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Episode 313: Reby Hardy

Pinball Profile·podcast_episode·31m 51s·held·Aug 16, 2021
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.030

TL;DR

Reby Hardy discusses custom pinball re-themes and her passion for the pinball community.

Summary

Reby Hardy, a multi-talented entertainer with a background in wrestling, Playboy, and entertainment, discusses her deep passion for pinball and her custom re-theming projects. She details the creation of Expedition of Gold (a Mustang re-theme as a gift for her husband Matt Hardy) and an upcoming Ferris Bueller's Day Off re-theme, both done in collaboration with Brian Soares. Hardy shares her childhood love of pinball, her home arcade, streaming on Twitch via House Hardy, and how she's become a significant figure in the pinball enthusiast community.

Key Claims

  • Expedition of Gold took over two years to complete and involved comprehensive code customization of every callout, target, and DMD feature.

    high confidence · Reby Hardy describing the project scope on Pinball Profile 313

  • Expedition of Gold was the first pinball machine to use a custom 3D fan topper technology that projects images when spinning, inspired by a Japanese trade show.

    medium confidence · Reby Hardy discussing innovation and intellectual property concerns

  • Expedition of Gold features UV-reactive neon green plastics designed to blend with their 80s Chuck E. Cheese-themed black light arcade.

    high confidence · Reby Hardy explaining the aesthetic and technical choices for the machine

  • The Ferris Bueller's Day Off re-theme is a commission for a client, with two versions being produced: one chrome (client's) and one powder coat (Brian Soares').

    high confidence · Reby Hardy describing the Ferris Bueller project details

  • Reby's father had a pinball machine in the basement of their apartment building in New York when she was six years old, sparking her lifelong interest.

    high confidence · Reby Hardy recounting her childhood introduction to pinball

Notable Quotes

  • “It's my, it's definitely his favorite pinball machine. Hands down. I mean, that'll be the first thing he'll ever tell you. But it's mine too. I love it. I love it so much.”

    Reby Hardy @ ~10:00 — Demonstrates the emotional and personal significance of the Expedition of Gold project to both Reby and Matt Hardy

  • “I had to actually buy the DVD on Amazon so I could watch the movie because I had never seen it.”

    Reby Hardy @ ~24:00 — Shows her commitment to understanding the source material for the Ferris Bueller re-theme, despite not having seen the film previously

  • “Man, I should have copyrighted that. I should have reached out to somebody on that.”

    Reby Hardy @ ~18:00 — Reflects on innovation in the pinball community and the challenge of protecting custom designs when ideas are quickly adopted by others

  • “It's not just, you know, okay, now we're going to stick this here and just call it this mode and, you know, hope it works out. It really does make sense with the coding and how everything has changed.”

    Reby Hardy @ ~30:00 — Emphasizes the thoughtful design approach to re-theming, ensuring thematic elements align with gameplay mechanics rather than being superficial

  • “I feel like most people see a husband and wife duo on the Internet or they see somebody with a home arcade, they'll assume that it's the man's doing.”

    Reby Hardy @ ~35:00 — Addresses gender dynamics in the pinball hobby and pushes back against assumptions about who drives arcade and pinball enthusiasm in households

  • “Ever since that, I just thought it was the coolest thing ever. And I always thought, man, one of these days when I get older, one of these days in my life, I'm going to have a pinball machine.”

    Reby Hardy @ ~40:00 — Illustrates how her childhood exposure to pinball left a lasting impression and shaped her adult collecting hobby

  • “Is that fake? I just wish people would think twice before saying something like that because the realities of our life say something very different.”

Entities

Reby HardypersonMatt HardypersonBrian SoarespersonJeff HardypersonExpedition of GoldgameFerris Bueller's Day Off (re-theme)gameHouse HardyproductHardyPinball.comproduct

Signals

  • ?

    design_innovation: Expedition of Gold pioneered use of 3D fan topper technology in pinball that projects images when spinning, inspired by Japanese trade show, later adopted by commercial topper manufacturers

    high · Reby Hardy described seeing the technology at a Japanese trade show in June 2019 at Pintastic, implementing it first, and later observing commercial manufacturers copying the concept within 6-8 months

  • ?

    design_innovation: Expedition of Gold implemented UV-reactive neon green plastics to blend with black light arcade aesthetic, creating enhanced visual effects when lights are off

    high · Reby Hardy explained design choice was driven by their 80s Chuck E. Cheese-themed arcade and desire for machines to fit the black light environment

  • ?

    design_innovation: Custom re-theme projects involve complete code customization of callouts, targets, DMD features, and thematic integration rather than superficial decal replacement

    high · Reby Hardy detailed that Expedition of Gold involved changing every call out, every target, every DMD feature, and was a complete refurbishment over 2+ years, with Brian Soares reviewing every line of code

  • ?

    product_strategy: Stern Mustang used as base for multiple high-profile re-themes (Expedition of Gold and Ferris Bueller), similar to Spooky's Halloween/Ultraman strategy, suggesting viability of theme variation on proven code

    high · Reby Hardy discussed using same donor machine for multiple projects, cited Spooky's precedent, and noted that players sometimes don't immediately realize it's the same underlying game

  • ?

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.096

0:00
It's time for another Pinball Profile. I'm your host, Jeff Teels. You can find everything on pinballprofile.com. All the links are there. You can find us on Twitter and Instagram at pinballprofile. Email us pinballprofile at gmail.com. We go to North Carolina. We were just in South Carolina, so why not go to North Carolina right now and talk to a woman who's kind of caught our eyes on Twitch. maybe in the wrestling world, maybe it's rethemed pinball machines. Rebby Hardy joins us right now. Hi, Rebby. How are you? Hello. Thanks for having me. Well, thanks for joining me. I know you're very, very busy. First of all, congratulations on the newest addition, Evie, to the family. That's a lot of kids. What, four kids under six?
0:49
Yeah, we got four under six. It's been a hell of a few years. Yeah, but that's exciting for you and Matt and the entire family. So congratulations on that. Well, I think you caught our eyes. I mean, obviously with wrestling for many of us, but in the pinball world, there's Evie. In the pinball world, you and Matt, we saw you come up with this incredible re-theme, and it was Expedition of Gold, a re-theme of Mustang, and that was a huge undertaking. Yeah, that actually had come about. It was supposed to initially be a surprise for Matt. Every few birthdays, I'd try and do something really epic. So, like, for example, one year I had like a custom bus statue made of him. And, you know, so I was thinking, man, it would be cool to have some sort of custom game made, you know, to commemorate his career. And that's how the pinball retheme came about. But at first he didn't know at all. And that was such a process trying to get all of the elements together for that game without stooging it off to him. So I would be like, hey, and it's funny because he knows I don't really care much about wrestling, you know, so I'd be like, hey, what are your top five favorite wrestling titles? And he'd be like, what? Who cares? And I'd be like, no reason.
2:06
It's kind of like hard being sneaky around that kind of thing. And initially, actually, the call outs were all done by his brother. You know, we ended up hiring a professional voiceover artist and he did such a great job. But initially it was all just Jeff. So I had to have Jeff kind of in on the secret, and he recorded it in the closet there because it had the moist audio dampening properties with all the clothes.

Reby Hardy @ ~75:00 — Defends wrestling as a legitimate physical performance art, highlighting real injuries and physical toll behind the entertainment

Mustang
game
Data East Royal Rumblegame
Playboygame
Jeff Teelsperson
Pinball Profileorganization
Spooky Pinballcompany
Robert Byersperson
Benjamin (Reby's father)person
Twilight Zone (pinball machine)game
Ms. Pac-Mangame
Texas Pinball Festivalevent
Electric Bat Arcadevenue

community_signal: Emerging ecosystem of pinball content creators (House Hardy, Top Rope Pinball, Pinball Profile podcast) creating specialized streaming and media content blending pinball with other entertainment verticals

high · Reby Hardy discussed launching House Hardy Twitch channel (~1 month old at interview), praised Robert Byers' Top Rope Pinball for wrestling-pinball crossover content, and this Pinball Profile interview represents media coverage of creator phenomenon

  • ?

    content_signal: Twitch emerging as preferred platform for pinball community engagement over Twitter/Instagram due to higher quality interaction and lower toxicity

    medium · Reby Hardy expressed preference for Twitch due to self-selecting community of viewers who want to be there vs. social media platforms she characterized as toxic cesspools

  • ?

    collector_signal: Hardy home arcade initially focused on wrestling-themed pinball machines (Data East Royal Rumble) as entry point for collectors with wrestling fandom, suggesting IP licensing appeal to specific niches

    medium · Reby Hardy noted their first arcade machine was Data East Royal Rumble and subsequent acquisitions were wrestling-themed before expanding to custom projects

  • $

    market_signal: Growing market for commission-based custom re-themes and homebrew pinball machines, with multiple versions (Standard/Limited editions equivalent) being produced for individual clients

    medium · Ferris Bueller project originated as commission from client who wanted custom game, with two versions being made (chrome client version, powder coat version for Brian Soares)

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Reby Hardy emerging as significant custom pinball designer/modifier with growing portfolio and community recognition despite recent entry into pinball space

    high · Host noted her extensive pinball knowledge and design expertise despite assumption it would be Matt's hobby; she's now directing major custom projects and receiving invitations to bring machines to festivals

  • ?

    event_signal: Ferris Bueller re-theme reveal party being planned for Massachusetts location with streaming component and industry attendees, suggesting emerging tradition of custom game launch events

    medium · Reby Hardy discussed plans for release reveal party in Massachusetts that was postponed due to pregnancy/COVID, intending to fly to Brian Soares' location for photography and video documentation

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Community sentiment shifting toward accepting multiple themed versions of same game layout as legitimate design practice, following Spooky's precedent with Halloween/Ultraman

    medium · Reby Hardy initially concerned about using same Mustang for multiple re-themes but cited Spooky's strategy as validation, noted one player didn't realize Ferris Bueller was same game as Expedition of Gold

  • ?

    venue_signal: Hardy family home arcade expanding with multiple custom machines and serving as content creation hub for streaming, representing growing trend of premium home arcade installations

    high · Reby Hardy discussed transforming basement into full-fledged 80s-themed arcade with multiple machines, now filming Twitch content from the location

    • 2:32
    But, you know, it was hard. Eventually I ended up letting him in and telling him what I was doing, and it ended up being great because we were able to get call-outs from him himself instead of kind of sneaking around and doing it on YouTube and stuff like that. So it ended up being sort of me and Matt's project, but initially it was really just a surprise gift. Yeah, that's a hard one to keep under wraps, too, because it's not like, oh, I'm going to surprise somebody with a gift that you can go buy at a store. No, this had to be custom made. And I know Brian Soares had to do all kinds of work on this. So it certainly was a long endeavor to put this together. But, I mean, what a huge payoff. Yeah, I mean, and also the further along that we got in the design process, the more excited I was. So I was just like, you just want to tell someone like, oh, my God, this is so cool. You would love it. And then you'd be like, what? And I'd be like, nothing.
    3:24
    So I'm glad that we did it the way we did. And we involved him in in the process. And it's gosh, it's my it's definitely his favorite pinball machine. Hands down. I mean, that'll be the first thing he'll ever tell you. But it's mine, too. I love it. I love it so much. We also, you know, incorporated the kids in it. We've got little hidden Easter eggs and stuff. So it's a really personal and special project. A lot of us in the pinball community feel that Mustang is one of the most underrated pinball machines because of the code and the great gameplay, the layout. So the fact that you can change the artwork to Matt's career and you've already got this great code, yeah, it all works well. And I like the subtle things like changing the word Mustang on the back to delete explanation point. I think that's brilliant and, again, just a nice tie-in, really well-themed. Thank you. Yeah, you know, a lot of people, when they think in terms of re-skins, like people say, or re-themes, that you kind of just slap a decal over the existing artwork and call it a day. But, I mean, in every single way, this machine was completely refurbished, completely changed. If you go on the website, which is hardypinball.com, I mean, we documented how many hours and hours of just changing the code to be able to change every call out, you know, every target, every feature on the DMD. I mean, every single thing was really revamped and changed and customized. And that is like mad props to Brian because he's the one that had that job of calling through just every single line of code for days and days and hours. Oh, my God. I mean, it was a project that ended up taking, you know, a little bit over two years in total just to get everything done. So it was a huge commitment of changing to changing everything. I know Stranger Things got a lot of praise with their UV kit, but this machine, Expedition of Gold, I think this was first. You know what? Expedition of Gold, I feel like, did a lot of things first that ended up catching up in the pinball world. For example, yes, the UV thing, but also, you know, I had come up with a custom topper. I had seen something in a Japanese trade show that was sort of like a fan that would project an image when you look at it because it's spinning fast enough. And, you know, Expedition of Gold was the first theme in the pinball world to utilize something like that as a topper. That's really, aside from that one Japanese trade show that I'd seen it at, It was the only place that I'd seen that technology used in gaming at all. And you know what? About six months, eight months later, we've got a company here that started manufacturing pinball toppers with that exact same technology. I was like, man, I should have copyrighted that.
    6:15
    I should have reached out to somebody on that. Damn. Yeah. I think I first saw it in, say, June of 2019 at Pintastic just outside of Boston. I saw that kind of 3D fan and I thought, wow, you could do anything on that. But you were there first. Yeah, man. And everyone's like, wow, it's so genius. What an amazing idea. And I'm like, hmm. And then, of course, you can't be the bitter Betty and be like, well, actually, I did it first. But, you know, actually, I did it first. So whatever. and then the UV stuff came about just because my arcade, our home arcade is themed sort of 80s old school Chuck E. Cheese style, how would you say it just sort of a black light old school arcade and I wanted the game to sort of to blend in with how the arcade is, so all of the plastics instead of clear or any other translucent plastic, I thought well let's see if we can do that bright sort of neon green color and see if that'll be black light reactive and it was and it ended up being so cool like when you turn the lights off there it's kind of hard with the gi and when the game's turned on even though you can still tell but when you turn the lights off in the arcade and you've just got those black lights on it's so so so cool i'm so glad that we did that well robbie we've seen the end results on house hardy on twitch on hardypinball.com as you had mentioned And this wasn't your first kind of re-theme, in fact, because the Playboy game you re-themed as well with your pictures, your centerfold days. And you really have a knack at re-theming pinball machines.
    7:51
    Thank you. Yeah that was kind of a project that unfortunately I didn really get to finish When I had first bought that machine it was when half had passed It was literally the day after And I saw it come up for sale and I was thinking man people are really going to price gouge this Let me try and get this. And, you know, just to have, just because all of the machines in our home arcade there, they kind of started off as really personal to us, either games that Matt was in or wrestling-themed titles. so at the time it was all wrestling and I thought hey let me get something of mine in there you know let me get a playboy in there so I had started the process of re-theming that and kind of only got as far as the targets and stuff like that me and Brian were actually talking about doing the whole thing a whole revamp sort of expedition of gold style of the play field and everything but we've been so busy with other projects that we haven't gotten around to it, but I would love to. But yeah, that Stern Playboy has got a bunch of my Playboy pictures throughout the year. So it's a little halfway re-theme. What a great keepsake. I mean, I would love to be able to re-theme games and you kind of hinted towards Ferris Bueller's Day Off, your next re-theme. This is, I assume, your favorite movie or one of your favorite movies? So I had never seen Ferris Bueller's Day Off. This machine actually came about as a commission from a client who had reached out to Brian. He had had another custom game done by Brian prior. It was a Ferrari game. Yeah, it was a Ferrari game. That was before we had met. And I love that game. You can see that on his website, which is gameroompinball.com. But this guy wanted a custom Ferris Bueller machine. And I believe that Ferris Bueller is one of Brian's favorite movies. So he reached out and he said, look, you know, I've got this guy. He really wants a Ferris Bueller machine. I really want a Ferris Bueller machine, and I want to, like, knock it out of the park. Like, this one has to be, like, the best one ever, like, top expedition of gold. And I was like, whoa, damn, okay. And so we kind of came on board, and we started working together on the project. I had to actually buy the DVD on Amazon so I could watch the movie because I had never seen it. So that was kind of hard. just because it's one of his favorite movies and he had all the references and all the lines and all the things kind of like etched in his mind and he would bring something up to me and I'd be like, yeah, I have no idea what you're talking about, bro. But, you know, we worked it out. There's a lot of watching of YouTube clips to catch up with the culture that I had missed of Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Oh, he's a righteous dude, to quote the movie.
    10:37
    It's like a cult favorite. I had no idea. It was a little bit before my time. I think the movie came out the year I was born, so I might have missed the Ferris Bueller train just a little bit. Fingers crossed. We're going to be seeing Ferris Bueller's day off on House Hardy on Twitch, and certainly I know This Week in Pinball is going to be doing a spread on it as well. For sure. I mean, any day now, I'm kind of disappointed just because the plan the whole time was for me to fly out to Massachusetts where Brian is. There's a bit of a distance in between us. We do everything, obviously, over the Internet and over phone. But the plan was to go over there and photograph and video the machine and sort of do a release on a website similar to Expedition of Gold has HardyPinball.com. You know, that's sort of it's become the catch all for other machines now that we've done. But it originated really just to show off that particular machine. But, you know, just how this baby, this newborn baby and COVID ended up happening. I was not able to get out there because by the time that the machine was finally completed, I was nine months pregnant and on bed rest. I was like, man, really, really wanted to get out there, but I wasn't able to. So we're actually talking about doing a little release reveal party in Massachusetts. And that would be something really fun and just invite all our friends and people from the pinball world out there. Hey, man, you should come. and do a big release there and do a big streaming of the game there just because there's actually two of these being made. One will be Brian's, and then the other one is for the client whose idea it was. And what's cool about it is they're sort of in the same style of standard and limited. The client's is all chrome, and it's got a few additional lux details, I'd say. And then Brian's, it's the same game, but he's got the powder coat as opposed to the chrome on the rails and the legs and stuff like that. So no matter where the client's game ends up, I best believe I'm going to be going over to Brian's house and getting my pictures and videos and streaming from his place because he's going to be keeping himself with one of those. Rabby, this is incredible, these re-themes, because this is a re-themed Mustang machine as well. But look at what's happened recently in pinball. Spooky just sold out their next two games, Halloween and Ultraman. It's the same layout, different themes. Same. Same, similar code, but different themes. And look at how popular that was. I mean, we haven't seen this in a while since Shrek and Family Guy. But if you really like a theme, you could do it with any machine. Right. I feel like Mustang is such a complex game in terms of different modes and things that you could do that you could really go anywhere with any theme of it. And every time you did it, it would be different. You know, Expedition of Gold is following the collection of titles. Ferris Bueller's Day Off is, you know, I don't want to give it all away here yet, but, you know, it's got its own little series of things that you have to do. And what's cool is that it makes sense. It's not just, you know, okay, now we're going to stick this here and just call it this mode and, you know, hope it works out. It really does make sense with the coding and how everything has changed. So I think it's cool. That was something that I was a little afraid of at first, that we were using the same donor machine for the last two games that we've done that have gotten a bit of attention. But, you know, once I saw that Spooky was doing it, that's the first thing that I thought. I was like, hey, you know, if they're doing it, I don't want to hear nothing about ours, you know, because it works out. And I had actually shown the machine to somebody else. And this is someone who had seen Expedition of Gold and who is a fan of pinball. And they didn't even realize at first that it was the same game, which is which is really great. You know, throughout the design process, I was kind of almost paranoid the whole time. Like, oh, I'd love to do this, but it's too similar to Expedition of Gold. or I don't want it to look the same as the other one that we did. So I kind of prided myself on making them distinct enough, even though they are the same game, that you don't look at it and immediately say, oh, yeah, there's a stirred Mustang or there's another expedition of gold just with a different decal on it or whatever. I have to ask because when I first heard you do Expedition of Gold, okay, that makes sense. You're doing a nice gift for your husband, his wrestling career. But when I hear you talk and when I see you on House Hardy and HardyPinball.com, you have this great pinball history knowledge. It's just not something like, oh, I want to surprise my husband with a nice gift. You're really into this. And for those who haven't heard or seen you before, they're getting a sense of that right now here on this interview. Where did all this pinball love come from? Thank you. I appreciate you saying that. I feel like most people see a husband and wife duo on the Internet or they see somebody with a home arcade, they'll assume that it's the man's doing. I think that's just how most people's minds go. So when a lot of people come on to our Twitch channel you know they refer to it as Matt or they refer to the home arcade as Matt And you know it is Matt in the sense that he is paying for it But you know a lot of it is my idea He had a Ms. Pac-Man machine and I think he had a, what else did he have? He had some other blocky arcade cabinet that, you know, neither were even working. And I really wanted to turn our basement into a full-fledged arcade just because I've always had a love for classic games and arcade games and always wanted a pinball machine. My dad actually had one in the basement of our apartment building.
    16:29
    Shout out Senior Benjamin. Yes, yes. He was the super of our building. And he had in his workshop a little old school pinball. And, my gosh, I've asked him over and over, Daddy, do you remember what that pinball machine was that you had? I was maybe six years old when he had it. He didn't remember. But I mean, ever since that, I just thought it was the coolest thing ever. And I always thought, man, one of these days when I get older, one of these days in my life, I'm going to have a pinball machine. And, you know, luckily, Matt was into it and he started being cool with me collecting them. And like I said, our arcade initially started off with wrestling titles. So the first pinball machine that I got there was a Data East Royal Rumble. and that's kind of what showed him pinball because he'd never really played pinball or thought or cared about pinball but that game actually got him really into it and then you know it might have been a little sneaky you know maybe part of expedition to goal was to get him even more into pinball but hey it worked because he's super into it now even though you know we we've had machines in our arcade that he's just now started to play for the first time in years but but yeah it's just it's just a love that I've always had and I'm so lucky that he's cool with the hobby you know it's it's kind of flip-flop most guys are like yeah I gotta convince my wife but it's uh it's it's kind of flip-flopped and he's jumping on the train and he's he's starting to appreciate pinball a lot more so your dad had a pinball machine when you were in New York there are a lot of places to play pinball so were you checking out arcades or was that kind of a little after the fact so i feel like by the time that i had come into my own to be able to really go out and and visit stuff like that on my own i had already moved out and was you know in the chaos of my life so it was really just wherever i could find them and it would be like you know like i said my dad was the super of the building so it would be stuff that people would leave behind or tenants that had games themselves in their apartments. I mean, just crazy stuff like that is where I would find pinball machines, which I feel like was sort of added to the magic of them. It's like these giant, massive, 10-ton machines that you can just find in the most obscure of places sometimes just because people love them and they'll find a way to make them fit and stick around with pinball. So that's kind of how I've played throughout the years until getting my own collection. When I hear of what you've done in pinball, obviously recently, but this vast knowledge from when you were a young child, it seems like you've always been into pinball and just been like a lot of us both feed in and really just that's all we do. But when I look at your career, I don't know how you got pinball in because there's a lot that's been done. Classic penis. You've been on Broadway. In fact, you performed for Ringo Starr at Radio City Music call, which is super cool. Got to meet him and all that stuff. You've done a lot of different things. We mentioned the Playboy, of course, your own wrestling career, and you're a young woman. You've done a lot in such a short time, and now you're right into this whole pinball thing. I mean, it's quite the resume. Thank you. Yeah, I feel like when I meet somebody today and anything from my past comes up or that needs to be referenced or comes up in conversation, I feel like I start talking and people don't believe me. Because if you meet me today, you know, obviously, I'm just a mom. I stay home and it's pretty busy here, you know, and if anything from my past comes up like, oh, yeah, at the Playboy Mansion or, oh, yeah, Radio City, people be like, what? You know, how do you go from just stay at home kind of mom in North Carolina to everything that had been done before. It really is like living 10 different lives within one lifetime. But it's been a lot. I've been lucky to be able to bounce from passion to passion and be able to stick with them. I've just gotten really lucky with people that I've met, you know, Hef and Howard Stern and magazine connections back when magazines were still relevant. You mentioned Howard Stern. You were a Miss Howard Stern. I mean, I'm a radio guy, so that's a big deal. That was a huge deal. And that really helped me out within my own radio career. You know, I worked for Sirius XM for a couple years in New York, and part of that was because of Howard Stern. You know, there's been so many opportunities that have opened doors to other venues and other genres of business and of life, and somehow they're all sort of intertwined, and I think that's so cool. Is the arcade going to be able to expand? Because it seems like you have a lot of interests. You know, I wasn't sure if you were ever going to get a Beatles machine because of that Ringo connection. You mentioned the Data East Royal Rumble game, which is spectacular by the way. I can see how that got Matt hooked. I have to admit, I enjoyed watching you on House Hardy on Twitch, a recent stream where you were playing Twilight Zone. And Matt maybe had three games up on you, but you said, alright, last game, winner take all. He was a little reluctant, but you came through, Rebby, and you beat him. You could see little sour grapes there. He's like, yeah, but I won this, but I won the last game back and forth. It was great.
    21:51
    Set in death. Sudden death. We're going to make it work. Yeah. And it's funny. I feel like I'm okay. I'm not like the best. I'm not a competitive tournament player or anything as much as I would love to be. But, you know, I feel like I play the best when no one's watching. So then, of course, we get on Twitch and I play like trash. And I'm just like, okay. Of course, you'll say this is not indicative of how I actually play. No one's going to believe you. They're just going to think you suck.
    22:16
    So Twitch is really just go on there and have fun because I don't know. I get a little stage fright when I get on there, get a little self-conscious. It'll go away after time, and I don't know if you watch other streams, because I have a good friend in Robert Byers in Austin, Texas, Top Rope Pinball, and I know you've watched that stream. And how funny that is, because he does these wrestling intros. You must get a kick out of that. Yeah, the first time that I saw his stream, I was blown away, because I had never thought to make anything other than stand there and play the game of it. So I thought it was really cool how he just made a whole interactive mesh between the wrestling world and the pinball world. That's so cool. I love his channel.
    22:58
    And you know what's neat about House Hardy? It's not always just pinball, too. There's a chance to talk to some of the fans, which I think I just recently saw a delete commentary that was done where Matt was explaining some of the videos and some of his wrestling past. I assume for the fans, that's just incredible interaction that you probably can't get. You watch these people on TV. You watch them on AEW, all the former WrestleManias and all the championships. But here you are on Twitch and you're accessible. And that does mean a lot. I wonder what it's been like, your reaction, yours, Matt's, with the fans in general. Are they respectful of your space? Are they excited? What's it like? I feel like, you know, we're just about a little over a month into our time on Twitch. And of all the social media that we have, and especially Matt, he has every single form of social media you could possibly have. I feel like Twitch is my favorite to be honest and I think it quickly becoming his too because if you on Twitch you want to be there It not like Twitter or Instagram where kind of everyone and their mom has it. And it's more of like a toxic cesspool, which is really what Twitter is, you know, as accessible as you can be on there, especially him. You know, everyone's got it and everyone can be on there. And that's not always a great thing. I feel like if you're on Twitch, you want to be there. You want to be part of the community that you're watching. And I feel like we're working really hard to build a little community of wrestling, of old school gaming, of pinball, of things that are important to us that we like so that we could share our passion with other people. And, you know, either they share those passions or they can sort of enjoy that and watch along and enjoy the ride because I just feel like it's more personal and it's only the good stuff. I feel like now, of course, there's going to be some shit talkers on there sometimes and some trolls. It's inevitable no matter where you go, especially if there's anything to do with wrestling. You can't not have toxicity in wrestling community, unfortunately. But it's a lot less on Twitch. And it's cool that there's that fan interaction and that that sense of like immediacy where you have the chat and you can say something and someone can interact in real time. I feel like that's really cool. I noticed on a lot of the pinball chats, people will say, have you checked this place out or that place? Whether it's big things like Texas Pinball Festival, I think you mentioned you'd like to go there someday. And in North Carolina, there's a lot of action. There's Abari, which is famous. There's NC Pinball, Appalachian Pinball Museum, Hendersonville, Asheville, Flippers. So much to see in North Carolina. I don't know if you get a chance to, it's tough with a young family, but I don't know if you get out and see some of these locations. We had when I first started getting the machines for the house and then, you know, kind of the pandemic hit. And with all the small kids, it's just really hard to I would love to get out to more festivals and just tour more arcades in the in the southeast. I feel like that would be really fun. We've actually gotten me and Brian a few invitations to to bring the machines to a couple of the cons and the festivals, which I feel like he's a little more hesitant on doing, but I would love to. So hopefully once this world is finished ending, we'll be able to do a little more of that. Now especially that the kids are older and our oldest is starting to show interest in pinball, which is great. Can you tell me and those listening, what are some of the biggest myths people have about wrestling and the wrestling industry? I've been lucky enough to know a few wrestlers, and it's best to hear it from you. I know a lot of people will say this and that, and they're way off. Yeah, I mean, they usually are. I feel like how wrestling is portrayed in media and in TV and in movies and stuff like that is obviously way different from the reality of it. And, you know, of course, there's always that first thing that comes out of everybody's mouth, which I don't realize if they realize how incredibly rude it is. But, you know, oh, it's fake, right? Right. And I just it's so offensive, to be honest, just because, you know, when you see someone talking about Game of Thrones or, you know, oh, yeah, I watch Stranger Things. Do you go up to that person and say, you know, that's fake, right? I mean, no shit. It's like, yes, someone wrote it. But it is my husband's limp that he walks with every day of his life. fake is the fact that he can't run as fast as he wants to when he plays with our kids because his body is so broken down? Is that fake? I just wish people would think twice before saying something like that because the realities of our life say something very different. You're saying those surgeries, they're not fake? The injuries, those are all real? Who knew? I would invite them to throw themselves down onto canvas and wood and steel as hard as they can and then report back on what it feels like. And then let me know if they would like to ask the question again. Okay, Rebby, I have to admit, as a fanboy and a radio host, I've been fortunate enough to host a few indie events. And, you know, these are 1,000, 2,000 people. But I've got to tell you how pumped I was just to be a host. And I didn't want to go Mean Gene or anything. I actually wanted to get in the squared circle. So we set up this whole scenario where we had this person call us on the radio, and he was heckling us and telling us how bad we were, and he was going to meet us in the ring. So, of course, we had him at the event, and he was wearing the other radio station's T-shirt. We brought him in the ring, and we beat the living tar out of him. And it was a little secret behind the curtain here. He was my best friend, but it was all staged.
    28:47
    It was great. But the funniest part was, okay, we didn't get to really practice because, you know, the day of they're setting up the ring. And I'm like, okay, here's the plan. We're going to whip you against the rope, give you a clothesline. I'm going to pick you up, give you a body slam. He was a skinny guy. And then I'll give you an elbow drop or something like that. Well, when you throw somebody against the ropes, as you know, you better make sure your arms are above the top rope or you might go through the ropes. Oh, no. Yeah. It didn't happen. We got lucky. Oh, God. But he came back for the clothesline. I totally connected. I thought I took his head off, which made him almost do a 180 and land on his head. But the show must go on. I still got to give him the elbow drop and stuff. Oh, my gosh. Oh, God, it was fun. But I thought I killed him.
    29:30
    Oh, my God. Yeah, you see? You can't fake that. You cannot fake that. You can't fake that. I know you're busy with the kids, but I do have to find out from a New York girl how your Met's doing because I'm a Blue Jays fan. and we're both kind of looking at the playoffs. Is it going to be the Mets? Is it going to be the playoffs? Can they both do it? Can they both? Probably not.
    29:55
    Man, I'm a Queens girl. Everybody always says, hey, you're a Giants and a Mets fan, and it kind of reverts. You should be a Jets fan. But I grew up with Shea Stadium in my window. Yeah. It was still Shea Stadium, so that's why I'm a Mets fan, like it or not.
    30:11
    There's a lot of you. That's okay. That's fine. No, and by the way, I miss old Shea Stadium. It was great to hear the planes just roar over top. I've been to the new one. It's nice, a little more corporate, but there was something special about the old Shea. Yeah, for sure. I miss Shea. I always miss Shea. And I have to tell you this. The first ever wrestling shirt I ever bought was a long-sleeve purple shirt with a yellow logo, Twist of Fate. Oh, nice. Love to hear it. This is great that it's kind of come full circle with this interview. So I appreciate you coming on. I love what your family has done on House Hardy on Twitch and Hardypinball.com. You've got some great merch, too. I know I mentioned that shirt, but there's some great stuff you can get. Thank you. Yeah, if you check out shophousehardy.com, you can find a bunch of shirts and even some Expedition to Gold themed stuff. We've got some Expedition to Gold t-shirts and also some posters. Okay. I love how Matt has reinvented himself in his career many times and just some brilliant award-winning reinventions. I love that you have reinvented these incredible pinball machines, the latest being Ferris Bueller's Day Off. And we will catch you on House Hardy on Twitch. Rebby, thank you very much for joining us. Thank you so much. Have fun. This has been your Pinball Profile. You can find everything on pinballprofile.com or on Twitter and Instagram at pinballprofile. Email us pinballprofile at gmail.com. I'm Jeff Teolas. We'll see you next time.