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Episode 75: 2019 A New Hope

Head2Head Pinball·podcast_episode·1h 11m·analyzed·Jan 7, 2019
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 (batch) · $0.021

TL;DR

H2H returns; Munsters leaking at CES, code updates, celeb pinball hype, and 2018 guest retrospective.

Summary

Head2Head Pinball hosts Martin and Ryan discuss their return from a three-week break on Episode 75 (January 2019), covering Stern's imminent announcement of The Munsters machine at CES, recent code updates across multiple titles, celebrity pinball appearances (Jeffree Star, Jack Black), Australian tournament news, and their 2018 podcast guest highlights including interviews with major industry figures. The episode reflects on the show's evolution and their survey initiative.

Key Claims

  • Stern will announce The Munsters machine within 24 hours (at CES on Tuesday, US time)

    high confidence · Martin and Ryan, discussing imminent Stern announcement; leaked manual found in Primus machine, manual images with Munsters visible

  • A Munsters manual was leaked inside a Primus machine shipment, confirming the unannounced game

    high confidence · Martin: 'we know that in the next 24 hours, Monsters will be revealed... the Monsters manual inside the Primus machine'

  • Stern has been responsible for its own leaks (Facebook posts with Munsters in background, Gary Stern presentations, manual shipment error)

    high confidence · Ryan: 'all these leaks are them... uploading a picture on Facebook with monsters in the background, that's them... shipping a manual into Primus'

  • Recent code updates released for Deadpool, Batman 66, Houdini, and Darlene

    high confidence · Martin: 'Code, Code, Code has been released. Deadpool's got new code, Batman 66 got some more code, Houdini's got some new code'

  • Jeffree Star has appeared on Deadflip stream 5-6 times with 11M YouTube subscribers, 1B views, 9.2M Instagram followers

    high confidence · Ryan citing This Week in Pinball statistics about Jeffree Star's social media presence and stream appearances

  • Jack Black's Pinball Hall of Fame video received 4.7 million views

    high confidence · Ryan: 'The video's called A House with a Pin in Its Ball... it's had 4.7 million views, Marty. That's pretty insane.'

  • Australian Championship Series will be held February 15-17, 2019 in Canberra; top 48 qualified (expanded to 53)

    high confidence · Martin: 'the ACS, the Australian Championship Series, is coming up again on the 15th to the 17th of February in Canberra'

  • Zach Sharpe/Sharp was confronted on camera at CES about Munsters and gave a pointed stare indicating frustration

    high confidence · Ryan describing live stream moment: 'Zach Sharpe... death stare straight into the camera... the look was straight into his camera that said, you fuckers out there that set this person to come over here, you are all bastards'

Notable Quotes

  • “Zach Sharpe... death stare straight into the camera... the look was straight into his camera that said, you fuckers out there that set this person to come over here, you are all bastards.”

    Ryan C @ ~10:00 — Captures the tension and humor around The Munsters leak; shows Stern's frustration with pre-announcement leaks

  • “It's not going to kill them if people find these rumours out. I know that it does have an impact on somewhat their business model... that's obviously why they're at CES just with the Beatles first, so they can give it its showcase, then move on to the next one that everybody really is interested in.”

    Martin @ ~12:00 — Acknowledges how early leaks affect Stern's launch strategy and explains deliberate sequencing of announcements

  • “Primus have a pinball machine, anything is possible. Correct. And I think Jeffree Star's actually probably got more likes than Primus.”

    [name withheld pending review] @ ~25:00 — Humorous commentary on celebrity crossover potential and relative cultural reach in pinball context

  • “There's people involved in Pinball that clean toilets and stuff. They earn more money than Jeff Parsons does running This Week in Pinball.”

    Ryan C @ ~52:00 — Highlights economic disparity and lack of compensation for influential pinball media producers

  • “He just got it. Like, yes, that's Pinball. This guy is so passionate about what he does every day.”

    Martin @ ~85:00 — References Christopher Grannner and passion in pinball design/advocacy; shows value hosts place on authentic industry voices

  • “We are trying to cover all sorts of things... it's really hard trying to do content for everyone.”

    Martin @ ~70:00 — Acknowledges editorial challenge in serving diverse pinball community segments with single show

  • “Well-written content. That's the main thing. Like, anybody can get a fucking WordPress site and just stick any old shit up there. It's actually good content.”

    Ryan C — Reflects community respect for This Week in Pinball's editorial standards and effort despite low compensation

Entities

MartinpersonRyan CpersonZach SharpepersonGary SternpersonJeff PattersonpersonJeffree StarpersonJack Blackperson

Signals

  • ?

    announcement: The Munsters machine officially announced by Stern within 24 hours at CES 2019

    high · Hosts confirm Stern's imminent announcement and multiple leak sources pointing to Munsters reveal

  • ?

    leak_detection: Munsters manual leaked inside Primus machine shipment, exposing unannounced game before official reveal

    high · Martin: 'shipping a manual into Primus... the Monsters manual inside the Primus machine been revealed'

  • ?

    business_signal: Stern deliberately sequencing announcements at CES—showing Beatles first to give it separate showcase before pivoting to Munsters

    high · Martin: 'that's obviously why they're at CES just with the Beatles first, so they can give it its showcase, then move on to the next one'

  • ?

    code_update: Multiple Stern titles received code updates during podcast hiatus: Deadpool, Batman 66, Houdini, Darlene

    high · Martin: 'Code, Code, Code has been released. Deadpool's got new code, Batman 66 got some more code, Houdini's got some new code'

  • ?

    content_signal: Celebrity pinball content generating massive mainstream viewership; Jeffree Star (11M YT subs) appearing on pinball streams; Jack Black's Pinball Hall of Fame video got 4.7M views

    high · Jack Black video: 4.7M views; Jeffree Star: 11M YouTube subscribers, 1B total views, appearing 5-6 times on Deadflip

  • ?

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.048

0:00
The Head to Head Pinball Podcast Welcome everybody to the Head to Head Pinball Podcast. This is 2019 and it's also episode 75 and my name's Martin and with me... It's Ryan C. How are you Ryan? I haven't seen you since last year bro, how you been? We really haven't caught up have we? We were next to each other but I didn't talk to you much on purpose so that this was more of like an organic conversation and not a fake one.
0:55
The story of the last 18 months effectively. Yes. So what's been going on, Marty? I haven't been checking up any of the news websites. Have you got some show notes there, Marty? I've got some stuff. Probably, I mean, we'll get to social media watch, but for those people that probably noticed, we did go on a break and we were expecting to only go on a break for a week, but we kind of enjoyed it. Yeah, plus we kind of made an appearance on a certain podcast two weeks in a row, so did we really have a break, Marty? In actual fact, we were on three different podcasts. Three? Three shows, yes. But we'll get to that. Slamp it up. Okay, yeah. We'll get to that. Anyway, so we are back. It is Monday night in Australia. It is soon to be Tuesday in America and effectively what that means is a new machine is going to be announced by Stern. They are currently at CES, the Consumer Electronics Show, but today they're only showing Beatles.
2:05
You know what, Marty? I was watching this guy's live stream. It was just... The Mexican guy? Yeah. Yeah, I was watching this too. Basically, yeah, someone went on Facebook and typed in CES. You click on video, click on live video, and that's how you find the only person who's streaming CES. And he was like some tech blogger or something, but everyone just started screaming at him like, go to the Stern booth, go to the Stern booth. I know, and ask him about monsters. Yeah, and he's like talking back and he's like, okay, okay, but what is Stern? And he's going to all these other, like, these amazing emerging technologies and they're talking about 5G and fucking, like, all these electronic products and they talk to each other and order Uber Eats before you even know. And then I'm like, holy shit, like, how are they going to announce a pinball machine? Like, check it out, it's a pinball machine. It's the future of pinball mode. Yeah. So it was very funny because he literally, and I think it was our good friend Charles Thomas that was the one that spurred him to go there and ask about Munsters, and this person did went up to Zach Sharp and said, so what about Munsters? And what was his reaction, Ryan? I have no, well he stared.

  • H2H Podcast had 33+ major industry guests in 2018, including Scott Danesi, Joe Kaminkow, Keith Elwin, Roger Sharpe, Dennis Nordman, and Ben Heck

    high confidence · Martin reads extensive guest list from 2018 show

  • Martin finished 3rd in Victorian State Championships 2018; Ryan finished 4th

    high confidence · Ryan: 'Marty, you finished third in the States? Yep... Where did you finish? Fourth.'

    • @ ~50:00

  • “I don't think we're going to have a... that's impossible to do that again, right?”

    Martin @ ~90:00 — Acknowledges the remarkable breadth of 2018 guest roster and difficulty replicating such industry access

    • Scott Danesi
    person
    Christopher Franchiperson
    Keith Elwinperson
    Joe Kaminkowperson
    Roger Sharpeperson
    Dennis Nordmanperson
    Ben Heckperson
    Stern Pinballcompany
    Spooky Pinballcompany
    Head to Head Pinball Podcastmedia
    This Week in Pinballmedia
    Deadflipmedia
    The Munstersgame
    Beatlesgame

    venue_signal: Victorian State Championships coming for first time (32+ players); Australian Championship Series Feb 15-17 Canberra (expanded from 48 to 53 slots)

    high · ACS registration; Victoria state champs announced with ~32 players anticipated; top 48 expanded to 53

  • ?

    community_signal: H2H Podcast achieved major interview access in 2018, interviewing 33+ industry figures including designers, manufacturers, and key personalities

    high · Martin reads comprehensive guest list including Scott DeNisi, Joe Kaminkow, Keith Elwin, Roger Sharp, Dennis Nordman, Ben Heck, and 27 others

  • ?

    industry_signal: Pinball media producers significantly underpaid; This Week in Pinball operator earns less than minimum-wage cleaners despite 30 hrs/week effort on industry-leading content

    medium · Ryan: 'Jeff Patterson earns less money than them [toilet cleaners], and he works 30 hours a week to produce the best pinball content on one page'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Christopher Franchi interview demonstrated passionate design philosophy and thematic integration expertise; hosts recognize importance of designer/artist voice in community

    medium · Martin: 'he just got it. Like, yes, that's Pinball. This guy is so passionate about what he does every day'

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Martin finished 3rd, Ryan finished 4th in Victorian State Championships 2018; both actively preparing for 2019 competitive season

    high · Tournament results: Martin 3rd, Ryan 4th; both attending ACS in February 2019

  • ?

    product_strategy: Community speculating about Munsters Premium edition featuring black and white playfield variant; generating FOMO and hype

    medium · Ryan: 'everyone's losing their shit over the black and white proposed premium edition'

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Munsters leak generating significant community excitement and speculation; hosts acknowledge dramatic nature of pre-announcement reveal cycle

    high · Hosts discuss imminent reveal, leak timeline, and community response to Munsters machine

    • 3:22
    You know when you try and catch someone out in a lie because you know what you're going to say is true. Be like, okay, well, if I know how they lie, then I can be able to scope them out in the future. Zach Sharp, like, death stare straight into the camera. I have no idea what you're talking about. No, dude, look, I'm on this side of the event, and I also watched past the event, but it was almost like the look was straight into his camera that said, you fuckers out there that set this person to come over here, you are all bastards. That's what it was. He was staring at us. He's got a long week ahead of him and I think, like I was watching that video and the guy walks up when he's in the middle of a conversation and he was like, this is, like, I'm not sure what the person asked. That's what I was trying to guess because like, we're here because this is a consumer product. I was like, was that person asking, why are you here? Anyway. Possibly. But anyway, but yeah, look, we know that in the next 24 hours, Monsters will be revealed. I think since we last spoke, had the Monsters manual inside the Primus machine been, did we speak about that before? No, we didn't speak about it, that was just a social media thing. It just happened, you know, so it's funny, isn't it? But it is going to be revealed to tomorrow, which will be tomorrow night, our time. Yeah, it's funny that Stern joke about will we ever be able to release a Pinball machine without people knowing.
    4:56
    And they've had some unfortunate leaks that have to do with third parties, but all these leaks are them. So uploading a picture on Facebook with monsters in the background, that's them. Showing a presentation to a bunch of Greek dudes or wherever the hell Gary Stern was, mistake number two. And then, of course, shipping a manual into Primus. It's all them. So we will always know what's coming eventually. Look, at the end of the day, it's not going to kill them if people find these rumours out. I know that it does have an impact on somewhat their business model and their ability to, I guess, ship machines that are currently out, like Beatles. And that's obviously why they're at CES just with the Beatles first, so they can give it its showcase, then move on to the next one that everybody really is interested in. Yeah, and we all joke about it, but that's because I guess the alternative to them flat out denying it is what happened with Chicago Gaming Company, where people kind of figured it out. So they just made a post. Can you imagine if Stern made a post on Facebook? Ah, you guys figured it out. Oh, you crazy kids. It's true. It's coming. Monsters is coming, guys. Anyway. You know, and I will give Zach just major kudos. He just is the ultimate professional. It's like, nope, not going to say anything until we're allowed to say something. I accidentally tagged him on the Facebook post because it had automatic facial recognition. Yep. And then I went to undo it and it wasn't tagged anymore. So I think he was just like, sorry, sorry about that. I'm an apology, but it's Facebook privacy. So Munsters, yeah, I think just the pro is going to be there. But, you know, who knows? Everyone's losing their shit over the black and white proposed premium edition. But I don't know. Do you think that's the case that they're actually going to have a black and white play field? You know, I just, I don't care. When I know that, like, drama is coming, then I'll just, I'll wait for the drama. I don't want to be part of the speculation to, you know, ooh, is it going to be this or is it going to be that? And are people going to lose their minds? Yes, people will lose their mind. We've literally done a whole episode speculating on that kind of shit before. We love this stuff. This is 2019, Marty. We've evolved. Have we? I don't know, we haven't had a chat about it. Well, I guess we've switched roles tonight though, haven't we, Ryan? Because I'm not drunk. I'm not drunk, Rani. Are you?
    7:44
    I was a little bit. It's wearing off, okay? I do have a drink here though. Well, keep it going. Also, since we last spoke, there's been Code, Code, Code has been released. Deadpool's got new code, Batman 66 got some more code, Houdini's got some new code, there's code for you. You get some code, you get some code, you all get some code.
    8:10
    Release the bees. Whenever I hear you get this and you get that, I think of the meme version of it where she's releasing bees into the crowd.
    8:21
    Anyway, yeah, I think there was code for Darlene as well, possibly. Oh, there is too, yeah, it just got announced. I don't know whether it's out yet, but it definitely got announced, yeah. That's right.
    8:34
    So, streaming. Yes. People watch Pimball streaming. People watch a lot more video game streaming, admittedly. But I want to talk about Jeffree Star, and the reason why I want to bring this up is because Jeffree Star has now appeared on the Deadflip stream, I want to say maybe five or six times and I think he's going to go again. And, you know, someone sent us a note as well saying, I'm curious about this because obviously Jeffree Star is famous and I've got some stats to read out, which I'm pretty sure I took from This Week in Pinball. So go to thisweekinpinball.com.
    9:17
    11 million subscribers on YouTube. Subscribers. I told you I'm not editing this either.
    9:24
    1 billion views on YouTube, 9.2 million followers on Instagram, 2.7 million Facebook likes and over 2.8 million followers on Twitter. Well, we have 670 Facebook likes. Right. Take that bitch. Yeah, serious.
    9:44
    So there's obviously a much bigger market, but the message that came to us, I won't say who it was, But it was basically saying that they were reading the chat on the stream and effectively all the fans of Jeffree Star were in the stream. Some were saying, oh, what's a pinball? People were saying, I love you, Jeffree.
    10:07
    Can you shout out to my sister Monisha? So the question was, is this actually promoting Pinball or is it just promoting Jeffree Star?
    10:26
    I wrote back to that person, so Marty, you can give me your opinion since you are the streamer. Well, I am the streamer. And I think, yes. And I think if my summary of it was, if I don't think it's necessarily going to make one of these people all of a sudden go out there and buy a new in-box machine. Unless it was a Jeffree Star machine. Maybe that could happen.
    10:52
    If Primus have a pinball machine, anything is possible. Correct. And I think Jeffree Star's actually probably got more likes than Primus. We probably should go and check that out. Everyone's hating me for saying that. I also don't think it's going to inspire these people to go to a tournament or a pinball show or a pinball event. But what I think it might do is if they are in a situation, let's say where they go to one of those family entertainment centres, I don't know what they call them over in America. I know that there's a particular phrase for them. Dave and Busses? That kind of thing. It was so nice. Sorry. I'm sure there's an American out there just crossing their head like, no, that's not what it's called. No, we call them family entertainment setters.
    11:39
    Oh, gambling for children is what I often refer to it as. But what I'm suspecting is that these people would go into these venues and see all these blinging lights and look at a pinball machine and go, Hang on, I now know what a pinball machine is, I'm going to go and play a pinball machine. And they may play it once, but that's probably once more than they ever would have played it. So I think that it does promote the awareness of pinball. It's not going to revolutionise the pinball community. Well, what term did Roger Sharp use when he was on our show? Like, you have to keep pinball relevant and in people's, like, in their vision, their field of vision? Am I using the right words? No, not even close. Jack Black also, he announced that he has a gaming channel and he got like 1 million subscribers before pretty much releasing any content, just two videos saying he's going to do it. And in his first video he went to the Pimball Hall of Fame, did you see that? I did see that. He did focus a lot on the older machines and some of them weren't necessarily Pimball machines, they were like Pitch and Bat machines. But, again, it's the same thing where, you know, it just puts it back and maybe when I talk to people about Pinball, I won't say, oh, are they still doing that? They'll say, oh, yeah, I know they're still doing that because I saw a Jack Black video or I saw Jeffree Star. I don't know. Do you think, is that what he acts like in real life or is he just like trying to be like PewDiePie? Did you watch the actual video where he's just being like really stupid? Yeah, yeah. He's being a little bit silly. He's being a bit over the top. I, Ryan, if I'm really honest, have never met him. Okay. So it's really hard for me to know what he's like without the cameras there. He needs to shave, man. Oh, does he? What? He looks like a fucking wizard. He does. A wizard he got. Okay. The video's called A House with a Pin in Its Ball. Sorry. I just got it now. A House with a Pin in Its Ball. And it's had 4.7 million views, Marty. That's pretty insane. How high is that? Right now, across the yard, Marty, all the way in the US of A, there's Zach Meany and he's up right now and he's listening to the podcast right now. At the same time, he's writing notes for his YouTube channel with Greg. And they will produce content until they're 70 years old. and the combined views for all of their things will never be as much as this fucking stupid video from Jack Black. Isn't that so painful, Zach Meany? Are you listening? It's so fucking painful.
    14:28
    Well, funnily enough, it was kind of a slight segue as well. I kind of felt that same way when Coast to Coast was back. So Coast to Coast, Nate Shivers came back, did a podcast after four months. He said, you know, great to be back, blah, blah, blah. And he gets really excited when he sees that people have downloaded his episode 10,000 times, right? And so, you know, I got excited when we started getting about 5,000 downloads per episode. But I don't think we will ever be able to get the same level that someone like Coast to Coast gets. He was getting really excited. Like I... Marty Ars... I'm going to say it now because I don't give a fuck. No! Marty Ars... Don't make me edit! No! I just said when he was recording he may have been naked or pantsless at least. That's just the vibe I got from Nate Chivers when he was pumping himself up like he was looking in the mirror. You know? I see pride! I see power! I see a bad mother! Don't take no... Like that. But for pinball podcasting, he's really getting into and jeeing himself up. That's really cool. Okay.
    15:46
    What's next, mate? Let's move on. Okay, so let's talk about some tournaments, shall we? Very, very briefly.
    15:53
    Tournament alert. Tune off those people. Don't worry, we're not going to go blow by blow, machine by machine. All we're going to do is we're going to talk about a couple of things. First of all, the ACS, the Australian Championship Series, is coming up again. on the 15th to the 17th of February in Canberra. I am going. Are you going, Ryan?
    16:15
    Because you qualified. I believe I am. I qualified. I fucking ditched you for Flip Frenzy and therefore I qualified and I just made it by the skin of my... No, you didn't. I didn't? No, as in you were going to get in anyway. It's because people can't make it. It's the top 48 and it's... No one wants to make it by being the guys making up numbers. That's depressing.
    16:40
    Yeah, there you go. It's now down to 53. So you would have got in anyway. So don't worry about it. Anyway, so that's cool. That's coming up. I'm mentioning it not just because I came second last year and I'm very proud of myself, but there's a lot of pressure now to perform well this year. I'm going to, if I seem like I'm taking it seriously at the place, just someone slap me. I play better when I'm just trying to have fun.
    17:10
    I did win a tournament while, you know, in between recording our three weeks off. It was that new format that I ran at Pinball Paradise and I won. I know how you think it's super lame to win your own tournament. I don't think it's super lame. Everybody knows that it's super lame. Okay. Yeah, I'm changing up the format this year and Luke is taking over Fairstrikes at Pixel Alley. So Pixel Alley would be worth more now. It'd be double worth going to. Socialising and Whoppers, which I think, Marty, are the two most important things in Pinball competitions. What do you think? How would you know that? Well segue we are currently doing a in a desperate attempt to get some decent original podcast content Well I just always thought it would be cool to get people opinions because when we do one of those Google Form things like the Twerpies I love seeing the data come in and see how it changes And I wish it was like an insane poll where it just, you know, like there was 100 people every minute or something. That would be really cool. But yes, we got 300 or so votes for the Twerpies, hoping to get a similar amount for the exit interview, which has a couple of sections, Marty. You've voted in it, so what sections do we have? Oh God, are you asking me to remember this now? Yeah. I did it on my mobile phone, so I didn't see the actual sections, but I did see it later after I then logged in. And it's to do with, there's tournament talk, there's value for money, Pinball, there's machines of the year, there's machines of all time. We want to know what you think are right now, I guess what your opinion is now versus what it was last year and what you think 2019 is going to look like.
    19:05
    You found the flyer, mate. I heard you find the flyer. I haven't found it yet. No, no, that was right at the end. That was good. And I'm kind of looking at the data now and some of it surprises me, some of it doesn't. Some of it I think isn't true, if that makes sense. Like people say, you think in their head, this is why I'm doing something, but I think they just say that to keep sanity. That's pointless talking about until we, we'll give you the results next week maybe. Yeah. The, I just, yeah, best art. Have you seen the results for that one, Marty?
    19:42
    Let me have a look. I'm up to the pinball quality section. Is it in there? That's the best of section, which is basically just a slight ripoff of the Twippies, but just we'll give you the results next week. We'll let you know what five of the Twippie results are going to be, Marty. And we're not going to say who it was, but I agree with what's got the best art.
    20:04
    Really? Yeah, I think they both got great art. Okay. Anyway. Okay. But anyway, for those people that are listening now, in case you haven't seen it, it's been posted up on our Facebook page and forums and all that kind of stuff, but we will link it in the show notes. Please, please do this survey. It will only take you probably, it'll take you less than a minute if you don't give a shit. It could take you five minutes if you really do think about your answers.
    20:34
    But unlike the terpes where we were doing it for shits and giggles, we're actually really keen to know your answers because it does go a lot beyond the terpes, which is really talking about sort of machines and state of play. It's really talking about the future and we're sort of trying to get people to reflect on where they were, think about the future and we'll talk about it. And I think that's a really important discussion point.
    21:02
    If your dream theme was made in 2009, which company would you most want to make it? That is one of the most interesting ones because I'm looking at the results and I'm like, I did not think it would be that.
    21:17
    Anyway, we'll give you the results next week. Please vote if you haven't. We have just thousands of people that listen and just if 10% of you just vote, we'll have some good data. Yeah. Anyway. So please do that thing. Speaking of tournaments, yeah, Ryan. State championships are coming for Victoria. Yay.
    21:39
    That's probably all we have to say about that, really. It's good, yeah. 32 people, I think, will be playing in the first year. It will be based on total amount of whoppers with no event cap, I believe. But yeah, I'm guessing in a month or so we'll know the whole thing, where it's going to be held, prize money, all that jazz. Cool.
    22:02
    And yeah, we got the results. We got a result for the 2018 year. And Marty, you finished third in the States? Yep. Where did you finish? Fourth. Suck it, bitch! What? I don't know. I'm so excited about that. I don't really care.
    22:22
    Yeah, okay. Well, you had a great 2018. There you go. For somebody, and yes, you're welcome, for somebody that wasn't interested in tournaments. Also, again, you're welcome. You had a great tournament year. Yeah, it's been great. I can't wait to get back into it. It's another probably week and a half until the first tournament that I run, but looking forward to money. Yeah, good stuff. So probably the last thing really is, in the spirit of the survey, the trippies. The voting is now open for that, so go to this week in pinball and vote for many different things. I love Jeff. Jeff's a good guy. He is a great guy. This is another one of those profound things that I was thinking of during our break. Did you know, Marty, that there's people involved in Pinball that clean toilets and stuff? They earn more money than Jeff Parsons does running This Week in Pinball. There's literally people that scoop up pubes off the floor and stuff.
    23:29
    It's their job. I know it's crude and whatever, but that's someone's job. Someone has to do it. And Jeff Patterson earns less money than them, and he works 30 hours a week to produce the best pinball content on one page. Yep, it's great. We love it. You should support Jeff. You should vote in the Twippies because him and the whole crew have been putting a lot of effort into it. And we can make jokes left, right, and center about it being held at Texas and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But it still takes a lot of effort. Yep, it really does. And it's well-written content. That's the main thing. Like, anybody can get a fucking WordPress site and just stick any old shit up there. It's actually good content. And I think that's where the 30 hours goes is because he is very deliberate in his writing, and it really shows. And there's also a podcast attached to it. So there's a lot of effort that goes into that. So well done, guys.
    24:24
    Yeah. So I don't think we go through the whole who our votes are going to be. Are we doing that, Marty, or is that for another week? We'll do that for another week. Okay. Because we have a whole month, right? We actually do have a whole month. And also, for our first episode back, we don't want this to be a mega, massive, long episode.
    24:46
    So let me now go through all my highlights of 2018. Podcast highlights or personal highlights, Marty? No, well, a bit of both.
    25:00
    Employee of the month in March. I am actually, because, you know, viewers, I've been waiting four hours for Ryan to get home so we can do this podcast, just putting it out there. So in that four hours, I decided to put a spreadsheet together, because I love spreadsheets of everything that was of note on the podcast in 2018. Similar to what we did the previous year, without me being drunk. Okay. Boo. I know. But I'm not actually going to read everything out even though I have listed just about everything. But here's what I want to talk about, Ryan. When we first set out, we know this. The story is we did a podcast for Australians because the pinheads stopped recording and we thought there's a gap in the market. I met you. You met me. We had sex. Sure, whatever. It was not great. I'm just letting you know. So it was not great. I've had a lot better. Anyway, we decided to podcast. But it was all about local content, but also talking about international stuff and bringing it to a local level. It then evolved into an interview fest.
    26:14
    It really did. And I'm now going to name all the people. You ready? I'm going to name all the people that were on our show in 2018. Marty, before you do it, I noticed that the list you're about to read encompasses so many different facets of the pinball hobby, right? Like, it's not just one thing. Sure. It could almost please anyone, any listener out there. Look, it is. And we... Oh, you're getting to my point, is that we are trying to cover all sorts of things. And, you know, yes, there was that pin side thread where everyone started bagging us and saying that we sound nasally. Like, somebody actually said that we sound nasally. I stopped reading that thread. I was just the depression. The depression pills were costing me too much money. I drained that one as well. But it's really hard trying to do content for everyone. Here we go. Here are the list of the guests of the show, and they are somewhat in chronological order. You ready?
    27:10
    Scott DeNisi. In fact, he was on twice. That's how much we love Scott DeNisi. Carl DeAngelo, Ed Van Der Veen, Texas Pinball Festival, Eric Meniere, Jonathan Houston, Charlie Emery, Jeff Teolis was on twice. What? Bo and Karens. Just twice, Marty? Yes. As Jeff Teolis, correct. Bo and Karens was so good, we split that over two episodes. Zach Sharp was on twice. Josh Sharp was on twice. Chris Franchi was on twice. Love Chris Franchi. Mrs Pin was on. Danielle Peck was on. She was first as well. That was a head-to-head exclusive, except for our own podcast, of course. Well, yeah, I know, we sort of elevated her, thank you. Well done, well done. Colin McAlpine, he was on twice. Was he? Ah, yes, yes. He was, yep, Iron Maiden review. Correct. Dave Van Ness, he was fantastic. Keith Johnson, we had Mick and Dion from the Pimball Party Bus. They were awesome. Zombie Yeti, Michael F.A.M.D. Keith Elwin, the one. Jerry Thompson, Josh Coogler. Gabe from Pintastic, Joe Kaminkow, he was on twice. Yeah, Joe. Jimmy Nails and Lambeau came on to talk about the Brisbane Masters. Ben Heck was on. Dennis Nordman, Gene X Wong, Tanya Kleiss, George Gomez, Wayne Gillard, Mr. Pinball himself, Dennis Greasel, Scott from Pinstadium, Roger Sharp, also so good we had to put that into two parts, J.P. DeWin, Steve Gouveia, we had Crystal Gamelick and Steve Bowden, Raymond Davidson, Dave Peck, Rode Dave, Chris Granner, Jack Guarneri and Lyman Sheets. Honestly.
    28:57
    I don't think we're going to have a, like, that's impossible to do that again, right? Well, we could. Maybe across two, we could, okay. We could. Let's do it, Marty. Fuck, I was tired. I need three weeks off after that. But the reason why I'm sort of, when I put this together, I just kind of looked and went, holy crap. But it wasn't just that we had a lot of people on, we just literally had the A-listers. Like, everyone that is really important in the pinball community and Jeff Teolis. Oh, shit. He's swerving his car right now.
    29:34
    I'm going to get a video chat from him any second now. It's weird because, this is going to sound really, really up myself, But sometimes when we do interviews, I don't stress about them, but I try and prepare for certain people, like Chris Grannner, for example.
    29:51
    And then when we're talking to him, it just becomes a conversation, but I'm thinking about what he's saying to ask the next question. And sometimes that means that I'm a guy, I can't listen and do something else at the same time, just one at a time. Yes.
    30:06
    So I kind of listened back to that one once we were, you know, during our break. And I was like, holy shit. It was like I was hearing it for the first time. And that was one of my favorite interviews. And I have a lot of favorite interviews. But just the passion in which he was saying things, he just got it. Like, yes, that's Pinball. This guy is so passionate about what he does every day. Well, you're absolutely right. I mean, I've then got my highlights of 2018. and Chris Granner is there as one of my favourite interviews because he was feeding off us, we were feeding off him. It just became this great conversation and I remember I told you and I sent him a note after I was editing it and when I edit interviews like that I'm very meticulous. So I would have listened to that interview probably, I don't know, maybe three or four times. Not from A to B, but in little cut-up sections of it. And I just got to the end and I had to send him a note saying, fuck, that was a good interview. It was just so good. Anyway, so here are my highlights. You ready? Go for it. Scott Denise's Roussak.
    31:24
    Drain the shit out of that joke, didn't we? That was so good. So, tournament-wise, I came second in B Division at Indisc and then tried to drive to Utah from California. What was I thinking? Yeah. No. Don't do that, mate. No. Chris Ranchi. He was great. Both times we had him. Awesome.
    31:46
    Keith Elwin. What a great chat that was. And, you know, we'd been wanting to have him on. He also then, well, was it before or after? I can't remember now. After, after. After wore our t-shirt at Pinberg. Which you can soon buy from headtohead.com slash pinball slash t-shirt sales 2019.
    32:13
    There's some Patreon people who need some t-shirts now, Marty. I know. You're going to have to actually fucking make it now. That's all right. I'm going to get some t-shirts done. Other highlights? Pinside Petey.
    32:26
    The worst call out? Player one, you're up. Yes, dying. You know when things are funny when no one comments on anything else but that? You get like 15 messages the next day saying people just dying laughing at that. Yep, it was just hilarious. We got so much feedback on that.
    32:47
    Somewhat related, Sylvester Stallone joined the show. Yes, fucking big star that is. Pretty cool. Bigger than Gaz. Yep, exactly.
    32:57
    Roger Sharp was also a highlight. Crisco Hampus. Oh my gosh, we still haven't rung them, Marty. I want to ask them if they know when they're going to get their fucking Thunderbirds. That was just such a highlight. Just listening back to that, I encourage you, I don't know how we're going to get you to even remember which episode that was. I'm not doing any fucking show notes tonight, Marty. I'll do it tomorrow. I'll listen back to it tomorrow and I'll do it.
    33:26
    Except for the fact that in my spreadsheet I have got everything labelled. So do I just go to sleep and then I wake up and the podcast is there? Is that what's happening this time? No, what I'm saying is that that was episode 62 on the 2nd of October. Oh, nice. 47 minutes and 30 seconds in. Yeah, that I can't tell you. What are some other highlights? Well, Pinnball was obviously a massive highlight, not only because I beat Lyman Sheets. There you go.
    33:56
    I did. He was awesome. I physically beat him up. Yeah, beat him up. Beat him up? Yep. I also won the Trash Talker. Remember that? Yes. And then you threw away the trophy.
    34:09
    Well, it was a giant freaking bin. How am I going to stick that in my bag? Chuck Webster, who acts on behalf of the thingy-jiggy, he went to Walmart and picked that out just for us, Marty, and he chucked in the bin. No, I don't. I don't think it is. You know what? Actually, you probably didn't chuck it in the bin, you probably placed it in your hotel room next to the bin. And the next day it's like, housekeeping! And she's like, she's looking at both bins, like, what the fuck is going on? I did actually neatly put it next to the bin. Yes, someone's got two bins. Yes.
    34:43
    Another highlight was the Flipout 2018 event that we had here and the tournament that we run that was a mega event.
    34:52
    But probably one of my highlights, and it came really late in the year, and it's been a fan favourite. Do you know what I'm talking about? No. No idea what you're talking about. Chanel coming on the podcast. Yeah.
    35:08
    It was just hilarious. And it was hilarious because everyone said it was hilarious. And I'm like, I know. I've met her. It's like, oh, my God, I've met this person. She's famous. She is hilarious.
    35:21
    If only she wanted to do it again. She's scared of now. No. So what were some of your highlights? I haven't prepared anything, Marty. Come on. I didn't know we were recording today.
    35:34
    My highlights are just getting more into Pinball. I mean, I bought a decent amount of Pinball machines. I compiled a list, Marty. Because you said you done some homework So the machines that I bought that I still currently own last year Stars Quicksilver Meteor I think Walking Dead I can tell exactly when that was added to the collection The Pimball machines that I and Iron Man as well
    36:00
    The Pimball machines that I bought that I've sold or were in my game room because I include them on my profile if I have it for a month and a half borrowing it. Lethal Weapon 3, Whirlwind, Grand Prix, Dirty Harry, Adam's Family, No Good Gophers. I had your Iron Maiden for a little while, Marty. Yeah, you did. Big Buck Hunter and Total Nuclear Annihilation. Was that this? Yeah, that was last year.
    36:26
    Yeah. That's a lot of Pimball machines. Well, let me pick out some other highlights of your things. You haven't come prepared, but I'm prepared for both of us. Okay.
    36:38
    How about when you got kicked in the nuts in Vegas? Ah, that was good. That was a good night. That was a fucking good night. Yeah. You also went to TPF. Like, I don't remember any highlights. You went to TPF. It's all a blur. Last year in Pinball, Marty, is like the blur year because as I said, I don't even know what I was talking about to Chris Grannard until I listened back to the episode like two weeks later and I was like, oh shit. I'm like, did we do other good interviews? I listened to like Tanya Klaes and he was explaining Deadpool rules. I was like, ah, he explained all the rules that I don't know. He explained it already in the podcast that we did about team ups and all that shit. I'm like, okay, I'm just not listening. Yeah, TPF was good. You also went to Japan. Like, oh, I don't have any highlights. You went to Japan. Yeah. You went to the Silverboard Planet or whatever it's called. Yeah. I'm not that kind of, I'm not the reflection guy, Marty. Well, I'm reflecting for you. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I'm really bad at, like, remembering what to be grateful for. I just, I want more and more and new stuff. And that's my personality. But, yeah, thank you for reminding me that I went to those places. That's right. Do you know, I've actually just looked at my notes and it says, this is episode 52, that was on the 16th of July, it says Japan Story, Yawn.
    37:58
    Because remember you just went on and on about non-pinball related stuff. You've done that before, mate. Yeah, not often. Let's also just not forget that 2018 was the year of OctoAssembly. Of what? When did Deep Root announce themselves? I can't remember. Was it last year? I can't remember when they announced it, but Octo Assembly was first, well we first spoke about it the week of the 30th of July, episode 54. Yeah, I can't remember. I think Robert Mueller did an interview and said Quad Assembly's out, Octo's in. Who knows? That guy's a walking meme machine, Marty. I don't know if he's... That was also the same week that I got to play Thunderbirds for the first time. Yes. Are we going week by week, Marty? No, I'm just going through all the kind of things. The point of it is, we speak a lot because there's actually a lot to talk about. A lot has happened in 2018 and I expect 2019 to be the same. And it's interesting for us because we go to record and once we finish recording, we go, oh shit, there's nothing to talk about. And then yet, seven days later, there's a shitload to talk about. Yeah. That's what's good about it.
    39:13
    So if you want us to win the Twippies, I think this is what Marty's fucking getting at for the last hour.
    39:19
    Vote for us. If you don't think we should win, then why are you listening? Why are you listening? Well, if you don't want us to win, then vote for Mrs. Pinn. That rhymes. She would love that.
    39:30
    So there you go. Now, did you know, what's interesting, did you know that in 2018, Stern delivered eight machines? Eight. Eight titles. Delivered. New titles or just eight titles in general? Well, when you say new, like is Primus new? Yeah, that's new. Okay. It's got new stickers and decals on it. Is the Vault Edition new? No. Well, in Star Trek's case, no, because they changed nothing. In any other case they've ever done and called it a Vault, yes, but they bastardized the words on that one. Maybe they did. But the point is that they actually, that we know, and obviously Metallica was there as well, you know, when I did the tour. They had eight machines plus Metallica, let's say nine machines, on the line throughout 2018. But that's a significant achievement. Yeah, Stern absolutely killed it last year. In 2018, they just destroyed everyone in terms of producing and selling pins. And obviously the most drama attached to them because they're the ones that are doing the most things. And there's a lot of naysayers saying this, this and that. But why do you think the number one company that we got people on from was Stern? People are like, you guys are just turning into Stern Shields. Who's on next from Stern? Who actually said that? People are just like, it's like a Stern interview fest. Yeah, because they're producing all the fucking Pinball. Yeah, because they're the people of interest. Yes. Like, you want to speak to a coder, well, they've got four of them. Yeah. And if you notice, we mostly, not all the time, but we mostly gut people on when they release a Pinball machine so they can talk about that. But I'm interested this year, Marty, in interviewing people regardless of where they are on the cycle. And Dwight Sullivan said if we give him $20, we have to pay our money to him or something. Easy done.
    41:31
    I'd also be keen, putting it out there live on air, I'd also be keen to start talking to people sort of outside the manufacturers and the designers. People that are, you know, helping... Jeffree Star. I want to interview Jeffree Star. No, but you know that, you know, I can't remember her name, was it named Robin from Cabin Fever? Yeah. You know, someone like that. Someone that's just out there that's doing a hard slog to promote Pinball. That's Jeff's biz. That's like, are we entering Jeff territory now since we got Slam Tilt to quit? Yeah, pretty much. So, I mean, we literally ripped them off, did a better version, just squeezed them out of the industry. Oh, shit.
    42:13
    They know I'm kidding. I'm not. Oh, shit. I'm fucking savage. We should get them on as well. Yeah, for sure. We'll let them know, we'll ask them what their biggest break will be. Like, okay, we're not going to do one for like five months now, Nate Shivers style. I'm like, alright, we'll get you right in the middle. Well, the reason why they've actually stopped is because, if we're really honest, Ron was probably just a bit fatigued. Now, what we're saying is, come on our show, I'll do the editing, you don't have to do anything, just talk some shit and then piss off. Do we have the results yet, Marty, for the slam the top belly versus Stern? We do, if you were to have a look at your show notes. Okay. How did we go? Did we win? Since we've been arguing and practicing arguing 52 weeks. Yeah, absolutely. The bottom line was, I called out the fact that Ryan kept buying all these Stern electronics machines because Ron and Bruce keep talking about them. and I sort of said, well, you're sort of missing out on some great Bally games and Bally games are better.
    43:24
    I heard you on the Cluster Buck episode say that he's buying all these machines and he's not even playing them. What kind of bullshit is that? I'm playing them. How often have you played your Quicksilver?
    43:34
    Okay. You've chosen any other game, though. If you said Stars or fucking Sea Witch. No, I didn't. It's like once a week. I got it ready just before the tournament and then after the tournament I haven't played anything.
    43:53
    Anyway. Anyway, we got 61% of the vote. So we absolutely killed them. Yes. But, I mean, they were going against the grain. Well, but this is true. And this was my point. You know, we picked Centaur, Apo Deluxe and Paragon. They had Quicksilver, Stargazer and Stars. Now, they are one voice or two voices in that, but there's not really that many of those machines out there. So even though they've got a really good following, I would say a cult following, when you talk about things like Centaur and ApoL Deluxe, at Paragon, they're everywhere. Everybody knows about them.
    44:34
    So they were kind of up against it, to be honest. So anyway, they lost. What's next, Matty? Uh, so, social media watch.
    44:48
    I've got to be really quiet when I get divorced. Oh, okay. I've got, of course, what have you done? No, so, we were actually on three podcasts. I mentioned that before. Okay. So we were on Shlamp Tilt twice. Okay. And we were on Special When Lit.
    45:04
    Ah, okay, yes, yes, yes, I remember that. We were. Many moons ago. No, sorry, we were on four podcasts. Which one? Mrs. Pim.
    45:14
    Ah, that's like 30 seconds, Marty. That doesn't matter, it still counts. Anyway, just putting it out there, I just wanted to name some other great podcasts, that's all.
    45:24
    I want to talk a couple of spooky things, social media watch. What are spooky doing in Japan? Like a tax deduction holiday. But what would they be interested in in Japan?
    45:37
    Oh, Gojira. Well, they didn't get Gojira. They could do the other Gojura. There's so many Gojuras. I don't know. I'm just like, think about, all I'm saying is, I'm asking the question so people can speculate, think Japan and think horror.
    45:56
    Maybe, remember that movie The Ring? Was that Japanese? Ah, that was originally Japanese. It was originally Japanese, yeah. This is like, surely, that was weeks ago, surely people have speculated and got like, it's done, right? Yeah, but social media watch it, we've been off for three weeks. Yes, we've got it. Where's Monsters? Where the fuck's Monsters? The only reason why I'm bringing that up is I wanted to bring up the other spooky thing, and that's Ben Heck. Oh, he loves Spooky. He's not altogether happy with the way that ended at Spooky, apparently. Okay. So, that was on social media as well. If you go to the Instagram or the Twitter or whatever. Just go to headsaheadspodcast.com forward slash socialmediadrama.php. That's where you'll find all your drama needs. There it is.
    46:48
    So shall we do this week in pinball and then wrap it up? Well, I wrote, I actually did write a couple of little notes. I don't know why. It's just like random things and I'm like, I can't bother doing this. Two games next year from JJP, which is this year. This is on that. It was from the Slam Tilt.
    47:07
    Special When Lit. I'm getting a bit too much drunk, Marty. Special When Lit podcast with that little thing where everyone says like 30 seconds. Jersey Jack was like, all right, well, this is where I'm going to announce that we're going to do two games next year.
    47:23
    It was so random. And he said, don't buy any other games, Marty. So I know you're thinking about buying Munsters, but Jersie Jack personally said to you, for Christmas, right? Santa Claus and stuff. Don't buy any other machines until you see what we've got going on. So just a warning. Okay.
    47:41
    What are those two machines going to be? Like everyone's saying, well, there's three machines people keep talking about. Toy Story, Willy Wonka, and Guns N' Roses.
    47:51
    Willy Wonka first, and I believe Toy Story next. But, I mean, when it's not next, after, like, right now, you just talk, Marty, because I'm just sounding like a fucking idiot now. Yeah, that's alright. Yeah. The latest rumour is that they are going to make an announcement at TPF.
    48:11
    I also wrote down here, Primus mini flippers are breaking. Three people. Is that half the people that got it? Lol. Wow.
    48:22
    That's harsh. Yeah. So apparently the little flippers are just breaking and it's, I don't know, like maybe one out of like the 80 people or something. Did you get that email, Marty, from AMD?
    48:35
    Saying about Primus? Yeah. Did you get that? I did get that. That was kind of weirdly worded, right? Yeah. What was it? It was. It was an email to everyone, so we're not like breaking any confidentiality by saying it, right? No, it was. And just off the top of my head maybe, I'll see if I can quote this.
    48:54
    We've just been told by Stern that they have a small number of new Primus pinballs available to AMD. This is due to complications with the deal with the Primus management who were to market the 100 only that were manufactured.
    49:10
    So, okay, this is something new, Marnie. This is something that people can speculate. Explosive, explosive, explosive. What happens, Marty? What's the deal? I'll be Gary, you'll be the Primus guy. I guess they're probably not selling as well as they thought it was going to be. With something like this, when it's priced that high, you kind of want it to sell out immediately. I remember when Zombie Eddie was doing his Alice in Wonderland print when John Papaduke's business was going down. He was like, hey, I'm going to release a foil version. There's going to be 100 units only. It's going to be $60 or whatever it was. And then, bam, one minute, it's sold out. And that's what makes people really hungry for it. So when something like the Primus doesn't sell out instantly, how many more people buy this thing when it's just sitting there and it's available? People usually only want it when they can't get it, i.e. the LE model. Well, this is $13,000 in Australia, which is more expensive than the Ion Maiden Limited Edition.
    50:21
    But more limited, Marty. Super limited. Anyway, yeah, they're still available. Well, I'm guessing Primus wants help because they bought and maybe they put a deposit for all of them and then maybe they don't want to pay for the other 30 and like, here, come on, sell it to your rich customers. This might not be for you, but pretend that it's for you. Pretend that it's for you.
    50:48
    It's not. I heard someone bought one in Australia, so it's for someone. Yeah, good on them. What's next Monday? This week in pinball?
    51:02
    Yeah. Well, we say this week. We say these weeks in pinball. These weeks in pinball. Has it really been three weeks? Three weeks. Jeez. Okay. That was a crazy long time ago. Well, probably the main thing of note that happened in that time was the Christmas party at Hashman's. Now, we both went to this party at different times. Yeah, I went for like half an hour because I had my tournament the next day.
    51:30
    You could have talked about this last time, Marty. You've missed it. Anyway, it was good. Okay. I played Apollo 13, Marty. Well, that's what I did. In my show notes it says 13 is an awesome number.
    51:47
    Yeah, I didn't know it carries over from one to the other. It literally is a one-trick game, though. Yes. Hit the ramp. Hit the ramp, get your 13-ball multiball, and then go and play something else. Yeah. But no, it's actually not that bad. I actually quite liked it. But that 13-ball multiball is just sensational. It's so much fun. It just smiles the whole time you play it.
    52:14
    I've also got to play Kiss with the new code. Yeah, I haven't played it yet. Is it good? Does it transform the game into the greatest game ever? No, it doesn't. No, it doesn't. I tell you what, it really doesn't. It makes it a much better game. There's no doubt about that because you are now rewarded a lot more. So that whole risk-reward thing, they're sort of closing the gap. But it hasn't really transformed the game like we know Stern have been able to do in the past. So, you know, Walking Dead we've talked about, Guardians of the Galaxy we've talked about, you know, where they've been able to completely transform that just through code. Even Aerosmith, with its last major update, you know, really did massively improve that game. This does really improve the game, but the fundamental, I guess, framework of the rules is still pretty much the same. Okay. So, you will do the same thing, you will just score more points and lights will flash a lot more often.
    53:22
    And you'll get a much bigger score. Okay. Right. Still the same. Give it a score out of 10, Marty. We're on a pinball podcast. It needs a score out of 10. I give it a...
    53:36
    A... 7. I give it a 7 because... Because... Because that not necessarily great right But I still like It the Pinside PD go number I still like playing Well if I had this machine at home I give it a 5 If I played this machine in tournaments I give it a 9 I love playing this machine in tournaments Okay.
    54:01
    Cool. There you go. What happened for me, I've got more Wizard of Oz troubles. My monkey's not working now.
    54:11
    Like the Flappy Wings monkey or the actual mech? The mech. It doesn't go up and down. Okay. Which is pretty much the same thing. Did you ring Waino? He's on holidays. So, originally it was the lock mechanism. Remember, I think last time we reported, I'd smelt an electrical burning? Yes. So, three things have actually stopped working on my Woz. The lock mechanism, my pin stadiums, and the monkey.
    54:37
    Okay. So, the lock mechanism is now working. It just magically started working? If you keep it off long enough, Marty, it just fixes itself. I think that's probably what it is. It's probably just a dodgy opto somewhere. But anyway, so the problem is that machine will now sit there, just not turned on for months until you, or Lucas, comes over and fixes it. Because it's just, it's just, I just can't be fucked.
    55:11
    But I also can't be fucked. Yeah, but you have the skills and can't be fucked. I don't have the skills and also can't be fucked. You know how to check fuses and shit, come on. Anyway, so how was your weeks in Pinball?
    55:28
    I played a decent amount of Pirates of the Caribbean, which I think... Oh yeah, you did too, and I'm hoping to stream that this week. Yeah, wow, what a game. It's so much fun. Is it really that good? It is, but I mean, it took you a while to like Dialed In, and I liked that game almost instantly, and I think it takes more games to like Pirates of the Caribbean because you need to understand those rules. But the funny thing is, Wes, the guy who has it and the guy who's going to stream it, he's not like, you know, he's self-imidating the world's best pinball player. So for him, someone like him to explain the rules to me, you just get them straight away. Because when I try to explain rules, I go off on tangents. You go deep dive, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, deep dive and I'll make it more confusing than it is easy. But someone like Wes just like, you know, shoot the skulls. Yeah, shoot the skulls. It's basically shoot the skulls and starter modes. Good shit will keep on happening if you don't suck at Pinball. Okay. No, I'm keen to play it. And you know, it's funny you should mention that. It's only just now that you mention it because when I think of Dialed In, I love Dialed In. And in fact, I love it more than any other game in a tournament setting because I can just beat it into submission. But God, I hated that machine when it came out.
    56:47
    Well, I remember what you said very clearly. You were like, I don't find a connection to it. And you also said you would rather play Star Wars. I would never have said something like that. I had no idea. Yeah. Yeah, and so I've been playing a lot of that at a friend's house and from my own collection, I've been trying to have a little bit of a break. It's very nice weather outside, Marty. I've been spending a lot of time outside.
    57:14
    But I've been playing pretty much solely The Shadow and... Oh, not any of your Stern games, Electro. Sure, okay, cool. Knockly Silver. No, knockly Silver. Trash. No.
    57:28
    The shadow, Marley. Yeah. My shadow is significantly harder than other shadows. It really is, yes. Yes. I mean, everyone's just like, it's a one-trick pony because you just shoot the loop over and over again and you score 40 million, 40 million. No, there's not much more to the game than that. Well, no, you can't even, you can't fucking do that on my machine. Like, you can't hit consecutive loops because it is that fast. Yeah. And I turned off ball save for my last tournament and I've kind of, you know, I haven't gone through all the machines and put them back to normal. I just kind of left them as they are. And Shadow without Ball Save is a different type of game because what do you do when you first plunge on Shadow? You go for the skill shot. But now you've got to think, well, is this skill shot? Am I confident enough to make this shot? Because if I hit those stand-up targets, I'm finished. The left one goes down the left drain, the right one goes straight down the middle or down the right drain, depending on where you hit it. So it's just, I don't know, I think it is his best game, Marty.
    58:25
    It's his worst game according to Pinside and every popular vote, but it's so good with the doverters. That's great for the second hand market, pick up a game that people aren't really all that fond of and it's a great game. It's pretty expensive. Is it? It's gone through its hype period like Congo and people aren't hyping Congo anymore because it's already released its hype level. People aren't hyping Shadow, but I don't know. I don't know why people don't like it more, and maybe because it's set up too easy. Because when it's too easy, when I hear people like, oh yeah, I did, I got to the Vengeance mode and completed it and it's done. Like no one has ever gotten close on my machine to the Final Battle, sorry, is what it's called. The most you'll do is you'll get some Vengeance combos and you might do half the modes, but impossible. Well, that mode saucer is a pretty tricky shot on most shadows anyway. And I guess one of those, particularly one yours, if there's no bullseye, it's death.
    59:25
    Yeah. But yeah, there are a lot of shots in the game, and once you really find them, it's got a lot of flow. I said, doing a four-way combo. Okay, do you know what the vengeance mode is, Marty? Vengeance is when you get all of the rings, right? So then you have like 30 seconds or whatever it is to hit those four shots again and you get 50 million. But if you finish in a combo, you get 100 million, super vengeance, and then it starts again. So you can just keep on doing it. And maybe like, you know, the top 100 players in the world, it's too easy, I can just do that all day. Yeah, I'm not at that level, so the game is perfectly suited to me. I quite like The Shadow, to be honest. I probably need to spend more time with it. Do you know, there's only one thing I really don't like about it? The art. And it's the playfield art that I'm not a big fan of. Really? You're going to let the art stand in the way of a game being a good game? No, I just, I'm, no, no, no. What I'm saying is I think that's, that's probably, if you think about all the factors that go into people and, you know, I can't tell you what my favourite is because you actually asked that question in our exit interview. Please fill in the eggs in the view, which is, you know, what's most important to you. Is it rules, layout, sound, design, whatever it is, right?
    60:46
    So I think it's just one of those elements that would get a B instead of an A, and that's probably what stops elevating it from being a must-have title.
    60:59
    That's what I'm just putting out there. That's for you, yeah. I can't laugh at it because we've gone through the whole thing before. People like machines for different things. So I find it very weird that a machine can be downgraded for art, but I understand. Yeah, I'm not saying it doesn't actually bother me because art really doesn't bother me. It's actually one of the least elements that I really care about. Layout is the most important. There you go, I've said it. Layout, first and foremost, you can stick any old code over the top of a great layout.
    61:32
    Like some of theirs? Electron. Electron, okay. No, I did give, I gave some example when I was streaming the other night about it because we had a big long discussion about layout. And because I was playing Star Trek again, and I was really talking about the fact that the rules in Star Trek are, they're good, they're good. They're a really solid rule set, probably really good for tournaments as well, but they're not really all that great when it comes to rules. But it is such a great machine because the layout is absolutely spot on.
    62:12
    And the arts, not that great, doesn't matter, the layout is absolutely spot on. Okay. There you go. Are we done? I mean, we're recording so late that this week in Pinball is actually up, which never happens. So I'm just going through there to see if we miss anything.
    62:34
    Monsters, rumors, yeah, we've got everything. It's going to have four buttons, Marty. Woo, four buttons. There's going to be a topper that is an interactive cuckoo clock. I heard that was meant to be on the game. I'm guessing that's how they go within their price budgets. Chucked it in the topper form. So, reveal plans. Did you watch the Primus stream from Buffalo Pinball? No.
    62:57
    Yeah, I watched a couple of minutes of it, and this is what I'll say, Marty. You can have fun playing anything. You can do anything. You can flick cards into a hat with four friends, and it's fucking fun, right? Sure. That's Primus. That's four people playing Primus. It's fun because they're having fun, but the actual game. Like, buy a star for $1,000 in the US, whatever they cost there, and just listen to Primus music and you've saved yourself.
    63:27
    The good art. Okay, that's all it is. It's just really good art on top of the layout. I fucking hate the layout so much, Marty.
    63:35
    It's a game about getting the ball to the top, but the whole way to get it to the top is by banking shots off rubbers. Sure. That's not fun. That's, like, that's not fun. It's a fun game.
    63:49
    Anything is fun. Like, Pirates of the Caribbean is fucking fun. No, Thunderbirds isn't. If you have... Okay, if you got really drunk, Marty, and you had three of your friends playing dollar games on Thunderbirds, it's fucking hilarious, okay? That's what I'm saying. I get it.
    64:04
    Yeah. Okay. Well, we didn't actually mention that, really, though, that Thunderbirds did debut on the Pinside 100. But first, Marty, like all the other machine machines. No, so, look, here's what I want to say about this.
    64:23
    So, Thunderbirds, by home pin, debuted on the Pinside 100, which goes down to 361. It debuted at 361. Okay. Or whatever it is. So it debuted at the lowest gain. And I just want to say this. I have bagged the game out so much. Anyone that listens, Strangers in the Streets, the janitor, I will go up to them and say Thunderbirds is terrible. Are you talking about the stern janitor that gets paid more than Jeff Parsons? Correct, correct, that's the one. Yep, yep. Jeff Patterson, sorry, not Jeff Parsons. He's a millionaire. There is absolutely no way that that machine, the machine itself, is deserving of that low ranking. Absolutely no way.
    65:16
    Yeah. I'm just going to give people some of the results for that exit interview. Primus Pinball art is featured down below. It's nowhere near the top, which is bullshit because the artwork is actually insanely good on that Pinball machine. but because of the hate surrounding it people like it's not in their in their memory it's like they don't associate anything good with that Pinball machine so Thunderbirds is just like that in every aspect. No, I get that. I get that it's got such a sour taste, but if you objectively look at the machine, it's low 200s. Okay. But it's certainly not the worst machine that's ever been made. Is it better than Lethal Weapon 3, Marty? No, Lethal Weapon 3 is a great game.
    66:08
    Because Lethal Weapon 3 is... Okay, I thought it was lower than that. Okay, it's 210. Sure. Okay. Anyway, I just thought I'd pick it up. Okay, let me just quickly, I did, uh, Twibies have covered that. October 1st new art. There's new art for October 1st. Is it just the cabinet art?
    66:28
    Okay, I was posting the website, I didn't see. It's just the cabinet art. And they've just changed, there's no monkey anymore. It's just a chick holding, is she holding a bong? No, a snake? A snake, maybe, it looks like. Ah, no, it's a roll of tickets. It's a roll of tickets. I have to zoom in. And a bong, yeah. It's a bong, yeah. And she's got big boobs, but that won't trigger anyone because there's a hot dog. There's a hot dog there. Can you see a hot dog? It's a dog wrapped up in a hot dog. Yep.
    66:58
    Hashtag dog gate. Dog gate. And apparently it's going to cost me. Oh, hey, here's a monster's rumour that I don't think anyone's picked up on, Which, I feel shit saying the room now because, I mean, if Jeff hasn't put it on there, there probably isn't any basis to it. There's no basis to it, like the $50,000 Beatles machines. Keep going! Yes, so, basically, apparently Munster's is going to be, I think $9,000 is the price for an LA in the US. Apparently Munster's is going to be $9,500, someone told me. Maybe that's just like the price with the new tax, which was Jeff's story number five. Or maybe it's that plus tax which was sent over $10,000, $10,000 before Christmas. There you go.
    67:46
    So who knows. Yeah, you heard it here first if it happens. If it's not true, then you didn't hear it here first. It's just Ryan rambling. Yep, absolutely in drunken state. Yes. Awesome. Are we done? We're done. I've got to do some editing. Thanks everybody for listening. It is great to be back. We are looking forward to what 2019 is going to bring us, Trippy, and hope that you continue enjoying our podcast and voting for us.
    68:16
    What does Janelle say? We need validation from anonymous people on the internet. God, she's awesome.
    68:25
    There was something else I wanted to say, but I've forgotten now. Ah, Munsters, Iron Maiden, are you selling Iron Maiden money? That's what I've heard through the grapevine. Yeah, it's on the show notes. Ah, okay.
    68:39
    I am, and I was just about to put it up when somebody else posted up there early. So I have gotten in contact with a person and said, let me know how you go. As soon as it's sold, I'll put mine up.
    68:53
    He's gone the high end. You just want to cover your monsters, right? Well, I'm going to go about the same, but mine comes with Pinn Stadiums. Oh, shit. Yeah, bling blang. I don't know if bling blang's a thing. Why don't you just take the Pinsadiums off and put them on your Munsters if you get any Munsters? No, I'll just buy another set. Hey, what was that picture that Pinsadium tagged us in that was basically like a black and white Munsters and then there were like coloured jizz bombs going off on different sections? I think that was showing the black and white art for the premium. But is he saying put the Orion's belt on your Munster's machine and then like a certain section for like a split second will appear green? Is that what? I don't know. I just appreciate the exposure.
    69:43
    Yeah, I haven't been following Pimball much if you haven't figured it out. Like I think if I'm the one that's done the show notes, I think that's what says it all. You message me and you're like, are we still dying? Sorry, I forgot. But yeah, I was out. The kids aren't here, Marty. I have to spend time with my lady. Lexi times. No explosions.
    70:10
    Oh, funny. We're definitely back. Welcome, everybody. To zombo.com. Do you remember that website? Which one? Zombo. No, what's Zumbo?
    70:27
    Go to www.zumbo.com and you gotta have, ah, gotta have like flash running, I wonder if it still works cause like no one uses flash. Should I be doing this? I'll do it. Run a damn flash, I'll allow it.
    70:41
    Put your, put your speakers up. Yeah, I've got my headphones on. Welcome to Zumbo.com. This is Zumbo.com. Welcome. This is Zumbo.com. This is Zombo.com. Is that all it does?
    70:57
    Anything is possible, Marty. You can do anything at Zombo.com. Is that it? Yes. Everybody, www.zombo.com. It is the best. You can't live into yourself, Marty.
    71:22
    That's our new website. I love it, I love it. The voice is the best. We've got to go guys, it's now midnight, it is time to go.
    71:34
    Zombo! It gets funnier. Alright, see you later everybody. Gotta dump that on top. Please dump that on top.