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Straight Down The Middle: a pinball show Episode 8: Collector Interview (Tom in Indiana)

Straight Down the Middle·video·44m 10s·analyzed·Mar 24, 2017
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.031

TL;DR

Collector interview: Tom's 24-machine Indiana collection, entry story, and machine preferences.

Summary

Zach Sharpe of Straight Down the Middle interviews Tom, a pinball collector from Indiana with 24-25 machines in his collection. The episode covers Tom's entry into pinball (through his father's arcade route in the 1980s, rekindled by NBA Fast Break in 2005), his favorite machines (The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit), machines he dislikes (Star Trek: The Next Generation), and a tour of his collection including X-Men Magneto LE, Ghostbusters, Dialed In, The Wizard of Oz, and others. Tom is portrayed as a humble, hands-on collector who personalizes his games and isn't concerned with hobby snobbery.

Key Claims

  • Tom bought his first pinball machine (NBA Fast Break) in 2006 on eBay and overpaid for it

    high confidence · Tom speaking directly about his purchase history

  • Tom's favorite machine is The Lord of the Rings; second favorite is The Hobbit

    high confidence · Tom directly stating his preferences during interview

  • Tom dislikes Star Trek: The Next Generation, describing it as not deep enough and not capturing him

    high confidence · Tom's direct opinion during interview discussion of games he hates

  • Tom owns a Ghostbusters pinball with carrot flipper modifications to close the flipper gap

    high confidence · Tom discussing his personalizations and the wide flipper gap issue

  • Tom's wife's only pinball machine is Diner (Dick Whitewater), which she requested he acquire before bringing home more machines

    high confidence · Tom explaining the household rule about his wife's machine

  • Tom attended a pinball show in Michigan at a college that he enjoys

    medium confidence · Tom mentions favorite show is in Michigan at a college but cannot recall specific details

  • Tom has never sold or gotten rid of any pinball machine he's purchased

    high confidence · Tom directly answering question about machine regrets

  • Tom is getting a Big Lebowski pinball from Cointakers and believes they may have exclusive distribution rights

    medium confidence · Zach and Tom discussing upcoming acquisition; Zach speculates about Cointakers' rights

  • Tom prefers longer ball times and varied gameplay but specifically plays The Hobbit when he has 30 minutes to an hour

    high confidence · Tom describing his gameplay preferences and play sessions

  • Tom's father had an arcade route with pinball machines in the 1980s; Tom played Knight Rider pinball at a family cabin

Notable Quotes

  • “I have never gotten rid of a machine.”

    Tom (Theatre of Magic)@ 9:21 — Reveals Tom's collector mentality and commitment to his machines; he expresses regret about letting machines get away in the past but hasn't experienced seller's remorse

  • “I would have to say, I don't know if everybody hates NBA Fast Break, but I know it's not...A lot of people, yeah. You can get them for $2,500 anymore.”

    Tom@ 6:03 — Tom's first machine is unpopular but he loves it; indicates secondary market pricing

  • “There is something about having a game that you know you're never going to beat, or it's going to kick your butt over and over again. You'll never get tired of it.”

    Tom@ 17:03 — Reveals Tom's philosophy on what makes a great pinball machine—difficulty and replayability

  • “I have grown to love it [Ghostbusters] a lot.”

    Tom@ 18:17 — Tom's initial dislike of Ghostbusters transformed after modifications and gameplay familiarity; common collector experience

  • “I don't think anybody should be snobby about the hobby that's pinball you like what you like You don't like what you don't like.”

    Tom / Zach@ 14:16 — Encapsulates Tom's no-nonsense approach to collecting and enjoying machines; anti-snobbery stance

  • “That flipper gap was, it drove me nuts.”

    Tom@ 18:52 — Tom's main complaint about Ghostbusters; wide flipper gap is a known design issue affecting player feel

Entities

Tom (Theatre of Magic)personZach SharpepersonGreg BonepersonMelissa (Cointakers)personTom's FatherpersonTom's WifepersonNBA Fast BreakgameThe Lord of the Ringsgame

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: Zach Sharpe (Flippin' Out Pinball) provides professional LED modification services to collectors, indicating aftermarket service market

    high · Zach LED-modded Tom's Diner; Tom mentions Zach 'did an excellent job on the LEDs'

  • ?

    community_signal: Tom attends Michigan pinball show at a college venue, indicating a regional pinball event infrastructure and community gathering point

    medium · Tom mentions Michigan show as favorite, setup is nice, at a college with roaming attendees

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Ghostbusters' wide flipper gap is a known gameplay issue affecting player feel and control, reported by multiple players; some community members modifying with carrot flippers or other solutions

    high · Tom added carrot flipper modifications, describes gap as driving him nuts; mentions Pinside threads about fixes

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Tom's collecting philosophy emphasizes difficulty and replayability over mastery; values machines that punish and stay challenging indefinitely

    high · Tom: 'There is something about having a game that you know you're never going to beat...You'll never get tired of it'

  • $

    market_signal: NBA Fast Break (late 1990s Stern game) sells for ~$2,500 on secondary market, indicating depreciation and lower collector demand

    medium · Tom: 'You can get them for $2,500 anymore' when discussing his first machine

  • ?

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.132

0:01
You hit it off with a bumper, now you're straight down the middle again, middle again. You had a fling with a slingshot, you're rolling out the island again.
0:12
I tried to cradle you with my flipper, it was all in vain, it was all in vain. Baby, baby, baby, why are you doing me wrong, doing me wrong? Don't you remember the good days when we used to get along?
0:30
We make those four wheels spin all night, then we be singing our song. They said life was getting fun, so you brought two friends in. What's happening, everybody? It's Zach. I'm here with Tom in Indiana, a local pinball collector. He's nice enough to invite us into his home so that we can see his collection, interview him, and talk about all things pinball, as well as some other hobbies that you have that we'll talk about here. So, Tom, what got you into pinball, man? Back in the 80s, my dad, he had a route. Nice. I don't know how many machines he had. I was just a little kid.
1:08
Was he like a pinball router or like an arcade? Mostly arcades, but there was a few pinballs always floating around my whole life. We had a cabin down in southern Indiana, and there was always a pinball machine in there. Nice. Played it a lot. Do you remember any of the titles? Yeah. It was Knight Rider. Knight? I don't even know that one. I wonder who made that. Was it Gottlieb or something? I don't know. Sorry, guys. I don't know what Knight Rider is. I think it's a Bally. Nice. It's a Bally. They made it. It was actually in the 70s or 80s. It was 70s, 80s. Right there, they made them both ways. They were EM and... I was going to write that turn. Yep. They made them both ways. So have you seen one since? No. If anybody has one. Yeah. That'd be cool. Contact Zach. Yeah. Bring back some memories. absolutely very nice so he got he was routing got into the business that you remember playing pinballs yeah as a kid yeah probably more more the video game and yeah yeah yeah very happy you don't have any arcade games do you know very nice so you like I'm with you man I'm not a big arcade each their own the arcade people but I'll play PlayStation 4 if I want to play video games strictly pinball yeah strictly pimp we should get teachers strictly pinball all right so Knight Rider he gets into the business you were a kid of the 80s too right absolutely yeah hell yeah so we got into pinball machines and when did you start picking it up after that so what happened what was the next thing we went to a pizza restaurant and a guy had brought two pinball machines in that were in the It was an NBA Fast Break that would have been 2005. Okay. And started playing that and just fell in love with pinball again. Very nice. So NBA Fast Break, you heard it here is what kind of got you back into... It was the NBA Fast Break. And you know what? We'll see here in a little bit, there's an NBA Fast Break in the arcade down there. Absolutely. Very nice. All right. So how long have you been in the hobby, man? 2006, I bought a NBA Fastbreak. Cool. And the year after that, I bought a Monster Bash. And as we'll see here soon, they're like bunnies. They continue to multiply over and over and over again. They got out of control pretty quick. Expensive bunnies is what they were. Yeah, absolutely. So was Fastbreak, no BS, but Fastbreak was your first? That was my first machine that I purchased. That's super cool. So he brought in a fast break. I didn't purchase the fast break that the guy had on route at our restaurant. I actually found one, I think I bought it on eBay. Oh, yeah. So you overpaid on eBay. Overpaid, absolutely. We all do that in our first couple of mistakes. I still overpaid for them sometimes if I really want it. If you really want it. If I really want it, I'll still have it. So I think it's really cool how you got your first machine was an NBA fast break. So what is your favorite machine? Favorite machine? Favorite machine at this time would have to be Lord of the Rings. Nice. Lord of the Rings. The Hobbit would be a second.

high confidence · Tom describing his childhood introduction to pinball through his father's business

  • “For as colorful as it is, it's so damn dark.”

    Zach@ 24:17 — Critique of The Wizard of Oz's lighting; suggests playfield visibility issues despite visual design

  • “I like this more than I like The Wizard of Oz.”

    Tom@ 28:14 — Contrarian opinion; suggests The Hobbit is underrated compared to more prestigious JJP title

    • The Hobbit
    game
    Star Trek: The Next Generationgame
    X-Men Magneto Limited Editiongame
    Ghostbustersgame
    Diner (Dick Whitewater)game
    The Wizard of Ozgame
    Dialed Ingame
    Knight Ridergame
    Big Lebowskigame
    Tales of the Arabian Nightsgame
    Circus Voltairegame
    Attack from Marsgame
    Monster Bashgame
    Straight Down the Middleorganization
    Flippin' Out Pinballcompany
    Cointakerscompany
    Jersey Jack Pinballcompany

    community_signal: Indication that game design preferences are personal and subjective; Tom likes The Hobbit more than the more prestigious Wizard of Oz, noting most people would think they're 'out of our minds'

    high · Tom: 'I like this more than I like The Wizard of Oz. Most people would say we're out of our minds'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Jersey Jack Pinball's Wizard of Oz uses tiered product strategy requiring buyers to spring for Anniversary edition to get full feature set (Invisiglass, Tornado, walls, Toto)

    high · Tom: 'You kind of have to spring for that so you can get the Invisiglass, get the Tornado, get the walls, get Toto'

  • ?

    product_concern: The Wizard of Oz (JJP) playfield lighting is reportedly dark despite colorful artwork, potentially affecting visibility during gameplay

    medium · Zach: 'For as colorful as it is, it's so damn dark. When I'm playing this game sometimes, I want to get some extra spots in there'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Ghostbusters experienced negative initial reception from Tom but improved dramatically with familiarity and modifications, suggesting learning curve and player adaptation

    high · Tom: 'I absolutely hated this machine...I cussed it' but later 'I have grown to love it a lot'

    • 4:26
    It's a similar theme. Similar theme. Two totally different machines. Oh, yeah. The Hobbit, for me, seems like a machine that,
    4:36
    they're long ball times, long game play. Multi-ball everywhere. Absolutely. I love it. I don't know how to describe the Hobbit. But you play for so long, it's... After you're done, you feel kind of... You feel spent. I do. Yeah. After I play The Hobbit. If I just kick its ass, I feel satisfied. But then I'm like, okay, it's time to go play Bram Stoker Dracula for a little bit. You're wore out. That's right. You're wore out for sure. So do you like longer ball times on games or do you just like it to be varied?
    5:07
    Varied. Okay. But that machine is kind of a special machine to me. I don't play it all the time. I play it when I have a half hour. 45 minutes an hour to kill. It's a fun half an hour an hour to kill. It is a fun half an hour. Now, you told me the coolest thing when it came to Lord of the Rings. You said that you bought the game and never even seen the damn movies. I had never seen the movies. Yeah. Played The Hobbit. Mm-hmm. And I played The Hobbit, then watched all the movies, and then decided, okay, I need to buy Lord of the Rings. Oh, very cool. And they're two totally different machines. And you kind of just fell in love with them. What do you think about the movies? Love them. Yeah, I love them too. Love them. They're really cool. So, Lord of the Rings, Hobbit are kind of the apex right now. Absolutely. Cool. All right. What machine do you love, Tom, that everybody freaking hates?
    6:03
    I would have to say, I don't know if everybody hates NBA Fast Break, but I know it's not. A lot of people, yeah. You can get them for $2,500 any more. So, you like that one. Most people don't like that one. What about the other side of things? Which game do you hate that a lot of people just love and rave over and you're like, I just don't get it? Star Trek The Next Generation. Wow.
    6:26
    Slow down, guys. That's a really popular pinball machine. What do you hate about it? I don't know what it is. No? I can't describe it. It's kind of a brutal game. It's not very deep.
    6:41
    Final Frontier is pretty easy to get to. Not pretty easy. I'm not great at pinball, but it's pretty attainable. There's not a big payoff. The Borg shot's cool. How you do the third flipper, and it locks the ball up in that little ship, and it shoots it back out of that ship. I haven't played it long enough. It's not captured me long enough. It's not captured you long enough? No. I love it. Not captured me long enough. So is it the theme, too? You're not a Trek guy? I'm not a Trekker, no. Yeah. Okay. Nothing against. No, I think a lot of people, I think that is a love-hate kind of game. A lot of people either love it or they hate it. But a lot of you guys do love that game. I'm with you, though, brother. I hate to tell you guys, but I had one for a little bit. It was beautiful, but it did nothing for me. There is one other, and I have it. That's Tales of the Arabian Nights. What?
    7:30
    Wow. This is where we pause the game and we talk about me purchasing that game. I don't hate it. I'm still giving it a chance, you know. Wow. I hope you continue to hate it, man. I've had it for about three or four years. We're going to edit this part out so nobody knows that you're in it.
    7:47
    You know what? To be fair, that is a game where it has a lot of flow. It's got a lot of sneaky shots. I love the ramp shots.
    7:56
    But I do tend to get bored after a while because there are long ball times. I mean, you're… Not for me. Really? That lamp eats me alive. Really? Maybe it's the… Oh, that does kick back at you. That's interesting. I love that it's something different. I like that. All right. what else do I got? How many machines do you own? Have we counted lately? What did we count? 24? This is pretty sad. He doesn't know because he has so many games. 24. 24?
    8:27
    What about the one you have one on location? One on location. He will be on location and then Big Lebowski is on the way. Oh yeah, he does have a Big Lebowski and you're going to be so kind Absolutely. Come on back. Enough for us to come review it. Greg and I will come. We'll review the Big Lebowski. Let's hope it works out of the box. How about that? Yeah, absolutely. Because if not, that'll suck. When are you getting that thing? I think June, they said. Okay. Who are you getting the Lebowski from? Cointakers. Nice. So Melissa at Cointakers then. Yep. I think, you know what, they might have the rights to it. I don't know if there's any other distributors that are actually getting it. I'm sorry, but I don't know. I don't think there is. Yeah, yeah. Okay, cool. Cool. All right. What machine – oh, this is my favorite question because I already know the answer to this thing. What machine do you regret getting rid of?
    9:21
    I've never got rid of a machine. You've never got rid of a machine, so you don't have to worry about that. Okay. What's your favorite pinball show, expo, place to kind of go as a conference kind of thing for pinball? Michigan. Michigan? Michigan. It's pretty – it's pretty friendly. Where is it? I'm trying to think where it's at in Michigan. I can't remember. Where is it? I don't know. Sorry, guys. Is it by the tour? They're still having it. I know that it used to be in, when was it, the fall? She's not going to help you off camera here, is she? No, she's not.
    9:58
    When was that show? She's staying silent. She can't remember either. It's all good. All right, so Michigan show you really like. Is there anything specific you really like about it, or is your setup really nice? Setup really nice. It's at a college. At a college? I didn't know that. That's awesome. Are there college kids on campus at the time? Yeah. Oh, that's neat. Just roaming around. Yeah, so a lot of liquor, a lot of college students. No, I don't think there's any of that going on. Oh, of course. No alcohol at a pinball show, right? There is no alcohol there. There's no alcohol being sold or anything. Not sold.
    10:38
    But you know who you guys are. I guarantee you, you guys got the little flask and the hand. You don't think so? With her plastered there. What machine would you love to own? Circus Voltaire. I'd like to own one of those too. I let a Circus Voltaire on Attack from Mars get away. OK. Years ago. I don think you should be that hurt about the Attack from Mars I kind of an Attack from Mars hater I like the game but I don think I going to spend that much money on it You got to have it though You got to have it I wish I could say I have to have it. And the collection. If you're going to build a collection, it's got to be... Yeah, my collection of three. Yeah, I've got to have it. But if you're going to put it together, the ultimate collection, it's got to be it. That's a great point. It's true. I'm just jealous because you have 25 machines out of three. And that's why Tales of the Raven Knights is... Yeah, you've got to keep it kind of in there. It's in there. Very nice. Okay, so Circus Voltaire. You want a Circus Voltaire. I want a Circus Voltaire. It's a really pretty game. I like that game. All right.
    11:37
    I was going to ask, how long do most games stay in your collection? Forever. That's a joke. What games have been in your collection? We'll see that in a minute. So let's say you're going to buy a game. Tom, what turns you off when you're buying a game? Popped inserts. Okay. And ghosted inserts. Popped and ghosted inserts. Yeah. Well, good luck finding a surface Voltaire without ghosted inserts, my friend. I'll let one of those get away. Yeah. Oh, man. So ghosted inserts, insert damage in general, just, you know you're going to have to mess Yeah, because it's hard to repair. Yeah. And you're pretty handy, from what I know about you. You're not afraid to get in there. But inserts, it's hit or miss, whether it's going to stick or not. Well, you know you're going to have to strip the thing, and you're going to have to get If you're going to pop one out, it pops a lot more than just the insert. Yeah, you get clear coat and stuff to worry about. That's true. Good point.
    12:31
    Let's see. Do you have any other weird hobbies? Because pinball is kind of a weird obsession. Too many hobbies. Okay. What do you like to do? I play bass. You play bass? I play bass. Okay. Are you any good? No, terrible. Okay. Let's say I own a bass. Let's say you own a bass. You're a player. Yeah. I own one. So blacksmith. Blacksmith. How's a blacksmith nowadays? Do you have a stand down at the corner and just hammer it away on an anvil? No.
    13:02
    Is that a blacksmith joke? That's a thing. Is that what blacksmiths do? Yeah. Okay, I'll take it. What have you smithed? Mostly fire pokers. They're quick and easy. You can knock them out in 30, 40 seconds. I'm going to have to, later on, check out some of the stuff that you've... Is it smithed? What's the term? You smith it? Smithing. Smith. Smithing. I think of Simpsons. What else do you like? You like darts. Darts. Yeah, you're a big dart player. I'm not very good at it, but I like it. Same with pinball. Me, love pinball. I'm just not very good at pinball. Same here. I just haven't. You're pretty good at pinball.
    13:39
    I don't know. There's no one, that's the thing. There's no one in this area that plays pinball. Yeah, I'm kind of in a small town. So I don't know if I'm good at pinball or bad at pinball. I may be you're the green champion on all your machines yeah that's right what I love about Tom is that he's kind of a no bullshit kind of guy you come into his place he's got some of the greatest machines but super humble and it's like I don't care they're pinballs and I love them and I love playing I don't really care about certain little things that a lot of people stress over that's really cool yeah if you like it I'm not snobby about it I don't think anybody should be snobby about the hobby that's pinball you like what you like You don't like what you don't like. It is very true. All right, so we are going to go to Tom's collection. This is a smaller portion of his collection. We'll talk about these, and then we're going to go down to his arcade and show off some more machines. So let's go to the machines. All right, so let's go over the collection. We're going to start with one of the most beautiful games, I think, ever made, X-Men Magneto Limited Edition. So this is one of your newer games, right? Yes. Okay. So you probably haven't got a lot of time on it, but tell me of the things that you have played the games so far What do you like on this thing? The multi ball is the multi balls really cool in this. Yeah, so it's
    15:04
    this Center insert spin. Yeah And said the magnet magnet and it holds them and so this is actually what's cool about the magnetos as a four ball multi ball So I think, don't you have to lock four balls? You have to lock four. Or you lock three and then hit it and then it catches or something like that. But it's a four-ball multiball, I think. Right. Yeah. So the multiball is really cool. It's got a spinning disc with a magnet in it. They'll all fall down. They'll lock onto there, and then they'll start spinning, and balls will fall down. They'll scatter everywhere, yeah. Yeah. This is a really loaded-down game for any of you guys who have not played an X-Men. You've got to get the limited edition, though. But if you haven't played an X-Men, it's loaded down. It's a board game, so really cool, unique layout. Tight shots, a lot going on. Third flipper, it's a really cool game. You'll have to check it out. Very underrated game. Very cool. All right. Let's move down to your favorite.
    16:01
    Lord of the Rings, yes. Lord of the Rings. So what do you hate about this game? Let's start with that. Is there anything at all that you hate about this game? that Balrog right but no I don't hate it it's one of those love hate things what do you love about the game if this is your favorite game what is it that really drives you on this thing in the past when I found a favorite machine after probably I don't know 50 plays on a machine, I've got it figured out, and you pretty much do what you want to the machine. You can hit any shot you want. That's right. Very true. This machine, I have trouble with it, and I like that. That's cool. And I'm probably never going to see Valinor on this machine. I won't either, brother. I'm going to keep trying. There is something about having a game that you know you're never going to beat, or it's It's just going to kick your butt over and over again. It's going to be really hard to complete. You'll never get tired of it. Yeah, that's true. That's true. It's got good flow for it.
    17:18
    It's got a lot of things. What I like about this is it's not just get through the modes, here's your wizard. It is, well, you've got to get through the modes. Then you've got to get the gifts of the elves. Well, then you've got to get through all the multiballs. And then don't forget all the rings down here. And if you blow it anywhere along the line, you've got to go back and do it again. That's right. And then the only way to get gifts from the elves is you have to complete the modes, not just start them. Yeah. So she's a mean one, but it is super fun. I'm with you. This is just awesome. She keeps coming back. It sure does. And it's beautiful. It's really nice. All right, let's work our way down to probably one of your newest pins, right? Yeah, Ghostbusters. This is one that I absolutely hated this machine. I didn't do it the first time I played it. When I first got it, I thought, why did I buy this thing? Uh-huh.
    18:11
    And I cussed it, and I cussed it. You still probably cuss it. Not so much anymore. Yeah? I've grown to love it a lot. What do you love about it?
    18:23
    For one, it will eat you alive. It doesn't care either. It's a pretty fast game. It'll tear you up. I did kind of cheat and put the carrot flippers on it. That's personalization. Yeah, personalization. Personalization. I closed that gap up a little bit and then I put the center post in. That's the thing, there's no hate here because you're making the game how you enjoy it. Yeah, I think Matt, it's almost like training wheels. I think I can take those off and go now. That's a good analogy. But in the beginning, that flipper gap was, it drove me nuts. It's a monster. Because when you play every other pinball machine you've ever played, except for what, preachers. Yeah, John Trudeau games, but yeah. You just, you have that. That's a feel. That's right. You feel it. That's exactly right. And you know where the ball's coming out. You know where it's going to land out the slings, like if it bumps the sling, you know you've got a little room to wiggle. And you didn't have that. No, you don't have that at all. Especially the outlines, those metal outlines. They tingle and things. It ain't a rubber, it's going to bounce out. Those never bothered me. It was always the flippers. Very nice. What do you not like about this game? Any shots in particular that you don't
    19:40
    like? I'm leaving him on because I know which one he's going to say. Everybody hates this shot. It's not achievable and it may be the carrot flippers. You're going to blame it on the carrot flippers and not the design of the game? Good for you. It could be the design. This ramp could have been... Guess what, buddy? Everybody else that hates that shot, a lot of them don't have carrot flippers. I don't think it's... Mine just... I can't. It won't go up that ramp at all, period. It goes up and then comes back down. It just... It's physically impossible. I think if you guys have the same problem, there is a thread on pin side. I think it's Ghostbusters fixes or something like that. Some people have actually tried to modify it in some way to get it to work better, but some machines I think are just going to be better than others on it. You know, I don't want to knock the game. I do like it. It's one of my favorites. I love it. It would have been nice to see that move over a little bit. The shot's not hard to hit. Okay. I don't find that the shot's hard to hit. I can hit the shot over and over. On the pro, the shot is hard to hit. But you don't have to worry about rejects really. I mean, it'll coast right up there. But this, I don't have trouble hitting the shot. Such a pretty game. You get the side blades on it and everything. You get the topper. I'm too tight to buy that topper and I blow money. I do too. I love it too. I don't do a lot of mods or... Different things, yeah? Yeah, I don't do any of that, but... Well, you had to get your deflector there, so that's good. I did get the deflector. You got to, if you have a Ghostbusters, you got to get the deflector. Yeah, you forgot to get that. Cool. Very nice. That's a cool game. All right. A lot of people's favorite here. I'm going to go ahead and get this. Alright, a lot of people's favorite here, white water. White water. This is not my machine. Oh. This is my wife's only machine. There you go.
    21:27
    So the wife's machine. Yeah, I was not allowed to bring any more machines home until... Until you brought a white water home? Until I brought a white water home. And it's fun. I think it's a good call by her because it is a fun, fun, flowy game. If you like ramps, man, this is it. Absolutely. So you have the best ramps in the business. What do you love about this game?
    21:46
    That your wife loves it? Yeah, I love that she loves it. You know which game my wife just loves? Not a damn one. She hates them all. She liked The Hobbit a little bit because it was pretty and had screen stuff But wah she doesn like very many of them So what do you hate about this game Anything you hate Try to think what I don like about this game
    22:12
    I love that rant. I drank a lot on this outline here. Yeah. The right outline gets me. That's a satisfying little shot through those pop bumpers, though. That's a tough shot. Yeah, it is. It's a very tough shot. This game is solid. This game is a classic for a reason. It's got a lot going for it. It's got a lot of cool shots. Music, call-outs. It's whimsical. It is. It's very whimsical. The artwork is awesome. You all see the artwork? It's a really cool game. I like it. I bought this game from Zach. He did an excellent job on the LEDs. Look at that. Thank you, buddy. Yeah. I had fun LEDing it. He did a good job. It's excellent up here. See? Yeah. I do love that. Even the different tones of blue, you know. Stop. I like it. Let's go talk about another game.
    23:01
    Tom, we've got here a clinkety-clankety... What is it? What does it say on the thing? We've got a Wizard of Oz. What do you think about your Wizard of Oz? I love it. You like this thing? I love it. What do you think about Jersey Jack games? I love him. Yeah. I love Jersey Jack. We love The Hobbit. We love Wizard of Oz. What about Dialed In? I got to play Dialed In. Yeah, what did you think? I was nervous about the theme at first. I'll admit it. But after playing it, that's an awesome machine. That's a friggin' awesome machine. Super awesome. And now everybody's pumped up to see what the number four title is going to be. And I'm always like, Zach, slow your old man. Let Dahlia come out. See what they're going to come out with. So what do you love about the Wizard of Oz?
    23:41
    It's pretty. I don't use the word pretty. I do, unfortunately, too much. But this is a very pretty machine. Any specific? We were talking about this a little bit before, and you're telling me a little bit about what you don't like about the machine. I don't like that it slows down a lot. I've got to not touch your busy glass. I'm sorry. I don't have my rubber gloves on. But it's not that I don't like it. It's just different. It's a stop and go kind of. It is, and that's okay. I'm good with that. Simpsons is like that. It's a great game. You know what I hate about this game? For as colorful as it is, it's so damn dark. When I'm playing this game sometimes, I want to get some extra spots in there, which is an easy fix, but that's the only thing. Everything else, I just, it's one of the best games ever made, I think. It's awesome. What about the theme? Everybody always complains about the theme of Wizard of Oz. I like the theme. I grew up on it, so. It's a great theme. It fits for everyone. Everybody knows the Wizard of Oz. So he's got, if you guys see, for those of you who don't know, a lot of you guys know, but the red candy powder coated is the 75th anniversary Ruby Red Edition. It's got the Playfield habit trails that are powder-coated as well. I don't have the topper on. I've got to take it down. It's going to the basement. Yeah. So I don't have it on. It's going to the arcade. So I love the game. I think it's really cool. I like the 75th anniversary. You kind of have to spring for that so you can get the Invisiglass, get the Tornado, get the walls, get Toto. You get a lot of extra stuff. I'm super happy with it. Yeah. I think it's beautiful. Very nice. Let's go look at the next one. I didn't see you there.
    25:27
    All right, Tom. Were you doing it? I want to. We're keeping it. We're keeping that. It's good. The Hobbit Black Arrow Edition. What made you want to get the Black Arrow Edition? It's the newest version of the Hobbit. It's the newest version. I wanted an L.A. Okay. So you weren't picky. You're like, I like black. Sure. It looks pretty sharp. for those of you out there we're talking Tom into giving Larry that flipping out pinball the mod that goes on here the little gold ring and the metal plate and the gold flipper rings really cool check him out on flipping out pinball I will do that this is one of your favorite games what do you love about this because there's a lot of hate towards the hobbit it is mode heavy it is about 31 of them 31 modes three wizard modes.
    26:17
    Mini wizard, wizard, wizard. Has anybody ever completed that? I've got two barrel escaping. That's about as far. I don't know if Battle of Five Armies is coded, so I'm not sure. I've done all the end of the fire barrel escape and Battle of Five Armies, but doing all the modes and completing all of them? Oh, yeah. You've had the battle? Yeah. Nice.
    26:38
    I played for an hour. I don't know if I've ever actually completed any of the actual wizard modes. And I was tired. I bet you were tired. I beat... We got extra balls on 10, Tom. I beat... It's his factory. And I did defeat Smog or Smog, however you want to say it. That's satisfying, isn't it? That's pretty cool. That's cool. That is super cool. I never... During that part, I never know what the hell it hit, though, because it's just a frenzy. You just hit balls. I love this game, man. I love this game. So, Bear Open Playfield. I like... Yeah, that's the thing I like about a lot of machines. I like long shots. Okay. I've found that with machines. I do like long shots, so that's probably part of the love for me. Greg and I will review this machine, and we will happily review this machine. My favorite shot on this whole game are these orbits. There's not, I promise you, there's not a better orbit shot in pinball, in my opinion. It's a wide body, and it's smooth as butter. The spinner sounds are excellent. It feels so smooth and good and then with the updated code it'll catch that that magnet will catch it in the back To add a ball to your next mode. So that's my favorite shot What do you what do you love shooting at in this game? Because it's a shooters game
    27:56
    Sounds like I love them all there's there's nothing about this game that I don't like It is very well done. There's nothing about it I don't like and I know that there is a lot of people out there that hate this machine.
    28:11
    You know what I hear something crazy? Is that I like this more than I like Wizard of Oz. Oh, absolutely.
    28:19
    Most people would say we're out of our minds. For me, I hate to spoiler our reviews coming up, but for me, all Jersey Jack games are great, but this is maybe the pinnacle. I love the Hobbit. This machine is definitely underrated. in my opinion.
    28:39
    That's great. What do we got next? We got a machine that everybody on Pennside would love to have. This is the ACDC Lucy Edition.
    28:50
    It's awesome. I had the Pro. I wasn't crazy about the Pro, but the Lucy Edition is freaking where it's at, man. Look at the art on this thing. The art is just awesome. What do you love about this game, my man? Yeah, one of the guys I bought it from, the guy bought it from. Yeah. His wife did not appreciate it in his living room. Oh, in his living room. I love it. Yeah, it was in his living room. It's nice. It's like, Grandma, don't worry about the half-naked lady on my pinball machine in the middle of my living room. That's awesome. But it's down here in the Thunder Dungeon. Oh, yeah. We forgot to tell you guys. Yeah, I forgot to introduce. He has named his arcade, and you guys will have to shoot us messages of the names of your arcades, but he has the best name of an arcade. It is the Thunder Dungeon. It's a working process. Yeah, yeah. So you're still kind of fixing up the place down here? Yeah, we're still bare walls and everything. It's the freaking Thunder Dungeon. Come on. Or maybe we just leave it half finished. Who cares? It's the Thunder Dungeon. Nobody cares. Yeah, it's awesome. It's just an unfinished place with thousands upon thousands of dollars. It's like the arcades that you went to when you were a kid in the 80s. Yeah, that's true. The Thunder Dungeon. God knows what's on the floor. I love it. So the Thunder Dungeon is holding ACDC. Is this one of your favorite pins, or just is it an ad pin to you, or what? I think it's a little better than an ad. Okay. But it's not. It's better than an ad to me.
    30:17
    It's better than an ad. What do you hate about it? It's harder than hell. It eats me alive. It's super hard. It's fast-flowing game. Steve Ritchie, that's what he does best. It's super fast. I love the music. Oh, yeah. Like for all the ACDC hater fans, I love the music. You know, I wasn't a big ACDC fan.
    30:40
    I love corny, so that's why I like Aerosmith. Everybody hates on Aerosmith. I like Aerosmith. This machine made me like ACDC way more than I ever would have. Then it did its job, I guess. Yeah, it did its job. This is it. I love, love, love this game. It's cool. Very nice. What are we moving on to, my man? This turd bucket here. Oh, my God. This is the remake. Who loves this game? Nobody likes this game, dude. Junker. This game's awesome. I wish I had one. I want this one. What do you say about this game? I'll load it up. It is what it is. What do you say about it? You say it's number one on Pinside for a reason. Yeah. That's what you say. It ain't on a lot of people's top of lists. It's majestic. It's fun. It is. The call-outs are great. There's nothing to not... Like you said about The Hobbit, there's nothing really not to like about this game. Anything in particular that stands out to you about this game?
    31:38
    I like the callouts. They're great. They are cool. Just funky callouts. I like Lord Howard Hertz. Lord Hertz? What the fuck are you? I love it. That's true. I like the castle. I like the ramps. I love that little shot back into the, uh, remember it's called? Oh, the damsel? Yes, the damsel shot. That's a satisfying shot. Very cool. You guys have played this. You guys love this. love this now this is the remake right this is the remake do you find that the remake is different than the regular I really don't but same thing other than 1998 I wasn't playing pinball so I didn't know what a new okay yeah out of the box Williams machine felt like what I know it's not a Williams what made you want the remake over the old one note I wonder I wanted something new you want new I wanted a new and so new components new everything yeah I wanted to play it I like to work on machine everything yeah I like to work on machine okay yeah but this was why I just didn't want I want to play it you want to be nice be nice I want to play it I'm that way with some machines some machines I don't care you're okay to work on yeah we get to my earth shaker over here like I told him The Earth Shaker. It looks terrible. But it plays It like the old rat rock You said it plays damn good Yeah it plays damn good Sometimes it fun to have a machine that just looks like crap but then you press the start button and you like oh crap this is awesome This is fun Heck, yeah, it's good. Like, side decals are off and stuff. Who cares? All right, this is your baby. Not many people's babies. It's your baby. And I got a pole right in my face. All right. What do you love about it?
    33:24
    I've not had much time on it, so you've got to. I don't know anything about the fast break. Well, the object, you know, is to get four championship rings. Basically, you complete every shot on the game four times. Okay. You have to play against the machine once you get through all the tasks of the machine. Is that Scottie Pippen? I think it is Scottie Pippen.
    33:48
    Yeah, you collide the glide. I don't know why I like this because back in the 80s and the 90s, collecting basketball cards, this is, I mean, I know all of these people. Amford and Hardaway and Grand Hill. This is where it was at. So I'm going to have to take a look at this game a little bit more. You know what I need to do one day? I'm going to come here with a box full of LEDs, and I'm going to LED the hell out of this thing. Sounds good to me. Would you allow me to do that? I will allow you to do that. Heck, yeah. I want to brighten this thing up. It's screaming LED me.
    34:18
    Any particular shots that you really like on this? Or anything, call-outs, music? I don't I take it Call outs The music and the call outs And all that stuff I don't like about the machine Okay What is this? Tell me about this That is What is that? That's your I think it's the foul shot Gotcha There is a There's a ball in the back glass Oh cool Like a circus solitaire kind of thing Yep When you Get here to Crazy Bob's Crazy Bob Yeah Your Concessions Pizza Power Shots, I believe it is. It is Crazy Bob's. It's like Dialed In. Crazy Bob's is that left shop. Dialed In has Crazy Bob. Yeah. Oh, it's like that. This has Crazy Bob. Junkyard has Crazy Bob. I forgot who designed this game. Sorry, guys. Who designed this thing? Gomez. This is a Gomez game. George Gomez. Huh. Very cool. Yeah. Coach George Gomez.
    35:15
    Very cool. Now, interesting. The Gomez is next side by side. Yeah. an interesting thing that you pointed out that I thought I've never heard before. You said the layout on this is very similar, you feel, to what? To Monster Bash. So similar layouts, only about $6,000 difference between the two. That's right. Yeah. So what do you like about the Monster Bash?
    35:38
    I like the flip. Yeah, nicely done. I like the bite of it. Yeah, I did do the monster. Everybody loves this game. Maybe it was because I liked NBA Fast Break. I don't know. You heard it here, guys. He likes Monster Bash because he liked Fast Break. Play them side by side and see what you think. Similar feels and stuff, too? They feel a lot alike. Maybe that's Gomez. But I love them. I love both these machines. This was my favorite machine. These two were my favorites for a long time. I love me some Bally Williams Gomez. Yeah. There's nothing like Bally Williams Gomez. I'll say that.
    36:16
    I do like this game. I think the code is very approachable. Yeah, exactly. You know what to do. This machine... It's hard to master though. This thing is hard to master. Both of these machines, they're easy to grasp. Yeah. And I think that I got these machines at a time when I started out with that ball. It made it easier for me to grasp the concept of... I guess I wouldn't call them modes. Just the different techniques and the different things you're supposed to do in a game. Yeah. And it's real easy for even a beginner to get. Very nice. I like it. Let's go look at some more games, guys. What do you guys want to see next? What are we going to look at? All right. We're going to talk about some Revenge from Mars. I like that you put unique things in your lineup. What makes you really like this thing?
    37:10
    This was one that just was an opportunity buy. Okay. Picked it up. It was at a time, I think I had two pinball machines. Yeah. And these two machines came up. These were my number three and number four machine. Bought them together. Oh, cool. Very nice. And... You still keep them close together. That's cool. Yeah, they're still together. Very nice. So what do you love about that? Because you know what? For me, this machine, a lot of people dog it, but it always kind of draws me in. I think the art is great. It's just intriguing. Now, I'm not going to recommend anybody for their first pin go out and buy a Revenge from Mars by any means. Actually, I would say do not do that. Now, there's a lot of maintenance issues that you have to consider on this. Is that correct? I haven't had many. Okay. What scares you about this machine, then? The TV screen scares me. It scared me, too.
    38:03
    So you would have to. I don't know how it is with this machine, but I know arcade games. Yeah. You can retrofit in it. I'll see you or something. Okay, very cool. Now I've got a comment on this. This is a really really beautiful game man This is was this ever routed. It was brown. Oh, wow
    38:24
    Take my word for the problem this one. I completely stripped this down The routed black sludge was on it black yeah you can read it all the old school guys say that protected it the sludge protected it I've never heard anybody say that but it makes sense they know a lot of people say that when you got that big thick grid it actually protects from the ball messing up the inserts and stuff over time I never heard that but this machine so you stripped it down I took everything down I didn't strip the clear coat it polished all the plastic I noticed it post play field Wow pretty proud of this one I am I was pretty proud you did a hell of a job man it's really awesome I mean I'm having that's a little rough still but I don't care about cat you're not a big you don't play the cabinet do you you don't play the cabinet I don't look at the cabinet yeah I don't care about you shoving in like this you don't see the damn thing i don't care about cabinet artwork it's kind of you know it's a little extra here but look at that art you got that it's pretty cool art oh my gosh it's the first time i've ever even looked at the art i always forget about this game i i get it it has its issues yeah it's it's stuff like it's like when i see it in your collection i freaking want this game there's something about pinball guys and i'm that way too when you add video game into pinball it kind of turns us off yeah i don't like the video game component to it but the theme is awesome the artwork is awesome the layout is pretty cool the concept i think is uh this is pretty good i kind of like the concept of integrating some video the problem is 20 years down the line now or 17 years down the line the animations are out of date you've got a lot of things that just don't feel like 2017 still fun that's all that matters that's all that matters speaking of fun i have a lot of fun when i play this game and you said hey hey i don't i don't know what it is i would love to have this game long enough to say i can't get into it fully i still think it's badass that you're i haven't you don't care you're like it's not you know it doesn't do a lot for my keep trying I have just haven't been able to reach that I'll have that left ramp though I love that left ramp what I like about Papa Duke games is that they have like sometimes you don't know Rick told me in one of the other videos and he's right sometimes you don't know where the ball is coming from because it's got a little hide holes and ramps lift up, not necessarily on this game, but for the most part on Papadook games that do that. And it's really nice. This is one of the tops for a reason for me. What do you particularly like about this game?
    41:32
    Is there any, you've got like the magnet. That is pretty badass how the magnet sucks it down to the play field. That is super cool. I just like the layout. I stripped this machine down too. Did you really? It was fun. Maybe that's why I don't get rid of it.
    41:50
    You don't get rid of it because you don't get rid of any damn thing. And I can respect that. I think it's cool. I'm going to keep playing this machine.
    41:58
    Sorry. I'm going to keep playing it until... You'll never get rid of it. I've not completed it. Oh yeah? I suck so bad at this machine. Okay. I'm mad it's cool. If you guys are like me, I'm like salivating over here. I friggin' love this thing. I don't think I'd beat more than three of the tasks. Yeah. Isn't it weird how, are you like at two tops? Some games you'll play and everybody digs, but you're like, I'm just not feeling this game. And you come back to it, I'm still not feeling this game. Let me ask you this, are you a score guy or are you a task guy? I'm a mode task guy all the way. That's why I don't really do tournaments or anything. Number one, I'm not good enough. Number two, I care about the quest and the journey of something. I want to get to a wizard mode. I don't care about 20 million or 2 billion. I don't care about the points. The points will come. That's why some of the new sterns kind of bother me because Game of Thrones, Ghostbusters not so much, but Game of Thrones is a big multiplier game. You're trying to get multipliers the whole time to boost up your score, and it just doesn't feel great to me. I want to get to a mode. I want to start that mode. I want there to be theatrics. I want to complete the mode, get rewarded, and I want to move to the next part of the journey. And I think that's where The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings comes in for me. I think so. Because it's so, it's pretty heavy. That's a great point. That's a really good point. Yeah, I love the Moes. All right, so what we're probably going to do now, dude, you've got so many games here that it's going to be a two-hour video if we go through it. So I tell you what, what we're going to do is we'll scan through, show you guys the other games, and if you're kind enough, maybe when you get Lebowski, we'll come back, and we'll look at all the other games too. And who knows what else will be here. Awesome. All right, guys. Zach from Straight Down the Middle. Thanks so much, Tom. You're welcome. That's awesome. Tom from Indiana. If you guys see him in a show or anything, say hi. Until next week, check us out. Later. You hit it off with a bumper knife Straight down the middle again Middle again You had a fling with a fling shot You're rolling out the alley dog Yeah I tried to cradle you with my flipper It was all in vain Baby, baby, baby Why are you doing me wrong?