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Free Play Pinball Podcast Ep 12.5: I Choo Choo Choose You

The Pinball Network·video·1h 18m·analyzed·Mar 3, 2022
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.033

TL;DR

Free Play Podcast ep 12.5: Rush release, Lyman Sheets tribute, supply chain woes, collector market heating up.

Summary

Free Play Pinball Podcast hosts discuss recent pinball industry developments including new game releases (Rush Pinball), recent losses in the community (Lyman Sheets, Barry Alsler), supply chain challenges affecting the market, and personal collecting/playing experiences. The episode covers tournament announcements, upcoming expo events, and reflects on Lyman Sheets' legacy as a legendary code designer.

Key Claims

  • Supply chain and chip shortage issues continue to plague pinball manufacturing and availability

    high confidence · Multiple hosts discuss difficulty finding specific games, inventory scarcity, and machines being sold within hours of listing

  • A rare all-white Meteor from the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics exists; only 8 total white versions were made (2 Galaxies, 2 Meteors, 2 Stars, 2 Flight 2000s)

    medium confidence · Dave Fogren describes finding and researching the Olympic Meteor; references Marco Specialties having displayed a white Galaxy at 2013 Expo

  • Lyman Sheets passed away approximately one month prior to this recording (February 23rd)

    high confidence · Hosts explicitly state 'we lost Lyman a little over a month ago' and discuss his legacy as legendary code designer

  • Barry Alsler passed away two days before this episode was recorded

    high confidence · Hosts state 'we found out two days ago we lost Barry Alsler'

  • Rush Pinball by John Borg has received positive feedback on gameplay and features expression lighting

    medium confidence · Hosts report friends who played the Pro version were 'really impressed' and praise the expression lighting and solid shot design

  • Stern Pinball addressed scoop issues on Rush with warranty replacements

    high confidence · Host states 'stern has literally said hey if you filed a warranty complaint you're gonna have a new scoop protector' acknowledging material quality issue

  • Used pinball market has become highly competitive with immediate sales and bidding wars

    high confidence · Dave describes selling Mrs. Pac-Man sold before truck was unloaded; games listing for 3 weeks at $600 five years ago now sold instantly

  • Texas Pinball Festival (TPF) is typically the weekend after MGC (Midwest Gaming Classic)

    medium confidence · Hosts discuss TPF and MGC timing in relation to Freeplay Florida scheduling

Notable Quotes

  • “It's been a weird couple of months”

    Mike Hamilton @ ~1:15 — Captures the mixed sentiment of recent events including deaths and new releases

  • “I bled tokens. You know, I say that about a few, there's a few people I say that about, he's one of them.”

    Dave Fogren @ ~1:31:00 — Tribute to Lyman Sheets' passion and competitive spirit in pinball

  • “Any time they said, it's Lyman Sheets is doing the code, it was like, yeah, that's going to rock. Then you knew it was going to be good. Period.”

    Dave Fogren @ ~1:31:15 — Emphasizes Lyman's reputation as a legendary code designer whose involvement guaranteed quality

  • “He was the wolf. And he was amazing. I mean, lightning in a bottle, how many times? He wasn't even lightning in a bottle. He was a generator.”

    Host (unnamed) @ ~1:31:30 — Powerful metaphor for Lyman's consistent prolific output and reliability

  • “I got the game sold before it was out of the back of my truck literally... I got the message while I was taking it out of the back of my truck”

    Dave Fogren @ ~28:00 — Illustrates how hot the used pinball market has become due to supply constraints

  • “It's an inventory game and um whoever has something gets to sell it and uh that's what you get to buy”

    Dave Fogren @ ~33:00 — Summarizes the supply-constrained market dynamic affecting all pinball sales

  • “I don't know if you ask anybody their wish list... Look at your personal lineup if you have a couple of games. His impact on the game is... he just bled tokens.”

    Dave Fogren @ ~1:27:00 — Emphasizes how Lyman's work is deeply embedded in the pinball games people cherish

  • “These are games that you see in bars. These are games that you see at the bowling alley. These are games that you see when you're out and about and are everywhere. They're en route.”

    Host (female) — Highlights the commercial reach and cultural ubiquity of Lyman's code across the entire pinball ecosystem

Entities

Lyman SheetspersonBarry AlslerpersonDave FogrenpersonMike HamiltonpersonJohn BorgpersonTim SextonpersonRay DaypersonMichael BarnardpersonChuck Ernstperson

Signals

  • ?

    event_signal: Rush Pinball kickoff party occurring at Interium (venue) on Saturday; community gathering event

    medium · Dave mentions 'the rush kickoff party at interium is this Saturday'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Casual players unfamiliar with Lyman Sheets legacy compared to dedicated community; knowledge gap between casual and core pinball audiences regarding designer importance

    medium · Host notes: 'For our listeners who are very new into this hobby... remembering everybody who did everything on every game is very difficult sometimes. Some of the games you may realize, he did...'

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Ice fishing tournament competing with pinball community events (Rush kickoff party); regional activity priorities affecting event attendance

    low · Dave choosing ice fishing tournament over Rush kickoff party; mentions ice fishing tournament in Wisconsin with previous prize (20 pounds of bacon)

  • ?

    design_philosophy: John Borg's design approach emphasizes fast gameplay with precise shot requirements; described as 'if you don't hit them exactly you're not going to hit them' gameplay with speed-based flow

    medium · Dave Fogren: 'I do like the speed in which his games are played' and friends describing gameplay as 'going 100 miles an hour'

  • ?

    event_signal: Multiple major pinball expos and events scheduled: TPF, MGC, Free Play Florida with different appeal and attendance patterns

    high · Hosts discuss TPF timing, MGC proximity to home (1.5 hours), and Freeplay Florida weekend scheduling

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.235

0:00
the pinball network is online launching free play pinball podcast what's up everybody welcome to free play pinball podcast we're going to call this one episode 12 and a half um i am happy to say that bill has taken the night off and when the boss is away the children will play so to my right i have this really handsome guy that i call my own mr mike hamilton my husband and directly in front of me i have my other favorite guy unless he's sending me really sexy pictures of ramen mr dave fogren gentlemen how are you tonight good evening doing well so it's been a hot minute um we have not recorded anything for free play that has made it out to the public in like two months and what a year those two months have been what has been new with you guys literally what a year those two months have been um i pinball's been kind of um well it's it's been good and bad i mean i've been uh doing some, got to go to a couple tournaments with my scheduling with my son. I actually, it's been falling on the wrong days, so I haven't been able to do many tournaments, but I have been spending some great times with my son, so I've been doing that. He's six now. He's becoming more of a pinball player, so that's been good. Awesome. He can reach the flippers a little better, and I got a nice foam bench for him to kind of stand on, so he's been digging that. But otherwise, just a lot of interesting things happening. A lot of some good things, some bad things. I guess we're going to talk about that in a little bit. Yeah.
1:57
I think, you know, it's been a while. So, you know, we've lost, geez, we lost Lyman. We did. Since the last episode. Go ahead. We did. We lost Lyman. And we're recording this on February 23rd. So we lost Lyman a little over a month ago.
2:20
And that still stings. And then we found out two days ago we lost Barry Alsler. And that hurts, too. But it's definitely been an ups and downs kind of couple of months.

  • Lyman Sheets' code credits include Elvira's House of Horrors, Medieval Madness Remake, AC/DC, Attack from Mars Remake, Walking Dead, Batman 66, Tron, Metallica, Avatar, Rolling Stone, Spider-Man

    high confidence · Hosts enumerate Lyman's design credits and emphasize his prolific output across iconic titles

  • Dane Henry created artwork for Guns N' Roses (JJP) and recently produced Star Wars artwork

    high confidence · Hosts discuss purchasing Dane Henry's Boba Fett and Darth Maul prints and praise his artistic talent

    • @ ~1:33:00

  • “Well it's not like it's a Dakota airbag that would you know was throwing projectile through people's chests”

    Dave Fogren @ ~1:18:00 — Humorous reference to severity comparison regarding Rush scoop material issue

  • “Space wizards with laser swords and it's 45 minutes that I didn't have to spend dealing with reality”

    Host (female) @ ~54:00 — Captures personal motivation for escapism through Star Wars and pinball fandom

    • Dane Henry
    person
    Randy Martinezperson
    Billperson
    Steve Beattieperson
    Ken Cromwellperson
    Marco Specialtiescompany
    Stern Pinballcompany
    Rush Pinballgame
    Mandalorian (Mando) Pinballgame
    Texas Pinball Festival (TPF)event
    Midwest Gaming Classic (MGC)event
    Free Play Floridaevent
    Lake Placid Olympics (1980)event
  • ?

    leak_detection: Historical rare Stern machines from 1980 Lake Placid Olympics surfacing in collector market; only 8 documented white-finish machines exist from that period

    medium · Dave acquired one of the rare white Meteor machines; researcher found corroboration through Marco Specialties' 2013 Expo display of matching white Galaxy variant

  • $

    market_signal: Used pinball market experiencing extreme supply constraints with inventory moving within hours of listing; customer behavior showing desperation to acquire any available machines

    high · Dave Fogren: 'I got the game sold before it was out of the back of my truck literally... I got the message while I was taking it out'; games previously sitting 3 weeks at $600 now selling immediately

  • ?

    community_signal: Collector behavior showing emotional attachment to rare machines balanced against financial pragmatism; willingness to sell collection pieces to reinvest in new acquisitions and projects

    high · Dave: 'I get romantic about stuff and then it's like okay well let's pay the bills and let's fill up the war chest and get some more stuff so um I sold a couple other games this month'

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Lyman Sheets death represents loss of legendary code designer with consistent track record across iconic titles; community recognizes irreplaceable talent in competitive play and code quality

    high · Host testimonies emphasizing Lyman's prolific output, competitive spirit, and reliability: 'Any time they said Lyman Sheets is doing the code, it was like yeah that's going to rock'

  • ?

    product_concern: Rush Pinball experienced scoop material durability issues (referred to as 'scoop gate 2022') requiring warranty replacements from Stern

    high · Dave Fogren: 'the material was a little thin' and 'stern has literally said hey if you filed a warranty complaint you're gonna have a new scoop protector'

  • ?

    technology_signal: Rush Pinball features 'expression lighting' as notable technical implementation receiving positive community reception

    medium · Hosts praise expression lighting as cool feature with potential; friend feedback: 'with that lighting on there, it's nice'

  • ?

    licensing_signal: Star Wars and Book of Boba Fett licensing allowing pinball machine production; female host is dedicated Star Wars fan integrating fandom with pinball hobby

    high · Discussion of Mandalorian Premium purchase and Star Wars artwork acquisition; host states 'space wizards with laser swords' provides escapism

    • 2:35
    We've had some new game releases. We've had some awards coming out. We have more awards coming up. Tournaments are starting back up. Big boy tournaments are starting back up. It's been a weird couple of months Yeah Did you get any new games in the past two months Um I'm going to defer that question to my publicist Honey Oh that's me That's you I thought we were going to talk about boomerangs We're not talking about this in the boomerang show That's tomorrow we record that Oh I'm really interested in boomerangs Boomerangs come back We'll have Dr. John on for that one i know can they are they born with that ability to throw boomerangs or they have to learn it i thought i think dr john and emily are going to be at tpf and we can ask them okay okay i'm going to write that one down okay all right put that in my elephant notes you'll forget where you put the elephant elephant notes he'll forget where he puts them so yeah so we might be buying a new inbox still in the box um mando premium maybe on uh friday possibly yeah so yeah from somebody down the road we kind of accidentally bought a pinball machine this week oops weird things happen like that oops um we're we're still waiting on alien we're still waiting on our multimorphic obviously the chip shortage and supply issues have continued to plague pinball um i don't know if you guys have heard that before listeners but yeah apparently there is a part shortage who knew on everything yeah i was gonna say i know dave you've been suffering through that with with your business big time um because you have to have the parts to make the parts yeah well and well you have to have the machines to make the parts to make the parts and i sell the machines not well some they make some pinball stuff but it's way you know different things but uh yeah it's uh at this point i think in everything it's an inventory game and um whoever has something gets to sell it and uh that's what you get to buy and that's what i'm dealing with with with my customers on my business side um which is not pinball related but uh even on my uh on the pinball side yeah i mean it's you know i'm i'm finding games here and there and picking up i buy the older stuff obviously but uh yeah it's been uh it's pretty much what's out there and it's been pretty uh it's been pretty barren and uh i've been seeing a lot of people buying things you know friends of mine that are casually getting into you know casual friends that are now trying to get hooked on it um and just it's like they're they're running around looking for to score a game and they're um they're buying games that i don't think anybody would have thought you know much of two three years ago and they're clamoring they're fighting to get those now and you know i mean basically getting into bidding wars over you know like an old gottlieb game or something and it's kind of like whoa where five years ago i would have that game would have been listed for three weeks at six hundred dollars so it's it's it's becoming an inventory game for everything at this point because i'm even buying like i bought i bought mangoes i bought the smaller mangoes last week because I couldn't get the big, you know, the ones I liked, but it's just, it seems like you can't seem to get anything you want at this point. It's just, you get what you can.
    6:00
    Yeah. No, I mean, I'm seeing it in, on the hospital side, like we're facing critical drug shortages that are terrifying to me. Um, just because there's nothing available, like the, the manufacturing and everything between COVID and supply issues and natural disasters has just been a one, two, three punch. So it's, it's very interesting. And, you know, you brought up games would sit out there for three weeks and now you're like yeah i saw a game for sale and you go to find it again and it's gone like there's a sale pending on it hours later there's nothing left i picked up a bally mr mrs pac-man on saturday was it sunday this weekend i took a picture of it because i usually do and put it on pinball uh enthusiast on facebook i had the game sold before it was out of the back of my truck literally well it was out of the back of my truck i got the message while i was taking it out of the back of my truck i then checked the message while i was at my door opening my door to bring it into my house and basically somebody said i'll get i got an offer and i accepted it and it was like wow and i bought it just basically saying it's a fun you know something to do probably be sitting on for a while my son's six it's a pac-man he likes pac-man he was excited when he saw the it's like hey i always show him you know i always check with management hey what do you think it's important the boss improves it yeah the boss yeah of course of course but he um yeah so it was amazing and then um yesterday um i picked up a extremely interesting i picked up a meteor that was um all white extremely rare game that I didn't really know what I was getting into. I did a little research on it. The guy had told me that the game was at the Olympic Village in 1980 and that it was specially made by Stern, and he was kind of telling me this stuff, and I'm going, whatever. I figured it was a meteor. It was all white. It had like a whitewood-looking play field. I was like, no, all right, I'll tell you not to think. Yeah, I just figured whatever. It's cool, and it's a meteor. and I could still, I don't care. And Meteor is a fun game, and I had some other ideas what I was going to do. Cromwell was doing that Cherry Atomic thing. I was like, maybe I'll do some Cherry Atomic on it. I don't know. And now I'm finding out that, yeah, there was like eight games made for the Olympics. And, I mean, this thing is just, it's like a museum piece. Yeah, I probably don't want to turn that into a Cherry Atomic. No, no, I don't know. Your call, your call. I say you give B-Man a pack of Sharpies and let him have at it. Yeah, yeah. Well, here's the biggest fear. That can happen. And that's, you know, for me, it's always I don't like to have anything that's that nice because pinball to me is abusive. You know, they're beaten on. I mean, yeah, your kid could come in and write. I mean, anything can happen with a pinball machine. And so I always get anxious when I have something like I had that orbiter one and I basically I had it. I played like 10 games on it and was like, I got to get this thing out of here. It's too nice because something's going to write his name on the side of this box and it's not going to you know, it's going to be bad. So this one I'm trying to I don't know. I just got it yesterday. I put it on. I put it on Facebook today just to kind of show it and talk about it a little bit. found out a few things about it that was really cool that it was actually that game one of the games that was there and um it's just neat it's a whitewood so yeah if you look on pinball enthusiast on on facebook i'll probably do something on pin side too but um just a really cool game and i there's some cool history on that then yeah i mean because it was funny i was talking to my i was talking to guys at work today about it and i was like 1980 olympics and i i don't know my one guy i work with is a big hockey fan he's like that was the miracle on ice he's like what if the guys what if the players from the miracle on ice played on that game and i was like yeah what if he's like and i'm like well what if the rush you know it could have been the russians were playing that all night and that's why they didn't play so well and that's why the americans beat them so it's just like it's neat i couldn't find any actual pictures of they've got a row um in one of the pictures they had like a disco and also i guess olympic villages are a good time i I've got to check one out someday. I don't think they are anymore. Something about the COVID stuff. I don't think they're as cool.
    10:30
    Yeah. Well, for now. Yeah. Well, what was it? Sochi or whatever a few years ago I think was really bad, too. They need to do, like, you know, the Olympics in, like, the Bahamas or something. Let's make this a party. Yeah. Well, this was in New York at Lake Placid. Yeah.
    10:45
    Was probably a little more fun. But, yeah, I mean, they have videos of these guys. You know, everybody's like, I mean, it looks like an arcade. and there's just a row. They show some of the Valley games. They had a Kiss and a Dolly and some other stuff, but I didn't see any of the Sterns. But then apparently Marco had a game at the 2013 Expo. They had the Galaxy version of this all white.
    11:09
    So I was like, wow, that's about as real as it gets. So, yeah, apparently they made eight total white games, and there was two Galaxies, two Meteors, two Stars, and two Flight 2000s, if I remember. correctly so i've got one that's pretty cool and from what i remember our conversation of earlier you you will be willing to part with said game for the discounted price of 45 000 in today's i wouldn't get that crazy i i've actually gotten i've gotten two offers on it already just from the pictures and i i don't know i i i you know i get romantic about stuff and then it's like okay well let's pay the bills and let's fill up the war chest and get some more stuff so um i sold a couple other games this month just because i've got too many games that are in in production under construction and that i'm working on so it's kind of like all right let's i'm i sold some old sterns that i just figured i may as well nobody was playing them um i wasn't putting a lot of time on them i uh so i just figured i've got a hobbit in my basement right now that um is getting a lot of work so it's not mine but um i'm bar somebody is borrowing it to me because he ran out of space um so you know how that is when you get too many games but you don't want to get rid of them we have a whole house what's what's the issue right i have a basement though so i want to get this game but i don't want to get rid of this one i was like i'll hold it for you so yeah um and and and my son just loves uh the smog multi-ball is like the deal so Hobbit is a fun game. That's really cool. Yeah. I hated it. I did not. I will admit, and I have been on another podcast saying how much I hated Hobbit, and now I really like Hobbit.
    12:56
    Isn't it funny how your taste changes as you are kind of forced to deal with the game more and more? Yeah. Well, it's funny because, yeah, I think the other thing was that the versions that I was playing, they weren't working correctly. and this one that i got was kind of a basket case so i got to i got it to work but um you know i got running good and everything but uh yeah it's when you actually get some time on that game and realize okay because i'm all about speed and that game is like playing slow it's just you just taking the shots where i'm steve richie i'm bam bam bam bam bam and uh it's fun because when i have friends over we'll play hobbit i'm like okay let's jump on fishtails and they're just like it feels like you're going 100 miles an hour. Oh, yeah. How much time have you guys had on Mando? Have you played a lot? A couple of games. Not a whole heck of a lot. I mean, obviously, being the Star Wars nuts that we are, and we can talk about this because Bill's not here. I know. Nobody's rolling their eyes right now. I know, right? Or going, okay, let's keep moving.
    13:59
    We love you, Bill. Yeah, we don't have a whole heck of a lot of time on it, but being the Star Wars fans that we are and in loving the Mando franchise and then Book of Boba Fett, the best episodes. Spoiler alert, had Mando in them. I like the Tuscan episode as well, but go ahead. That one was good. That one was great. You just can't beat Boba Fett bareback in a Rancor, though. I mean, that was wicked.
    14:25
    There were some things I would have done differently, but it was good. It was a – I'm on a lot of different forums with Star Wars, too. It's another one of my passions. So basically it got to the point where I was just like, guys, we got, you know, space wizards with laser swords and it's 45 minutes that I didn't have to spend dealing with reality. So anytime I can do that between pinball and Star Wars, that's pretty much those are my two pinball Star Wars and fish tanks are pretty much my escape from reality. So, well, there you go. You know, anytime I can get get on those, it's a good time. Absolutely. So we're we're excited. No, but Mando is going to be it's going to be fun. It'll be interesting. it's it's a game that we had discussed purchasing when it came out and honestly like i mean new pinball is expensive so funding and knowing there's other games coming out non-order and just room because yeah we're not making really great financial adult decisions at the moment but it's fun we need an adult yeah where's where's mono i need mono we need an adult needed an adult today he was nowhere to be the thing is though i mean again and if you can you know obviously you're not uh skimping on you know you're you're you're paying your bills you're getting your grocery you've got some money saved up it's still not a bad investment i used to kid it's better than buying a boat but apparently now buying a boat isn't all that bad either because guys are making money selling their boats that i'm friends with so but no i mean it's it's it's an inventory game so you've got that game you'll be able to turn it yeah yeah absolutely always break even and that was you know i because i was talking to a couple friends about you know even with that with that meteor i was like i'm gonna go pick up this meteor i told them how much i was paying for and they're like that's kind of high you know there's not that's you know and i went i'll be able to sell you can always sell it for that much yeah and that's kind of when we started talking about this it was like all right well it's new in box it's slightly less than msrp um it's local so we don't have to wait for shipping and worry about somebody hand trucking it in backwards FedEx Freight, I'm talking to you. And it's something that if we leave it in the box, we can stick it in a corner until the toppers come out and try and flip it, or we can open it and play it, ideally, which is why we like pinball. It's because we enjoy playing them. We'll see what happens.
    16:41
    You can't play with your money, and if you do, it's kind of weird. Yeah, I mean, money is dirty, though.
    16:50
    I've gotten some pretty nasty bit machines you guys you guys your machines are in much nicer shape than mine are we buy a lot newer stuff than you do too though but it'll be fun it's exciting and then we picked up some really cool artwork as well some Star Wars artwork that I sent you some pictures of listeners I don't know if you guys follow Dane Henry whose name may or may not ring a bell he did the artwork for Guns and Roses, J.J.P.'s Guns and Roses. Oh. That guy. That guy. Phenomenal artist. He did some really, really badass Star Wars artwork. And luckily my husband happened to be trolling Facebook at that point in time. And we ended up with a Boba Fett and a Darth Maul print. Both are one of one. They're gorgeous. super super cool um dane's work is spectacular and i strongly recommend that everybody check it out um not just pinball but in general yeah yeah basically together that it was the guy but when you send me the pictures because you're always trying to rub things in because i've got the best food in the world up here and you've got nice weather and you can pick up and cool artwork and new pinball machines yeah yeah yeah i know i basically pleaded with him to do another one so yeah you know so that was a piece was that a piece no no the two that he ended up picking up were were publicly available they were posted on facebook but i mean we would beg and plead for him to do additional art because he's just phenomenally talented yeah and randy martinez put some stuff out as well uh randy martinez i've got some of his artwork he's such a cool dude it would be you know it would be fun if both those guys end up at an expo because um i don't know if dane's gonna to be at tpf but i think randy is randy is i saw that announced i'm hoping that dane will um but i'm not sure i think everybody's gonna be at tpf except for me um that's not true bill's not going either and neither neither is steve beattie because we were trying to get bill and beattie to go and have a good time and make bad choices with us but they will not but that's okay texas a little different setup than expo because it doesn't go as late well expo didn't have the 24-hour room this year but it still seems like it seems like texas just kind of shuts down at noon at midnight so it's just kind of um there's some other areas you can go to but it just doesn't seem like it has as much um at the end of the night and i of course as you well know and usually the last man standing I saw pictures of the hotel room I know what goes on
    19:40
    Yeah, you know what, though? You lost a shoe. I think you lost a shoe. No, he threw it at somebody. That was just everybody coming through and eating chicken. I threw my shoe at two people. Maybe three. I can't quite remember. Two people told me I threw my shoe at them. I think I threw my shoe at somebody else. You probably got the little shoe privileges. It was the left one both times. I'm left-handed. For some odd reason, I took my left shoe off. That is fantastic. Yeah, I was, you know, I had fun. But, yeah, and actually, no, Texas is great. The weather, well, you don't care about the weather. You've got the weather. But I had been there the last few times, and it was great. But, yeah, I had to make a few, just to basically I had to say, well, I can't do it this year. I will be at MGC. um my my meteor i might bring the meteor to mgc if i'm feeling up if i'm feeling it's up to um that kind of you know the standard of getting you know played um or see if somebody will let me put it in their booth just because it's a neat game so yeah i i that might be making an appearance it just really depends on how my schedule is as far as getting that thing all squared away there's it needs to be cleaned and just gone through and everything but um mgc is a fun show for me because Texas is very busy. There's a lot of people there. There's a lot of excitement because it's the first show.
    20:59
    MGC is more of a it's all games. You've got Dungeons and Dragons people there. It's everything. It's all types of gaming. The pinball wasn't that big a deal. The last few years they had debuted a lot of games there. That's why I always enjoyed going. It's only an hour and a half from my house.
    21:19
    I didn't have to go. yeah i mean basically milwaukee's a suburb of chicago sorry people from milwaukee but it's an hour and a half away so yeah yeah we got to make it to uh free play florida or whatever it's called yeah we um tampa in orlando it's orlando so we were gonna go we didn't realize last year like until day of and we're like oh crap we should go and i think he was working i don't remember we had stuff going on or something and then this year literally tpf is the only vacation time i'm gonna get so i will not get to go to the capitol and eat the yummy food sadly um i'm not gonna get some pictures i'll send you some back it'll be a heart in your cappuccino that's not a heart no it'll be a heart you just won't know what type of animal it came from no i wouldn't do that um but yeah so we were somebody had asked you know hey can you guys come up to Louisville and do the Louisville show. That would be really cool. Expo, obviously, is something that we've been asked about. You guys coming to Expo again this year? No, because I'm going to be working. But we are going to try and get down to Freeplay Florida. So, you know, if anybody's planning on heading that way, hit us up. When is Freeplay Florida? When is that? It is typically two weekends, or it's typically the weekend after MGC.
    22:41
    Oh, I can't do that. Yeah. Are you sure? Because it won't be snowing here. that attitude yeah well i'm just saying i mean well because the thing was tpf was always like two weeks before mgc and it was like oh that was the thing and i just went well kind of worn out right now um so yeah i was just like i'll just do mgc it's an easy you know i don't have to jump in a plane i don't have to rent a car basically just jump in my car with a couple other guys and cruise up there get a hotel room for a couple nights if even i mean my one friend drove home and came back the next day because it was only like an hour and a half so he's like yeah he had some stuff he had to do with his daughter and then like came back that night so um but yeah for me yeah for me to jump on a plane i'm gonna end up i kind of made the decision sorry pinball people but if i was getting on a plane this year i was gonna end up on a boat so um that was kind of my decision stick him on a boat were they gonna kick him off the plane no he wants to get He likes to go travel and fish and stuff like that. Oh, don't drink the water. Yeah. We can stick him on a boat, though. We can make one of those little paper boats for him and have him sit on it. I think I was in a paper boat at some point at the first DPF, but I don't know.
    23:58
    Regardless. So getting back to pinball, we can kind of start at the beginning, I guess, and work our way out. So Rush Pinball is out. we have John Borg as lead designer we have Tim Sexton and Ray Day on rules and we have a newcomer Michael Barnard that is on the art I mean Chuck Ernst is involved in this game looks cool I think it looks pretty it's interesting lots of music on it lots of assets the guys from Rush were involved one of the guys from Barenaked Ladies was involved I know Borg is a huge Rush fan I know that there's been some positive feedback with gameplay from some of the people that I've talked to. The expression lighting looks cool. I like the expression lighting. There's so much potential with that. What do you think, Fulgren? My friends that have played the pro were really impressed with it and my one buddy was like, hey, I mean, with that lighting on there, it's nice. The main thing, too, the shots are solid. I haven't played it. I was trying to get out and play it, but my scheduling's just been upside down. But I missed like three good opportunities to go play it and just haven't been able to get out. And you suck at life and you haven't done it, huh?
    25:19
    I've just, it's an adult thing, you know. Adulting sucks. It's so dumb to do adults. I know. Like, this is, yeah, I know. It's, and it was also a more, well, actually, no, I have no excuse because there's three places I could have gone to to play it. And actually the rush, the rush kickoff party at, uh, interium is this Saturday. Um, and I'm going to be ice fishing. So yeah, the other problem was, is that it's been really cold. So we have ice up here and we haven't had ice like this in a, in a few years and I've got a lot of ice fishing stuff. So it was kind of like, well, might as well use it. I got to jump on it. Yeah. So it was more of my friends dragging me out than, than anything. But, uh, yeah, I've got an ice fishing tournament tournament I'm going to up in Wisconsin. That's a lot of fun. last year i won 20 pounds of bacon so i was like well i could go i could win a trans light or i could win 20 pounds of bacon and in all fairness right now with inflation that 20 pounds of bacon is worth like three times the translate it's like solid bacon too it's like from like a smokehouse i forgot the brand but if you tell somebody i won 20 pounds of bacon like i was telling people i won 20 pounds of bacon they were like oh is it from and i forgot the name of this place but like you it's one of those places where like you'd order it for people online and get it shipped to their house and it was good it was actually peppered and i didn't really like it that much but my sister and my brother-in-law loved it my sister made like 10 meatloaves from it so nice anyhow very cool bacon yum yeah but um yeah it looks cool um i'm excited i mean board games are fast the shots are usually if you don't hit them exactly you're not going to hit them but i i do like the speed in which his games are played and uh i know there's been some controversy with the scoop yeah well scoop gate 2022 it happens um you know i just there was a lot of this outrage and i'm just like well it's not like it's a dakota airbag that would you know was throwing projectile through people's chests so uh you know okay yeah the the material was a little thin sorry i and hey it's easy for me to say i don't have one i didn't pay a bunch of money to have it sitting in my on my floor but um you know things happen um and stern has literally yeah and and stern has literally said hey if you filed a warranty complaint you're gonna have a new scoop protector like your piece will be in we we realize this is an issue and you know we're fixing it so kudos to stern for for jumping on that um that's pretty cool let's see so after rush we we had the loss of Lyman sheets who is a legend if I could do one one thousandth for anything that compared to what Lyman had done I mean name one game that he's done that wasn't a top game I mean basically if you ask anybody their wish list it was interesting because when when And some people announced it on Pinball Enthusiasts and some other spots. And Pinball Enthusiasts is a lot more of a casual base compared to Pinside. But a lot of people were like, who's that? And I was just like, look at your top 10 list. Yeah.
    28:38
    Look at your personal lineup if you have a couple of games. His impact on the game is, and not only that, I mean, what he did, he was so competitive.
    28:51
    he just, he bled, he bled tokens. You know, I say that about a few, there's a few people I say that about, he's one of them. I mean, just, I didn't know him that well. I had run into him at a few different, um, kind of some parties where guys were playing and he was there. And I mean, the guy just was all about pinball. I mean, he just was a, I mean, he loved it so much that he, he played it and then said, I want to make it better, and then made it better. And then it was like, all I have to say is, any time they said, it's Lyman Sheets is doing the code, it was like, yeah, that's going to rock. Then you knew it was going to be good. Period. He was the wolf. And he was amazing. I mean, lightning in a bottle, how many times? He wasn't even lightning in a bottle. He was a generator. He really was.
    29:42
    His coding skills and his understanding of the game and what people wanted, And like you said, the fact that he actually played competitively as well and just his iconic stance when he played is is just it's going to be missed for our listeners who are very new into this hobby and are not familiar with some of Lyman's work, because there are a lot of names in pinball. and remembering everybody who did everything on every game is very difficult sometimes. Some of the games you may realize, he did Elvira's House of Horrors. He did Medieval Madness Remake. He did ACDC. He did Attack from Mars Remake. He was working on a code for Cactus Canyon Remake at the time of his passing.
    30:24
    He has done Walking Dead. I mean, these are games that are not like, oh, well, you know, it's Doodlebug. Who? these are games that you see in bars. These are games that you see at the bowling alley. These are games that you see when you're out and about and are everywhere. They're en route. They're available for the masses and they're good. They're really good games. Batman 66. I don't like that game, but that code on that game is fantastic. Tron.
    30:55
    He did Metallica too. Yep, he did do Metallica. Avatar, Rolling Stone, uh spider-man sopranos revenge from our monster bash never heard of that game before you know yeah no he uh and you know on some of my day to east games he is credited on there but he's not on the list so it's interesting so um i mean he just like i said it was like he was he was the goat of coding and that people would buy lyman sheets games people you just when you heard Lyman was doing the code it was like oh oh geez Lyman's doing the code he was like you know when he was the goat of of coding I mean I'm you know I don't know if there's any coders that would be mad at me for saying that or disagree with me but his uh there's some great coders out there but man I'll tell you what undisputed um undisputed best coder uh i don't think anybody i've never heard anyone say oh well i know and i hate batman 66 that code and that artwork it work is fantastic i don't like the way it shoots if that game shot slightly better i would like that game a lot more but the code on it's fantastic yep yep fantastic so yeah rest in peace lyman and um you know and and on a side note if you if you're if you you You know, it's just a shame. It really is a shame. And, you know, I'm going to jump on my health care soapbox. If you're struggling, if you're fighting, don't do it alone. Get help.
    32:33
    You know? But back to happier times. Lyman, we'll miss you. Your legend will live on. And I think that we will potentially see a posthumous crystal for Legacy Award at some point. We did have the Pinball Industry Awards literally days after we found out about Lyman's passing. Congratulations to the show's dear, dear friend and my absolute favorite person on the face of the earth, Dwight Sullivan, for winning the Legacy Award. First ever. Spoiler alert, Godzilla cleaned house. i know nobody saw that coming um stern pinball took home 11 crystals
    33:16
    so i i did actually reach out to george gomez to ask him when the shelving would be done to house that new hardware um but congratulations to all of those teams on all of that were you surprised at all that steve ritchie didn't pick up a crystal for zeppelin no No, I'll tell you what. I mean, Zeppelin is a fun game, but Godzilla is going to go down.
    33:45
    Godzilla is. I hate. I think about buying a new in-box Godzilla. There's a couple of games. I encourage you to buy a new in-box Godzilla. I know. Godzilla and GNR, it's like, I look at my collection. There's only been two games, there's only been two new in-box games that have made me, after I played it, go home, go down to my basement and do the math and say, I could get rid of you, you, and you, and I could have that game here. And then sat on my stairs and called Bill and had Bill go, you're never going to find a Fishtails, you're never going to get, you know, and it's just like, oh, man. Because, yeah, it took me three years to find my fishtails. It took me five years to find my tails from the crib. You know Bill has a Godzilla on order, right? I know. And he's, Bill cracks me up. He's like, you come over and play. Bill lives like an hour from me. I'm like, no, I can't. No, I need a place around here to get it. I could, yeah. But, I mean, there's plenty of places for me to play Godzilla. Thank God. I mean, I can go. There's, that's, I am blessed that I've got, there are some arcades around here. so i can go play it and i have it's so good i've gone to terry and i've burned up you know i've had a couple beers and played a whole lot of godzilla so when your pinball tab is higher than your bar tab you know the game is good that never happens uh you need to go on the two for one night then sir but uh wait my bar tab is higher is my pinball tab is higher than my bar tab no i don't train that bad i mean i play oh i do no i mean i think well no but my i mean what well i think well now he's doing the math and they're not no i'm just saying i'm not drinking like i'm not drinking 225 coronas i mean like at interium i think it's like seven eight bucks a beer and i have two beers at 16 bucks i'm not playing 16 games of godzilla in two hours you're You're not doing it right then. I know. What do you mean I'm not doing it right? I mean, come on. I'm not draining that fat. I mean, no. No.
    36:01
    It is so good. No, it's a great game. I'm just saying I don't drain that fat. I do. Oh, God, I'm terrible at pinball. What the difference is, if I was at home, yeah, if I'm at home, I'm a six-year-old, man. I'm banging four games. I'm playing. Oh, no. I still drain bad. when we were at interium i was still throwing down money on the table on that game like i was wasting money left and right to play because it was so good yeah no it's a great game it is a great game it is so good um i think that one is and the code keeps getting better um rick nagel is doing a phenomenal job on that like that that game is just oh yeah so good the only complaint i have is i would make godzilla greener
    36:44
    love you jeremy i don't know i i like the artwork i i i think it's beautiful between guns and roses and godzilla those are two games into the past two years we have been handed two fantastic games and so yeah those would be the two games that i would say and then you know behind that would be pirate and no i mean looming over that would be pirates if i could if you could ever find one without having to get a second mortgage but you know realistically something that i could buy would be a new gnr and a new um godzilla uh those would be definitely two that i would like to get my hands on i i very very strongly encourage you to pick up a godzilla the game is fantastic um i have talked to a few people who have said oh it's overrated it's overrated you're just on the hype train it's overrated and then they play it and then they order one so toot toot yeah i'm not a hype train person no you're not and i literally there have been times that i have gone to a show to play a game that i was going to buy new in box that i had an actual theme in my basement um to go around that that said title he's talking about star wars no i'm not talking about star oh okay star wars no star wars i would love to buy that i was no it was very close it was a different game okay it was a different game i actually went and played it and when it debuted star wars i just got out of neck surgery so there was no way i was doing anything um because i couldn't really i could barely i couldn't get my head straight but um basically um yeah there was another game and i just was i i put my money from my i put my money in my front pocket and i basically i was gonna buy a game at the i was gonna buy one at the show and take it home and just went and my friends were like what like dude which one are you and i'm like no had to walk away so yeah i'm not a big i'm not a big hype train person that game's good i mean that game is just fun it's solid and uh i mean i played a premium at galloping ghost in the tournament i don't know maybe it's just because i do really well when i play the game, because I've seen other people not play that well on it and I just I don know that game talks to me I like fast and that game can be as fast as you want it to be it can it can but it also is controllable um and and i like that aspect of it as well um i personally really like it because my name is still on the grand champ on our home edition yeah yeah um but but i've also put a few games on it um i don't get to play it much yeah he he doesn't get to play much at all so i i try to put you know it's like chance run run yeah right take your vitamin play godzilla i encourage it no it's great and our daughter loves it too like she actually is like you know mommy daddy can we play pinball and then she goes and and we have godzilla sitting in between willie wonka and um and star trek and she's turning godzilla on instead of wonka so it's good it's really good yeah yep um couple other shout outs just um for the sake of the fact that they're awesome people congratulations to Jason Knapp for his winnings on the Pinball Industry Awards. Congratulations to Dennis Creasel and Zach Minney for their trophy for podcasting. I still maintain that Manu and George Fisher got robbed for their streams, but I digress. And just all the winners. It was great. I was part of the PIA committee and we had some really awesome vote and turnouts. So congratulations on that. Scott Denisey TNA super super awesome inducted to the Hall of Fame um I know he didn't see that coming and it's one of my favorite games so that was really cool to see too and then go ahead what were you gonna say I was gonna say a teepee when he brought that game to TPF that was that was yeah that he and he just brought it in I I've I've known Scott from from pinball life and the funniest thing was i was watching a stream a moto had something going on where it was like a stream on i don't know what it was on but i had it on it might have been youtube or something and she's like we're talking with scott tenisi and i look up i'm like scott from pinball life and he's like showing his game and i was like holy cow because him and i scott's a great dude he he is there's a few guys that i can just geek out pinball wise and scott is one of them i mean like we would just talk about the dumbest things and that's why i appreciate his game so much because i see the different things he does and there's things we've talked about and it's just like he's another guy that bleeds tokens like he loves pinball he just gets it he's a purist he's he works at pinball life his basic job is he sits in this little room and makes stuff so that your pinball life is better um that's funny but yeah i mean literally he's if you ever go in his little room he's got all these 3d printers and he's sitting there and he's designing something and he's soldering something and he's talking on the phone with somebody giving him some tech support he's just he's he's a great guy and um i'm i it just cracked me up there's only been a couple times where i've in my life where i've like heard something on the tv i'm like who and there he is i'm like wow there's scott so yeah that i'm really glad that he uh he got that and tna was just a great cinderella story uh but yeah i mean that that and i personally i love that whitewood i will play that whitewood anytime he puts it out it was for sale somewhere no it was not was it yeah i mean it was like 25 grand yeah when we were looking when we were looking for the tna that yeah well and it was funny because i had reached out to bill and i said hey mike finally told me i could get a tna are there any of them you know of that are not publicly available because you know bill's like the guy who knows everybody and he's like well there's this one and i was like no we already found that one and i was told i have to stay under 25 000 for this game yeah a little rich for us so we had pias um speaking of scott he is credited with um contributing to the sound for the new p3 multimorphic game they finally released after weeks of really horrible teasers and oh scott doing music is good i love he looks like he's 12 too i absolutely love scott he's so much it was funny my my my my my then wife now ex-wife um said she saw she saw the video of him with the moto and she goes he reminds me of a young harrison ford and i went oh and i looked at it i'm like i kind of see like i don't know it's i don't know that's what she said she's like he reminds me of a young harrison i just yeah she she she was good for a few few good lines from time to time but uh yeah that's what she said he looks like a young harrison ford i i don't see the harrison ford resemblance i don't know i mean like i'm thinking like apocalypse now harrison ford maybe i don't know something like that i never really i didn't see she said it not me but uh yeah i just remember her saying because i was i was kind of losing my i was kind of losing my i was like oh my god that's scott i was like what he's got a game this is super cool like he never even you never really i didn't realize so so modest too like he's going on he's so plus like every time i see him we're like talking about dr dude or like you know whatever goofy thing he's doing and like we never talked about his projects we were talking about other games that we were into and I'm always buying weird stuff. So, you know, I mean, we've had long conversations about Torpedo Alley, and, I mean, that was way back then. So, yeah, it was kind of like in my earlier Data East days when I was buying a lot of Data East games, and we would talk a lot about that.
    44:56
    And, yeah, I mean, which is why I like Rick and Morty, because I think that upper flipper shot reminds me a lot of some of the Data East shots, and it's like I play Rick and Morty really well and don't understand why people have such a problem with it because I'm used to that shot. That's a Data East shot. I mean, that fall, that upper flipper reminds me a lot of a few Data East games that it reminds me of. So, yeah. But, no, congratulations, Scott Denise. And, yeah, looking forward to that music. So he's doing the music for Weird Al? No, no. He is doing the audio for Weird Al. He is not doing the music. Weird Al is doing the music. Right. But he is credited on the new P3 Weird Al Yankovic History Museum. I don't know the name of the game.
    45:52
    Museum of Hilarity and Madness or something like that. This is so bad. Where's Alex? We need Alex. Where is Alex? Alex, we need you. And their website is so easy to deal with So I ended up somewhere Museum of Natural Hilarity Supposed to play on history Oh I get it So that explains why they were chiseling the guy It was supposed to be like a museum I don't know what I think They're teasers for crap Alex You and I are talking at TPF We need to discuss how you tease somebody Everybody calls Crash the Titans I'm like dream theme clash of the titans release the kraken I mean I just want that I want release the kraken like multi-ball on on on hobbit you know really you know multi-ball you know I want release the kraken ah you know and jackpot but yeah I just uh jackpot oh my god my son says it And it's so badass when a six-year-old does jackpot. Between that and him going, one of his first words was, give me your money. And I was like, this is.
    47:08
    And that, ladies and gentlemen, worked as a paternity test for Dave. I kid. I joke. Well, actually, there was a time when he looked at me and he said, dad, I hate pinball. I want an arcade game.
    47:23
    And the test came back positive. It was actually mine. and I bought him like a little one-up Star Wars, which I like the one-up Star Wars arcade games great, and it fits him nicely. But no, that was always my joke was like, yeah, no, after he said that, I got him tested. No, he's definitely mine. Yeah. A thousand percent, anyhow. Yep. And he's really good at pinball. Are you sure he's yours? No, I'm just kidding.
    47:50
    I've got little to do with, I mean, he plays really well. um when i took him to uh when i took him over to jersey jack that one time i stopped by and um he got a tour and then he got to play and eric came out and he was playing guns and roses and eric was like wow he like trapped up the ball and i was like yes yes that's my boy like he trapped the ball and eric's like wow and then like he hits eric told him to hit the scoop shot and he hit it and he was like wow that's impressive and i was like that's my boy and then of course it and Now all I hear is, Dad, we need to get that Guns N' Roses game. I got a play field in the basement. He's like, why don't we have this whole game? And I'm like, we need a few more parts.
    48:32
    Because you still have both your kidneys, son. So, yeah. So more to come. Hopefully we'll see some of that. The P3 Weird Al in the. What avenue do you. It cannot be all Weird Al music. I think it's going to have to be like just some cool. Could it almost be like a Rocky and Bullwinkle where it kind of goes through different stuff? That would be awesome. Because it can't be like just it can't be Weird Al tracks the whole damn time. No, I don't know. Yeah. Who knows? I don't know. We're not there. We don't see it. Yeah, I know that. Go ahead. It's just I mean, look at the title. So clearly it's not just a music. I think Weird Al, it's almost going to be like a Dr. duty weird al kind of walking you through stuff and weird al is a cool character but yeah i don't know um the game is claiming the best shot in pinball that's a pretty bold statement for pinball but we'll see yeah i haven't heard that one yep there is a claim it has the best shot in pinball that is tbd um once people put their hands on it but they also you know multimorphic is beefing up their their stock too they added uh bowen karens and colin mcalpine so they're not slouching in the talent department. It's going to be the same foundation, though. Yes. So it's going to be that same foundation. They're not changing the way the games... They're not changing the layouts. There's not going to be a brand new huge game, to put it... It's still going to be that same kind of multi-morphic platform. It's still the same platform. None of that's changing. So, yeah. so we had that and then um last little bit of news this week we learned of the passing of barry alsler um he had just joined he was just announced to have joined american pinball two weeks ago two and a half weeks ago and um yeah another legend gone uh very talented designer and just hopefully they don't come in threes.
    50:41
    Because you can't lose anymore. Yeah, I mean, well, there's been a few performers too that have passed lately that have bummed me out. But, yeah, Barry, I mean, if you look at what he's done.
    51:01
    Gorgar. Yeah, exactly. first talking game yeah um i mean junkyard you have jackpot you have popeye oh wait who doesn't love popeye zach that's your game buddy bad cat well i'm gonna tell you right now and a lot of people don't know about it because it wasn't a high production game i mean they did 2700 of them but Grand Lizard has the best Magna save in pinball.
    51:34
    And I will honestly say if it wasn't for, and Python is a fantastic artist. He did Bad Cats. He did a lot of the Barry games, but Python's artwork on Grand Lizard was not very strong. As far as I'm concerned, he's done a lot better work. Grand Lizard is one of the best games of that generation and I am a black knight I mean I've had five black knights I had one Grand Lizard and that's because I couldn't find another one the one that I bought is actually in Alaska now I found out but I sold it and then somebody sold it now it's in Alaska the Grand Lizard Magna Save you'd actually you could throw the ball with it. It wasn't just like a lockup like on Black Knight. You'd hit it and it would literally, if you hit, you could control how it threw the ball. It was more of a reverse polarization where it would push the ball. I don't even know how the hell it worked, but that Magnus save on that game. Isn't that something like Alice Cooper? Doesn't that game have something?
    52:46
    I think Alice Cooper has it but where it throws it up the like you're going down the center drain and it shoots it up yes yes yeah i mean it's not the exact same but it pushes off you're straight out the middle where it's on grand lizard and it's actually got the lizard hands but when you'd hit it it's just it's that game that game is very underrated because it's not well known but the guys that have it love it and that game is you know i mean you've got your cyclone um another one he did dracula speaking of cool magnet use miss multiball on that miss multiball yeah he really messed around magnets a lot i didn't oh yeah that's pretty cool a lot with magnets i like this multiball is very cool but it also drove me nuts because i had a dracula and i mean my balls were always stuck together in the truck.
    53:45
    He used to drive me up a wall. I guess I should have powdered him. Pinbot is iconic. It was a great game. Yeah.
    53:59
    Wow. It's a long list of them. What's a shame is he really hasn't put anything out in a while and he got a long time what 20 years almost 96 yeah but he was working you know he he was every he was that you know he got he was that he was at deep root and it was like all right here we go and he had some stuff and then he wasn't a deep root anymore yeah deeper was gone it was like whoa and i mean deep root deep root locked up a lot of real good talent and and kind of wasted it. It kind of robbed us, the pinball people, of getting to enjoy their stuff because Dave Thiel has not... We haven't seen a Dave Thiel game since Pirates.
    54:50
    That was such an amazing way he did it. Oh my God! I've been a Dave Thiel fan. I can gush over it. Dave Thiel did the music for the Commodore 64 Winter Games 1984. um i recorded it onto a cassette and used to play it on my boom box i didn't realize that was dave feel until i was at mgc and he did a he did a thing talking about it and i'm like you did that and he goes yeah and i told him and i mean i did you fangirl it sounds like you did he fangirled he totally fangirled i'm too cool for that but no i i i know i've talked to i i've i've had conversations with dave he knows i mean he makes the best noise in the business simon thompson make a make fantastic at at at uh at uh expo the one year i actually i bought a uh time machine from a guy and he had a laser war marquee that he had made and it was gorgeous and i i'm friends with dave on uh david deal on on facebook and he was doing something where he just built a house and he said you know he's looking for stuff and i said hey i've got this laser war it was a big sticker uh i've got this laser war sticker and i you know and he's like well what do you want for it i'm like well i i just want you to sign i had a uh a torpedo alley um translate i'm like i just want you to sign my torpedo alley translate i'll give it to you and he's like really i'm like dude you've done so much for me like as far as just any any dave dave feel is kind of to me is the sheets of noise um as far as pinball is concerned all of his stuff is i mean people whine about oh pirates there's no you know johnny depp's voice isn't in it and whatever i tell you by the third ball you don't say arg he was a part of that i mean eric was a part of as well and the actor that they had doing it i mean it was everything david does is just if he pulls you in he knows how to make he did uh he did alien as well i believe yeah he did he did i'm so in that game just pulls you i mean that's the thing he knows how to pull you in he knows how to turn it up you play hobbit and it's like he knows how to compose a game to make i could hit that right damn shot on that right ramp shot all day long until i have to because of his heart pumping i get you know i get the fever so no i i you know and then with barry i mean good lord are we gonna see what he did at uh at american pinball is my kind of what i'm wondering how far along was that game i mean he he wasn't there for long but it's hard to say and it's just it's very sad to have a book yeah i don't know yeah i don't know i mean it'll be interesting we may never even know yeah but i mean there's got to be a builder between you know with american and with what he did at i mean i don't know how much deep root owns on that but he's got to have a book and something where they could do you know they could put something out of one of his games because it's just a shame we haven't yeah he wasn't sitting on his hands for the past 18 years like he was doing something he's got to have some he's got to have a book somewhere with something yeah or at least what he had worked on here and there and whatever i mean i'm guessing he walked into america and said here's americans said here's what i want to do or here's what i've got yeah but yeah we got we got ripped off we we did it's it's just a shame and um you know and and with Lyman as well. I mean, what he was going to do at CGC, who knows? I mean, who knows? Chicago Gaming, they're rumoring a licensed game, but I mean, as soon as I found out they got Lyman, it was like, whoa. That was huge for them That made them a true competitor in pinball manufacturing versus one of those other ones you looking at They weren just copying They were actually now innovating and taking it to the next step. And they're big enough. They've got a big enough facility. They've got enough manpower. They've got enough stuff to, you know, if you go to Stern, if you go to the Stern facility, it's wow. if you go to you know jjp it's big um but chicago gaming's facility is churchill cabinets is very big it's a very big place um and they've been doing things for a very long time so they've got it down i mean they've got they've got equipment you know they used to make everybody else's cabinets so yeah they've got the equipment to do it um and yeah it's just we got a lot of great stuff in the last two years but we just lost some some some big really big hitters yeah in the last two years and um yeah i'm i'm really looking forward to seeing i'm looking forward to seeing what happens for the rest of the year and i'm kind of afraid of what happens for the rest of the year just because it's like it's like what's next i'm a little i mean betty white peaced out before 2022 hit that has to be a warning sign yeah but come on betty white she's a national treasure i know she missed a hundred by like a week but she was 99 years old god bless you betty light you're a wonderful person and she's partying in heaven right now she wasn't yeah i'm not saying she wasn't wonderful but i mean she was 100 years old it's like betty white's gonna be a hundred i mean that's older than sliced bread literally yeah she was older than soldier field yes she was sorry you're not from chicago yeah i was gonna say bread soldier field we just made a big leap right there not really apparently you've never been to soldier field because i i'm not gonna get into it we drove past it while we were there i pointed i said look there's such a field yeah keep going there's nowhere to park you You've got to drive past because there's nowhere to park. Exactly. All right. So kind of wrapping up the show for tonight. I am curious what you guys' top three predictions are for 2022. Mike, I'm going to go to you first. What's your top three predictions for this year?
    61:05
    Still in slow production, but I bet it will pick up towards the end of the year. Okay. So there's one.
    61:13
    Well, did we see that they were only doing two cornerstones? You being stern So that'll be interesting And will anybody else Fill in will JJP Get their two out this year I'm gonna go with no Um They seem to struggle on that front But we'll see So we may be lacking One uh one Typical pin release this year compared To previous so I bet that'll Be a thing And then lastly here Third one I think I'm over the whole losing people in the hobby So let's see if we gain somebody new We've got Jack Danger So I bet he's going to come out with another solid one this year He's got to, right? I'm hoping so I love his excitement and his energy around it Yeah Oh, bonus prediction Three You get to count to three I know. He said a bonus. Go ahead. This is his extra ball. Yeah, so we're going to go with, maybe we'll get a Ghostbusters this year. Yeah, that game's great. I love that game.
    62:30
    Fogren, what's your predictions for this year? Well, because I've always got to throw you in all sorts of loops.
    62:41
    Do you think, I mean, Stern did just release that, and that's a big that's pinball news the release the leaked letter from gary stern saying we're only going to do two cornerstone games this year let's let's key in on the name on the word cornerstone um question is will there be a j-pop game or i'm sorry i uh no there will not be a j-pop game coming out of j-pop game i apologize um kapow will there be a kapow game when was the last one really game was last kapow game was beatles right it's been a while so that's what i'm saying that's my question because there will be two cornerstone games which means stern games but what about you know a kapow game so let's keep that in mind let's keep that in the back of our angry little heads and also keeping in mind that everybody was complaining that everybody's got all these orders that haven't been put out where's my game where's my where's my deadpool where's my you know all these orders that they're outstanding on and then they announced early i do two cornerstone games it's like oh no well i mean something right welcome to the welcome to the 2020s. I mean, it's just kind of like you get what you get and you don't throw a fit is pretty much what the theme of our world is at this point. I think because I analyze things a little further than I probably should, but I noticed that he did say Cornerstone, so there might be a home version. There might be another home version a la like Jack's Jurassic Park. keep in mind the vaults too we keep hearing rumors of a crazy vault you got vaults so yeah kids don't just think there's going to be two new titles from Stern there's going to be two new cornerstones from Stern so yeah you heard it here first ta-da I came up with this one out of my own because yeah I've been watching I've been sitting watching some other people comment on oh only two cornerstones well yeah only two cornerstones so let's key in on that word cornerstone and have a little hope. And keep in mind, there's thousands of games that need to be put out that are fantastic. So I'm more concerned with let's keep pumping those games out. But I think you're going to see more than just two titles from Stern. And, yeah, maybe Ghostbusters, maybe who knows? Who knows what they're going to pull out? um but yeah two cornerstone games okay um let's roll from there uh prediction okay so my first prediction is there will be more than two games coming out from stern this year that's earth shattering right there you go ta-da um next one would be on the uh on the jersey jack front um don't forget we've got some new designers over at jersey jack so um if the supply I mean, hey, Uncle Steve's there now. So we've got Steve Ritchie, who has got... Wait, Steve Ritchie's at Jersey Jack? Did you hear the news? Breaking news here first.
    66:09
    I got to say. And from running into Steve at Expo, he is excited because he... Yeah, he is. This is it. I mean, this is it, Steve. Now you get your chance to do your dirty work and do your dirty deed and make it happen, man.
    66:32
    It's like the cuffs are off. There's no reason. And I just hope. I just look forward to getting in front of a Steve Ritchie game and having my eyes pop out of my head and having my hands fall off of my wrists because it was so fast. and it was so good, and everything just rocked because I just feel like there was a lot taken out of his games that he did not. I just feel like he had less control over his games, and now he has control. So this is it. I mean, it's like show us what you got. And so, yeah, I predict you're going to see a Steve Ritchie game this year. Bold, very bold. Okay. That's the prediction? Yeah, all right. Well, we'll take it. It'd be great. a Steve Ritchie game this year.
    67:24
    So that's two predictions. Boy, I got one left. What will be my last prediction? Hmm. I'm going to have to think about that for a second. So we've got... Oh! I predict that, boy, between American and CGC, I think something... I think we're going to see a real i don't want to see a real great game because they they came out with some some good stuff but i think i think there's going to be some some surprises at least announced um i mean chicago gaming now is i mean they lost a major step when they lost lineman because that was yeah some major coding um but i think you're going to see some i think there's going to be some some bright new things coming out um in the next year out of one of those two um and i'm looking forward to just seeing i think there's a lot of between steve being over at jersey jack and we don't really even know what's going on at cgc we don't really know what's going on at american because they're pretty hush hush um on things i think we're going to see some interesting, um, new, new things coming out. Um, I guess that's it. I mean, I, I, I don't really have anything else. Um, that's three. What's your three. Cause we've like burned up all every cause yeah, mine got kind of stepped on. So now you're basically walking on. Yeah. You're like, I have my three. So my first prediction is we're going to see a lot more shakeups amongst well-known names within the industry to create some combinations that we did not anticipate ever seeing before.
    69:18
    That's going to create some brilliant work. That's cryptic. What do you mean? People move around. You think there's going to be some free agency? I think there's going to be some designers going to some other builders. I think there's going to be a draft system. you know, free agents and stuff. You have like a Brady showing up in Tampa kind of deal. Yeah, yeah, and then calling Grunk out of retirement and, you know, hey, let's play some football. Am I unionized? I like the Grunk out of retirement. You like that? I like, so you're saying like a designer's going to jump from one builder to the next and then like pull one of his old buddies to come out of the... I mean, it's 2022, you never know. Oh, wait a minute. I've got my, I forgot, my third prediction. I'm going to say one name. Mark Ritchie.
    70:10
    I'm going to drop that one. You would drop the mic if you didn't just adjust the boom, huh? It's dropping itself. It's a really heavy mic. Nice. I got a 30-pound weight on the end of this thing. Nice. Yeah, so my first prediction is we're going to definitely see some movement among personnel and manufacturers and some surprises that come with that. my second prediction is we will finally see a peak in pinball prices towards the end of the year and then they will start to kind of regulate um and my third prediction is we will not have a ghostbusters in the house oh i don't like that love you white i really do but you had the chance you've had two chances now um and and my extra ball prediction at home if you would have seen the, it was like Ralphie with the choo-choo-choose-me. His little heart just broke. I just saw a man deflated on a video screen in front of me. It's like turning the air off on one of those flavy, you know, deflated arm guys. When Lisa says in The Simpsons to Ralphie, no, he's like oh. Right there, you broke his heart. I choose to choose you, choose me. My cat smells like cat food. my cat's breath smells like cat food but uh yep and then uh my extra ball is we're gonna have some cool guests on the show this year i think this is gonna be a show where we really get some interesting um personalities on don't screw it up if i don't screw it up which i tried to do today you guys will hear about that on the next episode when i confess all my uh oh my ignorance is it was bad shortcomings very big shortcomings god i can't believe i did what I did today. I couldn't shake my head at you enough. I tried. I'm pretty sure our child is embarrassed for me right now.
    72:02
    Is this what you called me about or told me to call you about? Yes. Yeah, it's pretty good. So were you calling me just to see if I knew what that was? Well, I had already asked somebody else who knew what it was.
    72:14
    Yeah, let's not go any further into that. It's okay, though. You know, hey, listen, everybody's got to start somewhere, right? I would really love to do a show. And listeners, I'm curious what your feedback is on this one. So please, please, please, please, please, if this is something you think is kind of interesting or stupid or whatever, please email us or hit us up on Facebook.
    72:36
    Freeplaypinballpodcast at gmail.com or freeplaypinballpodcast on Facebook. I would love to have well-known personalities throughout the industry, regardless of manufacturer or who they work for. I want to have people come on and do breakdowns. Like this is the very basics of pinball.
    72:57
    This is, you know, this is what a scoop is. This is what a ramp is. This is what, you know, this is how multipliers work. This is how you, the difference between a mode and why it's important to start a mode before you start a multi-ball.
    73:12
    This is what a VUK is. Just different things like that I think would be really cool. And to have it explained by somebody who actually works in the industry so you don't feel like an idiot because there are so many different acronyms and phrases and just general words that are thrown around that people may not be familiar with. And I think that would be great for listeners who are new to the hobby or those who are truly hobbyists who want to get further into the hobby. Yeah. I think that would be interesting or just like have a helpful like a glossary. a verbal glossary um and i yeah i take a lot of things for granted because i've been and i haven't even been doing this that long but i've been doing it long enough and um yeah you don't realize how much you don't know until you go and talk to somebody it's funny because you call me and ask me stuff and then like the guy that does the board like he does the board work for for me um whenever I've got board issues and he's down the street, he basically is convinced I'm just in stamp collecting and I just kind of do this to bother him. He's just like, how, what are you talking? I'm just like, well, yeah, the, you know, and I, I don't know. And I, my whole thing is, he's like, you know, you could solder that in. And I'm like, but I've got you. Like, why should I risk burning up a foil or like I can drive down the street and then I can talk to you about Star Trek and Star Wars too. So it's like, it's cool. I'm just going to take up collecting ceramic unicorns because what I did today is inexcusable. No, I wouldn't say inexcusable. It was funny. It's a good story. But you aren't.
    74:54
    You haven't been. It's completely excusable. I knew. You're the real takeaway. It's, you know, it was that, you know, it was that, you know, 220, 221, whatever it takes kind of a thing. And it's cool. I don't think anybody should ever be embarrassed about especially that kind of terminology don't be afraid to ask that is what you should take away never be afraid to ask don't let anybody talk down there I will say you can always call your old pal Dave who isn't you're not going to feel so bad when you ask me what something is because I'll be like oh yeah it's this and whatever no you went and called I literally just went up the food chain to the CEO and I was like hey Somebody in the house. Tell me about the policies on this. Yeah. Somebody in your house could have helped you. You weren't home. You called Carol Shelby and asked him what a clutch is, basically. That's okay. What is a Mustang? Yeah, what are these round things on the corners of this car? Ferd? What's a Ferd? Yeah. Ferd? Yeah. Anyhow. No, it's not. Why is there a horse on the front of this Mustang? I don't understand. Yeah.
    76:09
    Are we about to get into my boomerang talk? We're going to get into your boomerang talk after this quick break where we end the show and then you go talk to yourself. Well, no. Are they TSA approved?
    76:22
    No. Why wouldn't a boomerang be TSA approved? I mean. We're not taking a plane. It's not like one of those steel like road warrior boomerangs, is it? It could be plastic. Remember that one that cut the fingers off? Oh, my gosh, yes. See? He knows what I'm talking about. How's that even work? It's a weapon. It's a weapon. I don't know. I'm gonna look it up. Anyway, are you asking for work? He wants to bring I might take one on the plane. I just I you just don't know. Somebody's bringing you a boomerang. I'm gonna take it home. No, no, it's just I mean, it could happen, right? No. But no, what? It's a stick. It's Yeah, like any listeners that are granted. But a boomerang is just a stick. It's just a boomerang And hell is just a sauna.
    77:08
    But, you know. Let us know. If you work for the TSA or know someone who does, find out. Dr. John, have you ever taken a boomerang on a plane? Dr. John was probably born with a boomerang in his hand. I can ask him. I thought that was a thing. I don't know. I thought it was a knife. I don't know. Are you texting Dr. John right now? Are you looking at the TSA? Marty would know. Marty Robbins, hey, let us know. Teolis, if you're listening, ask Marty if we can take a boomerang on a plane. Is that TSA approved? I kind of need to know this now I'm probably going to lose sleep And on that note, thank you everybody for joining us for episode 12 and a half That's Dave Fahlgren Boomerangs are not on the list Boomerangs are not on the TSA list Well that's 2002 Anyways This is Mike Hashtag high five Oh Bob Ross out