When me and Heart Attack Boyak get into the ring, we're gonna rip off his mask and we're gonna show the world who he really is. This is going to be the coolest thing we have ever seen. Yeah. Coming to you from beautiful upstate New York, this is the Slam Tilt Podcast, a show about all things pinball. I'm your host, Ron Hallett, here with my co-host, Bruce Nightingale. No more sausage fest. No more sausage fest. No more sausage fest. That's true. That's true. This is episode 102, Guardians of the Galaxy. Kick-ass movie. Kick-ass movie. And you've actually seen this one? I've actually seen this one. It was good. I wouldn't say it was great. It was good. It's a good movie. God. God, fail. I'm sorry. And it's got a game named after it, too. It does. Go figure, huh? But we're not alone this week. No, we are not. Who do we have, Mr. Ron? We have the Women's International Pinball Champion, Nicole Bernier. Welcome to the podcast. Hi, Ron. Hi, Bruce. Hello, dear. How's it going? Congratulations. Thank you so much. How was it taking on 63 other women in a slugfest of a pinball tournament? It was really quite amazing. I was working on very little sleep, so I was just kind of floating through the day. You were actually helping out with the TTI, of course. Yes. So you were a very big part of the TTI, I will say, and you helped the committee out. Now, I have a couple of questions before we get into Whipped. Have you seen this committee? The committee is a very private group of people. I have never seen them. Wow. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Okay. We love the committee. We love the committee. The committee, they have to make some tough calls. You know, they don't want to have to do what they do, but sometimes, you know, it just, you got to do what it takes. Wow. It sounds like she's following the line to the T of the committee. Yes. Yeah. That's what it sounds like. It does sound like that. I've been trained well. Maybe she's one of the committee. You never know. She could be the head of the committee. She could be. Chuck is her puppet. Yes. That's what I think it is. Chuck might be. Yep. I think we've got to figure it out. So what did you have against us this whole time? Love it. So, whipped. Now, the one thing we never got to see is the fact that there were a lot of rounds we didn't get to see on the broadcast. 64 players, that's like how many rounds? That's like four plus the finals? There's a lot of women you had to beat to get to the finals. Yeah, we had four rounds first. And I was just kind of breezing through them, and I don't know exactly why. I wasn't nervous, and I think maybe that played a part in it. I was playing to come in 30th, so that was my goal for the day. and it just went really smooth and everything fell my way, which was fun. Do you remember that much about those four rounds or is it just kind of just a blur? I remember everything. Oh, okay. So you're the opposite of me. I wouldn't remember a thing, as I've been told many, many times. So why don't you go over with us because we love tournament pinball here at the Slamto Podcast. Well, round one, I was with Kate Porter, and her name was the only one that I had known. I had never met her before, but I knew who she was. And she swept our group. She took first on every game, and I took second on every game. Nice. So you moved on past the first round. Do you remember any games? We played Bounty Hunter, Solar Fire, and ACDC. We had three game banks. And the scoring was 3-2-1-0? 3-2-1-0. Okay, just so everyone knows how it all worked out. So what did you think of Bounty Hunter? I would like to play that again. Okay. Yeah, that was a game that I'd never seen before, and I would definitely like to play it again. It had some interesting goals that you had to achieve to get your bounty hunter score and collect the bullets and all that. And it's definitely a game I'd like to play again. So then we go to round two. Round two, I had Jillian Hawley and Elizabeth, I can't remember her last name, and Megan Brown. And we played Poker Plus, Grand Lizard, and Frontier. and I came in third, second, and first, respectively. I had a pretty massive ball three comeback on Frontier, and, you know, the crickets and that soothing sound, it's just such a fabulous game. You hear that, Bruce? Yeah, she actually can play Frontier. Someone knows how to play Frontier. I know how to play it. I didn't get a flip on two balls. That was my problem. I didn't either, but I had a great ball three. Yeah, I had squat on ball three, so, yeah, screwed. Right. And tattooed. So I had two sixes at this point. You know, pretty average. But moving through the rounds, that's the good thing. Right. And then round three, I had Louise Miette, who's only, she's young, maybe 12 years old, and Valerie Testa. And we played Iron Maiden and Freak Out and Dr. Dude. Yeah, freaking Freak Out. He loves Freak Out. I got first on Freak Out. It was my third time playing it that weekend in competition. I'd played it twice during Pinberg rounds. I'm so sorry. I was all warmed up. I'm so sorry. And I took second on Iron Maiden, and I put up the number four high score on Dr. Dude. Nice. One ball. I played my first ball, and the other two balls were houses, and that first ball was just good enough to get me fourth place. Sounds like I had that same problem with you. Right. The second and third ball were house balls for me. Yeah, so that was fun. So I had my initials up on the board at Pimberg, so that was good. Nice. Yes, and then our fourth round. So I had an eight that round, and then I had a seven in the fourth round. I had Shauna Teal and Gretchen Kampke, who went on to finals with me, and Miriam, I think it's an eightier, and we had Space Shuttle, Walking Dead, and Volley. and I would like to own a Volley. I really liked that game. Volley's fun. Volley is very, it's a lot of fun. I enjoyed it a lot. So I took first on Space Shuttle, first on Volley, and third on Walking Dead, and Walking Dead was the only game that I'm good at. So that was, I don't know how that happened. It just does. Nice. You know, you walk up with confidence and, oh, no. Train wreck. Yes. So at this point, you know you're in the finals. So what are you thinking at this point? At that point, I did not know I was in the finals. Oh, sorry. I was just playing to have fun. I wasn't keeping track of my score. I wasn't keeping track of my progress. I started in group 16, and then I moved up to group 5, and then group 3 and group 1. And I didn't even realize that that meant how good you were doing. I wasn't even – like I said, I had four hours of sleep. I stayed up until 2 a.m. with Trash Talkers and up in the morning and we were walking away and I'm thinking, okay, I'm done with Whip now. I can go get some dinner. And I was walking away with Chuck Webster and Matt Gay and I'm like, where are we going to go eat? And Chuck's like, well, you need to play finals. And I was like, what do you mean? He's like, you're in the final four. And he got promptly hit on the arm and I'm like, get out. he's like, Nicole, you were in the top group. Nice. In the top group. And so then Matt, actually, I think all three of us had a shot of fireball at that point. Well needed. Nice. Well needed. A well needed shot of fireball, yes. That was my first one of the day. Usually I have one between every round. But the whipped rounds were going so fast, there was just no time for anything. Cool. So you are now on the stage. We are now on the stage. Playing, let me see if I can remember, because I did my research. Good. That's good. We had Total Nuclear Annihilation. We had Super Straight. And we had Taxi. So when you're looking at those games, what – now, did someone get to pick those games? They were picked for us. Oh, okay. I was just curious because they – all right. So they basically said this is what you're playing because they had all the games still up there. They did. I think they picked those because they were in the center of the stage. Okay. So what were you thinking of that selection? When I looked at the lineup, I said, oh, gosh, please not TNA. I love the game. I just haven't played it very much, maybe ten times since it came out, so I haven't played it very much. I know the basic premise, but I didn't know what it meant to blow up your reactor. I didn't know what any of that meant. I just knew I wanted to do it. So I said, please not TNA, and then they announced the games, and sure enough, it's TNA. So I just made the best of it. I should say so. I just kept telling myself, complete the grid, get the scoop, get it up top. And while you're doing that, get multiball, don't leave any balls, and get the grid and get the scoop and get back up top. And I guess I did that a few times. So in the finals, we had you. Yes. And who were our other contestants? Gretchen Kempke and I were tied for top seed but she had more wins than I did so she got top seed we had 27 points and then Shauna Teal had 25 points Priyanka Kochar she was tied with 24 points with two other players whose names I forget right now Robin and No, it's gone. And so she won a tiebreaker to make finals with her 24. And Priyanka was definitely the favorite to win, rightfully so. I mean, she's got some mad skills. And we all, we shared a shot of bourbon before we started playing. And, yeah, we shook off our nerves and off we went. and had a terrible ball one, all of us except Priyanka. So did you feel any added pressure with the – because there was a crowd and there was cameras. There was a crowd. I didn't really notice. I didn't look. I purposely didn't look at all the people very often because that would have been a little bit nerve-wracking knowing they're watching the four of us. They're not watching anything else. They're watching the four of us. But thankfully, they had those big screens on either side of the stage. So most of the people were looking at the screens, not at the players. So that made it a little more easy because you weren't being stared at. The screens were being stared at. So let's go through the TNA. So you all have bad balls except for Priyanka. And then I think Shauna and I learned how to play for ball two. and we were pretty close Priyanka and Shawna and myself were pretty close after ball two and Gretchen had some tough breaks she saved a couple of balls and it still just wasn't her moment for TNA and then Priyanka put up a great ball three she was no, Gretchen was first because she was the top seed so Gretchen played her first ball and And which way did that go? Now I can't remember. I knew I was player three because I had three fingers held in my hand so I would play third. So you would play out of order. Right. So it must have been Priyanka was first and then Shauna and then myself and then Gretchen. And so Priyanka put up a pretty massive ball three. And Shauna followed and did a little bit better. I think Priyanka had just over 500,000, and then Shauna put up just over 700,000, and then I got up and put up over a million. So that's how that one ended. So are you still a fan of the game, or are you a fan of the game? I still like the game. I now understand it better from watching the video because I don't know, but I've watched my own video like six times now, maybe seven. I like watching it. I like seeing what did we all do that gave us so many points, and what did we do that didn't give us so many points. So, yeah, I've learned a lot more about the game just by watching the four of us play that. Cool. So then we move on to Super Straight. Super Straight. I think it is not a very common game, although our own Zach, hi, Zach, actually owns a Super Straight. I don't know much about Super Straight. What do you know about Super Straight, Bruce? Spinner in the middle. Get the targets around the outer edge to spell the letters for the cards. Two side targets are aces. That will get you double bonus. The upper right collect hole is really a kick out that kicks back up to the top side to go for every switch hit. It will change the kicker hole up top to give you points or a different thing. Spell the letter. Well, spell the letters. That's a good Bruce Sisson right there. Spell the letters. It's the get the letters for the deck of cards. So ace, king, queen. So, Nicole, what are you thinking at this point? Like, do I know this game? Do I not know this game? Chuck Webster owned one. Ah. Ah. Yes. I mean, he had it for a very short time. And, but, you know, I played it a handful of times. And I love EMs. I love the fact that you can walk up to an EM, read the card, and learn how to get all the specials, which is fantastic in a tournament, and then just look at the board and say, okay, what do I really want to do? And you can really figure it out pretty quickly. Like the two jacks lit pop bumpers, I think, and two tens lit the other pop bumper. It was something like that up in the targets on the side. And the two aces lit the in lane for the double bonus. So then not only did you have to light the target, you had to also get the correct in lane, which toggled back and forth with every switch hit. So I kind of knew how to play that. I knew the kick on the left, I mean on the right, was really good to collect bonus. And you could do that as many times as you want. And I knew to stay away from the spinner. because there's a pop bumper right on the other side of it that's going to push it right back at you. Very nice. So we start off on Super Straight. It's a five-ball game. So what was the order of play on Super Straight? On Super Straight, I was player one. That was my prize for winning TNA. I got to play first on Super Straight. And Shauna was second, and Priyanka was third, and Gretchen was fourth. had an okay ball one. It was, I don't know, 50,000. It was a very short ball, getting the feel of the game. I know it's five balls, so whatever, ball one. Priyanka put up a pretty good ball one. She had the lead still after ball two of all of us. And then Gretchen tilted her ball two. I didn't notice, and I plunged my ball three, made an amazing save out of the out lane, and oh, the flippers don't work. I tilted. I just – I did not wait at all. I know my friends were screaming at me to wait. I did not wait. Partly nerves, partly I just – I didn't notice that she even tilted. You know, on these old games, there's no buzzers. There's no bells that tell you that you tilted. It just doesn't work anymore. and I was not looking at the game at the moment that it happened. So there I go, tilt ball three. Priyanka was still in the lead after ball three and then ball four things got interesting with all of us. Shauna put up a great ball. Gretchen put up a great ball. I put up a great ball. I believe Priyanka was still in the lead, but we were close. We were all within striking range. You know, going into ball five, we were, you know, it was anyone's game. Yes, and this was all being covered by the Papa Crew. It was live on Papa TV pinball on YouTube, YouTube stream. Yes. And this is when it got, at least for the home viewer, it got kind of weird. Well, I'll let you get into it, but I was watching it, and it was very confusing at the end because of a slight equipment malfunction, I would say, a very important piece of equipment, i.e. the score. Exactly. So we go into ball five. I'm the first player, and I plunge the ball. I hit the flipper. I lost my shoe, and I'm sitting there fishing and trying to put my shoe back on, and then, of course, I tell myself, Nicole, what are you doing? And I kicked my shoe aside and played with one shoe on, one shoe off, And I finished that ball and I ended up with $557,000. And that was a pretty decent ball. I think it was about a $200,000 plus ball. And then Shauna got up to play and she had a decent ball but fell short of a comeback. And then Priyanka got up to play and Shauna and I at this point left and went to the ladies room. we just could not wait any longer we bolted and went to the ladies room and so priyanka got up to play and i didn't see this live i actually saw it on the on the video later and she came dangerously close she had 527 000 at the end uh so you know watching her bonus count was was nail-biting for those who either wanted her to win or wanted me to win i mean whichever way It went. It's still nail-biting watching the bonus go. And then Gretchen got up to play, and she had the least amount of score at this point. And her ball just went on forever. She was hitting everything she was supposed to be hitting. She was getting into the kickout. She was getting down the lit lanes. She lit double bonus. Her bonus was maxed. She was doing everything right. She was making some remarkable saves. And then the camera goes out. Nobody in the audience could see the camera. Shauna and I are still in the bathroom. And they're screaming out for the score. They need to know the score. And then it flicked back on for a moment before she drained. And, you know, people were quickly trying to count bonus and see where she was at. And then it went out again. So it's all done. and Shauna and I returned just as she drained. She had already drained when we walked up. So I looked over at the game and I saw that she came close. She was over 500, but not 557. And so I said, oh, I won that one too. And just standing there waiting while they're setting up the cameras for taxi and Chuck Webster walked up to the edge of the stage and touched my foot and he says, you won. and I said I know and I pointed to the game and he's like no you won everything you won a pinball machine and I said no we have one more game to play and he's like no Nicole mathematically they can't catch you you just won and I lost it I started crying we were all hugging we all realized it and the announcers Elizabeth and Jessica and Crystal they didn't know at this point they thought we were hugging as a congratulations, great time, let's all do great on this next game and see who wins. Yeah, and it wasn't until I think it actually, they updated it on the, because they had running totals, and then you saw the 6-2-2-2, and you're like, oh, okay, that's why they were cheering. It's actually over. Right. Yeah, because I hadn't been keeping track of who had come in second, third and fourth on both games so i didn't realize they were all tied at two i just knew that i had won them both that's all i cared about and uh so i didn't realize they were all tied at two i i thought that we were it was going to come down to taxi and i was very nervous about that because that is not my era of game i i don tend to do well on those my uh great ball one on Dr Dude was a fluke It yeah that time is just not my thing So, you know, I went up and I immediately drained ball one. Oops. My knees were knocking. My hands were shaking. And I just won. Freaking Keith Elwin signed Iron Maiden. Crazy. And, you know, all I could do was laugh. so I will offer you $50 for this beautiful machine and I'll even pick it up wow Bruce $50 that is quite an offer I know calm down it's a long drive though Bruce I can do the drive I'll even pick it up in Chicago for you so you don't have to pay for that extra shipping I don't have to pay for the shipping shipping was included woohoo So at this point, it's almost like victory laps, kind of. It really was. But, you know, I wanted to get that darn lock shot, and I couldn't hit it. I kept hitting Dracula, and it would go around the loop, and I'd try for the lock shot again and brick it and try again. It would go in Dracula, around the loop, because I'm an on-the-fly player. I don't trap and aim and connect with my shots. I try to do that sometimes, and I fail miserably every time. I like to watch the ball as it comes and play it as it lies and, you know, look at the board and see, okay, this is the way the ball is coming down. And if I hit it, it's going to go that way. What shot do I want to try to hit? Oh, this one. And so that's the way I've always played. And it worked out well for me this time. I should say so. So I think you ended up, I think, third the last game? I did end up third on the last game. So you got a point. I did. So you ended with seven, and you are the inaugural Women's International Pinball Champion. Absolutely. And better yet, the thing I would most want, the thing I will never, me and Bruce will never experience, the banner. The name in the rafters forever. It's kind of awesome. It is cool. It is quite awesome. So you're going to be getting your Iron Maiden. Do you have any games currently? I am currently babysitting a paragon. That's a good game to babysit. It is a good game to babysit. I've babysat quite a few games. You know, do we want to sell them? Do I not want to sell them? You know, Chuck Webster has way too many games for his basement and sends them my way on occasion. Which is very nice. It is. So you have room, I'm assuming, for this. is not like a like i have no room it's going to be in a box is it going to get set up it will be set up right next to paragon and right next to super straight oh super straight super straight is coming to my house nice cool yes so that'll be they're like this is the game i won it all on yes this is the game that i won this game with there you go i like that yeah so they will be side by side. So all three of them lined up. So how did you get into the hobby? Tell us a little bit about yourself, madame. About five years ago, a fella named Matt Gay was total creepy Facebook stalking me. I was friends with Chuck Webster. He's friends with Chuck Webster. I make smart ass comments. It's just, you know, it's what I do. and he liked the comments so he messaged me one day and about I don't even remember what the comment I made was on one of Chuck's posts and we started talking and he says you should join the league and I said I've never played pinball he's like so what just join the league you know you live in the same town as J.R. Roeder who has I don't know 40 50 games in his house And, you know, he hosts Pin Mania every year, and I said, I've never played. So he hounded me for about a year to join, and finally I surrendered. And I walked into League at JR's house not knowing a single person and lost every game. Where? It wasn't that strange. So, yeah, the first game I picked to play was Bally Playboy, which now is one of my absolute best games. But at that moment, no, I did not do well at all. The first game I ever got a replay on was Avatar. So I thought, oh, Avatar is an easy game. No, it's not. It was just beginner's luck. So I went back the next week, and next thing you know, and I kept telling Matt I wasn't going to join because I know me, and I know if I love it, I'm going to be traveling, and I'm going to want machines, and I'm going to just play in everything possible, and lo and behold, that's exactly what happened. I know me. Wise decision. I mean, gosh, I've gone all the way to New York. Yes, you have. I have. I went to Stomp last year. Yes, you did. And killed Getaway. I remember it was one of the first games we had on the screen. It was the very first time I played. I had never played Getaway before. And I have never played it that well again. Hey, as long as it's on film, you could just say that's how I usually play Getaway. And I've watched it many times. Oh. I mean, I was playing Ed Zeltman and C.J. Smith. I mean, these aren't slouch players. and I blew that game up. It was crazy. I got the super duper whatever jackpot, 100,000 and I knew I did it. That was what shocked me the most is I knew I had done it. You can see after my last ball, I went over to Chuck and I said, did I really get the super jackpot? He's like, you did. I'm like, that was 100,000 or 100 million. How much is that one? It's 100 million. 100 million. Yeah, that was my first time ever playing Getaway. It's funny you mention all those games at JR. It's like, yeah, I've played all those. It's like, yeah, I know the Playboy you're talking about. I sure know the Avatar you're talking about. That's for sure, yeah. I like Avatar. I'm sick like that. So what are some of your favorite games? What kind of eras do you like? You said before you like EMs. I love the EMs. My favorite modern game, well, now it's Iron Maiden. But before that, it was KISS. I absolutely love Kiss. All the shots on that game are just, they're smooth for me and easily combined with other shots. And it's easy for an on-the-fly player to play Kiss. I really enjoy that game. Bruce, Nicole is obviously the best guest you've ever had on your program. She understands the awesomeness of Kiss. Of course. Kiss. So this is the new kiss. The new kiss. I love the belly kiss as well. Does J.R. have a belly kiss? No. No, he doesn't. That's like the one thing that's missing. It's like, where's the kiss at? Right. He does have Super Sonic, which is another favorite of mine. I pick that almost every week in League. Nice. And Jungle Queen. Kill the Monkeys. Kill the Monkeys. I love that game. Embryon, another game that I love. At JR's, his modern games are upstairs and his older games are downstairs, and I tend to stay downstairs more often. I like Atlantis, which is odd because that's the era that I don't like, but Atlantis is just slightly different than all the rest. The shots are more in my wheelhouse. No Good Gophers, love that game. um fish tales another one in that era that i don't like that is it's the uh the exception to my rule i usually like no good gophers although during the pin golf i was not liking no good gophers or johnny mnemonic how did you do the pin golf before pin mania i left after three holes because there was that backup on no good gophers and i said now i'm not waiting until 11 o'clock to start my fourth hole. I live only four miles away from J.R.'s house. I could have probably come home, taken a nap, and gone back and finished my holes. So yes, you are far smarter than I. So we left. We bailed. And I don't do well at golf. I am a third ball player almost every game. I mean, my first two balls, I'm seeing how everything feels and where all the shots are and trying to build some progress. And then ball three, I come back. And it's more often than not, that's where I'm going to win. So where did you get the nickname? I hear people keep referring to you as the grammar Nazi. What's that all about? Oh, it drives me nuts. and sometimes I cannot help myself and I have to tell people when they have said something or written something incorrectly. Oh, my God. I can't. You know, I sit on my hands and I bite my tongue and sometimes it's just not enough and I have to tell them. You want a job on our show? You can keep correcting Bruce because he messes up a lot. Actually, I don't know. What would we even classify? I mean, what Bruce does isn't even classifiable. It's a Bruce-ism. It may not even be grammatically incorrect. It's just... It's just Bruce. It's just Bruce, yeah. I mean, spell the letter. Technically, it's grammatically Bruce. How could you correct Bruce? That is the question. I don't think it's even possible. See? I agree. I don't know if you'd hear it. So, congratulations again. Thank you. I'm sure you're going to love it. So, you like Iron Maiden to begin with. I do. I've only played it – well, Chuck Webster owns one, and I had never played his until this past Friday night. Everybody else has always queued up four players on it, and I just go play something else. So I had never played his. I did play the one – there's one at Joe's Playland at Hampton Beach, and I played that one maybe five times, and then I played in my third round in Whipped. And that's all I'd ever played it, but I really enjoy it. Cool. I like it a lot better than Aerosmith. Oh, okay. I'm not a big fan of Aerosmith. Not liking the toy box? No. The elevator, the toy box? Yeah, no. I'm not loving that one. So we have someone who likes Kiss more than Aerosmith. Oh, yes. Ah, interesting. Many people say that's basically almost the same game. Oh, goodness, no. They're so different. And the shots are kind of in the same place, but it's not a fun-flowing game for me at all. You just made Gene Simmons' number one list. Yep. There you go. So I'm trying to think. So when you won the Iron Maiden, did, like, Raymond Davidson come up to you and said he'd trade you as WWE, one of them, for it? No. That's what I'm thinking. It's like, man, they really wanted to put Best Foot Forward with the women's tournament. They're giving them an Iron Maiden instead of the usual new in-box game, which is your WWE that they have an endless supply of. Because it's a terrible game. I had fun with it, which I guess is the whole point of a game is to be fun. I don't know if I'd want to own one. No. But I'd play it if I saw it. I'd rather play WWE, WWF Royal Rumble. I have more fun than playing WWE WrestleMania. I would agree. So will you be coming to Stop 2? I do not know yet. I have to check my calendar. It's getting booked pretty quickly. Oh, well, don't forget, Ron, now that our small peon tournaments we have now are not up to the scale of the whip champion. Yeah, we may not be. We're not big enough anymore. We're not classy enough. We're not going to have hundreds of people watching the stream. We're not going to have a state-of-the-art video feed. It's a big travel commitment to make it to New York. It's about seven hours. Yeah. Honestly, I did not realize. I thought you were from Massachusetts. No, I'm just there all the time. Yeah, because I saw you at Stomp, and you were at the Sanctum. I was at Rock Fantasy once. Rock Fantasy. So I'm like, oh, she's got to be from Massachusetts. And then when I saw, I think when you were playing, it had from Maine. It's like, Maine? Man, that's a long drive. The spirit of Massachusetts is the spirit of America. Or not. Or not. Cool. Nice. Nice. Oh, man. I usually drive when we're going a distance, like to Connecticut or New York. I'll usually drive to Massachusetts, meet people there, and let them drive the rest of the way. and then they drive me back to Massachusetts and I drive my hour and a half back home. So it's not so terrible. How did you like the 24-hour tournament at the Sanctum? I have done it three times now and I have loved it every time. Wow, nice. It's definitely endurance. About 2 o'clock in the morning, you're a little punch drunk and you don't know even which direction the games are in. And then you get the second wind about 4 o'clock in the morning, and you're good to go. See, Bruce, it's that easy. It is that easy. I've done it. Oh, you've done it? I did it before you did. Oh, I'm sorry. Did you get in for next year's? I did. We are all in. No, we're not all in it. No, no, except for you there, Chief. Yeah. Well, I'm figuring, Bruce, you'll probably, like, say the bar is busy and I have to drop out. So I'm figuring I'm at least at 19th now on the waiting list. Yeah, okay. I'm going to make sure I have enough employees because guess what? I had to get rid of another one this week. Last year, I do believe it got to 22 on the waiting list. Actually, it went further. I got asked, but the bar was just starting out and getting ready. You were like 30-something. I was 30. Oh, nice. It does go down that far. There's hope, but I'm not banking on it, honestly, because I looked at the list of who's in there, and most of them were in there last year, so I don't think they're dropping out. And the list did not have quite as many from away people. Like the California people and all that. Correct, yeah. That's what I was looking at. That's why I'm cursing my phone I'm looking at right here that overheated on me. Luckily, now you're a droid guy. Yes, yes. I'm looking at my old iPhone, staring at it right here. Gowling at it while you're... Actually, I'm thinking I may get a call at any moment from work, because there is something going on at work, unfortunately. Excellent. Yeah, not excellent. But we shall continue. So what does the tournament circuit look like for Nicole this upcoming months? This Saturday, I will be playing at Flip Fast or Drain in Manchester, New Hampshire, at Dave and Steve's house. And after that, I don't know yet. 24 hours, my next big thing. No, no. Stop is your next big thing. Stop 2, Electric Boogaloo on August 25th. You know, I might make an appearance, but gosh, it's so far away. Will we have to bow for the royalty? Absolutely. We went to bow. I went to Arcadia National Bar the other night. That was Wednesday night. and I had been out with some girlfriends down in the old port in Portland and I was driving home and I said, oh, I'll stop in Acadia. So I did and they wanted to roll out the red carpet and Dave came over, Dave Aceto, and made a big fuss and commotion and so I had to pull out my medallion and show off my hardware. Played a few games and then went home. Nice. I don't have any hardware. Yes, you do. You have a plaque. Yeah, but I don't have a banner. Ron is the inaugural C champion for the first Pinberg. I was the first Pinberg winner. No one can take that away from me because C division finished before anyone else. So I was the first, damn it. At least I could say that. You beat Keith Ellman at something. And so did you. And then we got slaughtered. No, no, no, no. You beat Keith Ellman before he got to win it. He wasn't. B Division was actually the last to finish that year. But you were still before Keith Elwin. That's true. That's true. And he came up to shake my hand afterwards. I wonder if he's just like, that's that guy I play with in the first round. He won something? Oh, congrats, dude. All right. So, Nicole, want to help us with our segments? Absolutely. Excellent. Because we don't have guests. We have third hosts. Yes. Guess what? Next year, we have another ringer possibility now. Yes. Of the women's champs. Yes. See? It's going to be such a big target on my back. Because Steven Bowden, he'll be deep rooting, so he might not be eligible. He's deep rooting and he might not come up. Who knows? He might be busy ambassadoring. Ambassadoring. Yes. So, Bruce, did you know that Stern confirmed Deadpool pinball? Yes. Who saw the trailer? I did. Did you see the trailer, Nicole? I did not. All you see is this weird toy bouncing. And in the back shadow, the background is a fuzzy picture of a pinball machine. Just like looking at it straight on. And it was... Hopefully that's not the toy. It's like a bobblehead doll. Actually, there's a term for it, which I forget already. But it's like a bobblehead. And they just show it. And they have some guy with a... Yeah, they got springs. And they got some guy with a deep voice saying, I'm Deadpool, baby, you know, whatever. It's very weird. I've never even seen Deadpool. So, you know, I saw the trailer go by on my Facebook feed, and I just kept scrolling. It didn't look very interesting to me. Wow. I guess that's bad on Stern's marketing. It must be. The other thing is at the very end of the trailer, the guy says, like, boom. So all the New York City guys are just, like, super excited. because he said boom. You see the newest trailer? Wait, there's another trailer? Yes. Timmy actually posted it to his Facebook page where it's a Deadpool figurine with a marker tape to it, and they're drawing out the play field, like Deadpool's doing it, and he turns around, and at the bottom below the play field, he writes in boom, and then he turns around and goes, I'm Deadpool, and that was it. Oh, so they're going to keep doing the boom thing, aren't they? Yeah. Oh, man. I wonder where they get that from. Are you familiar with the boom, Nicole? I am not familiar with the boom. Yeah, so the New York City guys, they like to say, you know, you do like make a big shot or something. Boom. So like when you won TNA, you laid down the boom. I did lay down the boom. Yes. And if you fail, you beefed. That's kind of their thing. So they're super excited about the boom thing, and, man, we're going to hear nothing but boom. You know, they have to have something. Oh, that's right. It's New Robert Englunds versus NYC, so it's probably, you know. So are you a Red Sox fan? I have to ask. If I were a sports fan, I would be a Red Sox fan, yes. Okay. I've been to one game. I was fascinated by everything around me. I don't really get into sports, though. Well, pinball's a sport, right, Bruce? Yes, of course it is. We've got an ESPN Ocho soon enough. ESPN Ocho. Yes. So that was the Deadpool trailer, which, I mean, I think most of Pinside already knows what the play field looks like. Yes. So, but, you know, it's coming out. And it looks like August 15th, Jack Danger is going to be streaming. Deadpool. Oh, did not hear that. I've seen that until just now, so that's a news from Mr. Ronnie. August 15th. Make sure to tune in and watch it live. It'll be the pro version. And hopefully most of the Deadpool team will be joining the stream. Very cool. I will actually watch that. You know, since Jack Danger is a fan of mine, he called me over and asked me to have his picture taken with me after I won. You are a celebrity now. I am a celebrity, huh? It's kind of crazy. It is crazy. All these, like, now the designers will be walking up to you, Nicole, Nicole, can I take your picture? Selfie. Selfie. Yeah, I went in, I did the Pinball Players podcast last Thursday. Who? Exactly. And so I went into Jeff Parsons' radio studio and walking down the hall, and someone pops his head out of the office and he like hey congratulations that I turned around and looked and it was one of the other DJs And I had never met him before I didn know who he was but he recognized me from my pictures on their website So it was kind of cool. Nice. Nice. Plus, we have the better version of Nicole. Her voice is recovered. Yes. So we're getting the more true Nicole. That was crazy. I had no voice at all on Monday or Tuesday. Nothing. I couldn't even whisper. Yeah, it's like she usually doesn't sound like that. Did you blow her voice out? Was it just like screaming in victory or was it like the trash talker? I think it was trash talkers that started it because I didn't have a voice on Sunday morning and ate breakfast, shot a fireball, you know, it all came back. And then woke up Monday morning and I had nothing. Actually, I had a similar experience because I was doing my Triumph the Insult Dog impersonation on the Trash Talker. And basically the next day it blew out. It just blew up the upper registers of my voice. So I was talking like this the whole time. It was pretty bad. I can relate because that's how it was coming back on Wednesday and Thursday. I had no problem. I am the human megaphone. Yes, you are. That's your nickname now, the human megaphone. I like that. So Spooky Pinball takes the Godzilla license. No, no, talks Godzilla license. It was taken from them by Stern. What did they say? Well, basically, you know, Spooky was going for the Toho license, which is the original Godzilla. Yes. Not the new ones that are being made that are whoever it is, whatever major studio. They were kind of like, you know, why are you going for this? This is like the Toho license. This is the one no one's, like, the movie wasn't even, I think it had a limited release in this country, the last Toho Godzilla movie. So why are you going for this other than just to keep us from getting it? And then you have the whole business is business angle and all that. So there you go. You know, Big Stern keeping the little guy down. There's lots of different angles. There's, I mean, when this came out, there was within, I think, an hour, there was like four pages of thread, of this thread on Pinside. Yeah. I don't know. It is what it is. Then we have Alice Cooper's Nightmare Castle stream. And actually, what I want to talk about is, I don't know, did anyone here catch Carl D'Python Anghelo's stream of Alice Cooper? I did not. I was too busy working Saturday night. I was too busy doing something else. I don't know what. Too busy winning. Too busy winning. Yeah. So he, that place with the weird name, Muskogee, whatever it's called, that's in California, that he streams from, they streamed Alice Cooper. And because it's Carl, I mean, it looked about as good as any stream's going to look. So I got to get a good look at it. And I'll tell you, man, it looks hard. The shots look really tight. I don't know. Nicole, have you played any of Alice Cooper? I have not played Alice Cooper. I did watch a video of it quite a couple of months ago now. And, you know, I went to his concert. Nice. Yeah. A fan? I have seen, I saw him when I was 18 and then I saw him this year. So it was kind of the same show. It was amazing. I mean, that's, what, three or four years difference between when I was 18 and now? Yeah. So he looks amazing. He was 70 years old or something and put on such a great show. And I saw it, of course, because of the launch of Nightmare Castle. I'm looking forward to playing this one. The funny thing is, Bruce, this, Thunderbirds, Houdini, they were all at Replay FX. I didn't even realize it. I literally didn't even know they were there. Oh, I knew. I didn't play any of them. I still have not played TNA. Wait, you still have not played Total Nuclear Annihilation at all? Nope. Nope. Wow. Okay. Well, watching the stream, shots are very tight, and it looks like the upper play field, it's one of those, like, it's hard to get up there, and when you get up there, you don't stay up there that long. But, I mean, it looks great, and I love it. My favorite feature, and I'll say this, best LCD animations of any game I've seen so far, with the comic book style they're doing. Like, when you hit the orbits, it, like, changes, it turns the pages on the comic book to lock in, like, and then you hit another shot to, like, lock in whatever mode it is. Nice. It just looks really, really good. Kudos to the art, the artist for the comic book style art they're using. It looks fantastic. And, oh, by the way, Carl D'Python Anghelo won the tournament. Of course. Of course. Not a real surprise there, so. He is the man. He is the man. pinball hall of fame to open on Las Vegas Strip and this is funny, on Pinside there was a post that basically said pinball hall of fame to close so you're like oh no and then you read it and it was Tim Arnold of the pinball hall of fame basically saying yes we're closing to move to another location so you had some views on that Bruce for their moving you know Vegas better than I do yes I do, I've been to Vegas I actually spent almost a month there one year It's south of the Strip, so it's actually, if you were coming, it's actually bumped right up against the airport, so it's just kind of cool. But it's south of the Strip, southern part. It's right by Fry's, and it's going to be right across the street from the Oakland, not the Oakland Raiders, sorry, Las Vegas Raiders. I cannot get used to that. That's just, like, so freaking weird. The thing that I don't like about it, there's two things I don't like about the lot. One, there's a humongous billboard right in the middle front of the parking lot. And second, the building has to be long and skinny because the lot is very deep, but the lot is also narrow. And I heard they were talking about some of the things they have to have is a fire truck must be able to turn around in the parking lot. So it's going to be very interesting. Hopefully it works out. I'm trying to think, how is it deep and narrow? It's deep. So it's like, it's only 125 feet if you're looking at it left to right. But back, it's like almost 1,200 feet. Did you understand what he said, Nicole? Deep and narrow? The grammar Nazis have confused her. Yeah. I got the visual. See? That's all you need. I did get the visual. That's all you need. I'm just thinking like just – would it be just wide, narrow? Well, left and right. So if you're looking left and right, so you're in the middle – if you're on the street. I got it now. I got it. Okay. I'm good. I'm good. I'm sorry. But if you look – did you go to Google Maps like they said? Yeah, I saw the overhead. And that freaking humongous billboard is right in the middle, and they can't get rid of it because it's a non-breakable 99-year lease, they said. I was like, oh, my God. Well, perhaps they'll get creative with that billboard and do something fantastic with it. Yeah, put graffiti on it that says Pinball Hall of Fame. Exactly. Have you ever been to the Pinball Hall of Fame? I have not. I've never been to Vegas. Ah. Hey, I've only been there like twice. And somehow I've been there, I've been to both locations. That's weird. I have too. Yeah. Because he was originally next to the movie theater. And then he moved, yeah. And I walked there, the second one, from the strip like an idiot. It's like, oh, it's not that long. And, yeah, it was like 109 degrees. That was not smart. That was not smart. We have Home Pin Thunderbirds, thank yous and updates. Missed out on Thunderbirds, I'm assuming, then at the show since you didn't know that anything was there. No, but at least they thanked Ben Heck after they basically used his system. There you go, finally. They finally put him on there. So, I don't know. I haven't played any Thunderbirds. Has anyone here played Thunderbirds? No. No. No Thunderbirds. We're all better. Well, has anyone seen pictures of it? Does anyone have an interest to play Thunderbirds? Not at all. I have interest to play any new game. Let's see. What do we got here? Did you know Dennis Nordman was interviewed on the latest Head to Head Pinball podcast? Who? Who? Yeah, I heard there's a protest that's been levied against them. Oh, really? The Draft Talker Invitational. Yes. I'm sure Nicole can give us more insight because Bruce doesn't know about this. Well, you know, head to head, they're rule breakers. They're cheaters. Oh. They don't like to follow the rules. Hmm. So you're just coming right out and saying it. Absolutely. I had to go, you know, enforce the no headphones rule, which includes earbuds or anything else that's going to, you know, muffle the distractions of the TTI, what makes the TTI so fantastically fun. And one of Head to Head's ringers was wearing earbuds. I do not remember his name. Did we figure it out? We'll get into that later. I think we know who it is, but that leads into another Bruce-ism, but yeah. Yeah, so I just sidled up next to him in the machine, and annoyed him until he took them out. It took two or three minutes before he finally removed them from his ears, wiped them all over the machine, and then continued to play his ball. That seems like a blatant rules violation, Bruce. I think this may be a slam dunk here. The committee has put it under review. Yep, I saw that. I think it should just fall right to us since we're the better podcast anyway. Well, no, it would fall to whoever was in second. Which I believe was, hmm, let's see, Jeff Parsons from the players podcast. I think we leave it in Australia. In Maine. I think we leave it in Australia. This is just a cheap way of New Robert Englunds trying to get the win for them again. No. Well, I think the trash can is probably still in New Robert Englunds. I'm not sure if he took it with him. That would have been a problem to get through customs, I'm thinking. He said he was going to try, and then I think he decided not to. I'm not sure which. I don't know if it made it home. Nobody's asked him. We should probably ask him. But, yeah, the money has already gone to a great cause. Which is good. Yeah, it went to Beyond Blue. And help me out here with the stadium lighting or whatever kind of lighting it was. Stadium lighting went to Project Pinball. It did. So charity has been well taken care of. However, bragging rights, bragging rights are still up for grabs. I agree. Let's get into the little Bruce-ism before we – because we're going to get to it anyway when we get to the mail, but I have to bring it up now since we're talking about the trash talker. You mentioned Martin's – when you were hanging out with Martin, you were also hanging out with a Rob Peck. Yeah, I can tell you what happened. I have two Mr. Pecks in my life. Oh, my. Okay. One's an employee of mine, and one is the one from New Zealand. Yeah, you called him Rob Peck from Australia when he is Dave Peck from New Zealand. You had everything else right. The System 11 guy, Danielle's daughter, who's like 16 years old and is already in college. You had everything else right. And I didn't catch it when we were recording because I probably wasn't paying attention to you. but when I was editing, as soon as I heard that, I was like, oh, that is so wrong. So you just left it in there? Yeah, so you know what I did? First I messaged Martin, and he thought it was hilarious, and yes, then I left it in. And I just wanted to see how many people are going to notice that. Lots of people noticed it. Of course they did. The funny thing is I just got in touch with Martin. He did not take the garbage can with him. Okay. So I don't know where it is. He's still typing. He's getting ready to leave for Australia. So he's actually going to miss my birthday. Oh. How dare he? How dare he? Wait a minute. Wasn't he in Toronto? He didn't even stop at the Silver Ball Saloon. Nope. Bastard. After all you did for him. I know. What the hell, Bobby? All right. I think that's the news. Any cool New Robert Englunds news that Nicole might know about that we don't know about? Not a whole lot of news going on right now. We're in between our league session, so things are kind of quiet around here. We've had Pinmania, so that went off without a hitch as usual. It's our big tournament up this way. And we'll be starting our 220-person league in a couple of weeks. Why can't I have a scene like this? This is not fair. I am in charge of you know corralling all these big man babies and making them do what I want them to do that's right you're the vice president of the pinball league yeah Chuck Webster is the president he makes all the decisions and what not and I get it out to the people and then listen to all the questions come back and I say well did you read paragraph 4 because that's where I answered that question Ooh. I'd love a 200-person league. That would be awesome. How many people do you have in your league, Bruce? 30. Ah. And how many games do you get to play? It all varies. If it's at a house between 20 to 30 sometimes at the bar, it's 20 to 30. So we have a pretty good selection. I think the smallest collection we had was 10 games. So in the New Robert Englunds league, like how many different locations get played throughout New Robert Englunds? We have 11 different locations, and there's two within five miles of my house. So I could go to JR's house or Arcadia National Bar. And then we have Rumford, which is actually further away from me than Boston is. And they've got a great selection of games up there at Eric Schmarshel's house, Rum-X. and we have Wicked Piss a Pinball Pit with his fantastic selection of games. Jim's Wheelhouse recently closed. That was in Wakefield, New Hampshire. And that was my home turf even though it was 45 minutes from my house and I have two places within 10 minutes of my house. but Jim is going to be opening in his house hopefully for this season but maybe not until next season but we have Dover Tap Room opening up in Dover, New Hampshire and that's opening in four days so that's going to be a lot of fun that's a new location new area, untapped kind of ironic, it's called the Tap Room and it's untapped territory there's not a lot going on over and over for pinball. We have Dave and Steve's house and Mark and Aaron Seiden. They're over in Milford, Massachusetts. Mystic is out in gosh, Turner's Falls. Mystic Pinball. They're fairly close to me. I may have to check out that Critical Hit deal. It's a lot of fun. Critical Hit's a lot of fun. Scott Wilson ran the auction at the last critical hit to raise money for Project Pinball, and it was a blast. He did such a great job because, you know, he's so shy and reserved. Yes, so shy and reserved. Yes. He made that absolutely the highlight of the day. A typical conversation with Scott would be like, he'll just look at me, Ron, don't let me catch you doing that again. I'll be like, okay. Just agree with him. It's funnier. He just does it all the time. It's a lot easier. Yeah. He is hilarious. I love Scott. So, man, lots of stuff in the New Robert Englunds area. I am wiping tears away now for my lack of pinball. I just heard they just fixed the two pinballs that we have in our league. The Twilight Zone and the Demoman got fixed. Isn't that great? The two machines we have. Ah. machines. Two machines. I'm sorry. It can't be helped, I guess. All right, Bruce, you know what time it is? It's time to thank you. Thank me? Okay. What are you thanking me for? Well, my birthday's tomorrow. I don't like my birthday. That's right. You don't celebrate the birthday thing. I don't celebrate the birthday thing. You have a good reason, though. I do have a good reason. If people know me, they know it, but I'll say it here anyway. 21 years ago tomorrow, I I found out that I had cancer on my birthday. So it kind of sucks to have to celebrate my birthday. But I was cool enough to offer up, you know, I wanted people to donate from Facebook for Stand Up to Cancer. So Ron here did the biggest thing out of every one of my friends. He donated $100. And I thank you for that. The least I can do, Bruce. You're stuck with me. Yeah. Yeah. And today was my 20 – I actually had my 20 – my checkup for 20 years now, and I am still going to be here harassing Ron for as long as I can. Yes. I mean, yeah. Great. So good news all around for that. Yay. Yay. I get to go for a colonoscopy. Yay. That's right. You're old now. Oh, wait. It's coming. It's coming? It's coming. That's the cool thing. It comes for everybody. Anyone who makes fun of you, they're going to experience it. Everyone takes it in the end. Bad, bad, bad. So if Zach makes fun of you, you could be like, just you wait. You wait another 20 years or whatever. Yeah, you'll be taking it. It's time for the mail ball bag, Bruce. Oh, yes. My abuse will now continue. And, well, the first email was just like letting us, making us aware of something, a game that Nicole's familiar with. Yes. BMX. What is that? Whoa, whoa, whoa. What was that? Whoa. That is just torture. It is great. To be responsible for your own fate, remembering to press those in-lane buttons or the out-lane buttons, oh, my heck. Okay, hold on, hold on. What do you think of Magna Saves? When I remember them, they're iffy too because they make the ball bounce back and forth and you have to release it at just the right time. True. So Black Knight was very good to me recently. I had a good rhythm going with that one. But, yeah, I don't usually use those either. Did you use them on Grand Lizard? I don't think I ever had the opportunity. I think I was a center drain every time. Well, that sucks. It would have to be GoldenEye for the magnet to work with the center drain. But does Grand Lizard has the, like, you hit it and it just does a little pulse? Like it doesn't hold it? It does not hold it. If you hold fall, it'll hold it, but it's a pulse. So it's a... Use up your pulses. Right. You'd think I'd remember this stuff, but, man, you know, I'm convinced now. Now we've had Nicole on, you, I talked to Zach. Everyone remembers all their rounds, all their games except me. Yeah, bad, fail, fail, more fail. I mean, how do people remember all this stuff? I literally only remember if I really killed it, like that lethal weapon score I had, or if I just got totally hosed. Because you're old. You're actually older than me when it comes to that stuff. No, Bruce, I never remembered this stuff 10, 15 years ago I didn't remember it. I still don't remember it. Well, I'm a total nerd, and I go back and I look after it's all done when it's still fairly fresh. So I look and I see which games I played, and I'm like, oh, yeah, this is what happened in this game. And so once you look at it a second time when you're not playing, you tend to remember it. Yep. I totally agree. Yeah. I promise some people I will take better notes next year. Fail. I will change the air on my ways. I will learn rule sets. I will do whatever it takes for my diminishing talent to win anything. Wow. Hey, I'm not getting any more accurate. No, you're not. I know that for a fact. Oh, thank you. So you're talking about BMX. Yeah. Wait a second. He makes fun of me. Him and Zach both make fun of me how I play. I don't make fun of you. You have made fun of me. You literally look like you're just flailing away, But then you're hitting stuff, and you usually beat me. So obviously you are a far superior player to me. Well, here's everyone, if they don't know. Him and Zach both say, I never catch anything, right? Very rarely will I catch anything. Very rarely. And when I do, I usually fuck up. So my thing is, like, I am the Andre, you know. I just go and fly. You are the Nicole. See? Yep. I was going to say you describing my method of madness and it looks like total chaos but I know precisely what I doing when I doing it Thank you And I know immediately when I done it wrong before it even makes contact because it like you know I hit the flipper too soon or I didn hit it soon enough And I know immediately, but it has to be on the fly. I catch for backhands only. I'll catch the ball, do a backhand like in TNA to get the lock shot. But other than that, it's totally on the fly. It just drives Zach bonkers. What, that you can still play that way? Yes. Oh, it drives – he's like, how do you even hit stuff? How do you know what you're doing? I'm like, I just go into a zone when it's multiball or something like that, and then he hates when I can combo stuff. You're an athlete. You're a gaming athlete, Bruce. Yeah, I'm lifting the muscles, yeah. You rule at all those video games and pinball. It's like you're just, you are a cyber athlete or something. Yeah, that's got to be it. Yeah, that's it. So, yes, there's a BMX for sale. It's probably gone by now. But it was. It was $29.50. It was in the pinball classifieds, so it's not like it's a secret. Anyone who gets the pinball classifieds would see it. Yes. It was in Minnesota. Minnesota. Yeah. You see this at all, Bruce? I did not until we got the email. Okay. You should inquire. It's a big short drive for you, right? Nope. I've already spent my $1,000. I'm waiting for him to say, what? What? You spent $1,000 on what, Bruce? No, I didn't spend the whole $1,000. I spent some of it on parts, but I bought another game. Oh, my. All right. It's a project. It won't be in my hands for three months. Oh, so we can't say what it is? No, I'm going to tease you a little bit about it every week. Okay. Okay. Okay. Well, we know it's something older if it's beneath work. It's a project. Yeah. Oh, yes, it's a project. All right. So, Nicole, take a guess. We'll tell you if you're right later. What could be a project? And I guarantee, Ron, I will bet you $100 you will not guess this game. I will not guess this game. Nope. I'll give you five chances to guess. Five chances? So it's got to be a Gottlieb. Ooh, silence. Silence. You know, there's so few pinball machines out there, so it's got to be pretty easy to guess. But if he's saying something like, I'll never guess it in five tries, it's got to be something that he says he hates. So it's almost got to be like a Gottlieb. But what Gottlieb would he get? I mean, the only way he likes is lights, camera, action. Is that it, Bruce? That's your first guess? That's my first guess. You said I got five. That's my first guess. Fail. Okay. This is exciting. This is a new game. Let's just alternate. Let's just alternate. We'll have ten guesses between the two of us, and we'll see if we can get it. No, no, no. Oh, I only get – This is for you. Oh, just for me? Nicole gets one because she's only a guest host. Oh, okay. So unfair. I'll give you an extra one because you're whipped. And I'm a womp. We didn't even talk about that. Okay, let's talk about womps. Swamps, for those who don't know, stands for, well, I'll let Nicole say it. It stands for Women of Motherfucking Pinball. All right. It's quite an honor. Mrs. Pin, she inducted me on, was it Monday or Tuesday? I was thrilled. Mm-hmm. Can't wait for the swag. You've got to get the swag. You've got to get the headband, the wristband, the shirt. I will be sporting it all next year. Excellent. But you guys have your four guesses. You have four guesses, Ron. Countdown. Is that your final answer? Yes. Fail again. Number two, done. He's just so far off, it's not even funny. Okay. Iron Maiden, Old Stern. Fail. Oh, man. Any clues on Era at all? Okay, hold on. I've got to think about this. I can give you one clue. One of our friends owns it. Wow. Wow, that really narrows it down, Bruce. But it does. Actually, it does. Because how many friends we have comboed together that own games that we both know what they have? Well, that's no clue for me. I know that, but it's for him. Spirit. No. Damn. And I only got one more. Yes, you do. And it needs work. And someone we know owns it. That really narrows it down, Bruce. Does the backbox come off, or is it hinged? It comes off. Okay, so it is an older one. Boy, this is hard. I knew you'd like this. Maybe let Nicole guess, maybe. She can take one of your... Yeah, yeah, I'll let Nicole. I'm going to take one of my guesses, and I'm going to guess Sinbad. No. Damn. It's one of my favorites. I love how everyone's going godly. So it's not Gottlieb, as you're saying. I didn't say that. Exactly. Every one you've guessed, both of you. No, Iron Maiden's not Gottlieb. Oh, no, sorry. Iron Maiden was not. Sorry, that's a stern. Alien Star. He does guess it. Yes. Yes. I like Alien Star. All right. I knew it was a Gottlieb. As soon as he didn't say anything, then he laughed at me because I was saying Gottliebs. I knew it was a Gottlieb. Mystic Pinball has an Alien Star. I love Alien Star. This one's a big project, but one of my buddies had it. And maybe I'll let Ronald hold it for a while. Ooh! Excellent. See, there's a method to my business. Just give it to Zach. He loves fixing Alien Stars. Mmm. This one's ugly. Does the spinner work? I don't know. Can I do the thing? Oh, probably. It's just well-worn. Okay. Well-worn. Well, we're back to the ball bag. Yes. Oh, my. This is from Ryan C. Good day, lads. It's Dave Peck, not Rob Peck. Also, he's from New Zealand. He's a Kiwi, not Australia. No, excuse me. Excuse me. What continent are they from? What continent are they from? Yeah. Australia. Thank you. Done. No, Ryan C. is from. No, New Zealand's not in Australia. New Zealand is part of the Australian continent. Oh, whatever. So guess what? My answer's right. Remember, Ryan C. was the one who didn't know that Australia was a continent. I know. And he lives in Australia. Yeah. Also, he is from New Zealand. He's a Kiwi, not Australia. That's like someone assuming Jeff Teolis is from the USA. Let me help you for the future. Aussies look like criminals. Kiwis look like they fuck sheep. Wow. Okay. So what if you have a person from Australia marries a person from New Zealand? Okay. Criminals that are fucking sheep. Oh, stop. Oh, man. Oh, man. Speaking of Jeff Teolis, I gotta talk to Mrs. Penn. I think Jeff Teolis has poisoned her. Uh-oh, what happened now? Okay, okay. Let me try this out first. on you. What do you call the Professional Amateur Pinball Association? What do you call that? Papa. Papa. So, Nicole, you call it Papa? Absolutely. She was calling it Papa. Papa. Which is what Jeff Teolis calls it. So I think she's been poisoned. I need to set her straight. Oh, God. Mrs. Pin, what are you doing? It's Papa. You know, Mama's in the Papa's. It's Papa. Okay. Just got to get that out of the way. Then we have, next email is from Dr. John Cosson, and guess what it's about? I don't know. Hello, good sirs. I'm sure you know, but Rob Peck from Australia? Dave Peck from New Zealand, please. We haven't claimed him yet. Not as good as Russell Crowe. Far lap, split ends, look them up. I don't even want to. That scares me. Dr. John. Hi, Dr. John. Thank you. I mean, he's roader Dave. He's on pit stop. I know. I don't go on pin side. Oh, that's right. You don't go on pin side. Nicole, do you go on pin side? I occasionally will peruse pin side. So then we have from, okay, this one's for you. This is a phone a friend. This is from Scott Larson. He's trying to phone a friend to Bruce. I installed a pinivator chip to Tron Pro. What is a pinivator chip? I couldn't even tell you. It's nothing to look up right now. Okay. Bruce is going to look up what pinivator means. Well, I know what pinivator is. Usually it's the sound, that sound board that they were selling to add external, you know. All right, well, let's assume it's that. I installed a Pinovator chip to Tron Pro, but now my GI is out. I'm hoping I just bumped a cable connection, but before I spent hours troubleshooting, I figured I'd try this. I do not know what even the Pinovator chip is, but I'm assuming it's the sound system. So I think he's asking why his GI is out. Do you think installing a Pinovator chip would make the GI go out? uh first take it off take the power off and see what the hell's going on and see and make sure all the fuses are not blown and if not call and contact pinnovator since they're the ones that sold you another mod sorry did i say that loud bruce loves mods you'd like toppers though i only have a couple i only have one so nicole what do you think of mods i am not a huge fan of a mod See, this is why I love this woman. That's right. Because she plays like you and hates mods. And I love Kiss. And you love... Oh, that's true. Hell yeah. Well, speaking of that, the final email, it says hello from Gene Simmons. Oh, no, you have to say it the proper way. I will, but this is from Sean. He said he was occasionally going to send some Gene Simmons. So this is actually Gene Simmons. This is Gene Simmons from Kiss. Robert... Is it Mueller? Is that his name, of Deep Root? I never get his name right. Is it Mueller like Bueller? Okay, Robert Mueller of Deep Root Pinball has contacted me about designing a spectacular Gene Simmons pinball machine. Isn't that exciting, Bruce? Yay. Okay, I've insisted that this machine not be built with quad or octo assembly, but with sextuple assembly. Get it, Bruce? Yes. As part of our ongoing negotiations, Robert has agreed to rename the five days of Deep Root as the five days of Gene Simmons. And children, be sure to slap these $3.99 stickers on your Kiss lunchboxes on the first day of school. Your friends will be green with envy. And there's a picture of the sticker. I'm sure you can buy these stickers at kissonline.com. In the meantime, please attend the book signing for my latest New York Times bestseller, The Tongue Has a Mind of Its Own at Ribfest in Napersville, Illinois, on Saturday, August 18th. Thank you, Gene Simmons. That's fucking hilarious. Okay. I love these towns. It's Ribfest in Napersville, Illinois. So that's it for the mailbag. Yes. So, let's see. Repairs. Do we have any repairs? I'm going to work on Frank and Cheetah this week. with the three flipper coils and the new driver board that had steel for the stars. Oh, there's the on. I'm starting to buy DBAs. DBAs. You know what a DBA is, Mr. Ron? Doing business as? No. Well, wait a minute. I'm not wrong. Nicole, tell them I'm right. That's what DBA stands for. DBA is absolutely doing business as. So what are you referring to, Bruce? dollar bill acceptors oh oh i'm sorry because this is a pinball show this is a yes it is and we wouldn't want to get off topic and violate rules or anything yes because you know yeah so dollar bill except i love dollar bill acceptors bruce yes i'm gonna try to start putting them in yeah other than that uh i'm gonna put i got my trim for my stars so i'm gonna put my my trim piece for the bottom on my new like stars back glass and then eventually put in the machine. New like, as opposed to like new. No, new like. Okay. Grammar Nazi. I know. Yeah, that's a definite violation. I was cringing. Yeah, you were. Let's see. Repairs for me. Other than, I think I got a bad batch of like light bulbs because like I've replaced eight light bulbs in Cheetah, you know, after the shop job and replacing all the lights. So I think a lot of the lights I bulbs I got are just crap. I'm trying to get everything ready for stomp to Bruce electric boogaloo, electric boogaloo. I was trying to get you stars this weekend, but Zach says he cannot bring it out. You have to yell at him. Uh, boo, Zach. I don't know. Isaac, but stomp to is coming. If, if she arrives, Nicole, you can get her autograph, the first whip champion. I might even pose for a few selfies. Ooh, you going to charge people? Absolutely. You shot a fireball for everyone. Okay. Okay. So we hope to have, yeah, we had the head stars. Now, hold on. Ron, your father is at a liquor distributor. Yes, he is. So. Oh, no, he's retired. I know, but he might still have contacts there. Okay. Well, okay. So what are you asking? Because he listens to the podcast. Go ahead. Say your request for us. Fireball for Nicole. She'll come running out for it. Okay. There you go. We'll play pinball for fireball. Ain't too proud to beg. So, yeah, we hope to have the heads up challenge. Some stars. Hopefully I'll get a chance to test. I'm having Zach hopefully remembers to bring his rig out so we can see, so I can test over the next week or two weeks to make sure I can get a head-to-head camera rig that'll work. So, Nicole, are you familiar with the heads-up format or head-to-head format or whatever the official name of it is where two players are trying to go for a goal and the games are right next to each other? I have never played in it. I did read a bit about it because I read lots of rules and stuff. Recently read about stall ball, which was kind of fun. So, but no, I've never played in a head-to-head. Neither have I, and it's going to be interesting. Actually, I'm not going to play in it either. So I'm guessing I'm going to have to be a referee for whoever gets the challenge first. And then let's go to the video. Yeah, what do you think about that stall ball, Bruce? I thought it was pretty cool, actually. But I have questions like, okay, if you read about stall ball, then what is like a saucer stall ball or no? Does it have to be a scoop or does it have to be a lock? That's where I'm confused. Absolutely anything that stalls the ball. So I think that, you know, the scoop can actually be a stall ball. But, you know, like going back to TNA again, if it's not lit for anything, that shoots out really fast. So, you know, every time you get it in, does it count? I'm not sure. I think that would depend on the tournament director to decide what constitutes a stall ball on their games. Yeah, because I'm thinking of things like, you know, Harlem Globetrotters, the one that's in the finals. Is this a saucer at the top? Is that a stall? Let's see. I think I'm done with repairs. What did you fix? Like I said, I replaced a bunch of light bulbs. and I packed up I packed up Harlem Globetrotters for it's trip that it's going to take to the Saratoga Pinball Show which is going to be this Friday and Saturday yes I will not be making that unfortunately because I have league night at the Syracuse place that's unfortunately going bye bye yes Wizards Pinball is closing that sucks I've known Mike for years and he made a good run at it. Unfortunately, it did not work out. It's really hard being in a business, as we all have heard from me. But, yes, it's not easy. So this is going to be in Saratoga Springs, New York, during track season. It's going to be at the Saratoga YMCA. YMCA. It's going to be Friday and Saturday. I'm bringing Harlem Globetrotters. What's that, Graham? Zach is bringing Fleet, which is a cool flipperless game. What? It's fun. And he's bringing LaserCue. What do you think of LaserCue, Nicole? Older game? I have played LaserCue once or twice only, but I remember it, so that must mean I liked it. Uh-huh. It's kind of like Alien Poker, but without the speech. Right. So that's going to be this upcoming weekend. Hope to see you there. Mrs. Pinn is going to be there with the, looks like a lot of family members with her. I'm sure that's going to be fun. Let's see. I think that's all I got on my list. You think that's all for me? Nope. I think that is all for me because there's only one game. And would I buy that? So I never do just one. You never do just one? No. Does Nicole have anything she wants to plug? I do not at this point I will do a plug here the pinball princess Steph did her first pinball stream this Sunday, this past Sunday she got her new rig up check that out, it's at twitch.tv slash pinball princess and I bring this up because there was a moment during the stream that I would classify as pure pinball joy and if you watch the stream, it's an hour and 32 minute stream. If you don't want to watch the whole thing, just go to the one hour and eight minute mark. That's the one hour and eight minute mark where she maxes the bonus on Sea Witch. That's her game and she plays. Just watch her reaction. That's all I'll say. That is pure pinball joy. She'll probably kill me, but it is like, that's why I got into pinball for a reaction like that. That's all I'll say. So again, That's twitch.tv slash pinball princess, one hour and eight minutes. Check it out. She's pretty amazing. Yeah, she's a sweetheart. Don't forget Stomp 2. Stomp 2. Electric Boogaloo. Well, it was Pinball Boogaloo, but now it's Electric Boogaloo. Electric Pinball Boogaloo. Yes, I posted it to the New York City page, or one of my New York City groups, and Steph posted it to the Orange County group because they had no idea. And when is Stomp? The 25th of August. Starts at 1 p.m. So, yes, Stomp 2. Thanks to Nicole. Thank you, Nicole, for joining us. Congratulations again. Thank you for letting me join the Sausage Fest. Sausage Fest. Thanks for putting up with us, especially Bruce. And this has been Episode 102, Guardians of the Galaxy. Do you see what I have to put up with, Nicole? The OCD-ness. Give props to pinball star Joe Newhart. He sells everything except Stern. See, that was much easier. Thank you, Bruce, for that advice last week. And then we have Flipper Fidelity. Get a hold of him for your pinball sound needs. And he is a Stern distributor. That's Mike Pupo at Flipper Fidelity. Thanks to all our listeners. Thanks to everybody. Hi, Zach. Fun with bonus. Yes. Pinball princess. Pinball princess. Jeff Teolis. Head to head. Head to head. Thanks, everyone. We'll see you next week. Say goodbye, Bruce. Goodbye, Mrs. Garrett. All right. Oh my Oh my Oh my Oh my Say goodbye, Bruce. Goodbye, Charlotte Ray. You died. What? Charlotte Ray. Who the hell is Charlotte Ray? This is, what's it called? You take the good, you take the both, you take them all, and there you have the facts of life. Okay. What the hell? She just died, so I said goodbye to her. Yeah, but then you trailed off. I'm going to have to edit that in a weird way now. You want to just say it again? Okay. So just pretend I said, say goodbye, Bruce. Goodbye, Charlotte Ray. You're dead. No, Bruce. That was better. No, that was not better. Come on!