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045: The Top 10s

Punk Rock Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·46m 24s·analyzed·Apr 27, 2026
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.035

TL;DR

Hosts countdown their personal top 10 pinball machines, comparing preferences and discussing what makes each game special.

Summary

Stephanie and Mike from Punk Rock Pinball Podcast discuss their individual top 10 favorite pinball machines, counting down from #10 to #2. They compare their lists (which include games like Funhaus, Pulp Fiction, Ripley's Believe It or Not, Dune, Big Lebowski, Getaway High Speed II, Star Wars Fall of the Empire, Stranger Things, John Wick, Firepower, Elvira's House of Horrors, Metallica Remastered, and King Kong) with Pinside's Top 100 rankings, discussing gameplay mechanics, code quality, and emotional connections to each title.

Key Claims

  • Star Wars Fall of the Empire has the second-best rule set and code and music and video assets of any pinball machine ever made

    medium confidence · Mike (host) discussing Fall of the Empire at #7, acknowledging it's ranked 125 on Pinside but defending its quality based on personal experience and code/music/video integration

  • James Bond has 'some of the best code in all of Pinball' after MXV's updates

    high confidence · Stephanie discussing James Bond at #2, noting the original code 'sucked' but MXV's revisions transformed it

  • Stranger Things is better than Attack from Mars in every conceivable way

    medium confidence · Stephanie comparing Stranger Things (#5) to Attack from Mars, stating it improved the concept with better shooting, flippers, code, and TV integration

  • King Kong might be Keith Elwin's best layout

    medium confidence · Mike discussing King Kong (#3), praising the layout despite initial resistance to the artwork

  • Fall of the Empire is by far the most played game at their club

    high confidence · Mike noting Fall of the Empire's popularity at their venue despite low Pinside ranking

  • Iron Maiden machines require specific setup (pitch, flipper strength, flipper rubbers) to play well

    high confidence · Discussion referencing Ann's experience with Iron Maiden, noting weak flippers dramatically impact playability

  • MXV was involved in picking video clips for Star Wars Fall of the Empire

    high confidence · Mike crediting 'our friend MXV' for video integration work on Fall of the Empire

  • John Wick's original code 'sucked' before MXV revisions

    high confidence · Stephanie discussing John Wick code updates by MXV, noting the first version wasn't well-received

  • Shelly Sharp's performance on King Kong inspired both hosts to love the game

Notable Quotes

  • “It's just a magical game. It's so fucking weird.”

    Stephanie @ ~13:30 — Describing Ripley's Believe It or Not (#9), emphasizing the game's unique, polarizing appeal

  • “I think the way they integrated the video, and I know our friend MXV was involved in picking the video clips. Great job, Mike. Raymond Davidson worked on the code. And the music, I mean, the score for those films is phenomenal.”

    Mike @ ~37:00 — Crediting specific contributors to Star Wars Fall of the Empire's quality and explaining what makes the game exceptional

  • “It's like if you took Attack from Mars. Made it better. Made it shoot more smoothly, gave it better flippers, and gave it way deeper code and rule set, and put scenes from a really cool TV show in it. That is Stranger Things.”

    Stephanie @ ~55:00 — Direct comparison of Stranger Things to Attack from Mars, justifying why Stranger Things is ranked higher in her personal list

  • “I think it might be my favorite play field layout of all time.”

    Stephanie @ ~95:00 — Describing James Bond's playfield layout, emphasizing personal emotional connection to the game

  • “Sometimes someone just needs to show you.”

    Stephanie @ ~85:00 — Reflecting on how watching Shelly play King Kong changed her perspective on the game and her ability to play it

  • “Man, when we had that at the club for like a month or so, I jammed out on that and just, it's hard. For me, it's very hard.”

    Mike @ ~48:00 — Discussing Stranger Things (#5) and its challenge level, emphasizing the game's difficulty and appeal

  • “I love the call outs. And I love that creepy head. Rudy, what a freak.”

    Stephanie @ ~8:00 — Discussing Funhaus (#10), highlighting the game's memorable character elements

  • “It's not very complicated. Like I could... I'm not going to explain it right here because it would be a few minutes. As far as modern pinball goes, though, it's very easy one to learn the path to a billion points.”

Entities

StephaniepersonMikepersonMike Vinikour (MXV)personPat LawlerpersonBrian EddypersonKeith ElwinpersonJohn BorgpersonRaymond DavidsonpersonShelly Sharp

Signals

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Multiple games praised primarily for code quality and rule depth rather than theme or layout: Star Wars Fall of the Empire, James Bond, and John Wick all highlighted for exceptional code/music/video integration by contributors like MXV and Raymond Davidson

    high · Hosts emphasize code updates transforming games (James Bond's original code 'sucked' but MXV revisions made it phenomenal; John Wick's first code was poor until MXV fixed it; Fall of the Empire praised for 'second best rule set and code...of any pinball machine')

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Iron Maiden machines demonstrate extreme sensitivity to physical setup parameters (flipper strength, coil power, flipper rubbers, pitch) that dramatically affect playability and player enjoyment

    high · Ann's experience discovering she loved Iron Maiden on a properly-configured machine after hating it on weak-flippered versions; detailed discussion of CJ attempting to fix setup parameters (coil sleeves, stops) without success

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: John Wick and King Kong specifically praised for extremely smooth, rewarding shot execution; contrasted with games that feel less satisfying to hit targets on

    high · John Wick: 'Butter smooth shooting game...shots are hard, but so smooth.' King Kong: 'amazing flow when you get used to it' with rewarding combo mechanics

  • ?

    collector_signal: Hosts strategically decide whether to own machines at home vs. at their club headquarters; considering factors like difficulty level, desire for private time, and tournament playability

    high · Pulp Fiction: 'I'm terrible at it...I think we should get it for the house' to learn privately then move to tournament venue later; King Kong: 'I want one eventually at our HQ there' rather than home; Stranger Things: missed as former rental

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.139

0:00
Hello. Hello. Welcome to the Punk Rock Pinball Podcast Episode 45. Is it 45? 45. I'm Stephanie. And I'm Mike. And we're the host of the show. We are the host of the show. I'm the host of the show. This is our show. Whew. Yeah. You're not feeling good today. I'm a little bit under the weather today.
0:39
I was feeling poorly enough to tap out of a pinball tournament for today. I mean, so you know Mike was not feeling good if he said no to a Pokemon party over at Joan Shelley's house this afternoon. Yeah, I think it affected my play yesterday. I was like just starting to... You weren't feeling it. I was starting to come on. Had our Champagne League finals. I didn't do great. I did. I came in second in the C Division. In the C Division. I took out Luke from Champagne, his son, Frankie, who's like six years old. He was on a tear, man. He was like taking everybody out. He came in third. Very good. Yeah, pretty good. But I was the asshole that took out the little kid. Somebody had to. Everybody had to. Or they didn't. But it was real fun. That was a real fun day and I know you weren't feeling well, but we did it. We did it. We did it. That league started in September and it just ended. That's a long league. It's like every other week. I know. It's going to be a lot of points for Luke who won it. Yeah. Won't be a lot of points for either of us. I don't think we'll get any points. Well, I mean, we'll get our points for participating in the league. Yeah. Like I was like, I don't know, 13th or some crap. Yeah. But that was fun. That's on summer break. And I feel like our Peoria League is on break right now. Mm-hmm. And we just made it through like a pinball marathon.
2:16
Yeah, it'll be good to chill back from three leagues a week for a minute and just do one. Yeah, I think we need, we can take a little fishing boat out this summer, do a few other things, but yeah, rocking and rolling. Yeah, so today we're going to cover... Our... Because last week we did the, we re-ranked the Pinside Top 10. I think that was two weeks ago. Was that two weeks ago? I think so. No, I gotta look. That was two weeks ago. Last week we talked about the Bands vs. Fans. So two weeks ago we re-ranked the pin side top ten. We could not change the games that were in there. We just had to re-shuffle them. As we wanted. Now we're going to do our top ten individually. The punk side top ten. TM. Thank you, MXV. I think we should steal or borrow the or reinterpret the pin side system. Put that on the punkrockpinball.com and allow you listeners and viewers to vote and there could be a punk side top 50 or whatever. That'd be kind of fun. I need to know how complicated it is to develop such a thing on the internet. I have to ask Nick. Well, when I was coming up with my list, I was thinking what games just make me want to hit the start button again. And then I wrote those down and then I ordered them. I had a very hard time because outside of the number one game for me, which we'll get to, after number one it's like really hard. Because I feel like my whole list could be reshuffled. You could take some out and put some different ones in there, but I did my best to pick my 10 favorite, you know, as of today or the day that I did it. Okay. I haven't looked at it since the day I did it, so it might not even be in my top 10 today.

high confidence · Both hosts crediting watching Shelly play King Kong with excellent combos as the moment they fell in love with the game

  • Pulp Fiction is priced slightly over $6k; Pirates of the Caribbean around $5k

    high confidence · Mike discussing potential trade for Pulp Fiction, offering Pirates + $12-1300 for Pulp Fiction

    • Mike @ ~63:00 — Describing John Wick's (#6) rule accessibility despite overall complexity, emphasizing the 'path to greatness'

    person
    Joeperson
    Shellyperson
    Annperson
    Kev Johnsonperson
    Steve Ritchieperson
    Punk Rock Pinball Podcastorganization
    Funhausgame
    Pulp Fictiongame
    Ripley's Believe It or Notgame
    Dunegame
    Big Lebowskigame
    Getaway High Speed IIgame
    Star Wars Fall of the Empiregame
    Stranger Thingsgame
    John Wickgame
    Firepowergame
    Attack from Marsgame
    Elvira's House of Horrorsgame
    Metallica Remasteredgame
    King Konggame
    James Bondgame
    Pinsideorganization
    Champagne Leagueevent
  • $

    market_signal: Newer games like Dune showing price premium and scarcity; hosts noting demand will drop as new games release and machines are traded up

    high · Dune 'sold out' on new stock; hosts predict price will come down as new Barrels of Fun games release and players trade up their Dunes

  • ?

    community_signal: Community members disagreed strongly with hosts' Star Wars Fall of the Empire ranking; hosts explicitly state 'it's okay if you disagree with us' and invite alternative top 10 lists

    high · Commenter (name unclear, possibly 'Grim') called Fall of the Empire 'a big letdown'; hosts acknowledge valid reason for disappointing layout given fan expectations but defend the code/music quality

  • ?

    personnel_signal: MXV (Mike Vinikour) emerges as influential pinball code update contributor with documented impact on multiple major titles (James Bond, John Wick, Star Wars Fall of the Empire video)

    high · Repeated shout-outs to MXV for transforming John Wick code, James Bond code, and contributing to Star Wars Fall of the Empire video selection

  • ?

    design_innovation: King Kong's layout highlighted as possibly Keith Elwin's best work despite controversial artwork; distinctive playfield design drives high replay value

    high · Mike: 'it might be Keith Elwin's best layout'; praised for amazing flow and combo mechanics; Stephanie: 'It might be my favorite play field layout of all time' (James Bond)

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Both hosts experienced dramatic positive sentiment shift on King Kong after watching Shelly Sharp play; King Kong went from uncertain to #2 and #3 on their lists

    high · Mike: 'I think I fell in love with it maybe the same moment you fell in love with it, like really in love with it, when we saw Shelly tear it up...we both fell in love with this game and we weren't the ones playing it'

  • ?

    venue_signal: Hosts manage multiple venue locations (home, club HQ, Joe and Shelly's); rotate machines between venues for testing, learning, and tournament play

    high · Discussion of machine placements: wanting Pulp Fiction at home to learn, then move to tournament venue; wanting King Kong at HQ; machines like Stranger Things and James Bond previously at venues but no longer available

  • ?

    operational_signal: Multiple league formats running concurrently (Champagne League, Peoria League, others); Champagne League 4-month duration with bi-weekly scheduling; tournament-style machine selection and finals structure

    high · Discussion of Champagne League finals format with C Division and multiple matches; multiple players choosing same games (Jurassic Park Data East chosen frequently); Fall of the Empire dominant tournament choice

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Distinct designer signatures identified: Pat Lawler's 'weird' and 'magical' aesthetic (Funhaus, Ripley's); Keith Elwin's layout mastery; John Borg's music integration; Brian Eddy's iterative design (Attack from Mars→Stranger Things improvement)

    high · Stephanie: Pat Lawler 'back to back' (#10, #9); 'world under glass' phrase attributed to Lawler; Brian Eddy designed both Attack from Mars and Stranger Things with explicit comparison showing iterative improvement

    • 4:38
    Well, mine is my top 10 today. My best guess, you did yours today. So let's start with number 10. Oh, we're going in reverse order. Right? I feel like you should start with number 10. Okay. And work your way up. Okay. Do you want to go first? Do you all agree? Let us know in the comments below because that's how we're going to do it.
    4:57
    Let us know in the comments below if you agree with starting with number 10. I feel like that's how you do it. You build suspense. Spence. Okay, that's fair. You broke suspense. I did what you did, and we have not shared our list with each other. But you told me that not only did you rank yours, you looked on Pinside to see how it ranked there. Yeah, and disclaimer, or not disclaimer, but like a caveat, I put down where mine ranked on Pinside as of the day I made my list. Pinside changes quite frequently. So if you're like, oh, that game's not 27 on Pinside, it's 19. Chill out. It was that number the day that I made this list. I'm not going to update it. Okay. That's a disclaimer. Yeah. I guess that's a disclaimer. Okay. My number 10, which is ranked 70 on Pinside. Yeah. Do you know what it is?
    5:50
    I don't have it on my list. Funhaus. Fun House I should not have chosen in the league finals. I don't. I got my ass kicked. I shot like one million. And by ball two, I'm like, why did I choose this? I'm not even good at this game. I mean, I did that on Big Indian. Why did I choose Big Indian? I like I was on three hours of sleep, but I chose Big Indian and Jay-Z got me bad. And I've been playing whirlwind a whole bunch. I chose Funhaus. Hmm. Well, anyways, I love Funhaus. Yeah. It's fun. It's just great. It is fun. And I want to hit start again. I want to do it again. And again. And again. And I love the call outs. And I love that creepy head. Rudy, what a freak. Mm-hmm. What a sick mind that came up with that. Lawler. Yeah. Who did the code for that? I wonder. I don't know, but I love... I love that there are like the Funhaus and Ripley's both have that like there's a puke in it. Like when you get the multiball. Yeah, it's great. Anyways, Funhaus is my number 10. What's yours? My number 10, which is ranked number 27 on Pinside. Oh, I got that too. I have it as number 10. At least today it's 27. It's Pulp Fiction by Chicago Gaming. Yeah, it's a great one. I was playing that today at Joe and Shelley's. Actually, I played against Joe in it, and he got this car wash mode, which I don't think I've ever, well, if I've gotten it, I didn't know what to do with it. He scored seven million on one ball because you get the car wash mode and then you rip the spinners and it's kind of like super spinner on Jaws. He just was ranking it up and then you can cash it in and like double your points basically. Okay, so that's what Shelly, I saw her get that a couple sessions ago at their house. She didn't get seven million, but she had like six. I don't know. Was it six? Yeah. Okay. I thought she had four or five million. I don't think it's easy to get to the car wash mode. I don't even understand how you can select the different modes in there. But I will tell you, I played that game three or four times today at Joe and Shelly's. I love it. We need to get one.
    8:08
    Yeah. We don't have one. No, I love it. We need to get a Pulp Fiction. Which is funny because you didn't like it for a really long time. Well, here's the thing. I'm terrible at it. Yeah. So I don't like it in tournaments. So I think we should get it for the house. Okay. I think we should put it at the house. Okay. And I don't have to play it at tournaments. And then once I get good at it, we can take it over there. Okay. I want to get to the car wash mode. I know, me too. That's why I kept playing it. I'm like, give me that goddamn car wash. And I really enjoy the game and I've not even played it enough in quiet to hear all the call outs. Another reason why I'd like to have it at the house. Private time. Is anyone interested in a Stern Pirates of the Caribbean? Let us know in the comments below. I don't think that's an even trade. It's not an even trade. It would cash your way. Okay. That game's about 5k, Pulp's a little over 6k. We give you a Stern Pirates plus like 12-1300 bucks for your Pulp Fiction. Huh? Hit us up. Okay. Slide into Mike's DMs. What's your number 9? My number 9 is ranked 101 on Pinside. It is called Ripley's Believe It or Not. Oh yeah. So I went Lawler back to back. Yeah. Cause I'm a Lawler lady. You got two Lawlers. I love Ripley's. It's super polarizing. You either love it or you hate it. If you hate it, I feel like you don't understand it. It is so weird, so quirky. And when I say you don't understand it, I mean the magic of it. It's just a magical game. It's so fucking weird. It is like maybe the, because it's more weird than Funhaus. Yeah. Might be the weirdest pinball machine. Maybe. One of the. There's some other weird ones like Safe Crackers weird. Yeah. And not great. I want to love it so bad. It's not good. Yeah. Not in the top 10. No, it's not in my top 10. I did think about it and I thought I started to make a list of games that people love that I hate. Uh-huh. And that was in it. Okay. Anyways. We could do that next. That's a different story for a different day. But what's your number nine? My number nine, this one surprised me I put it there, but I have enjoyed it when I've played it. I haven't played it a lot. My number nine is Dune. I thought about that. Dune's great. It's a really good game. Yeah. Really good game. And that makes me want to hit start again. Yeah, it's another one I'd like to have. It's a little more expensive than a Pulp Fiction. I think we get to Pulp Fiction before Dune. We wait a couple years on the Dune. Wait a couple years on the Dune until Barrels does a couple more games. Yeah. People are trading up their Dune. Yeah. I think it'll come down. It's still... It's new-ish. They just, they kind of ran out of stock. You can't get a new one anymore. It's like sold out. And people still want them, so the demand is there. But as new games come out, the demand will go down. I feel like Dune... Dune is weird because I don't know why this is. It makes me think of the Jersey Jack Avatar Okay I don know why we owned Avatar I think just because it is creates this world under glass It's like really a world under glass. Okay. I know that's a cliche, but like the lighting and the way to integrate the movie. But I think Dune is the superior game. I don't have Avatar in the top ten of Dune.
    11:56
    Certain shots in it kind of remind me of it. I don't know why. The layouts aren't really at all alike. The color scheme. But it's like this, I get a similar feel playing it, but I think Dune is better. Okay. So I like it. I would like to have, it's on my list of games I would like to have. Don't have it, would want it later. Okay. I read something recently, I don't know if it's true, that it was my guy Pat Lawler who coined the phrase, world under glass. I wonder what your number eight is. Is it another Pat Lawler? No, it's not. My number eight is ranked number 24 on Pinside. And it's a game after a movie that I love that you and I watched all. Is it on your list? Okay. We watched all of the Coen Brothers movies and ranked them in our order of what we liked from best to least. And it's the Big Lebowski. Oh, you're saying that's 24 on Pinside? Today. Oh, I have a different game that was 24 on Pinside. Oh. Must not be today. No. You got Lebowski. I don't have that on mine. I really love it. It's fun. I played that a handful of times today at Joe and Shelley's too. Makes me want to hit start again. I want to get all the modes. And I like the call outs. I like the music. Just a fun game. Really good integration. I love just looking at everything in there. I feel like every time I play it, I notice something new. There's a lot of cool stuff. It's a fun game to play. I also loved it today because I was standing there and Kat went up to Joe and said, your shitter's broken. On Lebowski. It wasn't. No, it wasn't. What about you? My number eight is the Getaway High Speed 2. Oh. Currently ranked, or last week it was ranked number 77 on the Pinside Top 100. That's a good one. I just think it's fun to play. Flow. Man, it's got a lot of flow. Holy cow. Yeah. It's fast, but you can get hit in that top loop and then you hit up into the supercharger thing.
    14:26
    The game just rips. Yeah, and you have the shifter. Yeah. Yeah, it's an awesome game. Shift gears, boom. Yeah. That's another one that's on a list of what I want to have. I was also thinking when I was making this list, what games do I get excited about if we're ever out somewhere and it's like, oh, they have it? I get excited when I see high speed. Yeah. To the getaway. Yeah. Fantastic game. Steve Ritchie. Well done. Yeah. Love it. Yeah. Really good. Okay. My number seven is Pulp Fiction. Okay. So it's great. We talked about it. Yeah. Check. Steph's got it at number seven. What was it? So it's still ranked number 27 today? It is.
    15:13
    That's your number seven. My number seven, which is ranked 125th on pin side, top 100, not even in the top 100, 125, Star Wars Fall of the Empire. Wait, it's ranked what? 125. Star Wars, I totally forgot about that. Fall of the Empire is not even in the top 100. I believe not that day. That's ridiculous. I need to see. Now, somebody commented on our video and said, I love what you guys are doing, but I disagree with you on almost all these rankings and like he hates Fall of the Empire. It was a big letdown. He says, here's the thing about Fall of the Empire. The game, the layout, I could see, it's still number 125, I could see how the layout, if you're a mega Star Wars fan, right, and you knew Star Wars was coming and we all get this idea of what the game's gonna be in your head. I could understand how you could be initially disappointed with the layout and the toys because there's not a lot. Layout is a fan layout, very reminiscent of many different John Borg pinball machines. But that said, it's like fast and furious.
    16:50
    And it probably has the second best rule set and code and music and video assets of any pinball machine ever made.
    17:01
    That's a bold statement. I think the way they integrated the video, and I know our friend MXV was involved in picking the video clips. Great job, Mike. Raymond Davidson worked on the code. And the music, I mean, the score for those films is phenomenal. And like, Kev Johnson and I, we didn't talk about this on the podcast, did we? It's got co-op. They also have co-op. Kev and I, we were shutting down the club one night. We turned all the lights off. We turned all the machines off, turned the music off. And I was moving the stand-up target that is in front of the Death Star shot. Like, it's between that and the middle shot. Adjusting it? I was adjusting it. And Kev had to hold the play field up for me because I had the streaming rig up there. So I put that down, put the glass back on. I'm like, okay, now we've got to play co-op. He's like, yeah, okay. He didn't really want to. And then so just us and Star Wars in the dark and the game up loud. We shot like 2.9 billion on a co-op game. How fun. And saw all these modes. I mean, it's just the best. And I didn't contribute all that much to that 2.9 billion. So I got to stand there and watch. And coach? And coach. I'm telling him like, okay, hit that white shot. Hit the white shot. Okay, now center ramp. And he's just drilling the shots. It's the second best code in music soundtrack in Pinball, in my opinion. I can't believe I didn't put it on my top ten. I feel like that was a real miss on my part because it is a great game. I am not a Star Wars fan at all. Like the movies, I remember them being huge when I was a kid in the 70s. And I think I had the action figures just like every other kid, but it wasn't, it really wasn't my jam at all. So that whole theme integration is awesome, but it's not nostalgic for me. But I really do like playing the game. I like the, I do like the shots. I chose it yesterday, I think almost every round for the tournament, the Champagne League finals, and I crushed it every time. I had it chosen, but there was a line.
    19:33
    It was. So I bumped it to Guardians. It would be really interesting to see what games were chosen the most yesterday. I was surprised how much, there was one game that surprised me. Oh, Jurassic Park, the Data East got chosen like crazy. That one shocked me because it wouldn't be, in our headquarters league finals, I think maybe one person chose Data East, Jurassic Park and the Champagne folks. It was in almost every match. Yeah, they loved it.
    20:08
    But Fall of the Empire, it's by far the most played game at our club, like by a long shot. Well, it was a miss on me for not putting it in my top ten. I gotcha. I got it. But yeah, that was a good choice. It is a great game. It's a really great game. Yeah, I understand the fellow that commented. I can't remember. I should look up his name. Something grim. It wasn't Corey Grimm. But he's like, you know, I disagree with you. That game was a bummer. It's okay if you disagree with us on these lists, that's fine. We can be friends. Yeah, we can totally be friends, but tell us what your top ten is. It's not going to hurt our feelings and you have your own right to your own opinions. But man, that game with the code and the music, holy cow, I think it's phenomenal. It is great. It makes you feel like you're in it. Yeah, just like the score like ramps up. There's only one other game that does that better. It's on my list. We all know what that is. Probably you do if you've watched our show more than twice. You know what that is. What's your number six? My number six is Stranger Things ranked number 20. I'm ranking it number six. That one, I love playing it. I like I want to hit start again. I love the upside down and the light show you get with the UV light is cool. I love the modes are fun to get. It's just great. And talk about a pinball moment of that thing coming down, the ramp coming down and the Demogorgon is there. It's just great. It's a fantastic game. Super fun. Challenging. Man, when we had that at the club for like a month or so, I jammed out on that and just, it's hard. For me, it's very hard. I find it challenging too. Outlain-y. Outlains are hungry. Yeah.
    21:59
    Yeah. You know what I started doing yesterday in the finals, which you've stopped doing, and I just started doing it yesterday, was like doing the slaps. Like slapping the game? Yeah. I had to stop because I wounded my finger. So I had to like really simmer down because my finger was like excruciating and excruciating pain. So I still do it once I do it less. But I was doing that on a few games and it was working and I was like, okay, now I know. Also, if it's coming kind of down the middle and you slap it, like a lot of times you get it to catch a flipper. Yeah. And then it works once and now you're hooked. So now I want to play Stranger Things again and get my slap in there. Slap it. I got to slap it. Slap in Stranger Things. Yeah. What's your number six? My number six, which is currently or was number 65 on the pin side. Not on my list. John Wick. Okay. Butter smooth. Butter smooth? It's a butter smooth shooting game. When you get in connection with those shots man they buttery smooth And another one a shout out again to our friend MXV Mike Vinacore
    23:18
    The first Wick code kind of sucked. Yeah, it wasn't so great. People didn't love it. MXV comes in. He come in. Changes it all up. Mm-hmm. Now the code is fantastic. Another game with amazing music and a great sound package. I should look up who does the sound design on these games because it's another one that because you're not looking at the screen a lot. But what's happening with the audio like gets you in it. Yeah. That baseline. Phenomenal. And like when you when you're doing the car stuff and you're hearing the car burn out like the audio is amazing. The lights are amazing. I love the colors. The colors are great. And the shots are hard, but so smooth.
    24:06
    And it's I think once you understand the rules to it, it's like very easy game to know the path to greatness.
    24:17
    It's not very complicated. Like I could I'm not going to explain it right here because it would be a few minutes. As far as modern pinball goes, though, it's very easy one to learn the path to a billion points. I haven't hit that yet, like 978, but I know how to get there if I could do it. I played that one in finals yesterday too. I chose it. You won. And I won. I think I did it twice. Maybe. At least once. I shied away from that one because we have a John Wick here at the house and I'm really good at this one. And for some reason, the one over at the HQ, it doesn't shoot just like ours. And that one is mean to me. So I've shied away from it. And yeah, we were talking about it today at Joe and Shelley's house about how Ann Mechanico, I'm sorry, I don't know how to say your last name. Anyways, Ann was talking about how she loves Iron Maiden, but it has to be the right one. And we all agreed. Mike D also agreed is like, yeah, it's got to be the right one. I think we talked about that when we were re-ranking the top 10. Oh, did we? I think I said for Iron Maiden, it is the game that's like one of the most, that's like the setup and the feel of that particular Iron Maiden is so critical. And I've never played two that feel remotely alike. Mm-mm. And some of them feel awesome. Yeah. And some of them feel like I hate it. Yes. Yeah, that's what Ann said. She was like, I thought I hated that game until she was on vacation. She was like, I thought I hated that game until I played one while she was on vacation. She was like, oh my God, I love it. And it's something weird with like, it must just need to be pitched just right. It needs the right flipper rubbers. It needs strong flippers. Mm-hmm. That's what she said. It has to be snappy flippers. The flippers have to be strong. And I've played a number of them with weak flippers. And even the one that we rented here for a while had weak flippers and I checked like the coil power was all the way up. And I think they even put new coil sleeves and stops. I think you did. And with CJ's permission. And still like just they were weak. And then you play some when the flippers are ripping. I don't know why that is. Weird. And the Iron Maiden with the ripping flippers. Fun. I don't know how we got an Iron Maiden that's not on our list. I don't know. But yeah, it's great though. Was that your number six? Not Iron Maiden. That's my number six. John Wick. So I got Pulp Fiction, Dune, Getaway High Speed 2, Star Wars, John Wick. Okay. My number five, we're in the top five, is ranked one, three, four on pin side. Not popular. No. It's a little game called Firepower. Firepower, top five for me. It's great. I want to play it over and over and over again. Over and over and over. I love it. And you can and it won't take very long. No, it doesn't take long. It makes you mad and you know you can do it so you just hit start again and again and again. Yeah, Firepower got picked a lot in the league finals. I played it twice. I won once, lost once. Great game. It's not in my top 10 but I agree with you. It's awesome. That's your number five. That's my number five. My number five, this will be quick because it was your number six, Stranger Things. Right on. Fantastic game. The most missed game for me that has been at our club and has gone. I miss it a lot. Love to play it. I do not understand why Stranger Things is number 20 and Attack from Mars is wherever it is. It's higher. Much higher. It's in the top five probably. Stranger Things is better than Attack from Mars. Way better. Same concept. Yes. A lot of the same shots. Same designer.
    28:38
    But who's the designer on it? That's Brian Eddy. But Stranger Things way better. Yeah. It's like if you took Attack from Mars. Made it better. Made it shoot more smoothly, gave it better flippers, and gave it way deeper code and rule set, and put scenes from a really cool TV show in it. That is Stranger Things. Which is better than Attack from Mars in every conceivable way.
    29:09
    Period. What's your number four? My number four is ranked 12 on pin side. Is this your number four? It may be. It's called Elvira's House of Horrors. Yes. Huh. That's funny. We did not confer with each other. Uh-uh. Yeah. This is a game, if I see it out there, I get excited, I want to play it. Mm-hmm. And I would love some private time with this one, too. Yeah.
    29:37
    Because I don't always get to hear all of the call-outs, and when I do, they're pretty funny. Yeah, call-outs are great. I've had very little... I don't know how many times I've played the game. Not that many. Probably less than 30. I've always had fun. If it's out of place, even if they have 100 games, I'm going to play it. Yeah. Yeah, it's great. Okay. It's funny we both had that number four.
    30:00
    Number three. Okay. My number three is ranked number eight on pin side. Okay. Outside of this game and my number one are the only two that are in the top ten on pin side. I guess I only have one. Hmm. Okay. I am choosing Metallica. Remastered? Remastered. Okay. I love it. That's your number three. That's my number three. Excuse me. I enjoy playing that one. I like picking my songs, getting the jam going. It's fun. I do like it a lot. That's a John Borg. I considered putting that in my top 10. I don't know. Just somehow like I could see replacing Doom with it's great. Mm-hmm. It's good. It's very fun. I'm glad they remastered it. It is ridiculously fun. I would love to have one in the club, Kevin. Yeah. Yeah. Why are you just having that at your house? He's tricking it out, you know, putting on subwoofers and all kinds of stuff. Bring it over. It's great. It's a great game. You bring over your Pokemon LE. Okay. No. But it is great. It's great. Yeah. That's your three. That's my three. Okay. What's yours? My number three. Ranked number 19 on Pinside. King Kong. It's just amazing flow when you get used to it. It took me a long time to warm up on this one because I don't really care for the artwork. And then it was not the King Kong and I think this really hurt the game and I talked about it. I won't go too deep because we talked about it a couple of episodes ago. I think many, many people had an idea in their head of what the King Kong Pinball was going to look like and have, and this is not that.
    32:01
    But it might be Keith Elwin's best layout. So fun. Yeah. I was jamming on that today in a match at Joe and Shelley's and I was like sweating it out. I was up there for a while and I must not have been hitting. I thought I was hitting the shots. I got two multi balls and then I was really disappointed that my score wasn't higher. Well, you got to have the modes with the multi balls. I didn't do that. And then Kong with the newest code, there's like all these like kind of combo things you can get tons of points for. I wasn't comboing. I don't really understand the code much yet at all, but I want to.
    32:44
    And it's one I don't know that I want here at the house. I want it over at the, I want one eventually at our HQ there. Yeah, it's fun. Super fun. Makes me want to hit start again. Me too.
    33:01
    My number two? Number two. Kong. Just talked about it. Yeah. Mm-hmm. That's my number two. I had so much fun on it today. I think I fell in love with it maybe the same moment you fell in love with it, like really in love with it, when we saw Shelly tear it up. Yeah, that's exactly when I fell in love with it. We both fell in love with this game and we weren't the ones playing it. No, we were watching Shelly have so much fun and tear it up. She was shredding it. Killing it. And I was like, that's how you play it. Oh, thanks, Shelly. Yeah, she was giving it a what's for whatever that saying is, but she was she was absolutely playing that game. Just nailing combos. And I'm like, oh, oh, you can do that. Yeah. Once again, Shelly Sharp. I don't think I've shot a terrible game because I really struggled on that game. Well, I'm talking like I get on a tournament on it and I would be scared like if we're doing an amazing race, I'd be scared if I had to reach 30 million, which is fairly pathetic. It's a pathetic score, but I didn't know what to do and I couldn't hit anything. And it was that way for a long time. And then I saw Shelly do what she did. And I have not had a terrible game on it since that day. Shelly Sharp, you're an inspiration. Uh huh. Uh huh. Like, that's how you do it. Yeah. Right there. Sometimes someone just needs to show you. Uh huh. I mean, she wasn't even talking. She was in a match. She just heard And she was playing it like not She wasn like trapping up and hitting specific she was just flowing around I like wow it looks like so much fun It was fun to watch Yeah yeah that so funny So that that my number two That your number three That was my number three. Okay, so what's your number two? My number two is ranked, when I checked, apparently it's not 24 on pin side anymore.
    35:10
    Because you have a 24 on pin side that was not this. Oh. James Bond. Okay. James Bond. It was the second Modern Stern I ever shot a billion on.
    35:24
    And another one, this is just a shout out to MXV episode as well. Another one that the original code, because we played one not that like a year or two ago. At the TIFF. At the TIFF that had the original code, they had not updated it. Like never updated it. Holy cow, that code sucked. Dog. But James Bond as it sits today, some of the best code in all of Pinball. It's real fun. I do miss that one. It's awesome. I really miss that game. It's awesome. I think I miss that game more than Stranger Things.
    36:06
    Yeah, it's tricky. Like, I would probably play Stranger Things more, but I'm better at James Bond, so it's like more of a commitment. Like when we last had it here, I would put up a, for me, like a big score almost every time. So it's like, if I'm going to play Bond, it's going to be a journey. It's kind of like doing Jaws now. Yeah. Where like it's going to be like an adventure. Am I up for an adventure or do I want to do something real fast like firepower? Right. But if you're up for an adventure. Bond is great. Man, it's phenomenal.
    36:48
    It might be my favorite play field layout of all time. It's very unique. The way the, yeah, those little side kind of ramps and then the upper flipper shot to get the ladies I find to be pretty difficult. Yeah. But so rewarding when you get it and you have a little scoop hole on the left, which is very important to get your extra balls. You have to hit in there before you can start the jetpack multiball and you can hit that intentionally, but it's hard. And then the shot that the back ramp where it's like it would be a left orbit, but then it's like a ramp that comes all the way back around to the right flipper, which kind of is repeated in Pokemon a little bit. But the Bond one is better because you can see the ball path the whole time. Mm hmm. Maybe the best my favorite layout and of any pinball machine is Bond. And it's like a top, my favorite layout with probably top five like rules and sound. Like there's some really cool audio in that too. Mm-hmm. Some, and then like your smart missiles. It's just great. It is a great game. Yeah. It is a great game. What's your number one? Is it ranked number two on Ben's side? It's ranked number two on pin side. Is it sitting right here? It's right here. Jaws. Yes. It's the best. You know what? I was thinking about Jaws this morning and I was thinking about how much I love it and how thankful I am that the artwork package on this 50th anniversary is what it is because I remember when we got the Jaws Pro and we were like, oh, premium is a little bit more and whatever. It's expensive, but I liked the art better on the Pro versus the premium. Yeah. Like, way better. Yeah. Or the LE, but like, that wasn't a thing. But, yeah, I was just thinking, I think that like part of the reason why we got the Pro is the art is better on that one. Art's better, and we didn't know really what you're missing out of the upper playfield. Now we do. I will still say that a Jaws Pro is a great machine. Super great. Jaws Pro is phenomenal, but you are missing a lot, like the things you can do with the upper playfields, especially the Super Spinners. Man. Like I would just really miss Super Spinner if you don't have a premium. Yeah. I wish there was a way to get that on the Pro, put that mode into the Pro. And then you juice up that spinner. I had, last night I did a game, I had 200 million points off a super spinner as a super spinner champ. You were? Mm-hmm. Yeah, you kept ripping it with a machete. Hit it once with a machete, that one was like 109 million for one hit. It was just a 2X machete. Imagine a 3X. Holy moly. It's a, well, we don't have to like gush on Jaws because everyone knows that we love it. Yeah, I would just say if you like modern pinball machines and you say you play Jaws and you're not sure about it, I just feel like if you don't like it, you just don't understand it yet.
    40:17
    I feel like if you understood the rules and you knew how to blow it up and you knew the paths to get the big points and make the cool stuff happen, I don't understand how you couldn't like it. I just like kind of maybe like the Fall of the Empire or whatever. I feel like I am hunting the shark.
    40:37
    And I love the co-op mode in this. And I love the extra games that they have in it. It's just there's a lot. That's a bang for your buck. Yeah, I don't know what our play counts are up to on it.
    40:52
    See the update? I probably played it 20 times today. Like I wasn't feeling well. Well, Steph went to the tournament. I needed to put a new shark fin mech in the Jaws and I needed to realign the boat coming up and down. So I did that and I moved a couple, readjusted a couple of the stand up targets and I had to play it. Make sure it was all good. Make sure it's all good. So now I'm up to 1,441 plays on Jaws. Best game ever. And it'll be at least 1,442 tomorrow. I played at least once a day. I think I played it five or ten today. That's a lot. Yeah. It's a great game. So that was my list. Let's recap it. Number 10, Pulp. Number 9, Dune. 8, The Getaway. High Speed 2. Number 7, Star Wars Fall of the Empire. Six, John Wick, Five Stranger Things, Four, Elvira's House of Horrors, Three, King Kong, Two, James Bond, Number One, Jaws. Nice. Mine are 10, Fun House, then Ripley's, Lebowski, 7 is Pulp Fiction, 6 is Stranger Things, 5 is Firepower, 4 is Elvira, 3 is Metallica, 2, Kong, 1, Jaws. Very nice. So how many did we have that were the same? So we both had Jaws. Kong. We both had Kong. We both had Albira. We both had Stranger Things. Pulp Fiction. And we both had Pulp Fiction. So half of our- Lebowski. I did not have Lebowski. Oh, I thought you did. Oh, that was your 24. That was different. So we shared five. That's pretty good. And then I just wrote it on here on mine. I mean, there's two games that would be like, could crack this if they had more code. Pokemon? Pokemon, maybe, depending on where the code goes. That's, I thought the same thing. It's not a top 10 game as it sits today. No, it's early. I don't know if it's a top 20 game as it sits today. It's too early. We need the code. And I know this is going to be a journey with this code and it's probably going to take a long time to get to 1.0. But we're kind of starving for some code. Everybody. A little something, some achievements. Another one that I loved, but I think needs code and I need to play it more is the Winchester. Well, I thought about that one too, but I don't get to play it. We've only played it a few times. And then I would, I guess it doesn't matter how rare a game is, but I feel like a top 10 list should be mostly games that people can find and play. Yeah. And I know Dune isn't the easiest, but they're out there. You can find one in most major metropolitan areas. You can find a Dune.
    44:03
    But I feel like for my top 10, I want to keep it games that are like accessible. So to where that's not like it's very hard to find a Winchester. There's 500 of them. Yeah. So even if they do add more code and whatever, like it's 500 of the game. So it's like a unicorn. It is. Speaking of Pokemon, I got you something today at Joan Shelley's. Oh, Magikarp. Yeah. I thought that was stuck on the back of your phone. No, I put it in there so I would give it to you. Oh, thank you. You can stick it wherever you want. It's a Magikarp sticker. Yeah, I saw it. Oh, geez. Shelly had all of these stickers. She had all these stickers. I'll put it on my computer. It's about the size of a... I need one about this size. Perfect. The computer, Magikarp. And I thought... We know Magikarp is cool. I thought Albert would like that. That could be the Pokemon topper. Mm-hmm. Okay. Got that for you.
    45:07
    Whew! That was our Punkside Top Ten. Individual. Not collective. Oh, by the way, when I ran some errands, I had to go to Ulta today. Mm-hmm. I had this shirt on. Mm-hmm. I had two random ladies say, I love your shirt. Nice. Thanks. Very cool. That's so fun. So that's all I got. That's all I got. We got a big week. Yeah, I got a sore throat. I know. I have to go out of town. I hope I don't get sick. I got an itchy ear. I got a cough. I know. I told everyone, like, he's sick. What are his symptoms? I'm like, he has a sore throat and an itchy ear. And they're like, Kevin's like, I got an itchy ear every day. I'm like, that is a tell that Mike is about to get real sick. Uh-huh. Itchy ear. I'm ahead of COVID. It might be COVID. But hopefully it feels better soon. Yeah, feel better soon. Get well soon, Mike. Thank you for listening and watching. And we'll do this again next week. Let us know what your top ten are and where you disagree. We'd love to hear it. Yeah. Okay. That's it. Yeah. Toodaloo. Bye.