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Pinball Junk Drawer Episode 60 - Pinball Thanksgiving Special

Poor Man's Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·20m 46s·analyzed·Nov 30, 2024
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.027

TL;DR

Thanksgiving pinball gratitude episode covering Evil Dead, industry history, and community appreciation.

Summary

Poor Man's Pinball Podcast's Thanksgiving special episode features hosts discussing recent pinball industry news including Spooky Pinball's Evil Dead machine announcement, reflections on pinball's resurgence 25 years after Williams closed its pinball division, and community gratitude for the pinball ecosystem. The hosts express appreciation for all pinball manufacturers despite preferences, discuss mod culture, and invite listener submissions for a holiday beer segment.

Key Claims

  • Evil Dead will have 888 units produced with only one model tier (not three Pro/Premium/LE tiers)

    medium confidence · Host discussing Evil Dead production numbers and model structure, with some uncertainty about traditional Spooky tier naming

  • Williams closed its pinball division on October 25, 1999, marking the end of the pinball era before Stern acquisition

    high confidence · Direct citation from 'From Pinballs to Pixels' book by Ken Horowitz; host notes reading this date exactly 25 years later (10-29-24)

  • Pinball has experienced major resurgence in the 25 years since Williams closure with multiple new manufacturers competing

    high confidence · Host reflection on industry transformation from single manufacturer (Stern post-merger) to current multi-manufacturer landscape

  • George Gomez wants all pinball companies to succeed and doesn't view the industry competitively

    medium confidence · Host attribution of Gomez's philosophy, with qualifier 'we had talked about before'

  • A Roger Sharp figure by Kineticist sold out and first 100 units were signed

    low confidence · Host speculates 'I think I read that somewhere. Don't quote me on that.' Shows uncertainty about details

Notable Quotes

  • “in 25 years, look how far pinball has come. You know, it literally went from almost non-existent. Everything to everyone closing down...And now we're in this resurgence where we're seeing all these great machines and all these great companies popping up”

    Paul (Host) @ mid-episode — Reflects on pinball's dramatic industry transformation and current renaissance following Williams closure

  • “I'm not super into mods but i dig them...sometimes you walk up to a machine you're like wow this is so cool...and then sometimes it looked like a big toy box got dumped into it which looks like crap to me”

    Craft Brew Sally @ late-episode — Community perspective on mod culture and design aesthetics; tension between customization and restraint

  • “I never root against any pinball makers...There's a lot I don't care for. There's a lot of machines I don't like, but I'm not...Somebody likes them.”

    Paul (Host) @ mid-episode — Philosophy of industry support despite personal preferences; inclusive community sentiment

  • “machines are kind of now terrible machines...to rise to the top, the cream of the crop is really something. so like average machines now you have like machines have to really wow you”

    Craft Brew Sally @ late-episode — Observation that competition and innovation have raised baseline quality expectations; average games seem worse relative to standouts

  • “We're living in a good time for pinball. I can say that for sure.”

    Paul (Host) @ closing-segment — Summarizes overall positive sentiment about current state of pinball industry

Entities

Spooky PinballcompanyEvil DeadgameWilliams ElectronicscompanyStern PinballcompanyGeorge GomezpersonSteve RitchiepersonKen HorowitzpersonBruce Campbellperson

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: Pinside Secret Santa established community tradition generating excitement; merchandise sales through Silverball Swag indicate engaged fanbase

    medium · Hosts mention Secret Santa has 'officially kicked off' and thank listeners for ordering 'pinball junk drawer swag' from silverball swag.com

  • ?

    community_signal: Project Pinball charity gaining traction in community; hosts considering spearheading Wisconsin chapter expansion

    medium · Hosts discussing follow-up on Project Pinball conversation with Dan, committing to 'spearhead some projectpinball.org stuff up here in Wisconsin'

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Tournament anxiety acknowledged by hosts; casual players note distinction between casual and tournament-level performance

    low · Host describes tournament nervousness: 'I feel like I'm going to drain. And then I do' and notes tournament experience with Metallica

  • ?

    product_concern: Hosts acknowledge pricing concerns for pinball machines but express skepticism about prices declining

    low · Host states 'the prices need to come down some. I don't think that's going to happen' in broader economic context

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Community debate over mod culture balance: tension between appreciation for customization and concern about excess/poor aesthetics

    medium · Craft Brew Sally: 'sometimes you walk up to a machine you're like wow this is so cool...and then sometimes it looked like a big toy box got dumped into it which looks like crap'

Topics

Spooky Pinball Evil Dead announcementprimaryPinball industry history and resurgence post-Williams closureprimaryMulti-manufacturer ecosystem and competitive dynamicsprimaryCommunity gratitude and ThanksgivingsecondaryMod culture and customization aestheticssecondaryTournament play and competitive pinballsecondaryModern vs. vintage pinball design quality standardssecondaryCommunity infrastructure (Project Pinball charity, Ladies Flip, Poor Man's Pinball Network)mentioned

Sentiment

positive(0.82)— Hosts express genuine gratitude for pinball community, manufacturers (even ones they dislike), and current industry state. Affirm 'good time for pinball.' Minor frustrations about pricing and mod excess don't substantially detract. Poignant reflection on industry's 25-year transformation carries optimistic tone. Balanced appreciation for competing manufacturers despite personal Stern preference.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.062

0:00
now who's responsible i say who's responsible for this unwarranted attack on my person i say i say pay attention now boy this is of course foghorn leghorn presents the pinball junk drawer you all asked for it i say as you all asked for it now you're gonna get it boy oh boy are you gonna get it go i say go away boy you bother me and it's the only pinball podcast that proves it's better to be late and sometimes never my name is foghorn leghorn and with me as always craft bruce alley yes we are having technical difficulties getting these done weekly which is scary uh anyway we're here to talk about all kinds of stuff pinball a lot has happened since our last show whatever that was 1987 i think was the last time we did a show don't make me get my shillelagh okay yes so you know the biggest news i guess was of course the evil dead uh spooky pinball releasing their Evil Dead machine or the teaser and the video. What did you think of it? What did you think about Evil Dead? I only at first saw the ad that you sent, like just the picture of it, and I was like, oh, that's so cool. And then I watched the video, and they have some really neat parts on there. Yeah, like different stuff. Like the double barrel shotgun load thing is really cool. Yeah, for sure. And the Bruce Campbell call-outs are good. uh you know bruce campbell is an entity all his own yes and i gotta say i'm not a real horror fan or horror movie buff but i do love the uh or i loved army of darkness the most of course and then uh i saw evil dead 2 i didn't even like i didn't know the order of them i just remember seeing army of darkness that was the first one i laughed a lot and watched it ad nauseum then you got my brother hooked on it yeah and then there may be a call out in our wedding video there sure is so you know the first ones are more super horror you know i was shocked when i saw the movie clips how young bruce campbell was that's that's been happening more and more i gotta tell you you see you see clips of people that that you're like oh god like at the end of uh wolverine dead versus wolverine it had the had uh hugh jackman in the first role and i was like oh my goodness God, he was young and he wasn't gigantor because he wasn't juicing out to the max at that point yet. I was just like, what a... Time is interesting, folks. I'll tell you that much. But yeah, it looks like a really interesting... I don't think we're going to get one, of course. Unless we win one. There's 888 of them to be produced. It looks like they only went to a... There's only like one model instead of the three models. Did they always do three? No, they... I didn't think did the three. I thought they used to do two. They do the collectors and the standard. Okay. And everyone has their own wacky ass names for stuff. So I don't know the names of it. But it's like one was the collector edition. One was a regular. Starting as pro, premium, and limited edition. And sometimes collector's edition. And sometimes...
Paul Gordon-Leck
person
Craft Brew Sallyperson
Anderson Penscompany
Project Pinballorganization
Poor Man's Pinball Networkorganization
Ladies Fliporganization
Kineticistcompany
Roger Sharpperson
Pinside Secret Santaevent
Silverball Swagcompany
Godzillagame
Metallicagame
  • $

    market_signal: Evil Dead produced in single model tier rather than traditional three-tier (Pro/Premium/LE) structure; represents potential shift in Spooky's production strategy

    medium · Host notes 'There's only like one model instead of the three models' with uncertainty about Spooky's historical tier approach

  • ?

    product_concern: Modern pinball machines have raised quality baseline so high that average games now appear relatively weak by comparison

    medium · Craft Brew Sally observes: 'machines are kind of now terrible machines' because competition requires games to 'really wow you' to compete with standouts

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Reflection on pinball industry's dramatic 25-year transformation from near-extinction to thriving multi-manufacturer ecosystem generates positive community sentiment

    high · Host's extended commentary on October 25, 1999 Williams closure vs. current state: 'now we're in this resurgence where we're seeing all these great machines and all these great companies popping up'

    • 3:14
    So, yeah. What are you going to do? It looks cool. I know we'll probably end up playing one at some point. I sure hope so. Yeah. I know lumberjacks usually get some spooky ones. And we'll travel somewhere to get to it. It should be fun. We're both still dealing with this, whatever this is. I don't think it's a cold. I think it's like space super aids or something. I don't know. It's never going away. I've been coughing and hacking.
    3:46
    Then you gave it to me. It's literally two months now. Now I have the smelly cat voice. Eight years. Yes. It's great. It's really, really great. Other than that, I mean, I finally finished. I had a book called From Pinballs to Pixels, The Arcade History of Williams Valley Midway. And this is a book by Ken Horowitz.
    4:10
    It's a really, really great book. It has a lot to do with pinball, kind of the end of times for Williams and a lot of people that were influential in making machines like Steve Ritchie and stuff like that. But it is definitely a great read. I would suggest anyone that has interest in that kind of stuff. Talked a lot about the decisions when they were kind of moving into the... Midway, of course, had the Mortal Kombat series. Oh, yeah. And there was a lot of rivalries between the arcade guys and the pinball guys. And that's kind of the way they ran it, it seems. Well, it seems like they're fighting for space in like a pizzeria. You can put three things in there. What's drawing the most money. Right. And that's all it comes down to, honestly. And when Killer Instinct came out, Killer Instinct was drawing the most money, I'm sure. Street Fighter was always big. Mortal Kombat was always huge.
    5:07
    Notoriety because of the blood and all the violence and stuff like that So it was just And it had the backstories about how some of the stuff came to be and how some of the pinball projects got shelved it was really cool i learned a lot i don it not one i gonna read a second time through i don't think it's very like i don't know like name and time like it's it's just too heavy to read through a second time for me i i got i got all the information i could i'll probably use it as a reference from time to time, you know. Yeah. One of the biggest things that did strike me, though, was the date 10-25-99 was when they closed the pinball division. And that struck me so much because when I got to that part, it was 10-29-24 had just passed, basically.
    5:55
    So I started thinking, because I would only read this book while I was at lunch at my work. So it wasn't a fast read. I really just kind of read a little bit at a time. And I was like, in 25 years, look how far pinball has come. You know, it literally went from almost non-existent. Everything to everyone closing down. Because that was the end when Stern had bought Sega and created Stern. Oh. So Williams, Bally Williams was gone. Everyone was gone. You know, and so now you're talking about, at this point, one maker from what it was. And now we're in this resurgence where we're seeing all these great machines and all these great companies popping up and giving us pinball. Like Haggis? Sure, like Haggis. Haggis has become the cop donut joke for you, hasn't it? Sorry about your luck, Haggis. Because Craft Brew Sally is going to be ringing that bell.
    6:53
    I hope so, too. Like a good cop donut joke. I'm sorry. She does. You have a good one. Hey, email us. What was your favorite cop donut joke? Pinballjunkdrawer. At gmail.com. No, it's pinballjd at gmail.com. Yes. Well, there you go. So it was just a very good read and very poignant when I was thinking about that. Because George Gomez was in that department. Yeah. And now he's in Stern. And like we had talked about before where he had said he wants all pinball places to succeed and to thrive. Because it isn't to him. It wasn't like a competition. He wants more. Yeah. He said these guys are his friends, so they know each other. Everyone knows each other and all that stuff, so it's kind of cool. I'm hoping this resurgence lasts for a while. Yeah, it seems like it is. Yeah, pinball has definite peaks and valleys. Yeah, I mean the prices need to come down some. I don't think that's going to happen. Prices of everything need to come down some, though. I don't think that's going to happen. Yeah, I know. We just paid, what, $56 for Chinese food last week, and I was like, I don't think I'm eating Chinese food anytime soon. That's no good. It was really good, though. Yeah. So I'm trying to think what else has happened in the last couple of weeks. Because also, Kineticist had the Roger Sharp figure. Oh, yeah. Remember that? The little figure. It sold out. It did sell. Yeah. That's awesome. I would have got one, but I was like, ooh, a little too steep. And also, that's money I intend to use towards the Roger Sharp book if I ever find one. Or our Elvira machine. Oh, yeah. Yikes. So it was very cool. and I know Roger will be signing a lot of those at upcoming conventions. I thought the first hundred of them were signed. Oh, they already are? I think I read that somewhere. Don't quote me on that. We won't. I might be wrong.
    8:38
    And Pinside Secret Santa has officially kicked off. Everyone has their names and it's going to be exciting. I think ours might be getting some pinball junk drawer swag. Maybe.
    8:50
    Hey, while we're on the subject, thanks everyone who has been getting this the stuff it's been great hearing uh people ordering our stuff so go to silverball swag.com and then search out pinball junk tour you can get other stuff yes but start with ours yes please and fill up your cart with all the pint glasses and shirts we have women's cut we have men's cut yeah you can get the pizza uh the pizzeria yeah it's great so we have to decide what we're going to get our secret sandas right as far as I might want to continue the tradition of getting that pinball junk drawer pizza guy out there. You should. I don't know why. We'll see. It's always exciting. I love the pinball. I love the pin side secret Santa. Yes. I feel like the person that Craft Brew Sally's name has has to get a pine glass. It's kind of like has to be, right? Yeah, for sure. Yeah. So now are you going to do you have a craft brew segment this week? I am just going to ask for some feedback this time. OK, so. So what we're going to do is since this was Thanksgiving, we're going to do the corniest shtick there is and say, well, what are you thankful for in the pinball world? Right. Well, first off, I'm very thankful that this is something that we get to enjoy together and we get to go places and find new pinball machines. and have some beer sometime Sometimes Yeah Sometimes Okay What sometimes okay and what else i mean i know you gonna probably have uh uh the project pinball is gonna be there right yes of course yes it's always a great thing to when we get to see dan and talk to him about the charity yeah see i've been thinking about what he had said to us i'm gonna pursue this yes we need to So more to follow on that. I have to figure out my plan of attack. But I think we might be trying to spearhead some projectpinball.org stuff up here in Wisconsin. We never know what's going to happen in the future. We need to find a children's hospital close by. I don't think they're hard to find. I know. I think there's one close. I just don't know where. Yeah. And then, of course, our pinball community. Yeah. Like the Poor Man's and the Ladies Flip. Yeah. Poor Man's Pinball Network, I guess. And I, yeah. Our tribe. I had the tribe. I was thankful for that as well. It was on my list. And the ladies flipped. Oh. It's just such a great group of people. Yeah. Well, I'm a little sour since they kicked me out. I had that Bugs Bunny wig and dress on and they were like, get out of here. And I said, hey, what's up, Doc? I should have taken that left turn at Albuquerque. And then I got kicked out. So I'm not allowed in the ladies flip stuff anymore. I can see why you like it. But I'm not permitted in anymore. I say that like I could win anyway even if I cheated my way into a ladies tournament I'd probably lose anyway just the same as I'd lose in a regular tournament I think I'm okay at pinball but I'm not like tournament good at pinball I think tournaments make you nervous like I know they do me sometimes I feel like I know I'm going to choke when I'm there sometimes I feel really good and I'm playing great And sometimes you beat Eric Stone. Okay, stop with that. It was one game, one time. You got to hang your hat on that, though. And sometimes, like, you just, like, I feel like I'm going to drain. And then I do. Because that's the way I feel. Like, that's what happened with that dumbass Metallica game that I stood in line for, for literally eight hours. Right. It was only, like, two. It was a long time. So what else are you thankful for? I mean, we have the poor man's tribe, of course, we're thankful for. I'm thankful for all the pinball makers. Yes. Even the bad ones. Keep making them because that's awesome. Yes, it is. It's one of those things where I never root against any pinball makers. No. Because there's a lot I don't care for. There's a lot of machines I don't like, but I'm not. That's all right. They're good. They're out there. Right. Somebody likes them. And I know that we're pretty super stern fanboys and girls, but. That's what we own. Right. I mean, I've owned other ones too, but I love stepping up to a Stern pinball machine. I honestly do. It's just... It's a different feel than just stepping up to any of the others. But, I mean, you know, Elton John is really good. Yep. What was that one I played? Now, you didn't even play it, that Big Buck Hunter? I didn't play that. I had heard of this game, but I'd never played it. Then finally Lumberjacks Johnny's got one. I was like, okay. Yeah. I didn't, again, it was one of those where you're kind of like, you play it and you don't hate it. You don't love it. It just kind of is there. Yeah. And that's one thing I do think modern pinball machines, like because of the competition out there and because they're throwing everything that they can at these machines, just eh machines are kind of now terrible machines. Right. Because to rise to the top, the cream of the crop is really something. so like average machines now you have like machines have to really wow you to even get close to some of these machines that are out there now you know i was kind of thinking about that how the bar has kind of been raised by some of these machines that we've seen in the last 10 years you know right but i still enjoy them all i still even enjoy like the system 11s the sam games you know I love all the games that I play. Even the bad ones, I'm still like, eh, why not? You know. So anything else you're thankful for? I'm trying to think of... I woke up for some reason in the morning and I was like, ah, and I had the list in my head. Like, I must have been thinking about it as I was sleeping. I don't know if you ever do that. Yeah. Usually it's my list of work things to do. That's no good. Yeah, I know.
    14:54
    So... Yeah, I guess I'm thankful for all the mod makers. Yep. kind of uh we're not super into mods but i dig them you know sometimes you walk up to a machine you're like wow this is so cool look at all the stuff on it and then sometimes it looked like a big toy box got dumped into it which looks like crap to me yeah it's okay yeah it's the same with everything you know how far do you want to go right i keep looking at that stern the stern has those light speaker kits so i'm like i should get that for the godzilla and i was like no no you shouldn't and i was like oh you should have no it has that egg for the shooter rod the godzilla i I was like, no. You're like, well. Where do you draw the line Apparently you draw the line a little back a ways I think is where you draw the line I was just trying to be helpful That Elvira money Good point. So anything else? Are you ready for your segment? I am. Yeah, I guess so. Okay. Well, there's a lot to be thankful for. And we would say, you guys, be thankful too, because we're living in a good time for pinball. I can say that for sure. Not such a good time for pens, though. Oh, yes. Yeah. Suffered a death in the family. Yeah, we did. You want to elaborate real quick? Okay, go ahead. My favorite pen shop, Anderson Pens, is closing at the end of December. Oh, terrible. It hurts so bad. Believe it or not, it's a victim of COVID. It is, yeah. Because they had a shop in... Chicago. Downtown Chicago in this big thing. We actually were able to go there a couple years ago. Yeah. and that's when I fell in love with a specific pen that now I have two of that yes just take all my money Anderson pens like Dennis Dennis Creasel has his watch channel yeah Crafter Sally could have her her pen I should have a pen channel you'd get a lot probably more hits than our paintball junk drawer would but uh yeah so they're closing it's a sad time it's a small business in the area they were always really it was always really cool because we would go in and crafter Sally would look around at all the inks and the pens and blah blah blah and I was bored within about four seconds but I would talk to the guy and he would talk about pens and he was insanely knowledgeable oh yeah but then he would ask me about pinball so then I would teach him like see this is pinball pinball related or pen ball pen ball I smell a home brew coming up pen ball yes flippers can be pens and then you're getting your ball in the ink and it would change color like it would come out of the bottom as like red or leave trails of ink all over the place oh my goodness that would be awesome it would not well it could be yeah you never know but yeah you would talk to him about pinball for like sometimes i'd be done shopping and stand there and listen to you guys talk about pinball oh if you want to watch someone the eyes glaze over have them ask me about pinball i'll talk to them until they are so bored with pinball they don't even want to ever hear about it again no i try not to be that person but every every now and then i am what can i tell you no but i think it's time for everyone's favorite we could do a shameless you could go to they're still open and you can still buy stuff online okay so you go to anderson pens and anderson pens just search it on your on your search bar and give them some of your money before they're not here anymore why not all right here's uh here's here's your drop-in for everyone's favorite segment. Craft Brew Sally Gonna have to put your journal down Craft Brew Sally Child You've been to all the breweries around You've been running all over the town Tell me what to drink until I fall on the ground Yeah That's right, people.
    18:44
    And we're back. We are. And we're here to talk about beer. Go ahead. Talk about it then. Won't you? Thank you. So I was just, I would just like for everyone to send us an email at pinballjd at gmail.com. Again, have I ever told you how insanely lazy listeners are? Yes. But that's why you put it in the show notes so they can just click on it. Okay. And then they can say, hey, Craft Brew Sally, my favorite holiday beer is. Okay. So you're not asking a whole lot. No. I just want to know what your favorite holiday beer is. There you go. And are you going to, so then we'll read that. Then next week we'll go over what my favorite holiday beer is and what all of yours are. Yeah. So you better come up, you better email me. Yes, I'll email you at the very least. I'll write you one and say it. Bud Light Platinum. No, no. Favorite holiday beer. Remember over the longest time I used to drink Ice House because it was the only one that had that higher alcohol content. Rough times. Bad times at the El Royale. All right. Anything else? No. All right. So you have a homework assignment. Please send Crafter Sally your favorite holiday beers.
    19:57
    Yes. And we'll talk about them. I'll try to try them if I haven't already. And then I'll talk about them on air. Talk about them next week. She'll crack wise on your mama if you have bad choice in beer. That's how she is, really. Yeah. I do diss bad beer in public. You don't. I do. Sometimes. Don't write her and tell her it's Coors Light. Please don't.
    20:21
    Ah, we kid Coors Light. All right. That's going to do it for this week. Thanks for listening to our Thanksgiving extravaganza. My name is Paul Gordon-Leck, and we're moving as always. Craft Brew Styling. And we will see you next time. Same bad time. same bad channel that's it man game over man game over