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Episode 251 – Flag Day

Slam Tilt Podcast·podcast_episode·1h 21m·analyzed·Jun 14, 2025
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.033

TL;DR

Slam Tilt discusses Predator reveal, Harry Potter editions, Ken Cromwell's move, and community concerns.

Summary

Ron Hallett and Bruce Nightingale discuss the upcoming Predator wide-body pinball machine from Pinball Brothers (launching Wednesday the 18th), the newly revealed Harry Potter pinball from Jersey Jack Pinball with three edition tiers, Ken Cromwell's departure to Flippin' Out Pinball, and various community opinions on game design, aesthetics, and tournament play. They also touch on IFPA Women's Board allegedly banning Harry Potter from tournaments and speculate on future licensed games like Spaceballs 2.

Key Claims

  • Stern gave a Dungeons & Dragons machine to a YouTuber with 2.4 million listeners who got more views than Jersey Jack's Harry Potter marketing

    medium confidence · Discussed as marketing effectiveness comparison between Stern and JJP's approach

  • Harry Potter was originally supposed to release at the end of May but was delayed due to marketing materials needing to be redone

    medium confidence · Referenced from Pinball News/Magazine podcast featuring Jack Guarneri

  • Ken Cromwell left Jersey Jack Pinball and joined Flippin' Out Pinball in a sales/marketing role

    high confidence · Direct statement: 'He went to Flip It Out... where we at Rochester Pinball Collective buy all of our pinball machines'

  • The Collector's Edition of Harry Potter has rainbow-colored apron art that clashes with the playfield movie art aesthetic

    high confidence · Bruce describes CE as 'fucking clown puke' and 'all the colors of the rainbow on it all eight inches you have the whole gambit 256 colors'

  • IFPA Women's Board banned Harry Potter from tournaments

    low confidence · Ron states: 'I read that somewhere. The IFPA Women's Board banned this game' but expresses uncertainty: 'Someone could correct me. I hope they do because I hope that's wrong'

  • All three Harry Potter editions (Arcade, Wizard, Collector's) have 400 RGB lights on the playfield

    high confidence · Bruce: 'I do like that all three levels have the 400 RGB lights. That's really good'

  • Predator will be a wide-body machine launching on the 18th (of the week discussed)

    high confidence · Ron: 'What's coming out this week? Predator... Wednesday, the 18th? 18th, yes. It's supposed to be the reveal of Predator. Which is going to be a wide body.'

  • Jersey Jack's Avatar and Godfather games did not sell as well as expected and the company still has excess inventory

    medium confidence · Discussion: 'Avatar didn't really sell. Godfather didn't really sell... They have excess. They're still sitting on inventory.'

Notable Quotes

  • “Stern gave a dungeons and dragons to some dude on YouTube that I've never heard of, but I guess it's very popular, and he got more hits on his video than Jersey Jack got for anything they did for Harry Potter. Combined.”

    Ron Hallett @ ~08:15 — Illustrates disparity in marketing effectiveness between Stern and Jersey Jack Pinball strategies

  • “The colors are hideous on the CE or the collector's edition... oh, I disagree. I think it sucks.”

    Bruce Nightingale @ ~15:30 — Expresses strong negative opinion on Harry Potter CE art direction, triggering listener backlash

  • “My wife's like, what the fuck were they even thinking? I think... my wife's like, why are you mixing two genres? You're mixing the movies with the book.”

    Bruce Nightingale @ ~16:45 — Critique of inconsistent art theme mixing book and film aesthetics across editions

  • “if you have it on location and oh let me vandalize it while i'm in a tournament... if you vandalize something you're a fucking asshat”

    Ron Hallett @ ~36:00 — Strong response to concerns about potential vandalism of Harry Potter machines on location

  • “I'd rather have three good games than three or four crappy games... because you flood the market”

    Bruce Nightingale @ ~45:30 — Reflects community sentiment about manufacturer over-production and market saturation

  • “Get to the chopper! Yes.”

    Bruce Nightingale / Ron Hallett @ ~04:00 — Reference to Predator film iconic line, expressing enthusiasm for the upcoming machine

  • “This is about as most Jersey Jack, Jersey Jack as you're going to get.”

    Bruce Nightingale @ ~23:15 — Characterization of Harry Potter as exemplifying Jersey Jack's signature design philosophy

  • “Space balls too is coming out in 2027 so fucking get that license and make me happy... that's the true game changer”

    Ron Hallett — Enthusiastic speculation about future pinball licensing opportunity with Spaceballs 2

Entities

Ken CromwellpersonRon HallettpersonBruce NightingalepersonJersey Jack PinballcompanyPinball BrotherscompanyHarry PottergamePredatorgame

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Industry concern about manufacturer overproduction flooding market with titles; Jack Guarneri (JJP) criticized Stern's 3-4 games/year strategy

    medium · Ron: 'companies are making too many different titles... he basically said, I think companies are making too many different titles... gee, I wonder what company makes three or four titles in a year'

  • ?

    community_signal: Alleged IFPA Women's Board tournament ban of Harry Potter machine due to unspecified concerns, contrasting with lack of bans on other licensed titles

    low · Ron: 'I read that somewhere. The IFPA Women's Board banned this game... Someone could correct me. I hope they do because I hope that's wrong'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Harry Potter Collector's Edition features inconsistent art direction mixing book illustrations with movie-based playfield art

    high · Bruce: 'why are you mixing two genres? You're mixing the movies with the book... They should have had the side art of the books and have the play field different of the books'

  • $

    market_signal: Jersey Jack Pinball has excess inventory of Avatar and Godfather with lower-than-expected sales performance

    medium · Bruce/Ron: 'Avatar didn't really sell. Godfather didn't really sell... they have excess. They're still sitting on inventory'

  • $

    market_signal: Stern Pinball's YouTube influencer marketing strategy (2.4M subscriber YouTuber given D&D machine) generating more engagement than Jersey Jack's official Harry Potter content

    medium · Ron: 'Stern gave a dungeons and dragons to some dude on YouTube... he got more hits on his video than Jersey Jack got for anything they did for Harry Potter. Combined.'

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.243

0:00
Well, what are you waiting for, Beavis? Climb in. Ladies first. Yeah, that's cool. It's like we're breaking in.
0:10
My nads! Beavis, you dumbass. What are you doing? Guess I'll have to do this myself. Damn it. Butt head. Dear nads hurt.
0:30
Coming to you from beautiful upstate New York, this is the Slam Tilt Podcast, the show about all things pinball. I'm your host, Ron Hallett, here with the other host, Bruce Nightingale. If the world still survives.
0:48
Okay, yes, there's wars and stuff going on. Yeah, fuck yeah. But we don't care about that because this is episode 251. Pinball! Oh, so much more important than war. Come on.
1:02
War. Good God, y'all. Is it a good fight? Absolutely. Nothing. Say it again. Okay. Wake up, everybody. Wake up. All right.
1:16
Yeah, we're back to normal. We're back to normal. How are we doing? We were supposed to have a guest today, but they had to back out, so we're getting them on hopefully next show. So it's just us. which will be a week late next year next time next year next time next year what no next time because i'm on vacation again what i'm on vacation again do you ever work i do damn i work uh my boss is gone he's on vacation this week and next week so i get i get like a vacation and then i go on vacation so it's like a vacation vacation it's not another cruise is it it is another cruise Another fucking cruise? You were just out for a month on a cruise. I was out for two and a half weeks. This one will be seven days. Okay.
@ ~54:00
Flippin' Out Pinballcompany
Stern Pinballcompany
Jack Guarneriperson
IFPA Women's Boardorganization
Rochester Pinball Collectiveorganization
Spaceballs 2: The Quest for More Moneygame
  • ?

    personnel_signal: Ken Cromwell departed Jersey Jack Pinball and joined Flippin' Out Pinball in sales/marketing capacity

    high · Ron: 'You know where Ken Cromwell went? He went to Flip It Out... Congratulations, Ken.' Bruce confirms he's part of sales force

  • ?

    announcement: Predator wide-body from Pinball Brothers officially revealing on the 18th with chopper ball lock mechanic

    high · Ron: 'What's coming out this week? Predator... Wednesday, the 18th? 18th, yes. It's supposed to be the reveal of Predator. Which is going to be a wide body.'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Harry Potter delayed from end-of-May release due to marketing materials requiring rework; timing coincided with Pride Month concerns

    medium · Ron: 'Harry Potter was supposed to be released at the end of May. Yes. But they had the delays... stuff had to be redone'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Harry Potter three-tier model (Arcade/Wizard/CE) uses identical playfield but varies cabinet art, lighting, and toppers to reduce manufacturing complexity

    high · Bruce: 'It's almost like you bought a base machine, and if you want to go up to the CE, or we're just going to put it in a different cabinet... all the play fields come down one line'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Strong negative community reaction to Harry Potter CE rainbow apron design causing listener backlash and banning on podcast social media

    high · Bruce: 'I posted saying it's fucking clown puke... I had these people... fuck yourselves... you're banned'

  • ?

    technology_signal: Harry Potter introduces 'Game Changer' QR code handicapping system allowing difficulty selection at game start

    high · Bruce: 'What it is is when you get your Harry Potter, it comes with, on the keys, it's got... three QR codes, one for easy, normal, and wizard'

    • 2:07
    To Bermuda, Bahamas, come on pretty mama. I'm going to Bermuda. Yes, Brian Wilson is dead. Yeah, he's dead, Jim, and he didn't even go on that song. He didn't do that song. We were just talking about that. Somebody said, like, oh, I'm just going to miss him. I love Kokomo. It's like he wasn't even there when he did that, you fool. You fucknut. Jesus Christ. Our compassion flies high here.
    2:34
    But, yeah, no, yeah, I'm going to Bermuda again. We're going to be spending seven beautiful days on a carnival – sorry, on a celebrity cruise ship. And we're going to have a good old time. Wait a minute. Who's the celebrity? Me.
    2:49
    You're not a celebrity. Who's the celebrity? It's celebrity. it's not just a name is it did they actually name the company celebrity oh that's lame come on i would demand to have celebrities on the boat i know well they will it's me yeah you're a celebrity i am i'm world famous in poland yes definitely in italy definitely in italy i'm more famous than you in italy they actually have dart dart machines with my face plastered on them that fucking son of a bitch and i gotta get the fucking Up in the nose with a dart.
    3:25
    Well, guess what's coming out this week? What's coming out this week? Predator. Yeah. Yeah, Wednesday, the, what's it, 18th? 18th, yes. It's supposed to be the, well, they said it's going to be the reveal of Predator. Which is going to be a wide body. Yes, it will be again. Well, again, they haven't done one since the game that they ripped off from Highway with Alien. Yes, Alien. I know. The Disappointing Queen and Abba were regular size. They had them lying around. They needed more, you know, body.
    3:59
    So that means Zach will definitely buy this one. Oh, our Zach because he loves wide bodies. Our Zach because he loves wide bodies. I don't know. Has he seen Predator? No, he did. I don't know. He did see Predator. That's right. He actually didn't hate it. Yes, he didn't hate it either. So... Get to the chopper! Yes. Well, that's the thing. Is Arnold even in it? I don't know. we'll find out it doesn't look like it no i bet you no way no i well by in it i think they have clips from the movies and stuff yeah which is fine but i don't i it's it's not going to be like a t2 t3 thing we're just doing custom call house and shit no no i don't think so not at all and guess what they have a chopper ball lock thing again they just did that i know might as well do it again and we'll just get let's rip apart all those uh rescue 911s and there's your chopper they need a good game they they do or they're because the one game they had that sold was highways game and the two games they did themselves so they did not they did not do so they need something that's good yeah there's a lot of companies that are struggling right now there's a lot of companies that are doing very well marketing does help though when it comes to uh the day and age of today because uh look at uh stern pinball gives a fucking machine to some guy on youtube with 2.4 million listeners and holy fuck a larue he gets more hits than he does uh than jjp does on their own stuff uh okay so yes did you hear about that stern gave a dungeons and dragons to some dude on YouTube that I've never heard of, but I guess it's very popular, and he got more hits on his video than Jersey Jack got for anything they did for Harry Potter. Combined. Yeah. Combined.
    5:51
    There's the good marketing. I guess Ken Cromwell was really doing something there. Well, Ken is gone. I know. That's what I'm saying. He was doing something good there, and then they released Jake. We're going all over the place with the news. No, no, but we already talked about Ken Cromwell going. No, he didn't. Yes, we did. No, we didn't.
    6:10
    I don't think we talked about that. Yes, we did. Well, it was weird because he left before they unveiled the game. Unveiled it, yes. But I was listening to the, was it Pinball News, Pinball Magazine podcast, and I will say, Jonathan Justin, get a microphone. Dude, get a microphone.
    6:31
    I swear he sounds like he's on a laptop with just like headphones on, and he's just talking like 10 feet away, 10 feet away from the microphone. You can hear the whole room ambiance. I know. Plus, half the time you can hear Martin when he's talking because I think he's probably bleeding through. Yes, yeah. It's like, dude, god damn. Stop the insanity. You guys start a Patreon and get some money for Jonathan's microphone. Please get Jonathan a microphone. Or just have a sugar daddy like Ron. But they said on there, I guess the idea was Harry Potter was supposed to be released at the end of May. Yes. But they had the delays, which they said were more along the lines with the marketing materials or something. They just, stuff had to be redone. It was not up to snuff. So the idea was that Ken Cromwell will be there for the unveiling and then leave soon afterwards. But obviously that didn't happen. And the other thing. You know where he went? You know where Ken Cromwell went? He went to Flip It Out. Flip It Out Pinball, where we at Rochester Pinball Collective buy all of our pinball machines. And you should, too.
    7:45
    Okay. Contact Zach today. Not our Zach, the other Zach from Flip It Out Pinball. So congratulations, Ken. Yes, congratulations. I always like Ken. Ken is the reason we have the Slam Tilt banner at Rochester Pinball Collective. Yes. You got that made. Yes. Thank you, Ken. And Ken was always good to us. You know, you can actually talk to him and he's down to earth, which is really nice. And he'll do great things at Flippin' Out. Because Flippin' Out is the place to buy your pinball machine. I think he's part of like the sales force now or something. Yeah. I don't think it's necessarily marketing. Yeah. But good move for, I think, for him. It was really, I was actually very surprised about it. Yeah, I did not see that one coming. No, I didn't see that one coming at all. I wonder who will replace him. I haven't heard anything about that either. No.
    8:37
    Maybe we should talk about Harry Potter. Being that's the first thing I have, I have Harry Potter Revealed because it was revealed. Yeah. It was revealed. Yeah. It wasn't revealed last episode. No, it was not. And it's been revealed. Harry Potter, there's three levels of Harry Potter games. There is the, what is it? Collector's Edition. Wizard Edition. Arcade. Arcade Edition. and it looks like the arcade has everything. It has everything except bling, so it doesn't have no shaker motor, no topper, no anti-glare glass, no art blades. Nope. Perfect.
    9:16
    The way it should be. That seems like, yeah, but it still costs about, like, what the Stern premium costs. So, yeah. But the game does have a lot. Yeah, it does. It really does. So what do you think? what do you think well i'm gonna first comment on the colors oh my god yes you already got us in trouble again yeah fucking colors suck you piss someone off on our own page and you're banning people banning people because they weren't even listeners or followers they just jumped on the old i'm gonna defend my harry potter okay what let's whole story what did you do bruce i posted saying it's fucking clown puke well you you took the play field it's a picture it was a picture of the collector's edition yep which has the the apron sticker is different than the other two it's yeah yeah it's like all the colors of the rainbow on it all the color of a rainbow and within eight inches of each other all eight inches you have the whole gambit 256 colors it looks like shite okay and i had these people you don't know that's a lamey thing to say guess what my fucking opinion go fuck yourselves you're banned yeah well and then they're like fuck yourselves go fuck yourselves okay the colors are hideous on the ce or the collector's edition it really is it is bad it's colors where i mean the play over that i don't like field is exactly the same the play feels exactly the same the apron the side rail The side rails are all, that orange is, ugh. That is bad. I'm looking at the CE trying to figure out what you're talking about. The actual cabin and everything. Yeah, they're hideous. So you mean, okay. The whole art package. You're talking about the white show. The CE sucks. Oh, I disagree. I think it sucks. My wife's like, the arcade version is the best version. And a lot of people have said that also. No. Yeah. So basically, the collector's edition, the art is completely different than the other ones. Yes. And it is the book art. It's basically the people who did the books, did the art, did the cabinet art. Yes. And this is the issue I have. Not based off that. It's completely different. Yes. And it's like, oh, okay. And then the inner art blades are that same style. And then the play field is the same as the other ones. Yep. Which is the movie art. Yep. Which makes no fucking sense. Oh, they should have went all out with that one. They should have just had the collective. I know it would have been another play field, but. My wife's like, what the fuck were they even thinking? I think, well, you guys criticize everything. Well, my wife's like, well, no. My wife's like, why are you mixing two genres? You're mixing the movies with the book. What they should have done, if you really wanted to be correct on this game, is have the side art of the books and have the play field different of the books. That would make a CE like, hey, look, it's a collector's edition. It's totally different than any other two. But you didn't. You lazed out. It still is. And they're selling a lot of it. It looks like everyone I've seen has been the collector's edition so far. I know. Holy shit. It's like, wow, no one's fucking with any of the other versions. Or was it 100 that they built in the beginning or 200 or 300 because they've been building for a while. Yeah. Yeah, I've seen a lot of them now out there. Yes.
    12:48
    Was it all CEs and maybe they're going to wait on the arcades until later? I think the CE looks great. Oh, God. Don't like it. Well, there you go. Me and my wife are like, nope, I'd rather have the Wizard or the – and the Wizard, I'm always like the topper is not that okay, so I'll just go for the arcade. the CE topper is not at the level of their last couple times no no I'm being kind here I did not like it at all it doesn't look as good as the avatar one the Elton John one no I was just surprised that it now my wife's like it seemed like a step down from the other toppers and from everything else on the game yeah it just doesn't it seems like it doesn't belong now I have a question has your uh elton john it's just regular rails no lollipops because i noticed that all these even the ce has like no lollipops yeah i don't think it's lollipops yeah for those at home lollipops are the um around around it goes around the flipper buttons like it actually extends it comes under yeah and around the flipper buttons yeah because of wear but these aren't going to wear because they're only in homes because people can't afford 15 000 games well Well, they're not silkscreen either. They're radcals. I know. They're rad. Oh, yeah, that's the other thing that the arcade one doesn't have. Just regular decals, not radcals. So what version would you get if you were going to buy one?
    14:21
    I have zero interest in thieves, so I wouldn't buy any of them. I know. Okay, if you said, I buy every pinball machine, which one would you buy of this?
    14:32
    Mine would be Wizard or Arcade. probably. Yeah. Now, the playfield, this is fucking wild. The playfield. It looks very congested. It's packed to the gills, man. You can't complain that this doesn't have enough stuff in it. No, this has a lot of toys. The moving stairway is pretty fucking cool. Does it have a lot of toys? Name the toy other than the moving stair. The upper playfield with the upper flipper. Is that a toy? I don't know. It's literally a loop shot. Yeah. For those, I would argue that Wizard of Oz had more stuff than this. No, true. Totally.
    15:14
    I'm not saying it doesn't have enough shit in it. I'm just saying, like, oh, my God, this has the most things. Like, think of Wizard of Oz. Two upper play fields. Yep. Spinning house. Moving witch mech. Moving monkey mech. Crystal ball thingy. No, I think the arcade, honestly, if you're a vendor or you don't have a lot of money, the arcade edition is very, very reasonable for what you're getting here, it looks like. Yeah, and they're changing all the rules for this game, Jersey Jack. Yeah, because they included everything. The CE isn't just 1,000. It's as long as they have orders open. Yes. And how long is that going to be? Well, however long it takes to get a lot of orders. I mean, they know this is it. This is the big one. I'm looking at it right now. I'm looking at the CE with that apron. And yes, it is very, very rainbow. And now if you go to the arcade one, it blends in nice. No, I will say this. The CE blends in with the play field perfectly, but it's still over fucking whelming. The arcade and the wizard have just, it looks like it was just. Green. Green and blue. Yeah, green and blue.
    16:32
    No, I like that way better. But so I would buy either. I probably buy the arcade. I'm cheap. You know, what do you think of the play field art itself?
    16:46
    It is it. And, you know, I mean, it's hand drawn. But also, I think people were posting that these are taken from other. Oh, yeah. It's like obviously this was a licensing thing where like you're using this. Yeah, you're using this image. Yeah, you're using these images, so they had to get that in there. Yes, of course. So that's what they did. I mean, it's a step up from Photoshop in that it's painted versions of it. Yes. But it's still stock art that they had to put on there. But that's, hey, they got everything else, so it's like you can't complain too much there. All eight movies. Yeah, all eight movies.
    17:27
    And they have... I get to use my hog in warts. Mark Silk is the narrator throughout the game have you seen any of the gameplay because there's a ton of it out there I've seen a little bit of it looks it doesn't look like it plays too easy no no no it's tight shots I think but it's pretty it moves pretty good I feel oh yes it's definitely more it's flowy as far as speed it's more Elton John than Avatar oh definitely yeah You can see the upgraded driver board speed.
    18:05
    This does not have Toy Story-like slings on it, let's say that. No. And I watched a ton of gameplay of this thing.
    18:14
    To be prepared for our listeners. And it's got a lot of... Everything is stackable. Yeah. So there are parts I'm watching it where there's like five different things running and everything's lit. Yeah. And I'm like, uh, they're still doing that. They're still doing that. They're still fucking doing that. It's. It doesn't look multi. It doesn't look like, it doesn't look like, sorry, Guns N' Roses with fucking multi ball. Yeah. That I'm glad of. Yeah. But I'll say, you know, I've said that Elton John was like the least Jersey Jack, Jersey Jack. Yes. And maybe that's why I liked it. This is about as most Jersey Jack, Jersey Jack as you're going to get. Oh, totally.
    18:55
    Totally. I do like that all three levels have the 400 RGB lights. That's really good. So it makes their making the machine easier. It's almost like you bought a base machine, and if you want to go up to the CE, or we're just going to put it in a different cabinet, give you some more side art lighting and everything else. But building this machine should be simpler because all the play fields come down one line.
    19:24
    It's like buying a car. I got the base model for the arcade, and if you want to spiff it up a little bit, you had the wizard. And if you really want to pimp it out, you got the CE.
    19:35
    That's the way you look at it. Very colorful light shows. Oh, yeah. I'll say that. I'm blind. But I don't know. I was watching this.
    19:47
    Where was I watching this? I was at Zach's. Ah. And this was like after stop because this was unveiled like right after stop, of course. Yes, it was. And I was watching some of the gameplay.
    20:01
    And Zach brought this up. And I have to agree. The Jersey Jack games especially the deal where everything you do they shoot the inner loop shoot the blah blah blah shoot the blah blah blah It like endless instructional speech Yeah I know because they so overwhelming Yes I know And the fact that whenever you start a multiball it has to say multiball Multiball Yeah, I know. Think of something like Adam's Family. Does it say multiball? No. What does it say? Dun, dun. Showtime!
    20:30
    Yeah, something like that. They should have said, like, what's the fucking thing that Harry Potter says? Extremists! You know, whatever you want to call it. You know, that's what it should say. Extremists? That's what he says? I forget what he says. I forgot if I'm not a fucking... Extreme wanding. Yeah, my wand is powerful, you know, whatever he says. Oh, God. That's in the porn parody also. Exactly. But I'm saying that's what it should have been. You don't have to say multiball. You know it's multiball. You know it's coming out. I think, and they have all the assets. Yes. You have eight movies to go by. I love me some Mark Silk. There's too much of him in this game. Yeah. Whenever they have call-outs, you can barely hear them compared to the instructional speech. I would say less narration, more cool clips because you have them all. You can use all of them. You have almost 17 or 18 hours of movies, and I feel like there's maybe 30, 40 minutes in this, parts of some movies. And for you, Potter fans, I'm sure they have all the scenes that they remember. you know you'd want those scenes in there with those call-outs yeah okay now here's another funny thing we had stomped the same weekend it was given you know out how many people talked about it during the tournament i heard nobody i talked with a couple people because we were we're talking about the whole other issues with harry potter and their uh creator if you will yes and the fact that one person i spoke to was like they have games on location and they were They're like, I don't know if I'd be comfortable putting this on location just because of possible vandalism. I didn't even think of that. It's like, oh. Oh, yeah, well. And there was issues, too, because I guess June is Pride Week.
    22:21
    Month. Pride Month, sorry. Pride Month. The thing is, it was supposed to be out at the end of May. May, yeah. And they had the delays. They were going to delay it a full extra month just because of that. No. and I haven't really heard anything about it other than like the initial Jersey Jack's initial post on their Facebook. You know, it's out, blah, blah, blah, etc. Nothing even posted on Harry Potter itself, nothing, anything. So half the posts on that thread were about that subject. It was like half and half. It's like, Jesus Christ, man. I know. Damn.
    23:04
    But, yeah, I haven't heard much about that since then. No. I'll say that. I don't think it will affect sales in any way. No, no, I don't think it will either. Maybe on location. Guess what? On location playing maybe, but I mean. If people vandalize a machine because of the way the person has it, then why aren't you fucking vandalizing any fucking, what's it called,
    23:27
    our favorite pedophile? Oh, Jesus, John Trudeau games. Yeah, exactly. Why aren't you doing that? you know i'm sorry you're pushing the limit you're destroying somebody's fifteen thousand dollar machine because you don't agree with it the way you don't agree with it is don't play the game that's how you do it if you vandalize something you're a fucking asshat sorry most of these are going to be sold to the home so exactly but if you have it on location and oh let me vandalize it while i'm in a tournament so i get my my opinion out it won't be a women's tournament because I believe it's banned. Is it? Supposedly. I read that somewhere. The IFPA Women's Board banned this game. So now we're going to ban books now too and everything else? Well, the thing is, when's the last time you've seen Jersey Jack games in tournaments?
    24:14
    You see Elton John. Yes. And you've seen Wizard of Oz win the first game. Wizard of Oz. Yeah. It did. You ain't seen Harry Potter in any tournament. No. I know. But the thing is, banning it? Really? So why don't we just ban strikes and spares? Actually, I'm surprised it's like Playboy's not banned. Exactly. I'm sorry. Or at least Big Juicy Melons. Yeah, exactly. But you didn't ban that, but you're banning this. Again, I read that. It could not be true. Someone could correct me. I hope they do because I hope that's wrong. I did read that somewhere.
    24:47
    So I'm looking at it. I don't know. I don't know anything about this license other than, what is it, Harry, Hermione. I think I said that right. And Ron, I can't forget his name.
    25:02
    They're the main characters. And Alan Rickman's in it from Die Hard. I remember that. Yes. I love him. Love me some of that. I actually watched a movie last night where Harry is another character. What was it? Now You See Me, Now You Don't 2.
    25:21
    Radcliffe. Wow. He's gone downhill since. Oh, yeah. I was like, wow. Holy shit. And that he wasn't good, really. He was a sarcastic dick. It was funny. It's like when you're Harry Potter. I know. I mean, the game is packed.
    25:40
    It doesn't look particularly easy. It's got the in-lane, out-lane stuff. I think he did this on Pirates. I think it's similar to the setup.
    25:51
    I mean, I'm looking forward to playing it. Oh, I am too. I like this. Well, there's 13 different ball paths out of the rotating staircase. I think it looks really interesting. It looks like it's going to be a good player.
    26:06
    I got to see it. You know what part I like the most? What's stupid as this is? The person riding the broom. Yeah, it's right in front. Yeah. And however they have this thing mounted, it never stops moving, and I get a kick out of that. Like if you just tap the game, the thing just starts wobbling, wobbling. It never stops moving. I can't get my eye off of that thing. I think it's hilarious. I'm easily amused. What can I say? Well, we know that.
    26:32
    I'm trying to think when I would even get to play this. Because I don't think anyone around here is getting this. It won't be on location here.
    26:41
    I'm trying to think, what's the next show? God, Expo? Expo. You'll play at Expo. Jesus, that's a long wait. Oh, no, Pinberg. I can't see it. We used to be able to play them at Pemburg, but not because they would have some games there.
    26:58
    Maybe it'll be there in the back. I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. Well, you're in Rochester, so we know someone will get it. Yeah, I actually know two people who are going to get it. Of course you do.
    27:10
    And that's where I hope to play it, at their places. But if not, I'll just have to wait and see. I guarantee, I don't know, maybe.
    27:21
    Maybe Pocketeer will have one at the Beast. We don't know. He gets a lot of Jersey Jack games. Well, I listened to the Pinball Magazine, Pinball News podcast. They had Jack on again, Jack Guarneri. And they asked him straight up, is this going to basically delay your next game because how long you're probably going to run this thing? Yeah. Just straight up. And he was like, nope, probably. He actually had some problems. So he's basically saying, yeah, we're going to make this as long as we can. And then he always does his passive-aggressive little stern digs. Oh, yeah. Where he basically said, I think companies are making too many different titles. Like you can't be making three or four titles in a year. Like, gee, I wonder what company makes three or four titles in a year. Yeah, gee, only one. Because you flood the market and blah, blah, blah, which actually a lot of that I agree with. I agree with it, too. Honestly, I think there's too many titles out there. I'd rather have three good games than – or two good games than three or four crappy games. Yeah, the problem, if you're CERN and you come out with something like John Wick, which isn't really selling, then you kind of need another game, don't you? Yes, you do.
    28:37
    But look what happened to Jersey Jack. Avatar didn't really sell. Godfather didn't really sell. I mean, they sold, but I'm sure not as much as they wanted. No, they did not sell. And they know they have. They have excess. They're still sitting on inventory. Well, you know what they don't have? Elton John. Elton John CEUs. No more Elton. No, they have those. No more Elton John Platinum editions in stock at the factory. They could restart them. They could make more, but for now, all of them that are out there at distributors, that's it.
    29:16
    Because it's a good pin. Elton John, bro. Oh, we didn't mention Harry Potter has this new feature called Game Changer. What's Game Changer? Do you know what this is, Bruce? No, I don't know. Oh, you don't know what this is? No, I didn't hear about this. This was announced, and some people thought it was maybe like the equivalent of the Insider Connected and all that. Because they had, what was the one they had they got rid of? Pin Score. Not a Pin Score. What was the other one? We're scary, Bruce. I was thinking pin score in my head, and I'm thinking, like, I know that's not the name. That's, like, the displays. Yeah.
    29:57
    God damn it. Pin bit or? Score bit. That's it. Yeah, that's it. Jesus Christ. Yeah. People thought it was, like, the score bit replacement. No. What it is is when you get your Harry Potter, it comes with, on the keys, it's got, like, a key thing. It's got three QR codes, one for easy, normal, and wizard.
    30:19
    And when you start a game, you scan this code at the camera, and it will change the difficulty of the game depending on which one you pick. So it's basically like a handicapping. Yes. So if I was playing, I don't know, my dad, like he could scan easy, and I could scan wizard. Yeah.
    30:43
    uh interesting okay uh i just want to put everyone into the mentality of space balls too is coming out in 2027 so fucking get that license and make me happy okay there's nothing to a game changer but yes space balls too that would be a game changer because it'll be fucking awesome oh that'll be that that's the true game changer is space balls too space balls too the quest for more money stern it's right up your alley it's like they're advertising it and they haven't started making it yet no i know bill brooks will be 100 when it comes like i know it's like he's fucking he could die any second i know he could i mean fill his seeds first yeah jesus but uh yeah a couple people coming back rick moranis yes that's gonna be a fucking awesome uh pullman's coming back also his son's coming back yep well He just wasn't there, but I assume he's going to be his son in the movie, too. Yes, that's the one guy from the Marvel. Lone Star Jr.
    31:46
    His half-Jewish son. Half-Jewish son. It is? That's true. Funny. You look Jewish. Oh, God. I'm just making quotes, man. That's all I'm doing. Yes. But that is definitely a movie title to pick up. So that is the true game changer, not JJP's game changer. Spaceballs 2 is the true game changer. The quest for more money. Yes.
    32:18
    Spaceballs the sweatshirt. Spaceballs the apron. Spaceballs the interconnected. Yes. Spaceballs the tapa.
    32:30
    Spaceballs the shooter rod. I think we can make a million. I think we're done with Harry Potter. Yes, we are. Anything else about Harry Potter? I'm looking to play it. I really want to play it. That's my goal for that. If you actually, literally, if you're going to damage a machine on location, I don't want you listening to us then. I'm going to be totally honest. That's totally disrespectful to anybody. How would you like if somebody came out to your car and, you know, disrespected your vehicle? Disrespected my vehicle? Like called it names? No, like put penises on it You know, that kind of stuff You know, it's the same thing Well, they'd probably be like, I thought you would have liked that You're a slam-tail Yeah, but don't damage any games out there If you do it That's fucking lower, low class If you want to boycott it Don't play it That's it Yeah, I saw this news story about a guy He's vandalizing things by drawing Beavis on everything Yeah, Jesus Christ God And the reporter couldn't stop laughing as he's trying to report this story. Yeah, exactly, of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah, cool. All right. So, yeah, Spaceballs the movie is the way to go.
    33:43
    Like Predator, I mentioned that already. Oh, Cactus Canyon kits. Remember those? Yes. That were delayed. And delayed. They're supposed to finally start coming out at the end of June. Yes, end of June. So, late July, you made shit. Jesus Christ. I want to see it. I want to see it all in action. Hopefully it's, you know. I saw it in action.
    34:07
    A lot of breaks. I didn't even see the doors because they were. Yeah, I couldn't see the doors because of the way they are. I had to, like, get lower on the machine. So if you're shorter, if you're really short, it'll be better for you. Wow. Yeah.
    34:23
    So let's see. What else do I have here? Oh, I saw this, and I figured I had to put this in here. What's that? DPX announced a Dutch pinball exclusive, or as Bruce and I call them,
    34:38
    dual penetration extreme. Alice in Wonderland, another delay. No, surprise, fucking surprise. They had some kind of issue with the game that they had to retrofit something. This is just to ship out, I think, 25 of them to the U.S. Yes, to try to get in before July tariffs. Yep.
    35:00
    They have issues with the topper. Issues with the topper supplier or parts supplier or whatever. Basically, they're going to be sending these games out without the topper. And they'll have to send the toppers out later.
    35:12
    And how many of these are they supposed to make? 1,000. And you need to get them by the end of this year or you get your money back. You get to get your deposit back. Deposit back, yes. Yeah. And how are we doing right now? We're T-minus six months and 15 days. We're halfway through the year. And they're trying to get 25 of them out to the U.S. And how many have they shipped?
    35:35
    Most of them are in Europe. Yes, exactly. There's like 40 or 50, I think, people are saying. But if you're in Canada, you won't have to pay any of these tariffs. Because Europe and Canada have a free trade agreement, so you guys are all set. Take off! Yes.
    35:51
    But, yeah, I just don't understand. I thought of you when I saw that, like, delays, delays. Delays again. I think of the Martian from Warner Brothers. Delays, delays.
    36:03
    I could not find the parts for my Illudium-P36 expensive space modulator. Space modulator. I know. Fuck me. Making that promise we all knew was a fucking mistake. and people still... For the first game, yes. Yeah. Although technically it's the second game. It's their second game. Well, look how long their first game took. Ten years. A decade.
    36:35
    It'll be better. Hey, they're going to get... If they get it within a year, it's the 10%. That's true. Hey, say what you want, man. Big Lebowski had the longest production of any game ever. Time-wise. Maybe not units-wise. is that really something to be proud of no i don't know if it was it was it's such an awesome game they just made it for 10 years yeah survey says okay the fuck nuts no their delays are just gonna make more people on edge you know people are some people are dedicated they're gonna go oh i gotta have this i already got my money and who cares take my money now they're like i need it before this date because then it's going to cost 20 more yeah exactly and now they can't even do that so does the does the topper get tariffed i would assume so yeah they don't get it by july 9th or whatever date it is yeah so it's just oh my fucking god just you're you're taking your life in your hands if you're going to get shit from europe like that you're just throwing away money right now i mean think a predator yeah you better get your predator before july whatever yeah you're You're paying, oh, maybe not. Who knows? What happened? I thought Pinball Brothers supposedly were going to have, they could sell from within the U.S. They were going to have locations in there. They have to have a manufacturing, and they don't have that. I thought what their plan was going to be to use American pinball for the U.S. stuff. And we know how that's gone. Yeah, and that Dutch pinball, good luck if you get your game. Good luck. That's all I'm going to say about that. Okay. We may or may not have experienced a power hit right there. Maybe.
    38:21
    So we're going to try to plow through this. Hey, man, I just took a hit on the bung, man. I've had two power hits now in the last hour. So one right before we started and now one during the recording.
    38:34
    Yeah, man. Always good to use a laptop. That's another good reason to use a laptop. Because I only lost internet. So what else happened last weekend? What happened? See, we saved it until now. We didn't talk about it forever. Stomp. Can you dig it? Stomp. Stomp 7. Lots and lots and lots of playing. Yes.
    38:58
    Thursday, we had the pre-tournament. The pre-tournament. Yes, the stomp before stomp. Yes. And some asshole won. It was classics only pre-tournament. Yep. And some asshole won. Yeah, I fucking won. Yeah.
    39:14
    Congratulations, Ron. Dead silence. Yeah. I say congratulations. I started with a third. And then I was on nine ball. Like, all right. I usually always win at nine ball. Last.
    39:29
    And then first, first, second, and then all firsts. Nope. He crushed it. Yeah. Even for me, that was pretty good. That was pretty good. I got 10th, which was 12th because of how many ties were there. Ah. tiebreakers so i felt i did good that was the only tournament i played in the weekend that was the only tournament in the weekman so uh uh we almost had the zach show uh anyone but zach zach took uh the classics frenzy was it a frenzy or what was it a match match match match play wasn't it or something like that something like that yeah He took that. Yes. He crushed that, actually. He was El Fuego. Is it El Fuego or En Fuego? El Fuego. Because El Fuego means the fire. He is the fire. Yes. When I think of Zach, I think of the fire. The fire that burns. Yes. The fire that burns between my loins But yeah so we had 78 players which is really good And the finals was won by, I don't know, you had the results always, so. I don't have the results always. I figured you would have them. No, not at all. Not at all? Well, that's a problem. Well, Alex won. Alex won from Alex Kelly. Defending New York champion. State champion. And of course, you're going to tell us who won the women's end consolation, right? The women's was Monica. I forget her last name. I at least knew that because she crushed it. Very good. And consolation? I wasn't there. You weren't there. Actually, I had to leave home early because it was 7.30. I had to be in bed the next morning or get up at 6 o'clock in the morning. I forget who it was. I got it right here. Go ahead. So, yeah, it was Stephanie. Not Steph, but Stephanie. Stephanie Traub, yes. congratulations to all of our winners uh we handed out a lot of cash which was good uh a lot of points we did 100 the winner alex took home 110 points and a lot a lot of streaming yep a lot of streaming we got up to a full 25 people at one point which i'm surprised because we were going against another we were going against fox cities again fox cities and another And another one. Tournament at an interium. Yeah. So they had like, you know, hundreds of people watching. And here we are with 25. Hi.
    42:00
    Hey, look at us. Hey. And then we kept losing. I kept losing the damn camera in the finals. Now we figured out why. Because of a fucking hair salon. Hair salon in my area.
    42:13
    So we have a range we have to be stuck in. Yeah, they're using the range that's supposed to be at least somewhat free. and I think it was we were getting interfered with. Yes, and it would kick it off to another channel and then, you know, it's like... So I had to spend money to get yet another analyzer tool because the one I have obviously wasn't good enough and then I would just sit there and look at it and I would see this hair salon just randomly pop up and disappear right in the range of where I had the one camera.
    42:44
    It's like, you motherfucker. And after you fixed it? It was great. Yeah, it was fine for the women's finals. It was flawless. Flawless. Too bad it was way at the end at that point.
    42:56
    So Stomp was very successful. We are thanking all of the people who came out. We did have our Pinberg ticket winner.
    43:06
    I don't know how to pronounce his name. I'm going to pull the name for that because I have that. It was good. I think there was no incidents or anything. A lot of yellow cards.
    43:14
    A lot of yellow cards. Okay. Okay, so why were there so many yellow cards first? Because people couldn't read signage.
    43:21
    Your signage was kind of small. It was small, but we told everyone four times, three times, do not touch these games. And then people were practicing on those games. And as soon as you practice, you got a yellow card. And there was a little thing on it that said no practice. No practice. And there was barriers also put up for some games. Later on, yes. Later on, but that's when I started giving out the yellow cards. So, yeah, yeah, that's a ticket. I'm just trying to find a name for our Pemberg winner. And I can't find it, of course, because I suck. Good job. So they were having a tournament at Interium in Chicago during this same time.
    43:59
    And that was won by Zach McCarthy. Big surprise there. Surprise, surprise. They were playing, you know, all new games. Which I turned it on. Six games in five hours, I think it was. Well, I turned on the finals and I watched some of the shortest games of like, what was it? Was it Rush? They were so bastardized it was insane. Well, that's the way it should be.
    44:27
    Also, between episodes here, the European Pinball Championships occur. Yes, they did. Paul Englert, I think, won.
    44:38
    He was like 16, the German kid. he won so he's a major winner now and the winner of the pinberg ticket ticket was taryn williams there you go so we gave away that we gave away a lot of other things uh good time i actually had it was a lot of running around i didn't sit sometimes for oh yeah the more i sit down boom light turns on sit down light turns on like fuck me yeah yeah it was a lot of repairs Yeah, especially the classics. Sorry, classics, we love you, but man. Oh, God. There was like 10. You guys have this light there that you turn on when there's an issue. When there's an issue. The light must have turned on 10 times in a period of like 20 minutes. It's just one after another, after another, after another, after another. And then after we got out of classics and went back to main, it was, oh, wow, I can actually take a breather and actually sit down for a few minutes. Damn classics. Damn classics always. And that is the usual case for, you know, because they are older machines. They're old. they're old.
    45:40
    We put some games in the back that I have to go through for the Beast. We're going to bring two games out for the Beast.
    45:50
    One's in the back already getting worked on, and then the second one will come out for the Beast to get worked on, and we'll have some fun there. But I am grateful. Me and Ron thank everyone who came out.
    46:04
    78 players is a great showing. We want to get more next year if we can. maybe more is 90 90 90 good gravy we always want to increase just a little bit so last year was 64 now we moved at 78 now we're gonna go for 90 damn yep and uh we'll do the we'll do a giveaway again probably with pinberg tickets if we can get on the list again we'd be very happy to do that and somebody can enjoy pinberg i had a great time you know trust me it's a lot of fucking work we had the side room so we actually have a room that we use for nationals so people can actually lounge out and watch, they actually watch the stream we have a big TV in there we can distribute our food when we got food we gave away pizza on Saturday distributed food, that's an interesting terminology yes, because we didn't we gave away free food we didn't sell food, we just distributed you're a distributor of food we're a distributor of food uh we got uh six sheet pizzas and that went like that like holy for holies i didn't eat any of it i was a good boy needed i i didn't need any of it either i was a good boy i brought all my own food but yeah really fun time and now we get to announce the next thing the original stop the one that started it all original stop yep september 20th i think that is the date let me make sure that is the date at beautiful level zero yes september 20th we're going to start at 32 players yes 32 players only we guarantee you will not go above 40 yes but 32 is i'm going for max of 32 we just want to get this in out enjoyable so do not wait do not you You know, tickets will be going on sale July 12th.
    47:56
    Verse 32, we'll post something on our Facebook page. We'll post around. Top 32, it will be tickets go on sale 12 noon on the 12th of July.
    48:11
    Da-da. So if the first 32 pay, you're in. I forget how much we charged last year. I just sent you the link so I can go back to it. That's the good thing.
    48:26
    You said you're in. You're in. Waiting for my computer to come up because it's very slow. Do I have the slowest computer in the world, Ron? Especially since you said you were replacing it, and that was months ago. Yes. I actually have it. I just haven't played with it yet. $50 per person. and somebody will win a new belt so uh i'm gonna ask the fans i need a new picture of me and ron hey what the fuck it up you need a new picture yeah what i really need is mrs pin send me the file of beavis and butthead as us that would be awesome on the oh you actually so you want to be in butthead drawing on the but of us she did it and so if i i might have to ask mrs pin for that drawing. I miss Mrs. Penn. I know, I miss Mrs. Penn too. Mr. Penn. Dr. Penn. Well, I call him Mr. because he's never doctored me yet. Oh.
    49:25
    So we have a lawsuit alert. Oh, we do? Yes, we do. Oh, is it another Robert Mueller? No, it's not. Oh, damn it. We have to go back to the oldest episodes of Slamtail Podcast. to bring out our law firm to sue. Cheat them in hell? Yep, cheat them in hell. I forget what it was. But we have to go back, and now we've got to sue people in two different countries.
    49:54
    Oh, yeah, I heard about this. Yes, because the final round. The final round podcast. Ryan C. called it the mail ball bag. Yes, he did. And Jeff's like, you can't call it that. That's what I'm told. He's like, oh, fuck, did I say that? Nope, you said it. They could have edited it out, but they didn't. They didn't. So guess what? Lawsuit. Lawsuits aplenty. Here we come, you fuckers. That's how we make our money. We don't do Patreon. We sue the shit out of people. We sue people.
    50:22
    We sue people for taking our gimmick. Yes. You fuckers. All right. No, it's really cool. I was actually laughing when I heard that. Holy fuck.
    50:33
    Freudian slip there. Freudian slip. It's the best Freudian slip ever. I love when I slip into my ball bag. Oh, yes. I just slip and fall right into it. All the goodness just comes all over me.
    50:48
    Well, do you want to do the male ball bag, Bruce, right now? I would love to release what's in the male ball bag.
    50:55
    All right. Sorry. I'm a fucking four-year-old sometimes. Yes. All right. Some of these are long, too. So we're going to let's pray the power does not go out again because that would suck. Oh, yes. I wonder if I should like not edit after this just in case the power goes out again. Do not edit. Do not. I've been pretty good to show. Yes, you have. I have been. Let's see. This is from Rabia.
    51:29
    Hello. Long time listener. He's got the subject. Roger Sharp would approve. It's man with machine, not man versus machine.
    51:37
    Okay. It says, you are the greatest player of all time. What is your quote to be remembered by?
    51:45
    And this is a quote. The ball doesn't lie. It finds every flaw in your technique and every gap in your focus. Master yourself, and you master the machine. I'd want to be remembered for understanding that pinball isn't about fighting the machine, but about becoming one with its physics and rhythms. Every great game starts with respecting the silver sphere and knowing that in those few minutes it's just you gravity and pure reflex what's your what's your quote uh i definitely feel like i'm fighting with the machine depending on the machine mine is i'll fix the fucking machine i don't blame as much anymore so i'll just fix the fucking machine and make sure that doesn't beat me in that way paragon i don't feel like i'm one with the machine i feel like i'm in a battle with the machine. Oh, yeah, totally. There's a couple of machines out there like that.
    52:35
    Let's see. We got an email from Scott. Our Scott. Let's see. It's a link. Oh, no. On Tindy.com. Oh, my.
    52:51
    Some guy's making a new combo board for Williams System 3 through 7. Yeah, I saw that. That looks pretty good.
    53:00
    No interconnect. I think it was like $135 I'm trying to open it Nothing is happening Yeah I know Oh man I love technology so much Yes you do Yeah so $135 was the price of it I think $139.99 I'm looking at it right now Man it's small Yeah it's small And the guy's looking for ideas for other ones he can remake So it's It's 10D.com, but I think this has all kinds of other products. Make Williams System 9 board somebody. For the three games that use them? Yep. And make it for eight, like backwards compatibility, eight also a little bit. Oh, for what, Pen and Fever? Yes. But guess what? For one game? You get four games out of it instead of three. Okay, what are the three System 9 games?
    53:55
    Comet, Sorcerer, and... It's probably the most asked question. I've asked this so many times. Comet, Sorcerer, and... Oh, Space Shuttle. There you go. There I go. Yeah, that's a ticket. And if you really want to be anal, you could say Starlight, because there are System 9 Starlights. Yeah. But yeah.
    54:19
    Vito. I always like seeing the new boards out there. Me too. That is cheap. That is really fucking cheap. But is it good? That's the gig. Yeah. Is there a reason it's that cheap? And you have to add ROMs. you know some people you know yeah is it using a you know a card who knows we have to you know figure it out but that is pretty darn cheap uh we have our official biographer eric russell cny nice that's what i call him he is is our uh i'm not biographer ain't the word no he's our statistician says hey guys congratulations on your upcoming 250 250 second episode That's called 250. Yes, you have done two extras now. 149.5 and 249.5. Whoa. Exactly 100 off. I didn't realize that. That's Bruce. Damn, we're good.
    55:11
    Consistency. That's a lot of prep work and editing. Good thing Ron enjoys it so much. Keep up the great work. He loves it. And, Ron, congrats again for your big win at Allentown. Very well played, sir. Thank you. Nice. I'm looking forward to stop. See you both there in a couple weeks. Eric did win a sweatshirt, so when he hears this, I have it in the back room for your sweatshirt.
    55:32
    Yes, it says, P.S., spreadsheet update attached. Yes, he has a spreadsheet that has every episode we've ever done. Eric does our stats for Western New York Pinball, so I know he is the statistician of all statisticians. Yeah. And he's damn good at pinball, too. And the crazy thing is, when I looked at the spreadsheet, we had tons of guests originally. Yeah, I know. In the episode we had guests, and Timmy was on here like constantly. I know. I forgot how often he was on there. Yeah, maybe we'll eventually get him on if he wants to talk to you. He doesn't associate with any of his old people. Yeah, riffraff. Yeah, get out of here. He's the head guy now at Play Mechanics. He's their head pinball guy. Let's see. This next one is from Jeff. Hey, Jeff. Subject, cash grab. Cash grab. Hello, gents. Not sure if you've mentioned this in past episodes, but I wanted to know if when Bruce calls out cash grab for when companies are doing stupid things to try to squeeze money out of the customer, it comes from the call out for Monopoly pinball. My buddy just picked up the game at Allentown, and we laugh every time we hear it and obviously think of you, Bruce. Hugs to you, Ron. Jeff. That is where we get it from. That is where it's from. And I have the platinum, so for me it's very special. And cash grab. Cash grab.
    56:54
    that was funny watching that uh during stop people start cash grab and drain instantly like oh and then the next player did the same thing oh it's like pressure it's like it's like you know multi-ball like you know music changes and you're like fuck i gotta fuck he says ps thanks for the input a while ago about the co-op oh these are the long island co-op people remember that yes a bunch of us on long island have been floating around the idea rent here sucks oh yes it does Talk about cash grabs. Yes, that is a true cash grab. Yes. Unfortunately, that is the biggest. Rent is your number one, and then location. Location will hurt you, too. Like, we don't have the best location. Don't get me wrong. You know, if we went downstairs, like, we're on the second floor. So if we went downstairs, our rent would probably be at least $2,000 more. Damn. Yeah, and for us, that makes no sense. You get to walk, guys. I'm sorry. but with that if we get more games we have more room and so it's a better experience that's what we like to see oh kineticist update your fucking website for where to play in new york it's all outdated now it all the things are stale oh okay we hate stale we hate stale uh all right um this next one is from uh rabia again man lots of let's eat guys here subject king kong so good it almost started a fight oh you be the judge of this pinball situation or what would bruce do oh god all right so this is a situation okay so this is all right let me get this and it's i'm gonna get my thinking cap on there's a lot of text here too man they're really working out my voice here hey r&b hey wait a minute that is us ron and bruce r&b we're r&b rhythm and blues ron and bruce just had an opportunity to play king khan for the first time premium edition on location in chicago at the new elston electric venue let's see it's an arcade situated in the historic boiler room of the morton salt factory huh there's historic boiler rooms did like mankind fight in there against the undertaker back in the day no the salt factory is actually uh it's going towards the city it's on the left hand side of the skyway it's an old building it's a city neighborhood near downtown brought to you by the guys at logan arcade okay cool it's attached to the music venue the salt shed apparently the acoustics are amazing must be the salt okay and they've done a great job preserving the building and making it feel like a speakeasy. A bit too upscale for my taste, where it's more about the vibe and fancy $20 drinks than the pinball, but make no mistake, the pinball is immaculate. All kept shiny, clean, and in good working order. I really like the front room bar area where they kept the older machines like Taxi, Abracadabra, etc. Tournaments are also hosted here monthly. Okay, here's your background. Now, here's your situation. Pretend this is you, Bruce. That would actually make this funnier bruce arrives soon after they open at 4 p.m on friday there's security with the full tsa treatment as you enter this place wow fuck damn it also gives you access to the salt shed on the other side i probably get my charge card uh then proceed to the lineup of their modern sterns king kong is already player occupied with what i clock at five credits paid in advance Okay, no problem. I'll play the new Metallica Premium while I wait. Or one of the other 18 pinball machines they have. Damn. Then I notice there's been this dad with his five-year-old son playing one of the nearby kid casino games. At this point I should mention this place is open to children with their parents until 10 p So like a Dave and busters i play a few more games on star wars premium smart man with a quick rapid succession of plunge to outlaying balls okay but kong is still occupado turns out that they are a couple playing it with beers holstered on their pin in their pin gulps playing one machine apart from each other and showing their game card between them swiping in those credits like it's an all you can eat buffet they give off a tweaked out vibe where you get the sense they're not going to move over with a polite excuse me they are hunkered down and jacked in you know the type do you know the typers i know the type so the dad with his son are waiting and waiting keeping close by but not playing any other pinball machines it's clear the dad really wants to play the new king kong machine the kid honestly seemed more interested in the other arcade games or chicken nuggets or his iPad, really anything other than waiting for a pinball machine. Then the incident occurs.
    61:48
    Where the dad asked the lady, who's probably three beers in, hi, can we play the King Kong machine next?
    61:56
    Perfectly fine answer. I think he handled it pretty well. The lady says, I still have credits on here. Dad, I'll buy those credits for you on another machine. the male companion walking aggressively over is there a problem here i should yeah is there a problem here dude yeah the guy's waving his arms baring his teeth much like king kong himself defending his fair maiden from the dad who just wants one taste of the keith elwyn king kong kinetic gong satisfaction i would have turned to the guy and said yeah i've been waiting here for a little while i asked if i can play and that's not a hard thing to say. It really isn't. It's politeness. Incoherent dialogue, flustered faces, more yelling. Then the dad bails.
    62:42
    Smart decision unless you want your kid to witness his first bar fight over a toy. Moments later, the security guard arrives and says something to the couple. But whatever he said didn't register. The guy mutters something like, can you believe the fucker called security on us?
    62:58
    Then finally, King Kong is released from her grips and I try to get on it for the first time. My review, worth the wait. And the almost bar fight prelude. So my question to both of you is, who is in the right in this situation? Should the dad have gotten his next turn? Does anyone still honor the quarter dibs rule? What would Bruce do if it happened at the Silver Ball Saloon? I would have said, you know, we have, sometimes we get people that actually hog the games, and you go up to them and you say, guys, can't stand on this game the whole day. Even though it is all free play, you got to move around a little bit. If that's not happy for you, I'm sorry. Sometimes we have 40 to 50 to 60 people there. It's not all about just you. This is what I love to tell people. You have to share in this world and be nice to each other. Fuck you! Fuck you! And if they said that to me, I'd say, then there's the door.
    63:53
    That's all I'd say. Being honest. I mean, you ask politely, as it sounded like the father did, and gave a great explanation. Hey, I'll put credits on another machine for you so you can play that. All I want to do is play this game. You guys have been on it for a while.
    64:10
    The guy coming over being the asshat, and he was, is not cool. And then secondly, I don't blame the guy with the kid. Hey, not for nothing. Your place sucks if you have two people sitting on a machine for four hours, and it's a new machine and nobody else can play it. And they shouldn't have had so many credits racked up on it if they were swiping back and forth all the time. I like he has at the bottom of the email here. Hashtag Bruce Almighty Expo 2026. Yes.
    64:43
    Is that when you're supposedly coming to Expo? Yes, I am coming. Okay. I have a week off from work. Wait a minute. That's like a year in the future. You already have this all set? Yes. All right. uh okay you seem surprised rabia again oh man it says okay do not open it till you guys render your judgment but below is the expert ai ethicist decision on the matter oh the thing we just did yeah okay we did it already so there you go now you can also forgot to mention the total time played on king kong by the woman was about 20 to 25 minutes that's not that bad i've had people hours on a game and i've had to say hey guys it's the ethical analysis this is ai the dad's position and it's in a bulleted list says had a legitimate interest in playing the machine with his child made a reasonable polite request and even offered compensation yes was using appropriate conflict resolution by involving security when things escalated made the responsible choice to leave when the situation became potentially dangerous for his child. So two asshats ruined the time for two people. Let's see. The couple's position had paid for credits and were legitimately using the machine. However, monopolizing a single machine for extended periods in a shared space raises fairness concerns. I agree. The aggressive escalation was completely inappropriate and disproportionate. Their behavior created a hostile environment in what should be a welcoming space. Mm hmm. OK. The core issues, the couple technically had the right to use their paid credits, but ethics goes beyond more technical rights and shared recreational spaces. There's an implicit social contract about reasonable use that allows others to participate. This is all AI paying for multiple credits to monopolize equipment while others weight crosses from legitimate use into inconsiderate behavior. Let's see. The aggressive response was ethically indefensible. Turning a polite request into a confrontation, especially in front of a child, violates basic standards of civil behavior.
    66:47
    Let's see. Appropriate resolutions for the venue. Implement clear time limits on rotation policies during busy periods. Post guidelines about sharing equipment respectively.
    67:00
    Respectfully. Man, I can't talk here. Train staff to intervene proactively in monopolization situations. That's not even a word, monopolization situation. Consider family friendly hours with modified policies For patrons Follow the golden rule Share equipment as you'd want others to share with you Limit consecutive play during busy times Respond to polite requests with courtesy Not aggression For bystanders Stay the fuck away No The narrator made the right ethical choice By not intervening physically But could have offered moral support to the dad Or alerted staff earlier When the monopolization became apparent The dad was clearly in the right ethically while the couple violated both social norms and basic civility. The venue needs better policies to prevent such situations from arising. I agree. Totally.
    67:51
    I think he could. He should have kicked his ass. I would have swept the leg. Swept the leg. And have his kid poke the guy's eyes out. Yeah.
    68:00
    No, I think I would have handled it the same way. Hey, sir. Sorry. Hey, come on. I've been waiting here a little while, you know. I'll pay you for your other credits, and that's it. But we would have gone physical, baby. Yeah.
    68:16
    What do you know, brother? You got to be real American and let me play dude. Yeah. No, don't let Robert Mueller play. Fuck you, dude.
    68:24
    Hi, everyone. Okay, this is from Mike. Hi, Mike. Subject of Stomp 7 West. Hi, everyone. Just wanted to reach out and say thanks to Ron and the ownership at RPC. bruce jared brian mark and zach for putting on a great event this weekend thanks for giving all the players such a great event and an awesome place to play pinball can't wait for next year see you all soon mike the good thing is mike you don't have to wait till next year for stomp because you can play in november i think it's gonna be november we're still talking about that for royal rumble 2 oh oh you mean another event at rpc yes you said october now it's november We're still trying to figure out what's the best thing. You want to make sure it's as close to the snowstorms as possible. Exactly. So Ron doesn't come out.
    69:14
    We'll get you a nice little ski-mobile. This next one is from Bill. Just listened to the 250th episode. Great job. Enjoyed it as usual. FYI, I have listened to all 250-plus episodes. It's a long ride from Nevada to New England and the help to keep one awake and amused. Looking forward to many more. Bill. Thank you, Bill. Thank you very much. As I said when we did that video, I'm very lucky to have Ron as my co-host. And personal bitch. Yeah, and personal biatch. Editing bitch. You are my editing biatch. Biatch. And we've got a couple games in here. We'll get to – we have the John one. Don't forget Dr. John. Oh, yes. We haven't forgotten you, Dr. John. We have not forgotten you, Dr. John. And we have the Pinball Princess one, which was the most – We should have Dr. John on again. So he can play his own game. Yeah. That would be fucking awesome.
    70:09
    All right. Repairs. Well, I bought another machine. You bought another machine? I thought you would have all kinds of repairs from Stomp you'd be going over. Oh, yeah. We had a ton. Flippers and – Okay, so forget all that. What about your – we'll just talk about your new machine. I bought another machine. I have a problem.
    70:31
    I went to another auction. You got another Meteor, right? Yes, I did. Yes. I bought another meteor. And how much was this meteor? $400.
    70:44
    There's a lot of meteors out there. There's a lot of meteors out there, and I'm grabbing every single one. Yes.
    70:50
    But this one's a little nicer cabinet, so I'm going to use this cabinet, and then I'm going to figure out which play field's nicer. Once we get the stuff, we have some plans in the RPC. We're doing this next month or two.
    71:02
    So that will be our next fund's next step. Oh, you're going to have an all-Steve Kirk tournament? I'd love that. Yes. Multiple meteors, nine balls, gametrons, stars.
    71:14
    Perfect. That would be fucking awesome. Truck stop. You could even put Surf and Safari. He put the one post in there. And the palm trees. So you have some involvement. And you can put in Swords of Fury. No, no, no. Yes, yes, yes. I purposely didn't mention that one. No, no. And I have it now. Yes. Lion Man. Put that in and watch people play for an hour. It's going to be great. Fuck yeah. No. Yeah. No. Yes, yes, yes.
    71:42
    So, yes, that is the new. He's going to yawn. He just got up, ladies and gentlemen. I know. I got another new game, so that's fun. Starting to save up for the next game, hopefully. I don't know what I want next. Harry Potter. There's a couple on my list besides Harry Potter. Dak, you want a credit card? Ah. I may be a next generation or a high roller casino. Oh, God. High roller casino or next generation. Make it sound number one. If anyone's selling one, at a Bruce pricing, because Bruce is cheap. Just Bruce pricing. So you just took out most of your prospective sellers there.
    72:23
    Come and see me, boys. But yeah, I'm starting to collect the chestnuts again and startling but i got a lot of board work i gotta work on too because uh all three of the games i've gotten lately you know needs need cpus they all puked out the batteries yay a lot of repairs at the co-op uh we had a weird one the ground wire was barely touching on the back of the Black Knight 2000 three bank target gate that goes up and down.
    72:58
    Once in a while, none of the targets would work. And then when it went down one time or went back up, it would work for a little bit. It was just broken solder just barely touching once in a while. That was a fun one.
    73:12
    And I had to bring back what's it called? Alien Stars in the back now because we're going to redo all the posts. They're all loose. Oh. Yeah, they're all loose badly. So I'm just going to put some wood sticks in there and start going from there.
    73:28
    Zach had a couple surfside. Wouldn't start a player in some of the parts of the game. Now it won't advance the player properly, so he's got that in the back. Captain Card has left the building.
    73:40
    Oh. Yep, he brought it home. Oh, okay. He brought it home. And what else is in the back? oh torador is in the back toriador toriador toriador no one says that right yeah it's in the back because of advancing also issues advancing player issues i like seeing that time machine in the back yes that should be uh ready to go out hopefully another week or two cool and kong will be out next week at the rpc oh kong premium kong of course of course of course nice yep i think our uh tournament is in two weeks for uh the 28th for king kong does your kong banner have a huge qr code yes it does so fucking hideous thing in the fucking world whoever thought that was the greatest idea for those at home the kong banner has this just huge qr code that takes up like a fifth of the the freaking banner and it sends you to where you can go to stern pinball and buy one and it's like really you couldn't put that in the fucking corner nope right in the middle like kong's trying to reach for his qr code we saw this and we're like is there another banner in here maybe there's one like for you know places that are selling no and then i see other people posting about it and complaining about it And I was like, really? What a shit show banner.
    75:13
    Because after two years, people still have these banners up. Oh, let me try with that QR code. Game is out of production. Oh, that sucks. What a stupid idea. Put it in the corner. If you want to purchase this machine, then you have your QR code there. Don't even mention that. You think it would go right to the home page for King, or maybe a helpful hint, or that kind of. Nope. Here's where you can buy your premium or pro. And here's the pricing.
    75:42
    Fucking ugly. What's your thoughts, Ron? It looks like ass. Yeah. I'm just going from a pure aesthetic thing. Having that nice artwork and then he's got a QR code like right in the frigging center of it. It looks like ass. It is ass. Hopefully they don't keep doing that going forward. Hopefully they learn from this. yeah the feedback is ass yes yes i mean stern does learn i mean they had they do when they had foo fighters pro with no expression lights like you can't put them in there they they got roasted on that they did so you know the games after that now you can get it for the pro again yep which it should be so they they do learn yeah so please learn that people don't want a huge QR code on their banner. Holy fuckalaro.
    76:32
    I think that's a good way to end it with a nice complaint. Yeah, I think so too. That's not bad. Did you have any repairs, Ron? Of course not. I don't play any of my games. Okay.
    76:42
    And right behind me, David Dennis is my play field. It's almost done. David Dennis? You mean my co-host on Silver Ball Chronicles? What a great segue, Bruce. Good job. What a great segue. We should have an episode coming up very soon. We recorded it a few weekends ago. My favorite part is we record the episode, right?
    77:03
    On the Pinball Network? No, that doesn't exist anymore. And then I will take my file of me and I'll put it in Dropbox and give them the link. And I'll let it sit there for like a week or two. And then I delete it. So I did that. So I did that, yeah. And he didn't touch it. He's like, uh. Can you put that back up there? It's been a week and a half. He didn't grab it yet. I know. You better grab it before the tariffs kick in. It's going to cost you more to download it. Oh, Canada.
    77:38
    Our home and native land. I think that's it. Okay. So how do they get and reach us, Ron, and give us emails? You can send us your emails at slamtiltpodcast at gmail.com. That's slamtiltpodcast at gmail.com. You can check out our website at slamtiltpodcast.com. Very complicated. Or www.slamtiltpodcast.com. You can check out all 253 episodes. Yep. All our links are in the upper right-hand corner. Make good use of our search bar. You can search for your favorite guests, find out what episodes they were on, and all that stuff. Topics, everything. Everything.
    78:24
    Everything! What else? Yes. Say goodbye. Say goodbye to everyone. Goodbye from Clusterbuckers. Goodbye from Steve from, what's it called? Plumber Bonus. And Jeff from Pinball Profile. Loser Kids. Everyone. A lawsuit pending. Pending, yes. Yes, we're going to get our lawyers involved. Yeah.
    78:47
    And all the Clusterbuckers. They're good lawyers, too. I've heard they worked with Mueller. Yes, they did. They got him off. What the hell? Yeah, well, he hasn't gotten off yet, but, I mean, nothing's happened to him for, like, fucking five years. Yeah, exactly. Court proceedings. So they must be doing a good job at stalling. Yes. Great at stalling. That's right, brother.
    79:08
    Listen, final round, you're dead. You're dead to us. All right. I love you guys. Okay. Until next time. Say goodbye, Bruce. Goodbye, Janet Peretti.
    79:25
    Can you boogie? Can you slide? Hold my mind You can boogie If you try Hold my mind Guaranteed to keep you alive Meteor! Level Zero! Clusterfuck! George Takei, Tim Bowles, Bruce Isles, Tournament Talk, Car Holder, Cheetah, Xanadu, Cash Grab, ELO, Ball Bay, What You Buying, Game You Love, Game You Hate, Tournament Talk, People Princess, Sir! Oh my!
    80:25
    Oh, my. I should have said the new head of marketing of Jersey Jack, Dave Fix. Oh, God. That would have been fucking awesome. That's right, baby. The return, baby. I'm back, baby.
    81:05
    Ha ha ha.