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Episode 12 – Apologies are in Order

Slam Tilt Podcast·podcast_episode·held·Sep 29, 2016
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.035

TL;DR

Slam Tilt addresses apology, covers Houdini announcement, Expo format overhaul, and market sustainability concerns.

Summary

In this Slam Tilt Podcast episode, Ron Hallett addresses a controversy involving co-host Bruce Nightingale's previous disparaging remarks about Rock Fantasy games, offering a public apology. The main content covers major pinball industry news: American Pinball announcement of the Houdini game designed by John Papadiuk (himself a controversial figure with outstanding debts), changes to the Pinball Expo tournament format moving to a bracket-style competition, and logistical updates including Arcade Expo's postponement from January to March. The hosts speculate on market dynamics, pricing pressures, and manufacturer sustainability.

Key Claims

  • American Pinball is releasing Houdini, designed by John Papadiuk, with a price point of $6,995 (cheaper than Stern Premium)

    high confidence · Ron Hallett and Bruce Nightingale discussing official announcement from American Pinball's Facebook and Pinside

  • Houdini was built in approximately four months

    medium confidence · Bruce Nightingale stating 'for being done supposedly in four months, looks pretty good' - uses 'supposedly'

  • John Papadiuk owes significant money to suppliers and creditors and has not yet declared bankruptcy

    high confidence · Bruce Nightingale discussing Papadiuk's financial situation; mentions suppliers owed money and describes debts as 'a ton'

  • Pinball Expo tournament format is changing to a bracket-style (winner's/loser's bracket) with qualifying only on Thursday

    high confidence · Ron Hallett providing detailed explanation of new tournament structure confirmed by official Expo communications

  • Gary Stern previously stated (2001-2009) that the industry cannot support more than one manufacturer

    medium confidence · Bruce Nightingale recalling Stern's historical comments; described as 'many times' but specific quotes not provided

  • There are currently six active pinball manufacturers competing for limited consumer dollars

    high confidence · Bruce Nightingale discussing market saturation and pricing pressures with six companies

  • A Pinside forum user was temporarily banned (two days) for posting a fake lynching image with Papadiuk's head Photoshopped in

    high confidence · Ron Hallett reporting Pinside forum incident; notes user 'got two days for that'

  • Arcade Expo moved from January to March due to building/permitting issues at the venue

    high confidence · Ron and Bruce discussing venue building problems requiring permit fixes, forcing postponement

Notable Quotes

  • “I offer a complete and utter retraction. The imputation was totally without basis in fact, and was in no way fair comment, and was motivated purely by malice”

    [name withheld pending review] @ Opening segment — Opening apology reads from Monty Python, sets tone for serious apology to Rock Fantasy's owner (Keeler)

  • “He will never show his face until all of his debts are repaid. And I'm not just talking about the pinball people either. That's the one side people always bring up. Don't forget the suppliers.”

    Bruce Nightingale @ Mid-episode discussion of Papadiuk — Emphasizes the breadth of Papadiuk's financial obligations beyond just pinball community

  • “The industry cannot take more than one manufacturer... He said that back in 2001 to 2009.”

    Bruce Nightingale @ Market analysis segment — References Gary Stern's historical skepticism of multi-manufacturer markets; relevant to current competitive dynamics

  • “Most people have to sell a pin to buy a pin. Right or wrong?”

    Bruce Nightingale @ Market analysis segment — Describes collector cash flow constraints driving secondary market dynamics

  • “You're going to get to experience almost definitely Expo glare at some point. Some of the trademarks of the Expo tournament.”

    [name withheld pending review] @ Expo tournament discussion — Humorous reference to known venue lighting problems at Pinball Expo tournament

  • “They must have heard me. They must have heard us. They must have heard me because in a previous podcast I was critical.”

    Bruce Nightingale @ Expo website updates discussion — Hosts claim their podcast criticism directly influenced Expo's website and schedule fixes

  • “Do you think all six companies will be in business in six months? I do. 6 months yeah I think even till 4th of July but you watch 4th of July when these companies will fold.”

    Bruce Nightingale @ Market sustainability discussion — Predicts industry consolidation/failure by mid-year; expresses doubt about manufacturer viability

Entities

[name withheld pending review]personBruce NightingalepersonJohn PapadiukpersonAmerican PinballcompanyStern PinballcompanyJersey Jack PinballcompanySpooky PinballcompanyDutch PinballcompanyPPS (Pinball Production Services or equivalent)

Signals

  • ?

    announcement: American Pinball officially announces Houdini, a new pinball game designed by John Papadiuk, with visual assets (playfield and backbox shots) shared via Facebook and Pinside

    high · Ron and Bruce discuss official announcement and review playfield/backbox photos from American Pinball's Facebook page showing magician-themed layout with levitating ball toy

  • ?

    leak_detection: Houdini/American Pinball details leaked via Kaneda using fake 'Ron Thorne' Pinside account before official announcement; community investigated and verified legitimacy

    high · Bruce: 'he made a whole new post under his fake name... and everyone thought it was a scam... and then all of a sudden it started coming true to life... then Pinball News took it'

  • ?

    product_launch: American Pinball Houdini priced at $6,995, positioning below Stern Premium pricing tier, potentially as market entry strategy

    high · Ron: 'The price point that they're talking, $69.95. Cheaper than now Stern's premiums. Oh, for the Houdini.' ($6,995 vs Stern Premium ~$7,500+)

  • $

    market_signal: Six active pinball manufacturers now competing for limited consumer capital, with collectors forced to sell existing machines to fund purchases

    high · Bruce: 'with six companies now buying for your dollar... Most people have to sell a pin to buy a pin. Right or wrong?... you're playing dominoes with this money'

  • ?

    business_signal: Host predicts industry consolidation/manufacturer failures by mid-2024 (July 4th timeframe) due to market saturation and cash constraints

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.222

0:00
All right, all right, I apologize. You're really sorry. I'm really, really sorry. I apologize unreservedly. You take it back. I do. I offer a complete and utter retraction. The imputation was totally without basis in fact, and was in no way fair comment, and was motivated purely by malice, and I deeply regret any distress that my comments may have caused you or your family, and I hereby undertake not to repeat any such slander at any time in the future.
0:46
Coming to you from beautiful upstate New York, this is the Slam Tilt Podcast, a show about all things pinball. I am your host, Ron Hallett, and welcome to episode 12.
0:59
I am your only host because my former co-host, Bruce Nightingale, made some comments on last week's episode that were inappropriate and caused a shitstorm for the podcast. So he has been removed, and he will be replaced by John Papaduke, former Williams designer, He will be coming on here any moment. I actually told him 830. That's when we usually record. He's a little late.
1:31
Oh, wait a minute. Okay, I see a call coming in on my Skype right now. Hello, John. 100,000, 200,000, 300,000. What are you doing, John? I'm still counting the money I stole. I don't know. You sound a lot like Bruce.
1:50
No, no Bruce here. Yeah, just Papa Duke, and I am the Master Houdini. Yes, the Master Houdini, okay. Well, luckily the court injunction came through, and you cannot fire me. I am here to stay.

Stern is hiring old Williams design talent as consultants to prevent competing manufacturers from recruiting them

medium confidence · Bruce Nightingale speculating: 'They want to keep... Stern wants to keep these guys. So they're going to hire him as consultants or anything, so no other company can'

  • Monster Bash license approval confidence dropped from 95% to 75% for PPS second game due to unspecified 'things'

    low confidence · Bruce Nightingale citing unnamed source who reported confidence change but refused to elaborate on reason

  • “Houdini looks like he's got some chains around him with some cards and some balls in his hands... It's levitating.”

    John Papadiuk (Bruce Nightingale voicing) @ Houdini playfield discussion — Describes unique playfield toy (levitating ball) visible in Houdini images

  • “You're going to get to experience the glare of the sun shining through and blinding you while you're trying to play.”

    [name withheld pending review] @ Expo venue discussion — Highlights chronic lighting issues at Expo tournament venue that affect competitive play

  • “I don't know what's going to happen, but Houdini, for being done supposedly in four months, looks pretty good.”

    Bruce Nightingale @ Houdini assessment — Qualified endorsement of Houdini's appearance; expresses uncertainty about quality despite visual appeal

    • company
    Mr. Keelerperson
    Tim Sextonperson
    Greg Pavarelliperson
    Ericperson
    Kanedaperson
    Chris Koolurisperson
    Mike Pacekperson
    Gary Sternperson
    Houdinigame
    Batman 66game
    [name withheld pending review]game
    Big Lebowskigame
    Game of Thronesgame
    Pinball Expoevent
    Arcade Expoevent
    Pinsideorganization

    medium · Bruce: 'Do you think all six companies will be in business in six months? I do... I think even till 4th of July but you watch 4th of July when these companies will fold'

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Stern actively hiring legacy Williams designers (Lyman Sheets, Joe Kaminkow, Eugene Jarvis) as consultants to block competing manufacturers from recruiting them

    medium · Bruce: 'Stern wants to keep these guys. So they're going to hire him as consultants or anything, so no other company can. That's when I think they really started believing about it'

  • ?

    event_signal: Pinball Expo tournament switching from multi-day qualifying (Thu-Sat) pump-and-dump format to single-day Thursday qualifying with bracket-style finals (Fri-Sun)

    high · Ron provides detailed explanation of new format: 'Qualifying is Thursday. And only Thursday... top 40% will end up in A, and the bottom 60% will be in B... play a two-out-of-three match... loser's bracket'

  • ?

    community_signal: Pinside forum user posted fake lynching image with John Papadiuk's head Photoshopped in; received only 2-day ban despite extreme nature of content

    high · Ron: 'some dude, like, posted a picture of, like, an actual lynching. I know. With John Papadiuk's head, like, Photoshopped in there... he got two days for that'

  • ?

    venue_signal: Arcade Expo postponed from January 2024 to March 2024 due to unspecified building/permitting issues at venue; impacts InDisc tournament scheduling

    high · Ron and Bruce: 'Arcade Expo had some kind of building issues... They had to go to March... There's something with the building that was not right'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Despite John Papadiuk's controversial financial history, American Pinball's Houdini announcement generates qualified interest; hosts note aesthetic appeal offsets concerns

    medium · Bruce: 'I don't know what's going to happen, but Houdini, for being done supposedly in four months, looks pretty good... It looks like there's a lot of stuff packed in this thing'

  • ?

    design_innovation: Houdini features a magician-themed toy with a levitating pinball in the playfield, plus three pinballs in backbox artwork; Tommy-style ball on top of cabinet

    high · Bruce analyzing visible playfield shots: 'Also, three pinballs in his hand on the back glass also... He's got a pinball in his hand right in the play field. It's levitating... Tommy-style ball on the top'

  • ?

    content_signal: Tim Sexton (Twitch handle 'TimBalls') streaming weekly from Rock Fantasy Game Room on Sundays; recent streams include Kiss and Game of Thrones

    high · Ron promoting stream: 'His Twitch ID is TimBalls... one of our previous guests, Tim Sexton, who actually has been broadcasting on a weekly basis, I believe on Sundays, from the Rock Fantasy Game Room'

  • ?

    industry_signal: Bruce Nightingale's disparaging remarks about Rock Fantasy games in previous episode caused community backlash sufficient to warrant on-air apology and offer to meet in person

    high · Ron: 'Bruce made some comments on last week's episode that were inappropriate and caused a shitstorm for the podcast'... 'I'm going to apologize right now to Mr. Keeler'

    • 2:05
    And it was a shitstorm. It was a shitstorm. I get a text from Bruce saying, like, am I fired? Like, what are you talking about? I had no clue what the hell was going on. It was, you know, I am going to apologize to Keeler right now. Well, before, basically last week, Mr. Nightingale made some disparaging remarks about the Rock Fantasies games. And I'm going to apologize right now to Mr. Keeler. Mr. Keeler, I'm sorry that I made some disparaging remarks about your place and your games. Okay. And I'll see you hopefully this weekend at York, Pennsylvania, where I would extend the same comments to you in person, if you would like. An olive branch. Okay, okay. And I would say, speaking on behalf of the Slam Tilt Podcast,
    2:59
    if you are in the Middletown area, check out Rock Fantasy for all your vinyl and paraphernalia needs. A great selection of T-shirts. And posters. And if you're a sports fan and you want that New York Giants bong or that Yankees bong, they have it there for you. Or a Kiss bong. wrestling memorabilia, just a plethora of things. And if you want to see what the Rock Fantasy Game Room looks like, you can check that out by checking out the Twitch feed of one of our previous guests, Tim Sexton, who actually has been broadcasting on a weekly basis, I believe on Sundays, from the Rock Fantasy Game Room, if you want to check that out. His Twitch ID is TimBalls. That's T-I-M-B-A-L-L-S. That's TimBalls.
    3:52
    Give that a look-see. He did Kiss last week. He did Kiss. Then he did Game of Thrones. Yes. So there you go. Just putting that out there. Did you see Greg Pavarelli's score of Game of Thrones that he posted a couple days ago? Was it with the glass on or glass off? It was with the glass on. Okay. $13 billion.
    4:20
    Is that like a bug? I know. That's like a bug or something. No, it's just he got the hand of the king. He kept the multiball alive. He had great multipliers going. It's doable. I've seen Eric crush it, too, but $13 billion. Damn it, man. Damn it. And hopefully our apology does not go on deaf ears because hopefully the people we were most apologizing to actually still listen, which may not be the case. It may not be. But we'll put it out there because it's the right thing to do. Yes, it is. It is totally the right thing to do. And now getting to our regular scheduled program. It is Episode 12. The Voyage Home. Yes, not the Search for Spock's Balls. We did that last week. Yes, this is the Voyage Home. We're going to have some whales, you know, making some previews. And we're going to save the earth. We're going to save the earth. Yes, save the whales. Let's see. On the probe. What kind of probe is it? Oh, my. It was a weird looking thing. It was long and thin.
    5:20
    Yeah. With a ball at the end. The ball at the end. Okay. So there's been a lot of pinball news. Oh, my God. There's been a whole, speaking of shit storms, There's been a whole shitstorm of stuff going on. And it's not including me this time. No, no. It's usual locations like Pinside. Yes. You wonder why we make fun of it. I actually read Pinside for the first time in about a month. Well, the thing is, we make fun of Pinside, but I was reading this particular thread, this subject I'm going to bring up. And in this thread, some dude, like, it was about, and we're going to talk about it, it involved the Houdini game and John Papaduke and everyone was saying, you know, how could they do this? And, you know, a whole shitstorm there. And some dude, like, posted a picture of, like, an actual lynching. I know. With John Papaduke's head, like, Photoshopped in there. It's like, wow. And you wonder why we make fun of some of you pinsiders. I mean, come on. Wait, he only got two days for that. Yeah, he got two days for that. Wow. Just like, damn. So that's the first thing we'll bring up. There was an announcement made on the – on Pinside. This is the news. This is all news. We're on the news. All news. All the news that's in the print. Yes. And it was about American – Yes, American pinball or America pinball? American. I think it's American Pinball will be releasing a new game, and it's going to be Houdini, based on, obviously, the world-famous magician.
    7:04
    And the thing is, it immediately came up, it's like, well, who's designing your games? Well, first, you've got to go to the whole story. Okay, what's the whole story? You tell me the whole story. The whole story, I actually read it and I heard it on – I actually listened to Kaneda's podcast because he actually shouted us out last week on his podcast about our podcast. And we will give thank yous for that. Thank you, Kaneda. Yes, we're taking a page from his own book with the shitstorm he caused last week. Yes. It almost feels like it's a Kaneda-like podcast. It is. Yes. Well, he saw the post from somebody on another post, and then he made a whole new post under his fake name that he has, Ron Thorne, I think it is or something like that, and everyone thought it was a scam. They thought he made it up. They thought that he made the whole story up, and then all of a sudden it started coming true to life that, hey, this is real. Yeah, then Pinball News took it. And once that happened, it was like, okay, this is actually real. And if you looked, they were actually doing detective work, like the company before that was there, when they showed the picture of the other cabinets there. They were actually doing detective work in the background, piecing, like they had a screenshot of the old company that was there. And then they showed the Magic Girl cabinets, and you could see the exact same background.
    8:29
    Was it Magic Girl or Houdini cabinets? Magic Girl cabinets. because what they're going to do is actually, with the announcement, they're going to make all the Magic Girls. Sure they are. Well, I will be neutral for once. Wow. Yeah, I know. Go figure. I don't know what's going to happen, but Houdini, for being done supposedly in four months, looks pretty good. I actually like the play field shots. There's a couple of them on their website. Okay, they must have been more recent, because the only ones I saw were like a blurry shot of it from a distance. Nope. If you look on, you can actually see on Pinside now, it actually showed one play field shot and one backlash clear shot.
    9:18
    And it looked pretty darn good, actually. It's right here. It's actually on American Pinball. If you go to Facebook.com, there's actually more shots now. Hold on. Yeah, because I don't want to go to page 500 of the thread. Nope. Let's go right to American Pinball on Facebook.
    9:33
    Scintillating, surfing action on the podcast, ladies and gentlemen. I didn't know who the artist is, but there is a 15.6 display, like in Circus Voltaire.
    9:45
    American Pinball. Okay, I got Great American Pinball. Nope, nope, scroll down. Oh, American Pinball. All right, I see it. Scroll down. I see it. Scroll down further, and the Houdini's there. There we go. Okay, there's the shot. So is this – so this is different than Magic Girl? I never saw the actual Magic Girl. The Magic Girl, it looks like it's using the same cabinet. If you look, it looks like it's using the same cabinet that they show in the Magical Pictures above. It's a little deeper. If you look at the side, you know, where you would put, like, mirror blades, it's a little taller.
    10:18
    Maybe for all the toys, maybe for the ramps, maybe for everything. But if you look, the back – Interesting how they show it.
    10:26
    And you really can't see anything. You see the center of the play field. Okay, I see a magnet. You see a magnet up top. You see a ramp. Yeah, I see a big, long, plastic ramp, Papa Duke. You see another ramp, a metal ramp that's like Avengers, supposedly, Avengers Premium, going across the play field. It says, Spirit Save when lit.
    10:47
    You see a couple other things, you know, Magic Believe, you know, and below you see there's a City of London and probably a couple other inserts that you see. Houdini looks like he's got some chains around him with some cards and some balls in his hands. Wow. Even Bruce is a little flabbergasted by that. Well, yeah, he's got a pinball in his hand right in the play field. It's levitating. Also, three pinballs in his hand on the back glass also. And it has a Tommy-style ball on the top.
    11:15
    The back box looks a little smaller. But if you go up top, if you go up like three, you see the Magic Girl cabinets. One picture up. and you see how the cabinets are if you see where the playfield sits like a stern does ron yeah you see what's over this i'm having problems with my uh internet no my navigating skill there we go okay so these are magic girl cabinets these are magical cabinets and you see how the playfield sits so much lower yeah and you see there's bigger there's a bigger gap compared normal pinball machines. And this is the picture that they actually did some investigating work and actually said, yes, this building is in Illinois. And they showed this off at the show in Las Vegas this week, which is a weird show because it's a gaming show, not an amusements or pinball show. And they're actually openly saying, yeah, we have John Papaduke, you know,
    12:12
    and, you know, great deal of speculation, you know, it's an all-new pinball company. And they say they have decades of experience in the industry. Yes, I know Mike Pacek. He started a business from himself. Yeah, one of the guys that runs Expo. Because he announced, like, we're going to have him there. And then everyone's like, are you kidding? Do you realize what John Papaduke did? Guess what? You want him there. You do. Okay. Honestly, you do. Guess what? If it's what we said before in the beginning of Pinside, if it's the Lynch mob, guess what?
    12:48
    It's going to be a lynch mob. You know, they're going to get all pissed off or anything. This is actually people's chances to maybe say something to him. He's not going to be there. No, of course not. It's going to be American. No way in hell. He will never show his face until all of his debts are repaid. And I'm not just talking about the pinball people either. That's the one side people always bring up. Don't forget the suppliers. I know one of the suppliers personally.
    13:12
    And John Papadu goes in a ton of money. Ton. so you know you got to just not think about the people who to put the deposits down it's people who made boards for them who made designs for them and got nothing except for oh an empty promise or hey i'm gonna do this for you hey you do that for you so but i think this lens you know you know people have been saying like oh this is going to take the winds out of uh stern sales it will a little bit it will a little bit unless they go with my plan oh god what's your what's your plan what did i say five weeks ago batman and another game oh if you put two games out you'll blow everyone away okay they gotta they gotta now this proves it so batman batman and aerosmith ladies and gentlemen are going to be at the party bruce is calling it here if you put that out, you will put a cold dash of water, not a lot, but a little bit on this big fire that's flamed up. This is going to be the best expo ever. And of course, I'm at school. I'm actually, here's actually the funny thing. I was actually looking for flights on Friday.
    14:24
    I was going to ask Ron, hey, Ron. Hello, Ron. Can I sleep on your floor? Oh, boy. Yes, yes. Can I snore on your floor? No, no, you've got to be quiet. Maybe if you fit under the bed, you're quiet, or we'll just muffle you somehow. Oh, that's going to be hard. But, yes, I'll bring earplugs. Yes, yes, earplugs.
    14:47
    So, yeah, I mean, Expo, you got this game. Most probably they're going to be there. Oh, the last, last post, Pace X said, I'm going to talk to them and find out what they're going to do about that, whatever. But they'll most likely be there. You're going to have Alien. JJP. You're going to have, yes, the third Jersey Jack game, the Pat Lawler game. You're going to have, I'm guessing there'll be Big Lebowski will be there somewhere.
    15:16
    Maybe announcement for Big Lebowski's number two, Dutch Pinball's number two machine. You never know. Never know. You might want to make it spice up and say, hey, we know what we're making next. you also have what's it called PPS are they going to announce their second game which everyone's thinking about you had a prediction, what did you think it was again? it was going to be Monster Bash you think it's going to be basically Monster Bash before Attack from Mars you think it's going to be Monster Bash and I've heard either or now actually, I've actually put a feeler out to one of my people and he said his Monster Bash that was at 95% last time went down to 75% And I said, why? And he says, things. I was like, okay, what things? And that was it. I love Bruce's sources. I just feel like, you know, Bruce is paying them off, you know. He got anything for me, man? No, I trade them trinkets. Like, would you like a pinball lifter? Would you like a pinball helper? I will send one to your family. Yes, sirree.
    16:21
    Gift cards do wonders, too, I found out. Oh, is that so? Okay. Oh, my. What do you feel about American Pinball and John Papaduke?
    16:32
    I know he doesn't have any money left. That I guarantee. Oh, no. Yeah. And if people are suing him, he'll just declare bankruptcy and he'll never get anything. But the funny thing is he hasn't declared bankruptcy yet. Not yet. Yes. So in essence, the assets are still his.
    16:48
    He could sell the assets to American Pinball. But supposedly people are saying that the guy who was going to try to take over bought them. So it's all in the air. Oh, the Zidware dude? No, not the Zidware dude. The other guy that was going to build him out in Washington. He was going to try to save the project towards the end of the Magic Girl. Okay. And he realized, oh, my God, this thing's a disaster, and I'm out. He tapped. He just went, sorry. He tapped out. He gave it a month. He looked over all the books. He looked over the past, you know, how it was. But supposedly this Houdini took four months to build.
    17:29
    Supposedly. Nobody got to play it yet. Nobody got to do anything with it yet. But for looks-wise? Hey, they're one step ahead of Stern. We've actually seen Houdini. Yes. As opposed to Batman. Yes, you've seen nothing from Batman. I've seen nothing.
    17:47
    You've put your deposit down on nothing except for you get – Yeah. Huh? Huh. Yeah. It's Adam West, man. I know. Yeah. Come on. So what other games are going to be coming out? Possibly Spooky, putting on something else. Honestly, there's a lot. Here's the funny thing. The price point that they're talking, $69.95.
    18:12
    Cheaper than now Stern's premiums. Oh, for the Houdini. And it does look like, on the Houdini, it looks like there's a lot of stuff packed in this thing. If you look at it and kind of have to agree with it. Like it got some stuff in it But will it work You know you don know There a lot of will it work Well, the thing is this. There's not a lot of money out there from all the you know, think about it. People these days, if they have a big collection, a.k.a. myself or yourself, most people have to sell a pin to buy a pin. Right or wrong?
    18:48
    Yeah. At this point. For me, anyway. For me, too. You know, it's not that easy unless I go to Amsterdam and do some work. Oh, my. But the other thing, you know, the thing is, you know, it's not a lot of money out there. There's money out there, but it's not a lot. And then when people have to sell their games, then they're depending on another person to buy the game. And then you're playing dominoes with this money.
    19:15
    So with six companies now buying for your dollar. Remember Gary Stern's comment. The industry cannot take more than one manufacturer. Yeah, well. Remember when he said that? He said that many times. He said that back in 2001 to 2009. Whatever JJP started. Yes. Well, he said it beforehand even. Because there was talk of when Gene was making, you know, rebuilding Capcom. He said it back then. He really did. So, you know, of course I'm going to say I need to be the only one. And guess what? You follow me. The problem is their pricing has just gotten crazy.
    19:57
    We'll see. What do you feel? Let's hear your comments, sir. My comments on what? Just the Houdini game? Houdini and the money in the industry and everything else.
    20:10
    We'll see how long it can take it. Do you think all six companies will be in business in six months? I do 6 months yeah I think even till 4th of July but you watch 4th of July when these companies will fold yeah who is American Pinball I mean who owns that where's this money coming from right now it's got to be private investors because guess what nothing on anything I can find on it until he was with his sources he cannot find anything well no that's not true either i did talk to my source out in chicago and they heard grumblings about this two months ago and they took it a little with a grain of salt like ah you know it's not gonna happen you know we hear about then about a month ago they went hey somebody's buying a lot of parts from our same suppliers some parts you know and then they started to figure out more and more so there was grumblings two months ago that they knew something was going on but the weird thing is it's in chicago you know they're trying to get the best the best group of guys so i think with if you notice if you let's go back a little bit if you notice the batman flyer who did they plug in there They plugged all the old guys they could from Williams, redoing the Batman flyer. Remember? The Batman game? The new one? All the old guys from Williams. Yeah, well, think about it. You know, we got Lyman Sheets. We got this guy. We got, you know. Well, Joe Kamikawa was from Williams. And there was a couple others that they talked about also. Yes. Well, they did show, I think it was, yeah, they showed like Eugene Jarvis playing it. That was one of the pictures they showed, but you can't see the game. But think about it. They want to keep, you know, Stern wants to keep these guys. So they're going to hire him as consultants or anything, so no other company can. That's when I think they really started believing about it.
    22:15
    Yes, okay. And in other Expo news, there was another, I'd say, fairly big news item. Well, only if you're a competitive player.
    22:27
    And that's the Expo tournament changed their format. Yeah. Big time. And they actually made it like, and I apologize, I can't think of the other tournament that uses this format. They started doing it, I think, a couple years ago. It's the everyone makes the playoffs format. Yes.
    22:50
    And they're doing it pretty much the same way for the most part. I believe the other one they have like a day qualifying, and then they just start playing finals as much as they can get in in one day, and then they finish it the next day, that kind of thing. So in the past, the Expo tournament was your classic pump-and-dump tournament. Yes. You just keep playing, keep playing, keep playing. It was qualifying Thursday, Friday, and Saturday with finals on Sunday. All day Sunday. All day, yes. And they would have the Classics Bank, which is usually maybe four games. Four to six, yeah. Four to six. And then they would have the main tournament, which is always – it's a sternament. it would have usually multiple copies of several different Stern games. Yes. And it's been that way for a long time. And what generally happens is the finals finish at 10 or 11 o'clock on Sunday night, which usually I've already flown home, eaten dinner, and I've got the Twitch feed up, and they're still playing. Like, yeah, I'm watching the finals. Yeah. So it definitely seems they're trying to switch around this year and maybe get done on time, as the only thing that should be happening Sunday is the Classics final. But there's disadvantages to this tournament. Well, first let's go over what the format is. Basically, the way they're going to do it, and this could be in the disadvantages section if you had already booked your travel for this.
    24:24
    Qualifying is, well, first we'll do the Classics really hasn't changed. No. Classics, it's so much money, what, $10 for three entries or whatever it is, and you can play as many times as you want, and the qualifying is all day Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Yes. And then finals are Sunday. So the classics, the same thing. Unchanged. But the main tournament, what they did is qualifying is Thursday.
    24:50
    And only Thursday. You pay $60 up front. That's it. Well, not that, but that's all you pay. You don't pay any more entries. You get two entries per game, however many games. You qualify them all Thursday. Yeah. So you get through all those games, and then depending on where you end up, the top 40% will end up in A, and the bottom 60% will be in B. You could be A restricted if you are high enough ranked. I believe it's 250 or higher. It is. And I'm sure there might be other things where they might go like, no, you're A, no. Or if you've won a tournament and they said, like, I think, like a pop a final. You know, there is – I don't think there's anybody this year, but last year there was one, so they took that into account also. Yeah, yeah. So – and what they're going to do is it's going to be just this humongous bracket starting at the bottom going up. And it's basically you play a two-out-of-three match. Mm-hmm. and if you lose, you go into a loser's bracket. You lose in there, you're out. So if you're like the top qualifier, you can literally be sitting there until Saturday afternoon before you have to play.
    26:07
    And they did address some of the issues that I thought of, the fact that there is the Expo Brawl Partners Tournament, which is on Friday morning. But they put a little blurb about that. It's like, if you're in that world, we'll work with you. Yes. And then they had the other one, the Stern party, which is going to be off-site.
    26:30
    So they give you a two-hour window there. Yeah, two hours. Yeah, that's what it says. So I assume that means if you're up, you have two hours to be there now if you're at the party. So otherwise, you have five minutes to show up for your match, or you lose, and they move on. So that is the format. The one disadvantage I could think – well, the one issue I could think of is if you already made your travel plans and you usually say you arrived Friday.
    27:00
    You're like, oh shit, I'm disqualifying. Now what? I can go zeros. What happens? How does that work? I get to play a lot of classics. Yeah. Or maybe they'll do something like, well, if you're disqualifying, you can still pay $60 and get in, but you're at the bottom. Yeah, you could. You're at the bottom of whatever, and if you're A-restrict, you're at the bottom of A. Oh, the other thing I didn't mention is the prizes. B division, I think it's top eight in A and B get money. If you win B, you get to play in A.
    27:37
    So after you've played God knows how long. That's the other thing. When they start the finals, the brackets, they're starting B first. They're not doing them at the same time. They're starting B. So once B is over, the B winner will get to keep playing in A.
    27:54
    Yeah, yeah. The overall winner gets the usual prize, which is a new in box stern pinball machine. And a freaking hand cramp. Oh, and a hand cramp. Yeah, you're going to be playing a lot of pinball. You're going to get to experience almost definitely Expo glare at some point, Some of the trademarks of the Expo tournament. For those who don't know, the games are always right by the main hallway. Yeah, it's in a hallway. It's not actually in the hall area. Well, we just said hallway. It's not in the conference room or the ballroom or whatever you want to call it, area or everything else. It's just in the hall. And although they have shades, they never put them down. That's obviously a hotel policy. so you get to experience the glare of the sun shining through and blinding you while you're trying to play. One of the trademarks of the tournament. So what other issues did you have with it, Bruce? You seem to think there was other problems.
    28:57
    Just – Come on, it's better than before where you had lines like with 40 people in line. I feel bad for all the B players in some ways. Well, think about it. For the A players, they might start Friday night, right at the Stern tournament.
    29:16
    You never know. You don't know. You don't know what's going to happen. You don't know the timing and everything's going to be like that. They might start Saturday morning at 8 a.m. Some of these people don't like to wake up early in the morning. We've known that in the past. None of them like to wake up early in the morning. Expo Brawl starts, I think, 7.30 and just people complain, oh, it's way too early. But, you know, and another thing I found out this week is that the vendor hall fighting off the Stern thing is now going to be open at 10 a.m. on Friday. Used to open at 6 a.m. at 6 p.m. on Fridays. They now changed it to 10 a.m. on Friday. All right. Which is a good thing. OK. Somebody listened.
    30:00
    Somebody listened. So more sales for the vendors. More sales for the vendors. Now, you've noticed another thing with the Pimble Expo website. They must have heard me. They must have heard us. They must have heard me because in a previous podcast I was – Critical. You were ranting. Basically, I just made fun of the fact that, number one, their flyer was so screwed up and had incorrect times, as in like PM instead of AM, that their website said forever. It said PayPal, registration via PayPal will be available soon. Be patient.
    30:38
    And I think the last time I mentioned it, they'd actually removed that from the site entirely. So all they had were PDFs to fill out and send your check in. Well, I went there last week, at the end of last week, and guess what?
    30:50
    There's PayPal links now. Ta-da! Oh, my God. Less than a month away, though, but still. There you go. You got your PayPal link. So I said to myself, well, I wonder if they fixed the flyer or the schedule. So I went into the schedule PDF, and what do you know? They fixed that too.
    31:09
    Cool, huh? They were listening. Yeah, they were listening. See, you're complaining actually got something fixed, it sounds like. Yes, except I got an email from them.
    31:19
    You know, well, you know, Expo, whatever. That must be on their mailing list. Yeah, so that – come join us. Yeah, come join us. exciting games like Pat Lawler's game and Batman 66 and Aliens. I was unaware it was Aliens. I thought it was Alien.
    31:35
    Yes. But, I mean. But we're getting somewhere. We're getting somewhere. So your rant actually got them to fix it. Yes, yes. They fixed their PDFs. It's great. Very cool. So what did you do this past weekend, Ron? Well, hold on. Hold on. There's more news. more news holy crap I didn't get the extended flyer what else do we have arcade expo which we've been bringing now how we're going to arcade expo in January and I think we even mentioned it last because InDesk it never dreams in Southern California tournament was going to be there and I'm like really so I was all psyched and excited because it's in January and it's nice to get out of the upstate New York area during January and go into nice, warm Southern California. But what happened, Bruce?
    32:31
    The site changed. Well, actually, InDisc changed and Arcade Expo changed. Well, Arcade Expo had some kind of building issues. Yep, and they had to go to March. Yeah, which means they couldn't pass something. They have to fix something probably to get a permit. That's what it sounded like to me. There's something with the building that was not right. so unfortunately indus got screwed so now they're gonna have to find another location for the tournament because they can't change their date because of papa yeah and then we get screwed because like idiots we already got see that wasn't that you're gonna pay for that because you're you're gonna change again well it was so cheap i couldn't pass it up yeah well it was just a change fee for me yeah i had to change i'm gonna have to change my flights which of course My flights were at United, so it's going to be at least $200 right there just to change those. So I'm going to wait until, like, December or January just in case they change dates again. Nope, I'm sticking with it. Seymour Bus is going to sea in March. So then, not only that, it's the weekend before Texas. So I'm going to be going to this, and then the next weekend going to Texas. Plus there was a whole shitstorm with the tournament players because they made it the same weekend as the Nationals, basically when all the state winners go at it in Vegas, which is also the Women's World Championship was also the same. And I assume they're going to have it in the Pinball Hall of Fame where they usually have it in Vegas. No, no. Oh, no. It is in Texas this year. Mesquite, Texas. Have fun. Okay, so I was totally wrong there. Okay. No wonder they were saying Texas. Okay. I thought they were talking about the other show. All right. No, it's actually fun. It's actually – that's why they did it there this year because it's going to be a week before Texas. So people who go to that can stay the whole weekend and go to Texas Festival afterwards. Ah, is that – is Texas where they have the pinballs with the Z or is that where they're having it or is it somewhere else? No, it's Fun. Oh, Fun. Oh, really? Fun, yes. Really? For those who don't know, back in the day, Fun had an infamous reputation for their eBay auctions and the wonderful conditions of their games. Yes. They still do. That's kind of interesting. Yes. Very interesting. It's going to be there. Okay. I've actually been to that location about 12 years ago. Not bad. A lot of games, you know. Not bad. All right.
    35:05
    But, yeah, so it's there. So when I first heard that they changed it and it was going to be on this thing, we were like, all right, it's going to be in Vegas. We can even drive up maybe. And, oh, wait a sec. Nope. It's going to be in Texas.
    35:19
    Yeah. So, yeah. So there were some pissed off tournament players there. But, you know. More games for us to play at, like Arcade Expo. Yes. Hopefully, unless it moves again. Oh, God. Yeah. That's going to be too rough. That's going to be rough. I'm going to be pinballed out. It's going to be pinball burnout. No, not you. Yes, me. I can only have so much pinball. So what did you do this weekend, Mr. Ron? Are we done with the news? Yeah, we're done with the news. That was a long news segment, but yes, we're done with the news. What did you do this weekend? What did I do this weekend? I know what I did.
    35:56
    Okay. Did I work this weekend? Yeah, I worked this weekend. Oh, well, you were working. I was unboxing not your Ghostbusters premium, but somebody else's. Yes, yes, yes. I sent an email to my distributor about that on Monday. I still have not heard back. Yeah. How are you doing in there? I saw at least five premiums already built. Yes, yes. Martin, who actually works at the Museum of Play in Rochester, which has a Stern exposition where they have new Stern in boxes that they got, and they're on location at the museum. They got a Ghostbusters Premium. He opened it tonight.
    36:43
    Very nice. So I got to open a Ghostbusters Premium. I actually got late there. I was actually Martin got there and helped out Lee Frank who opened it up and got his first new in game And a couple little issues Nothing to worry about Ron
    37:02
    Okay, okay. I did get a text from Bruce that said, like, I think it said premium is good? Premium is good, quality-wise. Oh, okay. Oh, yeah, yeah. Okay. He's got two issues. He keeps on having a reoccurring switch. He has a bad micro switch.
    37:22
    and his Slimer is a little foobarred. It's like one of the main features of the game, and it seems to be foobarred on a lot of games. Yeah, he drags across parts of the game. Yeah, I noticed that. So he's not supposed to do that? Well, he is maybe, but the problem is when he's dragging, what are you getting when you hit a Slimer? Oh, it's just giving you hits. That sounds good.
    37:49
    It is exactly the same thing. So you know how you usually need three hits, as Timmy told us a couple weeks ago, to get to the mode? He swings down. By the time he swings and stops, he's swinging back up because he's already registered a third hit. Awesome. Yes. The other one that Martin just opened today works perfect. You need to hit him. Any ghosting issues? No ghosting issues.
    38:15
    I have one other issue with the game, and I didn't even mention it to the owner because when I was trying to level the game, when I level a game, I don't put it on the glass. I have my digital level from Craftsman. You know, it tells you which way to go up or down. There's so many inserts on the game that you can't find a good place to level it. So you have to use some inserts to keep on leveling it. Well, at one point, by the top, by Slimer, I was 0.4 degrees off to the right. So I adjusted the right and got it normal and then moved down, and it was .40 other way when you moved it down about three inches. So I go back to the top. It's there. So I adjusted the other way, and now I go back to the top, and it's back off again.
    39:04
    I don't know, but his play field seems like it had a little crown to it. And when you saw the ball move a little bit, it seemed like it had a little crown to it, like the ball went in directions. It shouldn't. so what you're saying is his play feels warped yeah interesting yes and it and if you go by from front to bottom it's almost a degree so i didn't want to burst your bubble with that but we saw some wild ball movement and we level this too battle movements but i will say there's a couple cool parts about the game underground underground ramp pretty damn cool yeah that's that's one of the features I most wanted to see in action. But after 10 minutes, the coolness wears off on that.
    39:55
    It should on Rollercoaster Tycoon of course. Second, the ball mech for the locks for the storage facility, pretty cool. It's Diverter. So when it goes underneath the playfield, the Diverter actually kicks out and stores the balls. 1, 2, 3. It actually changes the sound of the game a little bit. It goes ball one locked, and you plunge down another ball. So it's truly like a Metallica, you know, holding the balls.
    40:26
    Where is the metal? Oh, yeah, okay. The hammer. That's what holds them. Okay. I'm talking about premium or premium. And then the, what was I going to say? The metal ramps are nice, everything like that. The libraries, you know, actual physical molded library is really cool on this game. It's really nice artwork and everything like that. but it's still a freaking Ghostbusters.
    40:52
    You know, it's still, you got to do a four-inch, as Timmy said exactly, it's a four-inch slide, trying to save a ball, coming down the middle, and then that one, it's really hard because it's going from left to right to left. It's doing a zigzag between the Slimer and your flippers. just stern if i what i saw here at the box the decals look great it played perfect except for the one switch just the playfield issues are still there not with ghosting but other issues bummer yeah bummer supposedly martin says his is perfect so maybe there you go yeah it might It would have just been a bad apple there. Yeah, you never know. But a Slimer that's not working, come on. They should have picked that up right at the factory.
    41:44
    Well, you asked what I did over the weekend. I actually did do one thing. I got my T2 ready for sale. Sale. Yeah, I took all the pictures. I put it on pin side. I've had like six or seven responses. So there's one guy, though, that actually lives in East Greenbush like 10 minutes from us. Nice. So he's coming over to look at it tomorrow. So we'll see what happens there. We're in the money. Yeah, I hope so. Because that money is just going to go to the pin hauler fund. Yes. Well, speaking of new pin haulers. Speaking of that, yeah, didn't you just get a new vehicle? Actually, I signed for a new vehicle. My wife got the new vehicle.
    42:31
    But the only reason why we picked this vehicle, well, there's a couple reasons. She liked it. We got a brand-new Ford Escape.
    42:38
    But we got the 2-liter turbo, which means I can tow up to 3,500 pounds, which means I can use my dad's trailer and pick up a couple games anytime I want.
    42:48
    Very nice. So, yeah, very cool. I got to scratch it off the list now. See? So, yeah, so it's got all the bells and whistles. But I get now the old pin hauler, which was our Subaru Forester. So that fits the pin perfectly. So the Volkswagen is going out the pasture. Oh, no more jet and no more diesel turbo. No more. It is the first time I haven't driven a diesel since 1999.
    43:17
    What does that tell you? Wow. 1999. I think Tim Sexton was like four or five years old. Yeah, probably. Yeah, thanks. Yeah, there you go. But the funny thing is, in 2018, Chevy's bringing out an Equinox, a redesigned one, and it's going to have a diesel in it. Okay. Be it a new pinhauler. Okay. 40 miles in a gallon. Yes, yes. And an SUV.
    43:46
    Mike Smith will be coming on next week. I have confirmed that with him. He was going to talk about it this week, but he's still trying to get his shop ready, the Pinball Wizards in Syracuse. So he will be our special guest next week. And then we hope to have a couple more guests coming on soon if they still want to talk to us.
    44:03
    And I got a couple names for my pinball place. Okay. And they are? The Pinball Pit. All right. See, I saw that one. That sounds too much like Chuck Webster's thing. It's like the wicked piss-up pinball pit or something. And that's the first thing I thought of when you said that. Like, no, wait a minute. That's been used. So there was a tournament this weekend also, wasn't there? Was there? There was. Okay. And where was the tournament? Pinsanity. Oh, Jesus. That's right. Pinsanity. Where is that held? I have no idea. That is in southern New Jersey off the parkway at Ken Rossi's house.
    44:41
    This is the fifth one. I saw some scores from Howard, and Howard was playing Steve Bowden, and Steve was crushing Howard on World Cup soccer. Steve had $3.8 billion on ball, too.
    44:57
    And poor Howard had like $500 million. So, yeah, that was one of the pictures. Howard, I think, came in fifth. I don't remember who actually won this. Jody won. Nice. Jody's a very good player. I believe Jody, Steve Bounty lost and ended up in the loser's bracket, but then he won that. And so it was the deal where he'd have to beat Jody twice. Which is hard. So he beat Jody once, but then Jody beat him in the second match, and he won. At least that's what it looked like when I looked at it online in the brackets, unless I completely read them wrong. Congratulations, though, guys. It looked like it was a great tournament. And they always have good posters. They have a great poster. So this year was an octopus.
    45:41
    Octopus. Yes, it was. It was very cool. What else did we see out there this week and going on? Well, you had a plug. I have a plug. You do. Go plug away. One of our listeners wrote to me on Pinside, and I'm probably going to say this wrong, so I'll do it twice. His 11-year-old daughter likes to play F-14 Tomcat. That's what brought this up. Very cool. Yes, yes. and she likes to listen to the podcast. And we'll get a kick out of it if you could give her a shout-out on your podcast.
    46:13
    What's her name? Yes, that's the thing. Well, no, it's not a weird spelling or anything, but I could say it two different ways. Say them both so she'll feel at least. So give a shout-out to Leah F. from Deerfield, Illinois. Hello, Leah. Or give a shout-out to Leah F. from... All right, let's go. D.F. Illinois. So I'll do it both ways. Oh, my. I think that could be either way. But she has great taste in pinball. Yes. F-13 Tomcat rocks.
    46:48
    And as he was typing his plug request to me, she just scored 1.4 million. Nice. There you go. That's a great score. Good job. You can't win. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Which is Steve Ritchie, by the way. Basically, any game Steve Ritchie designed, if there's someone making fun of you, it's probably him. Probably is. And he played Russians a lot. Yes, he did. He used Boris in Diner, and he used Gorbachev in Taxi. Yep.
    47:18
    Why is he always – he's always the bad guy. He's always the bad guy, but he's always good in our hearts. Yes, yes. Play better. So we're back to our normal stuff now. Our normal stuff? Yes. Which would be? Games to like and games to hate.
    47:38
    Yeah, you know, I was so busy writing on my list, I don't really have any. Fail. See, I'm prepared to time. Okay, you're prepared. So talk slowly and I'll try to think of something. See what happens when you were almost put on vacation? You're like Aerosmith, permanent vacation. Permanent vacation. See, Aerosmith plugged there. Yep, that's a sign. It is a sign. So, game I hate. system three quit talking and start chalking really you don't like cue ball wizard really it just it's just grinds on me that stupid cue ball just you know it's a it's the only pool game that just grind my gears no it just it just does nothing for me it's it's got good flow just doesn't do it for me. Okay. It's just not a fun game. And it's very... The modes are very uneven.
    48:40
    Some of the shots, you know, for the jackpots or anything are really big, while the other scores are really low in some of the modes.
    48:47
    Very, very uneven. Just not a fun game. Okay, now, game you like? Game I like. and I'm going to say this one now because I'm hopefully going to get one soon. So I have to do it before I get it. Or it's unable to be played on my little like list. Yes. Big game.
    49:10
    Big game. The Stern. Wide body, baby. Yes. Great game. Multiple spinners. You know, spell big game. tick-tack, not tick-tack-toe, but crosses or anything for your bonuses or anything. It gets really complicated with the scoring. Great freaking game. Okay. Love it. Let's see. Games I hate.
    49:37
    Star Wars Episode I. Just never liked it. Nope. Never liked it. I always thought Revenge for Mars was a much better pin-to-key game. Now, I have a question for you now, since we're going to go into this a little bit. If John Papaduke didn't design a game and say Wizard Blocks was second. And you've seen Wizard Blocks a little bit, the video and everything. I haven't seen near enough of it to make it a fact. I know, but you've seen a little bit of it. Do you think that would have been better than Star Wars Episode I? It's Pat Lawler, so probably, yeah. Okay, me too. I agree with that also. All right, a game I like?
    50:12
    Well, we'll go another Rock Fantasy shout-out. If you go into Rock Fantasy, the first game you will see, if you look to your right, is Sinbad. and it is a brutally hard, frustrating as hell game. But for those who know me, those are the kind of games I like. And it's got the double flippers so you can drain yourself. I believe it's got two set – yeah, it's got them. So it's got four flippers on the bottom. So it's kind of hard to try to trap or have any kind of control.
    50:42
    And you have to hit the first left drop target. Yeah, it's another one of those system ones where you're trying to hit – and one of the features I always like, trying to hit the drop targets in a certain order to build your multiplier, which I could also use that as my feature.
    50:57
    Because I can't remember the last time I've seen that in a game or whether I've ever seen that in anything other than, like, Gottlieb System 1 games. I think that's the – well, no. Nope. You actually – Stargate.
    51:09
    You have to hit them in order to get bigger scores. So they did bring it back in Gottlieb System 3. All right, but that was, what, 1996 or something? Yeah, I know. So, yeah, but I agree. But at least it wasn't just System 1. It's a great concept. So that will be my feature concept. Because usually the bonus multiplier is usually lanes or maybe just a set of targets you hit over and over. Or drop targets in a row. Yes.
    51:40
    It's not like you need to hit this bank first and then this bank to get it to go up. If you hit them out of order, it doesn't go anywhere. that kind of deal. Yes. So that's my feature. See, I took care of both segments at once. Well, I'm going to give you mine. Your feature is? You stole part of it. Dual flippers.
    52:01
    Oh, God. We need dual flippers back. Okay. And hardcore dual flippers, right? Without that little, like, rail in the back. No, not no Starship Troopers. And not, like, Alien Poker. I don't mean the Papa one, because they pulled it out, the Papa one, of course. But the Alien Poker, by default, had a little gate behind the flipper so you couldn't flipper bitch yourself and drain in between the flippers. But no, you need one, you hit one flipper, both flippers, most of the time it will go up if you do a full flip. The only issue with that is a lot of that assumes you can tap pass in order to get the thing over there. Yes, tap pass. And you really can't do that easily on new games. I know. But guess what? You still like to face the flipper of death. The flipper of death. When you open up the flippers, they can go through the middle. It's like an open says me. Come and drain. Open says me. Very good. Yes. All right. What else do I have here? Oh, actually, one of our listeners brought this up. And it's something I questioned you on. This is an asshole. No, I'm sorry.
    53:14
    It's something I questioned you on when you said it. And I was just like, oh, okay. Yes, this is the one. I'm there like, oh, System 80. And you're like, no, it's a System 1. Like, are you sure? Oh, okay. The only reason I said that is because I remember playing it, and I remember it didn't go do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do, which is like all System 1s basically sound the same. No, it just did a turd. Yeah, it took a big shit on itself because it's James Bond. Yes, but you're totally right, but it's still a terrible game. Yeah, yeah, it is. It most definitely is. Yeah. And somebody emailed us this week saying, why not have some more on our Facebook page? They said, you know, we bashed two of his games that he owns. And what are those? Rescue 911. That sucks.
    54:03
    And another Gottlieb, he said he owned also. I forget which one it was. Maybe it was. I'll have to look right now. Give me two seconds. Well, we'll give him a shout out. We'll give him a shout out, and I'll just let him know, like, there is hope. There is hope. There is hope for you. You can be rehabilitated.
    54:21
    I mean, if you insist on the Gottliebs, you can get maybe a – He owns a Buck Rogers, which I passed. Oh, okay. Okay. You can – like I said, there is hope. There is hope. I mean, if you really want the system ones, I mean, we can get you a Joker poker or a countdown, like a good game. I played one. I played a Joker poker this weekend at least. Yes. Loved it. And what's rescue 911? Is that a system three? System three. which is there's hope for you there so there's hope you can get like a teed off you know or even gladiators even though it has the exploit still you you can get you can get better games you're still hope action yes lights camera action so if you insist on the got leaves there there are you can be rehabilitated but uh we we we enjoy having you listening eddie so thank you very much uh we also had a shout out from one of the other guys who's actually since we mentioned other locations last week up in New Hampshire and lanes and fun and games He shouted out Where fun and games Where Games Lanes and Games Okay I was about to say That what I thought you meant but that not New Hampshire No, I know. It's Massachusetts. He mentioned that he was grateful that we shouted out there, and he told me, unfortunately, Lanes and Games might be getting demolished soon. Oh, dear. Yeah, it looks like the town and the road department wants to take that piece of real estate. it is kind of by the highway in a kind of a weird location damn on the highway yeah yes it is it's a great place i hope that does not happen you know candlestick bowling is pretty cool watching people play it i've never played it before except for up at a fun spot it's hard it's very hard but you don't see that much so it's pretty cool to see and play and then they have great location games there and uh it would be a sad day if we lose that place yep so but uh we'll give a shout out to another location i have footage of that will be gone and but they said new hampshire guys if we ever go up there they would welcome they would welcome us and open arms to the southern new hampshire uh pinball club all right that so we got an invitation our first true invitation
    56:39
    Is there a motto, play pinball or die? I hope so. It should be everyone's. But at least we can even go whale sighting out in Massachusetts. What? Whale sighting? What? Whale sightings. You can go see whales like they did in Star Trek IV. Ah, very good. He brought it around. Yes. Bring it around, baby. Bring it around. That means we must be nearing the end of the program. I just had the opening, so I took the old pitch. Yes.
    57:07
    So, Ron, any repairs this week? Let's see. What did I do? I've continued to work on the one-drop target on stars, trying to get it to be a little more reliable.
    57:19
    Tried actually stiffening up the spring a bit, cutting the spring down. It's actually my father's suggestion. Maybe get a little more tension so it'll pull it forward a little more so it'll have less tendency to keep dropping down. And did it work? No. It made it a little better, so I'm thinking maybe I just need to take a little more out. I didn't want to take too much out of the spring. Maybe I should try that on mine.
    57:44
    Well, how's the nine ball going? We haven't mentioned Mr. Nine Ball in a while. I know you were waiting for targets. I haven't. They are on back order still. Back order? Yeah. I bought the whole kit from Marco. Okay. They're on back order, so I'm going to put another order in because I need to get the switch for Sea Witch.
    58:06
    Timmy can only get me the target, so I've got the Switch I still have to order. And I had to disable – Embryon is my – I swear to God, Embryon is my game to take the first board out that I need to.
    58:20
    Neil, Neil Parrish, he told me, hey, Viking's down. What's wrong with Viking? I got two flashes only on the CPU.
    58:32
    So it's a U8 that was bad. So I said, here, here's a couple of spare boards. See what happens. Oh, by the way, since those don't work, here's my CPU out of the Embryon since we own each half and half.
    58:46
    Well, none of the chips helped them. I'm probably going to get the board back from them. But he put the new alt in, and guess what? Viking's back up and running.
    58:55
    So I got to get me a new CPU board. Again. So I have to get a couple other parts. I want to find out if I can maybe just get the individual targets and know what to get for the whole kit for the nine ball. And I put the soundboard in for hot-dogging that I got back from my repair guy. Did it work? It worked perfectly.
    59:22
    Perfectly. Perfect sound, perfect pitch, perfect everything. So I'm giving out the shout-out for a repair place. my repair place that i choose there's two i actually choose one is k's arcade which is the one who repaired my uh board and the other one is uh coin up cauldron clive live himself now k's arcade that's in uh new england new hampshire yeah yeah i've been to his house oh you have yeah actually he's the the only time i ever ruled the universe it was on his attack from mars It's on my YouTube channel somewhere, my personal one. Eric? That was a long time ago. I remember that was during a snowstorm. That's back when I would drive to someone's house for a party during a snowstorm. I think there ended up being maybe four or five people there because of the weather. Oh, wow. That was pretty dumb of me because it definitely was not weather I should have been driving in. Luckily, it stopped by the time I left. Well, hopefully you'll get that new CR-V soon with four-wheel drive, and you'll be able to go through anything, go to more pinball shows. Anything, and pick up more stuff. Yes. That could fit a pinball machine also. It could fit a new one box in the box. Wow, that's very impressive. I'll just use a trailer. Okay.
    60:44
    So do you have anything else? We talked about Expo, and we talked about what's going to be coming up for you in only three weeks. Yes, yes. I am looking forward to this Expo. That is for sure.
    60:59
    We talked about what we've done repairs and everything like that, and we talked about Ghostbusters a little bit. Batman 66. I haven't really heard anything. I heard a little bit. They showed the pictures of the toys. they showed a couple pictures of those okay they showed the bat computer oh okay yeah I think I saw that the bat computer yeah and a couple of little pieces so plastics and that kind of stuff if I was Stern I'd start putting some more information out they don't have to they're going to sell out man it doesn't matter they're going to do the big reveal Yeah. Oh, God.
    61:45
    Ay, ay, ay. Yes, listeners, he can barely keep awake. It's so exciting. No, it's late. It's frigging 9. I'm already past my bedtime. It's late. I forgot. You are kind of on the older side. I am on the old side. Whippersnappers. Damn you, Whippersnappers. Yeah.
    62:05
    So, are we going to pay some bills? We're going to pay some bills. Okay, coming up, big events. I have the event list right in front of me. The event calendar. White Rose Game Room Show, September 30th, October 1st. This will be when you guys are listening, you know, hopefully the next tomorrow, or you're driving down to the show listening to our podcast. Stop by my booth. I am at pinballlifters.com. My website is www.pinballlifters.com. Stop by the booth. Say hi. I should have a couple of hands for sale. Is it lifters or lifter? Lifter. You said it wrong then.
    62:48
    Pinballlifter.com. Yes, folks. He said his own site wrong. It's www.pinballlifter.com. There's actually a funny story about that. When I first got our new shirts, we debuted them about five years ago at York.
    63:01
    And Bucci comes up to me and goes, your shirt's spelled wrong. I looked at him. I go, holy fuck, I've been wearing this for half a day. They added an extra L, so it was pinball lifters. It was like three L's. There's only two. There's only two? Yeah. Or no, it was two, and we put three. Sorry, it was that way. I forget. It was something opposite, but he goes, yeah.
    63:24
    Pinball lifter would be three L's. Yes, I know, and we only had two. Oh, it only had two, so you're missing an L. Missing an L. Yeah. It was five years ago, but he was making fun of me. I was like, ah, shit happens. Nobody else noticed except for you. Well, no, he's the only one who said anything. No. I wouldn't have noticed it. I don't think so. Okay.
    63:46
    So I'll be selling a couple games. If you stop by the booths and say hi and you purchase something, we'll give you an extra 5% if you mention Slamtail Podcast. And what games will you be selling?
    63:57
    Right now, it looks like Soprano is going to be packed up tomorrow and possibly Party Zone. and Avatar is sold. Avatar? Poor Avatar. Even when it's sold, we can't say it's real name.
    64:12
    Oh, no love. I used to always play a couple games of Avatar when I was at your house. And if the guy doesn't give me a deposit tomorrow morning for Scared Stiff, Scared Stiff will be down there.
    64:23
    Okay. He's dicked me around for a week. Ah, yes. Is he from our favorite place? Nope, nope. Oh, no, so we can't blame them. Nope, check's in the mail. I gave them my address last Saturday.
    64:37
    Guess what I haven't gotten still? Maybe it got lost in the mail. Well, wait. I commented and talked to them a couple days ago. Oh, no, no, it's in there. I shipped it out Friday. Maybe Saturday.
    64:48
    I told them, like, today. I'm like, guess what? If it's not in the mail today, I need a PayPal deposit. If not, it's going down. Guess what I haven't gotten?
    64:58
    Nothing. Yes, yes, nothing. So at the White Rose Game Room show, there'll be 200 pinball machines. There's two tournaments, one for each day. The first day is for classics. Second day is for DMD games. Come by, say hi, enjoy it. Good time. The weather's going to be eh. So what are you going to do? Sit home and play in the rain? Come play some pinball.
    65:22
    Pioneer Fall Knockout. October 9th at Pioneer Bar in New York City, hosted by Greg Pavarelli. Come check that out.
    65:32
    Now, here's the post I told you I was going to have at the beginning of the thing. Keillor's birthday bash, October 15th. At his house. At his house, which is the – what is – he always would have – I don't know the name of the tournament, like Chief Taco Waka. No, no, no. It's actually his birthday bash. Yes. Yes, sir. But he has a big head of chief. Yes, he does. I can't remember. Takawana or something like that. Yeah, whatever like that. So that's on October 15th. Syracuse Solid State Shenanigans is October 20th. Okay, I like the name of that. Solid State Shenanigans. I swear to God, he just tries to kill me with these names. I like that one, though. That's a good one. Zach won his first tournament there last week.
    66:20
    I had to put Zach in again. he won he beat me i lost by 550 points to zach on what space station ah space station i lost by 550 points so he got second i got third and we finished uh points was nine eight so if i won by 500 if i got like a couple more switch hits i would have had the nine he would have had eight So I'm not the only one you lose to?
    66:52
    Nope. Okay. Nope. Not at all. But I got a nice, respectful second, so that was pretty fun. You missed a good chance to get me there. No. Because I said, like, you know, I finished second, you know, so I actually got paid, unlike you, Ron. No, I didn't get paid. Oh. Second to nothing there. Oh. Oh, well. But I wasn't too disappointed about the prize, because guess what? It was a $20 gift card to the vegan bakery. Oh, that's right. the vegan bakery where we're trying to figure out what they kind of actually actually would have so what kind of items do they have they had cookies and cakes and everything like that i had one of the cookies and it was pretty damn good all right i'm gonna be smoking uh i'm gonna be smoking the ganja and and wearing my tie dyes from now on okay uh domino's pinball launch party at buffalo New York at Pocketeer, October 29th. You can actually play the first open chance to openly play Domino's Pinball. Last chance to openly play, as opposed to playing it in non-openly. Well, it's open competition, so it's the first time you can actually play it and enjoy it. The first public? Public. There you go. The first time it's available publicly. Maybe not. I don't know. Maybe they'll have a Domino's thing before this. Maybe Domino's people will be able to do it. I don't know. But this is the first I know of pinball tournament on it. That's where you bring like a Little Caesars game and put it next to it as competition. See what happens. I was going to dress up like Little Caesars and get beaten up because I think somebody would dress up like the Noid. Yeah, the Noid would kick his ass. Come on. Retro Game Com in Syracuse, New York is November 5th and 6th. Central New York pinball, Western New York pinball. And I think even Buffalo pinball will be there with booths spouting all about pinball. Yours truly bringing out a couple games. So come by, check us out, say hi. It's going to be in Syracuse, November 5th and 6th. What games will you be bringing out? I have no freaking clue. Okay. But I know I can bring a couple. Don't bring ones that are too hard because then people won't be into pinball at all. It'll just be too difficult. What I think I was going to plan on doing. Don't bring like Paragon. That would be cruel. No, no, no. I was thinking like maybe like Simpsons because it's a comic. There you go. Perfect game. And I was thinking, hmm, what else can I bring? What's a good cartoon theme? I don't know. What else do you think I have? Taxi.
    69:23
    Eh, that's good. That's because it's so goofy. People will be like, what? What? Or I can bring 8-Ball because it's got Fonzie on it. Too hard. People will just be pissed at it. Yeah.
    69:35
    We'll figure something out. But Simpsons was definitely the one pick. Even Party Zone I can bring if it's still around. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That would work. I might even sell it there. Who knows? And then on November 12th, the Finger Lakes Open. Pre-registration start this weekend, October 1st, 8 p.m. Information will be on www.westernnewyorkpinball.com. It will be held at the Pinball Pit in Bloomfield, New York. Oh.
    70:07
    $15 to pre-register or $20 at the door. It will be after November 1st. You have to pay $20. We're limiting it to 40 people.
    70:16
    And if all 40 show up and play, 20 people will qualify in match play finals. 18 holes of golf for your qualifying.
    70:27
    It's going to be a 1, 2, 3, 5 scoring. So if you get a hole in one, you get a one. Get it in the second ball, it's a two. Get it in the third ball, it's a three. If you don't get it, you get five. Instead of four. Okay. More of a penalty for failure. You got it. Failure's bad. Okay. So that's the game list out events right now. Anything else, Mr. Ron? I don't think so. I think we're doing good. No bird of prey.
    70:56
    What was that? No bird of prey is coming along your way. No bird of prey. Wait a minute. They weren't in that episode. No, they weren't. The bird of prey, that's how they did the slingshot around the. Oh, yeah. They actually, yeah, they stole the bird of prey. Yes. Yes, they did. Wait, wait, wait. Bruce was right for once. Yes, Bruce was right. That was actually one of the better movies. Yes, it was. The next one's a real stinker. Even I will say. No, Final Frontier is worse than the original motion picture.
    71:29
    You gotta agree with that one. I'll give you that one. Thank you. I'll give you that one. Yes. Congratulations. You're right for once. Yay. Twice in a minute. Well, twice in a minute. Yes. New record. A new record. All right, everybody. Thanks for hanging out with us at the old Slam Tilt Podcast. Bruce is still on double-seeker probation. He doesn't know it yet. Oh, I just gave it up. So we'll be seeing you next week. I'm trying to think what the schedule is going to be when we get near the expo time, whether I'm going to be able to get episodes in because I'm leaving on Thursday the 13th.
    72:15
    So if I do plan on coming out, Ron, can I sleep on your floor? Yes, far away from me, near my father's side. Okay, good. Because for those who don't know, Bruce is the loudest snorer ever. No, I found somebody better. Oh, okay. Jason Floyd. Okay, okay. Yeah, he can blow all of us out of the water. I'm sure he's happy that you released that information to the world on the podcast. It's going to be a big shitstorm with that now. No, it will not be a big shitstorm. Hopefully, these shitstorms will cease.
    72:50
    And desist. And desist, yes. Please, no more drama. Because remember, pinball is supposed to be fun. Fun.
    73:00
    Bye-bye, folks. Bye-bye, guys. Oh, before, I forgot to pay our bills. Exactly. Again, check us out on our Facebook page. Search for Slam Tilt Podcast. Or Slam Tilt Podcast, sorry. And look for our YouTube channel. Also searching for Slam Tilt Podcast. For any comments, concerns, praise, can be sent to us at Slam Tilt Podcast at gmail.com. So we shall see you all next week. Say goodbye, Bruce. Goodbye, Ron. Huh? Bye, Bruce. Bye, Ron. Later.