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Episode 264 – Lustrous Renaissance

Slam Tilt Podcast·podcast_episode·2h 16m·analyzed·Feb 13, 2026
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.036

TL;DR

DPX implodes as Melvin exits; CPR downsizes amid tariff pressure and demand collapse.

Summary

The Slam Tilt Podcast (episode 264) covers two major pinball industry stories: the collapse of DPX (Dutch Pinball Exclusive) after Melvin Williams stepped away due to new investors and organizational restructuring, leaving Alice in Wonderland orders and future projects in limbo; and the downsizing of Classic Playfield Reproductions (CPR) due to tariff impacts and declining demand, forcing a move to smaller operations. The hosts discuss community concerns about Back to the Future licensing, the curse of Papa Duke's involvement in pinball ventures, and broader industry consolidation.

Key Claims

  • Melvin Williams stepped away from DPX effective immediately due to new organizational structure and new investor vision at Dutch Pinball

    high confidence · Direct quote from Melvin's announcement posted on Pinside by Ron Halle during podcast discussion

  • Alice in Wonderland customers who did not receive games by end of 2025 have until January to request refunds

    high confidence · NAP Arcade/Coin Taker distributor statement read on air; confirmed by all three U.S. distributors in Pinside thread

  • Dutch Pinball has brought two new investors on board to strengthen the company financially

    high confidence · Barry Driessen (Dutch Pinball owner) message to distributors, reported during episode

  • Back to the Future pinball is still in development despite DPX separation

    medium confidence · Ron/Bruce interpretation of Barry's statement about focusing on 'original titles' - language/translation ambiguity acknowledged; NAP reported it's still in works

  • CPR (Classic Playfield Reproductions) is downsizing and moving to smaller facilities due to tariff impacts and low demand

    high confidence · Pinball News article cited; tariff costs made playfields unaffordable ($1,200-$1,500 total landed cost on $900 base)

  • Mike Purcell (CPR co-founder) is retiring; Kevin Waite continues the company in scaled-back form

    high confidence · Pinball News article and Kevin Waite interview cited directly

  • CPR's fire sale on February 1st resulted in ~80% inventory sold, mostly Stern playfields moving fastest

    high confidence · Ron reporting on CPR's advertised fire sale event and subsequent inventory movement

  • Papa Duke's involvement in companies has consistently led to failure (Williams, American Pinball, Deep Root, now DPX)

    medium confidence · Hosts' running commentary/opinion about curse; cited World Cup Soccer era at Williams, Papa Duke's departure from AP before game release, DPX/Alice in Wonderland troubles

Notable Quotes

  • “everything that Papa Duke touches, is the company dumps... Put Papa Duke in your company, eventually it fails.”

    Ron Halle / Bruce Nightingale @ ~10:00 — Establishes the 'Papa Duke curse' narrative that frames the DPX collapse within a pattern of industry failures

  • “American Pinball was the smartest ever that they cut ties as soon as possible. They cut the cancer out before.”

    Bruce Nightingale / Robert Byers @ ~10:30 — References American Pinball's decision to cut Papa Duke/DPX before production; positions it as industry-leading risk management

  • “It is with a heavy heart that I have to announce that, effective as of today, I, Melvin Brower-Williams, will be stepping away from DPX, Dutch Pinball Exclusive.”

    Melvin Williams (read by Ron Halle) @ ~12:00 — Official announcement of DPX shutdown; primary source for the collapse story

  • “I'm taking my toys and running away.”

    Ron Halle (commentary on Melvin's announcement) @ ~12:30 — Skeptical interpretation of whether Melvin left voluntarily or was pushed out by investors

  • “We have a company that has had issues manufacturing, had issues with their manufacturer, lied to customers, then took orders for new customers, and the old customers haven't been whole.”

    Ron Halle @ ~35:00 — Summarizes the cumulative trust issues and operational failures at Dutch Pinball that set context for DPX collapse

  • “The curse is alive, baby.”

    Bruce Nightingale @ ~37:00 — Reinforces Papa Duke curse narrative in DPX failure context

  • “It took 10 years to get through all that. They managed to get through it without declaring bankruptcy.”

    Ron Halle @ ~38:00 — Historical reference to how long Alice in Wonderland/DPX troubles have dragged on; indicates slow-motion failure

  • “What killed them, and I think this is what all happened, the tariffs. The tariffs really hurt them.”

Entities

DPX (Dutch Pinball Exclusive)product/brandMelvin WilliamspersonDutch PinballcompanyBarry DriessenpersonAlice in WonderlandgameBack to the Futuregame

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Customer confidence crisis at Dutch Pinball: 10-year delays, changing timelines, refund deadlines, broken promises to early-order customers; perception that new investors signal financial trouble rather than management improvement

    high · Hosts' cumulative criticism of Dutch manufacturing/communication history; concern about whether refunds will actually process; skepticism about investor motives (bringing in money because 'we need the money')

  • ?

    business_signal: CPR scaling down from major reproduction operation to small-run business; moving facilities; Mike Purcell retiring; silkscreen expertise becoming scarce in market as shift to direct print accelerates

    high · Pinball News article; CPR fire sale; Kevin Waite's reluctance about inkjet transition; limited remaining silkscreen players (Germany-based shop, Mirko, Cincinnati colorblind operator)

  • ?

    business_signal: DPX shutdown after investor restructuring; Melvin Williams departing; Alice in Wonderland orders still unfulfilled; new investors pushing company in different strategic direction

    high · Official announcement from Melvin Williams via Pinside; Barry Driessen confirming new investors and company refocus; distributor confirmations in Pinside thread

  • ?

    event_signal: Pinball at the Beach tournament (2nd year) successfully ran with early/late group format; brought together competitive players and industry figures; organized by Colin McAlpine

    high · Tournament details provided; Shedden Stafford victory announced; Robert Byers provided tournament format and game selection details; Ron attended and provided weather/experience commentary

  • ~

Topics

DPX collapse and investor restructuring at Dutch PinballprimaryAlice in Wonderland delayed production and refund processprimaryPapa Duke curse narrative (pattern of company failures)primaryBack to the Future licensing status and development uncertaintyprimaryCPR downsizing due to tariff impact and demand collapseprimaryPlayfield reproduction manufacturing economics (silkscreen vs. direct print)secondaryPinball at the Beach tournament format and event coveragesecondaryTariff impact on boutique pinball manufacturerssecondary

Sentiment

negative(-0.75)— Hosts express frustration with repeated industry failures, skepticism about customer protections, and concern about consolidation. DPX collapse framed as inevitable continuation of pattern. CPR downsizing treated as cautionary tale. Some humor/gallows wit throughout, but underlying tone is critical and pessimistic about industry stability and customer treatment.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.409

Beavis, I'm sorry, Butthead, do you need to go to the bathroom? I do, but I don't want to touch Beavis' wiener. You better not. Leave my wiener alone, dumbass. Wait a minute, maybe it's Butthead's wiener? I don't know. I'm just going to play it safe and pee in your pants. Don't pee in my pants, butthole. Sorry, Beavis. I don't have a lot of options, you know what I'm saying? I'm going to have to go ahead and poop in your pants, too. Coming to you from beautiful upstate New York, this is the Slam Tilt Podcast, the show about all things pinball. I'm your host, Ron Halle, here with the other host, Bruce Nightingale. No extreme penetration here. Well, yep, that's the first thing we're going to talk about. This is episode 264. Yay! And we have a guest. We have a guest. Coming to us from the beautiful state of Texas, weighing in at 220 pounds, here's the Texas champion of the world, baby, Robert Byers. Yeah. What's happening? Top rope in the house. Top rope in the house. Robert is here. You know, every time I come on the podcast, it just gives me a Pokemon. So that's all I can say. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hey, how they going? Yeah, man, we Pokemon. Yeah, that's a new way of talking. Yeah. Robert Hurst is like, hey, I'll come on again. Like, okay. Okay. All right. So what do you think of the Royal Rumble? Yeah. I was pissed about Steiner. I'm sorry. I refuse to call him Brawn Breaker. Yeah. I call him Steiner, and I am a huge Steiner mark for anything that's Steiner, and that really pissed me off. I'm sick of people getting attacked by hooded people, hooded crowd. I'm sick of it. What are we doing? Just book good matches and let's go. Yeah, let's go. You hear that? Of course, people don't watch wrestling. What the hell are they talking about? They want to hear about DPX. Dual Penetration Extreme. Okay, for those who don't know, DPX is Dutch Pinball Exclusive. is the actual name. Extreme! But we've called it Dual Penetration Extreme. And you know what? Our name might be more apropos at this point because they're gone. And this is a developing situation. The initial news actually came out during the Super Bowl. There was a post on Facebook by some French pinball page, but then there was also a post on Pinside in the, I think, the Alice in Wonderland thread. from Melvin. Melvin Williams, who is the guy that is the DPX guy. He's the guy that bought all the John Papadiuk stuff and the Deep Root shit. So... Hey, don't forget, me and Zach were talking a couple days ago. Our Zach, we were driving up to get a game, and we're like, everything that John Papadiuk touches, is the company dumps. So think about it. The heyday of Williams. We get all these great games like Addams Family, Indiana Jones, and then as soon as he puts out World Cup soccer, what happens to Williams? Oh, is that the beginning of the end? It wasn't the beginning. It was World Cup soccer. Well, no, just having John Papadiuk. You put John Papadiuk in your company, eventually it fails. And then it just continues down the line for everything else. American Pinball was the smartest ever that they cut ties as soon as possible. They cut the cancer out before. They didn't even make the game at all. They cut the cancer out before it happened. That's right, baby. And I wasn't even there yet, baby. I'm sorry. It's just, holy fuck. So now we're going to go make non-licensed games again. Well, no. Supposedly that may be how that was construed by the person reading it. And I had issues with that whole statement. But there's been more, Bruce. There's been more. There's been more. But the announcement came out during the Super Bowl. And I'll just read it quickly here. Dear all, this is from Melvin. It is with a heavy heart that I have to announce that, effective as of today, I, Melvin Brower-Williams, will be stepping away from DPX, Dutch Pinball Exclusive. This decision is an unfortunate result of a new organizational structure within Dutch Pinball, and also because of a new investors party that have a different vision than me. Therefore, Dutch Pinball has decided that it will be continuing on its own path without my involvement. I'm taking my toys and running away. Yeah. I don't know if he's leaving or they may have told him, like, yeah, we're not. This shit ain't going on. Yeah, this ain't going on. have fun with your future endeavors. They might have future endeavored them. Let's see. He continues, I fully understand that this announcement may raise many questions. Oh, yeah. Oh, fuck yeah. Where's my money? Where's my money, Brian? Brian, where's my money? I bought this fucking game. I haven't gotten it yet. Where's my money? Where's my money? At this moment, I do not yet have all the answers myself. Not a good sign. And I must admit that this transition leaves me feeling somewhat uncertain. Okay, that's not good either. As many may know, my next game was on its scheduled to be released. Okay, English is not the first language here. It was next scheduled to be released. Nevertheless, I remain confident in the future of the pinball industry, okay, and in my own continued journey within it. But not of DP. Yes. Unfortunately, that won't be with DP, Dutch Pinball Family. Anyway, DPX will be defunct as of today for upcoming releases from my involvement. It almost makes it sound like DPX would continue and he wouldn't be involved. I think later on they basically said, yeah, that's dead. I tried my best to build the brand to a certain point that I now can no longer control to my standards. Well, man, like I bought an Alice in Wonderland. Now the company's already business, so it's worth $20 million, man. To review, Alice in Wonderland is their game, and they were supposed to have them all out by the end of last year, and if you didn't get yours, you could ask for your deposit back. I guarantee maybe that was part of the problem. Shit, we've got to give them all this fucking money back? Why did we fucking say this? In the thread, all three of the U.S. distributors made comments in this thread. So it's, let's see if I can remember them all. It's a great American, the main one, coin taker, and I can't remember the third one. Is it Nitro from Canada? No. No. But they all made comments basically saying, because people were like, I'm not getting my money back. You're getting your money back. So, okay. So if you wanted to get your money back, you still should be getting your money back, supposedly. But I wonder about things like if you, one of the things they had is if you didn't ask for your money back, then you would be first in line for Dutch's next game, which everyone assumes is back to the future. Is that still in play? I don't think so. You don't think so? No. I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere and heartfelt gratitude to everyone who supported and believed in me and in Alice throughout the journey. And, yes. Probably be best if they just lost that license and let somebody else maybe pick it up at this point. Shane, they should go back in time and not get that license. Go back in time. We're going to make our new game, Alice and I Wonder Where Your Money Is At. Yes, I wonder where I sorted your money. If you're wondering about code updates, I guess the code side of it was all on Melvin's side, so they're going to keep working on that. But it will be a bit slower at times, but rest assured, it will not be forgotten. I have my own team that will move with me. Move with him where? I don't know where he's moving. And we'll handle upcoming projects with me. What upcoming projects? No one's going to make your games unless you get cursed. They're fucking cursed. Unless he makes some kind of deal with Pedretti and, you know, Euro Pinball Corp where they can build them in Italy. Or Spain. That seems to be the one place where they can build games in Europe regularly and get them out. I expect this to the wording. I expect that Dutch Pinball will take care of their customers with the promises that were made and build all the final Alice's and solve the outstanding topper-related issues. I'm not familiar with the Topper related other than they had to go to various vendors because they were unhappy with vendors. This was unfortunately never in my control. Blame, deflection, good. We love that. That's perfect. Yeah, that's always good. Some of the other structural issues that many are aware of. None of those are my fault. Nothing's my fault. I was perfect in this thing and thank you very much. I did nothing wrong. Okay. You can't handle the truth. No. So what do we think of this announcement? All I know is I hear investors. I hear investors, and guess what? Maybe they didn't like the cost. Maybe they didn't like the profit margin. Maybe. Who knows? But it's just another. I feel like I'm getting American Pinball 2.0. I'm getting. No, you're getting Dutch 2.0. Yeah, I'm getting. Oh, no. And we're also going to get, like, you know, what's it called, Haggis 2.0. And, you know, just stop. Stop with the deflection. Nothing's ever anybody's fault, but it failed. Well, they're still making them, so it's not a complete failure. We don't know this. We really don't know that. Nobody said, nobody from DP has said, hey, we're making every game still. They have not. DP did have a statement they sent to all their distributors, which was then reported by the same French Facebook page. And they had what they thought it meant. I can't find anywhere that has the actual statement. Not yet. So until I see that, because here I'm at NAP Arcade now. Hi, NAP. So he reported on this statement. So the original news, which we just read, Melvin, in a post on Pinside, confirmed that he's done with DPX, etc. It's dead, Jim. It's dead, Jim. So what does this mean for people who avoid DPX? Let's see. I reached out to Dutch Pinball's largest distributor in the U.S. Oh, this is NAP. Coin taker. Alice's business as usual, Dutch Pinball, is committed to building all of the ordered Alice games that have been ordered. individual distributors are processing refunds for customers who decided to cancel their order when DPX missed its year-end 2025 deadline for getting games out. Hold on, hold on. I have a problem with that right then and there. Okay. What's today? February. Yeah, okay. And when were people supposed to, you know, get probably contacted if they wanted their money back? I think they had to go to the end of January, something like that. That's not the end of the year. That's the... No, I think if you didn't get your stuff by the end of the year, I think then you had until January to say, hey, I want my money back. Correct. It's just... It sounds like it's a drag-the-money-out show like we've seen from Dutch before. Or there's no money to be drug out because it's hard. No, no, there probably is. It's just, you know, hidden away with their Dutch boy hairdos. It'd be interesting to see what percentage of people that didn't get their game that asked for the refund or just let it roll. Well, earlier today, there was a message sent from Barry Driessen, the owner of Dutch Pinball. I think he's always been the owner. Him and the other guy before the other person. Before the other guy left, yeah. Well, the one guy died. Yes, exactly. Let's see. Okay, yes. Barry sent a message to the distributors. And according to the message, Dutch has brought two new investors on board to strengthen it financially. So they need the money. And strategically, hopefully they're rich. Hopefully they're like the Abbesses. Hopefully they're like giving Jersey Jack burning money. Well, again, if we go back to who brought investors in, Stern brought investors in because otherwise they would have went out of business. Yep. Jersey Jack brought investors in because otherwise they would have went out of business. So, yeah. Barry has retained equity ownership of the company. Dutch is now committed to refocusing on creating its own games. The way the Dutch worded this statement in its letter, saying that it was focusing on creating its own original titles, led to some speculation that they were going to create unlicensed games and that the long-rumored Dutch pinball game Back to the Future isn't happening. Mrs. Knapp, as far as I can tell, that is not the case. Back to the Future still seems to be in the works. See, I'd have to read this statement. Also, there's a language issue there, and I wouldn't be surprised that just the way they wrote it was misconstrued. They probably mean our own games. Like, we're not doing games for Melvin and GPX. We're making our own games. That's probably what they meant. Another thing is we pissed away our money again. we've done it once fool me once shame on me fool me twice shame on you I just don't and the thing is if they actually have Back to the Future people still buy it of course they will it doesn't matter it doesn't matter what we say it doesn't matter what you think yeah then they'll complain about oh I lost my money on this this is me bastards I hate these people you know it's just shut the Use your fucking brains. I mean, there are... Wake up. There are European companies that actually make games, you know? There are. Pinball Brothers. Well, basically anything made in the Pedretti factory in Italy, right? Hey! Hey, what the fuck it up? Hey! Hey! I had a beat on that one, yeah. We made Olympics now, too. Hey! That's true. Olympics, yes. And they make the games for, well, themselves, right? The remakes. They made Funhouse. So they seem to be able to make games there in that factory. Yay, we make everything. We make it nice and smooth. I don't know how many space hunts were made or some of the other Spanish ones. I don't know how many they actually made. Space hunt. Robert, did you get to see Space Hunt? Yes. I did not get to see Space Hunt. You have not played Space Hunt? I have not. Oh, damn it. You are a lucky person. Because Robert is a top-notch player, much better than Bruce. And I'm very curious if he was able to ever hit that one ramp that actually leads that upper play field that no one can ever hit. Yeah. I can brick ramps just as good as you. Hey! Come on. What the brick it are? What the fuck it are? Jesus. Hey, hot tamale for you. We're going to make a pinball for me and you. Hey! Well, Bruce, you can say you were right again. I'm right again. Of course, if you're just negative about everything, you're probably going to be right most of the time. The power of the Bruce compels you. The power of the Bruce compels you. True dual penetration extreme. Yes, it was. Whoever got it, got it good. Now we're just going to give you the tip now with the DP. not extreme, not forceful we're just going to give you the tip would you buy a game? ok, who's going to buy Back to the Future? if it comes out and it looks great no, I don't care if it looks great there's no way it took 10 years to make it Big Lebowski looked good I actually thought that was pretty good when I played it it took him 10 years to make it I know how about you Robert? I like Lebowski, but no, it's too risky at this point. You just never know what you're going to get. You're going to get dual penetration extreme. Yes. I think the risk level is at an all-time high. Yeah. We have a company that has had issues manufacturing, had issues with their manufacturer, lied to customers, then took orders for new customers, and the old customers haven't been whole with their method of getting the money and then eventually getting to the older customers that actually ordered it first. Yeah. It took 10 years to get through all that. They managed to get through it without declaring bankruptcy. They got them all done, and they should have just cut their losses at that point. But no, then they did the DPX thing, and we're going to make John Papadiuk games. First we're going to do Alice in Wonderland, and then we're going to do Rosdell. Like, what the fuck? The curse is alive, baby. I mean, if you're going to take a risk on anything, it would be the next American title before you did anything with DPX. At least it's in the U.S. Yeah, at least in the U.S. you have some legal rights. Yeah. Not much, but you have better than nothing when you're, you know. And we know they've actually made gains. No, they have made gains, but the, you know. At a much faster pace. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's just another shit show. And we keep on feeding these shit shows. That's why we make fun of these shit shows. Yes. Like you people, you know you're going to buy that back to the future. No. I love Back in the Future. It's one of my top ten movies. Not you. I'm talking about the listeners. You're all going to buy it. You know you're going to buy it. You know you want it. Do you think they have any rights? Like the license, does it come with anything or is it just going to be a DeLorean? It's just going to be a DeLorean. It's just going to be scenes that, like, you know, oh, there's a lightning strike to hit the tower because you don't see anybody in it. Okay, Huey Lewis, will they at least be able to get the music? Probably. I think the music. Well, art will be on it. Yes. Arnold West. You have better odds of having Arnold in Back to the Future than you did that they had in Predator. That'd be hilarious. He shows up. Where am I? Oh, I'm in the wrong game. 1955 Sox. I went too far back to kill John Connor. What the fuck? I thought this was the one with the train. Oh, okay. Anything more on the debacle that is DPX? This is a developing situation, so I would like to hear from our beeps about the whole, like, what do they mean by original titles? Like, do they mean they're not going to do Back to the Future? Because I don't know what kind of investors would come in. Yeah, let's do all original games. Yeah. Let's all piss our money away. Yeah. I don't understand that. I think we're way past that route of the non-licensed teams are going to do any good. No. Not from a boutique, right? No. Maybe Stern or Jersey Jack could pull it off. If you're a boutique man, you look at Spooky, you look at Barrels of Fun. That's what you've got to do. You've got to get the titles people want. Yeah, look at Barry's Barbecue. That was a train wreck. As it turns out, what'd they spell? 100? 120? 150. Yeah, something like that. They might get a 50-mole. One 50. One 50. And you ain't got to get 50-mole out of that, because they're going to use something else with those boards. Okay. Wow. Okay. So that's the T.S. I love that you said Bruce was right again. So that just warms my heart. 100% correct. Well, I don't think I was like Rob. No, you were not. No, no. No, you were not. I tried to be, but I think I even said. You were a PC. I'm just the asshole. Yeah, I think I even said, like, do you think they'd be done by the end of the year? And I think I said no. Also, I didn't think that would happen. Okay. So let's go on to CPR. Classic Playfield Reproductions. Yes, I think they were trying to do some things and heat up the market. Well. With the fire sale. Yes. Well, I'm on pinballnews.com. Yes, and like fire and stuff. Fire, fire, fire, fire. Yes, it's going to be a very juvenile episode, folks. Yes, fuck yeah. Yes, so pinballnews.com, iPinballnews. No. Yes. The classic Playfield Reproductions, or CPR, was formed in 2005 by Mark Purcell and Kevin Waite in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Waite. Waite. I'll wait till your love comes down. I am coming straight for your heart. I don't sing anymore unless I'm doing AI. You can stop me now. The company evolved out of an earlier business, Halifax Pinball, managed by Mike and Greg Walker, who made reproduction playfields for the Fathom game. Oh, that was so long ago. Yes, it was. Greg transitioned Halifax Pinball into Fantastic Pinball. Fantastical! They're the ones that you and Zach bust on constantly, I believe, with their playfields. While Mike teamed up with Kevin to found CPR. Yes. And, yeah, and they used the silkscreen. Now they do the direct print. Although they did, I listened to an interview that Pinball News had, and I guess Centaur, when they use Centaur, they still silkscreen because it's just the three colors. Yeah, just the three colors instead of CMYK. Everything they said sounds like silkscreening is better, but it takes so much longer. It takes so much longer. Because if you have ten colors, it's like ten days, because each day they have to dry and all that stuff. Yeah, but inkjet is a lot easier, but you do an inkjet, see the dots, you can see the droplets, you can see everything with it. And it all depends on the wood's absorption and everything like that also. Boy, how would I know that? Oh, that's right, I was in fucking inkjet for fucking 15 years. Wow, you know a lot about inkjets. Yeah, and big ones. So Mike Purcell, he is retiring. He is retiring, so it's now going to be Kevin, Kevin's company, and they are downsizing because, just read the article, they were making very small runs. Like, they were not selling a lot of playfields. Well, what killed them, and I think this is what all happened, the tariffs. The tariffs really hurt them. According to the interview, it was just, like, demand. It just wasn't there anymore. Well, demand because you can't, people from the U.S. didn't want to pay the tariff. It was like $200. So you're paying $1,200 on our $900 on a play field. Then you've got to ship it. Then you've got to hit the tariffs up. You're up to $1,400, $1,500 before you even get the thing. Well, the people that really wanted them probably have already got them. Oh, yeah. I am not tearing down something to put a new play field in. Something ain't happening. So they went on a fire sale. Yep, they're going to move into a smaller. They're moving out of where they've been forever into a smaller area. And they'll have the equipment with them, but they're just going to do small runs. I didn't know they were doing, what did they say? They did Labyrinth. Yeah. They did all the Labyrinth playfields. I didn't know that. I was not aware of that. I was not aware of that either. But I guess by the time they got to Dune, they weren't using them. And they did one other play field that I didn't know they did. I can't remember. But, yeah, it's just a fire sale. They put everything up on February 1st, and like 80% of the stuff is gone. All the Stern stuff went really fast. The early Stern, the only thing you can get still is a Cheetah play field and a Nugent. They've been around since I got into the hot. They seem like they've been around. That's why it kind of bummed me. It's like, oh, man, these guys have been around forever. It kind of bums me that they're scaling back. Well, they're not gone. Well, they're going to. It's hard to make small runs. It really is. Even with inkjet, you still got to have the inserts. You still got everything else. You still got to do the prep work. Yeah, so I see CPR just sailing into the sun and just, you know, not doing much anymore. So who's going to be the main play field people? Ugh. Because when it comes to the show screening, it's just like, what, the one guy in Germany. Yeah. The one guy in Germany still does it, which he does a good job, I will say that. He did the getaway, the plate field. That's at the wonderful Rochester Pinball Collective. Yes. Robert, where is that? It's in Rochester, New York. I always forget the number. Wow. Hey, Ron, disconnect them. Disconnect. Wait, is this thing on? My headphones not working, guys. Oh, what the fuck it on? What the fuck it on? 3-49 West Commercial Street, East Rochester, New York. Suite 2965. And that bathroom code is? I should have wrote down the bathroom code because that would have been classic if I would have known that, but not the address. Yes. 3-4-9-2. There you go. So, yeah, you have them. You have, what's his name who did the JJP Playfields? Oh, Bader? No, the other one. Oh, Mirko. Mirko, yes. Or Mirko, or however I'm supposed to say it. And then you have the guy in Cincinnati who is colorblind. Yeah. Wow. Okay. Yeah. We get more anger. Yep, more anger. Bruce, Bruce, Bruce. Okay. Yes, I love anger. It's colored challenged. Colored challenged. Sorry. Yeah. Say it right, Bruce. Okay. Yeah, colored challenged. but uh yeah i had i had the high speed play field forever and then i actually never used it and i sold it yeah that's what most people do if they shut up shop then there's always a chance that somebody sees an opportunity and tries to run with it yeah it's just funny how uh it's the name of the game pinball what i think what hurt them was definitely the silkscreening because people saw the difference in quality. They really did. I saw the difference in quality when we got the 8-ball play field for one of our customers. I was like, eee. Kevin said he had to go down that road kicking and screaming because he did not want to stop doing the social screening. Because he said with certain things, the direct print doesn't work. What did he say? For neon, certain shades of green, it doesn't work. Flash colors, It doesn't work as well. Yes. Yeah. It just doesn't work. Even straight lines sometimes don't work out so well because of the way it spreads. You might have a nice thin line in your track. Well, what happens if they do the shorter runs and they say, like, we're going back to all Marc Silk screening? That might help them. But then you have, you know, that would actually be a smarter move. That would be your differentiation to the other ones. Like, we Marc Silk screen. We still Marc Silk screen. Yes. Besides Germany. Yeah. Germany. will be victorious! Victorious! Okay. All right. But yeah, so that's a big news piece. Mm-hmm. All right. Next I have, I went to pinball at the beach, Bruce. How'd you play? Play? I didn't play in the tournament. I know. I did not play in the tournament. He was so discouraged by all the awesome players there that he just said, nope, I'll do this. I went there because it's a resort and I wanted to do resorty things. Oh, you sat in the sun by the beach? Yeah, unfortunately the Carl Weathers didn't cooperate as far as being actually warm. No, it was not down there. It was in the 60s and windy as hell. But it's better than what you had up here. Here, at the time I was in Florida, here in Albany, it was about zero degrees with a negative 20 wind chill factor. Yeah, we had negative 7. Isn't that great? Robert, how was your Carl Weathers this past week? It was actually very nice. I love you. We're on this run in Austin right now where it's like highs every day are 70 to 75 and lows are like 50. As Arnold Schwarzenegger said, fuck you, assholes. Fuck you, assholes. We finally went above freezing for the first time in 20 days. Yay! We're going to get into 30s by the end of this week. Our heat wave is coming here. Scorcher. Yes. It's the Heat. What? No, the tournament. I'll just get that out of the way quickly. The tournament was run by Colin MacAlpine. Robert knows Colin. And it was – what kind of format was it, Robert? You can explain it. It had, like, two different qualifying groups, like an early group and a late group. Yeah, so that's a format we've been using in Texas for quite a while for our bigger stuff, Texas Pinball Festival in Space City. So they run early in the late group, and, you know, you pay like four hours one day and then four hours the next day, and another group plays on the same machines. And what's great about it is you're not in the tournament area the whole time. So you're free half a day on both days to go to see the show or do whatever. And then they take so many people, like 16 people out of each group of 80, and then merge them together for a finals. and it works really good. It really does. Yep, I did not play and then when I saw the games, it's like, yeah, I would get like fucking killed. It's all 90s or later games. Yeah, it was not in your little house. No, it was not the classics land. It was, let's see, As Family, Aerosmith, Avengers, Cactus Canyon, Demoman, Dialed In. I would have played that a ton. Dune, Foo Fighters, Jaws, John Wick, Pulp Fiction, Star Wars, the Steve Ritchie ones, Star Wars, the Borg ones. Star Wars! Yes. Stranger Things, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, X-Men, the new one, Twilight Zone, and Whirlwind. Whirlwind. That would have been the oldest, I think. Yeah. That's the oldest. That's a pretty bad one. Whirlwind's the oldest game. Whirlwind is the classic. Yes. And the winner of the tournament was Shedden Stafford. congratulations good job Shannon good job so yes pinball at the beach this is my first time at the show this was the second year I think second year they've had this how was the beach like I said cold it's cold so beach that yeah that's right I did have a brownie sundae it was least warming for that and it was pretty good it was pretty good I even made a mention of it here in my notes to make sure I said ice cream yes I think they need a pinball at Lake Titicaca Titicaca that's where Kernholio is they have plenty of teepee in the bathrooms there I hear oh a teepee in that I don't know what else well one of the things like last year they said how this is that they have a cap for the show so you don't have to stand in line for stuff, supposedly. I can tell you there were plenty of lines when I went to this show. I don't know what it was like in year one. I think they expanded. They did, but, yeah, there were lines. I mean, you know, Ed started that show. That's the guy that, you know, had TPF. So he used to doing it big and bold and I think the plan was to be a little smaller and intimate but um cash grab it supposed to be like one of those rock uh what do they call them the rock camps where you hang out with the rock stars and all that in an intimate setting this is I think that's what they explained that's what they were going for this all the all the pinball industry people Coachella. Yeah, you can hang out with Steve Ritchie and all this stuff. And, yeah. So, let's see. I got my notes here, things I wanted to bring up. Beetle Juice. Beetle Juice. I got to play Beetle Juice. Oh, come on, Bruce. It took you a while there. Oh, yeah, I got to say it, what, three times? Yes, three times. Okay. And your thoughts on Beetle Juice. Well, number one, if you wanted to play games, wait for the autograph section. the autograph because they did a Saturday autograph session. And I checked it out at 3 when it started. There was a line going out the door. And I came back an hour later, and there was still a line going out the door. And I noticed they did clear out a little bit during this time. So this was the time you wanted to get on stuff. I played one game of Beetlejuice. Did you break it? No. No, I'm fine. That's first. Okay, it's first. Ton of shit on it. Yeah, it shot good. Didn't see any major shot issues like, what the hell is this? Oh, this is bad. Oh, this is bad. No, nothing like that. It played very long. Yeah, I heard it's a long player. Now, I also heard supposedly they had it somewhere previous. I thought this was the first show it was at. But they thought it was maybe playing too hard, so they made it easier for the show. I don't know. But I think any good player like Robert on this would be there for a half hour minimum, I think. Zoinks! I mean, Chris is good. Question, are you a huge Beetlejuice person? I've never seen the movie. I hate the movie. I hate the movie. I don't see how Bruce can hate the movie. No, I literally hate the beginning of it. He's just like so dragged out. When Keaton's in there, it's good. But when other things are not, when he's not in there, it's just, like, everyone loves the song, you know. You know, the, you know, hey, man, I want to go. I'm like sitting there going, come on, just get past this scene because this scene sucks. I know everyone's going, no, it's the best scene ever. No, it's just. It's the best scene, man. Your taste is up your ass. No, that's Pokemon. I think what's a true test on how good is the game, and that's why I was asking you what you feel about the theme, because you can't answer this, is if you had a game on order and you played it, are you still keeping it, or are you going to flip it for two or three grand more from what it's going for right now? That's what I'd really like to know from somebody that's big time in the game. Hey, you might pay extra if you try to sell it on Pinside in front of Flippit. I've seen enough scenes from Beetlejuice to say, like, if you were into Beetlejuice, yeah, you would not be selling this. Your spot. You would be getting this game, 100%. Oh, yeah. It's got a really funny match sequence, too. Just like Evil Dead has an awesome match sequence. They're killing it with their match sequences. Yeah, I found the shots where they felt good to shoot. Like I said, it's got a ton of shit on it. I saw a shot underneath the play field where they literally, the support rails, they had to put them in this bizarre spot because there's, like, no room to mount them anywhere underneath the play field. Yeah, I saw that. It was really, really weird. Yeah. One of the, what is it, the warden board, they call it, the thing that has all the transistors on it. Well, this one has, like, two, probably because they have so many extras. And the one board, they couldn't even mount it underneath the play field correctly, on the play field, they had to mount it vertically so it sticks down. Like, holy shit! Oh my god! You guys need to do one of those let's count the coils like you used to do a long time ago. Well, as soon as they come out with a manual, we'll see how long that takes. Oh, sorry. I wasn't there last time I looked. Hold on, let me go there right now. I don't want to have to eat my words here. Because at this point, That was the first time anyone could really play it. So they will be getting it to full production soon. They just made their last Evil Dead, I believe, today, they said. Ooh. Yes. They did get through those pretty quick. Nope. Last one here is Evil Dead. Evil Dead. Let's see. So we'll see when that gets up. But, yeah, that was. And guess what? Star Wars has their Fall of the Empire manual out. So, Star Wars. Star Wars. Spoon will be making another game. Oh, God. So, Star Wars. Star Wars. It's our cash grab. Providence to be a turtle. Yeah. What's your thoughts on Star Wars? What's my thoughts on Love Boat? I didn't really watch it. I was more of a Fantasy Island guy, honestly. That's a thumb. Yeah, they need to do a dual theme. You know, like the family guy and Shrek. You could do Love Boat Fantasy Island. There you go. There you go. You ping, you ping. Rob, what's your thoughts on Fall of the Empire? I played it a couple times at Space City. It played good. It's shootable. I wouldn't say it's memorable. It's always good when a game is shootable. But not memorable. Yeah, well, I mean, I do like the clips. I do like the more immersion into the original Star Wars. Yep. Star Wars! Except the Jabba's Palace one where they used the special edition shit. That, I just... Yeah. Pinball browser that shit, if that's even still a thing. Try to change that clip. Star Wars! Soon we'll be making another run. I mean, as somebody that, you know, that was probably one of the first movies that I remember going and seeing in theaters when I was five, it was nice to have the actual clips and stuff in the game it made a huge difference I agree oh yes I would buy that over the last Star Wars for sure if I was to get one yes wow wait a minute the Steve Ritchie Star Wars is the best one come on great it's right up there with Dialed In top level Wow, 0 for 2. So in the spooky area, they had every spooky game except Alice. So they had everything else. They had Jetsons. They had Dominoes. They had America's Most Haunted. Yes. Wow. So I kept going back in there. I wanted to see if I saw any playfields up on Beetlejuice, and I did not. I never saw any of the Beetlejuices down or being worked on when I went in there. But in the row of the old Spooky Games, quit yawning, Bruce. There was one Spooky Game that ended up turned off. What game do you think it was? I will give you a clue. Actually, if I give you this clue, it gives it away. Jetsons. No, no. Oh, wow. I'll give Robert the clue. We'll see how much he pays attention to previous episodes. This spooky game was at the Rochester Pinball Collective, briefly. Oh, I know. And I believe it broke a lot when it was there. Did you? If I was to guess, I'd say America's Most Haunted. No. What was it, Bruce? That freaking, what's it called? I can't even think of it. I know it's in my head. I'm just like, da-da-da-da. What the fuck is that called? What happens on October 31st? I don't know. We've had two. We've had two. Halloween. Halloween. And also we had TNA. Ultraman. No, TNA. TNA. Yeah. And that one was broken a lot, too. Oh, I got a chuckle, though, when I saw that one down. Like, yeah. Yeah, I can see it. Did you see that American was haunted? It's going to be an in-depth. Oh, it's going to be one of the games? It's one of the games. Ha! You've got to love the game. Oh, boy. Yeah, there you go. I love it. I love it. But usually people brutalize the thing to some way, whereas those are actually playable and won't take forever. If I remember playing that game, I actually thought the layout was okay. I didn't actually have any issues with it. I thought the call-outs were just horrible, but I thought that was the whole point. I thought they were supposed to be really bad. Point! No, that's Scooby. That actually has decent call-outs, so don't insult Scooby. The plate build, on the other hand, is not great. Let's see, Winchester. So, they have two Winchesters there. Because they don't do show games, barrels of fun. I talked to David David Van Es, the co-owner or president. Cash grab! They don't do show games. So it was like they had to find someone or multiple people who would bring a game or were okay with them using their new game before they get it. And they get discount. And he said they even had a location. Like a person was getting a game for a location, and they were like, no. It's like, but you're getting it for location. But they got two, and they had lines the entire show. So I stood in line to play that, and I have calculated now, and I'm not into exaggeration. I'm like Bruce. So I actually calculated this. I have spent close to two hours standing in line to play Winchester for the three games I played on it, twice at Expo and once at Pinball at the Beach. and I think I've had total ball time of those three games combined of less than 10 minutes. This game destroys me. I can't hit anything on this game. Have you played it, Robert? I have. I have played one game of it at Space City, and I waited for about five minutes because I was lucky and second in line, and I played for about 25 minutes and pissed everybody off. Yeah. I figured, yeah, Robert, yeah, baby. I really do try to avoid when there's limited games to do that because I have – I remember when Elton John came out at – was that Expo, I think, the first time? I got in line for that one and played and got to the wizard mode that wasn't coded and blue screen to death the machine. People were just like, yay, and get the hell out of here. I try not to queue up for new games. I'd say the only thing I can do, I can hit the inline drops in the ramp. Like, that's right in front of you on the left. That's it. Like, I can't hit anything in the back. I just suck at that. I just, I can't figure out where any shots are. You heard it here first, Ron. It sucks. Well, if I got to sit there and play the thing for, like, you know, over and over, I'm sure I could find them. But I'm not going to stand in line every time I need to. Oh, we're going to play it. Yeah, kind of the upper center flipper. It's kind of left, right, and there's several different paths up there. That was tricky to get dialed in on just a quick play. Oh, John, I did play that. Jersey Jack had all of their games there, like every one, including Pirates. And Hobbit? And Hobbit. They were all there, all in a row in order. I thought that was pretty cool. Just one of each? Yes. And then they had a bunch of Harry Potters, like, all over the place. And I got to play that, like, immediately. Yeah, and it still shoots good. It's good. I like Harry Potter. It's great. I got mine pretty early. I've been on the list for, like, five years. Ah. Which version did you get? I was in for the CE, and then when I saw the art, I stepped down to the Wizard, just because I wanted the art package on the inside and outside and the play field to all match. It feels more like a movie. The CE I thought was really cool and gorgeous and everything, but it just didn't fit what I was thinking. So for three grand, it wasn't worth it. Well, the biggest break for me was if it was truly limited, I would have stuck with it. But as soon as I heard we're going to make as many as we're going to make, I'm like, well, there's no chance to recoup that money. Yeah. Not that I'm probably ever going to sell it. It's probably a bolt to the floor. But just the Wizard was better for me. There you go. Let's see. What other highlights, though? What's Robert been up to lately? I haven't finished yet. We ignore your stupid things. Okay, come on, Ron. Finish up. I play the Walking Dead, the new one. Might have been the first time I played it. I'm trying to remember. You're running a butcher, running a printer. The remastered. Is it all the same? I know, because then Metallica, they redid a couple of the outlines, right? They reconfigured the double outline. I think it shoots less mean, honestly, than the original. That's good. I don't like the new rollovers for the skill shot. They don't look as nice as the other ones. And I never played one where they didn't work, so I don't know what the issue was with the old ones. But has anybody ever tried to do – you probably couldn't. No, you couldn't do that. I was trying to think of Optos or something, how you could have it without – You could do it with read switches, like they did for the in-lanes. Boom, done. First has it all figured out. Already figured it out. But I was getting into it, being honest. To be honest, The Walking Dead, I was getting into that. It was pretty good. It was pretty good. You like the clown art that everybody claims about? Yeah. No, that was in the other room. That was Wizard of Oz. No, no, no. It's Wizard of Zombies. Wizard of Zombies. Speaking of that, I didn't think about this. Is Jersey Jack going to come out with a Wicked edition of Wizard of Oz? For the 12th version? Yes, that would be, yeah, they should. Use all the movie stuff. They could totally do that. The problem is they'd have to do wide-body cabinets again, which they haven't made since, what, Pirates? Yeah, Pirates. Or maybe one, actually, I think they made them with one of the post-Pirates, one of the many Wizard of Oz, maybe the Golden, whatever. I was going to say the Golden Shower Edition. The Golden Shower Edition. No, the Yellow Brick Road Edition. Yellow Brick Road, Red Ruby. You could keep the Potter running on the main ride, then switch to a wide body and redo Wizard of Oz with the Wicked theme, and then also make some more runs of Pirates. We're never going to make Pirates again. That's rub! Because they'd have to get the rights again. They'd get all those actors that they didn't get. No, they just need to get the one guy that they did get. He was good. He was good, damn it. I thought his call-outs were excellent. It's one of those things where it's like, yeah, they only got one guy from the movie's call-outs, but damn, his call-outs are good. Damn. Damn. Damn! What else do I have here? Oh, Hyperball. This is why I wished you were there. They had the most awesome Hyperball ever. The thing had a subwoofer. hooked to the bottom of it, and holy shit, this thing was an experience. And then people had pictures of Steve Ritchie playing it, you know, his own game. So that was cool. But I played it. I got to, like, wave six. That's as far as I got. That's the one with the two handles that just, like, shoots a thousand balls out? Yeah. Yeah. But Bruce knows how to play it somehow. Like, he's the only one I've seen who gets past, like, a certain wave. Yeah, I get past, like, nine or ten, actually. Usually when I play it, it's like by the second wave. Danger, critical. I don't know. Use your smart bomb and everything. Yeah. But it was cool with that snowboard for under. That was pretty nice. That was pretty cool. Yeah. And I thought of you, Bruce. Like, if only Bruce was here, he would kill this game. He would get the high score. Yeah. If only Bruce was here instead of getting ready for it and getting away. Yay. I had people asking about you. I had the pins. Dr. Pins. Mrs. Pinn, they were there. Where's Bruce? Is Bruce here? Of course he's not. Of course I'm not. I'm saving myself for the Allentown show, Mr. and Mrs. Pinn, or Dr. and Mrs. Pinn. So come on out to that because you're right by it. No. Jesus. They are. They're like 40 an hour away, tops. Come on down. What other note do I have? I have one more note. Have you ever played Riverboat Gambler? Yes. Mm-hmm. What's your opinion of this game? I don't remember the details. It's a weak system 11. Look it up. Basically, the whole thing is chance, like even getting the jackpot. Oh, yeah. I played the thing. I lost track of how many games I played on it because I was determined to get the jackpot. And every time you get it and it does like a roulette wheel spin and pick a color and it's got the four buttons on front. Okay, black. Red. Okay, and they just kept doing that over and over to get more and more pissed. I remember that's where I played it at. One time they had it at a bank at Pinburg, at the Business Center, Pitburg, and I immediately found Bowen and said, what is this doing in a tournament because it was just complete luck who won the game. It's luck. It's a luck box. You keep shooting the shot and hope you hit, and that's all there is to it. Yes. I think I played Vegas, the Golly Vegas, and I had somewhere around 20 consecutive left orbits. I was proud of myself. That was pretty good. What else do you do on that other than that, or is that it? That's about it. Because there was a score on there that was like, what were the high scores on that? It was like 90 million or something. It's like no one hit the orbit that many times, because it only goes up to like a million. There is a play field doubler, so okay, 2 million, but still. There's got to be some other way to score huge in that. But it's funny. When I first arrived there, the first person I saw was Keith Owen. It's like, oh, hi. And then when I was leaving, the last person I saw was Keith Owen. So, yeah, I'd do that again, especially if the Carl Weathers was better. It would have been much cooler. Because they've got pools everywhere and stuff. I could have just chilled. It was cool having all the spooky games in a row, all of the... Yeah, that's cool. The Jersey Jack games in a row, like in order. That was pretty cool. Was it like a convention center style room? It's like a tent. Yeah, it's an air-conditioned tent, but yeah. And then they had, oh, I forgot, they had a big stern section with all the latest and greatest sterns, which those you could pretty much get on. like they had a Metallica LE sitting next to the new Metallica remaster heard and all the games like had the Insider connected they were all connected so they had them on the internet because I was swiping away and it was working they had leaderboards set up and all that I didn't see any leaderboards have you seen have you seen the new leaderboards yeah you're right I think they had some kind of leaderboard just for Pinball at the Beach but I didn't see anything up on the screen or anything. I think you see now the gold circle now around the name if you paid your money. Did you guys see that yet? On the leaderboards? No. When you're now the... Golden shower? Yeah, it's not like the golden shower, but it's like a circle around your name to highlight that you are a payer. Yeah, I'm like, what the fuck's that? I looked it up and I'm like, oh my fucking... What the fuck it up? It's like, geez louise. Well, while Pinball at the Beach was going on, I think it was while it was going on, or it might have been right after, it might have been on a Sunday, the Pokemon, I want to say that, the Pokemon teaser trailer was released. Ya mon, Pokemon! Pokemon mon! Ya mon! So who has seen the trailer? There was no trailer. It was a teaser trailer. Yeah, it was nothing. It was a ball going into a stadium. Yay. I mean, they already knew because TPF announced it's going to be there. So what were you teasing? Well, yeah, TPF announced they were going to have the first, like, the debut of it, and then they had to pull it. Yep. Because it may not be the debut. So they had to pull that announcement. It may be somewhere else first. Who knows? Who knows? It's going to be big. And the pictures that they show right now, I don't think they're going to. Oh, there's all kinds of leaks. There was a first leak that was AI. Then there's another leak that supposedly is from a distributor meeting that may actually be legit. Bruce doesn't think it is. No. Too many weird things on that apron. I saw somebody said that one of the pictures was like somebody rethemed a junkyard or something like that. Yeah, it was really bad, yeah. I'll wait until we see it. Okay. But it's going to be a big thing. For me, no interest at all. Yeah, same here, but it's the biggest license that exists. They'll be going against Harry Potter for money. I've got 17 and a 14-year-old and a 14-year-old stepson, and so the younger kids are interested in it for sure. So I'm trying to talk one of them into telling their grandma they need to get her to buy one for the house. Yeah. The trailer was just – it was lame. It was lame. I just, I go back to. Stop doing teasers if it's going to be that bad. Yeah. But remember, their best teaser trailer they ever did was right after TPF, and that was Black Knight Sword of Rage. Dude, I can't remember who I talked about this. They missed the opportunity there. The Black Knight Sword of Rage. So if they would have done it during TPF and like on the Saturday evening at like 8 o'clock, the lights just go black. Black and then you pull out one. The whole place, no, the whole expo part goes black. All the games are still on, but you just draw all the lights, and you've got a couple projectors that you project on the ceilings of the wall. Black Knight 2000. And then you have somebody come in on a horse with a Black Knight outfit. They could have really done that up and made it amazing. What if the horse shitied in the hall? Yeah, they did that already, and he'd shit right on the stage. That would have been cool. Whoops. Oh, I slipped in the shit. Holy shit. Holy shit. The first 100 LE buyers were going to box up a little bit of this shit and put it in your game. Cash grab. There's Gary scooping up. Oh, yeah. Gary was that pinball at the beach. He was there. Lock in hand. And so was Jack. It's like, man, let's even get into a fight. I want to see that. No, Jack is his new babysitter. I figured this out. When I see all these shots with him, with Gary, He's not a designated babysitter. Okay, I don't mean Jack Danger. I mean Jack Guarnieri was there also. Oh, I thought you meant Jack Danger. I want to see him go at it and they both fall in a pool or something. That would be hilarious. There could be only one. Highlander, next theme confirmed. Yes, I love a Highlander. If it had Queen music, it'd probably be better than the pinball machine Queen. So, Robert, what have you been up to lately? Just a little bit of everything. I mean, the biggest thing that's going on locally is I didn't start it. A guy by the name of Phil Pomeroy brought a bunch of collectors together, and we had a board of directors grow out, and we started the Austin Pinball Collective at 1106 Clayton Lane in Austin, Texas. The bathroom code is 7746Pound. Don't forget that pound. The Steve Austin Pinball Collective. Cool. There you go. It's a cool location. We're coming up on month 10. We started out with like 30 games, and I think we're up to maybe over 70, 75. And it grew fast enough that we were able to resurrect the Bat City Open that we had in December. Oh, yeah. So that was really cool. Congratulations. Thank you. Very good. Very good. Very good. Besides that, just gearing up for in-disc, and don't stream that much anymore because I'm out playing so much. How many days is the Austin Pinball Collective open? Right now, it's kind of a member-based thing, but we've got, like, hours. I think we're open a couple nights a week and Saturdays and Sundays, but we're getting to the point now where we're hosting a lot of tournaments. It's a $20 day fee to come in and play all you want. There's a code word at the door, I think. It's like Gary sent me or something like that. Well, you know, our game donors pay the fee to become members as well, and so we've got key fobs to get us into the building that we can come in from 7 a.m. until midnight anytime we want. But so it really is a collective. I think there's up to 30 people that have games there, 25, 30 people that have games. And then people can just buy an outright membership. But with the membership to get the key fob access, you've got to volunteer for those hours we're open. So again, I've kind of been in the background consulting when we were starting up and making recommendations based off what I've seen. I actually reached out to you, Bruce, there for a couple questions here and there, and, you know, they've put it in a nonprofit regime, and it looks like we're going to do pretty good the first year. I mean, the key was just pay all the bills and be in the positive, right? That's the first year. If you can get that in the first year, knock your socks off. You're ahead of the game. Yeah. We're talking about more electric in the building for our area. and moving stuff around a little bit more, fit some more. That's what I want to do because we've got a lot of games in the back sitting. We didn't go. Yeah, I definitely thought that I wanted to be on the board of directors, but now I see all the time that these people are put into it, and I don't know if I could have done it with my work schedule and travel. So there's five or seven people on the board, and I think they kept it at an odd number like we talked about, Bruce. So there's never an even vote on anything. and I'm going to be the president and vote twice. Is that the Josh Hart method? No, no, no. It's somebody else's method, but I think they learned from Josh, but yes. Okay. Yeah. So about the only other thing that I'm doing with Top Rope, I still stream a little bit. You know, my Facebook page has always got all kinds of goofy stuff with regards to wrestling and stuff like that that people enjoy. But I made a song a while back that I recorded myself and sung, and it was horrible. It was called Blinded by Dwight. And so I figured out with some of the new AI, I remastered that, and I actually had an idea to make pinball songs. And so I've got a list on my phone. I hear a song. I'm like, I need to be able to turn that into something pinball related. And I've got like 30 songs on there. So I started and again, I'm not hiding anything. I'm using AI. But it's not just create the song. It's think about a song. It's mostly parodies. And then I'll write some lyrics and then I'll have it generate some more lyrics and I'll go back and clean it up and change it around. And it's actually more work than you think to get a song out. but I've done some songs like doing like the Jitterbug, Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go I made a parody of that called the Pinball Bug so Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go around pinball themed stuff and Pinball Magic from the Cars I just did a Lose Yourself Eminem parody called Flip Clean and so just kind of playing with it and trying to get better at that because it's just kind of fun and just something to do boys and girls you've heard of k-tel records but now we have we have buyer records i like big jackpots and i cannot lie there you go so yeah and so i just put in recently i'm like i'm like i need a theme song for top rope so i put in some information and then generated that So now I've got a Top Rope Pinball theme song. So if you're interested in that, just go on Facebook, search Top Rope Pinball. You can join my group and all they're posted there and also on my Instagram page. It's just kind of fun stuff. So check it out. Hell yeah. That's right. That's right, baby. You've got to go there. Be a real American. Go to Top Rope Pinball. Be a real American. That's right. So me and Zach bought some games this week. Oh, yes, you did. There was a place that went out of or was going out of business. They're leaving. They're leaving the area. The owners are moving south because they are sick of this Carl Weathers and they are smart. Yeah, they're sick of this fucking Carl Weathers. Yeah, one of the locations north of Syracuse, they put a big post out February 1st. We're moving south. Fuck this Carl Weathers. They had about 70 games, and they were keeping some of their games. and then Eric CNY, Russell, went there and he's like, hey, are you guys interested in anything? The guy's here. I can talk to him for you. And we're talking like, hey, does he have a Frontier there? Hey, Frontier. Nope, they're keeping that. I'm like, fuck. Okay, how about this? Nope, they're keeping that. Fuck. I'm like, okay, how about Victory? Ooh, Victory's for sale. It's got an issue or two, but I'll take it. And I grabbed a victory. Then when I'm there, Zach goes to me, hey, what's the tag team look like? I go, it's warm. I send him pictures. You know, he saw a picture before, but I send him a little more. And he's like, you know, it's warm. But we got it down to a reasonable price, and we picked up tag team. So we're going last night to pick up tag team, and Zach buys another game. Wait a minute, tag team and victory. So is your goal to have, like, the biggest John Trudeau collection ever? Yeah. The all-pedal collection. What the hell? Boys of all ages. Come on. Come on. Good Lord. Yes, but then Zach blew me away and bought something else. What game from the early 90s, Williams, do you think Zach bought? Okay. If you said late 80s, I would have said Road Kings. Nope. Nope. I have one for you, Ron. I'm ready to give that to you so you can get it all cleaned up for me. I don't remember what was on the list. So I don't know. Okay. I've owned it. That doesn't help. You've owned everything. Jesus. It's a Bally cabinet, but it's made by Williams. Oh, okay. Okay. So that knocks it down. Well, I would say Black Rose, but he already has one. He already has one. Well, that doesn't mean he didn't get another one. He did not get another one. Okay. Hurricane. No, that's still, that's Williams. It's Bally cabinet. So the weird spout count speakers at the top. What's that weird one that was at the sink? Transporter. No. Oh, that's my guess. How about you, Robin? Anything? I don know Captain Bizarre Oh no He got a party zone He got a party zone What Party zone He fucking floored me What That's like a one-shot game. He did. He wants to make it harder. That's what he said. You know the fact. It's got the nicest side work I've ever seen on one. The side work. I love the side work for a side party. I said side art. I got stepped on. You got stepped on by your mic. I got stepped on. I got stepped on. I'm trying to remember, what's the tournament strategy now? Does it just hit the shot all the way on the right? Hit the shot. As many times as possible. As many times as you can, yep. Yeah. And then if you do get, you know. But the game is goofy. Doesn't he hate goofy? Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Yeah, it's really weird, but he wanted it and got it. Wow. Just wanted a good price, too. And he got a good price on it, too. So that was really nice. So it's like three for three. We bought three games back. And maybe Mark might come out on third thing. Two more Trudeaus, though. You guys are just like, we're loving it. You're going to put a private section in the back corner of a room at the Rochester Pinball Collective. All Trudeau games. Oh, yeah. Well, no, if I did do that, I'd have to bring out my dad's Preach in Front of the Black Lagoon with the Naked Playfield. Oh, God, no. So that would be another Trudeau in the back room. At Pinball at the Beach, they had a spirit. I go there with my dad. I'm like, spirit, and I'm saying how awesome the game is. And it's by that guy. What guy? The pedal guy, yeah. And then we're playing. I was like, oh, Rocky. Guess who did that game? Like, really? Oh, yeah, he did that game too. Hubert. What do you think Hubert was saying, really? Like, guess who did this game? No. Yeah. Judge Dredd, Ghostbusters. Oh, man. Oh, yes. All right. I have an Evil Dead segment. What? Because, remember, I said that when I finally set this game up, I'd have some segment and go over all the issues I have with the game. You wanted to hear. Oh, I'm hearing. You want to hear all the problems I have with the game. This is like the new box set up and everything just to get the play right? Yep, yep, yep. Do we have enough time on this episode? No. No, this is a spooky. Oh, wow. Well, the first thing you've got to know when you have one of these games. You're going to work on it. Or Elton John is you've got to get the sidearm protector thingies to slide in so every time you lift up the play field, you don't scratch the side art. You don't really need to do it on the sterns because it doesn't really come close enough. You can just be careful and you're not going to hit it. But these games, they pack the shit all the way to the edges, so you've got to protect your side art. So you've got to put that down. Pack that shit in tight. And then, because it's Evil Dead, you've got to put the extra little foam piece on if you lift the play field up so you don't damage the tape deck. Yeah. So you've got to get that down. But, yeah, I set it up, and I went through it, checked underneath the plate field, didn't find anything loose, didn't find any wires that were going to get pinched when a mech went off or anything. I looked at the hand, because supposedly I'm going by the owner's thread on Pinside, a lot of issues with the hand and the wires coming off. And I think they have a newer wire loom for this thing now, because mine, I don't see how it could easily come off. It was on there pretty damn good and with plenty of slack. I think they might have changed something. Another good thing to be at the end of the run. Yeah, that's true. They fix them as they go along. Yeah, nothing, no issues there before turning it on. In the backbox, there's like nothing in there. It's deserted. Just got like a little PC. That's pretty much it. So I fired it up and it actually booted. That's all it did. Yay! It's good. It takes forever to boot. It is the longest booting game by far. And they know it takes too long. So they have, like, goofy comments that come up. And they do this about all their games. I'm sure you've seen it, Bruce. Like, you know, loading speech. Loading snarky speech. Yes, there's plenty of it, you know, as it's loading. And I get a kick out of that. It's pretty funny. Even the circuit boards in the bottom of the play field have, like, goofy expressions on it and stuff like, you know, the Connect-a-Tron or some shit like that. Everything they do has got to be goofy. It's just the way they are. So I played a game or two, and it was, like, too floaty. I thought I had the proper angle. I thought I had it good enough, but I didn't. I had to jack it up a little bit more. Then I played a bunch of games. The third game I had at Reset, I was in, and I wish I remembered what mode I was in. I was in the Deadite multiball when the trolls come up, and I was in a mode, and it just, like, it did a hard reboot. Like, it crashed. Yay! Walking dead! Yeah! Evil dead. Evil dead. Evil dead. One of the dead things. Yeah, dead all right. It's dead, Jim. That is the only issue I had. Wow. That one time. That one time. The only other thing was the right in lane, the habit trail that feeds it, and the ball comes down. It was getting stuck on the switch wire form. And honestly, it's more of a wire form issue to me than a spooky issue because I had similar issues on like Rush on the top where if it goes over too slow, it wants to roll back and it can't because the thing's up so high. I hate those wire forms. You know what I'm talking about, Bruce? They're like a half circle. Yep. Instead of the Williams ones that were more like a straight and then it had the curve. You didn't have the issues you have with these. They just get stuck. So I had to take it out, bend it a little bit, bend it down as far as I could where it would still register, and I never had an issue again. There you go. And I played, like, I don't know, 20 games on it, and I've had zero issues, including the stuff that, like, supposedly on a lot of the games, if you hit the right orbit and it comes around and it just goes right down the middle, and mine doesn't do that, it just goes to the right flipper every time. That's a good thing. So, yeah, I don't have any of these adjustment issues that people have had to do. I didn't have any of that. It does have the issue where when you go to put the lockdown bar back on, you've got to lift up the play field a little bit to get the latches back up past the play field. You've got to do that, which it's a pain, but it's not that much of a pain. The play field is so heavy. Holy shit, there's so much crap on this game. Did you buy the optional shotgun? And they use it. No, I didn't. Not for $400. They do use everything. Ron will take donations for next year's Christmas gift already. A shotgun, and he will show you. And he will play with his shotgun a lot. But for all the stuff that's in it, they use it. Like that shit goes off. You feel like they use it. The thing I complain about ACDC, the lower play field is never active at the same time as the main play field is. Well, you don't have any of that issue on Evil Dead. I just, yeah, I really like, I like, I think the thing I like most about it is all the staged modes. Because, you know, I always love the staged Data East multiballs. You know, stage one, do this. Okay, now it's six ball multiball. Now do this. Now hit this. Like, all the modes are like that. It's like, first thing, do this. Okay, now do this. Get to the basement. Like, get to the basement. Get more shotgun shells or get more pages for the book, which is what was in Evil Dead 2. Like, it all follows scenes in the movie. And it's just, I don't know, it's because it's more of a niche license, but, man, when you get all the assets, it's so much better. You have all the fucking clips. You have Bruce Campbell. You have Ash himself just insulting you the whole game with custom call-outs. Just nothing beats when you have all the fucking assets. It's just so much better experience. So I can't really say. Okay, if I'm going to nitpick, here's one for you, Bruce. The coin box was backwards. There. Dead silence. That's all I got. Dead silence. For those at home, the coin box usually has the slanted side. That's supposed to be in front because the coins slide down into the – it was turned around. It was in the back. That's it. I had to give the game a four out of five. Oh, God. Because of the incorrectly placed. Yeah, no. I mean, frankly, I was surprised after my experience with TNA. I do feel they have come a long way with their stuff. I do. Yeah, Halloween was just a shit show. Yeah. But this, yeah, I mean, everything's been working. It does play long. I will probably leave it the way it is for a while until I discover all the wonderful things. The final wizard mode I don't think is in it yet. But I've gotten to one of the – like the thing, if you get through all the scenes from one of the movies, then you get a certain mode. I believe I got that, whatever that was. I'm not good at remembering this shit. But I think the final super mode isn't in there yet. My only software complaint – and I've had this about other games. The main multiball in Evil Dead is the cabin multiball. You know, you hit a drop, you hit two drop targets down, and you lock three balls, and it starts. Right? It's your main multiball. And the intro to it is really cool. The tape deck comes on. It stages the balls under the ramp. It has the girl there, you know, turn it off, turn it off. And then it comes out, and everything goes apeshit. Beautiful. The problem is if you're in a mode and you start the multiball, the mode call-outs will interrupt the intro sequence to cabin multiball. And that's just like, no, pause that shit. Or mute it, one or the other. But you can't do that. It ruins the whole. For example, I'm in a mode where it's telling me I have 10 seconds left and shoot the left ramp or something. So I start cabin multiball. While it's doing the whole show, I hear, you know, hurry, you have 10 seconds. Hit the left ramp. Hurry. Like, how? How can I? I don't have the balls. You have them. They're all in the cabin. So I actually posted that to the owner's thread on Pinside. I don't know. I know Ben Heck, the programmer, does read it occasionally. I don't know if he'll see it or care or whether anyone will care. Fuck that Ron guy. Or anyone who's in. He knows that first guy. But, yeah, yeah. I think by proxy, because of you, no one listens anymore. Fuck yeah. Yeah. But, see, even Robert was feeling me there. It's like you can't – it's a super cool presentation. It's one of the best ones in the game, and you can't interrupt it like that. Just pause. I don't know how hard programming is or how hard it would be just to pause the mode. But, yeah. That's it. I got nothing else. If any major things go wrong, I will update this segment. There you go. It sounds like you kind of do like I do when I get a new game. I kind of set it up, kind of out-of-the-box settings, and play it to try to get through as much stuff as I can before I make it harder. Yeah, I did put it in tournament mode. I don't know what that does, but extra balls are still on and stuff. I didn't turn any of that off. Oh, I forgot. I put the topper. The topper installation was easy. That topper is insane. That is a wonderful topper. I have the Star Wars topper. Star Wars! The R2-D2 topper, and I have the Rush topper, which is really nice. There ain't no comparison between that and this thing. I mean, you take it out, the wood, it's got, like, nails bent over and stuff. The detail is fucking insane. Absolutely insane. It's insane. The only issue I have is the hair keeps getting in her face. I got to figure out how to get the hair. I got, like, a hairpin or something. so what you're saying is you actually got the value of the topper that you pay for unlike other topper costs where you get some plastics yeah their topper isn't like a thousand dollars if i recall that that topper and they sold so many of those toppers too and the same game same guy makes the the beetlejuice ones but i mean they should retain this guy for every fucking topper for now on My opinion. But, yeah, it's just impressive. It's very impressive. Stay tuned in two weeks when the first thing breaks on the game. Yeah. I watched some pretty long games and nothing broke yet. But, yeah. Yeah, I was impressed. That's good. So, sorry, Bruce. I can't trust everything. Cross your fingers, buddy. Hang on and hold tight because you're going to get DP'd. No, no. I'm not getting any Dutch games. Sorry. You're getting DP'd, buddy, and you're going to like it. Did you listen to the newest Final Round Pinball? Is it the one where they mentioned us? They mentioned me. Yeah, they mentioned you. I have a love affair. Can they say something about your cruises are actually like sex orgies or something? The sex orgies, yes. I wish. God. No, they were doing some comparisons that, like, arch enemies are actually secret lovers or something like that. Who was yours, Bruce? I know who mine was. Yeah, that's right. That's right. Yes, your lover is actually Lonnie Ropp. Yes, it is. Lonnie Ropp, yeah. We have a love-hate relationship. Yes. That was pretty funny. That was pretty funny. I love the boys. Thank you, boys, for shouting us out. the lawsuit is still in litigation. And you're still suing them? Yes, we are. Of course we are. Is it like Journey where you're in the group and you're suing other members of the group as you're still in the group? I want my loonies and toonies. So my I have to be careful, but I let my, like when I'm driving my 14-year-old to school, sometimes I'll listen to your podcast and that podcast. And so there are some times I'm like ooh. At the end of their podcast, they were talking about Ryan's dog, Desmond, taking like human-sized poops on the sidewalk. And my kid's named Desmond. So he's just laughing his ass off because he's like, Desmond, take a man-sized poop on the middle of the sidewalk. He loved it. Nice. If he's 14, he probably says the F word more than we do. Yeah, he probably does. Desmond, this is for you. Fuck yeah! I need a shit! A fuck! Oh, damn it! All right, do you want to do would or would not buy that or the ball bag? Which one? Would you or would you not buy that? It's back! It's back. Four entries. Since we have a guest on, we're going to tell you the whole story of how this works. We're going to go on eBay.com. Bruce is going to give you a number. and we're going to see if we would or would not buy that. Wait a minute. So you said there's four. So you already gave us the number. That's good. Yeah. That would be you. Four. Four. There's four of these. Four. There's four numbers we're going to go with. Oh, no. Four different items we're going to look at. So go to eBay.com. The first question you always have, does that mean there's four pinball machines or three pinball machines and some adult toys? We don't know. Or the condom dispenser like you did in one episode. That's still the best one. The condom dispenser was a fucking classic of agreement. That was, yeah, stuff to beat the condom dispenser. It is fucking awesome that I did that. But ebay.com, and in the search bar, you're just going to put this long number that Bruce is going to give you. Are you ready? While driving, very important. While driving. I said, are you ready? Ready! Let's get ready to suck it! There you go. That's for you, Robert. Okay, 186. 5-5-7. 5-7-8. 8-8-8. For the thousands in attendance and the billions watching at home. Actually, no. Probably for the us in attendance and the hundreds listening. 12. 12? All right. This is a black hole pinball machine. Only $2,800. or $2,650 with a coupon code. Coupon code. All right, let's look at this puppy here. This is located in San Diego, California. 99.3% positive. And this person sold 11,182 items. Okay. I know what Ron's first complaint is going to be. Oh, I guarantee it. The glass is on. The glass is on. Collier Whitefield glass is on. It's got California Pure Rocker on the side that I can't tell if that's painted on it or whether it's just like a watermark. It looks like a bumper sticker. I'm going to say it's a bumper sticker because it's smooth blue. But they picked a color that's exactly the cabinet color. The glass is on. I like the flipper rubbers. You can see the cracks in them. Very good detail there. Nowhere. There's not many that do have wear, but there are a couple that you see have wear. Okay. There's just minimal pictures for me to make an opinion. I mean. Yeah, there's a little bit of wear on the out lane, on the right out lane. I mean, it looks okay. Does it work? Do we have comments? Let's see. Oh, here we go. Turns on, but doesn't fully function right. Was in storage for a while, so needs a tune-up. In great condition otherwise, other than the fact that it doesn't work. Does not work. Only items included in pictures are included in the sale. Okay. Please look at all photos. We will ship the same-day purchase in a professionally packaged box. So they've got one of the pictures shows a pinball lift underneath. So that comes with it, right? Because everything you see comes with it. Oh, yeah, that's right. See, Robert's on the wall. I mean, that's worth it. And that looks relatively new and good. I'm guessing they're not going to part with that. But I'd show up and say, yep, load that up, too. I'll take that bitch right now. So how much do black holes usually go for these days? I think that's pretty, that's not outrageous. Not outrageous. If it was working. It is high, though, for a non-working game. And it's not like this is a rare game. They made a lot of black holes. They made a lot of these, yes. Condition's not that bad, though. So would you, would you not buy that? I'll tell you, baby, the American dream would not buy that. It's a little too rich for my blood. You know, I got to work hard to make enough money to afford this thing. I would not buy that either. I would not buy it just for the fact that I'm not nearly techie enough to figure out what's wrong with this one. Although I have started to like Black Cold War, I have to say. Yeah, I appreciate it more since we have one at the coop. Yeah. Well, you've seen how to play it now, right? You watch Jason show you how to play it? Oh, Jesus. Yeah. Yeah, I tried that thing he was doing. It didn't work on the one at RPK. You shoot the scoop on the left. Yeah. Yeah. And you let it kick out. And you keep shooting it. Trap up and you just go back a million times. I don't use Jason Zoller's technique for any game because I will not be able to do what he's doing. Okay, so we got one no from everyone. Yeah. Are you ready for the next one? Yes, sir. 137-019-750-144 Well, you know, brother, we got a Star Battle cocktail pinball machine, dude. You said cock. I did. I said cocktail. Hey, how's it going? Actually, before you go into this, We actually had, we ran a herb style during the Bat City Open over the three days that we were playing other tournaments. And we actually had a cocktail in the Pump and Dump. Well, there you go. Called Family Fun because it was a really kind of cool little game to play and since you could play it a bunch. So, anyways. I love the guy's name. My camera. My camera. Karma. Over your karma, over your dogma. Karma ran over your dogma. Oh. Unfortunately, Karma, isn't it with a K? Yeah. Maybe that one was used. My car. From Saratoga, California. California. I mean, I don't think I've ever seen this one. Wow, the dude's fighting this really ugly dude. That looks like he's got Vulcan ears, but he's bald, and he looks interesting. Very interesting. Wait, is that Phil Grimaldi? Wow. Wow. So go ahead, give the description, Ron. It's, well, it's $1,490. Let's just say it's $1,500. For best offer. Star Battle Cocktail Pinball Machine was working great 20 years ago. Went into storage 10 years ago when I flipped the switch yesterday. I got one light on the play field. No play. Bummer. This is California. I got one light on the play field. No play. Bummer, dude. If you are good with pinball machines, here you go. Play field is in mental condition. Machine measures 44 inches by 34 inches. Ant is 30... Ant is 27 inches tall. It's about 180 pounds. Dude. Dude. Dude. The machine's being sold as is for parts and it's not working. It's like something plugged in, as I previously stated. At least one light. It's heavy. I mean, if you can fix it, it's interesting. Yeah. If you could go in person and pick this thing up. And maybe get them down a little bit from that offer. Yeah, I think that's a possibility. Be interesting. I've never seen one of these. It's the same company that made the one that Zach has. Ah, okay. And name the company. It's in the listing. It's what? Star... No. Nope. Coffee Mat Amusement Division. Coffee Mat Amusement Division. Wow. Okay. Okay. Okay. I was like, what the fuck? Zach's got the other one, the one that he has in his living room. Mm-hmm. No. I mean, I wouldn't. No. But if you were into cocktails. Yeah. This would be an interesting one. $800,000 maybe? Maybe, yeah. Maybe. Playfield looks pretty cool now. And you don't know what board. It's got a weird board set. Yeah, that's the thing. Yeah, the weird board set. Yeah. But I would just give it to Zach and he'd fix it. Exactly. Like, we just found with our rotation eight that we still haven't figured out what the fuck's going on with it. Uh-oh. Oh, yes. They had one of those at Pinball at the Beach. So they went in there and just grabbed it. Just grabbed it. We could use support from this. Grab it. No! Ready for the next one, boys and girls out there. Is this the third one or the fourth one? Third. Third one. Sorry, sorry. 136. 966. 244 367 Ah, we have one of these at the collective. Ooh, this is the same thing that Bruce has. A Platinum Edition Monopoly. What does Platinum Edition mean? Explain, Bruce. Jack, you know, Jersey Jack Pinball. Before he was Jersey Jack Pinball, he was pinballsales.com. I think he still is, but he was their main distributor. Yes, so he went to Gary Sturt and said, I want to make a Platinum Edition with every square on the board as a special Platinum Edition. So there's a get out of jail free, go to jail, there's every board, all the railroads. Wait a minute, there's a go to jail board again? Yes, because guess what? Guess what this one is? This is luxury tax. Oh. So see? What's yours? Mine is Vintner. Now, the only thing is, it just comes with a certificate that says what you are, but all the games are actually the same. Yes. Nothing to differentiate them. Nope, nothing to differentiate. And a chrome. Yes. There's three things. You get the special tag. It has three autographs on it. It has Gary Stern. It has John Yousi, and it has Pat Lawler. And it's chromed. Yes, and it's chromed. And the safe is a different color or something. Yes. And if you got the Monopoly itself, it was signed by the Hasbro president at the time. But that's the normal side art on the backbox? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I guess I haven't really paid much attention to the side art. Well, let's see the item description. This is a super rare Platinum Edition Monopoly pinball machine. Stern released 40 of these machines, one for each piece on the Monopoly board. Wow, didn't I just say that? Holy shit, you did. This machine is representing the luxury tax piece, the 39th of 40 machines. This machine includes the original plaque that came with the sale of the machine. The plaque is pictured along with its original box. Damn, the platinum edition is unique because it comes with chrome trim, chrome rails, lock-down bar, legs, hinges, chrome trim on the head. This is an extremely well-kept machine with minimal wear and kept as original as possible. The Translight is also signed by Pat Waller, along with John Yousi, Yossi the Artist, and Gary Stern. Ta-da. Hmm. I mean, it's a really pretty game. I just don't like Monopoly enough to drop $12,000. $12,000. I mean, you can pretty much get most Stern LEs at this point for $12,000. But it's one of 40. It's got a video. Or it says play video, but it's not doing anything when I click on it. Looks nice. It'd be nicer if they took that top glass off and had some close-ups. What I'd love to do, I wanted to do when I was still in the artist thing, is you know how Mr. Monopoly is, Rich Uncle Pennybags is holding Boardwalk as the thing? I would love to have put my deed for my game. I think that would have been really cool if they did that, like, you know, the deed. and if you got like luxury tax you would get the card for chance saying you know collect luxury tax and that kind of stuff so that would have been a cool way of putting it on the back glass oh okay so you got one of these plaques then somewhere yes i do yeah i have the plaque i have the plaque i have the original receipt i have everything for my game i'm gonna say if if you're a big monopoly fan and you're a big pinball person this is pretty cool It's different. It totally is. I wouldn't pay more than $7 or $6. Yeah, this is like an LE pricing of a modern game. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But, I mean, you could argue there's only $40. $40, yes. Yeah. So, you know. And really, there's only $39 because one Hasbro is owned by Hasbro. You know, the Monopoly is owned by Hasbro. So, there's only $39 out there. I mean, it looks nice. When they came out, I actually almost had Kathy convinced to buy. Because these are all auctioned. they actually did bidding on eBay for these games. Oh, okay. That's why the plaque said eBay on it. Yes. Wow, eBay was around back then? eBay was around back then. This was like 20 years ago. And what's the blue ones on the bottom, the purple? It's Mediterranean. I almost put a bid on it, and it was like $3,400. So the regular sterns were like $3,100. So I was like, for $400, it would be pretty cool to get this. And then we didn't do it. We were like, I don't want to buy a pinball in the machine. And then I got lucked into this one. Luck be the lady tonight. So I would buy this for $7,000, not $12,000. Yeah. But if you're in big Monopoly like I am, it's pretty darn cool. Are you ready for the last one? Yes, I am. And what is it could be? Here we go. What is it could be? I don't know what it could be. It could be a pinball machine. It could be a condom machine. It could be a used rubber. Oh, no. No, no, no. 277-664-952-404. Sharky Shootout. Yeah. Stern Sharky Shootout, original 2004. Where is this? This is... Two pictures. Oregon. Oregon. But it's not 2004. It came out in 2000. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's wrong. Yeah, that's right. Oh, yeah. They had one of these at Pinball at the Beach. I think it was a European model because it had the extra posts. Yeah. And the extra buttons. No, they all have the extra posts. They all have the extra buttons on the sides? Yep. Okay. Do they all have a switch in the upper left? Oh, this one has it, too. Yes. There's a switch on the upper left that the only purpose is to tell whether the glass is on or not. Yep. Why did they do that? Because they were going to link them by Internet eventually, and so they would then know if you were playing the game with the glass off. With the glass off. They were going to link them in the Internet in 2000? Yeah, they were talking about it because that's why they partnered up with IT, which is the, you know, if you look at the back glass, it's more fun to compete, It had the IT logo from the company that was doing Golden Tee at the time. Ah, yes. Incredible technologies. Yes. So, Ron, give us the description. Let's see. Stern's Sharky Shootout Pinball Machine, original 2004. And there's two pictures. Did you go over the description yet, Ron? Yeah, that's it. That's it. That's all they got. And they got a picture and another picture. both. You can't see really. It's far away from the game and the glass is on. You can't see anything. The two pictures are like the same picture. Yeah, just one's closer than the other. Yeah, and the one you can see a little bit on the DMD, not enough to see if it's totally working. Is this normal for the back glass or the backbox to be white? Yes, that is normal. It's a one-off backbox also from Stern. Yeah. This is like their second game. I mean, when you zoom in, it looks clean. Yeah, it looks really clean, actually. I don't see any wear or anything on it. It is only $2,000. Or best offer. West Coast guys. Oregon. Oregon, yes. Oregon. Oregon. Oregon. It's not how you say it. You say potato. I say fuck you. No. I mean for $2,000 I would jump on this if it's fully working if you can go meet the guy for $2,000 I'd jump on this in a second I mean the one picture shows it's at least booted yeah I would definitely if it was on the east coast take my money wow looks like Pennside's running them for $2,500-ish. Yep, and $105 for delivery. Tell me you want to deliver to DPX Extreme. Extreme. Mine says $111. So it knows my location. It knows me. It's cheaper to go here than to all of me. You're closer to California. Or Oregon, sorry. Oregon! How about you, Robert? How much is your shipping? Or it doesn't have your information. 103-47. Wow, see? But he in a hotel somewhere I in Houston so Ah Houston Houston That is right So that is all for Would You or Would You Not Buy That? Alright, very good. I think we're going to finish up with the ball bag. Oh. Jesus. There's only two emails here. Well, there's a third one, which is RSVP. Oh, what are we RSVPing? Coming Stern Pinball Cornerstone exclusive pinball media open house. What? It's tomorrow. Fuck. Yes, we could see Pokemon tomorrow if we wanted to. Yaman, Pokemon. I would love to go to Stern and start doing that. Here's the interesting thing. It's got the NDA right on the email. Yes. So I was thinking, like, and we got one also for my other podcast that I'll mention, Silver Ball Chronicles, where we talk about pinball history. We also received the same email. I was thinking under where it says, you know, put your name. If I just put Silver Ball Chronicles and sent it in, but then I went there and then just dumped everything, like, oh, well, I was going there, slam, tilt, not Silver Ball Chronicles. I did the wrong one. So. Where are they going to pay for a hotel room or flights? No, they don't do any of that anymore. I know. That's fucking close. So, but if you were going there, it's tomorrow, February 11th, 9 to 9.30 a.m., arrival and NDA signing. So we got a half hour to make sure you sign it. Then 9.30 to 10. I flew all this way. Do I want to sign this or not? No, it's not easy to just bother. Just leave. You flew all the way here. No, I chased my mind. I changed my fucking mind. Fuck this shit. 9.30 to 10 a.m., the factory tour. Then 10 to 11.30 a.m., overview of an open play of Cornerstone. Still doesn't say the name. With the lead designer, programmer, and Stern team, which doesn't say what any of those are. 11.30 to 1 p.m., lunch catered by Stern. When did we get this? I didn't even look at the emails. A while ago. I think it's still in. We got it on January 30th. Oh, wow. A 1 to 6.30 individual demo interview content creation session. See, this is where you actually have to do work. Oh, fuck that. And actually interview people. Hold on. Hold on, guys. I have a phone, and I have Ron as my editor. Here we go! 6.30, dinner catered by Stern. Ooh. And thank you, Stern, for sending us. Thank you for inviting us. Thank you for inviting us. Maybe one of these days we could actually do this. In the middle of the week again. Stop the middle of the week shit. Make it on a Friday, you fuckers. Make it on a weekend so your employees have to come in. No, just on a Friday. Fly out Thursday. You only take one day off from work. People who actually have jobs do pay for a pinball machine. So hang on. Let me scroll through my top rope pinball. on Yahoo. Oh, well, maybe it's my spam folder. Let me check. No, it's not there. Dang it. What the fuck? What the fuck it up? When I was coming back from pinball at the beach, I had my walking boot on for my foot surgery. Boots are made for walking. And as I'm getting on the plane, they'll do. One of these days, These boots are going to walk all over you. We love you long time. From Nancy Sinatra to... We love you long time. No, well, no. We love you long time. That's from Full Metal Jacket. Yes, it is. That's pretty much all I remember from that movie is the whole boot camp scene and then the very beginning of me love you long time, me so horny, and that's all I remember. Yep. What the hell was I saying? Oh, boot, my boot. So this is on the way back, and we're in, like, boarding group seven or something. This is Southwest. And as I get on, the women's there, like, oh, you could have pre-boarded, you know, because of the walking boot. The walking boot. And I'm thinking, like, huh, could I just, like, bring the walking boot everywhere and just get on the plane early now? I'm getting on eBay right now. Yeah. How many fucking walking boots? Amazon.com, walking boot. I mean, would I have to, like, prove my doctor's note or anything? $30, $40 I can get right first spot. I mean, it can't be that easy, can it? You just maybe limp around. But, yeah, I mean, I didn't even think to ask that. I mean, I was just. You do it, like, three or four times, and then, like, a year later, they've got your name red flagged because they check you off every time you go through it. You know how many surgeries I've had in this fucking foot, man? A year later, you walk up, and it's the same moment from the previous year. Like, wow. Yeah, it hasn't healed yet, man. I'm sorry. I'm a bad healer. I'm old. I'm a slow healer. Jesus. But, yes, thank you, Stern, for the invite. Thank you, Stern, for inviting us. Thank you, Stern, for not inviting. Oh, wait. Oh. Whenever you do the Beavis and Butthead, I will definitely be there. Ron will take off the whole week. I'll take the whole week. I'll make an event. All right. Here we go. This one's from Chris. Hi, Chris. The subject is saying hi. Hi, Bruce, Ron, and Robert. How did he know? How did he know? Well, that actually doesn't say it, but hi, Bruce and Ron. I thought maybe he did. Wow. That would be impressive. Coming to you from beautiful upstate California. Wow. We actually just call it Northern California. I just like to say hi and send you guys some love. I discovered Slam Tilt via Ron's other podcast, Dead Sign. The Silver Ball Chronicles. Thank you. Low-catted app. And have quickly become a big fan. I've been playing pinball since the 80s. Well, he's old like you, Bruce. And have enjoyed watching the hobby have a lustrous renaissance. I like that. Lustrous renaissance. That sounds like a title. That might be title worthy. Even if it doesn't make sense to anything else. No, dual penetration extreme must be the title for this one. No, I'm not putting dual penetration extreme. I could put like DPX punctured or something. I don't know. No, no, no. Pinball at the Fiat. No, DPX blown out. No. No, you can only be so vulgar in the title. DPX. Rubber up it. Rubber up, it's DPX time It's DPX time It's DPX time, yeah Oh god Okay Have a lustrous renaissance I like lustrous renaissance These last couple decades, friends used to laugh at me Owning a Williams space shuttle That looked so old and beat up And I'd always just explain that it was A beloved pastime from my childhood That was passed down by my dad Now they all hit me up to play it and then hit the local pinball bars so I get the last laugh. Nice. I really enjoy listening to you hams yuck, yuck about the hobby each week and feel like I'm part of a bigger family. When the OBX controversy broke, oh, no, I appreciated your stance that pinball is for everyone. We're all trying to get the high score, and no one should be excluded. That kind of thing resonates with people. Thank you. And thank you for sharing your – Wait, like run. Yes. That means I was kind of right. You're always right, Chris. And thank you for sharing your insights, pervy jokes, hot takes, laughs, tears, and the weekly goodness that is Slam Tilt. Bye, weekly. Never weekly again. No way. Oh, fuck yeah. Since you don't edit, we can do this daily. No, Bruce, I wish you... I liked it better when you guys finally went bye. Oh, yes, we did. Jesus. Ah, bipolar. Bob, I'm wishing you the best as you navigate the complications of life right now. Oh, fuck yeah. God, oh, fuck it. Ron, hope your foot leg is healing well. It is, actually. It is, yes. He was actually able to put shoes on. Yeah, I got regular sneakers on. It did get sore, though, walking around, standing up all day. At least the tent where they have all the games is carpeted, thank God. Oh, that's good. And a quick shout-out to my local Pin Cades here in Sacramento. Capital Pinball Parlor and Das Flipperhaus. Das Flipperhaus! Ja! Und ja! Keep doing what you guys are doing. I'm stuck in the accent. Hope to shake your ass off. Get to the chopper! Hope to shake your head one day in the flesh at the RPC or a tournament or beyond. Your friend in pin, Chris. Get to the pinball! Thank you, Chris. It's not a tumor. Yes. It's not a tumor. It's not a tumor. Through here and here. Through here and here. You know you won't hear me. In front of the door. I'm sorry. Sorry. I'm not pictured. Just my back. My hairy back. And my huge arms. Yeah, my huge arms. Fuck me. Oh, Mark. I wish they would be able to fix the rights thing and get him in there. I would like to play more Predator because I just played one game and it was not enough to really tell if it's any good. I agree. So I just recently... Play Predator? No, Jurassic Park. No, that's what the lawyer called him. He couldn't get away from that. I just recently upgraded again back to the movie Jurassic Park stuff and it makes the game so much more immersive. So I agree. Somebody needs to do that with Predator and edit in Arnold. I'll put Arnold in. Yeah, I am back. And just put him in, but have, like, other movies, like Commando. I lie. Wait a minute. That's not even from the movie. Let's see. This is from Kevin. Uh-oh. Subject, STD warning. Uh-oh. If Chris Hansen's coming to your house, you know you're in trouble. Did you get that one wrong or no? No. Oh, come on. Robert, did you get that one? I did not get that one. Chris Hansen, I don't know who that is. The Catcher Predator? I never watched that program. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. You watch The Catcher Predator. You buy all John Trudeau games. I'm starting to wonder here. Oh, hell yeah. Oh, my. And I want to work at a pinball machine company. You are a douchebag. A douchebag. A total douchebag. You know, I haven't heard George decayed a while. Oh, my. Okay. Kevin says, STD warning. We all know Bruce hates modern Stern. No, no, no, that's not true. Well, hear me out. Ron thinks it's okay. Now that Spike 2 has come to an end, what are your favorite? Oh, this is good because we have Robert here. What are your favorite three Spike 2 games? Hmm. I'd have to pull up a list. I'm pulling it up now. I'm curious. Now that they've finished the whole Spike 2 is dead, it's moved on, except for when they do vaults, or not vaults. What are they called? Remasters. Remasters. Remasters. Hopefully IPDB has all the stuff in there. They're not always up to date, so what's the easiest way? Just look up Godzilla, and then hopefully it says Spike 2 is a board set, and I can just pick that. White Star. Oh, no, that's the other Godzilla. Here we go. Spike 2. Of course, I could just name all the ones I own. Yeah, you could. I mean, that's kind of – how about I name ones I don't own? Oh, God. There was a ton of them. Yes, there was. Actually, a lot of these are just because there's multiple versions. We got – for those at home, I'll give them all for our listeners. We've got Aerosmith, Batman, Black Knight, Sword of Rage, Deadpool, Dr. No, James Bond, Elvira, House of Horrors, Godzilla, Guardians of the Galaxy, Iron Maiden, Jurassic Park, Led Zeppelin, Stranger Things, Rush, Star Wars, Star Wars the Mandalorian, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Avengers, Beatles, Monsters, Venom. That's it. The others are just different versions of stuff. Okay, first one we can all agree on Godzilla Yeah, I'll go, but I own that That's my number two Oh, that's your number two? Wow, that's your shit one? What's your good one? I'm a big I gotta stick with Elwynn on all these Elwynn's discovery Yes, I'm I got my finger up And I'm like They go, ha, ha, ha. I mean, I just mentioned it. I have to put Jurassic Park just slightly above Godzilla. Wow, okay. Ron, what's your number two? Well, I can't pick ones I don't own because I don't really like some of these. So I really like Jurassic Park. I'm missing off the list. I don't think you talked about one. I like Jurassic Park. Okay, so that's your number two, huh? It's so good. Foo Fighters that's Spike 3 not Spike 3 Spike 2 oh no Spike 2 where is Foo Fighters it's not even here their list their list is faulty I can't even use their list that's what I said damn it I know that one's missing they're forcing me to go to Pinside but that's why I said Foo Fighters I think it's actually a really good solid solid solid player I love Foo Fighters I picked up a Foo Fiver's premium with like upgraded speakers and a bunch of stuff, you know, like $10,000 worth of stuff for like $7,200 about six months ago. And I'm like, I could not pass it up. Nope. And it was a great game. Yeah, I was buying Potter and I'm like, okay, I'm already out for $12,000. Can I drop another $7,000? What the hell is another $7,000? Yeah. Wait a minute. Oh, yeah. So you got Jaws, King Kong. I forgot Dungeons and Dragons. Yep. Metallica. Wait a minute. It's a Metallica remaster. It's got the Spike 3 power supply, but I guess it's still Spike 2. X-Men. Yeah. John Wick. Man, it was missing all kinds of shit. Yes, it was. Damn it. But none of those I want, though. None of those I want. So I picked Foo Fighters for my number two. What's your number three, Robert? I want to pick something I don't own. I had to go with my first new in-box game that I ever bought. and that was Maiden. God, boy. Yeah. Boy, that was really tongue-in-the-old Kinko and Call me. Call me. I want you on my show. Your calves are so sexy. Yes, they are. I'm going to name one that's not that I don't own. I would say Beatles. I like the Beatles. Okay. I like the Beatles. Good support, Bruce. Good support. If I was going to name one I do own, I would say Iron Maiden. Well, I picked the two I picked. I don't even own. So I pick Godzilla and I pick Foo Fighters. Yeah, you don't own new games, though. You hate all-stars. We know this. No, no, no. The third one I own. Oh. Batman. Yeah. Still love my Batman. I'm Batman. I'm Batman. Deadpool was a close one. Deadpool was a close four. It's like right behind it. But I really like Foo Fighters. I've been playing a lot of Foo Fighters lately, and I'm like, man. I'll put Rush up there, because if I don't, Ray Day will kill me. Yeah, Rush is really good. That's like 4.00001. Okay, what's your bottom three? Oh, God. Number one for me is Turtles. Turtles, John Wick. I kind of like Turtles. I don't fucking like Turtles at all. Turtles, John Wick, and Dungeons & Dragons. I didn't really like the way Dungeons & Dragons shot, so I'm going to go by my usual how it shoots. Black Knight Sword of Rage, I didn't really like. It was so much right flipper. Well, if you get the pro, the pro is not bad. It's a place harder, but it's still right flipper. Okay, Robert, what's your third? I'll find my third here. I got my three. It's a toss-up. Monsters is such a turd. Oh, it is a turd, but it's a playable turd. I'll have to go with Venom. I just don't. I don't like Venom. Neither do I, but it's not as bad as Dungeons & Dragons. Dungeons & Dragons, please. I'll go with Mando. I like Mando. I've been getting into Mando lately, actually, more and more. Because everyone picks it against me in League. So I play it more, and I'm like, okay, I've got to get really good at it. Now I know what to do, and I'm getting like $300 million each time. Okay, what's your middle three? I'm just kidding. What's the one if you were stuck on an island you would use as a raft? Oh, yes. Enough. There's more to the email. That wasn't it. Okay. Also, as a Generation X STD. Oh, it's my age. I will refinance my house. Generation X 2. Yes. Oh, that's right. I will refinance my house for a Beavis and Butthead pen. Fuck yeah. If I had to pick a company to make Beavis and Butthead, it would be Spooky or Barrels. I think I trust more. Who would you pick? Yeah, probably one or the other. Unless it was Keith. Unless it was Keith. If Keith was doing it from Stern, I think I'd go with that. I don't think there's any chance Stern would do it, so I would say Spooky or Barrels. You wouldn't think that with Family Guy, though. They won Family Guy. Yeah, and Gary didn't really get it, and they didn't give it any time to actually sell, so they just abandoned and went for the Whatchamacallit. And look how smart Gary is. He's still around. jackson jackson's boy toy god i'll tell you what if that's dpx's next game beavis and butthead i'm in wow oh wait no no dvx is gone so okay so dp dutch pinball comes out we have the rights to beavis and butthead everything deposits are being taken we're only building 200 What are you doing? And it's $12,000. You just get, oh, God. $12,000. But guess what? It's $200 only. But you only see the back of Beavis and Butthead. No, no. All, everything. Even if they might judge you in custom call-outs. Oh. Oh. Oh, so now, what do you do? Do you have a rollercoaster of love in there from the movie? Oh, the rollercoaster. Love, love, love, love, love, love. I don't know. I'm really thinking about this one here. Come on. Large pie, fry, large coffee. Got me good, buddy. Yeah. Wait a minute. There's two kids here. They're supposed to prune my trees. They're yanking in my trailer. Trailer. You've been whacking off in my tool still. What the hell? That's a tough one, Bruce. You're avoiding the question, guys. Come on. I would buy it because I think it would not lose any money even if it was only $200 I would check around to see who else is buying it if anyone I know is buying it I would buy it and be called a hypocrite I don't want to be a hypocrite I'm going to be fucking really old by the time they build it so you'll be able to join in your retirement I just don't trust them. What if you went through CoinTaker and you got your guaranteed money? Okay, if I get guaranteed deposit back or something, okay. Okay. Okay, good. We're all in on it. We're all in on Dutch Pinball's new Feebissing Funhead. You've got your theme. There you go. You got three sales guaranteed, D.P. Who would you guys pick, Spooky or Barrels? Barrels. I think if it's Barrels, it would be a more normal play field. Yes. Yeah, it would be a normal play field. But do I want normal? Yes. I do. Yes. I'll go Barrels. We'll see what they do. Plus, I don't think Spooky would do it. As long as there's a good topper with them sitting on the couch. Yeah. I don't think Barrels would do it either. I think no one's making that theme. But sincerely, Boston Kevin. Oh, he's got a – he's Boston Kevin. Boston Kevin. If you guys ever want me to come on and hear a dirty Boston accent, I'm down. All right. We got another person. Pack the car. Nah. Yeah. Have it. Have it. Have it. Rich walks. I will say one thing. Did you guys watch the Super Bowl? I know Ron didn't, so I'll ask that to Robert. I watched the Super Bowl. I did. I did. I did. Okay, what about that fucking Dunkin' Donuts commercial? That was like... Where they just brought like every old sitcom star. Oh, my fucking God. Every star they could pull out with a fucking, you know, doing Boston accents. I was like, oh, my fucking God. I like the one where Ben Stiller's stuntman falls into the drum kit. That one, yeah. That one I liked. That was about it. There wasn't good commercials this year. There was terrible commercials this year. Some of them I didn't even realize were supposed to be, like the polar bears are supposed to be the, it's the Coke, Coke, Coke. The Coke, yeah. With the Pepsi. So they reenacted the whole, like, the couple that got caught at the Coldplay concert deal. I thought that was kind of original. But some of the other ones where the guy's like on AI asking questions and the person next to him is like, would you like to sign up for that? How about the one that was the crypto and it was just like, it was karaoke. It was literally just playing a minute. I was gone with the lyrics on it. Like, what the fuck am I watching? I know. What is this product? What the hell? Damn it. You remember it, though, now, don't you? Yeah. No, I don't remember the name of the product. No, I don't remember the name of the product. I just remember it was a crypto some shit. Yeah. Hey, don't forget eight Jet players won a Super Bowl ring on this Seattle 3-0. Oh, they did? Yeah. Okay. That's as close as the Jets will come to win a Super Bowl. As close as the Jets. I feel like I won a fifth of a Super Bowl. Oh, by the way, the Giants just raised their ticket prices 11%. I know. Thank you, Harbaugh. Parking is $45. I was like, holy fuck. You've got to pay for Harbaugh's contract, man. Yeah, it's 20 mil. Yeah. Oof. Actually, Ed Robertson, Texas, what do you guys do? Who do you root for? Is it Texans or is it the Cowboys? Well, I'm originally from Indiana, so I still root for the Colts who had a major collapse this year. Ah, the Indianapolis Colts. Yeah, I was very grateful trading with you guys. Thank you. I'm a Jets fan. Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Sorry, Bruce. No, I was very happy. I got rid of sauce and I got two first-round picks. Even as old as Bruce is, he has never seen them win a championship. Nope. Hey, my wife sent me a meme. Okay, here's the best meme you can ever say. Hold on. Go pull it up real fast. While you're pulling it up, I was just thinking about the fact that the Knicks have never won a championship in my lifetime. Nope. For a New York team, that's insane. That is insane. Technically, I would have been in the womb. I would have been baking around the time that they won. My favorite childhood memory is Reggie Miller giving Spike Lee the choke sign. Oh, yeah. Oh, yes, the playoffs there. Okay, so your wife... Playoffs? My wife sent me this meme. Maturing in marriage is realizing your husband will never get tired of you. He's been rooting for the same sports team since he's been five years old and still believes this year is going to be their year. Yeah, but you don't believe that the Cheshires are going to be... They're never going to get rid of fucking Woody. Woody. Oh, hi, boys and girls. We're going off the track here. Oh, fuck, no, but yeah. Yes. So, yes, I did watch the Super Bowl, Chris, believe it or not. Wow, that's like a miracle. I didn't think you would watch that. I usually watch the Super Bowl. Okay. It was a good defensive contest, if that's what you're into. I thought the game was great. New win and lost. I mean, I like the lack of penalty flags. That was always nice. That was very nice. Yeah. I like a nice, clean game. Yep. Seeing quarterbacks get slaughtered, I loved it. Yeah, that was good seeing quarterbacks get hit. Yeah. Yeah. Like at the beginning of the game where they had the coin toss and Joe Montana was there, I was like, look, Leonard Marshall's behind you. Ah, Steve, Giants fan would get that. I did get that. Freaking ended his career. And that hit would be illegal now. That would have been like a spear. He hit him with the helmet right in between his shoulder blades. That would be. He would have got thrown out of the game now probably. Totally. But back then, clean hit. Clean hit. Jump on the ball. All right. This has been episode 264. Oh, no. We have more. We have more? Freeze. Oh, what do we have? What are you advertising now, Bruce? What do you think I'm advertising? Stop again? Stop! Oh, Jesus. Yeah, which is where? In October? Like, when is it? No. Oh, May. May! Dumbass. only three months away, May 15th through the 17th, we have less than 25 entries left. And if you pay before March 15th, you get a chance to win your entry fee back. Whoa! Whoa! And hopefully when we find out about Pinburgh, hopefully we'll be purchasing another Pinburgh ticket so somebody can win a chance to go to Pinburgh. We're hoping for that this year, and we're going to try for it again. Wow. Thanks. All right. All right. Everyone's tired out now. Yeah, we got all excited for all this fun stuff and Robert coming up here. But don't forget, if you want to get it on Stomp, $1.35. Get your money back if you get it before March 15th, possibly. Play awesome pinball. Meet Bruce and Ron. Where do I send the money? Is this on the Internet somewhere? It is on the Internet. You go to our Slam Tilt Pod page. You go to the events, and you will see Stomp 10, the one that matters. Our Facebook page, you mean. It's not our Facebook. Yes, yes. Internet. The internet. Well, you can actually go to www.slamtiltpodcast.com, and in the upper right-hand corner, our Facebook link is there, so you can click on there. Or you can just search for Slam Tilt Podcast on Facebook, and that will work too. And if you want to email us at ballbag. and join us maybe for a podcast send an email to slamtelpodcast at gmail.com that's slamtelpodcast at gmail.com this has been episode 264 we've been here with Robert Byers do you have anything else you would like to plug? plug it baby plug it top rope pinball top rope pinball like you do with the slam tilt Just search for it somewhere. You will find me. That's right, brother. Now that I'm not with Deep Root anymore and I'm awaiting trial, all I do is watch Top Rope Pinball as much as I can, brother. Robert Mueller is never going to be president. He's going to go forever. That's right, baby. I watch the Top Rope, too. He's a true American. That's right. I am a real American. Fight for the senior citizens. I am a real American. That's what I used to say when he would come out. My poor, they're right. My poor, they're right. He's going to an old folks home. They're putting a leg on people. When he comes crashing down, it hurts so bad. Your insurance isn't good anymore. I'm taking your money and I'm taking your pride. Soon I'll take your wife inside. Oh, God. I think that's where you end it, Bruce. Yeah, I think we're done here. Hi to everyone in our cluster, Buck. Hey, hi to Top Rope. He was pissed that we didn't mention it. Say hi to Jeff Teolis, the president of the IFPA. The president of the IFPA, okay. To Zach and everyone else in our cluster, Buck. Zach, yes, we'll forget somebody. All right, it's time to end this goddamn thing. You know what I'm saying? You know, back in my day, we knew when to end a podcast. It didn't go on too damn long. Holy shit. I'm going home. Good evening, guys. I'm going home. Suck my butt. Suck my butt. That's right, Gary. You need to do more than that. uh yeah robert we need you to prove you're 100 devoted to slam tilt there's only one way you can do it oh my oh my all right i think that's a good way to end it until next time say goodbye bruce goodbye peter mckay Can you fly? On my mind On my mind Can you fly? On my mind On my mind Can you fly? The Meteor! Level Zero! Clusterfuck! George McKay, Jim Bowles, Bruce Dittman, Tournament Talk, Car Holder, Cheetah, Danadu, Cash Grab, ELO, Ball Pay, What You Find, Game You Love, Game You Hate, Tournament Talk, Game Over Set, Yeah! Oh, my. Oh, my. Oh, my. Oh, my. Thank you. in that bad glass glow Top Rope Pinball Let's go! Ring the bell, watch it roll From Steel John to Stu and the Mody Teaching every shot so you know Top Rope Pinball Oh yeah! One more game, one more goal Cosplay King in a multiball style Top Rope Pinball Feel the show all the while Feel the show all the while That's right, Robert. I need you to prove you're 100% devoted to the team. You can prove it by sucking my cock. That cock. That'll be on the outro. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Oh, no. Let me show you my try ball. Oh, my.
  • Shedden Stafford won the Pinball at the Beach tournament in 2025

    high confidence · Tournament results announced directly during episode

  • Kevin Waite resisted moving away from silkscreen printing; direct print has limitations with neon colors, certain greens, and flash colors

    medium confidence · Ron citing interview Kevin gave to Pinball News; Kevin's technical concerns about inkjet vs. silkscreen quality

  • Ron Halle @ ~55:00 — Identifies tariff impact as primary cause of CPR demand collapse; $200 tariff on $900 playfield = $1,400-$1,500 landed cost

  • “They've been around since I got into the hot. They seem like they've been around. That's why it kind of bummed me. It's like, oh, man, these guys have been around forever.”

    Ron Halle @ ~60:00 — Emotional reaction to CPR scaling back; establishes them as industry fixture facing decline

  • “Kevin said he had to go down that road kicking and screaming because he did not want to stop doing the social screening.”

    Ron Halle (citing Kevin Waite interview) @ ~68:00 — Reflects quality/pride tension in manufacturing shift from silkscreen to direct print

  • Papa Duke (John Papaduke)
    person
    American Pinballcompany
    Classic Playfield Reproductions (CPR)company
    Kevin Waiteperson
    Mike Purcellperson
    Ron Halleperson
    Bruce Nightingaleperson
    Robert Byersperson
    Pinball Newsmedia
    NAP Arcade / Coin Takercompany
    Pinball at the Beachevent
    Colin McAlpineperson
    Shedden Staffordperson
    Pedretti factory (Italy)company

    sentiment_shift: Deep skepticism and fatigue about Dutch Pinball/DPX from competitive/collector community; past failures and broken promises cited; concern about whether new investors signal genuine operational improvement or financial desperation

    high · Ron and Bruce characterize situation as 'another shit show'; reference to dragging out money ('hidden away with their Dutch boy hairdos'); cynicism about whether anyone should buy Back to the Future despite desire for the license

  • $

    market_signal: 'Papa Duke curse' - pattern of pinball companies failing after Papa Duke/John Papaduke involvement (Williams era World Cup Soccer, American Pinball pre-game cancellation, Deep Root collapse, now DPX)

    medium · Ron and Bruce repeatedly cite this pattern; described as why American Pinball was smart to cut ties before production; used to predict continued failure of any Papa Duke projects

  • ?

    licensing_signal: Back to the Future pinball status unclear after DPX split; language ambiguity in Barry Driessen's 'original titles' statement led to speculation about whether licensed games would continue

    medium · Barry's statement interpretation disputed; hosts note language/translation issues; NAP reported it's still in works but hosts remain skeptical given company history

  • $

    market_signal: CPR fire sale of historic reproduction inventory (80% sold on February 1st launch); Stern playfields moved fastest; suggests exhausted demand among remaining CPR customer base

    high · Ron's reporting on inventory liquidation speed; observation that people 'already have them' or 'have already gotten them'

  • $

    market_signal: Tariff impact (estimated $200/playfield) killed demand for CPR reproduction playfields; $900 playfield became $1,400-$1,500 landed cost; demand shifted to those who already owned/wanted reproductions

    high · Ron's calculations; Pinball News article on CPR cited; 80% fire sale inventory liquidation; Kevin Waite interview referenced

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Melvin Williams stepping away from DPX creates uncertainty about code updates, project management, and future game development; hosts question whether he left voluntarily or was pushed out

    medium · Melvin's language in announcement ('taking my toys and running away' per hosts' interpretation); tone suggesting uncertainty; statement that he doesn't have all the answers

  • ?

    product_strategy: Alice in Wonderland severely delayed past 2025 year-end deadline; customers given refund option through January; production continuing but at reduced pace under Dutch Pinball alone

    high · Melvin's announcement acknowledging DPX was to release scheduled game; distributor confirmations; NAP Arcade statement about processing refunds

  • ?

    product_concern: CPR's transition from silkscreen to direct print printing method affected reproduction quality; certain colors (neon, specific greens, flash colors) don't reproduce well with inkjet; straight lines sometimes problematic due to ink spread

    medium · Kevin Waite interview cited; hosts discuss quality differences observed in actual playfields; Ron's 15-year inkjet industry experience validation