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PinballOZwide Podcast - Episode: 2 The Nhill Experience.

Pinball Oz Wide·podcast_episode·49m 3s·analyzed·Apr 2, 2025
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.041

TL;DR

Australian pinball podcast reviews museum visit, machine impressions, and market pricing trends.

Summary

Jared and Matthew from Pinball OZ Wide podcast discuss their recent boys' weekend at Nhill, Australia's Australian Pinball Museum, where they played 50-60 machines including new releases like Metallica and X-Men Uncanny. They share detailed gameplay impressions of multiple games, discuss best-flowing machines, highlight secondhand machine pricing trends showing recent market softening, and address community safety concerns including scammer accounts on their Facebook page.

Key Claims

  • The Australian Pinball Museum (Nhill) contains approximately 50-60 pinball machines with a mix of EMs, Space Stations, and modern releases

    high confidence · Hosts visited the museum and provided direct observation: 'There must be 50, 60-something machines, I would have thought.' They describe specific machines present including Metallica (just launched), X-Men Uncanny, Jaws, John Wick, Labyrinth, and others.

  • Metallica's UV lighting effect is underwhelming compared to Stranger Things because it only lights the character heads rather than the entire playfield

    high confidence · Matthew: 'I think with Stranger Things, though, you're talking the whole play field... the whole playfield was done. Whereas with Metallica, it's just their heads, isn't it? Yeah, and above the hammer... Not much... the main difference between that and Stranger Things.'

  • X-Men Uncanny has confusing shot geometry with difficult mid-drain problems, particularly relating to the Jack Danger room and offset flippers

    high confidence · Matthew detailed experience: 'the middle mid drain even with that mid post the middle drain was just shocking' and 'getting into that Jack Danger room, I had no idea when I was going to be in there or when I wasn't going to be in there.'

  • High-Speed (Williams) machines have dropped from $8,000-$12,000 range to $6,500, suggesting the secondary market has hit or is near bottom pricing

    medium confidence · Hosts discussing recent sales: 'They've been, for the last four or five years, anywhere between $8,000 to $10,000, even $12,000... High-Speed getaway too... That was $6,500' and 'machines definitely come down in price... I think we've probably hit rock bottom now.'

  • Younger/new pinball players at the museum were preferentially drawn to EM and Space Station machines rather than modern games with premium features

    high confidence · Matthew: 'I found all the younger people or just all the new people went straight to the Space Station and EM machines... everyone was attracted to those old machines.'

  • The museum's machines are frequently out of level/unlevelled, and machines lack proper maintenance (e.g., flipper rubbers need changing)

    high confidence · Jared directly addressed operator Lyndon: 'you move all those machines, you could spend two more minutes levelling them out... Just spend another five minutes and just wind some legs, mate.'

Notable Quotes

  • “There must be 50, 60-something machines, I would have thought. There's a bank of EMs and Space Station machines as well, which is good for those older school guys or girls that grew up and played with that.”

    Matthew @ early in episode, discussing museum inventory — Establishes scale and diversity of the Nhill Australian Pinball Museum venue

  • “I found all the younger people or just all the new people went straight to the Space Station and EM machines... everyone was attracted to those old machines.”

    Matthew @ mid-episode, discussing player behavior patterns — Notable observation about player demographics and machine preference trends, counter to expectations

  • “You move all those machines, you could spend two more minutes levelling them out. Like, they just – and I know operators, you know, they're just a different breed... Just spend another five minutes and just wind some legs, mate. I'll come and do it.”

    Jared @ later episode, feedback to venue operator — Direct operational critique highlighting maintenance standards at the museum

  • “I think with Stranger Things, though, you're talking the whole play field... the whole playfield was done. Whereas with Metallica, it's just their heads, isn't it? ... the main difference between that and Stranger Things.”

    Matthew @ mid-episode, comparing UV lighting implementations — Technical analysis of design differences between games with similar lighting features

  • “The fastest flowing machine I believe is Johnny Pinball Mnemonic left ramp right ramp spinner left ramp keep going... otherwise best flowing machine... Medieval Madness... Johnny Pinball's a very good flowing machine.”

    Matthew @ near end of episode, discussing best-flowing machines segment — Establishes comparative gameplay criteria and specific machine recommendations

  • “They've been, for the last four or five years, anywhere between $8,000 to $10,000, even $12,000... I haven't seen a Space Station machine for under two grand since probably 2019... Early 2020, just before COVID.”

    Matthew @ near end, discussing secondary market pricing — Provides specific pricing history and current market assessment data

Entities

LyndonpersonJaredpersonMatthewpersonRowanpersonVanessapersonChris WarrenpersonNathanpersonKerryperson

Signals

  • ?

    venue_signal: Australian Pinball Museum (Nhill) operating successfully with 50-60 machine inventory and attracting visitors for multi-day pinball tourism; demonstrates viable regional pinball museum business model in Australia

    high · Boys' weekend trip to Nhill; museum hosted machines including latest releases like Metallica; attracted younger players to EM/Space Station section

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: X-Men Uncanny experiencing potential 'reverse reputation effect' - initial negative reception for shot difficulty/confusing layout is evolving as players learn the machine and appreciate its shot design and reflective flow

    high · Matthew: 'I thought the flow of the machine was good... but I thought the shots were just shit... completely opposite of what I thought' after gameplay demonstrated shot satisfaction and multiball access

  • ?

    product_concern: Metallica (new Stern release) showing quality control and design inconsistencies in UV implementation, hammer mechanics, and animation quality compared to previous/alternative designs

    high · Matthew criticized UV as 'underwhelming gimmick' vs. Stranger Things, hammer lacks impact/sound, DMD animations 'crap', design changes to drop targets and ball saves suggest post-production adjustments

  • $

    market_signal: Secondary pinball market showing signs of price stabilization near floor; vintage machines (High-Speed, Space Station) declining from 2020-2024 peaks but stabilizing at current levels; hosts believe market has 'hit rock bottom' for most machines

    high · High-Speed dropping from $8-12k to $6,500; Space Station machines under $2k rare since 2019-2020; hosts discussing if floor has been reached vs. continued decline potential

  • ?

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.147

0:00
Welcome, everyone, to our second Pimble Auswide podcast. As always, I'm Jared, here with Matthew, and we're just going to go through a few things that have happened over the last month.
0:29
Firstly, two things, quick language warning. There may be some swearing and the like during this, so just make sure young ears are aware of that. And obviously an apology that it's taken a little bit extra time to get this podcast out. We've just been sick and schools and a couple of little weekend away, which you'll hear about. So it just sort of dragged on an extra couple of weeks than we wanted.
0:57
But hopefully, back on track, we'll try and keep it as a monthly podcast again and see how we go. So today's 31st, Monday 31st. Should hopefully get this out in the next couple of days, Matty, and get going with it all. That's it.
1:13
So first thing, I think we just want to run down what you've been doing. I think we should say a big thank you to everyone who liked and followed and listened to our podcast. Agreed. So there's too many names to list individually, but thank you to all. we know who you are. Yeah, that's it. We know who you are. So, yeah, please make sure you like, subscribe and whatever else. Share. Patreon and, oh, no, we don't have one of those yet. So what have you been up to, mate? What's happening in your last month that you've been doing? Pinball or otherwise, I guess. Pinball or otherwise. Between playing pinball and working on some machines. I'm still having troubles with Twilight Zone. So with the clock, but it's a work in progress. Otherwise, I'm currently looking at building my mat cave. So two years ago I moved house, which previously I had everything all in one spot. And now I've got everything in one spot, but I need to build a specific man cave shed, so the mat cave. So I'm looking at building a hopefully 18 metre by 16 metre. Deeper size. Yeah, so fully insulated, air conditioning, heating, a little workstation, obviously fridge and all the amenities that you need in the shed, and also carpet. So hopefully, yeah, hopefully I'll have that done by the end of the year. So this is something I've been working out and also the placement of it. Yeah. So what do you mean working out? Like just sussing out roof heights and dimensions and where things are being placed? Using the designer program that they have. Cool.

  • Johnny Pinball Mnemonic is the fastest-flowing pinball machine due to its ramp-and-spinner design layout

    medium confidence · Matthew's assessment: 'The fastest flowing machine I believe is Johnny Pinball Mnemonic left ramp right ramp spinner left ramp keep going' and 'Johnny Pinball's a very good flowing machine.'

  • Space Station machines selling under $2,000 (around $1,900-$1,950) are rare and represent good value, with no such deals seen since early 2020

    high confidence · Matthew: 'I haven't seen a Space Station machine for under two grand since probably 2019... Early 2020, just before COVID. So I'd say that's a good buy.'

  • “I think there's still room for certain machines to keep coming down, without a doubt. Some people putting machines up at... Stupid prices... but people who are putting up machines who want to actually sell them, they're coming at the correct price.”

    Jared @ near end of episode, market analysis — Nuanced take on secondary market pricing conditions and negotiation dynamics

  • “For me off the cuff I reckon actually Demolition Man would have to be up there... it is actually... and people forget it's a wide body as well which is amazing because most widebodies of that era tend to be a bit clumpy and a bit slow... But that is – I love the ramps, the orbits.”

    Jared @ discussing fastest/best flowing machines — Highlights underappreciated machine design and widebody mechanics

    • Australian Pinball Museum (Nhill)
    venue
    Pinball OZ Wideorganization
    X-Men Uncannygame
    Metallica (Stern)game
    John Wickgame
    Jawsgame
    Labyrinth (Barrels of Fun)game
    Medieval Madnessgame
    Johnny Pinball Mnemonicgame
    Demolition Mangame
    Trongame
    Stranger Thingsgame
    Venomgame
    Space Stationgame

    operational_signal: Regional pinball venue maintenance standards variable; museum under-prioritizing routine leveling and flipper maintenance despite high machine density and visitor volume

    high · Jared direct critique: machines not leveled after moves, flipper rubbers needed changing, machines had leans affecting playability (Labyrinth at Expo, Jaws at museum)

  • ?

    community_signal: Pinball OZ Wide podcast establishing monthly Game of the Month and best-flowing machines segments; active community engagement with vetting protocols to prevent scammer accounts on Facebook page

    high · Announced Game of Month segments, introduced best-flowing machine discussion format, discussed vetting new accounts under 6 months old, referenced recent scammer account ('Andy's Pinball')

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Younger/newer pinball players demonstrating preference for classic EM and Space Station machines over modern premium games with complex layouts and advanced features; challenges industry assumption about feature-driven appeal

    medium · Matthew observation: 'all the younger people or just all the new people went straight to the Space Station and EM machines... Instead of coming to any of these new machines with all the big lights and everything, everyone was attracted to those old machines'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Host discussion identifies 'flow' as distinct concept from 'speed' in machine design; Medieval Madness and Demolition Man cited as examples where slower overall pace correlates with excellent continuous shot progression and playability

    medium · Matthew proposing separate 'fastest flowing' vs. 'best flowing' categories; Johnny Pinball Mnemonic identified as fastest; Medieval Madness and Demolition Man as best despite slower pace

  • ?

    collector_signal: Moderately-high-end collector (Chris Warren) taking significant loss on Spooky Looney Tunes ($16k price with substantial mods) to fund preferred theme (Texas Chainsaw Massacre); reflects FOMO/collector psychology around limited edition theme availability

    medium · Hosts noting 'he's taking a huge loss on this machine... only wanting to sell it because he wants to buy the... Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which is his preferred theme instead'

  • ?

    machine_intel: Metallica recently launched at regional Australian venue same weekend as podcast taping; availability expanding to provincial/regional locations post-launch window

    high · Matthew: 'he obviously has the Metallica launch coming up... It's just done it, didn't it, this weekend?... This weekend... for end of month... directly on the right-hand side'

  • ?

    design_innovation: John Wick's shot geometry and layout (Y-form ramp, left/right orbit, pop bumper area) identified as comparable to Johnny Pinball Mnemonic despite different themes; suggests convergent design evolution toward shot progression efficiency

    medium · Matthew noting layout similarity: 'your left ramp right ramp and up the guts where the car is that's where the spinner is and then you've got the pop pump area which is a very similar layout'

    • 2:45
    Yeah, just working out what I want to do, how many doors and side entrances. Yep. So that's about that. Yeah, okay.
    2:54
    It was works. That's it? What about yourself, Chad? What have you been up to? Look, I haven't, again, I haven't, I mean, look, I've been doing a couple of things pinball-wise. Like I play most days where I can just to get out in the garage and have a bit of a muck around.
    3:09
    That's my cave, my mat cave is just a double garage that's just set up with eight pins at the moment. but I haven't, like in regards to the last month, I haven't bought and sold and done anything in that regards. There's always maintaining and stuff like that.
    3:29
    Mainly I've just been doing other things outside of that, getting a couple of tats as you know, so I'm going through my midlife crisis. So that's been me, just getting a few of my arms done, so forearm and whatnot, and then just a bit of reorganising in my room. You know, just bought a couple of posters, band posters and stuff like that that I got framed that just needed hanging and controllers, like console controllers and stuff. So other than that, I haven't really done much in regards, as I said, buying, selling, fixing. Most of my machines are running pretty smooth from memory. I don't have any major issues, which is good.
    4:12
    So, yeah, that's about it really. Also, on a side note, I haven't bought any machines or bought, sold or swapped anything for quite a while. Obviously, I need to save some cash for this mat cave. Yes. And also, I've been looking at buying a digger as well, which I keep procrastinating about. I think you said that last episode. I don't know, but if it was a pinball machine, I'd have to spend $25,000, $30,000. I would have already bought it. But since it's a digger, I don't know anything. So a mini excavator, so a 1.5-ton machine. So since I don't know anything about it, I just keep looking and doing research. You're just stressing too much about it, right? That's exactly right. Well, I suppose the only thing, I suppose, that we've done the last month is we actually went to NIL, the Australian Pinball Museum,
    4:57
    to have a bit of a play up there. We did. We had a boys' weekend. Another mate of ours came with us, Rowan. So the three of us went up there. We're all down on the – well, he's not Peninsula side, but we're sort of Mornington Peninsula area. and so the drive is about a five-hour drive there or thereabouts. A half-hour stopper for lunch. Yeah, we stopped at Beaufort, which was really nice actually, a nice cafe in there, so that was pretty good. So it was about two and a half hour into it, I think, which was good timing. And then, yeah, hit the museum 4.30ish on the Friday. So we left on the Friday morning, so we all had a sneaky Friday off, left on the Friday morning about 10.30 so we could have Friday night, Saturday night up there. So we played a bit of Friday night, obviously, Saturday, Sunday, which was really good.
    5:54
    I don't know, impressions? I really like the place, to be honest. I like what Lyndon, who's the owner up there, has done. Yep, it's fantastic.
    6:05
    He's crammed a shitload of machines in there. I don't know how many there are in total, but there is a shitload of machines in there. There must be 50, 60-something machines, I would have thought. There's a bank of EMs and SS machines as well, which is good for those older school guys or girls that grew up and played with that. I didn't. I had a few SSs, but I wasn't an EM guy. And you know who I found? Well, after viewing the show, watching the people come in and out, I found all the younger people or just all the new people went straight to the SS and EM machines. Yeah, out the back, yeah. Yeah, they went straight to them. Instead of coming to any of these new machines with all the big lights and everything, everyone was attracted to those old machines. Yeah, yeah, it's funny, isn't it? And not they're tucked away, but when you first walk in, you know, your lefts and your right are sort of, you know, he obviously has got the Metallica launch coming up. It's just done it, didn't it, this weekend? It must have been this weekend. This weekend. There you go, for end of month. So that was directly on the right-hand side, and we'll chat about that particular machine, I'm sure. And then on the left, he had a bank of Toy Story, which is great for kids.
    7:11
    What else was there? There was X-Men. X-Men Uncanny. What were the other two machines there? I can't even remember what the other two machines were. Guardians of the Galaxy. Guardians. And then there was... What was the one next to Guardians? Why am I having a blank? I can't remember what the one next to Guardians... Anyway, I'm sure we'll remember. So, yeah, when you walk in, you see those. You're like, straightaway Toy Story, play that.
    7:35
    But, yeah, he does a pretty good rotation. So, obviously, he gets a lot of the new machines in. So, yeah, of recent memory, there was Jaws, Wick. He had Godzilla 70th. As I said, he obviously had the X-Men, the new Metallica in there.
    7:51
    Had Barrel of Fun, Labyrinth in there. There's obviously Godfather. There was some shit heap that was on free play. I can't remember what that was. I don't think we even say the name to announce it.
    8:09
    So, I mean, certainly a good load of machines in there. I mean, we played. So we played from Friday 5 through till about 11. It was 11.30, was it? 11.30, Vanessa Young. So we had Vanessa there, who I think is Lyndon's dad's partner.
    8:26
    And she was awesome, mate. But like, shout out to Vanessa, who went out and got us pizza the first night because we were getting a bit drunk.
    8:35
    Jerry got on the cans. I got on the cans. So we weren't able to drive, and she was like, yeah, no problems. You order it at 7, I'll go pick it up at 7.15, and we'll be back. I was like, fuck, this is unbelievable. Fantastic.
    8:48
    So shout out to her. But, yeah, so she let us stay open a little bit later, which was great. So we got a good playing in there. And then Saturday we basically played all day. I think we were there 9am until 11 again. 11.30 at night. With a short little lunch break. I think we only probably stopped for maybe 40 minutes. Yeah, I don't think we stopped long at all because we had leftover pizza anyway. But yeah, that was really good. I mean, we got to play. I think the beauty of something like that is, even though it is a fair high, we got to play machines that we wouldn't normally get a chance to. One, because I think as we discussed last time, I'm priced out now of buying NIVs. But, you know, play X-Men.
    9:32
    Give Wick another go. Give Jaws another go. You gave Venom another go. Yeah, Venom and Stranger Things and I played them all. Yep, Black Knight. I definitely kept going back to X-Men and John Wick. Yeah, you liked X-Men. I did like X-Men. I thought it was fantastic. I really do like it. Should we talk about the machines? or yeah so currently what we're doing oh we're still talking about other machines but x-men in general love the artwork i love artwork in the play field actually a lot of the design even though it's very it's confusing yeah it is confusing very confusing the shots are hard but when you hit the shots they are so satisfying well shots that i was getting anyway i don't know what they were doing obviously giving me points and achieving to a um a multi ball yeah or a mode but I just enjoyed the shots and how they flowed from one side to the other. Which is the complete opposite of what I thought. I thought the flow of the machine was good. Like I can see how people look at the machine and enjoy the flow but I thought the shots were just shit. They were hard. They were bloody hard. You know, like getting into that danger room, I had no idea when I was going to be in there or when I wasn't going to be in there. Consequently, I think my first half dozen balls, it just literally just drained on me because I was like, oh, fuck, okay. I kept getting into the danger from the bloody pop bumper. So above the pop bumper, there's a gap. I swear I kept sliding into there all the time, but I kept getting out of it. But at least you could see it going in there from that ramp, that Y-form ramp. I had no idea if it was going to drop in. Yeah, same. That was a bit hard, wasn't it? It was confusing as hell, man. And the offset flippers didn't bother me, but I just found that maybe the trajectory of the ball or something, for me had an effect on the middle mid drain even with that mid post the the middle drain was just shocking um but yeah i mean yeah it's obviously not for everyone i'm just a shit player as well so definitely definitely if i can beat you shit so what was it so you'd get the um oh i was progressing quite well so i was activating all the modes and was i completing them no but i was achieving some stuff from the Insider Connect and I kept getting multi-ball. So when you hit the Sentinel, it was a Sentinel, wasn't it? That's what it's called, the big yeah, the Sentinel. So that was fun, keep bashing. That was very much like CV. So you do that and you get into a mode. So bashing the Sentinel, getting multi-ball and it was good fun. I enjoyed all the reflective shots. They just glided from one ramp to the other. So all up a ramp and through the other opening for the other ramp so I spent plenty of time in the danger room People complain about the code Honestly the machine on site so I didn get to really work out if there were code problems If it was in home, then obviously you could see that the code was premature. But I still thought it was fun, and what I did, I enjoyed. I think, like, you got into modes, you could start multi-balls. That's right, I started every mode.
    12:35
    I started multi-balls. There was six modes up there, you had access to all of them. so I had no issues.
    12:42
    So I'm not too sure what the code issue was with everyone else. I just think people just like to repeat what someone else says. So once again, unless it's in a home use environment, I don't think you'd ever really know. Unless it was like Batman 66 when I first played it when nothing worked. Yeah, literally nothing worked. And I thought, well, I'll get shit and then I bought one.
    13:05
    So moving to Metallica, I think. Metallica? Yeah, Metallica. I don't like the artwork. When I first saw it come out, I didn't like the playfield artwork. I don't mind the cabinet artwork, though. That's not too bad. Because he had the LE there, did he not? No, that was a premium. He had a premium. Translight, I don't think much of it, honestly.
    13:27
    The UV lamp on the playfield, it's in the way. It's this big silver stainless steel. It's not big, but it's above the slings. It's just in the way. You actually can't see an insert because of it. Yeah, okay. And honestly, the UV lamp is underwhelming. It did nothing. It just... Maybe because it was in a bright environment.
    13:50
    Stranger Things is in a bright environment. It's pretty dark. Yeah, but that just lights up and it looks fantastic, whereas this is just a complete gimmick. I think with Stranger Things, though, you're talking the whole play field. Like the whole play field gets hit with the UV lamp and the slings, excuse me, the slings, the flippers, some of the ramp and everything. So it hops completely because the whole playfield was done. Whereas with Metallica, it's just their heads, isn't it? Yeah, and above the hammer, which is like a little key or something. Pretty much. So I think that's, to pull it back into perspective, I think that's the main difference between that and Stranger Things. Pretty much. Like I said, it's underwhelming. Yeah. Just another gimmick. Just a gimmick. another way to say, here, let's put the price up. The hammer, I felt it didn't thumb like all machines. I didn't hear it. It just, you didn't get that, was it the sound? I don't know, I just couldn't hear the mech hitting down. Yeah, it almost, and I don't think my, do the LEs have shaker motors standard? I don't think they do. Oh, no, no. But I almost feel like when my hammer comes down, you get this, and it's through the speakers. Yeah, that's right. That's right, and it just wasn't there on the, Not at all. on that machine at all. and even Sparky he didn't I felt he wasn't as violent like sure the chair moves now but I didn't think it was I don't know it was shocking we were you certainly put a fair fucking few coins in that's alright I've got to try it out so is it different to the one you own? no yeah but it's still just got to sit and play and have a bit of a crack on so but the other thing was it has the airline ball saves now which the OG doesn't have yeah and it's also got an extra rubber post on the left hand outline which shows me and Jared were discussing is it better or worse so Jared believes it's better because it allows it to nudge you and stuff so I don't know if it made much of a difference honestly because it still went down the bloody side but honestly as well also sparking lights up as well with the UV but once again you're electrifying a skull it's not a you know it's a skeleton so the only thing i'll say about the machine because i only played a couple times because i was very much of the opinion that i own it so i don't need to um i agree with you with that post and the ball saves that they've obviously made that for whatever reason design changes um i i just wasn't wrapped like even the inline drops of the cross were set forward because they've got larger magnets on them now. So they had to move those inline drops forward, which means that a skint shot, to use Deadpool, you can skid the front of the first drop target and it'll drop because it's outside of the playfield, like it's in front of the stand-up targets. Whereas on ours, it's behind that and under, so you've got to actually shoot it up and under. So that was interesting.
    17:03
    But otherwise, like I just honestly thought the DMD animations were crap. I'll say to you, it was crap. Rudd. Yep. So bad. Black and white as well. Yep. I mean, there were a couple in there. I didn't mind there was an extra ball animation that I thought was quite good, even though he didn't explode, whereas ours, he swallows the ball and explodes. So that's probably one up. But the animation they used was a bit deeper, longer snake, a little bit more interesting. So there were a couple of small animations that I quite liked, but overall, not a massive fan of the new release. For those that, as I said, I think we chatted last time, didn't get the opportunity to grab the previous, it's definitely worth a buy. Yeah, that's right. One of the best layout machines you'll ever buy. This is your chance to now buy a Metallica Premium. Yeah. And if you don't, you'll miss out again. Yep, more than likely. So is there any more you want to go through on what we played? Oh, I was going to say John Wick. John Wick, yeah, okay, you liked Wick. I enjoyed John Wick. Even though you played it with a ball trapped behind the car? On the last day, I didn't bloody realise. You were told. I know, but that was the night before after two or three beers.
    18:15
    So, yeah, so I've got to play John Wick again. And the ball likes to get extremely stucky in certain places. So I'm pretty sure this machine was also, I'm sure it was intentionally done, the left flipper was dropped down because it didn't move. It didn't keep dropping. Disagree. No, I still believe that flipper was purposely lowered down slightly so you could get up into that, what was it, bookcase or chest or something? It was his chest. Yeah. Unless it was from factory, so even something from AMD that had done, because I know it's from... I told you, I played it in Sydney. it wasn't dropped in Sydney when Nathan and I played it they were level if it was loose it would keep dropping it didn't drop at all there's no way the machine reminded me of Johnny Mnemonic just a very similar set up so your left ramp right ramp and up the guts where the car is that's where the spinner is and then you've got the pop pump area which is a very similar layout and how it can just come down slowly it's a pretty tight shooting machine like the shots are tight especially up in that pop bumper section with the drop target. That's tight. And the mid-ramp as well is real. I found that extremely hard to hit, which for multi-ball is important, but I struggled. Yeah, but I enjoy the machine. So I'd... Yeah, it's a good machine. Would I own one? If I had a spare 15.5, I'd probably buy one, but I've got other machines I prefer to buy instead, like a Venom or X-Men Uncanny. No, I wouldn't want to spend it on that. I would. just so you can play it and appreciate it you'll learn to love it I'm putting it in the same category as Turtles no way no no that's just too difficult what about Jaws again Jaws, we enjoyed that this time around, I think as I said to you when we were on the way up I was planning on looking at some rules just to gain a bit more of an understanding of how to play them so I looked up Jaws rules obviously very simplistic you know, how to start Moze, how to start MultiBall, because I've only played it twice before and had NFI on what I was doing. But, yeah, I quite liked it this time around. And last time, I swear, it had a lean to the left. Remember, it had got through that... It's the only thing... I was going to leave this till the end of the chat with our trip. It's the only thing, Lyndon, if you listen, please, mate, you move all those machines, you could spend two more minutes levelling them out. Like, they just – and I know operators, you know, they're just a different breed, and that's cool. I've known some, and that's all right. But in that sort of setup, I just would have thought you're trolley jacking the bastards up. You're probably closed for a day or two to move them all around and move some out because it's so tight up there. Just spend another five minutes and just wind some legs, mate. Just wind some legs. I'll come and do it. Give me free a call. Yes, you will. Give me free a call and I'll come and do it. No, me and Matty will come and do it. No problem. The service techs.
    21:26
    No, that's you. And you didn't do anything or you forget about it. Oh, that's right, because she needed some rubbers.
    21:35
    Rubbers changed. She needed some flicker rubbers changed. Now, Labyrinth. Honestly, yeah, it wasn't as fun as I remember at the Expo. But then again, at the expo, it also had a lean on it, and the right flipper was quite lazy. But yeah, it was just underwhelming as well, wasn't it?
    21:53
    I still believe the volume needed to be turned up, because all I could hear was the topper heads moving left and right.
    22:03
    Just the gears and that moving. So that was quite distracting. And just, yeah, without the sound and the volume, I just couldn't get into it. I'm not sure that would have helped. I think it would have got you a bit more immersed. No, there wasn't enough to immerse the music and speech and stuff. It didn't sound like it was there.
    22:26
    It's felt like it shot okay, but, yeah, initially I didn't think much of the machine either. What else, Neil? Any more machines there? No, that's probably about it. We broke Swords of Fury.
    22:41
    Yeah, did we? No, the sound just stopped on it, didn't it? No, the ball got lost. It kept getting bloody lost. I left it aside. Oh, Swords of Fury. I was thinking of Black Knight. Yeah, Swords of Fury in the left orbit. The, not really. The lock, isn't it? Sorry, the ball lock. Up kicker. Yeah, yeah. So I kept losing out there. So that was disappointing because we had like four extra games on, didn't we? Yeah, we did. We did. But we had a bit of a go on TNA. I didn't mind that again. That was good fun. I think we discussed at the time if you were out of the total machines there, if you were going to buy one, what one would you buy?
    23:18
    Well, for me, sorry. Well, I am talking to you. Sorry, I just... Just out of what you played and what you saw at the museum, Pimble Museum there in Neil, if you would have... Any machine. If any machine grabbed you enough to buy it, which one would it be? Probably Venom. Still Venom? Still Venom. Or X-Men. No, I said one. I know, but I'm decisive. No, one. you know what maybe X-Men Uncanny just to have something different yeah I'd go Stranger Things I really liked that again this time around really really liked it it's good that UV just for me is fantastic not underwhelming not Game of the Month so last month we had Game of the Month so we want to keep a little bit of a theme going here and do it again you had Venom yes I had Game of Thrones, did I? Yeah, probably. So this month, what is your game of the month this month? What have you enjoyed playing on? Honestly, I've been actually playing Medieval Mandus with my kids. Okay. It's just the girls come in and go, want to play pinball? It either out of his family or Medieval Mandus he can just jump on to So I been playing a bit of that with them Okay Yeah good game Yes 100 Mine been Tron Tron again Yeah I just I mean I since I mean, I've since back on a little bit of Game of Thrones and Simpsons Data East, but I mainly played Tron through the month. And that was just because it's such a challenging machine to get all the modes. Like that gem shot is just ridiculous. and I think it's probably close to one of the hardest shots in pinball. I'd be interested to know what others think about that. So feel free to let us know, guys, if you've got any thoughts on that. Pimbalawswide at hotmail.com. If you want to write in, let us know. But, yeah, I think that gem shot's really difficult. And the modes, while simple enough to start to get where you need to get, you've got to complete the modes to get to portal and that is a difficult thing to do. So I just want to master it a bit more, that's all. And it can kick my ass in 10 seconds or I can have an enjoyable minute and a half game.
    25:37
    But yeah, so that's for me, for Tron. And then we were also going to have a bit of a chat about best flowing machines. So you thought you'd let us know what your... The best flowing machine? I wanted to have two I want to do a fastest flowing machine and best flowing machine does it work? I don't know that could almost be hand in hand but yeah go for it give us one or other or both we can go hand in hand but this won't because the fastest flowing machine I believe is Johnny Mnemonic left ramp right ramp spinner left ramp keep going going going otherwise best flowing machine because you don't brick much medieval madness Yeah. But see, that's so much slower than Johnny. Yeah. So that's what I mean. So Johnny is... Those ramps can come back pretty quick at you, though, because they are pretty steep. Maybe the right-hand one. The other one's quite a bit... I guess the only difference is, yeah, that right one opens up to get the princess, so you would lose that flow after a while. But, yeah, okay. Johnny? Johnny's a very good flowing machine. Yeah, I really enjoyed owning that. for me off the cuff I reckon actually Demoman would have to be up there I didn't put any thought into this, apologies I know you told me about it a while back but just thinking off the top of my head I'd have to look at Demoman for both that's fast as fuck actually it is isn't it is actually and people forget it's a wide body as well which is amazing because most widebodies of that era tend to be a bit clumpy and a bit slow and, you know, not that great. But that is – I love the ramps, the orbits. I just reckon it's really good and it's brutal too, brutal.
    27:31
    But, yeah, so then quickly, so we also want to just chat about best buyers on the page. There was an X and O's that you said. The X and O's for under $2,000. What was that, 1900, I think it was?
    27:45
    Sure, it was probably a little bit beaten up. I'm just having a scroll while we chat. Okay, probably not a great machine. But when can you get it? Oh, there it is. It's 3500, Brisbane. No, that's a different one. That's a different one? No, that's another one. Oh, okay. But this one was 1900 or 1950. Okay. I haven't seen an SS machine for under two grand since probably 2019. Yeah. Early 2020, just before COVID. So I'd say that's a good buy. Then there was a high-speed getaway too, wasn't there? Yeah, Williams high-speed getaway too. That was $6,500. Oh, okay. Yeah. They've been, for the last four or five years, anywhere between $8,000 to $10,000, even $12,000. Yeah. I don't know if that's necessarily a best buy, though. It's $65,000. It's not bad. I heard a colour-damned in it as well. So really, you're getting a machine for $5,500, aren't you? There's a high-speed on here that I don't know if I've tried. It's $4,000, Daniel. Yeah, I tell you, that could be a fun purchase. Which is a bad $4,000. Yeah, 100%. So machines definitely come down in price, and I don't believe they're going to keep dropping anymore. I think we've probably hit rock bottom now. I don't know if we've hit rock bottom. Are you ready? We've hit... I think there's still room for certain machines to keep coming down, without a doubt. Some people putting machines up at... Stupid prices. Yeah, stupid prices. That's a different story. but people who are putting up machines who want to actually sell them, they're coming at the correct price. Like I said, pretty much rock-bottom price with a little bit of negotiation.
    29:17
    So, hey, that high-speed could have sold for six grand, I don't know, but it was advertised for six-five. Yeah. So if you need a machine, I'll be buying one sooner or later.
    29:29
    Yeah, and certainly... It's a good time to buy. Certainly still be able to negotiate, I would have thought, too. Yeah, 100%. I mean, certainly for me, I wouldn't have thought prices were set in stone.
    29:42
    No, definitely. I've never purchased a machine at the set price unless it was through a distributor. Now, part of the best buys as well is, I believe, is Chris Warren's Looney Tunes from Spooky Pinball. He's the Spooky Pinball king in Australia, honestly. So he is taking a huge loss on this machine. So if you want to get a bargain, this is probably the cheapest and best modded machine you'll be able to find for Looney Tunes. So 16 at the moment. And he's only wanting to sell it because he wants to buy the Halloween, no, not Halloween, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which is his preferred theme instead of Looney Tunes. So if anyone out there listening, you're wanting Looney Tunes, get the cheapest one in Australia and at least you know you're dealing. You'll be buying with confidence from him. Yeah, he's a good guy. Yep. He's located in Sydney as well. Yep.
    30:32
    Now we need to talk about scammers, people. they're here, there and everywhere but we're pretty good on our page and they're not on our page from what we can tell and if they are they happen via PM and we don't get told about it so if it does happen via PM guys reach out or pop it on the page to let us know yes 100% we vet every account that comes through so we do our best to make sure no one gets to join unless they're a real person and not a scammer especially new accounts to pinball pages that are six months or under old. Forget it. You're not getting on. There was one just the other day. It was Andy's Pinball.
    31:11
    Andy's Pinball. And it had 400 friends. It was only a new account from probably three or four weeks ago. And all these people who were part of our page accepted it as a friend. Was that the one that Kerry chatted about on his YouTube? Yes. And even he was a friend of it as well? Yeah, he was a friend of it. Why would you? How can't you tell it was a scam? and then you get all these ones with the AI-generated photos and like, oh, we're a pinball page and you just tell they're not real. Stop accepting randoms. I apologise. I know I'm going to go back. I just found the Best Buy, which was that Star Trek pinball machine, that cocktail machine at $1,100.
    31:49
    Oh, yeah, yeah, in Queensland. Yeah, well... That's right, yeah, I remember. That was cool. Yeah. If that was in Melbourne, I would have loved that, just for something different. That's kind of fun. Anyway, sorry. So, yeah, so scammers, we've had enough. We know what you're up to, and we're smart enough not to accept you. And, members, if you are concerned or you have any questions, put up a post and ask if they're legit. Or reach out to admin. Reach out to admin, yeah. If you're not keen on doing that sort of stuff, you can always hit us up. That's not an issue. We'll help out where we can. I mean, we can't do anything. If you send them money and you already get duped into it, we can't help out with that. But we can only advise if we believe it's legit or not. Yep. To our best knowledge. Yep. Agreed.
    32:42
    So recently, and we will skim over this briefly because I don't think there's much interest, certainly on the page there hasn't been much interest, and even on Pinside, I haven't noticed much interest on the Twippies, which is a This Week in Pinballs yearly awards for best machine and best podcast and best location, best rules, best art package, blah, blah, blah. So once a year they do it. It's voted on by everybody.
    33:12
    We'll skim over it because, as I said, I think, one, it is pinball news that people might be interested in, So we don't want to necessarily alienate those that are interested in listening and hearing what's going on. But basically, it's voted on by just Pimble, general public via email.
    33:32
    And then the votes are tallied and awards are given out. I think they've been doing it five years now, five, six years now. So it's been around a while. but just to give a quick brief rundown so the best game launch was Jaws by Stern most improved game was Elton John by JJP best rules was Jaws by Stern best art package was Avatar by JJP so that's probably not unusual I thought that was you really liked that when you saw that at the Expo it's fantastic best animation Jaws best sound package was Metallica best playfield Jaws innovation of the year Uncanny X-Men that was a deliberate pause game of the year ended up being Jaws and then the best theme integration also ended up being Jaws so Stern generally as per usual have sort of taken up most of the awards there probably nothing really out of the ordinary for that yeah as I said we don't do anything here in Australia for that sort of stuff I guess we just follow that that's it yeah I need to give a shout out to Ben Leonard don't I Ben Leonard yes yes so as I said in the last podcast I have 68 machines in my collection and I did say to you on the in the comment that I'd list all my machines but he did he did ask what your machines are. Yeah, that's correct. Ben, I appreciate it. It's such boring radio. I don't think people want to listen to 68 machines being reeled off. Like the alphabet. So we thought Matty would give top 10 machines and then let you know if there was one that was the hardest to track down.
    35:34
    So anyway, my top 10 in my collection. Number 10 is Stern Cheetah. Stern Cheetah? Widebody? Widebody. SS? SS. Fantastic. You like that because you literally kick my ass every time we play that in a tourney. It's a machine full of spinners and drop targets. It's fantastic.
    35:53
    I can just get into the zone of that machine. I absolutely love it. Iron Maiden by Stern. Number nine. Number nine, sorry. Yep.
    36:03
    Number eight is Batman 66. Okay. Number seven is JJP, Pirates of the Caribbean. Yeah, I know they had a really bad rap for a lot of its life, and that's why it's such a short run, but I really do enjoy playing that. Because I can beat you on it as well. You can? You do realise this whole list is sort of machines I can beat, right? That'd be fucking right.
    36:31
    Then, oh, and people complain saying that all the machines are fucked, that, oh, there was pooling on the playfields, this and that. I've had no issues whatsoever. My machine's perfect, it's flawless. Doesn mean it doesn have it Oh no I know but when certain people say every machine is fucked that not very good is it Yeah no Well I and Kenny X are having issues again with their scoop and it chipping away But that's another story. Anyway, get back to the... It's a pirate. Number six will have to be JJP Hobbit. Hobbit, okay. Which is a nice, hope-flowing machine. Yeah, okay. So, not that I can beat you all the time, but I can beat you sometimes on this machine. Yes, I can. that's why so I just really enjoy the flow of the machine it's just people say oh it's bare and empty but no there's tons to do it's great hitting straight up both those ramps and the orbits to do your mode locks and stuff really good machine yep agreed number five Mustang yeah okay I really enjoy that machine good risk reward machine yep honestly settings need to be changed to hard or change get rid of extra ball because otherwise you can get extra ball non-stop it's just yeah but I enjoy the machine Obviously I'm a Mustang fan as well I was going to say for those that are a car fan And specifically a Mustang I get it I think it's a bit flowy, bumpy You know kind of It's not a fast flowing machine It tends to bounce around a bit for me And very very long ball times One thing I said You need to change the settings to make it harder Number four Circus Voltaire Just can't beat it Fantastic art pack It's just the machine Just the cool that's just the everything there's just so many shots in it as well good quality J-Pod great locks yeah Juggler lock is very good when it works well that's right number three Ghostbusters Premium by Stern what a great machine that is that's fast and brutal yep so but they updated the code back in 2019 I think it was and I don't know if I like this final code I think I prefer the code before the unfinished code well it was finished no it wasn't yeah it was finished They changed it, added extra stuff to it. But I think they preferred the Kogi 4. Made it unfinished.
    38:45
    So that's just my opinion. Yep. Number two, Medieval Madness. Okay. A Williams. You said you've been bashing away on that. Yeah, that's right. So once again, fantastic machine, great following machine. And number one. Number one, Metallica Premium. That is my favourite machine of all. Yep. So that's it.
    39:04
    And Ben, if you want to know the full collection, and you can obviously just go look at all the Happy Friday Night beers and pimples over the years, and you'll pretty much see that's the collection there. Yeah, we've taken a few over the years with different times and locations. I just want to say I know that's your list, and it's a pretty bloody decent list, actually. I mean, out of the ones you've got, Stern Cheater definitely couldn't argue with. Maiden, Batman I would slide Batman out for me and probably Pirates and Mustang I would have added for me personally I don't know how you went past Deadpool personally or ACDC I'd want to, there just wasn't enough in there No I know, you said top 10 so you've obviously had to leave some out ACDC was there and Evan Simpson's People Party was sort of there too Yeah, okay. So, but I sort of... No, no, no. And I guess this is out of your collection. So this is what you play the most. And that may be just slightly swayed because these are the machines that you have out, whereas you've got some stored. So you don't have your whole collection. So maybe we'll re-look at it when your collection comes out again. Yeah, possibly. But I definitely would have thought that you would have had Deadpool in there. That would have to be close to my number one between that and Metallica. But yeah, that's an awesome list, man. So there you go, Ben. That's his top 10. Any hard ones to track down or any issues tracking them down? I mean, I know most of them you bought new, some of them secondhand that were pretty easy. A lot of secondhand, isn't it? There's, look, you know what? The hardest time to track them down was during COVID when you couldn't get newer box machines. Yeah. That was about it. But otherwise, private sales. So I bought most of them, I wore a lot of these machines before COVID. Yeah. And people weren't on Gumtree every five minutes like they are now and like they were on Marketplace. and you'd be picking machines up left, right and centre without any issues.
    41:03
    So was there anything I struggled to get? Well, Toten was probably one of the hardest ones to find because I've only seen, what, two or three come up in all these years for sale. And if they weren't at a reasonable price, it's either you're going to pay $20,000 plus, which I'm not going to pay. But I found one in good condition and did my magic to it, and it plays fantastic now. And I picked that up at a good price. That was probably maybe the harder machine to find. Very nice.
    41:39
    Do you want to touch on rumor machines briefly as well? When I wrote this list, originally I had JJP as Harry Potter, which is obviously no longer a rumor. It's been announced, yeah. So that has been announced.
    41:53
    Obviously, we need to wait for details on it. I'm very, very surprised on the page. There were literally 13 comments that came from three members. Two members just having a chat amongst themselves and then one member who said something else. So obviously the hype here is dead.
    42:14
    Like, I don't know why. I don't know if people aren't interested. I would have thought Harry Potter would be an absolutely massive, massive theme, but it just didn't seem to gain traction on the page for whatever reason. I've got no interest myself either so I won't be buying one. Look, I don't have interest.
    42:33
    I've never seen a movie so... Yeah, okay. So I've seen them because my kids are at that age but certainly I would have thought it would have been very, very big but no interest at all. Barrels of Fun, June, is there rumoured? Depends on what they're doing. Are they doing the original movie or are they doing new movies one and two? Apparently the original. I read quickly off Nap Arcade, who I just sort of – I mean, look, if you guys don't know about Nap Arcade, Google it. Nap, which is K-N-A-P-P, Arcade. He's pretty good. But he had here Dutch – no, Dutch Barrels of Fun. Just confirmed the rumor that next game is June or is it an AI trick? Apparently, they wrote the phrase 13th hour June. Likely refers to the infamous never made 14 hour film adaptation of Frank Herbert's June.
    43:31
    So, apparently, that's going to be next. Stern, apparently, King Kong? Elwynn? Kong. Okay. Which King Kong are we talking about? Are we talking about King Kong from back in the 60s or even earlier, isn't it? Yeah. So, you know, I grew up watching King Kong from the 70s or 80s, I think it was. So there's just so many variations out there. Or is it just going to be its own cartoon? Well, if you're going back with Godzilla, would you assume that it would have been an earlier King Kong? I guess I'd probably have it like that, wouldn't I? Yeah. You know, as opposed to later? Probably. Who knows? And Pinball Brothers' rumoured Predator, which was based off a photo on their Instagram that they put up of the jungle. Which looked like, to me, I actually said Jungle Book, which makes sense. Because they were supposedly in negotiations with Disney, they said. Right, okay. So Jungle Book, yeah, they make a lot of sense. Okay. Whereas Predator ain't Disney.
    44:32
    Predator ain't Disney. No. Although, actually, you've... Yeah, maybe you're right. It's hard to tell if... Oh, no, that's just a vine. It's hard to tell if it was a monkey or something swinging off.
    44:44
    But that to me, the cartooniness of it, that looks, I just said Jungle Book, as soon as I heard Disney. I mean, no disrespect, but I'll be skipping past them anyway. Yep.
    44:53
    Abba, Queen, not really that great. Very simplistic. Worst machines I've played. Yeah, not great. Okay, and I guess I think that's about everything. The only thing that I just want to touch on, and this will be a little bit of an admin rant, I think we chatted about this initially. Every day. Hopefully, my listeners won't take this too much to heart, but I just want to quickly say for the page, PimbleOzWhite on Facebook, we're getting a lot more machines up for sale, which is great. It's good to see that that's happening, obviously.
    45:32
    Guys, please, for fuck's sake, put a better description and a better bunch of photos when you're selling your machines. I know this is going to sound like an old fart, but I've been in the hobby since 2007. And I just remember if I wanted to sell a machine, I'd take the fucking glass off and I'd clean it to within an inch of its life. I'd take off ball trails. I'd take off any ball marks on rubbers, on slings, on targets. Because people look at it and think, oh, you don't maintain your machine.
    46:08
    Regardless if you do or you don't. If you go to sell it, just take the glass off and give it a wipe down. Give it a wipe down with a dirty rag. And stop putting, you know, great machine, recently serviced, plays well, good condition. Like, you know, get some information because no disrespect, if that's what you've got, you deserve low bulls. And that's why you get them because people think you can't be fucked selling your machine and you can't put the effort into it. So people are like, oh, well, he just wants to get rid of it because he can't be stuffed anymore. So I'll just offer him four or five grand under market or under whatever he's offered. So, like I said, a little bit of a rant, but just spend an extra minute or two, quality photos, take the glass off, give it a clean down, give a good description. and then you probably find that you'll get a good quality buyer that will almost pay for your asking price or will pay your asking price. Could you put some effort into it? And everyone will be a win-win, you know? Now, another little rant. Don't go listing the machine on our page for $8,000 and then go listing it on Gumtree or on other pages for $7,000 or $7,500. You should be looking after the community here because we're looking after you and everyone's all here to get a good deal, why would you go looking after other people on Gumtree? 100%. It just makes it look like you're trying to take advantage of our members and our community that we've tried to build. That's right. And some of the reach of these posts are huge.
    47:51
    So, yeah, I would agree with you there, Matty. 100%. Anything else? So I think we're about done. Hopefully I'll get this out in the next couple of days.
    48:04
    Just remember, guys, if you've got any questions or queries, email us at pinballoswideathotmail.com.
    48:12
    Feel free to email us, good or bad. Always happy for good or bad. Thanks for previous listeners, as Matty said at the opening. Appreciate all the listens and all the follows. Hopefully we keep going and get a few more. So don't forget to like, subscribe. And I've enjoyed this.
    48:31
    Thank you. you