Dirty Pool Podcast - Ep13 - Kyle Spiteri - Motorcycles, Cats, and Stern Support Guru

Kyle Spiteri, better known as Black Cat Pinball - joins the show to talk about his path from his time at Marco Specialties to his current support role at Stern Pinball. We dig into his early days fixing pins at the Pacific Pinball Museum, the chaos of tech support at Stern, and why you don’t always need to restore a game to perfection. Kyle shares his thoughts on Insider Connected, his favorite pinball mechanisms, and the tools every tech should own - plus a few repair horror stories for good measure.

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00:00:00 - Intro

00:00:30 - It's Kyle!

00:01:30 - Kyle's a gamer

00:03:50 - Want to get into pinball? Meet the right gateway person.

00:06:14 - Why BMW motorcycles? Kyle the mechanic.

00:08:20 - Road Rash... Best weapon? It's the foot.

00:08:50 - Pacific Pinball Museum

00:11:25 - You worked on Suzanne Ciani's Xenon?!

00:13:22 - Pinball is a bookmark of the time period

00:15:37 - Online tutorial videos, pros and cons

00:19:28 - Whats the most fascinating pinball mech you've rebuilt?

00:20:41 - Pinball engineering needs to be simple

00:22:16 - How does it feel to be hired by @sternpinballinc ?

00:24:00 - How to be anxious and also give tours as a community ambassador.

00:24:45 - Dwight Sullivan tour extraordinaire

00:26:25 - Hardest pinball mech to repair?

00:28:55 - Stern and the community...

00:31:17 - Chicago... get it together and start promoting pinball

00:34:45 - Roger Sharpe still brings it at local tournaments

00:36:05 - "Survivor games"

00:38:59 - Do renovated games lose their soul?

00:41:35 - Arcades responsibility round 2

00:43:22 - Arcades also need to make money

00:47:10 - Desert island ... 1 pin... what is it?

00:48:15 - Deadpool's colorful history

00:50:26 - Kong and Godzilla BFF's like NBA fastbreak?

00:51:00 - Oh boy... lets talk Insider Connected

00:54:15 - IC ideas

00:57:00 - Pinball designers are trying to make the best possible game

00:57:35 - Don't be a bad pinball person

00:58:15 - Face to face discussions about pins prevent 'meanness'

00:59:21 - Where do you learn pinball repair?

01:01:00 - It's ok to fail, but also get an old game to learn.

01:02:40 - Start by cleaning games

01:03:48 - How many hats do people wear at Stern?

01:06:27 - Rapid fire round of questions.

01:07:30 - @IEPinball also doesn't like TOTAN

01:08:00 - Lets talk about game length playtime

01:09:10 - John Wick... Fights back.

01:09:46 - Most pins go to homes, not arcades.

01:11:20 - DND!

01:12:25 - TNA!

01:12:55 - Home games should be challenging or they get boring...

01:14:10 - Steve Richie's words of wisdom. "Play Better"

01:15:45 - Chat Questions

01:16:10 - Will features work in the future when gated behind old software?

01:21:40 - Who's responsible for the new LCD playfield support display? (Mark Penacho)

01:25:16 - Ian from @NudgeMagazine a man of "impeccable taste" ... or not

01:25:40 - Stern's history, Data East and Sega.

01:26:22 - Pickle beer?

01:26:28 - How does Stern feel about pinball MODS?

01:29:40 - Twilight Zone with a history

01:31:00 - The Raven thing...

01:31:40 - Kyle Spiteri officially confirms Stern's next remake is Raven

01:32:36 - Thank you Kyle this has been awesome.

01:33:40 - Kyle Spiteri officially confirms Stern's next remake is Raven

01:34:36 - Lets talk about toxic pinball again.

01:35:26 - Go to pinball expo!

01:36:26 - 'Loosely based on seawitch"

01:37:20 - Thanks chat, time to raid.

01:38:10 - California Extreme video coming soon.

01:38:29 - Bye!

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