Welcome to the Spinner's Lit Pinball Podcast, I'm your host Spencer Klingon. Tonight's episode, episode 19. Way to go, Idaho, or Boise on 25 Cents of Play. With us tonight in the kitchen table studios, my lovely wife, Mary Ann Rusty. Hello. And we're welcoming back Brian. Hi. And Alex. What's up, everybody? Kendra. Hello. Dan. Hey. And we have two new guests on tonight. We have Lillian. Hi. And Roxy. How's it going? Who both play in the Capital Corridor Pinball League. So we're going to jump right in now that we've done intros, and we're doing a trip report. Trip report. My lovely wife and I, Miss Mary Ann Rusty. That's right, I married Mary Ann Boyce. We recently visited Boise, Idaho a week ago and spent about three and a half days there. Flew out on a Friday, flew home on a Monday. And we visited several, well, okay, we visited three, fourth county airport, but three really good places to play pinball and some arcade games. We're going to start with the first one, Grinker's Grand Palace in Eagle, Idaho. Grinker's is a retro arcade. They have a little over 300 games. They have 18 great pinball machines that are kept up pretty well, clean, and they work pretty good for the most part. You know, it's always going to be when you have that many games, you're always going to have something, you know, going down. But it was just phenomenal. And almost 300 classic arcade games. Their pinball machines range from the very end of the 70s to the early 90s. Every single game there, whether it's Twilight Zone, Star Trek Next Generation, or an arcade game like Donkey Kong or Ice Cold Beer, all 25 cents a play. They have hot and cold sandwiches, chips, sodas, ice cream for a buck. They have beer and wine. Their prices are reasonable. The staff is really attentive. There was a step ball in Terminator 2, and they were over to fix it in three minutes. you can you know have kids this all ages you can take your kids there and for five bucks still have a good time um rusty thoughts i i actually really love drinkers um it uh brought back all the nostalgia uh walking in the door and there was tempest oh and i realized it's not a pinball game But it's a real fond memory growing up. And Paperboy, of course, a real fine game. The pinball machines, I spent a good portion on over by the T2 and the – no, Earthshaker. You played a lot of Stadia Star Wars, too. Well, I played some of the Star Wars. so and overall the games are in really excellent condition now this isn't a place where you know one one or two people may or may not wander in they had people in there all the time we went twice so and both times at different at different times during the day and there was always families kids um just just the whole gambit of folks running through there and at 25 cents a play It is the awesome deal to go in, throw five bucks at your child, have them get quarters, and they will be bouncing around for an hour or so. Yeah, absolutely. So, Grinkers, Eagle, Idaho, their website is grinkers.com. Support Grinkers, man. If you find yourself in the boys' area for any reason, Grinkers is a must-not-miss. up next in our our road trip uh with a special shout out to downtown boise's own bacon restaurant that restaurant is bacon another not missed spot if you like well you guessed it bacon and uh they also do a like a really good charitable uh program for a local orphanage so you're going to get bacon you're going to get great food great atmosphere a full bar and and and they give back to their community in a huge way supporting a local orphanage so that's not really pinball related but man you got to eat too so space bar downtown boise one block from bacon uh space bar is a barcade so it's 21 and over uh they have uh a great lineup of pinball machines um you know the modern sterns they have two spooky games they have total nuclear annihilation and rob zombie uh they have some older titles uh like uh diner they have a ballet star trek They have Valley's Future Spa. They're Stern Star Trek, and they're Walking Dead, Played Like Butter. I mean, absolutely perfect. They have a beautiful Iron Maiden. They take care of their games. They've got a great selection of classic arcade games as well, like Joust, Donkey Kong. They had a Michael Jackson Moonwalker arcade game there. They've got some great local brews on tap. All of their beer tap handles are Tron arcade joysticks. and a big shout out to jenny i'm gonna send jenny a leak to this podcast uh the bartender slash manager she was just awesome you know very welcoming and uh really just you know kind of gave us a a real uh insight to the local pinball machine they have a pinball scene there they have leagues and tournaments um they have a bells and chimes chapter in the boise area so that was uh My take on that's another one, especially, you know, over 21 and you're not traveling with kids. Definitely hit up Space Bar. It's a really, really great location. Rusty, thoughts on Space Bar? I locked in on Walking Dead, managed to, you know, get some quality time on it, scored like four free games. two were scoring high enough to get a free game and two were matching so it was awesome so and if I'm getting if I'm scoring good and matching then the game set you know so that everybody can can get to that point so I had a good time on Walking Dead played a little bit Total Nuclear Annihilation. Enjoyed that. All those plates. Was it Future Spa they had there, honey? Yeah, I played it. Yeah. The Future Spa was just gorgeous sitting there all pretty. I didn't get a chance to play it because we were actually getting ready to leave. Just grabbed a quick game on Total Nuclear Annihilation, and then we were off and running. And they also have a couple of video screens. screens you know like they use for the uh they have cameras on them like using the tournaments so uh you can kickback and watch your friends play on the big screen so up next it's about a four block walk uh from uh from space bar is uh woodland empire and it's a uh bar brewery they make their own craft beers uh you know locally so you can uh you know uh check those out uh we were I was driving and we were getting ready for dinner and we were tired. It had been a long weekend, so I didn't partake of the local brews. I had a Coke. But Woodland Empire also has a nice lineup of games. It's a smaller bar. They had Deadpool, No Fear, Star Wars Pro, Theater of Magic, and Walking Dead. Oh, and they had a skee-ball, which, hey, who doesn't love skee-ball? The games are clean, well-kept. They work flawlessly. Another good location. It's a little more kind of a college-y dive bar. Interesting side note, it was St. Patrick's Day, so there was a young couple in there with their baby who was way too young to drink. And on the way out, when we were leaving, we played for about an hour there. But on the way out, there was a guy holding his best girl's head in a garbage can. She had had just a little bit too much St. Patty's Day cheer. But anyway, those are three good locations in the Boise area. There are more, but that's what we checked out. I want to do a quick shout-out to some wonderful people in the Boise area who really made our trip wonderful. And that's John, whose last name I still don't know. You'll find him on Claw or Clove, a killer list of video games. He's more of a video game guy, but he's owned some pins over the years, and he has one currently in his lineup. He has an amazing garage arcade. Him and his lovely wife, Lisa, and their son, Jonathan, And, you know, we had lunch together. They opened up their home to us and they're just wonderful folks over in Nampa. So, you know, thanks again, guys, for making our trip so wonderful and for your hospitality. And then off over to Meridian, Idaho, to Kathy Sharlin and Amber Sharlin. That would be the late Steve Sharlin's wife, Kathy, and his daughter, Amber, opened up their home to us and welcomed us in. and their hospitality and friendship means the world to us. And we'll see them at the Golden State Pinball Festival, which is 55 days away. Yay! Then that's in Lodi, California, at the Lodi Great Festival Fairgrounds. Anyway. And the dates. And the dates. May. Seven days, kids? 18th through the 20th. May 18th through the 20th. Thank you, Alex. I'm coffee. I'm not drinking alcohol tonight. I'm having coffee and lots of it. I think that's the problem. There you go. Oh, and the Boise Airport, if you find yourself in a layover in Boise, has an Adams family, which even has some LEDs. The upper right flipper at the time wasn't working so well, but they also have a Guardians of the Galaxy Pro, which was clean and played flawlessly. We had a good time on that as well. So that's our trip report from Idaho. And to the great state of the Idaho, we salute you. Salute. Salute. Okay, so where are we at, folks? What are we on to next? In the news. Right now, currently going on is day two of the Texas Pinball Festival in Frisco, Texas. And there's a whole lot happening. The big news yesterday was the reveal of the latest reissue, if you will, from Jersey Jack Pinball, the Yellow Brick Road edition of The Wizard of Oz. Brian, thoughts? 11.5 for yellow powder coat. Yay. Yeah. Alex? Yeah, I want to spend 11K on a brand new powder coat. No, get this, no winged monkey and just yellow ramps. It's basically the same game, just without the winged monkey. Get right out of town. Why are people going to want to buy this? No monkey? I'm out. Why are people going to want to buy this? Put pirates back on the line. Well, you know, they took the monkey out of Oktoberfest, too, so it probably offended somebody. Rusty. Well, I was also going to say, why would I play without a monkey? That's just crazy talk. It's Wizard of Oz. it's flying monkeys you know flying monkeys is a big thing um i love the paint job it's it's the machine itself is gorgeous even though i haven't gotten really see i guess it has glitter in the paint and i didn't see that in the pictures that didn't translate well but i bet in real life it's real beautiful but no 11.5 uh no no no no that's a jersey jack pirates which is a superior game That's almost a Jersey Jack Pirates LE or Special Collectors Edition with the ship in the model. Anybody else got any thoughts? Buy a Pirates instead. Okay. It was funny when I was talking to Lily about it earlier tonight. You know, I told her they took the flying monkey out and they painted it yellow. It's essentially the changes. And she goes, so they took something out, they repainted it, and they're charging more. It does have the wood apron. It does have the wood apron. And that is pretty, but yeah. Not 11.5. Yeah. You know, well, especially when you could, you know, even when they did the Ruby Red edition, which Lily's parents have. I was looking over it the other night when we were playing Pirates at League Night, and, I mean, there's so much in that game. It is so beautiful. It really is. I mean, you look at that and go, they completely nailed everything on that game, and it's a fantastic game. But, yeah, I mean, I get they've got to keep the line going. I get, you know, they're waiting on their next game, which most likely is going to be Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, which we're all, I think most of us are looking forward to. We're talking Tim Burton or Ronald Dahl. No, the original with Gene Wilde. So Ronald Dahl. Yeah, well, yeah, they're both Ronald Dahl. Well, no, I mean, but the first. Yeah. Yeah, the good one. They're both good. That's one of the very few we make. I'm sorry, I should have said Timberland. So what are your thoughts? Roxy, will we walk in the chocolate factory? I think it would be a lot of fun. Oompa Loompas, Chocolate River, Augustus. Augustus Glute. I wouldn't mind having a brown ramp on there for the Chocolate River. I'd be like, that would be great. Augustus, save room for later. Yes, Roxy. I want one. Brown ramp, Chocolate Woods. No, let's not go there. But I want one, Daddy, and I want it now. We've already established that they need the I Want It Now edition. Like, that should be the one that all the first people buy. Then they'll charge $14.50 for the wood apron on it. I want it now. I want it now. All right, calm down, darling. We'll get it for you. Dan, you're up. What else is going on at TPF? You've kept up better than anybody. Have I? Have you? She was sitting there on your phone. So, well, real quick shout out. We had Capital Quarter Pinball League Lodi area had league finals today. And Dan knocked me out. I took fourth And Dan won it all today He came in first took first place Yay Way to go Dan Dan was on fire today. He is on fire. Yeah, it was, I mean, you earned that win big time, so congratulations to you. And big thank you to Michael and Adam and the Ness and the Bannisters and everybody involved in Capital Court door pinball league who you know organizes and opens up their homes to us and uh you know make sure we have a place to play pinball in a fun competitive but real you know upping positive friendly environment so salute cheers it's amazing what happens when you play in a tournament and you don't run into alex yeah so i have to thank rick for knocking out alex more thoughts on the new stuff GPS we talk about Oktoberfest a lot lately sounds like Oktoberfest is there and it's got the new side art the new cabinet art like that which they cleaned up a lot I like it, I like the old cabinet art but the new cabinet art looks good it does look a little cleaner I want to hear more about it um i'm excited to hear more about it um you know i want to play it so and we're going to get to that shortly um donnie tv do you guys see the donnie tv dirty donnie he's doing the new artwork for this game from a new company called they're from florida i watched a few minutes of it okay it's actually really really cool he's kind of in his home studio yeah and uh you know, I, I've, uh, I've been a fan of his work on the pinball machines, but I've never met him personally. So it was really interesting to kind of see what the guy does and what his motivations are. And, uh, his studio looked really, really sweet. I'm wondering if now that he's, uh, working on these other games, is he done with Stern? I believe so. Yeah. I believe he's less Stern. So, yeah. So he's working at Suncoast. Um, you can pull it up on your web, A little web browse real quick, Alex. I really like the artwork that Donnie did on Metallica and Aerosmith. I think it's some of the coolest artwork he's ever done. Yeah. I would have to say Dirty Donnie is probably one of my favorite artists of all time, number two being Zombie Yeti. Yeah. You've got to remember Dirty Donnie did the artwork for both of the Metallicas, not just the Stern release but also the re-theme of Earthshaker. That's right. He was at Pinagogo several times when they had the helicopters there. The helicopters game. Yeah. I love that game. That game was cool. Yeah. but uh dirty don is at suncoast pinball now a new pinball company forming out of florida and they have uh they're showing their first game is still in early prototype uh you know it's flippable not a lot going on the video screen it's a pretty nifty looking layout but it's called cosmic carnival yes dan with a name like suncoast pinball i keep wondering if the machines dispense DVDs. No doubt, right? And charge 30% more than the proper one. Hey, but they had some rad toys. Yeah, it looks pretty cool, you know, but it's, I would much rather see a game when it's complete, ready to ship, they've got five in the box behind a table, and you can come up and play, you know, they have two or three, you know, out there you can play, and then, oh, I want to buy it? Great, we've got six of them. Did you see the pictures of the, what's it, Cosmic Carnival? Yeah. That is an incredibly nice looking game. It looks nice, but it's in very early prototypes that, you know, as far as, you know, that. Yeah, I think it's basically a one-off, but I mean, it definitely shows that these guys are going to build a really neat, unique kind of product. I know a lot of people are sort of like, it looks very basic, but I think that they were going for something a little more artistic. You know, it's really funny you mentioned that, the basic. I was thinking about it today, and I mean, I love stuff like, you know, I love all pinball, but I love, you know, like the Jersey Jack games. They've got some pirates. My God, when I played again the other night at a league at, you know, Chris Michelle's, you know, so much on that game. But, you know, I'm thinking about games like Iron Man, which is a very, you know, people complained it was real stripped down, real basic. It is sort of, I mean, but it's still fun. You know, there's, there's differences, you know, there's like, oh, sometimes like, you know, it's just chock full of stuff. Sometimes I like a little more open play film and just real fast action. You know, like when Russ and I played Munsters today, I liked the layout. So, you know, I think there's a little something for everybody there. Change is good. Well, it looks like what they were going for actually was symmetry. Like it's the same on the left and right. Yes, it's very symmetrical play field. Where did you guys play Munsters at? Oh, we went over to Stadium by Adam's house. So we stopped after finals. We played Deadpool. Yeah, yeah. Which is another good. cool. Rush and I like Deadpool more and more every time we play it. But we're huge Deadpool fans, so it goes without saying. So there's a lot going on right now in pinball. Yes, Kendra? I think with Cosmic... Carnival. Looking at it, it almost looks like it's missing something. Well, it's a prototype stage. It's still an early prototype. Don't ruin ours. There's a couple more there's a couple more prototype games out there you guys I think I don't know if you know Roxy but it's okay if you don't you know I'm learning you're learning Riot Pinball that did Wrath of Olympus Wooly they have a new game they're working on so far I've only seen a couple of CAD drawing photos and it is Legends of Valhalla. So, you know, there's some CAD drawings on the internet. That's about it for that right now. But I've never got to play Wrath of Olympus, but I've watched a ton of video on it, and I love the theme. You know, Rush and I, before that it was even announced years ago. Rusty said, you know, we're going to make a great theme. It would be, you know, like, you know, Zeus and Apollo and all that stuff. Zeus and Mercury. I get the Greek and Roman mythology mixed up. I mean, you know, it's like who hasn't said about ancient Rome? You got a better chance of running into a god than someone you know on the streets of Rome. But I love the theme. I'd love to play one someday. There was only, what, six or eight of those made. But they're, you know, they're still giving it the old college try, so I say good for them. And then, can you pull up Texas Pinball Festival? Or, uh, not Texas Pinball Festival. On Texas Pinball Festival, so I'm pulling it up right now. There was another game, and it's in a Whitewoods stage. Did you guys see that? Anybody? No. Buehler, Buehler, Buehler, anyone? So it was playable? Thank you so much. I guess it was basically playable. They had Kingpin there. Like, Kingpin's there, and there's a lot of rumors about its production. Maybe it's going to be an American pinball game. An American? Not the – oh, because then I'm a manufacturer. Pinball – oh, Circus Maximus. See, I'm kind of looking at those guys with a little bit of a cocked eye. I mean, I'm sure they're good dudes, but, you know, what, five years ago they were going to do Pinball Circus? And, you know, that's what, just by the wayside? Oh, but now we're going to do Kingpin. And it's like, okay, you haven't put out the first game yet. Pinball Circus as in the prototype Pinball Circus at Pinball Hall of Fame? Correct, sir. Yeah, I figured. I'm going there next Tuesday, by the way. Oh, you are. Trick report. They did what? They made one functional whitewood of the pinball circus after Python died, and they added in some of the stuff that was missed. But they kind of backtracked, if I remember right, and said they never said they were actually going to produce it, because they had the auction to you could win, like, the ability to purchase one of the prototypes they made or something. If I remember right, and they just kind of, like you said, kind of was like, eh, we moved on. I think I listened to an interview where like they have every intention of making that game, but it's such a specialty product that they need to get something out there that more than a few people will actually buy. Yeah. You know, pinball circus is really, really cool, but it's definitely a bit of a novelty. Yeah. Well, it's a novelty for now because none of the ones available, none of the ones that are out there right now have completed software. so you're hitting a ball around on a play field with a whole bunch of stuff that doesn't do anything right but it's a novelty in the fact that it's not a standard pinball and it never will be just the same way that a game like Safecracker is a novelty I love that game though well it's not novelty doesn't mean that it's bad it means that it's novel it's different it's unique so right you have a mission Alex and that's to get video of pinball circus while you're there I will if it's not broken If they let me, too. I just got to make sure Tim's not there. They let you take pictures. Yeah, I was going to say, I've seen other people take videos, so it shouldn't be an issue. That's the one game they pretty much make sure works. I've never been there and had seen it broken. Yeah, I've yet to go. That's on my bucket list. They have a lot to maintain, so I can kind of see how, you know, there's not going to be everything in perfect shape, you know. Yeah. Alex, I promise you can outrun Tim. So get that video, make your escape. Right. There you go. So we expect a trip report, sir. Okay. Well, on to the rumor mill. So, you know, there's lots of good stuff going on in Texas right now. Oh, I'll give a shout out to Gerry Stellenberg and P3. Thank you. They got the cosmic cart racing. I've seen some pictures of that. That looks pretty cool. I'm a big fan of Lexi Lightspeed. I really enjoy playing that game. But anyway, so on to the rumor mill. Stern. Okay. Supposedly next game up. Supposedly going to be revealed coming up next month at Midwest Gaming Classic. So just look up Midwest Gaming Classic on your Google search or whatever search you use. And if you're in the Milwaukee area next month, don't miss it, man. It's a heck of a pinball and arcade show. Anyway, so... Did you want the lineup for the Texas Pitbull Show? No, I'm good. Thank you, though. Okay, so the rumor is it's going to be Steve Ritchie is the next Stern, Steve Ritchie title, and it's supposed to be an original, unlicensed theme. And the talk of the town is it's going to be the third installment in the Black Knight series, Black Knight or BK2000, or BK3000. I'm sorry. BK3K. Okay. All right, thoughts? Brian? We'll see. When I think unlicensed, I think something that doesn't have a license, and Black Knight at this point is a license. Yeah. It's not an unlicensed game. Right. Because they have to get permission to use that because that's a Williams thing. Right. So we'll see. It'd be really cool. I'd love to see it. Black Knight is all right, but I love Black Knight 2000. That's a stellar game, so we'll see. Yeah. I'm really curious if it ends up being Black Knight 3000. I'm all for it. If it doesn't have like the normal stern layout. Right. Right. I'm immediately intensely interested. Like, oh my gosh, if it's Black Knight, I'm super, super stoked. Well, and if it is, I hope the Black Knight, you know, kind of doesn't have his poor little speech impediment anymore. Wasn't that the creator? The voice of the Black Knight? Yeah, Steve Ritchie does the voice. Steve Ritchie does, yeah. He does a lot of voice acting. Yeah. And I've met Steve Ritchie, and he doesn't have a speech impediment. No, he doesn't at all. Well, the technology at the time. You know, it's like the old Gorp video game. Insert, doink. So, Lillian, what are your thoughts on a third Black Knight? Because the first game your folks ever bought was Black Knight 2000. Aww. So. It was pretty cool. Okay. All right. And you didn't care for the new Wizard of Oz either, did you? The Yellow Brook Road. So what's your favorite game in your collection? Probably Pirates. Pirates is freaking awesome. But you guys have a lot of really good games. So what's your least favorite? Just not a big Genie fan? I'm with her on that one. Out of her collection, I think Genie is the one I like the least. So you like, what's the Williams one in the garage? I'm sorry. The old reverse winch head. I have no idea. Sun. Sunburn, sun. Oh, God. I can't remember. Oh, yeah, with the thermometer on it. Yeah, yeah. Heatwave. Heatwave. Heatwave. I love that game. That game is dope. You like Heatwave better than you like Genie? I like Heatwave. I like Genie, too, though. Okay. All right. Just a quick, because Lily's new to this. Lily's also young. Our league goes from the youngest I can remember was Wilder at seven. Yeah. All the, you know, Mickey at seven, eight. Yep. All the way up in people in the 60s. Yeah. So we cover – our league is co-ed and it's very family-friendly. So if you're thinking about starting a league, you know, there's different options. There's, you know, all women's and there's couples leagues and there's adults only and there's family leagues. Try different formats. Try what you like. Start a formal league. Have fun. It's pinball for Pete's sake. It's supposed to be fun. Going back to the rumors on BK3K. Yeah. if it is I'm there I want to see it I want to play it I have high hopes I'm hoping for a three level play field that'd be awesome I think that you know three thousand three level play field now would you be three levels stacked up like staircases or would it be would be level upper level underneath that would be the make the most sense Or you could even do two separate upper playfields There's that. You can't do a Munster-style lower play field on Black Knight. It would slow the game down too much. No, but you could do something like Black Hole. Well, it would if you had a ramp going. Stern will never spin that much. If you had like a gobble hole to drop it down, then a ramp to shoot it back up into the main play field via a scoop or something. I mean, you know, the ideas are endless. The ladies have anything else over there? So we're all very excited. Like who's going to do the art if it is, you know? I mean, there's a lot to think about and, you know, a lot of conjecture. But, I mean, you know, I'm excited. I hope it comes out or whatever comes out is going to be fun. You know, Steve Ritchie, you know, it's going to be good. Is he the same as doing the rules, the software, Tim Sexton? You know, somebody mentioned somebody, but I don't remember who now. Yeah, I think it was Tim Sexton. I'd love to see, though, if it is Steve Ritchie's last game, I'd love to see him go out on. For Stern. True, for Stern, but still. I'd love to see him go out on 3,000. Yeah, that would be a good swan song. It would essentially be the end of an era. Yeah, yeah. And that's also rumored, too. We don't know if he's retired. He makes Black Knight $4,000. There we go. What's next, Knight? Elvira 3. You know, a couple years ago it was announced they had Elvira there. Was it at Expo or Texas Pinball Festival? I think it was Texas. Texas? Okay. And she was there with Dennis Nordman, who designed the first two Elvira games. Steve Ritchie co-designed. Yeah, Steve Ritchie did co-design. The first one because they were out riding bikes and Dennis wrecked and broke his leg. That's right. And Greg Ferrer's on our who was I want to say shout out to Greg Ferrer, whether you're listening or not, sir. If you have any taste, you're probably not. Hey, it's free, folks. Free entertainment. Anyway, he was just an absolute gentleman at Golden State Pinball Festival last year. We talked for a bit. And he also, you know, had a few words to say, very kind words and wonderful words, praising our dear friend who's still with us in spirit, Steve Sharlin. So, which I want to remind everybody coming up to the Golden State Pinball Festival will be the second annual Steve Sharlin Spirit Award presentation, which I have the great privilege and honor of presenting that award and hosting the amazing dinner that will be going on that night. That'll be Friday night, the first night of the show. So we'll be announcing tickets for that very soon. So, you know, stay tuned, man. Stay by your radios and interwebs and make sure to check that out. Anyway, on the Elvira, they announced it. It's not a lot of talk about it since then, other than it's been in the rumor mill. But now there's a rumor that it's going to be the game after Black Knight or 3000. and that uh jurassic um possibly jurassic world or possibly by eddie but well see some people are saying uh the Brian Eddy who uh you know from attack from mars medieval madness and the shadow uh designed in those games but some people are saying that he's actually going to be doing elvira three elvira's already done it was done by northman and ferris that's the only way If I remember right, Cassandra said it has to be done by Nordman. That was one of the requirements. They initiated the project. And Nordman, there was an interview with him a couple years ago, or maybe not even a couple years ago, but maybe last year, where he essentially said, hey, it's done. I stayed extra on my contract with Stern. They have the play field. They just need to do whatever they're going to do with it. I wonder why it's taking so long, then. Probably, I think a lot of it's just scheduling. You know, it's like, where are they going to put it? It's obviously a late-year release because you want to do that game near Halloween, for sure. Good point. You know, and it might just legitimately be. I mean, look at all the stuff Stern's got in the pipe. You know, where's the Star Wars topper? It's just not important. I believe they're finishing the code for Wheel of Fortune as well as Indiana Jones. That was the holdup. Really? No. Okay. I was really excited for that, too. I'm waiting for them to finish Monopoly 3.3, please. I'm waiting for them to finish Alvarez 6.0. So we do know that eventually Elvira 3 will be hitting the streets and the local pinball parlor near you. We just don't know when. So, okay. All righty. Okay. Another rumor that was abound in the last week or so. Alien. Okay, now as you all know, Highway Pinball folded their tent and went home right at the beginning of production of Alien Pinball. Just about everybody here at the table tonight, the Kitchen Table Studios, has played Alien and loves it, and we want to see it continue. There was a rumor floating about that Chicago Game & Company was going to pick up, manufacture that, and possibly the next title that was on the list for Highway Pinball, which is supposedly Queen. There's a group of people that took over Highway Pinball called the Pinball Brothers. So far, they've done less than nothing. So I don't usually do this, but I'm going to throw this out here. All you wonderful pinball fans in the United Kingdom, I'm sorry. Nobody there can build a game. They just can't do it. They can design a single game. Sorry. You want good pinball, there's only one place it's happening. That's the United States of America. Spencer, the same people who are probably building their pinball machines are probably the same people that produce the fine British automobiles that don't work when the Carl Weathers changes. Oh, you mean with that wonderful Lucas Electronics that they so aptly named the Prince of Darkness? Yeah, yeah. You know, what's that? It looks like rain. Great. My MG is not going to start for four weeks. And it rains every day in London. So I don't know, guys. Bloody hell. Bloody hell. That rumor, I think, was 100% debunked already. Yeah. But, you know. It was a Canada thing. And he completely, completely ate his words with a side of shoe. A side of shoe. Wow. Not the main course, though. He got devastated. Yeah. But, you know what? But, you know, rumors float. and we're just saying some rumor millers, no substandard. So a virus is not really a rumor. It's happening. Kendra. Okay, it may be a rumor, alien being a rumor, debunked, whatever. But you know what? If it gets floated enough, maybe somebody will listen and pick it up. It's a fantastic game. I think they should. It's a great game. That game deserves to be made. Alien is a terrific game. I had a lot of fun playing it at Book Room and at Golden State. Yeah, us too. Alien's fantastic. And it deserves to be made and it deserves to be finished and troubleshot. And it deserves a lot of things. The question is, are the quote unquote pinball brothers up to the task of giving it to somebody else? And, you know, will the rights be conducive? Will the money be right? You know, when it comes out, what will it cost? I mean, honestly, I would love to see that. The rumor was awesome because the rumor was basically they were going to take it out of that stupid highway cabinet. they were going to put it in a William style cabinet they were going to replace all the mechanisms with you know basically it was just like everything that you want to hear it was going to be $200 no no it's going to be a Latin 5 with yellow powder coat and no flying monkeys no monkeys you can't have monkeys in pinball machines anymore they're highly offensive people get triggered and feelings get bad and Jersey Jack is making you My advice to the Pinball Brothers, who all of a sudden, oh, we're taking over. They've done nothing. They've said nothing. The Pinball Brothers was completely a scam. Yeah. They had to move the assets of Highway Pinball somewhere else before they declared bankruptcy so that the debtors got nothing. Right, right. Exactly. I mean, sorry. That's what happened. If there actually are brothers out there or a group or whatever, do the right thing, boys. Just give the rights to somebody else and get the game made. We made Magic Girl while you were at it. Yeah, Magic Girl. You know, since they are British, if it's the Gallagher brothers from Oasis, we're screwed. They can't even get long enough to play, can they? No. Well, you know, while I'm at it, there's also, not back to it, but it's looking pretty much like Home Pin, who manufactured the Thunderbirds, which I don't think anybody here has actually seen or played. No, I've never seen it. It's pretty much DOA. It's dead in the water as well. so that is a pity because home pin while they designed one crappy machine was a good producer of boards well they might still be they're just not producing any games and shipping them to all the people that prepaid in australia well if trying to make the games kill the company yeah you know it's probably over and i don't think that his intention was ever to make games i think his intention, or at least not to design games, I think his intention was, hey, we want to manufacture games in China, we'll do it for you. Like, they would have been a destination for something like Alien, but I just don't think that he had the resources to really pull this project off. And of course then he screwed the Aussies, which is always the dumbest thing you could do. Because they're like, you know what, buddy? Get bent. Yeah, exactly. So, yeah, you know, it's always sad when people put their faith in a company and, you know, they go into the pre-order thing and they get, you know, it's happened a lot. I mean, it's happened over the last, what, five years. It's happened with, well, Skippy. That was just a dumpster fire. Yeah. With the Predator game, you know, with Zidware. Yeah, my favorite pinball company. That's like five dumpster fires right next to a nuclear power plant, right next to Fukushima that's melting down. What else? The Dutch Boys. That's the other one. Big Lebowski, man. Great theme, fun game, fun shooter, beautiful design. I love the rug. That game needs to be built. Yes, it does. It was a lot of fun. Yeah, it does need to be built, but it's never going to happen by the Dutch Boys. I mean, they could get it together for that. And then they came out with Bride of Pimbot 3.0. Hey, we'll just steal somebody else's design and add a few cool things to it. Well, they were licensed, you know, because they got the license for when they did 2.0. The 2.0 kit was phenomenal. They should have done more of those. 2.0 was a genius project. I just took Cheddar his back. And while I had it, I was just like, you know, this is something that I'm shocked didn't take off. like I really thought well it's expensive but I mean think of the games that you could have done this upgrade for that are worth a lot more money than a Bride of Pinbot and the owners would burn me up you could have done Party Monsters Diner I mean you know the list goes on and on you could have done a bunch of games well you don't have to stop at the you know the Alphanumeric area either you can go up into the DMV games I'd love to see that with Diner There was a guy doing a better world. It died. Like it just, nothing came of it. Well, there are guys who've done these upgrades, but they're not selling them. Right. They've never brought them. They just having fun. Well, I remember just about four years ago, there was a guy took a rolling, a stern rolling stone pinball. Everything that I made before that, somebody else took a F14 Tomcat and rethemed it. Iron Maiden. So, I mean, there's guys out there doing fun projects, but they're just not, trying to make money doing it. I saw someone last year at Golden State re-theme a World Cup soccer to Kill Bill. Kill Bill. Yeah, and we want a big shout-out for... PDX Monkey. PDX Monkey out of Oregon for bringing that to the show. A.K.A. John. A.K.A. John. Look forward to seeing you again, brother. There's stuff like Demoman on Steroids, too. Demoman on Steroids. Which was actually a... It's a product, but it wasn't a commercial product. It was like they were selling it, I guess. Yeah. Or Cactus Canyon Continued. It just would be really cool to have seen those things with official backing and, you know, like like Bride of Pinbot had, you know, where it was actually it had the Williams seal of approval. And it's a shame that nobody ever maybe it's just that that project gave everyone such a bad taste. But that that could have really been, you know, another future for a lot of these games that, you know, maybe maybe people feel are a little tired, you know. Yeah, and you keep the original software so you don't lose the original yeah with the product in about 2.0 There's a little selector switch you just flip it over you play the original version Yeah, so really cool is phenomenal idea You know I applaud them what what sinks their ship for me is when they can you know they did The 2.0 kit that was amazing throughout that that's right. Hey, you're making a pinball Wow It's big about so great, but then to come to Expo and being disrespectful to Stern and the other companies and to talk a big game and then all the nonsense they pulled. That's why Spooky and Charlie are so successful, his family, his company, not just because they're actually producing and making good games and actually delivering the games. They garner a lot of goodwill because they're humble. They're just good folks, and they're not shortchanging anybody. they're respectful of you know the people who come before them and uh you know what man in the pinball community uh just being a righteous dude or do that means everything you know it's like you know maybe maybe dutch should practice a little more what they preach about being a good dude well spooky makes a great product they do for a great price honestly having now played a couple production Alice Cooper's you're not gonna get a better pinball new in the box for what they charge for those machines like they are absolutely super good when they charge like so 6500 I believe was what it would cost you for the basic Alice Cooper nightmare castle no no upgrades you know before shipping before taxes And I mean that thing got the LCD display with you know awesome rules The play field is great. The detail on the play field is great. It's got great shots. It's plenty interactive. It's got, you know, features. It's got physical ball locks. It's got everything that you want. It has a bumping sound system. The sound system will go unbelievably loud. loud. Great Alice Cooper music. Well, the thing about that game too is like, it's not a music game. Like, when you play that game, it's like a creepy haunted castle game and then just every once in a while there's like an Alice Cooper thing that you do and the music comes in and when the music comes in you get super pumped. It could actually be rethemed as a Scooby-Doo game. If you just called that game Nightmare Castle, it would be completely legit. And they've done that great product. So you got the guys who did Lebowski, right? You got Barry and Yelp and whoever else was with them at the time who left. Like, they came out with a product, and that game, you know, Lebowski, was going to be, what, $9,000? Guys are charging less than that, I think, originally. It was like $9,000. It was expensive, but it was, at the time, a very premium product. Right. Nobody was doing all these things at that time. Well, and you have toys, and it has a very, very low speed. No, I mean, you also got a rug if you weren't an early adopter. Yeah, you got the rug. It was a little bit yellow. You got the actual carpet. It really ties to me. Tomorrow morning, we're powder coating your Mustang yellow too, Brian. As long as it has glitter paint. And I can get a 11.5 for it. I already took the monkey out. Okay, good. It was eating a hot dog, and somebody got really upset about it. Yeah. Who's got a... Monkeys. Can't think of the name of the band. They did the Bad Touch. And they had a hot dog. What home game? Yes. Yes. Monkeys, hot dogs. Monkeys and hot dogs. Shock the monkey. Let's see. What other monkey songs do we have? Hey, hey, we're the monkeys. I'm a believer. I'm a believer. Hey, hey, we're the monkeys. By the monkeys. Shock the monkey. We did that right. Yeah, shock the monkey. So, okay. Where were we? Okay. Okay. On to the Golden State Pinball Festival. 55 days away. Yay! There you go. Yay! May 18th, 19th, and 20th at the Lodi Great Festival Fairgrounds in beautiful Lodi, California. Also, the home to A&W. That's right, ladies and gentlemen. A&W Root Beer originated in Lodi, California in 1918 or 19, I forget. Kendra, you're from Lodi-ish, so you know this, right? Nope. Spencer, you were alive when they first produced it. Well, pretty much, you know. But I wasn't there. So, okay, anyway. Neither was I. 1919. 1919. Okay. So, check out the Golden State Pinball Festival, or you can check out the website at goldenstatepinball.org or gspf.org. Anyway, so, what new title do you most want to see slash play at Golden State Pinball Festival? Who would like to start? All of them. There you go. I love that answer, Brian. Alex? Same with Brian. I want to play all of them. I want to see what's out there. Lily? I'm dying to play Oktoberfest. Me too. I'll do the same as them, all of them. Okay, you're just like, let's play it all. Okay. All right, because we've got some of the new ones I've got listed are Munsters, which Rusty and I played today for the first time, the pro. Beatles, Black Knight 3000, if it is the one. Alice Cooper, because last year we'd only played the prototype. so I'm looking forward to playing finished code of course we drive with the Michaels and play it Oktoberfest dying to play that there's got to be some more stuff down I'm sure probably but that's the meat potatoes some of the newer stuff we have and some of us or all of us haven't played yet so how about you Kendra I'm looking forward to playing Alice Cooper with the updated code, but really I want to see what they've done on Beatles. I don't... Beatles is awesome. Is it? It is so cool. Where do you play Beatles at? Mike Eric Ridgeway has it. Oh yeah, that's right. If we go back to our previous episodes where we, you know, before Beatles came out when we were still talking about it, I think all of us were like, there's no way at that price point that it's going to be anything worth it. You're only going to get collectors. So I want to see what they've done. And I think it looks really fun. I want to play it. It is definitely. With magnets. It is. At Beatles. Essentially a sea witch with magnets, but it plays a million times better. You know, the funny thing is, do I think it's an $8,000 game? No. It's still really expensive for the level of game that it is. But what's there is ridiculously fun. It's definitely not a Jersey Jack game, so that's obviously. Super focused rule set. Like, there's four. I think there's five modes. Each mode has a different objective. It was like hit spinners, hit pop bumpers, you know. Dodge the assassin. No, there's no dodging assassins. Well, that's no fun. The assassin gets you. You die. That's just how it works. That's Steve Ritchie ACDC. You know, hit the drop targets, play a multiball, and just you get into that mode. You try to complete the mode, and, you know, the rule set just works. It's just super, super surface level. Graphics were great. It's super easy to make shots. That single magnet really, really makes the game, like, super hilarious. Because you'll be hitting the loops, and all of a sudden it'll stop, and it'll just drop it into the pops. And it's great, because if you're supposed to hit the pops, it'll stop and drop it for you. So it's really cool. You can definitely take to the bank that. Beatles is much, much better than anybody gave it credit for being. Nice. Rusty. Pretty much like everybody else. I see them all. I'm all about the aesthetics and just how it feels while I'm playing. So, you know, I'll probably like a theme that I don't like, but like the game. Do that quite a little bit. You know, more Deadpool. There you go. Oh, I want to play Deadpool Premium because it houses a mirror ball. There we go. For disco multiball. Roxy, what are you looking forward to playing at Golden State Pinball Festival? I just like playing all the games I will say that sometimes with all the glitz and you have all these multi-levels and all this stuff going on it just I think it I mean it's overload yeah I have it HD I'm like oh what's this oh over here shiny oh bright lights are flashing and you know less is I mean it's fun to have all that you're going to keep track of what you're trying to do you've got this well if you hit that then you have to hit this and you have it gets kind of confusing you know you like it simple or playful I do I mean It's not too simple, but... What you're saying is, you really want to play a Spanish Highs. Hey, we're going to have one there. There you go. Okay, sure. I mean, it's neat having all the graphics and all that, you know, with the videos and all that. But again, I think that sometimes just, yeah, less is more. It can be challenging without having to have all that. Well, a perfect example of that is a total nuclear annihilation. Or a needle. You will love Beatles. I love the era of the music they did, because that's my favorite era of the Beatles of when they first came to America. That simpler, you know, like, you know, boy meets girl kind of, you know. I know that sounds a little sappy, but. You know what would be cool to see there? We haven't mentioned, and it's just because it's just a re-themed game already, it'd be a Primus. Yeah, love to see a Primus. Thank you for bringing that up, Brian, because I forgot about that one, but yeah. I'd love to play one. What's that? I've never seen one. I think they only made like, what, 100 of them? Something like that, yeah. It was a Primus commissioning game. Yeah, it's just Cancrusher. So there's only 100 of them now. Oh, wow. So, yeah. I know. Last year I liked playing Judge Dredd, and I really liked Dirty Harry. I don't know. We were just talking about Dirty Harry before you got here. Apparently you can load the Cancrusher or the Primal Software on your Cancrusher networks. So you could have a, you know. Hey, I haven't played Cancrusher, but I love Lone Alley. I love that game. Lone Alley's a great game. Lone Alley is awesome. I really, really hope, hope against hope, that Black Knight 3000 is real and is there. If it is there, maybe it'll be the one that I'm going to get. Steel. Steel, exactly. I think that's all of our hope, but looking at the realistics of it, you know, even if Black Knight 3000 is the game, I don't know necessarily that it's going to be at the show. Well, if it does get released or at least shown at Midwest Canyon Classic, thank you, that it'll probably make it to at least the pro model. Well, probably because when they're showing when they show a game, they've already got it on the line. Stern does. So I remember the year the Metallica came out. I mean, it was released like three, four weeks. You know, they announced it and showed it three or four weeks before Pinnagogo. and it made it to Pinagogo. So... If it doesn't make it, yeah. We have Pinagogo in October. Or California Extreme. Or your local Barcade, Arcade, Bowling Alley, Kitchen Toast. There you go. And the hot rumor is that the announcement for Black Knight will be this week. Oh, really? Or next week. Not showing it, just announcing it. Just announcing it. Alright, cool. Well, guys, I don't have anything else listed. We're just 55 minutes and change. So we're trying to keep the show at an hour and not go to the 2 hours and 48 minutes mark. Probably Windows 6 update. Yeah, yeah. We're actually going to record last night on Friday and just we're getting ready to record. My Windows decided to update and three hours later still haven't finished loading the updates so we had to postpone until tonight. We just had to drink. That's okay. We just had to drink last night. Well, I was just going to say it's easier to keep them all in control rather than drunken yelling, talking over each other. You know, so hopefully everybody throws a little tidbit at Spencer. What's your email address? That would be thespinneraslit at gmail.com. And let us know, you know, that we're not all screaming, yelling and being brought to you by Heineken. Actually, we were brought to you by, well, you guys. Scotch! and 7-Eleven. One Scotch, banned 7-Eleven and you banned because tonight was coffee drinking night. And Dutch Brothers. Dutch Brothers. If you're in the Pacific Northwest or, you know, Northern California, they even had them in Idaho. They were all around. Dutch Brothers Coffee. Support your local coffee barista teams, especially Dutch Brothers. We're not paid to do that, by the way. They go to pizza so it's better. There you go. And that's with two E's. So, guys, thank yous and shout outs. Anybody? Eddie? Actually, before we go, we talked about last episode. I'm curious how Dan's cheap shop job is going on, Demolition Man. It is not going on at all. Perfectly. You're keeping it cheap. I unfortunately haven't had a chance to touch the game. It's still in process. Stay tuned for more Tales from the Shop Job. Boom! Boom! I mentioned it in Lodi's talk. Boom! That Eric's going to be a shout-out to. Rox, do you have a shout-out? Tomorrow is the Grape City Con at the Lodi Grape Festival Grounds. And I think Eric Neff's going to be bringing some games there. Eric Neff and Chris Bannister. And Chris Bannister, yeah. So there'll be a couple machines there. Lily's giving it, like, the peace sign-up. So, yeah. It was fun. I've been, like, the last two years, and I really enjoyed it. I thought it was going to be small and not, you know, worth anything. But last year they ramped it up a little bit. It was a lot of fun. So that's Grape City Con tomorrow. The Golden State Pinball Festival is located. Yeah, at the Lodi Grape Festival. Fairgrounds and beautiful, sunny Lodi, California. What is tomorrow? That would be Sunday, March 24th. 24th. That would also be Kendra's birthday. Happy birthday, Kendra. Happy birthday, Kendra. What did you get for your early birthday? I got from the best friend ever. No, no, absolutely not. A stripper. No, I got Metallica tickets with, for Metallica with the San Francisco symphony orchestra, which is going to be awesome. You're going to have a good time. It's going to be amazing. And somebody loves you. Cause I heard those things were expensive. And they keep going up in price. Kendra, just make sure before you go, you buy a shirt that says it should have been Lars. get the front row and wear a shirt that says Napster that makes a lot of sense I don't want to get kicked out big shout out to the boys of Metallica for doing a program for 35 years especially Lars they used to play kickers in my hometown this is when Dave Mustaine was still with them wow when Dave Mustaine was with them anybody else got any thank yous and shout outs thanks for having us always always and thank you for lillian and and roxy for coming out tonight and being part of the podcast at the uh kitchen table studios uh one more quick big shout out to our good friend and sometimes co-host and engineer seth holder and his lovely wife and family they're uh vacationing up on the pacific coast right now doing some great fishing on the ocean And as always, we wish you well, folks. Fish tails. Fish tails. There you go. And, of course, Seth's looking for some local pinball when he can find it. Yeah. Big shout out to Eric. Go find fish tails in the ocean. I'll tell you that. Yeah. He was going to come out tonight but couldn't make it. And we miss you, brother. And Will, who's driving his Lyft tonight. Go, Will. Go, Will, because he's got to pay the rent. So from all of us to all of you at the Kitchen Table Studios, This has been Episode 19 of the Spinner is Lit Pinball Podcast. And you guys know what to say. Play pinball. Keep America strong. And we are out. Peace and love and pinball, folks. Thank you.