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The Pinball Show Ep 97: Spirit Animals

The Pinball Show·podcast_episode·1h 20m·analyzed·Apr 19, 2022
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.036

TL;DR

TPN baby photo contest, Rush scoop fixes, American Pinball October Dennis Nordman game rumored.

Summary

Episode 97 of The Pinball Show covers TPN community announcements (baby photo contest sponsored by Stern and Flippin' Out), industry news from correspondents including Rush scoop fix kits, Spooky's Ultraman and production updates, Haggis factory progress, departing correspondent Dr. John, and rumors about American Pinball's next October release designed by Dennis Nordman (likely Sherlock Holmes themed) plus speculative discussion of Chicago Gaming Company acquiring Pulp Fiction.

Key Claims

  • American Pinball's next release will be in October and designed by Dennis Nordman

    high confidence · Nap Arcade reporting via NAP Arcade; described as 'widely speculated rumor' now with October confirmation

  • The next American Pinball game will have at least one ramp

    medium confidence · Reported by Eclectic Gamers podcast; host notes this as humorous/noteworthy for a Nordman design

  • American Pinball implemented a price increase on chip costs that they claimed would be temporary but are now sticking with permanently

    medium confidence · Email from American Pinball to retailers; host summarizing but notes email not immediately available for verification

  • American Pinball is moving to deluxe/standard edition model with standard editions having toys and features stripped out

    medium confidence · Host reporting on American Pinball communication; details acknowledged as incomplete

  • Spooky Pinball will take at least another six months before announcing their next title after Ultraman and Halloween

    medium confidence · Dr. John correspondent reporting from Texas Pinball Festival visit with Charlie Emery at Spooky booth

  • Rush Pinball scoop and servo ramp issues are being fixed by Stern with installation kits and pre-installed fixes on new production

    high confidence · Craig Bobby correspondent report with installation video from John Borg available; confirmed factory implementation

  • Legends of Valhalla (American Pinball) orders are still trickling out more than 6 months after September release

    high confidence · Host direct report; host notes incomplete fulfillment of their own order

  • Chicago Gaming Company may be acquiring Pulp Fiction as a future release

    low confidence · Rumor from Eclectic Gamers podcast per Dennis Creasel's rumor roundup; presented as speculation

Notable Quotes

  • “When you say free shipping in the United States, Hawaii is part of the United States... if you're going to say it, put it on your site then. Say free shipping to 49 states.”

    Blueberry Johnson (BJ) @ ~08:30 — Consumer advocacy complaint about misleading shipping policy; industry critique about truth in advertising

  • “I don't have a favorite. I don't like having favorites... Favorites are a sickness.”

    Blueberry Johnson @ ~45:00 — Character development; establishes BJ's approach to pinball game preferences and collecting

  • “You're telling me a Nordman's game is going to have a ramp? Oh, man. Yeah. Thanks, Dennis.”

    Host (sarcastic) @ ~1:08:00 — Humorous commentary on Dennis Nordman's design philosophy; jabs at past game designs lacking standard features

  • “I think there's a bit of a way to go in making things clearer for the casual player, but as an owner of all previous spooky games, these games need to be played at home for a while to understand the rules.”

    Dr. John (correspondent) @ ~32:00 — Assessment of Spooky Ultraman rules clarity and design complexity; pattern observation across Spooky titles

  • “Scoop Gate, it's about over for Rush Pinball... Everybody's scoop's getting banged up.”

    Host @ ~38:00 — Summary of Rush scoop quality issue; establishes industry awareness of manufacturing defect

  • “I plead the parts delay... The trickle is real. The trickle is like a weak stream.”

    Host (regarding Legends of Valhalla fulfillment) @ ~1:04:00 — Supply chain frustration; ongoing production/parts shortage affecting American Pinball

Entities

Blueberry Johnson (BJ)personThe Pinball Network (TPN)organizationStern PinballcompanyAmerican PinballcompanyDennis NordmanpersonSpooky PinballcompanySpooky Lukeperson

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: TPN announcing daily baby photo guessing contest for community members with prizes from Stern (Spike Shaker Motor), Stern game banner, and collector decal; requires following minimum 2 TPN social platforms

    high · Host detailed contest structure: 'We're going to give away first place prize. It's going to be a Stern Spike Shaker Motor... Second place winner is going to get a stirring game banner... third place is going to win a collector decal'

  • ?

    community_signal: Texas Pinball Festival noted as major gathering where correspondents met with manufacturers; Spooky booth visit and Haggis factory tour indicating active community/industry engagement

    high · Dr. John: 'I managed to survive my trip to Texas Pinball Festival and had a great time... I managed to visit the Spooky booth' and 'I went down to visit Damien in the Haggis HQ factory'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Host sarcastically notes Dennis Nordman game including a ramp is noteworthy/humorous, suggesting typical Nordman designs lack standard playfield features

    medium · Host: 'You're telling me a Nordman's game is going to have a ramp? Oh, man. Yeah. Thanks, Dennis.'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Spooky games (Ultraman, Alice Cooper noted as examples) require extended home play to understand rules; casual player clarity needs improvement but design philosophy accepts learning curve

    medium · Dr. John: 'There's a bit of a way to go in making things clearer for the casual player, but as an owner of all previous spooky games, these games need to be played at home for a while to understand the rules'

  • $

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.242

0:00
Warning, the following episode contains adult language and screaming goats. Listener discretion is advised.
0:11
The Pinball Network is online. Launching The Pinball Show. It's episode 97 of The Pinball Show, including all types of goodies for you this week, such as TPN babies, winning stuff, what's on the line this week at Stern Pinball, rumors surrounding American Pinball's next release, rumor roundup with Dennis Tarantino, Steve Ritchie's spirit animal, multimorphic going two inches deeper, pinball market trends, and blueberry references. That is far from all, but don't touch that dial and keep listening. Do people still have dials? I can lead with pride, I can make us strong. Pinball is a game of skill. For some, it's a passion and a lifestyle. It's time for the Pinball Show. It's pinball with personality. See the light as it shines from the sea. It's blinding, but no one knows how deep it goes. Come one, come all, welcome to the Pinball Show episode 97. Did you guys hear the Deep Root conversation, debacle, discussion with Blueberry Johnson? It was so damn pleasant to talk to that gentleman that we're going to do it again here on episode 97. And if you haven't heard the Deep Root discussion, go and listen to that special episode as well.
1:40
BJ, what's happening, my friend? Hey, just ready to chit-chat a little more with you. I know. Did you really? I felt bad asking you to do this again, but you seemed like you were okay to do it. I was an eager beaver. I remain an eager beaver. Let's get beavering. What the hell is a beaver? Is that like a marsupial? What is that? Is it a weasel?
2:03
Marsupials have pouches, and I haven't inspected beavers up close, but I don't believe they do. But they're cute. They've got those big teeth. They help us with our waterways and dam building. They're our friends. You've never seen a beaver with a pouch? Come on.
Haggis Pinball
company
Chicago Gaming Company (CGC)company
Dr. Johnperson
Craig Bobbyperson
John Borgperson
Charlie Emeryperson
Flippin' Out Pinballcompany
Coin Givercompany
Nap Arcade / NAP Arcadecompany/person
Eclectic Gamersorganization
Amanda Hamiltonperson
Joel Engelberthperson
Ken Cromwellperson

market_signal: Stern ramping up Avengers Premium production and beginning Rush Pro/Premium runs this week; suggests strong demand and production capacity for flagship titles

high · Craig Bobby: 'Stern Pinball hard at work with posts on social media showing literally dozens of Avengers premiums being assembled and shipped' and 'Rush pros and premiums are going to be hitting the line, I think, this week'

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Dr. John departing as correspondent for The Pinball Show after 2.5 years to start own podcast; Amanda Hamilton and Joel Engelberth joining TPN committee to expand workload/decision-making

    high · Dr. John: 'I'll give the SHIT update a bit of a rest... let the other correspondents carry on' and host announcement of 'Amanda Hamilton from the Free Play Pinball Podcast and Joel Engelberth from the Triple Drain Pinball Podcast... have joined the TPN committee'

  • $

    market_signal: American Pinball implementing permanent price increases tied to chip costs that were initially claimed as temporary; moving to deluxe/standard edition model with stripped features in standard tier

    medium · Host: 'they raised temporarily, raised the prices... But they said they're sticking to those... they were actually going to have stuff stripped out of the standard editions'

  • ?

    announcement: American Pinball confirming October 2024 release designed by Dennis Nordman with at least one ramp; likely themed around public domain IP (speculation: Sherlock Holmes)

    high · Host: 'Nap Arcade reporting that the next American Pinball release is going to be in October. And it's designed by Dennis Nordman... he sounded pretty confident about it, too' and Eclectic Gamers: 'this next AP game... is going to have at least one ramp'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Legends of Valhalla (American Pinball, September 2023 release) still trickling out orders 6+ months later; host states incomplete fulfillment of own order despite multiple production lines claimed

    high · Host: 'I'm trying to think. How many do I? I don't even have half of my order fulfilled yet. And that game came out, what, last freaking September?' and 'The trickle is like a weak stream.'

  • ?

    product_concern: Rush Pinball experiencing premature urethane bumper wear on time machine ramp and servo ramp circuit issues requiring full replacement kits and cabinet node board updates

    high · Craig Bobby correspondent: 'premature wear on the blue urethane bumpers... some Rush owners are reporting issues with their servo ramp circuit as Stern has now released a full-blown replacement kit'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Spooky Pinball will not announce next title for at least 6 months; currently focused on completing Ultraman and Halloween production

    medium · Dr. John: 'Their production of Halloween and Ultraman continues to progress quite well, and I think it'll be another six months at least before we hear about the next title to come out of Spooky'

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Chicago Gaming Company rumored to be acquiring Pulp Fiction as future release; sourced from Eclectic Gamers podcast via Dennis Creasel rumor roundup

    low · Host: 'Dennis EGP is going with the rumor That Pulp Fiction is a future CGC release but Dennis Creasel from AGP added in his rumor roundup'

    • 2:21
    I haven't, but I'm open to. Thank you, Lord. If you point me in the right direction, I'm not going to turn you down if you point out a special pouch-having beaver. That's for damn sure. I don't know what the hell it is. Maybe it's the weasel family. Weasels don't have pouches either. You know what's something really sad? I should know this. I don't know if a platypus is a real animal. Do you want me to tell you about the platypus? Yeah. It has feet like a duck, but it's furry. And I know that from a, ooh, early 80s commercial for a series of informational cards that children who like nature could get. And it goes, a duck-billed platypus. It has feet like a duck, but it's furry. They're all of my something-something characters. Wow, you have a memory. Hopefully somebody else listening can, yeah, no, exactly. And it's an earworm, and hopefully somebody listening has a link to the commercial. Okay. Because that would make me smile. But, yes, real. Real. Okay.
    3:18
    Sadly, I did not know that. But then again, I don't know whether to trust you because I caught on in the editing of that Deep Root episode, a little troll you did, the intro of the show. So I appreciate that. All right, BJ. People want to know a little bit more about you, even though your real name is or is not BJ. I feel like I'm talking to fucking Lane Bryan again.
    3:39
    Do you play a lot of pinball? What do you love about pinball? What do you not like about pinball? What's the deal with you? Yeah, yeah, no, I like pinball a lot. I don't get to play it too much because I live in a pinball desert here out in Hawaii where we have very few pinball machines. On the island of Maui, the second most populated island, there are zero on-location pinball machines.
    4:04
    And so being out here, I don't get to play it as much as I would like, so I have to enjoy it vicariously by seeing people play it online or listening to all these lovely pinball podcasts to get my fix.
    4:18
    And in fact, I not too long ago bought my first ever pinball machine because I knew I wouldn't be playing Godzilla here unless I had one myself. How the hell did you get it to the island?
    4:33
    At first it had to get from Chicago to, I think, Los Angeles. via however that happens, you would know. And then it had to take the slow boat out here on a barge. I thought it took like a fucking red eye.
    4:48
    I wish it had, because that made the shipping a little more expensive. Here's the thing that I want to flag it for you all distributors. When you say free shipping in the United States, Hawaii is part of the United States.
    5:02
    And then when you contact folks about it and they go, Oh, no, you have to pay hundreds and hundreds of dollars more. We're talking about the real states. I mean, come on.
    5:13
    It's the 50th state. They had a show about it. I've shipped plenty of stuff to Alaska, I believe. Okay, so then this is just against Hawaii that you'll charge. Yeah, I'm out of the United States. That's all I need. Then put it on your site then. Say free shipping to 49 states. Except the most beautiful fucking state because I'm jealous. Exactly I don't know the reason I just mean truth in advertising It's important for anyone in the pinball business To mean what they say And say what they mean And so I think you could lead by example here Only eligible in the continental United States There you go Alaska I don't know enough about this shit I stick with pinball I know a lot about pinball I could teach you about beavers About platypi about which states are continental. Just stick with me, buddy. We'll be all right. This is ridiculous. All right. So that's, ladies and gentlemen, that's BJ right there. Blueberry Johnson himself.
    6:19
    Listener, catch this. Jeez Louise. I did a post last week of a picture that is trending right now from the Pinball Network social medium. We made an announcement that Amanda Hamilton from the Free Play Pinball Podcast and Joel Engelberth from the Triple Drain Pinball Podcast, just another pinball podcast, TPN and Flippin' Out Pinball streaming channels, they both have joined the TPN committee to help with the workload over here, advocacy in general, decision making, etc., etc. I hate when people do etc., etc. It's redundant. I don't know why I did that. but I included a picture on this post of the both of them, but I was being a little bit cheeky by finding a real deep cut of Joel Engelberth in his early twenties from way back in his Facebook page. I don't know if you've seen it, BJ listener. I don't know if you've seen it, but there he was young, beautiful with his shirt off showcasing some fresh shoulder ink. man i haven't seen this but i really want to see this now where might i see this feeling flush yet bj my blueberries are tingling you get the most ridiculous name yeah you can go on tp facebook and scour through that and you can find sweet fresh ink 20 something year old joel engelberg they gotta tell you man so people responded immediately and of course they did And Joel was a good sport about it. Thank you, Joel. But it kind of got me thinking, BJ. I wonder what the old ragtag group of TPNers looked like when they were younger. So, in lieu of this trending hunk pic of Joel, TPN has a contest announcement here on the Pinball Show. Ooh! Whenever people hear contest, they're like, you better freaking get me something. We're going to give you shit, okay? We at TPN are going to be posting a daily picture of a TPN content creator as a baby or a young child, generally ages 1 through 10. Everyone who is following at least two TPN social media feeds is encouraged to guess what TPN personality that baby pic is on our Facebook picture post. at the end of all of these daily pictures. We're going to run baby pictures every day. You've got to guess who it is that's part of TPN, who that baby picture is of. And at the end of it, we're going to total which followers guessed the most TPN stars correctly. The top three finishers are going to win a prize. Yeah, not just one prize, not just two. Three, courtesy of the Pinball Network and any guesses, BJ? Who else sponsored this? I don't know. This already sounds like the contest of the year. I can't even imagine. It's not the one that taketh. It's the one that giveth. It's Coin Giver, baby. And it's flipping out pinball. Come on. Wowzers. That's right. We're going to give away first place prize. It's going to be a Stern Spike Shaker Motor. Damn. That's good. Yeah. I don't have one of those. Do you not really have one for... I don't. Yeah. Should I have one? That's important? Yeah. Absolutely. It's like the best mod. It's cheap. Second place winner is going to get a stirring game banner of their choice.
    9:37
    Restrictions apply. Continental United States. I'm going to try to win these. I'm going to try to win these just to cost you as much as possible in shipping. I will cover the shipping. How about that? Good man. Does that make you happy? Oh, yeah. And third place is going to win a collector decal. So the contest officially begins today on the TPN Facebook page. Go check it out. And remember, you need to be following at least two TPN social media platforms. So if you're not, it takes a couple seconds. Just follow, like, subscribe, whatever the hell the kids do, to the different formats. I think we're on Twitch. We're on Facebook. We're on Instagram. We're on YouTube. We're on Twitter. At least two. It's not that hard. In the comments section of that Daily Pick on Facebook, just submit the one guess as to who the TPN baby is. That's it. And win, win, win. Heck, yeah. Yeah, and I think so. I'm going to have to listen to the playback for the instructions because I looked up this photo of Joel during it. Right. I kind of missed everything that you said. He's not so much looking at me but threw me into me.
    10:42
    I'm going to have to close this window if we're going to do the rest of the show. Oh, my gosh. I'm going to force myself to do that. Peering into your strawberry heart. Oh, my gosh.
    10:52
    You look it up in the dictionary, smolder, and that's the picture right there. You know how upset people get that I speak in such tongues regarding other men. People get so upset about that. I don't get it. I didn't realize that. Oh, I know what you're talking about. Well, you know. Don't be mad, man. I find beauty in all kinds of people. The world is beautiful. Men are beautiful. Women are beautiful. Hawaii is beautiful. Non-binary humans are beautiful. Hawaii is beautiful. Alabama is beautiful. What can I say besides you're welcome? You know that one? That plays a hundred times over at the Big Island, right? Yeah, actually, that's a real banger. At karaoke recently, I did the other one that goes like, There's a dun, there's a dun, there's a dun. It bindings. It's a heater. It's the wind in my sail on the sea, she's behind me. One day I will know how far I'll go. Oh, dude, I love that song. song made me cry.
    11:57
    How about this one? I might look kind of foolish here, pop culture-wise, but I watched that movie and I was like, ah, that's pretty good. And only after it was over did I realize that the main guy was The Rock. And I was like, wow, The Rock was great. Yeah, I didn't know The Rock was such a singer. I want to hear the sweet song being sung by our little songbirds over at the correspondence desk. Let's see which correspondence submitted this week and what news they have for us. It's time for TPN Industry News.
    12:32
    Hello and welcome to the pinball show's Stern News Update. I'm Craig Bobby. Well, spring has sprung in Chicago, in the heart of the pinball world, and with the changing of the seasons, we see Stern Pinball hard at work with posts on social media showing literally dozens of Avengers premiums being assembled and shipped out to eager customers around the world. Meanwhile, back in the world of Rush, we have a new Rush Scoop Protector installation video that was recently posted on the Stern YouTube channel, starring none other than Rush's lead game designer, John Borg, as the likable Borg rolls up his sleeves to show affected customers how to replace their Scoop Protector and the trough switch, which is part of the whole double scoop assembly. The good news is that the video is extremely thorough and straightforward as Borg takes viewers step by step on how to safely remove the entire scoop and trough assembly in order to fix both of those nagging issues. However, not so fast-stern pinball as Rush owners now seem to be reporting of news of two new issues with our beloved Canadian rock pin. The first is that some owners are reporting premature wear on the blue urethane bumpers that can be seen on the entrance of Rush's time machine ramp after only a few hundred plays. Yikes! Now these are the same ramp bumpers that were also used on Spider-Man in front of Doc Ock, Sandman, and Venom ramps, and owners of that game report that the protectors for those ramps took a beating back then too. And the second issue was noted by fellow TPS correspondent and avid Rush fan Matt Morrison that some Rush owners are reporting issues with their servo ramp circuit as Stern has now released a full-blown replacement kit for those parts that include a new cabinet node board and some other goodies to help these affected customers and get them safely back to having fun in the land of rock. The good news with all this is that Stern has been very good to acknowledge all of these potential problems and has promised that all of these issues will be pre-installed on all new Rush games that are leaving the factory this month and beyond.
    14:56
    And just in breaking news, trending up this week, Zach Manny's age! Yes, listeners, the numbers don't lie and we only report the facts that, in fact, Zach Manny has celebrated his birthday this past week.
    15:13
    So, from all the correspondents at the Pinball Show, we wanted to wish Zach a happy birthday. Despite what rabid fans of the P3 system might be telling you these days, in fact, you are great for the game of pinball and we appreciate all your content that you provide. So from all of us at TPS, happy birthday, Zach, and many more to come. Well, that's all for this week for the Pinball Show. I'm Craig Bobby. Catch you on the flip side.
    15:44
    Hello and welcome to this week's SHIT update on the Pinball Show with Dr. John. I managed to survive my trip to Texas Pinball Festival and had a great time catching up with everyone from the Pinball Network. and a stack of people in the pinball community in general. I managed to visit the Spooky booth and was lucky enough to have my first game on Ultraman with Spooky Luke and Luke number two from Spooky Pinball. People have said the game shoots okay. There's still some work to be done on making clear what has to be done to activate the play fields and complete certain modes. but I found in playing Ultraman with the actual game designer explaining what should be done, it was actually good fun. I think there's a bit of a way to go in making things clearer for the casual player, but as an owner of all previous spooky games, these games need to be played at home for a while to understand the rules, Alice Cooper being another game like that in point. There was a little bit of a buzz because there was a Scooby-Doo blanket sitting behind Charlie in his booth, which started chins wagging on the possible next spooky title. When I pressed Charlie about this, he of course said that I had been bringing this blanket to pinball shows for the past five years for something to sally their dog to lie on, and don't read too much into it. Bit sad, because I think that would be a dream theme for many. Their production of Halloween and Ultraman continues to progress quite well, and I think it'll be another six months at least before we hear about the next title to come out of Spooky. On my return to Australia, I went down to visit Damien in the Haggis HQ factory, just to make sure things are progressing well with their game. I was given the tour, showing all the parts and the playfields and the cabinets and the different areas that we've all seen on the YouTube video. Work was well underway there. Marty Robbins was busy in the print room getting things put together. And it looks like, even though it is slow, as it is for many pinball manufacturers at the moment, there is no doubt those Fathom games will be rolling off the line very soon. I managed to play their pre-production game that they had in the factory and it looks and shoots even better than you would think. Again, they're focusing on getting everything to 100% quality to make sure people are happy with their game when it arrives. Well, that's it from this week and just a little announcement with everything settling in well with Haggis and Spooky, I'll give the SHIT update a bit of a rest for the next foreseeable future and let the other correspondents carry on with the major manufacturers that actually have things to release. You might be hearing from me on a future podcast that I'm planning to get going in the near future. Thanks to Ken Cromwell and Zach and Dennis for allowing me to do the podcast correspondence spots over the past two and a half years, I think it's been, and look forward to catching up with you all at the next pinball show. See you later.
    19:15
    All right, BJ, you heard the fellows over there. They've got some news for us to discuss, but some do, some don't, I guess. And au revoir. What is au revoir? Adios, goodbye. Au revoir. Is that a goodbye form in some native language? France. French. how do you say goodbye in Australia uh goodbye you did it with a twang goodbye piss off that's what I figured it was so Dr. John Dr. John is leaving us what the hell it's like a plague over here at the pinball show first Ken Redberg now Dr. John I love that Dr. John plugs an upcoming podcast that he's starting as he's leaving.
    20:04
    What the hell is that? We love you Dr John Thank you for everything that you done for us over here at the Pinball Show I looking forward to any new podcast or anything that he a part of because he a brilliant funny wonderful pinball ambassador and we were lucky and fortunate to have him as long as we did. I don't know what the hell we're going to talk about with Spooky or Haggis now. Oh, I do know because, again, as Dennis teased last week, there's some new stuff coming. Stay tuned for Episode 100 of the Pinball Show. Such a tease. Let's jump into Stern Pinball. ScoopGate, it's about over for Rush Pinball. Wow. Everybody's scoop's getting banged up. Your beaver's pouch ever get banged up? I don't know. I was immediately going to go to Urban Dictionary to see if everyone's scoop is getting banged up means something else. I just picture, like, a poor beaver right now sitting on top of the dam with its arms crossed. Like, really, bro? Like, come on. Yeah, like, I don't have a pouch. We all know the otters are the whores of the river.
    21:08
    I could tell you some things about river whores, but that's another podcast. Otters. I think they're cute. Stern Pinball has issued and started shipping fix kits for the scoop issues that Rush was having. There's a video online right now of John Borg that you guys, they'll walk you guys through, owners of some of the first Rushes that came out with this issue. He's going to walk you through how to install this scoop fix. And I think there's like a trough switch fix kit as well. So for all of you who have ordered through Flippin' Out Pinball or through another distributor, be on the lookout for those coming very soon. I think installation time is like 30, 45 minutes, something like that. It's very straightforward, just a little time consuming. But Stern Pinball cares, so they're going to get you out what you need. And speaking of Rush Pinball, all future and upcoming runs of Rush are going to have that fix already installed. So no need to email me. And Rush pros and premiums are going to be hitting the line, I think, this week. We're going to start them this week and next week. So have you played Rush yet? I got to play it a few times recently when I was on the mainland. Oh, is that what you call it? Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. No, I mean, yeah, that's what we call it. I mean, look, you should feel proud that we consider that the mainland. When you come to the mainland out here, what state do you go to? Well, there's 49, 48, depending on how you're counting, options. So it's not always the same. I can tell you, without disclosing too much, that this rush playing was done in California. So that can narrow it down to where I was playing. You have a California swan. I'm waiting for you to fucking talk about the 405 or something here. They have some rush pinballs there, and I got to play one a few times. I didn't know what I was doing because there's a lot going on. but I thought it shot pretty well. And I don't recall scoop problems. I don't even know which scoop because there's kind of two, but I'd say that it kind of fell into the side one a lot. It was like a floppy hole that was pretty easy to get the ball in there where you would think maybe, oh, this is going to be a challenge. But it just kind of went in there a lot. So I don't know if that was a particular one, but I found it pretty forgiving. Yeah, they must have my lard up. Very cool. Somebody went to AC Goji. cannot cannot say and actually i just realized i also played in another state but we i already told you enough about my my personal life i think we should move on what were you in minnesota for that's besides the point you ever been to chicago i have okay did you like the city i was only there briefly and i did like it i didn't i didn't get to experience it enough to know how much i liked it i got to visit one or two of those famous pinball locations uh even able to put a few initials in a place that I was surprised since it's a famous pinball place, but maybe they reset the leaderboards every once in a while. But yeah, it seems like a solid place. BJ, what Jersey Jack does is they'll have a daily high score, so you probably got that when the place opened.
    24:13
    It wasn't that. No, I like this. I like the high score flex. I like that. What's your favorite pinball game? I don't have a favorite. I don't like having favorites. What? When I was a kid, I was really obsessed with having a favorite everything, like color or animal or whatever. And I felt it limiting because then I couldn't evolve as a person. One of us. You had to stay true.
    24:37
    No, exactly. And then you can end up collecting all this crap, and then later you realize you don't even want it anymore, but you're like, that's my favorite thing, so I collect it. It was a sickness. Favorites are a sickness. Oh, I have a favorite kid. Not to get all serious on you. Is that Faux Pau? Oh, you'd be the first. I always ask parents when they talk about their kids, I ask which one they like the most, and nobody has actually answered seriously. Well, that's because they're freaking liars. That's all. Exactly. That's what I figure. No, no. I like them all equally. They're all pretty awesome in certain areas and asses and others. Okay, so yeah, even you can't answer this. Even I can't. I can tell you who my favorite wife is.
    25:17
    It's not like I'm Mormon or anything, you know, polygamist. Oh, my. Are we talking about Deep Root again? I know. This is Deep Root. All right, so you've been to Chicago. Your favorite animal is a platypus. Speaking of Chicago, Stern Pinball is in Chicago, so is American Pinball. Have you played a lot of American Pinball titles? Not too many. I would like to. Why is Houdini your favorite?
    25:43
    Because it's got a lot under the hood, and I'm impressed with how they were able to put that thing together in less than a year. No, that is true. Hello. It's Joe Balser, baby. Man, Joe Balser was ripped at TPF. We were having some fun.
    25:59
    Do you mean like muscular or drunk or both? He was drunk. But now that I'm thinking about it, I bet Joe Balser could kick some ass. He's that older type of gentleman that just doesn't give a shit. And he'd go all 12 rounds.
    26:18
    You think maybe he's killed a guy? I'm not here to speculate, but he's a badass, man. I would not want to mess with Pinball. I don't even know what he looks like. I'm worried now to go look up a picture because I might get distracted like the last one you suggested. Careful, my friend. So American Pinball is in the news. So is Nap Arcade. Nap Arcade is killing it right now. Nap Arcade reporting that the next American Pinball release is going to be in October. And it's designed by Dennis Nordman. That's been the widely speculated rumor. his Dennis Nordman game, but we didn't know October, so he sounded pretty confident about it, too. October. Well, we've been waiting to see when the next one's going to come. We had the Valhalla, but we haven't seen anything that you would consider 100% American since Hot Wheels and under the David Fix regime, so it'll be very intriguing to see what comes through. And will it have anything to do with intellectual property that Dennis developed at Deep Root? Question mark? No, I think it's too soon for that. I think he piggybacks off of a license that they probably attained already. I'm guessing like a Sherlock Holmes. That's what I'm guessing. I think it's going to be a property that everybody knows of, kind of like a Houdini or an Oktoberfest. But it's not going to be one that has to be licensed, licensed, no IP attached to it. So I think that's what we're going to get if I had to guess. Would they have to license? I mean, he was working on original IP at Deep Root, and depending upon the status of those licenses, would he need to license if he wanted to do that? Or, question mark, wait, actually, or comma, could he use the design from Deep Root? Who the hell puts commas after ors is what I want to know. Well, I had to put something because I said question mark, and it wasn't question mark. But could he use a design developed at Deep Root, but with then a license or, you know, gaming from American? Sure. You want to know why? I do. Because who in the hell is going to say any otherwise? He could be like, that was a foam board, and I whittled it a little different this time. So it could be Yukon Yeti, but like dressed up like Sherlock Holmes and the little baby Yeti would be Watson? Shmoo-con-shmitty. Maybe. Man, I hope that Yukon Yeti game comes out. That's a good name, too. Zach, I have a question. If it is Sherlock Holmes, what I think would be adorable is if you and Dennis dressed up as Holmes and Watson to do the reveal. Am I Holmes or Watson? You would be Holmes. Okay, that's the correct answer. Yeah, yeah. Well, I think Dennis would agree that Watson's the correct answer for him, too. Who's Batman? Who's Robin, though? Because he does a Nordman. I mean, there's been discussions there. I don't want to get into your personal business, but yeah, I think Nordman has to have a sidekick, not the other way around. Ouch, man. Ouch. I said you were Holmes. Speaking of Dennis, we also heard recently from the Eclectic Gamers podcast that this next AP game, not only is it going to be a Dennis Nordman, but it's going to have at least one ramp.
    29:31
    Oh, my God. Wait, hold on. Where's the record scratch sound effect? You're telling me a Nordman's game is going to have a ramp? Oh, man. Yeah.
    29:42
    Thanks, Dennis. Oh, my God. Appreciate it, man. I'm looking forward to a pinball machine, another one by American Pinball. But Legends of Valhalla are still kind of just trickling out.
    29:54
    I'm trying to think. How many do I? I don't even have half of my order fulfilled yet. And that game came out, what, last freaking September? The trickle is real. The trickle is like a weak stream. It is. Very much so. And have you asked them, you know, what's up? They say, I plead the parts delay. Don't know, but hopefully we get the rest of the 11s of Valhalla. They claim to have multiple lines running over there. So maybe they're going to throw up another one. I don't know. They fixed that there was going to be two this year. And what about the deluxe edition versus the non-deluxe edition? Are there only deluxe editions? Don't know. I think going forward they're trying to do this deluxe standard edition. And speaking of, I don't know if anybody's ever reported on this, BJ, but there's plenty of information. I'm going to pull that up right now. Maybe I did talk about it. I took a month off, so I don't know. I'll summarize it because I can't find the email right now. But basically, American Pinball reached out to the Steelers and said, hey, moving forward as of this day, it was like it gave us a couple weeks or a month or so heads up, but any orders placed before then will be fine. But any orders afterwards are going to stick with that price surcharge for the chips and stuff. Remember about a year ago, hashtag COVID, they raised temporarily, raised the prices. But they said they're sticking to those. And the upcoming, I believe the upcoming runs of things like Houdini and Oktoberfest and stuff, they were actually going to have stuff stripped out of the standard editions. What kind of stuff? Like toys and stuff. Oh. Yeah. So be on the lookout for more information regarding that. The deluxe will be kind of what we're used to now. Interesting. Oh, I see. Okay. So then the prices will not go down for the stripped ones? Do we know what they will cost?
    31:48
    Shit, I should have really had that email. American Pinball, I'll fix this all next week. Yeah, I think it's just the chips raise the prices, they said temporarily, but they're going to stick with those prices going forward. Now this next release could get another price increase Or they could try to keep it Hot Wheels-ish I think Oktoberfest is their most expensive machine to date Is it Legends of Valhalla? I know a lot about Platypi But I can't help you out with these details Now let's move on to Chicago Gaming Company CGC Oh shit, Eclectic Gamers in the news again Alright Dennis EGP is going with the rumor That Pulp Fiction is a future CGC release but Dennis Creasel from AGP added in his rumor roundup that I think that's what he's going with. Are you not rumor tamed? Rumor corner? Whatever the hell it is. He should have went with rumor roundup. He's suggesting that Quentin Tarantino, the director and the creator of the whole Pulp Fiction thing is mandating that the game feature a single level play field. So this is quite opposite from the at least one ramp AP Nordman game. Quentin Tarantino mandated... Yeah, now I understand why OneRamp was such big news. They were talking about Quentin Tarantino being really into the retro and the nostalgia of the older style games. Single level play field. Do you think that works for a Pulp Fiction game? Well, I mean, it depends what you mean by works. Is he also mandating that they don't make or sell many of them? Because that's probably a good way to have that happen. I mean, you know, there's people who will buy whatever, right? These rich people and stuff. But, like, you know, there's a lot of great content you could do for Pulp Fiction. Scott Denise, he's putting his middle finger up at you right now. And you just, you know, you're kind of not giving yourself so much to work with unless there's just all sorts of zany mechs. You didn't like Team Pinball's Mafia? I haven't gotten to play it, so I can't comment. It looked intriguing. You know, I thought it could be a little more expensive. That would have maybe, you know, piqued my interest. But I don't know. I think, you know, I think it's a shame because Pulp Fiction's cool. Also, what's the soundtrack going to be like? That could be, you know, twice as expensive if you want to try to license a bunch of stuff from that. Do you think they get any of the music? If it is Pulp Fiction in the future, do you think they get any of that music? Because I'm with you. That's probably more expensive than Travolta at this point. I think they would have to or people would be disappointed. And like Quentin would probably, you know, if he has these strong feelings about no ramps, he probably also would have feelings about like the music. So I don't know if maybe then he'd want to, you know, be involved in the soundtrack assembling if they're not using the famous songs. But there's just so much music in that movie is tied to so many feelings and scenes and kind of just atmosphere that it would be. I mean, what's the case with Big Lebowski, which I haven't played? Is there licensed music in that? Yeah, they have the Hotel California, like the Spanish version. But I don't know how much. I've only seen that movie once, so I don't know how big a deal music is to that one. But I know music's a big deal to Pulp Fiction. It's got a hell of a soundtrack, so we'll have to wait and see. Where's Dennis coming up with all these rumors? What the hell? And if you guys take what I spoke about last week and you sprinkle it in, you're starting to paint a picture. That's all I'm saying. a single level play field yeah we'll see if it's true and if so we'll see if it works i don't think jersey jack pinball would ever do a single level play field i guess hobbit was close yeah wait did it have that's a great point oh yeah oh sorry it had the it had the it had the ramps like but you got me enough that i had to think about it uh they're in the news this week steve richie He was interviewed on the recent episode of the Pinball News, Pinball Magazine, Pinball Podcast. Did you hear that one? I did. Are you a Richie fan? He seems like a nice guy. I'm not talking about him as a person. I'm talking about his machine. Oh, okay. Yeah, no, I mean, I like Steve Richie games. I'm not kind of a fanboy like a lot of folks are for him. Okay. But, yeah, if you've got games that you can shoot a whole bunch. that's the the the funny part is like i took the trajectory a lot of people did when they you know rediscovered pinball and and then they uh they learned that to get better you had to like slow it down and try to like trap and stuff and so i did that um and it was like two you know one step back to go two steps forward but then that kind of like meant that i wasn't shooting things free flowing all the time because i you know been conditioned to be like anytime you can stop it you should so i think that maybe made it so that i don't you know cream myself over uh the the games that you could just shoot non-stop because it was like no you shouldn't shoot non-stop you're supposed to always try to get control but obviously he's uh he can make some uh some great flowy games yeah richie's richie games are weird because they are super flowy they're typically super fast so it it's almost like and some of the rule sets to his you know very popular games almost want you to keep flipping for combos and whatnot, especially like the thing about Led Zeppelin. But the control on his flippers, the threshold, the range of his flippers, seem like they always go higher than like your George Gomez's with the floppy flippers or anything like that. So control-wise, you can almost cradle and catch a ball a lot easier than Steve Ritchie games I've found. Maybe it's just an illusion like last week's play field illusion was to me. math doesn't matter okay and now it's steve richie that was a cold bag that steve richie was interviewed on pn pn pp he threw some shade at stern pinball come on no steve maybe i'm the steve richie of podcasting are you wait are you saying that there there might have been some kind of like discontent with steve richie and stern he said that he felt like you know some of his games didn't feel complete when he was there ouch he mentioned uh kind of being upset that they didn't get stairway to heaven for his led zeppelin game he also had like this stairway mechanism that was kind of pulled out of his game he wasn't happy about that do you think this is the honeymoon phase though maybe well that's what i wonder because i did hear the interview and uh he's been there some months right and and he was uh he said this is by far the greatest uh company i've ever worked at yeah and uh and i just wonder you know maybe that's the case and maybe it's the honeymoon or you know would he have ever said that you know in happier times at stern or happier times at williams um was he at williams well he wouldn't yeah he wouldn't have said it in 2008 because he talked about getting fired right then he's like i won't discuss that it's like oh shit Yeah, yeah. So anyway, yeah, it does seem like he's over the moon about stuff there, but I just wonder a year from now, will he be similarly over the moon? You were talking about flippers. It'll be interesting to see how he feels about the flippers there. Oh, I cannot wait to feel that game. It'll be very interesting. I'm interested to see what the hell they do with his old game. He said that when he left Stern Pinball, he had them two Whitewoods, one pro, one premium of his next title, and they were essentially complete. So what do you think they do? Do they scrap them, BJ? Do they morph them into something else? Do they set them ablaze and George Gomez pisses on the few? I think George Gomez is too smart a man to do something dangerous like that. But I think if things were pretty close to finished and let's say they're on some timeline for license. Call my homie Gomi a softie? No. He's dangerous. He makes prudent decisions. You put your wee-wee that close to an open flame, you know, you've got to be careful. So I would imagine that if it's like, okay, we better just kind of like stick with this and get this one done, you know, for all the rumors about what, you know, game maybe it would be, then maybe Gomez would finish it up. I'd say if it was just really like just the Whitewoods stage and they hadn't got beyond anything else, then they'll just get rid of it because I think they don't want it. Based on these interviews that are happening you know I don think they want to create the impression that they like just had to use what Steve did And that you know like because they got designers who can make other Whitewoods right They even now had this pause in production So if they were so backed up, I think they'd rather just have people who are there and are going to shepherd it through the entire process, the same creative leader. I completely agree. I think the only way they do it... Okay. Well, thanks. He's like, all right, I'll start talking about it then. Yeah, okay. Have you ever played Guardians of the Galaxy? Sure. What do you think about it? Do you like a border layout?
    40:53
    I don't like the two in lanes on the left that no one else likes. I don't know why anyone would like it because it sucks. I mean, like, if the ball kind of goes into the area where it's heading back to your flipper, you think it should, like, continue going to your flipper rather than do a weird little bounce and you lose your ball. But Guardians is all right. I warmed up to it with the code when they revised it. It definitely sucked when it came out. Yeah, it was a little bare when it came out. Yeah, I think it's all right. Well, the only reason I bring up Guardians of the Galaxy, I was surprised to hear on this interview that Steve Ritchie wanted that license while he was at Stern. Huh. I mean, of all the licenses, I would have never guessed Guardians of the Galaxy. He's like, that's one. He's like, oh, yeah, I like that fucking tree. Like, I just don't. Okay. All right, Steve.
    41:47
    So you think he's a Groot guy, and that's why? Because I agree. I just like, what is it about that that fits the, oh, obviously, Steve Ritchie loves Guardians of the Galaxy. Oh, maybe it was the raccoon, which also doesn't have a pouch. Just before you ask. I've got an inquiry for you. If Steve Ritchie were an animal, would he be a raccoon?
    42:11
    No. Really? No. What would he be? I mean, raccoons, they're wiry. They're dangerous. They look cute. I'll fuck you up. Oh, is he wiry? Hmm. Well, he's unpredictable.
    42:25
    Okay. Yeah, because I was thinking, the thing you've got to understand, you know all these humans in person, right? So you knew that Joe Bolzer could kill a guy or whatever. I've never met any of these people, so I don't know. I was thinking kind of like one of the three bears.
    42:44
    I'm not sure which one. The family of the three bears? Goldilocks? Yeah, yeah. Wow, so like a friendly bear.
    42:53
    Kind of friendly, but also, you know, even the friendliest bear could bite your head off if he became unfriendly. I could see like a grizzly bear, but look, if it makes you feel any better, these people I know, but they may not know me. I've introduced myself probably I've had a first impression with Steve Ritchie 12 times now oh okay every time I have to reintroduce myself hey how's it going my name is Zach Manning oh hey nice to meet you Zach we met 3 months ago don't feel bad I just meant that you kind of know what they physically are like so then you can figure out what animal they would be oddly enough Steve always remembers my wife Nicole so he's i guess he's good with like i don't know if it's her facial feature i don't know what it is but yeah let's go with that it's nicole what about john borg what would john borg be see again i think i'd rather hear what you think because i don't i have you not seen john borg bmx karaoke i don't even know what that means so i don't think so i'm gonna look up john borg right now yeah follow him on Facebook. He does karaoke. He plays guitar. You know who I think John Borg, if he were an animal, I think he would be a canine of some sort. Yeah, I could see that. I don't know much about dog breeds. A tamed wolf. I could see. Maybe he does have an angular face, like a good snout for sniffing. Yeah, scruffy. You know, kind of scruffy. I'm sorry, BJ. Jay, I have you on this show, and then I talk about this. People are rolling their eyes. Let's move on with the program here. All right, so Steve Ritchie throwing shade at Stern. Surprise, surprise. He loves JJP. Of course he does. What else is he going to say? Oh, when asked about his game at JJP, he said, hey, he's designed his first white wood, and it's being assembled right now.
    44:53
    Speculation suggests that the order of game releases over at JJP is going to be Lull or Next. That's the rumor. The rumor is Toy Story. Then Eric Menier's third lead designed game. That's what I'm speculating. The rumor is Godfather. Then we would see Steve Ritchie's first crack at the Jersey Jack pinball title. So when would that be? So I'm thinking 2024.
    45:19
    Yeah, end of 2024 is what I guess. Unless they can really get a couple games online every year. but you don't have to wait too long for the new Multimorphic P3 game that was recently announced.
    45:32
    Right, Weird Al? Have you played Weird Al? No, I have not. I haven't actually played any Multimorphic game ever, but I would like to. You're stuck on the motherland for the last year or so? The motherland, yeah. No, I mean, yeah, exactly. Like, if somebody can get one out here, that would be fantastic. I think it's really cool that there's a company, a stone's throw from Deep Root that actually put together real innovation, started a company, actually made machines, all of the things that didn't happen there.
    46:06
    The kind of the guy who did it the right way and now is having more sales success, which I think is cool. But, yeah, I've never gotten to play one because I am very curious to see how I'd feel about it, the screen, the flippers, and the mechanical aspects that are kind of more limited. In the news this week, Multimorphic owner Jerry Stellenberg decided to come into the TPM Pinside thread. That's very nice of him to call me crazy and that I had an agenda instead of just admitting that his public podcast statements were merely exaggerations and just not true. Thanks, Jer. No, I uploaded some overlays showing the number of mechs below that scoop wall line. I did that. But, you know, our society nowadays, evidence, CNN, it's not really that important. It's feelings. Feelings are what count in a debate, right? Well, I saw that thread, and I thought you both had interesting perspectives. Okay. It seemed that perhaps he had exaggerated a bit in speaking about how the issue at hand was about how many games have mechanical features below the line of the P3. Nearly all games.
    47:29
    Right, right, right. And then it also sounded that you didn't think the way that you engage with him and his company has anything to do other than this technical debate, not any kind of like history based on your relationship or history. Is that right? Yeah, that's what that's what the alleged situation was. But the good thing was that out of that came some good discussion points. and I like the fact that we found out, and I think they've reported it before, but I kind of just forgot that there are an extra two inches, extra two inches in the back of that module that we don't get on typical games. At least that's what I'm told. So that's pretty cool. All right, extra long game. I like it. Yeah, a little bonus space to play with there, especially if you can't play with the entire play field for doing mechs. Look, you tell me that I get an extra two inches and I'll take it. Who's going to turn that down? Nobody's going to turn down an extra two inches. Come on. So now I appreciate Jerry being a good sport and having discussion with us about the thing that we love the most, which is pinball.
    48:38
    And doing so the way you did is fine by me. It's always fun. All right. I'm glad everything is hashed out and great between the two of you now. Now, next time I'm around a P3 and fucking pulling out my tape measure, I can guarantee you that.
    48:51
    Now, who knows? I might own a P3 in the future again. If they get the Goonies license, my ass got a P3. If they get Back to the Future, my ass got a P3. I've got a whole list of dream things. If JerBear knocks one of those out, my ass is going to buy it. Oh, so you think he'd be a bear as well? No, just anybody whose name rhymes with, like, a Gary or Jerry or Larry. It's a LairBear, CareBear. Like, Carey, Hardy, CareBear. CareBear, yeah. What would Jerry be? No, well, see, again, let me get in my Google search here. and by the way I still don't think you said what animal you thought Steve Ritchie would be and by the way Jerry would be a turtle you said it I'm going to go with Steve Ritchie and you agree with the turtle this was just my instant take I'm going to pull a Robert Miller and plead the fear turtles are great look I don't want to find a way to get in any more fights The sexiest damn turtle ever. And smart. Have you seen the brains of this turtle? It's fucking banana. The tortoise won the race over the hare, remember?
    50:05
    Maybe I'm a hare. Now I've got to look at a picture of you. That's right. I really hope that at this point, you have no clue what I look like? That sucks. No, I know what, look, how could I not, you know? By the way, do you want to hear a true funny story about what you look like? Absolutely, I do. okay so john stamos my sister well it wasn't it wasn't that specific but i but i uh we we were out in uh my my sister was visiting like john leguizamo and we were we had a lot of driving time you know we're going to see the sites okay and so and i was like oh do you want to because i was like i wonder what a normie would think listening to a pinball podcast right there's just that like that they're even more than one right that you know there's 5 000 or however many there are And so she was like into it. And so I put on an episode of the show. And then, you know, she was listening. And then she was like, she went to see what these guys look like. It was you and it was a Greg Bone episode, right? So she's like, what's their name? So I said it. And she Googled it. And then she was like, wow, they are actually pretty good looking. Normal looking. Yeah, no, that's what she was shocked. Middle-aged white people who would talk about pinball aren't, you know, like Quasimodo or, you know, some kind of like sewer troll. And so the only kind of fun story I have about your appearance, Zach, is that my sister was surprised at how not, I guess, gross you and Greg looked. So congratulations. I will take it. Usually whenever I'm compared to a Greg bone, I don't like the results. So, you know. Well, she did make a comment, a more specific comment when looking at it. But I was talking about the totality of the two of you. You know what? I could see him as a cougar, like a black panther. I could see him as that because they are fast as shit, they are sleek, and they'll bite you. Oh, they will bite you. What would you be?
    52:04
    What's your spirit animal? What animal has a blue afro wig and looks like a human blueberry? You're the blue dodo.
    52:16
    Yeah. The blue-footed boobie. Or the blue-footed boobie, exactly. Which I have seen in person and have seen them do their special dance. I thought that they were extinct. No, that's the dodo. The blue-footed boobie, you can go to the Galapagos Islands and see them. Who the hell goes to the Galapagos Islands?
    52:37
    This guy. Dude, you've been to the Galapagos Islands? Hell yeah. Seven-day trip. Oh, I was going to say, shit, you've lived there. Yeah, I know, yeah. No, I didn't live. No, no. You can't live there unless you're a research scientist. For real? Yeah, but you can go down there, take the family, get on a little boat, cruise around. You can see giant sea lions that, because they've never had humans terrorize them, you can just walk right up to them. Don't touch them. Okay. You can see the blue-footed boobies do their blue-footed booby dance. What kind of ritualistic dance do they do? Oh, you haven't seen it? No, the boob dance? No, with their little feet that they kind of like they leaned side to side and lift one leg to the right, put it down, lift one to the left. It's really cute. I'm going to look up blue boob dance tonight. We'll see what comes up. Oh, God.
    53:32
    There is so much special kind of animal talk on this. This is almost like David Attenborough. Well, look, man, you're from Hawaii. I feel like there's all kinds of nature out in Hawaii. You know what? Hawaii. There is. Hawaii is the most beautiful place that I've ever been in my entire life. Now, granted, I haven't been many places at all, but it really beats up on Indiana.
    53:58
    Yeah, no, it's fantastic. I think anybody who hasn't been, check it out if you can, because then you might go, oh, I'm glad I did this earlier in life, so now I have more chances to come back. Nicole, if you're listening out there, I was going to embarrass you so bad. I'm not going to. I hope you're listening, sweetie. We had a good time. We had our honeymoon in Kauai. You just got to say it like that, I guess. The garden aisle. Kauai. Yeah, and it was the most beautiful thing ever. It was a spectacle, man. Everywhere I turned, it was just fresh. Everything was fresh. Weird-ass chickens running around everywhere. Oh, yeah. It sounds like a good reason to open up shop in Hawaii. Oh, please do. Because, no, that is, within the entire state, by far the place with the most on-location pins has either five or six. Could I sell some pins in Hawaii? Nobody's going to play pinball. I reached out to you for my Godzilla, but the price I got from someone else was so much better, you said to take it. Oh, Jesus. Did I really tell you to take it? Oh, yeah. Dude, I'm a swell guy. You are. But who was breaking the rules? Go ahead and say it publicly here.
    55:07
    No, I mean, if I say it, I don't think they were breaking the rule. I don't know what the rules are, but... How much did you get it for? I'll tell you. I'll edit all this. Yeah, yeah. Oh, so I got... Here's... This is ridiculous, right? So I got one of the first runs of Pros. Like, it was at my place within a couple weeks of release. Somebody didn't know how to sell Playmore machines, but okay, go ahead. It was supposed to be for operators, right? And it was 6,200.
    55:32
    Okay, yeah. Don't say their name publicly. Okay. Yes. It was fantastic. It works. I mean, mostly. Oh, my God. That's a good deal, huh?
    55:43
    Yes, that's a good deal. That's a distribution agreement breaking deal. Oh, I didn't realize that. That's such a good deal.
    55:56
    All right, BJ, you've been an awesome guest. But before we leave, we have to go over the majority of Pinball Podcast listeners' favorite segment, not only of all the podcasts currently on air, but of all time, I think. What is your feeling about the little segment people now refer to as PMT?
    56:17
    I always, and this is true, if I can tell it's coming, so if you really want to get people, like, don't make it obvious, I turn my volume down. I don't like loud sounds. and it's always loud during PITMOM MARKET TRENDS how about that oh no no look it's a look I got I have goosebumps I'm looking at my arms like you can't not feel that when that happens goosebumps and a migraine thank you very much so uh so you listen to it so you're not like Dennis still claims that when he doesn't do the show with me he doesn't listen I turn it off at that point what a stick in the mud right dennis i turned into dr phil there what animal would you be dinted well i wonder what animal dennis criso would be that's a good one and i have no idea what the man looks like but i don't need to it would definitely be cute yeah it has to be cute but it'd be really clever and sly. Small mammal. Maybe like a naked mole rat. Oh.
    57:38
    I was thinking a squirrel, but okay. How about a capybara? Oh. Wearing glasses. Is that like a red panda? No, you know a capybara? It's the world's largest rodent. Oh, poor No, no, but they're super cute. They're super cute. Is it more cute than a ferret? Yes. Roll.
    58:02
    Okay. But ferrets are cute too. Here, I'm going to... I thought the capybara was the thing that was down in Mexico and was only a myth. No, I think you're thinking of a chupacabra. Oh, chupacabra. Do you guys have those down in Hawaii? Here, hold on one second.
    58:16
    We don't have any chupacabras. I'm going to... Coconuts and chupacabra. Real quick, I'm going to send you this picture because, by the way, these capybara... Oh, my goodness gracious. This is the first result when you search. This better not be a blueberry dick pic. It's not.
    58:31
    Take a pic. You seriously sent me a link to Britannica. I love it. Look how cute. Well, that's the first Google image research. That's adorable. No, that thing is not. Eh, it is cute. You would want to snuggle with them for Dan. That's a whole family of them. I'm a touchy-feely kind of person. Well, how about, is that like Dennis? What did he pick? No. God, no. Oh, okay. He is not touchy-feely. Because I don't know the man. What animal would it be? I think it'd be a fucking fox.
    59:00
    Ooh. He should answer on the next edition of the Pinball Show. I want it to be the fox, though. He may be in the bird species of some type. That's a good point. That's a really good point. The owl is low-hanging fruit. That's too easy. Right, yeah, yeah. A stork?
    59:20
    No, storks don't seem snarky. What bird seems like a snarky son of a bitch? Geese can have a lot of personality. But they're kind of more... You might be more of a goose.
    59:34
    Geese are a pain in the ass. I met a really nice goose pretty recently. I still don't know why people run from geese. I hope a goose... Because they can be huge and aggressive. No. Screw a goose, dude. I've hugged a goose before. I will never run from a goose. Oh. I was chased by a pack of large geese one time when I was trying to feed cute little ducks. And, yeah, I could beat up a goose, obviously, but I didn't want to have to. And I didn't know what else to do when these, like, giant birds were chasing me. Every time a goose looks at me like that, I'm like, fucking try me. Please. Please try me. Somebody get out their phone. Dude, this was a crew of giant geese. This wasn't one goose. I'll have to go viral on you, goosey. So you like pinball market trends. I don't know what animal Dennis would be. And I'm going to get so many emails about this episode because of the tangents. Fuck. Turning up this week is the elite Pirates of the Caribbean pinball topper Oh didn hit it in the news section You thought whew oh shit he not going to talk about it Guess again bitches It training up big time because this elite topper sold 100 units in not a day, in not a fortnight, but two hours. Two hours. Yeah, you thought that Indiana Jones topper was sweet. Training up as the elite pinball Pirates of the Caribbean topper. And I know a lot of you guys out there, I've read the thread. I'm a piece of shit. This thing's a piece of shit. It's ugly. I don't like the waves. You know what?
    61:13
    That's typical haters. They probably, half of them, want the damn thing. They just weren't fast enough. I don't like the fact that Jordan, he sold the damn thing without showing it. I can only do so much consultation. But what he did worked. So the training down is my idea that it wouldn't. And damn, I love it. 100 units in two hours. I'd say it's a pretty damn good day. What do you say, BJ? Absolutely. It reminds me of these cryptocurrency releases. You can build a lot of hype and you can sell out quick. I can sense your end of the ad, huh? If you pump, then be careful when everyone dumps. Oh, yeah. Like the fun guy? The tokens?
    61:58
    No, thank you. No, I think it's a scourge on humanity and the world. Also trending up this week, hell, we'll get to it. It's Jersey Jack, pinballs, Pirates of the Caribbean itself. Have you guys checked out the prices on LEs? They dipped there for a little bit, but numbers don't lie, and I certainly only report the facts. These things are still over $20,000 on the secondary market. Have you played the POTC? A few times, I have. Your thoughts? I think I'd have to play it far more than a few times to really get what's going on. I'm kind of the person who wants to know all the rules so I can try to do the things. Exactly. And it's like, forget that. Unless you have constant access to this thing, you're just going to feel left wanting, I think. Keith Johnson's ears just perked up. Wait a minute. Someone wants to hear about every single rule of this game? Please. Calm down, Kiefer. Calm down. The mystery 23rd character, please. Calm down. There should be a cheat code. where you and you get the other characters. That's a good idea. You hearing that, Kiefer? That's what we call moments. Come on, take notes. Damn it, I hate that Zach Minney. He's such a pain in the ass. He doesn't understand pinball. He's a casual. Also, training up this week, I'm in a good mood. I'm festive. I'm going to trend up something else. It's a creature from the Black Lagoon. Greet you, baby. Man, I remember back in the day, Fix Days, you could get a creature for like $4,000.
    63:23
    $5,000 if it was nice, right? It still had the hologram in it. Didn't care if it was green or blue or... It didn't matter. Now, Creature from the Black Lagoon is an $8,000 pin.
    63:35
    That's not a beater at $8,000, but that's just a normal, run-of-the-mill, clean-looking creature. $8,000 for a creature? Man, if you want a nice, upgraded example of a creature, you're over $10,000.
    63:48
    This is nuts. Don't even have a three-ball multi-ball. Designed by... Right. Well, I did have a question. I had a market-related question about Creature. Oh, okay. Go ahead. The hologram. I don't know because I don't actually pay attention to the visuals on pinball. I don't know if I've played one. I played with my eyes closed. Sorry if you're blind. No, no. I feel like it's great because it saves me a lot of money because these people who want to mod out their games, I don't even notice the art. I just like how it shoots and the rules. So I don't know if I've played a game that has the working hologram or not, but since it sounds like most don't, how much does a mint original working hologram change the price on a creature? That is actually a really good question. I'm going to go back and say that for most creatures, most creatures have it in there. They do have the hologram. It's just over time, that green kind of fades into an aqua, fades into a blue, and man, it really depreciates the value of a used creature. based on that color alone. That color alone can swing a sale, I would say, well over $1,000. Wow. Yeah. You give me a green Creech, and I'm a happy man. You give me a blue one, and I'm looking for a Mike D mod, or I'm looking for a replacement LCD screen. It doesn't matter, but it's just, if you want it to be a really nice Creech, your Creech can't be blue. I'm sorry. It just can't be. Hey, hey, hey now.
    65:24
    You got something against blue. Yeah, you're the only way that that works. I shit you not, Blueberry Johnson just hung up.
    65:37
    Of all the shit to be offended about, he hangs up because of Blue Joke. Oh, yeah, of course. Now he's calling back.
    65:45
    Hello? This is Lime Vagina. I don't know what happened. Since you're back, I'll put you in better spirits by trending something down. Trending down this week is we'll stick with Jersey Jack. We're going to go with Dialed In. Poor Dialed In. Man, such a great shooting game. Rules are phenomenal. Innovation is great. Trim levels, really good. I like the powder coat and everything. It's got a camera in it. What went wrong? Why is Dialed In now in the 8,000s for an LE? Secondary market. Think about it. I mean, listener, Dialed In is the least valued Jersey Jack pinball title ever. Do you think it's a coincidence that it's the only one that's not licensed? And it's why Jersey Jack pinball would be very, very smart never to try that again. Because you had the likes of one of the greatest designs. Wonderful rule set. Everybody loved it. But you had one thing. Speaking of blue, them damn blue mom jeans. People really get hung up on that, don't they? They do. It's the lowest value JJP, and that's by a bit, too. You guys used to make fun of my Hobbit that I love so dearly. And guess what? Hobbits are nine $10,000 pins now. So there. Hello. Also trending down this week is, speaking of animals, Spider-Man. No way home.
    67:08
    Have you seen this garbage of a movie? I have not. Save your $5. And people are getting mad right now. What do you mean, Spider-Man? No way home. Look, is it pinball related? No. But I'm sure as hell glad they're not going to make another pinball machine around Spider-Man because I'm so put off by this last rendition of the film. Horribly done. Horribly done. You mean to tell me that Spider-Man No Way Home is a good movie with the worst premise of... And this is a superhero movie. Everything's supposed to be possible, right? It's the Marvel Universe. But whenever Doctor Strange comes in, it's like, yeah i'm incredibly intelligent incredibly all-powerful but i'm just gonna willy-nilly let you change all of the universes and no no no the whole premise is off it's dumb they shit on andrew garfield for some reason why is andrew garfield the shitty spider-man of all the thing like toby mcguire comes in as fucking mr sage here uh right and then you get the this young punk and you know what the damn name is mr uncharted he's like the sexy young one poor Andrew Garfield had to read lines that were poking fun at him being the least, you know, accepted Spider-Man. I will not have it. I'm not going to have it. Now, the Andrew Garfield renditions weren't the best, but No Way Home, more like No Way Homes. Nice. Oh, I didn't do it. Did I do it last week? I don't know. If you guys want to save a buck or two, listen carefully, because we've got your deal of the week. Bye, bye, bye. Deal of the week this week can be found on Pennside, the Johnson's favorite place to go. Is it your home? Away from home? It's the only place that the Johnson goes. Well, I guess Twitch as well, but those are the only two places. I feel like Pennside's are cheers.
    68:59
    You want a beer? You can see. The trebles are all the same, aren't they? You want to go? Oh, boy, howdy.
    69:09
    Yeah. When I walk in, they all yell, chill. All right. Your deal of the week this week is a Black Knight Sword of Rage Pro that you can find right outside of Mississippi. Right outside of Corinth. SS Dobbins on Pennside has got a hell of a deal here. Super nice pro model Black Knight Sword of Rage. Objectively the best version, I might add. They've got mods. They've got upgrades. Side art. Premium speaker lights. Plastic shooter lane protector. Subway. Subwoofer connection wire. And others pictured. This is a damn clean game, y'all. Look at that shooter lane. I'd fucking lick that shooter lane. I guarantee you I would lick that shooter lane. It's a clean one. Mmm. I don't know if you're my lard up, but I'll lick it bare, baby. That thing is only $6,000 oboe. Buy, buy, buy! If this was firm, it'd be a good price. You're going to talk this guy down a couple... Don't talk this guy down a couple more hundred dollars. Don't be an asshole. Don't do it. Give him $6,000. You know what I would do? I would go in and say... What? I really want this pin. Your price is fair. I'd like to give you $6,200. Hold it for me. I'll come get it. That's how I roll. I think that would put a big smile on his face if you did that. And as long as you get to lick the shooter, Lane. I would lick it. I don't want to. Buy, buy, buy!
    70:25
    Oh, I don't have a deal of the what the hell. That's this whole episode. That was your pinball market trends. Blueberry edition.
    70:35
    Hold up, guys. I can't close it down with screaming yet. Pinball bounty. Radical. Buy me a radical. And as always, I'm just here to report the facts because numbers don't lie on PMT.
    70:49
    I got to tell you, BJ, I had a blast. Man, if this is a first date, I'd call you tomorrow. I'm not going to lie. You were so sweet. No, I had a great time, too. This was really fun. And I think it was both fun and educational.
    71:09
    I suppose so. Now, if people want to reach you, BJ, you're pretty anonymous. You're hard to find. You know you live in Hawaii. Right. And you like blueberries. Other than that. I sure do. I don't know how to catch you. Do you really have blue hair? Yeah. You've seen the pictures. You do like old ladies, don't you? They have blue hair, too.
    71:32
    I don't know if anyone needs to reach me. Not everyone wants to be reached. But I guess if there is some important business to handle, folks can email me at my brand spanking new email address. Dr. D.R. Blueberry Johnson. Wait, what?
    71:51
    D.R. Blueberry Johnson at gmail.com. Is that right? Exactly. Dr. Blueberry Johnson. Because Blueberry Johnson at gmail.com was already taken. Sons of bitches. You have to see how much they throw it to you for. Somebody's sitting on it.
    72:06
    It's Robert Mueller. I'll show that son of a bitch. Oh, I'm Zach, and you can catch me at the pinballnetwork at gmail.com. And be a friend, be a pal. Go right now, follow TPN, follow the pinball network. Remember, all you've got to do, you can win some shit. All you've got to do is be following us on two different social mediums. And then, is that the correct nomenclature? I don't know. But follow us on two things so that you can play in the TPN Babies Contest. Oh, it's a little baby. It's a precious little baby. Do you like babies, Blueberry Johnson?
    72:42
    I'm not anti-baby. Really not a strong baby? You like the kids programming? Toddler? You like the, what's the terrible twos? Terrible twos. Like the teenagers? Terrific threes. Oh, I love them. I love the little babies. And they always smell good, too. Oh, my. Do they not? I don't know. What? Have you never been around a baby? I don't go around smelling them. I guess I should. The older I get, man, I just... I hope my wife's not hearing this. We don't need to adopt. I don't need another kid. You just want to smell some babies. They're just so sweet. They're so damn precious. I just want to bite them.
    73:23
    I'm not going to bite your baby, people. I don't even want to bring up the sponsor now. Let's go with the video series straight down the middle first so we can cleanse our palate there. check out our newest videos of like the elite pinball topper or a Guns N' Roses review. How about that? I'm subscribed. Nicely done. Are you team Greg then or team Zach?
    73:46
    I didn't know we had to pick sides. I could never do that. We do now. It's fucking great calling you for a podcast. I mean, come on, shit. Does he have one? And if you guys are going to buy a pinball machine and you hopefully don't buy from the person breaking the rules and sending them all the way to Hawaii cheap, buy from Flippin' Out Pinball. product showcase this week is an avengers premium i've got an extra spot actually i have two i believe yeah just got them in fresh new ready to go with free shipping on all brand new sterns so come on come on get you an avengers premium i think i even have a pro too also i have mandalorian pro and premium i believe still in stock guns and roses le in stock we'll combine it there. You can get you some Artblades, Topper, Banner. We've got it all. We're still waiting for Insider Connected Premium LE Kits, but surprise, surprise, I do have Pro Kits now in stock. If you guys want to pre-order a game, go ahead and do it through my email. Zach, Z-A-C-H at flip, the letter in out, pinball.com, because here's the deal. If you go to our website, they're going to want some money. The website wants money, but if you just email me or text me at 812-457-9711. Just tell me you want that game. And there's most of the games we don't even take a deposit for. Does your dealer do that, Bloomer?
    75:07
    So messages, don't answer that because it's probably no. There was no deposit. Are you shipping to Hawaii too? No, message us through that. I'll put you down. No deposit required. Not a dollar out of your pocket until that game's ready to ship. That's the flipping out way. Accessories, accessories. We've got a short load of accessories. I do still have Deadpool armor. I've got Deadpool art blades. I've got the whole Deadpool gamut. I also have a Monsters Pro pre-owned right now, a Game of Thrones LE pre-owned right now, a Stranger Things Premium new in the box still. Don't shoot me, people. I've got a Led Zeppelin Premium that's pre-owned, damn near new. I've got a Turtles LE and Premium pre-owned, a Star Wars LE pre-owned, Star Wars Premium Comic pre-owned. I've got Elvira 40th Anniversaries. what you got on me. A Corvette pre-owned. One of the most underrated Valley Williams pinball machines. Get it now. Maverick pre-owned. That game sucks. But if you want one, I'll sell it to you. Shanker Motors, Banners, Elite Pinball IJ Deluxe Topper. Two left. And you'll be waiting a while for an Escalera. And stop being a tight ass, people. Buy some merchandise. FlippinOutPinball.com. Buy a limited edition Creasel Clone tee. Or buy yourself a pinball show tee. Or a hoodie. or a phone or a pillow. I don't give a shit. Last week at TPN, we had the final round pinball podcast with guest host Ryan C. Speaking of Australians, I kind of pissed him off there a little bit with my multimodal fatigue a couple weeks ago. Is that all right? No, I was just going to say, I love me some Ryan C. Ryan C is the Australian version of Greg Bone. Sickening. With the nice thick hair and all that bullshit.
    76:48
    Oh, I don't know what he looks like. I just loved head to head. Fucking stud. Looks good. eats bananas on mountains. He's sexy. He does. Now I've got to look up another guy. Ryan sees the too-cool-for-pinball guy. TPN this week. Remember, TPN Babies Contest. We also have the Thunder Down Under the Bunker. The Battle of the Bunker. That's coming up in May. Keep your eyes peeled for that. A lot of cool streams. Check out George at Don't Panic Flip. He's on fire. Mystery Pinball Theater 3000 is hitting it hot and heavy. I was watching Jedi make muffin the other night. He had a cool group stream with, what were they playing? They playing Deadpool? Might have been playing Deadpool. That was a lot of fun. So check out all the TPN members as well as I think we have a final round pinball podcast coming up this week and maybe a Silver Ball Chronicles. Is it too early? I don't know. Like, follow, subscribe. And for Blueberry Johnson, I'm always going to be your lemon meringue. I'm Zach Manning. I have a decade of experience in children's television. I'm a tireless worker. Kids love me. And to top it all off, I look like a fucking blueberry.
    78:01
    And always practice safe pinball. And I've got a blueberry for a daughter. See you guys next week. Every turn I take, every trail I track, every path I make, every road leads back to the place I know where I cannot go, where I long to be. I know if it like hits noon and I don't have it out Fucking my email box Hey what are you doing? You gonna have it out? Look I do some refreshing I'll be honest because It's like I can listen to some of this before work If it comes out on time for god sakes Yep yep Dennis always gives me a hard time He's like oh let me guess Fucking evening drop again Oh Dennis I don't know him but I know him And I love him Oh, get this, listener. Jeez Louise did... Let's see. Fucking Jeez Louise. Welcome back, Cotter. Let's see. I'm going to go with Jeez Louise. I kind of like that. Oh, yeah. Good golly, Miss Molly. I love this. As we were talking, my phone just binged and I looked at it. And it was a YouTube comment from one of our newest videos on Straight Down the Middle. We did that unboxing of that Pirates pinball topper, right? This is my life right here, man. This is from a Wes. Zach, Greg, please stop hyping this shit. This topper feels opportunistic at best and abusive at worst. People locked into this either have a lifestyle where this isn't expensive, or if it is expensive, then this company, among others, are feeding off the excitement and dedication of a very small base of fans and only helping to make abusive products and price scales like this the norm and not an outlier? In no way does this have a value of $2,500 artistically, mechanically, or arguably enjoyment-wise. This company seemingly ups their ante with each new topper. The Hobbit one was exceedingly dull and redundant, exploiting fans while providing a product that is routinely unimaginative and void of practical value, even for something mounted on top of a pinball machine, no less. I love pinball of all ages and brands, but products like this only serve to make owning these games more of a dream for normal-waged people than a reality. I'm almost done. Stop, all caps, endorsing these products. And if you, all caps, do spotlight them, please do so with an ounce of credibility, less hyperbolic tones, and some actual criticism. Do better, guys. Please.