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Ep 83 - Rick & Morty, Hot Wheels, or Stranger Things?

Special When Lit·podcast_episode·1h 1m·analyzed·Dec 18, 2019
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.035

TL;DR

Rick and Morty sells out instantly; speculation mounts on Stern's next reveal

Summary

Special When Lit Podcast episode discussing the Rick and Morty pinball reveal by Spooky Pinball (sold out 750 units in 5 hours), speculation about upcoming Stern titles (heavily rumored to be Stranger Things), and broader market dynamics around limited editions, pricing, and the secondary market. Hosts Ken Cromwell and Bill Wood analyze the game reveal strategy, artwork, playfield features, and potential competition from other manufacturers.

Key Claims

  • Rick and Morty by Spooky Pinball sold out 750 pre-orders in approximately 5 hours

    high confidence · Ken Cromwell and Bill Wood, confirmed by Dr. John's correspondent report; verified as 'accounted for' with deposits taken

  • Spooky will produce the 750 Rick and Morty units over 18.5 months

    high confidence · Ken Cromwell and Bill Wood discuss the production timeline

  • Fully outfitted Rick and Morty (with Bloodsucker Edition, Buttercab, and mods) can reach $9,000

    high confidence · Bill Wood calculates: baseline ~$7,000 + Bloodsucker Edition + Buttercab (~$1,000 upgrade) + aftermarket mods

  • Pirates of the Caribbean secondary market prices are reaching well into the five figures

    high confidence · Ken Rudberg (Jersey Jack correspondent) reports high demand and supply shortage

  • Jersey Jack has stated there will be no more runs of Pirates of the Caribbean

    high confidence · Ken Rudberg correspondent report citing Jack Guarneri directly

  • Stern is rumored to be revealing Stranger Things as their next title

    medium confidence · Craig Bobby (Stern correspondent) and hosts speculate; Stern showed unmarked box in warehouse on Facebook

  • Brian Eddy is potentially the designer on Stern's rumored Stranger Things machine

    medium confidence · Ken Cromwell mentions this as speculation/rumor

  • American Pinball is potentially working on a Hot Wheels pinball machine

    medium confidence · Brian Koster (American Pinball correspondent) reports as rumor; company did not confirm or deny when contacted

  • Hidden Mickeys have been spotted in Pirates of the Caribbean artwork

    medium confidence · Ken Rudberg notes at least two have been found; attributed to Disney film connection

Notable Quotes

  • “The 750 games that were released have now all been accounted for... Spooky Pinball has pre-sold, at least they've taken deposits down for 750 games... They want to bang these out over, I think it's 18 years. 18 and a half, yep.”

    Ken Cromwell and Bill Wood@ 14:34 — Confirms the unprecedented sellout scale for Spooky; record-breaking pre-order performance

  • “They already sold their stuff. That's exactly it. It's sold out. It doesn't matter anymore... Spooky hit the jackpot because this is what they do. They jumped out ahead.”

    Bill Wood@ 25:49 — Market analysis: Spooky's first-mover advantage with Rick and Morty makes competitive threats (like Stern's Stranger Things) irrelevant to their sales

  • “If it's your dream theme. Right. No, you don't care how long it takes... Right now, it is the theme that has sold the game.”

    Ken Cromwell and Bill Wood@ 21:37 — Core insight about license-driven purchasing and long wait times in pinball collecting

  • “Nobody's going to be able to describe the license to you. You're going to have to experience it yourself.”

    Ken Cromwell (discussing Rick and Morty)@ 10:25 — Commentary on the subjective nature of theme-driven game appeal; reinforces that video content alone cannot convey the full experience

  • “With all the time that you're awake, you're going to have to stream this on your phone at 3 hours.”

    Ken Cromwell (to Bill Wood about watching Rick and Morty)@ 9:58 — Humorous acknowledgment that Bill Wood is very busy; indicates demanding schedule

  • “It's broken up into small pieces... when you think of Rick and Morty, there's really not anything that's cohesive as a whole... I don't know that I can think of any better way to really approach it.”

    Bill Wood@ 23:56 — Design philosophy analysis: segmented artwork matches thematic fragmentation of the show itself

Entities

Ken CromwellpersonBill WoodpersonSpooky PinballcompanyRick and MortygameStern PinballcompanyStranger ThingsgamePirates of the Caribbeangame

Signals

  • ?

    product_launch: Rick and Morty by Spooky Pinball sold out all 750 pre-orders in approximately 5 hours, representing a record pre-order performance for the manufacturer

    high · Ken Cromwell: 'the 750 games that were released have now all been accounted for so Spooky Pinball has pre-sold'; deposits taken down; Bill Wood: 'It's got to be some type of a record, obviously for them personally, because they've never made 750 of anything'

  • ?

    collector_signal: Theme-driven FOMO creating instant demand for Rick and Morty; license exclusivity means no alternative source for fans

    high · Ken Cromwell: 'if you're not like, well, if I don't get Rick and Morty, I guess I'll get Houdini. I mean, it doesn't make any sense... If it's your dream theme. Right. No, you don't care how long it takes'

  • $

    market_signal: Secondary market for spot-in-line developing; potential for scalping and resale of pre-order positions at premium

    high · Ken Cromwell: 'There is that ability to kind of sell your spot in line and almost scalp your ticket, so to speak, and grab a couple thousand dollars more'; Bill Wood notes deposit structure incentivizes completion

  • $

    market_signal: Fully equipped Rick and Morty machines reaching $9,000 with Bloodsucker Edition, Buttercab, and mods; represents significant premium over baseline

    high · Bill Wood calculates: baseline $7,000 + Bloodsucker Edition + Buttercab ($1,000) + mods = $9,000 total

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Bill Wood expresses surprise/concern about escalating prices, noting Spooky previously undercut themselves for community benefit

Topics

Rick and Morty instant sellout and pre-order strategyprimarySpooky Pinball's production capacity and 18.5-month timelineprimaryLimited edition pricing and secondary market dynamicsprimaryStern Pinball rumored Stranger Things announcement timingprimaryPirates of the Caribbean scarcity and secondary market inflationsecondaryAmerican Pinball Hot Wheels rumorsecondaryRick and Morty playfield artwork and design aestheticssecondaryToy-on-spring mechanic comparison (TIE Fighter vs. Rick and Morty ship)secondary

Sentiment

positive(0.78)— Hosts are excited about Rick and Morty reveal and generally positive about Spooky's execution, though Bill Wood expresses some reservations about not seeing full playfield overview and pricing concerns. Speculation about Stern is enthusiastic but tempered. Overall tone is celebratory of the industry momentum.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.185

0:00
Coming at you out of St. Charles, Illinois, the special When Lit Pinball podcast starts now. Hey, what's going on, Pinball Land? Welcome. It's episode number 83. That's 8-3 of the special When Lit Pinball podcast. My name is Ken Cromwell. And I am Bill Wood. And tonight we're doing something that's a little bit cutting edge for us. We are simultaneously recording episode 83, not only in Studio C, which is here, but we are broadcasting live on Twitch.
0:35
Now, the way that this is going to work, Bill, is something that's going to be a little bit unique because we are going to kind of take these rough cuts, which everybody's going to see. You're going to see our fumbles and our mistakes, and you're going to see why we edit shows post-production style. Right? So where we're not going to be able – typically on Twitch, you would be interacting with chat. We're not going to be able to maybe do that as much as we normally would, but you'll kind of get a little background scene on what we do when we're recording these shows. So let me ask you this, Bill, because this is how we would typically open up the show.
1:05
What is going on with Bill Webb? It's been an interesting week. Why is that? What's going on? I didn't buy any more games. I mean, since the last one. Well, that is an interesting week. Mr. Rockefeller over here has been bringing home pins every other week. Well, dude, so I scored a twister on Friday. I came up on Facebook, and the guy was coming up to Chicagoland on Friday, and I'm like, hey, what can you do on this? So I picked up a Twister. Now, Twister's been on your backlog list. It's on the list of B titles that I'd like to own at one point. But I remember even meeting you, it was Whirlwind and Twister,
1:38
and you imagining those pins side-by-side at some point. Now, you've since kind of received the Whirlwind, restored it, and sent it on its way. Yes. So how is Twister comparing to Whirlwind, in your opinion? I haven't played it. It all makes sense. In all honesty, man. It makes sense. It needed LEDs and a little bit of love. So I just got the LEDs in it. I need a flipper rebuild kit just because it's not exactly where I'd like to be. But, dude, it's all right. So it's good. Playfield's nice. Awesome. So you've got Bill's Corner. We started last week.

  • “Games are on the water is what you're thinking... Stern tries to have as close to a simultaneous release overseas as they can domestically here within the United States.”

    Ken Cromwell@ 25:25 — Industry supply chain knowledge: explains why overseas gaming reports signal imminent U.S. announcements

  • “The best time to buy a pinball machine is January 1st through like March 15th... when people start getting their refund. Pay some taxes.”

    Bill Wood@ 27:28 — Market timing insight: consumer spending patterns tied to tax refunds drive pinball purchasing cycles

    • Hot Wheels
    game
    Jack Guarneriperson
    Scottperson
    Charlieperson
    Brian Eddyperson
    American Pinballcompany
    Ken Rudbergperson
    Dr. Johnperson
    Craig Bobbyperson
    Adam Schwartzperson
    Zach Sharpeperson
    Special When Lit Pinball Podcastorganization
    Project Pinball Charity Fundraiserevent
    This Week in Pinballorganization
    Toy Storygame
    Guns N' Rosesgame

    medium · Bill Wood: 'it's not because I don't think Spooky deserves to charge more for their games. It was just interesting to me because it always seemed like Spooky was almost, at some points, undercutting themselves on the price for the better good of the community'

  • ?

    machine_intel: Rick and Morty confirmed features: interactive ship on spring with RGB lighting, Smith's house sculpted back, Denisey Mark II lock, left slingshot pop bumper, MagnaSave on right outland, extra flipper button, anti-gravity device, slam ring, portal entry top left

    high · Dr. John correspondent report details playfield elements; Bill Wood confirms ship has independent RGB on headlights and dome with visible Rick/Morty silhouettes

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Strong community speculation that Stern will announce Stranger Things; based on unmarked boxes in warehouse, timing, and thematic fit with Ghostbusters Afterlife cultural moment

    medium · Craig Bobby: 'photos emerged this week on Facebook of an unmarked pinball machine-sized box appearing in the Stern warehouse, implying that Stern is already in production mode... could this be the week that Stern reveals their next hotly rumored title of Stranger Things?'

  • ?

    rumor_hype: American Pinball rumored to be developing Hot Wheels machine; company did not confirm or deny when contacted

    low · Brian Koster: 'the big rumor of the week is that American Pinball is potentially working on a Hot Wheels pinball machine. I did reach out for an official confirmation, but they did not confirm or deny the rumor'

  • ?

    product_concern: Bill Wood questions Spooky's Sunday night reveal timing and cryptic messaging; notes lack of full playfield overview in promotional video

    medium · Ken Cromwell: 'I'm not expecting a pinball game or a pinball machine title to be revealed on a Sunday night'; Bill Wood: 'I'm still waiting to pass my final judgment on the game... I'm still waiting to digest it more as a whole instead of kind of snippets of little pieces'

  • $

    market_signal: Best pinball purchase window is January 1 - March 15, driven by tax refunds; post-holiday consumer spending lull creates Q1 buying spike

    medium · Bill Wood: 'The best time to buy a pinball machine is January 1st through like March 15th... when people start getting their refund'

  • ?

    content_signal: Special When Lit Podcast expanding to simultaneous live Twitch streaming while recording; showing behind-the-scenes production process

    high · Ken Cromwell: 'we are simultaneously recording episode 83... we are broadcasting live on Twitch... you'll get a little background scene on what we do when we're recording these shows'

  • ?

    community_signal: Special When Lit maintains specialized correspondent network (Ken Rudberg-Jersey Jack, Dr. John-Spooky, Craig Bobby-Stern, Brian Koster-American Pinball) providing manufacturer-specific updates

    high · Multiple correspondent segments throughout episode providing company-specific intelligence and announcements

    • 2:08
    So I imagine as we progress through the following months, we'll get some updates on Twister. No, no. You'll be getting updates on Transformers. Oh, Transformers. Sorry, I forgot. You've got all these projects. Yeah. It's pretty amazing. And another project next week that you know about. But that's okay. We'll dive into that later on. I can't wrap my head around it. Speaking of projects, the Project Pinball Charity Fundraiser is something that we've been working hard on, too. And we'll talk more about that later in the show. We had an excellent phone call with Adam Schwartz just now.
    2:40
    And Adam Schwartz is from the New York City pinball kind of scene. He's the guy that's doing the dollar-for-dollar match. So hang on to the, you know, briefly here. We'll get into that. But other than that, I'm just kind of anxiously awaiting this 24-hour stream. It's going to start on Friday the 20th at 6 o'clock Central Standard Time. And it's going to go to 6 o'clock Saturday, which is the 21st Central Standard Time. It's a lot of work. And I'm looking forward to seeing it through and being able to hopefully relax on Sunday. I look forward to the recap. Yes.
    3:10
    Yes, me too. Seeing how it all pans out. You think we hit the $24,000 goal? Yes. Yeah, me too. Let's get into the pinball news. Let's do it. Getting the news from around the industry in this week's Industry Buzz. Hi, this is Ken Rudberg with your special and lit Jersey Jack update. With the popularity of Pirates of the Caribbean and lots of satisfied owners, it appears that there is much more demand than supply for that machine. Prices are reaching well into the five figures, if you can find it,
    3:42
    and there's been a lot of interest in another run. One person has even gone so far as to create a Jersey Jack Bring Pirates Back Facebook page. Unfortunately, sorry to disappoint people, but Jersey Jack himself has said there will be no more runs of Pirates of the Caribbean, which is not surprising with Guns N' Roses and potentially Toy Story in the works for next year. On a related note, some owners have spotted at least two hidden Mickeys within the artwork of the machine.
    4:14
    This is not surprising because Pirates of the Caribbean films are created by Disney, and they tend to do that when they make a new property. It'll be interesting to see if any more show up. This has been Ken Rudberg with your Jersey Jack Update. Hey, this is Kaz with an American Pinball Update. Work continues on the Flying Dutchman Redemption game. They are making some adjustments and improvements to the design. And also, merchandise with the new mascot Amy Pinn is now available for purchase. but the big rumor of the week is that American Pinball is potentially working on a Hot Wheels pinball machine.
    4:50
    I did reach out for an official confirmation, but they did not confirm or deny the rumor. There have been a few rumored titles in the works, and there is definitely excitement for this new release. We will continue to wait for an official announcement. For American Pinball, this is Brian Koster. Could this be the week Stern goes to the Upside Down and Ghostbusters gets Stranger? Hey guys, Craig here again, your special one lit Stern News correspondent. Well, with two confirmed new titles for 2020 in Raza from Deep Root and Rick and Morty from Spooky,
    5:21
    photos emerged this week on Facebook of an unmarked pinball machine-sized box appearing in the Stern warehouse, implying that Stern is already in production mode of some new title and readying units to be in time for Santa's upside-down shipment on Christmas Eve. So could this be the week that Stern reveals their next hotly rumored title of Stranger Things? and will this announcement end up sending our own Ken Cromwell into the Upside Down himself from sheer dream-theme excitement? We shall wait and see. And isn't it ironic that the new Ghostbusters Afterlife trailer,
    5:52
    which was dropped earlier this week, has a distinctly Stranger Things feel to it? The new film even goes so far as to cast one of the team leads of Stranger Things, fellow Canadian Finn Wolfhard, who also has one of the coolest names in Hollywood, as one of the main characters in this latest installment of the Ghostbusters franchise. It doesn't take a genius to predict that Stern would be foolish not to cash in on this hot throwback theme and vault one of the most popular titles in Ghostbusters sometime in 2020. Even the title Ghostbusters Afterlife screams out for Stern to vault the original.
    6:26
    Lots to consider and ponder as we charge toward an exciting finish to the 2019 pinball season. that's all for this week for special when lit i'm craig bobby catch you on the flip side hello again i hope you are as half as excited i am at today's reveal of the rick and morty pinball machine by spooky it shows the playfield in its entirety with some action and some of the custom call outs that are occurring and a separate post shows the art of the cabinet
    6:57
    with the custom armour, which is on the Bloodsuckers edition. I don't want to go through the game, as this is being seen by pretty much everybody by the time you hear this, but as listed, there's an interactive ship on a spring, as seems to be the want of toys nowadays. There's the Smith's house sculpted in the back with the new Denisey Mark II lock, which looks to be a horseshoe with stand-up targets at either entrance. Interesting. the anticipated left slingshot pop bumper is present and a MagnaSave on the right outland
    7:35
    controllable by the extra flipper button on the right which is in the correct position as opposed to a lockdown bar which I'm too slow to press. Anti-gravity device is the MagnaSave, there's the slam ring, I'm not quite sure what that is and of course the portal entry is up the top left around the garage shop from the top flipper which ejects into the left in lane via the ball trough which was seen under the play field. Custom voiceovers, adventures from the series with video clips from the series,
    8:10
    the Denise music and the HD LCD as listed make this a must have game in my books but it won't be to everyone's taste and you get to decide. Looking forward to pricing information which should be out tomorrow via email for Fan Club members. Catch you all next week. Well, there have been a lot of information from the correspondents. I don't even know if I can digest all of it. Especially Dr. John.
    8:42
    I like how Dr. John's delivery is always fascinating to me because he's like, I hope that you're all as excited as I am right now. And it sounds like he's sitting down on the couch, drinking a glass of wine and having a stogie. Absolutely. Like it doesn't sound, it doesn't seem like he's like pumped up going crazy because he's very reserved. He has to be in his line of work, but you know what? He lives the furthest out of everybody. And he covers like one of the closest, well, not the closest, but a manufacturer that's two hours from us. That was funny. Cause Chuck from spooky pinball and Chuck and his family,
    9:12
    they own spooky pinball. He always thought it was odd that our correspondent for his company is, to your point, probably lives the furthest away than anybody else who could potentially cover that company for him. But he's got an established relationship, and that is Dr. John, with everybody at Spooky. And, dude, he's on point every week. Absolutely. So let's get into the license or the reveal now of Spooky Pinball's Rick and Morty. Now, since we last spoke, I believe you said you had not had any time really to kind of get into the series or you haven't seen any of the episodes, correct?
    9:43
    I still have not. Okay, so you still have not. I've listened to some people's description of the show. Right. And actually, he's an interesting character. The poo-poo something. So you're going to have to watch some episodes at some point. With all the time that you're awake, you're going to have to stream this on your phone at 3 hours. Have you started watching it? Yeah, so I'm on season two. right now. Now, this is the thing with Rick and Morty. It's not a terrible watch, and every episode is pretty different. So if you find something within an episode that isn't calling to you, 22 minutes later
    10:17
    at max, you've got something else that's a completely different adventure. As far as the humor goes, it's going to call to certain people. It's not going to call to certain people. But I can tell you this. Nobody's going to be able to describe the license to you. You're going to have to experience it yourself. Yeah. So whatever you hear on podcasts like, for instance, I listen to This Week in Pinball today and Zach many did an excellent job of kind of deep diving the pin. And he had a lot of outtakes that he was playing with, like music and whatnot. That's not going to be as effective as if you watch the episode and you understood what was happening.
    10:50
    You know, I see. Like I said, I've seen some of the YouTube stuff and it looked pretty funny. So we'll see. I will. I will. I will have to watch it. So and during this episode, for those of you that are listening to the podcast versus watching the podcast, we're able to kind of look on Twitch and we can see viewer comments right now. So Zach from Flippin Out Pinball wanted to remind us that the name is Mr. Poopy Butthole as the figure that you're actually you're talking about. All right. So the Rick and Morty pinball reveal took place at a kind of a strange time to me.
    11:23
    They did it a few different ways, too. They showed the bottom of the play field one day. Right, so that was the first exposure we really had to the game. Underside of the play field. That's when a lot of people started speculating, hey, one of those slingshots is actually a pop bumper. Correct. Right. Now, as I was waiting, and I'll go into last night, this being Monday, Sunday, I'm just not expecting a pinball game or a pinball machine title to be revealed on a Sunday night. No. Right. What do you find on, you know, 8 o'clock, like 5 or 6 o'clock at night? So I got a message from somebody, and they're like, you ready for the spooky reveal?
    11:55
    And I'm like, yep. It's like, it's going to be any minute. And I'm like, figuratively or literally, it's not going to be any minute. It's Sunday night. Why would they do that? Yeah. It's like, well, why wouldn't they do that? So I jump on Spooky's Facebook page, and there's a picture of a coffee cup, and it's like Rick and Morty. It's like, hey, get your caffeine ready. It's going to be a long night. But I know that Rick and Morty season four is on Adult Swim right now, Cartoon Network. So I'm assuming, all right, get your cup of coffee ready because we're all going to watch this episode of Rick and Morty, and it's celebrating the license.
    12:25
    Yeah. In no way did I really think that the pinball machine was getting revealed on Sunday night. Now, I'm at an appointment somewhere else, and the game's revealed. And, Bill, we have a pinball podcast. This is our e-entertainment, right? Yeah. So we're ready to kind of knock this out, and I'm waiting for the reveal. I'm out on Sunday night. The game's revealed. Everybody's got this hype going on, and I come home, and I'm picking up the pieces of a reveal of a pinball machine. It was just kind of strange to me that they weren't like, listen, it's happening tonight, so get ready.
    12:58
    It was like, again, it was a cryptic kind of message where it could have been taken either way. If they didn't reveal the machine that night and it was just celebrating another episode of Rick and Morty, they could have gotten away with it. Oh, yeah. But it was a full pinball reveal. And, dude, it had a lot of comments, man. Yes. People were paying attention. Now, you're in an interesting situation where you were privy to not only see the Whitewood, but you played the Whitewood. And if you don't feel comfortable speaking of this, I understand, but I'm going to put you on the spot a little bit. Okay.
    13:28
    I'm curious as to your feedback seeing the Whitewood, playing the Whitewood, and now seeing the production video that was released. I don't think a whole lot has changed. Okay. So it's kind of what you played. Obviously without artwork. Yeah. Which was a different experience, man. I've never really flipped a Whitewood before, other than TNA Whitewood. There's still one mech in there that I've got to talk to Scott, but I don't know if he's really discussed how that's worked yet. Okay, I like that.
    13:59
    But it's in there, and I don't think... We'll leave it at that. We'll leave that as Scott's thing to... I appreciate the fact that you're cognizant of them revealing the game as they see fit. You're not looking to steal thunder. you're not looking yeah i get it you know i mean i think they're looking at the game it is a night and day difference seeing it with artwork right um knowing the theme now because i thought it was haunted house party or pitch perfect as we talked about a year and a half ago um but uh yeah i do i'm happy for scott i'm happy for charlie dude it's amazing that they sold out in what five hours
    14:34
    yeah so the update is the 750 games that were released have now all been accounted for so Spooky Pinball has pre-sold, at least they've taken deposits down for 750 games. Yeah. It's got to be some type of a record, obviously for them personally, because they've never made 750 of anything. No. They've taken deposits for 750, and they want to bang these out over, I think it's 18 years. 18 and a half, yep. So, yeah, it's unbelievable. I'm hoping that they can knock them out even faster, in all honesty. Was there anything that was on the play field?
    15:05
    All right, so let's take a look. I'm not going to deep dive this. There are a lot of people that went very in-depth with this, and I just want to get some general feedback and some general discussion on the title. Was there anything there that stood out to you as, whoa, this is awesome? And was there anything that stood out to you where you like hmm that kind of puzzling Like the house and I like the garage Are you talking about in its current state right Yeah right exactly So what you saw I think the Bloodsucker Edition artwork powder coating and all that it beautiful
    15:35
    I like the artwork. So you do like the purple artwork on there. This is why I'm kind of biting my tongue here because if I actually like this show, dude, I'm going to be pissed I missed out on one of these. Oh, if you like the show? If I really love the show, someone's going to make a mint off me. Let me ask you your opinions because Star Wars came out and there was the TIE Fighter on a spring. Which caught a lot of crap. A lot. Because it was Star Wars. It was a huge license. There were so many people that were passionate about license. You had to kind of – I don't know that there's like a main toy on that game other than the Hyperloop.
    16:10
    But if you had a pro, you didn't have a Hyperloop. You had the TIE Fighter on a spring. Now we see Rick and Morty come out and there is the ship on a spring. walk me through your feelings or comparisons between the tie fighter on a spring and the ship on a spring that spooky is currently offering on the game i didn't have a big problem with the ship on a spring but i like the um brick and morty ship on you know with the changing lights and whatnot that's where i think it's so it's it differentiates it's not
    16:41
    just a cheap cheesy walmart toy that you know is mounted to a spring you know it's cool because if you look at the ship like you said you've got independent uh rgb lighting on each of the headlights left and right yep you also are you've got rgb lighting in the dome yep and then it's kind of cool because if you get the right view like which is front end of the ship you absolutely see the silhouette of rick and morty inside the spacecraft and i think it's so cool now i think the game lends itself well for a lot of add-ons outside of what spooky's offering
    17:14
    because they're offering speaker grill kits and you've got your Bloodsucker Edition, which gives you the purple armor, which you said you are a fan of. Dude, in the next two weeks, people are going to have mods for this game. I kind of liked the Standard Edition armor versus the purple. Really? You know what I think the game could use? And again, I'm excited to play the game, but if I had to be picky, I would ask that, especially on the Bloodsucker Edition, that purple really pops. And when you look at the speaker panel, which is now like an easy access panel and that kind of comes down.
    17:46
    And I'm sure this is something that the mod community could make. But even spooky, I know Charlie's in printing. How about some type of a decal that kind of covers up some of that? Now, you don't want to cover up all your powder coat, but you could do something tastefully to kind of fill in some of the space there. But again, that's just me being nitpicky without playing the game and realizing what I might like and what I might not like. Okay, so what I was thinking in my mind, I like the purple, so to me that doesn't bother me. Okay. I'd have to have it in front of me to really be critical on that. But considering that the games weren't limited, there weren't 375 Bloodsucker additions and standards,
    18:24
    what's to say the standard isn't actually limited? Well, there's 750 pins, and I was trying to remember, because I was trying to keep track of numbers today, there might be like 500 or 600 of them that end up being Bloodsuckers. Because if you're trying to jump the line or get in the front... The only way you were going to do it was getting a blood sucker. Well, there's a multi-step tier system. Like, first you've got to get into the Fang Club, and then you've got to jump in and you've got to get the blood sucker edition. Yes. And then typically you would have had to have gotten, like, the butter cab, which is a $1,000 upgrade.
    18:55
    But I think since then, because the butter cabs are always done in batches, I think I read that they brought the butter cab process, which is essentially clear-coating the cabinet. Yes. They brought that in-house. So it's not as important to batch those out necessarily. Yeah. But when it's all said and done, you're looking at a game. If you put in all your add-ons, okay, your Bloodsucker Edition, your Buttercab, you're at $9,000 if you bling this thing out. Before mods.
    19:25
    No, no, no. Aftermarket mods. Yes. $9,000 for Rick and Morty. and I had to take a step back today when I heard that and it's not because I don't think Spooky deserves to charge more for their games. It was just interesting to me because it always seemed like Spooky was almost, at some points, undercutting themselves on the price for the better good of the community. And it's not that they've gone to the dark side of the force, but it seems as if they realize the power of...
    19:59
    le's or limited for the lack of a better term they have well and nine thousand dollars for rick and morty what are you going to see more of let's let's let's backtrack this okay okay more wonka le's and and collectors at additions or standards i mean that's a little different just because of the price is significant on that game let's take it back to pirates well in limited numbers so okay pirates of the caribbean they sold 2 000 allegedly right How many of those were LEs and collectors, and how many were standards? Yeah, I don't know.
    20:29
    I don't know the numbers. I don't know that we ever know the exact numbers. I mean, you can guesstimate based on what you're hearing in the community. But $750, Rick and Morty, some of them getting to $9,000. And I think the baseline model is like $7,000, like if you just kind of – and at that point, you're probably getting something on the second end of the 18 months, which is fine. Like I don't know if people have bought games today and they figured out what number they are. But I would imagine that the first 20 or 30 of these that are going to go out are going to be highly sought after.
    21:01
    And then there is that ability to kind of sell your spot in line and almost scalp your ticket, so to speak, and grab a couple thousand dollars more. Whereas as the production progresses and you get towards. But the other thing I was thinking was this with the license, because there's not anything like it. Like if you're not like, well, if I don't get Rick and Morty, I guess I'll get Houdini. I mean, it doesn't make any sense. Like, if you're a fan of the game. If you're a fan of the theme and the layout. The theme, right? Yeah. Does it really matter if you wait 18 months?
    21:33
    Well, it's. If it's your dream. Right. If it's your dream theme. Right. No, you don't care how long it takes. Right now, it is the theme that has sold the game. And then this teaser. Because the other thing is. So, the video that we saw that was released today gave you kind of an idea of what's going on in the machine. But I did not feel like I got an overview of what's happening with the game. And I'm not even talking about rule set, but maybe I missed it today, but I did not see even like an overhead shot of the full play field like I did on the underside of the play field. Like I would like to be able to kind of take that in as a whole.
    22:05
    Now, obviously, when I'm playing the game, I'm not floating above the game at 90 degrees looking down. I mean, I'm at an angle, but I guess what it comes down to is I we got to play the thing. We got to play the thing. And then like when do we see a plate? Is it a stream? Is it from Spooky? Because they cut and directed their own promotional video, and that's kind of what we saw. But when do we see gameplay? When do we do that? Does it just show up at a show? Does it come to CES, which is happening in Vegas? I'm going to call Scott tonight and be like, hey, man, when do I get to see this?
    22:36
    That's not a bad idea. We're only 20 minutes down the street. I'm kidding. He might be like, hey, you have to wait, but I don't know. So I guess I'm excited about Rick and Morty as a theme. I'm excited about what I've seen so far. But again, I'm still waiting to pass my final judgment on the game, obviously, until we play it. But at the very least, I'd like to be able to digest it more as a whole instead of kind of snippets of little pieces of the game. I like the artwork. I like the layout. Oh, let's get into the artwork. So you like the play field artwork?
    23:06
    I do. I think it was very, very well done. Really? I do. I like it. Okay. um dude just playing just seeing playing the game beforehand with no animations no you know it's just literally shot shot here whatever right then you know seeing it with that artwork i really do like the artwork and i think it it's on point so so the artwork for me because i think what i'm used to the art the artwork looked very uh segmented like in just micro parts all over
    23:36
    the place it is but i kind of like that it's a different feel than what we've been getting Gotcha. I guess I'm just kind of used to like a focal point in the middle of a play field, which kind of branches out and dissipates into smaller. This just looks like it's a bunch of small pieces. That being said, it makes sense with the theme, because when you think of Rick and Morty, there's really not anything that's cohesive as a whole. It's it's broken up into small pieces. So I don't know that that that would be my preferred art style. But that being said, I don't know that I can think of any better way to really approach it. Yeah. So again, and it's going to be like, I want to be exposed. I don't want to expose myself in front of the pin, but I'd like to be exposed to the pinball machine as a whole and see what's going on. But well, let's see what happens. Let's give this another week to breathe. Let's come back and revisit it. Maybe we get a chance to kind of jump on this thing. And maybe we don't. Now we think about what's up next, right? Because we're always thinking about what's the next best thing. So we've got spooky. They kind of laid it out there. We know what to expect. Now, what we don't know what to expect right now is what the hype train is bringing next. Right.
    24:34
    So what we don't know what's coming next is the next release, and speculation is that Stern Pinball is just on the cusp of showing us something. And that something has been heavily rumored now. Well, they've been starting their trolling a little bit. As Stranger Things. Now, who's starting trolling? Because you know I'm a big fan. Well, I mean, you saw the picture on Facebook of a box that was covered up, which means that, in my mind, right, you saw this. We're not making stuff up. Okay. When Stern gets ready to reveal a game, what do they do?
    25:05
    They start shipping overseas. They give it to IGN. Oh, yeah. I'm sure there are games already headed overseas. That no one's seen yet. Well, publicly seen. Right. And IGN was right, too. Right. So right now, games are on the water is what you're thinking. If not, they're real close to being on the water. When we say games are on the water, that means they're going to Australia, they're going to Europe. because what normally happens, Stern tries to have as close to a simultaneous release overseas as they can domestically here within the United States. We hear Stranger Things as being heavily rumored.
    25:35
    We hear Brian Eddy as potentially being the designer on that. Does Stranger Things, in your opinion, if it's released, detract away from what Spooky Pinball has given us with Rick and Morty? No, dude. They already sold their stuff. That's exactly it. It's sold out. It doesn't matter anymore. Like, Spooky hit the jackpot because this is what they do. They jumped out ahead. They released a game that has enough interest and passion in the theme where they sold everything out. And at this point, it doesn't make a difference what any other manufacturer does.
    26:08
    They sold the run. Worst case scenario, somebody pulls out and their deposit is still there. But you tell me that you don't think somebody is going to come in and swoop that up? At some point, there's going to be a secondhand market for a spot in line. Oh, absolutely. Whether it's $1,500. Sure. You're not going to have $750 or $2,200. They're making all $750. It's a small enough run. Supply and demand dictated that those games are going to get sold regardless. See, the thing is, too, and we'll get back to Stern, but the way that the model is set up, you've got your deposit in.
    26:40
    You're not paying in full for your machine to wait 18 months. No, but they make you put some skin in the game so you don't back out of it. Well, exactly. And if you do back out of it, they've got enough skin in the game where it's not a total loss for them, and they can find somebody else. So I totally get it. Now, if we're going to get something from Stern Pinball, what is today? I look at the date. It's December 16th. Okay? So we have roughly – Fifteen days. You figure – well, I mean eight days until you get into like Christmas Eve area because unless you're going to reveal a pinup. Like do you reveal something prior to Christmas so that distributors can get Christmas orders in?
    27:12
    To me, it makes total sense to do that because you've brought this up before. What happens is after the holidays, I mean there's kind of a lull in consumer spending. You're paying off these Christmas bills. And the next jump, I think, sometimes comes around after people file tax season. Right. So the best time to buy a pinball machine is January 1st through like March 15th. You know, when people start getting their refund. Pay some taxes. Hey, you laugh, but it's a true statement. No, I get it. These are toys. These are non-essential items to survive.
    27:43
    I get it. So do we see something revealed in the next week? because seven days, eight days, you're already into Christmas. You missed the window. I mean, at the very least, listen, if Stern is saying, hey, listen, Ken, we know you love Stranger Things, and if we release Stranger Things, we want you to buy that for your family, but it's actually for yourself, right? But we need to be able to do that for you before Christmastime because you need to buy a present. And even though you might not have the game in hand, you can at least say, hey,
    28:13
    well, I'm glad you guys liked your iPads and your PlayStation 5s and all that stuff. The new bicycle. But the main gift that I got to you guys is coming in January. Here's a flyer. Right. Yeah. Right. But you need to be able to get that on the books. Otherwise, you don't justify it as a Christmas present anymore because you've missed the window of opportunity. Now you're just spending for some families frivolously or carelessly. Yeah. Selfishly. So we got to see something here before Christmas. I mean, distributors have to be able to sell it. All right. So here's the flip side of that, though. Right. So you drop Stranger Things in nine days, right?
    28:49
    That leaves you six days. Do you think it is Stranger Things? Can I just ask you straight up? Sure, why not? I'm so excited. Everyone else is talking about it. I know. Why aren't we talking about it more? Anyways, go ahead. But nonetheless, do you think it has potential to win Game of the Year? Being that it will be so close to voting and everything else, or do you think it's already discounted out? Well, I mean, this is the thing. So when we talk about game of the year, we talk about for the Twippies, which is the This Week in Pinball yearly awards.
    29:20
    The Twippies vote starts in January. So now I don't think the game gets into enough people's hands where they're able to play it, whatever it is, to qualify for game of the year. I wonder how that would work, though, too. So, like, for instance, what if it was an outstanding game, but it didn't gain traction because it was only in people's hands for a few days before the end of the year? Would that be able to carry over to next year or because it was revealed this year, like it lost out? I have no idea. I don't know, man. I think that's going to depend on release date. Yeah. You know, January 1st is, you know, the start of the voting year.
    29:51
    Like if Rick and Morty dropped today and everybody had Rick and Morty's, I don't even know if that has enough at 750 units. I don't know if that has enough to dethrone what I think will be game of the year, which is Jurassic Park and Keith Ellens efforts. And it's interesting, too, because now you're starting to see this. you're starting to see we saw the sophomore effort from keith elwyn yep which was jurassic park the follow-up to iron maiden we're about to see eric menier's next game at some point next year and now we've seen scott denisi's uh follow-up his sophomore effort not in its entirety but like
    30:23
    clips so what i think we're going to notice as we get into 2020 is we're going to see that each one of these designers have something that's very kind of special and unique to them and you'll really kind of be able to decipher if all three of these guys or any of these guys are designers that you're going to be passionate about following. They all kind of have their unique characteristics, which will now you finally be able to kind of base some some judging on as we get into 2020 And they all different layouts so far for the second effort Right Which I really like It not the same recycled kind of approach I think what you also going to see is you going to see maybe not skill set because
    31:01
    I think all these guys are very, very educated and intricate guys. But what I think you're going to be able to kind of notice is their approach on a design and what they think is a complete design. I think you're going to see very distinctive avenues in which all three of these guys kind of break off into. And I think you're going to have guys in all three camps. And what I'm curious about is if you compare all three of these guys as sophomores, like, and you had to rate these guys in a ranking system where they would rank.
    31:36
    And then the other thing is, Bill, as we get into 2020, pretty confident we're going to see a new designer come up through the ranks. We're going to see somebody fresh and somebody new. Without getting very detailed into that, I've got a little bit of intuition that says that somebody's coming. So we'll see where that takes us. Sounds like some insider trading, but whatever. No, it's not insider trading. So with American Pinball, we've got the Flying Dutchman. It's their latest and greatest, and it's their redemption game. Amy Pinn, again, Joel DeGuzman, she's out there in full effect.
    32:08
    But we are waiting on their next rumor title, which it's hit the podcast waves and the social media waves. The teaser is Hot Wheels is potentially coming. Now, you heard Brian say, hey, listen, I reached out to American Pinball. They can't confirm or deny. That sounds like sounds like Zach Sharpe's answering emails over there at American Pinball, right? Absolutely. We can't confirm or deny if it is Hot Wheels. We haven't really gotten into Hot Wheels because we are waiting to see how the story was going to grow. So in your opinion, Bill, is Hot Wheels something, when we think about Rick and Morty,
    32:40
    we think about the potential of a Stranger Things being released, how does Hot Wheels play a role within the three themes? See, the evil side of me, dude, is like picturing a blue cabinet, the Hot Wheels logo on the side. You look down into the play field, you see some orange crazy ramp loops with some Hyperloop magnets or getaway magnets throwing the ball around and getting crazy nuts. um you'd still have to license the hard part for that theme for me is what cars do you license to throw into that pinball machine that's the thing like you get the licenses for the car thing or
    33:12
    yeah you know z28 or chevy you know lamborghini any of these guys that's really like how do you yeah i speculate do they make their own muscle cars or their own cars in the spirit of hot wheels um because now you're looking at like a like a george gomez uh jurassic park jeep kind of redraw where it's in the spirit of what is going on i don't know if that plays you know uh if that plays off as well are people looking at hot wheels because of the theme or are they looking at the theme and then the cars that were licensed uh within the hot wheels trademark like i don't
    33:42
    know how that how that works so i don't know man i see i i kind of have the thought of playing cars with my son one day and being like oh guess what i bought come check this pinball machine out right You know, orange ramps and some crazy stuff. Dude, you know, I see this is going to sound crazy, and maybe they've done this or not, and if they have, no, I didn't get insider info, like a ramp shifting inside of there, dude. You know, balls doing this crazy stuff. How about like a jump ramp that breaks through the playfield glass and just ricochets off your chest?
    34:14
    I love it, man. You know what I thought would be cool is if, and this would be very easy to do, if you wanted to customize your Hot Wheels play field, they could just have spots where you could place a Hot Wheels car. Because they're all kind of from the same kind of size and mold. And what if you had a Hot Wheels garage that was like a display case with RGB lighting, and you could go out and you could buy one of thousands of Hot Wheel cars, and you could stick five of them in a showcase because now they're not paying for the license. But they have a built-in display case for your favorite Hot Wheels
    34:47
    that you could change out whenever you wanted. Yeah, your Hot Wheels with the red line wheels. If you wanted a 50s or 60s or 70s muscles car lineup, you could. If you wanted emergency vehicles with an ambulance and a police car and a fire truck, you could set those up in your garage, and you could just change those out. That would actually be really cool. I think that's where it could be very, very cool, because now you're building your own display case that's a playable display case within the Hot Wheels theme. All right, I love that idea. So, but do you remember the Hot Wheels dude, like the hyper color?
    35:22
    Yes. You're sticking it in water, dude. Yeah, like half of it. And it would be like. Yeah, right. It goes in white, comes out orange or purple. Dude, if they could pull some like paint off like that in there, making it change color would be kind of cool. That would, see. I don't know how they would do it, but dude, that would be like such a throwback. So, full disclosure, like initially when I hear Hot Wheels is a license, it doesn't get me as excited as other licenses. And I think it's just going to really depend on their approach to the license. On how they're going to effectively be able to take advantage of a license that could have the most limited amount of assets of anything else.
    35:56
    Because you can't – most likely you're not getting Chevy or Ford or Jeep or all these companies on board to let you utilize their vehicles. No, but, dude, if you got a car from each manufacturer and told them what you're doing, dude, and said, hey, in the spirit of Americana, Can we use your 67 Mustang, 67 Camaro, throw a Charger in there, and just have those three iconic pieces in there? I mean, of course, it'll never fly. But, dude, from what we just came up with, tell me you wouldn't be excited to see your display case, some changing color,
    36:29
    or even the ramp, dude, having that changing color paint, dude, and just applying electricity to it so it changes the color because it would heat up. That would actually work. That would be actually pretty cool. Yeah. Hey, and joining us on the Special When Lit Hotline, we've got a VIP, so to speak, Bill. His name is Adam Schwartz. He's a pinball enthusiast. He's very active in the New York City pinball scene, and he's become like a personal, you know, thrill and hero of mine to have met. Adam, I want to welcome you to Special When Lit. Welcome. Hey, Adam, Bill, thanks so much for having me.
    36:59
    Absolutely. Now, the word around town is that Adam Schwartz is very well known within not only in New York City area, but in pinball in general. But for those that might not have heard the name Adam Schwartz, can you tell us a little bit about who is Adam Schwartz? Sure. Happy to. So I am based in New York City where I live with my wife and my teenage son, who, by the way, is freaking out today because his favorite entertainment franchise ever is Rick and Morty. Oh, absolutely.
    37:30
    So we're in on one of those. And so it's a it's an exciting day for both of us. Congratulations. Nice. Professionally, I am founder and CEO of a company called Articulate, which is an e-learning software platform. OK. And I initially got into pinball in college. They had a couple of games in the student center. And the time when I was going to school, I remember T2 and Bride of Pinbot being the big games.
    38:02
    Absolutely. Yeah. Great years. And then really just hadn't played for many, many years until my son a few years ago were playing Xbox and he's browsing the store and I see this thing called like pinball arcade. Wow. So the virtual pinball scene brought you back into the physical pinball scene. once again we hear that story over and over yep and so i said hey wait a minute click on that thing and sure enough we we download it i'm like do they have bride of pinbot right and t2 and t2
    38:40
    and i was like wait a minute i started so i started playing that a little bit and i was and i suddenly had this epiphany i'm like you know what i'm a grown man now i can get my own pinball machine oh and there it began and there it began the sickness began so the sickness it's so true so what you're saying is is the xbox was a gateway drug right the 300 console became the cost more than 300 in the long run right you got it bill so you know the first game was metallica
    39:15
    which of course is still my my uh favorite game of all time something about that first game kind thing and not to mention it's a you know fantastic game and that's led to a collection of about 30 games today some in storage um and you have 30 games right now in your collection i do you know it multiplies pretty quickly that's amazing that's a lot of that's a lot of pinball that is when you have them in storage i mean that's when you're like is this a problem i've become people's
    39:47
    storage which i don't mind adam i'm plus one right now so plus one means i have exhausted all spots for pinball and i have one extra so i'm slowly getting to that uh storage point myself so i wasn't making funny i'm just shaking my head thinking about it well a clever idea for you something that i did with a couple of buddies is we went in on a storage face but we kind of think of it as like a lending library. So the idea is you get in a game and your buddy can check it out and vice versa.
    40:19
    That's an unbelievable idea. Yeah, it's a community pinball store. Because if you split costs on like even a 15 by 15 storage facility, and if you're going to take one out, you've got to drop one off. It's like a lending library is pretty impressive. Yeah. Adam, that's a great idea, bud. Yeah, it's been working out. It's been good. and so you know I love a wide range of games you know modern games certainly I just picked up a JP Jurassic Park LE but also
    40:51
    love mid 90's games and really have a place in my heart for the early solid states particularly the classic stern so I'm a big collector of really minty classic sterns like Stargazer and Quicksilver and Dragon Fist and Nineball and so on. And I know that you're a collector of particular tastes. So I know that the Quicksilver that you had shown me via picture was a very minty looking Quicksilver. So does condition play a huge role
    41:26
    in your decision making when you acquire a pinball machine? It's probably, to my detriment, the number one factor. Yeah, I'm pretty OCD around condition. If you saw some of my games, some of my early 80s games, you would say, is this a new in-box game? See, you can eat off that game. Nice. Get me excited. I've got to see the collection. That makes me nervous. That's right. Why does it make you nervous? Having something that's too nice, man.
    41:57
    Oh. It is what it is. I got a four-year-old and an eight-week-old, so. That's true. You don't have to tell me. It's a little limiting, though, because, for example, I really want a cheetah, and there are very few cheetahs that are of this condition. So in some ways I could be experiencing a really great game, but I don't do it because I can't find the condition I want. Do you have a stern meteor by chance? I do. Okay. So, again, that's an early solid-state game. Is that a game that you consider that's fun that like you'll go to on occasion to keep playing?
    42:31
    Or are these pins more kind of show pieces that you just like to have in a collection versus actually utilizing them? No, I think Meteor has one of the greatest shots in all of pinball, that spinner rip, right? Nice. Yep. So, sure. I play these games all the time. It's not about looking at them. It's about playing them. But I want it to look good while I'm playing it. That's all. So you've got this huge collection. You've been in pinball for a little bit now. I know that you're very active in the New York City kind of pinball scene. Tell the listeners a little bit about what you're doing right now within pinball within New York City.
    43:08
    Absolutely. So one of the problems in New York City is you don't have basements. Generally, you don't have space to house your games. Right. People have small apartments generally. And so to solve that, I rented a loft in the neighborhood where I live in Tribeca, where I've put a bunch of games. And I got really lucky with this beautiful loft space with nice views and a little roof deck and so on.
    43:39
    And really was fortunate to be able to get this space. So I really kind of opened that up to the New York City community as well. I call it Tribeca Pinball. But really, it's just a private space to enjoy among the community. That's amazing. And it's super fun. And we've been able to do some cool things with it. one example is you may have heard of the New York City Pinball Championships. Absolutely. Yep. I'm not even a tournament guy and I know that tournament.
    44:12
    I've been to a bunch of tournaments and arguably it's one of the most interesting ones. I mean, there's certainly the Popple one, which is the most famous. The one in what is a Pinberg. Right. But this is arguably one of the coolest and most fun ones. They have bands play. It's in a really cool hotel. It's in it's right in New York City. In 18, Bowen, Karens won and Keith Elwin won last year.
    44:43
    And the tournament typically starts on Friday. Last year, we hosted a pre VIP tournament, you know, at at the loft. and legendary New York City player Sean the Storm Grant won that. That was an exciting final. This year we're going to host that again. So on the Thursday night we're going to have about 60-some-odd players with a smaller tournament than the larger tournament.
    45:14
    It's a few hundred players. But we're also going to do something new this year that's really never been done before in pinball. Adam, are you about to break some competitive pinball tournament news on the special Winlet Pinball Podcast? This is breaking tournament pinball news. This will be the first time we have any breaking tournament news on this podcast. So I'm looking forward to hearing it right now. Thank you. And it's pretty exciting. So we're doing this thing called the Battle of Pinball Titans.
    45:46
    And this is a new high-stakes pinball exhibition event. And so what we're doing is we're bringing in, we haven't announced the players yet, but you'll know who they are. You could probably guess who they are. They're only four of the world's best pinball players. And it's going to be very short. They're going to battle it out in just three games. Wow. And it going to be a winner takes all purse of We also going to give we going to do a project we going to do a match of that for project pinball which will get 200 second also for a thousand dollars so it
    46:27
    it's four amazing players it's it's super good four amazing players that you've heard of you know the ones you probably guess who would be in it they each get on game number one uh the The lowest score drops out, and you have three players, and then you have two players battle it out on the third game. And we're going to broadcast this worldwide live. And really, this is going to appeal to a lot of people who otherwise don't really watch pinball tournaments because they know they last for an hour.
    47:05
    They are grueling, absolutely grueling. I mean, from a competitive standpoint and from a spectator standpoint, it's a lot of pinball to take in. Oh, yeah. Yeah. You really have to be committed, right? Right. The idea here is what if we get the four best players, three games, $2,000 that we're going to give away, and it's done in a matter of minutes, right? Certainly in an hour. That's awesome, man. Now I'm excited. That's like pay-per-view for me now.
    47:35
    I definitely want to be on that. I'll be watching that deal. Right. It's like you're right to the climax there. I mean, I think that there's a great place for this style of tournament in competition pinball. So I don't mean to cut you off, but I just got a little bit excited, and I'm not usually excited about this kind of stuff. In my head, dude. I have the theme of Rocky going on. Okay. Sorry about that, as we digress. No, it's exciting. I think it's going to be really cool. We're going to stream it live. Battle of Pinball Titans. It's going to be May 14th, right before the actual New York City Pinball Championship starts on May 15th.
    48:10
    And if you're also interested in attending this in mid-January of this year, keep an eye out on social media and whatnot. That's when sales will go on for all this stuff. Okay. So mid-January, where's probably the best place for people to start trying to follow or to kind of know that they'll be notified when this is starting to get into full gear? If you go to Facebook right now and search for NYC PC and then follow that, that's where you'll get connected.
    48:43
    This is also – this is primarily run by a couple of very notable people in the industry. Levy Naiman, he goes by Crazy Levy on Penn State. You see him all the time, as well as Tim Sexton over at Strongball. Yeah, guys that are both very well established in pinball. You got it. That's unbelievable. Yeah, it should be fun. So I want to kind of bring this full circle because we're seeing this involvement in pinball, Now it kind of starts making more sense to me as we get into my next question.
    49:19
    And it was this because about a couple of weeks ago, I received this random message on Facebook from a gentleman named Adam Schwartz. Now, I had heard of Adam Schwartz. I wasn't exactly sure what all the details were within Adam Schwartz. But his message caught me completely off guard because and I'm just going to paraphrase. Essentially, he says, Ken, I've got some exciting news I want to share with you. I noticed that you guys are doing this fundraiser for Project Pinball. Project Pinball is something that's always been appealing to me. I'd like to contribute, and that's always nice to hear.
    49:50
    Oh, yeah. But then he goes to the next level and he says, I'd like to drive additional interest in this fundraiser by doing a dollar-for-dollar match. And, I mean, that floored me, and I wasn't quite sure how to react. So I had – I literally – I took a second, and I was like, I don't even know how to reply to this. But Adam is offering right now – if somebody who goes to our Special and Lit Project Pinball Fundraiser and they donate a dollar, Adam is going to say, okay, I'm going to match that dollar and make it another dollar, which is $2.
    50:24
    If somebody does $500, it becomes $1,000. I mean, we've got some pretty sizable donations that I've spoken to Adam with kind of on the side because I wanted to make sure that we weren't getting out of hand. And he's ready to kind of facilitate these donations and double them up. And I wanted to first say thank you so very much for the generosity and the professionalism and taking the credibility that you've kind of established over the last several years in pinball and bringing it towards our fundraiser. But I also wanted to ask you, because I don't know that if we ever really had this conversation, Adam, and now is probably as good a time as any.
    51:01
    I wanted to ask you why this involvement? Why at this level and why now? Yeah, sure. Well, first, thank you so much for all that you're doing and all the work you're putting into this fundraiser. And it's funny because, look, I've been very blessed. We we we've had I've had a very good year professionally. And my wife and I try to be as philanthropic as we can.
    51:33
    And I've been keep thinking about Project Pinball over the course of the year. Like, gosh, I really should help support Project Pinball. And it's the kind of thing. And then this happens to all of us where we think of something good we want to do. And sometimes we just get back to work or get back to, you know, our family. We forget to do it. Right. The intention is there, and it's always something that you plan on revisiting. But to your point, life gets busy, and sometimes that goes by the wayside. That's exactly right.
    52:04
    And that's admittedly that happened a couple of times to me this year. And, you know, the Project Pinball just makes so much sense, right? It's a charity that I'm passionate about because, you know, first of all, to help these children, right, is such a wonderful thing to do. And secondly, to know how we all know how pinball can really brighten somebody's day and to be able to do that at scale with an organization like this just makes so much sense.
    52:40
    So when you said, hey, you guys started talking about, hey, we're going to do this in sort of a very meaningful way. I was like, oh, bingo. Here's my opportunity. That's great. Really help make an impact. And just sort of having been around the sort of the philanthropic scene in general, I've seen the power of dollar matching to really help drive contributions. Yes, and you were very direct with that, that you've seen the power of the dollar for dollar match.
    53:15
    Yeah, I mean, where people know that their $100 contribution is worth $200 or their $50 contribution is worth $100 or whatever they get is worth double, they're incented to give more. It just makes sense. Yeah. So I to me, I said, hey, if I can if I can join forces with what Bill and Ken are already doing, then then we've got really got something here that's that's very powerful. So it's just the timing couldn't have couldn't have been better for all of us, I think.
    53:45
    You know, and I couldn't agree more. I think that there's a reason that we're all kind of like converging at the same point and fighting for the, you know, fundraising for the same initiative. And it's something that you brought up, which I'm now starting to realize is even exponentially greater. And that is how pinball can bring joy to somebody in a situation. And immediately we start thinking about children or kids or the youth that are fighting off illness. And they've got extended periods of time in a hospital. And for those kids to be able to step away and for a few minutes not have to focus on what life has currently given them,
    54:22
    But to kind of escape into a world under glass was something that I always focused on. But it was something else, too, that others, including yourself, kind of brought to my attention. And it's it's the families that are in that hospital that also could use a little relief from the stresses that are going on and the support that they're giving to be able to step away and to take it even a step further. It's the staff within those hospitals where at no point is the staff going to go home and say that, OK, well, this is over now. They're coming back every single day, and it's such a commendable thing for everybody involved and for us to play a small role in trying to get a little bit of an escape within a hospital for the children, for the families, and for the staff.
    55:06
    It's a pretty powerful experience and something that I'm learning from as we keep getting deeper into this. Adam, by you coming on board It's taking all of our efforts collectively And it's not just myself and Bill It's the pinball companies It's the pinball collective It's the enthusiasts It's the collectors It's everybody that's contributing to make this great It makes it twice as good And I don't even know how to thank you A lot more people are going to be able to It's unbelievable, absolutely I wanted to take this time And I've said this before, but sincerely
    55:37
    You've become like a personal hero of mine And I really do appreciate that you're doing this. And I know others will benefit from this and appreciate your efforts, too. And I know that you're doing it because you believe in the cause and there is not anything that's more fulfilling than that. So thank you. Thank you so very much, Adam. Well, thank you, guys. Again, I think without you, I don't know, frankly, that it would have happened quite like this. And, you know, together we can do something that just has a much greater impact.
    56:08
    And that's ultimately what this is really about, right? It's about making an impact in these children's and their families' lives. And that's really great. Absolutely. And hopefully when it's all said and done, somebody at some other point wants to even increase on what we've done. And hopefully the ball just keeps rolling to where there's pinball in every children's hospital. You know, it would be great. Just for an escape for everybody that's going through those things is just, you know, those three minutes at a time that you might get one game is. Well, on Ghostbusters, probably like about 40 seconds at a time.
    56:40
    33 seconds, yeah. It's not the escape that everybody needs on Ghostbusters. But if they can be mad at that instead of something else they're going through, all the worthwhile. Let me ask you this, Adam. Do you mind if, because for those of you that will catch up to speed, the fundraiser is going to start Central Time at 6 p.m. on Friday, December 20th. And it'll extend for 24 hours on Twitch. And that'll go through Saturday the 21st at 6 p.m. If you want to see what we're doing, because we have industry guests coming in, we've got some auction giveaways, and you can find us at it's twitch.tv slash special when lit podcast.
    57:20
    It's all one word. Right now you can give a donation because we're collecting donations all week, and I'll link that PayPal link into the show notes. but if you have something that would you think would require like a tax deduction, there's a way that we can get that right to project pinball so that you're able to do that too. So we've got everything covered at this point. It's just kind of a waiting game, but it's very interesting to see how money behind the scenes is already kind of moving and it's growing. And I think we've got a very good chance of hitting our ultimate goal,
    57:52
    which is, which is $24,000. Yeah. I think we're going to hit it for sure. everybody that I've talked to has been very enthusiastic about it. And like you say, however you give, just make sure, just do it and flag it, like you say, as special when lit, and that way we'll be able to count it for the matching program. Absolutely. Absolutely. Adam, you have anything to say in closing here? I know you're a busy guy. I want to let you go. But I wanted to make sure that we were going to revisit this a week from today. We'll jump back on the show.
    58:23
    We'll talk about where it all ended up. I'm looking forward to seeing where this winds up a week from now. It's exciting. I got a big smile on my face right now because I think we might surprise some people. The only thing I'd have to say is if you have a minty cheetah. You have a minty cheetah. For what you're doing, yes, please run this ad. Anyone with a minty cheetah, please let us or Adam know because he's in the market. Please, please. At least we could do. Help this gentleman get his cheetah.
    58:53
    Let's get him a minty cheetah. Ladies and gentlemen, that's awesome. So, Adam, for those of you that have been listening and they're like, hey, listen, not only do I have a minty cheetah, but, hey, if they just want to reach out to you and kind of connect, I mean, it's pinball. It's what we do. How can people contact Adam Schwartz? Sure. Probably the easiest way because I'd imagine most people are already on Pinside. I'm user getadam, G-E-T-A-D-A-M, on Pinside. You can hit me up there. Otherwise, you can email me. It's my name. It's easy.
    59:24
    It's Adam at Adam Schwartz, S-E-H-W-A-R-T-Z dot com. For those of you that are on Pinside, I recommend looking up Adam's profile. He has quite the interesting pinball collection for you to check out. So from the bottom of our hearts, I'm sure I speak for not only ourselves, but for the pinball community and for everybody involved. Thanks for your efforts. And collectively, we're ready to kind of shake things up a little bit. Yeah, thank you very much, Adam. All right. Thank you, guys. Very fun. So, yeah, Bill, a lot going on in pinball.
    59:54
    As we close out the year, we're not limping to the finish line. We've got some sprinters that are going toe-to-toe, some ponies that are ready to take it. I wanted to go ahead. I wanted to thank Lermods.com for sponsoring this episode. If you're looking for custom quality playfield mods and lighting for your pinball machine, you're going to want to visit L-E-R-M-O-D-S. Visit Lermods.com today. I want to thank Adam Schwartz for joining the show. Adam. Great guy. Very interesting to talk to. So absorb what he said, and if you want to get involved with that fundraiser, you can get donations.
    60:25
    And now go to our Facebook page for the link. Our Facebook page is Special When Lit Pinball Podcast. Our Gmail, SpecialWhenLitPinballPodcast at gmail.com. And, Bill, what's that Instagram? SpecialWhenLitPinball on Instagram. Awesome. So listen, the next time we talk to you guys, we'll have already done this charity fundraiser. Looking for $24,000 to be raised for Project Pinball. Three hospitals, children's hospitals receiving free pinball machines. That's Friday, December 20th at 6 p.m. to Saturday, December 21st at 6 p.m. Join us on Twitch for that whole entire thing.
    60:56
    And if you want to join us at Twitch, that is twitch.tv forward slash specialwindlitpodcast. All one word. Just jump on Facebook. All the information's there. We've got special guests coming in. We've got a lot of auction items. And more importantly, we've got Bill Webb back in full swing, man. Yes, we do. People realize I'm still alive. Yeah, he's still alive. Listen, does Ken have a hole in the basement and, like, throw down lotion? I'm like, no. Oh, that got a little freaky, actually. when you start talking about holes and lotion it kind of looks like it rubs the lotion a little silence of the land
    61:28
    a little bit man no we're still alive you're here we're hanging in there you're back so in any event let's close this one out episode 83 we'll see you next week for episode 84 for Bill Webb I am Ken Cromwell everybody have a good morning good afternoon good evening and don't forget to take some time out of your day and play some pinball so long everybody