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Episode 249 – Hairy Edge

Slam Tilt Podcast·podcast_episode·1h 48m·held·Apr 23, 2025
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.033

TL;DR

Harry Potter reveal and tariff crisis dominate industry conversation as manufacturers strategize pricing.

Summary

Ron Hallett and Bruce Nightingale discuss two major pinball announcements: Harry Potter game with three edition tiers ($9,999 Arcade Edition, $12,000 Wizard Edition, $15,000 Collector's Edition) featuring designer Eric Meunier, and widespread industry responses to Trump-era tariffs affecting European and Asian manufacturers. Multiple manufacturers announced tariff strategies, with Dutch Pinball delaying US shipments, Barrels of Fun attempting to absorb costs, and Pinball Brothers cutting production. Tim Sexton departure from Stern to Play Mechanics is also covered.

Key Claims

  • Harry Potter will be Jersey Jack's first three-tier release with Arcade Edition ($9,999), Wizard Edition ($12,000), and Collector's Edition ($15,000)

    high confidence · Ron Hallett citing Jack's statements on Pinball News podcast and distributor pre-order announcements

  • Eric Meunier is the designer of Harry Potter

    high confidence · Ron Hallett confirmed: 'Eric, right? Yep, Eric Meunier' [Note: appears to be Eric Meunier based on KB]

  • Arcade Edition will use all mechanics but reduced lighting/bling (no topper, possibly regular GI instead of RGB)

    medium confidence · Ron Hallett speculation based on Jack's comments about 'under 10K' pricing model

  • No voice actors from the movies, only movie quotes and theme park narrator

    medium confidence · Ron Hallett notes from announcements; notes suggest Universal theme park talent will provide narration

  • David Thiel on sound design for Harry Potter

    high confidence · Ron Hallett cites official announcements; confirms same designer as Dialed In!!

  • Mr. Katz is coding Harry Potter, not Keith P. Johnson

    high confidence · Ron Hallett from official announcements; notes this indicates different rule design philosophy than Johnson's typical approach

  • Tariffs affecting pinball manufacturers range from 10% (Taiwan base rate, post-pause) to 125% (China)

    high confidence · Ron Hallett citing Pinball Kineticist email with tariff timeline; post-April 9 pause reduced to 10% for 90 days

  • Tim Sexton left Stern Pinball to join Play Mechanics

    high confidence · Ron Hallett direct statement; placed as major personnel move

Notable Quotes

  • “They're going to have three versions. Now, the last few games, they've had just the two versions... This game, Harry Potter, they're going to have a lower version, lower model, called the Arcade Edition.”

    Ron Hallett @ early segment — Establishes Harry Potter's unique three-tier pricing structure vs. JJP's recent two-tier model

  • “This thing better be really fucking good... It'll never satisfy everyone... everyone has a different version of Harry Potter.”

    Bruce Nightingale @ Harry Potter discussion — Articulates core challenge: diverse fan bases with incompatible expectations

  • “The problem is everyone has a different version of Harry Potter. You have almost, what, eight books or seven or eight books? We'll say eight movies... If you miss one piece of this whole thing, people are going to go, oh, they forgot that.”

    Ron Hallett @ Harry Potter discussion — Identifies the impossible design task of satisfying all Potter factions

  • “Dutch basically said, we're going to delay shipping all of the American ones, basically hoping the tariff goes away. If you want it before then, talk to your distributor, but you're going to be paying 20% more to get it.”

    Ron Hallett @ tariffs segment — Describes Dutch Pinball's strategy to pause US production pending tariff resolution

  • “If any of these companies are really serious about trying to fight this, the key would be finding manufacturing in the United States... Have it built here. You fight down the pricing and everything else... American Pinball... They're just sitting there with their thumbs up their ass.”

    Ron Hallett @ tariffs discussion — Proposes American Pinball as solution for European manufacturers facing tariff burden

  • “Pinball Brothers to cut production, increase sales to Canada and Europe... they're actually doing a different thing than even Dutch because if they're cutting, so that means they're admitting that they're not going to sell as much because they lost one of their biggest buyers, which is the United States.”

    Ron Hallett @ tariffs segment — Interprets Pinball Brothers' strategy as abandonment of US market, different from Dutch's temporary pause

Entities

Jersey Jack PinballcompanyHarry PottergameEric MeunierpersonRon HallettpersonBruce NightingalepersonDutch PinballcompanyBarrels of Funcompany

Signals

  • ?

    product_launch: Harry Potter introduces three-tier pricing model ($9,999/$12,000/$15,000) after JJP's recent two-tier pattern, with Arcade Edition (base), Wizard Edition (mid), and Collector's Edition (premium) differentiated by lighting/bling rather than mechanics

    high · Ron Hallett: 'They're going to have three versions... Arcade Edition... Wizard Edition... CE, or collector's edition, will be $15,000'

  • $

    market_signal: Manufacturers taking divergent approaches to tariff impact: some delaying US shipments (Dutch), some absorbing costs (Barrels of Fun), some cutting US production entirely (Pinball Brothers), creating pricing chaos

    high · Multiple manufacturer statements across April 2-9 tariff announcements; Ron notes inconsistent strategies

  • ?

    supply_chain_signal: European manufacturers facing 10-32% Taiwan tariffs and 125% China tariffs; considering production relocations; Pinball Brothers abandoning planned US-focused production for Canada/Europe

    high · Ron Hallett: tariff rates per Pinball Kineticist email; Daniel Janssen statement on compounded tariff impact

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Tim Sexton departs Stern Pinball for Play Mechanics, likely to lead next pinball title design alongside Joe Balcer and Mark Ritchie

    high · Ron Hallett: 'He left Stern to go to Play Mechanics... I'm not lying. He's going to be their number one guy for whatever new pinball machine'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Harry Potter code by Mr. Katz (not Keith P. Johnson) signals different rule design philosophy; Ron notes Johnson typically creates '50 modes started at same time, every light lit' density

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.326

0:00
Uh, it won't open. Why not? Uh, I don't know. Oh, maybe it's because I locked it. Damn it, Beavis, why did you do that? Well, I watched a movie about a ghost, and I got scared. Uh, do you have a key? No. So how are we supposed to get in? I figured we could just knock. You know, one of us is usually there, you know.
0:30
Coming to you from beautiful upstate New York, this is the Slamtail Podcast, the show about all things pinball. I'm your host, Ron Hallett, here with your co-host or other host, Bruce Nightingale. Wow, I got fucking insulted right now.
0:48
Yeah, that ain't happening, Chief. Retake. Retake? Yeah. No, no, no. This is episode 249. I wondered if that would get to you. Happy Zombie Jesus Day.
1:02
Okay. It's Easter, folks. It's Easter, so it's Happy Zombie Jesus Day. Okay. I wonder how many listeners we just lost. Yes, how many? All of them. Wow.
1:14
Oh, boy, man. So we're a week late. Yep. But there was a bunch of stuff, so it was purposely a week late. Yes, it was. Fantastic show, and two, count them, two new reveals.
1:27
Two! Yes. So let's start with the one that actually wasn't shown yet, but they're taking money for. Well, there's three reveals then. Yeah, but yeah. Well, can it be a reveal if you haven't seen the game? No, but it's a teaser, teaser, teaser of the teaser. Yeah, but distributors are taking money for Harry Potter. Yeah, of course they are. We're back to that shit again. But we haven't even seen it. Take my money. Please. It's Harry Potter.

  • “We must immediately cut back on production... The company needs to buy components for the pinball games from the U.S.A., then insert them into the games, most of which are then sold in the American market. This means we are hit doubly hard.”

    Daniel Janssen (Pinball Brothers, translated) @ tariffs segment — Describes compounding tariff impact on manufacturers forced to buy US parts and re-export to US market

  • “He left Stern to go to Play Mechanics... it's funny. You talked about that on your other podcast, how Keith P. Johnson was at Play Mechanics and jumped to Jersey Jack. He was like, no, that's a no-brainer. I'm going back to make pinball. And Timmy goes from a company that makes pinball to Play Mechanics.”

    Bruce Nightingale @ Tim Sexton discussion — Contrasts personnel moves: Johnson left Play Mechanics for pinball, Sexton going opposite direction

  • “So I am assuming Timmy is working on whatever their next game is going to be, which probably won't be announced for a year and a half, and it might take another two years to be actually manufactured.”

    Ron Hallett @ Play Mechanics discussion — Reflects typical extended development timelines in pinball industry

  • “What happens to fucking John Wick? It just gets tossed to the side and forgotten?”

    Bruce Nightingale @ closing segment — Notes abandoned John Wick game in Stern's portfolio

    • Pinball Brothers
    company
    American Pinballcompany
    Stern Pinballcompany
    Play Mechanicscompany
    Tim Sextonperson
    Keith P. Johnsonperson
    David Thielperson
    Joe Katzperson
    [name withheld pending review]person
    Joe Balcerperson
    Mark Ritchieperson
    George Petroperson
    CoinTakercompany
    Wonderland Amusementscompany
    Pedretti Gamingcompany
    Pinball Kineticistperson/entity

    medium · Ron Hallett: 'Mr. Katz is on the code. Not Keith P. Johnson. Interesting. So that means there won't be like 50 modes that you all start at the same time'

  • ?

    business_signal: American Pinball remains idle with only two in-house designed games (Queen, ABBA) that underperformed; inherited Alien game; proposed as solution for tariff-burdened European manufacturers

    medium · Ron Hallett: 'American Pinball... They're just sitting there with their thumbs up their ass... They had Alien, which they got from the previous company... Two games they made on their own. Queen and ABBA did not sell well'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Jersey Jack maintains pre-tariff pricing despite tariff environment; Stern same; suggests either anticipated margins or strategic decision not to pass costs to customers immediately

    high · Ron Hallett: 'Jersey Jack, when they started taking the pre-orders, none of the pricing changed... Stern... came out with a game at the same pricing as they had for the last two years'

  • ?

    industry_signal: US-manufactured pinball (Stern, Jersey Jack) affected differently than European/Asian manufacturers; US tariffs on components only vs. compounded tariff burden on European companies buying US parts and re-exporting to US market

    high · Daniel Janssen quote on 'doubly hard' tariff impact; Ron analysis: US companies have component tariff risk, European companies have import+export tariff burden

  • ?

    licensing_signal: Harry Potter features John Williams licensed theme music; no movie voice actors, using Universal theme park narrator instead; indicates selective IP licensing negotiation

    medium · Ron Hallett notes on announcements; suggests cost/complexity constraints on voice talent licensing

  • ?

    regulatory_signal: April 9 Trump tariff pause (90 days at 10% base rate) creates temporary relief window; manufacturers like Dutch and Pinball Brothers betting on tariff reversal; decision point mid-year on whether to resume delayed US shipments

    high · Ron Hallett: 'Then April 9th, Trump announces a pause on the tariffs, most tariffs, for 90 days... it's still 10%... If their profit margin is 10%, then Dutch is in trouble'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Hosts express concern that Harry Potter's massive IP scope (8 films, multiple character factions) creates impossible design challenge; anticipate fan disappointment regardless of execution

    high · Bruce Nightingale: 'It's a true no-win situation. So you can't win, so don't even try.' Ron: 'Unfortunately, people are going to be disappointed'

  • ?

    community_signal: Silver Ball Chronicles podcast now separate feed from Pinball Network; hosts propose 'Slam Tilt Network' as joke response to fragmentation

    medium · Ron Hallett: 'Silver Ball Chronicles... They're no longer part of the pinball network. It's dead, Jim... I have a really good idea... Slam Tilt Network... You can do whatever the fuck you want'

    • 1:56
    Which we knew about last time. We knew about because we talked about that. It's a Texas show where Jack just said, it's Harry Potter. So now the marketing department went, oh, fuck. We better get their cash before they fucking spend it somewhere else. So Jack was also on the Pinball News podcast. They're the one they do every month. And he gave more information about the different versions they're going to have. They're going to have three versions again, Bruce. I know. God, that's going to be so bad. Why? Because it's going to be the lowest version is going to be the rarest one. Do you think so, though? Oh, totally. Totally.
    2:36
    First, they're going to take out so much shit. No, they're not. Here's the deal. So, okay. They're going to have three versions. Now, the last few games, they've had just the two versions. Yeah. The LE and or Platinum and or whatever the fuck they call it, because you can change the name of that one, and the CE or Collector's Edition. Yes. This game, Harry Potter, they're going to have a lower version, lower model, called the Arcade Edition. Yeah. Now, this used to be called the Standard Edition. and in case people forget, Wizard of Oz, was it Hobbit, Dialed In, and Pirates all had a standard edition. Yes, they did. And they all sold like shite. Well, and they all, they had all the mechs in them, but they would have like less lighting. And Willy Wonka too, don't forget. Well, hold on. That's different though. See, Willy Wonka It was the first time they actually took something out of the standard edition. Exactly. It didn't have the Wonk Evader. And same thing with the Guns N' Roses. Yes. They took out the whole upper play field and all that, and they hardly sold any of them. So then they abandoned it. Yes. With this one, it looks like you're going back to, we're not taking any mechs out of it, but it's going to be less bling, no topper, no whatever. Probably no RGB lighting. It'll probably be regular GI. That would be the smart thing to do. Don't they have the fancy lighting on every game? Yeah, but I'm saying, if you're going to take something out, I'd rather take out that than a mech that's really going to be cool and important. Jack said it's going to be under 10K, the arcade edition. So I'm thinking, okay, so it's 9999. Guess what it is? 9999? Exactly. Of course it is. But you were incorrect, Bruce. I was, for once. You said the pricing was going to go up? I know. It's the same. Well, some of these manufacturers are saying they're going to raise prices. Some are not. Well, we're going to talk about that. Yeah. But we got, for the pricing, it's $9,999 for the arcade edition. The wizard edition is what they're calling the middle one, which is like the LE. Wizardry. It's LE version on, I think, Avatar, and then Platinum version on Elton John. But that was going to be the $12,000.
    4:59
    And then the CE, or collector's edition, will be $15,000. So they did not go up on price. Yet. I'm saying yet because it's going to affect everybody. See, I put notes here. I'm probably saying the same.
    5:14
    No voice actors from the movies. But it sounds like they got the voice. How are you going to do movie quotes? Oh, you're saying that there's not going to be added voices. It's just going to be movie quotes. Yeah, it's just movie quotes. But it sounds like the narrator is going to be whoever the voice actor is for the theme park.
    5:34
    I assume there's a theme park. The Universal. Okay, there you go. See how much I know about Harry Potter. So, yeah. Whoever that dude is is going to be the main voice talent. Okay. Let's see. David Thiel on sound. Love hearing that. Good. You know, he did the sound of my Dialed In. Just thought I'd bring that up because I know you love Dialed In. Mr. Katz is on the code. Not Keith Johnson. Interesting. So that means there won't be like 50 modes that you all start at the same time and every light is lit on the game.
    6:11
    That's about the only information I have on that. Other than they told distributors they could start taking money. Again, when are we going to stop this shit? It's just getting really old where you know they're going to make enough of these fucking things. I forgot, that's the other thing. There's no limit to the collector's edition. Yeah, so, okay, so why are you jumping in so fast now? This is what the stupidity of all stupidity is. I don't understand why you would give somebody money that's not refundable, because it doesn't say it's refundable. Why would you give somebody money and then see the game and go, oh, it's not what I wanted. The only thing is, there's no limit, but they also said they'll stop taking orders after a certain amount of time or something. Yeah, I know. Isn't that a limit then? Yeah, I know. Yeah. I don't understand this marketing again. So are you excited? Oh, my wife is. Mm-hmm. Not me, but my wife is. My wife's like, oh, my God, we've got to get this. I'm like, uh-huh. Do you see the price? They're pushing that this is the culmination of Jersey Jack. They did a seminar at Pentastic, which we'll be talking about at Pentastic, where they went over the history of the company, and it's all leading to this moment. This is the big one. Harry Potter. So this thing better be really fucking good. Yeah. I mean, it'll never satisfy everyone. No. Actually, it's going to satisfy no one. Oh. I hate to say it because the problem is everyone has a different. No, no, the problem is everyone has a different version of Harry Potter. You have almost, what, eight books or seven or eight books? We'll say eight movies, but isn't it just the dude with the glasses? I mean, isn't it the same guy playing him in every movie? Yes, but you have some people are, like, going for the evil characters. Some people go for the good characters. Some people like the whole thing. If you miss one piece of this whole thing, people are going to go, oh, they forgot that. Oh, that sucks. It is a true no-win situation. So you can't win, so don't even try. I kind of feel that way in some ways. It sounds like your motto. Because guess what? What's going to happen is people are going to be like, oh, it's going to be the greatest thing. And they're going to go, oh, but they missed this. Oh, they missed this. Oh, this stinks because they added this. It's not the way I imagined it. That's going to be the problem with this game. And you only have so much play field room to do stuff with. Yeah, they didn't say it was a wide body or anything. No, they haven't said anything yet. So we don't know anything about this. Anything. Except for the designer, Eric, right? Yep, Eric Benier. Which, who has made all wide bodies, right? No.
    9:00
    No, what do you mean? The two games he made were, no, everything was a wide body until dialed in, and even that was just a one-off until they got rid of him. No, he made Godfather's not a wide body. Okay, yeah, which it should be. Cuns and Roses aren't a wide body. Yeah. So, I don't know. I have to see it to believe it. Let's say that. I'm excited for it, even though I have no interest in the theme. But I'm excited for new games.
    9:32
    Unlike Bruce here. He's always negative. I'm not negative. I think people are going to be always disappointed with this theme. Because the problem is they all have their own little Harry Potter part of their world. Think about it. When people go to Harry Potter and down in Universal, they go for certain areas. So it spreads out everyone in the park. They just all don't go to one area. They all go to the train station. They go to – Train station? There's a train station. There's a – that's how they get to school. Sure, a castle? There's a castle. Oh, I'd go to the castle. See? That's what I'm saying. But all these things, people are going to want to see all in a pinball machine. And unfortunately, it all ain't going to fit on the real estate.
    10:16
    It ain't. So something's going to be left out. And unfortunately, people are going to be disappointed. I hope it's the greatest game in the world because my wife will then want to buy one, which means I get a pinball machine. Woo-hoo! See? But I don't know.
    10:33
    Dune, I think, instead, looks fucking awesome. No Dune yet. I'm talking right about it. Let's go. No, no. I want to go in order here because I'm going in chronological order. Oh, Jesus Christ. Okay. So let's talk about tariffs.
    10:50
    Don't you love tariffs, Bruce? They are. They're great. Are they going to make America great again? America great again. America.
    10:59
    Let's see. I took. It is unfair if you look at the numbers for some countries. Not all countries. I'm ripping off. This is from, let's see, the pinball kineticist. You get an email from them, but he made it easy because it just has the timeline of the tariff announcements so I don't have to do more research. So thank you. See, April 2nd, when they were announcing Liberation Day, did you feel liberated, Bruce? No.
    11:27
    My pocket in my 401K did not feel liberated. No. I swear to God. I lost $200,000 in two days. Yeah, I lost. I actually was smart. As soon as he started talking tariffs, Bruce got a little smart. He put it all in the money market.
    11:47
    I was very smart. As soon as he started talking tariffs, I went right to my thing and changed everything in the money market. So I only lost $7,000.
    11:57
    So April 3rd, Wonderland Amusements, you know, those are the people making the other Alice in Wonderland games.
    12:04
    It's going to be, what, the smaller one, the cheaper one. Yes, the cheaper one. Yeah, they made a comment on their Kickstarter page saying they will handle the tariffs at whatever the rate is when the containers are received. So they're going to eat it. Just eat it. Eat it. Aren't they making their stuff in Taiwan? Yes. Aren't the tariffs going to be, like, absurd? I think Taiwan is 15%. We can look at it right now. Oh. So it's not like China where it's 115%. No, no, no.
    12:34
    So that was Wonderland Amusements. Of course, on April 7th, Dutch. Actually, it's very low for Taiwan. It's going to be 32%. Oh, only 32%. But it was paused for 90 days and back down to 10%. Yes. So it's better than 125%. That's true. Then you have Dutch.
    12:58
    Dutch showing the Dutch way. Yes. Not the Dutch way, but, I mean, their company motto of. Yes, where all the other ones are saying, like, we'll eat it or whatever. Dutch basically said, we're going to delay shipping all of the American ones, basically hoping the tariff goes away. Yeah. If you want it before then, talk to your distributor, but you're going to be paying 20% more to get it. Yeah, I think it's even more now.
    13:25
    DPX, or Dual Penetration Extreme, or Dutch Pinball Exclusive. Let's see. Dutch has got, and I'm getting this from Nap Arcade. Hi, Nap. Dutch is going to prioritize building and shipping the games that are tested for the European market first.
    13:39
    Now, what happens if these stay in place and they keep delaying, keep delaying? Remember, they said that you'll get your game by the end of the year or you get your deposit back. Are they then going to try to renege on that saying because of this, it changes the deal or something?
    13:58
    Like, what's going to happen if these are still in place by the end of the year and they don't want to release these and then, like, okay, we'll release them, but now everyone has to pay. Well, it's the distributors that are going to have to pay. Yeah, of course. So it's going to be up to the distributors whether they're going to pass it on. Pass it on to the, yeah.
    14:14
    So what do you think is going to happen with that? Oh, they're going to, woo-hoo! As soon as one distributor does it, they'll all jump on.
    14:22
    What, as far as eating it? No, as far as the other way. Oh. Adding it on. Because as soon as one has to do it, say if someone makes a note. I wonder what the deal was when you put the deposit in, what the terms and conditions were as far as the price going up. It depends on the distributor. It always depends on the distributor. It also all depends on their contract, what they state. Yeah, which nobody reads. Nobody reads at all. It would be the box it's on, yeah. Really, there is no contract. So in the legal court, if you were going to sue them, you would have to sue them back in probably the Netherlands, which, guess what?
    15:02
    That's if you're buying it from them. I'm talking to the distributor. I know, but as soon as one distributor has to raise the price, they're all just going to jump on and say, hey, if he's doing it, I'm going to knock it bone and lose my money. How many distributors do they have in the U.S.? I thought it was just Cointaker. I thought there was more now. There's more now? Okay. I think so. Hold on.
    15:22
    I've got to look up old DPX because I know for a while it was just Cointaker. Yeah. But let's see. I'm going to read their statement. Dutch pinball. Let's see. As a result, we've decided to prioritize production and shipment of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and is destined for markets outside the U.S. There are three. Oh, okay. And there's one in Canada.
    15:44
    What, Nitro? Yeah, so guess what? The Canadians will luck out because they can go, you know. This phase will take several months to complete.
    15:54
    During this time, we'll closely monitor how the situation evolves and is traded. In other words, we're going to hold off and pray this goes away. So, yeah, here's the thing. CoinTaker is the master distributor for the U.S. and then the sub-distributors are Great American Pinball and Pinball Traders.
    16:13
    There's one on Central and Chicago and everything. And then the master distributor for Canada and for Washington State is Nitro. Mm-hmm. Hold the line. We're not taking a hit no more No, no, no Alright So, yeah, so That's one company for cha-ching up And one company that's staying stable So, then After that, Barrels of Fun Made a statement Basically saying Let me get up here Not myself, let's get up The statement Oh my Okay.
    16:55
    Let's see. How long is this date? I really don't want to read the whole thing. Farrell's upon we built our process from day one to protect our customers from uncertainty.
    17:06
    Basically, they're going to try everything they can to not raise the price. Yeah, they're going to try everything, but guess what? It's going to jump up. But basically, that's what they said. So they took a different approach than Josh.
    17:17
    Well, I will appreciate that for one thing. They're being totally honest. They're actually stating, hey, it's going to hurt. So guess what? We've got to do this. Instead of uh, uh, uh, uh. No. Is that a song? Uh, uh. No, but it's going to be like, guess what? In six months when these tariffs are all engaged or taken away or whatever we figure out, if it's from a country that's not going to play ball with the United States, I guess, guess what's going to happen? It's going to go up. This is a tough moment for many, but if we stay transparent, build smart, and look out for each other, we'll get through it together. Barrels of Fun is ready, and we're here for you. I feel like it's Ghostbusters. Yes. We're ready to believe you. You.
    18:08
    Oh, okay. Yeah. Let's see. What else do we got here? Then Jersey Jack, when they started taking the pre-orders, none of the pricing changed. So it's like, oh, okay. Then April 9th, Trump announces a pause on the tariffs, most tariffs, for 90 days. Yeah. Which machines are not going to be done for barrels of fun, probably for Dutch.
    18:34
    So if Dutch was smart, they would now switch their production to all U.S. Well, isn't it still like 10%? It's still 10%. It's always been 10%. So that's where you want to switch it. If their profit margin is 10%, then Dutch is in trouble. You're assuming they're actually getting these games done. I believe they just – No, of course not. They're not going to. They got their first one done, and I believe it's at the Dutch Pinball Museum right now. Yeah, exactly.
    19:00
    So, yeah. So that ain't going to happen either. So, honestly, the only one it's going to affect is going to be Stern for the first 90 days. This 90-day pause is going to help out Stern, hopefully – We're not done yet. I know, if the other countries don't affect the tariff back on us. I think Europe's screwed anyway, honestly, eventually. Let's see, Pedretti Gaming. Yeah. They're the ones who make the remake games for, I think, the pinball company is selling them here. Yes. But they did the Funhaus. Yes. And they announced that there will be no price increase for orders of the Funhaus remake game.
    19:37
    For now. Yes. Hey, forget about it. We're going to take it all. We're going to take the hit. Yeah.
    19:48
    Forget about it. But wait, there's more. I want to get the last one. Here we go. Because we talked about all the European companies we got. Pinball Brothers. Yeah. Who basically, this stuff's built in the same. Yeah, same factory. Yeah, Pedretti factory there. Yep. Let's see. Pinball Brothers to cut production, increase sales to Canada and Europe. So they're going more of the Dutch route. they're actually doing a different thing than even Dutch because if they're cutting, so that means they're admitting that they're not going to sell as much because they lost one of their biggest buyers, which is the United States. So they're going to push more for – how are you going to push more for Canada and Europe? Well, Daniel Janssen – Janssen, Janssen. I think it's Janssen. I want to pray this. He says – let's see. Now, these are translated, so this might not be – if it sounds weird. I don't think anyone could be more affected, affected much more than we are.
    20:48
    Must cut back on production. In the short term, we must immediately cut back on production there. I think they mean the U.S. The company needs to buy components for the pinball games from the U.S.A., then insert them into the games, most of which are then sold in the American market. This means we are hit doubly hard.
    21:06
    Oh, my. He has deliberately chosen not to start manufacturing in the U.S.A. we were thinking about starting a small-scale production here in Sweden, but for obvious reasons that is no longer the case. Why don't they use the company that's sitting on their thumbs and their thumbs just doing nothing, which would be building it in Chicago at the wonderful place on American Pinball? The thing is... That would be the smartest move for any of these European companies. Their upcoming game was supposed to be Predator. Yeah. I mean, that's going to be dead. It's going to be dead as cuphead. Yeah. But that's what I'm saying. If any of these companies are really serious about trying to fight this, the key would be finding manufacturing in the United States.
    21:55
    So we know a company that's got no manufacturing really right now, but have the way to build it would be American Pinball. That's right. Pinball, baby. Yeah. So guess what? Have it built here. You fight down the pricing and everything else.
    22:12
    And guess what? The labor costs are going to probably be less than the tariffs. So if you can get that arranged, hey, maybe this would all work out for everybody. And then you don't have to have it going out of the United States and back in. You would actually keep it all in the United States, what Trump's trying to fight, which is just fucking ludicrous. But if you're complaining about that, do play the game. Build it in the United States. The queen says play the game. Play the game. Everybody play the game.
    22:49
    Love, love. Love tariffs. Yeah. But, I mean, guess what? That's what he wants. So if you play this game, you might actually sell more in the United States. Because guess what? it will be a cheaper product or the same amount of price while everyone else is going up, except for, of course, Stern and, of course, Jersey Jack, because they're built in the United States. Their tariffs are going to affect them a different way. The tariffs are going to affect them for all the parts that are built outside. Basically all the circuit boards that are built in China. Exactly. So that's where it's going to hurt everyone else. The wood that could come from Canada. Canada, yep, I totally agree. But if you get the – he's complaining. His main complaint, if you listen to that comment, I got to buy parts from the United States and then reship them back in. Okay. Move to some of the – you were just talking about moving production to Sweden, which I don't know why. Yeah.
    23:44
    I could have a breakdown box from my – what's the company that has all the store? Ikea. We're going to sell pinball machines at Ikea. Yes, we are. but if you do it, you know, that way, if you actually build the United States, you might actually fight this and maybe come out a little ahead where you're keeping your prices at the same price. I don't know, but doing, doing this of cutting back doesn't help your company. You got to think outside the box a little bit here. And that's what GM's doing. That's what all these other companies are doing. Don't get me wrong. Some people are cutting back. Like Mac just announced 400 layoffs. And up in Rochester, we have a GM plant, and they're cutting back 400 people, which is totally fucking nuts. And that's what the president is an idiot fucking for. He really is. But I understand the tariff game. And unfortunately, we are losing it. And if you go by our imports and exports, we're getting screwed. So I want to see something done not to affect. he went over way the fuck overboard of course like trump does even on a tv show because he's a fucking moron but wow but if we did this cautiously and it's slowly it would have been a lot better him just being the knee-jerk nancy that he fucking is knee-jerk nancy knee-jerk nancy he's just a fucking asshat so wow oh boy we're gonna get some emails on this going back to pinball is, guess what? Your comments saying, I'm going to cut back my production to this, maybe you need to find another production place in the United States that is set up and ready to make pinball machines.
    25:29
    Do it at American. They're just sitting there with their thumbs up their ass. Does it matter? They had Alien, which they got from the previous company that they bought. There are two games they made on their own. Queen and ABBA did not sell well. No. But everyone's all gung-ho about this Predator. Now it's, guess what? It's probably not going to be built. So now you're depending on two games that don't sell.
    25:57
    Get to the tariffs! No, and wait, wait. And your comment in your message was, we're going to push more for Canadian and European sales. But you're not selling these products. So there's the problem. Get a product that actually will sell. then you might be able to sell to those two markets. But right now, they're not selling in those two markets. Yes, yes. Yes, it is. So go back to the tariff fund for the next part.
    26:25
    That's all I had. Wow. Because Stern didn't really say anything. They just came out with a game at the same pricing as they had for the last two years. So I guess that was their statement. They probably knew back in January, hey, we have 60, 90 days. And here's the good thing about Stern. That's probably, you know, we didn't go to Spike 3 yet. Maybe that's a good thing. Because maybe Spike 3 is more money. And if we design the games out of Spike 2, which is a known, used, and you buy so many boards, it might be cheaper. Instead of building these whole new boards, oh, we've got to pay more money. Oh we have to buy more to get the same discount I still have seven games behind us you know that we can go into the vault Guess what I can build them from the same boards All you've got to do is node boards. All you've got to do is this. Keep them pulling in. Keep the pricing down. Maybe that's the delay with Spike 3. We don't know. Yeah, we've been hearing about Spike 3 for a long time now. I know we have, but maybe this was the hold on, tap the brakes now point where you say, hey, is it smart to bring out a brand new board if the board's going to cost us 125%? Because everyone was saying Kong was going to be spiked. Yeah, exactly. It's not. The only thing that's different with Kong, we'll talk about that in a few minutes, is the service menu. Service menu. And you were wrong in your other podcast. Oh, what? Oh, yes. You mean my other podcast, the Silver Ball Chronicles? Yeah, the one you said when it was so long you called it not the White Star Board, you called it something else. and the second thing, it was actually been used since Frankenstein.
    28:05
    Yes. I know White Star has been in use since Sega, Bruce. Yes, exactly. But you called it something else. You didn't call it the White Star. I called it something else. Okay. Yes, you did. That's good just saying that without any evidence or... No, no. You can listen back. I can listen back. I can actually look at the email. Go ahead, Bruce. Listen back and then write to our email address. I will. There are a couple of screw-ups you guys had. And tell us about our screw-ups. There's a couple of screw-ups. Thank you. Yes. You know me. Yes. Again, that's Silver Ball Chronicles. We have our own feed now, so just look for Silver Ball Chronicles. Yes, yes. They're no longer part of the pinball network. It's dead, Jim. Hey, I have a really good idea for you two guys. What? You can come to the Slam Tilt Network. The Slam Tilt Network?
    28:45
    It's a new thing I just thought of two minutes ago. You just thought of two minutes ago. You can do whatever the fuck you want. It's the Slam Tilt Network. It gets you no benefits, no extra people listening, nothing. Nothing at all. Slam tilt.
    28:59
    All right, I'm going down in order here. Let's see. Harry Potter, Tariff. Timmy. Ta-da! Tim Sexton has left Surin Pinball. Yeah, wow. We have to mention this. I mean, we got him the job, practically. We got him the job seven years ago. We've been around for almost... He was our third host, originally. I mean, we have to mention this. Maybe he'll want to come back on once in a while now, since he's not in the pinball game. Who knows? I believe he's still in the pinball game. Oh, he is, but... Yeah. So he left Stern to go to Play Mechanics. Yes. Which is basically part of Raw Thrills now, I believe. Yeah, which is funny. You talked about that on your other podcast, how Keith Johnson was at Play Mechanics and jumped to Jersey Jack. He was like, no, that's a no-brainer. I'm going back to make pinball. And Timmy goes from a company that makes pinball to Play Mechanics. But Play Mechanics does make pinball because they did Pulp Fiction. Yeah. And if you kind of look at it, who programmed Pulp Fiction? Who did the code? George Petro did. He's the president of Play Mechanics. He did it because he was the only one there who had any experience because he did Road Kings. I know. Back in the 80s. So I'm sure Timmy is going to be their main guy. He's going to be their number one. And I'm not lying. Like I said, I'm not lying. He's going to be their number one guy for whatever new pinball machine they're going to be doing because they're doing one. Yes, they are. Because it's not just Mark Ritchie is not the only pinball designer working at Play Mechanics. No. Joe Balser is working at Play Mechanics. Yes, he is. So. I can't wait. You can't wait for the clunk? I love the clunk. You love the clunk? I love. I actually like his play fields. You two asshats on the other show. Man, oh, man. You are just brutal to fucking poor Joe. You are more brutal to Joe Balzer than I am more brutal to fucking Lonnie. Oh, I don't know about that. I think Joe Balzer, he started out like he was going to be Mr. Flow, and then he just abandoned the flow entirely, like just with extreme prejudice. I don't know why. I don't know. Why did he hate flow? He started out with Baywatch and the other Godzilla. It's like, oh, okay, this guy's going to be a flow monster. And then it just went, no, no. Screw Flow.
    31:23
    But, yeah. So I am assuming Timmy is working on whatever their next game is going to be, which probably won't be announced for a year and a half, and it might take another two years to be actually manufactured. Yeah. Congratulations, Tim, though. Congratulations.
    31:39
    Good luck. I can't wait to see what you're working on. But what happens – no, getting back to Tim, though. What happens to fucking John Wick? It just gets tossed to the side and forgotten? Yeah, that's, yeah. Yeah. That's like the Wheel of Fortune of our show. Yeah, I hate to say it, but it's really, that is the problem with these, hey, we're going to get it in beta almost, and you're our test bed, and oh, the guy left. Oh, fuck. And the other thing is, I'm sure Timmy was working on a new game, so someone had to take over for that, whatever game that is. Yep. So, yeah, you don't know what the fuck's going on, but it's, you know, think about it. I just paid $7,000 for a game. Is it 1.0 yet? No. Oh. No. Mm. Mm-hmm. Oh, I just, I knew you'd love this. I looked up on Spooky's site to see if there was a manual for Evil Dead yet. And? There isn't. Ta-da!
    32:43
    Just got to call it out. There was no manual. Of course not. Why would we have a manual for a game that's in production at people's houses? That kind of stuff. Jesus fargan Christ. Well, okay. To be fair, to be fair, let's go to Stern Pinball right now. Let's go. Yeah. And see if they have a manual for COD. Probably not.
    33:04
    Let's see. Support. Game manuals. Mm-hmm. Uh-huh. Let's see. K. Nope. No manuals. See, we got a call. Spade to spade. Oh, yeah. There's no manual. Where's the manual, sir? You're making these. Wait a sec. We were waiting on a manual for X-Men. Is X-Men up? Oh. Yeah. Wait a minute. There's no manual for X-Men? There wasn't at the time when we looked because we were looking for the slow-mo. Oh.
    33:32
    Let's see. Game manuals. That's easy. It starts with an X. I know. X-Files. Wait a minute. You mean to tell me there's no manual for the current X-Men?
    33:44
    No, there is a new one. It is a new one. It is a new one? Yep. Yep, Spike. The thing I don't understand is they have the whole, the kit, the shooter lane fixed kit or whatever, and it's not under tech bulletins. Of course not. Like the last tech bulletin is for Rush. I know.
    34:04
    Are you sure? I'm looking at X-Men right now, and it is definitely the old one. Because it's showing the tournament pinball thing. It's showing the fluorescent ball. Hold on. I'm waiting. Mine's still downloading. It's still downloading. Well, the thing is, there's only one X-Men manual. So that tells you it can't be the new one. There should be two. Nope, there's no. I'm just looking right at it. It's the new one. Where the hell is it? I'm looking right at it. Is it called something different? It's called Uncanny X-Men. Oh, that's why I'm not uncanny, bro. You've got to be uncanny. Wait a minute. I don't even see you as something I can pick. Just type it in. Oh, okay. They spell their third fucking stuff. It's actually the uncanny accident. Oh, the. It starts with a the. Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot to put the article in front.
    34:53
    Okay, so there they go. It's there. They're there. So, but not. Now, is it the King Kong? That's what we've got to think about now. Hold on. Oh, yeah. Is it King Kong? Well, is it just King Kong on whatever island?
    35:09
    Yeah, but it's not. Not even Kong's coming up. Not even Kong. Come on, guys. Get with the program. Yep. This is spooky levels of non-manualness. Yep, yep, yep, yep. In other industry news, Jeremy Packer was named the new Stern Art Director. And when I saw that, I was like, didn't they just have one? Because Greg Ferris retired last year. Yes. And they named some dude as their art director. I looked it up. Yes, in July of 2024, Sebastian Napoli was the replacement for Greg Ferris. Yep. So I take it he left or that didn't work out or something. Yeah, I don't know. Because now Jeremy Patrick is the new star director and art director. Yep. So congratulations. Congratulations to Jeremy, you know, getting the job. Getting the job of supervising yourself. Yes. Pretty much, yes. I'm the art director. You know what? I think my art is going in the perfect direction. Yes. Hey, you shouldn't do that Oh, no, no, no You know what? No, I think I should do that Yeah I'm going to direct myself right to the art Yeah, wait a minute Is this a conflict of interest? Is this like a tournament? Does someone else get to be art director for his particular project? So he doesn't direct himself? Yeah Hmm Think about that Yes All right, continuing in order here In order, because Ron is so fucking anal No, it's just like a ton of notes Pintastic was last weekend It was, that's why you did not get a show It's all Ron's fault New England's premier pinball show You notice how Ron skipped over that That it was his fault It was my fault because I went to an attendance show A pinball show To give us more content No, you crushed people They were just so disappointed We had so many complaints God, I couldn't even open up with it This is a good show. I enjoyed it. The problem with Pintastic is... There is no problem. It's only like a two-hour drive away. It's awesome. No.
    37:12
    There's not a flea market like they originally planned. I wish they would have kept on... Bruce criticizing the show he hasn't gone to. No, because everyone, that's the one comment they say. Like, they were trying to make it. They were trying to... And literally, you know, the vendors are the only thing that... It's all new stuff. If you can get just a couple of people to sell some old stuff in there, it would be kicking it. Okay. Kicking it. But I heard everyone liked the seminars were great and everything like that. That was all great, and the tournament was rocking. This is one of the shows that basically the hotel lets us do anything. Yeah.
    37:52
    And that's why we're at this hotel. But they're better than the previous hotel. Oh, yeah. God. Especially that last year where everything smelled like urine. That was not good. Well, that was because the dog show was just before this.
    38:05
    But they do, every year they seem to have like a musical guest. Yeah, I know. Like last year they had the Elton John guy, and then they had Rush, and then they had, what's it, Guns N' Roses. This year they did a double shot. Friday they had Ozzy.
    38:24
    Yeah, and Saturday they had ACDC. Yeah. I mean cover bands, by the way. Yes. That'd be cool if they actually had a CDC there. Kiss, we could have went there if they didn't want to. They wanted not to pay us. Well, they didn't want to pay us the million dollars per member. Well, actually, it's five million for me and Paul. Yes, and then the peons only get one million.
    38:49
    And I take a cut of that one million also. You take a cut of it, too. Because it's not enough. It's just not enough. I was reading somewhere, like, their last, their farewell tour, he was selling, like, his bases after every show, like, for 50K. So by the end of the tour, he made another million just selling bases. Yeah, just bases. I know. Police, Nikes.
    39:16
    Yeah. But thank you to all the listeners that said hi to me while I was there. Any hugs? No, Bruce. I know you're disappointed. People. No. It passes COVID shit. Ron needs a fucking hug. I don't need a hug. I'm fine. I want to see huggage at Allentown. Huggage. If you get a hug, you've got to get a selfie with Ron with a hug. Bruce won't be there, folks. I won't be there, so I've got to see this by picture. I want to see selfie hugs with Ron.
    39:45
    Yes. If you do that, you become guest of the week. Guest of the week. Okay. I only played two entries in the tournament. Yeah. I saw. Yeah. Zoller won again. Yeah, I saw. Zoller's won four years in a row. Yeah, I saw. Uh-huh. And Zach bled out. Our own Zach bled out. Our own Zach, yeah. He bled out. He had a good opportunity, but he shit the bed on his last game. Last game. Hocus Pocus. Hocus Pocus, yeah. A very fair play in Hocus Pocus, too, so he couldn't complain. But I'm sure he still did. I didn't hear many complaints except for banana flippers. That's all I heard about complaining about banana flippers. Banana Flippers? On what? There was a game there with Banana Flippers. And Eric Stone was complaining about it. Not in the main tournament, Bruce. That was in one of the other rooms. That was like on Thursday. Yeah, but he complained about it. Dude, how can you complain about it? It literally was Disco Fever Time Warp. I agree. It's a legit game. It calls for the Banana Flipper. Ah, fuck this tournament. Banana Flipper. Ah, fuck. Like, holy shit. A game came with it. You said the game came. Is it like Big Dick? Yes.
    40:59
    Oh, man. All right. I got other notes here. I played Battle Stations for the first time. Yeah, I saw a picture of you. It looked great. That's Brian Smith's game. Brian used to be the main tournament runner at Allentown. Yeah, he had the original P3 when it was called. The first person I ever seen run a tournament electronically where it had the PDAs. Swipe cards and everything. Yeah, swipe cards and all that. Well, him and his son, they have a game called Battle Stations. Which is based off of like a head-to-head pinball machine. It's kind of like Joust. Yes. Yeah, it was actually pretty fun. And he wants to manufacture it. Yeah, and it's a standard-sized cabinet, too, so you can use like a regular pinball glass in it. Nice. And, yeah, you go head-to-head. You attack your opponent's pop bumper. It's got lights on it so you can see how many hits it takes. You can also raise your shield, which is drop targets.
    41:58
    You can also try to get balls past your opponent so if they drain, it takes away their energy. So I was wondering, well, what happens if I have all the balls on my side and I just trap up and just start hitting his pop bumper? Well, there's an action button so your opponent can just hold that down and kill your flippers. Oh, cool. So like a smart bomb, so you can't just hold the balls. That's fucking really smart. Yeah. I hope he does get to make it, because I think that would be pretty cool to have. Yep, and it could be more reliable than Joust, which wouldn't be hard. No. Joust is so hard to keep running. I know. Let's see. What other notes? Evil Dead was there in the Fender room for, like, the first day, and then it broke, and it remained off the rest of the show. Ta-da! Spooky! But the Evil Dead in the other room worked fine for the whole show. Yeah. They had the hangover. Remember when I said, because this is the latest Revy Hardy,
    42:58
    I can't remember the name of the guy, the one that's going to win the Twippy for best homebrew. Of course, yeah, of course. And I mentioned last, might have been last episode or episode before, how it was that fantastic or the previous one, whatever it was. Yes, you did. Happy Gilmore or whatever the hell it was. But it was in the exclusive extra ballroom. They got to pay extra for it to play it, so I never got to play it. Well, this year it was Hangover, which instead of Mustang. I know, the Mustang. It was Family Guy. It was Family Guy this time, and it was in the extra ballroom, so I couldn't play it. Same thing. Ta-da. But that will be your Twippy Award winner for, actually, it wouldn't be homebrew. They called it re-theme because they split them up. So, yeah, that will win for best re-theme. I'm calling it now my prediction. Wow, that's a hard prediction. God, I don't know if I'd put money on that one. Jeez, fucking Louise.
    43:55
    But I made a special note here, saved it for last, what I wanted to talk about for Pintastic. Okay. I got to play a game I never thought I'd get to play. Ooh. I got to play Spinal Tap.
    44:09
    God. Yeah. It's that bad. I thought that Star – not Stars, I'm sorry. Blues Brothers. I thought that thing was shit ain't nothing compared to this okay it had it's hopper with like a skull whatever they used to clear coat this skull was coming off of it nice and dripping all over the game well maybe that's showing how dead it is you know you're just shit delaminating underneath the play field just no wire management Absolute rat's nest Oh god The thing The price, you know how much they wanted for this one? $9,000 $8,500 for this That was insulting Crack cocaine I can turn it up to 11 If it actually works Yeah, I got to see that I got to see lots of videos over and over again Over the same fucking ones Yes, and then they just cut off Yeah, it's terrible
    45:17
    I'm sorry. I know Mike from HomePin will say we'll have some kind of excuse or whatever. Or that was the prototype. That's why. The shit was literally fucking falling apart. Yeah. It was falling off of that fucking game. It was a piece of shit. And I'm not even done. So I'm playing this thing. I played it twice. I had to experience this the second time. First game we actually got through, I played with JT Harrison. Hi, JT. Mm-hmm. We played the first game, and we got through. We played a full game. Actually got a multi-ball. Like, okay.
    45:53
    Second game. At some point during my ball, I get an extra ball. Okay, cool. I drain out. Ball save. Okay. That seemed pretty long to have a ball save. All right, great. So I play a little bit more. Drain. Ball save. Like, oh, God, this is doing the same thing the Stars is doing. I'm sorry. Blues Brothers was doing. We're just like, you're an endless ball save. And the ball save light is on, and I couldn't stop. So you know what I did? I tilted it. It wouldn't tilt. No, that worked. Just like I did with loose balls. But then it said, the ball goes into shooter lane. It's a shoot again because I got an extra ball. Okay.
    46:33
    When I drained that ball out, ball save. Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun. I tilted it out. It tells me to shoot again. Oh, fuck me. It went through six times until I gave up, and I left it literally playing itself with just endless ball sand. Jesus fucking Christ. Hey, home bins! It's like, you know, a guy showing off. Home bins! Yes.
    47:00
    A Stern employee I know, I won't mention his name, but he was taking pictures of it and showing me, and I was like, oh, because he was seeing things I didn't even see.
    47:10
    And did you see the ramp, Bruce? Yeah. I sent you a picture of the rim. Yeah, the rim. Describe the ramp to our listeners. It was pop riveted with like 60 fucking pop rivets. Now, and wait, it wasn't done the right way either because they left it. They were pulling the, they made it smooth on the outside instead of smooth on the inside where the ball actually goes. Yep. When you push a pop rivet in, you get a tail. And instead of having the tail on the outside, that might look bad. No, we're going to have it on the inside, which will hit a ball.
    47:46
    Oh, my fucking God. And he's proud of this fucking game. That's the most hilarious part of this whole thing. I do recommend listening to any interview that Mike from Home Pin is on, because the ego is amazing. If anyone buys those shit games, ha, fucking, ha. He needs to just keep making Transformers. Yes, he just needs to keep making parts. Power transformers, I mean. Not the transformers as in more than he's got. No, he needs to make parts. Guess what?
    48:20
    That would be his smartest move. Unfortunately, he's proven he's not that fucking smart. But I just, like, when I saw the price, like, $8,500? Are you fucking serious? Is that $8,500 Canadian? Is that $8,500 Australian? No!
    48:39
    See, now I understand the anger some people have, because I don't really care about spinal time. No, I don't either. But if that was, like, my favorite theme, like, if that was Beavis and Butthead, I would be beyond pissed. Oh, I'd be fucking livid. I would be fucking livid. I'd be like, you fucking asshole paid for my license. It could have been a lot better, but you fucked it up and used it in a shitty-ass way. Watch. Beavis and Butthead will be the next one. You got it.
    49:11
    Ta-da! Oh, my God. I love when you see him at the trade shows. He's got these... Stop making games. Just make parts, please. Please stop making games. Stop making games. Tap the brakes. Tap out. Tap out. Please.
    49:26
    The shit you've been making sucks. If you say it's not for us, then why are you trying to sell it to us? Well, no, he's not. I mean, he didn't bring it to that show. A distributor did. Exactly. But he sold it to the distributor. And what do you think the distributor is going to do? Sell it to people. Guess what? Don't sell it to us. Sell home. Well, he hates America, too. America! He hates the U.S. America! Why do you hate America?
    49:53
    But he loves Canadians, because guess what? The Canadian distributor, you know, got stuck with shit like that. Okay, Dr. John from Australia, I know you're listening. Please. Yes. Please tell us how we're wrong about this, how it's secretly great. because I'm just not seeing it. It was a shit show. I'm not seeing it. It is a fucking shit show. I need to mention things. Like, I actually read the rule card. It's like, complete the drop targets to light the lock. And you've got to complete them two or three times. It says right on the card. So, like, the first time I get multi-ball, it actually worked the way it said. The second time, I hit the three bank. I think it was the three bank. I don't know, seven times, and the lock never lit again. Of course not. And I'm like, am I missing something? What's going on? Of course not. All right. Yeah, shit show. I also have this note here that I heard this. I can't confirm this, but I'm going to say it anyway because we're all in unsubstantiated things here. The Pokemon home brewer, who I can't find the person's name, supposedly was hired by Barrels of Fun. Yeah, I heard that too. Okay. So take that for what you will there. I don't know what that means. Are they making Pokemon? I have no idea. According to the interviews I've seen with the Barrels of Fun, there are like six or seven licenses ahead. Yeah.
    51:12
    Man. Maybe tap the brakes on that one a little bit. Make sure everything's going good. Let's see. Dune looks great, though. Let's go to Dune. Okay, yeah. We'll do Dune first. And this is the crazy. We have all these companies. All the same. And Stern and Barrels of Fun both released their main trailer of the game on the same day within a few hours of each other. Well, Stern had to – here's the funny thing. Stern first put out the release to come out to their thing two or three weeks ago. Come out to see the newest pinball machine. You can stay at the hotel. You can come check us out. Okay, yes, yes. We at Stern – We actually invited – Yeah, we at Glantzell Podcast, we got invited by Stern and Barrels of Fun. Yes, both of them. To look at their latest reveal. Of course, I can't go to either one because I'm going on vacation. You never can go to anything. But they had, for barrels of fun, it's like, come on the 15th of April to Houston. Which is a Tuesday. To check out our latest game. And then Stern had, come out to Chicago on the 17th. I guess they're giving people a day of travel. To check out our game.
    52:17
    So I could have went, if I had the time and money, I guess I could have went, like, psycho and went to both of them. That would have been great. Yeah, you could have. But no, we're really busy. Yeah, we're busy. We're in the midst of moving a data center, so that was not going to happen.
    52:37
    So, yeah, so they have these two interviews. Come on out, do this stuff. And here's the funny thing. You know, we knew Barrels of Home was going to release first, and Stern just went, nope, I'm going to cock block you.
    52:50
    That's exactly what they did. They just pulled out their own. Same day. Here you go. Well, to be fair, usually that's when they would come out with the full thing on Thursday. That makes sense. I know, but they did it Tuesday. Was it Thursday? It was Tuesday they get it out. Because when Barrels of Fun was actually having a tour, they put the thing out. And then right after that, three hours later, here comes Stern. Boink. Did it early for everything. What I like is the games are totally different. So I don't think you're going to get too much cross. No, no, no. They're not like similar in theme or play style from what I saw. So let's go to Dune first since they were released first. Their trailer, okay, here's a pet peeve I have with the trailer. I don't want to hear the actual pinball sounds. I don't want to hear the ball rolling on the play field and all the other stuff. Use the sound effects from the game. Don't. Fake it. Yeah. Don't fake it. Well, none of the other, like watch any Jersey Jack trailer, Stern trailers. You don't hear any of that stuff. No. That's just a pet peeve of mine. It's a personal preference.
    54:00
    The sandworm eats the ball. Oh, it rises. In a very unique way, too. Yeah, I actually like this. This is actually fucking cool. I know a lot of people bitch about the art package I mean it brown It like it brown It a fucking desert It a desert You know what this is You know what this is This is sand You know what it going to be in a thousand years It going to be sand Oh Stan Kinnison reference Very good. Fuck yeah.
    54:24
    But it's fucking sand. It's on a planet, our straighties. That is sand. We have deserts in America. We just don't live in them, assholes.
    54:35
    Holy shit. When people started complaining about that, I'm like, I'm sitting there going, huh? Huh? Yeah, I like the artwork. It's based off a fucking movie for fucking, oh, my God. They went all out with the world under glass. Yes, they did. That's definitely going to be their, that's what their gimmick is. Yes. They're going for the fully immersive. They have all this extra new lighting that's along the sides of the cabinet that from what I listened to, both Loser Kid, I Loser Kid, they did interviews with Stern, well, they did one with Keith Allen, and then they did one with Brian Savage and David Van Ness of Barrels of Fun and they said how these light strips are removable so if something goes wrong with it it's easily replaceable like oh okay and all this lighting is in there to simulate because it's supposed to be day to night to day you're supposed to go through a full day cycle and they got the fucking box I've actually watched Dune I've actually seen both of the new Dune movies, and I watched the original Dune movie with his sting with metal underwear. And John Luke Bacard. Yes, yes. A slow blade penetrates the shield. Yes. And the other thing I remember about the original Dune is the fact that when it was on television, they added an extra five minutes at the beginning to explain who all the characters were. Yes. Because they thought it was so confusing. Oh, it is. You need to help. Yeah. But Dune, Arrakis, desert planets. Yeah. But they got the box, which I believe it was in both movies. The box, you put your hand in the box and you can't get it out. Yes. I love the way they use this. Yeah. So what they did, and do you remember in Wizard of Oz they had the one, I think it was on the right out lane. If you hit all, I think it's four of the rollovers, you get the ball back and you had to hit it hurry up. Yeah, Toto. So that's basically what this is. On the left side, when the ball drains, it goes in the box, and you have to put your hand on the action button, and then you have to hit the ramp to get your ball back. Yes, and you can't take it off that. Yeah, and people are like, well, I'll just put my shin on there, or I'll just put my gut on there. Well, the way they're programming it, if at any point you hit both flippers at the same time, like if you had your shin on there, it just kills them, and you lose. You die. I like that. That I like. That's a good use of the action button. I like they got that extra screen is going to be their trademark now. They got it in the back panel. Yes. I like that a lot. They have graphics in the back panel that go up into the main screen and back and forth. Love that. Yeah. And the sandworm is like a multi. It stops the ball. It eats the ball. It raises up. It turns. Yes. It's also a basketball. Yes. I know. It's like, holy fuck. Like, man, this thing does a lot of shit. I hope it doesn't break.
    57:37
    But, honestly, I like the look of this game. It looks really good. Some of the shots, I'm going to say again, are really tight. And on the right-hand side, they're a little tight. But I do love the bash part. The bash play part is definitely a win-win on that one. The smart thing is the trailer, it was probably Bowen playing it. Yeah. They got Bowen Carats playing the game, so you can make it look good. I think that's going to be a winner for them. Yeah. I really do. Listening to their interview on Loser Kid, they definitely seem to have it. They know what they're doing. Yeah. I mean, they kind of proved that with Labyrinth, but they're already, they got this license before they even built Labyrinth. Yeah. So they took more time to make this better. They are, yeah, they're on to, I think they've got three other ones in planning phases and working on other licenses. they're also saying and the price I think it's $10,600 no I'm looking right now $11,600 limited to 1,000 units and they're saying we're not an arcade equipment manufacturer we're a collectibles manufacturer they're trying to do the in between stern and well they're doing the spooky thing basically yeah but a lot better I feel a lot better. Well, from the start, yes. I haven't heard about all kinds of labyrinth. No. It's the taste of that working. Yeah, exactly. I haven't heard anything. They're way ahead of the game. Yeah.
    59:12
    And the thing is, they're going to do 1,000 in a state. They want to have them done by the end of the year. Yeah. Because they felt that they were too slow on labyrinth getting them done. Which I don't think they were for their first machine. I'm going to be totally honest. I think they did that pretty quick. there were people who waited too long and they're trying to get it that down well i'd rather them not rush it either though because they might be pushing their production do it right not fast exactly yeah take your time it's not like sex you don't get it over in three minutes okay take your time i'd rather you not bring out product that's bad and having problems in the field or at the home because that's where you get your bad reputation take your time and build it right, and it will then speed up because you're making it right. Okay, Bruce. Supposedly these are going to be at Allentown. Yeah, that's nice. I can't see it.
    60:07
    I was surprised they would make it to Allentown. Really? They're going to be at Allentown? Like, okay. That's great, though.
    60:12
    That's great. Honestly, I hope you play it. I hope it looks great because it could be a win-win. It really can. I like the look of it. I like the theme. One model. They're not doing different trends or anything. Actually, I prefer that. if you're going to put everything in, make it one fucking model. This three model shit is... That's what Spooky did for Evil Dead. It's just one model. And it works because it doesn't split up time. Guess what? Your programming is not tied up with two different or three different models. Your other stuff all works. And it actually is more efficient. And they're still going to get extra money for the accessories because the game's going to come with like a plastic topper. Yeah. So then they're going to sell like the really fancy chopper later. They had side art. And the other thing they do, which I think is a good idea, they'll have the alternate trans light. Yes. It might be a back glass, but it's going to be an alternate. I think it is a back glass. They're going to have an alternate later. So if you don't like the original one, guess what? You can change it up. Yeah, I think they're going to. It looks like they're doing the same. Because the Labyrinth had like David Bowie. Yes. Like the faces one. And then they had David Bowie's not on the alternate trans light. And so I could see they'll probably have, the one they have now has all the actors on it from the movie. I could see the other one just have, like, the snake or the worm or something like that. Yeah, it won't have the actors on it. Yeah. Which, fine. I totally agree. Guess what? I like what they're doing. Wow. Hey. Wow. Yeah. I like the one and done. Guess what? Even if it had $11,600, it's more than a premium. So you've got to pay more than a certain premium. But if it's the level of an LE, you're still underneath their LE price. You're limiting the number. And if you're putting on a good product that's working, good for them. Great for them. And it's a more recent IP. Yes. It's not like an old. No, it's not an old one. I mean, they're making the third movie. Yes, the third movie. And it's going to be a two-part movie, that third one. Oh, God. Really? 3.1 and 3.6. Oh, God. It's a long story. I hate to say it, it is a long story.
    62:25
    I read the book. It's a long story. Wow. I think they should use that in their marketing materials. Even Bruce Nightingale likes us. Yes. Even Bruce from Slam Tilted. He hates everything. Well, I didn't like the game Labyrinth. Don't get me wrong. That's true. You didn't like it. I liked it more than you. I didn't like the game, but guess what? I did like the quality. It felt very good. It didn't feel cheesy. I just hate the movie Labyrinth. I played that. I was like, ugh, this is why I don't like this fucking game. But I felt like you could shoot it. I felt like you can do stuff. Yeah, I feel that I would say, you know, I wouldn't mind if you guys did Beavis and Butthead. That will never happen. But you don't know that. You don't know that. I know that. Although Beavis and Butthead, they do live in Texas. They do. Think about it. Ooh, Texas is home. Here's where you did a real cool one. You make a Beavis and Butthead and you make a King of the Hill. And you use the same play field, so you can do either theme. What the hell?
    63:25
    See, that would be against their whole world under glass. I know. Because it would have to match. Arlen. Yeah, you'd have to have one as Arlen. It's got propane and grills and stuff. In the school.
    63:40
    Yes. Fever's the But I would have to have Highland High. Yes. You'd have to have the couch, the TV. See? You could do it. We can do it. We know we can. But that was their reveal. Yes. And I actually thought it was a pretty good reveal. The video was really nice. Yeah, and they had a longer, like a 38-minute video where they went over the game, different parts of the game. I actually watched the whole thing. I did all my research. Yep, I did too with this one because my wife was like, ooh, let me see it. So we watched it together. She's like, wow, that looks pretty cool. How much is it? Like $11,600. I went, ooh. Oh, yeah, that's the end. Everyone likes it. It's like, wow, yeah, how much is that? Ooh. Yeah, I don't know. Forget it. I'd rather have a car. Yeah.
    64:22
    But then think about it. You buy this, and you buy, if you buy this and Harry Potter and Kong. Oh, God. You're talking a freaking brand new car, $36,000 for all three. Well, that's the thing. I can't buy Dune or Kong because Jack told me to not spend a dime. You can't buy anything until you see Harry Potter. I can't spend a dime until I see Harry Potter. So I'm sorry, guys. I'm out. I got to wait until Harry Potter comes out to see. I'm dropping.
    64:49
    Yes, Kong was revealed. Yes, it was. And it is basically what they did is, so basically it's an unlicensed theme because it's public domain. Yes. The book is. So they based it on the book. The interesting thing about the book, the book was before the movie, but it was commissioned for the movie. Yes. I read up on this. When they were making the movie, the commission is due to write the book, which is basically the same plot as the movie. 95% of it. Yes. And as a promotional material for the movie when it came out to get people interested. Yes. And the book was a hit, and then the movie came out, and that was a hit. But it's based on the book, which still has him. He's in the jungle. Then he comes back. Then he escapes in New York and goes crazy. Yes.
    65:40
    So, yes, they revealed Kong, the Usual 3 model. they've got pro, premium and limited with the same pricing pro is $7,000 premium is $9,700 and limited is $13,000 yeah and my one comment will be the pro is really limited it's really lacking some stuff yeah the pro, so the premium and LE have a animatronic moving Kong it has the subway car Gong. It's got the gong.
    66:18
    Is it really vacuum? The pro doesn't, the pro kong doesn't move. Nope. The gong is gone. It's just a piece of plastic. Yep. And you, there's no subway car. It's plastic. There's no subway car. There's a plastic piece. Well, it doesn't move. Yeah. And it's got, the LE and premium got the spider, but the pro doesn't have the spider, but it's got the same magnet. Yeah. It doesn't have the same magnet. People are probably going to mod the spider anyway. Yeah, of course. Yeah. From what I saw, the way it looked, like, oh, people are going to mod that. They're not going to like that. So what did you think of it, Bruce? What's your first impressions? Bro, I liked. I mean, not bro, I mean, sorry, premium and L.E. I liked. What did you think of the art? People were pissed about the art saying it's too bright, it should be darker. The weird thing about the art is there's three artists on this. Yes, there is. It's weird. So they got Kevin O'Connor listed, and supposedly he did the center where Kong is. Yeah, which it was. It's based off the original. Based off the original data, East King Kong. Yep. And then Greg Ferris, the retired Greg Ferris, came out of retirement to do the rest of the play field. Yep. And then Jeremy Packer, Zombie Eddie did the – that's one person. Jeremy Packer and Zombie Eddie did the cabinet.
    67:30
    People are pissed that the premium and limited are the same art packages, just different colors. Yeah. So people are pissed at that. And different back glass. it's just it didn't wow me I liked it but I'm a sucker for bright colors ooh pretty good it was okay it just didn't wow me it's got four flippers and a fuck ton of shots it's amazing how many shots he can put in a just regular whiff game it's amazing everything about it says I would probably like it it's basically super flowy fast, in your face everything's high impact, everything's high energy the music's all this orchestral high energy stuff you're battling Kong, it's just constant action it's definitely along the lines of something I would like I will say the graphics the display animations I wasn't crazy about those Oh, they were pretty generic.
    68:40
    To me, and maybe it'll look different in person, just looking at it on the stream, that's what it looked like to me. I thought it would look a little more detailed. Let's put it that way. Yeah. That's really the only thing I can say. I mean, I can't wait to play this thing. Yeah, I can't wait to play it either. They had it this weekend. It looked like it was very popular at the Pinball at the Zoo. Congratulations to them for 25 years. and they brought the Godzilla guys back. Yeah. It's the same guy. The voice guy. The guy, he does a ton of voice work for Stern, so he's done a bunch of their games, but he literally used the same voice. I do believe what I'm seeing. I'm back. Yeah. But I like his voice, though. I don't have a problem with it. Yeah, I know. I think it's perfect if you wanted to put this right next to Godzilla and be like, oh, this must be like the sequel game. Yeah. So, yeah, I've got to play it. It looks pretty good so far. And, of course, RPC, the Rochester Pinball Collective. Are they getting any of these two new games? Yes, we are getting one of the two games. Get a guess, Con. Yep. And we're getting it from Flippin' Out Pinball. Oh, so don't forget, got your pinball machines live, right direct from Flippin' Out Pinball. Give that to us. Help it us. Okay. Zach the man helped us out and got us on the list for a premium flip it out Zach there's so many Zachs we have to differentiate outside the state so definitely get your pinball machine flip it out pinball check it out are we a sponsor no so you're going to be getting a premium how exciting I bet you our local guy who gets everything will probably get the dune also, so I'm expecting that, so we'll be able to check it out. I mean, I have to get the... Kong's got to move.
    70:35
    If there's an option for Kong to move, he's got to move. Honestly, the Pro is pretty... The Pro reminds me of a Venom.
    70:42
    It's not that bad, no. It's not that bad, but when you look at the plastic and it makes that simulated gong sound, it's like ugh. It's like ugh. I mean, it's still got the four flippers. It does. It does. I'm not really keen about that movable ball save, almost like on the left-hand side, but it's automated, which is better than I have to doing anything. Ball save. Which is really cool. It doesn't drain. I don't think it drains up there if that doesn't. I thought it was a lane blocker. Yeah, but it's not all the way at the bottom. It's in the middle of the play field. Oh, I thought it was. Okay, but I like that it's not dependent on me. The out lane is like the, it's Fathom, where the in lane's an out lane. Yeah. But not quite because it has a regular in lane. Then it has the in lane that's actually the out lane. And then it has an out lane that's actually an in lane. Yeah. Got it? Yeah, exactly. So, yeah, I think I want to play it, of course. You know, I won't be able to play it in downtown. I guarantee you'll be there. So you'll get to play two games before me. Mm-hmm.
    71:43
    Well, congratulations. Yes. I can't wait. It's exciting. What do you think if you're Jersey Jack right now? So how long do you wait before Harry Potter?
    71:55
    Hmm. until it's right. Sorry. I'm being honest. So when's it right? I don't know, because Jack was an asshole and fucking put it out before it was probably ready. I'm being honest. Poor Jack. I understand the cash grab he was trying to do and tell people not to buy it, but guess what? With that rhetoric and talking about it at TPF, he should have said, like, okay, yeah, the video will be out this coming week or two. Well, it's not. So you're telling me to wait on buying, possibly getting missing out on an LE, if it's really, you know, for Stern. Possibly missing out on Dune, but I don't think you will. But I'm saying possibly. And then you see Harry Potter, and maybe it's not all the way you think cracked up to be. You're like, ooh. Well, guess what? If you had this talk the talk, you should have walked the walk. And, of course, they didn't again. They need to do something better about them. First, the shot caller on Jack is the big thing. The shot caller. Make sure you keep him in line. Yes. You know, just make sure you hit it off on time. But you just got to tap the brakes and, you know, be prepared. If you're going to say this thing, maybe say it at Pentastic and if it's coming out in the beginning of May. Like, if you mention it at all, then we wouldn't even be having this conversation. No, exactly. If they weren't taking orders and all that, they could have maybe waited. They could have set a thing out. Waited for this to calm down a little bit. People get their, you know, okay, now we'll come out with this. No, no. What they should have done is what Stern did to Barrels of Fun the same day. Oh. Put a freaking teaser, a 10-second teaser video.
    73:37
    I don't know about teaser. I think they'd have to show something at this point. Something. Maybe the backlash. Maybe an animation. No, show a cool toy in it somewhere. Exactly. something like he used to do before. And that same day, like three hours, like four o'clock in the afternoon, put that out right after Stern's announcement and right after Barrels of Fun. Hey, guys, this is what you really should be waiting for. Here's it coming out. That would have been the ultimate marketing device. That would have been nice. They should have either not mentioned it at all or just went all out and got it in before the other ones if they could. But they didn't, and they failed both ways. What they should have done is right after Stern put out theirs, put it right out afterwards. Hey, guys, look, we're going to be the newest – So now they've got to wait. Now you've got to fucking wait, and now you could miss out on something. And that's what people – You've got Cuphead sitting back there. Yeah, exactly. Poor Cuphead. Cuphead, like, no one's going to care. No one's going to fucking even touch that thing with a 24-foot pole. No, no. It's so sad.
    74:40
    Kong, Dune, Harry Potter, Cuphead. Womp womp. Yeah. Pretty bad. And don't forget what else is coming up, sir. What's that? Stomp. Perfect. Yes, very good, because I was done with the con review. I know you were. So Stomp is still, we are now up to 57 players. Wow. Can you fit that many in there? Yes, we can. We can fit a lot more if we wanted to, but we're only eliminating it to 80. So you're eliminating it to 80. I'll remember that. eliminating it to 80. So 10 more days gets you a guaranteed chance to get your money back. So April 30th is the last day to prepay and get your chance to win your money back and being in the giveaways for all the prizes. You still can also win a Pinberg ticket at our tournament. Just show up, pay, and play, and you are in the running to win a Pinberg ticket. That's what you want to try for. Two things. we have 23 more spots left once it's 80 we are freezing it the good thing is if we get to 64 which is only seven people away we will be closing the rpc to the general public oh so we get seven more people we're closing the rpc to the general public so seven more people come on and pay 135 gets you an entry into stomp it's for friday afternoon evening and saturday and all day Sunday. Four tournaments, women's, main, classics, and there's one other one I can't remember. I just got so many things on my mind with the podcast and trying to get away for a trip. I will be able to take deposits. We also take Venmo and PayPal. Come check us out on our Facebook page, Slam Pilt Podcast, under events. All the information's there. Come see us. Come join us at the Rochester Pinball Collective in beautiful Rochester in the summer, and we have great AC. So it will be a nice 60, 70 degrees in there. Yeah, it will be too cold for me. It will probably be too cold for Ron, but luckily we can get that room very nicely air-conditioned. So beginning of June 1st, full weekend in June, come on out. Definitely want to see you all there. I know there's only 30 spots left for the Beast for Mr. Teolis. Well, hold on. My GPS just isn't working. What's the address for the Rochester Pinball Collective? 29-65 West Commercial Street. Sorry, 349 West Commercial Street in beautiful East Rochester. Let me try. It's 349 West Commercial Street in East Rochester, New York. Suite number 2965. Come on. Come on out and join us. So definitely if we get seven more people to join up for the 64, we'll be closing our location. So it'll just be you guys enjoying it. And that's what we really would like to go for. Also, as I said, Chance of Winnipeg. If you know somebody that's on the hairy edge and has never played in the stomp,
    77:46
    if you get them to mention your name, that you're playing in it, and you convince them to come along, you get $15 back, the person who recommended them. It's like a finder's fee. Come on out. Enjoy it. I'm looking up hairy edge.
    78:02
    Hairy edge? I've never heard hairy edge before. It says it's a New Zealand soccer player. There you go, baby. Harry Edge. Okay. I've never heard that term. Did I just mishear it? You said Harry Edge. Edge, yeah. Okay.
    78:18
    Okay, if anyone else has heard that term before, please write us at slamtillpodcast at gmail.com. That's our email address.
    78:27
    Let's see, what else do I... I had a note here. I don't know if this happened in between our last episode or whether I mentioned it the last episode. I got a new game. So did I. Oh, you did? I did. Yeah, Bruce, he got a whodunit. I got a whodunit from Ron. Amazing. You know where I got that whodunit from? I got it from you. Yes. So it did a full circle. It did a full circle. And it got home. And when I was out there, I was going to another auction at Ron's house. So after I left Ron's with the game, I went to an auction. That was a big old bus, so I just drove home and got home nice and early yesterday. Hmm. Yes. Did it just, the prices were just way too high? Oh, they spiked right up. Oh, my God. It went from like $100, $200, $300 games to $800, $900 games, and no money to be mad. So I was just like, I'm done. And this wasn't pinball machines. This was video games. Video games, ladies and gentlemen. Yeah, and there were some good ones there, but, oh, it was just nutty. The one Tempest went for $1,500. I was like, oh, yeah, I'm done. Tempest, $1,500. The wonderful Vector Monitor. Yes, I wouldn't mind that because I know how to rebuild them. The 6100s you can make really rock solid. So, yeah, it's just a shit show. Everyone just went for gold.
    79:45
    I was just like, I'm done. I'm going out. Tapping out. So I got home last night around 530, and I dropped off the game at the RPC. And we got a couple new games at the RPC. So we got Whodunit will be coming on the floor eventually.
    80:01
    And Swords of Fury. Oh, my God. Lion Man. Here come the guards. Amanda will be coming back out just for your enjoyment, Ron.
    80:13
    Well, at least, I mean, Swords of Fury does have, I mean, it's Steve Kirk. Yes. At least partially. It's just some Steve Kirk in there. Guess what? If we get Meteor back on the floor eventually, We would have almost all the Steve Kirk stuff. The Steve Kirk Pro. Yeah. That'd be pretty cool. It would.
    80:31
    But I got a game. Ooh, what'd you get? I got a Foo Fighters Pro. Wow. I don't know if I mentioned that the last episode. Yes, you did. I did? You did. Well, it's finally set up and actually running and working and stuff. Yay! What did you have to fix? Did I go over this the last episode? You went over some things you were doing. I think I went over last episode. Yeah, but I mean, did you find anything else at the end? No, there was nothing else wrong. Everything eventually is working 100%. It's in the happy zone.
    81:00
    Happy, happy, joy, joy. Happy, happy, joy. Joy, joy. Let's see. I got repairs. We did confirm, because after Pentastic, our Zach was over.
    81:16
    And we looked at my Surf and Safari, because we thought that the game might be high tapped just because it plays so much faster faster than any other surfing safari I ever played And it isn No it is We confirmed it We confirmed. Because on the System 3s, they got this little, like, connector thing. Yeah. That's easy. You just remove it, and it's got the jumpers on it, and you can move them or whatever. And it was set for 110 volts instead of 120. Now, I think the reason it wasn't set for 120 is because one of the actual plastic parts of the connector that it would have to be in was busted off. So I wonder if it got broken so they just moved the jumpers down. It's 110 now. Hey, I wonder if you can get that from, what's his name? From PBR. No. Oh, shit. He doesn't have those. What the fuck? But a company in Canada does. Oh, that's cool. So I got a couple of those. So I'm going to put the 120 in there and see. See how it plays. Yeah. I mean, I like the 110. The issue is, though, the flippers are so strong, when you hit the whirlpool, it hardly whirlpools because it goes in so hard. It will only go around the bowl like once because it's so hard. It goes in so fast. And it just, like, boom, it's out. It's so hard. Hard and fast. Yes. Oh, Jesus Christ. You're the pervert now. Yes. You're the pervert. But, yeah, I want to try it at 120 and we'll see what happens. Because there's a lot of plastic on that game, too. So those ramps could get trashed. Mm-hmm. Okay. Hairy Edge is the phrase emphasizing the situation that is unstable and on the verge of instability. So that is definitely stomp.
    83:02
    We have our title. It's Hairy Edge, definitely. The Hairy Edge. Yes. No, it's just Hairy Edge. That's what the meaning is. There is a band called The Hairy Edge. Oh, of course. Of course. Is that the guy from U2, like his other band? Instead of The Edge, it's The Hairy Edge? They have 551 likes on Facebook. I think, yeah. They might need to play more. Yeah, they might need to play more. Or less. Yeah.
    83:30
    What do you got for repairs? Guess what? Batman 66 is fixed. I don't believe it. You've said that like twice now. I have said it twice, but it's on the floor now for the past week. It has not fucked up at all. No, that's not up. We need at least a month of episodes where it's not broken again. Well, we'll see when I get back from my trip. We'll see what happens. Trip. You fuckers are going to miss Slam Tilt for one whole month. One whole month. Bruce is going to be away cruising.
    84:01
    Cruising. On a Sunday afternoon. So I will be gone until a certain amount of time, and we will not have our Clusterbuck. I'm thinking until, let me look at the calendar right now. You with the Clusterbuck. You're going to just insist on this, aren't you? Yes, I am. People are demanding it. I looked at the product we used to record, and there is a way you can do up to 32 people. Nice. So if you want to be on the Clusterbuck, email, message us. Stop. You can do a shared link that just anyone who joins it, boom, they're in. Okay, so if you want to be on our Clusterbuck. You need Chrome. You need Chrome, and you need to join us with a headset. Or Safari actually works, too. Yeah, it does. And we'll probably be recording either the 17th or 18th of May.
    84:51
    Yeah, and since it's all going to be recorded in, like, one big file, and I can't clean anything up, if you join and you sound bad and just make your echo, we're going to just boot you off the call. Yeah, you're fucked. We got no time. No. We got no time. We got to sound a little bit professional. Just a little bit. A little bit. Just a hair. Clusterbuck in celebration of the death of, what do we used to use? Oh, Skype. Yes. Even though we won't be using Skype. We won't be using Skype. So, definitely we want to go for this. Come on. Join us. Don't forget if you want to put your messages in or, you know, quotes, you know, you want to say hi or congratulations to us, something like that. Please send them to slamtillpodcasts at gmail.com. Yes. Ron will put them in our podcast, and we'll be able to hear your comments on our glorious 250. Yes, we already have two. We already have two. We have two. Yes. Glorious. You have a month. You have two sound bites for our 250. Ron won't let me hear them yet. Well, you heard the one. I did hear part of the one, yes. Yes, yes. But we'll just keep those in the ball bag for now.
    86:07
    But we need to get to the ball bag now, don't we? Yes, we do. Let's get going. And, Dr. John, don't worry. We haven't forgot your game. Yeah, that'll be. We're going to have to wait for a more dead period. Yeah. We had the dead period, but then we did another game, and, yeah, so. Yeah, we should. But we get to everything in the ball bag eventually. We are good with that. We have always. It might take months. We reach and chuck everything in our ball bag. It may take months, but we always get to everything. Yes, we do. Let's see. This is from Tom. Hey, Tom. Make it pro time. Make it pro. It says, hello, boys. I have a few interesting ones for this episode. Now, I'm pretty sure this is not a repeat. I have been keeping a list of games we have done, and these were not on it. So here we go. Here we go. Okay, so make it pro. We need to remove three mechs or features, exactly three, from the following games. Not four, not two, but three.
    87:05
    Five is right out. I knew you'd know where to go with that. I mean, come on. Holy Grail is awesome. But some people don't get it. Some people don't even know it. How do you not know the Holy Hand Grenade? I know. Just the fact it's called the Holy Hand Grenade itself is hilarious. It's on fucking Easter. It's even better.
    87:25
    There's a rabbit. Exactly. Where is it? Behind the rabbit? No, it's the rabbit. Come on. Piss off. Jesus Christ.
    87:39
    All right. He's so cuddly. Okay, the shadow. We talked about the shadow. I know we have. No, we haven't. According to him, we haven't. No upper play field. Gone. No upper play field. Gone. That's one. No diverters. Two. Gone. If there's no diverters, How are you going to hit the shots you need? There's ramps. You make it. Yeah, but you have one of two shots. How are you going to get the other way if there's never a diverter? There is none. You can't? There is none. No, you can't remove the diverters.
    88:11
    You have to. You have to? Okay, then get away the magnet and the missing target and the target up front. Done. You get away, yeah, stop the magnet that stops the ball. Yep, and the target. You just put it. Well, you can do the target. No, you can't. Just put it in there, too, and then you just lock it in there, and then it kicks it out if you don't have enough things ready for it. Well, then you remove the pop-upper.
    88:36
    Did he get that at all? It has no pop-uppers. I knew it does. That's what I was sitting there going, what the fuck are you talking about? Oh, well. That fell right on its fucking face. Oh, by the way, Kong does not have any pop-uppers. I know. I saw that. I like that. Yeah. Neither does Foo Fighters. I know. You don't need pops, folks. No. There's more room for cool shit. Yes, it is. So, yeah, so that's the three things. All right. Magnet, drop target, upper play field. God. Whirlwind, topper. Spinner. Okay, you get rid of the discs? You're getting rid of them? You have to. This is pro, man. We're making it cheap. You make it one disc. You only make it a twist. Oh, there you go. There you go. One disc. That makes more sense. So you get, okay, one disc. Topper.
    89:21
    I mean, if you wanted to do true pro, you do what they do, where it's just like the discs are there, but only one of them actually has a motor. Yeah. And you only make one kick out. You don't have a seller. You don't have two entries. You only have one. So you get rid of one of the scoops entirely. Yep.
    89:38
    How does that make it pro, though? You'd have to have a different play field now. That's how you make it. No, we need to make it. No. Because at least with the discs, you can put static discs that don't move, but keep the same play field so you don't have to make another one. Then you can get rid of the drop target in the back and make it a different one. Make it a stand-up. Yep. There you go. Made a pro. Or you can get rid of the lifting ramp.
    90:00
    Oh, yeah. It's just not really necessary. Yep. Not really necessary, except for one ball multi-ball. Well, yeah. That's the only thing. You can't get rules on that. You can't get a feed anymore. Yeah.
    90:09
    All right. Third one. Flash Gordon. Remove the upper play. No, just kidding. That would kind of suck. Oh, boy. Ugh.
    90:21
    Ugh. Get rid of the upper drop target. Yeah, the drop targets on the upper and lower make them stand-ups. Yep. Oh, that would suck. It would suck. The ball would even be more out of control. I know.
    90:34
    Get rid of the drop targets on the side. Just make it one stand-up. No, we'll leave that one thing in there. We'll leave that in there. Even Metallica still had the inlines. Okay. Get rid of the spinner. Not needed. Yeah, spinner's not needed. Not needed at all. There's a drop target on the top. Yeah, that's right. Get rid of that one, too. Well, there's the single. Yes, get rid of the single one and also get rid of the make the drop targets up top. There you go. Yeah, and then get rid of the spin. We made it absurdly hard. It's even harder with stand-ups. Oh, God. It would be fucking air ball-rama. Yes. Let's see. And for dessert, we've got to make it premium. Ooh. This game's pretty packed already. Let's see. I don't know if it's going to be. Bram Stoker's Dracula.
    91:24
    Add three mixer features. Okay, so the coffin would open. Make it open, yeah. Make it open. Yeah, definitely. And Ron Jeremy comes out.
    91:33
    I want to suck your... Yes. I want to suck lots of things. What do you want to make it? This is hard. because it's pretty packed.
    91:51
    Add three mechs or features. We'll give it a topper. Yeah, you can do that. That's a cop-out just to get rid of one. No, no. Side, like what they do with the expression art, you know, the expression lights. Oh, we got expression lighting. With red, all blood red. Oh, yeah. When you put the steak in, it goes all blood red. Yeah.
    92:11
    See? I like it. Yeah, I like that part. That would be pretty cool. There you go. So while you're trying to capture, it gets darker and darker. The more you get progression in it, the play field gets darker and darker. And then when you actually get in the multi-ball, it brightens up a little bit. And then when you hit the stake in the Dracula, then it turns all red. Yeah, well, how's Dwight Sullivan programming? Yes, because you need to be blinded like a fucking Dwight.
    92:35
    Fucking asshole. God. By the way, who done it is a Dwight game, folks. Yes, it is. What I bought it with is before LEDs were really popular. popular, so you can't blame the client. Well, yeah, they didn't exist then. Exactly. Well, they did. I think it did exist in the 90s. Not pinball. I think we added it up. As the sun sets slowly in the West, I bid you a fond farewell. Until next time, Tom. Thank you, sir. Tom, thank you, sir.
    93:00
    Let's see. Uh-oh. This is from Robert. Robert Byers. Yeah, I like this one. IFP employer 164. He's got a lower number than me. Yes. He says, fail. Yes. Shout out for hanging with the Rob for lunch. I see how it would be. I didn't mention that I was hanging with the Rob.
    93:20
    Okay, I was hanging out with Rob during lunch. And he was talking about how bowling is too easy now.
    93:28
    Bowling? Bowling is the thing. Yes, bowling. With the equipment and stuff, people just get 300s. No problem now. Now we have to get 330. Well, how do we get the extra? No.
    93:41
    Uh-huh. But, yes, that's what I remember talking about was the whole bowling thing. Mm-hmm. He is right in the fact that, like, on the pro tour, they have to play in conditions, the lane conditions are way harder than any of your average people play in. Mm-hmm. It's kind of like golf where they have the pro tees and then they have the regular tees.
    94:04
    There's, like, conditions for regular players, conditions for the best players. Gotcha. Yeah. But he says, you know, because Rob's got all kinds of, you know, Mr. Byers, he's got 300s all over the place, and it's just too easy for him now. And they're working up their Austin Pinball Collective. Oh, another one. Yes. Another Pinball Collective. The more the better. Good luck with that, guys. They've asked me for a couple tidbits in the beginning. Uh-oh, we got one from a Rogers.com domain. That means Canada. Uh-oh. Canada. Hey, Slam Tiltians. Ooh. I recently acquired a Stern Viper. Oh, Mr. I-Heart-Socks. But I also read that if you understand the rules, that it's actually a decent game. It's all about the turret. So when the turret doesn't work, it's pretty much... Falked. Yeah. So far, it appears that the sexy metallic snake blade in the back glass is the best part of the game. And remember, you can do nudity as long as it's metal. Yes. I also hear that Bruce has a Viper. Yes, I do. It sounds like he's having a ton of fun working on the turret, Mac. Yeah, still playing with it. Now my game tilts for no reason until I wiggle the connector on the bottom of the turret. Then it goes away. Wait, did you get the turret working? Mostly. Oh. I was wondering if Bruce wants to elaborate on the fun and joys of the Viper turret as soon as I will be having my own fun with it. Also, have you played it enough yet to know the rules and how the actual gameplay on it is? Thank you, Mike. I like the gameplay. The good thing is the multipliers that you have to shoot with the turret add for multiplication for also your bonus. And it's really cool. In a nutshell, you have to hit all these shots to increase your play field multiplier. And many of them are not shootable. You need to shoot them from the turret. So they integrated the turret into the rules in a way that the turret has to be working in order to score anything on the game. And the cool thing of the spinner is you hit the spinner the first time, it will go and spin and move the lighting number, you know, what the score will be for the next time you hit the spinner, which is really cool. So the spinner starts at 200, you know, 400, and it has all the way up to 1,800.
    96:23
    You can get it lit on the 1,800 and have a humongous rip on it with a 9X multiplier. it's like home run drop the bat it is awesome so that part is good uh i worked on the motor i got we've had to put some little space flat like wavy washers in the gaps between it the motor's working pretty good now but now all of a sudden i'm working with the game and it's tilting tilting i'm like what the fuck's going on here so now i have to look at that freaking almost like an EM style fingers touching a big plate like it is on an EM stepper motor and that kind of stuff. And I've got to figure out what the fuck's going on with that now. If I touch the connector, it doesn't tilt anymore. Eventually, it will go back to tilting. Like, what the fuck? It's never happened before. So it's really annoying me. The game just pain in the ass. You love it. But it's getting better. I actually am ready to pack it up right now for a few weeks because I'm not going to be around to work on it for the next two and a half, three weeks. And we have so much shit in the back of the RPC. Oh, really? I remember when you were saying how it was all clear back there. That didn't last long. Oh, my God. Ron, I don't think we can shoehorn another game in there right now. Wow. Yeah. Between Swords of Fury, Dirty Harry, who done it back there? I got AFM back there. I have Meteor back there. We have Stargazer back there. We have Freedom Prototype back there. Another cheetah standing up right there. Man, you could have another collective with the games you have in the back room. Oh, wait. Wait. Guess what else is in the back room? What?
    98:03
    Ghostbusters. Wait a minute. Is that Zax? Yes. Oh, he brought it in. Okay. It's going to piss everyone off except him.
    98:13
    I love it. I can't wait to see him pick that when he's in the finals and have it just fuck him hard. Rape him hard. I know. He's going to be like, ha, ha.
    98:22
    It's like, you know, wait. So, yeah, that's the whole thing. So we have a lot of shit back there. Plus we got Metallica back there. We have my Viper sitting back there. What else? There's a couple other games. Oh, the Wrapped Up Pro Dungeons & Dragons sitting back there. Wrapped Up Sitting Pretty is sitting back there. Oh, my God. Good lord. Yeah. I went in there and brought the game. I'm like, oh, fuck, where am I going to put this thing?
    98:48
    The Whodunit. And the Whodunit is sitting back there. And maybe one more today. I have to go look at a game in another hour.
    98:55
    Okay, last one we have. And I forwarded this to you. Yes. Because some of it we may want not to say. I didn't see it. On the air. Yeah, I just forwarded it to you right now. Okay, so hold on. I have to get the pictures for Embryon.
    99:13
    I have not done that yet. Oh, get those pictures to that guy for Embryon. What the hell? Before you go on a cruise, you need to do this. Yes, I will. I'm going there today. Okay. So I will definitely do that. You heard that, folks. He was supposed to take pictures of Embryon from one of our listeners. He's failed. Let's see. This one is from Patrick. It says, hello, gentlemen.
    99:36
    He says he's hoping to get up to East Rochester sometime prior to Stomp, maybe after Allentown. But if I don't, I look forward to seeing you guys in June. Because he's coming to Stomp, like you should. He says he is 110% in favor of episode number 250 being a clusterfuck of all clusterfucks. Bunk, yeah. Don't worry about editing. It could be a Bruce unplugged episode. Oh, you don't want to hear one of those. That will just ban us from. Also, glad to hear the North American Championship Series went well for you. We're gearing up for our third and biggest mega match play event this weekend. So I know. They did very well with that. The sweet equity that goes. Sweet or sweat? Oh, sweat. Sorry. I know the sweat equity that goes into putting on big events. Thank you all for what you do in pinball in upstate New York. Take care. Patrick. Since we are now the second biggest pinball place in New York State, we can now state that. Because Long Island is now gone. Yeah. They closed up, unfortunately. Or fortunately, according to some people. So, yeah, well, any pinball place failing is bad. I look at it. but we moved up in the step. But Pocketeer has now leapfrogged way ahead of us. They're now at 110 games. Good gravy. And they have room for a lot more.
    100:56
    Hey, second ain't bad. It's the first loser. Yes. You are the Josh Sharp of New York. Yes, we are. What else did I want to mention? Now, that empties the ball bag, by the way. It did. Oh, yes.
    101:11
    I went to a tournament yesterday at Story Screen Cinema. Yes, you did. In Hudson. I liked it. They had a T3. It's been a while since I played a T3. And did it feel the scratch for a little bit now? Yeah. Okay, good. Shoot here and here for multi-balls. He missed his. He played it. Now he's done with it again. Yes.
    101:32
    I qualify first. And you won. And then in the finals, I picked all three games I either owned or used to own. I picked T3, Godzilla, and Star Wars, of course. Yeah, I know. Was it a trade?
    101:48
    No. So what events are upcoming other than Stop? Let's see. We've got the Bells and Chimes event that's coming up at level zero. Yep, Allentown. This upcoming weekend.
    102:00
    Allentown. We have something else. Oh, the Barney Cup will be in May. I'm naming all these local events that no one will be going to. Yeah, exactly. But you do the same thing, damn it. So, yes, we're having a barbie cup. We're a public place. It's for 518ers to battle out for who is the supreme 518er. That's the area code, folks. Yeah. And I have retired.
    102:24
    Ooh. I don't think it's fair. We have this at my house that I played in two years in a row now. I've won both times. and I don't want to be playing any more tournaments in my house.
    102:36
    I want tournaments in my house. I just don't want to be playing in them. Well, we'll eventually have Stomp West. Well, that's not in my house.
    102:45
    Sorry, Stomp East. No, I just call it Stomp. It's Stomp and Stomp West, God damn it. I was first. I already had the date planned. I'm going to text you after this when we're thinking. Oh, the date planned for the thing at my place. Yes, I want to make sure. Uh-huh. Do you want me to say it here? Sure. What's the tentative date? September 20th. It's a Saturday. It's the fall equinox. Ah. I mean, it sounds good. Yeah, I think so, too. I don't think. Let me check my calendar. And don't forget, that one's really limited. We only let that to 36, or what was it? Whatever it was last year, that worked good. That was perfect. Yeah, it was perfect. So, yeah, I only got so much room. I don't have the grand facility of RPC. With all the bathrooms. so I guess that's fine okay it'll turn out somehow it's not because it always happens no matter what we do but yeah so are we done? I think we're done I got nothing else let's see I got plugs we are the Slamtail Podcast this has been episode 249 you can check out our website at SlamtailPodcast.com all our links are in the upper right hand corner including our Twitch link and I did stream recently. I streamed the Voo. And it was funny. I hadn't streamed in so long. I went to fire up the stuff and shit wouldn't work. Of course. I lost one of my HDMI inputs. It just wasn't there. It changed. Its name changed for no apparent reason. Yeah, I know. It's just, oh, I hate computers. I really do. I hate technology. But once we got all that figured out, everything was just peachy. Like I said, you can email us at slamtiltpodcast at gmail.com. That's slamtiltpodcast at gmail.com. Hello to everyone in our clusterbuck. Clusterbuck. Your idea better be joining us, those fuckers. Yeah, it's going to be funny. It'll be like three people on or something. I can't wait. That's it. It'll be like three people. But if you want to get in, message us, please. We need to know. We've got to be planning this for... Or you can just put the link on the frigging Facebook page. Oh, that might be disaster. Oh, my God. We'll have 100,000 hackers. Actually, no. Yeah, they'll have all these hackers coming in.
    105:00
    No, thank you. No, yeah, we can't do that. No, no, no, no, no. If you want a message and want to be in on it, message Ron or me on the email, please. Or if you have a person with us. Like I said, make sure you have, like, Chrome. If you've got an Apple, Safari. Yeah, headset. And a headset. You don't want to be hearing echo because we'll just mute you. Yes, we can do that. We have the power. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Should I try multi-track recording? That would be insane. Oh, my God. That would be fucking – your hard drive would just be like – Yeah, I wonder if it would just break or wouldn't work. If there's like 20 different – Tracks. Because if there's 20 different tracks, then you could silence people. You could do something. Oh, yeah. You can do anything you want. I think that would be an absolute just disaster. Yeah.
    105:45
    Okay. Are we done? I think we're done. I always think I'm missing something. Oh, yeah. Tell them. You're going to be gone for a month? Yeah. So the next show will be the Clusterfuck. We won't be recording this until May 17th, 18th. So we're talking probably you won't get it until just before Memorial Day. So you've got a month away from us. So Ron's going to have to get on Twitch a lot and feed your listeners. Feed your content needs.
    106:13
    I mean, we technically could have done some kind of stream yesterday when you were here. I could have, but I fell asleep on your couch. He was tired. He was falling asleep trying to watch TV. I actually, here's the funny thing. When I went to Ron's house, here's what I did first. I worked from 4 to 11 at my regular job. 4 a.m. Yeah, 4 a.m. to 11. Then I took the train out to Ron's house. Ron picked me up at the train station at 5.30. Oh, sorry, 6.30. And then we went to get the U-Haul truck, and then we went to get ice cream, and then we went to his house. Yep. I was exhausted little puppy. I started falling asleep during movie night. Movie night. So, yeah, it's going to be a while until you hear us again, so hopefully no more reveals come out. Yeah, no, hopefully not. And don't forget to hug Ron at Allentown. Send a few pictures, please. Yeah, okay. All right. Until next time, say goodbye, Bruce. Goodbye, Dan the Man.
    107:20
    We can do this if you try Oh my, my, oh my, my We can guarantee to keep you alive Meteor! Blue Level Zero! Clusterfuck! Short to kind! Jim Balls! Bruce Dism! Tournament Talk! Car Holder! Peter, Stanadu, Cash Scram, ELO, Ball Pay, What You Buying, Game You Love, Game You Hurt, Sorry Talk, Rainbow Princess, Oh my, oh my, oh my,
    108:20
    Hallelujah.