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Episode 60: We Talk Hot Wheels with American Pinballs Dave Brennan

Poor Man's Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·analyzed·Jun 17, 2020
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.034

TL;DR

American Pinball's new service manager discusses Hot Wheels design and company approach.

Summary

Dave Brennan, newly hired Technical Service Manager at American Pinball, joins the Poor Man's Pinball Podcast to discuss his new role and American Pinball's upcoming Hot Wheels pinball machine. The hosts and Dave praise Hot Wheels' design, approachability, rule depth, animation quality, and competitive pricing, while discussing shot layout, code complexity, and design philosophy. Dave shares insights on American Pinball's service approach and his experience transitioning from independent game repair to company technical support.

Key Claims

  • Dave Brennan has repaired and restored over 100 games, with approximately 50 full restorations, across multiple makes and models

    high confidence · Dave stated this when describing his resume submission to American Pinball

  • American Pinball currently has two released games (Houdini and Oktoberfest) with Hot Wheels coming soon

    high confidence · Ian stated this as established fact during the discussion

  • Houdini was released in 2016 or 2017

    medium confidence · Ian and Drew discussed the release date with some uncertainty; Dave confirmed it 'sounds right' for 16 or 17

  • Dave found the American Pinball job opportunity through a Pinside announcement post

    high confidence · Dave explicitly stated: 'it was a post, just an announcement post, that was on Pinside, and you couldn't respond to it'

  • American Pinball's games feature Multimorphic P3 boards and their own custom boards

    high confidence · Dave stated: 'they're using more modern systems and with the multi-morphic P3 and there's some of their own boards from American'

  • Dave wrote the initial service manual for Hot Wheels, with plans for a comprehensive 100+ page manual with schematics available for download

    high confidence · Dave stated: 'I just wrote the initial manual... it has like the setup information. But then later... we'll put the full manual, which will be probably over 100 pages with schematics'

  • Hot Wheels uses LED pulse indicators under inserts to guide players to target shots, similar to Mustang turn signal animation

    high confidence · Dave explained the LED feature and made the Mustang analogy directly

  • Hot Wheels' RPM meter functions as an integrated game mechanic that drives modes and multiballs rather than a traditional physical toy

    high confidence · Ian stated: 'the way they use that RPM meter throughout the whole game makes it its own mech and its own toy' and Dave confirmed it integrates into game modes

Notable Quotes

  • “So basically, I help people fix their games. You did do a lot of that with me.”

    Dave Brennan @ early in interview — Establishes Dave's transition from independent repair work to formal American Pinball role

  • “I've been in the business for the last seven years... I just kind of made up a resume of all the stuff I've done and they ended up calling me”

    Dave Brennan @ during career background discussion — Highlights how Dave's portfolio of repair work led to the American Pinball opportunity

  • “The first month was sort of learning all those ins and outs. And so now I'm rocking and rolling with Hot Wheels.”

    Dave Brennan @ discussing onboarding — Shows Dave's rapid transition into supporting Hot Wheels at launch

  • “It wants you to move faster. It's not going to be a stop and go, point and shoot kind of thing. It's hit on the fly and you want to keep going, keep your RPMs up, keep the multiplier up and that's everything that you want in a car theme.”

    Dave Brennan @ during Hot Wheels design discussion — Articulates how Hot Wheels' design reinforces the racing theme through continuous play

  • “I think it's a lot of detail. I think it's going to be the world enders. I think it's going to be fun, competitive, and just going to be cars that came to play and pop.”

    Ian @ Hot Wheels assessment — Summarizes enthusiasm for Hot Wheels' competitive and casual appeal

  • “I don't have anything that I would rate under average on this machine. Everything kind of gels... from above average to great.”

    Ian @ Hot Wheels evaluation — Unusual praise—distinguishes Hot Wheels as uniquely well-rounded across all design dimensions

  • “The code is thick. The code is thick, Ken. It's like 12 cheese slices thick. I mean, that's a thick ass code.”

    Drew @ discussing code depth — Colloquial industry shorthand for substantial rule depth and complexity

Entities

Dave BrennanpersonAmerican PinballcompanyHot WheelsgameHoudinigameOktoberfestgameJohn BolsterpersonJoshperson

Signals

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Dave Brennan hired as Technical Service Manager at American Pinball, bringing 7+ years independent repair experience and 57-game collection expertise

    high · Dave explicitly stated job title and hiring process; hosts confirmed he was 'newly hired'; role focused on customer support for Houdini, Oktoberfest, and Hot Wheels

  • ?

    product_strategy: American Pinball's first licensed IP game (Hot Wheels) positioned as more affordable entry point with mass-market appeal vs. previous proprietary designs

    high · Multiple hosts stated pricing is 'more affordable than their last couple of titles'; Ian noted it's appropriate for families/kids; Dave emphasized location play potential

  • ?

    design_philosophy: American Pinball designed Hot Wheels with multi-tiered rules and LED guidance systems to balance casual approachability with competitive depth

    high · Dave: 'approachable, easy to understand... something that's approachable for all ages'; Ian: 'approachable for everyone' with 'not too overwhelming for a novice'; LED pulsing indicators guide shots

  • ?

    code_update: American Pinball invested heavily in Hot Wheels animation quality at launch, reversing previous pattern of animation improvements via code updates (Oktoberfest model)

    high · Ian: 'in the past American Pinball... don't care as much about animation... but with this one it looks like right out of the gate they're not going to have to mess around with the animations... let's get some really, really good animations'

  • ?

    design_innovation: Hot Wheels uses LED pulse animation under playfield inserts to dynamically guide player targeting, similar to automotive turn signal lighting

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.201

0:00
Hey everybody, this episode is brought to you by... Pinstadium lights. You thought I forgot, but I didn't. I was just pausing for dramatic effect. How'd you like that? So, Pinstadium lights, obviously, if you don't know what they are by now, please go to pinstadium.com and look at it for yourself. They are amazing, fully customizable, LED lights that are going to light up and renew any playfield you throw at it. So, gone are the days of dark centers of playfields. Now we can see all the art in all of its glory. Go to pinstadiums.com, enter poorman at checkout to receive 10% off your order. Also, we are brought to you by Pinshades! Oh yes, so just in case you didn't think you looked cool when you play pinball, if you were worried about maybe attracting the opposite sex, well worry no more. Pinshades. These are the ultra cool, ultra stylish, ultra fantastic UV resistant sunglasses to help you see the ball better. It helps you track the ball, minimizes glare, and all in all makes you look like a badass. That's Pinshades for you. Enter poormans with an S at checkout and you'll receive 10% off your order. So, best way to buy Pinshades. And of course, don't forget our Flip N Out pinball. Zach Meny over there is sitting there by the computer. He's sitting there by his phone. I picture Zach Meny with like four or five cell phones surrounding him, and he's ready to take your call right now. You want a Deadpool? He's got it. You want a Hot Wheels? Oh, spoiler alert. We talk about it in this episode. He's got it. What else would he have? Oh, you know what? I don't know. Maybe there's a Ninja Turtle game that's out that he might be able to help you out. And so get all your pinball needs over at Flip N Out Pinball. All right. So this episode, kind of a special edition. We're going to just name it Episode 60, the Big 6-0. We have Dave Brennan, newly hired from American Pinball. He is their service technician. He's your customer service guy. If you have a problem with your game, whether it be Houdini or Oktoberfest and, you know, most recently now Hot Wheels, he would be the guy you would talk to when you call American Pinball's tech services line. So, so Dave, Dave's a dear friend of Drew and I's and, and, you know, we were talking to him and we just thought it was perfect timing to get him back on the show to talk a little bit about his new position with American Pinball. This is The Valley Company. John Popadiuk, Bob Betor, Keith Elwin, Laser Los, Bowen Kerins, Lyman F. Sheats Jr., orbit ramps, Automated Amusements, Python Anghelo, Joe Kaminkow, Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi. Oh yeah, it's time. You've waited a week or more, and now it's finally here. The time has come for the sloppiest show on the internet. This week's episode of Poor Man's Pinball Podcast. Starring Drew and Ian. That's it man. Game over man. Game over.

  • American Pinball prioritizes shot design and rules over animation, though Hot Wheels was designed with animation as a primary focus from the start

    high confidence · Ian stated: 'in the past American Pinball has been very straightforward saying they don't care as much about the animation... but with this one it looks like right out of the gate they're not going to have to mess around with the animations'

  • Hot Wheels is positioned at a lower price point than American Pinball's previous games

    medium confidence · Drew stated: 'The price is right for it' and Ian noted it's 'more affordable than their last couple of titles'

    • “I think they're a pinball company first, and then animations will come eventually... But this one it looks like right out of the gate they're not going to have to mess around with the animations.”

    Ian @ comparing Hot Wheels to prior AP releases — Notes strategic shift in animation quality from future updates to launch-ready polish

  • “You know, I would have liked to see, you know, the loop-de-loop or something, but it's nitpicking... give me one more mech.”

    Ian @ criticism segment — Most substantive criticism: desire for additional mechanical toy; framed as greedy nitpicking given overall quality

  • “If I was buying this for my kids, yeah, this would probably be something I would get... the Hot Wheels license really is... approachable theme. It's more affordable than their last couple of titles.”

    Ian @ market positioning discussion — Identifies family/location play as primary market segment vs. hardcore collectors

    • Zach Meny
    person
    Jack Dangerperson
    Mattelcompany
    Multimorphiccompany
    Spooky Pinballcompany
    Ianperson
    Drewperson
    Poor Man's Pinball Podcastorganization
    Flip N Out Pinballcompany
    Pinsideorganization
    Gottliebcompany
    Alice Coopergame
    TNAgame

    high · Dave explained: 'several LEDs will pulse... it actually pulsates and it moves the arrow up... like the Mustang cars have that on their blinker lights... giving that indicator of where you're supposed to be shooting'

  • ?

    design_innovation: Hot Wheels integrates RPM meter as core game mechanic (rather than decorative toy) driving modes, multiballs, and hurry-up scoring

    high · Ian: 'way they use that RPM meter throughout the whole game makes it its own mech and its own toy'; Dave: 'modes that go along with it and multiballs just with that RPM meter... constantly in a hurry up kind of thing'

  • ?

    product_concern: Hosts noted Hot Wheels lacks traditional moving mechanics (e.g., loop-de-loop); framed as minor design choice rather than defect

    medium · Ian: 'I would have liked to see, you know, the loop-de-loop or something, but, you know, it's nitpicking... give me one more mech'; Drew: 'I'm glad they didn't decide to throw in a mech where it stops the ball' to maintain frenzy

  • $

    market_signal: Hot Wheels positioned for family/location play and casual audiences rather than hardcore collector/competitive segments

    high · Ian: 'If I was buying this for my kids, yeah, this would probably be something I would get'; Dave: 'good potential for location play'; Ian: 'you can put this in any location, you can put this in any basement'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Hosts and guest initially skeptical of Hot Wheels license (kids' show) but changed opinion after seeing design execution and animation quality

    high · Ian: 'when I first heard about it, you know, I was skeptical like a lot of people... it's some kids show... I don't know how this is all going to fit together. And then... you watch this... it was really cool... I think it was done very well'

  • ?

    manufacturing_signal: American Pinball committed to comprehensive service documentation: initial setup manual in-game with planned 100+ page technical manual with schematics for download

    high · Dave: 'I just wrote the initial manual... it has like the setup information. But then later... we'll put the full manual, which will be probably over 100 pages with schematics and all that stuff that people can go and download from the website'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Unusual unified positive assessment across all design dimensions (mechanics, animations, code, theme integration) with only minor nitpicking

    high · Ian: 'I don't have anything that I would rate under average on this machine... everything kind of gels... from above average to great'; multiple hosts reiterated 'well done package'

    • 3:47
    Production and Modeling Jennifer M. Welcome to the Poor Man's Pinball Podcast, episode number 60. We have a special guest again today. So after four special guests and then no special guests, one more special guest. We have today the new, is this technical services advisor? Is that correct, Dave? Uh, technical service manager. Oh, see, that was close. Technical service manager of The founder of American Pinball, Dave Brennan. Hey Dave, how you doing brother? Good, good. How are you guys doing? We're doing good. Drew, you got the technical part right. I did. See, I remembered it. Okay. It sounds very fancy, doesn't it? Yeah. So tell us about this. What is your new gig? What exactly are you doing for American Pinball? Well, very much like I did with you guys before I worked for them. Basically I help people fix their games. You did do a lot of that with me. So yeah, so I can kind of jump into some of that if you want. You got the floor my friend. We want to hear all about it. Basically, it was sort of an eye-opener with, you know, it's something that I've been doing for quite a few years now, repairing games. As you guys know from the last episode, I have quite a few games in my collection that I fix and restore, and I've been kind of showing that on the TurboGrafx-7 Twitch and Facebook pages. And so I've kind of done that over the years where I've fixed and restored games for some people. And so the opportunity came up where it was really just kind of dumb luck, I think, where I happened to be looking at Pinside the day that something was posted. John Popadiuk, Bob Betor, Keith Elwin, Laser Los, Bowen Kerins, Lyman F. Sheats Jr., orbit ramps, Automated Amusements, Python Anghelo, Joe Kaminkow, Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi.
    6:56
    I've been in the business for the last seven years and so I just kind of made up a resume of all the stuff that I've done and they ended up calling me and so I went and talked to them and you know a few conversations back and forth and you know we ended up working something out where so now I'm helping their customers fix up their games so So it's not unlike what I've done before in the hobby world. It's just more focused in on their specific games and so getting to know them a little bit more intimately. And so that's sort of been my... Not too intimately, right? Right. Yeah. So it's... Just the normal amount of intimacy between a man and a machine, right? Well, it's kind of like, you know, you guys have gone through some restorations and that. When you tear apart a machine, you really know, you know it pretty well inside and out. So it's, when you, so going through that and you're trying to help somebody over the phone, it's really a different, different perspective. You know, you're talking to, you know, it could be one person has never picked up a tool in their life, or it could be, you know, a very experienced operator. So you have the gamut of people you're trying to work with. And so you try to feel out their skill level and what they're trying to articulate the problem is, and then diagnose, you know, what that, what the solution would be. And get them the parts they need or kind of walk them through the troubleshooting. It could be as simple as an adjustment or it could be, you know, they need to replace a major part or a coil or whatever it is. So, yeah, it's I think the troubleshooting piece, I already had quite a bit of experience from that. I think the initial challenge for me was to understand American's games a little bit more because they're using more modern systems and with the with the multi-morphic P3 and and there's some of their own boards from American and and And then just the internal company, you know, just going and working within the new team, learning who I go to, who does what, their internal systems and how they process service requests and all that stuff. So that was all new to me. So the first month was sort of learning all those ins and outs. And so now I'm rocking and rolling with Hot Wheels. And I just wrote the initial manual, or at least put that together. So one thing they really wanted to have is put a manual in each and every game. So it's fairly basic to start. So I'm going to do just so it has like the setup information. But then later in the, what we'll do is we'll put the full manual, which will be probably over 100 pages with schematics and all that stuff that people can go and download from the website. So when you say technical stuff, right now what you're working on is more like how to Probably use the service menu and all that good stuff? Yeah, so that's part of it, but then it's also you know, someone will call me up and say, hey, the game's not booting, or I got a fried coil, or I got, you know, the displays out, or whatever. It could be a number of things. And so I kind of get down to the root cause, help them troubleshoot that, and then from that, okay, what parts aren't working right, and then either I get the parts out to them that they need to replace, or it might just be a simple, like, oh, this connector was unplugged or something like this, or it came loose or whatever. So that's kind of the gist of it. Sorry, this is a little long winded but... No, no, it's fine. So when you mentioned sending your resume, was that like a breakdown or a dossier of 150 games that you've fixed up over the years or how does that work? Yeah, I just kind of put it... I didn't list every single game or anything like that but I just put in there like, you You know, I've fixed and, you know, restored or repaired, you know, over 100 games and restored, I don't know, probably close to 50 or something like that. And it's just all different makes and models. So I think we talked a little bit on the last time I was in. And so as of today, I now have 57 games in my collection. The Big Game John Popadiuk, Bob Betor, Keith Elwin, Laser Los, Bowen Kerins, Lyman F. Sheats Jr., orbit ramps, Automated Amusements, Python Anghelo, Joe Kaminkow, Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi. Some dimensions to hit multiple machines. So yeah, that all sounds extremely interesting, actually. So, were was this posted? Was this posted on pin side, or American pinball's website? I don't know if it was posted on their website, I just saw, literally it was a, it was a post, just an announcement post, that was on pin side, and you couldn't respond to it, it was John Popadiuk, Bob Betor, Keith Elwin, Laser Los, Bowen Kerins, Lyman F. Sheats Jr., American Pinball has two games out, right? They have Houdini and they have Oktoberfest, soon to be Hot Wheels. Between the Houdini and Oktoberfest, now Houdini's what, 2017 release or was that 16? Sounds right, 16. 16 or 17? Yeah. Well, how's that been holding up as far as service calls? Just curious, like, I know they're built really, really well. I have an Oktoberfest and I'm just, there's little things in there that I noticed that they've added that are very, you know, like no duh. Izht喜è.
    15:54
    Hello aún Krystal Yatesiwee, AC En te film quería preguntar sobre los videos. Y nos messagean todas las condicas nombran reales del rec striving del juego, todo sobre las z Adrianитель de participar, su Shlimporte en los Pintones, Poll craje delGoodbean, Pro du.." Cast Yu bi y Chuck John B Disney Bob Astle y Mark earth maniscal tea Well, esta vez los precios actuales nos ayudan mucho más al desperdiciarte. Agur tenho mucho tiempo previsto para la presentación de Las hechuras web. 4 Hechurasependes été hispe extras de Jack Ry த. He did a shown that was smoking a bottle to give him coffee. Yo te bydé mi recomendación a en Passage 4. John Popadiuk Bob Betor Keith Elwin Laser Los Bowen Kerins Lyman F Sheats Jr orbit ramps Automated Amusements Python Anghelo Joe Kaminkow Tim Kitzrow Scott Danesi I mean those games are packed full of good stuff so I just know that the quality is there with the build quality so doesn surprise me that there not a lot of tickets but it also does kind of respect surprise me because of the amount the sheer amount see you can put two flippers three pop bumpers and two ramps in any game your favorite and yeah of course the service calls will be very low on that but with American pinball it just seems like their build quality they know how to make a game that for sure Yeah, I mean it hasn't been anything too terrible. I was a little bit apprehensive at first, you know, not being as familiar with the system. I mean, I have a couple of spooky games that use the multi-morphic board, so I was fairly familiar, but, you know, going into American, it's just understand how it's put together and all the things used in the bill of materials and trying to understand I don't understand what some of the common things might have been that would require some service. But I think a lot of that stuff got hashed out early on. So basically it's nice to have the support of the team at American where if something comes up, I just, you know, there's a couple or a few people just a phone call away where, hey, have you seen this before? It's like, oh yeah, no problem. They need this or that. And I'm like, oh, okay. So, you know, it's not like I'm alone on an island. You know, I have an electrical engineer that I can reach out to or, you know, if there's something code related, I can always talk to Josh. He's very knowledgeable. So, it's, yeah, it certainly is a small but very knowledgeable team to work with. Very cool, very cool. So you have a Houdini, you have an Oktoberfest. Which one do you like more as far as shots and layout and which one has gotten your, has been stealing more of your time lately? Definitely Oktoberfest I think is more up my alley. I think the, it really surprised me because I do, I do like the Houdini theme a little more, but, you know, after I got to playing and understanding Oktoberfest more, it's, like the shots are really fun, it's got a lot of flow to it, I mean there's a ton of modes and rules, there's no way that I'm not a good enough player to make it through all of that. And, I mean, same thing with Houdini. He's got a ton in there. I just, I don't know everything there is to know about rules. It's, you know, being that I'm not a huge into the competitive play. I play in leagues, as you guys know, but I'm usually in the middle or sometimes if drinking too much, I'll be at the bottom. And that's why you're a tribe member. Right. Reaching to the tribe. www.willywonka.com John Popadiuk, Bob Betor, Keith Elwin, Laser Los, Bowen Kerins, Lyman F. Sheats Jr., orbit ramps, Automated Amusements, Python Anghelo, Joe Kaminkow, Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi.
    20:55
    And it get that going. And then there was a couple of videos that were done by Zach and, you know, unboxing kind of first thoughts. And then there was shortly after was the Jack Danger stream on Saturday. And so all that stuff is very positive. I mean, I'm seeing it, you know, come from afar. So I actually haven't been able to get my hands on it and play it. I will shortly here. I'm hoping I can pick up a copy of it this week so I can have that for when customers, you know, as they get their games, they'll have any questions or, you know, you got to I think when stuff goes out, it's going to be going on location and be put through the ringer pretty quick. So I think it's important to be able to provide that level of service. You know, just like when you take a game to a show, if anything is going to go wrong, it's going to happen at a show or it's going to happen on location. So that's why we try to try to test all that stuff in the factory before it goes out the door to make sure that you know that we're not going to see anything too crazy right off the bat. So but as far as the initial thoughts, I mean it's a beautiful looking game. It's a lot of colors, a lot of pop to it, and it's just it's packed with rules. John Popadiuk, Bob Betor, Keith Elwin, Laser Los, Bowen Kerins, Lyman F. Sheats Jr., orbit ramps, Automated Amusements, Python Anghelo, Joe Kaminkow, Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi.
    23:05
    The Winning Pinball Show, Knapp Arcade, Bally Williams, Straight Down the Middle, Bally Williams, The Valley Company, Subsidiary of Walter Kidde & Co., Inc., Mirco Playfields, Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi. Well, this is a great car. It's got the license. You know, intended. And it's very bright and flashy. You know it screams hot wheels. It screams race car. You know, it really ties in. They did the blue and orange ramps and the cars everywhere and the race flags. I mean, there's... John Popadiuk, Bob Betor, Keith Elwin, Laser Los, Bowen Kerins, Lin Kitzrow, Scott Danesi.
    25:00
    John Popadiuk, Bob Betor, Keith Elwin, Laser Los, Bowen Kerins, Lyman F. Sheats Jr., orbit ramps, Automated Amusements, Python Anghelo, Joe Kaminkow, Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi. The Valley Company, Subsidiary of Walter Kidde & Co., Inc., Mirco Playfields, Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi. There is still a right in there to be a part of the movie.
    27:00
    Don't worry. How many places come in a pack? Yeah. We don't know. Out of 25? Yeah. I don't know. But no, I'm going to say seven as in it's really good.
    27:11
    But let's say, shots and layouts. So my theme here is they've improved. They've learned as they've gotten to more of these games out. I was talking to Drew about this. I feel like shots and layout, when Balser designs these things, I really think that Balser does a really good job designing to the theme. So what I mean by that is, so Houdini is kind of dark, it's brooding, it's, the shots are a little difficult, they're a little challenging, but that game doesn't look like you could just step up to it and just have your way with it. It's a difficult game. Versus like Oktoberfest, which is like a bright, it's a festival, it's, you know, you're literally, there's, there's, it's a little floaty, but I think he does it on purpose because there's I'm going to show you a little bit of what you can do to get a good shot of your game.
    28:08
    This is exactly what I would expect from a pinball game with cars. It looks like there's a lot of ramps, a lot of speed, and I like how they integrated the tachometer with the The attack-o-meter with the RPM and targets and yeah, no, everything about the shots just looked like this game will be, one, it'll be very approachable for all ages and two, I think it just looks like a lot of fun. Looks like it's very welcoming and it wants you to shoot it. Absolutely. I think it's, and they've said this on the stream too, where it wants you to move faster. It's not going to be a stop and go, point and shoot kind of thing. It's hit on the fly and you want to keep going, keep your RPMs up, keep the multiplier up and that's everything that you want in a car theme. I mean, they've made several car themes over the years and this is no exception where you We want it to convey that experience of a race. So, I think they integrated that really well. I'd agree. Drew, what do you got? Shots. I mean, this thing is fast, so I don't think it's too overwhelming for a novice. I think they did a really good job of kind of balancing it out and making it approachable for everyone. And yeah, some of the shots are easy. You know, some of the shots maybe not so easy, but yeah, fast, flowy. You know, there's not much more to say about it. I mean, it's a good design and really does fit the theme well. And you know, everyone, the old cliche is always true. You know, yeah, I can't wait to shoot this thing, but I really can't wait to shoot this thing. You know, it looks really cool. So, you know, it's got to be fun. I mean, it's fast and it's just awesome. Yeah, I'm glad they didn't decide to throw in a mech where it stops the ball and does something fun with the ball, because it's just going to stop the frenzy, you know what I'm saying? Sure, well, and that's okay too, you know, because you can, you know, there's different opinions, but the way it's laid out, I think it's good. Yeah. Even the vertical up kicker has that twist in it, so you know it kind of, Bolster likes to put a lot of those in his games and having that little curl in the end to really swing it down the ramp and kind of rather than it just dumping over and dropping. Oh yeah, I didn't even notice that until you said that. Yeah, that's pretty cool. And just the elements of as you're going through, you know, you got the spinner shots for the orbits and then, you know, having that kickback to, I don't remember the first game that had one, maybe it was like F14 or something, but, you know, that, just that in your face, like always, always bringing the ball back to the flipper for another shot and it's just loaded with multiballs and a lot of rules. What is the converting its nation the world eggs I think its I that's just gonna be a fun competitive and just gonna like car did came to play and prop I'm going 20 заметes this one I'm really excited about the shots sure elevator refund but once again your right talk about approach ability agents add you can put this in any no location you can put this in any basement are you know it'll fit so will we can which The Wally Williams Show, Knapp Arcade, Bally Williams, Straight Down the Middle, Bally Williams,
    32:31
    We'll be right back. K墨 I think the way they use that RPM meter throughout the whole game makes it its own mech and its own toy. You know what I mean? Sure. Yeah. Like you know it it yeah it just lights it just inserts you can you can argue that but it so integrated into the game and I think it such a cool unique thing where it like yeah shoot this now you know raise your RPMs and then they start lowering and then you got to shoot them again and then they got modes that go along with it and multiballs just with that RPM meter Yeah. Right. Constantly in a hurry up kind of thing. Yeah. And completing modes faster gets you a higher score. Yes. Which is super like that makes so much sense. Yep. Why haven't they done that before? For the novice to intermediate to the pro players, that's awesome. And then if you don't want to pay attention to it, you don't have to. You know what I mean? Yep. Absolutely. And stay tuned for some challenges like that that you'll see. I know that working on fastest to get through this mode or that mode kind of thing just to make it fun. I think there's some, there's other games that have done something like that, like speed run type of thing. So I think it's really cool element to add some fun challenges, you know, kind of a game within a game. Yep. Well, like you said, kind of a constant hurry up. That's just kind of cool. Right. You always have something, you know, a task or whatever, as it were, to shoot at. So pretty cool. So what do you think about the code? How does this compare to your other 56 games?
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    It's certainly, you know, I don't have a ton of modern games. I mean, I think my most modern games the last new games I bought were Alice Cooper and
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    TNA So, you know getting Houdini and Oktoberfest and soon to be Hot Wheels here. I mean there's just I think there's a ton more rules in today's modern games that it's it can be overwhelming. I don't learn very well from, you know, just listening to Josh talk about the rules on the stream. I learn better by doing and, you know, honestly, I thought very similar, you know, playing I've been playing games with, when I did, when I played game Houdini and Oktoberfest at shows before and I, you really don't get the full effect, you know, hearing the call outs and understanding where you're supposed to shoot and it really takes a few games to, for me to understand it anyway. And honestly I think I, I learned a little bit better with somebody telling me as I'm playing and then I can kind of get that. But yeah, so I can see that there's certainly is a lot of depth there that, you know, for the more experienced player there's a ton to achieve, you know, collecting cars and getting to the wizard mode. But there's also some easier ones where if you just want to jump on the thing, you know, It's a great game. Kids want to play it. It's Hot Wheels. You're racing cars. You're shooting the ramps and getting, at least being able to achieve a few things. And I think that's what I think every pinball should strive for is something that's approachable, easy to understand. I think they did a nice job with, they talked about the LED lights and the indicators and that was super cool. I don't know if anyone's done that before where using the LEDs to really indicate what shots you're supposed to be shooting for. Unlike some of the other games that have been made where it's just a rainbow of multicolor lights and it's hard to know what's going on. I think they really did a really nice job of that. Yeah, I was going to say that with Oktoberfest, and I know a little bit of Houdini. The Valley Company, Subsidiary of Walter Kidde & Co., Inc., Mirco Playfields, Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi. www.willywonka.com Spring Twitter right now . . . My new L.E.D. gig thing, р لي naturам editмую Q&A kendisi Damas Glassional immigrant Several LEDs under each insert? Do you know anything about that? Yeah, yeah, so that's what I was explaining was, so there's several LEDs will pulse, so when you're looking at the arrows, it actually pulsates and it moves the arrow up, so it's even more of an indicator. Kind of like, I think the Mustang cars have that on their like blinker lights, you know? Sure. Have you ever seen like the turn signal go on? It's kind of like that, where it's blinking over left or right, where this is just, you know, giving that indicator of where you're supposed to be shooting so you're, you know, it just screams at the player where you're supposed to be shooting rather than, you know, The Valley Company, Subsidiary of Walter Kidde & Co., Inc., Mirco Playfields, Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi. I immediately was thinking either like a Lego movie or you know like like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer kind of thing where you know that gorilla kind of reminds me of that abominable abominable snowman. Yeah, they've got the little stop motion there so yeah very cool. And it just did like the the movements and like there's there's comedy in there where You know, there's cobras and stuff running around and cars crashing into everything and news reporters. It's just, it was just a fun, lighthearted kind of, you know, it was nice that this was there, out there to kind of base this on. So it really made it tie in well with how this theme would work. So it, I mean, what did you guys think? Well, when I first heard about it, you know, I was skeptical like a lot of people, I think. And you know, you're like, yeah, it's some kids show and this is Hot Wheels and I don't know how this is all going to fit together. And then to your point, you watch this and I saw some of the cobras you were talking about and it was really cool. It's just like, yeah, you're trying to like smash the cobras on the screen and stuff and you're chasing them. And you know having you know it's a racing game obviously but then having the battles where you're battling these monsters and like you said you have the cool humor and to your point kind of that Lego type humor the Lego animation stuff that's you know very cool. So no I think it was done very well and I give them a lot of credit and to Ian's point earlier about them constantly learning and getting better you know I like Oktoberfest a lot. I've been enjoying playing Ian's and it's awesome. But I think that this one took another step in the right direction, that it's a really well done package. So kudos to the entire team at American Pinball for putting together such a good animation package. Right. The price is right for it and the code is thick, if you will. The code is thick. The code is thick, Ken. It's like 12 cheese slices thick. I mean, that's a thick ass code. Thank you to People for Metallica Kvod.
    43:05
    and you know in the past american pinball has been very straightforward saying they don't they don't care as much about the animation of the game they want to make sure the shots are good sure they want to make sure the rules are good they're a pinball company you know they that's that's number one on their plate but this and then animations will come eventually you know a lot of the animations in oktoberfest got improved as later code updates you know happened but with this one it looks like right out of the gate they're not going to have to mess around with the animations i mean I think they were just like, to hell with it, let's get some really, really good animations going on this, and we'll be, we can wash our hands of the situation. So, they got a few monkeys off their back with this game, it looks like. I don't have anything that I would rate under average on this machine. Yeah. You know what I mean? Because usually it's like, you know, like we'll take, you know, Jurassic Park, for instance, you know, Ian's like, yeah, good game, great this, you know, the art, meh, meh, kind of sucks, you know. Dino Adventureland. And but this game, this package, the way they put it together, everything kind of gels and you know everything's you know from above average to great so so kudos. Way to go American Pinball. Now that we have Dave on we're probably people are probably listening going oh you guys are a bunch of shills. So let's talk about something we don't like. Yeah let's talk about something we don't like. What do you what would you change on a Hot Wheels on this Hot Wheels game? Dave, you don't have to answer this because you're contractually obligated to love the shit out of this game. It's 400 cheese slices. His contract says that. He has to give it at least 400 cheese slices on the Poor Man's Pinball Podcast. Exactly. Yep. You know, to your point earlier about not having stop and go, you know, I like moments in pinball. You know, Sparky's one of my favorites. You know, it stops, the lights show, you know, very cool. And, you know, once again, everything on this machine is better than above average, so there's not a lot, and so now I'm just nitpicking. You know, I would have liked to see, you know, the loop-de-loop or something, but, you know, it's nitpicking. I think this game looks great. I, you know, like I said, the code looks awesome. Everything's kind of, you know, it's bundled together very nicely. It's a super nice package. So give me one more mech, but guess what? I say that even about Jurassic Park. Jurassic Park's one of my favorite games. Give me one more. Yeah, give me one more dinosaur. Give me one more, you know. True, we don't have the room. I don't care. Make the room. Exactly. It's, you know, that's just me being greedy now. Give you a loop-de-loop. Sure. No, it's fair. It's a fair criticism. Yeah, for the price they're coming in at, you know, this is going to compete well with some stuff. I gave them some early criticisms to be fair, where I was like, hey, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles come out and this game is going to have trouble competing. But now that we're talking about it, now that I saw the stream, would I personally buy this? Well, no, probably not because I'm the only one who plays pinball in my house. You know what I mean? If I was buying this for my kids, yeah, this would probably be something I would get. So no, it's, I don't know. So yeah, give me a loop-de-loop. The Valley Company, Subsidiary of Walter Kidde & Co., Inc., Mirco Playfields, Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi. All of these things. Dave, can you speak to the sound system? And the shaker motor apparently really rocks this game, you know, with the engine noises. So that's all good stuff. But I guess I'm with you. I would like to see some sort of incorporation of... even if it's like, you know, everyone had the Hot Wheels set where there's like the little elevator, like there's like the car wash, right? Yes. Oh, that's neat. It's like a little lift. I never even thought of that. Yes. www.willywink.com www.willywinks.com The Valley Company, Subsidiary of Walter Kidde & Co., Inc., Mirco Playfields, Tim Kitzrow, Scott Danesi. And if there was a little boy running around here that loved Hot Wheels, I would be damn tempted to get it for him. If our friend Jeremy was into pinball, he would be getting this for Riley. Oh yeah, absolutely. And I never really thought of, you know, how big the Hot Wheels license really is and how long it's been around. I mean, it was around when we were kids and before we were... It was like the 50s, right? It's been around forever and just thinking of being exposed to it just this past week I was down visiting some family and we stopped at Sonic and I was looking at the menu there and they had toys there for some Hot Wheels monster trucks and my nephew had the spinning I'm a fan of the Hot Wheels brand.
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    I know there are conventions and I was just thinking of, I remember I went and bought a Gotlib Atlantis from a collector north of Minneapolis and I go in this guy's house and And I go in this guy house and his entire basement is literally filled with Hot Wheels And I quite sure as I was looking through the thread of Hot Wheels that same guy said he's the buyer. So, I mean, it does have some crossover. I mean, there's absolutely some pinheads that collect these things. So, you know, is it collectors of the Hot Wheels cars that are going to spend that money? I don't know if it's for everybody. I mean, not every pinball is for everybody. But, you know, like we said, it's an approachable theme. It's more affordable than their last couple of titles. And I think it could be, you know, have a lot of good potential for location play. So there's a lot of positives here and so I you know it's it's their first step into or it's Americans step into licensing and so there's there's a lot of a lot of good things to learn from it and there's as you said before they've they've definitely made lots of improvements over the years and and hopefully I can help them on the We're trying to get the game on the service end and keep people's games running and keep customers happy. As you know, Drew, when you've owned Spooky Games and that, their customer service is really well. We want to try and make that experience the best possible and be responsive and making sure we're getting the customers the things that they want and are parts they need and keep them going. I'm not just saying this because you're on here, but yeah, to your point about that with Spooky, yeah, you know, Spooky makes videos and they're like, hey, let me make this video for you to help you out. You know, Dave is that kind of guy. You know, Dave's the one who's listening to my stupid questions over the phone and he's like, oh, did you try this? Did you try that? You know, and it's like, I'm on the phone with him forever and like, no, I didn't, you know, and then he's, but he's super patient with me and he's getting me through it. And guess what? I learned to fix most of my own shit because of Dave's tutelage. I know, because he would always accidentally text me all these part numbers. I'd be like, Wrong poor man. It's the other one. But I have no doubt... Go ahead. Yeah. Just get a larger rock. Yeah. What size rock are you using? The medium? No, go with the large. Dave's like, what the fuck are you talking about? There are no rocks in pinball. Tim Kitzrow is like, well... But, yeah, so like if a customer needs a video, you know, Dave's already making videos with TurboGrafx-7, you know, doing, you know, these how-to videos on clear coding and fixing all this stuff and, you know, repainting playfields. So, you know, I'm sure he would do that for you guys, for all you American pinball fans out there. So, it's awesome. Absolutely. When I told him I had an Oktoberfest, he was like, all right, go through and look at this, this, and this. And I was like, oh, shit, Dave, you're right. You know, one of the things was the pop bumper cars on the top of them. You know, he was like, check the screws and maybe put a little Loctite in there to lock those screws in so those bumper cars don't wobble too much because then things can break because it's giving it too much play. And sure as shit, all these screws were loose. So I was like, oh, Dave, you beautiful, beautiful man. And he's already killing it. So just like everyone else on our podcast, we have to knock you down a peg, though. What aren't you good at? Yeah, you suck. Wait, what? So yeah, I mean, I like doing that stuff, just picking apart ways to improve it. And to Ian's point, the pop bumper improvement kind of thing, what he was referring to, there's I've been using these bumper car toys on the top of the pop bumper rings and one thing that happens which I need to make a service bolt in for it but it's a good idea to put a little bit of blue Loctite on those threads because all it is is a threaded standoff that holds the pop bumper cars and when they get loose from all that vibration and movement And the cars will move back and forth and they can have the potential to break the threads on those rods there. So just a little improvement like that where you can increase the longevity of those. But yeah, so making little videos of whatever might come up if there's something where I need to walk somebody through a common repair or replacement of something or even just as simple as setting up your game. You know, some people, people learn differently. I think, you know, you get the instruction booklet and there's nice instructions that tell you how to take it out of the box and everything and set it all up. But, you know, how many times do you read an instruction booklet? You know, it's, you know, having some reference that they can watch might be something, but that people would be more willing to watch it versus read it or, I don't know. So however we can help, you know, that's what I want to try and do for the customers. Yeah, I think, you know, sometimes when you put something in a manual and it's a technical spec and you're already kind of surrounded by all the other technical jargon that goes in those manuals, if you're not familiar with that or if you're not comfortable with that, it doesn't matter how easy or uncomplicated you word something, it's already kind of intimidating when you look at something like that. I remember the first time I looked at an arcade instruction book for the specs on a Nintendo Punch-Out and I almost fainted. I was like, I don't know. What is all this? But it's not as complicated as it looks, but it looks extremely complicated. So with videos, I mean, videos are just, I think that's just a universal way of showing someone and even American Pinball has some really good instructions on their service page just that have, they have a lot of pictures. Well, learning is a very easy way for people to be like, okay, it's not that hard. It's just a couple screws here or, you know what I'm saying, it's easy to get to things. Well, yeah, yes, because, like you said, to your point, you read it and you're like, oh, this might be tough. But then if you see it, like you said, two screws, oh, yeah, I can do that. You know, two screws is not nearly as daunting as reading like, oh, take this off and do this and, yeah. You know, when you strip a playfield of all of its components, and if you've never done that before, you're like, I, no, I'm not doing it. The Winning Pinball Show, Knapp Arcade, Bally Williams, Straight Down the Middle, Bally Williams,
    58:09
    I'm a big fan of the, or that initial fear. A good example, I was working with a customer where they needed to remove the bar mechanism for their Oktoberfest and it's very intimidating. You got auto on the top and these, the bar pieces and then it's a quite complex mechanism. It's got two motors on it and he's looking at this thing and it's like this, you know, John Popadiuk, Bob Betor, Knapp Arcade, Raydaypinball, Deeproot, Tanyo Klyce, Knapp Arcade, Rayder K. Sheats Jr., I'm a pinball machine and it's individual parts and pieces. It's not as intimidating as you might think. If you look at it as a whole, as a rat nest of wires, absolutely. Like, that happens to... that's the reaction I get with anybody that hasn't opened up the hood of a pinball machine before and they see everything in there and they just like, oh my god, I don't, you know, I don't even want to touch it. I feel like I'm going to break something and you know if you just arm yourself with a little bit of knowledge that I think that that goes a long way and I'd love to you know explore ways or opportunities of educating you know some of the community there's a lot of there's people in the community that are already doing some of these things but I think Roger Sharp said this on one of his Loser Kid interviews where he talked specifically about service. Shout out Loser Kid. Yeah. So he did have a nice mention about how service was handled in the past versus how it's done today. It's very interesting because in the past it was very much operator based and a lot of the technicians for the companies John Popadiuk, Bob Betor, Knapp Arcade, It just seemed to be few and far between. You might know a guy or you might be friends with somebody who's pretty handy or something like that but I think though for just somebody buying their first machine I think it's important to at least know some of the basics. What are the mechanisms? How do you do a switch adjustment? How do you get into the service menus and test different coils and switches and that kind of thing? Just same kind of thing. When you're buying a brand new car, I hate to use a car analogy but- A Hot Wheels car? Sorry. We are talking about Hot Wheels so we might as well use a car analogy, right? Yep. So you know you at least want to talk to your salesperson or your service manager at the dealer about how everything works. How you go, you know, what are all the features and everything to your game. And so it would be great to set up something like that at shows or you know is there several A series of videos that could be done that people could watch and learn, you know, just to just gain a little bit more understanding just about their product because I think it's a little naive to think that you're never going to have to do any service on your game. You absolutely will. K Teraz понимest du hobby? Not solutions, du Design. Baustra.
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    Die nach gaps mistake verloren au plateau, wie eine anders um MLK mehr als ein Künstlerspiel Jredit trifectas, Wake Me Up, Ray words.
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    Rev Gregorius**.� Was this the Batman Forever episode that rolled out the first time? www.willywink.com www.americanpinball.com
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    www.willywink.com I Thank you Dave. Yep. I wonder what's inside your butthole? Maybe there's a tissue box, maybe there's an alien all inside your butthole. I always wonder what's inside your buccal. Maybe there are christians, maybe there are aliens all inside your buccal. I wonder what's inside your buccal. The views expressed on this podcast don't necessarily reflect the views of our Yes, that's right. We have the best of our sponsors. Obviously, they don't really care as much as we do about butt holes and what's inside them. So thanks for listening, guys. Have a great day. Bye-bye.