Now who's responsi- I say who's responsible for this unwarranted attack on my person? I say, I say, I say, pay attention now, boy. This is, of course, Foghorn Leghorn presents the Pinball Junk Drawer. You all asked for it, I say, I say, you all asked for it now, you're gonna get it. Boy, oh boy, are you gonna get it. Go, I say, go away, boy, you bother me. Finally, the Pinball Junk Drawer has come back to the internet. And by that I mean welcome. This is, of course, Pinball Junk Drawer Big Show 58. Today we're going to talk... My name is Foghorn Leghorn. Who's with me? I am Craft Brew Sally. Yes, with a new drop-in song. But we'll talk about that later. We're going to go over Expo and we're going to talk about where the bad bus touched us. And good and bad and all kinds of stuff. So, yes, I know everyone. Everyone just rolled their eyes and said, oh, what a surprise. A pinball media content creator is going to talk about Expo. I know, folks. We were actually talking about making this a two-parter, and I thought, I don't think the pinball community can take a two-parter. We're going to power through it. Yeah. Are you good with that? Yeah, I think that's a good idea. You know, it is, well, and as I like scroll through my pinball, all the different shows I listen to, it's like Expo, Expo, Expo. I'm like, yep, and ours is going to be Expo and we're going to be late to the party in poor man pinball tribe fashion. Yes, yes, yes. So, but they're not what? They're not part of the tribe. So they don't get to talk about the awesome tribe. Exactly. The awesome trivity of. Yes. So, well, okay, if you don't know what the heck we're talking about, first of all, welcome to Pinball. This is where we went to the Pinball Expo show 40. That was their 40th anniversary, which we went all in because we had never toured any of the factories before. So after talking, we were because we were planning other stuff. And then after talking to Crafter about this, we were like, look, we're we are whether we joke about it or not. Kind of people listen to us. We are in the pinball media world. I was very surprised to have people come up to us when we were there. It was kind of good. Yeah. At first, it takes you off guard a little bit. You're like, wait, what? And I like how some, no one knows what we look like, so people recognize the voices. Yeah. Which was wild. Uh-huh. So I kind of thought we owed it to our listeners to actually tour these places and get a better feel for what they're about, you know? Yes. So we redirected. We made this our vacation of the year and we went all in. So we were there from Tuesday through Saturday. We didn't stay until Sunday. By the end of a show of an event like this, I'm done. I've had my fill. I've walked to the same circle 78 times like a cat roaming its property. You know, like you don't need it anymore. You're good. So that's where I was. early Saturday morning we could have packed up and left instead of going into a rage after standing for four hours in front of a metallic that I houseballed on three times in a row but we'll get to that later let's let's stamp that anger down until later so first I guess first and foremost you know it was great meeting everyone it was the tribe the poor man's pinball tribe we We're part of that. And now. Someone is officially part of this. Correct. Sally is officially. Yes. What number are you? I am tribe member number 49. Yeah. Who's number 50? Rachel. Rachel. Okay. From Rachel and. Dan the man's wife. Dan the man's wife and Rachel. And then they said they were going to cut it off at 50. And then from now on, it's just going to be honor, honoraries, which is cool. Yeah. You know, that made a big difference. Yeah. Being there, hanging out. This is the first kind of time. Now, I've been in the tribe since I was, I'm number two. So that tells you I was a pretty, I was a very early adopter in the poor man's shenanigans. And, you know, I've been around, but I've never, we never kind of like hung out a lot. Yeah. No reason. No, I think the last time we were there at Expo, we couldn't get you away from all the pinball machines. So we missed the dinner, I think, that time. tracks yeah so this time was quite different it was you know right off the bat we met dan the man yeah big shout out he brought you your pliny the elder finally yes and it was so awesome and how about the um adam oh yes adam uh it's not it's aaron davis aaron davis from fast pinball from fast pinball he stopped like numerous places trying to get some yeah which was it was amazing You know, and he didn't get them, but still a huge shout out. Yes. You know, like that is like just the effort put forward. And I've been that guy that's tried and failed. So we gave him some dots. Cheese curds. And cheese curds as an official Wisconsin thank you. Right. Because when he contacted us, he was saying that his friend, I can't remember what their name was, was talking about the cheese snacks from Wisconsin because I guess they used to live here. I was like, are you talking about cheese curds? Yes. That sounds right. Whatever. Yeah, that's how he was. Everyone has to have cheese curds in their life. So we gave him those just as a thank you. And he taught us. I asked him about Fast Pinball because I knew a little bit about it, but he gave us the rundown, which is really cool. Yeah. If I ever, I will definitely lean into that if I ever start building one or need some repair parts. Electronic stuff. Boards. so Dan the man and of course we got to hang out with Jeremy a lot more which was cool he's a very cool cat and the founders which of course Drew and Ian who else was there? Jonathan Jay Hall and we met Billy YJ Dr. John Yeah, the Australian faction flew in and made dinner quite an event. Yes. And I toasted them by ordering a Foster's, which went over fabulously. I did that on purpose, everyone. And, of course, in Scoots and Rachel. Yeah, I know. We're missing people. Yeah. If we do miss you, sorry. It's no offense. My brain is basically a sieve. And I did not take enough notes. She sure didn't. So anyway, it was a fabulous time hanging out with the tribe. They had their annual yard sale, and I sold a couple games. Flea market. Flea market, yes. And sold a few games. I left some games to sit. Wii games are not worth very much. No, they're not. Right. Oh, I'm sure those either went home with somebody or they went in a garbage can, you know. Yeah. At one point, I put them in the free candy dish for people to just take them and no one took them. So, you know, now the tours. The reason we went there was the tours. So first off was Chicago Coin. Chicago Gaming. Chicago Gaming. Why do I keep calling it Chicago Coin? I'm sorry. You do, though. I do. And that one was where the first realization hit hard. Now, it was like at 8.30 in the morning or something like that, wasn't it? Or 8.45 it said to be there? So let's go before that. Okay. Before we start this. All right. So we were looking at the itinerary for the whole week, and we're like, oh, we're going to have a lot of free time at the beginning of the week. And we're like, okay, so we'll figure out other stuff to do. Like, you know, see other things in Schaumburg. Sure. And other things. Yes. Well, that's not quite how this worked out. No. So when you look at an itinerary, if you're going, we relied completely on their transportation, which that's kind of the way you do it. That way if you run into some beers or whatever, it's okay. It doesn't matter. You ain't driving. And someone might run into beers quite often. Someone might. But, wow. So the very first thing, we come down and it says, be there at 845. I'm like, ah, whatever. It was like 815 and we got dressed and got out. we come down the escalator and there is a wraparound line and i went uh-oh and we got in line and like what in the hell and then you look out through the the windows and you see yellow school buses yes and i looked in terror at crap bruce alley and i looked back out the window and they were still yellow school buses and i was six more times and then my neck hurt and i was like holy crap we're getting on school buses and not only that like this was oversold yeah and you go wait what are you talking about this isn't a surprise so we're at the end of the line ish on an oversold tour situation climbing on a school bus now back of the school back of the school bus now if you're um if you're a kid that's probably eight you have cartilage and you can bounce around and it's Look, isn't this funny? I'm going somewhere. And your legs are shorter. I don't care where I'm going anyway. I'm a kid. I have no concept of anything. But when you're an adult, a school bus is not your size. And also, this one didn't have suspension. And I'm not saying that as a joke. No. This one didn't have rear suspension. Like, anything it hit. Like, it was broken. Everyone screamed in pain because it was painful. Uh-huh. That's the bad touch. Bad touch. That was a bad touch. And I looked at it. Very bad touch. It was horrifying. So then we get there, and you're sitting in line for an hour. Then you're sitting on a bus for whatever. Then we were sitting on the bus because we couldn't get out because the line at Chicago Gaming. And it was raining. So they just left us sit on the bus. And it was nuts. And you're like, this sucks so bad. And you see people getting off with swag bags. Guess what? Well, when you oversell the thing, guess who ain't getting swag bags? The last bus. Now, Craft Drew talked me off the ledge saying, did you need another shirt? Which I don't. Right. But that ain't the point, kind of. But we did get stickers at it. Yeah, yeah. So anyway, we were the second to the last group through. And it was a great tour. It was. We actually got, our tour guide was the actual owner of Chicago Gaming. Him and his wife. And they have a decent operation. They really, of all of them, now this doesn't count Stern. Stern is their own beast. Yeah. Of all of them, they really seemed like they cared about the quality and the fit and finish, which they're cabinet makers, so that makes sense. But the way they talked about their playfields and how they built stuff, that was amazing. Yes, it was. I was like, wow, this group. And then I hung, we were towards the back of this group, and the floor manager and the wife of the owner were behind us making sure no one's like stealing stuff. So I was talking to them, which was cool. He was really insightful because he worked for Stern for 28 years. Now he's working for them. So he was talking about some of the challenges, and I was asking him questions as we were going, and it was cool. I really came away. Now I don't know if I would, like of course we want Attack from Mars and Pulp Fiction's cool. I don't know if that one would ever make it in the world. I don't either. That one has to be in a large collection. Yeah. If you have four machines and one of them's that, it ain't a good time. No. I mean, it's a beautiful machine and it's awesome. Right. But. Like, I hardly ever play Dr. Dude. That's what I'm saying. Like, I don't even. Turn it on. Right. So, and that's the thing. Like, in a big collection, that would be perfect. Because it has a lot of awesome stuff. Yeah. But, anyway. so that one was a great time horrible experience getting to and from and this is where i was kind of like i don't want to ding this but that be since there was 39 of these beforehand now you you say that but also i don't think that because this was the 40th anniversary i think they were trying to make it grander than the last ones and i don't think they did tours in the past i guess so a lot of and and there was a lot of confusion too yeah you didn't know where you were coming and going you didn't know what was going on there wasn't somebody directing you that's the if somebody would have went in the front of every bus and said okay this is the thing this is the stuff here's how you get here here's how you pick us up it would have at least been like okay we're all on the same page because then you get off that and talk to the next bus yeah same exact speech right then the third bus same exact speech so everyone at least is on like the exact same plane. Like, not plane, but you know what I'm saying? Like everyone, okay, this is ground zero. Everyone knows what you're talking about, you know, but that never happened. I'm literally following German tourists because I think they know more than me and they did know more than me. I was like, what in the hell? They can't even speak English. They're following and going, oh, they're going there. I guess we're going there. So then after that, we went to, which was the first one? Galloping Ghost. And that place blew my mind. That was the most insane arcade I ever saw in my life. I've been in a lot of arcades I know a lot about arcade machines it been part of my world forever I never seen anything like this in my life it was just like rooms and rooms and rooms Over a thousand games Yes And these are games you don see No I mean honestly they like these Japanese variants and there are these sit-downs and F-Zero sit-downs and just, I could have spent three days in Galloping Ghost. Yes, it's true. You could have. You could have. But then here's the other Zac Stark reality hit. well you want that pizza you're talking about get in line and now you're in a line at the end of a galloping ghost and it ain't moving and you're like i doubt we're getting pizza and there's like a lot of there was a it's very tight at galloping ghost it's tight rent just normally right and then you have a line like snaking through yes and a line and it so that we did get the pizza and then We got cake. It was fine. Like, we got the food. But the majority of my time on this vacation was literally standing in line. And, like, long lines. Stinky long lines that just didn't move. And you're like, this sucks. You know, and that's where all the time went. Because I played a few games. And then they're like, well, if you want to get back for the show. Because we went to see the Roger Sharp movie. And Roger Sharp was there. We got to hear him talk. And we got a picture with him, which was incredible. Him and Ellen. It's weird because I kind of admire him. I don't even know why. That movie, I've watched it a lot of times. I have a connection with that movie because I kind of feel like that's how I feel about pinball. In my life, I'll play pinball when I'm under stress. I don't talk to anybody. I just go and play a game or two. I think that connection. I don't know, whenever I watch that movie I feel hopeful and I think about things I should do I don't know, it's weird. I enjoy that movie a lot. It's fun They framed it correctly so it's not just a pinball documentary It's about a lot of stuff. Anyway, so then okay, well now I have to leave early because if we don't get on the 5 o'clock bus, which we didn't, you ain't going to go see the movie that we want to go see So now you, literally after we shuffled around because we weren't the first in line for the thing. Now we didn't get to play a lot of games. And now we got to go. And then you go out front and the bus ain't there. And I'm like, where the hell's the bus? And everyone's like looking at me and shrugging. And then you see the bus like take off from like two blocks down the road. And then someone's like, oh yeah, you got to get the bus down there. At the Galloping Pinball. I'm like, what are you talking about? So now I'm walking behind these stone Germans. And there you go. And then, okay. So then we got on the bus. And it was funny because everyone was super talky and talk, talk, talk. and I've never heard Germans talk so much. I'm not picking on Germans. There was a lot of talk. That's when I was like, oh, that's right. Weed's legal in Illinois. Because first of all, you got on and you're like, what is this, a bong I'm getting on? It stank like weed. And then just wave after wave. Anyone that walked on quietly shuffled by you because they were high as balls. I think we were the only two people that weren't high on that, including the driver. We might have gotten contact high. I think I was looking for some sweets and some pizza by the time I got off, just from inhaling people's jackets. So I was like, oh, that's why it was quiet. And I was like, oh, there you go. So then we saw the movie. Lesson learned, next day we got up early. Yes. Got our butts down there because day two was American. And then we got on the bus. And that one, I don't know. I don't really know what to say about American. We went through it. It just was. I don't, I don't, I don't know. I don't even, I'm just going to, whatever. So then after American, we went to Logan. And Logan's was a cool arcade. Yes, it was. It's like you walk in and there's like some, like they have a line of pinball machines. They had that Godzilla VR. Yeah, the Godzilla VR, which I immediately played. I've been reading about this Godzilla VR in Replay Magazine for three months. And about how it's just taking the world by storm. And I'm like, well, I'm playing that. and it cost $5, I'm like, whatever. It could have been $10. I'm going to be like, give me a $10. I'm playing this one time. So I did it, and then CraftFruit didn't do it. I'm not great at those sorts of things. Shakers and VR things. I had a lot of fun playing that. Yes, you did. I would definitely play that again. I don't think I did very well. I don't know what good is. It looks like you are doing good. You pay $5, you're not doing good. It's made to shake people around, and you laugh, and it feels like you're doing good. It's like Attack of Mars. You feel like you're doing good, but you don't know. It doesn't matter. It's just lots of stuff's happening. But from my side, it puts what you see up on the screen behind you. So I'm watching you with your goggles on doing your stuff. Laughing like a lunatic, shooting everything. And I'm seeing what you're seeing. So it was me. I was really glad to play that. But then this is more of the same. Stand in line for pizza, play a couple games, off you go. And by that time, it's time to go home. They did that one better, though, because they took half of the buses they sent to the arcade first. Right. And the other half went to the tour first. And then it swapped. That one was a little bit better. Yeah. Then the third one was done incredibly. Yes. Jersey Jack pinball. You had to get tickets for a time slot before the event. Which made complete sense. It did make sense. And then you got up and they put your name on. They're like, yep, okay, you're on this list. And then out front, you look out the thing and there was a tour bus, a limousine tour bus. And you go, oh, my, this looks like it's for adults. And you peer in and they're like, come, sit down. And you sit down and you're like, oh, look, it's seats made for big asses. And my knees are not smashing into the thing. And my kidneys don't feel like they're jarred. I'm not peeing blood. This is great. So we go to Jersey Jack and they did their shtick. I don't, I liked Jersey Jack, but I can't remember a lot of it. Yeah. Do you know, like. It was, we got to see, at the end we got to see Richie. Yeah. Okay. And yeah. Oh yeah. Cause they're doing the Elton John. He signs some stuff. And that Ken guy. Yeah. Oh yeah. You talked to Ken about that. Atomic cherry. Cherry atomic. I said it backwards. I said, like back in the day, Ken Cromwell had a homebrew he was going to start and he sold the trans lights for those called Cherry Atomic. And that's how he was going to fund the stuff he was doing, which is really a smart way of doing it. And I said, oh, yeah, I bought that thing. And he was like, oh, my God. And I was the first person I guess that said anything about that. He took us back to his office and it was hanging on the wall. And I was like, yeah, I got to get the light up frame. Because I love the I love the artwork for it. I mean, you know, it was a great meeting him. It was. It was nice. He talked to us for like 15 or 20 minutes. Yeah. Yeah, it was cool. And then after that, we went to Interium. We went there twice, didn't we? We did. Yeah. I think Wednesday was the bumper blast, like welcome party. Right. Okay, we went to that. Another line for the food. Yeah. And the pinball. Because we were out of food. At first, we were like, oh, well, this is a restaurant, so this is going to be fine. and we get there and then we're playing and we're running around and this is all like the ticket game crap it wasn't great but it was okay and then we're like well this is a restaurant and then we're standing in line and they ran out of food and I'm like how do you run out of food at a restaurant man this isn't a surprise but then it was bad but we ate and then we went back there for the media mixer which was the kineticist held the Friday no Thursday Thursday night yeah so he held the media mixer which I was part of doing the artwork so I did the badges and the banner and the stuff so that was really cool it was cool meeting him because we did all that work together for the last couple months so we got some pictures taken with him and it was neat meeting everyone seeing everyone it was an exciting time yes you know and Matt had great food finally yes there was pizza and sliders and all kinds of stuff it was just a fun time oh they had buffalo cauliflower yep which that was funny because that's what Jeremy Me and Jeremy did the same thing. He was like, I was sitting there. I was like, ah, this is cauliflower, which I've had before, so I ate it. And I thought they were wings. And then Jeremy comes walking over. I was like, don't let him fool you. This isn't wings. He was like, I know. I've been into it thinking it was a wing. I was like, that's how they fool you. They get you. Cauliflower has to fool you into eating it. So it was a wonderful time. We saw Zach, but we didn't talk to him. He was very busy. But it didn't matter. And then Glenn, Skateboarder Glenn, got the entire place doing a dollar. Oh, it was so fun. Oh, I can't remember. No, it was like, stop, shot. I can't remember. And then I was like, I'm in. I don't know. And, of course, I whiffed. That was fun. I did, too, right after you. But it was like you played the game until you got it in like a. Something that stopped it and held it. Right. And then the next person came up. And then you jumped out. It was a good time. It was fun. I can't remember the name of it. Ah, it's okay. Glenn probably doesn't. I don't know. Yeah. Although it does sound like something. It sounded like he just makes stuff up all the time, so. That's what somebody said. I was like, hey, that checks out. So we also got to hang out with the owners of Lumberjack Johnny's. Oh, yes. On the, that was the JJ. No, no, that was Stern. Stern. Oh, yeah. Okay, yeah. So who was the, that was. Nikki and Dave. Nikki and Dave. Mm-hmm. From Lumberjack Johnny. Now, if they are listening, what happened with the UPS thing? He got pulled aside because a very important part that they paid extra to have overnighted got lost in UPS. And I never got the follow-up to that story. So if you're listening, write to us. What's it? PJ? I don't know. What's our email? It's in the notes. I don't know. It doesn't matter. Pinballjd at gmail.com. Yeah, just think of pinballjackdaniels at gmail.com. So pinballjd. So if you're listening, Lumberjack Johnny's, whatever happened with the UPS thing, we've got to know the answer. Yes. But we met them when we were standing in line for the bus. And then we did the Holstern tour with them. Yeah. It was nice. It was cool meeting them. Yeah. And you knew... Nikki. You knew Nikki. Yeah. I guess you knew them both, right? Nikki's part of the ladies' flip. in the area. Yeah. So I've been to her house. She hosted a ladies flip at her house. That might have been the first one I went to. I believe it was. Because she also likes Disney. She does. So you guys are on the same wavelength on a few different things. And she was talking about her car. Oh my God. I know. So Stern was the last one. That was Friday. And Stern was... I knew it would probably reign supreme, but I didn't realize the amount of domination. Right. It was so far ahead of all the others, it wasn't even like the same thing. Right. You know what I mean? Yes. And that's not talking bad about anybody. No, not at all. Anyone that's cranking out pinball machines, good on you, man. Yes. Because that was funny that Gomez said that. Wasn't it Gomez? He said people asked him, oh, what about your competition? He's like, all machines are good. Yeah. He didn't view anything, and he was like, we're all friends. We know each other. We know the makers. We know the designers. We know all this stuff. So they don't see it that way. I'm sure the people that are financially backing things have that, oh, I'm a businessman kind of stuff going on. But the people that are doing it and working, they don't care. No. More is better. Right. And that's kind of true. Because that's going to keep everybody going. going. You turn on five, a couple kids start digging on a game and they tell their friends, that's the next generation of people that are going to keep this alive and it won't die. Right. So yeah, very valid point. And I, I kind of was like, that's cool way of thinking about it. And I wish everyone would. So I, and that's, I think a lot of times we don't ever do like hard takes on anything. There's, there's been a couple of things I'm not thrilled with. Yeah. I just don't. And that's kind of like our show is like that. And it's not because I don't have these opinions, but it's also they're just my opinions. Who cares? And I don't need to put that kind of negativity out there. And people say, oh, you're so soft. No, not really. But you know, I talk about the stuff I dig and the stuff I don't dig, whatever. You know, that's not for me. You either don't talk about it or you just whiff over it. Like American Pinball. Yep. Like that time we toured Haggis. Aw. Everyone loves beating up on Haggis. Anyway. I kid. Don't sue. But what are you going to get? So, you know, touring that, I was like, my God. Yeah. This facility is. First off, it's gigantic. The first thing, you get off the bus, and there is a gigantic pinball. I want that for our backyard. I know. But I don't think we could steal it and get away with it. It probably would hide the Yeti. So, and then you meet Gary Stern and Seth. Yeah. And they're kind of there greeting everyone, which is great. They have an actual queue line, like a professional place. And you go, okay, this is different. Yes. And the people that are giving the tour know what the hell they're talking about. Right. I felt like that the one tour that we took, the person that was our tour guide, didn't really know stuff about. They didn't even know what pinball was. Right. I guarantee he didn't know. That was American Like you asked him questions and he it always came back to the boards Or whatever yeah It always came back to the boards And I was like is this a money laundering deal for boards What is this? Joking. But it was just one of those things where I was going like, okay. And now maybe if we would have had a different guide, we would have a different experience. It doesn't matter. Stern was insane. And you go through it and you're like, oh, my God, this is so incredible. And you're seeing how they're making them, and they're talking about how they catalog parts so that if there's a run of 50, they can swap out a line and start doing that. And it's like a quick turnover. And they can do those 50, and you're like, wow. Like they had all of their stuff. Like there was one section where you just walk through, and there's just loads of boxes. And they all are marked. There's like 50 different markings on each box. But they know what those mean. And it's for a specific run. Yeah. So they can just go there, grab all those, and put it on the line. And just swap out. Now, I've been in a lot of warehouses. I've been in some that are mammothly huge. So this one was not the biggest one in the world. No. But it was also, like, now you don't want that kind of downtime because that's wasted time. No. Every second that you're down is wasted money. But once they're doing that and they're like, okay, there's enough to fill this order or make this worth our while, to have it so efficiently that they can just do that is awesome. Yeah. And also, they thought about it ahead of time and are like, oh, this could sell more than we expect. So now we have enough that we can do another run of X number. No, they are dialed in. Right. Which was great. And they had a very big showing at the expo. Yeah. They always do. 50% of that floor was, nah, 30% of that floor was Stern. Yes. Like it was like a giant, they were not playing. And they thought about comfort. Yeah. Because they put carpet pad underneath the carpet. And. When you're walking around on concrete all day long, you're hurting. And there was a lot of space. Right. Like they had clusters of four machines. This is back at Expo. Yeah. And there was room and they had setups. They had displays showing like. It was great. I'm pretty sure Imoto has a lot to do with that. Probably. She's on point. She is. You can see her working her butt off. She's the hardest working person in pinball in my eyes. Right. So big shout out to Emoto and all she does every time we ever see her, she is working. Yep. I hope she takes down time. So, and then I'm trying to think now. And then I am very jealous of the Lumberjack guys bought the Gary Stern cutout. Why did we not buy that? I don't know. We're so dumb. I really, I look at that and I'm like, man, we could have had a Gary Stern cutout in our basement and we didn't. Right. We're stupid. We should reach out to them and see if we can still buy it. They will not. They're going to be gone. They probably made six of them, and they're like, those are long. We did buy, I bought a hat, and you bought a shirt. Yeah. I'm all about the long sleeves lately. And they have like a long sleeve zippy hoodie. Yeah. That's the thin material. So it's not like sweatshirt material. Yeah. So anyway, all right, let's go back. Let's get back to it. So those are the tours. Yeah. A lot of great times, a lot of really awesome info. Now we have a much better understanding of where each of these is born. Right. And what they're about. You know, the only one that's left is Spooky on our radar. And we talked with Bug for a quick second. And he said, just hit us up. Hit him up on email and we will get it done. So I think the next time we both have off, I mean, we'll shoot down there. It's going to be a three-hour drive. It's no joke. but it'll be worth it just to hang out and see spooky. I'm sure there's a brewery near there. Oh, yeah, there might be one. Or the Ice Age Trail. Either one. Oh, my God. So now we also got to play some new stuff. We got some time on ABBA. We did. It's a fun game. It was. You had more fun than I did because. Yeah, yours was not set up yet. So I got two balls into the helicopter, and then they just stayed in the helicopter. John Denvered itself. Didn't do anything. No, and mine was set up correctly, so it ran really well. Good game. We played Queen and I don't even remember it, which tells you. I mean, I remember others. I don't know if I played it. It wasn't, it's not like, neither of them were bad games. No. I remember ABBA was like lightning fast. It was like liquid. Yeah. I don't remember ever playing a game that was that smooth and just wow. I'm sure I have, but wow. So pleasantly surprised on ABBA. Queen, meh, I don't know, whatever. It was there. It wasn't a terrible game. I just don't. If I can't remember something about it, that means meh. Ninja Eclipse, I was sad that we didn't get to play that more. We were rushed. We had to go to, I think we played that before we went to the movie. no I think it might have been before the dinner yeah it seemed fun but it also was like eh I don't know and then of course the Funhouse remake which was gorgeous and I really liked that was Belle hi Belle and then what else Space Hunt from Hexapinball which I'd only ever heard of that was at a that was set up in Pinsound I was like what the hell I heard I didn't even know that they made Space Hunt. I heard, I remember hearing the name and as soon as I saw it I was like Space Hunt. And my brain was like, no obla, Space Hunt. And I was like, oh, okay. And we played it a little bit. It was a fun game. So the big ones were of course Alice in Wonderland, or Alice's Adventure, or what we like to call a weird, a Kirkland brand Joker and two hookers, I guess. I don't know. What would you call that? That artwork was a little funny. I thought of it more of a Tim Burton Alice in Wonderland, I guess. Same. I guess that's same-sy. Right. I don't know. Right. So the Kirkland brand Joker and two hookers is what I'm going to re-theme that if we ever buy it, which we never will. I joke. I'm not a prude. I don't care about the art. You can have nude people up there. It doesn't bother me. I'm an adult. It was okay. I don't know. I don't understand the big deal about it other than I know it was a J-pop thing. We'll talk about that some other time. Yeah. It had a really nice, like the side rails were really nice. It had like the words in it where the lights would. The LEDs were kind of like doing a spectrum down them. And the sculpts were beautiful. Like everything had three-dimensional sculpting on it, which that was a big deal. It was a really pretty machine. It was cool. It was. It was a two-ball shoot. It was fine. I think you did better than me on it. There was some stuff I could tell I didn't get to, and I was like, I wish I could put more time on that machine. If that was at Lumberjack Johnny's, I guarantee I'd play it once every time. Yeah. Just for a while because it was a good shooting game. I don't remember if there was anything that was so exciting that you'd have to, but I bet you there's a lot of hidden stuff in there. It's hard when we go to places like this because there's usually a line for these because there's one or two of them. Yep. So you stand in line and they have them like the shortest game they can possibly give you. Performance anxiety. There's people coming up and just like looking over your, at your game. Taking pictures of your game. While you're playing and you're like, Hey, man, this is a private residence. I guess it's not like billiard rules where if somebody's down shooting you don't go around the table well it kinda is but I guess not when the beaver takes over but it was a fun game it was I don't think we will but I hope we see one in the wild that we can play it it's going to be a super rare not super rare I don't think you're going to see many of them they're going to get snapped up by private owners and that'll be it which that's okay too whatever you know um and then metallica which this will be our last thing that we talked about before the homebrews oh do the homebrews quick then do the homebrews so so so we um they had about 40 homebrews there yeah big a big big pile huge yeah and speaking of big and huge how about the uh the mothership had landed that was rob burke's project with brian allen yes which is awesome i have a Brian Allen's skate deck. Because everyone that listens to the show knows my affinity for skate decks. And it's almost like so did Brian Allen. And he was like, I know I'm going to get at least one sale. Right. That guy. So he made 25 of them just in case other people like skate decks. They do. Anyway. And that was really cool. It wasn't shooting, though, which I was bummed out. Mothership is another one of those. It's a Hercules knockoff. Like a gigantic. Is it a re-theme? No, it's a new one. The cue ball and stuff like that. And it had a lot going on, which I really wanted to play because I always contended that Hercules, because we played Hercules a lot. That was at that one that was in Dunedin, Florida. Yes. Replay. I played it every time at least once. Right. The only thing wrong with it is everything is underpowered because it's too big. Yeah. And Hercules is from the 70s, so it's all tired. Yeah. So if they do it that it has any kind of action. Mm-hmm. It's going to be awesome. It might be fun. Yeah. No, it's not going to be great. Yeah. But it'll be fun. Yeah. Maybe. We'll see. So what are some of the, you know, they had the greatest showman we got to meet that gentleman? Mr. Jones. Mr. Jones. Yes. Gorgeous machine. Yes. Yes. Really a labor of love. And I've heard him and the Dukes of Hazzard dude are both retiring them and new projects coming. Yes. Which is exciting. And neither one would tell us what they were going to be doing. It's all a mystery. Mystery and intrigue. Yes. both of those are really great machines yes labors of love yes and it was neat meeting the guy the showman greatest showman guy because that machine I think has been on circuit and everyone it's gorgeous well it won best in show so I think that's not the first time it's done that either so it is a very you should be very proud of that and now but our friend who's contributed to this show in a few minutes you'll find out yes He is on the team that was the Saw. Which was really gorgeous. Great gameplay. So deep. Yes. The rule sets that they did and these hidden things. Yes. Because Skateboarder Glenn actually did, he showed us this hidden thing they have in there. And we're not going to give it away. And it took him a while to get there. And I was like, wow, I would never in my life see this. And if I did, I'd be like, what the hell is this? And then I would forget it. But it was really fun, and it was a great, great game. Yes. And we thank you, Glenn, for taking the time out of your busy weekend to give us the tour of it. Yeah, no kidding. And I will say, he came home with COVID, and I came home with a righteous cold. So we both brought a little something extra home. Yay. Convention crud. That's awesome. So a huge, huge shout out to all the people that are doing these homebrews. It keeps the intrigue alive. It keeps these ideas flowing. And I guarantee Stern watches them. They play them. And they kind of, there are people from Stern. And they're like, I saw this cool trick. Well, they had, they showed, there were pictures of them, industry people, playing, I think, almost all of the games. Of course. Yeah. Well, you never know. They find one little thing and they're like, oh, look at that. That is really cool. We're going to homage that. Yeah. A.K. Tarantino. All right. And then finally, the last bit, which I will get on my soapbox so everyone can hear me screaming and cursing. We were playing Saw, and that's when they brought in the two Metallica machines, the new re-theme of Metallica. So we went running up there, and we were immediately like 40th in line. I don't even think it was that far. I don't even think we were 40th. Doesn't matter. they had it set up like a regular game which means all the free balls are on and all that stuff was on so this was playing long now this hasn't been redesigned as far as the dimensions so everyone knows how to play Metallica and we were behind I think the first 10 people in line were the greatest pinball players in the history of the world because it was 78 minute ball times and there are times 4 times 4 So we're there. At one point, I went off, and I got my achievements because there was special expo achievements from Stern, which was awesome. I got all them. You had to figure out those. You had to figure out which machine you had to play. That was cool. It was. They had a little clue. Insider Connect was the best thing that they've ever done. It was pretty damn cool. Next to Godzilla and Elvira. No, no, no. Insider Connect. And I look over, and after my second ball, and I was doing pretty good. I look over. Crafty Sally hasn't moved. And I'm like, wow, what the hell happened? I look, and then it still hasn't moved. So, and these people were literally like grand championing this damn new Metallica game that you're just trying to play. Yeah. At that point common sense just said you know what we done I should have yanked you out of line even to your humping this I know And we could have just played some games and had fun Right But we didn We didn We stayed there And it was literally three hours later. At one point, Stern came, no, this is enough of this. And they turned off the free, super easy crap. And then the world's greatest people in the history of pinball, like they finally ended. And after $28 billion per person, per ball, per everything, they left. and then it started to chug along a little bit and then we're still there and it's hour two and I'm starting to get the shakes because I don't have enough coffee. Crafter runs over and gets coffee. She comes back. We finish our coffees. Now we're kind of getting there and I know what's going to happen. This is the problem and I think because I created it in my head, I know what's going to happen. I'm going to wait, waste these three and a half hours and I house ball and that happens to me a lot where if I'm just dicking around, wasting time waiting and waiting and waiting. I do terribly. That's not how I can play pinball. I just can't. And I did. And it was wretched. You know, you go up and I love the art. It's a beautiful machine. I was so pissed off I wanted to smash that machine because I wasted three and a half hours of prime pinball time dicking around on a freaking Metallica, which, okay. But it was, and the reason I talked you into staying in line was because this was the band edition. So we'll never see this one again. Not even a different boopie dupe. Nope. Not even a different thing. I didn't even get any achievements because I have all the Metallica achievements. I think I got some boopie dupes because I don't. Because it's not one of the machines that I normally go to. I was so pissed off. Yeah. I was so pissed off. I was ready to Rocky Balboa that thing where the brother-in-law takes that whiskey bottle and smashes the back glass with it. That's what I wanted to do. after I scored like 3 million or some horse shit like that. I had more hours waiting in line than I had million points. That was like, I hate your guts, Metallica. I hate everything about you. I don't. But I was so enraged. I really, I just wanted to leave and just spin donuts out front in the yard and go away. Right. And we had talked to somebody about, I think it might have been Glenn, talking about why they would redo the art package. And it was like, he did. He really did. Because we met Dirty Donnie, so we were kind of like, why are they getting rid of Dirty Donnie? But he said, you know, it was a different time then. Different band. Different band. Everybody's older, so now they have a new artist that does their stuff. Yeah. I heard a lot of different sentiment. I heard a lot of people kind of ragging on the older artwork, and I don't agree with that at all. No. if you don't it was 12 years ago it was a time it was the time it was cool right when that came out some people art's always subjective exactly everyone has their own thing yeah I didn't I don't think I don't care that they did different artwork this stuff is very cool and it's interactive and it has I'll enjoy playing it when I see it I'm sure Lumberjacks will get one or somebody I'll play this again yes and maybe I'll temper down some of my rage after I But I'm not staying in line more than four minutes. I'm going to start a timer. And at four minutes, I'm like, screw you, Metallica, and screw your new whatever artwork with your blurry little scary faces. And look at how scary I am. You know. So I don't agree with people hating on the old artwork. But the new artwork's fine. And the old artwork's fine, too. I don't think, for a while, I thought I would want a Metallica. I don't think I want a Metallica. No, I don't think so. It's a fine playing game, but it's not like my favorite shooting game. No. Not even close. We did figure out what our new favorite shooting game is. Not new. We figured out what our next pinball machine is going to be. Yes, we have. Welcome to the flock, Elvira, House of Horrors. Right. We never don't laugh and love and just joke around and have so much fun playing that game. Right. And I was waiting to see if it wore off because I've been in love with that since the second I plunged it. That was a lot of years ago. and to this day, the second I plunge in Elvira, I'm madly in love with everything about it. The theme, the call-outs, the B-movie stuff. She transposes time and she is eternally cool. I don't think she can do any wrong. No. And I've never been an Elvira super fan, but she embodies creature feature, cool, fun, awesomeness. Yeah, and I love the gameplay on that. Oh, you love it. I love those deadheads. So we are. I love the house, the little like bridge that goes up and down. When we got home, we talked about it. I was like, we've never not. So I reached out to Zach and said, when are they going to do this again? He said, I have some in stock. I said, okay. I don't have the money in stock. So I'm thinking, I was like, mid next year, we're starting to chop. We're chopping wood, as they say, saving money. And we're going to do the plunge. We were hoping to get a blood kiss. But then I was like, we're not getting a blood kiss. because they were made of, what did I say, $250 or $500? Yeah, there aren't very many of them. And they're very expensive. Yeah. So we cannot wait to, our lineup will be fleshed out with an Elvira House of Horrors and it's going to be one of the greatest moments of our lives. Right. Move over, Beatles and Godzilla. There's a new queen in the basement. All right. Correct. With that, we're going to, enough of this pussyfooting around. It's time for some incredible, somebody with actual talent made a drop-in for Crafter Sally's new intro. So here we go. It's not going to be that first one I made, which I still think is possibly the best one. It is the best one ever. No, I'm just trying to find the right words. At that time. No. At that time, it was a different time. It wasn't okay. No, I'm talking about the one I made with me, the sickly manly one. It was the same as the Donny Gillies (Dirty Donny) artwork. It was a different time and we've changed. Crab Brew Sally's changed since then. All right, here's some new music. We'll be back in a sec. Crab Brew Sally. Gonna have to put your journal down. Crab Brew Sally time. You've been to all the breweries around You've been rolling all over the town Tell me what to drink until I fall on the ground Yeah That's right, people. All right, okay. Now that's an homage to when Wayne's World got the new intro from the corporate. It was much nicer. And they were like, all right. Anyway, that was, of course, Skateboarder Glenn with Crafteroo's official new music, which thanks very much. That is so awesome. It is. I really love it. Yes, we are, of course, blown away by his talent. And that will be Crafteroo's newest one. Every now and then I'm going to sneak in the old one just because I have to. Stroke my own ego. But that's obviously the bright one. Yours is very good, too. You've got to put a little gold star right on your one. That's right in the refrigerator. You should sing it. I don't think I'd like to. Anyway, now what do you have for us this week, Beth? I thought maybe because we're really talking this week, I'm just going to. This is officially the longest show you're ever going to hear of Pinball Junk Show. You can ring down the register. Yes. I'm just going to read off my beers of expo because I had some, quite a number. So I had Vanilla Bitch Slap by Pig Minds Brewing Company. Did you like it? Yes. Just highlight if you liked them or didn't like them. Oh, I liked all of them. Okay, there you go. I had Stern Up the Volume by Microphone Brewing. Yes, and I actually pulled that label off perfectly. You did. Which was astonishing. Yes. Yes, because you know my pinch on for saving my labels. Yes, you've got to keep the craft journal so passed down through the ages. Yes. We've got to get that leather bound. That way it'll be like, that way when people seek it out after the apocalypse, it'll be in some rubble, barney, I guess. Okay, moving on. And then I had Antihero by Revolution Brewing, and then some beers that I brought that I shared with Glenn and Dan the man. I had the Green Bay Draft 2025 on the clock, and that was Fox River Brewing Company. Nice. And then I had one that I did not bring, Daisy Cutter Pale Ale by Half Acre Beer Company, and then another one that we brought Carry the G, Gathering Place Brewing Company. That was funny because that was the one we were working to find and we finally found it because Skateboarder Glenn had brought that up. And then next week we went to that new place and they had like a whole thousand of them. We were looking for it because we were going to do a thing with Tim and then Tim and his wife ended up not being able to come. so yeah and then when we got home I had Pliny the Elder there you go thank you Dan the man and Rachel yeah that was a great time hanging with them it was a great time hanging with everybody we do honestly all joking aside from the bottom of our hearts anyone that came up and thanked us and took a sticker and talked about even the Wii show we got a lot of feedback people loved the Wii show and I was like really okay so I guess we're going to continue you doing that yeah but it was it was kind of humbling and kind of awesome to hear people thanking us and saying they do listen i know that there was someone at the media mixer that came up to us i think from nevada and i'm sorry i don't remember what your name was or what your podcast is but thank you for reaching out to us oh that's right right ah damn it i know damn you damn you stupid brain. So thanks very much. And if you do want to reach out and just say hey if you want a sticker look send us your address and we'll mail you one. I won't even charge you for the stamp. I'll begrudgingly mail you one. You can listen to me grumble saying give away my money. I will send you stickers without that. If you write us and you open it up and you feel negative that's I packed it. But if it's nice, then Crab for Sally sent the stickers. You'll be like, oh, this one feels like it was packed with love. This one was begrudgingly sent. You'll know. You'll know which one when you open it. You'll know the difference. But joking aside, it was a wonderful time. It was a great time. Bad bus touches aside, it was still a wonderful experience. And it's something that we can really lean on when we're talking about these machines and talking about these makers a little bit more. So thanks very much, Expo. Here's to another 40 years. Oh, we didn't talk about Rob Burke's, like, the free playroom, which almost all his stuff. Wow. Yeah. There's a lot of machines there. I think I saw somewhere where he has over 1,000. Yeah. He should do Gallop and Go's two electric boogaloo and it'll just be all his pinball machines. Uh-huh. No, that'll never happen. No. All right. Well, that's going to do it. You got anything else before we sign off? Well, you know, we could always talk about the Project Pinball. Yeah, they did. Okay. Yeah, because they had a big booth there. Oh, I actually won at the Expo. They had that big jar of pinballs. I won that. They said I missed by one. I put in, what did I put in? 378. And she was like, oh, you were so close. It was 377. I was one away. That was my keen mathematical senses. And so we were at home already. And then she called and said, oh, you won. And I was like, well, I'm not there. And so I called. I asked to try, but someone could grab it. and what was it it wasn't Billy no Jay Brian Brian see my names I'm sorry everyone I do appreciate so he ran up and he said well I said just donate whatever to Project Pinball so he he got a hat and a clock and gave that to Project Pinball to raffle off so we did our part and we want to thank Project Pinball we talked with Dan and talked a little bit maybe we'll talk more about what we talked about next show Because I promise, folks, you will never have another hour-long show from Pinball Junk Tour. You're going to download this and be like, an hour? What are these idiots talking about for an hour? Well, thanks for listening to us for an hour. It was great to meet everybody. It was. Fun times. And thanks, Tribe, for making me official. Yes. Very fun. I'm very honored. You are. Number 49. Number 2 and number 49. Yes. What a wild trip. All right. next week you'll have some wee I promise and then we're going to be back to our weekly one wee one pinball junk drawer one wee one pinball junk drawer because we've got nothing going on other than saving money and giving blood so we can afford an Elvira and it's almost snow time giving blood and shoveling snow for Elvira alright thanks everyone got anything else? no see you next time that's it man game over man game over