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In this episode, Jessica DeNardo from Barrels of Fun pinball returns to the show to defend one of her favorite games of all time, 1989's Bad Cats designed by Barry Oursler with art and theme concept by the inimitable Python Anghelo.

Listen to Jessica explain what makes Bad Cats a great game, and respond to all the internet haters!

Meow Meow Meow Meow.

...we're adults, so here's the standard warning that we may curse occasionally throughout the episode.

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In this episode, Alan and Alex are joined by their good friend and staunch solid state pinball evangelist, Ty Palmer.  Ty is a fiend for early solid state machines, and will happily go weeks or months without playing a single game newer than 1985.

For his first appearance on the show, we decided to narrow down this era to one manufacturer, Bally, and keep it to the machines they released during the rise of the SBA dollar coin, and how this decision by the US treasury impacted pinball. This also dovetailed with the release of Pac-Man in 1980 and immediately put the future of pinball into jeopardy.

Bally released their best machines of all time in this short window, and we talk about each of them and try to provide some historical context for them in between.

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In this episode of the podcast, Alan and Alex are joined by their friend Jessica DeNardo, a multi talented woman who hosts her own pinball podcast (the Pinball Podcast), makes and sells her own pinball inspired clothing (Soft Plunge), founded the Portland chapter of the Belles & Chimes, worked as a pinball tech in Florida, and has recently moved to Houston to work on the production and assembly line at Barrels of Fun Pinball Company helping to manufacture their first pinball machine 'Labyrinth'

The three of us talk in depth about all the wild and interesting extra button gimmicks found on pinball machines through the eras, from the magna saves on Black Knight and Grand Lizard, to the shifter knob on Getaway, to the Gator ball eater on Nip-It, all the way up to Stern's usage of the central action button on  their lockdown bars.  

There's some really cool and interesting gimmicks over the years, and we do our best to cover as many of them as possible.

...but we are adults, so occasionally we use some adult language. 

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In this episode Alan and Alex discuss the most common new post on any pinball forum, subreddit, or facebook group: Buying your own pinball machine to put into your house.

This episode is meant to give a better, more whole picture of owning pinball machines. Alex is a home collector, and Alan owns Wedgehead as an operator, and they discuss why you don't need your own machine to enjoy the hobby of pinball, but if you do want to own them, you are gonna have to learn how to fix them, as well as get accustomed to talking to a lot of old dudes on the internet who don't know how to text.

We talk the good, the bad, and the ugly so that you can make an informed decision for yourselves.  There's a lot of other pinball pods that are either hosted by distributors, or sponsored by them, and many of the hosts are themselves home collectors.  There's nothing wrong with any of that, but home collecting is almost a separate sub hobby of playing pinball, and one that is a much bigger commitment than some of them might lead you to believe.  We aren't sponsored by a distributor, so we speak freely about what happens after you take the plunge and purchase a pinball machine for yourself.

...we're adults so there may be some swearing in the episode.

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On this episode, Alex sits in the hot seat to defend his love of 1995's No Fear: Dangerous Sports.  A divisive game design by the king of flow, Steve Ritchie.

Hear Alan and Alex discuss the game, and read and react to some bad reviews they found for the game.  Alex owns this game, and he's VERY passionate about it, so tune in and see why you might need to give No Fear another chance. 

...we are adults, and passionate pinheads, so there is some adult language in this episode.

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In this episode of the podcast Alan and Alex reminisce over how they got into the hobby, and dive into some conversation aimed at newbies to the hobby who have gotten bit by the pinball bug. 

We give some advice about proper etiquette, how not to sound like a dipshit on location, the joys of playing with others, and how to become a better player through personal accountability and the playing of older solid state and electromechanical games.  Listen to us remember our younger selves, and hopefully steer you away from some of the same pitfalls.

As always, we are adults and we swear sometimes throughout the episode.

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In this widebody episode of the Wedgehead pinball podcast, Alan and Alex welcome the return of Chris Rhodes back to the show. He is the other half of Wedgehead, and he is back to discuss the 7 widebody pinball machines released by Bally/Williams during 1993 and 1994.

We cover the definition of a "Superpin" and have a discussion about about each game, and what we like or dislike about each one.  We also give a unique award to each game, and at the end of the episode, you can find our own personal rankings from best to worst, including the lists from our previous episode guests Zoe, Greg, Daniel, and Ty.

...episode might contain some swear words, we are adults after all.

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In the 3rd installment of our "Die on this Hill" series, we welcome back Greg Dunlap, former pinball programmer whom we interviewed on Episode 11, to defend Data East's 1994 game 'WWF Royal Rumble.

Hear why Greg thinks this an underrated game, and hear our reactions to the pile of bad reviews I found for it all over the internet.

...includes some adult language.

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In this episode, Alan and Alex are joined by Greg Dunlap, a computer programmer that worked at both Bally/Williams doing slot machines and then later at Pat Lawlor Designs, working on programming lightshows and animations for Early Stern Pinball machine titles like Ripley's Believe It or Not, Monopoly, Nascar, and Roller Coaster Tycoon. Hear about how a lifelong pinball fan becomes a a part of the industry he loves, and about what it was actually like.

Greg is a great example of one of the hundreds of unknown people that work as a team to create a final pinball machine.  We had a blast talking to him about shooting the Monster Bash whitewood with Lyman Sheets and going out gambling on a riverboat afterwards, working with Pat Lawlor at his house during the early Stern years (aka the dark ages), and discuss what it was actually like being a regular person working at a pinball company, including watching the conception of the infamous Pinball2000 attempt to save the pinball department at Williams, and his time running the Pinball Outreach Project (or POP) with his wife when he lived  in Portland.

Greg no longer works in the pinball industry, which we think makes this a uniquely interesting interview. We found it super interesting to hear a bit about the day to day life of being a pinball grunt, and we hope you will as well. 

Episode is made by adults, so...we may swear sometimes.

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In this episode, Alan speaks with Daniel and Ty from Pop's Pinball Parlor in Massachusetts about why they unironically love the 1994 Bally Williams Superpin: Popeye Saves the Earth.

This is the second edition of our "Die on this Hill" series, and I give them the floor to explain themselves about why they enjoy this terrible game so much, before reading them a slew of bad reviews and then get their reactions.

It's a good time, but we are adults and sometimes we use swear words.

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