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#57 Silverball Mania - The Classic Pinball Podcast

The Classic Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·42m 31s·analyzed·Jul 13, 2021
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.033

TL;DR

Classic Pinball Podcast explores restored Silverball Mania, critiques its one-trick horseshoe gameplay, and discusses 1980 Bally's weak catalog.

Summary

George and Dave from The Classic Pinball Podcast discuss a restored 1980 Bally Silverball Mania machine that Dave rebuilt and is sending to Connecticut. They cover the game's design (by Jim Patlow/Kevin O'Connor), artwork details, gameplay mechanics centered on hitting the horseshoe target, and comparisons to its sister game Space Invaders. The episode includes extensive tournament analysis referencing Keith Elwin's performance and broader discussion of 1980 Bally's weak production year, interspersed with gameplay commentary as they play the machine.

Key Claims

  • Silverball Mania and Space Invaders are sister games, both from 1980 (Mania first, Space Invaders two months later in April)

    high confidence · Dave and George discussing release dates; confirmed as April 1980 for Space Invaders

  • There is no commercial playfield protector made for Silverball Mania despite it being a high-production-run game (~10,000 units)

    medium confidence · Dave states this directly during restoration discussion; surprise expressed at lack of market coverage

  • The game originally shipped with thin metal posts flanking the middle horseshoe loop, which operators later swapped for thicker red plastic posts to increase difficulty and reduce easy specials

    high confidence · Dave and George describe operator mod based on audit sheet feedback; Dave implements same on this unit

  • Keith Elwin scored approximately 500,000 points in a tournament final at Fox Cities Pinball / District 82, while other three players (Raymond Davidson, Andy Bagwell, Colin MacAlpine) scored under 100,000 each

    high confidence · George witnessed or reviewed Fox Cities tournament footage; describes gameplay as revolving around horseshoe mastery

  • Silverball Mania's primary strategy revolves around hitting the horseshoe target, which advances multiplier, adds letters, and activates a kicker between the flippers

    high confidence · George's analysis: 'if you take away the horseshoe what else is there'; describes it as 'one-trick pony'

  • 1980 was a weak year for Bally releases; 1979 and 1981 were strong years for the company

    medium confidence · George's opinion based on production catalog review; contrasts with strong Stern 1980

  • Eric Stone recently became #1 ranked player (IFPA/WPPR), and hosts sometimes reference 'The Weatherman' as his nickname

    medium confidence · George mentions Eric Stone is 'numero uno' as of episode recording; nickname search unresolved in conversation

  • To spell SILVERBALL on the back glass and win progressive jackpot, player must spell 'SILVERBALL MANIA' on the playfield three separate times

Notable Quotes

  • “This title is usually worn out... 10,000 units, it's not a, you know, it's a well-represented game, I guess. Yeah, I'm really surprised. So, we're not going to go with that.”

    Dave @ early segment — Explains why no commercial playfield protector exists for Silverball Mania despite high production run; drives restoration decision to use spot clear instead

  • “I have to be honest with the audience that this is not one of my favorite Bally games... I'm not even convinced it's a cool looking game”

    George @ pre-gameplay — Sets critical frame for game discussion; George's honest assessment of game's artistic and gameplay appeal

  • “If you take away the horseshoe what else is there... it's a one-trick pony”

    George @ gameplay analysis — Core criticism of Silverball Mania's design depth; argues game's strategy is overly narrow

  • “They didn't have it turned off for this tournament. So, obviously, it was. So, if they could have, they would have.”

    George @ tournament discussion — Infers operator configuration and rule settings from observed tournament play; suggests letter-advance mechanic limits strategic variety

  • “Spinners are meant to spin, damn it.”

    George @ mid-game — Expresses frustration with District 82's venue policy of not juicing spinners; passionate about classic game maintenance

  • “Space Invaders with Silverball Mania artwork. That would be a good game.”

    George @ sister game discussion — Suggests Space Invaders has better mechanics but Silverball Mania has superior artwork; highlights design vs. theme tension

  • “We need to get Eric back on. Well, that's your... I'll get him. Mr. Non-Technical, we've got to find somebody who will host Zoom.”

    George (then Dave) @ Eric Stone segment — Indicates Eric Stone (now #1 ranked player) is a repeat guest they want back on show before August 1st; logistical coordination discussion

Entities

GeorgepersonDavepersonJim PatlowpersonKevin O'ConnorpersonKeith ElwinpersonRaymond DavidsonpersonAndy Bagwell

Signals

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Silverball Mania's core gameplay revolves almost entirely around hitting the horseshoe target, which George criticizes as poor design limiting player strategy and upper playfield engagement

    high · George: 'if you take away the horseshoe what else is there... it's a one-trick pony'; tournament observation shows competitive players 'hitting that horseshoe' repeatedly, minimal upper playfield use

  • ?

    operational_signal: Operators swapped thin metal posts for thicker red plastic posts on Silverball Mania's horseshoe lane to increase difficulty after discovering low coin intake from overly easy specials

    high · Dave: 'they included two red posts to make it tougher... when they realized their money wasn't coming in the coin box... they put these in'; operator audit sheets drove configuration change

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Keith Elwin demonstrated mastery of Silverball Mania horseshoe mechanics at Fox Cities Pinball tournament, scoring ~500,000 while competitors scored <100k, using forehand and backhand flipper control

    high · George reviewed tournament footage; Elwin's skill differential significant; 'he just crushed everybody'

  • ?

    restoration_signal: No commercial playfield protector exists for Silverball Mania despite ~10,000 unit production run, forcing Dave to use spot clear application instead

    high · Dave surprised: 'they do not make a playfield protector for this title... I was really surprised'; used alternative cosmetic solution

  • ?

    product_strategy: 1980 was notably weak year for Bally pinball releases compared to 1979 and 1981; George identifies only 3 keeper-quality games (Rolling Stones, Skateball, Xenon) from entire annual catalog

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.128

0:30
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Classic Pinball Podcast. My name is George, and today I'm joined by my co-host Dave. Hello, Dave. Hello, George. folks yet again we're here in lovely massachusetts today we're going to talk about silver ball mania dave's got one that's going down to darry in connecticut to a young family of children sometime in the next month or so dave why don't you start us off with a little bit of background on the game and tell us what you may or may not have done to the game that's here so this game was a real nice example I bought years ago. Didn't work of course, so I put a Weebly board into it, MPU. I redid the connectors on it, redid the rest of the boards, power supply, connectors, all that stuff. Beefed up the 5 volts and all the bridge rectifiers to modern stuff. And went over the playfield, stripped the playfield, magic racer it. A couple of wear spots. That's when Maureen came in, did her thing, touched things up beautifully. The thing about this game, they do not make a playfield protector for this title, which I was really surprised, because this title is usually worn out pretty well. 10,000 units, it's not a, you know, it's a pretty well-represented game, I guess. Yeah, I'm really surprised. So, we're not going to go with that. We just did a little spot clear over the touch-ups to kind of get her done that way instead, which is fine. and otherwise the cabinet cabinet's perfect uh back glass is perfect and this looks like a home use only unit and we went through it all rebuilt flippers pop bumpers all that stuff and uh put warm retro gi lighting into it except for the back glass we didn't do there because we tried that and the back glass something with the paint back in this time frame it kind of showed through too much so we put original 47 incandescent in the back last instead because the look was better uh what else about that's pretty much what we did in the game this is kind of our boards were good the boards were good except for the mpu we put a just for extra reliability put a weebly new board in there for the mpu the other boards were good but i went through them all um replaced a couple transistors here and there redid a couple connectors here and there and Rectifier?
3:12
Rectifiers, yep. New or rebuilt? The bridge rectifier? No, the rectifier board itself. Oh, yeah, yeah, no. I never go new on that. I always rebuild those. Those are always very rebuildable. Back box or cabinet? Back box to make a nice heavy back box. So old school. Yep, old school. Okay.

medium confidence · Dave and George debate during gameplay whether it's one or three times; George confirms three needed after attempting it

  • District 82 (Fox Cities Pinball) operates ~120 games in a mixed classic/modern venue; uses tournament format with tight balls and strong flippers, but does not juice spinners

    high confidence · George and Dave discuss venue characteristics; George expresses frustration at lack of spinner adjustment

  • Dave completely rebuilt the Silverball Mania unit with new Bally MPU board, modern bridge rectifiers, 5V upgrades, warm retro LED lighting (except back glass), and new connectors

    high confidence · Dave's detailed restoration breakdown at episode start

    • “You know what? I actually made a video years ago with Paragon... I said, I made a parody video. It's like, you know, I'm just going to take this ramp and put it into the inline drop target lane...”

    Dave @ late segment — References past humorous content where Dave mocked replacing horseshoe with ramp; shows longstanding frustration with game design

  • “For 1980 Bally's, for me, for keepers, it would be Rolling Stones, Skateball, and Xenon. That's about it for me out of all those.”

    George @ 1980 catalog review — Definitive personal ranking of 1980 Bally titles; only three titles from entire year deemed collectible by this expert

  • “177 to 93, I took George down. Yeah, no surprise. Everybody's used to me not doing well.”

    Dave (re George) @ gameplay banter — Humorous acknowledgment of George's weaker gameplay performance; establishes running joke dynamic

    • person
    Colin MacAlpineperson
    Eric Stoneperson
    Tom Graffperson
    Maureenperson
    Ballycompany
    Stern Pinballcompany
    Silverball Maniagame
    Space Invadersgame
    Fox Cities Pinballevent|venue
    District 82venue
    Rolling Stonesgame
    Xenongame
    Skateballgame
    Internet Pinball Databaseorganization
    The Classic Pinball Podcastcontent|organization
    Fun Spotvenue

    high · George's analysis of monthly 1980 Bally releases and personal collecting assessment; contrasts 1979 ('awesome') and 1981 ('awesome') against 1980

  • ?

    venue_signal: District 82 (Fox Cities Pinball) operates ~120 games in mixed classic/modern configuration, hosts integrated and pure classic tournaments, maintains strong flippers, but does not juice spinners

    high · George's venue discussion; 'They don't juice the spinners on any of their games. Oh. Right. I don't.'; tournament formats described in detail

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Eric Stone recently achieved #1 IFPA ranking; George and Dave plan to book him as podcast guest before August 1st; known for token-pusher machine mastery

    medium · George: 'eric stone is now numero uno'; Dave references connecting with Stone via parents in Massachusetts; prior Fun Spot episode featured Stone's arcade escapades

  • ?

    historical_signal: Kevin O'Connor (Silverball Mania artist) included hidden Easter eggs: Jeep Cherokee on plastics, self-portrait with beard on back glass; competitive playful spirit with Mad Dog Christensen over suggestive content

    medium · Dave describes O'Connor details; George mentions NSFWness of back glass imagery; era context (late 70s) of 14-year-old male audience and testosterone-driven design

  • ?

    gaming_signal: Silverball Mania features back glass progressive jackpot requiring spelling SILVERBALL on playfield three times (not once); progressively awards letters on back glass similar to Add-a-Ball Deluxe

    medium · Dave and George debate during gameplay; George confirms 'three times' after attempting multiple times; undocumented on IPDB according to George

  • ?

    design_innovation: Modern Stern machines feature opto spinners; George expresses preference for this innovation over mechanical spinners, contrasts with classic games

    medium · George during gameplay: 'I wish these games had those opto spinners. That's a cool thing on the new Sterns. That is nice.'

  • ?

    community_signal: District 82 runs integrated tournaments alternating modern and classic games; after 10 PM, all games must be classics to keep pace and finish events on schedule

    high · George explains tournament format: 'if you play a modern your next game is going to be a classic... at the 10 o'clock rule all games... are classics after 10 p.m.'

    • 3:29
    Games designed by Jim Patlow. Arts by Kevin O'Connor. Anything you want to talk about as far as those two characters? Yeah, Kevin O'Connor. This is a little known thing. that I didn't realize. I've had this game a couple times. I've won this title maybe three times in the past. And he actually had a Jeep Cherokee back in that time frame, late 70s Jeep Cherokee, that he drew in chrome on one of the plastics. A small little thing he did. That's what these artists do. They put their own little Easter eggs and little hidden things in there. He did that. The other thing he did is he, there's like silver balls in the back glass. And on some of them it shows kevin himself as a self-portrait wearing a beard that he's looking this is on the back glass the back glass yep very small well let's talk about the art on the back glass oh yeah the art in the back glass yeah kind of not sometimes i'm gonna say not safe for work but you're really gonna know what you're looking for uh you know it's pretty apparent let me ask you a question well speaking of kevin o'connor a horn dog i think i think he is a horn dog him and mad dog Christensen is another horn dog. Remember him? No, I'm familiar with his artwork. So they were doing a little competition to say who can be more of a horn dog. But I think Mad Dog wins. Well, if you look at that back glass, there is a gentleman playing a game. Is that what he's doing? Well, I think he's actually playing with the coin door. And you can use your own imagination or take a look at the pictures out on IPDB. Maybe he's hitting the coin return.
    5:02
    Let's just put it this way. I would say there's a little sexual tension going on in this game. Well, true, but you've got to understand, especially back in the 70s, it was a little bit of peace, love, and love-in back in the time frame. And their audience was 14-year-old boys who the testosterone was going, and their ideas were going, exactly. I'm wondering if James Cameron used this game as an inspiration for the game we did as well, T2. You know, with the silver people. They kind of look kind of like the Terminator 1000 or whatever. Yeah, the liquid metal alloy. Yeah, that one. I mean, if you look at the brochure, it's all over. Yeah, you know, that's pretty much a good idea, Dre. I think that's a good link. Probably. It's probably an influence because he's around the same age as us, maybe a little bit older, and he probably was influenced by that. Well, it's a 10-year gap, so I would guess that that could have been an inspiration. The other thing is, in looking at the artwork for the brochure, it sort of mimics our artwork for our podcast with all the silver balls, so to speak. Yes.
    6:24
    I did not clip it from this. it's actually just clip art from the company but it you know for those of you who don't have spotify you don't get to see all the artwork for all the games that we've done it's there's very few episodes that have our podcast artwork if you listen to us on spotify which is only about five percent of our audience which is amazing to me but the interesting thing might i digress since you bring that up it's very weird it's a and you know i don't believe there are any coincidences in this world things are meant for a reason so right now i just finished quick silver and terminator 2 in my shop they're both sitting side by side and it's weird that you brought that up because now they sort of have a relationship they're sort of um linked like that as you just brought up. I don't see those flying appendages on Silverball Mania. The flying appendages? Is that like into the flying Walendas? No, use your own. I try to keep this somewhat clean. On T2, the flying appendages? No, no, no. You said Quicksilver. Oh, no, no. I'm saying Silverball Mania. Sorry, Silverball Mania and T2 are sitting together. That's not what you said. Oh, okay. I'm sorry. I'm thinking Quicksilver. You know what I'm talking about. I know, now I know what you're talking about. Those green... Yes, green gloves. Those green things. Yeah, well, actually, Quicksilver is a little bit like Silverwall Mania in that same... Artwork genre. Yeah, I would say, yeah. But, yeah, Silverwall Mania is sitting next to T2, is what I was trying to say, so they're linked together. That's what I'm trying to say. Okay.
    8:03
    I have to be honest with the audience that this is not one of my favorite ballet games. and it sure is pretty i'm not even convinced it's pretty it's a cool looking game but let's let's get a little bit into the gameplay itself unless there's more that you want to talk about as far as the game that you just worked on well there is to make the game tougher because this game was actually uh you could rack specials up all day long um and they actually included some posts to make it harder. So the little roundy round thing in the middle there, the little loop that you throw the ball around, you keep doing that a bunch of times, you get an extra ball.
    8:48
    And I think at some point you might even get a special, I forget. But you at least get an extra ball. It's a go around. So they included, so originally it came with two metal posts, thin posts that are on either side of the middle end target that made it a wide lane for the ball to get through. So they included two red posts to make it tougher to close that gap they made it tough to go around there so a lot of places started out with metal and shortly thereafter when they realized their money wasn't coming in the coin box like it's supposed to keep winning games they look at their little audit sheet okay we're putting these in so that's what i do this game too because otherwise it can be too easy you can you know the game gets too easy like that now i don't remember whether they have one or the other as far as configuration but about a month and a half ago, Fox Cities or District 82, Fox Cities being the YouTube channel, had a tournament. And this was the final game of the tournament. Really? Wow. And the four people, while they kept saying, oh, this could be long. Well, not to rehash it, you can go out and look at it for yourself. But there were four players. Raymond Davidson, a guy named Andy Bagwell, who I'm not familiar with, Colin McAlpine, who I had the pleasure of playing with in Texas at one point in time, and Keith Elwin.
    10:10
    Go out and take a look at this probably 20-minute segment of the tournament. Ray Day was yakking early. They all kind of fudged a lot of balls. Really? And the final score was, I think, Keith was at like 500,000. thousand everybody else was in the hundred thousand or less was there a two by four on the back legs was it like super fast they make their games hard but it wasn no it was just circumstance And you know they were preparing everybody for a long period of time and actually it went pretty quick. The one thing I don't like about this game, there's two things actually. The first is the dead bumpers. I never really got that in any of these games, and I know you want to talk about the sister game to this. That's one thing I don't like about this game. The other thing is it's a one-trick pony. by having that horseshoe, not only do you advance the multiplier in this game, but you also add letters. So that horseshoe does kind of double duty. I think the letter thing is overused. You should be able to shut that off and just go after the letters on the play field instead of racking up more and more letters. I think I should look at the manual course to be sure, but you might be able to turn it off in South. Well, they didn't have it turned off for this tournament. So, obviously, it was. So, if they could have, they would have. Well, with Keith Elwin's score of a half a million more, and we're going to play a game later, folks, we'll see how well we do with this game. But it's really, in my eyes, hitting that horseshoe obviously activates the kicker in between the play fields, which is crucial if you want to keep this game going. It does have an Italian bottom. That's a cool part of the game. the outlanes I don't think are outrageous like some of the other you know ballet games of its time so I look at it and say if you take away the horseshoe what else is there it's kind of a hit the spinner there's just the whole essence of the game if you're going to be a tournament player and I watched it and go out and watch it folks you're hitting that horseshoe that is all these guys did and it's all lower play field very little upper play field because you can get the letters by going around the horseshoe rather than going through the lanes or hitting the stand-ups the making the kicker come on though the kicker come on it isn't it just the top no it comes on with the horseshoe too they had it configured oh boy yeah right so again i don't know the settings of this game but if it's me if you want to make this game more difficult a shut off the letter thing. B, make it so that you have to go through the upper middle lane in order to activate the kicker between the flippers. You know, George, though, you cannot shut it off. I'm looking right now at the plastic on the game and the horseshoe. It says spot letter and increase bonus X. So if it's in those plastic, they're not going to shut it off. That's what I'm saying. This couldn't have been, like you said, the operator's friend. I'm guessing this game didn't last very long and because you had a nice you know specimen of this game i'm guessing it probably didn't get played that much it got shipped out hey on sale who wants it hey this thing's costing me time and money every other game you know they're draining in a couple of minutes in this game they're playing for you know a half an hour after a month the operator said to the distributor hey what else you got yeah i i don't know what came before or after this but those are my thoughts on this game. I don't have a lot of time on this game, so it's going to be interesting to play when we conclude this segment. This is a 1980 Bally.
    13:59
    The 80 Bally, they didn't make a lot out of the Parkers in 80. For Bally, 79 was an awesome year. 81, an awesome year. 80, not so much. But Stearns, 1980 was their year. 80, they put up great titles, but very few really out of the Parkers for Bally. So I'll ask the question. You want to talk about the Sister Game. Sister Game, yes. When did the Sister Game come out? I believe it is 1980, but we can find that out for sure right now. Well, tell us, A, what the Sister Game is and tell us what you wanted to talk about. Now, here's the thing. When you go to IPBD, it tells you everything about Silvermania. They do not mention this, which I'm really surprised they don't. The Sister Game to this is the wide-body version of it, which is...
    14:46
    You know what it is. Oh, I know what it is. It's Space Invaders. Space Invaders, exactly. A game I don't like. Yeah, Space Invaders. So I'm two for two. These are two games that I'm not... I wouldn't collect, and I don't usually play when I see it. Do you know what would be good, though? Space Invaders with Super Bowl Mania artwork. That would be a good game. Because I think Space Invaders did a better job of executing the game. They had more stuff on it with a hurry-up target. You were right. Here you go. April of 1980. Yeah, it's 1980 again. They're all 80s. So this came out just before...
    15:23
    Right? Am I right? No. Silver Bowl Mania was first, followed shortly, two months later, by Space Invaders. Now they, you can tell, the project date for this game was June of 78. So it has that late 70s feel to it. They needed to put a game in the queue. They had it sitting off in the wings, ready to go.
    15:46
    They did. yeah not not my favorite of games but i'm looking forward to playing it only because i saw it in a tournament and i said you know what let's see how good i can be with the flipper action on that horseshoe i saw elwynn no surprise hit it from the forehand as well as the backhand you know left and right so he had that thing dialed in and he just crushed everybody he didn't end up winning the tournament though he didn't have enough points ray day or as they call him payday actually won the tournament so as a side note that tournament what games did they play were they all classics or they no they have a i don't remember which tournament this was but i want to see i want to see his term on the big screen well when they do when they do uh classic tournaments i think i said in our last episode or one of our last episodes all the different games they played they have a rule though which i think is very good if they're doing what i call an integrated tournament both moderns as well as classics they go back and forth so if you play a modern your next game is going to be a classic that's how they run their tournaments but at the 10 o'clock rule all games because they're running over because they probably played a modern that went way too long exactly yeah all games are classics after 10 p.m. Right, exactly. Make them quick. Normally they start their afternoon 3, 4 o'clock time frame. When you have 60 people playing in a tournament, inevitably it's going to go beyond 10 o'clock. So this place doesn't do a pure classic thing? No, they do. They did one, what did I say, a couple weeks ago, mid-June? How many titles do they use? Oh, they have, Dave, they have 120 games in there. And all classics? No, no, no, no. It's a mix. But they have, name a game, they probably have it. How do they play? Can you tell they're playing pretty well? They play quick. They make it tournament style. So they take plastics, they take rubbers off. They make it to try to keep the ball tight. But they have strong flippers, though. The flippers are strong. I think we talked about this. The one thing that I don't like that they do, and I know you're not going to like it anyway, They don't juice the spinners on any of their games. Oh. Right. I don't. I waste. They have beautiful games. Spinners are meant to spin, damn it. They really do a nice job.
    18:16
    Forgive me, Eric. I believe you're the owner of District 82. I can't remember your last name. I remember Tom's name, Tom Graff, because he's the one who does the YouTube channel for Fox Cities. So he's always on, you know, doing commenting, you know, on the different tournaments. and he does a great job. I know a lot of people don't want to hear tournament play, but as I've suggested before, if you want to see a lot of the games that we talk about, it's a great, great venue to watch those games and they've been attracting all the heavy hitters. You know, as I said, Ray Day, Colin McAlpine.
    18:56
    Stone? No, no Eric. No Stone. We didn't talk about him. Do you want to talk about him right now? Hold on. once uh you go ahead tuck stone go ahead go ahead go ahead you're the one who brought to my attention that's true you break the news that's true oh yeah the news the news is eric stone is now numero uno eric stone and i heard one of the other podcasts talking about eric and they gave him a nickname and i can't remember what hands of stone no no it was something else and i don't remember what it was. The Weatherman. No, it wasn't that either. I don't remember what it was, but we need to get before everything starts kicking off on August 1st while he's number one. We need to get Eric back on. Well, that's your... I'll get him. That's up to you. I'll hook him. Mr. Non-Technical, we've got to find somebody who will host Zoom. I have to get him over here for a little tournament.
    19:52
    Well, he usually travels up here to see his parents, so maybe you need to connect with him. When's the last time you talked to him? probably three weeks ago. Okay. Time to revisit that. Anything else you want to talk about in this game? I think we... Yeah. I mean, I gave my thoughts. What do you think of the game? Well, 1980 Battle. Let's go back there. So 1980 Battle, he had games like... Here are the games. Nitro Groundshaker in January. Silver Mania. Not very well loved. Not loved. We did it. Great artwork. Awesome artwork. It's coming around. People are listening to it, but trust me, it's not one of the people's favorites. It's a great... Again, great artwork. But not a good game. We've talked about it. That's January. February, Star Wars Mania. Then we have, in May, Rolling Stones, which we will be doing that coming up soon. Where was Space Invaders? Space Invaders is... Oh, sorry. Space Invaders is... April, right? April, yeah. So it's every month. Right. Space Invaders, April. May, Rolling Stones. June, Mystic. July, Hot Doggin'. And July again, Viking. two in July. They skipped August and went right to September for Skateball. Then they skipped October. That's one of the games that I want to do at my house. Yeah, Skateball. I've got... You have a nice Skateball I also have two nice Skateballs So Skateball a fun game So that one that come up at some point in time Frontier in November Are you saying I know you don like some of those games You know I do like some of those games. It's kind of like... Would I play them in a tournament? Sure. Would I own them? All those games. Every game you just mentioned? Yeah. They have at District 82. Those are all in the tournament. See, I sold them. I sold Mystic. I'm selling Huck Doggin. I sold my Viking. But I'm saying all those games were... I sold my Space Ami. I sold all these games I sold. You were asking what classics they have. That's just the Bally classics. Get better classics. Get better ones. They've got all the Stern classics. I won 79s and 81s. I need to make a pilgrimage there. At some point in time, I'll make it to Wisconsin. You will have me. Now, they had Xenon in November. Great game. Which we've done. It's one of our older podcasts. And that's about it. So for me... So we have a long way to go. I think the only time we're going to play some of those games is when we're out at a show. For 1980 Bally's, for me, for Keepers, it would be Rolling Stones, Skateball, and Xenon.
    22:23
    That's about it for me out of all those. I'd want a Viking and a Frontier, but I'm not paying up for either one of those. Those games are highly sought after. I had some gorgeous ones I let go for nothing.
    22:37
    Woulda, shoulda, coulda. You didn't. Move on. It's not like you don't have any games. I only have, I don't know, I lost count, George. How many do I have? I'm not going to post pictures. I stopped doing that. But I really should publish some pictures of the warehouse. If there's nothing else, why don't we make our way down there and play a couple games? At least I stand a better chance of playing games I understand than games I don't understand. There are no ramp shots in this game, but I was thinking of putting a ramp in place of the horseshoe.
    23:12
    Oh, maybe not. Oh, boy. You know what? I actually made a video years ago with Paragon. I was doing a Paragon restoration, and I was doing, I think, an Indiana Jones restoration. This is like, oh, 20 years ago. And I said, I made a parody video. It's like, you know, I'm just going to take this ramp and put it into the inline drop target lane, and we're just going to hit this ramp about 10 or 20 times instead of hitting those pesky inline drop targets and hit this ramp. I'll have to find that video and put that up. Always the Joker.
    23:49
    Standing in front of Silverwall down in Dave's basement. Down in the basement. Yeah. Dave, why don't you put a couple games on, and we'll get started. All right, here we go. Who's got a quarter? Oh wait, it's on free play Don't worry about it I got it, George Here's one thing I did forget about this game Mr. Silverball Mania looks like Mr. Clean He does look like a Mr. Clean It is, it's Mr. Clean When it comes to clean, there's only one Mr. This is a very strange game And this is the one with all the wizard caps Do you know what I want to do? I'm going to do a special mod in this game I'm going to put a picture of Jean-Luc Picard Instead of Mr. Clean on the face What do you think? Jean-Luc? We could come up with somebody else better. Okay. Who's Mr. T?
    24:38
    I pity the poor fool. I pity the poor fool who plays this game. No, I don't hate that boy, but I pity the fool, and I will destroy any man who tries to take what I got. What's your prediction for the fight, then? Prediction? Yes, prediction. Oh.
    24:55
    Here we go. Launching ball. dead pop-up major you like that what's the sound what do you think of the sound on this game kind of standard standard stuff why did you get that back uh because i qualified the uh kicker down the bottom there oh i didn't see it okay in the middle thing i'm tough okay i missed i wasn't paying attention it goes the roundy round. Okay, so Dave is attempting to do what we talked about earlier. Where did the spinner go? I want a spinner.
    25:34
    I choosed him. I'll tell you, I wish these games had those opto spinners. That's a pretty cool thing on the new Sterns. That is nice.
    25:47
    This is a fun little game. I will say it's something different to play. Right, but like I said, so far Dave has not hit the horseshoe, but... I had the high end post there. But you got a lot of ladders. I did. Okay, let's see if I can do any better. Dave's at 50,000. The horseshoe's tough now that you have those red posts there than the metal ones. So you're saying that that should be a regular... It could be a regular metal post or a... So the regular metal post, the little thin metal post, or the plastic. So I put plastic and it's thicker and it's a tougher shot now. Now it's a tight shot. I'm going to have to go back and look. Because what comes standard is the metal. Okay, so I didn't get anything there.
    26:29
    Okay, I got the A. You got the N. Let's see if I can get the... Oh, he got it. First shot in there, he got it.
    26:37
    He qualified the kickback and everything. It is a kickback. Okay, so I got the kickback. It's a nice game for something different to play. I will give it that. 18,000, 25,000, 32,000. I can see coming down here in a tournament and playing into something different, you know. Yeah, it wouldn't be my first game in a collection. No. I'm wondering when you're going to talk about the one thing that I believe you talked about in your Fun Spot episode, which is spelling silver ball on the back glass. Oh yeah, that's right. That's the progressive jackpot like in A-Ball Deluxe. It's true.
    27:28
    So explain, how does one obtain that? Every time you spell Silver Olamania in the playfield, you get one letter in the back glass.
    27:36
    I think you might be incorrect. I'm incorrect on that? I think you have to do it three times. No, no. One time. Well, let's find out. I'm one letter away. Let's see if we're good enough to figure it out. I'm one letter away. Okay, I pulled it back to the same position and got the same result.
    27:54
    Okay, let's see if I can do this forehand. Nope. Oh, my. Wow, we suck, George. Yeah, really bad. All right, all I need is the A right now. Okay, that was really bad. So if I get the middle. So right now we have S-L-L-V. If I get the middle lane there, it's going to give me an E. So did you used to hunt this game down when you were in the... Oh, no, you were right, George. You did not give me that. Right, I think it's three times. Wow. So did you kind of look at this game every time you went to the arcade to see where those letters were? Yes. Maybe you should stand there. Yeah. Because most people probably had no idea. No idea, and you wait until the L's left to go, and you go, okay, I've got three games coming up real soon if I just wait. It's kind of like Eric Sohn playing a token pusher game. You just wait for little kids to put their money in, and you just wait for it to build up. I saw that live.
    28:44
    Eric. Whoa, Eric. I tried being Eric the other day, but it just didn't work out as well. He's a master of that. Folks, go back and listen to our Fun Spot episode if you want to hear all about Eric and his... And the hijinks. And his arcade escapades.
    29:00
    A little weird for me, but... He's kind of like a token professional gambler on tokens. Okay. So let's see if I can do this on the right flipper. Oh, you got that. They gave it to you. Oh, it'll give it to you? Or just one ball? Just one. You have just one. Oh, okay. That's good. It's very generous.
    29:19
    Okay, so it went down the out lane, but see, that's screwed. Right there, it hit the flipper like that? Yeah. If you're, sometimes that. It kicks a little different. Yeah, it doesn't kick true straight, so it'll hit the tip of the flipper and then drain on you.
    29:37
    177 to 93, I took George down. Yeah, no surprise. Everybody's used to me not doing well. Would you like another George? Yes, I'd like to try. I'm buying. Yeah, I'm trying hard.
    29:51
    There we go. Middle lane for a kicker. Nope, side lane. I'd like to see you get a letter on the back box. Oh, there you go. Nice bounce back. I've got a Lazarus thing there or something going on there.
    30:08
    Oh, I've got to up the spinner all the way to the top. You've got that. You're doing very well getting it in the middle there. the middle lane. Three lanes across the top, folks, if I didn't measure it. And it went out the out lane, but it's down to the kicker that's activated because he got it through the center lane. But I'll tell you, this game is a lot more difficult with those posts, and I'm guessing they did not make the change, or maybe they didn't even know about it. They didn't do it at the tournament? I don't know. I have to look at the video. We'll look after we're done.
    30:40
    Oh, there you go. Twice. twice on the horseshoe, but now you're building all those letters. So Dave is at... Okay, one more. So Dave only needs the M in mania. No, he needs an L and an M. There's one.
    30:57
    No, he didn't get one. So he's got five times. And he's got the kicker on. But he needs an L and an M. and he didn't get it. Son of a gun. I got five times.
    31:21
    Ball one, 125. Let's see if I can hit the center. Okay, I got a letter. Okay, got it through the horseshoe. Got another letter. Got two times. Got the N. Got another letter. The L, another letter. Oh, he's getting letters down like crazy here. He's going to try to shoot the horse. Let me guess you going to try to shoot the horseshoe again I going to try but I not doing well Spinner shot Not lit spinner 100 points apiece Yeah I mean the upper plate Oh, come on. That's all right. Oh, that's all right. I got the thing. You got the kicker lit. I got the thing. Oh, you flubbed it.
    32:06
    Oh, man. Got too excited. It's very exciting. Yeah. I can see that. I'm getting crushed again. nice strong pop pumpers dave thank you put them on a hair trigger all rebuilt nice no they work great okay so the spinner on the right that's the other thing now the spinner does the spinner go right to left by hitting yes it does so by hitting uh oh there's some money there we go Double points there.
    32:42
    Hitting certain things on the play field will change the lip spinner from one side to the other. And there he is. Out she goes. No multiplier. Okay, that was ball two. I got wizard bonus. So you're at two. 201 to 45 right now. George is coming in on ball two at 45.
    33:02
    Trying to go to my 201. I can't hit that center. I can't hit that center lane, and that's instrumental in this game. Do you like my red LEDs at the top there, George? I don't like this game.
    33:17
    See the nice red LEDs at the top there? See the nice and glowy red? Oh, no, I didn't notice that. That looks nice. I put clear rubber up there to kind of let it come through. I like that, too. So you're doing a lot more clear rubber. It looks nice. I like how you put white on it, too, though. It needs white. It does need white. I did more hybrid. No, that's in a good spot for it. There you go. So he's got the kicker on.
    33:43
    And he just got the end. I don't know what I got for that, but I'll take it. And he just got the horseshoe.
    33:49
    And that is a tight shot. Wow. And that was out. Oh, I know something else we didn't mention. The two pins at the bottom of the outline. Yes. Not that they've done much in this game. They kind of guide it into the little kicker thing sometimes. It's kind of like hot dog and same thing. It's got one on that right-hand side. Same idea. Sometimes it works, not often.
    34:15
    Okay, got it back up top. But I cannot get it in that horseshoe for the life of me. There we go. And I used it right away. See, it hit that flipper again.
    34:28
    I did an L one. And I hit the spinner, so that's good. When it was lit for 1,000. No, no, no, no, no, no!
    34:39
    Okay, Dave. We're done. Oh, look at that. High score at 281. 281, yes. Well, threshold's at 360. That's true, but I just put a new board in this game, so everything's all fresh. Right. So, I'll take the high score. Nice looking game. Your customer will be happy. So, George, if you had to choose, which game would you have in your place? The Sobel Mania or the T2? I'm taking Terminator. You're taking Terminator. Wow, George. He's taking over a classic. Yeah. Even though all my games are all Bally games, no, I picked Terminator. It's a lot more fun. I don't like, I really don't like this game. I don't. George, you like this game? No, I don't. I don't like the artwork. Sorry. It's a 1980 Bally. That's why. Well, I have some, but I just don't like this game. I just found a buyer for my 1980 Hot Dog. Oh, somebody's going to buy it? Yep. He ponied up the dough, so that's going to be leaving. I'm not getting rid of that game. That's all right. My wife likes that game. We're skiers. You guys have heard all the stories. It's great. So now I can, you know, whenever I want to play it, I can play your game. I don't need it. Right. No, that's fine. So it's fine. Even though it's got disgusting outlanes because I think it's warped. It's a little bit warped. A little warped situation. Right. Well, it makes it a little bit more challenging. Maybe I should transfer my play field to yours. We swap them. No, I shouldn't do that. No. I have a nice play field in it. It just is a little off. Anyway, I think we can conclude Silver Ball Mania. stay tuned for I don't know these two games are going I'll tell you on the maybe Rolling Stone that might be one that's coming up Rolling Stone is coming up real soon but we're going to be busy too we are you're going to be on vacation I'm going to be on vacation this will be down the road sometime this year there's going to be Rolling Stone there's going to be a Black Knight 2000 coming in there's going to be a Firepower you're going to talk about that again what Firepower? again? yeah you've like said firepower well because I have so many of them I don't even have four in the house right now it's four Knight Rider, Centaur Quicksilver yeah Knight Rider we're going to have to combine with something else I had an idea for that well Knight Rider is going to be a complete playfield swap Evil Knievel is going to be that's a good one too I like that game nice playfield swap in that I have a lot of playfield swaps coming up like maybe four or five of them So stay tuned, folks. We'll do some other stuff. I think we're going to probably do something from Allentown. I don't know what that will be. I haven't really thought much about it. I think live from Fah Central, we'll have a bowl of soup together. Well, we could do that, but we're going to seek some people out.
    37:20
    John Shields? I don't know. Whoever's there, I mean, whoever comes across our path. That's an old callback to RGP John Shields days. But I'm saying, there will be some characters at Allentown, and if we can corner them and get a couple of minutes with them, we'll bring them to you. We'll do something different. We're certainly not going to walk around and do what everybody else does and show all the videos while they're walking at a fast pace through the building. We're not going to do that. Yeah, we're not doing that. No. That's so dumb. Can we find a unique game? Maybe we'll play it. But there'll be so much noise. No. Right. No, we're definitely... No, I'll be where I normally am. We're not your typical podcast. We do our own thing. Right. That's how we roll. Anyway, till next time, folks.
    38:05
    Same. Same bat channel, same bat time. No, I was going to say something like same silver ball time. Same silver ball channel. If you were up in Maine, you'd say same ding bat. No, you'd say ayah. You'd say ayah. You'd say same bird time, same ding bat. I'm going down the road to play me some pinball. I still say dingbat. In fact, she's still in my closet upstairs. I've got to let her out. No, no. No. No? No. I'm not letting her out? No. I'm going to lock her down. I don't want to go there. Okay, we'll lock her down. Back in her closet, she goes. Dave! Who? Dave! D-A-V-E! Yeah, Dave! Right? Hey, Dr. Dave here. And if you're looking for that special game you remember playing from your youth, Restored by Craftsman to Look and Play Like New Condition Look no further as we may have it here in a restoration queue. Among the ones that are finished and ready for your game room are A Look and Play Like New 1979 Bally Kiss with a new old stock clear-coated playfield and A Look and Play Like New 1989 Gottlieb Caribbean Cruise Cocktail Table Multiplayer Multiball Pinball Machine. The following is a list of games in a restoration queue currently. Just drop us a line to let us know which title you desire. Once you put a deposit down for that title, that title is marked for you. Drop us an email for more details at Dave at PinballDoctor.com. That is Pinball Doctor, all spelled out, P-I-N-B-A-L-L-D-O-C-T-O-R.com.
    39:43
    For 1990s games, we have Doctor Who and Twilight Zone. 1980s Bally Hot Doggin Skateball Flash Gordon Embryon Fireball 2 Sea Witch Nineball and Firepower 1970s Supersonic Stingray Paragon and Superman And lastly for the Electromechanical era Captain Fantastic Top Score Flipper Pool and in 1958 Gottlieb Crisscross.
    40:48
    I just took a ride In a silver machine And I'm still feeling me Do you want to fly? See yourself going by Beyond the side of the sky I've got a super machine It flies Sideways through time It's an electric ride So you're short in time I'm not a silver machine Silver machine
    42:13
    Thank you.