coming at you out of st. Charles Illinois the special when lit pinball podcast start now thanks for hitting that start button and taking the plunge here are your hosts Ken Cromwell and Bill Webb hey what's going on pinball and welcome to episode number 85 of the special when lit pinball podcast my name is Ken Cromwell and I am Bill Webb and today's our holiday episode so for Those of you that weren't around for this last year, we essentially, this year we asked industry folks, pinball industry folks, what their favorite moment was for 2019 and what they're looking forward to as kind of a wish for 2020, Bill. And honestly, if you haven't had a chance to check out last year's episode, give that one a listen too, man. Which I think we should do as well to reflect on what has come true and what has not come true. You know what we can do? Maybe next week, depending on the news cycle, we can visit. Because last year we asked for predictions from everybody for 2019. We can see who was accurate and who was inaccurate. So that would be fun. But for today, sit back, relax, enjoy the holidays. We're recording this the day before New Year's Eve. So this is kind of like our treat to give back to the listeners. You're going to have a lot of people that are on this show. And we're going to keep it moving fast and try to get this done under an hour. So without further ado, let's stop in and check in with Stern Pinball. Hello, Pinball Land. Hello, Bill and Ken. I'm so sad that I'm not there with you today. I really wish I could have been. I'm actually out of the country, which is kind of exciting, but I'd still wish I could have been there with you too. I had two pretty cool moments in pinball in 2019. Not 2018. 2018 was cool too, but 2019. So the highlights for me were getting the Game of Thrones and the Ghostbusters updates out the door, and they turned out pretty good. So those are my pinball highlights for 2019. 2020 is looking pretty promising pinball-wise, I think. I think we've been seeing a lot of stuff on the horizon, and some stuff got pushed back. Some stuff I thought was going to happen in 2019 isn't going to happen until 2020 and even 2021. But in 2020, I think we're going to see some really cool things with connectivity, and I'm really looking forward to that. So those are my pinball thoughts for 2019 and 2020. Again, I'm sorry I'm not there. I wish I was. Best to all of you guys. Best to all of the pinball world. Laters. Zach Sharp here from Sturm Pinball. Happy holidays to everyone. If I had to go with a pinball-related highlight for 2019, it would have to be a toss-up between either the gigantic Ghostbusters code update or having the Star Wars topper available for John Cobalt to purchase in time for Christmas. As for my holiday wish for 2020, it would be for everyone who has never played in a tournament to get out there and compete. You'd be surprised how much fun it is, the new friendships you'll make, and it's a great way to travel and see the world. The other holiday wish is to get more random emails to Zach Many instead of Zach Sharp. Because I love receiving those after the fact. My name is Charles Ernst. I work for Stern Pinball as the video art director. In my department, we handle all the things that you see that are computer graphics that are on the displays, video editing, and that kind of whatnot. Probably the highlight of 2019 is being in a company that's growing at the rate that this company is growing at. I've been in video games for almost 30 years and it was always feast or famine a lot of times at those companies. This has been consistent growth. We've made really good product and it continues to grow and that's thanks a lot to the fan base and those millennials drinking beer and playing pinball. And I'd say probably my wish for 2020 would be for that trend to continue. Pop culture, adopt more of the pinball. It's catching on with a lot of the celebrities and that kind of thing. And that just helps drive a lot of that. So I'm hoping that we do a lot more cross-promotional pinball events and more podcasts and more people to help spread the joy for the holiday seasons of pinball for the new year. Thanks for the CG art department at Stern Pinball for all of you fans. and hopefully you guys have an excellent new year and happy holidays. Hi, this is Steve Ritchie. Ken's asked me what the moment of 2019 was for me. The moment. And it was the moment that I decided not to cut my hair for at least two years. I'm going for the mad scientist look. This is really kind of a selfish answer though. It's ridiculous. A good moment for pinball. Let's see. we really had a lot of fun making Black Knight Sword of Rage Stern is growing growing more powerful all the time and it's like it's good to work for the company that's the 9000 pound gorilla what else can I say for 2020 I'm happy to like be alive and I'm happy to be able to make some more games in 2020 we have a great one coming Well, we have a bunch of great ones, but my new one I'm extremely excited about. It's like just a good title that everyone will like, I think, very much. I wish everybody health and happiness out there and a great Christmas. Shall I say happy holidays? Anyway, thanks for listening. Steve Ritchie here saying goodbye. I'm going back to work right now. Hey, so interesting to hear Zach. Well, first of all, I like Zach Sharp. He's happy that the Star Wars topper guy finally has a topper to buy, right? And it's interesting to hear both him and Dwight Sullivan say that some of their highlights included that Ghostbusters update code. Dude, I love that game. Dude, it was a great thing for me. It is a great thing. You've got Chuck Ernst. Always good to hear from Chuck. Steve Ritchie saying, hey, you know what? My highlight is deciding I'm not going to cut my hair for two years. I'm going for the mad scientist look. And grateful he's still alive. Yeah, and he's grateful that he's still alive. Which is good. Right. Who else do we have in that segment there, Bill? Our buddy Chuck. Yeah, Chuck. Well, Chuck is just a good guy. Yeah, Charles Ernst. I didn't realize how formal Charles can be. I don't know if I'm supposed to start calling him Charles or not, but Charles in charge over there. We're going to have to call him Sir Charles if we're going to do that. Sir Charles, right. Sir Charles comes to St. Charles to talk pinball with us. How about we go and we check in with friend of the show, Ed Ed Robertson of Bare Naked Ladies. Let's do it. Hey, what's up? Special when lit. Ed Ed Robertson here from Bare Naked Ladies talking about 2019 and 2020. 2019, my favorite pinball moment of 2019 is hands down Jurassic Park. What an incredible game. I rushed out to play this game on location, visited a local wicked pinball spot here in Toronto called Cabin Fever. And I think I went three or maybe four times in the first week they had the game because I could not get enough of it. Then, a good pal of mine, Dave Smith, got his Jurassic Park LE. I rushed right over there to help him set it up. And then the moving dino head, the raptor paddock, it just takes the whole thing to another level. and Keith Elwin is really good he's really good at making a compelling rule set uh it just completely blew my mind the balance is great the shots are challenging but you can string together some cool combos and I'm completely in love with it um that is the absolute highlight of 2019 and I don't play a lot of tournament pinball, as you may know, but I played in a tournament just a few weeks ago, Pinball for Change, again at my pal Dave Smith's house, put together by a local friend, Walter Moroz. Heck of a guy. And I beat Jeff Teolis on that Jurassic Park LE. So in your face, Teolis, looking ahead to 2020, wow, it is going to be a banner year for pinball. Certainly Stern is going to have, Stern is on quite a run, so I think it's going to be a big year for Stern. But holy shit, with the spooky pinball announcement of Rick and Morty. if ever there was a dream theme for me it might be rick or rick and morty uh one of the smartest coolest animated series ever in my opinion and uh that is a big get for spooky so uh i'm excited to see that scott denisi's uh next design it it may even have ramps this one we'll have to see um Yeah, so that's that. Happy holidays, everybody. Have a great holiday season. Play a lot of pinball. Be good to each other. All right. Take care. So, Bill, after hearing that, let me ask you a question and see if maybe you picked up on this. You think Ed likes Jurassic Park? I don't think so, man. No, he didn't. He was a letdown. He didn't plug it enough, man. You know what, though? I'm giving a little bit of crap, though. It is a great game. That's why I own it. Yeah. We don't have the big ball in that edition of the LE, but still nonetheless. It's a great pinball machine, man, and most people are expecting that to win the Twippy for Game of the Year. So Ed's down on it. He's down on it, meaning he's in with the JP crowd. So good hearing that. And then he's talking about Rick and Morty. He's excited about that. Side note, guess who went in on Rick and Morty today? Not you. Yeah, me. So I got a spot on Rick and Morty. Thank you, Flip N Out Pinball. A spot became available, and I was on a little wait list there. So I'm snagging one from Zach, so that'll be fun. So thanks for chiming in for the show. Always good hearing from our buddy Ed Ed Robertson. Let's shift gears and let's get into some of the, I don't know, what do you want to say? Pinball content providers slash media side of things. And that would be the podcasters. The jaded people like ourselves. The jaded people. I like it. Let's do it. All right, let's go. Hello, boys. It's Jeff Teels from Pinball Profile. Guys, I love that you do this annual show with so many people sharing their thoughts. I'm sure the common themes from everyone is thank you for all the efforts you do with Special Unlit. You guys have a positive look on pinball, which I personally enjoy, as I'm sure others do too. Good banter between you two, excellent guests and topics. I really enjoy the correspondence segments to get different takes on the different companies. And Ken, I've said it before on my podcast, I'll say it here, all of us really appreciated all the work you did at Expo, setting up the Meet the Media section and providing each of us with beautiful banners. Way too kind and generous, but I guess that's what you're all about. I don't know why Zach always says, screw you, Ken Cromwell. Well, take this as a sample bite. Screw you, Zach Many. And finally, as a holiday gift to you, here's a little-known secret. I'm going to give you an exclusive on Special Unlit. My real name actually isn't Jeff Teolis. In radio, sometimes we make fake names. My real name is actually Bill Webb VI. Happy holiday, boys. Keep up the great work. It's Martin from the Head to Head Pinball Podcast. And Joe from the Head to Head Pinball Podcast. And we're here to talk about our big highlight for 2019. Joe, what was your highlight? Well, joining Head to Head, but I mean, besides that, I'd have to say probably finally playing well in a pinberg. Yeah, you did do very well. Yeah, being after day one and being second to only the one. My highlight was TPF, funnily enough, even though I did go to Pimberg. But Texas Pinball Festival was amazing. I also got to meet the guys from Special Went Lit So that was clearly a highlight as well So I thought it was a great year for Pinball 2019 My wish for 2020 is pretty much the same wish that I had for 2019 And that is, I want to see Deep Root just get launched. And I reckon that would be an amazing thing to happen. And that would be a great wish. But I think what the real wish is, and I think that both of us are on board with this, is that obviously Lord of the Rings needs to be vaulted. Lord of the Rings vault would be incredible. Let's put that on the Santa list. So come on, Santa. Come through with the goods. Make a big stocking. But a big thank you to Ken and Bill. You guys are amazing. We really do appreciate we listen every week. You've had an amazing year and here's to a fantastic 2020 as well. Yes, and many more to come. Hey, Ken and Bill and everyone else out there in special wind land. This is Josh Roop with the Loser Kid Pinball Podcast. And I just want to thank those guys for reaching out to us to talk about our personal pinball highlight of 2019. Our personal highlight was making this podcast and having fun with it. Rubbing shoulders with the greats and making a lot of friends along the way. And all those that willing to put on our hats and call themselves a loser kid. Our holiday wish for 2020 for everyone is that you learn the true meaning of pinball, which is to be with friends and family and have some fun. So whether you're at home or away for the holidays, we hope that it is a very merry holidays for you and a happy new year. Merry Christmas. This is the Poor Man's Pinball Podcast. I'm Ian. Drew's with me here. We were given a homework assignment by Ken and Bill, and they wanted to know our highlight of 2019 and our pinball wish. Drew, how you doing, bud? I'm doing great. Drew, do you have a highlight of 2019? I have a very special highlight for the folks out there in podcast land. I'm sure you do. My highlight of 2019 was going to Expo and meeting all you people when I was still upright. Very nice. Very nice. Yeah, my highlight was I didn't puke in a urinal, so I did good. That is the benchmark that we all must adhere to now when we go out. I was the one that did not puke in a urinal. You know what, though? It still is my highlight. Not the puking in the urinal part, but we're not editing that out. Meeting all you guys. It was a good time, though. Beautiful. And you have a pinball wish? I do. What's your pinball wish? I'm looking for Stern to make the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as rumored, but I want a magical ramp that starts on the top of the play field and goes underneath the play field and then back out again. A magical ramp that defies all physics and all gravity. Yes. My pinball wish is to have, by the end of the year next year, an Oktoberfest and a Wonka in this basement. So that's it. Drew, you want to wish the kids a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday? Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays to everyone out in podcast land. We'll see you in 2020. All right. We love you. Take care. Thanks. Suck on that, buttholes. Dreaming of a white Christmas Just like the ones I used to know Hey, special and lit, it's Zach from This Week in Pinball Podcast and straight in the middle of Pinball Show and also Flip N Out Pinball, the streaming network. Sure, why not? I want to thank you guys, especially this year, for providing the greatest content out there in podcast form and streaming form. You've got my Twippy. Vote for streamers. Thanks again for all you guys do. Happy holidays to everyone listening. Thanks for doing the charity event too, you guys. You guys are killing it. Love you, Ken. Love you, Bill. Even Beattie. Got much love for Beattie, man. My favorite moment of 2019, I would have to say, is probably the Twippy Awards. I know it's biased. Whatever. It was awesome, though. Such an event. Can't wait for the next event. Another one of my favorite things in 2019, for me more personally, was starting flipping out pinball and taking that over with my wife. That's been really fun. We get a lot of great things, don't we, Ken? We got a lot of great things coming up in 2020. I love that. I'm thinking my wish for 2020, I don't know, I think my wish for 2020 is that Stern Pinball will have an even bigger year than they did in 2019. Yeah, I know that would be hard to do with the likes of Elvira and Jurassic Park and everything, but look, a man can wish, can't he? And that's my Christmas wish, as well as you guys know me, right? I'm the Topper King. I love them toppers. I'm ready to see what 2020 has to offer in toppers. I'm looking at you, Eric Meunier. Yeah, that's right. I'm looking at you. Again, thanks, guys. Love what you're doing. Love the way that you represent this industry. And I'm telling you right now, for 2019, you should be inducted, if not already so, into the Ambassador of Pinball Hall of Fame. Congratulations. Thanks again from Zach Minney at This Week in Pinball Podcasts, straight down the middle of Pinball Show and flipping out pinball. Bye, bye, bye. Call me on the drums. Merry Christmas, happy holidays, Ken Cromwell. Lots of good material there. So it was nice to get a Merry Christmas from Dr. Phil instead of the screw you, Ken Cromwell, that Jeff Teols had cited. I got to hand it to Jeff. Like, if we need a PR guy, we got to reach out to Jeff Teols. We do. We do. And I guess he's, you know, somewhat related with the last name. Yes, yes. I did not know that you guys are both William Webbs. No, he said his name is Bill Webb. And my name is actually William. Bill William, whatever it takes. Strike one. Whatever it takes. And you got to be over six foot tall to be in the web client. No, it was cool, man. It was good hearing from him. You know what? The other thing was, poor man's pinball podcast. Had to sit back and take a little bit of a chuckle on the urinal in the throwing up. You know what? I'm glad he owned it. That was a great story. I'm sure that wasn't his highlight, but you know what? We all make mistakes. Had a little fun with it. And had a little fun with it. And you know what, man? They took it running and took it on the cheek and rolled with it. So, nothing but love, man. Good guys. You got Josh over at Loser Kid. Thanking everybody in the world and thanking everybody for wearing their hats. Their hats have become kind of a trendy thing in pinball to wear. And then finally you got Martin and Joe over at Head to Head saying, what's up, guys? Always nice to hear from our fellow podcasters. So, I'm assuming at some point if we get back to TPF this year, we're going to run into a bunch of these guys again. And I'm absolutely looking forward to it. But guess what? Great times. There are more podcasts to get through. Why don't we do that right now? Let's do it. All right. Hey, this is Matt. And this is Jason. And you might remember us from the Slap Save Pinball podcast that you unsubscribed from. Special When Lit had asked us to talk about our pinball highlights of 2019. What do you think about that? My highlight is the charity campaign that we were able to pull off that benefited Project Pinball. For our little podcast, that was quite the accomplishment. Not only was it a highlight of this year, but it was probably the highlight of my entire journey in pinball so far. I couldn't have done it without all of our listeners and the entire community. So thank you for that. My highlight of 2019 was our private tour conducted by Dwight Sullivan at the Stern Factory. Jason, what do you want from 2020? I want one thing, and that is a Led Zeppelin pinball machine. That would make me happy. I think that would make a lot of people happy. What about you? I would love Orbiter 2, the sequel. It's always got to come back to this. Honestly, I'm just going to keep buying new in-box games until I finally get buyer's remorse on one of them. It will happen, I promise. Yeah, I believe it. But I think 2020 is going to shape up to be a marvelous pinball year. On behalf of Matt and I, I would like to wish you happy holidays and a merry Christmas. And a happy new year. Try to remember, it's only a game. We are Slap Save, and in the words of Rick, peace out. Adios. Later. Wow, they must have gave me Gary Stern spot this year. everyone happy holidays it's kaneda from kaneda's pinball podcast my personal highlight from 2019 was all of the great money that all of us as a community raised for project pinball i was super excited to sell that big lebowski and put that money to a good cause so thank you to ken and bill and everybody involved adam schwartz out of new york city in raising as much money as possible for the kids. For 2020, for 2020, my pinball dreams are twofold. One, I want to buy every single Poonie pinball machine they make. I'm going to corner the market on that industry, and you're going to watch it. Those games are going to be 30k by Christmas. The second thing I want to see in pinball machines in 2020, can we finally get internet connectivity into this hobby? The fact that we're playing games without any internet is like using a rotary phone in 2020. Have a happy and healthy holidays, everybody. Hey, everybody. This is Christopher Franchi, host of the super awesome pinball show and famous pinball artist for Batman 66, Guardians of the Galaxy. Whoa, hold it there, hotshot. Yeah, what about us? We're part of the cast of the super awesome pinball show, too. Yeah, why are you hogging all the holiday greetings? Don't we count, too? Listen, guys, I'm the star. I draw pinball art. Ed, what do you do? Throw some pinball show in Texas? Christian, you just ride the coattails of your wife's podcast. I'll handle the holiday thing myself. Hold on a sec, buddy. We're all equals on our podcast, and that's what's new and exciting and on people's minds. Not some dusty old pinball artwork. Yeah, and who calls that art anyway? Looks like unicorn vomit to me. God damn it, that crap ain't funny anymore. Who's being funny? When was the last time someone walked up to you in a grocery store and said, Oh my God, it's you, pinball artist Christopher Feranchi. How about never? Yeah, Mr. Big Stuff. You don't even have a twippy. I hate you. You guys are total jerks. Why don't you do the stupid holiday things yourself, you idiot? Well, that's Franchi. Happy holidays to everyone from the crew at the Super Awesome Pinball Show. And a safe and happy new year to you, your friends, and family. I hate you guys! All right, that was a lot of fun. This is Ed. My personal pinball highlight for 2019 was the Texas Pinball Festival winning best pinball convention for the 2018 Twippy Awards. And this is Christian. My personal pinball highlight of 2019 was winning second place in E-Division in Pinburgh and helping with a pinball make-a-wish. And this is Christopher Franchi. And my personal favorite highlight of 2019 was getting to start a podcast with these two great guys. And collectively, for 2020, our wish is peace on pin side and goodwill towards all pinballers. Happy holidays. That was a good time. $3,500 donation to Project Pinball Charities, which was dollar matched by Adam Schwartz. So a nice combined effort for a $7,000 donation. Thank you, guys. And the $50,000 that was raised by the pinball community. That was awesome. Good hearing from Chris. And then finally, the new kids on the block, so to speak, right? You got Christopher Franchi, Ed Van Der Veen, and Christian Line having some fun around the holidays. And it's evident to me that Chris is bothered by not having that Twippy. So maybe this is his year with the Munsters artwork. Maybe. And if it's not, I'm sure we'll hear about it. Yes, we will. love you chris all in good fun absolutely we're just we're just busting uh some chops here so uh let's do uh let's go back and visit again with uh our friends at stern pinball all right hey everybody this is greg freres from stern pinball art director here at stern pinball i just want to wish everybody a happy holiday season merry christmas happy new year my favorite pinball moment of the year well it was bigger than a moment it was bringing the Elvira game to the finish line and I'm hoping that everybody is happy out there with their games and I hope for 2020 that everybody listening scores the highest game they've ever scored on any game out there. Merry Christmas everybody. Hi my name is Stephen Martin I'm production art manager at Stern Pinball and my 2019 wish did come true which was they got me some help in the art department and we hired Justin Freight who started January of 2019 and thank the Lord he did come in because we did a lot of titles last year Four Cornerstones, a vault, Star Wars comic pin, and we did... There was one more, right? Oh, as I write, yeah, studio games. So, there was a lot of games, especially the Big Crunch at the end. and for 2020 my pinball wish would be to keep working on some cool kick-ass games. Merry Christmas and happy holidays to everyone out there. Hi, I'm Justin Freight. I work at Stern. I'm a graphic designer in the art department. My 2019 highlight was getting hired by Stern. I mean, I couldn't ask for anything better. Love it here. And then 2020 highlight is coming out with the new game that I'm working on. Can't tell you the title, but really excited about it. So I wish everybody a happy holidays and a great 2020. Yeah, so the art department at Stern was cranking out the hits. They were extremely busy last year. Not even with new titles, but, I mean, even with Star Wars. You know, if you think about the Comiket edition. That's true, yeah. Yeah, they just kind of killed it last year. So congrats to them. So Greg kind of heads up that whole art department over there. But Stephen Martin's a buddy of ours. And then you've got Justin, who's just kind of the new addition. So it'll be interesting to see the direction in which Stern takes with artwork going forward. Because I'm anticipating another Zombie Yeti release here anytime soon. Maybe first quarter next year, right? Yeah, we'll have to see, man. And congratulations, Greg, on getting Elvira out. Yeah, man, that was good. I was so happy to see Elvira come out, too. And it did not disappoint. For those of you that might not have had a lot of time on the game or you made some assumptions, jump on the game and have some fun. And we're enjoying the heck out of it. Absolutely. Let's throw the show to some people that are covering pinball or are influential in pinball or who are part of pinball moving forward. You ready? Let's do it. Hey, everybody. It's Jeff from This Week in Pinball. Merry Christmas and happy holidays to everyone. I think for 2019, my highlight would have to be, well, there were a lot of highlights. I love going to shows and seeing people and playing pinball with friends, playing pinball locally here in Indianapolis. But I think if I could narrow it down to one moment, it would be at the Twippy Awards backstage, talking to John Rhys-Davies, who played Gimli in Lord of the Rings and did the call-outs for the Lord of the Rings pinball machine. I had handed him two post-it notes before he was getting ready to go up on stage, and they both had just the basics of what he needed to say up there, the nominees are and the winner is. And I handed him another post-it note, a third post-it note, that said, jackpot one, jackpot two. And I said, if you say those when you get up there, the crowd is really going to love it. And so I didn't know if he was going to do it or not, And he said, well, you know, I just say jackpot one, jackpot two. He said, no, you got to say it like you did in the game with enthusiasm. So he got up there and he did it and nailed it and got a standing ovation. So that was a pretty cool moment. As far as wishes for 2020, I would love to get a tiny hint of a legit rumor for a Harry Potter pinball machine. Please, somebody make that happen. and I can't wait to see the internet connectivity and what all that is going to entail and see what all these manufacturers have up their sleeve. So Merry Christmas everybody, great time to be in pinball, enjoy the holidays, bye. Hey, this is Steven Bowden from Deep Root Pinball, FunWithBonus.com and the Meltdown Pinball Podcast saying Wow, is that enough promotional name drops? Yeah, okay, let's go with that. Anyway, I'm here to wish all of the pinball family a very happy Christmas Hanukkwanzaka holidays and to say that my highlight of this past year was seeing Deep Root Pinball's first game, Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland out live for people to play at the Houston Arcade Expo. It was cool to have it with other pinball games in an arcade like setting with people lined up to play it and having fun with it. That was very nice to see. Remember, that was the prototype. My holiday wish is that as many of you as possible will be able to play Raza when it's released in the new year. I hope to see you all then. Hi, it's Jersey Jack, and my pinball highlight of 2019 is seeing all the ladies come into the sport and how everything is changing for the better, and all the families playing games and how pinball is expanding. And for 2020, let's just keep it going. Let's have some more great games. We'll get some really great games from Jersey Jack Pinball. And keep the momentum going and get more and more people into pinball. Happy holidays to everybody. Good health and be well. So I got to say, Bill, it was awesome hearing from Jeff Patterson, calling from the f***ing moon it sounded like, or driving the space shuttle somewhere. Because that was a busy man. He is busy. He is busy. So something tells me he wasn't sitting down in his recording studio for that. But I appreciate that he took the effort to kind of wish everybody happy holidays and talk about about the year. I called him last week, dude, and I'm still waiting. So be glad you got what you got. Oh, yeah, Jeff. No, I appreciate it, Jeff. We're just busting some chops over there. Nothing but love. Jeff runs this week in pinball and great job. He does. Steven Bowden is just a super nice guy. The number one nicest guy in pinball. Absolutely. Per the award from Pinball Nerds Podcast and Orbital Albert over there. So Steve, always good hearing from you. It's nice hearing from Steve now as somebody that's a pinball content provider but also working under a manufacturer umbrella for Deep Root Pinball. So that's pretty interesting. And then, of course, our guy, Jersey Jack, closing out the segment there. And Jack is – he just always comes across as very laid back and very calm and very even keeled. But I've seen him feisty before, so he's got it in him for sure. A little bit, but, you know, hey, dude, they make great stuff. Always happy holidays and Merry Christmas from Jersey Jack. I'm thankful for my Wonka. You know, I was glad that he mentioned the movement, like the women's movement that's been happening, especially as of late over the last year or two in particular. And that's always good to recognize that. And, you know, ourselves here at Special and Lit support the women in pinball. Absolutely. Let's go back to Stern one more time, close out over at Stern. And then I wanted to come back and close it out here at Special and Lit and hear from our correspondents before we finally close out the show for 2019. Sound good? Yeah, let's do it. All right. Hey, this is Mike Vinikour of Stern Pinball. I'm an associate game developer here. the highlight for me of 2019 was being able to travel to so many pinball shows to represent stern at the marco booth and accepting all the awards we won at the twippies was another real highlight my wish for 2020 would probably be to see pinball continue to grow and do as well as it's doing and just to get more people into it so the the business and the hobby will both continue to grow and expand to new generations. Thanks again, and everybody have a happy holiday and a great new year. How's it going, pinball people? I'm Wason here at Stern. I'm a developer and designer here. I just want to say this last year has been great. I met so many fun people, and I hope next year will be some more of the same, seeing a lot of people that I've met already and just new people who are happy to play pinball. Come play with me. Hi guys, my name is Eric Gilley. I am the Director of Consumer Sales here at Stern Pinball. I would say one of the highlights of 2019 was seeing the massive growth in all the pinball shows nationwide. Nearly every single, if not all, of the pinball shows had attendance that was way up from the previous year. So that was a huge, huge success. And I would say looking forward to 2020, I'd say one of my goals or one of the goals for the community really is to get as many new, younger people, kids, teenagers into pinball because that's the future of the growth of pinball and the future of the community. Hi, I'm Mike Kizifat. I'm a programmer here at Stern Pinball. And my highlight of 2019 was, it actually kind of goes back to 2018, because in May of 2018, I went into the hospital because I was severely overweight and it was really in bad shape. And previously, before going to the hospital, we went to MGC, and it was arduous trying to walk around there, just do anything. Everything was difficult. so then in 2019 when we went to MGC it was like night and day I could walk around I didn't have to sit down and rest I could you know it was amazing so I lost somewhere around 300 pounds I think I was close to 600 pounds when I went into the hospital so now I feel so amazing now it's so much better and I just wanted to share that that highlight because it was you know It's life-changing, pretty much. And my wish for 2020? I guess to, you know, I'm sure a lot of people have said this, to just, you know, get more people interested in pinball. You know, more people that are more casual. Just expand and, of course, you know, everybody have a safe and happy holidays and stuff like that. And a personal wish would be to just work on more, be a lead on something, because I'm more of a support programmer. But it's a goal, you know, baby steps. So Mike Vinikour, very cool guy to sit down and talk to. I've spoken to him a few times personally, and super nice guy. Very nice. He's like one of those guys that are behind the scenes, kind of. I mean, you know Mike Vinikour, but you just don't know how much he's involved with a lot of this stuff. And right now, he's on Stranger Things, right? Like with Code, with Brian Eddy, and Lonnie Rops. So it's exciting. It's great hearing from Mike Vinikour. Mike Kizifat, another guy. I had just met Mike there at Stern, and the guy loses 300 pounds. I thought it was an awesome story to tell. I mean, what a sense of accomplishment you must have for the year. Dude, he lost a Stern Pro worth of weight. Damn right that's an accomplishment. Yeah, seriously. If you really put it in that term, he absolutely did. Good for him, man. Way to get healthy. No, absolutely. And then Wason, he's just kind of a lighthearted guy. But I know this. Don't tell him your favorite game is Twilight Zone because he did not like that when I told him that over some Thai food we had once. Remember that? You could have a 10 to 15-minute verbal lashing of him. He did not like that. He was very mad at me. Why your opinion sucks. He's a good guy. He's a good guy. He's a good guy. That was just an entertaining minute, though. It was. And that was right after the Steve Ritchie interview that we had on the podcast. We went out, and yeah, he was not happy with me with that decision. But hey, it's okay. It's okay. Did he change your mind? No. I just know not to bring that up anymore. But that was fun. And then Eric Jilly, first time I've met Eric, Eric, very nice guy. And, you know, he's rocking and rolling. He's got a big role over there at Stern Pinball. So I appreciated the fact that he jumped on the show with us. Thank you, guys. So finally, finally, as we bring this all full circle for 2019, we could not have done the show as well as we did, especially as of late, without our correspondents. And you're going to hear from them in a second. But I wanted to take a minute to thank those guys personally for putting forth the effort each and every week. And that's John Cosson, who's covering spooky pinball for us. It's Brian Cosner, who's who's covering American pinball for us. We've got Craig Bobby, who's covering Stern pinball for us. Ken Rutberg, who's covering Jersey Jack pinball for us. And I want to apologize because last last week I called this guy Chris Johnson because I got a client named Chris Johnson. But and it's not Chris Johnson. It's Chris Chandler, who's just new on board, but he's covering deep root pinball. So, you know, Merry Christmas, happy holidays. And thank you guys very much for the efforts for 2019. We look forward to see what you guys are going to bring to the table for 2020 because you've got to beat the prior year. You can't get complacent, right? You've got to keep up with the game. And, guys, we get so much mail from the job that you do. Sincerely, great job. No, you know what? That's absolutely true. We do get a lot of correspondence regarding the correspondence, if that makes any sense. Yes, it does. Yeah, yeah. So that's good. They're doing something right over there. Yeah, they are. So thank you again, guys. Seriously. Let hear from those guys real quick and then we shut it down for 2019 Hello everyone from Dr John over in Australia I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and reflect on my personal highlights for 2019. The biggest of these would have to be travelling for pinball with my family and catching up with friends. People say pinball shows as much as about catching up with people as I are playing and I would have to agree with it 100%. My trip to Pinburg with Emily for the first time and meeting so many people already new and introducing them to her and then a great Stern factory tour and lunch with all the Stern employees. That must have been the highlight of the year. 2020, we're looking forward to more pinball reveals, more pinball convention and shows and some new titles making their way into the games room. Hope everyone has a nice holiday, a safe holiday, a warm holiday from America and a cool holiday over here in Australia and we're looking forward to more news next year. See you all later. and pinball and attending Texas Pinball Festival. So thanks, Ken and Bill. Love the podcast. Keep up the great work, guys. This is Ken Rudberg, your Jersey Jack correspondent, with my pinball highlights of 2019. I've been working hard repairing and restoring pinball machines. I got six done this year, including King of Diamonds, Fun Fest, and Bobby Orr's Power Play, currently working on a Scared Stiff, and I'm excited to get that finished up. Another highlight was the Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show, which had over 400 pinballs and arcade games. There's a lot of great games to play there that you don't see everywhere else. And my biggest highlight has got to be joining the Special Win Lit team as a correspondent. It's been a blast, and I look forward to continuing to report on Jersey Jack in 2020. My wish for the upcoming year is that all pinball manufacturers are successful, so we can keep experiencing great games with different themes and different styles for years to come. For Special and Lit, this is Ken Rudberg, wishing you all a happy holidays filled with family, friends, and pinball. Hey guys, Craig here, your Special and Lit Stern News Correspondent. So my pinball-related highlight for this year had to have been joining the Special and Lit team and reporting on the week's happenings in the world of Stern. Like most of you, I've been a longtime pinball fan, but for me it was always at arm's length. But with my 50th birthday fast approaching, I started to think, you know what, I'd like to get more knowledgeable about pinball. And so I started listening to various podcasts, which happened to include Special Winlet. And when I heard Ken and Bill were looking for some new correspondents, I thought, what a great way to get even more involved with the hobby. So I sent Ken an email and he was like, dude, what are you even thinking? No, but Ken and Bill and the entire Special Winlet team have been great and very supportive, and it's been a ton of fun so far, so a big thanks to everyone at SWL. Now, my holiday wish for 2020 is to actually visit Ken and Bill and help do a live podcast or Twitch stream with them on their show in their new studio, Sea, and I'll go even further to say that I challenge them to a friendly US vs. Canada match on the machine of their choice during one of their streams. Now, I am not a great player by any means. but I have seen Cannonball play online and honestly I think I'm going to be okay anyways happy holidays to all our listeners out there who tune in every week we certainly appreciate your feedback and listenership and we look forward to bringing you more and great content and entertainment in 2020 thanks everyone and we'll catch you on the flip side hey this is Deep Root correspondent Chris Chandler for me 2019 was a year of pinball firsts I bought my first pinball machine a semi-abused high speed I put some TLC and, more importantly, a hardtop on that thing, and luckily that all went pretty well. I bought my dream pin, Simpsons Pinball Party. I posted my first pin for sale. Remember that high speed? It's for sale. You totally should buy it so then I can add, sold my first pin to this list. I played in my first tournament. While I didn't win anything, I didn't come in last either, so that's a victory in my book. I attended my first TPF, which opened my eyes to how big of a hobby this is and just how great pinheads are. And finally, I stepped up for another first, being part of a podcast by joining the Special When Lit family. Here's my take on what 2020 will bring. So I'm not exactly being Nostradamus here, but 2020 will finally bring us internet-enabled pins. I'm talking beyond not needing a thumb drive anymore. Global leaderboards is a logical start. Ideally, I would like to see head-to-head games with our friends, or tournaments across states, countries, or even continents. Another one is New Blood. We're seeing it in designers like Elwin and Denise. We're seeing it in entrants like Hagas. And we're seeing it in theme selection like Rick and Morty. There's a changing of the guard upon us, and I'm excited to see things accelerate. Selfishly, I hope Deep Root blows us all away with what they're working on. And finally, on a bit of a bummer, I see an Atari-like collapse, triggering perhaps as early as the second half of 2020. All of this new blood I talked about is indeed awesome, but there are only so many dollars to be had. I expect to see more Suncoast pinballs in 2020 than actual viable Stern Challengers. This, however, is one point I'm more than happy to be wrong about. With that, I wish everyone a safe, prosperous, and joyous new year. Here's looking forward to 2020. Hey, so there it is, the All-Star Newscast, the correspondence for 2019. Nicely done, gentlemen. So, Bill, as we close out the show, it's our last one for 2019. We have essentially gone 18 months without missing a week. So congratulations to you for that because we started in July. No, I missed three. No, no, no, the show hasn't missed a week. So, I mean, we keep going. If you think about it, with all the things that have happened in your life over the last 18 months, for you to only miss three shows, it's easy for me to set up at the studios here at my residence. So it's not difficult for you to kind of make the time and get out. I know it's a lot more difficult. You've only missed three shows. So nicely done. We try. We try. Thank you much, man. So why don't I ask you this? What would be your personal highlight for 2019? I'm going to have to say. It's pinball related. You can't say the birth of my son or anything like that. No, no, no, no, no. Pinball related, going to TPF and experiencing that with you and our friend Steve Beattie. That was a great time. That was an adventure, man. It was so fun. Love to do it again. I'm driving again, so just be prepared. One thing holding me back from going to TPF is that you might be driving us from the airport. Yeah, we could drive us down there. It would be record time. Such a great time. We'd love to do that again. And, you know, just the plethora of great games that have come out this year. Yeah. Yep. And looking forward to 2020 and seeing what that might bring. Well, what are you looking for? What is your one pinball wish for 2020? Or do you want to think about that for a second? I know what it is, but I can't say it. Why is that? Because I might know what it is. I hope you know what it is. Not even going to tell the manufacturer because I don't want to give that away. Oh, so you might be sitting on some information that's fulfilling your wish for 2019 is what you're saying. Maybe. Interesting. I'm thinking right now, and as far as I know, there's not a sequel coming to Cactus Jacks, so I don't know what you could be wishing for. Listen, how awesome would that be if Deep Root came with Cactus Jacks as a... Cactus Jacks continued? Absolutely, dude. How about you spoof that Cactus Canyon with Cactus Jacks 2? Cactus Jacks 2. Unbelievable. So my 2019 highlights, and there were, I mean, obviously it's always great to run into people that we know and to meet new people. And we've been in a unique situation where with the podcast as an outlet, we've really kind of expanded our pinball friendships. And that's always appreciated. But like personal highlights of mine, one was pinball expo this year. It was a fun and it was an honor to be given some responsibility to kind of set up that media rove of content providers and having all those guys come in and help and contribute. And then Rob Burke and Bridget Burke do a great job over there. So I really appreciated that. That was a highlight for me. And, again, I appreciate everybody that helped out with that. And then finally, and I'm sure this was a highlight for you too, it had to be that Project Pinball charity fundraiser where the pinball community raised over $50,000 with the help of Adam Schwartz, with the dollar for dollar match. It was just a shocking experience. And it was so awesome to see because this is what we talk about, right? Like, especially in, for whatever reason, this podcast line of, and I can't say work because we're not really getting compensated or paid. It's not a job. It's just more of a passion or more of like a hobby project for us that we put a lot of effort into. But for whatever reason, it seems like you lend yourself to being exposed to conflict within pinball because your opinion now is not just something that you're offering inside of a basement during pinball night. It's being listened to by thousands of people that download a podcast. And judged by. Right, and it's judged by other podcasters and other media or content providers that also have those opinions that are floating out on the web. So to realize that collectively. Despite all of that. Right, so differences were set aside, and some of those differences are more major than others. And listen, I understand not everybody loves everybody either, and it's not a perfect world, but to see everybody that contributed and towards like one common goal during the holidays to help the kids, that probably had to be my highlight to just play a small role in that. It was a community effort, man. There's not one individual that can take credit for what happened during that fundraiser. and and i hope that my you know for 2020 that because of the pinball community coming together and it just creates additional awareness for you know more charity fundraisers that can take place and and it kind of lets the pinball community know that hey we can make a difference and let's step up and let's always try to achieve what we not only achieve the year prior but let's build on that and let's let's try to you know expand or or come to the girls hi man i mean dude to 50 grand to try and beat that you know what and it doesn't even have to be 50 grand i mean it can be a little bit helps absolutely absolutely so that was uh that was my my highlight of 2019 and my wish for uh for 2020 so but hey so this is it man this is the last episode of the year we're there we'll see you guys next year it's it's been awesome i want to thank robin kim from lermods.com because they've been so supportive uh for us and you know and the show since we started, and they're just good people. Great people. We love to associate ourselves with them. So, I mean, if you're looking for custom-quality pinball mods and lighting for your pinball machine, you're going to want to visit L-E-R-M-O-D-S, Lermods.com today. But thanks, guys. Happy New Year and Merry Christmas to you guys. Pinball Land, it's just awesome that we're able to kind of jump in on your days or afternoons or evenings for an hour at a time, a week at a time. It's been our pleasure. We really do appreciate that. Great times. So thank you. Thanks for the trust and thanks for the support. I want to thank all those that have supported us, whether it be financially, emotionally, or just being there for whatever reason. Or just help move the machine. Yeah, just help move the machine. So that's great. You got anything else, man? Anything that's on your mind? No, you know what? Everybody that's listening to this fan, hopefully if you're listening to it before New Year's, you guys are safe and pinball machines get fired up New Year's Eve. And if not, be safe, be responsible, and looking forward to next year. Me too. Me too, guys. So 2020, who knows what the year brings, but if it's anything like 2019, I'm going to be happy to have been playing a part on that. So for Bill Webb, I am Ken Cromwell. Everybody have a good morning, good afternoon, good evening. And don't forget to take some time out of your day and play some pinball. So long, everybody. Is that the Star Wars topper guy you're talking about? Yeah. That's freaking classic, man. You got a highlight for 2019? Well, that was the highlight.