Martin from Head2Head Podcast guests on Slam Tilt, discussing Australian pinball culture and home collection.
Summary
Martin from the Head to Head Pinball Podcast guests on Slam Tilt (Episode 80), discussing his pinball journey from childhood in Australia, his home collection (Game of Thrones Pro, Star Trek LE, Wizard of Oz AU Down Under Edition, Hobbit SE, Jurassic Park), and the growth of his podcast. Ron discusses Silver Bowl Saloon's pinball operations and venue strategy, while the group debates game preferences (Star Trek LE vs Spider-Man, Game of Thrones Pro vs Premium/LE, Rolling Stones' design flaws) and Australian tournament culture versus US competition intensity.
Key Claims
Head to Head Podcast is arguably the number one podcast in the world (in the pinball space)
medium confidence · Martin states this during discussion of his recognition at tournaments; tone suggests self-aware boasting rather than objective claim
Star Trek LE is the best performing game at Silver Bowl Saloon
high confidence · Ron explicitly states 'the best game is Star Trek LE' when discussing venue revenue
Game of Thrones Pro is better than Premium or LE versions
medium confidence · Martin states 'I do believe it is better than the premium or the LE' based on his ownership experience; Bruce agrees enthusiastically
Roller Games was Martin's first owned pinball machine
high confidence · Martin directly answers the question 'What was the first pinball machine you ever owned? Roller Games.'
Jersey Jack created approximately 250 AU Down Under Edition Wizard of Oz machines as a make-good for Bumper Action debacle
medium confidence · Martin states: 'Jack, Jersey Jack, made I think it was about 250 that were prepared for Australia as the AU Down Under edition'
Dialed In's layout is 'perfection' and took approximately 2-3 years of design at Jersey Jack
medium confidence · Martin praises the layout extensively; speculation about timeline based on JJP employment context
Steve Ritchie was 'extraordinarily disappointed' with American Gladiators because the show was cancelled before the machine's release
medium confidence · Martin relays this as heard information: 'I haven't heard that, so it's a Steve Ritchie design. And I think he said that he was extraordinarily disappointed'
Silver Bowl Saloon has 20 pinball machines currently, targeting 23 before Stomp West
high confidence · Ron states: 'We have 20 games now there, and hopefully in the next couple weeks we'll have up to 23 before Stomp West'
Notable Quotes
“I think it's probably Steve Ritchie's best game that he's made.”
Martin@ 11:28 — Martin's strong endorsement of Star Trek LE as a design achievement, placing it above his other owned Stern games
“The layout is perfection. Every shot feels exactly where it needs to be, and you just get this sense of comfort when you start flipping.”
Martin@ 13:04 — Detailed praise of Dialed In's playfield design; underscores Jersey Jack's design philosophy
“I totally agree with that if you've spent some good money on a machine and you're not getting joy out of it move it on and replace it with something that you are going to get joy out of.”
Martin@ 12:03 — Philosophy on home collector decision-making; explains his sale of Star Trek LE for Dialed In
“It's referred to as a bit of a poor man's Addams Family, and I totally get that. The rules are almost identical.”
Martin@ 15:55 — Assessment of Jurassic Park's design in relation to classic reference point; notes custom ROM improvements
“The Briefcase Barracuda. That is the best name ever.”
Martin@ 7:18 — Humorous aside about Roller Games TV show; reveals deeper engagement with licensed media context
“We're not here for ratings or for downloads. We're actually here just to have a bit of fun. And if people like it, great.”
Martin@ 31:26 — Explicit statement of Head to Head Podcast's philosophy and motivations; contrasts with rapid growth
“Fuck yeah, we need Eddie. We need fucking Eddie.”
Ron@ 16:43 — High enthusiasm for Iron Maiden pinball machine (unannounced/rumored at time of recording); Eddie is band's mascot
content_signal: Head to Head Podcast grew rapidly to majority US listenership despite Australian origin, achieving significant recognition in tournament circles within ~6 months of launch
high · Martin states majority of listeners are from US, people recognize him by voice at tournaments, voted for in Twippies despite short existence
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community_signal: Australian pinball culture emphasizes casual, social tournament experience contrasting with US competitive intensity; Slam Tilt's format explicitly inspired Head to Head's approach
high · Martin describes cultural shock at first US tournament, notes Australian tournaments involve beer/chat vs US serious competition; credits Slam Tilt inspiration
?
venue_signal: Silver Bowl Saloon operates successful mixed vintage/modern machine model with both old EMs/solid states and new Sterns/Jersey Jacks; revenue nearly dollar-for-dollar despite pricing differences (25¢ vs $1)
high · Ron reports EMs at 25¢ getting 100 plays/week equal to Star Trek LE at $1; Star Trek LE is top earner but EMs still perform; 20 machines total with 3+ on-order
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operational_signal: Silver Bowl Saloon gaining traction through media exposure (TV appearance for Upstate NY Championships, radio commercials); increased visibility driving attendance and workload
high · Ron states 'we were just on TV with the Upstate New York Championships, and we're doing radio commercials now. So we've seen our attendance go up'
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design_philosophy: Steve Ritchie's recent work (Star Trek LE, Dialed In) emphasizes perfect shot placement, player comfort, and multi-year refinement; Star Trek LE's laser features and Dialed In's layout cited as exemplary
Topics
Home Collector Collections & PreferencesprimaryGame Design & Playfield Layout AnalysisprimaryAustralian vs US Tournament Culture DifferencesprimaryPinball Bar/Venue Operations & Revenue ModelsprimaryPodcast Growth, Format, and Community ImpactprimarySteve Ritchie's Design Philosophy & LegacysecondaryJersey Jack Pinball Company & Customer RelationssecondaryLicensed Pinball Themes & IP StrategysecondaryPodcast Infrastructure & Platform Issuesmentioned
Sentiment
positive(0.78)— Enthusiastic, celebratory tone throughout. Genuine camaraderie between hosts and guest. Positive discussion of games, venues, and community growth, though tempered by constructive criticism of specific machines (Rolling Stones, Game of Thrones Premium/LE). Some self-deprecating humor balances exuberance.
Transcript
groq_whisper · $0.303
0:00
I've tried detention, suspension, community service, intimidation. Nothing keeps you two out of trouble. Do you want to be expelled outright? Kicked out of school for good? Condemned to a life of stupidity? Robbed of any hope to better yourselves? Uh, okay. Yeah, me too. When do we start?
0:30
Coming to you from beautiful upstate New York, this is the Slam Tilt Podcast, a show about all things pinball. I'm your host, Ron Hallett, here with my co-host, Bruce Nightingale. Is it tomorrow or today? It's tomorrow. Tomorrow, good. Because this is episode 80. 80? Godzilla vs. King Kong. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
1:00
What happened to 79? That'll be next week. Wait, what? It's because this week we have a guest. Yeah? And he's from Australia. And everything's in the future. The future. Get it? Excellent. Okay, okay. So next week will be 87, right? No, next week will be 79. Fuck! So we have a guest, Bruce. I love this guest. He is one of my favorite podcasters of all time.
1:32
Let's welcome Kaneda. Oh, sorry. No, shit. Oh, fuck. No. Oh. It is Martin from the Head to Head podcast. You can't miss that laugh anywhere. How are you guys? Oh, we're loving it. Loving it. We are fantastic. So if we're in the future, would you like the U.S. Powerball numbers? No, I'm already rich beyond my wildest dreams.
2:04
You're an idiot. Yes, I want them. Absolutely. Here you go. So, Martin, you are co-host of the – are you the host or are you the co-host? We are both hosts. We are 50% equals. I'm not. I'm not worthy. No, Bruce, I'd listen to you. You remember, Bruce, I said we were both hosts, and you said, no, I'm the co-host.
EM machines at venues perform equally in play count to newer Sterns when priced at 25 cents vs $1
medium confidence · Ron describes his EM experience: 'the EM was getting, like, say, 100 plays. Well, so was in a week, and so was the Star Trek LE. So the play was exactly the same'
Martin's podcast was inspired by Slam Tilt's banter and casual approach
high confidence · Martin states: 'we came about because, well, first of all, I heard Ryan on your show, and I thought, oh, man, he seems like a kind of guy that I could really have some good banter with' and later 'you were the inspiration for our show'
“Mick on a stick. It ruins the game... as soon as you're ready to shoot, he moves back in the way and is like, fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you!”
Martin@ 17:40 — Detailed criticism of Rolling Stones pinball design flaw; suggests design oversight in game mechanics
“50% of fuck all. Yeah, 50% of nothing is still nothing.”
Bruce@ 23:47 — Humorous response to Martin's mention of co-owning Quicksilver with Ron; joke about low EM machine revenue
“Maybe we're the world under glass. We are. You won't let it go, will you? Fuck no.”
Martin and Ron@ 26:12 — Recurring joke about pinball community being insular; reference to pinball gameplay theme
medium · Martin praises Star Trek as 'best game he's made'; notes Dialed In took 2-3 years at JJP and has 'perfection' layout; contrasts with earlier designs like American Gladiators
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product_concern: Rolling Stones suffers from critical game-breaking design flaw ('Mick on stick') that blocks player shots and frustrates gameplay; mechanical obstacle placement contradicts player agency
high · Martin: 'Mick on a stick...ruins the game...as soon as you're ready to shoot, he moves back in the way'; suggests simple rule fix could resolve; describes as most hated game
?
product_strategy: Jersey Jack created special AU Down Under Edition (250 units) of Wizard of Oz as make-good for Bumper Action distributor debacle, suggesting customer satisfaction initiative
medium · Martin: 'Jack, Jersey Jack, made I think it was about 250 that were prepared for Australia as the AU Down Under edition, so I got one of those'
$
market_signal: Game of Thrones Pro perceived as better value/experience than Premium or LE variants; upper playfield in Premium/LE viewed as reducing engagement rather than enhancing it
high · Martin: 'I do believe [Pro] is better than the premium or the LE'; Bruce: owned Premium, 'riveted in two months...the payoff...seems like such a grind'
?
content_signal: Podcast Garden experiencing domain renewal failures causing service outages; pinball podcasts concentrated on unreliable platforms (Podcast Garden, SoundCloud)
high · Bruce: 'Podcast Garden forgot to, like, renew their domain'; 'Podcast Garden keeps having these issues'; 'SoundCloud almost went bankrupt'
?
personnel_signal: Established tournament personalities (Johnny Monica, Steven Bowden) actively mentoring new international competitors, facilitating cross-cultural integration
medium · Martin: 'Johnny Monica and Steve Bowden really took time to sort of introduce me to the tournament and the format'
high · Ron: 'It's a lot of work...My wife...has a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff...But then I go to a full-time job. Then I go to the bar and work there also. So we both have a lot of work'
?
historical_signal: American Gladiators represents cautionary tale of licensed IP: show cancelled pre-release, resulting in limited software support (version 1 only) and unresolved bugs in final product
medium · Martin relays: Steve Ritchie 'extraordinarily disappointed because they threw everything at this machine, and by the time it was ready...the show had already been cancelled'
2:35
I'm the co-host. I'm the sidekick. You're the sidekick. Okay. I'm Scooby. He's freaking Jack. So we are both co-hosts. Neither of us are good enough to actually be the host. Ah, I got it. Yeah. So how's the weather down under? Well, it is absolutely amazing right now. So we're looking, it's about 1 p.m. thereabouts in the afternoon, and it's, in your temperature, it's about 76 degrees,
3:06
and not a cloud in the sky. God, I wish I knew that. It is an amazing day, and the perfect day for me to have the day off just so I could record this podcast. Fuck yeah. Yeah. And it's, let's see, it's, I don't know, it's in the 40s here. It's not bad. It's 37 here in Rainey. Yeah, I had a look before we recorded, and I saw that you were having a good day as well, so that's not bad. Yeah, compared to, it could be snow. Well, it could be, and as you know, I did go to Utah a few weeks ago, and I looked up there as well, and it's minus 4.
3:40
Mmm. So I think that's 25 degrees, so that's very cold. Check, please. So your summer is winding down a little bit now, isn't it? Yeah, it is, but we seem to be having, you know, global warming and everything. We seem to be having later summers than normal, so we are about to head into our next season, but it still feels like summer. It's been a great summer, but delayed. Okay, that's cool. Very cool. Yeah, it's great. So, Martin, I have to ask, like we do all of our guests, how the hell did you get into
4:15
this freaking hobby? Oh, man. Years ago. So when I was, you know, before the age of 10, my brothers were right into pinball. So we used to go to the local arcades or milk bars that we had. And, you know, before school or after school, we would always hang around. And if we didn't have money, we would watch. If we did have money, it would go straight through. Famously, I've mentioned that I used to do ice skating when I was a child as well.
4:45
It was speed skating, so, you know, the cool type of skating. and every ice rink they used to have lots of pinball machines. So I used to spend most of my time playing pinball instead of skating. And I remember many times my dad would come to pick me up and he would turn up early to expect to see me skating around and would see me at the pinball machines and grab me by the ear and pull me away because I'd wasted his money. Anyway, I didn't see it that way. So did they have a Bobby Orr's Power Play at the skating rink?
5:16
That would seem appropriate. Or an ice fever? No, but I tell you what, we did actually have a Bobby Orr's power play at my school. So I went to a boarding school in Australia, and we actually had, they were called our common rooms or, you know, rec room. We used to have pinball machines at school. Fuck. Australia sounds even better than ever. I know. So it was a boarding school, so we would be there, obviously, boarding, but on the weekends we got to go home. and I remember a number of times I decided to stay at school
5:48
just so I could play pinball on the weekend and my parents then called a meeting with my teachers to work out what was going wrong because I didn't want to come home. What was the first pinball machine you ever owned? Roller Games. Nice. Yeah. I do, and I bought that machine because I remember there was probably about a three-year period of my life where I was a rep. I was a sales rep for a stationery company and all my clients were in the city.
6:20
So I used to see my clients and it would be two, three hours of the day and then I'd spend the rest of the day in the city playing pinball machines. And I just remembered roller games for me. I loved the cheesy theme, but I also liked that it was really tough. So I wanted my first machine at home to be a tough machine so I could get better at playing. And then when I bought it, I turned up and the guy said, oh, obviously you've seen the TV show. And that's when I went, what? What TV show? And that was just a bonus because it is the worst slash best TV show
6:54
that has ever existed. It is. The Rockers. This is terrible. It's terrible. I still can't remember what. I think it might have been the Rockers or even Bad Attitude or even the Violators. Who knows? But their manager comes out, and she's this woman that's got these giant shoulder pads. And I can't remember her name, but they refer to her as the Briefcase Barracuda. That is the best name ever. It is. The Briefcase Barracuda.
7:25
Hilarious. You've got to watch it. Well, here's the funny thing. I didn't realize it was a license either. So then I found out it was a license, so I had to look it up. I look it up, and it's like, I've watched that show before. That was even weirder. It's like I'd actually watched the show and forgotten about it. And then when I actually read the description of the show, I said, oh, yeah, that's right. And it had the wall. I remember the wall. They had, like, the jump thing. And then they had, like, halftime. They had live music. It was a crazy show.
7:56
The figure eight, it was awesome. It was awesome. It was awesome, but really it's terrible. But for me, if it gets so bad that it becomes great. Do you know what game that could have been? Oh, was it Gladiators? American Gladiators. Yeah, I heard that, yeah. Yeah, we had a choice between the two, and we picked the wrong one. Damn it. And I haven't heard that, so it's a Steve Ritchie design. And I think he said that he was extraordinarily disappointed
8:26
because they threw everything at this machine, and by the time it was ready to be released, the show had already been cancelled. Yep. Yeah, that's a bit of a shit. Yeah, well... That's why there's like only version one of the software or whatever it is and they didn't really... They never updated some of the bugs. There's weird bugs in that game. You want a funny bug, get a tilt warning and watch as the match display and the sound is off. I think I even showed that on my screen when I had it on there. I go, check this out, let's see if it does it.
8:57
And it literally did it. You know, like right on command. It does a lot of weird crap, too. It does. I think it really is one of the most underrated games that there is, but what I find is that people that love it really love it. People that don't love it really just don't get the thing. The people who don't love it are wrong. That's the way I think of it. Yes, I agree. So what games do you have now? So currently I now have, well, I've got a Game of Thrones Pro, which is half owned by myself and Ryan C.
9:31
Boy, doesn't that sound familiar, Ron? Yeah, he's shown company games. Framelessly, I have a Star Trek limited edition. That was my very first new in-box machine. And I just remember playing it for the first time. And, you know, even as a pro, I felt that that was the first Stern that really visually had a leap above. You know, it was full LED. It had lots of flashes going off, which, you know, obviously are now quite annoying.
10:02
But I played the Pro a couple of times and said, you know what, I've got to have that in my collection. And then, obviously, the LED with its full RGB, even better. My next new in-box was a Wizard of Oz, and it's the AU Down Under Edition. So I don't know if you're aware of the whole debacle that happened with bumper action, but a lot of people got ripped off their money. So as a bit of a make-good, Jack, Jersey Jack, made I think it was about 250 that were prepared for Australia
10:36
as the AU Down Under edition, so I got one of those. And then my last one that I've got in my home is one of your favourites, Bruce, a Hobbit special edition. I know. I'm very happy with the Star Trek LE. Look, look, Ryan has a Star Trek LE, you have a Star Trek LE, I have a Star Trek LE, and Ron has a... Oh, that's right. Somebody stole his.
11:07
Sorry. What? Thank you. Martin, why would you... Oh, why would... Look, I think, you know, if they gave another go at the rules, they would probably change it somewhat. But I think that it is, for me, I love the theme. You know, I love Star Trek. I love the rules. I love the layout. I think it's probably Steve Ritchie's best game that he's made. So, Ron, tell them which one you picked other than this one.
11:37
Which one I picked other than, well, I have Spider-Man. Exactly. He says Spider-Man, and this game is exactly the same. I didn't say they're exactly the same. I said they're very alike. I just I love the play field, the shots are great the metal stuff is great just, I don't know just something about it wasn't fun for me after a while and if it's not fun, it goes Yeah, I absolutely agree with that if you've spent some good money on a machine and you're not getting joy out of it move it on and replace it with something
12:09
that you are going to get joy out of I get that I've got my, right now, Star Trek right next to Game of Thrones and it's one of those things with Steve Richies and probably with a lot of machines these days where you look at the layout and you think, you know what, that is really similar, but they don't. They feel different, so I'm happy to have Game of Thrones and Star Trek next to each other. I think they're different enough. Which he did get a good game when he did sell his Star Trek LE. What did you get? What did I get? Dialed in.
12:39
Dialed in, yes. Yeah, okay. Can't argue with that. That is just a fantastic game. I was very cool on that when it first arrived in Australia, but I think it was because the one that I was playing on hadn't been dialed in. Yeah, that's what I did then. Yeah. But now that it is, I absolutely love it. And as I've said about that machine many times, the layout is perfection. Every shot feels exactly where it needs to be,
13:10
and you just get this sense of comfort when you start flipping. Agreed. I agree. In the sense of a guy who knows how to do a play field who's given like two years to get it perfect. Well, I would say more than that. I mean, if he hasn't made a machine in so many years, he's probably spent two years or maybe three years, I think it was, on the payroll of Jersey Jack to get that up and running. But he's probably had that design in his head for a very long time. I have to agree. So no surprise that it flips really well.
13:43
So, Bruce, tell Martin your Star Trek story, because you originally were going to get, what, a pro? I was going to get a premium. Oh, yeah, a premium. And then you went on a factory tour. And a factory tour had the first showing of the Star Trek LE. Now, at the time, my buddy, I know my distributor really well. We talk about him all the time. It's Mike Pupo from Flipper Fidelity. I ordered a premium, and I got a LE from my buddy. So we were on a tour, and I saw the LE. I looked at my dad.
14:14
My dad looked at me. And as soon as we walked outside of the tour, I'm calling Mike Pupo saying, I need another LE. And he's like, you're going to keep two LEs? I'm like, no, no, no. One's for my buddy. I told you that. I want to trade my premium into the. You sure you're going to do that? You're not going to flip this? I said, I swear to God, I'm not going to flip this. And he goes, okay, I trust you. Hold on. Like 10 minutes later, he calls me back and goes, got you another one. So that's how I got my. We got two LEs. And then of course Ron got his after that It was the lasers man The lasers on the side
14:44
Like oh They are great And I think that For me and obviously it's a personal opinion I think it's I always say that the pro to premium Is a pretty significant leap On a lot of sterns Take kiss out of the picture there But the leap From premium to LE is quite minimal. But I think Star Trek is the difference because the lasers on the inner side and on the outer side, they look great.
15:17
And that really is what sets it apart. And the head insignia is really cool too. That sticks out. Backglass. Yep, backglass. I mean, which is the only backglass artwork that was any good. Honestly. I do like the premium. I think it was the premium side art was nice though. because it was more of an action shot. And so my last game, I actually have one other game, and it's staying at a friend's place at the moment because I don't have room for it at home. I've only got room for four machines. I've actually got a Jurassic Park. What do you think of that game?
15:48
T.D. East? Yes. That's fine. I can deal with that. Yeah. I can definitely deal with that. It's referred to as a bit of a poor man's Addams Family, and I totally get that. The rules are almost identical. It's got the new custom ROMs on it, So they changed the rules so it's not so easy to get multi-ball. It's a good machine. So what's next on your list? Well, besides the house. Besides the house. Martin? I am looking for a house because I want to have more room
16:19
so I don't have a limit of four machines. For me, there are two machines. One that's really got my interest because I've seen it, not physically, but online, and that's Houdini. For me, Houdini just looks like the kind of game that I would really enjoy. but I'm holding out to see Iron Maiden because that is a theme that I would absolutely love. Fuck yeah, we need Eddie. We need fucking Eddie. And what I love about that, we've said it many times, is that the art style for Iron Maiden,
16:51
just do a copy and paste. Just get Photoshop out and put it on the play field. You can't go wrong. Honestly, that live after death machine that the guy made, that was perfect. off. It made Rolling Stones actually good. I don't believe that. It did. He's not going to agree with you there. Come on, it did. You saw that. He hates that game. And, you know, if you ask me, what is my most hated game? It is Rolling Stones.
17:22
It really is such an infuriating game. There could be a game there. There really could be. But that Mick on his dick. And I know people sort of go, oh, you know, you do exaggerate and make on the stick. It ruins the game. Oh, ruins all the fun. There's no... You have to wait and wait for him to move out of the way, and then as soon as you're ready to shoot, he moves back in the way and is like, fuck you! Fuck you! I mean, I don't give a crap about Rolling Stones, but I think with that game, if they could revisit
17:54
it, and all they'd have to do, they wouldn't have to work on too much. Just fix the amount of times Mick on a stick comes out and gets in the way of your ball. If they did that, you'd have a much better game. I totally agree. Why is he on a stick and why do you want to hit him? I never understood that. Don't you like the band? I don't get it. Yeah, it seems a bit odd. It's like if ACDC had Angus and you just hit Angus over and over. Why do I want to hit Angus? I don't understand. I don't get it!
18:25
I don't get it either. There you go. So you have a Game of Thrones Pro. I do have a Game of Thrones Pro. The best one. Nice. Because it's weird to see a home user have one. Usually they always have the premium. Look, it was a matter of circumstance. I think that it came up at a really good price, and Ryan reached out to me and said, hey, we've been offered this at $1,000 less than what they've offered publicly. Do you want it? And I said, well, sure, why not? I don't mind Game of Thrones. It came with the Dragon Topper.
18:55
it had very low plays I thought you know what let's go and I do even though I don't mind the premium in the LE with the upper play field I don't love it I think that it really takes you out of the game so the pro is what we've got and absolutely love it and I do believe it is better than the premium or the LE oh god yeah another agreement god yeah excellent because I own a premium and it sucks I got riveted in two months yeah you did you didn't have it long did you Ooh, it went fast.
19:26
Yeah. I mean, the payoff is nice if you can get the multi-ball from the upper playfield, but it just seems like it's such a grind, and the playfield up there just doesn't feel fun. So most people should really ignore it. Totally agree. Yeah. Now, football race. We're for sure. Yeah. Oh, jeez. Jesus. Yeah. Ugh. Yeah, okay. Okay, that was a good one.
19:58
I'm actually in the lounge chair tonight. Huh? I'm in a lounge chair tonight with alcohol in my hand. I love this. Are you at home or are you at the Silver Bowl Saloon? I am home. We are off Mondays. But it's Tuesday. So I should be working. Are you happy with Silver Bowl Saloon and how it's going? Yes. It's a lot of work. My wife has more work than, well, it kind of works both ways. My wife, that is her job. So she has a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff with ordering alcohol and all the food
20:29
and dealing with more of the employees. But then I go to a full-time job. Then I go to the bar and work there also. So we both have a lot of work. It's coming along very nicely. Honestly, everyone who comes there loves the place, it seems. And we were just on TV with the Upstate New York Championships, and we're doing radio commercials now. So we've seen our attendance go up, which means it's just more work. But the pinball is very accepted. We have 20 games now there, and hopefully in the next couple weeks,
21:02
we'll have up to 23 before Stomp West. So if you were going to say, as a bit of a draw card, what your best machine is that people should come and see, what would it be? It all depends what you're looking for. If you're looking for new games or you're looking for old games. So if you're looking for old games, we have Stars, Stargazer, and Quicksilver. Classic Sterns. Perfect. If you're looking for new games, we've got Star Trek LE. Aha. We have Video Madness, ACDC Premium, and Metallica Premium.
21:35
And soon we'll have a Spider-Man sitting there, a Getaway, and eventually a Walking Dead. Nice. Good collection. Yep. With all the other, you know, we have a lot of, you know, Bally Williams with Dirty Harry and Demoman. Yeah! Yep. Got the Demoman there. Got to have the Demoman. With the best jackpot call out. So, look, obviously, you know, people like to start up these venues and have the old and the new machines.
22:07
Mm-hmm. Do you find that really you're getting your takings from the newer machines or are people still putting some good coin through the older machines? Honestly, let's just say if I was going dollar for dollar on each game, it would be really close. Okay. It would be, but, of course, since I'm going dollar to 50 cents, when I look at the coin box, I look at the dollar one going, woo, yeah, a lot more, but right now the best game is Star Trek Ellie. Yeah, okay, there you go. No, I say that because there's been a couple of venues that have opened up in Australia
22:39
where they tried to have a lot of machines, let's say 15 to 20 machines, and they put some old EMs and solid states and then some of the newer Sterns and even Jersey Jack, and they get no money through the EMs. Now, the funny thing was when I had an EM on there, we made it the cheapest game at 25 cents. If you actually made that, like, say, a dollar, like, if you were saying you were taking it, like, say the EM was getting, like, 100 plays. Well, so was in a week, and so was the Star Trek LE. So the play was exactly the same, but, of course, you're getting in a fourth of the money.
23:14
It was getting beaten on just as much as the Star Trek LE. But, of course, people flock to when they don't know how to play pinball, let's play the quarter game more than the dollar game. They feel like they're getting their money's worth more. Yeah, well, you're also getting a quarter of the play time as well. Of course. They don't realize that, but... But, no, actually, I think Ron is co-owner of the Quicksilver, so he is 50-50 split with me. So when he comes out for Stomp West, he will see his taking of half the profits of that.
23:47
Yeah, so 50% of fuck all. Yeah, 50% of nothing is still nothing. I see you're quiet now on the other side going, Hmm? What the fuck? Not as sweet deal as he once thought. Yeah. Right, Ron? Huh? I was on mute? Oh, no. Yes, you were. You were snooping. No, no, that's you. So one of the things I like about the Head to Head podcast is you are the tournament player,
24:21
and you guys call them cops. I love that. We do. Competitions. Yes. I think we need to change that, Bruce. All your tournaments should just be called cops. Okay, so we're going to call them comps now, just steal it from the Australians. The Stomp Comp. That could be the third tournament. That sounds good. Stomp Comp. To be fair, what we actually probably refer to is any of the sort of monthly or weekly comps. We refer to them comps. But when you have, you know, let's like the Australian Championship Series that happened recently,
24:53
we would consider that a tournament. I got a question for you now. Hold on. I got a question for you. when Australia is the penal country, we've already gone over this a long time ago, when you have 40 or 50 of you guys playing pinball and drinking, is there fights? Ah. I hate to say it but no Fuck I know I know that going to shatter the illusion I had it disappointed now It did shatter the image Holy fuck Look, it's like every...
25:25
As you know, I've been to a few tournaments in the States as well, and it's the same sort of thing where you've got... There's a bunch of people that are just there to have fun. There's a few people that are there just for shits and giggles. They know they're terrible, but they're just there just to be part of it. then there's some people that take it fairly seriously and then there's some people that take it way too seriously. What do you call them? The tools. Yeah, pretty much. It's the same thing as well. And, you know, we know that, you know,
25:56
the pinball hobby is a bit of a bubble. It's getting to be a bigger bubble, but it's still a bubble. And then the tournament scene itself is a bubble within a bubble. So, you know. Maybe we're the world under glass. We are. Maybe we are. You won't let it go, will you? Fuck no. Any opportunity to pick that up. So you were just at Indisk. I wasn't Indisk. And you've been there before, though, right?
26:27
Yeah, I was there two years ago. And what was really interesting was two years ago, I turned up, and I was very excited. I was like, oh, my God, this is my first tournament, my first U.S. tournament. and so I was excited and I was saying hello and high-fiving everybody and people were looking at me going, just fucking tone it down, buddy. We're here to bloody compete in this tournament. And I was like, oh, shit, okay. Because I was used to in Australia, you know, you turn up, you grab a beer or a drink and you just, you know, drink and chat.
26:57
But this was serious business. But I still had a great time and I still remember, you know, just a couple of people in particular, like Johnny Monica and Steve Bowden really took time to sort of introduce me to the tournament and the format and, you know, check in every once in a while. So that was great. But then coming back two years later was really interesting because in that time, I have, you know, arguably the number one podcast in the world. Really? Did you overtake somebody?
27:31
So it was really interesting this time because I would be talking to somebody, mostly Jeff Teolas. He was the person I spoke to the most when I was there. And people would just recognize my voice and just come up and go, oh, my God, you're from the Head to Head People podcast. I loved how you got drunk. That's what I became known for. Did anyone come up to you and say, like, yeah, man, I love Ryan C? Yeah. No. No? Really? No. The most thing that people say is that they like the chemistry that we have.
28:05
So that's good. We don't have chemistry, do we, Ron? No, we don't have chemistry at all. You guys do. And we've sort of been on record many times saying that you were the inspiration for our show because we like the banter that you have. You keep it casual. You inform people. But ultimately, you're there just to, you know, have a bit of fun and enjoy yourselves. Right. So that's the same with us. So, you know, we've talked about it a number of times. We were doing this with absolutely no expectations.
28:38
It was sort of, we came about because, well, first of all, I heard Ryan on your show, and I thought, oh, man, he seems like a kind of guy that I could really have some good banter with. But we really did it for the Australian audience because Pinheads was the monthly podcast that we had in Australia, and they'd been on sort of hiatus for about six months. And I just thought, you know what, I really want some local content. So that's why I just, after I heard him on your podcast, I reached out to him and said, I mean, we've got to do a podcast. And he said, I'm absolutely in.
29:09
So that's what we did. And we never really cared about what sort of volumes we'd get. We were happy if we got a couple of hundred people a week or per episode. But it has absolutely skyrocketed. So we're very, very pleased with what it is. And it means that we're resonating with people, not only the Australian audience, but the majority of listeners that we have are from the States. I thought you were created by Kaneda Because I heard him say that on a podcast
29:40
Did he say that? I don't know But it really was I've got to tell you, it really was Hearing Ryan on your show And I'd wanted to do a podcast A couple of years beforehand And I was getting the format ready And I was getting the website built And all this kind of stuff And that's when Pinhead started And I went, okay, well that's done and there's not enough room for two Australian people podcasts. So it was just fortunate that a couple of years later, that moment happened, and I was just about to sort of shut down the Melbourne Silver Bowl League.
30:13
That was the comp that I was running a month. It was a selfie league with a match play final, and I was thinking, what do I do next? And that was the moment that happened, and I went, yep, let's completely rip off these douchebags from the States and do our own version. Fuck yeah. Excellent. Love it. Yeah, we are very flattered. We need a website, Bruce. What? We need a website to host our shit because, you know, Podcast Garden forgot to, like, renew their domain. Oh, holy fuck. That's pretty bad. It was pretty funny because, you know, the day that we said, let's do it,
30:47
24 hours later I said to Ryan, okay, well, here's our website, here's our Facebook page, here's our Twitter account, here's our Instagram, and he said, fuck, man, you're taking this seriously. I went, oh, you know what, all in or nothing, right? Yes. So why not? And we have a lot of fun. I voted for you in the Twippies. We voted for you. There you go. Thank you. So, look, and everyone was sending us the – when, obviously, you know, Kaneda won the Twippy, and good on him because – Who? Kaneda. Because he does the most podcasts.
31:17
And, yeah, sure, fine. But everyone was saying, oh, look, sorry you didn't win. And we were like, well, hang on. We'd only been doing this for six months. We're happy with anything, right? We're not here for ratings or for downloads. We're actually here just to have a bit of fun. And if people like it, great. Yep. I'm very – I am the same way. You know, once in a while I'll ask Ron our numbers, and he'll tell me, and I'll go, really? Yeah, then I'll say they don't work because Podcast Garden sucks. Yes, it does. Yeah. They blow.
31:47
And I'm not kidding. They literally forgot to renew their domain. Yeah, so today when – So today they went down. The player pod. But, yeah, then I did a Who Is On, and I noticed they renewed their domain, but it might be, like, another day before everything's back up, which is just inconscionable to me. I mean, because, like, where we are, most of the pinball podcasts are either on Podcast Garden or they're on SoundCloud. I mean, SoundCloud almost went bankrupt, and they were bailed out by some, like, rap dude. Yo, G. Yeah, and Podcast Garden is, like, because we post weekly,
32:24
it's like $30 a year and the files stay up there forever. We think. Well, we think. I didn't want to pay a ton of money for this when we got into it. It was supposed to be for fun. Our website is like our Facebook page, I guess. We have our Twitch account and our YouTube account. I was trying to think of the cheapest way to do it. But I'm telling you, Podcast Garden keeps having these issues.
32:55
And their stats suck. I mean, they don't even – they're not even consistent in a way that I believe they're accurate. I mean, you guys actually get – you guys get geocentric, like, tracking and stuff, and you can tell what countries are hitting you. I can't tell any of that. And Martin is a good numbers guy. I know that for a fact. You've seen some of my reports. Oh, yes. I'm very impressed, sir. I love spreadsheets myself, so that's why I like it. I do love a good report. People ask, you know, what do I do?
33:25
I actually run a call center, believe it or not. Wait, you're not 19? Wait a second, you're not 19? What the fuck? No, no, no. I run a call center. So every day I have to sift through between 50 to 60 reports. So I love data and I love numbers. So the reporting that we get through our podcast provider is very detailed, but I just take the raw data and create my own reports, and I get very excited by that stuff. Most people would find it really boring. Not me. So we can find out what city people come from.
33:57
We can find out whether they're using their Apple device or whether they're going from the website, what time they're listening to us. Yeah, I love it. It's very exciting. Fuck yeah. Most people are tuning out. They're going, fucking stats. So no wonder he likes complicated rule sets. It all makes sense. It does, doesn't it? Oh, I'm not a big fan of complicated rule sets, to be honest. Really? No. So this is what's really great about myself and Ryan.
34:29
Why it really works. Well, a number of reasons. One is because, as I've said many times, I don't know Ryan. I had met him twice before we started the podcast. So what it means is when I'm asking him a question about what he thinks, I don't know the answer. I'm asking it for the very first time. So that's great. But he is the one that's really, really detailed when it comes to rules. And call-outs, which is a weird thing. He really loves his call-outs. I couldn't give a shit about call-outs. I just want to know what my next shot is so I know what score I'm going to get.
35:00
So that's why it kind of works, is that I'm always looking at, from a tournament player's perspective, what is the repeatable shot that I need to be able to get the best score in the least amount of time? Whereas he's thinking about the complex picture and how I get to wizard mode and all the things that I need to bring in. So, no, I'm not a big fan of complex rule sets. And, you know, I cut my teeth on late 70s and early 80s pinball machines. They didn't have complex rule sets. No, no. So that's what I like.
35:30
And that, you know, even though in a tournament I would much prefer a stern machine because I find them safer, I much prefer to play, you know, a late 70s, early 80s Williams Ballet Gottlieb because I love the quirky layouts and I love the simplistic rule sets. That's beautiful, man. I love you. That's beautiful, man. Just got me right here, man. You got me right there. He said Gottlieb, though.
36:03
Older Gottlieb, maybe a couple. Countdown, Joker Poker. Okay, so do you all know what my favorite Gottlieb machine is. Get ready. Okay. Brace yourselves. If you say Charlie's Angels and we're hanging up right now, or Black Hole. And there it is. I'm going to Black Hole. But do you know what I love about Black Hole? And I know you guys hate it, right? What I love about Black Hole is how unforgiving it is. Like, it's unfair.
36:34
It's ridiculous. You get the ball down to the bottom play field, which you didn't want to do, And then you've got to complete those targets. Otherwise, the ball is over. I like the fact that it's that brutal and that unforgiving. It basically says, I'm going to take twice as much money as you would want to play to put in this machine, and I'm going to punish you for it. Okay, so let's take it a different way. Let's say you just put your dollar coin into a brand new Game of Thrones premium, and you got it up to the top castle for the first time.
37:05
You're like, yeah, I get to use this upper play for the first time. I hit one target. and then they drain. That's it. You're done. Does that sound enjoyable? No, of course it doesn't. But we've got different expectations on machines today than we did back then. Back then, that was fine. No, it wasn't. It sucked. No, it wasn't. It sucked. But it had a lower play field. Come on. It did, but it sucked. Yeah, and I know it really hasn't aged very well,
37:37
But besides the fact that it is, you know, an absolute nightmare to work on mechanically, I kind of like the fact that it just absolutely killed you. And, you know, the left out lane, it would just drop down and you'd go, gee, that fucking sucks. It's like it kicks you in the fucking nuts. That's what it really is. Oh, constantly. Well, some people like to be kicked in the nuts. Oh, my. All right. You know, my black hole story is very simple. I got to close my ears.
38:10
One year at Papa, when Papa used to be on Coindrop, every year they would have at least one or two games they forgot to put on Coindrop, so they'd be on free play. And you'd go around, search for them, and one year it was black hole. And we're like, perfect, this game is hard as hell, but it's on free play, so I'm going to see how long it takes me to get multi-ball. I played it for, I don't know, 45 minutes, and I never got multiball. I hated that game. Hated that game ever since. It's just such crap. I just hated that game.
38:42
Yeah, it's pretty much all or nothing. You get absolute shit for ages, and then that one in a thousand games, you might get multiball, and you might last three or five seconds, and then it's over. The other thing about those Gottliebs, I love when you lock a ball, and then you drain, then it releases the ball. Oh, that pisses me off. It's like, really? Like, no wonder you guys got your asses handed to you by Bally and Williams, because you put shit like that in a game. But again, it was what I come back to when I was talking about, you know,
39:12
roller games. Roller games is a very unforgiving game as well. You know, it was pre-ball save, and it was, you know, you do a wrong shot, it's out. I like that because if I master a game like that, I'm going to be better at a lot of other games. Right. Yeah, right. Rock and roll the games. Team roller games. Rock, rock, rock and roll the games. And roller games got the best music. Yep. Kick butt. And then the bass.
39:47
I'll just let that play. It's like I don't want to lock a ball again after I get the jackpot, because that will keep playing until you lock the ball. I hear you. And when you put your name up and, you know, that music comes up again when you put Grand Champion, and then you're just like, please, just keep going and keep going, and then it fades out, and you're like, oh. I was enjoying that. So, fun story about my roller games. I have mentioned this before, but we had a client, a U.S. client, and they were sort of like a bit of an ad tech company. Obviously, I'm not going to mention who they were.
40:19
And we thought, we actually had my roller games in my call center. and we said, you know, wouldn't it be really cool if we completely re-decaled this for the client? And we did. We put decals all around the cabinet and the back glass, and we put a new back glass, and then we said, let's send it to them as a gift. Thank you very much for choosing us. And then a week later, they sacked us. Oh, man. It's a true story. So I don't know where this machine is.
40:51
No fucking way. It's true. Admittedly, I changed strategy and went in a different direction. Oh, fuck off. Exactly. Hey, Bruce. Yes? I'm looking at news. Well, we have to talk about the most important news first. I mean, this is news that Martin's already said on their show. Okay, well, go ahead. But we can repeat it again. Do you know that Iron Maiden and Deadpool are coming up? No.
41:21
No. But they are. And did you know Ben Heck left Spooky Pinball? No. Stop. When did this happen? Why did no one tell me? I know. What the fuck? And if you want to hear about it, listen to the Head to Head podcast. Yes. Where you will hear an interview with Charlie from Spooky Pinball. How great, Charlie. Charlie was just such a great chat. It was effectively an interview, but we sort of got off the call with him and went, That was just like a conversation with somebody that you'd meet down at the pub.
41:54
Oh, yeah. Yeah, I definitely agree with that. That's the vibe I got from it also. Now, we have to talk about the most important news. Oh, what's the most important news? I haven't got through the regular news yet, but go ahead. Everything else is petty compared to what this news is. Okay. What is happening the 24th at noon? Pinberg tickets are going on sale. You got it, baby. Yes. So what time is that in Australian time, sir?
42:26
I will tell you. I've actually got a calendar. Okay, here we go. So on the 25th of February, remember we're in the future. You're in the future. I'll tell you the Powerball was 14. Oh, fuck yeah. Yeah, okay. So 4 o'clock in the morning, Pimberg sign up. I have an alarm set. So I am absolutely trying to get a ticket so I can go to Convert this year. I got a golden ticket.
42:56
I got a gold. And then we'll finally meet. Absolutely. I may or may not be there. Boo. Oh, what? We have, okay, well, where I work, we have a blackout that week. So technically I won't be there. but assuming its schedule slips, maybe I can make it. So I will be forced basically to get pinberg tickets that I probably won't be able to use, and I probably won't be able to get my money back because I won't know if I'll be able to go until probably a couple weeks before.
43:30
So you're going to take the chance and risk it, right? Yep, I'm going to take the chance. I'm going to try to get my – the other thing is I have a stair climb that same day at 10.30 a.m. Usually they start on time. So hopefully I'll have no issues making it. What's a stair climb? Stair climb. Climb stairs. How many stairs? Basically, you go up like a courting tower. It's 44 floors. It's the tallest building in Albany. So, yep. That could kill me now. Yep. I know. Exactly. I love it.
44:01
I love it. The first year I did it, I thought I was dead. I literally thought I was going to die when I got to the top. and the second year I actually trained a little bit and didn't feel like I was going to die it's only like 10 or 15 minutes whatever it takes to get up there but it's like you will almost die, it's great I can't wait to do it you will almost die, it's great yeah that just says to me I don't want to do it oh come on you'll have improved cardio you'll be able to move better in front of the pinball machine
44:33
dead silence there no one's buying into it if you enjoy it I know when I go to a pinball show I just think health I tell you what I think if you're enjoying it you have a great time and I'm all for it it's like if you were having a podcast and you were having a lot of fun I would really support you and that podcast and I would think you are doing a great idea and I would never say anything bad about you wow I don't know what to say to that
45:03
I'm getting teary eyed Wow. People enjoying their lives, right? Yes. Fuck yeah. I think you're stupid. But I think good of you because you enjoy being stupid. Is the Australian motto just like, fuck yeah? Is that it? It's fuck yeah. Fuck yeah. And Alice Cooper's Nightmare Castle will be previewed.
45:34
He'll get his debut at the Texas Pinball Festival. There's going to be two machines there from some other podcast. Two machines from some other podcast. What does that mean? Some other podcast I listened to today, wink, wink, hint, hint, head to head, said there should be two machines at TPF for Alice Cooper's Nightmare Castle. Yes, there is. It's going to be great. Great. I'll get some plays on that. Hopefully the lines won't be too bad. I just want this machine to be great.
46:05
I really want this machine to be great. For Charlie, for Spooky, for having another player in the manufacturing space, I really want Alice Cooper to be great. I'm wheeling it on. Good vibes. Good vibes. Yeah, come on. Come on, Charlie. Make it happen. And obviously, you can tell in the interview, I sort of said to him, so if you walked up to this machine for the first time, how would you describe it? Crickets. Crickets, yeah. Yeah, and then Ryan said something else, like, how would you describe whatever, something about the game?
46:36
He's like, how would you describe the three supers that it's got? Nice. We got nothing. We got a new ACDC code? Yes. Yeah. Installed on my machine. I like some of the new, I like how Hell's Bells is kind of nerfed now. Yep. Which is good, because that's all anyone would ever pick in tournaments. They got rid of the, you just hit the VIP pass to get the bell hit. It gives you the 2X and the 3X.
47:08
That's gone. Guardians of the Galaxy had yet another update. We're up to .87. You're still in beta, boy. Still in beta. Hopefully we can get to 1.0 at some point. Let's see. Kingpin is going to be at Texas, and it looks like they will be at least, sounds like they're going to do some kind of full production of it. Sounds like it. How many games it will make, who knows. You guys like this machine, don't you? Oh, I love this fucking machine. Why do you like it? We've played it like every year for quite a few years.
47:40
Five years, yeah. It's Mark Ritchie's one of his best. It's got flow. Oh, it's got flow. If you like the, think of the fishtail's boat shot. You know, the monster fish back and forth. Now, just imagine there's spinners in front of both those shots. And that's Kingpin. So you got those crisscrossing ramps. You got like this big, what is it called again? The Lex. Yes, the Lex Hotel.
48:11
Yeah, the Lex Hotel with a slot machine thing on it. You hit it in there and the reels go off. And it's got a gangster theme, which is cool. I mean, the code, I wonder what they're going to do for the code, because the code definitely was not fully complete. No, no, it was not complete at all. Like Big Bang Bar was pretty much complete. I mean, Kingpin has a wizard mode or a final. The whole object of the game is you hit it in the lex and you get a job to do. Like run these guns, you know, steal this, do this.
48:43
And you do it. And then whoever gave you the task tries to kill you. And you kill them. Yes. And you make your way up the crime ladder until you go after the Kingpin himself. And if you kill him, then you are the Kingpin. and they also tried they did a thing where the flippers will slowly get weaker and then just die they did that they tried that in the game and it works I just found it more fun to play than Big Bang Bar
49:13
these are the times I've played it they were always right next to each other more people would gravitate in the beginning nobody knew what Kingpin was and I'm like Ron we've got to play this all the time we used to spend like honestly like 2 or 3 hours during the show playing Kingpin. Because they would always have, like, you could get in early, like, what, 30 minutes early? Yep. At California Stream, and we would just go right for the Kingpin Big Bang Bar area. Had to hunt it out, but once you found it, you were good. So that's why we liked it. I mean, it wasn't very super complicated or anything, but...
49:47
Do you think it's worthy of a remake, though? Oh, yeah. Yeah, the play field and everything, yeah. I'd like to see it. I mean, would I buy it? I would. Not with the software. Well, see, Ron, that's what I'm saying. I know that people want it because it's so rare and it's become this mystical item, but is it good enough that people are actually going to buy enough of it for Circus Maximus to actually make a business out of this? Yeah, that's the only thing I'm worried about.
50:18
Good question. Yeah. Well, because obviously they were looking at doing Pinball Circus, and I'm assuming you guys have played Pimple Circus? I have yes Yep And it is when you walk up to it it is the most amazing thing to look at And then when you play it you think yeah this is a lot of fun As soon as you get up to the top level you think okay I done There's no more I need to do on this. So, again, I'm a bit of a positive person. I want them to be really successful, and I want them to have this machine
50:51
that absolutely just knocks it out of the park and everyone buys. I just hope that's the case. I agree with you and we had Pirates of the Caribbean live on Twitch the Jersey Jack well not the Jersey Jack factory but I guess the Jersey Jack development lab or whatever yep they streamed Pirates of the Caribbean and when they started going over the rules after like two minutes I was just lost you know
51:23
it's just like I don't know. We have six different multiballs going at the same time, and I'm lost. He was stumped. I was stumped. It is nice that they're doing it, though. They're going over the rules. I mean, you literally have the programmer. You have Keith right there telling you, this is what's going on. That's a pretty cool little feature. That'd be nice if, I mean, Stern kind of does the dead flip, does the stream, and maybe the programmer will be there explaining stuff, but not always.
51:53
I don't know. it looks interesting. I'd be curious to see how this game does. I mean, I don't know. In Australia, you guys are going to get some of these, I'm assuming? Yeah, so we have... You already have one already. Yeah, so the local distributor is Mr. Pinball. Is that Wayne? Yeah, it is Wayne. He's a great guy. So we've streamed this a couple of times when we had Jersey Jack out here for the launch party. So hopefully we're going to get back there again and play it with updated code.
52:25
And what I said at the time was, I love the layout. I really feel that it is a great flipping machine. But, you know, it was early code, so that kind of was a bit of a letdown. Having now seen the Jersey Jack stream, I love what they're doing. What I think as well is that they are making this really complex rule set, but at the end of the day, people are going to work out what is the best way to move forward, and they're going to stick to that. And all the other stuff is just great.
52:55
If you happen to miss a shot, you're still going to get some stuff happening. Kudos to Wayne for my whodunit translate that I got from him, from Mr. Pinball. Oh, really? Oh, yeah. That's how sad I am with whodunit. It's like, you know, the translate on here, I really could use a new translate. Oh, Mr. Pinball in Australia has one. Oh, Wayne, okay, I'll order one. I have a ship from Australia. Hey, it looks great. I love whodunit. I know. Let's see. Oh, there's a big Lebowski update.
53:25
What? Yeah. We still don't know how to make machines. We're finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel. Zytec. Did we just get out headers? How did they call you? Here is a letter folded for you. Zytec has finished engineering sample number four of the pilot builds. So Zytec is still learning how to build it. They expect it to be 99.9% perfect. I don't. No. Let's move on. I don't even think that's more obviously anymore because they haven't manufactured anything.
53:59
Just like deep-dicking root, you know. Deep-dicking root? What the hell? They haven't made one fucking thing and everyone's over like, oh, we've got to talk about them. Until you fucking make anything. Done. I mean, how many games has Spooky made? Like four, five, six? They've made... In the same amount of time? Yeah. When you think about it? They've made America's Most Haunted, Rob Zombie, made TNA, Jetsons, and Dominoes. And now they've got Alice Cooper coming out.
54:29
They've literally made six games in the same time that Dutch Pinball's been around. Yep. You would have heard in our interview with Charlie that he mentioned that they shipped 136 Dominoes. I know. That was a lot more than I thought. I totally agree. I was, like, amazed. Yeah. Well, I mean, obviously they've got the Domino's Network, right? Yeah, but I was thinking like 60 or 70 tops. Yeah, for sure. And all this news is from This Week in Pinball. Go to thisweekinpinball.com.
55:00
Hi, Jeff. And they're teasing they're going to have more info coming on Iron Maiden and Deadpool on Thursday of this week, which will be when this will be posted. So there you go. We all know Iron Maiden's going to be Archer, Deadpool. We've all seen the layout. Move on. wow Martin just drops the mic boom yeah we've seen the layout well Martin's seen the layout so your screens are more well informed than we are
55:30
Bruce what does that mean just dropping a mic boom your contacts must suck I thought you knew people I don't know whether you guys are in the same position but ever since we started starting the podcast we just get these random emails of people trying to give us information. And sometimes it's true, sometimes it's not. So most of the time now, we just ignore it because we just don't know whether it's true. Yeah, I just go by the people I know and trust. Yeah, I mean, the only emails we get are like,
56:02
you suck. Fuck you, you suck. You suck, you offended me. I'm not listening to you anymore. I know. Stop trying to hammer Jesus with balls. I know. I can't align. Stop. What the hell did you just say? I feel that that's going to be edited, so... No, I will not allow that. I will veto that one. I will talk about it all day, then. He knows how I am. Let the one go and we'll be good. All right, back to the non-edited part of the podcast.
56:35
Okay, what's the next one? You know what time it is, Bruce? Let me just get another drink. Okay. What time is it? It's time for Face Off. Oh, no. Oh, yeah. Bruce is so excited. I'm going to fucking lose this one. Okay. If you remember from our last time, we did this. It was 1986. Ron got Williams. And Bruce got Bally. Not the Bally I wanted.
57:06
So we're going to be battling. Ron is going to have games like Grand Lizard, High Speed, Pinbot, Road Kings. always a favorite of mine. No one likes that, but I do. And then, Bruce is going to have such classics as Black Belt, Lady Luck, Motor Dome, Special Force, and Strange Science. Shoot my fucking cock right now. Jesus Christ. Did you know there were two Black Belts?
57:37
Yes. They were in the same year? One's by Zachariah. Yeah, I know. I remember playing that, I think. I already got my three ready. You're going to actually try? Oh, I'm trying. Okay. All right. But since you got to pick first this time, you get to go first. Okay. So... Oh, no, I did. Wait a second. I picked first. I had Valley. Yeah, but I won last time, didn't I? Yeah, you did. So I should get the disadvantage by going first, because then you can pick. Okay, so go ahead.
58:08
So first game I'm going to pick. Oh, see, I'm double... He's double dipping. Yeah, no, no, I'm like, I'll go for it. Pinbot. Uh-oh, I don't like that. Okay, I'm going to pick a different one. No, you said it. You said it. Damn it. Pinbot, a classic of 1986, a part of what I consider the resurgence of pinball that was after high speed,
58:38
a groundbreaking layout, The first game to use the five-target bank, descending target, the visor. It has the two ball locks, the just great atmosphere, great System 11 sounds, all-time classic. A classic of Williams. Pinbot with its great rule set, its great ball locks and jackpots. Wow.
59:10
I can put a fucking flaming turd against this one. A personal favorite of every Australian except Martin is his Pinbot. Oh, did I mention it's got a cool topper? Yes, it has a topper, too, fully integrated with gameplay. A all-time classic for Williams. I give you Pinbot. I yield a four. Okay. I am bringing out a game with a real topper in it. strange science. Neon at its best.
59:42
With the great artwork. Who doesn't like a monkey on your back of your back glass? Come on. Monkeys fucking rock with a strange scientist. Great rules. Actually, pretty deep rules for a 6803 game. Plenty of lights for it. You actually see on the bottom of the apron, you actually see the ball lock interlock, which is really cool. Four buttons, if I remember correctly. Yes, there's four buttons because you have saves on the side. The great saves from Bally Williams.
60:13
You also have alphanumeric displays in all their glory. Everyone loves it. What else we got? We got three pop bumpers, kick out hole, five ball multi-ball. Not no two ball multi-ball. We got a five ball multi-ball with the Adam Smasher. anti-gravity loop-up balls for the vertical plane and a particle separator ramp not no visor daddy i give you the unique display of neon on top strange science okay rebuttal period first let's
60:51
do the hardware 6803 that's all you need to know shitty keypad horrible incandescent bulb in the back box for lighting. Five ball multi-ball, huh? Yep, that's the only thing to go for in the game. Terrible, shallow rule set. And good luck trying to lock those balls with the horrible linear shit flippers that you can't make any of the shots with. Oh, and that awesome topper, good luck if it's working. I'm done. Okay, so, you know, wait a sec.
61:23
Fluorescent bulb in the back box, save energy. That's great because, you know, this is pre-LED, so we're good with that. But 6803 was actually more powerful than the Williams System 11 original system. 11A and 11B got a little better because it took less away from it, but you had too many things on your board. Original 11, great game, great artwork, multi-ball all day. It is better than, let's hit the visor. Let's hit the visor again. One more time. Let's hit the visor. Oh, once in a while, maybe I'll hit a ramp.
61:54
Let's hit the visor again. Strange science rocks. Babaloo, Babaloo, Babaloo, Babaloo, Babaloo. Are you the four? Babaloo? This isn't I Love Lucy. It is I Love Lucy. I think that you both present very compelling arguments. And obviously by compelling, I mean, what the fuck? That was shit ass, right? It is. I'm going to sort of vote on which one, if you had two of those machines side by side at the same price,
62:26
which one would I buy? I'd go strength science. Fuck yeah! Oh, man. You are so high. Oh, I just hate pinball. I can't stand it. Okay. Okay, Bruce. Oh, boy. Yeah, now what? You blew your load, dude. What the hell are you going to do? I had to blow my fucking load. What are you thinking? I hope you wiped yourself off. I know. Oh, my. On Motor Dome, you know you want it.
62:57
Nope. Black Belt. Greg Ferris artwork. Four flippers. Two pop bumpers. Weird loopy ramps, but when they actually worked, they rocked the world. Drop targets have stand-up targets behind them. Spitting target, ball kicker. Pretty good rule set, actually, for 6803 also. You got Bruce Lee on the front almost, you know. It's got the gritty guy with the, you shall become Black Belt. I like that.
63:27
friggin' rockin'. Not no Photoshop. You got two guys fighting it out. Not a bad rule set. I like the game a lot. The ramps, you know, I like the ramps. Got some good flow when you get them kicking. Change the flippers, though, and you'll be rockin'. I give you Black Belt. Okay. My game is the game that changed it all. High speed. You win. High speed. at least let us go through our dealer high speed this is the first game that played a complete
64:04
song the first game with a jackpot the first game with auto replay percentages so operators loved it it's got the first game with a story you're trying to get away from the cops yes the cops are actually the bad guys in this you escape you escape the cops you you don't listen to authority That's what this game's all about. It's all about speed, awesome ramp shot. It has the Steve Ritchie shot, which was used in a lot of other games after this. But this was the first time it was used.
64:35
The left orbit all the way around to that upper right flipper up the ramp. It's the greatest shot in pinball. And this is the game where it made its debut. Great music, great call-outs, great software by the genius software of Larry DeMar. This is an all-time classic, and it sold a shit ton of games. This is the one that began the resurgence of pinball that went into the 90s. I give you high fucking speed. If you get one, actually, the only reason why this game sucks,
65:09
because most people don't set up the right way. They don't put the European siren on. So, with the European siren not on, the game totally blows fucking moose balls. That is the worst rebuttal I have ever heard. But it's the truth. It is the truth. When you heard mine with the European siren, what did you say? I thought it was stupid, but it was funny. Exactly. Is that it? Is that your rebuttal?
65:39
That's my rebuttal, baby. Okay. Black Belt. Another shitty 6803. shitty linear flippers has all these plastic ramps that you can't freaking hit and it has some dude in the center with his crotch showing it to you you're hitting a ball between his legs a terrible side art as in no side art it just says Bally Midway on the side just no, sorry high speed takes a seeming dump on this game I yield the floor I actually really like Black Belt
66:11
I think Black Belt is a great game and it's another one of these ones where I don't know whether there was necessarily a lot of units that were made. It is a great game, but none can deny the impact that high speed had on the pinball world. It was, as you know, the first machine that had a story. It actually connected you to the machine. It took it to a whole new level, but I'm also actually giving it, because you can actually hit the flip a button and have the revs go up. So I'm giving it to high speed.
66:42
Okay. I forgot about that. Yeah, that's awesome. That is awesome. Okay, Ron. All right, so, man. See, I want to pick one, but I like the other game better. So I'm going to go with what I like better, even though it might be the wrong choice in this case. I'm picking Road Kings. Underrated System 11 game.
67:12
Mark Ritchie design, extremely fun. It revs when you hit the flipper buttons. We know that's a very important thing. Copycat, copycat. Cool ramp shot. It's got nice shots in it. Nice flow with the ball going around like the Orbit. Four pop bumpers. It's got a cool multi-ball. Cool sounds. It's got almost like a Mad Max type theme going. Actually, it sold very well in Europe from what I heard.
67:42
I just, I play this at Papa over and over and over again. Damn, you know, this is a pretty damn good game. Why doesn't this get more, more credit? I mean, it's a great Mark Ritchie design. I give you Road Kings. Okay. I'm pulling out my lucky ace. I'm pulling out Lady Luck. Three flippers, three pop bumpers, a five bank drop target. Who does not love card games?
68:12
Everyone loves card games. With a spinner and a captive ball also included with this. Gotta love it. Great card game. Good rules. 10x multiplier on this playfield also. Don't forget that. One of the first games, I think, with a 10x multiplier. And with those beautiful displays up in the back. And that is my old lady luck, who's pretty lucky. I yield the floor. All right. So I know Martin's played this because it was at InDisc.
68:42
or who knows he might not have played it he might have skipped it which would be better for me so lady luck it's not horrible but when you play this and realize high speed came out the same year it's like you're playing a totally different it's like really really it just seems so dated and behind playing this style of game when high speed came out the same year and don't interrupt my rebuttal asshole and like you said
69:17
it has the 10k it has the 10x scoring that literally is the only thing to go for in this game is you just try to hit I believe it's the captive ball to raise the value of the spinner try to get the 10x going by hitting the two you gotta hit the drop targets then you gotta hit the two side targets and then you hit the spinner it's like you just do the same thing over and over and over and over again very repetitive shitty sounds. I yield a four. I think you just made my case
69:47
for how good my game was. Thank you, though. You made a good rule set. Thank you. Thank you very much. Road Kings. Oh, my God, what a fucking borefest this game is. That middle ramp sucks. The scoring sucks. I'd rather fucking pull my fingernails out than play that game. That is one of the few games I will actually just say, okay, let's move on to the next game. I forfeit. If I give you Road Kings, I yield the floor. Okay.
70:18
So, what I'm hearing is that 1986 had some good games, but also had some real stinkers. And Road Kings and Lady Slut are absolute stinkers. They really are. So what I'm trying to work out now is which is the less of the stinkers here. Really is what I'm saying. I've also got to let you know that I've drunk so much right now
70:51
that I actually completely choked out to what either of you were saying. So you're going by pictures. I'm going by pictures. And again, I come back to what I would buy. and as much as Lady Luck really is quite a compelling argument because I love ballets of that era I think they're lots of fun I would pick Road Kings I think over this one
71:22
yes I'll take the one out of the three I'd be very happy with that I won I'm also a big fan of Williams System 11 so that's kind of a bit of an advantage so get random.org up for us Please, Mr. Martin. Okay. Here we go. 75 through 96. 75, 96, I'm generating. 94. We did 94.
71:54
Oh, we did Roadshow. Yeah, we'll have to pick another. 78. We did 78. Did we do? I think we did. No, I don't think so. That's when Phoenix was made. We did it. 80. We did 80. The next one after that is 76. So you've got to choose. Ooh. We went with 76. Let's see what 1976 shows us. A ton of valleys. Jesus. A ton of Gottliebs.
72:25
And not quite as many Williams, but there's a ton of a lot of different games. It's Coggo Coin, too. The problem is I haven't played any of those. Yeah, I know. So let's... Oh, Zachariah, too. Wow. Let's do Bally, Gottlieb, and Williams. And Williams, yep. List randomizer. All right. Enter list items. Williams, Bally, Gottlieb. Yep. Randomize. Boom. Okay, so what's the first one? Williams.
72:57
Ooh, there's some. Let's see what else is there. Hold on. I'm going to go Williams. All right, so you're taking Williams. I'm taking Williams. All right. Yeah. So, number two is Bally. So, that means I get Bally. So, you get, oh, wow. I get, like, 30 different games. You get Freedom. No, I get Freedom. So, you get Freedom, Anglider, Hocus Pocus, Miss America Supreme. That's a bingo machine.
73:28
Sorry. Knight Rider. Old Chicago. Quarterback. Ugh, that's a shitty game. And I get Space Odyssey, Space Mission, which is a two-player, four-player, Grand Prix, Aztec, and Blue Chip. Guess what 3M be taking? Yeah. All right. One last little segment here. This was a suggestion from the one, which was to take –
74:03
Well, what was his original suggestion, Bruce? because we're going to put a little spin on it. His suggestion was find a game, an old classic like either Stern or Bally, and look at the reviews and make fun of them and see what people made comments of. Well, we're going to do a little spin. We're going to do one good game, and then we're going to pick one stinker game. No, let's just all pick a shitty game. You want to pick a shitty game? Yeah, just to get this moving along. Okay. Each of us will pick a game that we hate, and then we're going to see ratings to see how good it is
74:35
and we'll make fun of those. Yay. Okay. Yay. We'll see how that goes. I'm looking for one. So what games do we hate? Well, for Martin, you could just put in Road Kings, obviously. Or one of those games. No, I want to put in a top 100 game that people like that I absolutely hate. Are we just doing top 100? Yeah, that's good. That's good. I can do that. I'm sure there's plenty of stuff I can hate in here. I don't know.
75:07
Oh, I found one. And we'll try to guess what you say by your description also, because that's a little spin on. We're going to steal a little bit from the boys. Yeah, let's steal it from the head-to-head guys. That's the gold standard. Oh, Jesus Christ. Oh, God. Okay. So I'm at the ratings for my game. You have a game, Martin? I do. Okay. we're going to go high to low or we're going low to high? It'll be high to low. High to low. Because these are games we hate.
75:38
Who would like to go first? I can go first. Okay. This game is absolutely amazing It could be and I can say this because it gives it away so best game to date Packed with toys great risk and reward shots and the artwork is some of the best out there Not to mention the music and lighting is sensational. Slimer looks well-detailed, and the light glowing off him really brings him out. This game really keeps you coming back for more.
76:09
And if this was the last game to use a DMD, what a way to finish on. This will go down as a Stern Classic, and all the rave reviews are warranted. Who are you going to call? No, they're not. They are so not warranted. Ghost Turd. It really is. Ghost Shisters. And what do you rate it as? Ten? It's a ten, baby. It's a number ten. And these are all anonymous, folks. Don't get pissed if we're reading yours. This is nothing personal.
76:39
Okay, Martin, would you like to go next, or would you like me to go next? You can go next. Okay, first one. This is a 10 rating. Frankly, it's the perfect realized vision for the theme. Who doesn't like original art? Very vague. The next one is a 9.5. I bought this game after playing it in Dallas. The adult mode is a nice novelty. Not as deep as Scared Stiff, one of my all-time favorite, but it gets close. Many modes, challenging rules, and the fast action ensures this game will not grow stale.
77:10
It's probably a top 20 title. Any guesses yet? No Adult mode? Mm-hmm What is an adult mode that you wouldn't like? Metallica? Sopranos Nope I was going to say Sopranos too Okay, next one's a 9.4 Wow, what a blast I played this game for the first time in a fellow collector's house What a great and fun layout Fast without being a typical fan layout Good music and call-outs and gameplay
77:40
keeps you on your toes. If it has a weak point, it's the lighting. The game is a little dark, but for this title, it works. Wizard of Oz. No. Oh, I thought that would... Just because he said dark, I thought that would... Yeah. Damn. I don't know, Bruce. Next one? Yeah, one more. We can't keep going. If we can. No, we can't. Come on. It's just a game. The code isn't completely done yet, but we know it's coming. the game has chaotic 80s feel to it
78:12
modern tech, fun and tough modes, best callouts ever the multi-ball mode can be a little better instead of just mostly the ramp shot overall this game is just plain fun so glad I was able to add one to my collection it's quite unique oh damn, I was going to say Total Newbie Annihilation until you mentioned that there was a ramp shot thought that would give that away, that one next one okay, 9.4 I had the regular edition amazing artwork, the back glass is so cool the modes are challenging
78:43
hard as hell, add a ball is so cool multi-ball is so fun hit a thousand corpses right out of the box and since then I'm zombie okay holy crap, six or seven of those fucking people are on crack you know what this could be like, remember the name that tune? it's just like name that game and how many Pinside comments. Yes, that was the record stuff. That was one, two, three, four. The record is in
79:13
We Suck. That took way too long. I know. Go ahead now, Martin. Okay, you ready? Okay, this is a 10 out of 10 rating. One of my all-time favorites. Wow, that's good. That's good. Jeez, man. Alright, okay. The next one We'll absolutely give it away You ready? This is a 10 out of 10 rating Simply the best
79:44
The Tina Turner game Simply the best Better than all the rest Here's another one 10 out of 10 rating Great game Boy Wow, these are really They're detailed and in depth. I have really given a lot of thought to these reviews. Okay, here's one. You'll get this. 10 out of 10. Very fun game. I never thought I would own one as I'm
80:15
not a golfer, but ended up playing this at a friend's and really got into it. Now it is one of my favorite games. Fun flow and music. The gophers are more fun to hit than the trolls on Medieval Madness. No good gophers. I know. I figured... 10 out of 10? I know. I figured one of my all-time favorites would have been a dead giveaway. Thank you, Teddy Bear. Wow. So you don't like no good golfers? No, I hate it. I can't stand it.
80:46
And I just, you know, we know pinball is a very personal thing. We all have very different tastes and we all like different things. For me, no good golfers has a layout that I find really quite awkward and I find the rules for me I don't connect with. So I have played this game a lot, and I mean a lot. And every time if I see it in someone's connection, in someone's collection, it's the first game I go to because I want to like it, and I've never been able to like it.
81:21
It's just not complete. The rules are not that great. The shots are just okay. It's a mechanical nightmare. Just a bit of a miss for me. Yeah Alright But to be honest I'm not a big fan Of Pat Lawland machines Just putting that out there Ooh Hmm I only have one That's an unusual one Really Probably not one most people have Yeah Monopoly Oh yeah
81:52
It killed me at Indisc See if you Learned a lot more You'd enjoy it I just couldn't get The jackpot shot This was in the finals Of Indisc So it was down to the top four. And I was the fourth player, and all I had to do was get into multi-ball, and I had to hit one jackpot. Just one. I'm not talking two, three, or four, or five. I just needed to hit one jackpot. I could not hit that jackpot to save myself. And what actually happened was, and I was great with my flipper skills.
82:25
I was bouncing the ball over, doing cradle separation, getting the ball up there ready for the jackpot shot. I couldn't hit it. And I've got to tell you, the thing that really killed me the most was when I finished my game and I walked over to the people that were watching, someone said to me, that was the worst multi-ball I've ever had to watch. Gee, thanks. Thanks so much. That feels really good. Thanks, mate. What a dick. No, but to be honest, it was so shit-ass.
82:57
I had about six or seven shots at that jackpot shot, and I couldn't hit it. It really shitted me. And had I done that shot, you know, obviously hindsight, I would have won B Division if I'd got that shot. There you go. So somebody's saying hi, Ryan. The message says, say hi to the dead dingo's donger. Does he have a dead dingo's donger? I don't know. He probably does.
83:27
What was the first part of what you said? I'm confused. You said, like, hi, Ryan, or something? Somebody said, hi, Ryan. I mean, Ryan, duh, Martin. There you go. Okay. See, he didn't even pick up on that. No, no. Another Bruce. Oh, I thought he was talking about Ryan. I mean, technically, you said Ryan, therefore I thought that you were talking about Ryan. I mean, I'm sorry. Is there something weird here? T-O-L-E-S. Yeah, T-O-L-E-S. Good on you, Jack. He was awesome. He was probably the person I spent the most time with at Indisc.
83:57
And he's such an awesome guy. But don't tell him that. I think he's a fuckwit. Well, he'll hear it now. Okay, Bruce. I got one for you before we go to mail. Okay. Ready? Here's the other way around. Oh, good. You're cheating then. This is the negative one. This game is just so-so. The artwork is a little on the unattractive side, in my opinion. and the play field is just overrun with too much green. I also found the orientation of the drop target banks a little strange.
84:29
Big game. No. Really? You're on the right track. Oh, that's quicksilver. Yep, quicksilver. Okay, I'm going to give you one now, guys. Okay. Okay, since you want to fuck me over, come on. This one's 2.3. He rated this one. Hate this game. Sounds and plays horrible. Here's the next one. 4.5. A slower, relaxing gameplay. 4.7. Wow, this one is hard. Not my favorite wide body.
85:01
Play this in a group, but we all got it handed to us. Very tough. 5.7. I know how to rate an old machine, so take that in perspective. The gameplay is very slow, which is typical of this era. This pin is now, however, one of the most challenging ones. a few too many flippers can be difficult to get used to. I find myself actually losing a lot of games on this pin. Not my style of pinball machine. I rate it that way. I came feeling back. I gave a poor ranking, so I gave it threes instead of ones, which makes...
85:31
And the next one. Wow, Paragon. It's like hearing a song you thought you'd never have to hear again. People are fucking tools. They really are. What I've always said, it's a very personal experience. Some people like things and some people hate them. I'll give you an example. This rating is a 4.6 out of 10. Why is this in the top 100? It plays bad and it looks like a cheap toy. Too many colors. Like the sales guy that found out how to do objects with gradients in
86:03
PowerPoint made the design. Boring gameplay on an empty playfield. Just shoot up ramps without any strategy. The continuously flashing of LEDs hurts the eyes which makes you drain balls. It's like the strobe attack of Attack from Mars, but badly done. Actually, the more I think about it, the more I think it's inspired on Attack from Mars, but somehow they did not get it because it's missing the flow. Star Trek? It's Star Trek! Yeah. Like, really? Wait, wait, wait. That's a bumper. Missing flow.
86:34
Like, it's only flow. Yeah, it's only flow. It's like Steve Ritchie said, you know, my games so far haven't had enough flow. I need to make a game with even more flow. And he made Star Trek. Mm-hmm. How do you... Yeah. Okay. Everyone's entitled to their opinions. Everybody has views, right? Right. No, they're fucking morons. Good Lord. All right. Mail ball bag? It's time for the mail ball bag. You can say it now.
87:04
Since Ryan gets to say it, come on, Martin, say it away. Let's go. Let's go to the mail ball bag. This is the Robert Byer show. It is. Gentlemen, excellent. He's busy catching up on all our shows. Mass episodes. Excellent episode with Escher and Escher's dad. I think my next dog may be named Elwin. Great advice from Adam to find something about the game you like. I'm looking forward to using that in my next tournament, and especially Pinberg, as I think letting a machine I dislike get in my head even plunging.
87:38
Oh, before even plunging. I wonder if I would have made a finals the last few years. On a side note, I found out I have been scheduled for a company training class May 21st through 23rd in Philly, so I am going to parlay that into coming to the New York City Championship, in which I see several members of the Slamto Podcast friends and family will be attending. See, I was 138 of 140 at the cutoff, so I just made it. Hoping to catch up on live podcasts very soon. Robert Byers, player 164.
88:08
P.S. I need a room to share for New York City. It's $500 for two nights is a little steep. Throw a feeler out for me. P.P.S. I don't snore. I do. You do. That's for sure. Okay, let's see. Next is Steven. Steven Haberman. Hey, guys. Love the show. I would love to know your thoughts on this. And it's a link to Gottlieb's Super Mario Brothers Electromechanical Pinball? Yep. Wait, there's an electromechanical version?
88:40
No. Oh. Oh, it is. They made almost like a handicapped accessible Marriott Brothers, with buttons in the front so people who have disabilities can actually use the flippers and everything like that also. All right. And they can wheel it up to a person, like if they're on a table, you know, if they can't stand or anything like that. That doesn't bother me. Yeah. Bad game, but, you know. Oh, it's got the full, okay, it's actually got the full play field. Yep.
89:11
A neat idea. It's like $2,500. Yeah, that's a little expensive too. Yeah. Eh. It's interesting. Thank you, Steven. Next we have Robert Byers again. Hi, yo, Mick, how are we supposed to catch up if every episode is two hours? Mick, why don't you quit your bitching and punch that cold meat harder? Ooh. Beavis Hey Butthead These things are too long Like that's what she said Paperboy from Better Off Dead
89:43
I want my two hours There you go Right Let's see Then we have an episode spreadsheet From Eric Russell This is S Eric S. Russell Where he actually keeps track of Our former segment Games We Like, Games We Hate Which ones we actually picked I love spreadsheets. Thanks, Eric. Thank you very much. And we have Robert Byers again for episode 69, Butthead. Do we like score and stuff? Says you really should have had Steph handling the mail ball bag portion of the show.
90:15
Oh, my. So in college back in the early 90s, the word beef was used interchangeably with fart. Yeah, I, yeah. Dude, did you just beef? Therefore, never beef production makes me think of two things. someone who's really constipated, or the number one rule of thumb for a first date. Anyway, I digress and move on to episode 70. Let's see, then we have... Robert Byers again! Shit, another two-hour episode. That's four in a row. Women-themed games.
90:46
It's also from Robert Byers. Let's see, Chocolate Thunder from Down Under. What is that word? LaBerry? LaBerry, yeah. But seriously, from the wife. Sex in the City? clueless dirty dancing. This is difficult. It is. Yeah, it is. Then we had, oh yes, Tim Sexton, or the former Tim Sexton, the current Darth Balls, he released a video on his YouTube that basically said he's not going to be making any pinball-related videos anymore.
91:19
We should have a moment of silence. In this email, it's from Derek. It says, Tim Sexton's YouTube video was more of a death will, a death will in video form. I'm sad. Tim's leaving the East Coast, YouTube, and it was fun watching him play at Pinball Wizards Arcade and Stop. He's a great player and it's shown in these tutorial videos. Congrats to Tim and I'm sure he'll put the fun into games we love for today and into the future. I always enjoy his thoughts on Ghostbusters Code, for example, and how it could be improved. Maybe Tim will be the one
91:49
to put a wizard mode into Wheel of Fortune. No. We are truly blessed that we are getting talented and fresh new minds into the industry. And it so desperately needs. Tim Sexton proves that if you want change or want something bad enough, you can make it happen. That was a public service announcement. He is an inspiration to us all. Tim Balls. The more you know. Ding, ding, ding, as the Buffalo guys would say. Also, you ripped them off. Yes. Woo! So that empties the mail ball bag.
92:20
Okay. I'm running out of steam. I think we're at the end here. We're at the end. Are we all in agreement? Oh, for sure. How many gins have you had, sir? Look, I stocked up quite nicely before. I've been helping myself throughout. I'm having a great day. But also, what I wanted to share with you is that whilst you were reading out the Malbird, the Malbird.
92:52
Melbourne. The Malborback. I just had a notification that came through to me that there's actually a politician within Australia. This came up through from Facebook. I just wanted to let you know this is all about Australia. We've got a politician that went to Parliament called Meow Ludo Disco Gamma Meow Meow. That's his name? That's his name. Whoa. That's like a Monty Python skit. Meow Ludo Disco Gamma Meow Meow.
93:22
Meow Meow. So that's Australia for you. There you go, bitches. Wow. I want to come there. Yeah, you really should. I said on our podcast, you know, I went about four weeks ago, I went to Utah. Those people that I went to visit are now out in Australia, and they're having the best time. Probably not because it's, you know, it's Utah where everything's very conservative, and then they get to come out to Melbourne. You know, Australia is a great country. It's very relaxed. It's very chilled. We like a good drink. We like a good feed. We just like to enjoy life.
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That's a good thing. It is not bad. Crikey! And for the record, I've had to say this to many people many times. We don't say crikey. Just so you know. I hate to shatter the illusion. What the fuck? But as much as Crocodile Hunter was a great character, he wasn't very Australian. That was an Australian appealing to the American audience. so we don't say things like
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crikey and we don't go straight and nah we don't get that excited, we're a bit more chill than that ok so Australians are chill yeah for sure ok so Bruce, time to pay some bills www.pinballlifter.com come check out the site for your lifting tilting and helper needs for moving your pinball machine use your brain not your back www.thesilverballsaloon.com
94:57
You can also check out our Facebook page at Silverball Saloon. Next tournament coming up is Stomp West on March 10th. George Sakai will be there. Ron Hallett Jr. will be there. Will Senior be joining us? Ah, probably rather do something else, I would assume. But he'll listen to this and he'll tell me if I'm wrong. Yes, he will. Hi, Dad. Hi, Dad. He's got three sons now. My three sons.
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Dating yourself. No one will get the reference because you're old. Sorry. You're right behind me. Dude, I didn't even watch that show. That show went off the air before I was born. Oh, God, I'm sorry. See? Martin knows it. He's younger than both of us. Maybe not. Thank you for thinking so. You are younger than us. Nope. How old are you, Martin? 48.
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No way. I am 48. Holy fuck, you are an old fuck. Damn, you look so good. I want some gin. I need some gin. We need gin. That's the key. More gin. I'll tell you two things, and I have said this on my stream. Two things, everybody. Gin, moisturize. Moisturize from a young age. It will absolutely preserve your skin. There you go. fuck you holy fuck I didn't know you were 48 I am 48 guys I just turned 48 a week ago
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oh wow holy shit though now I feel I'm going to be 47 this year wow you're old yeah I'm younger by multiple years right okay there you go So don't forget our Sugo sponsors who we get no money from but we like to talk about is Flipper Fidelity, Mike Pupo. He sells the best
97:00
sound systems for your pinball machines. Check him out at Flipper Fidelity. He also sells Stern Pinball and then we also have Pinball Star who sells your Spooky, your Chicago Gaming, your JJP and your American Pinball. Hey, I got all four this time. Congratulations! I usually have to Yeah, very good. Star.com. Go say hi to Joe for us. And let's get right out of the way. Hi, Steve Bowden from a bonus.
97:30
Hi, Zach. And go ahead and do the rest. Hi, Jeff from This Week in Pinball. Also, say hi to all our fellow podcasts, the Head to Head podcast. Hello. The number one downloaded podcast in the world. I think so. This Flippin' Podcast, the Bro Do You Even Talk Pinball Podcast. Awesome. Coast to Coast Pinball, whenever he does this thing. He's dead to me again. Oh, God. Pinball Profile with Jeff D'Olaz.
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The Pinball Players Podcast, the Eclectic Gamers Podcast, and the Canadian... Pinball Podcast. I think we got them all. Didn't you forget the gold standard? Yes, we did. What's that? Yes, we did. Did you forget it? Good Lord. It's never going to end. No. I'd like to thank Martin once again. You fucking rock. You've had both members of the Head to Head podcast on now. Don't forget, get those fucking tickets for freaking Pinnberg.
98:33
Oh, for sure. I really want to come to Pinnberg this year. It's going to be the highlight. And I'd love to meet everybody. If you'd like to send us correspondence, we can be reached at slamtiltpodcast at gmail.com. Before we go, I just want to mention, did any of you watch the Papa TV? Yes, a little bit. Yeah, absolutely. Did you see their head-to-head concept? No, I did not. I want to try that so bad. Okay, explain it to the folks. Okay, they had two attack from Marses right next to each other.
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Is that Marsese or Marses? Marses. Okay. You look at them, and it's like, okay, if you hit start on one of them, the feature lights on the other one go on. So it's like you were looking at the feature lights from the game next to you. So if you're going for Tolan Eilish and you hit a ramp and it lights the insert, it lights the insert on the game next to you, not yours. So you're looking at your opponent's inserts and your opponent's looking at your inserts so they can see how far along you are. I don't know if I like that.
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I think it would get too confusing. They're right next to each other. You could always look over if you wanted to see what your actual inserts were. Yeah, but then you're slowing yourself down. You know, something's cool and you ruin it. Crash and burn, baby. Crash and burn. You ruin everything, Bruce. Well, you know, we ran a Ryan. See? He ran a head-to-head comp in, like a heads-up comp in Australia where we had two, well, we actually had both our Star Trek Limited Editions next to each other and our Wizard of Oz next to each other. It is a great format to be able to have two machines side by side
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because you know what the person, you can look over and see what they're doing and it creates this adrenaline because you know you've got to beat them. That's a great format. I agree. I agree, too. And you know what I also agree with? It's time to go home. Yeah. So this has been episode 80, Godzilla vs. King Kong. A classic. I highly recommend it, by the way. Say goodbye, Bruce. Goodbye, Anthony Lambos.