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Episode 268 – Le Grand 8

Slam Tilt Podcast·podcast_episode·1h 52m·analyzed·May 10, 2026
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.033

TL;DR

Allentown Pinvest show coverage with Winchester praise, Three Musketeers criticism, and vintage French game discovery.

Summary

Ron Hallett and Bruce Nightingale discuss their recent experiences at the Allentown Pinvest show, covering gameplay impressions of Three Musketeers (negative), Winchester Mystery House (very positive), and various other games. They also cover Le Grande 8 8, a vintage French Gottlieb-era machine that impressed Bruce. Community dynamics, tournament results, and frustrations with prototype quality issues are highlighted.

Key Claims

  • Winchester Mystery House is the home run of this year's show and is being under-made; Barrels of Fun should produce gold and platinum editions

    high confidence · Bruce Nightingale, direct commentary on Winchester after playing it 7 times

  • Three Musketeers has an unhittable center ramp from the left flipper and problems with the center ramp lock mechanism

    high confidence · Ron Hallett, direct gameplay observation at Allentown

  • Three Musketeers is priced at approximately €10,390 (~$11,000) for the limited edition

    high confidence · Ron Hallett, pricing research during podcast

  • Winchester Mystery House has only 525 units being produced and will be difficult to acquire

    high confidence · Bruce Nightingale commentary

  • The Three Musketeers machines at Allentown were stuck in customs for the Texas show

    medium confidence · Ron Hallett, second-hand information

  • Le Grande 8 8 was produced in a run of only 10 machines as kits based on Gottlieb 80A/80 technology

    high confidence · Bruce Nightingale, IPDB research during podcast

  • Joe Saeed won the Allentown tournament, with Ron Hallett making finals and cashing $150 in profit

    high confidence · Ron Hallett, tournament results

  • Alice in Wonderland (Dutch Pinball Exclusive/DPX) has design flaws in mode start mechanics requiring a difficult skill shot from the left flipper

    high confidence · Ron Hallett, direct gameplay criticism

Notable Quotes

  • “That is the home run of this year. A home run of this year... They totally under-made it. They need to bring out a gold edition, a platinum edition, and other editions, because God, that game is fucking good.”

    Bruce Nightingale @ ~26:00 — Demonstrates unprecedented enthusiasm from typically negative reviewer; major industry signal about Winchester's success and production shortage

  • “Prototypes, one of the issues is known and they're working on it and I'm just like, what the hell is that? I'm like, I'm tired of hearing that... Don't bring it out. It just looks bad.”

    Ron Hallett @ ~15:00 — Criticism of Three Musketeers's unfinished state at public show; reflects broader industry frustration with prototype quality

  • “Holy crap that game is fun... If I had $16,000 or $15,000 that people are trying to sell these for, I'd be saying take my money.”

    Bruce Nightingale @ ~34:00 — Shows secondary market Winchester pricing and demand signal

  • “This fucking game is awesome. And then Ivan comes over... and he played it. He's like, this fucking game is fun. I'm like, I know.”

    Bruce Nightingale @ ~37:00 — Demonstrates Winchester's appeal across players; viral enthusiasm at venue

  • “It's like $10,000 not quite done machine... Big Trouble in Little China looked way beyond what this game is, and that was a homebrew.”

    Ron Hallett @ ~20:00 — Direct comparison unfavorably positioning Three Musketeers against a homebrew project

  • “I literally was upset when they started calling me over to get their doors ready to open... I'm playing. This fucking game is awesome.”

    Bruce Nightingale @ ~35:00 — Rare expression of sustained engagement from typically critical reviewer

  • “I came from behind on ball five of Marstrek to take the lead at like 420K. And then he was the last player and he came even further back and just beat me. That hurt.”

    Ron Hallett @ ~52:00 — Tournament drama and competitive sentiment

Entities

Ron HallettpersonBruce NightingalepersonBarrels of FuncompanyWinchester Mystery HousegameThree MusketeersgameAlice in WonderlandgameEvil Deadgame

Signals

  • ?

    product_concern: Three Musketeers presented with multiple known issues including unhittable center ramp, non-functional lock mechanism, and visible LCD mouse pointer; manufacturer acknowledged problems but game was brought to show unfinished

    high · Ron's detailed gameplay critique and statement 'they were aware of this, that the ramp sucks, and they're actually redesigning the ramp'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Bruce Nightingale, habitually critical reviewer, became unusually enthusiastic about Winchester Mystery House after playing it 7 times, describing it as 'home run' of the year and calling for increased production

    high · Sustained positive commentary contrasting sharply with his typical negative stance; statement 'you've got to clean off your keyboard there. Mr. Negative is going very positive'

  • $

    market_signal: Winchester Mystery House commanding $15,000-$16,000 on secondary market, despite production run of only 525 units; characterized as difficult to acquire

    high · Bruce's statement about secondary market pricing and limited availability comparison to Hoops

  • ?

    collector_signal: Limited production windows creating acquisition difficulty; Winchester's 525-unit run described as inadequate for demand; collectors expressing regret about missing opportunities

    high · Bruce's push for Barrels of Fun to produce multiple editions; reference to Winchester being as hard to grab as Hoops

  • ?

    manufacturing_signal: Barrels of Fun unable to meet demand for Winchester; company characterized as under-producing despite game's success; manufacturing limitations preventing scaled production

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.336

0:00
Recently, not far from here, a Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton was found by amateur bone hunters. Beavis' mom is an amateur bone hunter. Shut up, buddy! It's not funny!
0:24
Coming to you from beautiful off-state New York, this is the Slam Cell Podcast, the show about all things Pinball. I'm your host, Ron Hallett, here with the other host, Bruce Nightingale. Hello. This is episode 268. We've been gone for a while. We have been. We've had a lot. We've bonded together at one point.
0:47
Yes, with Bondo. With glue. Gorilla glue. With knocking. Uh-huh. So it's been a while. Now, we were supposed to be a threesome. Yes, we were. Oh, yes, yes. Oh, my.
1:06
Yeah, because we hinted at it last episode. Yep. That I get my dad on. Ron did all the work. I did nothing. Get dad on, my dad on as the guest. And I even, I got everything set up over here. I got the second set of headphones and all this shit ready. And we were supposed to record after Allentown. And then Bruce canceled. I didn't get home until 4 o'clock in the morning from Alan. No excuse. So he canceled. Oh, fucking shit. He canceled. So it's like, okay, when can we do this again? So I figure like Sunday, 10 a.m. next week. Yeah, perfect. Well, Bruce couldn't commit, of course, but I just told my dad that's when we're recording, so he's all set. And then Saturday at like 8 o'clock, Bruce texts me and is like, we're on. In the morning. We're on. Yes, we're on. In the morning, in the morning. No, I at least gave you 24-hour notes. Yes, yes. So he's like, we're good. And I'm like, all right, we're all set. Two hours later, my dad texts me. Oh, I got a cough. I'm not feeling good. I can't do it. Like, ah. So this is the shit I go through, folks, with this. And Bruce wants to have guests on. And we literally can't get my dad on and get everything all squared away. Yep. The problem is we all have other lives. Except me, obviously. Well, yeah, you're the loser. So, but we got a full docket. And more. I didn't give you one of the topics. Oh, yeah, I removed one of the topics because it was something I thought it'd be something fun to go through with Dad on here, but he's not here. I've eliminated it. I'm going to go through a fantastic topic. Oh, a fantastic topic. Do you get the hint?

  • “The center thing is awesome because if you hit the ball the right way, it will actually loop around with kinetic energy and go into different things and give you points.”

    Bruce Nightingale @ ~68:00 — Appreciation for Le Grand 8's innovative center mechanism

    • Beetlejuice
    game
    Le Grande 8game
    Joe Saeedperson
    Allentown Pinvestevent
    Dutch Pinballcompany
    Christian Marcheperson
    Cosmic Carnivalgame
    Suncoastcompany
    Ivanperson
    Big Trouble in Little Chinagame
    Christopher Franchiperson
    Texas Pinball Festivalevent
    Hexa Pinballcompany

    medium · Bruce's suggestion for multiple editions and statements about needing to 'make more' and concerns about limited availability

  • ?

    event_signal: Allentown Pinvest 2024 featured European imports (Three Musketeers), limited production runs (Winchester), and vintage discoveries; tournament format with 15-game bank, best 12 count, $130 entry, winner determined through playoffs

    high · Detailed tournament description and game-by-game coverage of show experiences

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Winchester praised for shot design, audio quality, innovative mechanical features (Gilligan's Island-style rotating target), and player feedback; Alice in Wonderland criticized for mode start accessibility requiring extreme flipper positioning

    high · Bruce's detailed praise of Winchester shots and audio; Ron's frustration with Alice's skill shot difficulty

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Joe Saeed won Allentown tournament; Ron Hallett made finals as defending champion, advanced one playoff round, cashed $150 in profit; competitive drama on Marstrek final match

    high · Ron's tournament report and playoff results

  • ?

    historical_signal: Le Grand 8 (10-unit French run, Gottlieb 80A/80 technology) featured at show; Cosmic Carnival observed as historically desirable game now generating no collector interest, illustrating game desirability cycles

    high · Bruce's enthusiasm for Le Grand 8's kinetic center mechanism; Ron's observation about Cosmic Carnival's fallen status

  • ?

    community_signal: Mr. Franchi (CoinTaker representative) present at Allentown in booth; expressed frustration with Ron's negativity on podcast but engaged in friendly conversation; industry figure accessibility

    medium · Ron's direct interaction report and Franchi's booth presence with CoinTaker

  • ?

    product_strategy: Multiple manufacturers employing scarcity-driven production: Winchester (525 units), Three Musketeers (2 prototypes at show), Le Grand 8 (10 units total); limited runs creating secondary market demand and collector FOMO

    high · Production numbers discussed for all featured games; Bruce's frustration with inability to obtain Winchester

  • ?

    supply_chain_signal: Three Musketeers machines delayed by customs issues before Texas show; only 2 units available at Allentown despite European origin

    medium · Ron's statement: 'these are the ones that were stuck in customs for the Texas show'

    • 2:54
    Fantastic. Oh, oh, yeah, okay. I do. There we go. I do. There you go. See, we don't even, I didn't even tell Ron. I give him a hint and he picks up on it. Yes, yes. That's how we are, brothers.
    3:06
    So, what should we talk about? Well, I'm going to go in order. So, not much has happened really news-wise while we're away, so we're not missing out. But I know some of our listeners are getting concerned that there's these long breaks. And, you know, I would like to record every other week, but it just hasn't been working out lately. So we apologize. We will not be able to, again, we'll be three weeks again.
    3:32
    Because, why? Cruising. Oh, you're on, wait a minute. On a Sunday afternoon. So there's a stop and then the next weekend is another cruise. Yeah. Really? You see what's going on with the cruise right now? The whole outbreak and shit? There's two outbreaks. There's actually two outbreaks. Why the hell would anyone do cruises? That's another reason. I don't understand. Cruising. Well, first, I'm not going to go touch a rat. Or rat turds or rat urine. That's an important thing I've learned. Do not touch rat. Isn't that how Gene Hackman's wife died or whatever? Yes, exactly. Touching rat turds or something. Or something like that. Something like that. Don't touch that. Second, wash your hands. Washy-washy, as they say on the ship. They have a person that when you're walking into the buffet, she has a music going on. It's wash-y-washy. Everyone wash your hands. And they have a hand washing station before you go into the buffet. And you know what? Half the fucking people just blow right past her. There should be a dedicated barrier. You need to do this, you dumb fucks.
    4:37
    All right. Well, we had a washy washy washy washy. It's not racist when when people do it on the ship. But I would think that would be totally, you know.
    4:47
    What, racist? Washy washy? How is that? How is washy washy racist? I'm confused. Well, you're saying it like a group of people. Uh-huh. Okay. Then that's what you read. Oh, you're going to get in trouble. Let's talk about Allentown.
    5:03
    I'm just saying it. Allentown. I just began it. It's three weeks. Three weeks. Okay. I'm going to record again. We'll have plenty to talk about then. So, because, well, because in three weeks there will be a reveal. I know that for a fact because we got a couple emails. I don't know if you looked at our ball bag. I can't get into the ball bag right now. It won't let me in the password. Oh, no. It wants to verify with you. It wants to verify with me. Oh. Maybe you should do it right now while you're on the line. You know, you should do it right now. I thought I saw something like that come through and I verified it because I figured it was you. Yeah, of course it is. High security. By that, does it mean like it's emailing me or something and I have to... Yes, you have to verify. Yeah, but I thought I did that already. Isn't this exciting, folks? You waited all this time to hear this shit. This shit. I don't know why you're doing that. So the Allentown Pinvest show happened over this past weekend. It did, and it was fucking awesome.
    5:58
    That and Expo are my longest running shows. I've been to every one since 2004. I missed one that was last year. And even, well, they didn't have one in 2020 for obvious reasons.
    6:13
    I spent most of the time in the tournament area again. I didn't get to really walk around until later. And by the time I walked around, tons of games were gone already.
    6:25
    But I did get to play. I got my little notes here, things to make sure I mention. I got an email. I played what email? I got into it. Oh, you got into it. Bruce is in the ball bag. I'm in my ball bag.
    6:39
    So I played Three Musketeers. Yeah. Did you play Three Musketeers? Yes, I did. You did. Okay. It was weird because it was in this section where Winchester was in this section, which had a non-stop line. And when I walked in at first, I thought, oh, is that the line for Three Musketeers? No. There was no line for Three Musketeers. You could probably just go up and play it. So before I say my stuff, since I haven't heard your opinion on this at all, what did you think? You played Three Musketeers. We played one game. You played one game. I played one game with Dad. Yep.
    7:27
    Not very fun. You need more than that. Come on. I'm being honest. I was playing. I'm shooting. You're being honest. You have no detail. It was just the shooting, and I was like, ugh. I actually, luckily, since I'm part of the group of people who help run the show, I got to play a lot of Winchester. Ah, lucky you. Damn it. I did. Fuck, it was awesome. Okay, so you... That is the home run of this year. A home run of this year. Well, yeah, they totally under... Under-made it, yes. They need to bring out a gold edition, a platinum edition, and other editions, because, God, that game is fucking good. Carl, French Kiss. Oh, okay. Fucking Three Musketeers. I didn't even enjoy it. I played Winchester three times. I sucked all three times, and I'm not going to stand in line to play it anymore. Yeah. I played it seven times, and I was very happy. Ah, see, yeah, you got to play it way more than I did at two different shows. Yep.
    8:31
    French kiss, fucking Carl. French fucking kiss. Well, wait a minute. Shouldn't a French kiss be for Three Musketeers, Oui Oui? No? No. It's a lot of Oui Oui in that thing. Oh. I didn't like it. I actually almost walked away from it. Oh, Jesus Christ. Okay. Anyway, I'm going to try to have a more objective view here. So, I liked the playfield art.
    8:53
    The art was okay. These sculpts looked like it was sculpts you'd see on a white wood. Yeah. Like, those aren't the final ones, you know. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, but you got it in a game that looks almost done, so guess what? Well, here's the issue. Again, I'm going to name all the issues I had, but I was later told, like, oh, these are prototypes. Prototypes, one of the issues is known and they're working on it and I'm just like, what the hell is that?
    9:22
    I'm like, I'm tired of hearing that. That's like the home pin excuse for every game that I play is that there are prototypes. So all your prototypes are non-playable. Don't bring it out. It just looks bad. People are so... I don't understand. I want you to succeed. I'm telling you, please, if it's at this date, don't bring it out yet. Yes. So you have the play field art I kind of liked. I liked that the locks, it had lock inserts that were of a lock. Yeah. I thought that was pretty cool. I don't remember ever seeing that. So when I walked up to this thing, the first thing I noticed was on the LCD, you can see the mouse pointer in the middle, which means there's a mouse in the game somewhere. Like they just turned it on or whatever. It's like that's not a good look to me. Like, no. Why is there a mouse point in the middle of a fucking screen? Not very professional.
    10:15
    And it didn't really show much in the way of graphics. It's pretty much a static screen that has little things that change as you progress through. Yeah, in the background. It looked like it had some kind of mode. It hit white shots to start a mode type thing. It had that. But I never look at that shit when I play a game the first time. I'm looking like, what's the main multiball? How do I start it? And that was very apparent. Like you walk up and there's like four inserts flashing green in front of stand-ups. And I'm thinking that's got to be the lock, right? Of course, yeah! And it is! I hit all four stand-ups and the two lock inserts light up. Which again, I really like that they were pictures of locks. Kudos. I'll give you a thumbs up on that one. And the two locks were the ramps. The center ramp, the way in the back of the game, and the right ramp. Now, the center ramp was unhittable from the left flipper. Yes, totally unhittable. You can hit it from the right flipper, but it would barely make it up. Yeah, it was like, ugh. From the left, it would go up to the top, rattle around, and just roll back down. Yes. I was later told that they were aware of this, that the ramp sucks, and they're actually redesigning the ramp. But again, don't bring it. Don't bring it. But then again, if you're doing Whitewoods, how do you have a ramp that plays that bad, and you get to the point? Oh, I can see, guess what? Okay, you can see it. How can you see that, Bruce? Well, as an engineer, you know, you're not taking that ramp off the white wood and putting it on a production game. You're actually sending that ramp out with specs. And maybe some of the specs are a little different, maybe the manufacturer. So I'll give them on that one. All right. But I would think when that constructed game comes back, if you play it, you'd be like, oh. Oh, yeah, totally. I would say, whoa, we got a problem here. I would not want to send that out because it's like people are going to not like this. Unless they assembled it last week. Well, these are the ones that were stuck in customs for the Texas show. And supposedly there's like two of these in existence.
    12:15
    But again, just for me, just a basic idiot, you know, Pinhead, I'm playing this, it's like I can't hit this ramp. No. And I didn't even think it was a power issue. It was an angle issue. It would go up there and it would rattle. And yeah, I'll say that positive. Flippers were strong. It would rattle and just come down every time. It's like it could not. It couldn't make the bend. It didn't flow right. Yeah, it could not make the bend.
    12:42
    So, whatever. So, I have the locks. So, I hit the right ramp, and it has like an up post that locks the ball. Cool. So, then I hit the center ramp because I figure, you know, there's an insert in front of it. That's the lock insert. It's flashing at me, so I figure I can lock a ball there. No. It just comes all the way around and does not lock. So I was like, okay, I guess that doesn't work or maybe something's just not working right. So I locked all the balls on the right and started multiball and played that.
    13:09
    I mean, it was fine. I couldn't hear it. No, not at all. So I have no idea how the sound was. Yeah. But that was basically my experience. I don't know who this game is for.
    13:23
    Like, is Three Musketeers a big thing in Europe, maybe? Maybe. Oui, oui. A lot of oui, oui. I don't know who buys this here. No, nobody.
    13:33
    That's the thing. I do appreciate that they brought it over here. Thank you very much. Take it back.
    13:41
    But again, the ramp thing is just like, I'm shooting it. It's like, what? What the fuck? Why is this? God damn it. It's just not right there, Bobby. No. But yeah. Sorry to be so negative. That's usually Bruce's category. Yep. Yeah. It had the building on the left and it had like turnaround shots and stuff. Yeah. I didn't think there was anything about the layout that was stuck in my head like, oh, this is really cool or anything like that. It literally, it looked like, oh God, I'll take, I always take five percent. It looked like it would be in a homebrew section. Yeah, totally. But it would be in the not quite done yet homebrew section. Yeah, and this is a $10,000 not quite done machine. Oh, they want $10,000? Yeah, I thought it was that price. Oh, God. No, no. Because I played Big Trouble in Little China looked way beyond what this game is, and that was a homebrew.
    14:39
    You know, that had full LCD animations, good art, the layout was fine, but it looked way farther along with way more stuff in it than this game did. So, uh, hexa, hold on. Yeah, hexa pinball. And their other game, of course, was Space Hunts with the ramp that you can't hit that goes to the upper playfield that you don't spend any more than two seconds on. Yeah, maybe you need to tap on your old brakes. I remember that was an expo. I was challenging the group I was in, like, I'll give a dollar to anyone who can actually hit that ramp and get to the upper playfield. And nobody did.
    15:22
    Ah, it's funny. Yeah, I'm waiting. Hold on. Oh, sorry. The classic edition is 7,900 euros. Euros. So that is 8,500. Okay. The elegance limited edition is 10,390 euros, which is almost $11,000. No. No way. No. No way. You got the power. All right. So you play Winchester. Why is it so great, Bruce? It's so weird to hear you gush on any game because you fucking hate everything.
    15:54
    Well, the good thing was, it was nobody's playing really around us because we're only playing that, so you can hear the game. Sounds are fucking awesome on this game. I don't like the main call-out guy. I don't mind him. I liked him. Nope, liked it. Okay. Shots, fucking awesome. The Gilligan's Island thing in the back, fucking awesome. The Gilligan's Island thing. I love it. Well, it is. It is. It changes your pathway. Yep, just like the one on Harry Potter. Yes, exactly, but I called it the Gilligan's Island. That's an original that used that. I loved it. The only thing I did not like. Uh-oh, uh-oh. No, it's not bad. When a ball ends, it seems like it turns the Gilligan's Island thing to a preset thing, but it always goes back to the normal thing. Like, it always goes back to the home. Like, it goes to a home position, and then it turns it proper to where it should start when you plunge a ball. So I was just like a little worried like hmm that doesn't seem like it's just right yet for Pinball but guess what it's not a mechanical thing. Exactly that's the mechanical person that I am going hmm. You think it's moving unnecessarily? Yes. Okay. But other than that holy crap that game is fun. Little easy to get the first multi-ball of course but maybe the way they set it up they set it up here at Allentown. But oh my god. I love the Translight because it kind of reminds me of the game. It's going to be a haunted house. Yes. Honestly, awesome. If I had $16,000 or $15,000 that people are trying to sell these for, I'd be saying, take my money. Wow.
    17:29
    Who's making this, Turner? No. Oh, who's making it? Barrels of Fun. Make more. Holy fuck. They can't. They go back on their word then. Then they look like Haggis. Or Stern. Guess what? I'd rather them look like Haggis. This is a good game that needs to be put out more and more.
    17:50
    You can make a gold edition, a platinum edition. I don't care. Wow, Bruce is telling you to do the cash grab. Fucking make more money on this thing because guess what? You have a solid hit that works and works well. All the shots feel comfortable. You walk up to the thing. Actually, you can hear it. You know what you're shooting for. I like that there's a little mystery to it too with the back part. You're like, oh, he's like, I got to now hit this shot. The back targets did brick a couple times, but guess what? They did go down eventually. I wasn't like, oh my God, this is bad.
    18:31
    Enjoyed it. Oh my fucking God. The Star Trek ramp shot is very satisfying also. The Star Trek ramp shot. Yeah. You know, from the right flipper to that water tank it looks like. Fucking awesome game.
    18:48
    Hold on. Wow. Bravo. That's what a pinball machine should be doing. Oh, okay. It fucking grabbed you. And wait a second. Not a licensed theme. Really? Well, it is. It is a licensed theme. But guess what? It really isn't. It really is. It literally is a licensed theme. That no one knows what it is. Exactly. So it's really not a great licensing, but it works because it's a fun, good shooting game. And that's what we need more of.
    19:22
    Oh, my God. I'm gushing. Oh, wow. Yes. See? Hold on. You've got to clean off your keyboard there. Mr. Negative is going very positive on this fucking game. I literally was upset when they started calling me over to get their doors ready to open. And I'm like, no, I'm playing. This fucking game is awesome.
    19:42
    And then Ivan comes over. He's like, how many times have you played this? Like seven? He's like, get out of here. I'm going to go play it. And he played it. He's like, he came out afterwards. He's like, this fucking game is fun. I'm like, I know.
    19:53
    He's like, we'll have to wait for him to come on sale. I'm like, there's only 525. They're not going to be that easy to grab.
    19:59
    About as easy to grab as hoops, it seems. Hoops. All right. But great game. I play Beetlejuice. Oh, you play Beetlejuice. Oh, this is good. We're getting Bruce's. Okay, you play Beetlejuice and.
    20:18
    Uh-oh, Dead Silence? I didn't. I liked it. It's okay. It didn't do well for me. I'm not. Yes, as I told you before. Oh, that's right. You don't like Beetlejuice. I don't like Beetlejuice. I hate the movie. Oh, well, yeah, that's going to kind of. It really does. I actually do like Michael Heaton. I actually like him in this role. I think everyone else in this role, in the role, supporting it, just, like, everyone gushes about the, you know, what's the mode where, you know, not mode, but in the movie, you know, where they're doing, uh, the Dale. Yeah, that, oh my god, it's so fucking overplayed, it's like, uh, excuse me right, you know what. The cock, yes, we know your line, yes, yes. Yeah, but it's just like, yeah, it just doesn't do anything for me. I did get to play Evil Dead more. Mm-hmm. A little bit better. I will say it's growing on me. It's growing on you like herpes. Like herpes, yes. Did you tell Mr. Franchi that because he was there? I did, and he told me that I am very negative and he can't listen to the podcast anymore. Yeah, you're negative. And I laughed at him and I said, you're negative. And then he told me that he beats you on no fear. Yeah, he said that. God damn it. You came over and said that, and it didn't dawn on me he was actually at the show. Then I see him later going by like, wait a minute, what the fuck are you doing here? I know, it was really nice to meet him. Yeah, Allentown, like why are you in Allentown? I don't understand that. Yeah, he was out for, you know, for... For CoinTaker. CoinTaker, yes. And he had an actual booth. That's the first time I've seen him in a booth in a while. Yep. It was good to see him. I gave him a nice hug. And he's like, I can't fucking listen to this show. You're so negative. I'm like, am I wrong? Ah, some of the things. I'm like, what, your stuff? Me and Chris talked about Beavis and Butthead. Anyone's ever going to make that? I don't think so. Oh, well. Damn it. We got no respect. You know what I'm saying, Butthead? I know. Damn it. What the hell's going on, boy? Exactly. See, so I blame all the pinball manufacturers. You all fucking suck. Yep. God damn it. It's all your fault. It's right there for the take. Turner. I know. Barrels of fun. Anybody. Somebody was, go get some people from Butthead. I shouldn't say anybody. No, because I did play that game too this weekend. Oh, what did you play? DPX, baby, or DP, what's the new initials for? Yeah, it's DPX still for that one. You mean the Allison Wonderland? Oh, that was there. Oh, that's right. That was there. The Allison, the deep, the, yes, Dutch Pinball Exclusive, or as Bruce calls it. Dual Penetration Extreme! Yes, version of, we'll be talking about Melvin Williams again on the show. I got him in my new segment. So you got to play that. I keep forgetting that you don't get a chance to play these games because you're too busy on cruises and you don't go to any shows anymore. Fuck yeah. So what did you think of Alice in Wonderland? Beautiful game. Artwork, you know, and everything. Oh, you like the porno artwork? Yes. The trailer park artwork is for you? Okay. Trail park artwork! All right. And the Chester cat on the top is fucking awesome. I will for that. Chester cat, yes. Not Chester. It is Chester. Chester, we'll call him Chester the cat. Chester the molester.
    23:30
    He's cousins with John Trudeau. Don't forget me. Oh yeah, I can't forget you. But no, other than that, oh my god, what a stinker of a fucking game. Wow. Like, I'm sitting there playing it, and you do the right orbit to lock balls for one of the multi-balls. And it's pretty cool how it grabs the ball and spins it around a couple times. I don't even remember the layout at this point. But instead of going, how the fuck do I start a mode?
    24:07
    And we're playing, and I'm almost three quarters of the way done for the second game, and people are starting to line up behind me. And I finally realized, I go, I have to hit the stupid skill shot hole.
    24:19
    On the right-hand side, on the right, the plunge, you know, you can get the skill shots, the saucer. That's how you start the modes in that game. And it's like the most extreme shot off your left flipper.
    24:30
    Like, you're at the tip, tip, tip of that flipper just to make that shot, possibly. So you're not good enough. That's what I'm hearing. It just was terrible. Okay. But pretty, yes. Play, artwork, good. Animation, not bad. And the sounds, you know, the callouts, I was not impressed with all the callouts. No one does good callouts anymore. No. No. All right. So that was my feel on that one. All right. Anything else new? Did you play some Pokemon? No, I didn't. We have one, so it doesn't matter. I did like the game that was brought from Europe.
    25:15
    We talked about Three Musketeers. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Okay. The one from the 80s. The one from the 80s? The Gottlieb 80s. Remember the amusement park one from, did you play that? Oh, do you mean the, what's it called, Jolly Park? No, no, no, not Jolly Park. It's a different one. Oh. You didn't see this one, did you? I don't know what you're talking about. It was in the free play area.
    25:42
    Well, you know what I saw that was funny? Right next to the tournament area, there was the Cosmic Carnival just sitting there with a bunch of the other games, no one paying in any mind whatsoever.
    25:53
    Like years ago, if that was at a show, there would be a line for it. Now, like, it's just another game and nobody cares. It's funny to see games go through those different stages. I know. Like, they're the shit, and then a few years later, they're just another game. Womp womp. And that one didn't even really get made. That was, what, Suncoast that went out of business? Yeah, the ten of them, yeah. That's like Dirty Donnie's last pinball art package. Yep, totally agree. Well, you can agree or not agree. It's fact. You can't agree or not agree with a fact. I totally agree with it. I agree with your facts, Ron. I could disagree with your facts. Like, no, there is no sun.
    26:32
    There is no sun. I disagree with you. The earth is flat, Bruce. It is. Wait a minute. It's flat for one foot. That's true. I thought the simplest thing was like if you look at the ocean and something is going away from you, it eventually goes down out of sight. So clearly it's curved. Yes. I thought that was the simplest.
    26:58
    You would think. I'm trying to find a picture of that game. Hold on. Well, meanwhile, I played in a tournament, which they did. This year, you play a bank of 15 games. Your best 12 games count. You get 15 total plays. So basically, you play 12 games and then try to improve or play different ones. It's like $130, just straight fee, because they have to get the qualifying done, because they're on a time crunch. This thing can't go on forever like every other tournament. It has to, you know, strict time constraints. So I was a defending champion and I did make finals again. I'm happy to say. And I got through one round of playoffs and then lost. And the person who, the main person who beat me, Joe, remember Joe Saeed? He went on to win the whole thing So congratulations Yeah and our bank he I came from behind on ball five of Marstrek to take the lead at like 420K And then he was the last player and he came even further back and just beat me. That hurt. I needed that first in that game. And then we play Stars, which fucked everyone in the ass because of Stars. I fucking hate playing Stars in tournaments. But yeah, he went on to win it, so congratulations. I was cashing though because I got past the first round. I made $150, so $20 total profit. So as Steve Bowden says, always be cashing, so I was cashing. I was very happy.
    28:46
    Did you see the big engine there that they had? The big engine? Engine. Is that a big Indian? Oh, maybe? They had a big engine. That was the prototype. Prototype back glass. Ah.
    29:00
    And they didn't make it because it was offensive. Yes. Wow. They thought it was offensive in the 70s, so you know it had to be bad. Yes. I don't think they found anything offensive in the 70s. Did you find it yet, Bruce? I'm still looking. Going through the pictures. I thought it was just Jolly Park. No, not Jolly Park. I played Jolly Park. This was totally different. Totally different. Yep. Just trying to find somebody to walk past it because they're showing up. Uh-huh. As we have dead air. Dead air. Keep on going. Keep on going. I'll find it eventually. Okay, I'll make up shit. Well, we have the Farmer's Market, which is one of the highlights of the show.
    29:41
    I had, what did I get this time? Instead of getting my usual slice of triple-decker chocolate cake thing I get, I just got a brownie. Brownie? And it was good. That's good. Yeah, if you can't find something to eat with this building across the street, even me, Mr. Picky, Mr. Doesn't Eat Anything, I can find multiple things to eat in there. So if you can't find something, you've got problems. Yeah, you've got problems, bro.
    30:10
    I don't know. It might be the only farmer's market, though, I've ever been in. There's a couple I've been in. Okay, so how does this rank as far as size? Oh, it's really good. Oh, there it is. There it is. Hold on. Found it. Oh, you found it. See? Killing time like professionals here.
    30:26
    I can't see what the name of it is. It's called Bruce's Fantasy Machine. No, it's not. Hold on, I've got to expand the screen. You've got to expand the screen. This was on his 20-year-old laptop. LeGrand. LeGrand? Yes. Spell it. L-E-G-R-A-N-D. Okay. LeGrand. No E at the end? Doesn't look like it. Okay.
    30:50
    No, I did not. Grand 8. Oh. Looks like it is an 8 there. I don't know, but look around. Okay. I can't see.
    30:57
    I can't see, Captain. I'm trying to still. Hold on. Let me see if I can hear it. Okay. So was it great, Bruce? What? Was it a great game? Yes, because it had a kinetic ball in the middle. So if you hit the rails in the middle, the ball would go in to do certain things in the middle, almost like a trapeze. It would go through loops.
    31:21
    I'm looking this up on IPDB. There's only 10 of them. Let's see. IPDB is really... Le Grand 8. Yes, see? By Christian Automatic of France. So it was just like... Just like... Free Musketeers, France. And none of the pictures are loading for me. I know. What else to do? IPDB is going in the toilet. I know. I think they lost like three out of four servers and they're just, you know. Yeah, yeah, it shows.
    31:55
    Okay, here we go. We got a play field shot. Let me look at this thing. So Bruce liked this French game. Oh, oh, oh, oh. So that was your favorite French game at the show, you can say. It was actually one of the best. It's based off Gottlieb stuff. Oh. Gottlieb 80A or 80 technology.
    32:15
    But the center is really cool with the shots in the center. You hit the railing and the ball would go, there's a captive ball in the middle and it would go different ways the way you hit.
    32:25
    Oh, you're right, Bruce. Once again, I'm looking at, it's got a little blurb on here about, this is, oh, this has to be the guy who made the company. So it was based on Panthera. A hundred machines were produced. They were kits. Yep. So you would put them in, yeah. Interesting. This is fucking, it was awesome. I played it like six times. I was like, oh my God, it's fucking awesome.
    32:53
    Yep, JT just mentioned me back saying, you know, here it is. The Grand Eight. Yeah, it's got this weird looking thing in the center here. The center thing is awesome because if you hit the ball the right way, it will actually loop around with kinetic energy and go into different things and give you points. Is it like a captive ball? Yes. Yeah, because in the picture, of course, they have on IPDB, there's no ball in it. Yeah, this one has a ball, and you hit it, and it goes all the way around, it can do loops, it can do... It's really fucking cool. I played this so much, I was like... And then I asked the guy, I'm like, how much did... He goes, I paid seven grand for this. Oh, Jesus. And he brought it over from Europe. Uh-huh. I'm like, holy fuck!
    33:35
    The art is... Gaudy. Gaudy. Oh, my God. They got like this 300 pound woman with like a dwarf sitting on her knee. Yes. Wow. It's some weird stuff here.
    33:52
    All right. But yeah, that was the game of the show for me. The game of the show was La Grande.
    34:00
    I think we have a title. And then I got, because I guarantee we've never used that title before. La Grande is awesome. Oui, oui. La Grande. The game of the show, ladies and gentlemen, was not Winchester. It was the Grand Ate. The Grand Ate.
    34:17
    It did not smell like Paris and P either. Oh. Okay. Shout out to Ryan and Jeff. Oui, oui. A whole lot of it.
    34:32
    What's that from? What line of the movie is that from? What movie? What? Oui, oui. A whole lot of it. I don't know.
    34:40
    You look like the Piss Boy. You look like a bucket of shit. I don't know what movie that is. Wow, History of the World Part 1. Oh yeah, I've never seen that. Sorry.
    34:51
    I'm sorry, there's lots of Bell Brooks movies I haven't seen. Oh my fucking God. The one with Springtime for Hitler or whatever, I haven't seen that one. You've never seen the producers? I've never seen the producers. Springtime for Hitler in Germany. I've never seen Young Frankenstein either. Oh my God, Frankenstein. It's Frankenstein. I've seen scenes from it, you know, Walk This Way. Yes, Walk This Way. Oh my God, have you ever seen Silent Movie? You've never seen any of these, have you? Except for Spaceballs. Let me guess. I've seen Spaceballs. I've seen Robin Hood Men in Tights. I've seen Robin Hood Men in Tights. Was that him? Yes. Oh, I've seen Blazing Saddles, of course. Yep, of course. The movie that would never be able to even be produced today. Oh, God, no. No, God, no. I think that's all I got for Allentown. You got anything else from Allentown? A lot of good deals. On Thursday, obviously. On Thursday, yes.
    35:51
    So I had a couple pre-deals, and I sold one game. So I sold a World Cup soccer game. You had pre-deals. So you had deals before you had deals. Deals before I had deals, before the show. Yeah. I bought a meteor cabinet, $100, to fix my meteor cabinet that was worn, it looked like, by a dog chain.
    36:10
    So I'm going to replace that and have the old one, and I'll probably try to sell that for $50 or $60. $100, can't beat that. Second, Brucey's got another Gamatron. Another Gamatron.
    36:24
    It was a play field and a cabinet, no boards, and no back glass. I bought it for $400. Can't beat that.
    36:33
    And luckily, Jeff Moorhead was at the place where it was sold. He picked it up for me and dropped it off there, so I gave him $40 for gas, saying thank you. That was really nice of him, so thank you, Jeff.
    36:47
    And then I bought the unexpected game of the tournament, of the show. No, I bought me an EM. Oh, okay. Okay. Man, what DM do you think I would purchase? Hot tip. Nope. I already have one.
    37:05
    Oh, that's right. You have a hot tip DM. I don't know then. Ringer. Ringer? What the hell is Ringer? Look it up.
    37:15
    I don't want to keep looking up. Williams Ringer. Okay. I'll listen to it. I'm being totally honest.
    37:23
    I'm telling you, Ringer. God damn it. I don't think people want to listen to the podcast to hear people look shit up. It's going to be fun. Is it Ringer? No, Ringer. Just Ringer. And it's Williams. Williams Ringer. I got Bell Ringer. Nope. I don't see a Ringer. I just looked up Ringer. Don't look it up on IPDB. I am. I'm an IPDB guy. No, do not, I said. Oh. Well, how the hell? Okay. Oh, ho, ho, ho. Williams Ringer Pinball. No, not Pinball. Just Williams Ringer. Oh. What a pain in the ass. It's not a pinball machine then. It is. Oh, that's right. It's an electromechanical horseshoe themed arcade game. It's an arcade game. Yes.
    38:06
    Guess who has to be with me in it? I don't know who. Zach. Oh, God. Zach wasn't even at the show anymore.
    38:15
    It's got a steering wheel thing on it. Yes, it does. That's how far you are, how weak you throw your horseshoe. Oh, God. All right. Well, at least it doesn't take up a lot of space. No, it's actually really small. Yeah. This came from the state from, I remember told you the guy from upstate New York, he passed away from a heart attack and all of his EMs were getting sold and other stuff. Oh, yes, I played one of his games when I was there. Yes. Tim. Well, he, Tim, Tim Appelito. Yes. And he had a lot of rare games I didn't even know about. He had a EM Mata Hari.
    38:52
    Very rare. They only mean like I think 200 or 130. He had the NBA Bowler, the extra long one. Yes, and I know who bought that one. Ten Pin or Ten Strike or something. He had the mannequin bowler that has the longer alley, the super rare one he had. Yep.
    39:10
    He also had a Blackjack EM, like Zach has. A lot nicer though. This one has a great play field. That was sold there also, and it's paying for his bills and for his, you know. Yeah. So I actually, this was being sold out of Tim's estate, and I grabbed that when I saw it. I was like, oh, my God. So I called Zach up real fast. I actually called Zach, and he answered. That was the two-year-old list of the fucking story. Yeah, he answered. He doesn't answer his phone. He knows when I call, it's usually an oh, my God-er. And since it was at the show, he's like, what's up? I'm like, there's a ringer in front of me. How much is it? We talked about it. He goes, I'll offer him this. I turned around, I said, hey, will you take this? He's like, I'll take that. And boom. He wouldn't have said what's up. He would have said what. No.
    40:00
    But he knew I was at the show early Thursday. So, yeah, and then I showed him pictures of the blackjack. He's like, holy crap, that's a nice one. And then Madhahari with EM, so that was cool, too. Had a nice play field. Speaking of fantastic play fields, didn't you have some kind of interaction there? Yes, we did. You like that segue? Wow. Woo.
    40:21
    Well, in the beginning of the day, Friday, we saw each other and butted hands. Well, for our new listeners, there's a company called Fantastic Playfields. Fantastic Pinball.
    40:36
    Fantastic Pinball. And I think the last year when we had our Allentown show. Two years. Two years ago when we had our Allentown recap show, we had you and Zach on here and you both just shit on him. Big time. Yep.
    40:51
    Not going to die. Nope. So did he kick your ass? No, not at all. Okay. Of course not. We agreed to disagree. Okay. So, you know, he's like, you know, we had a discussion and we didn't agree with each other. So then later on the day, Ivan came up to me and said, you know, you should try to talk to him again. You know, he seems like a nice guy. Maybe he can try to, you know, clear the air. Okay. Let me try again. And so we went over and I'm like, I'm not going to be here to argue with you. And I said, I think you definitely need better quality control. And he showed me some stuff and I'm like, okay, well, I pointed out a couple other things. He was like, wow. And now we have an agreement where if he sends me the files, I will look them over. And I caught a couple of things that he was very surprised about also.
    41:39
    So, like stuff on the play field, like give an example, Bruce, just be more specific. Okay. Like Flight 2000. Okay. There's a 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 on the playfield. Okay. Like inserts that say 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. No, there's actually just art. Or just art on the playfield. Okay. In front of the drop targets. In front of the drop targets. Gotcha. Okay. Now, how are you supposed to blast off when you go 5, 4, 3, 2? What do you mean? 1. Ah. Oh, there's no 1. There was no one. Oh. And he said, oh, I didn't even notice that. I said, let's go to another machine. And I picked it up like literally like that. You know me, Mr. Anal. Yeah, I hear that about you. Yes, I am. And I went and we looked. He's like, holy crap. I didn't even notice that. I'm like, you need. And I'm willing to help him. I want to help him because when he does do great work, it really looks good. And I want to help him try to find a different printer because he's got a couple printer issues. So I've reached out to my people I used to work with at Durst. And they're going to try to get me somebody. That's right. You used to do industrial printing. Industrial printing and ink check. Go figure, right?
    42:53
    And I wanted him to get a better maybe color management, CMS, color management system it's called. So I offered my services. I said, I don't want your files.
    43:04
    And I even said, like, he was showing me, he was ready to show me some files. We never got the hookup again. And I want to tell him, and I'm going to say it out to everyone too. I don't want his files. I want him when he sends files to watermark them so I cannot, you know, print it because I have no interest in printing shit.
    43:22
    I just want to help him so he can get product out to everyone else and make it look good. And that's the biggest thing. I think when he has his everything going good, he'll sell it like the Alien Stars. The Alien Star play fields, I saw another one. They look great. I saw one on the machine. It looks awesome. So if we can get past so many issues, I think he'll be rocking it. And then there's less chances because we talked also. I said, well, you had a problem with the bad girls. And he said, yeah, I had a problem with this. And I said, you also had a problem with this.
    43:58
    And, you know, I pick up stuff a lot. I really do. I'm not OCD. Would you call me OCD? No. No, but I pick up stuff. And it's just me. I was in the art business, you know, the photography and an inkjet where I would just pick up, like, little things. And he had some issues from his past printer. And I said, well, what about this printer? He goes, oh, this is done on a different machine, different printer. And I said, this looks awesome. So he knows that if he can get, you know, a good printer, he'll put out good stuff. So we mended, we broke bread. Oh, broke bread, okay. We broke Brad. You know, I just want to see him put out some good stuff. So everyone else is great. You know, it has a great time with it and actually has, you know, a good feeling because I think when he does put out good stuff, it helps everyone in the market. And I think he does with the Alien Star play field. Looks really good. So let's do it. Let's get this all done. And let's move on to my next subject. We're done with Allentown. I loved Allentown. I can't wait for next year already. Uh-huh. Oh! I did buy something else. Oh, God. Okay, what else?
    45:18
    What game did I buy from Williams that was made in 1994? Besides World Cup soccer. Oh, Shadow? Yes. I bought a Shadow.
    45:33
    Need some work. As they all do. As all the games you buy, do. Somebody welded the ramp wrong. Oh. Yeah. And the ball doesn't go through it now, so I have to probably re-break it and have somebody else re-weld it. Mm-hmm. So that's a long-off project because I got so many projects not even funny. Mm-hmm. I pulled out the victory. Maybe I'll sell it this weekend. Maybe I'll be working on it and getting it ready for the coop. Who knows? Mm-hmm. Victory. For death. We had the Mid-Atlantic Pinball Open at the Delaware Pinball Collective that happened while we were away.
    46:11
    And that was a, it's funny, I was at the Rock Fantasy Pokemon launch party. Yeah. And we had probably less people there than usual, and I was like, yeah, the Mid-Atlantic Pinball Opens today. It's like a, it's a, what do you call it, event? It's a Stern Army. No, not Stern Army. Not Stern Army, yeah.
    46:35
    Stern Tour. No, this is so bad that we should know at the top of our head. It's the tournaments that mean a little bit more, part of the Stern something. Oh, Circuit Event. There we go. Jesus Christ. So all the New York City people were there that would normally go to the Rock Fantasy thing. So it didn't help me any in the Pokemon. I sucked in that tournament. You had to say it the proper way, sir? Pokemon. Yaman.
    47:04
    Okay. But, yeah, the Mid-Atlantic Pinball Open. Let's see. I have that up here. I'm trying to remember. Oh, the final game of it was Stars. But, of course. Well, because it ended so late, Zach McCarthy needed to catch a plane. So, for the third game, he picked Stars because he needed something that would be quick. But basically, I thought that was pretty funny. It is funny.
    47:35
    But I'm not going to go through every goddamn thing. No, no. But just congratulations to the, who won that?
    47:44
    I guess I should at least. New York City. Oh, did Alex won? Yes, Alex. The former stop winner. Yes. Congratulations, Alex. He's come out last few years as one of the best players in New York City. Out of nowhere. Cinderella boy out of nowhere. One time assistant greenskeeper and now about to become the next Mid-Atlantic Pinball Open champion.
    48:08
    Daddy Shaq, baby. Yes, if you want something and I didn't name you, I'm sorry. We got to keep moving here. Midwest Gaming Classic happened. 25th anniversary show. I think I went to one of them. I remember I had a plane get canceled, and they put us on a bus, and we went from the Milwaukee airport to the, yeah, either Midway or O'Hare, I can't remember. Chicago, Chicago. I thought that was funny. We got on a bus. Yes.
    48:44
    What else do I have here? Oh, Dungeon Crawler Carl. We haven't talked about that at all. No. Do you know what that is? It's a book series. Yeah, and you do a lot of audio books, so have you done any of these? Nine books I think after now. Eight or nine. So have you listened to any of these books? Kathy has. I have not. Kathy has them saved in our Audible account. We have an Audible account. Because somebody has this license because the guy who makes the books basically said that Pinball is being made, so somebody has it. Any opinion or guesses on who has it?
    49:17
    I'm thinking it's not one of the big two. That's not Stern. That's not going to be Stern. I doubt if it's Jersey Jack. Nope. I think it's Barrels. You think it's Barrels because Carl D'Angelo is a huge fan and actually went as Carl for like a Halloween party or something. So you think that's okay. I think it's going to be Barrels of Fun. All right. I hope so. What I saw from Winchester and what I saw from Carl. I'm a man crush. Jesus Christ.
    49:52
    I haven't seen Corona in a while. He's like disappeared. I know. Well, he's been back on stream. He's posted a couple. He's done a couple of videos. Oh, okay. In the past couple of days. That's one thing I do follow on Twitch. And he's done two in the past couple of days. Okay. Have they been on Winchester? No. Other things. Okay. So that's good. You know, he's not just, oh, you know, slinging his schlop. You know, he's doing other things. You were going to say slinging his schlong, weren't you? Schlong, yes. Why did you change? Why did you feel you had to change that? I mean. I was trying to be a little pre-shave. Yeah, okay. On this show. On this show, yes. Wake up. It's the morning, for God's sake. It's 11 o'clock. I've been up for five hours. Oh, yeah. Time to go to bed. Morning, afternoon nap. I'm old. This came up in the last few days. The Team Pinball Pedretti side. Yeah. And Bruce doesn't really know what's going on. He knows something's going on. I've seen bits and pieces, but I've not gotten the full story. So I'm going to let Ron talk about it. Team Pinball posted on their Facebook. Team America? Team Pinball posted on their Facebook this whole thing. I'm not going to read the whole thing because it's long. It's long. And the crux of this is, first I was like, who the hell's Team Pinball? And then when I did some reading, like, oh, okay. The guys who are trying to help build. Well, Team Pinball, and this is from Pinball News and NAP, so HiPinballNews and NAP. Team Pinball were the ones that originally did Mafia. Yes. Do you remember Mafia? Oh, yeah. That Mafia was supposed to be like a street-level game. It was going to be like a single-level play field. Yep. I played it at a show. It was bad. Yeah, it wasn't very good. It was bad. But the main issue with it was the price. It was like more than like a Stern premium or something. Yeah, exactly. And people were like, no one's going to pay for this. Well, no one did. No one did. So, but what I didn't realize is they were the group, they were working with Pedretti on the remakes. And by remakes, this is where I got really confused. I forgot that before Pedretti did the actual Funhaus remake, they did a couple of kits.
    52:11
    Yes. They did a Funhaus 2.0 kit called Funhaus Rudy's Nightmare, and then they did a Whirlwind one. Yes, they did. Whirlwind Total Chaos. Yeah, 2.0. The two 2.0 kits. And Team Pinball did all the software and all the stuff for those kits. America, fuck yeah! Well, Team Pinball is based out of the UK. I'm just joking because of the Team Pinball. Yeah, Team Pinball, yeah. Pinball, fuck yeah. Pinball is the only game, yeah.
    52:43
    So, where's our Team Pinball game? God damn it. Team America, I would take a team. If you're not going to do me as a button, just do Team America. Just give me one or the other. They should have just re-themed Thundercats a little better. Thundercats? You mean Thunderbirds? Not Thunderbirds, Thunderbirds, yeah. Oh, no, no, no. Spell Team America. That actually would be too hard compared to International Rescue. I know.
    53:09
    But, okay, so I guess this is where it gets interesting. So I'm reading this from, they did a nice synopsis on Pinball News. It's much shorter. Basically, da-da-da-da-da-da-da. And they revealed that they had been working with Pedretti on a remake of Capcom's Big Bang Bar. Which would have been awesome. Again? Well, guess what? Do you know who owns the rights to Big Bang Bar? It is probably James Lofton. No, Melvin Williams again. How did he get that? Mr. DPX himself. Yes, they were working with Melvin Williams, who had prototype remake machines built, and Team Pinball developed the code. And the circuit boards for the game. Fuck yeah!
    53:58
    But somehow during this, Pedretti and Melvin had an issue and Melvin left. This seems to be a recurring theme. So he left them and then he had issues with Dutch and left them.
    54:13
    You're going to do it my way or the highway? It's a road fucking asshole. Oh shit! I better have that back out play at Always Ready. But basically, I guess, let's see, Team Pinball claimed they developed the prototype further until it was ready to send to Pedretti in Italy so they could work out how to build it. They then claimed Pedretti made some changes to the prototype and now claim it's their property and they won't give it back to Team Pinball, leaving them $90,000 out of pocket. Which I think if they could prove that they shipped it to him with tracking numbers and what was included in that stuff, I don't think Pedretti has a leg to stand on. Well, the thing is then Knapp had an article and they talked to Pedretti and Pedretti's side. They denied any wrongdoing and they said their lawyers are getting involved, so that's never good. One thing I forgot is the fact that Pedretti, they no longer work with Team Pinball because they dumped them to go with the company that did the remake software for Chicago Gaming. The Chicago Gaming Remakes, which has their name here somewhere.
    55:25
    It's never good when your company says, I'm going to hit the lawyer up really fast, Pedretti. It's never that good. It means you know you're fucked up and you got to try to deflect and make it so it's less damage. Okay. So I think Bedretti is totally wrong on this. Do you think Big Bang Bar, do you think, again, we need that? Oh, I think it's sell. It's sell-easy. Ah, really? Yep.
    55:56
    Well, we really need to make this fucking kingpin. Yeah, it's never happening. I know But uh Shame Shame shame Shame shame shame That was the latest drama So it this Ready versus Team Pinball Fuck yeah Yeah! Oh, in other legal news, um, uh, Robert Mueller, he got his, uh... Extension? Extension, so it's not going to be until August, but the federal trial. He, he turned down the plea deal. The plea deal was like ten years in prison. Buck no! No, brother. No way I'm going to jail, dude. So it's going to be... He is a real American.
    56:35
    You know, brother, the pin bar is still taking over, brother. Skating needs judicial stuff. Cheating old people out of their life savings.
    56:47
    Just though I can build a pinball. And go on multiple honeymoons and have multiple homes. Lots of jewelry.
    56:59
    But, yeah, so it's delayed until August, and he will, not taking the plea deal, if he ends up judged guilty of this, it's like 20 years in prison. Good! Which will be interesting, because I said at the beginning there's no way he's spending any time in jail, but I would love to be proven wrong on that.
    57:21
    I do miss him, though. It's just not the same. It's not. I listened to Loser Kids interview with Chris Turner. Yeah. And it's just so boring. It's like Bob Ross. It's just like, oh, it's wonderful. You can make the pinballs do whatever you want in your world. It's like, oh, come on. I want someone to come out and say, we're going to change everything. All the other manufacturers, they got it wrong. They suck. We rule. I kind of miss that. Yeah, but... The only thing Chris Turner says that worries me is they have a lot of their own custom mechs they're doing in their games, and it's like, you know, we think there's better ways to do things that are different than the way pinball companies have done for the last, you know, 40 years. When I hear that, alarms start off, and my head, er, er, er, like that. Yeah, like, oh shit, oh shit. Like, I didn't realize their play fields are like the haggis ones. Yes. They're wood with the, whatchamacallit, the covering over it. Yeah, printed on that. So the question is, because Haggis eventually had issues with warping, you know, heat, stuff, and they had to have their mechs, they had to go through. Yeah, go bigger. They were custom because it's a little thicker. Yep.
    58:38
    So that kind of stuff worries me. That always worries me when you deviate. They have the glass in the frame, you know, like Bally did in the 60s. Mm-hmm. But it's like, eh, we'll see. We hear Bruce's fan is on in the background.
    58:53
    I can hear it. That's actually the, yeah, that's actually the AC. That's the AC that's on. Woo-hoo! What else do I got here? Oh, I have Plug Stomp again. So, yeah, this should be out today or tomorrow, this podcast, Bruce. Yes! So you can plug it as it's in the future. It will be in the future. In the future, we're going to have a pinball tournament in Rochester, D.R., called the Stomp 10. At the beautiful Rochester Pinball Collective located at 349 West Commercial Street, East Rochester, New York, Suite 2965. Yes. When does this start, Bruce? What is this whole thing? Explain. Well, on Friday, you can come in and play. Thursday. No, Friday is Stump. Thursday is Wednesday. The pre-tournament. The pre-tournament, Bruce. Yes, say it, say it again, Rob. Say it again. It's the only tournament I'll be playing in. Yes. He's going to play in the pre-tournament and pre-play. Pre-play. Well, no, I'm going to play then, but it's the pre-tournament. Yes, so the tournament is from 6 to 10 on Thursday, and then Friday at 12.30, women's qualifying starts. 5 o'clock is Stomp starts on Friday and continues until Sunday afternoon. What kind of format is this, Bruce? We have match play for Stomp, we have classics, and we have a women's tournament.
    60:17
    Great. And I think next year I'm going to add another tournament to Zach's. Oh, no. Yes, but this one's going to be appreciated by you and Dad. Uh-huh. 60 and over? Seniors! Okay. Senior tournament. Seniors! It needs to be over 50. Over 50, yes, 50. No, 55.
    60:39
    Well, you're not 55 yet. I don't care. No, I want you in it. Dad can play it. Sorry, I want me in it. The old people. Okay. Then Elwin just shows up just randomly like, oh, fuck, I'm out. Crushes everyone.
    60:55
    Okay. Yeah, there's your plug. When does this happen, Bruce? This happens this weekend. The dates? The dates are May. I'm coming. I'm getting to the calendar. My calendar's not coming up too fast on my computer. You can just hit the clock.
    61:10
    I just did. May 14th is Thursday. 14th is the Thursday. Friday, the 15th, 16th, and 17th. You can even come to the door and prepay. We only have a couple spots left. Oh, just a couple. Just a couple. There you go. Just a couple.
    61:27
    And next year, it will not be the same time as Yagpin. We're going back to the beginning of June date. Yeah, you lost all those Canadians that would have been there. Canadians. Oh, Canada. Did you see that? Home and native land. Yeah, yes. Did I see what? Did you see what happened in Buffalo during hockey? The microphone for the singer who was singing the National Anthem for Canada, the mic failed. Oh, that was probably on purpose. No, no. So everyone in the crowd in Buffalo sang the National Anthem for Canada. Oh, Canada, yes. Oh, Canada.
    62:07
    So I felt like, I was like, fuck yeah. You might not like us, but we still like you, Canada. It's okay.
    62:18
    America! Fuck yeah. All right. You ready for the ball bag, Bruce? I am always ready to empty my ball bag with a full one started. Uh-huh. All right.
    62:31
    This is from Brian. Hi, Brian. The subject is a very long subject line here. Bruce always complains about companies not putting out manuals. That's the subject line. Yes. Yes, Bruce, you will be overjoyed by the new 112-page manual for Punny Factory. I look forward to a full episode deep dive. Oh, my God. I looked at, yes, they have a full manual for Punny Factory, Bruce. What do you got to say to that? How many did they make?
    63:01
    They probably made less Punny Factories than there are pages in the manual. Holy fuck. I'm guessing. I'm guessing they did not make 112 Punny Factories. Nice. There's also, on their website, he's saying there's juicy new details on First Class, as with 500 other upcoming titles. First Class, okay. Let's see. Okay, no class. No respect.
    63:28
    I read this. I thought this was like a comedy. No, this is like supposedly one of their upcoming titles for the Makers of Punny Factory, Pinball Adventures. Is that their name? I think that's a Canadian company. This is a Canadian company. First class, a luxurious world reserved for those who prefer to travel in style and comfort.
    63:48
    Hold on, I'm reading this wrong. Picture this. Passengers gliding onto the plane ahead of everyone else with no rush, no lines, and no stress. They settle into their spacious seats, located at the very front of the plane, greeted with a smile, and offered a refreshing glass of champagne. Before the rest of the passengers have enough thought about boarding. It's an exclusive experience that feels like a different world from the economy, where overhead bins are already filled and legroom is a distant dream.
    64:23
    Yikes. Wow. Are you ready to explore whether you have what it takes to soar in ultimate style? You must roll down a little bit and look at some of the artwork at the bottom. Uh-huh.
    64:35
    Oh, my God. This is an actual game. And look at the bottom. It shows the flippers and everything and all the luggage where your ball was green. Yes. And you have the DeLorean at the bottom. Is that like a... Yeah, they like to put... Well, remember they had Don Knotts in the other game. I know. Sushi Madness and First Class Arcade. As you prepare for takeoff, the game immerses you in an excitement of jet setting around the globe. But this just isn't any pinball experience. As the ball enters the jet, the model jet will tilt upward and hands by a powerful shaker motor that simulates the rumble of an aircraft in motion. The sound effects will transport you right to the runway with authentic airplane noises, while a fan under the cabinet generates a rush of air, creating a thrilling simulation of that first-class experience.
    65:31
    And yes, I am available for voiceovers if you want to. Welcome aboard. Your mission is simple. Travel in world of style. Collect your essential travel items, passport, baggage, tickets, and line up your shots to board the plane. Once you're airborne, you'll land in thrilling destination modes, each with their own challenges and rewards. Rack up air miles, unlock surprise travel rewards, and keep an eye on your baggage because sometimes travel does not go as it plans. Fasten your seatbelt. This trip is anything but economy.
    66:10
    Wow. Wow. I know none of these games are ever going to get made, but still. Holy douche deal. That is fucking awesome. Keep making these things. I would love to read these.
    66:24
    Just keep it up, Pinball Adventures. You real man. Oh my God. You have so many other pinballs that they're having, like Elements Pinball, of course. Oh, yeah. Forsaken Ninja. Sushi Madness, Volt Electrical, Volt Electric, and Fruto Maddox.
    66:43
    Oh my God. Oh my God, Becky. Look at her butt. It is so big. She looks like one of those rap guys' girlfriends. But who understands those rap guys? Let's see. Are you ready for the next one? I'm still in awe. Oh, he's still in awe. Bruce is taken aback by this. All right. This next one's from Cole. Hi, Cole. Cole is one of our head STDs. He is. Excuse me. Wake up. I can't. Subject is catching up. It says, hey, boys. Been a while since I last wrote in, but I've listened to every episode like a true STD should. I am glad that you have won your lawsuit against those foreign degenerates and they stopped trying to steal your stuff. They must be talking about Ryan and Jeff there. Way to crush them with your unbeatable might. America! Ron, I feel your pain about the weather. As I write this in Northern California, oh, I know where this is going. We've had mid-70s to low-80s sunny weather for weeks. And now we have a couple of days of rain and temperatures dropping to the mid-60s. Oh, the humanity.
    67:59
    In typical weather fashion here, we had, it was like 70, beautiful, 80s and beautiful and then dropped to the 40s like the next day. Yep. Tomorrow, it's going to be snowing in Rochester. What? Yes. Really? Here it's supposed to be like 60 and sunny. Nope. Tomorrow, Monday, it's the lowest 33 with a chance of showers or snow flurries. Why the fuck do you want to live there, bro? I don't get it. I thought I was stupid for living here, but man, you're just new level. I know. You could be down in New Jersey with much better weather.
    68:32
    Just saying. And be poor. That's true. And the smell. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm just kidding. Maybe. When it comes to Zach selling his tag team without telling either of you before he did, you are correct in that that was a dick move that a friend should never do. Good thing he has his cats, as if he keeps doing things like that, those will be the only friends he has. Wow.
    68:58
    From the sounds of the last episode, since he is over 30 and can't win tournaments anymore, he is headed that way. Wow.
    69:06
    Either that or he is the head of Spectre stroking his cat. I can see that. Since he has two cats, I guess he is double fisting his pussies. Better yet, he can be Dr. Evil.
    69:18
    With Mr. Bigglesworth? What was that the name of his cat? Dual Pussy. Oh, God. I didn't say the Octopussy with eight of them. Oh, gosh. Following the theme of the last few episodes, here is your John Trudeau segment. Oh, no.
    69:35
    I would think the guy that was the head of DPX and now APX would hire him, as you would think he would be a perfect fit. Oh, God, no, no. For his first game, I like Ron's idea of romper room, or maybe even Sesame Street. But I think I have one that would be even better. It could be the same play field but be two different themes like Family Guy and Shrek. Okay. They both could use the same tagline for marketing. The island where dreams come true. Oh, God. One could be Fantasy Island. Yeah. And the other could be Epstein Island. Oh, God.
    70:12
    Think about it. They could even use the same toys. There is the plane for Fantasy Island. I brought the gas. Yeah, that would be the same. The other is Epstein for which would be known as the school bus. Oh, God. They also use the same character molds. One would be Mr. Rourke and Tattoo, and the other would be Epstein, and we'll leave it to your imagination. Oh, God. Dear God, I'm going to hell for this. Yes, you are. Welcome to the club. We have first-class tickets. Would you like to join us on our show? I'm Mr. Rourke, your host. Welcome to Fantasy Island. I like it that Stephen Hawking went there. Even he went there to get some action. Yes, yes, there's pictures of him there. I want to get laid. Yeah, yes, I want to get laid. Oh, God, oh, God, yes, yes, yes.
    71:05
    We are going out. We're all going to fucking out. We're talking about what you would name your dog from something from Pinball. Mine would have to be Elwin. Well, that was the Lefkos dog. Yes. The Escher and Adam, their dog was named Elwin. Yep. Or The One, as it would be the best fucking dog ever. Maybe the other ones.
    71:31
    One is the loneliest dog that you'll ever do. Rod, listening to you saying there was a guy that just kept playing, dialed in for an hour. Oh, yeah, this was that TPS. Without looking to see if someone else wanted to play, doesn't surprise me. He didn't have to look as nobody else wanted to play that piece of shit. Ha ha ha ha! I bet there was a Richie Star Wars next to it when it was empty as well. Oh, wow. Those would be in the fifth section of Pinball Games at the event along with Halloween Ultraman.
    72:02
    Love what you guys are doing. You guys are doing God's work just like Jake and Elwood. One of your STDs that won't go away. Cole.
    72:12
    I guess, Cole, we did get the other email. So we will talk. We will talk. Yes, we are our guest list. We will get a hold of people eventually. I promise. But being we have trouble getting all our own family members to join this. Yeah, maybe we should get Cole on.
    72:35
    You obviously didn't recognize it. You didn't recognize it. We have Cole. We have the other guy from New England. I kept his email. So we will be getting a hold of you eventually. We always get a hold of everyone and we do every segment eventually. We hold them and touch them and kiss them and hug them and call them George. Sometimes it's six months to a year later, but we always have gotten to it eventually. We hold them and kiss them and hug them and call them George.
    73:04
    Oh my goodness, this is a long one. This one's very long. This is a very full ball bag. This was from David. Hi, David. New AI Challenge, re-theme Fargan Iceholes. I think it's supposed to say fucking assholes, but it's Fargan Iceholes. Oh, Fargan Assholes. Yes, kind of like Johnny Dangerously where he can't really swear. Yes. This is Fargan War. I do recommend that movie. You've never seen it for those out there. It's got the aforementioned Michael Keaton, you know, pre-Batman. It's got what's-her-name-from-tax-view I always liked. Yes. What's her name? Mary Lou Henner. She's one of like a handful of people in the country. She has this ability where she can remember every day of her life in vivid detail. So if you name any date, she could tell you exactly what she was doing on that day. I was in this sex suit with 12 females. Oh, God.
    73:59
    One had a mole on it. So David says, Hi, Ron and Bruce. I enjoyed hearing the AI analysis of your personalities. Yeah, the one that didn't really get me right. Nailed me. Nailed Bruce on the last show. I agree it was a bit rough on Ron and more forgiving to Bruce. Yes, see? See? Perfect. Perfect.
    74:20
    This is a low one. Part of my current job involves exploring how AI can assist with various tasks. Naturally, I've been applying some of these tools to my interest in your podcast and my growing interest in pinball. Uh-oh. Let's see. I am planning to build a re-theme and use AI to help brainstorm. I provided my top five themes and asked for the three solid state games that would serve as a good match for each. Okay. My chosen themes are Kung Fu Hustle, Johnny Dangerously. That'd be good. Top Secret. Remember Top Secret? Yeah. You didn't like that, Val Kilmer? No? No, I didn't like that, no. Oh, man. ABC's Schoolhouse Rock. Yes, fucking awesome. This one I don't know. Disney's Beagle Boys. Never heard of that. I don't know what that is. It's probably newer because we're old. Junction, junction, junction, what's your function? Working all day. Let's see. Which three solid state machines do you think would work best for each of these? I need to really find one that works for the anal intruder scene in Top Secret. Yeah, I don't know that one. See, Bruce, it's a movie with an anal intruder scene and you say you don't like it. I don't understand that.
    75:38
    Oh, God, this is going to be hard. Three solid state machines that would work for each of these? Yeah. That's like 15 games. We're not doing that. No, we're lazy. We're lazy. Kung Fu Hustle, Dragon Fist. Yep, Dragon Fist. Johnny Dangerously, Kingpin. Kingpin or the Mafia. The Mafia. Jesus. Or Godfather. Godfather. Yeah. Val Kilmer's Top Secret. I'm fuzzy on what that was again. Wasn't he like a pop star in the movie? And I'm trying to think if it takes place in the past. I have to get back to it. Schoolhouse Rock. ACDC just because it's a rock theme?
    76:26
    It would be good because you'd be able to pick the songs on the back. That'd be kind of cool. Disney's Beagle Boys. I don't know what that is. Yeah, I don't know.
    76:35
    What's the Gottlieb where all the convicts are dogs? Remember that one? Oh, yeah. Big House. There you go. Top Secret, I do remember the movie now, is his first movie. I forgot about this one.
    76:50
    I haven't seen it in so long, I can't even tell you. Yeah, it's like an airplane type. It's the airplane humor. Yeah, a rock and roll singer invited to a cultural festival in East Germany. Elvis. He's Elvis. For comparison, here is what AI selected. Okay. Okay, let's see. For Kung Fu Hustle, it thinks you should use High Speed.
    77:14
    Let's see. Or 8 Ball Deluxe. 8 Ball Deluxe for Kung Fu Hustle? Let's see. Because the bank of drop targets is perfect for knocking down members of the Axe Gang one by one. Okay. But you can use any game with lots of drop targets for that. Williams Firepower.
    77:35
    The center shield area is perfect for a Buddhist palm target or a landlady's lion's roar sonic blast zone.
    77:43
    See, the funny thing about Kung Fu Hustle, you would think, me, Mr. Martial Arts Film, that I would love that movie. I wasn't super crazy about it. It went a little too crazy. I like batshit crazy. This was really batshit crazy and a ton of CGI.
    78:01
    And everyone knows how much I love CGI. Let's see. For Disney's Beagle Boys, which I don't know what that is. Let's see. It's the vibe. Heist, cracking safes and escaping the police.
    78:17
    Okay. So how about what was the P3 game, the multimorphic game? Heist. There you go. Uh, Williams Grand Lizard. It has an upper playfield and a trapped ball mechanic. You can easily re-theme the lizard into Scrooge's Money Bin. Oh, it's supposed to be Scrooge McDuck then. Hmm, don't know. Uh, you don't know who Scrooge McDuck is? I know who Scrooge McDuck is. I've never seen the movie, though. With the Beagles trying to break into the upper level. Uh, Bally Splash Gordon. The different levels represent different floors of the bank or the various levels of a heist. Goldieb Joker Poker. The drop target is going to represent Tumblers in a safe that need to be aligned to crack the jackpot.
    78:59
    I don't know. AI sucks. AI is not good at picking. I think it's getting too into the weeds. Oh, yeah. Let's see. Val Kilmer's Top Secret. Let's see if it did pick Elvis. No. Let's see. Cyclone. The carnival amusement park theme of the original is a great cover for a spy mission. The Doink the Dummy Target is an easy swap for the Anal Intruder or other gag props from the film. Oh, great. Now whenever I play Cyclone, I'm going to think Anal Intruder when I see the target. Damn it. Oh, God. Bally's Spy Hunter. Remember that? Oh, God. The layout's wide open. That's wide open, all right. And great for the movie's car chase and combat scenes. I don't think anyone wants to shoot Spy Hunter. No. Secret Service, that east. That I would go with. Yeah, there you go. Solid, reliable layout. Map in the center can be re-skinned to the movie's East Germany setting. Okay. Johnny Dangerously. All right, here we go. Valley Kings of Steel. Let's see. It's perfect for a hit list style game where you have to take out Johnny's rivals.
    80:06
    No. Okay. Comet. The ramps can be rethemed to the various shady business Johnny runs and Million Shot is perfect for the I did it once, I didn't agree with me gag. No. Okay.
    80:20
    No, that precedes everything. Hard body. Let's see. Unique flexing layout can be converted into city streets or warehouse shootout scene. No.
    80:31
    Boy, Bruce. AI sucks. It's too deep into the weeds. Yeah, way too deep. Let's see. We're too simple here at Slam Tilt. We're just like, oh, it's martial arts? Black Belt. Dragon Fist. Black Belt.
    80:50
    But I think they're thinking, AI's thinking more along the play field features. Yeah, which it doesn't have right either. And that's like, I can't think like that. I'm too stupid. Schoolhouse Rock, the vibe, educational but fun, catchy music. So Harlem Globetrotters on tour.
    81:06
    Let's see, you can use the various shots to represent different subjects. Math, history, and grammar, that's what people love. School. Cool. The spinner is a must-have for the interplanet Janet Orbit. Let's see, Space Station, which I just played yesterday. Yeah. The conditioned green lighting is legendary. You can reprogram this to trigger a recess or graduation mode where the whole board changes color. Okay. No. Sinbad. Having four flippers allows for more interaction with different characters on the play field, like having one flipper dedicated to the conjunction junction train tracks. Nope, I like our idea better with ACDC where you just have, you can pick your song and you can go for that mode. Okay. Let's see. Pro tip for fast pinball builders. Since you're using the Neuron system, look for a player's condition cabinet, worn art, dead electronics, but with a play field that isn't warped. That's always good. Yeah.
    82:01
    Okay. Which of these themes are you leaning towards starting first? I can help you brainstorm specific modes, rules for the shots. Best regards. Conjunction, Junction, what's your, or Johnny Dangerously. Johnny Dangerously, I'd like to see that one. Yeah. Or Conjunction, Junction, you know, or, you know, working on, I am only a billy. That's something where the car can change colors because they pull off the paint on it to make different paint jobs, remember that? Yeah. So they can't identify the car. Yep. Yeah. AI is scary. AI is scary, David. It is very scary. It's bad. Okay, we got next one's from Glenn. Glenn! Glenn Weckner. I heard that somebody, wait, I got to tell you something about Glenn. At Allentown, someone was bad-mouthing Glenn the whole fucking time. Yeah, you're talking scared about Glenn the whole fucking time. Holy shit. And they told us, mention it on your show, and they said Glenn would know who it was. So we are doing as instructed. Yep. Total terrible guy. Yep.
    83:11
    And on that note, back to Glenn. Glenn says, Bruce and Ron, Michael Jordan is often debated as the greatest of all time. Well, he is. Impossible to prove. No, he is. When comparing to today's players, since MJ didn't have the modern training practices of today. Because of this, I would argue he's not the best player of all time, but still the greatest.
    83:30
    Okay. For Pinball, what game did the most for its time? What game exceeded its peers far above the competition and will be awarded your GOAT?
    83:42
    What game did the most for its time? I mean, do you mean games that are ahead of their time? Like, when I see Centaur, I think that that game is way ahead of its time. But did it help Pinball? No. Not really, but it was way ahead of its time. You have a game that plays itself in a track mode. It just seems way way beyond what anything at the time had No I got three for you One eight ball Okay And it's fine because it showed solid state can be made and made very well. It was the highest production pinball machine that was made until Adam's Family. That cemented the solid state part in getting away from EM.
    84:28
    Two, Space Station. Space Shuttle? Space Shuttle, yes. Why? So at that time, it was after the arcade death, you know, video games were out. You think it was ahead of its time? It was ahead of its time because it actually showed, no, alphanumeric displays were really coming out. It doesn't have alphanumeric. No, it doesn't. It's System 9, bro.
    84:57
    It's one of the three System 9 games, four if you count Starlight. Yeah, if you count Starlight. Yes.
    85:04
    No, it doesn't. No, that's still got the old cabinet. That is not out for numeric. Sorry, folks. Parts closed were clean and repaired. I would argue they just brought back features that they already had in older games that they had costed out, like speech. Yeah. Which was Steve Ritchie again. Exit pilot won. But if they didn't have that game come out at that time, Williams would have been done. Yes, they'd kept the doors open. They kept the doors open. But I wouldn't say it was ahead of its time. I think it was ahead of its time because it helped Game's future on Goal. You should say the one thing it was ahead of its time with, the molded space shuttle. Yes. That's the only thing on it that's really like, oh, that's different.
    85:48
    Like, you think about it. They sold, you know, after selling, what, Time Fantasy 608, Joust 402, Starlight of 100. Time Fantasy. You know, they started kicking in with the sale. All right, if I was to name a few, so like I said, Centaur, I hate to say it because I hate the game, Wizard of Oz. Yeah. Yeah, I hate it. Way ahead of its time, it forced Stern to eventually do the LCD, even if it was six years later. Yep. It finally did it. Modernized. It forced a lot of things. Yes, and as far as gameplay is concerned, I wouldn't say it's a GOAT, but as far as it's like what it did, you know, I mean, you got to put games like High Speed up there. I know Ours, Zach hates it. Revenge from Mars. Because it's the one-shot game. Yeah, Revenge from Mars, Pinball 2000. But like High Speed had so many firsts in it, it wasn't even funny. Yep. You know, the important ones for operators, auto replay percentaging. Yep, exactly. But like the whole story element that had not been in games before, all that stuff, it advanced it. What else? I'm trying to think of something older. I mean, balls a-poppin', if you've ever seen that. Balls a-poppin' doesn't seem like the game that was made in 1956, which it was. Yep. And even go like the older valleys with the with merchandising and using, you know, common themes like, you know, like Dolly Parton. Oh, licensing. Yeah, licensing. Even Stern got a little bit on it with Meteor and Ted Nugent. Because when you're saying goat, I mean, you're saying like did the most for its time. Do you mean like great game? Do you mean like, like, I don't like shooting Wizard of Oz. I don't like Wizard of Oz. Yeah, yeah, you're crazy. But you like Princess Pinball Party, same designer. I almost bought one in Allentown. I was so close. Yes, yes. I was fucking so close I should have bought it. No, you shouldn't have. You made the right decision. Raymond, tell Ron this weekend when you see him. No, he made the right decision of not buying that game. Yeah, those when I'm thinking of, you know, industry changing type stuff.
    88:18
    What else? For a solid tape pinball machine, you know, think of that too, you know. Yeah, even things like Flash, the background sound, the repeatable loop shot. Xenon for sound, for voice. Well, Gorgar for sound, but Eon sounds way better. Yes, exactly. I feel that way. It sounds way better. Gorgar is terrible. I ain't even hearing that. Oh, come on. No, it's not bad. Name the seven words.
    88:53
    I can't remember. I say it all the time and I don't even remember. Let's see if I can get them. For those at home, Gorgar was the first talking game and it has seven words. Yeah. Gorgar, Beat, Me, Got, You, Speaks, what's the seven? Something's probably shouting out right now.
    89:18
    Hurt, hurt, me hurt. And those are the seven words of Gorgar. It came with its own album or record, I should say.
    89:29
    That's what a big deal it was. Mm-hmm. It's not as good as Enter Xenon. Yes. Try a tube shot. Yes. Try a tube shot. Ah. The game, on the other hand, eh. The game sucks. It's not the greatest game, but I laugh at sounds on it are awesome. The spinner sound on that thing. Yeah, I love that.
    89:53
    So there's a lot of firsts and a lot of, you know, help kept developing the pinball itself. Look, when Stern was by itself in the 90s after Williams. It got stagnant. It got very stagnant. We used to joke about you take a getaway and put it next to the newest Stern and say, okay, which one was made more recently? And people could still say, well, getaway? Getaway, yeah. You know, it's, yeah. Got to add more stuff. Yeah.
    90:26
    All right. This next one is from John. Hello, John. Hello, John. It says, hope all is well. Gents, thanks for the shout out. Last fall made me smile. Hope all is well with you two. I'm looking forward to the next show. So are we. When are we recording? Oh, we're doing it right now. Sorry. Bummed out because I was supposed to come up this weekend to pick up my kid from you. Oh, I guess that means University of Rochester. Yeah. Not happening now. I was planning to spend time at the world famous RPC. I added the world famous part. Unfortunately, I cannot make stop, but I will someday. Someday. Over the rainbow. My last visit to the RPC and Bruce's awesome tour inspired me to take the plunge and buy a bit of a project game. Oh, boy. I have zero experience with older games, but some great folks in my home, the Space City Pinball League, told me they would help me when I need it. Always good to have friends.
    91:30
    I got a friend in me. I bought a raggedy ass Williams Flash. Flash, I just mentioned Flash. No, that's the other one. Can you dig it? Okay, you're combining Flash Gordon with Shaft. Yes, can you dig it? That seems to work okay. Okay, I had some questions, thought you could help. All right.
    91:55
    Oh, it's an opinion question. Would you replace an original Williams Flash playfield with a hard top or a new one from CPR? Replace the back – let's go with that one first. It depends. Is this the keeper forever?
    92:08
    Yeah, true. Is this the bolted to the floor? Well, another thing is do you feel comfortable standing all the inserts down and making it all right level before putting your hard top on? Hard top on. Or do you feel like you're flying something and you just go put it in and swapping? Yeah, I don't know. I say CPR. ZPR in a second.
    92:29
    I'd say don't bother if you're not going to keep the game. It's just a lot of work. Unless you sell it for the profit because it looks way better. Or if you're just doing it to increase your skill level, that's fine. That's probably what he's doing. He's like, what are you talking about? I just want to increase my skill. Replace the back glass. Yes.
    92:51
    I don't know. Like I have my raggedy ass Black Knight with the cabinet that kind of falling apart and the play field isn't great. And then I have this new repro back last day.
    93:03
    And it looks better. I don't know about that one. Let's see. Oh, God. Final question. Convert to LEDs or not? 100%. No. 100%. Don't listen to Bruce. Bruce, do you like actually burning your eyes up? Do you like burning your back glass? Do you like burning your inserts? Then yes, go with incandescence. If you want better light, go with LEDs. Nope. I was just at a tournament, Bruce, yesterday.
    93:37
    This is kind of a funny story. Guy's name, I won't use his last name, Don is his name. He is a local collector in Dwaynesburg, like 45 minutes from me. And he's been around since the RGP days, right? And like probably 15, 20 years ago, when I first got into this crazy hobby, and there was no one around here that had games, he had games. So I visited him at his house, and I remember he had an AFM. And I was so psyched, because even then, I loved AFM. Like, oh, he hasn't tried for bars. And I played that. Well, I went there for the first time since then, 20 years later.
    94:19
    And the first time I was there, I played with him and his teenage son. This time his son was there and he's married now and has a beard and looks way older. And I feel way old. But Don is like he is the prototype, what you would see in the early 2000s. His newest game is Episode I, Star Wars Episode I, and they're all like System 11 and WPC Williams games. Okay. Except for he has Mata Hari, Knight Rider, Playboy, and Firepower. For the oldest ones. Yes.
    94:58
    And all the games are like immaculate because he does all his own work, right? Because back then, if you were in this, you did all your own shit. Yeah. So he does all his own electronics and all that, and he's got a cool workroom where he's got all the boards lined up. He has this WPC testing rig he built. It includes, it even has the eight board, I think it's eight Solenoid, the auxiliary driver board for the super pins. He has that on the board, too, on his rig. So, yeah, this guy's got it going on. But his games, all the play fields are new. They look ridiculously good. But he has the AFM. And he's like, yep, it's the same one you played. Like, wow. It's like 20 years later. Here it is. The same AFM. I thought that was cool. Was it incondescent or was it LED? And he has everything LED. That's actually why I brought it up. That's bad. And they all look great. He's even added lighting on a lot of them so you can actually see shit. It's great. Nope. So LED is 100%. By the way, it was a pinball tournament, and I won. I just want to bring that up. Thank you. Wow. Thank you. Yes.
    96:12
    So thank you, John. I think I got through the whole thing. Did I get that? Yes. So yes, LEDs all the way. Don't listen to Bruce.
    96:22
    I'd like to have a shout out to somebody. I was at the show, and he's like, I made these stars targets. The five individual targets with new style targets.
    96:34
    And he's like, I want you to have a set. Okay, thank you. He's like, oh, I love what you guys do. And he's like, have you found Ron? I'm like, Ron, you were running around doing your tournament thing. So I was like, I don't know if I'll see him today. But I do have a set from him. I don't have his name or his website, so I'm going to bring it up. They're at the RPC right now. I'm going to get the information and have it for next show so you can buy them yourselves. Well, what do you mean by stars, targets? The targets, the actual five targets that you have to hit for the stars. Uh-huh. Are they the ones that are colored? Yes. Yeah, okay. So instead of just the plain target, it actually has the colored star on it. Star, yes. Yes. Because we have done more for stars than any podcast I know. Yes.
    97:19
    Let's see, John again. Shit, I just realized there were a few typos. Oh, hopefully some great fans about what I meant to say is, damn, I'm stupid. Welcome to the club. You're listening to our show. Also, I'm a little worried about Bruce because of his recent remarks on the show and your lack of shows. We're still here. I have a lot of shit going on. And I posted something on my personal page, and oh my God, I had so many people reach out to me. Are you okay? Are you okay? And I'm like, no, I wasn't doing that. You know, my life is really hectic right now, and it's even getting worse.
    97:56
    And Ron knows about it, so he never brings it up, and I'm grateful for that. But, you know, I have friends who help me out. It's family stuff that I'm dealing with, and it's very hectic, so that's all I'm going to talk about with that. Families are not always great. No. Hope you two are well. We are well. Freaking best pinball show available. Woo-hoo! There you go. Better than that fucking Silver Ball Chronicles. Fuck yeah. You heard him. I had that on my list. Yes, but for those at home, Silver Ball Chronicles is my other podcast. I'm on with the wonderful David Dennis where we talk about pinball history. And we're going to be recording our next episode soon and it's going to be about a... You're running out of history, aren't you? No, no, it's about a particular designer that may be controversial who we've already mentioned on this show today. Johnny! I'm not going to say anything. You make me feel so good. Oh, God. Johnny!
    99:00
    The last email I have is actually, we received it and Silver Bowl Chronicles received it from Zach Sharpe. You got a twofer. Zach Sharpe, you know what that means. We are invited to the Pinball Media Showing, Upscurs, newest upcoming Cornerstone game rumored to be Transformers. So it's going to be, it looks like Wednesday, May 20th. Yeah. Once again, thank you for the invite. Thank you very much. We will not be able to attend. So do you know why?
    99:31
    Yeah, I don't have time. Cruising! Oh, yeah. Every one day you hop out, I am cruising. Cruising! On a Wednesday afternoon.
    99:44
    I'm driving in the Jersey for my cruise. And they got the NDAs here, so that would mean it's going to be revealed probably right after that. Maybe Thursday is the trailer? Yeah, I'm probably thinking that Thursday. Something like that, so there you go, there's your date. I thought it would be until June. Yeah, I was thinking June, too. I was thinking June, but I guess not.
    100:05
    It's going to be May. Let's see. Yes, they're still in the final stages of licensor approval. Licensors, they must be having a ball with the Pokemon license. It takes so long to get the updates because they have to wait. And they've literally said, like, we're waiting for approvals.
    100:27
    Let's see how much a flight would cost for me to O'Hara, back and forth. To O'Hara, yeah. If you were just going to that one thing and coming back, how much would it cost? Holy fuck. From Rochester, which is a short flight. Yes, it's a non-stop. Non-stop, short, direct flight. Probably an hour and a half. It is an hour and a half. Yeah. How much? Hold on. I'm waiting. Como mucho. Oh, jeez.
    100:54
    Cheapest. $620 a day. Yeah, I don't think we're going to be attending. I'm sorry. You've got to give us a little more time, boys. Yeah, yeah. Plus, once you get into the spring and the summer months, forget it. It's not worth it. Let's do a Buffalo. Let's just see if I fly out of Buffalo. Hold on. Uh-huh. Hold on. We're doing a lot of really stupid shit on the podcast because no one can see what we're doing. We're wasting their time. They're driving along. Like, these guys are wasting our time. Meanwhile, I think I'm going to check, too. Google's, Blythe. See?
    101:31
    Well, I wouldn't do it like saying, Dave. It is cheaper for Rochester than Buffalo. Okay. Okay, so Albany to O'Hare, O-R-D. And there's so many times I know all the codes. Wednesday to Wednesday, so the same day. Yeah, let's say if I did the same day.
    101:47
    Wednesday to Wednesday. When did they say it was going to be? Was it Wednesday, though? Wait a minute. It was. It was the 20th. It's the 20th. They said the 20th? I saw it. Yes. Yeah, Wednesday. I'm sorry. Okay, so 20th.
    102:02
    And watch. Braun's going to have a cheaper flight for the first time in his life and go, hey, I can actually do this.
    102:08
    Maybe, actually. It is, if I go the same day, it looks like it is, no, $533. Cheaper than me, I'm 633. Let's see, I get there in the morning, I'd probably be there early enough. But no, then the flight that goes out, it's like 2.10 p.m. I'd still be at this thing. No, 633 would be 6 o'clock leaving. Yeah, it's like $750 if I actually, yeah, I couldn't do it same day. Yeah, I could do same day. If I had to do it multiple days, then I got to get the hotel, which is at least going to be another $100 plus on top of it. For me, if I left at 6 o'clock in Rochester, get to Chicago at 717, I leave at 840 and get home at 1145. And that's $633. That's a lot of moolah. Sorry, guys. You pinheads, we don't take any money from you guys, so we're cheap. Unless you want to start donating to our Patreon. No. You're the one. You're Mr. Anti-Patreon. I am anti-Patreon. But if you want to pay for a flight, yes. Yeah, if I did it the cheapest way where I stayed over, it is $751, and that's for the subhuman economy, The ones where you can't change anything. The regular economy is $871. Let me see if I stay over a day. Oh, yeah. Albany is, yeah, we have the worst prices here in all. 633 again. Yeah. Same price all across. Yeah. That's why I tell people, wait a sec, wait a sec, I can take Amtrak.
    103:50
    All aboard America, all aboard Amtrak. See, if we had Spirit, we'd still be getting cheap flights. Yeah, it went out of business.
    104:01
    All right, let's end this up with repairs. Repairs. The ball bag is empty. The ball bag is off. Yeah, I did that so you can do your thing. Okay, repairs. I have one. Ooh, go wrong, go. I don't know if I mentioned the last episode. Meteor, the T in Meteor, the spring broke off.
    104:21
    It actually did break off at the bottom. So I replaced it with a spring from my leftover springs from Nineball. And those springs are slightly different.
    104:36
    And it's double looped at the bottom where it broke on the other one, so I'm hoping it will not break again.
    104:42
    And that was it. And it's super easy to take the mech out. It's just four screws and a connector. You just take like the front plate thing off. It gives you access. Put the new spring on, put it back together, back in the game, plug it in, we're all good.
    104:56
    There you go. And that was my one repair. Did I talk last time about replacing the Medieval Madness bottom? I think I did. I think you did. This time, the Medieval Madness auto launch broke yesterday, so we have to order one up from Pinball Life so we can have that game back in by Thursday for Stomp. I also worked on, I got new mountains for Torpedo Alley.
    105:24
    Mount? From Ramp-O-Matic. Oh. Ramp-O-Matic is their name? Yes, that's the name of the company. See, that sounds like a name that would be in the 50s when everything was O-Matic. It's awesome. Yeah, we need more O-Matics. Out there, somebody, we need more O-Matics in Pinball. Totally agree. So what they did is they made the covers for all the ball storage areas, and I replaced them all and worked with them. Well, very happy with that. And I had a sticky drop target. I took that all apart, cleaned it all up. We have drop targets that now work perfect. And then, boy, that game gives a lot of free extra balls. I had to go into the audits and take out the extra balls. So hopefully it gets approved this week and maybe you'll see it in Stomp! Woo-hoo!
    106:08
    We'll see. We shall see. Stomp. Can you dig it, Chad? Yeah, the next episode, you won't have to hear about it. Oh, no, no, we'll probably go over it. And then after that, then you won't have to hear it again. Yes, until Fall Brawl. Oh, Fall Brawl, that's right. And Stomp East. Stomp East, yes. Which I did pick a date for that. I forget what it was already. September 20th. You asked me. Hmm? I thought it was September 20th. No, it had to be in October. You guys told me I couldn't have it in September. And then you kept asking me for dates, and I gave you the date. And you say, I'm on a cruise again. It'll have to be this one. And I said, okay. And that was it. And I don't remember what date that was. I can look back, too. Yeah. You can look back later. I think we're done here, folks. Are we done? We're done. I don't have anything else. Do you have anything else? I have nothing else. You have nothing else? Nothing. All right. I got plugs. Well, I did the Silver Bowl Chronicles one because you shit on them again. So I had to force me to do it earlier. But, yes, we are Slam Tilt Podcast. If you want to send emails to the ball bag, it is slam tilt podcast at gmail.com. That's slam tilt podcast at gmail.com. Check out our website, slam tilt podcast dot com. Our links are in the upper right hand corner. I'm guessing we'll probably be streaming at least something from Stomp. The thing is, you have the other major event going on.
    107:35
    What was it again? The one in Canada? Yeah. Yag Pin. Yag Pin's going on. So they'll have like 200 people and we'll have like 10. 12. Yeah, 12. Okay. So it's like, is it even worth it? Yes. Especially if we start to have issues. Yes, yes. We won't have issues this year because you figured out what's blocking us. Yeah. Something else will come up because it always does. Because the room's been rearranged again. Oh, great. It's been rearranged again. Well, wait a minute. So I'm not even going to get into it on the call. Yeah, you will. Look at all, we're going to get into it. Come on. Well, did you move any of the transmitters or the receivers or whatever? No. Okay. So that's all I care about. No. What we moved is we made it now. You know how the original side of the room had an aisle and an aisle? An aisle and an aisle, yes. We did the same thing on the other side.
    108:25
    Oh. Okay. So there's games against the windows now on the one side on the far wall, but we have another window that's open.
    108:33
    And this is all just to fit more shit. And better electric, too. We put more electric in. Ah, nice. See? I just remember the early days when you guys didn't even have 50 games. Yes. And now we're going to have 85. Good gravy. And then you can see the back area. Our back area is nice and open now.
    108:55
    Because that's where everyone's going to be hanging out in between now. In between now? TVs and seating.
    109:04
    It sounds exciting, Bruce. And they can all experience this at Stop. It's going to be wonderful. Yes. Can you dig it? I can dig it, yes.
    109:14
    Hello to everyone on our cluster, Buck. Hello, Mr. Buckers. Hello, Buckers, everybody. You know who you are.
    109:23
    Wow, we went like two hours. Yes, we did. It's a long one. We have to. We have to make up for lost time, you know. Yes, I have to make it last. We have to make it last. Yeah, baby. Yeah. Okay.
    109:38
    That's right, Brian. He was very good at making it last, you know. Yes. All right. You got the name, Bruce? I got names. Names? Oh, my God. Names. I can't wait to hear these. Thanks, everyone, for listening. Until next time, say goodbye, Bruce. Goodbye, dude. Northwest Pinball on Arcade Show. Fandy 2. Benjamin David Cohen. Chris Krenz. Dan Donahue. Aaron Benoy, Klaus Feit Wagner, Janet Ysk, Eric Schneidenberg, Russ Goddard, and Mark Bocacchino.
    110:33
    I'm out of mind, everything can keep you alive. Meteor, Crew Level Zero, Cluster Buck, Swish the Chi, Tim Balls, Bruce Dindon, Tournament Talk, Car Holder, Sheena, Netanyahu, Cash Grab, ELO, Full Break, What you find? Give you love! Give you hurt! Turn it on! Hear my princess! Yeah! Oh my!
    111:20
    Oh my! Oh, that was you. Give me a cock, make it hard, or else forget about it. Oh, wow.
    111:57
    Wait a minute, it's a smooth? Yeah. It's okay. I didn't know those were the original lyrics. I'm learning new things every day. Wow.