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DPP #135 "Road Trip! Jaws has landed in the PNW!"

Don's Pinball Podcast (regular feed)·podcast_episode·35m 19s·analyzed·Jul 14, 2024
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.034

TL;DR

Don's PNW road trip covers rare pinball finds and speculation on future Stern releases.

Summary

Don reports on a four-day road trip through the Pacific Northwest, visiting pinball venues including 1UP Lounge in Bellingham, Ground Control in Portland, and Next Level Arcade near Hillsboro. He played rare machines including Haggis Pinball's Kelts, Team Pinball's prototype Mafia, Home Pin's Thunderbirds, and multiple Spooky games. Don discusses the Jaws topper, speculates about future Stern remakes and variants, and expresses enthusiasm for a potential Jersey Jack Harry Potter game.

Key Claims

  • Next Level Arcade won the Twippies for best location and houses approximately 300 pinball machines and 400 arcade machines

    high confidence · Don compares it favorably to other major venues and discusses its comprehensive collection

  • Haggis Pinball made Kelts as their first original title game

    high confidence · Don states 'Kelts was the first game that Haggis Pinball made. It's an original title.'

  • Spooky Pinball's Domino's Pizza Adventure was produced in 135 units

    high confidence · Don mentions '135 I think were made' and that it featured a corporate order for 100 units

  • Team Pinball's Mafia is a prototype game that exists but may not be a finished product

    medium confidence · Don notes playfield printing quality was 'not like a finished product' and lacked polish

  • Home Pin's Thunderbirds has a flat playfield setup at Next Level with inconsistent pitch

    high confidence · Don describes it as 'playing pinball on the moon and underwater at the same time'

  • Don completed playing every Haggis Pinball machine ever produced (Fathom, Centaur, Kelts)

    high confidence · Don explicitly states 'I have now played every Haggis Pinball machine that's ever been produced'

  • Stern is considering producing black and white variants of games like Godzilla and potentially Monsters/Munsters

    medium confidence · Don references a 'throwaway comment' from Orbital Albert about Godzilla black and white variants

  • Don shipped his own Jaws Premium to 1UP Lounge and conducted a live unboxing stream

    high confidence · Don describes boxing and shipping his Jaws machine to meet it in Bellingham

Notable Quotes

  • “Next level is to an arcade what Jungle Gyms in Cincinnati, Ohio is to a grocery store... Or like Bucky's is to a gas station.”

    Don @ N/A — Emphasizes the scale and scope of Next Level Arcade's collection and experience

  • “I'm hating myself for how much I like this topper after seeing it... I still kind of want it, though.”

    Don @ N/A — Expresses consumer tension regarding premium-priced toppers despite acknowledging unnecessary cost

  • “Spooky saw the assignment... But they're like, you know what? We're still going to go hard on it, though.”

    Don @ N/A — Praises Spooky's commitment to quality on limited-run corporate/novelty games like Domino's

  • “Don't buy this game. please don't buy this game unless you have everything already and you want something weird and stupid”

    Don @ N/A — Strong critical assessment of Home Pin's Thunderbirds despite some appreciated design quirks

  • “The game you shoot that middle ramp and it gives you one letter of the light up international rescue and when you light them all nothing happens”

    Don @ N/A — Illustrates the nonsensical design choices in Thunderbirds' rule set

  • “I love that this game exists. It's so fun and so silly, and so much effort went into it, and it's so appreciated.”

    Don @ N/A — Expresses appreciation for Spooky's effort on limited-production Domino's game despite corporate theme

  • “right now i am hype and this may be my own doing but i am hyped for jersey jack to do a harry potter wizarding world machine i want it to be released to diapa i'm going to be there in november”

    Don @ N/A — Expresses desire for Jersey Jack Harry Potter announcement at Diapa show in November

Entities

Donperson1UP LoungeorganizationNext Level ArcadeorganizationGround ControlorganizationHaggis PinballcompanySpooky PinballcompanyHome PincompanyTeam PinballcompanyJersey Jack PinballcompanyStern Pinballcompany

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Haggis Pinball production volume unclear; manufacturer avoiding public disclosure of unit numbers

    high · Next Level's Kelts placard listing as 'unlisted' for production count; Don notes 'the distributor doesn't want to release that number'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Spooky Pinball's Domino's Pizza Adventure unexpectedly popular and well-executed despite corporate/novelty theme; operator appreciation noted

    high · Hugh's operator comment that game better than Godzilla; Don's praise for Spooky's effort on limited-run 135-unit production

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Next Level Arcade positioned as premium collector destination; won Twippies Best Location award

    high · Don compares it favorably to District 82, Past Times Arcade, and other major venues; confirms Twippies award

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Home Pin's Thunderbirds criticized for flat playfield setup, poor theme execution, and illogical rule design despite some mechanical appreciation

    high · Don's detailed complaints about playfield pitch issues and nonsensical rule payoffs (International Rescue letters yielding nothing)

  • ?

    event_signal: Don conducted multi-day road trip covering major PNW pinball venues with live streams and community engagement

    high · Detailed reporting of visits to 1UP Lounge, Ground Control, Next Level Arcade with tournament participation and live streaming

  • ?

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.106

0:00
Friends, it's time to gather around the speakers, get your headphones on, get your head out of the pinball glass, because we're going to talk some pinball with Don's Pinball Podcast. I've got a hot one, episode 135. Let's get at it.
0:30
Don's Pinball Podcast. Don's Pinball. Don's Pinball Podcast. Okay. his last.
1:03
Nine. This is not Rammstein. This is not Space Hunt. This is Glenn. And you're listening to Don's Pinball Podcast. Brought to you by Mad Pinball. Glenn, you are a madman. Thank you for recording that for me, buddy. Dude, it's been like kicking butt for the last few days. Can't wait to use it. Finally did. Happy with it. Hello, everybody. It's your buddy Don here. I've been playing a metric ton load. I believe that's a real unit of measurement. Amount of pinball for the last four days. It feels like a week. I've been running nonstop. I'm out here my final evening in the great Pacific Northwest of the United States of America. Freedom. Yay! Out here in Portland, Oregon currently. Man, I've got to keep reminding myself where I'm at. I'm out here in the dry heat, 75 degrees, out in the redwoods, out amongst the urban campers. It's been a fantastic time And I want to do an episode here Recapping everything A little bit of a trip report I saw a lot of new things in pinball That I haven't seen before So I like to give my first impressions there Because I think there's a lot of other people That haven't seen some of this rare stuff That I got to do on this particular trip Plus I want to thank my gracious hosts From the 1UP Lounge in Bellingham, Washington For having the old Donster by Not only for tournament time But for some yuzu sake It was nuts. If you've been following the Facebook page, you've seen some of it. If you're on the Discord, you saw even more. Let's get into it. So first off, thanks for the 1UP Lounge, the purchasers of Don's Jaws Premium, the one I made over, the one that made it look better than an LE, better than an LE and not for better than an LE price. Can you see some of the crazy posts that have been going on on Facebook about these sorts of things? Anyway, Daniel, dude, what a solid guy, operator at 1UP Lounge. And Hugh, the owner of the bar himself, top shelf dude, him and his wife, totally gracious. They had me in there, bought me some drinks, flew me on out there after purchasing my game. Dude, I couldn't be more gracious there. So I fly myself out to Seattle, catch a connecting flight to Bellingham after wandering around the greater SeaTac area. Just great to be back, you know. I've got some connections to the Pacific Northwest. I used to live in North Idaho. Don, you're saying Idaho's an inland state. That's not part of the Pacific Northwest. I say, sir, I lived in Lewiston, Idaho, which is actually the state of Idaho's only seaport. They're connected to the Columbia River through the Snake, and they do have ocean barges that make it all the way inland. So I counted myself as part of the PNAC, the Pacific Northwest. I was in Pacific Time Zone in that part of Idaho, just south of Spokane, Washington, in the rolling fields of the Palouse. But I was back in Seattle, man, the Evergreen State, Washington State, and then even farther north of there in Bellingham, a nice little hamlet perched on the coast there by the San Juan Islands, just a stone's throw, a maple jug throw, a moose hoof throw from Canada. And so I got to see some friends from the Vancouver area that came down. So here's where it happened. I boxed up my Jaws. I shipped it out, and then I followed it in an airplane. We met up together with everybody, and we did a cool unboxing live stream of the Jaws machine. And then we just went nuts, man, playing pinball, hanging out in the progressive northwest where the food is great, the tacos are fun, the pronouns are never-ending. It was just a great time to be out there. We got to play some disc golf as well, get my inner hippie on, man, crunching granola. I was about ready to grow my dreads out and just start living on the street and, like, let's do it, man. So I can't wait until I come back. But, yeah, we had a fun tournament that was there. We broke off into teams. It was a format that I hadn't done before Where like the four people Collectively that are a team You know all kind of pool their scores For each of the five games we played And then we had you know individual Results and then team results So it was fun I came in number seventh I think overall I got myself a $25 drink token Which was spent rapidly On Yuzu Sake It came in a bottle that looked like a potion man I posted some pictures and video of it Man had a great time Had some highs, had some lows I don't do a ton of tournament talk On the podcast, mainly because I don't do a lot of tournaments Mainly because I'm not really good at pinball But I had some great times During this round Especially because my Jaws machine was in it And yeah dude I killed it for that round Ball won 305 million points Just blew it up And I'm glad that somebody was there to watch that So they could legitimize that Occasionally, I'm not that terrible At pinball Now, if you were watching me on Pulp Fiction, I think my three-ball community score didn't even break 100,000. It was just one of those crappy Pulp Fiction plays. And that's why I don't perform well in tournaments because I'm not consistent at all. But, God, it was just a great time. Jeff and Danny came down from Vancouver. Salt of the Earth people. I wish you guys were Americans, but I think that would just sour you. You guys are great. I met these dudes over in Pinball Expo, and now I get to be in their area. had Chris came by, some other fans and stuff. It was just fun, like being out there, doing an appearance, and just having folks stop by. I was giving out things. I gave out a banner. I gave out T-shirts. I gave out chicken buckets, countless stickers, coasters, all kinds of crap, man. If you met me, you got something if you wanted it. I was signing stuff for people, and that might have been the Yuzu talking, but it was great. It was great times for my two days that I was there in Bellingham, and it was fun to go play some disc golf in the woods again, man. If you're looking for a hobby that's inexpensive and gets you outside, gets you a mental break from pinball, disc golf is a great way to go. There's courses all around the place. You probably live near one anyway. It's inexpensive to get into. A disc is like $20 for the best top-of-the-line one. And then you go around and you throw discs at chains. It's fun. So I think there's some parallels there. So shout-out to everybody in the Bellingham region. We had a fantastic time. But that wasn't it. That wasn't it. yesterday we left Washington drove all the way down to Portland and checked out this place called Ground Control awesome arcade right downtown right in the urban camping section of Portland definitely weird definitely recovering from the last few years of riots and occupations and COVID and everything but like you know Portland's always been full of weirdos which is its charm and now it's full of even more of that but despite that I will say the town is still functioning like you know business is going on it's not like a you know you know the rotted shell of a downtown where like businesses are shuttered businesses are thriving the streets are thriving the bacteria is thriving everything's going up it's just so weird to like walk around this you know what some would label a urban hellscape um and then like you turn the corner and there's voodoo donut with like a hundred people tourists waiting in line in their pink barricades to go get their donuts just having a great time you know feet away from urban campers Just the vibe The vibe was real It was like dropping into the Dagobah system There's teaming with life Around every corner There was no dull moment There was characters absolutely everywhere Ground control Cool pinball bar Multi-levels, multi-pockets of games New and old Spent some time on a Doctor Who Played some vintage Totan And some new Ninja Turtles and just had a time, raged until about 10 a.m., and then checked myself into a boutique hotel because I had to tap out And the first thing that has happened to me in about 20 years happened that night I got a phone call about 1 in the morning asking if I wanted to go to a rave And I thought about it and then decided to just kind of chillax in my hotel room But, you know, it's always nice to be invited to these things. Can you imagine 45 years old showing up at a rave? My goodness, what a fun time in Portland. All right, so that brings us to the final day today, which was like the culmination of everything. I've been waiting for it. Next level arcade. So this place is west of Portland, about 40 minutes in the Hillsboro region, right next to the airport. Now, I had pictured Next Level because, I mean, of course, I've heard about it.
Jaws
game
Keltsgame
Thunderbirdsgame
Domino's Pizza Adventuregame
Mafiagame
Hughperson
Danielperson
Orbital Albertperson
Doug Bartaperson
Looney Tunesgame
Godzillagame
Diapaevent
John Wickgame

licensing_signal: Jersey Jack Pinball rumored to be pursuing Harry Potter Wizarding World license; potential announcement expected at Diapa show November

medium · Don's explicit speculation about JJP Harry Potter announcement and his November Diapa attendance expectations

  • $

    market_signal: Premium toppers command high prices ($1,000+); consumer demand strong despite cost objections

    medium · Don's internal conflict about Jaws topper desirability despite $1,000 price and stated unnecessary nature

  • ?

    community_signal: Don's content strategy emphasizes first-hand venue experiences and community engagement through merchandise distribution and personal appearances

    high · Extended description of merchandise distribution (T-shirts, stickers, banners, 3D coasters) and announcement of venue visits to enable fan meetings

  • ?

    announcement: Jaws 50th Anniversary Edition topper officially demonstrated at Next Level Arcade; lenticular effect and integrated light show positively received

    high · Don's detailed firsthand observations of the $1,000 topper and its gameplay integration at Next Level

  • ?

    product_concern: Team Pinball's Mafia prototype shows unfinished production quality (low-resolution playfield printing)

    high · Don notes 'quality of the printing of the play field was definitely not like a finished product it looked like it had maybe just didn't quite have the 300 dpi resolution'

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Stern planning black-and-white variant releases of games including Godzilla; speculation about Monsters/Munsters remake with toppers

    medium · Orbital Albert's 'throwaway comment' about Godzilla black and white; Don's speculation about potential Monsters variant strategy

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Don's positive reevaluation of Home Pin's Thunderbirds despite initial low expectations; qualified approval despite design flaws

    high · Don notes 'The game is serviceable' and 'I was pleasantly surprised at how less bad Thunderbirds was' despite ongoing criticism

    • 9:25
    This is a place that's run by a pitball distributor. Just like a Wonka-esque figure who's created this, I don't even know, this enterprise just full of free play games and collectibles and Jar Jar Binks statues and just everything you could possibly imagine. Next level is to an arcade what Jungle Gyms in Cincinnati, Ohio is to a grocery store. Anybody that's been there, like, you get it. Or like Bucky's is to a gas station. I mean, you know, if you've been there, you know. There was no way anybody could describe this place to me in a way that would convey how awesome it was. In my head, you know, just seeing pictures of this place, hearing about it, I figured it was like, you know, it's kind of in a shopping center, surrounded by some, you know, the redwood trees. And then, you know, there's a couple rooms of pinball machines and, like, some collectibles and stuff. But no, no, good sir. This enterprise owns its own property. It has a building that they've been adding on to as they've been expanding with more expansions to come. And just, like, just loaded with, like, it seemed like 300 pinball machines, 400 arcade machines, redemption machines, every action figure, collectible lunchbox, seven-foot statue of a superhero. Like, it's all there. Food trucks outside. Make this place a destination. I know it's won the Twippies for best location, and I see why. Okay. Now, I've been to District 82. I've been to the Pinball Lounge in Oviedo. I've been to Electric Bat, their Tempe location. Like, I've been around. I go to Interium, Galloping Ghost. Like, I've done them. And then, you know, this place wins best location. And when I think about it, you know, how well-traveled are pinball folks? We tend to be regional.
    11:10
    You know, now adventure travel is kind of like my whole deal, so I do get around. You know, and if you're a fan of roller coasters and theme parks, that's what you have to do. With pinball, though, you don't have to travel that far to be able to sample everything. So, you know, these best location tends to be like, you know, the best location in Ohio, you know, the best location on the West Coast, the best location in Florida. And then, you know, what region has the most people voting in Twippies, and that's who tends to win these things? But, like, I totally get why Next Level took it. You know, District 82 is amazing. Past Times Arcade, fantastic. You know, One Up Lounge was great. But this place is, like, it's seriously, like, on another level. I did some live streams, and I don't even think I covered a fifth of the place. It just was fantastic. Okay, let me run down the cool things I did there, besides playing Berrio's Barbecue Challenge Limited Edition with my homeboy Daniel. Let's start with the Jaws topper. I saw it in person. Damn it. Damn it, it looks impressive.
    12:13
    If you've seen pictures of it, you're not impressed. That's all I saw. It's a laticular. It's plastic. It's $1,000. Get out of here with that, right? Until I saw the thing and the light show that comes with it. And the laticular effect is kind of cool. And it's like, shucks, man, now I want one. And I hate that I want one because I completely don't need it because I don't have a Jaws anymore. But we're going to keep getting overpriced toppers. That's just what's going to happen because people are going to buy these things. The way that it interacts with the gameplay and the light show and it completes the look and dash gone it. I made my own Jaws topper. I've seen a lot of people that have made Jaws toppers. They all look great in their own way, but they don't integrate in a light show to the level that this does. and I'm hating myself for how much I like this topper after seeing it. And, like, playing the game and looking up there and watching the light show, I mean, I just, it is what it is. It's expensive, okay? It's unnecessary. You don't need it. But I still kind of want it, though. I still kind of want it. The other thing I want is a monster topper. Now, I've got a great idea for a monster topper I'm going to make. It'll be interactive with the game. It'll fit the theme. It's got, like, a grandpa's laboratory. thing going, Tesla coils, all that bit. And then, like, just this plastic one just has the characters that light up and the little raven that comes out. Like, I kind of want it, though. Alright, so, Stern, I'm kind of hoping that they don't go and run Munsters again, even though I think it would be a good idea, because they tend to command a higher price when they do show up on Pinside.
    13:48
    But if they do run it again, the only reason I don't want them to run it is because I just purchased one, right? Now, I don't want to do a bunch of runs of premiums for, like, $9,600 when I paid slightly more for the one that they got, even though it did come with Penn Stadiums. But if they are to go do it again, I would like to have a black and white topper. I think it's on trend right now. It's on brand. I think they could turn and burn on these things and generate some cash money. So if Monsters does come as a remake or a rerun, a renewal of the license, similar to what we're seeing with Rush now, similar to what we saw with Stranger Things, and everything else, Black Knight's Order of Rage was the same way, do a run of the toppers, too. And I'd probably go ahead and pick myself up one, even though I'm making a really cool one right now. Stern, I think you're going to do that. I did hear another, it was a throwaway comment today, since we're on this Stern remake thing, about the Godzilla black and white, and if you were on the fence or about to get a Godzilla, now's a great time to wait and pick up one of these black and white ones. And so, are they going to do this with other things? And it was a throwaway comment from Mr. Orbital Albert, I'm sure, on his Pinball Nurse podcast. I'm halfway through that episode there. great episodes by the way that you've been doing I've been listening to them, they're cool but mention what about the Jaws comic art edition that comes out and that got me thinking can we manifest that into reality I don't know if it's because I'm in the spiritual northwest here but I want to channel my inner shaman and will this into position, I don't even know that there's been Jaws comic art I'm sure someone has done a Jaws comic book between the 70's and now but how about a Jaws premium edition with some laser cut armor that's all done with like comic style and then like i can get that to be the definitive version of jaws i don't think jaws would work as a black and white version it makes no sense thematically but a comic art version of jaws and get the licensing for the comics so you can have all the characters represented i don't know bernard are you interested in doing that man secret project how cool would that be um you know there was also the rumors that there was a hidden art uh treatment that was done for jaws that wasn't used maybe that could be used in the future.
    15:56
    I find myself newly without a Jaws and still liking the game though and I wouldn't mind getting one in the future and I would like to have the definitive version if it comes out in another year. Maybe sales are slowing down. They want to do something new. Either bring out that fourth art treatment or a comic art treatment. Let me manifest that, Stern Pinball. You did it with Star Wars. It would be great. Let's do it with Jaws. Let's do a comic art Jaws and just celebrate this game that's the second coming of Godzilla. Come on, let's do it. Let's do it. Let's make it happen. All right. Are you okay? Are you okay, microphone stand?
    16:32
    I'm teetering on a little cafe table in my hotel room here. All right, let's get to some more stuff. I did some cool stuff today. I did some cool stuff. Let's continue with some crap stuff. I played Home Pin's Thunderbirds.
    16:47
    Gosh. Yeah, so So, hmm. Of course, the game's terrible. But it wasn't as terrible as I was thinking. The game is serviceable as far as shots. The layout isn't complete garbage. There are some mechanisms in there. It's more than I expected. I was pleasantly surprised at how less bad Thunderbirds was than what I was anticipating. Now, the theme sucks. I kid the show. People love the show. The show has always been creepy to me. I knew about Thunderbirds as well. You know, it would be on, you know, some of the old UHF channels or something. And I never quite jived with it because it just looked like it was stupid. And I think that's why the South Park guys did Team America World Police as a send-up because it was just stupid and they wanted to do it.
    17:36
    The game you shoot that middle ramp and it gives you one letter of the light up international rescue and when you light them all nothing happens so it got that stupid stuff in it but at least the ramp that comes down for the multi-ball was kind of neat when you do get the multi-ball, the little elevator that raises the ball out of the pond, that was kind of cool the coolest thing to me and I knew this from photos of the game there was these plastic palm trees, the kind that you would put on a seven-year-old's birthday cake if they're doing a Hawaiian theme. So those are in the game, and they look incredibly cheap, and I kind of dig it. But the way that they dance and shake when you lock a ball was just kind of magical, man. Kind of clever little way that the actuator hits these things, and you have these shaking palm trees. It makes no sense. It's not referenced in the game at all. There's no call-out. There's no reason why these plastic palm trees need to be shaken back and forth. But it was just kind of fun and stupid, and I did appreciate that. So I did go back to this game a few times to go play it, just because of that stupid stuff that was going on. The game was essentially flat as far as the... It did not have that 6.5 degree tilt. I'm sorry, it did not. It was like playing pinball on the moon and underwater at the same time. So not the best representation of the game. I'm sure the game could play better than how it was set up there, but my God, it's a weird, weird game. Don't buy this game. please don't buy this game unless you have everything already and you want something weird and stupid i don't even know how many of these were made um next level has little placards on the aprons for just about every one of their pinball machines they give a little backstory um of the game how many were made who made it why they did it and so you know it was unlisted there as far as how many were made like the uh distributor doesn't want to release that number but they can't be a lot of these things i can't imagine people buying them and even if you were a person that doesn't like pinball and your and home pin makes games for people that don't like pinball you'd have to like not like yourself to get this game but i will say there was some clever things that were in there the game did work the pitch was definitely off um and i mean it was a lot of arcade so i can't really speak to the call outs and things or i didn't really play to get into any modes um but there were some clever things in there so i was pleasantly surprised so there's that uh onto some good news i was finally able to play spooky pinballs Domino's Pizza Adventure and Hugh remarked that this game has no business being as fun as it is like there's modes in the Domino's game you know he was looking at it and he's like why did they make a game of like the worst kind of pizza and it's like well no no this was the corporation had ordered this they wanted to do it for their celebration or something they wanted 100 of them 135 I think were made and so you know some people have them in private collections and this was the first time I got to play one. And, like, you know, Spooky saw the assignment. Okay, we just need to make a game featuring the Noid and some of the little slogans from Domino's Corporate and make them this product. But they're like, you know what? We're still going to go hard on it, though. We're still going to make some cool mechanisms. We're going to make some drop targets that fall down or stand-up targets that fall, unlocking a magnet arena, you know, a pizza press underneath the Noid. We're going to put ramps in it. We're going to put cool shots in here. We're going to put some code in there. We're going to put wizard modes. Like, they did it, man. They made the whole game. They put all this effort into a game that's only going to be produced 135 times, and that's it. And there's an alternate Translight of the Noid, as a Godzilla-type monster stomping through this whatever city that this game takes place in. I love that this game exists. It's so fun and so silly, and so much effort went into it, and it's so appreciated. I've got myself the Playfield. I've got myself the alternate Translight. I picked those up at shows. I'm glad I have them. And it did just give me the warm fuzzies. Jetsons was there. Every spooky pinball except for Turner Classic Movies, Texas Chainsaw Massacre was there. You know, so you had America's Most Haunted. Rob Zombie was there. TNA, Rick and Morty. Domino's Amazing Pizza Adventure. Alice Cooper's Nightmare Castle. Halloween and Ultraman were there. And they just got Looney Tunes and put it out there. and it was working great. Like the Vuck that shoots the ball around the orbit when you throw it into the little cellar beneath the drop target was functioning. Sometimes when you see the game first set up or you see the game it shows, it can be a little weak, needs to be adjusted. This one was dialed in fairly well. We were having some great times on it. And again, I looked over as I was just wandering around and like families are there with their kids playing it. Like, man, this game should be sold out by now. I'm surprised it's not for as fun as it is. Hugh, the owner of the 1UP Lounge, even remarked that he thinks this game was better than Godzilla, so take that with a salted margarita rim one person's opinion, but an operator had a great time, this was like their first time finally playing the game, and yeah so there's a good review for you, okay okay, even more cool stuff happened today, even more cool stuff, even cooler than me getting the Bastille Day badge on Rush, go get it 30 million points is what you need to score. It's definitely achievable, and it's out there, and you have another day to do that. But I got to play a couple of games while I was up the next level. I snuck away a little bit after talking to the owners, and I played a couple of games that aren't on the show floor, which was very special and very, very much appreciated, and I'm going to rep this place to the hilt because of how cool they were to me. Y'all, I have now played, all right, Don's Pinball Podcast. I've played every Haggis Pinball machine that's ever been produced. I got to play Kelts today. And, wow.
    23:22
    I've only seen pictures of Kelts. I've only seen video of Kelts. I've read reviews of Kelts. But Kelts was the first game that Haggis Pinball made. It's an original title. It's got just the worst art I've ever seen. The characters just look kind of gross. And, like, that's all I really knew about it. Now I finally got to play the game. I put a couple of plays on it, less than five. But it plays fairly well For an original license First game made I'm comparing it to games like Punny Factory, I'm comparing it to games Like America's Most Haunted And it's definitely towards the America's Most Haunted Side of the spectrum Then the Punny Factory spectrum Yeah, I kind of dug playing it I don't think I will put Ninja Eclipse in that same Kind of Spectrum of like the first original title from a new company.
    24:14
    And I think for their first game out, yeah, I think it's all right. I think it can hang with the likes of An America of Souls Haunted and an NJ Clips. And it had more to do than Punny Factory does. But the shots felt good. The flippers felt good. The mechanisms all worked. There were modes in there. There's a play field screen that kind of tells you what to do and explains some of the modes. So I did have fun playing it as far as an original title. I'd like to see Haggis do, well, I'd like to see Haggis fulfill customers. But if they were to do machines in the future, I'd like to see them of this ilk and better. Yeah, but yeah, it definitely wasn't a bad playing game at all, and I had some fun when I was playing it. The shots were interesting. There was cool stuff to do on there. So thank you for allowing me to play Kelts. I have played Haggis' Fathom, and at Texas Pinball Festival, I was able to play, courtesy of Nitro Pinball, their Centaur that they made, which so far, I think there's only been a couple of those made. and that was probably the only one in the U.S., definitely the only one that I know about. It's one that Kerry Hardy unboxed into the video.
    25:18
    And, yeah, so that was cool. So I have now, lucky me, have played their Fathom. I've played one of their Centaurs, and now I've played Kelts. I've played every one of the Haggis Pinball Machines. I can fill out my Punch Dance card. I'm super happy about that. I also got a chance to play Mafia from Team Pinball, This prototype game that I don't even really fully understand the story behind the production of this thing. But apparently there was a company somewhere named Team Pinball. And they had developed this mafia-themed game. And then it's just kind of been out there in the lore of pinball in general. Well, I played it. It's real. It exists. I played it. It looks like a prototype game. the quality of the printing of the play field was definitely not like a finished product it looked like it had maybe just didn't quite have the 300 dpi resolution that you would expect with a final product but yeah, it was a game, single level, not a fan layout kind of an old school-y type design there was a captive ball from what I can remember but there weren any scoops to start modes it had great bass sound on the spinner that is a spinner in the center of the play field there a center shot right up the middle into the pops very satisfying very interesting game I'd like to maybe try it out some more but gosh if that was a production game right now I don't think it would be that big of a seller the art you could tell was all original, but you know I didn't notice much in the way of call outs and themes and mode and it didn't feel like a complete game in that sense. But the layout shot well. The shots felt okay. There was no bricking of any shots. Very much kind of like a throwback layout. So if you were wondering how Mafia plays, that's how it plays. You know, so that was fun there. After that, after that, when walking around and live streaming and just playing pinball and trying to go after that John Wick contract that dropped today, I went back out, took a break, and threw some more discs, man. I did some Portland area disc golfing. And, like, after not playing disc golf for a year or so, it was kind of fun to get back into it, just start chucking Frisbees at chains. So I think as time goes on now, when we're all hanging out again and we want a break from pinball, let's go throw some Ds, throw some Ds at some Cs, right, throw some Ds at chains, discs at chains is where I'm going with that. It was fun. It was a good time. So I got to meet Doug Barta again. He's a local guy, friendly dude. came out and met me at Next Level, so shout out to him. Dude's a legend. We had a great time. Thanks for coming out and making the 45-minute drive. Really appreciate it. I try to announce locations I'm going to be at, and so if you're local, come by. Let's hang out. If you want to get a T-shirt, if you want to get some stickers, if you want to get a banner, let me know. I'll bring it. I've got chicken buckets with me. I'm always making new, fun stuff. I printed out some 3D coasters I was handing out to some people, so I always got some cool stuff on me. so if you see me out there just be like don i want some cool stuff give me something and and i'll have it i i tend to travel uh with copious amounts of that stuff otherwise i haven't noticed that there's a ton of news stuff to talk about um you know i did the whole nap arcade thing where i looked through there trying to find some little nuggets there uh what's up with jersey jack and avatar i've been on the road for four days i haven't really been following facebook and doom scrolling or anything but is like that a thing again now like that avatar i'll get somebody's doing an avatar game and it's jersey jack please i hope that's not the next theme that they do listen right now i am hype and this may be my own doing but i am hyped for jersey jack to do a harry potter wizarding world machine i want it to be released to diapa i'm going to be there in november i want all those things to happen and i want to be pressured into purchasing a jersey jack pinball machine because it's that theme and that's what i want to get i want to really want it and I want to get it and I want to be happy with it.
    29:16
    Well, it was that next level. I walked up and down the Jersey Jack row and the games are pretty. I can't think. I've played them all a lot on locations. Some of them in my own home. Dialed in. I'm just over it. I don't really enjoy it enough to have it in my home again. The shots are great. All that is valid. If you love the game, you love the game. I just need a theme. I need a story that connects me to it. It's just like, you know, all these local news bumpers that pop up, and it doesn't really make sense. And the iPhone looks like an iPhone 4, and it's kind of like, meh.
    29:53
    So I'm not into that. Wonka, it's okay. It shoots alright, but like, again, it needs to have like that through line of a story to bring me into it. I want to see scenes from the film playing out. I want to hear the songs, and like all of that's just not in there. Toy Story 4, like, god, I really want to like it. It's probably the only Jersey Jack game right now I'd actually want to have in my home because I do think the jump ramp is cool I like the fact that Figment from Epcot makes a cameo appearance in one of the little modes just for a second and I like that it's Toy Story and I can hear Buzz and they got Tom Hanks' brother to do call outs and things like that I love that part of it, I would love it more if it had Pizza Planet and the aliens and the claw machine and it was from Toy Story but I like it, I've had Guns and Roses. It's gone on. It's not coming back. I'm glad I had it. Pirates of the Caribbean is great, but they're never going to make them again, and the cost is too high, so that's a barrier. Hobbit is just too open of a layout. Wizard of Oz, it's fun, but I don't have that connection to that theme. Elton John shoots amazing. I put a lot of time on it on 1UP Lounge. I want that to be a location game for me where I can go and play it. Godfather, there was a CE there today. No gold lions on the lakes, but it was a CE there. It's a beautiful game. I don't really have fun when I play it, so there's that. I want to love and want and desire and FOMO over the next Jersey Jack game that comes out so I can get one of these beautifully rad-cowled machines in my game room. I've got some space for it. I'm making some room. I want to get it, and I want it to be freaking Harry Potter. I want to... I want Hagrid, and his motorbike adventure. I want all of that. I want Hogwarts Castle. I want Dementors. I want spirits. I want magic spells. I want collecting things. I want Hermione Granger. I want chocolate frogs. Let's do it. There's Hogwarts Express, butterbeer. I want it all. I want all that stuff in a pinball machine that I can go play in, and I want that to happen next. And I have a sneaking suspicion that that may be not what's happening. I think it might be something like Muppets or Avatar. gosh man why wouldn't avatar be a rumor just like i'm sure it would be a beautiful game the code would probably be fine but like the i don't want to take like all of my saved up ducats and like that's what i go in on and it's like i've got avatar i think it would feel like a godfather like yeah it's great it'll be a location game for me i want something i really want to desire for home and i'm just i'm hoping but yeah i'm 50 50 on if it's going to come to fruition. So if that's out there, if there's anything else more concrete, let me know. But I just don't want to have a disappointment, you know, where I'm hyped up for a Harry Potter game. I get to IAAPA and it's like, here's our avatar. And I'm like, all right, cool. You know, I'll play it. You know, who else is here? Let's go get some, let's go get some waffle bears or something. So we'll see what's going on with that. I had such a great time out here in the PNAC, the Pacific Northwest. I don't know if I'm the only one that calls it that, but I'm happy to come back anytime. I've got road trips galore coming up. My next appearance will be at the Southern Fright Gaming Expo. I'll be there every one of the days. Also, heck, I'll do an appearance at Dollywood. Y'all want to go to Dollywood? Listen, I've been to every theme park and amusement park in this country, in Canada, in Europe, in Japan. Dollywood is a top five park. If you're local to it, you know. If you think it's a joke, it's not. it's legitimately a great theme park go out there and hang out Dolly Parton was in a pinball machine back in the day, I'm going to go through Pigeon Forge Tennessee and I'm going to go see what the local pinball vibes are there I'm going to check out some arcades, see what we got there will be photos from the road, be sure to follow the Facebook page, email me at donspinballpodcast at gmail.com, y'all know how to find me and what else, do you guys want chicken buckets, I still got them, I may retire them soon, just because I don't want young brands coming after me, I think everybody's been out there and been able to get them So if you want one, order one now. Otherwise, I'll probably be cutting off the supply there, and we'll go on to a different mod or something. But it's had a great run, man. There's a lot of chicken buckets out there. I've been sending those things all over the place. I've got banners if you guys want them, $99. I'll get you two on the Don's Pinball Podcast, Donka, the Willy Wonka-inspired thing that Michael Bernard did to me. If you want to decorate your dorm room, the back of your door, your ex-wife's house, whatever, I've got those available. T-shirts are coming. We've got WAP merchandise coming. I got new projects that I'm really excited about that I want to get started. And so we're just going to keep this ball rolling. Thanks to everybody that contacted me, came out, gave me a dap. Don, we've listened to you. I can't believe you're here. This is great. Thanks for posing for photos and things. And I'll sign your babies. I don't care, man. We're just having a great time. So I'm heading home tomorrow. Can't wait. Labyrinth has been sold. Congratulations to the owner. I'll be shipping that out soon. And then there'll be more fun to come.
    34:54
    Big ups to Glenn for dropping that Duhost remix. I mean, that was totally unsolicited, and I loved it, man. I'll be using that more in the future. Hugh and Dan, thank you so much for hosting me out here this week. Make sure everybody else that came out, Jeff, Danny, Chris, Doug, y'all are stellar stars. Let's go play some disc golf, man. I'm so exhausted. Talk to you soon. Later.