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Episode 22: We talk Spooky Interview and Drew got Drunk

Poor Man's Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·analyzed·Aug 20, 2019
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.032

TL;DR

Drew and Scott praise Alice Cooper's Nightmare Castle after 100 plays; discuss Spooky Pinball facility tour and Fang Club strategy.

Summary

In this casual episode of Poor Man's Pinball Podcast, hosts Scott Ian and Drew discuss their extended hands-on experience with Alice Cooper's Nightmare Castle (100+ plays), praising its rules design, upper playfield mechanics, and overall cohesion while offering minor constructive feedback. They share personal pinball acquisition updates, discuss their recent visit to Spooky Pinball's Wisconsin facility, and reveal details about Spooky's new 'Fang Club' membership program designed to manage demand for future releases. The hosts also touch on industry news from other podcasts and upcoming Spooky releases including Total Nuclear Annihilation 2.0.

Key Claims

  • Alice Cooper's Nightmare Castle is one of Spooky Pinball's best games with fantastic rules design, particularly the Frankenstein multiball upper playfield mode

    high confidence · Drew, after ~100 plays, giving detailed praise of specific modes (Vampire/Frankenstein) and game orchestration

  • Spooky Pinball manufactures approximately 10 games per week from their Benton, Wisconsin facility

    high confidence · Scott Ian and Drew discussing tour observations of Spooky's production line

  • Charlie Emery stated he will never implement Stern's three-tier Pro/Premium/Limited Edition model; Spooky games maintain identical gameplay across trim levels with only cosmetic variations

    high confidence · Drew reporting Charlie's position during interview: 'he was Papa Duke adamant that he'll never do the Stern models'

  • Spooky Pinball has approximately 1,000 machines in circulation among their existing customer base

    high confidence · Drew citing Charlie's explanation of Fang Club motivation: 'they have 1,000 machines out there'

  • Total Nuclear Annihilation 2.0 is planned with the same gameplay but cosmetic tweaks; original game was priced around $5,999-$6,000

    high confidence · Drew reporting from Charlie at Spooky facility tour

  • Alice Cooper's Nightmare Castle started at $6,400 retail price

    high confidence · Drew comparing pricing across Spooky titles during discussion

  • Spooky Pinball has three games currently in development at various stages

    medium confidence · Drew's speculation from interview: 'Charlie said he was going to make one more, maybe. And maybe if you count Matt Danesi's, then so that's two. And then there's like this third one'

  • Total Nuclear Annihilation sold approximately 550 units, exceeding the initial 500 unit target

    medium confidence · Drew: 'Total Nuclear Annihilation obviously sold more than 500. They were at 550 or whatever'

Notable Quotes

  • “It is a great game. I think it is one of Spooky Pinball's best, which isn't a big surprise. The shots are a little tight... but the rules are fantastic in this game.”

    Drew @ ~05:00-06:00 — Core assessment of Alice Cooper after 100 plays; balances minor criticism with significant praise for rules design

  • “Charlie was Papa Duke adamant that he'll never do the Stern models... he will never take anything out of a game, meaning if he sells a game, they'll have some cosmetic changes.”

    Drew @ ~45:00-46:00 — Key business differentiation strategy for Spooky vs Stern's tiered pricing model

  • “The problem with that is they have 1,000 machines out there. If 1,000 people want to be part of this club, and they're only making 500 games... that's where he's having a problem.”

    Drew @ ~48:00-49:00 — Explains the strategic rationale behind the Fang Club membership program

  • “Spooky Pinball, they're not there yet. They're not at the point where, if they announce a game, they're not selling out day one like a Sam Stern James Camerons Avatar (Limited Edition). Not yet, but if they have the right game come out, they could.”

    Drew @ ~51:00-52:00 — Assessment of Spooky's current market position relative to larger manufacturers

  • “He's like, okay, so if I do the Fang Club, it's not so much a way for you to skip line. I mean, it is technically, but it's really just a matter of putting a monetary value to the family.”

    Drew @ ~47:00-48:00 — Charlie Emery's explanation of Fang Club philosophy balancing family loyalty with scarcity management

  • “Everything just kind of plays together in such a way so I just want to once again give a shout out... Charlie and team and Phasma and David Van Es... Bowen Kerins—great job with this game.”

    Drew @ ~11:00-12:00 — Credits multiple team members for Alice Cooper's cohesive design and orchestration

Entities

Charlie EmerypersonBug EmerypersonSpooky PinballcompanyAlice Cooper's Nightmare CastlegameTotal Nuclear AnnihilationgameRob Zombie's Spookshow InternationalgameMatt DanesipersonPhasma

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Spooky Pinball facing scarcity/demand management challenge: 1,000 existing machines in circulation but can only produce 500 per new title, creating mathematical imbalance in customer satisfaction

    high · Drew explaining Charlie's rationale: 'If there's 1,000 people... and they're only making 500 games... that's where he's having a problem. So now he's like, okay, so if I do the Fang Club...'

  • ?

    business_signal: Spooky Pinball implementing customer loyalty program (Fang Club) to formalize first-access privileges for existing machine owners; providing additional value (packages, trim options) beyond standard club benefits

    high · Drew explaining: 'he's putting a monetary value to the family, the Spooky Pinball family... the fan club, those are the guys that have first dibs on the machines... he's trying to provide even more value on top of that, like different packages'

  • ?

    community_signal: Nate Shivers podcast project archiving and releasing Roger Sharpe's 1970s cassette interviews; family (Josh/Zach) encouraged release; represents significant pinball history preservation effort

    medium · Drew: 'His kids, mostly I think it was Josh... they pushed him to release those... Roger Sharpe's old interviews... done on, like, a Sony cassette player in the 70s. Super cool.'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Alice Cooper's Nightmare Castle demonstrates intentional upper playfield focus with Frankenstein multiball as centerpiece; modes reward players with high point value, balancing accessibility (tight shots becoming easier with practice) with satisfaction

    high · Drew's detailed analysis: 'when you're playing the modes, that's when you score the most points... everything just kind of jives together... music, sound effects, shots, artwork'

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.149

0:00
You keep tuning in, we're not sure why, so we'll keep doing it. It's the Poor Man's Pinball Podcast with Drew and... I'm telling Mary about Uncle John. He claimed he has a misery, but he's having a lot of fun. Oh, baby. Yeah, baby. Woo, baby. Having some fun tonight. Yeah. Welcome to the Poor Man's Pinball Podcast, episode number 22. everyone's 30th favorite yeah we've dropped in the ratings i'm ian and with me is drew i'm here hey drew how are you buddy living the dream man living it drew's eyes are all red and bloodshot because i think the last week has been spent playing uh alice cooper nightmare castle every day i know i you know last week i was talking about how i played like simpsons like two or three games a day i've put two games on simpsons this week total yeah drew's skin is turning a little green maybe that little powder coat uh what is that nightmare blue or whatever you got on there scary scary blue scary blue yeah drew looks like he lives in that castle now i i have put a lot of games on alice and uh if you don't mind i'd like to share with charlie a couple of thoughts on it.
1:23
Drew, go ahead. Charlie, I'm speaking specifically to you because this is your game. Everybody just turn off your radios. If your name isn't Charlie Emery at Spooky Pinball, turn it off now. Talking to you two guys out there. As everyone knows, last week we went and we interviewed Charlie and that was awesome. Once again, thank you Charlie. Thank you Bug. We'll talk about that a little bit. We will.
1:46
A couple thoughts on the game now that I've gotten let's call it 100 games. So 100 games for me is kind of where you really see what a game is all about, right? Yeah. You're still in the honeymoon phase, but you can kind of see pros and cons and some weaknesses and strengths of the game. With me, it's when my pinball machine sees me in my boxers. That's when I know it's gotten serious. Mine see me in my boxers almost daily. So I don't know what that means. but every morning my wife, my kids, and my dogs all need to see me in my boxes. Just watch out for that shooter rod. He's got a push button, even better.

  • Alice Cooper's Nightmare Castle is almost sold out

    medium confidence · Drew: 'Alice Cooper is almost sold out'

    • person
    David Van Esperson
    Bowen Kerinsperson
    Scott Ianperson
    Drewperson
    Ryan Kuiperperson
    Monster Bash SEgame
    Bram Stoker's Draculagame
    Walking Deadgame
    Fang Cluborganization
    Stern Pinballcompany
    Nate Shiversperson
    Roger Sharpeperson
    $

    market_signal: Secondary market pricing: Monster Bash SE (Chicago Gaming) listed at $6,900; Walking Dead Pro available $4,500-$4,700 range; hosts considering equivalent value trades

    high · Scott Ian: 'Walking Dead Pro Edition... $4,700, mostly. Let's be generous... $6,900 we feel is a fair price for the Monster Bash SE'

  • $

    market_signal: Alice Cooper's Nightmare Castle nearing sold-out status; demonstrates Spooky's growing demand but not yet at day-one sellout capacity of Stern's major releases

    high · Drew: 'Alice Cooper is almost sold out... Spooky Pinball, they're not there yet. They're not at the point where, if they announce a game, they're not selling out day one like a Sam Stern James Camerons Avatar'

  • ?

    announcement: Total Nuclear Annihilation 2.0 confirmed as planned release with preserved gameplay and cosmetic updates including artwork refresh

    high · Drew reporting from Charlie: 'Total Nuclear Annihilation is coming back at some point, 2.0... they'll keep the gameplay the same, but they'll do some cosmetic tweaks and stuff'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Spooky Pinball has multiple titles in development: Charlie possibly designing one more, Matt Danesi working on another, and third game in development at different stage

    medium · Drew: 'Charlie said he was going to make one more, maybe. And maybe if you count Matt Danesi's, then so that's two. And then there's like this third one that someone's working on.'

  • ?

    technology_signal: Spooky Pinball maintains single-code architecture across all production tiers (no Pro/Premium/LE variants); cosmetic variations (powder coat colors) add only minimal cost differentiation

    high · Drew: 'Charlie was Papa Duke adamant that he'll never do the Stern models... he will never take anything out of a game... the game will always be the same, which I think is very cool'

    • 2:27
    So a couple of thoughts and opinions on Alice Cooper. It is a great game. I think it is one of Spooky's best, which isn't a big surprise. The shots are a little tight, and I don't want to say frustrating quite yet.
    2:50
    I'm getting better at it. And once you find the shots, just like any game, I think it's a great shooting game. But more importantly, I think the rules are fantastic in this game.
    3:02
    I would agree. I loved starting the Frankenstein multiball. That's always fun. That's such a satisfying, just upper play field in general.
    3:12
    It's now my favorite upper play field. That Frankenstein shot is fun, but there's a lot of different things they do up in that upper play field. But my favorite is getting that Frankenstein going. Love the music that comes on when he goes up, and then there's the fucking weirdest Frankenstein you've ever seen. Oh, so cool, though. So cool. He just pops up with the fur sticking out of him. Yeah, the purple. Yeah, the purple fur. You know, he looks a little like Free Spider-Man fans. There was Kraven the Hunter. Yeah, yeah. He's wearing like a, you know, like a, I don't know, a tiger suit or something, but it's purple. It's like a shoal. Yeah. A tiger shoal. Just fur coming out. It's kind of neat. Good job, Charlie and team. Asked out of fur. My favorite mode so far has been the vampire because... Over the werewolf? The werewolf is fun, too. The werewolf's great. The werewolf has the best animations because you load the gun. And sound effects. Yeah, you see the big gun, you hear it. Does the knocker hit when you shoot?
    4:11
    Charlie, work in the knocker. Yeah, I don't think it does, but that would be a good one. Charlie, work in the knocker. But the vampire, so there's a target on the upper play field that you need to hit it three times to sever his head, which is awesome. Super cool. But more important than that, it plays Disco Bloodbath. Nice. You hear the name of that song, and it is. It's kind of like this up-tempo disco song, and bodies here, bodies there. And I'm like, huh, that's really catchy, but it's about death and blood and stuff. I was like, Alice Cooper, way to go, man. This is so cool. And that's like one of his things back from the 70s or whatever. So super cool. It's one of my favorite songs now, and I never heard it before. So Alice Cooper, way to go with that. Nice job, Alice. And it does such a good job with that mode. and what I found with this game is when you're playing the modes that's when you score the most points which I think it's balanced very well that way when you're not playing modes you really can't score a lot of points so I don't know if that's a pro or a con but you get into the modes and that's where all the points are it's just it's just super cool and I'm having a blast playing it and I haven't found too many negatives and Ian and I were talking earlier this week about the orchestration of it it's it's hard to kind of put into words but everything just kind of jives together on this machine the music the sound effects the shots artwork the artwork everything just kind of plays together in such a way so i just want to once again give a shout out and i know i'm in the honeymoon phase but but trying to i i took a few steps back and i really just looked at it with my quote-unquote pinball eyes um if there is such a thing and his boxers too by the way i wasn't my boxers when i looked at it this way but um stargazing eyes charlie and team and phasma and david van s and if i missed anyone i'm sorry but the whole line the whole the whole line uh the team bowen karen's um great job with this game um it's not perfect but it's very very good it's solid um i think it's a keeper for me i i really appreciate what you guys did and it's a great game you know what's nice about that game above all what's that that was very well said by the way um i'm eloquent when i'm drinking yeah your your coin door lock is perfect it was the most perfect coin door lock i've ever seen i didn't want to make those jokes but i'm going to that thing it it locks it like awesome it's pristine if you don't know what we're talking off that's just some pin side humor don't worry uh just just dumb asses on pin side we'll just move yeah we will we're not gonna even explain it charlie really didn't want to talk about even on pin side he's like i don't really want to talk about no comment no but um uh yeah my coin door latches like like like awesome it's just excellent man hey what you drinking over there uh oh yeah we forgot that i am drinking some more caribbean rum man i'm drinking up the rest of your belmont and coke it's awesome there you go man there you go yeah kessler uh you didn't come through on your sponsorship so now i'm drinking belmont for those of you who don't know i actually emailed tell them that oh i forgot about that yeah so that's two weeks ago right i looked up who makes kessler's and it's a company named some or sunbeam i think something like that sun sunbury sunbeam sunbeam anyway like that so you go on their website sunbeam makes a lot of spirits they have a whole lineup of japanese spirits like 20 20 different spirits yeah they have a lot they have a japanese you know section of their website there's the whiskey there's a bourbon yep there's an irish they do jim beam right they do jim beam and maker's mark i think i think yep you are correct yeah so it was crazy right this entire website dedicated all the spirits that they make I went through every page on that website. There's not one mention of Kessler's, which is hilarious.
    8:15
    So I go on Wikipedia just to double check, but no, it says on Wikipedia that Kessler's is made by Sunbeam.
    8:24
    Anyway, so I just say, what the hell? I'll click the contact us button. And then I wrote, you know, subject line Kessler's sponsorship, question mark. and I told them a little bit about us, but it was only like 200 characters. It was like a tweet, man, and I had to explain exactly what I wanted to do. We're in the smallest niche hobby in the world and we want you to sponsor us. We have the smallest podcast. We're the 30th biggest podcast in the small niche hobby. Yep, but we drink so much Kessler's while Drew does that I think we should have a sponsorship. I just wanted them to send us a bottle like and we talked about Kessler's because... Yeah. kessler's buying whiskey it would cost them a dollar you know and that's shipping the bottle would probably be free yeah they make probably 10 cents you know to make the damn bottle but anyway no no response man nothing huh they didn't want to sponsor this podcast if anyone out there wants to sponsor us we are shilling for anybody you come you let us know we will sponsor you yeah we'll send you a shill bill it'll be good man it'll be good the show bill that's gonna be a thing we need like it's more like coins dropping like a couple of nickels i don't know what we're gonna do what the hell are we even talking about anymore nobody nobody knows this show has morphed into some some ridiculous thing you know what we do every monday ryan we need you back yeah where's kuiper yeah kuiper we miss you man i think he got murdered i think his wife finally killed him Man, Kuyper, we do miss you. We've been communicating with him from the outside world. I don't know. He had a bachelor party this past Saturday. He did. His brother. No, brother-in-law. I think it was his wife's brother. Really? It was his brother. I don't know. He was the best man at a wedding, and he had a bachelor party that involved pinball. Yeah, they played pinball. They streamed some stuff at midnight. Oh, really? Yeah, they streamed Harlem Globetrotters at midnight. It's funny. Yeah, I got that little text on my phone or from Twitch. Yeah, it's like, Ryan Kuyper's streaming right now. I'm like, I'm sleeping. He's there with Josh, and he's like, first day of his month, we're in the middle of a bachelor party. It's winding down, though. I'm like, no shit, it's midnight, and you're streaming home. Oh, that's awesome. You know, not my idea of a bachelor party. No, but if there were strippers playing pinball, I would have streamed that. You just stumbled on something. you you pay a couple of these women to come and play pinball and they're like well what we just gotta do this in our bikini or whatever you're like yeah fine whatever just just play some pinball nice little bra yeah there you go oh my god that would be so fun oh man we we need to figure that out seriously well kuiper are you listening sue are you not listening because we're gonna be streaming in your basement sue i'm gonna need you to hang up the yeah close the uh the podcast window and, uh, walk away from this one. Uh, Drew and I are in charge now. Uh,
    11:24
    uh, Jesus, a couple, a couple more bits of, uh, personal pinball news. And then we'll talk about the world's pinball news. Personal pinball. Yep. Uh, so my, I'm strokers. Dracula apparently was shakers. I'm going to keep calling it strokers. Bram strokers, Dracula, Dracula. Um, it was shipped and I was looking for, for it and no one could tell me where it was and then today i finally get a hold of somebody and they're like yeah this was their last tuesday it's in my town like two blocks away i'm like okay she was like hey uh you got something from for me you know and he goes yeah what is it he goes pinball machine he's like oh yeah we got that yeah he didn't even hesitate he's like yep it's here like it's the only pinball machine there i'm like oh okay great how come nobody called me because I called him last week, Monday, and I'm like, hey, where is this thing? Because it's been like two weeks now, two and a half, and I talked to the guy who shipped it who ships with him all the time Anyways long story but tomorrow I am picking up BSD I excited oh my god i such a i know and then the guy dude yeah oh yeah the pinball yeah i walked by it every day this week yes he was stubbed my toe on the fucking thing he knew what it was because it's the only pinball machine that is in their shop and he's like yeah it's here come pick it up dude i'm like yeah go f yourself dude dude yeah so so that's coming and then the guy from laser cube who I'm buying a laser cue from him. His kids are going back to college. He said as soon as they're back in college, he's going to sell me this thing. So he texted me today. He said, hey, they're going back next week. I'm all set. I'm like, great. So now I'm getting a laser cue. I got the BSD. I got all this pinball coming out of my ass. It's awesome. Love it. I'm very happy for you. Love it. Big asshole, folks. Yeah. We're back to that. No, we're not revisiting that whole thing because that was just weird. But I love you. That's what I do. So anyways, that's personal pinball news. I'm going to have four machines in my house. It's the first time I ever had four machines. I'm excited. What do you got, Ian? I got my Monster Bash up for sale. We're shilling that. $6,900. Check out Facebook. Ian Haberman is selling Monster Bash SE, and it is beautiful. It's ready to go. He's looking for a good trade.
    13:39
    Let's talk about the Walking Dead trade just for a moment. Yeah, I got a couple trades off. The first one being the Walking Dead Pro with mods and a colored DMD. We both laughed because we're like, that whole mod thing, it's like, okay, I listed the mods that are on this one only because I'm not asking any more money than when I listed it the first time. And when I listed it the first time, the number one question I got was, well, what mods do you have on it? And I'd go, I didn't put any mods on it. Because you're actually losing money on the sale. Yeah, basically. Right? Because I put way more money into the mods. Yeah, you're losing a few hundred dollars. So I don't know. I don't ask for more because we have a mod. I do ask more for the pin stadiums because I'll just rip that off and put it in my next machine. Yeah, pin stadiums, pinstones, and colored DMDs, they're pretty universal. Right. So I was like, okay, well, that's cool. And is there some cash to go along with this Walking Dead pro? Because I know the pros aren't much. What are they, Drew, five? $4,500 mostly, $4,700 depending on condition. But, yeah, $4,700. Let's be generous. Yeah, but the guy did not seem too interested. He thought he had a $7,000 machine with that Walking Dead throw. So email us at poormanspinball at gmail.com. Let us know what you think. But $6,900 we feel is a fair price for the Monster Bash SE. Yeah, am I out of line there? No. It's beautiful. It's got the playfield dimply like all of them do. But other than that, it's gorgeous. And you've had it only, what, a few months? Yeah, I don't even know how many plays are on there. Yeah, it's basically... Yeah, it's home use only. It's basically a new machine.
    15:21
    It's got the pin stadiums look awesome on it. It's got the UV glow. He's got the pin graphics decals. They look great. Yeah, I got the little lightning disc. I got all that stuff. No, it's just a great machine. And the thing about Walking Dead, we, in our little pinball circle here, we want a Walking Dead. Yes. but um you know it's just this is a this would be worth a premium walking dead not a pro walking dead that's all i'd agree with you there so we're just asking for a little cash you know for that and i think that that's fair yeah we would have done it um the other one was a aerosmith limited edition which which is a fair trade offer yeah that was actually fair the only thing is i just don't have a lot of love for it yeah even though it's a beautiful looking machine it's a good game it's it's fair but it's music pins are tough for me because it's never been a band i'm real into like i'm not i love all music and i love but i've never been real into i think you got most into acdc right that was probably one of your favorite music pins no dude iron maiden iron maiden that's my favorite music pin so i remember when we first got into pinball and we played acdc i love how it shot okay yeah i i could care less i don't like how that pin looks don't get me wrong but it shoots like a fucking dream yeah that's a great and it's got the lineman code and yeah dude the bell everything i love everything about it now i've only played the pro i know the lower play field people are like hit or miss on yeah it's i've never really played it with the lower but the pro is awesome i like the pro so um charlie's lower and upper player play fields don't have anything on alice cooper sorry so that's on that's that's all i got going on in my life right now with pinball um well if you want a monster bash se look up ian and and he's got it here in milwaukee so if anyone's in the midwest area there you go yep hit me up um what else we got drew we got everything man what do you want there we can go so many different directions let's talk let's talk about our interview last week oh charlie's interview let's talk about spooky because spooky what i love most about it and i kind of i'm in love with spooky and the family well it's just such a small intimate space it's like it's just screams pinball and and just like teamwork and oh man you know what i like best about spooky everything oh my god it's it's so predictable but so awesome yeah no it was it was cool i mean charlie uh was awesome bug was cooler love bug bug this is kind of a funny story so bug was there and we met him we didn't know who he was and I only knew him from the documentary they did like several years ago when he was like a kid, and now he's like a grown-ass man. What was the name of the documentary?
    18:08
    Bump in the Night, I think. Okay. I think it's called like a spooky pinball story, Bump in the Night, or something like that. Go look it up on Amazon. You'll find it. It's a very cool documentary from I think it was right before they made TNA, so it's pretty cool when they were doing Rob Zombie and stuff. but anyways um so you know he's talking to us and then uh ian goes kind of like you know elbowed me and said i think that's bug no no i introduced myself i was like hey who are who that's right i knew it was bug but i just yeah we never we never had introductions yeah he just showed us around and i was like wait a second i think this is bug hey uh i'm ian and oh yeah i'm bug i was like okay bug and drew goes what yeah it was just it was just so surreal because you know like I said I just thought he was like one of the line workers or something he was there and you know he's whatever but uh he he gave us this tour and the the amazing thing about this place is you know I haven't been to Stern or JJP but this place is you know it's obviously smaller and you know they have these couple workstations and they're doing this and that and they got six seven people and they're working and I was just like holy crap I mean they're they're making I think they said about 10 games a week out of there. It was just so cool seeing the line of games and then explaining how they did it. Right. Right? Just, you know, they had it down to a science. They had this cool little workspace, but they were doing it in like a smaller space, which was just very cool to me. And there ain't nothing in that town. There was nothing in that town. Oh, my God. This is Benton, Wisconsin. Like, you know, we're from Milwaukee. Milwaukee's nothing like Chicago or New York. And Benton is like... But we're not too shabby. No, we're still a city. Yeah. But like Benton is like you can imagine like farms literally everywhere. And then they're making pinballs in the middle of the farm. I know. I talked to one of the I was talking to one of the line workers. I was like, so how long you been here? He's like a couple of years. And then I go, OK, what did you do before? He goes, oh, I was a mechanic. I was like, oh, so you're pretty hands on. He's like, dude, this is Benton, Wisconsin.
    20:16
    There is nothing else to do. It's Wisconsin, man. I mean, you make them out of shit. I was like, good points. Yeah, good points. You're not sitting there programming shit. I'm sure that in Benton, Wisconsin, you're doing hands-on labor. But Fosma was there programming shit. Hell yeah, he was. We didn't even talk to him because he was doing shit. Yeah, he was balls deep in that machine. I didn't want to mess with him. One of the coolest things we saw there, well, we saw several cool things there. Besides what they were working on, he had a Hulk back glass, a back box, I should say, from the old Hulk game from the 80s, which was cool.
    20:52
    Remember, what was that play field they showed us that was going to be? Total Nuclear Annihilation. Yeah, but it was the other game. It was printed wrong. No, no, no. Are you talking about the play fields they were selling? On the wall, they had those. Oh, yeah. It was the Rob Zombie. It was before they got the license to Rob Zombie. They had a prototype play field. What was it called? Zombie Wasteland? Yeah, Zombie something. and then it was like I don't know it was he said that was supposed to be the game yeah it was going to be the next game they had artwork and it was rough it was a little rough but it was it looked fun yeah it did it was just zombie something something but then it turned into Rob Zombie and they had to scrap the artwork but they had yeah I know what you're talking about they had that thing they had the overlay same exact layout too he was like yeah it's a layout we just never got a chance to use it I was like okay but he gave us some good nuggets he said Yeah, he said Total Nuclear Annihilation is coming back at some point, 2.0. He says they'll keep the gameplay the same, but they'll do some cosmetic tweaks and stuff, which is cool. Sure, sure. There's probably some bulletproofing. They probably want to go back and do it. Sure, because there have been a few issues. Maybe spruce it up a little bit with the artwork.
    22:07
    What if Scott Denise added another song or some more music to it? That'd be kind of cool. Hey, I told him I think I'd be in on that game. They'll charge more money. you think so yeah yeah it's a good way what was that one 66,000 60 i think it was 59.99 or something like that yeah you're gonna have to up it a little bit yeah maybe but alice cooper started at 6400 so probably about there yeah you're probably right there i'd agree with you there but the uh yeah so that was cool uh 2.0 how about the uh three games in development i was trying to do math man i was trying to figure out the math behind it like okay so charlie said he was going to make one more maybe. Yep. He said he was going to design one more. And maybe if you count Scott Denise's then, so that's two. And then there's like this third one that someone's working on. Somebody's working on it. Well, they're in a different stage of development. But back to the price, it's interesting to me that they're kind of in that sweet spot. Which is cool because Stern Pros are selling for $5,800, $5,700, whatever it is. um they're at 64 so they're a little more but they got some full featured games but they're not as much as like a stern premium or uh you know willie wonka standard so that's kind of charlie was pretty adamant he was pretty adamant that he'll never do the stern models you know he was adamant about that he said that about um he said he will never take anything out of a game meaning if he sells a game they'll have some cosmetic changes they might have a different trim level like they do um on my alice cooper for example i paid 125 to have the powder coat for the scary blue powder coat but the game will always be the same which i think is very cool i think it's extremely cool um we didn't talk about the fan club or the fang club oh fang club we talked about it off the air yes tell them a little bit about what that was discussion nothing Nothing like too top secret. It's all been reported on TWIP, so I'm not breaking any of Charlie's confidence here. But he just wanted, bottom line, he just wanted to provide something of value because the math really, when you think about it, doesn't add up when it comes to, you know, in the past, he's always, you know, taking care of spooky owners first. You know, if you bought a spooky machine, you're part of the spooky family. Yep. So now, you know, if you, you know, they release the game and you want to get in line, you are one of the first guys that has an opportunity to get in line. Yep So the problem with that is they have 1 machines out there Yep If 1 people want to be part of this club and they only making 500 games Well, if there's 1,000 people, well, no. If there's 1,000 people, if there's no club and there's 1,000 people that want the next game and there's only 500 games being made, you know, that's where he's having a problem. So now he's like, okay, so if I do the Fang Club, it's not so much a way for you to skip line. I mean, it is technically, but it's really just a matter of, I guess he's putting a monetary value to the family, the Spooky family. You're always going to be part of the Spooky family, but the fan club, those are the guys that have first dibs on the machines. And then after that, I think it's everybody else. And he's trying to provide even more value on top of that, like different packages, trim packages.
    25:43
    It's just more than a T-shirt. His words, not mine. Yes, because Ian and I kind of talked about this, and the thing, Spooky, they're not there yet. They're not to, if they announce a game, they're not selling out day one.
    25:58
    Like a Stern LE. Not yet, but if they have the right game come out, they could. And they're getting there, because Alice Cooper is almost sold out.
    26:09
    And Total Nuclear Annihilation obviously sold more than 500. They were at 550 or whatever. um so yeah that's where they want to get to where they have such a following that they say hey we announced this game we're going to make 500 of them boom they sell out day one now they make them for those customers and they can announce game two and do it again right perfect that's kind of the goal yeah because because some stern le's and other places have done that where it's like hey we got these 500 games they sell out like i'm willing to bet jurassic park le is going to be sold out pretty soon yeah i'd agree with you 500 yeah we have a local one here i haven't played yet though the le no the pro the pro i don't think the le's are out yet gar we're coming for you yeah gar nelson the gar k gar nelson um so so there you go that's that's the fan club and we're looking forward to seeing how it shapes up yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah what's What's next, Ian? Blah, blah, blah. What do we got next? Jesus criminy. Where did all the energy go all of a sudden? Are you falling asleep here? I don't know. I'm ready to roll, man. I am too. I'm drinking my Belmont rum. I'm rummed up, dude. I got vodka cranberries today, and I'm feeling good. I'm going to make a confession to the people out there. I'm rummed up. I'm ready to go. Oh, is that the confession? Oh, I am rummed up. The rum session? The rum confession? Rum session? Rum fashion? rum fashion i'm ready ready to roll so what's been going on in other podcasts let's just touch on them a little bit so special when lit canada causing controversy special when let steady as usual yes straight down the middle uh they're straight down the middle that's not a podcast I know.
    28:03
    Twip, reporting the news. Sable, Sable. We just had a game release, and I feel like that was, like, years ago. Our buddy, I'm calling him Orby Albert. Orbital Albert. We love you, brother.
    28:17
    He's still Canadian. See, Drew's on fire today. Drew is on rum fire. Wow, it's happening. It is. Before your eyes and ears, Drew is on rum fire. Folks, if only you were here to see the sweat glistening off his brow. It's glorious. It is. I put the fun back in pinball. There's no fun in pinball. I know. I'm thinking of the word. I'm like, there's no wordplay there. Hey, how about Nate Shivers? Did you see that? Did you listen to the Rodgers-Karp tape? You know what? That was super cool that his kids, mostly I think it was Josh. I can't remember if it was Josh or Zach. But they pushed him to release those, and I thought that was very cool. Very cool. Yeah. If you guys have a chance, listen to Nate Shiver's new podcast. He took Roger Sharp's old interviews. He did them on, like, a Sony cassette player in the 70s. Nice. Super cool. And he recorded interviews with guys like the original Gary Williams. Sure. Williams. The guy. You'll recognize the last name. Don't worry. Valley Williams. Come on. First name Bailey Yeah We're real good at this pinball thing It must be Mr. Bailey Williams So Bailey what's it like Making pinball So he did these But he released these We know that it was a separate company Yeah don't send the hate mail We're joking But the guy Mr. Williams himself Mr. Gottlieb himself So he did these interviews, and he had these tapes that he'd just been holding on to forever. You know, these are the guys that they're no longer with us. You know, it's kind of cool. Yeah, it is cool. A little time capsule of pinball history. Yeah, very cool. Very cool. Only Nate Shivers can pull that off. Nate Shivers, you're the man. Good for you, man. So Canada's kind of been doing this.
    30:18
    Controversial stuff? No, it's not too controversial. I mean, it is, but it isn't. It's just Kaneda stuff. And not even Kaneda stuff. It's Pinside stuff, too. It's this fucking Jersey Jack playfield chipping issues.
    30:31
    I don't understand why the playfields. Hang on. We disagree a little bit here, folks. Yeah, we do. All right, go for it, Drew. Let's just talk first. Pick a side, Drew. Yes. Special in lit style. Do you think the pictures that we saw is really that big of a deal? And you're saying yes. I'm saying any time a playfield's getting destroyed. when it's only a few days old is a big deal. Because what's that going to look like in 5 years, 10 years, 20 years? I get it.
    31:03
    It doesn't sound like you do, Drew. I get it, but I just, on the other hand, too, I just, you know, a lot of these games, I understand we're paying a lot of money for them. So when you're spending $12,500 for a collector's edition, maybe. but when you're buying a pinball machine, you know, my Iron Maiden, I spent $5,800 on it. It had some bubbling on the mylar on the left side. I ended up selling it for $5,000 after it was used, which was the going rate, so it didn't affect my resale value, I wouldn't say. And I understand, you know, some people want pristine stuff, and I get it. But it's a pinball machine. It's a metal ball knocking around in a box with lights and a heavy ball knocking around. So shit's going to happen. I understand the ball didn't do that, but that shit comes up. You're dimpling on your Monster Bash. Hey, shut the fuck up. Okay. I'm trying to sell that.
    32:14
    You know, I look at that, and when they had the whole thing about dimpling and ghosting LEDs, which I still don't understand what those are. I used to have that on the Space Invaders. I had to get the special board for it. And maybe it's because I don't care as much about condition because I'm more about playing the game. And I guess resale value, it means something to a lot of people, which is fine. It means something to me too. But it's not as high of an importance, if that makes any sense. No, it makes sense. Okay. But when I pay good money for something. Yeah, yeah. Listen, I understand wear and tear, and I think these people do too. Yeah. But it's not wear and tear. No, it's not. You're right. So that's the issue. They pay a lot of money for it, and it's a manufacturer defect. You know, I have a. No matter how big or small. Yeah. It's still a manufacturer defect. I bought a 2016 Jeep for my wife, brand new. Well, it was for him, but his wife took it. Yeah, well, that's a true story. I bought a 2016 Jeep for myself, and my wife stole it. Yeah. But Grand Theft Auto.
    33:22
    And there's a small little scratch on it. We've had it for three years. It's in great shape. There's a small little ding. Not ding. It's a little tiny scratch on it. It's just one of those things that a car, too, you're using it. You use it every day. It's just shit happens. I mean. Oh, dude, yeah. That's wear and tear. I'm cool with it. Okay. Yeah. Anytime it's wear and tear, I'm cool with it. Okay. So you're just saying if it's manufacturer, then... Well, see, here's the thing. Here's another thing. Here's the point, though. Here's another thing. Are you going to populate that play field? No, here's another thing. I'm listening. I'm listening, brother. So you hear all the uproar about the play fields failing, right? Yes. You don't hear any uproar about the Oompa Loompas holding up the LCD, the Wonka Vision? Because what's happening is balls are running into those things and breaking those guys off. Yes. so can i be curious about that because that is wear and tear that's like oh fuck that just happened and they'll just send you a new one i don't know yeah i have no idea can i make one point about that it's kind of interesting though you make all the points you want it's your podcast it is my pocket this is my podcast mom look at me i'm on a podcast she's our listener yeah she's one of our three listeners i love you mom we do love you mom um so that camera that they're talking about with the oompa loompas yeah that isn't actually the camera that takes your picture did you know that yeah i knew that i didn't know that oh you thought that was a real camera i did okay because i was playing the one on location and it was broke of course yeah yeah and it was like focused towards the ramp sure sure and i'm like this thing still took my picture fucking liars jersey jack's a genius it was like no but but it took my picture and i was like huh that's not a camera at all that's a red light in a plastic housing yeah yeah i i know i didn't know that it was just it was just interesting sorry no i get you man i get you but that's that's my take on it no you're right i i think other than wearing tears sucks and i'm gonna get some hate mail i get it but i just what are you gonna do because here's the thing okay no they they send you a new play field right yeah are you gonna populate that play field me yeah that's my point you're gonna take everything off your playfield it's cracked okay fine it's got a small chip not a crack sorry and then you're gonna put all that shit on a new playfield and then then some people say well shit jersey jack should do that is jersey jack gonna come to your house and do that i don't know that probably not no and that's my point you know when i had a thing with iron maiden i paid 5800 bucks for this machine that's a lot of money you know all the money in the world compared to these guys i mean that's all the money i had i i i sold my dog to get that your dog yeah i knew you had three dogs i did now i have two so i i sold my expense at my 5800 dog he's kidding folks to get iron maiden and uh guess what it bubbled up and i still had a lot of fun with it you know i just because i i told i showed people it and they're like yeah and you know it was just such a small thing in the corner i had to like point it out to people yeah and ian's yawning because it is so boring it's fucking mylar that's bubbling jesus christ you know i i get it i it is a lot of money i'm upset too it to some degree but i'm just like yeah i just wanted to fix it this was last game too that's all but whose fault is it and who's responsible i don't think anyone knows that's the I'm sure Jersey Jack is pointing their fingers at Mirko, and Mirko's pointing their fingers at Jersey Jack. He's like, hey, man, you tightened the shit too tight. Of course it's going to fail. And Jersey Jack's like, it's a pinball machine. I have to tighten the shit tight. It a post They supposed to be You guys know how it works It just interesting I don know It is It is Well it be interesting to see how it plays out But I mean what happened with all the Ghostbuster playfields that were having those problems Yeah, I don't know. You know, so. It's easier with Stern, though, because there's only four things you get to take off and put on the new one. Just kidding out there, people. Just kidding. That was my rim shot. God. Yeah. Well, you know, I'll say what.
    37:42
    My Monster Bash has nothing. playfield looks great on that for a couple of dimples dimpling dimpling dimpling dimpling it's got no dimpling i got i got an actual uh message the other day and it was like so did that dimpling come from the factory what percent of the playfield is dimpled and i was like and this is a guy from pinside i was like huh does he think that that was one of the manufacturing defects is dimpling i should have said 0.005 just see what he said no i just said i said well it's just around the scoop where the big metal ball thrashes around that's where the ball comes out every fucking time you play yeah like numerous times that's where the dimpling occurs in monster bash i don't know i don't know yeah yeah i'm just yeah i was just like interesting i'm looking at your monster bash now i'm like that's a pristine example you've had it for a few months, it looks great. And if someone's like, wow, there's some dimpling there. Well, yeah, because I fucking play it. Nobody's giving me shit about it, though, to be honest. No. We're okay. Yeah, no, you're fine.
    38:49
    You know, my alarm does a lot of stuff. I'd like to keep it, to be honest. I know. But I don't have money for another machine, so I have to, if I want another machine, I need to get rid of this one. So I'm ready for something new. Just buy three machines. Let's see what happens. Oh, yeah. Just tell the wife it's happening, and we'll see what happens. Get a bank loan. That's the smartest thing I've ever done. A high-interest credit card loan? High-interest, baby. Four machines. Throw it on there. Yeah, you can fit them down here. Just like, hey, bank, I want $30,000. Why? I want pinball machines. Two words, bro. Pinball.
    39:29
    It's two words today. Let's do it. Yeah, you're perfect, man. I don't care. I got a high credit score. My credit score is good. What happened to this podcast? I don't know. Well, I got a house. I got a car. Like, I don't need a good credit score anymore. Yeah, you got everything you need. Your credit score doesn't matter. It doesn't matter anymore. I can work hard and probably get it down to a 400. I'll be okay.
    39:53
    Love it. I absolutely love it. All right, what else we got today? Suncoast. Yeah, some of these boutique companies, they're only going to make 100 games, they say. He's making 100 of the Cosmic Carnival. Yep. Never played it. It looks like a cool game. It looks cool. It looks neat. A little plain, but they're at the $5,900 range. I think it's a theme thing, man. It is. I have no desire. I'm sorry, Cosmic Carnival, and I'm sorry, Suncoast. But as beautiful as that is, and I get what you were doing. You were trying to go with that. So do you think? I need a theme. OK. So what have we learned with Suncoast and American Pinball over the last couple of years? I like Oktoberfest as a theme. No, no, I understand that. I like Houdini as a theme. So they haven't hurt me yet. But in general, they need themes to sell more games, it seems. Well, we know that American Pinball can make pinball, right? Yep. They can make pinball games. They make some good pinball. It's fun. They just need to focus on a killer. Hey, man, same thing Eric Pripke was talking about with P3, right? Multimorphic. You need a killer app, man. He needs a killer game, right? Yep. So does American Pinball. Yep. But that's my point. They just need a killer game. They need a killer game. Number three's got to be a killer game. And like I said, what was it, last week or two weeks ago, man, I got a hunch that game three is going to be a licensed one. I just have a hunch. And what's that license going to be? Oh, I don't know. It doesn't matter. Anything.
    41:27
    Wouldn't it be funny? Any license. Here's a good license. I don't think you could do this, but maybe if Arnold Schwarzenegger owned all of his rights to his movies. but wouldn't it be cool if the theme was just Arnold Schwarzenegger? You have Houdini, right? Why don't you just do an Arnold one? Like you progress through Arnold's life all the way up to governor.
    41:47
    I am the governor. That actually would be good. You start off as a bodybuilder. And then you turn into the Terminator. It's like a champion pub where you're jumping rope and shit. And then I am now a last action hero. I am a movie star. And then I am the governor. Vote for me.
    42:10
    You have a vote for me, multivolve? I want to be president. Yeah, I can see that. But I can't because I am from Austria, not from this country. You will change the laws. I am the law. That's sly. Yeah, I am not from this land. But sly is going to help me.
    42:30
    From demolition man. You transition that into a sly machine. Oh, that would be perfect. American Pitball, are you listening? No, man. This is a great idea. You either do that one or my other game idea, which was brick, where every brick shot is worth more than actually hitting the ramps and stuff. You know what? I need to... Are you going to write it down, all my bricks? No, fuck that. I'm going to write it down. Oh, you're getting another bottle of booze. I'm getting another drink. That's what I need. Folks, he was just reaching. I thought he was getting a notepad, but no, he's getting more cocktails. All right. Make it another cocktail. All right. You want to play a little game, Ian? Yeah, dude. That's all I had, man. We never really talked about it. Suncoast, 100 games. That sounds terrible. Good luck, brother. Well, no. Good luck to them. I hope they sell them all. They'll probably sell them all. Oh, I was telling Ian when we were talking about what we should talk about, and then I was kind of doing the math. Talk about what we should talk about. Yeah. Talk about what we should talk about. I sound like Sean Connery there. No, you didn't. Talk about what we should talk about. That's the best Sean Connery I got. That was the worst thing I've ever heard, but I love you. But 100 games, that's not enough money, I don't think, because I did the math, so it's like. She's doing the math, guys. Well, no, just think about it. It's what, half a million dollars, you know, give or take?
    43:52
    Well, they're in the hole. They're in the red for this game. Yeah, so you. But it was important to get the games out. You sell 100 games. No, I understand that. You sell 100 games at $6,000, so $600,000, which is cool. but um you know after expenses and stuff i i don't know what their costs are but that's that doesn't sound like a lot of money to go around for everyone so it just seems it seems like they need to sell more games than that and yeah i'm hoping their next game's good i think this game is cool i think what they're doing is yeah they're laying the foundation right so you have the foundation they're building this company they really they're releasing product. Who's distributing that? They have a limited distributor network. Are they selling it? I thought I heard that he was.
    44:44
    Zach is the distributor. Yeah, Zach's selling everything. We love you, Zach. Zach, you want to sell a Monster Bash SC for $69.99? We got one.
    44:54
    No? Zach doesn't want to do deals with me anymore. Crickets? Zach, please email us at PornMetalsPinballPodcast and we will poormanspinball at gmail.com I'll trade you your Walking Dead LE straight up. No, that's a terrible trade for you, dude. Don't do that. Oh, no. Yes. Let's do that. He would never do that. I don't want him to do that. I don't want to take advantage of Zach. He's a smart man. Zach, we want your Walking Dead LE. No, I sent him a message that is the prettiest ugly game I've ever seen. I saw that. Yeah, because the Walking Dead, it is the ugliest fucking game we've ever seen in your life. It just is. It is. And not even because of the zombies. It's just... That big fat zombie. Oh, it's awful. It's so ugly. Did you see the... There's a million awesome zombies in that. But then I saw two things that really make me want this game more. Sorry to cut you off. No, you do it all the time. What do we got? I love you, brother. No worries, brother. I'm going to caress your face while I say this. Don't do it. Okay, it's happening. It's so weird. It's getting weirder. Number one, did you see the thriller?
    46:00
    The Michael Jackson thriller, Walking Dead? No. A guy took a Michael Jackson bash toy, and he put it on there. It was so cool. Oh. And it's thriller. Nice. And the Translight, he redid. Where'd you see this? Pinside. You can check it out. Very cool. Then yesterday when I was doing some more research, because I've been a Walking Dead fan for a while, and I've wanted that pin ever since I got into pinball. And it's been on my short list. they make a for pin sound a beavis and butthead revision or be and slayer stop yes that's so dumb oh it was it's great so and i think it's just for the le it might be for the premium too but it's beavis and butthead you know just doing their thing with slayer music it was funny it was good nope but no it's a hard pass for me and 99 of our listeners that's fine but check the michael jackson one you'll like that i will i will that one was cool use some mic and and the bash toy was michael jackson so you'll dig that it's pretty sweet it was very sweet awesome but yeah that's the ugliest bash toy you've ever seen in your life let's move let's call it all right that's it for episode 22 no game 22 episodes guys thank you so much for listening it was like a stream of consciousness episode it was kind of rolled off and talk pinball today with you guys i play more pinball now, but when I talk about it, I just get drunker and weirder. It got weird. You know what? This is what we do. Ryan Kuiper, we need you back. Please. We need to get back to doing show notes. We need show notes. Josh Seeker, we welcome you back. Dave Brennan, our new friend who's also local here. We need you on.
    47:44
    Dave's good to come on whenever. We need to get him on because he's the guy. He's the solid state guy. he has 50 games. Oh, Dave. Yes. Yeah, we haven't talked. I haven't talked. I haven't met Dave yet. Dave, I haven't texted you in a while. We need to get back in contact. But Dave has 50 games. He just set up his basement. He just moved here to the Milwaukee area.
    48:07
    Him and I have been shooting actually show notes and ideas for a while. He is the wealth of knowledge that we need. Between him and Ryan, we can get this thing back on track. All right, there you go. Because Ian and I... You're first, folks. Yeah. Ian and I, we bring drinking and entertainment, which is great. But if you don't bring the pinball knowledge, it turns into this, where we make up games and we talk about shit that we know nothing about. Oh, we love you guys so much. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you for 22 episodes. Yes. Thank you for supporting us, monetarily or otherwise. we're sending every one of you a shill bill you guys all get a shill bill you get a shill bill we appreciate all you we have like 8 million people listening to us every week and it is awesome we are the number one podcast in the world and when we say number one it's not pinball podcast we're the number one podcast in the world Joe Rogan asked to be on our podcast we said nah Joe Rogan do you want to be on our podcast because we'll take you on our podcast Could you imagine what our numbers would be if we got Joe Rogan on? It would still be two. We would gain four viewers after that. Well, I love you guys. Well, thank you very much. Drew, any final words, final thoughts, Jerry Springer style? My lightning flipper Dracula is coming home tomorrow. Beautiful. All right. Well, thank you guys. All right. Peace out, guys.