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Episode 97 – Motel 6 Prison

Slam Tilt Podcast·podcast_episode·analyzed·Jun 27, 2018
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.032

TL;DR

Ron places 2nd at Pin Mania tournament; discusses industry news on game releases and manufacturer updates.

Summary

Ron Hallett and Bruce Nightingale discuss Ron's experience at Pin Mania tournament in upstate New York, where Ron finished 2nd overall and 3rd in playoffs. The episode covers tournament gameplay on classic and modern machines, encounters with other players including Chuck Webster, and includes industry news about Chicago Gaming Company 3 updates, Alice Cooper's Nightmare Castle production, Dutch Pinball legal fundraising efforts, and new pinball machines arriving at Ron's bar.

Key Claims

  • Chicago Chicago Gaming Company 3 is coming soon and it is not a licensing issue

    medium confidence · Ron citing This Week in Pinball reporting on Chicago Gaming updates

  • Spooky Pinball has begun production for both TNA and Alice Cooper's Nightmare Castle simultaneously

    medium confidence · Ron discussing Spooky Pinball news, noting production photos show both games being built

  • Dutch Pinball launched a GoFundMe to help pay lawyer bills

    high confidence · Ron and Bruce discussing Dutch Pinball bulletin with direct reference to fundraising for legal costs

  • Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that states can charge sales tax on internet purchases even when retailer has no physical presence in the state

    high confidence · Ron reading court ruling news with direct implications for pinball sales

  • American Pinball next game is Oktoberfest

    high confidence · Ron citing Head to Head A A Pinball Podcast with Josh Kugler from American Pinball

  • Chuck Webster was suspended for one week but claims he is no longer suspended

    medium confidence · Ron's conversation with Chuck Webster at Pin Mania about early suspension termination

  • Ron finished 2nd place overall at Pin Mania before playoffs and 3rd/4th in final playoff standings

    high confidence · Ron's direct account of his tournament placement, verified against leaderboard on matchplay.events

  • Iron Maiden received code update version 1.01

    high confidence · Ron reporting on bar machine updates

Notable Quotes

  • “I was thoroughly and sadly slaughtered. So the third game didn't mean anything.”

    Ron Hallett @ ~27:45 — Ron describing his loss to Joe Lemire in head-to-head match play at Pin Mania

  • “I should have fucking shoved that game as hard as I could. Because what's... I need to catch up. If I tilt, who cares?”

    Ron Hallett @ ~32:20 — Ron expressing regret about not being more aggressive on Avatar pinball during playoff match, reflecting on tournament strategy

  • “Fucking losers of all losers of all losers. Dutch Pinball put out another bulletin. Just more great bad news from this fucking train wreck of a company.”

    Bruce Nightingale @ ~47:15 — Bruce's strong negative reaction to Dutch Pinball's legal fundraising efforts

  • “If you've already lost enough money with them and would like to send them more money, please send it to [GoFundMe].”

    Ron Hallett @ ~47:45 — Ron sarcastically summarizing Dutch Pinball's request for legal funding from existing customers

  • “It literally looked like I felt like I was in a prison. Like the rooms have no carpets, just like hardwood floor.”

    Ron Hallett @ ~39:30 — Ron's description of the Motel 6 where he stayed during Pin Mania, explaining episode title 'Motel 6 Prison'

  • “The committee is so afraid, it's not even funny...I can see the fear in his eyes. I really could. When I started to come back on that last ball in Algar, he was visibly shaking.”

    Ron Hallett @ ~36:15 — Ron jokingly describing Chuck Webster's reaction to Ron's comeback during Algar playoff game

Entities

Ron HallettpersonBruce NightingalepersonBowen KerinspersonJoe LemirepersonAlberto SantanapersonSteven BowdenpersonChuck WebsterpersonJoshua Hendersonperson

Signals

  • ?

    event_signal: Ron Hallett finished 2nd overall at Pin Mania before playoffs, then 3rd/4th in final playoff bracket; Bowen Kerins won overall championship

    high · Direct recounting of tournament placement with leaderboard verification at matchplay.events

  • ?

    product_launch: Mustang Pro pinball machine arrived at Ron's bar; Sea Witch machine relocated to garage

    high · Ron reporting on bar inventory changes during news segment

  • ?

    code_update: Iron Maiden pinball received code update version 1.01; already deployed at Ron's bar

    high · Ron reporting on bar machine software updates

  • ?

    machine_intel: Spooky Pinball is producing both TNA and Alice Cooper's Nightmare Castle machines; production photos show simultaneous building of both titles

    medium · Ron citing photos showing TNA and Alice Cooper builds side-by-side; speculation that TNA production may pause due to deposits on Alice Cooper

  • ?

    product_strategy: Supreme Court 5-4 ruling allows states to charge sales tax on internet purchases without physical presence; will impact pinball machine distribution and pricing strategies

    high · Ron reading Supreme Court ruling with direct implications for out-of-state pinball purchases

  • ?

    industry_signal: Dutch Pinball facing significant legal issues; launched GoFundMe to pay lawyer bills; described as 'train wreck' by podcast hosts

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.246

0:00
Now, I know this is difficult, but tell me if you can about the pain that Kimberly has caused you. She's always like harassing us by being so hot every day. Oh yeah. And it's hard to concentrate and stuff. Hard.
0:18
She's doing it again! She's doing it right now! What is she doing? She's giving me a stiffy. Giving you a what? You know, boing, boing, boing.
0:30
He has an erection. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's all her fault. Coming to you from beautiful upstate New York, this is the Slam Tilt Podcast, a show about all things pinball. I'm your host, Ron Hallett, here with my co-host, Bruce Nightingale. And what the hell's up with the blooper reel?
0:58
Do you like that? Last week's episode? Uh, yeah, maybe. You told me to leave it in, so I did. I know, you rarely listen to me. Yep, see, I listen to Bruce. And what did it get us? Uh-huh, nothing. Welcome to episode 97, Captain America and the first Avenger. Very good movie, excellent movie. Okay, they throw him out of ice or something? Well, actually, you get the story of how he's created, how he's genetically manipulated. Oh, okay. Oh, my. And he tries to stop the Red Skull from taking over the world. The Red Skull. All right. And he stops from embalming the Washington, D.C. and New York City. All right. There you go. In a nutshell. So I don't need to watch the movie now? Yes, you do.
1:55
Yeah, I got a text from you earlier. In full Bruce-ism mold. Yes, what else is new? Is it, don't know how much need to use my phone tonight. Yep. Literally, that's what it says. I know, that's perfect. Again, don't know how much need to use my phone tonight. Yep. All right. See? And you understood it almost perfectly. Yeah, I did. I put my Bruce translator hat on and kind of figured out what that meant. Yep, see? So you have now become Bruce. That means Bruce is on his phone tonight. Yes, I is. Actually, it sounds pretty good. How are you pulling this off here? I'm using the app. Using the app? No, but I mean, you actually sound good. Are you, like, driving? No. I'm actually sitting in the living room next to Cookie. Oh. Hi, Cookie. Yeah, she's blind and just sitting there sleeping next to me.
Jeff Parsonsperson
Chicago Gaming Companycompany
Spooky Pinballcompany
Dutch Pinballcompany
American Pinballcompany
This Week in Pinballorganization
Head to Head Pinball Podcastorganization
Pin Maniaevent
Texas Pinball Festivalevent
Ed Vanderveenperson
[name withheld pending review]person
Scientific Gamescompany
Pinball Arcadeproduct

high · Ron and Bruce discussing Dutch Pinball bulletin with GoFundMe announcement and negative commentary

  • ?

    product_concern: Motel 6 accommodations at Pin Mania venue described as prison-like with no carpeting, hardwood floors, and insect issues

    high · Ron's detailed negative description of hotel conditions; episode titled 'Motel 6 Prison'

  • ?

    venue_signal: Ron's bar operating approximately 90 hours per week; recent pinball machine arrivals (Mustang Pro); Sea Witch relocated; machine repairs conducted (flippers on Swords of Fury)

    high · Bruce noting Ron working extreme hours; Ron mentioning repairs and machine changes at bar

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Pin Mania uses 3-game bank format (precursor to Pinburgh); 6 rounds determining divisions; top 6 advance to playoffs with head-to-head matches; records reset for B division but not A division

    high · Ron's detailed explanation of Pin Mania tournament structure and format

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Josh Kugler from American Pinball appeared as guest on Head to Head Pinball Podcast; discussed upcoming Oktoberfest game

    high · Ron citing Head to Head Pinball Podcast episode notes mentioning Josh Kugler interview

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Ron speculates that Williams and Bally games on Pinball Arcade will be re-released within a year after June 30th licensing expiration under new Scientific Games ownership

    medium · Ron's prediction based on licensing expiration news and Scientific Games ownership

  • ?

    content_signal: This Week in Pinball podcast returning with Jeff as host and new partner arrangement (jumping in vs full production); super-duper extra-awesome pinball podcast now hosted with Ed Vanderveen (Texas Pinball Festival organizer)

    medium · Ron and Bruce discussing podcast changes; some uncertainty about exact arrangements due to Bruce's limited access

    • 2:47
    My 14-year-old girl is blind as a bat. She must be having fun in the new place. No, no, not at all. She's totally lost. Yeah. Totally lost. That's why when she's in blankets and next to somebody, she's very happy. Hi, Cookie. So why are you on your phone? You don't have your laptop with you?
    3:07
    Sorry, my laptop is at work. Ah, I gotcha. At the bar. Because I'm there now even more hours than ever.
    3:16
    Our listeners are getting concerned. What, that I'm working now almost 90 hours a week? You're working too much. You're too tired. I am very tired, but I have to keep the bar running. We had a very good week, though, so that's a good thing. And I had a lot of repairs. I repaired the flippers on Swords of Fury.
    3:35
    All right, well, we'll save the repairs for later. But first, what should we start with here? You decide. Okay, give me some options now, because, you know, we have the TTI.
    3:47
    We have Pinmania. We have Pinmania, yes. We have Pintastic. Fantastic. Let's do Pin Mania. Come to Pin Mania. Come to Pin Mania. Which, from the previous episodes, I never at any point said I was going to it. It's because I wasn't planning on going to it. Then Thursday, while I'm sitting in a meeting at work, hopefully no one from work listens to this, I'm just perusing Facebook on my phone, and I see Pin Mania, four spots left.
    4:17
    And Jeff Parsons, who was running the tournament, said, hey, Ron and Bruce, come on up. And I cannot. Yeah, I knew Bruce couldn't, but just spur of the moment decision, like, okay. What the hell? And he did. And I did. And it worked out. I got there Friday and they did the pin golf thing. Which we have won in the past, you and me together. Yep. We had three of the four lowest pin golf scores were all on our team.
    4:50
    That was insane. My team did not win this time. Fail. Yeah, massive fail. We started, they had 14 teams, Bruce. Do the math there. 14 teams. I have four, so that is 56. 56 on nine holes.
    5:13
    So how do you start off there, Bruce? You stagger them. Yeah. So what that meant is we played our first game on Diner, and then two and a half hours later, we played our next game on No Good Gophers.
    5:32
    Oh, God. And then we moved along. We played, you know, second hole, third, four, five, six, seven, eight, moving along good. And then we got to the ninth hole, which was Johnny Mnemonic. And a log jam. And we waited for another hour and a half. By the time we finished, it was around 1.40 a.m., and we were the last team to finish. Excellent. And you still failed.
    5:55
    I guess so. They had playoffs, but they decided to just do the playoffs the next day, during the day. Good idea. When people had time, yeah. So the issue there was the Noga Gophers, which had a, what was the score? I think it was 10 million, yet again. So that took forever. And then Johnny Mnemonic was $2 billion. Oh, wow. That's the score. Those were the issues. If they just had maybe a couple older games there with lower scores, it wouldn't have been the problem.
    6:29
    But live and learn. But it was a problem. Live and learn. The thing is, Steve Bowden, he arrived after they started, so he wasn't participating.
    6:40
    But Josh Henderson and his dad were there. Oh, wow. Like, really? Yeah, they signed up for that in Pinmania. So that was interesting. Like, okay, I didn't expect to see them there. No, I wouldn't have either. No, that's kind of, they're in Illinois, so that's kind of a... A haul. Yeah, that's a haul.
    6:58
    So the next day is Pinmania. And what is Pinmania? It's a precursor to Pinberg, really. What we know as Pinberg. They were doing this before Pinberg. and it's very similar except instead of four game banks it's three game banks but it's the same deal it's like a newer game like kind of a mid-range game and then a classic and it's the same scoring 3-2-1-0 so if you're familiar with Pinnberg you'd be very familiar with this format except there's a lot less rounds basically there's three rounds to determine the divisions A and B and then B division after they're determined The B division has their record wiped clean, so they start fresh. And A division keeps their record. Again, if you're used to Pinberg, this will sound familiar.
    7:52
    After three rounds, well, the other weird thing is, as I'm playing on Saturday, I realized that Josh Henderson and his dad weren't there.
    8:04
    I guess they had a change of heart or something. They didn't play in Pinberg, or Pinberg, in the Pinmanys. I don't know what happened there.
    8:12
    I didn't even notice it until it was halfway through. I'm like, wait a minute, weren't they here yesterday? Did they just play in the golf? That's weird.
    8:18
    Maybe. We played the first three rounds. I ended up in A. No, stop it. Yeah. I was in the middle to middle lower A. Okay. And since the records don't reset, I figured, like, eh, maybe I can get a little higher in A. So I don't embarrass myself. then rounds what did I say? There's six rounds total. So four, five, and six. I played good in four. I think I had a your maximum score you can get is nine because you're playing three games.
    8:53
    And the highest score you can get is three. So I got like what did I get? Like a six. That's pretty good. Then I had another good round in round five. so I'm in the top 10 at this point I'm like 9 or 10 so I'm in the third group the third foursome oh my third foursome so I'm in the third foursome and we play and for once I'm going to actually remember the games the first game we played was Tales of the Arabian Nights that was our newer game going into ball three I'm third I made a few fairly awesome saves and end up passing everyone, and I won that game. Like, cool. So I'm like, okay, at least I won't take a zero or totally tank this round. At least I got something. Next game we played was Xenon. First ball did nothing. Second ball had a huge ball. Pulled way ahead and never had to play ball three. I was player four. Oh, my. So now I have six. It's like, all right, I'm happy. I don't care what happens now. Third game, Centaur.
    10:07
    Centaur. Same deal. Ball one, nothing. Ball two, huge. Ball three, never had to play. I was player four again.
    10:15
    So I took a nine. Undefeated in the last round. Wow. I'm like, hmm, I wonder where that will put me. So the way they did it is the top six go into playoffs.
    10:29
    Playoffs? Yeah, playoffs. The top two get a bye. Mm-hmm. So after everyone's done, I look at the leaderboard. And actually, if you go to matchplay.events, you can still see it. First place, Bowen Cairns, no surprise. Mm-hmm. Second place, Ron Hallett Jr. Hmm. Wow. Yeah. It's like, what am I doing there? You took roids, didn't you? Yeah, yeah, I did. I did take a lot of roids. So the playoffs were actually all head-to-head matches. Oh, wow. Six friends against three and then four went against five in the first round. It's something like that. Yeah. You know how much I pay attention to said things. Yeah. So it ended up being Alberto Santana and Joe Lemire made it through. Then the top four were it was Bowen, me, Steve Bowden, Joe Lemire. So I end up playing Joe Lemire in my head to head and the games are randomly selected. Good old random.org. So for my bank, this is what I got. X-Men, Playboy. Which Playboy? The Valley? The Valley. Okay. And Kings of Steel. Oh, Kings of Right Orbit. No, Right Target. No, they changed that. They moved the switches, so the center target was the right target. There you go. That's the way it should be. I agree.
    11:54
    I had pick. I picked Playboy. Because I played that in practice and almost turned it over, So I figured, like, okay, I'm feeling good there. And I could not afford to lose Playboy because I knew he was going to pick X-Men.
    12:08
    I don't know a thing about X-Men, Bruce. I've played X-Men maybe five times ever. Yeah, exactly. Oh, my. And this is a unique X-Men, no Wolverine. It's replaced with a captive ball. Oh, wow, that's a good thing.
    12:23
    So let's just say it didn't go well on Playboy. Oh, what else is new? Yeah. Joe, a former guest. He got like 600,000 Okay I got like 40k Oh wow, you rolled that thing over, right? Yeah, I rolled it over, alright I got my ass handed to me I got destroyed Excellent So you got X-Men down now You got a raid to it, you gotta take it away I knew it was coming, you know So he gets to pick the next, well, gamer order So he's like, X-Men Like, fuck And he blew that up too Nope nothing happened in there. I was thoroughly and sadly slaughtered. So the third game didn't mean anything. Oh, we didn't play the third game. There was no need to play the third game. No, that's what I'm saying. The third game didn't mean anything, you know. He ended up playing Bowen, and I believe Joe lost, like, in two straight to Bowen. Yes, he did. So I ended up playing Alberto. Okay. My nemesis. The guy I never seemed to be able to beat. Okay, so what was the first game? So, the first game, the game's selection. we had was 8-Ball Deluxe. Hit the chin ball. Yes. Flash. Oh, God.
    13:39
    Not Flash Gordon, but Flash. I know Flash. You're one of your favorites. And Avatar'd. Ugh. So, I picked 8-Ball Deluxe and lost. Old ballies are not your friends. Obviously, they weren't. I don't understand. I got the 8-Ball, but that was about it. He got the 8-Ball and like 5X on the last ball, So I was soundly defeated again. Okay, so then... So then he throws me... I'm figuring he's going to pick Avatar.
    14:08
    He can pick Game or Order, so he's there. I'll play second. Yeah, that's what he always does. Yeah, yeah. Alberto does it a little differently. Yes, he does. He goes the total opposite of everyone else in this world. Flash. No hesitation there. Flash.
    14:22
    Let's just say Alberto would have won if he hadn't tilted away his 3X bonus on ball two. Trying to save the ball. So I was barely ahead of him on ball three. As player two, he drained quickly, and I won by like maybe 20K. Well, but a win's a win. Just barely. So we're going to Avaturd. Split time on Avaturd. And I'm player two. I picked two. Mm-hmm. And we have an epic game of Avaturd.
    14:53
    The first ball, I don't think I did anything. I think he might have got a multiball. Ball 2 I play Ball 2 and I have the best ball of Avatar I've ever had no doubt after Ball 2 I have 54 million to his like 7 million and he's on Ball 3 so it's looking pretty damn good for a victory here and he just kept playing and playing and passing Link Link, Ampsuit, Link, Ampsuit, Link, Ampsuit, add a ball, X's.
    15:32
    This is why I don't mind Avatar, because I actually know the rules. It's pretty easy to understand. He passes me, I believe, getting the extra ball, which was points.
    15:42
    And then he almost stepped away from the machine, because he thought he was player two. Oh, that would have been classic. Oh, yes, yes. He got right back on, like, oh, shit. It would have been nicer if he did screw that up because he kept going. And by the time he was done, he had $81 million. Yeah. So. So he got some work to do. So he got this. I got some work to do. So I'm not giving up. He already had a ball in the link. So I hit it, and I see, you know, two hits remaining. Like, oh, cool. All right. I hit it again. It releases it. Two balls in play, but not multi-ball. Basically malfunction. Illegal. Yep. So I trap up. I got one on each flipper.
    16:26
    And, you know, ask the tournament director because they're not sure, you know, if I let one ball go, will the flippers die? Will I think my ball's over? So I had them, like, make sure they told me, like, to do that. Like, okay. So I think I dropped the right flipper, and it was fine. Like, okay. So I go to lock the ball and link and, of course, miss. But I get it back, and then I lock it and link. So by my count, that means I only need one more shot, because that should be my next one. It should be one remaining, right? It is, and it's still two.
    17:03
    No, it should have been one remaining. Well, okay, go ahead. So it launches the ball. Goes in the pop-up first. Then goes right down the middle.
    17:14
    The thing is, should I have short-plunged it before the game auto-launched? I didn't think to do that because I played the game three times that day and never had that issue. It happens once in a blue moon on Avatar, especially if it doesn't have the spring up top underneath the pop bumper. My issue was my attempt at the save.
    17:32
    My usual. I have this thing with the straight down the middle saves. Like, I made so many ridiculous saves, and in this one, I literally just did a hard slap, like, on the right side. I barely ticked it.
    17:45
    This Avatar had a loose tilt, and it was set to three warnings. instead of the first one, too. I should have been walking that thing out the fucking door. And you didn't. I didn't. And that's literally the only thing that really pissed me off. I did not. I should have fucking shoved that game as hard as I could. Because what's... I need to catch up. If I tilt, who cares? Yeah. So you were third loser.
    18:09
    Fourth loser? No, third loser. You were fourth. Oh, you're right. Sorry. I'm the third. Thank you, Bruce. You're welcome. That's what I'm here for. That's what your friends are here for. Yeah, my friends are here for. Thank you very much. Encouragement and friendship. Asshole. Yes. Yes, sir.
    18:25
    So congratulations to all involved. Yes. Sounded like you had a good time. It was streamed by the Fun With Bonus stream, which is Steve Bowden's cell phone. Which is his arm of strength. Arm of strength. We finished that last game, I don't know, round 120? maybe in the morning, which to me wasn't that bad. I mean, the previous weekend I'd been up to 4 a.m. playing, so it wasn't a big deal. Actually, the previous day I was up to 140 playing. Exactly, so you're good. I'm good.
    19:03
    So, yeah, and I won $60, so I won my feedback. Ooh. Yeah. I got to say at Motel 6, way overpriced, that everyone agreed looked like a prison. Right. It literally looked like I felt like I was in a prison.
    19:20
    Like the rooms have no carpets, just like hardwood floor. So much for doing my exercises. It's just nothing to lay on. It's not a great hotel. Oh, yeah, and there was like a bug in there, like on my door when I came in. Like, oh, how nice. So that was my pin mania experience. Oh, and I got to meet my other nemesis, the cat.
    19:42
    The cat, the stupid cat he has. It's still there. The cat that has scarred me, literally, I'm looking at it right now. This cat scratched me, like, maybe the first Pin Mania. We're talking, like, over 10 years ago.
    19:56
    So that cat is old. And he remembers to hate you. And she's still mean. It's the true cat mode. So that was the Pin Mania experience. Anything happen else at the Pin Mania? Oh, you know who was there, Bruce? Uh, no. Chuck Webster. You know, the suspended Chuck Webster, who somehow was no longer suspended. How did he get out of his week's suspension? I don't know. It was supposed to be a week suspension but he told me he was no longer suspended How did he get that so early I don know He got done so early I don know Sounds kind of fishy Chuck proceeds to tell me that if I beat him in a game of his choosing that we automatically in Ooh. What did he choose on you? Well, the thing is, he didn't have to choose because we ended up in a group together. Okay. And the last game we played was Algar. Oh, your favorite. Yes. So guess what? He's like Algar. What did you play? How did you play it? Did you play it the hazardous way and go for the balls, or did you go for the spinner and go back up top and go back up top and go back up top? Well, okay. The first two balls I didn't play at all. Oh, good. Because I didn't have a chance to. Fail. Sorry, Bruce. Didn't have much of a chance to do anything the first two balls. You've got to start bowing to the Algar god. Bowing to the lion man himself. You got it. Well, Chuck got almost a million. How did he do that? I don't know. I think there was some cheating involved. Of course there is, because it is one of the DTPI committees. He probably had a magnet in his hand or something. I don't know. Yep, I guarantee it. So Ball 3, being the competitor I am, I did manage to not suck. Came back, I ended up with like 460.
    21:52
    So I didn't get in. So he picked on the weakest of the two members of the Slamtoe podcast, I see. Wow, thanks, Bruce. No problem, man. That's what we're here for. So I took his invitation. I tore it up and used it as toilet paper. And probably not very comfortable toilet paper either. No, it wasn't. But I posted that on our Facebook page. It made it scratchy and irritating. Yep.
    22:13
    So that's what I think it is. I just took a shit right on his invitation. Yep. So I guess we're not getting in. I guess we're not getting in, man. Cool. Whatever. I got more time at Finberg. More time at Pinnberg. Yeah, there you go. So the thing is, Chuck, you know, he finished in an awesome 22nd place overall. Wow. So 22nd compared to 4th. That should have been the real judge of how. Mm-hmm. Well, if you want to go by the actual, just the standings before the playoffs, we got 2nd, which would be me, and then him, which is, well, if you just put another 2 next to it, there you go, 22. There you go. so that, you know, he'll make something up out of it. You know, the committee will find another way to spin their wheels. Yeah, it'll be like, oh, Ron didn't come through when it counted, you know, on fucking Algar. Why don't you pick a real game? Pick Demoman or something. What else was in that group besides Algar?
    23:11
    Because you had to pick three games. They played three games, so you had an old, a medium, and a new.
    23:16
    We had, oh, there's Ron Hall, Jr. We played 8-Ball Champ. We played the Shetto. and Algar. Now, out of that group, what did he score and what did you score? Does it have that result? Well, I'm looking at him right now. Let's see. In 8-Ball Champ, he was fourth. Okay. So that means last. On the Shadow, he was third. Okay. So that would be last. Or no, second to last, sorry. Second to last. On Algar, he was first. Okay. And what were you on yours? And that's an average of about 2.75. Mm-hmm. Okay, what did you get? What did I get? So if I hit Eel Ron Hallett and I go down in here, I said go down. Okay, 8-Ball Champ, I was second. Okay. Shadow, I was first. Ooh. Algar, I was third. Okay, so guess what? You had a better average.
    24:10
    Yes, I did. But I'm sure he'll say it doesn't matter because... It doesn't matter. We're going one game. Because one game of Algar. Yeah, okay. Yeah, Algar, your favorite game of all time. Yeah. Very skillfully played is Algar. Yeah. I think they know. They're just afraid of us. They really are. The committee is so afraid, it's not even funny. Yep. I mean, 20 seconds. Really, Chuck, come on. Yeah, 20 seconds. Usual fade at the end. Way to represent your upcoming tournament.
    24:38
    Fail. They're scared. That's all there is to it. I can see the fear in his eyes. I really could. When I started to come back on that last ball in Algar, he was visibly shaking. I pitted a fool. He was. Let's see. Is there anything else about Pin Mania? They had a porta potty outside. That was a smart move. My GPS said four hours, but it was actually five with the traffic. Of course.
    25:06
    Trip back was actually four hours, but the trip there, no, it was much longer. It was a long trip. It's a long trip. You said long. I just think you've got one coming up soon.
    25:21
    Yes, I do. It's time for a piece of news. News of the week. Chicago Gaming. This is from This Week in Pinball. Hi, Jeff. The Chicago Gaming Company Game 3 updates. Basically, it's coming.
    25:40
    Yay. It's not a licensing issue. It's coming. It should be soon. So are you ready for Monster Bash? Yeah. No? I've owned one, so yeah. But you've owned every pinball machine ever. No.
    25:55
    I never owned a Popeye. You never owned a Popeye or a Gilligan's Island. Or a Gilligan's Island. See? Skipper! The Head to Head Pinball Podcast had Josh Kugler last week. Yes, they did. From American Pinball. Mm-hmm. Did you know the next game for American Pinball is going to be Oktoberfest? Yeah. I think everybody knows that. Everyone, including freaking Germans. Yeah. Germany is victorious.
    26:24
    So I checked that out. I haven't listened to this week's Head to Head podcast, but I saw the show notes. It said something about Ron Hallett trash talk. Oh. Yeah. And they didn't spell my name right, of course. Of course not. It's two L's and two T's, folks. Just think of Star Wars. L2-T2. That's my nickname. Did you see the new update from our favorite European pinball company? Oh, we'll get to them. They're on here. All right. But first, did you know production has begun for Alice Cooper's Nightmare Castle?
    26:55
    Okay. I hope that doesn't slow down TNAs. It probably will a little bit. They only have so much room, but that's understandable. I wonder if they're doing them simultaneously. The picture here shows a TNA being built and an Alice Cooper being built. That would be good, but I guarantee they're probably going to pause TNA because they have so many deposits on the other game, they want to start leaking them out also. they need to because just keep the interest flowing for both games. Makes sense. It makes perfect sense.
    27:26
    So good luck, Spooky, on your nightmare. Welcome to my nightmare. I hope I didn't scare you. Then we have... I'll let you take this one. Your favorite European pinball company. Fucking losers of all losers of all losers.
    27:41
    Dutch Pinball put out another bulletin. Just more great bad news from this fucking train wreck of a company. Let's start like a, what do they call it on the thing? GoFundMe.
    27:54
    So that you can help pay their lawyer bills. Yeah. That is fucking hilarious. I know. If you've already lost enough money with them and would like to send them more money, please send it to Wow. I know. We're going to sell some plastics and some other stuff too and maybe t-shirts and flyers and... You know, I'm Gene Simmons And even I find this a little in bad taste. I mean, even Kiss wouldn't do this. Yes, you would, Gene. No, no. I mean, come on. Give us some credit. We give you what you pay for. Yeah, eventually, yes, too. Yes. But you do give it. I agree. We could still take everyone's money, and you just dip right in their pockets every time we can. Like, when was your last tour? When was your final tour? Uh, no. Our final tour is coming up, Bruce. No, no, no. It's our three-year farewell tour. No, no, no. What was your final tour date?
    28:48
    First it was 1999. Then it went 2003. Then it went 2007. Now it's 2018, 2019. Bruce, that's because our fans wanted so much of us. We just didn't want to let them down. No, you just keep on running out of money. I have never run out of money in the last 30 years, Bruce. Yes, but then why do you keep on doing this? Because the fans want to see the demon. Yes, but why do you keep on calling it the final tour? It's like the final countdown.
    29:20
    Well, we keep thinking it's the final tour, but the fans keep bringing us back. That's why those Kiss fans are so great.
    29:26
    They're stupid, Gene. What? I thought you were a Kiss fan. I am a Kiss fan. I have not bought a ticket since 1999 when I thought it was the last tour.
    29:40
    I thought, hey, last tour, I'm never going to see him again. Great, I better go see this. and then 2003. And we appreciate that, Bruce. No, you did not, because you came back out in 2003, and then 2007, and now this year.
    29:53
    You're a bloody cocksucker. Okay, Bruce. But even we think this Dutch thing is kind of out of hand. I don't know. They at least haven't done final tours yet. When they start doing final tours, then we'll know it's the end game. We're comparing Dutch on a kiss.
    30:13
    Oh, man. It's your last chance to get the Williams and Bally games on Pinball Arcade. It ends, what is it, June 30th. Yes, it is. Your last chance. You just want to buy them all.
    30:24
    No. No? Okay. No. But there's the information. No, because you know why? Why? I bet you they're going to be re-released within a year.
    30:34
    Yeah, by whoever owns it now. You got it. What is it, Scientific Games? Yes, it is, Sir. Scientific Games owns both Bally and Williams. Now again. This Week in Pinball, the podcast. You know, we said it was dead. It's not dead. It's back. And all these other podcasts keep on changing names also. Changing names? They didn't change the name. No. Yes, they did. Oh, they did? There's another podcast that changed names. But wait. We'll get to that after this. But wait a minute. This Week in Pinball. First, let's go to This Week in Pinball. Yeah, but they're not changing their name. They are now back out with, it's going to be, who is it now again? It's going to be with Jeff? I don't know. Well, I can't tell you because I have no computer. I thought Jeff was, it doesn't say. I know. I think he's going to be having another partner, and then he's going to be helping out, like jumping in and not doing a whole production, that kind of stuff. But there's another podcast that changed their name, Even Again. Yes, Mr. Franchi.
    31:34
    Oh, yeah, the Silver Ballers. That's not happening. So then it was the super duper crusty underwear extravaganza or something like that. Well, no, it was the soup. I believe it still is, though. It's a super duper extra awesome pinball podcast. I thought they changed it again. Maybe I'm wrong. No, you're wrong. You're wrong again. He'll call us. He'll call us out if he didn't. He'll call us out. Yes, he will. No, I believe this is this is it. OK. So you're wrong, Bruce. Okay. He's going to be hosting it with Ed Vanderveen, the guy who runs the Texas Pinball Festival. Yep. The super-duper extra-awesome pinball podcast. I like the super-duper extra-crusty underwear podcast. That would have been better. Chris, new name.
    32:28
    Hexagon-shaped underwear? Hexagon crusties on your underwear. Good Lord. Oh, good. Yeah, I saw this one. Supreme Court widens reach of sales tax. Huh? Did you see this one yet? No, I did not. Oh, you did not see this one? This was the talk up inside. The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that states can start charging sales tax on Internet purchases even when a retailer has no physical presence in the state. What this means for pinball is previously if you bought a brand new pinball machine out of state from a distributor, you could avoid paying sales tax. If you're set soon, you will have to pay sales tax whether you buy it from a distributor in-state or out-of-state. That's not good. No.
    33:13
    Not at all. So you watch. There will be deals probably like, hey, we'll pay half your sales tax. You buy my machine and that kind of stuff. You watch. Probably. Yeah. That always will happen. Or if you buy it in certain parts of, like, New Jersey, you only pay 3% sales tax or that kind of stuff. You watch. There's cheaper places for sales tax. they call it industrial zones oh there's a $50,000 going nuts for sale Bruce it could be yours I'm going to leave that Gottlieb all to you okay who's the idiot I mean that guy selling that one uh some dude in New Jersey enough said oh Jesus wait a minute are you from New Jersey yes I am but you know that's greed for 50k for a fucking going nuts which is a terrible fucking game It has heavy wear, supposedly, according to the listing. Great. Zach picked up a couple games this week. Yes, he did. We'll get that in a few seconds after we're done with the news. Did you know there's new code for Iron Maiden? 1.01.
    34:14
    It's already on the one at the bar. Excellent. We got a new pinball machine at the bar, too. And what would that be? Mustang Pro. Which you did announce previously, but it's there now? Yes, it is. Fashion and snot. So snot is really fast. Yes, it is. When it's coming out of your nose in the cold winter of Rochester, yes, it is. Ugh. Ew. But, unfortunately, Sea Witch had to go bite the dust. Oh. It's in a garage now. It's in the garage. Everything's in the garage. Pinball Princess will be shedding a tear. Yeah, she ain't coming up, though, so she's not going to shed too many tears. She's got her new place, man. Yeah, she came up to Zach's, I see, but she doesn't come up to mine. Okay, I remember this. Okay, what does that mean? She went up to Zach's, hung out there. Yeah, it's a significantly shorter drive, Bruce. Yeah, two hours, it's only two hours. It's only two hours? No, it's more than two hours, more, Bruce. No, from Middletown, it's four hours, exactly. I can make it from Middletown to visit my house. No, I've done it. Four hours? Four hours. Again, folks, he's from New Jersey, so you can imagine how fast he drives. No, 65 going up 17 to Binghamton is two hours from Middletown. Then another hour up to Syracuse, and then another hour across to Rochester. Four hours. Interesting geography lesson. Yes. All right, so that was the news. And then Zach bought two games this week. Yeah, he did. What did he buy, Bruce?
    35:48
    He got, do you know both games that he bought? Yeah, I do. Okay, good boy. First, he bought a pro Game of Thrones and was swearing at it already when he first picked it up. Do you know why? No. Why, Bruce? The stupid head bolt stripped out on the new head bolt setup on the metal back boxes. You mean instead of the one cool thing Stern had, the nice little lock key thing that they did away with? Yeah. Now they use the other style. And it's even worse on Star Trek. At least that was the first one. And they used even smaller bolts. Mm-hmm. But even now, the new bolts, this one stripped out, got broke, and then he had to go untap it and then tap it, you know, just paying the fucking balls. And he got a pro, though. He got a pro. Yes, which is better. Which is better. And then he picked up an Alien Star. Actually, he got the Alien Star first, but okay. I know he did, but I'm going by price-wise. Yep, Alien Star, and he's already thinking of things like replacing the stand-ups with drop targets, maybe changing the code because you have to put a drop target reset in there. Oh, God. Yeah. I'm encouraging that. That would be awesome. That would make a great game even better.
    37:02
    So that was cool. And then all the games are now out of storage and are in possession of me in the garage. Post a couple pictures.
    37:11
    Now I'm going to start setting tomorrow morning before I go to work, I'm going to set up both cheetahs next to each other. Cheetah Blue and Cheetah Black. Black and blue. And then we'll start figuring out what I need to do to get the parts off of the cabinets and then see how bad the cabinets are and go from there.
    37:30
    Gotcha. The black one's pretty bad. And the blue one, I was looking at today, is even worse than I thought. But I got all the wiring in there and everything I need. All right, Bruce, since we were talking about Zach, I got a little game for you here. We'll see how good you do. Okay. What do you think Zach's top five games of the last ten years, well, basically since 2010, this decade. So these are all sterns, or are they all not sterns? What were his top five? And no particular order, because I actually don't know the particular order. Well, I'm going to guess actually order. Okay, so Zach will have to chime in whether your order is right. He will have to. I'm pretty sure I know what number one is. Alien. So you think number one is Alien? Yes, unfortunately. He loves that game. All right, one. Okay, you're one for one. That was one of the five.
    38:21
    Stern. It will be Star Wars, definitely. Yep, that's two. Game of Thrones, you just picked it up. Yep, you're three for three, Bruce. Star Trek. Oh, four for four. Man, I thought this was going to be harder. And ACDC? Nope. And then it has to be Metallica. Right. He hates Walking Dead. I know that for a fact. How does he hate Walking Dead? It's great. Everyone loves Walking Dead. No, he doesn't like the shots. Doesn't like the shots. Yep. All right. That's it. I think he doesn't mind the rules, but I think, you know, it's just like, eh. That's normal, Zach.
    38:59
    So that's the Zach Top Five of the last ten years. And you can comment on Zach's Top Five with an email to us at the SlamdillPodcast at gmail.com. Yes, you can. No, you can't. Yes, you can. No, you can't.
    39:17
    So what did you do for repairs this week, sir? Oh, we're doing repairs. All right. Of course. I finished my nine ball. Yay. So all the lights work. Except one. One? Which one? And at first, I'm like trying to figure out why it's not working. And then it dawned on me that it actually didn't work before. I believe it's a board issue. Okay. No, the one.
    39:44
    It's the one in the center of the button. Yeah, the middle. The middle. Yeah, the middle of the spike. Yeah. Doesn't work. All the other lights work. Okay, so it's probably a driver on the board. That's easy. Or a wiring. Yep. That's what I'm thinking, but it's good enough. So you're ready for Quicksilver then? Yeah, sure. Ready for Quicksilver. Just got to do some minor stuff to get ready for my OCPC, Orange County Pinball event. Yep. But other than that, things looking good. That's pretty much all I did. I did Swords of Fury lower flippers. A lot stronger now.
    40:21
    Set up Mustang. Mustang's playing fast and good. That was it. Not much repairs work for me at the bar. Mostly just doing extra hours now because we now started lunches at the Silver Ball Saloon and getting ready for 12 hours of stomp. Which will be when? July 7th. So we now, if you actually are interested, you have to pay at a full price of $35. There are nine spots still available. I think eight because I think one more person is going to buy tomorrow morning. So it'll be eight spots left.
    40:55
    Come one, come all. Match play for 12 hours We have a break between 5 and 6 o for one hour for dinner And then we go from 11 to 11 Doors open at 10 o July 7th And the day before, we have our Western New York Summer League. It's a friendly tournament where you just, you know, you come in, you play five games, two games each of the five games. So it's 10 games total. Your best score counts, and then your scores go against other players' scores.
    41:26
    And you win money. That's always good. Money is always good, Bruce. So, are you ready to sleep on the couch there, killer? Yeah, sure. Get your own little private front bedroom, and you get your own bathroom. Oh, my. Yeah, and you'll be staying at the new Chateau Nightingale.
    41:49
    I'll get to see the pile of games. The pile of games, and take one of them. Yes, and take one, and then I'll give you another one, so I'll have more room in the garage. Yeah, he's going to bring the Galaga. Yes. Which I sold. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Love it. Don't have to worry about having that in my house anymore. So that's perfect. So I'm just going to drop it right at the guy's front door and say, see you later, sucker. Bye, right? It's right on the way. It's beautiful. Beautiful. I know, that's perfect. It's perfect. Perfect.
    42:20
    So I'm looking at my little format here. What else do we got? Speaking of stomps. Yes. We have Stomp 2, Pinball Boogaloo. Yes, we do. We have a date. It is on the IFPA calendar. It has been confirmed. It is going to be August 25th, which is the weekend after Buffalo. It will be at the Level Zero Arcade. Yes, it will. It's going to be basically the same format as last time. It went very well. Max of 36 people. There you go. We're putting a cap on because it got really crowded last time. And I think I'm going to have one more event before your stomp, too, at the bar. It's going to be Bruce's birthday bash, like Bug Bunny's birthday bash. Cool, man. The big 5-0. No, douchebag. I'm sorry. No, that's your age this year. That's your age this year, 5-0. Oh, I rarely get them, but it's good when I do. Very rare. As rare as you beating me. Yep.
    43:35
    We'll see what happens this week, or a couple weeks from now, at Stomp. 12 hours. Well, they're your games, so you have an automatic advantage. Yeah, that's got to be it. Yeah, I mean, I've hardly ever played those games at all. I've been running around for 12 hours trying to do everything else in the bar, plus games, plus rulings, plus repairs. Yeah, it's easy. Easy. Well, won't Zach be there? Can he repair something? He can, and so can you. Sure, I'll hold the play field up for you. Yeah, thanks, douche.
    44:05
    Luckily, there's only two old games now. And they are? Stars and Stargazer. Hmm. And Swords of Fury.
    44:15
    Stars can never leave. That should be the rule. Yeah, shouldn't leave. Should never leave. Unfortunately, I put the Sea Witch in for the two months, and it was the worst earner. Oh, man. Hold your ears, Pinball Princess. Don't listen. Don't listen to it.
    44:30
    That pains me. Star still crushes it, though. God, that machine just amazes me. Steve Kirk, the genius. The genius he is.
    44:40
    And eventually, I want to get Gametron there. Yeah, Bowen still wants the Gametron. Yeah, he can want all he wants. What did he ask you? Because he still thinks it's yours. Yeah, he said I want Gametron. What did you say? I said, why do you want Gametron? He heard the same story that I think I heard you say, or somebody say, that Gamatron really isn't a narrow-body version of Flight 2000. Gamatron is like the original game that Harry Williams ripped off to make Flight 2000. Oh. Yeah, supposedly it was originally a narrow-body design by Steve Kirk, and Harry Williams kind of took it and made it wider. Widened it? Made it bigger?
    45:22
    Oh, yeah. Yeah. Make it bigger, bigger. That's the second time I've heard that story, so maybe it's true. Maybe. If I see it on the Internet somewhere, I'll know it's true. Yeah, it's got to be. If it's on the Internet, it has to be true. It has to be true.
    45:36
    So that's going to be more details upcoming, but that's just to give you a little taste. That's months in the future. Maybe we can bring Gametron to you, since it is half and half. It is? Yeah, me and Zach are going half and half on that. Oh, okay. Oh, you're going to bring it over to his place. Okay. And then maybe you just bring it out. You know, throw one in Zach's, and I could throw maybe something. We could have a head-to-head. A head-to-head with what, Gamitron? No. I'd bring out something. You didn't listen to me again. No, I never listened to you. Zach would bring out Gamitron, and I would bring out something else. I listen to you, Bruce, but I don't understand you. Oh, you understand me perfectly. Okay. So I'd bring out something else, maybe like a big game or nine ball. Not nine ball. No, that would be too hard. but give me big game since you don't have modified ROMs on big game yeah I do you do I have the Scott ROM set on my big game oh fuck can't do that because I have a alt tech in there oh that sucks why would you have that because it was cheap at the time I got it cheaper because it wasn't out because the other thing wasn't out yet mhm maybe we can do stars yeah but then it can't earn yeah weekend Not a big deal. We'll see. We'll see what happens. It's going to be an exciting time for all. Maybe it will be packed up already.
    46:59
    So there's another show coming up, Bruce. Yes, it is. It's the Saratoga Pinball Show. Well, no. I was thinking one that's actually happening this weekend, Bruce. That would be Pintastic New England. Oh, I know. I'm going to be missing that, unfortunately. I think it's funny that the Head to Head podcast had Gabe, the guy who runs the show, on when I'm literally, what, probably two, three hours from him? Yep. But the Australians have him on. We've failed once again. Of course. But I think I have number 100 lined up.
    47:34
    And Ron doesn't even know who it is yet. Oh, okay. Again, you just, out of the blue, number 100. Like, what is he talking about? Number 100. You know what number 100 is. Yeah, he means episode 100, folks, in case you need the Bruce translator. The guest is lined up. Okay. So Gary Stern is ready. Yes, I offered him a case of Tito's vodka, got him right away. He's going to tell us how many miles of wire we're in a game now. I know, because it's less now. It's less. Because I had to move the switch up in the head and screw you all up.
    48:06
    What was the first Spike game? It was Kiss, right? No. What do you mean, no? No, it's not. What is it? No, it's not. WWE.
    48:17
    Shit, you're right. I know I'm right. But nobody ever got those. Yeah, some people did. All right. So, Zach, I was wrong. It's WWE.
    48:28
    But for all intents and purposes, it's KISS. Really. I mean, because where are you going to see WWE? Let's be real. We have two of them around here. Yeah, that's because you live in pinball section. Pinball land. Yeah. I live in shit land. I have nothing here. Yes, yes, you do.
    48:45
    You're on number two. You're on number 20. God. Well, you sound a little more energy this week, Bruce. I do, but I actually slept. Saturday night, I actually went home after working in the afternoon. I went to bed at 5.30. I didn't wake up until 7 o'clock the next morning.
    49:05
    That's too much sleep. No, it was not. I needed it. because I've been working. Unfortunately, we open for lunches now, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. So I'm there from 10 o'clock to 12 o'clock, 10 o'clock to 2 o'clock, and then 10 o'clock, and then I went home at 5 on Saturday in the afternoon. So a lot of freaking hours, plus not including Tuesday and Wednesday and Sunday. But I'm off today. My Monday is my day off. That's too much work, Bruce.
    49:36
    Yeah, I know. I totally agree. So help Bruce out, folks. Go to the Silver Ball Saloon, which is located where? 135 West Commercial Street in East Rochester, New York. We have 26 pinball machines for your pleasure, pool, bowling, darts, foosball, three video games, and cornhole in the back.
    50:00
    We had a guest this weekend at the Silver Ball Saloon. I like this. It's like every week. This week's guest is? This was one of our listeners.
    50:11
    Mr. Knapp's Arcade came up with his family. They were at a lacrosse tournament locally right down the road from the bar and came up. And they enjoyed at least four hours at the bar. They had lunch. And then they had appetizers first. Then they had dinner.
    50:28
    And they played pinball a lot. And he was very impressed and gave us a nice review on a couple of arcade and pinball websites, Facebook pages.
    50:37
    Excellent. So thank you. And I think he's actually a sixth or seventh cousin to me. Okay. Because his name is Nap, which is K-N-A. At first he was surprised I actually knew how to say his name. And the reason why is my mother's maiden name is Nap. And his grandfather, our father, is big into genealogy, and so am I. And we went back, and I think we found the link. Poor guy's related to me.
    51:12
    Are you related to, like, Kiss or something? No, not. And I'm not related to Florence Nightingale either, so don't even go there.
    51:21
    I'm not. It's impossible. Oh, so, like I was saying, Pintastic is coming up. Yes, it is. Can't wait. It's going to be exciting.
    51:32
    Stewartbridge, Massachusetts. Yes, you're going to have fun, fun, fun. wherever the hell the place is. What's it called again? The hotel? I can't remember. I couldn't even tell you. Just go to... It's Convention Center. It's like the blah, blah, blah, Sturbridge Convention Center or something like that. Something like that. Oh, no, it might just be the Sturbridge Motel. It might be something that simple. Yeah. So just check it out. Just Google it. Fantastic New England. I wish I was going there. I wish I was going there just for the parts.
    52:00
    Yeah. Last year, I got the Galaxy Playfield, which has helped me a couple times. that's fantastic new england folks i have a parts request we need oh well hold on let me keep start let me finish plugging this here a free play area oh it's gonna vendor area they're gonna have two different tournaments it sounds like they're gonna have the the regular papa style old papa style format tournament it sounds like it's going to be in the vendor room like it was before and then they're going to have a separate room which is probably where they had the tournament at the second year, where they're just going to do golf. A little more casual, no points. That's cool. So, you know, people aren't as intimidated. Yep, and there's going to be an auction there, too. There's going to be an auction. So come one, come all. It's going to be Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I think it's Thursday and Sunday. It's just the free play room. Yep. Yeah, we should be going out there for parts, but unfortunately, I've got to work again. Mm-hmm. But you have parts requests. Yes. We need to start reproducing some things now. We need 28-pin connector for Bally plastic, the plastic connectors, the females. They've been back-ordered for now. They're no longer made. We need somebody to start making those. And we need Cheetah in-lane guides. Yeah, you took that. That's what I was going to say. We need Cheetah in-lane guides. Yep. galaxy in lane guides any of those plastic ones please necessity please someone make one or at least a piece of clear lexan that's the exact same dimensions exactly so then you can use it and be done i don't care if it's not green and matching the play field i need it you need it we all need it to me big boy give it to me oh my yes oh my all right so i'll check that off Next, we got the mail ball bag, your favorite part. Say your line.
    54:05
    There you go. The mail ball bag where we actually got some answers. Remember, we asked last week our listeners if they could give us some ideas for Stargazer. Chock full of nuts is that heavenly coffee.
    54:20
    Okay. So, as I was saying before I was mortified with whatever the hell you just said there. We're going to talk full of nuts because it's our filled ball bag.
    54:30
    Okay. All right. This one, I don't know if this is a nickname. It's from FYTR. That's how he signed it. Okay.
    54:42
    It's O.CA, Canadian. So howdy, gents. Long time listener here. Love the show, guys. But I'm starting to miss the days when Bruce would let out an energetic yawn a few times a show. Now it sounds like the poor bugger is sleeping on his feet. Get this man some rest. Today I'm more energetic. Yeah, Sarah, listeners are seeing how tired you are, man. Yep. Well, come to the bar and you can see me in full motion. In full motion.
    55:12
    Full motion. Okay. Yeah, because right now I'm just laying on this couch next to the dog, just petting Cookie and just like, yeah.
    55:20
    Love the idea of improving classic games by tweaking their rules, and I bow down to Scott for being able to do this. Some suggestions. Here we go. Stargazer. One, complete an entire bank of left or right targets to light the corresponding spinner on each side. Not that hard, he says. Well, Scott thought it was hard. I like Scott's idea of the one down, turning it on, two, making it blinking. I like Zach's idea of the, no, that was Zach's idea. Oh, Zach's idea? Okay. To make it sea witchy. Yep. Number two, then hit a lit spinner to light the flipper rollover switch on both sides. will award one freebie and only one astrological symbol. Otherwise, the flipper rollovers just award the same points as now.
    56:05
    Bonus X is reduced 50% after each ball rounded down. Okay, I like that, Errol. That's actually a good rule. That's a suggestion. Another game that really needs a custom ROM is Medusa.
    56:18
    Even the one has bagged this game due to it only needing to stay on the upper play field. This game has great potential. I need a timed upper play field, you're saying, probably? Well, you can set it to be timed.
    56:32
    Let's see. Medusa, make it so you must complete either the right side drop target bank or left side drop targets in order to requalify light the Neptune's Cove saucer in addition to hitting the upper drop targets. This forces the play to the much more dangerous lower play field in between saucer collects. Each ball gets one freebie collect at the saucer, but after that you must re-qualify it on the lower play field. I like that. That's a good one. I think Keith would agree. If the settings are set to not carry over the saucer's value between the balls, this forces a large risk-reward factor in terms of when you cash in the saucer. You'll want to qualify it and then try to bank as much bonus as possible before collecting it, all the while risking a drain and losing it all. Hitting the left targets in sequence qualifies the saucer for the rest of the ball or game, question mark, instead of just for one collect. Keep up the great work. F-Y-T-R.
    57:30
    Thank you. F-Y-T-R. So those were some custom ROM ideas. Then we got this Zach guy. Oh, boy. He had some suggestions for expanded Stargazer rule set. Oh, boy. Here we go. In-lane rollovers turn off after one use. Good. One drop down on the side bank lights corresponding spinner. Two drops down flashes spinner. Flashing spinner spots a constellation.
    58:03
    Completing bank lights in-lane again. Bonus X resets each ball since you'll be shooting the drop banks more. Yeah, true. I kind of like that. Each completion of the constellation awards 173K. and makes a really cool sound.
    58:20
    That's a good one. Homage to Nineball. 173K. Oh, I have the custom ROM in my Nineball that Oliver made. Yes. It has, like, 2X and 4X scoring during multiball. Oh, yes. So you've got two balls, and it plays 2X. So the 2X and 4X, that's 174?
    58:43
    Yes, the 173. Oh, my God. Yes. I was testing that, but here's the problem, Bruce. I have a big problem. What's that? No sound anymore? What's the cool part of hitting 173? The sound. It takes forever for it to count down. Now it just makes a little sound, and it just gives you the 173 quickly. Oh, that's bullshit. That may be enough eventually that I'll re-jumper that board and put the old ROM back in. I think you have to. Even with the other cool stuff it has. Or you email them to fix that. or you have Scott fix it. Hey, Scott. Rehack the hack. Yeah, well, this is the different ROM size. What is it, 128, whatever the hell it is? The board's jumper, especially for this ROM.
    59:30
    But that annoyed me. It's like, really? There's no countdown? And the countdown for the 77K, if you get the nine ball, is not as long. Yeah, that sucks. Come on. Sorry, fail. Come on. People like to see that countdown. Look, we brought it back into our meeting Everyone wants to see a countdown A pure countdown The final countdown Our next email is from Rab Bia Hopefully I said that right He wrote it phonetically and I probably still screwed it up Rabbi, got you, Rabbi Hey Ron and Bruce Hope all is well Wanted to share a recent experience Trying to get the kids into pinball I took my 12-year-old daughter and her friend to not one, but two family-friendly pinball arcade establishments. Good dad. They had the Redemption Games, Old School Arcades, and the newest Raw Thrills Ride Along Shoot-Em-Up Games. Let's see, place number one, level 257. Chicago, Illinois. We got there, and half the place was under construction due to updating the bowling lanes. I took them straight to the pinball lineup and picked Jersey Jack's Pirates of the Caribbean as the first one to play. Unfortunately, this virus was malfunction central. There were stuck balls constantly from the in-lane feeder leading me to bang the side of the machine just to keep the ball moving. They had other great games there, but they were turned off, including Wizard of Oz, Dialed In, etc.
    60:57
    Let's see, place two, more grungy family arcade, GameWorks. Been there. Which had its feature exhibit, a 4D shooter experience at $10 a pop. They didn't even want to try the pinball there, which was a poor selection. 24 Ironman and Family Guy. They used to have a lot more there, but I know when they lost their good repair guy there, it just went downhill. And that's when the group out of Chicago started going to 257 and getting them all into it. Bottom line is I think I screwed up with the first time experience and thought maybe the pinball would sell itself but it just not the case It doesn exactly match up to the thrill and excitement of a Jurassic Park or zombie shoot game When you have two friends like that, they want the simultaneous co-op play, and pinball just isn't that. Anyways, thanks for your diligence on the podcast episodes. I'm behind a few, but I'll catch up soon. Thank you. So don't give up. Don't give up. It's hard. It is hard. Especially with teenagers. Well, actually, was it teenagers? I think he said 12 years old. That's not a teenager, Bruce. A teenager would be 13. Oh, they're all teenagers, don't they?
    62:09
    It's because you're old. Remember, you're the big 5-0. Yeah. How you doing, 50-boy? Yeah, you. Okay. The next email is from the Pinball Princess. Oh, yes. It's been a while. We've been neglected. Since she's world famous and she has her own podcast with Crystal, and they're just ruling the world now with the podcast. We've been left behind. We've been second fiddled.
    62:35
    It's less than three quarters of a page, so. Okay, that's cool. Hi, guys. Dear Ron and Bruce, I come to the two of you seeking pinball advice.
    62:46
    However, first I must address the last Lamb Tilt episode I listened to, that being the post-Allentown breakdown featuring Zach and Steve. That was our Zach and Steve Bowden. Yes. I have a very small bone to pick with Zach. No. No, boy. Yeah, get in line. Yeah, get in line big time. While this is probably unsurprising in its own right, being that his opinions seem to whip a graveyard's worth of discontent, this is amazingly not game-related, but related to a specific phrase he used a few times throughout the episode. At least twice, Zach mentioned that even he could successfully execute some feat in pinball, such as finding a ramp repeatedly. While it is true that Zach had the lowest IFPA rank on the podcast, the margin by which that was true is slight, less than 100 places at present, and his IFPA card alone indicates his high level of skill, never mind the countless anecdotes that... Oh, I said that right. There's a C in there. Sorry. I was thrilled I said something right. The countless anecdotes I have of having my ass casually handed to me by him. The idea that even Zach could accomplish something does not speak for much, at his skill level, really. I'm not surprised that he can shoot a shot multiple times or achieve some notable level of progress through a game's code. Zach, I'm sorry, but you are way too good of a player to use the even card in most contexts. There is a metrics crap ton that even you can do that many players cannot, myself included. I dream to reach this bar you consider exceedingly low one day. Bad Zach. Bad, bad Zach. Now that I've attempted to disagree with Zach on something, I must move on to more pressing matters. I need some pointers as a first-time pinball owner, specifically as a first-time pinball owner who is not also the owner of one's own home and who therefore has neighbors in very close proximity to their living quarters. Put simply, I was wondering if you had any advice on whatever etiquette there might be to owning a pinball machine when one lives in an apartment.
    64:47
    I think you just don't play it after 9 o'clock. Or just with other non-pinhead people. Obviously, not having the volume up to 11 would be common form of credency, so I suppose there's no TNA in my immediate future, and I suppose that playing at 3 in the morning would not be the most considerate thing to do, either. Great. However, is there anything further I should be considering when it comes to keeping my machine from bothering anyone? Is there some method of dampening noise I should adopt as standard practice when setting a machine or ten up in a multifamily, yes, sound travels through wall setting.
    65:24
    Don't put it against the wall. Try to have it in the middle of the room if you can. So it has further distance to hit that wall.
    65:33
    I never thought of that. From my limited understanding, I lucked out in several ways with my current collection of one awesome sea witch. Classic Sterns seem to be comparatively small and quiet next to pretty much anything else. I could see that. They're kind of cheap. They're cheap, so the mechs are quieter. Yeah. I'll go with that. Still, even when the volume is all the way down, the mechanical part of the machine isn't silent, and this does raise concerns for the natural progression of buying pinball machines. If a Sea Witch is actually unusually quiet, then what the hell am I going to do about buying pin number two? For example, I would like to get an EM, But those are definitely louder, and there's no real noise control on reels in the lake.
    66:17
    If noise isn't an issue with Sea Witch, it probably will be with whatever else I get, unless an ultra-chief stargazer somehow falls into my lap, in which case I will have to go out and buy a lottery ticket, as it will clearly be a winner, and then the not-having-one's-own-house point will be moot. Any advice on how to be a responsible and respectful pinhead neighbor would greatly be appreciated. Thanks always. Being fonts of pinball wisdom. Fonts of pinball wisdom. So as Bruce says, put it in the middle of the room. Definitely. Middle of the room. Keep the sound down. Talk to your neighbors. See if they are a little wacky or not. Introduce them to pinball. Maybe they'll be interested and come over and play once in a while. If they're not too creepy. that requires some social interaction yes it does us introverts are not always the best at that you should see all these people my neighbors looking in my garage now what you got in there exactly then the play fields are all sticking out they're all like oh what's that the old guy came across street is that pinball wow haven't seen one of them in 20 years i'm like they still make them today. And he said, fuck yeah. Fuck yeah.
    67:30
    Half sex. Yes. She continues, not bothering to check the word count anymore. Player 31915. Cool. Thank you, Steph. Yeah, talk to the neighbors. Make sure they're not wacky. Guess what? If they're not around, like you see them go out, play away. Another good tip, watch their cars. see what cars they drive in and out of, and then when they're gone and no one's home,
    67:57
    play away. Watch their cars, like, just spy. Just stalk on them. Stalk on them. Okay. Great advice. Yes, of course. That's the Bruce-isms. The Bruce-isms. No, that's just stalking. Stalk, stalk, baby. Good lord. Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun. Stalk, stalk. Stalk, stalk, baby. Okay. So that empties the mail ball bag. Oh.
    68:20
    So anything else you want to talk about? I'm pretty much clear here. No, just 24 hours. I know, 24 hours. Holy shit. It should be a good time. We're going to have two bartenders on staff for one in the morning, afternoon, and one in the evening. So drinks will be flowing. We're going to have $5 margaritas. So we're going to have a lot of people fucked up. It's going to be drunk 12 hours of style. You got it. That's the only way I'm winning. This is July 7th. Yes, it is. And we are actually going to be closed July 4th at the Silver Ball Saloon. To observe the 4th of July. Yes. Our independence. Yep. And we're going to be open July 1st, which is Canada Day, so we don't observe that. No. No, we don't observe that.
    69:16
    USA, man. America. Number one. America. that's all I got man Pintastic I'll have a Pintastic report next week of some kind I will be paying attention you'll be shaking people's hands and kissing babies out at Pintastic oh that requires social interaction again not good I'm scared Bruce just take a little bit of the Bruce-ism with you I found at Pinmania I'm also not good with the whole like praise I don't know how to like react to it at all. People say, like, great game, Avatar. Great game is like... It just feels weird. I don't know.
    69:59
    I just say thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Very modest. Try to be like, thank you. Maybe I should just become the Gene Simmons character in a video. Of course it was good. Yes. Of course. I am a total asshole, Bruce. I am also an excellent pinball player. Much better than you. And Gene, what is your ranking? My ranking is, well, it's going to be much higher now that I got so many points at Pin Mania because I was so awesome.
    70:25
    Oh, so you might actually get screwed. Bruce, I'm Gene Simmons. I get screwed every night. Oh, yes, you do. Exactly. But the other person who got the points at Pin Mania will possibly be restricted a little bit, maybe. Yes, he is a suppressed player, Bruce, but I don't believe it, like, trickles down. I mean, you still get second-place points. I'm pretty good with numbers, Bruce, you know. But you'll be screwed. You might be in B for pin... Would it be B?
    70:57
    No, Bruce. I believe you've got to be top 200, which I'm not in, to be forced to be in A. I'm not jumping up that far, Bruce. I was like 279. Yeah, you watch. You watch. 198 just beforehand.
    71:12
    Wow. It doesn't matter. I'm an A guy anyway. You know that. And how many times have you made A this year? Just at Pinnberg? How many times did I make A? I mean, actually make, like, in A division, or actually make the playoffs in A. Make A. No, just make A. Just make A.
    71:31
    Two times, I think. Okay, good boy. Good boy. Dead silence. Well, I was waiting for you to just come back and say, well, what were you? How many times did you do it?
    71:43
    You want to hear crazy stuff about Pinnberg. I mentioned last week about how Zach was really good at EMs, and that was probably a big part of his run.
    71:54
    So he basically knew from memory what his total point count was, what his counts were for each different category of game, the four different types. Ann, we mean Ann. That's it. He knew from memory. But what was it? Was it EMs? I don't remember.
    72:10
    Was it EMs or was it? No, I think it might have been DMDs, but EMs were like second, something like that. they were up there. But I mean, how do you remember that? He has no girlfriend. Oh, I didn't say that. It's the truth, though. Okay, so if you had a girlfriend, he wouldn't be able to remember anything. That's great logic, Bruce. You're not married. So if I get married, I become stupid. Is that what you're saying? A little bit. You actually got to, you know what you do, unfortunately, when you get older, I'm actually going to insult myself a little bit here. When you get older, it's harder to retain stuff. So what happens is you actually lose a piece of information when you get a new piece of information. So when you have to remember your anniversary or your wife's birthday, certain stuff goes right out the window.
    73:02
    So now with the bar, I barely know my name. Mm-hmm. So, you know, it just gets really bad when you get older. Great words of advice, Bruce. Yep. I can't remember stuff that happened five minutes ago. What happened? Exactly. When did we start this podcast? It feels like three hours ago at this point. It does feel like three hours. It might have been. Yeah, it's only two. It's only two? Oh, God, more editing. Yes. Oh, that's right. I don't do that. Yeah, exactly. But it was cool having our old Bruce back. I think everyone will agree. Yes, I'm a little more energetic tonight. Yep. I got 16 hours of sleep. It helps the podcast.
    73:46
    Plus, I only had to boost eight pinball machines today. That's all, just eight. Eight? Yeah. Did we go into detail about that? Well, you just took it from a storage area to your garage. Yes, which is five miles away, so I had to go back eight, nine trips, actually. Nine trips? I still have to go back. Oh, so you just did, oh, God, you just used your car? You did one at a time? Yes. Oh, man. One at a time. Okay. And then I did the dolly and the plastic wrap also down there. And then I have to go back there to take the pallets away and throw them out and then sweep it up. And then it's all done by the Saturday.
    74:25
    But it was nice. It was air conditioned. Beautiful. Everything stayed dry and beautiful and all pretty.
    74:32
    I can't wait to pick up that Quicksilver. Yeah, I can't wait either because then I get more room in the garage. Well, you'll see both Cheetah 1 and 2 will be sitting vertical. Maybe even powered up. You never know. Maybe I should film it because we stream so often, you know. I know we do.
    74:50
    Yeah. We're trying, folks. It's hard. I have no free time, trust me. There's no time. I'm busy. It's hard. I don't know how people stream all the time.
    75:02
    I don't know how people always do a podcast every week. Oh, that's right. There's only a couple. And one of them is not invited to the TTI. That's because we suck. Because we suck. Well, actually, you suck. You didn't fucking, you know, make your power play. On fucking Algar? No, I wish it was power play. Bobby Orr's power play would have been a much better game to play. That turd. Power play. Well, I'll leave you with this. You know what the best part of Pin Mania was? Cheetah. No. What? The $6 million man was there. You know, the $6 million man. the one that I mention all the time that I got fucked over on, the actual one, and it was fucking dead. It broke the entire tournament. It was dead. It was great. Did you every time go up to him and just laugh at it, like, ha-ha? Oh, before I laughed, I just took a big dump on it.
    75:52
    Luckily, you had the TTI paperwork to wipe with. Yep, I wiped with the TTI invitation. You got it, baby. Yes.
    76:00
    Ending there, we are the Slam Tilt Podcast. This has been episode 97, Captain America, the first Avenger. Say thanks to our friends of the show, all the podcasts that we can't mention until we get invited, which looks like it's never going to happen. So it looks like you podcasts are never getting mentioned again. Unless you fucking make comments about it. Yeah, you need to battle for us because we're kind of at the end of our rope here. Yep, and guess what? If you don't want to have a hard challenge, then I understand you won't mention us at all. So if they want it easy, they won't mention us. But if they want an actual challenge, if they have any sense of true sportsmanship, gamesmanship, they will mention us. I got you. You got it. So don't forget Joe Newhart, pinball star. Contact him for all your spooky American pinball, Jersey Jack, and home pin needs. We have Flipper Fidelity, Mike Pupo. Contact him for all your stern pinball distribution needs. And he also sells top-of-the-line sound systems for your pinball machines. I have one more thing I want to bring up. You have one more thing you want to bring up that just totally wrecked my rhythm. You got it. Go ahead. I played a Houdini this week and an Iron Maiden LE.
    77:24
    So you've actually got to, okay. Because I was talking to someone at Pin Mania, I won't say who, who has an Iron Maiden Premium, and he was not impressed with the up-down mech for the ramp. He basically took a look at it. The rules are different with it. That's the weird thing. I actually like the Pro. So you don't like all the kinetic movement, the kinetic satisfaction, if you will. Yeah, I actually like the rules of the pro a little better, you know, because I know when you have to lock the sarcophagus on the pro, you go for the middle shot, and then you hit it, and then you're done. With this, you actually have to hit the hard shot, which is the left ramp, to lock the sarcophagus. Then when you want to lock your ball, you know, instead of hitting the ramp and going all the way up, it's a little easier to lock it when the ramp opens up and you get the ball in. But when it kicks out, sometimes it doesn't kick perfectly. Of course, it doesn't get any kick out. I enjoyed it. It's a beautiful game. The LE was really sharp looking.
    78:28
    If you were going to have this on location, yeah, I'd say I'd go with the Pro. Did you see the Making of Iron Maiden video? I did with Mr. Tim Balls himself. Yeah, that's the thing. It's like, wow, there's a lot of Tim Balls on this. Yes, a lot of Tim Balls. He must have been the only one in the factory that day.
    78:51
    We love you, Timmy. Did you know that Keith Elman is awesome? Yes. Because Timmy made sure you knew that. Oh, yes, he did. And then Houdini has really fucking tight shots, though. Oh, did you know Houdini's really tight, Bruce? Oh, God, it's tight. It's tight but makeable, I hear. Yeah, no, it's not. It's fucking hard. By the way, the Iron Maiden video was actually on Iron Maiden's YouTube channel. I know. I was looking for it on Stern's channel. Like, where the hell is this? Because I saw it on Facebook. and it's like, oh, it's on Iron Maiden's channel. That's pretty cool. That's fucking kick-ass. Yes. So Timmy can go to an Iron Maiden concert and be praised by hot women.
    79:31
    Okay. I don't know what to say to that. Say it. There you go, Tim. When are you going to be at an Iron Maiden concert? They've got to be playing in Chicago at some point, right? Of course they do. And they'll play at, what is it, Allstate Arena? Allstate Arena. Yeah. Right by the old expo. So I expect to see you there, Tim. You need to attend the Iron Maiden concert. And you might even get backstage passes, possibly. Ooh.
    79:56
    Yeah, maybe they'll be delivering an Iron Maiden. And signing and everything. That'd be fun. Yeah. Because don't they have it on tour? I thought I saw that someone posted a picture. I think they do. They did, yeah. Thanks, everybody. We are the Slam Tilt Podcast. We can be reached at slamtiltpodcast at gmail.com. Check out our website, slamtiltpodcast.com. How's our numbers doing? We're getting all more of our information? We're getting all more of our information. Sure, Bruce.
    80:25
    More of our information? More of our information. Yes, Bruce. Hopefully, I'm still posting to Podcast Garden until our Podcast Garden... Expires. If you're not on there by then, I don't know what to say. I put the redirect in. I did everything I possibly could. Try a different podcatcher. Honestly, your best bet, and this is why I always say this, go to SlamtailPodcast.com. In the upper right-hand corner is all our links, our Twitch page, our YouTube page, Facebook, all that. But there's also a link for the actual feed. And if you use that, you will never have an issue getting new episodes. Mm-hmm. So thanks, everybody. We'll see you next week. Say goodbye, Bruce. Goodbye, Mr. Naps Arcade.
    81:14
    Hold my mind, can you move me? Can you slide? Hold my mind, hold my mind, you can move me if you try. Hold my mind, hold my mind, it's guaranteed to keep you alive. Oh my
    82:05
    Thank you.