Support the show and receive a link to the private discord chat: ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast Alex is bringing y'all a very special episode of the show all about one of the dumbest and yet most discussed aspects of the pinball hobby today, and that's TOPPERS! Warning: curse words were cursed in the making of this episode. Support the show
Support the show & receive a link to our private discord server: ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast This episode is all about the pinball's most important mech, the flipper. We cover the history and evolution of the flipper, discuss how they work, and the differences in flipper feel over the years. Warning: We manage to discuss some of the science behind electricity while still managing to swear quite a bit. Support the show
Support the show & receive a link to our private discord channel to chat with us and other supporters of the show: ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast In this very special episode of the show, legendary sound designer Chris Granner joins us once again. In the last episode we discussed his career, and his artistic process, but in this episode, we listen to selections from 15 different games and over 50 pieces of his music, and Chris tells us about each one. Our first episode covered the artist, and...
Support the show & receive a link to the private discord: ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast A very special interview with LEGENDARY pinball composer and sound designer Chris Granner. Chris worked at Williams, Capcom, and Stern and his name is credited on the sound packages of more than 40 pinball machines during his career. He is the man responsible for most of your favorite games, and it was a pleasure to have him on the show. Be warned though, we do swear on this show. More Granner Interviews ...
Support the show and receive a link to the private discord: ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast In this episode we talk about the invasive species of multipliers that have invaded the old school bonus multipliers habitat and completely overrun it. Alan discusses why he thinks all games are better without them, and Alex argues why they are good sometimes. In case you don't know, we swear on the show. Support the show
Support the show & receive a link to the private discord chat: ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast We're back to honor another year in pinball history, with the Pinball Hindsight Awards of 1985! This was a major downturn of the industry, but that doesn't mean that there still aren't some great games released this year, and we honor all of them in this episode with some awards given out with the power of hindsight! This isn't network television, so we do swear on the show. Support the show
Support the show & receive a link to the private discord channel: ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast This episode is all about the rise and fall of one of pinball's most magnificent and enigmatic designers, Mr. John Popadiuk Jr., sometimes better known as JPOP in pinball nerd circles. He made a string of some the absolute best games in the 1990s including World Cup Soccer, Theatre of Magic, Tales of the Arabian Nights, and Cirqus Voltaire. But after the closure of Williams' pinball division...
Support the show and receive a link to our private discord channel: ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast Join us as we discuss with frequent guest on the show Greg Dunlap to discuss the important role that programmers play in the design and development of pinball machines as we talk about all the many different ways that programmers can influence a player's perception positively or negatively through their work. But there's some tasteful swearing present throughout. Support the show
Support the show & get a link to our private discord server: ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast This episode features former guest on the show, and dot matrix pinball programmer Greg Dunlap to discuss how Gary Stern ends up surviving TWO pinball extinction events at the turn of the millennium, and then another one at the end of the decade. This is the only era in pinball's long history where there was only a single manufacturer in business. Gary made a lot of tough calls and hard decisions ...
Support the show & get a link to our private discord channel: ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast This is the first ever award show that attempts to get the calls right, all with the power of HINDSIGHT. So, for this first Pinball Hindsight Awards Episode, we chose the year 1990, and are giving out the test of time awards to games like Dr. Dude, Funhouse, Whirlwind, Rollergames and many more. Warning: adult language and no-no words are used for effect. Support the show
Support the show and receive a link to our private discord server: ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast This episode Alan & Alex are joined on the show to discuss the short-lived Pinball 2000 platform, and Ian defends SWE1, the last game that Williams pinball ever made against a flood of bad reviews. I mention in this episode a fantastic documentary that you should check out, called TILT: The Battle to Save Pinball check it out to learn more about this incredible project. As always though: this is ...
Support the show and get a link to the private dischord channel: ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast This episode is all about why pinball's natural habitat is on location, and why location pinball still matters (and matters much more than private collections) in the year 2025 and beyond. Our whole podcast is basically centered around the importance of pinball being put on location, but this episode in particular is a love letter to on location pinball ...with swearing. Support the show
Support the show and receive a link to our private discord channel: ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast This episode is all about the joys and fun that a hard game of pinball brings. For whatever reason this seems to be a minority opinion in the modern era, even though we set out to prove that pinball was always supposed to be hard, and that challenging games are way more fun in the long run. Obligatory naughty language warning. Support the show
Support the show & receive a link to the private discord channel: ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast This episode has been teased multiple times over the run of the show, and is a solo episode based upon what I started out writing as a short article about the business of location pinball, the economics of it, and the feasibility of pinball earning money on location. What started out as a short article quickly grew wider in scope, and eventually I just felt like it would make a better podcas...
Support the show & get a link to our private discord channel: ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast Good friend of the show and all-around expert solid state assassin, Ty Palmer joins us on the show once again for his SIXTH appearance to defend his DOTH game, 1979's Future Spa. Designed by George Christian and released by Bally in their golden era, this game is a super wide body with a very weird and very horny art package, but it's also a game that is widely mocked. At least it was, until this epis...
Support the show & receive a link to the private discord channel: ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast This episode is all about the mystery and mystique surrounding Bally's best game designer from their early solid state golden era, previously covered in our Susan B. Anthony Years episode. And just like last time, we are joined by local Solid-State assassin and good friend Ty Palmer to discuss what is all of our favorite designer from this era. For a guy that designed some of the best-sellin...
Support the show and get a link to the private discord channel: ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast This episode we discuss Stern pinball's interesting way of approaching certain licensed games that they make, including their recent games Dungeons & Dragons and King Kong, before we dive into the differences with their earlier Marvel games like Spider Man, Iron Man, or Avengers to what they make nowadays with Deadpool, X-Men, Venom or Avengers (the second time). Roger Sharpe used a phrase called a ...
Support the show & get a link to our private discord channel: ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast This episode was written by Alex, about how to get the most out of a Pinball Show. As the popularity of pinball has grown in the last 5-10 years, so too have the number of Pinball Shows/Expos/Conventions, and there is probably one near you too. Shows can be overwhelming, so listen to Alex & Alan discuss their tips for getting the most out of your weekend! Warning: We are badboys, and so we u...
Support the show and join the private discord channel: ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast In this edition of DOTH, Marcus Petersen from the previous episode about creating a pinball scene in a rural town, is back to defend his love for Sega's final pinball machine: 1999's South Park. I am sure everybody has heard of the show at this point, but this game was released after the first two seasons of the show. The pinball machine is nowhere near as well loved as the IP it's based upon, which is we are co...
Support the show and join our private discord server: ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast 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 importan...