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The Pinball Podcast Episode 141 – The Legend of Slippery Douglas

The Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·1h 24m·analyzed·Feb 6, 2022
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.031

TL;DR

Tee'd Off hosts discuss Rush impressions, Godzilla ownership, and INDUS tournament highlights.

Summary

Jessica and Jeff discuss their recent pinball experiences, including impressions of the newly released Rush machine, their love for Godzilla with its latest code update, and observations from the recent INDUS tournament in Indianapolis. They reflect on tournament play, the value of watching skilled players like Kyle stream, and the importance of maintaining positive community sentiment.

Key Claims

  • Rush has extremely tight scoop shots that are problematic even on clean hits

    high confidence · Jessica describes scoop placement issues where 'the ball hits it so hard that even like clean shots are just problematic' and calls it 'the tightest scoop'

  • The dead end stand-up shot on Rush feels anticlimactic and is one of the worst-feeling shots on a pinball machine

    high confidence · Jessica states it's 'like the dead end stand up that's just Tee'd Off the left of the center shot' and feels like it 'should continue on into a loop' but doesn't

  • Rush code is not yet in final form but has identifiable scoring strategies

    high confidence · Jessica notes 'the code is nowhere near its final form' but she's 'found a few ways that you can kind of maximize scoring already'

  • INDUS tournament is becoming a top-quality destination tournament, approaching Pinburgh's status

    medium confidence · Jeff mentions 'everyone's saying this is probably the top quality tournament right now' and hopes to attend next year if the match play portion expands

  • Jessica bought a Godzilla Premium Edition and keeps it with Iron Maiden downstairs

    high confidence · Jessica confirms 'I bought a Godzilla Premium Edition' and it's sitting 'right next Tee'd Off Iron Maiden' in her collection

  • Godzilla's new code update significantly increases complexity and scoring potential

    high confidence · Jessica describes watching Kyle's gameplay as going 'from making burritos over at Taco Bell into a Michelin star restaurant' in terms of what can be accomplished

  • INDUS women's finals featured an all-female commentary team

    high confidence · Jessica states 'I really appreciated the mostly female and then all female commentary team' and credits Kyle for orchestrating this

  • Kate Steven Martin placed fourth in women's competition at INDUS and nearly came back on ball three

    high confidence · Jessica notes 'Kate Steven Martin, took fourth place in women's and had some very had like an amazing last ball, like ball three at the end, almost come back'

Notable Quotes

  • “I don't like that shot. It's also like the tightest scoop. So like the middle shot, you do have Tee'd Off hit it just perfect, just fine. But it's just such a, it's placement is, I don't know. The ball's just going too fast for it.”

    Jessica @ Rush discussion segment — Detailed technical criticism of Rush's scoop design, a key mechanical issue

  • “Bitter is not better. No, we have, I mean, there's so much other stuff. There's a lot of, you know, the general sads, right?”

    Jeff @ Kyle streaming discussion — Philosophical stance on maintaining positive community sentiment and avoiding bitterness in pinball

  • “I went from making burritos over at Taco Bell into a Michelin star restaurant. I was just like, well, totally.”

    Jessica @ Godzilla code update discussion — Colorful expression of the dramatic increase in Godzilla's complexity and scoring potential with new code

  • “I love a good ball three rally when someone pulls that off. Now it sucks when they're in your group, but you still appreciate Tee'd Off see it.”

    Jeff @ Tournament play discussion — Captures the excitement of competitive pinball comebacks and sportsmanship

  • “There's such a it's Papa Duke common if you go you know make the tournament circuit that at every main tournament, I should say at least, you're going to be seeing like 80% the same games out of so many of them. People started calling them sternaments.”

    Jeff @ Tournament variety discussion — Industry observation about standardization of tournament lineups (Stern-dominated)

  • “everyone was wearing masks nobody seemed Tee'd Off be being a dick like it was all just like this is so lovely maybe we can all see each other again that would be nice”

    Jessica @ INDUS tournament observation — Positive community sentiment regarding tournament conduct and post-pandemic atmosphere

  • “Save that room Tee'd Off try and leave as much space for any kind of happiness or joy that you can shoehorn into your life.”

    Jeff — Core philosophy espoused by the hosts about mental/emotional health in the community

Entities

JessicapersonJeffpersonKylepersonKate Steven MartinpersonCarrie WingpersonEllenpersonHannahpersonKeith ElwinpersonSam Sternperson

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: INDUS implementing inclusive casting with all-female women's final commentary team, demonstrating commitment to diverse representation

    high · Jessica praises 'the mostly female and then all female commentary team' and credits Kyle for 'always trying Tee'd Off put things like that together'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Godzilla with new code update receiving extremely positive reception; significant increase in complexity and depth appreciated by skilled players

    high · Jessica expresses love for the game multiple times, describes watching advanced plays as transformative experience, and indicates it's the clear purchase recommendation currently

  • ?

    community_signal: Post-pandemic pinball community re-engagement showing positive sentiment; tournament conduct and mask-wearing protocols maintaining safe, respectful environment

    medium · Jessica observes 'everyone was wearing masks nobody seemed Tee'd Off be being a dick like it was all just like this is so lovely maybe we can all see each other again'

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Tournament game selection standardization creating 'Sternaments' phenomenon; 80% game overlap across major tournaments leading to reduced variety and learning opportunities

    medium · Jeff observes 'at every main tournament, I should say at least, you're going to be seeing like 80% the same games' with people coining term 'sternaments'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Rush dead-end stand-up shot fundamentally poor design: feels anticlimactic, breaks expected flow, causes dissatisfying gameplay experience

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.255

0:00
You're listening to the Pinball Podcast. Hi, Jessica. Same bat time. Same bat... We're not on channels because it's a podcast, so I don't know what's happening. Hi, Jeff. Hi. What is the time, by the way, that is the same that we show up every time? Later than expected? Is that the time? Later than expected is our same time. I would actually say it's half past later than expected, but that's okay. Yeah. We're still around.
0:40
Congratulations. I think we deserve some sort of recognition for that. I don't. I feel like this should just be a... I didn't say the positive recognition.
0:51
Just recognize, flatly, emotionlessly recognize. That I'm familiar with. All right. Let's stick with that.
1:01
But for realsies, you doing all right down there in Florida? Let's say yes. Okay. And I will say yes, things are fine out here as well. Yeah, it's easier, isn't it? Mm-hmm. Yeah, perfect. Okay. We all lie to each other about how we're doing, and we continue, you know, clawing our way through life. We live in a post-emotion world. Yeah. But it's nice to hear your voice.
1:35
It's nice to hear yours, as always. And it's nice to see, even though we're not there, to see Pinball Friends out together, like at an event again.
1:47

  • INDUS match play options sold out immediately

    high confidence · Jeff states 'The match plays are super limited there and it's already sold out like a minute after'

  • Godzilla is currently the best new game purchase option compared to competitors

    medium confidence · Both hosts agree that Godzilla would be their choice if buying a new modern game, with Jeff saying 'I don't know what else in the current new in the box face competes with it'

    • @ Philosophy discussion

  • “Tournaments can also shift how you feel about games. Not because it's like, oh, I won. I like it. But because you have to approach it in a different way, I guess.”

    Jeff @ Tournament impact on game perception — Observation about how tournament play context changes game appreciation

    • Jim
    person
    Spooky Pinballcompany
    Stern Pinballcompany
    Rushgame
    Godzillagame
    Iron Maidengame
    Deadpoolgame
    Aerosmithgame
    Jurassic Parkgame
    INDUSevent
    Pinburghevent
    Keto's Breweryvenue
    Barbed Wiregame
    Tee'd Off Pinball Podcastorganization
    IEPinballorganization
    Pinball at the Lakeevent

    high · Jessica describes it as 'one of the worst feeling shots I've felt on a pinball machine in a very, very long time' and 'Very dissatisfying'

  • ?

    event_signal: INDUS tournament solidifying position as major destination event; match play format selling out immediately, multi-format structure attracting diverse competition

    high · Jeff notes INDUS is 'probably the top quality tournament right now', match play 'already sold out like a minute after', and tournament features 'match play', 'classics', and 'women's tournament'

  • $

    market_signal: Godzilla positioned as premium purchase choice among current new Stern releases; hosts unable to identify comparable competitive alternative in current lineup

    medium · Jeff states 'it's tough Tee'd Off think of anything that would be a better buy right now than Godzilla' and both agree wholeheartedly

  • ?

    community_signal: Kyle operating as professional tournament organizer and high-level content creator; streaming pinball at advanced skill level with consistent quality production

    high · Jessica praises Kyle's tournament streams and notes 'Kyle just does the best job with these streams, all of his streams and event streams. It was amazing Tee'd Off watch'

  • ?

    product_concern: Rush scoop design problematic: extremely tight scoop placement causes issues even on clean shots; ball velocity too high for effective scoring

    high · Jessica states 'the ball hits it so hard that even like clean shots are just problematic' and criticizes 'the tightest scoop' with placement issues

  • ?

    product_strategy: Rush code still in early development stage, not finalized; scoring strategies being discovered but likely to shift with code updates

    high · Jessica confirms 'the code is nowhere near its final form' and notes strategies she found may change as code evolves

    • Yeah, I have been out to some events myself lately. We'll get into that a little bit. But it's nice to be doing pinball again. I was going through like very very long spells in between anything pinball related and now I've been doing it again and I'm pleased to hear that I know I saw you played a game that I haven't played yet and I was like what planet is this I know I had to rush out and play it I see what you did there I'm not going to say I liked it but I acknowledge that it happened yeah Yeah. And that you almost literally tooted your own, you, you, um, slapped your own symbol there.
    2:30
    I don't know where that came from actually, but I can tell you this, it won't happen again. Can you, can you tell me that? I can tell you that. I'm not saying it's the truth or anything, but that's fair. I'm happy to say it. That's fair. So what'd you think? What'd you think of Rush? Oh, okay. We're going to get into this now. Hey, let's move over to what we've been doing in Finball.
    2:59
    So stupid. Oh, my gosh. All right. Okay, let's talk about Rush, shall we? So, yeah, I was able to play Rush just nice, freshly out of the box. I think it just had its eyes open up to the world, and I stepped to it and started manhandling it. Um, so for me, it's a, it's a mix of good, bad, and really good in some ways. But let me see if I can explain it. So it feels very board-y. And if you've played a lot of board games, you probably know what that means, that it's very fast. Um, it has kind of the, some of the elements are in expected areas. like the pops on the left, the straight up the middle shot things like that that are kind of his go to his staples are in place the out lanes will drive you wild but I think that of all of his games that have that middle shot element except for maybe Metallica I really like how Sparky's done even though he can anger you a lot I think this middle shot is possibly his best because it's very tight, but it's fair. Like you have to hit it clean for that little time. Is it the time machine? I don't remember what it's called, but it's a little, it's kind of like the ring from Lord of the Rings, but it's very tight. The ramp going up it isn't like, you know, something you're going to be slopping shots into. So that's nice. I don't mind a very predictable shot like that in the middle. I don't like it when the middle shots just super, super easy and it just becomes like a hammered away on it exercise. Right. So that, that was nice. I think the ramps are great on it. Um, just really satisfying ramps. Um, I think the scoop, which has been the curse of the game as far as like maintenance goes, I think it's horrible.
    5:11
    The, the, ball hits it so hard that even like clean shots are just problematic on it. And then, um, I don't know. I, I don't like that shot. It's also like the tightest scoop. So like the middle shot, you do have to hit it just perfect, just fine. But it's just such a, it's placement is, I don't know. The ball's just going too fast for it. Sure. Clean or sloppy shot. Um, I think it has one of the worst feeling shots I've felt on a pinball machine in a very, very long time. And it's like the dead end stand up that's just to the left of the center shot. It's the weirdest thing. It's like, I was playing pro, by the way. I think that's all that's out there for now.
    5:55
    It's like this weird shot that just feels like it should continue on into a loop. And it doesn't. It hits a stand up and then it trickles back out. And you slam it going 100 miles per hour. And then it's the stand up and then it kind of rolls back out and it feels like.
    6:17
    Anticlimactic? Very. And it's just super dissatisfying. Like you hit that. Oh, wow. That was real bad.
    6:26
    Right now, obviously, the code is nowhere near its final form, but but I think it's fine. I found a few ways that you can kind of maximize scoring already that feel like it's going to lock out other ways of playing the game but that's something I don't like to complain about too early because we've seen games change a lot over time I don't know to me it's way more fun than the monsters I'm going to compare to other borgs I like it a lot more than Aerosmith oh interesting i like aerosmith yeah i mean aerosmith just frustrates me why is that because sometimes the shots just don't work on it like a lot of clean shots on it bounce back out or sometimes the best way to make a shot is to unintentionally make it that's my old game plan job and that's what i think the most valuable shot on deadpool being an accident is so annoying. I hate that. I hate that the most valuable shot to multiply scoring is something that most people are going to be hitting when they were trying to shoot something else or it just happened randomly. I don't think... Okay, to clarify, we're talking about the snicked shot where you hit the snicked target, which is up in the center, but right by that spinner there, that then if you hit the snake target and you go up the little inside of the katana ramp, then that'll multiply your scoring.
    8:02
    And, yeah, a lot of people don't. A lot of bulls, right? Yep, yep. It's not a thing that you can. More often than not, for me at least, and for you it sounds like, it's an accidental.
    8:17
    Well, I just hate it. You'll spend your entire, like, ball too. You're like, I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to hit that shot because I'm so good at pinball. And you just can't get the right bounce off of it. And then your person that steps up behind you, you see them hit it on accident like six times while they're flailing away. And you're like, oh, I'm going to lose to that? That's so annoying.
    8:38
    So that drives me nuts. I can say that that's that element on aerosmith that kind of bothers me where some shots find their ways into valuable spots. that were not intended, but I don't hate Aerosmith. I used to hate Aerosmith, but I have come around on it.
    8:57
    Yeah, I don't care for the band or the music or some other things. Or some of the choices of the songs, even. Yes, but gameplay-wise, I really enjoy it. I don't even mind the premium little tiny, mostly useless upper playfield. Am I forgetting any other recent works? I just wanted to stick to the more recent stuff.
    9:22
    Yeah. Well, it's interesting, you know, just because I haven't... I don't like to make judgments about games or try and speculate if I'm going to like them or not before I actually get to play them. So I'm glad that you got to play it and that you mostly enjoyed it. Yeah. It's going to frustrate some people because all the shots are tight. You know how... And I think Aerosmith's kind of that way, right?
    9:45
    Yeah. There's some tight ones in there. They're pretty deliberate. Like, you don't get any free, you don't get much free slop as far as points go. Aside from, like, the toy box and the lock and stuff kind of bouncing them around up there. That's the unintended scoring I was talking about there. Yeah, and that center ramp is usually pretty good and easy from either flipper. Yeah. The center shot is hittable from either flipper, obviously, on rush as well.
    10:14
    But it's going to be one of those things that if you're shooting it slightly off, you're going to think it's the most annoying game because you're just posting out the entire time.
    10:25
    You're not going to be hitting the scoop or the middle shot well. But I don't know. I liked it. I liked the upper flipper.
    10:33
    I thought that was used well. So unless it hits the dead end shot, which just feels bad, man. But I think overall people will like it, which is good. It's good to say, right? It's good when you can meld good. That's great. Where are you playing these days?
    10:53
    So I'm still playing most downtown Salt Lake City. There's a few spots I hit, but this was at Keto's Brewery. It's where we have our weekly league, which starts Tuesday. And you're doing a league. I am doing a league. We've traded places, Jeff. You do realize you are now Elaine and I am George.
    11:16
    Oh, I'm sorry. But it's probably the most momentary swap that will ever happen between us. You'll be back.
    11:29
    We'll see. Yeah, so that's first Tuesday. I'm excited about that. And it's in for you. Yeah, and we had the Godzilla launch party there a couple weeks ago, and I finished second. Second? Yep. Yes! The tradition continues. Got the handmade trophy, not the one that was sent by Stern.
    11:52
    Okay, well, while you've mentioned the G word, I love this game. And the new code is amazing. I am in love with Godzilla. So I bought a Godzilla Premium. Ooh, nice. It's been a while since we've talked, so I'm pretty sure we didn't discuss this. But it is, it's sitting downstairs and I love it. And I love all of the different strategies and all of the different modes and just trying to figure out what the heck I am doing most of the time. But having so much fun doing it, you know.
    12:39
    Doing the thing. There's so much on there. It is like loaded. It's so combo-packed, too. I love all the combo shots in there. And the flow with the upper flipper, it's just a beauty of a game. Again, Keith Elwin, just loving your stuff. Keep it up. But it's sitting right next to Iron Maiden.
    13:04
    The Elwin wing. The Elwin wing of the one room downstairs. It's very impressive. It's such a great game. And then I was watching Carl D'Angelo stream the, he got the advanced version of the new code. And so I was watching him play it like the day or two before the code was actually released. And I was just losing it, losing it.
    13:33
    Cause you know, like I've, I've broken a billion now, which was like the goal for me. I was like, okay, I feel like I can do this and did it before the code updates. So now I feel like, okay, I can do this again post-code update because there's so much more kind of packed in there. But watching him play, I was just like, I'm just going to screw my hands up. It was like, you know, I went from, you know, making burritos over at Taco Bell into a Michelin star restaurant. I was just like, well, totally. That's why I made these vinyl for Pinnberg. Yeah, not even scratching the surface of anything here. It was just a very strange, just, you know, like, oh, this is all the stuff that I spend my entire game trying to do that he's done in Baldwin. So it was like a real slap in the face of, oh, you thought you weren't that rusty to. Yeah, you're you're very rusty. And even when you're not rusty, he still just destroys things. but it's such a joy to watch him play that you don't even mind. It's like, I know you're beating me up, but your skill with your punches is just so impressive that I will bask in it for a while.
    14:54
    So anyone who's not watching Carl on Twitch, you are missing out. There's some real good stuff there.
    15:03
    Yeah, this is a weird comparison. Did you watch any of the Olympics last night? No. Okay. Oh, you're going to laugh at me. So the last Olympic, my only Olympics watching. Oh, wait, are we hearing Olympics talk?
    15:22
    Oh. Oh, God. Jeff's at the controls. He's got the sound effects. He is loose. my only Olympics watching from the last Olympics or from any of the last Olympics in memory was last time around when they had the Snoop Dogg Kevin Hart Olympics recap show that was the best they still do other sports and stuff what okay I've been missing out but that was the best thing so if they're doing it for the Olympics now I will watch it but that is the extent of Olympics that I will watch I need to find a clip of so when the Atlanta Braves won the World Series they commentated about the victory parade and I need to send you the clip about that because it's so funny yes please I'm still waiting for the crip walking horse to show up in a Snoop Dogg music video That was the best part of the Olympics commentary, right? Best part. It was the absolute best thing. I rewound that and rewatched it over many days because it brought me such joy. I should watch that again today. Many giggles.
    16:45
    So the reason I brought it up, though, I mean, the Olympics are on, and that's cool. This is cooler, but the Olympics are on.
    16:54
    I was watching last night, and they were doing one of the women's snowboarding events. And on the last run of the event, it was a New Zealand snowboarder. Apologies for not having her name.
    17:09
    But she just ripped off this big, giant Olympic spoiler warning. She pulled off this huge, giant run that knocked everyone down because she jumped to first place with it. and like second and third place and a couple of the other people just absolutely mobbed her when she got to the bottom like tackled her out of joy at the amazing run she just had and they're all rolling around in the snow like cheering and yelling and laughing and yeah she won gold which was New Zealand's first gold in the winter olympics so that's awesome but the joy of like even though they got beat of her achievement like it was it was great to watch i kind of feel like when you see someone like carl playing you could go one of two ways you just are like super excited watching him do this or you could be bitter like well yeah if i had all that time whatever you know how people go but um when i watch those guys play like that i just i want to look around and like tell me you guys don't know how hard that is do you like this is amazing what he's doing and it's crazy because he's doing it live it's not like he's posting up a video of his best game he's streaming and blowing this game up and it's awesome yeah he's just casually running through also who has time to be bitter anymore in life right now like where that i feel like bitter has no place in the world right now it doesn't make things better i'll tell you that Bitter is not better. No, we have, I mean, there's so much other stuff. There's a lot of, you know, the general sads, right? Well, the whole plethora of things in that realm. There's so many of those. And then it's so important to focus on all of the, like, positive happies, right? And then, like, anything else, just there's no space. There's no space for it. You don't need it. Take it outside, please. Yes.
    19:14
    Outside into the trash. There's a very big difference in the physical stature of watching Carl play Godzilla vs. me. While he's playing, he's kind of relaxed and talking about what he's going to do next. I am clenched from the top of my head to my toes because that ball is whipping around, and I'm just hanging on to that machine. I probably leave finger marks in the wood when I step away from it little beads of sweat in my forehead and I get one tenth the score so when do you unclench about three hours later got it I don't bend my knee the game gets in you it like it does feel it oh it's very good I think I have to buy a new game now it would be it probably would be Godzilla though I still really do like Jurassic Park quite a bit if it's shooting well because I've had some that are kind of frustrating on the this shot doesn't quite make it but that one if you're playing well is quite a rush if you're not it just beats you over the head but I still think Godzilla is where I would go I don't know what else in the current new in box face competes with it we have friends we have two friends in particular who don't care much for games with upper flippers general like it's just not their favorite thing so they're the only ones who we've met or talked to who are just like yeah i don't care for godzilla i was just like you don't care for a general style of game that is fun and exciting has a lot going on if they're done well like not Yeah yeah And it like oh you don like Iron Maiden It specifically things with upper flippers that they are not fans of So it like okay well I sensing a pattern so I going to let it go But I don't know. Just there's something with it. And, like, Jurassic Park, I got Maiden and Jurassic Park at the same time, and I think the only reason that Jurassic Park got sold was because my partner didn't like it as much um and maiden was getting played like 10 to 1 over jurassic which is fair um and then i knew someone who wanted to buy it so it was just like a whole you know like it worked well all around plus i burned myself out trying to do um the new blar challenge that was all i did and i was so like salty about it that i was like okay jurassic you and i need to break. We'll search places to play it around, but it's just one of those things like... Oh, and then Deadpool took its place in terms of modern... I don't buy a lot of modern games, but Maiden's not going anywhere, and Godzilla's not going anywhere, and Deadpool's probably not going anywhere.
    22:27
    People are really high on Deadpool right now. I just still can't, but I'll give it another shot. Yeah. And another unintentional shot.
    22:42
    Yeah, it's tough to think of anything that would be a better buy right now than Godzilla. Yeah. I agree with that wholeheartedly. We agree. Yay.
    22:54
    Do we have like some fanfare music for that? Or no, you only have music for our want want moments. No, that's not positive. Spades.
    23:07
    oh my goodness I have exhausted the soundboard by the way oh no I haven't there's one more on there that I pray we not need to use oh god I know what it is so okay let's transition while we're talking about Carl and his streaming it's going to be well this is coming out after it's all going to be over but it's Indus weekend and I've been watching along from home I watched a very exciting women's finals, quarters and semis and finals yesterday.
    23:44
    Carl just does the best job with these streams, all of his streams and event streams. It was amazing to watch. And I really appreciated the mostly female and then all female commentary team. And he's he always tries to put things like that together. So thank you, Carl, for everything you do to to get this footage out to us. But definitely go back and watch some of this in-disc footage from this weekend. There have been some really great games. Friend of the show, Kate Martin, took fourth place in women's and had some very had like an amazing last ball, like ball three at the end, almost come back. It was like on the edge of my, I say edge of my seat. I was sitting in bed watching it, but, uh, really rooting for it. But there's some really great gameplay moments throughout the lineup for the women's finals was hilarious. Cause it was like barbed wire and rock and safe cracker. And it was just like a straight and, uh, diamond lady,
    24:50
    maybe what? No, I can't remember. what game I'm trying to think I can picture the back glass. Anyway, there was a weird assortment of games and I was having it all of it. I wanted to play them all. Yes.
    25:05
    Um, I'm very cool with that actually. But, uh, you, you know what? I love a good ball three rally when someone pulls that off. Now it sucks when they're in your group, but you still appreciate to see it. Um, as a spectator though, it's one of the most exciting things when someone, you know, can chop that wood real hard on ball three and the joy that they feel when they realize they've done it. It's always just so infectious. I love it. Yeah. It's like, even if you don't quite make it there, but you get real close, like it, it turns from a slaughter to an actual battle. That's an exciting turning point. And then you like walk away from it feeling a little better than if you, you know, put up a million to their 20 million, whatever it is. I had, I remember when I was like early, early in competing, I was doing one of the pin pin tournaments at the pinball hall of fame back at its original location when all this was still happening, women's tournament. And I was playing, it was like the last game in finals, um, against Hannah and Hannah has been like always my kryptonite. Every time I play her in a tournament, she just demolishes me and I'm always in awe of it. She's an amazing player. And, um, we always end up like, for some reason, I always end up paired with Hannah in like a finals or a semifinals. And I was just like, good job. Like before the game starts, which I know is in my head, but, um, this was like the first time I had ever met her and she and I played each other in the winner's bracket. And then she knocked me down so that I had to wait for like the whole rest of the bottom bracket to play out. And then I played the last person in that advanced back up to play Hannah in the final. So she had already beat me once that day. But we played the very last game of the day was on Funhaus. And she was just like she had a solid game of Funhaus. She ended on like 12 million points or something and i had a million going into ball three and then i ended on like 10 and a half so it's like okay i really did something on the last ball if i could have done a little something on any of the other balls and i probably would have been better but um but at least i didn't walk away from that game being like well i just plunged and walked away so that's it's a much more rewarding even though it's frustrating because then it's like you're close it feels so much better overall than to really biff it all the way around oh absolutely for sure um yeah that's like at the the godzilla tournament where again i finished second i was staring forth at the face but had a big final game on stars how about that yeah and and won the um won the game which jumped me up to second now if i hadn't had like a major gag on oh what was it oh star trek a game I'm really good at normally. Which Star Trek? Stern. If I hadn't just, like I said, majorly gagged on that game right beforehand, I would have possibly won the thing. But I didn't. But still, it's nice to have salvaged that out and get into the trophies. So I totally get what you're feeling, but But, yeah, so Kate's ball three, though, put her – I wasn't able to see it, but I saw her post about she had some monster ball three. Was that to put her in the top four, or was she already in the top – She was already in the top four. Okay, okay. It would have bumped her up from fourth place, but, you know. I need to go watch the stream. Still great. Go watch the stream.
    29:22
    Lots of amazing playing. I mean, Carrie is always just wonderful to watch. Carrie Wing plays a beautiful, calm, relaxed, wonderful game of pinball. I love Carrie. So very well deserved.
    29:38
    I hate to say, like, expected, but, like, once you have someone who is, like, repeating this over and over and just, like, consistently amazing play, you're just like, oh, yeah, that makes sense.
    29:51
    That makes sense. Oh, Ellen is in the final? how shocking yeah um but it was it was great it was it was really fun to watch and like i said it was amazing to see pinball pals out there like everyone was wearing masks nobody seemed to be being a dick like it was all just like this is so lovely maybe we can all see each other again that would be nice i know but again the the indus stuff usually gets um you know archived released able to go back and watch that stuff. So it's IEPinball on Twitch. Yeah, IEPinball. From what I've been hearing, because I have some friends and stuff that are down there, everyone's saying this is probably the top quality tournament right now. Obviously we lost Pinberg.
    30:41
    Which still stings every time I remember that that happened. I'm super grateful I got to go. And I did very well when I went. so it's not like I have this hole in my pinball heart. I have a hole in my pinball heart from losing Pinberg.
    31:01
    Listen, you didn't lose. Oh, wait, you mean... No, no, no, I mean from it not existing anymore. Yes. I guess I could say regrets and performance because people are haunted by their Pinberg just missed this finals.
    31:17
    People are like, I could have only done this. You got a medallion, right? I did. That's so cool. Yeah. But regret goes with bitterness. Like, leave them. There's no room anymore. We have no room for them. Save that room to try and leave as much space for any kind of happiness or joy that you can shoehorn into your life. Exactly. but what I was going to say is I feel like it's kind of becoming the big destination tournament so I would love to go next year I would hope that we could get a little bit more under control with this whole pandemic thing because boy we're sure taking our time getting rid of it right now aren't we come to Florida it doesn't exist here oh yeah Like legally doesn't exist, doesn't it?
    32:12
    Yep. We're all fine. No, I would love, so when Indus was just doing like a card-based or like a, you know, score, top score on games kind of thing, Papa style, that's not my favorite tournament because I like a social, I like a match play or, you know, I like those kinds of things more than just queuing up and putting scores up and then feeling that crazy pressure. for every single game. It's just not my favorite. But when they started doing match plays, I was like, oh, that's excellent. The match plays are super limited in players, and it's already sold out like a minute after. So it did remind me of Pinberg in that respect a lot. But, yeah, if they expanded that match play portion of it, I could see it definitely kind of being a destination tournament in the way that Pinberg was, you know, like a similar format, similar kind of thing. I would love to see something like that. And with the quality. So Carl and Jim put on amazing events from, you know, when I've gone and played in their tournament. It's like they do such good work and they bring in a weird variety of games. It's like it has all the makings of it's already something big, but could even grow more now that there's space in the community for another Pinberg esque thing to come along. I'd love to see them be able to grow into that too they're already going I mean you've got a match play now and you've got a classics and you've got a women's you got all these different things that are added yeah a lot happening in one weekend it's cool I like your thing about the weird or just different mix of games like there's such a it's pretty common if you go you know make the tournament circuit that in every main tournament, I should say at least, you're going to be seeing like 80% the same games out of so many of them. People started calling them sternaments. Yeah. And that's one thing that, yeah, going to Pinberg, it was just like, all right, we're playing Doodle Bug, Hollywood Heat, Radical, and Adam's Family in this group. Cool. it was the best yeah those were more fun especially if there's like a game in the bank where a bunch of people are like I've never even seen this game before awesome that's so much fun we're all in this together that happened a few times at Pimberg where I looked around like you guys played this I was like no I am still trying to track down that rogo oh yeah everyone always hated it but I always wanted to play dollar games on it after for some reason that game and i we just kind of clicked and i would never have seen rogo or heard of rogo if it wasn't for pinbird yeah and that's the little bit of magic lost huh yeah well that barbed wire they use in the finals that's jim's barbed wire which i had never played until i played at pinball at the lake which was their tournament so that's jim's machine and i was like i've never actually played a barbed wire and it's not terrible i'm Nothing a lot of fun.
    35:31
    Tournaments can also spin how you feel about games. Not because it's like, oh, I won. I like it. But because you have to approach it in a different way, I guess. There's something different about casual play where if it's not the greatest game in the world, you forget it pretty quickly. But if you enjoy a game in a tournament, because you probably played it the way you should have the entire time, you start to realize what the designer was going for a little bit more. It helps a lot. I mean or you just flail at it and that happens a lot too yeah that was me my first time playing Godzilla walking up I was like oh my goodness the ball is going so many different places and it's getting back to the flipper really quickly it took me a little while to learn how to play that a bit more measured I'm still learning every day well that's all you can really expect is to learn a little every day Do you use your Insider Connect? Do you get down with that? Sometimes. I'm pretty bad at it, but I do like pulling that out from time to time. I noticed that I was playing one night at a place called Quarters, and they have a few machines set up. Oh, it was New Year's Eve, actually. They put all their games on pre-play, and it was cool. So I dropped in and I realized that my insider connect was still signed in on stranger things for about probably 20 games beyond the point where I left it.
    37:04
    I don't think they actually popped a single achievement though. So shame on the collective crowd at quarters that night, but average real, real low.
    37:15
    But yeah, I, I do, I do like using it. Um, I just need to be better about doing that. Yeah. I know there's a lot of people who don't like it and who are very angry about not liking it because, you know, internet. Don't use it then, right? Oh, my God. Yeah, don't use it. That's kind of the thing. I dropped my phone. It spun around. I reached for it in the air, which launched a website and accidentally signed in the certificate. I fell face down on the QR code while I hit the start button on my knee, and I actually had to use it. It drives me crazy. Yeah, yeah.
    37:59
    You know, it's one of those things where it's like, you know, the games are going to be able to tell if you're vaccinated or whatever. I don't know.
    38:09
    I will boost my cell signal however I can. The whole thing with it is it's like it's letting me know about things in the game or like things that you can do or reach in the game that I wouldn't have known about. You know, like, you know, different combo shots or different goals within battles or, you know, like it's like, oh, there's there's something there that I haven't quite reached. And it's just interesting. I just find it interesting to be able to see what's possible, I guess. so just kind of looking at it from that perspective it's like oh well it'll be really good if I can make this happen but I wouldn't have thought to try certain things so I'm enjoying it from that perspective for sure it's your little personal pinball guide yeah well it's also nice so the arcades where we maintain machines it's like a local Florida chain and they only have new sterns so we put connect kits in every single machine that has them right now so it's mandalorian and star wars the only ones that don't have like approval stuff for connect yes so everything else has it in there but tracking like daily or weekly plays just to see how many games are being put on these games because it's like a free play location you just would not believe how many games go up on these games week to week it is bonkers it's bonkers like you're looking at a location in the bonkers talk i'm not yeah it's like you know when you have a machine that's gonna see 700 plays in a day I've never like I just can't my brain just doesn't wrap around it properly yeah that's that's a lot yeah yeah so it's interesting to be able to be like oh no wonder I will tell you what your rush scoop will not survive there yeah I've already been looking into rush scoop stuff and like everyone's like take that little not quite cliffy thing out right away and like looking at how the scoop is actually routed out and it's like okay well of course that's not going to hold yeah but apparently on the new machines they've they've figured something out to fix that issue so hopefully the pitfalls of being an early adopter yeah um well i just i mean a lot of it has to do with the fact that I think it's such a narrow scoop that there's no and no ball energy gets lost in like the side to side slop movement so it just slams that front edge and are we transitioning to ball energy talk so the kinetic energy of the ball entering um no for real though it just when you play it you'll be surprised at how hard the ball hits that thing and some people are saying just oh i'm going to take the protector off for now don't do that because the front of that scoop and i mean it'll it'll blow out like when you see one of those adams families that's got like 20 000 plays on it and the ball a tennis ball could roll in the scoop because it's yeah it's been wide like that would happen to rush very quickly you'll chip the wood to pieces i think so if you've got one and that's a frustration i would wait it out for the proper fix i wouldn't just like I said I saw some people on Facebook saying oh I'm just going to pull it off don't don't do that you will have yeah I've seen a lot of that serious play field damage um those protectors that are for reason though I'm wondering if like the mantis style is actually what should be done there mantis style with a tiny little lip I don't know but they'll figure it out um but don't destroy your game in the meantime don't be that impatient Okay well kind of on the subject of building games at Stern Oh I thought you were going to play the sound Oh I thought you were doing it Listen, I had the finger on the button and then you called me out.
    42:43
    All right, so speaking of building games at Stern, uh we want to send a huge congratulations to jack danger who is now officially on the design team for stern yeah after trial by fire went well i guess huh yeah jurassic park home pin apparently sold a ton i don't know exactly how many um because they don't tell us those things but I know like right before Christmas time we were helping um a friend of ours who's a distributor up in St. Augustine at Old Town Pinball super nice guy and he needed to get some games delivered out and uh we brought two Jurassic Park home pins out to a guy who was you had just bought them for people for as Christmas presents kind of thing generous you're right um and just like had him just brought the boxes and dropped them in the garage kind of thing but I was like I would really like to set this up and play it for a minute. A little flippy flip. Yeah, just a little. Just make sure it's working for you. No, it's not going to you. It's going to somebody else and you're putting a bow on it. Great. Sure, it's irresponsible to just hand over a pinball machine without checking it out properly. Without playtesting? Come on. By a professional.
    44:04
    So I would love to be able to play one one day. I'd love to play Jack's first game, so hopefully I'll be somewhere where I get a chance to. Um, but the pinball hall of fame has one, right?
    44:17
    I don't know. With the home. There was one for sale, um, that keeps popping up on our local classifieds, but I don't want to buy a home edition. Uh, but I do want to play it. Yeah. Just be like, Oh, can I go over and test it? I like the home edition of star Wars better than I like star Wars.
    44:38
    Agreed. Um, and that was totally reinforced for me when we got to play the, uh, heavy metal. Yeah. The mall machine, which is the same thing as the star Wars home edition. Yeah. It was at a brewery. Oh my gosh. Where the heck was this? It was at a brewery that we went to and just happened to be there on the day of the week where all of the pins are on free play and got a couple. I had a cider and he had a beer. and we just sat there and only played heavy metal to the exclusion of every other game that was there. Because it's like, well, we're never going to play this again. Where do you even see these? And it was so fun. Like, it's simple, but it's fun. Yeah, and I love the little multi-ball lock on it. I think that's awesome. Yeah, it was good stuff. Yeah, I played the Spider-Man one a lot, which was the first iteration of that design.
    45:35
    And they had it at Rocky Mountain Pinball Showdown. because why am I blanking on Dean Grover who did the code for it? He's from Colorado. So I think it was his machine that was there. Oh, nice. And yeah, I played it multiple times, which, you know, when you're at a show and they've got all the biggest, newest games and stuff, it says a lot about it that I wanted to keep putting some more plays on that. It's fun. Yeah. A little game. Definitely. I always just want to play the thing that I can never play. You know, like if it's a game I can't play other places, that's what I'm playing. Huge leap up over the old home, the pin versions of those home games. So, yeah, totally. They've elevated the home editions.
    46:25
    But I'm excited to see what his next effort is. And I'm excited to play a game. And I mean, so well deserved. he's always been a real advocate for people who want to make games just getting in there and trying to make one and has a lot of resources posted if anyone's interested in designing their own game he's shared a lot of files and stuff to help you get started but couldn't be happier for him very pleased friend of the show Joe Zangas gets a credit in that game in the home Jurassic Park so that's awesome because he is a uh 3d print wizard and oh he's a helpful man that's fantastic so yeah i love it he helped jack a lot with the process there so good job joe and you know what i think i have a pinball popcorn that i'm gonna be dropping at the end of this but what yeah we've been sitting on it since before thanksgiving so we don't deserve you joe nobody deserves joe oh speaking of things that we haven't dropped for a while there are some more location spotlight episodes that jeff's gonna be releasing i am i just wanted to make sure that our voices came out and then yeah heads up more of those are coming out and we'll still record more of those But, yeah, I've got many in the can, like probably three or four, right? Yep. And if you have a location that you would like to come on and chat with us and feature a bit, or if you have a favorite location, wherever you are, let us know. We would love to continue to kind of flesh this out. If you haven't listened to any of the location features or just short, silly little conversations like 20, 30 minutes with owners and operators from different arcades, pinball bars, et cetera, all around the globe. So we're trying to make a little map where if you go somewhere, if you know that you're traveling, maybe you can look on the map and click and listen to a little something that'll give you a taste of the different venues in different places. So we'd really like to expand these and get a bunch more out there and archived for everybody. So please let us know. We would love to talk to you. Absolutely. Or someone from your favorite pinball place. Yeah. Yes. Help us do the thing, people. All you do is cake. Help us help them. It's a weird time for locations right now and we want them all to survive. So let's, you know, share the good word and get more people heading out to the spots that we would like to see on the other side of all of this. Exactly. Yeah. So I will drop the other ones soonish. Excellent. Hey, Jessica. Yes, Jeff. It's early February right now. Yes. You know what happens next month? um the sun comes out and frees us from our oppressive ice prison um pinball related uh um we get new code for Godzilla again and I get really excited we actually travel to the Dallas area and get scared by all the gun bumper stickers and enjoy a weekend of pinball.
    50:20
    So, uh, yeah, Texas pinball festival is next month and may you be going by any chance? I will be there. Uh, we have a booth. We're going to have a big old double danger soft plunge booth and we're going to be selling some games. I'm actually selling games. pinball machine yeah so there's a chance i could walk away with a jessica owned machine dinardo original yeah sure yes um we're fixing up a bunch of games that will be sold at texas i will get a list together as soon as i know what it is uh could include roller games baywatch Target Alpha yeah an assortment Pink Panther maybe I don't have to ask anyone's permission to buy a game so maybe I should just buy a game oh wait I'm flying yeah so Texas wait are you going to be at Texas I am going to go ahead right now and commit to a solid maybe I'll say this I am planning on it I have some schedule weirdness going on that I'm working to resolve come on I'm working to resolve it and you don't see me when you're in Florida now you're a maybe to Texas I want to apologize but don't feel like I should let me just say this I wish I was sorry I wish you were too oh my goodness we agree yeah I actually would say it's more likely that I am there than not but Friday is the biggest up in the earth thing I might not be able to come in till Saturday morning hopefully there's a super early flight out or something because I don't want to miss like a day and a half of the show, but I'll still do it.
    52:33
    I'll do what I need to do to get to the pinball. It's kind of the biggest show. The biggest show of the year in pinball. I mean, it'll be my first TPF.
    52:46
    The cool people, just so you know, call it Toop. So call it that while you're there. Okay, no problem. Yeah, just do that.
    52:57
    It sounds like you don't believe me, but that's weird. Yeah, call it that. And I seriously am like angling to get there. So me being like kind of wishy-washy about it, I am truly trying to get there. That's funny because it sounds pretty wishy-washy. Well, it's hedging bets is all it is.
    53:19
    All right. The intent is 100% there. It's just schedule stuff, and I'm working on it. All right. Well, I solidly maybe hope that you're there. Yeah, well, I can commit to this. I will have an answer about whether or not I'm going before our next recorded episode.
    53:39
    All right, everybody, you heard it here first. For the year-end recap, I will let you know. Up to eight months after TPF, Jeff will let me know if he's attending. Yeah. And the crazy thing is, is I still might say, you know, I'm not sure if I'm in. even if you were there who knows you know what I might do though I might try and beat the 100 pinball selfie challenge if I show up I remember I did that like three or four years ago right I've got a hundred selfies with pinball people but that comes up in my memories every year and it's hilarious because I look at it and it's like oh yeah I could pretty much name like I would bet at least 85 out of the 100. But my favorite one is still the one with Todd McAuliffe because I'm standing there and my head just comes up to his badge and his head's completely out of the frame. But everyone still knows who it is. Yes. And then I retook it where he had to bend over to get into the picture. But my favorite one is the original one where my head's just, I don't know. I probably could rest my nose inside his belly button without stretching up or leaning down. Or stretching his belly button. That's what we were saying. I could just reach right at him.
    54:54
    Just nestle right in. Yeah. Oh my goodness. That would be fun to do that again. I mean, I even got Spooky's pet dog in the selfie. Oh, see, I totally get behind that. Pictures with animals or just of animals. I'll just do them of animals. I'll take them. Actually, here's the thing. If you are there, which you will be, and if you, dear listener, are there, which you should be, and if I end up there, which I hope to be, and you see me and Jessica together in the same place, demand a selfie so it'll be us with them. Because you're going to hate that. I'm going to hate it a lot. Yep. That kind of feeling. So, yes, demand it, and we will satisfy the demand.
    55:43
    Grumble, grumble. All right. Well, I'm excited for TPF. It'll be great to see pinball friends again and hopefully meet some new ones. It's been a long time since I, like, made a friend.
    55:58
    Oh. That's not an animal. Most of my Florida friends are animals because there's just not a lot going on for people, especially where I am. It's just very weird and isolated. so yeah it's nice to talk to you jeff i'm going to send you a picture of my animal right now while we're live on the air and you're all gonna hear jessica say oh because this is what she's doing right now oh dear um yeah so definitely get out and see hopefully us at minimum you'll see at minimum well that's a pretty that's a pretty cute puppers right there. It's like as curled up in the corner as possible, but also peeking out like, did you notice me? Yeah, she got through to the dog park this morning, but the dog park was closed. Oh no, buddy. So I ran her around, and we walked around the edges of the park and made friends with all the dogs in the backyards.
    57:00
    Excellent. Poor Luna. I still have, I don't know if you or some people may be familiar with the saga of Little Carrots. the cat the cat yeah so okay i'll try and run through this quickly before you get to it though how did you decide to pluralize the name okay so the name came about there's a comedian a british comedian named bob mortimer and bob mortimer is an amazing human being he is just outlandish and bizarre and wonderful and just says things that come into his beautifully complex confusing brain. So Bob Mortimer had posted a list on his Instagram, Twitter, something. I guess I don't really use Twitter, so it would be Instagram. A list of pet names. Yes. Pet names available for people to use for a fee. So it was eight pounds each. And his list of pet names was It was Bread in September, Strictly Beef and Onion, Bag of Knot, Kitchen Announcement, Vaguely Canadian, Little Carrots, Tiffany Chinstrap, Kate Fumble, and Slippery Douglas.
    58:24
    Slippery Douglas? Slippery Douglas. Is that for like a snake? Okay. So we have in our neighborhood this little gang of like neighborhood cats. So they're like all street cats that hang around and they chase the neighborhood lizards and stuff and they coexist with the peacocks. And it's very adorable. And all the neighbors like feed the cats. So there was this black and white cat that was coming around and we were feeding that I named vaguely Canadian VC because it looked so we called him VC and then black and white. So one morning I come downstairs and the back door is propped open and I see this black and white blur run into the house. But V.C. is like a very skittish cat. So I was like, well, that's odd that V.C. just came inside. No, no, not V.C. It's a different black and white cat that's smaller. So I was like, oh, that's Slippery Douglas. So then one of the street cats was named Slippery Douglas. and then this other kitty that's like a tabby with like a lot of white on on his front started coming around with vc and i gave vc this can of food one day that had like vegetables in it and vc ate a round of the vegetables and just left these little pieces of carrots on the plate and this other tabby white cat came over and ate the carrots up off the plate so i was like well that's little carrots. Thus, the name has been bestowed upon little carrots. But there is a, so this is our, this is our cast of characters. So we've been feeding VC and LC, as we were calling them, for several months now. And everyone else in the neighborhood is also feeding the cats. So one day, you know, carrots has gotten way more comfortable with us and comes inside sometimes, So just like let himself in and it's like, okay, that's cute. And then we'd leave. So I put some flea medicine. One of the neighbors is like, I have flea medicine for my cat. If that cat's going in your house here, have some, she bought like a big pack of it. And I was like, thank you. Put it on. So I'm not super worried about carrots coming in sometimes.
    60:30
    But then one day carrots got himself into our garage and we didn't know and was in there like overnight, not meowing or anything, just chilling out. Cause I guess the cats sleep in people's garages sometimes to stay out of the cold or the rain or whatever. So in the morning go downstairs, go to get ready to go to work. And I hear a meowing in the garage. So I opened the door and there's carrots. I was like, Hey bud, go to give him some food. And he's walking funny. He's like limping a little bit. And I was like, that's weird. And when I go to pet him, he like kind of backs up and he's a very friendly cat. So I was like, well, something's weird. so I look at his side and there is like a plum sized giant open wound in his side like you can see inside of him and I freaked out so we scooped carrots up and went to the vet that's five minutes from the house and I was like okay this is not our cat we have no we didn't have like a carrier it's just like get a blanket try and grab the street cat like but it was I mean a giant wound so i'm like i can't just leave him here so took him in for emergency surgery and uh he had been attacked we had heard him fighting with there's a neighborhood cat from like two blocks over there's these people have this big giant bully cat named linus and linus attacked carrots outside of our house like two days before that so apparently the wound was a bite wound that had healed up but got infected so it was like necrotic tissue yeah and it all burst so apparently it burst in the garage that night that carrots got stuck in there so i'm like oh my god um and carrots had like an eight inch incision to clean all that stuff up and sew his side back together because it was massive the wound was massive um and the vet's like okay So you need to keep him inside for two weeks. And I was like, this is not our cats. This is not our cats.
    62:37
    You mean inside the vet's office? Keep him inside here? Sure. Yeah. Because I don't need to tell you that I am still very much not over losing Tesla. And I can't handle, you know, like I just can't emotionally handle this. So we're like, okay, we'll commit to the two weeks. and some very very insanely lovely humans have helped me crowdfund the costs of the surgery and shots and everything from the vet because this cat that's not my cat has all of a sudden cost me almost 900 in just vet bills then i have to get litter and a litter box and food Oh my gosh. And I was all of a sudden I was like, I don't know. Like I wasn't going to be able to pay for my own doctor's appointments and stuff that I was supposed to do because I'm like, okay, well it's more important to take care of the cat than myself because of course So um thank you to everyone who contributed some to the carrots fund because I don know what I would have done without you guys and so now carrots is just making himself comfy so we went and got the stitches out after the two weeks and they're like okay keep him inside for like another week to make sure that he's fully healed up so he's still luxuriating in the house and there is some conversation around the house of do you think that he will leave once we open the door again to let him out. But that's going to be doubtful. It's I'm, I'm having a very, I'm having a very difficult time with this chef. So, so that's just some, some real talk about animals and how they're amazing creatures, but also they, they pull my heartstrings in very complicated ways. No, for sure. Yeah. So, if anyone has room in their heart, in their home for a little carrot. He's a very sweet boy.
    64:40
    Yeah, and he's ready to move on to his forever home. Yeah, he is welcome to come and go as he pleases.
    64:53
    Bring him to TPF and you put him in the pinball machine that you're selling. And it's actually a bonus for the buyer because they didn't expect to get a little bit of extra love with their purchase. Surprise! Little carrots. And only a monster would not keep the cat from that point. Yeah. Are you calling me a monster? No, no, no, no. Because you did the work of... So, I had Anne Perkins, right? Yes. Now, I adopted Anne Perkins, and she was like one step above Feral. She had been returned her three times, and the shelter was going to put her down. and she was she was at a rescue because they were going to put her down because she was problematic I guess you could say and so I was living alone and I brought in Ann Perkins and rehabbed her and she came the sweetest little buddy cat just a cuddler um and when I moved and I couldn't take her um I was not a monster for rehoming her not keeping her because she got to go live a happy life elsewhere. So it's the next person that would be the monster for not continuing that. Pay it forward with the cats and take Jessica's little carrots. Like I said, carrots is welcome to come and go as he pleases. He's a very sweet kitty.
    66:18
    I just want to make sure that he has the happiest life that he can have. Yeah, that's good. With a good, pure intent, you've got it going there. Is that fair? Okay. It is.
    66:33
    So I'm not going to play the silly transition music here, but obviously this is kind of a rough one. The whole reason we picked this transition, it's the Batman thing. Yeah, it's funny, it's goofy, but it's a little bit of a call-out to Lyman's work on Batman. And we lost Lyman's sheet recently. an unexpected shocking no matter how you're going to lose someone it's hard but Lyman passed away and we later found out it was by suicide and that's going to affect everybody a little bit different but I don't think we need to go deep into like how it affects us but I don't know if there's anything you want to say about Lyman himself or anything before we kind of just talk about the situation a little bit to me it's kind of delicate because I've been there in my life I've been in that state and I the news just hit very deeply with me our pinball groups we had a lot of discussion pop up about it but I'll come let you lead off anything you want to say there but let's talk about Lyman for a minute I don't know if you have any like thoughts you want to kick off here.
    67:50
    Okay, this is going to be challenging, so stick with me. I just first want to send all of our love to Penny.
    68:08
    We've seen so many post messages about how much Lyman meant to people in the pinball community and it's been really just it's wonderful to see people celebrating his life and I like seeing it bring people together and you know encouraging people to talk to each other and check in on each other because this has been it's been a hell of a couple of years Jeff um but it's important to also check in with the people who have people in their lives who are important to them or who are their partners or family members who are struggling with mental illness as well because that's a whole other thing that they are working through and they're magical beautiful people to help people get through some rough times so sending so much love to Penny She's always been so positive and bright and the two of them together, you know, seeing all their photos and like the simple joys and pleasures that they enjoyed together has just been really beautiful.
    69:31
    I don't know her well and I only met Lyman a few times, but it was never anything but like warmth. and I really I just I don't, there's no words to be able to say what effect this has had on everyone but especially for her so definitely sending love and support out to her and the rest of his family I mean I know every time that I have a ball drain out of Crank It Up on Metallica immediately and I get that ball save, I always say thanks Lyman because he cared so much about his games that he went back in and he couldn't let a code rest. He just kept going back to make things better and better. And that's an amazing dedication to work in a community and something that he loved. and the pinball community is never going to be the same for having lost him and not having him touch games that have already come out again or new games that are set to come out that he won't be a part of.
    70:51
    I encourage everyone to play Lyman's Lament if they can on Monster Bash. Bowen posted the code for it. we can probably share it just to hear his voice while playing a game in a game that he worked on is really fun and special. And he kind of gives you shit while you're playing. It's great.
    71:14
    And a fun and interesting way to, to keep his memory there and alive. And I showed kind of a newish pinball player how to do it and bring it up and told him about Lyman and his legacy at the arcade the other day. So spread the good word of Lyman and do some friendly shit talking with your friends and everybody lean a little bit closer to the glass when you're playing. Yeah, it's. There are a lot of people that contributed a lot to pinball, the pinball community, the industry, the hobby, and he really did touch it like on all levels. obviously his involvement in the creation of games um he's possibly the greatest pinball programmer of all time um and that's something to celebrate he's one of the best tournament pinball players of all time um people i i i think a lot of the newer people don't realize that he was an absolute beast in the tournament scene as well in fact he was kind of like I there was a time when he was probably the best player in the world for several years in a row um and so like he achieved a lot but on the personal side like the community side I never ever heard of anyone having a bad interaction with him even once um I heard of some funny interactions or like you know goofy stories or something like that but nobody ever said to me like oh I met Lyman and he brushed me off or he didn't sign my thing or whatever. Like he was always so good to the community. And part of it is like what you mentioned, that he couldn't let a code rest unless he felt it was perfect. And sure, that's partly for him, but it was because he knew it was out there and he knew we were out there experiencing it and he wanted us to experience it in the best way. And I think that says so much about his character. He wasn't getting paid to do some of that stuff. He just went and did it because he wanted it to be better. It's an awesome way to live your life, to be able to do that and have that kind of positive. It's just making people happy, right? Like it's not changing the world on any grand scale, but it's just making people happier, which does produce waves that can change things on a larger scale. And that was his way of doing it. So it's a huge loss, obviously, for some people on a personal level, others on like a things they like to enjoy level. But it's felt deep. It's still a little fresh for those that didn't see it. You can see they recorded his memorial and you can watch that online. So I have yet to watch it. I heard it's pretty emotional, as you would expect. So I will watch that. I just haven't done that yet. But the community came out in a really good way. It was just shocking and difficult. hope, but I like how you let it off is just remember those who are most impacted and recognize that they're going through something. It's really hard for us to understand. I mean, a lot of us have lost people, but just, as you said, check on those. I know personally, I get checked in a lot. I think, you know, I've had some rough years. We all have. These last two years, I don't think have been easy on anybody. So be aware. Be aware of where you're at yourself. Take care of yourself. Take care of those around you. And let's get each other through this because it's been a rough ride all around it. As far as the Lyman talk, I think we'll say that where you and I are going to like pick our favorites or, you know, our moments or whatever. But I would love if people could chip in and if they have Lyman memories or just you know like oh yeah the first time I really had ACDC click with me is when I started to love deep code or whatever whatever you have like we'd love to hear from it um comment or or you know message us and we can bring them up at a future show but um Lyman is a person to be celebrated um on so many levels and it's amazing what kind of a legacy he left behind personally and professionally.
    75:53
    Super good dude. So, yeah, it's hard. I recommend going over to the Backbox podcast. Lauren talks to Dr. Sarah Rose-Denisi, who's Scott Denisi's wife,
    76:11
    and they have a more in-depth conversation about mental illness and mental health. and also they're accepting donations in Lyman's name to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. So if anyone's so inclined to contribute in his honor, that's where the family has requested that that go. Yeah. And that's, again, a great way to honor his legacy is helping others. so highly recommend that and that episode I believe it released today or yesterday it's brand new so if you subscribe to it and haven't seen it yet go back and check it it should be there that's the back box pinball podcast it's a hard time for everybody right now but you know it's a very isolating and weird time so check in on your friends yeah definitely do like I said we just it's a good time just to take a little bit better care it's better to be a little bit imposing on the caring side than miss an opportunity yeah I had not long before we lost Lyman I posted something about this on the soft plunge page as well my friend Kyle Black um oh boy sorry Jeff um he's the one who helped me start soft plunge he taught me how to screen print all that stuff and let me use his space and those are my best friends in Portland he was one of the first people I met when I moved there and you know friends for over a decade and he was just so positive with everybody and gave so much of his self to everyone. It's really easy when you're putting so much social energy into other people to neglect yourself. Yeah. Um, and I lost him to suicide as well. So it's, um, it's hard to ask for help when you need it. But if you need connection, you need people to talk to you. You want a distraction from something, reach out. always. God, it's really hard. It's really hard. There's not a lot.
    78:43
    There's not a textbook to go through and say these are things that will stop these things from happening. But, you know, just generally be good to each other and try to be good to yourself. It's hard right now. Yeah. It's never the wrong move to let someone know that you care. Like, yeah, that's important. It's easy to just kind of go about your daily thing. And I'm sure you do care. It just takes a little bit extra to show it. And that's really important right now. And there's there's no shame in asking for help or letting it be known that things aren't OK. yeah yeah show that trust both ways um trust trust yeah i honestly like like i said i've been there um it doesn't matter if you're a listener or you don't even personally know each other i am open to to talking um you can definitely offer that but uh yeah it there are people around you that care more than you think as well like if you're on the other side of that and and you need that caring there are people that are willing um maybe they just don't know how to reach out to you so definitely take it's important to reach out if you need it as well that's that's a strong point there just but also uh we're both messes so don't listen to anything well we'll listen to you just don't listen to the advice that we push back your way so um but but definitely we're willing ears I guess you could say.
    80:22
    And if you want hugs at TPS, we are great huggers. Come get a hug. As long as the pandemic's under control and we're masked and vaccinated. Come get a responsible six foot away, wrap your arms around your own shoulders.
    80:40
    Oh, Jeff. So I know it's heavy. I think it's just it's a reality for a lot of people right now if it hasn't touched you be grateful for that if it has you know I'm sorry it's affecting a lot of us so we're here and there's people around you as well so make use of each other carrots agrees he just he just chimed in yeah animals are very good at picking up those feelings and coming around when that when they notice you need a little pick me up aren't they something like that or he's hungry that too um i'm actually gonna save the pinball popcorn for the next episode i promise it won't be as long as the last one, but, uh, and the next, I can't even speak right now. Um, just totally, it'll probably slot in better at the end of the next episode. So. That sounds about right. Um, is there anything left you want to say or go over?
    81:59
    Nope. Nope. I think, uh, it's a tough one. I feel like we always get into this space, but I feel like it's important to talk about, uh, yeah it is normalize talking about things right normalize talking about how things are not normal yeah it is okay to recognize that and vocalize that so well then Jess that'll do it for this one this is a heavy note to finish but it was good to be back I think we've We false started on recording maybe the last six weeks in a row where we almost did it. And so we did do it. And as always, I'm happy to be here talking with you. And I will again commit to doing it more often. And we we will celebrate us actually doing things. It's not always easy to do things and it's OK to not do them if you are not ready to do them. And I guess that's something I don't I'm not going to. peel back the curtain entirely, but the gaps in the recording of the show haven't been because we haven't wanted to do it. I think we talk about it a lot. Um, life has just got haywire in a lot of ways around us and in our own lives, um, where maybe recording was a desire, but was a little lower on the priority um ladder for for the time so it is something that i'd like to be doing regularly um agreed yeah and i and i know you have that same desire so we'll get back into it we just had a lot to work through like the end of the year for me was all right and it was it was life upheaval once again. So, yeah, but, but we're here and we're going to keep trying to do the thing. So. And if you don't hear from us and you want to hear from us, check in with us. That's okay. Yeah. I got poked last night for someone. I haven't heard drum in months and they're just checking in. It was appreciated to hear from them. So it's a nice feeling. Yeah, it is. even if it's those guys from Loser Kid Pinball Podcast I know they're annoying and I know they're but it's good to hear from people if I go to TPF I'm actually staying with Josh and Scott you mean when you go to TPF right perfect alright Jessica alright Jeff thank you hope to see you in Texas agreed bye are we transitioning to goodbye
    84:51
    Oh, oh no. He's done it anyway.