Wedgehead Pinball Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

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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 freelancing, he returned to pinball as the new art director at Stern, and quickly ushered in their own golden era of pinball with a return to hand illustrated art packages for their games.

Greg just retired after 40+ years in the pinball industry, and we had a blast talking to him again.  But we are all adults here so...sometimes our language gets a little bit spicy.

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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 Christensen, Tony Ramunni, and Pat McMahon.

Greg tells us some great stories from the absolute peak of Bally pinball, and how this rogue's gallery of young artists came in and completely changed the game with their bold and risque illustrative style.

Here's a bonus link to Greg's seminar from the Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show that we mention in this episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChCqJVvGlL8 

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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 not because your local operator is a crook.

Our hope after listening to this episode, you will leave with a greater understanding of why your local spot chose the payment system best suited for them, and why no matter the system, you should support them.

...but we do swear sometimes throughout the episode.

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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.

...but the three of us are adults, so there may be a couple swears sprinkled throughout!

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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 language.

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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 that we think has never been bested by anyone.

Alas, even though these games were of an undeniable quality, they weren't selling the units that the other big three makers were selling, and they unfortunately did stop making pinball machines altogether in 1982.  

The original Stern Electronics company wasn't around for long, and they were highly underestimated.  But for this one fleeting moment, Stern Electronics was the greatest pinball company in the world.

1980 was truly a year of miracles.

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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 description doesn't hint at the content enough, we do swear occasionally throughout the episode. 

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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.

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In this episode we finally talk in depth about "Modern" pinball, where it started, what defines the modern era, and the different innovations or changes to the classic game that we all know and love.

For all the listeners out there that have been asking us to talk more about modern games, this episode is for you. 

And if you want to hear more about modern pinball and enjoy this show, there are literally dozens of other pinball pods out there that almost exclusively discuss all the newest releases from all the different manufacturers, and we recommend listening to a few and seeing if you can't find one that you enjoy to supplement our normal coverage of older games. 

If you're new to the show, we cuss sometimes when we get excited, this is your warning.

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In this edition of our popular "Die on this Hill" series, we are rejoined on the show by Mitch Curtis, the operator known as 'Pinball Over Boston' as he jumps onto the show to defend one of his favorite underappreciated games, 2000's Sharkey's Shootout made by the fledgling Stern Pinball.

Mitch is a very passionate boy, and speaks at length about how much he loves this old/new mashup game, so much so that he even filmed himself giving a tutorial on this game years ago!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=SFk_aUkF8Ps

But it wouldn't be a DOTH game unless there were haters, and so we have once again scoured the internet to find the juiciest bad reviews to share with Mitch.

...this should be known by now, but we are adults and that means that we use adult language sometimes in this episode, and in all of our other episodes as well.

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