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Episode 234: Ryan Wanger on fire!

Pinball Profile·podcast_episode·33m 40s·held·Nov 27, 2019
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.041

TL;DR

Ryan Wanger discusses his 2019 tournament dominance and Comet Pinball business growth.

Summary

Ryan Wanger discusses his exceptional 2019 tournament season on Pinball Profile, including winning Intergalactic (600+ players), qualifying for Pinburgh A Division for five consecutive years, and strong performances at side tournaments like the Chicago Expo Classics. The conversation covers tournament strategy, confidence, machine familiarity, and his Comet Pinball business—including new LED conversion kits, website redesign, and product expansion. Topics range from competitive pinball dynamics to practical LED modification advice and modern game brightness issues.

Key Claims

  • Ryan Wanger won Intergalactic tournament with 600+ players, one of the largest tournaments ever held.

    high confidence · Ryan Wanger directly states: 'I won Intergalactic... I think it's going to be hard to ever top something like that in the rest of my pinball career to win a 600 person tournament I mean there haven't been that many ever that big'

  • Ryan Wanger has qualified in A Division at Pinburgh for five consecutive years.

    high confidence · Ryan Wanger states: 'I've actually been fortunate enough to qualify in A Division every year at Pinburgh. So I think it's five years in a row.'

  • Comet Pinball has over 50 LED conversion kits available, started offering them about two years prior (around 2017).

    high confidence · Ryan Wanger states: 'I think we started about two years ago and we had none and now we have over 50 of them.'

  • Ryan and Janet have owned Comet Pinball for over three years at the time of this interview.

    high confidence · Ryan Wanger states: 'I've had the business, Janet and I, for over three years, and we wanted to come out with a new website right away.'

  • LED bulbs turn on and off faster than incandescent bulbs, which can create blinding effects in modern pinball games.

    high confidence · Ryan Wanger explains: 'One thing about LEDs is that, um, they turn on and off quicker than incandescent bulbs... With the LEDs, they're so quick on and off that it's, it's totally blinding.'

  • The Intergalactic finals used a three-strike format where first and second place received no strikes, third and fourth received one strike.

    high confidence · Ryan Wanger describes the format: 'the final format for that was top 56 play... it was the three-strike, where first and second get no strikes, and third and fourth get one strike.'

  • Colin MacAlpine won Comet Pinball prizes at a Pinball Profile World Tour event, which led to tournament success.

    medium confidence · Jeff Teels states: 'He then parlayed that into a win in that tournament. He then won the Texas Pinball League and won the Houston Arcade Expo just because he won the Comet Pinball Lights.'

Notable Quotes

  • “I won Intergalactic... I think it's going to be hard to ever top something like that in the rest of my pinball career to win a 600 person tournament.”

    Ryan Wanger @ ~16:00 — Ryan acknowledges the magnitude of winning one of the largest pinball tournaments ever held.

  • “Every pinball game ends in failure... unless it's a comeback from ball three where you can walk away once you pass the other player.”

    Ryan Wanger @ ~05:00 — Philosophical discussion about tournament play vs. high-score play and how success is measured in pinball.

  • “I strive not to be like that. I expect a drain at some point... Being able to sort of consistently put up decent scores and avoid those bad games was pretty helpful for me.”

    Ryan Wanger @ ~07:00 — Describes his tournament strategy of consistency over peak performance, which suited him for multi-round formats.

  • “Ranking means nothing. Maybe they don't travel. Maybe they just got into pinball. Maybe they're, oh, I don't know, way better than I am.”

    Ryan Wanger @ ~13:00 — Reflects on overcoming overconfidence bias in tournament play based on rankings.

  • “With your right flipper, maybe going up the ramp, getting it back up top, bashing a bunch of stuff there. It's always safer up top.”

    Ryan Wanger @ ~29:00 — Practical Flash Gordon strategy discussion, showing machine familiarity and shot selection principles.

  • “I don't know. I think it's going to be hard to ever top something like that... those are guys that could be in the Pinburg A-finals and have been. And it was, I don't know, that's something like your mom says to you, right? Like visualize success.”

    Ryan Wanger @ ~20:00 — Describes winning against top players (Robert Gagneau and Andre Massinkoff) on High Hand at Intergalactic, reflecting on visualization and the emotional weight of competing at the highest level.

  • “LED bulbs are just, they're brighter than incandescents, they turn on and off faster, and I think there's just more resources being put into programming and all the different types of light shows.”

Entities

Ryan WangerpersonComet PinballcompanyJeff TeelspersonIntergalactic TournamenteventPinburgheventPhil GrimaldipersonJosh Sharpeperson

Signals

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Intergalactic used three-strike finals format (top 56 players, no strikes for 1st/2nd place, one strike for 3rd/4th) that rewards consistency over peak performance, favoring players like Ryan Wanger who excel at avoiding bad games.

    high · Ryan Wanger describes: 'the final format for that was top 56 play... it was the three-strike... that's sort of, again, a case where you don't even really have to win games. You just have to not lose them.'

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Ryan Wanger describes overcoming overconfidence bias based on rankings, recognizing that any player can win on any given day regardless of ranking status.

    high · Ryan states: 'over the last six months, a year, I've stopped doing [relying on rankings] because anybody can win on any given day. Ranking means nothing.'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Comet Pinball rapidly expanded LED conversion kit offerings from zero to 50+ kits over approximately two years, with ongoing refinement to ease of use and user accessibility.

    high · Ryan Wanger: 'I think we started about two years ago and we had none and now we have over 50 of them... we've been trying to make them even easier... our newest kits will have the bags labeled themselves.'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Comet Pinball redesigned website to segment users by experience level (operators, first-timers, advanced users) and simplify product discovery and decision-making.

    high · Ryan Wanger describes: 'we have maybe even, you know, too many bulbs... kind of like finding ways to narrow it down, like, hey, if you're an operator, this is what you should know. If you're a first timer, this is what you should know.'

  • ?

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.101

0:00
If you light up my life, you give me hope to carry on. You light up my day. It's time now for another Pinball Profile. I'm your host, Jeff Teels. You can find our group on Facebook. We're also on Twitter at Pinball Profile. Email us pinballprofile at gmail.com. Please subscribe on your favorite podcatcher and check us out on Instagram at pinballprofile. Time to light up your life. Is that the corniest intro I've ever done? Don't worry. Wait till the next one. We've got Ryan Wanger here from Comet Pinball. Hey, Ryan. How are you, buddy? I'm great, Jeff. How are you doing? A two-time guest. Well, you've been on more than that, but the exclusive shows. That's right. It was a long time ago. I mean, you probably have lots of listeners who didn't even know about you then. Some people might not even know about you now, and we're going to correct that right here, because if you don't know about Comet Pinball and you don't know about Ryan, well, you've been living under a rock for 2019, because it's been a big year for you. You turned 40 in February, so welcome to the other side, and you've been successful in a massive amount of tournaments. I mean, it started really, TPF, you did well in the Classics there. Thanks, yeah, that was, yeah, it's been a good, I've been playing a lot, and it shows. And that was a really, I mean, I can tell you it was a painful exit, but as you probably know, in playing in tournaments, you'll, I don't know, sort of reach a new high, but if it doesn't end in the first place, it may be sort of hard to get over anyway. So anyway, at TPF, I was one shot away from making it to the Final Four in the Classics tournament. And so, yeah, but I'm still very proud to have finished fifth. Nothing wrong with that. And here's one thing I've noticed at all the tournaments I go to. I find it very funny when I see people after every single ball, just lose their crap.
2:01
Like, were you planning on playing forever? I don't get it. Yeah, pinball tournaments are long enough as it is. We're going to have to see some drains there. But you're not like that, and I don't know. I strive not to be like that. I expect a drain at some point. I mean, no ball goes forever. I did have somebody say, every pinball game ends in failure. And I went, what are you talking about? That's half glass empty. And kind of they're right because you're eventually going to lose in pinball, right? That's right. It's like life. You just go and go and then eventually we all die. Wow. There we go.

  • Stern's AC/DC pinball was one of the first games Stern mass-produced with LED bulbs built in.

    medium confidence · Ryan Wanger states: 'I think it actually was the first game Stern put LEDs in. So the original one didn't have them. And then the one I bought was the last off the line, if you will. So it had them in.'

    • Ryan Wanger @ ~58:00 — Technical explanation for why modern games are problematically bright, citing multiple factors including LED speed and increased programming sophistication.

  • “Putting LEDs in your game is usually just as simple as just twisting the bulb that's in there out, twisting a new bulb in, and off you go.”

    Ryan Wanger @ ~48:00 — Demystifies LED conversion process for casual players, emphasizing accessibility of Comet Pinball products.

  • “I thought, okay, that's great. And people noticed that right away... what other games do I have that I could do conversion kits for?”

    Jeff Teels @ ~42:00 — Illustrates how visible LED upgrades (like in his AC/DC) inspired interest in conversion kits for existing machines.

  • “The bus broke down on the way home... Near Kenosha, Wisconsin... there was there was no services at all and like no houses, no lights.”

    Ryan Wanger @ ~36:00 — Personal anecdote about travel challenges during his tournament-heavy season.

    • Colin MacAlpine
    person
    Robert Gagneauperson
    Andre Massinkoffperson
    Scottperson
    Steven Bowdenperson
    Chicago Expoevent
    Houston Arcade Expoevent
    Stern Pinballcompany
    Janetperson
    Flash Gordongame
    Dialed In!game
    Ghostbustersgame
    AC/DCgame
    Pinball Profile World Tourevent
    Lyons Classic Pinballvenue
    Trent Augensteinperson
    Andy Roseperson

    design_innovation: LED bulbs in modern pinball games turn on/off faster than incandescent bulbs and can cause eye strain; multiple factors contribute (brightness, fast switching, extensive programming of light shows).

    high · Ryan Wanger explains: 'One thing about LEDs is that, um, they turn on and off quicker than incandescent bulbs... With the LEDs, they're so quick on and off that it's, it's totally blinding.'

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Excessive flasher brightness in modern games (Dialed In, Ghostbusters, Attack from Mars) is negatively impacting competitive play; Steven Bowden nearly lost Houston Arcade Expo final due to flasher blinding during Dialed In's 'selfie mode'.

    high · Jeff Teels: 'he won't say this, I'll say it for him, perhaps lost in the final game at Houston because when dialed in, went into selfie mode, the flashers just about killed him and he lost the ball.'

  • ?

    technology_signal: Comet Pinball's modular LED system (Matrix) has shifted from manufacturer-direct sales to a mod-maker reseller channel, with Comet now packaging pre-configured kits for specific games.

    high · Ryan Wanger: 'people, not everybody sort of knew what to do with those. So a lot of mod makers will buy that stuff from us and then turn them into mods and resell them. And so we've been trying to package some of them up on our own.'

  • ?

    venue_signal: Lions Classic Pinball in Colorado operates a diverse machine bank spanning EM and solid-state eras, providing competitive practice advantage for players like Ryan Wanger.

    medium · Ryan Wanger states: 'I get to play a lot at Lions Classic Pinball here in Colorado, which has games of all eras. So I think I get a little bit more time on EMs and really solid states than some other players.'

  • ?

    community_signal: Comet Pinball prizes at Pinball Profile World Tour events (LED lights, flipper button kits, quarter holders) have tangible tournament success impact; Colin MacAlpine won multiple tournaments after receiving Comet prizes.

    medium · Jeff Teels: 'He not only won a prize from Comet Pinball... He then parlayed that into a win in that tournament. He then won the Texas Pinball League and won the Houston Arcade Expo just because he won the Comet Pinball Lights.'

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Ryan Wanger co-owns Comet Pinball with Janet (as of 3+ years prior to 2019); business has grown product lines while Ryan maintains active tournament competition schedule.

    high · Ryan Wanger: 'I've had the business, Janet and I, for over three years, and we wanted to come out with a new website right away.'

  • ?

    collector_signal: Early Stern games with LED options (AC/DC) are being purchased new-in-box by collectors interested in modern features while preserving game condition.

    medium · Ryan Wanger: 'The first game I bought new in box was ACDC. And it was, I think it actually was the first game Stern put LEDs in... the one I bought was the last off the line, if you will. So it had them in.'

  • ?

    operational_signal: Tournament operators and casual players have conflicting preferences on game brightness; competitive players prefer lower flasher brightness and consistent ambient lighting, while casual/home players prefer bright light shows.

    high · Ryan Wanger: 'I mean, one is that you and I hang out with a lot of very picky people at tournaments, right? And so there's lots of people out there who... really bright light shows are part of the experience for them. But you and I we don't want to go blind.'

    • 2:35
    I'm an optimist, but I know that every, you know, sometimes I say this is why I like pinball because you usually end with success, right? Like you reach a goal and then you can walk away from the machine and you've achieved the goal. But when you're just playing for high score, it pretty much always ends in failure, you know, unless it's a comeback from ball three where you can walk away once you pass the other player. Yeah, that makes sense for pin golf. Unless Josh Sharp is setting up the machines, then nobody wins.
    3:04
    I have experienced that once, and that's true. Thank you. Let's move ahead to August, where maybe your biggest month ever. And let's not forget just the Pinberg tournament alone. There's no shame in coming 51st, making the A Division, when the field jumps to 1,000 players. 51st is amazing. Thank you. Yeah, I mean, I try not to brag too much, but I've actually been fortunate enough to qualify in A Division every year at Pinnberg. So I think it's five years in a row. Uh-oh, kiss of death, Ryan. Way to go, buddy. But, you know, I think it sort of plays to my strengths a little bit. I get to play a lot at Lions Classic Pinball here in Colorado, which has games of all eras. So I think I get a little bit more time on EMs and really solid states than some other players. And I try and play real, I try and play consistently. So maybe not so boom or bust. Like I'm not great at a high score tournament, really blowing up games, but I'm better at just not losing.
    4:05
    Having lots of middle of the road scores. And sometimes that's all you need for a tournament like Pindu. A lot of times. Yes, match play with a different variety certainly suits someone like yourself. And to a smaller extent, that type of wide range of playing different eras should help you in Intergalactic. Now, Intergalactic, the difficulty is you only get 10 cracks. So making the top 40 in the second biggest tournament in the world is extremely difficult. You not only did that, you did the impossible. You won Intergalactic. No, that might be harder to win than Pinberg.
    4:41
    I'll disagree with that, respectfully. But I think, again, that's a tournament where... So the finals, the final format for that was top 56 play. You play in four-player groups, and it was the three-strike, where first and second get no strikes, and third and fourth get one strike. So that's sort of, again, a case where you don't even really have to win games. You just have to not lose them. and you know so being able to sort of consistently you know put up decent scores and avoid those bad games was pretty helpful for me and I don't know I just I it was really I think it's going to be hard to ever top something like that in the rest of my pinball career to win a 600 person tournament I mean there haven't been that many ever that big and I think it ended up being a really good bank for me every time I walked up to a game I had some reason that to feel confident about it So like Spanish Eyes is a game that I found a couple years ago at Pinburg, and every year I'm there I play it, and I really like it for some reason. And, you know, I had to play that, and even weird games like Solar Ride. The year before I had played like five or six games of Solar Ride just because I played poorly on it, and I wanted to sort of get better on it and not be afraid of it the next time I saw it, and it happened to be on stage. So lucky me. That is a big factor in pinball competitions, your confidence level. And sometimes it can help you, and sometimes it can hurt you. And where it hurts me, and it happens every single time. It's not a matter of it happens sometimes. Every single time I think, I look, oh, I'm playing these three people. I should beat these three people based on something stupid like rankings, and I get fed my dinner, and I don't even come close to winning. And that is something over the last six months, a year, I've stopped doing because anybody can win on any given day. Ranking means nothing. Maybe they don't travel. Maybe they just got into pinball. Maybe they're, oh, I don't know, way better than I am. All these factors. So that confidence level when it comes to playing people can hurt you. But I still will take what you just described, that comfort level of, okay, I've played Solar Ride. I like Spanish Eyes. I feel good about these games. That is a big, important factor. Yeah, and the ultimate one for me was high hand because, you know, I've been to Pinbird for… Says no one ever, by the way. Well, listen, so I've been to Pembroke, you know, for the last five years. And how many times has Hyde Ham been on the stage? Three or four, probably. And so, you know, I sit there. Doug Polka keeps one in his car just in case a tournament pops up.
    7:13
    I said there were at least two there because it was used in the B Finals Bank as well. So, you know, so I sit there every year watching like the semifinals and the finals. And I watch the top players playing that game on stage. and you know I kind of fantasize about that right I think hopefully I'm not the only one but it's like I imagine being on that stage at Pinberg and like getting to play high hand against some of the best players in the world and uh that happened to me during Intergalactic now granted there weren't you know 500 people watching in the audience there were probably only 50 people there filling out the chairs but um I got to play against Robert Gagneau and Andre Massinkoff the three of us on the high hand where in the three-player game, only the winner advances. And so that was kind of like this moment that I had imagined. And those are guys that could be in the Pinberg A-finals and have been. And it was, I don't know, that's something like your mom says to you, right? Like visualize success and that kind of stuff. My mom said, go to your room. Shut up. You're driving me nuts.
    8:14
    I never got that confidence. Maybe in the future, I'll just, instead of practicing flipping, I just sit around visualizing That visualization is very important Actually I heard a lot of people talk about it Maybe I should pay attention to it but I think you right about that And then of course you made it in the final against Phil Grimaldi and he lost to you He came in second and there something unfortunate when you come in second place at a big tournament. You get the razzing, people like, oh, the next Josh Sharp. And I think that's a bunch of crap, by the way. Do you think Phil's getting razzed? I think he is. Ask him how he did at the Houston in Arcade Expo if he made the playoffs. He didn't. He was busy running it. But anyway, I'm just saying that that onus of coming in second, people rising, oh, you're the next Josh Sharp, which is not fair because Josh would love to come in second nowadays. He isn't even close.
    9:05
    Well, it's I mean, that's it's an unfortunate thing about pinball, right? Like he beat 599 players and I beat 600. And we probably feel very different about that tournament. So I mean, anyone who made it on stage and made it down to the end there should be pretty excited about how they played, but you don't get a lot of opportunities either. It's not like you can just like, well, I'll get them next year because maybe you won't be there next year, maybe you won't end up on stage. So, I don't know, Phil's a great guy, and I haven't played against him directly too many times. Oh, he's a beaten man.
    9:41
    I'm sure his revenge is coming. The Grim Reaper's got your name on it. Phil did a great job in Houston, by the way, and again, that's a great show. That's a party show. I don't know if you ever had a chance to get there. It was my first time. What a hoot. Yeah, it sounded like a great time. I haven't been yet, but I'd love to go. But you've been at other shows. In fact, you were in Chicago at Expo, and I think we even played each other in the Classics event. You did very well there.
    10:06
    Yeah. Didn't occur to me that you'd be able to bring this up until just now, but yeah, I've been doing better. I think, at sort of side tournaments and classics tournaments. As this conversation is going, we're never mentioning the mains, just the side tournaments. But, yeah, I don't know. It's not even like I like classics more than modern games or anything. I just don't have any excuse for why it's been going well. But that was a fun tournament. I mean, I love playing heads-up matches where you get to choose the games. You know, there's a lot of strategy in that. and you and I ended up facing off pretty late in that tournament. And, man, I wish I could have my choice back. It was, okay, Car Hop? Car Hop is a Gottlieb game, and everyone picked it because it was the most non-classic game there, so you had a little more control with that game. Right. So I had never picked it in the tournament, but everyone was picking it against me, and I kept beating them. So then I thought, well, I should just pick it and beat you. and it didn't work out that way. Oh, so you got a little confidence. I conversely thought, there's no way I'm going to beat the Intergalactic Champ. I'm going down. See, a little reverse psychology there. Yeah. What kind of title do you get for beating the Intergalactic Champ? Squat diddly. But anyway, by the way, before playing you, I had to play Josh Sharp.
    11:31
    He picked Carhop. Yeah. And you took him down on that? Beat the living hell out of him. Then I picked Flash Gordon. I was player two, beat him on that. I was player two as I passed him. He kicked the leg of the machine just out of a horse. I'm trying to tilt my game before I passed him. Anyway, that was the last I ever saw of him. It was onward and upward for you and I. Can you give us a quick rundown on how to win at Flash Gordon? Well, it's the pop of Flash Gordon. I don't know, but I had just been playing the heck out of that because it was also the same game at Cleveland Pin, and I was lucky enough to make the final four on classics there. And I really, I found my shots, you know, so I was hitting those inline targets, which isn't always necessarily the good thing, but I was able to catch it. So, okay, let's get your 3X right off the bat. Then with your right flipper, maybe going up the ramp, getting it back up top, bashing a bunch of stuff there. It's always safer up top. And, you know, you have to hit those left targets to light your spinner. Well, if you can, great. If you can do it twice, you're going to get 5X. But about that gain, you had the multipliers carry over, so that was everything. Just being able to control the game, I just, I don't know, I guess there's a lot of luck in those type of games, right? Yeah, I mean, I'm kind of inspired to get a Flash Gordon because it... Oh, me too. Just so I'm not afraid of it in tournaments. It gets used a lot. That same machine was on stage for Intergalactic, and that was one of my strikes. And then I probably lost on it every time I played it in the Expo finals, so... You know what's weird about that tournament at Expo? Here you are picking Carhop, a game you've never played before, really, or ever certainly would pick. It's true, yeah. But I would have picked it, too, because you kind of saw the success in it. I only played it once in qualifying. I got some stupid score, and I thought, okay, I don't need to play this again. Everyone picked it against you. I'm like, okay, I better learn it. But the funny thing, I think our second game, I got to pick, I believe, and I picked a game I would never, ever, ever, ever pick with your life on the line. But I did it every time. I picked Fireball. Yeah, I have hated fireball for years, but sort of.
    13:39
    And you picked it. I did develop a little bit of a new appreciation for it once I saw DJ do the thing on that game, which is to zip the flippers and then move the ball with subtle little taps and backhand it through the right waterfall and then have it come back down to the flippers. And then have a cone catch it, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So it was cool to do that, and I pulled that off. But him and I had like a 25-minute long game on it because of that. And then they ended up modifying the game a little bit and making it tougher. They took the gate off. Yeah, they took the gate off. And it made it harder for sure. The only reason I kept picking it is because I found the skill shot on every single time. So five balls of 3,000 plus. I was like, okay, that's a good start. Yeah, I want to like that game a little bit more. In fact, I was just texting this friend tonight about it. He wanted to buy one off Craigslist, and I was telling him, no, that game sucks. It does suck. It was one of the first multi-ball games, probably right, and I had very advanced rules for the time. My wish for that game is I wish that the disc only spun when you were in multi-ball, and if it just sat there stationless in single-ball play, that would bring a lot of skill back into the game.
    14:51
    Because you can get housed so easily on multiple balls, and that's just frustrating. That's a very good point. I'd like to see that mod. Soren, if you can get on that, that would be wonderful for Fireball or Fireball Classic. But yeah, no, there's not a lot you can do there. You've got to get those flippers closed. But again, it's been a very successful year for you. And we've got to talk about your ride home from Expo. When I left, I drove home. You were also in a vehicle. You took a bus. I took a bus, yeah. There's a bus from airport to airport, and you just buy a ticket, and then you can go anytime. Sort of like it's good for days. So I bought that because I didn't know what time I was going to be done with the tournament. And I was hoping I was going to be there late on Sunday, which ended up being the case. And so I just took a bus from Chicago to Milwaukee to go see my parents. And the bus broke down on the way home. Oh, no. Whereabouts? Near Kenosha, Wisconsin. Just like we just pulled over onto an off ramp in the dark. And this was an off ramp where there was there was no services at all and like no houses, no lights. And the bus driver. I've seen this. I was watching Making a Murderer on Netflix. Oh, yeah? That was in Wisconsin. I think it was there. It did not make Wisconsin look very good, I have to say, unfortunately.
    16:06
    But they, so the bus driver, you know, was walking around the bus. He didn't say anything to us. He finally got back on the bus, and as soon as he started speaking, it was obvious, like, he just was so, had been, like, so frustrated. And, you know, like, he just was like, well, I don't know what's going on, and I don't know, you know, what's going to happen. and another bus will be coming along every hour, so maybe they can stop and pick us up. But meanwhile, our bus is full of people. I have no idea. We're not going to fit on this other bus.
    16:34
    Small people in the overhead, get up there. So the moment that it was clear to me that he had no plan, I got on and ordered a lift on my phone and sort of dragged the spot off the on to the crossroad and I offered the person sitting next to me a ride and uh they said that someone was going to come pick him up and i just kind of walked up to the front of the bus and i i had to like argue with the bus driver for him to even let me off and you know like he wanted to be protective of us but uh you know he's like what are you gonna do walk down this off ramp in the you know in the dark and i'm like yep i i am and so i just sort of ditched everyone else on the bus and I have no idea if they were ever rescued or not, but I made it home just fine. Wow. The sequel to planes, trains, and automobiles. That's right. Well, usually, and I hesitate to tell bad stories about buses because a lot of people, it seems like they get a bad rap, you know, like, I don't know. People don't want to ride buses always, public transportation, that kind of thing. But I don't know. I'm all about it. I always take the bus to the airport and a lot of times from Boulder to Denver. So don't let this deter you from taking buses. It's just nothing like that has ever happened first time. Next question, unrelated. How many shares do you have in Greyhound?
    17:49
    Oh, man. I wouldn't be going long on Greyhound stock, I guess, despite my love of buses. Well, let's talk about Comet Pinball. Once you got back in Colorado, it was back to work, I assume. And by the way, I want to thank you for being one of the first sponsors to come on board, the Pinball Profile World Tour. With sponsors like Comet Pinball, this thing wouldn't be possible. And I got to tell you, the prizes you gave were fantastic. Very, very well received. Just recently in Katy, Texas at Einstein's Pub, gave away a bunch of great LED lights and also illuminated flipper button kits. And they were really so popular too. In fact, this one guy, an unknown player, I had no idea who he was from Texas there. He not only won a prize from Comet Pinball, just all these prizes, again, are given away at random at these World Tour events. He then parlayed that into a win in that tournament. He then won the Texas Pinball League and won the Houston Arcade Expo just because he won the Comet Pinball Lights. What? Colin McAlpine. So congratulations. And again, it all stemmed from Comet Pinball. Nice. Right. Well, yeah, I'm sure Colin will spread the word that, you know, Comet products and our T-shirts lead to success in big tournaments. Oh, yeah, and the quarter holders, too. My favorite thing. I know it's just a novelty thing, but I've got to tell you, it comes in handy. That's right. Well, thanks for giving us the opportunity to sponsor, and we're happy to do it. I mean, I love running into people out in the world, like, you know, wearing our shirts or, you know, people who bought stuff from us. And some of these things, like you mentioned, the illuminated flipper button kits, we've had some stuff for a while, for years, called the Matrix, which is like this line of products that sort of like Legos for your pinball machine. You can just kind of add your own custom lights without any soldering. And so we've, but people, not everybody sort of knew what to do with those. So a lot of mod makers will buy that stuff from us and then turn them into mods and resell them. And so we've been trying to package some of them up on our own. And we realized, hey, we could make light-up flipper buttons. So we bought a bunch of transparent flipper buttons and then added those to our site and then have a little bundle that has all the wires and the right bulbs you need. Even a little card with an instructional video on how to put them in. No, it's useful, yeah. It's true. You know, I've noticed these are kind of new. You're doing a lot more with mod kits. You've always been big with conversion kits, too. You can see these on the new Comet Pinball website. It's redesigned. It looks really good. Yeah, thanks. We wanted to do this. I've had the business, Janet and I, for over three years, and we wanted to come out with a new website right away.
    20:39
    We just kept finding excuses to put it off because the old site was working and didn't want to necessarily rock the boat, and it was a lot of work to make a new site. But we finally got it done, and so we're really happy with it. It should be a lot easier for people who haven't bought LEDs before to kind of like to get started because we have maybe even, you know, too many bulbs if that's possible. And so kind of like finding ways to narrow it down, like, hey, if you're an operator, this is what you should know. If you're a first timer, this is what you should know. If you're a little more advanced, check out this kind of stuff. And so so it's been great. And yeah, you mentioned kits for games. We actually haven't had them forever. I think we started about two years ago and we had none and now we have over 50 of them. So that ends up being a great way for some people to get their first LEDs. Like you get an Addams Family, you want to put LEDs in it, just get the kit from us. Our kits are really affordable. We don't put a lot of extra bells and whistles in them, sort of just the bulbs you need and help you through getting them in and put you in the right direction for doing a kit yourself the next time. The first game I bought new in box was ACDC. And it was, I think it actually was the first game Stern put LEDs in. So the original one didn't have them. And then the one I bought was the last off the line, if you will. So it had them in. So I thought, oh, that's great. And people noticed that right away. But I went on your website and I noticed, okay, well, what other games do I have that I could do conversion kits for? And I saw fishtails and I saw eight ball and I saw World Cup soccer. I'm a dumb guy. How hard is it for somebody like me to do these changes? It's really easy. Over time, we've sort of been refining the way we do kits. So our earlier ones are you'll get like a list, you'll get a bunch of bags, you know, fishtails will be 30 different bags in each one. It's, you know, there's green and there's red. If you've never done games before, there's two different base types. So there's wedges and bayonets. Wedges are also 555s, bayonets are 4447s. So depending on the manufacturer and the era, you may have a different combination of you may need all bayonets for EM games, but other games you need a mixture. And so once you understand, but if you buy a kit, you don't even need to understand that. You just get a list and it tells you like, okay, this bulb goes here, this bulb goes there, this bulb goes there. But as we continue to make kits, we've been trying to make them even easier. So our newest kits will have the bags will be labeled themselves, hopefully in enough detail that you may not even need to use the instruction sheet. So, you know, the bag will say, OK, these are for the lock lights. Just put them in the lock. You know, these bulbs are for the for the back box. Put them in the back box. So I understand why people are a little intimidated and they or they think they need to know a lot of stuff. But putting LEDs in your game is usually just as simple as just twisting the bulb that's in there out, twisting a new bulb in, and off you go. Another sponsor of the Pinball Profile World Tour rants and raves about you, and he actually talks about how you both use each other's products, and that's Scott from Pin Stadium Lights. He's a big fan of Comet Pinball. Yeah, I listen to his podcast with you. And, yeah, he's, I mean, Pin Stadium is a great product, and I got one right away, put it in my Wizard of Oz, and that game looks great. Well, I certainly like pin stadium lights. I like Comet Pinball too. Can you explain to me, again, being a dumb guy, why these modern games and some of the newer games are so bloody bright? I think you were with me in Buffalo the first time we ever saw Stephen Bowden put on sunglasses when he was playing Ghostbusters. I've seen it with Attack from Mars. In fact, Stephen, he won't say this, I'll say it for him, perhaps lost in the final game at Houston because when dialed in, went into selfie mode, the flashers just about killed him and he lost the ball. You could see him, as the selfies are going on the screen, you can see him just squint and in pain.
    24:39
    And he didn't have his glasses on the top of his head. Ball three, they were on top of his head in case that happened again. What is it about new games? Yeah, that's a good question. I mean, I think there's a lot of factors. I mean, one is that you and I hang out with a lot of very picky people at tournaments, right? And so there's lots of people out there who, you know, they're playing their game in their basement, they have all the lights off, and really bright light shows are part of the experience for them. And there's nothing wrong with that. But you and I we don want to go blind you know on ball three in a tournament with our lives on the line Sure So I and in fact you know I when I buy games used I sometimes will leave the flashers as incandescent because the flasher effects can be pretty bright That makes sense Yeah. One thing about LEDs is that, um, they turn on and off quicker than incandescent bulbs. So, you know, incandescent bulbs sort of like warm up and become bright. And then when they go off, they go off slowly. So like there's some games, like some data East games, they use this, effect with the GI, I don't know, Simpsons is one of them, where like certain effects, like the whole, the GI was for the general illumination, which are the bulbs all around the play field. Like those will go on and off very quickly all at once. And it's probably not nearly as painful with the incandescent bulbs because it's just sort of like a more gradual effect. But with the LEDs, they're so quick on and off that it's, it's totally blinding. And you know, the amount of light that you have in the room is a big factor too to have a lot of ambient light in the room are the lights on or the lights off and i don't know you and i are uh getting up there i suppose compared to some of these young kids playing the games but i better release this quickly before i before we you know right now we can say yeah we're both in our 40s so i have to release this very soon okay go on but there's uh you know you got you have rods and cones in your eyes and the older you get the less of those you have, and that, I don't know, that makes changes in lights less, I don't know, whatever, just more difficult to process. So, I don't know, that's a long answer for, I think, LED bulbs are just, they're brighter than incandescents, they turn on and off faster, and I think there's just more resources being put into programming and all the different types of light shows that you can do. So, there's things you can do. I, for my modern games, I turn down the flasher brightness in the menu, which is a thing you can do. I can't play in the dark. Some places are very, very poorly lit. That's a nightmare for me. Conversely, these bright, bright lights on some of the modern games are just painful. So yeah, I don't know if it's age or just fussiness or whatever it is, but I like some sort of consistency. So maybe you need a headlamp.
    27:30
    Trent Augenstein had one at the 24-Hour Sanctum. It went on the visor of his hat. It's not like the one on the top of the head that Andy Rose used for the Stern Pro Circuit. This was great. I kind of like that, but I worry about turning my head and affecting another player. I've never tried to do it. I'd be willing to give it a shot. I don't think, for me, my eyes don't seem as sensitive as some other people. Wait there. You just wait there. Welcome to 40s, buddy. I know. Is that the first thing that goes? well that and the belt hole that you were used to that's the second thing that goes i put on a pair of janet's reading glasses she's always wearing glasses and i put some on the other day and things were clearer and that was a little bit scary for me because i've never worn glasses you start to lose your focus between 35 and 50 i can see anything far far away so when you see me take off my glasses at events i have no problem seeing something far away if i have to read something on my phone or a screen, forget about it. Can't do it. And because pinball is so close, that's why I wear my glasses. But when I play sports, I never wear glasses. And also, too, my buddy goes, why are you taking off your glasses? You always wear glasses. You're so vain. I'm like, no, I hate the glare that it gives in photos because it wrecks photos. Listen, if I was vain, I'd put a I would dye my hair and all that. Listen, I've accepted that it's all downhill. My wife loves me. That's all that matters. I think anybody who takes the amount of ribbing that you do can't be very vain. Well, let's be honest. I can dish it right back to this gift of gab, maybe.
    29:08
    Yeah, you do bring it on, I got to say. It's all in good fun. Do you know what? And that's funny. I say to other people, you know, like, wow, you're pretty hard. I said, well, it's a sign of affection, actually. You know, if I didn't care, I just wouldn't do it.
    29:22
    Yeah, that's true. That's true. I mean, it's a great way to, I don't know. So, yeah, to build a rapport with somebody and just, yeah, joke around with them. So anyway, jerk, what's up for Thanksgiving for you?
    29:35
    Yeah, so since we have such great prices all year long, we really don't do any sales except for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. And so that we are on the doorstep of. And we've got to start planning way back in July and make sure we have enough product. And no matter how hard we try, we always run out of stuff anyway. So this Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday will be our Black Friday sale. And we've kind of settled on, we always do, we put two SMDs, which are best-selling bulb, kind of like a general-purpose bulb. Those are the kind of bulbs that you see in modern sterns for the GI. And then also eight SMD flashers, which is kind of like the standard flashers, same kind of thing that get used in modern sterns as well. So those will be on sale. And then we also have trough lighting kits and blinking bulbs and bumper discs for lighting up pop bumpers. And then we have a new line of bulbs, our retro bulbs. So we use retro, the phrase, to mean the brightness of incandescent bulbs. Most LEDs are brighter. And in fact, that's a reason that a lot of people end up upgrading is because they have enjoyed 80s and 90s games for years, and then they start buying modern machines, and then you have Ghostbusters or whatever next to an Addams Family. And suddenly that Addams Family looks really dark because just the bulbs aren't as bright and there aren't as many of them in the same positions. And so that's why a lot of people end up upgrading. But there are some people who don't want lights that bright. And so we have these retros. We've had them for years, but we were using this older technology that just sort of didn't last nearly long enough. So we're now using the new SMD technology, which most of all our other bulbs use. So we have those for retros. And so you can buy those and, you know, put them in a game that's on location in the last three years. So those will be on sale as well. And I'm sure those will sell out, actually, because they're kind of new, so we don't really know. We haven't quite figured out how popular they are yet. And, you know, sort of like Black Friday is kind of a fun time of year for us, even though we're working all weekend. But, like, the whole team, you know, all gets together and everybody's there and it's real busy. And so then we all, you know, take a day or two off afterwards to sleep. but it's a good time. I have celebrated U.S. Thanksgiving every year for the last 15 years, maybe, even though our Thanksgiving is the second Monday in October. Any chance to get extra turkey, I'm in. In fact, I was in Denmark this year. I didn't even get my Canadian Thanksgiving, so I've got to double down. Do you have friends and family and stuff over, or is this just an excuse for turkey? What, we're not friends?
    32:11
    We're not buddies, Ryan? What, what, what? No, I go to Detroit quite a bit on Thanksgiving and check out the Lions, Lose, whoever they're playing. Okay, so there's like a migration of Canadians over the border just for that sweet American turkey. Okay, let me explain something. In Canada, Thanksgiving, with all due respect, is not that big of a holiday in Canada compared to, obviously, Christmas and Easter, even Halloween. Whereas in the States, you do it right. I mean, people line up for the stores, and they trample everybody, and it's crazy. It's Madhouse. It's sales. All the Christmas shopping gets done. It's Black Friday events like Comet Pinball is having. It's really, really huge. You guys do it right. Well, we're going to bar our doors, so you'll have to order online. On the new website. That's right, exactly. Well, best of luck. Enjoy the turkey, and boy, you've been playing well this year. Keep it up, and good luck with your Greyhound stock. Thanks so much. It's great being on the show again, Jeff. and I'll get you back at the next tournament I see you at. You probably will. Hey, thanks very much again for sponsoring the Pinball Profile World Tour. Appreciate everything you do at Comet Pinball. You're so welcome. This has been your Pinball Profile. You can find our group on Facebook. We're also on Twitter at Pinball Profile. Email us, pinballprofile at gmail.com. Please subscribe on your favorite podcatcher and check us out on Instagram at pinballprofile. I'm Jeff Teolas.
    33:38
    And so I tell myself that I