Wedgehead Pinball Podcast

Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast

This episode is all about the hotly debated definition of what a fan layout is, what it isn't, whether they are good, or whether they are cookie cutter derivative BS.  We discuss the history of them, some of the most famous ones, and some of the designers most associated with them. And at the end of the episode we even argue about some "modified" fan layouts that really seem to kick the old hornets nest amongst public opinions on how broad or how tightly a fan layout's definition should be.

As always though, this is a show with two adults speaking as adults do. I make zero effort to censor the show, which is just me saying: we say lots of no-no bad words when we get excited.

Support the show

Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast

This episode, we are joined by our friend Isaac Ruiz, a legendary tournament director and organizer from the Portland scene to discuss the rise of tournament pinball here, breaking the IFPA rankings systems in the early 2010s, developing Brackelope, the world's first software for running pinball tournaments, some format explanations for new players curious about all the jargon, and some advice for players who want to TD their own tournaments in their own local scenes.

But... we are adults, and as such, we swear sometimes. Just like every other episode. 

Support the show

Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast

Local Deathsave enthusiast Jeff Hart returns to the show to defend Stern's 2006 game, World Poker Tour against all the internet haters.  This is one of those games with a star studded design team, loaded with mechanical features, and yet it still is widely derided by many pinheads.

Jeff is here to set the record straight, and respond to the all the criticisms.  Maybe it's time for you to give WPT another chance.

Warning: our language gets spicy on occasion. 

Support the show

Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast

This episode Alan recaps the seminar that he was a panelist on for the 40th Annual Pinball Expo in Chicago and sort of reprises his notes for you all to listen to.

The panelists were 3 independent Arcade Bar Owners, Zespy of Logan Arcade in Chicago, Rachel & Cale of the Electric Bat Arcade in Tempe, and your very own Rhodesie & Alan of Wedgehead in Portland.

The topic was "How to Run a Successful Independent Arcade Bar", and Alan is here chatting with the Waterboy, trying to give a version of the seminar for y'all to listen to even if you weren't at the Expo.

Warning for the sensitive of ears: We use bad and naughty language sometimes.
 

Support the show

Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast

We are joined on this episode by admitted cheater, local Portland player Jeff Hart, to discuss the dark arts of pinball: The deathsave and it's little brother, the bangback.

We discuss the moves, the ethics of doing them from a player's and operator's perspective, and why they aren't allowed in tournament play.  Alan argues for changes from the manufacturer to disable them, and Alex outs himself as a proud cheater too.

Warning: this is a show made by adults, and adult language is used throughout.

Support the show

Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast

In this episode we interview a fan of the show Mike, who runs a cool AirBnB in Troy, NY near Albany.  He has 15 pinball machines in the apartment that are all on free play for the guests, and we talk with him about this unusual but very cool way to operate pinball in an unconventional way.

Mike tells us how he got started collecting, and then the decision to open up his collection to guests in the basement apartment under his home.

Mike also defends 1986's Road Kings in a truncated version of our popular "Die on this Hill" series.

Here's a link to his AirBnB if you're ever in the area, you should definitely check it out: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/691779632034113278?source_impression_id=p3_1729622041_P36uRzILadll9f_R

*Obligatory Naughty Language Warning*

Support the show

Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast

In this episode we are belatedly celebrating our one year anniversary of hosting this weekly pinball show.

We asked y'all to submit some questions, and boy did you!  We try and answer all of your questions that you sent in to us, although a few came in after we recorded this episode and we will save them for another time.

Thank you to each and every one of you that has listened to our show over the last year plus, and thanks for sharing us with your family and friends.  We feel rejuvenated, and can't wait for what year number has in store for the show!

Note: y'all should know by now, but we do swear a little bit sometimes.

Support the show

Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast

Our buddy Mike from Quarters and Quarters Sugarhouse joins us on the show to discuss operating two arcade bars in Salt Lake City, Utah.

We talk about his start in the bar business, and all the unique challenges that running a bar in the state of Utah entails.  Mike enlightens us on his local pinball scene and speaks about the decision to open a second location in the same city.

Note: We are adults, so we swear a little bit.

Support the show

Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast

This is the second part of our series about the groundbreaking Williams System 11 games, and we discuss the second half of them, including games from the recently acquired Bally pinball division which injected even more creative juice into the parent company.

Ty Palmer is back for part two, and we talk about games like Whirlwind, Elvira and the Party Monsters, Diner, and Dr. Dude amongst all the others, and further discuss the many design tropes that emerged from this era including which ones stuck and which ones fell by the wayside.

We even do a quick snake draft at the end to pick our own top 3 from the era.  But we are adults, so adult language is used. 

Support the show

Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast

Our good friend and solid state pinball guru, Ty Palmer joins us for the first episode in our two part series on the Williams System 11 platform, a pinball board set and software framework that massively changed the game of pinball.

Larry Demar designed and engineered this groundbreaking system, and programmed many of the best games from this era too.  It spanned 5 years from 1986 to 1991, and includes 30 pinball machines.

We discuss the first 15 of them in this episode including highlights like High Speed, Pinbot, Banzai Run, Grand Lizard, and more.

This era marks the change from classic to modern, and is the grandfather of all the machines we see to this day. System 11 is to pinball what Black Sabbath is to all subsequent metal bands.

Listen up, this is a good one!

Support the show