thanks for tuning in to the loser kid pinball podcast i am josh roop with me my co-captain as always scott larson scott it's expo time oh you got a bunch of games coming out star wars just came out where are you getting your star wars if you're getting one so uh zach and nicole mini at flipping out pinball so definitely hook uh hit them up and they will hook you up i also have my medieval madness Merlin coming at some point and I did get the cactus canyon upgrade kit through them so reach out to them if you want your new used basically anything pinball reach out to him and they'll be able to make it happen I hear that cactus canyon kit is amazing have you got installed yet I haven't yeah I haven't been able to because I've been so busy party animal yeah with us today is a gentleman that has impacted the pinball industry in such a positive way he is growing the hobby year by year through pinball expo and he just got a world record for the biggest arcade in the world biggest pinball collection actually biggest pinball collection in the world through pastimes arcade i want to welcome on rob burke how you doing rob good guys thank you for uh hanging in there with me we had a little technical difficulties check But it's all good. Thanks for the savviness of Scott. Well, Josh, you kind of buried the lead. Rob has been involved in Pinball Expo forever. And so the reason why we have him on is because we have Pinball Expo coming up. And this is – Two weeks? Two weeks from Tuesday? Season 41 of Pinball Expo, the 41st one. And so, Rob, this has been amazing. You've been doing this forever. So why don't you give us a recap as to why Pinball Expo and how it's changed over the years? So here you go. This is back during the time when there was no Internet, and the only communication or the best communication for us pinball fans was Pinball Collectors Quarterly, which was the quarterly pinball publication from Steve Young. So he was the connection to the outside world. Steve Young, the quarterback? Yeah, the 49ers. Yeah, that's right. Steve Young from New York. Yeah. Anyways, you know, he mentioned about a pinball club in Akron, Ohio, which I'd never heard of before. A pinball club. I said, man, that sounds kind of cool. So I was about a 45-minute drive from Akron. So I went there one time completely blindsided, didn't know what to expect, didn't know what it was like. And it was just fellow collectors. And what they did was every month they would meet at a different guy's house just to play pinball and shoot the bull. So we were involved with that for several years and met a couple of guys that I'd never known, all good guys. And I said to them one time, one of the meetings, I said, what would you guys think if we had like a National Pinball Collectors Convention? So some of them kind of brushed it off. Oh, yeah, okay. So I decided to put a letter together with the help of Bill Kurtz. Anyone here know Bill Kurtz? I don't know. Bill Kirch wrote a book on pinball and also pinball arcades, along with Gary Flower, I believe, way back when. But anyways, he helped me drop this questionnaire. Basically, would you be interested in attending a national pinball collector's convention? And we used Steve Young's mailing list of whatever he had as far as his readership. And we got the surveys back, and overwhelmingly, yes, let's do it. And I also mentioned what location, and most people picked Chicago. So the whole reason for me doing it was to honor my heroes, who were the pinball designers and the artists. Because in my mind, whether it be Bally or Gottlieb, it was always the big wigs on the penthouse floor that always got all the accolades and all the recognition, not the workers. So that was my dream, is to recognize them. And we had Alvin Gottlieb as our guest speaker at the banquet, who gave a three-hour seminar or three-hour talk, which was a long talk. He went over every game that Gauntlet made in this seminar or in this talk. And it was pretty crazy. But near the end of the banquet, I had four guys come up front, Steve Kordek, Norm Clark, Wayne Neyens, and Harvey Heiss. And I said, ladies and gentlemen, these guys are responsible for producing over 600 games. Well, everybody stood up and clapped. And some of these guys had tears in their eyes because they couldn't believe it. After all these years in this industry, but no one ever recognized them. Because to me, they were the true heroes. They're the ones that laid out the games. So we recognized them, and it was a great success. And as Dick Bluchel said, it was 11. That's how he coined the first show. And six months into the following year, people started saying, when's the next show? And I said, there is no next show. We're done. And they say, oh, no, you got to do one more. All right, one more. And then another one and then another one. So this is number 41. So, you know, it's pretty amazing, Scott, like you mentioned, to do this show. When you think about other guys that do shows in the hobby, you know, we were the first. But when I see some of the guys, even the Texas show, I mean, you know, Ed started that show way back when. But after a while, he got burned out. And for whatever reason, he sold it to somebody else. But how many guys can you say that started a show and is still with this show, to this day. It's true. It's unbelievable for me to even consider it. Think about it. Well, and my question is, because we've only been involved in the last five years, and this has obviously been going on for 41 years. Yeah. We've seen exponential growth over these last five years. You're exactly right. What do you attribute that to? Well, a couple of things. I think, you know, I try really hard, for me anyways, to have really interesting seminars. but we keep adding more and more to the event I mean for the Ford especially we lost our mind in having factory tours, I think we have either three or four factory tours which is just insane and I make such a push to bring in new vendors in the vendor area that I think that helps add to it and then guys like yourselves, you know you spread the word through your podcast. People that don't even know about Expo, once they hear about it, it's like, hey man, maybe I should check it out. And more and more people are spreading the word, so to speak. That, hey man, it's something it's an event you've got to check out at least one time. And when they do, it's like, man, this is unreal. It's wonderful. It's great. And it's the wow factor when you walk in and you're like, man, there's so much to see. Truthfully, there's not enough hours in the day to see everything. But it's been a fun ride, to be honest with you guys. And after the 40th, I didn't know if it was going to be one and done or that would be my last show. And then I thought to myself, you know, who else do I know that's got the passion to continue the show and keep it going and keep the fire going and keeping the interest going and shows the enthusiasm that I do? And I didn't know anyone outside of Josh and Scott. But I didn't know if they could quit their job and, you know, do pinball 24-7. I don't know how you do it. I do not know how you do your business with Pastime Arcades while doing Chicago Expo. You really got yourself stretched then. Really, guys. There's no way I could do it. Yeah. Yeah. It's been fun doing it. You know, I do it for the people. To me, that's what it's all about. When they're happy, I'm happy. To hear you guys give positive accolades, that makes me feel like I'm doing a good job. So, Rob, let's talk about this. So over the last little bit, you have expanded beyond like a small weekend thing to almost about four or five days in the show. And so tell me more about how it's expanded. Now we have factory tours and we have other things involved for people who are coming to see the passion for pinball. We know that pinball is mostly manufactured in Chicago. And so tell us how that integrates. So if this is my first time coming to the show, I want you to tell me, hey, here are the highlights. These are the things that you definitely need to see. Well, first thing when you're going to walk in the show, there's going to be a wow factor, the size of the show. Now we've got 100,000 square feet. Next is it might be whoever you see walking down the hallway. Hey, look, there's Steve Ritchie or there's this guy or that guy. And then you just see the sheer magnitude of not only the size of the show, but the different vendors. And you'll see people that you typically don't hear about at pinball shows. For instance, we have Hexa. Hexa is that company out of France that, for the first time, they're vending at Expo, and they're bringing their latest game, Space Hunt. But I don't know. Are you guys anywhere near the Internet where you can pull up my homepage for one second? I want to show you guys one thing. I am near the interweb, yes. Okay, so I'm on Pinball Expo. All right, so scroll down the homepage. I think it's like a green bar across there, and it's a guitar company. Oh, let's see. Going down. Are you talking Scythera? You got it. Okay. What were these guys, they asked? I never heard of them. Where did you find them? I don't know how I found these guys, but I found them. out of Canada, what these guys do is they get new and used pinball playfields, and they cut them out to make electric guitars. Crazy. Okay, here. Ed Ed Robertson, the Baronet of the Ladies, he has bought guitars from these guys. They're going to have eight guitars on display at the show. Yeah, a little known fact that Josh and I actually have two guitars currently being customized by Sathura for us. Oh, my gosh. That's amazing. Did you know they were coming to the show? Yeah. No, I talked to them behind the scenes. So mine is a Silver Ball Mania. And didn't you get an Earthshaker, Josh? I did get an Earthshaker. And the thing that I love about this, too, is he's actually putting our logo, the Loser Kid, in the fretboard at the number 12. So this logo that's on my hat, this is on the fretboard. You've got to play some music at Expo With his guitars That would be so great But anyways We're excited to see him And definitely see it in person He's been sending me pictures And it looks great It's amazing But there's so many new vendors Besides him that are coming Besides the guys from France We have a guy, Vincent Mods He's a mod maker out of Germany That's coming this year I have a guy coming out of Hungary. When you think of Hungary, what city do you think of? Budapest? You got it. This guy's in Budapest, Hungary. He manufactures glass. So he has already shipped a crate full of pinball playfield glass. He's going to sell it at Expo. Oh, wow. So he'll be there as a first-time vendor. So, you know, there's so much happening. Another thing that I'm really excited about is I have been asking Marco, Marco's specialty, for years to bring a big display at Expo. And I tried, and I tried, and maybe this year it never happened. Maybe next year it never happened. So finally, I saw Marco Ramirez, and along with Emoto, they pulled off the unthinkable. and that is they're going to have a 70 foot by 80 foot booth at Expo. I mean, this is, we're talking massive. But in there, they're going to have the homebrews, but also in there, they're going to have the Marco supermarkets. And what that's going to entail is basically scratch and dent sale of everything they've sold, overproduction, extra inventory, whatever it may be, A to Z, ramps, who knows, plastic sets, whatever they got there and they going to sell them at the supermarket at discount pricing So just imagine diving into that thing and there going to be racks and racks full of goodies You don't know what you're going to see next, and I'm really excited about that. So one question I have, too, you had this massive pinball machine there. It's bigger than Hercules. Is it going to be there again this year, or is it going to be playable? I will only answer that question if you give me the name of the machine. oh it's aaron davis right it's it's aaron's game space it's a space theme i know that that's a half half point give me one more information i'll let you go twice as big as hercules and fast isn't aaron davis uh bringing it from seattle no you just lost that half point oh okay so the game is called mothership oh okay well it's an No, when I was growing up, the Hercules just came onto the arcade scene and people were playing them. I thought it was just outstanding to have this massive monster of a machine. So over the years, as pinball has evolved, I thought to myself, wouldn't it be cool to have a Hercules-sized machine that was multiball? So Ryan Tanner Pets started the game And then I had Ernie Silverberg Finish it But we're going to have A mothership working on the Florida Expo This year, yes sir Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls There'll be audio And it'll be everything So Get ready Josh You can be first in line But it's going to be nuts What ball are you using? because didn't Hercules use a cue ball? Exactly right. And according to Ernie, I think they're using a ball a little bit smaller than that. I'm not even sure where he got it, but he explained with a bunch of different ball sizes to see if it would work. You know, you can imagine this ball is going to be jumping up ramps and going around curves and ramps and so forth. So they think they found the right size ball to work on it. It's going to be nuts, guys. I hope that Josh gives me a chance to play it at least once. you better get your quarters lined up but yeah Mothership is going to become a reality so I was hoping to have it for the 40th because the 40th I just lost my mind from that show but what's interesting to me is based on the hotel registrations we have as much if not more people come and expo this year than last year so I'm excited about that because I always think every five years you have an extra explosion of people coming, but it looks like the momentum is continuing. The Stern Tour is going to be special. And I say that because this year is the first time Stern says we are going to, because they want people to see their place, we are going to give a gift away to all those that come to the Stern Tour that will not be available anywhere else. So what that gift is, I don't know, even myself, but the way Gary Stern talking, it's got to be something special. That's awesome. That is way cool. So, you know, we got the Stern tour and then like we talked about, the homebrew is going to be nuts. For me, what's especially exciting is Steamboat Willie's coming. If anyone's heard that, that game's coming. Awesome. And a ton of other ones, including the latest one from Jake Danzig. And all he can say is get ready. people I know that have worked on it said when you see it, you're going to stop on your tracks and say, sold. I want to buy it. Jake's last one was Dukes of Hazzard, right? I've never seen this game, but I hear it's just beyond fabulous. There's going to be so many homebrews of the show, and what's really cool, and I'm glad Josh and you, Scott, are both sitting down. For the first time, we got a homebrew coming from the country of France. Very cool. And that game is called The Invaders. I've seen this online. It's insanely cool. Got like a little hand with a gun that pops out and a spaceship. Yeah. Josh, so if you're playing Mothership, then I'm going to run over and play The Invaders. Sounds good to me. We'll trade off. Yeah. I mean, guys, out there in video land listening to us, imagine the magnitude of this show. There's so much to offer, so much to do. You know, sometimes people call me up from California and they say, hey, I'm coming to Expo for a Saturday and Sunday only. I said, buddy, do me a favor. Tell your boss you're going to have COVID that week. You've got to come the whole time because there's just too much to see. There's also tournaments, too. So definitely an expo tournament. If you're into the tournament player, then absolutely. Tell me about the tournament option. Well, of course, we have the flip-off tournament that Debra is helping me out with that. And that's in its own room, and they have their own deal. I'm not really into the tournament scene, but that's going to be a big deal, and they expect 300 to 400 people this year. So more and more people that have been in that tournament really like how it's run, and it's a good operation. Plus, since they're there, they can check out the Pinball Expo. But one other thing, we have another tournament going on, and we are having a 1930s pinball tournament. Yeah, last year, this booth was awesome. The people putting it on dressed up like they were – It was like speakeasies. Yeah, they were great. Yeah, a clapper dress and all that stuff. It was awesome. Oh, it was great. and you could win medals if you were able to achieve certain goals. Did you play in college, Josh? Oh, yeah. I'm in. I loved doing this last year. This is one of the coolest things. It'll be even bigger, and there'll be some 1930 games for sale because what's happening is more people, including myself, that see these 30 games, you kind of get hooked on them. I mean, they're simplistic, but they're cool in their own way. And we're really excited about this. This 1930s thing has really taken off thanks to Cliff and Colleen, his wife. I mean, they've done a great job, like you said, dressing up as the part. They have that bar scene back there, and they have the 1930s apron or lamp with a lampshade, the styling with all the tassels coming out of it. And it just, you know, everything they did is first class. And the tournament should be fun. But there's a lot of other surprises going on. one of them is Joe Kaminkow. Do any of you guys know Joe Kaminkow? Oh, yes. We know Joe. We actually had him on one time, and we were talking about multiple things, but it was kind of licensing, and it was a great interview, and he had a good time. Joe Kaminkow, to me, is really an unsung hero because a lot of people don't know about him, but those that do and get a chance to know Joe, the guy and the man, realize he is a wealth of information, He's a very intelligent guy, knowledgeable guy about the industry. But along with Gary Stern, they started Daddy East Pinball. So we're going to have a seminar this year with Joe and Gary, and they're going to go through all the games that they built at Daddy East. So that, to me, should be very interesting. So I'm talking to Joe about Pinball Expo and about the homebrew session. He says, Rob, I want to do you a favor. I said, oh, yeah, what's that? because I want to get a team of guys and we want to judge the homebrews. So this crazy Joe has come up with about 40 different awards, best artwork, best cabinet, best wiring, most unusual theme, and they're going to go around and grade some of these guys and give awards to the homebrew guys. So I think that's going to be really fun, really cool. He is a fool of energy and a fool of pinball, and he will be there. So for anyone that doesn't know Joe Camacal There's another claim to fame that he did That to me makes him the most famous Pinball guy that I know And if you guys know what I'm talking about The Beatles pinball machine I actually have one So I love the Beatles pinball machine It's great Joe Camacal He took a million dollars out of his pocket To build A dream You know for anyone in the pinball scene hey man couldn't someone make a Beatles pinball machine wouldn't that be cool well Joe Kaminkow made it happen this guy is a dynamic individual and I'm hoping those here that listen to your podcast will make an effort to come to his seminar because he'll talk about the daddy's days but then there's any questions and someone hopefully out there in the audience will say hey Joe tell us about the Beatles because I think it's just amazing it's fabulous that he did it oh yeah he talked about got the money to pull it off yeah he talked about that on our show it was pretty crazy some like they only meet like twice a year to go over licensing stuff i think it's like once a year it was once a year yeah oh yeah the whole the whole process so i'm definitely gonna be worth it because joe's got a wealth of information too and i know he owns part of the the back to the future rights for some stuff um i know he's involved in the musical the back to future musicals, so there's always been speculation. Yeah. He was there with the team behind Back to the Future, but Joe's got his hands in everything. Ask him about his car collection. I've seen it. He's also very big into the theater. You mentioned Back to the Future, so he's got some money into that play they had there in New York City. The guy is really an interesting gentleman. Anyone that's coming to Expo, make sure you see Joe. And by the way, we also have the autograph area. So we have a lot of guys coming to that. I've asked the guys from HEXA that did the pinball space hunt. I've asked him to have his team at the autograph session. But anyone just really interested in meeting Steve Ritchie or Pat Lawler. In fact, when I spoke to Pat, last year was supposed to be his last year coming to Expo. But I asked him to give me a favor and give me one more year. but I don't know if you're listening on this realizes the impact he had on this industry because everything he designed turned to gold starting with Adam's family Funhouse the list just goes on and on yeah so you'll see him at the autograph session as well as his seminar he does with Larry DeMar but I highly suggest that even for those people that don't come to seminars they really should make an effort to come to Pat Lawler's because he's an intelligent guy and he is a great designer so he's giving a seminar Steve Ritchie's giving a seminar and his seminar will be basically the life and times of Steve Ritchie starting with Airborne Adventures and Atari to his latest game with Jersey Jack so this is going to be another another great seminar I'm asking you Scotty to take Josh with you and go see these guys well speaking of which we're actually doing a seminar too on friday morning at 11 a.m scott and i are teaming up with flipping out pinball uh joel and jared and also retro ralph and we're going to be talking about content creation so if it's something that's always intrigued you if it's something you've always wanted to develop into there are certain things that i do that people ask like why did you do that when it comes to spot when we're promoting you know we have a wealth of uh knowledge when it comes to we've been doing this for seven years now here in January. There's a lot of stuff that if you knew getting into this hobby, it would set you ahead so much further. Come join us on that as well. What was I going to say? There's going to be so much content at Expo this year that you should be able to get enough speakers for the next 20 years. Oh, yeah. Have you guys ever done any international interviews with some of the international guys? A few We did the Marc Silk Yeah we had Marc Silk a few times on We also had the Predator guys They came on We just did the Predator reveal. Martin Robbins. We've had him on. Yeah, we've had a handful of people. Does Jeff Tolis count? He's from Canada. Yeah, pushing it, man. It depends if Trump buys Canada or not, I guess. Good luck. But, you know, some more things I was going to share with you guys is Jeff Moorhead's coming. Jeff Moorhead's the guy that purchased the Shea Arcade, you know, the glasses and so forth they make for the gauntlet games. So he will be coming. Are you playing arcade games with us while you're interviewing? Got a little Space Invaders going on? But Jeff is going to bring either he's getting either four or five boosts, nothing but the pinball back glasses and also parts, parts, and more parts. Used parts, old parts, and people love digging through his box and see what he's got. So we've got several guys this year that are selling parts. So a lot of people like to rummage through this stuff. So between Marco doing their deal, their supermarket deal they're calling it, and a guy like Jeff Moorhead, there's going to be – there's something for everyone, to be honest with you guys. No matter what aspect of pinball you're into, there will be guys there for it. You know, I'm going to tell a story about some of us were playing, and there's a giant free play area, which is great because, Rob, you bring some games that I've never seen before and had a lot of fun playing those games. and for all those out there friendly competitions we did dollar games but what was even more fun is when we upped the ante and so yes you'd play the dollar game so if you won then you'd get the four dollars but what we did is we added a penalty phase and so anybody who was lowest gets the lowest score has to take a picture of shame posing like the back glass and so a lot of those old games, let's just say it got a little interesting with some of those old back glasses and trans lights because it definitely increased the level of enjoyment because the funny thing is it went from people wanting to win and wanting to win the dollars to you absolutely just don't want to be the last one. Wow, very cool. Love it. You mentioned about the games so once again we'll be bringing a bunch of games from the arcade here to the show. And we're bringing a couple of the Australian games again, which people had a real kick out of seeing them. And that should be a lot of fun. Just trying to think of some special titles. We're bringing a couple of games made by Kena. This is more of the EM games. But that should be interesting for the people that have never seen these games before. Plus, the more of those games from Europe, Like you mentioned about some of these games here, that it should be a lot of fun for people to see that stuff. We had one guy reach out to me from the Netherlands, and he said, I want to get a booth at Xbox. I said, what's up? He said, I want to bring a container over of games made for the European market. Now, anyone that's been to past times will see we have a whole wall of European games like this. and this guy has got these kind of games that he'll sell at Expo this year. So what titles he's bringing, I don't know. But you mentioned, Scott, about titles that you don't normally see. All those titles he'll be bringing to Expo this year for sale. So that's going to be pretty wild. One question from our audience, from Julie. She wants to know about food options. She didn't know if you were going to try to see if you could get some food trucks or something at Expo this year. Yeah, we have the concession stand in front of Expo. And, of course, the hotels got their selection of restaurants. We haven't looked into that truck option yet, so I will make a note of that when we look into that. And so let's talk about hotel options. So I'm actually I am one of the late guys, too. So I'm trying to look for hotel reservations. And there's a lot of places that don't. Well, I know the Renaissance right now doesn't have anything available, but it looks like we have home suites, we have Hyatt, we have embassy suites. Tell me how close they are to Expo and how easy that would be to stay there and come. I think the Homewood is the closest as far as walking, but I think the others are offering shuttles to get to the Renaissance. Okay. I have to admit, though, you know, when I first did the show there, rooms and salons about maybe a month or two before the show started. But the past two years, they've sold out maybe the first month we put them on, we put them open for to book. So, you know, more and more people are learning about our show and are enjoying it to the point where they're making an effort to get there sooner rather than later. It's pretty impressive too because that hotel is what 16, 17 floors tall There's so many rooms there so it's impressive That this many people coming from around the world To the home place of Pinball Chicago Filming up that hotel and showing love to these people That have Had along since their childhood Through pinball or even arcade Like with Steve Ritchie and Mortal Kombat And stuff like that I mean guys you gotta remember When I did the show the first year That first year In fact, we toured Gotland. But at the time, Gotland was very closed-lipped. Their people didn't mingle with other manufacturers. And, you know, it was like taboo to even talk to their people. So I think it was the first year we toured their factory. But that was like, you know, we broke down a barrier. People couldn't believe it. How in the world did you make that happen? But it was a big thrill for a lot of us because we had never walked through a pinball factory, for one. But to see all companies, the almighty God was so quiet about everything to finally open up the doors to the general public was pretty unbelievable. Now, tell me more about the tours. So I know we have Stern Pinball. Is anyone else offering pinball tours this year? Well, not really, because we just do we try to do one tour a year. I mean, last year was an exception because it was the 40th. Sure. but that that was a nightmare putting that together and um not all the guys were in favor of it but uh all the manufacturers that end up doing doing it enjoyed it and uh the people enjoyed it but i mean that's a lot of busting around from this place oh sure and they have to shut down the factory basically during it so i i totally understand but there are some things that looks like i'm i'm just looking quickly at your site. And so Stern has a make-a-wish thing that they're trying to get going. They're donating a game. Yep, and Jersey Jack, too, it looks like, a limited edition avatar. So Jersey Jack will be handling the raffle from their booth, and we'll do the Stern raffle at our booth. But, yeah, they're there. Plus we got Project Pinball, guys. Project Pinball is pretty nuts, too. The question I have for you, Rob, there's usually new games at Expo. I'm not going to ask you what the titles are, but can you give us an idea of how many new games we could see at Expo this year? Well, I mean, Jersey Jack is the same titles we know. Stern, you know, they just did the Star Wars. I don't know if there was talk about Stern maybe showing something else, but I don't know of a title or what it is. Chicago Gaming, I haven't heard anything yeah, nothing new that I'm aware of that any surprises other than maybe some of the European guys okay do you know if Pinball Brothers is bringing over Predator because this will be one of the first times people in America will even bring it they're having some of the local distributors bring the game Predator will be there Now the question is Do I want to buy that game? I hear it's pretty good but I haven't seen it yet I want to see it That's always my recommendation Everywhere I go Josh wants to be there So Josh are you going to be a predator Are you going to be a mothership Or are you going to be what? Space hunt Well this is a couple days long so I'm just going to take my sweet time I'm going to go to a mall There you go I was going to put one of those Air tag on them to find out where he is? I know where he's at. Make sure I go a different direction. Okay. Okay. So if, so I'm my son, I'm bringing him first time. He is going to be 14. So what are the things I need to prepare my son for? And how can I make it engaging for a 14 year old? Because we know there are different attention spans and he's definitely not as, as deep in the weeds of pinball nerddom that Josh and I may be. So how can I make it fun for him? Okay, number one, there's a free play area so he can play all the games there. We've got some games from the 50s, the 60s, everything, so he can play those games. Number two, there's going to be a kids' tournament. Number three, there's a guy by the name of Ryan Tanner Walters. They call him the pinball scientist, and he's going to have a workshop there on making a pinball machine. So a toy came out from one of the manufacturers, and they have all these components to build this pinball machine. So he can come to that booth, and they'll give him a brand-new box, and he can open up and build this pinball machine. So that should be interesting, you know, for the kids. Then we have the Project Pinball's got their raffle, where, you know, there's stuff there A to Z that he might want to put his raffle ticket in to get something. I think there will be some Flippy toys in there, too, for you. flippy junkies. But he'll have that as well. And he also will have the opportunity to meet other pinball kids his age, including pinball ladies. So this will be a chance for him to get Dapper Dan to get his hat out and say, hello, I'd like to meet you. I'd like to. So this is a chance for dad to get lost to help meet some people out there. That'd be a lot of fun. Josh, you're bringing your kid too, right? I'm bringing my wife. You're bringing your wife. Okay. She's bringing her kid, which is me. Yeah, good job. So what's the advice for – we keep hearing this. This is my first expo. I'm so excited. What's your advice for these first-time attendees? You know, that's a great question because initially it hits them with a bam. You know, where do you go first? Where do you turn first? I guess look at the schedule of events and see if anything in particular, you know, gets your attention. A lot of people don't hit the seminars, but I think once they start looking at some of them, there might be a few of them that pique their interest so they could do that. then of course the tour is always a special treat for a lot of people. But you know, a lot happens too, is that, you know, the opening night, Wednesday night, we have the bumper blast at Interium. Have you guys been to that Interium yet? Oh yeah. Amazing. So that's always fun. But also it's the chance to meet the pinball enthusiasts from around the world. So whether it be at Interium or just on the show floor, you know, next thing you know, you're talking to somebody, Hey, let's play a game of pinball together. and then you learn they're from Italy or Spain or something, and next thing you know, you've got a pen pal. But there's so much happening. Okay, pen pal. Wait, it's great. Did you say pen pal, Rob? Because I think they'll just text him. Here you go. Well, speaking of Inventarium, we also have the Media Mixer Thursday night. Colin from Kineticis is putting that on, along with Scorebit. We're going to be there. We already signed up to be there Yeah when was you out to that Six to nine if I remember correctly But is this for the media then No so the media Tickets are available Tickets are available The media is going to be there. But you come meet your favorite personalities like us. Yeah, cool. Maybe Triple Drain or Craig Bobby, whoever it may be, and come hang out with us and have some nachos and we'll play some pinball too. Yeah. You know, that's the thing. Josh, there's so much going on, like you mentioned with that deal. plus you know they have that uh pinball olympics jay brand does that thing yeah that's insane that is a fantastic fun it's like an unhinged frat boy event and so absolutely go up it is it is hilarious it is awesome it is a little bit of a drive so just keep that in mind uh but it definitely has some fun challenges what is that all day saturday what's the hour to that yeah usually about noon to four but with the hour drive out and hour drive back yeah it's all state saturday yeah is it noon to 4 a.m or p.m p.m p.m and it's all you can eat tacos that's what you should be you should be hitting up jay for his contact for the tacos because those tacos are probably some of the best tacos i've ever had oh he doesn't make them no he hires a caterer to bring him you know that's the trouble with the hotel you know because you're in the hotel property you're going to use their people for everything. Remember one time we wanted to we had movie night and we wanted to have popcorn and stuff. They were going to charge like $8 for a bowl of popcorn. Let me tell you something. That bowl was like this. And it wasn't this. It's just crazy. Okay, I just looked it up. Pinball Life. It looks like there's currently no tickets. Oh, the tickets sell out within minutes. But you may be able to email or see if there's a way of backdoor entering if the best way to do it i've had to do this a couple times now the best way to do this go on pinside.com and look up the pinball olympics forum and then there's always gonna be people that have bought tickets and then weren't able to go or whatnot uh it's 100 bucks a ticket it's 125 now but it does come with like it is food drink every so it's it's an event he's he's putting it out and feeding you at the whole afternoon of fun. So, yeah. So I, I, I probably went to Jay's house about a year or so ago before the event because I wanted to see it, but it's pretty, pretty doggone nuts. Yeah. It's way too. Did you go, did you go to the beaded curtain room? The family friendly show. The right. I'm like, Oh, this is, yeah. Okay. I would say for anybody concerned, there's like 99 games there, and there's only two that are like super risky. So you can always avoid those. But they do make you giggle a little bit. But that's the thing, though, Scott. There's so much happening that week at Pinball Expo. It's crazy. Yeah. There's not enough hours in the day. Yeah, there isn't. And my wife and I are coming in actually a day early because she wants to go downtown and see Chicago. So we're going to go see the Gangsters and Ghosts Tour. Yeah. And then we'll do pinball for the next five days, you know? Good for you. Well, you know what I'm going to say to you guys? Flippy will be returning after a year's absence. He'll be back. That's awesome. Maybe for Sister Flippette. Wait, Flippy wasn't there last year? Because I saw the signs. Yeah, he was there. I was saying. Okay. It's been years since you've seen him. Oh, gotcha. He'll be back with his Sister Flippette. And maybe with the little brother Chip. We don't know yet. Oh, there you go. So there's a couple of unique games that come to Expo. I can't remember if they were there this year, but I know they've been there in the past. And they're super unique because there's only a handful of these made in the whole world. Like Rat Race, it's where it's a cocktail pinball where the whole – We don't have Rat Race. We do have Joust, though. Yeah, we'll have Joust there this year. Okay. Joust is fun. It's an interesting game, and it's hard to find a working one. So definitely switch out. My advice for anybody going to these places is, okay, it's always fun to play the big games. You know, playing Godzilla, King Kong, go play Harry Potter, go play all these games. Try to reach out and find, like, those games where you will never find them anywhere else. Something was, yeah, like Pinball Circus was supposedly there last year. I never saw it. It was supposedly, yeah. It was a knockoff. A knockoff. It was a fan creation homage. Yes. That is a really cool homage. For a game there's only two of in the whole world. Well, the one at Hall of Fame hasn't been functioning for years. Yeah. But I think you just played it once. Uniquely customized. You guys mentioned it. We have this arcade here in our hometown called The Pastimes. Yeah. I'm not sure if you guys have looked it up. I heard something. guys and check it out but we have 600 games well 90% working at any given time anything could break down but okay then we definitely need to go with those yeah Josh we should fly out for a weekend and check in at past times yeah I totally agree get off that's a trouble yeah what did you just say Rob where does the wife let him take off oh well I'm sure maybe she would She's never been to Ohio before me. It's time to go. The one thing you guys have learned is happy wife, happy life. Yep, definitely. And we've also learned when she's right, she's right. And when she's wrong, she's right. Well, in our marriage, we actually have two votes and she gets the tiebreaker. Okay, same idea. And when we're both wrong, I'm wrong. Got to be Pete, man. He got some new ones. Cool, Rob. Honestly, I think that we've been going at this for about 45 minutes. We really appreciate you coming on. Is there anything that you feel like we haven't covered that you really want to talk about with Expo? Well, another thing is if you guys knew Mark Helms, he wrote a movie. He gave a pinball movie several years ago. But Mark Helms is coming back. He'll be showing a movie there. And another fellow has got a movie he's showing. So there will be two pinball movies that will be played in the evening at Expo. So that will be new and different. So one will be the man who saved the game, the Roger Sharp movie? No, no, no. We did that already a couple years ago. Pinball, the American game. It looks like it's Friday at 9 p.m. And there's one, I think, is it Saturday too? Yeah, For Your Amusement, Thursday night. There you go. For Your Amusement, 9.30. Yep. So we have that. And then we have Dwight giving his stuff. Let's make a deal. Make a deal. Come. It's always great. It's always great. It's amazing. It's always big. Dwight is actually one of the best emcees out there. He is awesome. Yeah. And, you know, that's becoming more and more popular once the word gets out. Oh, yeah. By the way, we will also have our Hall of Fame ceremony, you know, on Friday at 530. We'll induct our latest Hall of Fame people. and we'll be saying a couple of tributes to some of those people that have passed away. So Rob Anthony and Fred Young. Do you guys ever meet Fred Young when you travel? No, I did not, no. So Fred Young was the guy that does all the voices. So he passed last year, so we'll miss him. it's all positive energy, guys. Anyone that's thinking about coming, it's all positive energy. and it's all about pinball and friendship. So give us the dates. Tell us what dates they are, where to get tickets, and how they can get that information. October 15th to the 18th, and all the tickets are through the website, or you can buy them when you get there that day. And if you're doing the tournament, make sure you don't leave on the 19th because usually finals go into the 19th. Yes. They go until Sunday. That's correct. awesome it's great being with you guys I thank you for reaching out and look forward to seeing you guys on the show and seeing you guys on Nuts for sure it'll be fun though we should get a couple pictures of you running ahead of me on one picture and me running ahead of you on another picture he plays dirty a lot of fun guys for everybody and I thank you guys for coming and Scott, thanks for coming this year and I'd like to get your comments when you're done but I hope that you really enjoy it like I'm sure you will. Yeah, no, it'll be great. Rob, if you want someone to get a hold of you, what's the best way to get a hold of you? 330. 330? 716. Okay. 3139. If you have any questions or comments, that's the best way. That is a bold man. It is a bold man. And to our millions of listens, that is quite the bold. A million phone calls may hang up. I wouldn't call everybody but the spamsters. The spam guys have got out of control, man. All these guys from India are just crazy with their spamsters. I text them back because I have fun with it. They're like, hey, you meeting up tonight? And I'm like, absolutely. Meet me at the place at 8 o'clock and get a room or whatever, get a table, and I'll meet you there. Me, the same thing. These random text messages. Hey, how you been? Or whatever. Why are you in my phone? Yeah, I don't know how they get in there, man. I'm the same way. I said, I'm doing good. I miss you. How you been? You know, they don't know me from Adam. So finally, about five minutes, he says, hi, my name is, uh, whatever. What's your, yeah, that's me. Here's how I leave, Scott. Yeah. I said, I'm sorry. My mother told me never talk to strangers. Goodbye. No, I, I, I usually say something like the, is your mom proud of what you're doing for a living? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. that too. I said, why do you waste your time on this? Can't you think of something better to do? Then this girl replied, I'm very wealthy. My father owns his business. I said to her, yeah, he owns his business and you're wasting your time with me. All right. If you want to get a hold of us, we are LoserKidPinballPodcasts at gmail.com. You can get a hold of us on all the socials at LoserKidPinball. If you're looking to get a Loser Kid hat, remember you only have until Monday. You must What day, Josh? Monday, September 29th. I think it is. I hope the guests on your show get a free hat. Yeah, we'll definitely bring you one. You know what you guys should really do, though? You should put one in the Project Pinball auction. Oh, definitely. You know, that'd be a nice thing to get some money to fundraise on that. Yeah, for sure. If you want some Silver Ball swag, go to silverballswag.com slash loserkid. Also, don't forget, this weekend is the Pinball, or not the Pinball Awards, sorry, the Podcast Awards, which we've been nominated for in the Games and Hobbies section. So check out their website, thepodcastawards.com, for time for the ceremony. Who was the, because I don't know, who was the first Pinball podcast? I don't know. Remember Joshua Clay Harrell used to interview guys and stuff? With TopCast? Was that the name of it? I think so. I don't know. That's a really good question. Back in the day, I mean, the original Pinball Podcast with Don and Jeff, they had – Those were sharp. He went around to different manufacturers and recorded them back in the 70s. That's a tape cast. Yeah, it was coast to coast. Yeah, there were a few back in the day, but – Oh, yeah. Yeah. How much they made me Joshua Clay Harrell because he's one of the first guys to start interviewing these people. yep yep you guys be well have a safe weekend and sing pinball and thank you for reaching out to me appreciate it definitely Scott give us our last words see you at Expo Thank you.