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Episode 52: The return of History Lesson and more fun stuff!

Poor Man's Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·analyzed·Apr 23, 2020
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.034

TL;DR

PMPP #52: Firepower restoration progress, sponsor spotlights, and deep-dive history lesson on Taxi (1988).

Summary

Poor Man's Pinball Podcast episode 52 features hosts Scott Ian and Drew discussing pinball restoration projects, product sponsors (Pinstadium Lights, Pinshades, Pinshakers), and a history lesson on the 1988 Williams game Taxi, including trivia about its designer connections to Mortal Kombat and the Marilyn Monroe licensing issue that resulted in the character being renamed to Lola.

Key Claims

  • Taxi was designed by Mark Steve Ritchie and Python Anghelo

    high confidence · Scott Ian in history lesson segment presenting game design credits

  • Ed Boone, who coded Taxi, was a co-creator of the Mortal Kombat franchise

    high confidence · Scott Ian presenting trivia during Taxi history lesson

  • The first 200 Taxi machines featured Marilyn Monroe on the backglass before licensing forced a change to character 'Lola'

    high confidence · Scott Ian presenting documented history of Taxi variants

  • Over 7,000 Taxi machines were produced

    high confidence · Scott Ian opening Taxi history lesson

  • A red-haired Lola variant of Taxi exists but is extremely rare

    medium confidence · Scott Ian citing Roger Sharpe as source for information about rare variants

  • Pinstadium Lights are compatible with every single pinball machine and take 10 minutes to install

    high confidence · Host/sponsor read at beginning of episode featuring Matt Scott testimonial

  • Pinshakers shaker motor kit costs $225 and works with WPC 95, System 11, and System 9 machines

    high confidence · Scott Ian researching Pinshakers product during live discussion

Notable Quotes

  • “The way we have these sweet tickets, you know, for sweets, and why don't you uh take your customer to this fancy, swanky suite.”

    Scott Ian (quoting Chicago boss) @ ~13:00 — Sets up anecdote about meeting Dan Aykroyd and John Cusack at Blackhawks game with Crystal Skull vodka connection

  • “I'm going to prove you guys wrong. I'm going to be so hungover tomorrow.”

    Scott Ian (quoting Zane Lamprey from Three Sheets show) @ ~37:00 — Humorous example of Zane Lamprey's drinking challenge approach on the Travel Channel show

  • “The games are not as obnoxious.”

    Drew (quoting his wife's reaction to Pinshades) @ ~72:00 — Endorsement from skeptical spouse validates product effectiveness for reducing light-induced fatigue

  • “Every shot feels so fucking good. That game is a masterpiece.”

    Scott Ian (on Whitewater) @ ~51:00 — Commentary on game design quality transcending theme/artwork appeal

  • “You're going to see a black-haired Lola, or if you're one of the lucky guys, you have a Marilyn Monroe.”

    Scott Ian @ ~95:00 — Explains rarity hierarchy of Taxi backglass variants tied to licensing issue

Entities

Scott IanpersonDrewpersonMatt ScottpersonJacksonpersonMark Steve RitchiepersonPython AnghelopersonEd BoonepersonRoger SharpepersonDan Aykroydperson

Signals

  • ?

    restoration_signal: Drew's Firepower restoration nearing completion with powder coat work in progress, expecting call within 1-2 weeks for pickup, followed by board work bulletproofing

    high · Drew reports machine working at ~100% with minor switch/coil adjustments needed, powder coat delayed but tracking toward completion

  • ?

    product_strategy: Pinshakers positioning universal shaker motor kit at $225 as premium aftermarket solution for older games previously incompatible with standard kits

    high · Scott Ian identifies $75-100 cost premium vs standard shakers, emphasizes broader compatibility as value proposition

  • ?

    community_signal: Poor Man's Pinball Podcast establishing sponsorship relationships with niche pinball product manufacturers (Pinstadium Lights, Pinshades, potential Pinshakers)

    high · Multiple sponsor segments with product codes (POORMAN for Pinstadium, poormans for Pinshades), Jackson personally contacted hosts about Pinshades trial

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Pinshades product validation through personal testing and non-pinball-enthusiast spouse endorsement, with specific benefit identified: ball tracking in high-flash-frequency games like Jurassic Park

    high · Scott Ian reports measurable improvement in ball tracking during Jurassic Park flashing sequences, wife's skeptical feedback becomes positive ('games not as obnoxious')

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Emphasis on core game design quality transcending theme/artwork appeal, with Whitewater cited as exemplar of mechanics-first design approach

Topics

Pinball machine restoration projectsprimaryAftermarket pinball modifications and upgradesprimaryPinball product reviews and sponsorshipsprimaryPinball history and design triviaprimaryClassic pinball game mechanics and gameplaysecondaryLicensing and intellectual property in pinballsecondaryPersonal anecdotes and off-topic conversationmentioned

Sentiment

positive(0.82)— Hosts are enthusiastic about their restoration projects, genuinely impressed with sponsor products (Pinshades, Pinstadium Lights), and excited about pinball history content. Conversational tone is relaxed and friendly. No negative sentiment toward games or community members. Light-hearted banter dominates.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.168

This episode is brought to you by Pinstadium Lights. Pinstadium Lights are the fastest way to add a little pop to your machine. It's one of my favorite mods out there. It really illuminates everything. You get to see the artwork. You get to use that cool customizable app. And it's compatible with every single machine. Scott has yet to find a machine that these don't work in. It's a 10-minute quick installation. installation you don't have to be an expert underneath that play field to put these in they're super simple i've done it now on a few different types of machines different eras and it works flawlessly if you ever have any questions the best part of the about the pin stadium brand is scott himself because scott is always there and available for you 24 7 to help you with any questions you might need or have. Scott's fantastic with his customer service. He will walk you through it, and he will make sure that you have everything in the right spot for the maximum effect for your machine. So pinstadiums.com, check them out. And speaking of checkout, put in poor man at your checkout, and you will get a 10% off your order. So basically shipping's on the poor man. So enjoy. The other sponsor we have today is Pinshades. Pinshades are fantastic. According to Drew and Kathleen, they have Kathleen, Drew's wife, has my set. So I don't know. We're going to talk a little bit more about it this episode. Drew is going to tell us about what he thought about him. Spoiler alert, he really, really liked him, which is not surprising. But what's surprising to me was Kathleen, his wife, who hates everything pinball. Not really, but she's very, she's a very, very tough critic. She loved him. So super exciting. So later in this episode, you're going to hear about Drew's thoughts on the Pinshades. Also with checkout, we have a coupon code for you for your Pinshades. This is something he hasn't done yet. A coupon code. I think we're one of the first. At least we are the highest discount you can get. So enter poormans, with an S, at checkout, and you will also save 10% off your order, which is shipping so shipping's on us guys all you buttholes out there shipping's on us so pin stadiums pin shades get it while you can uh the poor man's pinball podcast um episode number 52 hope you enjoy it it was a fun episode it was pretty laid back i hope you guys enjoy it and uh we did a history lesson today which drew laid on me like earlier this day uh earlier that day so that was awesome thanks drew and um but no we had a lot of fun and it was a pretty chill episode so enjoy oh yeah it's time you've waited a week or more and now it's finally here the time has come for the sloppiest show on the internet. This week's episode of Poor Man's Pinball Podcast. Starring Drew and Ian. That's it, man. Game over, man. Game over. I'm gonna need someone to help me. I'm gonna need somebody's hand. Son of a bitch, give me a drink One of the night, I just can't fit me Son of a bitch, if I drink it clean I'm gonna drink my life away Welcome to the Poor Man's Pinball Podcast, episode number 52 The sloppiest show on the internet My name's Ian, and with me is Drew via Skype. Drew, how are you, sir? Hi, guys. I'm Skyping away. Wearing pants or no pants? No pants. Is that really a question? I don't know. I don't know anymore, Drew. I haven't seen you so long, I don't even know if I'd recognize you on the street, brother. Yeah, I'm taking advantage of the quarantine when I'm at home. It's no pants all the time. free balling it free balling it every day nice nice what you drinking over there drew uh we're doing a little kessler and sour and it is delicious all righty nice i am drinking some seven up and dana akroyd skull vodka it tastes better you're still trying with that again well there's still some in the skull so i can yeah man i'm just chipping away at it buddy chipping away it's not gone yet no i don't i don't drink this for fun i drink it for the podcast well that's what i'm asking i think i thought you had it the last two podcasts i thought last podcast last podcast oh just the last one i got half a skull here yet of of of vodka these skulls hold a lot of freaking vodka i don't know man there is a lot in there you know funny story uh one of my co-workers she uh when she used to work in chicago and uh she took some clients out to a blackhawks game and the i don't know the big boss over there in chicago said hey by the way we have these sweet tickets you know for sweets and why don't you uh take your customer to this fancy, swanky suite. And she said, yeah, sure, no problem. So she gets these tickets to go to the suite. And then, turns out, she finds out later that she has to share it with some VIPs. And she's like, uh, okay. Doesn't think much of it, right? Turns out, she's in there, and it's the Crystal Skull owner and Dan Aykroyd, and a bunch of Hall of Famers from the previous Blackhawk teams. So there's some Blackhawk Hall of Famers and Dan Aykroyd. And not only did Dan Aykroyd talk with her because he was super cool to everybody, but they hung out and they were joking around. And she was pregnant at the time, so she couldn't drink. So she never tried the Skull Vodka, but they had all these Skull Vodka bottles everywhere. And they were going crazy. But she said, Dan Aykroyd, super cool dude. Yeah, how cool is that? That'd be awesome to hang out with someone like that. And then not only that, like, Dan Aykroyd, like, came out, like, in the beginning of the game, you know, to, I don't know what the hell he was doing, but they announced he was there, and he waved, he went on on center ice, he waved, went back up to the suite. By the end of the first period, John Cusack was in attendance. He was like, oh, Dan's here, I'm going to go say hi. So she met John Cusack, too. And I was just like, whatever, dude, fuck your story. You one-upper. I mentioned in passing that I was drinking the Crystal Skull vodka. I called her a one-upper. I was like, that's a great one-up story, though. I mean, she kicked my ass. I'm drinking Dan Aykroyd's vodka, and she's like, oh, yeah? I met Dan Aykroyd. Yeah, while he was selling his vodka with all the vodka co-owners of this brand and a bunch of Hall of Famers. Oh, and John Cusack showed up. I was like, yeah, all right, dude. and by the way the rest of the Ghostbusters showed up as well too yeah Bill Murray came Ernie Hudson was there still very cool though she showed me pictures of her and Dan Aykroyd I was like motherfucker that is so cool would you tell him his vodka sucks oh yeah probably if I drank it straight I'm not going to lie to the guy he's going to look at my face and my reaction and my reaction will be the same as it was when we drank it the first time down here in the basement. That was terrible. It was absolutely awful. Did we chill it, or did we just drink it in a shot glass? I think we had a little ice, but yeah, it was just bad. We probably should have chilled it a little bit, but still. It's a good mixer, though. You can have some shit in there, and it goes down nice and smooth, but on its own, it's a little harsh. I'm not a vodka expert by any means, though. no i'm definitely not a connoisseur of vodka like if the only time i have vodka is in my bloody mary's that is it that is 100 of my vodka uh what do they call it intake is from bloody mary's so i remember when i was i was bartending i remember another vodka story i remember i was bartending and i was talking to this one guy he was from god damn it ontario canada i believe anyway so he was just telling me this story about how because all he was drinking was straight vodka and a big freaking glass and then he had a little chaser of uh what was he drinking oh oj he wanted a little chaser of oj and i was like dude this is crazy i've never seen anyone just take a freaking pint glass of vodka and like a little shot glass of like oj it wasn't a shot glass it was a smaller glass though so you take a big swig of the vodka and then you chase it with like a little sip of oj that actually makes a lot of sense to me believe it or not well i was talking i was like i was like good lord man where the hell did you get come up with this idea you know and he tells me he's like actually you know his whole life was was with hockey he played a lot of hockey and he um he was an alternate i think for one of the olympics and he didn't make the team but he did get to practice with a lot of the olympians and even the russians that came over to practice and they'd all go out to the bars and yeah the russians would just be like fill up this big jug of with vodka or leave the bottle and i'll take a little glass of oj you know and that's what they would do they would just like chug vodka and then take that little sip of oj and i would just be like that's some serious freaking drinking man that is serious it is even coming from a guy who drinks a lot when I see that. Do you ever see that Anthony Bourdain, you know, when he's, when he's, you know, out in some crazy country with somebody else and they're just, you know, they're drinking and they're like drinking tons and tons of booze and they just keep ordering more and keep ordering more. And I'm like, holy shit, this is just crazy. And they're just telling stories and they just keep ordering more and more and they're there for like hours. Ah, yeah. You know? Same thing, though. Like you said, they'll order like a carafe of vodka. Yeah. And they just keep pouring it and telling stories until it's all gone. And then they order another one. Did you ever watch that show? I think it had like four seasons, but it was called Three Sheets. No. That was with that Zane Lamprey guy. No? Was that on the Travel Channel, too? It was. It started on the Travel Channel. and then they got rid of it or they canceled the show. And then I think somebody else picked it up. And he was on like three different networks. Sure. No, I watched a lot of those on Travel Channel. I did not catch that one. But Three Sheets was essentially that was the show, but it focused 100% on drinking. So you'd go all around the world and he would drink to their customs, get super shit-faced, learn a lot about the different types of beers, and alcohol that you use. For example, he was in France and he was in the town of Champagne where Champagne originated. It's sparkling wine everywhere else in the world because Champagne can only be from Champagne, France. I don't know. That's a little bit of knowledge for you. The stuff you buy at the store that's Champagne that comes from California, that's not really champagne that's sparkling wine or whatever champagne comes from champagne france apparently that's what all the connoisseurs say anyway but do they do they have to spell it differently then or how does that work oh no i have no idea dude i have no idea how that works um but they were talking about it and it was a big thing like they're very very defensive about it and then uh they also did this thing where the only way to open champagne is you know you don't you're not supposed to hear the cork pop like the way they open it there it's it's very very but that's the best part i know i was like they're taking all the fun out of champagne as i'm watching it you know but then the one thing they did say was it's impossible to get a hangover if you drink champagne from champagne france like the pure champagne it's impossible to get a hangover so this accepted so this that's what zane said he's the host you know so he drank like and they were being really really like you'd love it they were being very very like special glasses you know make sure you hold it from the stem you know make sure you take a sip and then breathe in and get all the aromas and then you're wrong i wouldn't love that and then they cut i don't want rules with my drinking and then they cut to zane and he's drinking out of the bottle you know I do love that Yeah he a total American in the worst way And he just slamming bottles He like I going to prove you guys wrong I going to be so hungover tomorrow That also the side part of every episode is the aftermath when he super hungover Then he has to do the hangover cure of that nation, you know? So what do you guys do locally for hangovers? But he woke up the next morning after slamming I don't know how many bottles. But he was like, I was messed up. But I got to tell you, I feel pretty damn good. He wasn't hungover. At all. And I was like, wow. Wow. Champagne from Champagne, France. Go figure. I guess so. Well, hey, this is Pinball Podcast, right? Yeah, if there's any pinball news you'd like to share, Drew, share it now. No, I got nothing. And now, the moment you've all been waiting for. Of course, I'm talking about the Poor Man's Pinball Podcast, personal pinball news. Yeah, I brought Firepower in from the cold. She came in from the garage, and I actually plugged it in and turned her on, and she works almost 100%. Almost 100%. What's going on? uh just some you know switch adjustments and one of the coils isn't isn't firing properly but uh other than that it's uh it's working it's playing all the switches are working all the targets are working all the coils are working slings flippers everything's everything's where it should be i'm just waiting on uh powder coat all right cool yeah all the powder coat should be done and i think it's gonna be another week week and a half but uh was he a little backed up yeah yeah he told me it might be as long as three weeks but he said probably two weeks and that was about a week ago so yeah he told me three weeks but uh it only took a week and a half i got it real quick i was like oh yeah so i'm expecting maybe a call later this week or potentially early next week and i'll go get that stuff and then i can uh you know kind of tack her up and finish the rest of the couple things and uh yeah she'll be uh actually complete very nice very nice yeah It's been a long journey with this one. I actually do need to do board work on this one just to bulletproof it, but I'm going to wait until it's working 100%, everything's together, and then I'll take care of some board stuff. Gotcha. Very cool. Yeah. No, I'm really excited. Yeah, it turned out really well. I'm really happy with my first shot at restoring a game. Yeah, all right, all right. I've been quarantining with my daughter and wife, but my daughter and I, she's two. she just turned two and uh we're playing whitewater so i'm trying to start her off young so she knows how to plunge the ball and that's pretty fucking cool hey that's that's the great start that is an awesome start um but she keeps plunging while i play i'm like listen bitch easy on the plunger no i'm joking i'm joking i love her to death but uh no we uh she likes the lights and stuff so we're playing it and um so falling in love with whitewater all over again it's such a great game god damn it's a good game like every shot feels so fucking good like that's that game is a masterpiece it really is like i just you know sometimes the theme just it doesn't it doesn't beg me to play it but once you start playing it you're like all right this game is pretty badass so i've been playing a shit ton of whitewater so So, Laser War, I have been playing a bunch of Laser War. That machine is hit or miss, but for the most part, it is a lot of fun, too. It's hard, though. That's a hard game because those stand-ups are just, like, right there, booming your fucking face. There's only, like, two places to shoot it where it's not coming right back at your flippers, you know? So, that's a tough game. It's definitely not a forgiving game. I'll say that. well remember those were the games you know much like firepower those were the quarter suck games you know they just wanted to take as many quarters as possible so well i played a game of white water before we were playing here and that was a quarter suck because that some of those ramps if you hit them with the right speed hit that you know hit the ball with the right speed they every single ramp in that game i'm almost certain is aimed towards the middle of the you know middle of the Flippers, like everything is straight down the middle. Unless you're good at your nudging or if you hit the ball kind of off speed, then you're safe. But if you ever want to hit it full on, you're in a world of hurt on Whitewater. World of hurt. It's coming down fast, that's for sure. Very fortunate to have both of those games, though. They're great. Excellent. So you think both those games are staying for a while, huh? Yeah, yeah. I know I've been toying with the idea of moving Whitewater, but like I said, the theme doesn't grab me right away, but the second I start playing it, I'm like, oh, yeah, that's right. This game is badass. So I'll keep it for a while yet. Good, good, good, good. Yeah, I always tell people that the test is if you can imagine a game with no artwork and no theme, would you want to just keep shooting this game? And Whitewater is one of those games. Oh, yeah, for sure. Because it's just fast and flowy, and it's just fun to shoot. So, you know, you could rip away the art, and it's just a cool game. Yeah, no, it's beautiful. It's beautiful. I wonder if I should start modding it out. I don't know yet. No, I'm probably not. I'm not there yet. I'm not there yet. Yeah, I started with Jurassic Park. we talked a little bit about last time because, yep, it's definitely staying. So I was like, what the hell, I'll spend a few bucks on it. And I think next is going to be something a little more mild. I'm going to get a shaker motor because every good game needs a shaker motor. So not all games are compatible with a shaker motor, right? There's a company, I think it's called Pinshakers, don't quote me on that. They designed something last year. It works with every single game. googling it. Yep, google it now. They were advertising on Pinside. Oh shit, here they are. Pinshakers.com It's like $250 maybe. I am looking right now. There are a few different boards. Yep, so you kind of determine what system you have and then you pick it and then you can plug it into any game. Where to buy? You can buy it at Pinball Life. actually maybe that that's where i saw it first probably because i i do a lot of shopping on pinball life and once you fucking know it they just threw me on some random ass website hold on it was by the way super shout out to margaret at pinball life she's always great with me especially when i screw up my order sorry margaret all right pin shaker here we go the standard shaker motor kit 225 dollars yeah so that's um that's somewhere bailey williams bailey williams wpc 95 system 11s and system 9s so those are the that's the compatibility list right now guys so yep so that's between 75 to 100 more than your standard shaker depending on where you go however it does work with just about you know with a whole bunch of games that you normally couldn't put a shaker in so i think uh i think it's a pretty good value god damn you know if you just have a game and you're like this game needs a shaker motor you know white water needs a shaker it it does white water does need a shaker with the rafts rafter or oh yeah yeah the rapids and, hmm, oh, look at here. Uh-oh. They even have a game list. First one on the top of the Williams-Bally WPC. Guess what it is. Shut up. Is it Whitewater? It's Black Rose, baby. Oh, wow, that actually makes a lot of sense. Creature, Demolition Man, Bram Stokers, Fishtails, Gilligan's Island. Sweet. Indiana Jones Pinball Adventure. Yeah, dude, you'd have to have it on that, right? Yeah, yeah, that's almost a must, I would say. The air would be really good. Oh, and there's Whitewater. Okay, Whitewater did make the list. Good, good. What do we got for System 11 here? It looks like almost all of them. That's like every System 11 game. Cyclone, F-14 Tomcat, yep. Jokers. Of course you're going to need on Jokers. And Taxi. All right, you got Comet, too? System 9, Comet. Yeah, that's all of them. Sorcerer and Space Shuttle and then nothing for my Williams System 6 Firepower, but I don't think that one needs a shaker. But, uh... Oh, Laser Q. Nice. That would be bizarre. That would be pretty sweet, actually. For my Laser Q. I got it, man. Very cool, though. It is cool. Yeah, so, uh-oh. Ian's gonna check it out. I wouldn't mind it. He's probably going to buy one as we're doing this right now. He's going to have it shipped tomorrow. I'm kind of thinking about it, actually. You know, because here's the thing. I love shaker motors, and I've never actually, funny enough, I've never actually owned a game with a shaker motor. Oh, yeah. Like I said, some games, I'm okay not having it. Even with, like, Jurassic Park, because I have the roar of the dinosaur and I have the subwoofer. I'm still going to get one anyways, but some games you just really have to have it. Like Metallica was amazing because every time that hammer came down, the whole game would shake. There's just so many great moments in pinball that it's just another sense of yours going off. It's pretty cool. Another interaction, baby. Yep, yep. Another pinball experience. We should talk to these guys. Maybe they want to be a sponsor. Ooh. Speaking of sponsors, we got a new one here for us. We got Pinshades. Pinshades. Pinshades, yeah. Made by our buddy Jockton. He is one of the top-ranked IFPA players. He's in the top 1,000, which in poor man's land is like he might as well be in the top 10. Jesus. Tip of the mountain, baby. Tip of the mountain. You know what's funny? I checked my ranking because technically I have a ranking, and I'm 35,000. Oh, man. You're going to be, hey, can't go anywhere but up, baby. Yep, yep. I'm slowly climbing that mountain. There you go. So anyways, Jackton had contacted us and said, hey, I got this great product. Do you want to try it out? And I said, of course I do. If it's pinball related, I am checking this thing out. So he sent me a couple pair of shades. I gave a pair to my wife. I put a pair on. were playing pinball and my wife who doesn't care much for pinball at all i said honey what do you think about this she said the games are not as obnoxious which you know good with her is like a glowing review and and i will give you you know for a guy who plays pinball all the time jurassic park as great of a game as it is when those lights start flashing on and off it goes dark to light i mean like all the lights go off and then it goes super bright and then it goes super dark everyone who plays it knows what i'm talking about um you can track the ball a whole lot better with these things okay so i was you know like anyone else you hear about this stuff and you're like ah you know too good to be true and as seen on tv and all that stuff no this is the real deal so i don't even know why you guys are waiting any longer just go go go on pin side go to the pin side marketplace look for pin shades what you're going to see you're going to see a picture of none other than Steven Bowden, the infamous Steven Bowden wearing a pair of these. And if he's making it look good, everyone can make it look good. Oh, yeah. He looks great. Pinshades, Mark I sport glasses. They're $79.99. You can get them, once again, at the Pinside Marketplace. A lot of the top players wear them. If you play a lot of pinball, you can wear them, too. I think that even if you're just going out, they're good-looking sunglasses, too, so it's not just for pinball if you want to track if you want to track your woman a little better yeah i don't think that'll work if you're if you're if you're having problems at home buying more pinball stuff is probably not for you however if you're like the rest of us and you're just looking to play a little bit better in your pinball then uh go ahead and give pin shades a try beautiful beautiful yeah and you can just google that pinch pin shades and that'll that'll bring you right to the marketplace So you're all good. If you just Google Pinshades, all one word, it'll bring you right to the marketplace on Pinside. So Google it today and buy some Pinshades. What are you waiting for? Oh, that sounded so commercial, Drew. Fucking buy them. Thank you. There we go. Leave that all in. Yeah, it's all in, baby. and now it time for a history lesson brought to you by poor man pinball podcast you not careful you may learn something before it done since there not a lot of news I mean we can rehash what a couple of the podcasters have been talking about, but you know what? No, we're not doing that. So, we're kind of trying to get back to our regular, you know, rotation. It is tough with no news. So, but this week is history lessons. So I just wanted to give Ian his history lesson. And, you know, we haven't done one of these. How long has it been? Oh, it's been a few weeks. Like two months, maybe? Two months, yeah. For whatever reason, we started our schedule up a couple times, and we just started from the beginning. So history lesson, baby! Woo! Yeah, so we're doing history lesson, and it was my turn to give Ian a game. So just so you guys know how this works, one of us gives the other one a game to look up their history find out what they can about it normally we get a few days i gave i gave ian one day you gave me like four hours bro hey hey we all got busy okay so anyways i give ian a title of a game to find out all about and now he will give you the history lesson on said game the games we've done in the past were laser war and what was the one before that no laser war was the first one and then you did hard body that's right so it was laser war was first hard body was second and for this week's i gave ian one of a fan favorite favorite of mine a favorite of his favorite of a lot of you guys out there the infamous taxi taxi taxi taxi all right taxi williams game from 1988 over 7 000 made but did you know that the first 200 had the maryland back glass did you know about this true the maryland monroe no tell everyone about this because there are two versions correct i will but i'll get into this first hold on let's let's start from the beginning here this game designed by both then don't ask me questions if you don't want me to follow up with another question i just wanted you to i just wanted to see what you knew about it um mark ritchie and Python Anghelo designed it they came up with the concept and uh you know who did the software in this game drew no a little guy by the name of ed boone do you know do you know that name can't say i'm familiar what else did he do ed boone was the co-creator of the mortal kombat franchise no way yeah so so do you remember like that secret character noob saibot the black all black yes i do remember him well Let's Boone backwards, so Noob, and then Saibot was actually Tobias or whatever from the other co-creator. So Ed Boone was one of the creators of Mortal Kombat. So he was the one that started it all and working for Williams. But he did all the software, the coding for Taxi. Very interesting. I'm more interested in that Noob Saibot now. That's interesting. Go ahead. Yeah, Noob Saibot. It's just backwards. It's like Boone, Tobias or whatever. So anyway, that's Mortal Kombat trivia. But Ed Boon did the coding for it. So here we go. Fun facts. Marilyn Monroe. Everyone kind of knows this. If you don't, let me crack an egg of knowledge on you real quick. So when they started the production run, 200 of them were made before they realized that Marilyn Monroe – let me back up. so you are a taxi driver and you are picking up five different customers uh it was supposed to be uh gorby which is gorbachev pinbot santa claus dracula and marilyn monroe those were going to be your your people that you pick up your customers um so they made about 200 just like that and then after the after they found out uh well soon after that they found out that uh marilyn monroe is trademarked there's a copyright on there so wait there's a copyright on her name marilyn monroe her likeness the name everything so they couldn't do marilyn monroe so what they had to do was they changed her hair to black and they called her Lola. Now, Roger Sharp dropped this little egg of knowledge here for you guys. There may be, he's pretty sure that there is, there should be a few out there that are floating around that are even more rare than the Maryland one. Lola actually had red hair at one point. They made a few games with a red haired Lola. But for the most part, you're going to see a black-haired Lola, or if you're one of the lucky guys, you got a Marilyn Monroe. And if you're ultra lucky, there is a red-headed version of Lola. I just want to interject really quickly because I don't know if you knew this part, and I'll just help out here. The new hard tops that that company is making that I bought for the Firepower, they make one for Taxi, and you get to choose red hair or dark hair. so you get you get your choice but you're not getting a blonde you don't get maryland uh no i think uh because i know they make back glasses that you can get for taxi that have yeah now now you're gonna make me uh look i know they had there's they're selling two two versions of that hard top so so anyways go ahead i'll find it while you're talking nope nope i thought it was very interesting that there might be a redhead version out there let's see inside the game to simulate a phone call they actually have like a straight up bell like a full-on bell inside oh the williams bells are so cool i have one in laser key it's just very cool very cool it's almost as cool as the air siren in gold wings but not quite um but found that extremely cool um and that's basically taxi there's not a lot there i did message mark ritchie four hours ago and uh surprise surprise he hasn't gotten back to me um but why don't you just call him i should have texted him yeah we're best friends um so with that being said that's taxi taxi is one of those games though if anyone plays that game um super fast super fun because it's so fast it's dangerous as hell because it's sorry i'm gonna interrupt you here so yeah i'm on their website you get to choose from blonde hair or red hair there you go but not black hair no no not black hair blonde hair or red hair that's so crazy yeah huh how crazy is that those are they don't even have like the most like the most produced version they have like the two rare versions very interesting so if you were gonna get a hard top for your taxi that we don't have yet which one would you get oh i'd get blonde i'd try to make it as much marilyn monroe as i could yeah i i agree i think that'd be awesome yeah anyway so my review of taxi just in general is just it's a fantastic shooter it's dangerous the rules are fun and simple the music is actually really really awesome the back glass has the working street light you know it turns to red to green to yellow it's on the on the far right um what i also like is the back glass has the uh the reflective mirror but if you take that back glass off that mirror is actually on the backbox itself like where all the leds are it's just like clear plastic for the back glass but like when you lift it off yeah it's just a mirror that's hanging in the middle of all those leds which i thought very fun um but yeah um simple design simple art but it's so effective that's why i love it it's like fucking feng shui for pinball it's it's simple it's minimalist it's a lot of fun it's a great shooter um i can't wait to get one it's still decently priced i mean i think it said anywhere from 1500 to 2500 depending on conditions so uh for for three thousand dollars you can get like a really nice one and yeah for for 15 or 1800 you can get one slap a hard top on it and you're in it for 2000 bucks yeah 2200 so yeah it's um yeah it's probably one of the best value pins out there i would say yeah and not only that it's it's it's you can still get a lot of those parts a lot of them are still being produced because taxi's so popular oh yeah it's not like laser war where i'm fucking sitting there with my balls out just trying to figure out how how we're gonna do this but no taxi fantastic game so that's my history lesson on taxi well that was that was short and sweet but i like it that way and uh no that was a good one because uh Everyone likes that game, and that's one of the few games that Ian and I 100% agree on. Yes. Is there another game that you and I 100% agree on? No. No, not many. Maybe the Addams Family. Yeah, maybe. We're both kind of like, it's cool, but is it as cool as everyone keeps saying it is? Yeah, that's true. We do have the same thoughts on Addams Family. And then like Whitewater even, I think it's a great game also. But me, I'm like, hey, Ian, are you going to sell it and move on? He's like, no, maybe not. You know, I would have sold it and moved on by now. So that's where we differ. No, it is what it is. I don't know. It's just a fun shooter. But, yeah, Taxi is, yeah, we agree on Taxi for sure. Yeah, yeah, Taxi is a game I want. I'll buy. I'll probably keep. You'll do the same. Yeah, maybe we'll both have a Taxi. Well, think about this. Okay, so this is from 1988, right? This isn't even one of the quote-unquote 90s pins. Yeah. It's number 76 on the top 100. Yeah. That says something. Alpha numeric, baby. That really says something because this didn't even, you know, the 90s games were the ones that were, you know, coveted, and those are the DMD games. But, yeah, 76 on the top 100. That's awesome. Yeah. So very, very cool. All right. Drew, your next homework assignment. I'm going to give you it right now so you have lots of time to look up and do research, which I know you won't. Yeah, you say that. I was going to say I'll probably forget by tomorrow and then I'll ask you the day before the show. What's up? Future Spa. Ooh, you know what? Oh, my God. We are best friends. I almost gave you that one just because there's a guy freaking curling lasers. Yeah, Future Spa. Okay, Future Spa it is, man. I will start my homework. I will email Mark Ritchie, even if he has nothing to do with that game, and see if he gets back to me. Yeah, if you Facebook message him, don't press your luck. I didn't get much, so we'll see. I'll have Christopher Franchi do some new art for me, and we'll get a feature spot. You know what? I haven't really updated anybody, but I have been talking with Joe Kamenkow, and he gave me a little nugget. I know we did the history lesson for Laser War like three months ago, but he keeps emailing me little nuggets. and here's one I found interesting. You ready? I'm ready. Joe's sister is the one who designed the outfits on the actors on the back glass. And she actually is a fashion designer, believe it or not. And she designed all those outfits, those spandex outfits that Charlie Sheen and the two ladies are wearing. That's from his sister. That's her design. And she ended up doing that for a living for a long, long time as far as couture-like fashion. That is so crazy to me that it's cool, but it's like, holy crap. They couldn't just draw it? They're like, no, we're going to design the clothes, and then we're going to draw it. He's like, hey, sis, I need help. Yeah, we need to take pictures of these actors. We need to put them in something. Think laser take, but we can't say laser take because we don't have the rights. Yeah, this saved me a quarter of a million dollars because we didn't say laser tag. Can you believe that, though? I mean, Laser War was supposed to be laser tag, and they couldn't get the rights to laser tag. Joe Kamenkow couldn't get the rights to laser tag. How big was laser tag in 84 or whatever the hell? I'm sure. Yeah, I think it's just one of those things that, you know, maybe, well, pinball wasn't always looked as favorably as it is today, you know what I mean? even today it's not looked as favorably yeah that's true maybe the 90s yeah yeah so pinball in the 80s was uh you know it's just different for whatever reason so you know it brother so that is history lesson yeah yeah very cool history lesson what else we got today we got any more pinball stuff today uh you know what i have what do i have here i have mailbag this sort of thing ain't my bag baby oh i'll tell you what kind of thing is my bag baby the poor man's pinball podcast mailbag oh we haven't done mailbag in probably another couple months what do we got there we got a package in the mail today drew what is it it's all sorts of stuff you want to you want me to go through it yeah no i really do i i have no idea what he's doing here because i didn't know any of this folks that a oh it a heavy ass box all right okay somebody paid a lot in shipping um mr p quint tribe member number 14 Did he send you a trombone A tromboner. No, he did not. He sent me a box to add to our repair kit. Oh, what? I can only imagine what he included in that. There's a lot of stuff in here. We'll go through it really quickly, okay? So we have a couple microfiber cloths, and they are wrapped up some Ohio State shot glasses. So I don't know what I'm going to do with those. And he wrote little notes in each thing, and I just found one. Here are a few extra shot glasses and a magnet for your favorite college football team. Yeah, go fuck guys, whatever. Nobody likes you. Nobody likes you, Buckeyes. So we got a couple shot glasses. We got some magnets, some Ohio State magnets. We have some Green Bay Packer trading cards, a whole bunch of them. He gave us a badass metal Great Lakes brewing bottle opener, like a solid one, dude, one of those really big professional bartender ones. I love it. Oh, those are the best. Yes. He gave us some Band-Aids, which we will need. Drew, you especially need those. I was going to say, Pete, where were you a month ago? He gave us some wrestling cards. You can't beat that, right? Hogan and stuff. Were you just cleaning out your basement, dude? Some magnets. Hold on. This multi-tool thing that I keep cutting my finger on. It's got like blades and stuff. You're supposed to put it in your wallet. Yeah, the thing's dangerous, Pete. I don't know what the fuck you were thinking there. I'm going to use those Band-Aids up just by holding this knife thing. Some badass big round ice cube holders. You know what I'm talking about, Drew? We have those down here. I do. Now we have four more, so we will never run out of ice again. A small bottle of Bacardi. A small bottle of Fireball. We got a nice little wrench socket thing. We got these little laser war looking figurine muscle men. Remember the muscle men from the quarter machines? yeah these are like little laser guys um kinakuman in japan but they're like the muscle versions so uh but you know what though they look kind of like laser warish i don't know maybe we should just glue them all over the playfield i'm up for anything um let's see uh pete you have solidified your membership in our tribe and then he gave us a picture pete you fucked up you're supposed to autograph this uh picture of pete's framed so um yeah pete you didn't you didn't sign it come on you should have signed it pete i don't know i mean how else am i going to sell this thing on ebay and then he wrote little love notes on every every item so every item has a love note um this the frame says uh no game room is complete without a photo of a hot tribe member he making me so horny Yes, Pete? Yes, Pete. Yes, Pete. So that was our tribe member gift box from Pete Quint, tribe member number 14, the man himself. God bless you. Thank you so much, Pete. We appreciate you. And except for these shot glasses, everything's going to be used and be well taken care of. So thank you, Pete. Wow. yeah like I said our tribe members we're a weird misfit bunch but oh man do I love you guys just so much fun you know what we haven't done this in a while can I just run down the list real quick so everyone knows let's go through the tribes okay I just wanted to remind people of this awesome list of this awesome group of people that we have number one Ryan Kuyper number two Martin listener number 15 uh number three brad hopkins number four ian howard number five eric braden walker number six mike williams mike damn it i'm thirsty william sorry seven glenn Glenn Waechter eight sean frayden nine david Jeff Brenner the restoration expert 10 josh mudd owner and proprietor of mudderitaville 11 daniel donnell 12 tim lee who uh is trying to steal our thunder with his podcast and doing a Great job at it. 13, Brian Thomas. 14, Pete Quint. You crazy trombone playing whatever. We love you. We love you. 15, Mr. Jeff LaGrange, the guy who barely uses Facebook, and I have to message him in text form. He's awesome. 16, Steve Johnson. 17, Joseph Hood. You crazy mofo from Missouri. 18, Chris Haper. 19, BillyYJ 20, Chris the Pinter Grovesner 21, Troy Swope always sending us booby pics thank you very much 22, Jonathan Hall and 23, Lee Abel Humor not Hymer welcome Lee very very very good that is our list of misfits and I love them I love each and every one of you. I love all of our listeners, but these misfits, ooh, you guys are awesome. We honestly communicate with, what, I would say 20 of the 23 of these guys almost daily. We have a very active secret group on Facebook. I will say that. It is awesome. So much fun. It is a lot of fun. It's ridiculous. It's almost too much. It's getting to the point where I'm shutting everything down. No, I'm joking. I'm joking. I'm joking. Thank you, sir. May I have another? Poor Man's Pinball Tribe. Thank you, sir. May I have another? Poor Man's Pinball Tribe. Thank you, sir. May I have another? Poor Man's Pinball Tribe. Right now, yeah! So, without further ado, let's induct a new tribe member. Drew, how do you feel about that? Oh, I think it's well-deserved. Well-deserved. All right, here we go. Ready? Tribe member What number are we Andrew? Number 24 Alright The suspense is killing everyone Tribe member number 24 Is Rodden Osborne Yep that's right Rodden you made it dude Rodden has been messaging me And texting me daily He is a sick bastard, and that's why I love him. He is from Australia, and he is absolutely hilarious. So he's been one of our original listeners as well, probably one of the original 11, I'm pretty sure. So he was heartbroken, Drew. You know why? Why? He was going to TPF. Are you talking to your microphone? Because you sound far away, Drew. I'm here now. Okay. He was going to go to TPF And he wanted to meet you He was so excited to drink with you Drew You have no idea He messaged a little back and forth Him and a couple others It just sucks I totally wanted to meet all these people in person It would have been awesome Especially from being from the land down under So Very cool He always tells me he wants to be the first international tribe member And Drew's like Don't we have like four guys from Canada I'm like, I'm pretty sure we do. But you know what? Fuck him. Yep. He's our first international. That just goes to show you, nobody cares about Canada. Oh! I just consider Canada like they're just home. They're North America. Yeah, they're part of home. We love you. We love you, Canada. So everybody, we love you. But Rodden, it's his time to shine. So, Rodden, I will be sending you an email, an invite to the Seeker Group, and we are also going to be donating $10 to Project Pinball in your name. Rodden, welcome aboard, buddy. You are now part of the mud, and we're going to drag you through it. Perfect. All right. So, do we have anything else, Drew? Not much, man. And this is, like, I am having so much fun with pinball as always, but as far as, like, stuff to tell the people, you know, we started off this episode like a fucking Friday episode, and I think that's just what we're going to do until shit gets back to normal. Right, right. I mean, we'll talk about pinball stuff because, like I said, I love talking pinball all day, but it's just, you know, there's just not a lot. Maybe we'll, you know what, we just need to get some more tribe members on and just have some fun, and, you know, we're just going to keep the community alive that's what we're doing yep we have uh we have actually a few tribe members that have wanted to go on i'm just uh i'm lazy and i'm trying to figure out three-way calling on skype and i'm sure it's super super easy but i haven't looked into it yet so once i find out how to do that we're gonna have more guys on but um until then um if you want to have a three-way with ian and i email us at poor man's pinball at gmail.com all of our tribe members too apparently so um let's just throw this out there too you know since we're wrapping up the show um silver ball swag still selling our shit i i forget that we have t-shirts and stuff for sale but they're great t-shirts they're very comfortable i'm wearing one right now i'm wearing one of the right now oh that hoodie is that hoodie is so nice it's it's that it's that like thin material so it's like perfect for spring perfect for the fall you know anywhere between 40 degrees and like 60 degrees it is just like it just hugs you and just oh it feels so good it makes me feel like super strong because my muscles show through like and i don't have too many anymore because i haven't been to the gym forever but you know it's one of those things like it's nice to show off the a little bit so if you want to impress the ladies guys beer belly and all because and for me it's just a little tight so it's kind of like a girdle so it's even better you know so you know either way you win yeah no it's you're a little skinny you don't have the biggest muscles it's it fits you that's what i was that's where i was going with drew because my beer gut but yes the beer gut is in all of its glory shows up perfectly it's like a half moon um so uh so yeah the hoodie highly recommend it's my favorite article clothing still to this day um and we got the skull and crossbones uh crossbones logo so and we have franchi t-shirts guys this is original franchi art yeah yeah so so guys don't don't forget about us we got mugs we got all sorts of shit so this franchi art is probably the most satisfying art you'll ever have on your body if you guys keep sharing with me all the macho merchandise you keep buying i'm gonna fucking puke again i can't do it anymore so you guys our shit's better we got way more of a variety shop silver ball swag uh promoter tab poor man's pinball podcast apparently we're gonna have to talk about this every episode because you guys keep forgetting about us so uh love us like us on facebook and of course fire shit over at silver ball swag we just bank it on it because we need that for any kind of equipment we're gonna in the future. I'm not sending my daughter to college anytime soon with the t-shirt sales right now. Buy some for us. Bye, bye, bye. Bye, bye, bye. Thank you very much for listening, Drew. I love you, man. Yes, I love you too, man. I'm glad we got to... I'm glad we're back on our regular schedule. Can I just say that? Yeah, I agree 100%. It's nice to do this on Monday nights just because then I don't have to worry about it the rest of the week it's just perfect get it done and then we're on to the next it'll be great alright brother well I love you thank you very much everybody for listening buy your shit on silver ball swag make sure you check out the pin stadium lights make sure you check out the pin shades and of course stay safe out there wash your hands wash your genitals and make sure none of those dirty vaginas go in your mouth. I just said it again. Sorry, Anne. I thought that was Amy. Sorry, Amy. I'm sorry, Anne and Amy. If there's an Anne out there, we apologize. Alright, thank you very much, guys. Have a good day. you
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medium · Scott Ian philosophy: 'would you want to keep shooting this game with no artwork?' applied to Whitewater as test case for design excellence

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    historical_signal: Documentation of Taxi (1988) design team including Ed Boone's dual role as Mortal Kombat co-creator and Williams pinball software architect

    high · Scott Ian presenting verified historical fact about Noob Saibot character name derivation (Boone backwards) connecting Mortal Kombat and pinball industries

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    licensing_signal: Taxi licensing issue case study: Marilyn Monroe copyright/trademark enforcement forced mid-production backglass redesign from Monroe to 'Lola' character

    high · First 200 Taxi units featured Marilyn Monroe; legal action forced character redesign; Roger Sharpe confirms rare red-haired Lola variant exists

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    collector_signal: Rarity hierarchy established for Taxi variants with Marilyn Monroe backglass ($$$), black-haired Lola (common), and red-haired Lola (ultra-rare) driving secondary market differentiation

    high · Scott Ian presenting documented variant information with explicit rarity tiers based on production sequence and licensing constraints

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    restoration_signal: Hard top/cab refurbishment services available from unnamed vendor with powder coating capability, typical turnaround ~1.5-3 weeks depending on backlog

    medium · Drew reports vendor initially quoted 3 weeks, delivered in 1.5 weeks when called, indicates viable restoration supply chain option

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    technology_signal: Shaker motor compatibility expansion driven by universal control board (Pinshakers) enabling retrofits on previously incompatible platforms (WPC 95, System 11, System 9)

    high · Pinshakers product offers compatibility list spanning multiple Williams/Bally hardware generations previously limited to game-specific installations