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This episode we are joined on the show with Marcus Petersen, who became a pinball operator in Lassen County, in Northern California near the Lassen National Park in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Susanville is the biggest city in the county with less than 10,000 residents, so Marcus really had a small pond when he decided to first start operating pinball machines.

Marcus speaks to us passionately about the importance of community building and offers lots of fantastic advice for anyone listening who might find themselves in a similar situation out there.

Warning: we do cuss a little bit.

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This the follow-up episode to Episode 76: Original Themes, and in this episode, we explore the licensing wars in the early 90s through the lens of Joe Kaminkow at Data East pinball and their shift from original themes to only making licensed games.  We talk about how Williams and Gottlieb follow suit and compare sales strategies amongst the companies.

Then we end up discussing the major shift in pinball buyers from operators to home collectors, and how that has forever shifted the landscape moving forward.

As always, we swear on the show. Sensitive ears be warned.

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This episode we are joined by the Underboss of the Stern Family, Mr. George Gomez to discuss the single most popular location game in the Portland pinball scene and celebrate the 20th Anniversary of its release.

George tells us stories about the production of the game, working with Lyman Sheats and Chris Granner, as well as answering our questions about the psychology of game design, and why he believes his games are so appealing to new players.

Warning: the Sopranos is an adult show, with adult language.  Our show is an adult show, with adult language.

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On this episode, we have a listener from the New England area Josh who wants to talk about the first Dungeons & Dragons pinball machine released in 1987 by Bally.  It's a famously hard game with very weird inlanes, so it should be no surprise that it is not well loved by most pinheads.

But Josh came on to set the record straight, and respond to all the haters.

Warning: We swear on the show.  Always have and always will.

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This is a good one, where we discuss how Williams was able to prove that during the renaissance period of the late 1980s and 1990s, they were able to design, manufacture, and most importantly, SELL the crap outta their original theme games.

In this episode, we talk about how Williams beat their competition with original themes and then discuss why almost all of the modern original IP themes suck.

Warning: we swear when we get worked up, and we definitely get worked up in this episode.

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Scott Danesi rejoins us on the show to defend his love of Gottlieb Premier's Raven, the lowest rated game that we have ever featured on the show!  Scott goes on the record with why he thinks Raven is actually great and confronts and addresses all the bad internet reviews.

Standard warning: We curse on this show; in case you weren't aware of these fact in the first 74 episodes of this podcast.

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In this episode, we are joined on the show by the patron saint of making pinball challenging again, Scott Danesi.  Scott works a full time job at Pinball Life as a multidisciplinary engineer, creating replacement pinball parts for all of us to benefit from, but he also famously has designed 3 (as of this recording) production pinball machines.

Scott is also one of the nicest dudes in pinball, who just so happens to make some of the meanest games in modern pinball, and he generously took the time to discuss all of the many things that he does in the pinball hobby from engineering, coding, scoring, and designing.  He truly is pinball's renaissance man.

Standard warning though, and it was Scott's first question (can I swear on this show?): yes we are adults, so sometimes we swear when we talk. This is your warning.

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In this episode we discuss the final chapter of Gottlieb as a pinball manufacturer.  The prevailing narrative around these games is that they're all terrible, but that's simply not true.  There was a bunch of talented individuals working at Gottlieb at this time, making some very interesting games on extremely tight deadlines, with few resources and we wanted to highlight their talents and work.

You may know these games by their pointy boy flippers, or their killer custom music compositions, but we hope that after listening to this episode, you will find a new appreciation for Gottlieb's last dance era.

But if you're new and don't know, we are adults and freely use adult language to express our enthusiasm.  You have been warned.

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We are joined on the show by our friend Todd Robinett, to discuss creating a pinball scene from scratch in a small town near the Oregon Coast.  He operates pins in his two businesses: the Merry Time Bar, and the Labor Temple Diner.

When Todd first moved out to Astoria, there were no pinball machines.  Now Astoria has 45 pinball machines on location in a town of 10,000 people, and Todd operates about half of these games.

Todd tells us all about his rare games strategy, the initial confusion that locals had to his pinball obsession, and how he was able to make Astoria a pinball destination.

The Salty Mermaid Cup

An annual, 2 Day IFPA sanctioned Matchplay tournament happens on Easter Weekend this year. Saturday 4/19 (Qualifying) & Sunday 4/20 (Finals).

Limited to 64 players. Registration opens on March 1, 2025. Register here.

Astoria Pinball League

Tuesdays at the Merry Time, 6:30pm

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IFPA director, and former women's world champion Zoe Vrabel is back on the show to discuss the past, present, and future of women's competitive pinball.  Zoe tells us all about the rise of competitive women's pinball, and what she would like to see in the future.

Stream the Women's World Championship March 29th-30th on Twitch through Backhand Pinball

Local Portland Women's events mentioned in the show:

Gator Queens - Every last Monday of the month at Wedgehead. IFPA sanctioned, registration at 6:30, tournament starts at 7pm.

FLiP - First Wednesday of the month at Ground Kontrol. IFPA sanctioned. Registration at 6:30, tournament starts at 7pm.

Good Luck, Babe! - Second Friday of every month, at rotating locations around deep SE Portland. Website here.

Other Resources:

Belles and Chimes: find or start a local chapter

IFPA Resources

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