I heard that, like, when you get older, a doctor has one of these, and he sticks a camera up your butt every five years. It's mandatory. Whoa, really? Why do they do that? They say it's like to check for scallops or something, but they really just do it because it's funny. Coming to you from beautiful upstate New York, this is the Slamtail Podcast, the show about all things pinball. I'm your host, Ron Hallett, here with the other host, Bruce Nightingale. Nationals. Nationals. Okay, and this is episode 232. We're going to be talking about the Washington Nationals today on Baseball Talk and Pinball. Washington Nationals. What a terrible name. I know. What happened to Senators? What was wrong with Senators? Nothing. It struck out three times. Well, twice, yeah. No, three times, literally. No, they had the original Senators, and then they became the Twins. The Twins. And then they had to do it again in the 80s again. Oh, they were? Yes. Oh, because then they had the second Senators, and they became, what, the Rangers or something? They moved somewhere else. Yes, they moved to the Rangers. And then the third time was going to be in the 80s. The company was doing everything. They were ready to pay the money to MLB, and then they folded. So, yeah, I don't know why the Nationals. That's a terrible name. But, hey, we have the Nationals. Oh, you do? We do. Do we want to start with that, then? We can start with that. We can start with anything. We're the Slab Zill Podcast. We make a fucking good of my fucking podcast. Oh, God, no, not the Italian again. Stop. Well, that's great. Joe C. encouraged me more and more now. Yeah, Joe C., we had on a few episodes ago, he sent a picture of us. It was like Italian cooks or something. Yes. We're making spaghetti. Hey, fuck the rule. It's funny that the actual Italian on the podcast is not doing that. I don't know why. You should. You need a gimmick. My great-grandparents are from Italy. You need a gimmick. I'm just going to rename myself to their name, Labello. That's my new name. Wow, there you go. Yeah. Now, Frank and Conchetta. Conchetta. Why is that name not around anymore? We'll immediately get responses. Oh, that's my sister's name. What are you talking about? What's the nickname for Conchetta? Yeah, there you go. Yeah, I don't know what that would be. Con. Con. Con! God! Okay, we'll be right back. God! But we have the Nationals and not the Washington Nationals. Okay, what is the Nationals? Explain for those who don't know what the hell you're talking about. So, in March, after the state finals. What are the state finals? Oh, well, IFPA takes the top either 16 or 24 top players from each state that participate in IFPA with enough tournaments. I don't know if all 50 are involved still. I think it's still less than that. Well, basically, it's all the states and Canadian provinces throughout the year. If you're in the top 16 or 24, you have a lot of players. Well, they will all have finals on, I think it's the weekend. February. No. I think it's February. Well, it's the weekend before the Super Bowl. Okay. Whatever that is. Yeah, the second weekend. Yeah, so across the country, or actually across North America, people will go at it to see who is superior in their state and or province. But that's not enough because there can be only one. We need to know who is the best of the best. So in March, IPA holds the Nationals, which is where all the state and provincial champions go at it to find out who is the best. who's the best around. No one's ever going to bring you down. And then they also, in addition to that, because just having that obviously would be too boring, they have the Pinmasters. Pinmasters. Which is basically the golf format. The golf format. Which is going to be great. But we're getting it at RPC. The Rochester Pinball Collective will be hosting Nationals and Pinmasters. In 2025. Yes. Amazing. Where is this RPC, Bruce? This is in 349 West Commercial Street in beautiful East Rochester, New York. Sweet 2965. But, yes, you know, if you listen to a lot of our previous episodes, Bruce keeps pushing for this over and over. We have more games. Come on, come on, Josh Sharpe. Come on, come on. Well, it looks like it happened. It did happen. I was very surprised when, you know, I've been bugging, of course. So you were surprised that the person you've been bugging for this very thing. Did comment, come back. Well, actually, no, that means that actually somebody listened. Ah. So you see how I'm surprised. Well, someone listened and told him because I doubt if he's listening. Oh, I think he does listen once in a while. Once in a while, yeah. Yeah. We're not important enough to listen all the time. El Presidente. Mm-hmm. But he came and asked, and we got a number, and we went with it. And congratulations, people. All the people from downstate New York now get to complain because one of them is going to have to come up possibly up to here if the winner is not from upstate New York. Uh-huh. Because the states are down in the city this year. Uh-huh. So somebody's coming up to Rochester. Everyone's coming to Rochester. Mm-hmm. We don't know if we're going to stream it or if somebody else is going to stream it. We're still figuring it out. Oh, I thought that was decided. No, Zach's still back and forth with it. Oh, okay. But if not, we'll be having somebody else. And they're going to have their own little area. Ah, very nice. A quiet booth. You won't hear anybody commenting if you're playing close by the booth. it will be actually sealed off booth. What? Sealed off? Okay. Where is the sealed off booth? We're going to put them in the repair area, and we're going to run the data cable. Wow. Yeah. Okay. They're going to have to have some long-ass HDMI cables to get in there to their shit. Possibly. But we're trying to make it so it's quiet. Ah. Quiet. That's why we're in negotiation. Because I would love to use our rig. It would be a lot easier. And just use their computer. But they'd have to run something in the middle room again. Yes. Yeah. Because of the limitations of our HDMI cables in the ceiling. Well, it can only be up to 50 feet or something. Yeah, it's 50 feet. It's currently 50 feet. You get beyond a certain length, you could have issues. Degradation of the data. Degradation of the data. Yeah, sure, Bruce. That sounds good. Yeah. I'm IT now. Hi. So we got the Nationals That will be coming to Rochester New York It'll be really cool It's exciting, it's so exciting And Ron, you get to play in your first Pinmasters Yeah, I'll probably play in Pinmasters And my only goal would not to be last Because I know I'm going to have a couple of games That'll be like the horrible They just blow up with Yeah, I could get 12 on that I'm already done, my round's already over Yeah Yeah, that's why a lot of people hate that format. Basically, there's a par on the game. You've got to get a certain score and a certain amount of – Games are set to 10 balls and 9 balls, and there's scores that you hit. No, they're not set to 10 balls and 9 balls. They're set to 5 balls. A 5? I thought some of them were higher. No, they're set to 5, and the deal is if you don't get it, depending on what your score is, you could get up to like a 10. Oh, that's right, a 10, yeah. Yeah, so it's not like the old way we used to do it where if you didn't get it, you got a four in a three-ball game. It's like, no, there's scoring plateau. There's bigger penalties if you really fail. Yeah. But it would be cool to hopefully have a lot of all the top-notch players in North America come here, and then the next goal will be hopefully, wink, wink, wink, IFPA championship, like the Worlds. I would love to have the Worlds next. The Worlds. The Worlds. Give me the world. There is something coming up at our PC. There is. Yes. John Wick. John Wick launch party. We got John Wick. You do? We do. He's like, huh? We do have a John Wick. Yeah. I knew that. Oh, I didn't know. You're way over there. Oh, you do? There was a picture of it you guys sent. I know. But, hey, some people don't see, but we did get one. Some people don't see. Okay. Hey, people are blind out there. Uh-huh. So what do you think of John Wick? Uh-oh. Wow, that's not good. Total dead silence. I can hear him breathing, though. Yeah, you can hear me breathing. That's about it. And my mom, he told me, if you can't say something nice, don't say it. No. It's just a clunk. I like that it seems to play hard. I've seen it on streams where people will usually blow up everything, and they're getting their asses kicked by it, which makes me feel kind of good, actually, at least watching it in a tournament. It won't be something that takes forever. It needs a lot of rule work. Okay. And there's no notifications on what you're doing there. Yeah. We talked about this in a previous episode. Yeah, we did, and it's still, you know, the code just got updated, and it was for nothing except for bug fixes. Lock is lit. Lock is lit. Where? Where is lock? Yeah, where's the fucking lock? It doesn't tell you. Nothing. At least not on the pro. Yeah. Pros. Yeah, that's what we have. We have a pro. Yeah. No LEs, folks. No. None of the owners want to go for an LE. No. And the owner doesn't want to bring it out, John, because he's having too much fun with it. Yeah. It should tell you something. Yes, it does. Yeah. Yeah. And then what's next? Well, what is next, Ron? What, an RPC? No. Oh, you mean Stern. Oh, what's next coming from Stern? Oh, very good. You're segwaying to the next thing. Yes, I am. Oh, yes, we are. Godzilla 70th anniversary. Yes. Black and white edition, which we already said was probably coming. And, yes, to the surprise of no one, it has arrived. But it's the LE artwork that's black and white, which was kind of surprising. Well, half of it. Yes. Did you notice that? I'm looking at the artwork. So, yeah. So, CERN released the trailer for it. Yes. And it's going to be the same deal where it's like the new art package. It's going to have a new mode, which is basically the wizard mode. Yeah. That you can just go straight to. And they're going to do it for all the games. Yes. So the code will be coming out eventually. Price is the same as the – $26.99. They're current. $96.97. Yeah, $26. Holy shit, I'd buy one. Yeah. I already have one, and I'd buy it. $96.99. Interesting thing I thought was it's going to have its own set of accessories, like specific, including topper. So I'm guessing the topper is just going to be the same topper, except instead of the green Godzilla, it's just going to be the gray Godzilla. That's my guess of what it's going to be. I can't see any kind of custom thing just for that game. It's going to be the same top or just different colors. No, Betty Boop is going to be on the ground going, no! Because it's black and white. Because it's black and white. Very good. I like it. Works been kind of slow since cartoons went to color. Yeah. I still got it. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Highly recommend it if you haven't seen it. Oh, my God. That's one of the movies that we both will say is fucking awesome. Because a lot of the voice guys were still alive. Yes, they were. Including May Castell, who does Betty Boop. So you get to hear the actual voice of Betty Boop. Yes. And Mel Blanc, my idol. Yes. Does anyone understand what this duck is saying? Take me along. Godzilla. Godzilla. Godzilla. So, yeah, basically they took the L.E.R. package. Yes. Now, the L.E.R. package, it had different graphics on each side of the cabinet. So they just took the side that had Mechagodzilla and put it on both sides. And put the 70 logo with the 70th. Yeah. And they have, it's the L.E. Translight. Well, the L.E. had a back glass, but it's a Translight version of the back glass. Wherever it says Godzilla, they have it in Japanese instead and in red. So basically you use the, it seems to be like the universally accepted centaur color theme whenever you're going for black and white, which is black, white, and red. Red, yeah. And it looks good. It looks good. I actually do like it. I think I was expecting a lot of LEs or, you know, I was thinking everyone was going to do the Lucy thing. I don't want to buy a Lucy. I don't want to buy a Lucy. And then Lucy became the rarest one. And now everyone's like, I want a Lucy for ACDC. See, I want a Lucy. Now, I was expecting the same thing, and I haven't really seen it. There hasn't been a lot of Godzilla sales. Oh, for this, you mean? For the machines. As far as you know. Yeah, well, looking on Pinside and a couple other things. In groups, you don't see many pieces selling. I know in the trailer, George Gomez, he did the trailer. He was like, explain how this is not an LE. It's not an LE. We'll make as many of these as people want. Yeah. Would I buy one? Probably only for collectability I actually like the coloring I like the full color I see ours all the time You're a Ted Turner kind of guy Yes, I want to colorize everything I want to get the black and white one and then colorize it Instead of just getting the color one So, yes, but it's coming out, I think, in a couple weeks, I think they said. So it's going to be on the line soon, and then, boom, more Godzillas in the world. Yep. You know what's also going to be on the line eventually? What's that? Rush. It's back. Yeah, I think they need a filler because I don't think something's selling well. Oh, I don't think something's selling well. Yeah, but supposedly you have, I mean, what's coming up? I don't think they're going to make 1,000 LEs. Oh, John, wait. I'm going to be honest. Yeah, now I'm going to be honest. Do you think they're going to make 1,000 WIC LEs? Why wouldn't they? If it's not selling, why would you? Being honest, what would you say to that? if you were a manufacturer and you were going to stick all your distributors with these games that are not selling and then expect the cash right away, there's got to be a point where you say, whoa, time out, guys. I need to change my order a little bit. Instead of those 15 or 10 LEs I want, maybe I need only seven or six. Maybe just build enough to put them in that same section of the factory where the WWE LEs are. Yes. And then you can give them out for tournaments. It sounds like they're all gone now. They haven't done that for a while. Yeah, they need a new one. I know they need a new one. So now Wick Ellie will be the new WWE Ellie. Oh, God. I'd rather have Wick Ellie than the WWE Ellie. Well, you would get the little screen, though, on the WrestleMania Ellie. The digital screen. Yes, and you'd get the wrestlers you've actually heard of. Yes, and you would actually enjoy it probably a lot more. I don't know. Isn't the code exactly the same? The code is exactly the same, which is terrible. That was the flaw of that game. Yeah, it's like your L.A., but where's Hogan then? Where's Macho Man? Where's Undertaker? Where's all these guys? I see them on the art, but they're not in the game. Yeah, but the game. Yeah. Fail. That was a true blue. Fail, fail. Where's the code, Gary? Where's the code? But, yeah, what would you do? Would you as Stern say, hey, maybe we're not going to do 1,000? Or are you Stern saying, I'm going to shove these down our distributors' throats and sell 1,000? Make 1,000 so they have to buy them? Yeah, that's probably what Stern will do. I guarantee that's what Stern will do. Well, you already think that Jersey Jack is lying and they didn't do 1,000. Yes. I don't think they're going to do 1,000. They said they already did, and you're saying that's incorrect. I bet you they're not. Oh, wait a minute. That doesn't sound as confident as last time. No, I really don't think so. I don't think they made 1,000. Okay. I bet you they made like 750. All right. Just like he has said in the past, we're going to make as many as we can. And then, you know, they never did make, you know, so many. I was like, oh, well, yeah, we made a lot of them. I hate this hidden number shit, too. You'd be proud of. Guess what? But if you have, like, if you sold the most machines you ever did, that's when you should be waving the flag, saying, look what we did. Look, we sold, you know, blah, blah, blah. We sold 5,000 guns and roses. We sold 7,500 guns and roses. Well, they didn't. They didn't. I know. But if you did, wouldn't you be the first one screaming at the top of your lungs? I know. I think so. But it's a double-edged sword, though, because if you then get, like, you know, Godfather, you're going, we didn't sell that many. We better not say one word. And people are going, they're not saying anything. You know why they're not saying anything? They didn't sell. Very good voice. Very good. Didn't sell at all. Not at all. I know they didn't. Book a keeper here seeing, look, there's only very few sales of these games. The thing I didn't mention with Godzilla, it's not just that it's got the black and white artwork. It has, like, the foil for the cabin. Yes, the foil for the cabin. The metallic foil, like they did on... The L.E.s. Well, no. And the L.E.s, too. Iron Man L.E. I mean, Iron Man Vault, they did it. Yeah, the Vault, they did it, yes. All the new L.E.s have that also. So it is a little perk. It is. I mean, it makes sense with the Mechagodzilla being metal. Yes, it does. So if you didn't have a Godzilla, Ron, would this have been in your future? Which one would I have gotten? Yes. If you had all the choices in front of you at the beginning. Including an LE. I'd have to see it. Oh, an LE? Including an LE. That'd be expensive. No, but you had Ron Hallett money. Oh, yeah. Well, I had Ron Hallett money back then, and I didn't get the LE. Did you have a chance to get one? Not really. I wasn't on the list. It was already sold out instantly. That's what I'm saying. If you had the choice of all, all three. I'd have to look at them closer. Okay. That's a good answer. I mean, I'd like to see this one in person and see what this looks like. Yeah, I would, too. And I think they're going to – where's the – did they say? It's going to be a Comic-Con. Yeah, that's what I thought they said, yes. But I'm not going to San Diego to see it, but yeah. Oh, I think you should. Oh, I should? You'll walk right in. You'll walk right in. Hi. Yes. Press pass. Yes, I'm Ron from the Slamtail Podcast. Oh, Ron, please come right in. We have a table for you ready, sir. Hey, we should try to get press passes for that. We are press. That's what I've been told. I've been told I should try to get press passes for, like, just regular shows and get in for free. Yeah. But that means you've got to talk about them. That's true. Well, that means I feel bad if I didn't do a thorough walkthrough, etc. I'm going to look right now while you're talking. Well, what about Rush? Aren't you excited? I actually like Rush. You said you didn't like it. No, no, no. I've been playing it more this past week. Oh, so you changed again. No, no, no. I didn't change it. You're the wishiest, watchiest guy. No, it's not a slap single anymore. Oh, oh. It's a ground rule double. It's not even a double off the wall. It's a ground rule double. It's a ground rule double. So I just took one hop into the stands is what you're saying? Yes. Okay. We should do that for all the games. Like some games are an error. Some games are a pass ball. Like every different baseball turn. Hit by pitch is Avatar. Hit by pitch. I like Avatar. Sorry, damn it. Hit my pitch. I came so bad it hurts you. It hurts you bad. I like that, the new baseball rating system. Okay, so for Comic-Con 2024 in San Diego, press badge registration is now open. Oh, okay. And if you did it last week before July 10th, you would have been put on the press list. Oh. Oh, I just want to be pressed so I can do the three scoos. You're thinking, press, press, pull. You know, who doesn't want to do that? Come on. Wow. I'm excited about Rush coming back. It sounds like you're just going to do one run of it, though. Yeah, I think it's only going to be a pro. No, pro and premium. Oh, it is premium. Wow. Pro and premium. Wow, I didn't see that part of it, so that's pretty cool. Isn't that exciting? Dead. Silent. I should actually double check about the premium thing. I'm pretty sure. Let's see NAP. Yeah, that's where I'm at now. We're going to go to the NAP arcade. It's NAP corner. It's NAP corner time. I was already there. Rush, rush. There we go. Rush. Let's see. Renewed his license. He'll be doing another production run of both pro and premium models in October. There you go. October. So they're trying to fill some future spots. Maybe it'll be at Expo. Again, they can make a return. Now, that's kind of when in October, I'm wondering, is it going to be before Expo? Or is it going to be after Expo? Well, there's only like one week, I think, after Expo. Yeah, I know what I'm saying. Or is it going to be the cornerstone that we should be seeing, I hope? What is the cornerstone? What do we think it is again? I'm losing track. I don't know, actually. I didn't know. I didn't say anything for the cornerstone this time. You said it was Cuphead or something like that, or Cuphead, whatever you want to call it. No, dude, that's American. Oh. Fool. Jesus Christ. Whatever. Why not Metallica? I don't think that's going to be a cornerstone. You don't think that's a cornerstone? No. So you don't think it's a pro and a premium and all that? You just think it's what, then? One model. One model. Maybe they should go back to the one model theory and do a premium. Okay. Give you everything for one price. All right. So we need a limited edition since, you know, if it's, you know, what we think it's going to be, which is, you know, just Spike 3 with digital. Now, what happens if it's Metallica? I was thinking about this. You have Metallica, Rush, and Foo Fighters all at the same time. It's like it's three bands at once. It's like, is that too much bandage? Bondage, yes. Oh. That's just like a lot of music pins all at the same time. And then Jersey Jack, what's their current game? Elton John. I know. It's like it's just, oh, so much music. All right. Okay, so we've already applied for professional status. We have to actually apply for professional application. I went to journalism school. All right. We got Sir News. Ray Freres has retired. Yes. 40 years in the biz. Yep. He was the art director of Stern. It's actually longer than 40. It's almost 50. Yeah, he's... He was in the Bally's from 78 to 79. Marlon Goldschrider. Yeah. He did the game right downstairs. I could go down. Hot Doggin. He did your Hot Doggin. I know he did my Hot Doggin. He did the porn stuff. Runs here, Kenny Rogers. I mean... I know. He did a lot. A lot of different styles. He did Fathom. I know. Possibly the greatest art ever in a game. I mean, it's up there. That's a masterpiece, that game. I agree. But then he also did things like, you know, Dr. Dude with the crazy artwork. Like, totally different styles. But congratulations, Greg. You've earned your retirement. And he also did voices. He did call-outs. I believe he is the narrator on No Fear. Oh. He's the other voice that's not still on. Hey, hi! You know, that's car racing with Robbie Gordon. Yeah. I kind of missed the call outs in that game. See, you missed the game. I don't miss the game. I miss the call outs. You missed the game. And Stern has appointed Sebastian Napoli to replace Greg as its new art director. Yeah, so they've expanded their art to part. Oh, yes. Okay, so in the actual Stern press release, it says, Stern Pinball expands art team. We need to have a talk with Zach Sharp about this. Okay, hold on. You have a one person who retired. I'm reading it right here. I'm going to read it. Okay, yeah. The official retirement of long-tenured and iconic pinball artist, art director Greg Freres. And then it says about all his work, et cetera, et cetera, and why he's retiring and, you know. And it says, under direct tutelage of Greg, Stern Pinball announced the appointment of Sebastian Napoli as art director. Sebastian brings over 15 years of experience working in creative design. I love Keith's, like, based out of Chicago. Of course. And then, okay, then I'm reading on, okay, who else did they hire? Because they said expand it. And, no, then they go in talking about Insider Connected and about Stern Pinball, and that's it. The only thing I can think of is, like, maybe Greg was, like, part-time, semi-retired, and now this guy's got a full-time gig. You know, hey, we expanded by a half a person. Or maybe Greg was full-time and this guy was half-time. Yeah. Or not. That doesn't make sense. That makes no sense. Yeah, because then it's still, then he's full and then it takes, then it's actually. So you have. They went from full and half to one full. So they actually, they decreased. Yes. So we had a person who was there and retired. That goes from one to zero. You add one person, it goes from zero to one. Yeah. I can't think of any possible math that makes this work. Unless Greg was mostly retired and even considered like a part-time employee. Unless this new guy is so good, he counts as two. Maybe he could draw with left and right hands. Yes. That's it. He gained the stroke. I think you're right. He could draw. He gained the stroke. He's an ambidextrous, so he counts as two artists. There you go. There we go. Solved. Maybe they have some AI they're using, so now that has increased the size of the art staff. I don't know. I don't know either. That just doesn't make any sense. I read that multiple times. Yeah, when she said it, I read it, and I was like, huh? I don't get it. But I'm not as smart as CERN, obviously. Of course not. They're marketing. Guys, come on, man. All right. You're just tossing a softball here, baby. Yeah, this is too easy. All right. Nap Corner. Nap Corner time. Live, one of the Nap Corners. One more thing. They had a kind of a Haggis update. Oh, yeah. So what they had is, I guess this is from someone who's in the area. So take it with a grain of salt, whether it's true or not. But if I could find the damn thing. Yeah, you had it up before. I had it up. Why can't you get it up again? Haggis supposedly has been working with two to three people building one to two games per week, trying to build machines that were paid for over a year ago, the Fathoms. Over a year ago. And you took all the money for Centaur. They're my best Robert Downey Jr. face. Why are you so crusty? Yeah, I hate to say, people, Welcome to Dutch 2.0 Dual Penetration Extreme So you say they were trying a Dutch thing? Southern style I think the issues are in Australia, man It is, of course it is Getting the parts there and all that I still remember Wayne from Mr. Pinball Australia In an interview he said Like, you can't – for a person who tried to do it, he said you can't make games here. It just doesn't work. It's not feasible. With all the import duties and export duties and everything else, plus the wait times for all your stuff, keeping it cheap. If you want to keep it cheap, you have to do it by boat. You can't do it by air. And most of your clientele is not there. Out of your country, yes. Yeah, they're in the U.S., so. Yes. Yeah. Look at the European manufacturers are even having somewhat of a hard time because they have to have the export and import. But at least they have a bigger market. And I know Australia's doing it right now. You fucking white guy. But I'm being honest. The pinball hobby is strong in Australia, but it's not as strong as Europe. And Europe is not as strong as the USA, of course. For those at home, you should take a drink every time Bruce says. I being honest I am being honest That like his quote I being honest Am I right I being honest He always right Always right All right Bruce So what is the next game from Stern besides are we saying Metallica Metallica, sure. Okay. I'll go with that. And now you think it's going to be what? I think it's a cornerstone. It's going to be a whole, what? I think it's a cornerstone. You're thinking that's a cornerstone? Yep. I'm thinking it's going to be just make it one model, like a premium, and go. Okay. So you think it's like the – what was the ones they made that were like Beatles? It's with Kamikaze Company? Yeah, it's almost like a Comic-Con thing. I joke Kamikaze, but not really. Yeah. What were they called? What was the name of this company? I forget already. Shit Show? No. God, that's bad. I totally forgot what the – because, yeah, they were through his company. I don't – I have failed. But it's not going to be like that. I think it's just going to be like they should just make it one model. Premium, it's not a full, you know, we're saying it's going to be the same play field. I'm thinking it's going to be the same play field. Yeah. It's just going to be newer boards with digital instead of, you know. With digital. It's all digital. It's going to be LCD. I'm talking LCD. LCD. I'm thinking pro, premium, full release. I'm thinking, like, expression lighting probably on the premium. Like, why not? Just make it 10K, premium, everything, done. Okay. Now will Spike 3 have fuses? That's the big question. Oh, they don't have fuses now? On the node boards, they haven't had it on them. Is that why they just blow up? Yeah, baby. All right. So, Bruce. Yes. We're through all the news and stuff. Are we? We asked. Are we? I'm saving the S word for the end. Oh, what's the S word? S-T-O-N-P. Oh. B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O. So we knew we didn't have much to talk about as far as news. No, we did not. We did our – Call out to the fans. The fans on Facebook to ask us questions. Now, do you want to do the Facebook questions first or the ball bag first? They're both pretty full. I say we do the fans first since we requested the fans. Oh, we requested. We always have our mail ball pack filled. Okay. But let's go to the fans since we requested that, and I think they'd feel a little slighted that we asked for their help, and they came through. They really did. We had a lot of requests. They would feel slighted if we did the ball bag before them. Yes. Okay, sure. Because the ball bag is always full. Uh-huh. So Bruce asks, so we are recording this Sunday. What do you want us to talk about? What do you want us to talk about? What should we talk about? Yeah, it's very nice. Yeah. No, I'm doing the German guy from Raiders of the Lost Ark. I love that guy. What should we talk about? Let's see. John, John Cosson asks, how to keep your pinball enthusiasm alive? You played all the games, doing box games, don't excite you anymore, and you've seen enough dickish behavior competitions to now avoid that? We have to. Nah, we don't. I still go to competitions. I'm not as much as you. What keeps you in the hobby? A hateful podcast. A hateful podcast keeps you in the hobby. Ha-ha, you missed me. So I would say. No, I do it for the love. It's been 40 years for me. It's my life. I hate to say it. It's a pretty bad life when it's now 40 years. It's my life, and I'll do what I want. 40 years I've been doing pinball. Wow. I've apparently been alive 40 years. You are older than 40, James. Don't even go there, you fucker. Look how young I am. Yes. How old are you, Ron? We go through this all the time. You know how old I am. I'm two years younger than you. I know. So you're over the 5-0. Yes, I am. Well, I'm at the 5-0, if you will. Yeah. Well, you're over it. Well, yeah. Technically. Yes, you're over it. Technically, a minute after my birthday, I'm over it. You got it. If you want to be. Yep. It's my life, and it's now or never. I do it, and this sounds weird being the introvert, anti-people person. I do it for the people at this point. Wow. I can go anywhere in the country, and it's like, oh, hi, Ron. Doesn't matter. Fine. I could be in Florida, California, Colorado. The funny thing for me is they don't know. Chicago, Wisconsin. Well, they don't know. We could be sitting at a show, and I'm talking, and somebody will go, Bruce? I'm like, yeah. Oh, I love your podcast. And I'm like, how did you know it was me? Oh, your voice. Well, it's better than everyone knowing what you look like. Yeah, that is true. It's pretty ugly. If you'd be stupid enough to use your own likeness for the logo, who would do that? Oh, my God, who would do that? That's so stupid. Twice. Let's see. Brian asks, let's see. Oh, someone was answering, John. All the kickbacks and discounts for the manufacturers. That's why we still. Of course, that's got to be it. Yeah, because you see me rolling in all these new inboxes at my house just all lined up. Folks, we can't even get banners. Yeah, exactly. We can't get anything. I know. Can I get a paperclip? RPC can get banners. I can't. Yes, we can. Let's see. What banner do you want, Ron? I forgot what banner I originally wanted that I couldn't get. Was it Godzilla? It might have been Godzilla. Yeah. Let's see. Rodden asks, with the Olympics coming up, is pinball a sport? And if so, should it be in the Olympics? I own an Ironman. Yes, pinball is a sport. No. No, it's not. No, it's not being the Olympics. No. It is a sport when it comes to certain things. No. Like what? Competition. Yeah, but you have like – Ghibli Wings should be in the Olympics too, buddy. Well, they already have golf and they have the curling. Exactly. But like the asshole, Stu McVicker, right? That guy shows up. He hasn't played pinball in months. And boom, he wins the tournament and leaves. Now, what actual sport can someone not do it for months and just come in and boom? Even Jordan couldn't do that. He was out for years, came back. He sucked for a period there before he got back into it. Tiger Woods. Tiger Woods can do it. No, Tiger Woods couldn't do it. I know, exactly. His wife hit him with a golf club, and that was the end of his career. That was it. Went to nine-ons, headed for your Escalade. I can't wait until next month. I cannot wait until next month. Bruce thinks some part. What's next month? Steel. Oh, Steel Panther. That's right. Is that next? Oh, that's August. It is next month. You're going to be in Buffalo twice. Oh, God. That's true. Oh, yeah. What's the other thing I'm in Buffalo for? Beast. Oh, the Beast. Yeah, that's it. No, no, no. That's not when that's happening. It's later. No, but it's earlier. No. The first weekend. Yes, but I mean, the thing I'm going to, that I'm going to that concert for, is not that. Yes, it is. No, it's death ball. It's death ball. Yes, but you're still going to be out in Buffalo twice in one month. Mm-hmm. Which, Ron, is amazing. You know, you get them out twice. But no, pinball is not a sport. Bruce thinks certain parts of it are a sport, which makes no sense. Yes, certain parts of it. Like what? The competition part of it itself, the head-to-head battles. You can have competition with anything, Bruce. Yeah, tiddlywinks, I said. Yes, I can play rock, paper, scissors. Is that a sport? Should we have that televised? No, it's rock, paper, scissors, Spock. You have to go with the Spock. If you don't have the Spock, it's not random enough. Okay. But, no, I actually think it proves that when we have tournaments and that kind of stuff, people from all over the areas come and play because, A, it's a competition against each other. You're going to win money. It's a competition. That is correct. And it is not a, as Papa would say, a professional, but it is amateur. I would consider it an amateur. Yeah, Papa. Professional and amateur pinball association, but who the hell is professional? No one has ever been professional. It should be the APA. It should be the APA. Papa. Papa. But, I mean, if we had sponsors that were actually, like, I hate poker. Now, do you see all these guys with their hats on, on their shirts? They got, you know, oh, my God. Even even baseball is doing this now. And so is basketball. That the baseball. Seeing those logos on the uniforms. Oh, it annoys the shit out of me. Oh, just the purest in me who likes. Wait a second. OK, so that annoys you. Yes. And the other. The other that they wear now, too, when they're running. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm going to talk to you. You're talking about being the puritists. The puritists. Okay. New word. Puritists. I'm a puritist. The purist. Okay. You're the purist that you don't like logos on a baseball uniform, right? On the uniform, yes. Yes. Okay. Okay. So what is the difference between putting LEDs in a machine and not keeping that the way it was? Wait a second. That has nothing to do with the other. Yes, it does. That is absolutely nothing. You're changing the original game. You're changing the original. No, no. You're changing the look. I'm not even going to entertain this. You're changing the look of the game. Are you or are you not? When you put LEDs in the game, are you changing the look of the game? I don't care. Put the LEDs in, Bruce. No, no. Are you changing the look of the game when you put LEDs in? Are you changing the look of the game? Yes. It's brighter now, Bruce. Okay, okay. So now if somebody puts something on a jersey, is that changed? It's the same. No, it's not. Yes, it is. No, it's not. No. You take the pinball machine, and then you put stickers of, like, RC Cola in. Well, we did. I'm trying to think of roller games. Yes, exactly. What was it? RC Tab? No, it was not RC. No, it was Pepsi. It was Pepsi. I thought RC was, okay, how about Tab? No, it was not Tab. It was Tab. Tab is Coke. It was Pepsi, Squirt. Yeah, but there was a bunch of them. Squirt. Squirt. And it was something else. Yeah, see, that would be the same. No, but it's still not the same. You're changing something on an original thing that you're considering original. See, I have no problem with the advertisements on the field, as long as it's not in the field of play. Because if you go back, you look at baseball comes from the 30s. The outfield wall is nothing but advertising. But never behind the plate because they didn't have TV. Well, see, I don't mind. I don't mind. I hate the TV. I don't want it on the field where it's not even there. It's fake. It's like computer. Oh, I hate that. I hate that. You stick it right on the mound. Oh, that makes me want to punch something. I know, but you're changing game. You've changed now to game. For you, as the Puritist, you would think, yes, you would think that that is the way it should be. It should not be that way. And now you're changing your pinball machine. I don't know how we ended up in an LED discussion. Because it always goes back to LEDs. It's not a sport. Bruce thinks it is. Next question. No, I'm talking. If you want to hear more about this next time, please email us. At smartcellpodcast.gmail.com. Because I want to know what people really think about that. And what they think of the word puritist. Yes, the puritan. You're going to be a puritan. I want to see you wear the Quaker shit on you. Ah, the Quaker shit. Quaker oats? Yes, Quaker. You can be the Quaker oats guy. Brian asks, I would like a detailed discussion on space hunt. I heard there would be one at Hex. I'll give you one after I play it. That's the French game. That's the one that's got this theme music. Space hunt. Like it literally goes like that. Space hunt. By Hexa Pinball. Space hunt. Oh, Jesus Christ. Oh, God. It looks really bad. The only time I hear about these manufacturers is on the Pinball News podcast there. because they talk about all the European companies. Yeah. But they also had an update on our buddy, Robert Mueller. Oh, you're right. Yeah. We know, brother. I got off, dude. I totally got off. I just got to pay a lot of money, brother. Basically, the civil trial between him and the SEC, they came to an agreement. And basically, he has to pay up amount to be determined at a future hearing. Now, he could still be brought up on criminal charges, but I don't think that's ever going to happen. I think that was it. I think he's just going to – they're going to give him a dollar amount, and he's going to have to pay it, and that's it. So I'm not going to jail, brother. Scott, free dude. Yeah. We have to get – I'm putting this out there right now. Uh-oh. Steve, we need you on. We need the behind-the-scenes story. You can just open the door once. We'll just open the vault once. I think he means Steven Bowden. He knows who I'm talking about. Oh, God, no, no, no deep root. Yes, we need it. Well, you know, brother, he signed an NDA, too. He can't do that. NDAs are no longer valid when the company is out of business. Is that a rule? That is a rule because guess what? You're not protecting any proprietary stuff anymore. If he was going into how the board was made and that kind of stuff, that could be the shady part. I wonder how much money I'm going to have to pay, dude. I'm not going to be able to buy wife number three a new ring. I know. Damn it, brother. I can't steal from old people. Let's see. Jake asks, custom-built and rethemed pinball machines. I mean, I don't – other than playing them in the home brew row, that's about the only time I really – Yeah, it just – you know, the Dukes of Hazzard. Okay, here we go. Rethemed. You want to – Dukes of Hazzard. Somebody re-theme Rollercoaster Tycoon. Yeah, that'd be great. That is a killer play field that deserves a much better theme and some actual rules. Yeah, I totally agree. Instead of timing out every mode and getting to the fucking troll. I mean, ugh. Yum, yum. Yes. Like I said, you broke the rule of pinball. If you have an annoying character that moves, you've got to be able to hit it. otherwise you have failed miserably. Imagine if there was like a jump ramp or like a slam ramp like in No Good Gophers and you could hit him on the fly right in the head with the ball. That would be awesome. That would be cool. And he registered it. Oh, fuck. That would be great. You bastards. You bastards. Okay. Derek says, I can only hear Bruce saying, see, I told you, Ron, that it's a cash grab coming. Oh, it is. Cash grab. Cash grab. That's definitely what the Godzilla is. Oh, definitely. Yes. Da-dun-dun-dun-dun. Da-dun-dun-dun-dun. Da-dun-dun-dun-dun. Oh, no. David Dennis has one. Oh, no. David Dennis is the host, my co-host, on the other podcast I'm on, Silver Ball Chronicles, which you can hear on the Pinball Network. I noticed how you always called him co-host on that show, but I was never a co-host to, like, episode 180, 170. Well, he's the main, he started the show, Bruce. So I didn't start the show with you on the first time? Yeah, but it was my idea. Oh. Yeah, the show was my idea. See how this is? Oh, totally. Mr. Teolis, come on, kick in the head. Mr. Teolis, what does he have to do? He's the one that made you. David Dennis wants to know, the latest Silver Ball Chronicles is about multimorphic. What does Bruce think of that? That must be your answer. Complete silence. All right, Bruce. Is there any games you like by them, Bruce? Do you think the crane is cool? No. How is the crane not cool? It's like the coolest thing. It's there. Honestly, none of those games feel like pinball. Sorry. It doesn't. There's the purist in me. Are you just being honest? Totally. They don't feel flip-wise. I know they changed the Flipper Mechs, and I haven't tried a new Flipper Mech. I'll be the first to admit to that. But did Weird Al have the new Flipper Mechs in him? Yes, I think so. Then I have played, and it did not do anything for me. Okay. Weird Al, I love the theme. Love the theme. Final Resistance, you play that? No, I'm not. See, you've got to play that one. Yeah, but I'm not. But I don't go to shows anymore. That's true. And they don't have them at my show that I go to in Allentown. Let's see. Next one. Julie says, the Beast pinball tourneys at Pocketeer Billiards in Buffalo, New York. Oh. So plug the Beast, Bruce. Plug the Beast. I'm bringing out two games myself. I've got to start tearing them down and getting them ready. The Beast, which will be at Pocketeer Billiards. August 1st through the 4th. Yes. Ta-da! Jeff Teolis is. Tournament of Western New York. He'll have – I think the main is already sold out. I think it's only – the main is sold out. I think he said that in the last Facebook post. Let's see. It's basically the old Buffalo Open, except run by Canadians. Oh, it's better. Okay. Okay, Ryan C. sent us something. Oh, God. Ryan C. And none of these are actual. Oh, God. Would you rather have a head the size of a tennis ball or the size of a watermelon? Well, I have a big head, so a watermelon right off the bat. My head's already big. I'll say tennis ball. I want to see what it's like to have a smaller head. Hey. You have a? Take the watermelon. Hi there. Would you rather fight a chicken to the death every time you get in your vehicle or once a year fight an orangutan to death using a broadsword? Oh, orangutan, definitely. Yeah, orangutan, just once. You got a sword. The beast is sold out. Okay. For the event, the main event. The women's is still open, but the beast is sold out. Oh, God. Would you rather have dick-sized nipples or a nipple-sized dick? Dick-sized nipples. Yeah, I'll go with that. Oh, God, would you rather have an orgasm every time you hear the song All Star by Smash Mouth or have that song start playing every time you have an orgasm? The first, because I don't listen to that song, so it wouldn't bother me. I don't listen to that song. Yeah, I'll go with that. He says, I guess I better add a pinball question. Yeah, good idea. Yeah, fucking wanker. You are Kate Winslet in the Titanic. Who would you rather have draw your naked? Oh, God. Let me try. Who would you rather have drawn a naked body? You are Kate Winslet. No, Kate Winslet in the Titanic. Who would you rather have draw you naked? So the scene where – I've never seen the movie, but isn't – what's his face? Draw her naked. Yeah, DiCaprio. Yeah, but in reality, it was actually the director. What's his name? Yes, Cameron. Cameron. Yes. So who would you rather – oh, God. Who would you rather have draw you naked, Christopher Franchi or Zombie Yeti? P.S. Whoever you choose Drowns at the end Because you don't share The piece of wood Wow Okay, bye, Zombie Eddie Chris, I like too much Oh, God I don't want to die And Chris listens, so I'll have to say Zombie Eddie Yes, Zombie Eddie I've never met Zombie Eddie Neither have I So Very nice sea time But a zombie drawer would be too colorful Too many colors. Let's see. Raymond asks, how excited Ron is to go overseas to his first out-of-country pinball tournament? Yeah, you're finally joining the list of out-of-country pinball players. Yeah. Because I've done it before. You've never. Wait a minute. When have you done it? I've done the Dutch Open. Really? I've done the Canadian. What? Oh, man. See? You are way behind. I did the Dutch Open because one time when I was in the Netherlands, I was working for a company, and that weekend, boom, I got in. Was that the same one they had the weird, like, racist march thing? Yes. Yes, it was in the town, yes. God, yes. And you did not believe me until I showed you video, and you were like, what the fuck? Yeah, they do this thing in blackface. Yeah, blackface. And I'm sitting there going, I'm waiting for the hotel to open at 3 p.m., and I'm sitting there going, I'm so close to the building, I'm getting their Wi-Fi. It's free Wi-Fi. And I'm sitting there going, and they're like, hey, you finally made it. And I'm like, you're not going to believe what I'm seeing. And they're like, what do you mean? I was like, there's people walking down the street with blackface. Ron's like, no fucking way are they doing this. I'm like, I swear to God, Ron, they are. And I took a picture, and I sent it, and it finally went over. And he looks up, and he's like, oh, fuck, they have a thing that talks about, and it's not. No, they're supposed to be like chimney sweeps or something. Yeah, chimney sweeps. Or coal or something. That's what it's supposed to be, but it does not look good at all. And Ron thought I was busting his balls until I sent the picture. Well, if you remember, that was the thing where you were there. I know. You left from the tournament we were at at your house. Yes. And then 24 hours later, like on this Sunday, like, I'm in the Netherlands now. I'm in the Netherlands now. It's insane. It was. But, yes, I'm excited. Yes. I'm excited. I'm getting ready. At least Ron won't have to learn a new language. I got a UK heating pad with the UK plug on it. my phone service is all set i have the right kind of credit card all that stuff don't forget don't plug anything that's 120 over there yeah that's hence i'm not bringing my heating pad that i'm wearing right now over there i gotta bring the uk one otherwise yeah i would die instantly it'll probably be really hot for about a second and then your phone yeah really No, it would not be. It would just burn out. It would probably just burn out. But the good thing would be your phone works in each way, so you just need a plug for that. Yes. Phone service won't work. I have to make sure I add the international before I do. Yes, international plan. Yes. Yeah, yeah. So I can plug and text them all the time, and they'll get all so pissed off. But, yeah, I'm looking forward to this. The UK Open, that's where I'm going. So don't forget, everyone in Europe, hug Ron. Oh, no, don't. No, don't do that. Yes, you got to hug Ron. Okay, John asks, what it takes to set up a streaming rig? Is there a standard formula? I'm going to take a pause and a coffee break. Go ahead, knock yourself out. What's a decent parts list, cameras, frame, things you wouldn't think about but should know? Go to tiltforums.com. Yes. And just look up the – there's a whole thread on streaming rigs. Yep. And when all else fails, just rip off whatever Carl D'Python Anghelo uses. I can just use that. Yes. Like, I think the system now, you said you got something else for the system at RPC now? Yeah, another Escoon so we can go through walls and shit. So the player cam will continually work because that's the only one we had an issue with. Yeah, so I think we're pretty much pretty golden now, I think, at the RPC after three years. Golden stream, yeah. Pretty golden. I love the golden. Except for the hole where it just shorts games out, which is so bizarre. That never happened before. it was doing it even on the section of the room that we always streamed in i know confusing but yeah i would say go to tilt forums they have a whole thread that has all that stuff including all links to parts and stuff and and you can get frustrated just like ron does every time he puts it together and goes what the fuck why does this work there used to be uh i think carl used to get it from like 80 20 was the company but now there's another one that's much cheaper and stuff like So try that out, tillforums.com. Let's see. Dave asks, how do you guys prep your games for these major multi-day tournaments? How do you do that, Bruce? I don't have any multi-day tournaments. Well, the first thing is you keep them clean and up-to-date all the time, except for our location. So it is a lot of behind-the-scenes work and keeping them all up to snuff. Something we did not do at this time, which now is on our list, is to bypass all the door. The door, when you open a door, you know, you don't kill the ball and kill the flippers. We had two games we forgot on that last time. Oh. Yeah. The interlock, yes. Yeah, the interlock for the doors, or set them up for, you know, ball recovery if you do have a thing for the newer sterns. If you have ROMs that you can't tilt through, you know, for the older Ballys. I think we only have one now. We only have one in the RPC for the older Ballys. So it's not a big deal. So use a special ROM so you can't tilt through. Yes. I mean, it doesn't matter because when you have Nationals there. Oh, it'll be one and three. One and three. One and three. You'll have to do the Josh. Yes. The Josh Sharpe rules. The two-player on a four-player. I know. It's Stern. You don't have to worry about it. I think he still does it on Sterns. I know, but I'm saying you don't have to do it. Yeah. Kids these days. Also, having a couple games in the back behind the area for backups in case we do have to switch a game out that is totally dead. It's a good idea to have at least four to five games like that. Plenty of drinks, plenty of food, you know, even though we don't have much food there, snacks are good to have. No, for games, for seating. Well, he says prep your games. He doesn't have them. Prepping games. I'm trying to keep us moving. I know. Make sure everything, if you have, we have a list of all the games that have been cleaned, all now 78, where what was last time it was clean, when it was last time it was rubber, that kind of stuff, and we just go over everything and make sure that everything's up to snuff. And as I said, I think our repair list that we've completed is over 1,400, I think it is now. So every little bit that is a problem, we state who reported it, and you go from there. Wow, 1,000 repairs. Yeah, well, 50 games are done at now, 78. Another reason not to have pinball. They break too much. They break too much, but that's over three years. so I would say also for my smaller events like at my house on know know who's coming like how I have the game set up for something like the Vole Cup it's different it's different what I will have set up for Stomp yeah Stomp is like the highest level players will be there so like you're not going to I'm not going to have you know outlaying post rubbers on Rush They're going to be removed. A lot of stuff's going to be harder. Ball savers, especially multiball savers, decrease them. Yeah, decrease, yes. And all that kind of stuff all adds up. Like, you know, when we had Stomp at the RPC last time, you know, we played with tilts. You know, you want to make it fair so it's not truly, you know, you push the game and it tilts right away. That's unfit. You know, it's not fun for anybody. You want to have a fun, good time, but not at the expense of the experience. That's the way it should be. Let's see. Next one we got is from Albert. Who do I have to fuck to get a sports-themed pinball machine? Whoa. What was the last sports? Was it the Stern football? No, NASCAR. NASCAR. Is that a sport? I don't think it is, but they would consider it a sport. Racing is generally considered a sport. So NFL football, what sport is he talking about? Well, it just says a sports-themed pinball machine. I know, but I'm saying what sport does he want, though? That's what I want to know now. Well, it's Albert. I think he's Canadian, so hockey. Hockey would be cool. Or lacrosse. I don't think you're going to be able to lacrosse one. So if you had a hockey one, say you have a hockey sports-themed pinball machine, I mean, do you just do generic NHL, or do you have it based around a player, and if so, who? Nope. Here's what you do. You do it even easier. Oh, even easier. Even easier. You bring out World Cup Soccer 94 again. There's your goal at the end. You make the soccer player now a goalie, blocking your shots. Well, no, the soccer player was a goalie. They're called the same thing. I know what I'm saying. You keep it the same exact way, and then you just change the theme all around it for. So you just do World Cup soccer, but it's hockey. Yep. How about, see, I don't know what the NHL is like as far as likenesses for players, but do like the legends of NHL, and you just got all the best players of all time on there. What do you think about that? That would be good. I like that. Yeah. You could even do like dynasties with the teams. You know, select your team, the Canadians, the Edmonton Oilers, the Islanders, you know, or the New Jersey Devils. There you go, Bruce. Select your team. You can have Brodeur in the goal. You can have it all, man. Scott Stevens taking out people, ruining careers. He made me cry. He made Lindros cry, that's for sure. He did. Oh, that hit. I'm sorry. That was great. Oh, wow. Ruined his career. I'm a Devils fan. Hey, I'm great. I hate Lindros. Oh, I hated Lindros. That guy had so many concussions. I know. That they just came back like when he shouldn have Because they just didn know that It like he a little loopy but he be fine He be fine people Let him go I guess he was so bad near the end he would check other people and he would feel it Yes. Like get the concussion from hitting other people. My brain would go rattling around like a freaking pinball inside of it. Dennis, Mr. Creasel, asks, what are the five worst games with spinners, 1980 onward? Worst games with spinners? Huh. How is that possible? Yeah, there is. There is possible. Ugh. A vector of a spinner? I don't think so. It had everything else. Yeah, it had everything else, but the game was a turd. Exactly. They got to think of the turds. Speak easy. Okay. That is spinner, if I remember correctly. Let me see. The thing is, you just think of shitty games, and do they have a spinner? Okay. Yeah, exactly. No, no spinner on Vector. Gilligan's Island doesn't have one. No. Man, this is harder than I thought. Yeah. So if you want a good game, put spinners on it. Yeah, exactly. Spinners is what makes the game go round and round. So I can't even say something like Warlock that's all spinners, because I actually like Warlock. and Blackout. I like that. It's got spinners. Damn, this is hard. It is. Pinball is hard. How about some Zachariah games that might suck that have spinners? I like a lot of those games. They're weird. Yeah, I don't know. Man, you stumped us. Well, think about it this week. Since I really didn't look at the list too much, I'll be the first to admit it. Yeah, I didn't look at it either. so we'll think about it this next two weeks and get back to you. I'll have our agent talk to you. Michael says talk about anything as long as it's in a convincing Italian accent. Hey, what the fuck it up? We're making pinball machines. We're going to make a new fun house. Hey, now, it's funny. He said convincing. That is fucking convincing. What the fuck it up? But supposedly these fun houses have been put out on locations, the pre-productions that have been brought to the U.S. that I have not heard good or bad. Oh, so you haven't heard anything. Yeah. Okay. So that's not a good thing either. Well, it's better than hearing bad. Well, I would expect to hear anything like somebody saying, hey, it's working, it's great. I don't hear that at all. The artwork is too creepy. The new artwork is terrible. Why must dummies always be just like Satan? Everything's like, I blame evil clowns and dummies. Well, to be fair, usually when there's a dummy in one of these movies, they are evil. You're blaming it then. That's what you're all blaming the fact that Steven King. Well, there was that other movie with What's-His-Face who was in Stylist of the Lambs. What's his name? Anthony Hopkins. Yes, Anthony Hopkins. Anthony Hopkins, in this movie, it's a 70s movie, and he is like a ventriloquist. But the doll comes to life or some shit like that. That's what I think of. I mean, yeah, it's got just the creepy artwork. It's a fun house. Not like Hell House. It's not a bad house. It's a fun house. Hi there. Kill your parents. You know, like, God, no, no. What is this? Yeah. Let's see. Mulder says... What the fuck it up? Come on, give me some good questions, you fucking assholes. Whatever you folks talk about is hilarious and brilliant. Just go for it. Thanks for the laughs. Well, there you go. There you go. We did it. We're done. I'm good. See you later. Bye. Ark 80 says, maybe you can broadcast in black and white. Hey there, folks. How are we all doing today? Pinball without flippers. The old voice. Yes. All right. Kids, boys and girls, don't forget to drink your Ovaltine. Let's see. Brian asks, discussion of all the rock theme machines currently available. Okay. So we have. Wait a minute. Kiss, Metallica. They're currently available? Nope. Kiss is not available anymore. Well, I guess he just means like you could buy them. Oh, well. You can buy anything. I can buy rock. I can buy rock. And what's on the. Okay. The current, it would be Foo Fighters, Rush. I mean, let's see. I like Rush. I'm trying to think of band pins that I totally don't like. Kiss. I don't mind Kiss at all. Kiss is just a... New or old. I don't mind it at all. Metallica. I mean, I have a Metallica. Maybe. ACDC is good. Foo Fighters, ACDC, Elton John. Guns N' Roses. The first Guns N' Roses, I actually like. The second one? The second one, yeah. What other ones do we got here? Oh, Nugent. I mean, it's pretty much okay for that. Dolly Parton? Is that rock? Dolly Parton just pisses me off, but that's a good thing. That makes me keep playing it. Rolling Stones? Oh, God. I like the second one. I like just trying to go for Lick. I don't like hit the Mick. Mick on a stick? Mick on a stick. Let's see. What bands should have the next build and why? Let's see. Not sure if you ever covered that part. Personally, I'd like to see Grateful Dead and the Ramones. Grateful Dead maybe, but, you know, none of those guys want to spend money. You know, the fans just want to follow them around. Oh, you're saying all the fans are poor potheads that won't buy the game? Yeah, they don't want to buy anything. I can't afford it, dude. Maiden's great. Maiden's great. Yeah, but that's already out. Spielpanther, of course. Okay, let's be realistic here. Beatles. Oh, they already did. Oh, yeah, Beatles. I like Beatles. Aerosmith. Aerosmith's all right. No, no, think of ones that haven't come out. Well, you know you want to go. ELO. Yes, that's never happening. Van Halen. Van Halen would be a good one. The problem is. You can pick the game. You can pick either. You can pick Van Halen or Van Hagar. Van Hagar, no. You don't have Hagar there. Yes. You just do Van Halen, classic lineup. The problem is they're so fucked up internally with management and everything else. I can't see. Oh, no. Ever getting, even getting past whoever they need to talk to to make it happen. They're so screwed up. I don't. Yeah. Let's see. There's a new podcast on the Pinball Network, and they forgot Bruce's name. How? I know. What the fuck? And he listens to it, supposedly. These guys want to start a pinball podcast in 2024 and can't remember the name of a Mount Rushmore pinball podcast. Dun, dun, dun. Bruce's head is so big it takes up two spots on Mount Rushmore. It does. It does. Matt said. Yes, they did talk about us. They talked about Stomp, actually. And they talked about the Slam Hill podcast. and the RPC. So I listened to that whole show. Good job, guys. Thank you for commenting about us. What's the name of it? I couldn't fucking tell you. It's on my feed. It's on my feed. And I have the feed. Okay, what's the name of it? I don't know. See? I know who's on it, but I don't know the name of it. Did you listen to it? I listened to like half of it so far. Hold on. Let me go to my feeds. Go to your feeds. Meanwhile, while you're going to your feeds, Matt says, Why Whoppers or a Pyramid Scheme? Wow, I know. Why are they? And he's happy to guest sometime on the topic. We love to have guests if they want to bitch about things. Yeah, they want to bitch about things. We love that. Yeah, it usually makes it quite entertaining. Let's see. Michael, I want to know Ron's process for setting up a new inbox game. How many hours does he take getting a game ready before he actually plays it? A few. Yeah, you've got to go through a lot of things. Make sure everything's connected properly. Yeah, basically what I do, unbox, and then I put it in the middle of the basement, so it's not in its actual permanent spot yet. It's not in its home. I put it right under a light so it's easier to look at. Lift the play field up, see if any of the wiring is in a problem area where, like, if a mech goes off, it's going to pinch wires or something. That does sometimes happen. Make sure, like, look at the bottom of the cabin. Is there screws there? Does something fall out? I've had stuff like on the bottom I've had where they ran the power cord wrong, Stern, on the Star Trek. They, like, had it wrapped around stuff so you couldn't get the power cord all the way out. Yeah, check all that. And I haven't even turned it on yet. Then I go into the backbox, check that, which, like in Elton John's, good thing I did because it had one connector that was almost completely off and another one that was half off. So I went through, fixed all that, and just visual inspection. Then I turn it on, see if it actually boots. Pray. Yeah. Yeah, just test things out. Put it in switch test, see if the switches that are supposed to be are the ones that actually save those off. As I learned from my Star Wars when I had a couple of slough switches that I didn't notice. um yeah and if everything checks out and we put it in the permanent section uh then we work on leveling and how much incline i think i want on it usually about 6.9 is what i've been doing lately it seems yeah it's pretty good 6.9 been pretty good sometimes like elton john just was in the happy zone immediately some some games are not like that sometimes you got to play with them that one was very um accommodating? The podcast is Wizard and Warriors Pinball Podcast. I knew it was something long. That's why I couldn't remember it. When we're done with our questions, I have to bring up something. I just found something that's fucking hilarious. Okay. Alan, what's the name of that? Pinsnake. Oh, yes, my Pinsnake. Did you see this thing? I ordered one. You ordered one. So Bruce has ordered one and he's going to see what it's like. Yes, I'm going to check out the pin snake. See, I have super smart for those at home. Pin snake, it's basically like this little snake thing. That has a place you can put your cleaning rag. You put your cleaning rag on it, and then you can go get it in the tight spots, go up on a storm, orbits, that kind of stuff, yeah. Yes. I did order one, so I let that tell you. I kind of do that without a pin snake because my hands are tiny. I actually used to do it with a magnetic screwdriver that bends. Ah. Yep, the long bend ones with the magnetic. I've got a couple rags. Just go through it. Bruce will give his review. Yes, I will. It will be coming up soon. You get to see how I like my snake. Oh, God. Baba says, what does it take to be a TD? More than I have. That's why I never TD. There's an open spot where I'm thinking of volunteering. Any best practices? Things to know before jumping in. Realistic time commitment. it? Well, for a TD, you have to, if you're volunteering, you might have to set up the game, so you want to make sure what a good tilt is, what an unfair tilt is, of course. Make sure everything's level, playable, make sure everything works before even, you know, having the game out on the play field, you know, playing field itself, and making sure that all the all the settings are right. You know, that's a big thing. So as volunteering, you're going to probably want to follow somebody around in the beginning who's TD'd and set up games, that kind of stuff. And then during the tournament, you have to be fair, polite, because some people get very heated and very upset. But you want to have the right ruling also. And guess what? It's fair to say, let me get somebody else, let us talk about this, and figure it out. And then if you have a problem, you get somebody else who has more experience possibly, and you say, hey, what do you think of the situation? They listen, and then you both can talk about it and make your rulings. And the right ruling may not always be fair. Exactly. And second will be the TD is always right. Even though it could be a wrong ruling, it's still the tournament of the TD. You will have some TDs that make a bad ruling. It happens. It happens all over. But guess what? Don't get a yellow card or a red card for arguing about the thing after it's been ruled. Okay. What was the thing you wanted to talk about? Because that was the end of that. Okay. The hex pinball. Hex the. That space hunt. Hex the pinball. Okay. Okay. So when you think of France and you think of quality manufacturing, what comes to mind? Do they have like some car manufacturer? They do. I'm going to go over them right now with you. Okay. You have Citroën. Oh, you said that in a French-like way. Because it is Citroën. Citroën. Very good. And that's it. Oh. Oh. There is – no, and Renault also, Renault. Renault? Yeah, which now is combined as one company. But don't forget Renault is the one who did Le Car. Remember Le Car? I don't remember Le Car. It had a – it was a little car brought over by AMC when it was – when Renault owned part of AMC. And it had a wheel with a three lug nuts on it. That's how cheap it was. Yeah. And they couldn't run, and then they also made the Renault Alliance. Did they make the Homer? It's almost bad. So when it comes to quality, do you think of France being the quality place? Well, luckily, they tell you their quality. Here's their website. Exactly to the word. Quality and French manufacturing, a guarantee of excellence. Indeed, quality is essential criterion when buying a pinball machine. Hex pinball pinball machines are distinguished by their French manufacture, renowned for their expertise and rigorous standards. Every component is carefully selected to guarantee optimum durability and performance. Opting for our French-made pinball machine means you're choosing a refined, robust product designed to withstand the rigors of intense play while retaining its brilliance. That's their exact... Well, I mean, they made the Eiffel Tower, and it's still standing, so... Do you know what the Eiffel Tower was originally made for? Well, the Statue of Liberty. No. Yes, that's what the inside of the Statue of Liberty looks like. It looks like the Eiffel Tower. No. No. Yes. The Eiffel Tower was made for the World's Fair. Okay. That's the truth. Yeah, but it's still there. It was made by Eiffel. Yeah. But the problem was they didn't want to pay to take it down. Ah. That is the reason why the Eiffel Tower is still up. I'm saying it's built well, Bruce, otherwise it probably wouldn't have fallen down. I know, but people don't realize why it's up. It's not up because it's a great monument and a great standard. They were too cheap to take it down. All right. So. I have something. I have a pet peeve. Okay. Watching some tournament streams, and I kept hearing this term, and it just makes me go insane. Is it a deuce kill one? No. Oh, okay. Table. Oh, God. When did games become table? I've been doing this. I've been doing this 20 years. I didn't start hearing the table thing until a few years ago. Yeah. Now I hear it all the time. You know why they call them tables? because all these putzes who played these freaking arcade pinball machine things. Yes, Bruce, yes. Yes. You know what I'm saying? They played it on their computer. Yes. Or their phone. And they called them tables because they weren't a pinball machine. And they just carried it over and kept on pounding it into people's heads. And then they said, oh, it must be a table. Yeah, it's a table. if it's a fucking table, it's not raked. Do you eat on a raked table? The thing is, I think in one of, it might have been Gottlieb, one of them calls it like a play table, like in their manual, like the actual play field. Doesn't one of them call it that or something like that? One of the Gottlieb's games supposedly had an automatic adjusting leg levelers. Never happened. Oh. So guess what? Gottlieb can say whatever the fuck they want. They're idiots. Oh, wow. Oh, no. Vermeer was terrible. They were the Cadillac of the industry. In the 60s and early 70s, yes, they were. Their construction is so good, though, except for the flippers. Well, later on. Later on. Later on. But, yeah, so Hexa Pinball, wow. Bruce, they're just trying. Man, you're so mean. No, no, no. If you go to their website, it is a holy. Hey, do you want to join the Hexa Pinball team? Okay. You can fill out your thing and tell them where you're out of. My name is French, kind of. Especially if I put an E at the end of it. Hallet. With a little S. And I changed my, I call it Rono Hallet. Boom, I'm French. There you go. Hallet. All right. You ready for the ball bag, Bruce? Oh, wait a sec. Do you know how many versions they have of Space Hunt? Have you heard the Space Hunt song, Bruce? No, I have not. You never, of what I'm saying, space. Hunt. I'm not making that up. That's the song. The game literally plays the song and it just says Space Hunt. So there's two versions. Space Hunt Classic and Space Hunt Elegance. Elegance? Ooh, I like that. We don't have Ellie's, we have Elegance. I like that. For 11,000 euros. Why don't they... Why doesn't Switzerland make a game? I mean, with the watches and everything, I would think that would be incredible. Yeah, they could totally say we are the most precision fuckers out there, man. Yeah. We make watches, bro. Yeah. I totally agree. But, yeah, I am just, like, baffled by this company. If you go to hexa-pinball.com, get your good laughs right away. collectors of art and rare objects are increasingly attracted to pinball machines. That's one of their things on their website. Bruce, you're not from Europe, so. Indeed, they are featured artistic illustrations, high-quality finish, and attention to detail that would catch the eye of an art collector. I see a European listener count dipping lower and lower. And everyone else is increasing because, oh, my God, what a shit show. Like they have a piece of art next to the pinball machine in the picture. It's the work of art, Bruce. I need to hear the song now. I've got to look up Space Hunt. Space Hunt. It's got to be on the website somewhere. I know. No, it's not. But, Bruce, do you remember those promo videos that we used to do for their games? They had one for Adam's family or something, or one of them. And then it's like, here's a fine piece of art, and they show, like, the Michael and David and all that stuff before they show the game. So it's not like that's a new thing, to be fair. Yeah, well. But it is this really, really pushing your. Okay. God, this thing looks terrible. Oh, okay. We're in the ball bag now, Bruce. We're in the ball bag. Okay, hold on. Okay. From Dave, he says, hi, Ron and Bruce. Hi, Dave. New listener here. Uh-oh. I'm so sorry. Ex-listener at this point. I'm a big fan of Ron's more popular and distinguished pod, Silver Ball Chronicles. I'm so sorry. That David Dennis guy, he gets on your nerves a little bit. So on a whim, I decided to check out his side pod. My side pod. That was the first podcast, Chief. Side pod. Side pod. Despite having Bruce around, a.k.a. the Michael Scott of pinball podcasts. podcast. Who's Michael Scott? I don't know. I'm thoroughly entertained. The banter between you two is gold, and I absolutely love hearing the pinball repair discussions. By the way, those new mics, crystal clear. I can practically hear the disdain for dialed in in Bruce's voice. Ron, keep fighting the good fight. It's an excellent game. People just don't appreciate Fine Art. Hey, Fine Art! Wow, we got it all tied together. Michael Scott is the what's his name from The Office. The Boss. Oh, played by What's-His-Face. Yeah, yeah. I can't even think of his fucking name. I'm looking right at him. He's one of he's either Ace or Gary of the other. Now, back to the grind at work. We're waist deep in generic corporate HR training this week. Videos on what not to say in the workplace. Bruce would fail those. I barely pass. Bruce, you might be the unsung hero, but behind these gems, do they actually offer you an acting job, Bruce, where they want you to be the offensive person in the video? Hi, I'm the offensive person. This is what you don't say to the person next to you. Hot damn, you're older than I thought you'd be. Jokes aside, keep up the great work, guys. Really enjoying everything. Look forward to listening to the rest of the catalog. Oh, God. Oh, no. Go to number one. Ron's favorite is number one. Oh, number one. That's the introduction to us. And we are the first one. We're not the side. We're not a side game. Well, it's the one I came up with. This is from Shannon. Hi, Shannon. Hello, Ron and Brucie. Hope you are having an excellent summer. You both rave about early solid-state sterns, but as a fan of System 11, don't often hear about what your favorite alphanumeric pins are. Across manufacturers from the 80s, can you give us your top five? A hug for Ron hangs in the balance. Ah, yes. We'll make it good. These top five lists are hard when you don't prepare or read anything. Oh, this one's pretty easy for me. Really? Yeah, it is. I mean. I can do this. Most of them are probably going to be Williams, but I'd like to put Serpent Safari out there because that is an alphanumeric. An alphanumeric. Yep. But not mine. So Serpent Safari is one of yours. What's top five, though? Well, I'll say Serpent Safari is up there. Let's see. Well, I guess I have to say Mouths and Rounds because I own it. There you go. There's two. I like Whirlwind. Three. I'm trying to think of Data East I want to pick other ones oh I do like Time Machine we did mention that before Star Warp Star Warp man one more because I sold most of the other ones I'll say F-14 Tomcat because I have that one you have that one, very good so five for me would be Black Knight 2000 You can't beat the music. You can't. It's just, ah. Whatever you hear, it's going to co-op. But it plays forever. But, no, my five favorites. Go fuck yourself. Oh, okay. There you go. Thank you. Well, it's your favorites, and you've got Radical on there? Yes, Radical is definitely number – I was just going to say that. Number three would be – it's a guilty pleasure. It's what's – here comes the – what's it called? Here come the guards with cum. Yeah, we just talked about that the last time we saw it. What is it? Swords of Fury. Lion Man. Lion Man. Lion Man! That's three. That's a guilty pleasure. Number four is going to surprise you a little bit. It will be Torpedo Alley. I actually love that game. I really want one. I just got boinged. Man, I heard it. I heard you're boinged. Am I boinged? So Torpedo Alley would be number five. And what would be number five for me? Whirlwind. Okay. You can't fail with Whirlwind. You can't fail with Whirlwind, even though I hate seeing it in tournaments. Let's see. I'm kind of glad that the Beast has it in a women's tournament, because then I won't see it in finals. Hopefully not see it in finals. Maybe we will. But I hate watching Whirlwind. Our new listener, Dave, sent us a second email. He said, You must be addicted to us. Also, congrats on hosting the North American Championships. Woo, woo, woo, woo. Good thing you guys have all those bathrooms. Now the Tullers can take more efficient shifts. Yeah, exactly. Wow. Within, I'm going to say within the entrance to our building where we have to walk in, there is two female, two male, and two universal bathrooms. So we have plenty of bathrooms. And plus, in the building, if you go further down, there's another two sets of bathrooms. So we have tons of shitters for your convenience. Your convenience. We don't have no porta-potties. Creature from the Black Lagoon. We have shitters for your convenience. Yes, and it might not be the good, you know, but we have stuff. So that's the good thing about the RPC. We do have a ton of bathrooms at our place. No porta-potties here. and we have three places for you to eat within our complex, which is pretty cool, too. You also have the Taco Bell outside. That's what I'm saying. Taco Bell, Wendy's, and we have a pizzeria. And then across the street, we have a pizzeria. Two more pizzerias across the street. And down the road, we have barbecue and an Italian restaurant. It's your Italian restaurant. What the fuck it up? That might be my favorite Billy Joel song. Oh, yeah, I love it. Yeah. Let's see. Our next email is from our Scott. Wait a minute. That would be a great. Oh, Billy Joel? Billy Joel. That would be the awesome. Think of all the songs. And the multiball, you know. And they could have him playing piano. They could have a figurine of him playing piano. That hasn't been done at all. Like, you know, time mode. Pressure. There you go. It would be awesome. That would be something I like to say. If Billy Joel does, I mean, if Elton John's done really well, as they said, Billy Joel could not be on the block. I mean, they toured together, if you remember. They did. It was the Rocket Man and the Piano Man. I saw it together. So what did Scott say? Our Scott says, to replace the aging boards in those games. and he sends a link. It looks like there's a new Pinball 2000 emulator. Wow. Remember Nucor? Nucor. And then they got into a fight. Yeah, so then that kind of died. But this looks like, judging by the post, it looks like it's out of Europe this time. So, yeah, this guy has emulated Pinball 2000 for their two games. And, of course, Scott has to have more comments. If you had to buy one of the two, being the two Pinball 2000 games, which were Star Wars and Revenge for Mars, Revenge for Mars would be my pick, as Star Wars Episode I is more poop-a-duke nonsense. Yes, it is poop-a-duke. He is not a pop-a-duke fan. I'm not either. Remember, folks, Williams was making pinball machines until they had this turn on the line, regardless of any other reason they had for shutting down production. This was still the last game Williams made. Yep. Wow. Pretty bad. He really hates Papadu. He hates Papadu. Let's see. He's not in a smaller company. There's a lot of people who don't like Papadu. All right. We have the bastard son of Pinbot. Okay, here we go. Greetings, Ron and Bruce. It is I, the original STD. I am glad the name stuck, by the way. Unfortunately, with no real pinball news to speak of, I don't have much to make fun of. So instead, I have a thought-provoking question for you. I will give you five classic pinball designers. Oh, man, so many lists of five. Wow, Todd. Our new gimmick is top five. And I want you to think of the game that most embodies them as a designer, a.k.a. the most Waller-ish Waller. Not necessarily their best game, just the game that has most, if not all, of their little design calling cards. Make sure you describe why. My answers are below. Okay. So what do you have? So our five designers, we're in Williamsland. So we got Steve Ritchie. What's the richest Ritchie? It has to be no fear. Okay. Why? It has to be speed, fast, flow, ramps, two flippers. No, it's three flippers, Bruce, but okay. I don't consider the upper flipper that one. I don't consider that a flipper. No, but I'm talking about the bottom flippers. He usually has the bottom, natural, normal design, fast. So mine, my richest Richie would be one I don't have anymore, roller games. Because when I think of Richie, I think five targets on the left. He done that on so many games Roller games Flash 24 Star Wars It just goes on and on He used the same ACDC Terminator in the same spot. But I don't like that. The problem is I don't like that he used the Lawler shot on that game. What's the Lawler shot? The right flipper shot. You know, the... What is that? No, it goes up a ramp. So we got the Orbit that goes around to the upper flipper. You can help a ramp. That Steve Ritchie shot. That's there. You got the three targets in the center, which he loves those. Star Wars, Terminator 2, this game. There's others. He likes the three targets in the center. And, yes, the Steve Ritchie shot, as I call it, the Orbit to the upper flipper, up a ramp. It's like, and it has kickback. You've got to have the kickback receiver. And this has the dual stage kickback, which he just did that one time. This is like Steve Ritchie personified. Next? Let's see. Pat Waller. Okay, you go first this time. The Waller-ist Waller. I almost feel like I have to pick a Williams game and not a Stern, although he has some very Waller-ish Sterns. I'll just say I'll just say Adam's family the double in lane the staging of stuff and multiball the one toy in this case the thing the presentation it's very Lawler-ish Lawler Twilight Zone every fucking thing once you get a good once you make a good pinball I'm going to throw everything on there and make it hopefully the best thing there ever was. You know, and with the toys of the gumball machine and the mechs and everything like that, he was just trying to make everything, including his classic, you know, the in-lane, you know, for the multiple, you know, the three in-lane on one side, two on the other. It just really was a personified of, you know, hey, I got a good game. I got more money now for my next game, and I'm going to make it even. Wow. Next one, Dennis Nordman. Whitewater. Just the flowiest flow. All the intertwined ramps, the gimmicks, the comedy. The plastic. The plastic definitely is just all him on Whitewater. That's all I can think of. See, to me, Nordman had different phases. He had his early valley phase. We got games like Special Force, Blackwater 100, which talk about plastic. Oh, yeah, I know. So much plastic. Then he had the goofy phase where you got, like, Party Animal, you know, Party Zone, Doctor Dude. There's that. Well, that's later. So then you have the flow phase where you have the super flowy games. You got Whitewater. You got Demoman. You got Indianapolis 500. I would say also Elvira. Then you have his anti-flow phase, which would be Pirates. Mm-hmm. So it's like, which phase do you want to go by? Whitewater. For me, always Whitewater. Like, you couldn't have Trudeau on this list because he had no style. His style was he had no style. Like, what would you pick, you know? Jail. I'll pick Jail for $500. I'll go Whitewater, too, just because of the amount of plastic. Yeah, and just the way it flows, and every shot is good. There's not a clunker in the – The only clunker in that game is literally the right orbit. You've got to have lots of plastic to be the Nordman way. Okay, Mark Ritchie. You've got to have crisscrossing ramps somewhere. Yep. So it's got to be things like it's got to be Taxi or Indiana Jones. No, that doesn't have crisscrossing ramps. It does have crisscrossing. No, not really. Not the same way. And Fish Scales. Mm-hmm. Mm. I'm going to say Taxi. I'm going to say Kingpin. Oh, God. The game that no one's played. I know, but it's an awesome fucking game. Every time I see that game, I have to play it until I can't play it anymore. But is it the most richiest Richie? It is the most richiest Richie with the crisscrossing and the spinners. That was a great idea with the spinners inside the fucking ramps. That was awesome. That was, that was, oh. Whitewater. Why did I say Whitewater? Oh, Taxi. It's got crisscrossing ramps. It's really goofy. Yep. Diner. So is Diner. He was in his goofy phase. I like the goofy phase. It's got catapult. Like, it's got to have a catapult in it. He's the one who came up with the catapult. You know, big guns. I know. So, yeah, that would be my Richie. Mark Ritchie is Richie. Okay. And the last one, J-Pop. Don't say Magic Girl. No, I'm not going to say Magic Girl. Tails, unfortunately. That is truly his. Look at me. I have all these colors on this cabinet. Look at me. I have all this flowing plastic. I agree. The flowy ramps, all the magnets. It definitely seems like the most J-pop-iest J-pop. Yeah. And people will say, oh, what about Circus Voltaire? Circus Voltaire is good. It's just not. That was more gimmicks. Like, oh, let me get the juggler and pop a ball over the other side and, you know, hold your. I mean, it is J-pop. It does feel like J-pop. But the other one, it's got the better ramps that curl around and magnets and all that. That just seems like. It flows, actually. It flows the best. Of course. Don't get me wrong. I think World Cup Soccer is the best game. Yeah, but that's not the most J-pop-iest game. No, the J-pop-iest definitely is that game. Of course, you could say it's Magic Girl because that's what he does when no one's here to make sure his shit actually works. When he's left to his own devices, that's what comes out. Yeah. Okay. Oh, the bastard son of Pinbot has his answers. Okay, here we go. He says either no fear or next gen. But I got no fear, so I'm one with the bastard. Physical kickback, upper flipper, shot to a ramp, single drop, target blocking shot, supercharger, changing selectable skills. Man, he got way in more into this than we did. Extremely flowy, stage balled Subway, Steve Ritchie embodied in a talking mech skull. That's true. The phrase, everything is lit. Everything is lit. And a million for each shot you make, or whatever the hell he said. Pat Waller, dialed in, obviously. I didn't even think of that, really. Double single in lane. Hey, Bruce, get up to the mic. I can't hear you. Double single in lane. It's that bad. Magnets to screw the ball up. Upper flipper jackpot shot. Excessively too many modes. A scoop to start mode. It's the Funhaus trapdoor mech. Yes, literally it is the trapdoor mech from Funhaus. Exactly the same. Shot through the pops. Bad Carl Weathers. Shot through the pops. And you're to blame. You gave pinball a bad name. Bad name. Absolutely nonsensible original theme. Questionable scoring balance. Let's see. Oh, I say bad Carl Weathers. Dennis Nordman, Party Zone. Okay, Bizarre Talking Sculpt, Drug-Induced Art Package by Greg Ferens. Insane Plastic Ramp Action. No, there's more ramps definitely in the insane on Whitewater. Yeah. Do you remember how much? Even Blackwater 100 has. Oh, my God. That has. Yeah, that's his ode to plastic. Yeah, that was eau de plastique. Let's see. Mark Ritchie, Diner. Okay. Crisscross ramps. Yeah. Non-politically correct character collection. Well, that was me. You know, I had to do that. It's Python. Super immersive art package. Yes, that was me again. Python. Massive ramp mech that fits perfectly with the theme. Let's see. J-Pop. Oh, trick question. He says, it's Tales from the Arabian Nights and Theater of Magic. I don't like theater. I like theater. Shitty baby skill shot ramp that's unsatisfying to shoot. Bastion boy in the center. Epic multiball start. Long curved ramps with diverting magnet. Eddie board magnet save that works half the time. Killer art package. Captive ball that's actually important to the game. Sometimes a little too much. Half fake code. All right. All right. J-Pop. J-Pop. Oh, this one. Okay. We have some. You mentioned. Did you mention the Netherlands before? I've been to the Netherlands many times. What's up? Didn't we mention that? Just like this episode? Was that where you were? We mentioned the Dutch Open. Yes. So this is by. This is from Elko. E-E-L-K-O. E-E-L-C-O. So I'm probably saying it wrong. It could be Elko. Elko. It says, Hi, Ron and Bruce. Thanks a lot for your great podcast. I enjoy every episode. Keep up the good work. Coming October, I am flying in from Amsterdam to join the Pinball Expo. We are making a trip from Boston to Chicago, and we plan to stop over in Rochester. I would like to visit the Pinball Collective and write a story for Dutch Pinball Magazine. Yes, we have a pinball magazine in the Netherlands. I have to look at this. Big question. Are you open on 12th of October, which is a Saturday? I would believe you'd be open. Let's see. Make sure. And is there a local tournament going on that day? We don't know about tournaments yet because usually we think of two months ahead, not three or four. The 12th of October should be. We are open, definitely. That's a guarantee. Yep. What do you think? Dutch Pinball what? Magazine? Dutch Pinball Magazine. DPM, not DPX. Yes. Oh, it's Pinball Magazine. Yes. Yes. So there you go, Bruce. Yes, come on out. Come on out. You need to leave a hide in the room. Oh, yeah, he'll show you the back rooms. The back room. Oh, my. Oh, my. The future place of the Nationals. Yes, come on out. And, Zach, if you're listening, which will be a couple weeks from now, let's start planning something for the 12th of October. No, I think he doesn't want something that day. Oh, he doesn't? I thought he said he did. No, he wants to know if there is a tournament going on. I'm guessing he wants to be able to just hang out and take pictures and stuff. Or maybe he wants to be in a tournament. Or maybe, well, if you want to know, you can reply to him. Or he can email again. You can email again. Do you want a tournament or not? Yes. Yes. The Netherlands will determine whether there will be a tournament on October 12th. The Netherlands is victorious! So that is the mailbag. It's all empty. The ball bag has been empty. We're very grateful and thankful for all of our listeners coming in and pulling the void. Yes, you helped us fill time. You filled the void of no news. So, Ron, what have you done with repairs lately? Oh, we're doing repairs? Wouldn't you? This is the normal time for it. Oh, okay. I was going to plug stop, but if you want to do repairs. Well, we can plug stop first. Okay. And thank people. Yeah, so Ron was a little worried about selling out 32 spots, it seemed like, in his comments, his wise-ass-ness. Were you or were you not a wise-ass? I'm always a wise-ass, Bruce. Yep, and who proved you wrong? Well, yeah, then you increased it to 40. Because I had to right away. Holy crap. So Stomp East 6 is going to be September 21st at the beautiful Level Zero. Yes, I know. And we had an original count of 32, and Ron's like, I really want to keep it small this year. Literally by 9.03, we were up to 37 people. I was like, holy fuck! The count from my PayPal account went from like, oh, there's 50, 300, 1,600. Like, whoa! Like, Ron, we've got to increase already. Yeah. So we have 43 people signed up. Only 40 are in right now. We have three people on the wait list unless Ron opens up the room more. We'll see. We'll see. We'll see, folks. We'll do it the same way we always do it. Yes. But 48 will be the max, max. Definitely. We've never done over that, and even that's too much. Yeah, and if we go to 48, some of the money will have to go to a port-a-potty. Because we don't want Tim or anybody else getting mad at us that we have only two bathrooms in the house. Why would Tim – what? I'm confused. Tim Sexton said, you know, you have not enough bathrooms for your pinball players. Oh, God. It's not enough. Oh, you mean his thing. Yes, his manifesto. Yes, his manifesto. So I don't want to go against the manifesto of Tremor. Tremor. So we might have to have a port-a-potty fund. Jesus Christ. So, yes, we have Stomp Sticks Albany, New York, I called it this time because we didn't have a name, really. But it's going to be, if you want to get involved, if you want to get on the wait list, just go to our events page. Or you can go right to the Slam Tilt podcast page on Facebook. and there's a post there stating that we are filled, but we're way down the wait list. Message us. Put your name in there. If then what will happen is somebody drops out, we will message you, and you've got to pay within 24 hours. That's the only thing we ask. If you ignore after 24 hours, we move on. Same as what the sanctum does. Same as the sanctum. I don't want to be dicking around waiting and waiting and, you know, somebody else misses out because so uh it's 50 per person i gotta get another belt ron so uh we have two people who can try to win the their second belt and they're both in it ah jerry and joe are both in it so but if you can be one of the other people who can win the belt. Which would be very cool. So. And guess what? What? Me and Ron aren't playing in it again. Nope. Nope. Nope. So we're one of the few tournament people who don't actually play in our own tournament. One of the few these days, yes. Yeah, I actually like it. We're taking our cue from the Pittsburgh guys. The guys and gals who never play in their own tournaments. We're keeping it alive. So I'm going to now, since I lost the bedroom, I'm going to request the recliner in the living room. That's fine, Bruce. You just don't get the other bed because that's mine. I don't want the other bed. Or I could use the third. Wait a second. Is the drum set still set up? Yes. Could you fit a queen-size air mattress in there? Maybe. Okay. Because I do have a queen-size air bed. Or you could just, the loveseat, the recliner, or whatever. Yeah, it's bumpy, though. No, the new one isn't. No, it isn't. We'll see. I'll bring the airbag. I always have it. It's in a plastic container. Repairs. Repairs. I'll start. Go for it. There was only two, from the Bell's tournament I had, there was only two issues. One was on Rush. I have the mod in there for the inner loop to make it register every time. Yes. And the mod itself kind of got bent all to shit somehow. The balls were catching on it during the tournament. So I took it out. I bent it back. But then I was thinking, you know, I remember when I first put this thing in, Zach, our Zach, was like, did you even test it without that in there to see if it registers or not? Maybe you don't need it. so I think, you know, here's my opportunity. So without the thing in there, the mod, I hit the inner loop, registers. I hit it three more times. It doesn't register any of them. So I go, okay, I guess I need it. Put it back in there, and we're back to everything registering. There's a question. With the new rush run, maybe they can do something to fix that. The inner loop? Yeah, because that's ridiculous. No need. No, Nate, we sold it already. $9,600. Money in our pockets. The other issue was the stand-up slash drop, the stand-up drop target, if you will, at the back left of an eyeball. It wasn't, it wouldn't reset. It would go down. It would try to reset and fall down. Yeah, so it's just some bending. Okay. Some bending of stuff, and it is now working. Correctly. So that's it. For us, we're using our Lizzie boards. So you got those. We mentioned those last episode. Yeah, we did mention them, and we've got two games up and running already. Arena is back on the floor, Ron. I know you're so excited about that. I don't mind it because it's a skill shot, and then you hit, what, the orbit shot or whatever. There's like two shots. That's all you do. in the entire game. Well, you can actually hit three. You want to hit some of those targets also, because that will increase your... Yeah, if you're in multiball. Anything. No, but I'm saying, if you're in multiball, yes, go ahead and shoot those targets. I'm not shooting them otherwise. So Arena's back up with one of our new boards, and Excalibur is now back up with one of our new boards. And Zach got his Star Race working with one of our new boards. So we've already used three of our five new boards. And hopefully, Ron, I know you're excited. I want you to sit down for this. Another System 80 is coming back. I'm sitting down. Yes. Raven, baby. Raven. The one you mentioned last week that you asked me to guess, but yes. Yep. Raven will be coming back soon, too. Yeah. And then what will be the – oh, and then Zach's going to use the fifth one in his black hole. Hey. His black hole, which is not at the RPC. It's at his house. It's at his dad's house. Yeah. But it works. Well, soon we'll be at his house. Oh, he's moving it? Well, he's moving, remember? Oh, so he's going to move some shit. He's going to move some shit, I think. I think he's going to take some stuff that he hasn't had in a while, and he's got a house now. Congratulations, Zach, on your home purchase. Woo! He's an adult. Did he close on it yet? He did. Oh, no, he hasn't closed on it. This week it will be. Okay. This week. But we won't be on until a week after. Well, that's the other question, Bruce. Yes. Next week. Yes. Is tournament at RPC. Yes, it is. The weekend after that is Pinberg. The weekend after that is The Beast. When the hell are we recording next? We can do next week after the show. No, I don't want to do consecutive. There's nothing to talk about. You can hold it. You can hold it really long. We can do it after The Beast. We can do it during the week after the beast. Okay. Because I'll be burned out on pinball. It'll be my birthday on Wednesday. So we can go from there. So now you can figure out my birthday after that one. I will take gift certificates to pinball life, PVR, and anything else, guys. The big 6-0. How does it feel? I don't know yet. When you get there, tell me. Fucking old grampy. Grampy, grampy, grumpy. Right? Actually, you've been pretty positive this episode, Bruce. I have been very positive. I'm going to start saving up some money. For? I'd like to sell some games for these new in-box games. Maybe I'll get a Godzilla. Maybe I'll get a Metallica. Wow. Maybe. I miss my Metallica a little bit. You can get a new Metallica, just so you say. I got the one with the LCD, loser. Oh, you did? Look at me. I'm cool. Yeah! Yeah! And then who knows what's coming out next. for any of these companies except for I will not be interested in Cuphead. Cup in the hand or whatever you call it. Cup in the head. Cup in the hand. Oh, yeah, that's right. You call it Cup Hand. You call it Cup Hand. I'm touching my cup with my hand. What's next for Jersey Jack? Do you think it's Harry Potter? It's probably going to be Harry Potter. When do you think it's going to come out? When? Oh, Expo. You think it's Expo? They have to. Okay. They have to get on the schedule now one a year. But ever since they've been doing it, it hasn't been good for them. Well, no. The last couple they've actually got now. Yeah. So I think that's going to be their new gimmick just every year at Expo. There's our grand opening, which you really don't need anymore. I think the best one they ever did was the Guns N' Roses. They need to do that entry and showing off and, you know, the video and everything about it. That was, when we saw that, that was awesome. A-Team. The A-Team? That was the music you just did, right? Yeah, A-Team. That's going to be their new, yep. That'd be awesome. With custom speech from Mr. T. I'm in the pool. I'm dead. I'm dead, boys. He's not dead. Yes, he is. No, Mr. T isn't dead. Mr. T is quite alive. You know who is dead? Richard Simmons. He just died. He did. Who else died with him? Who else died with him? Same day yesterday. Oh, I don't know. Mr. T. Yeah, he's still alive. He's still alive, bro. The only one dead from there, I think, is Hannibal. Really? Murdoch's still alive. Faze is still alive. Mr. T is still alive. They could do, like, the Expendables version of the A-Team where they're all just ancient. Yeah. It's like their van, but it's got oxygen in it. Wheelchair. Third wheelchair. Yes, this wheelchair is flexible. Now I want an 18 game just so I can hear Colossal Mr. T. It would be great, wouldn't it? What games could we even do? You could have a Rocky 3 game. Oh, that would be awesome. Yeah. Hey, Rocky, how's your woman? Your woman look good. Yeah, yeah. Prediction? Pain. Oh, that would be so good. Rocky 3 and 4 together. Like, you do the first. You can have a choice, either 3 or 4. Well, Rocky is in Rocky 3, amazingly. I know. So is Rocky 4. So I think you can do 3 or 4, like an alien and aliens. There you go. Rocky, you either fight Mr. T or you fight Drago. Yeah. I mean, he's still around. You can bring him in. Yep, see? I must break you. Go for it. Yeah. I'm going to bust you up. Go for it. Go for it. Oh, see, everyone knows. See? I mean, awesome. All right. There's your new idea, Stern. No, I'm going to start saving up for some new games. Okay. I'm not going premium like you or Ellie, you know. Yeah. I wish, if you notice, Amazon doesn't sell pinball machines anymore, which is kind of disappointing. If you type up pinball machine in Amazon, we used to be able to get, like, new in-box pinball machines. What's the advantage of getting it through Amazon? Well, if you have gift cards or that kind of stuff. Wow. You also have the, there is not one full-size pinball machine anymore. Prime shipping. Free. I can have it tomorrow. But there's nothing. No more, like, I don't know if I put Stern in. Let me try Stern pinball. It'll probably give me the freaking arcade. The pin? No, it'll give me. Nope, you just get LEDs. You get LEDs and Stern Arcade pinball for the Switch. Uh-huh. And that's it. There's no pin. There used to be. Oh, there is one. Oh, oh, oh. And it's currently unavailable, Rush. Oh. That's it. Oh, wow. They used to be able to get pinball machines on Amazon. Not anymore because I have a lot of gift cards from it. Oh, Jesus Christ. So wink, wink, hint, hint. Okay. So how did they get in touch with us, Ron? Yeah, I think that's it. It's time to go to the closing. They can get in touch with us for the third time, I think, this episode at our email address, which is slamtillpodcast at gmail.com. You can also check out our website, www.slamtillpodcast.com. All our links are in the upper right-hand corner. Including the podcast itself. It's posted to YouTube every episode. So if you don't want a podcatcher, you can listen to us on YouTube anywhere. It's not video, though. It's just audio. You don't want us on film. Plus, it would be a bitch editing Bruce if we had to do a video. Oh, yeah, that'd be great. My wife even said it to me. She's like, you should do the video, and you can be getting content. You can get thousands of people. I'm like, Ron will not want to edit me. No, no. They'll probably moon the camera or something. It just wouldn't be good. It would be fucking awesome. Give us a band. Yes. So this has been episode 232, our audience participation episode. Thank you, audience. Thank you very much, everyone. Hopefully Stern and all the other manufacturers do something to give us some more news. Hi, Steve from Abonis. Hi, everyone in the Cluster Vuck. Cluster Vuck. Hi, Zach. Hi, Zach. Pinball Princess. Jeff, we're going to see you in three weeks at The Beast. Mm-hmm. I think that's it. I think that's it. I won't mention the other podcast because I already mentioned it twice, and you'll just get on me. I will fucking kill you. Well, since we had it on the mail, the ball bag, someone mentioned it, so I figure we're good. Yeah, I think we're way good. Plus, you had a guy from the podcast message us saying, you know, hey. So, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, you all set, Bruce? I'm set. And you're going to probably want to join in on this one, too. I'm going to want to join in on this one. Yes. I think this will be the first time you'll join in. I've never done that. I don't think I've ever done that. And this is a special someone. Yes, it is. Special someone. Okay. So who is it, Bruce? I just want to say, this is a little hard, but Linus. Everyone loved and knows Linus. You know, from Kate Martin. Everyone knows Linus, the pinball pup. He's on every Godzilla pro. He is on every Godzilla pro, and unfortunately he passed away a couple weeks ago. And my thoughts, you know, are with Kate. Sucks, because he was at Stomp. And he went to your tournament. That was the last one he was at, right? He wasn't there. He was there at the security footage. Surveillance footage. So maybe he was the last time at Stomp. That could have been the last. I don't know. I'm not saying that, but, you know, we got to have his, you know, presence, and he was, oh, he's such a good dog. And it's going to suck for Kate. So if you do see Kate at one of these shows, just give her a big hug. And we're going to miss Linus. So goodbye. Bye-bye. All right. All right. All right. All right. There is need to keep you alive. Meteor. We're level zero. Clusterfuck. Swish the kite. Jimbo. Brutism. Tournament talk. Car hauler. Seed up. Sanitue. Cash grab. ELO Paul Berg Worship Alliance Game You Love Game You Hurt Terminator Be My Princess Oh my Oh my Oh my Oh my You were always on my mind. You were always on my mind. Tell me. Yes, Priscilla, you were always on my mind. She better be making my peanut butter and banana sandwiches. Oh, that's right, peanut butter and banana sandwiches. God damn it. What the hell? I'm Elvis Hank Hill for some reason. Hank Hill, God damn it, giving my banana peanut butter sandwiches. Back in my day, you know. We cut off the crust of our peanut butter and banana sandwiches. That's true. That's true. It's very important. I'm high off my ass, baby Don't you know that I love you Supposedly it's like In a garden of Eden, baby But he's still wasted In a garden of Eden, baby Don't know And I got, I got beat That's all I can think of is weird out with that part And I got, I got beat, baby Don't you know that I love you