Wedgehead Pinball Podcast
A weekly pinball podcast brought to you by the people that run Wedgehead, a pinball bar in Portland, Oregon. Each week Alan and Alex discuss a different pinball topic, with a focus on location play, often with other interesting guests.
If you have any questions, or might want to guest on a future episode, please email : wedgeheadinfo@gmail.com.
Episodes
50 episodes
Episode 50 - The 90s Pinball Renaissance Pt.2 w/ Roger Sharpe
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 desi...
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Season 1
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Episode 50
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1:21:48
Episode 49 - The 90s Pinball Renaissance Pt.1 w/ Roger Sharpe
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...
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Season 1
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Episode 49
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1:16:33
Episode 48 - Insider Connected
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...
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Season 1
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Episode 48
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58:28
Episode 47 - Gottlieb vs. Paramount Pictures
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...
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Season 1
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Episode 47
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39:36
Episode 46 - Die on this Hill: Rocky & Bullwinkle
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 Secke...
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Season 1
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Episode 46
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57:01
Episode 45 - Pinball Art Director w/ Greg Freres
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 de...
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Season 1
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Episode 45
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1:13:32
Episode 44 - The Notorious Bally Art Department w/ Greg Freres
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....
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Season 1
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Episode 44
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52:13
Episode 43 - MEGALOCATIONS!
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 collecti...
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Season 1
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Episode 43
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1:00:53
Episode 42 - Die on this Hill: Sega Godzilla
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 ventur...
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Season 1
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Episode 42
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37:44
Episode 41 - Homebrew Games
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 year...
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Season 1
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Episode 41
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40:03
Episode 40 - Die on this Hill: Hook
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 GL...
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Season 1
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Episode 40
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46:42
Episode 39 - Operator Spotlight: Flip a Coin
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...
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Season 1
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Episode 39
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45:37
Episode 38 - Die on this Hill: Orbitor 1
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, inc...
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Season 1
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Episode 38
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38:25
Episode 37 - Operator Spotlight: Walt's
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 ...
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Season 1
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Episode 37
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43:29
Episode 36 - Die on this Hill: Lethal Weapon 3
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 passionat...
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Season 1
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Episode 36
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42:38
Episode 35 - Payment Systems
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 ep...
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Season 1
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Episode 35
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54:23
Episode 34 - Pinball Restoration
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 e...
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Season 1
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Episode 34
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51:39
Episode 33 - Die on this Hill: A Nightmare on Elm Street
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 ...
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Season 1
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Episode 33
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54:00
Episode 32 - Stern's 'Miracle' Year
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 f...
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Season 1
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Episode 32
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57:58
Episode 31 - Operator Spotlight: Propeller Arcade
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 N...
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Season 1
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Episode 31
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53:56
Episode 30 - Throwback Games
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...
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Season 1
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Episode 30
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45:27
Episode 29 - Modern Pinball
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 ...
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Season 1
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Episode 29
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1:00:38
Episode 28 - Die on this Hill: Sharkey's Shootout
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 ...
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Season 1
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Episode 28
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37:37
Episode 27 - Operator Spotlight: Pinball Over Boston
In this episode of our 'Operator Spotlight' series Alan and Alex speak with Mitch Curtis of Pinball Over Boston, about his decade of running a pinball route in the Boston area. We cover what it was like starting out, how he grew it, how h...
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Season 1
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Episode 27
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51:26
Episode 26 - Die on this Hill: Space Jam
In this edition of our "Die on this Hill" series, John Dozier of Inner Orbit Pinball rejoins the show and steps up to defend Sega's 1996 pinball machine based on the hit movie, Space Jam!This game is actually the LOWEST rated game that ...
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Season 1
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Episode 26
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40:48
