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Episode 49 – Plastic Nuts

Slam Tilt Podcast·podcast_episode·analyzed·Jun 29, 2017
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.031

TL;DR

Slam Tilt hosts prep Stomp tournament with custom ROMs and machine maintenance.

Summary

Ron Hallett and Bruce Nightingale discuss upcoming tournament preparations for 'Stomp' (July 15th), detailed machine maintenance and code modifications for their tournament lineup, recent tournament performance at Rock Fantasy, and technical troubleshooting of pinball machines including spinner repairs and coil issues.

Key Claims

  • Keith Elwin provided custom Quicksilver ROMs to the hosts for free to use in their tournament

    high confidence · Ron describes receiving a friend request from Keith Elwin and being immediately offered the Quicksilver ROMs; later confirms Elwin sent the code to Scott for modification

  • Rob Zombie pinball is brand new and has design/quality issues including a left flipper button that fell off during play

    high confidence · Bruce describes playing Rob Zombie at Rock Fantasy tournament where the flipper button fell out, and notes the game uses plastic nuts instead of metal ones to hold buttons

  • Stern pinball machines across three generations (White Star, Sam, Spike) all have consistent ball trough problems with dropped drains and double ball kicks

    high confidence · Bruce states: 'This is three different board sets now, White Star, Sam, and Spike, and all three of them does the same fucking thing' regarding ball trough issues

  • Jersey Jack Pinball machines do not exhibit the same ball trough problems as Stern because they use the Williams design

    medium confidence · Bruce contrasts Stern's issues with Jersey Jack: 'I haven't heard any ball trough problems with Jersey Jack things. Because they used the Williams design.'

  • Dialed In pinball is arriving soon and includes Invisiglass and shaker motor in the base package

    high confidence · Ron mentions receiving an email from distributor about Dialed In asking about protective accessories, and confirms Invisiglass and shaker motor are included

  • Star Trek: The Next Generation ROM modification was created by Soren, not Scott, to disable video modes and auto-select $25M jackpots

    high confidence · Ron clarifies: 'This ROM was actually from Soren...He's the guy who did the tilt video we plugged many, many podcasts ago'

  • Rob Zombie playfield design copies Stern's patent-pending system with a single railing underneath instead of the original dual railing system

    medium confidence · Bruce describes examining Rob Zombie's playfield mechanics: 'it has one which I thought it was missing...they kind of put the railings under there'

Notable Quotes

  • “Ghostbusters is gone. It's gone, folks. It's gone. to a new happy home.”

    Ron Hallett @ early — Marks the sale of a machine from the hosts' collection; sets up discussion of their machine buying/selling activity

  • “I'm paying enough for it as it is. I don't need all the extra stuff...Mine's not going to see sun. Mine's not going to see any damage.”

    Bruce Nightingale @ early — Reflects collector attitudes toward premium accessories and long-term machine care

  • “This is three different board sets now, White Star, Sam, and Spike, and all three of them does the same fucking thing. Can they just go back to micro switches, please?”

    Bruce Nightingale @ mid — Critical assessment of endemic Stern design issues across multiple hardware generations

  • “I've never seen it where the, it actually just falls out. And interesting, they're using a plastic nut to hold the thing on.”

    Bruce Nightingale @ mid — Documents a novel failure mode in Rob Zombie's construction and material choices

  • “Anybody who gives us free ROMs to actually modify a tournament game to make it better, aces in my book.”

    Ron Hallett @ mid — Highlights designer generosity in the pinball community and the value of custom code for competitive play

  • “Maybe they should just pay WMS Industries and just take the Williams design. I mean, I haven't heard out of all the Jersey Jack things, I haven't heard any ball trough problems with Jersey Jack things.”

    Bruce Nightingale @ late — Direct comparison of Stern vs. Jersey Jack design philosophies and reliability; suggests clear market advantage

  • “I've used it on every spinner, every switch I've ever had a problem with, every leaf switch. That's what I have...you clean it with index paper...it's like red...It's like contact cleaner, but it's not like a spray.”

    Ron Hallett @ late — Provides actionable maintenance advice for switch reliability using specialized cleaning compound

Entities

Ron HallettpersonBruce NightingalepersonKeith ElwinpersonScottpersonSorenpersonEric RussellpersonSteve BowdenpersonJosh SharppersonZach Sharpeperson

Signals

  • ?

    product_concern: Rob Zombie pinball exhibits multiple quality issues including plastic nut failures causing flipper button ejection and playfield design copying questionable Stern patent mechanics

    high · Bruce describes left flipper button falling out during play and plastic nuts being used instead of metal ones; identifies playfield copy of Stern design with single railing instead of dual

  • ?

    product_concern: Stern pinball machines across three hardware generations (White Star, Sam, Spike) suffer from identical ball trough problems including dropped drains and double ball ejection

    high · Bruce states: 'This is three different board sets now, White Star, Sam, and Spike, and all three of them does the same fucking thing...they kick out two balls all the time'

  • ?

    community_signal: Keith Elwin proactively offered custom Quicksilver ROM code to tournament organizers for free, demonstrating community-first approach to competitive game quality

    high · Ron receives unsolicited friend request from Elwin followed by immediate offer of Quicksilver ROM modifications; hosts praise the gesture as exemplary

  • ?

    code_update: Multiple custom ROM modifications deployed across Stomp tournament lineup (Star Trek TNG, Quicksilver, Firepower, Spider-Man Black, Stargazer, Dracula) designed to eliminate dominant strategies and maximize competitive fairness

    high · Hosts detail specific ROM changes for each machine; examples include Star Trek video mode removal, Stargazer zodiac target earning requirement, Dracula tilt warning bug fix

  • ?

    restoration_signal: Detailed account of Quicksilver machine restoration including NOS Stern spinner procurement, wire form correction, pop bumper coil assembly repair, and switch maintenance using specialized contact cleaner

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.257

0:00
Is this operation worth the risk? Should women get potentially dangerous implants just for the sake of, quote, bigger thingies? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, go for it! Yeah, go for it! Yeah!
0:13
Hey, Beavis. What? We should go to one of those plastic surgeon dudes about, you know, making our thingies bigger. Um, mine are, like, already big enough. It's not worth the risk. Not bigger boobs, dumbass. bigger, you know, thingies. We could, like, get wiener implants. Oh, yeah. Cool.
0:39
Coming to you from beautiful upstate New York, this is the Slam Tilt Podcast, a show about all things pinball. I'm your host, Ron Hallett, here with my co-host, Bruce Nightingale. Save the date. October 7th. All right, we'll have to talk about that. This is episode 49, Young Frankenstein. Young Frankenstein! Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Igor. Yes! Another classic is part of his, I think, one-two punch of awesomeness. It was. Actually, the next one is pretty good, too, actually. Actually? We'll go with that. Actually? So number two actually is ready. All right. Three. You guys better be counting. This may be a question. This may be the question. Then again, it might not. Meh. So, yes. What's new? Besides Igor and Terry Garr. And Marty Feldman and Peter Boyle. Ugh. Great cast.
1:54
Let's see. What's new? Well, something just happened today. What's new, pussycat? Whoa, whoa, whoa. What's new, pussycat? Whoa. Sorry. Tom Jones references on the podcast. You heard it here, folks. Yes. Very wonderful, recent, up-to-date references. Not dated in any way. No, we don't date ourselves at all. We don't date ourselves. Guess what's not in the living room anymore? Your couch. No, that was the old house. No, I have a couch again. TV. You brought the TV downstairs. No, the TV's still there. Nope. Okay.

  • New Stern spinners received from supplier had defective wire forms that caused them to sit upside-down in their brackets

    high confidence · Ron describes finding NOS Stern spinners with wire forms that were 'straight across' instead of properly bent, requiring manual adjustment to match Stargazer spinner configuration

  • “when you light the holodeck and you hit it, it kind of teases you. It gives you the choice, but then automatically just picks the $25 million like you have no choice. There is no choice for you, sir.”

    Ron Hallett @ mid — Describes custom Star Trek ROM modification designed to eliminate dominant strategy in tournament play

    • Tim Sexton
    person
    Ryan C.person
    Slam Tilt Podcastorganization
    Stompevent
    Rock Fantasyevent
    Pintasticevent
    Stern Pinballcompany
    Jersey Jack Pinballcompany
    Rob Zombiegame
    Quicksilvergame
    Dialed Ingame
    Star Trek: The Next Generationgame
    Firepowergame

    high · Ron provides specific repair steps for spinner wire forms, drop target bracket assembly, and describes using specialized red contact cleaner compound on switch contacts

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Rob Zombie tournament strategy converged on single dominant path (Super Beast mode → upper playfield → center ramp spam) that tournament players recognize as gamebreaking; consensus unlikely to appear in competitive rotation

    high · Bruce notes: 'they basically pick start a mode, you pick Super Beast, you hit the upper play field...then you just hit the center ramp repeatedly...probably won't change the software too much, and it will never be in tournaments'

  • $

    market_signal: High-value secondary market activity evidenced by hosts' machine transactions; example of player willing to rebuy same game multiple times (three Ghostbusters purchases) for cosmetic preference differences

    medium · Ghostbusters buyer previously purchased two iterations (Pro and LE); sold LE version to acquire Premium version due to preferred art package

  • ?

    event_signal: Stomp tournament (July 15th, $15 entry) scheduled with 26+ machines running custom software configurations; targeting regional participation including New England players

    high · Hosts detail comprehensive Stomp lineup with custom ROM modifications; confirm video posted on YouTube and Facebook; note New England players haven't prepaid but indicated interest

  • ?

    technology_signal: Specialized contact cleaner compound (described as red, non-spray, marketed as 'Tweak' brand) enables reliable switch restoration by removing oxidation and improving contact reliability across multiple switch types

    medium · Ron describes using product on spinners, leaf switches, and drop target switches with consistent success; notes manual actuation required during application to work in compound

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Rob Zombie criticized for obscure rule mechanics where players don't understand scoring values or shot outcomes; hosts note simplified one-strategy path actually improved accessibility for newer players

    medium · Bruce notes: 'you really have no clue what's going on a lot in that game'; Ron counters: 'For me, it was like, cool, there's just one thing to do, and I actually know what it is'

  • ?

    business_signal: Jersey Jack Pinball identified as having superior reliability profile compared to Stern due to adoption of legacy Williams ball trough design; implies Stern's proprietary approach carries hidden costs

    medium · Bruce states: 'I haven't heard any ball trough problems with Jersey Jack things. Because they used the Williams design...Maybe they should just pay WMS Industries and just take the Williams design.'

    • 2:32
    Well, I need the chair because I need to sleep there. The chair is definitely there. Yep, the chair is there. Okay, good. Okay. So the only thing that's still left in there usually is a pinball machine when it's being sold. Yes. And the last one I brought up was Ghostbusters.
    2:49
    Gone. It's gone. It's gone, folks. It's gone. Ghostbusters is gone. to a new happy home. Please insert the hallelujah music right here. Hallelujah.
    3:02
    Hallelujah. And the funny thing is we both know the new owner. And Ron's like, oh, this guy bought it. I'm like, oh, I know him. He's like, you sure? Yes. And then we confirmed it. And he's like, oh, yeah, you do know him. And he's a good guy. He's a really good guy. This is his third Ghostbusters.
    3:19
    Poor guy is sick and demented. Yeah. Had a Ghostbusters, sold it for an LE, got an LE, then liked the art package of the premium better, so he's selling the LE and getting this one. So he likes it so much, he bought it multiple times.
    3:33
    So it's going to go to someone who can appreciate the awesomeness that is Ghostbusters. That's not me. And it ain't me either. No, no, no, no. But out with the old, in with the new. Well, hopefully someday Dialed In will be arriving. Oh, oh, coming to speak about that. Now, Rhonda, do you know about this? I got an email from my distributor a couple days ago. What?
    3:58
    Fuck you. Come on. I did. His question, hold on. He asked me if I wanted rad cows or the protective thing. Oh, all right. I already got that one. Okay, see? So you're ahead of me then. Yeah, I got that one months ago. Okay. All right, all right. What did you pick?
    4:14
    I didn't pick any extra shit. Neither did I. I'm not going to either. Yeah, I'm paying enough for it as it is. I don't need all the extra stuff. Yes. I'm actually going to the blood bank every week, getting my money, going to get my game before ROM.
    4:28
    Yeah, I don't need rad cows, really awesome decals or whatever it's called. I'm sure they're awesome, but I'm already overpaying as far as I'm concerned. Mine's not going to see sun. Mine's not going to see any damage. And at least I'll get the Invisiglass. It's included. It is included. And so is the shaker motor. Oh, yes. Thank God, Matt. Imagine that with an LE. Too bad Stern doesn't do that anymore.
    4:55
    So what do we got on the docket for today? What do we have? Well, I want to get this out of the way because in editing the last podcast, I realized one of our most loyal listeners, Ryan C.
    5:10
    Asked us a question? Yeah, he asked us a question. We never answered him. We kind of got off track there. Which is normal. His question is, what do you think, what accomplishment in a game does not match the fanfare? In other words, he mentioned, he had an example of something that, you know, he thought should receive more fanfare than it does in a game. And I had an immediate one pop in my head, which is roller games. One of my favorites. Roller games has an awesome, when you lock the ball, has an awesome sound and light show. When you start multi-ball, it cuts all the lights in the game and just says, Roller games On the display That's it And then it just gives you the balls And multiball starts It's so lame Especially when you think of the preceding Steve Ritchie game Black Knight 2000 Which has probably the greatest multiball intro sequence ever And you go to that It's just really lame I mean it's nothing like say Sudden Death If you finish Sudden Death and Roller Games You get a like crazy light and sound show that's what it should have been for like the start of multiball or something better i'm saying 24 okay well besides the entire game when you start the multiball in 24 it's pretty it doesn't do it really though no excitement no light show no nothing it just starts multiball there's no excitement in that period no the chloe o'brien that's terrible That was – Jackpot! She's the worst person to ever had to do a game, period. Yes, I agree. Like they actually had to pay. Terrible, terrible. But that's pretty lame. It's pretty lame when you see the reaction. It's just like – It just goes – There's like a chink, chink, chink.
    7:01
    Some of the old data eats were pretty bad, but the light GIs is going chink, chink, chink, chink, chink, chink, and that's it.
    7:07
    Like a whole light. Yeah, they'd also do that, like, on the third ball when you had the guaranteed multi-ball start. And it's trying to tell you, multi-ball's ready, multi-ball's ready. Click, click, click, click, click, click, click. That was, yeah, very annoying. Now, I'm going on a personal little bit level. This week I sent Ron a link to something.
    7:27
    Was it the Lethal Weapon? Yes. Lethal Weapon 3, $900. I think it was a non-working and no topper. Yeah, well, the topper, you know, you can sometimes find. You can sometimes find, I need the topper. The sound does not work sometimes. It actually powered up and worked.
    7:46
    Okay. And it was in Somerville, New Jersey, which is only two hours away from you. So it was a barrier.
    7:53
    I need that sound. And I need the topper. We would have found you the topper, just like we're finding everything else. We are? We're finding everything? I got one of my ass-less things from last week's. Your ass-less? What? My ask list. Oh, I thought you said ass list.
    8:14
    Yeah. I got a Transformer. Is it Optimus Prime? Is it... No. Nope, a Transformer plate and Transformer. Very good. So I can give him a deposit today or tomorrow and then pick it up at Pintastic. Oh, so you don't have it yet. Oh, but I have it. It's just one.
    8:37
    Yes, that's better. So I saw there was a new video on our Slam Tilt Podcast YouTube page. Yes, there is. And this is from a comment that Scott actually made to me that we really haven't gone over the games yet. The Stomp lineup as it is, as it will be. You're actually pretty packed down there, big boy, aren't you? I'm pretty packed. So if you go to our YouTube page, just go to YouTube and search for Slam Tilt Podcast, you'll see the most recent video is the Stomp lineup, which should be pretty solidified at this point. Or you can actually go to the Pintide. I don't know, Pintide. You can go to our Facebook page also and see it there. Yeah, I linked it to there. So we have, we'll go over this quickly. We have Black Knight. Ooh. The original. We have Stars. Now, I didn't see a $100 bill in that apron yet. There will be. Don't worry. Actually, yeah, I should keep one of the hundreds I just got from the sale. Yes. That would be smart. Then we got – What, out of your $300? Out of my $300. Yeah, $300. I sold the Ghostbusters. That guy got a hell of a deal. We got Harlem Globe Trotters.
    9:54
    And if I don't say any special notes, then they're pretty much stock. We have F-14 Tomcat. That is actually a prototype with the nice flashers in the back. Well, it's not a prototype. The early production, and it didn't come that way. But it works that way. It works that way. I reversed the bulletin to disable the flashers in the back and put them back in there. So you will get to see F-14 in its original intended awesomeness.
    10:23
    And it's set up. All these games are going to be set up hard. They're going to be set up. You have no extra balls. Think of like a Papa-style setup, but nothing crazy. We got Flash, ACDC, which is stock. We have the special premium. We have the Firepower with the super-duper awesome Scott Roms, giving us multi-ball 2X and 3X scoring and seven digits.
    10:50
    Isn't that great? So you can experience multi-ball and actually score higher. Then we have Star Trek The Next Generation. also with the special super duper modified ROM, which was actually not from Scott. Yes, it was not. He failed on it, but somebody else came through. Oh, I wasn't going to say that. Wow. You were saying it loud, loud so many times. Yeah, on an email, not on the podcast to everyone else. Wow. He only had three days. He actually came back to you within 18 hours. So that was pretty good. Well, that was pretty mean, Bruce. So, Scott, if you're going to give someone heat, give it to Bruce, not me. No, he'll just bust my balls at the tournament. This ROM was actually from Soren. The sour man from Lord of the Rings? No.
    11:37
    He's the guy who did the tilt video we plugged many, many podcasts ago. About how to properly adjust your tilt bomb. Yes.
    11:47
    But what this is, is it takes away the video mode. Which is always the problem with using Star Trek Next Gen in a tournament. Everyone just shoots the right ramp, gets the video mode lit, and hits it, and does that repeatedly.
    12:01
    Because it's the same pattern. It never changes. And I hate video modes. So now when you light the holodeck and you hit it, it kind of teases you. It gives you the choice, but then automatically just picks the $25 million like you have no choice. There is no choice for you, sir. Love it. We've got whodunits. T3. Demo man with a claw disabled. The only way to play it. Yes, it is. As Josh Sharp will tell you. Dirty Harry.
    12:30
    Dirty Sanchez? World Cup Soccer. Very nice. Yes, World Cup Soccer. Getaway. With the L2 ROMs. Well, don't forget, they're all bad. They're all bad. But it has the mountain, the prototype mountain. No Fear. Star Trek, the new one. Roller Games.
    12:50
    Quicksilver. with also Scott's modded software in it that we obtained from someone. Mr. Keith Elwin. Mr. Keith Elwin's fixover. Hi, Keith.
    13:03
    Metallica, nine ball, revision 60 of that software. Spider-Man Black, big game. Also, with modified software from Scott, it gives the line bonus for every ball instead of just the third ball or the second and third ball. Stargazer which also has modified software see a theme coming here yeah a lot of modified Star what this software does is it does not spot Zodiac targets you have to earn them and it resets the multiplier which was a badly needed update because the multiplier can get ridiculously high and it doesn't reset you can get insane bonus for doing nothing and Dracula also with Scott Modded Software, which gets rid of the tilt warning bug, where if you have a tilt warning, it won't give you the rats and bats bonuses. And the mystery, the random mystery, it is no longer random, it is always 500,000. As it should be. So the games are tournamented up, trying to make it as fair as humanly possible. So we can't complain about getting screwed by any random software crap. Oh, and George Takei is there. I'm looking at him right now. Yes, he is. He's there. Oh, bye.
    14:23
    With the first place trophy sitting there. You showed that off. Oh, is the bobblehead the first place trophy? The bobblehead is the first place trophy. Okay. There you go. I have second and third place, and I have the first place for stars. Excellent.
    14:39
    So I am going through all the games. I got through row one. It's just basic wipe down. Just make sure all the slam tilts are taped up so they won't go off. The interlock switches are taped. That gaffer's tape is awesome. It is great, isn't it? That is sticky. I put that right on the ACDC, and that thing is all set, turned off the lost ball compensation. So, I mean, we should be kicking ass. I should be able to get through hopefully the rest of the games before the end of the week, and then I will not play anything for two weeks. There you go. Just so they're ready. I don't want anything to break. So you touched on a little bit that we did get the code from Keith Elwin. Oh, for Quicksilver. Yep. Yes. I was very surprised. I come driving along to Syracuse for Thursday to bring out a space mission out for the guys out there. One of the guys bought it. A Steve Cordick classic. Yes, it is. And all of a sudden, I get a friend request from Keith Elwin. I'm like, oh, usually it would be the other way around, you know, a friend request. But he requested mine, which was cool, and he came right back, and first thing popped into thing, Quicksilver ROMs. I was like, cool.
    15:51
    Anybody who gives us free ROMs to actually modify a tournament game to make it better, aces in my book. The funny thing is Scott couldn't even remember that he did it. I know. That's pretty sad. Because he didn't have any copies of it, so he sent it to Scott, and he looked at it, and it's like, well, it's one of my older ones, but yep, it's one of mine. Yep, which is cool. Now he has a copy of it again. So don't lose it this time, Scott.
    16:16
    So how did you do this weekend at your tournament down below in Middletown? Tournament Rock Fantasy, the Rob Zombie launch party.
    16:29
    I did okay on the Rob Zombie part. Okay. I didn't make the playoffs in the other part. I failed. Well, same here. I was trading like first, second, which was fine, but then I would have the last. First, second, last. Then the last killed me. And it sucked because we had so many players, they actually were able to take the top 12.
    16:55
    So it was even worse that I didn't make it. Yeah, that is pretty bad. That is very bad. Very bad. The funny thing is when I played, I finished fifth. So I was one place out of the position. I got some money. I did get money. How do you get money in fifths? See, I always finish in fifth and get no money. I got money. So I got $16, so that helped.
    17:17
    And here's the worst thing. Game one for the second round, I was against the top qualifier and two other guys, and the top qualifier was picking all the games. He was the bus driver. First game he picks, pistol poker. Oh, awesome. I'm sure you loved that. I did, actually. I was the top qualifier or second top qualifier in it, so I didn't mind that at all. I got third in it. And I missed second by 500,000 points.
    17:42
    So, lost one point there. Second game, Stock Car. Is that an EM, I'm assuming? It's an EM Gottlieb single-player wedgehead. Oh, so two-inch flippers?
    17:54
    Yeah, barely. Awesome. Barely. Is it the famous one-and-a-half-inch flipper models? It feels like it. It feels like it? The gap is so humongous. It's just like a – it's like this says – it should have a smiley face with a mouth opening. He's saying, eat me, because the ball just goes right down the freaking center. That's a great idea, actually. Put a big smiley face right between the flippers. That would be an awesome idea.
    18:17
    And the top score was 36-400. I got 36-100. Two points down. So me and another person were tied for second with three points each. The fourth player couldn't catch us. So it was just me and him. Whoever won higher won it. Pinball pool. I'm like, I love this fucking game. I actually kicked ass. I was second qualifier. Wait, wait, wait. Pinball pool. Who makes that? That's a Gottlieb. Let me repeat. Can you repeat that, please? It's one of the few Gottliebs out there that are good. Yes, I will. And wait a second. I'm the one that bought this game. I got it for Eric down in York. It's clear-coded. Plays great. I got two house balls out of three. Got screwed. Not my fault. Not his fault. He played great. He took three points on that game. So he really played the way. went for the win and got it. I didn't get a shit, and guess what? I got fifth place. But our own Eric Russell took the win. So he is running away with the upstate. Yeah, the upstate. Well, he's been in like 50 events or something, right? I know. I think 55 maybe now. Actually, it is like 30-something. Yeah, he is up there. It's a lot of events. I'm not really up there that high. I need to do better. My poor performance at Rock Fantasy didn't help. Well, hopefully the Rob Zombie part gets me some points. side. Yeah, I don't think so. Maybe. Maybe not. We played some Rob Zombie.
    19:43
    How's that game? Kinda sucks. Kinda? And if you want, this is good. Kill two birds with one stone here. Check out Tim Sexton's Twitch channel. That's Tim Balls. Look for it on Twitch. That's Tim Balls. You will see he has a stream there. He streamed the Rob Zombie portion of the tournament. And you will get to see me playing it, and you will get to see it break. And then you will get to see me fix it. Great. Isn't that awesome? How new is the game? It's pretty new, isn't it? It's brand new.
    20:22
    But I'm playing the game, and all of a sudden I go and hit the left flipper button, and there is no button.
    20:29
    It fell into the cabinet. Well, it fell onto the floor. Even better, it screwed the nut. It just felt, yes, very good. So the nut came off. I've never seen that. I have. Okay. So you're better than me. I've never seen that. That's why I laughed when you said that. I've never seen it. I've seen them break off inside and the thing actually, you know, fall inside the cabinet and the actual button break. I've never seen it where the, it actually just falls out.
    20:57
    And interesting, they're using a plastic nut to hold the thing on. Yeah, because the metal ones actually crack, if I remember correctly. Really? That's what Sturdy's is?
    21:09
    That's where I've seen it break, first time. Well, either way, it was kind of funny. If you notice, all the video games from the 80s, most of them used plastic nuts.
    21:19
    Okay Plastic nuts Yep Plastic nuts Ooh I said it a title Plastic nuts yeah that good oh my plastic nuts so i i pulled a play fill out on this thing and unfortunately i i think they gone with the stern patent because you pull the thing out and it does the same thing where it kind of drops a little bit and it has a railing underneath notice i said railing singular not two it has one which I thought it was missing.
    21:53
    And I was told, no, that's the way it came. So they kind of put the railings under there. Like, we put railing underneath there, but we just put one. I guess it serves its purpose, but it was kind of weird. It is weird. It was weird. Then when I was done, I pushed the play field back in. It does the same stern thing where it just stops dead, and you've got to lift up the back to push it in the rest of the way. Or to slam it. Well, yeah, I didn't want to slam it. But it's just, it's like, come on, man. Couldn't they rip someone else better off, like some other system? That's just, yeah, whatever. But it's, yeah, basic, we were all following the Timmy strategy because he figured out you pick, basically you pick, start a mode, you pick Super Beast, you hit the upper play field, you hit the lanes to do like the 4X, and then you just hit the center ramp repeatedly. And that's it. That's what you do. And I was able to do it once, and that's how I got into the Final Four. The funny thing is, that's the good thing, because now, they probably won't change the software too much, and it will never be in tournaments, and we don't have to worry about it for the rest of our lives. The end.
    23:04
    Yeah, it was another one of those deals where all your, because it was mostly tournament players there, none of them liked it. Steve Bowden didn't like it, Tim doesn't like it, none of those guys like it. Because a lot of times you're hitting shots, You don't even know how much certain things are or what's going on. I mean, you really have no clue what's going on a lot in that game.
    23:23
    I don't know. For me, it was like, cool, there's just one thing to do, and I actually know what it is. Good. For me, it was actually better. It was easier to play. Maybe that's why I made the 5-4. There you go. So didn't Steve win from a bonus? Steve Bowden won after coming back from Pin Mania on Saturday. They got three hours of sleep and then got to play in the Rock Fantasy Tournament, which ended just before midnight. Oh, God. And he was one of the top four qualifiers. He got the bye, so he got to sit around for a long time before he got to play. And we actually, they decided the final four was supposed to be a Papa style, like three game deal, 4-2-1-0. And they decided, like, no, we want to go home. They all agreed, let's just do one. That's good. And they played it on KISS. New KISS. Yes, I saw that. Which was funny because that's the game we couldn't play at the KISS launch because it was broken.
    24:24
    So not to totally, you know, I'm not going to totally shit on Rob Zombie without saying Stern had its usual ball trough fun. Ball troughs are great for Stern, aren't they? Don't you like when they kick out two balls all the time? Yeah, or when they don't register drains. and it's not like they haven't. This is three different board sets now, White Star, Sam, and Spike, and all three of them does the same fucking thing. Can they just go back to micro switches, please? Just go back to micro switches. They do have micro switches. No, completely. The only opto is the jam one. And that's the jam one is what screws it up all the time. Oh, okay. It is because if you have a problem with that problem where it kicks out two balls, you reseat the two connectors, and guess what? What did they do originally? Originally the connectors were really small.
    25:13
    So what did CERN do later on? They made them bigger. And guess what still happens? They thought that was a problem. It's just a crappy design with the jams. Maybe they should just pay WMS Industries and just take the Williams design. I mean, I haven't heard out of all the Jersey Jack things, I haven't heard any Baltrop problems with Jersey Jack things. Because they used the Williams design. Exactly, that's what I'm saying. Of course, there'll be a listener right now, what are you talking about? I have all kinds of problems. That's with your light boards, not with the drawing board. But that's all fixed now. Yeah. So that's the funny thing. So now you've got this situation where you have people who have, like, say they've got an original Wizard of Oz that has the good, you know, the non-decals, like the screen printed, you know, the awesome cabinet and all that, but they have the old light boards. Yep, they keep them blowing up. Yeah, so they're kind of like, oh, I want the best of both worlds. I want the original build, but with the new light boards. I know. That would be nice. So what else do we got here? So, repairs. Repairs.
    26:11
    Since you were getting ready the basement downstairs, what did you do? I was working mostly on your Quicksilver. Yes, you were going to teach me something, weren't you, you said. I was going to teach you something? Oh, well, we had several issues with the Quicksilver, some that even I didn't know until I got under the play field. One of the pop bumpers, not coincidentally, the one with the replaced coil had parts missing. What part? Specifically, the coil stop only had one of the screws in it, and the plate that it's supposed to go through on the other end was missing. So every time... Yeah, it's nothing, yeah. When I'm firing in test, I'm looking at it, I can see the whole thing moving. Like, oh, that's going to be great. Luckily, the bracket that was missing, I was thinking, hmm, since the idiots probably just dropped it when they replaced the coil, maybe it's at the bottom of the cabinet somewhere. Guess where I found it? In the bottom of the cabinet. Bottom of the cabinet. it. Hey, didn't find the screw though, so I had to use one of mine, but now it's actually assembled properly. Okay, what else? Next. Several of the screws on the drop target mechs were half out, like they was actually falling apart, so I just tightened them. They were coming out, I mean, you can just visually see they were half out. Which one? The... Both of them. Both of them had like at least, actually one had one screw that was loose, the other one had two screws that were loose that were holding one of the actual bracket things on. So good thing that was fixed. So that was all fixed. I did my usual where I just went underneath. I'm underneath the playfin. I'm just tightening every screw, every switch. Just make... It's a good way to visually inspect everything when you do that to see if anything's missing. What else? Spinners. Well, yeah. We'll get to the spinners. I think there was something else underneath there. You said a wire. Well, yeah. There was... When me and Zach set it up, there were two wires that were obviously run new, even though they look like the original wires, but they were run all the way up, and they were just not even, they didn't even put a wire nut on it. They just, like, twisted them together, like, right before the connector. We fixed all that, but looking under the play field, I can see where they basically ran two new wires, and they didn't run them through any of the wire management. So I tried to clean it up a little bit, but I did the best I could. Then the spinners. The spinners. Luckily, I had two new NOS1s. Yeah, which made this even weirder. We have NOS stern spinners that do not, what would be the term? Well, they spin, but they don't center properly. They're not. They're lopsided. Yeah. When I took them out and actually just put them in the bracket by themselves, their natural position was upside down. They were. And it's like, what the hell? So I was like, I just took out one of the Stargazer spinners. and it's just on one of those spinners, the way it works is there's a wire form and the wire form actually goes all the way through the spinner. You can't see the center part but it goes all the way through and where it comes out, you can bend it a little bit and that's what happened. They were like straight across. It's hard to explain without a visual. They were straight across like you would get brand new from Mark Gordon. Brand new but what I had to do is I just put it right on top of the Stargazer one, compared the wire form part and just bent the wire form to match what the Stargazer was. Put it back in the bracket and lo and behold, it spins great now and it's right side up. Yay!
    29:40
    Are they fast? Are they oiled? Oh, they're oiled. The switch on the left one needs to be looked at. It's random. It's not counting all the spins. Do you think it's a rod or do you think it's a switch? No, it's a switch. It just needs to be... Some tips... You know, you clean it with index paper, but you can also use, I can't remember what it's called. It's like this red stuff. I've used it on a lot of games now, and it always has yet to let me down. It made Flash's drop target bank reliable. I need that then because I need it for my switches on my big game. The horse, what it is, it's like red. It used to be called like tweak. It's like contact cleaner, but it's not like a spray. and all I do is you just dab a little bit on the index paper when you clean it. So you get the dirt off and you put this stuff on there and then you've got to work it in because at first it will actually be overly sensitive and you've got to manually actuate the switch over and over and over and over just to kind of get it worked in and then it's flawless. I've used it on every spinner, every switch I've ever had a problem with, every leaf switch. That's what I have. I have a problem with my leaf switches. If I roll the ball down on some of my big game in lanes, they don't register. But if you shat it, it registers every time. And another tip you can do, if you loosen the screws just a little bit on the switch, just slide one of the blades a little bit over so it's not making contact in the exact same spot. That fixes a lot of stuff too. That's why I prefer the leaf switches. They're a lot easier to get working by just adjusting them. If a micro switch doesn't work, it just doesn't work. Yeah, you're done. You're usually not going to take it apart, although you can. You can actually take a micro-stitch apart and screw with it and get it to work if you have patience and you want to deal with the tiny parts that are in there. And the $3.50 later, you know, your sanity, $3.50 worth of parts. Yeah, as opposed to just soldering in a new one, yeah. Yes. But some people like to fix everything. Now, we've been talking about this thing called Stomp. Stomp? Yes. That's a tournament, right? Yes, it is, on July 15th. You saw the video. You have the itch to join us. It's $15. And Chuck Webster did acknowledge us. We laid out the gauntlet to the New England players. And they responded a little bit. They haven't paid any money yet, but they responded saying they're probably going to go, which is good.
    32:13
    The chowderheads. Come on, you chowderheads. They're just not prepaying. They'll show up. So Stomp is, you can check out the information for Stomp on the Pinside page, Stomp Tournament, or you can check it out on the Slam Tilt Podcast for Pinside. Facebook. Let me try that again. On the Slam Tilt Podcast Facebook page, we have it on there. It also has its own event. You can go under Facebook and just look up the Stomp Tournament, or you can go to the, and I recommend this, you can go to the ifpapinball.com, look under their events calendar you will see it for july 15th and has all the details in there also for those who are not on facebook and also if you go to the youtube video i put up that shows all the games again going to youtube and just search for slam till podcast i have a link to the ifpa event page right in the video description my repairs i was making sure vikings all good before it goes in two weeks and still been playing great i have to go repair the other Viking, Kevin, Manny's house. So I got to repair that. Zach's got to come with you tomorrow. Hey, Zach. Did he ever get the Vector, the software working on that? Yes. Well, what happened was he realized that the Vector software is good on the Alltech board. The Alltech board actually has the advanced ROMs.
    33:37
    Oh, interesting. Yes. So he's using that board for the Vector. And then he's like, oh, I think it's a CPU board that's bad. I'm like, okay, well, that's good. He goes, it hasn't tilted in a while. I got the new CPU board from the Enram guy where we get our CPU boards, which are weird now. They're red now. They're red? They're red. So it looks like a prototype board. It does.
    34:00
    And it started tilting right away still. So I'm going over there with Zach. I'm going to cut all the tilts out, the wiring, and see what happens and go one step at a time. Oh, so it's – okay. So it still has – Phantom tilting. uh so speaking of stars i had to replace one of the flipper buttons every time i started playing the left hand flipper would just stick up and you slam the cabinet and go back down unfortunately i don't have any white ones i'm so used to the bally i have red ones same design same look but so i replaced it so now stars has one red one white and i'm going to try to get some white ones before actually you should make the start button blue then you'd have red white and blue, be the all-American stars. That's perfect. It fixed the theme.
    34:47
    No? Okay. Never mind. All right. What else did I do? Started playing some more pinball every night and trying to get back into the swing of things. Oh, I'm playing Indiana Jones. Suddenly, I'm playing. I got a good multi-ball. I got the super jackpot. Best sound in Williams jackpots with the super jackpot, of course, with what's his name? What is his name? The guy from Lord of the Rings. Solid.
    35:21
    All of a sudden, I look up at my display, and I have jail bars on my DMD. Now, if you don't know what jail bars are, all vertical lines going straight down, top to bottom. Now, I wasn't doing anything except for playing the game, so I turn it off. I know what it is. It's reseating the cables, reseat the cables from the DMD control board to the CPU. Guess what went away? So then I'm like, okay, I'm going to be a smartass. I have all new cables. I'll go replace the cable. Replace the cable? Still have jail bars. Put the old cable back in? Don't have jail bars. So I have to go back into that CPU or the DMD and reflow the solder on those connectors.
    36:03
    Fun. What else did I do this week? played with a couple sets of Bally drop targets. Now I have a challenge I have to do in the next month, month and a half, actually. I need to get two games ready for the Buffalo Pinball Open. Ah. So Nick asked me again for two classics, and I've got to pick two games out of my collection. I already know what I'm going to pick. Stars.
    36:32
    Everyone plays Stars now. I want something that no one's going to. Oh, okay. Okay, everyone plays stars now. All right. It's like the new Walking Dead. Everyone's got to play Walking Dead. Everyone's got to play stars. I want something different. So you're going to bring that Gottlieb. I wish. That'd be funny, actually. I could, actually. Don't do that. That'd be great. But I have the two in my head. When we get closer, I'll think about it. But, you know. Oh, you're not going to say what they are? Oh, no, no. I've got to get them perfect. Okay. One's perfect. One needs help. So we'll go from there. But, yeah, I got two in mind. By perfect, you mean grounded? No.
    37:12
    You might want to get that fixed before the tournament. No, no, no, no, no need. No need. Not like it's going to be right next to another game where... No, no, no. Ace makers don't mean anything to me.
    37:23
    Okay. You know how hard it is to replace a cord? Very simple ends. Just cut the cord end off, cut it back, get the three wires, and neutral ground and power. That's all. It's easy. You know, it's just as easy to replace the whole damn cord, you know. No, no, no. It's cheaper that way.
    37:39
    Whatever. I've tried. I've tried, folks. I've tried to convert him, but it just isn't working. No, I like original cables. They don't go bad. I like original cables. Unless they crack and then they're bad. Oh, all right. What else did I do for repairs?
    37:55
    I think that, oh, I had to adjust. Now, on Bally's, me and Zach were actually playing hot-dogging. And you know the drop target's on the left-hand side for the multipliers, the 3X, 4X, and 5X. Well, Zach actually hit the 5X, and he hit it so softly off the 5X, it got stuck on the 3X insert.
    38:16
    What do you mean it got stuck? The drop target was too low. Oh, yeah. Okay, so you're saying your inline drop targets are not flush. You got it. So I had to go fix that again, which is really – actually, it's really easy on a Bally. It's actually the easiest thing you can do. Very easy. I can attest to that from my Harlem Globetrotters. Yes. Took him like two minutes, fixed it, and then he did it again. And he's like, oh, now it's working. Great. Perfect.
    38:41
    So that was all my repairs this week. Fun week of repairs. Pintastic. I need parts. I need more parts. I got one of my parts already hopefully coming. We do need me and you have to talk about our displays, which we're going to go with. I think I'm thinking more Rotten Dog for my Stargazer. And I have not touched a Paragon insert yet either for Merry Paras. That's going to be probably this week sometime.
    39:08
    I got the Transformer for Fathom, but I need Stargazer targets. We need a Cheetah or a Dragonfist. Ron's got cash now. Oh, yeah.
    39:17
    We talked about October 7th a little bit in the way beginning. Way beginning, like three hours ago. Yeah. It hasn't been that long ago, but yeah.
    39:27
    October 7th. Save the date, people. Okay, why am I saving the date? the fifth annual Finger Lakes pin golf open. Oh, we're having a tournament at Xanadu again. Xanadu's first tournament in a while, pin golf.
    39:46
    A staple, if you will. It is, fifth annual. So definitely save the date, October 7th. I'm putting the IFP results in next week for it. Wait a minute, you're putting the results in? How can you do that when it didn't happen yet? One. You didn't know you won? You didn't know you won yet? I'm putting the results in. You won. I got second this year. I think there might be a – this tournament may be rigged, I'm thinking. Kevin Manning got third. So congratulations, Kevin. Congratulations.
    40:14
    And now we've gotten a lot of responses from our giveaway for our pinball helper. Does that mean it's time for the mail ball bag? I'm not saying we're going to give the question now for the last question. Okay. This is the last question. Yep. We've gotten a lot of responses. Thank you, everyone, who's responded. I try to respond back to everyone who has answered the questions right. If you got a response back from me, you'd be good. We will be picking it next episode. Yeah, I think next episode we should. And we'll give away a pinball helper to somebody around the world.
    40:53
    This week's question is pretty simple. Are you ready, folks? sure being i'm the only one here yes i'm ready good excellent what is the pinball princesses ifpa number you actually were able to say princesses without messing it up i'm impressed thank you so again that is what is the pinball princesses ifpa number we've mentioned it multiple times. Multiple times.
    41:25
    Now, she is actually in the ball bag this week. Oh, my. But I am going to not say the number because that would make it far too easy. Yes, it would. That's the question. Please answer correctly to slamtiltpodcast at gmail.com, right? That is correct. The email address is slamtiltpodcast at gmail.com. So if you send your answers in, you must get them in before the 30th of June. What we're going to do is we're actually might be recording the 50th episode a little earlier since we have our winner for that. Winner for what, Bruce? The 50th episode fan, biggest fan who wanted to be on our episode. So we have a winner. We do. So please stop sending your just volumes and volumes of mail. Yes. Trying to get on the show. You can stop now. We have our winner. His questionnaire was the best out of all of them. He's contributed a lot. So me and Ron both decided winner. Winner, chicken dinner. Yep. For that, we'll actually edit in after that and say, oh, by the way, here is our winner for this. Editing? We don do no stinking editing Very little we do Very little we planning our one year anniversary show coming up in a couple weeks One year ago we started this crap Do you believe this? Whole year. Damn, my head hurts. I know. And we're going to get some big guests on hopefully soon. Some returning guests I'm trying to get back on. And some new guests. So that'll be cool too.
    43:10
    I'd like to send out a big thank you and congratulations to Jeff Teolis for his 50th episode of Pinball Profile. Woo-hoo! He mentioned us. Yes, he did. On it. So, very big thank you, and, you know, we helped him out in the beginning, and we always help him out. So, if you have not subscribed to him, please do. Great show. He's up to 50, and we're almost there, too, so. We're almost there. Almost there. I'm not using a targeting computer, either. Because I don't know if we'll need one in Star Wars. Star Wars, yeah. A lot's come out about that since the, well, actually nothing's really come out. Crickets. We're waiting for the stream at this point, right? I guess. We're waiting for the dead flip stream. Whenever that will occur, we'll actually get to see probably the premium that we won't get to play for a while, right before the pros come out. Yes. That's the way they seem to be doing it lately, but that's fine. That's fine, totally. At least we get something to look at. Hopefully that is soon, because I really want to see what this game looks like. Well, it plays like, I should say. You got a pocket full of quarters, and you're headed to buy a game? No. I do not have Pac-Man fever. I am not Buckner and Garcia. Props for anyone who would remember any of that. Yes. I have the album.
    44:33
    Hyperspace. I'm shooting. I'm shooting my load all over the place. Oh, very good. Hyperspace. I don't remember that one. I remember the Frogger song. I remember Centipede. I have them all. Well, it was an album. I have them all, too, on the album. I know, but you don't listen to it like I do, I guess. You listen to the... Oh, God. I have it on my iPad. On my phone. Why? Because it's good. I actually like doing it when I'm playing tournaments sometimes. So you're like listening to Pac-Man Fever while you're playing... No, I listen to the other ones. Oh, all right. Do-do-do-do-donkey-kong. Ding-ding. Ding. Ding-ding. Ding. Yes. You know how many of those were hits? None of them. Pac-Man Fever was the only hit. Yeah, there's one. Mouse Trap, Mouse Trap, cheese was the bait. The hawk is a-coming, it's coming too late. Oh, my word. We just lost two listeners. Yes, and I know Pinheads hate the Pinball Wizard song because it's overplayed so much, but, man, it is so far superior to any of those songs. I'm sorry. No, it's not. Because he's a pinball wizard, has to be a twist. A jizz ball wizard. Oh, heavy editing to this week. No, there won't be.
    45:47
    There won't be at all. Wow, so inappropriate. All right, time, speaking of inappropriate, I think it's time for the mail ball bag. Mail ball bag time. Oh, behave.
    45:56
    Behave. So we have some of these are from the second question just because of the timing of it when we received these. But we have Harry Jackson. It's this email guessing the three multi-time guests we've had. Yep. And he was 100% correct. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. You are entered. And we have Eric Warkenton. I think so. He put his guests in. I believe they are correct. They are. Everyone was correct this week. And we got Ryan C. Who answered our third question. Yes, he did. Correctly, and sent us a picture of something we love, LEDs.
    46:47
    Like, God, there's like 20 bags of LEDs here. I told him he has bad taste. He should stop wasting his money on that. And then Ryan, our other Ryan, Ryan K. Mm-hmm. He guessed it also, the latest question, which was, I guess, can we say the answers? Yeah, we can say the answers. No, we have some people coming afterwards, so no. All right, all right. So the two games that Josh hates, he got them right. Yes, he did. Next email, Alex Huffman, and he gets the Josh Sharp, the two games he hates, he gets it correct? Yes, he did. Congratulations, Alex. You get the next one.
    47:29
    Jim Mueller? Right? Yeah. I felt like saying Mueller. He actually answered all three questions on one email. Impressive. Yes, it was. And he was all correct. So he's got three entries in. And he goes, lots of early Stern love making its way in the show recently. Please don't forget about the classic ballets. Keep the awesomeness coming. Cheers, Jim. I said, we never forget old ballets. But we've had a buying run of the early Sterns lately. They are cousins, you know, which they are. They are cousins. So next one would be... Dennis. Dennis Creasle? I'm sure I butchered it. He got the two games that Josh hates, correct? Told him he's in. Congratulations.
    48:19
    And we have Brian. I believe he's emailed us several times. He's from Massachusetts Pinball. and he also got the question correct of Josh's two hated games and congrats on the quick silver delivery. He lucked in the one himself and he's waiting for some board work to get done by his local board wizard, but we're seeing what the next thing is wrong with it. Well, at least he's got a positive attitude. I like that attitude. Yeah, what's going to break on it next? I said, he asked how our play field was on ours. I said, ours is pretty good, a little planking and a little peeling towards the bottom arch area. That's the only thing. But other than that, I'm pretty happy with that plate field. What would you think? Plate field's good. It's better than the Papa one. I mean, the inserts are pretty warped. Pretty hosed. Yeah. But, yeah. That would be my next thing. We'll be heating them up and pushing them back flush. Well, you're going to have to take them out and flatten them out or something, because a lot of them are just warped from the heat. And the back, oh, yeah, I forgot. The other thing I did was all the bulbs in the head were 44s. Oh, that's no big deal. We don't have to play it all the time. I replaced... Oh, you're killing me. You're killing me. So I replaced them with the 47s. They were probably good GE 44s, weren't they? There were like two of them. All the rest were like something else. Okay. Sorry. No, the copper bottom GEs, there was like two of them. Oh, those are the best still. Yeah, those are the reasons all your wonderful inserts are freaking warped because of those 44s. Well, Scott's agreeing with me on that. okay we have one from eric russell you can read this one another great episode with josh i just want to say i really like the system they're putting forth with the pro circuit with the events rolling in and out based on whoppers which is we liked also really makes perfect sense since once you get past the baseline 64 rated players it'll be a rating and the ranking strength that different different three times now different differentiates yay that means the events with the most top-level players regularly attending will automatically become circuit events. I don't have any regional voting bias. Seems like a great way to handle it. And he answered it with Eric number one.
    50:31
    And we have Harry Jackson again. He's answering the Josh question, which he gets correct. Yes, he did. And you can answer the rest. You can read the rest. Loving the show. You guys rock. So, funny story. I was actually in a recent tournament with Ron and previous guests. Greg Waparelli, the Spring Fling Tournament in Morristown, New Jersey, but I am still really new to pinball scenes, so I did not know that I was in the presence of Ron's greatness at the time. Wow.
    51:01
    Damn. Hold on. Let that – Wow. Okay. Sorry. Go ahead. Ego time. Yes. I'm the best. No, you're the greatest. Greatest. I am so new that I didn't realize that anyone who wanted to show up would have qualified for the Sunday finals for the tournament. I only had a chance to attend Friday qualifying, so I stayed up Saturday night sweating the results until I got the email at 1.45 a.m. that I made it to the finals. Finished 15th, but it was my first tournament ever, so I was on cloud nine. Sorry, Ron. Next time I'll just say hi or just oh, bye.
    51:37
    That was a good email. Thank you, Harry. And the final email. Here we go. This is from the Pinball Princess, who had her shorter emails the last couple weeks. We have gone back to novella length here.
    51:56
    I see that. Oh, my fucking God. I'm going to go to the bathroom. No, no. She has a whole section here on you about your hatred toward Gottliebs. There's no hatred. No. This is from the Pinball Princess. Dear Bruce and Ron, How come not Ron and Bruce? What's the deal? She's going by... Alphabetical order, probably. Of course.
    52:21
    On the cusp of completing your first 50 episodes, I write to you not in last-minute abbreviated format, but in the unpredictable meandering style that blossoms from leaving ample time to let one's thoughts flow unrestrained. Okay, now hold on. Pause. She was actually writing this Monday, or I think it was Monday, She has a Twitch channel. You can check it out. I believe it's, if you just look for Penelope Princess, where she has her writing this very email. Yes. Where you can see the creative process taking place. Me and Zach actually jumped on and I said, write faster.
    53:02
    Very nice, Bruce. Speaking about her Twitch channel, I'm almost inspired since we have a Twitch channel we haven't used. maybe I could do a editing session of the podcast so I can have like you know here's all the inappropriate stuff Bruce says that I edit out I don't mind that I think it's funny the problem is it typically takes me two to four hours to do one of these editing sessions and that would be just too boring I might like try to put something together to make it quick well make sure I don't have an alcohol when we're doing this because I'm starting again alright back to the letter At long last, I have overcome the inertia of perpetual procrastination to bring a proper email letter to the slam ball bag. Oh, my. This will not be a wafer-thin mint slipped in at the end of a meal, much as my more recent submissions have been. No, this is no mere short. This is the main movie sign, which is a Mystery Science Theater reference, so Bruce won't get that. Do not mistake the brevity of my recent letters for any sign of a lack of enjoyment. I have, in fact, immensely enjoyed each and every one of the last five episodes, just as I've enjoyed each and every one of the 42 of the 43 episodes prior. Although I must admit, it may be that I cannot fully discount the 43rd episode, or to be accurate, the 39th episode. As a participant, I did, in fact, quite enjoy the podcast, albeit from a different angle. Yes, she won't listen to the podcast she was on. Why? I have to listen to all mine every time. Yeah, I get to listen to... Me, and me, and me, and me.
    54:46
    That I have not heard the episode in MP3 format over my headphone should, in terms of enjoyment, be rendered irrelevant. After all, I still got to listen to and enjoy the two of you talk and banter, a phenomenon that, as you may be surprised to hear, is not uncommon in a given Slam Tilt episode. Really? Really? I never got that opinion. I thought we were being factual and not funny at all. We're very factual and completely not funny. So from that perspective, I have thoroughly enjoyed each and every episode. For all we know, when I finally pluck up the courage, I may find I enjoy your guest on episode 39 as well. Let's see. Reaching far, far back into the catalog, but not too far back, the Timmy-Greg double guest combo was probably one of my favorite episodes. Granted, I have a natural bias since I've had the honor of experiencing the four of you interacting in real life, so for me it was like sitting in the back corner of a room and listening to my friend's conversation. Hopefully it felt this way for other listeners. From the pinball talk to Tim's on-air trolling of Ron's then-recent fail,
    55:51
    wherein he commented sympathetically and then went no-wait refresh to add his own fail to the thread. Yeah, I remember that. That was pretty good. I loved it. That was actually classic. Dick. At some point, someone mentioned the idea of a Papa credit card, presumably in relation to how one can dial in their credit card for entry replenishment. My mind immediately veered left and conceived of a credit rewards card that instead of accumulating points for cash back or travel miles, put said points towards Papa entries. This sounded like a ludicrous idea at first, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I would love such a rewards program.
    56:33
    Also, I think that Greg's idea of discussing pinball themes that a given host or guest would like to see could foster some good discussion and provide insight into said host guest. Besides, this could easily strike upon a million dollar idea.
    56:49
    Reaching slightly less far back, the interview with Nick was quite entertaining as well. I will admit that there were portions of the discussion that had me staring blankly at my podcast player, though. This is a common side effect of any in-depth technical discussion. Uh-oh, she's going to have trouble with the middle of this podcast then. Oh, my God. That occurs in the podcast. I do my best to follow along, but the fact remains that I see the underside of a play field as pretty spaghetti more than anything. And I would not trust myself alone with a lockdown bar due to the sheer lack of experience.
    57:22
    This is by no means me whining about too much technical discussion. Talking shop is a vital facet of the world of pinball. I am, in fact, bringing it up to ask whether you have any recommendations on how one could broaden their knowledge of this topic. Besides staring at videos of slingshots for two hours and awkwardly Googling what a switch adjuster looks like, since it's obvious from the name that the tool adjusts switches, but how it does that is not. The best thing to do is probably just when you come to Stomp and Ron's got his head underneath the machine, once in a while, it'll happen.
    57:57
    Peek in with him and say, hey, how does this work? Ron's not going to pressure because he won't be playing unless Scott actually pressures him into it. Not playing.
    58:07
    Fail. You can also go to pinwiki.com. Have a lot of stuff there. And there's videos online also. There's videos online. Yep. There's pinball repairs, videos. YouTube is a good source. Not you porn, YouTube. Okay.
    58:26
    Lost the train of thought there. Thanks, Bruce. So you can also go to the old rec games pinball. They will always help you with tech stuff. A lot of really good tech guys there.
    58:41
    Let's see. We got to continue with the letter. This interview, in addition to offering a cornucopia of knowledge, I had little idea how to farm, brought up a favorite contentious subject on the Slam Tilt Podcast, Gottliebs. Ugh. Wow. I know Bruce's ire towards Gottlieb is mostly aimed towards System 3s, but I must propose...
    59:03
    Yeah, the guy who said he liked Pinball Pool. But I must propose that the discontent with the company should not rest solely on the shoulders of Q-Ball Wizard and Class of 1812, the least obnoxious System 3s that I could find. I have concluded that classic Gottliebs, while having an overall trend of being fairly decent games, have one incredibly annoying fatal flaw. They were built by Premier. Oh, no, he's talking about the old ones. Nick's interview brought up the very colorful description of some old Gottliebs as being an endless cascade of lanes leading to a play area that was, and I quote, the size of a piece of toast. With a given example being sweethearts. It would seem that Gottlieb progressed from the era of tiny play areas that matched the tiny flippers to designs where the ball could drift about propelled by two pieces of sponge cake with rubber strapped to them so that they looked like flippers. Classic Gottlieb flippers are the most ineffectual, frustrating things to ever have sat at the bottom of a play field. Every title I have played with these things has driven me half mad with rage at the sheer incompetence these flippers have with the one job they have, flipping. Which they don't do well. These soft-bouncing, pliant cushions have little to no authority to their flips. They tend to lazily push the ball in vague direction that you ask them to, if you are so lucky for them to agree with you. They coddle the ball like overprotective mothers, unwilling to let their silver, spherical child go out into the great unknown and score some points. They let the ball walk all over them, bouncing awkwardly to and fro and down the drain. I have considered the possibility that my experience is due to a bad build on a game, a weak coil, or some other mechanical shortcoming. In testing my theory, I have had to rely mostly on anecdotal evidence. I think I said that right. More than once, I have approached people more familiar with Classic Gottliebs, asking for their opinion on whether the game we were playing matched their experience with the games over the years. My sample size is, admittedly, still rather small, but so far I have received the same answer. Eh, feels like a Gottlieb.
    61:13
    That these mushy flippers are a standard tenet of classic Gottliebs is a most egregious offense. The flipper is the player's main source of control in a game of pinball. They are the instrument through which the player interacts with the game. To feel as though one's flips have no power, and to have them interact as awkwardly with the game as classic Gottlieb flippers appear to, takes one out of the experience of the game, and seriously detracts from the joy of playing.
    61:41
    Do you agree, Bruce? No, I don't. Wait, you don't agree? Nope, just got to leave sucking all. Oh, man. I say this as one who adores 300. The flippers on that table are of this nature. If the flippers felt less like Tyrannosaurus Rex arms made out of gelatin and felt more like flippers, I would likely enjoy the game even more. T-Rex! T-Rex arms! Tyrannosaurus Rex arms made out of gelatin.
    62:08
    Or perhaps I've ranted for 500 words on a false principle. I would love for my hypothesis to be proved wrong. I know that my postulation is based on emotion more than fact. And so more data to support or disprove, it would be ideal. That is to say, I would like to know whether the two of you, or any guest who may be listening, agree.
    62:31
    I don't know, I've played some Gottliebs that had good flippers. few and far between. All right. There are some. There are some, but, I mean, when you get up to, like, the mid-'80s Scott Leaves that have all the steep ramps that the flippers never make, then, yeah, you got a problem. Yeah. But there's a lot of those. But, like, the single-level games, I usually don't have much problem, as long as they're the three-inch flippers. And for reference, she attached a picture of the offending flippers. Bonus points if you can determine the game they're from.
    63:00
    Trying to think of the game. It's not Sinbad. It's not Eye of the Tiger. It's the... Well, it's not one of those because it's only two flippers. I know that. I'm thinking of the same artist that did it. What the hell is it? I can't think of it. So I probably failed.
    63:17
    Yeah, you probably failed. I'm thinking maybe Dragon. Actually, is that a Gottlieb? That is a Gottlieb, yes. All right. So I'm going to pause the old podcast here where I actually look it up here.
    63:31
    So after some careful research, I was correct. It is a dragon. And so was I. After I looked it up to make sure I was right. I know, but it was the same artist. The same artist. The same artist as Sinbad. Yes.
    63:44
    She continues on, I would take a deep breath after all that ranting, but to be honest, it took my breath away that you got an interview with the IFPA World Champion. Good job, Bruce. That was actually really cool to get because he is a fan of the show and Raymond's a great guy. Hi, Raymond. To follow up on my admitted lack of technical knowledge above it was something of a reassurance to hear that I am not the only one who hears the two of you talking about knockers banging grinding away drilling from behind and the like and starts wondering whether you were using coded language for porn I think we were We were? We were. I find it interesting that the distaste for Cyclone, Comet, and Hurricane, and if you ask Bruce, apparently Roller Coaster Tycoon, which makes more sense than it should, seems to be a widespread sentiment. I don't know. I like Cyclone. Cyclone's the best out of them all, but out of all those four, but yeah, it's still ugh. And one that seems to extend beyond how ill-fitting the jackpots are for tournaments. Good old System 11 progressive jackpots. The ramps certainly fail to emulate the excitement of a roller coaster, which is disappointing. I like how they were deemed an unholy trifecta of games to hate by Raymond, though. They do sort of blend together into one hard-to-control, bland, ramped game. That said, attached is a drop of my favorite thing about Cyclone. I would totally wire this into my doorbell. So this is a sound clip.
    65:17
    Welcome to my house. Is that the spook show or whatever? Yeah. Okay. Yep. As a linguist, I must comment on the debate over describing the bottom most part of what holds a back glass in place. I must defend Ron here in proposing that you are both correct, and not because it was Ron who had to point out to me on a World Cup soccer what the trim you were talking about was. But she's a, wait, wait, she's a newbie. Both the terms, well, let's listen to what she says. Both the terms lift channel and lift trim accurately describe the piece of plastic or metal at the bottom of the back glass, the one that provides an access point to the innards of the machine, such as the lights which you have to push and twist to get in or out. One of the few things I do know, despite the immediate contention that the proper term is lift trim, the term lift channel is nevertheless understood as referencing to this object. Additionally, a quick Google search done on both terms yields similar results to one another. This would imply there is at least moderate usage of both terms, if not widespread use. What do you got to say about that? It's true.
    66:28
    Wait a sec. When you purchase the piece, what does it come as? Yeah, from Marco. How about other parts places? Pinball resource, same thing.
    66:41
    Done. Right then and there. Done. My first thought was that lift channel could be a non-standard equivalent, the way the term irregardless is, in fact, in the dictionary, despite massive protests to its legitimacy. How about actually?
    66:58
    There is a giant non-standard asterisk next to it denoting this point. However, there was one small detail that passed in your debate on the podcast that I suspect may be telling of this as a, oh, God. sociolinguistic phenomenon. I think I got it right. There was talk that the term lift channel is something more common among younger pinball enthusiasts. If this is in fact the case, there might be an element of linguistic change at work. Lift channel might be a newer term that is gaining traction. I think so. I would love to know what pinball enthusiasts of various demographics use to refer to this. My basic argument is that you are both right and that will not change, But more data on who calls this thing what would alter and deepen the arguments I use.
    67:46
    I will go with the irregardless thing. I will go with it's lift trim. Lift channel would actually be where it sits in in the game. But a lot of people use that term, obviously, including me, as the lift trim. So this is almost like an irregardless type argument. Where so many people are going to use it now, it's just going to be accepted as the term. Except by Bruce. As Scott and Pinball Resource and... Marco. And anyone on RGP, probably. Exactly. Yeah. They would probably be insulted if you called it a left channel. Yes. They'd probably tell you, go back to pin side, newbie. Yes, they would. Let's see. Most recently, we had the pleasure of listening to Josh Sharp explain the Stern Pro Circuit. I am excited for this idea. More major tournaments means more attendance for hardcore players and encourages players passing by at an event to either join in or watch, enticing more players to join in on the fun or at least be spectators to high-level play. More people involved in pinball in some way, shape, or form is an expansion of the game, and more pinball is the best outcome ever, especially as pinball currently caters to a niche group of enthusiasts, as Josh put it, which has to be the most diplomatic euphemism for a bunch of frigging nerds I have ever heard. I resemble that remark. Yeah, we do. At long last, I conclude my lengthy letter. If this conclusion seems sudden, it is because I have consciously edited and trimmed my writing, trying and sort of failing to not be too, too long. My first draft nearly hit 2,500 words. Now it's a lean 2,000. And I leave you not with a poem, but with a, hey, did you hear the cool thing my dad made? which we will hear at the end of the show. I look forward to talking your ears off with the written word, most likely in the future. Hopefully not giving you laryngitis. Player number something.
    69:52
    Can't give that away. No, we cannot. That would be far too easy. Way too easy. So that was the slam ball bag. I think it's time to pay some bills. No, it's not. Okay.
    70:06
    What now? God, you're just so mean to me lately. Yeah, I am. I want to go home. Oh, I am home. You are home, and you have the week off, so guess what? We're going to overtime, baby! Would I, or would I not buy that? Oh, we're doing that? I got a whole shitload, baby. No! I mean, hold on. Let me edit that out. Oh, great! Let's, I can't wait. Hold on. Let me get eBay up right now. The first one, ticket number 25. 300 282 5550 Gottlieb Counterforce only $500 good condition does not work it says it doesn't work, let's see isn't this the one you have? I did have this one this was one of Jerry's that I had at my house isn't it the one you still have? no Which one do you still have? Timeline. Oh, okay. Yeah. All right. Yeah, this is the one where the lights come down, kind of like Space Invaders, and you've got to hit stuff. Yep. Let's see. Let's look at the picture. It looks nice. It looks actually really nice. It looks really nice. Look at that. Cabinet looks nice.
    71:23
    Boards are all there, so if you can get lucky and maybe get this one working. If not, go get one of those, you know, the new ones, boards, or one of the other ones. This is System 80? I think it's System 80, yes. Oh, yeah, it's the Star 80 series. So right on the apron. Damn, it looks really nice. I know. This is actually, I would. Wow. You know, the only thing that's wrong is the drop targets are wrong. Drop targets are wrong? What's wrong with the drop targets? The drop targets are wrong. They look like they put every different one. Yeah, but you know what? Because it's a Gottlieb, get Steve Young on the phone. You can get your drop targets. So you'll have no problem. This one's really nice. Yeah, I mean. this could be Ron's first and it has the one thing Gottlieb did that I thought was cool the playfield mounting yes when you lift the playfield up especially this because it's a wide body they had like this little bar thing you lift up and it supports it on both sides and then you look at the wiring mess on that bottom transformer block board look at that fricking mess that's factory I know. Look at that mass factory.
    72:37
    Not a fan, huh? No, God, no. So let's see. No reserve. Does not work. All parts included. Yeah, I mean. You can pick this up on the way to Pintastic. Basement fine. Stored in a basement for a long time. It looks really nice, actually. Actually. I would actually. Actually. Actually buy this.
    72:59
    I don't know if I can recommend it to a total newbie because it's System 80. Oh, yes, you can. And you're going to be, well, okay. If you're a newbie who really wants to be a tech head and you really want to have some pain, then this is the game for you, man. You will learn all about ground.
    73:17
    Or should I say lack of ground. Lack of ground. Ready for the next one? Yes. Do you agree with that one? Buy or not buy? Yeah, I'd buy it. See? Okay. Ticket number 122. 888-561-08499.
    73:39
    Transformers LE. Only $3,800 for the LE. For an LE split. Wow. Yeah, it's the best of both worlds. The Autobot Decepticon split LE. Let's see.
    73:58
    Game works great. We replaced anything that did not work. So it was a location game. So would you buy it, Bruce? For $38, I actually might.
    74:12
    I would never buy it because it's a Transformers. And it's an LE, too. And it's an LE. It's the worst of them.
    74:19
    So you would buy that, then? I'd buy it for that price. All right. You probably could flip it. All right. Okay, ready for the next one. 253-014-649-536.
    74:39
    Oh, okay. It's a chromed-out, one-of-a-kind Lethal Weapon 3. With not the topper on it, not the proper topper. He's got the flashing light, the big flashing light bar on there. hold on i'm going through these awesome pictures first yeah they're pretty bad awesome chromed out shitty pictures with the glass on of course and there's like four or five of them with a bunch of mods the cabinet looks kind of weird might be the lighting yeah Oh, it's let it out big time. Yeah, with this insane topper. $2,000.
    75:24
    I don't know. When I see things like one of a kind or look or like greatest ever in the listing, that immediately makes me say, nope, don't want it. Yeah, plus he's a Saints fan, so I'd have to say fail on that also. Saints fan? Yep. Well, yeah, he lives in Louisiana. This is a black chromed out, not decals. This has been sanded down and totally repainted. Okay, that's why the cabinet looked weird, because it was completely repainted.
    75:51
    I will not ship because of the chrome and chrome stripping around the back. Okay, whatever. Yeah, you failed. No, wouldn't buy that. Okay, now here's one of the recaps from last week. Bally Hot Doggin. It never sold at $1,875, $756.54. So, remember how we said last week he should take the price down to four and take away to one.
    76:16
    He's halfway there, folks. He brought his price down to $1,456.78. And now he just needs to get rid of that one in front of it and we'll be all set.
    76:28
    Maybe he's listening, but it's back up. So we've got two more. Ticket number 272. 572. 602 666 So we got Stern Dracula used flipper assemblies. Very nice. There's three of them there. Yes, there is. With the original bats. Yeah, the only thing about those bats, though, they can only be used with the Generation 1. Yeah, I know. So it'll only work games previous to big game. But for three of them, for $25, $26, $27, good deal. Yeah, you get some flipper bats. I mean, these flipper bats would work on stars, meteor, basically anything before a big game. These would be the proper flippers. So if you kept your plate, the Generation 1 plate, which you'll probably have to re-tap some of the screw holes because it'll be completely blown out if you want to keep it. But you can. You can actually get the, well, I said it, actually. You can actually get the flipper bushings for the Generation 1. Somebody sells them. I don't remember who, but you can get them. I think they're a little smaller, shorter.
    77:52
    So, yeah, this would be a good deal. Okay. Anything for the flipper baths. Yep. So are you ready for the weird one? I'm ready for the weird one. Okay, here we go.
    78:04
    eBay auction number. 152-602-105-985. Game Room, Arcade, Pinball Machine, Man Cave. It's just like 30 different things. What is it?
    78:25
    The Chuck E. Cheese. What the hell is this? Is it the suit? It's the original Chuck E. Cheese costume suit.
    78:33
    It's just a costume? It's the costume. It's the suit that they wore at the showbiz pizza plate. But it's just a costume. It's the costume. Like it's not even like the mechanical like Chuck E. Cheese moving thing. Nope.
    78:50
    But it is a suit. It's a suit. And it's only $10,000. Yes. Who would pay $10,000 for this? Oh, you watch. Somebody will. I mean, it has it under Game Room, Arcade, Pinball Machine, Man Cave, Chuck E. Cheese, Cosplay Costume. Yep.
    79:12
    Yeah, bad, huh? So he's got two pinball machines in that picture. It's got a suit. You can literally put... Well, it does talk. It does talk, but that's an aftermarket thing. It's an aftermarket because the rest of it's just a suit. Well, yeah, there's two pinball machines in there. Can you name which ones? Now, wait a minute. Is this for the entire game room? No. This is for the outfit. Are you sure? Chuck E. Cheese's talking, walking around suit is amazing. This authentic vintage suit is completely original. Money-back guarantee comes with an electric voice box, which is programmed to play the Chuck E. Cheese theme song. The device can be placed inside the suit and activated by a push of a connected button. You can literally push the button, and he can talk. Wow, it's so easy to program.
    79:56
    It still seems more like it'd be for the whole room or something. Okay, what are the two pinball machines there? The hell do I know? You can't tell by the look? I already figured. Well, let's see.
    80:09
    I can barely see. I can't see the one at all. Are we looking at another picture? Nope. Same picture as you with the bear on one side and the Chuck E. Cheese on the other to show his place, and there's two pinball machines. I got them both easy. How do you have the one when you can't even see anything? Oh, I can see perfectly. Oh, wait a minute. Okay, Monopoly. Thank you. Yeah, because it says Monopoly on the card. Yep. But I can also tell by the bolts going through the lane. Oh, the other one, it's got the thing that goes all the way around. Is that the roller coaster tycoon? You got it. All right. Two for two. Congratulations.
    80:48
    But, yeah, $10,000 for that suit. It's going to be all yours. You can pick up some little children with that, boys and girls.
    80:56
    Oh, man, that's so inappropriate. It is, isn't it? Good job, Bob. What's his name on the family guy?
    81:05
    What's his name? Oh, the old man, Mr. Herbert? Mr. Herbert. Herbert, yeah. Yeah, boys, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, boys, I talk, you know.
    81:19
    Come down and play my pinball machine. Yeah. It's pretty fucked up to have a character that's basically a pedophile, and it's like funny.
    81:32
    God damn, that's fucked up. I haven't seen a Buy It Now hit yet for that. No, I don't see a Buy It Now hit. There is. You can do it. No. You know what I do see? What? I see an upcoming events. Upcoming events.
    81:48
    So we have Pintastic in two weeks. We have Stomp in three weeks. We have Pinberg in one month. today one month we'll be sitting in pinberg we have the uh saratoga pinball show in saratoga new york august 12th and then we have the buffalo pinball open with nick and kevin running a big papa tournament in new york state 18th 19th and 20th and the 17th as a pre-tournament those are the events we're talking about i also want to mention uh the buffalo guys are going to be doing a they're going to be part of another week-long 168 hour pinball marathon on twitch benefiting this time uh the doctors without borders uh that you can tune in on twitch on the ml pinball that's all one word ml pinball under uh you know subscribe to their twitch channel and you can tune in from july 2nd to the 9th uh watch live and check out and if you anyone donates $25 during that week, you'll get a chance to enter and win a brand new Star Wars pinball machine. Ooh. Interesting. So, good money, good cause. I don't know now. The only thing I had a weird thing about was on the flyer, it shows a LE, but I don't know if they're donating an LE, so I'm not going to say yes or no. I doubt it. I doubt it, too. I doubt it. They'll be going for a good cause. Definitely try to help out show them how deep your pockets are folks win a pinball machine especially star wars it's from steve richie it's guaranteed to be great no pin side says it's oh that's right i forgot pin side told me it's gonna suck i'm sorry i might not buy it because it might not be great oh shut the fuck up wait until you freaking play it no no pin side told me it's bad wait till you freaking play it. Nope. Don't want to play it. Nope. Nope. Hey, remember how good Ghostbusters was? Yeah. It looks great. I can't wait though. It does. It looks great. And then what are they all doing now? Dump.
    84:03
    They're dumping them. No. They're dumping them. No, I don't know anyone who's dumped their Ghostbusters. I don't know anybody who's dumped their Ghostbusters. No one at all. You have been listening to episode 49 of the Slam Tilt podcast. You can find us on Facebook. Just search for Slam Tilt Podcast. You can find us on YouTube. Just search for Slam Tilt Podcast. You can send us correspondence and answers to our questions or your questions to us at our email address, slamtiltpodcast at gmail.com.
    84:38
    It's been episode 49, Young Frankenstein. No, Young Frankenstein. Uh-huh. Say goodbye, Bruce. And we didn't pay the bills. Yes, we just did. We didn't. What didn't we pay the bills? www.pinballlifter.com And Flipper Fidelity for your speaker needs. And he also is a distributor for Stern. And don't forget Pinball Star also. The guy who's selling both of us. Our dialed in. So say goodbye, Bruce. Goodbye, Rob Rolleri.
    85:16
    Oh, my.