Chewing the Fat with Jeff Fisher - Ep. 33 | The Strong inducts Uno, Pinball, and the Magic 8 Ball into the National Toy Hall of Fame

Episode Date: November 8, 2018

The Strong inducts Uno, Pinball, and the Magic 8 Ball into the National Toy Hall of Fame Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to Chewing the Fat on Demand. And now, Jeff Fisher. Thank you. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. It's good to see you guys. Thanks for coming out tonight. Thanks for coming out tonight.

You know, as I'm driving here tonight to get here, I find myself in a road rage mentality. No, I'm not going to do my stand-up act. I get an introduction like that. And then it's like I want to go into the whole stand-up act. And then I realize, Jeff, it's your... Stupid chewing the fat podcast. First of all, I'm not standing up. Okay, that's not happening.

I'm sitting. Second, I need a new knee. That's why I'm not standing. I've already got one knee replacement. This other knee needs to be replaced. I go to see the dock. Well, you've been through it before. I can't tell you anything new.

When you can't walk, come on back. Let me know when you want to do it. Okay, well, thanks. Appreciate it. Thanks, Doc. Appreciate it. And that's what happened to the last time. The doc said, you know, when you can't walk, let me know.

And I crawled to the bathroom in tears, not being able to walk on it. And I call him and he goes, oh, it's time, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah, it is. Which surprises me because, you know, speaking of myself, you know, bones and healing, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Supreme Court Justice, we get new. was today that she fell earlier this week in her office and went home and then realized that she was still hurting and not doing well. So they took her to the hospital and she fractured three ribs

and she's fine and you know she's okay. But I mean what's Ruth Bader now? A hundred? Just under 100. And so she, you know, she fractured three ribs. It'll take some time to heal, even though she's in, she's in really good shape for her age. I know that, or at least she appears to be. But I find it fascinating that the first thing I thought of was when they told me that she fell and she went to the hospital, I thought, oh, if it's a hip, that's it. And it was just ribs. So I think, I should be fine. But we find that when people get, uh, when people get, uh, if it's a hip, elderly. When they fall and break a hip,

they usually progress toward death before they progress toward life. And it's a strange thing, but that's just the way it is. I also found out some fascinating news today that

I believe that I'm a sociopath, a psychopath. I am narcissistic, everyday sadism. I have trade aggression because I drink

black coffee. They did a study at Innesbrook and Austria, the University of Innesbrook, and I love the University of Innesbrook fighting Austrians. Of more than a thousand men and women who self-reported their taste preferences and answered a questionnaire that

assessed their Machiavellianism, their psychopathy, their narcissism, and they found that those who preferred bitter flavors often exhibited qualities that make them appear bitter themselves. In addition, these people often revealed sadistic or even psychopathic characteristics. In other words, evidence shows that people with psychopathic tendencies tend to prefer their coffee black.

The present research has demonstrated that bitter taste preferences are associated with 549 more pronounced malavium personality traits, especially robust, and everyday sadism. Yay! So I either have to start drinking my coffee with cream and sugar or just stick to black and know that I'm whacked out of my mind. Because it also noted that research said that those who prefer sweet tastes are sweet themselves to the extent that they tend to exhibit more pro-social personality characteristics.

In general, the entire study argues that there's something to the saying, you are what you eat. That all from the University of Innesbrook in Austria, which is, I mean, gorgeous this time of year. I have been to Austria in my mind. In my mind, I've traveled. I used to have a friend of mine go to Austria every year and teach water skiing during the summer.

And he was always after me to come over there. Yeah, I was busy. New time. Sorry, I know it's beautiful. and do I want to water ski all summer in Austria? Eh. Might have been fun. Probably should have took him up on it.

So we had a man, I'm sorry, a transgender woman who's filing human rights complaints against 16 women for refusing to wax him there. Stop it. Yesterday we saw the story of the Washington. want to be a transgender male who told police, she was arrested, he was arrested, three or four times, told police that he was a she. They asked her him, him her, if bent through the surgery, she lied, said yes. and they didn't believe Hishi, so they checked, and they put her into cells with the males. And apparently bad things happened.

Now, I don't want bad things to happen to anyone, anywhere, let alone jail. But can we say that why is that the jailer's fault, that she lied and she wants to say, that she's a she and that just makes it so? No. You don't get to just say your something and then that makes it so. Sorry, it doesn't work that way.

Now, I say that and then we go to a man in Europe who believes that he is now 20 years younger and he believes it because that's the way it is. He gets to believe it. Now, the 69-year-old Dutchman is suing to legally change his age.

Now, is it for real? Maybe. Maybe not. He's just trying to make a point, I think, a real point, that he can do things at 49 that he can't do at 69. But the point is that he really can do. He's a motivational speaker, and he said he'd have better luck dating. He'd have better luck gaining employment. he had better luck purchasing homes and vehicles if he were younger on paper. When I'm 69, when I'm 69, I'm limited. If I'm 49, I can buy a new house, drive a different car, I can take up more work. When I'm on Tinder and it says 69, I get, and I don't get any answers. No swipes.

When I'm 49, I get some swipes. So he said you can change your name, you can change your gender, why not age? Genius. And that's exactly what we've been saying for how long now. Just because you say it doesn't make it so. We tell our kids all the time. You can call it whatever you want. It's still what it is.

I don't care what you call it. You can call yourself a horse. Okay, you're a horse. guess what, you're still a human. But I want to call myself, I'm a rock. Okay, you're a rock. But in real life, you're not. Now, this guy, in, I love the idea, and I wish I would have done it myself, a rattle band,

wants to change his age legally from 69 to 49. And it'll be fun to watch this case and see if, They allow it because they might. They might allow it. Because, you know, look, when you go to the dock and let's say they give you a scan or whatever, the medical community will say, oh, for a 49-year-old, you've got a body of a 60-year-old. Yeah, that's weird how that works. But in his mind, he's 50 years old.

Good luck. I want that to happen. Anyone, like, for instance, myself, I'd like to say that I'm 150. All right? Because really, I'm pushing like 300 right now. I certainly feel that old. And so if I say I'm 150, a bingo, people are swiping right than Tinder. Is it right or left?

So you know I love Samsung. I mean, I have a Samsung 9 plus. I love it. Great size. and I'm a fan. So I see that Samsung has now teased us with their foldable smartphone. All right. Now it's a great idea.

And I don't want to hear your, oh, they had folding phones before back in the ancient days. I know that. And I like those. However, what they're talking about is not a folding phone like the flip phones. They're talking about a phone that opens up and you make it that's a tablet for you.

And then you close it and that front screen is your phone screen again, your home screen, which is a really cool idea and I like it. However, the one that they're showing that I see that they're showing doesn't look like it's big enough. And I mean, I realize that those are words I'm used to hearing. It really doesn't look like it's big enough. However, I mean, if you're going to have something open up to tablet, You want it bigger, right?

You make it big enough. You do. That's the way it should be. People want bigger phones because they have the tablets. Now, you like the idea of having two separate things of the phone and the tablet and making them separate. But I kind of like the idea of one. If the technology lets the tablet be what the separate tablet is, right? Because now I've got this tablet now, the Surface Pro, which I'm just now getting used to.

But I like the separation of being able to separate the keyboard and still having a keyboard. I like that, although the keyboard is really sensitive. And I've got these beautiful, soft hands. I mean, that could be a hand model. And they clunk around on that keyboard, so I have to be really careful with it. But I like the idea. I just hope they do it right. And congratulations are in order.

Magic eight ball, Uno, and pinball itself inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame. I mean, it's not that big a deal. Calm down. If we had the actual people from the Strong Museum in Rochester on, maybe we'd give them a little bit of love like that. I mean, who knew that the Toy Hall of Fame was in Rochester? You know, we have to talk to these people at the Hall of Fame, the Toy Hall of Fame in Rochester. The Strong Museum. I think the Strong Museum is like Bill Strong from Rochester, decided to have a put his toys in the garage or something.

So we got to talk to them, find what it is. So Magic 8 Ball, who doesn't love the Magic 8 Ball? You play with that all the time. Uno, I am like an Uno master. My parents played Uno and Yucre for years and years and years in our house as a kid growing up, and I am a Uno and Yucer master. I know that Chris has no idea what the game Yucer is, but it's a card game, and it's played with a card,

with an actual deck of cards. I'm also the Uno King in my house. Oh, well, you could be the king in your house. Okay. All right. I am like the king of Uno. A period. I think we need to put this on the table.

I have no problem defeating you in that game. Here it is. I officially challenge you, Jeff Fisher, on an Uno match on Facebook Live, a weekend. Come on. Me and you. You're on. You're on.

We're on? We're on. Okay. I mean, I don't support gambling. But, you know, if we have to gamble, we have to gamble. That's just part of life. That's fine. If you're, do you want to play,

do you want to just have a classic Uno deck? Classic Uno. Actually, you know what? I want a brand new Uno deck. It's never been open on the table. Oh, setting demands now? Yes, because I don't know. You're the one that challenged me.

That's fine. And I want this to be officially like I want this to be. Well, you know what? Get the Uno National on the phone. Let's have this officially sanctioned. Yes. That was an Uno game. Yes.

I'm all for that. You all for that? I am. Oh my gosh. I think we need to make something else. I'm going to kick you. Oh. Oh.

I want to. Crunchy is so bad with Uno. Oh my gosh. So they were chosen. We're talking about the Strong Museum in Rochester for the Toy Hall of Fame. The honorees, Magic 8 Ball, Uno and Pinball, of course, were chosen from a field of 12 finalists. Okay, so American Girl Dowls. Chalk.

What? Shoots and ladders. The Fisher Price Corn Popper. Masters of the Universe. Sled. Tick-Tek-Tek-Tow. Tickle-Me Elmo. And Tudor Electric Football.

I was a big fan of electric football. I had all the classic electric football games. My grandfather gave him to me as a little kid. The 65 previous honorees include playthings ranging from the stick and cardboard box to Barbie and Lionel trains. Now, apparently pinball is making a big rebound because I didn't know that they had the International Flipper Pinball Association. I'm a big fan of the IFPA, the International Flipper Pinball Association. But there were 500 players and 50 competitions worldwide. in 2006 and 2017, there are 55,000 players.

Wow, that's a big jump. In 10 years, 500 to 55,000, 4,500 competitions, that's huge. That's a big jump for the International Flipper Pinball Association. It doesn't say here, however, that there's an actual Uno National Forum, but we're going to find that out because I will defeat Chris Cruz in Uno. Let's go to the break room, get a drink. I'm really thirsty, and I've got some headlines for you. All right, so we're just talking about the Toy Museum.

And I saw a story yesterday that was fascinating to me that video games beat blockbuster movies out of the game. And, you know, when you think about it, you think, well, I guess that could be right. That might be happening. Yeah. I mean, look at the numbers. Avengers, Infinity War, 2018, all right? $641 million through the first Sunday after launch, okay? The rate of the Furious, 2017, $542 million.

Star Wars, Force Awakens, 2015, $529 million. You think that's, you know, that's an awful lot of money. That's huge. right? Grand Theft Auto 5, 2013, billion dollars. First three days.

Red Dead Redemption 2. 2018. We just talked about it being released, not long ago. First three days after launch, $725 million. Call of Duty, Black Ops 4,

2018, is in last place through them all. Come to think about it, well, that should need me to be on the list. They only made 500 million. nothing. Three days. 500 million and they're at the bottom.

They're at the bottom of the list of the of the video games. And they're at the bottom of the list of the movies. But that really is misleading because they're giving you a whole week for the movies. You know, the weekend. So it could be four days in today's world. It's really four days. But they're saying three days. We'll give them three days.

And they're at the bottom of that. And it's still the bottom is 500 million. That is amazing. So when you talk about video games and your kids are talking to you about video games telling you how cool everything is and you're not paying attention, maybe you ought to pay attention a little bit. Because those companies are making a fortune. Also, congratulations are in order to Ariana Grande because she's Ariana Grande. Okay, that's why we're thinking. We're congratulating her for her song.

Thank you next. Breaks the single day Spotify record for a female artist twice. Twice. The first day, huge breaks a record. Thank you. Congratulations. Second day, again, breaks that one. Thank you next.

Now, it didn't hurt that she released it a few hours before she went on Saturday Night Live to perform it. That's my new single. Thank you next. And we just dropped it. So go ahead and get it. Amazing. Congratulations for her.

I mean, that's right. I mean, thank you next. Breaks its own record the following day. I told you the second day, 8.5 billion Spotify streams. So, I mean, that was just, wow. And it also, her, Pete Davidson was her ex-boyfriend.

You know, the guy that made the joke about, that got the congressman in office, by the way, with the patch, calling him a making fun of him. And he was a military hero. He won. So there you go. Take that Pete. Go ahead. Make some, you know, you make fun of some more people.

Let's get him in office. Congratulations. But the song has generated more than 29 million streams on the Spotify platform. She can probably do what she wants on Spotify for a little bit of time. And Spotify, I'd like to stream me tapping on the back porch. Okay. Sure. No problem.

Take care of yourself. It's okay with me. And this particular story caught me a little off guard. You know the grocery chain, Aldi, ALDI. and you know we've all we've all gone in a few stores here and there and some of them are some of them are nice and of course of course chris cruz loves it of course he does well there was an alde by my house when i lived in pennsylvania that was really crappy now the ones the couple of them that i've been to uh in florida weren't bad they were okay the one that we was open by us when i lived in pennsylvania was not good But anyway, they have a $17

bottle whiskey. It was just named the best in the world, the Aldi whiskey? Come on now. I don't buy it. All right, so the discount supermarket chain has stores in more than 20 countries just won an award for the best whiskey in the world.

At the Spirits Business Scotch Whiskey Masters, judges bestowed the two gold medals on the Aldi Breast. brand. One for its Highland Black Scotch whiskey and another for its Islay's, what is it, Islay, ISL-A-Y, single malt scotch. Wow. Congratulations to Aldi. I really find it fascinating that Aldi has the best whiskey in the world. I mean, we have Alamo Premium Distillery here in Texas that's creating their own whiskey, creating their Texas craft. whiskey. How about we put

the, I'm sure they could have won, they probably just didn't enter. It wasn't worth their time. Right? The Alamo Premium Distillery here in Texas, not worth our time. We'll be fighting who Aldi? Please. Should have done it. They should have

entered. So I want to say something to you, Mr. Jeff Fisher. Oh, boy. You say you are the king of Uno. Oh, there's no question. Okay. I say I am the king of Uno as well.

Yeah, yeah, I know. We're going to have a contest. We already did. We already said yes to this. I know, I know. But the closest I could get to Uno is actually the people out of the museum that we just talked about. So I made a phone call here. I know this is recorded and people say, oh, Chris, I just pulled my producer's pants on and got you the curator for the museum, Nick Ricketts.

Nice. To talk about the museum. Nick Ricketts? The latest. Yeah, I'm here. Hey, Nick, how you doing, sir? I'm doing great. So you're the man in charge of the strong museum in Rochester.

Is that right? Well, actually, I'm just one of the curators. Don't, don't play yourself, Nick. Don't do it. But I am the curator of all board games and card games, so I'm in charge of Uno. Nice. So welcome. First of all, congratulations to Magic Aid Ball, Uno, and Pinball,

being inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame. I didn't realize that there was, I knew that there had to be some sort of Toy Hall of Fame. I didn't know that you were the actual place for it. It's definitely a destination stop now in my life. I have to be there. Yeah. So where are you guys located at?

We're upstate New York in the city of Rochester, right in the center of downtown. And we've become a destination for many people. Yeah. That's fantastic. So is there a website where we can go and enjoy some of your inductees pictures? Absolutely.

You could Google the Toy Hall of Fame, National Toy Hall of Fame, or we are at Strongmuseum.org, National Museumof Play.org. Right. Yep. So Museumof Play.org. All right, so you are in charge of all the card games.

Yes. Do we know, can you answer me this question before we get into the actual, oh, no, debate that we've been having? but is Uker anywhere close to being in the Hall of Fame? It's closer than some games. It's funny because you're in Miami. Uker is, from what I know, mostly played in the Northeast and Southeast Canada.

Yeah, I was, well, I was born in Michigan. Okay. I was born in Michigan, and then, you know, I spent, I got out of there as fast as I could. But I was forced to play Yucer as a child. Me too. So, I mean, my aunts and uncles, and that's all they played. And they'd deal it out and play two cards. And that'd be the points and we'd move on.

It wouldn't even play the whole five cards. Yeah, or they'd go it alone. Yeah, they'd have to go to the break room. They did that during their breaks working in the foundries. So they had to do the games fast. Yep. Yeah, they're fast. Yes, they are.

So Uno has been inducted into the Hall of Fame. So does that mean that you have a special display of Uno now at the Hall of Fame? Yep, right inside the Hall of Fame. Do you have contests for championships and everything there? No, not really. Once in a while groups of some players, like we've had some chess groups meet here because chess is in the Hall of Fame. So after that was inducted.

I mean, chess is like the first game probably, right? Yeah, yeah. I mean, it has to be. Yeah. Chess and checkers go way back. Sure. Yeah. So, okay, so Oono's there, and we have chess people stop by, but we need to create an

on Uno championship. We certainly do. I'm just trying to help you out. Yeah, I think that's a great idea. Yeah, right. All right. All right, so what else? How many displays do you have at the museum now?

How many things are actually, how many toys are actually in the Hall of Fame? Okay, well, just to let you know, we're a lot more than just the Hall of Fame. That's just one of the big exhibits here. Okay. But there are 68 toys now inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame. Okay. So you're more, okay, so now you're talking down to me. You're telling me that you're more than the Hall of Fame.

So tell me what more you are than the Hall of Fame. Oh, boy. We are a lot of things. We publish a scholarly journal, the National, the Journal, American Journal of Play. So that's sort of a highbrow end. We are a family history center, but we are the only sort of family and children's museum.

So lots here for little kids to do that's based on museum collection, the biggest collection of toys, dolls, and games, and electronic games in the world. Wow. Yeah. And do you own the hotel? across the street, is that where people stay? Well, we are in the middle of a building project right now, and we have partnered with

several hotel. Yes, I'm sure you have. Is that how you say it? Yes, I'm sure you have. And, yeah, they've started construction, too. Yeah, good for them. They absolutely should. That's a good deal.

When, how many people, for your website, if I go to your website, does it have a picture of your, of all the toys that are in the Hall of Fame, or do I have to actually show Yep, you can scroll right through them. They're all there. That is fantastic. We have to try to do a broadcast from you guys. Oh, sure. It would be so much fun to go through and see all the toys and broadcast through your museum.

It would be great. Yep, the other exhibits are focused on specific kinds of play or kinds of toys. So there's an exhibit all about video games. there's right now we have an exhibit about pinball where you can play pinball right so i was fascinated by uh the story that i read uh talking about what what's got me hooked on you guys uh it talked about the growth of pinball uh over the last 10 years has been dramatic they went from like 500 to 55 000 yeah yeah it really is incredible um we had a a member of the Stern family that owns Stern Pinball in Chicago,

and he came and spoke at our induction this morning. Nice. Yeah, and he was saying how they're really proud. Everything's made in America, and now they export them. They export half of their product. I mean, they're really proud of that, you know, American made. And pinball is basically an American idea.

Pinball came out of it. America. Right. I mean, it's iconic. It stands for, it stands for America. Gosh, darn it. I feel like I'm part of the pit bull family now. That's right. Everybody can play. Everybody can play it. That's what's so great about it. It's sure you can have some guy stand there for eight hours and rack up some points. Or you can step up and put your corner up and say back off. I'm next. You lose up. It's one of those games. It's easy to learn, but difficult to master. Very true. Now, I'm looking through a list here. is pool part of the Hall of Fame?

No. I don't think it is. Yeah. Bill. Yeah. No. It's not. What is going on?

Well, I don't know. It's certainly been suggested many times. Yeah, what are the qualifications? Well, there's basically three qualifications. One is that it has to be around for multiple generations, which we sort of say is roughly, I don't know, now 40 years. But that can vary depending on the toy. Let's see.

It has to have an element of educational funds to it. And let's see. The third thing is it has to have what we call icon status. In other words, be recognizable by most people. Like Magic A-Ball. Of course. Oh, my gosh. Magic A-Ball was in.

I mean, we talked about a little bit earlier. That's why I failed to mention it when I had you on. I apologized to it because I was really more concerned with defeating my producer in Uno. Yep. And, you know, we've got a, I'm starting a war with him on Uno. But the Magic 8 ball, I mean, there's something that's been around. And who doesn't, when you see a Magic 8 ball, no one doesn't pick it up. No, right.

You have to pick it up and ask it a question whether it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Yeah, I mean, look how many jokes have been done with billiards. you know, with Poole as you pick up an eight ball and pretend that it's actual the magic eight ball. Right. I mean, that's fascinating. So if I came up to the Strong Museum, and I know you're not just the Hall of Fame, okay,

I got it. What's it cost to me? What do I got a drop to get in that place? Well, I think it's, boy, I believe the price may have just changed. It's around 15 bucks per person. That's not bad. No, it's a pretty good deal. It's a really good deal.

and for like local families or anybody that lives within a certain distance, memberships are a super good deal. And so you create, do you have family play nights and all that kind of stuff? Yeah. If you don't, I'm just giving you some ideas. Yeah, no. And this weekend, in honor of the Hall of Fame this weekend, there's family events going on both Saturday and Sunday.

That's fantastic. Nick Rick is, thank you so much for coming on on such short notice. I really appreciate it. Yeah, my pleasure, Jeff. The Museum of Play.org is the website. Go there and check it out. And congratulations to Magic 8 Ball, Uno, and a pinball. If you have more inductees, this happens once a year?

Yes. Always after Election Day. Oh, there you go. How do we not know this? My God. All right, so you have to keep us posted on the possibility. All right, so when do you release the podcast? possible inductees?

There's 12 inductees, and they are released at least a month ahead of time. Okay. So sometime in September, usually. Right, right. All right, Nick, thank you very much, man. I appreciate it. You've been very informative and very fun, and I appreciate it, and I hope that great success for the Hall of Fame.

And all the other things, I know you're not just the Hall of Fame. I got it. Thank you. You're very welcome. Thanks, Dave. So much fun talking to the Toy. Hall of Fame and Nick Ricketts and you know Chris is just trying to you know I put my producer pants on we appreciate you doing your job okay thank you appreciate it but it was

it was a lot of fun and we have to broadcast from there it would be so much fun thanks a lot for coming along for the ride today we'll see you tomorrow don't forget social media hashtag it chewing the fat you can follow me at jeff EMRA on Twitter and Facebook and Instagram is Jeff Fisher Radio and we've been we've been posting I'm hosting under my story every day, a little pre-show broadcast. So you look for that every day. And then the podcast drops, well, you know the podcast drops between 4 and 4 p.m. Central, 5 p.m. Eastern every day. And, you know, be sure that you subscribe and that you rate, review, and share.

And, you know, look, I'm not telling you what to do. You can do what you want, but it's just, I'll make it easy for you. When you rate it, just rate it 20 stars and review it best podcast ever. and then share it with anyone you can think of. That's all. Let's make it nice and simple for you, okay? See you tomorrow. Don't forget more on trivia.

If you're listening to this on Thursday, November 8th, 2018, more on trivia tomorrow on Pat Unleashed. If you're listening to this at a later date, go back and listen to Pat's podcast, you know, when you're done with this one. But if you're not done with this one, screw Pat Unleashed. Okay. I mean, I'm first.

All right? Let's never forget that. Ah, you can listen anytime you want. It's okay. See you later. Thanks.