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Episode 51: Stern Bracket Challenge

Poor Man's Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·analyzed·Apr 15, 2020
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.030

TL;DR

Drew and Scott Ian discuss mods, restorations, and conduct a Stern pinball bracket challenge.

Summary

Poor Man's Pinball Podcast Episode 51 features hosts Drew and Scott Ian discussing their personal pinball restoration projects (including modifications to Jurassic Park, Laser War, and a vintage machine), recent personal updates, and a Stern bracket challenge tournament where they predict winners across 16 Stern pinball machines in a March Madness-style competition.

Key Claims

  • Ken Cromwell has accepted a new communications lead position at Jersey Jack Pinball

    high confidence · Scott Ian and Drew congratulate Ken Cromwell on new job at Jersey Jack Pinball

  • Tim Dan Lee achieved a Jurassic Park score of 700 million, beating Scott Ian's previous high of approximately 500 million

    high confidence · Scott Ian recounts being beaten by Tim Dan Lee's Jurassic Park score just days after posting his own

  • Pin Stadium Lights app includes adjustable brightness, color selection, gradient/wave functions, microphone sync to music, and camera-based color detection

    high confidence · Sponsor segment describing Pin Stadium Lights app features in detail

  • Scott Ian replaced all switches and coil sleeves on a vintage pinball machine restoration project

    high confidence · Scott Ian details underside restoration work including switch and coil sleeve replacement

  • Drew is completing restoration of Laser War machine, recently installed the main ramp after multiple attempts

    high confidence · Drew describes struggles with tight ramp fit and spinner breakage during Laser War restoration

  • Drew added custom raptor dinosaur figures to his Jurassic Park machine playfield for approximately $13 total cost

    high confidence · Scott Ian reveals Drew's Jurassic Park mod using Amazon figures to replace flat plastics on ball lanes

  • The Stern bracket challenge compares 16 Stern pinball machines across four regional brackets

    high confidence · Hosts work through systematically reading and discussing all games in the bracket structure

  • Neither host had played Mustang or Avengers pinball machines prior to the bracket discussion

    high confidence · Scott Ian and Drew both state they haven't played these two games from the bracket

  • Scott Ian has only played Ripley's Believe It or Not in the Pinball Arcade app, not in person

Notable Quotes

  • “I went to the dollar store, and it is amazing. And it is beautiful... So I went on Amazon and I think I spent a total of thirteen dollars, and I got me two raptor figures... They're like pack hunting the drain. It's awesome.”

    Scott Ian @ ~13:00-14:30 — Describes a budget-friendly, creative mod to Jurassic Park that demonstrates the hosts' philosophy of affordable customization

  • “I am the king of cutting corners, and I have spent so much time and money on this thing. Is it going to be perfect, high-end pin style? No, but I'm going to be really, really fucking proud of this thing when I'm done.”

    Scott Ian @ ~32:00-33:00 — Reveals self-aware attitude toward restoration work; prioritizes pride in finished product despite imperfections

  • “Everything on that playfield and the cabinet looks so damn good, but the backbox—like, it just doesn't belong because it's terrible... Everything's so shiny, and then the box is like it's the same shitty box that was on there before.”

    Drew @ ~35:00-36:00 — Describes aesthetic mismatch on restoration project, highlighting restoration completion challenges

  • “I got this pop rivet gun, and it's like my new favorite toy. Like, all I want to do is pop rivet things.”

    Drew @ ~29:00-30:00 — Shows enthusiasm for hands-on restoration work and newly acquired tools

  • “Guardians is a fun game. It has a great rule set, but Batman 66 just has so much more going on for it... Batman 66 just has so much more going on for it, in my opinion. So Batman 66.”

    Scott Ian @ ~53:00-54:00 — Articulates preference criteria for pinball machines, balancing ruleset, artwork, and overall package

  • “X-Men's a cool game. I'm a big comic book nerd. It's awesome... Whereas every time I play Elvira's House of Horrors (Premium Edition), it has that one more game. I want to play it more.”

    Scott Ian @ ~67:00-68:00 — Demonstrates how replayability and engagement factor into game preference beyond initial impression

  • “We're four for four, Scott Ian. I am actually really surprised, but I know it will change here. It's the start.”

Entities

Pin Stadium LightsproductScott IanpersonDrewpersonKen CromwellpersonTim Dan LeepersonChristopher FranchipersonJersey Jack Pinballcompany

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: Stern Pinball implementing bracket challenge tournament in March Madness style as community engagement initiative

    high · Hosts discuss full 16-game Stern bracket challenge and plan to post results on Facebook page while competition progresses over coming weeks

  • ?

    event_signal: Poor Man's Pinball Podcast planning public showcases of restored machines at pinball shows/events in 2021-2022 timeframe

    medium · Scott Ian states 'we are dragging some of these games to the shows we have now... Laser War is definitely going somewhere... Somewhere. Maybe 2021, maybe 2022'

  • ?

    community_signal: Pinball collector community actively engaged in home modifications and budget-friendly customization practices

    medium · Hosts describe multiple low-cost aesthetic mods including $13 dinosaur figure mod and hardtop playfield clear-coating process as standard restoration practices

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Score-chasing and home machine performance comparisons driving engagement within pinball enthusiast community

    medium · Scott Ian describes competitive score-chasing dynamic with Tim Dan Lee on Jurassic Park; achievement motivation shows active community comparison culture

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Pinball game selection preference driven by replayability, artwork quality, ruleset depth, and overall package cohesion rather than single dominant factor

    medium · Scott Ian explicitly contrasts games based on code quality, artwork, and replay engagement; notes some games only satisfy once versus Elvira pulling him back repeatedly

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.289

0:00
Hello ladies and gentlemen, welcome. Today's episode is brought to you by Penn Stadium Lights. Penn Stadiums, the award-winning, easy to put in, easy to install mod. It takes 10 minutes, it's universal, it can go in any machine, and it's the fastest way to really add some pop into your game. Let's talk about this app, right? Everyone understands what apps are these days. come on if you don't i don't know what you're doing here i don't know am i an app what are we talking about anyway let's get back to this so let's talk about the pin stadium app helps you sync up your game to this app what it does is this all right i know what you're thinking when you see a lot of these pictures of these games it looks like there's a damn spotlight on the play field right here's what people don't get man that's a setting you can adjust the brightness level you can adjust the color of the lights you can adjust a lot of things within the app are you worried that it's going to be too bright you can dim it you can do warm white light to and dim it to a point where you can really get it so it's illuminated but it's not glaring okay it's not a spotlight um you can do a lot of other different things there's a lot fun functions in this app you know we have there's a camera function where you can actually take a picture of the artwork on the play field and then you know that will actually choose the color for you there are besides the color functions where you can you know what i like to do what i've used on the black rose what i'm using currently on the white water very very cool it's the i call it the wave function but it's basically a gradient function where i because there's a lot of blue water in black rose a lot of water and white water clearly what i do is i like to use this custom function and i like to pick a lot of different blues and greens and like sea greens and touch a purple and you pick all these different colors out and it actually just gradually goes into each color and it kind of almost gives it like this cool underwater effect very cool some also very cool functions there is a microphone function that actually syncs the color of the lights and the pattern of the lights to any music that's playing in the room um i even you can even just set it by the game and it picks up the sounds of the game which is so cool because then now you have almost interactive a light show within the light show very cool um there's also a music thing where you can actually just play music and it kind of syncs it that way there's a lot in this app guys and you can really dial it into what you need what you like and what your tastes are there's no reason not to get this mod it's just one of those universal mods that i think once you have it you can play around with it and get it dialed into the point where it is fantastic and i like my games illuminated i like to see what i'm shooting so pinstadium.com buy yourself a set of pin stadium lights uh use the poor man checkout at checkout and that'll save you 10 off shippings on us guys hope you enjoy the show uh we're still doing the skype thing and it's it it always takes us a little bit of time to get us warmed up but you know what this was a fun one we did the stern showdown uh we couldn't wait for those guys any longer drew and i already figured out what the was so you guys enjoy the show oh yeah it's time you've waited a week or more and now it's finally here the time has come for the sloppiest show on the internet this week's episode of poor man's pinball podcast starring Drew and Ian. That's it, man. Game over, man. Game over.

high confidence · Scott Ian clarifies his experience with Ripley's limited to the Pinball Arcade app version

  • The hosts plan to create walkthrough videos of their restoration projects for YouTube

    high confidence · Drew and Scott Ian discuss filming walkthrough videos once Laser War and other machines are complete

    • Drew @ ~50:00 — Notes unexpected agreement on initial bracket picks; sets expectation for divergence in later rounds

  • “I'm a huge fan of Guardians, but I just like what they did with the code on Batman 66 and the artwork by Christopher Franchi... I know Christopher Franchi did the artwork for Guardians, but I like his artwork on Batman 66 a little bit better.”

    Scott Ian @ ~49:00-50:00 — Shows how the same artist can deliver different quality outcomes; highlights individual game execution matters

    • Stern Pinball
    company
    Kaneda's Pinball Podcastorganization
    Poor Man's Pinball Podcastorganization
    Jurassic Parkgame
    Laser Wargame
    The Lord of the Ringsgame
    Batman 66game
    Elvira's House of Horrorsgame
    Game of Thronesgame
    The Walking Deadgame
    Iron Mangame
    Metallicagame
    Marco Specialtiescompany
    Screwball Peanut Butter Whiskeyproduct
    Stern AC/DCgame
    Star Wars Comic Book Editiongame
    Guardians of the Galaxygame
  • ?

    personnel_signal: Ken Cromwell transitions to communications lead role at Jersey Jack Pinball

    high · Direct congratulatory statement: 'I just want to do a quick shout out to Ken Cromwell, congratulations on his new communications lead gig at Jersey Jack Pinball'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Vintage pinball machine restorations incorporating aftermarket modifications and parts upgrades to improve gameplay and aesthetics

    high · Multiple detailed descriptions of replacing switches, coil sleeves, stand-up targets, clear-coating playfields, and sourcing replacement parts from specialty vendors

  • ?

    technology_signal: Pin Stadium Lights app expansion with advanced customization features including music sync and AI color detection

    high · Detailed sponsor segment describing wave/gradient functions, microphone sync to music, camera-based color selection, and brightness adjustment capabilities

    • 4:17
    I'm gonna need someone to help me. I'm gonna need somebody's help. Son of a bitch! Give me a drink. One more night. I just can't be me. I'm a bitch, and I drink it clean. I'm gonna drink my night away.
    5:04
    last week so sit back and enjoy this i uh i listened to last week's episode and i couldn't tell that i wasn't in the room with you that's good that's good that means our equipment's halfway decent yeah we're we're almost there drew yeah try number two yeah we almost made it to the promised land you know it brother you know it's um i just want to do a quick shout out to ken Ken Cromwell, congratulations on his new communications lead gig at Jersey Jack Pinball.
    5:42
    So, Ken Cromwell, awesome job, man. That's cool. All right. Yes, yes, yes. We could all get jobs at pinball manufacturers, right? Yeah, no shit. I mean, I've been doing this pinball podcast and drinking and talking about pinball. Where's my job offer? we keep turning them down drew because we're like you know what this podcast thing just pays too well so yeah we got to stick with it it's it's hard to give it up man it really is and now the moment you've all been waiting for of course i'm talking about the poor man's pinball podcast personal pinball news should we do some poor man's personal pinball news it's been a while it has been a while people have been uh clamoring for it nobody has asked for this at all no no before we do all this what you drinking uh i'm drinking some more of that screwball peanut butter whiskey peanut butter whiskey all right um i'm drinking some rum but i have been drinking rum i've been drinking rum for quite a while now. I forgot what it was called. Hold on. Let me look it up real quick because I did take a picture because I am prepared. All right. This is a Kirk and Sweeney 12-year rum. So it's delicious. Delicious.
    7:07
    Feels like vacation in here. So I got that going for me. And then a little bit of Coke and a lime. So Cuba Libre. So let's do some poor man's personal pinball news. Want to do it? Yeah, what do you got, man? Well, I heard that your wife was just talking to my wife, and you were putting dinosaurs on your Jurassic Park. I was, because I know I said I wasn't doing any more dolls, but just hear me out, okay?
    7:36
    So here's what happened. Yeah, I'm just going to laugh throughout this thing. So I get this machine, and it is awesome. I went to the dollar store, and it's amazing. And it is beautiful. and I keep looking down at the in lanes and there's those stupid flat plastics that cover the in lanes so I'm like no no no no no we can't do this right they got the awesome raptor they got the awesome t-rex right so I went on amazon and I think I spent a total of uh thirteen dollars and I got me two raptor figures that are roughly the same size as the one that's already on there and I took off the screws I took off the shitty plastics I drilled some holes in the raptor feet I put these things on there and now they are beautiful they look like they're pack hunters right so they're like pack hunting the drain it's awesome very cool I'll put some pictures up I think it actually looks really good it's not overly obnoxious because like I said it matches the raptor that's already on there I will say this about Drew Bovera, everybody, that Drew is generally pretty gaudy with all of the things he likes, but he is pretty goddamn reserved with his pinball machines, and I'm proud of him. Between the two of us, only one of us has gotten to the ugly no-puke GI club, and that's this guy. So my tastes are all out of whack, but Drew does some good shit. He's doing all right. He does pretty well on his pinball. Yeah, and it's part of my learning, passionate about pinball, fixing pinballs. I'm making my own mods now, so I'm not spending this crazy money. I'm purchasing stuff on the cheap, and I'm making them look nice. So there you go. Yes, yes, cool. How's Jurassic Park doing? How are you loving it? Tell us the tale. until our tribe member tim lee got his and he blew my score out of the water on the first week tim lee you son of a bitch i love you he he so so george gomez posted up like uh you know hey let's or maybe it was uh jack danger dead flip let's see your uh jurassic park scores or whatever and uh yep tim lee was like second in line he's like oh look 700 million it's not that great and I'm like, ah, you son of a bitch. Where were you at?
    10:04
    I'm at about half a billion right now, so I'm getting there. Okay, all right. And by the way, Tim, half a billion sounds better than 700 million, even though it's not.
    10:14
    That's like a nickel being worth more than a dime because it's bigger. Exactly. I'll trade all your dimes for these big old nickels, baby. So, Tim Lee, I'm score chasing you, baby.
    10:28
    All right. Yeah, I like it. So keep us up to date on that shit. Yeah, I will. Yeah, we're going to be having some battles, I'm sure, during this pandemic. Because now he literally just picked, I think he just set it up like, I don't know, like four days ago or something. And beat your score. That's crazy. Yep. Way to go, Tim Lee. You know, I thought I was getting better at pinball. Turns out I'm going the other direction.
    10:50
    Well, it's because you've been working all this time. Yeah, that's true. This pandemic's probably screwing your game up a little bit. Tim Lee is sitting at home every day playing with a game with his kids. Yeah. Yeah, good on you, man. Good on you. I know, I know. And we've been working like dogs, and that's stupid. I don't want to do that anymore, but it is what it is. It's overrated, but I'm thankful. How's that?
    11:12
    No, I agree. All right, so anything else? What else is going on? Did you do the hard top yet? Nope. I'm finishing up the underside. I'm doing all the switches. I replaced every switch. I replaced every coil sleeve. you replaced all the switches?
    11:32
    yeah a lot of them were like bent and corroded oh so you just unsoldered and soldered again? yep yep I bought all new stand up targets I bought all new score switches and yeah it turned out nice like I said only half of them needed to be done but since I was already doing half I did them all I'm going to do it right did that, coil sleeves, rebuilding the pop bumpers rebuilding the slings, all that good stuff.
    12:02
    Yep, I'm in the home stretch now and I'm going to flip her over and put the hard top on and then put it back together. Sweet.
    12:10
    I am excited for this hard top. You got it already, right? You have the hard top? Yeah. Does it come rolled up and stuff? No, no, it's flat. It's a pretty hard, durable plastic. Oh, so did it come in just a big cardboard sleeve? Yep, big flat cardboard. uh if if you could imagine like a a cork board getting shipped yeah it's it's kind of shipped like that impressive okay yeah all right yeah it's pretty uh pretty cool i don't know we talked off the air but you you basically followed the rules and you you clear-coded all the inserts first right yes and why don't you explain that process to our viewers just in case you're listening so so i sanded the entire play field and then what you're left with is you know it's It's fairly flat, obviously. And then you have the inserts.
    13:02
    And some of them, because they're older, you know, the glue has started to come out. Maybe they're raised. Maybe they're cupped.
    13:09
    It's actually better if they're cupped because if they're cupped, the hard top actually has, you know, part of the plastic is clear with the insert ink on it. So it just goes right over it and you'll never know it's cupped, right? Right. But the inserts that are raised, you know, you really want to try to sand those down as flat as you can because, you know, that would leave a bump in your hard top, right? So, you know, I spent some time, you know, around the edges of some of these because there was only a couple that were, you know, raised a little bit. So I sanded, I sanded, I sanded. Then I got some – it's cheap. It's not Ian style clear coat, but it's just for the inserts. so you rough them up you sand them up really good and then you spray this it's a can of clear which um i did in the room and i opened the windows and my wife was pissed i know all about this she called my wife yep he hadn't heard it through his wife who my wife called her almost instantly and said what the fuck is wrong with my husband and my wife was like yeah my husband too with his clear coat and i'm sitting there like what drew did and what i did totally different i rolled my clear drew sprayed it with an aerosol big difference my wife looked at me like really there's no difference it both stunk up the house i was like good point good point yeah so anyways so then i didn't smell it sorry love sorry yeah sorry sorry both you love sorry not sorry but it is what it is they don't listen it's fine no no um so so i i took the you know i had to take the play field out anyways not a big deal i took it outside uh into the garage and then uh i finished i put about three or four of these coats of thin clear on it and they 90 of them look great a couple of them and i you know i i noticed some stuff but if you're looking at it you're probably not going to notice so clear it let it sit for a couple of days then i flipped it over and now what's cool about this is i'm able to work on the back side on a flat table so that's kind of neat nice you know how how do you get to work on a pinball machine like that you know right that's why i like that little rotisserie guy that we were yep the rotisseries are so nice if you have them guys um yep they really are but but for doing all the underside stuff if you can just you know you have the flat uh top you just flip it over put on it I put a blanket down, and I just set it down, and I've been soldering away, and it's been awesome. Just putting the game together, I know that I'm taking my time on this. I'm doing it right.
    15:55
    I'm the king of cutting corners, and I have spent so much time and money on this thing. Is it going to be perfect, high-end pin style? No, but I'm going to be really, really fucking proud of this thing when I'm done. Proud of it. yeah this this is definitely a keeper awesome so yep i am excited then then up comes meteor right after that so yeah that's that's cool man that's cool uh the the laser war um i'm not going to spend a ton of time on this but not only so good but not only at like the light at the end of the tunnel it's like my foot is like i got one foot out of this tunnel like i am i'm so close to being done today i uh you have before and after pictures of your bar when everything was spread out and now everything kind of cleaned up oh just the work workstation versus no it was a disaster oh it was terrible um but no it's slowly getting cleaned up uh one inch at a time but no uh the laser war i'm looking at right now it's um yesterday last night i got i worked until about midnight but i got the ramp in uh it took a few tries the main ramp so there's a big ramp at the back right of the game it's kind of like the main toy if you will of the whole game and that damn ramp is it's because it's new old stock it is it was a tight fucking fit everything was a everything was such a fucking bastard like you know i i got this pop rivet gun and it's like my new favorite toy like all i want to do is pop rivet things and i riveted everything on that went really really smoothly i thought okay everything's coming up in this is good you know and then i then i go to put the damn thing on and it's it was such a tight fit that i fucked up one of my spinners then i went to try to re-bend the spinner because i get all bent out of shape it just snapped off it's an old spinner so now i using the part number to try to find it online and of course it doesn't exist so i bought a couple spinners that look close on marco so we'll see uh well you know marco sells um piano wire supposedly that's all it is it's just piano wire i don't know what that is but uh yeah you buy it by the foot it's cheap and then you just bend it well there was one that they have that's the spinner with the wire in there but the wire is straight and you would just bend it to whatever i bought one of those and then i did buy one that i think was very close to what i have so all right so one spinner down whatever but i got that fucking rampant it took about three tries i got it screwed in three different times and then i realized oh shit i need to do this i need to thread the wires here i just kept fucking up but i was tired and it was midnight but i got it and everything looks really really good it's all secure now we got the habit trail the the wire form coming off the top of the ramp down to the uh right sling and um yeah so right now all i'm waiting for is my ion cannon has been outside for the last three days in some hydrogen peroxide trying to whiten it up because it is yellow as shit and i'm waiting on that i decided we're just gonna start we're gonna start calling it the ian cannon and we thank you and uh and what's the other step oh the other step is getting these damn spinners in so i can replace the spinners again i am so uh yeah i'll just say jealous because you know i was looking forward to working with ian on this thing and he gets to touch it every day and i just get to look at the pictures online like you guys yeah yeah i know drew drew and i were talking yesterday it was just funny how everything on that play field and the cabinet looks so damn good but the back box like it just doesn't belong because oh it's terrible i haven't done anything online uh yeah we're still debating what we want to do with it because yeah the the play field the cabinet the powder coat it all looks so good and then you got this old beat up box on top everything's so shiny and then the box is like it's the same shitty box that was on there before and yeah i touched up the paint the paint looks fine it's just shitty wood that's dinged and there's not much you can do i was yeah i was debating whether i threw some t-molding on it or if i i don't know what i'm gonna do yet i don't know i don't know i thought maybe if the speaker grill was re-chromed it would it would pop a little bit but who knows who cares who cares yeah the rest of it looks amazing so that's almost done oh and i i got the flippers all working today and and everything's plugged in so i just i'm just waiting on those two little things and we are ready to rock and roll i think it should be uh game time by the end of the week so cool man yeah we we are dragging some of these games to the shows we have to now i mean we put all this time effort and money into it they have to go to a couple of shows oh yeah laser war is definitely going somewhere i don't know where yeah somewhere maybe uh maybe 2021 maybe 2022 but it is going somewhere yep the pinball poor man's pinball podcast laser war will you will be able to play this guys i promise you um we'll try to get it to the show near you so i i had this thought today you know ian and i have been talking about cameras forever and ian told me i think you just purchased one right a video camera i'm going to be yeah okay so you know i was thinking once we get these done we need to kind of do like some walkthrough videos and kind of explain what we did and put those up on it those will be our like inaugural youtube channel things right there you go i like that you know very cool all right so that's that's laser war guys so we're excited i'm uh i'm posting more and more pictures i did post some recent pictures over at pinside so check it out at the laser war club so other than that we're uh ready to keep going so drew what do you got for us today what do you want to do today what kind of fun shenanigans do we have because you know what canada's sitting there he's saying oh i need more you guys that have pinball podcasts to get more content out there and he's interviewing robert muller and he's doing all this other shit we haven't heard macho in like a month um i get it there's not much going on right now but well drew and i have been working canada's been kind of sitting in his his penthouse just churning out content and i'm a little jealous so yeah yeah it must be it must be easy there in your ivory tower canada when uh you can sit in your penthouse all day and just churn out content i know when i'm slaving away love you love you chris yeah we're just fucking anyway so here we go what do we got today drew uh i want to do this stern showdown because everyone knows i'm a stern fan boy i love a lot of stern's titles and we're all missing out on march madness right now you know that's always such a fun tournament you know whether you're into college basketball or not it's always fun doing brackets so i saw this bracket and i instantly got excited so okay i was like what else i mean shit what are we going to talk about all right so you're telling me that canada got robert mueller and we're sitting here with our bracket challenge yes poor man style i love it drew let's do this let's do it let's do it the stern showdown throwdown for the ages how does that go i don't even know is that close so what is going to happen here i don't know drew i'm just i playing i playing along yes so what going to happen today is i am going to um we read off the entire bracket quickly and then I going to make my choice Ian going to make his choice we're going to go through the bracket and then this thing as it progresses over the next few weeks we'll kind of see how we're doing because once again this isn't who we necessarily think is going to win this is just our favorites Drew Hey, Drew. Yes. If we have something that we totally disagree on, can I call one of our friends randomly and get a tiebreaker?
    24:38
    Well, no. It's not. There's two different brackets, your bracket and my bracket. Oh, okay. I really wanted to bother someone today, but that's fine. All right. Go for it, man. What are we doing? Well, we can do that anyways. Okay. Why don't you read off these brackets then real quick? So, in the upper left bracket, we got Lord of the Rings. We got to post this on our Facebook page, by the way. Yep. So, in the, I guess this would be the west. Is this the same bracket that Stern released? Yes. Okay. Yes. I got that on my phone somewhere. Yep. This is the northwest bracket. It is Lord of the Rings versus Mustang. Guardians of the Galaxy versus Batman 66. Game of Thrones versus Kiss, and Family Guy versus The Walking Dead. Then, in the Southwest bracket, we have Jurassic Park versus WWE, which should have just been Jurassic Park versus Nobody. I'm going to go WWE there, just to piss you off. Yep. X-Men versus Elvira, House of Horrors.
    25:49
    X-Men versus Stranger Things, and Ripley's, believe it or not, versus Metallica. Then in the Northeast column, we have ACDC vs. Transformers, Beatles vs. Star Trek, Amazing Spider-Man vs. Munsters, Pirates of the Caribbean vs. The Simpsons Pinball Party.
    26:11
    Then finally, in the Southeast category, we got Deadpool vs. Avengers, we got Tron vs. Black Knight Sword of Rage, Ghostbusters vs. Star Wars comic book edition and Aerosmith vs. Iron Maiden have you played all of those games?
    26:31
    I'm looking I played all those I don't think I've played Mustang you know what's funny that's the one game I haven't played either or Avengers I don't think I've played Avengers so for me it's Avengers and Mustang I'm trying to think of Avengers maybe I haven't played Avengers and Mustang for me are the only two games on this list that I have not flipped now Ripley's I have only played the arcade app the pinball arcade app I have not played that in person it's really good I believe it I don't think it's going to beat Metallica so let's move on then yeah yeah so this is what we're going to do I'm going to read them off and I'm going to write them down as we go and we're going to get through this bracket here so ian yes lord of the rings versus mustang lord of the rings easy that one's easy there's no discussion in there that one's just it is what it is we'll get to discussions when we get to like the the elite or something okay yes okay i am also picking lord of the rings on that one so that one's super easy all right guardians of the galaxy versus batman 66 um i'm a huge fan of guardians but I just like what they did with the code on Batman 66 and the artwork for Franchi, so I'll go Batman 66. I know Franchi did the artwork for Guardians, but I like his artwork on Batman 66 a little bit better. It's a better package. So I'll go 66. Guardians is a fun game. It has a great rule set, but Batman 66 just has so much more going on for it, in my opinion. So Batman 66. We can't have the same one here, Ian. Don't worry. I thought you were going to go guardians there so we'll keep no keep going okay game of thrones versus kiss uh game of thrones that's an easy one uh i'm the same way i actually got to play kiss for the first time and kiss is a really great game um it looks good it plays well it shoot it's it's fun fun fun to shoot but uh you know game of thrones is one that you know for a while i wanted in my house so Yeah, I can't go wrong with a Game of Thrones pro. For the record, yes. For the record, I was going to say pro, but if it was the premium or LE, I would pick kiss. Oh.
    28:52
    Anyway, okay, go on. Yep, for sure. Okay. Next, for the final one in this northwest corner, we have Family Guy versus The Walking Dead. Yeah, Walking Dead easy. Yeah, that one's no contest. Yep. Wow. We're four for four, Ian. I am actually really surprised, but I know it will change here. It's the start. It is the start. Okay, we're going to go down to the Southwest. Okay. You ready? Yep.
    29:19
    Jurassic Park versus WWE. You guys are going to laugh at me, but I really liked WWE when we played it, Drew. But I will go Jurassic Park because it's a pure shooter whereas WWE is like a gimmick machine.
    29:34
    The whole machine is one gimmick. It's great. I won't even answer that because everyone knows my answer. Okay. WWE for the win. Yes. From the top ropes. Macho.
    29:49
    X-Men versus Elvira's House of Horrors. That's an easy one for me. Elvira House of Horrors. I just like it. It's a better package. Yep. and if I'm going on theme and stuff, X-Men's a cool game. I'm a big comic book nerd.
    30:09
    It's awesome. It's actually a really neat game, but Elvira's House of Horrors is so good. The more I play it, the more I love it. That's a good... When I play X-Men, I was like, that was cool. That's kind of where it ends for me. Whereas every time I play Elvira, it has that one more game. I want to play it more. I think about it when I'm not playing about it playing it you know makes sense yep no absolutely and like I said it's oh man oh you know what I haven't played Stranger Things yet I just looked at I have not played Stranger Things so yeah I got on it at a one of the local places right before the shutdown so I was fortunate that way okay so next we got Iron Man vs Stranger Things why don't you go first I'll just piggyback off of you Because I like Iron Man. This one's the closest one so far for me because they're both fast. They're both flowy.
    31:08
    You know, I don't know much about the Stranger Things code because I was playing really early code. Iron Man grows on me. I played a lot at League.
    31:18
    But, Christ. I'm actually going with Iron Man on this one. Because Stranger Things, as much as I like the show, as a total package, it didn't grab me like I wish it would have. All right, well, then I'll just go Stranger Things just to make things different, even though I've not played it. But I really like Iron Man. Sure. It's just let's add a little bit of diversity here. Sure. Yeah, we would have been seven for seven. That would have been amazing. Changing it up, baby. All right.
    31:48
    Can I just say something? Yeah, go for it. This peanut butter whiskey, I know I said it last time. I'm putting a picture up soon on the page. Just try it, man. It is so good. Everyone needs to try it. I went to our local grocery store and they didn't have it, so you must have gotten it at a liquor store, huh?
    32:06
    No. Well, yeah, Total Wine has it. Yeah, most of the liquor stores. Like I said, it's like $20 a bottle, but it's kind of a mainstream thing now. It's kind of everywhere, so I dig it. I will also interject here. I just broke open a new bottle here, and that was the coconut rum that you brought, Drew? Oh, yeah. The George Ocean? Yes, yes.
    32:32
    It's amazing. It tastes so fucking good. For the record, folks, Ian, for the first time ever, is saying that he is drinking booze that I brought to his house. No, that's not true, because we did the Crown Royal not that long ago. That's true. We killed Crown Royal vanilla, I think it was. I just feel like I drink a lot of your booze. No, and that's a good thing. I'd rather you drink it than sit here and not get drunk at all. So I'm a big fan of you coming.
    33:00
    I'm doing a public service. I'm just a big fan of you drinking in my bar. People need to get drunk in my bar. That's so sweet of you to say. No one's ever said that. Well, I miss you. I miss your fucking ass down here and hanging out. This is going to get sappy. I miss my best friend. I know. I miss you too, man. Alright, what do we got? Okay. Enough of that sap.
    33:23
    Sorry, fuckfaces, but we love each other. Sorry, buttholes. The last one in the West column here. Ripley's Believe It or Not versus one of my favorites, Metallica.
    33:46
    Well, for me, i don't know all right could could you answer this question do you know if ripley's code is anywhere near as deep as metallica's code uh yeah it's um yeah it's it's actually it's a really it's a solid code and i think don't quote me on this i think lyman might have done it okay i only asked because there's but no it's a deep code and uh man so many toys i mean that game yeah that's what i'm that's where i'm kind of you're kind of reading my mind here drew like metallica john borg did a great job the shots on that thing are buttery smooth um theme is kind of for me but the the shots alone are really really nice metallica the art the light show sparky there's a lot there to like but and i wish i could play ripley's in person because, like I said, all I've ever played was the Pinball Arcade app. And there's so much on that that I'm like, this can't be a real machine. It almost looks like a Zen Studios, you know, made-up game. You know what? It's funny you say that because you're absolutely right. And, you know, I keep inviting you to come over to Eric's house because Eric has one there. That's where I've been playing it. That's the only place I've ever played it. Okay. Yeah, no, and I'd love to go. Yeah. Maybe the next time.
    35:13
    Trust me, I've been a shut-in for so long that I feel like I'm willing to do anything right now to get out of my fucking house. So I'm just going to go Ripley's just to be a rebel here, but I know Metallica is an amazing game, and guys out there rolling your eyes, trust me, I get it, but I'm going to go Ripley's. What the hell? Sure, sure. Well, you know what?
    35:36
    I'm sure it's not going to win the entire thing, but it is a really good game. Yeah, I know it won't, so that's okay. You're awesome, man. That's cool. Okay, we are. And you're Metallica, right? Yeah, I'm Metallica. Once again, yeah, I wasn't even going to say it because everyone knows.
    35:52
    We are now flying from Arizona. We are going to the East Coast, but we're staying away from New York. Sorry, Canada.
    35:59
    We are on the East Side now. We got ACDC versus Transformers. Oh. ACDC for me. One, I like their music. Two, I like how they implemented their music into the code and into the shots. So I love hitting the small switches in between the ramps to get the TNT. Oh, yeah. It's just stupid, but I giggle every time. I love the bell, hitting the bell. Just everything about that game I love. I have never played the premium version with the underplay field. Nor have I. I've only played the pro, but I really, really like the pro. So I'm going to go ACDC for this one. I'm going to echo your sentiments. Yeah, Transformers is good, though. Yeah, no, Transformers. And Zach Menny would say, bye, bye, bye. Transformers is one of the better. Transformers and X-Men, I will say, are some of the best Stern bang for your bucks. Oh, absolutely. You can't go wrong with those. And I'm going to add, sorry, I'm going to add Ripley's Believe It or Not to that. Those three games are all about the same price. Ripley's is a little cheaper. all three of those games are are really good values i i would say awesome so but yes i i am going acdc as well for the same reasons but yes transformers uh is growing on me if they redo the art and stuff on that i think they'll have a big hit on their hands got it so okay uh i know this one for ian uh beatles versus star trek this one's tough for me no it's crazy tough this is one of the toughest ones so far yeah yeah this this one this one's hard star trek to me is like a souped up like modern version of attack from mars like yes the layout and the ship in the middle that you gotta bash and the shots are super fast shots are so fast it's crazy fast i love playing star trek but the beatles is like a it's just a different type of game it's a work of art yeah um it's buttery smooth it's got an old school kind of feel to it god damn it like which one would i rather have in my basement you know that's what i'm thinking if i have two games and one spot open for one of these games which one would i pick and i i think i would go the beatles you would pick beatles yeah i think i'll go beatles not that Star Trek's a bad game I love Star Trek the game I'm not a big fan of the theme and I think that's part of it when it comes down to two awesome shooting games with awesome code and awesome rules I'm going to always defer to the theme and the look of the machine and the Beatles is just like I said a work of art I was going to say the same thing Star Trek is one of my favorite sterns however you know the theme i'm not i'm not big on the theme i guess i never have been and uh who i could almost flip a coin for this one quite honestly because star trek is one of the best shooters in my opinion uh but the beatles uh ripping those loops is so fun uh i'm gonna have to stay true to star trek for this one all right okay fair enough definitely gonna have to do that just because I do. Okay.
    39:28
    Next, we have Amazing Spider-Man or The Munsters. Ugh. I really don't like Spider-Man. I really don't like it.
    39:49
    I'll go Munsters. Just because I don't like Spider-Man. all that cool franchise art you just don't like uh spider-man yeah the shots are better in the monsters and um the artwork is beautiful and i think they did a good job with the overall presentation for the monsters like they incorporated the theme a lot better in monsters than they did the spider-man like spider-man could have and should have been a much cooler pinball machine i'm sorry to say but art wise the shots aren't bad but i'm saying art wise and villain wise and just i don't i don't care for that game sorry just don't i my picture if i do a spider-man pin like i would do it like they did it the old is it the gottlieb this was spider-man was that bail oh god i can't remember the original one was the amazing spider-man yes was a gottlieb Scott Lee, right? The early 80s, yeah. What I liked about that was because it was comic book-y. That was the coolest part. That's a beautiful machine. That's a work of art in itself. But have you seen the Vault Edition Spider-Man? Yeah, I have. That's a comic book. Okay. I have, but no, isn't that black Spider-Man, though, for the most part? Well, they have two versions. They have the black one, but they also have the comic book version.
    41:13
    I've not seen the comic book version, so I'm going to default to the most common version, and that'll be the bullshit movie fun. So, sorry. Sure. Sorry, not sorry. Monsters for the win. This one's tough for me, too, because Spider... Well, let me ask you this. What Marvel theme, if was done right, would you want to see? Spider-Man. Okay. So, if they could just do one that was awesome, Spider-Man would be your choice.
    41:41
    I'm thinking any other Marvel. No, Spider-Man. Yeah, Spider-Man. It would be Spider-Man. Just because, you know, Marvel... I'm sorry to say, guys, but Marvel... They're big in the 90s, and I get that. But I was a big fan of the X-Men animated series. And I was big into the X-Men. Oh, that was a good one. And I was big into the X-Men comic books because of the animated series. But past the X-Men and Spider-Man, Marvel, all the Marvel movies and all the Marvel characters, like, they're a little sorry, they're a little weak. They're a little weak. I'll just say it.
    42:27
    You know what I would want to see? Who would you like to see? I would want to see a Venom Carnage pinball machine. See, because you're such a, like, I swear to God. I'm a Spider-Man. No, no, I swear to God, like, you were born in, like, I swear to God, you were like your formative year was the year that came out like like the video game the venom carnage that whole venom carnage thing like that is such a specific time in comic book history you're like a goddamn uh oh i don't know um you're like a time capsule someone dug up and it was only for like four weeks that's true because you have mentioned that before and I love it I love that about you I'm not I'm not fucking with you but that is that is hilarious that you love that here is the the fun fact that people may not know about me I have in my possession right now I own oh I haven't counted lately I think I have over 600 spider-man comic books maybe more so see and the reason and part of the spider-man thing why spider-man's so good is not only because he is a younger teenage guy trying to like work his trying to figure himself out but yep the fact is and this is a this is a big big negative for marvel is marvel has a hard time with villains and your hero can only be as good as your villain so iron man thor um all these guys they couldn't make it on their own that's why they had to create the avengers to bring them all together because they didn't have good villains the x-men had magneto so they nailed that villain spider-man had um the green goblin which i think was some like that's an interesting villain and they were so interesting they made the hobgoblin yes there's been multiple green after that you know i do agree with spider-man does suffer from like the man in suit syndrome too so it's like yeah rhino guy in a rhino outfit uh vulture guy in a vulture outfit um i mean this could be a fucking friday episode but i'm just saying we're getting way off topic here but i'm just saying that just because of the green goblin that kind of saves spider-man and i think spider-man is better because of it just as x-men's better because of um of magneto i think the dc villains are a lot better they're a little bit more dynamic and that's why um i tended to when i was growing up i love dc villains so i don't know anyway fair enough i don't know what the fuck we were talking about but yeah monsters okay sorry everybody oh all that the same monsters um you know this one's tough for me because um because of my love for spider-man you know you think i would own a machine and i wanted to and then i played it and i was lukewarm on it um this and then this third one yes spider-man yeah i was just wondering did you have you ever played the gottlieb version no but i i want that one just for my basement we should fix that one up that'd be a fun little project we we should and uh i see them occasionally because they they are to be had for less than 1500 bucks i mean maybe 2000 they're they're not terrible um i i know you there and then um but now i've been playing it more at league once again because eric's got one of those too and sometimes i i think i want one so oh it's so tough and monsters monsters is fun to shoot i'm gonna go with spider-man just because of my love for spider-man so all right i'm struggling with that one so that's where we're going all right uh moving on the last one in the northeast category pirates of the caribbean stern verse the simpsons pinball party so i've almost bought this game a couple times pirates of the caribbean from stern because really yeah i didn't know that Because I love the theme, the pirate theme, and I love the ship sinking. I think that's a very dynamic toy. Super cool. And I will tell you this. Right now, officially, on the air, I played it for the first time actually at Expo.
    46:54
    I didn't like it. I didn't care for it. I thought it was kind of messy. I thought the whole presentation was a bit messy for me. I didn't like it at all. And I was a little bit happy that I went elsewhere. I went to a different approach. Like Black Rose and Pirates of the Caribbean, Jersey Jack, if you're going for pirate theme, I think you can't beat those two games.
    47:17
    But this one, it was a big miss for me. So for this one, I'll go Simpsons Pinball Party. It actually integrates the theme really, really well. There's a lot in it. It's probably the last turn with a shit ton in it. and for that that will always be a high regard in my list i really like the simpsons pinball party i was super jacked when i got to play it over at ryan kuypers i was doubly jacked when you bought one so yep uh simpsons pinball party for the win way to go man uh yeah that one's easy for me um i own it uh it's more than likely bolted in my house and you know i've just so you guys know i have not bolted mini machines no no there a more go ahead no i just said drew a whore yeah yeah they they move in and out very very quickly And even a game like Metallica that I loved you know moved in and out But Simpsons is staying. And Pirates of the Caribbean, yes, does have some fun shots. But no. T-S-P-P for the win, baby. All right. Cool. So now we are in the southeast. What would that be, Florida? Are we really going to Florida?
    48:31
    Sorry, all you Florida peeps. um bad jokes uh deadpool versus avengers all right deadpool versus avengers avengers i don't think i've played but i love deadpool so i have a hard time believing it would be deadpool i'll go deadpool do you uh i know i say this about a lot of pins and like you know deadpool is another one i subscribe to the comics i love deadpool and when it first came out i was a little disappointed but now that I've played it and the codes come along, that's another one I might want in my house. Yeah, that would be a cool one to own for sure. You don't see them up for sale as much because people like it. It sticks around. Yeah, for sure. That one's on my maybe list with Stern. After the coronavirus, because I've been saving all this money not going out playing pins, I might be buying a used Stern Pro. So stay tuned.
    49:29
    Yep, Deadpool. No problem there. Okay, this one's going to cause a lot of controversy, I'm sure. Tron.
    49:38
    Black Knight. Sword of Rage. What do you got? See, well, this is the only reason why I'm a little... If we go pro, I'm going Tron. If we go premium, I'm going Black Knight. You can go whatever you want. Your choice.
    49:59
    I'll go Tron there's more to Tron than anything in Black Knight so I'll go Tron okay fair enough I take it you're going Black Knight um yeah like I said I've never I kept trying Tron and I can't get into it so I'm going to give Black Knight some love here alright good job so way to go um uh tim sexton for the win he already won um oh this this one's interesting this one's hard for me to uh ghostbusters verse star wars comic book edition i know why it's it's hard because lately you've been on a ghostbusters kick oh yeah yeah what a cool world under glass that is star wars comic book edition for me for the win it's just it's just gorgeous i love it it's a work of art it's something i'd gladly have in my collection gladly so really star wars comic it's when i saw it at expo i my jaw hit the floor i was like this is fucking gorgeous whoever did the art there that god bless them that that's the way to go so wait wait wait wait wait you said you would have this in your collection oh star wars comic book edition yes really oh yeah without a doubt what okay no i'm i'm just surprised because uh i understand the art side of it are you a huge fan of the game or would you just kind of are you more into the art than you would be into the game no all right so for the record i like the game i hate the rules to the game and i know people are weird about that like i would have to get over my the rules part of it right i would just have to get over it it would just be something that i would literally go i don't know why but i just got a high score you know what i'm saying and now it'll bother me that i don't know why i got that high score because i don't know the rules as well but i will say this the call outs and the video they did a really good job with that that artwork just brings you in and it fills up that play field so it looks like it's a completed like it feels like a full on play field versus the old version where i felt it looked a little barren in spots and yeah dude the comic book edition if i had a chance i'd probably pick one up uh i had the money dwight dwight sullivan i don't care what ian says you're welcome on our show anytime um whatever dude it's it's if you wouldn't if i gave you a million different ways to code that game you would not pick his like you know what i'm saying you would not pick that way to code star wars i told you okay here's the trilogy bro make a pinball game what are you going to start with you're gonna start with like the death star trench run or something or escape from the death star and you're gonna play through the movies like you would like anybody would if you had a a toy box full of star wars toys you're not going to sit there and play with princess leia because of the multiplayer or multiplier why your code you know you're not going to do that you're going to go through the story you're you're ruining my argument here you're you're so right i don't you're right why don't we play through it like i know i've i've said it before like yeah you play through the game like the movies and then you can do what Keith Alwyn did with Jurassic Park. You know, he has kind of that little wizard mode you can get to in the beginning. You could have the Death Star run be like a timed mode, right? Oh, yeah.
    53:50
    Dwight Sullivan, I love you, man. I mean, I love Ghostbusters. I love Star Wars. I love the game. I really do. But, yeah, I don't know. You're still welcome on our show, Dwight, by the way. Yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, they're great themes. Like, they're the best themes you could possibly have in pinball. But for me, Ghostbusters is a broken game because of the flipper gap. That's all. Every time I play it, I get so let down and so depressed. Okay, fair enough. And that's just me. So not everybody's like that. People play better. They're better than me, and they can play that game, and they can love that game. Me, I have a really hard time with it, so it doesn't bring me joy. Yeah. Star Wars does. Okay. Boom. Okay. We're never going to get done with this, by the way. Oh, we are.
    54:37
    Yeah, it's just going to go a little faster now. Last one for the first round. Aerosmith. Wait, what did you pick? Oh, sorry. I picked Ghostbusters. Okay. Like you said, yeah, I've been pining for one. That's on my short list. Like I said, Ghostbusters, Deadpool, Spider-Man. What else? Star Trek. Like I said, I'm really looking hard at some Stern. Game of Thrones. I'm looking at a Stern Pro an older Stern Pro that's put on the lineup so we'll see what happens but there you go Arrowsmith vs Iron Maiden yep Arrowsmith vs Iron Maiden I really like playing Arrowsmith but yeah Iron Maiden hands down it just is what it is not much discussion there John Borg I love you, man. You know I love you. But Iron Maiden was in my house for 2,000 plays, and it was amazing every second of it.
    55:41
    Cool. Okay. We are on to round two. Ready? Now we get into the nuts and bolts. This is where we're going to separate the men from the boys, the men with pants, the men without pants.
    55:52
    Lord of the Rings versus Batman 66. Lord of the Rings. Ooh. You didn't even hesitate, man. Didn't hesitate. I thought about it. I took a deep breath, and then I realized, hey, listen, you're right. We're separating the men from the boys.
    56:06
    Batman 66 is a teenager. You know, he's not quite there yet, but Lord of the Rings is a grown-ass man.
    56:13
    That's a fair statement, and I'm going the same way, Lord of the Rings, because these are getting tough now. Now I'm picking apart my babies. Okay.
    56:24
    Okay, Ian, you got Game of Thrones versus The Walking Dead. All right, this is going to be the serious upset, but I like Game of Thrones. Ooh.
    56:33
    Why? I don't even fucking know why. Because it's hard, and the shots fucking hate me, and I love it, and I love all the shots in Game of Thrones. I just do. The pro is phenomenal. The code is bullshit. I get that, guys. I haven't played the new code that they released, but I really enjoy the shots. So my experience with The Walking Dead is as follows. I play it. I start it. I get excited to play it because I'm like, this is going to be awesome. I love the look of the game, even though some people think it's ugly. I love the theme. I play it. I'm done with the game. And then I'm like, all right, what's next?
    57:14
    I've never had that one moment with Walking Dead that, listen, I know I'm in the minority. Before you send your emails, I get it. I'm in the minority. It's just not for me. I just, for whatever reason, it just, there's some, I don't know, it's not a good connection with me. Send your hate mail at iandoesntknowwhatthefuckhe'stalkingaboutatgmail.com. Listen, it's a personal preference, dickface.
    57:39
    I respect, but let me say this, I respect Walking Dead big time. I love Walking Dead. I respect it. It's a great game. And those of you that own it and like it, I do not think less of you. I think it's a great game and it's a great pickup for you. Here's the thing.
    57:57
    Steve Ritchie is awesome. John Borg is awesome. I wanted a Game of Thrones. I wanted a Walking Dead. My wife told me the Walking Dead is the one game that's never coming in the house. Right. That may change. However, the Walking Dead is going to take this one for me. Yeah. No, and I get it. Based on rules. I get it. I love it. It's cool. I get it, man. Totally cool. So. All right. all right Jurassic Park versus Elvira's House of Horrors Ian god damn it yeah I think you're just setting me up to piss everyone off today aren't you Drew yes I love it oh fuck me I like Elvira House of Horrors it's like I got a little bit of a crush on it and I'm gonna go with it sorry I love the B movies it's just my theme baby I still think Jurassic Park shoots better than Elvira shoots fantastic by the way Jurassic Park is deeper I think but Elvira is coming along I don't think we can discount the code in Elvira quite yet and then I the artwork for me dude I just Jurassic Park fails on so many different levels just the fact that it's not the movie that we love the artwork doesn't resonate with the movies at all It's just, it bothers me. Some of these things, they're nitpicky. We're at the nitpick stage already, but that's where I'm at. So, guys, you can send your hate mail over to thepoormanspinball at gmail.com. It's fine. I'll take it. But I'm going Elvira. Address has changed. Ian still doesn't know what the fuck he's talking about at gmail.com.
    59:44
    Elvira, baby, for the win. Here's the thing. if Elvira was going up against any other game right now, it would move on to the next round, and I can say that sincerely. But it's not. It's going up against Jurassic Park. So JP for the win, baby.
    60:03
    Okay. Ian, Stranger Things versus Ripley's Believe It or Not. Two games I really haven't played. All right. We'll go Ripley's. They're going to lose Elvira's anyway. That's cool. Okay, awesome. I have Iron Man versus Metallica. Once again, Iron Man, great, solid game. But, yeah, obviously Metallica is going to win in that category. So we're just going to move on. I got Metallica there. All right. We are moving on. See, this is going faster. We're already in the East category. Yep. We're back in New England. Ian, you got ACDC versus the Beatles. Okay. Yeah, that wasn't. I have ACDC versus Star Trek. ACDC, awesome, but Star Trek's going to beat that out any day. They're both about the same price. I'm putting Star Trek in my house. That's just what's happening. Cool. uh all right ian oh monsters versus the simpsons pinball party uh simpsons pinball party more in it okay yep um can't argue with that um i have the amazing spider-man versus simpsons pinball party and same thing simpsons pinball party it's in my house it's bolted um even if i wasn't being biased. It's just a better game. So there you go.
    61:40
    Alright. Deadpool vs. Tron. Deadpool. You didn't hesitate very long on that one. It's beautiful. Things to shoot at. Deadpool. I just like the way they coded that game. Deadpool for the win.
    61:56
    So me, I have Deadpool vs. Black Knight Sword of Rage. I'm just going to say Steve Ritchie. play better um bad joke damn he didn't hear you anyway oh too much I'm a dick it's the alcohol guys you can send your hate mail at the format at gmail.com sorry guys I'm getting a call right a missed call right now for Russia true story weird another prince I guess Yeah, I guess. Yeah, Deadpool is going to beat up Black Knight, no problem. Okay.
    62:40
    Ian, your last bracket for this one is Star Wars, comic book edition versus Iron Maiden. Ooh. Goddamn.
    62:50
    That's a tough one. You got two pretty good shooting games. You got one great theme, one not so spectacular theme. Yeah, they both look great Shit, man What are you going to do?
    63:13
    Pass Can I pass? This is when you should call somebody and bother them This is the toughest one Ooh, we could do that, Ian Who are you going to call, anyways? Alright, I'm going to call Alright, you call them I need to get some more ice Can we take a quick fiver? No, I'm calling him right now. Okay, call away. Go get your ice, bro. Okay, call away.
    63:47
    Yo, man, what's happening? Hey, Eric, you're on the air at the Poor Man's Pinball Podcast. Oh, God. I had a problem, and I needed your opinion. Okay. It's kind of like the phone a friend. Oh, right on. All right. So this is my issue here. We're doing this bracket challenge, and I'm stuck between Iron Maiden, okay, and then versus the Star Wars comic book edition that we played over at Expo. And I need – I'm on the fence, dude. So I'm going to leave it up to you, whichever one you decide.
    64:28
    Both are great. They are great. I already know where Drew's kind of leading towards. No. You don't know shit. You wouldn't know. Oh, really? Wow. Yeah, he doesn't even have Star Wars going. He already eliminated Star Wars, so.
    64:46
    Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun. Fuck Star Wars. Obviously, the artwork in Star Wars is fantastic. However, I would have to go with Maiden because of, well, I mean, well, you know, Keith Elwin is pretty amazing, and it is a pretty awesome game. The shots are good, baby. Shots are great. Game of the year 2019. When I played it at Drew's, it was a great game. I really loved it. Like you said, a lot of shots, a lot of stuff going on in the game. it is I would have to put that just slightly over the edge of Star Wars alright man I love you that's a good idea brother I love it thank you so much I'll give you a call in about 10 minutes buddy okay stay by your phone sir alright sounds good man alright bye bye alright I'm going to go with Iron Maiden and he's right he's right Iron Maiden for the win oh that's good man yeah the shots are better than artwork and i have to remember that like no matter how beautiful a game looks if it shoots like shit not that saying star wars shoots like shit but i'm just saying shots are what matter artwork second so iron maiden totally agree i have a tough choice here i have ghostbusters versus iron maiden right tough iron maiden shoots oh man i just i wanna who uh yeah oh fuck yep i i have to go iron maiden just because like you said it just it just shoots better yep uh oh man that's so tough because i still this is where you go into what's better shots you this is when you have to go into what's better shots or theme well yeah obviously i think shots is way better but yeah i think the shots are better so all right I made it for the win. Keith Alwyn, you did it again, buddy.
    66:47
    Okay, we are into round three. Are you ready for this? I'm ready. You have Lord of the Rings versus Game of Thrones. Oh, easy. Lord of the Rings.
    66:59
    Again, grown-ass man. I have Lord of the Rings versus The Walking Dead. I'm struggling, but I think Lord of the Rings is just going to take it.
    67:13
    Alright. You have Elvira's House of Horror versus Ripley's, believe it or not. Believe it or not, I'm going to go with Elvira.
    67:24
    Oh, I believe it. And I am now retiring from podcasting because I have Jurassic Park versus Metallica.
    67:36
    Yeah, this is like true. Which child do you love more? Yeah. You get to stay in the house and you get kicked out in the cold. Spoiler alert. He kept one of them in his house right now and the other one got kicked out. God damn it. Sorry, John Borg, Jurassic Park. Yeah, we saw that one coming.
    67:57
    That was hurtful. I really honestly am a little hurt right now. Okay. Ian. you have the Beatles versus the Simpsons Pinball Party ah shit that's a weird one that's super weird those two games could not be any weirder that's bizarre you're right that's a weird fucking combo alright so setting art aside setting theme aside shots we're just going right down to shots which one do I think shoots better and i will have to go with now i think beatles shoots a little bit faster but there's more to shoot at with the simpsons so yes i'm going to go with see here's my problem drew i'm gonna go with the simpsons but i would rather own a beatles if that makes any sense at all um no because it's kind of like uh where was mine because Theme and artwork mean a lot to me, and the Beatles would beat the Simpsons just in general with the artwork and the theme and the whole presentation of it. Yeah, I agree. But if I'm sitting there, if I'm going to be truly honest with myself and go, all right, if I had to flip a game a thousand times, which one would I rather flip a thousand times? It would be Simpsons all day long. Sure. Simpsons. And that's no different than my Ghostbusters versus Iron Maiden because, you know, Iron Maiden is the better game. But I had Iron Maiden, and now I want a Ghostbusters. You know what I mean? Yep. No, I get it. No, it happens. I'd rather own a Beatles, though, just for the record. But, yeah, absolutely. Did you hear that, Martin? Simpsons. Simpsons just, there's so much in that game. So they loaded it. Simpsons, you know, I'm biased, but the Simpsons is one of those games that is almost universally loved. It should be. It's great. Right? Yeah. Because it has that universally loved theme.
    70:02
    And for pinball people, it has the universally loved shots and rules. And objectively, it's a really good game. Yep. No matter how you slice it. That was a tough one, but that's the reasoning.
    70:15
    All right. So I have Star Trek versus Simpsons Pinball Party. Kind of what you just said. well I already own a Simpsons I might get a Star Trek but Simpsons is just a better game so that one's a little tough but Simpsons will take the lead alright we are in the Southeast Florida category once again we have Deadpool vs. Iron Maiden and I also have Deadpool vs. Iron Maiden by the way I'll go Deadpool dp for the win yeah um i'm in the same boat i think iron maiden shoots a lot better but deadpool has the theme and artwork that i like better and i know i've been saying whatever shoots better wins but for this one i think the theme and the overall presentation kind of trump it like they both like deadpool doesn't shoot bad and there's lots of shots there that you gotta get really good at shooting but yeah deadpool can we just say it just seems that if you get a game with zombie yeti or frangie art it's a winner yeah that's the problem with the beatles versus simpsons like yeah i know it looks the the simpsons the simpsons art because it was from the early 2000s it's just so generic you know right and and the beatles is like the whole thing is a work of art that's why i'd want to own it over the simpsons like i would i would yeah that's tough that's tough it is it is i get it i would have loved to see like a simpsons now where they have all these seasons to choose from and they have like stoned homer on there and they have all the cool you know just all the greatest episodes of all time right are you going deadpool as well oh yeah deadpool versus maiden so should deadpool have one game of the year last year then deadpool yeah since we both just beat we both said it was better than iron maiden i i think um and this is george uh george gomez if you're listening and i know you do um i love what you did with deadpool i love lord of the rings i love monster bash i love almost everything you've done um there's just like i said it's there's just something about it that it's not quite as smooth and polished as iron maiden does that make sense oh yeah it definitely doesn't shoot as well as iron maiden so so i think i really think that if deadpool was a little different and that one shot that goes underneath the ramp it drives me fucking crazy like is that the sword shot uh nope the one the sword it's just that it's that little that little like turnaround shot oh the colossus shot uh the snick shot yeah yeah you're right i'm sorry yeah colossus yeah um so like i said uh i i like gomez's designs i like his game i love deadpool i might i might own one but uh it's just not as as polished as iron maiden that's all got it so yeah the sword Shot's a bitch. That's the one I hate. I can't stand it. Well, and see. I fed that sword, like, out of a million games. I think I've fed that sword, like, three times. Like, it just drives me nuts. See, I've gotten that multi-ball now a few more times, and I've played it quite a bit. If you dial it in, it does work, and it does depend on the pitch and everything else. But that other shot just drives me nuts. So, I don't know. All right. We'll see. Moving on. Mm-hmm.
    73:54
    All right. We are getting ready to get down to the final two. Are you ready for this, Ian? Dude, I've been born ready. What do we got?
    74:03
    You have Lord of the Rings versus A Virus House of Horrors. Lord of the Rings. Really? Yeah, only because it's going to win the whole thing, because Lord of the Rings is the best game ever made. You heard it here first, folks. I mean, it's got everything. I mean, you look at it, you would almost think that it's a wide body. You'd almost think with the amount of shit that's in there, the things to shoot at, the story, how they coded it, all the different things, the upper play field, the eye shot, just everything about it. It's just an epic journey through a popular franchise, and it's coded, and it's done in the right way, and all of the shots are really, really nice.
    74:50
    There's nothing wrong with Lord of the Rings. I don't have one fault for that thing. That game is perfection, and it should take this whole thing. Why don't you own one?
    75:01
    Price is one. But it was the same price as your Whitewater. Right. Okay. But price is one. And two, I...
    75:14
    Fuck, I don't really know, Drew. I couldn't answer that. I just respect the game, man. Don't hate the player, hate the game. you're just telling me how it's the greatest game of all time and i'm like well you had a monster bash you had a white water you had for stern okay it's the greatest okay we'll get there um i mean could you could you name one more game that's more epic than that like as far as the storytelling as far as all the different shots as far as the complete package as far as Even the DMD animations still are awesome. You know exactly what's going on. Yeah, I do the same thing, too, because whenever I'm looking at games, I'm like, why don't I buy Lord of the Rings? It's so fucking awesome. But, yeah, I don't know. That's a really good question. You're right. It is the total package. It is.
    76:11
    It could be better art-wise, but other than that, I mean, and shit, you know what? If your cabinet's not faded, the art's not bad. It's just not great. No, it's the same art. But a lot of that cabinet art and a lot of that play field art tends to fade on Lord of the Rings. So if you don't have a faded version, like Ryan Kuyper's is beautiful. It's a gorgeous game. Yeah. Yeah, that is true. I mean, the one downside is it's a long-playing game, and if you play it and you do really well, it's almost like having that RPG, right, from any system, any RPG. Yeah, you're just grinding through. just playing you grinded it and you did it you beat it you did the quest you saw everything you never want to pick it up again and i guess that would be my main fear for owning a lord of the rings well it's not a fun it's not a fun little romp you know it's not simpsons pinball party where you can just pick up and play anytime and be like i don't care it's fun yeah whereas this is like it's a legend you're going through some serious shit it's kind of it's kind of like well it's like playing street fighter versus playing the legend of zelda like exactly like you said you have to sit down and like want to play legend of zelda because it's going to take you a long time you know what you're getting into you're like yeah this is a quest versus something fun and light and and having a good time yeah no that's that's fair i can i can i can see that i'm going with the quest all right go for it okay well i have the Lord of the Rings versus Jurassic Park. Oh, you're fucked. Yep. So everything I just said, ignore it, and Drew's going to go Jurassic Park. So, no, I was actually leaning towards Lord of the Rings, but then at the end of the day, like I said, I could have bought one. I didn't. I bought a Jurassic Park. So you know what? Tim Lee, are you listening? JP for the win.
    78:04
    Shocker. Yeah, big shocker. So shocked over here. Surprising people. So shocked over here. Next, you have... Shit, where were we?
    78:15
    Oh, we're on the east side now for the final one. You got Simpsons Pinball Party versus Deadpool. It's a weird one, too.
    78:33
    I've never really thought of those two games together. It's so funny. Nope, and I have the same one on that side, believe it or not. uh i guess i will go with i'll go with deadpool um i like the animations i like the i like how the code is deep but not that deep like you know what you're doing at all times like you understand um like how to progress And I find that very, very refreshing and cool. Satisfying? It's satisfying. The art's satisfying. All that good stuff. So I'll go Deadpool. Okay.
    79:17
    That's fair. Again, it goes down to which one would I rather own, and it would be Deadpool. I have to choose between Simpsons Pinball Party and Deadpool.
    79:27
    And Ian, what do you think I'm going to choose? Simpsons Pinball Party. Why? Well, you're the biggest Simpsons fan I know, number one. And number two, you own the game. It's bolted in your room. It'd be almost a little silly to be choosing anything other than Simpsons Spinball Party right now. Unless you buy a Deadpool and then bolt it and unbolt your Simpsons and sell it right away. Which I don't think you would do that. I'm going to shock the world. I'm actually picking Deadpool. Oh, wow. And not because I'm being funny or whatever.
    80:01
    I think Deadpool. Oh, my God. I can't believe I'm even saying this. I think Deadpool is a better pinball game than Simpsons Pinball Party. Oh my god.
    80:09
    I'm still here, right? Okay. I stopped breathing for a second there. Sorry. I was worried I was going to get struck down or something. Yeah, it's weird. It's a weird thing for you to say. It is.
    80:23
    I've played a lot of Deadpool now, and maybe it's because Simpsons is in my house and I play it a lot, so maybe it's a little stale. You know what I mean? um deadpool is a great game it it just is um you know is it one of the top two stands well you picked it and i picked it i don't know yeah it's weird how that works huh it is it is but um given this bracket yeah i think uh i think it's a little better than simpsons pinball party for me right now so uh i'm going with deadpool okay all right so we are in the final showdown of the certain showdown are you ready for this yep lord of the rings first deadpool what say you ian yeah it'll be lord of the rings just an overall complete package yeah it's an overall complete package it's it's a much better game than deadpool it's just in general but george Gomez, I guess. I'm a big... My homie Gomi. George did alright. Yeah, yeah. Two games in the final two for you. That's awesome.
    81:30
    I'm Jurassic Park versus Deadpool. We know where I'm going here. While I think Deadpool might be a little better than Simpsons Pinball Party at the moment, it is not better than Jurassic Park.
    81:42
    So, JP for the win. so send your hate mail over at uh poor man's pinball at gmail.com it's the most ridiculous of the uh stern showdowns but that would be drew is full of shit at gmail.com no you know what though i mean jurassic park is so hot right now that them doing this stern showdown right now is kind of silly because jurassic park might actually take it even though sure like and it doesn't we don't know if it it stands the test of time you know what i'm saying yeah like it's hot now everyone's really excited about it now yeah i totally agree people are getting in their houses and are super pumped about it so it'll probably end up being uh you know the winner of the bracket challenge and and you're probably you'll be right but i think any other year it probably would have been lord of the rings actually well yeah because i'm i'm just thinking now and i'm looking at our brackets and i'm like okay if jurassic park wasn't in this bracket i know it's hard to say but if Jurassic Park wasn't in this bracket.
    82:47
    So for me, Elvira's House of Horror would have went on. So it would have been The Walking Dead versus Elvira's. I probably would have picked Elvira.
    82:58
    So then it would have been Elvira or Metallica versus Lord of the Rings. Right. You know what I mean? Yeah. So let's see. What else? Yeah, the other side would have been the same. And then for you, well, you didn't pick Jurassic Park. So, yeah, I could see that. And you may be right. But here's what I do know. I mean, Iron Maiden made it pretty far for both of us. Yeah. You know, and it's only a year old or two years old now. But, you know, it has some staying power. I think Jurassic Park is going to have the same staying power.
    83:32
    We'll see. Yeah, we'll see. Definitely. You know, and now, you know, Deadpool. Deadpool is what? Like two, three years old now? I mean, essentially. It came out in, what, 2018? I thought it came out in 2018, just the same thing with Iron Maiden. Yep. So, you know, Deadpool's kind of maintaining its status as a solid game for people. And, you know, Star Trek. Star Trek originally came out in, like, 2014, I think.
    84:01
    So some of these games are really, really holding their own. So, ladies and gentlemen, next week, stay tuned. we're going to be doing the next bracket challenge, American Pinball Games. So we're going to pull up with a bracket with American Pinball, and we're going to figure out which is the best American Pinball game. So stay tuned for that. That'll be awesome.
    84:25
    Suncoast Pinball after that. Yeah, and we'll do Suncoast. Yeah, we'll do all that good stuff, right?
    84:33
    Maybe a little Deep Root. We don't even know. We'll see how it goes. Deep Root would just be a bunch of question marks How do you feel about Deep Root's rumored title about the Space Cadet?
    84:48
    I'm lukewarm on it I think it's a cool idea, but I don't get it Well, there's not much to get Robert Mueller loved that game on Windows And he's a billionaire, so he can just make a company you can make a company just so they can he can make that game so yep yep it's not too crazy you know he's he talks about it like it's the one of the greatest games of all time and you listen to him you're like man you're really fucking excited about this but i was not that excited about it like i can just download it real quick and play it for another 10 minutes and you know it's yeah when i when i heard that it was almost like whoa So, okay, so you're making a... Oh, and by the way, sorry, I just wanted to give credit where credit's due. Robert Mueller was on Canada's Pinball Podcast. Sure. So listen to Canada's Pinball Podcast. We love you, Canada. Go ahead.
    85:44
    You know, so it's going to be a single-level game, and it's going to be very simple, you know, and it's not going to have, like, you know, like TNA at least had the cool music and all that stuff. It had an upper level to it to the left there. Okay. Well, whatever the case, it's just very simplistic for trying to make a new pinball machine, in my opinion. I played a lot of it. I mean, I wonder if I'm the same age as Robert Mueller. I question myself now that I think about it. But anyway. I'm Googling as we speak because I'm very curious. Because I was real into that game, too. That was right where I was loving it. No, I certainly remember it. And that's the thing. like we all played it but uh you know is it is it what we remember so that is the question but anyways i i'm just excited to see what they get done all right cool man so that is our stern bracket challenge i hope you guys enjoyed that um so what we'll do next is tribe members true should we do tribe members we should do tribe members we'll do tribe members all right our tribe member are we doing one today just one we'll do one today all right what do we got so you know before we get into that drew what's our update on are we all good with our monies did we pay up yeah we uh we donated a bunch of money to nacho street band okay um we matched all the people that i think um i don't it's been it's been so long since we've talked about this Yeah, five or six of the members that we sent out the challenge to, they donated, and some donated more. So thanks for that.
    87:34
    So I think in total, we donated $150 to Natural Street Band. Beautiful. Awesome. So like I said, we're putting our money where our mouth is because we said it and we did it. So there you go. And our mouths were on some dirty vagina. Yes. And so Pete Quint, if my math is wrong, let me know. We'll add a few more bucks. But like I said, I think we did it correctly. So we'll see. Cool, cool. We did the maths. Yeah, I did some math. I punched. Here's me. That's my calculator that I'm punching right now. Did you happen to see my video of our rocker? I did. and my wife goes what is ian doing in his basement and i said just watch the video and uh she watched it for like a minute and she goes i'm not watching any more of this my wife watched it and she's like she thought i was serious like she actually thought we tie wrapped our legs on our pinball machines and she thought that that woman yeah she thought she's I was like, oh, that was very informative. I was like, none of that was right, honey. You don't scotch tape pop pumpers onto the play field. You don't do that.
    88:52
    If you don't know what I'm talking about, like us on Facebook. I posted a funny video. I thought it was funny. Anyway. Oh, it was great. And Matt Michaels, thank you so much for the rock kit because it was awesome. Yep. I think we're going to sell it and sell a bunch of them, make our fortune. The poor man's rock kit? Yeah, Ryan Kuyper was already in. He was already in. He didn't even need to know how much I was going to charge him, so he was already in. It's $300. It's a sweet mod for your pinball machine. Yep, everything you need to fix a pinball machine.
    89:27
    Right there in the rock kit. All right. Oh, love it. Let's do tribe members. All right. Tribe members. Who do we got? All right, so let's drum roll.
    89:42
    thank you sir may I have another poor man's pinball tribe right now yeah I know I'm doing this alone now
    90:06
    so all right so our next tribe member is Lee Bellheimer? Did I get that right? Bellheimer. Lee! I said poor man's pinball. Let us know if we said your name right. Drew, you have some nice things to say about Lee. I do. Lee has been around since almost the beginning. Yes. I can't tell you how long, but yeah, because we've been doing this for over a year now, and Lee was one of the first people to reach out to us.
    90:36
    We interact with him on our page quite a bit, and he sends us emails and lee you're in man yeah lee's decorations welcome to the tribe and lee completed all these uh pillars of x what are those pillars z and please let us know because i don't even remember we have the five pillars of excellence we haven't talked about the five pillars in a while so let's do that we better recant if you guys but wait wait let's just go back one second lee you're gonna get your moment here in a second but for everyone out there being a tribe member talk to our current tribe members it is literally the best thing on the internet ever next to porn okay change their lives it did so talk to i mean tim lee was out there begging for for for food yes he was he was homeless before this he was He was out and becoming a tribe member, he's now rich. He's a billionaire, okay? Yes. He's starting his own pinball company. So reach out to Tim Lee. Reach out to Dave Brennan. Reach out to Ryan Kuyper. Reach out to Jonathan Hall. The list goes on. We have about – Jonathan Hall, another billionaire. What's that? Another billionaire, Jonathan Hall. Yeah, yeah. They're all billionaire investors now in awesome pinball companies because of being tribe members. It's just crazy. But anyway, let's do the five pillars of excellence. Yep. Because you are going to want to do this. Yes, you're going to want to do this. Go ahead. Get rich quick scheme. Right now. Here we go. Pillar number one, like us on Facebook. Super simple. Pillar number two, interact with us. Email us.
    92:16
    Tell us how we're doing. Answer our stupid questions. Drink recipes. Dad jokes. send in your love letter all that good stuff all acceptable uh pillar number three um it's it's help us grow whatever it is that you want to do so it could be just share our link tell your mother about us yes share a link talk to us talk about us on facebook give us a little bit of a nod say hey these guys know what the hell they're doing they're hilarious give them a listen um pillars number four and five completely top secret only drew and i know we are never going to tell you so stop asking and uh all right i'll i'll tell you if you ask nicely anyway um so that's our five pillars of excellence so uh lee uh he actually completed these months ago we've just been a little backlogged because we switched from the two tribe members down to the one but the guy nailed all five pillars months ago. He's been super cool and we're just glad to join have him join the club and him, he will become probably, maybe, I don't know a billionaire. We'll see. I don't know. So Lee, we will be sending you an email or at least, no, you know what we'll be sending you is a because I think I'm already a friend with you on Facebook. So what we'll end up doing is you send us your email address sir I will invite you into our Facebook group so super secret Facebook and the other thing that's the other thing guys the Facebook group like we have fun on our page but the Facebook group of the tribe it's not secret but you have to be a tribe member to be on it is awesome we have a lot of fun it's so much fun anyway alright so that's tribe members Drew how you feeling man I'm feeling good I'm ready to wrap this up because you know it's a different day for recording our schedules are all out of whack like you said we're working a lot so you know I'm going to spend some time with my wife tonight but holy crap I am so glad to be back because like I said it was just kind of weird for those few weeks right? We're not we're still out there we'll get back to our regularly scheduled program once everything's left up. It's been a little bit bumpy I get it but I think we're doing okay we're trying so we will um we'll wrap this up we'll guy we'll see you guys on friday i'm sure we'll record some kind of fucking friday later but uh you guys enjoy the rest of your week we'll post this as soon as we can so thank you everybody everybody for listening uh stay safe out there wash your hands wash your genitals wash your hands again yes wash wash your face and your genitals in no particular order. Don't put your dirty genitals anywhere near my face without washing them first. Once you wash them, I don't care where they go. Wash them first. That's all. That's the public service announcement. The more you know.
    95:24
    Knowing is half the battle. Yeah, Joe. Alright. Thank you, everybody. Have a good night. Peace out, guys. Love you.
    95:38
    We'll be right back. We'll see you next time.