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Michael Grant - Marketing Manager of Stern Pinball

Pintastic New England·video·29m 15s·analyzed·Nov 27, 2021
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.027

TL;DR

Michael Grant (Stern Marketing Manager) discusses career transition and Stern's Insider Connected platform

Summary

Michael Grant, newly hired Marketing Manager at Stern Pinball, presents his background and role at Pintastic New England. Grant shares his personal pinball journey from casual player to competitive enthusiast to industry professional, discussing his previous role at American Pinball and his current responsibilities at Stern including Insider Connected, Stern Pinball Army expansion, and marketing initiatives across all customer segments.

Key Claims

  • Michael Grant recently joined Stern Pinball as Marketing Manager, starting November 16th, 2021

    high confidence · Directly stated by Grant and the host at the opening; date specified as November 20th presentation of November 16th start

  • Grant worked at American Pinball for 21 months before joining Stern

    high confidence · Grant explicitly states 'I was with American Pinball for 21 months' and started there in February 2020

  • Stern Pinball Insider Connected is a QR code reader system that turns pinball machines into full-fledged video game systems with achievements and challenges

    high confidence · Grant describes the technology: 'it turns your pinball machine into a full-fledged video game system. There's achievements. There's challenges.'

  • Insider Connected features are coming to all Stern Pinball LCD screen games

    high confidence · Grant states 'all Stern Pinball LCD screen games will have this connectivity'

  • Grant will report to Zach Sharp (Director of Marketing) at Stern Pinball

    high confidence · Grant shows slide with Zach Sharp and states 'I'll be working closely with Zach Sharp on all marketing initiatives'

  • New England Pinball League is described as 'the largest pinball league in the world'

    high confidence · Grant states this while discussing Chuck Webster as NEPL president at the time

  • Godzilla launch parties were eligible starting the weekend of the presentation

    high confidence · Grant states 'This weekend is the first eligible weekend for Godzilla launch parties'

  • Stern Pinball Army locations are positioned to provide organized play with IFPA ranking points and prize support

    high confidence · Grant explains Stern Pinball Army as 'a network of organized play' with 'world ranking points' and 'prize support'

  • Signups for Insider Connected at Pinball Expo were strong with high engagement

Notable Quotes

  • “Pinball is my lifestyle. This is who I am and what I want to do full time.”

    Michael Grant@ 9:59 — Explains Grant's career motivation and commitment to the industry; demonstrates personal passion driving industry professionals

  • “More pinball is better for everyone. A rising tide raises all ships.”

    Michael Grant@ 24:47

  • “It turns your pinball machine into a full-fledged video game system.”

    Michael Grant@ 13:15 — Key description of Insider Connected's core functionality and positioning

  • “The sky's the limit on what we could do. We're really just getting started on that.”

    Michael Grant@ 13:53 — Indicates Insider Connected is early-stage with significant unannounced features in development

  • “Our hope is that operators embrace this technology... there's really tons of untapped potential.”

    Michael Grant@ 15:41 — Reveals Stern's strategy depends on operator adoption; suggests ongoing uncertainty about operator receptiveness

  • “I briefly was introduced to him at Pinball Expo, and that's when I made my pitch to come to Stern Pinball.”

    Michael Grant@ 28:09 — Grant pitched Gary Stern directly at Pinball Expo and was hired on the spot; shows informal hiring at executive level

  • “I don't know yet. I just started.”

Entities

Michael GrantpersonStern PinballcompanyAmerican PinballcompanyZach SharppersonTyler CarsonpersonGeorge GomezpersonGary SternpersonSeth Davis

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Unclear operator adoption pathway and hesitation regarding Insider Connected; Grant unable to confirm whether operators see player data or how system incentivizes operator participation

    medium · Grant responds 'I don't know the answer right now' when asked if operators can see player names and engagement; acknowledges question is valid but lacks specifics

  • ?

    business_signal: Seth Davis recently appointed as President of Stern Pinball; Grant expresses confidence in leadership direction despite minimal direct interaction

    high · Grant: 'Really excited to what the future holds for Stern Pinball. I think he's a great addition' despite acknowledging brief introduction at Pinball Expo

  • ?

    community_signal: Stern Pinball implementing Stern Pinball Army as organized play network with operator partnerships, IFPA integration, and prize support to drive location traffic and player engagement

    high · Grant explains Army as 'network of organized play' with 'world ranking points,' 'prize support,' and operator ambassador roles; Tyler Carson hired as Director of Location Sales to expand

  • ?

    event_signal: Godzilla launch parties initiated as organized community events with Stern Pinball Army eligibility for player competition and IFPA ranking participation

    high · Grant states 'This weekend is the first eligible weekend for Godzilla launch parties' indicating coordinated event rollout

  • $

    market_signal: Stern Pinball pursuing global expansion of Stern Army and marketing efforts across multiple regions including Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Australia

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.088

0:00
Hi everybody. It's time for another news segment, so an update. And just the fact that Michael Grant is up here giving a stern update is pretty newsworthy in itself. So today is November 20th and you started with Stern. Tuesday. Tuesday, November 16th. Please welcome Michael Grant in his new capacity.
0:45
Well, thank you everyone. Thank you for being here. It's an honor and a privilege to be here presenting to you the Stern update for 2021 Fantastic. Just a little bit about myself. I got into pinball casually when I was a younger person, waiting for pizza on vacations at Cape Cod, playing in the game rooms, Bear Pond Park in the summers. I'd walk over to the local arcade at Bear Pond and that's where I really, really got the bug for pinball. I have a slide there. So Michael Grant, marketing manager of Stern Pinball.
1:34
So here are some games that were very influential to me in my early pinball playing experience. Top left, you'll see William Slugfest, Pitch and Bat. That's the first game that really drew me in back to the arcade to try to hit home runs and win baseball cards on Bear Pond. Really, really enjoyed the sound, the overall choreography. Baseball was really important to me at the time. And just the experience of hitting a home run and watching animations and learning the geometry and the physics of the ball and the flipper and what can happen was really intriguing to me. So that planted a seed early in my youth. I was about nine years old. So time went on and I played pinball here and there, but I wasn't really a pinball player per se until I went on vacation in Cape Cod and there was a sports bar. They had a World Cup soccer. And we went there for lunch and I put a few quarters in and played a couple games and I had fun. And I had some downtime later that day. And I had a bicycle and I bicycled down by myself and played World Cup soccer all afternoon and did the same thing for the next few days. And that's when I knew I really liked pinball. Shooting, something as simple as shooting that soccer goal over and over again. It was an easy objective that I understood and it was very gratifying and I just, I had fun. Of course, Attack from Mars, flipping around on that, getting multi-balls, the sound call outs on that game are incredible. And of course, Twilight Zone really showed me what a pinball machine could be. So Lord of the Rings and Star Trek. So in 2013, I was living in Somerville, and I saw an episode of Ingenious Minds on TV on the Science Channel. And it was an episode featuring Robert Gagno, a pinball champion in Canada. And they talked about his pinball abilities and all his accomplishments. and it's spread something and we said, oh I remember pinball I used to love pinball, I completely forgot about pinball, huh, interesting so that planted a seed and then maybe the next year, 2014 I was on a date at Canobie Lake Park in New Hampshire and we were going on all the rides and we were walking down and I saw the pinball arcade in the corner of my eye I said let's go play some pinball, this will be fun we played all the games and I hopped on, eventually I hopped on Lord of the Rings and got a multi-ball. I got a really good score for me at the time and I had a sense of euphoria that I haven't felt in I don't know how long. At that moment, I knew I needed more pinball.

high confidence · Grant reports 'The signups at Pinball Expo were great... lots of people signed up and played'

  • Grant is uncertain about app development timeline and API developer kit details for Insider Connected

    high confidence · Grant responds 'I don't know yet' multiple times to questions about app development and 2022 timeline

    • Michael Grant@ 17:14 — Repeated refrain when asked detailed questions about Insider Connected features and roadmap; indicates knowledge gaps about ongoing initiatives

    person
    John Borgperson
    New England Pinball Leagueorganization
    Stern Pinball Armyorganization
    Insider Connectedproduct
    Godzillagame
    Pinball Expoevent
    Steven Martinperson
    IFPAorganization
    Chuck Websterperson
    Pintastic New Englandevent

    medium · Grant responds to geographic reach question: 'Our hope is to have Stern Pinball games anywhere and everywhere' and lists established pinball markets in Europe and Australia

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Michael Grant hired as Marketing Manager at Stern Pinball, transitioning from American Pinball sales role; represents talent acquisition by dominant manufacturer

    high · Grant explicitly states start date of November 16, 2021 and 21-month tenure at American Pinball ending before Stern role

  • ?

    announcement: Insider Connected QR-code-based player account system for all LCD-screen Stern games announced with features including achievements, challenges, and player tracking

    high · Grant dedicates significant presentation time to describing Insider Connected as core initiative with QR codes, player avatars, accounts at insider.sternpinball.com, and Pinball Expo signups

  • ?

    product_strategy: Insider Connected roadmap includes app development (timeline TBD, possibly early 2022), challenge quests, potential new achievement types, and expanded features beyond current badge/account system

    medium · Grant states 'The sky's the limit on what we could do. We're really just getting started' and acknowledges multiple 'I don't know yet' responses about specific upcoming features

  • ?

    business_signal: Stern positioning Insider Connected and Stern Pinball Army as tools for operators to increase location traffic and player retention, targeting previously untapped engagement opportunities

    high · Grant frames initiatives as ways to give 'people just more reasons to come play the games' and provide 'added benefit for everyone' while building community

  • ?

    technology_signal: Stern pivoting toward connected game ecosystem integrating digital account systems, challenge quests, and app development for existing and future LCD-screen machines

    high · Grant emphasizes 'app developer kit' in development, 'challenge quests coming up,' and describes Insider Connected as turning machines into 'full-fledged video game system' with features still in planning

    • 4:42
    So I got online and I went on YouTube and looked up all the games I used to play, you know, Twilight Zone, World Cup Soccer,
    4:50
    and just reliving all those memories and remembering all the games I used to play. And then I found a pinball enthusiast group on a social media website, and I saw a picture of someone holding a beer in front of their game, and the caption was, What a great day to relax after a hard day's work. And I said, You can own a pinball machine?
    5:15
    It never occurred to me. So I went on Craigslist, and I found a Stern High Roller Casino for sale in New Hampshire. and I went up, played it and that was my first purchase and that was early 2015, I think and Alan, the kid I bought it from told me about this thing called New England Pinball League and I didn't really understand what you mean, you compete? I just like pinball. Competition wasn't really something that was important to me but I thought it might be a good excuse to hang out and talk to other people that like pinball. so I didn't sign up right away but he did also tip me off that there are other collectors that have really amazing collections with all these cool games that you don't really see anymore so I made a conservative effort to be on the lookout for that so then I was on another social media group for sale page I think and I saw a game for sale on Wakefield Mass and the game for sale wasn't the one I wanted but the game next to it was Gottlieb-Freddy Krueger game and it just so happened to be for sale in my hometown and I messaged Chuck and he was the president of the NEPL at the time, the largest pinball league in the world and I ended up buying that game and I at that point I decided to sign up for league and I didn't know what to expect at league. I wasn't sure. I figured I'd be like the youngest guy there. I really wasn't sure who likes pinball. I thought I was on an island and I was in the middle of the pack. There were younger people, there were people my age, there were older people. Everyone had one thing in common. We all loved the silver ball. So I knew this was something special. So I joined the league in 2016 And that really what really got me started
    7:24
    Next slide here. So this is as I became, I guess, a collector. This is some of my collection. Starring Aerosmith, Ellie, Flintstones, Valley Lady Luck, my first game. Starring Hyrule Casino. I see Terminator 2 and the Freddy game and Walking Dead L.A.
    7:52
    So, yeah, I just really like pinball machines. And pretty soon, now that I know I'll be here in Chicago for the long haul, I've got to get these games shipped back out to me. So we're working on that.
    8:05
    Let's see. Next slide here. So I became a competitive player through New England Pinball League and doing local tournaments and stuff. So here's just some pictures. Top left here is the first tournament I ever won at the Southern New Hampshire Pinball Club, the Wednesday night knockout next to Mike Testa and Mike Schmidt.
    8:24
    Top right corner is Pinberg 2019, 2018? 2019. All those people there in the front are New England Pinball League players. And Chuck Webster, not pictured, took the photo. So lower left is, I think, third place in, like, B Division or something at Arcadia National Bar. And then the bottom right is Pin Mania.
    8:51
    So a couple of Maine events. So we've hit Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire so far. Yes. Got three to go. That's right. For the six New England states.
    9:02
    Let's see. and then here's the license plates I had to turn in. Well, I didn't have to, but I traded in my pinball license plates for a career in pinball.
    9:14
    I had made the decision that I wanted pinball to be part of my life and I reached out to all the pinball machine manufacturers and made it very clear that I wanted to work in pinball. At the time, I had a career in sales for a wholesale distributor of sports collectibles and entertainment and gaming collectibles. So we sold everything from sports cards to Magic the Gathering, Pokemon, accessories, all that sort of stuff. So I really developed an experience working with retailers and consumers on lifestyle brand products, people that identify with Pokemon, with Magic the Gathering. Magic the Gathering players, they do their Friday Night Magic, and that's what they do. It's their social circle. I found myself doing the same thing with pinball. Pinball is my lifestyle. This is who I am and what I want to do full time.
    10:05
    So I made contact with American Pinball. They happened to need a sales guy. They had a new game coming out. I accepted the role. This is in February of 2020. So I packed up my truck, me and my cat, and we drove 16 hours to Chicagoland. and I started my career in pinball. I was with American Pinball for 21 months. I learned the ropes.
    10:34
    Really grateful for the opportunity. Made a lot of good connections, a lot of good experience that really helped me, a lot of mentors along the way.
    10:43
    And that prepared me to where I am now at Stern Pinball as marketing manager. Extremely grateful and thankful.
    10:53
    I'm really excited, and I feel like I'm just finally getting started. So ready to hit the ground running.
    11:01
    More slides? Yeah, more slides. So let's talk about what I'll be doing at Stern. So pictured here is Zach Sharp, Director of Marketing, Stern Pinball. I'll be working closely with Zach on all marketing initiatives. So everything from social media posts, promoting events, working with the IFPA on creating new fun events and promotions, content creation, so like videos and flyers to promote the events, anything and everything you can think of marketing, I'll be working with Zach hand in hand on that. He's taking me under his wing, showing me the ropes. I'm in what you might call Stern boot camp, learning everything I need to know, learning all the processes. So very excited to be working with Zach. He's been great so far and the team at Stern has been wonderful and they've really embraced me. I feel like they're just as excited to have me as I am to be on their team.
    12:02
    I'll also be working with Tyler Carson, the recently hired director of location sales. Tyler and I will be working to promote the Stern Army and getting more games on location, more Stern Army locations, more games, more pinball, more prizes, more fun for everyone, just more community. So that's something we'll be working on, not just here, but all over the world. We want more organized play, more tournaments, launch parties. This weekend is the first eligible weekend for Godzilla launch parties. So I know back in Chicagoland I missed the Godzilla launch party, but certainly grateful to be here.
    12:45
    So we'll be working with Tyler on promoting that and just getting more Stern games out on the field.
    12:53
    And then, of course, you've probably seen the Insider Connected. I'll be working with the Stern team on all Insider Connected initiatives. So that's a little QR code reader on the right-hand corner of Godzilla, and all Stern LCD screen games will have this connectivity. Basically, it turns your pinball machine into a full-fledged video game system. There's achievements. There's challenges. There'll be challenge quests coming up. Lots of things to come. We're really just at the tip of the iceberg now, but there's tons of stuff that we can do to help locations, run events, have prizes and promotions. Just another reason for people to play pinball and try it, something new, and I think it'll be really beneficial for everyone. I know just playing myself, like, oh, I haven't had my super jackpot in this game yet. Let me go for that. It's fun to collect them, and there'll be badges at events.
    13:53
    Really, the sky's the limit on what we could do. We're really just getting started on that. So that's the hype for Stern also at IAPA, apparently, is you're talking all about Insider Connected.
    14:12
    And where do you or Tyler or Zach or other people that we haven't named yet fit in with the operator side? So you're pushing to have operators do events at locations or you're pushing to have players come to a location and say, if the operator put the game there, we make it special All of the above all above If there are any locations out there that want to be a Stern Army location please reach out to me or reach out to Tyler My email address is michael.grant at sternpinball.com. We'll be happy to help you with the process. Or if you're a player and you want your location to be a location, you can reach out to us, talk to your operator, talk to the location. let it be known and we'll help get the ball rolling. Yeah, so those terms are explained here on the chart, the famous structure of the industry chart that we bring every year.
    15:11
    And the operator, some operators might be a little reluctant. Like they've been in a world where they just talk to the locations. They don't know who the players are. So if some random player comes, calls them, sees the sticker on the game or whatever and finds out who the operator is,
    15:31
    is Stern looking to make the operator more open-minded? Go ahead and talk to a player. Don't just go through the location. Well, absolutely. Our hope is that operators embrace this technology. I think it will be great for returning players, giving people just more reasons to come play the games. I think there's added benefit for everyone. Players seem to like it, and there's really tons of untapped potential. We really haven't even hit the tip of the iceberg. There's lots to come. So just I recommend you, if you haven't signed up for an account, you can go to insider.starnpinball.com. Just type in your information, and it creates a little, an avatar, you pick out a badge, and your username, and then it gives you a QR code. And you scan that QR code when you start a new game, and it keeps track of all your scores and all your progress on any Stern game you play that's Insider Connected.
    16:32
    And if I understand it correctly, the Insider Connected Pro for the operators, they've got a whole different view of what's going on with Insider Connected. Do they know player names? Like, do they see who's playing a lot? If it's a registered name player that's, oh, this guy is coming to this location and playing my connected game? That's a good question. I don't know the answer right now. But that's certainly something to look into. I just don't know the answer. Because that could be part of the answer to the other question. Yeah, I think, yeah, information going up and down would be important. I agree. So more information to come on that. I don't know the answer. I just started. But it's a good question. I agree. If you in the audience have questions, you should be lining up with the question mic there. I've got a bunch of questions that we can keep going with that, but I think Insider Connected has been the main generator of questions. I mean, to the extent that you've learned what you can talk about and everything else you can't talk about yet. So there's the known unknowns or the known not speakabouts are both in the same pool right now.
    17:53
    So what is the Stern Army? So Stern Army is essentially, it's a network of organized play. We want people to, so if locations are running an event, right, So we recommend that they're registered with the IFPA. You get world ranking points. That's a whole separate thing, but world ranking points. People like to, the more you play, the more points you get, the higher you are in your world ranking and state rankings. There are state championships.
    18:28
    So the Stern Army is basically a vehicle to provide organized play. you can win prizes it's prize support there's random giveaways so it's just it's a reason for to meet people it's more community basically it just means more pinball more community more games more players more fun I think there's an implication with using the term army that like if a location wants to have some pinball night that would otherwise be a slow night that somehow a lot of staffing. People could come in because they're in this army.
    19:09
    Yeah, that reminds me. Operators running the Stern RBR are Stern ambassadors, so they're just helping promote the Stern brand, getting the name out there, getting the games out there,
    19:25
    and providing a place for people to play and have a good time. People like winning prizes, especially you get the insider connected too. There'll be challenge quests coming for that too. So there are a lot of things that can be done.
    19:46
    So it sounds like Tyler is going to be focusing particularly on the stack that's on the left of our chart here, which includes an operator not owning the location, but just being the provider of games to a location, ancillary entertainment, as Gary Stern likes to say.
    20:10
    Do you also have some involvement with the direct sales of the Stern product to the players to have in their home? Is that part of your world? At this time, no. Okay. So you also will be trying to do further expansion of public exposure on locations. Yes, and part of my responsibilities as Stern ambassador will be going to shows, attending shows, and just hanging out in communities. So I expect to be here every year.
    20:41
    Well, we certainly hope to also have our tournament, our silver ball rumble, be in the Stern Pro Circuit for as long as we can keep our strength up. In this part of the country, we've got a lot of strong players. That should help. I see a question up here. Who is team lead on the Stern Insider Connected? Is it George Gomez? Will you be working with the IFPA in the future for sponsored tournaments?
    21:07
    Yes, I'll definitely be working with the IFPA on tournaments and new events, new promotions. I don't know how to answer that. I'm not sure. I guess it's George, but I don't know. I don't know yet. Yeah, certainly Stern wants to show that this is a whole corporation effort behind Insider Connected. So that's... Yeah, it's a team effort. It's not one person. For George to be supervising it because as the chief creative officer, he would have to get everybody else to always be thinking, John Borg here? He's probably telling John Borg don forget to be thinking about new ways to use Insider Connected He going to tell you guys that some things are coming along that might involve players in a different new way a new kind of achievement or whatever Do we have any stories so far of anything happening with Insider Connected? Any early reports of things that have happened? Well, the signups at Expo were great. It seems like everybody were, because I've had time to look at the reports, and lots of people signed up and played, really embraced playing, using their insider accounts at Expo. I mean, that's the most I can report.
    22:32
    It seems people really like it. If there are any questions about it, we'd be happy to answer. Okay, other questions from the audience?
    22:42
    We have about five more minutes. So if you're thinking, I'll hang back and wait, don't wait much longer. Yes, Mom.
    22:52
    How far will your reach out be for marketing? Geographically, you mean? Globally, yes. Our hope is to have Stern Pinball games anywhere and everywhere.
    23:06
    Okay, so how many languages are you going to have to learn? Yeah, I guess there are countries we've always known have been big for pinball. Germany, France, Italy, Spain. Australia. Australia, yeah.
    23:26
    I see another question coming in. For app development on Stern and CyberConnected, when can we expect that? Is it early 2022? Do you know? I don't know yet. Okay.
    23:38
    It seems like there was more behind that question. So people are going to build apps using an app developer kit? I don't know yet. New guy card, sorry. Okay. Please use the microphone if you could so we can...or hurry up and shout out your question. Okay. That wasn't a question. He's withdrawing the question. Martin. Yes, Martin. Martin, Ayoob of Pinball News will be sitting up front with me very soon after this. Looking forward to that. Now, Michael, having seen the pinball industry from two different companies,
    24:23
    would you say that when you were not at Stern that there was some concern over how dominant Stern Pinball are in the pinball manufacturing business and sales and operations? and they seem to be sort of like the 800-pound gorilla now. And before you were sort of fighting them to an extent and now you're a part of that. Sure. That's why they have an army.
    24:47
    Look, more pinball is better for everyone. A rising tide raises all ships. I think a little friendly competition is a good thing. More games, more pinball is better for everyone. Look, I'm a pinball player first and foremost.
    25:01
    I think it's great for the industry. You have a question? Yeah, I guess it's a player-level question. What Stern game do you think is the most challenging? Most challenging?
    25:16
    I would say at the moment, I need more time on it. So in defense, I still need more time on it. But I'd say maybe Avengers?
    25:31
    I'm not sure. And the Turtles? Turtles. Due to COVID, I haven't been able to play a lot of the games repetitively to familiarize myself with the shots, the geometry, the rules, and whatnot. So in defense, I've played, I think, three games on AIQ. So you really haven't explored it that much? No, not really. Yeah. And did you hear anything back from IAPA about in the Stern booth, what they were seeing and hearing there or how the reaction was? Not as of yet. Not yet. It just sort of closed on Thursday. People are still in the air, I think. Packing up. Yeah. We have, there's just so much. To follow up on that last question, the question before Martin's question,
    26:34
    Stern, they talk about the whole spectrum. They can be a contract manufacturer, or they could before supply chain shortages anyway. They can do this for game developers, and they can do this for locations, and they've got the Stern Army and they have the studio system so a guy with an idea can bring something to Stern and maybe they'll accept it in as part of the Stern catalog.
    27:08
    So it seems like they're just so spread out over so many things. We are hoping that people like you will clarify a lot of that over time. Certainly, certainly. And maybe there's some of these things I just mentioned you might not even have paid much attention to up to now.
    27:31
    So you're mainly consumer facing, is that right? Or operators too? No, all facets of our, yeah, all facets. I'll be supporting locations, operators, and consumers with just getting the games out there and brand awareness.
    27:52
    All things marketing related to Stern. How about Seth Davis as president? Have you heard anything, seen anything, felt anything from him being there yet? Well, it's funny. I briefly was introduced to him at Expo, and that's when I made my pitch to come to Fantastic. I was introduced to him, and Gary asked me when my starting day was and told him the 16th. He said, John, I don't think a lot of people in the office that day. And that's when I jumped in. Well, you should send me to Pentastic. So here I am. All right. Yeah. Well, yeah. We will appreciate your help in getting Seth Davis out here in the future. Yes. But to the point where we are really excited to have Seth Davis on board under his leadership.
    28:44
    Really excited to what the future holds for Stern Pinball. I think he's a great addition, and I'm so glad to be working for him. All right. Well, I'm sure that we'll get back to Chicago and get your appropriate points for that. All right. Last call for questions. Well, thanks for coming in. Thank you. Thanks for all your support of Pentastic over the years. Thanks, Dave. Happy to be here.