You'd get one, but it came back around really fast. And it was also super early on that flipper, just the way that the angle maybe that flipper was set at and the strength on it or how far the coil stop was on it. But for whatever reason, you could not get a lot of mini loops in one orbit shot. Plus, every time you miss an upper flipper shot, as anybody knows, you're left to right. You are out of control and shadow outlanes are awful. Absolutely. And this one is a little more forgiving because the tilt was much looser than most shadows. But still, so the point was that based on all that, I'm thinking, okay, I'm just going to go ramps. And so that's what I started out with. But the thing about when you go with ramps is that you don't really build value as opposed to the mini loop. If you do the upper loop, that builds value and holds it for your whole game. With the ramp strategy and vengeance, it's like every vengeance and super vengeance, it's pretty much the same 50 million or 100 million for that four shot. You do build some value of like five to seven to nine for each of the ramp shots. And that does add up, but it's not as overwhelming as the mini loop, you know, build. But the thing about the ramp strategy is that it gives you a safe return to the flipper. So if you can find the timing for comboing those ramps and you're, you know, you know how to work the auxiliary buttons to change your, your Ferber diverters, you're completely a hundred percent safe. and what I did is I found that rhythm on ball three and I think I did three laps of super vengeance without missing. Yes, it was insane. For those that, Colin is understating this. He basically just chewed this pin up and it was amazing to watch from the side because it honestly, you were so precise with your shots, Colin, that it honestly looked like you had a magnet at the top of each ramp. because nothing rattled. It was perfect and just came right back to the flippers, just flowed. And, you know, I think seeing that, you've changed probably the entire meta to Shadow from here on out. I got a feeling everybody's probably going to do just this because, of course, we all want to think that we're all sharpshooters, you know, and we'll never miss or anything like that. But you proved what happens when you don't miss good things happen in the game. Yeah, I mean, we were just talking about Brian Eddy earlier, And that's, I think shadow, it used to be an underrated pin. I think over the past, you know, five, eight years or whatever, people really understand, you know, how fun shadow is as a pin. And also, you know, in competition as well, it works in both settings. But yeah, that particular, and the way you can make it so that strategy doesn't dominate is by, you know, reducing the timer. So I think Eric had it set for default, which is like a 20 second timer. and by the way the timer resets every time you complete a vengeance so every time you complete all four you go back to having the full 20 seconds or whatever it is of time to shoot another four ramps and this particular shadow the other reason why it was fairly effective was it had super bands on it as opposed to a lot of other shadows i've played where it has natural red rubber and so So I could have sworn, but I'm not sure as well, that I think the coil stops allowed for a little bit higher of a throw on the flipper. So it allowed for a little bit easier to try to get control and trap if you needed to. But if you're going vengeance, you're not trapping. But you do need to trap if you get out of control to try to get back into control. And you could do this on this shadow more so than some other shadows I've played. So that also helped. and for those wondering the big difference with super bands it makes it to where your live catches you can pretty much be on point with your live catches that ball is going to stick for the most point whereas like colin was saying if the red rubber is on there you're pretty much at the mercy with your timing you have to be very precise to control it at that point so okay so you're basically ramping out at this point and you're not missing and i'm ramping out that's awesome I'm like, I'll tell you what that was. I'd never, you know, first off, I'd never really tried that strategy before on Shadow. I'd played Vengeance and I knew about what it does and things like that. And you just quite honestly, in terms of that, you know, there's lots of games with left right ramp alternating combos. And I don't think I've ever been in that. I mean, because you can do that in Scared Stiff. I mean, Medieval Madness, there's lots of left right, you know, combos you can do. and I don't even know if I've ever hit, like, I think I literally hit a dozen of those in a row without missing. Yeah. And I don't think I've ever done that before. Just being with alternate. I can do that with like looping a shot. Sure. Like center ramp of Led Zeppelin. Oh yeah, sure. Do, you know, do a couple dozen of those, but the alternating adds that degree of difficulty because that, like we were talking about earlier, the distance and the time it takes to get back to the flipper changes between each of the flippers and each of the ramps. So yeah, I was nailing it and I knew I was, I was like, okay, I'm definitely hitting a lot of shots. And the thing I didn't realize, I learned something new about shadow playing this game. I thought that shadow bonus really the only time you're ever going to get big bonus if you play modes, cause you can get like, you know, Hey, you play a mode well and finish it. You can get like 40, 50 million, 70 million sometimes for a mode. Yep. And that's not, doesn't ever get multiplied by the bonus. But I thought that's the only reason why you would, you know, make sure don't tilt out on shadow bonus. Well, apparently you get big bonus in a lot of multipliers when you do the vengeance strat. And so I drained out with I think I looked at the scoreboard I knew I needed to get billion I looked at the scoreboard and saw I was only about 1 something And you know I been working hard at it obviously And I felt like I was in the flow. And, you know, I just missed like a super vengeance shot. So that would have been another $100 million. And, you know, just keep the flow going. So I was like, ah, well, I missed it. You know, no big deal. It's not like Johannes where he loses to Daniele. And then he takes second instead of first. and not world champion versus world champion, but it's still just disappointing. And then the booth was not that far. It was only like a couple feet away, and Raymond's sitting at that with Tom Graff. And suddenly Raymond is looking at the bonus. I've kind of turned away from it. He's like, oh, you got it. And sure enough, I had over $300 million in bonus just from shooting ramps and changing my lanes at the bottom to get bonus X every time I spelled con. Yeah, yeah. Well, it was funny because I was standing there because I was done with my game. And I was standing there and watching this all happen from the side. And I remember distinctly when you drained, you were walking over towards me. And you could tell, like, you had that sense of relief, like, okay, well, that's done. Because that's an intense moment. But you could also tell, well, crap, I didn't quite get there. But then it was just like a 180 as soon as you heard the roar. And then you realized that you had crossed over. I mean, that was an amazing moment. And that right there just, I mean, for me, that's what I love about pinball. I love seeing those moments to where people have success, especially when my friends are having success. I mean, to me, that's awesome. And that's the one number one thing that I've missed more than anything, just simply competing with friends and getting to have that type of camaraderie and being able to see things like that that we can't necessarily see by just sitting here on our own. little home arcades and just play by herself. So yeah, that was definitely excellent. If you guys haven't seen this yet, there is video of this. I will put it down in the description down below. So as soon as you guys are done with this podcast, go watch that. You will be mind just blown when you see that. So we'll kind of segue a little bit with that. What do you like? What is your feelings about tournaments coming back? Because obviously you and I, we've had a lot of conversations about this, you know, and I'll be straight up with everybody. I am very pro. Let's get back to doing tournaments because everything else here in the country is opening up. A lot of states are already fully open. I know just tonight before this podcast, I took my girls to dance class. My boys have jujitsu full contact. I mean, it's everything is going except for being able to stand in front of a pinball machine with other people and it officially be sanctioned. So, you know, what are your thoughts on that a little bit about what you would like to see in terms of tournaments coming back here sooner rather than later? Or, you know, what do you think about that? Yeah, I mean, I'm definitely a sooner rather than later. In fact, you know, not just even sooner, but even, you know, should have been and could have been for a long time now. Yeah. And I think the, you know, District 82 is a great example. You've had Eric running events there, you know, since May of 2020. and in that case you know he's you know done taken great lengths gone to great lengths as far as you know masking and distancing in terms of not having you know a foursome playing a game next to another one so that way you have you can incorporate some more distancing and whatever and to me that is even now going into the rearview mirror because you know now you know the if if you have all the people that are getting vaccinated and even if not everybody's vaccinated because there's some people that are going to choose not to. I am. I know you are. And that's the choice that we've made. And I'm very comfortable with my choice, and I'm very happy with my choice. I mean, the data that the CDC has on their website shows that the vaccine is 99.99% effective of preventing you from getting COVID of any severity. and it's one in a million if you've vaccinated about actually having a case that causes death and to me that's that's the type of numbers that we should be you know trumpeting from the mountaintop for everybody so we can get back to normal but even without that I think people could still go out and play with their masks on I've been playing with my mask on since you know roughly springtime or May, whenever Cidercade open here in Austin, I've been going there and diligently wearing my mask every time I play there. And I, you know, wash my hands before I start playing. And I use some hand sanitizer sometimes, you know, when I'm going between games. And when I get done, I go wash my hands when I'm done. And, you know, I didn't catch COVID before, you know, I got vaccinated. I was, I was fine. And so I'm definitely the mindset that we need to get back to playing competitive pinball. The good news is you can play competitive pinball without having the IFPA sanction it. So go and reconnect, please reconnect with your local league, local tournaments, whatever, you know, groups you have, whether it's on Facebook or, you know, if you have, you know, Slack channels or just email groups or what have you to go back and get out there and continue playing if you're comfortable with it. And I highly recommend for people to consider dipping their toe in and, you know, getting comfortable with it again. Now, as far as ISPA sanctioning, so the process for that that has been described from the ISPA is they're using the input from each of the individual state representatives. So if you, along with your other player base in your local area, are all feeling comfortable and your local regulations allow you to play, which I think is pretty much everywhere now, there was a time period where there were still a lot of areas in the country where certain states or cities would not allow, you know, groups more than whatever, you know, very little groups of five or whatever to get together and congregate. But those are being eased now. So, and given the efficacy of the vaccine and the different herd immunity that we have and the different immunity we have, especially of those people that needed it most, elderly and people who had underlying conditions, tell your state rep, you know, email them or message them or whatever and say, hey, I'd really like for you, ask them, is our state a yes or no in terms of the IFPA vote? And by the way, even if your state is yes, that doesn't mean that we're suddenly all going to be sanctioned again because IFPA is international. So it's not just the US, but you can only control and provide input for your state. So I highly encourage anybody listening to this, if you want IFPA to re-sanction events again and you think that it's you know available for people and you know people are going out because that's what happened right now people are going on playing they are going out and having tournaments they are going out and having leagues well even uh stern pinball they've started doing the stern launch parties or they're about to start they've contacted the stern army people even with the mandalorian they had the webinar for the stern army people so that is starting to fire back up You can see it. That spark has happened. Correct. It's just it's time to see it come to full fruition at this point. Yeah. So that's what I'd recommend is contact your state rep or if you don't know who you find out who they are, contact them and say, hey, I would I would like to lend my voice to, you know, saying a strong consider changing the answer to yes, at least for your state as appropriate. it. And, you know, for those of you, you know, on the fence about getting a vaccine, you know, I realized, hey, everybody has to make that. It's a personal choice. But based on the data I'm seeing, it's just ridiculously effective. So go get it. It's one of those things that's funny because my wife, she had to work some of the COVID stuff and some of the quarantines early on out in California back in March of last year. And, you know, it's one of those things that she works different natural disasters. And you and I have talked about this, that she's even been pulled off her COVID teams. So they've actually downsized our own government for different locations. And the vaccine distribution has started to downsize itself a little bit. So, I mean, it's all out there at this point. I think that the people that wanted to do to get vaccinated, they've been able to. And I mean, facing facts, I would have to think the vast majority of people that are involved in pinball are probably pro-vaccine. So I have to assume that a lot of people are pretty much covered overall. And I just hope to see that even the places that are out there that aren't sanctioned yet or that aren't saying yes yet, that they are at least considering it and that they're at least starting to get out there and play tournaments, even if they're not a yes yet. They're at least getting out there and they're seeing, hey, there is an end to this. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. And you can still see your friends. You still can get out and socialize. You can get back to some sort of normalcy because, to me, that's what pinball is about for all of us. More than anything else, it's about the people. It's about getting to hang out. It's about getting to share those moments together because we're not – even though you and I are talking here in a computer, it's so much better when we're in person. We're getting to hang out and getting to talk pinball. And that's I feel like that's something that even myself before all this, I didn't appreciate that enough when I was getting it because it's just that was the normal thing. And now you realize that it could be taken away at any time. So now it's like, you know, I fully appreciate it. I'm ready to get out there in District 82 that that wet my whistle enough. And now I'm ready for everything else. I mean, what we got Chicago Expo coming up pretty soon. I think Freeplay Florida. And I believe you guys have something brewing down in Texas also, correct? Yeah, the Houston Pinball Arcade and the Pinball Expo in Houston, Texas. I apologize. I should have pulled that up so I could get the date right as far as the exact date it's going to happen. That's in November. I have the date for you, as a matter of fact. I'm prepared. I say that, and I think it's the third weekend. It's either the second or the third weekend. It's either going to be the 12th through the 14th or the 19th. I think it's the second weekend. It's the week before free play. So I'm pretty sure it's the 12th or the 11th through the 14th. Okay. I've already got my hotel reserved, so I'm already golden there. But, yeah, I'm excited to get back to that. Just one last thing before we talk about the upcoming events. The more important thing about going out and playing pinball again, please, please, please get out there and support your locations. Yep. If you have a location there that actually survived this, they need your patronage. They need your coin drop. They need your purchases of food or beverage or whatever else or membership if they charge a monthly membership or whatever. Go out and support your locations. They're so important to our community. So please go out there and play. If you're vaccinated, you should go out there. And quite honestly, I'd rather be out there even without a mask on at this point, based on the numbers and the science that I'm seeing. But the bottom line is get out there. I don't care so much about the IFPA sanctioning as I do care about pinball locations. Yep. Hear, hear. That's definitely well said. And, I mean, you guys are hearing it from Colin himself. I mean, this is not somebody to take their opinion lightly. this is a, he's a big deal in the pinball community for sure. So definitely, I mean, I fully agree on that. So, but yeah, Houston Expo. So yes, come to that. That's going to be a great show. It's a, it's definitely, if you haven't been there before, it is a, you know, it airs on the side of being a very social party show. Yes. So I'm, I'm really happy that, you know, with the way that the, the pandemic is waning and the, and COVID is waning with all the, you know, the, the vaccinations and everything, because when we get to that point in November, you know, hopefully we'll be at a point where we're not even having to deal with masks unless somebody's like, actually like, you know, feeling under the weather or whatever, or just don't show up at all if you're under the weather, for that matter. But the, you know, the point is that that is a fun show. I know you've been to it before. I've been to it like three or four times now. And I know that Phil Grimaldi is planning on organizing, you know, tournaments, you know, for the Space City Pinball Open is what it's been, is what it's transitioned into now. So they'll be hosting that. I know that Elizabeth Dronay and Rally is there going to be organizing a women's tournament for that as well. so yeah if you're if you're within you know don't mind yes hey spring for the the airfare whatever houston's a they got two major airports there so you can fly in there for pretty cheap and uh and come join that uh that that show it should be a nice it's very different from chicago expo it is not a industry type of show it is more of a party fun show yes yeah it's it's very much uh it feels like it's midnight at six o'clock in the evening type of vibe that's what it feels like down there i mean i loved it down there you know the only thing i didn't love down there was that an earth shaker game calling i did not like it i don't drop an f-bomb often but i will for that game that game drives me nuts oh my gosh so for those that don't know what i'm referring to This is like an inside joke. So Colin, basically, he just kills me every time we play pretty much, except for maybe once out of every 20 times. I'll get lucky because he'll show pity on me, and he'll be like, okay, I'll let you have one. But he was our bus driver. I say last year. This is 2019. And he decides to go System 11 on me, and I am like freaking Ray Charles on a System 11. I mean, I cannot play it. I don't know what it is. I don't know but you figured it out obviously I mean you put up what like 40 billion I think on the whole one at least it felt like you played forever on that game but as long as there's no earth shaker there I will be there can you promise me there's no earth shaker this year I can't because that's Phil's call you'll have to talk to Phil you can bribe him with a bottle of that Woodford or whatever Phil I will bring you like a case of this if that's not in there. See, now it won't be at Houston, and it'll be at TPF in 2022. I know it. I know it. So speaking of which, we are hopeful, obviously, that TPF will come back. You do play a big part of that with the TPF Wizards Tournament. What can you tell us about that? Because I know there's some people out there that still are wondering, is their, I guess, their tournament vouchers or whatever you want to call it, their entry or their spot, is it still secure if they had it back in 2020, is it still secure for 2022? It is. For those people that chose to let their... So what we did is we refunded all the tournament entry fees. So those were all refunded. And what we did is to help support the event, we asked... They asked everybody if they would let their money roll, they would then have that transferred to the next... We thought it was going to be next year. But then now it turns out to the next time we're going to hold it, which now is going to be 2022. And so what we did for the tournament players, like, Hey, we will, you will hold your spot in the tournament. If you let your show entry fee roll and let that remain with the, with the events. So that way that they could remain, you know, that they could remain solvent and whatever, and not have to deal with the, you know, some pretty severe actions. And thankfully almost all tournament players chose to go that route. so there's actually i think maybe less than five spots if any that uh will be open for that now of course there we're going to be i'm going to be reaching out to all that you know all those players and you know reconfirming hey are you still want that spot you know if they have no plans of attending then you know then those hopefully those tell me hey no i don't want that because we're going to expect them, they're going to have to pay again the tournament fee because we refunded that. So if they're choosing not to enter the tournament again, then they'll lose that spot. And then we'll have to open up, we'll be doing a reopening of the wait list. So that's something that usually we, you know, in the past couple of years, we do that around the October timeframe. So stay tuned to, you know, follow Texas Pinball Festival on Facebook, other social media. go to their website, and then we'll keep people posted that way. I usually also post about it over on Tilt Forums. I know that Ed Van Der Veen posts about it on Pinside. So, you know, the various different mechanisms out there to stay tuned, but we'll make sure that that gets publicized as far as when there will be a sign-up for what effectively will be the wait list to get into the Wizards tournament. The Classics tournament will be a complete reopening again. So the Classics event is actually also limited, but it has a bigger cap on the number of players. I think what we have is like a 240-player cap on the Classics. And so it's also a limited-entry tournament. But, yeah, I'm very excited for that. I mean, it's a long ways off now, but it'll be here before we know it, March of 2022. So, yeah, if you haven't already thought about that, I mean, go to Texas pinball festival just for the show. And even if you can't play in the wizards tournament, because all these people have already committed to the tournament back in 2019, and they're going to get to keep their 2020 rather, and they're going to keep their spot for 2022. You can still sign up for the classics tournament. And that's a great time. You can, there will still be a sign up. I believe, although I don't, I need to confirm that with the, with Elizabeth, as far as the, the Texas throwdown for the, the women's tournament there and just even just go to the show because the Texas pinball festival is one of the best, if not the best show in the country. I mean, pinball certainly is kind of as the original status and obviously proximity to the manufacturer. There's still a lot of, you know, industry show aspects to that, but, but TPF has really risen up to, equal that and in some ways exceed it. It's a fantastic show. Go mark that on your calendar. Reserve those vacation days now so that way you can attend TPF in 2022.