Okay, welcome back. This is episode 10.5 or 11? 10.5. It's a continuation of the one we put out Monday. If you haven't watched Monday's episode, episode 10, you should go do that first. Yeah, we talk about music pins. This is music pins, Gen X versus Boomer music themes. Yeah, Gen X versus Boomer music themes. And now. And do you even want to say what, like, the themes we came up with? We'll get to that. Or just go watch Mondays. Yeah, go watch Mondays. Because this is part two to that. It's like kind of the same episode. Continued. It was to be continued. So last time we ran through all of these pinball machines that are music themed. and we promised to rank them, but really what we want to rank are what we're deeming modern machines. And in this case, anything modern is after the year 2000. Yes. So we're going to rank our top five. Okay. So the list that we have, there may be more that aren't on here. I feel like there's something missing, but the list we're choosing from is the Elvis 2004 Stern, the Rolling Stones Stern 2011. Is it really a 2011 Rolling Stones? I haven't played that. Yeah, I did. Troy has it. It has Mick Jagger going across the, he like dances across the thing. I need to play that. ACDC, Metallica, the 2013 version, Kiss, Stern 2015, Aerosmith, Stern, 2017. The Beatles, gold. I guess there's a gold and a platinum. The Beatles, Stern, 2018. Iron Maiden. Iron? Iron Maiden. I like to say that. That's how that kid was in the YouTube video. Iron Maiden. Iron Maiden. Stern, 2018. Led Zeppelin, Stern, 2020. Guns N' Roses, Jersey Jack. Rush, Stern, 2022. Elton John, it's Jersey Jack, 2023. Foo Fighters Stern 2023 Metallica Stern 2024 when we rank these when we do the Sterns it's all encompassing whether it's a pro or premium we're not getting into that it's just like that machine envision your favorite version of that game some of these I like the pros better but it's up to you whether you think of the pro or the premium more fondly but I'll leave that to you guys watching. Okay. So we're going to take, we're not going to rank them top to bottom, but we're going to choose five. I got mine. Steph has hers. I think. Okay. Going to start with number one or start with number five? I'm just going to say five. I don't know if I have them really ranked. This is a no, not in order. No. You don't want to say which is the best? I will. I think people want to know which is the best. Which, hmm. Okay. Well, these are my five. Okay. And I'm just going in year that they were released. Okay. If you want a pen to mark yours, you can. Okay. All right. Kiss. I love playing that game. It is super fun. It's pretty friendly, and anytime I see it on location, I have to play it. I would love to have one. I'm not a fan of the band, but I love it. I love the kiss. Who designed that one? Is it a Borg? Yeah. Okay, then two months ago I would have never said this, but I'm saying Led Zeppelin. Also a band I really don't like, but I really am jamming on that one lately, and I just love it. She's playing Zeppelin like crazy, like probably more than Jaws right now you play Zeppelin. Yeah, Communication Breakdown. It's always Communication Breakdown is the song she chooses, which is funny because that's my least favorite song on that machine. I don't think I ever heard that song until I heard it play in that pinball machine. It's always the same. It's always the same. Then I'm going to say Elton John, Jersey Jack. Okay. Again, I don't like Elton John. He's not terrible. He's got catchy songs, all of that, but he doesn't really speak to me that way. But it's a fun game, and I love the light show. I think it's super fun, so that's on my list. Foo Fighters, I love that game. It's so fun. And then the Metallica reissue. Metallica remaster. Remaster. Those are my five. And what you didn't see on there is the Beatles, which I know is like right behind me. I do really like that one, but I think it goes behind these other guys for me right now. I don't think Beatles is going to make my top five either. Really? So this is interesting. We got the Beatles on a whim because our friend Zach bought our Avengers Infinity Quest. And we had a hole upstairs on the wall. It was a bad hole. There were five machines there, then there were four. Not like a literal hole, but just a hole in the lineup. No, not a hole in the wall, like a hole in the lineup on the wall. It made us really uncomfortable. Yeah, it took us about 15 minutes to send Troy at Tilt Amusements a message. But, hey, this list of your demo games, is that up to date? He's like, yeah. Like, okay. So that same night, I think it was the same night, we went to Tilt Amusements at like 8 p.m. and grabbed the Beatles gold. And we were just looking at the list, and Stephanie's like, what about that Beatles? And neither of us are Beatles fans. And I was like, the reason I wanted it is because it's a really cool game for competitive play. It's fun. It's fun. I like the game. It's not going to make my top five music pins either. I really, really like this game. I like the game. I like it for different reasons. It's like I don't just play it all the time. But I think the story of getting it is kind of funny. because we were missing a machine for about 30 minutes, and we were just like, oh, my gosh. How can we live like this? I can't not have a game right there. What's Troy got? And I was going to probably get – I was looking to get Iron Maiden. Iron? Iron Maiden. I was looking to get Iron Maiden. And then Steph's like, what about that Beatles? And I'm like, I like that. Yeah, I mean, I would like to play Iron Maiden more and really get to know that one and not be so intimidated when I get in a lineup in tournaments. Yeah. But I feel like it out there and I feel like you and I both kind of like to have things that are just like maybe not quite as beloved as other machines Yeah we like getting games that you don see on location all over the place Like the monsters. I mean, we have a lot of modern stories, but we have some of the more weird ones like monsters. Yeah. Like the Beatles. I feel like the weird ones will stay longer. Yeah. Like right now we've got the Uncanny X-Men. It's super fun, but I don't know. Well, maybe that one will stay because it's great. It may. I got to get the plunge working, but that's a different story for a different day. Okay, anyways. But I got the Beatles. It's not going to make my list. But we also like having games that play differently because they're trying to become better players. And the Beatles kind of plays more like an old one than a new one. And it's got that cool setting where you can turn off the magnets where it's the classic mode, so it's Sea Witch. Kind of as Sea Witch. But I'll get to my list, but that was the story of getting the Beatles. But we have it right there. It's not going to be on my top five either. I'm doing my top five as we go. Okay. I like Stephanie's list. It's pretty good. So I'm going to choose. I like that you did little circles like it's a Scantron test. Yeah, it's a Scantron test. Okay. Okay, I am going to say, and I don't like this band at all, but I love playing this game. I will probably never buy it because of the band, Rush. What? That's on your top five list? Rush is great. Yeah, but there's music. Yeah, but the machine, I'm just going by, like, game. You're blinded by Borg. Blinded by John Borg. Rush is a great game because it's the same layout basically as our X-Men, our older Stern X-Men. Which is great. But it just flows better than that game. Like I kind of want to rush. If there's a way to like hack the software and put different songs in there. Or just, yeah. Like I would get that rush. Stern, can you reskin some of them like Spooky did with the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Looney Tunes? Can you just reskin that Rush as anything else? Anything else, except for Sting or Genesis. Yeah, don't do Sting or Genesis. I mean, Rush, Sting, and Genesis, my least favorite bands. No prog rock. Okay, so I've taken Rush. I'm taking... you know what if you get the if you ever brought a rush into this house you have to get a headphone jack because it just makes me rage we're not going to get a rush machine here but i do love playing the game it is fun i just turn the volume down another band i don't like at all and i think that maybe it's a singer kind of piece of crap aerosmith he's a piece of crap isn't he doesn't he like date young teen girls i don't know but the aerosmith pinball machine that's in my top five Love it. Also a John Borg. Let's go with, I think I'm going to go with Steph on The Kiss. Another Borg. Borg, Borg, Borg. Borg knows his way around a music pin. I got Aerosmith. I got Rush. I got Kiss. I need two more. I'm going to go, I haven't played this enough, but I think it's pretty cool. I've enjoyed it when I did play it. I'm going with Elton John. Yeah. Jersey Jack. Elton John. It's just a beautiful machine. It's gorgeous. It's really cool. It's hard. I think it's hard. Yeah. Is it hard? I think it's hard. Or do I suck at it? Because I feel like it's very challenging. I haven't played it in like a year when we were at that place in Birmingham. I got it at Antarium when we were at that tournament there some months back. I sucked on it. But it's a great looking game. and it shoots nice when you can have moments of not sucking. That's a Steve Ritchie. It's an experience. It is an experience. So Elton John, we may own that one day. We will never own Rush. Sorry, Borg. And the last one, and I'm going to say the best music pin, number one, Metallica Remaster by Stern. it's fast and furious lights are phenomenal especially if you play one with the expression lights like the animations on the lcd phenomenal it's just an awesome game it is an awesome game and i like that original metallica like they have one um about the pin grounds they've got the original metallica there and theirs is a great example of that game it plays awesome All their games play awesome. But the new one, that new Metallica is just badass. I love it. So it's another John Borg. So I've got four out of five are John Borg on this deal. I thought a while ago when we were just ranking, not on this show, but just because we talk about pinball all the time, when we were ranking the Spike 2 machines, I thought Aerosmith was at the bottom of the list. Maybe for you. Well, definitely. Maybe. I think I had it low on my Spike Twos. I thought you had it just above Turtles. But I played it a lot since then. People can change. People can change. People can change. I played it a lot. I've gotten better at the game. I just like... What do you open up with? What song do you pick when you open? I don't know, because I just look which shots are lit, and I don't remember which... I'm just looking at the lights. I don't like any of their songs, so I'm just looking at where the lights are. Okay. So I don't know what song I choose. Okay. I think I'd choose the one where it's like... All red? I like that center ramp to the left of the elevator thing. I can hit that one pretty easy, so whichever one that one is, I think they're red. The lights are red. And they're all kind of lit up. That's one I do. Is that like Walk This Way? I don't know. Maybe. I think it has a red heart. Yeah. Yeah. I do like the song Walk This Way. Yeah. I was turned on to that song via Run DMC. Of course. And that version's kind of cooler. And that might have been on 120 Minutes. It might have been. I think that song was on 120 Minutes, which is interesting because it's like an alternative rock video show. And then it was like a hip hop meets like a hard rock band. And now because of that, it's on 120 Minutes. Because it's like hip hop melded with hard rock, so now it's alternative. Or College Rock. Or College Rock. Mm-hmm. Because that may have been pre, I don't think alternative. Alternative wasn't a thing. It was a thing, though, because. What? It was. Because in like 1986, I lived in Franklin, Ohio. And there was a mall near me called the Town Mall. There was a record store called Flipside Is this where your grandma returned the tape No that was at the mall near Heath Ohio but there a record store called Flipside Is this where your grandma returned the tape No that was at the mall near Heath Ohio But there a record store called Flipside at the town mall in I think right near Middletown, Ohio, somewhere over there. And in, like, 1986, they had an alternative section. Hmm. And that's where I first bought the replacements. That's where I first bought The Descendants. That's where I first bought The Beastie Boys were in there. So that was like pretty progressive record store, being in like the middle of nowhere, Ohio, in 1986. So whoever was managing that store in 1986 at the Town Mall was like pretty cool, like some pretty cool people. Let's have an alternative section here. There weren't alternative sections at record stores in those days. Yeah, but that's where I got into that kind of music. Thrasher Magazine, I'd see an ad for an album of a band I'd never heard, and then I'd go take my lawn mowing money to the store and buy the tape. That's awesome. I think I got The Slash there. I got The Cure there. I got New Order there. Yeah. Love and Rockets, got them there. Oh, on this 120 Minutes pin, if you watched the last one, another genre they had in there on that show, which Mike Vinikour would like. This is another reason you should do this, Mike. Industrial music was on there. Yes. Ministry. It's like a ministry song. Thrill Kill Cult. Put a Front 242 song in there. Think of the lights you could do on that, Mike. Think about it. Mike, let's make this happen. Yeah, it's got to happen. I want that. Yeah, so that's my top five. So Steph's top five. Do you want to recap? Yeah, I'm doing Kiss. I'm doing Zep. I'm doing Elton John, Foo Fighters, and Metallica. I can't believe you're not keeping Foo Fighters. I'm not keeping Foo Fighters. What's your number one of those? Oh, Metallica, the new Metallica. So Steph and I agree, Metallica number one. I also have Kiss. I've got Aerosmith, I've got Rush, and I've got Elton John. Yep. Four John Borgs in there. Wow. So we've got to do a you choose. Yeah. Because we didn't do it. Are you going to fanboy out if you ever meet John Borg? No, I'll be cool. I'll be cool. I'll be like when your sister goes to a haunted house. Just be cool. Be cool. Just be cool. Be cool. Because she thinks if you're cool, they won't try to scare you. It's true. It works. If you just act cool. If you act cool, they're just like, nothing's going to faze you. They don't mess with you. Yeah, meet John Borg. That would be cool. I'd be real cool about it. Be real cool. Be cool. There's Borg. Okay, so the you choose, I'm going to make Steph choose between the two themes that we proposed on the last episode. So we're going to have Stern is making a Headbangers Ball pinball machine designed by John Borg with the art by whoever did the Metallica. I don't know who did it, the new one. Not sure. I should know. You can look it up. So you're going to have that machine you can choose. or the MTV's 120 Minutes pinball machine designed by Keith Elwin with a partnership on the artwork between Franchi and Jay Maskis. Is that even a choice? I feel like for us, no, it's a really easy choice. It's a headbanger's ball. Just joking. I'm joking. I'm definitely doing 120 Minutes. and I can just, yeah, I think it would be a fun experience. I can think about, or I'm thinking about all the fun little toys that can go in there from different video, like some of the more popular videos. I want the Moon Man in there. Yeah, I want the Moon Man in there. And then the Moon Man, like there could be a Moon Man mode and then you could do the Man in the Moon song by R.E.M. plays during that mode. What the hell? What the hell? Yes. I want that. Like, that is total nostalgia. Yeah. Not boomery. Like, really, truly nostalgia for, like, the Gen X people within a couple years of us. I feel like that's going to hit hard. Yeah. I want this one to really happen. It would be super cool. And I know, like, some of the other themes that we came are, like, you know, they're just their dreams, right? Like just head in the clouds, really probably not going to happen. Or maybe they will. But, yeah, this one really could happen. And I think it would be successful. I think it would be a really good location game for like breweries. Because at the breweries, like who is the customer there? It's like people our age are a little younger, like Ruman and Ange. A lot of them have kids. room and an auntie don't have kids that's fine but it's people that like watched 120 minutes and like if they saw that pin they might go play it like oh shit look at that yeah i love that i used to watch that show all the time i used to tape that on vhs i mean so stern has this big relationship with disney and that's how they they've been doing all these marvel things and that's all cool we'll do who owns mtv i can't remember i don't know i'm gonna find out right Look it up. Do a big relationship with them. And, I mean, you could even do some other MTV properties. Pit My Ride. Pit My Ride. Cribs. Mm-hmm. Oh, MTV is owned by Paramount. Oh. That could be tough. That might be tough. That could be tough. A little bummer there, but it still could be done. I don't know. I think it could be super cool. I'm still there because it is this property that is high nostalgia factor. I think it would be great. I agree. I want it. I really would love for this one to be made. I would preorder that without seeing it. Yeah. Just boom, preorder it. Because it's like a music pin, but it's not one band, so you're not going to just get sick of this band. And I still think they should explore or could explore doing add-on software packs that you could buy. That would be like – it's these 20 songs in like three modes, and I don't know what the price is. It's $200. I mean we would do that for the Beatles I would do that for the Beatles right now if you gave me like a revolver pack I'd pay you down to 300 bucks for that, maybe 400, probably. I mean, that would be painful. And I feel like this has ruined gaming, so I'm proposing a thing that kind of ruined video gaming, but I think it could be a way for Stern to generate money down the road off of their previous machines. Like Stranger Things has a new season coming out. So could they fire up that license and make, I don't know what season it is, six or whatever? Four or five. If you own a Stranger Things and they came out with a software expansion that included the most recent season, which had like seven modes in it and a wizard mode and like assets, voice and sound and video from the latest season, would you pay $500 for that? I would. I'd pay $499.99. I'd maybe pay more if you've got a Venom and there's like a new Venom movie would you not pay to have like the even though Venom's not really based on the movies but let's say it was would you not pay for like the new movie code for your Venom I would I wonder if Stern has probably thought of this but you know how on the Spike 2 Stern machines that have the LCD screen on them not like Ripley's but that show clips and all of that on the Stranger Things idea it kind of reminds me like there is a new season coming out and I wonder if Stern has like worked with some of these properties to say hey you know when we have a new game coming out like Dungeons and Dragons we update all of the machines to play this little commercial about Dungeons and Dragons What if you did that with your properties that like, hey, there's you turn it into an advertising platform so that you're promoting the new season of of what do you call it? Stranger Things. Yeah, because I mean, they already do that. There's advertising on the Stern games when it's an attraction, but it's for their own stuff. Like all of our games like right now you're watching. It's like King Kong, King Kong, King Kong. But you probably could sell that. You 100% could sell that. You could sell that space. I mean, that's, yeah. Because you have, you know, hundreds or thousands of games, like, on location across the country and in people's homes. So whoever's doing marketing for the new Stranger Things movie or for the, I think there's next year, like, a Star Wars Mandalorian movie coming. Like, you could pop that on all your staring machines. just a way for Stern to make more money. I want Stern to make more money. Yeah, without Stern, pinball isn't what it is today. Yeah, say what you will. Maybe you like Spooky better. It's fine. They make awesome machines. Maybe you like Jersey Jack better. They make great machines. We'll have a different episode about this, about who saved pinball. I mean, a couple people saved pinball. A couple people. We're going to have an episode about this. The gist of it is we need Stern to be healthy. Somebody has to be the biggest. Somebody has to be the leader in any industry. And this is a really small, small, small industry. Tiny. I mean, I think we read something and then Stern is a private company, but there was like an estimate that they made like 35 to 50 million dollars last year. That's like not that much. Yeah. And it's I think it said it could be up to like 100 million, which is still nothing. Not a lot. It's a lot. Look at the size of their operation, like the facilities and the staff and the parts and everything, they're not making a ton of money. No, and I think that the official definition of a small business is a company that makes less than $50 million in revenue a year. So think about that. I bet you they make more than $50. Well, just saying. But they're like a medium-sized business. I know in the pinball community, people think of Stern as this giant. Like they're Procter & Gamble? Yeah, it's like Procter & Gamble. It's this big megacorp enemy. It's like they're a tiny company, and I know they don't always – they make mistakes sometimes. They're like, a crappy topper is $2,000. Fine. But we need them to be successful if we want pinball to grow. We want them all to be successful. We want them – I'm rooting for every pinball company. Yeah, American Pinball, by the way, when we were at Pinball on Perry yesterday, I really enjoyed playing that Houdini. Houdini's cool. It was really fun. I just really don't like the shape of their back boxes. Yeah, how it pops out at the top. It's got this flow to it. I appreciate they're trying to do something different, but it just looks cheap to me. I don't care for that either, but Houdini's kind of cool. The game was great. I don't know where I sidetracked off of, but I think we got the point across with the music pins. We ranked them. I think we did. Join our Facebook group, the Punk Rock Pinball Facebook group. Yeah, it's super fun in there, especially this last week. A lot of people are posting now. People are finding friends in different places. There's somebody from just moved to Minneapolis, and they were going to Lit Pinball Bar. And then my friend Jeff, who I didn't even know was in the group, was like, I'm new to Minneapolis. I didn't even know Jeff moved there. And so, like, they might meet up. And then there's somebody else saying, like, oh, yeah, and this other place is great in Minneapolis. So, like, join in the group. Yeah, it's really fun. Share your high score. We will celebrate it with you. Yeah. Yeah. And, yeah, we've got lots of new friends joining in there. invite a friend to join in there if they're into pinball it's just it's a safe space safe space for all who flip yeah and do i want to say the thing like the thing i forgot to say um two episodes ago you do this at the end nobody's going to see this nope i missed a big opportunity when we were talking about how pinball is really good for couples and it's a fun thing to do for couples and i wanted to should have said you know they say this this is like the editor's like um update yeah you know they say a couple that flips together sticks together i should have said that it's true honey yeah missed my opportunity i'm glad you got it out for the three of you still watching you got it all right we'll see you guys next week yeah bye bye