Latest / Pinball Minority Report / Winchester Mystery Hoax | Ep. 3

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Winchester Mystery Hoax | Ep. 3 · Pinball Minority Report

• Mpt3k: This is Pinball Minority Report. And I'm Manu, and we're two Pinball fanatics bringing you real talk, wild stories, interviews, and everything happening in the world of pinball. Erika, what are we talking about on today's show? Erika’s Pinball Journey: I'm Erika. Today's show, we're going to talk about the true story of Sarah Winchester. And then we're going to talk about pinball at FANIME, which is a anime convention. Then we're going to talk about LGR gets a pinball machine. Yeah, I think it's LGR gets a pinball machine because that one's your story. Mpt3k: Yeah, it's LGR stands for lazy game reviews and we'll talk about that in a little bit. But how have you been? What's been going on? We got a lot going on. Erika's got it going on. Erika’s Pinball Journey: We've got a lot. There's been a lot going on. It's been a lot. My grandma was really unwell. I made that very last minute. Like I got on the flight within 24 hours to go see her in Sweden. So she was, yeah, but she's recovering and she's doing better. So I'm glad about that. But it was, yeah. Mpt3k: Yeah. ⁓ I'm sorry. Can I ask you, can I ask you what airline did you fly? Was it SAS? Erika’s Pinball Journey: No, none of that, yes. I flew United and then my next flight, I think, was Lufthansa. Lufthansa. And then I also took Eurowings. Mpt3k: Lufthansa. Have you ever... Eurowings. What is that? Is that new? ⁓ Erika’s Pinball Journey: Yeah. I'm not sure. I don't know. But it's a, they, they, they're, think a branch of Lufthansa. Yeah. Mpt3k: ⁓ have you ever flown Scandinavian Airlines? Erika’s Pinball Journey: I have, yeah. My uncle, I think was a pilot for them for a while. Yeah. Mpt3k: Oh wow. So you flew into Stockholm? I love that airport. I mean, there's not much there, I love it. You know, so here's something stupid that you would never know, In the bathrooms, in the Stockholm airport. She's starting to laugh. This is why you do a podcast with me. Okay? In the bathroom, in Stockholm airport. Erika’s Pinball Journey: Yeah, Fluentist.com. Yeah Mpt3k: they have, ⁓ you know, urinals, right? For dudes to go in and do their thing, the number one, not the number two. And so I land in Stockholm and that's when I used to go out there to teach dance. So I land in Stockholm, gotta go to the bathroom, walk over to the bathroom, see the urinal and I noticed that there is, I'm like, ⁓ they must not keep this place very clean because there's a fly down there. And I look close and I go, Well, wait, there's a fly on every single urinal. Wait a minute. Are they giving me a target? Dude, they literally give you a target to hit. Hello Pinball Minority Report right here. No, but I I immediately was like The Swedes are brilliant. This is amazing because they're telling you the optimal place for you to aim so he have less splash Erika’s Pinball Journey: Wow. It would be the Swedes, they're trying to be efficient. Mpt3k: love you guys you guys are great okay so anyway that's my story about the Erika’s Pinball Journey: Yeah. Sweden. We've been many times to Sweden though. This was something we learned or I learned about you a little while ago. Mpt3k: Yeah, I miss it though. I flown to Stockholm like eight times. I miss it, but yeah, so there you go. Nothing to, we'll go, yeah, yeah. I also have to make a trip with Isaiah to Japan to find them some pinball in Japan too. Erika’s Pinball Journey: We'll go sometime. We'll make it a Pinwell minority report. ⁓ yeah, I want to go to Japan really bad as well. ⁓ But yeah, I made that quick trip and just been working on a bunch of other stuff otherwise. lots of pinball. Mpt3k: That's pinball. Well, let's talk a little bit more about pinball. As we say, let's push start and let the games begin. Erika’s Pinball Journey: Your player one. Mpt3k: And our first, I'm player one. And with my first ball, I'm going to launch something at you, Erika. All right, full disclosure, if you don't want to hear about, you know, the show is titled The Winchester Mystery Hoax. We're gonna tell you right now, if you want to skip this and believe whatever you wanna believe, ⁓ Erika will... ⁓ chapterize this podcast so you can just what, skip this chapter? Erika’s Pinball Journey: Yeah, you can just skip the chapter about the truth of Sarah Winchester. Yeah, I mean, I'm about to have everything being told to me. I grew up with the Winchester house, like literally, like I remember going on field trips as a kid to this place. They tell us the story about Sarah Winchester and then Manu comes to me and wants to wants to reveal Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny. Mpt3k: What? What? ⁓ foot! Erika’s Pinball Journey: The tooth fairy, everything, he does it all. Mpt3k: You know what? I blame YouTube because I watch too much YouTube. ⁓ Erika’s Pinball Journey: But I'm very interested to know because you were the one that did the research on this and not me. So I'm ready to be surprised just like a lot of the listeners. So yeah, I'll put chapters though. So you can skip this whole story if this is not your jam. Mpt3k: Okay. Yeah, you could you could cut it right out. So anyway, all right. So here's the deal. Because Erika, also was was I was taken to the Winchester Mystery House when I was a little kid, scared the crap out of me, all of this stuff. But just to keep all our pinball people up to us. Now, if you guys probably already know this, that Barrels of Fun recently released a pinball machine based on the license from Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California. So the Winchester Mystery House pinball game. was actually the lead designer was first time designer, Karl D'Angelo with audio and stuff like that by our own buddy, Jeff Dodson from Dirty Pool Pinball. Beautiful game, beautiful artwork, faithfully recreating Erika. ⁓ Yes. wait, wait. got one. I got one. Wait. you're listening to podcasts, Erika and I are ⁓ all praise the mighty pyramid ⁓ that we have. I have a different than you do. Okay. There's a QR code on the back of this. I never noticed it. ⁓ that's cool. Anyway, ⁓ Brad Albright and Jeff Dodson did the design for this. ⁓ Both great people. All right. So, ⁓ Barrels Fun Erika’s Pinball Journey: Yeah, I got the OG. Yeah, you got it. That's great. both great people. Mpt3k: Winchester Mystery House, faithfully recreating the story of the Winchester Mystery House in a pinball context. But Erika, that story, is that story fact or fiction? Erika’s Pinball Journey: I thought it was fact, but I guess you're- Mpt3k: What makes you doubt that? The fact that we're doing this story right now. Erika’s Pinball Journey: Yeah, the fact that you sent me all these YouTube videos and then you're like and I was like wait what my whole life has been a lie ⁓ yeah, i'm ready to learn though. No now I think it's fiction. I mean now I think I get it like you gotta got a theme park for something so Hit me manu. What are we learning? Mpt3k: All right, all right. Well, it might turn out that, now don't get us wrong, the pinball machine is amazing, faithful reproduction of the story of the Winchester house, but it might be just as true as the faithful retelling of the story of Twilight Zone by Pat Lawler, right? Or the faithful retelling of the story of the Addams family, real family. You know, that actually existed. They lived right next door to the Munsters. So I'm watching ⁓ YouTube, which is the worst thing for you do as a person. All right. ⁓ And a comes up. It must have heard me talk about the Winchester house. A video comes called 40 Reasons ⁓ the Winchester Mystery House is a Total Scam. ⁓ We will, Erika, is there a way for us to post ⁓ the description? ⁓ have links to a couple of YouTube videos ⁓ we'll post in the show notes, but I went down a rabbit hole, ⁓ Erika, because like you, my life was based the fact that Sarah Winchester, Erika’s Pinball Journey: Yeah. I'll put it the show notes. Mpt3k: went to a medium or some kind of a fortune teller or something. Sarah Winchester, the wife of the Winchester estate, the gun that won the West or whatever, right? The Winchester actual rifle, the repeating rifle. Sarah apparently went to a medium that said, to atone for the deaths of all the people killed with a West Winchester rifle, you must go west and build a house and continue building and confuse the spirits. So that because Sarah's husband died and then the daughter died and everyone like died in her life. So she went a little crazy and started building a house and built and built and built. so around the time the pinball machine came out, Erika, you were like, hey, let's go check the house out. Erika’s Pinball Journey: Yeah. We did a little field trip. Mpt3k: Right? Which we did a little field trip. To refresh our memory about the house and the story of the Pinball machine, right? That was pretty cool. Erika’s Pinball Journey: Yeah, we wanted to get a chance to like re, cause like I had not gone to it since I was like 12. And, ⁓ for context, I'm 31 now. Mpt3k: I haven't gone to it since I was 12 either for context. I am also 31 now Erika’s Pinball Journey: ⁓ yeah. so went to this house ⁓ we wanted to also see, ⁓ have something about it later because I've been meaning to edit this video. We have lots of photos and pictures. We went on this little field trip to look at the house and then compare it to the art of the game of Brad Albright's art ⁓ just like the story, just ⁓ all encompassing. We went to the house. This is the game. How do they compare sort of sort of episode. So. Mpt3k: Yeah, yeah. It was super cool too. ⁓ Erika’s Pinball Journey: Yeah, I had a blast. think there were some people, we were giggling quite a bit and I could tell there were some people in our tour group that were not happy with us. We were both like, ⁓ that's like from the game. like, that's the thing. Like Brad probably did that. And then these people just looking at us and we're like, there's a pinball machine. We swear it's coming out. And they're like, okay. It was fun. Mpt3k: annoyed with it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think I remember you asked staff when were they getting their pinball machine. Is that right? Erika’s Pinball Journey: Yeah, I asked the staff ⁓ if they knew and they were like, not sure, but we know it's coming and it's going to be right over there with all the other games that we have that are like from that. Well, those are older games. This is not a newer game, but like kind of the game section, I guess you could say. So I still haven't played it at the Winchester house yet, but I do plan to make a visit back there at some point. Mpt3k: Ahem. Yeah, that was a super cool visit. of fun Karl and the whole team did an amazing job of recreating the story of the house. ⁓ even went, remember took the cellar tour. Was it the cellar tour or the basement tour? Erika’s Pinball Journey: Oh yeah. It was like a basement or the cellar. Been a hot minute since we went. Now it was back in November we went, but it's May for context, more context. And yeah, that was fun. They gave us, we had to wear these little helmets so that we wouldn't hit our heads. And that's where people said that they've seen the most ghosts, that they've seen like the groundskeeper, that they've seen the people. Like things are just weird down there. And we, I personally didn't expect to feel anything while I was there and I didn't. So. Mpt3k: Yeah, yeah ⁓ I forgot. Right. Erika’s Pinball Journey: Maybe if I kept going. I had a friend that used to work there and I believe that they said that they kind of felt little spooky vibes from the place. Mpt3k: Sure, sure. Well, I mean, yeah, it was a fun trip. We saw it was like they faithfully reproduced it in the game. So the issue right now is, that's not, so this is not the only video that I saw, right? The popular legend claims that Sarah believed that she was haunted by the spirits of people killed by Winchester rifles and that she built a house in order to appease or confuse them possibly under guidance of a psychic. According to the story, construction could never stop or she would die. people, they have been kind of going through the house recently, know, recently within the last like, I guess, five years or so, and finding more rooms and finding things that were not in the blueprints and discovering that Sarah Winchester, number one, wasn't, you know, going back through the Sarah Winchester history, she wasn't necessarily crazy. probably was the most brilliant construction ⁓ mind ⁓ architect. What is there to say? ⁓ Super awesome person the rights of ⁓ women, ⁓ saving There a lot of ⁓ things in the that ⁓ spoke more to sanity and ⁓ of what she was doing as opposed to ⁓ ⁓ ⁓ like that, right? And ⁓ wrote some of this down. ⁓ happy, Erika and I are happy to give you guys the information. Go look at the videos. There are many videos on YouTube explaining ⁓ discovered that Sarah wasn't crazy and this is not the real true story is because when Sarah died, the house was purchased by another family completely ⁓ who tried to do something the house, couldn't figure out what to do until they discovered if they made a story up and made it a haunted house, ⁓ people would start coming. And ⁓ this is clearly documented. The family that owns the house now, the estate that owns the house now has nothing to do with Sarah Winchester. And so they needed a reason to have people come to visit. And thus they made up the story of Sarah Winchester being, you know, told by a medium. There was never any, no, no researchers could find any proof that Sarah went to a medium and was told this. that Sarah had moved to California because of this. And there are also many stories about Sarah protecting women. Because back in the day, know, abortions, you couldn't get an abortion. Like if you were trapped or, you know, unfortunately impregnated, let's say that way to keep the nasty words out of the stream, there's no recourse for you as a woman. And Sarah was, Erika, there were like medical rooms in her house prepared with all kinds of things. And this is all kinds of stuff that's not just for Sarah. It's for like many people. She had rooms that kept people safe. If you had to go off the grid for a little while, Sarah was there for you. I have something here written in my notes that says, Sarah was an independent wealthy woman with an interest in architecture. who continually redesigned her home, sometimes rebuilding sections simply because she didn't like them. Okay, not because of ghosts. Her reclusive lifestyle and the strange design of the house helped fuel rumors of superstition and madness. Sarah had very innovative ideas in architecture and was intricately involved in the construction of her house. She pushed boundaries and ⁓ innovated in many areas, including Now we saw some of this when we saw indoor plumbing. Wasn't popular back. air heating. ⁓ floor was warm. Gas powered lighting on demand across rooms. Erika, remember the intercom system that she had? It was crazy. It was like. Erika’s Pinball Journey: Yeah. Mpt3k: You could tell where everyone was in each room at any point. So, yeah, everything we saw was there. Remember the floors that collected the water and the water would run off? There was like ⁓ greenhouse room where the water would run off in a certain way and recollect and do all this stuff. ⁓ had electricity. ⁓ had a bazillion dollars. ⁓ Erika’s Pinball Journey: truly innovative. Mpt3k: was smart. So so the point here in the story is once again, we'll link to YouTube videos that clearly show the history of the house. The point is to not defame Sarah Winchester's legacy with a fake story about her being crazy and running from ghosts. The point is to mark a person in history who was smart, innovative, and knew exactly what she was doing and exactly how to do whatever with her money. Erika’s Pinball Journey: Yeah. Mpt3k: That's a pretty big thing for me because if you're super smart, you're, you know, I'm just going to say that the family that took over the story maybe could have went a different way with it and not, you know, tarnish the Sarah Winchester's legacy. Erika’s Pinball Journey: Yeah, to make her come out to be someone that she really wasn't. ⁓ Yeah, what you've told me and what you've researched and what I plan to watch later as well to like kind of get more in into it. Yeah, man, just that's so wild to hear what you were telling me with the earthquakes happening and changing parts of the house and how they just decided, ⁓ we're just going to say, say this happened. Mpt3k: yeah. Well, for two case in points, I bring up to Erika, which was discovered in a couple of those videos. Number one, the room that goes nowhere. He opened the door and it drops right off the side of the house. Yeah, that would happen if you didn't rebuild the porch that was there. have literally they have pictures. of that side of the house and the door led to a little opening area where you could step onto and look out. They literally have pictures of that side of the house that's constructed. And when the earthquake happened, that side fell off. They just didn't rebuild it. Sarah didn't do it to make ghosts fall. Because what's the best way to kill a ghost? To make it fall and die. Wait a minute, what? Wait a minute, hold up. Erika’s Pinball Journey: If it walks out the door, it's gonna fall and hurt itself. Probably break both its ghost legs. Mpt3k: ⁓ and it's just tons of that. other thing, probably break go with his ghost legs. Erika’s Pinball Journey: Just like the, yeah, if you like put all that together, it's like, let's go break some ghost legs. Now they're only gonna stay on the bottom. Mpt3k: mean, come on, Sarah had more money than most people back then. Erika’s Pinball Journey: She was so incredibly wealthy, like from... Mpt3k: So Erika, do you think she could afford a chandelier with 13 candles if she wanted? Not a chandelier that's there that has 12 candles and then some busted up add-on candle. She could be like, can you just make it with 13, please? All right. Erika’s Pinball Journey: Yeah, she could have done that. Yeah, there's a lot of crazy stuff with this story for Sarah. And she like, it's so interesting from when we took this tour and like all the things that they're talking about her and that they're saying what she did. And yeah. I can see clearly now that she was, that they were wrong. I don't know. Mpt3k: Yeah. They had to stay on a script. Everyone who works at the Winchester Mystery House has to stay on script. They cannot vary from script. And there's documented cases of people who used to work there that one woman said she felt so sad that she had to say this thing about this wonderful woman, Sarah Winchester. That was not true. But once again, we reiterate, the game is amazing and the... the game faithfully reproduces the story of the Winchester Mystery House. Whether you guys wanna believe it or not, that's up to you. We give you the information, we'll give you the links, go check it out, let us know what you think. Erika’s Pinball Journey: Yeah. And if you want to prove us wrong, if you want to prove Manu wrong and say you've got facts to fact, to fact, to fact to back it up. yeah, let's go. Mpt3k: Bring it, bring it. ghosts! Erika’s Pinball Journey: break their legs. Mpt3k: Speaking of ghosts, and this is a terrible segue, but does this Fanime have any ghosts at it? Erika’s Pinball Journey: ⁓ Fanime does have ghosts? Probably. ⁓ people pretending to be ghosts. ⁓ Mpt3k: But I thought Japan didn't like ghosts. Erika’s Pinball Journey: I mean, people cosplay and they could be cosplaying as ghosts. So, yeah. Mpt3k: Tell me about Fanime. I'm new to this. What's going on? Erika’s Pinball Journey: So Fanime is this ⁓ fans of anime convention that happens in San Jose as well. So another thing in San Jose, it's actually pretty close to the Winchester Mystery House. ⁓ So, FANIME is in May. It's a Fans of Anime convention and it's happening during May 22nd to the 25th. It happens during Memorial Day weekend and it's just like Halloween in May. Like so many people come dressed up. People bring, there are dealers, there's artists, there's cosplayers, there's dances, there's... All sorts of stuff. have speakers, like voice actors from animes and stuff like that coming out. And I've been going to the show. I'm a fan of anime. I really do. I'm like in my anime era right now, Manu actually, because like I watched I watched Pokemon growing up as a kid. Right. I watched Pokemon and I remember Sailor Moon and I watched some like Winx Club ⁓ maybe a few other things like a lot of Cartoon Network as well. Mpt3k: Yeah. Erika’s Pinball Journey: maybe Nickelodeon and stuff. It's Fairly Oddparents or... Oh man, everything's escaping me now. Kim Possible. I don't know. Yeah, so I grew up with lot of cartoons and some of that is there as well. And now I'm on Crunchyroll and I'm watching Demon Slayer and Freiren and Dan Dan Dan and Jujutsu Kaisen, My Hero Academia. All these names that some of you are probably like, what? Mpt3k: Oh yeah, I heard of that. ⁓ really? Erika’s Pinball Journey: the heck is this? ⁓ Some of them are really good. And if you want some anime recommendations, be happy to give some more. But I go to the show to go look at like it's I go to go look at stuff, right? I go to look at people's art. I love going to. So they have a dealer's hall and they have an artist alley. And those are the two places I spend a lot of time in. And the dealer's hall has just like people that are selling like official merch slash like their own T-shirts or Swords like there's literally like a sword vendor. You can buy any sort of anime sword from whatever video game or show you've watched. ⁓ They've got people that sell pillows, posters, some really interesting things there. I like going to the artist alley, though, because these are people's real art and they've been really looking to keep AI art out of there as well, too. Now that it's becoming a thing, there's a lot of conventions that are now being like, hey, you can't have a art at your booth, which I think is great because keep artists. Mpt3k: Hmm. Yeah. Erika’s Pinball Journey: doing art and I have a lot of posters. I probably could plug in a few pictures or whatnot that I've bought from the years I've been attending the show. I don't go all the time, but I would say I've been to the show at least six or seven times. It's something I really enjoy going to when I get a chance and ⁓ yeah, I just think it's a lot of fun. There's a gaming hall. So now the reason I'm talking about Fanime with you in this episode is because I will be bringing Pinball to Mpt3k: Oooooh Erika’s Pinball Journey: the show. So they have a gaming hall and this gaming hall has a lot of like Japanese games, Dance Dance Revolution. They have a lot of console stuff and there's other vendors and stuff that bring those. But I was able to talk to my sponsor, Rewind Pinball, who is going to bring some Pokemon pinball machines and one Dungeons and Dragons. Yeah. Yes. ⁓ Mpt3k: Wait a minute, that's Japanese! Erika’s Pinball Journey: I thought of this though, because yeah, they're just, know, rewind Pinball. They're a new Pinball dealer. They deal with Stern and Barrels of Fun games. So we just talked about Winchester. They had Winchesters for sale and then they didn't because nope, because nobody got sold out in 24 hours. ⁓ But this is sort of like a way for their outreach. But also I just thought it would be super cool to now do this. Like I haven't had... Mpt3k: And then they didn't, yeah. sold out. I mean, yeah. Erika’s Pinball Journey: a pinball machine that I felt like I could bring to Fanime that would have this sort of impact Pokemon will. So I'm actually really excited. And I've even invited you, Manu, to come help out with. Yes. So ⁓ we're going to get to go to the show and we're to get to show people. look, you're all set with your little tech kit. Nice. For those of you that are visually. Mpt3k: Yeah. I can come too? I'm all set. Erika’s Pinball Journey: not watching visually. For those of you that are listening and not watching, Manu just grabbed out his his belt that going to bring to Fanime ⁓ to do any repairs. Marco. ⁓ Mpt3k: My tool belt, yeah. My Marco tool belt, sorry. Not a sponsor, but I love this tool belt. Erika’s Pinball Journey: Yeah, we love Marco. great Imoto and the team there are amazing. Yeah, so it's going to be a lot of fun. I'm really looking forward to introducing this like new wave of people and to pinball Mpt3k: If they want to sponsor us, it's fine, but not yet. Go ahead. Erika’s Pinball Journey: My current idea is to interview all these people that come to play Pokemon and then talk about what other animes or pinball machines they would like to see and let them know if some of them already exist and where would they go to play or ask them basically all the sorts of questions that I wouldn't think of myself anymore. After being in pinball for as long as I've been, I sort of forget what it's like in the beginning. And when I... Mpt3k: Yeah. Erika’s Pinball Journey: talk to a family member or a friend that doesn't know something about pinball and I start talking pinball and then they have to stop me. I get kind of excited because I'm like, ⁓ thank God you've reminded me that this isn't normal or like that this isn't like all well known to everybody. Right. Not that pinball isn't normal. All right. Pinball is very normal. It's just some of what you might know in pinball. might not be the standard pinball knowledge. And I really like that. So I'm very excited. to also know like what animes that I want to make in the pinball machine. What other animes can we convince these pinball companies to make? A dream come true. Mpt3k: Have you, in the times you went, have you seen any pinball there? Or no, it's kind of not part of it really? Erika’s Pinball Journey: I've never, in the gaming hall from my understanding, I've never seen Pinball at the show. They have all these like Japanese games like the candy cabs and like Dance Dance Revolution and like, I don't know. I've seen like those crazy dance games. A lot of people like the dance games, like those washing machine games where you... Mpt3k: Yeah, yeah. Those Washing Machine games where they come dressed with, they have their gloves on and they're just going nuts. The gloves, I've gone to Stone's Town and we went to that little arcade that's at Stone's Town and yeah, they're pretty serious. But... Erika’s Pinball Journey: The gloves are everywhere. Yeah. Yeah, no, it's sick though. I like it. a lot of, would say this is Halloween in May because so many people come dressed up and that's what's I think so fun about it too is like the culture of cosplay that's happens and getting to see the obscure ones, the most popular ones, like a very well known anime is Attack on Titan. A lot of people for some years were dressing up as Attack on Titan. You also have the classics like Naruto and Dragon Ball Z and One piece, like the amount of one piece Luffy's out there is a lot. ⁓ And just for some video games too, like maybe you like some Devils May Cry or you like Zelda. You like, I don't know. I'm trying to think of all the video games I play right now, which are, yeah. Mpt3k: ⁓ I'm telling you though, like, I can't wait to see how big of a hit the Pokemon pinball machine from Stern is gonna be when it's there. Because nowhere else in the world does it fit better. I'm surprised Stern didn't already think, wow, let's take Pokemon to anime conventions. Because if you would have plopped down a Twilight Zone or like say like a you know, I don't know, a John Wick or something like that at a fan made convention, you might get a passer by or two, but to drop down Pokemon, which is literally the artwork from the original Pokemon artists. ⁓ It's got Pikachu in there. It's got all the guys in there at an anime convention. can't wait to see what the reaction is going to be. Just that alone, Erika, you know what I mean? Erika’s Pinball Journey: ⁓ yeah. Yeah, like, cause I originally was gonna just attend this convention anyway. It is something I just enjoy going to. I'd probably go a day or two. Now I'll be there for most of the convention in order to be there at the games and kind of talk to people. ⁓ But yeah, I just thought that like, wow, wouldn't this be so cool? And then I talked to, I talked to my sponsor about it. It's like, hey, like, I think this would be a really great place for you to bring Pokemon, to try to show it to people. So I'm really grateful for Adam at rewind pinball for, ⁓ guess, what's what's indulging or like, ⁓ what's what's the word I'm looking? Yeah, to to help me bring out this fantasy and show people this world that we love so much. And yeah, I'm like really I'm stoked, man. It's in two weeks, May, May 22nd to the 25th. And I think we're going to have a blast. They're going to have a good time. Mpt3k: Yeah, I guess indulging, sure. I don't know. Yeah, yeah. It's going to be an incredible, I think it's going to be incredible experiment of does the theme work where the theme really should work, right? Like a buddy of mine who also streams, names homegrown, homegrown DB, who works for the Simpsons. He put a Dungeons and Dragons pinball machine at a game shop. So a place where they literally go to play Dungeons and Dragons, right? Erika’s Pinball Journey: Yeah. Mpt3k: He put a Dungeons and Dragons in that shop along with four other Stern games. He says the D &D is just making so much. He's just like, it's just killing, which it should, right? So by that rationale, I know that's ⁓ not a really scientific method of like one specimen, but by that rationale, Pokemon at an anime convention? Come on. Erika’s Pinball Journey: Yeah. You know, I was just thinking about the people that maybe saw it, you know, like people saw that Pokemon was a released pinball machine, but didn't know like how to buy one or how do you even find one. And so also helping to be like, not just to give visibility to rewind pinball, but to give visibility to pinball in general, right? It's to help the community grow and for people to know about arcades and stuff. Mpt3k: I mean, let's go. Exactly, exactly. Erika’s Pinball Journey: We'll have some little things. We're gonna be running a little Stern Insider Tournament. So whoever by 8 PM on Saturday and Sunday has a top score on Pokemon or Dungeons and Dragons will get a little prize. So we have some little fun things we wanna give to the people. And I'm just excited to talk to so many new people and hear their experience playing the game. And yeah, there's so much that's gonna come from this experience that I'm really stoked for. Mpt3k: Yeah. Erika’s Pinball Journey: So it'll be a little collab. We get a little ⁓ fun time. ⁓ And helping Rewind Pinball some visibility since they are a new dealer. I'm very excited for them. They've been given this really exciting opportunity to start to sell pinball machines. And been very for their support. ⁓ Mpt3k: Cool, cool. Yeah, I can't wait to see what that experiment looks like. Speaking of people who are new to pinball, story number three today, I managed to grab just today. ⁓ So again, I'm watching too much YouTube. ⁓ And one my, yeah, I know, we all do it. We all have to, it's like television now. ⁓ It's ⁓ It's what they wanted it to be back in the day. Erika’s Pinball Journey: Yeah. Okay, we all do it. Mpt3k: One of my favorite YouTubers besides Doug Cool Toy is ⁓ Clint Basinger. Now Clint Basinger better known as LGR, which Erika so managed to get through at the beginning of the show. ⁓ it's an initialism of Lazy Game Reviews. ⁓ I've been watching Clint's YouTube channel Forever, ⁓ gotta be for last eight, nine, 10 years. Yeah, Clint is an American YouTuber who focuses on video game reviews, retro computing, and unboxing videos. His YouTube channel of the same name has been compared Techmoan and the 8-Bit Guy. So if you are a retro YouTube watcher person, you know who Techmoan is, and you know who the 8-Bit Guy is. ⁓ Erika’s Pinball Journey: Ooh, commitment. Mpt3k: are all in the area of, they're all in the world of retro video games, retro computers, retro arcades, sort of like similar to retro Ralph, right? But, Clint, retro Ralph is a popular YouTuber. the LGR, is at 1.8 million subscribers, okay? So, Clint, this is his job, what he's doing. Erika’s Pinball Journey: Thanks a lot. Mpt3k: He also builds and restores many vintage, let's say this five times fast, vintage video games. I would watch Clint and see things by like old mouses and this and that and old computers or whatever. I tuned in today to find him next to Stern's fall of the empire pinball machine. Erika’s Pinball Journey: Ooh. Mpt3k: Ooh is right, because it's like, ⁓ my God, my worlds are colliding. What's going on? we'll put, you know, it's funny. This isn't the first time, right? So we just mentioned retro Ralph. We just mentioned cool toy. This isn't the first time that, that, ⁓ people from the retro community have kind of crossed over to say, ⁓ pinball. Erika’s Pinball Journey: happening. The gamers, they're getting into pinball. We're winning. Mpt3k: Hmm, right? This is not the first time, but this has got to be one of the largest, most popular YouTubers putting up a 17 minute long video about pinball machine. ⁓ And he said it himself in the video. says this is not about, because he used to play Epic Pinball, you know, on the PC and he loved Epic Pinball. He goes, this is not. that he goes, there's nothing that really compares to actual physical pinball. The balls banging around on the table and stuff like that. ⁓ and yeah, it was great. We'll post a link to the video in the description, but the long and short Erika is that this is, this is amazing for a lot of things. Number one, he didn't buy the pinball machine full disclosure. He reached out to Stern and this is where I Stern is doing really good for themselves. Number one, Stern is Stern, right? Biggest pinball manufacturer on the planet. Stern is doing a really good job. Zach Sharp sends out these emails and say, hey, we got a new game coming. Check it out. But they also are doing some outreach to bigger YouTubers. Clint, this is his was funny. Clint said he reached out to them. He would go to conventions and he would see pinball and he would love to play pinball, but they were daunting. The pinball machine is... You and I both know Erika. They don't look like they're very friendly. Erika’s Pinball Journey: big object you know they weigh anywhere from 250 pounds to 400 pounds and that is like pretty big Mpt3k: Yeah, that's a major, that's like going to get a refrigerator. But Clint, I don't know, check the video, he reached out to Stern and said, hey, I'd love to do a review of one of your games. And they were immediately like, yes. I'm sure they looked at the number of subscribers and they were like, yes. So they sent him a fall of the empire premium for review for three months. Okay, so it's not like he got a free pinball machine. So people stop, don't. Don't go there. Even Stern is like, look, that game is like what? $10,000. But they sent it to him. He put it together. He did have a node board problem immediately. It's just a RJ45 connector popped out. He got to support. They got back to him and he was up and running that same day. He loved it. Which is great. But for Stern, Erika’s Pinball Journey: Yeah. Mpt3k: This video is already sitting at 32,000 views and it's only been up for eight hours as of our recording. This is genius. So get ready for an onslaught of new, even newer people to the pinball world. But basically watch the video. Clint wishes he didn't have to send it back. ⁓ like, mean, Erika, do you think about fall of the empire though, as a game for a first time home ⁓ casual Erika’s Pinball Journey: Yeah. I it's great. think for like a casual player, for a home game, it plays really easy. You know, recently I saw a list of five pinball machines for beginners somewhere on, I think it was Facebook, like Pinball Enthusiasts 2.0 or something. And some guy posted a list from what seemed like a questionable website, to be honest. maybe it's not super questionable, but like I looked at the article and I was reading it and I was like, does this person play pinball like now? Like have they played pinball now? And like just some of the ways that they were talking about they're like that nasty left orbit on Pokemon. I'm like, excuse you. ⁓ Mpt3k: Hehehehehe Erika’s Pinball Journey: They fixed it. They fixed it. But like the games they were recommending was like Scared Stiff, Getaway. I think they had Munsters and Medieval Madness was on there. And what one other game. But I just was like, what arcade currently? Like what places to just go play pinball currently have these games to play, right? These games are all from the 90s. Mpt3k: Yeah, yeah. Of course it is. You guys, you guys gotta play that El Dorado. I'm telling you, it's the new. Erika’s Pinball Journey: I'm like, dude, like, where's your Godzilla? Like Godzilla should have been on this list. Deadpool, such an easy to go ready game. Like that was my first new in box game that I bought. That was my game that I was like, okay, I have pinball. I had, bought Lord of the Rings. And then I was like, I don't need it anymore. And then I was, and if you've watched the last episode, you heard me buy big guns, which is another pinball machine. And then I was like, Ooh. And then Like maybe a month or two after I had big guns, bought a New-In-Box ⁓ box Deadpool and I've I've since unfortunately so fortunately or unfortunately I've sold that Deadpool ⁓ but it became sorry this is a little side story just like just real quick I sold Deadpool and it was so cool because the guy that I sold it to so every pinball machine has like a birthday on the back right like when it was built and when it was made there's a little thing on the back that says like what day it was built the day my Deadpool was built is his birthday Mpt3k: Yeah. ⁓ no, are you kidding me? Wow. Erika’s Pinball Journey: Yeah! So I felt like it was destined and it was also his first pinball machine. Like he had, yeah, and he had like a, what's the word I'm looking for? He had like a computer one, a, he had a pinball machine, but it wasn't like, he had a virtual, I can't even remember that word. He had a virtual pinball machine and then. Mpt3k: No way! Yeah, virtual one. Like a little virtual pinball. Yeah. Yeah, that's okay. ⁓ my god! Erika’s Pinball Journey: And then I brought him Deadpool and I like unloaded it. And as I'm like talking to him, I'm realizing like, oh, this is like literally your first machine. He's like, yeah, I played at the arcade all the time and I absolutely love it. And so I then like took that moment to kind of give him like what I wish I got from the guy that I bought Lord of the Rings from, because he was he was very nice. The guy I bought Lord of the Rings from, but I barely got any information from him about like how to put things together, balls in and out and all that stuff. He was kind of like, Mpt3k: Yeah. Erika’s Pinball Journey: Here's your machine. And I was like, cool. Can you help us put it in the truck? So, yeah, I was just kind of letting him know like, yeah, you're to need to this with the balls. You can do this in the settings. This is how turn it on and off. And there was so much that I felt like I was able to give him, which felt really nice. But yeah, this is super cool to hear that this big YouTuber is catching on to pinball. I've been seeing pinball show up in some other of my Instagram and YouTube videos from other creators I really like. Mpt3k: Aww. Erika’s Pinball Journey: There's another Erika, ⁓ Erika. She's with a C and she does a bunch of Star Wars stuff, Lord of the Rings. And I just she's so fun and so funny. And they gave her a Star Wars machine as well ⁓ to hold on to for a little bit and ⁓ make video on. So that was super cool. And yeah, I'm glad that Stern is doing this outreach because this is where it is right. Like there is no I love pinball. but there is no sole pinball dedicated channel with a hundred thousand subs. right? Like there is no pinball channel that solely talks about pinball, not gaming, not arcades and other stuff, just pinball that I know of, right? Is that true? Would you say that's true? Is there any sole pinball YouTuber that has a hundred thousand subs? Mpt3k: Bye. You got me. Maybe if people out there, if you guys know, hit us up, let us know. Yeah, and I watch a lot of crap. I don't know. I don't know. Yeah. Erika’s Pinball Journey: Yeah. Yeah, I'm on YouTube. I watch a lot of different things. Like, I'm really grateful because there's still a lot of gaming. You know, you have Retro Ralph. He's at like seventy five thousand and you have a Cool Toy think he's a little over 50. And then, you know, just some other ones that I that I know of and watch, like even Stern themselves only like what? Twenty five thousand or something. So I ⁓ I do understand that there is this Mpt3k: Sure, Kulturi is about a little over 50, 50 something. Yeah. Yeah. Erika’s Pinball Journey: There is this thing about pinball that there is a barrier to entry as well. And it's not as easy. It's big. It's a big item. know, like you said, it's daunting thing. And ⁓ I do recognize, I guess I say the word, maybe I've said it before, but I believe pinball is a little bit of a privilege ⁓ because it's a, if you're not buying it yourself. Mpt3k: Yeah, yeah. Erika’s Pinball Journey: then you're going someplace to play it, which, you know, then you have to get yourself there. You have to pay the tokens. Maybe you buy a drink, maybe you get some food, maybe you hang out for a while. ⁓ There are some places that are really great that I love where you pay 20 bucks. You play the whole day. ⁓ These sorts of these sorts of arcades, though, you know, things. Yeah, I could go all into that. That's a whole other thing. yeah, LGR getting his first pinball machine. I'm really I'm stoked. I got to watch this video now. Mpt3k: Yeah. So it goes back to the saying, right? The old saying that rising tide lifts all boats, right? LGR gets to benefit from enjoying pinball. They sent him a great game. ⁓ He loves it. He says he might just buy a game, right? Boom, Stern gets a sale. At the same time, Stern gets some cred from 1.8 million other people who probably wouldn't have seen pinball, let alone Star Wars pinball. So they benefit and guess what? Jersey Jack benefits because if there's an in slot of people into the pinball world, they might discover other games. Barrels of fun, everybody benefits from this. Even you and I, Erika, we might catch another listener to our podcast. All because. Erika’s Pinball Journey: Yeah, I did see Yeah, all because of this. I did see... Well, I do see like some random waves of views for some of my videos. Like where maybe something came out and then like all of sudden randomly now I have like 200 extra views on Pokemon or I'll have this many extra views on this other video. So people are interested and they want to know more and there just needs to be... Mpt3k: I'm stretching this analogy. What did you see? Awesome. Erika’s Pinball Journey: We're going to figure it out. We're going to figure out how to get people into it ⁓ a bit more, at least help that barrier to entry. My thing with pinball, think my biggest goal that I even think with my channel ⁓ and just with talking with you is hopefully that more people will just know that pinball still exists and they're still making it because that's probably the number one phrase I get from someone I tell that I play pinball or I'm into pinball. They're like, pinball? They still make those? Mpt3k: Mm. Erika’s Pinball Journey: So it's really awesome to hear that a channel that big is getting some pinball, I was gonna say, getting some pinball action. That sounds kind of a little questionable, but I'm glad that pinball is being introduced on their channel and that I just want, I think so many more people can enjoy it. I think that we need that innovation. We need that drive. We wanna see those licenses and with Pokemon entering and you've got even Harry Potter, had Tom. Mpt3k: Yeah. Erika’s Pinball Journey: play like you had a Malfoy play Harry Potter. That was such a great video too. I'm sure that they got some extra people from that as well and knowing about the game. So yeah, just more pinball outreach. I love it. Mpt3k: Yeah, play Harry Potter. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, well, we'll post the link to that also so can watch LGR enjoy Fall the Empire ⁓ in the show notes. Erika’s Pinball Journey: Yeah. man, Manu, just talking to you makes me so tired. So. Mpt3k: Ha ha ha! Leave this in. Please leave this in. Erika’s Pinball Journey: Well, that's going to be it for the Pinball Minority Report. You can check out our socials. I'm Erika's Pinball Journey. That's Erika with a K. And we have Manu of Mystery Pinball Theater 3000. He has actually... Guys, someone has stolen Manu's identity. So Manu doesn't have a YouTube channel right now, but you can go on his Instagram. Be careful with getting in Manu's DMs right now because you might not be talking to Manu, which is really scary and sad. Mpt3k: Whoo. Yeah, I'm working on it. Erika’s Pinball Journey: And it makes me confused. Even when you texted me, was like, Manu, is this you? Use our safe word. Use our safe word, Manu. Pineapple. Mpt3k: Why would you tell everyone our safe word? Erika’s Pinball Journey: Well, we have to change it now because that's what I said in the text, right? My safe word is node 8 node 8 Manu! Oh yeah, hey that's dirtypool Bye guys. Mpt3k: Okay, all right, we'll change it. We'll change it.