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Quoted from HookedonPinonics:Need to have more Bruce. This was fantastic chemistry and really glad Bruce decided to come on even though his opinion is completely wrong!
It was awesome hearing Bruce school Zach on what makes a good pinball machine. 
Hobbit: “what do you even hit with the upper flipper?!!?” Lol!
See, us old timers look past the shiny flashy things. 
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Question - Bruce’s new podcast, I could hardly hear him at all. Kathie was loud. Sounded like Bruce was in in the next room with his mike off.
Was that the same for everyone? Or are my iPhone speakers jacked up? (Was listening on my phone speakers while doing pin repairs)
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Quoted from DakotaMike:The only issue I had was that the overall audio-level was little quiet for my listening device.
I think too much heavy metal has blown out one of my speakers. Kathy was loud AF but Bruce could hardly be heard.
I noticed today while listening to some Maiden that I couldn’t hear one of the solos - presumably one side of my phones stereo speakers is busted.
I enjoyed the podcast BTW.
Carry on!
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Quoted from RandomTask:I always enjoy rotordave and his insights!
Thanks!
I apologise up front to all Millionaire owners.
Look, I felt so guilty I’ve even made a start on resurrecting my one! So everyone can again enjoy the magic that is - Millionaire.
Quoted from Insanity_Falls:Road Kings next to Pinbot? Pearls before swine, I tell ya.
When you got a bunch of them, they fit where they can.
Talking of Millionaire - I’ve been trying to fix this weird special solenoid issue (the slings lock on even though things appear correct ..) and I LOLLLLED when I saw the message I must have put on the screen some years ago. I don’t even remember doing it.
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A90F6049-A704-4FE5-8083-B5933A295485 (resized).jpegEEB41989-2E07-4252-B7B9-15C04B5ADE86 (resized).jpegIf you are watching Squid Game - watch it in Korean (as it was made) with subtitles.
The overdubs on Netflix shows are horrible.
When you watch it as per the original, you hear the actors doing their thing. The subs make you pay 100% attention to the show - not dick around on your phone while sorta listening to the TV. The viewing experience is much better.
Pretty much all the TV shows we watch now are Euro or Asian with subtitles. They think outside the box and come up with new ideas. I can’t remember the last network TV show we watched.
My 10c.
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Quoted from chuckwurt:Dark is another fantastic show that needs the subtitles. It needs your undivided attention at all times.
Yeah that’s a great show. And yep - if you look away for a minute, you’ll be totally lost.
Not one for the phone twiddlers!
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Quoted from Bmad21:A idea would be is for manfactures to "go back to the basics"
Single level games.
No habit trails.
Simple game play.
Orginal IP.
No toppers.
Alpha numeric displays.
I’ve seen this before … unfortunately it doesn’t make sense.
A game with no ramps costs almost the same to make.
Same boards cabinet wood legs stickers playfield wires etc etc.
Ramps in big volume probably cost $30 per each (tooling cost spread across hundreds of ramps)
5 Alpha Numeric displays are way more expensive than an LCD. You do save on programming the content though.
Ultimately - pinball machines are so expensive because people keep buying them.
As long as people keep buying them - the sky is the limit. If this keeps up, the Stern LE RRP will be $12,000 within a year or two.
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Quoted from Potatoloco:To be fair, I'm from Okalhoma and we're still in the middle of learning proper English.
And spelling your state correctly.
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Quoted from LOTR_breath:2. You knew this was coming. You got it WAY wrong about the INDISC finals.
Yep. Just listened to the podcast.
The way it works - there’s a bank of 15(?) games there, and the top seed gets to choose all the games he thinks will suit him best.
If there was just a row of Mandos and Godzillas there, that’d be as boring as batshit.
Watching Escher and crew blow up the new Sterns for an hour per game … coma inducing.
Of course, Stern does hold events that are only new Stern games. But every other event, you want games from every era to test the different skillsets of the players. Otherwise they become STERNAMENTS.
The reality too - the only way us plebs have to beat those guys is to play games like Mystery Castle. Lol
You gotta realise - I know it’s hard because you’re surrounded by LEs and “$20k minty HEP restored BWs” … but for the AVERAGE pinball owner, these games are the ones they own.
For every Mando LE - there are 5x $2500 Stargates out there. Probably being played a lot more than the LEs too.
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Quoted from thekaiser82:I would buy an empty machine if his art was on it.
Welcome to pinball 2022. 
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Quoted from ZMeny:Weird Al Pinball First Impressions
Correct me if I’m wrong, but Bowen and Colin are helping with designing game rules with P3 games, not coding as often mentioned.
Quite a big difference …
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I think the game mentioned in Ep99 with “the pop bumper surrounded with rubber bands” was probably Gottliebs Wild Life or one of its variants.
PS if I was Steve Ritchie I wouldn’t want that poem read either. Ooooooofff.
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Quoted from RoadQueen:so I put a business card like Keith suggested and voila! Problem solved!
I haven’t heard the episode yet … but if the problem is the ball sticking in that gap, shouldn’t the “card” be *above* the gap, so the ball rolls on it?
As per the picture below your post …
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Quoted from Bagdad:For your backalley rumor, my guess is Walking Dead Comic Book Edition
Avatar.
To tie in to the new movies coming out.
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Quoted from ZMeny:knew the bit would be loved and hated. Surprisingly though, this is the first negative comment about it. I guess people love to hear about hot buttery garlic breadsticks and the decadence of their made-from-bag Alfredo dishes.
The first one was ok - but by the 4th one ….
PS olive garden is to Italian food what Taco Bell is to Mexican food. Reheated muck from cardboard boxes. Iiiickkkk.
Support a local family restaurant instead. They need your money.
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Quoted from Hammerhead:Correction - Denny's is the McDonald's of eat-in restaurants.
I’d rather eat McDs than Dennys. But that’s me.
McDs over here now has got really good these days. All the burgers are cooked fresh, they have some good deals on the app, they have McCafe for decent coffees. I don’t know if they’ve upgraded over in the States as well, but on the rare occasions I grab fast food, it’s usually the Arches these days.
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Quoted from jeffspinballpalace:Dunkin’ is America’s favorite coffee. (according to someone’s marketing literature).
Yeah, I see people queuing up for it when I’m over there - I’ve had it once. I think I’d rather eat the styrofoam cup than drink that “coffee”.
What I do when I’m travelling the States … google maps up “coffee shop” locally and then see which is the most popular on there (and close by) 99% it’s a small family owned business … and generally the coffee is good. And the owners love to have tourists in their store buying their stuff.
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Quoted from gonzo73:All Stern needs to do is retheme the 60th Elwin layout as STARGAZER 2, ditch the playfield screen..its unneeded.... price it at $7500 and sell thousands of them
Everyone says this … unfortunately it shows a lack of knowing how business works.
Assume a cost to manufacture of $5000 (random figure but a decent guess)
500 games made in a week x $20,000 each = 10,000,000 - manufacturing cost $2,500,000 = $7,500,000 profit. In one week.
2000 games made over 4 weeks x $7,500 = 15,000,000 - cost to manufacture $10,000,000 = $5,000,000 profit. And you’ve tied up the factory for 4 weeks.
Your concept takes 4x more time to make. And makes $2.5 million less profit.
For manufacturing (and retailing) low numbers and huge margins make a lot of sense.
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Quoted from paul_8788:Stern most likely wouldn't be able to sell another 500 of the game at the high price, but could maybe sell another 1000 at a discounted price with a different theme. Wouldn't be as profitable as the Bond 60ths, but would still be highly profitable. Two weeks work, 2.5 mill profit using your numbers. Sounds like real money.
Because everyone who just paid $20,000 bucks for their 500 only, limited edition game will be really pissed off and never buy another $20,000 game again.
Don’t bite the hand that feeds you! The Whales are there to be continually drip fed enticing “rarities” cough cough and be relived of their dollars.
No need for them to reuse this layout. Just spend a month and make another similar one. The designers are on salary … Use the same software framework and change the assets.
Most of this stuff is pretty commonsense really. Added …. But this is Stern we are talking about .. so who knows!
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Quoted from paul_8788:"Common sense" would predict future behavior based on past patterns, so anyone assuming it wouldn't happen again are the ones not thinking clearly about it imo.
Funny … because I almost put a caveat at the end of that sentence that said “but this is Stern we are talking about here”.
Hey - as I said in the JB60th thread - as a long term pinball owner, I don’t like the way this is all going. $2000 toppers? $13,000 LEs? - get the f**k outta here with that shit.
But from the business side - hard to fault what Stern is doing. Minimise the output and maximise the profit. They keep on jacking up the prices and people keep buying their stuff.
It’s a few years later than I thought it would be - Gary stayed on way longer than I expected - but prepare yourself for the sale of the company for megabucks, and Gary and Dave’s retirements.
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Quoted from paul_8788:My response was to your assertion that it made no economic sense to run a different pin with the same layout.
No, that’s not what I was meaning.
In the JB60th thread countless people have said “they should make this $7000 and they’d sell a bunch”
My point is WHY would they do that? When people like Zach will willingly hand over $20,000 a pop.
They’d be stupid to do that. Take Zachs $20,000 and run.
Then Zach can buy a Beatles and put it in a regular Stern cabinet. Because the Beatles can doesn’t match the other pins. OMG Zach! My head was almost exploding when I heard all that stuff about the Radical backbox!
As a tribute to you, here’s a picture that will no doubt make your skin crawl . Rest assured that the 100s of people who see this every year *dont* *give* *one* *shit*.
I’ve got no problem with Patreon - I support a couple of struggling comedians on it now. What a day to day existence those guys have! Most can’t afford any health insurance …
Anyway …
I just thought the way you guys rolled yours out was a bit weird.
Generally - well, on the other 20 mainstream comedy/metal music podcasts I listen to, Patreon is from $5.
For that $5, you usually get an extra “Patreon only podcast”. That’s where you might hear some gossip and rumours, and more interaction with the Patreons. There is generally an option to pay more if the person wants to.
None of these podcasts have “chopped out bits” of the free to air podcast. Just a weird way to do it IMO. Even though the content is free, the listener feels like they’re somehow being gyped — if you know what I mean.
Having a bunch of options is a bit too much IMO - again, not the normal way it’s done. Just confusing. Make it $5 minimum and more if the person wants .. and they all get an extra episode twice a month or something. $5 is a supporter, $10 is a super supporter, $20 is a “pay for an in-ground pool” supporter. But they all get the same stuff. KISS principles apply.
Dean Delray does a “zoom fest” every couple of weeks - any of the Patreoners (whatever they pay per month) can zoom in and they all chat together with Dean. Not my scene but the punters seem to like it. Costs $0 (except for your time) to do it.
Hey, just my 10c!
I enjoy the show and appreciate everyone who takes the time to do podcasts. I know the crazy amount of time it takes to do it.
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Quoted from 27dnast:Podcasters bitching and whining about the bitchy and whiney Pinside community.
I do find it pretty funny when podcasters (and others) bitch and moan about Pinside … but then they’re the first to use Pinside to promote their shows, or to advertise any pins they have for sale ….
One guy in particular (not TPN) is very vocal about his dislike of Pinside - but I always see his pins up for sale here. A bit hypocritical if you ask me.
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Quoted from ZMeny:I only used that figure because that is the figure used by kbenson13 as the example.
Yeah … Sorry bout that.
Upon re-reading both posts my point was easily taken out of context with what was written.
Still good for people to remember that pinball exists outside the NIB realm though.
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Quoted from PoMC:I heard such whining from Americans so upset that some Kiwi in China
No kiwis in Australia.
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IMG_4206 (resized).jpegA quick note to you good podcasters.
Single Level games are not “street level”
“Street level” is a term used for a cheaper range of Gottlieb pins in the late 80s.
Single level games (games with no ramps) are called - single level.
We need to educate the people.
thanks!
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Quoted from ZMeny:Triple Drain Pinball Podcast Episode 47: Why No Balls in Mouth?
Listening to this today …
Joel was talking about Halloween, and said when he had the game, he could only get the ball up to the top playfield like 5 times.
Your game was broken! There is a diverter at the top of the 180 ramp which puts the ball left or right. I understand on some early builds this was a bit hit and miss - but it’s adjustable in the software settings now.
On my Halloween I can backhand it up the 180 ramp to the top playfields. Never touched the diverter from new.
If you’ve only played that broken game, I’d implore you to get your hands on one that works properly (!) and check out the latest version of the code. Preferably in a dark, quiet room … somehow they managed to get the creepiness of the movie into the code. The new “don’t fear the reaper” (whatever it’s called) mini wizard and the full Wizard mode are very cool.
Hey - it’s never going to be a tournament players flow fest - but it isn’t supposed to be. Not all games need to be that.
Cheers!
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Quoted from joelbob:I've actually played 5 different versions of the game at different shows and other locations. I had ramp rejects on all but 1 of the machines
Funny - my experience is exactly the opposite! Mind you all the HW and UM pins here in NZ are later builds.
As I mentioned, the earlier ones had some diverter issues — the owners should have sorted them out by now. I fully understand that if that diverter wasn’t working properly, then the game would be a shit show. Goes a long way to explaining the negativity to the title, if people can’t access 2/3rds of the game.
As an aside (to that) - lots of newby owners who buy these NIB machines have no idea how to adjust them or repair them - you can see that in the owners threads here. Some of the repair “concepts” they come up with are pretty funny at times.
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Quoted from Smack:Stop trying to make INDISC a Stern-ament happen
Just imagine how truely awful that would be to watch. Yuck!
Not to mention it would take 2 hours per round, most likely …
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Quoted from ZMeny:They can be adjusted to play well in competitive play. And I don’t really care about the rounds over the weekend, just the finals.
I’d much rather watch them pick (remember - they pick the games!) interesting older games than watch Escher and all the whiz kids play Rush for an hour.
Most high level tournaments force you to play games from all eras. Old, mid, new. To win, a player must exhibit skills across all eras.
Hey, I appreciate you want them to showcase the new games to push sales - but (luckily) competitive pinball is about playing pinball, not selling them.
Stern sponsors the Stern Pro Circuit, and fittingly all the finals are played on Stern games. As they should be. Perfect!
Signed ..
IFPA NZ Country Director RD.
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