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 he...
Dec 02, 2024•56 min•Season 1Ep. 59
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 m...
Nov 25, 2024•44 min•Season 1Ep. 58
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 de...
Nov 18, 2024•52 min•Season 1Ep. 57
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...
Nov 11, 2024•1 hr 35 min•Season 1Ep. 56
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...
Nov 04, 2024•49 min•Season 1Ep. 55
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 trop...
Oct 28, 2024•46 min•Season 1Ep. 54
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 ...
Oct 21, 2024•46 min•Season 1Ep. 53
Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast In this episode Alan and Alex discuss the best games to trick your normie friends and family into liking and playing pinball. We discuss the parameters of what we think makes a great gateway game, what makes a bad gateway game, and tips for making their first time playing more fun. We are also now accepting questions for our 1 year anniversary episode, so send all your questions or comments that you want us to read and discuss on that episode ...
Oct 14, 2024•55 min•Season 1Ep. 52
Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast In this episode, freelance pinball artist Jonathan Bergeron joins us from his studio in Montreal, Canada to discuss his life as a commercial artist doing gig posters and merch designs for bands like Mastodon, Guns 'n Roses, Suicidal Tendencies, Judas Priest, and many many more, as well as how he got pulled into the pinball industry as the artist for Stern's Jurassic Park. He did 5 different dinosaur themed art packages for all the different ed...
Oct 07, 2024•50 min•Season 1Ep. 51
Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast The man/myth/legend Roger Sharpe is back again on the show to speak more about the pinball renaissance of the 1990s. In this second episode we dive more into some of the many people that made these games special. We talk about designers like Steve Ritchie, Pat Lawlor, and Dennis Nordman. Programmers like Larry DeMar, Lyman Sheats, and Dwight Sullivan, as well as the sound design and musical compositions of Chris Granner amongst others. Roger t...
Sep 30, 2024•1 hr 22 min•Season 1Ep. 50
Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast Alan and Alex are joined on the show once again by Roger Sharpe, aka the 'Man Who Saved Pinball' to discuss his career at Williams from 1988-1999 as the Marketing Director. Roger tells us some great stories about getting hired, the merger of Bally into Williams, his role in licensing games, and more. And we discuss a lot about the different technological advances that made this era of games so dynamic and interesting, from the software and rul...
Sep 23, 2024•1 hr 17 min•Season 1Ep. 49
Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast Alan and Alex are joined on the show by their friend Tyler White from LA to discuss Stern's Insider Connected platform, and why he loves to use it, and how he wants to see it grow into the future. Stern's IC is a feature that has been on all their games since Godzilla (2021), and has retrofit kits to connect all their Spike 2 games going back to Batman '66 (2016). We discuss what the new platform has meant through the eyes of players and opera...
Sep 16, 2024•58 min•Season 1Ep. 48
Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast In this episode, our friend and member of our local Portland Pinball scene, Nate Tayloe joins us on the show to educate us on the weird case where Gottlieb chose to sue Paramount Pictures over alleged copyright and trademark infringement due to the inclusion of Gottlieb's "Silver Slugger" pinball machine in the 2000 movie, "What Women Want" starring Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt. Nate learned about this case while he was in law school, and he want...
Sep 09, 2024•40 min•Season 1Ep. 47
Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast Ty Ueda from Pop's Pinball Parlor in Boston, Ma. is back to defend another game on the show, this time it's 1993's Rocky & Bullwinkle and Friends! Released by Data East and designed by frequent DOTH designer extraordinaire, Tim Seckel, this game probably barely qualifies as it seems to sit somewhere in the middle of truly hated or truly respected. But Ty is an excitable boy and he LOVES this game so we thought it would be fun to read him a...
Sep 02, 2024•57 min•Season 1Ep. 46
Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast We're joined again on the show by Greg Freres whom we spoke to in the last episode, about the legendary Bally Art Department of the early solid state era. But in this episode we focus our discussions on his ascension to head of the art department at Williams/Bally after the 1988 merger, guiding them through their wild 1990s pinball renaissance until they closed their doors in 1999. After about a decade in between of working in videogames and f...
Aug 26, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Season 1Ep. 45
Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast In this episode, Alan and Alex are joined on the show by long time pinball artist Greg Freres, and they discuss Greg's time working in the late 1970s and early 1980s art department at Bally, a truly remarkable time period for pinball art. Greg tells us all about the different processes that revolutionized the industry, working under art director Paul Faris, and the fraternity bond that he shared with Paul, Kevin O'Connor, Margaret Hudsen, Dave...
Aug 19, 2024•52 min•Season 1Ep. 44
Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast In this MEGA sized episode of the podcast, Alan and Alex discuss the rise and increase in the number of pinball MEGALOCATIONS with 100+ machines. We discuss traveling to these pinball destinations, what to expect playing massive collections in warehouse buildings, and talk about our own experiences at some of these locations such as Past Times, Next Level, Pacific Pinball Museum, and the Pinball Hall of Fame. There's some very cool and massive...
Aug 12, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 43
Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast Sean Irby, homebrew pinball designer from our last episode rejoins the show to defend his "Die on this Hill" game: Sega's Godzilla. Before Stern released their Godzilla to a near deafening roar of approval, Gary's previous pinball venture had a much less successful go at a Godzilla game, based on the similarly ill - fated Godzilla movie starring Mathew Broderick in 1998. The contrast between the reception of these two pins is STARK, to say the...
Aug 05, 2024•38 min•Season 1Ep. 42
Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast In this episode, Alan and Alex are joined on the show by Sean Irby, a northwest pinball neighbor from Seattle to discuss the making and development of homebrew pinball machines, AKA making your own pinball machine. Over the last 5 years, the homebrew pinball community has exploded thanks to the availability of boards, mission pinball framework, and the online community surrounding these tools. Sean built his own pinball machine, Eight Ball Bey...
Jul 29, 2024•40 min•Season 1Ep. 41
Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast In this special edition of our popular 'Die on this Hill' series, Alan teams up with his buddy AJ, the owner and operator of the Flip a Coin Arcade, to defend Data East's Hook. Alex is there as the resident hater on the show, and he GLEEFULLY reads AJ and Alan an avalanche of awful reviews scoured from the depths of the internet. Buckle up, this one is a wild ride. But we do use some choice and tasty adult language throughout the episode to pu...
Jul 22, 2024•47 min•Season 1Ep. 40
Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast We are joined on the show by Adam 'AJ' Jordan, owner and operator of the 'Flip a Coin Arcade' that they built in the basement of his girlfriend's bakery, the 'Bite Me Cake Company' in Pueblo, Colorado. We talk about building a scene in a small town, taking a leap in the middle of covid, and how his day job as an autobody repair guy has bled over into his operating of pins, including spraying new clearcoats and repainting old cabinets in the bo...
Jul 15, 2024•46 min•Season 1Ep. 39
Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast Our pal Jeff Johnsen, the operator of Walt's in LA, is back on the show to defend the last pinball machine that the original Stern Electronics company ever made, Orbitor 1. Jeff tells us about the historical significance of the game, including the two pinball outsiders and NASA engineers, who brought their concept and ideas for an entirely new play experience to a company under duress, and convinced them to take the leap and manufacture one of...
Jul 08, 2024•38 min•Season 1Ep. 38
Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast We speak with Jeff Johnsen, owner and operator of Walt's Bar in LA's Eagle Rock neighborhood about how his father taught him and his brother how to work on games as kids, almost blowing themselves up in the process. We talk about the LA pinball scene, pricing games, giving up his route, and how to properly rehab an old plumbing supply store into an iconic LA bar, replete with 10 vintage pins. Join us for a chat with one of the wildest pinball ...
Jul 01, 2024•43 min•Season 1Ep. 37
Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast Pinball restoration artist Ashley Ludwig (@ludwigsynopsis) is back on the show to defend her favorite trashy 90s pin, Lethal Weapon 3. Made by Data East in 1992, and based on the hit series of odd couple buddy cop films, Ashley passionately tells us why she thinks that LW3 is actually better than the Addams Family, and we confront her with the heap of bad reviews we found for it all over the internet refuting her claim. Obligatory swear word w...
Jun 24, 2024•43 min•Season 1Ep. 36
Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast Ever wanted to know why operators choose to use quarters vs tokens? Or why so many large arcades have ditched coins altogether and installed card readers on their games? Or why Wedgehead moved over to a freeplay model? Then this episode is for you. Alan and Alex discuss each payment system in depth and outline the pros and cons of each from both the operator and consumer's point of views. There's a reason for every decision, and it's usually n...
Jun 17, 2024•54 min•Season 1Ep. 35
Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast In this episode Alan and Alex are joined on the show by Ashley Ludwig (@ludwigsynopsis on instagram) to discuss the finer points of restoring old pinball machines. Ashley restores old pinball machines full time in Rochester, NY and she enlightens us on the skill and craftsmanship it takes to get to the level at which she operates. Make sure to follow her on social media so you can catch regular glimpses of her incredible work and talent. ...bu...
Jun 10, 2024•52 min•Season 1Ep. 34
Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast Ian Matheson, owner and operator of Propeller Arcade comes back onto the show to defend his love of all things Freddy Kreuger, but especially his love for Gottlieb's 1994 pinball machine, A Nightmare on Elm Street. Hear Ian passionately defend Freddy as a great gateway game, with incredible theme integration as Alan reads him scores of bad reviews for the game that he pulled from the depths of the internet. ...don't forget, we use adult langua...
Jun 03, 2024•54 min•Season 1Ep. 33
Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast It's the year 1980, and the US Olympic Hockey team shocks the world and beats the Soviet team in a stunning 4-3 upset in Lake Placid, NY during the height of the cold war. But another miracle happens in pinball that same year too, as a fledgling Stern Electronics releases 9 excellent machines in 1980. They were the clear last place manufacturer behind Bally, Williams, and Gottlieb, but in 1980 Stern makes an unbelievable run of machines, a run...
May 27, 2024•58 min•Season 1Ep. 32
Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast In this episode Alan sits down to talk with Ian Matheson, operator at Propeller arcade inside of Propeller Brewing in Halifax, Canada. We talk about how he got started, including some incredible stories about the old school underground Nova Scotia pinball scene before opening his public arcade which include stories of setting machines on fire in the front yard, peeing in sinks, and drinking beers while blasting Van Halen. But in case that desc...
May 20, 2024•54 min•Season 1Ep. 31
Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast In this episode, Alan and Alex discuss the outlier machines released in the last 7 years without ramps, and with simpler rulesets. We talk about Total Nuclear Annihilation, Beatles, Bond 60th, and Pulp Fiction, and why we love seeing the variety added to modern pinball offerings. But sometimes we use swear words. Support the show...
May 13, 2024•45 min•Season 1Ep. 30
