen GraphicscompanyPenn Stadium LightscompanyFlip N Out PinballcompanyPinbitscompanyColor DMD

Signals

  • ?

    event_signal: Pinball Expo serves as major venue for hands-on game evaluation; influences purchasing decisions for collectors

    medium · Zach: 'I played it at Pinball Expo, and I was like, Schmitty, dude. You have to get it.'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Star Wars Pinball generates heated community debate on Pinside forums despite being well-themed; collectors become emotionally defensive about game quality

    high · Greg: 'Pinside just because of all the arguments on it. There's a ton of arguments about, don't be a dick, and the game is great, and we argue something, or somebody else will argue something.'

  • ?

    community_signal: Community response to serious crime (pinball designer arrest) reveals values and obligations; hosts emphasize responsibility over speculation and entertainment value

    high · Zach: 'we didn't want to just simply breeze through that and not discuss it because it's such an important topic... we just really want to encourage everybody to have open dialogue, but do so in a very respectful way.'

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Jersey Jack Pinball (Dialed In) positioned as premium alternative to Stern with superior out-of-box performance and smoother playfield experience

    medium · Zach: 'It plays even better out of the box. It seems like you're playing on a sheet of glass, and every shot is so smooth.'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Metallica criticized for repetitive shot requirements and stressful gameplay loop; particularly requires 60+ snake hits for progression, limiting fun factor in smaller collections

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.157

0:00
Hey guys, this is Zach with Straight Down the Middle of Pinball Show. Before we get started today, Greg and I, we recorded this month in Pinside a couple days ago right before news broke of a pinball designer allegedly being caught with child pornography and being arrested. So we didn't want to just simply breeze through that and not discuss it because it's such an important topic. Many of you guys, like myself, are fathers, are mothers, and we don't want to be quiet about the issue because it is very important for us to realize the damage that is done, not only in America, but across the world with child pornography. It's not an easy topic to discuss, but it's certainly not one that we shouldn't discuss either, especially when it hits so close to home into the pinball community. now so much has been discussed about this incident that we're not there's no reason to continue discussing the same facts or the same accusations of the whatever news we have about it but we just wanted to reach out to our SDTM fans and really encourage you guys it's great to talk about current events current issues and your voice is important in the pinball community especially regarding very sensitive topics like this. We just really want to encourage everybody to have open dialogue, but do so in a very respectful way. Just reading some of the threads about this heinous topic in itself is just troubling. Read through and people talking about what machine is next from this designer. What does this mean for the value of the machines?
1:50
And you got it just it's ridiculous. nobody gives a shit right now nobody should care right now about any of that the only thing important right now is making sure that children are safe and to spread education when it comes to child exploitation so greg and i just wanted to just encourage you all have the conversation have the discussion but do so in a very respectful way but please please just be decent human beings when it comes to this sensitive topic. Greg and I were talking, and I think the most important thing to do in this type of situation is to reach out, educate yourself about the problems that we have in this country and around the world with child pornography, child abuse, child neglect, and exploitation. We were looking into some of our own education and educating ourselves, and I would really want you guys to check out some, you know, if you there's so much frickin money in this hobby let's not joke ourselves if we can afford eight nine thousand dollar pinball machines even a thousand dollar pinball machines this is something that's extravagant to most of the world so let's do something with that money that we do have with that power that we do have talk about it talk about you know some of the heinous things that are going on in ways you can help I want to show you guys a couple websites at the bottom of the screen that you can donate to help some of these issues like the Child Rescue Coalition right down at the bottom of your screen. You can donate there. They help out all types of child exploitation issues, whether it's abuse, whether it's child pornography, stopping some of those efforts, as well as the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children, another great organization. So do something about this. Let's learn from this. Let's grow from this. reach into your pockets and donate to try to help so this kind of stuff doesn't happen whether it's a legend or not i really don't give a shit whether it's true or not true this is not the time this is not the place to talk about let the time and place to talk about that is in the legal system we're not going to mess with that but what is important is for us to help out those coalitions help out those centers that do help out these children so that this kind of stuff doesn't happen again So without further ado, we'll keep you updated. Nate Shivers did a really good job on Coast to Coast Pinball discussing the event if you really want to check it out there, as well as this weekend pinball. He'll update it. But until then, what we want you to do is just donate, help out children who are neglected, exploited with this unfortunate, unfortunate event. Without further ado, I hate to be a bummer, let's get to the show.
company
Stern Pinballcompany
Jersey Jack Pinballcompany
Spooky Pinballcompany
Star Wars Pinballgame
Metallica Pinballgame
Dialed Ingame
The Lord of the Rings Pinballgame
Tron Pinballgame
Ghostbusters Pinballgame
The Walking Dead Pinballgame
Lost World Pinballgame
Schmittyperson
Child Rescue Coalitionorganization
International Center for Missing and Exploited Childrenorganization
Nate Shiversperson
Deadflipperson

high · Greg: 'I don't want to hit anything rampant... I don't want to hit all those son of a bitches 60 times... if it wasn't just two pins, I would still love to have it. Minimum lineup for Metallica. Three to five.'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Stern appears to have accepted ghosting as inherent to manufacturing process, evidenced by warranty language covering it rather than attempting to solve it

    medium · Greg: 'I don't think Stern has turned into the organization or the corporation that if they see a little ghost and they're like, aha, no, our manual says it's fine... I don't think that they expect it to get any better.'

  • $

    market_signal: Secondary market activity for premium titles (Dialed In $9k) indicates sustained collector demand despite high prices; waitlists filling quickly

    medium · Zach: 'we both got on the list, right when this thing was coming out... then we thought, this is a $9,000 pin. And we thought about it, thought about it.'

  • ?

    community_signal: Greg demonstrates evolved ownership philosophy; traded long-held Ghostbusters for Walking Dead but honored friend commitments through temporary machine swap rather than immediate liquidation

    medium · Zach: 'He had promised a buddy when he had Ghostbusters he was like, man, I really don't think I'm going to end up trading this... I literally drove to Ghostbusters, picked up The Walking Dead, and me and my buddy met in the driveway and we literally swapped'

  • $

    market_signal: High pinball prices ($9,000+ for new releases) create friction in community discourse and limit accessibility; incentivizes alternative ownership models (sharing/trading)

    high · Greg discussing Dialed In: 'This is a $9,000 pin... we can't both buy a $9,000. We'll be $18,000... And we can swap them if we want to.'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Star Wars Pinball received code update addressing multiplier and stacking mechanics within weeks of release

    high · Jon: 'they did have a code update that helped some of the multipliers, some of the stacking, their options now. They brought down some of the multipliers. Yes, much needed.'

  • ?

    product_concern: Star Wars Pinball exhibits ghosting and hazing insert issues early in production runs, despite being a recent release from a major manufacturer

    high · Jon: 'we know that regarding some of these new Star Wars there is some ghosting already. Yes. There's already ghosting. Already hazing inserts, already ghosting.'

    • 4:40
    The wait is over. A revolution in LED lighting for your pinball is finally here. Fully customizable, full spectrum lighting from Penn Stadium Lights. Order yours now at PennStadium.com.
    5:10
    All right, let's kick this shit. Hey, thanks. Welcome back to Straight Down the Middle of Pinball Show. This is my main buddy, Greg. He's an awesome dude. He's got tears in his eyes right now from all the laughter prior to pressing the record button or during the outtakes. But half of what he just said over the last 20 minutes will not make the outtakes because he's a filthy, dirty, rotten mind. You low-down dirty. That's right. I'm Zach. This is Greg. This is what the hell is this show even called? Straight Down the Middle of Pinball Show. All right. We're doing this month on Pinside, right? Yes. And it's been about a month since we've done this. Yep. There are some stories out there, right, that we're going to talk about. A few good things. Hopefully we'll keep it clean. Yes. And we won't hype up too much of what doesn't need to be hyped. And we won't bash too much of what's already getting bashed, right? We'll probably mess something up, but that's right. It's us. Get it up! All right, first things first. Let's do a, you know what? We've got a new sponsor, dude. Yes. A fantastic sponsor. Yeah. All right, so it's Pen Graphics. Joe at Pen Graphics. does an impeccable job, him and the team over at Pen Graphics. They have anything you can think of. His main claim to fame are art decal side blades for pinball machines, right? But they do have other products. Such as? They've got Metallica snake fangs, snake decal, 3D wraparound snake. They've got flipper stuff. They've got even grills to put on there. Yeah, pin grills. They've got blade skins, which I freaking love blade skins. Those are like art decal magnets, but they have mirror on them. Oh, man. I do like the company a lot. It's like as if our art blades aren't badass enough, we're going to throw the mirroring effect that everybody loves mirror blades, right? But the thing about mirror blades are they're usually thick. You scratch them all to hell, and then they look like crap. This takes the best of mirror blades, the best of art decals, which really pulls in the whole picture, and it gives you better. So thank you. Thank you, Pen Graphics. Pen Graphics, you're the best. Yeah. So check out PingGraphics.com for all of your mod needs. He already has mods for Star Wars. Yeah. That's cool, isn't it? Well, you've got to get a jump start. Yeah, I know, but that's cool. Bam! And, oh, we didn't mention his best mod. Best mods are the Power Blades. Oh, my God. They are freaking amazing. When Power Blades came out, people thought, holy shit, I never thought of that. Like, it's side blades, but they light up. Yeah. Yeah, so we're going to put a set in Lord of the Rings coming up here, and we're going to do a video on that. So, Ping Graphics. Phenomenal. And I've never seen the Lord of the Rings one, so I'm excited about this. It's cool. It's like a lightning strike and stuff. All right. So let's get into it, buddy. Thanks again to Flippin' Out. Pinball, Larry, now has Stern Machines as well as Penn Stadium lights. Yes. Use code SDTM to receive 10% off of your order. Freaking huge. Yes. Freaking huge. All right. So. And Pinbits did you a solid, too. Pinbits is pretty good. Yeah, I was going to throw, now that we're doing some, what do the kids call it? Kids call it shout outs? Yeah, shout out. A little shout out to Pinbits. So Pinbits, I've only had great communication with them. Their products are phenomenal. And it makes a world of difference. They're kind of low-key, but they're always there when you need them. So Pinbits, I wanted to do a little bit something special in my Tron. So I called them up, talked to them about it, and no hesitation. Boom. And I even said, you know what, guys? I'll pay you extra. No. Boom. Done. Cool company. Done. Awesome. As well as Color DMD. I owe Color DMD. So my dumb ass tries to put one in Tron, right? And I messed up someone with the USB and this thing goes berserko. And I swear to you, this is no joke. I text the guy over at Color DMD and I said, hey man, this is what's happening. Within two minutes, this is on a Saturday night, two minutes, he emails me right back and says, shoot me some pictures, Zach, and I'll let you know what's going on. I shot him some pictures again two minutes later he boom boom boom that's what's going on and guess whose problem it was yours mine I'm the one that did it dumbass yeah so color DMD pin bits you guys are freaking awesome as well let's get into why don't we talk about Star Wars I don't think we've talked about Star Wars yet hold on we got a little more housekeeping what do we have oh our shirts came in guys all of them have been shipped except for maybe one because we had to well no a few because we had a few requests for some signings yeah that's fine so we had to get together for this to sign them so those will be shipped but everybody else should be shipped out check out the teeth yeah we still have a few awesome ass logo shirt those came out really solid as well I thought these were going to take it home and they did but those are just equally as cool yeah they were very nice so catch us at a show message us if you guys want a t-shirt and they're soft it was a ring spunk we paid a little bit extra we paid a little extra They fit very well It's not a snug fit But it's not a loose fit You can see how they fit Freaking smooth Alright so you got your shirt Now let's talk about We've not talked about Star Wars yet On this channel So let's keep going What do we know about Star Wars Since we've met the viewers last We know that Deadflip did a premium stream on it Or a LE stream I liked it, I liked the little hyper Did you do Hickey? Yeah. I thought it was really cool too. Yeah, it was pretty nice. I wish it would lock the balls. Yeah, I wasn't blown away, but I mean, it was impressive. I liked it. It's NASCAR. I agree. Yeah. I liked it. Is the $2,000 cool? No. Okay. Damn it. No? No. Okay. Do you? No. Because you're wanting one. I don't want one. You're trying to justify it. I don't want one. I'll never justify it. I want one for two weeks. Yeah. Just to play it. No, I'd take one for two weeks. I want to play it. Okay. Okay, so this is sort of – I was thinking about this since we're on Star Wars. You were? Don't hurt yourself. I was thinking about it maybe last night. You're going to mess me up now and I'm not going to remember what I said. He lost it. I was thinking about it. I was thinking so hard I forgot it. Okay, so you know, I mean, in anything else, like what do you feel – this sort of has to do with Pinside just because of all the arguments on it. There's a ton of arguments about, don't be a dick, and the game is great, and we argue something, or somebody else will argue something.
    12:03
    What is wrong with, we're going to run into mediocre pins. It's inevitable. Any video game that comes out, any movie that comes out, everybody goes, that movie was just okay, I didn't really care for it. Oh, that movie sucked. Oh, you know what, that video game, I really wouldn't add into it, man, I couldn't get it. So you go on to the next one. Why are pins so different? Is it just because there's so few that come out? Because people are just assholes. People get so mad about them. They take it personal. Yes, on both sides. It's not like a movie where it's just like, oh, you know, yeah, that movie just wasn't that good. You talk about it and nobody gets really... So you're saying from a psychological standpoint, why do people get so butthurt about pins? That's a clinical term too, by the way, butthurt. No, I mean, yeah. When you really think about it, even in video game worlds, And video games, I mean, it takes some of them forever to come out. You know? And people are just like, man, all that shit, that sucks. How much does a video game cost? Well, that's what I'm saying. That's why I think. That one of the things I think one of the things is price You spending a lot of money on this stuff But you also don have to buy it But people defend it and people in reverse dog this shit out of it I think it's a culmination of, I think, each little issue such as the pricing, such as the theme, such as the code not being updated, such as quality issues, such as, I think those by themselves, listen, those by themselves is a Jersey Jack issue and they get past it quick because it's a minor issue. Yes. But if you take all of those minor issues and you put them together, a shitstorm, a bruise. But my thing is, why do we not just – it's not on us. Now, quality issues, yes. What else should be fed, though? What problem are you having? Just all the negativity and people arguing and getting so up in arms about things like Star Wars and stuff. Take it personally, though. That's what I'm saying, though. You've invested a pretty big piece of your financial, you know, you're investing that much you feel like it's a part of you. Plus, let's not forget the theme of Star Wars is so coveted. And I understand. People take that, if you don't like that machine, for some people it's like saying Star Wars theme itself is shit. It sucks. I agree. But I'm just saying, you've got to take it more light hearted like a movie or something. Or a regular video game on your PS4 or your Xbox. Now, quality issues are a different story because I'd be pissed no matter what if I bought it. But I just think that you just, like, people just got to stop. A pen's a pen. Chill out. Yes. Just don't buy it or sell it. You know, it's not my company. I want Stern. I want everybody to survive, so I got more pens. Yeah, but you're asking the question of, this has nothing to do with pinball. You're asking why are people the way they are, buddy, and who knows? Who knows? That's very true. Just get along, guys. All right. So that brings up a good thing. we know that in some of these new Star Wars there is some ghosting already. Yes. There's already ghosting. Already hazing inserts, already ghosting. Are we still fighting for the no ghosting? Are we okay with some ghosting now? I don't think any of us are okay with it, but I think that... Do we have to let this thing go? I think we have to let it go. I don't want to. I'm not saying that in a... I think that we should let it go. I'm saying... Elsa, what do you mean? I don't think that it's going to be... I don't think it's going to change. I don't think it's going to be I don't think it's not going to exist how does change occur I don't stern taking people serious people not buying those games but people are going to buy the games you and me both know that we can argue all day long that we think that it's shitty that it's ghosting everything else but we both still buy one and play it that's terrible but it's what it is and that's why that I think that you end up ultimately having to accept it I don't want to do you have to accept it you don't have to but I think that people will just because the game is there and it's playable. Because I'm pretty staunch about that stuff. You're huge on that. I'm like, let's strike that sort of shit but I would still play a damn Star Wars. I don't know if I'd buy it but I'd buy it second hand and probably play it. A pinball strike is the only mob that would get beat up. Yes, they would. A pinball mob. Like dumbasses.
    16:15
    But you know, I don't think it's going to change because I don't think Stern would have tried to cover their self and put it in the warranty. I think that if they thought that it was going to change or they felt that they needed to truly do something, I don't think that they would have put that. Now, granted, it's there to cover their asses. Yeah, that's what it's there for. And I understand that, but I don't think that they expect it to get any better. Yeah, but you think Stern has turned into the organization or the corporation that if they see a little ghost and they're like, aha, no, our manual says it's fine. Oh, yeah. You do? Yeah, it's already like that with the replacements. When Ghostbuster came out, it's like, oh, you get two or three? Live with it. You know, people who had really bad problems with chipping and multiple inserts, those were the ones that got replaced. So they already said, deal with it. I have a hard time. The height of the. I still have a hard time thinking of all of the different manufacturers that are coming out, albeit not as successful as Stern, not even close. I still think they listen. I still think they don't like competition, even if they own 90% of the market share. I agree. So I find it hard to believe that as their innovations are increasing, they're trying to increase, again, probably slower and not with a lot of investment financially into toys and different stuff like that. I don't think they're okay with it. I think that they're still going to try to get rid of it or find a way to get rid of it.
    17:50
    It's from a business standpoint. How long has it been, though? I mean, it's been a year. What if they don't know how to fix it? I don't know. There's got to be something that someone in that company can pinpoint about why it wasn't working then. And you think they're doing it. But you think they're choosing. You know what? No, I don't think they're choosing it. I think that whatever process or whatever they went to that could possibly, and it's speculation, obviously, so don't fall off your damn mind.
    18:16
    But I think that it comes to whatever process or whatever is going on, that it was a cost-cutting measure. And I think that money always speaks louder than anything else. And I think that that's why. I think, oh, yeah, if it was a cheap, easy fix, obviously they would change it around. There has got to be some way to pinpoint somewhere. Somebody has got to, within that company, somewhat know, well, this is what we changed from these games two and three years ago to this, and that's why we're having problems. Somebody has got to know something. So you think at the end of the day they're deciding the cost outweighs the benefits. So we're good. Because this is what you have to, I think, take into mind. You take something like Spooky, you take J.J.P. if their games were top notch you had no quality issues but they were ok games now what are you going to buy super good quality but ok game or are you going to buy something that you're going to have 3 or 4 ghosting inserts on a little chipping in the drain that is a fucking fantastic god damn game or just a superb theme what are you going to pick you're still going to pick that Stern pinball I would, I'll be honest I don't want to say that I don't want that to happen but you play pinball to have fun to play and have fun, exactly so I think ultimately in the end do you think it's going to change a year from now or are we going to have ghosting? what's your prediction? I honestly didn't think we'd have it now I'm going to say in a year from now we won't have it I hope so now will that prevent me from buying a Guardians of the Galaxy if they come out with that? no, that's what I said!
    19:54
    see? you're right we screw ourselves guys you're right, yeah Yeah, and it's because we have to have these things. It is a hobby that takes you over, and we want the newest and the best in what we haven't played. And ultimately with ghosting, I haven't been in pinball long enough to know what kind of problems. Okay, when I got my Lost World, I had not a bit of ghosting. But as far as I can determine, that damn thing sat in storage forever, like in a shed. Okay. And then it was brought out, redone, shopped, and everything else. So it didn't ever have really any plays. It sat in some shitty climate. And then when I started playing it a lot. Because the balls kept hitting it. Yes, I put like 4,000 plays on the damn thing. In two weeks. Yes. And so then I started getting some ghosting. But I haven't had anything that has been problematic. And I know your insert could lift and you could do some different things. You know, that could be problems in the long run. You know what? I'm tired of talking about ghosting. Yeah, we're too serious. We've got to freaking move on. God.
    20:54
    Sorry, guys. I just can't do it anymore. I'm done with the damn ghosting show. I'm done with Star Wars and ghosting. All right, let's talk about Star Wars code update.
    21:05
    Son of a bitch. We can't get past it. All right, so they did have a code update that helped some of the multipliers, some of the stacking, their options now. They brought down some of the multipliers. Yeah, much needed. I do appreciate Dwight Sullivan saying, you know what? I'm getting feedback, and I'm going to implement it quickly. Yes, and he did. I love that. I agree. That's one thing I really love about Dwight Sullivan. Yeah. He's quick on that kind of stuff. I like his game. And you can tell he has a passion. Yeah. So it did help, and it didn't stack modes. There's still a laundry list of things that doesn't make that Star Wars. But how many updates has there been? Two. Okay. And what's averaging? You're getting six, nine, twelve updates? No, nothing. On a game? Oh, yes, there are. There's a lot. There's a lot on games. It might be small here and there, but I mean, it's not a burden. I'm glad that they did say. it makes me more excited for that pin but it doesn't make me want to long term own that pin no it's just not a game for me I'm ready for the next turn still pay it what's on in the next thing okay done with that too serious now personally we've had some changes in our own lineups why don't we talk about you had a Ghostbusters that we both loved yes right and then you got rid of it I traded it for a Walking Dead and a little cash which I was fine with. I kind of had a hard time partnering with Ghostbusters. I bet. But then I had promised a buddy when I had Ghostbusters I was like, man, I really don't think I'm going to end up trading this. I don't think it's going to happen. And so forth. I've talked about this on Twitch because people have asked. Gotcha. But then that deal came and it was too good to pass up.
    22:46
    And so I was like, damn. I was like, I still want to honor that. So I literally... One of your buddies had a pin that he wanted to swap. Swap, just for a couple months. So I said, you know what, man, listen, I don't want to screw you because I know that you kind of wanted to switch things up a little bit. So I said, I'm getting The Walking Dead. Would you be interested in switching Metallica for The Walking Dead for a month or two? He was like, yeah, sure. So I literally drove Ghostbusters, picked up The Walking Dead, and me and my buddy met in the driveway. And we literally swapped The Walking Dead. I hadn't even got to play it yet, swapped it for his Metallica. That's tough. I just wanted to honor it. Yeah, but good for you. It was the cool thing to do in the pin world. I made a thing, and I got it. You just got a new game, and you didn't play it before your brother. And I'm going to own The Walking Dead, so I've got plenty of time to play it. That being said, how long have you had Metallica? It's been, what, two or three weeks now? You guys ready for this? Two or three weeks now. Greg, give us a little synopsis after owning it for two or three weeks. It's fantastic.
    23:51
    Greg, tell us what you think about Metallica in two or three weeks. I will say... No, wait. Here it comes. And he's going to do... Mr. Neutral is going to play to every side here. I will say that my... You're going to sit here and try to tiptoe around this thing. No. My views of the game have gone down a little bit. Like, when I was going to get... Bullshit. I'm calling your bullshit. Down a little bit. Be real with the people here, Greg. When I was going to get Ghostbusters, it was between Ghostbusters and Metallica. And I bought a Ghostbusters. Shit. And I'm glad that I didn't get Metallica. Okay. It's still a great game. I still love it. It's a great game. I'll give you that. But I do... This is what the bastard's waiting for. I do have to give it to Zach. No, do you? Yeah. Okay, all right. That's fine. What do you have to give? That it is a lot like chopping wood. Uh-oh. At a certain point. Uh-oh. Now, there is... Breaking case of emergency. Get that axe out, because you are chopping... Some wood. But at the same time, you have to look for... This is the problem with it. You have to look for things to do. Because it's actually a pretty damn good combo game. And you get very well rewarded for the combos. But they're kind of tough combos. You know, like your Lady Justice ramp stuff and all that. You just got to look for that stuff. And it's fun. What's your favorite mode?
    25:16
    Seek and Destroy. That's not a... It's a mode. It's a crank it up. Okay. No, no, it's not crank it up. There's like an actual, it's like Lady Justice. That's why it's coded so great because there's a lot of little bitty things in there. Yeah, there is. Like fuel and all that stuff. What's that? Blackened? Yes. The pigs and blackened. Blackened the school with the pigs and everything. So, I mean, yeah, there's some small stuff in there. But my problem is a lot of that stuff takes a while to get to. Yeah. So you end up with long ball times, and it's an easy game, but it's a tough-ass game. When you're trying to get the third crank it up mode, what are your objectives, Greg? Not the fourth, the third. Repetitively just hit the hell out of everybody. How many? I don't know, like what, 60?
    26:01
    I haven't got there yet. Right now, if you think about playing that game, do you want to hit that snake 60 times? No! I don't want to hit anything rampant. I know that you can okay light the snake over here light the snake over there and hit all those shots I don want to hit all those son of a bitches 60 times That my only problem This is the first time ladies and gentlemen that Greg finally going to get a little hate mail. And I'm soaking it up. I'm the one that always gets the hate mail. Zach's such a prick. He's such an asshole. But I will go to the neutral side again and say that if it wasn't just two pins, I would still love to have it. Minimum lineup, number of lineup for Metallica. three to five three I might depend on what two I had it wouldn't be in my five pin collection but I think it can belong in plenty of five pin collections you definitely five may be the minimum and the only reason I say that it's still fun and I still love it and that one is gorgeous oh my that's over the top it is but damn I'm like, two pins. He hates it. It's kind of stressful. How ready are you for Walking Dead?
    27:11
    I'm just excited to play something new. But like I've said before, I played Walking Dead. I'm excited just for a third pin. That's my most excitement. Fair enough. I just had to do that, you guys, because Mr. Oh, Metallica's, oh, it's a one-pin game. I love it. I have like five more beers now. Blah, blah, blah. And I said, Greg, play it. No, just put it in your house for a couple weeks. And this son of a bitch, I swear to you, You're not going to sit here and be Mr. Neutral. No. He was like, I'm so effing done with this game. I'm done. I'm done, Zach. I thought, yeah, you're done because you played it for two weeks. And you're done seeking and destroying it. All right. I still like it. I do, too. It's a good game. All right. Now, in my world, any other pinball news? You're looking for a third pin. I'm looking for a third pin. Your lethal weapon three. Anything. I'll take anything. You'd like a Baywatch? I'd love a Baywatch. Some people stand in the night. Isn't that the song? Yeah. I'll be a man. Friend is coming to the night. That's right. Sorry for that. All right. Oh, so for me, I played Dialed In. Schminney got a brand new Dialed In LE, and it is simply gorgeous. So jealous. It is gorgeous. I thought it played good at the different shows. And it did. It played excellent. It plays even better out of the box. It seems like you're playing on a sheet of glass, and every shot is so smooth. The light show feels better for some reason. I want one so bad.
    28:36
    Me and my buddy Schmitty, we're best buddies. And I got him into the pin hobby. And he likes outdoing me. So, of course, he's going to have all the best shit. But he's a big Jersey Jack guy like we all are. And he's got Ruby Red Wizard of Oz. He's got the L.E. Hobbit. So, we both love Dialed In. And he was like, I'm getting a Dialed In. And we got, right when this thing was coming out, we got on the list. Because I played it at Expo, and I was like, Schmitty, dude. You got to get it. We're getting in on this. So we both got in on it. Then we thought, this is a $9,000 pin.
    29:14
    And we thought about it, thought about it. And he finally came to me and was like, I'm buying it. I said, okay, good for you. You're keeping your deposit and all that. Okay, cool. And a couple days later, I don't know where I played it. I played it again. And I said, yeah, I'm buying it too, Schmitty. And he was like, no, no, wait a minute here. He said, we can't both buy a $9,000. We'll be $18,000. We live right by each other. And we can swap them if we want to. So there's no need for us. And I shit you not, guys. Last night, I played it for a couple hours again. And I said, Schmitty, how in the hell do you expect me not to buy this game? He was, only you come over and play it whenever you want. I don't give a shit. Like, what are you doing at 7 this morning? Because I want to play this game. It's the one game that I've been playing right now, Greg, that when I'm playing, I'm more worried about losing the ball because I'm having so much fun and don't want to lose the ball. Want to keep it going. Than paying attention to what I'm supposed to do. It's so good. It's great. And then, guess what I bought? So I got rid of Indiana Jones. Yes. My beautiful, beautiful, excellent example, fully modded out Indiana Jones. And I got rid of my Popeye. Yeah, Popeye. Popeye paid some bills. So I paid some bills with that. but got rid of my Indiana Jones and I found a brand new in the box Tron Legacy Pro which most of you have probably seen the unboxing oh my it's so so nice it's pretty sick though to find one new in the box I had to pay for it Greg I had to pay for it that's what I said when I went to Hoagies that night the only thing I played I played a little Metallica and I just played his Tron it was fantastic I don't think you ever much thought of it No, Tron, I was never, every time I played it, I thought, that's fine. Yeah. It's not really a mode-based game. That's fine. And then. It's different. I keep hearing all these people talk about it. And so I go in, I watch the tutorials, I watch all of it. And then I go into the arcade and I play it how it's supposed to be played. And I start really liking it. It's fun. And then one pops up new in box and I think, I'm waiting for Houdini to come out. I got a couple months here. Yeah. I'll pick up a Tron. I'll lose some money. And now you're going to love it. That's going to be hard to part with it. It's going to be very hard. Especially after I put $1,500 to $2,000 worth of mods on it. But you have to. You have to. That's a game that you've got to mod. Oh, man. Ancient Descence was so ugly on that thing. It was terrible. I bet it. So enough about us. What's going on on the inside? So Deadflip did some more streaming. He did a Jetson stream and a Total Nuclear Annihilation stream. Total Nuclear is doing very well. Yeah, I think they're up to close to 200. I think it's a neat game, man. I've always liked the art package. I like that retro look. Love it. Love the music and sounds. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Easily.
    31:59
    I just don't know if I can own one. That's what everybody's doing. Everybody's doing this. They're like, oh, my God, fantastic for pinball. It's the greatest thing ever. It's a throwback. Are you buying it? Yeah. It's just tough because of price point. And I know that things are expensive and it's expensive to manufacture. I'm not knocking spooky at the price point. I think it's $6,000. It's a hell of a... I think you get a lot of game for $6,000. I do, especially quality-wise and everything. But I just... Light show music, you've got a lot of interaction with coils. You have cabinet. I would buy one. You have laser-edge side. You've got a backlash. You've got... Yeah. You keep going. I'd buy one secondhand, but I don't buy really anything new in box. This is not me. It's not... I'm too tight. The stream looked really good. Yeah. Even Scott Denise himself said, this is a game that just flourishes if you're playing it with buddies. Oh, I can see that. This is a buddy. I can see that. Man, this is a tournament. But this is fun to play with people. And I can see that. But I can see being able to play that, staying up late and just playing the hell out of TNA. Will I buy it? I haven't got a good chance to play it yet. Yeah, I haven't played it. I have reservations until I play it. What about the Jetsons? With everything. Jetsons is what it is. I mean, I think that the way it's coded. I think everything about it is they have achieved what they wanted to achieve that starter pin to get into just anyone's home family pin that anybody can play in the house I think that they have achieved that very well ok I like Jetsons I think the art is beautiful I think the layout looks pretty cool I would want to pay $4,000 for it yeah, agreed there's a lot of pins I'd go at $4,000 to me is a very sweet spot all right let's go on to uh but above and above oh more shit thunderbirds yeah You're a big Thunderbirds fan, right? No, I don't even really remember watching it. I don't know what it is. But I heard it's big in Australia. It's puppets, right? I don't know. Marinettes? Is it? I don't know. I'm not sure what Thunderbirds is.
    34:33
    You haven't Googled it? I know what it is. I'm being facetious. A lot of people call you a dick. Keep it real. I love pinball so much, I keep it real. So, Homepin out of China.
    34:50
    All right. Homepin is making this game. And it's cheap. It's like five grand. Yeah. And it's got all kinds of cool shit on it.
    35:00
    I don't know how it's going to do, but I hope the best for the guy. Oh, hell yeah. And I like the head with the EL. That stuff's cool. That's nice.
    35:09
    What else do you like about it, Greg? I like the hand. It's cool. So it's Thunderbirds. That's as much as we're going to talk about it. Here's the thing. You swung and you missed on the theme.
    35:23
    That is what it is. The theme sucks. The theme is making Alice Cooper look good. But I just don't think it's big here.
    35:30
    But we're, what, the U.S. is your biggest market? Yeah. Well, China doesn't have any pinball machines. No, but I'm just saying, you know. Australia. The Aussies love that shit. Yeah. So, that'd be cool. But machines are, and it might be more affordable for them, so they might take it on. I don't know. And it's growing over there like crazy. This or that, would you rather have a Thunderbirds themed pinball machine or an effing McDonald's?
    35:59
    Call it McDonald's. Yeah. McDonald's, right? Yeah. Make me shit my pants, but it still tastes good. My point being, Greg, how would you ever think that this is the thing? It's a theme I'm going to start my company on. Thunderbirds. I don't know. I hope it plays good. There's a lot of weird things. I'll own a Thunderbirds. You will. No, I won't. What if it's a great shooting game? I don't like the theme. I hate that theme. Eat your words, man. What would you rank that theme right now using our review grades?
    36:31
    That's a D theme. Oh, yeah. And I'm being nice. Yeah, I mean, I don't know. We're moving on. All right, so Buffalo Pinball Summer Open occurred a week or so ago. And these young ones, man, these young ones. A lot of teenagers moving up in the pin world. So 14-year-old. The quick guys. You want to hear me botch this name? Ready?
    36:54
    Alexander Kazmarchik. Kazmarchik? Damn it, Alex. I'm sorry, man. Kazmarchik. That's pretty close. Alexander Kazmarchik. One. He beat out Crazy Levy and beat him out to win this whole damn thing. What is up with these kids, Greg? It's these damn Xbox kids. They're taking on what we love. I think it's the greatest thing in the world that there are young people getting into pinball and are dominating. Well, yeah, because that's going to spread to other young kids. You know what it reminds me of? Remember that movie, Rookie of the Year? I love Rookie of the Year. Funky butt-loving, where he throws the doctor in the nose. Rookie of the Year is amazing. It reminds me of that. It's like this rags to riches. Look at me. I'm 12 and I'm in the major leagues, man. Because that is literally what it is. It's a Cinderella story. Who doesn't listen to Cinderella? I'm thinking Bill Murray now. And Caddyshack. Cinderella story. But yeah, I love it. I like it. I love it. I just think it's good for pinball. I think it's awesome. And the Buffalo pinball, the whole... I forgot who did the filming for that. My apologies. but they're making it into a professional broadcast. I thought it was awesome. Yeah, I saw Kevin. Yeah, it was awesome. So I love that. I want more of that. All right, what else we got? Greg on this month in Penn State. I lost my place here. See, you got me all fired up on Thunderbirds.
    38:23
    Thunderbirds. Can you believe the next couple things we have out are Thunderbirds and Alice Cooper? Alice Cooper's going to be good.
    38:30
    It is kind of growing on me. I have thought about it. It's kind of growing on me. I'm not going to lie. I still think that Alice Cooper could be my first new in box pin. Wow. Because price point's nice. You know what? We should drive up to Wisconsin and pick it up if you decide to get one. Okay. We should. Okay. I think Charlie and him would be okay with us coming to pick it up. Yeah, because price point's what gets me on that one. I think it's a decent price point. Yeah, I do too. Especially. And if you're going to have a Houdini, then maybe we can switch those.
    38:56
    Yeah, I'm warming up to Alice Cooper. We keep on pulling out some Thunderbird stuff. I'll get an Alice Cooper. You get a Houdini. Like, pull out an Iron Maiden and Alice Cooper's going to the top of my list. I like Iron Maiden. You like everything that the people like. No. No bullshit. I'm just normal. Bullshit. You're a fucking weirdo. Bullshit. All right Alien shipping Is it No wait a minute We thought it was It was The production was halted No it not shipping some problems with the ramps the ramps yeah and no longer the le doesn come with fiber optic fiber optic cables now what do you think about that i i i mean why do you get the le now yeah there's no real reason so aliens are shipping now um i listen to slam till podcast uh they do an awesome job really super cool bug agreed agreed always checking i'll listen to you in the shower Bruce yeah I listen to all my podcasts in the shower I come in from work and I'm all dirty I don't know if I can listen to Bruce in the shower doing oh my I don't know about your job so shout out Slamtail podcast they were saying that Kevin Manny from Buffalo Pinball streamed one of the new aliens from Cointaker a couple weeks ago awesome stream he had really good feedback about the machine but Slamtail was talking about when they were up at that Pocketeer in New York that it was shut down and it wasn't working. So we're already kind of, now does that mean they're all not working? No. But just the only one that I know of, kind of the new one. Well, but to be fair, and here I am being neutral again, a location around us had a Ghostbusters, non-functioning, had to be replaced, also had a Hobbit, and the son of a bitch nearly burnt up and had to be replaced. So it could just be a one-off problem. I'll throw it to him. Good point. Were those, so yeah, that's a good point. Yeah. I can't argue against that. All right, Stern made some management changes. Yes. In marketing department. Yes. Thank you, Stern. Yes. Appreciate it. And congratulations to Mr. Zachary Sharp. Congratulations to, yeah, Zach Sharp. Yeah. Zach Sharp. What does this mean to you as a consumer of pinball machines? We now have a new director of marketing at Stern. Do you think marketing is one area they need to focus on at Stern Pinball? Oh, hell yeah. That's a hell yeah. Coming from Mr. Neutral, a hell yeah. So do you think good things are coming?
    41:17
    I hope. I think so. I mean, I think it's an improvement over the latter. But I think you're going to see this change as early as Chicago Expo. Oh, yeah. You're going to see the way it went down last year with Batman 66. Yeah. And this year with, please for the love of God, Guardians of the Galaxy. please give me a please so I can't wait until Expo by the way I'm freaking ecstatic I am too I'm gonna love it I convinced the wife to go oh that's good yeah so do you think you'll back out two days before or three I'm going over under two days what do you guys think does Greg back out I'm going okay go to about ten episodes ago when you were going to Pemburg no I'm going to the hotel I'm going alright so we're excited about Stern Pinball's change in management I am of marketing. He got a little flack for it. Some people were kind of pissed, which I did not understand. This is not one of those crazy pinball things. Yeah, who else pissed about that? Yeah, this is a pin side thing, again.
    42:20
    Are you sure it wasn't Jody? I don't know what it was. He was getting out of there, logged into pin side on an obscure name.
    42:28
    But he got a promotion too. Yeah, he's doing licensing and stuff like that. Which might be good. They've been killing licensing. I heard he was kind of a lot behind the scenes with that stuff anyway. so good for him. And you bring in a sharp. Yeah. And you get rough. But since we're on, we're, you know, this is a smuthing bedside and everything. There was people bitching that like, oh, you know, you got this competitor in competition. Is he going to exclude himself from competition and all this now? Yeah. And I'm like, maybe there's something I'm missing.
    42:57
    But like if you were to exploit code or do some weird shit that you knew that nobody else knew. Okay. You're being videotaped. Oh, come on. You're going to know. I'm saying you're going to know that if it was there. He's not going to have any edge. Yeah, but we're not spending time. That's stupid. It was a pen side, though. People were bitching about it. It was stupid, yes. But I'm saying. That's a null point. Lyman Sheets freaking codes the damn thing. That's what I'm saying. I don't think that there's like putting these people that are competitors. Keith Owen, Lyman Sheets. That's what I'm saying. I don't think that it gives them any weird advantage. You know what I think it does? I think it's fantastic for a pinball. I think it's fantastic for Stern Pinball. Well, yeah. I think it's fantastic for us. They're building a hell of a lineup, and you get enough hardcore, badass pinball people like those three guys. Yes. There's no choice but for them to forcefully make pinball awesome. Better. I agree. Yeah. I agree. There's no way this turns into a bad thing. Now, that's an absolute. That's what I'm saying. But I think it's a great thing. I do, too. That's all I'm saying. Like, I'm just bringing up something on pin side. I got you. But, yeah, I mean, I think it's ridiculous, and I think that it's cool that they're getting in there. Some people on Pennside think the earth is flat. I mean, what the hell are you going to do? This is so true. All right.
    44:13
    Oh, my God. You guys have got to check this shit out. So, this is probably not appropriate to play on here. If you have kids in the room, this is probably the time to tell them not to watch. So, I was interested in Lord of the Rings. I ended up having my buddy. He had one. He let me swap it to scratch my itch. So it's a moot point now. But I was interested in one. I get on the old Craigslist and found one. And I thought it was closer than it was, but it wasn't. It was pretty far away.
    44:44
    And the guy wanted $7,000 for Lord of the Rings. Now, $7,000. Quite a bit. Yeah, it's a lot of money. So I'm thinking, okay, $7,000. I hope this damn thing is fully modded out. No, it's just a typical Lord of the Rings. So I thought, okay, maybe it's a retailer. If you've been sitting on it for a while, would you budge? Maybe it's a retailer. I'm a pinball guy. I know what the real street value prices are. Maybe I can work with this guy to drop it a couple hundred bucks to make sense for me to drive there. Just because you really wanted one. That's right. You're okay with overpaying a little bit. That's right. So he had one picture, I think. So I don't know what the hell the damn thing looks like. Not much of a description. So I text the guy and I said, hey man, I saw your Lord of the Rings. What's the lowest you could go on it? Is that acceptable or unacceptable? I think it's acceptable. And again, this is a disclaimer. If you have small children in the room, please remove the small children from the room. If you are easily offended, please mute your volume on your television, iPad, iPhone, or Android device. You've been warned. All right, so simple text. What's the lowest you can go? Here's the response. I'm not going to say the guy's name. I'm not going to say where he's from. But this is the best. So listen here. I shouldn't even play this. This is great, though.
    46:08
    Does he say his name, though? I'll have to edit it out later. Hey, Zachary. You just sent me a text about my Lord of the Rings pinball. Hey, man, no offense, but I had a question for you. Uh-huh. What? Do you really buy $7,000 items by just texting people and then your first and only question is what's the lowest price? I do. Is that the way the world really works for you? Because I'm going to tell you something, sir. I've been in sales for over 30 years. I've been doing this for 10. I do over $45,000 a month selling arcade equipment. And I know for a fact that you would never buy. Because people that buy $7,000 items, they don't text. They pick up the fucking phone and they call. and they don't ask right away personal questions. What's your lowest price? They ask about me, my business, my game. So get a fucking clue and quit wasting people's time, alright? I don't want your goddamn business.
    47:04
    And so there you have it. Somebody calls the dick a dick. Somebody dropped a mic on that one. Wow, Greg. Me and him had such a laughing fit over this. And do you want me to tell you the most epic, greatest part of this whole damn thing is how long ago was that, Zach? Two, three weeks ago? Yeah, let me see.
    47:29
    Yeah, it was about two weeks ago. And literally, like a week ago, Zach got cussed out again! For inquiring about a pin. For inquiring about a pin. But literally, we cannot show you anything about that one because it was so absurd so derogatory so belligerent oh my god that we can't even like literally we're pretty vulgar fuckers yeah but we cannot repeat that what the second guy said want to go to catholic church he put this first one to shame wow so i think that is what are we these people man what is up with these people i think it's i think it's a damn omen. Oh, boy. How great was that? You should ask about me, about my business, my favorite color, what car I drive. I drive a Prius, god damn it. Hey, just write us on YouTube or our Facebook and let us know if Zach should conform to these standards. Because I personally feel that he's the dumbass and that guy is completely right.
    48:38
    I'd want to know all those things, too. I love when he started no offense but here comes the offense when I was listening to it the first time I about shit knew because I was listening to it it was just a voicemail so I thought okay you know and Zach just sent me this shit in like a voice file on the phone and so like I hit play on it and I was like I had no clue what I was listening to I was like what the hell did he send me and I was just like oh shit how do you respond to that some days I feel like that though you just yell at people ask about my business I do $45,000 with that attitude pretty damn epic though thank you Greg's list thank you so much Guy for giving me a good laugh because my life is so much more important than that was funny I hope more people respond like that because boy oh boy that really gives me the giggles I loved it alright so thank you Angry Man with the $7,000 Lord of the Rings Jesus It's a good game, though. It is $7,000 good. All right, so let's wrap it up, man. Check us out on Facebook. Ask about me.
    49:52
    Check us out on Twitch. We are now on Twitch. We now have Chuck Wirt joining us. We do 15 viewers on YouTube every video. We have Waspinator streaming. We're both streaming. Subscribe to us on Twitch. Follow us on Twitch. Subscribe to us on YouTube. Say hi to us at the show. We're wearing the awesome shirts that we got. You'll see us both. At the Chicago Expo. Dos. Dos idiots at Chicago Expo. At Expo. We'll grab a beer. And we're going to Nashville. I get the name of it. The Grand Old Game Room Expo from November 10th to 12th. Mr. Corgan and Bear were working with him to hopefully do something special in Nashville. So Expo. The Expo, you guys, is coming up October 11th through the 15th. So get your tickets. Get your tickets now. Until next week, have a good one. We love you guys. Thanks so much for the support. And keep watching those other videos. Checking out Greg on stream. I don't think you'll have this Metallica much longer. No. So Walking Dead is coming. Yes. And I've got my part coming in for Lost World, so you'll see me on Lost World. Adios! Do we live in a world that you text about $7,000? No, we don't. Because if you were going to buy a $7,000 machine, you'd pick up the phone.
    51:08
    That guy probably died after that voicemail. Wow! Flipped his shoe! Boom! Which one you putting? But who's got the bullets? Balls up the mall I do I hate that song I've got the big balls My kids think it's hilarious It came on one night No we can't roll that No We can't roll that I had a good joke Yours was so much better I ain't gonna stop my joke Yours was probably arable Yeah it was The setup and everything some bowls are held for charity some for fancy dress but when they're held for pleasure they are the bowls that I like best that was actually pretty good thank you I love ACDC