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Episode 1: So....Welcome!

Pinball Party Podcast·podcast_episode·36m 50s·analyzed·Sep 2, 2022
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.033

TL;DR

New weekly pinball podcast launches with host origin story and Star Trek Pro review.

Summary

Jason Liebel launches Pinball Party Podcast, a weekly show filling a perceived gap in mid-week pinball media. He introduces himself as an active hobbyist collector in Eau Claire, Wisconsin who rapidly cycles through machines, shares his pinball origin story (starting with Addams Family and Twilight Zone in high school), offers design thoughts on a potential He-Man pinball game, and delivers a detailed review of Stern Star Trek Pro—his first owned machine—rating it an A- overall despite middling rule depth.

Key Claims

  • There is a content gap in pinball podcasts between Monday and Friday that the host aims to fill

    medium confidence · Jason Liebel discussing his podcast's purpose; reflects personal consumption pattern rather than objective industry data

  • Stern's next release is expected within the next couple weeks, with Venom as the leading candidate

    medium confidence · Jason Liebel on episode 1; reflects rumor/speculation circulating in community at time of recording

  • Toy Story 4 is overpriced relative to its gameplay quality, worth Stern Premium tier pricing ($8-9k) not current LE pricing ($12k+)

    high confidence · Jason Liebel's personal opinion based on hands-on play at Tilt arcade

  • Star Trek Pro has three of the best ramps in all of pinball to hit

    medium confidence · Jason Liebel's subjective assessment during Star Trek Pro review segment

  • The warp ramp shot on Star Trek Pro is singularly the most satisfying combo of shots in all pinball

    low confidence · Jason Liebel's personal opinion, explicitly subjective declaration

Notable Quotes

  • “My plan is to do a weekly podcast. And the main reason is to fill this gap that seems to be somewhere between like Monday and Friday.”

    Jason Liebel @ early episode — States core motivation for launching Pinball Party Podcast

  • “I am not a pro player. I'm not in any sort of media, I guess aside from this first fucking podcast... The short answer is absolutely no one.”

    Jason Liebel @ opening segment — Establishes host's positioning as ordinary hobbyist/collector, not industry insider

  • “Venom seems to be the leading and most likely [Stern release], I guess.”

    Jason Liebel @ news segment — Reflects community speculation about unreleased Stern title

  • “I think at the most, [Toy Story 4] it's a Stern premium price point is where it should be. At that price point, you know, eight to nine grand, I'd own it for a few weeks... But at that price, it's just not [worth it].”

    Jason Liebel @ Toy Story discussion — Market sentiment on pricing tiers; suggests games priced above typical Premium may face collector resistance

  • “When you start hitting that [warp ramp] over and over and over and over without missing a beat, it's orgasmic. It is.”

    Jason Liebel @ Star Trek Pro gameplay discussion — Expresses extreme satisfaction with core mechanic; indicates shot design depth

  • “I've owned Star Trek Pro three times and I currently own a Star Trek LE. So for me it holds a strong enough place that I tried it a few times and I was like, you know, this is a game I always kind of want to have.”

    Jason Liebel @ Star Trek overall assessment — Demonstrates Star Trek's staying power for a rapid-cycle collector; indicates LE tier provides meaningful upgrade

  • “Star Trek is a fantastic first [game]. It's a great game for you to love all the kind of current things about pinball aside from maybe the LCD screens of the Spike 2 and the JJP etc.”

    Jason Liebel @ closing analysis — Positions Star Trek as accessible entry point to modern pinball; acknowledges LCD as differentiator vs. other platforms

Entities

Jason LiebelpersonPinball Party PodcastorganizationStern PinballcompanyStar Trek ProgameToy Story 4gameHe-Man / Masters of the UniversegameThis Week In Pinball PodcastorganizationTriple Drain Podcast

Signals

  • ?

    content_signal: Jason Liebel launches Pinball Party Podcast as new weekly show targeting perceived content gap Monday-Friday

    high · Host explicitly announces podcast launch, weekly cadence, and motivation to fill gap in available pinball media

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Stern's next release expected within couple weeks; Venom characterized as leading candidate, with James Bond, He-Man also circulating as possibilities

    medium · Jason Liebel: 'finger on the pulse we're just waiting for Stern's next release, which sounds like it's going to be in the next couple weeks, if not next week... Venom seems to be the leading and most likely, I guess.'

  • $

    market_signal: Toy Story 4 perceived as overpriced at LE tier (~$12k); collector sentiment suggests Premium tier ($8-9k) as optimal price point for rapid-cycle buyers

    medium · Jason Liebel: 'I think at the most, it's a Stern premium price point is where it should be. At that price point, you know, eight to nine grand, I'd own it for a few weeks, give it a test drive'

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Star Trek Pro's warp ramp shot identified as exceptionally satisfying mechanic; host rates it as singularly most satisfying shot combo in modern pinball

    high · Jason Liebel: 'When you start hitting that over and over and over and over without missing a beat, it's orgasmic... I can't think of a more satisfying combo of shots in all of pinball. Period.'

  • ?

    product_launch: Star Trek Pro LE upgrade perceived as meaningful value enhancement; host upgraded from Pro to LE and retained ownership, indicating perceived value differentiation

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.110

0:00
Warning, there will be adult language sprinkled throughout this conversation. 偏 THEY ESECY 2 W topics I
0:15
I N S I N ele Bryant Today we're gonna go over who I am, why this podcast even exists, maybe talk a little bit about some news, give my thoughts on a potential He-Man pinball machine, my, I guess, origin story, as they say, of pinball, and with that, a hopeful reoccurring segment where I review the games I've owned. So let's go! I'm clearly laughing in your face. Gotta get my kicks while taking licks from your rotten soul. So who am I? Well, existentialism aside, in the pinball world, which is what you give a shit about,
1:21
the short answer is absolutely no one. I am not a pro player. I'm not in any sort of media, I guess aside from this first fucking podcast. I'm on pin side like a lot of us. I'm on Craigslist. I buy and sell games because I play them and that's it. What makes me unique in that area? I guess, you know, for me it's how often I buy and sell games. It's not to flip them. I just play a lot. And I play a lot as in I buy a machine, sometimes I only own it for a day and I sell it. Sometimes a week, sometimes two. Long story short, I go through a lot of pinball machines. The reason is out of necessity. Well, let me take that back a second. My name, hello, is Jason Liebel. I'm in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. For those who are unaware geographically of where that is, well, if it's Wisconsin, get a map. But Eau Claire, I'm kind of halfway in between the Twin Cities, Minneapolis, St. Paul, and the Fox Valley or Green Bay, Appleton, Madison, Milwaukee, all the pinball stuff down there. So for me to actually play pinball, I either have to go to a local place, or I have to go to a local I don't know if I'm the only one who has a game that's not the same as mine. I've got a lot of games that are the same as mine, but I don't know if I'm the only one who has a game that's the same as mine. I can't put in a lot of time to play a few games and then drive back. I don't know if I can put in a lot of time to get to the wizard mode, let's say. So, who I am as it matters to this podcast is someone who is a very large hobbyist. So why does this podcast exist? Well, who knows? Let's see if it lasts. But my plan is to do a weekly podcast. And the main reason is to fill this gap that seems to be somewhere between like Monday and Friday. Specifically, I guess I listen a lot to the pinball network and all those great shows, pinball show, triple drain, actually do some music for triple drain if you've heard the intro song or any of that, or them mentioned Neon Dale, that's me. I listen to Final Round, one of my favorites of all time. Fuck those guys, they suck, but please keep making more shows. Poor Man's Pinball Podcast. I've actually met Drew and traded a game with him. Hello, if you're listening.

  • “I don't bolt anything to the floor. I never do. Probably never have. The games I have thought of bolting to the floor, a week later, them shits are gone.”

    Jason Liebel @ host bio section — Reflects rapid-cycle collecting strategy; indicates machines are transient possessions

    • organization
    Final Round Podcastorganization
    Poor Man's Pinball Podcastorganization
    Addams Familygame
    Twilight Zonegame
    Medieval Madnessgame
    Attack from Marsgame
    Waterworldgame
    Lord of the Ringsgame
    Pinsideorganization
    Eau Claire, Wisconsinlocation
    Godzillagame
    Venomgame

    high · Jason Liebel: 'I've owned Star Trek Pro three times and I currently own a Star Trek LE... I actually want to have the best of it. All the LE does is elevate everything about the game.'

  • ?

    design_innovation: Host speculates extensively on He-Man pinball design mechanics, proposing Castle Grayskull bash toy central multiball, villain-based modes, and multiple art package options (80s cartoon, Netflix, live-action film)

    low · Jason Liebel provides detailed design pitch: 'Take the castle, rip them shits out, put in Castle Grayskull... You hit the drawbridge a few times... Adam turns into He-Man, the lights start going everywhere'

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Host prefers simpler, more accessible rule sets (Star Trek) over complex rule stacks (Godzilla); values depth emerging from core mechanic repetition rather than mode variety

    high · Jason Liebel comparing Star Trek and Godzilla: 'Variety to some games are a detriment... Godzilla... paralyzed by choice. Star Trek... you can either go for multiballs, you can go for the modes, or... you can hit that motherfucking warp ramp.'

  • ?

    collector_signal: Host operates as rapid-cycle collector, sometimes owning machines for single days; buys and sells frequently to test new games; high ownership velocity strategy

    high · Jason Liebel: 'I buy a machine, sometimes I only own it for a day and I sell it. Sometimes a week, sometimes two. Long story short, I go through a lot of pinball machines.'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Star Trek Pro demonstrates unusual staying power in host's collection; owned three times and currently retained; indicates strong replay value and satisfaction despite criticisms

    high · Jason Liebel: 'I've owned Star Trek Pro three times and I currently own a Star Trek LE. So for me it holds a strong enough place that I tried it a few times and I was like, you know, this is a game I always kind of want to have'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Star Trek Pro positioned and perceived as ideal entry machine for newcomers transitioning from classic 90s Gottlieb games to modern Stern machines

    medium · Jason Liebel: 'Star Trek is a fantastic first [game]... It's a great game for you to love all the kind of current things about pinball... hey, you liked Twilight Zone, Addams Family, all that shit in the 90s, welcome to new pinball.'

  • ?

    community_signal: Host identifies multiple established pinball podcasts (This Week In Pinball, Triple Drain, Final Round, Poor Man's, etc.) and launches own show to serve existing enthusiast audience

    high · Jason Liebel lists established shows: 'I listen a lot to the Pinball Network and all those great shows, This Week In Pinball Podcast, Triple Drain Podcast... Final Round podcast, one of my favorites of all time... Poor Man's Pinball Podcast.'

    • 3:46
    So yeah, there's this gap between Monday and Friday where I'm walking my dog and I'm wanting to listen to a pinball podcast so I can have a reason to spend money on new shit. Listen about reviews, justify my purchase I'm not confident in it and I don't want to lose money. All that shit that we all do. And when I'm driving around, I listen to plenty of music when I'm doing my own recording in the studio and writing songs and doing my own thing. I tend to listen to talk radio or podcasts and lately it's pinball. So I'm trying to fill that gap. Where's the fucking podcast? I guess, why don't I do it? So yeah, sorry for all this garbage ahead of time. Although I have a lot of audio engineering background and audio background, I've never done a podcast. How hard can it be, right? So, we talked about who I am, which is nobody. Why this podcast is this? Just to fill some fucking time. And let's talk about some news. The news you've all heard before. You have access to the same internet that I do. You listen to the same podcasts that I do. So none of this is going to be news, pun fucking whatever to you. I guess the news of today is really it's just a waiting game. It seems like finger on the pulse we're just waiting for Stern's next release, which sounds like it's going to be in the next couple weeks, if not next week. We've gone through the gamut of Back to the Future, of course, like we do always. James Bond, Venom seems to be the leading and most likely, I guess. and He-Man is another, which I'll talk about in a second. Other than that, the other most recent release is Toy Story, which we all know about and, you know, if you've got a chance to play it or not. I guess on that subject, I'll give my impressions. I've played Toy Story 4. I've played it at Tilt a few times. While I would love to own the game to play it in-house, I think it's way overpriced for what it is. Nothing against the game because I think the game is really fun. I think it shoots great. I think the lights, the audio, the visual, all that, great, great pinball machine. I'd give it an A. At that price, I'd give it a C-. I think at the most, it's a Stern premium price point is where it should be. At that price point, you know, eight to nine grand, I'd own it for a few weeks, give it a test drive, see if it's really worth it long term. But at that price, it's just not because if we buy it at, let's say, MSRP 12 grand, I have nothing to talk about news-wise aside from using it as a mini-segue into what I do And the Masters of the Universe! I am Adam, Prince of Eternia, Defender of the Secrets of Castle Grayskull. This is Cringer, my fearless friend. What are my thoughts on that? My thoughts are, one, yes please. Two, I'm not going to be a fan of the game. I'm going to be a fan of the game. Thoughts are, one, yes please. Two, I think, number one, the multiball and somewhat of the playfield rights itself. And by that I mean, think of medieval madness. Take the castle, rip them shits out, put in Castle Greyskull, play the game. That's it. You bash Castle Grayskull over and over. The drawbridge drops down. You lock a few balls. You know, I don't think it's destroy the castle because that would be more like destroy Snake Mountain. I think if it was like He-Man focus, we'd want to destroy Snake Mountain like Medieval Madness. So maybe the lock shot on the left of Medieval Madness in He-Man would be combined with the main drawbridge. The point is this. You hit the drawbridge a few times. It opens up. Let's say you lock balls in there. Okay. And then when you hit it for the last shot, you know, ball lock three or to start multiball, guess what fucking happens? Fire! That's right. Adam turns into He-Man, the lights start going everywhere, the music kicks in, have a great time, hit some goddamn jackpots. And I became He-Man, the most powerful man in the universe.
    8:31
    Yeah, so while I think the main draw to that game would be the, let's say, call it a bash toy, I guess, that castle in the middle, Castle Greyskull, and I would think after destroying it, or sorry, not destroying it, but getting multiball X times, you'd be save Eternia or something like that. I think the rest of the game could kind of write itself in a sense of the original X-Men or Deadpool type rule set where you have these villains that you're beating. In He you have obviously Skeletor is probably called the wizard mode or mini wizard mode You have Beast which would correlate itself to red GI probably red inserts You could have trap jaw which actually that might be its own toy Maybe have a jaw opening and closes You could use that for another type of multiball, let's say. You could have triclops, his eyeball, merman, maybe green GI, maybe blue if you want to do the water thing. You have countless villains to really work with. Evil Lynn, Purple, sometimes she's good, sometimes she's bad. She's generally bad. But again, you have access to all these colorful characters. You can tie lights in with them by default. They already have a color palette we can work with. So I think the villain modes would kind of write themselves. The multiball would kind of write itself. You could bring in, you know, Man at Arms, Teela, She-Ra as in allies, you know, I guess if we're just stealing Deadpool rules entirely, you know. Anyway, a couple of my thoughts on how that game would kind of go. Art on that game, again, it's already there. Either we use a classic Masters of the Universe slash He-Man art from the 80s, which is fantastic. The and all the other creators of the universe. Which in my book is a solid A, objectively it's a D-, but it's campy as shit and it's great! Evil Lynn looks great. They did the obvious, which is let's replace Orko with Gimli from the Lord of the Rings and give him a circular piano, because of course, why wouldn't you? I'm not sure if I'm gonna make the whole movie based around fucking keys that open up to something the earth where they eat chicken and the girlfriend and boyfriend and her parents die and like who gives a shit whatever but at least He-Man was in it and Skeletor turned gold at the end so that's cool let's use that movie as like another separate art package a la Halloween and Ultraman or make it uber wizard mode maybe the second or third wizard mode everything blows up the The GI goes yellow or gold, Skeletor comes out, I think I sounded Canadian there for a second, but I'm not, Canadian Skeletor comes out gold as shit, big fucking hockey stick, you know, all that kind of stuff. Or do what Godzilla did, make one version on the LCD, I guess it wouldn't be audio, where Godzilla did one English speaking or you could select Japanese on He-Man or Masters of the Universe. Be able to select either animated or live action. And as we all know, the live action He-Man is as realistic as Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight. So I think it would go over very well. Yeah. Okay. So those are my overall thoughts of He-Man. I think the art would be fantastic. The Animation is Phenomenal You can go 80s, you can go Netflix, kind of the same, one's a love letter to the other
    12:39
    Or go balls to the wall and go Dolph Lundgren. That's a day one LE purchase for me Well, I figure before we go to the next segment, which is reviewing the games I've owned and again I've owned a lot, not as many as a lot of you, but I've owned a lot and probably for some a record I don't bolt anything to the floor. I never do. Probably never have. The games I have thought of bolting to the floor, a week later, them shits are gone. But before we go into that, let's talk about, I guess, as they say, the origin story. When did I start learning to play pinball? Let me set the mood for you. A boring ass town. All people give a shit about is high school sports, college sports, jazz music, making tires, small appliances, and a bunch of mom and pop stores. So I did what any child, I should say, of my age, 16, would do. I smoked a lot of pot, I got addicted to cigarettes, and I partied all the time. It was awesome. When we weren't partying or working our shit $5 an hour jobs at pizza places, we would take our lunch breaks or drive after school to... In Eau Claire, the most popular places were Wagner's West and Wagner's 66 and a half lanes. Again, just local bowling alleys. And the reason is, is they didn't give a shit if people under 18 were smoking cigarettes and hanging out. I'm not sure if you're giving them money at the arcade or whatever. They didn't bat an eye. So as someone who's under 18 and needed to smoke cigarettes and hide it from my parents, what better place to do it than in the bowling alley and at the same time play pinball? The games that first started me on my love of pinball, you know, past the point of, oh, just hitting flippers and doing whatever, were Adam's Family and Twilight Zone. Those were the games where I first learned with crowds of people that there were objectives There was nothing for you to go to. There was something called a wizard mode. If you did all these things lit up in the play field, you would get to this extra mode that only the most badass people that sat there smoking a pack a day could get to. You had to learn ball control to be able to do it. Oh, you don't just hit the flippers whenever you want and the ball goes everywhere. No, there's directions. You slow it down. There's drop catching. There's post passing. There's all these little tricks that you learn and what better way to learn than with nicotine and a little bit of THC to keep you focused. So, Adam's Family and Twilight Zone were the two big ones at both the arcades, but while those were being taken up, the kind of auxiliary games during that era for us were Fishtails, Gottlieb's Waterworld surprisingly, which is actually what we played the most at one of them, and Attack from Mars. Attack from Mars needs no explanation, Waterworld was just, hey, we didn't have access to a I'm going to be honest with you, I played pinball a lot and that game was there and it was super easy to get the multiball so let's play the fuck out of it. The only other place we really went to to play pinball was a place called Pizza Del Rey. Fantastic thin crust pizza. They had medieval madness, oftentimes touted as the number one pinball machine of all time. And that, of course, drew us in. Simple rule set, funny, great callouts, all that. Drew us in. So that's the era where I learned to appreciate and love pinball machines more than just put quarters in once and do something. There's objectives, there's a game to it, there's something here, something special. Obviously an avid gamer growing up with the Nintendo Entertainment System and then Sega Genesis and then PlayStation 1 and then, you know, it goes from there. Pinball was just another natural gaming avenue for me to explore. The Fast forward, I guess about 15 years later ish, give or take, I'm not going to do the math, who cares?
    16:46
    I decided at one point, all right, I have enough little extra money. Let me find out what a pinball machine costs. So this is around, I guess, 2015. I decided, well, I want to buy a pinball machine. You know, it seems like the most appropriate thing to do in your mid thirties. You have some I've got some exposable income, it's stupidly expensive, it's heavy as shit, yeah, I'll get one of these. So all I knew in my head was Adam's Family and Twilight Zone, right? But I did play them enough in high school to know like I don't need to just tour the mansion again, I don't want to just get Powerball, I don't need to play those games anymore. I did what you do at this day and age, and I googled it. And of course one of the first things I found was a website called Pinside. And I was actually struck at how professional this website was back then even of, you know, it wasn't just a shoddy forum that didn't really work well and didn't, you know, you'd make a username and sometimes get notifications and very IRC and all that. It was a very well put together website, something, you know, similar to, I thought, even eBay quality, the market, what are the top hundred machines, forums and all that. I immediately made a username, password, I created an account. It was something different back then. I made an account and I just started looking you know what the popular games and I didn really have one in mind per se aside from what I knew and a few stuck out to me You know Lord of the Rings again I mentioned earlier my dream theme already exists and that it A giant Tolkien and Lord of the Rings fan I was like, OK, if that pops up, absolutely, I'm going to buy it. But even back then, I could already sense that all these don't come up for sale as much and they're kind of expensive, at least for back then. Like, OK, well, if it comes up, that'd be great. But whatever, I'll just whatever in this kind of top 20 list pops up. And Star Trek Pro, the Stern was on there. Star Trek Next Generation, Medieval Madness Attack from Mars, and what was on there back then. Well, what happened was a couple weeks later I was just roaming Craigslist, couldn't find anything. I had learned to set up string searches for pinball as soon as I get a notification, or as soon as one pops up for sale I'll get an email. And it was actually the same day Stern Star Trek Pro came up for sale. It sounds like the first game I'm going to talk about is the first game I actually owned, and that is Stern Star Trek Pro. So as I mentioned, I got this Craigslist ad notification, reached out to the guy, full I think it was 4200. Told him I was brand new, didn't know what the hell I was doing. He said, that's all right. Have a vehicle that, you know, he gave me the measurements that'll fit this. And, you know, we set up a time to meet later that day and I went there. A couple hour drive went by. I was super excited. I couldn't wait. I didn't know really what to expect. I get to the house, walk in, see his collection. I was fucking flabbergasted. The guy had like seven machines and I've seen places with way more than that recently since then but back then I was like oh my god I'm thinking I saved up all this money you know I have $4,200 to buy this game he's got seven holy shit and you know I didn't ask his age but he seemed you know maybe five ten years older I'm like all right well I guess I have a lot more money to save to do this but I walk in he had the machine ready on display I was initially just struck and I'll talk about this in a second I was just so excited. I'm like, yeah, it looks good. I don't even know what to test. I don't know what I'm fucking doing. He showed me how to open the coin door. He showed me where the keys usually sit inside there. Showed me how to navigate the menus. Showed me how they bring the head down, put cardboard in between, use this wrap to keep the head down. You know, all this is new to me at the time, which now it's like second nature, but he showed me the tricks of putting the cardboard in the S-shaped box. And I was like, yeah, that's cool. I'm going to try it. All this is new to me at the time, which now it's like second nature, but he showed me the tricks of putting the cardboard in the SUV when you're angling the machine down. He liked to take the front legs off and bounce it in the car and put that in first and then take the back leg, whatever. He showed me how to get it in the car, paid him cash. rules…. I stay your way. Dr. Ken O'Shaughnessyn, The papers 게 쓱 씄 oike 게 쓱 씄 有 ONE COUNGo do CONTIO fisik! D.I.S. There you are Strinch. Try another one of our best scrims Friday 4th official films Hello, this is Jeff Fischer. Thanks for reaching out to my Russian Louie, I'm being a fool cuz it was 법 ojos if you don't believe me ok, alright guys, see you later! episode two, now go to heaven or believe me Initial thoughts back then were holy shit this is fast, the ramps are so easy to hit, every time I hit them it feels great, it's the best multiball animation and light show I've ever seen, and the music is great. But I guess to keep this, I guess these are reviews of games I've owned, let's use the oft used categories. So theme, and I guess let's use numbers out of 10. Why not? I personally am a very big Star Trek fan. I grew up on Star Trek The Next Generation, which led into Deep Space Nine, which led into Voyager and all the movies. My parents were big Trekkies, so I grew up on it. And at that time it was all the Abrams movies where I guess the second one had come out. For me, the theme was okay, great. You know, I would prefer Star Wars slash Tips, ideas, tips for a stick and blade match, great theme,ieneesssss, I think a space theme lends well to the whole, lighting aesthetic, the kind of futuristic things you're doing in there. So yeah, simple as that, nine out of ten, Star Trek, no problems at all. Let's go into gameplay. So for that I'm really lumping in other people's categories of let's say shots and layout and toys and all that kind of stuff. Gameplay. Both from my initial reaction to the end is one of the games that has been consistent the entire time. To this day, the shots are butter, the ramps are two, actually I would say three of the best ramps in all of pinball to hit. They're not super hard to hit. While the right ramp and the warp are a little harder. But a game doesn't need to be hard to be satisfied. I'm not showing off to myself. Oh, because I can hit this tight shot. It means I'm better. I need some self-worth on it. No, they're fantastic. Fantastic. They sound great. They come back to the flipper at such an amazing speed. I should say we're talking about the pro here. But you know, the warp ramp in itself can be a game. So when I think of gameplay, you know, talk about rules in a second. The main thing is let's get through modes and multiball and there you go. For me, the warp ramp itself is its own mode. When I start hitting that bastard two, three times in a row, my heart gets going. It's the most satisfying dopamine rush every single time. Once I hit, let's say, four or five warp shots in a game, I stop giving a shit about the I don't care about the rules, I don't care about going 3 wide, 3 deep, captain's chair, I care about hitting that fucking warp ramp. I want to get to 9, 9.1, I have yet to get to 9.9, I guess, spoiler alert, I've gotten to 9.7, but it's one of my mini goals. Wizard mode, whatever. I think that Warp Ramp itself is a game in its own. When you start hitting that over and over and over, I can't think of a more satisfying combo of shots in all of pinball. Period. I can't. I can think of other like, oh, it's cool to hit the left ramp and then the right orbit or hit spinners a couple times, but I'm beating this horse to death and I'll beat the fuck out of this horse to death for a long time. Getting that warp ramp over and over and over and over without missing a beat, it's orgasmic. It is. So gameplay in itself, as far as the mechanics of feeling it, the shots feel great, multiball is easy to get. Another 9 out of 10. Easy. Nay, 9.5 out of 10. Let's go right, I guess, into rules then. Some people will say that that's where this game falls short. I disagree a little bit, but not fully. I'll give my score on rules at the end, because I think there's two camps here. One, it's the hit the lit shots. Yeah, and repeat. Okay, and you do it all the fucking time. But you can get a little more variety if you're going three deep instead of three wide. The rules become a little more specific of where you want to aim, how you want to get The Away Team So you can argue that there's a little more variety to it, but I don't think that's what makes this game great. The variety to some games are a detriment. And just a spoiler for I don't know how many episodes in the future it'll be when we come to Godzilla, I think that game has too much to do. Sometimes paralyzed by choice. And I've owned it twice. And I've played the fuck out of it. We'll talk about that again in the future. You know, a polar opposite of Godzilla of you can go for jets, you can go for tanks, you can go for modes, you can go for multi... pick your poison. Star Trek is like, well, you can either go for multiballs, you can go for the modes, or if you add in my personal taste, you can hit that motherfucking warp ramp. You can get these mini wizard modes, you can almost call captain's chair a mini wizard mode if your game is going shit. But the multiball it so easy to know what to do And they different multiballs the vengeance I guess I speak of And it really great for newcomers or my wife or anyone else playing hey hit that big ship in the middle And it a very satisfying shot when you hit that ship I consider this part of the rules because the rules are once you hit the vengeance I forget how many times six or seven when you I don even know if it called shields but when you get multiball ready in the vengeance, the lights are telling you exactly what to hit. And when the, when it's ready, you hit it, the lights come down. One of the best call outs in all of pinball. War is coming and who's gonna lead us? You? And then your ball just floats there on a magnet and it's pretty clear, I guess I should hit that? And you don't have to hit it. Multiball will progress regardless, but if you do hit it, you get an extra ball. And for me, I consider these balls kind of missiles or proton torpedoes, if you will, in the game that you're hitting the vengeance with. So you just get access to more weapons. I think that alone is a fantastic tiny little piece of rule, piece of code, if you will. So while the modes themselves, I would say are a six out of 10, they're fine, they're passable. I think the extra modes within there, which I consider the warp ramp a mode unto itself. You have the Klingon multiballs, you have the vengeance multiballs, you have the captain's chair super spinners, super pops, super ramps, you have the way mode. I think as a package of rules, it's easily an 8 out of 10. So I'll use this next category as a twofer. I'm going to call it visuals. So art and lighting in one. I think the overall art, you know, ink to wood, ink to vinyl, whatever you want to call it, passable. Seven out of 10. I'm not showing people, look at how great this, these triangles look. I'm not saying look at this blue background with some colors and white lines like I may, let's say, on Turtles Art or Metallica, Fantastic Art. It kind of looks like, you know, industrial ship, how it would look maybe, you know, being an engineer on the Enterprise, let's say, just kind of like buttons and where you got to tap. It fits. But the lighting, on the other hand, this was the first time in pinball where I thought Independent verder,
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    I'm like, whoa, what is that? You hit the vengeance, everything starts pulsing, hit the ball, hit the ball. I'm like, oh my God, like they're actually setting mood in this game.
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    But to me, the creme de la creme, and I think of all pinball, I mean, if I can correct myself while I'm saying this out loud, I will, but I think Star Trek has the best extra ball lighting and moment of any pinball. as soon as you hit it all the flashes start going and the extra ball spins around and I mean the voice line aside I just think the whole encapsulation of all these lights going on it's after a 3 satisfying hit of the warp ramp or if yours is on auto it might be higher but not only do you get the satisfaction of hitting the warp ramp for a third time, you get an extra ball lit, the extra ball is a very easy shot, you hit the extra ball, the lights light up, you get the extra Let's go crazy! Oh, it feels great. So I would say, you know, while the art, ink, 6 out of 10, the lighting is a 10 out of 10. On the pro, maybe it's a 9.5 out of 10. But let's say as a game as a whole, regardless of trim, it's a 10 out of 10. So it evens out to an 8 out of 10 for visuals. I guess I'll use sound and I don't think, you know, this one, I guess I would just, 7 out of 10. The original theme is fantastic. I've had both the normal code with the normal music and I've had the movie code version. I actually prefer the original now because I've played so much of the movie code, the edited version, that I like the original sound. And the sound effects, Spinner, fantastic. Warpshot, fantastic. Teal is to me my favorite. His sounds in Iron Man I think are just second to none. But they do great in Star Trek. Star Trek Callouts, some are dogshit, some are fantastic, in fact one of my favorites which we played earlier is in there. And so I would say, yeah, I'd say 7 out of 10 for sound. There's some 10s in there, but there's a couple 4s. So overall, let's take those numbers aside. What's my personal, hey, what do you think of Star Trek? It's an A-. I think it's, as many have touted, including myself, it is a great first pin for anyone. And a little spoiler for, hey, the games I've bought and sold and which games have I got back. I've owned Star Trek Pro three times and I currently own a Star Trek LE. So for me it holds a strong enough place that I tried it a few times and I was like, you know, this is a game I always kind of want to have, but I actually want to have the best of it. All the LE does is elevate everything about the game. The visuals go up because of the warp ramp lights, the RGB and all the inserts. Well in LE, I mean you name it, that's an 11 out of 10 for visuals. The sound, I guess there's not a lot of change there. The gameplay, just a few extras. You know, there's the Vuk, there's the up kick, the ramps are metal, just a couple tweaks. Game doesn't change, gameplay I'd say improves with like the small shit, I don't know, the warp ramp chasing lights? Ah fuck, so good, it's so good! When you hit that warp ramp and those lights, oh my god, it's right behind me, and when I'm done here, I'm gonna play it. I'm just gonna play it again, I had a great game yesterday morning, it was like 210 million, something like that. Got that warp ramp up to 9.4, oh so goddamn close. Anyway, LE is a different matter. Star Trek Pro overall A-. It's a great first time game. It's a great game for you to love all the kind of current things about pinball aside from maybe the LCD screens of the Spike 2 and the J.J.P. etc. But it's a great, hey, you liked Twilight Zone, Adam's Family, all that shit in the 90s, welcome to new pinball. Star Trek is a fantastic first. So, the theme of nine, gameplay 9.5, rules 8, visuals 8, sound 7, what do we got? Percentage wise we have 83, so I guess numerically we're like low B, but my personal opinion, it's about an A- overall package. So I guess numbers don't always report the facts, is I guess the lesson here. Anyway, thanks for joining. We talked about who I was in the pinball world, who I am I should say, which is really nobody but an active hobbyist who likes to give back when he can. I made this podcast to fill a void and I guess got nothing else to do. Talked a little bit about the news, we talked about my kind of what He-Man pinball in my opinion could somewhat be, and we started a segment of reviewing the games I've owned and we started with Stern's Star Trek Pro. Next week we will talk more news. We will talk about another possible, well, maybe the game will already be announced, but I have another couple ideas for a rumored game title. And we will continue talking about my pinball history and reviewing the next game I bought after Star Trek.
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    All right. That's a wrap for the first episode. Thanks for sticking through it. If you did, email me pinballpartypodcasts at gmail.com. We'll see you later.
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