All get around, he's on the rebound, hear the sound of our buddy, oh lordy, it's Orby, pinball now to rejoice, he's tugging pinball, craft beer and coffee, mixed with syrup and honey, hopes to laugh with his family in a random tangent, stories of his boys, he's on the poor man's pod network, We're going to get more listeners for the Pinball Nerds Podcast. Coming to you from beautiful River Hibbert, Nova Scotia. Welcome back, Pinball Nerds, to episode 602 of your fifth favorite pinball podcast. Or, as I'm hoping, with it being Twippies Week, your third favorite pinball podcast. All right, my name's Orbital Albert, and I got to play in my state-slash-provincial finals last night in New Brunswick in Fredericton at Flippin's. Dylan, thank you for keeping all the machines in terrific order. I had a fun time. And if you want to find out if I was able to step up to the bat and knock the ball out of the park and get another back-to-back win of New Brunswick, you're going to have to tune in to the very end to find out. What else am I saving for Ron, also known as Later Ron? For Later Ron, we're going to be talking about Jeff Teolis. Now, I have spent over 100 episodes trying to be drama-free, and I'll tell you what. Ever since my little freak-out about the upper deckers at Stern last year that put me in a little bit of the old hot water, I've probably swung the pendulum the opposite way and been not, I don't want to say not controversial enough. I guess maybe I've been a little bit safe. I've been a little bit safe. And it only took me hearing something Jeff did on the most recent final round to lose my shats. But I'm going to have to call. I'm sorry, Jeff. I'm sorry, Jeff. Look, if you ban me from playing in all future Maple tournaments or maybe you let me play, but if there's a decision, you always judge against me. I like to think you're impartial, but we know you're. Jeff Teolis, as much as that voice is inhuman it's goldenly beautiful your TDing you're just a human, you could make mistakes and you definitely, definitely made a mistake on the final round with Ryan C it was very nice to hear from Ryan C Ryan C, I got no beefs with you you chugged that maple syrup back in the day you and Jesse J did that, that was so awesome I wonder what percentage I bet you less than half the listeners right now even know what I'm talking about But many years ago, Jesse J and Ryan C had a podcast called Jesse J's Pinball Adventure. And on that particular podcast, they ended up chugging his maple syrup to see if they could do it quicker than me. And I don't want to give it away. You know, you might have to go back. No one's going to listen. Ryan destroyed me because he's a beast. He's, as they say in Australia and down under, he's a legend. He's a legend out there in the outback of Australia. and I'll tell you what, when Ryan C plays pinball and no one looks he jumps like a kangaroo he does, I tell you that's how he nudges, he does a little kangaroo, he pulls his arms up like that like a little velociraptor, I'm sitting here doing this, I think my, usually my Australian turns into like UK eventually, which turns into pirate, which turns into Irish, which just turns into frosted lucky charms they're magically delicious, alright I'm getting lost in the sauce. Speaking of being lost in the sauce, our friend Walt Wood, my buddy there, probably a man, and if anybody jumps when they're playing, it definitely is Walt Wood. This guy jumps higher than where the flipper buttons are, his feet in the air when he's playing, and that's pretty much every shot he takes. No, he's a very excitable fellow, and unfortunately, we did get some bad news that a couple of months ago, Walt Wood of Walt Wood Pinball on YouTube did have a heart attack. Sounds like a pretty severe one. So I know what you're thinking. If anyone's content should be more mellow and calm, it would be someone who just had a heart attack. But not in this case, because Walt Wood is going off the wall, my guy. Okay, dude, I loved your D&D evaluation. It was by far the most entertaining review. And I'm going to actually drink a drop, drink. I'm going to drop a link in the old Tarjay, okay, in the old comments down there, and I'm going to put a link to Walt Wood Pinball's massive freakout about D&D. He was not happy about it. He was not happy about it. Now, Walt, I agree with a couple of the things you said. What I agree with the most is the presentation. The way that you're doing it is hilarious. But at the same time, my dude, if I had had a heart attack, I don't think I would be presenting the type of, you know, wild and out there yelling and screaming type content commentary, say the likes of the Upper Decker episode last summer. So where I'm going with this is, Walt Wood, because you most recently had a heart attack, I think you can still be super entertaining, maybe, but do it slightly more calm. But wow, it is entertaining to watch. Don't get me wrong, it is entertaining to watch. But more important than getting 3,400 views, Walt, wow. That's like way more subs than you even have. So guys, give Walt some encouragement. Let him know you like his stuff. Tell him also, though, to try to stay calm and stay chill because it is just pinball, my dude. It is just pinball. Okay, what else we got for today? The real reason, I think that's what I'm going to start with, but the real reason why Dave Fix got fired. You know what? I'm going to talk about D&D gameplay very briefly. I can't be chit-chatting for a very long time today. I've got dinner on the way. My wonderful wife gave up her whole Saturday yesterday. I did not have my new driver's license. My expired driver's license was why I couldn't go to Maple, but I couldn't go to get my new driver's license until I had my new glasses. And I couldn't afford the like $400 glasses at the place in town, even with 60% coverage. So I just ordered for one of these online places. I think it was called Zenni. It was like 50 bucks, all things included. You know, for me having to pay $12.50 or something silly or whatever, $20 out of pocket, not a big deal, obviously. But I do have glasses, and I played in them yesterday, and I'm going to talk about that as well while I talk about Provincials. But I want to talk about Dave Fick's first right after D&D gameplay. And I am going to be telling you guys the real reason. And believe me, as a guy who's worked 88 jobs and got fired from half of them, I got a pretty good leverage on why people, I mean, why his contract was not renewed in Minecraft. sorry in Minecraft he was fired in real life uh Dave Fix's contract we have to be careful on this show I'm mindful from time to time I'll tell you though in 2025 my pendulum's coming back the other way uh I want to be hard-hitting but also have fun and at the same time be kind but very very I'm also going to be very I'm I'm going to be generous with the constructive criticism but try to present it in a fun and funny way. And I'm going to lean into that a little bit harder. I think you're going to see the most number of shows you've ever seen. I think you're going to see the most number of interviews you've ever seen, at least on my show. I won't be able to do the likes of Pinball Profile there. Jeffrey, by the way, one of my favorite shows of the year, and I was so mad at Jeff. I almost didn't listen. I fast-forwarded his parts. No, I'm just kidding. It's all just him counting down. And it was a great list, Jeff, so thank you for that, but like some other shit that you shot, I was trying not to swear this year, some other shots that you've done, I did not like as much, and I, you know, you are in trouble, I'm not going to say you're going to get canceled, Jeff, but you might get canceled in my eyes for a week or two, because oh, we got to talk about that, but Dave, Dave Fix is probably, I don't know, I don't, I don't know who's more hot water, Jeff Teol, maybe they're in the hot tub together, it used to be all the tribes members that were in the hot tub and now it's just Dave Fix and Jeff Teolas. That's all that's left in there. All right, D&D gameplay. First of all, I realized I'm never going to understand the code of D&D. You got to know your limits. You know in the office when they said, okay, A team here, B team here, everybody else here when they're doing trivia. Yeah, I'm everybody else. I may be B team at best for understanding code. Look, when it comes to flipper skills, nudging, recovery, sure, maybe I, you know, maybe I'm an A-. But when it comes to accuracy, I used to be a D, and I'm now a C. Wow, these new, shout out to everyone who's ever had to play with glasses. First of all, you got glare, now you got to worry about not just the glare from the glass over the pinball machine, you've got to worry about the glare on your glasses coming from higher lights. And the worst part, the thing I've never thought of before that someone with glasses has to worry about, is how much they fog up. Now, not when you're just playing in EM, but if you're having a long ball, like I got, and I only remember it because the airplane, and I know this isn't like, this will just tell you, everyone's played, most people have played Star Wars, the newer Stern Star Wars, so most of you will know this, but the new Stern Star Wars, if you get anything over 500,000 to 600,000 in competition play, usually in match play, you're pretty good. I got 700, the only reason I remember it, because much like the airplane, 747, so I ended up getting 747 million, on my very first game in the Provincials, and that's how I knew my glasses were playing better because I don't think I've got that high of a score for a very long time, and I was able to hit that right ramp much better. Tighter shots have been very hard for a long time because of how badly I've needed glasses for about 15 years, and I haven't got them. So obviously there's the cool part of driving is safer. That's the main thing. But also playing pinball is better. Now, the other thing is when you're getting really hot and they fog up, Do you look over the top of your glasses where it's not foggy? Because then it gets really blurry for a sec. Do you try to clean your glasses off between each ball? I had to run outside sometimes between each game and just hold up my glasses and walk around until they defogged properly. I think I have to get fog off. Yes, that's the name of one of our tees, but I think it's also what they call this anti-fog stuff you put on your glasses. Let's get back into D&D gameplay. So Dwight, I almost called him Dwight Schrute. Dwight Sullivan did an incredible job doing the rules. And I'm glad for that. I'm glad it's not a cookie-cutter, just linear type of game. We've got enough of those. It even seems more complex than possibly AIQ. Definitely even more complex than Game of Thrones. I was hoping we were going to get something kind of similar. I think I'm the only person who likes the Game of Thrones code, but I can understand it, and I understand the bonuses of House Llamastah. All right, enough of the voices today, Orby. All right, no singing though, not with a voice like this. I actually, I broke the New Year's curse. I don't know if it's a curse. Oh, for those of you listening, most of you don't give a shats, but I did actually make it 111 hours and one second. Just to hit 1111 before I actually ate going into the new year, I realigned my relationship. That sounds really hippie. I revisited my relationship with insulin. Man, like since then, I can even have keto treats that tasted like garbage before and now they taste moderately okay. A keto treat's never going to be as good as, like, a real ice cream or, like, a real chocolate bar. Like, you know what I mean. Like, it's never going to be the real deal, but it can help get you there. And if you don't know what any of what I just said is, don't worry about it. But before you try anything, 111 hours is very, very obscure. Before you try anything like that, make sure, first of all, you're not diabetic. Also make sure, like, you have someone to help you. Talk to your doctor, your dietician. Do more research. Don't just listen to Orby. I've been researching, studying, and practicing fasting now for probably right around 30, so about 13 years I've been dipping my foot in and out. But I did survive. I got very woozy. I didn't have fast food until when the Burger King Whopper came down to $8. Here in Canada, they're normally $8.99 after taxes. It comes to about $10.83. Well, we had the old X attacks here. I don't like to talk about politics. Today, the world's a big day in politics. let's hope I just want to say this this is not a political podcast but can we all agree that it wouldn't be good for Stern and it definitely wouldn't be good for JJP or Spooky who already don't sell nearly as much as Stern if we know that Stern says about half of all their pins go overseas and it's not actually over a sea because believe it or not Canada mostly has a land border Americans uh sorry no that was rude I don't know why of course most Americans know that but no we we basically don't want to see all pinball machines go up by 25%. And the best pinball machines have Canadian hardwood maple in them, so that would mean all playfields would cost 25%. And then many of the parts come from many other countries he's talking about putting more tariffs on, he or they or him or whatever. Ugh, Voldemort, whose name I do not speak of. The thing is, like, I don't care which side of the politics you are, I think a 25% tariff against all other countries. Multiple car parts come in from China, come into the United States, then go to Canada, then go back to the United States, then the car is resold back in Canada. Like Canada and the United States, our economies are too intrinsically tied to have tariffs on absolutely everything. We send down a huge amount of our oil. We send down a huge amount of our water. We send down a huge amount of minerals that are needed for a lot of other things, great things that Americans make, including my favorite American-made product, pinball machines. So, man, if pinball machine, if that happens, it's just going to become like a fish pool in Canada and no pinball machines will ever be bought or sold or go across the border, which will cause like an artificial bubble here in Canada. For anyone, especially locations who want to get a pin, they're going to have to justify the 25% higher cost. probably even scarier is the fact that all of a sudden now all the used Stern Pros and all of the used modern pinball machines or all the ones that are in decent condition are going to just accelerate in pricing And we were just finally seeing prices come back to pre-COVID times. So hopefully that doesn't happen. The D&D gameplay, I will say this, I was glad it was like they didn't go off topic too much or anything like that. It was fairly short. But I don't feel like we learned enough. And I know a lot of people are saying, yeah but Albert we're sick of like the one hour game plays fine I think at the minimum we've got to see like five or six games I don't me personally I know what they were going for I feel like Dwight was like hey the longer I stand there here the more likely I am to annoy someone or say something I'm not supposed to say or like piss someone off always leave them wanting more I know that's a marketing thing it's a marketing thing I in this particular case don't fully agree with I've gone back and watched it a couple times but like not only is it not like reminiscent of any of the old jack danger ones where they dressed up and it was funny and zach sharps dressed up like a t-rex and they're having a couple beers shooting the shats you actually get to see them the live stream for the pinball machines used to be like a fun victory lap that you could join the men and uh sorry i just had to plug in the laptop there i noticed the battery was running a bit low i did not think i would talk this long but the dnd gameplay looks overall very good the dragon looks spectacular i i still think the only way i'd get a pro in this is if i came up to a real hot deal me as being 50 dutch if i see a deal that good i would i could see two three four years from now hopefully as prices continue to come down hopefully there's no tariffs and hopefully the prices continue to come down i could see a pro getting low enough just because the the longevity of how long the code in your house will last. I could see a pro place coming down enough that if I would buy it to have at my house and or possibly have it on location, like nerd stores are going to love this. Oh, and shout out to my buddy, Man, over there at Goddick Games at the Amherst Mall. If you live anywhere between Moncton, Fredericton, St. John, Touro, Halifax, Tatamagush, or Pugwash, Okay, there's not too many Tatamagushians listening, but shout out to the market there in Pug Watch Market, obviously, where we sell our organic, free trade, delicioso coffee called Angry Alpaca. Not for selling stores very often, I'll tell you that. But let's get back to this. I would probably have to buy a premium or, like, if I won the lottery, I'd be getting, depending on how much the lottery was, probably a premium or an LE. I like the artwork the best on the LE, but I could get away with a premium, no problem. If I don't win the lottery, but I definitely want to have it for my house, and it's not going to be on location, and I'm not going to worry about issues that are coming up and that are arising from actually having the actual dragon there. If I were one of those people, I think I could get away with just having a pro, but I think if I was going to have it at home long term, in an ideal world much like the Jurassic Park T-Rex, this dragon I said it before oh and my last pod by the way I think I nailed it and I don't say that that often look was it a perfect pod probably not did I go off topic a little did I use filler words for sure however everything I said it and I'm super proud uh I mentioned how good the call arts were we saw in the live stream how good the call arts are they are inspired they sound legit like they would. I talked about how good Michael Dorn sounded. I said it was incredible that they have Silent Bob from Mallrats, right? They have Kevin Smith himself. He's also a huge big comic book nerd so that's kind of cool that he's in that. I actually have a signed autograph cover. Well, the cover is signed of the comic book of Jane's Silent Bob Strike Back at Christmas. It's some type of Christmas special comic and it's actually signed not, if it was signed by Kevin Smith, it'd be worth a lot more, but it's signed by the illustrator and the person who wrote it as well. So yeah, the person who drew the comic, not the person who necessarily did the color. And for those of you who didn't know, and I'm surprised we don't see this in pinball art more often, when you're looking through there, you're actually going to have quite often a cover artist and then you're going to have a different artist who illustrates all the different stuff through all the different pages and then you're going to have a colorist who will go in there and pick all the different colors and make sure that the coloring between the two artists looks similar and kind of pops off the page the same way. So not always. Sometimes a cover artist is also the interior artist, just not all the time. Anyways, D&D looks fantablioso. It looks great. I think if you have to say Stella got her groove back, I'd say na-na-na. Stern got its groove back. People will point back to this game. I think it's Dwight. I think it's Dwight. I don't know if it's going to be Brian's opus, but I think it's going to be Dwight's. Code-wise, I think this is going to be the best shats he ever had. So congratulations, though, not just to the two of them, the designer and the coder, but the whole team over there. And the longer I've been in pinball content, the more I realize it literally takes a frickin' village. An Elk Grove village. these guys, like, from the person who puts in the smallest little screw to the person who, you know, paints the coin door, or wait, I guess that happens afterwards, maybe the LE, like, you know, to the person putting on the smallest decal, to the person test playing the machine, to the person helping with the code. It's never just one person coding it. These machines have so much depth right now. There's probably three, four, five people touching, you know, doing the code to even like the beautiful lighting we're getting now. Finally, the lighting is just getting better and better from Stern. So congratulations, Stern. Take a bow. And now someone else is going to have to take a bow. DaveFix, take a bow because you're going to get your spankings in Minecraft. Does that actually work? Can you actually say that? Sorry. Okay. For those of us in their mid-40s like me, I'll say, Dave Fix, you're going to get your spankings in Centipede or in Missile Command. Wait, in Pac-Man. It would be really funny to see Mrs. Pac-Man going and gobbling up Dave Fix, getting the mustached man and his giant hats as well. No. Here's the real truth of what happened with Dave Fix. I'm going to do a deeper dive of this perhaps at a later date. Let me just move the mic down here. while I lay down a bit. To talk about Dave Fix, you've got to let a freaking load off. You've got to. You've got to. We're about to get deep here. I've got my feet up in the air. I'm lounging, if you will. I'm lounging in the Orbeez Pinball Podcasting Studio, 10 feet under the ground, right here in beautiful River Hebrides, Nova Scotia, down here with the goats in the goat dungeon. No, we're down in the D&D dungeon with Dwight, and he's still on the same game he's been on since he was 24 years old. Oh, my God, it's the longest game of D&D ever. No, it is. I'm glad it feels like most of the Pinball Content creators weren't going too mean and rude. At least one of them was kind of being rude. Oh, and speaking of rude podcasters, not that this podcaster is rude, but I've been very rude because I did not get back to them. After Don was kind enough to join my show and chat with me while talking to the TSA on show 600. He did actually write me a very funny message last week. But to Don, and I was talking about myself being rude because I was being rude, but to Don and Don, don't feel bad, my two other best pinball buds, Eric and Matt, they both called Friday, they messaged me Thursday. I was in a little cocoon. Orby was all cocooned up. I wasn't talking to no one or anyone, if I want to be grammatically correct, says the grammar police. I know one of my biggest fans and also one of my biggest detractors, Julie Dorsers. If she listens to this, she'll hear that. Julie, I just want to let you know I specifically purposefully said it wrong just to annoy you. I'm just kidding. I wouldn't do that probably maybe. In Minecraft, I wouldn't anyways. But no, I sometimes say things grammatically incorrect for comedic effect and also because I'm not a perfect person. I'm never meant to... Whatever happened to that band? Wow, that note. You need to warm up to hit that note. I'm not a perfect person. That's freaking emo as funk. All right, so here's the thing about Dave Fix. Dave Fix was brought in to fix everything wrong at American Pinball. And what was wrong is it was kind of, you know the artwork was kind of all over the place the shots some of them were too tight some of them were way too like Houdini is too tight of a shooter like I won New Brunswick maybe even twice maybe even twice I've been the New Brunswick pinball champion I still think being one of the top okay Riley McDonald shout out to you you won uh Nova Scotia the province I went in I am not nearly as good as Riley McDonald I could never win in this province there is so many better players than me in New Brunswick, but from time to time I can sneak in a W against them. Shout out to Riley McDonald, but I don't want to play with you. He's a younger fella. He's not like, he's, he's not like, like 18 or 19 or like 13, 14, 15. Like I know Sterling and a lot of these up and coming really, really good players, the future of pinball, if you will. But he's like, I don't know, 24, 25. He's still got his reflexes better than a dude like me in his mid-40s. My eyesight's better, so hey, there's one part of my game, but shout out to Riley. Dave Fix kind of over-promised and under-delivered. Oktoberfest was too long of a player. One of the distros in Toronto, I think actually Player One brought Oktoberfest. Oh, you son of a bee. I knew someone would call today. Just hit the off button and bring it out there, please. It's probably Hayden, bud. Bring it over there for mom. Thank you. Sorry about that, guys. The Dude-ster is just finishing up work, and because we're getting hit with a massive snowstorm, 15 centimeters, like a foot and a half of snow tonight, in one night, in like eight hours, from like midnight till 8 a.m., Drop Target Danielle will most likely have a snow day, first snow day of the year, when we're getting hit with that polar vortex. Also, shout out to my boys, especially my pinball buds, the two guys I was, I forget their names, but the two guys I talked to at District 82, it is in Celsius, 48, 49. Can you go to the other room, bud? Or upstairs and talk? Thanks, bud. It's going to be 48, 49, and minus 50 degrees Celsius. So I think minus 40 is where the two, like where Fahrenheit and Celsius meet. Imagine that being as cold as you can get where they meet, and then going 10 degrees further. That is not with the wind chill. You're talking about wind chills, especially with how heavy the wind are. They're looking at wind chills in the minus 60 to perhaps even minus 70. That's like you sneeze and sharp pellets of snot smash when they hit the ground. That's like seriously where if your car breaks down, you got to get somewhere heated fast. Anyways, we're not here to talk about the news. We're not here to talk about the Carl Weathers. we are here to talk about Dave Fix. Now, do I think that Dave Fix had good intentions? Yes. Do I think even Damien from Haggis had good intentions? I'd like to hope so, but I don't know. That last year or two, I don't know. Do I think that Robert from Deep Root, in Minecraft, of course, because he likes to sue people, do I think that Robert Mueller, Robert Mueller, Robert Mueller, Mueller, Bueller, Mueller, Bueller, do I think that he actually had good intentions? I really don't. I think he was a swindler. I think he was a scammer. I think he's a criminal. I think he's an evil bad dude and I think he stole a ton of money from pinball people which is really sad. He also stole so many good pinball designers and like coders even like Steve Bowdoin. Steve Bowdoin could have been helping out at numerous other companies with the coding. Like I know even I thought especially from a rules point of view Spooky could have used Steven Bowden that whole time, but he was just over there, not able to help the pinball world because he was spending so much time on Raza, which never came out. But I feel like Dave Fix was different because Dave Fix was passionate about pinball for years and years and years before this. In fact, while doing research for my provincials, I actually found a bro to even play pinball with Dave Fix at Dave Fix's house. They were previewing one of his games. So he's certainly a passionate dude about pinball. I just don't think he was the right man for that particular spot. He wasn't particularly good at interviewing because either he wouldn't work hard on making sure the sound quality was good before he started the interview. So some of their best interviews, like, I couldn't even get through or listen to, even no matter what he was saying. Because a lot of times, like, I know the one with him and Steven Bowden, not the one on Loser Kid. That one you could understand it a bit more. But anyways, he sometimes plays his cards too close to his chest quite often, just shows you all his cards, and you're like, dude, that's also not attractive. So probably kind of like my show. I probably say too much, and I probably share too much of my own personal life. I've tried to do that slightly less on the show recently, which I think is a minor improvement. We're getting there. 1% per day, the Josh Mudd method. We'll get there. We'll get there, y'all. Hey, who knows? maybe this year will be the year that my show finally falls into its groove and I can kind of maybe and you know Stern got its groove back but can Stella get its groove back can Orbs get his groove back hopefully I think I'm getting there I think I'm getting there my shows weren't great from the midsummer there obviously lost a good friend of mine Drew shout out to Drew do we do that do we shout out people after they passed Post shout out I don know I did There you go But I lost Drew last year That made providing good content very challenging because he was like, I didn't tell this to you guys. I just said a friend of mine passed. Drew was like a little brother to me and I came to figure that out over these last couple of months. And I should have been there more for him during COVID and after I left because I was very, very supportive of Drew and there to talk to him whenever he needed a voice to talk to when I lived in London and not so much after I moved out here. So I have had to deal with a little bit of regret from that. But if anything good comes from this little bit of regret, allow yourselves to talk to your friends, to talk to your family, especially the ones that you love. You know, the ones that you hate, nah, forget about it. But the ones that you deeply love, make sure you reach out to them when you can and just tell them you're thinking about them. Even if you just say that, hey I was just saw blah blah blah TV show a song we used to listen to a place we visited once a Facebook photo and I just want to say hey how's it going there's nothing wrong with doing that that doesn't mean that you're not manly enough or like you know what I mean like it's nothing silly like that you can just be something simple you don't have to like add like five heart emojis at the end or something come on we don't want to get that far but David Fix I think had the right intentions and I think he's really good at what he does Dave Fix would go around with Rob Burke at Pinball Expo for and that's how I knew Dave Fix was he would do this like live auction the first night of Expo and I knew him from being very funny and very he knows quite a bit about pinball he's very well connected he's kind of like I don't Dave Fix don't get mad at me bro but he's kind of gives off a little bit like used car vibes you know what I mean he's still got that hat that mostly used car salesmen have from the 80s. You know what I'm saying? He's got like the same, like kind of like the same facial hair that like, like it's not to say he has a mustache because I have a beautiful mustache right now. I'm like a peppy le pew mustache. I must ask you a question. I've got this, I have a mustache right now, but his is very like 70s. It's got like that little, like it's, you know, where you can twist it up, like almost like whatever the guy from Looney Tunes, the guy with the guns. Anyways, yeah, love you, Dave Fix, but I don't think he was the right person to do it. Now, if you said Dave Fix was going to be the guy who went with American Pinball to the shows, I'd say that's your guy if he's going to head up doing the shows. I just don't think he should have been head of sales. I definitely don't think he should have had any freaking thing to do with marketing. And I know some people say there's no advantage to you going to college or university for marketing at one of the top business schools in Canada. yeah there is I can tell you right now Dave Fix should not have been the voice that we heard of of American Pinball he should not have been introducing every game he should not have been playing on the live stream he should not have been choosing which games were coming up next choosing to do GTF and release it when they did with that many bugs which is a major mistake probably the best thing Dave Fix did and I don't even know if he did this was getting Christopher Franchi to do GTF that was smart because by far GTF will go down in the books is their most beautiful game, bar none. Of course, we've never seen Cuphead. I mean, if Franchi did the Cuphead artwork, it might even be better. Zombie Yeti, I don't think Zombie Yeti would be the right person to do Cuphead, just seeing the style of Cuphead. And those who have, there is rumblings. Those who have seen Cuphead and played Cuphead have said it's really, really, really good. So I personally would love to get and play Cuphead. I mean, I wouldn't necessarily love to get it, but you know me, play before you pay. I definitely would love to play it. And theme-wise, for me personally, that beats out... I'm sorry, it beats out Metallica. Definitely beats out Aerosmith. It beats out Looney Tunes. It definitely beats out Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It beats out Evil Dead or Night of the Living Dead. I had to watch both now because I wasn't sure which. Both of them scare me. Both of them freak me out. Both of them, I'm not... I don't know if they're for me. It's not the type of movie for me. It's not to say they're not wonderful movies from the 50s or 60s or early 70s, whenever they came out. It's just like The Godfather. I tried to watch that three times. It's not for me. I'm sure if I was born in 1927 and I was like rate peak movie watching age, like my age now, 30s or 40s, and like The Godfather came out, maybe I'd still have a soft spot for it when I was 80 or 90. But like I just, yeah, okay. I've gone off track. I am a little bit hungover. That does happen. I was such a good boy in the four and a half hours I was in the tournament. I only had four beers. Mind you, I didn't have a ton to eat. I did have a schnitzel and a breakfast sandwich. I guess I had two things that day. I just didn't have two large meals. I had two very small meals with no sides, with no carbohydrates. I'm attempting to have less carbs. Well, there's definitely some carbohydrates in a breaky sandwich. But anyways, none of that matters. What matters is that the real truth is that Dave Fix just wasn't the right guy for the job. it's not that he lacked passion I do believe Dave Fix when he said he's the first person there and the last person to leave I just don't think he was the right person for that job they needed someone like George Gomez to come in George Gomez knows exactly what to say he knows the exactly George Gomez understands how much to release George Gomez I think does a much better job than Gary Stern of kind of being the voice or the head of the company even Seth I almost said Seth Rogen, Seth Jones the new president of Stern he was on Loser Kid and he did a very very, shout out to Josh and Scott those guys are still killing it over there Seth did a very good job of walking the line of kind of teasing the future not holding his cards too close also revealing little tidbits to get you excited but like not too much and like not too much talking about other companies and you know what I mean and George Gomez is incredible at that. Plus, George Gomez knows pinball even more than Seth, so he's probably one of the best in the industry to do it. Bug from Spooky, when Bug is talking, he can be fun and excited, but also be entertaining and also tell you about the next game and get you stoked and excited. I mean, I'm super excited to play Evil Dead, and I don't even love the movie. I just absolutely am in love with the artwork. Looks like there's some fun shots. it looks like it's going to be their best flow. It definitely is their best topper. I will apologize in being the first person out with info. Sometimes you're wrong, and I did say, wow, for that topper being free, it's incredible. It is not free. It is not free. It's still an incredible topper. I don't maybe think it's as good as we originally thought it was. We've just really never seen anything like that with that much movement. But because the movement itself is not dynamic, it's more like the Dragon on the D&D Pro, where it only has just like, it's kind of a one-trick pony, if you will. like the doodling on the doodlebug. Man, I got my doodlebug doodling in my provincials yesterday and it was so fun. Oh my God, look at the time. Where'd it go? When I talk to you listeners, and I mean this, I mean this. On average, when I put out a pod, my favorite thing is in the next 24 to 36 hours, I'll get five or six people. I recently had a gentleman who's newer to listening to the show and his name, I forget your name right now, but he sent me a picture of like listening to my show while having his morning brunch in St. John. I know Jeff Young. I think he sent me a message a couple weeks ago or at least tagged me on something on Facebook and said, enjoying listening to your show while doing whatever, I believe. And just different people when I talk to them and they say, like, hey, that was so neat while we were traveling to this tournament or while we were going to this expo or while, you know, I was just filling time, driving around, working. There was Orby to fill your ear holes, to go off topic. People like to hate listening. That's okay because they go, oh, you know, in his Canadian fantasies, he only does half the things he's going to do. Yeah, that might be true. I do exaggerate a lot. I don't outright lie too often. The Jennifer Connelly thing, I swear to God, I almost want to, I actually want to bring my recording stuff with me when I go back to Ontario the next time. And I want to go to Shed in Ontario, and I will track down the owners. I will track down the owners of the Little Variety Store. I know the dad's name was Barry, but his daughter was the one who's like, She was like the president of Parkside Collegiate in St. Thomas. Extremely intelligent, very well spoken, and she never lied in her life. This girl was just like, she was like a Hermione Danger type. If she said Jennifer Connelly was in our town, if she said the lead, the main person you would need on any pinball machine having anything to do with Labyrinth, the main character, it's not David Bowie, she only goes to chats with him now. The main character is really David Bowie's package. Jennifer Connelly's second, David Bowie's third. But, you know, to not have the second biggest actor on there. Anyways, did I go out with Jennifer Connelly? Probably not. Did I try to invite her and or her cousin to come hang out with us and like chill? Yes. Would I call it a date? Not really. Did I think she was very attractive? Yes. Did I know she was way too old for me? Yes. In an ideal world, does Jennifer Connelly and myself play pinball with me and my wife in the arcade for a fun party weekend? Probably. but would she play? Probably not because Labyrinth doesn't have her on it. Anyways, barrels of fun. If you want your next pinball machine to be even more barrels of fun, make sure if you're going to do a movie or a band, you know, it would be like doing the Beatles and only getting the pointy elbow people in the old Beatles EM and not getting any of the Beatles. You couldn't do the Beatles without the Beatles. Am I right? Or am I right? Or am I right? Oh, speaking of, I do plan on coming out with a Groundhog Day episode for the nerdies again. The 5th annual nerdies! No, I think we're on the 6th or 7th annual nerdies. I'll have to take a look. They took one year off, but the nerdies are my annual year where I just kind of mess around and do a just-for-fun type show, award show. So that will be coming up. Tim the Lion Man Lee, of course. He did a really funny bit for that that I'm going to play. I also owe Walt Wood to play a message from Walt Wood. Dan the Man, another tribe member, got me a private message. I wanted to play that message. I don't think Walt would mind me sharing it. I'm going to be sharing that on here. What else? What else have we got? Oh, please go vote for the Twippies. And guys, don't lie. Listen, I know many of you listening, I'm definitely, I get it. I'm not your favorite pinball podcast. I'm sure there's like one of you others like, no, Orby, you're my favorite. Okay, cool. Sweet. Wicked. Put me at number one. But ranked balloting is good for so many reasons. And it's because if I knew that there was no ranked balloting, I wouldn't be sitting here begging and pleading with you to please go vote for me. If you have not voted, it either closes tonight, right at midnight, like at the 20th. That's why I'm rushing in this pod, actually, partially. Or, and shout out to Colin and the whole committee over there, everybody, Jamie over at Wormhole, Aaron, Retro Ralph, and even though he's never going to give me his personal address, so unfortunately, Ian, I'm sorry, Ian from Nudge Magazine, you're not going to be getting the gift package I'm giving all the other hosts of the Twippies because I just can't get your personal address. He said you'd never give it to me. So you know what? Maybe what I could do is I could fire it off to Retro Ralph and then if you trusted Retro Ralph with your address, he could fire it off to you. But you're going to have to pay that extra shipping. You're going to charge me extra money for shipping for Nudge up here. I literally I am the biggest fan of zines and magazines on planet earth like you don't even want to know how many more magazines than I have of comic books but that being said I can't afford the shipping up here I'm also half Dutch the shipping costs more than the magazine maybe I'll wait till I can get like nudge one two three four and five and get it shipped all at once or even better I'll wait till I see Ian in person and I'll pop up at his house and say surprise I got you got docs no no I'll wait till I see in at expo or something I'll be like yo dude I want you to sign these. I legitimately want him to sign them. I do not want one of those not signed on the cover. I pick the color and Ian, you start practicing that signature because it better look chef's kiss, man. Cause like I want the limited numbered signed goodies of that. Will I read the magazine? Of course I will, but I'm going to keep it in good condition. I'm going to have the only PSA or CGC 9.8 Nudge Magazine signed by Ian Jacoby, Jacobity, Doc Monday yeah can you sign Ian Doc Monday and then at the bottom just put your address no I'm kidding, okay, Dave Fix I love you as a person, I can't wait to meet you and just bug you and just come over with a little tiny brush and brush your mustache for you and get it all waxed up okay with some Novus too. We know you use pinball wax on that bad boy. I've seen you in a windstorm, my friend, and that mustache ain't going anywhere. Okay. But that hat, that hat on the other hand, you've got to put your hand on your hat. And will we see Dave Fix again? Maybe. Again, I think he's great at running shows. I think he'd actually be decent at being like more just sort of like the sales rep or the salesperson who is at the shows. Sure. But I'm sorry, Dave Fix. I'm not sorry, Dave. I have an honors degree in marketing and I can say this I don't think you should be doing marketing I don't think you should be the one doing the interviews for any pinball company ever I'm sorry I do not think you should be choosing which we could have had white water too for god's sake instead we got Barry O's barbecue that just pisses me off Dave Fix I'm channeling my inner Walt Wood oh okay well I'm gonna leave two links I'm gonna leave a link for Walt I for now I'm not leaving two links but But this time, Walt Wood, to his epic rant, make sure you hit the subscribe button for Walt. Hit a like if you liked his video. And make sure that you leave a comment. And maybe if you know and play with Walt in real life, Dan the Man or anyone else listening, please just tell Walt Wood, like, you had a heart attack a couple months ago. It's really rad you're making pinball content. But don't spike your cortisol. Don't get really upset. Unless you're kind of like me, half-joking. and maybe he was but he was like jumping around and yelling and screaming What was the best line I had the best Walt Wood line here Man I am really lounging I glad I don have to do video for this I might be on a podcast in the future I have to do video for so I'll have to try to think about that. There's a little hunt for you. I may be... Actually, there's not one, but two podcasters sniffing around Orby. After not getting invited on a single podcast for like nine months, I got invited on to two all at once, so that's pretty cool. But let's see. I'm probably only going to do one for meow because I like to space out my visits. That's just how I am. Oh, yeah. So Walt Wood said, I'm going to say friggin' instead of the F word because I may have already slipped in a swear word accidentally earlier. But he said, you friggin' fired Bowden, who's the best guy you friggin' got over friggin' there. Referencing Steven Bowden being gone. But I'm also going to drop a link to the Twippies to make it real easy, okay? Now listen, if you like listening to this show, my wife's favorite pinball podcast of all times was the F it Fridays right here on the Poor Man's Pinball Podcast Network. Drew and Ian would host F it Fridays and they would talk about everything but pinball. That's pretty much every show I've ever done is F it Fridays, so I don't need a specific one for it. but Drew and Ian would get a listen all the time from my wife because if I was going to be listening to a pinball podcast in the car, she'd go, all right, I can listen to the F it Friday. They don't even talk about pinball that much. So that's when we would actually listen to that sort of thing. So just like that, I bet you there's one husband, wife, partner, friend, co-worker who also digs my show at least a little bit from time to time and they have not voted. So you could encourage them to vote. And again, I will say this, there was a lot of categories. That's part of the reason why I'm not going to do it live. Also, I've got to get up and go help with the sides for dinner and stuff. But I am going to go vote today. I'm going to make sure I vote today. Please vote tonight before midnight. If not, I think it actually probably ends. Again, I don't know if it's Eastern Standard Time. I would assume maybe midnight Eastern Standard Time, January 20th would be my guess. But just in case, if you're listening to this today, Sunday the 19th, please just take 30 seconds and at least go vote for me and do the first page. I think I'm only under Pinball Content Creator. I know I'm not going to get first, second, or third, but you just voting for me in first, second, or third, wherever I fall into there, honestly, it warms my soul. It makes me happy. It gets my flippers flopping. Woo! It gets my tilt trough trying. It makes my... Okay. All right. Well, I'm going to end the pod by letting you guys know how I did at Provincials. We're going to wrap it up just like you should, too. If you're going in the shower, wear a shower cap, right? It is. It's wintertime. You don't want to be getting dandruff. You've got to take care of your hair follicles. Even for me, this is going off topic a lot. All right. So Provincials, round one. I actually did play my buddy Keith. Really good player, and he plays there fairly often, knows those pins. I think I got through the round 4-1. I haven't double-checked the bracket. To be fair, I did have a couple traditional vapes. Very legal here in Canada, but that kind of does affect my memory. It helps keep me calm so I don't get over-hyper. As many of you can tell, I'm a pretty hyper dude, so me getting less hyper for these pinball tournaments actually really helps me play better, and that's part of the reason why I do a little bit of the old Canadian Devil's Lettuce. But then I tried to have like one beer per hour, so I think I didn't get too drunk. I'm definitely sure I didn't have too many vapes. I probably could have eaten a little more. I was a little bit, yeah, by the time I left, I was probably slurring my words a little. A little bit. I did blast back two beers after I went out pretty quickly, which I hadn't done all day and was already, yeah. So I do apologize. Maybe, okay, wait, I haven't even finished. I haven't finished saying what happened. Then in the second round, I ended up getting, winning, but just barely. We had to go to game seven. So Dylan's sister-in-law, Emma, is a really good player, and I told her that last year. I had to play Emma's sister Haley last year and just barely beat her she's also a very good player but this year even better than her perhaps is Emma and Emma and I had to go to game 7 thankfully I won Metallica by not much by like 5 or 6 million on game 7 I always kept game 7 Metallica was in my pocket for if I needed it it was sort of kind of boring I always picked for my new one I picked Star Wars for my medium like a mid game on Star Wars for me is like 150 to 250, which in match play quite often under those, you know, with that amount of nerves being in a provincial championship, usually that's good enough for me to take home a W. So I'm very, very, very excited though, because I got through it. So that meant I was in the round of 16, got through that. I was in the round of eight, got through that. That meant I was top four in the province, worst case scenario. But this is where I ran into the issue. Brandon Baxter is probably now with my buddy Greg had gone down to Vancouver. Brandon Baxter is probably the top dude who works on people's pinball machines in the entire East Coast. As far as I know, I think there's one guy there, Bob in St. John, but I haven't really heard about him working on anyone's pins in a long time. I don't know what happened there, but Brandon works on a lot of pins for Patrick at Zero's and Spin It and multiple other places. He also works on arcade machines. He's also very dedicated. He goes to every pinball tournament I think we've ever had in Moncton. he also helps with any stuck balls he helps do a little bit of td-ing usually when we're there just the same way Dylan will help when we're in Moncton and hopefully the same way that Brandon and I will help each other Brandon I would actually like to organize and run some tournaments at zeros so if you live on the east coast of Canada if I could ask you to make sure you like and follow subscribe whatever to zeros arcade in Moncton because we will be talking a lot about uh you know tournaments coming up there as well for those of you on the east coast but I ended up losing to Brandon. I think I only got two wins and he got four, of course. So I didn't even push to a game seven. I played fairly well. I probably had been drinking by then for a couple hours. I definitely, my reflexes were not as fast as they could have been. I will say that like it does help like keep me calm and relaxed by having a little bit of beer and such while I'm playing. But of course, if you do actually get to the third or fourth round and you've now, and remember, I went to game seven with Emma on the last one, when you're playing Modern, that could be like an hour and a half, hour and 45 minute round. Like, just Star Wars probably took us 20 minutes, 30 minutes, and then, you know, going back to Metallica can play fairly long when you're all having good games and she's such an excellent player. So I managed to squeeze by her. Brandon took me out. Congratulations to Brandon. He went on to play two other awesome, formidable, much, much younger men than me. I will say that, like, Brandon's I don't know, I'm guessing Brandon's like 28 or something? Brandon, I'm sorry, 25, 28, I don't know. I don't even think he's 30. Maybe he is, but, you know. And then here I am in my mid-40s, and of the top four people left, I'm playing, like, Jaden Shediak. I probably said your name wrong. Jaden, I'm playing Jaden S., and he's, like, in his mid-20s, I'm assuming. I'm playing Victor. He's in his mid-20s, I'm assuming, or even lower 20s. And then I ended up having to play Victor to see if I got third or fourth place. he destroyed me on Blackjack. I managed to beat him on Star Wars. And then I forget what we played for the tiebreak. But I managed to win the tiebreak. Maybe Iron Maiden. I managed to win the tiebreak. And I managed to get third in the province. And I'm really, really, really proud of third. I know a lot of my detractors, if I had got last at Provincials, they would have went, oh, wow, that was a fluke that you won New Brunswick, right? Like you got first, now you got ninth. And you know what? The person who would have said that the most is, it would have been me because I'm my own biggest worst enemy. And if you guys listening or anything like me, try to do like my therapist says and be your own best friend. I tried to be my own best friend. When I got third, instead of being disappointed, I didn't get first or second. I tried to just, yes, did I want to? Of course. Did I expect to win twice in a row? Absolutely not. Do I ever think again with how hot the pinball scene is in Fredericton right now that I'll ever be able to win New Brunswick again? Probably not. And that's okay. Because me as a dude in my mid-40s, I got first last year. I will, no one can take that away. Like once you've won a pinball tournament, that's your pinball tournament forever. I was the 2024 New Brunswick Provincial Champ. I get to be that forever. I get, they don't come to your house and like take the plaque back, right? I mean, it's got the wrong freaking year on it anyways. But I'll always get to be that and always get to be third. And even just getting third means that I'll probably get enough points to like, you know, I'll stay fairly high in the New Brunswick rankings, at least for the start of the year, for the first few tournaments, depending on how I do and such. So I had a great time overall. Shout out to Katrina, got to hang out with her. Joe Selvadu has been on the show multiple times. That's his daughter. Hung out with her. We got to hang out with Chris, who's lost so much weight. Chris Ewell, a lot of my Ontario pinball buddies will know him from Bluffs Pinball and playing with Walter Pinball for Change. Even Ed Ed Robertson used to come out there. There's that little, there's a name drop oh and before I go Jeff freaking Teolis you don't even think so you thought maybe you were gonna get out I was just gonna no I'm getting in the hot tub with you and Mr. Fix that's right and you see those bubbles there they ain't from the hot tub that's just me and Dave Fix farting on you bro you know why because Jeff Teolis came right here on the pinball nerds podcast and he said on episode 600 and I joked around a couple times he seemed so sincere he said Orby I'm really sorry we took a lot of care and time and energy to decide who was going to be the next host of the final round and he you can hear on the show I'm like yeah right Jeff I'm your fifth favorite pinball pie you can hear I'm totally just joking around I thought he was kidding he goes no Albert You were fourth. We sat down and we made a whole, we made graphics and we made a whole pie chart. You know the chart they made for Avatar to explain to you how to get into the 47 different modes? No, no, the charts for figuring out who was going to be the final round next co-host, it started with a bracket of at least 64 podcasters. And then it got all the way down there and it was just Jeff Teolis, Ryan Say, one other person, and me. and you know who the other person was it was pin side freaking Petey really Jeff pin side Petey beat me out like okay Ryan C I get it that's fair enough but it couldn't have been like Joe chair it couldn't have been the head dote Joe C it couldn't have been like Duncan McFarlane with like another terrific tournament player it couldn't have been one of the Castleman's both Carter and Mike know so much about tournament rules it could have been one of them it there's so many great pinball podcasters slash pinball personalities slash people who know way more pinball rules than me. I wanted to come in and be the everyman. Jeff's like 46th in the world. I'm like 4,600th in the world. You know what I mean? Like he's top 0, 0, 0, 1%. I'm top 3%. So I wanted to represent even being in the top 3%. I'm almost elitist, if you will. Not quite because like, you know, if I lived in a big city, I'd probably be around where I used to be before around 1,000th or 1,200th, maybe 1,500th, with all the new young players coming in. But Jeff Frick and T.O.L.S., I am not listening to the final round. I want a sincere, and I don't want any of these DMs, Jeff. Don't be sending me a private message. I'm sorry Pinside Petey beat you out. He's just way better than you, Orby. No, I want a sincere podcast apology. You admit that I could do a better job than Pinside Petey, for Frick's sakes. you think Pinside Petey could ever do a podcast as good as talking about swimming through a swimming pool of gold like Scrooge McDuck like I did with the overzealous pinball prices we're seeing no he could never do that's my opus he could never do one that good if Pinside Petey ever did a rant nearly as good as Orby then maybe maybe maybe he could have got third or fourth place for the stupid final round I am not listening to the final round until and Ryan I love you bro you're not part of this. Maybe I'll just, maybe I'll get like an AI filter where I can only hear Ryan C's parts. Probably wouldn't be as interesting because like, you know, then you wouldn't know what question Jeff asked. But anyways, I'm kind of being tongue in cheek and I'm kind of serious, Jeff. I'm going to let the listeners figure out if you can't tell I'm at least half kidding. I'm at least half kidding, but I'm partially serious, Jeff. Wait till you get an ear from me and Maple in 46 days or something. By the way, go sign up for the Maple Spring Spectacular. I'm talking to you, Ray Day. I'm talking to my old tile buddies, Andy and Andy. I'm talking to everyone else who lives in Toronto, in Ottawa, in London, Sarnia, Windsor, Sheddon, St. Thomas, for God's sake, Port Stanley. Come to Maple Pinball. You, too, can yell at Jeff Teolos, and you can maybe, who the pinball shenanigan himself, Mr. Mike Dimas, who sent me a really radical package, which I should have mentioned, by the way. Mike Dimas sent me an awesome package from, I ordered one or two, actually, I only ordered one of his stickers off eBay. And the man sent me so many cool stickers and there was even more. And I was supposed to make a video about it. I better send Mike a thank you message. Thanks, Mike, for that. Guys, go vote for me in the Twippies. Come on. You don't think, I think one year I got like 14 votes and another year I got like eight. Can we try to beat that? Could I try to get 15? If at least 15 of you listening right now haven't, could the other 14 of you just go, I'm sure I'm your second or your third. I don't have to be your favorite, but I'd like a couple of votes. That's all I'm asking for. I haven't asked for a single coffee sale in probably eight or nine months, and I haven't asked since July, August, September, October, November, December, January, and in seven months I haven't even told you my PayPal. I have not asked for any donos, even though I did get one small one like six months ago. Someone was upset, or not upset, but they felt bad for me that I didn't get invited to JJB for Avatar. That wouldn't have gone well. Ken Cromwell's never inviting me back, or Jack Winarian's not going to yell at me about how to run an arcade if I'm sitting there saying, I'm sorry guys, it looks beautiful, but you forgot to have one, like one toy that interacts with the ball. Y'all kind of forgot about it. Anyways, pinball nerds, go vote for the Twippies. Go listen to Walt Wood's super entertaining show. Until next time, remember to eat, sleep, and breathe. The Twippies!