My favorite episode. Oh yeah. Fresh and hot. Fresh, fresh, fresh. Cheddar edition. Ugh. Ugh. Welcome everyone to Season 4, Episode 4 of the Fresh Pinball Podcast. Here we are again, sitting around this rectangular table. One, two, three, four, six of us tonight. Oh my gosh, this is... It's ridiculous. It's a party. This is a pinball party overload. We've got pinball all around us. We've got new pinballing. Kyle's basement. We're fully immersed in pinball. I feel like we should record one of these sometime underneath the pinball machines. Be a whole new perspective. Pinball fort. You guys come hang out in my bedroom. You're going to have to fight Corbin for that one. To my right, on the board, DJ Kyle. DJ Kyle, how you doing, buddy? Doing well, doing well. Doing well. Kyle's right. Who's doing well? Again, Keith Nesbitt, Nezzy's Prince. Nezzy, how we doing, buddy? Good. We're doing great. He's got some sick stickers Oh dude They're so cool Corbin hooked it up Hit him up I bet I'm a real sticker kick You really have Yeah he has We'll touch base on this Because the sticker machine Is getting ready to go out In a while I saw the sticker stash today It's wild I may have helped myself To a few Oh yeah You seen the eight Mikey ones That's exactly right So fucking funny man I took a stack of my pinball To slip in the order Yeah sounds good dude Perfect perfect Corbin was dropping The snow cone bros Stickers up at the flip For the cure I literally heard someone Say like What are these little things? What are these? They're funny. My off song today is, can I put those on my bike? Yeah. Of course you can. Yes, you can. To Keith Wright, Mr. Zach Angeli. How are we feeling, buddy? Oh, just flipping fantastic. How are you feeling, Jeff? A little sleepy. A little sleepy. Well, it's almost your bedtime. The boss has been working me to the bone. To the bone. All these days in a row, all dayers, no naps. It's been rough. It's a no nap day. Oh, my gosh. You had like one delivery. I know. I know. I milked it for all it was worth. It's literally Monday. It is. Tomorrow's going to be a big day, too. Phil. Yep, that's me. Making sure that you're, you know, it's a. Back from the dead. What do they call that? A wellness check, making sure that you're here, you're checked in, all good? Yep. All right. And to Phil's right, boss man himself. Yeah. Corbin Angeli. Corbin, how we doing, buddy? Doing good. I thought it was late change colors. Oh, do you want me to change colors? Can you set skin tones? Sorry. We can set them. I'm doing good. I'm doing good, though. I'm doing good. You know, I'm on a sticker kick. I'm excited. I'm just going to jump into this real quick. The sticker machine is my sticker machine number one. The pilot sticker machine is going to touch down at quarter up either this week or next week. And I have loaded it with... Okay, there's four columns, right? one column is going to be all quarter up stickers just strictly location based yeah yeah yeah and in to my knowledge there's been very few quarter up stickers up to this point which is insane to me so it's like we definitely need to get those out into the world to the people column two we're looking at a fresh pinball column there's literally a column that is just all fresh pinball podcast stickers own column well i ordered like five or six designs so where's the sticker machine going Quarter Up. Sorry, I missed that. I was getting the mood. No, I appreciate it. No, no. First one is going to land at Quarter Up. Second one, not sure yet where it's going to go, but it'll definitely go. Yeah, second column is Fresh Pinball Podcast stickers. What are we, like $5 a piece? Yeah, yeah. No, a buck a piece, cross board. That's a lot of quarters. Randomness. Four quarters. Number three is going to be, is three just a random? Three is the wild card, and this is just a random pack of all kinds of random. logos and stuff pop cultures logos just i don't know it's just a pack i found from some sticker wholesaler and yeah so there's there's three in there though so that's like your best bang but they're on the smaller size they're not as big as like the some of ours glow in the dark and stuff these are premium stickers yes real nice quality a couple of keiths are mixed in with the fresh pinball column and then keiths are also mixed in the random column there's a column that is just totally random but they're not like the random brands it's like a random pinball related so So there's like Keith is in there. There's Mad Pinball in there. There's some Fresh Pinball in there. There's some ones that animate in there. There's just some random sticker columns. So if I'm remembering correctly from my childhood days, you have to take basically like a piece of white cardboard. Correct. Slide these stickers. They're called like a sleeve. Yeah. So you have to load each one of these manually. Like this is a labor of love. For sure. Yeah. And I do ask if any of the listeners happen to be the ones who actually get them, I'm going to have a thing to recycle these sleeves. So if we can throw them back in the box or whatever I put underneath it, that would be primo because it turns out you have to buy these freaking things. They're like five cents themselves, which is the heck. Mother Earth would appreciate them back. So if we can get them back, that would be sweet. And if you can't return it, please just recycle it. Please recycle it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't just throw it out the window or whatever, but enjoy the sticker. So, yeah, I'm excited for this. And it is a late, I sit there like at night when we're like watching TV or whatever, and I'm like, all right, well, let's dust some sleeves. Keeps me awake too, so I don't fall asleep right away. So you've been dropping stickers random places here, there, and everywhere in our travels, and then you sent some out to Jason Knapp for his little Knapp Arcade sticker machine, so they're going to be some of those custom stickers. I got him a real variety pack, so. I'm excited to see when he gets them. Yeah, some of yours were in there for sure. Oh, nice. Oh, yeah, for sure. I appreciate it. For sure. That's awesome. Yeah. Shout out, Jason. Yeah. Thanks, Jason. Did he get his D&D? So that shipped on Friday as Dungeons & Dragons. I guess it's only Monday. I sent him a note on Friday and said, hey, if you want to schedule delivery, I would give him a call first thing on Monday because there's a good shot that he'll already be there. We've been traveling over the weekend, and he's not that far from us. No, no, just right over on the East Coast, so it should be there. And, yeah, I know he's super excited, too. I thought you were delivering that today. I thought that's what you were doing. You didn't get that delivered? I could make that drive, but no, I think the box man can get up there a little more quickly than me, probably. All right, let's hop into a quick fact check then. I don't have a ton of items this week, but I did want to give a shout-out for the IFPA North American Women's Championship. That's going to be coming up here March 29th and March 30th at Port City Pinball in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. so Krista Liam from Ohio will be as she's going around training getting ready for that and then Corbin when we were out at Penn's Mechanical Stacy was the Pennsylvania champion show this is like one of those like when Olympians play for like their home country is that like kind of the yeah yeah so Pennsylvania's her home country she's declaring that so I don't know where she's originally from but I know she's lived some interesting places But also, I don't think in the IFPA it really matters. It does. As much as you play in that state. It's where you're getting your points. You don't even have to live there. But if you go across the line and play in Pennsylvania every weekend. Because on the men's side, Trent Augustine, till Amusement, qualified in Oklahoma. And then he went out and played two big tournaments. We could just go play in random, unpopulated states and increase our odds. If you're that committed, let's have an IFPA tournament in North Dakota. It might be kind of amusing. Pinball at Mount Rushmore. Yeah. I just wanted to wish the two of them specifically good luck, and then everyone else, that should be a heck of a good time out there. So where is it at, you said? This is at Port City Pinball in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. I have not. Okay, I've never been there either. I have not been there, so I'm interested to see. They had an interesting list, it looked like. They did. Let's go. And I had asked Stacy to post some pictures of everything that was going on there, so whatever I see, I will. I will then repost. A little cheerleading action. Yeah. So I wanted to talk about Labyrinth a little bit here, Corbin. Last episode we talked about the new game coming in, the unboxing, all of that stuff. You had it at your house for a run. Probably a week, week and a half. I think everyone around this table, with the exception of Phil, played it at your place. And I do have a question for all of you since you're talking about this. There it is. Did anybody notice, do you remember if there was one display or two working? yeah wasn't there only one at the time apparently there's a dot metrics on the play field like similar to like where circuses uh is down there so with not working yep so it went out and then ben or ben or trevor someone quarter up text me was like hey my buddy said there should be a screen on the bottom and i'm like you know shit no it is the backboard right yeah like the screen is the backboard yeah inside the cabinet if you look all the way to the back that backboard you're just like it's lit now a quarter of a static art or some leds or you know general illumination on the barrels of fun game labyrinth it's actually animated which is pretty phenomenal and none of us noticed yep so i then i was up there this weekend i was like oh okay the hdmi cable would just come unplugged from the core super simple yeah so we were speculating on the last episode on there it'll be fine yeah how will how will this game do you know based on theme based on whatever is are there enough coin shoots do we have any early reports uh i don't i think when i took it up there monday to thursday so i didn't really get good i don't have a full this will be this week will be the first full and it was it wasn't down at all this week um so it should be fine yeah this will be the first thursday will be the first test of it okay for the first you know representation no i don't know if there's ever like two one coin should definitely not enough i can tell you that either way but look at that atlantis how many is it got on it three yeah that was right is that a re-import yeah is it it's it's so interesting that the re-imports they put three why do they put why in one return well it's weird it was it was because they were for different now i think you're on different different denominations whereas the u.s right so the middle usually yeah you can use a kroner or a loony in there You can use all the different coinages. I don't mind when you re-import. It's like, make all three quarters. That's an extra one to not get jammed. My roadshow takes euros. One less. Use some euros. One lira. Remember when we were going to set up Puny Factory to take Canadian quarters? Canadian quarters only. We thought that would be a good idea. Don't use American quarters. It'll jam the machine. We spend all this time trying to teach people to not use Canadians, and now we're going to be like, get that American shit out of here. Get some little bill acceptor that exchanges it. Just like bolted to the side of it. Only accepts... We need to do something with that game, whether get it over to... Up to Nickel City, or if we need to get it over to Gerard or something. That's what I was thinking. Here's the real problem, is it's right there at the entrance of the showroom, and every time someone's picking something up, I have to spend ten minutes explaining to them what the heck the game is, where it came from. We should just make a sign next to it. Nothing, nothing. Here, just point to the sign. You? Well, that just keeps them coming back. What's going to be their name? He said he's never seen or played it. No. Is that my house or my house? I know. For whatever reason, it's been like a great time. You know it's the engraved edition. You want me to bring that over tomorrow or what? Yeah, me too. It's got that fucking sweet-ass cabinet, bro. I feel like Mike Bear is kind of into that. He was definitely into it. Would that be great at Hoover? Most people are into it until they play it, then they're less into it. All I know is... You get like one ball in. The sound, the sound... I wonder if there's new code for it. I haven't checked, really. Or is that code finished? I'm pretty sure on that one, you have to plug it into your landline, and then it dials in. Dial up. Do I need my AOL disks? Well, you're going to have to bring it over here, then, because mine works really well. Do you have a landline? It's AOL keyword. So we still have a landline phone number, but it's through Verizon, and it's a box that connects to the regular phone. So I can't call it. No, you can. Yeah. I would just be concerned with it being Canadian, and it has to connect up there, like what the tariff situation is going to be. For importing the data? Yeah, it could get pricey. Real fast. People don't think about that sometimes, yeah. All right. Projects in the works right now, Corbin. and this has been quite the busy time with Finney's on the very quick horizon here coming up. Soonish. Soonish. Once they get all their permits and everything's cleared. Once all of that is cleared. Not from, you know, occupancy and regulations. Make all the legalities. Details. All the details. But you are setting a cool spot down at Atwood Lake today where some new games are going to be out for people to play. Yeah, it's right on the West Marina. It used to previously be the Lighthouse Bistro, I believe. And it's right there with the boat sales. It's right on the other side of the sidewalk or whatever. What's the current name? Do you know? I don't know what he's going to call it. Oh, it's not open yet. He's trying to open it by next Saturday. The 21st was the goal. I know the Bistro had a strong following. So the guy who took it over, like the Food Killer Go. The guy who's taking it over runs the Scratch out in Louisville, right in the middle of Louisville. That's his other restaurant. It's like a steakhouse. It's Old Floyd. Desmond. Yeah, Desmond, Germany. Do you know him? No. Oh, okay. I mean, I've eaten that steakhouse, and I remember when they were doing it. Okay, yeah, yeah. That's a really interesting name. That's so strange. Did I tell you this? Yeah, I know. So he's doing this now down there, and basically the Intruder Way or whatever is getting converted into a bit of a, like nothing crazy, but five or six pinballs, basketball, air hockey. Nice, nice. A couple arcade games, you know. Does he have a bar there? Yeah. Yeah, I think. And then coming in off the water. I think I think he's got his name on it. Arcade, dinner, boat. Have good food. Exactly. And I think it's the traffic out towards like one of the camping areas too is what he was talking about. Yes. Yeah. And that's a very popular lake down that area. He's actually going to try to run it. It's a really interesting situation because it's state land. Yep. So it's all owned by the state and they just have to have food there. Right. So it's a pretty sweet deal on his side, too, then, because they just want to have a business in there, but they don't want to run. The state's not in the business of running a restaurant. The building looked beautiful, too. Big A-frame, big windows. Yeah, yeah. It's a cool. It'll be an interesting spot. Very lake-ish. Yeah, so we've already got some. We're doing some lake-themed things down there. Imagine we had a pinball place out this way, Kyle. Also, I have a little assistant tonight. Honey girl. There's a honey girl. Something I love from two sides. Oh, yeah. And even if you don't have your own boat, you can go down to Atwood and you can actually rent pontoons and all kinds of fun things down there. What, a 25-horse limit down there, Keith? Yeah. On Atwood. Or around on a pontoon boat. That'd be nice, though. Putter around. It'd be nice to go out for a weekend. For sure. Not have any commitment. We did one down outside of Columbus with Dave and Mikey. Nice. So worth checking out if you're in the area, or even if you're not, if you're into camping or things like that. Atwood Lake, part of the Muskingum Watershed. Lots of fun things to do. It'll be on the table map and all that stuff. Of course. Easy to find. So then Scene Magazine, which is out of Cleveland. It's a subsidy of Cleveland.com, formerly The Plain Dealer, posted a few days ago. The first teased article for the new Lakewood, Lakewood, Ohio, barcade. So a restaurateur in the area had approached Mad Pinball and Antony Zac Stark Novelty of, hey, 16-bit left Lakewood. You know what? It's probably been five years, maybe now. and announced that they were doing the pins mechanical over in Ohio City. So that area has kind of been hungry for its own barcade, arcade sort of situation. So he's going to be reopening a spot literally one building over from where the 16-bit used to be, and it's going to have all kinds of pinball, skeeball, air hockey, classic arcades. We're going to give them the full spread. Such a good area. Nice walkable, just hang out, dinner, drinks, go do whatever you want. And that's the cool thing through there. There's like a Dave's Hot Chicken, Dave's Cosmics. Dave has the market corner up there. Dave's a busy guy. Yeah, he's a really busy guy up there. No, it was up there. That's why I originally agreed to do it, but then he closed. It's like, well, I guess we could still do it. But yeah, to Kyle's point, super walkable neighborhood. Like you park up there and you can just spend the whole morning, day, afternoon, evening, whatever it may be. So it's not yet named, but it's shooting also for an April opening. So, again, another iron in the fire there in Lakewood, Ohio. I think it will be a cool spot. I mean, the building is really like the structure. It has a huge bar in the center of it, so I think that's going to be great. He's going to be featuring some – it sounds like he's working on some good cocktails, some just quality stuff. Yeah, definitely someone who knows what they're doing, has been around the scene long enough to make that sign. And also, once again, hopefully a nice, delicious restaurant to eat at. I'm not sure what his – I think at first his food plan is going to be basic stuff for sure. Basic, quick, basically the sort of stuff that you can make. He works with a food truck kind of guy. He does. So I think he was going to kind of bounce off of that a little bit. I think they were going to do maybe some conveyor oven type foods, things like that, that are just simple, easy to get going. But, yeah, that should be exciting. Stay tuned for more details there. Yeah. Which then leads me into I need to personally talk about this. So, obviously, Corbin and Zach have, you guys have beef. You have a serious hate for Wawa. What do we even? Sheets for life. So I'm a sheets freak, don't get me wrong. Like, that's my go-to. I don't even know why he's talking about Wawa right now. Tried and true. Sit that, in this right now, this podcast. You have Wawa. He's lucky he's on the other side of the table right now. You have sheets. Obviously, you have Buc-ee's. Like, are there other ones here that we need to consider into, or is it Sheetz or there's nothing else? I would love if we could call out right now because we'd be calling Ted. We are hitting his full expert tier. He is expert in two things. Gas station slash quick foods and pizza. Oh, okay. And he is a large Wawa fan and is a very skinny dude. Oh, I like Ted. And he would bring a lot to this. I'm a Sheetz guy. Okay. I think Bucky's trumps all. I've never been to Bucky's. I don't have an honest opinion on Bucky's either. I don't think I've been to one. I feel like you haven't. I'm going to throw one in. Yeah? QT. Quick Trip? Trash. Come and Go? So Come and Go was on my list Because just of the name The name alone There nothing special about it I heard they going to rebrand that What No It going to be Poop and Scoop Come and stay. And then I've been told, and I've been to a few, that Casey's are also in the Midwest, and they're supposed to be a really good- Like a bar, like a chicken bar looking place. Exactly, yes. I'm sure when you've done the Colorado Drive before. At college, we had a place called Wally's Film Station was a gas station. Wally's had some good wings. And it had the best wings in the town. Really? Yeah. Yeah, I don't even want to talk about shutdown. Great gas station. $10 for a dozen wings and a medium cheese pizza. And it was the best thing ever. It's funny how that happens, because Tia and I were staying one time on the east side of Cleveland, and it's the end of the night. She wants to grab a quick six-pack or whatever from the gas station. I'm like, ooh, I'm going to grab a little snacky snack here. We go into this random Valero. it was the best JoJo's I've ever had in my entire life so it was just random first off the fact you had a JoJo means you're probably West Virginia or Northern when you say JoJo because otherwise what it's like a potato wedge these don't exist they don't exist so my mom living in North Carolina gets just incredibly upset that like you say JoJo down here they don't know what you're talking about what do they serve with their chicken? macaroni and cheese roasted potatoes potato that's the biggest thing her takeaway was moving from the midwest to i guess we could call the northern south i didn't know listeners of the podcast jojo's email in where you're from and if jojo's exist or some version of them exist where you are and drive throughs like oh drive-thrus don't exist drive-thrus don't exist we were in michigan so There's so many people that have came to Ohio, and they're like, what are you talking about? Yeah, because it's like, oh, we're just running through the driveway. That's what I'm going to do. I'm going to fund my pinball addiction with a drive-thru JoJo spot in all of the southern states. Cheese JoJo's. Come and get them. Beer JoJo's. We sell pinballs in the front. Yeah, there you go. All right, let's talk a little flip for the cure here, because we did make our... We did bake the journey. We made the journey up to Toledo, Ohio, and what, Wildside, downtown Toledo. Yeah, it was a cool spot, man. It was a cool spot. It was a very vibrant, like, redone downtown. So you had the minor league baseball park right there. It was right field. You looked out the window, and it was like you were looking into the stadium. It was really cool. Yeah. Stadium, is that what you call it? Yeah, for sure. Where you play your sports balls. Coliseum. Coliseum? Something like that. Where they do the Coliseum stuff? But no, they usually, what, have four games there, I think was the vibe. No, they usually have eight. Yeah, they have all in the back room. But it's only in that back room. Okay. So they brought the four of them to the front. And you know the operator in me was like, man, you've got to get these out front as long as you can. Yeah. It's like, that's in the action. But no, it's cool. They're just separate, though, because I feel like you just wouldn't know they were back there. If I just went into that brewery and I was hanging out, I'm like, pit bull maps, there should be pit bulls. Yeah, where's the pit bull? Where's the pit bull? And you got to kick open some saloon doors and whatever to get to them. They had some good games. Great turnout. It was bumping in there. Some good auction items. They had so many good auction items. They had playfields from Stern, Jersey Jack, Barrels of Fun. The little slash side guns and roses. Dude, I was just thinking the same thing. It was a little shadow box. Like the upper play field on TNR. Slash by slash. Did anybody know what it went for? I don't know what the finals were, and I was talking to Jason and Dave Boucher a little bit, and they haven't totaled everything up yet. They should be announcing very soon. Hopefully it's because it's just such a big number. Oh, I'm sure it went for a reason. Batteries died on the calculator. Yeah, I mean, they've got to add up everything. I think it was like 130, 140, but, I mean, we took off at like— Oh, that's not— We were out of there kind of early. I think it was going for another couple hours for sure. Yeah, it was going until 5, so it was going another three hours. I think the tournament didn't end until 6 or 7. No, you just straight up write your schedule. shit on there. They just had it signed and sheet. Yeah, okay. Oh, Keith bid $150 on this? Ha ha, I'm going to put $200. $151. $157. And a quarter. And a quarter. We were at an auction the other day and the guy was doing that like, $500. I had $600 to it, you know? No, I was like, no, I'm buying this villain no matter what. This is happening. But a very cool spot. Yeah, it was. And a good time. Well put on. If we would have had to get back to do the Lebowski thing, we could have stayed a little longer. I would have been happy to stay a little longer. Pizza wasn't bad. I mean, we had the pizza. It was okay. I was starving, so it was really delicious. So it was definitely a Detroit style... Yeah. Spicy sauce. A little thinner side for like... I agree. Spicy sauce, though, man. The sauce was... It brought it up. It did. I'm not knocking it. I'm just saying in my mind, I think Detroit traditionally wasn't that deep. So I believe in that baseball stadium near where you were is... Ted's going to kill me. I think it's a Jets or a buddies from Michigan. I'm sure there is. And he'll drive up there to get it. Because it's the what? It's not like when I say in the city, I'm not like when you're there. It's actually a restaurant facing the city. Like, you can go all year. Oh, okay. But it's part of, like, left field. Huh. Well, we were in right field, so. Yeah, we were mostly on the other side of the city. That's his spot. He'll drive all the way up. He's like, hey, it saves me the rest of the trip to get his fix. Yeah, it was a cool area. There's, like, a convention center near there. Yep. Yeah. Convention center. There was a hockey place. It was the Toledo Mud Hens. exactly what it was because the hockey was the walleyes or something like that the mud chickens the mud chickens alright that's it for this week's fact check we're going to move in now to this week's no hate no it was a quiet not as much hate because all the damn noise I didn't get any complaints about sound quality or anything like that I think maybe we're the only ones that care about it haters going to hate Yeah, no, no, no random. What the heck are you guys doing or anything else? So all good things. But Corbin had brought up before best pinball playing environments. So what that means or what it can mean to me, what it can mean to you is best environment for you to enjoy a game of pinball, best environment for you to score the best on a machine. it can mean all kinds of different things. So I thought that this would be certainly an interesting topic of, you know, it can be the actual physical location, the time of day, the setting, all of these different things. And even like different like scenarios for like unboxing a game and like first getting to know a game is going to be a different scenario. And like, and I think some games play, some games in my mind are like better, which is, this might be a whole nother topic, but like which games are better home games versus location games. I think that's part of this conversation. It's also if you can hear the game. Well, that's a big thing, especially new games when I have no idea what's going on. To fully experience it, sometimes non-location settings are... Or like Sunday morning. It can be new game or it can also be like whenever I first... New to me. Or you just shopped a game and now you're playing it to test it. So you're playing it differently than you would. I shopped Zombie the other night. I put $70 million on it. You're really good with the glass off. I was literally just going to say that. No, no. I went by for a beer and I peeked in. Kyle, the glass off just ran off. No, dude, no. I've been accused of it so many times. But it doesn't. It's not. It's odd. They accuse you of it so many times. So, Kyle, we'll start with you. What would be your ideal pinball playing environment? I really like playing at our houses with our friends. You know, kind of what we're doing right now. Get together. It's actually a little bit brighter down here than it usually is, but kind of like a little dark. I want to hear the games. Romantic. Like, when we go to Corbin's, I'm like, I've got to turn all these fucking games up because they're so quiet. I think that is one of the big advantages to being able to play at home or someone else's home is so much is drowned out on location by other machines that are going, ambient music, conversations, whatever else, like to even hear anything that's going on whatsoever. on a game is very limited, whereas at home you can pick up on every little nuance. Yeah, I mean, not necessarily just my house. I'm coming over to your house and playing Corbin's or Phil's or anybody's. I do like the whole environment, though. Yeah. It's definitely completely different. I mean, before I ever had any pinball machines at home, it's just night and day the difference of when you're out and you just throw a couple quarters into a random game versus to one that's at home or at someone's house where it's like, okay, now I'm really – like Galactic Tank Force, you guys went out and I threw like three or four just real quick games on it just to get a feel for it and to do other things on it. It's like, okay, well, now I can see what this does and that does and test things that you wouldn't when you're putting your hard-earned dollars into it. So it's definitely a different experience in that regard. Keith, what would be your ideal pinball playing environment? I fully agree with Kyle, but I also think this question should be split. I think the most are going to agree that the home environment is better with a buddy. Swing them by. I love playing with you guys, fellow penheads, that are helpful. Hey, Jeff, tell me about this game. I've never seen it. What do I need to do? Oh, yeah, do this and that. And you learn so much faster at the game of what it is, accomplish it, understand it, then have a valid opinion. And there's no pressure like that somebody's standing there waiting to play it or randos and stuff. One nice thing, too, is if something breaks or something's off. Oh, yeah. We'll stop and fix it. Just grab the keys and open it up. Yeah, for sure. That's a big difference. Plus, too, this group's super non-competitive. But when someone goes nuts on a game, they appreciate it. Everybody here is going at each other. If the four of us are playing, we're all playing to win. But it's not like we're losing friendships or getting arguments over it. Whatever happens, happens, and nobody cares is what I mean by that. No, it's just having a killer game. I want to see Jeff go further on. Absolutely. See more into the game. Every now and then one of us just rip one out. So, yeah, for sure. Home environment is better. All the things they say. You can hear it better. You can hear it better. You can experience the game better. But I also think you need to break it out into bars and how those bars handle. Some guys want to crank the games up. And it's nice if not all of them are going. You can hear it. But then when they're all going, now the roar is at a new level versus a bar that's quiet. Yeah. But I would say around here, I genuinely appreciate going up the quarter up over Morris Venues. Mad – yeah, Madcap. What? I would say – Madcap. Madcap, thank you, is also a great place to lock in where you have this great environment of relaxed-ish players, of great players. You can slide into Madcap early, like right after they open or within like an hour of them opening, and you can just bounce. you can grab a beer yeah and you can bounce around and you can really play games unbothered you can cranked up too like they yeah they put that does a great job yeah yeah when i used to go to the first open yeah it's like yeah oh yeah yeah i'd stop over there on the way home they just open nobody's in there you could sit yeah you could put two dollars in and play your three games and not feel bad about it like yeah i'm there when we used to have a local arcade by us that was cool i used to go in all the time when they were on off hours to just get time in one on one. Yeah. And it was nice to go in and play. Yeah. I'm doing emails for work. Yes. But, no, I appreciate it. So I think, great, great question. I think the home environment's best. I love going to each other's homes, randos, and playing. I would say of all the places I've ever been in my life, if I have to choose one, the best environment I've ever played pinball in, period, is the pinball Olympics. Oh, okay, I like that. I mean, this is a whole other vibe. And you can't hear shit there. Well, unless you're in like the TNA booth and then that's all you can hear. That's like, I think when it gets this, that's part of something I'm going to touch on, but I think that's part of like the experience, like the full encompassing, like everything, like just taking it all in. And I think that pinball Olympics is such an example. I'm going to say this again. I'm not helping the quickness of the ticket sales. I'm not serving myself any. If you're into pinball and there's an event that you're like, eh, should I travel to, should I do this? It's the pinball Olympics. It is the thing. It is the best, most fun thing I've ever been to. It's interesting. So whenever this topic came up, pinball Olympics didn't really cross my mind. But now that you're talking about it, I can see it's like you are pulling from so many different categories of things. The most fun that I have at it is going with the group that we go as. For me, the group is always like the company for me always. It's like going to the Venice Liverpool World too. The group, it's a lot of fun. And plus, always when you're up there, I feel like I've had some really good games up there before. Yeah. So it was totally great. What I love from all these is when we do get back together at the end of the night or whenever the group, you know, we split up during the day or whatever. When we finally collect for a meal or whatever and you take away, every single one of us has had a completely different experience there. Oh, no doubt. While very similar and may have been standing beside the other dude the whole time. You're like, dude, what was your favorite game? And we're completely in another hall left field. And you're like, I didn't even see that. Yeah. Or, you know, Jeff's telling us about this game and you're like, oh, you know what? I actually played that and enjoyed it. I didn't think anybody else saw, but Jeff, Corbin comes out of left field and you're like, I actually felt that. Then we all agree on a game and we just Bogart this thing all morning, you know. But it can give you so much and all these events can change. But, yeah, so I think it's a great question. I like it in both formats, ultimately at home. Yeah, I think in a VFW, the pinball Olympics, those sort of environments, it's interesting because inherently on the drive back or the night after we're talking about this game, that game, or whatever, and maybe Zach will talk about a game that I didn't play, or I walked past and was like, I want to go back and play that, and I didn't. And in a situation like VFW or even Pinball Olympics, it's like, man, I'm not going to have a shot to play that again for another year. So now I've got to think about it because I missed out on it, and now I've got to wait. It's more like the midday recap, so everyone can be like, okay, what did you see? Go check this out. You have to check out X, Y, and Z, that kind of stuff. I think that's why VFW worked out the day of really well for me last year because having the bus there was like, okay, midday break. The bus is there. It's always very long. Let's get a little bit of food in us, talk about what we've played, and then I don't have to wait a whole year to play the thing that Zach is talking about. I can actually go back and try it now. Go to Taco Town. Dude, I'm always going to try and go to Taco Town. Very good points, Keith. So, Zach, what is your best pinball playing environment? and I'm sure it's very hard for it to not be the Angelia Brewing Company in your basement. My brewing company is very nice in my basement slash garage during the summer months. But also, like, I enjoy, like, going to the Quarter Up or out in Denver when we always go out to One Up. That's always such a good time whenever we go. Go there. So when you go out, when you're out in Denver, is it because it's different places that you don't usually get to visit or you're visiting them with different groups of people? or just a mix of everything. Usually we're out there snowboarding or something, too. You're on vacation. You're on vacation. It's always just a good time. I've never been, like, oh, I... Because I've been to that one up in Denver, like, off open, like on a Sunday you walk in and there's no one there, so you can enjoy it in that environment. But then we've closed, like, I know Nate and Mikey and I, we closed it down one night, and it was a totally different experience, but it was also a very good time. Right. So would you compare that sort of place at 1 o'clock in the morning, similar to like Emporium and whatnot in Chicago, like where it's a younger crowd and they're just kind of partying or... Mixture. A mixture. I would compare it, honestly, to probably like the quarter-up crowd. Okay. Those kinds of people. Definitely quarter-up. Because there's definitely people who are like, they're coming in, they're playing the pinball, they're there for the games, and there's also just the people there having a good time hanging out. Or that random ass bar in Florida. They're like, he's like, oh, we'll stay open. Oh, the potion portal? Yeah. Yeah, it's perfect. It was perfect. Yeah, and we barely even played pinball. At least I barely even played pinball. No doubt. Phil, what is your ideal pinball playing environment? I mean, I think obviously after the home, I think my next best is like at a place when they first open where you can go and it's loud and you can hear it and you're not like overwhelmed by all of the things blocking that out. Yeah. So you had, didn't you have the experience before where you were on vacation with your family and like Myrtle Beach? In the Outer Banks? Outer Banks. Flippers. Flippers. So talk about that a little bit because – Oh, I've been really trying to get that shit on for a while. Like 6 a.m. or something you could get in there? They're open 9 to 9. So I got there like 9.30, and it's a back room. Like you go in and first of all, it looks like a rundown gas station from the outside. That's right. You go in – Was it a gas station as well? It is a gas station. Right, okay. It's a functioning gas station. It's great. It's a functioning gas station, but it's like looks pretty rough. Yeah. You're not sure all the pumps are going to work. And you walk in, and one quarter of this huge room looks like the run-down gas station. The rest of it is all brand-new Redemption games. And then you walk through all of that through a narrow doorway, and then there's like 60 games back there. Damn. And that was the one that had like high-end games, right? Like a Big Bang Bar, right? Big Bang Bar and Ellie's and stuff. Yeah, a lot of Ellie's. Because I remember when you visited, you were sending me pictures at the time, and my jaw is hitting the floor. I remember hearing about it. Their collection is great. I just love shared spaces like that to where they can have those sorts of hours, and it's not based on the volume of people playing pinball. Or out in, like, Oakland, California, they have the Flipper Room where it's a shared space where the guy does – it's a frame shop as well. Or Vaporosity. I'm here all day. You guys want to come play some games? Yeah, exactly. I mean, it would be like you having the education store and then like having a side room of pinball. It's like we're here already for this stuff. But it's that sort of thing where it's like the viability of the business isn't contingent on how well the pinball does. It's just another piece of it. You have that collection because you're not in a gas station and you want that thing. You need something to do and you're not stocking shelves. What's the vape shop? Vaporosity. Vaporosity. Yeah. Same sort of thing. We're here selling vapes. You guys want to play some pinball? Yep. Yeah. No, it's definitely interesting opportunities in those sorts of places because, like I said, it's just not contingent upon pinball carrying, carrying the business, carrying the weight of everything. It's the main item can carry it, and then the pinball is a side hustle. Because I know when I was out in Seattle, as I've told you guys before, there was a spot. The name of it eludes me now, but it was like Head Shop, Taqueria, and Arcade. It like man this is kind of perfect right now Let go there You can tell this person loves the pinball though based on the fact that it like through a narrow doorway It like you have to know it there or else you're going to get distracted by all the shiny redemption games. That's part of the goal. And, like, that's the idea, is, like, you have to know that you're supposed to walk down this hallway. That's how I felt about Pinball Pete's when we were there. They have all these crazy arcade games, but then every single pin you play, it's an LE. It's a rare game. It's, you know, who has, you know, the latest Tetris Jam and then Tootsie Melons. You know, it was awesome. And it had just that feel like this is an arcade, but they incredibly loved, like, pinball is what they love. That's their thing. I'm going to add to back. Sorry. No, you're fine. Yeah, the first pinball game of the day is always the best. I'm talking, you know, like, you know, like 9 a.m., 9 a.m., you flip that bad boy on and you smack up the highest score. I'm telling you. I think it's when you fix something little on it, and you're not paying attention. You play killer games. Kyle's 100%. So I'm in the middle of an Indy 500 restoration, and in my brain, I promise you, within the first five games, I'll beat the GC that I set out at the previous six months. I hope so. It's going to happen, but he's right. For whatever reason, the game thanks you with a ridiculous game. It gives it to you. Thank you for fixing me. My pop bumper works again. Well, that point's interesting, because the night of the Twippies, where several of us were together and we had it up on the big screen and I was over there messing around on Foo Fighters and so that everyone could turn all the volume I turned all the volume off and then the next thing I know I'm playing like every multiball in the game I'm getting into the mini wizard mode and it's like this is just not what you would expect whatsoever because I'm only really paying half attention I can't really hear what's going on whatsoever next thing you know it's like oh boy kind of doing a few things here my gc on godzilla was played silently yeah because i was trying to maintain my streak and i already put the kids to bed and i'm like oh shit i never played today yeah well to zach's point i had one the other morning my my brother-in-law asked me to take my niece to school so i get over there like breaking into other people's house yeah literally you guys got pinball in there and he has a james bond pro which i don't have a ton of time on and i'm like it's come a long way it has come it's so good yeah i was learning about the smart missiles and martini shots and all this crazy stuff and i'm getting all these extra balls and like i'm looking at my watch i'm like all right i've got 30 minutes i've got 20 minutes before i've got to go i've got 10 minutes i've got five minutes okay let me finish this up real quick but i had the best game i've ever had on there by far in terms of how far i made it into score everything and it was first game of the morning. That's how it is, dude. Did you fix anything? Nothing was broken on it, which was awesome. I mean, it's a bomb. Yeah, what's going on? Fucking flipper flew off. No, yeah, it played great. I mean, yeah, that's one that I think is definitely a sleeper. Has Cody played a lot? He does. It has some plays on it. That was a dream theme for him. He got it right off the bat and he's had it ever since. He had that Guardians of the Galaxy. So I'm not sure if we've told this story before on the podcast, but we'd taken it before it went to him to the Hoover Pinball League. Mike Baer put like $700 million or something on it, and it had the 10 initial whatever. Oh, yeah, Cody sucks. A lot of people were putting that, but Mike Baer put good luck, Cody, or something like that. And then Cody ended up actually calling Stern to figure out how to reset the high score. Come on. He wouldn't even call. He couldn't Google it? He did end up eventually besting the score because Phil knows how that game is. He has one at home where it's like you get into certain things, you get into Cherry Bomb, and the next thing you know you're just racking up hundreds of millions of points on there without even a ton of effort. But, yeah, that was one of the earlier ones he had coming through there. Corbin? Yeah, I mean. What are you thinking here, buddy? Best pinball playing environment for you? I think it just depends. I mean, there's a lot of different environments that I enjoy. I definitely really, top of my list, I enjoy hanging out with everyone, playing it. Just the casualness, because it's like everyone touched on. But there is something to be said at midnight after a long night of Daddy Jeff driving us around. Well, I was just going to say, because I feel like even on locations, Like, we've been to some of these, like, shittiest locations. Not great locations. The games aren't playing or whatever, but we're still having time of our lives. Without a doubt. $2 a game on these LEs. They won't even sell us a beer or whatever. But I don't know. I enjoy Midnight Madness. That's one of my – Midnight is one of my – I was going to text you today and you reset all the clocks on all the Midnight Madness. I don't have one at my house right now. Well, I'm not – I need to do it on location, though. Yeah, I do. I will reset them all this week. People, don't worry. That's his plan tomorrow night. He's driving around all day. It'll be Thursday. Morning games are great, though. I love breakfast and playing early. I mean, those are fun. Miles plays a game every single morning before he gets on the bus. That's awesome. He eats his breakfast and he waits for the bus out the window with one of the games going. That's awesome. I play it right after the kids leave. Nice. I usually finish what he has to run. You know, the bus pulls up and he splits. Yeah. So, kids playing pinball. Ollie and Max want to play a game of Dungeons & Dragons before bed. The premium. The premium. Of course. So, like, yeah, of course, boys. So they're playing all-you-can-try-get-a-multiball, smacks up grand champ of 143-something. Yeah, 143. Heck yeah. Yeah. I love that. Just, and I had a 140 game. So, like, oh, I'm doing pretty good. Then Oli comes back with a 143. He's like, I did do-do-do that. Beat that. You've never been so happy to lose. Dude, it was hilarious. Miles whips us. Jeff's been there many times where we played in league, and Miles was five at the time. And he just starts putting up scores. And we're just watching him, like, how is he doing? I love it. Why is he doing all these upset adults and Jeff and I just in our glory? Look at this little dude. He's on a stool and he just beat all of you. Well, I think all of us have interesting different perspectives on best pinball playing environments. I think some of them are shared and some of them, you know, we all have our own little opinions on them. What would be then, Kyle, a not ideal pinball playing environment? Where are you going to show up and you're just like, man, I'm just not, I'm not even, not even into this. I don't like halogen lights, bro. Oh, so like overhead lighting. Yes. I love you, Mike Bear. But it's hard. It's hard for me to play. Fluorescence you're talking about because they have like that. That crazy white brightness. Yeah, I can't do it. Well, fluorescent lights, if you slow it down, they're actually flickering really fast to where you can't even really perceive it. and to some people, like Kyle, it can cause eye strain, headaches. Kyle's brain operates on a different wavelength. I just saw that a second ago. All right, so lighting is important to you. If you're somewhere where the lighting just isn't right, then... I mean, it can be bright, but not like Walmart. It feels like you're playing in Walmart. I get it. Yeah. I don't know if I ever play a game over there. Keith, what's a pinball environment that's just a complete turnoff for you? Usually, let's say they have some great games, but you can't hear anything. Like, they don't have good music going, but the pins are turned down too low, you can't hear. And you just kind of throw your money, and you're like, I just don't know what's happening. And it actually makes me like, well, the music's not good because they don't have any playing, so I can't get into that. I can't really understand what's happening in front of me now. Those bother me. Usually, I'll turn away. Like, I'm out. I'm good. Same with Kyle. If it's super bright, sterile, I'm good. But again... For volume, what do you guys think on location? Like, what, all games equal, right? The problem is... My opinion is all games equal. But then they're all competing. It's loud as shit. Yeah. You just make TNA the loudest. I honestly... Yeah. Yeah, obviously. Step one. That's what I get. I'm just wondering what you guys think. I think the more modern ones that are going to give you more direction during call-outs should be louder than the older games that aren't giving you as much audio direction. Get that direction going. That's good because, like, wait, what'd they say? Yeah. Yeah, one, it's fun call-outs versus functional call-outs. Right. So functional should be the priorities. I think so. Great example. Especially if you're doing, like, a J.J. Peer or a Spooky where it's like, what the fuck shot am I supposed to hit? Right. Because everything's flashing. You can't just hit the flashing shot. Everything's flashing. Everything's purple. and now it's red and now it's green and now it's blue and now it's purple again. I don't know. Jeff has been telling me for years when we take my office to play, he's like, wait until this dude can read and he's just now learning to read. So as we're playing games, he's quick enough to like read the screen and I just constantly hear Jeff in my head and he's like, oh, I didn't have to make the shot to get five times. So I'm like, what have you been doing to this point? Whatever light's blinking, I shoot the ball at. That's not a bad Ryan Policky. That's what Dad's house for, I guess. That's literally it. So to go to Jeff's point, in that world, for him, little kids or us new players, those call-outs matter. I can't read. I don't know what's happening, and let's do it. But I've heard Jeff's voice in my head so much lately of, wait until this dude can read. And he's like, Jeff, this machine's saying this. And I'm like, no, Jeff, don't tell me. We're all in trouble now. Zach, what's something that you can't stand for a pinball environment or something that's a big turnoff for you? Oh, same as Keith and Kyle. the lighting situations, you know, it's got to be the right mood. I mean, I don't mind it being bright, though, so you can, like, see everything on the playfield, but, like, we're just, like, playing in Walmart. I mean, no, this is not, this doesn't sound fun. Plus, if you get too much reflection off the glass, you can't see. The reflections are what kill me. Yeah. You have to be able to see what's going on. No doubt. Same with the sound, too. I mean... No one said anything about, like, the way the games play. I was going to say... If your games don't play well, we're out. Okay, okay. Well, it's interesting that you bring that up because I've been, my wife is big into breweries. So whenever we travel a lot of times, I'll end up at a brewery that does have pinball, but it's not a pinball location. So, like, for example, we were in New Orleans one year, and we go to Southern Urban Brewing or whatever. And over in the corner, they had a random pinball machine that you could put money in. And you could flip through a game, but that was kind of just about it. And I'll tell you what, it was a quarter a game, and I was having the time of my life on it because it was there. It was a quarter a game. It was a quarter a game. It wasn't one that I – it was like Casino Boat Gambler or Maverick. At the end of the day, though, if there's no pinball, you're kind of like, well, this is the pinball I got, so I'm going to play it. Yeah, and I'm learning all kinds of things about it. Like, oh, there are extra buttons on here. What do these buttons do? And I don't know. That's the one with the lockdown bar buttons? Yep. Yeah, because you have to gamble, right? You gamble, right? It was trying to combine, like, slot machines or whatever with the... Or you know how it is when you're coming back into Ohio on 77 and you get into that stretch of West Virginia where there's nothing, like literally no gas stations, no anything, no whatever. There's one pizza place that's off this random exit that's called, like, Possum Holler Pizza. And they have the most epic... They have a whirlwind, don't they? They eat for a quarter a game! They have a whirlwind pinball. It's got fucking incandescence, but it's a quarter a game. quarter a game and they have a space invaders pinball there that's a quarter a game and like all of their stuff in there you know street fighter whatever is a quarter a game and that's that's my go-to when i'm coming through there but it's it's less to me about not about how well they play i mean i'm just asking i'm just asking because i feel like that's what you hear people bitch about a lot so i'm just you're right on the money it was just interesting that nobody so literally you guys got this atlantis in from pins and this is the atlantis that was at downtown downtown pins mechanical forever for free yes so if you would have went i have memories of playing this game without a doubt and so do you yes of just playing this game just having a drink and it was great and it it probably barely worked and again though if it would have been in the normal lineup of a dollar a play games i most likely would have maybe i'm probably just would passed it by. Price definitely inflicts on how much I pay. Oh, if I want to pay a quarter, whatever, and that doesn't If it was a row of sterns and this was the only thing that was my bar, I would, you know, if it's all shit that I play, I'm like, this is something different. I'd play this for a dollar. Yeah. All right. I'm always looking for the different things. It's just different. That's why it would catch my eye. Yeah, but on this one, it was just another circumstance of, it was free, and it was tucked away, and it was like, I can put five or six games on this, and I can figure out exactly what everything does on here. Phil, what's something a big detractor for you or something that's a big pinball turnoff? I don't like when the games are in front and behind me. Oh, is that because of other people playing in your... It's so distracting then, like, if there are people playing behind me. So you're saying, like, so even like this. Like, a few games are okay, but I'm not... But if we had two rows down the wall, like... Yeah, I mean, we're a bunch. He does not like a lot to buy. I'm saying, like, I like playing the front end of a quarter up. In the back end, it's... Okay. Okay. I got you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, I'm with you. Two games back to back, plus a doorway, plus seating. Three games behind you, and people are on those. Yeah, I'm in touch with you. People trying to get between you. That's respectable. There's never enough space for you and that person to be playing, and someone to walk between. That makes a lot of sense, because the front, you have the game, a little, like, bar rail, then another game, plus a walkway. Right. Have you guys ever played, has anyone ever tried with headphones, like played with headphones on? I love it. Do you love it? No, I never tried. I love it. So I knew it was a pinball. I know you did. Yeah. Baby Keith. I couldn't understand why all games didn't have Bluetooth built in, and I could just headphone up in an arcade and get into that. That would be cool. And just do my thing, let everybody do their thing. JJP games you can. And then I could, yeah, but I just like, in my head, the Bluetooth chip cannot be that expensive. Why can't we all do this? But then you think about, what's it take to pair? What's it do? I got the general rest of it, but it gave me two options at the bar. Like, hey, let's hang out with my friends and be social. Or I'm going to roll up a cue o'clock when nobody's there and lose myself in these. Oh, if it would connect your headphones off your insider-connected app. That would be cool. That would be cool. You would just have to boop and you already had your headphones in. Thank you, Zach Gomez, please. There you go, guys. There you go. You're welcome. If you run Roku. I wear a bar of turntable. If you run Roku TVs or any of the Roku whatever. like if you have the app on your phone, you can do that. That was Roku's claim to fame early on. They would always give you a remote, and you could take wired headphones and plug them in the remote. So you could plug in and watch Roku while your partner slept or you crashed last night. I can turn the TV on, put my headphones on, and hear everything. That was Roku's claim to fame from the get-go. Because the early ones came with purple. Remember the purple earbuds? To Phil's point about crowded, so I know no matter how you hit the yeah no matter how you hit the flipper button it's not any harder or less hard but I'm big time into like my fingers go flying away and then I slam on the flipper button I'm with you man yeah yeah and if I'm playing in a row of games and someone's playing the game to the left or right of me hit their fingers and you hit their fingers to me that is the most awkward thing where it's like I've had that a few times that's almost like I need toilet paper in a stall. I feel like... It is weird, dude. I don't like it. Hey, man, can I get your TV? I feel like this is why cup holders that are opposing are mandatory because you must force the game apart. Yeah. But I also will tell you that anytime Jeff and I have entered anywhere where we're flapping each other's hands, I usually reach over and hold Jeff's. So I may be the cause of Jeff's anxiety. He's talking about you. He was looking at you. I knew it. I knew it. He was waiting to you. There's just something. I thought you were leaving the room. Yeah, I have to do it. Corbin, what's a pinball turnoff for you? Something about a location. Other people. I'm good, thanks. Not like all other people, but I just mean like just annoying people. Yeah. Or even like It's got to be particularly challenging for you as an operator. If you're at quarter-op, and say you do enter the tournament, which you don't often do, but say you do participate, and you're on a game, there's no way you're getting through a game without someone coming over to you and being like, hey, there's something going on with this or there's something going on with that. As much as, like, I think it's, like, people who are, like, take it way too seriously sometimes. Like, in, like, an IFPA setting and sometimes those types of settings where there are so many. And I dig if you guys, you know, you, like, do it. It's just not necessary. To each their own. Exactly. But for me, like, when people start nitpicking it, it changes from, like, we're all just here having fun to, like, oh like you're getting real serious about this for me I'm like I'm just not as into it so like that would be one thing and other people have issues it's nature it's part of the deal oh without a doubt sometimes it's exhausting and it's not as enjoyable per se it is fun sometimes just to go and be like a random person not bothered for me personally no that's why I thought something like Flip for the Cure is a good time because you go in there's someone else's games you're just there to throw some coins in them play some games you know do whatever eat some food well yeah there's gonna be some talking as well so i would say or even just like like if you're somewhere and there's just obnoxious people you know even if they're not playing games but they're just like it's in life in general yeah yeah my life is pinball so this these things apply to my eyes i feel like i get into that's a little bit yeah yeah a lot of Those obnoxious people that stand in front of a game and aren't playing it. Yeah. That or the ones, like, when you're at... Warplayer. If we could get into, like, festival... Not festival, but, like, expo... Etiquette. Etiquette, you know. Oh, yeah. Or convention etiquette, if you will, where people are doing, like, two, three, four-player games, one they do it multiple times in a row with people waiting behind them. Like, that kind of stuff. Like, that stuff annoys me. Yeah. I think... I'm a pretty laid-back person. Oh, you definitely are. I mean, generally speaking, if I'm in a place like pins mechanical, you have the entire spectrum of pinball player there. The person the little kid who never played a game before who just is running by every single game and pulling the shooter rod back and then letting it fly as hard as they possibly can to you know someone who is a tournament you know expecting every switch on everything you know to work exactly right Plays the same for everybody That one of my favorite phrases Like that a ready to get made It plays the same for everybody I getting ready to do another batch of three different ones It plays the same for everybody. Did that switch not work? It played the same for everybody. Yeah, I agree with that. I think it's... I think this is a good subject, good topic. Anybody that's listening that has anything to chime in on, drop us a message. Drop us an email. Zach, where should they email us? Freshpinball.gmail.com Drop us an email. Love to hear from you. See what you, things that you love, things that you hate, your pet peeves, your Another pet peeve since I'm thinking about it now is as an operator. Uh oh. I'm just saying, sometimes when I'm other places and I'm looking at other operators' games, like I don't judge them too harshly, but like when there's things like you don't even wipe this down. You know what I mean? Like that kind of stuff, like to me it's like, it just takes, it's just an extra I'm looking at you, Leaning Tower of Pizza in Mansfield, Ohio. Where were we at? Oh, should we talk about Thurman's? What is this? Come on. We were at Thurman's, though. And it was just like the game. It didn't play too bad, honestly. Just wipe down. It's just like take, take, take. I just like PSA operators. Just take a couple extra minutes and wipe it down. I do. I'll trade you a small order of French fries. I just imagine. I'd like to hope that my games are not, when I see other people's games, I'm like, man, I hope I know what I do. I think what happens a lot of times with the big route runners, the bigger ones, is then they're not pinball-centric. When they send someone to collect, that's all they're doing. Oh, they're just going in, they're grabbing the money. And that's it. Yeah. But you see, even around our area, other operators that come in are kind of down near us. You'll walk in, anytime I see a game that's in bad shape, you look down, see the operator's name, and you're like, oh, that tracks. Yeah. Yeah, just because their money is – They're paying their audit counts. They're whatever, grabbing the coins. Exactly. They're on to the next. On to the next. On to the next. I would say, though, that is a pet peeve because it's just like as someone – I mean I feel like we take pretty decent pride in our games. Oh, yeah. As a guy who – We love our games, and it's just like I just – Oh, we want them to last. And I just want everyone – I want other people to have a positive experience playing, whether they're my games or someone else's games. I want them to all have a good time so they want to play more pinball. Maybe buy one, maybe, you know, go into their business. As a person who would love to find one of your games on location and just call you to bust your balls, I'm like, dude, what is happening? It doesn't ever happen. Please let it happen. Start looking at some laundromats and shit. I still go there. You need to keep your laundromat games, not on point, but keep them in laundromats, because there was one... I keep hoping for a sunshine laundromat opportunity. Oh, yeah. What were you going to say? No, there was one where people were posting about it. It's like, oh, this game used to be here, but now it's gone. Now this game is here instead. Oh, 100% before I met you guys, I would go on the pin map. This was COVID times when nothing was happening. And I would chase down pinball machines via laundromat. And then later on met you guys and was like, holy shit, I know exactly in every laundromat where Corbin's game was. I had a family, I should say. I'd come back big time on my laundromat. Yeah, but at that time, there was nowhere to go because they were all closed because of COVID, and those were open. And you're like, you know, how many people really are playing that there? Like, my brain made it safe of, like, either washing their clothes or probably clean people. I hope you weren't on Tusk because that always had a mask. You still have Alterations Express there or whatever? Where is that? On Tusk, right behind. She sold. Okay. Mary Beth had told them to bring over Alterations in one of her laundry bags. Oh, really? Yeah. Janet's, yeah. No, she closed. Well, she sold. And so, yeah, by the end of it, I think we really had like a touch game there. But anyway. But, yeah, pinball, ideal circumstances and locations for playing pinball, I think we hit kind of every little different category. So there were a few little items I wanted to hit on here before we wrap it up for the day was randomly, Corbin decided, and container talk here, Corbin decided to send to me on DocDeals. So if you're on Instagram, follow the account DocDeals. He sent me a Prescott tug, a 111-foot tugboat. Oh, my God. Okay, so look this thing up. The exterior of it looks like it's about to go to the bottom of the ocean at any given moment. Seems like a deal, though. Fixer-upper. And then you start scrolling through the pictures. Oh, my God. The inside of this thing is – Petting this shot. Oh, no. The inside is insane. high-end, million-dollar mansion. I'll show you pictures after. Nobody sees it coming. No one's going to fuck with that thing. They're like, oh, look at that piece of junk. Absolutely unbelievable. Nobody steals your cars and nobody robs it. Don't leave the guy's boat. He can't afford gas. They go to the nice neighborhoods. Yeah, exactly. Give DocDeals on Instagram a follow. All kinds of interesting little treats on there. Promoting DocDeals now. I appreciate it. And then Corbin's other random Instagram scrollings in the morning, he sent me an advertisement for a church that was for sale. Should we go drive by it after we leave here? I mean, it is nearby. I think there's a larger question here that we should talk about. And the larger question is? Corbin's active on social media? He's been dabbling in Discord. He's got some Instagram stuff going. I'm on Spooky's Discord. That's it. Yeah, me too. That's the only Discord I got on. I saw Pinball Life had one, and I was like, I can consider it. I just love this. So you're telling me if there's an instance in a virtual world to run into Corbin, Instagram is my best chance. Oh, without a doubt. 100%. I love it. Let it be known here. I think a lot of people think when they communicate with different social media – Shh. Different Facebook – no, I'm telling the world. If you communicate with someone on Facebook, it's Jeff. It's not me. On all accounts that are associated with Mad Pinball, Angelique Star, novelty any of those it's a wild accusation and I don't know that we should be having it alright alright I take it back I'm just kidding but anyway you may think you're having conversations with Corbin you're actually having conversations with Jim Bonfro or what's the handle I have Anjali Zac Stark Novelties yes if you're on Instagram Anjali Zac Stark Novelty that is Dog Dog Floyd that is Corbin Proper If you go into the spooky discord That is Corbin proper That's basically to see my not a quarters And my random wanderings of the days I like this I'm disappointed when you don't post Honestly Following up container talk We're going to move on to Corbin's favorite segment Of will it fit And this week we found That a Was it new in box or out of the box He cut the pallet We had to take it out of the box So a stern spike 2 Dodge Durango. Wasn't it the Godzilla we're thinking, right? Well, that was the Bronco. Not a Bronco. It was an Explorer. That fit. Okay. That's the guy we took out. The Durango was in the box, and that was a JJP. Are we talking like early 2000s Durango? We're talking like, I'd say within the past couple years. Let's say Fidel. I'd say less than five years old, like 22 or newer. Okay. And it was a new... It definitely had a hemi. It had a hemi. It was a CE, yeah. It was the new CE Avatar. It was the Avatar CE. You cut it off the palette, though. But it fit in the box. Oh, yeah, no, no, I'm just thinking, like, the pallet was cut, but, like, it slid in there, like, no problem. Like, he maybe moved the passenger seat up a hair, but it was... Yeah, no, it fit easily. It took all three of us to lift it, but... Yeah, it was fucking J.J.P. So, yeah, there you go. Dodge Durango fits. Durango's just going to be tall. Do so well for Don, isn't it? Oh, my gosh. Love you, Don. So, Mad Pinball sponsors Don's Pinball Podcast. Great relationship there. Love Don. and he did an amazing video. I just can't get over his deal he got on the hotel. If you haven't seen it on YouTube, Don's football podcast, unboxing his avatar CE. Let's just say he goes full native. Just check it out. I'm surprised Belking didn't fall asleep. But Don, whenever you're lifting those JJP games to put the back legs on, it's always good to have a little bit of... Just fly Corbin Light in. A little bit of assistance. I was trying to pick up that toy. And that's where Don and I I can get this thing lifted up, Monica Can you throw the stool under it? Yeah And in the final segment of random pinball spots I can't remember if I shouted this out last episode or not, if I did, you guys correct me but Headless Bat in St. Louis, Missouri I think I Yeah, two episodes ago you did the Vapor Store, I think TV Tavern and you did that one. So Headless Bad is new. St. Louis, Missouri, they just picked up a Texas Chainsaw Massacre collector's edition. Oh, is that one that you accidentally sold? I mean, you know what, though? It worked out. I think it worked out for the better. This wouldn't have led us to the other Texas now. Oh, we're not talking about that. We're not going to talk about it, but we can confirm that we will have two Evil Dead collector's editions at Pittenbrewfest. I would like to go back to this headless bet. Is this an Ozzy-themed issue? It's supposed to be like a punk, goth, rock sort of situation. The happiness that it brought my youngest that said game ended up at a place of his beloved Ozzy Osbourne was just on the, will you take me there? Take me, Dad! I love that. You just bring him here. He wouldn't know. So yeah, I think we've hit all of the categories is there. We're going to wrap up here with some final thoughts. Kyle, you got some final thoughts for me here, buddy? Do you have any events? Think of events. I got this GTF down here now. Updates to the Kyle game room is a Galactic Tank Force Deluxe is making its debut down here. Yeah, thanks, Prusa. Yeah, it's kind of run around here in Northeast Ohio. That was at Cleveland Gaming Classic. It was a show game there. Was that one of the ones we unboxed? It was. Oh, cool. And then it went to Southland Lanes, which is now Pinball Planet in Parma, Ohio. Congrats on your Twippy. Yeah, they won Best New Location of the Northeast? No, in Ohio. In the United States, I think. Okay, Best New Location. Yeah. So, very cool. Yeah, and then it went to former Ohio State champ Steven Prusa, and then into the Kyle basement. My champion pub. I love you. Champion pub out. Debbie Corbett will take just care of you. What a lineage you have. Yeah, yeah. Valley Atlantis Inn. Memories. Some good times. I'm looking at the art on the side here. It's cool. I love the lionfish on the side. I could see this. You could have maybe just go back over top of it with black light paint or UV paint. That would look sick on that. Same with the lionfish up top. Dude, I'm totally... This can do... This can stay around. This doesn't have to leave. Well, I know. It's here now, though. Yeah, that's what I mean. Do it up nice. Let me know what displays you need for this thing. Right, right, right. Final thoughts, Keith? So I do want to give a little shout-out to our buddy Andy that reached out from Lake Norman to get some parts. Yes! But if anybody's there following around, hit up his Whirlwind rebuild on Pennside. He made these new cloud toppers and some tornadoes that he cooked up himself for 3D printing. Dude, they are a killer. I got two world ones. Why are you talking about this? 3D molded it, and he's printing it, and it looks like he's blowing down your ramp. That's sick. He said he may be selling it. I'm just going by what he said on Pennside. If not, he's very into acquiring those commercial rights. I got two world ones. He did a great job, and I love that. Andy's kind of been all around the block on what games he's into, but I feel like a passion that Corbin, Zach, and I share. He's hitting these valleys lately, and they're getting him in the field. I think he may deny it when he hears this, but I've been seeing his game listings that he got the bug. So that's it. Just want to shout out to him. Oh yeah, that was cool. That is very, very cool. Zach, any final thoughts here? Just getting excited for Pen Brew. I know it's coming up here. exciting pin brew news tell us me and Jeff are going to take our personal TNA little Timmy's coming out yeah we're going to take our he's going to go on a little spring break trip I was thinking people were excited about mine last year rum springer somebody literally was like is that TNA going to be there again there's going to be a TNA there yeah well not yours because we're going to leave it on location so that's fine He's going to literally open the week before. We can leave this as a mystery, but was there an Alice Cooper secured? Not yet. So if you have one, give us an email at freshpinball.gmail.com. What are the challenges with the Alice Cooper? I think, Zach, we were talking about this this morning a little bit. It's like they're out there. Just should have sold that one is the problem. Yeah, for $6,800 or something. That's the thing. They're out there. Former ownership of Mad Pinball. Yeah. Required. One will find us. I think one will find us. The game will be sold sometimes. Well, they didn't know it was in my basement. They didn't. That's true. but they knew that money needed to go into the Mad Pinball Bank account. You should have stood up to them, Kyle. I should have just told them that it didn't even exist anymore. Exactly. It's not here. It was here. You should have drawn like a Sharpie or something real funny across. Pull the back glass out like that place out in Florida. Coming soon. Be like Jurassic Park home, baby. This isn't an Alice Cooper. Coming soon. Baby Cooper. If you are coming to Pin Brew and you have an Alice Cooper Nightmare Castle. We'll get you tickets. Oh, we will get you a weekend pass for the game. I'll buy you beer. And we'll maintain it. You don't have to do anything with it. We'll keep it going the whole time. Come to the Mad Pinball booth and we'll also hook you up with some swag. Maybe we'll throw a little Kneezy Prince action at him. See? Reach out beforehand, too, because we'd love to just get it lined up. That way we don't bring too many other things. That way we can have them in order. Yeah. Chronological. Phil, final thoughts buddy? Just need to play more pinball True Always better Always better More is the first step Corbin, final thoughts? Got a few things here, obviously pinbrew is coming up Everybody knows about that Next I have a launch party For the D&D Premium At quarter up It's going to be at quarter up It's going to be the 24th Monday the 24th, 7pm March 7 p.m. March 24th. Mortal Kombat dogs for all. Yes, yes. And there will be... I did register it with Stern, so you can get your little badge. Thanks, bro. That's very important. It is, it is. Floyd had his birthday. That didn't happen. How old is Floyd? 12 now. Happy birthday, buddy. Yes, yes. For real? Yep. I'm taking Lebowski out to Unhitched tomorrow. It'll be out there by Wednesday when they open again. Unhitched Brewing Company. Howdy, Louisville, Ohio. Really good. That's like a smash hit to me. Yeah, I just left it on free play, and I think everyone seemed to have fun. Gentlemen. You know what I had to do? I had to go down on a call in that short window of them playing it, but a ball got stuck within the first half an hour, and I'm like, God damn. I'm like, what am I going to do? I'm not going to leave it. So I ran down. But anyway. Luckily, it's five minutes. Right. So anyway, that will be down at – I'm moving out to Unhitched this week, so I'll probably be out there eating dinner on Wednesday if anyone wants to come. Yeah, maybe we'll do a little something. And the cool tie-in there is that Unhitched Brewing Company is in a former bowling alley. It is. It used to be a 10-pin. I spent a lot of my youth there. Dude, we used to have games. Me too, man. We were collecting the games. It's so weird. It's hard to, if you had been at the 10-pin and then to sit in 10-pin, to sit in unhitched, it's hard to even imagine that it's like the same thing. Yeah, any time I walk in there, so the entry door we use is the original door. It is, yeah. So my little brain that had been there from five years old all the way to 48, you know, there's so many versions of what was happening in my life, the middle school being behind and you walk over after school, all these things, the school's gone. Yeah. You know, it's just a green space where we park. To walk in there, and then every time I look, you know, the pizza oven area, that was the bar, you know. Oh, yeah. That was the area. You'd go through the door in that long, narrow bar. You'd go through the bar and go back in the kitchen, and then you could see down the pen resetter, the alley with all the things. The bowling alley would be dark. We'd make one lane going. And the bar was bumping. I love that as a Louisville guy, I love that, you know, they own it, and you can talk to the owners about everything. You can sit there and be like, you know, I remember where the pinballs were. That was where I used to store my shoes and book bags, you know, and this and that. But, yeah, great place. It is. It is, so, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. My bad. Final thought for me here, I wanted to shout out themissingpin.com. I'm sure some of you ran into them at Pinball Expo last year in Chicago. they uh they hand build these really cool pin leg travel utility bags so if you are bringing your games to shows or tournaments or whatever else they're really cool um and unique ways to keep your powder coating safe make sure that you're not forgetting your leg bolts or your balls or whatever else and they fully can customize them you know if you have never forget my balls never Well, it's funny, as much as I deliver games or pick up games, like, it's not that uncommon. Like, oh, I forgot this, or I forgot that, or I forgot. Soccer legs that we never saw. Yeah, soccer legs, or a power cord, or whatever it is. Not gold, it shouldn't have been delivered. So, themissingpin.com, hop on there, and you can see all of the different options that they have for your pinball travel bag needs. Oh, I have one last item. Yes. Happy birthday, Jeff. Oh, yeah, yes. Happy birthday. Happy birthday was yesterday. Yeah. You did lots of laundry. I did. I did my normal Sunday routine. 35 looks good on you. Thank you. Thank you. I was telling Tia I was doing the math earlier this year, and it was like, oh, man, I'm going to be 42 this year. And then I was like, wait, I thought I was 42 all last year. Bonus year. Bonus year. Bonus year. We just talked about this the other day that I've been calling my grandpa 86 for the last like eight years. Yeah, exactly. He just turned 86 this year. Nailed it. But no, another awesome trip around the sun for sure. Very excited for the next one to see what sort of pinball shenanigans we get into. You never, never know. You don't know what you don't know. And if you don't know, you don't know. It's hard to say not knowing. It never gets easier. As always, everyone, thanks for listening. Until next time. Ooh, I got the electric playground power. That'd be fantastic. It's pretty sweet. and attack from mars and perfect poor came in today oh that was i was literally thinking i had something else i would when you were talking i was like don't interrupt him but say is it wrapped in cardboard