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Pintastic NE 2022 Day Two Interviews etc

Posted: June 25, 2022 by datechguy in fun, pinball, special events
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A one of a kind machine only at Pintastic N#

One of the great things about Pintastic NE is running into machines that you can’t see elsewhere. This Jaws Machine for example is a one of a kind device from some familiar folks.

There are a lot of machines you see here and almost nowhere else. Another popular machine in the vendor room was the Weird Al machine:

I mean is there a more perfect subject for a machine?

Some other familiar faces are here The Pinbox 3000 crowd was back

Like Steve Ritchie he really gets excited about his work

and of course Pintastic NE isn’t Pintastic NE without the folks from the Electromagnetic Pinball Museum 

Or the Silk City Hot Sauce display

Yeah my battery died right a the end

One familiar face is Todd Tuckey who brought an unfamilar face with him his daughter

My interview with Todd will go up as a separate post later today.

I did another walkthrough of the Vendor room where I found a handy product

And talked to a fellow who brought a dozen machines from his collection to sell

By the end of the day the Indiana Jones and three others were sold (Indiana traded for another machines and cash).

And while I do not generally interject non-pinball stuff in these posts let the record show that I found out about the Dobbs Decision just as I finished by 2nd Ball on a game of Areosmith in the Extra Ball lounge and with my son visited St. Anne’s Shrine down to the road to pray.

I did get a chance to play Toy Story 4 (Pretty Good) Rush (Ok but I think it won’t wear well on the ramp shots over time) but the majority of my time yesterday was spent on Doctor Who and the Tales of the Arabian Knights

I’m meeting a friend here for day three, very much looking forward to it.

Steve Ritchie Pinball Designer the Pintastic NE 2022 Interview

Posted: June 24, 2022 by datechguy in fun, pinball, special events
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I sat down for a long interview with Steve Ritchie Pinball designer extraordinaire at Pintastic NE 2022 day 1 in Sturbridge ma at the Sturbridge Host Hotel

The greatest thing about the man and this interview is the joy he clearly has in the hobby and the game that has no diminished over the decades.

Some Quick Pintastic NE 2022 Day One Images and Interviews

Posted: June 24, 2022 by datechguy in fun, pinball, special events
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Here are a few shots and interviews from day one of Pintastic NE 2022

Todd Tuckey checks out Toy Story 4

There is one in the extra ball lounge but the line to get to it is always long

speaking of the extra ball lounge

The Weird Al game was here too

The Weird Al Pinball game at Pintastic NE 2022

of course not all that is here is pinball, there are some classic video games and memorabilia here to wit:

Like me the folks from the Bottomless pit of treasures have not missed a pintastic

Speaking of someone who is at every Pintastic

Gabe noted I looked a tad tired as well. He must be right because I crashed in my room and slept like a log for 10 hours

I’ll be putting up individual posts of my interviews with Steve Ritchie and Todd Tuckey but lets close this post with the coolest image of the day

Ritchie playing one of his game

You don’t get cooler than a designer playing one of his own games

One Quick Warning about the SCOTUS Gun Ruling today

Posted: June 23, 2022 by datechguy in Uncategorized

There is some good news on the 2A front out of the SCOTUS as the Justices struck down a law which required people to show cause before carrying a weapon for self defense:

“The constitutional right to bear arms in public for self-defense is not ‘a second-class right, subject to an entirely different body of rules than the other Bill of Rights guarantees,'” Thomas wrote. “We know of no other constitutional right that an individual may exercise only after demonstrating to government officers some special need. That is not how the First Amendment works when it comes to unpopular speech or the free exercise of religion. It is not how the Sixth Amendment works when it comes to a defendant’s right to confront the witnesses against him. And it is not how the Second Amendment works when it comes to public carry for self-defense.”

In an era of high crime and the authorities not protecting conservatives this is very good but let me give one warning.

Some might look at this ruling and say: “Well we don’t have to worry about the gun control bill and red flag laws because SCOTUS will strike them down.”

Let me remind people who think this of two things:

  1. The only reason why this vote was 6-3 and not 5-4 was because it was a fait acompli. If there had been one more liberal vote to uphold this law rest assured that Justice Roberts would have voted the other way.
  2. People thought the same thing about Obamacare,. That it would not pass SCOTUS muster was conventional wisdom and the public argument right up to the moment when the court suddenly upheld it.

Don’t let them fool you here.

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