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Episode 24: I Spent 4 Years Collecting Pinball Machines and Here's What I Learned!

The Flipside Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·59m 17s·analyzed·Feb 2, 2025
6a07ad73-c9cb-495d-9869-35aa5b722629
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.033

TL;DR

Retro Ralph reviews his 3+ year pinball collecting journey and lessons learned from 14 owned machines.

Summary

Retro Ralph reflects on his three-plus years collecting pinball machines, examining the 14 games he has owned (6 current, 8 sold) and the lessons learned. He discusses his evolution from casual player to competitive enthusiast, his initial mistakes (buying without understanding games, favoring Premium over Pro), his partnership with Stern Pinball's marketing program, and how his appreciation for game variety and code depth transformed his hobby experience.

Key Claims

  • Retro Ralph has owned 14 pinball machines total over approximately 3+ years (6 current, 8 sold)

    high confidence · Retro Ralph discussing his Pinside collection history; stated 'I have six in my current collection and eight in my history'

  • Retro Ralph was recruited by Stern Pinball through a third-party marketing company called '47' after they saw his Jurassic Park video

    high confidence · Retro Ralph describing the Stern program recruitment: 'they watched my Jurassic Park video it wasn't stern by the way it's this like third-party marketing company called uh i don't know 47'

  • The Stern program involved loaning games with no formal contract, no purchase discount, and loose expectations for content creation

    high confidence · Retro Ralph explaining program terms: 'there was really no rules to this like it honestly didn't even say you had to create content... there was really not a lot of like hey this is our expectations'

  • Stern appears to be increasing Pro model features (e.g., X-Men, D&D) to reduce perceived gap between Pro and Premium tiers

    medium confidence · Retro Ralph analyzing Stern's recent strategy: 'they're really starting to make these pros packed with a lot of things, so it doesn't seem like you're losing a lot'

  • Retro Ralph has played pinball competitively for approximately the last year and credits this with significant skill improvement

    high confidence · Retro Ralph: 'i started playing more in tournaments over the last year and that's when i really really appreciated location play'

  • James Bond Premium/Pro received significant code updates late in its lifecycle that improved community reception

    medium confidence · Retro Ralph on James Bond code history: 'The consensus in the community was, holy crap, when James Bond came out, the code was just underdeveloped... it wasn't until later that they – the code was all modernized'

  • Venom Premium was subject to fire-sale pricing by distributors during the LE production run

    medium confidence · Retro Ralph: 'distros really couldn't sell them. So they were fire-sailing the LEs. They were calling them open box'

Notable Quotes

  • “You don't know what you don't know. So I made a lot of mistakes along the way. Maybe you'll learn from these.”

    Retro Ralph @ early in episode — Sets the tone for the episode's reflective analysis of his collecting journey and learning curve

  • “Eddie, I believe in you, man. You're still out there. I know you are. Please, please be in the current season.”

    Retro Ralph @ mid-episode, discussing Stranger Things — Personal anecdote showing his enthusiasm for the show and its narrative; illustrates why he chose Stranger Things Pro initially

  • “The code tells the game what to do. So the game is even though the physical layout of a pinball machine can be really exciting a big piece of how fun it is is based on how the game is programmed.”

    Retro Ralph @ mid-episode, explaining code importance — Educational moment for newer players; emphasizes software's critical role in game experience

  • “You can be critical of something and provide feedback on something without being a jerk. And those guys are just class acts, right?”

    Retro Ralph @ discussing Loser Kid podcast hosts — Community commentary on respectful discourse; praise for Josh and Scott's interview approach with Seth Davis

  • “Don't feel this pressure to always go premium. Some of these pros, especially in modern times, are really good.”

    Retro Ralph @ late-episode, after discussing Jaws Pro — Key learning point and advice to collectors; reflects his evolution in appreciating Pro-level machines

  • “I fell in love with Venom... but the thing is, I'm an idiot. I bought Venom Premium after I demoed it. Then I sold Venom Premium and I missed it.”

    Retro Ralph @ mid-episode, discussing Venom ownership — Self-aware moment highlighting his collecting impulsiveness and how game appreciation evolves

  • “I've become a player in my opinion. Like it's not it's not a casual thing for me anymore.”

    Retro Ralph @ late-episode — Personal milestone marking his transition from casual collector to serious competitor

Entities

Retro RalphpersonFlippin' Out PinballcompanyStern PinballcompanyJoe MarchfieldpersonBrian EddypersonDwightpersonSeth DavispersonJoshperson

Signals

  • ?

    collector_signal: Venom LEs were fire-sold by distributors during production run, marketed as open-box or demo units, creating secondary market opportunities

    medium · Retro Ralph: 'distros really couldn't sell them. So they were fire-sailing the LEs. They were calling them open box... But this wasn't that long ago that I got this. So anyway, so I got the Venom LE'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Stern appears to be addressing Pro/Premium gap by adding features to Pro models (X-Men, D&D cited) to reduce customer pressure to buy Premium

    medium · Retro Ralph: 'they're really starting to make these pros packed with a lot of things, so it doesn't seem like you're losing a lot... so it doesn't feel like you automatically as a homebuyer have to buy a premium'

  • $

    market_signal: Stern CEO Seth Davis hinted at potential future price increases on Loser Kid podcast; no firm commitment made

    medium · Retro Ralph: 'They had Seth Davis, the current CEO of Stern Pinball on... he doesn't commit to they are or they aren't' regarding price increases

  • ?

    code_update: James Bond received substantial code updates late in production cycle that significantly improved game reception and playability

    medium · Retro Ralph: 'The consensus in the community was, holy crap, when James Bond came out, the code was just underdeveloped and underwhelming... it wasn't until later that they – so I got the game way later... and the code was all modernized'

  • ?

    design_innovation: Venom Premium introduced Insider Connected technology for character progression and save state persistence; positioned as version 1.0 of this feature

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.178

0:00
Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of the Flipside Podcast. I'm your host Retro Ralph. I'm excited to talk to you guys today because we are going to dive into my history. Sort of what games have I purchased so far. being in the hobby a little over, you know, I'd say you could call it close to four years, but we'll say three. I've been in the hobby a little over three years. What has been my experience? What games have I owned? What decisions did I make that maybe I regret? And like, let's just look back on that because I think you can learn a lot by your actions. If you really, you know, especially in a hobby, when you're beginning in it, right, you got to get excited. You might make some quick decisions and you don't know what you don't know. People aren't born with knowing everything about the hobby they enter into. You have to learn.
1:05
It'd be awesome if you could instantly have knowledge, but you have to learn by doing or learn by experiencing things. And that's kind of what this is going to be because it's going to be this look into my mental state as I was buying these things. You know what I mean? Because I didn't know what I didn't know. So I made a lot of mistakes along the way. Maybe you'll learn from these. I don't know. Maybe you won't. But if you're new or you might, if you've been in the hobby for a while, you're going to be like, yeah, I've done that before. So maybe it'll just be validation. I don't know. But anyway, whatever it is, it's going to be a bit of therapy for all of us. But before we get started, let's quickly have a word from our sponsor and then we'll dive right into it.
1:48
Are you looking for a new pinball machine, a used pinball machine, or to trade in your old pinball machine for something new? look no further than Flippin' Out Pinball. They can handle all your pinball needs. They ship anywhere in the United States, and they will give you the best experience in the business. Check out the link to Flippin' Out Pinball in the video description for more information. Now, back to the video.

  • Retro Ralph initially had a bias against Pro-level machines but has since reconsidered after playing modern Pros like Jaws and Black Knight Rage Pro

    high confidence · Retro Ralph: 'I'm really enjoying playing... I've graduated out of this idea that I need more stuff on the play field to be fun'

  • Retro Ralph has maintained 160+ consecutive days of pinball gameplay

    high confidence · Retro Ralph: 'I'm up to like 160 something days straight of gameplay. So I haven't taken breaks'

  • Brian Eddy designed both Stranger Things and Venom; Dwight worked on Venom code

    high confidence · Retro Ralph: 'This was, you know, Brian Eddy again and Dwight on the code' (referring to Venom)

  • “My grandfather when he was alive we used to watch James Bond all the time together... there's a little bit of nostalgia memories for me”

    Retro Ralph @ discussing James Bond Pro — Emotional context explaining his unexpected appreciation for a game he initially dismissed

  • “It's a rocket. It's not what your dirty mind is thinking. It's a rocket.”

    Retro Ralph @ discussing James Bond Pro physical features — Humorous aside about the ball lock design; shows his personality and the community's running joke

  • “When you're in a hot, hot and heavy game, I'd say you're not looking at the LCD very often if, if at all.”

    Retro Ralph @ discussing modern pinball features — Gameplay observation about modern pinball design priorities; suggests LCD is secondary to playfield experience

    • Scott
    person
    Aaronperson
    Pinsideorganization
    Jurassic Park Progame
    Stranger Things Progame
    Godzillagame
    Venom Premiumgame
    James Bond Progame
    Jaws Progame
    Black Knight Rage Progame
    X-Mengame
    D&Dgame
    Pinball Expoevent
    Loser Kid podcastorganization
    Game Room Goodiescompany
    Flipping Out channelorganization

    high · Retro Ralph: 'I enjoyed that the sort of the innovative things they did with Insider Connected and all that... you could argue that was like sort of version 1.0 of them saying, could we level up characters, save game progression?'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Retro Ralph's perception of Pro models has shifted significantly; initially dismissed them as inferior, now recognizes modern Pros (Jaws, Black Knight Rage) as genuinely excellent

    high · Retro Ralph: 'I had zero expectations going into it' (Jaws Pro); 'I've graduated out of this idea that I need more stuff on the play field to be fun'

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Shot accuracy emerges as critical skill differentiator; tighter-shot games (Stranger Things, Venom) reward precision more than forgiving layouts

    high · Retro Ralph: 'when you're bricking balls, you're not having fun... some games are more forgiving... Stranger Things is not one of those'

  • ?

    business_signal: Stern's marketing program through third-party company '47' involved loose terms: no contract, no purchase discount, unclear content expectations, game loans only

    high · Retro Ralph: 'there was really no rules to this... there was really not a lot of like hey this is our expectations... no discount by the way if you want to buy it'

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Brian Eddy confirmed as designer on both Stranger Things and Venom; Dwight confirmed as code programmer on Venom

    high · Retro Ralph: 'This was, you know, Brian Eddy again and Dwight on the code' (Venom); earlier 'It's a Brian Eddy game' (Stranger Things)

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Location play and tournament participation significantly improved skill development and game appreciation; Retro Ralph now plays competitively after 1+ year of tournament engagement

    high · Retro Ralph: 'tournament play is fun it's competitive... it's made me a better player... i started playing more in tournaments over the last year and that's when i really really appreciated location play'

  • ?

    content_signal: Modern pinball rule sheets are lengthy and overwhelming for new players; streams like 'Flipping Out' channel fill gap by teaching code and strategy

    medium · Retro Ralph: 'there's really not a... rule sheets are long man like if you brought someone you're trying to introduce someone to the hobby and you're like hey here's this 25 page rule sheet... you're gonna overwhelm people'

    • 2:12
    Okay, so we are back. Thank you to Zach at Flippin' Out Pinball for the sponsorship, and if you're looking for a new year's pinball machine, go check those guys out. Okay, so we're going to get right into it. So we're going to visit our favorite site, Pinside, you know, everyone's favorite, most positive site about pinball. There's a lot of great things about Pinside, but, you know, there's some people that hang out there every now and then just really there to not necessarily be the most welcoming, welcome wagon committee. But, hey, I appreciate the site for the way I use it, and I feel like it's actually been pretty valuable for me. So when you sign up for Pinside, if you're not familiar, you can actually create your collection of games that you currently own. But also as you sell them off or maybe upgrade your collection or change it, whatever you want to call it, whatever term you want to use, you can then move it to your history. Now, what I did was I had not really done this or maintained this throughout time. So what I ended up doing is I went back in and then added all the games more recently that I used to own. And I did this just so I could, I don't know, just kind of, I don't know, part of me was like, maybe I'll learn from doing this exercise. So I went and put in all the games that I currently own, and then I basically put all the games I've ever owned, and then I archived off all the ones that I've sold. So we can see a little bit of how I progress through the hobby. So it's kind of fun. So this is the current collection, but it's more interesting to me to look at the historicals. So if you look at this, it says I have six in my current collection and eight in my history. So that means I've moved along eight games total and I have six at this point left. So you can see kind of what's going on. So I'm going to click on the history.
    3:56
    And there's a lot of games in here. There's eight games. So over the time that I've been in this hobby, I've sold off or moved along or traded eight games. Which is kind of crazy considering it's only been a little over three years. So I feel like that's a lot of games. But also, you know, like I said, you don't know what you don't know. But the game that started it all for me was Jurassic Park Pro. So Jurassic Park Pro I got after coming back from my first Pinball Expo. This was the Pinball Expo that launched Godzilla. So this would have been probably the first Pinball Expo after the pandemic or, you know, the first one back from the pandemic. So anyways, people were still masked up and all that stuff. So there's a video out there somewhere. If I could find the footage, I'll put it in the video, but I don't know that I can. But in that video, I say something like, man, I really want to buy it. I should own a pinball machine, or I really want to buy a pinball machine, or pinball's fun, or something to that degree. But still at that point, my skills were not great. I probably just went up to a machine and flipped it a little bit, but didn't really understand the fundamentals, didn't really understand how deep the code could be on some of these games, and how fun it could be if you understood the rules of modern pinball. But anyway, so I got back from that show. I bought Jurassic Park Pro, and that was my first game. Now, when I say I learned some things, Jurassic Park Pro was probably a good first game to pick, but the thing is, I don't think I gave it time because I didn't let my skills develop and really enjoy the game.
    5:24
    And at that time, I was teetering back and forth on do I want a Jurassic Park or a Stranger Things or a Deadpool. Those were the games, and Stranger Things was more influenced because at the time I, and still do, I really love the series. I can't wait for it to come back. It's coming back this year. I'm very excited to see what happens. Like, Eddie has to be alive, guys. Like, he can't be dead. How can Eddie be dead? He was like one of my favorite characters. Please, Eddie, be alive. And they didn't really show him dying, really. So I don't know, man. My theory is Eddie's still alive somewhere. He better come. He's like such a cool character in the show. Anyways, Eddie, I believe in you, man. You're still out there. I know you are. Please, please be in the current season. Everyone would be very happy. But anyways, back to the collection. So I sold off Jurassic Park Pro after not a lot of time. So I didn't really enjoy that game. I didn't get a chance to appreciate that game. And then I went from Jurassic Park Pro to a Stranger Things Pro. This was a time where I wasn't fully, like, I wasn't fully, I didn't, I was still very heavily involved in the arcade game hobby, restoration, collection hobby. So I just, I didn't put as much stake into pinball at that time. And that was consuming a lot of my time because when you're in the arcade hobby, you're constantly fixing, repairing, restoring, and probably not playing much. So it wasn't until later that I realized, wow, it'd be really cool to, like, buy something modern and play it and be involved in a hobby where there's new things coming out all the time. And that's kind of what ultimately gravitated me toward pinball because, anyways, we'll get back to the list real quick. Okay, so we're back in the list. Stranger Things Pro. Now, for those of you that don't know, the Pro and the Premium, to me, are basically the same. Pro, Premium, LE, and Stranger Things, outside of, obviously, you get additional things with the trim levels. This is one of those games where the shot layout is basically 100% the same. There really isn't much on the playfield that would distinguish these two, even with the LE. And it's mainly the telekinesis multiball. So for those of you that don't know, on Stranger Things, there's this magnet that Eleven, her hand is sort of in the back. And when you light the locks and you go up the left ramp, it locks it like magnetizes the ball on her hand. She'll hold all three as you lock all three and then release it for multi-ball, which is a very cool feature, but a little finicky. Sometimes it doesn't work 100% the way it should. But anyways, kind of cool. So you lack that feature in the Pro. The other feature is the projector. And the projector is freaking cool. I can't deny that the projector isn't cool. And then, of course, Stern never made the UV a standard feature. I don't know why, because I don't even think the, I don't know this for sure. I don't know if the UV was a standard feature on the LE. I actually don't know that. But it's definitely not a standard feature on the Pro or the Premium. You had to buy the kit. Now, the nice thing is, is that ink, that UV ink is on all of the playfields. So you can upgrade that no matter which one you have. Anyways, I'm going down a rabbit hole. Stranger Things right now, but I really enjoyed Stranger Things. I think it helped me develop my shots a little bit. It's a Brian Eddy game. Those right and left ramp shots, you'd expect them to be really easy, and they're a little challenging. So I think it was the start of me realizing shot accuracy is important, because when you're bricking balls, you're not having fun. And some games are more forgiving than others, where you can be kind of more casual, and you're still hitting things and still shooting up ramps and things. So there's some games that can be a little bit more forgiving. I'd say Stranger Things is not one of those. Like those shots can be pretty tight on the left and right ramp. So you got to be, you got to hone in your skills. So I feel like I did learn a little bit on that. And then, and then Stranger Things, I don't know. I felt like I wanted something a little bit more because that shot, that game is really, you know, the Demogorgon is a very exciting thing, right? You hit the drop targets and at some point you can then shoot down the middle and then the ramp comes down you fight the demogorgon and that that progression gets more difficult as you play though instead of one round of drop targets you gotta hit one down then another round until you get to the second and then of course it just progressively gets more difficult but it is fun it's exciting to battle the demogorgon so that didn't get old for a while i'd say i played it for a while now and i wasn't playing at the frequency i am now like now i'm playing every single day if i don't play actually i don't have a day that i haven't played in the last, I think I'm up to like 160 something days straight of gameplay. So I haven't taken breaks. I don't want to, I'm having so much fun. But back then, it took me a lot longer to experience a game because I wasn't playing every day. And I only had, I had a couple games in my collection. And I, like I said, I was kind of focused more on the arcade stuff. So after Stranger Things, I'm trying to remember what happened after Stranger Things. I think after Stranger Things, shoot, I don't even know the order i think it was godzilla so i think after stranger things i got godzilla and godzilla i freaking loved again though my skills were developing but this was right around the time where i started really understanding and watching like joel at on the flipping out channel like watching him and go okay these games could be so much more fun if i understood the software people say code by the way i hope everyone understands this if you're newer to the hobby you're probably like why does everyone always say code code code it's the software that runs the game right it's basically how what is the software when you do certain things with the pinball what is the software program to do for instance like when i drop when i hit these four drop targets this thing is going to come down i then can fight the demogorgon like the code tells the game what to do so the game is even though the physical layout of a pinball machine can be really exciting a big piece of how fun it is is based on how the game is programmed aka the code and then also the lcd like are the is the lcd intriguing now i will say that the more i play the less i actually look at the lcd like the lcd really to me is it's cool that it's there but you know you're not really glancing at it often like i'll say with metallica i tend to look at it a lot because it's telling you how many more shots you need or hits on whatever target you're on you need, whether it's, you know, how many balls do you have? You have you put in the snake's mouth so far? How many times have you hit the hammer, the captive ball? You know, it'll tell you like five more and then lock will be lit. So there's some stuff in there. And sometimes the LCD has some informational things, but when you're in a hot, hot and heavy game, I'd say you're not looking at the LCD very often if, if at all. But anyways, so Godzilla, my skills are starting to get a little bit better. I started to understand the code a little bit better, understood how to start modes and maybe even complete some modes. So my progression was going pretty good. But I did this all within a short period of time. Then I believe around this time, I believe around this time, actually, believe it or not, I'm thinking is when the Stern program started. So that's when Stern got a hold of me and said, hey, we watched. And the funny thing is they watched my Jurassic Park video it wasn't stern by the way it's this like third-party marketing company called uh i don't know 47 i think is what it's called so they they it was it was random i got this random email it and it looked like spam to be honest because it was one of those emails it's like hey we saw your video on jurassic park and we thought it was really well done like would you like are you interested it was kind of like are you interested in uh some kind of like partnership with Stern. It didn't really explain what that partnership was. And it was a ton of emails back and forth for a really ridiculous amount of time before I actually got to someone at Stern, which was Joe Marchfield. Anyway, so got to him. And then finally, we figured out the program. Like we figured out how to, I figured out how to, and I think my first game that they wanted me to do, and it was funny, there was like really no, there was really no rules to this like it honestly didn't even say you had to create content on it which i thought was weird and then it was kind of just like yeah you know you're a youtuber so here's the game and you have it for you're gonna have four games over a period of like four months and then that and then there was no like contract signed or anything that would kind of make this a longer term thing or anything like that it was really very loose again like nothing signed no real expectations of what to create it didn't say post stuff here there but but it was maybe implied like hey if you made some content that's kind of what we're looking at but it wasn't really like bold and in your face so it's kind of weird to me that someone would be willing to put something this expensive at my house without really much like it wasn't there was really not a lot of like hey this is our expectations so anyways i felt a lot of pressure because at the time i was like wow this is really cool for Stern Pinball, who I've bought their games. I was buying their games, obviously, for them to say, hey, we're going to loan you this game for some period of time. Think about that. That would be very exciting to anybody. So that was really exciting. And the first game that they gave me was Venom Premium. And the thing is, so the reason why Venom Premium was kind of fun to me was because Stranger Things and Godzilla I was starting to get shot accuracy down The thing about Venom is Venom can be like a really difficult game in the sense that it a fan layout and you just got to be accurate with your shots When you start bricking gate, like once when the first couple of times you play Venom and your shot accuracy is not good, it's not that fun. But I actually really enjoyed Venom. I enjoyed that the sort of the innovative things they did with Insider Connected and all that. I thought that was really cool. Like that was a cool thing that they did with with Venom. And then that was, you could argue that was like sort of version 1.0 of them saying, could we level up characters, save game progression? And this was, you know, Brian Eddy again and Dwight on the code. And I think they did a great job with it personally. And I don't think this game gets enough credit, to be honest. And I don't know if it's because maybe the people that have been in the hobby for a while, they don't enjoy fan layouts as much. and maybe that's why they want something a little bit more intricate and a little you know not not just so obvious that all the shots are just right in front of you and i think depending on the level of player that can sometimes be hard to play those kinds of games you know i mean until you really get good at them so if someone just walks up and venom pro was really bad so venom pro was like really bare and bad i hadn't but the thing is i hadn't played venom pro so to me i really enjoyed the premium and i think a lot of the hate venom gets is actually from the pro because they stripped the pro down big time now i will say this stern seems to be right now something is going on at stern i think where they're saying hey i have no by the way guys i have no knowledge into what they're going to do with pricing no idea but you know uh the loser kid guys love those guys by the way um josh and scott awesome awesome dudes they've been doing these awesome interviews lately and They had Seth Davis, the current CEO of Stern Pinball on, and they asked him about, they were pretty, you know, they, they were pretty bold and said, Hey guys, like not bold, but they just asked the difficult questions, you know, in a respectful manner. They're very respectful guys. And they, you know, you can ask tough questions. It's all about your delivery, right? Are you respectful? And they were very, they're very respectful. And I love that about them. They're just positive guys. You know, you can, you can be critical and like, that's my mantra. You can be critical of something and provide feedback on something without being a jerk. And those guys are just class acts, right? So anyway, so they talk to Seth Davis, and Seth Davis is talking about kind of implying like, hey, we haven't raised prices in a while, but maybe – he doesn't commit to they are or they aren't. But why I bring that up is that it seems like now Stern's on sort of this path where they're putting more into the pro. If you look at games like X-Men, if you look at more recent games, I'd say probably X-Men. You look at D&D. There's a theme where they're really starting to make these pros packed with a lot of things, so it doesn't seem like you're losing a lot. And I think that's so that it doesn't feel like you automatically as a homebuyer have to buy a premium. and I think that's always kind of been the way unless someone really likes the shots although I will say this like I know I'm kind of all over the place in this episode I recently played a Jaws pro and I think this has more to do with where I'm at in the hobby right now is I'm really enjoying playing like I've become a player in my opinion like I it's not it's not a casual thing for me anymore and I think that's because I do competition too it's fun but I I have I've graduated out of this idea that I need more stuff on the play field to be fun. Cause I'll tell you this. I had so much fun playing that jaws pro and I felt like it was like flowing better. I don't know if it's because it doesn't have that upper play field.
    18:35
    I mean, I do like the boat. The boat is cool, but I didn't really miss it. And it makes me think this is what really like why I kind of wanted to do this episode is I feel like it really made me realize, am I automatically in my head just programmed that the premium is just better all the time and so I don't even I discount the pros as like that's not even something I want to like like in my mind I've I do believe I've mentally wrote off pros until more recently where I'm playing them going these play great like I just picked up a where we'll get to it in a minute I just picked up a black knight sort of rage pro and it's awesome I've played the premium the premium has that catapult in the secondary play field which which is interesting because historically speaking that that's what kind of made black knight right so so to not have that it kind of seems oh well the pro is is missing something that would uh pay respect to the original but to me and and you will hear this a lot from people the catapult changes that game in the sense that that game is fast and brutal and it slows it down so i think you lose a little bit of that aggressiveness that i think Steve Ritchie was going for in the game. But anyways, I digress on that. But the moral of the story there is don't feel this pressure to always go premium. Some of these pros, especially in modern times, are really good. And this goes back to my collection again. So after Godzilla, well, sorry, after Venom, I ended up really enjoying Venom, but Venom was part of the program, so I had to give Venom back. So you had to give it back. They just loan it to you. They don't let you have it, right? And there's no discount, by the way, if you want to buy it it's not like they're like oh you're part of the program you know you get you get that cost no there's no nothing like that it's just yeah if you want to buy it i'll sell it to you but you're gonna pay what everyone else pays not that i expected a discount i'm just saying there's no perk to the program if anybody was wondering so anyways i mean outside of you getting the games so i ended up really liking venom and i bought it now you're probably wondering why is there a venom premium and a venom le on here because i'm an idiot i bought venom premium after I demoed it. Then I sold Venom Premium and I missed it. And then I was like, I like this game so much. So many people are gonna make fun of me for this. I like this game so much that I'm gonna buy the LE. But the thing is, the reason why the LE was appealing to me at the time is because distros really couldn't sell them. So they were fire-sailing the LEs. They were calling them open box.
    21:00
    I don't know. I have no idea whether they were really open box, whether they were demo. but I'll tell you the Venom LE I got was, it came in a box brand new. I think maybe the box had been cracked open, but for all intents and purposes, this was a brand new Venom LE. But this wasn't that long ago that I got this. So anyway, so I got the Venom LE and then I was like, what am I doing? Like, I was like, what am I doing? I had progressed through Venom. I had, you know, I wouldn't say I saw the whole game, but I'd say I got a good enough experience with it that I was like, you know what, it's time for it to, time for it to go out to pasture. So I ended up, the cool thing is, I posted a random post on Twitter about my Venom LE and a buddy of mine that lives down in Florida that's been a fan of the channel and we've become friends over time you know friends in real life I met him in real life he um you know not just virtual friends but uh but yeah it's cool he's a really nice guy and he's like hey man I would love I love Venom I'd love to buy your Venom LE so I felt like that was cool because he's someone I know that's gonna have the game that's gonna enjoy it so anyway so I move Venom LE on so now that leads me to James Bond James Bond comes in as the next game they want me to showcase on the channel for the Stern program. And I'm thinking to myself, I am so uninterested in this game. Nothing about it. I was like, it's the pro. And this is still when I had my dumb pro mindset. Oh, pro's crap, blah, blah. Like, oh, they sent me the pro. Like, you know what I mean? Like, they sent me some piece of crap. Well, come to find out, this was after the code, though. So James Bond, at least historically when I talk to people that have been in the hobby for longer, I've never played the original code, so I can't comment. I can only comment on what other people say. The consensus in the community was, holy crap, when James Bond came out, the code was just underdeveloped and underwhelming, which made the game not popular with a lot of people. And I think that was also reflective of the sales of the game. And it wasn't until later that they – so I got the game way later because this is way late in its life cycle really. and the code was all modernized. I mean, not modernized, but it was past 1.0. And I fell in love with that game. I was like, holy crap, this is fun. Now there are things you don't have in the pro, but this is another one of those games where it's like, okay, there's a physical ball lock over by the missile or the dongle-y thing.
    23:15
    And I'm not going to say what people say that that thing looks like. It's a freaking rocket, okay? It's a rocket. It's not what your dirty mind is thinking. It's a rocket. so anyways it's a rocket so i don't even know what i'm saying what am i going with that oh so you miss the physical ball lock and you don't have the jet pack dude and then you don't have the there's like this on the left where the ball can kind of go in that little i don't know even know what you call that thing i don't know if you'd call that a scoop i don't know it's like a i don't know whatever that thing that the thing on the left that sucks the ball and it's all it doesn't suck it in but it seems like it does it's all so you suck the ball on the left on the pro it's just a piece of plastic on the premium there's a really cool like underwater scene that actually has these like model characters that are actually under the it's like a clear it's very cool it's basically like a clear piece of plexi or or a plastic on the top and then there's a characters on the bottom and a light lights up it's very cool it's this underwater scene it gives this like it gives this feeling of depth it's very cool actually but but these are minor things it's not like the premium and the le have these major differences so to me i fell in love with the pro if i and of course i got rid of it because we're looking at the historical list but i would actually consider getting james bond again it was that good i have that much fun with it it's just a cool ass game and the thing is i had zero expectations going into it but here's the other thing too and this is what made me approach it with an open mind my grandfather when he was alive we used to watch James Bond all the time together. And so there's a little bit of nostalgia memories for me, and it's definitely the era of movies that this game was made after. So it was very, very cool to me.
    25:04
    Anyway, I like it. I like it a lot, and I would get it again. But also, these games had – the one thing that's interesting about game variety is as you start having all these variety of games, it really improves your skills now i'm not saying you have to own all these to have this happen you can totally go on pinball map find a place near you on location find a tournament whatever find places locations you can play and you can experience a variety of games there but i wasn't into location play so much right then it wasn't until like probably really truly where i fully appreciated and i was like holy crap i love location play was more over the last i'll even call it year so i started playing more in tournaments over the last year and that's when i really really appreciated location play for two reasons one tournament play is fun it's competitive i'm a competitive person which is frustrating because you realize how how not good you are at pinball when you play against some of these people but it's made me a better player and i've gotten to experience lots of different games but at that time i wasn't really going out and doing that much so my home collection was how i did that so anyway so that was part of the stern program that had to move on but i did buy that one so they didn't even send it back i went to the distributor who that's how the program works they give you the game through a distributor this one it was game room goodies and i'm like aaron i want to buy it he's like okay cool like that's cool i don't have to pick it up so and stern didn't care because they're like cool you mean you want to buy it awesome and i just sold another game uh that uh there was a pattern they kept giving me the stupid games to to do like videos on or whatever and i was buying the games so i don't know maybe that was smart on their behalf but anyways so you can see like my love for these games and it just just kind of snowballed from here and my skills were getting better as i as i went along there's probably people that don't care about developing their skills but i truly think that when if you if you're gonna if you're gonna really appreciate a game there's two things that i'd say will make games more fun for you working on your shot accuracy and your general skills and just like the repetition of it like playing more play more and then learn the code go to like those flipping out streams and go learn how how to play the game because you know i will say the one thing that's kind of the one not not so approachable thing about modern pinball is yeah sure there's the little card on the game that sort of tells you how to basically get started but there's really not a and there's a rule sheet but the rule sheets are long man like if you if you brought someone you're trying to introduce someone to the hobby and you're like hey here's this 25 page rule sheet to learn how to play james bond you're gonna be like what you're gonna overwhelm people so i like those things especially like the quick tutorials that joel does the reason i like that is because it gives you enough to get started so like get the general knowledge of it actually travis does a great job too over at the pinball company uh tom uh does a great job uh triple drain drain tom like he does an awesome job too like they do a good job explaining things and they don't go too deep that you're like oh man i'm overwhelmed now now i don't know what to do at all so anyways james bond i kept it was part of the program we're gonna accelerate and go a little faster now because we're almost 30 minutes in then foo fighters so i bought a foo fighters and i sold it really quick i didn't give it a chance though because i've played it more recently Now, keep in mind also, the theme with some of these games when you buy them, this is just me being honest. It's not a negative thing, by the way. It just is what it is. Stern tends to have various different levels of, depending on which development team is working on the game, some games come out with more mature code than others. Foo Fighters, I'd say, when I got it, it still needed a lot of work. The shot layout and everything was really fun, but they rapidly updated it. I recently played it at Dave & Buster's of all places in Schaumburg. There's a Dave & Buster's that I guess Stern has been testing games out for a while. It's kind of close to Interium, but Interium was closed, so I went over there to check it out. And I was like, wow, they've really made a lot of improvements in Foo Fighters, the code, and I was having a really good time with it. So, of course, I can't keep all these games. I only have room for six, but I had moved along Foo Fighters, so I sold it very quickly. I actually sold it to a guy, Audie, who owns Cobra Arcade Bar here in Phoenix. And I kind of lucky that I sold it when I sold it because I sold it right when I got it And I think they hadn done a second run of it yet So I basically just sold it for what I paid for it I think I took a couple hundred dollars off That was it But that's kind of rare these days, right? It's kind of rare to buy a game, and that's the unfortunate thing too. When I first started in the hobby and bought my Jurassic Park, in that time when I bought that, I was able to sell it for what I paid for it. Sometimes that's true now, and sometimes it's not. so i think the the more you go up in trim level the harder it is to get your money back especially unless it's something like a metallica remastered which they only made 500 of that seems to be actually going up in value it's stabilized a little bit but people are asking a lot more than the msrp for that game so foo fighters i had moved on and then the stern program said would you like a foo fighters and that was like my only option at the time i was trying to get them to i was like can I have a Jaws? Like, I was like, I wanted to get a Jaws. And like, let's be honest, guys, the games they were presenting to me were games that had stalled in sales. So they weren't saying that, but that's my impression of what they were offering to me, which I was still grateful that they were offering me to showcase these games and let me play them for a while. But these were definitely games that maybe came out of the gate hot and then stalled. Like Venom, Venom I don't know ever came out hot but i think the idea of giving me venom was hey let's get people more exposed to venom you know and and i really liked it but i still think it hasn't really done well which is unfortunate because i really enjoy appreciate that game the bond i don't know maybe because bond was later in its lifetime i don't know i don't know because i don't think bond was a bad seller i think bond probably stalled out because of code and then there's probably a resurgence when the code came out so anyways this is the eight games that have come and gone in my collection and i've learned a lot i think i've learned you know what kind of games i enjoy i've learned that hey buying a new inbox you you're taking you're taking on not risk i don't want to call it risk but just know like maybe you're not going to get the game and it's you're well you're not going to get the game in its completion it's not going to be at 1.0 code 1.0 isn't even necessarily considered complete but but it's it's it's like a very mature game and then they'll have subsequent updates after 1.0 you know like 1.0 is is like okay you're experiencing the game with a lot of the original design intent there like for instance like john wick came out and there it talked about how that button was the lights out feature but lights out wasn't even coded in the game yet it wasn't until recently that that was coded in the game so just know like if you're newer to the hobby if you buy new in box there's it's i don't want to call it risk I mean if it's a Keith Elwin game like your risk is probably pretty minimal but um yeah it just is what it is like some code developers take longer than others you know and and I don't know like I'm a little worried about John Wick to be honest because now we're going to go to my current collection my current collection has six games in it I'm a little worried about why is it not going come on all right there it is I'm a little worried about John Wick so we'll start there so John Wick is in the collection and you know code development's been a little slow on John Wick and I bought the LE so I'm automatically gonna probably lose money or if I sold it or I had to trade that but so far I've been hanging on I I but I'm a fan of the movies and I feel like certain people you know certain people are like just don't like John Wick I think John Wick is difficult I think the shots are tight and it's one of those things the more you play it the more you enjoy it and that's only because it takes a little while to get good you know to like get the shots down the code is still a little like the the code on John Wick is a little rough I think they have some good general concepts but the like whole enemy AI thing is kind of weird but but I really think Tim Sexton is great so I gotta think he's still got some stuff up his sleeve for John Wick I really hope he does because I'm still holding on on that one. We'll get back to John Wick because I feel like if there was one right now in this current collection, I would maybe get rid of it, probably be John Wick. But it's not because I don't like it. It's just that I only have so much space. I can only keep six. So the current collection is John Wick, LE, Jaws Premium, which I love. I love Jaws. But like I said, in retrospect, I could have probably got them pro and had just as much fun with it. So again, learning experiences, you don't always have to get premium or LEs to get the best experience. I mean, the LEs do come with aesthetic things that I think people really enjoy, right? The aesthetics, you can't deny like a powder-coated game looks beautiful. A game with a mirrored back glass looks beautiful. A game with this foiled artwork looks beautiful. But what are you doing? Looking at it or playing it? And I know we do both. There's gonna be collectors that want the prettiest game in their collection, and I get that. I get that mindset and there's some that are like I'm just a player I want it to look good enough but those other things I don't perceive value I'm saying the person that thinks the other way they don't perceive value maybe in any of that because they're like that doesn't make the game play better that just makes it look better so but again these are all things I learned along the way you know I know I'm not an idiot I know that a mirrored back glass isn't going to make my game any more fun but that's something you have to think about don't get caught up and oh my gosh it looks so beautiful i gotta have the le but maybe you played the premium and you're like i'm having just as much fun why not save yourself some money and get the premium you know what i mean like don't and also for resale value right now i think the le's are tough so maybe maybe make that decision like think about those things that's why it's like everyone gets excited in these hobbies but you have to like calm down and it took me a little while to get there but i'd say over the past year, I'm like, okay, slow your roll. You learned a lot. Don't be stupid. You know what I mean? But ultimately, hey, man, I love, but I get excited about stuff. So I'm saying, I'm telling you what my brain, what I'm thinking in my brain right now. But sometimes, I don't know, excitement takes over and your decision-making is not as, I don't know, intelligent, I'll say. And I'm okay that. I know. That's the thing. I know. So it's funny when people try to tell me what to do with my money or tell me what I did with my money was stupid because I know more likely than not, I'm not an idiot. No one is. You're not. I'm not. We just get excited. And sometimes, hey, look, we know right now that resale on LEs isn't great. But if it's something you really want and you have the money, you're probably going to get it. But like all of you, you see what's going on in the resale market. You can't get as much sometimes with some of these LEs. So you just have to factor that into your decision and if you really want it that bad then you're gonna get it because you can't they're not putting them on sale so if you really want it you're just you're gonna have to pay for it right i mean that's what it is so anyway so jaws i'm loving jaws and like i gotta give a shout out to um elizabeth gieski because man she has done like such a cool job on that on that uh shark is broken mode i meant to do a live stream on it i just think stuff like that is so creative there's so many modes in that game the the shark is broken you do need the topper for but there's all all these other modes i can't think of the name of them right now like the 8-bit one there's so many cool things that just add additional value it's like having multiple games in that game and i love that so when someone says oh my gosh like stern and blah blah they start getting all negative on stern i'm like dude they gave you a ton of value in that game because you have all these other things you can do so i don't know i just kind of like when people are super negative or they harp on someone for being positive like there's a lot of positive things you could talk about jaws so i don't know it's actually become one of my favorite games i don't play it as much for some reason right now but whenever i go back to it i'm like man this game is great it's a great game another keith elwynn game great game great theme integration if you're the fan of the movies it's it's all there like it's great it's it's just fun the shots are fun i believe i think I think the shots are really fun. I love the little mini flipper on the right, being able to kind of trap that up and hit the targets or hit that one. I can't remember the shot in the middle. It gives you like a, the shark fin comes up instantly when you do that. It's just cool. The upper play field, I've grown to like a little bit. It's just a shame that you're not up there that long. I don't know. I'm still, the jury's still out for me on whether or not I'm like a big fan of upper play fields at this point. I think sometimes I am and sometimes I'm not. It just depends on the overall implementation of it. but anyway so jaws premium loving that uh godzilla 70th that was my stupid oh wait do i have my godzilla in here i know i do i had the color one and it i modded the ever-loving crap out of it again i knew i knew that if i sold it for the 70th the 70 i just saw the 70th and i was like dude i love this i love it and it's a great game so godzilla is one of those games i've bought i've gotten two people that I know to buy Godzillas. One was my buddy Nick out in Vegas. And he said, I want to buy a pinball machine. What could I buy that's just going to be fun from the start? I'm all Godzilla. He's all okay. And he loves it. He loves his Godzilla. Another guy from my work, he recently found me on YouTube, didn't know I was actually into pinball. He's like, dude, you have like a podcast and you talk about pinball? I'm like, yeah. So he goes, what game should I get? He's like, I want to get some new games. I'm all Godzilla. And he loves it. He actually got the 70th. My buddy Nick got the color and the original and he got the 70th. So anyways, then that leads me to more current purchases. I got the Metallica Remastered. The Metallica Remastered is just freaking awesome. It's just so fun. I love Metallica Remastered. You cannot play that game without smiling and have a good time. I will say, the overall rules of it are some it's kind of like one of those even though there's some elements that make the game a little hard like not i don't know how to explain it i think sometimes it can be a difficult game but once you show people like you can get people to to have some fun pinball experiences fast like hey hit sparky keep hitting him okay now you gotta let your chair multi-ball like those are exciting for people that are just brand new so i think there's you can have someone walk up to a metallica and get them having a good time even if they don't know rules of the game and stuff like that so the rules in that game are very approachable in my opinion even though i think there's things just like with any game there's a well at least a good programmed game usually has some easy multi balls you can get and then there's other modes and things that get more difficult as you as you go along the way now speaking of difficult john wick was one of those games where i got it i like almost instantly regretted the purchase because i felt like it was really hard but then i started going no this is bullshit i'm just not playing good like i'm not good enough right now get better and so that that i kept trying to get better and i think as i got better i i was like oh my gosh i really enjoy this game but it also made me realize like wow someone if someone comes up to john wick the first time and they're casual they're gonna hate the game they make it's too fast it's too all over the place i can't control the ball but it's because they're not good at the game yet but there are some games that are definitely more approachable than others that are a little bit more forgiving for like a beginner like i'd say godzilla you could probably hack around and have you definitely have more fun hacking around godzilla than you would john wick because john wick is so fast even if you put it at the recommended six five pitch it's still super fast and if you don't hit a shot it's like holy crap you better be on defense you better you better get on you better get on that and make sure you know where that ball is coming speaking of that that leads me to my most recent purchase which was i i left out Terminator 2, but we'll go back and talk about that really quick. So I'm going to try to wrap up the show.
    41:36
    Black Knight Sword of Rage, I got the pro. This game has always intrigued me. My buddy Nick and I, we went to this local place called, he came out to visit. We were actually working on some arcade restorations and stuff. This was actually a couple years ago now. And I can't remember the place we went to. It's a really cool place down in, I think it's Mesa. It's either Mesa or Chandler, Arizona. I can't remember what it's called. It's called Danger Zone. and the guys got like mostly all le's like all premium and le i think there might be even all they might actually be all le's if i if i remember right and him and i just kept pumping money into black knight sword of rage and like why why though was like hard we were not getting very far but it's just the whole way that game is architected and orchestrated is like oh you know what oh my gosh guys if hold on in my collection history let's look at this really quick i do not have the uncanny x-men so that's yet another game that i've had that it's not reflected here so i've sold nine and currently have six because uncanny x-men is not on here i sold uncanny x-men if you haven't seen my latest video on retro ralph i sold uncanny x-men for black knight sword of rage now i feel like I should give you a quick, brief explanation as to why I do say why I did in the video. I want to be very clear. I do not dislike the Uncanny X-Men. I think the layout is amazing. I think Jack Danger was very innovative. He took inspiration from a lot of older games and some stuff in his own head and came up with an amazing modern layout that was unlike anything we've seen in a long time in modern pinball.
    43:19
    And so for that, like, hats off. It is really great. The shots are very fun, very innovative. But the thing is, and the game is beautiful. It's beautiful looking. It's beautiful layout. The shots are fun, but I feel underwhelmed by the code development. The missions seem kind of flat. They're not that interesting. And so once you've experienced all the missions, you start going, is this it? Now keep in mind, it's not even at 1.0 code yet, I don't believe. So there's probably still a ways to go, but I don't know. This is one where I was like, I'm not having as much fun with this anymore, so I'm going to move it on. And funny that I'd go from a game like that to Black Knight Sword of Rage, because Black Knight Sword of Rage is... I will say this straight up. Do not buy this game as your first pinball machine. This would be the worst first pinball machine you could ever buy. Because it's super difficult, and shot accuracy is everything in this game. because it's a fan layout and everything is very close to you. And if you miss a shot, you need to be fully alert and ready to go. And this game does require you to manhandle your game a little bit you got to get in there and nudge and nudge this game uh to to really play it how i say the appropriate way so yeah this is not a beginner game and i won't even i don't call myself an expert i still think i'm very intermediate but i play every day i feel like my skills are getting better but again you're always learning but this game would not be fun as a first game but why i got it is I just felt like it's one that's intrigued me for a while I love what Steve Ritchie did like the knight taunting you this whole time for me at least some people would be like I hate this game this game's fighting me I think it was Joel that said that that feels like the game is fighting back at you and it is it feels like an all-out battle with the black knight he's taunting you he's talking crap to you it's just a it's just so much fun I have such an appreciation for it but if you gave me this game back when I bought Jurassic Park there is no possible way I would have appreciated it. I probably would have said this game sucks and I would have traded it in guaranteed, guaranteed. So it just goes to show as you progress through the hobby, you will have more of an appreciation for stuff. And that leads me to my last thing. This is something that I, that, that I was talking to actually Kim, Kim about last night. She was like, man, you know, cause she, she went through, recently went through her EMT program. I'm so proud of her. She got her EMT certification and she's trying to get a job right now as an EMT. She's worked in medical field for a while. She's worked in the fitness industry as a cycle instructor. So she, but ultimately if there's one thing to know about my wife, she likes helping people. And that's what's, and that's, and I love that about her. She just loves to help people. And I think this, this EMT, an EMT job could not be more perfect for her, but she was just talking about experiences like, Hey, a lot of the people I've met, cause she, she's done a lot of ride along. So you go to fire stations and they go and they do ride alongs and it's no joke. She's seeing stuff happen right then and there. Someone, you know, passed out, someone wounded, whatever it is. So, you know, you got to have thick skin and be able to handle that kind of stuff. And she's like, you know, everyone's been really helpful and opening, like welcoming her in, wanting to teach her things, right? Like give their knowledge to the person with 100% like humble and just like it's been awesome. And I've loved that for her. but it made me think. I was like, man, how's my experience been in pinball? Have people welcomed me with open arms? And I'd say for the most part, the answer is yes. But there is a side of the community, it's small, that it just feels like resists anyone new coming in. And I don't get what that is. I will say this though. If you're new coming in and you're just completely like trying to pretend like you know everything, I get that can be, that would be annoying to me too. If I was one of the people that have been in the hobby for like 20, 30 years, I'm like, oh, look at this. This person doesn't care to learn. You have to be curious. But if you come into any hobby and you're curious to learn, you should be accepted with open arms. You know, I really, I really think that because if you don't, if you don't do that, or if we all don't collectively do that, then the hobby does not grow. It just doesn't. What do you want? Just all the same people just talking about the same stuff over and over again? No, you want different people, different opinions. And that's the beautiful thing. So anyways, why this got brought up is she was kind of asking me, like, has there been times where you felt like certain people are just trying to push you aside or push you down or whatever? And I said, yeah, there has been. But the thing is, I kind of just ignore those people. But I didn't do that. And I didn't do that always. It took me about two years into doing YouTube till I realized like, why am I fighting back on the 1%? It's less than the 1%, right? There's this like very small part of every hobby you're in. It happened in the arcade hobby too, that they just want to push you. Oh, this new guy doesn't know anything, blah, blah. And by the way, no one that's new, at least no one that's humble and new thinks they know everything. I mean, it's one of those things I can see where if you thought you knew everything. No one really likes a know-it-all. But if someone comes into a hobby and they're acting like a know-it-all and they don't know anything, that is kind of annoying. Yeah. But if someone comes in, they're humble, they're willing to learn, they're curious, that's all people you would want in your community. You know what I mean? You would want them there. But yeah, it took me a little while. I think before I used to fight back on that. And it's like, what's the point? If you really think about it, if I think about the pinball hobby as a whole, almost 99% of the pinball hobby has been very accepting, very cool, wanting to share their knowledge with me. And I think that's the reality of it. It's just that a lot of times those people that are in those corners are really loud. So they can tend to make certain people that maybe haven't got thick skin retreat. And that sucks because I would say to that person, don't retreat, ignore that person and keep moving forward. If this is something you really like, just ignore that person. That person is just a small percentage of the community. That's like that. So I guess what I'm trying to say is if you are newer to this hobby, you'll find that most people are very accepting. And if you do run into those one or two people that try to push you down or whatever, just don't hang around those people. You know what I mean? And then just have thick enough skin to go, who cares? Like who really cares? Because that person probably wants to bother you. You know what I mean? They get off by upsetting you. And so you showing that you're upset or like, you know, making that more public is only going to make them come at you 10 times harder. So anyways, I just think the positive of this whole thing is that I learned a lot along this journey so far. I learned a ton. And some of it, I'm stubborn. I'm a stubborn person. Some of it, I want to learn by myself. Like, look, I know you're telling me I'm going to hate this game in six months. Let me go through this a couple times. Now, sometimes that can be really detrimental to your wallet, but you know what? Sometimes you want to learn things on your own. You want to experience them on your own. Like even when a game breaks, and games break, they break. You have a metal ball rolling around a bunch of plastic stuff being thrown at it at crazy speeds. Stuff breaks. The thing is, when stuff breaks, I like to learn how to fix it myself. I go do my own research. sometimes I ask for help, but I like learning. So I like learning. And it's that curiosity factor. The best people in communities are the ones that are curious, the ones that are open-minded, the ones that want to have open dialogue. Like those are always the most fun people interact with. And that's really the majority of the community. So I'm loving my pinball experience. When I look back at all these games, I was kind of shocked. I'm like, holy crap, I've owned a lot of games, like a lot of games, man. Like that's a lot in a very short period of time but i think now i'm at a point if we look at the current state of the collection i feel like now i'm at a point where it's like all about refinement like what is the do i have variability or uh unique games in my collection i do feel like this is a pretty good lineup right now now for those of you again i'll repeat it i got jaws premium john wick le metallica remastered premium godzilla 70th premium black knight sword of rage pro and terminator 2 judgment day so i have all sterns and then one williams from the 90s so the unfortunate thing is that what i'd like to ask you guys is there's all these new games coming and i feel like i'm still scratching the surface on the games i have so that is something you have to factor in like it's easy to get excited about a new game coming out, but you have to think to yourself, have I really gotten far in the games that I have? And if you haven't, then maybe you invest a little bit more time in the games you have before you bring on another game, or you find the game in your collection that you've played the most or experienced the most that you feel like, hey, I'm okay with letting this go because I feel like I've gone through a lot of the game and experienced a lot of the game. So that's the dilemma I'm currently in because I have, out of these games, I'm really still loving jaws and i've and i i haven't mastered it but i kind of know like i have some pretty good strategies with jaws like when i first go up the jaws i start i start by trying to close beaches like that's i start to that's what i try to do um metallica remastered that's just fun and i kind of want to have that in the collection for a while so i don't that's definitely not going anywhere and it's new godzilla is one of those staples i really don't think it's going to ever go anywhere i really can't imagine selling godzilla it's just too fun and when people come over they have a blast with Godzilla so everyone just loves it and appreciates it so to get rid of it would be I still love it and I don't I haven't I haven't gotten I haven't like gotten to a point where I feel like I've mastered it I feel like I'm really good at it now but not mastered it so anyway so that that that gives leaves me interest to keep that in Black Knight Sword of Rage is just one of those like tough ball busting hard get in and get out really fun it's brand new so I can't see that going anywhere and then terminator 2 judgment day not the deepest game rule set wise but there's a lot of nostalgia for me i've told this story before that was like one of my first memorable pinball experiences that i remember i probably had pinball experiences before that but that was one that i was like oh my gosh because it checked all the boxes for me as a kid super hardcore arnold fan super fan of the terminator 2 movie so i was like oh my gosh you're telling me that they made like it was like when they made the arcade game of terminator 2 i was like there's a pinball machine too mind blown you know any mind blown so that one i can't imagine so i i am in a bit of a dilemma i am in a bit of a pickle i don't have any more room i can only do six and i'm not gonna spill i'm not gonna put these these games these expensive games in my garage especially in arizona my garage is not climate controlled i don't i would i just i wouldn't want to do that so anyway so this does leave me with a dilemma because we're going into 2025 we've got dungeons and dragons we have the rumored king kong coming all some of the other companies you got jersey jack that's that's uh the the probably the most i don't know the rumor with the most juice behind it is harry potter and then you have the matrix as maybe another game that they could do this year i don't know and then you have all these other like random rumors that we've covered before from like some of the other some of the other companies like barrels of fun and spooky pinball and and dutch with back to the future so uh but yeah i mean when people ask me like why why all the sterns they're the ones i like the most like i like these games the most and nothing against spooky but when i played the spooky games i've played like i've played spooky's first game i played america's most haunted i liked it but i wouldn't want to buy it and then um i really like total nuclear annihilation but i guess that's technically not really a spooky game but they made it But I love that game. I really, really enjoy TNA a lot. And then there really aren't any other games that they have that I just want to own. So I'm not opposed to the – I don't have anything bad to say about the company. I feel like they're very, like, creative. They're innovative. They're trying new things. I think they're packing a lot of technology into their games. They just haven't made a game that I really want to buy. And that's the same with Jersey Jack. if Jersey Jack reran Pirates of the Caribbean I would want to buy that I enjoyed that when I played that at Pinball Expo that was the first time I've seen it in a long time but it goes for some ungodly amount on the resale market man I just feel like I know Jersey Jack hasn't I don't actually I don't know this for fact if someone's you can fact check me on this I'm not sure 100% but I don't think Jersey Jack has ever done like vault stuff where they pull old games that are sort of out of print out of their vault if so to speak and read and redo it i think they've rerun games but i don't know because i would kind of consider that game as more of a vault game for them like it's it's been out of print for a long time i'm sure there's got to be some major license implications to try to bring that back but man that's one where if they redid that i'd be very serious and wanting to buy that i think that'd be a very fun game to own so so so i think they'll be i will definitely break the cycle of stern only this year it's just from what manufacturer and what game because it has to check some check boxes for me personally i have to like the theme so far i think outside of maybe a couple surprises where the theme didn't interest me but i loved the game like bond like it wouldn't be my first pick but i love the way it plays i love the way that game plays it's wicked fun it's a wicked fun game so anyways that's all i got for you guys today i hope you enjoyed this episode i know it was long it was a long episode but you guys said last time that you didn't mind these long episodes so hopefully you enjoyed this one and and i don't know man tell me a little bit about your collection are you did did you go down the same path i did because i definitely learned a lot along the way along this i don't know i don't want i always feel You know what's so weird? I always feel weird saying journey because I feel like that's Erica's thing. Erica's on a pinball journey. But I'm on a pinball journey too. It's just, I don't know. It's not Ralph's pinball journey. It's Erica's pinball journey. So I can't say that.
    57:56
    I would owe Erica some kind of royalty fee for using Ralph's pinball journey. Anyways, Erica's awesome. If you haven't checked her out, go check her out. Erica's pinball journey. She's great. Super friendly. positive attitude and just a good person. So anyways, that's it for now, guys. Definitely let me know about your collection. And hey, send me some voicemails.
    58:20
    I'm running low on the voicemails. That's why we didn't do it this episode. I only had like two. So I want to make sure that I got a good queue of them. And what would be really fun is maybe we do a whole voicemail episode. You never know. All right, guys. That is it for now. Thank you so much for your support. And by the way, the Twippies are almost here. Very excited about that. Thank you for all of you that participated in the Twippy voting. I know Colin and Jamie really appreciate it and the whole Twippy team. So I'm very excited for the show. If you don't know, I'm going to be one of the hosts with Aaron and with Ian and with Jamie, and we're just going to have a great time. There might still be tickets available, so if you want to go down to Houston and hang out at the Wormhole with us, definitely check that out on the Twippy website. And that's it for now, guys. We will see you on the flip side.
    59:08
    See you guys.