Pinball Roundtable - The boys are BACK!

We just had to sit down and record a brand-new Pinball Roundtable. Join Jamie, Cale, and Retro Ralph as they dive deep into the news, events, and rumors shaking up the pinball world right now.

In this episode, the team raves about the incredible action from this past weekend’s Pinball World Championship before shifting gears to the major reveals at the Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show. We talk about the brand-new Transformers topper reveal and address the massive elephant in the room: the non-transforming Optimus Prime on the show floor. What did the team really think about it?

Plus, we look ahead at what's coming next: Is Sonic about to completely take over the pinball conversation? When can we expect a launch? We also break down an awesome Spooky customer service story involving a Domino's Pinball machine and Jamie shares an exclusive Barrels of Fun (BOF) update fresh from his lunch with David van Es. Finally, we lay out our predictions for the next massive wave of pinball rumors for the remainder of 2026.

Pull up a stool, grab a drink, and let's talk pinball!

Also check out the Pinball Ranker:  https://pinballranker.com

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Video Version:

https://youtu.be/eHMZn2hT8Qc

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:03

Oh, I pressed the wrong damn fucking button. Screwed it off. Here it is. Here it is. Alright, ladies and gentlemen, welcome. We don't have an announcer today. Glenn's too busy. So is that too loud to talk over?

SPEAKER_03 0:20

That was one of the best intros I think you've ever done, Jamie. That was great.

SPEAKER_02 0:24

Welcome to the Pinball Roundtable. I'm Jamie Bertram. I'm here in Retro Ralph, Cale Hernandez of the Electric Bat. What's up? And uh we didn't have the announcer. We just recorded a little quicker tonight. Things came together very quickly. So Glenn Wector just, you know, oh, I don't mean to be. Jesus. Oh my God.

SPEAKER_04 0:45

We're not even like a minute in, dude.

SPEAKER_02 0:47

It's alright. You gotta shake off sometimes. You gotta shake it off. Uh so Glenn Glenn wasn't here, so we did the intro, and we did that pretty terribly. Pretty terribly. And it's more of an I versus a we, but let me ask you a question right off the bat. It has nothing to do with uh our topics, but today I did a a reel about hey, we're going live tonight. How many takes over under did it take me to do that? It was a 13-second. It was 13 seconds. Six takes. How about you, Cale? How many takes?

SPEAKER_00 1:22

Uh I'ma say I'm gonna say you pulled it off in one.

SPEAKER_02 1:26

No. I took me five takes. Took me five takes for a 13 to 14 second video. I kept fucking it up.

SPEAKER_03 1:34

Can I tell you something that my buddy Christopher that our collective buddy Christopher Franchi told me about your reels? Yeah. He's like, can this effing guy stay off Instagram for just one day? I did. He was off all week. And I'm like, he doesn't post that much, but then he then he said something else. I don't even know if you'd want me to share because apparently he he thought he thought you do this. Obviously, this is I I should try to put an asterisk on this. Jamie is not divorced. He's in a very happily married but Franchi goes, he must just be bored because of the divorce. And I was like, the divorce? I was like, Jamie's not divorced. He's like, Oh shit, then that makes it even worse. I was like, all right.

SPEAKER_02 2:12

So I don't know. Thanks for this. This is a nice vote of confidence. And uh I appreciate that. Kayle, you're a one-take wonder, aren't you?

SPEAKER_00 2:22

Uh yeah.

unknown 2:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:23

I just go with that, man.

SPEAKER_00 2:25

I keep in all the mistakes and I was laughing.

SPEAKER_02 2:27

I was effing up so much. I'm like, and then you popped into my head going, he would just go with it. And uh I couldn't, you know. But I want you to publish the the ones you didn't. I delete them on purpose. Oh yeah. I figured I want those out of my life. I don't want them around. All right. Pinball round table. We I was Jonesing to do this. Thank you, gentlemen. I miss you both. Uh this weekend, Ralph was hanging out with family. Me and Kale were watching Fox City Pinball. Okay, that's what we did yesterday. And we have to start with the pinball world championships, right? Okay. First of all, I gotta give absolute props to uh Steve Bowden and Kyle McCalpine for the commentating. I think they're the best. As a former commentator myself, they are just outstanding. Secondly, Tom's just incredible. The stream is just they had up to 6,000 people watching.

SPEAKER_03 3:21

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 3:22

You know? Right. It was on the front page, and you know, that brings in a lot of different people. And and chat cracks me up, but uh I loved it. The the the games, the matches were just incredible. He needs another rig, though, don't you think he should buy some of my equipment?

SPEAKER_00 3:40

Uh well, first of all, when when Jamie says front page, he's talking about Twitch. It was it was streamed on Twitch.

SPEAKER_02 3:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:48

Um, and uh Tom got a notification that this was gonna be on the front page, and man, this is this is what pinball needs. I uh uh as as far as like you know, pinball content, I've always found that um nothing moves people to learn more about pinball than watching these top 100 players play. Yeah, and it's you'll see it, um, and I've seen it with like casuals. They'll show up to the arcade after like a big tournament, um, and they're like, man, it just inspired me to come in here and play. And and and I think, I mean, that's cool. That's how things work, right? With uh with the World Cup. You know, I used to play soccer. During the World Cup, people would freak the freak out, like, oh, I bought a brand new ball just for this, and we're showing up at the soccer field. It happens with basketball, probably happens with football. I'm not as in touch with that, I've never played football. Uh, but I uh with jujitsu, same thing. When when when the world championships come up, people come out and like train more. Uh so I think it's the same thing with pinball streaming. And um, I mean, this this was like this is a Super Bowl of pinball streaming. What what Tom did, and you're right, the the the absolute A plus, a team commentary. Yeah, you know, it was it was everything fit together very well. Um I would like to I would like to find out from Tom. I think we need we need to ask Tom, maybe do a quick video, like a video call with him, and ask him his opinion on on a second rig. And I'm guessing you you brought that up because the reason you think it's advantageous is to have another one set up so you could quickly switch to it.

SPEAKER_02 5:32

Yeah, I think I think this is I streamed at the old joint and I had the two rigs, and the reason is I never had any downtime. Okay. And I moved between games, and I would do like a golf featured group, which Zala should have been the feature group, and they got lucky picking Zala too, by the way. Yeah, uh, that he went to nine games against Eric Stone. It was it was so fun to watch. I was watching and texting with KL because we knew you were out, so we went sideways text, and I was just, you know, Eric. Anyway, go back and watch it. It's on Twitch, it's really an incredible performance. You're watching a Tiger Woods type of player in Jason Zahler, and you watch him get pushed to the limit by Eric Stone. Uh, and it was just it's just amazing. I had the opposite. I I said to I had an epiphany yesterday watching it. My epiphany was I'll never be this good. Ever. No, but that's true. And that's good. It's a good thing for me because now I can just go and have fun and just try my best. Okay. I needed that wake up and watch them play jackpot and go, I can't do it. Could never do this. Ever.

SPEAKER_03 6:51

So it kind of inspired you in a way? I'm trying to figure this out.

SPEAKER_02 6:54

It inspired me because it's like I said, I need to just go to these games, to these tournaments, and just have fun and enjoy the community and try my best. Just try my damn best. I have to stop stressing out because it's just a waste of my damn time. It's a waste of my time. I'm never gonna be Jason Zahler. Ever. So far, who cares? Go have fun, brother.

SPEAKER_00 7:18

Well, uh, you're right. Uh and you know, and and getting to this level, it's really it's a mental game. And and if you say you're never gonna be there, you're never gonna be there. But you you have to think um when John Schappel, you know, player our buddy at the bat, he's one of the techs that they uh you know, that's John Schappel's older than you.

SPEAKER_02 7:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:46

And he went and beat all these kids at N Disc. So, you know, to think that you can't do it because of like maybe like reaction speed or something like that, John Schappel showed, you know, the world that you can still do it.

SPEAKER_02 7:59

You know, no, I just don't have the mental fortitude.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

Well, that's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_02 8:03

Your mental games fucked, dude.

SPEAKER_00 8:06

I mean, you're already it's terrible. None of those guys that are playing at this level are going, oh, I can't do this.

SPEAKER_02 8:12

You know, it's like no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No. My mental abilities are gone. Gone though. So there you go. Anyway, great stream. Thank you, Tom. Uh, quick shout-out to you.

SPEAKER_00 8:23

Yeah, and please uh go follow Tom, Fox City's pinball on Twitch. Uh make sure you follow, subscribe. Uh, what what he's doing is is is is really uh helping out the the entire pinball world.

SPEAKER_02 8:36

No question. He's he's he's taking it to another level, and thank you for doing so. Uh let's move on to the Transformers topper that was revealed at the Northwest Pinball and Arcade show this past weekend.

SPEAKER_03 8:49

Yes, so kind of weird because it's not very often that Stern would debut like an accessory and not do it their way, like do it you know the traditional way through like a launch video or something. So it was the end of the seminar. So the seminar was basically over, and they kind of joked around. Oh, hey, we got this last-minute transition uh transmission, let's play it. And uh, and it was on the screen, so it wasn't there, the topper wasn't there, but they played it on the screen for everyone in the audience, which seemed to be like pretty hyped up about it. And then that was it, though. They didn't say, like, I would expect them to be like, Oh, hey, we just showed you the prototype, like, get hyped, and you can buy it, and so and so when it comes out, or we'll you'll hear more about it soon. Like, nothing. It was just like, here it is, crickets go. And I was like, But that's stupid. You just like made something that was kind of cool, like it was cool to do, but then they could have followed it up with some piece of information. Like, oh, by the way, we just showed you this prototype no one's seen before. Uh, but if you're interested in the game and you get it, like this accessory is gonna be available soon. Something, even if they don't have a date, but they just showed it and then everyone left the room. It was super weird. I don't know what to think about this.

SPEAKER_00 10:02

I didn't why I learned about this from your Facebook post about it.

SPEAKER_03 10:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 10:07

So I didn't watch the video. Um, so that's funny to hear how that played out from you. That it was weird. Yeah. The last time I remember them doing something like this where they brought a black night topper prototype to Expo and just like set it up on a machine.

SPEAKER_03 10:25

Like it not like it wasn't even black on Black Knight, or it was on Black Knight.

SPEAKER_00 10:28

Oh, yeah, it was on Black Knight and it was working, and and I was like, holy crap. I mean, that was that was a really cool thing. Um, but yeah, but there there wasn't any kind of reveal or anything. It was just like you just walked by and there was a there was a black knight uh prototype topper.

SPEAKER_03 10:44

Yeah. Like, I mean, even you know, like electric playground brings toppers to shows, and if there's one that's kind of special, they'll cover it with a sheet and go, come come over here for the reveal at some point. I mean, they could have done something cool like that, you know, because it it's exciting, but I don't know. It was just weird because then everyone just left the room and they're like, all right, cool. I don't know anything about it.

SPEAKER_04 11:03

And it's like, what? Like, what did we just do?

SPEAKER_03 11:06

I don't know. It was just so weird. I don't know what to do. It was weird.

SPEAKER_02 11:09

Do you think they did it on purpose, or do you think it was a mistake?

SPEAKER_03 11:12

I don't think they do anything on purpose sometimes. I feel like they do like they thought about it up until let's show it, and then like no other thought was put into it. They they don't I don't they don't like strategize on things, I feel like, when they do them like this.

SPEAKER_02 11:26

I put in an interview request. I'm gonna tell you something. I put in an interview request at Stern for the JBS show with the new CMO.

SPEAKER_03 11:36

Oh, you did you did that? I asked. You can do that? That's it. There's actually like an interview request form.

SPEAKER_02 11:43

Not an interview request form. I just went to the Powers of Bee and asked if they would see if I can get him on my calendar.

SPEAKER_03 11:50

Cool.

SPEAKER_02 11:51

Because I got questions like that. I I just gotta know.

SPEAKER_03 11:54

I mean, he's never I've met him one time and it was at Amusement Expo International in Vegas. I know, Kayle, I think you've been to that show of several times. Uh he was just there on the floor, but I have not seen him since in any oh wait, that's maybe I saw him one other time, but he's never vocal. Like he's not the voice at all. Like in any of the events I've gone to, never heard him speak about anything. Maybe he's been on a dealer call. I don't know about that. I couldn't speak for that because I'm I'm fascinated.

SPEAKER_02 12:23

And I and I think I I I got questions, but I think I'll be fair. I'm not gonna just hammer the guy. I just want to know, you know, what what is the future of pinball? What by the biggest manufacturer of pinball machines? I think that'd be an inter interesting interview. We'll see. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:41

I I don't know that you're gonna get a great answer from him, do you think?

SPEAKER_05 12:46

No, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 12:48

No. No, no.

SPEAKER_00 12:51

So it's North. Well, you you're not gonna get what you want.

SPEAKER_04 12:55

You know, it's like this is this is I don't know why that's so funny. He's like, no.

SPEAKER_00 13:02

Yeah, I mean, like, you're bringing on somebody that's getting paid, I'm sure, very well. By, you know, he's he's one of Seth, the the guy Seth brought in, you know. Uh you know, and it's like, hey, tell us tell us about the future of pinball. He's gonna, oh, it's insider connected. Oh, you know, the you know, he's gonna talk about the latest game on the line. You you're not gonna hear, I know what you want to hear. Yeah, we're really fucking up right now, but you know, but we're you know, just hold tight. There's great things coming down, you know. Um yeah, I mean, you you want to ask, like, who's running the website, why the photos keep popping up, you know?

SPEAKER_02 13:39

Are you some of those questions? Yeah, I it's not gonna be.

SPEAKER_00 13:42

Are you doing that on purpose?

SPEAKER_03 13:44

Like, yeah, I don't understand. Kale, did you ever figure out like what even was that a picture of? Like it was just a random bunch of like women's torsos or something. Yeah, so it was that right.

SPEAKER_00 13:56

So it looks like uh, you know, I was even going as far back as to like the X-Men Topper. You know, was that leak on purpose?

SPEAKER_03 14:05

Uh was that was oh, I forgot about that.

SPEAKER_00 14:08

And what what was the most recent one? Uh the whole fucking game. The whole play field, yeah. Yeah, the whole uh Transformers. Is that on purpose? Is that to get people talking about it? Or are you guys just screwing up? Uh what's what's the you know, after that happens, um because I'm sure not everybody, if it is on purpose, not everybody's privy to it, right? So there has to be a lot of talk around the cubicles. Um, but also the like the one you're talking about, Ralph, where there's like this AI generated image like of of women and wigs or something. Like, is that is that you know, when they say, you know, you've heard in interviews where they're used, yeah, we do use AI behind the scenes because there's a big controversy uh with AI art and pinball. And so like people are really careful about what they say. They're using AI. Hey, just across the board, bringing up AI is sketchy no matter what business you're in, right? Uh, because there's 50% of people hate it, 50% of people like don't care or you know, love it. Um but um, you know, maybe that maybe they they they like, hey, we use AI to come up with placeholder images. One one slipped out. I don't know. But you you're not gonna you're not gonna hear that good stuff. I I don't I don't think he can be candid like you want. I mean you're gonna you're gonna get a bunch of boilerplate like fluff stuff.

SPEAKER_02 15:30

Yeah, it's probably not gonna get a lot of.

SPEAKER_03 15:33

I mean, because he's a CMO, I mean, because he's a CMO, yeah, you're gonna get whatever the company line messaging is. You're not gonna get you're you really won't be able to ask him anything, Jamie, that I feel like you're gonna get some kind of exclusive or some information that's gonna excite the audience. It's probably just gonna be, yeah, like the basic stuff. It's kind of like I like Seth when we talk, but Seth has I know what Seth's gonna tell me when I talk to him. Like, he's not gonna give me any piece of information. It's just like, you know what I mean? He gives me a little bit, but nothing that I'm gonna come back to the show and be like, oh my gosh, when I hit him with this, but that's kind of like he's a CEO. Like, he's of course he's not gonna say that stuff, right?

SPEAKER_00 16:13

And I know and I know what Jamie's looking for, Ralph. And Ralph, you've seen it before, you've been there. You know, when you go to a pinball show, and then one of the guys from one of the companies, like, hey, you want to go out to dinner?

SPEAKER_03 16:24

Oh, yeah, that's when you get the stuff.

SPEAKER_00 16:25

And you, yeah, you get fucked up and you you hear all this stuff, you know. That's what Jamie's looking for. The guy's not gonna do it on YouTube.

SPEAKER_02 16:34

No, I understand this.

SPEAKER_03 16:35

I'm not trying to. So maybe we need to pick a different guest for you. Maybe this is a bad, maybe we just need to write now, we decide he's not the right one.

SPEAKER_01 16:43

Well, I haven't got a yes yet, so I've heard Craig.

SPEAKER_03 16:47

So we'll just we might as well pick it now.

SPEAKER_00 16:49

I can tell you right now, beyond a shadow of a doubt, and everybody watching here knows this. Me and Ralph are more interesting guests than whoever you want to bring on. It's like it's like, I want to make this a worse show. Like, what what is that about? I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 17:10

All right, Jamie, we gotta rethink this.

SPEAKER_02 17:12

All right, well, I'm he's not gonna tell me why the Transformer does. We're rescinding Transform.

SPEAKER_03 17:17

If you opened up the inbox, we just rescinded the email. Jamie doesn't want to do that interview again.

SPEAKER_02 17:22

Sorry, sorry, Zach. We didn't mean to waste Zach. I'm sorry I wasted your time. You're such a good dude.

SPEAKER_00 17:27

And uh the best part, I mean, I know Zach. If Zach's watching this, he's going like, Thank, thank you for saving my ass.

SPEAKER_03 17:33

Now he doesn't have to go call him up. Now he's got to be like, hey man, what's up? This guy, JBS show wants to interview you. All right, we're pulling it.

SPEAKER_02 17:43

All right, it's over, it's gone, it's off. All right. My my team said no. All right. But uh, I you know, I'd like to know if it transformed, if it didn't transform.

SPEAKER_03 17:55

Well, I can I can tell you that. Wait, well, why would you wouldn't ask him that? Yeah, why would you ask him? He's not gonna ask the CMO. He doesn't do shit. I was sorry, I don't sorry, I didn't mean to say that.

SPEAKER_05 18:04

But he doesn't do no, he's not gonna know that his department.

SPEAKER_02 18:08

Okay, but hold on a second, gents. What can you mean? Okay, hold on a second.

SPEAKER_03 18:12

Why wouldn't you ask why wouldn't you ask the head of engineering or like someone that does that stuff, not the CMO? My point CMOs would be like there's a transport unit.

SPEAKER_02 18:22

How do you handle when something comes out of engineering that is causing some problems in our industry? How do you handle that as CMO when there's conflicting stories that it always transformed? I can answer that. I'm gonna be him, ready?

SPEAKER_00 18:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:41

I don't. That was great. Thanks. Good times.

SPEAKER_00 18:48

But but here's Imagine you I don't we we saw how it was handled. Like I don't I don't understand why you have to ask him. Like we saw in real time how it was handled. Ralph, you're following me, right? Yes. Like like how many tubes are you pulling before you're doing this show? I don't understand.

SPEAKER_04 19:09

I love this part of the show. This is awesome right now. That's right.

SPEAKER_02 19:13

This one, this went wonderfully. Self-deprecating.

SPEAKER_04 19:17

Somehow I'm gonna get in trouble for this too, even though I had nothing to do with any of this.

SPEAKER_02 19:21

Well, no, it's all gonna be me, Jamie. You know, I even sent the guy a LinkedIn message.

SPEAKER_03 19:27

Oh, shit. Oh my god. Now he doesn't think you're a stalker. Now he's gonna be a good thing. That's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_00 19:31

He's like he's like, who the fuck is this guy?

SPEAKER_03 19:34

I know. Did you do it where you can enter a note, or did you just send it blindly?

SPEAKER_02 19:38

Because that's the Oh, I know what I'm doing. I'm a recruiter. I know what I'm doing. Oh, yeah, that's right. You're I'm sorry. That is offensive.

SPEAKER_03 19:45

I'm sorry, Jamie. Actually, no, I'm serious. That's offensive. You're recruiting. You do that every day. I'm sorry. I'm dead serious. You know what I'm doing.

SPEAKER_02 19:51

I'm sorry, that was offensive. It wasn't offensive. I just used an in mail credit on the dude. So uh I hope I don't get in trouble at work.

SPEAKER_00 19:58

But fingers crossed.

SPEAKER_02 19:59

Fingers crossed that he comes back and uh tells me absolutely nothing for 35 minutes.

SPEAKER_03 20:05

Now I kind of hope that he definitely accepts because the whole time you're gonna be like, we're gonna be in your head, the whole the whole interview.

SPEAKER_02 20:11

No, you're gonna be asked. I'm gonna you guys are gonna go on the shared note and ask a lot of questions.

SPEAKER_03 20:17

So can we be in like an earpiece where like Kale and I can go asking?

SPEAKER_00 20:21

Are we gonna be and and Ralph and I are gonna be in on this, right?

SPEAKER_02 20:26

Why don't we why don't we interview him? Three of us. Oh god.

SPEAKER_00 20:31

What what I think it'd be more fun, like, because here's the thing. You you don't want to you don't want to interview him. Like, there's not I can tell you how the whole launch went down and why why it went the certain way and why things were edited the way they were. Like that's not even that's not even that interesting. You know what, you know, it'd be better to have him on and to like really get to know him. You know, I'm I'm so fascinated with his. Who cares about Transformers?

SPEAKER_05 20:59

Because the WWE background.

SPEAKER_00 21:03

That's what I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_05 21:05

No, you weren't talking about you were talking about Transformers. I love how Jamie's just like, yeah, bro, I was that's the interview I was doing. That's what I was doing, bro.

SPEAKER_02 21:17

I was going further down the notes, okay? All right, you didn't let me get there.

SPEAKER_00 21:21

It would actually be so cool if Matthew joined us and we just went through like it would be more interesting if he joined us and we went through our topics and then had a discussion, and he like he he like talked like he was like part of our little circle. I think that's better than going all right, like we did with Franchie. I'm glad you to have you on here, Matthew Geyer. We're gonna talk about what happened with Transformers.

SPEAKER_05 21:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 21:45

That's a why the round table is the last thing he wants to hear. This is why the round table's brilliant, ladies. You gotta planie. We gotta this is why my content alone is is not as good as what I get to the boys and help me out. And so Okay. So here's the invite. Matthew. All right. Zach Sharp. We'd like to have him as a guest on a round table. We have a list of questions. We're not going to be asking why Optimus Prime doesn't fucking transform. We don't really care anymore. Move on.

SPEAKER_03 22:18

Even though the horse has been beaten to death, do you want to know what they said in the seminar? Real? I'll make it super fast.

SPEAKER_02 22:22

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:23

Okay, this is it. Then we'll then we won't even, unless you guys want to talk about more, we don't even need to say anything. So someone in the uh they didn't bring it up during the main seminar, and then during the QA, um, some guys, I don't remember, I'm not gonna remember exact the question exactly, but it was something quickly one is this something that people can uh see for themselves?

SPEAKER_00 22:41

Is it like on YouTube?

SPEAKER_03 22:42

Okay, it's on um it's on Twitch, and the name of the I'll I'll go look at it while we're doing other stuff, but there's a there's a content creator that covered the event and they did a really good job, and I can't think of the name of them right now, but they did they did like a really high production job with the whole thing. It's pretty good.

SPEAKER_02 22:58

Oh, good.

SPEAKER_03 22:59

Yeah, they were they were pretty good. So someone in the audience asked, if was there something in the game that did not make it because of schedules or deadlines, and then Elliot was like, Yeah, the transforming optimists. And then he said, I'm paraphrasing a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 23:12

Somebody went in with that question. Hey, is there something that we don't know about that may have not worked properly?

SPEAKER_03 23:21

Sorry, he didn't work, he said so all right. It's it's it what is there something you wished made made made it in the game, but did not because of schedules or deadlines, which which is probably they they knew that that was like they knew that was the angle they were going for. So he answers and he said, Yeah, like we all really wanted the this transforming optimus, and then he kind of said something like, uh, you know, sometimes you have an idea and you work really hard to make it work, but it creates too many technical challenges. And then he went into like four. He said, ball traps were an issue, uh, surviving testing was an issue, uh getting the mech to work on a uh uh consistently reliable, and then of course, because of all that, we couldn't make it production ready. But they did show a thing that was really cool on um Megatron. He he went through all the iterations of Megatron, and it's actually really cool because it shows like how many times he tried, like first he tried putting everything in the in his gun, like the coil and everything, and he didn't show the video, but he's like, he goes, dude, I was all stoked, and we're like, All right, let's test it. Like they're setting a bomb off, and the ball was like it like literally dripped out of the end, I guess. He's like, I'm too embarrassed to show it. And then he showed one more clip of when he had like a really high-powered coil and the thing like shot across the the play field. So it was kind of cool. This this seminar was actually really cool because they weren't afraid to show the early prototypes either. And in there they showed they showed they didn't really talk about it much, but they showed that Optimus was in like the truck position, and you can see very clearly what it was doing, it was just blocking the VUC. And then I he they didn't talk about it, but I'm assuming you would have had to hit it, he would have stood, and then you could get to the VUC to lock your first ball or whatever after you hit Optimus. But they didn't, they didn't they kind of like ignored that it was there, but they did talk about it, but it was only after asked they didn't say like that. But then the rest of the team commented on the panel and they were like, Yeah, no one wanted it more than us, and they seemed slightly, not slightly, really bummed about it, and then they moved on to the next guy. But that was pretty much it. Bagel? Is that bagel?

SPEAKER_02 25:29

Oh my god, dude. She's just guarding this little house. She's a killer. I love her. Take it easy, Biggs.

SPEAKER_03 25:39

Alright. Sorry. I mean, do you do do you guys want to talk more about it, or is that kind of yeah? Because it's been talked about so much. Unless we have anything that we could add to it. I don't have anything to add to it.

SPEAKER_00 25:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:51

All right.

SPEAKER_00 25:52

So we'll move on. I mean, hey, if it didn't work, it didn't work. I I I mean, I don't I don't care either way. I was getting the pro regardless.

SPEAKER_02 25:59

Yeah. Well, the pro uh should be at should be coming to you pretty soon, right?

SPEAKER_00 26:06

Yes, I got a message from my friend Zach Menny a couple hours ago. Oh, so it's gonna ship out soon. Asking me for money. He said he said it's shipping soon, yeah. Oh, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 26:24

Yeah, it'll be at Eureka around the same time. So uh I'm I can't wait to play it and uh we'll see for ourselves, Kale, right? Yep. I'm excited. I think it'll print it'll print money on location.

SPEAKER_00 26:36

I'm so excited. Uh you know, I guess Ralph knows more than we do, uh, but I've heard that um the the code is is farther along than Stern usually allows. So code's really good.

SPEAKER_03 26:55

And the oh man, the you know, it's the theme integration stuff is so cool. Like how they integrated the cartoons and the commercial breaks, and like that's the part that gets me because I watched it all, you know, when I was a kid all the time on Saturday morning. So that's what gets me. The theme part is so good, and the code goes along with it. It kind of feels like you know, kind of feels more like I'm playing through like episodes of the show. It's it's pretty cool. Like I and like Elizabeth just does a good job. We all know that. So uh so it'll I'm cool. I'm I can't excited for you guys to see to play it.

SPEAKER_00 27:28

Yeah, this is this is so exciting. Uh and um, you know, it's uh it's unfortunate that they didn't have time to get the Optimus Prime working. I know I've been hearing about this game for like it feels like a couple of years now, and people at Stern have been extremely, extremely excited about this. And then at the last minute, you know, when the when the accountants are like, hey, you need to ship, we gotta get these deposits in, and they didn't have enough time to, you know, work out the kinks on Optimus Prime, uh, it really uh kind of crushed the team spirits. So um hopeful, you know, hopefully they can all recover recover and make another great game next year. But uh I think it I think it's gonna be a hit. Like like Ralph's saying, the uh you know, I haven't played the game yet, but uh the integration with the with the IP, and you it it almost feels like you're watching the cartoon, and that's what we all remember. That's what's gonna the the the nostalgia we're looking for. It it really feels good.

SPEAKER_03 28:33

Yeah, yeah. And to have um, I'm gonna get their name. I mean, to have like Peter Cullen come back and do Optimus, and then they got uh I always forget the other guy's name, uh Frank uh Welker. I mean, it's that's cool. And they they actually showed during that seminar their recording sessions and sessions, and it was it was it's pretty cool to actually, because you don't get to always see that stuff. I know sometimes they show it in those making of things, but that was that was kind of cool too. So they played a couple clips of them, like uh of Megatron and and uh Optimus, which was which and the guy sounds like for being as old, you know, he's been doing this forever, he still sounds the same, like he still sounds just like him.

SPEAKER_04 29:10

So it's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_02 29:13

Uh is Sonic about to take the conversation over, though? Is this happening? Are we gonna are they launching this week, next week? When are we here? I I have no idea.

SPEAKER_03 29:24

I'm not gonna comment on when it you guys can speculate on the when, but okay, but do I think it's gonna take over the conversation? Probably. I mean, because I think Jersey Jack only releases a game a year, right? So like Stern does four a year, they only do one, so I think it's like there's a lot of excitement around what they're gonna do next, and then you go, you know, you have Steve Ritchie, who everyone loves his games, and the last one was Elton. It's it's like I just I think you're gonna have and it's an and it's a video game IP, which seems to be uh the trend a little bit lately. I I don't know. I yeah, I think it's absolutely gonna take over the conversation just because it's something new and it's a company that hasn't released a game in about a year. So in the last game was a pretty big hit.

SPEAKER_00 30:07

So well, what's um I think we're gonna hear about it on the 23rd. What's today? June 8th?

SPEAKER_03 30:16

Yeah. Yeah, the 8th, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:17

I think there's the 23rd sounds about right, don't you think? That's what I think Ralph had to take a sip of the drink. Sounds good. So I I think we're gonna hear about it on the 23rd, and then you'll have people playing the thing on the 24th. They'll already have a game.

SPEAKER_02 30:39

Well, I can't wait to play it. I can't wait to play it. I know Eureka's getting one. Uh I'm surprised they're doing the wizard. Uh not the wizard, the uh arcade div uh edition again is what I'm hearing.

SPEAKER_03 30:50

Why why I'd be surprised?

SPEAKER_02 30:52

Because I I don't know if this one is gonna sell as many arcades as Harry Potter did. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 30:58

Well, I it feels like they're you know, they're trying to have an operator-friendly model, you know, and so I think that's the you know, I think that's the goal. And I they must have sold well enough on Harry Potter to try to keep trying it again, right? Good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:14

But I think the only problem they have, they haven't figured this out yet. Uh like Stern does the pro models for operators first, and they they get them off the line. See, the the problem with the I I mean, this is I think that's this is how they did with Harry Potter. Um, so I no reason to think they'd change it on Sonic.

SPEAKER_03 31:35

Um they did them at the end of the run, right?

SPEAKER_00 31:38

Yeah, which doesn't make sense for operators because the operators make most of their money in the first couple of months.

SPEAKER_03 31:44

Yeah, that's a good point.

SPEAKER_00 31:44

Actually, so you kind of like you're having this arcade edition, but then you're screwing your operators by making them white.

SPEAKER_02 31:51

That's true.

SPEAKER_03 31:53

I wonder if they're gonna do that differently this time. I don't know. That actually that's a wiki good point. I wasn't thinking about that because they didn't really it kind of almost goes against the idea that it's an operator version to do it at the end of the run, right? Right.

SPEAKER_02 32:05

Yeah, that's what I wasn't even thinking of that. Especially when then there's not that many on location, right?

SPEAKER_00 32:11

I mean, that pinball map, and people see that the bats got Sonic and Yeah, that's like there are um I mean, Ralph, you can help me out with this, but I think I think there was only one Harry Potter in public around here in Arizona, and that was at the Outpost arcade.

SPEAKER_03 32:28

I is that I I thought that was still the only one, unless there's uh someone else got one, but oh no, wait, there's another one by my house. They have an arcade edition Harry Potter at that um Tilt Game Tilt Games? No, uh shoot. No, not there. It's called uh it's an axe throwing place.

SPEAKER_00 32:44

Mighty axe the electric bear.

SPEAKER_03 32:46

No, no, mighty axe.

SPEAKER_00 32:48

It was the arcades called the electric bear.

SPEAKER_03 32:53

Oh, okay, yeah. Oh, yeah, there's a flyer that calls it that, but in the thing it's called like they named it after us, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:01

Really? Yeah, some guys from California who started operating pinball machines there. They've been to the arcade before. They gotta be.

SPEAKER_03 33:08

If you ever get a chance to talk to them, Kelly gotta be like, you guys need to service them better because like they're they got a cool lineup, but we they live in California.

SPEAKER_00 33:19

They can't they can't uh operate them properly. Um and I knew when I was talking to them, they they came and played one of our tournaments, and when I was talking to them, he said, Oh yeah, we named the arcade the electric bear, it's an ode to you because we we love you guys. I was like, Oh, that's cool. And um and and they said they live in California. And I I told a story before, I think it was on the electric batcast. Uh, when they told me this, and they you know they just started operating an arcade in Arizona. I was like, How are you guys teching the games? He's like, that's the best part. We don't have to, they're all brand new sterns. And I you know, I didn't say anything, but I was like, Oh there you go, boy. This isn't gonna go out. This is gonna be a hard lesson. And people have told me, for example, um they put a Pokemon on the floor that had that the the fucked up ball guide.

SPEAKER_04 34:14

Right.

SPEAKER_00 34:14

And so they're I mean, they're in California, they can't fix it. So they just threw so whoever opens their machines just put it all on the floor like that. Yeah, so um that just shows you know it's important to have a you know, a tech on the on scene. Uh that they're trying to teach one of the bartenders how to tech stuff, but basically all they can do is like clean stuff and change rubbers.

SPEAKER_03 34:40

So I will say when we went, I went with Rudy, it was like maybe half the games were running well, and the other half were just kind of in various states of you know, like their dead pool, the drop targets don't work on the front bank at all. So it's I've heard the same thing. Yeah, uh yeah, they got a couple things where like wire forms have moved, so like balls are getting stuck in places and stuff like that. So yeah, and no one's there shutting the games off. Like they did they did implement a QR system, but like you said, if I'm if I'm sending something during that QR or from the QR system, it's probably going to the dudes in in California. So it's like they'll fix it next time they're in town, I guess. But I don't know. But yeah, I hope they get better at that.

SPEAKER_00 35:24

Right. It just was, and and we talk about this, uh, Rachel and I on the electric badcast. It is so important. It's not just pinball, this is restaurants, any small business. This is this is scientifically proven they a uh, you know, a business uh survives better, runs more smoothly when the owner operators are on site. You know, that that's how Chick-fil-A does it. Yeah, Chick-fil-A crushes it, you know. There's not like shit in the bathrooms or fucking, you know, they don't have any way to, you know, because the owner's back there. Dry your hands. The owner has to be on site.

SPEAKER_02 36:03

On site. Yeah. There you go. All right. Well, I hope they listen and electric bear. Uh I don't know, get your shit together. Let's go.

SPEAKER_00 36:12

Yeah, what were we talking about? I forgot.

SPEAKER_03 36:13

I think it was the oh, it was with whether Sonic was gonna take over. Then we started talking about how where where Harry Potters were in the arcade edition and stuff. So I think we're good on that topic.

SPEAKER_00 36:21

They they if they really uh care about operators, they need to run operators first and get those out to operators because that's that's yeah, the bread and butter for the operator. The first two months is when you're gonna make your most money. And you know, like like Outpost Arcade, they didn't get Harry Potter for like what, like eight months after it was released or something. You know, the hype's the hype's gone. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:50

You know, yeah, yeah, totally. I think you guys are like the ones that could get away with that though, because they probab they're so loyal to the arcade that if they knew you had something even after launch like that, because there probably aren't going to be a bunch of them, they'd still I think you'd still get maybe it's not as good as if you got it at launch, but I still think you guys could probably draw a lot of people if you had it, don't you think?

SPEAKER_00 37:14

Uh possibly, but it you know, even with us, you know, having having the the new game within the first couple of months of announcement makes a massive, massive difference. I mean, that's that's how you know when we had we had Elton John early. I mean, we were the only people with it, you know, for a long, long time, and it it crushed. That's why you know it was breaking records at the bat.

SPEAKER_02 37:38

That's cool. Yeah, you need that hype, right?

SPEAKER_00 37:41

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 37:42

All right, let's go on to a spooky uh shout out, spooky service story, if you guys don't mind, okay? Yeah, we got the boys at Eureka Heights by uh Spookies and they have a spooky row at Eureka Heights, John and Taylor. How are you, boys? And they love spooky and they love spooky's customer service. So they go out and they've got some rare machines on there. They've got a Jetsons, they put a Halloween Ultraman coat on Halloween, they fool around with these of these seven spooky games that they have on location. They got themselves a dominoes. Okay? Why don't they do that? Just hold on, let me tell the story. It's true. They got themselves a dominoes, right? This thing's beautiful, it's gorgeous, but the display doesn't work. So they put a ticket in the spooky, and spooky's like, this is a hard ask. This is gonna be a tough one. You want a a Domino's, and he they what he did is he put the took the Jetsons board, put it in there, and realized that it it was this board that he needed for the dominoes. Yeah while Spooky customer service came through, they went through former spooky employees that now work for Barrels of Fun. They went through this whole thing. I'm not gonna tell the story that well, sorry, John, but at the end of the day, they have a working Domino's coming this Friday to Eureka Heights because of Spooky. And they just they don't need the support Domino's pizza pinball machine anymore. I mean, that's ridiculous. They only sold like a hundred of them, but they did, and and Can I ask you something, Jamie?

SPEAKER_03 39:23

Since you know, like what like, but doesn't that seem like a waste of a spot? Like a waste of a pinball spot?

SPEAKER_02 39:31

Oh, yeah. I what do I think? I think that it's gonna make money on Friday because there's a tournament there and they're having Domino's pizza and and and they're gonna make fun, but it's not gonna make any money on.

SPEAKER_03 39:42

I mean, are they are they they're not like running out of room or anything though, right?

SPEAKER_02 39:46

No, they have total run out of room.

SPEAKER_03 39:49

No, no, I'm just trying to think if I ran an R and owned my own R arcade, would I take up a spot with Domino's pizza?

SPEAKER_00 39:56

No, you definitely wouldn't. I mean, they they must there's something's going on there, and they and and why would you thank Spooky for fixing that game so you could put it in your arcade?

SPEAKER_02 40:08

Well, I they they thought they think it's gonna be fun, they enjoy the nostalgia of Taylor, Taylor, oh I got you. Okay, mostly Taylor more than John, but I don't want to speak for John.

SPEAKER_03 40:22

And uh I mean I can appreciate the like goofiness of having it because yeah, I might go play it just because I'm like, what the fuck? Like, there's a dominoes pinball, but you know what I mean. I maybe maybe if I came in, didn't know anything and saw it, I'd be like, oh, I'll put a couple quarters in that, I guess, just to see what it is. I wouldn't put any more in after that, but I put the initial ones in.

SPEAKER_00 40:42

How much was that thing?

SPEAKER_02 40:45

Uh I'm not saying.

SPEAKER_03 40:47

Wait, was it expensive? Oh no, this story's getting even better.

SPEAKER_00 40:50

It's gotta be expensive.

SPEAKER_02 40:52

I don't know how much it was. I'm not saying anything. This was supposed to be a shout-out to him.

SPEAKER_01 40:58

And these two have ruined it. We've ruined it tonight. And they've ruined the shout-out, John. So don't get mad at me. This is uh Kale and Ralph.

SPEAKER_03 41:11

I feel like the what's that line you say? Good luck with that. This is kind of I feel like this is good for that segment.

SPEAKER_04 41:17

Good luck with that. It is a good luck with that segment.

SPEAKER_02 41:19

It might only be there three weeks, okay. Uh, and you know, they got transformers coming. They have they have problems because they've got a lot more machines. They always get the newest machines. So as those come in, you know, Jetsons, Rick and Morty, no offense to Spooky Row, but they don't make any money. And dominoes.

SPEAKER_03 41:40

All right. Well, good endorsement, James. There you go. What else you what else you got?

SPEAKER_02 41:44

Well, I got pinballranker.com. Kale hooked me up with a with a podcast when I drive to work and I come home, uh, Wedgehead. Yeah, Wedgehead's good. I've been listening to a hell out of these guys, right? And uh they're they would win a Twippie if we still had Twippies. And uh they could win, they're really good. And they had a guy on that started pinballranker.com.

SPEAKER_06 42:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:10

Joe Cherravino and I are addicted to it. You can just have you played it? Have you done it?

SPEAKER_03 42:17

I had it up earlier because I hadn't heard of it, but like what's the do you can I rank my own? Like I put it.

SPEAKER_02 42:23

Yeah, it takes like two seconds to create your account. It's real easy, and then two things pop up, and it'll be Foo Fighters versus Venom, and you choose. And you just keep and I was like, I had no idea how it worked.

SPEAKER_00 42:38

That's cool. Say that again.

SPEAKER_03 42:40

Wait, wait, say that again. What do you do?

SPEAKER_02 42:42

You create your account. Yeah, it's very simple. Take you about two minutes, Ralphie, and then you go and it'll pop up, and you and you instead of like doing a pin side 20 minutes, it takes you to rank Dune, you just go and you say it it pops up. It's like this or that.

SPEAKER_03 42:59

It's almost like Tinder before dating with pinball machines. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 43:05

That's kind of cool, man.

SPEAKER_02 43:06

I like that. It's addicting. So shout out to Wedgehead for making everyone know about this and pinballranker.com.

SPEAKER_03 43:13

Yeah, this feels like a really cool list of their top ten is kind of interesting. I know. It's not anymore.

SPEAKER_00 43:23

It's not.

SPEAKER_03 43:23

It's Congo now, it looks like.

SPEAKER_00 43:25

Yeah, I think it changes all the time.

SPEAKER_03 43:28

So is it changing? It's probably changing as people are joining and ranking, right? Like things are probably moving around a lot. I kind of like that.

SPEAKER_00 43:34

I kind of dig that because Dune just dropped down.

SPEAKER_03 43:38

At a seven?

SPEAKER_00 43:40

Yeah. I think last time when I looked at it, it was like third or something. But it's man, it's trailing off.

SPEAKER_03 43:47

I want to see where Predator is. Predator.

SPEAKER_02 43:52

Are we excited at all for fifth element?

SPEAKER_00 43:56

Who's doing that? For real man.

SPEAKER_02 44:01

Well, we shouldn't be talking about our big wave of rumors. You want to go that's later.

SPEAKER_03 44:05

That's late. Well, we can do it now, I guess. Right?

SPEAKER_02 44:09

I was gonna talk about my barrels of fun lunch with David Van S.

SPEAKER_00 44:12

Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_02 44:13

Yeah, we want to hear about that.

SPEAKER_00 44:14

Yeah, let's go. Let's talk about that.

SPEAKER_02 44:16

So, how did this get set up?

SPEAKER_00 44:18

What do you mean?

SPEAKER_03 44:25

There's not one nugget you got out of this whole entire thing. What did you guys eat?

SPEAKER_02 44:29

What did you eat? We went to a New York pizza joint in Houston and it was terrible. It was just awful. So that's on me. I picked the joint.

SPEAKER_00 44:38

Did he pay for it?

SPEAKER_02 44:39

No, I bought. Should I let him pay for it? What's did you ask him to lunch or did he ask you to lunch? I asked him to lunch.

SPEAKER_03 44:49

But he did did he offer to pay?

SPEAKER_02 44:51

Yeah.

unknown 44:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 44:53

But you pulled the power move and you're like, no. Gee, I got it. I got this.

SPEAKER_02 44:58

I got your slice. It's a slice. It wasn't very expensive.

SPEAKER_03 45:01

I got your $2.99 slice, buddy.

SPEAKER_01 45:03

It's a slice.

SPEAKER_02 45:04

It wasn't even a good slice.

SPEAKER_04 45:05

I'm good for it. I'm good for it, Van S.

SPEAKER_02 45:09

He gave me one thing that I can't tell because I'm under NDA. But I did walk. They're expanding.

SPEAKER_00 45:16

Wait, wait. What is this NDA you're under? Yeah, when are you for what? We haven't heard about this NDA. We hear a lot about Ralph's NDAs.

SPEAKER_02 45:26

I got like a hundred NDAs. When did you get this NDA? Yeah, what do you have going on? An NDA like early on, and I had to Are you sure it's not expired by now? I had to re-sign it for Winchester, if I remember. And what is it? That's probably expired, Jamie.

SPEAKER_00 45:43

So does it says you can't talk about whatever you and David Van S talked about at lunch?

SPEAKER_02 45:49

No, I if I'm given some you know information that is you know whatever. I'm not doing it, boy.

SPEAKER_03 45:56

He couldn't have given you anything that good anyway, though, right?

SPEAKER_02 45:59

No, one was really cool. One was really cool. Was it future titles?

SPEAKER_03 46:04

Because if it is, he probably lied to you the whole entire time to see if no future titles.

SPEAKER_02 46:08

You're never gonna get future titles out of that.

SPEAKER_03 46:10

Yeah. So it doesn't sound like it's really anything that you couldn't share, right?

SPEAKER_02 46:15

It it it was how about their games are constantly gonna be updated? How about that?

SPEAKER_03 46:23

So the the information gave you is that they're gonna have Wi-Fi games?

SPEAKER_02 46:27

No, that they're constantly gonna update their code and they're not just like they're they're doing so.

SPEAKER_03 46:33

The information gave you is that they're gonna do code updates.

SPEAKER_02 46:36

Boy, they're all over me, lazy for tuning in now. I'm trying to figure out what it was.

SPEAKER_04 46:43

You said he told you that they're gonna do code updates.

SPEAKER_02 46:46

Yeah. I I think some of the code updates that they're gonna do for their existing machines are really why would you be afraid to say that?

SPEAKER_03 46:53

That's just like a normal thing. Come on, that's not what he really said. It has to be something else. That's not weird. Why won't you say what he said? Come on, Jamie. It couldn't even be that bad. I'm sure it's nothing.

SPEAKER_02 47:11

Nah, I can't. I thought about it though. I just did. I really didn't.

SPEAKER_03 47:16

Dude, you guys know we you got me in so much trouble that we had to pull down the Harry Potter video. So this is is this that kind of trouble you'd get in for saying this thing? Like you'd have to pull the video.

SPEAKER_00 47:26

And there's no NDA. No, you can't say that, like, oh, I I signed an NDA with barrels of fun two years ago. So anything that happened over a slice of pizza, uh it was not a very good slice.

SPEAKER_02 47:41

Sorry, David. That's on me. All right. Well, clearly we're not getting anything out of you, so whatever. No, I think they're doing some really great things. And we I'll tell you what, it was fascinating to talk to Cricket. It was fascinating to talk to him about the Dune launch. I enjoyed that. You know, good. Of things that they've learned, right? Uh uh make why they're so secretive is they weren't secretive enough with Dune, and I think it bit them in the ass, to be honest with you. And I think they released the machine that wasn't ready, and they learned from that. So I I I I did enjoy that conversation a lot.

SPEAKER_00 48:19

What uh about this being secretive, how did that bite them in the ass? Oh, because they couldn't test it properly. Is that what you're saying?

SPEAKER_02 48:29

I think that they just released it too quickly. They their time my my opinion, and I told them that the time frame between Kong, Harry Potter, isn't it's not wasn't a great time for for Dune. And the fact that everyone knew it was Dune probably put it down the list of those and in people's minds. That's my opinion.

SPEAKER_03 48:53

Hmm. So we both had high profile lunches, Jamie, because I had lunch with John uh Schwartz of American Pinball, the board of advisors, the while last a couple weeks ago. So that was kind of cool.

SPEAKER_02 49:05

Did you get anything out of that?

SPEAKER_03 49:07

No, no, no, hold on. What what did you guys eat? We ate at uh it's like a breakfast place. So it's just it's just like I had I had a breakfast, I had this really, it was like a big, like you know, like the big gluttonous breakfast sandwiches. Yeah, one of those like so gluttonous, like you can't even eat it.

SPEAKER_00 49:24

Like go on, go on.

SPEAKER_03 49:26

Bad choice though, when you're trying to talk with someone, bad fucking terrible choice. There's shit flying all over the plate. And then he got like he was very health conscious. He got like egg whites. Caught a couple. No, I I think he might have. It was I don't know, don't don't quote me on egg whites, but it was like three eggs, two pieces of bacon, and I think that was it. Like he just kept it, no orange juice or nothing, just water coffee. He kept it. Very kept a keto.

SPEAKER_04 49:53

I I freaking bought on that one too. I know that was stupid. He was telling me about his plane. He has a plane. I mean, why am I buying?

SPEAKER_03 50:03

I should have why did I offer to buy? He has a plane, right? But yeah, I didn't. He's a very nice guy, though. We had we had we we talked a lot about American pinball, the future of what he thinks is gonna happen, and it's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 50:14

And and this guy owns American Pinball?

SPEAKER_03 50:16

No, he's on the board of advisors. Okay, yeah. As an independent director.

SPEAKER_00 50:22

So now what did what did you learn?

SPEAKER_03 50:26

Um, I learned there they got that I learned that the reception, according to them, was very, very positive on uh Circus Voltaire, and they feel real good about what they're doing with Circus Voltaire.

SPEAKER_00 50:38

Cool.

SPEAKER_03 50:39

Um they're he didn't say I couldn't say this. They are I asked, are you gonna I knew he wouldn't tell me the title? I go, I think the remakes are cool to a point, but are you guys gonna do anything original IP this year? Will we see original, uh not original, but their own, like a licensed IP? I go, will we see a licensed IP for American Pinball this year? And he said, he like confidently said, Yes, you will. So I don't know what that's gonna be, but it makes me think of Nick Knightzel over there, and something I would imagine it's gotta be something he's making. I'm thinking.

SPEAKER_00 51:14

So that'd be pretty that's news. That's yeah, so that'd be cool. That's a serious thing. Oh shit, am I getting in trouble for this? No, no, no, no, you'll be fine, you'll be fine. I don't have an NDA. You live in trouble.

SPEAKER_03 51:24

It's like it's my I mean this wasn't we didn't even have a friend DA, but I will say, really nice guy. Uh-huh. He's he's he's like really into pinball. He was talking to me about all his collection and how he got into the hobby and all this stuff, and he 3D prints the shit out of everything. So he's got like he was telling me about this one idea that American didn't go for, but I kind of want to tell you guys about it. I don't think it's anything that would be go for it. So I guess he went ape shit. I guess he went ape shit one day on his 3D printer, and he's like, I'm gonna make this American game like the the special edition it should have been. And it was um Hot Wheels, and he created, he told me the story, and I'm gonna forget. It was like some Hot Wheels that was like really popular, he said, when he was a kid. It was like a it was like an icon of the brand. It was something that that like was rare to find or something. And he's like, and I I did the whole theme around this and printed all this stuff out. And uh what was funny is he kind of he kind of was like, and I presented it to them, and they were like, No, like we're not doing that.

SPEAKER_04 52:29

Like we're not doing that.

SPEAKER_03 52:31

But he was so excited about the idea, like I felt bad because he was so amped up about it. He's like, I gotta show it to you. I have to message him because he said he'd send me pictures or something. He's like, I gotta show it to you, it was so cool. He's like, but they said no. So I don't know. So there's no not gonna be any Hot Wheels, you know, uh limited special, super special edition or anything like that.

SPEAKER_00 52:50

So that's funny. I like Hot Wheels. We used to own a Hot Wheels, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 52:54

I think it's a cool game.

SPEAKER_00 52:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 52:56

Did you ask him why they'd released Circus Voltaire before World Cup soccer during the World Cup?

SPEAKER_03 53:01

I so I did talk to him about that. He he's like, he just said, like, man, that was that would have been such a that would have been such an awesome opportunity if we could have done that, but we just he's like that just wasn't in the cards at the time. So um but they realized there that that would have been the time to do it had they had they done it, right? So yeah, that's a bummer.

SPEAKER_02 53:20

My World Cup soccer I lent to uh Eureka Heights. It's now at Eureka Heights. So come out there and play my dog soccer.

unknown 53:29

Right.

SPEAKER_03 53:30

He did give me one more thing.

SPEAKER_04 53:32

I should say it though. I don't know if I leave it so much. I'm gonna get in so much trouble.

SPEAKER_03 53:37

Go ahead. He's like, What are your thoughts on music pins? And I kind of was like, Yeah, you know, and it's and he's an older guy, so I didn't want to like offend, but I feel like you know, we've definitely had the theme of the older rock, which I like. I like that. It's not like I don't like that, but it's just we got a lot of that. So he was asking me, he's like, All right, this is bands. He's like, What do you think about a band that's still touring? And they were they started playing music around this era, and I'm like, okay, and I was naming all these bands I could think of at the time, and none of them were right. And then he's like, You really? That's it. I was I named everything, I couldn't think of anything else. And he goes, Dude, seriously, you can't think of anything else. Like, no. He goes, All right, I'm gonna give you one more hint. Or he didn't give me any hints, actually. He's like, I'm gonna give you a hint, but then I'm stopping the conversation after this. Like, okay. And he goes, beards. ZZ Top. Yeah. Now he didn't say they had ZZ Top, but he was like Is he from Texas?

SPEAKER_02 54:40

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean Texas is in love with ZZ Top, dude.

SPEAKER_03 54:45

See, I didn't really get that. I I my I don't I I I like ZZ Top, but I I don't I'm not like I don't know. I guess if you grew up in Texas is a big deal, ZZ Top. Oh, it's massive. Okay, all right, see, I know huge, huge massive so so he didn't say we're making ZZ Top, but he was trying to get my opinion on if they made a ZZ Top. And I it doesn't sound like he even like pitched it or they have any kind of license or anything like that, but I think he was trying to get my feedback on it, and I don't know why, but the only like ZZ Top, well, there's a couple of ZZ Top songs that are really popular, but the one that sticks in my, it's like etched in my mind, and it's from Back to the Future 3, when they're in like the wild, wild west, and uh they're like on stage. It's a cool song, but um that that song always plays in my head. But I know there's like a million other songs that are way more popular than that one. But anyway, that's it. That's all I got. He didn't tell me anything else after that. He might have told me one more thing, but that thing I feel like I can't really say. That one's the one that you can't I can't say. I feel like I feel like that would be like not right.

SPEAKER_00 55:43

I think it would be great. Uh go go check out there's a uh there's Z Z Top. Uh there's a documentary on Netflix called That Little Old Band from Texas. And I don't care who you are, if you're just a music fan, the their story is amazing. Okay. Um, but I I don't I don't know if it would make a good pinball machine. I think most people keep saying they're tired of the dad rock stuff. Yeah, they they want modern stuff.

SPEAKER_02 56:11

Yeah. I agree.

SPEAKER_00 56:13

I love Z Z Top. That was the first concert I ever went to.

SPEAKER_03 56:16

I can't believe that Stern never looked into or any pinball company when when like the uh original Michael Bay Transformers movie came out. That's when Lincoln Park was like on fire. And I can't I would have thought that that would have made a good pinball machine for some reason. But like for a modern, I don't know about now, but back then it probably would have been good to like switch it up and not have the like dad rock stuff.

SPEAKER_00 56:43

So this this is what I've heard from people that make these decisions. Um they they have all the analytics, they know who's buying their machines, and it's older people with money, and you know that you would be really gambling to put like a pop that yeah. I don't know, what would you call them? Like pop metal or something like that.

SPEAKER_03 57:05

Yeah, they would have been they would have been called new metal, I think when they're like metal rap.

SPEAKER_00 57:08

I don't I don't know, but yeah.

SPEAKER_02 57:10

Yeah, they had the analytics, they got the numbers, Kale. Yeah, I mean they know.

SPEAKER_03 57:16

Yeah, yeah, you're right. I mean, I I I'll tell you a real super fast story. When I went out to uh help box up some games that this dude, this dude that Zach did a deal with out in Chandler, it was the guy he did he, you know, you know what I'm talking about. He um helped him box up a bunch of games and he had a game, he had like this room of Jersey Jacks, and he had a Pirates of the Caribbean CE. And I just told him, I was like, Man, this thing looks clean. Like, what like how many this is like what's going on with this thing? He's like, I don't know. I like played it maybe 20 times or something, and I was like, Man, you have how many games total at one point? He's like, I don't know, he had like in the 50s or 60s, but like you know, real expensive stuff. And uh he's like, you know, I I I'm just kind of in that mode where I play it, I like to look at it, but like I play it sometimes. I really just like looking at them, they look cool, they're like cool art pieces, and I just think there's probably a lot of like really rich guys that do that. I think that exists. I mean, this guy was that guy. He's like, Yeah, I play him a little bit, he's like, but I really like to look at them, they look cool in a room. Yeah, yeah, and he also had a bunch of really high-end cars, so I think it's just like to him, it's like a you know collector. He's yeah, just he's a total collector. Like, this is a cool thing to have, and they look pretty in a room. And uh, yeah. So And he's not listening to this podcast, I can guess. No, he didn't know. He doesn't listen, and I asked him, I was like, Do you listen to content? He's like, No.

SPEAKER_00 58:39

If I didn't know who you were talking about, I would have said, Hey, was it Flynn? You remember Flynn from one of your episodes? Oh, oh yeah. Because he's he's in he's a local Arizona collector and he's in the cars too, but I I know it wasn't that guy.

SPEAKER_04 58:52

Yeah, no, it wasn't that guy.

SPEAKER_00 58:53

Because that's not even his real name.

SPEAKER_04 58:55

No, he wouldn't let us use it. I'm like, dude, everyone knows you, so anyway. Yeah, super weird.

SPEAKER_02 59:02

Let's go back to the big wave of rumors for 2026. We've got uh we got Halo. Are we here? Is this coming out?

SPEAKER_03 59:12

Yeah, I think I mean I think it is, but when? I have no idea.

SPEAKER_00 59:16

I think we're gonna see it at Expo.

SPEAKER_03 59:19

Okay. That'd be awesome if we saw it at Expo.

SPEAKER_02 59:21

This is a cool segment. Will we see it at Expo or not?

SPEAKER_03 59:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 59:25

Okay, go. Goonies, no.

SPEAKER_02 59:28

No, Goonies no. Okay. Elwyn's. I just you're right. I mean, we won't see Goonies, but we'll know about it or no. We just won't see. I think we'll know about it, but we won't see it. Okay. Uh Elwyn's next game, Fallout. No.

SPEAKER_00 59:45

Well, maybe.

unknown 59:46

No.

SPEAKER_00 59:47

That's that's a new rumor, right? They're they're pushing it back to next year? I don't think. Yeah, that's the new rumor. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 59:55

I I just think it'd be weird to a weird miss knowing that you're up against Sonic to not drop an Elwyn this year. You know? You need some Elwyn energy in here. I think that's an I don't know. That's weird. I think that'd be a weird choice for them not to.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:10

So what would we see from Stern then?

SPEAKER_03 1:00:13

That I don't know. I don't know. I feel like I'm not up on what the latest is there at all. I feel like it keeps changing.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:19

Well, I think I think we'll see Aussie.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:22

You think Ozzy, some people say A C D C C So you guys think that their Q4 game cornerstone will be a music, it won't be it'll be a music pen. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:36

I don't know. I think I think we'll see an Aussie at Expo. Okay. Ozzy at Expo. Back to the Future? We're gonna see that at Expo.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:44

Here's the thing, like the stuff can always change. Like last minute, like Optimus Prime, right? So um like who knows?

SPEAKER_03 1:00:55

Yeah. Back to the future. This one I w I I hope, but I don't know. Do you think, Kale, they're gonna see they're gonna Dutch is gonna have a back to the future at Expo?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:08

I'll have to check my poly market. I don't know. I don't know, man. Not only do I I don't know, I I don't even care. You know, I'm not gonna buy this game. And if I buy it, what I'm I'm probably gonna see it like five years from now. I I don't know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:30

Yeah. It's not an on-location game. It cannot be. They're they're selling 99.99% to the home public. This isn't even a five percent.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:41

I mean, how many how many uh Lebowski's Lebowski's are on location? Very few. I wonder how they hold up. I wonder how a Dutch pinball game holds up on location.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:53

Yeah, they don't hold up well in the home, so I don't see how they would hold up well on location.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:59

So we got a yes to Halo, we've got a no to Goonies, we got a yes to something from Stern, and a no to Back to the Future. Our last one, well, we get the uh licensed IP for American Pinball at Expo.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:15

Well, I answered that already, yes. Oh well, I don't know if it'll be at American, I don't know if it'll be at Expo, but you'd think it probably would be because if you were gonna do it, wouldn't you do it there?

SPEAKER_00 1:02:24

That's where you want to show it. That's where you want to get the excitement going. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:28

So I mean I'd say yes, it will, but that's a little bit of a guess, but I think they will, it'll be at it'll be at Expo.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:34

And barrels of fun, little uh big trouble in Little China, whatever they have.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:40

When did it change? When when big I thought it was uh never-ending story.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:44

No, he had lunch with um David Van S. Oh, he just gave it up. Did you just give it up?

SPEAKER_05 1:02:50

You fucked up. No, I didn't fuck up.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:53

I just know for a fact I was gonna play that off, but I couldn't do it. Uh he just said for a fact that it's not a never-ending story. Because I said, because I went into never ending story, I was like, that just doesn't excite me. This this dragon that looks like a dog. I mean, what no? That would have been a really bad big mistake, I think.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:14

I think that would have been good.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:16

Yeah, he's like, I've never even seen the movie. I was like, all right, good. Well, don't make a pinball machine out of it, please.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:21

No, it's like the most it I liked it as a kid, but no, not for that's not a pinball machine.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:27

But I think we will see uh barrels of fun game at Expo.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:31

That makes sense. I mean they have to be.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:32

So you don't think you don't think we'll see the next one from them till expo? Does everyone feel that way? Like they won't come out with anything till expo.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:40

Oh, you think it might be earlier? Like what makes sense? They I mean they need to they they need to get deposits in, right? They need to release something. Um, you know, right now they're running dunes and Winchesters or something.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:54

Yeah, I was just there. I mean, I I walked they're they're uh running dunes in Winchester's, they got a whole new room, they've hired more staff, they got 40 people that are working at barrels.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:07

And um so they're cranking out machines, but I didn't do we think they're gonna have one then for is that the consensus we all think they'll have a new one at Expo? Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I mean it would make sense.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:19

I think so. And we'll see what title is.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:22

And Jamie, you said it's it's uh what is it? I've never seen uh is it Big Trouble?

SPEAKER_02 1:04:27

I've never seen the rumor is Big Trouble in Little China, but why is that the rumor?

SPEAKER_00 1:04:32

Did they hire the guy that made the homebrew?

SPEAKER_02 1:04:34

No, they hired the guy that made the homebrew of Pokemon.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:37

Oh, okay. Who hired I thought somebody hired the the guy that made the Big Trouble in Little China homebrew.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:44

Is that not it might, I don't know. I don't know. Ramps.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:49

Who knows?

SPEAKER_03 1:04:50

You just made that up. I just made that up.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:53

Sorry.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:53

Oh, why does Insider Connected take so long to load? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:59

Ralph, you're you're you're the data guy. What's going on here?

SPEAKER_03 1:05:03

I don't know. There's a couple of reasons why it might take a long time to load. Uh because you can pay for different storage tiers in AWS, like to backend your application. Yeah. I mean the only thing I can think of is like, did they do they have like a like are they using the equivalent of Glacier, which is really just big and slow? So you can store a lot of data on it. It just takes a long time to retrieve it to like save cost. I have no idea to guess, but I don't know.

unknown 1:05:30

Right.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:31

Could be a lot of things.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:32

I have I don't understand how all that stuff works. I mean, like at surface level, yes, I do. But like so, I went to Chat GPT and it basically it gave me two options either they don't know how to code efficiently, or they're trying to save money.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:50

Well, that's that's what I meant by the story. Like if you if you take a cheaper tier of computer storage, yeah, you're you're saving money, but the app would probably load slower. That would probably be the long Logical answer, I think.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:02

But here's correct me if I'm wrong, but like I I don't have any app or website that I use daily that is this slow. It reminds me of like dial up. And and the guys at Stern, I've heard them complain about it too. So it's not like they don't they don't realize this.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:23

I mean, I don't know. See, I don't I've never really asked them, or I think I might have, but they never really gave me all the details. Like, I don't know how it works. Like, I don't know if it all if like all the machine analytics get sent to single place and when they when they need to build that view for you of of your score and everything, is it doing that on the fly every time? Because if it is, it's gotta build a lot of things before it presents the data to you. I don't I don't know. I don't know how they how sophisticated that thing is. But but if they're using like lesser tier of compute or a lesser tier of storage to back end it, then yeah, it's gonna be slower. But I gotta think the more users that go online, maybe maybe that's just how they offset the cost a little bit by just cheaping out a little bit on the compute and the storage end of it. I don't know. Sounds like a good question for Matthew if he ever came on the Matthew would be like, I have no fucking idea, Jamie, what the back end of AWS's looks like.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:20

I know the guy who would have the answers to this, and like he won't even tell me privately. And so I don't he's not gonna be he's not gonna do it on a podcast. All I've heard is that it is what what's going on right now is very expensive and they're seeing no return on it. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:39

Well, I wonder, it brings me back to I wonder how many people signed up for I mean, I have it, I can't remember what it's called, all access. Like I did the all access thing. I wonder if that took off for them or if it didn't. Because I they that was kind of their way, I think, of recouping some cost. You know, given these given these little like perceived value things to get more people to sign up and get the little special you know thing around their name and around their name at the bat.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:02

Do you see that a lot at the bat? Do you see a lot of gold people?

SPEAKER_00 1:08:06

No, I only I only see um like two people.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:10

Yeah, me too.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:12

At Eureka, I see two people constantly with the ring around them. And that you know, I make fun of them.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:17

Ralph, did you need that to have the home leaderboard?

SPEAKER_03 1:08:21

No, no. I don't uh wait, actually, you know what? I don't remember now. No, I think I did need it for the you're no, that's that's incorrect. You did I did need it for the home leaderboard. Okay. Yeah. I'm almost positive. Now I'm on pretty positive. Correct us in the chat if we're wrong, but I'm pretty sure that's why I'm pretty sure it's why. I'm pretty positive.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:42

I'm pretty positive.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:43

I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:44

All right. Let me give a quick shout-out to some of our loyal listeners. I like doing this, you know, every every podcast. But Kyle Tuttle and David Banke I am me all the time and how much they love the round table. So quick shout-out to them. I really appreciate it. And shout out to Sterling Martin of the Pinball Studio for having me on as a guest on his podcast. I had a lot of fun on that, boys.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:06

That was fun. I I enjoyed listening to that.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:08

That was so now we've all been on there.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:10

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:11

Yeah, they saved the best for last.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:13

So if you that I agree, Jamie. And if you are a fan of the round table, you should go to Sterling's uh where where can you he do he doesn't do video, so it's only it's all audio wherever you download your uh podcasts. Right. So you should set up a playlist. It starts with uh Ralph's episode, and then you go into my episode, and then you do Jamie's episode to get to know us a little bit better. They save the best for last, but it's a great way to get to know us a little more intimately.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:45

Yeah, I'd say that's that's good.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:47

I think he does a great job and he's a great guy. I I I really enjoy it. I tried to get him to come to Expo, but he won't.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:53

Yeah, he seemed kind of he seemed like his allegiance is to Texas.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:57

Yeah, he goes to TPF. But uh I tried to get him to go to Expo too because it's I can't wait for Expo. It I know it's June, but I'm already excited. Can't wait to have Rob Burke on the podcast, guys, so that we can get our free are we are we gonna do them on here?

unknown 1:10:13

No.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:14

Dude, don't even bring up the Rob Burke thing because I didn't make good on it from last year.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:19

We're not having Rob on God bless you, Rob. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:22

What do you mean? You you didn't I thought you did you didn't do one? No. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:26

But you still got the pass.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:28

I still got the pass. Asshole.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:31

And I didn't get a pass. I had to stand outside like a schmuck.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:35

The pass does yeah. Why don't we do this? We'll have them on the round table and then we'll all get passes.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:41

That's a great idea. Great idea. Let's shill ourselves out for passes.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:44

Yeah, let's shill it. Well, but the thing, you just you have to cut them off, and you have to be like, no, everybody knows what's going on in Expo. Just join us. And talk about your actually, that would be cool.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:56

Are you suggesting we put them on the like as a panel member? Because that'd actually be kind of interesting. Right. That would be way more interesting than interviewing him.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:03

He has an amazing collection. Like, where do you where do you get these games? How do you keep them running? Like, that's what people want to hear. They don't want to hear about like, oh, they're giving away a new inbox game at Expo, and this is gonna be the biggest one yet. You know, like like really make this interesting and something that people want to listen to.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:22

He he goes in the crazy eddy, and only the New Yorkers will know that Crazy Eddie used to sell. I know Crazy Eddie. You know Crazy Eddie, right? He wound up being going to jail for uh well.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:33

What if we what if we tee it up though? Like, hey, you can still do your little plug of expo, but the but but we want you as uh I I think that's way more interesting because he has such a cool history, and yeah, that'd be cool. Well, Rob, reach out to Ralph. Reach out to Can I tell you something funny that Rob does? It's super funny, man. So if you and he does it consistently, and I've talked to other people and he does it to them too. If he calls your phone and you don't pick up, he just texts you back, call Rob. It's every time he doesn't leave a voice message, he just texts you back immediately. It's like the second you don't answer, call Rob. That's all he does.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:15

Do you think he has like a script set up or is he doing it manually?

SPEAKER_04 1:12:18

It's like call Rob. It's so funny. I don't know, it's weird, but that's what he does. He's got Claude set up. And uh maybe.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:26

I don't know. I don't think so. I don't think so either. Yeah, I don't think he's doing that.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:31

Well, you're gonna have to send him a mic and a camera too, okay? Because I'm not dealing with that crap if he's coming on the round table.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:38

Can I can I share with you guys a piece of non-pinball news that might excite one of you, I think.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:44

I don't know if both of you please, we're wrapping up. Please.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:46

Is this something that just happened?

SPEAKER_03 1:12:48

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It just happened yesterday.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:50

So uh Sega is bringing back Crazy Taxi in 2027. Remember the with remember with the offspring soundtrack and everything?

SPEAKER_00 1:13:01

So bringing it back to what? Like arcade.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:04

Consoles, not arcade to consoles. I'm down with that, dude.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:08

Yeah, I'm down with that too. Because um I dreamcast and offspring and offspring is back, dude. Dreamcast had it, Cal. When the Dreamcast came out, that's what I was we played the shit out of it. Yep, the shit out of it. And it is such a good, good game. Like the whole mechanics of it, you know, picking those people up, picking up fairs, you make more money with certain fairs. That was great. I mean, anybody that had a Dreamcast is going to purchase this thing, including me.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:37

And it's on, so I think it's Xbox, PS5, uh Symbion, uh Nintendo Switch, and it's called Crazy Taxi World Tour, I think. It's not out till next year, but uh Offspring's in it again. And uh I was watching the launch trailer, and there's some cool stuff. Like you can pick up. I'm just I'm literally just watching the trailer, and they don't explain anything, but it looks like you could pick up someone that's that needs to deliver pizzas, and so like as you're like jumping, launching off shit, you see like the pizzas going up and down, and the and you have to be able to keep like so. I think there's gonna be a dynamic of like can you not only get him to his destination, but can you make sure he doesn't lose as many of his pizzas? Like, so weird shit. It looked cool though. The graphics look very throwback with just some updates. Um, so I I that's one I'm I'm pretty excited for. I'm super excited.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:30

Shout out to uh do you guys have any shout-outs you want to give while we're ending it out?

SPEAKER_03 1:14:34

Oh, yeah, I have a shout out. Shout out to uh punk rock pinball. Nice. Yeah. Yeah, I got I uh I the crew was at the Transformers launch event and they gave me a t-shirt, which is really cool. So, and go check their content out. They're they're great.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:52

Yep, they're doing a lot of things.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:54

Stephanie and Mike. What about you, Kale? Any shout-outs?

SPEAKER_00 1:14:59

Uh I want to shout out uh Rachel Bass for creating a cool arcade I get to play in and work at and uh keep up the go to work.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:08

I'm gonna of course you could catch Rachel uh on a monthly basis on the electric batcast, wherever you get your uh podcast as well as YouTube.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:19

Yeah, we're about to do one. Oh, I do have I have a huge shout. Oh, I should have brought this up when we were talking about Insider Connected. Um so several years ago I can't remember Rachel, can you hear me? When was it when was did we have that meeting with the all the operators at Stern? That was like two years ago, right? Two, it might have been three years ago.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:46

We had a a meeting at Stern headquarters with a bunch of operators. It was very cool. They had like a it was like a whole think tank about what operators want to see in Insider Connected. Okay and I think a lot of people don't realize they do this because it's just for the operators. Um you can download all of the audits off of every connected machine in your arcade now. That's fascinating. But so but think about this that's how long it took them to implement that. So and and we had it was great. We had Seth, right? We had CEO Seth on the whiteboard, he had his team there, and we were it we we went down, we all voted for like the like top ten things we want to see.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:38

Oh, that's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:39

Yeah, um, and we we haven't seen any of them yet until this.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:43

So we had you guys like almost open workshop what uh what they should do. That's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:49

100%. And and I I'd give it up on it. You know, it's been years, and I was like, oh, none of that stuff's gonna happen. Because uh at the time they were doing that. Do you remember the race thing?

SPEAKER_03 1:17:02

Yeah, the race thing was so fun, man. I want them to do the race again. I was having a blast with that.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:07

Yes, and they they were so hyped about that, they were talking about that, and and in this thing, we talked about doing more of that stuff, and you you know, you haven't seen anything. And and and I'm hearing the same thing from inside. These guys are just like, you know, they're losing people, they're they're overworked, you know. Um, so that it they're having a hard time cranking out stuff like this, but it but it is coming, it's it's very slow. But shout out to Stern and their IT team for bringing this to operators. You know, what's what's what I thought I a tear came to my eye when they released you know, I got the email that they released this feature because the operators are are bringing Stern very little money. Very there's probably 80% of these games that go into the home, and they're still putting a lot of time and money and effort into making the operators' life easier just by doing this very simple thing. So shout out to Stern. Thank you very much for doing this.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:11

Nice. I want to give a quick shout out to uh the boys again at Eureka for allowing me to do a live. I did a live callin' show at Eureka Heights last Friday.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:22

Can can we see this?

SPEAKER_02 1:18:24

Is it once it's on uh it's not on YouTube because YouTube got all messed up from the YOLO box, but it was total user error?

SPEAKER_00 1:18:33

Are you sure it was a YOLO box? Every time one of you thinks he's blaming all the companies. It's never user error.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:39

No, no, no. This one was user error. No, it's total user error.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:45

God damn YOLO box, did it again.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:48

Oh, dude, I was logging into the wrong account.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:50

I know, I know.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:51

You told me. I'm just where can people um see?

SPEAKER_02 1:18:54

It's on my Facebook page. Uh you can see that on Facebook. We had about uh three people watching, and it was great. And uh no, we had money.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:04

Ralph, I try I searched you on Facebook trying to find your account. Did you know Retro Ralph is also a clothing store? No. Really? I want to talk to them. All right, so so I go to Jamie, I go to Jamie Birchell.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:17

Oh, the JBS show.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:19

See, you got you gotta be clear.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:21

I'm I'm trying to help you.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:23

I'm trying to help you out to direct people there. And if you say my Facebook page, you you let me help you out. You are Jamie Birchell. That's what it says right there in the in the bottom third, lower third. This episode's been clear. All right, so JBS. Here we go.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:39

Yeah. And somewhere down there, there's a live.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:42

I actually watched a little bit, Jamie, and I did enjoy it.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:45

So it's gonna morph. It's gonna morph into something.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:48

I I think I just love the phone calls because you do have a um I don't know. Like you I could tell like you really wanted to do the talk show thing. You handled it well. Like the way the caller called in and the way you talked to him, it felt like I was calling into like some old radio show. It's pretty good.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:04

What are you clicking?

SPEAKER_03 1:20:05

What?

SPEAKER_00 1:20:06

I think he's crushing a can.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:08

What are you crushing a can?

SPEAKER_03 1:20:09

Oh, sorry. No, I was uh it was a bit for if you were gonna ask me, if you're gonna ask me what game's coming back to the garage, that's your favorite game.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:19

What John Wick?

SPEAKER_05 1:20:20

I was gonna pull a carry hardy and be like, John Wick is back, baby! It's it's a fake guy. It's a fake, it's a fake, it's a fake.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:30

But that is John Wick's gun. That is the gun that he used in the movie. No, it's the um, should I always forget? It's a P, it's a P30. Oh, I don't know. This is a this is a tote. This is John Wick's gun.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:42

Six eye.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:42

No, I don't know. I can't remember who makes it. But this is the model of the gun. But his was the P30 long, so the the gun sticks out like that much.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:50

I have a Walther. Is it it kind of looks like that?

SPEAKER_03 1:20:53

Yeah, yeah. It's pretty, it's actually a pretty cool looking gun, but it's not real, obviously.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:57

But anyway, I went live and it went real well. And I'm gonna do it again. I I I did some reels why I'm don't podcast it, why I don't do live streaming anymore, or why I don't do tournaments and such, and it got me this idea to do the call and show. We gotta work out some kinks. Some of the callers aren't ready to speak. Let's get ready, okay? I don't have a screener, all right. Get your shit together when you call that number.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:25

So you want them to screen themselves? That'll get that'll get him going, screen myself.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:30

If you call in, you better have your shit together. I'm a lunatic calling Jamie's show. I'm not gonna call, I'm screening myself. I'm gonna screen yourself.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:39

Come on, man. One guy he couldn't get his mic on, and he was fucking with Bluetooth on it again, and I was just like, what are we doing, dude? And then I kept doing this. I kept doing this, Kale. I kept going, Cale told me. Yeah, Cale told me.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:55

And I'm gonna I'm gonna tell you that that's never gonna change. Like, who, like, why? I mean, like, Jamie's like, man, as long as I tell these people on this podcast, they better get their shit together. Like, oh, next time they're definitely gonna be ready for the call.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:08

It'll make it fun anyway. It'll make it fun for me. I'll do it again one more time and see if it works. And if it doesn't work, uh it'll crash. I know this years years ago, and he had very similar issues.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:22

So get your shit together. That's it to solve it.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:25

It'll it'll solve it all that.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:26

I mean, that there's a on a serious note, there's a reason why there's production producers behind something you want to do. And like I I mean, so if you really want to do it the way you want to do it, like if they're not ready to go, you're like next caller. You cut them off. Yeah, you have to be ruthless. Like, you have to be like, I'm sorry, you you're not ready to go. You know, it's like um, but that's the way if you if you have to do this, like that's the way to do it.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:00

I want to do it.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:01

Yeah, it you have to, if they're not ready to go, because if you know, whether it was like Art Bell or any of the old like call-in radio AM radio shows, when people were like doing dumb shit, you cut them off and you go next caller.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:14

Joe called me up during the show and he had a hot take, right? His hot take was that Joe Joe Cherovino? Joe Cheravino, our boy, he called up during the show and he said, I got a hot take for you. Is Elwyn going to be remembered more for his code than he is for his play field designs? And I just wasn't interested in that topic, so I moved on, and Joe called me up and he's like, I give you some gold here, Jamie. And uh that's a great topic. I know I blew it. I uh I don't think you're ready for this. It might not be. I don't think you're ready for this. Joe gave me some gold and I blew it. And he teeded it up.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:52

Did you say did you say get your shit together and hung up on them?

SPEAKER_02 1:23:55

I was like, yeah, I'm not interested in that.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:58

This is what I don't understand. You like you quit pinball streaming and you had all your reasons on there. So like let's stream some pinball and then add more chaos to it and see see if I'm I'm a glutton.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:11

I love it. I love it. I don't need the axons anymore, so I am gonna sell three axons and three no no six pairs of axons. Wow. So I'm selling it's a lot of cash, and I'm selling at least three Z V1s. Sony Z V1s.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:32

Get get in touch. Where can they uh get in touch with you to buy these things, Jamie?

SPEAKER_02 1:24:36

You can find me on Facebook, uh Jamie Birchell, send me a JBS show. You can get me on Instagram, or you could email me at Birchall at Mac.com.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:46

I might actually be interested in buying them. Not all of them, but I I'm I'm moving my office. This this thing I do, like my office and the podcast in, I'm moving it downstairs. And I was thinking about how cool it would be on uh even though we don't do it as much, but when I do a live stream pinball, I was I want to have a couch set up in my other room with like a boom mic over it where like we can just chat after we play. Like so if Rudy and I play, or whoever's over we play, we can like go and just hang out and chill for a little while, have some drinks and talk pinball and like get caught up with the chat. So I might I would only need one like receiver and one transmitter, but I don't know if you sell it like that. That doesn't do anything for me.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:26

I'm trying to sell them as a bulk.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:29

Oh, I'm not gonna buy them all.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:31

All right, well, I'll sell three. I know I'll sell three as a bulk, three pairs. So maybe I can so yeah, I can get you a pair.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:37

All right.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:38

But they're like 400 new. Uh what's a good price? 100 bucks, 150 bucks?

SPEAKER_03 1:25:43

I don't know. I don't know. What do they go for use? Maybe check eBay and see what people do.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:47

Check eBay. I'll I'll give you a fair deal, ladies and gentlemen. And then when it comes to the Sony Z V1s, those were expensive, and they come with dummy batteries.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:57

There you go. That's super important.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:59

It's super important. If you're gonna stream, you need those dummy batteries. Kale Hernandez is the one that helped me with that. I don't use that.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:06

That was key.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:06

That's massively key.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:08

Gotta have straight up power. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:10

Yeah, got to every time. All right, boys. Thank you so much. That's it. I'm gonna do the outro music. That's too loud.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:23

Damn boy.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:26

Thank you, Glenn Wector. You're the best. Alright, there it is.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:30

Is that the ending? That's how you ended it?

SPEAKER_02 1:26:32

That's how I was gonna end it. Is that not good enough?

unknown 1:26:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:35

It doesn't seem like you did end it though. You did?

SPEAKER_02 1:26:38

I was gonna do it right. I yeah, I my timing's off today. My timing's off.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:42

It's fine, Jam.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:43

Boy, this has been a shit on the game.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:44

I feel like we I feel like we can I feel like we've kind of bagged on you lost this. I'm gonna need a therapy session.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:50

I'm gonna need a therapy session after this. Janine, they're all over me. Bagel.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:57

All right. It was really this episode's actually gonna be really funny, though, because there was so much funny shit in this episode. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:03

Bye, boys and girls.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:05

Peace. Thank you for joining us. See you guys.