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Episode 53: Is American Pinball Bringing Back Circus Voltaire?!

The Flipside Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·57m 48s·held·Feb 28, 2026
View original

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.033

TL;DR

American Pinball first Williams remake rumored to be Cirqus Voltaire; Pokémon (Premium/LE) resale frenzy reaches $20k+.

Summary

Retro Ralph discusses Pokemon pinball's unprecedented secondary market demand (LE spots selling for $20k+), production schedule changes, and reveals rumored information that American Pinball first Williams remake will be Cirqus Voltaire (1997, designed by John Papadiuk). He also covers industry news including Melvin Williams' move to American Pinball as creative director after DPX dissolution, and the uncertain future of Dutch Pinball to the Future title.

Key Claims

  • Pokémon (Premium/LE) pre-orders are being resold for up to $20,000 despite games not yet shipping

    high confidence · Retro Ralph directly observed resale market activity; states 'I've seen it go all the way up to $20,000'

  • Pokemon location pros will ship before home pros, reversing earlier production expectations

    medium confidence · Retro Ralph heard this information: 'now I'm hearing location pros are going to go out first' but expresses uncertainty

  • American Pinball first Williams remake will be Cirqus Voltaire

    medium confidence · Retro Ralph cites information from 'a buddy of mine, found this out through a couple of sources' - unconfirmed rumor

  • Melvin Williams left DPX and joined American Pinball as creative director

    high confidence · Retro Ralph presents this as established fact; describes Williams' role as 'effectively the George Gomez of DPX'

  • Cirqus Voltaire (1997) sold approximately 2,500 units or fewer than 3,000

    low confidence · Retro Ralph states 'I might have that a little wrong' and expresses uncertainty about the exact number

  • DPX (Dutch Pinball X) has dissolved and merged back into Dutch Pinball

    high confidence · Retro Ralph states this as established fact; part of industry news coverage

  • Back to the Future pinball by Dutch Pinball is unlikely to release in 2026

    medium confidence · Retro Ralph's opinion: 'I have little to no hope that that game is going to see the light of day in 2026'

  • Retro Ralph's Pokemon trip video to Stern reached 13,000 views

    high confidence · Directly stated: 'My video that I did on my trip to Stern on Pokemon is probably one of the most viewed videos on this topic with 13,000 views'

Notable Quotes

  • “I've seen it go all the way up to $20,000. I think this is absolute insanity... when this stuff starts happening, the real people that want the game miss out”

    Retro Ralph @ ~5:30-6:00 — Core concern about Pokemon LE resale market accessibility and FOMO dynamics in the hobby

  • “I really hope it does come to fruition my whole thing is I don't want to miss out on it and I just don't have a lot of faith in the fact that dutch could even deliver on this pinball machine”

    Retro Ralph @ ~3:00 — Skepticism about Dutch Pinball's ability to deliver Back to the Future, citing production concerns

  • “Melvin... went over to American Pinball... his title, I think, is creative director. So very similar title to what Gomez has over at Stern Pinball”

    Retro Ralph @ ~8:00 — Establishes Melvin Williams' new role and comparable status to George Gomez at Stern

  • “the thing that I heard, and this was from a buddy of mine, found this out through a couple of sources, that he believes the first American pinball remake of the Williams-era games is going to be Cirqus Voltaire”

    Retro Ralph @ ~47:00 — Introduces the rumor about American Pinball's first Williams remake with explicit hedging language

  • “Pokemon, the way it's laid out... this would be a great first game for someone to get into the hobby and understand the excitement”

    Retro Ralph @ ~26:00 — Assessment of Pokemon's accessibility and appeal to new players vs. deeper collector games

  • “I view Elwynn games as great games to have at home because it's going to take you a while to get through it. You may never get through it”

    Retro Ralph @ ~39:00 — Contrasts game design philosophies and intended audiences (home vs. location, casual vs. hardcore)

  • “there's definitely a little bit of a divide in the pinball community... there's the old guard, and some of the old guard doesn't want to... they hang on to the past”

    Retro Ralph @ ~33:00 — Commentary on generational divide and gatekeeping in pinball community regarding new IP and players

Entities

Retro RalphpersonPokémongameAmerican PinballcompanyMelvin WilliamspersonDutch PinballcompanyDPXcompany

Signals

  • ?

    collector_signal: Pokémon LE pre-order spots reselling for $20,000+ before machines ship; unprecedented FOMO-driven secondary market activity in pinball

    high · Host directly observed resales reaching $20k; concerned about real fans being priced out; contrasts with Jersey Jack's unlimited production model

  • ?

    product_launch: Pokémon production priorities shifted: location pros now shipping before home pros, potentially delaying consumer delivery

    medium · Host states 'now I'm hearing location pros are going to go out first' but hedges uncertainty; previously expected Pro→Premium→LE→home Pro sequence

  • ?

    machine_intel: American Pinball's first Williams-era remake rumored to be Circus Voltaire (1997, Papadiuk design)

    medium · Host cites unconfirmed information from 'a buddy of mine, found this out through a couple of sources'; no official confirmation; extensive analysis of Circus Voltaire features suggests research into viability

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Melvin Williams promoted to creative director at American Pinball after DPX dissolution; positioned equivalent to George Gomez at Stern

    high · Host presents as industry news; describes role responsibilities and company structure parallel

  • ?

    business_signal: DPX (Dutch Pinball X spinoff) dissolved and merged back into Dutch Pinball; consolidation of development teams

    high · Host covers as part of industry news segment; notes unusual nature of spinoff given Dutch Pinball's single successful release

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.173

0:00
Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of the flip side podcast. I'm your host retro Ralph. This is episode number 53 and we're going to talk about a lot of things today because all the focus has been on Pokemon. I said it right, Pokemon. And I'm going to talk about that briefly because there's some craziness going on with all of that. And then we're going to talk about some other industry news and specifically something I heard that's going on at American Pinball because we know that they had some news released about how they were going to redo some Williams games, but we didn't know what ones. And I think I might've got some information from someone that knows a little something and it might just be the first game that they put out. But anyways, we're going to get to that in a second. I'm going to kill the music. I love this music though. I'm killing it. So I'm about to embark on a week-long work trip that happens annually every year. And you know, I enjoy this trip, but this trip ends up being more work than it used to be. So it's not as fun as it used to be. And it's in Disney. It's at Epcot. Well, not Epcot, but it's at the Dolphin and Swan Resorts. So that sounds awesome. But we'll see how awesome that really is because I'll report back after the trip. But before we get started with this episode, I want to just throw out a word to our sponsor, Flippin' Out Pinball. If you're looking for a new pinball machine, a used pinball machine, or you want to get on a list for something that you think is coming, get in touch with Flippin' Out Pinball. All of the information is in the description of this podcast, whether you're watching it on YouTube or you're listening to it on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. All right, let's jump right in. So the first thing, there's some industry news stuff I want to cover really quick if you haven't heard this, but Melvin Williams used to be the lead guy over at DPX, which was Dutch Pinball X. Now Dutch Pinball X was sort of a spinoff of Dutch Pinball. What I think is weird about the fact that there even was a spinoff of Dutch Pinball, is that Dutch Pinball really only successfully launched one game. That's it. Just one game. And then they spun off this other company called DPX. And Melvin Williams was the lead guy over at DPX. Well, he's no longer and DPX has dissolved. And now it's just Dutch Pinball. Now, it's supposedly later on sometime this year. I don't know if it's even happening. I'm like, I'm with Jamie. You're going to need a time machine to play Back to the Future. I have little to no hope that that game is going to see the light of day in 2026. I really don't. But, hey, I wishful thinking, I hope it does because Back to the Future is a freaking dream theme for me. Like if there was ever a pinball machine that you said, I know sometimes I buy everything. I don't know. and um but if there was a game that you'd say that there would be a 100 without a shadow of a doubt take my money now it would be back to the future so i really hope it does come to fruition my whole thing is i don't want to miss out on it and i just don't have a lot of faith in the fact that dutch could even deliver on this pinball machine and melvin who was at dpx who was originally working on this game does not have the rights to you know i don't think he can move the license from here to where he's at now. So Melvin, after he left DPX, went over to American Pinball. But before we go down the whole American Pinball path and then what's going on with Melvin and what's going on and what games we might see, because now he is he's effectively the George Gomez of DPX. His title, I think, is creative director. So very similar title to what Gomez has over at Stern Pinball. So he's going to be looking over the creative design elements of what they're going to do and their move forward strategy at American Pinball. So, but before we get that, let's table that for a second. We're going to talk about Pokemon for a second. So there's some really crazy stuff going on right now as it pertains to Pokemon. If you haven't been looking around, look around. If you want to get a Pokemon LE, which is crazy because the game isn't even in anyone's hands yet. There are people selling their spots for ridiculous amounts of money. I've seen it go all the way up to $20,000. I think this is absolute insanity. It's cool to see, like it's cool to see, but at the same time, I'm more of an accessibility guy. Like I don't want, I get it, free market, you can scalp games and do all this. But I feel like when this stuff starts happening, the real people that want the game miss out, and that I feel is unfortunate. Now you could argue that it's on us because we didn't think, oh gosh, is Pokemon going to translate to pinball well? and do those fandoms intersect? And we're kind of seeing that maybe they do. I'd say my video that I did on my trip to Stern on Pokemon is probably one of the most viewed videos on this topic with 13,000 views. It just hit that today, which I'm very proud of. That's a good 13,000 views on anything in our little niche hobby is really good. Like very, very good, exceptionally good. So pat on the back to me on that one. But no, and Mason, because Mason did a great job editing it. And I got to have a shout out to Erica's Pinball Journey. If you've never checked out Erica, go check her out. She's on socials everywhere. She's number one, an awesome person, like a really, really good human being. And she creates some really great content. And she left her job to do this full time. And if there's anyone that I'm rooting for, it's definitely Erica, because she's just got a great attitude. She's a great ambassador for the hobby. And I'd love to see her flourish in this and build a career out of covering pinball or doing whatever else she can find to exploit her talents within the pinball world would be awesome. So anyway, so there's all these people selling these spots. And what I would say to you is like if you really – I mean if you're just a hardcore Pokemon fan and you missed out and you have a ton of money laying around, I guess go for it. But the thing that I don't like about this kind of thing is we can never predict if a game is going to go up in value, if it's going to go down in value. And I've never been one that cares or thinks about pinball machines as an investment. Sure, I want pinball machines that I buy to maintain some of their value because eventually I will sell them. Now, I have a faster cadence with how I sell machines because – well, because I make content on them. So I like having them in my house. I love getting like really down and deep into the code and really learning it because it makes me better to be able to communicate how I feel about the game with you. You know, as a matter of fact, you go to these media days, you don't really get to spend a ton of time on the game. But I've shared my thoughts about it. I think Pokemon is a fun game. And I know the question that's been burning in everyone's mind. Am I getting it? I'm going to get a pro. But I know I know people, you know, oh, my gosh, it's a pro. But I think with this game in particular, just like I felt with X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, the pro is great. It's got almost everything in the game. I don't feel like I'm going to miss out. And I'm really excited to create some good content on it. And I do think that Stern is going to put a lot of time and effort into making the code amazing. But what a crazy time that we're living in that there's games that people want so bad that they're willing to pay this money. And I do genuinely feel bad for the people that just want the game. This is why I kind of really like what Jersey Jack has done with Harry Potter. They just made Unlimited of it, and they said whoever wants it can get it. I think that's kind of cool, but I can also spin that the other direction. I do – I'm not – I don't know. I've fallen into the world of being a collector, but my mindset isn't ever of a collector because I can't be. If I'm going to make content and I want to have the latest games, I kind of look toward Don's Pinball Podcast a lot of times. because him and I are very similar. We love pinball. That guy loves it. We love it, so we want to experience it with you guys. And to me, I love, even though sometimes I've taken financial hits, I love acquiring these games so that I can then talk more intelligently with you guys. I'm just not one of those people. I'm too distracted. I have too much ADD to be able to say, all right, I'm just going to use locations as my means to go down and dirty on a game because as much as I love playing on location I love playing in tournaments. You just can't get the full experience on location sometimes because locations are noisy. You can't pick up on all the nuances of the call-outs and the music and all that kind of stuff. So to me, I love playing on location, and I would encourage people to go out and play on location. But for me, I want to own the game, even if it's a short period of time, to really invest the time. But I think I'm going to hold on to this pro once I get it because the production schedules on this seem to be all over the place, and I don't know what's causing that. We'll get to that in one second. I don't know when I'm going to get it, but I'm probably going to hold on to it for a while, like at least a year, because I want to see how this code develops. Because what we played at Media Day was really fun. And I know this has been talked about a lot, but it's definitely like a more simple layout. But simple doesn't mean not fun. In this case, the simple means a lot of fun because you can kind of like get a flow going with the two right and left ramps. I love Bash Toys. I'm a sucker for Bash Toys. That's why I really enjoyed Stranger Things so much. Stranger Things got a little old for me, though, over time. And I think it was because I was like, man, I just wish that they had more of the updated seasons. And I hope Stern does consider revisiting Stranger Things at some time and creating another version of it with more of the later seasons in it. I mean, how cool would it be if you could... Season 4, I think, was by far my favorite season. Anyways, if we get into Stranger Things, I really was bummed out about how they've... I wasn't one of those people that completely despised the new season, but the climax of season four was just so well done. That battle against Vecna was so good. It just reminded me of, like, 80s action movie, super climactic, like, massive ending. And I was kind of hoping for that in season five. And then when it ended, it just felt like the whole battle sequence was way too short. and I felt like all right that's done and now I'm looking at the time left in the in the last episode and like what the heck we have like another 45 minutes left like what the heck are they going to do in 45 minutes and it just felt a little underwhelming to me but I don't know with any of those like mega series like that everyone's going to have expectations and it's going to be impossible to please anyone everyone right but I'm excited for Pokemon to show up but getting back to the production schedules it it looked like the pros were going to go out first but now I'm hearing location pros are going to go out first. So that is cool for people that weren't planning on buying it because you can go play it on location. And I think they're getting the priority. And unless I get this wrong, it seemed like it was going to go pro premium limited edition, and then it was going to go back to do the home pros after that. I hope that's not the case. I mean, we won't be waiting that long. We're a little spoiled with Stern because they just pump stuff out so fast. So even if I got it in April, I guess that's not that far away. But I was really hoping to have it in March because I just really am excited to get it and play it and really start to understand the code a bit better and I'm really starting to explore the world of Pokemon a little bit it's not something I was into like it just wasn't my generation I missed it it wasn't that it wasn't available it's just I think when Pokemon came out I would have just graduated high school I think so I think I think um Pokemon came out in 1997 I think so like for me that I was I was like trying to date women and do all that stuff. I discovered like dating and that and all that. So my priorities were definitely not. And I was doing street team for my friend's band. So I was going out, passing out flyers in downtown Providence, Rhode Island, going to the living room. If anybody's from Rhode Island or at least New England area, you definitely probably have been to the living room. I don't know if it still exists, but one of my favorite bands. And I started listening to it again. I was like, I don't know if I like it as much as I did then, but I loved this band called Donnybrook that was from Maine. And they would always play at the living room. And so I'd always go there. My buddy's band was called Trustfall. They were on Baystate Rock. So if you ever – they did a live session. They actually almost had a record deal. But, you know, priorities change. People get older, and they don't want to necessarily do that. There was also another band that I was close friends with the members of called Null Set, which was a really other cool – another cool band from that Boston area. So if you live in the New England area, then you were in that scene. You probably know all these. But that was my scene. I was interested in dating and going to rock shows, and that's what I was into. So Pokemon was so far from my vocabulary, and none of my friends were into it. So I missed the whole Pokemon craze. But I'm excited to see that there's a game that's out that people are this pumped up about.

  • “I'm going to get a pro... the pro is great. It's got almost everything in the game. I don't feel like I'm going to miss out”

    Retro Ralph @ ~14:00 — Buying decision for Pokemon and rationale for choosing Pro tier over Premium/LE

  • “John Papadiuk was the designer... World Cup Soccer, Theater of Magic, Tales of the Arabian Nights, and then Cirqus Voltaire... I don't know all the history... I try to learn it as I go”

    Retro Ralph @ ~49:00 — Acknowledges knowledge gaps about pinball design history while contextualizing Circus Voltaire within Papadiuk's portfolio

  • “I do think we all feed on each other in the hobby... when I'm genuinely excited about something I'm going to share that”

    Retro Ralph @ ~30:00 — Explains content creator's role in hype cycles and community enthusiasm propagation

    • Back to the Future
    game
    Cirqus Voltairegame
    John Papadiukperson
    George Gomezperson
    Stern Pinballcompany
    Erica's Pinball Journeyperson
    Orbital Albertperson
    Beetlejuicegame
    Spooky Pinballcompany
    Evil Deadgame
    Jack Dangerperson
    Transformersgame
    King Konggame
    Elwyncompany
    Godzillagame
    Jersey Jack Pinballcompany
    Harry Pottergame
    Flip N Out Pinballcompany
    Don's Pinball Podcastperson
  • ?

    rumor_hype: Strong skepticism about Dutch Pinball's ability to deliver Back to the Future in 2026; host expresses 'little to no hope'

    high · Host's repeated doubts: 'I have little to no hope that that game is going to see the light of day'; cites unspecified concerns about production capacity and licensing

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Pokémon praised as strong entry-level game for new players due to simple layout, bash toys, accessible shot design, and rewarding code progression

    high · Host analysis of Pokémon layout vs. Elwyn games; discusses importance of accessible wizard modes and mode completion for beginner engagement

  • ?

    content_signal: Host's Pokémon visit video to Stern reached 13,000+ views; significant engagement for niche pinball content

    high · Direct statement: 'My video that I did on my trip to Stern on Pokemon is probably one of the most viewed videos on this topic with 13,000 views. It just hit that today'

  • ?

    community_signal: Perceived divide in pinball community between 'old guard' focused on retro machines and newer players/creators embracing modern IP and designs

    medium · Host discusses old guard gatekeeping on IP and design philosophy; notes some community members shunned Pokémon despite strong player reception

  • $

    market_signal: Major IP licenses (Pokémon, Transformers) generating exceptional community excitement and pre-order demand; nostalgia-driven crossover fandom (Pokémon fans entering pinball)

    high · Host observes Pokémon attracting new fanbase; discusses how themed games unite collector and casual player segments; notes Transformers already requested before shipping

  • ?

    historical_signal: Circus Voltaire (1997) identified as early exemplar of advanced lighting tech (neon/incandescent), rising bash toy mechanism, multi-saucer ball lock design; mechanisms are modern design iterations

    medium · Host's detailed mechanical analysis suggests Circus Voltaire as design inflection point; notes similar mechanisms appear in modern games

  • ?

    product_concern: Production schedules for major releases (Pokémon, Beetlejuice) showing flexibility/delays; host uncertain on exact delivery timelines

    medium · Host states 'I don't know when I'm going to get it' for Pokémon Pro; planning March delivery for Beetlejuice but uncertain; notes 'production schedules on this seem to be all over the place'

    • 13:35
    And I was talking to Orbital Albert. He's like a big Pokemon guy. I really love Orbital Albert. He's just such a fun guy. I'm so bummed that I really have never met him in person. And he's up in Canada. And he is so excited for this game just because he loves Pokemon so much. And so I'm starting to like these people that I'm friends with are coming out of the woodwork. and they're just excited that there's a theme that is something from their childhood or at least that they were invested in.
    14:06
    And that's why I can't wait for – I'm more – I mean I was born in 79, so the things that I'm interested in are slightly different. I want the Goonies and the Gremlins and those – and Back to the Future and Rocky and that kind of stuff like Predator and Commando and I say Rambo already like stuff like that You give me stuff like that oh my gosh I was into Labyrinth too So when Labyrinth came out that was kind of cool But uh you know and barrels tends to, to kind of lean on these like different kind of properties that, uh, that are maybe a little less popular. Like they were kind of cult classic kind of stuff, but man, I, uh, I, I, I'm, I'm, I'm kind of, you know, I, I got taught, I got caught up in the, the, the excitement of it because it's when you see other people excited and they're genuinely excited it gets you excited do you know what i mean and so you're like huh am i did i miss out on something that was kind of cool and we'll see we'll see when i get it i'm not saying i'm going to become this like giant pokemon fan but i'm definitely uh interested in getting the game and getting to experience it uh for myself you know and and have rudy over we'll do the whole unboxing thing and we'll we'll stream it it's going to be a lot of fun so i'm excited to finally get it when it comes And then speaking of things that are coming, I mean, Beetlejuice is still on the horizon. I made my final payment on that, so that's going to be coming pretty soon, I think. I think I should see that probably sometime in March. So that's going to be exciting to start streaming that and getting deeper into the code on Beetlejuice. And there's just so many fun things in that game. And that's another movie that I watched quite a bit as a kid. I wouldn't say that was on the top, top of my list of nostalgic properties. Like, I really didn't think they'd ever make a Beetlejuice pinball machine, to be honest. But the fact that they did, I'm excited about that. So, and Spooky has been doing some really cool stuff. I really liked Evil Dead a lot. It's still hanging in there. It's not on my list of the chopping block. I don't know if it will be. I don't know. We'll see. My buddy George wants to buy it from me so bad. But it's like, I don't know. Part of me is like, have I experienced it enough? Do I want to play it more? But I haven't gone through all the modes myself yet. So there's definitely a lot more to explore. So it would seem a little premature to get rid of it now. You know what I mean? And the problem is when you get a collection, and you guys are probably going to definitely feel this. If you have – you start getting a collection over two.
    16:28
    If you have two to four, I feel like it's easy to kind of cycle through them. But my problem is I go into my garage, and I don't – I'm like, oh, man, what do I play? I have so many games that I like now. So that also becomes the problem because you get a little emotionally attached to it. Like speaking of games, before we get to the American pinball thing, speaking of games that I keep going back to in my collection. And I don't know, you know, our hobby moves fast. You know what I mean? People are already, like I hear some people are like already over Pokemon. It's like the game didn't even get to anybody's house yet. Like I want Transformers. I'm like, dude, the game isn't even like shipped yet. And people are already like, give me Transformers. I want Transformers, which is one I'm very excited about. Like Transformers has to absolutely find itself in my house at some point. But the dilemma coming into this year is really going to be there's a lot of awesome titles potentially coming. And then, you know, anything that Elwynn does, I automatically want because, you know, regardless of what some of the community has said about King Kong, I continue to revisit that game and really enjoy it. It's a great shooter. And for me personally, I don't give a rat's ass that the 1933 movie assets aren't in it. I don't care about that. How can I be nostalgic about something that was from 1933? I was born in 1979. There's quite a gap there. So I don't care. Like, it's a fun game, and the way they, like, put it all together and structured it, I think, is really good. And the shot, just the game is fun. But the thing about a game like that, Elwynn games are great, but Elwynn games tend to, you gravitate more toward them as you get deeper in the hobby. Like, anybody that's new, I don't know. Like, I don't know if Godzilla's a good first game. Now, Pokemon, the way it's laid out, when I played that, I was like, this would be a great first game for someone to get into the hobby and understand the excitement. Like, and you get a couple of things that are really fun. You know, you get a bash toy. You get some ramps that are pretty easy to hit. you get some fun magnet action if you get the premium in that little battle arena thing so there's enough in there and if the code is interesting for someone that's a beginner to feel like they're progressing through the game now there's there's a couple things on godzilla but i just i just feel like that would be a good game for someone that's brand new to the hobby and they'll feel like they're making their way through the code so and and that's that's kind of the thing is in the beginning i think when you first get a pinball machine and you're new to the hobby you don't realize how deep the code can get and i don't feel like you fully unlock the fun of a game until you get the satisfaction of going i i lit the lock i locked all three balls i enabled multi-ball i could i know how to start modes and actually complete some of the modes it gets really fun because then you get hooked it's like a drug at that point you get hooked because you're like i completed two of the i'm just making this up but i completed two of the five modes i want to complete all five because I want to get to the mini wizard mode or the wizard mode and then those are like ultra magical because they're not easy to get to so I do think that coders should consider adding easier to get to wizard modes because uh or add more of them right like add more of them have like the more advanced wizard modes to get to but give me give me a couple more of those like little ones to just give you something to chew on and get you that excitement when you're a new player i don't know if there's any wizard modes even maybe i think there's one wizard mode in pokemon right now but i'm sure there's going to be more so so that's kind of my pokemon thing crazy stuff going on i'm excited to get it but man um yeah let me know in the comments if you've got it if it's not interesting to you or or whatever or if you i'd really love to hear from those people that had no nostalgia for pokemon and now all of a sudden you're you're like oh man i kind of want to i kind of want to get this game because i do think we all feed on each other in the hobby and i and my intent is never to hype something up to make you want it that's not but but when i'm genuinely excited about something like i'm going to share that because that's what this whole platform is for but i never sit here and i'm going to tell you i love something if i don't really love it um but but i feel like this game is one of those games that's captured the imagination of a lot of people because they were nostalgic for it. And I don't know why the pinball community or a portion of the pinball community was shunning it. I will say there's definitely... I do feel like there's a little bit of a divide in the pinball community. Not saying it for drama purposes, but there's the old guard, and some of the old guard doesn't want to... Not that they don't want the new people to come in. I don't think that's the case. Maybe some of them. There are some, but they hang on to the past. And I think when I came into this hobby, I decided, look, I was living in the past forever with arcade gaming. That's all I did. I kept playing the same games over and over and over. And I appreciated them, and I still have a deep appreciation for those old arcade games. But at some point, the excitement of pinball is, I was like, man, the arcade hobby would be so much cooler if there was new stuff coming out like pinball has continued to come out you know over the years like it never really it never really died like it had a dark period but then it came out of it and the stuff you get now it's not meant for your home right like raw thrills isn't making home games the only real arcade manufacturer that's making games for your home would probably be alan one they're doing those um like asteroids i can't remember what they're called now so funny I've played a bunch of them and I can't remember. They're not called remastered. I can't remember. But anyway, if you're interested in those, I think my buddy Arcade Hollywood had done a partnership with Allen One to showcase some of them. They're cool. They're expensive, but they're cool. But they're not the same. Like it's not the same as pinball. Pinball just continues to just evolve. And I kind of entered the hobby with the idea of like, I'm going to be more of a modern pinball guy than a retro pinball guy. But speaking of retro, because I do enjoy experiencing some of these older games because what you find out or what you discover by looking at these old games is you realize that a lot of the mechanisms that are in the new games are just spins on the old stuff, right? Like, it's not really anything new. Like, we don't see a lot of new mechanical things that end up in games that haven't at least been done before. That's why I kind of always like Jack Danger, because I feel like he's sort of thinking about ways to, with his designs and layouts, even though he probably takes inspiration from a lot of older things, he's trying to bring you something new. So I love that. But speaking of retro stuff, even though I don't know how retro this really is, if 1997 is that retro, I guess it kind of is now. It's so funny because that's the year I – was that the year I graduated high school? It was. 1997 is the year I graduated high school. So I guess me being 46 now, yeah, I guess that does fall into the nostalgia category. And if you're a young person, then it's definitely retro to you. So, yeah. Yeah, but so the thing that I heard, and this was from a buddy of mine, found this out through a couple of sources, that he believes the first American pinball remake of the Williams-era games is going to be Circus Voltaire. So if you've never played this game, this game is a John Papaduke game. It was designed in 1997 by Williams. And what's interesting about this is this game had some things in it that are pretty interesting. And if you've never played it, it definitely doesn't. It still does feel a little bit like it does hang with modern pinball. Now, I haven't gone deep into the code, so I don't know if the game is. The game is probably not that deep because of it was made in 97. And I think at that point they were still making games that were maybe more arcade focused. Like they weren't necessarily meant like I view Elwynn games. as great games to have at home because it's going to take you a while to get through it. You may never get through it. But John Papaduke was the designer. It was the fourth game that he made. So the other games that John Papaduke has made would be World Cup Soccer, Theater of Magic, Tales of the Arabian Nights, and then Circus Voltaire. His last game that he did, I believe, if I have this right, is Star Wars Episode I. I tried to take some notes on this one because, again, I don't know all the history. That's where I think sometimes the old guard gets upset about the new content creators. Like, you don't know the history. And it's like, I try to. I try to learn it as I go. But I'm more interested. The games I enjoy playing are these fast-paced, newer games. Those are just the ones that I enjoy playing more.
    25:16
    And when I'm on tournaments, I often struggle with some of these older games because I don't know the code. Although when you do know the code of those older games, you usually can exploit a couple of things and get high scores. You know what I mean? Because they weren't really designed in mind for someone to be playing them at home. So some of these tournament players really understand the code of these older games, and they can just blow up these older games. So the couple things that I thought were cool on this game in particular, because I actually have it running virtually on this system back here. The polycade is on my back wall right here. And in Virtual Pinball X or VPX, there's a virtual version of it. and it's and it's the same code it's running the the rom from the game so all the code is there and uh the things that i think are cool on this game is like it was like probably it has to be the first game that really introduced this kind of like cool lighting there was this like incandescent bulb i don't even know if it's an incandescent bulb it looks more like a neon light i don't know i don't know what the tech is i don't know if it's just a neon bulb i don't know because that'd be kind of crazy because i wonder if those like used to be tough to keep uh if they would burn out or not but it goes along the right ramp and it's just this cool glow um and i think and i don't know if i have this right but i don't think every game like i don't think the light color changes i think if you get a game you might have a game with a different color neon tube than someone else's i could be wrong if if you know the history of it better than me definitely let me know but there's a lot of cool things in this game there's uh the ring master mechanism which lifts off the ground and balls can be put underneath it, but it's also a bash toy, which I think is cool. That whole thing is really neat, and there's like a magnet, I think, on top of it. Yeah, there's a magnet on top of it, and it like tosses the ball off of the top of it. So it's this cool like rising bash toy. There's also a – and that mechanism had been used in other forms from Williams games prior to this, I believe. There's another cool mech in there where it's like a pop bumper that is under the play field and it pops up at certain times. That's pretty cool. There's also this other really neat thing that some people I hear don't like, but there's this giant ball on the left side, but it's like an actual, I think it's just like a plastic ball. And when you hit it, it hits a target behind it. There's also this other really neat thing in the back of the game. There's a saucer that locks the ball and then throws it off to another saucer. So when you lock a ball there, it gets put into the saucer and it throws it over to the other saucer so it can lock the second ball in the first saucer. It's really pretty neat.
    28:01
    And it's colorful. It's a very colorful and pretty game. So it doesn't surprise me that they would go with a game that's flashy like this. The one thing that's kind of interesting is I think this was John Papaduke's least selling game. It didn't really do well, I don't think. And I think there was like, I don't know, something around the range of 2,500 of them built. I might have that a little wrong, but it's something around there. So it's like less than 3,000 I know is what was made. Now, I don't know why it wasn't a commercial success. I don't know if that's maybe more indicative of where arcades were at when that game came out.
    28:40
    But I've been playing it a lot virtually. The only place I don't have, like I said, I haven't had a ton of time on this game, but anytime I have played on it, I've enjoyed it. The other place that I played on well the one place that I played the an actual real version of the game like an actual machine was interior And I don know if interior still has it, but anytime I go visit Chicago, I usually typically try to go to interior on my way back to the airport. Although now my buddy Sean has introduced me to more places in Chicago. I love, I love the accessibility to pinball in Chicago. It's pretty awesome. It's everywhere and um it's just a fun game to play so i don't have full confirmation this is just a rumor but i i'm pretty sure i feel pretty confident in the source of this this information that that's going to be the first game so i think that's kind of a cool game to release as the first one now the thing is well and if you look at the values of it it's an expensive game to buy now it wasn't expensive when it came out it is now because you can't really get them and i think the people that have them tend to hold on to them so you don't see them for sale that much i think orange county pinball has one right now but i think they want something like it's over twelve thousand dollars for it i'm pretty sure so so if they were to remake this and it was in a budget range that made sense for people i think this could be a cool game and if you look at their press release of when they said they were going to do these uh these reimagined williams games uh they were saying that they were going to bring some modern elements to it. So I would imagine with like Circus Voltaire, I believe the rest of the lighting was incandescent bulbs. So they're probably going to be all LED bulbs. I would imagine they're not going to use a real neon tube if that's in fact what was there. And I got to think in 1997, it probably was still a neon tube that would probably be replaced with some kind of RGB lighting. And the original game didn't have art blades on the inside, but you could get art blades. But one of the things that's really unique and interesting that they did with this game is if you look at the back box, the back box doesn't have a display in it the dmd is actually in the back now you see barrels of fun doing doing uh put doing lcd screens in the back but this was before lcd screens so they were doing these um dmd screens but inside the game but it was like at an angle where you can clearly see it actually probably better placement than putting it in the back box because you can actually see it as you're playing the other thing i like about it and i can't remember what mode it is but there's like a shot on the left that you can hit and you play these video mode games and the video mode games are pretty cool actually so there's a lot to like in this game so i kind of feel like kind of feel like this is cool like there's some cool stuff in here that i think people might you know if you're newer to the hobby or someone like me who really doesn't have all the historicals on this kind of older game or these kind of older games you know it could be one that you you're interested in and i and i really do think that american pinball makes a quality machine so it'll be interesting what they do now this came around came out around the same time as medieval madness and medieval madness was way more accepted than this game was and this game just didn't i don't know it's interesting though because as a company is it smart or stupid to release a game that really didn't do well commercially i don't know where i where i don't know where my head is at that i think i think maybe it is a good idea and this is why i think it's a good idea because well it's probably going to make the people that have collected the original one maybe a little upset i don't know but um but it was highly desirable from a collectability standpoint so maybe that was the that's the thought is like we're going to put this game out into the world that you really can't get unless you're going to want to spend a ton of money. Now, will it make the older ones less expensive or less desirable? I don't know. Like in the arcade world, people would want the original over a remake of something. But I think in pinball it might, because of the fact they didn't make many of these, it might actually make the popularity, it might raise in popularity, but it might also decline the value of someone that has an original one. I know, why can't I think of his name? Oh, this is so bad. I know someone that actually has this game. I think my buddy, who has it? Does Mark have it? I think Mark in Arizona probably definitely has it. He has everything in his collection. So he probably definitely has this game. So I don't know. I'm kind of really interested in it. The other thing that's kind of cool in it, I'm trying to remember what the shot is called. I think it's called the Ringmaster. No, not the Ring, not Ringmaster. is it tight walk or tight fire high wire haywire i don't there's like a shot where once you light i believe there's two stand-ups on the left ramp and when you hit those two stand-ups it lights the lock and it goes up the left ramp and there's a magnet that grabs the ball and then it sends it and locks it down this wire form ramp there's a lot that's cool in here so i i kind of think it's a smart move i'm like i'm undecided like i don't know because it's interesting you never know sometimes until you put these things out in the world what the acceptance of the pinball world is going to be. But if you've never, like, checked out Circus Voltaire, check it out because you probably could just go on Pinball Map and try to find one. There are some on location. And if you could find it, I think you'd probably have a good time with it. But like I said, the older ones have kind of skyrocketed in value. But it definitely wasn't a commercial success by any stretch of the imagination. So, yeah, that's kind of cool. We'll see what American – well, that's all I know. That's all I really know right now. I don't know if they're – I don't know what their second and third title is going to be. I mean we can make some guesses, but actually I think I had – let me see. I thought I had a note where I was coming up with what I thought maybe the next ones could be. Let's see. What do I think? Did I write that down anywhere? I thought I did. Let's see. Let me look really quick because I thought I wrote that down.
    34:48
    Give me a second, guys. where I know where I don't edit my podcast. So it's just, it is what it is. So if I'm looking for something and I can't find it, then we'll just move on. But I swear there was some talk about, or at least there were some names thrown out of what it could be after that.
    35:03
    Let me see. I don't know if I could find it. I don't have it handy, but, oh, I think it was Tales of the Arabian Nights, maybe.
    35:13
    Could be another one. I think that would be a cool one because people love that game too. And, you know, there's some, I know that this might be met with – the people that listen to this that aren't – haven't been in the hobby for 20 years or more may disagree with this. But I do think it's interesting to be able to – if you're someone that you don't have interest in fixing old games because some of these old games, they're going to break down. And I do think that you need to be somewhat technically savvy to get into this hobby or at least you're going to have to be because stuff will break in pinball like it just does, and then you'll have to fix it. But if you buy an older game from the 90s, there's a pretty good likelihood that something's either going to be broken in the version of it that you buy or it's going to break at some point. So the other stat I wanted to bring up, the estimated value, at least on pin side, is saying – and I think I've seen them go for more than this, but it's $9,600 to $1,100 to almost $1,200 to buy a used Circus Voltaire. But keep in mind, if you buy one of these used ones or buy one of these new ones, like I was saying before, the value in it to me is that you don't – of course stuff will still break from time to time, but it's new. So it's going to have modern tech. You're not going to have to worry about old tech, and then I'm sure American Pinball is going to have plenty of parts available for someone that's wanting to fix it when something breaks. That's going to be, I'm sure, part of the strategy with American Pinball is making sure there's parts availability for everybody. So that's kind of the news. The other games that I was kind of thinking maybe they would do is maybe Fishtails, maybe World Cup Soccer. But then there's a rumor. I don't remember who said this rumor, but I believe someone was saying – I don't remember where I heard it now. It could have even been Kaneda. I'm not sure. But it was – and I don't know if it started from – I don't want to not quote or give people the credit for where they gave the information out. But it might have been Nap Arcade that was saying that Turner is potentially working on a Whitewater 2 or some kind of sequel to Whitewater, which I know a lot of people love Whitewater.
    37:20
    So, yeah, we'll see what happens, man. But I think this is kind of exciting. See, the problem is that I bet a lot of people haven't played this game. So if you've been in the hobby forever, you probably have come across it. You've played it. You may have an opinion on it. but uh but when you look at pin side the the ratings and the people that comment on it are pretty positive like they enjoy the game so and i think there's a lot in it to have fun with like i was saying earlier i love a bash toy and the ring masters like this cool bash toy that rises up above the you know outside of the playfield kind of reminds me a little bit of the sentinel head in uh in uncanny x-men right it rises from the playfield i like that it has that like magnet that locks the ball on top so i don't know it'll be interesting to see what they decide to if that is indeed the uh the strategy that is definitely interesting now what as much as i'm excited about this i'm also excited about like what american pinball might do as a as a licensed theme that's new because in the past at some point in time they had access to he-man and he-man would be another one like masters of the universe would be an amazing title for pinball it's never been done and that i think would be also cool so so so american pinball is going to be interesting to watch i don't know if we're going to see any of these things by they said they're going to do something this year so how cool would it be for all of us that go to pinball expo every year to be playing a brand new reimagined version of circus voltaire at expo like that would be pretty cool so we'll see what they do but i'm very very excited i don't know if that's actually you know i can't say with 100 confirmation but i feel really confident about the person that told me i don't think they'd have any reason to steer me wrong and unless plans change or they got bad information i think that's a pretty accurate guess at what they're gonna do as their very first game now i'm gonna pivot real quick because i don't want this to be a super long episode because like I said, I have to unfortunately travel. So I'm recording this on a Friday. So it's actually February 27th when I'm recording this. Pinball news is a little bit slow at the moment. But one thing that's coming up very quickly is Texas Pinball Festival. Now, I've never gone to Texas Pinball Festival. I've only really gone to, I mean, for big pinball shows, it's really just been Pinball Expo. And I've been going ever since the first year I went was the year they came back from COVID. So I've been going for quite a while, but at that time that I went that year, which would have been like 2021, I think, I think it's 2021. When I went in 2021, I just, my, I wasn't necessarily into pinball yet. That was, that was the event. If you listened to Sterling's pinball studio episode with me, I talked about how I got into pinball and sort of how this progression, you know, came to be and how I went from someone that was moderately interested to where I am now, which is I'm very interested and super excited about this whole hobby and where it could go and what tech we could potentially see in the future to wherever they decide to take pinball. So I'm very excited about that. But in that episode, Sterling and I talked about this event that happened at that pinball expo. I was sitting at a table, and it was Todd Tuckey and a bunch of other people. and this was when Arcade Hollywood, who I met through the arcade hobby, he had me go tour his barncade that he has at his house. And he's the one that said, I really think you'd like going to Pinball Expo. But the hook for me wasn't Pinball Expo. The hook for me was, hey, and we're gonna go to Galloping Ghost. I was like, oh, heck yeah, let's go because we're all gonna go together to Galloping Ghost. And he didn't tell me this, but we were gonna get to go check out the R360, which is this Sega arcade game that literally spins you upside down. There's a panic button in it. The thing I wish that I would have listened to, so when Doc Mac was giving me the breakdown of the R360 and saying like, all right, it does this and that, but if you're freaking out, hit the button. He probably said this. He probably 100% said this, but I was so nervous in this thing because it's like a roller coaster. You've got like full on, you're full on strapped into this thing.
    41:32
    I believe he said, if you hit the button, wherever you are in that rotation, it's going to stop you there and then I'm going to have to get you out. Well, when I finally hit the panic button, I was probably 20 seconds away from being done because it just cycles through some point in time, right? It's a timed game and then after that it finishes. You're done. Well, I hit the button because I was, as I've gotten older, I've had a hard time with roller coasters and things like that. And I hit it and I was upside down. So not exactly where you want to, if you're freaking out about being upside down, stopping when you're upside down isn't necessarily the best place to stop but that's where i stopped upside down so so that was fun but i was there with like the tnt twins and todd my buddy uh i'm trying to arcade hollywood mason was with me there was a bunch of other people with us i want to say carrie was even with us during that i think i'm pretty sure carrie was with us we had such a good time that that was probably one of my favorite now had i been into pinball as much as i am now it would have been like candy land but i just wasn't as much like i even played the original predator game that never got you know the guy never had never had licenses for it i played that at at doc max arcade or doc doc max pinball location which is just a couple blocks down the road so if you're going to expo this year uh doc has a very curated collection of pinball machines but he's got some cool stuff there uh i played i think um that was where i played joust for the first time. That was a lot of fun. He had, um, shoot, he had a lot of games that I had never played because I just wasn't as into that. Um, he had a pretty good, uh, working version of a Varkon, which you don't see those very often. There's very few of those made under a hundred of them made I want to say it was like something like 90 or 70 maybe it was 90 I think 90 is the accurate number And who knows There probably got to be less than 30 of those that actually exist that are working There was a guy at one time, there was a guy on Pinside and I did the thing that I know probably annoys a lot of collectors when they don't have something for sale. And you're like, Hey, would you ever sell your Varkon? I think it probably annoys people because sometimes I'll fish into people's collection. You can see your collection on a, sorry, I'm dealing with this cold and I'm like, keep rubbing my nose if you're watching it on video i'm dealing with this cold that i'm trying to shake but um varcon he had a really good version a really workable version of varcon and usually there's usually a varcon at pinball expo i don't know if there'll be one at tpf but but anyways i have no agenda at tpf i'm not going there making a video i'm just literally going to be there hanging out with jamie and we're just going to play games and enjoy like play games talk to people, just be all entrenched in that pinball social activity for the whole weekend, and it's going to be such a blast. I talked about this on a video I posted to Facebook. I'm doing very well on Facebook for some reason, and I appreciate all of you watching my content on Facebook. I've been very encouraged by Facebook because all of a sudden my views and my follower account is going like through the roof on Facebook. So I'm not, I'm not by any means abandoning YouTube. I'm going to always do YouTube. That's kind of how I started. And, uh, but if you, if you go, go look for retro Ralph on Facebook and definitely give me a follow there. Cause I share content pretty daily, almost daily. I didn't post anything today, but I'm on a streak where I, I really try to post something every single day to, uh, to Facebook and, uh, my, yeah the content's doing really good there but i shared this thing on facebook about how my plan is i'm bringing all these challenge coins i made these challenge coins i don't have one handy right now but they say flip side podcast on them so two things i'm going to do i think when we're at tpf if i see someone like a like a bunch of guys playing on a game i'm going to throw that challenge coin on there and go whoever whoever wins this game you'll you'll get that challenge coin i was also thinking it'd be fun to challenge people as well when we're there and i'm not i'm not this amazing pinball player. I don't, I don't claim to be, I feel like I've gotten a lot better, but a beating me is not that difficult if you're a really good, if you're a really good player. So, uh, but it'll be fun. It'll be a fun interactive thing. I actually brought a couple of them to media day and, uh, Aaron, Aaron over at, uh, grown up adjacent got one. Well, he was, he was second place, but I wanted him to win it. I, I did win that game, but like, I was like, all right, well, I want to give some, I want to give some of these away. So I gave one to Aaron and I'm sure Aaron could, could easily beat me, but, uh, Aaron, Vic VP one, one, and, uh, Mike from, um, uh, the long Island pinball society, I think is what it's called. Mike is a really cool dude. They're all really cool dudes. Like that was, it's crazy. Cause some of my best friends weren't at that, weren't at that, uh, the last media day, but I got to get, build relationships with other people that I've known through the hobby that I haven't really got a chance to spend a lot of time with. So Aaron being a little newer in the content creation space, really good guy, like super, super nice. And Vic I always spend time with. And Vic brought Mike and Mike's also a really good dude. So it was fun to be able to spend a little bit more time with people I don't usually because oftentimes it's like me, Jamie and Kale and we're doing our thing. And it's not like I'm not meaning to mingle with everybody else, but you know, you gravitate toward your, your good buddies and, uh, and it was fun to kind of like hang out with different people, uh, in the hobby. So and other, and other peer, peer content creators, but I'm definitely looking forward to TPF a lot. If you're going to TPF, come say hi, we'll hang out. I have no agenda there. Like pinball expo becomes more of a work event for me, I feel like, because my goal at pinball expo is to sort of bring people to pinball expo that can't go. So I create a video that I post and I talk about all the things I saw that were cool and those videos people really enjoy and I enjoy making them but it does take time away from me playing a bunch of games and kind of having fun and mingling with everybody actually this past expo one of the moments that I had the most fun with was when it was the last night and you know there's a big party at on the expo floor and and there's a dj there's even a band but I didn't go over with the band I don't think I was over in the dj area where stern and we were all just jumping on uh star wars and having a blast because the game you know especially if you're newer to that game, it can be pretty brutal at first. And this was prior to them having the – I don't think they had the Death Star fix on all the games there yet. But we had such a blast just playing that game, drinking beer, and hanging out. So I hope to have that same experience at TPF. I'm looking forward to that. And I hope – hopefully I get to meet a lot of you because I know a lot of you guys go to TPF annually. So that's going to be a good time, I think, for everyone to just hang out, have some fun, play some pinball, socialize. And that's really what it's all about. This hobby has a way of bringing all of us crazy people together. You know, we probably talk to our friends and family. It's interesting because I know we all love this hobby so much. And then we talk to like other people that aren't in the hobby. And I try not to be too overbearing. But whenever somebody shows any interest in it, I'm like, oh, dude, check this out. Check this out. I actually just got my hair cut an hour before I'm filming this. And there's this woman that cuts my hair. and she goes, hey, I want to show you my, she's really cool. She's social. And the place that I get my haircut is actually called the bearded barber. And in the back, there's a speakeasy. It's a really cool little place. And it's totally not in a place you'd expect it. It's in this little town called Anthem, which is actually where Rudy lives. And she's like, I want to show you this. I set up a bunch of, I set up all the houses from, she has like little kids. She's like, I set up all my house, all the houses with like shirts for all the houses. And I made my kids pick one and that's going to be the house they represent. And she was mad because her kids both picked Hufflepuff. That bothered her. She's like, I let them do it, but I really wanted them to pick like Slytherin or, or something else. So, um, so anyway, she was like, and I was like, Hey, do you know, they have a Harry Potter pinball machine? She's like, they do. They have a pinball machine of Harry Potter. And then the guy next to me was getting his haircut. He's like, dude, they have a Harry Potter pinball machine. So then I started showing them the Harry Potter pinball machine and they were blown away. See, like people that aren't in our hobby don't realize, like we take for granted all this stuff. We're like, oh, there's not enough mechs in this. And they were freaking out. They were like, oh my gosh, you can play Quidditch. Oh my gosh, there's a Death Eater in it. They were freaking out. And they were like, well, what do you do? I was like, well, because she was like, how do you play Quidditch? I was like, well, you go up there and then the snitch flies around the play field. And then if you catch the snitch, you get points for catching the snitch. She was like, what? She was blown away by this. And I'm like, man, sometimes I feel like we take for granted how cool some of this stuff actually is because we're around it all the time. So I'm always up for introducing other people that are unfamiliar with the hobby because that's how the hobby is going to grow. And it's funny because she's much younger, and she's like, oh, my gosh. She said something like, how many of these do you have at your house? And I was like, well, nine, and I got one coming. She's like, oh, my gosh, if I went to your house and like was in your garage, I wouldn't leave. Like I love this stuff. And she's she grew up in the era of like all this digital stuff. So she craves and desires like experiences that are more analog in nature. So for her, this was really cool because it was like I'm really into it. And then and then she started asking me, like, what else do they have pinball machines of? And I started rattling off some of some of the themes. And it was like what I was giving her, she was shocked that, number one, this still exists. Like she had no clue that new pinball machines are made. So I do think there's, I don't know, with all the themes coming out right now, especially this year, I think this is going to be, especially with Pokemon coming out and being the hit that it seems to be. I love this because it's bringing all these new people in that never really experienced this before. And when I go to Electric Bat, and Cale and Rachel could speak to this much better than me, but when I am there and I see someone that stumbles their way in because they're connected to this other bar, right? They're connected to a bar. And a lot of people, like, find their way over there because you can get from the bar to the arcade. It's not like there's, like, a separate door. You go in through the bar and, you know, what's over there, right? And you see a bunch of people, especially if you're there on a Tuesday night, because then you're like, who are these? You see hundreds of people. You know, they have a hundred, easily over a hundred every week now playing pinball. So people are like, what is this? And I can't tell you how many times I've been playing and someone's in there because they're going to like the little tiki bar or something. Like they stumble their way in. They see the tiki bar. They order a drink. It's like, what are you guys doing? Like, what is this? Like, what is up? And like the last time it was probably like, I haven't gone in a long time, which is bums me out, but I haven't been able to go down there. It's not that close to my house. So it's like, it's like a 45 minute drive, but I haven't gone down there more recently. And I was there in this, this like woman was there with her boyfriend and she's like, what do you guys do? I was like, well, this is a tournament. Like we, we play like competitively. And I was like, but we, you know, a lot of us are just here for fun. Like we're not trying to, she's like, are there people that take it seriously? I was like, yeah, yeah. There's people that take it really seriously and the funny is i'll tell you this story i don't think i've ever told this in the podcast so i was doing really well that night and she's like she so i started telling her about all about competitive play and how the scoring works like it's seven five three one it was like yeah if you get last place you get one point you get first place you get seven points and she's like well how are you doing tonight then i was like i'm actually doing really well like i'm i could end up in like the top 20 as long as i don't blow it on this last game and i was on batman 66 And I was, there was this, there was this woman there and she definitely had a bit too much to drink and she was playing on the, on Batman 66. And I wasn't having the best game. And I was like, look, I just need to get like second. I can't take last. If I take last, I'm going to fall out of the top easily. And, um, and she, she, she beat me, this girl. And she was like, I think, I think I'm on Batman 66 with you. I'm like, yeah, yeah, you're on. What's your name? and I've got, you know, match play up. And she's like, I don't remember her name, but she's like, yeah, this is my name. I'm like, oh, cool. Like you're on Batman 66. And he said, I have a good game. Like high five, it's going to be awesome. And she kicked my ass. I was like, what? What's happening? And she was like flailing the flippers. Like the coils are burning up. And I'm like, what is going on? I was like, so of course there was part of me that was like really excited for her doing well, but I wasn't excited because she basically knocked me out of the top. And I don't get there very often. I'm usually the middle of the road when I play at Electric Bat. If there's 100 people, I'm usually somewhere in the 50s, somewhere in there, right? Like the 50s. Sometimes I creep up into like the 30s. But for most nights, I'm in the 50s somewhere. And I view that as pretty good because there's a lot of really, really amazing players at Electric Bat. So I was just like, I think I beat you. Are you mad? Are you upset? I'm like, no, congratulations.
    54:58
    Then I walked into the parking lot. I'm like, son of a bitch. So whatever. It just happened that way. Just how it went down. But I was happy for her. I've gotten a – I know I did that whole episode about being upset about pinball and getting mad. I don't get mad anymore. And I never got mad at a person. It's not like I get pissed. I get mad at the machine. But, you know, Kale has this saying. He's like, you need – I think it's Kale that says this. You need to play the game, not the person or something like that. I think that's what he says. And it's true. Like if you get so obsessed with beating people and then looking at the scoreboard, like you're looking up there, oh, man, I'm in 20th. If I blow it, you get in your head. You just got to play, enjoy your time, and not take it so seriously. Although no matter where you go, some people take it extremely seriously. But they got such a good crew over at Electric Bat. It's nothing but fun. But anyways, that's all I got for today. Are you excited about Circus Voltaire? I don't know. I think it'll be interesting to see if that is the game.
    55:58
    If that is the game. Is that a game you're going to want in your collection? I don't know. But I would suggest if you live in an area, a metro area, there's probably a good chance that there might be one on site somewhere. Go play it. Go check it out. Or if you have a chance to go play virtually, play it virtually and get an idea of what that game is like. Anyways, guys, that's it. That's all I got. thank you so much for supporting the podcast. I love, I love this. If you guys, if you guys don't realize this, I'm, this is, this is so much fun for me. I am having a blast and dare I say it, I'm having much more fun than I did in the arcade hobby, believe it or not. I mean, it's true. It's the truth. I can't lie about that. It is what it is. Like, I really do love it. And it's not like I don't still have this love and passion for arcade gaming, but pinball is just, it's another, it's a different thing man and once you get hooked they say you get bit by the bug and you absolutely do and it's hard not to love it because it's just a fun way to spend your time it brings people a lot of people joy and uh it's a great escape from this crazy world that we live in so hopefully you guys enjoyed this episode if you did give me a thumbs up consider subscribing to the channel if you enjoy content like this. And that's it for now, guys. We will see you on the flip side. See you guys.
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    you