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The Spinner Is Lit - Episode 43 Adios 2021

The Spinner Is Lit Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·2h 14m·analyzed·Dec 24, 2021
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.030

TL;DR

2021 pinball year-end review focusing on Stern's major releases and design trends.

Summary

Year-end 2021 recap podcast discussing major pinball releases and industry trends. Covers Stern's Jurassic Park Home Edition, Mandalorian, and Godzilla; anticipates Rush (John Borg design); discusses Spooky's Halloween and Ultraman. Notable themes include home edition legitimacy, code update quality (especially Mandalorian 1.0/1.1), game design philosophy comparisons, and licensing strategy.

Key Claims

  • Jurassic Park Home Edition has moving dinosaur head while Pro version lacks this feature

    high confidence · Spencer and Dan discussing Jurassic Park specifications

  • Mandalorian received two code updates (1.0 and 1.1) that significantly changed exploit mechanics and added ambush features

    high confidence · Spencer explaining Mandalorian code updates and their gameplay impact

  • Godzilla received new code that added ball save on the death shot exit and changed difficulty balance

    high confidence · Brian describing new Godzilla code changes including bonus for reverse exit shot

  • Rush (John Borg design) rumored to release just after Christmas 2021 but unlikely to ship until 2022

    medium confidence · Spencer discussing Rush announcement timing

  • Best Buy and Costco previously sold Stern home editions (Batman, Iron Man) around 2015-2017

    high confidence · Spencer and Dan recalling past retail partnerships

  • Stern Pro models now priced at $6,800 entry level vs $4,500 for home editions, creating viable gap

    medium confidence · Dan discussing 2021 pricing structure

  • Spooky delivered two games in 2021 (Halloween and Ultraman) using same layout

    high confidence · Spencer noting Spooky's deliveries

  • Godzilla designer Keith Elwin used three spinners as a mode finish instead of typical disco loops

    high confidence · Brian praising Godzilla's unique design choices

Notable Quotes

  • “The Jurassic Park Home Edition is making these home editions dangerously close to legitimate, and Stern just needs to look at what the bitchers are bitching about”

    Dan @ ~23:00 — Captures sentiment that home editions are closing the quality gap with Pro models; identifies specific improvement needs

  • “Godzilla is pure awesomeness there's just no question it's going to be game of the year every time I play it”

    Brian @ ~60:00 — Strong enthusiasm signal for Godzilla; positions it as standout 2021 release

  • “It shoots like butter. It's just so awesome. I have a little tough time shooting that left ramp. I really have to dial that in to get it perfect.”

    Brian @ ~65:00 — Acknowledges Godzilla's accessibility and shot difficulty curve; validates design quality

  • “Almost like what Lyman would do for his Stern games. He would watch as people played them, and he would make the proper adjustments.”

    Spencer @ ~48:00 — Compares Mandalorian designer Dwight's post-launch iteration approach to legendary designer Lyman's methodology; historical reference

  • “If the game is really good, it's going to sell like crazy. If the game is kind of a dud, it's probably going to be just the Rush fans”

    Spencer @ ~86:00 — Reflects on how strong IP fandom (Rush) can drive sales regardless of game quality; licensing leverage

  • “You now get a bonus if you can do that and not lose the ball. And at the same time, if it does go straight down the middle, there's a slight ball save.”

    Brian @ ~73:00 — Details Godzilla code update strategy to fix brutal death shot; shows designer responsiveness

  • “I'm in the zone, babe. So, unless I'm playing Super Mario Mushroom World, then I, you know, it's like the old Seinfeld joke, I like to pretend little hotel soaps are normal sized, and my muscles are just really big.”

    Spencer @ ~55:00 — Humorous commentary on height advantage in pinball viewing angles; reveals Spencer's perspective advantage

Entities

SpencerpersonDanpersonBrianpersonMarkpersonJack DangerpersonKeith ElwinpersonDwightpersonJohn Borgperson

Signals

  • ?

    product_launch: Stern released Jurassic Park Home Edition, Mandalorian, and Godzilla in 2021; Spooky delivered Halloween and Ultraman on same layout

    high · Multiple speakers confirmed 2021 releases and played machines at expos

  • ?

    code_update: Mandalorian received v1.0 and v1.1 updates addressing center shot exploit, adding ambush mechanics, improving encounters, and adjusting multiball qualification strategy

    high · Spencer detailed specific changes: removed continuous center shot multiball start exploit, added ambush targets, made encounters playable without draining

  • ?

    code_update: Godzilla received code update adding ball save on death shot exit, adjusting difficulty, improving map display feedback on modes

    high · Brian described reverse exit shot now awarding bonus without ball loss; slight ball save added; map now shows progress on tank/multiball modes

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Community perception of home editions improving; Jurassic Park Home Edition seen as legitimizing the category through design quality

    high · Panelists noted home editions getting 'traction' in community, Jack Danger credit for quality, gap closing between home and pro models

  • $

    market_signal: Pro model pricing now $6,800 entry level vs $4,500 home edition, creating viable $2,200 gap that appeals to budget-conscious buyers

    high · Dan discussed 2021 pricing: previously $4,000 home vs $5,000 pro (small gap); now $4,500 home vs $6,800 pro (significant gap justifies home purchase)

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.402

0:00
tonight's episode of the spinners lit pinball podcast is dedicated to the memory of chimera skags Hey, welcome to episode 43, 2021 year-end recap or adios 2021. We did. We'll get right into it. We got the roundtable crew with us. Of course, Dan's with us tonight. What up? And Brian's back from a hiatus. Hello. And we got our engineer, Mark, with us. Hello.
0:56
And you guys all know me. I'm Spencer. Welcome to the show. Hey, guys. We're at the end of the year. We're, what, five, six days away from Christmas?
1:08
Wow. What a crazy year 2021's been. I think we just jump right into it and start talking about what happened this year in pinball. Time, we'll just start talking about the games. I'm going to start off with Stern. I'm going to start off with, I'm not really going in order here. I'm actually going in reverse order, I think. The Jurassic Park Home Edition. That kind of came out a lot, Bill.
1:33
So the Jurassic Park Home Edition, I had a chance to play at Expo, and I really liked the flow of it. I thought the shots were really fun as far as the different ways you could. There was like this jump ramp on the back, like in the back of the play field. That was really fun. Like if you didn't get it hard enough, then it wouldn't make it all the way to the other side. But I thought that was kind of an interesting design as well as simple to play. And it stayed true to the original one.
2:03
But I really like how Jack made it really fun and engaging versus usually a typical home pin. It's like, ah, you know, you're kind of bored after a couple of shots. But it was not like that. It was really fun to play. It feels like with the community, it's getting some traction where in the past, It doesn't feel like, you know, they've really given the home machines a lot of the time of day.
Scott Denise
person
Ben Heckperson
Stern Pinballcompany
Spooky Pinballcompany
Jurassic Park Home Editiongame
Mandaloriangame
Godzillagame
Halloweengame
Ultramangame
Rushgame
Pinball Expoevent
Texas Pinball Festivalevent
Pinsideorganization
Playfield 76venue
  • ?

    design_innovation: Godzilla features innovative playfield mechanics: three-spinner mode completion, diverter-based ball direction changes, pop-bumper integration, shot routing behind flipper

    high · Brian detailed specific mechanics: three spinners for mode finish (vs disco loops), diverters in building levels changing ball direction, shot going behind flipper

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Mandalorian designed with coherent journey narrative; code updates preserve this theme while improving strategic depth; designer Dwight uses Pinside feedback

    high · Spencer noted design maintains 'journey aspect'; Dwight active on Pinside forum taking player suggestions; ambush mechanics add strategic variety

  • ?

    product_concern: Recurring complaint about Stern home edition LCD display being too small; panelists suggest full-size display would improve perception of quality

    high · Multiple speakers mentioned display visibility issues; Dan argued larger display wouldn't cost much more and would solve major perception problem

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Rush (John Borg design) rumored for late December 2021 announcement, unlikely to ship until 2022; strong anticipation among music/prog rock fans

    medium · Spencer: 'rumor that's going to be released just this next week after Christmas' but unlikely to ship 2021; Borg is designer; Canadian band appeal noted

  • ?

    content_signal: The Spinner Is Lit year-end recap covers major 2021 releases and anticipates 2022 titles; engaged roundtable discussion of game design specifics

    high · Full episode dedicated to 2021 recap with detailed designer analysis and industry sentiment

  • ?

    industry_signal: Mandalorian designer Dwight compared to legendary designer Lyman's approach: watching player feedback post-launch and making iterative adjustments

    medium · Spencer: 'Almost like what Lyman would do...He would watch as people played them, and he would make the proper adjustments.' Applied to Dwight's active code updates

  • ?

    manufacturing_signal: Spooky Pinball delivered two games in 2021 (Halloween and Ultraman) despite using same layout; noted as positive manufacturing milestone

    high · Spencer: 'they actually delivered games this year. Well, they delivered two games, but it's the same layout.' Contrasts with other manufacturers' delivery challenges

    • 2:31
    Mm-hmm. I mean, maybe that's because of Jack Danger. Maybe that's just an attestment to the quality. Maybe it's just because, you know, new games are so hard to get that people are getting what they can get. I just wish it was on location to play because I think it would be really a hit with a lot of people who are not real familiar with pinball, So even though it is a home edition, I think it would work great in a location.
    2:57
    You know, it's a shame as a few years ago, in a few of the bigger locations, I want to tell you it was Best Buy that was going to start putting, Stern was going to put pinball machines on location, and they were going to sell them there. And I don't know what happened to it. same thing they have made a deal with Ikea to have like a men's daycare where women can drop their husbands off and you can watch the ball game and they feed you hot dogs and sodas I think that was an April Fool's joke bro no seriously was that an April Fool's joke? I thought it was serious I don't want to fucking Ikea every weekend man No, but the other one wasn't a joke. They were really – you could go to the website. I believe it was Best Buy. Go to the Best Buy website, and for a short time you could pick out – this is back around the time of, I want to say – Costco had one, too. They had a Batman Home Edition. Costco had the Batman and the Iron Man Home Editions. And the Iron Man. Yeah, so many of our group had one of those Iron Man home editions. I know a couple people actually had the Iron Man home edition. It's not terrible for what they put in the price point at the time. Remember Maurice had one, and he was trying to sell that thing for a wink and a smile. I had to continuously talk myself out of buying it. Right. It was like $2,500, and I was all like, you know, I mean, it's just Iron Man without the magnets. It's got a full-size display. it's got a spot where a coin door goes. And I was like, ah, no, I had to talk myself out of it. I was real close to buying it. But yeah, you know, I mean, it would be nice to see a mass market retailer or a Walmart or a target or somebody, you know, take a chance at these, but I mean, there's still almost $5,000. I mean, that'd be the most expensive thing in the store by a long shot. Costco could do it, you know, It's a shame that, like, Sharper Image is gone. Sharper Image would probably sell something like that. Sharper Image used to sell full-size. Yeah, Sharper Image used to sell some dope-ass stuff. Yeah, they would not sell a home game. They were expensive. They would sell the normal game.
    5:25
    Right. Yeah, like, what's the one? Neiman Marcus, stuff like that. But I feel like the nice thing about your Jurassic Park Home Edition, the Jack Danger model, is that it's making these home editions dangerously close to legitimate, and Stern just needs to look at what the bitchers are bitching about and address, like, those two or three things. Like, put a full-size display in it. It can't possibly cost that much less to put that tiny little display in it, and it would just get rid of, I think, one of the biggest points that everyone's like, oh, I can't see that display. It's like, your eyes are not that bad. I mean, come on. Right, but it does need a bigger display. You're right about that. That was the one thing that was very noticeable was you did have to, like, for people who have bad vision, you do have to squint to see it because it is pretty small. But even if it doesn't need it, if you put it in there, again, it's that perception, you know, perception of quality. Right.
    6:27
    Yeah, you know, I think that that game has really done a lot for the pin. I think also not calling it the pin would be a good idea. Just call it home edition. I think it's done a lot for to legitimize the Home Edition model for Stern. Yeah,
    6:46
    the Star Wars is a lot of fun to play. The Spider-Man, which is real close, a lot of fun to play, both of them. I mean, you know, I enjoy playing, I really, really like the Spider-Man Home Edition, and I love the Star Wars one too. They're smooth, they shoot great. You know, the offset's not as deep, but, you know, most people aren't into that deeper rule sets. If they're not hardcore, you know, if they're just, oh, it would be great to have the game room and have a ping pong table and maybe a 60-in-1 or, you know, a big screen with all the home systems set up onto it, and then, oh, let's get a film on, which now would be a blast. Right, but see, what you're running into now, Spencer, is you're in the era of the $7,000 pro. before you were paying like $4,000 for the home edition or the pin, and you were paying $5,000 for the pro. And nobody was like, oh, you know, save $1,000, get the home edition. But now, you know, you're looking at $4,500 or so for the home edition, and you're looking at $6,800 entry level for a pro now. You know, it really does kind of open up, you know, for the home edition to be a viable alternative, let's say, for people who want a pinball machine. But, yeah, you know, $7,000 is a lot of money. $5,000 is still a lot of money, but it's a big jump between five and seven.
    8:15
    Right. I mean, to me anyway. I mean, I don't know how you guys feel, but I know that, you know, being a pinball enthusiast, to me it's like, yeah, $2,000 extra is no big deal. But someone just looking to buy something for their game room, you know, they might go like, hey, that $2,000 extra is, you know, a pool table or a big screen TV for the wall or something else that I wanted. And I do want a pinball machine. And Jurassic Park is a great theme. So, you know, it's got a dinosaur. The dinosaur actually eats the ball or kind of holds it in his mouth, right? But at least there's some kind of mech in it. It's kind of cool. Yeah. The pro doesn't have a moving dinosaur head. The home edition does. Come on, Stern. Way to go.
    9:00
    Yeah, exactly. I mean, it's got a real neck in it now for a quote-unquote home edition. Looks like a lot of fun. So I'd like to see where it's going to go in the future. I really would, you know. Yeah, I thought they fell enough to do it again. I mean, it seems like so far it's made sense. Right. So we'll jump over. All right, if nobody's got anything else, we'll jump over to Stern's next game, Mandalorian.
    9:28
    Man, I sure like the Mandalorian. Me too. I finally got all my mods installed, or at least some of my mods installed, and I've actually been putting some time on it. I uploaded the new code the other day. They've really, really, like, buffed that game's rule set out. They've made it harder just to do the exploit the center over and over and over shot. The new ambush thing is really, really cool. I mean, I think that if they give that game, you know, a little bit more time a day, and it seems like Dwight's been really, really into it, I think that that game will be something special.
    10:08
    And the code's got to be great because the play field does not do all that much. Yeah, I have to agree. The way they use the assets is the game changer for that game. They did a really good job on using all the clips from the show and incorporating it into the different modes. You feel like you're on a journey, so you have that opportunity to go in and play the different scenes from all the different modes that you have available. It is good that you said that they changed the code a little bit for the multi-ball so that there is not this repeated shooting up the middle, like you said. So that's good. I didn't even get to see that in the new code. So did that just come out for the Mandalorian? Yeah, so they did two code updates over the course of a couple days. They did like a 1.0 and then they did like a 1.1. And one of the things that they did was now, you know, you can shoot up the middle for the Razor Crest to start the first multiball, then play your hurry up, and then you either have to complete a hunter mode or drain out before it will let you qualify the next multiball. Oh, that's much better. That was the one thing that annoyed me was, oh, gosh, you can just keep continuously starting the multi-ball. Yeah, the strategy for that game was like the multipliers and then just keep pummeling the middle. That's all you really had to do. And the worst thing about that was that that game has so many cool opportunities for strategy because of the way that the equipment works and earning the best car and then, you know, going to the foundry and then buying the gear. And, yeah, you could just completely ignore all that because it's just, you know, hit the Boba Fett targets a bunch of times, light your multipliers, and then just start, you know, drilling the middle shot. Now you at least have to shoot around a little bit. Plus it throws random ambushes at you.
    12:04
    And when the ambushes start, like, you know, a bunch of targets will flash white and you have to, like, shoot a shot to escape and continue the game. So, yeah, it's pretty cool. Like, they've really done a great job of keeping that, you know, the Mandalorian's journey aspect of it alive. I really like it.
    12:23
    It doesn't feel like wood chopping to you? It doesn't feel like wood chopping? No. No, not at all. To me, it's like, yeah, everything in that game has a really, really distinct purpose. And they also fixed up how the encounters work, where the encounters were really annoying because it's like you had to basically shoot the ball up the ramp, hit the targets, drain out, shoot the ball up the ramp, hit the targets, drain out. Now you can actually shoot the ball up there and complete all three levels of the encounter if you can keep it going long enough. Oh, really? So, yeah, encounters, which were really hard to get before now, are easier. At least they were hard for me. And, you know, the multi-balls, which were really easy to get to, which the only wizard mode that I could have got to consistently are a little bit harder, and then the episodes are still pretty much hit left ramp, hit right ramp, hit boundary, play a mission. Sorry, mission, not episodes. So it sounds like I need to contact Roger and tell him to update the code on the machine that's over at Playfield 76. Yeah, I would throw 1.01 on. It also changes the way that the up post works when you're hitting the orbits, so you get more orbit action, except for when the child is lit, then it'll stop the ball and drop it down into the child area. So, yeah, it's just a bunch of smart little changes that have just really taken that game to another level. Almost, you know, I hesitate to say it, but almost like what Lyman would do for his Stern games. He would watch as people played him, and he would make the proper adjustments. And sometimes they were huge adjustments, and sometimes they were small. So maybe Dwight, you know, maybe he just needs to be invested or maybe he just needs the time. But, you know, he's been really active on the Mandalorian Forum on Pinside, and it really seems like they've been taking the players' suggestions to heart. That's pretty cool.
    14:20
    I like – I'll admit, I really do like the premium. At first I thought, oh, it's going to take the gameplay away with the flow, but I really do like the rotating play field for the premium or the LE that we fortunately have. I think it's fun. I think it's fun how it changes the gravity as it changes the angle of it.
    14:43
    I don't know. What's your thoughts? Because you have a pro. You know what? I've played the limited edition. I don't think I've played a premium. Actually, no, I've played a premium because I've played the one at play field. And it's cool. You know, it's one of those things that, like, if I can have it, great. I'll take it, but it's not like not having it ruins the game. Right. It's not necessary. Right. I do like some aspects of the pro where, you know, you can get the sneak in. I think that that's a fun shot. But, you know, to me, it's one of those things that, like, I like it when a premium has a feature that it's like, wow, that would be cool to have. But if I wasn't super invested, it's not going to ruin the world for me, unlike some of the premiums where it's just like, wow, if you don't have this, you're missing half the game. Black Knight. So, you know, I think it's cool. You know, I don't weep because I don't have it. But, yeah, if somebody, you know, came up with an upgrade kit, I'd put it in. Right. Obviously, they can't do that. That would be a humongous, ridiculous upgrade. I only have like three or four games on a premium from the Denver show, the Mile High show Really enjoyed playing it I've got so many more games on the Pro Yours, Dan, and one's on location I really enjoy the Pro I really enjoy it I think as is The only change I would make The ones you made with removing the plastic ramp returns and replacing them with the custom wire form mod kit, which I think really, really makes the game pop. It does. I have to agree with you on that. It just solidifies it. It just feels so much more quality. You know, the other thing that always gets overlooked on the LE, actually the big thing, is the way that the ramp works, where it has like the U-turn and it has like the little flaps, so it'll turn into like a kip-up to the ramp. Like that's really, really cool too. I do like that. It does change up the shots a little bit. I almost would miss that more than I would miss having the moving play field. I also like the fact that the upper play field is literally an upper play field because the one kind of complaint I have about the pro is that you really do have to kind of, you know, be six foot tall to really see what's going on with that upper flipper. It's buried in there. That's true. I just stand on my tiptoes.
    17:21
    Yeah, it's not a Spencer shot. You get all the time anyway, so it's nothing new. So, for me... What did you say? I was making fun of Spencer's height, that's all. Oh, okay. He's standing on his tiptoes.
    17:38
    Yeah, everybody's play pill models with me, they see me standing on my tiptoes all the time to see if I'm ever part of a play field.
    17:45
    I think your strength is that you're at ball level. Pretty much, yeah. Like you're on the play field, where the rest of us are flailing around from orbit, you're like right there. I'm in the zone, babe.
    17:58
    So, unless I'm playing Super Mario Mushroom World, then I, you know, it's like the old Seinfeld joke, I like to pretend little hotel soaps are normal sized, and My muscles are just really big.
    18:12
    Right? Yeah. That's me, man. So, yeah, man. I think not just the theme, because The Mandalorian is such an awesome, awesome addition to the Star Wars universe in canon. But I like the layout. I like everything about that game, you know. I think it's a lot of fun. It's higher on my list than ones I'd love to own someday. The artwork, because it's got the Earth tones, which I like It's got more of the orange, because usually We're used to the bright blues and the purples And stuff like that That's something I brought up, because I kind of forgot about it With a lot of the Looking at pictures of people who got like Ninja Turtles, Godzilla And like, oh god What was the other game before that? Ninja Turtles, Godzilla And there was one other, like all next to each other And I'm like, until you stop and get close And really take a look the artwork just all blends in because of the color schemes, where Mandalorian kind of stands out because it's more oranges and browns. Right. It's just with the theme. Yeah. I think Mandalorian overall is just a really solid game. I think it's going to have long legs on location and with the collector community, not just because of the theme, just because they did a nice overall. You know, like with Hot Wheels, it's a good total package. It's got a little bit of something for everyone. And it's getting attention now. I think now that Godzilla mania has come and it's subsided a little bit, I think a lot of people are looking at the Mandalorian again. And, you know, the code update really helped bring some light to it, you know. Yeah, yeah. Well, with that, do you guys want to jump into Godzilla? Godzilla is cool and I think everyone wants one I would for sure I mean pro premium doesn't matter that game is pure awesomeness there's just no question it's going to be game of the year every time I play it it's so much fun to shoot I love all of the different ways that Keith used all parts of the play field to shoot for he didn't just go deep shots he went middle he went close He used a pop bumper that was perfect where it was positioned where you got to make that scoop or you're going to run into trouble if you accidentally hit it, the pop bumper. And on top of that, there's shots where you have to hit the pop bumper, kind of like some other games that we're familiar with. Total nuclear. Total nuclear annihilation, exactly. So he was obviously inspired by Denise's design. But the way he did that, but then he took it a step further, and he had a shot go around behind the bumper. Have you ever seen that before? That was cool. And then the other one on the left-hand side, how it goes behind the flipper, almost like a floating flipper, which is a very interesting design. And it just shoots like butter. It's just so awesome. I have a little tough time shooting that left ramp. I really have to dial that in to get it perfect. But that right one, man, it is, yeah, it's so great. And then when you got the diverters that are built into the levels of the building, how awesome is that to change the direction of the ball? thinking it's coming back to your left flipper when in actuality it reverses and comes back to your right flipper it's just really really well done and then you got the the assets of the shows and the campiness of it and the announcement and the music with the hard rock you know heavy metal stuff and then with the classical you know theme music from the old 50s show just awesome and then of course you got blue luster cult and you know i thought that song was going to get a grading, but the good news is that they only did it during multi-ball, and you just get fired up as soon as that building starts collapsing. And if you've got a shaker motor, then it looks like it's really collapsing because the balls start to shake on top of the building. It's just pure awesome. Pure awesomeness. I disagree about the blue ice or cold from not being grading. I think it is just automatically grading.
    22:19
    Well, okay, yeah. That's a small complaint in the torrent of awesomeness that that game has. It's really fun to shoot. The voice call-outs, while at first I was like, man, they're cheesy, when I got far enough in to hear some of them, they just get hilarious. You know, what was it, like the great Googly Moogly or something? Good golly, Miss Molly. Yeah, good golly, Miss Molly. Jackpot. And I was just like, oh, man, that's just hilarious. It's hilarious. And yeah, like you were saying, it's got a lot of really fun shots. The gameplay is really smart.
    22:56
    It makes great, I mean, I don't give a shit about the theme of Godzilla. And it, you know, I get interested in like, oh man, now I got to, you know, fight monsters and take over cities and kill tanks and shoot down jets. And, yeah, just a really just smart use of a license that I just would not have known what to do with. I just had it stuck in my head. You're Godzilla. You're going to knock down buildings and fight other monsters, right? Okay, great. That's Godzilla. They really made the game a lot better. The aliens, you know, we are here for Earth's resources. You know, I'm just like, oh, that's hilarious. if they really brought home that 50s, campy, you know, 60s, you know, Technicolor world. Really cool game. It's perfect. And what I also love about the game is it kind of has a little reminiscence of Dialed In because it has the map on the screen on the LCD display where you see how much destruction you made in each of the cities. I love that. It's so cool. And with the new code, you can see how much you have left to do for those different modes, like the tank, multi-ball, and all that other stuff. And I know that there was a strategy when I was talking to Ted, who owns the game. He was saying that it's good to switch around different cities and not stay in the same city the whole time. I didn't know that. Have you played the new code yet? I heard it's amazing. Brian got some time on it.
    24:25
    No, I have not yet to play it yet with the new code, but I was invited tonight, but I couldn't make it over there. Years ago. It's really good.
    24:36
    I only got a couple games in on it, but the biggest thing that I liked was that reverse exit shot out of the building. You know, if you hit that, it was normally you're done. The death shot. Yeah. You now get a bonus if you can do that and not lose the ball.
    24:55
    And at the same time, if it does go straight down the middle, there's a slight ball save. So they compensated for, you know, one of the big complaints that I heard about the game was just that that shot was really, really, really brutal.
    25:08
    I did notice the map, but I only got a couple games in on it. It's fun. It's a great game. I like it. Yeah, it's awesome. And it's a great location game. We're getting two of them in Reno on location. and then we're also of course we have a lot of people around Reno that got the premium or the LE and it's it's everywhere so it's great but you can't get enough of it it's like ah I still it's one of those games where everybody has it but man I wish I had it too because I would just love to get further and further in the game to see how far I can go because when you battle the monsters I love how it's a variety we talked about this before in the other shows but I love the all the different modes, like you have to shoot three spinners. I mean, that's awesome. I've never seen that where you, like, I mean, yeah, you have like disco loops and stuff like that. But he said, yeah, you know what, let's do three spinners instead to finish that mode. Just awesome. And you know how many spins are left. And it's just so great. And then when you do the battle team-ups, that's even cooler because you're like, oh, I got all the, oh, wait a minute, now there's a new battle. What is this? There's always these surprises.
    26:19
    Such a damn good game. Absolutely So I'm going to mention It's not out And it won't, even if it gets released It won't probably be shipping in 2021 But I'm going to mention it Rush is pretty much The next game from CERN So there's a rumor that's going to Be released just this next Week after Christmas But we don't know Either way it's not going to be out until 2022 And then they got some other good stuff coming In 2022 too. But I figure it's worth mentioning just to say, hey, in case somebody's listening and didn't know about this, Rush is going to be, that's Rush the band and the next game from, I think that's a John Borg design. I'm excited about that game. Me too, but I'm a Rush fan. I like Rush a lot. I can't say I'm a fan, but I do love Neil Peart. I am a drummer, so yeah, obviously I'm impressed with all his drumming and I like their music. I love progressive rock, so that fits. But it'll be interesting to see what Borg does. If the game is really good, it's going to sell like crazy. If the game is kind of a dud, it's probably going to be just the Rush fans, probably a lot of the Canadians that will, of course, Jeff Teelis will probably get one immediately.
    27:34
    Since they are a Canadian band, I'm sure there's going to be a lot of Canadians getting that game. But, boy, when you see all the things that are happening with, like, Zeppelin, even though it wasn't the best game, there's still fans out there that will just buy it sight unseen. so I don't think it's going to be a different I like the game it shoots really well it's fun the more and more I play it it's one of those games that grows on you it's not a bad game the question is what is he going to do because he's got to step up his game he can't just do the same thing over and over again with his layouts and stuff like that he's got to do some kind of cool mech like Sparky was a cool mech I love that every time you hit him on Metallica you know he shakes his head like he's in an electric chair that always is like an exciting moment in pinball it's like that wow like oh that's hilarious when he goes ah i love that and it's a good point that board does have his styles right like he has a strong layout which you also see on like ninja turtles and you know maybe kind of like walking dead you know that's kind of like a weird a little bit more eclectic and then he has his metallica layout which you see on Metallica and Munsters and Guardians and Aerosmith. That was the game I was thinking of. So, you know, is he going to reinvent the wheel or is he going to do Metallica again? Exactly. And the other question is, is he going to have some kind of mech that fits with the theme of Rush that's the wow factor? Like, Rush is very known in their concerts to use lasers. if they have lasers shooting across the play field that game will be sold out in seconds you know like lighting based they're just so risky so yeah Star Trek right Star Trek had the laser projector thing there you go you know and it was okay like it did the trick but I mean you know it was red stars and just kind of looked strange and then you had what Disco Multiball which I, you know, I mean it's fine and Stranger Things is probably the game that kind of went the most all in on the lighting based feature with the projector which I think is fantastic but I understand in certain environments it's not ideal so a lighting based feature is tough Well it's tough with lasers because you have to show the stream of the light and that's where you have to use smoke and they're not going to put smoke in a machine unless they do something like that. Holy crap. That would be wild. But back to the lighting, like, look what they did with Led Zepp, you know, with the expression lighting. I'm willing to bet you that will make another appearance. And, of course, you know, Guns N' Roses is all about the lighting. So it's probably not outside of their realm of possibility that they will go for some sort of fancy lighting-based feature. Right. But what is symbolic with Rush? I mean, that's the thing. Is there a maniac on the drums? I don't know. That's what I'm excited about. Maybe it will be just the typical layout that Borg does. Maybe he will do something that surprises and not have two in-lanes. That would be nice. Try something different. Everybody hates it when you mess with the in-lane, out-lane situation too much. I don't think Stern is going to take that chance.
    31:06
    There's something You could do with Rush. You know, you could take the, I think it's supposed to be an owl, like the owl from the cover for Fly By Night. Oh, yeah. Do something with it. You know, there's some stuff you could do, but you're right. They don't have a lot of, like, imagery, like Iron Maiden that goes along, you know, with their stuff.
    31:31
    Yeah. But you know what I think will be really cool is the music. The music will fit really well with the gameplay. That's going to depend entirely on what songs they decide to use. Yeah, because Rush is sporadic. It's not always the same time signature and stuff like that. So it will fit really well with the motion of the ball. I could imagine hearing a Rush song like Time Standstill or something like that.
    31:57
    I don't know. I'm excited to see it give some energy to that game with the emotion of the ball, with the music. It'll get me pumped up for sure. Absolutely. Yeah, I'm a huge Rex fan, so I'm excited about it. Yeah, me too. So we'll jump on to Spooky because they actually delivered games this year. Well, they delivered two games, but it's the same layout. You all know it. Halloween and Ultraman. I mean, we kind of talked about these, like, last episode, I think. So, any thoughts? Haven't had the chance to play either of them. Have not had the chance to play either of them either. Me and Mark played them both. No, I didn't play Halloween. I looked at it, and the lines were super long, and I figured, well, if I get on an altar, man, I basically played Halloween. So, it was good. But, you know, again, couldn't hear it. Code was early, blah, blah, blah. You know, we'll see how they go, you know. Yeah, it's all about wait and see. Wait and see. Yeah, there's really nothing I can say about it. I did play it, but it's not complete. There's just, it's, I didn't know what I was doing, which obviously that can be a case sometimes with, you know, when you don't get familiar with a game or something like that. But I just played it, and I just didn't get into the progression of the game. I didn't know how to get further in it. I knew how to start modes and I knew how to get up to the play field in the different levels and stuff like that but I didn know what the end objective was That was the hard part for me The two spooky games I like the most are both of the ones that Scott and Isi's got. Yeah, Rick and Morty, I know what I'm doing. That tells me what to do. They did a great job on having that code out the gate complete for the most part, except adding new episodes and stuff like that. Yeah, but I mean, out of the box, it was pretty complete. It's got, you know, it's got everything. It hit all, it checked all the boxes. And then the same with, you know, with total nuclear annihilation, man. I mean, it just, you know, the rule set is simple, but it's, you know, let's do one more game, man, you know. Yeah. And I'm not, Alice Cooper, now Alice Cooper I felt that with like, oh, this is, you know, I'm second, but let's do this again.
    34:21
    And for what it's worth, I know a lot of people don't like it. But I really like Rob Zombie because, to me, it's got the feel of a modern game with some of the elements that feel like a classic early 80s, Scottish system 80, and I really like that. But I'm just – of course, you know what, man, if I can get more time on him, maybe I'll like him more and if I can hear what's going on. So we'll see. Yeah, we'll have to see what happens with the code. I mean, it's taken them a little while, but they don't have a lot of assets to work with unless they do, and they're just choosing where they want to put them in the game. With code, that game will be better. It's all dependent on the code. The shots are great. It's fun to get up to different levels, and it's challenging. Yeah, it is. Code needs to come a long way. You know? Yeah. I mean, you know what, man? It's still early, you know? And everything in the world going on, they're still getting games out. God bless them. Yeah, and the other thing, too, to think about is you've got two different characters of games. You've got the same shot layout and everything like that, But you got one that's campy, which would fit perfectly with Godzilla, and then you got one that's real serious. And personally, when I'm playing pinball, I like to have fun and humor versus real serious. I don't know. That's just how I feel. Yeah. No, I tend to agree with you. I think most people do. But you know what? Halloween's got its set of fans, and it's there for those fans. So it's awesome. Right. Exactly. Let's just move on to CGC because there's not really a lot more to talk about with that. But we've all played Cactus Canyon. Some of us have played Cactus Canyon Continued. Mark, you're the only one who's played the Cactus Canyon Reissue, as far as I know.
    36:01
    It's super fun. I played it again. I actually went over to Playfield 76 just a couple days ago just to go, let me see if that was really a great game or not. But it is fun to shoot. It is easy to shoot the shots. They're nice and wide and everything. But the humor behind it and the pop-up targets for hitting the bad guys, the integration of the topper to move your left or your right flipper buttons to move the little LED on the top to shoot the bad guys is a lot of fun. It's challenging. I can't pass it, but I'm trying to.
    36:38
    It's a gorgeous game. They did a really good job on the lighting, the models. they did a great job on redoing Big Bart so that he looks a little more meaner and not like a humorous figure and it's great how they used some of the callouts I have not heard on the original game because originally they had a lot more callouts that the actors did and they didn't use it in the game that was for the most part unfinished so they were able to use those now and build it into the code. Now the question is, is Lyman going to knock it out of the park? I haven't been disappointed with his code yet, but the code that's there right now is great while we're waiting for that new code to come out from Lyman. So we'll see what happens, but I think it is a great game. It will be on a permanent play that you can play at either Playfield 76 and then it moves over to Press Start in the next couple of days, actually, as soon as they officially open, and they will have that available to play. So we will have a Cactus Canyon remake. There's some issues with Big Bart on the top. The arm came off, and we saw that also happen at Expo, but that's because there were 3D-printed parts, and they didn't have the actual cast molds. So they're getting new parts put in to fix that, but it's a gorgeous game. It's fun. It's a fun game. I've got it up in Reno. For folks that don't know, you're from Reno. Yeah. Because there may be some listeners that don't know. Mark is from Reno, Nevada, folks. But if you want to stalk him, now you know where to start. Now you know where to start. So there you go.
    38:22
    The one you guys currently have is a prototype. It is a prototype, yep. It's prototype number one, right? Prototype number one. Yep. Owned by Rick Bartlett. He got the first prototype, and it's basically out in the field for testing. to see how things are going with that. But I played it, and it's been out. It was funny because when they opened up the coin door, because we were putting them on free play, it was full of quarters. Nice. So it just goes to show you, it's not a licensed theme. I mean, to us it is, of course, because, yeah, we're Cactus Canyon fans. But to the general public, it was chock full of quarters. So obviously the way that they displayed the world under glass for a Western theme is captivating a lot of people, and people are playing it all the time. So there you go. Well, I don't think there was ever any doubt that Cactus Canyon is a great-looking game, and I think that it's really – it was a testament to what Bally Williams did in those later days, you know, after they had all the Johnny Mnemonics and Demolition Man and all these movies that were probably – Kongos that were a little disappointing that they went back to going with just like good solid generic themes you know aliens castles westerns you know and then some questionable ones junkyard but you know what was that barroom brawl one champion pub just like really cool generic you know games and I think that it's a testament that, like, you know, you went to, you know, a place like Playfield 76, you plunked the game down. And, I mean, I'm sure that plenty of people who played it were, you know, pinball aficionados who are curious. But I'm sure a ton of people who played it were just like, wow, this game looks neat. It's cowboys and Indians and, you know, gunslingers, and let's pop a dollar into this and see what it's all about. Exactly. And the other thing, too, is you can see all the way across the room, you see the topper moving and animating on top. That is really cool, too.
    40:35
    It's very captivating for people who never played it before. They get curious out of it and pop quarters in it. So it's doing really well in location. It's press start. Do they still have Monster Bash 1 as well? Yes. In fact, it is there right now as we speak. There we go. Come play. Early prototype. Pieces of history. Only in Reno. Exactly.
    41:00
    And good all-you-can-eat buffet, too. Yes. But not a press start. Yeah, I was going to say, really? I'm there. What am I even doing here? Get in the car, Ryan. The restaurant is opening soon, but they're still getting more supplies. But the other half, which is press start, is pretty much close to official opening, which we'll talk about later.
    41:20
    Yep. Well, let's talk about American pinball. Hot Wheels really is the only thing shipping right now. but it came out in 2000 and it's with COVID and everything else but it slowly built up steam and it's a really we did a deep dive into it and it's a great game the deepest dive the deepest dive the longest dive we made a bunch of new friends over at American Pinball and we are not paid to do they give us Hot Wheels fan number one those dudes have not sent us a sticker a t-shirt, nothing. So, you know, we're not being paid, just so you know.
    42:02
    Nope. But I'll have to say that they obviously shared it with people because we had good listener viewership for that episode. But I still love it. I still love the game. I have not beaten it yet. If I play it continuously, maybe I can. I did get to Draven finally, but it's tough to beat him. It's a good game. It's a great game. It's fun. And I love the co-op. The team play is really nice. And they're going to probably have new code to even up the ante with their rules. But as it is right now, it's super fun to play. I love it. I would be interested to see how they sold. I mean, it feels like we know at least a few people who bought them, and it seemed to be like this perfect theme, right? Like Hot Wheels, there's a legion of adult collectors. It's popular with kids. It's family-friendly, but it doesn't come off as overly cheesy or goofy. Like, I really hope that they see a lot of success with this because I really, really want them to make a Transformers game based on the toys. Oh, no doubt. That would be awesome. That would be amazing.
    43:13
    Yeah, everybody wants one based on the toys. No, no, no. You know, I wish these guys, you know, they've done everything right. They came out of the gate. American Pinball really are the, you know, they're the spooky men. You know, the two little companies that could. They came out of the gate with John Papaduke and a bunch of BS, and they stumbled real bad and went, uh-oh. But you know what? They turned it around, and within, what, seven months, eight months, they had a working production model game with Houdini, got it out the door, got it out to people, did a second game. Two games in a row after all that, more or less, Houdini was a soft license. You know, the guy's been dead for a century, So you can kind of do whatever the hell you want and who's going to say anything. And then, you know, they come out with another, you know, polarizing, non-licensed theme, which I think all of us in the room just absolutely love. I love that game. I love the game. I love the theme. I love the integration. I love Oktoberfest. Oktoberfest is just the shit, man. I love that game. And it has its fans and it's sold a bit. It's fun. I do like Oktoberfest. It's fun. they've done everything counter to what everybody says. You know, if you want to be successful, here's what you do. Well, that's what I was asking is, have they been successful? You know, I don't know how many games that they've sold. I hope that they've sold enough to make it worth their while. And there's big rumors about what they had a project. They were working with Spooky. They were working with Ben Heck. And we haven't seen much on that. But, you know, I'm hoping they've got something cool coming up. The issue is they have a small factory, and they don't have enough employees to build the demand of games, like I said, it was pretty small. It was definitely a miniature version of, well, obviously Stern is the powerhouse of manufacturing. But it was definitely, you could tell it was going to take a little longer to get your game. And I know for a fact that if I would have ordered my Hot Wheels and waited maybe like a couple weeks later to order it, I would have probably been waiting until the new year to get it. Right. I don't know if that's because parts are on back order and there's a supply chain issue and stuff like that. But according to them, they have a lot of people on the waiting list to get Hot Wheels. I don't doubt it. I don't know how many they sold, but I know for a fact that it is definitely a high-demand game that people want for American Pinball. Now, Legends of Valhalla, don't know about that either. I liked it. I thought it was fun to shoot. I got to play it at Expo, and I would like to get more time on it, and hopefully somebody in Reno will get one and really get to learn the rules and shoot it. But I thought it was fun to shoot. Had a couple of bugs in it at first, but I think they took care of that. It was something with a lock in the ship that it didn't detect it, so you had to do a ball search to find it and, you know, simple stuff like that. But, I don't know, we'll see how that comes about. But obviously nothing's shipped from them yet because everything's at a standstill. I'm hoping it goes away eventually so we can get things when we expect them. But, you know, that's the way it is. Also, no one's gotten Valhalla yet? Yeah. No, they haven't shipped it as far as I know. Not that I'm aware of, no. Only location play where they put out their test machines, yeah.
    46:35
    I could be wrong. I don't know. I do want to bring up a point about Legends of Valhalla, and I'm so happy for Riot Pinball because they did everything right. Right in the dead center of You know The Kevin Kulik thing with Predator And with the Zidware, John Papaduke nonsense And all this other BS Here's you know Here's the guys from Guy or guys from Riot Pinball and they're doing What was the first game they did? Wrath of Olympus Which Russ and I talked about for years Wanting to see somebody do Greek mythology And they did And they took pre-orders for it through Spooky said If we can get 100 orders Pre-paid with a deposit We can make this game That didn't happen So they gave back every penny They refunded every single person Nobody lost out Nobody got cheesed They're honorable They did the right thing And they're getting the short end of the stick Because these other clowns aren't doing the right thing So I'm so happy for these guys that they're finally getting, you know, their due and that their game's getting made by a legit company that's going to produce the game and get it to the customers and maybe get a few on location and people, you know, and hopefully we'll see more from them. And not only that, but they're well built. They're not just great games. They're well built. Yeah, yeah, American games are solid. That's what everybody says is they're really well made. They're well made. Yeah. And the other highlight, too, of 2021 is that Stephen Bowden left that shit show and now is at a great company, and he's going to contribute a lot to that, solidifying the rules and doing whatever his title is. I mean, he's probably got a lot of hats. Really hats for him, too. And they're going to see how he fits in there. But I think he's going to really enjoy himself there. And that was a nice thing to see when I was there. And I was like, oh, what are you doing, Steve? Oh, yeah, I'm working for American Pinball. So that was a highlight of 2021 that he got out of that cesspool. And now he's in something that's a lot more of a purpose. Yeah, he's actually in a pinball company that's actually going to make pinball machines. So, you know, again, more power to him. God bless him. I hope he has a better 2022. I hope everybody does. Agree. stuck over there except for two people. We already know who they are.
    49:08
    I'm going to go ahead and move on to Haggis and I'm only going to move on because they ain't shipping. I don't know what they should. They're supposed to be making the Fathom reissue. Standard version then the Super Deluxe model that's got new code and blah, blah, blah.
    49:22
    There's rumors and bumps in the road. I'm going to say it right here, right now. You give these guys a penny before they got something in a box to give you, just don't. Don't. Don't give these whiny bastards a red cent until they got something in a box worthwhile that they can prove they can deliver the goods. Because right now, they ain't proving shit. Except Kelts. A lot of people are saying they like that game. I'm hearing a lot of people say it's really fun to shoot. And they're still making them. Why aren't they making fathoms? They need to start making fathoms. I agree. People are giving them money. They need to deliver a product. And that's it. Kelts looks like a lot of fun. It really does. You know, we're here in the U.S., they're in Australia, but they're taking money for Fathom and they're still shipping Keltz. They need to start shipping Fathoms. They need to say, here it is, here's our line, and they need to throw it all around on the table, and they need to do that quick. Otherwise, this could be another chucklehead that's taking people's money for nothing. I'm hoping Damon is not that way because from what I see, he's being transparent in his YouTube videos, giving us updates. And at least there's progress in those updates versus Deep Root, where they just kept coming up with excuses to not have anything in progress. At least you see a fathom that was behind him, and maybe, yeah, it was maybe only the one that they produced, you know, for their prototype and stuff. But I have faith in them. I think they'll be okay. It's just the problem with Australia is they've been shut down so much out of any other country, and I'm sure that has a lot to do with it. But we can't use that as an excuse for everything. People giving you money, you better deliver, period. Don't care. I have zero patience. When somebody hands you $7,000, you better deliver, and you better do it quick. That's it. Otherwise, you know what, man? Take your ball and go home. Okay? This is your time to put on big boy pants. You want to play in the big leagues with the big boys, you better start building games. I have no patience or tolerance for any of these clowns anymore. because guys like American have been doing it right. Guys like Spooky have been doing it right. Guys like, you know, CGC for the most part, as far as I can tell, they've done it right, you know, and they're delivering games. You know, and, of course, Stern and, of course, Jersey Jack, who we're not really talking about Jack just because, well, they haven't produced anything new this year. They're still just trying to get Guns N' Roses built. They have plenty of orders of those, and it's a freaking awesome game. Gosh, every time I play it. And I played it at press start, and, man, it's such a fun game. And they're making more Willy Wonkas. There you go. Yeah, they're doing more Willy Wonkas. Willy Wonka is really growing on me now, too. The new code. Oh, man, that game is good. We have become gigantic fans of Willy Wonka in this part of the world. Yeah, I'm addicted.
    52:20
    It's good. And Brian is a tough sell. You've got to really make a good game because, Brian, you think I'm harsh on these guys. Brian's a tough sell. So if Brian likes something, you know it's good. What do you like about it? Since we're talking about Jersey Jack, what do you like about Wonka? Well, the theme is okay. Like the theme is not what sells it for me. I like the variety of shots. It flows very nice. It has like the dialed in Lawler feel to it.
    52:51
    I just, I like the rules. Once I finally figured it out, playing a Jason Fesler, once a month. That's all I play over there anymore. We went two Saturdays ago. We were there for like eight hours. I played two games of Ghostbusters and the rest of the time I was on Willy Wonka. Yeah, the new rule set makes all the difference. It was always a really, I mean, it's maybe the nicest shooting game ever made. Like, it shoots incredibly smooth. And I mean, it's funny that, you know, we talk about Godzilla and we talk about Keith Allen and all the cool things that he does and I think that a lot of people need to remember that like you know Pat Lawler is a master of the craft you know Steve Ritchie is a master of the craft and those guys make games that shoot like nobody else's games and you know it shoots impossibly nice and the things that you do in it are fun and the new rule set where you can actually you know you finally feel like you're making some progress through the game and it's not quite as tedious as it was, like, it was the right move because it really woke that game right the hell up. And, yeah, I'm a big fan of that. I'm always looking for one. And the light show is so amazing. Yeah, we don't have one on location. We need to get a Wonka on location somewhere. But we are borrowing it from Marcus. He traded with Ted for Avengers as a temp trade just to see how he liked it. But we have Wonka here to play, and I hope it's there for New Year's because I want to play it a lot more and get time on it. But having the new code and making it a little easier to get through the modes, well, not get to the modes, but get further in the game is a game changer because before, I do like the kid multiball where you have to collect it and hit the captain ball every time to collect a kid. So that was starting to get a little more understandable. But I was really excited when I got to Wonka's office. And usually that's impossible to get to on the old code. It took forever. And to be able to experience that, how cool is that to make shots of the only side you could, whether it was lit, and then it switched off. Oh, it was so good. It was impossible to start anything. That was my problem. Like, I would start in one mode, and I would be like, well, there was a game of Wonka, but yeah, the new code, again, they really opened it up, and it's a lot more fun. They did a similar thing back in the day with Metallica, where you had to really grind through the game, and then they came back and said, oh, now you have to hit less shots to get to the crank it up modes. Right. And it's like, hey, you know, you don't always need to make your games hard as balls. You know, how about making them fun, and then you'll like to play them. So, yeah, Wonka's great. The light show is perfect. how colorful it is. I mean, at Candy World, hello. And it's the right, there, thank you. It's the right game for that level of colorfulness. Yep. You know, a lot of games they go a little crazy because they can. Wonka, it looks right. And so it's really good that, you know, Jersey Jack is making more.
    56:07
    And, you know, of course, Guns N' Roses, you know, which was a last year game, but still, I love to talk about it, is the most awesome game ever made. So, yeah, Jersey Jack, man, keep it going. I still wish I could learn the rules easier, though. One of these days, the only one I can think I can step up to and figure out is, like, dialed in. But Guns N' Roses, I still have no clue what I'm doing. I guess I have to have a long conversation with you, Dan, to teach me because I do not know what I'm doing in that game. All I know is I have fun, and I'm rocking out to any song that's played by Guns N' Roses with a light show and everything. It'll be a super short conversation, and you'll be like, really? That's it? It's not that complicated of a game. The patches are what I don't get. I don't get the patches.
    56:55
    Patches? We don't need no stinking patches. The patches are the strategy, you know. So, yeah. And even I don't have a good grasp of, like, combinations of patches will really blow that game wide open. And, you know, but, yeah, it's super fantastic. And the light show is absolutely second to none.
    57:19
    Oh, there's no comparison. Even my wife was impressed when she saw it. She's like, well, this is really cool. You know, I really was hoping. I mean, I know that they weren't going to make an announcement at Expo, but I was really hoping for them to announce, whether it's Toy Story or whether it's whatever they're going to do next. You know, I do think that the Jersey Jack releases are what makes the pinball world go round. and I think that Godzilla was a direct response to that, Stern saying, hey, look, we're the big dogs and we can make big, fancy games too. But I'm really thinking that, you know, Jersey Jack has just proven over and over and over that, you know, they make the Cadillacs of pinball machines. And maybe there have been some quality issues, unfortunately, and maybe they are often tricky to keep, you know, running at 100%, but they are the biggest and the baddest and the fanciest, And they're the pinball machines that when I look at spending, you know, $9,000 on a pin, that I go, hey, it's expensive, but you get what you pay for. Right. And the other thing, too, is what's great about it is that they do really find killer themes. and the other idea too is maybe there's a delay of not announcing the next game because they are trying to finally figure out what's going on with these play fields and come up with a solution that maybe we don't know about, but they're doing that behind the scenes to prepare for their next game. And I think they're going to do the same thing they did with Guns N' Roses, that they will announce when they're ready to ship because that was a problem they've had in their previous games where they announce it, and then you're waiting six months for it to get it.
    59:00
    The best thing they did with Guns N' Roses is they shipped it when they announced it, and they're still making them. There's just so many orders of them, they can't do another game right now. But I wish they could do two a year. It would be nice. But they have their whole factory dedicated to producing Wonkas and the Guns N' Roses. At this point, I just want them to keep doing what they're doing, except for, you know, maybe just do us a favor, guys, and let's button up that Pirates code.
    59:32
    There's a thousand of us out there waiting for it. Yeah, where's the ultimate end wizard mode? It's not there yet, right? I don't know. I mean, I've never heard of it anyway. I would just like it to be done. I'd like to have the SCORBIT implementation. but I would really just like to get the monkey off of the back of Pirates of the Caribbean that it hasn't gotten that code so that everybody can just shut up about it. Yeah.
    60:01
    Yep. Works for me. So in between, because we saw Multimorphic, which has had a really damn good year, we have, I don't even know who's doing it, but I've seen the videos and we've talked about it off air. We have Rudy's Nightmare, which is like an expansion rewrite kit with art for Funhaus. And I'll go ahead and start. The voice over to Rudy sucks. And the artwork sucks. Rudy's, you know, Funhaus is a near-perfect game. Why are you messing with me? You know, when they did the 2.0 for Brian Pinbot. Brian Pinbot is a beautiful game, but he doesn't have the deepest rule set. They did a nice job on the rewrite. That was Dutch, of course. Dutch Pinball. Who are these guys doing Rudy's Nightmare?
    60:57
    I would have to look that up. It's a weird name. I can't remember. They suck. The voice sucks. The art sucks.
    61:08
    No sale. Not interested. You don't have a phone house. It's not targeted to you. Well, this is a wait and see, but it's not going to be waiting for long because Reno is getting one of those, and we can really be the judge of that. In fact, Reno Pinball, which is our YouTube channel, we are going to be creating an installation video that's going to explain how to retrofit it with the new components and help people who get their 2.0 kit to have it installed into their existing Funhaus machine. So that's going to be exciting, and we also are going to be streaming it probably at a private location first, and then we'll probably stream it at a public location, which is going to be, once again, at press start. And I know I'm plugging that, but if you want to play games that you've never played before that are not anywhere else, The reason why we're very fortunate is because we have Rick Bartlett, who lives in our area, and he gets all the prototypes that we get to play on location, and he shares them with us. So I like the code from what I saw from just that simple video that they did of the overview. I'll agree with you, Spencer. I don't like the back glass. I think the original one is way better. It's too creepy. It looks creepier, in my opinion. And it's creepy already as it is. and the call out is not as good as the original Rudy. I agree.
    62:42
    But the way that it's going to enhance that game with the different modes, it looked pretty fun. We'll see.
    62:53
    Fun house or bummer house. We don't know yet. Well, with what I saw in the live show that they made the changes it was really boring. It was just let's make the clock go around in circles. Okay. Oh, and the light show? I watched part of the video, like they're showing the different modes, and then they're showing the light show, and all I saw on the light show was, well, now the lights blink around the clock in succession really fast. Oh, okay. I see. So if you have epilepsy, don't play this game. Yeah, it colored me completely unimpressed.
    63:26
    Funhouse is one of the top ten games ever built, and it's a Pat Lawler game, which, you know, automatically you know it's going to be pretty good.
    63:34
    I just – they had a chance to do something really great, and I don't think they're even – I don't know. Hey, you know what, Dan? I'll play and give it a chance. But right now there's nothing there that's making me go, I really want to play this. You don't say. Yeah.
    63:48
    Yeah. The company's called Pedretti Gaming, by the way, and I guess that their claim to fame is that they're manufacturing Alien for the Pinball Brothers.
    63:59
    Oh. Okay. So my thoughts on Funhouse 2.0 is coming from someone who's been a fan of that game since it was first released. Coming from our Funhouse owner. It was still my favorite game ever built. It was the first game I bought. But I still have it if it wasn't broken. I would play it every day.
    64:24
    My biggest, you know, a new video dropped yesterday. I think it was done by Pedretti, but I'm not sure. It's about three minutes long. Like Spencer said, I can't stand the voice. And Ed Boon is still alive, and he did the voice of Rudy. That could have been easily fixed by reaching out to him. Maybe it wasn't in the budget. I don't know. Maybe it still can be. That could be just, you never know. That could be just for the trailer, just to get a trailer out there. I don't like the artwork. It's just, it's not my style. But the biggest thing I saw in the new video that dropped, and this may have been a sync issue with the video, is that there was several times in that video where you could hear Rudy's voice and that jaw was not moving at all. and that may be early code it may be a problem with the video but for me that's just no that's unacceptable that is the point of Funhaus Rudy's Funhaus when he talks the mouth moves like he can't not have that and the eyes he has expressions I almost bet you it was thinking issue I think it was they just did the sound clip and then they just show the video of the gameplay, but they probably didn't have it combined. I don't know. We'll find out. Like I said, I'm going to get first-hand witness and playing to see if it is what it's all cracked up to be. I'm excited about it, but I'm a pretty optimistic guy, so I'm open to anything. But I am also realistic to say that I'm going to see before... I'm not making any judgment until I actually play it and see. I want to play it, but it's not something I would consider dropping into my funhouse.
    66:14
    Mainly since it costs more than what I spent on my funhouse 20 years ago. But I like the original. I don't need every single game to be the most complicated thing on the planet. I like it because it is simple and it's fun.
    66:30
    I love the upgrade idea. And, you know, if you look at the price of the unit, and I don't know if it's still – I mean, I think originally they announced $2,000. and now I think it's gone up a little bit. Like $2,500. Right. When you can figure that you get a new display, a new panel, you get a fast board, you get a pin sound, there's a lot of hardware. It's not just you're paying $2,000 and getting a chip. So it a very involved install and I really curious to see what you guys see when you get your hands on one and it gets put in more than just you know how it looks or how it plays because there are a lot of games that, like, this could be really cool for, especially if they include the option to play the original version like they did on Bride of Pinbot. And I think it looks super, super cool. I mean, the art can be corrected. You know, even the voice, you know, if somebody, you know, felt passionate enough about it, you know, can be corrected. But, you know, the fact of the matter is it looks really, really cool with the new display, and it looks really, really cool with the Magic Mirror display. And hopefully they have some good rules and modes, and it just doesn't end up being lame.
    67:50
    Yeah, the animations are actually pretty good on the display from what I saw. I think the art style is not the best. No. But it looks sleek and nice. You know, graphics, the titles and stuff look fantastic.
    68:06
    Yeah. I think the way I look at it is, to me, I agree with you, Brian, that the game is good as the way it is. But when I play it and I beat it, I wish there was more. And this 2.0 version is going to give me that wish because it's pretty easy to beat. You get the mirror, you get your multi-ball, and then you try to hit it into the hidden stairway or the hidden trap door, and that's it. You're done. There's nothing more to it. You still have to complete the mirror for your super frenzy, and then you can restart it. But it's a System 11 game, and a lot of people compare it to the newer games with the crazy amounts of code now, and they forget that this game is, like, what, 35 years old? It was way ahead of its time when it came out. I'll admit that. I mean, I saw a talking animated head, like, seeing something like from Disney World or Disneyland in a pinball machine. That was pretty awesome for that technology. You can tie the toys on the play fields and everything now. That goes directly to Ruby. He was the first major toy. Yeah, Fun Hour, Whirlwind had the spinning discs. you know, oh look, you know, this roller games have a magnet. None of them have the interactivity that Rudy did. But, was the Atlastic Space Shuttle. Exactly. That's my point. Rudy's amazing, and Rudy was the deal breaker. I'm going to cut in real quick to let everybody know that another Dan has appeared. All right. What's up, everybody? Dan, how you doing, man? Hey, Dan. Welcome to the show. Dan Costa, ladies and gentlemen.
    69:53
    Awesome. Who else is on? Mark Scott. Oh, what's up, Mark? Hey, Dan. Doing well. It was that Mark. I told you. Yeah. So, other Dan is hosting us tonight. We're hanging out in his garage trying to stay warm. And he's finished with daddy duty, so he's going to come in here and I'm sure join in the conversation.
    70:16
    Awesome. Shadow's the best game ever made. Yeah, yours looks great It's a great game The play field's over here and the back office is over there I'll say that Alright, so are we done with Funhouse 2.0? Yeah, let's jump into Multimorphic and I want to point out something real quick because we're talking about Godzilla Game of the Year Probably a no-brainer and well-deserved but if you look at the Pennside Top 100 Now, Godzilla's been number one for a while. It wasn't like just a few people voted it up and then a few more people jumped back in and voted Medieval Madness back up like it usually happens. Godzilla now, for about six to eight weeks, has been sitting comfortably at number one. Medieval Madness has not been sitting at number two for about a month now.
    71:08
    Heist has. Really? For over a month or right about a month. Heist has been sitting at number two Did we talk about Heist last episode? We did And that game kicks ass To be honest with you Heist is so cool And So awesome to play So I think Now Mark you're the only one Oh no wait Not my crush I'm sorry Dan Costa Sorry about that you guys both went to Expo, and you both played Sorcerer's Apprentice?
    71:51
    Correct. Nice. Correct. Okay. What did you guys think about that? Because I haven't played it, but I played Heist, and I'm crazy in love with it.
    72:01
    Go ahead, Mark. I really enjoyed Sorcerer's Apprentice. I thought it was really fun to be able to get the different objects to get the spells. so you really had to figure out the different shots you made to be able to get the items to get further in the game. It wasn't less mode-based. It was more or less like try to get further by collecting these items to be able to defeat the bad guy or the sorcerer or whatever. I didn't really get a total grasp on the story for the most part, but it was really fun the way that they put it together to collect items and be able to get further in the game. I don't know how else to say that. Maybe, Dan, you can explain it better than me, but I liked it. I thought it was really neat, and especially using the play field with the kart racing one. Oh, yeah, I think that one was broken when I stepped up to it, but, yeah, I played Sorcerer's Apprentice. That was my first time ever playing a P3.
    73:06
    And I guess I'll have a different view than from Mark. I couldn't stand the flippers. I don't know, Mark, how you felt about them, but they felt very strange.
    73:21
    Yeah. And I know they just released some kind of flipper upgrade kit. Yeah, like a new flipper module. But this one seemed like the old version, so I guess there's more to come. But I thought it was a cool platform. I'm glad I got to get some time on it honestly I walked away after ball two because it just kind of seemed like chopping wood like to Mark's point you're collecting all these things and you know trying to progress through I guess different tasks and I just yeah it didn't really do much for me on the call outside I wish I could have got to play heist but it was broken there were two P3 machines there Sorcerer's use is Cosmic Kart Racing, right? Correct. Yeah. That's the correct one. Thank you, Cosmic Kart Racing. Yeah, which I'm sure is great for Cosmic Kart Racing, but, I mean, yeah, that's just all that is is shots. Just shots, shots, shots, shots, shots. Yeah, it's pretty much shots, yeah. It's not as good as Heist, I'll tell you that. Heist is fantastic. Heist Playfield Module is a work of art. It really is cool. It's just, yeah, it's got everything going for it. It's got the nice 3D models in the back with the city layout. the crane and mech is so good. It's got cool toys. It's got myself.
    74:37
    I still don't understand why they did not get toy of the year. I don't get it. It's so cool because it's a magnet.
    74:45
    It does so many things. It's a bath toy. It's so animated. It's so good. I like the fact that you got multi-morphic though. They're still improving the system. I mean, you know, it's the most cutting edge pinball that there's ever been and it's like damn near 10 years old. They're still upgrading the system. They're still doing fancy new things. They're bringing new talent in. They're upgrading our packages. I really want to see those guys figure it out. I really want to see them find the license and find the magic bullet and find the price point and everything so that pinball people will go like, hey, you got to have a Multimorphic. It's fantastic. you know, and heights is the only thing that so far I've played on it that I'm like, so how much is this? $10,000, $12,000? Oh, that's pretty good. I mean, I don't know if I'm buying one, but, I mean, I can see now why you would. Right. I can live off Simon and Tuna Fish for five years, no problem. There you go. Exactly. Well, the good news is we have a heist at Press Start. So if you want to come down to Reno, we got one that you can play on location. As soon as the weather gets better, from what I hear, you guys are getting pounded right now. Oh, yeah. The chances of people coming over the pass are very slim this next week. We're getting a lot of snow. We have to do a night class a few days, but apparently it's about to be pretty not nice again.
    76:10
    That's why I came up to Sacramento when I did, because I knew that would be the last time until the spring. Good night, Hank. Yeah. When the temperatures get just above freezing at night because of the rain clouds, I'm all about it. Yeah. So Multimorphic has just brought on board Bowen Kierens and Colin McAlpine to do rules and help out with code and stuff like that.
    76:36
    So, like Dan said, man, they're bringing on new talent. They got new art packages. They're making improvements.
    76:43
    You know, can't wait to see more from them, you know. So I don't want to talk shit. But what happened with Bowen, Karens, and Spooky? That's what I was thinking. Well, I heard something not too far back about how, I mean, I don't think that they're blood enemies or anything, but basically Bowen just sort of sounded like, I went in there, I did what I was asked to do, and that was it.
    77:11
    And I was like, oh. Contractor. That's what it was like. It wasn't like he was working for Spooky. He was just helping with a project. Right. But Spooky thinks like, you know, they're all one big pinball family.
    77:25
    You know, it's interesting that he didn't have more to say. I mean, and don't get me wrong, it's not like Charlie is, you know, on great terms with everyone all the time, you know. He and Ben Heck, you know, they were at it for a while.
    77:43
    Right. He's back to work in the industry. I'm sure he'll do great work for Multimorphic. And who is the other guy? Colin McAlpine is good because he's a great pinball player as well. I mean, both are really good pinball players as far as national status, I guess you could say. Right. Actually, worldly status. And it'll be interesting to see what they do. So I think the bottom line is that Multimorphic has to come out with a licensed theme, and then they're going to sell like hotcakes. Even though Heist is a great game, they need a theme. If they get a licensed theme, there's going to be more people buying Multimorphic machines. I don't know. They need a license. Okay, if you take advantage of the platform. If you get a game in the top ten, you'll start selling more games automatically. I mean, imagine if you, because the great thing about Multimorphic is it takes care of the lower part of the play field because you have shots on the screen. Imagine taking actual assets from a movie or something and incorporating that with the interactivity of being able to make shots of things that come up that are based on that movie theme. Imagine if they could do like a Halo.
    79:03
    Right. Yeah. Or Zelda. would never play ball, but Zelda would be a great one. And they could make a Heist-style playfield module for it that has the recognizable stuff and then have the real graphics on the display. My big problem with P3 has always been that it looks like something that I would play on my iPhone for free combined with pinball.
    79:34
    And Heist is the first game. I mean, and don't get me wrong, it's not that the graphics and heist blow me out of the water, but they're good. They're just made up for it by having the really, really cool play field and the really, really cool toy and the somewhat odd decision to have a third flipper button. And the rules are good. Yeah. The rules are great. If they had stuck Grand Theft Auto on that, yeah, they could print money. Like, there are pinball people who are, you know, the crossover between video game fans and pinball people, it has to be monstrous. You know, especially, you know, not the older set, but the younger set. And, yeah, you know, if they would bring us that, you know, we would be willing to play ball. Especially if we had the, maybe not guarantee, but the possibility that's like, hey, we can do Halo this year. We can do, you know, God of War next year. Or, I mean, I meant to say Gears of War, but, you know. Or Forza or whatever, you know. Like, you know, just, it's smart. Just give people the franchises that they want in the pinball realm. And they're not going to get Star Wars. They're not going to get, you know. I think you nailed it on the head, Dan. come up with a theme that's a video game theme to utilize the screen to go with a pinball theme. Yeah. That would make sense. Yeah. That would make sense.
    81:00
    You know, you'd have ask us, you'd have, you know, maybe even programmers, you know, who can just do this for real and not have it look like something that somebody made in, you know, in their spare time.
    81:12
    Right. You know, Cosmic Heart Racing looks like it's probably super fun, but graphically, you know, it doesn't blow you away. Right. It's got a lot of LEDs. That's pretty fancy. And it does have that cool magnet that accelerates it. That's cool. You know they did a baseball game about a year and a half ago.
    81:32
    Right, like a pitch and bat. Like a pitch and bat, yeah, but you have two flippers. But it's really fun. And you don't play it once.
    81:40
    Yeah, right. As games go, the module for it is not stupid expensive. I mean, it's still I don't know the exact price but as things go it's like real because Brad has one that is where I played it and I was like oh well that's not crazy expensive and I'm a sucker for a good me and Brian both are suckers for good pitching bats so anyway so that's out there Cannon Lagoon is fun too that was yeah I played that too it's fun I mean you know that's a perfect one for a redemption game absolutely that's what's cool about Multimorphic I'm surprised they're not even uses redemption games. It's too expensive.
    82:19
    Well, yeah, but how much are those games that are like those ticket games? Those gotta be pretty pricey, aren't they? I think $15,000.
    82:27
    Well, Brian would know. How much are they? Those redemption games? It depends, but some of those things get quite expensive, but you also have to remember is, you know, that's kiddie gambling, and it's not a dollar a play. They're shoving in $3, $4, $5. No, they are. It's crazy. It is. You're right. It's kiddie gambling. No, really. Any pinball manufacturer, remember, Williams had the option on WPCs. Any person that had a kiddie arcade or anything like that, just have the pinballs and dispense tickets.
    82:58
    Right. You know, Williams, WPCs have the options for that. Why not re-implement that? Or, yeah, like the card dispenser on Slug Pass. Yeah, yeah. Coins, State Cracker. Yep. The coin launcher. Exactly. That stuff was cool, but it didn't save those games then, so why would it save them now? See, they should reissue NASCAR with a t-shirt cannon.
    83:28
    Just right in the sternum. Boom! Well, it is pretty funny that pinball was banned for gambling, and now what do we have? Redemption games for kids to get to be gambling addicts. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I hate redemption games too. With that, I say we jump right in. We give the microphone over to Brian, and Brian's repair log. Yeah.
    83:54
    Oh, geez, I've been on the show for a while. But the big one is, I'm sure it got talked about, you know, Dan got an Indy 500 that came over to my place for what we thought was going to be a basic shop job.
    84:08
    Ended up getting a little bit more complicated than that. Just normal route stuff, you know. The turbo mechanism, the metal shell, it only had like a half dozen welds left that hadn't been broken. The mounting point for the habitrails snapped off. Our good friend Eric Stelfert is taking care of the welding for me.
    84:30
    I did the repair for the VUK was done so we could get the Cliffy protector in. I did make a new template for the back VUK because Cliffy didn't have one. did request that, so we got that made. We're doing some prototypes. Yep. There was some inserts that popped up. The big thing I haven't touched yet in that game, because I'm nervous about it, are the 3D targets, just because there is a spring in there.
    84:59
    Everyone says it's a total pain in the butt to work on, but it has to be done because the opto-sensors have broken off on, what, two of the three, I think? So it has to be done. On the bright side, after looking at how it's built, I have an idea that will allow the opto-sensor to still work, but will not have it so if the ball hits it too hard, it doesn't smack into the back of the board and break off the interrupter. So I have something I want to try out.
    85:28
    I helped out our friend Henry Ong. Henry Manjo. I'm helping him out with his Indiana Jones and his current path of adventure and misadventure. And the Opto board that senses the limit on the path of adventure had a bad Opto on it. So we ordered the new Optos and took the board out of the game. And it has been just decimated, hacked to shreds. There's burned holes through it. And it wasn't done by Henry, but whoever had the game before him, like they use literal pieces of solder as jumper wires. Oh, gosh. Are you serious? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I got pictures. That's how you pop it. whoever did the work didn't know what they were doing. Like, they burned through the through holes in a couple of the Optos. Optos don't carry that kind of heat or power, so, you know, it was done with a soldering iron. Oh, gosh. Stuff like that. I've got a bunch of parts coming in for the 3D lit stand-up targets for Dan's Indy 500, George's Attack from Mars, and the last two for Mike Garcia's Attack from Mars. on Pinside, Vid made this post many years ago about using LEDs to light up those rectangular or square 3D targets that were like in Giant Mnemonic the mini playfield on Shadow and so I've been screwing around with them quite a bit, I got them so they work I put them on my whitewater and everyone liked them, so I'm just producing them for people and Dan's indie will be done as soon as that turbo thing arrives it's going to be starting to reassemble and probably do try to get that wood touched up on the cabinet and get that black fixed. Nice. Hey, Dan, I just want to congratulate you on getting an Indianapolis 500. That's awesome. That's a great game, and you don't see it in a lot of places. So congratulations. First one I ever played. Yeah. He actually has a fairly rare one. The art on the side, you know, there's like two or three different versions. His is the one with the solid red, and it's not the orange fade. Not faded from the sun, but the actual design. So it's like, I think from what I understand, that red is like one of 200.
    87:43
    And surprisingly good shape for a game that's been routed. The weird thing is, is on the flipper buttons, the wear from people's hands has worn clear through the paint. It's rubbed the vinyl clear, and you can see the wood underneath it. Oh, wow. which is strange but it is a lot of people played it I played it you can play it anywhere in a local pizza place where I used to live because the route operator that Dan bought it from bought out the old route operator who'd been in that area for 40 years so now it's coming full circle if you were still in Sacramento it would have been this is actually when I was still up in my hometown of Oroville Oh, okay That's the thing We had two of them Yeah, we like to imagine that this is You know, the Original Spencer Indy 500 And if it's not, fuck it We're still going to imagine it because it's good headcanon I'm telling you It is It's the one It's a great game too If you haven't had a chance to play one, find one to play It's a great game Yeah, it's a super good Norman. It's a fun game. Yeah. A little wet Dan's appetite for a whitewater for a bit. Well, luckily, you are. I'm saying. You weren't with us last month, Brian. I did post the little video I took when I was up last time of your whitewater, and we talked about it, the custom lighting LED light you did behind the stand-up targets and how awesome that is. I saw that. That looked really nice, Brian. Yeah, like I said, that came – Vid on Pinside posted the idea. I've messed around with it for years, but I can never get the resistors right because I was using online resistor wizards. And the problem is they never agreed with each other.
    89:40
    And so I had to learn how to do, like, resistor math and all that stuff, and they look great. I'm really happy with how it turned out. And my whitewater is having a particular – it's down for a while because a bunch of broken tabs on everything, and Dan's pushing me to start the restoration, but can't do that quite yet. Let's do it.
    90:01
    So I'm learning fiberglass work to fix the tabs, and with other paid stuff coming in, it's on the back burner, and that's fine.
    90:11
    It'll join the line of the never-ending heavy metal meltdown project. I'm going to start restoring it for him. Then you'll have to fix the lifeline or the store And it'll get done You have about 140 days Until Golden State Pinball Festival So you gotta get moving Brian I will tell you it's gonna probably look Exactly the same as it does now But maybe the other side will be airbrushed back in And just so you Expo guys know The plan is And it's already tested and working At Golden State Pinball Festival this year We will have dueling Metallicas Yes cool i thought i saw it i was the shannon took a video of it and was chuckling in the background and when alex was tilting out i think it was greg he's got my metallica right now they've hooked it together and it's all working so awesome oh man i i can't wait to see that it's so much fun yeah that's cool uh the other thing uh you were mentioning indiana jones did Did you hear about that announcement from Zen Pinball that they're releasing the digital version of Indiana Jones? I mean, that's something about it. It released, right? Like I thought it came out the other day. Did it release? Yeah. I can't believe they got the license for that. How the heck do they do that? Very simple. I can answer that. Disney owns it now. Disney will license anything. The liberal application of cash. Really? But Zen must have a lot of money to be able to get that license because that's not cheap. Well, they have relationships. I'm sure, and money, you know. Does that mean that the remake conversation is on the table again? Who knows? Maybe. But it is cool that they do have a virtual table.
    92:02
    Yeah, that is cool. Right on. Alright, so we are on I'm sorry, Brian, you got anything else in the repair log or are we shutting the repair log down? I was over here today helping out Dan Costa with his T2, but it was just basically get pop bumpers redone.
    92:20
    The stand-ups, this was a T2, it had been routed. The stand-ups had all been nailed back because the backing foam was long gone, and I guess the guy who Dan Costa got it from replaced the foam backing stuff, which was great, but he didn't bend the targets back straight.
    92:37
    So there was no contact being made. It didn't matter how you adjusted the back switch, it wasn't going to happen because there was no travel. So we got that squared away. We got the pop-upers squared away. Cleaned the gun? Oh, yeah. His T2 gun had grease solidified in there from God knows when.
    92:58
    Oh, wow. Barely turned by hand, but we got it all cleaned up, and it's working great. Great game. Nice. Yeah, it's fun. Great Ritchie game. They're hard to find in good shape. If you remember when we came out, it was everywhere. Mm-hmm. Everywhere. That was like a huge, yeah, every arcade had it. Every arcade, every laundromat, bars, movie theaters, that game, like the movie Saturated that summer, that game was a big part of it. Yeah. Spencer, that was the T2 I bought for $2,000 if you remember on Slack. I do. Good, man. I'm glad you got it.
    93:38
    So, yeah. Oh, Dan, yeah, you're the one that texted me, huh? Yeah. Go get it. Now when you listen to that, 2,000, what a steal compared to what they're going for now. It was a good deal even then. Yeah. No, that's great. So we kind of really covered it already, but you probably want to add a little more to it. So, Mark, go ahead and tell us more about the new reopening, new location of Fresh Start in Reno, Nevada. All right. So I got a chance to go to the soft opening, and they have some things they still have to take care of. They got some minor issues here and there. But the pins were awesome. There's 15 lined up. The cool thing about it is when you walk in, they're in a horseshoe design instead of along the wall. They're still along the wall, but they utilize the corner to at least hit two machines as it curves around. So it's really inviting when you walk in. And you have to see it to believe it, but it has a really cool vibe inside of there. It's a lot different than the other place because it's more an arcade. It's not necessarily a barcade. It's an arcade because the way they designed it is they have it when you walk in, it's a full arcade. You know, you got the video games, and then on the back wall are all the pinball machines.
    95:02
    But then to the right is a separate room, which is the bar area. So what they did is they allowed it to, for licensing reasons, they allow families to come and play all the games and not have to have a liquor license to not allow people that are minors into the facility to play the games. So they got the bar that's separate, and they use the same bar that we've seen before at the old location. And it's awesome with some of the things that you can do in there. there's a table that is an interactive board game where you use your drinks as your markers or as your, what do you call those things? Yeah, game piece, marker Game piece, game piece, game marker and there's little circles around it like a board game and you can play all these different games and trivia games using your drink as a marker that Jim Martin designed that is in the corner of the bar area there's a pool table which is nice but it's not in the way the pinball machines. And the best part is the air hockey table, even though it's really fun to play, is on the complete opposite side of the inside of the room. So they're not near the pinball machines. So the pinball machines are in its own entity. And then you got the video games. So there's no distractions. And the other nice thing about it is that there is a lot more room to stand behind the games when you're playing in league. So you're not crowding people. And I found that's interesting that there was, it seemed like there was more space with it in a curve design than right next to each other in a line of games along the wall. So that's cool. Now we are getting additional games. We have 15 now. We're going to have Stranger Things coming in soon. Once it gets all shopped out, because one thing that John did during the pandemic, which is still going on, unfortunately, is he rented out games to people. That was part of the fundraiser. So for $400 or $500 a month, you could rent a game from Press Start and have it in your home. Well, now they're all coming back from those homes, so they're getting all shopped out and everything. So we're going to have Funhaus 2.0. We're going to have the Stranger Things. We're going to get Cactus Canyon from Playfield 76. That's going to move over to there. and we're also going to get Funhaus 2.0 once it gets all installed and it's all working and everything like that. And then maybe some other games through rotation, like we have an old Chicago, so we have an EM, and then we can switch it out with a Monaco, along with a diner that we can switch out with Banzai Run. So we have a good variety of games that you can see. We're going to update the map and everything. The official opening date for the public right now, it's kind of like private invitation only, or if you gave money towards the fundraiser for the GoFundMe, then you can go in there and play the games and have a drink and everything like that. But the official opening is going to be that Thursday before New Year's. At least that is what's happening. I don't know if that's totally set in stone, but that's their target date, is to have it ready to go after Christmas. and I would love to be there for that I feel so bad that it's happening now and there's just too much weather to break away I know but it's so awesome inside of there the thing I love about it is the music is not at 120 decibels where you can't have a conversation they toned it down in fact we designed it so that we could turn the speakers off around the pinball area so you could hear the games. The other thing that's really nice is there is a system that we are developing. It's actually going to be working out as a prototype at our location, but Greg Wright is developing a system where you can turn them on free play remotely without having to go into the machine. So when we have league night, you hit one button, boom, they all go into free play. So there's no need to open up any of the machines except maybe the EM because obviously that won't be – you can't connect that through that system. But it will be really cool because then, oops, League Night, I don't have to go and open the machines. Of course, maybe I have to turn off the extra balls and stuff like that. But if you have, like, private events or things where you want to have people come over there and, you know, rent out the place or whatever, boom, just flip the switch and there you go. You got them all on free play. And that's including all the video games too. So everything will be remotely controlled through this app that Greg is developing along with his chipset that he's manufacturing himself. Yeah, that would be super, super nice. Yeah, absolutely. So he's developing that, and that's going to be really cool when that gets all online. And that's partly the reason why there's a little delay on that. There's some artwork that has to be finished, but it's pretty much, when you walk in, it's definitely a functional arcade area. and the bar is ready to go. Now, the other thing that's really unique about it that you probably will not see anywhere else is that there is a Mario Kart AR track that's built on the ceiling. And right below it, you have a double monitor where you can see Mario Kart in an augmented reality form where you driving it and you have an overhead view of the arcade because it a clear acrylic track that you driving on with remote control cars It really cool Now they still trying to perfect it to get it to work properly but it's really neat because you're actually driving around and you can see above your heads this radio control car that's going around in this track. See, that's really cool. That sounds super heavy-duty. Yeah, nowhere else you'll see that anywhere else, and that was Jim Martin's idea as well. He put a lot of work into the design of some of the areas. He has a virtual reality table. It's no cost. There's no quarter drop or anything. You just go and play, you know, Beat Saber or whatever you want on a PlayStation. There's, of course, a big screen where you can play like a Switch console. So there's a lot of great things beyond just the pinball and the arcade games. There's a lot of other things you can do there. It's a lot more spacious. It's a great location. It's in Midtown.
    101:32
    It's pretty close to downtown, but it's on Center Street. We're working on parking because parking is going to be an issue because that place is going to be packed when it opens.
    101:45
    When it actually officially opens. It's gorgeous. Reno's got quite the scene now. The new press start is going to have some big shoes to measure up to because Playfield 76 is really, really nice, but it sounds like this is going to be more of a hardcore arcade where Playfield 76 is like an arcade lounge. Exactly. I like the fact that they're not trying to occupy the same space. So if you feel like throwing down games and in a very gamey, nerdy environment, Press Start sounds like it's going to be all things to all people. If you want to go someplace, play some games, sit in a comfortable chair, have a nice drink, talk to your buddies, Playfield 76 will be a wonderful place to go. So I really like that. Exactly. Playfield 76 attracts the younger college students. Yeah. So that's the one where you walk in the doors and the music is going, you know, 120 decibels, you know, and you're trying, you can't really listen to the games, but the atmosphere is great because you've got the food that's provided. You know, they have served food until midnight, which is great. So if you're hungry late at night, you can order food out. Obviously, they're open until 2 a.m., so they definitely have late hours. Right. And the games are great. They've got a great collection, and they have Cactus Canyon currently. They're getting a Godzilla, so we're going to have a Godzilla coming whenever that gets delivered. That should be hopefully January or February. We'll see. But we are getting a Godzilla. and they'll be keeping on adding more classic games as they build the collection. So it's great. They're two totally different vibes you got. Well, and here's the thing where I was trying to go with this. It's just having met the guys who, you know, the Press Start guys, I've known them for a while, and the guys who run Playfield 76, you know, get out there and support these dudes. They're going to bring you guys cool new experiences, and they really give a shit about the environment. They're not just plunking some games in a room and saying, hey, give us your quarters. They want you to go in there, and depending on the kind of good time that you want to have, they want you to have the best possible time enjoying the things that they enjoy. So I'm really glad to see that Reno is getting this kind of theme because, you know, these are both great places that are being run by great people who deserve your money. and everybody is so excited for League to start, which will probably start in January once they get things squared away with, you know, getting all the bugs and kinks worked out when they actually officially open. But it is a great place. I mean, I went there two nights in a row, and I even took my wife there, and she's like, yeah, this is a cool place. It's just got a cool vibe, and it's real down to earth. Everybody's hanging out playing pinball, and it is really fun. I mean, I love the floor. The floor is just so cool. It's like all these different mix of colors when you walk in. It's a neat place. They did a really good job. They put in a lot of work. So props to John Simpson and Greg Wright and Jim Martin. All those guys really put in a lot of work and it shows. So we're excited when people can get over the pass or whatever. The other thing, too, is that's going to be the destination to play prototype games. We're talking the next remake will be there. We're talking Fathom will be there. Fathom Revisitor will be there. All these new games that take a long time for people to get, we're going to get the prototypes or the first run games that will be put on location for people to play. So it's awesome. Well, when it gets nice and we're all back up there, we should definitely see if we can all meet up there and maybe bring the recording rig. We can record a mini episode or something from there. That would be awesome. That would be awesome, right? That would be awesome. Do a live show at Press Start. That would be cool. At least the cool guys will be there. I bet Spencer won't make it. Probably not. You suck, Spencer.
    106:00
    Yeah, well, you know what, man? because I do have to travel back and forth to California every couple of months, I'm sure I can probably work something out, you know. You don't suck, Spencer. We'll make it work. We will make it work, Spencer. We have technology. Yeah. No, we'll figure it out, man. We'll figure it out. I'm excited for you guys, you know, and we'll talk more about locations and stuff when, you know, because I've got notes about that at the end of the show. That's really important. And we're going to just, I think, are we ready to move on to the next topic?
    106:36
    Sure. Okay, cool. Because now you gave a really good overview. I'm really excited. I'm really excited because Reno for a while was just, well, there's two games here and there at casinos, and now Reno's got, you know, a couple, three really solid locations. And that's, you know, it is a big tourist destination. That's really important.
    106:55
    It will be a destination. When people visit Reno, like they go skiing or something like that, And it was true with the old location, but it would be a destination for people. And they go, oh, what can we do in Reno around downtown? Oh, press start. With kids. Yeah, let's go there. And with kids, that's the whole idea. Right. And Circus Circus isn't what it used to be. It used to be a lot of fun. It's, you know, anyway.
    107:18
    Reminiscing 2020, 2020, 2021. So, Dan Costa, since you came in late, man, I'm going to let you start. What did you like about 2021 pinball? Well, it was better than 2020. That's for sure.
    107:35
    I joined Lee here in Lodi. That was my first time ever. It was fun. Yeah. I think I finished second on the year, but I couldn't go to the finals because it was the same weekend as Chicago Expo.
    107:50
    So I missed out on that, but that was awesome. Yeah, I think, you know, my collection here is coming along.
    108:00
    Started a new job. What else? It was a pretty good year. Nice. Nice demo, man. You know what, man? It's wonderful to hear that somebody newer to the hobby, newer to the Sacramento-North Cal scene had a good 2021, man. And you're a huge asset to the hobby and the local community, man. And we're glad you're here and glad you're part of it. I appreciate it, Spencer. And good to have you on the show, man. Yeah, it is awesome to have you on the show, Dan. That's awesome, man. And your shadow, you got the new play filled in? So that was supposed to happen last weekend, but we got hit with a huge storm. Wow. So I'm dropping off at Eric's house probably after Christmas.
    108:47
    It's currently torn apart right now, so Eric's not going to be too happy with me. But yeah Shadow will figure it out He's a sharp guy I'll send you guys pictures once it's all done Cool I just love Shadow, it's probably one of my favorite Valley Williams games Of that era Mine too Yeah I love that game, I love playing it You know, I went back and watched it again Last summer We were, you know, because Kalu was still going So to entertain the boys Especially my middle son Seth Got really into like Indiana Jones And that whole era You know kind of 1930s, 1940s So there's a few more Because he said are there any other movies like these And I'm like yeah man Sky Captain, The World of Tomorrow The Shadow We watched Oh god The guy from the original The Mummy, the ones with Brendan Fraser He did Not the Spirit, hold on, I'll think of it God, I'm losing it now Conceito Man? No, no, no, no, no, he did No, it wasn't Brendan Fraser, it was the guy that played the mummy Yeah, I think we talked about this last time You're thinking of the Phantom Phantom, thank you Billy Zane Yeah, Billy Zane Actually not a bad movie, man So we just started watching a lot of action Rocketeer, watch the Rocketeer You know, stuff like that So we were having a lot, Rocketeer would actually make a fun Pinball machine So we were doing that last summer But yeah, man, I actually Didn't, you know, out-bobble Let's not even get into what's going on With him these days, oh But you know what, man, he I thought he was okay in that role And I liked the movie well enough, it was entertaining And I loved the game So, anyway That movie was fucking terrible. I don't know what you're talking about.
    110:50
    I think I can watch Johnny Mnemonic next or something. You're a monster. I like that movie. It's got iced tea in it, man. And Henry Rollins. I don't see anyone wanting to go there. And Henry Rollins is in that movie. And a bunch of other people that don't really have a career in movies, that is. Anyway, who wants to go next, man? I'll reminisce. Go get a mark. 2021. was the year I got to see all my pinheads in person again. That was awesome. To be able to get together, play at people's houses,
    111:26
    have Playfield 76 open, which actually allowed us to meet in a public place and play pinball. Yeah, we might have to still wear masks, but we got to see people in person and hang out together. I think that's the huge thing. Expo was a huge highlight, getting to get to know Dan more. and getting to go with Jason and get to know him more as well. It was just the people. And another thing was being a part of this show as a co-host now. I think that's really awesome. I'm really enjoying this, chatting with all you guys and being a part of this. So I think the overall theme is the people, getting to see people in person, not on the webcam, not distant playing, you know, games on, you know, digital versions of it and trying to feel like you're playing in person. But it was just a nice experience to play games in person. I don't know. It just was awesome to be able to do that. And hopefully that continues. But, yeah. And then great games coming out. There were just so many different games, and we have so many collectors here in Reno. And I give props to them to allow us to enjoy them because I can't afford them, but they're getting them to share with everybody else that doesn't have them. So, yeah, for sure.
    112:51
    Affording too many pinball machines is just a state of mind, man. You just got to own it. Yeah. Yep. You go, Dan.
    112:59
    My turn, huh? Well, you know, it was really, really nice to get back to at least something close to business as usual. It was really nice to have a season of League. It was great to go to the shows. I moved a bunch of games in and out, you know, so I got my creature back with the new play field in. So that's really, really nice. I re-bought my Ghostbusters. I let my Shadow go because other Dan's getting his Shadow up and running, so we'll have more Shadow to be Shadowed. Will you re-bought your ACDC? Not yet. Soon I'm getting my ACDC back. So, yeah, there's no shortage of games. I got Guns N' Roses earlier this year, which, you know, made my year.
    113:45
    You know, we're getting Code, Mandalorian, all sorts of good stuff, man. It was a great year for pinball on the damn side of the street.
    113:56
    You know what I didn't get, though? A sweet restored pinbot. Damn Skippy, man I'm telling you, I still pinch myself Go get him, Spencer Go, Spencer You know what, 2021 started out Okay, on the best note Away from pinball You know, Rusty Still in remission, she just had her latest Pet scan on Thursday, and she goes Monday to To the doctor To get the reading, so So far, so good. You know, it's been over a year and a half since she's had an immunotherapy treatment, which at the time was still an experimental cancer treatment, and now it's been brought out of the experimental phases to be a mainstream treatment that insurances will cover. Our insurance covered it because she volunteered for the program. But long and short of it, you know, she's beat the odds by a huge amount. So that's the best thing about 2021. I moved my family from Northern California, Sacramento County, all the way to Casper, Wyoming. And then, like, literally within two, three weeks later, week starts up again. Shows start happening again. This year they have the Black Friday tournament at Michael's. All the good stuff, man. And I miss all that. And I miss all the people. Because, like, you know, you guys are all brought up. And, you know, the great elders of our pinball hobby, you know, Steve Charlin comes to mind.
    115:39
    Owned Fireball. God, I'm getting so old. Brian, you'll know this. I'm trying to think of his name now. I can't. He owned Fireball. His Fireball's at the show every year. Oh, Garber. Al Garber. Thank you. Al Garber's Fireball, man, which resides at the Chambord Museum, so go play and say hi to Al's spirit. But, you know, they always showed us that it's never about the games. It's about the people. The games were just the vehicle they used to get everybody together to hang out and have a good time and socialize and interact and become a community. You know, it's always about the people, man. The people are the best. pinball people everywhere. It is. There's hands down. Oh, yeah. So, you know, so we moved here. I was starting to meet some people. We've just kind of been like, hey, let's get together after the holidays and get an informal club, maybe start a league going. So I'm just waiting for that to happen, you know, get through the holidays.
    116:44
    But got to go to a show I'd never been to before. Got to go to the Denver show. A lot of cool stuff, man.
    116:52
    And, you know, last couple years It's been a rocky ride for everybody. Nobody has gotten through 2020 and 2021 unscathed. No one. I mean, literally no one. Everybody's had their own things they've dealt with to a degree or whatever. So, you know, coming out on the other side now, I think everybody kind of feels like, you know, hey, we made it, you know, and then we can look forward to the future now.
    117:18
    You know, we're 145 days till the Golden State Pinball Festival. Keep our fingers crossed, folks. Oh, man. Yeah, I know. Omicron, no. Or Omicron, whatever that thing is. Goodbye. No, no. Don't want it. Yeah, exactly. Get out of here. We want Golden State Pinball Fest. No doubt, right. You know. Oh, man. Keep your fingers crossed, kids. It's happening. You know, we've got shows coming back. We've got, you know, people coming back. You know, we're swinging again.
    117:49
    It's been, you know, it's been a couple years, you know. So, some good, some bad, you know. but we're making it happen. So, Brian, you guys think you want to add to this? For 2021? Yeah. I'm here. That's good enough.
    118:07
    There you go. Scraping by, doing repairs, and shop jobs for folks like Dan who are willing to give me some money to get it done, and I got more lined up. Wait, wait. I'm paying you? You better be. Son of a bitch! I guess you might have to I know Sharon will take it. Yeah, that's right. Easy money. Your work is really shining, Brian. I mean, you don't do just a shop job. His jobs are getting so good. Yeah, you're the next cap, dude. It seems like I learned how to restore play fields and do woodwork for the calves. They might get to start working on the other stuff, But the I-500 is coming along, and then I got Henry's Whirlwind, and then Henry's Indiana Jones, and then some guy in Elk Grove somewhere has a couple of VMs who doesn't know anything about them, so I'm a little scared.
    119:07
    Yeah, it's interesting, Brian. You're the powerhouse. Kevin Woods, Jim Martin, and you, Brian, are like the powerhouse of restoring games. I don't restore. I really don't. You don't? I don't know. You're fixing whatever you call it. Yeah. Making a game come back alive. Yeah. You guys are so talented, and I don't know what we'd do without you, to be honest with you. You know, Cheddar, too. Big shout-out to Cheddar. Yeah, that would be a lot less snarky remarks.
    119:38
    No, Cheddar also, really big in the community for that. So, yeah, taking it away from him. Big shout-out. I got to see Cheddar in place in pinball when I was out last time. Usually every time I get out there for work, he's out of town, But I managed to catch him in town And that was nice That was real nice to see each other I'm going to move on Because in reminiscing 2020 2021 We lost a couple Really important people in our hobby First of all was Ken Layton And Ken was more than just Pinball Anything coin-op, he was one of those old school dudes Who you know Like one time I got a good deal from a hotel that we took care of in my job, pest control, and they were selling old Coke machines. I told the boss, he goes, well, what do you want for it? It's like a couple hundred bucks, and it works. So he wanted to change how much the soda was going to cost. He goes, you know how to do this, right? I'm like, no, I don't know how to do this. What are you talking about? He's like, well, you know pinball. You can fix this. So I got online and talked to Ken Layton, man. He walked me through the dip switch settings, and all right, it's all set up, chief, go. And it's still – this is more – this is like 14, 15 years ago, and it's still in the shop in Chico, and I think it's still running.
    120:56
    But it is an old machine. We bought it. You know, if you type in a search engine in Google and type in jukebox, Ken Layton's name is going to come up. I mean, this guy was just an old-school route guy, coin-op, you know, jukeboxes, soda machines, EM pinball, solid state, video games, mechanical, you know, amusements. I mean, he knew it all, and he was so big in helping everyone in the community, whether it be pinball guys, video game guys, you know, jukebox guys. You know, he was always there to lend a hand, and he was a real asset to the community. And unfortunately, he passed on a little, a couple months ago. And then right after that we lost Nick Kowalowski If you don't know who he was He was a pinball repair guy He had appeared on Pawn Stars He was a Vegas local He had a shop or a company called Planet Nine Pinball And he'd done a lot of restorations And repair work And keeping old games up and running He was an asset to the hobby And so we lost those two great great, you know, pinball guys this year. And I want to definitely mention them, you know, so people know who they were if you didn't know who they were.
    122:18
    We're about towards the end of the show because we're at the two-hour mark, and I'll let everybody else go around. But I want to do mine first, my shout-outs and thank-yous.
    122:28
    A quick one to Pinside and Kaneda, and you're going to be like, what? Yeah. He had mentioned on his show a month or so ago, hey, Go on Pinside and go to the show, pictures of your game rooms, pictures of your game rooms. I was like, I think I did that a while ago, so I put up some recent ones. I got so much positive feedback out of that thread. And, you know, all my games are older, but everybody's just like, oh, my God, you host their champ. Oh, my God, you know, Hot Chip was my first game. Oh, my God, man, if you ever saw Flash Gordon, let me know. Man, that pinball, you scored that? That is so beautiful. You know, you got a great lineup and a great, you know, it was nice because, you know, there's guys in there who got one or two games, older or newer, awesome. There's guys in there who's got collections like Dan's or Crazier, like Brad's and Crazier, you know, and everything in between. But the thing is, everybody's positive, had positive things to say, was supportive and went, oh, my God, that's so cool. And it kind of reinforced like, hey, you don't have to have the newest games. And if you do, that's awesome, too. The fact that you have games and you're sharing that, that is cool. So that really restored my faith in this lately era where, you know, games have gotten super expensive and, you know, just everything going on, that you can still have the old games and have fun with them and people think it's cool and it is cool. And so definitely visit, you know, visit those sites and those threads and keep them active and share what you got and support others.
    124:06
    Shout-outs and thanks, man. I want to shout-out to all you guys that come on the show. Shout-out to all the wonderful people who listen to this show. We have like half a dozen listeners in Russia. So to all our Russian listeners out there, thanks, folks. Keep listening to the show, man. We'll keep making them. And to all the other listeners who listen every episode and download the show and support what we're doing, I'm going to say, especially with the last couple of years, everything has happened, support location pinball.
    124:39
    You've got pinball map. That's an invaluable tool if you're traveling or in your local area. And if you know of a place that's got a game or two or ten and it's not on your local pinball map, you make sure, because it's user-friendly, it's easier. You can add locations and the games. You can post pictures. Please do that. I've been doing that all over Casper, Wyoming. I'm finding games here and there. I'm posting them.
    125:04
    Right in Sacramento, you've got a couple of really – you guys have got four or five really good locations now. Clinoff being one of the oldest and best, but there's several new really good locations. Auburn, you've got – what is it?
    125:17
    Out of Order Arcade. They've got a great lineup of classic video games. They've got a great lineup of modern pins in Reno, the Bay Area. I mean, all over, man. Wherever you're listening, support. Because if you don't support them, they go away. And I'll tell you, we've lost way too many great locations because of, you know, financial issues, because of people dying, because of COVID. You know, we've lost Papa. We've lost the Museum of Pinball. We lost Brinker's, Classic Arcadia in Boise, Idaho. They had a pretty good lineup of pins, too. that amazing collection of classic video games. We've lost so many good places around the country, around the world. If you don't support it, it will go away and it will never come back. So please support that.
    126:06
    Continue to support Papa. Bowen Kierens is still doing Papa tutorials, man, through all this. Support that. Go hit up the show, man. Be a patron.
    126:17
    You know, whatever you can do. So my last one, support Project Pinball. Actually, it's not my last one, but support Project Pinball. You can win a pinball machine, and you know what? You help put pinball machines in hospitals and veterans' homes.
    126:34
    Ronald McDonald House is for kids and adults and parents who, you know, who have children that are battling cancer and other diseases, and that brightens their day and puts a smile on their face. So you're doing some real good work And sharing pinball with the world And my last one is Support your local shows man I get it a lot of people have been scared To bring games People brought games to shows and then not come to the show themselves Just drop off the games and pick up You know because there's still Fear of COVID and like that You know do what your grandma And your mom and dad told you when you were kids Wash your hands you filthy animal And be a decent human being But support your shows because if you don't support those, they go away too. And the whole point of this is we're talking about pinball here. So that's my shout-outs and thank yous. Special shout-out to the great one, the Mighty Mo, who is always a brother and hooked me up, with an awesome deal on a whirlwind, which I did go ahead and pass on because of distance and everything else I've got going on in my day right now. And I just got that smoking deal on a pinball. So I thought, you know what, man, we'll pass on that real smoke and dill on a whirlwind and give it to another collector. Maybe somebody knew it would be their first game, or just somebody who doesn't have a lot of coin and wants to get into a good player quality, nice game. So shout-out to Mo, shout-out to everybody in the NorCal crew and the Reno crew. There's so many other people I could mention and I want to. So if I don't mention you by name, please forgive me. And, you know, along with this, I have a real day job and a real family and a lot of other stuff going on. So it's amazing. I keep it together as good as I do. But it's been a hell of a year, and I'm glad I got to share parts of it with all you crazy guys in NorCal and Reno. Thank you. And I want to give a shout-out to all my pinhead friends, of course, my family and everything like that. But I think there's a huge shout out for all the new pinheads that have been part of this community in 2021. We've had about, I'd say, 10 new people that have joined our community and hanging out with us when we have pinball events or when we go to other people's homes.
    128:58
    It's really great to have you a part of this wonderful community and also being able to get together in person, like I said before. It's just huge. Shout out to my family, my wife, my kids, for letting me get into this crazy hobby. I don't do the financial part of it, buying a zillion machines, but I do spend a lot of time with podcasting and going out to other places and playing with people's friends. So I appreciate them letting me have the freedom to have that time, to have the best time ever to play pinball with people.
    129:35
    And shout out to all of you guys. thanks for always inviting me into your homes thank you for having me part of the show pretty much shout out to everybody in the world it's been a crazy two years hopefully we have some real good things happening in 2022 we got a lot of good games to look forward to and more stuff to talk about and keep the show going so I just want to thank you all alright other than go get them shout out only to Keith Elwin for making Godzilla that's it Is that poop on your nose? Your big hand for a $1 is pathetic. And he makes great games. Yes, he does. He does. All right.
    130:19
    You know, I want to throw a big shout-out to Tolerant Wives who let us buy games. I want to throw a big shout-out to you guys for, you know, and let me waste a couple hours every month talking about pinball on the internet.
    130:35
    And, of course, a big shout-out to everyone who runs CCPL, Mr. Hosier, Mr. Pressler, other Mr. Hosier, Mr. Stephen Griffin, you know, for, you know, doing all the work and giving us a forum to have a little competitive pinball in.
    130:56
    Super fun hobby, super good times. Big thanks to Brian, of course, for fixing everything I fucked up. And, yeah.
    131:08
    Big thanks to Spencer for the spinner's leg. And for moving out to California. It's honestly a better place with you gone. You know, it probably is. Because I can drive and not worry about some asshole in a big red truck.
    131:22
    No, no, we miss you around here, Spencer. It's not the same without you. I miss you guys, too. I mean, it's roughly similar, but it's not exactly the same. No, I show up every couple of months just to be a thorn in the side.
    131:34
    It's changed a lot, Dan. Let's be honest here. You know, with Spencer gone, I can't go ride the go-karts at Roseville Sunsplash without looking weird anymore because you need someone to touch the pedals.
    131:45
    You know, it's rough. It's rough not having him around. Like, I don't know what I'm going to do. He was really handy because he could sneak into small places And steal things for us Plus when something dropped on the ground he was closer to it than I was That's really convenient It's just like you know People want me to get stuff off the top shelf Fine you get it off the floor There you go Thank you guys Thank you Yeah Well guys that's our show That's the end of the year I hope everybody has a Merry Christmas Happy New Year Happy belated birthday to you, Brian. Oh, thank you. Yeah. Especially in the mid-40s.
    132:29
    Yeah, I turned 56 on Wednesday. 560, huh? 560. 560, yeah. Not bad. That's a good low line. Yeah, I'm looking pretty good for half a millennium.
    132:46
    Half a millennium. I wouldn't have guessed that you were a day over 545, sir. There we go. Yeah. All right, guys. That's been the show. You can reach us on our hosting site at SoundCloud or iTunes. I think we might be on a couple other places. I don't know, man. Thank you again to all the wonderful pinheads and people that tune into our silly little podcast every month or so.
    133:18
    You know, everybody have a safe and happy Christmas. and, you know, Hanukkah and whatever else you celebrate, Festivus, whatever else you celebrate, and a safe and happy New Year. And here's to a happy and healthy and safe 2022 for everybody. Yeah, yeah. You guys all know what to say. Play pinball. Keep America strong.
    133:51
    I'll see you next time.