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Episode 24 – An Evening with Jeff Teolis

Slam Tilt Podcast·podcast_episode·analyzed·Dec 22, 2016
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.031

TL;DR

Slam Tilt interviews Jeff Teolis on competitive pinball, tournament strategies, and industry updates.

Summary

Ron Hallett and Bruce Nightingale interview Jeff Teolis, host of the Pinball Profile podcast, on the Slam Tilt Podcast. The episode covers Jeff's entry into competitive pinball two years ago, his rise to IFPA rank 280 and 11th in Upstate New York standings, his tournament experiences, and recent pinball industry news including the Stern Ultimate Fan contest controversy and code updates for Ghostbusters and Game of Thrones.

Key Claims

  • Jeff Teolis started playing pinball competitively just two and a half years ago and is now ranked 280 in IFPA

    high confidence · Jeff Teolis directly states his competitive timeline and Ron verifies his ranking at 280

  • A tournament Jeff won at a private location with 13 players was disqualified from IFPA rankings because private locations require minimum 16 players

    high confidence · Jeff explains IFPA rule: 'if you are at a private location, there has to be a minimum of 16 players'

  • Stern dropped code 1.12 for Ghostbusters which fixes weak flipper issues and adds family-friendly versions of dialogue

    high confidence · Ron and Jeff discuss code update details; Ron notes machines were shipping with 1.12 before official release

  • Game of Thrones code update on December 19th only fixed a ticket dispenser issue

    high confidence · Ron reads the official update notes: 'ticket dispenser was not dispensing tickets correctly'

  • Stern's Ultimate Fan contest allowed vote buying at approximately $700 for 10,000 votes

    medium confidence · Jeff states: 'for $700, you could buy 10,000 votes' based on his research into the system

  • Williams pinball ended production with Cactus Canyon

    high confidence · Jeff references this as historical fact: 'Williams kind of calling it quits after, what was it, Cactus Canyon'

  • Ontario has approximately eight pinball leagues in the greater Toronto area where players can compete six nights per week

    high confidence · Jeff states: 'There's quite a few leagues, I think eight in and around the greater Toronto area' and 'you could play pinball six out of seven nights'

  • Adam Becker has been ranked as high as top 25 in the world

    high confidence · Jeff confirms: 'Adam Becker, who's been as high as top 25 in the world'

  • Selfie leagues are declining and will lose approximately 20% of point value starting in 2017

Notable Quotes

  • “I've been on radio for 25 years now and kind of got into radio by doing stand-up comedy.”

    Jeff Teolis @ early segment — Establishes Jeff's background and path to becoming a podcaster/media personality

  • “And so I went to the guy's house, this guy Ray in London, and he had 12 beautiful machines, some of my all-time favorites, and I was hooked from there.”

    Jeff Teolis @ early-mid segment — Describes the pivotal moment that got Jeff into competitive pinball after a 15-20 year absence from the hobby

  • “I'm not going to go on just any podcast some sort of legitimacy so now that you're at 24 i'm like okay i think these guys could be around for a while but anything under 20 forget about it”

    Jeff Teolis @ intro segment — Humorous commentary on podcast legitimacy thresholds

  • “That jerk's name was Bruce Nightingale, and he beat me to edge me out.”

    Jeff Teolis @ mid segment — Reveals Bruce Nightingale as the opponent who defeated him in a tied final game at Pinbird

  • “I'm glad it looks like they're kind of dying in 2017.”

    Ron Hallett @ tournament discussion — Expresses preference for decline of selfie league format due to legitimacy concerns

  • “I looked, and for $800, actually for $700, you could buy 10,000 votes.”

    Jeff Teolis @ news segment — Critical detail about vote buying in Stern Ultimate Fan contest that influenced outcome

  • “You're actually 65 points in upstate New York right now. That's amazing.”

    Ron Hallett @ ranking discussion — Highlights Jeff's strong local performance relative to his national ranking

  • “There's a lot of great competition here in Ontario with guys like Adam Becker, who's been as high as top 25 in the world, and some other great players”

    Jeff Teolis @ mid-late segment — Identifies top Canadian competitive talent and regional competitive depth

Entities

Jeff TeolispersonRon HallettpersonBruce NightingalepersonBob MatthewspersonAdam BeckerpersonJack TadmanpersonJohn FlintpersonZach Sharpeperson

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: Jeff Teolis' rapid progression from casual player to competitive ranking 280 and 11th in Upstate NY within 2.5 years, demonstrating accessible pathway into competitive pinball

    high · Jeff went from playing in home leagues to making IFPA top 500, winning tournaments, and consistently placing in A divisions at major events like Pinbird

  • ?

    code_update: Ghostbusters 1.12 released addressing weak flipper regression from 1.11, plus family-friendly dialogue options

    high · Ron and Jeff confirm: 'only two things. Only the fix is the weak flipper issue, the bug that was manifested from 1.11'

  • ?

    code_update: Game of Thrones December 19th code update limited to ticket dispenser fix only

    high · Ron reads official readme showing only ticket dispenser correction, no other fixes listed

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Community disappointment with Stern Ultimate Fan contest due to documented vote-buying, though acceptance that it's within rules

    high · Jeff conducted interviews with contestants and discovered vote buying ($700 for 10,000 votes), states: 'I'm a little disappointed and discouraged it was done that way, but it is within the rules'

  • ?

    regulatory_signal: IFPA enforcing stricter audit of tournament qualification, requiring 16+ qualified players at private locations with 30-day public posting requirement

    high · Jeff and Ron both report tournaments being retroactively disqualified for not meeting minimum player counts; IFPA actively auditing existing tournaments

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.225

0:00
Hey buddy, check it out. I just had this cool dream about the future, and you know what? The future is like, it's pretty cool. It's gonna be alright.
0:11
Cause like, I'm gonna be your boss, and I'm gonna have a VCR and some porn. That's cool. Working on Christmas Eve is cool. Yeah.
0:28
Christmas. Coming to you from beautiful upstate New York, this is the Slam Tilt Podcast, a show about all things pinball. I'm Ron Hallett here with my co-host Bruce Nightingale. Hi, this is Bruce Nightingale from Pinball Profile. How are you doing today? Yes, we'll get into why he said that in a second. Welcome to episode 24.
1:12
Gold Finger. Yes, the best Bond movie by far. still no nude women yet Bruce, sorry they did have bikinis on in the intro and they were all painted gold so maybe that was good enough for you we have a guest this week yes, yes we do one of actually my favorite Canadians he has actually started his own podcast and we've helped him out a little bit and of course I've enjoyed Jeff for a long time, Jeff Teolis from pinball profile well let me just say butch and rob i'm a big fan of your podcasts too so uh this is a thrill to be on thank you thank you thank you i'm bush by the way he's rob i'm rob very good very good i see he jeff is going to fit very well with the podcast i i can tell already well you know my deal i was like i'm not going to go on just any podcast some sort of legitimacy so now that you're at 24 i'm like okay i think these guys could be around for a while but anything under 20 forget about it all right we've just made it in we just made it 24 so yes jeff toless is the pinball profile which he does it's 10 to 15 minute like shorter form interviews of pinball personalities from around the pinball world the reason i started doing it was because I've been playing pinball tournaments for only just two and a half years.

medium confidence · Ron predicts: 'you're going to lose 20, at least 20% from the, because it's not a watchable event'

  • Bob Matthews has been playing pinball for 30+ years and was ranked as high as number two in the world

    high confidence · Jeff describes Matthews: 'a guy who's been playing for 30 some odd years. He's been ranked as high as number two in the world'

    • Tim Sexton
    person
    Pinball Profileorganization
    Slam Tilt Podcastorganization
    Stern Pinballcompany
    IFPAorganization
    Ghostbustersgame
    Game of Thronesgame
    Modern Pinballvenue
    Buffalo Pinball Summer Openevent
    Pinbirdevent
    Catskill Classicevent
    Moonwalker Arcadevenue
    Stern Ultimate Fan Contestevent
    Williams Pinballcompany
  • $

    market_signal: Selfie league format declining in point value and adoption due to lack of event administration and watchability, losing ~20% of TGP

    medium · Ron predicts: 'you're going to lose 20, at least 20% from the, because it's not a watchable event' and 'you'll lose a lot more' from time penalties

  • ?

    content_signal: Jeff Teolis' Pinball Profile podcast growing with special multi-guest format episode covering Stern Ultimate Fan contest contestants

    high · Jeff interviewed 6-7 contestants for single episode, edited over 3 days, available on iTunes and Podcast Garden

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Strong Canadian competitive pinball talent pool with Adam Becker (top 25 world), John Flint, Jack Tadman, and increasing tournament infrastructure

    high · Jeff cites multiple top Canadian players in Ontario finals and describes eight leagues in Toronto area with nightly play opportunities

  • ?

    venue_signal: Tournament infrastructure expanding to underserved regions; Binghamton hosting Southern Tier tournament as new regional hub

    medium · Ron announces January 21st tournament at Moonwalker Arcade in Binghamton as 'central for central New York' to serve Southern Tier

  • ?

    community_signal: Pinball community norm of helping new competitors understand tournament structure and find mentors (Bob Matthews, others)

    medium · Jeff's origin story involves meeting Bob Matthews at Pinberg by chance, leading to upcoming interview; Bob actively mentors and attends all major events

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Stern implementing family-friendly code options for mature-content games like Ghostbusters

    medium · 1.12 added family mode versions of dialogue including replacement for 'We came, we saw, we kicked its ass'

  • ?

    product_concern: Ghostbusters scream effect plays at full volume regardless of volume setting, causing disruptive wake-ups and late-night play issues

    high · Ron and Jeff describe blood-curdling scream that ignores volume slider, preventing quiet nighttime play; participants describe it as 'audio tilt' moment

    • 2:47
    And I would go to these tournaments, and I'd know about some of the people, and through IFPA, you know, see where the rankings are, and, oh, look, there's Keith Owen and some of these other guys. But I didn't really know everybody. And I've had two situations where I was talking to somebody, and then somebody after the fact said, you realize who that was? And, of course, I had no clue. but you know you talk to somebody the same as you talk to everybody we all put our pants on the same way when do we wear pants but uh bruce um but anyway oh never never never never so anyway um these two got actually one's coming on my next one too and i kind of reveal that he's the reason i'm doing the pinball profile because this gentleman uh at pinberg before the event started the day before said, can I join you for lunch? I was with my buddy Ian. And so we started talking and we had a good nice lunch or whatever. And then my buddy Ian goes, you know who that is, right? And I said, no. And it's a guy who's been playing for 30 some odd years. He's been ranked as high as number two in the world. Bob Matthews from California, who's at every pinball event, including the Buffalo Pinball Summer Open. He came up for that. And just a pleasant, pleasant man. So he's joining me on my next one. and yeah the format of the pinball profiles are much shorter it's you two guys bouncing off each other it makes a good podcast me just doing it by myself for a while I have a radio show I don't even like to hear myself talk so I've always wanted to hear what other people have to say so this is kind of a format where I get to find out different people whether it's game designers There's people the games are made after, whether it's really competitive players or some of the tournament directors. There's all kinds of people you can interview in the pinball community. So that's kind of where that started, just as a real hobby for myself and just really to get to know some of these people. So I'm not embarrassed again when I say, oh, hey, I'm going to play that game over there once that guy's done. My buddy will say, who's that? I said, I don't know. He goes, that's Lyman Sheets. I'm like, oh. So we both have had the – me and Ron have both had actually breakfast with Bob Matthews actually at California Extreme if I remember correctly a couple years ago. Right, Ron?
    5:04
    Sure. At Denny's. I don't remember. It might have been dad. I know dad has had breakfast or eaten with Bob at least once. Yes, yes. Bob is a very great player, great personality, and he's a friend of the podcast. Very, very good guy. Between him and Trent, they might do the most traveling to tournaments. Oh, yes. To the point where it's like it can't be considered a tournament if one of them isn't there, really.
    5:32
    So I like Jeff's – I like the shorter interview concept. So I'd like to thank Jeff for being on this week, and I'd like to thank everyone for listening to the show. Say goodbye. This was Goldfinger. Say goodbye. No, no, I can't do that. No, no. That would be a little too short. Fail. Massive fail. You guys have more to say for sure. So, Jeff, tell me how long you've been in the pinball hobby and what got you into it. And tell me a little bit about yourself also. Okay.
    6:07
    I've been on radio for 25 years now and kind of got into radio by doing stand-up comedy. Somebody said you should, you know, when they saw me at the comedy club, said you should be doing radio. when I was taking kind of a math program at University of Waterloo. And I thought, well, maybe I'll try this radio class. I got in, graduated, got a job four days later, and knock on wood, been doing it ever since and enjoying it. And so the reason I bring that up is back when I was in university and college, I played a lot of pinball. But as arcades died, you know, and the whole pinball industry, Williams kind of calling it quits after, what was it, Cactus Canyon. You just didn't see pinball machines anymore. So there was a real, I want to say 15, 20-year lull of not playing any pinball for me because there weren't any arcades. You didn't see the machines.
    7:00
    So a buddy on Facebook just two years ago said, I'm going to a pinball league. And I went, what is a pinball league? And he said, we go to a guy's house and play once a month. I said, a guy owns a pinball machine? And he said, no, no, if you're hosting, you have to have at least six. I said, oh, I'm in.
    7:16
    And so I went to the guy's house, this guy Ray in London, and he had 12 beautiful machines, some of my all-time favorites, and I was hooked from there. And then another guy said, oh, we've got a league in Kitchener. I said, oh, that's closer to where I live. I'll do that too. And so just kind of nonchalantly and just when I could would play two years ago. And then last year I said, I'm going to make an effort to maybe go into real tournaments and see if I'm any good at this. and not that I am, but at least put in more of an effort. And so the first event I went was, I think, Bruce, you were there, I think, the Canadians in 2015 in Toronto. Yes, I was. Yes, I was. So that's my first ever tournament. And I don't know how many people were there, 60, 70 or something like that, but I made the playoffs in both the classics and the regular. And that's my first tournament, so I was like, ooh, I got kind of lucky here. and I finished fourth in the classics and whatever I did in the top 12 and the other side. So I thought, okay, what's next? And everyone was talking about Pinbird. So then I went to my first ever Pinbird just a couple months later.
    8:24
    Wow, 700 people or whatever it was just under that. My goal, maybe I can make the top half. Made the A division. So I was like, wow, okay, now I'm hooked. Had I been maybe a D or something like that, maybe I wouldn't have put the time in. but I thought, I'm kind of hanging with these guys. I'm kidding. I'm not winning, but I'm there for a little bit. So this current year, more leagues, and I come up to Buffalo, in fact, to play in their selfie league and whatever other tournaments they do at Pocketeer and other events.
    8:58
    And I went to my first Papa. I got just smoked. And then I did Pinbird again, got an A again. I think I started off 12-0, so I got a little medallion. And I was like, all downhill from there. In fact, my very last game, you'll like this one. My very last game I had to play, I was tied with this guy. He was really cocky, really arrogant, and we had to play WrestleMania.
    9:19
    And this guy put up a monster score. I think he even put on Ultimate Warrior makeup before he played the game. Yeah, brother. That jerk's name was Bruce Nightingale, and he beat me to edge me out. Jerk. Yes. Jerk alert. For the years of the warriors before him, he destroyed the pinball machine. See, that would be more like the ultimate warrior. Something makes no sense. Jeff keeps mentioning these things called leagues. What are these things, Bruce? I'm unaware of what these things are. Luckily, on Western New York, we have three in our local area. But in Eastern upstate, there's crickets. Crickets, yes. Isn't there? You mean in upstate, upstate?
    10:02
    Yeah, whatever. Yeah, yes. I'm upstate, too. No, you're not. You're in western New York. We've gone through this when we're not going through this again. Oh, sorry. Sorry. Got it.
    10:13
    So, Jeff, I'm looking at your IFPA ranking right now. Do you know what you're ranked at right now? Somewhere between 200 and 300. Okay, very good. You are correct. You are at 280. Jeff is a very competitive player. Yeah, you know, I think it was under 1,000 to start this year, so I did have a goal to make top 500. And then, much like you, New York is probably the hardest state, maybe California too, to be in the top 16 for that February state finals. Oh, yeah. It's very tough because you guys in New York are going up against everybody at Modern Pinball, which, by the way, is a fantastic facility. But they have so much more frequency, so many more players right there in Manhattan. So it's tough for guys out of Buffalo and whatever to get in there. But I see that you mentioned the Western New York standings too, and that's pretty good. So in Ontario, where I live, there's quite a few leagues, I think eight in and around the greater Toronto area. Holy froleys. There's a lot. You could play pinball six out of seven nights in different leagues. and so I guess the goal was mine last year to make the Ontario finals I did I think I walked in at third and walked out almost dead last I got just smoked I don't even know if I won a game but it was nice to be at the Ontario's you know as the year wraps up I'm going to be there again this year probably in the fourth spot and hopefully at least make it to round two but there's a lot of great competition here in Ontario with guys like Adam Becker, who's been as high as top 25 in the world, and some other great players, John Flinton. Jack Tadman, to me, I actually think Jack Tadman's one of the best players when he is on. He is. He's very good. And I say to him, if you played more, you'd be there. Oh, yeah, you would. I think Jack, on any given day, can just... He can hang with the best. Well, like most guys, and Adam lights out too, John is one of the best flow players I've ever seen.
    12:26
    But Adam and Jack, I think, you know what their worst enemy is? Themselves. You know, when they get mad, it's just kind of hard and fun. They go on tilt to use the poker. Oh, yes, they do. So I always, when I play them, just like to tick them off by mentioning something about their looks or, you know, whatever. Anger and pinball. Who would have thunk that? Yeah, gee.
    12:51
    I am the force. The force is one. I am the force. The force is one. I am the force. The force is one.
    12:56
    I mean, I had it like the – well, before it became the New York City Finals, when it was the New York State Finals. Yes. And we were both in it. I had a situation where I played a particular player. I won't use his name, but those are there. What's it rhyme with? What does his name rhyme with?
    13:18
    Oh, um... Luckily, he had it. No, but it's... No, it's too easy. If I give you what it rhymes with, it's pretty much his name. Is it Juice Lightingale? No, no, no. This was at the Sunshine Laundromat before the reconfiguration. Oh, yeah. And we ended up playing, because it's four out of seven, and they had Black Knight 2000 as one of the available games. I don't know why. And I played it in practice, and you could not lock a ball.
    13:53
    But you could get it to the upper play field. So that means there's only one strategy, and that's just get the – is it the war? Is it war or win? War. Spell war and hit the hurry up as many times as you can, as boring as that may be. And you could trap the ball off the upper play field every time. So I was in a situation where I said – and I had like a three games to one lead and blew it. and I told myself if it gets to that point, I'm picking this because I know it's going to piss them off and I picked it and the first ball I did nothing he did nothing, the second ball I got into the groove the boring groove that is Black Knight 2000 and played it for like 20 minutes like the second one, hurry up after hurry up, after hurry up and I can just tell he's getting really pissed I'm watching it. And, you know, because it's going to take him just as long to come back. There's no, like, ACDC song jackpot to help him. It's going to be a total grind to get back. And he had a second ball, and nothing happened there. I played my third ball, had another good ball. He gets to his third ball, and now the flippers are starting to get weak until he can't even make the ramp to get to the upper play field. And he drains it. He explodes.
    15:11
    Explodes. Oh, yes. This is bullshit. This ruined a great match that we had. How could you pick this game? I bought my tickets already. Oh, yeah, he said he had bought his tickets. Sorry to go to Vegas for the finals. This is bullshit. And he stormed out.
    15:24
    The funny thing is he left his coat or something there, so he had to, like, go back in and get it. And then he tapped me in the shoulder and said, oh, good luck in the next round, and then left. Yeah, the walk of shame. Yeah, yeah. And then he apologized to me like a pinberg or something. Yes, he did. So that's why I won't say his name. But anyone who knows the New York City, you can guess who it was. And he still wants revenge.
    15:47
    And I told him, you know, if it becomes the non-New York City final and I actually have a chance to get in there, you can get your revenge on me. But until then, I have no shot. No shot.
    15:59
    Now, Mr. Jeff Teolis is number 11 in the upstate rankings right now. Yeah, I'm getting concerned because right before he went to air, I found out that a tournament I participated in, the Catskill Classic, which I won and got six points on, is being disqualified because it was at a private location and didn't have at least 16 players in it. I guess that's one of the rules. You know what, Ron? That just happened today, too, for a tournament. I was in – when you asked me on ranking, I didn't know what it was because I knew something was coming off it. I won a tournament where there were 13 players, but it was at a private location. So if you are at a private location, there has to be a minimum of 16 players. So I think they're doing some auditing right now on IFPA. And so I got notified. It wasn't a tournament I ran, but I got notified by Ian who ran it and said they're taking it off. So that knocked one of my good 20 scores of eight points or whatever it was and being disqualified. But if it's like that across the board, I guess. And you know what? I know IFPA is trying their hardest to kind of even the playing field. You know, I can't have a tournament in my house where I have 16 family members, you know, that don't play pinball. So you've got to be a qualified player and you've got to make sure it's posted publicly for 30 days. So I like these kind of things. You know, I'm not a big fan, believe it or not. selfie leagues. Even though I play in one, I think the reason they did it was for some reason places were, the only word I can use is maybe jealous of something like modern pinball, which I've played in. I went, I was in New York last January and I went there and I was there for a few days. So I was able to play in two of the four weeks. One was a Sunday and then, you know, the following week, but I could never make it for the finals because that was two weeks later. And based on two weeks, I actually would have qualified for the finals, which was, you know, I may be happy that I did that against some of those great players, but it was legitimate. You know, you had to choose to pay $10 to play in that tournament. It wasn't just like everybody walked in and got their name in, and only legitimate players counted towards the TGP and the qualified players. So I really enjoyed that format, And I guess they came up with selfie leagues to kind of combat that or, again, even the playing field. But I just, when they came up with the selfie league, I thought, there's no way to really police this. And I mean, yeah, there's some photos. Some selfie leagues don't even take photos. Yeah, that's the wrong part. I agree with the photos I not yeah I not I wasn happy about it I mean you do it because okay that the way it going to be and you have to kind of conform to whatever the decision is but I'm glad it looks like they're kind of dying in 2017. Well, it's going to have to be, you're going to lose 20, at least 20% from the, because it's not a watchable event. You know, there's not an administrator always on duty, so you have to lose 20% right there for that. Plus you lose, I think you'll lose the time towards it also if it's not a watchable event also, so you'll lose a lot more. But there's going to be a couple around, but just not as much points. The TGP will probably be down to like 50 to 60. What's really going to make them better is going to be the finals. If they're very creative with making it longer finals and that kind of stuff, that's when the TGP will go up, and then you'll actually be able to get more points out of a selfie league. They'll be around, but it will be less. I like the idea of it gets people into the venues. I do definitely like that. You just want to support these venues. And it encourages new people to maybe try a little fun league on their own time. Love that aspect of it. But, you know, and yes, you have to make the playoffs to really kind of qualify and really get any kind of points if you're looking for points. But there's just too many loopholes to get into the playoffs. That might bump somebody who's legitimate. I don't like that. I totally agree. Playoffs?
    20:21
    I'm lucky I win another game. I should participate in the level zero selfie league. Oh, the great Jim Moron.
    20:30
    The great Shambora. Hey, I say that because I'm a Rams fan. Same division for a long time, right? So I know Rams would suffer and sink again this year.
    20:41
    So, Jeff, since you are now 11th and with one week to go until the end of year IFPA rankings, will we possibly be seeing you in Binghamton, New York on January 21st?
    20:58
    That is the question. I don't know if I'm allowed to say this, but I just got a nice cash donation from the guy in 17th. And it's in American money, which, you know, $10 American is 46,000 Canadian. It is. So it could be tough to squeeze that in. I don't know. I mean, really, honestly, weather is a factor. Of course. Termite format is a factor, location, all that kind of stuff. But it's nice to be wanted anywhere. Okay, that's good. So guess what? If you're in, you're going to be enjoying a best of seven double elimination. It's different than the IFPA ones. We try to make it so you have a chance to be in it. And it's a long day. It's actually at an arcade called the Moonwalker Arcade down in Binghamton. It's central for central New York, actually, for the whole state of New York. Is there something down below? It's technically – Binghamton will be called the Southern Tier. I don't know why, but that's what it's called, the southern tier of New York. And can I ask a question? I didn't even know there was a Western New York standings until someone told me. I think I saw a post Bruce did. Yes.
    22:12
    It's called the Upstate. Upstate New York. Pardon me, Upstate. Is that actually considered one of the qualifiers to get to the national? No, we actually do it on a different day, so it doesn't conflict. So if you're in the Canadian one or if you're in New York State or in any other state, you get a chance to possibly be in it. So it's just for fun, for bragging rights. Plus, it is for points. We actually last year, the winner, myself, got 14 points to start off the new year. But you don't get the invite. You don't get the invite to Vegas or wherever it is for the nationals. It's not included in that. It's Dallas. Oh, Dallas. Okay. Yeah, it's Dallas. Now, here's a question. I didn't know that, that it was a different date. Oh, yes. I thought the state or provincial finals, as it is in Canada, I thought you could only participate in one. Only that's because they're all on the same date. That's why I said it is going by IFPA rankings or something like that. That's why we do it on a different day. It's for just like the bragging rights of upstate New York, you know, and for the Knights Trophy. I got a trophy, too. God damn it. Whoops. But actually, it's before, I believe, the state finals.
    23:32
    So let me ask another question. Different, different day. Do you have to choose one or the other? No. No, you can do both. There will be people doing both. That's guaranteed. You tell that scumbag in 17 if he can keep his money. Oh, so Alberto. Keep your money, man. I don't even know who it is.
    23:55
    But as Bruce knows, Ron, I love playing a lot of the guys. I've gotten to know quite a few of them in the Buffalo region, so that'll be fun. Yes. Nick is 14, so he should be hopefully in it. There's a lot of good players. Tim Sexton. I will be 16th after the points drop. The points drop. but there's some people who probably won't be there like Zach Sharp yeah a lot of those guys I doubt even Tim Sexton will be there Tim will be there I just because that Buffalo Pinball Summer Open was fantastic I know Bruce you helped out volunteered a little bit with that and Nick and Kevin did a great job I love that tournament so much A lot of those guys got some big, big points there, so they probably, you know, or maybe their only time in Buffalo, so maybe they're probably not going to be there. But they got a lot of points and certainly would have helped with their rankings. I'm sure that's the only reason I got in there. Yeah, it is. It's actually one of the big reasons. You're actually 65 points in upstate New York right now. That's amazing.
    25:09
    So you're in 11th. You have some fellow Canadians with you with John Flint and Adam Becker. And Phil is there also at 16th. Well, now he'll be 15th because Ron lost points. I lost points. Oh, well. Yep. Now that everyone's like, oh, God, it's going to be a tournament episode. That's all we're going to talk about. Yes. No, it's not all about tournaments.
    25:38
    We do have some pinball news. We do. Let's go into the pinball news. We'll see what Jeff thinks about some of these items. Well, you had the ultimate, stern ultimate fans had their, I guess, semifinal vote. So we're now down to the two finalists.
    25:54
    The semifinalists. It was weird because one of the guys, actually Adam, Adam Becker. I think that's Canadian. Yeah, because he was number one for the longest time, or at least top three. And, like, boom, he's gone. He's out. Well, I don't know if you heard my pinball profile. I wound up in it. It's actually my favorite one I've done so far as far as the capacity of the program because normally I just talk to one person, but that day I actually talked to seven. I knew it was edited over a course of three days, but I talked to six of the contestants in that contest, and I asked them all the exact same question. Tell us a little bit about yourself, why you should win, and what are you planning to do, things like that. And it's still up on the Pinball Profile if you want to check it out on iTunes or Podcast Garden. But they all kind of gave their piece. But it was neat to hear from the guy from Austria who dressed up like a pinball player, Vince, who's in the final three right now and talking about his little boy and talking with Kristen and talking about her kids and her plans to, you know, have it at a community center, I think is their goal. Yes. And I did talk to some of the others, Adam as well, Emoto, who kind of pulled out of the running, and Jason from Go Back. But I did talk to Nick Angel, too, and he declined to come on. He just thought, I'm not going to do that. And sure enough, he's in the final three. And so, Ron, when you're talking about what happened with the votes there, the seventh person I talked to was Jody Dankberg from Stern. And he basically said, we don't see any problem with the way people are acquiring the votes. You know, the software is what it is. And I think people were going to do this anyway. You can go online and buy online votes. It's very, very easy to do if you have the means to do it. So I looked, and for $800, actually for $700, you could buy 10,000 votes.
    27:57
    And that's what happened. And so I'm a little disappointed and discouraged it was done that way, but it is within the rules. And the main thing is, you know, I am excited that Stern's giving away a pinball machine. I think everyone's probably going to take the Batman 66.
    28:16
    It's just I know a lot of people. I posted a thread on Tilt Forums and a lot of interaction there about people saying, you know, what is an ultimate Stern fan? You know, is it someone with a big collection? Is it someone that's a young kid or this and that? Are they going to donate it? And my kind of response to that is it's whatever Stern wants it to be. It's their content. They're giving away a machine. And, you know, there's going to be 19 upset people and one happy person.
    28:45
    But the bigger picture is… It's just like when you buy a Stern pinball machine. Yeah. Be thankful that, you know, they're giving this away. That's kind of good. They're getting a lot of marketing out of it. And I don't think it's all bad press. There's a little bit of people, but it's also a little bit of sour grapes, too. Would have been funny if you had an interview like, what are you planning to do? Well, when I get the game, I'm going to keep it in the box for a while. Then I'm going to sell it and use the money to get it dialed in.
    29:12
    Yeah, that would not work. That would be classic. So we got our finalists. Yes, we do. And what about the new code that was dropped this week, Ron? Steve, we talk about new code dropping. It's because we talked about it. That is the sole reason. They heard it on the podcast, and they knew it couldn't be kept secret any longer, even though it's been mentioned on Pinside for a while. But, yes, they dropped the 1.12 version of Ghostbusters. Yep. And they were actually shipping the latest Ghostbusters they've been shipping have had 1.12 on it, even before it was officially on their site. I'm going to put up my hand to be stupid here. What's the difference? I haven't looked into that code. Only two things. Only the fix is the weak flipper issue, the bug that was manifested from 1.11. And also they added a family-friendly version of we came, we saw. We kicked its butthole. Yes. Oh, God. No, but there were a couple other fixes. Yeah. Did they replace the, yes, it is true, he has no dick. Did they take that out too? I think they gave you an option with that. Yeah, I'm sure it's, yeah. Typically they use the family mode or whatever they call it. I'm sure that's in there. Did they take a scream? Because if you're a kid playing that and all of a sudden the game screams at you. Yeah, it's a little freaky. I haven't had that happen. What do you need to do to get that to happen? Obviously you need to be further in the game than I'm ever getting. Well, I know what you need when it does happen. You need to be wearing some pens because it's so crappy. the first time it happened the first time it happened to me it was like everybody playing beside almost it was like a an audio tilt like everyone just kind of jolted yeah for those who may not know we're talking about in ghostbusters there is this scream that i guess no matter how low you have the volume the scream will be at full volume blood curdling yes blood curdling so if you're downstairs playing a pinball machine in your place and you've got ghostbusters and The family's upstairs sleeping, trying to be quiet. Oh, I'll just turn the volume down. Then that goes on. Yeah. That ends all playing late at night. I'll tell you that. Now, Ron, you were wrong about the newest code, though. There is a newer code that came out. There's a newer code that came out. Okay. Yeah. Game of Thrones dropped. Oh, okay.
    31:33
    And you want to hear what the readme is for that? The readme. Okay, what is the readme? Now, is this just for the pro, premium, or all of them? All. Okay. Here's what they fixed for. It took them since October 7th. They had one little version that was really not too big. But December 19th, ticket dispenser was not dispensing tickets correctly.
    31:56
    Okay. And what else? That's it. No, no, no. What else? Seriously. No, no. That's it. Seriously. No, no. Come on. Tell me what the real code is. No. Tell me what you want. What do you really, really want? We've got no freaking code. The dragon farts. They've added that. Oh, yes, the dragon farts. And they fixed the orbit. Oh, no, sorry. No, no.
    32:16
    Well, if you have a pro, it works. Yes. I expect you to die, Mr. Bond. Expect you to fix the code, not. Yes, not. I don't know. That's not a code fix, the orbit thing. That's a design fix there. Bruce kind of looks like a Caucasian odd job, don't you think? Put a derby on him? Yeah. Yeah, actually, he does. Yeah, he's got the same build, too. Excellent. So would you like to be my caddy, Bruce? I golf. Remember, he was a caddy. Yes, he was. I am there. And what kind of ball does Goldfinger play?
    32:54
    Gold. That's just some Bond trivia for anyone. The answer would be Schlesinger. Oh, the Schlesinger. Specifically a Schlesinger 1.
    33:05
    Schlesinger 1. That is the gold standard of Bond movies for sure. That's the one that really put them over the top. But don't you think when Casino Royale came out, that was like, ooh, this might challenge Goldfinger. It was certainly better than anything Roger Moore probably did, and certainly the latter Connery films. But it kind of was a real throwback, I thought. It was. I actually enjoy it very much.
    33:32
    Here's a little factoid. I haven't seen it. I haven't seen any of the ones with the new guy. Actually, I haven't even seen. Oh, my God. New guy, Daniel Craig. He's fantastic. He's actually really good. I saw The Living Daylights with Timothy Dalton. I didn't see. What was the one after that? Oh, License to Kill. I'm a huge Bond fan. I didn't see that one. I saw GoldenEye.
    33:59
    And I saw one of the other Pierce Brosnan ones. I can't. There were four. Tomorrow Never Dies. The World is Not Enough. die another day.
    34:12
    Okay. I saw the one where the woman is missing the ear at the end or something. Like her captor is actually, she's in on it with him or something.
    34:21
    No idea. Yes. That's GoldenEye. No, it's not GoldenEye. No, it's not GoldenEye. It's the other one. Hold on.
    34:29
    I'm wriggling right now. It turns out the bad, you know, it's the bad guy, but it's actually the bad woman and the bad guy.
    34:35
    Hold on, I'm getting to it. Well, that's Rosamund Pike, isn't it, from Gone Girl? I have no idea who that is.
    34:41
    I am devoid of pop culture from like 1995 on. This pinball podcast has gone straight to hell. Oh, we go always like that. No, it is GoldenEye. No, it's not. No, it's not GoldenEye. It's not GoldenEye. I remember.
    34:54
    It wasn't GoldenEye. It wasn't the one with Michelle Yao. The world is not enough. That sounds right. Yes, that's with my favorite girlfriend, Denise Richards. Oh, she was something Christmas. Her character's name was something Christmas. Yes, it was. Very good.
    35:11
    Still not the best. I mean, that's the best thing about Bond. Girls. Pussy Galore. Holly Goodhead. There's some classics. Oh, Holly Goodhead. I forgot about that one. Damn it. We've got to write that one down. Holly Goodhead. Holly Goodhead is always good.
    35:26
    But you have to see the new ones. Definitely, Ron. Well, honestly, I started watching Casino Royale, and then they started to do some of the fight scenes, and they started to do the CGI stuff, and I immediately lost interest and just stopped watching. Sorry.
    35:40
    Just when it started to get ridiculous with the stunts where it was obvious CGI, I literally just kind of lost interest, and that's about all I saw. I'm trying to think what CGI stunts there are. The one thing about Casino Royale that I really like, the poker game was spectacular. Yes. The sheep, the bad guy was fantastic. The torture scene with Bond was also brilliant, and a good theme song. Yes. And just really Bond's suffering, you know. It's funny, he only did one movie, George Lazenby, doing Honor Match Secret Service. And it's very campy and dated and stuff like that. But story-wise, it was great with Wolfeld, Telly Savalas, bad, bad, bad special effects of them skiing and whatnot. But that was a real emotional movie for George Lazenby. Bond wife died at the end. Sorry, spoiler alert for somebody who hasn't seen it in 46 years. But that, you know, you really felt that way. And Casino Royale had that, too. And it really kind of showed you which way Bond was going to go. Yes, Emma Peel dies at the end of Honor, Majesty, Secret Service. That's right. Die in rig. That was the thing. Like, any woman who was on the Avengers would leave to do a Bond movie.
    36:59
    Because Honor Blackman was the original assistant in the Avengers, and people were like, what the hell are the Avengers? It was a British show. It was pretty good. It was from the 60s. Check it out. It had Patrick McNee as John Steed. I was like, Daddy, John Steed. And he didn't have a weapon. I was like, he didn't have a gun. They used their wits and intelligence to outsmart the enemy. But he would always have the hot female assistant or well actually not even assistant just the partner And originally it was Honor Blackman who left to become Pussy Galore And then it was Diana Rigg who left I was more of a Saint fan than the Avengers Ah the Saint
    37:39
    Which is weird. Yeah, it had good music. And the weird thing is in the Saint, one of the gimmicks was Roger Moore did all his own fighting stunts. He did. But like in the Bond movies he didn't.
    37:51
    He'd be skiing down and it's like a green screen. It's bad. I'm lucky being in radio for 25 years. I have been able to meet some of my heroes and talk to some of them. And I once met Roger Moore, you know, who's getting an award for his UNICEF charity.
    38:09
    And it's one of the few times I was very nervous meeting this guy. He was very distinguished. He was probably in his 70s, a tall man. And just it was a bizarre day in which in the same day in three different places, I saw Eric Idle, Monty Python, Jackie Mason, and then I bumped into Roger Moore. All in Toronto. It was just the weirdest day ever.
    38:34
    The weird thing for me is I'd probably want to hang with Eric Idle. I think that would be the most fun. Yes, me too. Oh, for sure. Okay. Other news. Yes, other news.
    38:45
    Batman 66 will get its debut. its video gameplay debut on Jack Danger's Twitch feed. Yeah, which Deadflip, sorry. Got to miss that there. Won't be able to edit that. Deadflip. No, not January. December 30th. 5 p.m. Central, 6 p.m. Eastern.
    39:12
    So everyone get ready. Get ready to watch. Get ready to make completely informed opinions by watching gameplay of a game that you haven't played?
    39:23
    That we've been waiting for for three months. Three months. Geez, yeah, well, no. Two months. That's three months. Two months. Three months. Come on, October, November, December. That's two months. That's two and a half months. Okay, October, they first released our, when we first talked about it, was September 30th.
    39:42
    Three months. Yes, and according to Bruce in Episode 6, My Favorite Game, was Funhaus. Yeah, I went back and looked. It was Dragon Fist. So I have no trust that you remember any of these episodes. Fail. I'm good, though. You know, it's funny you can talk about Funhaus. I know you wanted to talk about, I'm sorry to jump over. I've got to leave in about 10 minutes. Sorry, guys. I know you wanted to talk about favorite games, least favorite games. Go for it. Let's just go for it. You just named one of them.
    40:13
    Funhaus. probably one of my least favorite games ever. Really? Finally. Finally, somebody on the same boat as me. Wow. I don't know which my least favorite game is. I certainly don't like games with odd scoring. I think if the scoring was better on something as wacky as Gladiators, I'd enjoy the game a little more. But because you can get an outline and all of a sudden get $30 million,
    40:37
    there's some confusion there. System 3 got leaves. That's System 3 got leaves for you. So I don't like that. But really, my least favorite games would be definitely Funhouse. You're going to notice a common theme here. Monopoly. Oh, okay. Lawler here. And Ripley. Oh, man. So I'll tell you why. Listen, I don't want to bash on Lawler, although those are all Lawler games. Because I love Atom. I love NASCAR. I love Twilight Zone. I love Banzai Run. Banzai Run? Yep. But those other games are just a little, not clunky, but I don't like the idea of hitting a skill shot and then having it drain and being punished for that.
    41:25
    That's such an easy fix with a ball save or whatever the case may be, code. I think of the days when I was pumping quarters.
    41:36
    It would tick you off and I can't even be bothered because a game like Ripley's is pretty deep And there's a lot of things. It's a good game, but there's just being punished for going for the skill shot. I'm not a big fan of that. And I find his outlanes are a little easily accessible. So some of those games are definitely my least favorite game. Game you like? Well, I don't know if I have to pick one, but games I love.
    42:06
    I'm a big Steve Ritchie guy. I love the flow of Steve Ritchie games. You need to come over. A.C.D.C. and Spider-Man are two of the all-time greatest, in my opinion. Other games, I love playing Metallica. I like Simpsons Pinball Party a lot, how deep it is. Sorry, I never gave him any money, so I love J-pop games. You know, he didn't do anything to me personally. I know others might have different stories, but theater, Circus Voltaire. I have World Cup 94. love. Tales of the Arabian Nights is just a spectacular, beautiful original game and I like that. But if I got to pick one to put in my house one day, if the price is right, it would be Attack from Mars. Guy has class. The guy has class. Does that mean you don't currently have any games? No, I have a few. I have some of those.
    43:02
    I think the next one I want to get is either Spider-Man or Simpsons Pinball Party. What do you currently have? I have ACDC. I have No Fear. Those are my Richie games.
    43:16
    World Cup 94. The first game I ever bought, which was just a couple years ago, Lethal Weapon 3. Oh, yeah. Woo-hoo. No, Ron loves that game. Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. Okay, okay, okay.
    43:29
    My kids, and remember, I have boys, too, so they really, really like that game. And, you know, I don't know how much longer I'll stay in the collection.
    43:40
    I'm maxed out for space, so to get Spider-Man or Simpsons pinball party, something's got to go, right? So it would be that. And then I actually really, really like classic games a lot. So I have Flight 2000. Good boy. That actually is probably one of my favorite games playing in my house. I just bought an Embryon. Oh, my God. My kids love that game.
    44:07
    And I bought in New York an 8-ball, not 8-ball deluxe, the Fonz 8-ball, and I enjoy that. It's certainly not as good as 8-ball deluxe, but I still like it, and it's a couple of shots there. And then I bought Target Alpha for basically the play field because you see that game, whether it's Solar City or Canada or all these other games. So you're going to see that a lot in competition, so that's a good play field to learn. Very good. Yeah, so there you go. See how sick I am. I would, like, I'd take the lethal weapon over the Simpsons pinball party.
    44:43
    Oh, my God. Oh, Bruce is slapping his head, yes. Don't! Sorry. I just find it a lot more fun.
    44:52
    Well, Jeff, if you have to go in a few minutes, let's make this as the perfect ending point for you, and then we can continue on with our show. How about me? Don't I get to do my games? We'll talk right after. Okay. We will. Guys, best of the holidays. And I'll tell you what, I'd love to have both you guys on the Pinball Profile, which is available on iTunes. You can follow it on Pinball Profile on Twitter. There's a Facebook group. And I really appreciate the pinball community helping me out,
    45:20
    tell a little bit about their stories too. So this has been a lot of fun. And you guys are great. You do a fantastic job. It's entertaining. It's fun. and I can see by the success of how often you're doing these and how much they're downloaded, you're doing some really good things. So well done. Thank you very much.
    45:41
    Now you are now always welcome on. All right. Sounds cool. And hopefully we see you in four weeks. What's the date? The 21st of January.
    45:52
    I will be emailing everyone on January 3rd. Tell me what? You tell that guy in 17 to make me a price, and we'll see.
    46:04
    No, it was the man. Okay, guys. Thank you very much, Jeff. That's Jeff Teolas. Bruce, Ron, thanks. Thank you.
    46:13
    And that was Jeff Teolas from Pinball Profile. Great interview, great person, great player, and I love playing him. Actually, I met him first in Buffalo at the Selfie League, and our friendship has grown, and I'm glad that he's now doing the podcast because he's a great interviewer, and I'm glad he gave us his games he liked, games he hates. Now, Ron, what is your game you like and what game you hate? Remember, Google pinball profile. You will come right up as the first hit. Pinball profile. Game I like, game I hate. Okay, here we go. Here we go. I'm prepared this week. Wow. I definitely got some different ones. I definitely have not named either of these. I know that for a fact. Okay. All right. Do you want like or hate first? Your call. All right. I'll do like. This is going to be a weird one.
    47:02
    Pool Sharks. Okay. For most people, it's going to be a, eh. I don't think most people will be like, I hate Pool Sharks. It's the worst piece of shit ever created. They'll be like, eh, eh. Is that a System 11 or is that a, that's not a 6803. That's a System 11, right? It's a Williams. Yeah, it's a System 11, I believe. Yep.
    47:23
    Game I, well, don't hate, but dislike. City Slicker. Oh, God. Never played that on a show. Extremely rare belly game. Like, yeah, I see why it's rare. It sucks. This huge plastic ramp thing on the top. It's just, nah. Nah. Wasn't feeling it. Never did it for you? Never did it for me. Wow. So what you got, Bruce? Okay, game I like.
    47:50
    Funny thing, it's actually a Loader game, which you know we usually don't go into the like section for me with loyal there's only a couple i really do like i've owned this game but it is gone now it is actually safecracker you mentioned that in episode seven i believe uh no it's episode 72 but we had to get rid of that one oh okay no it's gonna be in the future that's gonna be the episode he names it again because we've run out of material yes that's everything safecracker yes i remember when you had yours centuries ago one game, especially with the special little mini-mode in there. Assault on the Vault. Yes. Great game. Tight shots. I actually like the shots. It's almost, it really is like a mini-Adams Family somewhat with the ramp shot. Typical Lawler third shot up the top.
    48:40
    That was my first show live tonight. I guess it was an hour. I don't know if you'll edit it out, so there's the on. If you guys had any votes. Yep, that's one. You might have two. That might be four we went on the air. Oh, that doesn't count, though. Yeah, you're right. That doesn't count. So what do you hate?
    48:59
    I'm actually going to be the oddball this one. No system freeze this week, please? Okay. We're going Gottlieb, though. We are doing Gottlieb.
    49:06
    But it's EM Gottlieb. That's not possible. I don't like 2001. Are you high? No, because the reason why I like the game, I just never do well at it. But that's not a reason to hate something. I never do well at it either. I know, but I love 2001. It's kept me out of tournaments. So that's why I have to hate this game. Well, I hate it in tournaments, yeah, but I mean... But it just kills me. It really does kill me. So, 2001?
    49:39
    You're off my list. I slit your throat. Okay. I expect you to die. That's also a dimension. if that's the Adaball version so yeah wow 2001 because that was one of my games to like in a previous episode yes it was I just never done well with it now don't forget two of our returning people who could possibly be in the Upstate New York Championships would be Steve Bowden from Fun With Bonus and Zach so there's a good possibility we might have a lot of famous people at the Upstate Finals famous in Poland world famous so there could be a big you know big group you know groupies might have to come out we might have some pinball groupies there pinball groupies yeah yes so how was the rest of your week Ron well it was uneventful really I did from our previous episodes I mentioned my wonderful big game And wonderful lockdown bar issues and all that. I mean, I haven't started working on it yet, but I did mention how the guides that go behind the top flippers were completely missing from my big game. Missing completely. Well, hopefully, whenever my order arrives, that will no longer be the case. Ooh, where did you get them from? I'm wondering if I should say, because I just see them all disappearing. But to help out the people on the podcast, if you have a big game and you're missing them, I don't know how many he has, but Pinball Resource has them right now. Nice. So it's pbresource.com. You have to go under the special when lit section. It's not in the regular parts section.
    51:31
    It was unclear whether he had just one, like maybe he was taken off of a game. But it said NOS, and I figured maybe he had more than one. So I asked, basically saying, like, you know, my game is missing both of them. So could you send two if you have to? And, well, according to the email I got, they had two. So if you still see it under their special win-lit section after they update their site, then grab it. And please, if you only need one, just take one. There aren't many of them. Don't be a dick and get, like, five of them. You know, just saying.
    52:06
    I forgot to mention this. I had this on the list for last week, and I forgot to bring it up for whatever reason. There was a subject on Pinside that, yes, again, that forum that you don't know about, that I thought was actually interesting. They said, like, best and worst spinner sounds.
    52:26
    You know, I think good spinner sounds is easy, but I think, like, what has really bad spinner sounds? And I had one that just popped in my head immediately, and that's lightning.
    52:37
    It sounds like a bird chirping. and it's like, oh, God, you don't want to light the spinner. It's like, oh, no, no, I don't want to hit the spinner. No, no, no, no, stop it, stop it.
    52:50
    I mean, best sounds? Metallica's. Yeah, Metallica's good. Any old stern other than Lightning? Yeah. Stargazer.
    52:58
    If you go for the EM sounds, anything like, you know, with a ticker for the spinner. But I think the idea of the subject was electronic because you could just say, you know, all the old ones had a tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, which I love. But I'm thinking, oh, Blackout was another good one. Very good one. I think Zach actually. Zach, I could have brought him up, was in on the thread, and that's the one he brought up, Zach. He brought up the Blackout one, which because that one gets – it increases as you hit the spinners until it gets to the top, and then it goes back down. but it keeps a constant tone so if you hit it and you get it to go all the way off right before it goes down you just have to listen to it until you hit the spinner again yep so your repairs are just the big game parts that's it oh that's it i'm waiting for i i part of the the pinball resource uh order was sockets i ordered a crap load of sockets and when i get them i will remove the Harlem playfield and just start replacing, I'm probably going to just replace every socket. Or at least all the easy ones to replace, the stapled in ones, I'll see which ones need to be replaced. But the rest of them, for the most part, if they're not shot, they're getting shot, they're starting to fail. The only thing he doesn't have, he didn't have the ones for the coin door. No, he does not. There are other ones. You can get the equivalents of like Pinball Life has them, Marco has them, but he doesn't have those particular ones there.
    54:34
    So I'll just have to wait for another Pinball Life order before I get those because I'm not doing it in order to get like five sockets.
    54:42
    But I got manuals too. Just getting things. I'm ready to get started finally on it. Good. I haven't done squat. I've had a little too much fun lately, haven't I? Yes, he's had a lot of fun. Yeah. But he's dedicated. We're still here. We're a day late and a dollar short. I'm a day late and a dollar short, and I'm going to put the pressure on Ron. I hate to say this, but thank you, Ron, for putting up with me yesterday and being a friend. Ron has always been one of my closest friends and one of my good friends, and he knows everything that's going on right now. Friends to the end, I know you are my hero. You are the wind beneath my wing. No, beneath my ball bag. So when we go to the slam-tilt ball bag.
    55:36
    We got mail? We got two mails. Bruce sees all these mails come through, and I'll see one, and he'll be like, we got three. Like, where are you seeing these?
    55:48
    First one is from Mr. Scott himself. which we definitely need to get back. Which we definitely need to stop saying that and just get it back because we say that every week. We'll probably have to do a weekend. Or maybe we should ask him, hey, Scott, if you're listening, are you off Monday? Yes, maybe Monday. Actually, I should ask Bruce first. Bruce, are you off Monday? I am off Monday. I may be traveling, but I should be back in the States. I should be back here by 830 8 o so we can figure out I don know his company schedule but I know mine Monday after Christmas we off and I believe we off the next Monday after that too Oh, wow, you've got a real job. Well, we're a credit union, so we get all the federals, the holidays, so whenever the state gets off, we get off.
    56:35
    But, yeah, Scott, he emailed and basically said we kind of made it sound like he thought Orbiter was awesome. and it's not it's just a it's just novelty yeah he says it's not one of his favorites but i i i will say i remember when he had a tournament and he picked that and someone's like are you kidding me and he tried to explain to the guy how there there is skill involved it's not it's not a little bit there is skill involved the guy was like bullshit but uh he also talks of course how i am right about for power play need to add some spinners to that thing to make a perfect oh you're right again oh god that means you're going to bring up the other email Yes, I is. The other email, one of our longtime favorite guys, Jim, he talks a lot about good stuff. He talks about JJP track record. They can't even have him close. Just like I said, he passed on Waz. He agreed with you about passing on Waz.
    57:31
    You know, game number four before 2019. So he's right with us. Right with you. Yes, he is. And I am right about The Breadmaker.
    57:45
    Woo-hoo! Yeah, I figure if another person said it, I must be wrong. Yes, of course. I'm wrong again. But he says, Ron, Playboy is a fun game. I've grown to like it, but it does have a limitation compared to others. So he's right with you on that one.
    58:00
    And he's looking forward to my news from 2017, which who knows when that will be. But it will be hopefully something in 2017. Something. Well, here is a question. about Playboy. Name me a ballet of that era, in other words, late 70s, that's worse than Playboy. The one that's only 300, 300 games, the Planet Doom.
    58:23
    Planet Doom? What? Give me two seconds. IPDB. It's only 300 of them. I've never heard of that. Dave Christensen did the artwork. It can't exist if I've never seen it. I've seen everything. Oh, yeah, it does. Voltan Escapes Cosmic Doom oh okay yeah I've played that before it sucks see I can't remember it I only played it once alright I'll take your word for it early valleys low numbers I'm looking right now at it Grand Slam it's too new oh it's 83 but it is a pretty bad game Grand Slam Miss Pac-Man, Mr. Pac-Man That's a pretty bad game Yeah, but no, see I'm talking late 70s We're talking Kiss, Nitro Groundshaker Silver Ball Mania Is not that deep It's a fun game No, you just hit the horseshoe 30 zillion times Exactly, so it's kind of that same I'll give you that one It looks great Good like Playboy does Even Star Trek Not a great game Six Million Dollar Man You know how I feel about that. So what am I saying? That clouds my judgment. Yes. All right. So that's enough about bashing Playboy. I think the Stern one's better. I actually like playing that. Yes, I like the Stern one, actually. I like the Stern one a lot. I like it for the play field. Nothing to do with the artwork. It's a George Gomez-designed play field with lots of flow on it. It actually plays pretty good. It does. I actually like that game a lot. Yeah.
    60:03
    Retheme it. Really, really good game. Oh, number three. That's three yawns. So anyone who picked three yawns, they're hoping you don't yawn again.
    60:15
    So I mentioned this to Bruce. I think we're going to have next week off. I would like to take next week off.
    60:25
    Come on, don't be a scrooge. I'm going to be a scrooge. I feel like Bob Cratchit. Please, sir. I don't want to. Because it's during the holiday, sir. No one wants to listen anyway. It's the holidays. Nothing will be going on, sir. Please. People will be driving back and forth to their families and doing all this other stuff and working on games all this week. What? We have a dedicated public who demands this is going to be it. This is going to be the title. We're going to actually ask for your vote, people, on the email. Oh, okay. So, yes, vote whether you'd like Ron to be able to get a week off. Nope. Or whether you want to be like sleigh-driving Bruce and force him to work another week. Because I just figured it would be good because the week after that, we have a very special guest. The only clue I'll give you is he is by far the highest-ranked player we have ever had on this program. Would be. Which we have had Timmy on here, and he's pretty damn high-ranked. He is. But he would have two special – either episode he'd be special with because he'd be the 25th episode, which is a landmark episode to any podcast, or he'd be the 26th episode. And if we kept with every week, it would be halfway. He'd be the halfway year person. So look at it that way. Either way. I don't even know what you just said there. You mean 26 because it's 52 weeks? You got it. See? You do speak Bruce. Okay. Yes. I'm one of the only other people who speaks Bruce. You should see his texts, folks. But I will be able to translate them and the missing words and all that stuff. Only two people or three people in this world who actually know my texts.
    62:19
    And one is my wife, Kathy. One is Ron. And once in a while, you know, it's Eric. which I do want to have on as our 27th or 28th episode so what does that tell you we're going to have a lot of guests on I want to be lazy I want to sit back and just sit in my underwear and do a podcast oh right that's right now no comment huh oh I'm on mute sorry oh damn comic timing opportunity failure yes it did no I was saying which Eric There's four now. There's four. There's Eric Russell, Eric S. Russell, Eric Russell CNY. Who's the fourth one? Eric Russell PDX. The hell does that mean?
    63:08
    PDX is Portland. There is an Eric Russell in IFPA rankings who has the same name as Eric, is in the western part of the country to Portland, Seattle. It's called the Northwest. I don't like that because it sounds No, no It's the great northwest Take off We already had our great wife North guy up there with Jeff Teolis But he actually They were getting the The IFPA things mixed up So that's why Eric is now EricCNY And this other guy is EricPDX We think So there could be four mint julep mr. bond yeah mint julep yes yes it's very good oh i just like to congratulate um bruce's favorite band in the world who were inducted will be inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame elo made it congratulations bruce i'm sure you're very happy i am very happy i was very ecstatic i wonder maybe olivia newton john will come up on stage and sing xanadu with them that'd be kind of cool actually to bruce that would be cool that'd be really cool I like that a lot.
    64:26
    Next thing we're going to do is, what do you have in your toolbox, or what should you have in your toolbox? The slam box? The slam box. What should you have in your toolbox? Okay, well, actually... I know what I'm recommending. With the phone apps they have now, I guess this isn't as required, but I'd like to have a good level. I was just saying that because for tournaments or playing games anywhere, especially at a show, one of the worst things you can have is you play and it's not level.
    65:00
    Especially if it's a really nice game and it's unlevel. It's like, oh, man. What about locations? What about locations and not level? That's really bad too, right?
    65:10
    Yeah, I guess so. Okay. I think he's throwing out there. He's jabbing someone. Okay. Yeah, that's mine. It's kind of lame, but that's mine. No, digital levels, you can get them so cheap. You can get them very easy. You can get them at a – You can get them as an app now, I believe. I know, but even get a nice Craftsman one. The Craftsman one, $35, digital level, you're good to go. You really are. It will last you forever. Now, what I want to talk about for myself is what everyone needs is a good extended magnet.
    65:50
    When you drop a screw, lose a screw, you see the screw in the freaking pile over there, or you're trying to hold the screw from going out, an extendable reach magnet. Very important in your toolbox. If you don't have one, get one. you'll think about it later on you'll say God that Bruce guy is great I'm sure Dr. Dude has one because of the magnetic personality that was bad magnetic personality and now for our next segment of course as we always talk about I'd buy that when we can if there's anything to buy there's not always something to buy there is one I just want to bring this up Do you have your Monster Bash? Is it still out there? It is still out there. I'm actually selling my Monster Bash with a cabinet and a color DMD for $8,900. Now, last week when we went over our segment, we'd buy that.
    66:52
    We were, well, especially me, I was giving heat to the pictures when they had a particular thing about them, specifically the playfield glass installed. And then I looked at your pictures, and you have the playfield glasses installed. Lazy. I was totally lazy. But I've had people ask me for more pictures, and I've found it. So that's not a problem. Oh.
    67:15
    The two machines that we talked about last week, the Simpsons Pinball Party and Simpsons Pinball Machine from Data East, guess how much that went for?
    67:22
    $1,076. Good deal. The Bobby Orr went for $860. There you go. the NASCAR went for 2349 high I thought it was pretty high and the lethal weapon is still out there 1750 I didn't get a chance to ask Jeff my questions like what which music do you pick is it lethal weapon CNC music factory or ZZ Top yeah I would say I'd pick definitely ZZ Top that's what my father always picks I picked CNC Music Factory just so I can hear. Everybody dance now.
    68:07
    One game. Ticket number 282275629477. This is for Ron. Oh, what am I buying? Lethal Weapon Pinball. Oh, another one?
    68:23
    $1,850. A little more. Okay. But it's down by New York City. It's right by JFK. So a lot closer to you, Ron, or best offer. All right. Does it have the topper? Does it have the police siren? Can't tell you. Oh. We can't tell from the pictures? Can't tell from the pictures. Only one picture. Oh, one picture. Is it the flyer?
    68:49
    No. Okay. Is the glass on? Yes, it is. Of course. So there you go. There's what we got out there this week. Only one. Not many deals during Christmas, but if you want to buy a nice Monster Bash,
    69:04
    come to our post. Go to our Facebook page. Check it out, and we can definitely hook you up. Bruce can hook you up. I'm not in the area. I can hook you up.
    69:17
    Let's see. I got nothing on the docket here. so everybody again please if you can send emails vote on the or just post on the Facebook page don't make me have to do next week please let me get a week off please let me get a week off editing these things is a pain it's painful yes it is this one will be unedited all lumps included because I got to get it out there in time yes you do So, yeah, just emails, just post on it, or just post on the Facebook page. Yay or nay. Does Ron have to work? Does Ron not have to work? Ron works.
    70:02
    I'm telling you, he's like Ebenezer Scrooge. You're the Grinch, man. No, what I had to do, I had to be on at 2 in the morning in Europe. That's true. I was dedicated. That's true. He did do that. Yeah, that's true. Didn't you do that two weeks in a row? I did it four weeks I wasn't even home. Four weeks in a row. Okay.
    70:25
    Still, folks, just vote. Please. Vote me. Vote. Vote to work. Vote me. You want to hear us. No, you do. You want yes. No. You want no. You want a week off. We'll come back rejuvenated, more energy than ever. I mean, because this has been a completely unenergetic podcast, right? No, it's been very energetic. No energy at all. Jeff Teolis was great as a guest. Yes, he was. And we have more guests coming up, including some local New York people and some local celebrities. Oh, really? Bruce will have to tell me about these people. Well, I'm talking about IFPA celebrities. Josh Sharpe is going to be on? Awesome. I know. I can't wait.
    71:12
    But shows coming up. There's not much coming up right now. Just this Thursday is the Tista Pinball at Cloud City Comics out in Syracuse, East Syracuse, from 430 to 830. IFPA points. Come check it out just before Christmas. Also, there is a tournament, the Central New York Pinball. Last one of 2016 is December 30th at, I think, Eric's house. If you go to Central New York Pinball on Facebook, you can check out and find all the information. And if you're local to Syracuse, Rochester, Binghamton, come on out. Plus, we also have on the 27th of December, we have the Buffalo-Binghamton Christmas Pinball Tournament down at Moonwalker. It's, I think, I don't know what time it starts. I think it's 6 or 7. check it out for uh ifpa points and fun stuff uh the f-state championships will be giving out their final 16 we'll be asking people in the next week or two it's the only thing i would need time for you know ron's just crying about this all this other crap fucking douchebags uh hey ron how you doing oh i was on mute sorry oh okay yeah so uh other than that not much coming up MagFest is coming up soon nice little tie in to future stuff the future is now so we'll have to know if it's going to be episode 25 is it going to be in 2016 or is episode 25 going to be in 2017 you need to vote people you need to vote it's up to you yay or nay do you like Ron more or do you like Bruce more if everyone loves me. I'm like the lovable guy. I'm like the lonesome loser.
    73:15
    I agree with Jeff. You are the white odd job. So I don't speak. Exactly. I'm done. Where's your derby? You're going to put your derby on? That'd be awesome. Cool. I think you should dress up like that. Maybe Halloween or something. Did he have a goatee? No, he had a mustache, though. Just put the mustache on. There you go.
    73:39
    Yes, Mr. Bond. And you get to kick the shit out of Bond for like five minutes. Yes, I do. Before you get electrocuted.
    73:46
    Shocking. So, episode 24. So, this has been episode 24, Goldfinger. Hopefully it hasn't been too shocking, Mr. Bond. Oh, that's bad. Yes. Hopefully you've enjoyed Pussy Galore's Flying Fleet. Mm-hmm. Yes, she did have one in the movie, her own fleet. Yes, she did. She did. Hopefully you enjoyed Oddjob and Goldfinger. And quite Oddjob. Yes, and the whole crew from all of us here at the Slam Tilt Podcast, wishing you a very happy holidays, Merry Christmas, Christmas Festivus, Fonza, Hanukkah, whatever. I think I covered them all. And any other, I don't know, a life day for any Star Wars fans out there, they might get that one. for Wookiee's Life Day is a very important holiday. So, again, that was episode 24.
    74:45
    Say goodbye, Bruce. Goodbye, Jason Plourd.