Welcome to the Spinner's Lip Pinball Podcast. Tonight's episode is episode 55, the GSPF Pre-Show Show. I'm your host, Spencer, and with me is our great members of the Roundtable and co-host, Dan. Hey, what's going on, everyone? Mark. Hey, everybody. Thanks for listening. And with us tonight, who has been on the show in the past, Jeff Klaboff. Hello. Thanks for having me. Yeah, man. Welcome back. It's good to have you. So, as you know, GSPF, or the Golden State Pinball Festival, is coming up as of today. it's 19 days and counting. You guys will get this show in a couple of days. So it'll be probably 17 or 16 days and counting. Oh, I want to do a quick note. Last month, I forgot to mention on air, was our sixth anniversary of doing the Spinners Lit Pinball podcast. So we're officially starting year seven this month. So we're in first grade. Yeah, there we go. We finally made it out of kindergarten and we're into first grade. we're big podcasters now that's awesome but yeah now I'm pretty proud of what we've done I mean we've improved the show's improved we've lasted a while and we're still going and thanks to you guys and thanks to all the fans out there and the people that listen to us and support the show so thank you and shout out to you guys so yeah so we've got the Golden State Pinball Festival coming up we always get all excited for that And this is kind of a pre-show show So I'll start off with You know the show starts Friday May 19th It opens at 1pm And we're going to have A lot of good fun Which includes you know all the games On free play And then all the fun games over at the camp Camp Silver Ball which we'll talk about more in a bit And we also have The Flippin' Friday kickoff dinner Which I will be kind of emceeing that. We're going to give out... The emcee? Yeah, hosting. Master of Ceremonies hosting. Corralling people. No, it's always a good event. The dinner, I was so underdressed. I always felt like I should rent a tuxedo because they always put forth such a magnificent feast. And it's always really nice. But we're going to give out this year's Steve Sharlin Spirit Award in memory of our good friend Steve Sharlin. And so if you haven't got tickets yet, go online to GoldmanStatePinball.org. You can buy tickets in advance. Or you can buy them at the door, I think. There should be a few left before showtime. So, hey, anybody else want to add anything to that? I've gone to the dinner every year, I believe. And it is a really good time. like not only do you get to uh celebrate whoever our uh spirit award winner is uh not only do you get a really good dinner um you also get drinks and there's like a little reception where you get the hobnob with like the other guests and typically you also get to see some of our special guests you know when we had like tanya and uh who was the other guy from stern i'm forgetting his name he It was really cool, though. Mike Vinator. Mike Vinator. Yeah, Mike Vinator was there with us. And the year that we had Spooky with us, we had Chuck and Bug and the Spooky family who came to the show. And, you know, you really actually get to spend a little bit of time and, you know, walk around and, you know, talk to people and have a glass of wine or a beer or two or six. There's hors d'oeuvres. And then sometimes you got to listen to some people talk for a little bit while you're eating. But it's usually a really good time. You won't be subjected to me talking this year. So lucky. It is a really great event. I went in there two years ago, and it was really nice to meet everybody before the show started. It was like a kickoff, like you said, and it gave us an opportunity to chat with people and have a dinner that really exceeded my expectations. I didn't expect it to be that fancy, but it was like I was eating in a five-star restaurant. Pretty amazing. It's a five-star restaurant food in a gymnasium. In a gymnasium, yeah. The money is all for a good cause. It is all fashioned with love and extremely tasty and plentiful. You're not going to walk away hungry. It's not small portions. This is Lodi. We're going to feed you. and like I said, the good times are there to be had. So if you were thinking of something to do Friday night, rather than going and spending 15, 20 bucks on fast food or finding, there's a couple other nice restaurants in Lodi you could eat at, consider the kickoff dinner. It is really, really a good time. Yeah, you meet some fun people and have some great food and what a better way to start the show. Yeah, absolutely. Oh, and if I'm not mistaken, Das Flipperhaus, is supplying the beer this year? They're sponsoring the beer. I don't know if they're bringing the beer. They're sponsoring the beer. Okay. God bless them. You know, it's funny, and I never drink at those events, and I'm thinking, oh, I've got to have a beer this year. Because I don't want to mess up, because I do anyway. You know, the first year, I think they left us waiting a little too long, and I got pretty tossed. Yeah, because they have like – they have hors d'oeuvres and drinks, and it takes a while to get in and get seated and get down. And then, yeah, no, I didn't notice, but, yeah, no, that's a pretty common thing at that event. What, me getting tossed? People in general. By the end of the night, I'll have a few people come up, you know, hugging me and saying good job and like that. And it's like, oh, you're lit. It's right on. So I wish I was. Wait, let me catch up. You sound like a bar There you go It's a really good time There's really good friendship And getting to see people And then when dinner's over Then you can play Pinball out of your mind Because there's no care in the world Oh man And then you go all night The show's open until 11 o'clock On Friday So yeah after dinner there is still ample time to partake of the pinball or of the campground or whatever your method of frivolity is. And I will say that Friday specifically, you can get in a ton of playtime. Not everyone's there. It's not a completely full show. It's just getting started. So if there's something you absolutely want to play and get a whole bunch of games in, Friday night's the night to do it. Correct. Even the tournament area is open until 10 o'clock. So maybe you're not going to play at your best when you're full of food and beer. But if you do play at your best when you're full of food and beer, it's a great chance to sneak on over to the tournament room and get a couple qualifying games in. Yeah, no, exactly. Yeah, no, thank you for bringing up those great points. Yeah, Friday there's less people there. So if you want to get on the newer games or what have you, it's a good time to go. Also, it's a good time to go because a lot of people do attend the dinner or they're going out to eat somewhere else. And, you know, it's like eat early, eat late, go play pinball. Right. Or come to the dinner and then play pinball before and after and even during. But, yeah, Flippin' Friday kickoff dinner. Good time. And then there is a tournament Friday, a separate tournament, right? Yeah, there's a target match play tournament happening Friday. and the qualifiers for the main event during the weekend as well. And I believe there's a – that's right. So women's match play is on Saturday, but the target match play is Friday. Yeah, we got the target match play. We got the main tournament. We got a women's tournament. We've got a kids' tournament. Like there is ample tournament this year for the first-timers, for the most seasoned professionals. finals last year's tournament was crazy exciting yeah it was good that was a fun time didn't you go pretty deep mark yeah i did really well i i won b division which was awesome that's right you won b yeah i interviewed you man my memory's bad that's all right no now the uh question jeff um you were mentioned about the friday tournament so uh when is it is it does it start early in the day when does this match play start so it looks like i'm i'm looking at the website target match play on friday it shows registration and check-in from 10 a.m to 10 45 p.m start times at noon so it's it's gonna be if if you're gonna get there and you want to register for it you probably want to be there a little before opening which is you know 9 30 9 45 waiting because i know that'll fill up. It's a maximum of 32 people. 32 players. Once 32 folks have been registered, that's it. And then it goes 25 points, 3-2-1-0 scoring. First to 25 wins. First to 25 wins, no playoff. But there will be no conflict with the dinner. Is that correct? Well, I'm guessing as long as 12 rounds doesn't take you to the dinner beginning, which I believe is 6 o'clock? If I'm not mistaken. That's pretty long. I would hope that that would probably be finished by then. Yeah. So we're not doing qualifying for the mains on Friday? It could be a whole different set of machines. That would be something that the tournament director knows more about. I thought that we were doing qualifying on Friday for main tournament. Yep. Remember last year there was a bank of machines for the qualifier, the main, and then on the opposite end of the room there was the tournament games that were going for the match play. Yeah, so if you're in target match play, you got to win fast. Yeah, there you go. You know, just win quick. Then you can come to the dinner, but you can still go after dinner and do some qualifying. You probably have a couple extra hours. Yeah. Qualifying is Friday, 10 a.m. To 10 p.m. Yeah. Saturday, 10 a.m. To 10 p.m. And then finals of Sunday, 930 a.m. Oh, I'll check in 10 a.m. To. Yeah. So 10 till the end. Boom. Right. And the games are subject to change, But right now, Ali, Aztec, Beatles, Black Knight, Sword of Rage Pro, Dracula, Stern, Flash Gordon, Foo Fighters, LE, Indy 500, James Bond Pro, Jurassic Park, Stern Pro, Mandalorian Pro, and On Chicago. Okay. And if you're unfortunate enough not to be there, we will be streaming on Elk Grove Pinball, which is a friend of the show, Rick's streaming portal. so you will be able to check it out online but hopefully you'll be there so Jeff are you playing in it and Dan are you going to try to get into the match play or are you just going to do the qualifying I think I'll do the I'll do the qualifying for the main I'm not going to run into to try to do the match play because I'd like to do the dinner I have tickets to go there so I want to make sure I head there and otherwise I'll definitely take my time and try to make the most out of my entries for the main. It was fun last year. There were some brutal games. I'm curious to see how the games play this year. I don't think that he's going to do anything as gnarly as he did last year. I remember there was a little controversy that those games were set up mean even for high FPA tournament games. Yeah, they were set up pretty brutal. If Karl DeAngelo says something, that pretty much says it all. Hey, I'll take mean as long as it's mean for everyone. Yeah, exactly. That's our commish. I'm not brutal. But you know what? It makes sense because if they're too easy, those lines will be way too huge. Way too long. It's nice to have them difficult because then the gameplay is a lot shorter. Commissioner Mike just believes that the joy of life is in struggle. Well, there you go. There you go. See? It's artistic. Not a big deal. I probably will not be playing in the tournament. I will probably be helping Rick out in the streaming booth. Okay. Yeah, that's right. You were saying you were going to get that squared away and a good time to shut up. I ain't getting nothing squared away. I just need to get the details from the Demoman, figure out what he wants me to do, what he needs me to do. Okay. I don't know. the match play sounds fun. I'm probably working. I'd love to go to the dinner. It's fun, but yeah, I think the match plays great. I believe you still need some volunteers for the tournament too. So if you have a, have a feeling like you want to volunteer for something, the tournament is, you know, scorekeepers and like that, they can still use some help. You can sign up to volunteer on, on for that or any other of a number of things. Um, on the website, uh, golden state pinball.org. and be part of it because this is your show, man. I mean, this is the show. It's of the people, by the people, for the people. It only works because we all make it work because you all come and contribute, bring a game or bring a friend that's never been before and volunteer and all that neat stuff. Well, and Match Play is cash only, but I believe volunteering gets you entries for Maine. It does. So if you want to play, but you don't want to pay, I mean, you still got to, you know, have entry to the show or, you know, you can volunteer for the show. But tournament volunteers do get entries into the into the tournament, which is cool. I think the first year I played, I finished like 50th, but I played all all because I did scorekeeping shifts and and helped out with the tournament. And then I just got to get in there and play my games and do my best. which was not great, but it was fun. Excellent. I want to see the kids' tournament being streamed. That would be fun. Oh, yeah. That'd be a great idea. That's free. The free enter ages 5 to 12. Oh, man, I was watching the kids' tournament. I telling you My butt kicked by a bunch of kids It going to be great and that on Friday it starts at 1pm and the winners are at 5pm they say so I know we have one child that's going to be honoring from Reno oh they have it all three days okay yeah they have the kids tournament all three days so it's start time is 11am on Sunday on Saturday 1pm and on Friday it's at 1pm Mark you have your kids going? you're signing them up? my friend's daughter is going I think she's 7 or 8 years old and she plays in our tournaments on Tuesday nights which is really cool it makes me regret that we didn't do this a couple years ago because I always thought that it would be really fun to do side betting on the kids tournament that's funny but i just you know we at the time especially in lodi league we had some younger players and some of them were you know very proficient and i was like we should do a kids tournament like a free kids tournament but we should we should wager on it and everybody was like you're a monster and i was like but this is gonna be so much fun that's there are a few things in life that were more fun back in the day at Lodi League, watching Eric Neff's two daughters just mop up the floor with grown adults. And his youngest was probably, I don't know, she's like 15 now. So she was probably eight or nine times. She was good then. And his daughter Juniper's in college now. She's been on the show as a guest. like I don't remember her being like 14 or 15 and just smoking everybody like on the classic Gottlieb nights you know counterforce man the queen of counterforce that's her game unbeatable and others too you know I can remember you know a lot of other kids I'm just trying to say it's hard to think back now because everybody's all adults now but my money would have been on Mad Max Mad Max man that kid yeah Yeah, yeah. You know, Max Pressler, Adam's nephew, he's good. He's also good at mind games. Like if he's in the tournament, he actually plays mind games with you. And you're just like, what are you even doing, man? You're like 13 years old. You're not going to outthink me. But he does because I'm an idiot. So I'm just like, what's going on? This is terrible. I'm getting beat by a rug. It's insanity. And everyone's trying to help him. I'm like, what are you helping him for? He's whooping my ass. Quit giving him game advice. I'm the tournament director, you bastards. Not of this tournament. Mike's the tournament director. This was a tournament we did at my house. And I beat him, by the way, before anyone gets any funny ideas. I didn't lose. What's the age? Five to 12. Five to 12. Five to 12. Perfect. Perfect. All the kids that we would have brought in, they're all a little too old. I would love to see Brian bring his kids. Yeah, that'd be great. Atticus, I don't think, is as interested in pinball as he used to be. Fenton is damn good. Like, he'll be at my house, and he'll be hitting shots and starting modes, and I'll just be like, what the hell are you doing? Like, how did you get into that mode so fast? He's just like, you got to make your shots, Dan. I'm just like, oh. I always love it when Dan gets schooled by the youngsters. I'm like, got to make your shots, man. You know, it's like. You love it when I get schooled by anybody. Yeah, pretty much. It's always a good time. You know who I never lost to, though? Spencer. No, I don't think you ever have, man. Actually, I can't remember. It's, yeah. No, because that one time we were playing, I was having really good games, and I just lost my focus or something. And you ended up beating me going on. I think you went on to win that one. Like to win that, yes, that's one you won. I ended up taking like fourth. Any given Sunday, man. That's it, man. That's the ticket, you know. Even a broken clock is right twice a day. And if you absolutely can't stand tournaments, there are plenty of other things going on at the show as well. Yeah, there's plenty of casual play. There's opportunities to play with your friends. There's single-player games. uh just we actually you know and we're going to talk about that just the tournament is i mean i i don't want to be you know i don't want to be like rah-rah tournament time but you know competition pinball gives you a reason to play it is important and and before we move on i just want to touch on just the women's uh is saturday it's also a maximum of 32 players is $20 per player, $20 entry, and it's just Saturday only. You know, it's in and out. Is Rusty going to play? I don't know. You know, I asked her about it a while back. She was thinking about it. I don't know. She took a run at it. Nice time. She did really well. You know, the first women's tournament, in fact, I just passed by one. I was walking into the studio down the bottom of the stairs of the – there's a trophy wall. That's right. That was the first one. It was at the end of the room. I remember watching that. Yeah. Yeah, and she took fourth in the first women's tournament. Yeah, that was the one I was thinking of. That was awesome. What a great day. Yeah, yeah. So at the fallout here at the fallout shelter, at the bottom of the stairs and beginning of the fallout shelter, be right before the studio. There's her, her trophy, all her, and mine. And she's got all the bigger, better trophies. Cause she's literally a better player than I am, which is cool. So, yeah. So for the women's tournament, the games, and of course, subject to change, Elvira's house of horrors, fun house, Godzilla, premium, Stern, gold ball, laser cue, rack them up, Rush Pro, and Stern Star Trek Pro. Oh, wow. Yeah. First place gets 50%. I feel like they got the killers. Yeah, they do. Those are a good selection of games. Those are fun. Yeah, they are. They are. So, yeah, all the tournaments have good selections. So, again, they need volunteers. So, if you've got a heart for tournament play or you just feel like, oh, I could help out their scorekeeper or something else, go to the website, GoldenStatePinball.org. And one thing to mention is it is a Stern Pro Circuit event. It is. For the open. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah, which is pretty awesome. So you're going to get those sweet, sweet Whoppers. That's right. Without even going to Burger King. If you can't make it yet, right, you can watch it on Elk Grove Pinball streaming. Elk Grove Pinball. I think I will be doing some commentary. I know Rick will be in and out, you know, because he's also going to be playing. And we had a couple other people who were popping in and doing some commentary. Mark, didn't you jump in and do some commentary? I did not do commentary. You just interviewed me, but I'm going to jump in and do commentary for sure. That would be fun. We had one of the ladies from the tournament. I forgot her name, but she was really good. And we had another guy who just was amazing. He was so good. Yeah, I'm going to try it out this year. I'm going to try it out if you let me. But yeah, it'll be fun. I'm not the boss, but I'm sure, you know, Rick absolutely loves it because he plays, you know, obviously. So he's not going to be able to be in the booth the whole time. So I'm sure that he wouldn't mind. And, of course, we'll get you in there and you'll make us all look bad. Maybe not. We'll see. We'll see. We'll be like, wow, Mark's up in our game again. So when you're not tournamenting, what can you do? If you're not into tournament play, there's going to be a ton of games on free play, a lot of games on free play. People from all over the West, especially in the Western States, you know, California and Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and farther away. Bring games to share. And there's going to be a ton of games. Before we get into that, specifically on Saturday. Well, all we also have set – well, there's – on Saturday specifically. We're going to talk about the games, but there's some other stuff you can do too. Well, there's also – there's the Saturday morning swap meet. I'm telling you. Cool. I don't know if you get there early enough. The swap meet is one of the coolest things that you can do at the show as far as not just shopping, but if you have some old parts you need to get rid of, bring a table, bring them, bring a chair, and you can sell. And it don't cost nothing. It doesn't cost anything. You don't need to reserve a spot. We do ask that, of course, that you be gracious. You take up the right amount of space. It's got to be game room related stuff. You can't just be selling random junk. But yeah, if you come out to the show and you want to sell some material that you think that your fellow pinheads will be interested in, please do. And one year I went out there and I just brought some boxes of old parts. I brought a little table. I brought a chair, kicked it out there for a few hours, and I made like $150 off a job. Nice. That's awesome. It is literally a treasure trove of cool stuff you can find there. Didn't Brian last year get like a – or maybe it was a go-go. I forget. Get like a really cool back-glass super chair. Oh, it was a champion pub. No, that wasn't from the swap meet, though. that was from our friends and one of our sponsors Planetary Pinball oh okay okay cool still cool so no it's fantastic and yeah we'll definitely talk you know you can you know we got vendors so you can go in and you can shop for parts in there we've got Rob Anthony is going to be there and he does board repair and sells a wide variety of parts gosh who else is who else is vendoring this year let me find why can't I why can't I remember yeah I don't have a list they're the cool guys with the arcade that also does framing oh flip a room they bring art they bring just awesome awesome art absolutely to be honest their booth almost looks like a museum but you can buy the stuff it does and it's amazing It is amazing stuff. If you want to have a classy-looking game room, they're the place to go. I don't know if he's going to be selling, but Pinball Monk is going to be bringing stuff, and he's got some stuff for the raffle. Planet Next to Planetary is going to be there. And they always bring a spread. Yep. Marco? I heard Marco... Yeah, is Marco going to be there or not? I heard Marco was not going to be there, but that the pinball pirate was going to definitely, well, Marco's a sponsor. So, so I mean, the first show people in the know that they might not be setting up. Okay. Okay. Oh, you know, take Marco with, with, uh, with your fingers crossed and a grain of salt, you know, uh, they are wonderful partners of the show and they're, they're hugely important to the pinball hobby. But, you know, there's been some changes at Marco over the last 18 to 24 months. Okay. So, you know, with any luck, with any luck, we're going to actually, they're not, I know they're still good supporters of the show. So, and they're a great vendor. So, um, yeah, the museum's going to be there, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. World of wonder science museum, which is, uh, they benefit from, uh, the proceeds. Remember all the proceeds go to local kids charities. So you're giving back to the community and helping kids. But that's the World of Wonder Science Museum. A side note also on getting parts and stuff, whether you do it to swap meet and or please support your local vendors, is you save a ton of money on shipping. That's right. Yeah. You don't have to worry about shipping. Because if I order $40 worth of parts out here in cowboy country, it's $40 to ship it every time. If I were $60 in parts, it's $60 to ship, but they're pretty close. So pick up parts. Pick up bubs. Pick up LEDs. Pick up bowls. Pick up rubber rings. Pick up flipper baths. All the common stuff you know you're going to need, you know you're going to use anyway, and you're going to save a bundle on shipping, and you're supporting our local vendors. So be a swell dude or gal and support the show. And it's just fantastic to bring crap home from the show. It is. Like, I don't even know what the difference is. I mean, you can order boxes of parts all day, every day, and it's always great to get a box of parts. But there's just something super cool about, you know, picking stuff up while you're there and you're going to have parts to install when you get home. I remember the first year I bought a color DMD at the show, even though I was exhausted and my feet were on fire from being on my feet all day, I ran right home and installed it. That's awesome. It's just part of the show experience, man. Yeah, it is. It's a wonderful part of the show experience. What else is going on Saturday? You know, the huge event that also goes on on Saturday that brings in tons and tons of crowds into the main room is when they raffle off one of the two pinball machines that they bring into the show. Yes. Jeffrey, what a segue. Beautiful, man. Hey, you know, got to be good for something around here. And our tickets, I think tickets are, and they may still well be, well, let me check. We're $5 a ticket. So you can buy a ticket and you can win a pinball. I've seen people do it. A few years ago, a guy came, he heard about it. He brought his young son. I think they bought a ticket or two and they took home a pinball machine. And they didn't own any games. They were just casual people. And, you know, so yeah, you can win. It's that easy. What an amazing thing to take home. Like I went to a show, I put the money in for a raffle, and I came home with a pinball machine. Like that would be amazing as a kid seeing your parents come home with something like that. Yeah, that is just the coolest thing. It's like when you go to school, like, you know, there's still school like the next, you know, day or whatever, the following Monday. What did you do this weekend? I went to a pinball show with my dad and we brought home a pinball machine. How cool is that? So, yes, five bucks. There raffles on Saturday and Sunday There is There two pinball machines that are going out I would imagine one per day But it not just the pinball machines Right. There are lots and lots of prizes that are going to be given out. Yeah. And the other raffles are like a dollar a ticket. There's also a silent auction. But, yeah, so, like, they'll be, if you've never been, or if you haven't been, You just weren't aware of it. You'll go around, and there'll be raffle items, prizes that people donate. It can be artwork. It can be – and not necessarily pinball related. I remember one year, and somebody donated a haircut to a local hair salon. And you buy your ticket, and you put your ticket in the bucket that you want to win. I won a couple of them. On a pilot option, right? No, that's also for the raffles. Okay. and then for the pinball machine you just buy your ticket and put it in the one big tumbler but if you don't win on Saturday you gotta buy a ticket for the Sunday raffle for the pinball or for the other items so for example I donated a couple items to last year's raffle I donated a couple of cool pieces of artwork that were Mandalorian the stuff I picked up at Hobby Lobby you know because Mandalorian pinball is still fairly new and people like those. So stuff like that. It can be pinball related, but it can be other stuff too. It can be alcohol, bottled wine. There's all kinds of stuff people donate to the Raffle and the silent auction. It usually is pinball related, but not always. Don't they do some tools as well? They'll raffle off a toolkit. We have a toolkit. Thank you. Yes. Thank you, Jeff. Yeah. There's a great toolkit that members of Capital Quarter or Pinball League put together every year. It's literally like a little tool bag with all kinds of tools to wrench on a pinball machine with, or even a video game, if that's your thing. That's a great idea. Yeah, and they really stock it nicely. I mean, you know, with screwdrivers and needle-nose pliers and all kinds of good stuff that they know you're going to need to properly repair and maintain a game. Usually they have like rubber rings and stuff I think they throw in, all kinds of good stuff. But, yeah, so like I said, all kinds of good stuff, and they're just wandering around and talking with people. And I'll throw this out too real quick. We'll be camping at Camp Silver Ball because we're going to talk about Camp Silver Ball in a little bit. but if you're up early before the show opens and you need a cup of coffee come on over just find me we're usually over by the restrooms and sit down have a cup of coffee with us Rusty and I do that all three days of the show and always have a good time we always get to see old friends and we always meet and make a new one every year don't we also have classes? We do. We do have classes. It's a little different this year, but we do have that. And let me go to that real quick. I was actually looking at that a few minutes ago. So we have Fun with Pinball is going to be at the show Friday through Sunday. And they're going to be having pinball exhibits. There's going to be an EM pinball repair class. And there's going to be classes on pinball restoration. That's awesome. It is. so yeah this show is I mean we've got competition we've got raffles we've got silent auctions there's a lot of food options you know there's the flipping Friday kickoff dinner and then on top of all that we're going to have upwards of what 200 machines on free play yeah as of right now the games list is listed at 203 games and that can change. People might bring extra. Some may not make it to the show for whatever reason. So, you know, it's not set in stone, but, you know, expect around, yeah, expect a good amount of games there. And all kinds of games. Old ones, new ones, all the new stuff's going to be there in just about. So, yeah, it's going to be really good. You know, one of the funny, the favorite games I like to play with four of my friends walking through the show is called King of the Losers. and Dan knows this very well. I think we started it together. We're the four of us. We pick a pinball machine. We play a game. The person who does the worst gets to pick the next game. And as we are walking to that next game, we're Game of Thrones shaming them along the way as loudly as possible with shame until we get to the next machine. That was like me and you and Seth and even Seth yeah and I think Adam Adam Holder was in there too and yeah we've had a revolving roster of players over the years because we started that at Pinnagogo yeah I played that game with all those guys you know we all have and I'm ashamed to go around oh yeah yeah the good part is if you get the shame you pick the next game so you can pick a game Either, A, you know you're really good, or you know at least one other person there sucks at. I like that that rhymes. If you get the shame, you pick the next game. I was just going to say that, Dan. So definitely, if you hear a chain of shaming going on, then you'll know what's happening, and you might want to join in and get in on some of that. That is hilarious. I definitely want to get in on that. That sounds fun. not getting shamed but well you know it happens to us all yeah no doubt yeah and see there's so much fun there's so much good stuff going around you know there's just doing that if you're new to it grab a couple friends or you know what just show up and meet a couple new friends and play four player games and play that game and go alright the loser you know fourth place picks the next game and you can give them a hard time But there's such a wide variety of games The games list is always so varied It's really cool to see And you know There's not just games in the building either There's also Games at the camp What camp do you ask? Camp Silver Ball If you don't know what it is Oh you are missing out Camp Silver Ball Is a people that camp like myself Either RB or tent camp And we stay there And all night long, even after the building closes, there's stuff going on. Camp Silver Ball is the highlight of the show, in my opinion, because it's the after party. That's what I love about it. It is. Yeah, it's so much fun. I know I played in a tournament. I only had like one day when I was there last year. But then after the tournament was over, even though I should have got rest and been prepared for the finals or whatever, I couldn't resist and go over to one of the campsites with the linked Metallica's. That was awesome. Yes. I've coined the phrase now. So it's Tiltallica. Tiltallica, yeah. I've heard like every freaking name for this. Yeah, I think Tiltallica is the way to go. I think that sounds the best. I think I just called it Metallica. So Shannon came up with it. I don't know what it was called at the Pinball Olympics. He's the one who came up. He wanted to do it. And so we put the games together. And I think when I wrote up the rule sheet last year, I just called it Metallica Tilt Battle. Okay. But, yeah, I think it's got all these different names, you know, kill Tallica and stuff like that. But, yeah, that will be returning. I don't think you can get campsites anymore, right? Like I think if you're at Camp Silver Ball, you've already got your spot lined up. Oh, okay. Yeah, those are gone in about literally about eight seconds. But if you're a guest at the show, paying guest, of course, is required. Make sure to take a walk through the campsite, and you're just going to see people out there having a good time. There's a surprising amount of games, and I'm sure that, you know, people would be down for you to join in with them. And I think one of the coolest things is it's what really, I think, gives Golden State Pinball Festival the festival atmosphere that it has. Like I've been to a lot of pinball shows, but I haven't seen anything that has the outdoor, you know, just after party, fun, laid back vibe that we get at GSPF. The Woodstock of pinball. That's what makes GSPF unique is the Camp Silver Ball and the people around there. I know last year I participated in a pin golf tournament that Gene X put together. And that was so much fun because not only did I get to play machines all around the campground, but got to meet everybody that was sharing their games. So it was really nice to get to know some people that I didn't even know at first. And then, you know, coming over like, hey, tell me about this game. They had a homebrew game last year. That was really fun. And it was just a great opportunity to play in a competition, but real laid back and have a great time meeting new people and playing machines outside. It's so cool. How many how many games would you think made it to to the campground last year? 30? I think there were like 30. Yeah, roughly. It was a lot like it was a ton of games. I mean, it's not like, you know, people are setting up, you know, lineups of games. It's just there's like one or two games at like every other campsite. Right. Yeah. Under an awning or, you know, or whatever, a pop-up or in somebody's tent. What was it? What Juan had the inflatable pyramid tent? Oh, yeah. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Yeah. Yeah. That was possibly the coolest thing I've seen yet at this show. Well, that and I mean, like, you know, the Link to Metallica. Because during the day when the show's open, they're in the building at the show. But then they brought them out at night and people literally were playing games on those all night long. Till 2.33 in the morning. Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah. It was crazy how many people were out there. And it's so addictive because it's like you don't wait long, but it's just fun to play on a team and just try to tilt the other person. It's so much fun. If you come to the show, you definitely got to try those. you know as funny as this year there's also going to be a pair this is pretty rare you don't see this very often there's a pair of linked NBA fast breaks and if you know the game NBA fast break it was designed that you could link it to another one and play head to head and so there's supposed to be those there that's a lot. It is the most fun two people can have with clothes on. Pretty much yeah Yeah, yeah. That would be a hit. That would be a great one for after party if it was possible. I don't know. That would be fun. Yeah. To do that. Yeah. Yeah, linked fast break is so much fun. To check the games list. As long as the games are equal. Yeah, yeah. The games have to be playing equal. All right. I'm sure that you played at the same place that we played, Mark. And I know that the machine on the left, you are always going to lose. And the machine on the right, you are always going to win. Yes, that's so true. I was playing with Spencer. Do you remember Spencer? I do. I was just beating the snot out of you until we changed machines. Yeah, I was like, oh, okay. Vengeance was yours. Yes, it was. Who's bringing those, just out of curiosity? That's Jason. Oh, it is Jason that's bringing it. It is Jason, yeah, yeah. Awesome. Yeah, he'll probably have those fair now. I think he got them all shopped out, and they're great now. Yeah, it's just something you don't see very often. It's nice to see. If you come to the show, you know, it's look at the games list, walk to the show floor, you know, try all the new stuff that's out because all the new games are pretty much going to be there, which is always cool playing and trying the new stuff. And seeing old favorites, like, oh, you know, I got it. Oh, there's no fear. You know, whatever game you dig. There's always some really cool rarities that show up. For example, last year, Michael Huntsman, a friend of the show, brought Going Nuts. It was Steve Sharlin's Going Nuts. So if you don't know the history of that game, it never went into production. It was like 10 units. It was a prototype. And you can play it on the pinball arcade. You can play it on your phone. You can play it like on Nintendo or whatever game system you have. and the one that they used to digitize to make to put in the video game was steve charlin's game so there's a huge history with that game anyway so you know this year that was brought by friend of the show mike huntsman yes yeah because he owns it now yeah who bought that game yep and uh got and spent numerous hours getting it to play 100 perfect i don't think it ever broke down at a show last year and it got a lot of plays. People play that a lot. And to add on to what you're saying, I hate playing that on Pinball Arcade, but when I played the real one at Mike's house, which he has it there, it drained the same way as the iPad. As Pinball Arcade. So I was like, wow, yeah, they definitely did digitize this particular machine because it drains exactly the same way. It's kind of weird. It's a trip. It's a trip. You play the video game version and you play the real one. You're like, oh, wow. All right. They did it right. So, you know, another one that's supposed to return this year is AG Soccer Ball. And AG is Alvin Gottlieb. That's the head-to-head, like Joust. That's the head-to-head, like Joust. So if you've never played that, it's a rarity. They think you only made like 100 of those. Give that one a chance. Returning again this year is The Gottlieb Spirit, which is a not-too-common game. You don't see a lot of those. It was really funny the other year. You talked about the year Spooky Pinball came out, and Charlie, he was so happy. He never got to play a spirit. He'd never seen one except, you know, online and stuff. And so he got to play one in the wild, you know, so to speak. And he talked about that on his show when he was still doing his podcast because he, for years, has been wanting to see a spirit in person and play one and he finally got to So yeah there a couple of homebrews coming this year An Escape from Hell homebrew And returning after, God, the last time I was there was like 2018, is the Kill Bill. Which is kind of like, it's like a homebrew, but not a homebrew. I think they built a couple. It's kind of like a, I guess a homebrew. But it's really cool, and I'm supposed to have some additional features and stuff added. I played it last time it was at the show, and it was a lot of fun. I'm dying to see that somebody signed up a Wu-Tang Clan homebrew. Thank you. That was the other one, the Wu-Tang Clan homebrew. Yeah. Yeah. I'm curious about that. Yeah. Wu-Tang Clan homebrew pinball. Don't be fucking around with Wu-Tang. No, I'm sorry. That's wrong. It's Wu-Tang Ain't Nothin' to Fuck With. Oh, is that it? Okay. I think he said no. My hip-hop credibility is shot. I haven't had any. But you know, there's also 2.0 games. Fun House 2.0 is going to be back again this year. Yeah, there'll be a Bride of Pinbot. Bride of Pinbot 2.0, which if you've never played it, that's a really fun game. The Black Rose. The Black Rose, Skull and Bones. Skull and Bones. Look, you're going to get to go see it live at the show. You don't need to experience it on the Internet. Come to the show, and it's going to be there. Well, there you go. There you go. Bushido is going to be at the show this year, and I don't think it's ever been at Golden State or Man. I played one two years ago. It's a Mile High show, the Denver show. One of the organizers on this one. There's only a couple in America. I'm not sure how many. It's a Spanish game. Early DMD. it's a fun game, it's interesting, it's different you know like Spanish games always are they definitely try some new and different things, so if you get a chance to play that Cosmic Carnival we will have, yeah, Cosmic Carnival, then we made about 25 never seen one, and then the artwork on that game is done by friend of the show, friend of the pinball show, GSPF Dirty Donnie and then a couple more rare games one that we've all played, Io Moon. There's only, what, two of those made or two in America? There's two in America. Okay, two in America. Okay. And then Q, only six made. Stern Pinball, a very unusual, unique game. Never played one, never seen one. Looking forward to that. There's going to be a ton of games there. But I just wanted to kind of highlight some of the really unique and interesting and rare stuff. And, you know, if you get a chance, check those out. Yeah, and before you fret, we will have Foo Fighters. we will have Godfather. We will have some James Bond. So some of the hottest, newest stuff is going to be there as well. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. Yep. Yep. Also, Galactic Tank Force. Interesting to play that. Just because I've heard mixed reviews. If you're interested and you're local and you feel like you want to bring games, we still have plenty of space and we redid how it works when you bring games so you bring one game and it gets you a 50 off of the weekend pass and it gets you a special name badge and a special lanyard and an early entry saturday with coffee and pastries if you bring two you get all that you also get a weekend pass and a meal ticket. If you bring three, you get everything above and a show variant poster. If you bring four to five, you get two weekend passes, two meal tickets, and everything above. And if you bring six, Spencer will wash your truck. Damn right I will. No, but you will get everything that we listed above, plus three weekend passes, three meal tickets, and you get a special limited edition branded item. That's awesome. So we really tried to buff up. Like even at one game now, you get something, but we really tried to buff up the benefits of bringing lots of games. So it's definitely worth your time. We're also still looking for volunteers. so if anyone's in Northern California and you want to join in and help out with the show it gets you a lot of benefits plus you know you get to you get to peek behind the curtain you get to see how everything works and you get to be a part of the magic yeah and talking about the mill ticket I didn't see who's doing but they'll have like a snack bar and stuff and a beer garden or they have in the past so I think it's going to be the same setup as before okay And I don't know if you've ever partaken of the food. It's not cheap, but it's really good. It is good. You get these brats with like these sauteed onions and peppers on it. So good. Yeah, so good. And it all goes to the local kids' charities too. So you're keeping the money local and supporting local kids. Yeah, I believe that the beneficiary is the one who takes care of the food. So they do have all the proceeds. Yeah. Now, in the past, I'm still getting information in the past with the dinner kind of backtracking. The Girl Scouts put that on, local Girl Scout troop, and they were the benefactor of proceeds from the dinner. Yes. So, yeah, everything's for charity. I know we talk about money a lot. You know, nobody's enrichening themselves. No. Nobody gets a dime. Nobody gets a dime. Yeah. Yeah, being good friends with the coordinators of the show and working hand-in-hand with them, as we have for years. Yeah, it's an immense amount of work. Yep. And they are losing their minds right now with the last-minute preparations. but, you know, all the, all the Eric's and all the Chris's and all the Henry's and all of the Adams. And, you know, the, the, even the former guys who were part of the process, like the Brad's and the Steve's and just all of the guys who are, are the, the brain trust behind the Spencer is, is part of it. You know, those guys are working as hard as they can work. They're coming out of pocket. they are taking nothing for themselves to make this show as successful as possible. So we really, really, you know, this is our Super Bowl for pinball in Northern California. It is. This is why we're here. This is what we do. So, you know, please, if you're hearing this show and you're near, you know, we can't wait to see you there. and if you're hearing this show and you're not near like you know find a plane ticket man got a couple got a few weeks get in the car there's a lot of shows but I'll tell you if you want to play the most variety of games that you don't play anywhere else Golden State is the place to go to for the festival is awesome and yeah you won't get to play these games at other shows this one is unique and even the EM room has great selection of games that you don't see a lot of places. Yeah, thanks special to Larry Zartarian, who always brings, and a lot of other good collectors too, but Larry always brings a really nice selection of classic EM games. Yeah, you will not see a bigger room full of games anywhere, I don't think. Yeah. In our main hall. And the most buildings, too. It's not just one. I think we're only going to have two this year. Oh, okay. I think this year the main hall will be up to full strength is what I hear. So we're going to have that traditional entry hall and kind of the EM casual area. And then we're going to have the main room. and then the tournament room is actually part of the main room. It's a little hallway. I guess it's a separate building. But, yeah, I don't know. I mean, maybe if we got like a ginormous turnout, we would still need that auxiliary hall, but we probably won't. It's not that we don't need it. It's just that we're going to have more efficient powering this year. That's good to hear. We didn't want that big room or that third room even last time. we just had a situation where the electricity wasn't where we needed it to be. Oh, okay. Okay. Well, regardless, it's going to be awesome, and I can't wait. Time is going too slow for it to get here. Also, there'll be T-shirts for sale. There'll be posters for sale, as always. I think there's going to be a new item, like a drink cozy or something. Forget. Well, there's a lot of stuff that you're going to see. they've really upped the game for merchandising they've really upped the game for compensating you for your time if you decide to volunteer and especially if you're bringing games the bringing games thing is big we had some, I think we had like a drawing if you volunteered you could win one of the show mugs which was awesome and I'm frankly disgusted that I didn't win it I had one I had one of the last two show mugs I have one of my extra show mugs Because a friend of the show Will won it for volunteering And he's like he was on his motorcycle So he handed it to me I said he goes well it's yours now I'm like no it's yours I'm going to hold on to it for you But it's still yours So none of my cupboard hasn't got broken yet So you know So Mickey hasn't managed to break it yet So yeah you know it's been a good year so with that we're at the hour mark which we said we're just going to do a quick show to kind of pre-show the GSPF pre-show show kind of talk about what's coming up and get it out to the people and come to the show if you've never been and if you have been come back we'd love to see you come play pinball, support local charities, support pinball, support the vendors, support the community have a good time, that's what it's all about it's a huge family reunion That's what I always think it is. Yeah, absolutely. Play some King of the Losers while you're at it. King of the Losers, there you go. Yeah, Jeff, right. King of the Losers. King of the Losers. Love it. All right, well, let's take us out with just a quick shout-out. Thank you, Jeff, since you're our special guest tonight. You want to go first? Yeah, keep on keeping on. And while you're at it, play some pinball, too. I like it. there what do you got you know what uh as always i want to thank the whole ccpl for everything that they do we work a lot to to keep you guys playing pinball up here in norcal you know big thanks to you guys as always big thanks to jim up there in reno for everything that he's doing uh big thanks to press start i uh snuck into a private party the other night and got to play some free pinball Thanks, guys. I left as soon as I realized what was going on. I'm not a bastard, but I did walk right into a private party. That's too funny. Oh, man, I was dying. And part of me was just like, you should grab some food now. I'm like, no, you should just leave. But, yeah, all the usual people that I throw thanks to. Thanks to my wife for tolerating all this. you know thanks to all you guys all my buddies you know for making it worthwhile big thanks to Mike especially for he did a tournament out of his own pocket last week he did a heartbreaker tournament and it was a head to head because we were all complaining that we missed the head to head format and I showed why I missed it because I went deep but I came up short against Ryan Dunn at the end so a big thanks to everyone who came out and played in that and a big thanks to Mike for holding the event. All right. Thank you. Mark, what you got for us? So shout outs. I'm going to give a shout out to all the people working hard to get this show started. A lot of times we give thanks afterwards, but I'm giving it ahead of time because I know what's going through their head right now of how much preparation, how much work is involved, the organization, the planning, all the kind of stuff that has to go into a show. I want to thank you guys for making me excited in 19 days to go to one of the best shows of the year. And shout out to all of you guys, Dan, Jeff, Spencer. It's really fun being a part of this show and chatting about pinball and our friendship. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, man. Oh, man, it's a Kodak moment. It is a Kodak moment. Yeah, I'm just giving a quick shout out and thank you to, you know, the organizers of the show. So if you see one of these guys running around, tell them thank you, man. Shake their hand. Pat them on the back. Offer them a cold drink of water, a bottle of water, something. Just let them know, hey, man, I appreciate all you guys do because I'm telling you, they put forth hundreds of hours to make this show happen every year. And so to the organizers of Golden State Pinball Festival, the Northern California Pinball Association, thank you to all of you. and shake their hand. Yeah. Shake their hand, buy them a beer and, and let them know that you appreciate everything that they're doing and hope that they keep doing it for many years to come. Yeah. Don't buy them a beer. We need them sober and functional. Oh no. It's way more fun to have them with a beer. Yeah, it is. And, and you don't think people that bring games to man, because some of these people travel a great distance. Some people bring very rare, very expensive games and they bring them, they share them. And that's so true about that. And that's what it's all about. Now sharing pinball, sharing that, that love of the game, the simple joy of playing pinball. So with that, I'm going to take us out boys. You guys know how this goes. Play pinball. Keep America strong. Bye.