In this episode:
- the thrilling conclusion to Episode 196,
- a Yestercades theme song?,
- our review of the Silverball Pinball Museum in Asbury Park, NJ,
- playing old and rare pinball games,
- comparison to Austin, Texas, pinball arcade by The Overnightscape‘s Frank Nora,
- interview with Jim of Silverball (origin of the arcade, where the games come from, what regular customers think?, etc.),
- our visit to Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash comic book store in Red Bank, NJ,
- our interview with Michael Zapcic @michaelzapcic– star of Comic Book Men,
- cooky customers and the background history of the store,
- how are comic books valued?,
- future of the comic book business,
- the upcoming second season of Comic Book Men on AMC,
- listen to Mike and Ming every Thursday on the “I Sell Comics!” podcast, part of the Smodcast Network,
- our visit to the Yestercades @yestercades classic arcade in Red Bank, NJ,
- a quick rundown of the games including Baby Pac-Man!,
- our interview with Ken, owner and founder of Yestercades (75+ arcade games, 16 pinball games, and almost every home video game console),
- hourly freeplay pricing vs. quarters,
- background history of the arcade,
- children love to play old arcade games,
- where do Ken’s games come from?,
- extensive maintenance of arcade and pinball games,
- the social aspect of playing old console games,
- the popularity of board games at Yestercades,
- Ken’s favorite arcade games and home game console,
- Ken’s thoughts about the Sega Genesis and Sega CD,
- and Ken’s video game trivia every Thursday on “I Sell Comics!”
Pictures and Videos taken from Yestercades Arcade in Red Bank, NJ:
Flickr – Yestercades, Red Bank, NJ 5/25/2012
Pictures and Videos taken from Silverball Museum in Asbury Park, NJ:
Flickr – Silverball Museum, Asbury Park, NJ 5/25/2012
Download this episode:
49.5 minute MP3 file – 22.7 MB (right-click to save)
Listen to this episode:
The Yestercades guy should pay you for that song!
I took one look at the show notes and thought-there’s no way this all fits in 45 minutes. I thought you guys did a good job of making it flow and not feel rushed despite all the stuff you crammed into it.
I think the comic book guy is totally wrong about the lower print runs of comics today leading to a resurgence in comic back issue prices in 15 years. I don’t think anyone will care about the comics of today in the future. When I was a kid in the 80s and early 90s the reason scarcity of old comics would drive up demand and secondary market price is because A) people wanted to read those old books and B) the stories couldn’t be read anywhere else. But today’s comics are just masturbation fodder and violence porn and all the old comics worth reading have been reprinted and digitized a million times over. Print comics will be gone in less than 5 years and no one will miss them once my generation is old and/or buried.
We’re looking at a future where digital distribution will make all stories instantly accessible without the burden of a giant mass of material possessions cluttering up your house. The crap being made today will not be missed by the collectors of the future because it’s too expensive for them to buy now so they’ll never become fans. Comic books as a hobby that kids could get into and grow up with is an outmoded, dead myth no longer applicable to today’s kids.
Shortly after comics go digital I’ll bet new issues cease to exist entirely. All the best books have already been written. If the publishers stubbornly insist on continuing print books and expect to survive, all they need to do is reprint everything from 1978 through 1988 over and over for future generations.
Esteban, not for nothing, but Mike is on television, so he knows best! Ha ha. To your point, its a prevalent discussion in video games as well, which we hope to have soon with an expert in that field (spoiler). I think his store deals with diehard collectors. So they will buy the physical books no matter what. You can’t collect a file, it’s not the same thing. Although there are plenty of file hoarders.
As you know, Transformers are constantly being re-released, as are action figures. It’s a mini-cash cow, buoyed by the hard core collectors. Actually, on the video game subject, when Capcom released Mega Man 9 digitally, the game of course looked/sounded like an NES game. It wasn’t, but that didn’t stop the collectors from killing each other for limited edition game boxes (contained I think the game on a USB key).
I would have asked comic book guy if any of those segments on the show are faked. I remember one episode had them going to a garage sale totally on a whim and incredibly (or not) it had all these really old fantastic toys and comics for dirt cheap. And of course every one was worth exponentially more than they paid for it. I just kept thinking the whole thing was staged.
I think he said nothing was faked, “off the air.” That was the episode where they showed up to some American Legion hall for a comic book show, and it had been canceled. My guess is someone found the garage sale on the internet or something, or they spent the day scouting them. They do sort of casting calls though, so that they get people who have stuff to show or sell at the same time. Otherwise the crew would be there for days.
Yestercades is one of the best business ideas out there. Brilliant.
It was very interesting to hear the Yestercades owner talking about his repair man’s genius for fixing machines and praising him for his work at keeping them in play.
When I was a kid, my maternal grandmother had two pinball machines in her basement. One I can remember very well, because it always worked and we played it constantly.
The other machine broke down frequently, so we played it rarely.
Of the two machines, the one that broke down all the time seemed to be the cooler playing machine, with the most interesting layout and overall play. However, I can’t even remember the theme of that machine, since it was always out of commission. The machine that worked, I can see it very clearlyt in my memory to this day.
A pinball machine repair man IS the pinball business.
Great road trip episode, took me right back to my childhood.
Steve, pinball machines require so much maintenance, I can’t believe it’s been a viable industry/business for 80 years. Electronics (TVs, computers, phones, etc.) have gotten cheaper and more streamlined, yet pinball machines are the one thing that still have one foot in the past.
Growing up, I didn’t really “get” pinball. Once in a while, I’d give a machine a shot, but I’d either quickly lose or get bored. I’d always much rather play an arcade game than pinball. Now, I have a much greater appreciation and understanding of pinball and am more inclined to play and enjoy those machines.
Esteban, regarding comic books, I have no interest in any of them whatsoever. I love the look of old comic books- the way they’re drawn and colored in…not too detailed, but the details that are there are just right. They look iconic and graphic.
I completely hate the way modern comic books look- drawn with too much detail and too many gradients and murky colors. They look way too slick, yet somehow way too muddy.
going-to-sound-like-an-old-man-alert: it’s a shame places like this are a ‘novelty’ these days. there were about 15 arcades within a 5-mile-radius of where i live up to about 20 years ago. they were an essential part of our generation’s development and have informed our outlook, i think. i shudder to think how much money i put into ‘double dragon’ and ‘shaolin’s road’ in the 80s!