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Episode 9: The Classic Pinball Podcast - Funspot Arcade, Laconia, NH with Eric Stone.

The Classic Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·34m 20s·analyzed·Aug 27, 2019
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TL;DR

Funspot arcade tour with Eric Stone discussing classic pinball machines and gameplay.

Summary

George and Dave from The Classic Pinball Podcast visit Funspot Arcade in Laconia, NH with guest Eric Stone, exploring and playing classic pinball machines from the arcade's collection. The episode features gameplay commentary on iconic titles like Monopoly, Funhouse, Devil's Dare, High Speed, and others, with discussion of machine condition, design history, and Eric's tournament expertise. The hosts share stories about the venue's history, specific machines' quirks, and pinball industry personalities.

Key Claims

  • Eric Stone is ranked number 12 in the world in competitive pinball rankings

    high confidence · Eric Stone states he was previously number 3 but is now number 12 due to not playing much recently

  • High Speed brought pinball back from the brink of decline

    medium confidence · George and Eric discuss High Speed and Pinbot as the two games that revived the pinball industry

  • Eric Stone holds the official world record on High Speed with $42 million, set in 1999

    high confidence · Eric recalls setting the record in 1999 after playing for 3.5 hours, with Dave confirming he was present

  • High Speed was inspired by designer Steve Ritchie's personal experience being chased by police on California's Pacific Coast Highway while driving a Porsche

    medium confidence · George explains the game's origin story, attributing it to Ritchie's traffic incident

  • Eric Stone previously scored $69 million on Grand Lizard before his High Speed record

    high confidence · Eric describes playing Grand Lizard for four hours and scoring $69 million, then moving to High Speed

  • Funspot's pinball lineup has remained largely unchanged since Eric was a kid, with games like Frontier, Sea Witch, and Meteor sold off over the years

    medium confidence · Eric reflects on the arcade's machine collection history and what has been removed

  • Black Knight 2000 was a best-in-show winner with a high score of 81 million

    medium confidence · George references high scores on Black Knight 2000 from a previous episode

  • The flaking on Black Knight back glass was caused by infrared radiation from lights, not heat

    medium confidence · George credits electrical engineer John Day with explaining the infrared damage mechanism

Notable Quotes

  • “We have spent no money. No money. Is that what we're going to call you? No Money Stone.”

    George and Dave @ approx. 30:00 — Humorous observation about the free-play nature of Funspot's machines, leading to Eric's joking nickname

  • “He was making a living playing pinball.”

    Dave (about Eric Stone) @ approx. 35:00 — Reference to Eric's professional pinball playing status and tournament success

  • “I like talking while I'm playing because I don't know why, but it seems to make me do better.”

    Eric Stone @ approx. 42:00 — Eric explains his playing style and psychological approach to competitive pinball

  • “The thing about High Speed, we left it as we found it. We found it with three games, and we left it with three games.”

    Eric Stone @ approx. 60:00 — Reflects Eric's respect for the arcade and not depleting free credits

  • “I played High Speed for four hours straight, got $42 billion... my fingers were twitching at the end of the day.”

    Eric Stone @ approx. 52:00 — Describes the physical toll of Eric's world record-setting session on High Speed

Entities

GeorgepersonDavepersonEric StonepersonFunspot ArcadevenueSteve RitchiepersonJohn DaypersonHigh SpeedgamePinbotgame

Signals

  • ?

    venue_signal: Funspot Arcade in Laconia, NH maintains a large collection of classic pinball and arcade machines with decades of history, though some machines show wear and previous modifications

    high · Episode features extensive tour of Funspot's pinball collection and discussion of machines present since Eric was young

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: High Speed machine at Funspot has a notably weak upper right flipper that makes certain ramps extremely difficult or impossible to hit, affecting game strategy

    high · Repeated commentary throughout episode about the weak flipper preventing shots up the ramp, forcing alternative strategies like laning lights for multiball

  • ?

    restoration_signal: Multiple machines at Funspot show signs of long-term maintenance neglect, including deteriorated back glass artwork, worn playfields, and non-functional components

    high · Hosts note machines like Xenon and Sinbad have 'roached out' back glass; Middle Earth has stuck ball noted 'hasn't been fixed in years'; Time 2000 is non-functional

  • ?

    design_philosophy: George and Eric express strong preference for original incandescent bulbs in classic EM and early solid-state machines over LED conversions, viewing LEDs as aesthetically poor

    high · Repeated criticism of LED conversions: 'I just don't really like the whole LEDs like this in classic games for myself' and comparing look to 'food freezer' and 'cafeteria with fluorescent lights'

  • ?

    product_concern: Atari pinball machines are noted as poorly constructed and unreliable, with multiple units at Funspot being non-functional or partially broken

Topics

Funspot Arcade history and collectionprimaryClassic pinball machine design and conditionprimaryEric Stone's competitive pinball expertise and recordsprimaryHigh Speed game design and historyprimaryLED conversions and impact on classic machinessecondaryGameplay strategies and tournament playsecondaryFree-play arcade culture and economicssecondaryPinball history and industry revivalmentioned

Sentiment

positive(0.78)— Hosts and guest express appreciation for Funspot arcade, the machines, and the experience. Positive nostalgia about pinball history. Some criticism of LED conversions and machine maintenance issues, but overall celebratory tone about classic pinball preservation.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.103

🎵 Hello everyone and welcome to episode 9 of the Classic Pinball Podcast. My name is George and I'm joined by my co-host Dave. Hello George. in this episode dave and i are joined by eric stone as we visit the legendary arcade fun spot in this segment the three of us explore the first row of pinballs inside fun spot faster than a speeding bullet More powerful than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings at a single bound. Up in the sky, it's a bird. It's a plane. We've got a nice Superman here. That's a cool game. I'd play that. Monopoly, Funhouse, Cyclone, Adam's Family, Jokers. Funny how we see several of the same games. Yes, several of the same games. Popular games. This is the newest. You think that Superman actually works, Dave? Well, I haven't tried it, but he said it does. Can you actually, the flipper actually makes it all the way to the top? Can you actually get it up there? Wow. Oh, look, Monopoly's got a free game on it. You want to play it? Is there a free game on it? I don't know. Is it worth it? Go ahead. I'll play flippers with you. You play that. Oh, by the way, it's really sloped to my side. Okay. Have you ever played this before? Years ago. That's not bad. You guys want to describe? Because dead air is really not good. Oh, you better flip that. Oh, wow. I saw that. So it's not really that level. It's going right big time. It's going way, way right. Alright, so we're going to try. So Eric is now going to punch the ball. And he got a short punch. Is there some kind of objective to this game? Yeah, hit the ramps. Yeah. No, yeah. It's Monopoly. You want to collect all the properties. Yeah, let him throw his bases. There we go. Okay, now he's going to upper right flipper. I think he's going to try to shoot something. Just try to shoot the ramp. Try to shoot that ramp. Or the power. You've got a saucer. Yep. That's good. Saucer. Extra ball is lit. That's good. Yep. Extra ball. And bang. Oh. How about that? Oh, nice backhand, Dave. There you go. All the way around. Look at that. Beautiful. Wow. I bet we couldn't do that again. Look at that. Yep. Pop up her nest. Hang at you. There you go. Right flipper. Oh, bank is open. Bank's open. Oh, bank's closed. Bank closed. Oh, I don't want that ramp. All right. How's that? Now you want to hit every single shot. All right. I got the bank open. Oh, you had that. No, you had your flipper up. So if I would have flipped it, it would have gone like that. I'm waiting for you to put the flipper down. All right. I'm going to go on social media now and complain. I don't know. Yeah. That's just what we need. That's exactly right. All right, here we go. Ready? Oh, there's a skill shot. Extra ball. Oh, my God. Free money. Free money. It's always good. Now I want to hit the bank. Oh, this is that thing. Oh, this has got that weird flipper thing. Yeah, the flipper sweep thing. It's sweeping, sweeping. I could do that twice in a row if I tried. Flipper sweeper. Oh, come on. I'll fit again. Nothing to do there. Awful. Awful. Funny. So, so far we've played several games and paid nothing. Yes, paid nothing. Well, that's the whole thing here. That's the name of the game. Superman, play for free. Oh, I almost got that ramp. That's alright, I'll get it for you. Oh, thanks for the ramp. How about that ramp? It's only got a bank. Uh oh. Son of a bitch. Well, so much for that. Well, that was quick. So I check these slots because a lot of times these have something in them. Social media or anti-social media? I don't know. Jackpot. Look at them. Oh, jackpot. Another coin. Look at that. We need to get that one. 3 on that one. 3 on that one. And we press the start button. Make sure it's going to start and get as much as we can. So how much money have you collected already? A buck and a quarter? Uh-oh. That's Gary. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. That's Gary. Uh-oh. He's second in charge. Uh-oh. Second in command. Uh-oh. Yeah, he's... Uh-oh, arcade police. We have to go to the car, get our disguises on, get the mustaches. How's it good? Now, at one point, there was a wanted poster in the back room here. It was a big thing. Eric, was there some kind of wanted poster for you in the back room at some point years ago? You know, one in dead or alive? From what I've heard, people had pictures of me in the back. So, the last episode, Dave, we were talking about the size of this place with your friend Paul. Yes. Are we in the old, yes, PJ, are we in the old or new part? This is the old part. Because this place is like a labyrinth. Oh, yeah, we go up here. Oh, there's more? There's more. Upstairs there's more. So, there is the gold mine of tickets. Oh, yeah, this is where he goes crazy with Frogger. He can do that first or go upstairs? What's upstairs? It'll take about 20 minutes. It's a 20-minute Frogger. He's going to play his Frogger. Let's let him play Frogger a little bit. We'll get him to score a bonus. It's going to be 20 minutes. He's going to empty out the freaking tickets out of this thing. He's going to empty it. Oh, sorry. He's not going to empty it at all. Next day on that. Let's go upstairs. That's a different area. Because now the owner signed us off. Okay. Let's go upstairs. All right. I'm going to sign off here, and then we'll start up again. All right. Tippy toe. Tippy toe. We're going to play some Devil's Dare. Because the devil's daring us. So we're going to play Devil's Dare. We have two free credits in this game. And it looks like it's not leveled again properly. It's going out the right side. I'm still going to kick Eric's butt. How many times have I heard that? This will be the time right here. We're going to get it done this time. Probably after that first terrible ball. Look at that. I actually think you would have been fine either way. Am I beating you after that terrible ball? I don't believe it. Damn, now that's crazy. I think it's all, I don't know, something. All luck, right? Oh, luck. It's got to be because I'm nudging the game. It is, yeah. I've heard you nudge a lot. Dave, yeah. And that's the problem, you know? Yeah. You've got to stop with that nudging stuff. Yeah, I know. I haven't seen you nudge yet today, but... There's a nudge. Except for a day you did. Well, yeah. And it went down. Wow. Terrible, terrible, terrible game. All right, let's see. You get $35,000. I've got $11,000. I'm going to plunge the ball here, try to get a skill shot on the drop target. Did not get it. Is that a skill shot? I think it's a skill shot. I think so. Maybe. there, no, I expect the flipper to be a little more powerful, there we go, hop up her nest, get that last drop target up there, we're good, there we go, coming down the right flipper, oh, that right flipper is just not, let's see if we go, there, no, now you saw him in Guilford, right oh there we go oh and bang what are you going for this sling I trying to go for the game Yeah it the left slingshot and I got it Wow We got a killer game right now Gotcha. You need to practice some more. You practice some more. I know, huh? Watch what I do. Yeah. It'll be a lot better. Yeah, one of these days, Dave, I will. Is that what you were trying to do before? That's what I was trying to do. Yeah, well, you know, sometimes if you watch me, sometimes you'll learn something, Dave. All luck or all the nudging. Oh, yeah. I'm pretty sure. Yeah, definitely. There we go. Captain's pin again for you. Up up her nest. The right flipper bouncing on the left flipper. You can get all the red things down there. What's he going to go for here? Shats pass. Shats pass. For the extra ball. Oh, and I missed it. Extra ball off that lane. Shats pass. Shats again. Shats pass. Here we go. Shats passing left flipper going for extra ball. Oh, really? And he gets it. And he gets extra ball. Oh, no. And then it goes right down. Does Sarah have it all? It's got to turn. It's turned on. It's in turner mode. And the flipper. The extra balls. Extra ball again. Basically, yep. Nice shots passed and then nothing. It's on the right there. Yep. Extra ball, okay. All right. Let's see. He's going to go for more extra ball. Up upper nest, upper right flipper. It's trouble when it goes there because you never know what it's going to do. Dave. Got a chat set again. Oh, yeah. Got a chat set. Dave, you know what? And then you go for... Now I know how poor a player I am. No, no. Eric is all about nudge and luck. Right. Get it right. Yeah. Yeah, bad luck. And that's why he's number 12 in the world. No, the reason I'm number 12 is because I haven't played much. I was number 3. Yeah, he wouldn't be number 3 if he actually played a little bit. He actually had to do some work. Actually had to make a living? Make a living, yeah. Actually had to work. Well, I was doing a good job. He was making a living playing pinball. No, really. No, no. The bottom one was the hardest one to get over there. I am not familiar with this game. That shouldn't surprise me. It's a great game, but you really can't put it in your living room. You've got a big picture of the devil staring at you all the time. Yeah, right. So it's really hard to get by your children or your wife or anybody that... You're not selling this to a really good Christian family. Probably not. Probably the Christian family, you know, probably wouldn't go for it. Me being one of them, I wouldn't go for it. It'd be a great for a rethink. Well, I'm sure this game's got popularity like in Salem, Massachusetts. There you go. That's where it would sell. I'm not going there No I couldn't I'd give you more wound up No no Me wound up As long as I'm winning tokens I'm not going to be wound up That's not going to be hard with this crowd Now's my chance He's got 242 And I got 33,000 Eric I'm going to ask Is this a game that you would see in competition? Sometimes, especially in a classics game. Okay. Definitely. Okay. Let's go for it. Next ball shot. I think I can shot something you did. Oh, yes. Let's see. The final score, I may be kicking my 2.42 to 54. I'm in a different game at this point. Yeah, yeah. Let's go down the road here, Dave. Team one? Yeah, team one. Okay, let's comment on the Roached Out. Didn't work out too well. No, not really. Let's comment on the Roached Out Xenon. Xenon. Well, you know what? Usually you'd say a wood rail. That's a white wood, right? Well, a white wood or a wood rail or a worn to play field down to wood. Worn to something. Right. Yeah. Worn to crap, let's say. Okay. Then we got Fireball 2. Fireball 2. Yeah, you don't see that too often. We see all these games all LED'd out because they don't want to change bulbs. Well, no, I think it's more like power, you know, electricity bill and so forth. If you have all the incandescent, it does add up a little bit, you know. Yeah, okay, we'll give them a pass. I just don't really like the whole LEDs like this in classic games for myself. What the hell is this thing? Big Guns. I believe 87, I'm thinking. Did they have a... Hey, that was a high game to date. 87, I called it, yes. That was a high game to date. So you got three credits for that. Eric just got a high game to date. Look at that, three more credits for that game. Go ahead, play some more games, Eric. No, no. I'll follow you guys around. Why did they make... Big Guns. Why did they make that? Why did they make that cabinet like 19 feet tall? I don't know. Because you've got a bag of tell on the back. The bag of tell, you can score something. There's some awards back there. I don't like it. Let's keep going. Yeah, not a big fan either. You've got pinball. Pinball, yeah, you've got that. As long as you don't play longer than 10 minutes, you'll be able to make that left rim. Okay, another high ball. Hey, you know what? High speed's got two, three credits. You want to do a real quick game of this? Does anybody play pinball in this place? We're fine in all three games. Oh, yeah, of course. Watch. Well, Eric does. Well, let's see if he has any money, no? Here we go. High speed. We have spent no money. No money. You haven't spent no money. No. Is that what we're going to call you? No money? Is that going to be your rap? No money stone. Is that going to be your rap name? No money? Are you guys going to catch how I play high speed? Yeah, I was going to say you play high speed. I don't play it like anybody else plays it. Okay. How do you play high speed? I shats it. Okay. I shats it for the freeway. This particular version or all high speed? No, just about all of them. So for those who want tourney talk, Eric, take us through the game. Give us the play-by-play. Okay. I like to shats the in lane like that and then build my freeway up to 100,000. So every shot's 100,000. Plus, if I lose the kickback, I'll always be able to get it by shats in the in lane. So we'll shats it. So there's 40,000 and there's 100,000. So one little sequence. And you saw that flipper? Didn't even make it halfway up the ramp. That's how weak it is. Wow. So good luck. That's the upper right flipper. say is good luck. Sometimes the plunger won't even make it all the way. Alright so I'm gonna go all the way up here like this. There you go. Now try to hit it again. Nope. Alright and go up there. No. Up that. There we go. There we go. Never gonna happen. So we're not wondering why they were getting shot in this game. I'll try the shats. Almost. Let's try it again. I love watching people try the shats. Let's see if I can try that here again. Let's see. Oh, how about that? How about that? He missed the switch by the way. Hey, hey, hey. It's not a successful shot if you missed the switch. Alright, it's a shot to attempt. Oh, nice bounce pass. Thank you. Don't worry, you got kicked back. Oh, good. It's just not lit because the light's off. Oh, I should have done that. That's dumb. Yeah. I should have. I got a shot. Oh, you got a freeway link. Go for the freeway. Hurry up. It's gonna run out. Oh, yeah. That flipper's weak. You've got to do it. Oh, come on. That flipper's weak. It's beat. It's beat. It's a doctor. There, did I get that? It is Dr. Sarah. So are we discovering why there are free games on all these games? You're the doctor. Yes. Does it have something to do with the tradition of these games? Well, the reason there's a lot of free games on this, which Sarah said it's impossible. I got it around. Oh, look at you. I got it. Sarah said it's impossible. Impossible. But this game actually gives you free games. There's a short somewhere in those pop-upers. Okay. And if you hit it in the pop-upers, and it stays there for a while, your game will either tilt, or it will add free games, or it will reset to a brand-new game. Oh. Oh, yeah. But she said it's impossible for that to happen. So mystery game. The mystery game. Which one do you want? There it is. Did you hear it? Oh, we just did it. What did it do? That's a free game. Wow, he's got a free game. I know, that sounds like a bunch of fake news to me. I'm not sure. Yeah, I know, huh? I saw you put... Hey, look, look, I got up there, too. I saw you put another token in. You don't see me put any tokens in. Perish the thought of putting a token in a game. We take tokens out of the coin return. We do not put any tokens in the game. No. Hey, now, don't broadcast that. But between you and me, the last time I spent money here was when I was 14. That pretty good About 30 years ago 30 years ago That not bad It a good way to go Let see I going to try to do the old Shatner thing You are funny Alright. You are funny. I'll watch the Shats go. I'll watch it go. Almost. How about there? That's tough. One of these days, Rookie, you'll get it. It's tough on the... I've got to learn from you. You've gotten better. Oh, I got around. No, you didn't get around. I thought you got around. I almost did. I gotta move out of the way. It's just a 504. Yeah. Something to say. Roger 504. Apprehend him. Oh, he got around. Look at that. Light is red. The sound got it around. Oh, yeah. No, the grunt got it around. Now, I should have an extra ball in. Oh, that must have been the nudge, right? That was a nudge. That on any other game would not have tilted. I'd say you better behave yourself. I'm going to yellow card you right now, dude. You just watch out. No, I only get yellow carded on. Oh, there's that. Nope, not even close. So now we're just going to shaft the freeway. 20,000, 20,000, 50,000. So that's 90,000 there. So people have said that you're a game talker. Is that accurate? Yes. I like talking while I'm playing because I don't know why, but it seems to make me do better. That does work. I've seen him do that. It works well. And I've actually started to pick that up myself when I really want to in a tournament. I'll start talking to the game. It actually does somehow relaxes you. You talk to the game and it kind of reacts better. I actually like talking to people. Oh, yeah? Yeah. So, you know the point monsters tournament that I won in Fort Myers? Yes. The big one? Yes. Well, I was having a conversation while playing Funhaus. See, like that right there. That's the one I watched on Twitch, right? Yep. That was the pinball as I was first one. Okay. They still owe me a t-shirt. They just gave me two from Pitten. And I paid for mine two months ago. Did you really? Yeah. Who's the owner? Dave Denholz. Okay, Dave, you're going to get a call from me. Just tell him you know me, and you'll be good. Oh, look, Dave. I should have been good without you. You're right, yeah. See if something happens with those pops. Once the game starts getting hot, then whenever you hit those pops. You get a free game? No. It'll either give you a free game, or it'll tilt, or you'll get a tilt warning. Jeez. That flipper was awful. The upper right flipper will not make that ramp, or very rarely will. It's too weak. I mean, I'm used to growing up with that stuff, you know? Play around it, is that what you're saying? By the way, this is the game that I got the world record on, the official world record. And this game was playing, like, not so good. It looks like it played very tired. No, it was playing better than this. Okay. And when was that? I got $42 million. When? Back in 99. Dave was actually here when I did it. Remember? I remember that. I went on high speed. Those bumpers are deep, too. There's your extra free game. Oh, wow. I played high speed for four hours straight, got $42 billion. No, I played Grand Lizard first for $69 million on four hours. Then I moved to high speed, three and a half hours, $42 billion. So of all these games... Remember, my fingers were twitching at the end of the day. Remember that? Yeah. I was going like this, and all ten were twitching. I'm like, I'm not doing this, Dave. Right. So of all these games, been here for decades? Yeah, ever since I was a kid. So this lineup has not changed? Nope. Well, it's changed for me. They actually did more stuff when I was here. They used to have more, yeah. They had games like Frontier was here. Oh, yeah. Sea Witch, Meteor, all that stuff. Did they have that? So they sold off all the good stuff. Yep, they sold off all the good stuff and kept this other stuff. And Pinbot, there you go, they kept Pinbot. Which, I don't know, too rampy for me. Is that the attract mode, I guess? That's the attract mode, yes. Come on! It's a glorified Stern Galaxy. Okay, so are we going to stay here and... Yeah, we got to commentate. Third ball, extra ball. Extra ball again. I mean, I got to set the high score. Come on, guys. Come on. Is this game liked? Liked? Yeah, like it is a collective. This actually brought pinball back from the brink, I think. Wasn't it high speed? Yes. If I don't know, I don't know. Yeah, this actually brought pinball back from the brink. It's not doing too well at all. I'm good at asking questions. And this came out, and then Pinbot came out. So these two games here really brought it back. I think High Speed brought it back more, Dave. And this was Steve Ritchie's brainchild when he was being very aggressive or speed-wise on the highway in California. I think they had a Porsche. Oh, really? Yeah, and that's how he made this game, being chased by the cops. And so they made this game from his experience. in uh cali i think i think it was route route one california the the coast highway there yes pacific coast highway yeah that one yep he was on that and with a porsche and uh drive a little too fast and uh cops were after him and there you go pull over buddy pull over wow so what i'm trying to do is you're trying to get away no yeah but but since that ramp doesn't really work yep i'm trying to get all my my lights so i can get the multiball with uh get away so if you get all nine lights, then you can start a multiball in the scoop rather than have to hit a ramp where you can't hit the ramp because the flipper's too weak. That's a good strategy for a game that's tired. See, yep. I mean, even the plunger barely makes the ramp. Yep. Right? So what I want to do is not that. I want to get that scoop. Oh, I got screwed. That's what you call an Eric Leon scoop. It goes in and pops right back out and you get screwed. You still have another ball. No, I think that's it. No, because I got screwed. I didn't get the extra ball. Why didn't you get the extra ball? Because it's an Eric Leon scoop. It doesn't stay in. What's an Eric Leon scoop? Who the hell is Eric Leon? He's a guy in Florida. He puts a bunch of pinballs at Pizza Place. Really nice guy. The problem is all his scoops, when you get them in there, they pop right out. So I make a joke. I say it's an Eric Leon scoop. Okay, another Florida reference. Let's keep going down the line. I've got to take a score down. Watch this. I've got one more ball. Do you want to be on? I'll be on. I'm going to make it easy for me. There's no way in hell I'm going to beat your score. Just say that. You're going to beat my score. Well, I don't know. It might happen. There, see? And down the middle it goes. Oh, wait a minute. Excuse me, let me put my initials in. Can I put my name in instead? Nah. I know you don't get that chance too often. Well, I don't know about that. Let me play with you, maybe. Oh, look at that. I didn't even get a free game. She's got it set for no free games when you get a high score. Oh, interesting. Okay, you got screwed. You got screwed yet again. Yeah, but thanks to the popovers giving me an extra free game. That is nice. Mr. Freeplay. That's what we're going to call him. Mr. Freeplay. Freeplay, yes. Eric Freeplay. Florida Freeplay. Florida Freeplay. And you know what? The thing about high speed, we left it as we found it. We found it with three games, and we left it with three games. Okay, so what about this thing? Grand Lizard. We're on the same time frame. Not a big fan. A lot of people like this game. Kind of a, I don't know, plastic piece of crap on there with a thing. I don't know. Let's keep moving. Gorgar. We talked about that. Gorgar beat me. Our last arcade. Yes. So we can keep moving. Black Knight. Black Knight has some cool sounds that actually Deadpool uses these days. They kind of use the same stuff. That's a hell of a score. So I had I had Black Knight in my bar back in the late 80's that's probably a money earner right? that thing that would take in 150 plus a week yep that along with you were talking about Shuffle Alley we had a Shuffle Alley and then we had a Tapper and the cigarette machine it's at the tournament mode where the locks are not lit right off the bat I think that I think the lights in the back glass have been on for a while A long time Before they fell That backlash has seen better days And then we see Black Knight 2000 We had the if you go back to one of our older shows You may not see a score that high. 81 right here. That was a best in show winner. 81 million on this one. 64 for second, 43 for third, 33 for fourth. Interesting factoid about you said the lights that are shining through Black Knight and blasting through and they're all flaked off. Interesting factoid about it. Uh-oh, hold on. Mike, please. Warning. Warning. Warning. Warning. Warning. Warning, Will Robinson. Did they say Michael Hunt? No, not him. No, that's a different Michael. Okay. No, it was microphone. Microphone. All right, interesting. So, Black Knight, interesting fact about the lights burning through. My friend, my electrical engineer friend, John Day, he actually had a good point in that. It's not the heat of the lights that caused the flaking of the back glass. It's the infrared of the light that actually ate away the paint. It's actually the radiation, let's say, instead of the actual heat. So check our show out on all the pintastic winners. We had a Black Knight 2000 that was just gorgeous. Ryan, what was Ryan's last name? McQueen. McQueen, there you go. Very nice. Good player, too. Here's the great cabinet, right? Here's that Mr. and Mrs. Pac-Man with the short head. Yeah, Rapid Fire, and they tried this thing. They tried to capitalize on Pac-Man. It's like, well, we'll ship this out the door. I played it back in the day a little bit, but it's really not that good of a player. Not a big, and I bet you it doesn't take many quarters in. Okay, Paragon, I own one, you own one. Great game, I own one, great game. Without the gate, by the way. And no gate. Oh, that's a little tougher. I still roll it. Okay. Mata Hari, we both own one of those. Warped Playfield goes like this. Oh, Warped Playfield. So it's like this one. It looks like the bottom of a boat, you know? I can see it. It goes out both ways. It's terrible. Okay, so keep going. Keep going. Playboy. We know what that is. Kiss. LED-ed out. The old Kiss. Bali Kiss. Not new. F14 Tomcat. I can actually go through the light and tell you something wrong with every game. All right. Go ahead. Tell me what you think. So what's... F14 Tomcat. Great game. Actually, Doug Watson, the guy who made Quicksilver, made this game as well. And his voice is actually, now you die. Ha, ha, ha, ha. General Yaga. They like Williams here. Yeah, a lot of people do like Williams. Okay, Harlem. I own Harlem. You own Harlem. I own Harlem. Great game, Harlem. It's a little sister. It's a coming-of-tournament game, which we like. Do you want to comment on that? Yes, Harlem is an amazing game, but you only get seven spins out of that left spinner. Yeah, that's not going to work well with me. That doesn't go by my standard. With Dr. Spin here. I need lots of spins. Then we've got a System 1, right? Close Encounters? Close Encounters is one of the worst System 1 games ever made. Okay. You've got one of the best. Okay, here we go. And one of the best ones ever made, Joker Pogo, right next to it. Oh, is that ugly? Is that ugly with the LEDs? LEDs look horrible in this game. Terrible. By the way, Sarah tried doing something with this game, and all of a sudden it's on a five-ball game now. Well, actually, five ball's better in this game. It's supposed to be five balls. Three balls sucks in this game. I know, but I'm just saying that. Oh, and there's no tiller. Let me see that. Oh, so you can shake the crap out of it? Oh, yeah. Okay, well, that's good. I know why that is, too. That's how I do well, you know? That's what I hear. That's the rumor. You see that insert? I saw that insert. It's terrible. Yeah, the thing with these system ones. I can't even look at this thing. It is kind of hard. It's like looking at a food freezer at the supermarket. Yeah, there you go, a food freezer. Or even better, like a, what's it called, a cafeteria with all the fluorescent lights in your face. Something like that. Oh, my God. Horrible, horrible, horrible. But a lot of these guys like the LEDs. I don't get it, man. Maybe they can't see too well. I don't know. I'm not sure. Okay, I'm going to keep walking. All right. Because you guys are... Oh, and here we go. Maureen playing Dave's wife. Maureen playing Sky King. Single player EM. I'm guessing late 60s, early 70s. I do remember this game. I don't remember much about it. Then we got Sky Jump. Gottlieb Wedgehead. Cool looking game. Grand Slam. Never one of my favorites with the Roto Target. Single player. And we have an Atari. Which one is this? Is this an Atari? Yeah, Time 2000. Oh, yeah, this thing. Oh, hey, Dave. We've got an Atari Time 2000. Yes. With that double flipper thingy. Yeah, but those tiles screwed up those levels. Well, it shut off. Like most Ataris, it shut off. Exactly. Not built to work. And they have a Middle Earth. I remember this game. Atari games are weird. Oh, and that is a sad Sinbad. Another roached out Backglass. So that concludes this row of pins. I'll go back to Dave and Eric. They're continuing to play Joker Poker. That's it. We're done. And that's the end. So I went through the all. Do you want to comment on any of these other than the Atari Middle Earth? We just matched. We got another game we're leaving. We found a game. We're leaving a game. See how nice it is? So we've got this Time 2000. Atari Time 2000. That is the wackiest. Wacky game. It looks kind of cool, but really not much to do on it. Two sets of flippers at the apron. Yeah, see, Atari tried to do different things, too, kind of like Stern, but they went way out of left field and tried stuff that was way too, I don't know. People didn't really accept it that much. The only thing they really got a home run with was Superman. You know, otherwise, really another good game they did, they only made two of them, is Roadrunner. Imagine what the meetings were like when they were developing these games. Oh, I know. Can you imagine what was going on in those rooms? Because you've got to have quite the imagination. Illegal drugs? I didn't say it, but you've got to sit and... It's been stuck up for years. Oh, I see. The fourth one? It's not going to fall. On Middle Earth. Yeah, they haven't fixed that in years. So this is a wacky game, too. So why would you... Two offset sets... I actually don't buy these. I don't buy this game. My friend Jeremy has this game. He wants to sell it. So if anybody wants a Middle Earth, I got one for you if you want one. Okay. And then a burned out Sin Sad. Yeah, Sin Sad looks a little bit tired. And those bright LED lights in my face, really not a big fan of those things. So another refrigerator game. Refrigerator game, yes. Refrigerator game. So I think that concludes this row. All right. So now we've given the token machine time to build up a little bit. And that concludes another episode of the Classic Pinball Podcast. My name is George, and until next time, be good and be well. I want to tell everybody to keep those spinners spinning, and have a blessed day, and be grateful. I'm going to give you the last word. Last word. Where was I? Well, the last word. I am just really glad that I got my 20-plus playfields done by my buddy. with auto-clear that doesn't chip and looks gorgeous after a steel ball has been rolling around a bunch of times on it. From some of the pin-side threads and the guy that the podcast talked about recently, there's a storm brewing.
Black Knight 2000
game
Funhousegame
Devil's Daregame
Monopolygame
Joker Pokergame
Grand Lizardgame
F-14 Tomcatgame
Doug Watsonperson
Ryan McQueenperson
Dave Denholzperson
Eric Leonperson
The Classic Pinball Podcastorganization

medium · Discussion of Time 2000 and Middle Earth both having issues; George notes 'Like most Ataris, it shut off. Exactly. Not built to work.'

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    historical_signal: High Speed and Pinbot are credited as the games that pulled the pinball industry back from the brink of decline in the mid-1980s

    medium · George and Eric discuss these two games as pivotal to industry recovery, with High Speed being the primary driver

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    competitive_signal: Eric Stone holds the official world record on High Speed with $42 million scored in 1999 during a 3.5-hour session, though he is currently ranked #12 in world due to limited recent play

    high · Eric states he was #3 previously and now #12 due to lack of playtime; Dave confirms witnessing the 1999 High Speed record session

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    operational_signal: Funspot machines are frequently set to award free games, particularly through exploits or design quirks, allowing extended free play and creating an economically unusual venue model

    medium · Multiple references to playing games without inserting tokens; hosts collect tokens from return slots; High Speed and other machines generate free credits

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    personnel_signal: Eric Stone is an active competitive pinball player with significant tournament history and world record achievements, operating as both a skilled player and game expert

    high · Episode positions Eric as authority on machine condition, design, and competitive play; references his world records and tournament participation

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    content_signal: The Classic Pinball Podcast produces long-form, location-based content with detailed arcade tours and gameplay commentary featuring expert guests

    high · Episode structure shows professional venue tour with play-by-play commentary, machine-by-machine analysis, and guest expertise integration