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PINBALL OZ WIDE : EPISODE 11 - MELBOURNE PINBALL EXPO WRAP UP

Pinball Oz Wide·podcast_episode·1h 5m·analyzed·Nov 13, 2025
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.029

TL;DR

Melbourne Pinball Expo recap: smooth event, strong attendance, Harry Potter dominates, fun community moments.

Summary

Jared Morgan and Matthew recap the Melbourne Pinball Expo, a well-organized weekend event with strong attendance and sold-out tickets. They discuss setup logistics, vendor interactions, player experiences with featured machines (particularly Harry Potter), celebrity guest Eric Meunier visit, and humorous doppelgänger encounters throughout the weekend.

Key Claims

  • George sold out most of the expo tickets, indicating strong demand

    high confidence · Matthew states 'George ended up selling out most of the tickets, so that was quite good'

  • Harry Potter machines received 'massive workout' and were extremely popular at the expo

    high confidence · Jared mentions 'JJPs were getting a massive workout, especially the Harry Potter' and later declares 'Harry Potter for me...was king of the castle hands down'

  • A code update (v1.0) for Harry Potter was released prior to the expo addressing scoop coil strength issues

    high confidence · Matthew describes: 'They released an update prior to Expo that was a 1.0 update that the coil recognises this and gets stronger and stronger...But because that wasn't on that code, we had to abandon the game'

  • Eric Meunier (designer) scored approximately 2.9 billion on Harry Potter during the expo

    high confidence · Matthew quotes Eric: 'I just played Harry Potter and 2.9 billion' and 'he literally said he blew it up'

  • ACME Pinball's next machine will be Back to the Future, developed by Dutch designer

    high confidence · Matthew reveals: 'Back to the Future is the next one by Dutch. So if you guys are excited about that machine, I'd definitely suggest you speak to Lucas and Russell from Acme Pinball'

  • The expo ran smoothly with no major incidents or organizational issues

    high confidence · Jared states: 'there was no, fuck, I wish this had happened...there was none of that sort of stuff...It sounded like it ran really smoothly'

  • Eric Meunier remained in Australia for the week following the expo to hang out with other players

    medium confidence · Matthew notes: 'he's staying here for the week, so he's going out and doing a few things with a few other guys'

  • Harry Potter machines had a known issue with scoop coil kick-out strength during double-ball scenarios in multiball

    high confidence · Matthew describes incident: 'I must have got two balls during a multiball in there, and the coil wasn't strong enough to kick it out'

Notable Quotes

  • “Harry Potter for me...was king of the castle hands down”

    Jared @ near end of episode — Clear statement that Harry Potter CE was the standout game of the expo from the host's perspective

  • “JJPs were getting a massive workout, especially the Harry Potter”

    Matthew @ early in recap — Confirms extraordinary player traffic and engagement on the featured Jersey Jack Pinball machines

  • “Back to the Future is the next one by Dutch”

    Matthew @ mid-episode during vendor discussion — Major announcement leak/confirmation of ACME Pinball's next machine title

  • “I'm buying this machine. I want to buy a CE”

    Jared @ near end — Demonstrates strong player reaction and desire to purchase Harry Potter CE based on expo experience

  • “I had 15 hours sleep in three days. It was pretty hectic.”

    Matthew @ opening section — Illustrates intensity of running expo logistics and media coverage for four consecutive days

  • “George was happy come Friday when he just turned around and was like, okay, you guys need to deal with certain things yourselves”

    Matthew @ mid-episode during event management discussion — Shows event organizer gained confidence and delegated effectively as the event ran smoothly

Entities

JaredpersonMatthewpersonGeorgepersonEric MeunierpersonAlanapersonLucaspersonRussellpersonDavidpersonSophieperson

Signals

  • ?

    event_signal: Melbourne Pinball Expo achieved sold-out ticket status with high player traffic, no downtime, and consistently full machines throughout the weekend

    high · Matthew: 'George ended up selling out most of the tickets'; Jared: 'I certainly felt like there were no machines that were really empty...Most of them were full'

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Harry Potter CE emerged as the standout attraction, receiving disproportionate player traffic and generating strong purchase intent from experienced players

    high · Jared: 'Harry Potter for me...was king of the castle hands down'; Matthew: 'JJPs were getting a massive workout, especially the Harry Potters'; Jared: 'I'm buying this machine. I want to buy a CE'

  • ?

    code_update: Harry Potter received v1.0 code update prior to expo addressing critical scoop coil strength issue during multiball, though some machines at expo ran older code

    high · Matthew: 'They released an update prior to Expo that was a 1.0 update that the coil recognises this and gets stronger...But because that wasn't on that code, we had to abandon the game'

  • ?

    product_concern: Harry Potter CE exhibits scoop coil kick-out failure when two balls enter the scoop during multiball, potentially causing game abandonment

    high · Matthew's account of gameplay incident: 'I must have got two balls during a multiball in there, and the coil wasn't strong enough to kick it out...we had to abandon the game'

  • ?

    announcement: Back to the Future confirmed as next ACME Pinball machine, designed by Dutch designer, with pre-orders available through Lucas and Russell

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.196

0:00
Welcome everyone to Pinball Auswide episode 11. As always I'm Jared joined by Matthew himself in the flesh. We're just going to do a quick run-through of the expo. We've just had Melbourne Pinball Expo on the weekend and we just wanted to get our thoughts and discussions about sort of the weekend and what we got up to, what we did, and just a little bit of a chat while it's still fresh in our minds, I guess, and let everyone who didn't manage to go just some feedback on it. Yep. So hopefully maybe next year you can show up because it was a great review we're going to give. Yes, but, I mean, regardless of that, it was quite full anyway. I think George ended up selling out most of the tickets, so that was quite good. So, yeah, I think overall, as a whole, I think the place was a successful event. Yeah, there weren't many people lined up either, so it was like one or two deep, wasn't it? I don't even know. Yeah, Sunday was about the only time I noticed it was two deep. I certainly felt like there were no machines that were really empty. Yeah, that's right. Most of them were full. I mean, I certainly know that JJPs were getting a massive workout. especially the Harry Potters.
1:30
But before we get into this, how did you pull up, Jared, anyway, honestly? It was a long four days, mate. It was a long four days, yeah. So for those that don't know, we were there Thursday helping just set up and doing a bit of a walkthrough. We were sort of media socials for the event.
1:48
That was us spamming you guys on the page. Yeah, so I appreciate everyone sort of putting up with that. No, look, I'll be honest, it did certainly take me a couple of days to recover. I think Sunday night, and we'll get into it because we had the Metallica concert Saturday night as well, but Sunday night, you know, I was glad to get home and I felt like I was pretty drained. Monday, you know, again, I felt pretty drained. Like I felt like I was coming down with something, like I felt like my throat was a bit fucked and my nose was running a little bit. But I had a couple of early nights, and by early I mean in bed by sort of half ten, whereas usually I'm an 11, 30, 12-ish kind of person and yeah, just sort of kicked it over. Feeling much better today though, that's for sure. Good to hear. Yeah, what about you? Did you take a bit or are you all right now? Yeah, I'm feeling all right now. It's now Wednesday so it's been two days or three days since the expo and that night after, what time did we get home? About 8.30 wasn't it on the Sunday? Sunday. It was about 8.30. Yeah. Yeah, I think I probably got home about 8. Yeah, about 8. So I was happy to just get inside, see the kids, see the missus, because I think I had 15 hours sleep in three days. It was pretty hectic. And it was just nice to sit down at my computer. I was like, oh, Jesus Christ, look at all these emails here. And it was just nice to kick back and relax, just in the comfort of my own home. And honestly, my bed got a good workout. I don't need to hear that. I was in sleeping, mate. This is a fucking PG, mate. Mate, mate. Don't go into that. No, it was not. I made a good workout for sleeping, honestly. Oh, right, okay. So it was just, yeah. So my wife was great enough to actually drop the kids off at school on Monday.
Oscar
person
Paulperson
Zachperson
Rowan Pattonperson
Shannonperson
Soniaperson
Glenn Atwellperson
Enzoperson
Nadineperson
Melbourne Pinball Expoevent
[name withheld pending review]game
Back to the Futuregame
Jersey Jack Pinballcompany
ACME Pinballcompany
Avid Creations - Morrell's Pinball Wireformscompany

high · Matthew: 'Back to the Future is the next one by Dutch. So if you guys are excited about that machine, I'd definitely suggest you speak to Lucas and Russell from Acme Pinball and get your name down quick'

  • ?

    community_signal: Podcast hosts' real-time social media coverage during expo generated significant engagement (likes, interactions, reach) on Pinball Oz Wide community page

    high · Jared: 'the posts and the live feeds we did they certainly got good reach on the page lots of likes, lots of interactions so hopefully everyone enjoyed it'

  • ?

    operational_signal: Expo organizers successfully scaled from intensive hands-on management to delegated leadership by Friday, allowing event organizer to relax while maintaining smooth operations

    high · Matthew: 'George was happy come Friday...once one sort of thing started running a bit smoothly for him, I think he actually got to enjoy it'

  • ?

    venue_signal: Expo achieved high-capacity operations with no reported bottlenecks, security issues, or crowd control problems despite sold-out status

    high · Jared: 'I certainly felt like there were no machines that were really empty...Yeah, that's right. Most of them were full'; Matthew: 'there was no...a machine fell on someone's foot, like there was none of that sort of stuff...It sounded like it ran really smoothly'

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Eric Minya, pinball designer, made guest appearance at Melbourne expo, signed merchandise, played competitively, and remained in Australia for post-event networking

    high · Matthew: 'Eric Minya, who was there...got my apron for my Guns N' Roses machine signed'; 'he's staying here for the week, so he's going out and doing a few things with a few other guys'

  • ?

    collector_signal: Host Jared expressed strong intent to purchase Harry Potter CE after expo experience, indicating high perceived value and appeal to competitive/experienced players

    high · Jared: 'I've had a couple of days to simmer on it because I was sitting in the expo going like, how can I buy a CE? I'm buying this machine. I want to buy a CE'

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Eric Minya achieved approximately 2.9 billion points on Harry Potter CE, demonstrating the machine's scoring depth and ceiling for skilled players

    high · Matthew: 'on the Sunday, he came up to me sort of chest out and he was like, I just played Harry Potter and 2.9 billion...he blew it up. He goes it was a great game'

    • 3:35
    I thought you were getting back into your bed with your wife. No. My wife was great in bed as well. No, she was great enough to let me sleep in on Monday, took the kids to school. So I was able to, I think I didn't roll out of bed until about 11 o'clock. So it was nice. But yeah, back to reality. I didn't get out of bed until like sort of 8 8ish or so I can't sleep in because same thing kids and you know wife and up and about and the day just starts so it was a matter of just get up and also guys we should actually have a language advisory warning here because we forgot about that we did so warning guys Jared says too many swear words he's a bad man I am a bad man so where do we start Yeah, so Thursday we got there. You picked me up at 9, was it? No, 8.40, 8.30 it was actually. I might turn into a local cab for you, which is not happening next year. Yeah, well, we're Ubering. We're Ubering, mate. I'm not Ubering shit. So what happened? So anyway, so you picked me up about 8.30. We got there. It was a shit show driver there that day. It wasn't on Thursday in the morning. Just the traffic stopped, started up on Mon Air. It was horrible. We actually saw an accident on the way, which was about 100 metres in front of us. And we just pulled off, so we were lucky. and we had some stupid bitch behind us beeping us. What do you want us to do? We can't move anywhere. The traffic was stopped. So anyway, so we rocked in and we were expecting to have a heap of machines already sitting there ready to be unpacked and unfortunately people weren't showing up like I think Georgia was expecting. So look, we set up the camera, did a bit of a time lapse and myself and Jared got to set up. What are we going to do? The first one was Predator. We put that on its legs and set it up. Sitting on our asses waiting for machines to come in and then when they did... So we set up Predator, Alien, three Harry Potters.
    5:20
    Sorry, that was a combined effort, so we put all of them together. Yeah, so we did that with Paul and Dion. And who else was in the room? Vince was in the room as well, yeah. Vince and... Because that was in the round room. If people were there, they had a really nice sort of acoustic round room. And Paul wanted to get two CEs and two Wizard editions set up in that room in like a cross section. in a circular cross section, if that makes sense. Yep. Which I think looked really, really nice, actually. It worked well. They were pretty easy to set up, to be honest. They were simple, weren't they? Honestly, probably the easiest we should have ever set up. Yep. Yeah, it didn't take long at all. Just cut the straps, slide the top off, put two legs on,
    6:02
    put it straight down. And the beautiful thing was the topper for the CE was already on it, so you didn't have to worry about doing topper and all that sort of stuff, which was really easy. I think the hardest part about setting up those Harry Potters was the bloody topper for the arcade edition, wasn't it? Yeah. Little screws in such a tight spot. Yep, you had to have little baby hands, little supple baby hands like myself to get in there and just do them up. Supple baby hands. Yep, that's it. So what else did we set up? We just helped everyone else around. Yeah, I think because we were leaving it about. We helped totally some machines and there was others, just moving machines around. I helped Dan set up a few machines as well. Yeah, I think just because people were sort of floating in late-ish, there was no real need for us to sort of stick around. And we didn't want to stick around all day, obviously. There's only so much you can put up on the page, I guess. That's exactly right. And what happened then? Friday came. So you picked me up at 9. Yeah, it was about 9 because we got there about 9.30. Yeah. 9.35 or something like that. Yeah, because the show opened at 10 for the first session. So we got in there, brought all our merch in, our T-shirts and our stubby holders and stickers. Yeah. Got our nice little prime position there. I was really happy where we sat, mate. It was a good spot. Yeah, it wasn't too bad, actually. I think it was where most of the action was because you had the JJPs and you had Zachs as well. So, and then opposite us was ACME and obviously MPE as well with their Predator and the like. So, there were a few people around us, which was good. So, that was enjoyable. So, we did that. And then, yeah, it was pretty much, I felt like it was just a big meet and greet, mate. We had a big meet and greet with everyone. We did. So many people coming up to us saying g'day. Like, you know, we put faces to names, which, you know, we never met. But people who listen to our podcast, we didn't even know. Big shout out to Glenn Atwell.
    7:50
    Avid listener. He's new into the scene. He's really enjoying the podcast. And, mate, I know you listen, buddy, so it was great seeing you there. Yeah, and his kids were fucking awesome. They were so funny. Yeah, that's exactly right. I think they said one of them put up second. I was a bit of a bastard, actually. It was funny. I was telling someone the other day. one of his kids put up a like a number four score on Harry Potter and then the other son said oh and I came second and I just turned around and said no one remembers second mate you know and walked off on him so it was it was a bit of a bastard thing to say but I still said so apologies Glenn I I hope he's recovered from that but um yeah him his his family his wife we had a bit of a chat too so it was good fun yeah we also um we were just standing there as well and someone was playing machine and I'm sorry me and Jerry were just talking and someone said is that the pinball podcast voices I can hear there no idea it was I'm sorry but yeah shout out to you mate look you probably didn't introduce yourself but yeah just you kind of forget some of the names too many names it was just so many people too many names yeah but honestly as we walked in that door to begin with mate had two awesome faces there two awesome smiles and who were they buddy it was David and Sophie from Morel's pinball wire forms wire forms that's correct Yeah, nice, nice people, really nice. Always happy. I swear every time we will pass, stop and have a chat. Yeah, it was a bit hard not to, actually. It was, 100%, because they're just so lovely people. So I support them anyway as well. So I bought some, what I get, I got myself the meeting of Amanda's customer wire form. So that's for people that don't know, he designed one that goes around, sort of waves around the back of the trolls. So not over them, because obviously the trolls do pop up and do sit underneath the wire form as it is. If you have the Dragon, he was saying on the left-hand ramp, you can just move it up to the next mounting spots where I think the switch is or something and mount it off that. So you're still able to use it. So I'm just going to move mine back a little bit. And what else did I buy? I bought the Adams family wavy ramp. So something not ramp, wire form. No, it's not actually wavy. Was it wavy? No, it's just got the cage on it. So it stops the ball from flying off.
    10:03
    So I bought them by buying them. and yeah, so happy to support guys like that. So then, what else were we doing? We were just... Well, Saturday just sort of came and went, really. Like, we just spent a bit of time walking around. We're still on Friday, aren't we? On Friday, excuse me. Yeah, so Friday, yeah. So I walked around, you walk around the corner, there's Oscar there with all his machines. How many do you have there? I think it was like 15. It was, wasn't it? Something stupid like that. Some of that. I think he bought one while he was there and just put a price tag on it. He did a few styles. Yeah, then listed it again. And I played that, actually. I didn't play many machines, but I got on Fishtails and it actually played pretty nicely, to be honest. Yep, so we had a good chat with Oscar and he was nice to know you. Well, nice to get along with you. So then what did we have? We'd walk up a bit more.
    10:47
    Well, that's where you found the Spooky Guys. Oh, yeah, yeah, that's right. And Victor Pimble were there. Yep, yep. Obviously, you had Steel Tiger were there as well. Yeah, Daniel from there. Smith Pimble were there. So, yeah, I mean, I don't know. Did you want to go through every single person? We could just give them a shout-out. But anyway, we also had Lucas and Russell from Acme Pinball with Alice in Wonderland. And he also had a machine which was switched off next to that machine. So what machine was that? Back to the Future. That's it. Are they hinting something there, mate? Well, people will find out. We went around on the Sunday later and did sort of interviews with a lot of these guys. I think with all of them, actually. and yeah, they've let the cat out of the bag. They have. Back to the Future is the next one by Dutch. So if you guys are excited about that machine, I'd definitely suggest you speak to Lucas and Russell from Acme Pinball and get your name down quick, I think. So we had Zach's as well there. So we had a talk to Zach and also Alana. So I even raved from Reality Amusements. We had Tim from Hot Rubber Pinball. So yeah, so we got to chat with all these people and everyone was lovely and everyone was welcoming. Everyone wanted to have a chat. Yeah, we spent a lot of time speaking to literally those people over and over and over again for three days. And yeah, pretty cool. And also we had Paul from Pinball Sales Australia and he had a special guest, Eric Minya, who was there. He did. Which I was quite excited about because I got my apron for my Guns N' Roses machine signed, custom signed to me. Yeah, looking good. And also my Pirates of the Caribbean machines apron. So I took them in and he was happy to sign them. He signed my Pinballers Wide t-shirt as well. So what a lovely guy anyway. So we had a good chat. I chatted his ear off, honestly. I think I was the first person to talk to him. Yeah, he was probably happy to see the backside of me.
    12:41
    No, not at all. So no, very nice guy. So I bought him a beer and we had a chat. Yeah. So what up? Yeah, it was definitely easy to chat to. He actually came up to me on the Sunday, I think it was. so we ended up having a full player game so it was you, me, Enzo from Perth and Eric we started a full player game on the CE of Harry Potter I started off okay and then he just fucking second ball I think he just took right off he scored us you know 200 and something 30,000 or whatever it was and then it came around to my game and I actually started catching him so I was only like a 30,000 at the time and got myself up to about 170. And unfortunately, what happened is I hit, or somehow, because you can get a ball into the scoop from behind the scoop as well as into the scoop from front on as well, so from flippers.
    13:38
    And I must have got two balls during a multi-ball in there, and the coil wasn't strong enough to kick it out. Yes, that's right. So they released an update prior to Expo that was a 1.0 update that the coil recognises this and gets stronger and stronger and stronger each kick out. But because that wasn't on that code, we had to abandon the game. And I cheekily said to Eric, well, I'll take that win because I was catching his sort of thing. But yeah, on the Sunday, he came up to me sort of chest out and he was like, I just played Harry Potter and 2.9 billion. I was like, fuck, I'm glad I didn't play you on that one then because it sounds like he literally said he blew it up. He goes it was a great game. So he really is. He's a very, very nice guy, easy to chat to. You know, we chatted a bit. I didn't realise he's staying here for the week, so he's going out and doing a few things with a few other guys, which would be nice.
    14:35
    But, yeah, it was a shame Jack couldn't come out. He felt ill, so was better off sort of staying at home by the sounds of it. And you don't blame him. I mean, a 20-something hour flight. Yeah, I mean, for me, I mean, you've done your shout-outs. I mean, my little shout-outs for people was to meet Lockie Moore. Yeah, yeah. That was really nice. I enjoyed having a chat with him, and his kids were there as well with his wife. So he came up from Canberra, so same thing. His kids were knackered, you know, on the drive up. So they didn't stay very long on the Friday, it might have been.
    15:10
    But he was good to chat to. Michael Keogh as well. So he supported us with a couple of t-shirt sales.
    15:18
    I was a bit embarrassed because I started chatting to him, and then he was like, oh, you know, I'm going to pick up my t-shirt as well while I'm here. I'm like, oh, and I had to ask him again what his name was. And he was like, Michael. I'm like, fuck, Michael. And then the penny dropped, and seriously, mate, just a chill fucking guy. Really, really cool. Really nice. I managed to speak to Enzo for a bit as well from WA, so he came down. So Enzo, nice to meet you, mate. I did say to him only a day or two ago, I said, you know, hopefully we bump into you again. I know Perth is miles away, but it'd be nice to bump into him again and hang out.
    15:54
    But certainly the other one, actually, David Stein from Bumper Action was there. So that was an interesting conversation, especially about all the Woz debate and debacle that went on with Bumper and the issues that he had trying to get, what did he say? it was like worth of machines paid for and you know organised when the company or the new owner sort of took and ran And Louis as well with his Superman. I mean, that Tim Reed Superman was amazing. Yep, yep. I was saying to Tim, I mean, Louis basically, you could, I mean, don't take this the wrong way, Louis, if you're listening, but I could have walked off on him and he still would have been talking about it. That's how much passion he had about it. Not that I would have walked off on him, obviously, Louis. So if you're listening, I had no intention to but that was just to give people an understanding of what kind of a guy he was in regards to talking about that Superman and how excited he is to get it home. So I think he was taking that home now. Very passionate. After the expo. So he'll have that in his place and we'll get a chance to play it. So they were just some of the people. I mean, obviously, as we discussed, a lot of the exhibitors there, Tim was awesome to speak to. Dave and Sophie were great. Managed to catch up with Oscar, which was good. And I saw Troy down there as well from my old Caroline Springs neighbour. So that was nice to catch up with him as well. So obviously, Jared, we need to do a big shout out to the MPE hosts. So George, Sonia and Shannon, you guys did an amazing job, guys. congratulations on the success and hopefully next year it's bigger and better we really appreciate that you wanted us there to do your media for you and we hope we've covered the exposure that you need so it was great fun certainly the feedback we got was from Pinball Ozwide the posts and the live feeds we did they certainly got good reach on the page lots of likes, lots of interactions so hopefully everyone enjoyed it But definitely to George and Shannon especially, Sonia obviously as well.
    18:14
    Yeah, big congratulations. Ran pretty smooth. And I think look forward to it next year, definitely. Fantastic. I think George was happy come Friday when he just turned around and was like, okay, you guys need to deal with certain things yourselves rather than coming to me and asking where are pennies or some blue tack. Not that that's what the examples they use, but just to give an idea. and once one sort of thing started running a bit smoothly for him, I think he actually got to enjoy it. Yeah, that's right. He got to chill out and relax. Look, I've been to a few expos, regardless pinball-wise and others. I mean, I've been to a couple of pinny ones as well, but I thought it was really smoothly run. It was. Fantastic. And obviously being in the media and that side of things with the socials, you know, you hear what goes on behind the scenes as well because you're chatting to the people that are setting up and organising and all that sort of stuff. And there was no, fuck, I wish this had happened, and oh my God, did you hear about that, and oh Jesus, you know, a machine fell on someone's foot, like there was none of that sort of stuff, you know. It sounded like it ran really smoothly for them. And there weren't any idiots either causing problems either. No. It was all smooth, all like-minded people, all that have fun. We're all big geeks, aren't we? That's what we are, big geeks enjoying pinball. So, yeah, so sort of that's, you know, like Friday we've been through. Saturday was, look, I think Friday, Saturday, Sunday were very much, you know, multipliers of each day. Yeah, pretty much. They just, you know, rolled into one another. The only thing on Saturday that was a bit different is we sort of jetted off to the Metallica concert. So we had to leave sort of mid-afternoon. 4.30. Yeah, yeah, to get there. But otherwise. I was just going to say that, you know, Friday we didn't get home until bloody Saturday morning at like 2 a.m., was it? So you dropped me off about 2 a.m. Was it really that late on Friday, was it? Yeah, it was about 2 a.m. Yeah, okay. So then we're back at 9.30. Oh, hang on. Yeah, yeah. 9.30 again. So Saturday morning we got back there early, yeah. Yeah, back there about 9.30. Yeah. And I just want to do a shout-out as well, just like saying it was great to also catch up with the Rowan Patton. So, you know, he came down and stayed with me, so it was good to do that. Yep. Catch up with Chris Warren, Rick Perez, There's James, I don't know, Van Sloudenberg. I can't pronounce his name, but nice to see you boys. Haven't sat down and had some lunch with you.
    20:35
    Look, there's plenty more people, but too many to name, honestly. I suppose we shouldn't go too much further without forgetting the Tassie Mafia boys too. I was forgetting because they didn't show up until late, mate. It was not my fault. Justin and Frank. Wonderful, wonderful guys who missed their flight. Yes. They missed their flight. They did. they ended up getting there on the same day by having to pay through the nose unfortunately but they arrived and yeah just a bunch of fucking legends so really really good to see them again they're funny as fuck those two guys good fun good stories to tell yeah 100% so shout out to those two boys so thank you nice to chat as always mate just miss you not you Frank so yeah so I suppose if that's about all we've just got some interviews oh we went to Metallica anyway and that this became a long night anyway didn't it so we I don't think we got to bed until about 4 o'clock didn't we I was yeah I think I was home by 3.30 3.34 yeah I think it was about that yeah because I was moderating the page at 3.30 when I was in bed from memory so yeah I was home by about 3.30 I was about the same time as well so and then we'll back out of it again the next day yep oh it was big so it was nice to finally get home after all that but yeah i think the only saving grace was it was a 10 o'clock start yeah i think we decided to have a little sleep about 11 30 um got there at about 11 30 yeah i was pulling up to the car park so i got a phone call from you guys at about 11 30 saying oh we're just leaving he goes what the fuck you're gonna be late i fucking lost my shit and i was like you bunch of cunts you said we were going to meet there about quarter past 11.
    22:22
    And you're only just pulling in as well, mate. And I was pulling in at 11.30, the time we discussed. So if you had been leaving when you said you wouldn't have been there till, you know, like 12. And then, yeah, I had this fucking massive jeep up my ass and the horn went and I looked out to the window. Those bars was a-beapin'. Yeah, these two fucking fat cunts sitting in the car. So I panicked a little bit and it was Matt and Rowan. I'm like, you bunch of freaks. He had to change his underwear after that. I shit myself.
    22:53
    Because I was just moseying around the car park, you know, and I was just trying to find a park because the front car park was all full. So I went to the back section and, look, I wasn't really using my indicator because it's a car park and I really do that too often. You deserve that fucking beat. So I probably deserved it, but yeah.
    23:10
    Until I saw your ugly mug hanging out giving me the bird, I was like, oh, fucking hell. You thought he was in for a bashing, didn't he? Well, not really. I just thought it was going to be a bit of a mouth it off. That was all. I'm like, oh, fuck, here we go. Two dipshits.
    23:25
    So while we're on the track of little funny stories, this is called the Dope-O-Ganger Experience. A Dope-O-Ganger Experience. So it's a bit of a running joke from last year. So myself and Rowan went to the Pinnable Expo last year. Jarrod was meant to come, but he hurt himself. Anyway, so whatever. We went in, did the expo. So the intermission session came at lunchtime, so me and Rowan and our friend Rob were sitting down having lunch, and I was facing out into the front four area where you line up to go in. And fucking Jared's there. Jared's just shown up. I was like, the prick is lining me. And I started walking out and waving at you. I'm waving at this bloke. It wasn't Jared. It was his twin. It was his doppelganger. Seriously, this bloke, I swear, I've asked people, and they would go, Jesus Christ. Not true. mate nothing like me it is like you exactly like you I'm sorry he was like 6'4 and about twice my size yeah but it looked like you seriously no mate otherwise why would I have gone over to go say good day to him so anyway so this year anyway I told Jared about this story good fuck he wasn't impressed with it not at all so anyway so this year the same bloke showed up I'm like fuck Jared's back again he's over so I got to see him so I went to Nothing like me. So I went and showed, I told Alana from Zax about it, and she went around and she went, fuck it is, it's like playing Where's Wally. He's there, he's there. She was just playing along. She couldn't help herself. Bullshit. And then Rowan Stopped the Dang, he was there as well, which I pointed out. But before that, on Sunday, Rowan said, oh, I'm going, mate, I'm going to go home. And I'd, where do I go? I'd walk somewhere, then I saw someone sitting there, I was like, oh, fucking Rowan's over there. And I was like, oh, it's not Rowan. Look, no shit. It was almost another spitting image of him. So here's his doppelganger now. But before he left, I actually said, I'm going to find your doppelganger, mate. You are going to have a doppelganger. And he magically appeared out of nowhere. So I'd say same size, same build, had the glasses on too, same sort of haircut, same sort of beard, and even the white shoe, the whitish type of shoes you had. Then after the Metallica concert, we went to the crowd casino and I found my doppelganger there. Well, I didn't actually get to see him in person, but we were walking into the casino, Jarrod walked through, Rowan walked through, they pulled me to the side, they said, oh, I need to check your ID. I'm like, why? And Jarrod and Rowan stand there pissing and stuff laughing. They're like, oh, you got carded. Yeah, I got carded. I'm like, Jesus Christ. I pulled my ID out and showed him, like, what's up? He said, that's all right. So I sort of saw on the screen there was a person that looked like me. So they were obviously looking for someone. who's done something wrong here at the casino, and their facial recognition has picked me up as being the same person. So they let me in anyway, so there's no issues. They never asked any other questions. But you kept walking out, and they kept fucking checking you every time you were coming back in. That's exactly right. So I walked out, and I came back in again. I just walked past this cigarette two seconds later,
    26:30
    and then walked back in, and then they're like, oh, check your ID. I'm like, for fuck's sake. So I saw on the screen that I had both images, my image and this other person's image. So that is a doppelganger experience that we had on the weekend. Three. We did. Three for three, mate. We're looking for others next year, I think. Oh, 100%. We'll find others. We're just going to make it. We'll see if we can find Alana's and maybe George's and Shannon's and see what we can do. We could just put up a post of Haas and stunt doubles and just make them show up. Maybe we could. That could be so funny. Maybe we could. So, yeah, it was very funny.
    27:02
    Honestly, mate, what do you think the best game at the Expo was? Oh, Harry Potter for me. Harry Pelley put it was king of the castle hands down and I mean I didn't get a chance to play many games to be honest because as I said to a few people there you know Axel included oh so yeah g'day Axel had a nice catch up with him as well which was good but yeah as I was saying to Axel at the time when I went to Tazpin I wanted to play and did play Deadpool you know my first ball I think I was like 500 is it 500 million? 500,000? 500 million and there were these two guys behind me and i just like i just drained the next three or four balls because i had an extra ball as well which you get you know after reaching 30 weapons i think it is so i just drained because i you know what am i going to stand there for another fucking 10 minutes and play this game you know when these poor bosses behind me probably just want to you know have a bit of a bash and play for two and a half minutes and not that i was playing for you know 40 minutes but it would have been a four five minute ball i guess yeah So I tend to try and stay off machines for the general public more than anything. The VIP sessions are a bit different because they tend to be less public, I think. So I didn't play many, but I got to Harry Potter.
    28:21
    I did play some Predator as well. I didn't play any Kong. I wanted to play that while I was there. What else did I play? Like I said, I played a couple of getaways just because I like to play that game, but some of them weren't playing that great. unfortunately. The Fishtailers, as I said, I played. But yeah, Harry Potter for me, I've had a couple of days to simmer on it because I was sitting in the expo going like, how can I buy a CE? I'm buying this machine. I want to buy a CE. And I was asking a couple of people about would you sell two machines to buy one? Because I spoke to Nadine about it and she kind of was like, I don't care. So I'm like, okay, I've got to ask other people and see what they think. And a lot of them were like, yeah, sure, do it. Buy two machines and get the one. So I'm still deciding if that's what I want to do. Do it. Peer pressure. Because the CE being at 25 is right up there in price, and I'm not keen on spending that much.
    29:22
    And I wouldn't be looking at the CE because I want to be a CE owner. I'm very visual in everything I do and buy, and the decals and everything on that comparable to The Wizard is just killer. The Wizard is okay. There's no problems with that. Obviously, the gameplay is exactly the same so you don't miss out on that, but just something about that CE draws me in. That's all. So I'm pretty keen for it, to be honest. Yeah, nice. Well, I got to play some Evil Dead, which I was looking forward to. I played, I think, about four or five games of that. Yeah, I really enjoyed it, honestly. It's different. It's a different layout, different setup, but the integration is really good. That topper is amazing. Yep. Seriously, that is a jam-packed machine for what you can get. So if I had the spare room and the extra funds I would definitely want to buy one. Yep. So I got to spend a bit of time with Rick and Morty. I didn't actually realize how bloody hard that game is. I really like those lock shots where you lock the ball. Yeah. That is really smooth. That works out so nice, but I just couldn't get the um i just could not get the angle of the upper right flipper i struggled with that so yeah i was missing a lot of stuff yeah so and it would have been nice if it was a quieter environment i could hear what was going on i would have enjoyed you know like the humor to it as well got to play some tna which was yeah great fun so who did i play with i played with mark from spooky yeah he just bloody owned me he destroyed me so and um oh what was it as well eric was saying he played that and got to Reactor 6 or something. Yeah, I was videoing that as one of the live feeds. And here's me, you couldn't even get one Reactor started, so jeez. Got to play some Predator.
    31:06
    What was the next Predator? Alien. Alien, I didn't touch that. What else did I play? I played a little bit of Alice.
    31:15
    Yeah. Harry Potter, I played a fair bit of that. Quite a few games of that, so a mixture between the CE and the Wizard Mode. And I played some the other, some Oscars machines, what I played. Did you get onto any of Vector's machines? No, I didn't. I didn't play the Holden's or that. No, neither did I. Or the Lost in Space. No, I didn't. And how many machines was there all up? Did we? 150 or something. Was it 150? Yeah. Something silly like that. Yeah, but what a great setup. And I think the amount of people that were through there was a perfect number. Yeah. I don't think the, if there was any more, it would just be too much. It was just nicer. You could get up to a machine straight away. You didn't have to wait around for long. Yep. So, and everyone was respectful. So, yeah, it's a fantastic time. Yeah, great.
    32:00
    Well, I guess that's just going to lead us into the walk around we did at the Expo. So we're just going to let you guys have a bit of a listen to that. We just grabbed some of our mics and interviewed a few people on the Sunday. Hopefully, sound is okay.
    32:17
    You know, obviously, it was such a noisy environment with pinball machines and yelling and screaming and all the rest of it. so we've adjusted the audio to best we can, but it should be okay. And have a listen to that, and we'll throw out at the end of it. I asked Sophie about her affair with carbs, so just David excuse yourselves No we talk about not being a grand champion on anything Have you have you has he shown you Who my grand champion You should have he pulled up his jeans and I was like so he hikes that why he got the calves
    32:51
    So him and Ryan are going for a hike later in the week. I did pay attention. That good, aren't they? See? Alright. Anyway. So we haven't started, have we or not? Have we started? Yes, we have. We've started. It's just right now. Right now. So we're here with David and Sophie. Morel's Pimble Y Forms, guys. Thanks. It's just going to be a quick informal chat, so it's nothing major, all right? Easy. How are you enjoying it so far? It's been all right? Fantastic. What a weekend. Like, really good. Lots of people, and all different types of people. You get the mums and dads, you get the pimble lovers, and then you get the people that... Tell us what you really think. Use you, hang on, you held back. Alcoholics. They're pimble-aholics. They are. And then you get the people that are siding their machines everywhere, and they're all looking for something unique, and I think we've kind of sorted that out for them, and solutions for problems, which is pretty cool. So because this is a podcast, would you say quickly, for those that don't know, you do alternate wire forms? Yeah, well, we do alternates, we do reproductions, so there might be something that you just can't buy anymore. And just customs as well. Yeah, and then customs for all those homebrew guys. Yeah, nice. And then we do repairs. So you might have a wire form that's a bit rubbish, and you go, oh, I'll either buy a new one if I can. I can't find a new one, and it'd be easier just to repair it. So I can do repairs, getting re-chromed. Yeah, basically that's what we do. And now, Sophie, we're not going to ignore you, so you do a little bit of background work for him. Yeah, so I do the online stuff. So if you send emails and you get an email back from David, it's probably been written by you. So you're not the feminine one, even though it may come across that way. But it's kind of guys, David.
    34:34
    Well, good. Thank you, guys. Anything you want to plug or say while we got you? No, nothing. What a great weekend. Back next year? Definitely back next year. Good. It's been a success, you reckon? Definitely. Good success. Yeah, really cool. And I'll just say, just for the podcast, not necessarily for that, but it's been a real pleasure meeting you guys. 100%. It's been so nice just to chat and have a bit of a laugh, and I think that's a lot of what this has been about for me as well. Yeah, and I think, you know, you have a face to a name, And then you also get personality because writing on a text is like, yeah, we want this, we want that, great. It's real boring. But when you actually meet them, you're like, you know what? I think we can be friends. You know, like it's really cool. We've got really good podcast faces, don't we? Yeah, excellent podcast faces. I've always been told I've got a voice for radio, so I get that.
    35:25
    I've got customers. Channel 9, here we come, eh? Thank you, David. Thank you, Sophie. It's been really nice to meet you. So are you going, when are you guys leaving? You're staying? Into this session. Into the next session. Into the next? So you're packing up normal and off? Packing up. We'll come and say goodbye anyway before you go, though. It seems there's more time. Thanks, guys. Enjoy. And we're going to keep walking around. So we've got George and Shannon, Melbourne Expo guys. I just want to say quickly, what's our page called?
    35:53
    What's ours? People Auswide. What did he say we were called? He said Melbourne Expo. Is that a wrong question? Yeah. No, we're not Melbourne Expo. We're Melbourne Pinball Expo. Hey, that was a purpose. That was a deliberate. Yeah, that was a deliberate. Actually, I'm going to edit that out. Let's start again. What's our Facebook page?
    36:13
    Nice to see you, mate. How have you guys been? You all right? You enjoying it? Yeah, smashing it, mate. Yeah, good. It's nice, isn't it? Everyone seems to be having a frigging ball. Yeah, yeah. It's a full house. It's all done with the Dre. Awesome set-up. Yeah, with the Dre. Awesome set-up. Everyone's having fun, aren't they? Yeah, you guys having a good time? It's been nice, yeah. We just left David and Sophie. I think the people that are coming here, that are setting up, so are the expo guys, distributors, so easy. I mean, Eric is ridiculously nice. He's the nicest guy on the planet. When everyone talks on the internet, hear them. People face-to-face, everyone knows who you are, and that way we all get along in the end. That way they can call me an arsehole too, my place. Yeah, that's right. As opposed to behind my back all this time. And you can make men's too when you're here too. It's been happening. And this is why we don't do seminars.
    37:03
    So, honestly, talking to everyone, he's having a great time. George, you asked me, are you having a good time?
    37:09
    Honestly, guys, this weekend has been epic. Honestly, I'm knackered. I'm going to need like a week's rest after this. It's been epic, yeah. Fantastic. Congratulations. We'll let you get back to it. Thanks, boys. Honestly, appreciate it. Thank you very much. Have a great day. I'll share it with Tim.
    37:26
    Boys, how are you going? Are you enjoying it? Enjoy the day? So far, so good. Yeah, no, it's great. Last day at the Pinball Expo, day three. Yeah, really enjoying it. Credit to the organisers, all the vendors, everyone who's put in hard work. It's great. Credit to my fans. Sorry. I was going to say, he's really said everything I was about to say, so just jokes aside, it's actually been a really good show. It's great to see in Melbourne our hometown show. Yeah, it's awesome. People are playing pinballs and they're talking about stuff and it's good. It's good for the hobby. The best Melbourne pinball expo. The best Melbourne expo. That was Superman feedback feed on that feed. I've got to talk to Louis, but he kept going and going and you could see that that's a trip. Yeah, and you know when we talked on the podcast, I explained that he was the right guy to get that done because it was like pushing shit uphill, getting it done. and getting it done was like a monumental effort and he was the right customer to just wait patiently while we ironed out all the bugs with it and got things to where he was happy and where we were happy as well. So it was awesome and it's great to bring it here and let people see it as well. We've got to round and have a bit of a look at it. We've taken a few photos and put the posts up. I want to scan that QR because it shows you the shit heap that turned up apparently. Yes, it does. And I think that's why I put it there, because it's hard to explain sometimes just walking past it and seeing it, just what they start out like. And sometimes you just can't believe it. But it's really, if you scan that code, you can see the hours of time that we tried to put into it without cutting corners and tried to give Louis exactly what he was hoping for and a bit more. And I noticed Dead Flip, was it? Yes. That's a nice share, isn't it? That was a really nice share. I've got to be happy with that. Yeah, I sort of said to my wife, hey, Deadflip shared my post. She's like, so who? Oh, my God. Did you file the divorce papers? You go, listen, we're done. No. Take the kids offline. No. It was an awesome thing. And I guess it really shows that people value that we're trying to make these cabinets and getting them out to collectors who might not be able to send the entire machine to us. and I totally get that. So to have an option where they could do a lot of the work themselves and start with, yeah, they don't have to worry about, how do I learn how to paint? How do I make a cabinet? How do I put the decals on? It is daunting, man. It can be a lot. So there might not be for everyone, but they're there for the guys that would like one. Well, mate, it's nice to see you again. As I said to you when I came up, I feel like there was that connection and we just sort of, I wish you weren't in Geelong, man. I know, I know. You're just too far away. Talked and talked and talked, which we're doing now. I know it's like, hang on a minute. All right, cut. That's it. We're done.
    40:23
    It's been really nice. Thanks, guys. I wish I had taken a little bit more time to chat, but it's nice to see you again, man. Well done. Has it been a successful sort of time here for you? It has been good. Yeah, good. It's just great to show the games. And is that your tech walk?
    40:41
    He's one of the guys. This is Marty. Marty, welcome, sir. Matt, behind the scenes helps bring these to life, honestly. Like, I can make them look really good, and Marty and Daniel, who's not here, they really help iron out all the bugs, making these things come to life. So just to place you, is that the story of the guy when you were having the baby, and he's like, oh, give me a little tinker of this, I think I know what I'm doing. I pulled him into the vortex of pinball world. That was you. Yeah, that was me. So I started my career a long time ago in electrical repair. Sort of got out of it because what I used to repair, people don't get fixed anymore. You don't fix your TV anymore or your DVD player. You throw it in the bin, you buy a new one. Yeah. So when Tim came to me, I was making some hearts for him and he mentioned this Superman that, you know, was dead. No one works on him. We don't like, you can't find anyone to work on it. I nagged and nagged and nagged him. I said, you know, do you mind if I just take a look? You know, electronics is kind of a thing I play with. And I'd done a few repairs on the MPU in the Superman, taken it back to his workshop, and then we'd run into another issue. So it had come back, and then he just said, just take the whole machine. Get it out of here. Tim was about to have another baby. So, yeah, and it just so happened I got the MPU running, got the machine running, I filmed it, and I sent him through a video. I said, here you go, Tim. I believe he was watching that during the delivery and missed the delivery. Can you confirm that, Tim? That is not how it played out. No, no, no. You've dialed that story up a little bit. He does it with everything. Claudia was born and happy and healthy, so I was on cloud nine. I went to cloud 10 that night because this guy sent me the video of the game running, and I'm in the hospital. I'm looking at this Superman running. I'm like, yes. And Shana, my wife's laying there. She's just given us this beautiful gift. She's like, you know, I thought you would have been as happy when your second daughter was born because this guy has clearly made you pay. It was the best day of my life. Such a good story. I love it. Two wins in one day. That's it, man. It was great. Great. Louie's off my back. He's got a game that actually works And I've dragged this guy into the world of pinball And now he's got his own collection And it's good for the hobby Well I love it guys, it was nice to meet you Nice to chat Really well done man Zach, Jared How you been, you well?
    43:24
    I'm going to dob you in, you weren't here the first couple of days I was here Friday afternoon I was here Friday night for a little bit He was here Just yesterday I wasn't here Yeah, okay. If you bug it off and left Alana to it, deal with everything. She does a much better job than I do. What a lovely person she is, mate. You've got a fantastic employee there, mate. Yep. Can't get wrong.
    43:45
    Nice set up, mate. Great lineup. Some of the latest turned titles, which is great. Kong's been, I think, the pick of the show. The expo, I should say. Everyone's been playing Kong a lot. A lot of interest in that one. I haven't had much time on it yet, unfortunately, but I'd like to put some more time on it. And we do have some Venom LEs, still brand new, believe it or not, which is amazing. That's crazy. to think about an LE still being in stock. Exactly. During COVID, you couldn't get one, could you? Exactly. What are the price on the Venom LEs? Venom LEs, $19,800. Brand new in the box.
    44:16
    With the latest code and everything else, which is, it's actually a great machine. I really want to buy one, but I'm just still not... As I said, I've got three brand new ones left. No, no, yeah, that's right. These are all yours, aren't they? The LEs, the Jaws LEs are mine, the Godzilla LEs are mine. So I show those so I can sell, I can't sell the Alees, but I have premiums still available. Yeah. So I have those. Because if I put a premium on display, I can't sell it as a new machine. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right. So they play the Alees instead. The X-Men's also available, which is the last one. That's a fun game. I like it. I personally enjoy it. He doesn't like it. Not a fan. Not a big fan, but that's okay. They're each to their own. But you, so you've got your own, because you've got your own collection of it. So what have you got in your collection then? Tell them. I've got, I've got a few sterns, but I've still got a passion for Adam's Family. I've got Adam's Family Gold, Medieval Madness, Scared Stiff, Arabian Nights, Star Trek Next Gen. So all the old school 90s ballads. They're nice. All the good fun ones. Yeah, yeah. And coming next month, we've got Star Wars, the new one, which looks great.
    45:17
    I think the third one in the series has softened it a little bit, but I still think it's a great machine. They've done a lot of them, but I think you're still going to appeal to those Star Wars fans. They're going to love it anyway. That's exactly right. Walking Dead coming out next year, the remastered. It'll be interesting. Do you wish they came to us quicker? Like, they seem to take forever. Like, we're always, you know, the US have them, and they're on site, and people are playing them. And the issue is for us. It's not six months. Usually it's two months after the US by the time it gets released in the US. They leave at the same time, six to eight weeks on the water, and then we get it. So they're not longer than two months, but it feels like an eternity. It does. Because everyone else is playing it. Everyone's just watching videos going, where's mine? Where's mine? You know?
    45:56
    You used to fly them in in the old days. Yeah, okay. Back when it was about $1,000 to fly a pinball, then we'd fly them in. But now, it's rather expensive to fly a pinball in, so it makes it hard. How's the experience been for you? You happy with it? Any sales at all? A lot of interest, yeah. We even had a young kid come over and say, where can I buy one of these machines? So he's like, yep, go get one of the flies over there and go to his axe. Thanks for that, sir. That's very good. Awesome talking to you, buddy. Thank you very much for that. Nice talking to you. Thanks, sir. All the best. Enjoy the day. Thanks. Cheers. We're here with Daniel from Steel Tiger Pinball. That's the one. That's it, Steel Tiger.
    46:32
    So, hey, how's the Expo been for you so far, mate? Expo's been an absolute dream, honestly. Like, it's really good to see everyone. It's good to see you guys again. Yep. You know, I had a fair bit of interest into the games. You know, Vector's been good to have here. Yep. You know, get some parts out the door, show people what we're all about. Yeah, so is it more successful and better than last year? Bigger than last year. Definitely a bigger show than last year. More games, more people. Yeah, yeah. There's always something going on. It's good. So many sales in all the spare parts at all? A fair bit of spare parts. A lot of licensed product we can carry now. So we've got the licensed back glasses, mirror back glasses for MM, AFM and Cactus. Yep. You know, our Circus Voltaire scrolls, the Doctor Do Big Shots. Okay, yeah. All the fun stuff. Yeah, nice. That's a lot. We just thought we'd come and chat to the guys that are letting everyone in and doing an awesome job. Are you enjoying it or are you bored shitless? I'm going to move around here. Be honest. So you're bored shitless or are you okay with it? I've got a beer, mate. That's all that matters, isn't it? Did you pay for it? Yes, I paid for it. Well, good job, boys. Keep it up. Relax. Back to it, yeah? No. Thanks, guys. Don't want to be on? Jazz, come on. Have a little chat. Come on, Jazz. We know you want to. I'm only doing this as a shitster because I know you hate it so much.
    47:44
    How have you been? You all right? Yeah, good, good. Has your dad done this with you or not? Well, yeah, he's been in there the whole time, but it's really nice getting to see everyone. and yeah, I think everyone's been very excited and very eager to get in, so yeah. So how's the door bitch style going? Oh, yeah, good.
    48:02
    Hopefully I haven't been too much of a bitch, but... I'm sure you haven't. I'm sure it's been fine. Well, you've done awesome. Thank you. I know you let me scoop past before because my stamp ran out, so... Oh, I know. It's good to know people, see? It is, isn't it? But you know what? I just want another access pass. I just want one. Just to show off for the next few weeks. I'm not going to watch this end. It's going to be like Bart Simpson's end, isn't it? But you've enjoyed it otherwise? No, fantastic. Thanks, Joe. You know what? We actually have a podcast listener right there, Glenn. If you want to say g'day at all or not. If you want to come say g'day.
    48:37
    Anyway, I'm standing here with Glenn. Never met the guy before until yet. When was it? Yesterday? Friday. Yeah? I had to go a bit stuffed here. Long weekend. So this is Glenn. He's a... So podcast listener came up and said, You're Matt, Jarrod, and it's been nice meeting you, mate. Yeah, you too. Long-time listener, first-time caller.
    48:59
    Have you enjoyed the expo so far Oh it been awesome Yeah yeah yeah Close to home and yeah good line of pinball So being here by myself brought the kids and the family Kids So a bit of a mix it up a bit over the weekend Yeah, it's been good. Fantastic, mate. So, any favourite games in there at all? He loves the Getaway. Yeah, good choice.
    49:18
    I love Harry Potter, probably. Yeah. He likes the Evil Dead. Anything scary, Harry Potter. Oh, so you love Evil Dead then, don't you? A bit of Elton John. Yeah, Elton John's been played a bit.
    49:31
    Elton John. That's your favourite? What's your favourite? Have you got a favourite? I like... Evil Dead. Yeah, that's the one. And Mum's? Oh, what was mine?
    49:48
    Oh, the Elton John. Yeah. It's a good point. You're buying an Elton John. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So since you've been here... It's a bit cheaper than the Harry Potter, so that might be it. So, since you've been here, has he convinced you into being a bio machine? Oh, look, we'll see, we'll see. We'll see.
    50:05
    I think it's going to cost me. Yeah, you know what? You can always just sneak one in without saying anything. Keep it covered. What becomes two becomes three, becomes four, becomes five. They do multiply. They do. We need a 600 square metre shed like you've got. You do. She just said no, mate. We tried. Sorry. But do you have room for a machine? A couple of spare bedrooms.
    50:29
    There's room for one, maybe two, three or four. Are the kids in bunks? I can get a pinball, you can get a kitchen.
    50:40
    So what is your next machine? What was your first machine you're going to buy? What are you going to buy? We've been looking at a World Cup soccer. The guys have played on a virtual pinball, and I know it from when I was a kid, so that's top of the list, but hard to find in good shape, so we're looking. So we're here with Stephen. Steve Smith. From Hankin. Well, hang on, you're not Hankin Pinball, from Smith Pinball. No, this is from Smith Pinball. But you do all the Hankin machines. I do all the Hankin stuff. And by a stretch bag. Yeah. Very nice. Yeah, so we took the five Hankins over to America, over to Chicago Pinball Expo. Yes. And that's such a big hit over there, we thought we'd bring a couple down here. Yep. So that's Quentin the Shark. Is this the first time you've been to this show, or were you last year? Last year. Yep. And really enjoyed it, so then we thought we'd participate this time and bring our own machines. And these are for sale, they're not for sale? Not at the moment. Yeah, okay.
    51:29
    No, not for a while. Not for a while. These are at my collection. Not for sale at the moment. Oh, okay. They're part of a bigger program. But we do notice, obviously, Facebook, you've got a bit more prominent of late and started having it. Yeah. And I'll be honest, like, I just, have you, not popped out of nowhere, that's maybe the wrong way to say it, but I haven't noticed you in Canberra advertising as many machines as you have. Like, are they out of your own personal collection or have you been sourcing them and reselling them? Well, I've been collecting for over 40 years. Yep. And my collection grew to about 60 machines. And then in March of this year, Cassandra said, come on, Steve, you've got 60 machines downstairs, you can't possibly play them all. And you said, yes, I can, love. Well, that's what I said. That's what I say too. So then she said, can she start selling some, the ones I play the least? I said, okay. Which has worked really well, because the more I sell is the more I can buy.
    52:16
    Perfect. So the collection's actually grown. Okay, so it's your own private collection that you're selling off? Most of the ones that are on the market were from our collection. So I guess the reason I needed to state that, I guess, is that they're not container bins or anything like that. No. Obviously a bit of love and care have gone into them and they're back on the market for people. Absolutely. All the machines I've made out of mine, all what we do is we source machines. Yep. So if people want a particular machine, you can source that. Get them back to our place, fully clean them up, re-sticker them or re-paint them, get them technically checked and then sell them as pretty much new looking machines. Such as these two. So we had a chat a couple of days ago, and I know if you're going to give a little abridged version of you going to America with the Hankins and the discussions you had with what happened and how that all unfolded. Yeah. So what happened was I collected all the Star Wars pinball machines, the Data East, the Stern, the Seaguar, Episode I, and then I read an article in Kinecast, and they talk about the Star Wars collection, but they didn't include the F.I. Strikes Back. Yep. So I wrote to Colin from Kinnikest and I said, what happened? He said, well, I've never seen one. I don't believe it exists. And so I said, well, I've got one. And I took some photos, sent them across. He then wrote back to me and said, well, he's put it out to his friends and they all said that it's just a bootleg version. It was never licensed. And I said, well, it's licensed. It's got George Lucas' provision on the back glass. It's got it on the play fill. And in fact, we've got a picture of Mark Hamill overseeing the machine. What happened back in 1980, David Hanker, who made the machines, literally rang George Lucas and he said, hey George, I'd love to make a pinball machine on Star Wars, do you mind? He said no worries so then about a week after that, Rob Berg from the Chicago Pinball Expo, the largest in the world and the longest running, rang me and he said, could I take one over then?
    54:06
    So I said yes I can, and I said in fact Hank had made five titles The How's That, Orbit, FJ and Shark do you want me to bring all five? And he goes wow, the Americans have never seen they've never been out of no American would have ever seen all five Hankins together so we put them on a ship six months later we got them to the Chicago Expo and I tell you what they got played from sunup to sundown every single day they had lineups on them because again nobody had seen a Hankin pinball machine it was absolutely phenomenal it's nice to open wide eyes a little bit and get people to be there's a little bit more out there yeah and the feedback was great yeah that's an awesome story it's really cool don't think I'd ever do it again I was going to say, are you planning on going back to Expo? We are going back next year, but we're not going to take all five again. So the five that we took now sit in America.
    54:56
    Just a storage or...? No, in Rob Burke's pastimes arcade, where he's got different sections from around the world, like he's got an Italian section, an Australian section, whatever section. So we've got the Australian section. So are you coming back next year? Are you coming back again next year? More machines, same machines? Yeah, might be all five next year. My Bill 5, look forward to it. Steve, thanks for the chat, mate. Appreciate it. Appreciate it, mate. Pleasure. Thank you. We've saved the best till last. So we've got the boys from Acme Pinball. The best till last or the beast till last? A little bit of column A, a little bit of column B, I guess.
    55:31
    So the boys from Acme Pinball, Russell, Lucas. Welcome, guys. How are you, everyone? We're good. How have you boys been? You all right? Enjoying the show? I mean, it's been really busy. Good to see a good turnout. We've obviously got Palace in Wonderland that we're selling and Big Lebowski.
    55:51
    Strong rumours that Ducks are going to do back to the fissure. Oh, hello. Can't deny. Hello. That's not being cut.
    55:59
    And we can't confirm. It's only a rumour. It's just a rumour. But if people want to get on the list, clearly they can. They can. I mean, if Ducks do do it, I think it's going to be a great game. I mean, their first two games have been amazing. so I can't see why this one would be any different if they do it. How's Alice and Dutch gone here and interest in people and all that sort of stuff? Do you have a bit of interest? Yeah. Definitely. There's a couple of people contact you after the event. I mean, let's be honest, that's obviously 50, probably 50, 60% of the reason you're here. You want to, as we chatted before, you want to get your name out and start getting a bit of promo and a bit of buzz in the industry about these machines. Absolutely. Getting space and introducing ourselves. because a lot of people know Lucas through Bayside Pinball Club, but not a lot of people know me. I'm under a rock. I'm more of a collector, but heavily into pinball, love pinball. And I think it's just a great atmosphere and it's a really good hobby. Yeah. Good. Yeah, so, I mean, if people are interested in any of the Dutch products, DPX products, go to acmepinball.com.au. We have an exclusive deal through Dutch Pinball. we signed that prior to Expo last year. Yep. So we've been the exclusive distributor since mid-2024. Okay.
    57:18
    Are your plans on doing any others at all, or are you just going to focus with Dutch at this stage? At the moment, Dutch, but, you know,
    57:27
    I'm a lot of pinball, so we'll never know what happens. I mean, look, I was one of the early achievers. I guess the history with Acme, original early achievers, the first round of Big Lebowski's because I was a huge fan of the film and when I saw what the game looked like, I foolishly... So you bled with them then, haven't you? Look, I bled with them and there was plenty of bad press about them, but in all honesty, they were in touch fairly frequently considering what was going on. Once things went legal, there was limited things they could say and communicate, but in saying that it might be every three months or so I'd fire an email off to Barry at the time Yarp before he passed unfortunately and they would just answer honestly and realistically they answered the way they could but you've got to give them credit for just fucking digging their heels in and getting themselves out of the shit we spoke about it on the last podcast, so I'll bring it up. But it wasn't like Haggis where they just fucked off. I know. These guys have done the right thing. They've just persevered and released the machines and kept going with it and then got successful with Alice. Now rumours are back to the future. And what was the other, Raza as well? They actually announced Raza. So they haven't officially announced it, but yeah, Melvin mentioned it at one of the things at Chicago Expo. I mean, that's exciting because everyone loves J-Pops. designs. I know, again, he's a bit of a divisive figure. They love what he did with his markers and phone, but not what he did with his money.
    59:12
    With our money, you mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, realistically, with Dutch just touching back on what they did, you know,
    59:22
    they went through, one of the partners obviously passed away through the process, and then Barry at the end, you know, they actually lost the court case with the manufacturer. and, you know, he's explained it. He was ready to sort of declare bankruptcy, and I forget who it was. It might have been his accountant convinced him to go and talk to them. Yeah, well... And they won last-ditch effort. New general manager at the manufacturer, and they struck a deal. And, you know, and I believe, like, Cointaker were pretty supportive of them in that. I don't know the internet. Because they actually held in escrow a lot of that stuff. Was that with them that that happened? The manufacturer held all the parts. So they had some amount. It was at least 20, if not 40, completed gains. Parts for probably another run similar. And some parts to do the entire run that they planned to do, you know. So he struck a deal. I don't know what the numbers or the details were. And then I know there was probably a sale agreement with CoinTaker to, you know, put some finance into it. And the deal was done and it was off from there and it was a very, very slow pickup. And that's when Russ and I met through, we both have a big bang bar and we were talking about some parts and we're talking about Lebowskis and we strung a buying group together in Australia and we got a few done. We approached Dutch and said, well, we can round up, I think it was five buyers. And they said, well, if you can do the five, we'll do the one you've paid for with that lot and did it and sent it.
    60:57
    And then we got another container together. and it's sort of obviously grown they've given you the distribution and away you go so as Lucas said they're still here they're getting bigger and better Barry Regal and he's an absolute gentleman he's a very generous man he loves Australia he should bring him out here for the next expo I keep trying just tell him you're coming Barry you're coming he's 6 foot 6 so he's told me that he has to fly a business store first because coach he'll just become a barrier if you listen get out of here, economy absolute gentleman very generous and passionate about people and he just wants to keep making machines he doesn't want to compete with Steno JJP, he's boutique like Spooky and I like that he's doing his thing, running his own race smart thing to do yep, agreed, well thank you boys we're getting wound up as you can hear so Any last little things you want to say at all for the podcast?
    62:04
    We've got a couple left if anyone's interested in a Lebowski or an Alice in Wonderland. Alice lands approximately four weeks. It's got a clear customs. Quite surprising.
    62:15
    So we've got a special on Lebowski, $18,990. That's for the last few that are around. And Alice, we've got a show special, $22,000, which we can probably hold. Okay, but the show will almost be over today. this will go out. If someone contacts us in the next week, we'll probably honour the same pricing. Thanks, guys. Awesome chatting. Thank you very much. Appreciate it, boys. All right, guys. Well, that is episode 11 done and dusted. Thanks for everyone to listen. As always, like and subscribe, please. As I think I said last couple of times, we get more listens than we have subscribers. We picked up a few extras, so thank you for those that have subscribed. But just click a fucking button, I think. Yeah, that's it. That'd be nice. We'll be back in a couple of weeks because we'll do our usual end of month where we'll go through everything else. But as mentioned, this was just purely for Expo, just to run through how it was, what we did, and hopefully you guys have enjoyed it. We'll chat to you in a couple of weeks, Matty. Yep. Thank you, sir. Thanks, buddy. Good to see you, sir.
    63:28
    I'll see you next time. going to say that. So who was it, Jarrod? We probably should do a shout-out to the hostess as well. The hosts as well? We got, well, honestly, what a great job, Jasmine, and I'm not too sure Shannon's sons are, but yeah, good work, guys, making sure everyone got in smoothly. That's funny, because I thought you were going straight to George. Oh, I was. I was just thinking of the line-up of people as we walked through the door. And then we got George and Sonia. The real hosts. Yeah, the real hosts. So George, Sonia and Shannon. So they did an amazing job. So great, great people. Great people to just associate with, honestly. All right. I think we're going to try and grab the Expo director. There's no time for chats, mate. Thank you anyway. All right. Shannon, we need you here, buddy. So what do you want to say? That's the mayor of Manningham, you funny fuck. The who? That's all right. He can work. So that was the mayor of Manningham, apparently. Yep, out here to come see us. Like, we grabbed George away from the mayor of Manningham. Everyone good?
    65:07
    Yep. Okay, fantastic. Everyone good? We are. We'll do it. You want to have a chat again, Lane? We'll come back and find you and Joss, because you look fucked, mate. You, yes, you fucking do. I've got a helicopter and everything. How can I be? What happened? Where were you guys? What happened? you