Hey everybody, do you remember MC Hammer? We all do. What a frickin' guy. I was watching a documentary of his life and times, and man, dude just soared high and then just kind of lost some spectacle but did it in a really appreciable way man really just out helping his friends and he's still active now and he did make some clever investments so let's all aspire to be as great as the mc hammer man his dancing back in the day was just incredible like watching that stuff now this led me down a nostalgia hole uh took me all the way through digital underground to of all things nothing but trouble that daniel ackroyd film if you remember how can you not it's a fever dream of body horror and strange comedy and it's all over the place chevy chase phoning it in dimmy moore doing her best and john candy playing multiple roles uh just very very strange movie um yeah there's a big monster diaper babies mongoloids and stuff in the anyway go check it out and uh redlettermedia.com uh redlettermedia on youtube does a great like review 20 minutes of nothing but trouble that is very much worth watching from like a film person perspective. Totally awesome. I love those guys at Red Letter Media. How are you guys doing? Hammer, shut up. How are you guys doing, man? Gosh, I have been so incredibly freaking busy with this new project. I'm nearly to the point that I want to kind of let the cat all the way out of the bag, but I'll give you guys a little bit of a teaser. But first, I just wanted to talk and chat with the fam here. Basically, well, I'll cut to it right here. I've got three jobs right now, and I bought another house. People were telling me, Don, you're going to buy as many pinball machines as you have room and budget for. And that of course was denied, but turned out to be absolutely the case. And now I hear, you know, well, once you fill up your house, you're going to end up just buying another house for more pinball machines, which I immediately dismissed and laughed off and then dammit if it didn't happen. So what had happened was a pinball friend was listing a house that was already set up and like custom made for pinball. It's in an area that I would like to go and kind of spend some vacation time at. And so everything was just kind of lining up. So I'll tell you what I'll do. At the end of this little bonus episode, I'll reveal the location or at least the town where that's at, you know, and maybe we can end up doing some festivals and some fun stuff later on. But starting some new jobs. At the same time that I decided to, suddenly purchase a house out of nowhere. Typically, people will save up for several years for a down payment and then find the right lender and the right loan. And like, I love this neighborhood and let's put in a bid. This was very much like, hey, this is becoming available. Any interest? And so I had to kind of turn and burn and just come up with a house down payment out of nowhere. And I manifested it out of selling a Harry Potter, an Avatar, a King Kong, a wipeout and kind of was one other game too that went and then all of a sudden poof that and a couple extra shifts and there I am with a 20 down payment how about that life is weird you know um there was a point where I was in my my very early 20s uh skateboarding to get around town living in a car that didn't run and taking classes at a junior college of all things and couch hopping and stuff and like I couldn't afford to take and bake pizza at the time and now like I'm turning and burning and buying homes. Planning on selling the two homes that we're in now, and then this will be the primary residence at the new location, which we are super enthusiastic about. It's finally happened. We closed. Everything worked out. We'll reveal the location later, but it's been super fun. But first, some Star Wars. I went to Kickback Bar. I worked a night shift, and then I got off. I've got 12 hours off, and then I have to be back for another 12-hour night shift. And so I got home, and I'm like, Star Wars is out. work was terrible last night. Can we, let's just go play it. It's an hour and a half to Madison. We'll go in, we'll grab some food. We'll play the game for a little bit, whatever. Monica was like, sure. She's never played it. Right. Monica, my wife, um, you know, she didn't go to the stern media day or nothing. Uh, so she was like, you know, and she knows we're going to eventually end up with a premium for a little bit. It'll be made over for the one-up lounge. Um, but she's like, yeah, sure. We'll go in. We'll try it out. Whatever. So I go to kickback bar. Uh, there's a lot of places called kickback by the way i took a photo and i want to tag them um and there's all sorts of kickback arcade kickback this whatever kickback cafe this is kickback bar and it's in madison middleton but madison area a new place i've been there before they got like 40 games they're brand new uh they're serviced by kingpin which is a local wisconsin distributor who also services io arcade which is the other great arcade in our area um and uh they tend to get like they're one of those places that just always happens to get le's like right off the bat and put them on location like i don't know how the the budget numbers work out in favor for that but like hey i'm here for it you know um i'm sure when you buy in the volume that they do i'm sure that i don't know that they're exactly paying msrp but i'm sure it's not advertised but you get what i'm saying it's for some reason and again i'm sure there's a fiduciary reason for it they have two stern Star Wars LEs like of all the LEs to buy it's a stern Star Wars which is of course available and probably at a discount maybe that's why they got to maybe was buy to get something else free or something anyway they got two of them on location side by side which was bonkers so I like let go down there we got to see this I know probably one of them is earmarked for a different location and like for now they just having fun having to you know but it make it easier for us to go down and play It the brand new Stern game So that what the one people are going to be wanting to play on. So that'll help with the lines and whatever. This was Sunday at like 11 o'clock or noon. So we're not really prime time yet. So we get there and there's like a dude playing one of them. The other one's available. We just drove an hour and a half. So we went and got quarters, went to the bathroom, which is all the way in the far end of this place. I think eventually it's going to be full of like axe throwing and escape rooms and all kinds of other stuff. But for now, it's like 40 pinball machines and then 80% of an empty building with bathrooms at the far end. So we get there. And of course, you know, as soon as we walk all the way back across this cavernous place, a dude walks up right in front of us and gets on the other game that was available. So it's like, hey, you know what? I'm not in a rush. I'll just hang out. I got my quarters. You know, I've already played every other game in here. I'm really just here for Star Wars. It's the brand new game. I'm just going to wait my turn, let the guy have his fun, and then we'll go and play no harm, no foul. Monika and I will play a one-two player game, and then we'll get out of line, let somebody else play, and then we'll get back in line and play again, right? No big deal. So I'm standing next to this guy, and I'm like, hey, Mon, you wait next to the one next to me. I'll wait for this one. Whichever one finishes first, that's the one we'll go and play, you know? That way, if a line of queue forms, we're doing like checkout line rules, right? So divide and conquer. Nobody else was really there. So I'm standing there and I'm watching this guy and he logs in with his Stern and Sutter connected account. So I know he like kind of at least knows pinball enough to know to sign up for an account. And then he's just like standing there staring at the game. And I'm like, it's a brand new game. He's checking it out. I would do the same thing. I ain't going to rush him. You know, I'm standing here with my quarters in my hand whenever he's ready, whatever. And then like he turns around and like just like looks right at me and engages me. And he's just like, hey, how are you doing? like and just kind of out of nowhere and i'm like i'm awesome i'm doing awesome guy friendly dude no problem goes back stares at his game for a while and then he turns around again he's like are you watching do you want to watch come around to the side and i'm like oh no man like listen like i've i've played this i played this game before i've seen it i'm just waiting my turn i'm like four feet away i'm just hanging back here do your thing man do your thing i'm just waiting to players. This is the line. Then he goes back for a while, still hasn't started his game. And I'm like, something's off here with this guy who will just, we'll just call Kevin. I don't know what his name is. Um, so, you know, Kevin's sitting there and then, then he turns around, he's like angry and he's like, my ADHD won't allow you to stand there. You know, you have to go away. And I'm like, well, like, I don't want, like, I'm like, I'm not standing right up next to the guy. I'm like three or four feet away. Just kind of standing there. You know, Monica's gone and sat down at a table nearby by now because no one else is standing here waiting you know and but i don't want to like walk away and then like somebody else comes up and then i'm like i'm you know back in line so i'm like dude i'm just play your game i'm not looking at you i'm not looking at you i'm looking at my hands look look here i am i'll look at my hands not even looking at you i'm just i just want to save my spot just want to play the game do your thing no big deal like it was really kind of strange and then he starts playing or whatever finally and i'm just like standing there you know i've got my coins in my hand he stops what he's doing and then kind of engages me again telling me that like my my coin jingling is distracting him mind you we are in a cavernous arcade with 40 pinball machines at like a tournament location he's got a stern insider connected account like but like my coin jingling is bothered i wasn't doing it on purpose to him i'm just i'm standing there with nothing to do just kind of waiting for the game to open up because i want to go get some lunch we were trying to decide do we want to go get lunch and then go play but this one was closer so we're like let's just swing in there play a couple of games then we'll go get some food so man kevin all right so kevin's playing his game finally he's engaged the other guy finishes up his game walks over to the bar and he's hanging out getting a drink i see that he's like not you know interested in playing more which is that's cool of him right so i'm like come on here we go we walk right up there as i'm about to put coins in the machine kevin reaches over and starts fumbling with the flipper buttons and then hits the start button apparently i don't know if it matched but there was a credit on the game and it's like i have my own quarters the other guy that was playing he can have his credit back if he wants it i'll use my own quarters i'm not trying to steal his credit but like kevin jumps in and he's just like hitting the start button hitting the flippers and then he's launching balls on both games he's playing both games side by side now at this point like his own game and then he's reaching over playing this one too and i'm just like standing there like i didn't say like sir don't you know who i am none of that business. I was just like, are you playing both of them? You know, trying to see like, what's going on? Are you, is this like a thing that you do? Um, and he's like, why? I just wanted to log him out. And I'm thinking like, dude, just, you know, I mean, just play your game. Let me do it. I know what I'm doing, dude. Um, geez, man. Uh, so, and for some reason, like the game ships and it must have a ball save on of like six minutes or something. Cause like Kevin's playing his game, this ball which is still logged in as the other guy by the way he didn't log him out he just started another game um it's sitting there and auto launching balls the balls are then draining and then ball save auto launch ball save auto launch like it's in this loop and i'm standing there like you know like i could just kind of flip a couple of times to get it to register and then drain to move it along but then it's like this other guy's still logged in and like kevin's really projected of this guy's insider connected account and like he's already kind of weird so i'm standing there like is this really happening like all i wanted to do was play a couple of games of Star Wars real quick and then like go to Costco or something. Oh my goodness. So finally I get bold and I go up there and I flip a couple of times just to cycle through the ball save get the game to end log them out And then like I ready to go And then Kevin finishes his game and disappears It was just like like I get that we all a little different and I have a lot of tolerance and that okay Uh you know I not trying to like rush in there but I give a guy some room but it was just so weird It was it was really just weird. And you know, I didn't want to like drag this guy on the public show because maybe somebody listens or knows Kevin and maybe they're like, yeah, we, we know that dude. Maybe his name is really Joel. I have no idea. Um, but like strange, right? I'm looking around like am I getting punked am I on camera what's happening I just I just wanted to stop and play pinball so we played a couple of games of course I had the issues with the uh really nice shots going up into the Death Star rejecting which was frustrating it was frustrating you know when I saw it happen on the prototype games it's still happening I don't think it's a game killer I think it probably just needs a little translucent plastic that some mod person's gonna put in there and it'll be a non-issue but just kind of strange that this wasn't picked up in like play testing or whatever. But then I really got to see what this rattle issue is with the shooter launch. I played both of the games. Thankfully, they had two LEs side by side. So, you know, I found the issue on the one I was playing. Eventually, we jumped over to Kevin's game. I made sure he was logged out. But then we noticed the same kind of thing happening there too. So maybe it'll get rectified. Maybe they'll add a plastic. I was joking about adding an awning to the Death Star, even though I think that would work. How funny would that be if you made the front of the Death Star look like an old country red covered bridge or something like the bridges of darth vader county or something um yeah just ridiculous so i did that right then we went over to costco uh and then we got some food at this italian place called biaggi's it's like a local chain in madison they do bruschetta like five different ways and you can order like three bruschettas or bruschetta or whatever um and you can get them like you can get the bacon jam one you can get the like like like like sweet onion honey one. They have one that's fig and goat cheese and apple, like Granny Smith apples. It is so damn good. It's like the best thing I've ever had. Maybe it's not Italian, right? But it's got clover honey. It's got figs smeared with goat cheese and then sliced up Frenched Granny Smith apples on it. It's like the greatest thing ever. And I go to this place just for that, and I haven't had it in over a year. And so we went back there and we got that, and it was just like perfection. So Biagi's, okay. If you want to go check out kickback bar, it's a cool place. Check out IO arcade, you know, go, go visit Madison, Wisconsin, go grab yourself some Biagi's. I think they have one in Illinois as well, but dude, I'm telling you, I'm telling you that, that fig and goat cheese bruschetta Italian or not completely delicious. I love it. Uh, then we hit up Costco. They didn't have a star Wars game and then I had to go back to work or whatever. So that's kind of what I did over the last day or so. I went to Maine recently. I found a job out there. So I'm going to be living. I'll narrow it down. The new house is in Wisconsin. I'll be working mainly in Maine. It'll be a fly out job where I go out there once a month, work a stretch of days, come back home, have the rest of the time off. It's going to be super awesome. But it's like so many things up in the air at the same time, right? I'm grabbing a new job all of a sudden out of nowhere, getting a new house, moving out of two houses, selling some homes. I have a Star Wars The Next Generation right now that I'm selling for Mad Pinball. If you're interested, get at me. It works great. And I'm doing a Borg mod for the Vuck and it's got a color DMD. So it's a good shooting, great condition Star Trek Next Generation. I happen to just have it in my custody for as a courtesy to Mad Pinball. I'm getting out there and sell it to you guys. How much is it? How much are they on pin side? Find that price and then, you know, I'll give you a homie discount below that. So, and I'll figure out a way to get it to you. If you're interested, fun, wide body game and the call outs are great. And I love this theme and I would love to see it revisited. So that's going on. I had Rob Burke on the show. I just uploaded it. Uh, episode 207. I don't do a lot of interviews cause it's, it's a bit difficult in the pinball space to do that. And you run into audio quality issues as the main headache. Um, you know, syncing up schedules is one thing, but like, uh, when people are like, Hey, let's do an interview. And I'm like, perfect. I've got a professional mixer. I've got a sure microphone. Um, you know, I've got good wifi support. I've got a software that I pay for, for streaming. So we can connect, we can see each other. And then, you know, I'm like, all right, let's do this. And I get somebody on and they're like, you know, on a cell phone, you know, or, or just, uh, you know, a little wifi or a USB speaker or something. And like, they sound like they're in a tin can in another room. And it's like, it's got to come from them over my wifi through my laptop to my mixer before I can actually have control over audio quality. And it's just frustrating. The best way to record audio interviews is to record locally. Each person records locally on their own mixer, and then you send the files together and then you merge them together. And then that's how things, that's how professional podcasts are done with people that are remote. When the pinball show records, they're remote and they sound great every time because I think that's how they do it. and I'm just, I try every time I get somebody like, by the way, what do you have to record on? How can I help? Even if you don't have great equipment, still, if you can record locally and then just send your MP3 of just your voice to me, I can marry them together and it'll sound great. But like, what do you do when like your schedule is crazy? I finally line up Rob Burke. We start going. He's having some problems using Zencastr, which is the software I use. So we ended up going with a, uh, a stream yard or something, or I think we did zoom. Oh God. And it was, I could just tell like, this is, this is great content and it just doesn't sound as good as it needs to. Um, there was that interview that loser kids did with David fix And I think Steven Bowden with GTF back in the day And I think they were just on there I think like David just set down his iPhone speakerphone on a table and they were just talking into that. And it was like unlistenable. And, you know, I just put this episode out and like, you know, you know, I've been trying to get this thing with Rob out cause he's doing a lot of promotion for expo and I really wanted it to be good. And it's like, Oh, I did my best to try to fix it as best as I could and get it out there. So apologies if it sounds a little muffled on his end. It's really frustrating because you want people to really, you want your guests to shine when they come on and join. And it just sucks when like the audio just isn't there, you know. And even though, you know, we don't record in this matter with WAP, at least I've got, Cengiz has a good microphone and we can make it work. You know, and Zencaster sounds so much better than doing it through Messenger or probably Zoom. but it was a situation where I had gotten off work. I'd worked all night. And then like, this is the day that, that we had picked to do this. And so I was exhausted, but like I spent some time to get it working. And then we had to futz around for a half hour to get the zoom work and sign up for an account and everything. And then, you know, this is what we, this is what we got, you know? Um, the best way to record is to do it locally. And I would love to just go out. I'll go out to past times and we can record local. When I record with spooky, I bring my mix and I bring them microphones and we sound great because it's all recorded properly. Um, and that's how I would like to do things going forward. So if you listen, there's some good content in there, but if it's unlistenable, I understand. I understand. I won't be brokenhearted, man. I won't be brokenhearted. Jeez. Uh, it's frustrating. So I've been going back and forth between my house here, my work here, uh, going out to Maine, doing some, um, onsite, uh, trainings, meeting everybody meetings and all that kind of stuff. It's a bit more of a corporate job. It's a step up for me. I get a little bit of leadership and some control, which is super fun and it's going to be great. Um, and then I also went to an ICP show that was down in, uh, South Padre Island too last week. So, I mean, I've been all over the place and it was actually down at the U S Mexico border in Brownsville, Texas at the border fence. Cause I went to a Ross to pick up some supplies and it was right at the border. So I was able to walk over to the fence that's right there, you know, um, and just watch people streaming, you know, back and forth the other side. Uh, so that was fun. And then the next week I'm in Canada. Uh, this place I'm working in Maine is on the Canadian border. And so then I was over like the Northern border too, like within seven days of each other, it's like Southern border and Northern. It's going to be super fun working in Maine, man. I can already tell. Um, I popped over to new Brunswick shout out to Orby and, uh, the pinball nerds podcast. That's I think the province right next to his, um, I didn't tell him I was going and I'm not cyber stalking the guy just happened to be doing this job there. And literally, um, the other side of town is new Brunswick. So I went over there for a little bit. It's all super French. I dig it. Um, I found an arcade, it was closed, but I took a picture just so I could post the location and, you know, let some people know that it's there. Um, super fun stuff, but it's, it's just draining. And while all this is going on, I'm like, I know I just did an episode. And then I look back and it's been like a week already. And I'm like, gosh, man, I love doing that cadence of a show every couple days when there's something new and fun to talk about 20-30 minutes and get it out there and I feel like I've just been like not able to do that but it's not for lack of trying and it's going to get better it's going to get better this new job is going to get kicked off the job I have now is going to end the houses that I own are going to dwindle down to an appropriate number one house and then everything's going to be super fun going forward I am excited because the town that this new house is located in within Wisconsin has a local production facility with some fun stuff and I have some friends that work there too. Uh, so being able to collaborate on some projects and the spare time is good. It's a house it's wired for pinball. It's going to be amazing and I can't wait. So I'm gearing up for expo. Um, I hope you enjoy the Patreon content. I would like to do these more regular as I know more. Um, I have a lot of like kind of information I'm not quite able to divulge. Um, but super cool stuff is going to be happening within the world of pinball and i would just say if i could uh maybe not one more dollar out of your pocket until you see what spooky's got here pretty soon uh we're probably about six weeks away yeah from seeing their next and um yeah it's just it's it's fire man um i haven't even seen the trailer here's some secret info uh there'll be another super cool launch trailer for this game uh that's in production right now uh i saw a clip that wasn't even from the trailer it wasn't even shot on a professional camera. Just some footage that was shown on just recorded by an iPhone, which is regular behind the camera narration. And that alone, I think would sell this game out because it was just amazing the things that I saw. So I'm super excited and I feel like I'm in a fortunate position to have a burgeoning partnership. So I'll get back to you guys when I know some more. Thank you so much for your continued patronage. I know we're at the end of September here. We have to do a giveaway soon. I have one more night shift and then I actually have a block of several days off. I'll finally be able to get caught up on everything. It's going to be super fun. So I think this weekend I'll head over to the new house. It's located in the little town of Benton, Wisconsin. Outro Music