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Episode 182 – Return Of The Roo Sack

Slam Tilt Podcast·podcast_episode·1h 52m·held·Mar 10, 2022
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.032

TL;DR

Slam Tilt covers Deep Root auction fallout, Barry Osler's tragic death, and Stern's Rush scoop crisis.

Summary

In this Slam Tilt Podcast episode, hosts Ron Hallett and Bruce Nightingale interview Knapp Arcade (Knapp Arcade) about his entry into pinball and his pinball news site. The discussion covers recent Deep Root Pinball auction details, the death of pinball designer Barry Osler, and a major Stern Pinball letter detailing production increases, supply chain challenges, and the cancellation of the April Cornerstone game. A significant portion focuses on the problematic Rush scoop design that's causing playfield damage on Pro models, which Stern has allegedly stopped producing while refusing to provide clear warranty guidance on removal.

Key Claims

  • Stern Pinball has increased labor force by 25% over recent months and significantly increased daily production output despite supply chain challenges.

    high confidence · Gary Stern's letter read on podcast; direct quote from manufacturer communication

  • Stern is skipping the April 2025 Cornerstone game release, moving to only two Cornerstone games this year (Rush and August game).

    high confidence · Gary Stern's official letter to distributors read on air

  • Rush (Pro) production has been halted due to scoop design issues that are destroying playfields.

    high confidence · Ron and Bruce discuss stopped production line; multiple owners report scoop failures

  • Barry Osler, Deep Root Pinball designer, passed away without health insurance coverage due to the company's collapse and had a gap in medical treatment during his cancer diagnosis.

    high confidence · Ron and Bruce's personal knowledge; documented via Jeff's Pinball Profile interview

  • Deep Root Pinball auction revealed multiple incomplete whitewood prototypes and manufacturing equipment, with no sign of a valuable limited edition Raza machine.

    high confidence · Knapp Arcade reporting on Knapp Arcade; auction photography evidence

  • Stern has taken an unclear public stance that removing the Rush scoop protector voids the warranty, despite acknowledging the scoop design is problematic.

    high confidence · Direct discussion about Stern's contradictory messaging; Zach's reported inability to get straight answers from Stern

  • There was a labor dispute at Stern involving temporary work agency employees seeking higher compensation; the dispute may have resulted in workforce turnover and quality control issues.

    medium confidence · Ron and Bruce's discussion; not independently verified but based on industry knowledge

  • Between 200-400 Rush (Pro) machines are currently in limbo due to scoop damage issues.

    medium confidence · Ron's speculation based on production and scoop damage reports; not definitively sourced

Notable Quotes

  • “Demand for Stern pinball machines has not just remained strong. Demand has become stronger.”

    Gary Stern @ ~42:00 — Official manufacturer statement on market strength; sets context for production prioritization decisions

  • “We have made the difficult decision to deviate from our business model of three new cornerstone games each year...we've decided for this year only not to introduce a new April Cornerstone game.”

    Gary Stern @ ~45:00 — Major business decision change affecting release calendar; signals production capacity constraints despite demand

  • “I paid for a game and got it delivered...I haven't really been able to play it in a month.”

    [name withheld pending review] @ ~65:00 — Illustrates real customer impact of the scoop design flaw and lack of clear resolution path

  • “He said that over 200 times...I invoke my privilege against self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.”

    [name withheld pending review] @ ~30:00 — Captures severity of Deep Root collapse and founder's refusal to cooperate with creditors

  • “He got really screwed...he was diagnosed with cancer, I think, in 2014...we had a benefit tournament for him...at your old house.”

    [name withheld pending review] @ ~33:00 — Documents the personal toll on a respected industry designer and the community's attempt to help

  • “If you remove it, you void your warranty...but he can't get a straight answer from anyone there.”

    [name withheld pending review] @ ~64:00 — Highlights the communication breakdown between Stern and owners facing the scoop issue

  • “They took the scoop off theirs, I think...they put Mylar down...If you take it off, you've got to put something on it.”

    [name withheld pending review] @ ~70:00 — Shows operators are developing workarounds because Stern hasn't provided official guidance

  • “Every one of these people who's had this problem, maybe in the future, when the Rush toppers come out, they get one for free.”

Entities

Ron HallettpersonBruce NightingalepersonKnapp ArcadepersonGary Sternperson[name withheld pending review]personZach SharpepersonJohn Popadiukperson

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Stern reports 25% labor force increase and significant daily production increases despite supply chain challenges, indicating aggressive manufacturing ramp-up to meet demand.

    high · Gary Stern's letter: 'We have been able to increase our labor force 25% over the last few months' and 'increase significantly the quantity of games we produce each day'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Stern is canceling the traditional April Cornerstone game release for 2025, moving to only two Cornerstone games (Rush and August game) instead of three, signaling production constraint prioritization.

    high · Gary Stern letter: 'we've decided for this year only not to introduce a new April Cornerstone game. We will have only two new Cornerstone games this year'

  • ?

    product_concern: Rush Pro scoop design is fundamentally flawed, with metal edges causing rapid playfield wear and damage; Stern stopped Pro production but has not issued official fix or clear warranty guidance.

    high · Multiple reports of scoop damage; Ron states 'They stopped the line for it...They're not making Rush Pros'; Stern's contradictory stance on warranty coverage when protector removed

  • ?

    supply_chain_signal: Stern reports paying higher material and freight costs and requiring almost daily production schedule changes due to supply chain volatility.

    high · Gary Stern's letter: 'In spite of supply chain disappointments requiring almost daily changes to our production schedule' and 'We are paying higher material and freight costs'

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Barry Osler, respected Deep Root Pinball designer known for quick turnarounds and innovative designs, passed away unexpectedly; had gaps in health insurance due to employer collapse.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.338

0:00
Be careful in the kitchen. Burger World cannot afford to pay out any more workers' compensation. Workers' constipation? Yeah, yeah, I get that all the time at work. And when I can't take a poop. No, you idiot. Workers' compensation. If you get hurt at work, the government makes me send you home and pay you money for not working. So stay out of trouble.
0:23
Whoa. Did you hear that, Beavis? If you, like, get hurt at work, we can go home and still get paid. Oh, yeah. He should have told us that a long time ago.
0:47
Coming to you from beautiful upstate New York, this is the Slam Hill Podcast, the show about all things pinball. I'm your host, Ron Hallett. Here is my co-host, Bruce Nightingale. Hello. And we're back. We're back better than ever. This is episode 182. I'm sorry I caused this to be late again. Yep, it's all Ron's fault again. I got really sick. I went to a tournament. I actually started to feel like shit during the tournament. And then I won the tournament. Then I felt even worse. And then I was out a week.
1:16
Ouch. Yeah. So everyone else suffered because of you playing in a tournament? I had my mask on the whole time. I didn't say that. I'm saying they all suffered missing your beautiful monotone voice. Monotone? I don't think that's even the right term. A monotone voice would be like this, Bruce. Well, that is sometimes like you. Like me. Jackpot, jackpot, jackpot. That's a monotone voice.
1:41
I consider that you monotone. Okay, but we're not alone. We're not? Who do we have? You tell us. Who do we have, Bruce?

[name withheld pending review] @ ~78:00 — Proposes customer service remedy; highlights expectation gap between affected owners and manufacturer response

Steve Ritchie
person
Stern Pinballcompany
Deep Root Pinballcompany
Knapp Arcadecompany
American Pinballcompany
Rushgame
Godzillagame
Deadpoolgame
Mandaloriangame
Texas Pinball Festivalevent
Pinball Expoevent
IE Pinballvenue
Rock Fantasyvenue
Silver Ball Saloonvenue
[name withheld pending review]game
Alice Coopergame
[name withheld pending review]game

high · Ron and Bruce's firsthand accounts; Jeff's Pinball Profile interview documented his death; mentioned family GoFundMe for medical debt

  • ?

    business_signal: Deep Root Pinball's collapse left creditors, employees, and contractors unpaid; auction of assets revealed mostly incomplete prototypes and manufacturing equipment with minimal recoverable value.

    high · Jason Knapp's Deep Root auction coverage on naparcade.org; creditor meeting footage where founder invoked Fifth Amendment 200+ times

  • ?

    product_concern: Stern's public warranty stance (removal voids coverage) conflicts with unclear internal guidance; owners report inability to get straight answers from Stern support on whether scoop protector removal is permitted.

    high · Zach's reported experience; Ron and Bruce's discussion of Stern's contradictory messaging and lack of official policy

  • ?

    community_signal: Location operators are developing independent solutions (Mylar protection, protector removal) to Rush scoop problem because Stern hasn't provided official fix, indicating community frustration.

    medium · Reports of Rock Fantasy and other locations removing scoop and applying Mylar; suggestion to use Mantis protectors from other games

  • ?

    design_innovation: Rush scoop design lacks proper edge protection unlike legacy Stern/Williams designs (e.g., Alice Cooper) that flush-mounted scoops; design is expensive to retrofit and Stern has resisted aftermarket solutions.

    high · Comparison to Alice Cooper and other legacy games with flush-mounted scoops; discussion of attempted Mantis protector fit that didn't work

  • $

    market_signal: Despite strong demand reported by Stern, supply chain and production constraints are forcing prioritization of existing catalog (Rush, Godzilla, Mandalorian, Deadpool) over new releases.

    high · Gary Stern: 'Demand has become stronger' yet forced to skip April release; focus on 'filling many of your orders for our existing catalog'

  • ?

    content_signal: Jason Knapp's Knapp Arcade is breaking major industry news (Deep Root auction details, Stern distributor letters), establishing it as a key media source in pinball industry.

    high · Ron and Bruce crediting Jason with recent scoops; naparcade.org referenced as source for Deep Root auction photography and details

  • ?

    regulatory_signal: Deep Root Pinball founder required to appear at creditor meeting but invoked Fifth Amendment protection extensively, indicating ongoing legal and financial complexity of company collapse.

    high · Ron's description of founder's Fifth Amendment invocation 200+ times at creditor meeting; ongoing GoFundMe for victims

    • 1:49
    He is an award-winning commentator. Not commentator, but I'll say website knowledge person. It is Jason Knapp from Knapp Guys. How does it feel being an award-winning knowledge person?
    2:03
    Well, he does give us a lot of knowledge. I'm a commentator now, so that's good. I'm commenting right now. If we get an award for this, then that's actually true. You were just predicting the future. I am always predicting the future, especially when it comes to Stern schedules. Well, actually, Jason's predicting the future. He's getting all kinds of scoops these days. What's up with that? I've been hitting it pretty hard lately. It's been entertaining. So, Jason, tell us about your pinball history and how did you get into this damn hobby?
    2:33
    All right. I guess I should have probably prepared for this. Oh, no. We just go right on the conversation. No, there's no preparation. It's not for each. How did I – well, I can tell you – let's see. I started – I've always been into – I started out more in the classic arcades. I think that's probably a pretty similar story to a lot of the people who are into pinball now. And then I eventually saw the light and transferred over more towards pinball, probably. But I would say I set up a Facebook page probably, I think it was 2015. My sons and I, we had picked up an Arachnid II dartboard, you know, the ones with the screens in them. The little ones. Well, no, no, like the full bar, but dart, like, you know, the straight up, like, big bar dart machine. And we had a charity tournament for all their friends and neighbors and family. We raised money for St. Jude's, but I put up that Facebook page. And then I used to go into the New Jersey collectors' boards, and I would go on there and teach people how to get deals on Craigslist. I would share, like, a deal of the day. And all the people that were hoarding all the deals themselves got pissed at me. So they and all their friends were, like, yelling at me. So I was like, F this, I'll just go put them on my own page. And that's why I changed the charity dart tournament page to just Snap Arcade, and that's kind of how it started. And then I just kept posting news there because no one I actually know in real life outside of the hobby gives a darn about any of the things I'm interested in. So I just kept putting it up on that site, and it kind of just evolved over time. Cool. Yeah. So how many PIMO machines have you owned? Ooh, that's a good question. I can tell you how many I have now. That's a good starting point. Okay. I have, right now, I have Jurassic Park Premium, Star Trek Pro, Guardians of the Galaxy Pro, Game of Thrones Pro, Demoman, and Monopoly right now. That's a good selection. I noticed you're missing one needed part of your collection. Which is? A Stern. Which one? Any old Stern. Oh, yeah, I had a Stars. John, I think I told you when I came up to Silver Ball Saloon at some point, I did have a Starz at one point. See? And you let it go. What? I did. I unfortunately did. I went more modern. I actually had a – my Starz that I had had a sweet built-in, like, metal ashtray. Not like the crushable ones we were discussing earlier, but like a super-duper industrial ashtray built in sticking out of the front of it. That's kind of weird. Yeah, that screams 70s and 80s, I guess. Oh, yeah.
    5:18
    Was it flippable, or was it just stuck? No, I think it was flippable. I used to put quarters in it, because I didn't have it set to free play, so I used to just put quarters in it and just... So how many pins do you think you have owned? Ooh, a lot. I went through a lot of games. I would say at least... I mean, not a lot compared to some crazy people who are just constantly flipping stuff, but probably over 20, I'm sure. That's good. Yeah. That's very good. They came out and went for a while. Of course. That always happens that way. Not like me and Ron who just keep stuff and... I don't know. We keep everything. You kept a lot of them. I kept a lot, yeah.
    5:58
    I've become kind of attached to the current collection. I haven't sold anything in a while. That's totally understandable. I get attached to games. They're, you know, bonded. Like my Lord of the Rings.
    6:10
    Yes. I get Ron going. Your Lord of the Rings. Oh, yeah. You'll hear it later. Okay. Well, that's a surprise for me, so here we go. No, something that makes the Lord of the Rings seem like Iron Man as far as how long it plays. Oh. Oh, so you're talking about Jersey Jack Timball. No, it's not a Jersey Jack machine. Oh, wow. Even weirder. So tell us about Nap Arcade. Yeah, it started as a Facebook page, like I was saying before, and I basically was putting up all of the, you know, news and things like that. But I'm really into taking pictures, too. I mean, a lot of it was based on me going to arcades with my sons and taking a lot of pictures about and, you know, listing the games and kind of telling them what the arcades were like. So I did a lot of road trip posts. I took a lot of those pictures, and I created an Instagram account. So once a day I'll share a picture of a game, you know, from different angles on the Instagram account. And then that kind of evolved because I wanted to do a T-shirt, and I didn't feel like selling it through any of the existing normal T-shirt sales places. It's a long story. So I created the website so I could have an e-commerce section that sells T-shirts that no one buys. And then I put all the news up on the new website now, though, because it works a lot better. One of the things that bothered me was I was putting stuff up on Facebook, and it would just kind of disappear into, like, the Facebook muck over time. You know, it would just get buried. So anything that's up on the site now is actually mine in there, which is kind of nice. It's www.naparcade.org. Because some buggers stole naparcade.com. I don't know who it was, but I'm still searching for them.
    7:54
    He's after my own heart, just because I used to go to all these locations that I would do walkthroughs, like film walkthroughs. Oh, yeah. Back with my old 8M, you know, not 8M, what am I saying?
    8:09
    Millimeter, which was a crank. Do you have a crank on it? Yeah, a crank on it. My old Sony, like, Handycam, I would just walk through and do walk-throughs. And I had them on my still-existing Gizmonic YouTube page. And, like, half the locations no longer exist, so that's kind of sad. That is. Yeah, so that's the story. You've been getting quite the scoops lately. Yeah, I'm on naparcade.org, not .com, .org right now, and I'm looking at, like, deep root pinball auction. Mm-hmm. Oh, that was an interesting one, yeah. So the first time you showed the first part of the auction, they just had the one pinball machine, which was the – They had Raza. Yeah. And everyone's like, that's it? Where's all these whitewoods? Where's everything? So then you had a second post a few days later. It's like, part two, the good stuff. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I don't know why. I guess the auction house was just putting it up in increments, you know, not all at once, because it wasn't there. When they had the first batch up, it wasn't there. Speaking of wasn't there, the good Raza, the one with all the, I don't know, L-E-S Raza. Yeah. Nowhere to be found either. I think that went out the door with someone who used to work there, I guess. Yeah, I would imagine so. I guarantee it. We've got Fire and Brimstone is here. Ooh, I know. I'm going to bid on that one, definitely. You know, I just got to have that. Made completely out of cardboard. Yes. It's literally cardboard. I don't understand. It's just these white woods. There was a wrestling one that was just bizarre. Macho Libra. Macho. Yeah. Well, it wasn't Macho Libra. That would require paying for a license. I know, but it was something like it. You can see. They were going for that. Yeah. That actually looked kind of neat. I mean, Papa Duke was involved in all these, and he always was good with the art. It's just they were just didn't work.
    10:01
    So he's good for that. So there's a lot of different stuff in there. You can get all the gym equipment you ever wanted to get. Yes. And you can buy other games, like Black Hole. Yep. There was some cafeteria games, I think. Yes, AMH, America's Most Wanted, was there. Really? It's weird because they used to have more games in that room from what I had seen previously. So why leave two? Why not just take them all? I know. Well, I have a question. And did you see the one table there that was like an L and it had seven chairs around it? Was that the table where the seven met? Oh. Oh, the, the, yeah.
    10:41
    But there was a table in that room, you know, like the one showing room, and it had, you know, the same room that had the pinball machine in it. And it had a table that was an L and there were seven chairs. And I was like, ooh, is that the magical room where they were all in and going, where can we see the rest? And they didn't. In the first batch of pictures, you can see the octo-manufacturing pods or whatever they were.
    11:07
    He figured a lot of people over. Good Lord. He is just a terrible asshat. Oh, well, he got to somewhat pay, well, not pay the piper, but he got to go to one of those creditor meetings or whatever where he had to answer for his thins. You know what he said? No. What did he say, Ron? on the advice of counsel. I invoke my privilege against self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. I respectfully decline to answer the question. And he said that over 200 times. It's a huge bag. It does have a possibly kind of doozy. You could just say I pledge the Fifth. You don't have to say the entire thing every time.
    11:49
    He would not answer anything. I hope he's butt-raped in jail. White collar, it's doubtful But I mean, they had people there They had a woman there Her dad lost everything because of him Goodness It doesn't look like they're getting much in the way Of millions back out of this bank Oh no It was a lot of kind of junky stuff Well, some of the The big machines were pretty I will say, I was very impressed With the big machines for manufacturing That he never used But he had a ton of them How about the theater? Did you like the theater? Oh, the theater was just so great.
    12:28
    Jesus Christ. Was it used just once, just for that one when they brought all those people in? I don't even know.
    12:35
    I think they used it for, what else did they use it for? During break. Yeah. Maybe they did his video from that where he showed off the Raza. Yeah, probably. I think if they did, well, yeah, that's true. Well, I think a lot of that was tied in with when they brought everyone in for the, yeah. five, well, that wasn't the five days. I don't know what that was. That was just a let's get seven people to hopefully say, that was the we are not ready. I think that's what it was called. Hopefully we're worthy. I'd like to see what happened to all the film that was taken, because they paid a production company to come in and film everything and they probably didn't get paid. I was going to say they probably got stiffed too, so they probably were willing to, he probably threatened to sue them if they do anything with it, but that probably lost a lot of its teeth. Yeah.
    13:23
    Yeah. He screwed a lot of people, unfortunately. Unfortunately, he screwed somebody who passed away also. Oh, yes. Barry Osler. Yes. He didn't get any health insurance. Oh, my gosh. Really? Throughout that whole time? Yeah. Well, from the last three months, he couldn't file because what's his name? Didn't do anything. So he couldn't get Medicare or anything like that. He got really screwed. Was he going under treatment in pain? He couldn't. He would basically, yeah, because he was diagnosed with cancer, I think, in 2014. Yep. Because we had, me and Bruce, like long before Slam Tilt, before Silver Ball Saloon or any of that, we had a benefit tournament for him. Yep. At your old house. Yep. And there's still video out there from it. It was for him and his wife. Well, his first wife. Yes. Because they both had medical issues, and it was similar. It was like a GoFundMe. It was a charity tournament we did where we had, what did we have? We had a few varies of games in there. We had, what did we have? We had Dirty Harry. We had Who Done It. Oh, yeah, Dirty Harry and Who Done It back when you had it. I played that Who Done It. That was at the saloon. Yep. No, that wasn't my Who Done It. That wasn't yours? No, that was another person's Who Done It. I've owned four Who Done Its. There's only like two of them around I've ever seen, I think. Ron has my Who Done It. He has my third hood on it. No, he has my fourth hood on it. Wow. Yeah, how sad is that? You're trying to corner the market and drive the price up. Yes. We've done it on one kind of games. We might as well do it on all of them, right? All the, like, certain electronics. Yes. Yeah, so I guess, I mean, he was under, he was getting medical through Deep Root, and then when they went under, he had a whole couple-month period where he couldn't get treatment. He just didn't go to the doctor? He couldn't afford to. That's messed up. Yeah, so he got screwed until he finally got hired on by AP and then all of a sudden just, you know, he sounded great on Jeff's gimbal profile. He was like recorded on a Thursday and then Sunday he was gone. And it was like complications with his treatment or something. Yep. And now there's a GoFundMe out there for his family to pay off everything.
    15:46
    Yeah, so another unfortunately side effect of the fucking douchebag from Deep Root. I didn't even know that he had a lapse in coverage. That's horrendous. Yeah, that's, you know, unfortunately, it's either pay for my house or pay for my living, or, you know, that happens to a lot of people. Oh, it does happen to a lot of people. So Barry had, I mean, he had the queen for Highway. Yep. A good part of that is his design. He did a bunch of white ones for Deep Root. Sounded like he did Food Truck and, oh, was there at least three or four of them. I wonder what happens to those digital assets beyond you know, we're talking about all the auction of the Whitewoods and foam cores and all that stuff, but I mean, there's got to be CAD drawings of all these around somewhere, you would think. Yeah. That would be the coolest part. If someone could at least turn them into like a virtual pinball table or something to honor him, that would be cool, at least. It'd be very cool, but who knows how far along they were. Supposedly it was far enough along with one for American Pinball. So one might come out there. That would be nice. That would be good. That would be very nice. That would be pretty quick, though. Was it something he already designed somewhere else and just kind of modified it? Might have been, or something that he was just quick. He was very quick. He's always been known to design games pretty quickly. Yes. But it's a shame that he got burned in multiple ways. That's horrendous. And I talked to him at the last Texas Pinball Festival that happened, 2019.
    17:14
    Yeah, I haven't talked to him in years. Actually, I think the last time I talked to him was probably 2015 Expo.
    17:21
    It's a shame, though. But, you know, we feel really sad for his family and that kind of stuff. They shouldn't have to. He was a fighter for so long. He really went through a lot of, you know, struggles with everything. Yeah, he had COVID, like, really bad. I remember that. Yeah.
    17:39
    You get through all this shit, and then, you know, you get screwed. And, unfortunately, it seems like. He finally landed in a real place. Exactly. late. Yeah, that was going to make games again. He was getting excited about it. If you haven't heard it, please go listen to Jeff's interview on Pinball Profile with Barry Osler. It is really good. Thank you, Jeff. Big props.
    18:00
    And play Whodunit. Or Dirty Harry. Or play a Phoenix. Get old school. Play a Space Shuttle. Space Shuttle's great, yes. Space Station, even. You did Space Station? I don't like Space Station. I think he was part of it. He was not fully, but I think he was a little bit into it. Let's see. You think your shuttle is definitely better than Space Station? Oh, yeah. I don't mind Space Station. Space Shuttle, Steve Ritchie's the voice. Exit, pilot, one, with no pop guard. Every time I listen to it, I can hear the P sound, and it annoys me.
    18:36
    Let's see. Barry Esler, design and concept. Well, there you go. So, play some Barry games. Yes. I picture him now He's up there with Python They're designing another game And Python's still late He's missing his deadline again So that was pretty sad this week You know, past week, two weeks Unfortunately It has been a shitty year Rough year for that kind of stuff Very rough year So I'm trying to think of a segue Well you know who hasn't had a bad year Stern Pinball. Yeah. They're making so many games, they cannot keep up with all their orders. They had a letter that went out to their distributors, and I have the letter right here.
    19:26
    I'm trying to think, should I try to say this as somebody? Hi, my name's Gary. Wow. I'm Gary. Hello.
    19:39
    He was on stream last night He was on IE Pinball. Wow. They were having a Rush launch party tournament. They were doing the heads-up thing. He was out there in Ace Goji? Yeah, Ace Goji. He was just in England, like, a day. That guy gets around. Yeah, he wasn't there for the event, but he just happened to be in L.A., so he stopped by. Oh, wow. And it's still, like, I, oh, God, I've been in pinball so long now, like, as soon as he came on the mic, he didn't even, it's like, Gary Stern? What the hell is he doing here? It's like, hi, Gary. He was on mic for maybe five minutes. That place is awesome. That's what I hear. The Korean barbecue and pinball is a good combination. Except for messy, maybe.
    20:27
    I need to wash my hands. Open flames and pinball are fantastic together. Let's see. So what does Gary say? He says, dear ladies and gentlemen, demand for stir and pinball machines has not just remained strong. Demand has become stronger. I noticed a correlation between Insider Connected adoption rate and increase in game orders. Okay, a little plug for... I'm pretty sure there's correlation without causation. Yeah, I think that's a plug for Insider Connected. In spite of supply chain disappointments requiring almost daily changes to our production schedule, that's true, we have been able to increase significantly the quantity of games we produce each day. We are paying higher material and freight costs necessary to maintain and grow production. We have been able to increase our labor force 25% over the last few months. That was after they laid off 50% of the people, probably. There was a big labor dispute there not that long ago, I think. Yes. Oh, there was? Yes. I did not know that. But, well, come on, fill me in. There was a big labor dispute there. Yeah, they don't hire most of the people on the line. Yeah, they're through an agency or something. Yes. and the people went back to the agent and say, well, our production stuff's all going higher. The employees are going, why aren't we getting a piece of this? Oh, yeah, getting more money. Exactly. And, you know, this skilled labor and everything like that, and it went back and forth. And I think I heard that they kind of, like, not calling it a strike, but they kind of did a little, I'm sick, you know, and you'd see, like, 40 people being sick. Oh, maybe that's what happened with the, like, they were having issues where the screws were being screwed in too tight and blowing up like flipper base plates and stuff, maybe that was the replacement dude because the normal one was thick. Or when there's like little things missing from inside the game. Or maybe wiring switches, you know, being backwards on a game. Yeah, that always happens. So are they back now? Have they settled it? No, I think they fired everyone and brought in all new people. That's what I heard. I heard that they settled it with one of the companies. They actually have not just one company. He's a couple companies.
    22:38
    Interesting. Yeah. You heard it here. Okay, continuing. We have made the difficult decision to fire everyone. No, that's not what it says. That's not what it says. We have made the difficult decision to deviate from our business model of three new cornerstone games each year, usually in January, April, and August. we've decided for this year only not to introduce a new April Cornerstone game. We will have only two new Cornerstone games this year, Rush and another in August. In the next months, we will work towards filling many of your orders for our existing catalog of games, especially concentrating on pro and premium models of Rush, Godzilla, Mandalorian, and Deadpool.
    23:24
    Yes. Adjustments to game allocations for North America have largely been made over the last weeks. Export market allocation changes will be completed today and tomorrow. Best regards, Gary.
    23:37
    Well, there you go. They're going to make my Deadpool Pro. I've been waiting for 14 months for my Deadpool Pro. Now, part of it is also other reasons. You know, Rush being held up right now, the pros. I don't know if they're going to go right to LE right now they're at LE and they're almost three quarters of the way done with LE so will they go to premiums and then still we don't have an answer on what's going on with the scoops on the pros which oh my god has been fixed are they actually shipping them with no scoops or is it just taking them off frozen because I've seen so many chewed up Oh, that's from them. That's from them, yeah. Well, that's after they removed them and people were playing it and it just... Yes. Stern has their public stance on this is if you remove it, you void your warranty.
    24:33
    Well, Zach says he hasn't been able to get an answer about that. Our Zach. He has a game. He got one of the first ones and the scoop is destroyed. Yep, it is. And you buy all of it and it still gets wrecked? No, it's just the problem is if you don't take it apart, it's destroyable. You put the ball in there and it can't kick it back out. Oh, you mean with the protector? Yeah. So he's like, okay, can I take the protector out? He can't get a straight answer from anyone there. There's probably no official policy. Yeah, but the problem is, literally, no offense, I paid for a game and got it delivered by probably January 20th, 25th. Let's say February 1st, I think. I haven't really been able to play it in a month. what should I get for that in back besides maybe a destroyed play field? Yeah, I've seen ones that they've removed it. Yeah. I wonder if you removed it and actually mylared it, though. If you mylared it instead of just playing it with nothing, you might be okay. You might be okay. What they should have done is done a mantis style, which is the scoop on the inside instead of cliffies on the outside.
    25:39
    Under, yeah, underneath the play field instead of above the play field. Yes. And the second thing, what do these people get for not being able to use their machines on location?
    25:49
    I know some location ones, it's almost impossible not to play. Well, Rock Fantasy took the scoop off theirs, I think. They did, but they put, I was just there yesterday, they put Mylar down. They put Mylar down. The one at my new location, I didn't see Mylar on, and it was already wearing. They had removed the scoop. If you take it off, you've got to put something on it. Yeah, because you will wear it. It's straight up. It'll just crack all apart and everything. But, yeah, what is the fix? Think about it. Right now, you probably have between two to four hundred games out there that are in limbo. Is the metal just too thin? I don't understand why it's getting wrecked so badly. There's a thing called flippies forever that never get destroyed. Why is this garbage? I don't think they looped it underneath the playfield. So I think it's just actually around the hole and along the sides of the hole. You know how clippies lock in on the bottom?
    26:45
    This doesn't do that. Well, the other thing is, why can't they just change the scoop design? I know. Boy, now is a little late. It is late. But, I mean, just going forward, I know right now it's going to be cost prohibitive. But if you've seen me and Zach, we talked about this, our Zach, there's a scoop on Alice Cooper. It doesn't wear at all. It has no protector. because the way they designed it, the metal for the scoop, it comes all the way up and it's flush with the play field. Yes, that's the way it should always be. So when the ball comes out, it's not hitting the edge or anything like that. Yes. I don't know why that's – and Williams has scoops that are like that. I've seen them. They didn't always use them, attack from Mars. But I've seen other ones where they have used it. I think like my Dracula one, it went all the way up. It was like flush with the play field, the one on the right, and it never had anywhere.
    27:36
    So it seems to me that would be easier, but it's too late now. Oh, yeah, no. I can't even imagine how many plate fuels they have in-house already. I mean, probably quite a few. Yeah, and I had a suggestion, and I'm going to say it to everyone. Every one of these people who's had this problem, maybe in the future, when the Rush toppers come out, they get one for free. Oh. That's what my suggestion would be. That's like $5,000 now. Exactly It like a watch right there But I mean it an inconvenience that these people can use their games properly and you can get an answer from Stern This is the way Stern should actually say like hey we had an issue For all your inconvenience of not making money on these games, here, this is something to offset your issues. Maybe that should be, besides also a fix and also a play field. Now, would you be happy if you owned a Pro? The play field got destroyed. And they go, here's a playfield, unpopulated. Oof. Yeah. I am not big on playfield swabs. Yeah. I think they're going to have a big issue. That's why they stopped the line for it. They're actually, that's why they're doing other things. So you're saying they stopped the line. They're not making Rush Pros. How about the Rush Premiums? They had different protectors on them. Yeah.
    29:00
    We have an LE also. Oh, of course you do. At the co-op, right? Well, it's coming to the co-op. It's actually owned by one of our owners. Uh-huh. And that thing's getting beat up. Oh, really? The LE? Yes. Okay, that doesn't sound good. No, it's not. It's getting dense in it already. Hmm. And that was a free for the pros. So, Carrie Stare at Mantis, if you want a lot of money, really quickly. A lot of money. Get a Mantis protector for Rush. You'll be all set.
    29:33
    Because, from, I read, someone tried one of my suggestions, which is, I figured, because it's Borg, I figure, like, the scoop is the same as some of his other games. Like, it's just a copy of the dimensions. It is. It's the same as, like, someone tried the Carrie Stare, the Mantis Metallica Protector. They had to take the scoop out, but they want to see if it fit underneath the play field. Fits perfectly. fits perfectly. The scoop is the exact same dimension. The problem is you can't mount it because of the way the scoop is under there, I guess. So it would require a different protector. But the dimensions are the same. You would think an aftermarket solution would make a lot of money if one came out before Stern got an actual fix.
    30:17
    You would think. I mean, even Jesus, Mantis sells whole scoops. The whole metal part of it. He could sell those too. even if it was like $100 or whatever, a couple hundred dollars, even just for the scoop. But if it's like you use this, you won't have any problems. People would buy that. Yeah. Of course, what is Stern going to do? If you change the scoop out, you've void your warranty. Yeah, it's just so annoying where, you know, as I said, these people have owned these games. They heard from other people like you can't take off the scoop. And then when somebody actually asks about it, they're like, oh, we've heard this is an issue. And Zach's like, no, it is an issue. It is an issue. And a lot of people have it. And they just play like the old. And we know CERN knows it's an issue. And it's just like they just go, oh, well, we didn't really realize. Don't give me this phone and dance. I feel like I'm getting GM'd. You're getting GM'd? Yeah, like GM voters. We don't have a problem with our engines. and right there just like on fire in a parking lot sitting there. No, there's no issues at all. Just admit it. Admit it. That's been the new call sign for all these pinball companies. We have no problems with our play fields. Play fields bubbling. We have a problem, but we're not going to fix it. What? It just annoys the piss out of me. We've increased prices. We've increased everything. And don't forget, Gary put this letter out like, what, 10 days ago, 12 days ago? ago. What's happened to gas in the past 10 to 12 days? I was just thinking that's going to have a huge trickle down on everything. Oh, it's going to be humongous. We're at 4, I think around 4 in my area, but we're going to be at 4.50 in no time. Oh, we're already at 4.45 around the corner from my house.
    32:10
    Transportation is already screwed up as it is. It's going to be really expensive. Exactly. Yeah, if you're going to fly somewhere, hopefully you already got your tickets. Yeah. I actually bought a ticket to MGC just like a week ago, so that's locked in. There you go.
    32:24
    But, yeah, it's just nutty how, hey, we got our freedom and we don't have to wear masks anymore, but now we have another screw-up with, now we can't afford to go there with gas.
    32:36
    It has been one thing after another. It really has. It's just killing us. But, yeah, I don't know what to say, you know, except for I'd like Stern to just admit there's a problem. They should actually have a statement. they're having a statement about how they're going to change their cornerstone. Maybe once in a while they should say, hey, we have this issue. You know from other people they know. Yes, they know. And you hear they're working on it. But you never hear a public, we are aware of this issue. They probably protect themselves by not. But guess what? You're already screwed as it is.
    33:10
    You already have now 400 to 300 people pissed off. Customers who are usually your first in line customers because the first batch of games go out to the operators, the people who have to work these and make money on them, and nothing.
    33:28
    Crickets. Even if you state, like, hey, a fix is coming, when the fix is released, we will be trickling these down. It's almost like the Stern Connects. Yeah, we're going to eventually get all these out to all these people that are all these backorders. You keep unplugging the Stern Connect, but you can't get them all.
    33:47
    I'm still waiting for my premium one. Do you have them set up at Rochester Collections? We do. We have whatever games came with them, have it on. We have one for a pro we're going to put on, I think, by next week. And then I'm waiting for my premium for my Batman.
    34:05
    Hmm. That's a Rochester Pinball Collected. Bruce, where is that? That's it. Beautiful. East Rochester, New York. 349 West Commercial Street. Suite 2965. My son doesn't have lacrosse tournaments up there anymore I haven't been back to Rochester in a couple of years You need to come That's a heck of a drive for me Oh it is, it's 7 hours Wow Yeah I wouldn't drive 7 hours, sorry Bruce Wow Perfect But hopefully soon we're talking about the 24 hour thing Ooh Death by Pinball? Yes. Is this the 24-hour thing? I keep getting confused. There's going to be like... Seven Flip Frenzies. Oh, God. Yeah, in 24 hours.
    34:58
    Okay. That's just constant playing, too. That's not... Yes. You've got to break it. Yes. We lost three or four players, but it was a good time. And you don't have to play all seven. I had people asking me about this at Rock Fantasy, just to let you know. Me? Yeah. All right. Before we get into that, there was another new game. What? Yes. Mm-hmm. Weird Al. Yes. Weird Al's Museum of Natural Hilarity for Multimorphic. Mm-hmm. So what do you think? I love the theme. The module looks tacked. It looks like it has a lot of stuff in it. It does? Yeah. Well, it looks like the upper part has tons of cool, interesting things, like the hamster wheel and all kinds of... The ramps and the targets and the lock area. I think it looks pretty stacked, too, for how little real estate you really do have up there. The heist had a lot going on, too, with the crane and everything. The crane and everything like that. I mean, multi-morphic has come a long ways over the last two games, seems to me. I mean, I haven't actually played or seen this one yet, but... Yeah. But, you know, it looks that way anyhow. What do you feel about the 227 LEs sold out in, what, three or four hours? You've got to wonder how many of those are going to be flipped. Yeah. Yeah, so it was, and here's the price thing. So the base P3 platform is $8,300. So you need that before you have anything. Then the actual game, the kit, was another $3,000. So you're talking $1,100, $1,300. Yep. But if you want the LE, that was another 1800 on top of that. Which had different artwork. Yep. Different apron. A moving topper. Yep. The accordion top here is pretty cool, the topper. An LE Translate signed by Al. Mm-hmm. Now I have a question, and I'm going to ask both of you. I didn't ask either of you before this. How many P3s do you think have been made so far? Hmm. You mean how many people have P3s out there? Well, or they produced and are now owned in the wild.
    37:12
    I bet you they double the user base with this game easily. Oh, no, but I'm saying before this. How many do you think they made? 50 to 100? I know of two on location, I think, maybe three. I know Pinball Garage has it. I know Pinball Gallery in Malvern has one. And I think there's one other one around, but that's it. Not too many. None. Very few on location. So you're saying, Ron, you're thinking about 100. How many do you think they made? I've had more than 100, no? I'm thinking two to 225 max. Okay, so even you go by my max number of 225 in the past four years, you're surrounded with this. It's a big ramp-up. How are you going to make 227 alone? It's a big ramp-up. It's going to take a year, they've said. A year? Well, the official announcement from them said 12 months. And when people started getting emails, they emailed individual customer-specific dates. The earliest ones seemed to be October, which I found kind of surprising. Yeah. And a lot of them went all the way through the spring. I would have thought maybe they were a little closer than October to getting them available. But, I mean, if you do strike now in the window where Stern's not producing anything, JJP doesn't have anything new out yet, it's a pretty good time to be selling something. So, I mean, strategically it makes sense, even if you're not quite ready. for prime time to just get those orders locked in now while nothing else is selling. Okay, so do you think they're going to make $227 in the next year? They claim they are. No, no. Do you think?
    38:47
    I say no. They gave themselves a six-month window. So if they have to miss their stated production date for you by six months, if they do, then you can cancel. You can't cancel up to that point. So they gave themselves six months' worth of leeway. So really you're talking 18 months. Yeah. So, yeah, even 18 months. So you say they have to build, there's 52 weeks.
    39:12
    Is it six months from the end of the run or six months from the day they told you you'd get it? The day they told you. Well, not all 227 of those are going to people without games, though. I know, but, you know. Well, no, I thought it was all 227 where LE were. I thought it was just the kit. I don't know. I don't think so, because the kit would only be $3,000 and then $1,800 for the other thing. I think they... Yeah, I thought you could order that kit for $4,800 for the other thing. Oh, okay. Yeah. Because otherwise, you're forcing someone to buy another P3 unit? No way. Yeah, that makes no sense.
    39:43
    So, okay, let's say $150,000 maybe. Mm-hmm. Do they make $150,000? I don't know. I hope he does it. I'm rooting for him. I don't know. I think, given what we've seen with the supply chain, unless things get a lot better, I think it's going to be difficult. Oh, I think it's going to be impossible. Mm-hmm. I hate to say it. I think he's put himself a little behind the eight ball. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe he's going to be hammering games out all the time. But I know people who ordered some in October and haven't received them yet.
    40:12
    That's the scary part. I actually wouldn't mind getting one. I'm kind of tempted if I sold two games and flipped it into one. I really am attracted to the idea of being able to get an entirely new game for like $3,000. But I like that. I can do that any time I want. Just buy an old game and I'm set. Yeah, I mean, I got Monopoly and Demoman in the threes, I guess. Yeah, so look at it that way. That's the way you look at it. Yeah. I don't think you'll get your money back from a P3 as you would. Well, holding the value, yeah, holding its value might be a concern. Exactly. Not right now, though. I bet you people, I bet you it's pretty hot right now. I bet you get your money out of it. Or do you sell it now because it's hot? Yeah. I mean, if you wanted to get out, now would be the time. Now is the time to get out of it, definitely.
    41:01
    You know, now's the time to say, ding, ding, ding, I'm tapping. Seems like a lot of people are selling their games. It's a seller's market. The deep root spot? I mean, the spooky spots? Yeah. God.
    41:14
    Are those still? I haven't looked at them. I get so disgusted looking at the marketplace. I stopped looking at it. Is it still just packed with Halloweens? Yeah, it is. It is. They did put a new code update on Spooky for Halloween and also Ultraman. And they have a new song for Halloween. What was it? Don't Fear the Reaper? I think they got that song, actually. I remember. They got a licensed song. Pretty big. It looks like when Stern, everyone had a cow and they added all the songs to Guardians. Yeah. So, let's see. Wait a minute. Don't Fear the Reaper. So that tells me that if you want a song for your game, Blue Oyster Cult's got to be pretty cheap. Yeah, exactly. They're fucking cheap. You got that, and then you got Godzilla on Godzilla. So obviously they got to be, they're not too expensive.
    42:05
    Yeah. Please take our money. 17 classic Weird Al songs. Yes. I'm trying to think how many of these. See, Weird Al for me, I was there more in the beginning when he was making fun of Michael Jackson a lot. Eat It. Or he had Fat. Al TV. Who remembers that on MTV? UHF is fantastic. UHF is rocking. UHF. I watched that with my kids again like a year ago, like fairly recently. That's a good one. That's a great game. A game and a movie. Sorry. But he would take over MTV every once in a while, the ALTV. I love the interviews he'd have where he's not interviewing the person, but it makes it look like he's interviewing the person, asking him stupid questions.
    42:53
    I had his albums on cassette back when I was young. I remember when I was little. My mom claims she sent them to me recently. I have to look through my attic and see if I can find them. It's got Amish Paradise on there, and it's got White and Nerdy. Got to have White and Nerdy. Yes. and over 2,000 voice call-outs from Weird Al.
    43:14
    That's one of the pinball machines that has a rap song in it, probably. Because I'm white and nerdy, because I'm white and nerdy. Yep, that's true. I'm looking forward to it. You know, seeing it and see how it plays. I'd love to play it. I can't wait. So we shall see.
    43:30
    I'm going to go see him next month, or two months from now. Apparently, he's in the middle of a big tour. This must be a good time to launch something like that, because they also have the Daniel Radcliffe Weird Al biopic coming out. Yes, yeah. If Weird Al was ever going to be in the news, now is the time that he's in the news, so why not launch a game at the same time? Totally agree. Is that the guy from Lord of the Rings, which I haven't seen? The Harry Potter. Oh, it's Harry Potter. Okay. Yeah. Sorry, I get those confused.
    44:01
    So I watched a movie. so we're talking about mentioned Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings I watched the movie I was told to watch I watched Jurassic Park and? you've never seen it? I have now what? yeah this is my problem with Ron he's not very pop culture movie up to date actually it's kind of weird that I haven't seen that yeah even you admit it's weird that was an era I still went to watch movies so yeah And? It was all right. Mr. DNA? Now you understand. Yeah, now all the stuff from the game, it's like, oh, there's Mr. DNA. Okay, there's the characters they're supposed to sound like, but they don't. Nedry. Are you watching the movie and saying, hey, that's from the pinball machine? Literally, yeah, pretty much. It's like, oh, the shaving cream? Okay, that makes more sense now. Okay, wait a minute. So that guy was supposed to be Samuel Jackson? Okay, that's pretty bad. That one guy's supposed to be the Welcome to Jurassic Park Okay, at least he was close He was close Okay, there's the guy in the paddock That guy Okay, so that's supposed to be that guy Alright I think the special effects in that movie hold up pretty well They hold up very well Probably because it's a combination of CGI And actual Like real practical effects The guy getting eaten off the toilet That was cool This is a good movie. T-Rex is good. T-Rex is very cool. You're going to trust all of our listeners for your next movie.
    45:38
    Well, the movie, like, I think until Titanic and, like, Avatar and all those, that was, like, the highest grossing movie on the universe. So it probably wasn't going to be too bad.
    45:50
    Well, more importantly, the new Beavis and Butthead movie will be coming out in, I think, July. So that is far more important to me. I'm disappointed I didn't get to hear the Beavis and Butthead intro when I'm actually on the show. You don't get to hear it. Sorry about that. You don't get to hear that. That actually added on. Yeah, it's not added on later. And actually, I haven't done it yet. I haven't got the clip. Oh, my. But, yeah, it's going to be called Beavis and Butthead Do the Universe.
    46:20
    Mm-hmm. Come on. Excitement. I can't fucking wait. I'm looking forward to it. It takes place in the, well, it's like the 90s. They do something. I might have said this last episode, but they get in trouble. So the judge in the court orders them to attend space camp, and somehow they steal the space shuttle and end up going through a black hole. So they end up in modern times.
    46:42
    I'm already completely invested just on that plot synopsis alone. I cannot wait for the pinball machine to come out. Oh, you're going to do the Beavis and Butthead homebrew? Get Dak working on that. He hates Beavis and Butthead. He does hate Beavis and Butthead. He hates most funny things and most fun things. So, yeah, no, he wouldn't do that. No. Someone needs to make Beavis and Butthead. Please. Although they already, they know their games like three to five years in advance. So it's highly unlikely. There's that super rare classic arcade Beavis and Butthead version. They have one at Galloping Ghost, I think. Yeah, I played it. Yeah. I played that actual one because they brought it into Expo. Ah. And then I played the one that was in California. Yep. Then I filmed Bruce playing it. and he got all the way to the end. You cleared it? I cleared it. Did you GC'd the... You can destroy Earth or visit Uranus. Of course. I think we visited Uranus. That's what we did, yep. Of course we did. Yep. You have like a toilet spaceship and you fly into Uranus, which looks like a butt. Yeah. It's awesome. Yeah, it was awesome.
    47:48
    Actually, the game kind of sucks, but I mean... No, it sucks. It was like Simpsons where you just fight around. Yeah, button master. or you just keep hitting the button and continuing over and over. Okay, so we're looking forward to Weird Al. I'm looking forward to Weird Al. I'm looking forward to it, for sure. I want to see someone stream it. There'll probably be a stream from TPF, I would think. Yeah, there should be. I'm going to get to play the TPF, but it's just going to be like I'm not going to be able to hear it. Yeah. Yeah, I'm not going to get the full experience. That's the only thing that sucks about playing in a show. I don't think there's going to be anything really new with TPF besides that. No. Jersey Jack already said, like, nope, Toy Story ain't going to be there. Well, they didn't say that. I don't think it's going to be there. No. I don't even think it's going to be at MGC. Well, MGC is right after that, a Midwest gaming classic. And people are saying that it's going to be there, but I've heard it's not. When the hell is Toy Story going to come out? I don't know. That's what I was wondering. It's been like two or three years. Is Godfather going to come out later this year? No. I feel like within three months to when they came out with Toy Story. They're not going to do that. You know how many new games JJP made last year? Zero. Exactly. They ain't making two games in a year. No. Well, especially not like three months apart. That's never going to happen. No. They usually make one game every two years, two and a half years. That is their normal schedule. It has never deviated, and I can't see it ever deviating. I don't think they want to do that. I think it's just kind of out of the way. I know. I think they want to have a game a year or more, but they just can't. Until they show they can, they can't. Does that make sense? No, that makes perfect sense. That sounds like a Bruce comment. It does. He did a Bruce-ism.
    49:25
    So, Jason, you mentioned you have a Demoman. Did you know there's new code for it? That's what I hear. You know, it's funny. I heard that there's new code for Demoman a week after I purchased a new Pinsound Rocket CPU board for it populated with the existing code. So I actually just bought it all included just for the heck of it. The new boards just came out. I think I could be the first one in the country who has one. I haven't seen anybody else has it. because the day it launched, I wrote an article about it and ordered one, and then it just came like a week or two ago. I haven't done anything with it. So I bought new old code, and now there's new new code. There's new new code from Planetary Pinball. Go check it out, folks.
    50:08
    Soren has come out with the – actually, this was code I think he came out with. It was a couple years ago. Yes. But basically it makes the claw actually usable again. It's more tournament friendly. Yeah, more tournament friendly. You see, the tournament idiots like us, you could just keep picking the same award and getting it over and over. So people would just pick the lock freeze so they could start multiball over and over and over again. Over and over. The usual solution is they just disable the claw, so then you just get all the claw awards in a certain order. But, I mean, it's a cool Mac, and it just sits there unused. So Soren came up with a version that basically if you repick claw awards, it gives you $10 million. Instead of doing it again. And it also gives you can set for deterministic computer awards. So they're in the same order. Yes. And that's been out there, but he's now come up with the official version. So go to Planetary Pinball, get yourself a new Demoman code. I believe he has versions for... Is that where they're selling it? They're selling it on the planet? Yeah, it's through Planetary. I believe he has both versions, so you can get the normal version, and you can also get the home ROM version of this with all the swearing. Mmm. Yep. Fuck yeah. The Naughty Demoman. I actually watched that movie, because I got that at Allentown Pin Fest last year, and I watched the movie with my sons after the fact. There's not too much swearing in it. Not too bad. Only from, what's his name? Wesley Snipes drops some stuff. Yes, he does. I streamed that, and people kept telling me how it's a bomb movie. It's like, what's not a bomb movie? It just didn't live up to the hype, you know? It grossed more money than it cost to make. It made stars out of Sandra Bullock and Wesley Snipes. Just saying.
    52:03
    I don't mind it. I thought it was pretty entertaining. Yeah, I think so, too. I like that movie. Let's see. What else do we got here?
    52:10
    Tournaments. Tournaments? Oh, wake up, Bruce. Jesus Christ. Tournaments. I'm old. Yes, you are. Older than me. Always will be. Just letting you know. I end up playing in a bunch of tournaments lately, Bruce. No, I haven't.
    52:31
    We had the Varney Cup. Yes. This is for all us 518ers. And Zach showed up. Of course, he let me know his cell phone is still 518 Area Code. So he's technically a 5'1", 8'er. And that was fun. It was nice. I think we had more people there. Yeah, we had more people there than we did for the New York State Finals. We had 25 players.
    52:55
    And it went pretty smooth. Yeah. Who won that? I won that. Surprise, surprise. Took it all out of you, though. I won at my house again. Isn't that great? It was like a slam-tilt three. It was Ron Hallett in first, and Steph and Zach were tied for second. There you go. Electric boogaloo. Yes, electric boogaloo. Electric boogaloo. Okay, so then there was another tournament.
    53:24
    We had a tournament. There's a new location in my area called The Local. Not a very inventive name. It's like The Local FFF, like three Fs. It's interesting. I haven't heard of that place yet. Fuck you and fuck you back time. Fuck, fuck, fuck. I don't know. And it's in Rotterdam. It's basically where Rotterdam Square Mall is, was, is. It's a dead mall. But this place was not dead. This place was pretty crowded the whole time we were in there, so that's nice to see.
    53:52
    And they have six games there. So we had a tournament on those six games. It was a three-strikes tournament. So let's see if I can get the games right. They had a Godzilla, Rush, Guardians of the Galaxy, Iron Man, Turtles, and Legends of Valhalla. Oh, wow. All brand new. Mm-hmm. Somebody's dropping some coin on opening that place. Yeah. I think it's a guy out of Florida that actually brought the games in. Hmm. Played in that tournament, and I won that also. Wowzers. You're on fire. I'm on, he's on fire.
    54:33
    NBA Jam. Yeah, I had one, I won with one strike. Yes, you did. I beat Eric Russell, CNY, in the finals.
    54:44
    Impressive. Most impressive, my young Jedi. Yeah, I played pretty good. And then you played this weekend. Then I played this weekend. Yeah, I'm busy. So I played at the... World Famous. World Famous Rock Fantasy. So their Rush launch party. Just some of the games of Rush I got to play. One. One, yeah. The last game. That was it. I was never in the group that ended up on Rush every round because I kept moving around. I would have a good round and a shitty round, a good round and a shitty round. I just barely made finals. But the final game, I got into the final four, got to play Rush, and finished fourth in that match. So I finished fifth overall just out of the money. Yes. That is Ron's MO, usually. Yeah, usually. But I've been doing better. But now back into the Hulk head. I did not get to hold the Hulk head.
    55:40
    I've only held the Hulk head once, ever. So I got my ticket for when we're going out, our tournament that we're going to. I wasn't done. Oh, sorry. I was going to tell you. So the finals were basically just three more rounds. There was like seven rounds. Top eight continued. and there was just three more rounds. Pretty simple. Guess what games I got to play before I got to play Rush.
    56:07
    The Rolling Stones. I got to play Batman 66 You know how long the match went An hour and a half An hour and 28 minutes Oh my gosh
    56:23
    Let me repeat that. An hour and 28 minutes. So that's the new king now. That's the king of pain, yes. Sting would be happy.
    56:33
    You can't hear, I can't hear any more complaints about Lord of the Rings anymore. I also complain about that. But I must have played myself 25 minutes, 30 minutes. And I think I finished fourth or third.
    56:46
    Wow. I mean, so after that, it's like, okay, we got that out of the way. And even Howard, who was running the tournament, is like, oh, man, I'm sorry. Guess what I got to play the next round?
    56:59
    I know he doesn't have a lot of rings, so that's good for you. Stars. You made a total opposite. No, he doesn't have stars. Oh, he doesn't have stars? Jesus Christ. I got to play Mandalorian. Oh, God. For another close to an hour. 20 minutes. Yes.
    57:15
    Let's just say the Rush games, the other group who was on Rush, they would finish and just have to sit around for like 30 minutes waiting for us to finish. Yeah. I hear Rush is pretty mean. Is that true? It is true. I haven't gotten too many games on it. It was refreshing after playing the other games to just drain quickly. Turtles is pretty mean, too. Turtles is a pretty mean one. That is pretty mean. Yes. I agree. That's another mean Borg. I had a decent first ball of Russia, and then the next two balls, I just couldn't hit the damn time machine, start anything. So I suck. I ended up last, as I said. But, yeah. So what were you saying, Bruce? I got my tickets. Your tickets for what? For the Midwest, where we're going to all be out there. We're going to the Great Lakes Pinball Tournament at District 82. Oh, that's a good one. They just had a couple of tournaments recently. They had their winner knockout tournament and their winner match play tournament. Jason Witterich won one of the tournaments, and Zach Sharp won the other one. I watched all those streams. They do such a good job. They do a great job. Fox City's pinball. Yep. Hi, Tom. I think he listens. Yeah, Tom Graff does a great job with all this. He knew who Stu was. So, I mean, Stu is world famous. He is world famous. I wanted to go to District 82 when I was going to Midwest Gaming Classic, but it's like two hours from there. I was like, what? Yeah, it's right south of Green Bay. Yeah, I was like, wait, two hours? I don't know. They have to make sure they don't have any tournaments there whenever Green Bay is playing a home game. Yeah, because it's really close to the stadium. Formerly known as Titletown Pinball. That's your trivia there. Oh. They got sued or told to cease and desist. Yeah, yeah, told, yeah. Yeah, I told you you're not doing that. So I get to fly into Green Bay while everyone else gets to fly into Chicago.
    59:10
    Okay, so you are going to Green Bay. I am going to Green Bay. Okay. It's a lot easier for me, so I'll just fly right into Green Bay, and then I'm going to leave the night before everyone else was, so I'm leaving Sunday night. Ah, yes, I will be going to Chicago. And then taking another three-hour drive. A three-hour drive, yes, three-hour drive. Well, my whole flight will be four hours. Yeah. I'm looking forward to that. That's in April. Yep, April. We get to go there for three days of pinball fun. That's a great place to go. Yeah, I can't wait. I've never been there. You've been there, right, Ron? I've been there. Yep. Zach has not. Zach has not, so I can't wait to hear all the complaining. I cannot wait either. God. Because there will be complaining, especially if he loses. Then it'll be something went wrong with the game. I call it the no-lose.
    60:00
    Hi, Zach. So we're going to play a new game for you. All righty. Ten questions. Ten questions? Is it for me, too? Well, you both get to alternate between your questions. What do you mean? And we see who wins. No, no, no. You all get to alternate. And the first one who picks it right, you have to ring in. Oh, this is guessing your game. Yes. I bought a game this week, guys. Oh. So now I'm going to let the visitor pick if he wants to go on the first pick or you want to go on the second back of pitches. Back of pitches? Hold on. You're confusing me as usual. Are we asking you questions about the game that you have to answer? Okay. I think I'll play second because then I get two pieces of information about it to start off. Yes, you do. So, Ron, ask your question. Does it have more than two flippers?
    60:59
    No. Okay. It has one. All right. Well, I kind of cheated because we were kind of alluding to it before the show. My obvious guess would have been, or my obvious question is not going to be asked. Is it from the 80s? No. Let me make sure of that. Hold on. Let me make sure. Oh, it's close. It's even more information. It's either 89 or like 79. No. No, no. Or 81. You know me. I'm terrible with dates. Hmm. So it's not from the 80s? So we're alphabetically on IPDB. Are you looking this up? You are. Where the hell? So it's not on IPDB. It's very rare. It's a bingo machine. That would be awesome to screw you up. No, that wouldn't be awesome. I would hang up and end the podcast.
    61:55
    What the hell? Hold on. He's spelling it wrong. He's using one word instead of two. Magic Castle is two words. Yeah, Magic Castle is two words.
    62:05
    Magic Castle is like now the official game of everything. This is how many keystrokes. It is not from the 80s. Okay.
    62:17
    Ron, your question. Is it from the 70s? Yes. Okay. All right, 1970s. Well, I think, let's see. Is it a Gottlieb? Yes. Uh-huh. Oh. Ow. Okay. I'm going to throw a whole knuckleball into you guys. Oh. Okay. That narrows it down because just the fact that you had to look it up tells me it's not an EM. And if it's a 70s and it's a Gottlieb, I'm going to ask this question and you know the answer. Is it a System 1? Yes.
    62:55
    Uh. You're going to have to edit out a bunch of hems and haws. No, no, we love hems and haws. All right.
    63:06
    There's a lot of 1970s Gottlieb. There is. Is it? But not that many that are solid state, really. Did we determine that it was solid state? That was the last question? I said it was, is it system one? Oh, okay. Good point. All right. I should just fire off a guess. You should, especially if it's wrong. Yeah.
    63:31
    No, I don't think I'm ready for that yet. Let's see. Can we guess? Is it, let's see, 1978? No. Oh. That was a big year for Gottlieb. We're on question seven. Does the game have a center post?
    63:50
    Yes. Can I guess the game? Yes, if you. I might as well. Countdown. Yes, it is. I got another one. You got another one? Like another game we have to guess? No, no, I got another one. Oh, you've had one. Oh, yeah. That doesn't throw me off, Bruce, the fact that you've had one. No, I know. That's right. That was one of my questions. I would have definitely guessed whether it was an early stern, but then we kind of got that out of the way. That saved me from wasting one of my guesses. I mean, Bruce hates Gottlieb, so it has to be one of the top Gottliebs to even have a chance. I would actually consider only three out of that whole. So, countdown.
    64:31
    Joker, poker. Yep. What is this, Sinbad? Okay, you're going for Sinbad. No, that's 1980. Oh. I wouldn't mind having a roller disco.
    64:44
    But it's the 80s. It is. It's just 80s. It's so wide. Or Genie. I like Genie. I would be my Genie. I like Genie. Genie would be the fourth one. And if I had to go fifth one, I'd go Solar Ride. I like big pins. I cannot lie.
    65:01
    Those would be my fives. Because when you pull the plunger back, you get sprung. Yeah. So that's what I got. It's going to be coming hopefully a week or two, if I can afford to get to it. Okay. And I actually did get another game, but you know what it is, Ron.
    65:19
    Oh, I do? I think you do. Okay. I bought another game. You want to do another 10? Sure. What if I do remember what it was? Then it's kind of unfair. I know. Then you can say, I remember what this is, and then you can defer. Or I could just lie and get it right. Yeah. Oh, I don't remember. So now, okay, this is the second game I bought. You are first now, Jason. All right. There's no way you bought two goblins. Is it a classic stern? No. Oh. All right. Okay. There goes the thing I thought it was. I was thinking like Trident or something. No, I already have one. And it ain't going to be Ballet Star Trek and all that. You already said all that. Oh, did you take a picture recently of you grabbing it or anything or no? No. Oh, okay. Damn. Okay. Hmm.
    66:07
    Is it a Williams? No. Hmm. One sec. No, hold on. Come on. I know. I'm brain farting. Actually, yes, it is. Sorry. Yes, it is. Okay. Sorry, brain fart. So you already got that one. Okay.
    66:23
    Do you know the name of the game? Okay. That doesn't count as my question. Oh, I know. I will say that.
    66:32
    Hold on. Let me bring up Williams on the IPDB. Oh, 3,000 matches. This is not going to help. You're going right there.
    66:39
    All right. Is it a 1980s game? No, it is not. Oh. All right. Is it a solid state game? No, it is not. Mm-hmm. Oh, so it's in a yam? Mm.
    66:54
    Uh. I don't know. Uh. No. So it's got to be from the 70s. It could be 60s. I don't think he would go beyond that. I think he would go 50s. First don't strike me as a wood rail type of guy. All right. So we've got 1970s. I'm going to write the IPTV. No, no, you don't hear any clicking of the keyboard.
    67:23
    I don't see or hear people. I don't know. I don't even know what to ask. Is it 1970s? It is 1970s. Yes, it is. That really doesn't help.
    67:43
    No. Does it have a spinner? Yes. Oh. 1970s Williams spinner. It's probably the late 70s, I think. I'm just going to – is it firepower? No, it is not. Oh, that's 80. That was 80, yeah. And solid state. Oh, it said EM, too. Did I guess anything? Did I remember anything that we had? I'm just ignoring the previous question starting from scratch every time.
    68:18
    I'll just guess. Is it Hot Tip? Yes, it is. Ding, ding, ding, ding. There you go. There's two versions, Solid State and EM of Hot Tip. Yeah? Yes. I just love that he didn't know the manufacturer. Yeah, I brain farted for a few seconds. Okay, I have another trivia question for both of you. Oh. You're going to like this now. Name a valley from 77 up, solid state, without a spinner.
    68:46
    So name a valley without a spinner. Yes. Cesar doesn't have one, right? It does not. There you go. How about this? Name a stern with no pop bumpers. I bet you can do it. Early stern? It is, no, not a stern electronics, a modern-ish stern with no pops.
    69:08
    Sam, actually. Really? Even like Godzilla has one. I can't remember now. I'm pretty sure it's No Fear. I don't think No Fear has any pops. That's a Williams. Oh, that's a Williams. That's why I made it Steve Ritchie. I know why I was thinking that, because I was thinking Steve Ritchie. That's why. Play better. Yeah. Play, I guess, better.
    69:31
    Also, Bally Star Trek does not have one. Spinner. A couple others. Now, can you name any Stern electronics that do not have a spinner? Wasn't that against the law?
    69:45
    The whole point of half of those games is just to light the spinner and rip it. I mean, even Q has a spinner. No. Yeah, I mean, good Lord. What doesn't have a spinner?
    69:58
    I played Q. Fantastic. They brought that up. Yep, they did. Rawhide? Maybe one of the early ones? I think that actually does. Let me make sure. Yeah, I'm just saying that because I'm thinking before they really became stern, stern.
    70:13
    All right. And it's considered still a Chicago coin. No, they changed over. As a spinner. We're all high. Oh, well, there you go. I don't know about Disco. Oh, God. Disco? Is that the one with the banana flippers? No, that's Disco Fever. That's a fever. Oh. Yeah, Disco is a popular thing, you know. I've just used my disco games. I apologize.
    70:37
    There are two spinners on disco. Oh, there you go. So maybe this just doesn't exist. You're right. It doesn't. Oh, okay. Maybe it's a trick question. It's a trick question. Darn you. There are no Stern Electronics without spinners. I have a list of games up here, and it just butt-landed on Suncoast Pinball Cosmic Carnival. Oh, God. I wonder how many of those are around. Not many. No.
    71:07
    You want to hear this segment. Best late plans should be called because it failed. I wanted to swap out the premium Translight in my Deadpool with a Pro because I like the Pro better. I thought it would be simple, but it turns out it isn't.
    71:26
    And in my case, it's not actually possible. What? Yeah. Is the premium the one where he's peeling the mask off? Yes. Yeah, that's what I thought. I don't like seeing his face. So, I get the Translight. So, I got to take the Translight out, the premium Translight. And I figure it shouldn't be a problem. You take the plastic guides off, just take the thing out, put the new one in, right? Yep. You know, I swapped out all kinds of Translights. They were all in Williams games, but still. Well, the first problem was getting the plastic guides off way harder because they taped them in with double-sided tape. So I had to carefully remove them. I had to carefully remove the tape so I don't damage anything. Like, okay, so it should be a piece of cake now. I start to peel it off, and half the black paint comes with it. It doesn't come with it. It sticks on the glass. Oh, my. So basically, the plastic guides that they use are so tight on the Translight, press so hard against it, it actually pushed the black from the Translight onto the glass. Oh, Jesus Christ. So there's no way to take it off because then you can see there's spots on the glass with the black, and now it's missing on the Translight. So you've got to keep it in the same position. You can't take it off. New glass? Yeah, I'd have to get a new glass and guides and everything else. but I thought this would be simple. I don't know if it's the material they make the Translight out of. It doesn't feel as glossy as, like, the Williams ones. I swapped Star Trek. I swapped my Translight in, and that went all right. Yeah, I don't know if they changed. Because at least, like, when I did the whodunit one, it feels more like, you know, like a Mylar, like an overhead projector, showing my age when I went to school. That's what it feels like. When I was younger. This doesn't feel like that. It feels different. And maybe it's cheaper or something. I don't get it. But it was just like, nope, can't take this out. There goes that plan.
    73:29
    Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was all right when I swapped out my Star Trek. I don't have the Oric, though. I have a different. I just got sick of looking at Chris Pine's face all the time, so I just switched it for, like, a Starship Enterprise one. Mm-hmm.
    73:43
    Not a bad idea. Megatron number one. Yes, but not my two. They're coming out with a new one of those. Yep, number four. My Star Trek's going to be worth huge bucks when that comes out. Just let it die. It's like Star Wars. Just let it die. Stop. No. You've seen Star Wars? Yes, I've seen the correct Star Wars. I've seen all three of them, yes. Okay. Yep.
    74:12
    What is going to happen here? Oh, the Eggpin. And crashed and burned not once, but twice. So, Yagpin is a tournament in Western Canada. That's a haul from here. That's a haul. So, they're going to have their tournament entries. Like, to get into the tournament, they were going to, at a certain time, boom, we're opening up the floodgates. And they knew it was going to fill up probably immediately. It's like, what, 100 spots or whatever it was. Yeah. And so, the first time they tried it, their site crashed. It just died. Yeah. So it's like, okay, we're going to do this again. We've got assurances from our what provider that it's going to work this time, et cetera. So they went to do it again, and the same thing happened. Yes, they did. So now they're going to actually increase the number, I think, to 160 of people that can go into it to try to encompass everyone who wanted to play. That must be a huge tournament anyways because there was a lot of people who were upset about that. Oh, yeah. How large that tournament must be because everyone was like, what the heck? So I was like, wow, there are a lot of people wanting to go to this thing. I hope they stream it. That would be cool. If it's going to be 160 people, that would be a cool one to watch on stream. Mm-hmm. I like to watch streams. A lot of people don't. I don't mind them. I love streams. I like tournament streams. Those are always, I find it entertaining. Especially when I'm on commentary. No, just kidding. Wow. So we have a question for you, Mr. Knapp. Sure. game you like, game you hate.
    75:48
    It's funny, there's not many games that I hate. I think people give me a hard time about that. You like that? I have to hate. I would say the game I hate is probably Rob Zombie. That's a very good pick.
    76:05
    They have one at Rock Fantasy, or they did, I don't know if they still do. Yes, they do. It was broken when I was there yesterday. Surprise, surprise, surprise! I'm sorry. I don't like that game at all. Nothing about that game resonates with me. Everyone bought it because they thought it was going to be a home run with money and people got it earned. And a game that I like, you know, I have an unusual like for Monopoly, even though I searched for one for a long time, and I finally ended up getting it. That was the last game that I bought. Just fairly recently, I bought it. and I had been looking for one locally priced not outrageously for, like, literally for years before I found one, which is weird because there's a decent number of them around. Yes. But I just never was able to find one priced right in my area. I finally did. So that was one. I always played that game with my kids when they were young, and I just liked that theme a lot. And obviously it's Pat Lawler. It's a great game. I love it too. Yeah, good game. So Monopoly, yes. Rob Zombie, not so much. There you go. Good answers. Good answer. Survey says. Yeah, I was going to say, everyone's clapping.
    77:15
    Your opinion is a good answer. Very good, Bruce. Yes. I agree with his opinion on that one. Yeah, that's very important that you agree with people's opinions. Of course. Yes.
    77:26
    Ball bag time. Okay. Some of them were like, don't read this whole thing on the air, so I'm going to have to be careful what I. And just read everything out. No, no. My social security number is, is one, two. Email from Bob. It's like literally the first thing. Not really meant for the ball bag. So let's see. But he says the cherry pick quotes out of context that sound like glorious praise, which should be read as Stewie or have unintended innuendo. Read as Beavis or Butthead. So how about, I saw there was a couple questions in here. Let's see. He's getting a Godzilla.
    78:06
    Which one? Premium. Ooh, so he's getting it for you. Oh, yes, that's right. He's getting a new in-box.
    78:15
    Let's see. As soon as I get it, I was wondering if you could answer a few questions on best practices for taking care of a new in-box stud machine. I know in the past, producers had to replace the shitty coil stops. Yes. Yes, totally. And get rid of the balls. Straight off the bat? Yes, get rid of the balls, too. Get rid of the balls. He says that in balls. Get rid of the balls. Yep. Two first things. balls. I replaced the balls, but I haven't replaced a single coil stop in any of my sterns. Oh my god. You're lucky.
    78:44
    I would never replace them off the bat. That's work. I'd rather do that before I have all the metal shavings in my coin box that I get from these things. Since Godzilla has two magnet features, I know I need to get carbon steel balls. Yes, you do. I was wondering if you have recommendations for carbon steel balls. Should I consider getting And Clippies as well. I mean, it depends how much protection you want to put on the game. I mean, you can get the Clippies for, like, the shooter lane and that stuff.
    79:15
    Balls, I think the last set I got was from, like, Ball Baron. Yeah, Ball Baron. That's what I was using also for the Carbon Steel. I've heard there's some good ones you can get on Amazon, too. Also, what I would recommend for Godzilla is the Diverter, since you've got a premium and the balls get locked up top. If you don't want them going straight down the middle, get that diverter from like Measel Mods or something like that. It's not from Measel Mods, but yeah. You mean the diverter that Keith Ellen himself says to not put on the machine? Yeah, I know. No, because it sucks. There's three balls down the drain. When you hit that shot to the left of the building, I always hit that shot and it comes right down the middle. According to Keith, you shouldn't put that on there because the whole idea was for the ball to hit the tip of the left flipper. He doesn't want you one-timing it into the building before the building gets to move back in position. Doesn't work.
    80:08
    Okay. Doesn't. So Bruce does not agree with the designer of the game. That's probably the most magnetic recent game. That magnet really holds onto the ball for quite a bit. Yes. That's probably the most magnetizing of all the recent games. Let's see. Bob also says, lastly, given the issue with Playfield clear code, should I let the machine sit in my game area for a couple weeks before playing to allow the clear to fully harden?
    80:35
    People have done that. I don't think I can bring myself to do it. Oh, I've had new unboxers sit in my house for months. No, I would open it instant. I could never wait. But, uh, guess what? Enjoy your game. It's not going to be like, oh my god, you know, enjoy your game. It's going to get dimples. Every game does. My scarring samples. Williams didn't. Yes, they did. Oh, yeah. Look at my attack from Mars. It looks like the moon. Yeah, it looks like the moon. But they all blend in and also – They had so many dimples that it just became the play field again.
    81:11
    So don't worry about it. Enjoy your game. Do the basics. Make sure everything works. As soon as it comes out of the box, all the connectors, everything like that. Okay. Thanks for the help, guys, and thanks for putting in the time to create pinball content for others to enjoy. Hope to see you at a show sometime. Thank you. And one last thing. Did Bruce grow up in Philly or New Jersey area at some point in his life? Because I swear I hear it in his voice. Nope. Northern Jersey. Which is Philly or Jersey area. Is Northern Jersey not Jersey? No. Northern Jersey. He's going like Philly or South Jersey. Northern Jersey and Southern Jersey are two different states. Totally different. Oh, okay. I'm sorry. Yes, please. I would call it Taylor Ham, while Southern Jersey would call it. Pork roll. Pork roll, which is nasty. It's definitely Taylor ham. Yes. Bruce does drive like a New Jersey person, though. I do. Pork roll sounds disgusting. Oh, it does. But Taylor ham is awesome. And, Bob, next time we have Zach on, we'll ask him your other question. Taylor ham, egg, and cheese. That's how you got to order it. So thanks, Bob. Let's see. Next. Thank you, Bob. We have an email from Ryan C. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That C. So he has a, would you buy that? And it's a link. This doesn't even require the visual. I can explain this. It's called the Elemental Thunder Down Under Portable Toilet, which is basically a bucket with a toilet seat mounted on top of it. That's it. Wow. It doesn't even incinerate the feces? No. And it's currently out of stock, just so you know. Apparently someone did buy it then, unless it's just a supply chain issue. It's for camping, I guess is the idea, but it literally is just a bucket with a toilet seat on it. So you can be more comfort as you take a dump into the bucket. You look like the piss boy. Well, you look like a bucket of shit. I think I'd rather have a bucket with no bottom at that point. Why do you want to carry it around? To not leave it in the... To dispose of it properly. Like, it's a tube. Like, well, I mean... Like the Beavis and Butthead episodes taught me. Yeah, like the Bears could, you know, like when they beat up Mr. Van Driesen because Beavis and Butthead took a shit, you know, and didn't put it far away from the camp. See, that's how I learned all my camping tips from Beavis and Butthead. God forgive you.
    83:37
    Dr. Dude emailed. It was more to me. So thanks for the email. Wow. Well, most of it was more personal. Yeah, let's say that. And congratulations on your appearance on the Pinball Network, on the Pinball Show. With one show, you got to be heard by more people than ever listen to our show. So congratulations. Yes.
    84:00
    I have an email from Charlie giving me some health tips from my myriad of medical issues. Thank you, Charlie. Because a lot of the exercises that you sent me, they require extension, and I have spondylo, so I cannot do those. Kegels, lots of kegels. What does that mean You have to Google it You have to Google it yeah I not going to Google that Okay
    84:31
    It's not like an IT guy to look up Googles. An email from Rod in here. It's G'day. G'day, Ron and Bruce. I am just about to start my Meteor Playfield swap. Yes, I bought the CPR one without the numbers up on the top. Ooh, but if you don't have one, I understand. By the way, do you know if anyone has the sticker fix for this? They do, actually. I think you can ask them for it. I think they have it, or there's a person on Pinslide that actually made up the stickers for it. Okay. So you'd have to put that on and then re-clear it, because it's just for peel-up again. Anyway, I digress. Sorry, what I'm asking is, I plan to use the original set of meteor drop targets in the game. Good boy. All are in good shape, but have 40 years of crud on them. I have a new set of number letter decals, but I would like to get them as clean and new-looking as possible as everything else is being replaced on the play field with new parts, et cetera. Simple green. Simple green? Simple green. I don't know if they have it down there, but, yeah, simple green works well. I just used it, and it was simple. Simple green. Right, it didn't turn it green. It was simple and green. No, it's just a foaming green. You use gloves with it. You know, you wash them up, and then you rinse them off after three minutes. You're done. And you use a toothbrush, just a very soft toothbrush just to get the nooks and crannies and get all the crap off. One other side note, what are your thoughts on converting the static one and three bumpers to non-pop-pop bumpers? Non-pop bumpers. Up at the top to active pop bumpers. No, don't do that. Meteor is perfection. They'd be way too active up top then. And it's Meteor. You don't change perfection. You don't change the genius of Steve Kirk. You don't spit in the wind. You don't pull the mask off the Lone Ranger, and you don't mess around with Steve Kirk's designs, ever.
    86:35
    Perfection. All right. That was the ball bag. Wow. Thank you, everyone, for your messages on the ball bag. Thanks, everybody. for all your emails about all my medical issues. Yes, Ron is, he'll be good days and bad days. It's good today. You sound good right now. I sound fantastic. I'm just incredible.
    87:01
    Let's see, ball bag, we'll cut that off. Don't call us the ball bag. The Australians do that. They carry coins around in them. Oh, God. The Roo-Sack. Yeah, the Roo-Sack. The Roo-Sack. Yeah, wait a minute. We never got Roo-Sacks. No, we did not. Damn it. Where's our Roo-Sacks? Come on, Ryan C. I want some Roo-Sacks. That's nasty. To carry around my coins, you know. That would be kind of funny to have that. Yeah, you go to a grocery store. What the hell is that? That's my Roo-Sack.
    87:36
    You pull it out to the cashier and they're like, Where are you? That's my kangaroo ball sack. Silverball Chronicles just released our latest episode on Lyman Sheets. I'm a quarter way through it. Give it a listen. Even Bruce is listening to it. I've got to find out what they're criticizing on. He's going to figure out some factual issues, I'm sure. Of course I do. Mm-hmm. But yes, that is Give that a look-see That's Silverball Chronicles This can be heard on the Pinball Network Me and the host, David Dennis So do you have your tuxedo ready, Ron? My tuxedo at TPF For my double nomination? Yes No Honestly, we know who's winning So it doesn't really matter Yes Yes, Chris will be winning again. So that's never going to change. No. I mean, he's charging for it now, and he still wins. I know. That's just stupidity. Maybe that's what we should do.
    88:47
    Charge for it. We're going to put it behind a paywall. Paywall. Nah, probably not. No one will pay anything. I sure as hell wouldn't pay for it.
    88:59
    Let's see. I'm through my list. Wow. I only have one game, but it's not even that good of a game. That's on eBay. Would you not buy it? But we can show it up. You can show it up so we can make fun of it and show it up? Yep, we can make fun of it. Okay.
    89:16
    Ticket number one. I don't even know how to do this. Oh, my gosh. Well, let's explain the whole thing to you. Well, I know I've heard this bit before, but how do I look up a ticket number? So what you do is you go to eBay, and at the top where it says search for anything, You just put the number in that Bruce is going to give us. Okay. So, 115-281-703-171. So, what they're going to do right now is they're going to look at a game that I found on eBay, and we're going to criticize if it's a good deal, bad deal, or a, eh. We're going to criticize. I don't think that's the right verb. We're going to just look at it. Bash it. It doesn't have any... Is it missing the glass? Not that it's a big deal, but... It's an EM. At least it's big. And it's $500. So that's not bad. Start.
    90:11
    It's a SkyJump, which I wouldn't buy. Single-player EMs are kind of... I mean... It's awesome. Doodlebug.
    90:22
    Yep. Anything for $500 nowadays is not horrible. Yeah, I don't see any glaring issues with the thing. No, I don't either. I think the play feels pretty good. You built this all up. Like, it was going to. Would you buy this for $500? It's got some touch-ups, like, on the head. You know, they did the marker. It's in non-working condition. It lights up but doesn't flash. The back glass looks pretty good. This actually has all of its reds. And the coin door is pretty rusted out. Yeah.
    90:52
    Would you buy this, Ron, for $500? I wouldn't because I don't like the game. I know you don't like the game. I wouldn't because there's no way I'm putting this much work into it to get it to, but I could see you doing it.
    91:04
    I am not, though. But, yes, this is one of them. It's a Gottlieb, so you can probably get the parts for it. I mean, it's a well-known game, too. It looks like it has a lot of rust, though, a lot.
    91:17
    I'm sure a competent restoration person could probably do it. Yep. It's only $500. That's the way you look at it. No bids on it, so, hey, you might get lucky. Where is it? Free local pickup in Memphis, Tennessee. Memphis. My parents live there. You can visit Graceland and pick up this game.
    91:39
    Maybe it was Elvis'. This could have been Elvis' game right here. He could have been on the toilet bowl eating his peanut butter. No, no, he could have played this game right before he went to the toilet and died. He could have said, you know, I want to get a quick game of Sky Jump in before I take a dump.
    91:56
    And literally, this could have been the last game he ever played. Could have been. Yep. Coulda, shoulda, woulda. Oh, see. See, see, right. Oh, see. Okay, one more. Okay. All right.
    92:10
    284-652-033-513. I didn't know about these secret codes. I know you guys always do it, but I didn't know you just type it right into the search. Yeah. Ah!
    92:22
    Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun. Flash! Ah! This is really expensive. Ner, ner, ner, ner. It is, but, I mean, you've got to look at it through today's lens. I don't think a fun game for three grand nowadays, I don't think it's going to be a good package. Ah! Touch-ups! Ah!
    92:44
    Really bad bucket touch-ups! Ner, ner, ner, ner. I think the touch-ups are a little bad. Oh, my God. Yeah, it looks like someone just put red paint on it. Hey, honey. Honey, I bought this game, and our daughter's going to touch it up afterwards. It's going to look great. But your daughter is five years old. Let's see. Fully working with strobe and LEDs in general illumination. MPU converted to button cell battery, as shown in photos. Playfield has spots that were repainted by previous owner. Yeah, okay, buddy. this play field is rough and he wants $3,000 for this that's a little rough that's a lot rough no nice try Earthling the first picture doesn't look that bad the one that's just like the sideway angle of the back box I was like oh that's not bad and then you get more into it It's good from far, from far, from good. Yes, it's a strobe light, honey. Yeah, no, no, no. That is our future of our hobby, where it's just like, you look at this and you're like, oh, God, really?
    94:03
    That's what it's come to nowadays. You're like, well, it's the fun game, you know, but not when it's all chewed up. I'd pay three grand for one if it was in decent shape. Yeah.
    94:15
    Nowadays, which is crazy. I bought my demo man at Allentown, and I paid, like, $37, I think, and people thought I was crazy. And, like, they're going for, like, in the fours now. I know. It's unbelievable. I got one more for you guys. Okay, we went from I don't have anything to I have three of these. Pop it up. Okay. 1-2-5, 1-7-4, 9-1-2, 1-2-9. I'm going to look at all the pictures this time before I comment. Only three. There's only three. There's four pictures. We've been surrounded by a lot of junk. Yes.
    94:55
    It's a Gottlieb. Gottlieb Team 1, which I have seen this one before. I would say this is not for me, but I don't know. I wish there were more pictures.
    95:09
    Playfield looks all right. It looks better than the last one. Yeah, targets are all there. Yeah. Let's see what it says.
    95:17
    Vintage Gottlieb Team One pinball. Electromechanical, all original. Is it working? Let's see. It's soccer-themed. Team One is an add-a-ball version of Gottlieb's incredibly popular Abracadabra. This is a rare pinball machine, as only 650 were ever made. It was exclusive for New York and Wisconsin as they outlawed pinball machines that awarded free games. Many pinball collectors can covet at a ball pinball machines for the rarity.
    95:54
    And they won $1,000 for it. Not that bad, actually. Even the cabinet looks like it's in pretty good shape.
    96:03
    It's not all rusted out like the other ones we saw. It sold 1,145 items and still has 100% positive feedback. There you go. And it's in Massapequa, New York. Yeah, it's on Long Island. Yeah, Long Island. Oh, see, that's an automatic no, because going to Long Island is a pain. Oh, my gosh. That's not too bad. No, it looks like it's in pretty good shape, actually. Yeah. Yeah, it does.
    96:30
    Yeah, I was very impressed. Is that the new EMs are now $1,000 for any? I hate to say it, yes. That's like the new thing. I remember everyone would have been like, $1,000 for an EM. What the hell are you thinking, you know? Yeah. Was it a crate of them? Was it like four or five of them? No. Now it's one. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So I think my second big game is sold.
    96:54
    Like you sold two of them, or it's your second one and you're keeping one? Second one. I'm keeping my original, and the second one is the one I just got and fixed up, and now it's sold and going to be on its way soon. Until you find one in Idaho and drive out there and pick it up, and then you'll have the two again. Yeah, exactly. No, I got this one in Ohio.
    97:17
    Aha. But, yep, guy's buying it, and he's having it shipped back to him to Colorado. All right. So, Bruce, do you have any other cool rumors?
    97:29
    You were putting all kinds of knowledge on us before we started the podcast. Well, there's going to be, the games are coming out. They're going to start redoing, like as we've talked about before with Deadpool, because they have a hold right now. They would be building, you know, I think they might go right to the premium rushes, which will be probably the fastest premiums you see turn around. And then after that, I think it's going to be getting on to the hard titles that people have been waiting for for a year, year and a half, where some people have backed out of their deposits or, you know, their commitments. So you don't think we're going to be seeing any, like, Elviras or some of the other ones that they still... I thought they were supposed to make some more Elviras. Yeah, they were supposed to make another run of Elviras. They talked about it originally in August or September, but I haven't heard anything. I have not, I'll be honest. But they are going to take them. Did you see the Rock Fantasy list of earning games? This is related. Yeah. And Elvira was, like, 15th or something like that. I was really kind of surprised. It does not earn, at least not at Rock Fantasy. It's not good enough. No, it doesn't earn at all there. You would think that the people that would go there would be into pinball and would want to play Elvira. I'm just surprised it was so low on the list. Yeah, it's just what happens.
    98:43
    Some games, sorry. Wow. Some games in my place are good games. And this, you know, it all depends on, we're starting to figure out, it all depends on location of where the game is put. Really? That's interesting. Yeah. So it's like in a grocery store where you have like the end caps. Is that what they call it? The end caps? Yep. Like Dragon Fist was all the way in the corner, the furthest game away from the door. I moved it, put Monopoly where Dragon Fist is and moved where Monopoly was, where Dragon Fist was. And Dragon Fist has been played a lot more. And Monopoly has now slowed down. So people don't want to play next to the wall. Maybe. but we also did the same thing with a couple other games and we've noticed that where you see it first and they run to it. Godzilla's actually slowed down. Well, who are your biggest earners, even though technically you don't do it that way? Star Trek, Evil Madness, AFM. The usual. Yeah, the newest game that comes out like Godzilla was, oh my God, just played nonstop. That's when the magnets were overheating. Yeah. But, you know, all those kind of stuff, you know, those are always very popular.
    99:56
    But the weird thing is, like, volley, great game, played a lot. But my hot doggin', which plays excellent. I love that game. It's in the corner a little bit, barely played. It's another wide one. Yes, it is. It's just too wide, Bruce. It's too wide. They can't get their arms around it. I played that one at the Silver Bowl, so I knew, too, when I was there. Yep, that thing's clear-coded and plays great. And when you see those going up for sale at $4,000, you kind of cringe a little bit, too. Yeah. How about Genie? Love Genie. Does that get played a lot? Yes, it does. Okay. That's Kitty Corner from the hotdogging. I know. Because the hotdogging gets all the way around. Oh, you get it all the way around. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's the problem. You've got some thick games there. Yes, we do have some thick games there. They're beefy. I appreciate it. So where do you have these beefy games again? It is 349 West Commercial Street, East Rochester, New York, www.rockpinball.com. We're going to be on TV Tuesday. ROCPinball.com. If you said rock, I would think you mean ROCKpinball. Like the mythological bird, not the actual ROCK.
    101:11
    You're going to be on TV? We're going to be on TV. we've gotten on TV before for Silver Bowl Saloon and also for the Rochester Pinball Collective. So Channel 13, which is the ABC affiliate up here, is coming in for their morning show and between 6 and 9 we'll be on four different cutouts. So what will happen is we'll be oh hey, we're back here at the Rochester Pinball Collective and they'll interview maybe me or some of the other owners. Unfortunately, one of our owners is boycotting. Zach Which one would you think that would be? Zach, he doesn't want to be there Oh God, come on I know He could be on TV That's good publicity if you're looking to drum up traffic Yeah, well, we had one of our best nights non-tournament ever We had almost 50 people And that was on a non-tournament night So now that the masks are We got rid of our masks there now My sons can take them off starting tomorrow Yep In New Jersey Yep But our numbers are 1.7 for yesterday and 2.0 for seven days. So it keeps on going lower.
    102:25
    We'll see if it will stay that way. We'll see. I just can't believe Zach doesn't want to be on TV. Maybe he thinks that will just be intimidating. I mean, to the public, because, you know, he's Zach. The awesomeness of Zach. The awesomeness of Zach will be far too intimidating to actually be on TV. We are the Slam Tilt Podcast. We are. And we can be reached at slamtiltpodcast at gmail.com. Check out our website at www.slamtiltpodcast.com. All our links are in the upper right-hand corner.
    102:56
    I stream occasionally. Golden. Very nice, yes. Man, you love that line. You love that line. I do. Where's Stu? Did he get taggled up in the Ukrainian war?
    103:11
    Well, the funny thing is, while I was at Rock Fantasy, Steve Keeler, the owner of Rock Fantasy, is asking me, where's Stu at? I didn't know he was this legendary person. I mean, everyone wants Stu. They don't want you. I know. I'm boring. Stu is much more exciting. I like his shirt. He has a pretty sweet shirt. Oh, he has a sweet shirt. Yeah, he does. He does. Who knows? He might be making some more appearances. Cool. You know, I heard rumors he might, maybe he's negotiating with, like, the Pinball Network to get on their channel. He's just going to leave us all behind.
    103:45
    He could. I could see that happening. I could totally see that happening. So there'd be no slam-tilt signage. He'd all be on his own. Wow. I think I just have to sue him then because of that contract. Because we did sponsor him into this country, so he does. Yeah, but, of course, for this to happen, I mean, he'd do things like his own logo. That would be cool and all that. And I'm not an artist, so if somebody wanted to volunteer to do a logo or something for them, I'm just saying. Wow. Like with comic book style art, too, I was thinking something like that. Really? I'm just throwing it out there, you know, just someone wanted to just help out with that. Maybe there would be a suit stream. Just saying. Mr. Knapp, what would you like to plug for yourself?
    104:27
    Yeah, I guess Knapp Arcade, www.knapparcade.org. lots of pinball and arcade news pretty much daily unless nothing's going on anytime I see something interesting I share it up there and then also on Facebook and Instagram too yep that's where I follow you on Facebook and Instagram always well thank you for coming on yeah thanks for having me it was fun welcome to hell see it wasn't that bad no it was not I'm terrible at pinball guessing games but other than that it was you're in I was trying to find the one trivia they gave on the Eclectic Gamers podcast They had like this 50 question thing It went on for a long time But they had one of them I thought was super cool Just because I couldn't guess what it was And it was something like What, and this has to be a physical feature What physical feature do all these games Have in common And it was something like Roadshow No Fear No It is, it's the heads They both have heads though But it was like five games And I'm just sitting there like I can't think of anything Any physical feature Other than they have flippers And stuff like that But it was It was the They all had the The extra ball button You know, the buy-in button Oh, the buy-in Like, oh man It's like that is so good Star Trek Next Generation No Fear I think Demoman even has that Demoman It was so good It's just like Oh, that's a good one. They all have heads, too.
    106:02
    Yeah. Roadshow and No Fear both have talking heads. That's right. Except mine's not a motor. Mine's a really, really noisy solenoid. Yes, it is. With always broken eyeballs. The Roadshow eyeballs on mine were messed up. Totally. They suck. I had one for a while. I had to take it apart. It sucks. I love that guy. That's the yawning that proves it.
    106:31
    I'm all tired out. I'm shutting down. Payday or overtime. Put on your dancing shoes. That's Tim Kittsrow again. That guy did every cool damn voice they had. I know. I love that guy. Tell a little thing I'll do. I'm sorry. All right. Well, I think that's it So, it'll be great No more plugs Hi, Zach Hi, Zeke See you, final bonus Hi, our pinball podcaster group Hi, Colin Good luck with Weird Al Yep, pinball princess, how you doing? Yep We haven't talked to Steph in a while Pinball profile Yep Hi, Jeff Hi, Marty Mrs. Penn, Dr. Penn Everyone in the universe Thank you Yes, we love you We love you all. I have our next guest coming up. You have our next guest coming up? Yep, and he's always second. And he's always second. Oh, God. Okay.
    107:38
    Wait a minute. Were you able to actually get him? Because usually he only does it during work. No, he said he would actually get us normally now. He said he would. He would get us normally. That sounds vulgar. What does that mean? Versus an abnormal position? No, no. Normally he gets us like he's driving home in his car in traffic. Or he's at work or he has a terrible headset and he sounds like he's on an AM radio. So, yeah. Okay. We're moving up in the world. That's nice. We are. I do try to get people. I want now, here we go. I want suggestions for our 200th guest. Gary Stern. If I can get Gary Stern, oh, my God, I don't think we would make it through the whole thing. Well, you haven't asked. We can ask number two to talk to his, you know, sibling, who perhaps can talk to, Gary, because we would want to talk about basically my dream is to have the ultimate classic Stern, you know, Stern Electronics interview because there's only one guy who knows everything. Yep, and that would be him. And that's him, and we need to get it. That would be the perfect show for you, too. I mean, I want to hear about the purchase. I want to hear about some of these games. I want to hear about the craziness of Orbiter One. What were they thinking? Q? Thoughts about buying the board company?
    108:57
    Oh, totally. I'm going that way. No, like Gamitron, you know, that kind of stuff. Yeah, I want, because it's just for historical sake, it should be out there, because he's the one guy who knows all this stuff. And he'll say, I don't remember. Oh, he's pulling it. Hey, that's the one thing I noticed. The one video I have of the old Stern factory, you know who they interviewed? It wasn't Sam Stern. It was Gary Stern. I mean, who had his picture taken with, what's his face?
    109:29
    Nugent. Yeah, it was Gary Stern. It wasn't Sam Stern. Gary was the guy even then, so. I agree, totally. We watch you on, Gary. But who else can we get, possibly, if we cannot get him, which I don't see happening.
    109:45
    Maybe you can get Stu. Stu is the 200th guest. Stu is number two. 200. Okay. Don't forget to follow us on Facebook.
    109:59
    Do we have Instagram? We have Instagram. We have all that stuff. We don't have TikTok. We don't have that. You don't want me dancing. Oh, God. It would be disturbing. Yes, it would be. But you can follow us all around. You can stalk us, too. Just stalk you. Okay.
    110:18
    Hopefully we'll have more tournament information about the 24 hours of hell. I mean, of pinball. Of flip frenzies. Flip frenzies. Seven of them. That's going to be insane. Yeah. We might have 12 games by the end of the tournament. That might be the fun. We could actually have a tournament to guess, like, how many games. How many games will go down? Yeah. Yes. Exactly. Oh, man. All right. Thanks, everybody. Thank you, Jason, again. Yep. Thank you, Jason. I love your last name because it's relative to mine. Oh, okay. Yeah, you're related, Bruce said. You're from this area, too. Yes, I am. Oh, my God. They're practically brothers. Yes. Brothers.
    110:58
    Brothers. Brothers from another mother. Yes. He's got Dutch in him. I know he does. Man, I have Swedish, have British. Ah, I have the British also, so see. I'm the coolest because I'm Italian. Hey, they make a great pinball machine. They do. They make Alien and no bad Italian, please. But ready? They make Flam House 2.0. Oh, yeah. They did? That's them? Yeah. Yeah, that's good ready, too. Oh, okay. Cool.
    111:30
    Oh, to the finish. Yes. Thanks, everybody. Until next time. See you later. Say goodbye, Bruce. Goodbye, Ed Z.
    111:41
    Oh my, my, can you boogie? Can you fly? Oh my, my, oh my, my, you can boogie if you fly. Oh my, my, oh my, my, I'll keep you alive. Oh my
    112:31
    Thank you.