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Tribe Multiball with Tim and Rachel, Episode 20: Pinball Junk Drawer

Poor Man's Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·analyzed·Dec 4, 2021
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.034

TL;DR

Tribe Multiball hosts discuss Godzilla, pricing concerns, tournaments, and restoration projects in casual podcast format.

Summary

Episode 20 of Tribe Multiball features hosts Rachel Lilge and Tim Lee discussing personal pinball activities, tournament experiences, and collection updates with guest Martin (tribe member #2). Topics include Godzilla and Mandalorian gameplay, tournament formats (flipper frenzy vs. strikes), pricing concerns about new machines, secondary market dynamics, and Martin's restoration of a Doctor Dude machine. The episode covers the challenges of affording new releases and the community's broader concerns about pricing sustainability.

Key Claims

  • Godzilla Premium/LE has a 9-month to 1-year production wait time

    high confidence · Martin references Zach's podcast on pinball show discussing Godzilla Premium availability

  • Black Knight machines are selling for $7,000-$9,000

    high confidence · Tim directly states these prices for Black Knight machines he's seen

  • Deadpool machines remain priced around $6,000-$7,000 on secondary market and haven't dropped as expected

    high confidence · Martin discusses hoping Deadpool would drop to $4,000 but remaining at $6,000-$7,000

  • The average male pinball player age is around 30 years old

    medium confidence · Rachel states this figure; Martin questions it, suggesting it may be higher

  • Tim bought a Godzilla LE after Expo and doesn't think it's worth the price despite enjoying it

    high confidence · Tim directly states 'After playing Godzilla for two weeks, it is still just a pinball machine...Do I think it's worth the price I paid for it? No.'

  • Martin acquired Godzilla LE at cost from a friend with plans to flip it and buy a Premium instead

    high confidence · Martin explains his buddy gave him the game at his cost, with intention to flip it

  • Rick and Morty is a difficult, demanding 'hard shooter' game requiring dialed-in shots and deep rules knowledge

    high confidence · Martin and Rachel describe playing Rick and Morty at Player 2 venue and finding it challenging

  • Doctor Dude (WCS/blue apron variant) can be acquired for around $1,800

    high confidence · Martin states he bought a Doctor Dude for $1,800 from Georgia

  • Gary Stern attended backyard parties at Little Shop of Games in Florida and would sign merchandise

    medium confidence · Martin shares anecdote about Curly (original Little Shop of Games owner) being friends with Gary Stern and hosting annual parties

Notable Quotes

  • “After playing Godzilla for two weeks, it is still just a pinball machine. It's one of the better pinball machines I've played, but it's still just a pinball machine. And do I think it's worth the price I paid for it? No.”

    Tim Lee @ mid-episode — Key sentiment on pricing vs. value of premium new releases

  • “It's almost like as soon as a new game comes out, you might as well order the premium right then and there, or the pro right then and there, as soon as the game comes out without even playing it.”

    Tim Lee @ mid-episode — Critical observation about pre-ordering strategy due to long wait times and price certainty

  • “I'm very uncomfortable with it being in the basement. I actually told somebody last week, somebody had mentioned, you know, potentially buying, an LE and paying stupid money for it. I said, listen, I'm not selling it, but if you show up with crazy stupid money to buy my Godzilla, I will take it out with my Escalera.”

    Martin @ mid-episode — Reveals anxiety about owning expensive LE; willingness to sell if price is right

  • “I honestly think that the cost of games and everything is just going to keep going up. Yeah, and it'll flex some. Like some will go down in price, some will go up in price, but overall it's going to trend up.”

    Tim Lee @ late-episode — Market prediction on pricing trajectory

  • “He remembered me and my wife. He's like, oh, yeah, I remember you because I made him a special shirt... That's really cool.”

    Martin @ mid-episode — Anecdote showing Gary Stern's accessibility and personal touch in community

  • “I have a ton when we moved up here we moved from florida about a year ago... two-thirds of an entire pod were nothing but retro games... if i sold all this retro gaming stuff and just kept like two of my favorites i could buy that godzilla right now”

    Martin @ mid-episode — Illustrates opportunity cost of pinball collecting vs. other hobbies

  • “I like the strikes tournament better... because we did four people on a machine in the strikes tournament, and I felt very confident on each game that I could finish in the top two.”

Entities

Rachel LilgepersonTim LeepersonMartinpersonGary SternpersonZach SharpepersonCassidy MilanowskipersonDirty DonniepersonGodzilla

Signals

  • $

    market_signal: Hosts expressing concerns about new machine pricing ($10,000+) and questioning whether market can sustain current price points; comparison to other hobbies and major purchases (cars, vacations)

    high · Tim: 'for 10 grand you can buy yourself a used car'; Martin: 'it's just tough for me to pony up 10 grand'; both discussing opportunity costs

  • $

    market_signal: Second-tier games like Deadpool not dropping in price as expected; remaining in $6,000-$7,000 range instead of declining to $4,000

    high · Martin: 'if i could get one of those for four grand...but that's not the way it's going...there's still six and seven grand each'

  • ?

    collector_signal: Collectors experiencing anxiety about holding expensive LEs; consideration of 'flipping' machines if better offers appear; inventory management concerns

    high · Martin: 'I'm very uncomfortable with it being in the basement...if you show up with crazy stupid money to buy my Godzilla, I will take it'

  • ?

    product_concern: Rick and Morty described as excessively difficult 'hard shooter' requiring deep rules knowledge; location example showed poor condition affecting playability

    medium · Rachel: 'It was a hard shooter...dialed-in shots...rules set'; Martin: 'routed...no chrome left on that ball...could feel rage building'

  • ?

    product_launch: Godzilla Premium reported to have 9-month to 1-year production wait from order date

    high · Martin: 'With Zach's last podcast on the pinball show, it doesn't sound like I'll be able to get a premium for like nine months to a year'

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.220

0:00
Hey, Poor Man Tribe and listeners, this is Glennie Rogers, and you're listening to the Tribe Multiple Podcast with Rachel and Tim. Poor Man Tribe's the thing, that is who we are. It is true. They're not in this thing, so how could it go wrong? Flip away with us, to an old blockade, and then we'll learn about each other. From two pennants to another Rachel and Tim, who do we have on the show today? Hello friends, welcome to Tribe Multiball A pinball podcast that focuses on a dynamic group of pinheads That belong to the tribe of the poor man's pinball podcast I am your co-host Rachel Lilge, along with your other co-host Tim Lee Welcome to the show. How are you doing today, Tim? I'm doing great. How are you? I'm doing pretty good. Today is the first Monday after Thanksgiving, and it was definitely a Monday. Do you know what I mean? I'm not normally one to get down on Mondays, but today was a Monday. Yeah, well, I have not been back to work, so tomorrow will be my Monday. Okay, okay. Fair enough. Fair enough. Well, I hope it's a good Tuesday for you then, too. Yep, yep. I hope. You want to hop right into our personal pinball news? Sure. what do you got going on you know i have not done a lot i've been playing godzilla quite often i've actually been playing mandalorian just as often i don't i don't know why but i just started playing it a lot i enjoy both games and godzilla i'm spending all my time trying to get the achievements and i've gotten all but two of them and i cannot get the last two what are they the one is five Godzilla multiballs in the same game and I keep getting four and the other one is you have to get like three super jackpots in one Godzilla multiball and I haven't been able to do either of those it's been a struggle is your game set to five ball no but I should well I'm wondering that like can you get the achievements faster if you set your game to five ball or ten ball or whatever else i don't know but i'll have to try yeah i wonder i'm just curious i'm like is there like a written in a written in rule for the stern insider oh i bet there's not i don't know for sure i just said that but i bet for this like first release i could get away with it yeah you go ahead and do that and keep all your games on five balls i'll let you razzie a little bit yep that's good i also sounds like that mistress anne has really been into godzilla as well yeah she's been playing it a lot. I would say besides Stranger Things, this is the most I've seen her play pinball in the first two weeks of owning a game. Oh, that's awesome. That's awesome. Does she have her own Stern Insider? She does. Yes. Cool. I'll have to send it to you. And then the boys have one as well. My daughter does not. She's played it, but she didn't want to do the Stern Insider. So I like I said, I'm eating crow on the Stern Insider. I actually enjoy it more than I thought i would i haven't played around with it anything more than i did at mjc or at expo so there is well the godzilla did premium did come on location near me i just haven't used it yet so i haven't delved into any of those little rewards or goals or any of that stuff so i think they'll be fun once i get that far yeah yeah check it out and then the only other thing i did was i actually played in a second tournament it was a flipper frenzy tournament and i didn't do as well this one yeah no you did not no i did not i actually i played the top two guys in the first two games and then i lost and then i lost my third match against a guy who were about 50 50 when we play each other and then i started to panic okay and i lost my fourth game but then i won four out of the next five and i ended up finishing sixth overall why did you panic because i lost four in a row. Oh, because you lost four in a row. Yeah, yeah. And I ended up, because of that, I ended up playing the top two guys two times each in seven games. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So when you lose, it must, we use the match play software, you know, the more you lose, it must put, you know, put you up against the better players. I don't know, but yeah. The more you lose, the more you play in a flipper frenzy. I think that's my understanding of that. Yeah. Did you like that style of tournament or have you played it before? No, first time. I enjoyed it. The games I lost were very close. I lost on Jurassic Park Premium by 10,000 points, which is not a lot, or maybe it was 100,000, which is still not a lot. They were all close games. So the only the only one I really wanted to toss out was we played The Walking Dead and two out of my three balls got stuck on the magnet and it threw it right down the middle. Like garbage. Yeah, I had no no chance. I mean, it just threw the ball right down the middle, but I enjoyed it. Like I said, I I turned it around. I started to nudge a little more in the second half of the tournament. And, you know, I didn't practice at all. My first game was my first, you know, the first time I played for the day. You walked up cold. Yeah, I think next time I'll probably play four or five games beforehand. Yeah, I always try to warm up before any type of tournament or league, even if it's just a handful of games, plus socialization, of course. Yeah. Can't get away from that. That's what I was doing. I was talking to everyone before it started. I figured what was going on. So you get all the socialization, but you can, you know, sometimes it's good just to sit on a game and you can chit chat with somebody next to on a game next to you and both play at the same time. And sometimes that's good, even if I'm just trying to work on like one certain shot and who cares if I drain. I'm not looking to blow up the game there. I'm just literally trying to, you know, warm up and practice a little bit. So do you like I do have a question, though. Do you like a flipper frenzy or a strikeout better? I like the strikes tournament better. And I'll tell you why, because we did four people on a machine in the strikes tournament, and I felt very confident on each game that I could finish in the top two. Now, at the end, when you had to finish like one to win, it was a little more – I don't want to say stressful. Pinball's not stressful, but – Oh, no, that's stressful. Yeah, I got a little nervous. So, but yeah, I like that format than the one-on-one because I actually thought I played well, but then I just lost three in a row. So yeah, most things happen. It's all fun though. Good. I'm glad. It sounds like you've been having a good time trying some other things in pinball. That's awesome, Tim. Yep. And that's all I really have going on. I'll drop a teaser. I have something coming in the future that might involve a P3 and multi-morphic, but not ready to give that news up yet. You know it. I do. So everybody else should just keep listening until you have some more news on that, maybe in the new year. Yep. We should mention that this is our last episode for 2021. Yeah. Yeah, we're taking a break. We need to take a little break over the holiday and we'll come back sometime in January, right? Yep. Right. And I will be doing my annual life lessons with Tim Lee Christmas review with my kids. I look forward to that. That's more fun. I've gone back and listened to some of the other ones you did with your kids. They're pretty funny. They're cute. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. Family friendly. Okay. So what have you been up to? Oh, let's see. I think that I haven't really had much going on. I did play League, of course, in October and November. I finished November League in 13th place. So that was a really good overall placement. I did want to look at my, I'm really close to breaking the top 1,000 as far as IFPA. and I'm stoked about that. Yeah, I'm at 1288 as of November 29th, 2021. And I was looking at the overall year at District 82 because there's a yearly league score sheet and I'm right now sitting, do you want to guess out of the over 100 unique players that play league this year? Do you want to guess where I'm sitting? Overall, 25. Oh, Tim, you should have better faith than that. I'm sitting at 18. that's awesome i can't even believe that yeah that's unbelievable considering there's several top 100 top 200 players in my league so yeah i'm pretty stoked about that uh let's see this past week the second half of november league i had two incredibly special guests that attended league with me my brother and my sister oh my yeah my sister was home from clemence ohio over the holiday and stayed with me my brother lives here locally and we had a wonderful afternoon We went to actually to Lambeau Field prior. My sister's a huge Fit Packers fan. And then we went and played league. Now, my poor brother has never played. He's played pinball. He actually worked at an Aladdin's Castle in the 90s that had a Doctor Who game. And they had a Doctor Who game at District 82. So he is so stoked about that. But he doesn't play. He'll come over and play my games, but he doesn't play competitive pinball. He has never played a league or anything. I felt kind of bad for him because after the buzzer would go off and I look at the game and I'd try to find him. And he was usually on a game having a great time, but I have to pull him off of it and say, hey, you know, you've got to go play your next round. Did not come in last, but he had an amazing time. It was actually such a great time with both my siblings. That was probably one of the best league nights, not just pinball wise, but personally, just having them both there. And it's just a special thing for me. That's pretty awesome though. Yeah, I think so too. I think that's about it. Just been playing league. There was a little tournament. there was a Friday night tournament at District 82 and I went up and I fooled around a little bit on stream on Fox City's pinball Tom had asked me to do that that was fun that's about it I am looking at let's see as far as my collection I am looking at working on replacing the rubbers and so forth on my demolition man so that's very scary for me to do that because I've never done it but I've watched several videos thank goodness to the internet and I'm going to give it a whirl you know it's time like the flipper rubbers are so sad like there's not any there's hardly any dead bones left on them anymore so i know it's definitely time so wish me luck uh i wish you luck thanks that actually reminded me i did tear down adam's family and i put on cliffies and that was terrible just doing that all but that sounds miserable yeah it took a long time yeah it's worth it though once you actually yeah once you actually get it done it's great and to play it and everything else so but yeah i've just been having a good time think dreaming about that thinking about that oh i should say i did have a lady slip wisconsin tournament in november and cassidy milanowski took it all and she went undefeated for 16 rounds wow nobody beat her i could not beat her my girlfriend tara couldn't beat her none of us could beat her they all tried to beat her we all tried to none of us could so it's amazing Cassidy won that that was at Plymouth Tap that's local to me I did come in second place but it just wasn't quite enough so that was a lot of fun Ladies Flip Wisconsin is also taking a little break through the holiday season but I am very excited that I have dates set for January, February, March and May of next year already can you believe that that's crazy yeah four tournaments ready on tap so okay I think that's it for all my stuff All right. I got nothing else. All right. Fair enough. I would like to introduce our guest today. He goes by several different names, but he is tribe number number two. Welcome to the show, Martin. Hey, Martin. Hello. Thank you for having me on. How are you doing today? Good, good. I'm enjoying hearing some of these stories, you know, talking about this pinball stuff. So do you have a – you bought a Godzilla, Tim? I bought a Godzilla, yes, after Expo. I'm so jealous. An LE. Yeah. We talked about it because I was kind of – I always maintain a top ten hit list kind of. And I usually have to wait until they fall down to the second tier like where they – they've been around a while. Like a Deadpool will fall into that soon, Metallica. Although the prices aren't dropping like I like them. But we left Expo going, oh, we might need that Godzilla because I'm a huge Godzilla fan. Like I have every one of the movies and all this other stuff. But that's what my wife was saying. We have to get a Godzilla. And I was like, I want that Elvira. So I was still kind of on the Elvira train a little bit. But I don't know. The 40th anniversary edition Elvira? No.

  • This is the last episode of Tribe Multiball for 2021; returning in January

    high confidence · Rachel and Tim explicitly state they're taking a break and returning in January

    • Rachel Lilge @ early-episode — Player preference for tournament format; confidence levels in different structures

  • “after i went through that i kind of have more confidence that if i do buy a game that i want to do a complete like tear down the everything i think i can do it”

    Martin @ late-episode — Collector gaining confidence in restoration and maintenance capabilities

  • “I can play One of those things And it's not the guitar So I'm going to sell the guitar And I'll buy I can play the pinball machine Better than the guitar”

    Martin @ late-episode — Prioritization of pinball over other hobbies; justification for major purchase decision

  • “Gary Stern would just come down to this like backyard party and just hang out and drink like I have all these signed things from Gary Stern because he just gets drunk and just starts signing flyers”

    Martin @ late-episode — Humanizing anecdote about pinball industry leader; informal community access

    • game
    Mandaloriangame
    Deadpoolgame
    Black Knightgame
    Elvira 40th Anniversarygame
    Rick and Mortygame
    Doctor Dudegame
    Beatlesgame
    Woe Nellygame
    District 82organization
    Stern Insiderproduct
    Player 2venue
    Little Shop of Gamesvenue
    IFPAorganization
    Tribe Multiball Podcastorganization
    Poor Man's Pinball Podcastorganization
    Flipper Frenzyproduct
  • ?

    operational_signal: Location maintenance issues noted; Rick and Morty machine at Player 2 had poor ball condition (no chrome left) and potentially unmaintained state

    medium · Martin: 'There was no chrome left on that ball, and it was sad and tired...routed'

  • ?

    restoration_signal: Collector gaining confidence in full restoration projects through Doctor Dude rebuild; positive experience with powder coating, re-decaling, LED upgrades

    high · Martin: 'I kind of have more confidence that if I do buy a game that I want to do a complete like tear down everything I think I can do it'

  • ?

    industry_signal: Evidence of Gary Stern's personal accessibility and informal community relationships; backyard parties at Florida pinball shops

    medium · Martin's anecdote about Gary Stern attending Curly's parties, signing merchandise, being remembered by Gary at Expo

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Tim's initial skepticism of Stern Insider feature has shifted to genuine enjoyment; 'eating crow' on previous criticism

    high · Tim: 'I like I said, I'm eating crow on the Stern Insider. I actually enjoy it more than I thought i would'

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Rachel competing in flipper frenzy tournament format; prefers strikes format; Tim mentoring younger players in league; Ladies Flip Wisconsin tournament activity

    high · Rachel finished 6th in flipper frenzy; Tim brought siblings to league; Cassidy Milanowski won Ladies Flip Wisconsin undefeated

  • ?

    product_strategy: Tim noting that pre-ordering at release may be necessary strategy due to long production timelines and uncertain availability of non-LE versions

    high · Tim: 'It's almost like as soon as a new game comes out, you might as well order the premium right then and there...as soon as the game comes out without even playing it'

  • ?

    business_signal: Belief that pinball machine prices will continue upward trend overall, with individual fluctuations; comparison to vintage train market that rose until collector generation aged out

    medium · Tim: 'I honestly think that the cost of games and everything is just going to keep going up'; Martin's model train analogy about prices staying high until collectors die off

    • 12:58
    Although that's the one where I actually made the top 10 on that one in Expo. expo. I was playing it. I just walked up cold and started playing it. I didn't even know it was the 40th one until I was looking at it. I was like, oh, wow. And that was like mid-ball. And I just kept playing. I just had like these two monster balls in a row. And this kid behind me is waiting to play with his dad. He's looking up and I'm like, I'll be done soon. It's okay. Because it was like a four or five minute game. And then finally I drained and I was like, oh, that was a great game. And so then Jen was like, yeah, that's that special one you were talking about. I was like, yeah, that is the special one I was talking about. I'm a little oblivious to that stuff. Me too. I had no idea that it was there. I had no clue until somebody pointed it out. I'm like, oh, that's pretty. So beautiful. I didn't get a chance to play it, though. Yeah. What do you think about Elvira, Tim? I actually really enjoy the game. I like the video clips. I don't know that I would pay $25,000 or $15,000 for that particular game. It was beautiful. but it's it's probably a top 10 game for me i played every chance i get really yeah i was and i have that b movie show for the longest time so yeah i've watched literally thousands of the worst movies in the world and it's uh and i enjoy them i actually like love them so when she's doing those i was like yep we did that one yep we did that one like i'm actually like i know the call outs because i because i did the shows uh you know reviewed them and uh it's just i wasn't really an Elvira fan like a like a crazy Elvira fan but I think she's funny I enjoy her character but I and after I played it a couple times I was like oh I really like this game yeah I liked it more for the the movies than Elvira the callouts I didn't watch her much as a child I mean I like her she's pretty awesome but again it was more the the the b-movie clips that kind of brought me in I have a theory that she's actually she came out recently which that's great I don't know why she before i think the reason was they started saying wait she's 70 so she has access to medical stuff that no one in the world does and to to throw the heat off of her for that she's like okay yeah i'm a lesbian everyone no don't never mind that i'm i look like i'm 20 even though i'm 70 uh it just never mind that it's not the uh medical stuff i have it's uh different so that's my theory I didn't realize she was 70 yep amazing for 70 absolutely all those machines now I'm kind of I'm echoing what a lot of people saying and they're like feeling a bit priced out and it's not I don't know it's just tough for me to pony up 10 grand you know I can but I don't want to you know 10 grand you can buy yourself a used car 10 grand you can take a really a trip to Hawaii to two for 10 grand Well, maybe not quite a Hawaii Deku 2. That's top-notch, but still. You can still do a lot of money for $10,000. Yeah. I will tell you this. After playing Godzilla for two weeks, it is still just a pinball machine. It's one of the better pinball machines I've played, but it's still just a pinball machine. And do I think it's worth the price I paid for it? No. I said the same thing about Guns N' Roses. to get it i had to sell turtles taxi and my black knight topper and that's yeah that hurts well my buddy gave me um the game godzilla limited edition at his cost and he didn't want it and i won't go into the reasons why so my plan was to buy it play it and then flip it and hope to break even which I'm pretty sure I could do and buy a premium. But with Zach's last podcast on the pinball show, it doesn't sound like I'll be able to get a premium for like nine months to a year or so. Wow. Yeah. Maybe I'll just play it until I'm tired of it. But yeah, I, I'm very uncomfortable with it being in the basement. I actually told somebody last week, somebody had mentioned, you know, potentially buying, an LE and paying stupid money for it. I said, listen, I'm not selling it, but if you show up with crazy stupid money to buy my Godzilla, I will take it out with my Escalera. I can be plied with liquor. Yeah.
    17:25
    Much like how you did that. I have a Beatles because my wife really liked the Beatles machine. I horse traded. I traded in, I had a home use only Austin Powers since day one which was in immaculate condition so I traded that in a couple grand and that got the Beatles in the house you're giving up stuff, you can't just go out and outright buy them I can't say this is a bubble though because that's not really I think it is, but that doesn't mean anything it might not be I don't think it's going to pop I honestly think that the cost of games and everything is just going to keep going up. Yeah, and it'll flex some. Like some will go down in price, some will go up in price, but overall it's going to trend up, you know. So I will relate this to model trains And my dad was into vintage model trains for a very long time and at one point my mom wanted her kitchen remodeled model trains had gone up so high in prices that he sold five trains i think it was and remodeled her entire kitchen and it was very similar to pinball it kept going up and up and up and it actually didn't decline until people started to die off and I'm not sounding morbid but as folks my dad's age died off and the the trains they were buying became less popular they came down like 80 percent but man that just kept going up every year you know and people were buying them how old is the average male pinball player then you got about 30 years 30 really 30 I can't believe that's the average I'd have to say higher than that i'd say the average i might have to do like a little calculation no 30 years until we all start dying off in 30 years well i'll be 73 by then so it's very possible you know that brings up another thing i have a ton when we moved up here we moved from florida about a year ago well actually exactly a year ago in uh mid-october and i ended up one or two two-thirds of an entire pod were nothing but retro games wow nintendo super nintendo famicom super like everything and i have it all sitting down here in piles because i haven't quite gotten the the retro pit together and stuff i was like if i sold all this retro gaming stuff and just kept like two of my favorites i could buy that godzilla right now and probably and probably a car but then i would be like i don't know i miss that nintendo and i had all those cool games and you know it's Just like when you're like, what are you willing to give up? You know, and I don't know. That's why I'm surprised that you got rid of your Black Knight topper there, Tim. Yeah, I really wanted it. I really wanted to put it on the Black Knight. And actually, the reason I got rid of it, because the Black Knight sort of rage has gotten to the price point. I'm no longer willing to pay for it. Like, I don't think it's a I see it going for like seven, eight, nine thousand dollars. and it's just not worth it. It's a fun game, but it's not worth it. It's almost like as soon as a new game comes out, you might as well order the premium right then and there, or the pro right then and there, as soon as the game comes out without even playing it. Right? Meaning the cost of the game, the length of time that you have to wait for the game, it's kind of insane. And that's what Jane was talking about with Godzilla. She's like, well, if we buy this, if we put in our order now, we have nine months to a year to come up with it. I was like, well, that's still so much money. I might end up doing this. I doubt it, but I might. And it's just one of those things where you go, well, you have a point, but the point is you're still going to be paying that much in this journey whenever you're trying to save up for it. Great. I don't know. So you did not pull the trigger. No. Okay. I just, yeah. And the theme is right on spot for you. So that had to be a little bit hard to make that decision. It is. Oh, yeah. I mean, I'm surrounded by a million Godzilla things. So I had exchange students over the years from Japan. And every Christmas I get Godzilla stuff. I have novels and little toys and all this kind of cool stuff. And I'm like, man, if there's a theme for me, it's that one.
    21:44
    It's like the Beatles I thought would be themed for me, but now maybe it is. I like that game a little bit more now. But to buy that game, the prices are unreal. you know martin you could put that game on order and you would be able to find somebody to take it off of your hands if you decide in nine months you didn't want to buy it it's it's it's going to be that popular absolutely yeah on the flip side i also agree with you my last three games i have purchased by selling other games you know i'm not i'm to the point as well i don't want to shell out any new money for games so i just keep selling stuff to buy stuff i was actually hoping that like i said those uh some of those second tier ones i thought they might be dropping down into an affordable price but that doesn't seem to be the way it's going like the deadpools and stuff like that like yeah if i could get one of those for four grand and then just spend a grand making it pretty and fixing all the little problems it's had over the years i'd easily do that but that's not the way it's there's still six and seven grand each i'm like wow no you know that's how How much was the Deadpool Pro originally?
    22:50
    I thought they were like $5.99. $6,000, okay. Maybe, but that's – Yeah, I think the straight price was like $5,500, yeah. Yeah, yeah, okay. Because I love playing them. We just were up at Player 2 up in – was it Green Bay? Yeah. One of my exchange students and her husband came up from Louisville. She actually ended up staying here after she was from Vietnam. She actually stayed here and became a registered nurse, and now she's becoming a pharmacist. And she came up for the weekend and we had Thanksgiving and we went up to Player 2 up there at Green Bay. We had a great time just playing all the games. Rick and Morty and Deadpool had the most of my time.
    23:30
    Rick and Morty is a tough game. Yes. I love the theme, but it's hard to love that game. I don't know. I kind of get angry at it. Yeah. I didn't find the game to be a lot. I like the music. I like the theme to it. It was a hard shooter. That's the best way for me to put it. It's a hard shooter. Either you have to have the dialed-in shots on that, and you really need to know what's going on as far as your rules set. Yeah. And on the route, it was routed. There was no chrome left on that ball, and it was sad and tired.
    24:04
    I was like, I don't know. I could see myself kicking this game, and I don't ever abuse machines. That's kind of the rage I could feel building up a little bit. Well, sometimes I kick a game just intentionally to tilt it. Sometimes I do. not a hard kick but just like a tap with my foot you know just well but just tapped it other than pining away for godzilla premium le or pro what else are you doing in your pinball life right now i just got my doctor dude buttoned up i did a pretty hardcore restoration on i had a doctor dude i bought for 1800 i know i was in florida yet and i drove up to georgia and it was the wc what is it not wsc or wcs i forget it's the later in the run where it's the blue apron and the boards are different it's like a last gen dr dude okay and uh and i brought it home and it the play field was nice but it had been you know it's been around for a long time so i was like i'm gonna restore this one but it played so i just played it until we got up here in wisconsin and then i tore it down and we like i bonded the cabinet re-decaled it sent all the metal out to get uh powder coated from that one guy that's on pin side that the the main guy who was a powder coat guy yeah and i had it done this like crazy metallic electric orange because that's like the 90s game i've ever seen and uh you know and i just i did the whole thing where i took the play field out i didn't take the play field down to nothing but i restored it all with leds and i brought it back and it was really a great learning experience and after i went through that i kind of have more confidence that if i do buy a game that i want to do a complete like tear down the everything i think i can do it you know okay so that just got back in the rotation i got it buttoned up i still have a few little things i want to tinker with but it's bright and it's loud and it's beautiful yeah it looks it's sitting next to beetles so it's nice and right there you know it doesn't look faded and old next to it looks bright and cool so it doesn't look like a junkie game from the 90s sure doesn't and that was actually that's a fun game that's the most i always tell people if the 90s threw up into a box this is what it would look like it's just this crazy wrong everything's wrong with it but it's so fun so yeah totally i've only had an opportunity to put a couple games on that somewhere along my journey here that's a really cool game i was really excited when i finally came across it and put on i don't know i probably played it for like 10 minutes or 20 minutes something like that because it's the shots for me but i totally agree i grew up in the 90s so i felt like it was speaking to me like this represents a good chunk of my misplaced youth that's right there absolutely absolutely that's cool a lot of fun so you have that and the beatles are those the only two games that you currently have uh no i have a woe nelly that i bought new no newish i got it from a little shop of games down in florida which interesting story that guy who ran who used to own little shop of games it's been taken over by a guy named marshall who's a kind of a friend of ours but the guy who originally owned it was named Curly and Curly was like an actual real friend of Gary Stern's so he would have this party once a year and Gary Stern would just come down to this like backyard party and just hang out and drink like I have all these signed things from Gary Stern because he just gets drunk and just starts signing flyers and stuff and he's there with Curly and Curly like stores his motorcycles so they're just there with their Harleys and it was so much fun so that was Oh, it was crazy. It was so great to like meet him and like talk to him, like actually just talk, not interview, not anything. Just hear him just being fun, being himself. You know, we have a real kind of affection for him because he remembered me at Expo. He remembered me and my wife. He's like, oh, yeah, I remember you because I made him a special shirt. I have a screen printing business on the side. So I made a shirt with his name on it. And then the back has like the pinball bumper kind of thing going on. That's really cool. Yeah. Yeah, it was fun. So I ended up buying that machine. I like how everything you say leads into this long, dumb story of mine. So anyway, he had this little – I like the long stories. Yeah, me too. You're like, I get to sit back and just chill. So he had this out next to a Pabst can crusher, and we had just interviewed Dirty Donnie from Freeplay Florida. So I was like, oh, that's Dirty Donnie's art package on this one. But I said, well, this is the one I really like, and I started playing the Wonelly. I played it like all night We're just drinking I kept going back to it Going back to it And then finally Jim was like Would you just buy this thing I was like okay So I ended up selling One of my really nice guitars To pay for that Because I'm sitting there On the one show We're doing And my friend's like Well what are you going to do I was like I'll pay it off By selling that guitar And he's like What do you think about it I was like Well I can play One of those things And it's not the guitar So I'm going to sell the guitar And I'll buy I can play the pinball machine Better than the guitar So and it worked out for everyone that's a great story you mentioned that you interviewed donnie when did you do that or how did that come about oh well i was because i was doing the shows and i was also like i had the tv stuff the the tv shows going on down there and then i also had like these shows no no no we have to break that down martin just a little bit tell us about quote-unquote the shows oh well the t i had a public access show where we took old b movies and we dropped the sound completely out of them. And then we re-scripted them in the worst way possible. And then we added like punk songs. So if you saw somebody dancing to a song, it was just some like atrocious, hardcore punk. And like, it was just crazy. We were like literally lunatics. And we had a lot of fun doing it, but that got me like media pass access. So like I would go to Comic-Cons and run camera for, but usually I would do it for other people. Like I wasn't using the content, but I got pretty good at being a cameraman or even a stick man, like interviewing people just on the fly. All right. But then as that that slowly went away, that was called Dubbed 420. That was the TV show. They ended up closing down the entire public access section of the station. So then concurrently, I started up the podcasting, which was called Bunch of Dorks. That was a, that's a, if you go to bunch of dorks.com, there's two of my shows. And then there's another show from friends of mine that do, it's called two dimension podcast where they talk about comic books. So the bottom one is just bunch of dorks. And it was just literally me getting drunk and being stupid and all my friends talking. It was just this constant nonsense, which is why I started liking poor man's pinball podcast. It sounded like me back when I was doing the drunken podcasting and making, calling people out on air and being really stupid. it you know like you learn a lot of lessons so then uh then i moved into some of the other podcasts like the b movie review which is a slow robot a go-go and now i do two shows for um but they're actually the new shows are actually like pg they're radio shows for radio saint pete so i'm actually kind of professional on those so anyway that so now i got media passes so every time i would go to free play florida we get the media passes and i would just i interviewed that who's the King of Kong guy, Billy Mitchell? No. Yes. I interviewed Billy Mitchell and I interviewed Stern and I interviewed Dirty Donnie had just gotten done doing Talica. And then he also just did that, his Blacklight book. Yes, I have. That's a beautiful book. Oh, it is such a great book. So I sat and talked to him. And it was funny because we interviewed him for like an hour. And then we turned off the recording and we just sat there and drank beer and talked to him for another like two hours me and Jen are sitting there talking to him and his girlfriend just getting drunk and bullshitting about stuff and it was just so fun because he's such an engaging guy he had such interesting stories you know he was from Canada and they he like came down like Metallica brought him in house to do artwork at like Cliff's house and then he just ended up staying and then they just it was like this long elaborate story but it was really great to interview him so i have that one that's a cool opportunity oh my god it was neat he was and he's such a funny guy you know and that's actually his van his van is the one that's on the can crusher the the past can crusher that was actually his 70s van you know i had no idea yeah so it was just neat you know yeah so martin i i talked to drew and he said you know if you're willing to upload any of those to the poor man site we would distribute them again you know if people want to listen to them because you and I talked about it for about 15 minutes at Expo and I thought it was a pretty awesome idea so I said hey Drew Martin has all these retro podcasts that I'd love to air and he's like go for it so perfect yeah I definitely will repackage them probably I'll maybe I'll do a little bit in front of each one kind of reflecting back on what year it was and kind of what was going on because you know for there was a while where I was doing this stuff that pinball wasn't going to survive. That was the main thought process that was going in. And then as it started slowly getting more and more popular, that's when now that's this influx where I'm sure even like the designers and the people that work on pinball machines are like, wait, you know who I am? Because, you know, like everyone knew Pat Lawler and everyone knew Steve Ritchie because of their personalities or whatever. But I'm pretty confident like these guys go to expos now and they're like recognized and talked to like with reverence rather than just like what do you do here kind of stuff so yeah who are you yeah that's actually me that's rookie rachel over here i'm like who are you well i'm steve ritchie oh i think i played your game it's nice to meet you let's i'm like i don't know i can't recognize any of that but that's really cool that you had an opportunity to do that so you're going to add your own show to the Poor Man's Pinball Podcast Network?
    33:57
    To some degree. Yeah, to some degree. Are you going to give it your own little name? No, I'll probably just, maybe I'll think about it. I don't know. I'll just be like, old stuff found in a drawer.
    34:09
    I love that. Old junk. You know, one of the, this is funny because, Pinball Junk Drawer. That's perfect, really. Yeah, that's name appropriate for the Poor Man's Pinball Network. there was a funny thing at expo and this is another i know i keep branching off we're standing there at the end of his friday night it was friday night it must have been and me and my wife were there and steve richie was staying there and he comes walking out of the out of the hall where they were doing all those presentations and he walks up and he starts talking to somebody and he could immediately tell that this person had no clue or concept of who he was or why he was and he looked over and he saw me and i think he recognized me from free play florida to some degree and I was like I was like I know you are Steve come on over and he came over and he because his wife was in the bathroom and so was my wife so my wife comes out Jen comes out and I'm literally just we're just talking about just stuff nothing but everything and he's laughing about my shirt because I had a big robot shirt on he's like what why do you have robot robotron 3000 I was like ah it's just I make my own shirts because I I'm the only person that likes this kind of stuff and he was just tied he's just talking to me for and then he started talking to me and my wife for I bet he was 15 minutes of just honest to goodness just chit chat and how are you doing kind of stuff and it was and he split and I was like now that's cool because he just was talking you know no pressure no microphones right not about pinball just talking about life and enjoying another person's company that's awesome oh I know and that's how I felt with Stern so I have kind of like that like I look at him with much more like grandiose because I know him like when i talk to him as a person i'm like this guy's really cool he has a lot going on and he has his flaws but he's he's he's a cool guy he's a human you know and i don't think a lot of people when they when you hear about people talking about him on podcasts i don't think they ever had that kind of feeling towards him which i was like well if you know him he's a he's an all right guy you know well i always try to remember that as humans we all put our pants on one leg at a time all of us unless you wear a skirt but but seriously you know we're all just the same that's i'm trying to make a little joke there i think but it really is that we're all just you know humans trying to you know relate to one another right yeah and that's cool that you can do that with people that you have a common interest with but it doesn have to be about that common interest that what that story is neat it was one of those little moments in life where I like I probably remember that for the rest of my life even though it just like who cares It's just like, ah, just that one time I just sat and talked with Steve Ritchie. Just no pressure, no nothing, you know. That's a cool little nugget to treasure away. I get it. Why not? Yeah. Now, you guys both went to MGC after Expo? I did not, no. Okay. What did you think about it, Rachel? I went to MGC for about four hours on the Sunday afternoon. I wasn't going to go down because I was kind of burnt out from Expo and trying to get the rest of my adult life, you know, crap together. You know, because I was gone for four days or whatever, five days with Expo. I will say that gigantic Godzilla in the main hall or whatever was amazing. The big blow-up Godzilla, that was pretty darn cool. That looks so cool. Yeah. Yeah, and people are like, well, it's about the same size as Expo. I'm like, I guess. I mean, it was quite a few games that people brought in. The games at Expo were junkier to play. There was a lot of broken and busted games at Expo. MGC, most of the games played fine. I think that the vendor hall overall was better at Expo, maybe. I do not play in the tournament at MGC. It was cool, but I was able to find, oh, the coolest thing I was able to find, is not just because there's pinball stuff but there is also gaming stuff i'm not a big gamer but i do have a game boy color and i was so thrilled to find you're gonna laugh i found the little mermaid pinball adventure with a rumble pack from a game boy color and like another pinball game for my game boy color it was just so dorky but i'm like i was so excited and i've actually played them they're sitting in my arcade with my with my actual pinballs you know anyway yeah it was neat did you get to mgc no i did not i actually i started a new job that next that monday so when i was at when i was at expo i had i was jobless but i had i mean i had another job which i was excited to get to but i was like i'm gonna just take it easy and yeah still a little bit of concern about covid i know yes people act like it's not there but i'm like it's still a room so mgc required proof of vaccination or proof of a negative covid test see i think next year i want to go to that one that would be in april next year cool but the expo was cool because it had all the tribe members yes like that made it special you know yes it was so special uh we should talk a little bit about that because you have another little side job you said that you have all these other little hobbies and things little niches that you're into and i'm really digging that but you do something kind of very special for the tribe ah you must be talking about the chive coins i'm talking about your blacksmithing as you referred to it yes well me and my dad were actually uh blacksmiths at the local heritage village down in florida you are the coolest guy with so many hobbies well you know i try to keep like i try to keep from being boring and that's harder than people think but so we were like for the longest time like every saturday and we'd go over there and just wreck my dad said let's go wreck metal and And then we'd go there and it's because it's the old coal forge. And he would talk to kids as I would do some dumb thing like just making an S cook and say, here you go, kid. So it was always fun. And then he passed away. This was about six or seven years ago. And then I stopped doing it after that, of course. I mean we put a bench in his honor right by the blacksmithing place. And it just has his name and said Wrecker of Metal kind of thing. It was a funny plaque. That's funny. But I still do. I still have the anvils and the hammers and stuff like that. And when they did the tribe, I thought that's a great idea because now you have community and it means a little bit more than just listening to a podcast, you know. Right. And I kind of was thinking in my head, like, what's some cool stuff that is just something that makes it a little bit more exclusive?
    40:35
    And that's why I was like, I remember there was a guy at my work that was in the 501st. Have you ever heard of that? No. It's those guys that recreate Star Wars. Star Wars, yeah. He's the Wampa dude. Like there's one guy that has a Wampa and that's the guy who sat next to me for all these years at my old job. And he showed me these coins that they made. I was like, well, that's pretty cool. And it always stuck in my head like if I could do that, that would be a good thing to do. So I just started – I talked to them, Drew and Ian. I said this is something I wanted to do. Is that cool? You guys know. Yeah, whatever. So I showed the different designs and finally kind of settled on one and got these blanks made. so now I have a box of the blanks and then whenever somebody wants one I hammer I just take it out to the anvil and I hammer the letters and numbers in to varying degrees of accuracy I just take it out to the anvil don't mind me it was funny because the first couple I was doing I had like a little headlamp on and we didn't have insulation in the garage yet and I'm out there in the winter and I was still wearing Florida clothes like a shirt and like shorts and flip-flops. And I'm like – and I'm hammering on these things. I'm shaking so hard. The numbers like are moving a little bit when I'm hitting them. I was like, this has got to change. So I fixed the garage and have insulation and drywall in there now. Also, I bought clothing. That's a plus.
    42:01
    Bought a jacket. Yeah. So it was just the first couple were so funny. I was like – I couldn't build my hands when I walked in. I just did like two coins. I was like, this is a little – I got to fix this. but uh yeah so that's just it's been fun because some people really like them you know i love mine i love my tribe coin i actually when i don't have pockets it goes right in my bra when i play competitive i'm not kidding you i like to keep it on me like i had an expo in my bra because i was wearing leggings and i played really well but that's where it ends up but i do like having it physically on me when i'm playing big things i feel like i always got my tribe in my pocket and they're like right there with me and i get frustrated i can pull it out and flip it around and a little you know fidget toy too i love i love my coin thank you so much oh you're welcome i loved when everyone took them out and like started throwing them on the ground and i was like huh never saw that coming and that's it neither did we that's the glory of it you never know where something's gonna go right uh i've actually gone out to like columbus ohio and I ran into Pete Quint, and he'll pull out his tribe coin, and I'll pull out mine, you know, stuff like that. Yeah, it is really cool. It's just a neat way to connect all of us. And the tribe is like its own little, I don't like using the word clique, but it is its own little club of really cool, fun folks. And I'm just so glad to be part of it. Oh, for sure. Yeah. It's one of those things. I enjoyed listening to them as they were, like, as each week when they would come out, when they were just being goofy and being themselves, you know. Yeah. So that was always a lot of fun. I want to ask you, how did you actually get into pinball? Oh, well, I played a lot as a kid. There was a local bowling alley. I grew up in this tiny town called Sladington in Pennsylvania. Don't bother looking for it. It's outside of Allentown.
    43:53
    I have no idea where that's at. You shouldn't. But anyway, there was a bowling alley, and I had a couple of pinball machines. So I played those a lot when I was a kid. but then like um you know i didn't play a whole lot in college and then when i moved to florida i bought this like flying carpet from this guy and i just like restored it a little bit it was a real mess and i got it working and i was playing it because i do like the older style machines they're not as exciting but i do like them you know some of them are pretty good so i sold that one off and then i that turned into then i bought a fun fest and i bought a Oh, FunFest. FunFest. Okay. That is like my new dream game. I'm not kidding you. You got really excited right there. I'm really excited about that because I've never heard of Flying Carpet, but then you said FunFest. So when I was at Expo, I played FunFest at Expo, and that game is hilarious because it's got not only a kickback, a gate, but it also has a ball save on it. That goes away. You never dream on the game. The art package on it was so pretty. I really, really want that game. Yeah, because they make a swinger. They make one called Swinger, which is just the one person or two person. I don't know. So I restored that and I sold that one. And then I started finding out about these expos and about, like, competitions.
    45:12
    So I went down. Out of the blue, I went down to this competition in Fort Myers at the pinball asylum. And I was totally new at pinball, so I was just like a lunatic. Like, I was playing the games, and then I was running to the free area and just playing, playing, playing. and then I would run back and I'd play the game. And I'd run and play, play, play. Like they were literally like just you're up. And I was finishing the game. I'd run over. I'm like, yeah, this is so great. And I did that for like nine hours. And I ended up making finals. Oh, wow. And I was like, huh. But then I crashed because I hadn't eaten for 12 hours or whatever it was. And I got wiped out immediately. But it was just a lot of fun. I was like, oh, this is really cool, you know. And I remember playing and everyone was like, oh, my God, you beat that guy. And I was like, who cares? I thought I could do better on this game. but I still did good and they're like that's Eric Stone I was like I didn't know who that was I was like okay whatever I wanted to play more on that game so that was they liked having me kind of just show up out of nowhere and like get to finals they were like wow who is this that's where I met Dan Spooler who he was still involved with them and he's the Project Pinball guy now so the guy that runs that he used to co-own the Asylum and then he moved on and you know so I always give plugs for the project pinball.org on my game on my shows because that's a cool thing it is a very cool thing yeah and i never like thought of owning a pinball machine like that concept was like wait owning a pinball machine then i did the first one i got it pretty cheap and then i just kept fixing and keeping them as a way of playing a different game while i worked on them and then sold it and got another one sold it got another one that was kind of a common thing when they weren't made so or they weren't so expensive right and then uh yeah and then now and now i just now i have more that like those three i have i don't want them to go away i kind of now i'm kind of just searching for the ones that are kind of bolt to the floor which i don't that's not necessarily true but they're ones i wouldn't want to turn over you know so now i kind of have a top 10 hit list and a couple ideas of things i want to get going but other than that Now I'm trying to just get the collection that's in-house always. Right. What you really want to have there that's really fun to you, entertaining to you, appeals to you, all those things. Oh, yeah. Sadly, they're the ones that everyone else in the world wants. So the price is always really high. Sounds like my problem, too. I'd love to have that Addams Family, but that's not going to happen for, I don't know, not until I win the lottery. Yeah. What else is in your hit list? Oh, I'm trying to think. Let me see. I have it on here on my computer. Let me see if I can pull this up. Sure. I can do an official. I don't know if I can even find it. Jetsons? No. Jetsons. Nice try.
    47:56
    Well, of course, the top one is Attack from Mars. That's my all-time favorite game. An original or a remake? I like the remake. Me too. The original is cool, but new is good too. And The Simpsons is not on there, although I don't think that's a great game. I love The Simpsons back in the day.
    48:15
    Deadpool's on there. I'm trying to think what some of the older ones are because I have a pretty good swath of – it's not all brand new shiny. Some of them are like the older ones. But now it's failing my brain. It happens a lot. I agree. Deadpool is a great game too. I think Deadpool – and like I said, FunFest.
    48:35
    There's going to be somebody out there like, what is FunFest? Why is she so excited? Did I play you on FunFest? I think we did, Tim. I think so, yeah. I just looked it up, and I'm pretty sure we played that game. So funny. I did not win. That's okay.
    48:52
    That's awesome. Don't forget, Tim, we'll always have Spider-Man. You'll always remember for the rest of your life that you beat Rachel Lilge at Spider-Man. Yes. And you see how I play pinball. I suck, and then I'll have, like, one phenomenal ball. All you need is one ball. and that's that happens a lot right you think you're having a bad game and all of a sudden you just have a you crush a monster ball and you're like yes you know and then it drains the second you do the next ball damn it i don't know i i actually the guy there was a guy who sets up in free play florida which i'm i'm kind of plugging that show but there's a lot of great shows out there free play florida is a fun fun show it's a three-day air down there in orlando and he sets up the pre-war displays he has all these pre-war games um every time i leave there i'm like i gotta find one of these and you can't like you can't find them not like i'm in a pre-war like facebook group but they if they come up for sale they're in massachusetts or like peru or something like i i can't ever find one in wisconsin that i can drive to you know because there's some really interesting ones in that too where it's they have these solenoid cannons and they have Like a wood rail? Like a wood rail game? Even before those, it looks almost like a bag of towel. They don't have a back to it. You know, it's just like a – but they're bigger, you know. I thought I saw one that came up recently. Man. And some of them even have like these elaborate systems that kick balls around and stuff like that. Like one fleet has one that shoots cannons, and if you have it, it's like an old warship theme. And if you get them in the right spots, the cannons start shooting them up to the next one. then it shoots it up to the next one. It shoots up the next one. So you have these points accumulating, but you're not doing it. The cannon's doing it. It's so, it's just such a neat thing, you know, and I want to get one of those one day, but it sounds, sounds pretty awesome to be honest with you. Yeah. I think most people play them and they're like, this is boring. Just, you know, but whatever. I still think it's interesting. I think any game is interesting. Just for the fact, just to see how the ball bounces around, because sometimes the ball just decides to do whatever the heck it wants to. Right. It usually drained on the left.
    51:06
    At least, you know, at least you recall. Damn you left lane. Yeah. That's funny. I want to ask you, is there a specific game that you recall first playing when you're a kid?
    51:19
    Oh, come on. What's it? Pin bot. Yeah. There was one, there was one pin bot was just so fun. And, and of course eight ball deluxe. Cause you know, stop talking and start chalking was always, we made fun of it more than we did, but we always played it.
    51:34
    Have you played Pinbot recently? Yes. Yeah. Pinbot was one of my favorites as a child. I played it constantly all the time. And I went and bought one, and it did not hold up for me. I was just curious. Did it hold up for you? Same. I would still buy one. But, yeah, I don't know how often it would get played. That's the truth. It's a weird game because I had the same fond memories. And when I played it the last time, I was like, I don't know. you know yeah put the eyes in now i see and that ramp's always all jacked up and you know if you had a new ramp in there maybe it would be nicer too but yeah i i concur it was a little yeah i don't hate the game and by any means but uh i would like i'd much rather have like a taxi or a one of those you know same era but it seemed to have a lot more in it you know a lot more fun yeah yeah no i agree i had it six months and then i got rid of it it was a cool six months How long did you have Taxi?
    52:32
    I've already sold Taxi. No, I know, but how long did you have it? Did you have a long time? Like two weeks. Oh, shit.
    52:41
    That's when I would be like, I'd love this game. I don't know. Maybe if I had it in the house, I'd be like, okay, this can go away sometime. Yeah, it's still down there. They haven't picked it up yet. I actually sold it to a really good friend is going to take it off my hands. But I just couldn't pass up Godzilla, and I was looking around the room, and Taxi was thrown in on a two-pin trade as the second pin. It wasn't really the one I wanted, but when I saw it, it's the closest thing I've seen to like, what do they call it, a high-end restoration, and it's absolutely beautiful. And so I took it as the second pin on a trade. I like it, but I was just looking around the room like, what can I give up to get Godzilla and Turtles and Taxi? Both just kept coming back. Do you miss your Turtles? I do I really like Turtles a lot I don't like that game I know I'm not a fan I've tried so hard to dial it in At Plymouth Tap I've sat and spent 20 minutes on that game Half hour Just cannot dial it in Just cannot like that game for the life of me That's okay though We don't have to like them all I think I had it 15 months And that's why I got rid of it I played it enough That's a long time for you to have a game I just got to play Stranger Things over the weekend when we went to that Player 2. I hadn't played it up until then. Really? Wow. Yeah, I know. That's what I said. I was like, oh my god. So I finally got up there, because I played the Rick and Morty, and I played Rick and Morty again, and that was like three minutes. No, that was like 20 seconds. Then I looked down the line, and then Metallica was there, and I was like, well, I'm always going to play Metallica. I was like, oh wait, Stranger Things. That's cool. So it was an interesting game. I didn't get very far in it, but it was a fun game. Seemed like a pretty decent shooter, but I don't know. Yeah, I like Stranger Things. I like the flow of that game. I always have to ask, did it have the UV kit? I don't think so. Okay. My exchange student's husband is now looking to get into pinball, so I kind of gave him some pointers. I was like, well, now's not the time, but here's some pointers. And I said yeah that Stranger Things has this UV kit that makes it glow and I was like I don think that one had it But i didn know for sure because it was everything had been on route pretty good right a little bit beat up you know the the ball plunged you got to flip that's the most important things there at least those things work right yeah yeah for sure still gotta get up to that one a year at the the um he's retitled town notes um district 82 yeah no we went up there once and we didn't play we just walked around and looked at it and then we left and i was like man we should go up there we're got we're going to for sure yeah he has very peculiar hours i suppose for you know like a person that doesn't play pinball for the rest of the public he's only open to the public on friday nights for flipping friday and then he's doing saturday mornings for a while um or like saturday mid-morning to early afternoon so do look at his website and hopefully you can get up there and find it on the weekend or you can come play in a tournament sometime with me that would be fun yeah i would like to i'm not very well versed in tournaments i just kind of go and play until that's all you have to do hey my my brother came to play a tournament he never played before and i literally i took him to the game i said august that's his name august this is the skill shot this is your multi-ball shot or your lock and then i looked at the other people that were there that were there and i'm like well he's never played this game before maybe you can give him a couple pointers maybe not good luck you know and away i went and and really it's he just had fun going up and playing so that's all you really have to do too is just play that's all i like to do i just have i just go crazy and just be like yeah it's so fun yeah i just showed up and i googled beforehand you know some of the multi balls of the games i hadn't played and put glenn on your phone if you don't have them on your phone because I texted Glenn three or four times during the day and said, how do I do X on Y? And he responded. Except one time he responded, yeah, one time I said, hey, I'm going to play Simpsons pinball party. And he said, I got nothing on that one. He said, good luck. Yeah.
    56:54
    The only time I've actually reached out to him, but I thought about that the other day, thinking about Expo and so forth and how great he was just talking to me in my ear about that. The next time there's a new game that I come across, I definitely have to reach out to Glenn and say, what the heck am I supposed to be doing here? Yeah, that's cool. What did you think of the Hot Wheels? I like that game. I think it's fun. I mean, there's not a lot going on in terms of a bunch of different shots or all sorts of cool toys and stuff. There's not a lot of that kind of stuff going on. But I thought the game was fun to play. And I also really like there's the claymation that's going on in the videos or whatever on the back box. It's really interesting too. Really cute. They're actually really cute. I thought it was a fun, enjoyable game. Tim, did you like it? Yeah, I liked it. If it weren't Hot Wheels, I probably would like it more. I was just, me and my boys were so excited when they announced Hot Wheels. Like, we spent probably an hour talking about what would be on the game. Sure. And we thought ramps and jumps and, you know, like, honestly, we envisioned something like Jack Danger's Jurassic Park Home Pin. It had a jump, so to speak. Like it went from one ramp to the next. And we thought that there would be a loop and there's kind of a loop. So I was really disappointed in the theme integration, I should say, or like that it didn't have the mechs that we thought it would. But just when I get onto Helicon and play it as a game, it's fun. It is a fun game. It's just I expected more. Yeah, I can understand that. Yep. Yep. So it's fun having Martin on the show. He's like interviewing us. I know. I've been doing all of it. So you've been quiet this interview. I'm like, is he asleep over there? Is his mic on? No, I think you're just relaxing and enjoying. That's the way to go. That's right. I do want to mention one other thing, Martin, because on Facebook, your name is kind of confusing for people. And for the longest time, I had the hardest time trying to remember what your Facebook name is. And there's another tribe member, he shall remain nameless, that we're trying to recall your name talking about the tribe coins one day. And he's like, Oh, what's his name? It's a foghorn leghorn. if there's ever another media social media that takes over i'm gonna be foghorn leghorn on that just so you know i'm gonna that's gonna be my new name oh i love it you know we giggled so i still giggle at that so you're foghorn nothing really the i know what you look like but in my head that's the name that's been assigned to you and i'm not sorry i don't know uh but you've got several different names yes i'm gonna make a shirt that says foghorn leghorn sucks at pinball I'm going to wear that to the next Expo. Oh, yes. Yes, please do that. Rachel, when I met Martin at Expo, it was in the morning at Starbucks at breakfast, and I'm like, who's Martin?
    60:02
    Right. I actually – I called you by your stage name on the tribe. What is it, Fulgore? And I completely mispronounced it. And then I remembered you're the guy that did the tribe coins and they had talked about Martin, but you completely threw me off. So weird. It was embarrassing at first. No, it's like I also when we started this, I said all on all those other podcasts and TV shows, all that stuff. I go by Mao, lowercase M, uppercase O, lowercase W. So that was like that's like my ongoing stage name forever. When I signed up for Facebook, like it was just the end of that MySpace. So I was like, well, this is just going to be another dumb thing that kind of comes and goes and no one cares. So I used my cat's name, who is Fulgore, and he was named after the black robot on Killer Instinct, which is one of my favorite video games. And actually, I used to say it like the video game. I used to go, Fulgore. And he used to, like, look at me and be like, what? What's going on? And then I just used this weird old Germanic spelling of my actual last name. So that's where that comes from. I didn't think I'd be using it 15 years later. I kind of assumed Facebook would fail like everything else. And, well, time makes fools of us all, right? Ain't that the truth. But Martin's fine, too. Okay. I'm still going to call you Foghorn probably because I think it's hilarious. I'm going to put a big chicken on the back of that shirt that I make. When I get the Foghorn Leghorn Sucks at Pinball, I'm going to have him on the back. Sweet. I can't wait to see that. I think it's so awesome. I hope he gets his own tribe coin. He'll be like, tribe coin. we know a guy we can make it happen we know a guy yeah we got a guy yep he's the guy i do i do have one final question for you actually tim would you like to ask it is it the most important question it is oh my all this pressure it's very difficult that's okay all right martin how did you get into the tribe well i can't talk about pillars number four and five because as we all know they're clandestine and can't be talked about. But really, I reached out and I just started listening to them.
    62:16
    I started listening to all the podcasts. I was on the pin side and all that kind of stuff. And slowly I realized most of these podcasts, I don't like the people that are doing them. So I stopped. Slowly they all whittled down. But the poor men, I liked them and they're funny and I related to them. So I was like, that's cool and right when I started listening to them that that show they had said oh we have 14 listeners so I reached out to them and said oh hey let me know I'm listening to number 15 and then I said something else and they had just done a love letter so I was like well I love doing skits I've been doing them for 100 years so that's when I did my own like love letter and I dropped in my own background music and they're like what is this guy so like I just like sent them a pre-made a pre-packaged love letter. And then the next time I did like this really elaborate like dad joke where it was the Sesame Street buns, like this long stupid thing. And then they were like, well, we're going to make him a tribe member because he's continually giving content to the shows, you know. So that's how I kind of got into it. And I do – I actually kind of think they're very fun and cool guys and nice to talk to and stuff like that. It's not any agenda, and they're not kind of whatever else you're going to say about some of the others. I'm going to just pass on that. But I most identified with them. So that's the only one I listen to anymore. I don't listen to any of them anymore. I just kind of gave up listening to what people think about it. I don't know. So what's your tribe number? Number two. That's what I thought, number two. Behind Ryan Kuyper. I was going to say, not Ryan Sequest. The other one. The other guy. It's funny because actually in our tribe list, they actually have you listed as listener 15 in our tribe group. It was really funny. I'm like, was he really listener 15? That's so funny. How many names does this guy go by? Is he a bank robber? What's his name?
    64:20
    What's the deal with this? It totally confused me. See? But I think what you said is spot on there is that reportmen really don't – they don't really have much on an agenda there. They're just getting drunk and having fun, chatting about pinball and nothing.
    64:36
    That's what a big part of the appeal is, a big part of it. For sure. And Martin, you had brought this up earlier. You were starting to talk about the latest episode where Ian came back. Yeah, I have to listen to that because now I have a new job. I'm not listening to podcasts or anything like that right now. I'm just training and like being taught stuff and all that kind of stuff. So I'm like, I don't listen to any podcasts anymore, which has been a bit rough, but yeah, I have to get on. I have to at least listen to that. I'm sure it's a lot of fun. Yeah. They haven't missed a beat. I actually called, I listened to it today because I was off and Amy was working and I had stuff, you know, I had to work on around the house. So I listened to it and I saved it. And I immediately called drew up and told him to give Ian a secret message for me. I won't say what that is, but I liked the episode so much. And then the F it Friday was, was just as good. So, um, and yeah, he got a little sentimental about the tribe. I won't, you know, drop any spoilers, but yeah, the secret message was Tim Lee sucks at Tim. I can't even say it. See, the secret message was Tim Lee sucks at pinball, right? I, I will give you a spoiler that Ian is buying a Drew sucks at pinball shirt. That's hilarious. The secret message was drink your Ovaltine. Yeah, be sure to drink your Ovaltine. That stupid ring.
    66:01
    That's what we're going to do next time. We're going to do tribe decoder rings. We'll be able to set it to a certain frequency to know what we're all saying. Yeah, you really think we're capable of figuring this out?
    66:14
    Probably not. That's when I sold two of the 300 rings I bought. Ian Harrow is a pretty smart dude I hear so I'll have to pay him to decode my message I'll be paying him they're a lot of fun I genuinely looked forward to meeting them when I moved to Wisconsin I know I'll get down to see Charlie I haven't gotten to him yet when I reached out to him he was like cool let me know when I'm good to go I want to meet Charlie and I know we're going to go down. Stern, when I talked to him at Expo, he's like, yeah, after this is done, write to me and tell me when you're coming down and I'll give you just a tour, just you guys, you and your wife. Nice. And Ian and Drew were like, I was like, I want to go down and hang out with these dudes. They're cool and I really dig them. So all these are still on my to-do list, which I'm hoping to get done at some point. It will happen. Yeah. The move to Wisconsin has been great. You know, Florida's wacky and hot. So hot. My God.
    67:19
    So hot and humid and wacky. I agree with that. We never were going out anymore. I was like, I'm not going out in 90 degree weather. I can't even breathe, you know. And we moved up here and I was like, oh, this is so nice. This is just so different, you know. Yeah. My wife brought up moving to Milwaukee this past week. Yes. And I don't know why. I didn't prompt the conversation, but she had said something about moving to Milwaukee. and I made a joke and she's like, no, I'm serious. Now, I have no plans on moving to Milwaukee, but it was very odd that Amy brought that up. If you plan to move to that city, you have to drop the L. It's Milwaukee. There's no L in the word.
    67:58
    Milwaukee. I can't pronounce like any of the towns around here. It's like Waka Waka Pac-Man and I'm like, what is all this? The first thing I say to anyone I meet is like, how do I say this name? Like I literally sit down in a diner. I was like, one coffee. How do you say the name of this town? I'm in. And then they laugh and pour and you're like, well, it's this. And I'm like, Oh man, no, it isn't. I mean, it is, but not in my head. It isn't. Sorry. Yeah.
    68:29
    Okay. Yeah. There's some very difficult name cities and villages in my state and our home state, your home state now too. Yes. Yeah. Great state of Wisconsin. Yeah. Well, welcome to it. I hope that you weather well in your second winter here in Wisconsin as well. Yeah, it's funny. The first thing I bought was a house. The second thing was an Arian snowblower. I literally went to the Ace because the way things were selling out, I was like, oh, my God, I've got to buy this right now. So I literally went down the next day after we landed here. I went down to the Ace and bought the 24 self-powered Arian snowblower. I was like, oh, thank God. I've got a week until that comes. We'll be okay. Now let's get a refrigerator. It was just kind of like, oh, my God. yeah that's about it though you really do want to be prepared i did pull out my snow shovel today i'm not gonna lie i had to pull out the salt for the sidewalks but that's just all part of it living here but again it's not i can't deal with hot weather very well so i'd rather really live actually i'd like to live somewhere it's kind of more moderate in between because wisconsin can be very very cold too but here's hoping it's a mild winter for both yeah for sure for sure i wasn't i actually stayed i was in korea from 2011 to 2012 teaching english to kids who don't want to learn english and it was that was the first winter i had seen for for quite some time and i actually said when i came back i was like i kind of liked it it was cold some days were really cold and i went over to japan like three times during that time no two times and but and the one time i was there was the hottest or the coldest week in japan and then when i visited in summer it was the hottest week in summer. I'm like, what is this? What are you trying to tell me? But it was still a lot of fun. I actually stayed in the families of all the exchange students. That's so neat. Now I have a handler, so I'm not going to do anything stupid that a foreigner would normally do. So they're like, no, no, don't do that. Don't do that. Just come back with me. So it was a lot of fun. Hands to yourself. Right.
    70:23
    I understand. At one point, we went to this shrine that had the oldest tree in the world, supposedly. And I walked up and I got I didn't get close to it. And they were like, why don't you look at it? I was like, I don't want to be the foreigner that knocks down the oldest tree in the world. Like I put my hand on it and it falls down and kill him. You know, I'm like, no, just run.
    70:41
    That's my luck too. That'd be my luck right there with you. Oh, that's so funny. Yeah. Ah, I guess that's it. I don't know. What else have we got going on? Tim, what have you got? No, I got nothing. I really enjoyed that episode.
    70:57
    Me too. Like I said, Martin, you're a great guest. You can tell you've been doing the podcasting for a while. Have you on on another episode down the road. For sure. Anytime. I love just talking to you on the microphone. It's the only thing that listens to me is this microphone. Everything else is like, ah, you stupid idiot. Shut up. That guy is lying all that crap he's making up.
    71:18
    But, yeah, for sure. And I will get on those other – I know where they are, all those other interviews. Great. I'll probably scrub them to make sure they don't say anything weird. some of you. Pinball junk drawer. And a foghorn leghorn.
    71:33
    John, let me jot that down because that's what it's going to be. Foghorn leghorn presents I say he presents the junk drawer. That's perfect.
    71:44
    Fantastic. I got to watch some of those old things so I can get some of his colloquialisms down. Please do that. I will pee my pants laughing. I'm not kidding. It's just so funny. Oh, what a great episode. Thanks so much for being on and being our guest today. Just really appreciate you. No, thank you. It's been wonderful. I always love doing this kind of stuff. I appreciate you making the time. Absolutely. Tim, I love and adore you. Thanks for being an awesome co-host as always. Thank you. Love you too. Yeah. And happy flipping, friends. Yep. Happy flipping. Drew sucks at pinball.
    72:21
    Thanks, one and all. Bye-bye. We'll be right back. Bye.