Hey, welcome everyone to Today in the Scene by Indie Arcade Wave. I'm Joe, your host. And here on In the Scene, we dive into what's happening in the arcade space from arcade owners and operators, arcade developers, pretty much anything new, as well as pinball. We're starting to dive into pinball a little bit. I want to go back a little bit here. So, I want to have a guest on that we had on almost a hundred episodes. I'm really excited to talk to Ian again. Before we jump into that, I just want to remind everybody that I am now selling Stern pinball. So, if you're interested in getting a new or used Stern, feel free to reach out. Indiearchcadewavegmail.com. Still have all the indie games, ice cold beer, and a whole bunch of other stuff. So, if that's something you want to add to your game room or arcade, let me know and we'll hook it up. Now, we're diving back into Propeller Arcade in Halifax, Nova Scotia. We've got the owner, Ian, with us. It's been over three years since we last interviewed him. It was episode 75. So, things have changed quite a bit. I want to see how Ian has changed, his view on the arcade has changed, and what he's doing different from what he was doing before. So, how you doing, Ian?
Yo, what's going on? I'm doing good, man. Uh, thanks for having me back.
Yeah, I'm I'm happy to have you back. We've been going back and forth. Um, I got some merch from you. You sent me this dope ass shirt when I was down in uh I was down in Florida at the time. And it's funny, actually. You you sent me this shirt. The day I got it, I met a guy who was uh traveling down from Nova Scotia to Florida. He was wintering there and he I mentioned I was like, "Are you familiar with Halifax?" He's like, "Yeah, I grew up in Halifax. Like, I'm aware of Propeller Arcade and all this stuff." I was like, "This is so crazy that I go as far away like as far south as I can go on the continent and he knows of your arcade." Like just such a cool experience. But let's just let's introduce you again. Who is Ian? What do you do? That's crazy about uh running into somebody that far down. That's that's awesome. That's wicked. Um my name is Ian Mat. Um uh I run and uh co-own Propeller Arcade uh which is um an offshoot of Propeller Brewery in Halifax, Nova Scotia. And uh the arcade operates out of uh the basement and uh an old brewery. Um probably the last time we talked I'm I can't really remember if the brewery was still there. A lot of things have changed. It's been years. So um yeah, I'm excited to talk about this and compare how seasoned I am now and uh to to then, I guess.
Yeah. I think at that time the brewery was still there. Uh so this was I think we we agreed on February 2022.
Yeah.
Um you did a tour. You started outside and you walked in. I believe the brewery was there and you went into the basement to show the arcade.
Um there was so much about the arcade that stood out like almost immediately. And I guess let's just let's start from the beginning like how did all this come together? How did you get into the arcade space in the first place? crazy. So, yeah. Um, I love talking about this because I haven't really talked about it with anybody in in years now. And, um, I do think about it a lot as like motivation. Like, if something doesn't work out, like um, with the space, like I do think back to what it once was versus what it is now, which is a whole different entity. Um, but to kind of to to to rewind it a bit, I'm going to have to blow the dust off of my brain here. It's been uh it's been put through the ringer the past few years, almost seven years now, which is nuts. Um uh before yeah I I was working at like a music store that um kind of had its like my feet nailed to the ground and the company thank god went bankrupt in Canada and uh they ceased to exist. So I took like a year off and was like I'm going to focus on what I want to do. Uh and I didn't really know that. I knew it want like I wanted to to to muck around with like pinball machines in arcades because that's what I was doing anyway to kind of stay sane. Um so me and some friends that I kind of uh met in like you know like this small pinball group that existed in Halifax at the time um were kind of like just going from business to business like it felt like we were like selling Tupperware or something weird. like we were just going through and we'd have like a pinball machine and be like if you put this in here we would love to come and play it and you know drink beer and just look for a place to do this and we're like relatively normal so it won't like annoy your staff or anything. Um, after a while, some some places took them, but they kind of like, you know, not to knock on them, they just didn't get it. Like, you know, if you design a business and you put a lot of thought into the aesthetic and everything like that, you know, maybe you don't want like a half naked barbarian dude riding a dragon on this machine that makes a ton of noise in the corner. So, like I totally understand that. Um, a friend of mine happened to work at Propeller and they said they would take the games for like a week, which was sick. So, we loaded in all these games. Uh, it worked out really well and then like a week became like two weeks, two weeks became like all of Christmas. And, uh, I knew that a basement existed there. And that's like anybody in Halifax was familiar with Propeller because they they would do this legendary tour where you could go in and for like three hours you could drink all you wanted and they would give you like an auxiliary cable and you just like blast your own music, sit at a giant copper table and like just drink a whole bunch and then you could go into this basement which was the brewery um and have like a tour and um so yeah I I I got a job at Propeller working the the front cache and um decided that I was going to make it my mission to stop at nothing to see if I could, you know, get this basement, not like from them, but just in like a collaborative effort. I was in no position to like start a bar or anything like that. I just wanted a place to play pinball and I knew people liked it. Um, after, you know, a while of just uh sounding like a broken record, I'm sure they they rolled the dice, they took a chance, and um uh it was next thing I knew I was like building this arcade um with like no experience. Like if like I had I was using power tools I had never touched before. I was just like reading a book. I would finish my shift and go downstairs and like figure out what I'm going to do for hours after close and then like go home, sleep a couple hours, come back, work a shift, and repeat it. And then um yeah, then the arcade opened and uh it just popped off and it was very small when it opened. I'm talking like, you know, at the time it seemed like the biggest place in the world, but the reality of it was it was maybe like maybe 12 machines, maybe a couple pinball machines and some some arcades that a friend who wanted to see me succeed um gifted me on like a like a I guess that would have been like my first business loan. Um and uh it just kept growing. It kept growing and growing. And that was January 2019. Um January 31st, 2019 was the opening day of it.
Yeah, I love that story and the way that it all evolved and developed. And what you said at the end there was basically your first business loan like right somebody in the community lending you games so that this could succeed and this could grow. talk about how important since Open the community has been to the growth of Propeller and I mean propelling you forward to actually continue with the business. I mean, right off the bat, like once it started, everybody in like like I'll reference the pinball league. Um, especially in the in the beginning of it. Um, because everybody was playing out of people's houses like people would have like a private collection or whatever. Amazing games. Awesome. But like, you know, you can only invite a league full of like beer drinking people to come over to your house and like write off your bathroom so many times a year, you know what I mean? Um, and we would all go to like I remember, man, we went to the casino once to play pinball. [ __ ] wild feeling just like sitting in the corner of a casino playing an AC/DC pinball machine. Like that was one of the only places that had one then. And uh it's the most time I ever spent in a casino. Um, but once this popped off, like like there's a select few of people in the league, but everybody, the reality of it was it was everybody realized the opportunity that we got that we had been working for and everybody just kind of threw everything in my way like they could like an arsenal because they knew that I couldn't do all this uh immediately. So, everybody like so crazy important, man. Like so important. There was games that like are collector's dreams, like stuff that you never some people go to conventions to see and they don't even find them. And uh these people were just like giving them to me to turn a profit on to show that this thing was uh like people cared about it, but more so because they knew that these games had the draw that got them into it. So, they knew if these other if people came in off the street that had never seen a pinball machine or anything before, um they were going to play this game. Um good game specifically that I'm thinking about is Centaur. Um people would play it and people would get like, you know, like that crazy like five ball drop in Centaur, not really have any idea what they're doing, but they would get it. Like whatever the thing is that pulls you into it, it latched on to them and um the community just started to really grow. Whether you were part of the pinball league or whether you just became like a regular to come down there and and play games and shoot the [ __ ] and watch what whatever was on like a tiny TV behind the bar like it just aggressively started to expand more like way bigger than the room could offer. Um, and it was connected to this massive brewery, but it's hard to describe, but like in a video that you'll see of a walkthrough, you come down some concrete stairs and then you walk into the arcade and you kind of see the top bar. And it didn't even really look like that then. And then you'll see steps that go into the brewery. And that brewery was like, it was cut off. There's like a deck to the right of the entrance that wasn't there. That was just like a pit full of random garbage. Um, and man, that place was like it was packed when we opened. Um, you know, I always kind of I would always I always felt weird going back to the company and being like, "Hey, thanks for like taking this chance on me, but it'd be sick if we could make it bigger." Because it's like I like cringe every time I'm thinking about that because the last thing you want to do is just get ahead of yourself. Um, luckily it worked each time, but like yeah, the community response right off the bat, man. like couldn't it's it's yeah it it it I was so scared of everything happening because like I get so hyped up about something and then this thing happens where like the night before it's about to be released or unveiled whether it's a movie screening or whether it's uh I don't know opening an arcade it just kind of hits me and it's like I think I said this in the last interview as well it's like man what if no one gives is a [ __ ] You know what? If this is all in my head and it's really easy for people to to want to support you and be like, you should do this. Go ahead and do it. Do it. But it's like, you know, you're putting so much into it. And the biggest thing is I'm giving this company my word, you know, and I'm trying to come off like a professional even though I've never done this before. I just know that it's going to work because it makes sense. And then you just kind of doubt yourself. Luckily, yeah. the community like flipped that on its head. Like everybody came out and didn't stop coming out. We had like news stations showing up. I was not prepared for it at all. Sometimes I watch like those like news clips from like the first or second week. Like I'm so scared. I have no idea what's happening. I haven't eaten in like two weeks. And uh but yeah, man. The the community like continues to blow my mind. Um, and there's so it's so big now. Like I've met so many people that I will still like talk to on like a a like even on like a texting basis like people that are just my friends like friends for life now and stuff. I never would have met if this didn't happen. Um, and uh you know the company was very perceptive of that and uh they maintained you know we maintained a pretty healthy relationship.
I think that's great. I mean, like the community is everything pretty much. No matter what you're doing, anything business related, like the community is is what you need to build for longevity. And that's so great that you still have the same people coming back almost seven years later playing the same games. Um, you know, I'm sure you've you've upgraded quite a bit since then. And like there there's so much to unpack from what you just said there, like the casino thing. I had never played pinball in a casino until a couple months ago when I went out to see the new Starcade, which is in Washington, PA. It's in the basement of a Hollywood casino. And I think there's like 150 games down there or something pretty soon here. And that I mean playing pinball down there was different. Like the casino wants to keep you there. I think I played pinball for like six or seven hours. Like it was it was a long day. It was a lot of fun.
Wow.
But I that's that's just
that's so cool that that's kind of like where it all started for you. And um like Centaur is a great game to have in there and it's totally reason for a draw and I just I think that's so cool all of this growth. You mentioned the bar. I see the VHS behind you. We talked about that a little bit last time. So let's talk a little bit about um first off your bar top because I think that's one thing that's like incredibly unique about your location. And then second off, like talk about what it's like screening movies because you're playing all these old like some are really niche, like hard to find movies and some are just like awesome action flicks from back in the day. So tell me kind of like what that process has been like.
Oh man. Uh the bar top, I wasn't sure. Yeah, I couldn't remember if that was part of the last interview or not, but yeah, now that I think about it, it was. So yeah, the bar top at the arcade is just uh like it's VHS covers. It's very easy for anyone to kind of like to do something like that and especially with like everything coming back and the word like nostalgia and retro get thrown around like it's nobody's business. And um sometimes you can tell when somebody does something that they think is like retro or nostalgic to kind of hit that mark, but they don't like you don't really understand it. You know what I mean? It's a bit more than like a neon grid. Like there's there's something that you can if it if it's done right, you can like you watch it impact somebody on the spot. It's like you're opening up a part of their mind that they forgot about and you're witnessing it and it's a wicked moment. That bar top for me isn't just like, you know, some people come in, they'll see it and say, "Oh my god, these like all these like shitty VHS, bad VHS." Like, yeah, some of the movies aren't that great. Specifically those movies, um I didn't use the actual covers. like I didn't cut them up or anything, but a lot of them came from this video store that I grew up in a kid called Max Video. And I I just I was obsessed with it. Like it that carved such a big piece of my childhood. I watched so many movies I shouldn't have been watching um at ages like six years old, seven years old. Um, and every time I would walk into that video store and I'd see like the wall, like any wall tape, there'd be a horror section, there'd be a sci-fi section, there'd be a family section. Anytime I'd see that, I remember just this like huge wave of just like almost being super overwhelmed and not knowing what I'm going to get and everything like that. And I was like, well, if that can happen when somebody's waiting for a drink at a bar and they accidentally look down and kind of get that feeling that it's like it's, you know, it's a little bit extra with whatever they're doing at the bar. That's what I see when I do it and that's what makes me feel grounded and welcomed and uh you know make remind me that this place is uh uniquely like my vision and there's there's no shortage of arcades now like you know um there's they pop up sometimes they disappear. Um, but the bar top was like a big thing to remind myself that um that this was something that I worked really hard on and it does have that impact on me still. Um, like what you had mentioned with going into movie screenings. Um, that was something that dawned on me. Um, I I can't remember at what point I want to say, yeah, pretty early on. Um, that the location used to be this theater uh in the late 80s and early 90s called Wormwoods Dog and Monkey Cinema. It was a repatory cinema uh very art house and it showed a lot of like like everything. There's a lot of controversial films that went down uh through there. Um uh a lot of queer films and stuff and uh it moved to a location after that and uh that was its that was the end of the line for it in the 90s. Um, but I kind of wanted to start doing screenings down there because before this anyway, I was doing screenings at uh random bars that my friends worked at as an excuse to watch movies with a bunch of people and have a beer or whatever. Um, and we did one the first one we did was Hobo the Shotgun uh because it was local, it involved some friends and it just seemed like a good idea. It seemed like the right one that popped off. Looking back on it in my mind, I was like, man, there was like hundreds and hundreds of people there. I think like the capacity was like 60 um which is crazy. Uh COVID comes and goes. Um that's all the time I want to give COVID on this, but like uh we started doing screenings again and it got bigger and then the brewery disappeared. Um, and I, you know, had a long talk with the company and was like, "What if we just started to slowly utilize this space to its full capacity?" You know, they have such bigger operations now and they're a way larger entity. Um, they've grown so well. Uh, and they they said, "Yeah." And then it was like, "Wow, now we got this full theater space to like, you know, to the arsenal." And I talked to a friend who owns a theater company and was like, "What can we do?" And he was like, "Let's just go absolute batshit with this." Like better sound systems, bigger screen. Um, the seating went up from like a from from I think we were doing like 70 60 70 people and then it went to 140 and uh the screenings just kept selling out. Like there'd be times we go to open the store and it be physical tickets only because I've always felt that like with that number of tickets if somebody's going to come down and get it they're committed to the cause. It's very easy for you to buy something on your phone like you do every day and then it just gets lost in that. But if you buy a physical ticket that is made by like you know an artist in Halifax for this film, it's like you got that and people collect that stuff. And um we go to open the store at like 11:59 and it opens at 12:00 and there'd be like a lineup down Goden Street in Halifax. And I'm not like like there was a time we open the door and there was like a hundred people in a line like tickets were gone. People were trying to get them. It's crazy response. So we keep doing that. Um now we do it so much because the response is just like going crazier and crazier. Uh, starting on Monday, we'll be doing this thing that I call the six-pack where we'll do we'll just turn the place into a movie theater for six days and six movies. Try to kind of jump around a little bit um on the genre train like put in a lot of deep cuts that people have that I know people haven't seen, but they're willing to take a chance because they like stuff I've shown before. And then also like put in that, you know, like really old reliable stuff like we're going to do Starship Troopers and um Escape from New York, but also to take instead of just showing those movies that are readily accessible. You can stream basically anything. Um I try to do twists on them that offer an experience that you're only going to get and you're kind of rewarded by like supporting like a really indie cinema. And in Halifax, we don't have an independent cinema. We just have a chain cinema and it sucks. And like that's not much of a variety. So when people come, I'll do stuff like um like we did Terminator 2 and I did a a scan of the original 35 millimeter print and you know when you get to talk to the audience about it and be like, you know, here's the difference. Like it just got released on 4K. Yeah, it looks great, but they've completely bled all the color from the film. It's a very blue and orange film. And so, you know, showing them like a 35 millimeter print, people see that and they get it and it's a whole different experience um for film to them and then they come back for something like that the next time, even if it's a movie that they've seen a hundred times or maybe it's something they've never even heard of and they just want to roll the dice on it. Um it's become such a big thing um that it's really altering the space again. Um, like I made this joke that if like if I could like try to describe the space in like a Dragon Ball Z universe, it's like when you just maybe not everyone's going to get this, but like as a kid, you just would watch like the Namek saga and it just never ended and then like the like Frieza would just like transform into a different version and keep going and you had no idea when this thing was going to end. And it's like every time I feel like it's in its final form, it's like, man, here we go. It just like turns into something else. And um without jumping the gun a little bit, I like I feel like that's just around the corner again. And it's like a whole it's like starting fresh all over again.
I love that you have this opportunity to bring something so unique and interesting to Halifax that no one else is doing. I I don't know anybody in the US that's doing what you're doing. So, I mean, I can think of maybe one or two arcades that might do a showing here and there. I think they're out in California, but like you don't see it regularly and you don't see, you know, deep cuts. You don't see weird movies that people haven't seen or haven't heard of.
So, you you're you've cut out this interesting niche for yourself where you're doing something that no one else is doing and John Youssi the potential of like something else. Like, this could be cool. Let's roll the dice on this. This could be cool. let's roll the dice on that and you're not afraid of the failure of it because the community is behind you so you can at least give it a solid go. Um I think that's really really cool and it's one reason why I mean your arcade sticks out to me so much. Like I I just keep coming back to it. We we keep talking we've been talking the whole time since the last interview.
Yeah.
Um and it it makes me think back to the last interview. just watched it before this one and I want to hear your take on it now. Why the arcade? Like why did you go that avenue when there were so many other things you could have done in the space? Like why did you choose to open an arcade?
Damn, I can't remember my old answer. Um,
that's good. I don't want you to remember the old one. I want to see if you're still there.
Yeah, I know. I'm gonna go watch it after this. Um, I just thought like looking back on it now and like, you know, when we did that last interview, man, I felt like I was drowning. Like I was very like it was so much all at once and the place expanding and like it just didn't stop. And you know, looking back at it now with somebody who has a better grasp of uh the business side of things, you know, this like the company must have thought I was a lunatic. I like it's it's amazing that they took the chance. You know what I mean? Like I meant everything I I said when I when I was trying to sell them on it, but you know, from their perspective, like I was just some kid. I wasn't even a kid. like a kid. I was like 28, but like um you know preaching something that they didn't that they openly didn't understand. They knew what it was, but they also live in Halifax and Halifax at that point was like the craft beer place. Like we had more brew like breweries per capita in Canada, this massive craft beer Ed Boon. So like their minds must have been completely stressed out. like all of a sudden you go from being the number, you know, the only one of the only places um in the city to being one of like a thousand and every day that number changes. And then on top of this, you just have this like guy buzzing around your head like a mosquito being like, you know what would be sick on top of all this stuff you have to deal with if we changed half the brewery into an arcade. and they're like like what? Um I guess like why the arcade? It's just what was keeping me sane at the time. Like you know I like I said I worked in this like music store with with some friends and stuff like that. And I didn't wanted I just didn't want to do that anymore. And I could kind of feel it coming and I like took a year off that I damn well couldn't afford. Uh, but I somehow managed to make it work by like putting routing pinball machines. And it just like, you know, I was broke from doing it. I still woke up like stoked about it. And it was like, yeah, well, like I know if I get stoked about it, somebody else is going to get stoked about it. And if I'm stoked about it, I'm going to be able to sell it honestly. Um, rather than, you know, I don't know, go on a business website, see what's hot and trending and pretend like I know what the hell is why it's trending. Like, it's not I don't know how to do that. Like, I'm not if I don't have interest in it, I don't give like it's not that I don't give a [ __ ] about it. It's just I'm not going to sit there and pretend like I know enough about it to run a successful business. that would scare the [ __ ] out of me. Some people do that and they do it successfully and it's very impressive. Um, and that's a big part of business, but like I could never like I don't think I could ever pull that off. Like I would just want to do it because I think it's right and I feel like it would blow up if it did it. Um, and especially Yeah. given at that time in Halifax so many craft breweries. There was no place to play arcades or pinball. You drink as much beer as you want, but there was like no place to play pinball. It turns out with some research over the years prior, turns out drinking beer and playing pinball was pretty fun and there was a community of people that agreed with me. So, uh I was like, you know, if all these people are right about it and then maybe the general public will get a taste of it and have my back with it. So, I guess yeah, why the arcade? It just worked out that way. And like what you said about like it being different than other places like in the states and there's places that do shows and stuff. I see a lot of arcades pop up in breweries. It's not like an uncommon thing especially now, but they're like active breweries. Like I see a lot of places post p these wicked pictures with like pinball machines lined up and there's like bright tanks all behind them and through through the brewery and everything's like crisp and clean and new and you can play pinball and watch these brewers do their thing and like the reality of the situation is this is not a crisp new place. This is a building that has been several things. It used to be a strip club in the 70s. It used to be a carpenters union hall. Um, it used to be a movie theater and uh then it was a brewery and somehow by stroke of hilarity it's basically a movie theater again uh in 2025 which if you went and told that to somebody like in 2018 they would have called you crazy. Um but it's just uh yeah I don't know. Doesn't even have a single window in it. Go figure. I mean, you don't need windows for an arcade. I mean, it's nice to get sunlight, but at the same time, like, if you're in the dungeon for hours and hours, you have no idea how long you've been there. You're just there having a good time, enjoying the games and the atmosphere and the camaraderie with the community that you're you're hanging out with. So, I I think that's that's a completely different answer than you gave last time. I like that because it it just gave a different avenue showing like the growth that you've had over time. And when you were talking about like running a business that you're interested in, I just got like it was nothing but like integrity, sincerity, and like I mean just being your authentic self. You know, you're not trying to be anyone else. You're not trying to portray something else. You're not trying to like just make money quick. You're doing something you truly love and letting the money come your way, which I mean that's that's what it should be, you know, like we don't need billions and billions of dollars in the bank account. If you're if you're not happy, that's not going to matter, you know? I mean, so many people talk about that like they can have all the money in the world, but they're still miserable. So,
yeah,
it's if if you're not doing something you enjoy every single day, what's the point of living? You know, you're you're you're letting that time go waste and you have so little of it.
Um, I love the showings. I love the arcade. Um, I want to hear it's been it's been a few years again on this question. I want to know what are you looking for for the arcade? like what are the grails that you're looking for? Last time you said Orbiter 1, you mentioned like your earliest arcade memory was with was Narc. Um, so what are you looking for these days to add to the arcade?
I still want Orbiter One. Like I was talking to somebody about that. Like I talked to like I put some pinball machines at another propeller location like nowhere near what the arcade is. This is just like a little area that they had to fill and um I put like three or four pinball machines in there and I put a new like Stern X-Men in there and a lot of the staff took to it and then they started kind of getting hooked on pinball and coming around the arcade to play pinball more and every time man I'll be like, "Man, you want to I'll blow your mind?" I just pull up Orbiter One on my phone and they're like, "Man, what is this?" I'm like, "This is like every pinball person's worst nightmare except mine." Like I like I love it. Um Narc is one floor below me right now in my house, not working for the past like year and a half, but it's so far down a list of stuff that needs to get fixed. Um still won't get rid of it though. Um what else am I looking for for the arcade? anything weird. Like I love pinball. Like if you haven't figured that out yet. I mean like you know like pinball's amazing and it has this ability to pull in and create a community from like that. Um arcades really fun. Keeping them going huge pain in the ass but whatever. Um, but I always get really stoked on like the Bizarro games, like this game that can't be a clone of anything else and just exists as its own thing in this universe of arcades. Like, you know, like a good example of that is Ice Cold Beer. If you've played Ice Cold Beer, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, look it up. Go find one and play it and you'll figure it out pretty quick. It'll either make your day or derail your entire life. Um and um g games that are like that that go outside the like the norm of like you know like like a CRT2 joysticks uh two flippers a ramp pinball all those things can be different in their own way but like the games that really stick out like um I I'm trying to think just [ __ ] I can never really think of them right now. Ice Cold Beer is like one of those is I' I'd say like the king um example of of of those games really bizarre skill games that don't have like a monitor in them. They usually have a tiny ball and you got to just like calm your nerves and get it to the top or the bottom or in a certain hole or you put your quarter in and you have to flick it a certain way to to go up and without going over and falling to the next realm. Um, love that [ __ ] That's the Anything like that is what I'd love to add down there.
Uh, yeah, I agree. Ice Cold Beer, one of my favorites by far. Um, I'm actually working with Retro Arcade Remakes. They helped us with uh, Galactic Battleground, Food Fight Frenzy, couple games. They're doing remakes officially title licensed. I have them for sale if anybody wants one. They are, man, they fit in the arcade so well. And I don't know if you saw the episode Ian, but I did interview uh the world record holder for Ice Cold Beer uh I don't know over a year ago. He was down in Tampa and he was talking about like how he set the record. I think it was 3 35 hours 36 hours or something that he played straight to get the world record. I was like this is insane. He had so many balls saved up that he like he took like a 50inute nap to like refresh himself. He said he was like hallucinating at 3:00 a.m. because it was just like there's nobody in there. He just heard 99 bottles of beer on the wall over and over and over and over. He was like that night that I had to get through with nobody in there drove me insane. But he ended up pulling it off. He has the world record for I think 15 minute an hour and then alltime high score. And it's just such a wild game that if I see it in an arcade, I'm absolutely playing it. Like I am not passing on it. I got I got to beat all 10 levels. Um I think the best I've done is like eight the second time around. So like 8,000ish points. I haven't rolled it. That's my next goal.
Um but man, that game is that game is like nothing else. And
yeah,
I totally feel the pinball thing with you. Like I I haven't gotten deep into fixing them, but man, I am falling in love with them. Like if I go to an arcade and it doesn't have pinball, I'm a little disappointed. Um I h Have you played Orbiter 1, or have you just seen it? I've never played it. I've always wanted to. There's like like I'm the biggest arcade here, right? And um like next to like Platium, but that's like a whole different that different thing. Um I don't like I don't know who else in their right mind would go after an orbiter one here that's not me. So, I'm just kind of like, if I want to play it, I'm gonna have to figure that out. And I'm like, ah, right. [ __ ] Yeah. Um, what you were talking about, Ice Cold Beer, you know, that's like the perfect followup to me, like, you know, to anybody listening this and I said like, you know, it'll either make your day or derail your life. Yeah, you may might find yourself in a closed business at 3:00 a.m. trying to beat this guy's world record because like that's the thing, man. Like that's the thing. We have Polaroids of people who have beaten Ice Cold Beer on the wall behind the bar. People come in, they haven't been there in like four years. They come in, the first thing they do is they see if the Polaroid's still there, and they're like, "All right." It's like, "Yeah, don't worry, man. We know we know what's going on."
Yeah. I I'm trying to think. I have played Orbiter, I think, twice, but I I Was it in It might have been at uh Replay uh Museum in Tampa. I feel like they might have had one. There were there were a few spots that I'm thinking of that might have had it. I know I can find it through my walkthroughs, but I can't remember where I played it. It was
frustrating. Frustrating to say the least. I was like, "What the hell is going on with this? I don't understand what I'm trying to do." And it's just it's such a weird and unique game that if you ever come across it, you have to play it just to be able to say you've played it and like experienced it. Has to be one of the weirdest pinballs ever made. Like, can you even consider it a pinball? Like it's it's so strange.
Oh man, I definitely consider it a pinball. I I just I know it was like one or two dudes from NASA were involved with it. Remember listening to that on a podcast like they helped make the gloves
or a toilet that you [ __ ] in in space or something like that. Did they like Yeah, they worked on this which I think is like so psychotic that pinball was so big at one time that was like that was Stern's last game like golden era and imagine being like listen we got to do something or like just hear me out. We got these two dudes from NASA
to help try and save this like you know save us from like Pac-Man and all this [ __ ] that like started destroying pinballs. Um, but I love that like you could be the best pinball player in the world. You could sit there and like hit the same ramp over and over. You could do you bang out wizard modes all you want. You go put a quarter in orbiter one and you're like it's the great equalizer.
And that's not like I'm not saying that because it's a great game. I've never played it. I am just so appreciative uh of the crazy shift in direction uh when you look at what they were making. Anyway, let's just make this game that even defies gravity to to your to your visuals.
Like that's cool, man. That's freaking somebody out.
It's it's a crazy crazy game. And yeah, I I'm glad it was made. I don't I don't know that I would ever want to own one, but I I think it's really cool that it was made and it's really cool like that it's something you're aspiring to find eventually. Hopefully you get one. Um yeah, I mean just like give us final thoughts on the arcade. Like what else really drives you every day to keep pursuing this and keep building the arcade from, you know, just games in your house? I mean, you you mentioned in the last episode like you didn't even have a couch. you just put more games in there because you didn't want a couch to take up space. Like, how has that driven you all the way to now of like having all these different games and having your own arcade location where you're showing off movies? Like, what keeps you going? Okay. Uh, definitely eating those words and getting a couch has made my life way better and less weird. I don't even have a single game in my house. The only ones that are here are just like broken ones that need storage or whatever. But I'd be nothing without my couch. I can assure you that. Uh 2022 Ian had no idea what the hell he was talking about. Um but I guess why like why I you know what why I keep going with the arcade is just um I committed to it. you know, I sold this thing to uh these people who thought I was crazy maybe a little bit and um uh to all of our pleasure, it worked out. And it's very much my thing. There's people that go in and recognize it as that. There's people that go in and don't even know who the hell I am or anything. They might have just been stopping over or they've just lived here their whole life and don't know that. They just go in and they have fun. And I feel like that's a responsibility of this thing that I've created. And sometimes I see uh you know if you like a place like if you say you have a favorite diner that you go to and you go to it like two three times a week or there's a place here called the yard one. I see those people more than I see my own family. And um like the saddest thing that can happen is one day you go in and things are different and you can't you can't figure it out just yet. But then you realize like you know the person that made that place what it was sold the business or they moved on and now it still has the same name but like the soul of it is gone. like there is something that affects you when you walk into a place that is made with like dedication and uh no excuses. And if something doesn't work properly, it's not like pointing fingers left and right. It's like just not pumping the brakes until um until it's running the way you want it to go. Um and I I could never like see that happening. you know, if somebody offered me a trillion dollars, well, you know, like if somebody tried to do that, like I I think I would lose sleep over it and I couldn't do it just because I'm very proud of it. I'm I'm proud of the customers that have come and gone over the years. Um, I could be having like the worst day of work ever and like there are places that are strategically built in that arcade for me to just look at and remind myself that this was a lot of hard work. Um, and not just by me, like, you know, from people who have come and gone over the years, whether they've helped me build something, um, whether they've had their input on something, whether they hooked me up with rights to screen a movie for free because they really dug, uh, what this place was. There's a piece of that in the walls there. And uh yeah, I don't like I've just been so committed to it that uh I'm like so not done with it yet. If anything, I still feel like I'm just getting started on it. Um and uh who knows, man. In like three years, we'd be talking again and God knows what it could be at that point. Might be a missile silo at this rate. I have no idea. Um well, I do have a little idea of what could happen, but um don't want to get too too in on that just yet. Um but yeah, I think I'm I'm still here because I want I'm very like I do feel proud of this thing that's been created in the community and um I could never envision halfassing it um for those people. So
yeah, I mean that kind of ties into like what we were talking about before the interview even started and like the idea of you're doing all these screenings. It's something that you're very comfortable doing now. You've done so many of them, but like John Youssi the flaws. John Youssi like I could improve on this. I could make this better. This could be more efficient. But everybody else that comes to the screenings is like that was awesome. You killed it. Like that was the best one yet. Like I can't even imagine how it could get better. And that drive clearly shows through the arcade. Like I mean it could be a missile silo, right? Like you have no idea what it's going to be in a couple years because you're going to have an idea and you're just going to pursue it. You're not going to be scared of what could come from it. You're just going to pursue it.
And I think that's that's great. Like that's something that every business should have. They shouldn't be afraid of change because change is how you stay relevant, especially in a space like this. You know, if if there's a thousand arcade bars that all have alcohol, all have the same games, what's setting you apart? you know, you got to have either unique unique pinballs or you gotta have uh independently developed games that make you stand apart from other people because, you know, how long is Pac-Man gonna be supported? How long is Galaga and all these things? Like Galaga is one of my favorite games of all time, but you know, I don't play it that much anymore. Like, I I see it, I play a game, I'm good. You know, I I got that hit nostalgia and I'm I'm chilling after that. Um, so I'm happy to hear that you're still so interested in it and there's so many things that you want to do. I'm sure we can talk about that a little more off camerara as to what your plans are, but u I want to let you just kind of shout out social medias, let people know where they can follow along and just see where you're at with Propeller Arcade. Oh man, if if if anybody like if you guys want to snoop in and see what the hell is going on in my life and my employees lives, um you can just follow us on Instagram uh on it's just Propeller Arcade. Um Halifax's answer to Arcade Bar. Um you can follow all the social media we do there. You can follow us on Facebook. Gonna be honest with you, don't really pay too much attention to the Facebook. It's uh it's sometimes we see it and sometimes we don't. But we're definitely on Instagram more so. Um you'll see all the like the movie screenings, all the game drops, anything. You'll see anything we want to post about on there. Um, and of course, um, by following accounts like this, uh, and supporting stuff like Indie Arcade Wave, um, that's really where you're going to get like this whole web of people, um, that all have these passionate stories about, um, why they're doing what they do. And I think that's the best outlet for it to be completely honest.
Awesome. Well, I'm definitely going to throw all those links in the description. Instagram is where I found you. Instagram is where we talk. So, I definitely can I can say that that is definitely the most responsive place that you're going to be able to talk to Ian. Um, I want to say thanks for coming on, man. I appreciate your story. I appreciate your passion. I'm super excited to see where the arcade goes in the future. I'm excited to see new merch because I mean I I've got two shirts now. I know there's going to be more in the future.
Um, just the the aesthetic of your merch is so cool. It's I mean I don't have a lot of arcade merch, but I rock yours all the time.
Damn, dude. That's sick. Thank you.
And I just I want to say thanks for coming on. Um for anybody that's still watching, don't forget to like, share, and subscribe. It helps us a ton. The wave will continue to grow. We can all ride it together. If you're looking to bring different games into your arcade, whether it be like Ian was talking about, Ice Cold Beer, um I've got those. We've got new Stern pinballs, there's one coming soon. Um we've got indie games. Uh so, so don't miss out on that stuff. It'll set your arcade apart from the nearest arcade by you. But until next time, peace. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Applause] [Music]