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Fresh Pinball: From the Future!

Fresh Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·48m 55s·analyzed·Aug 6, 2025
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.033

TL;DR

Fresh Pinball discusses mod ethics, Japan logistics, and pinball market updates.

Summary

Fresh Pinball Podcast bonus episode featuring hosts Jeff, Kyle, Zach, Tank, and Corbin discussing cheating devices/modifications on pinball machines (particularly Ghostbusters' flipper gap fix), with a special live call-in from Jeff who is in Japan on business overseeing a cargo shipment. The conversation covers location vs. home game modifications, tournament standards, recent pinball events, and updates on game availability including Harry Potter and Evil Dead production.

Key Claims

  • Ghostbusters Premium has a massive flipper gap that requires modification to be playable

    high confidence · Jeff and panel discuss the well-known design flaw and aftermarket plastic piece solution that adds a post between slings

  • Stern acknowledged the Ghostbusters flipper gap as a manufacturing mistake

    medium confidence · Corbin states 'they put out a statement that said that it was a mistake' regarding the flipper gap issue

  • Harry Potter pinball machines are trickling out in small weekly batches (2-3 units per update)

    high confidence · Jeff reports receiving weekly production emails with quantities like 'two arcades ready, two wizards, three C's'

  • Evil Dead pinball secondary market prices have reached $15,000-$16,000

    high confidence · Panel discusses current resale prices with reference to Don's listing at '$15 something'

  • Evil Dead was top earner for a location (Electric Bat Arcade) last month

    medium confidence · Jeff mentions listening to Electric Backcast and that Evil Dead was their top earner

  • Haggis Fathoms code version 0.84 had serious bugs; version 0.86 had worse issues causing game shutdowns

    high confidence · Panel discusses reverting to version 0.84 after finding 0.86 caused crashes when hitting certain targets

  • Jeff is in Japan coordinating a cargo shipment expected to arrive in 3-4 weeks in mid-September

    high confidence · Jeff calls in live from Tokyo explaining he's attending international captaincy classes and overseeing cargo logistics

  • The Hoover Pinball League banner disappeared from an esports venue (zip-tied) during a tournament event

    high confidence · Corbin reports banner theft and has requested security footage; suspects inside job due to zip-tie removal

Notable Quotes

  • “On location and for tournaments, it needs to be set up the way that the designer intended.”

    Jeff @ mid-episode — Core principle for tournament-legal modifications vs. home game customization

  • “It's a little bit of a bummer... it just lights up. Some of these toppers actually do crazy stuff but this one just lights up.”

    Kyle @ early — Critical assessment of expensive Ghostbusters topper functionality despite $3,000+ cost

  • “I'm calling you guys from the future. It is actually Monday night where you guys are, and it's Tuesday morning where I'm at.”

    Jeff @ mid-episode — Special live call-in from Japan establishing time difference and location context for cargo operation

  • “Or just scrap the whole fucking thing because that game sucks.”

    Kyle/Corbin @ late-episode — Strong criticism of Star Wars pinball game quality and design

  • “The flipper gap, everything about it, and just wasn't caught and corrected.”

    Jeff @ early-mid — Explanation of Ghostbusters CAD design error root cause

  • “I feel like if you're doing something like Pinball Olympics or that sort of event, yeah, man, add whatever contraption you want. But even if it's a casual league, I think it should have the designer-intended lightning flippers.”

    Jeff @ mid-episode — Clear tournament vs. casual distinction for mod legality

  • “Evil Dead's are still... That's usual J.J.P. stuff. Yeah, yeah. Have you seen the resale on Evil Dead's lately? 15, 16 grand.”

    Panel @ late-episode — Secondary market pricing trend indicating strong Evil Dead demand

  • “I went to this little like pinball den I would call it. It was in the basement of this building. It smelled like complete pee-pee and poo-poo.”

    Jeff @ mid-episode — Anecdote about Japanese pinball venue experience and atmosphere

Entities

JeffpersonKylepersonZachpersonTankpersonCorbin AngelipersonMad PinballcompanyGhostbustersgameHarry Pottergame

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Mad Pinball managing multiple machine acquisitions and continuing active location placement strategy despite supply constraints

    medium · Jeff reports acquiring second Ghostbusters unit; managing Evil Dead placement at multiple venues; coordinating international cargo

  • ?

    community_signal: Fresh Pinball implementing special bonus episodes and live international call-ins to maintain listener engagement during operational challenges

    low · Episode framed as special 'bonus' during Jeff's absence; live call-in from Japan described as unusual deviation from typical format

  • ?

    event_signal: Pinberg tournament event at esports facility had successful attendance with multiple game venues and formats including Stern Gauntlet challenge

    medium · Corbin describes setting up five Stern machines for 'Stern Gauntlet' challenge format with specific timed objectives

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Debate over modification standards: consensus that tournament play requires designer-intended setup while home/casual play allows customization

    high · Jeff establishes clear distinction: 'On location and for tournaments, it needs to be set up the way that the designer intended'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Ghostbusters Premium has acknowledged CAD design flaw in flipper gap positioning and shot geometry, requiring aftermarket modification for playability

    high · Stern acknowledged mistake in official statement; Jeff confirms 'it was off in CAD' and 'wasn't caught and corrected'

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.147

0:00
Welcome everybody to a special edition episode of the Fresh Pinball Podcast. And sitting across from me tonight is Mr. Corbin Angeli. How are we doing today, Corbin? Doing good, doing good. Good to see you. Good to be here. Good to see you as well. Beautiful night. The rain has come and it has gone. It sure has. A little cranky we didn't get to ride. We were planning on riding out here, but then, you know, because it was sunny all day. All day. And then it just dumped. And Tank all day is like, you're not riding, you're not riding, you're not riding. We're not riding, we're not riding. And sure enough. Not riding. We could have, we just would have got wet A little soggy So sitting next to Mr. Corbin Angeli Is Zach, how we doing tonight, Zach? Oh, pretty good, Jeff, I mean Kyle, sorry Do you think people are fooled? Do you think they're questioning who is talking? Who's running the ship right now? It doesn't matter And sitting next to Zach is Mr. Tank How we doing tonight, Tank? Oh, we're doing, we're doing, what's up people? Tank has been on a while, man No, Tank has not been on a while He came down here into your basement and he was like, what is this? Oh, look at this table. Have you been over since the games were rearranged? Have you been on since you had children? No. Children? Is there another one? It's our child. Your offspring. It's been about six months. It's been a while. Bam. Well, it's good to see you, Tag. So tonight we're just going to do a little... How are you doing? How are you doing, Kyle? My name's Jeff. Oh, sorry, Jeff. Jeff, how are you doing tonight? If you need any pinballs or accessories, just email Jeff at MadPinball.com.
2:04
I'm doing well. Good, good, good. Just hanging out, seeing my pinball pals. It's been summer, so it's been a little willy-nilly on getting to hang out because everybody's out kayaking and enjoying the beautiful weather. you know but i think uh tonight we just wanted to talk a little bit about like um cheating devices uh or additions to games that you will that was just something i had been thinking about this week yeah and i kind of thought i'd bring it to the table and see what everybody thought uh so basically what sparked this conversation was i ended up with a ghostbusters premium and um i set it up and everything and i'd seen generally enough pictures of it to know The guy shipped it to us or whatever. Right. That it was, this thing, it has a topper. And let me back up. We'll talk about the cheating things, but I want to talk about the Ghostbuster topper for a second. Oh, okay. Let's go. You know, and you know I'm a topper guy. I'm always, I'm always for the toppers. This Ghostbusters topper, though, it goes for a couple grand. Like, it sells. Yeah, it's like three grand plus. Yeah, it's silly. And so, like, this is. Or back, Marvin had one up at Station 300. He had the topper on there. but anyway this topper is a stupid expensive but it came on the game so i'm like oh perfect yeah you know got it for the deal it doesn't do anything it just lights up it's a little bit of a bummer well it's like some of these toppers actually do crazy stuff but this one just lights up i was like just a little bit of a surprise what else is that your phone texting through the sorry you know i'm double duting tonight so Yeah, no, but anyway, back to the cheating devices The whole, it has the So, as you guys probably know The flipper gap On Ghostbusters is Massive, yes So people have all kinds of different ways to help You know, you can put longer flippers on it But this one had the Clear plastic piece that goes from the slings Over and it has a post That sticks down Right I like that because you don't have to drill into it Well, hello! Who is it?
Evil Dead
game
Haggis Fathomsgame
Star Warsgame
Metallicagame
Sweeper Cityevent
Pinbergevent
Electric Bat Arcadeorganization
Chicago Gaming Companycompany
Jersey Jack Pinballcompany
Stern Pinballcompany
Hoover Pinball Leagueorganization
Mikeperson
Rubber Cityevent
  • ?

    design_philosophy: Star Wars Pinball subject to strong negative community sentiment regarding gameplay quality and design execution

    high · Kyle states 'just scrap the whole fucking thing because that game sucks' and 'That game's boring'; panel discusses finish/cosmetic mismatches

  • $

    market_signal: Discussion of expensive pinball toppers ($3,000+) that provide minimal functional value, raising questions about their appeal to operators

    medium · Kyle critical of Ghostbusters topper: 'it doesn't do anything it just lights up... a little bit of a bummer'

  • $

    market_signal: Evil Dead secondary market prices have reached $15,000-$16,000 range with continued strong demand and location performance

    high · Panel discusses current resale pricing and Jeff mentions Evil Dead was Electric Bat Arcade's top earner last month

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Jeff temporarily relocating to Japan for international cargo operations, returning mid-September with shipment containing games and arcade equipment

    high · Jeff in Tokyo attending captaincy classes; returning approximately September mid-month with cargo ship; confirms 'picking up our cargo ship'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Harry Potter production continuing at slow trickle pace with weekly batches of 2-3 units rather than consistent volume

    high · Jeff reports receiving 'an email once a week, like, oh, I have two arcades ready, I have two wizards, I have three C's'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Chicago Gaming Company's Cactus Canyon kits and Alice in Wonderland production status remains delayed with tariffs still impacting timelines

    medium · Jeff's report from Japan: 'Chicago Gaming Company still hasn't completed the Pulp Fictions' and tariffs 'still in place'

  • ?

    product_concern: Haggis Fathoms code version 0.86 introduced critical bugs causing game shutdowns; reverted to version 0.84

    high · Panel discusses bug analysis: '8.6 had some other weirder bugs freaking stuff out... hit this target the whole game just shuts down'

    • 4:12
    Hello, sir. Did it work? I don't think so. It would be a miracle if it worked the first time. Hello, sir. Anyhow, it has a plastic piece. Your call number three. Yeah.
    4:25
    Yeah, it has a plastic piece that comes down, puts a post that comes down in between it, so then you basically have a post, like a post game, like out of the 80s or System 11 or whatever.
    4:34
    And it makes the game more playable. But the question is, is that cheating? Is that something I should leave on when we put out a location? Didn't they come out and say they made it wrong on that one, right?
    4:46
    I believe that they put out a statement that said that it was a mistake. It was a mistake. So it feels like they're like, we made a mistake and do what you want. Yeah, yeah. If it makes the game more playable. It does make it more playable and more enjoyable. And more enjoyable, then why not? But if it's just there because you're like, you're...
    5:06
    This son of a bitch. Hello You're caller number 5 Caller number 43 You're live Did it work? No In case anyone's curious Jeff's trying to call in right now Yeah I don't know why We don't need him Anyway Tank what do you think?
    5:32
    Having that in there Is that cheating? Is it not cheating? I feel like it is because if I play with no post and put up a high score and then little Timmy comes up afterwards and destinates a high score, I'm going to be a little bit mad. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I don't know.
    5:50
    Hmm? Okay. Wait, where's Pinball World? Pinball World, it's wherever you are. It's wherever you want it to be. We are live with Jeff Cernova of Mad Pinball. How are you today, sir?
    6:04
    I want to go to Pinball World. Tell me more about Pinball World. I think there's a Gorgar there. The walls have plastic. It's just for cleanliness. Don't worry about it. It's not too far from your home. Keep it.
    6:15
    Keep me safe. I need a companion to go with me. Damn it. I'll take two tickets to Pinball World. Two tickets.
    6:25
    So welcome to the show, Jeff. We were just discussing add-ons for ball savers. So, like, for the example we were using is, I don't know if you know this or not, but we took in a Ghostbusters entry, and I actually took in a second one while you've been gone, because why not? Just figure I'll break it to him here and see how he'd take it.
    6:45
    Anyway, I'll tell you about that later. Do we think that, so this one we took in has the post that's mounted on the plastic things coming from over the slingshots. Do we think it's cheating? So far, Tank thinks it's absolutely cheating to have that on there. And I'm just wondering, like, do I leave it on when we put it out? Does it come off? I mean, playing it with it, it does make the game more playable. Like, I'm not going to say it doesn't. So what's your take on this?
    7:09
    Home environment, absolutely. You can have that. You can add that on. It's your game. Do what you want. Whatever makes it fun for you. On location and for tournaments, it needs to be set up the way that the designer intended.
    7:24
    Okay. So then that also crosses over then to the lightning flippers. In your opinion, the lightning flippers should stay on. What if it's a casual league, like a non-sanctioned IFBA league? Let's say like at Finney's. They do IPA stuff sometimes. Well, not all the time. I feel like if you're doing something like Pinball Olympics or that sort of event, yeah, man, add whatever contraption you want. But even if it's a casual league, I think it should have the designer-intended lightning flippers. I mean, Corbin, I'm sure you've run across them whenever you've bought games and sold games and, well, not sold games ever, but where people. will screw a post into the play field, and it's like, whoa. Yeah, yeah. Absolutely, yeah. No, I'm glad they didn't do that on this Ghostbusters. This other Ghostbusters I got is only 300 plays, man. I can't stop.
    8:19
    So do we have a pro and a premium now? Two premiums? What's the set? Two premiums. Of course. You leave me alone. This is what happens. But anyway, okay. I think that's reasonable. Do we think, though, if they do the remake, are they going to put the, I think the reason everyone's fired sounds. Are they going to fix the flippers? Are they going to fix the flipper gap if they did a remake?
    8:45
    Without a doubt. So if you look at that premium, you'll notice, like, the shot geometry on it and everything, like, everything is off. So if you look to the left and the right out lanes, there are actually tiny little pieces of plastic in there that funnel the ball back into the ball trough because everything is legitimately, like, it was off in CAD. the flipper gap, everything about it, and just wasn't caught and corrected. I mean, it's a similar situation to, like, the Metallica remaster where they redid a few of those little shots there. Just the positioning. They just positioned it a little differently so it was a better game. I mean, why not? I mean, if we ever found the time, we could, like, go to the prison and talk to the game designer about exactly what happened. I'm not sure. It could be, you know, Fresh Pinball Podcast on the road. So we did introduce today, Jeff, and I felt really awkward because I had to do them. He introduced himself as Jeff just so you know. Yeah, and this is Jeff. Hi, I'm Jeff with Mad Pinball.
    9:47
    So where are you calling in from today, Jeff? Where in the wide world is Jeff? Where in the world is Jeff? Jeff is in Tokyo, Japan right now. So I'm calling you guys from the future. It is actually Monday night where you guys are, and it's Tuesday morning where I'm at. So we have a couple questions about the future on that topic. Has Chicago Gaming shipped the Cactus Canyon kits yet in the future? What about Alice in Wonderland? Is Alice in Wonderland landing?
    10:20
    So in the future, the tariffs are still in place. Chicago Gaming Company still hasn't completed the Pulp Fictions.
    10:28
    Yeah. Okay. I just want to let everybody know too Jeff's not there on vacation with his family He's there on business He is picking up our cargo ship And we will see him in like Three to four weeks It's going to be a slow go He's got to load it too once he gets it So is the bus you're on now Ahead towards the port Or paperwork in between How's that going We didn't get the update email this morning I guess it's morning now I'm on my way to ship captaincy classes so I have to take an international captaincy class. What about pirate defense classes? Are you by chance stopping in Taiwan and getting a container full of homepins?
    11:14
    I can't. I really can't speak to that right now. This morning I'm just learning about all the different flags is what I'm learning about.
    11:28
    all the different flags what was that noise so what sort of trouble have you been getting into Corbin while I've been gone I'm pretty curious now I'd say one of the craziest upsets is that Hoover banner disappearing from the frickin Pittsburgh thing like what in tarnation I had it zip tied up and everything gone I like to think it's someone who's like a big fan of the Hoover pinball league they're like oh this thing is dope I've gotta have it It has to be a very specific customer, I feel like. So I printed – Kyle's looking at me like, what the heck's going on? Yeah, yeah. I printed that banner for Mike. Well, I printed it to hang because Mike loaned us a couple games. We did so last weekend what did we do last I did a lot of oh moved games to last weekend for the uh pinberg that whole big thing that place is crazy jeff had you ever been to the the esports place them from hoover pinball league so i borrowed i borrowed two games from mike and then we had after the sweeper city yeah yeah because i picked up everything from there and we needed five stern games uh for their the stern gauntlet is what they had called it each game had a very specific challenge on it that you had to get in a time or whatever whoever did the fastest, I guess you get points. I don't know the details of it, but we took over five sterns. Did you get your badge, Corbin? Did you get your Stern Insider Connected gauntlet badge? Nah, man. I did not. When I was over there dropping them off, they didn't have power to any of the games. And then when I was picking them up, the games were already off. One of them was getting rained on and stuff. But anyway, in the building.
    12:59
    Was it a Venom? No, it was Bond, I think. Was there a Rainforest Cafe? Is that what happened? Yeah, they had me set the games up in the Rainforest Cafe, which I thought was strange.
    13:12
    Are those still a thing? I don't know. Do Rainforest Cafes still exist? Are they still around? I don't know. It's just the word will be, so I don't think there was one. Yeah, you would have saw it if you were there. They're still Hard Rocks, right? Oh, Hard Rock is still a thing, right? Hard Cafes? I have no idea. Jeff, was there a Hard Rock Tokyo? I don't think you've never heard of a Hard Rock Cafe. I have. I can confirm that I saw a Hard Rock in Osaka and a Rainforest Cafe. Okay, okay. All right. Anyway, so we took the five sterns over, two of them we borrowed from Mike, and then we also took over the Hexa and the Merlin's Arcade.
    13:48
    And I printed off Mike a banner for Hoover Pinball League because he let us borrow two games. And I thought, you know, give him a little shout out there. I was going to give him the banner afterwards as like a thank you gift. If you're in the area, text him and go play some games. Yeah, exactly. I was there today dropping games off and people were there playing. But anyway, yeah, the banner, I go back to pick the games up last night. I get over there at like 7.38 or whatever and the banner's gone. I suspect the inside job. I would have to think so too because that bitch was zip-tied up. It has to be somebody that knows because it's also like, it's just like the color stripes with the HPL in the middle of it or whatever. So it's not like a super specific thing that you would know. So maybe let somebody with initials HPL. Yeah. We're going to have to look at Harold's. Yeah. Harry's. Or any see a guest list, please. I did request security footage, so I'm hoping that that'll turn up with something. But have you ever been to that place, Jeff? That's where I was starting to ask. Have any of you guys ever been over there to the eSports place? Uh-uh. No? Yeah, it's a pretty interesting facility there for sure. Like, because there's like a movie theater and stuff there, right? Yeah, yeah. There's a movie theater downstairs, and they have like a, you walk in, it's kind of like an arcade thing. I'd say like 75% redemption, basketball games, a random pirate ship name code game that literally looks like it's the same cabinet as Evil... No, what's that game?
    15:08
    Scary Jurassic Park? Dead Escape? Dark Escape. It has like the same guns as Dark Escape on it, but it's like a pirate ship thing. Jeff, Ollie played Dark Escape and scared the shit out of him. Yeah.
    15:22
    Dude, that's a nightmare fuel for a kid his age. Zach was the parental supervision there I told him it was scary and he was like no I'm playing and I was like okay but anyway so that Namco pirate ship game over here like there's an arcade literally like on every corner and there's one of those in like every single one of those oh so you know exactly it's actually kind of I mean it's a random cool kind of cool looking game I mean like maybe like $300 well he already picked container full of them up that are on the ship.
    15:57
    They're already on the ship. After the permits, it'll be here in a few months. Yeah. I will post a picture of the exact game on the Fresh Pinball Instagram so everybody can check it out. We were literally looking at the same game at the same time. This is so special. Across the world. On different sides of the world. Was Jeff looking at the moon at the same time Corbin was? Of course. Every night. um so anyway my heart will go on henberg had a cool setup though because it was like our stuff was downstairs um we took our you know our our sterns and then upstairs though they had that entire like balcony area lined with games all around all these little cove rooms like little rooms with like five or six games in this room five or six games in this room and each of those rooms then had like is it all tournament or is it all tournaments all tournament yeah i think there's like a handful like the merlin's arcade we took in the hexos free play there's a dune in the there's like maybe i think from what i could tell because i was not there during the event at all there was maybe uh a dozen or so games in the free play area right because i mean but the rest like these were all hardcore it's like these are serious yeah yeah serious people down there i think um but yeah no they seem to it seemed to go well i guess i don't know it's nice to be involved they said the only problem they had was the with the hexa the balls were getting stuck in weird places and it's like well i mean it's a pinball so yeah what are you gonna do but yeah the weirdest thing was i was kind of following along a little bit yeah that was weird i was following along a little bit um for you know i like to check in and see people we know in the tournament pinberg how they're doing and i noticed tom chicchetti was playing he played at the sweeper city and then he played following week at pinbrook which reminds me he'd actually sent an email to fresh uh what's the email again, Zach?
    17:47
    Freshpenball at gmail.com. Yeah, he emailed us and said, hey guys, first I have to voice my displeasure that when you were listing games that include time travel, you totally forgot Rush. Oh, yeah. He said, I can't.
    18:05
    It doesn't work, though, so... And then you said, also, you were talking about a possible new Star Wars game coming out on how Jeff would love a Darth Vader themed game. How about this idea? Take the current stirring Star Wars and re-theme it to a villain version. First you take um but you remove all of the good guys and just basically add like Vader, the Emperor, Jabba, Boba Fett and things like that which I thought was an interesting idea. Yeah. I definitely think that'd be cool.
    18:43
    Or just scrap the whole fucking thing because that game sucks. Hater. Dude, that game's boring. So I installed the armor on the one we have up at Coral. Yeah, that looks so good. Here's the thing that drives me nuts about it, though. The finish on the armor is like a gloss powder-coated black. Right. And then you put the lockdown bar back on or the legs, and it's like the pebble. The crinkle. The mat. The crinkle or whatever they call it. Yeah. It's just like, oh, man. Now it's going to drive me nuts. I'm going to have to do a lockdown bar. Fucking jeans. Driving me nuts.
    19:21
    So before I hop off here, I had one more thing that I wanted to drop. So I think we teased a little bit on the season finale about how on this episode we might talk a little bit about, you know. This is not the season premiere, by the way. This is not the season premiere, Jeff. We're going to do that when you get back. We figured it'd be easier. This is just a quick little bullshit. This is a bonus. Yeah. to patreon anyway I love a good bonus episode well no I'm going to save this one for the season premiere this is one special okay well do you miss us you can be honest if you don't I miss everyone the best pinball moment I've had since I've been over here was I went to this little like pinball den I would call it. It was in the basement of this building. It smelled like complete pee-pee and poo-poo. Like a heroin den or something? Opium den? That's what I'm like. And I'm playing Time Machine. Yeah, Time Machine. And I'm playing Jack's to Open. He's playing Time Machine in the future.
    20:31
    Oh, for sure. Jack's to Open, Monday Night Football, all these weird games. and all of a sudden this guy walks in full Japanese garb. He has the robe on and the sandals. Like a ninja? Samurai? I mean, he didn't have a sword. He could have some throwing stars or something, but it was surreal. Check your swords at the door? Is that like a concealed carry thing?
    20:59
    What? You have to have a special permit. Dude, I saw that. Take your sandals off, leave your swords at the door. So when do you come back? You come back in a couple weeks, or when are you returning? It's what, about probably September, middle of September, you should be back with the ship, right? By the time the ship gets back. It's a little full of Jimmy R's first. Better make sure we get the Star Trek back. You know that cheap fucker didn't pay somewhere to drive it back.
    21:29
    It depends how international waters go, you know. If the piracy is a little deep, then I'm going to have to be careful. like, sugar, you know, take a, you're gonna have to zigzag, serpentine.
    21:41
    Interesting. I've made a lot of appointments for your turn, don't worry. I'm gonna let you guys carry on with a special episode. I'm getting some dirty looks on, uh, during this flag class, so I better get back to it. Sounds good. I did, did anyone get a picture of you talking to us right now? maybe just with their mind cameras no actual cameras ok sounds good alright later fellas see you in a few weeks bye that was Jeff special reporting from Japan live that was actual live in the future that was live in the future We don't usually do anything live, but we did it live this time. We did it live. Yeah. That was something.
    22:35
    That was something. I wonder what it's like in the future. I don't know. I've been watching a lot. This is off topic. We can get back on topic. Always off topic. I've been watching a lot of, not a lot, but a few documentaries on music festivals that have gone to shit. Yeah. So I watched the one on Astroworld. Did you watch the? Woodstock 99. Oh, God. Dude. What a fucking shit show. I just finished that before I came over here. Did you almost cry? Dude, I was... That's so bad. It's... It is... It's so fucking wild. Like, it's just... It's... I have so many thoughts on it. One, just being... All the festivals we've been to and the shows and everything, it's like... I don't know how we've never ended up at, like... Some of this fucking shit show stuff that goes down. Like, one of them reminded me a little bit of Cal Jam during Queens. How rowdy that shit got. I mean, it was still manageable, but, like, it reminded me of during... During, I mean, any of them where they just get so out of control. But, like, that fucking Woodstock stuff was nuts, dude. And that was set up for failure, though. Like, not to be mean, but, like, it was such a greed thing, and it just, it was not good. And, like, the people in charge of it were so oblivious to it all. Of course. It was just so nuts. Yeah. Tex, have you watched any of those? Not yet. Astroworld, too, was, like, in recent times where, like, that was, and that was just another. That was just a few years ago. In 2021 or something like that. and it was like they built it like the the stage was set up people were just getting crammed in like it was it was such a clusterfuck it's just it was yeah i don't know it that that's been some it's been crazy that woodstock 99 thing though was and it's that same guy who did the other ones like and then they interviewed him he still was kind of like all Anyway Those are some crazy Documentaries Like that stuff And just the behind the scenes Of it all is just anyway it not I way off topic so Way off topic
    24:33
    Well, I can't wrangle these cats as well as Jeff can, so. Any final thoughts for our special? You're ending us now? What do you want to talk about? I was going to talk about lightning flippers. Alright, let's go. I think, like, so the Germans were like, let's change. Jeff's on for 20 minutes. The show's coming to an end. Alright, we gotta go. We gotta go. Shut her down.
    24:55
    The ones that were originally designed not to have them, but the German company was like, yeah, let's put those on to make the game go faster. I feel like it'd be worth, like, you're allowed to put them on, you know? I don't know. Dracula is fine without, with a lightning. Dracula has regulars on it right now, I think. Or one of them I switched. It's fine with lightning flippers. I think it's fine with lightnings, too. I almost don't mind Ghostbusters without the post. I'm just saying, with the post, it does make it a lot more playable. Like, if you're trying to actually play the game and not just drain the ball. True. But I'll pull it off. I don't know. If the listeners have any opinions on this, let me know. But I don't know. I'm on the fence. I'll probably pull it off. Yeah, I mean, this game is pretty clean. The topper's just kind of let down. Yeah. I'm going to keep it, though. Because fuck it. No, it's the only one I really need to find now. That R2D2. I mean, I guess it really matters the situation.
    25:49
    Like Jeff was saying. matters in this situation. If you're taking it to an IFPA event or whatever. Totally, but I mean just a random person coming into Quarters Up or they're not going to know the difference. Arcade on Lakewood. They're not going to care. They're there to have fun.
    26:10
    Even if they're more than a casual they'll be like, oh cool, it's got the extra thing so I can actually play the game a little bit longer. Because there's some cool modes, there's some cool shit going on on yeah it has that subway that goes underneath it right yeah premium yeah it does so the the slings are very interesting as well fucking bullshit magnus slings yeah those things suck they do honestly no it's so stupid because you're like i can't keep this pro and i'm like it doesn't have magnus slings so it's actually better it's actually but it's a standard but the and you know it's not even like the it doesn't throw them around the same as like a real sling And on top of that, it also just, you don't have the thumping of it, the feel of it, you know? And so that also just kind of throws you a little bit, I think. Right.
    26:54
    So I don't know. I like it, though. And I don't know. So the other question I've been thinking about when I was looking at it, I'm like, man, maybe we should powder coat some armor. It's a Midnight Madness game, too, isn't it? It is a Midnight Madness game, yeah. And it chimes. Once you set the time, it chimes at the top every hour. Right. It does eight chimes, nine chimes, ten chimes, whatever the time is. Yeah. powder coating the armor though. So everyone always does green and I'm kind of over green right now. Purples are always nice, man. And a suggested red. There's purple in there too. Purple might be cool. I kind of like the purple idea. There's a lot of different purples you can do too. Adam has a real nice deep purple.
    27:32
    He does. Does it smoke on the water? Oh, DMCA'd. We're done. Deep purple. yeah I don't know the Ghostbusters is cool it's cool it's one that I'm surprised I haven't owned before I don't know the latest way through the deal comes up I don't know it's like what 2016 it was that time where it made sense and I remember when it came out and Nick had one down in Busbin and we were like let's go play and he just had the pro down there and we went and played it and we were kind of like it's fine I'm not going to spend that money on it I mean that's how I got it I love the theme the game's fine it's not something that I've ever been like I gotta have this Midnight Madness was really the main driver for me that's the only one we didn't have in the fold of the time in the mix I guess I think Jeff's gonna be mad that I took in more Ghostbusters on trade I haven't fully done it yet some guy called and I was like I can't believe another guy with a whole Ghostbusters so how's new games moving fine then? or how's everything going? Harry P's. Yeah. Harry P's are trickling out. Yeah. Probably a good big rush at the beginning there. Oh, I mean, there's a ton on order, but I mean, production-wise, they're trickling out. They're like, we'll get an email once a week, like, oh, I have two arcades ready. I have two wizards. I have three C's, whatever, you know. So they're kind of just coming out slowly. Evil Dead's are still... That's usual J.J.P. stuff. Yeah, yeah. Have you seen the resale on Evil Dead's lately? 15, 16 grand. I think Don's old is for 15 something.
    29:10
    It's a hell of a game though. It is. People want, like, and you look on Pinside right now and there's a list of, we have like probably 8, 10 people that are like Evil Dead, I want one, I need one. I was listening to the Electric Backcast earlier and that was their top earner last month. And it's been reliable. Yeah, crazy. So ours went to, we had it over at North Canton. They did the whole Sweeper City, which Mike said they maxed out the people that you know, the attendance of it all. They had a great turnout over there. It sounded like it went really well. We had that over there, and then I took it up to Rubber City, the tattoo convention for the weekend, with Metallica, Family Guy, because why not? Yeah. And then that Dark Escape, that whole 4D experience thing went there to them. They all loved it. You can still get over and check that out. Yeah, definitely. I just dropped it back off out of the warehouse this afternoon. I was going to put it back together and work out a couple bugs before it goes out for real.
    30:07
    It's a cool game. we also put all haggis yeah fathoms out yeah dude got everything fixed up oh yeah dude no we found out it was best not to update it so point eight six i think was four eight four is what it was at yeah but then eight six was the one above it but then we were reading like eight six had some other weirder bugs freaking stuff out in the middle you're like oh hit this target the whole game just shuts down so right now really the worst thing this one does is if you do a four player game it has like a 30 second to 30 to 45 second minute minute max where it just it just kind of sits there for a minute and then it reset it it goes back to attract mode which it's like that's the worst of it whatever what do you mean though so you finish the game you play your whole four player oh okay you play a one player game no problem but if you do a four player game okay all four of us we can play all three balls no problem everything goes good at the end of the game that goes the it goes uh does it do a match feature or anything no it doesn't even do a match feature it just the game ends and then it just sits there with the like the gi on for like up to a minute okay and then at the end of the minute it just goes back into attract mode you can start another game whereas like if uh say you're coined up on something and you did a four-player game you're like i want to instantly mash the button yeah it won't it won't do it no it's just like I'm thinking still. Please wait. Stop. Yeah. So it's like, man. I know you've got a credit in here, but you're going to have to wait a minute. So that's down at Finney's. And I'm telling you, that game is. That game is. Because how many times have you seen somebody, like, play a game, and then they, like, instantly mash the start button. So many times. All the time. But, like, a ball's locked that needs release. It doesn't. Yeah. It doesn't. You always have to give the game a full reset. A second to, like, just regroup. Yeah. For the next round. Yeah. But it's down at Finney's. We're going to get. Micah has, one of the owners of Finney's has an original. Right. And so I'm going to grab that from his house and put it next to it just for fun. That'll be fun. So we have the two of them next to each other. So that just went down there. Let's see. Moon and Toons is. Deadpool LE is out. So do you get to choose what code you get to play on that? Yeah, so you can play the revisited, which is when you get to battle mermaids. Because it was fucking broken when I got to see it. Yeah. And then in the regular mode, just like playing an old original. All you literally have to do is hold the left flipper, switches to original. Hold the right flipper in track mode, switches to revisited. And as you do it, I have a video I'll show you. The whole game changes. You can see it going from just the lights doing old school 80s lighting each individual letter to the whole thing just starts coming to life. And I'm telling you, with that revisited, that game is so fucking cool.
    32:46
    Especially when you're out there having a good time. I mean, it's like, dude, this thing is fucking wild. And I would just love to see what they would have done with the other games that they were going to do. Centaur, what else were they going to do? I mean, look at this thing. Oh, yeah, I know. It's pretty. It's so amazing. And the code on the revisited, the sounds, like the sounds intensify and it just makes it. You just get it. You know, all you want to do is all battle more mermaids. I mean, I remember looking underneath it and being like, oh, it's fucking, it looks pretty quality. Yeah, it's heavy. Build-wise. Oh, yeah, it's heavy some bitch. They did some weird stuff, though, as far as the build. Like, they put the head box lock is on the – so if you're looking at the cabinet, it's up under this left side right here. Yeah. When was – have you ever – I've never seen one. Yeah, why? No power on the side. You know, like, whatever, on the side of a system level or whatever. Fires on top, you know, like that. Yeah. Fires on top.
    33:34
    Up underneath. Yeah, yeah. The normal. I've never seen that. That is so weird. And so the other weird thing on that one is around the back glass it has, like, the, like, felt that's stuck to the wood. and it's in there so tight that you're trying to pull it out and you feel like it's locked, but it's not. It's just wedged in there. Because it's on the wood and not on the metal. And not on the actual back glass. It's weird. But the game is cool as fuck. I'm glad we ended up with it and I'm sad that they went out of business because I would have loved to have seen what they would have done next. So we got that out in the world. We also ended up pulling... I don't know if we got into talks since we got it. I know I sent you a picture of it. That Road Trip USA. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Dude, what a fucking weird game. I was hoping you were going to show up with it tonight. Single player. Single player, yeah. And one of the weirdest things is the coin door, the lock is on the left side. It swings opposite of any other lock. Did they just fucking install it upside down or something? No, the sticker's in there like that and everything. And I looked online. They're all like that. So why the fuck do they do that? But it's a completely blank coin door, right? Completely blank. You could unbolt and swap around it. Right, that's what I'm saying. but I wonder if for some reason at the time whatever, maybe somebody had a patent on it or something maybe, it's a Chicago Gaming game right, it's their first game super basic, it's cool though it's fun to play it's weird I've almost bought one like a million times come over to the bar garage and play it eh Chicago Gaming, you'll be over, you'll play it Chicago Gaming still supports it and everything so it's like, oh well It's random. The only downside is we can't... It's like there's nothing in the code to search. There's no way to know. Which it's not... It's just like you can't be on location. Just as a random ass thing. Yeah, exactly. The guy just wanted to get a modern pinball. He bought that. He lived within... You know at Quarter Up? So here's Quarter Up and the railroad tracks. You walk over the railroad tracks past that little plaza. He lives right behind that plaza. So it's like, oh dude, you are within walking. distance of it. Within stumbling distance. He's like, oh, I know. I'm up there a couple times a week. I'm sure. I bet you are, dude. That's cool. That's random as hell, though.
    35:51
    It's just something like, eh, it's cool. Whatever. We've got to get random games to get that fixed. I mean, why not?
    36:00
    Did they release production numbers on that at all? I don't know. I think it was like under 500 or something. Yeah, it was pretty low. it's supposed to be family vacation right it's yeah I wonder if somebody ever did like a alternate back glass yeah isn't that a painted back glass we figured out oh it is actually a painted back glass as well which is random it screws on the body it's like unscrew it oh yeah and pull out the back glass yeah of course so you had a Jaws for a while have you seen the pictures of the have you seen a 50th in person or anything no we delivered one last week we did and the cabinet is It very I mean it definitely is Jaws Like very simple very to the point Like yeah this is Jaws There no question about it The powder coating and all that it fine The play food was kind of cool. It was pretty sweet, yeah. Like, the glitter in the water was like, when I saw that, I was like, that's pretty cool. I guess they did it right, though, where they didn't, like, do it up too much. I kind of almost liked the simplicity. Because they didn't want anybody getting fucking mad again. And you look at the premium art, like, the premium art's kind of, like, Not the best. Comic book-y, Photoshop-y, had a baby or something. I don't know. Yeah, it's not the greatest. So it's like going... The ProArt's way better. Because it's closer to that simpler look like this 50th has, I think.
    37:20
    So I don't know. I was a little skeptical until we saw it in person. Then I was like, okay, I like it a little better. And the red, I don't know. The red over the LE, I think the LE originally had white. White, yeah. But it also had the bite out of the armor. Yeah. Whereas that one's just like the standard premium red. It'd be sweet if they did a white with, like, a red blood splatter. Around the bite out of it. Or, like, drips along the side or something. You know one thing I've always wondered, too, about, like, their premium whatever stuff? Like, sometimes they'll have, like, just the straight rails, and sometimes they'll have the lollipop, and then sometimes they'll have the, like, trapezoid one. The last, like, three, I want to say, have had the triangle angle down on the premiums. They've shipped with them like that. I mean, part of that is always the straight. It makes more sense, you know. It does, but then it's like you're going to – like I'm not as motivated to buy the aftermarket. The reason I would always buy the aftermarket armor was because – To protect the cabinet. Yeah, because the flipper, people's fingers fuck up that art there. So I'm always like, well, get it. It looks pretty or whatever, and it protects it. Versus now, it's like, well, what's the point? Yeah. We did up that Kong with the mellow yellow. Yeah. And we just had an LE coming in on trade or whatever, and it's like I don't even think I want it. Like, I like the, I almost like how we did ours better. Yeah. And we had the banana rod shirt. What was the Kong Ellie? I don't even remember. Was it, like, pretty basic? Was it gold? No, I think it was, like, it was a dark color that you barely, I don't think stood out or anything. Like, something if you bring down here, you're not going to see it. The only thing that I would like, the mirror back glass is always the cool, the one thing. Is it a brown, maybe? What if you sell a game, like, you're like, Jeff, somebody traded it. Has a fucking pro back glass. While he's gone, we're like, dude, somebody traded in this Ellie. I didn't notice the back glass, man. Sorry. Oh, it's a pro. You can sell us, right? He won that at a knockout. Yeah, he won it.
    39:09
    I'll just put a pro. He won't mind. I don't know. I took to Kyle's for a week, and now I'm just... It's just got a regular translator. I was surprised at how the play field looked on that 50th, though. It's a cool game.
    39:24
    Yeah, I'm surprised they didn't do expression like cabinet on that one. Yeah. I think they're... I don't know. You think they're just going to go back to doing music pins for the expression? It's possible. That's fine. This would make the most sense.
    39:41
    It's just brown with weird cutouts. Yeah, I do kind of remember seeing that. Our yellow is way better.
    39:51
    We haven't seen any accessories, so I bet the aftermarket ones, like the official ones, are probably going to be like that. Probably. yeah I mean yeah the yellow looks way cooler right yeah Tank what's your thoughts on that so Tank this is the first time you joined us on the live since you were a child how is fatherhood how's that game playing out for you it's pretty crazy is it Yeah. So Crosby's how old now? Six months. Six months? Okay. Yeah, there's no training for that, though. I tell you that... Kyle.
    40:36
    It takes a month of your time. Yeah. Hmm. Indeed. Exactly. I concur. Have you been playing the games in your basement at all? Have you introduced Crosby to them? Crosby has not played anything but... What? He's six months. He's kind of behind, bro. That's rookie, dude. Let's see here. Coming up on a year. No. He could start right now. The boys are laying across the pinballs at this age. Definitely have some pictures of them. Max, he used to sit straight down on, yeah. They love the lights.
    41:10
    I'll take Crosby and play some pinball with him. All right. I think Zach's volunteering to watch her kids. No, no, no. Thanks to the kids. I'm glad this is getting recorded right now. I'm just saying I'm going to walk in the basement and play a game with him. Yeah, makes sense. Next time you're casually over him. If he's awake when we get over there. Yo, buddy, you awake? You gotta come before 7.30.
    41:32
    See, the problem is mine are still awake at that time. He's awake much after 7.30. Yeah. Witching hour.
    41:47
    Jeff's gonna kill me because I didn't turn the fan off. He's gonna hear it the whole time. He's like, I can't. I want to be let go from my position that I don't get paid for. So I guess we can do this later in the show than we normally do. Is there any other fact checks that we need to do from last time? Oh, I have no fucking idea. That's Jeff's job. I'm just thinking if I had any. What did we talk about last time? It was our final episode. We talked about that era of games.
    42:12
    Sam. Sam, yeah. I don't know if I had anything to add to it. It doesn't matter. This isn't real. I'm just thinking, yeah, yeah. Is there any upcoming events? Upcoming event-wise?
    42:24
    Yeah, I think this is Monday, right? Yeah, tonight, it's halfway over. The event is going on at Quarter Up and Lakewood. Both are having events tonight.
    42:36
    Quarter Up's doing their Harry Potter parties, which, so, in other news, Harry Potter has landed at Quarter Up. It'll be there for a minute. And King Kong has landed at Lakewood, and they're doing their launch party tonight for that. They're doing knockout tournaments the next couple Mondays until they start their next full season of Pinball League. I believe August is going to be knockouts, and then the next month, September. And Finney's starts Wednesday, right? Are they starting a new one? I believe so. Are Ben and Phil heading it up this time? I have no idea. That's what I had heard, a rumor. At Finney's? Yeah. I have no idea. We should text them and ask them. Anyway, so I guess Finney's is starting up again this Wednesday as well. You say Ben and Phil are taking charge of that? That's cool. They said they're splitting. That's what I heard. Oh, no, that's cool. The lady who's doing it wanted to take the summer off, and they're like, yeah, we'll just handle it. Yeah. Nice. So we did also do an IFBA tournament down there the other night before kickoff. Oh, and you didn't let me know? I could have upped my numbers? God. Dude, we ended up staying until, so, like, at, like, 9 o'clock or whatever. They're like, oh, we're closing the bar. And we're like, you guys can lock up. Like, so apparently I'm locking up. Yeah. So we were down there until, like, 11. Because it was, like, Aaron was down there playing. Yeah. Whatever that one young blonde kid is. I can't. Gavin was. Calvin was down. Like, there was some people playing. Some hitters. Yeah. But, yeah, so there was a starting up again. I don't know what other events we have going on I gotta do something out of Unhitched soon Hall of Fame's coming up Do you guys do any Hall of Fame events? No So the balloon liftoff got cancelled Which is one of the things we normally would Not directly They didn't even do the ground showing Because the weather was so shitty The concert for Legends this year Nickelback I know Jeff said he was going to be back in town in time because he had VIP passes for Nickelback. Third floor, excellent center. Third floor, excellent dead center. Of course. So Nickelback's happening. Do you ever go to the parade or anything? We used to always sell parking spots for the parade because the one warehouse is like a block off. Right. So one year I was down there waiting for my girlfriend at the time to come down, and I was like, all these people are looking for places to park. No, I don't ever do shit. I don't live in Canton. Yeah. I sell parking spots and go home, so I don't. See, Alliance, we have this thing. It's called White Trash in the Park. I mean, Silver Park. I mean, yeah. It's great. Is it a festival? Yeah, it's like whatever. You go down and get a fucking hot chicken sandwich. When is it? I think it's in August sometime.
    45:04
    Dude, that sounds thrilling. It does. We were at Unhitched last week, and Kate wasn't there. They fucking served us like multiple sandwiches, and then we're like, oh, well, we forgot to bring you a sandwich. Here's another one. It was like, I guess I'm going to keep. Yeah, the chicken. Oh, anyway. so uh any final thoughts get out there and play some pinball i miss you guys it's uh summer we don't get to get together uh everybody's fucking busy so busy doing summer things of course yeah moving pinballs that's all i've been doing just moving pinballs around it's a hard life you live my buddy dude you say that but it's a pain in the ass i know it is i'm not joking any final thoughts, Tank? No, it's good to be here. It's good to see you. We're happy to have you here.
    45:56
    Corrections, questions, sales, anything? Jeff, I'm Mad Pinball, baby. Yeah, email jeff at madpinball.com and hit him up. And he'll just forward it to me because he's on vacation. If you want to comment on any of the bullshit we've talked about, who do we email? Freshpinball at gmail.com. You guys want the Hexa to come to your thing? We've got to do something with Hexa. That's what we need to decide. What should we do? We've got to do something with Hexa and Merlin's Arcade. They're both sitting in the shop right now. We should do an unhinged something, I think. That's what I've been thinking, too. We haven't done anything in a while. No. Should we do one, both, all of them? I could do Harry Potter out there, too, but this Harry Potter's... The challenge with Harry Potter is that everyone wants it. You almost needed two Harry Potters. I keep trying to open a second one, but every time some come in, Jeff's like... Nah, dude. We've got to open a second one, I think. You've got to show Jeff who's the fucking boss. I'm just the puppet in this.
    46:48
    Yeah, no, I think we almost need two, though, because people like that Harry Potter guy. He's a wizard. I think it might be. He's a real Potter guy. Well, you know, I have my opinions about it, but it might actually be, it might finally be a Jersey Jack that keeps on earning instead of just. Just was? Just work earning and then just fucking falling off. You know, so Woz actually is always consistent. And then Wonka has surprised me. Wonka actually has been doing decent. Toy Story 4. And Toy Story 4 is a surprise, too. Yeah. Down in Atwood. But what, three out of seven games? Three out of five. How many games? There's five games, six games down there. Five or six. No, I'm just saying of Jersey Jack. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Definitely, definitely. A few of them are. Mad Pinball also now carries, if you guys need, Shaker Motors, Jersey Jack Shaker Motors. Oh, nice. because the arcades, and I don't think, I don't know if the Wizard, I don't think the Wizard comes with it either. So if you need them, we got them on the website. Did you see the up the price? What do you think about this? The up the price of the Stern shaker motor. What, from $129? No, it was like $110. To $145. Jesus.
    48:01
    Yeah. Oh, well. Yeah. What can you do? Just don't sell your Stern with a shaker motor. Keep your shakers. Keep your glasses. LE, no shakers. No, trade them in to me with all that shit in it, please. toppers keep all that any last thoughts that play better we'll see y'all soon for a real episode hopefully Jeff posts this we'll see I forgot I lost it Jeff's at you again what's up buddy he woke up the puppy woke up I think the dog's awake.
    48:45
    He's biting me. Oh, shit.