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Episode 67 Tribe Member Tim Lee takes over with lots of TMNT talk

Poor Man's Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·analyzed·Aug 12, 2020
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.034

TL;DR

Tim Dan Lee shares TMNT Pro experiences and pinball restoration projects on Poor Man's Pinball Podcast.

Summary

Tim Dan Lee, a tribe member and pinball enthusiast, joins the Poor Man's Pinball Podcast to discuss his recent Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Pro acquisition and various pinball projects. The episode covers Tim's friendly rivalry with host Drew over Jurassic Park scores, his family's pinball restoration hobby (Batman Forever, Dark Knight 2000), and detailed technical issues he experienced with the TMNT Pro machine including a turtle pizza parlor multiball lock problem and potential playfield leveling adjustments.

Key Claims

  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Pro machines have started shipping, with Premium Editions expected mid-month

    high confidence · Tim and Drew discuss shipping status; Drew mentions Zach Sharpe said 'a couple of weeks' for Premium Edition availability

  • TMNT Pro has experienced turtle pizza parlor multiball lock issues where balls get stuck and don't release

    high confidence · Tim describes specific technical issue: balls stack in lock but post releases too quickly, preventing proper ball drop

  • The TMNT Pro lock issue can potentially be fixed with a software update to keep the post down longer

    high confidence · Tim explicitly states to Drew: 'Absolutely. Yeah, so they just have the post stay down longer, correct? Yeah, that's what I told Zach Sharpe'

  • Tim resolved the TMNT Pro lock issue through minor adjustments: playfield leveling and slight metal bracket realignment

    high confidence · Tim describes bending the post bracket and adjusting playfield pitch; reports issue hasn't recurred after 1.5 hours of play

  • Drew has had six modern Stern machines and has experienced pooling posts issues on some newer Sterns

    high confidence · Drew states: 'So I've had six modern sterns. I've taken two out of the box' and discusses clear coat pooling post issues

Notable Quotes

  • “I will beat every score that you have. I'm telling you that right now.”

    Tim Dan Lee @ mid-episode — Reflects the playful competitive dynamic between Tim and Drew over TMNT scores

  • “Tim Dan Lee has become, you know, one of my best pinball friends because it just seems like we share some of the same sort of, you know, we like some of the same games. You know, we have the love of restoring games. We like busting each other's balls.”

    Drew (host) @ early episode — Illustrates the genuine friendship and bonding over pinball competition and restoration

  • “I will give you the luxury of knowing that when you posted that, it stopped me in my track. I showed Anne the picture, and it was at a time where I had another machine my buddy let me borrow, and I was playing it constantly, and it really bothered me.”

    Drew @ early episode — Shows Drew's emotional investment in the score rivalry with Tim

  • “The problem is once they don release, they won't release at all. You actually have to take off the glass and go in there and depress the post.”

    Tim Dan Lee @ mid-episode — Technical description of the TMNT Pro pizza parlor multiball lock issue

  • “Nicole Meni, Zach Sharpe's lovely wife, she runs the whole thing. Zach Sharpe is merely just a pawn. Zach Sharpe is just the face of the company.”

    Drew @ later episode — Insight into Flip N Out Pinball operations and Nicole Meni's operational role

Entities

Tim Dan LeepersonDrewpersonScott IanpersonZach SharpepersonNicole MenipersonTeenage Mutant Ninja TurtlesgameStern PinballcompanyFlip N Out Pinballcompany

Signals

  • ?

    product_launch: TMNT Pro machines shipping; Premium Edition expected mid-month

    high · Tim received TMNT Pro on Friday; Drew mentions Zach Sharpe said 'a couple of weeks' for Premium Edition; discussion of Pro vs Premium vs Limited Edition variants

  • ?

    product_concern: TMNT Pro experiences turtle pizza parlor multiball lock issue where balls get stuck due to coil post releasing too quickly

    high · Tim details specific issue: 'balls got stuck in the lock' and 'the post releases too quickly, preventing proper ball drop'; issue occurred 3-4 times before adjustments

  • ?

    code_update: Potential software fix for TMNT Pro multiball lock issue by extending post dwell time

    high · Tim tells Zach Sharpe it could be fixed with software; Drew confirms: 'Could that be fixed with software? Absolutely. Yeah, so they just have the post stay down longer'

  • ?

    product_concern: Stern modern machines experiencing pooling posts and clear coat issues

    medium · Drew mentions 'pooling posts again and we're back to the clear coat issue'; references multiple newer Sterns with this problem; attributed to Kerry Hardy for bringing attention to issue

  • ?

    restoration_signal: Family-oriented pinball machine restoration as bonding activity gaining traction among enthusiasts

    medium · Tim restored Batman Forever and Dark Knight 2000 with his sons; sons are now skilled players; represents multi-generational engagement with classic games

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.171

0:00
Look Mike, I've been doing a lot of thinking and I realized I've spent years trying to fix this, to fix us. And the truth is, I don't love you anymore. I want to, but I can't.
0:19
Don't you have anything to say? Yeah, I've got something to say. If you think you're getting the kids You're f***ing crazy Middle-aged mutant ninja turtles All of them are dressed in Under Armour They came from mutagens in secret poos Middle-aged mutant ninja turtles Now they do their shopping at Whole Foods I bring my own turtles They used to be so cool Now they drive to spoil your kids to school Middle-aged mutant ninja turtles And all of them are sober now Turtle power Hello? Hi Don, this is Dr. Furstenberg Oh, hey Is this a good time to talk? Uh-huh Now as you know, we found a suspicious lump on your spine Uh-huh So, yeah, we got your test results back Okay Well, I'm looking at the report right now And as it turns out, it was just a benign cyst Oh, oh, okay, great, thanks Thanks Hey, uh Did you hear about Shredder? No. What happened?
1:58
He died. Wow. Seriously? Yeah. You think we should go to the funeral? No. No. Maybe the wake, but definitely not the service. Middle-aged mutant ninja turtles. Their best days are way behind them.
2:23
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls of all ages, step right up. It's time for the one, the only, the Poor Man's Pinball Podcast.
2:41
Welcome to the Poor Man's Pinball Podcast, episode 67. The one where we talk about stuff without Ian.
Jurassic Parkgame
Batman Forevergame
Dark Knight 2000game
Cary Hardyperson
Orville Albertperson
Dennis Krieselperson
Replay FXevent
Stranger Thingsgame
Helicon Breweryvenue
Poor Man's Pinball Podcastorganization
David Dennisperson
Ryan Kuiperperson
?

community_signal: Active Twitch streaming ecosystem in pinball community with multiple content creators launching streams

medium · Poor Man's Pinball launched impromptu Twitch stream; Orville Albert streaming; David and Ryan Kuiper streamed Simpsons Pinball Party; Cary Hardy started new podcast

  • ?

    venue_signal: Helicon Brewery hosts pinball machines including James Cameron Avatar Limited Edition TMNT

    medium · Drew played James Cameron Avatar Limited Edition TMNT at Helicon; venue appears to host premium pinball machines

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Positive reception of TMNT Pro despite technical issues; customer service mitigates concerns

    high · Tim expresses satisfaction after fixes; praises Zach Sharpe's responsive support; family loves the game despite initial problems; game remains in collection

  • ?

    content_signal: Expansion of pinball-focused content creation with new podcast launches and streaming initiatives

    high · Cary Hardy launched The Hardy Podcast; Poor Man's Pinball started Twitch stream; Orville Albert streaming; mention of multiple concurrent streaming sessions

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Friendly competitive culture in pinball community manifesting as sustained score rivalries and trash talk

    high · Tim and Drew's 2-3 month Jurassic Park rivalry; playful high score naming conventions ('Drew's Tears'); plans for future tournament competition at Pinberg

    • 2:49
    I am sort of flying solo today, but not really. I'm excited about today's show. We have a very special guest today. He is the greatest front of me you could ever ask for in the pinball world. He is my pinball nemesis, tribe member number 12, Tim Lee. How you doing today, Tim?
    3:12
    Welcome to the Poor Man's Pinball Podcast, episode 67, the one where we talk about stuff without Ian. I am sort of flying solo today, but not really. I'm excited about today's show. We have a very special guest today. He is the greatest frenemy you could ever ask for in the pinball world. He is my pinball nemesis, tribe member number 12, Tim Lee. How are you doing today, Tim? I am doing fine, Drew. How are you? I'm awesome, man. I'm super excited to have you here. thank you i i wasn't going to join but you know i figured i'd owe it to you since you uh beat my score why don't you tell the listeners about our very special pinball relationship tim um goes back to the the winter i started to message you guys on the uh you know on facebook in regards to the poor man's pinball podcast and you know we went back and forth for a while and you invited me into the tribe as member number 12 and I don't actually remember how it started but one of us posted a score on Jurassic Park and the other one immediately started to bash the score and we kind of got a little bit of a back and forth going there especially in regards to Jurassic Park we've been going back and forth for about two to three months and I probably sent you maybe two to three messages a week for three months telling you that you sucked at pinball easily three messages and and i was playing as you guys heard last week i i've been playing like three to five games a day and all i wanted to do was beat his score i would tell my wife i'll be out in five minutes because i just need to beat his score and i could not do it i will give you the luxury of knowing that when you posted that, it stopped me in my track. I showed Anne the picture, and it was at a time where I had another machine my buddy let me borrow, and I was playing it constantly, and it really bothered me. I'm going to be honest with you. All night I kept talking. Yeah, she just looked at me, and she did laugh when I responded, hold my beer. No, it does. I get it. Yeah, they gave her a laugh out loud, but it's been bothering me ever since. And your wife's like, it's a goddamn game. Yep. So for the record, I destroyed his score with 951 million.
    5:43
    And now he is, he just got his turtles, which we'll talk about soon. So now he either has to choose, try to beat Drew or play turtles.
    5:52
    Yeah, that's a tough call. It is. But you know what? We all kind of win in that scenario because those are both great games. Yeah, they really are. And, you know, if you're going to pick two or three of Stern's greatest games, especially from the last five years, you know, you definitely have two of them. So that's pretty awesome. No, super cool. And like I said, we'll get to your turtles here in a second.
    6:20
    What are you drinking today, buddy? I am drinking Coke and Fireball. I somehow discovered Fireball 20 years after everyone else did. So I've been drinking a lot of Coke and Fireball. Yeah, you said that. That's like all you're drinking lately, right? Yep. That's cool. You know, that's most people. You find something you like, and then you're just like, yeah, I'm going with it. Like me, I'm back to Kessler's and LaCroix. You know, that's what I'm doing. Oh, no screwball. No, no. Actually, that's because I left my bottle at Ian's house. And just to bring everyone up to speed, Ian's on vacation this week. He's actually out of town with his family. Well-deserved vacation. So he's gone. Tim Lee is here this week and next week we will be back to our new Twitch stream which we kind of impromptu started last week and it went okay but we worked out some of the kinks and we'll be back next week so everyone can look forward to our Twitch stream hey by the way I was on the Twitch stream and I also send Ian about two or three messages a week telling him that you suck at pinball oh I know he sends them to me right away And I'm like, yep, I get it. That son of a bitch did it again. I love it. I absolutely love it. Yeah, so you guys hear me talk about Tim all the time, and this is really how we are. We love each other, and pinball has been a great bonding experience for us. And Tim's one of the people that I'm going to go to his house one day, whether he likes it or not. So there's a small list of people in our tribe that I told him I'm coming, and he's one of them. So tell Ann to be ready for that, Tim. Sounds like a plan So what, you want to get into our personal pinball news right away, Tim? Are you ready for this? I am ready I love it, I'm so glad you're here today, I mean that Poor Man's Podcast Personal Pinball News Tim, you are our very special guest So why don't you tell us what you've been doing in your own personal pinball world Alright, well I've actually had a lot of pinball projects going on But the most important, it's not a project, is I received a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Pro on Friday. I sent you some pictures.
    8:41
    Quite interesting is the trailer truck driver showed up, and I live in the country. I moved to the country a few years back, and he dropped the machine right in the middle of the road. Oh. Yeah, he had said, this is as far as I can take it. Oh, you don't mean like he dropped it. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm sorry. He placed it. He placed it easily in the middle of the road. This story is getting a little better. Okay, fair enough. Poor choice of wording there. He did not drop it. But, you know, my boys and I had an appliance dolly. So, you know, my boys watched me struggle taking it up through the gravel driveway because in the country sometimes you have gravel driveways. And, you know, we got it set up and we have been playing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles nonstop throughout the weekend. so we've been very pleased with with the turtles also my my son and i have just completed within the last you know month or so um doing two pinball restorations it was actually a really good bonding experience my older son and i uh we completed a batman forever and that was a few months ago but we recently did a black knight 2000 as well so we've got a lot of a lot of new machines in in the basement super cool what uh yeah i go go check out tim lee's uh page he's got pictures of this stuff very awesome um what game is your son's favorite then after restoring these what does he like to play so my you know my whole family plays pinball i i think you know that but my son you know you're gonna have to tell us that secret later too by the way yep yep my yeah i don't know how that happened but my oldest son he likes batman forever he really does and i think you know that's why we got that game we went to replay fx last year and he kind of fell in love with it and he played it non-stop so when i found one that we that we could restore and we wanted to do it together we had talked about it you know i immediately went for a batman forever so he plays it a lot but he is loving turtles um he hates stranger things you'll be happy to hear that actually his his first two high scores on turtles the first one he wrote stranger things sucks and the second one he picked up on you and he wrote tim lee tears oh i love it i love it uh for you guys just to bring the listeners up to speed so when tim first blew my jurassic park score out of the water a few months ago he put drew's tears as the name and now there's all these hashtags it's always like yep tim's tears so it's just kind of our stupid little back and forth and yeah it amuses me and it sounds like it amuses tim too so if if you the listener are not amused sorry yeah it makes me laugh i had sent ian a message and i i said hey do you think drew would be upset if i posted like and tagged him uh you know drew's tears and his exact quote was post that shit right now yep we we've we have beat this uh dead horse since we started our podcast you know the thing about ian and i is we're open books and you know however we come across on the podcast that's just who we are so you know we don't get we don't take anything too seriously we don't get butt hurt and uh you know i mean this from the bottom of my heart you know tim Lee has become, you know, one of my best pinball friends because it just seems like we share some of the same sort of, you know, we like some of the same games. You know, we have the love of restoring games. We like busting each other's balls. You know, it just works on so many levels. Yeah. And honestly, I think we're about the same skill set. That too. We're very, very much. I think if, yeah, if we're, if Tim Lee and I are playing 10 games, we're each going to win five of them. Yeah. I kind of have this vision of like someday you coming to Pinberg and like some of the good pinball playing tribe members are like trying to qualify for the A and B division. And you and I are like – All the damn Canadians. Yeah, yeah. And you and I are in like the back row battling each other for like 175th in the E division. Yes. We're like – but we're talking smack and we're betting money and – Oh, you know, if I was 174th and you were 175th, you would hear that every day for a year.
    13:09
    Yeah, you're right. And we could be the last two people in there. Yeah, super cool. Nope, we share that love of pinball. That is awesome. So you and your son restored this game.
    13:22
    So Batman Forever, doesn't that make you a proud papa that he likes something that's older than he is, right? Yeah, yeah. I think that's 93 if I remember correctly. So when was he born? He was born in 2002 and my middle son was born in 2003 and my middle son is addicted to Black Knight 2000. That is crazy. That's awesome. I love hearing that. Yeah, and he had sent me a picture. Actually, this has been a bad week for me because he sent me a picture this week that he beat my high score in Black Knight 2000. So I got your post and my son sent me a text and he just said, uh-oh, with a picture of him putting in the grand championship score. I guess it's not grand champion in Black Knight. It's just number one. So I have to get some people back So this is something I didn tell you It not necessarily pinball related but last Saturday now you know me I don drink a ton but I enjoy a beverage and I brought home a growler from Helicon Brewery last Friday of their Cream L and I absolutely love it And somehow, someway, I don't even remember. I was just a few beers in and I got into a conversation with Jonathan Hall about multicades. And I sent messaging him back and forth and he's a member of the tribe and I was sending him some messages about multicades and so forth. And I ended up kind of purchasing one and agreeing to buy one. Kind of. Like, you know, yeah. A half hour away. You know, we've been thinking about it. We were going back and forth, you know, all day long.
    15:05
    So I went out and I got a multi-cade. The problem is it wasn't the nicest multi-cade. It was an old poker machine. Oh, yeah. And I'm going to be honest. they had the pictures online. The guy was great. He was a great guy. He was very forthright, but I had it in my head that I was going to get my kids a multi-kid game, so I told Ann at 8 o'clock at night, I said, hey, can you take me to get a multi-kid game? And she was like, what are you doing?
    15:38
    You had too much to drink? Yeah. It doesn't take much with me. Sure, but I love that. You're like, hey, honey, can you go drive me to pick up this thing that I just drunkenly bought. Yeah, and the guy's like, you can come over tonight. We had some mutual friends, and he was a great guy. I pride myself in negotiation skills, but I'm like, I just didn't really try to negotiate. And I got the game, and I brought it back, and I felt so guilty the next day that I bought it. I was just like, this thing just looks like 1982, you know, multi-kid game. And my kids started to play it, and they loved it. So Anne, my lovely wife, actually painted it for me. I came out, and she had like 75% of it painted, and it actually turned out really nice, and the kids have been playing it nonstop. So I don't feel bad about it now, but yeah, I didn't tell any of you guys that. So for our video game nerds out there, how many games are on this thing? It's just the 60-in-1. Okay, 60-in-1. No, there's nothing wrong with that. um and you don't have to give me the number but did you spend more than a thousand dollars no no no i spent way less i did not get that ripped off okay okay no no then you're fine because you know a lot of these guys make these ones you know there's some really nice ones for two grand and that's still a little overpriced but you know if you're if you're paying a few hundred dollars for a 60 and one whatever you know you get 60 games you get to have some fun that's cool yeah which is kind of a test run. Maybe I'll buy a more expensive one. Maybe I'll build my own. Well, building your own is very rewarding.
    17:16
    Ian and I have both done several, actually, and very cool. And you can set it up how you want, set up the games you want, and get the spinner and the trackball, so whatever you want to do. But, yeah, I'd recommend doing that.
    17:33
    But, yeah, a lot of good options. Yeah, not pinball news, but it was something stupid I did. Well, for those new listeners out there, I got news for you. Half of our podcast is not about pinball. It's about other stuff that we happen to go on tangents about.
    17:54
    No, we restored a game. We got a Turtles. I will beat every score that you have. I'm telling you that right now. I don't know. And we could be pinball snobs now and say, like, does a pro score really compete with a premium score and vice versa? Look at you pulling out that card. I don't know. I know I'm asking the question. Honestly, I don't know. I actually think from what I've seen, and I have played the LE Turtles at Helicon. By the way, you're getting the better game. I would say that the Turtles Pro is better than most premiums I've played, but the LE and the premium, it's really nice. And I don't think it's an even playing field. Like I think the code is different from all the streams I've watched. Well, that's what I was getting at. I'm not even making fun of anyone for anything. I'm just saying. No, no, no. Yeah, the rules are different. The code is different. Maybe the scoring is even set up differently depending because that's the thing about Jurassic Park. Maybe I can just make the excuse that my cool moving dinosaur keeps getting in the way of my shots. Good stuff, good stuff. So what is Drew doing? Drew is buttoning up his meteor.
    19:07
    I got all the mechs rebuilt, the pop bumpers, the flippers. Everything's working. Everything's on there.
    19:17
    I'm sending some stuff out for powder coating. And then hopefully I got to sell something. so i i have turtles coming in a couple of weeks um i buy buy buy and now i need to sell sell sell yeah so is it you're out of room yes yes i am simply out like uh i i can fit turtles in in my space uh as is but uh that's only because meteor's out in the garage right now being put back together so so if i want to get i'm gonna have to sell one game you know um i have i have stars up for sale i have laser laser q i took off the market i if if anyone hasn't played a laser q it's just a fun game i'm keeping that one i like it too much um but stars my restored firepower and my restored and or I should say not and and or Meteor will be up for sale. So I just need to get rid of one.
    20:20
    And then what will probably happen is I'll buy another project because I always like to have one project and it sounds like you're kind of the same way now. Yeah. I like to have something to work on. I actually tipped my hat. I know Dave Brennan had said this on your podcast, but He gave me some tips, and I have another buddy that restores machines, Terry. He gave me some tips, and I'm hooked now. So I understand what you're saying. Yeah, it's a drug, just like playing pinball is when you first get into it, right? You get in this hobby. You want to play every game. Then you learn how to fix something. You're like, oh, that was cool. And then you learn how to fix some more. And then you get a broken game, and you're like, oh, I brought this game back to life. It's very, very, very rewarding, very cool. so um but yep uh tmnt is i'm waiting on the premiums which uh supposedly are shipping in the middle of this month so i don't know uh i texted zach the other day and he said um you know a couple of weeks so we'll see what happens yeah that's that's where i purchased my machine as well flipping out pinball i didn't mean to cut you off no no shout out shout out to Zach Flippin' Out Pinball. Yeah, I would like to give a shout-out to Zach. I actually had a couple of minor issues, and I sent him a message at 9 o'clock on a Friday and a Sunday morning, and he responded instantaneously both times. And I said, I didn't expect you to respond. I was just kind of like putting the message out there. But the customer service, it's only been less than a week, has been fantastic. Well, here's the secret of Flippin' Out Pinball, okay? Nicole Meni, Zach's lovely wife, she runs the whole thing.
    22:08
    Zach is merely just a pawn. Zach is just the face of the company. Without Nicole, nothing's happening in that company. That wasn't even Zach typing to him. No, like I said, he's just the pretty face.
    22:24
    Now we just made his ego even bigger. Maybe I'll edit that out. Probably not. I was actually watching Albert's stream and Dennis Kreisel was on there and I told that story. Yeah, tell our listeners about that because not everyone saw that, including me. I watched a little bit but not a lot. Yeah, so I had a very long weekend of playing pinball. I actually felt guilty about it. Like I didn't do anything else in life. So when I wasn't playing pinball, one of the tribe members posted that Orbital Albert was doing his first live stream in like a year.
    23:02
    And I got on and here I am, 4 o'clock p.m. Eastern time watching Albert on the port stream. And I had – I was going back and forth with the crew and it was a really good stream. He was streaming Simpsons Pinball Party. um it was it was a lot of fun um who does silver ball chronicles it was uh david dennis yeah he was on there with albert and you know he was a really nice guy very interactive with the crowd and orby has a lot of fun on his stream like you had we had our tribe zoom session and it was a lot of fun and he he's a lot of fun in his podcast you know i never thought that i would be listening to him talk about raising goats you know but i've listened to all his podcasts but he is a lot of fun on a stream and like i said we were going back and forth and and dennis kriza was on there and i gave a shout out to uh to zach and dennis had asked me if zach sung the response to me on friday and i think i said yes he did but he he sang it all to like the tune of the ramones beat on the brat song so um you know but no it was a good stream and i didn't mean to cut you off no no no news but yeah it was uh hats off to zach but albert great job um really good stream pinball nerds podcast uh orbital albert he might be one of the purest people in pinball you know what i mean he just has that salt of the earth like he's just everything is pinball the way he talks about it he's so passionate about it and then on top of that yeah he raises goats and chickens and you know manages his homestead and yeah he's just he's just an all-around good dude so yeah check check out uh pinball nerds podcast check out his stream um i think it's under the same name right pinball nerds yep it is under the you know pinball nerds and also um other the other two tribe members david and uh ryan kuiper had uh streamed the simpsons pinball podcast on friday evening and i watched that and uh ryan kuiper yeah yeah a lot a lot of good streaming going on so once again we're we're dipping our toes in twitch we are not streaming pinball because everyone's doing it and they're doing a great job we're bringing a live show to the masses so we're really excited about that so check us out at poor man's pinball at twitch tv so we're really excited to get going on that yeah i enjoyed the the kind of impromptu session uh yeah so so if you guys you guys can go back and check out the video uh it wasn't perfect we had a lot of technical issues because uh last week we weren't even gonna go live but we said f it like we often do and we went live and it turned out okay and there was some good discussion and we're really looking forward to the future and we appreciate all the listeners all the viewers and uh very cool stuff so thank you for that uh speaking of new stuff there is a new podcast alert and i think this would be the time you go do do do do do new podcast alert um we miss you ian but not really because i'm with tim lee so you've been replaced i love you buddy um i love you too but i don't think i'm doing as well as ian uh carrie hardy uh kicked off a new podcast the hardy podcast is that what it's called i should have done some i didn't put that part of my notes but uh check it out uh hardy pinball Cary Hardy always does a great job. He's been doing videos for Straight Down the Middle, doing his own videos. But he started a new podcast. Very cool. The reason I'm bringing this up is because it segues us into our regular news. Do-do-do-do-do news. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have started shipping. As we know, they've been shipping a while. A lot of the pros are out. All the alleys are out.
    26:59
    We're still waiting on premiums. but there have been some issues with the pros. Small issues. Hopefully they iron them out. Tim's going to talk here shortly about one of them. So you know what, Tim? I'm just going to give it to you. Why don't you talk to our listeners and tell us about your experience with your new Turtles Pro?
    27:20
    All right, I will. I received my Turtles on Friday that was not dropped. I've only had two issues. The first one was – and this stuff happens all the time – the spring and the flipper had actually fallen off. So my sons played for like two hours with the spring nut on. I don't even know how they did this.
    27:41
    And I fixed the spring and everything was fine. So that's a minor issue, 10 minutes to fix. But the other issue I had that I messaged Zach about a couple of times this weekend was the turtle pizza parlor multi-ball. so my balls got stuck in the in the lock and what that means is you know in the in the pro you know there's a three ball stacking before they all release for a multi-ball and then they come down the left flipper kind of automatically flips up and then they they fall onto the pizza and they spin around it's really awesome but this has happened three or four times and zach's given me some really good tips to try to fix it But what happens is they don release And the problem is once they don release they won release at all You actually I had to take off the glass and go in and depress the post And the reason is say you let your machine, your ball stack. Wait, wait, wait. Isn't that how you always play anyways without the glass on? Did my wife tell you that? Yep. Ann texted me and she told me. She said you're playing without the glass again. I told her never tell. So, OK, go ahead. So I play without the glass and a one minute ball safe. So but anyways, but you know how if you let the ball sit there, you know, if your ball stuck and it resets and, you know, it starts to fire all the coils and everything, those fire and the ball lock in the lock goes up and down. But the problem is that it's so fast that the balls don't come back out. So, you know, it just goes down and up really quick, and there's three balls in that lock. So then I turn the machine off and back on, and it does the same thing. It's just a quick up and down. Let me stop you there, though, seriously, for a second. So could that be fixed with software? Absolutely. Yeah, so they just have the post stay down longer, correct? Yeah, that's what I told Zach. I told him that it might be fixed with a software issue. Now, I actually took the play vote up today, and I noticed that my post was slightly rubbing against the side. And this probably – we have over 100 games on it now because I have five people in my family. And this happened three times I think, and so I bent the post back a little bit. I was comfortable with bending it back. Is this a metal post or a plastic post? So I shouldn't say a post. It's a plastic post, but it's the metal bracket is what I meant. I got you. Okay. It's just a coil with a plastic kicker in it, right? Yep. It shoots up. Okay. All right. And it was just slightly along the side to where I think that if the ball leaned against that plastic post, it might get hung up enough that it just didn't go down fast enough and the balls got stuck. So I think it could be fixed with software. I did some finagling of the bracket, and it hasn't happened since. I actually readjusted the play field. It wasn't quite level. Zach said you might want to make it level. Now, you'll call me a cheater, but my buddy had a Turtles Pro, and it was really fast, and I really wanted my daughter to love this game, so I might have taken the pitch down a little bit. That's fine. You're okay. And so it played a little slower. So I did those things, and I played it for a good hour and a half today, and it didn't happen again. So I'm hoping just those minor adjustments, but that's the only thing I've seen in a few days.
    31:13
    I expect that with a new pinball machine. I know some people do not. Yeah, so we're going to talk a little bit about that. So, you know, and I'll get, you know, Kerry Hardy, great, great podcast. Like I said, I'm giving him credit for all this because he's the one who brought all this to light. Yeah, that ProLock issue that Tim just went through, that's been happening on several people's machines. I think Kerry Hardy had the exact same issue. Had to make some adjustments. It's working fine now. The other two things that he talked about, which Tim and I were talking before this, and we'll elaborate a little bit because he's had new stern machines. I've had new stern machines. So between us, we've had, how many have you had, Tim? New in box sterns? Like five? I had no. New in box, I've only had two. How many modern sterns have you had? That's a better question. So I've had six modern sterns. I've taken two out of the box, but I also bought a Stranger Things with 19 plays on it. So that was pretty much new. Okay. Well, because this isn't a new unboxing. This is just about back to the clear coat and stuff because the other issue, some people have come into pooling posts again and we're back to the clear coat issue. Have you seen any pooling posts on any of your CERNs?
    32:26
    I did not. I didn't necessarily look for it. But when you mentioned it earlier, I went and looked really quick. And in three days, I haven't seen any. Okay. And my experience is the same. So I want to – I am not giving stern a pass on this by any stretch. But, you know, I've had four or five newer sterns as well. And I have not had pooling. And in my post, I have not had cracked or chipped clear coat.
    32:58
    I know it's an issue. And like I said, I'm certainly not letting them skate on this. But so now we're talking about potentially like, say, 10 games between Tim and I, and we had not experienced any of that. So I think they're probably getting better. I think what happens is they make adjustments as things go along. We've seen that. And, you know, that's what I'm hoping with my – well, I'm getting a premium, so I don't have that same lock. So mine might be a little – it's a little different. but you know any any fixes that happen in the early games you know hopefully they're making those adjustments which i know they make some adjustments at the factory of course once they hear about them so yeah my jp and my stranger things have been solid as well and i i have over a thousand plays on stranger things oh that's my yeah my jurassic park has 600 and actually i had to adjust the demogorgon in stranger things and it does have dimples but i kind of expected that but i haven't had to adjust one single thing in jurassic park now it was a later build but i haven't had to not even one post not no adjustments whatsoever it's been perfect out of the box and that's what i you know and i've been telling people this for a while i mean you know i've had a lot of new games now or newer games and you know stern's general overall quality lack of issues has been far superior in my opinion you know i mean like spooky you know i had one or two small issues they were just adjustment issues so not a big deal but but i have not like you just alluded to i have not had to make any adjustments on my sterns which is very cool and uh shout out to george gomez and the whole team there for you know getting getting it right most of the time i guess is all i can say but for people experiencing stuff you know talk to your distributors, you know, talk to Flippin' Out Pinball. Zach is a great reference. He'll help you out.
    35:00
    You know, whoever you bought it from, go back to them and make sure they make it right for you. The third one on this list, which Tim and I, once again, were talking about, we haven't seen it, was blurry digital images. I think the word used was grainy. So, Tim, you said you didn't look that closely, but you haven't noticed anything weird, like a printing error or something bizarre. No, I'm going to have to go listen to that podcast because I would have noticed. My brother was a professional artist, so I'm used to having nice art around, and there wasn't anything that stood out to me. I feel like I would have noticed that one. Yeah, so take a look. I'm going to do the same, but yeah, it sounded like a few of the early runs, maybe they had some sort of printing issue because they're printing those right onto the playfields. Who knows? But, you know, and for those people, it does suck. Don't get me wrong. But, you know, we're just fortunate it hasn't happened to too many people. And, you know, I'm hoping it doesn't happen to me on my new Turtles. Yeah, I've been really lucky. I've been very satisfied with the quality. You know, your major issue is your machines tend to come with low scores. I see what you did there, Tim. Yeah, I don't know if it's like a coding issue that your scores are really low, but they're really low.
    36:24
    They get lower. Yeah, mine get lower when I read the rules. Yeah. I have huge games, and as soon as I read that rule set, I'm like, I start to suck. Yeah, no, it's because you're thinking too much. Like you said, shoot the shot, that's easy. As soon as you're like, well, shoot the shot while I'm thinking about this and I'm trying to achieve this other goal, your brain starts working on overload.
    36:53
    So let's shift gears a little bit. Still talking about Stern, though. There were some new rumors by maybe Mr. Kaneda. I thought he stopped podcasting. So did I. What did you see on Facebook today? So I actually saw a picture of sort of the Queen album cover, and he had his little logo kind of off to the right. And some folks had asked, does this mean that Queen is coming? And he kind of alluded to the fact that perhaps Queen Pinball Machine might be in the works. I didn't go back and read the post later. You and I started talking, but it sounds like Queen might be on the horizon. And he actually did some teasers for, I think, Guns N' Roses earlier in the week. Yeah, he's kind of been doing that for a while. I mean, because that one's obviously not a secret. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. But it is interesting because everyone's been talking about Led Zeppelin, you know, at the end of this year. That's been the big rumor that it was going to be a Quicksilver-like game that's re-skinned as Led Zeppelin. And how interesting would that be if it was Quicksilver reskinned as Queen? Not because that would be cool, because it would be, but the fact that Kaneda just can't help himself.
    38:18
    Chris, Chris, enjoy retirement. You have a great job. You live in New York. You have a cool car. You have a wife. Just, you know, enjoy your life, man. Don't keep trolling everybody. I don't know if it's trolling, but maybe he just couldn't, you know, help himself. I like Chris I listen to all his podcasts every one of them I would have some nice arguments with him on Facebook from time to time but kind of going from being in the rumor mill and in the know and knowing all these people to completely shutting down he had to have been antsy right? I would have been it's in his and I'm joking I like Chris too he is what he is and at least he's honest. He's that guy. But go ahead. By the way, he's still wrong about Oktoberfest. Yeah, yeah. I tell him that every chance I get. Ian will agree with you too, and so will a handful of other people. But unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, most people agree with him. So it is what it is. Yeah, I get it. But Queen. I think that would be cool. yeah i wonder if like led zeppelin might have been their code name right you know they've been known to do that yeah like uh with jurassic park it was jaws yeah yeah if you look on the bottom side of some play fields of jurassic park it says jaws um which is which is kind of a cool mod but yeah they always have code names so i uh um i think i i like i like led zeppelin i like queen i'd rather see queen yeah i think i would rather see queen than led zeppelin like queen didn't jump out at me and say hey i want to go buy this but i was thinking about this today and believe it or not a lot of my nieces and nephews they're older they're in their 20s they all like queen that might be like uh i know they're an older band they're sort of a you know classic rock band but i think they kind of you know span many different generations i would totally play it well that's That's the thing. Like I said, my wife's not into pinball, and it is what it is, but she would. Yeah, she would probably enjoy that. I think she would dig that game. She would at least put some game. Would you like a Queen pinball machine, honey?
    40:40
    Pearl Jam. Wow. Pearl Jam's her favorite band, as everyone knows. But Queen or Led Zeppelin? She's thinking. She likes both, too.
    40:51
    She's deep in thought. You don't know? What one would you rather have in the house? Listening to Queen music or listening to Led Zeppelin music?
    41:01
    Okay. I don't listen to British con. I'm yelling a call off. Did you catch that? I did, yeah. It made me laugh. Yep. She did not like the British woman in Iron Maiden.
    41:15
    She would always call her the British C word. Why is she telling you what to do? I actually didn't mention this in my personal pinball news. I have a really good friend that said he's dropping off an Iron Maiden for two weeks. That's so cool. Just because he loves me. So shout out to my buddy Mike, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Does Mike love me?
    41:37
    Well, I think he has like a scoring cap. You have to like be one of the better players like myself to have a machine of that caliber dropped off. See what I have to deal with, folks? See the kind of crap I have to go through just to get a podcast out for you guys? I got to sit here and take Tim Lee's abuse to put out a podcast for you guys you know in a year from now we're going to still be doing that people in the tribe are going to be like would you give that up it's boring but we're still going to be doing it but it's fun, it's fun for us I don't care if it's boring for them I know it's boring for them, that's cool I'm a selfish asshole, whatever okay so this week in pinball they uh this is just a shameless plug for us because i think it's awesome uh so this week in pinball uh about a month ago maybe a little more they started a uh pinball promoters database are you familiar with this tim i am i submitted a review oh awesome so we the one uh don tell them that uh the pinball no no not not oh for other other podcasts gotcha gotcha gotcha uh pinball promoters database it pretty cool what it is is they have all different content creators they got um you know youtube shows and podcasts and websites and everything that's you know people that create content for pinball and all it is is site and shows you the reviews for that particular content creator. And I'm proud to say we are still on top as the number one site with the most five-star reviews. How cool is that? That's pretty cool. There are literally 17 pages of content creators and the poor man's pinball podcast is number one with the most five-star reviews. So thank you. Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. I'm sure if Ian was here, he would thank you and kiss you and love you too. we appreciate that go to Twips website this week in pinball click on the pinball promoters tab and give us a review tell us what you think good or bad hopefully good give us your review, give us your feedback or you can always find us at poormanspinball.gmail.com or you can like us on Facebook at the Poor Man's Pinball fan page so anyways uh also with twip uh they had their first uh episode uh it's like uh it's like a tv episode you see that yeah the uh month in review yep yep yep very cool i watched it yeah uh check it out it's on there it's on their main page it's just a very cool thing they started where they have this uh cartoon woman uh you know talking about the news of the month and it's just very well done and I thought it was pretty unique. So something new. We always like new stuff. Yep, I enjoyed it. Yeah, Jeff Patterson's doing some cool things there. They're trying to branch out.
    44:44
    So, yeah, just look for some more stuff coming in the future and keep on keeping on, Jeff. We love what you're doing there at TWIP. Yeah, nice work. What else? Color DMD, did you see they finally released stuff for those early, early Data East games? I did. I saw that. I actually have a color DMD on Batman Forever. So cool. Color DMD is hands down one of the best.
    45:10
    They are not a sponsor of the show, but I will put them in any game I have the chance to put them in. Yeah, I only have one, and I got some really good customer service from them as well. I don't think I told you this story, but I actually ended up with a ROM that had some sort of operator code where the game would shut off after like five or six minutes, and they programmed the game to the regular ROM. There's like two or three different flavors of that, and it just wasn't showing up right. So we did some triaging together, and they responded right away, and it turns out that I had this really rare ROM that, like I said, no matter where you're at in the game, after five minutes, there's like a countdown timer. Oh, interesting. And we worked it out.
    46:01
    We burnt a new ROM, and bang, it was perfect, and I love it. Really, really good product. Super cool. Do you prefer LED or LCD?
    46:12
    That's the big debate. I don't really have a preference. Yeah, I've tried both. And quite honestly, I think just do LCD because you can always make it look like the dots and you can, you know, you can, there's so many options, but that's just that debate's been raging since they started. Yeah, I actually – I'm indifferent. I kind of like the LCDs, but I also like the LEDs. I had – I have some machines lined up, and my older son pulled like a Zack Many on me and said they're not the same type of machines. He said this, and he doesn't listen to Zack. He's like, they don't look right. You have a modern Stern next to Batman Forever, so – but I'm indifferent. I just love pinball. yeah i'm the same way you know my my whole room is just a hodgepodge of games and you know we were already talking about this like i just yeah i just love playing them so you know if if people come in and say the shit's not lined up what do we tell them well buy your own stuff yep you know this is my stuff and i like it exactly super cool super cool um what else you got was there anything else cool in the news this week i mean i know it's been slow because of covid and you know jjp is you know still setting up and american pinball is you know they're shipping their hot wheels but they won't you know stern's the only one we're going to see anything new from i think this year no yeah i agree you know it's um i liked hot wheels i enjoyed hot wheels um i really want somebody to put a hack together with the speed racer theme music yeah you said that that would be kind of cool do you do you think uh hot wheels would make a good home game you know i don't like to agree with ian or yourself but i would agree with i love that i i would agree with ian um on this one i feel like you know if you don't know pinball and it's your only machine you're gonna like it it's a really fun game i played it for two hours straight and but you know for somebody like ourselves that play a lot of pinball i think it needs to be kind of a compliment to the other games um but i enjoy like i have been considering um selling star trek and getting a hot wheels or my middle son wants a a black knight sword of rage premium you know so we've been kicking those two around and maybe selling a machine but i liked hot wheels i think i agree with ian that you know For a pinball person, it's a very good complement to a collection.
    48:46
    If somebody that just loves Hot Wheels and loves the theme, they're going to like it in their house. Sure, sure. But if you're a big pinball player and you have one or two games, I don't know if it's the game for you, but I don't want to sound like I'm saying anything negative because I absolutely think it's the game. I was just about to spin that for you because, no, I agree with that as well, and I think that's actually a really good review for American Pinball, And this is why, because what you said about, you know, for someone who's, you know, isn't a big pinhead and they're new to it or they just want a game or, you know, you're buying it for your kids, they can capture a large part of that market. Because if you go into a distributor now and you see all the great stuff Stern has, but you see that Hot Wheels, you know, kids might gravitate towards that. Right? Yeah. You know, it's like, yeah, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, maybe the kids like it, maybe they don't. But, you know, most kids play with cars. Most kids know Hot Wheels. Most kids. So I think to capture a lot of the casuals and the newer people in the pinball and someone who just wants a game in there, you know, they might sell quite a few units to people like that. Yeah, I think it's a home run for them. Yeah. No, I agree. And I want to see them keep doing well. We've talked about this several times on our episode. But, you know, as long as they keep improving, they're going to be fine. And, yeah, it was a great effort for him. So I'm excited to see what's next.
    50:13
    Yeah, but, you know, like you said, there's not a whole lot of other news. I caught up on a lot of podcasts, you know, this week, and, you know, there's a lot of interviews and so forth, but not a lot of pinball news. No, no, and it's going to be like that until, you know, either JJP is going to drop their supposed Guns N' Roses or, you know, Stern is going to come out with their next contract game or maybe it is Queen or Led Zeppelin or whatever it may be. But George, I was going to call him George Lopez, George Gomez.
    50:45
    George Gomez alluded in his interview that, you know, they're definitely going to get some, they're pretty much back on schedule. So, you know, the COVID, he says they were off by about three weeks with COVID, which is pretty good if you think about it. Yeah, I listened to the first part of that podcast yesterday, and I listened to his entire review. I have to catch up. Like I said, I'm catching up on like 20 of them. That was a great interview. That interview probably was my favorite of the year, only next to what Loser Kid had.
    51:21
    Who did they have? Dwight Sullivan, I think, a few weeks back, maybe. Yeah, they had Dwight. Somebody had Zombie Yeti on. Yep, the Zombie Eddie one was good. But yeah, the Dwight Sullivan, I believe, on Loser Kid. Forgive me if it's the wrong interview, but it was a really good interview. And then the George Gomez interview. Yeah, I really liked the George Gomez interview. Really well done. But because I have cool friends like Tim Lee, who's possibly setting up, I keep teasing this that we might have a cool interview coming up in a few weeks. So I'm excited about that, but I'm not going to tell you who it is. Only Tim and I know. yeah that way if it doesn't work out I don't feel bad yep yep okay well yeah I think that's it man what do you think about being on the poor man's pinball podcast honestly I really enjoyed it I love you guys I absolutely love the tribe you know it sounds kind of corny and as much as I bother you and Ian I bother those guys as well. Josh Mudd messages kind of make me a little uneasy.
    52:36
    He has an effect on people. Yeah, just kidding, Josh. But just today, I was talking to Brad Hopkins. I mentioned Jonathan.
    52:46
    Billy and I go back and forth, so I greatly appreciate you asking me to be on. I appreciate being number 12 in the tribe. I still don't know what I did to get in. I've never figured out the pillars. Well, we haven't either. We always say we know what the pillars are. We have no idea.
    53:04
    But to your point about the tribe, just a quick story. Same thing today. Brad Hopkins, one of our tribe members, he messaged me today. He says, oh, you got time for a quick call. I said, sure. So he called me and he told me he's just checking in on everyone during COVID. And I was like, oh, that's freaking cool. So we talked for like 30 minutes, and Brad Hopkins and I had a nice conversation. Those Canadians, I love those Canadians.
    53:31
    We have Brad Hopkins. We have Ian Hauer. We have Orbital Albert. David Dennis isn't a tribe member, but he won our TMNT banner last week, and he's a friend of the show. You Canadians, you guys are top notch, so keep that up. Yeah. No, they're pretty awesome, I think, you know, all of it. Oh, but David, I've messaged them and they all respond. And, you know, Ryan and I know they're not Canadians, but close enough. You know, Ryan and David Brennan, I message those guys all the time. And they're like they're the super nicest guys in streaming. Oh, they're great. Yeah, they're like the Batman and Robin of nice guys and streaming. And but I message them all the time, whether they like it or not. They respond and help me out. And, you know, I just I appreciate everybody in the in the tribe. Don't forget Skater Glenn. Oh, Skater Glenn. Yeah, check out our page. We are going to be inducting a few more before the end of the year. We'll probably do a special Twitch one. We have really enjoyed it. We are up to 30 members, and I was glad that you legitimized it today. And it's not just the most of us. Like I said, we do communicate, and it is a cool little club. So, you know, like us on Facebook, communicate with us. You know, we'll put you on the list to possibly be part of the tribe. but it really is something special, and we're glad that it worked out the way it did. It's fantastic, and I could call out another 20 guys, just a great group. Yeah, it is. It is a great group of guys, and we've only wanted to kick out like one or two of them. I'm just kidding. We want to kick all of them out. I'm going to cut you off there, but just for the record, I do believe that you posted that I am your favorite, right? This is official. This is official communication. It's a Poor Man's Pitball Podcast, Episode 67. Tim Lee is my favorite tribe member. I knew it. Ian would hate me right now. He hates when I even joke about it. But Ian's like, oh, we're not doing that. I'm like, why not? It's fun. Whatever. He's not here. Yeah. Ian, you're not here to babysit me today. Wait until you get like 2,000, 3,000 views from me being on the podcast. Oh, it's going to go through the roof. Don't forget to go to silverballswag.com. Buy our stuff. We still need to pay for some more camera equipment. So please buy our stuff. silverbellswag.com email us at poormanspinball at gmail.com like us on Facebook Tim Lee thank you so much for being here with us today I really appreciate it you're welcome and I love you all appreciate it you're welcome and I love you Thank you. Okay, finish the song. Make sure to like and subscribe to these guys. Bye.