- We have got a great show for you today.

It's packed with fun and games.

- Ooh, and snacks?

- That too.

"You Gotta See This".

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - So, what are these snacks you're talking about?

- Well, we're gonna go to a small town.

It's local.

They have a great, big business out of small seeds.

And they're healthy and delicious.

- And pumpkin.

(upbeat music) That does sound healthy.

And speaking of healthy, we are gonna meet guys with the Peoria Fight Club, and their boxing matches, the videos, going viral online.

- Well, viral reminds me of our favorite one-hit wonders that go out there, and "8-Track Time Machine", we're gonna talk about 'em today.

- First though, we're gonna visit an Airbnb that focuses on games, including video games.

- Ooh, video games.

Let's take some chances, and let's take some quarters, and visit the Arcade Museum.

(upbeat music) -[Mark] The small village of McClean south of Bloomington-Normal, is a quiet place until you enter Arcadia.

(arcade machine beeping) Billed as America's playable arcade museum, you'll find pinball machines and video games from the '70s to the 2000s.

- '81 was like the boom.

I mean, we're talking "Pac-Man", "Ms. Pac-Man", "Galaga", "Turbo", "Pole Position" were all '81, '82.

-[Mark] John Yates is a mastermind behind this gaming paradise.

Like other children of the '80s, he hung out in arcades, but he didn't have a lot of money.

When he went to the U of I to study electrical engineering, he taught himself how to fix games, and his love of games leveled up.

- And then I started acquiring these arcade games and putting 'em out in, like, pizza places and bars and restaurants, and all that while I'm supposed to be going to school.

And I just started acquiring so many of these games because, well, I'm just OCD, filling many warehouses with them.

-[Mark] What you see in Arcadia and Pinball Paradise next door is only the tip of the iceberg.

John's collection of machines stands at 1,700.

- God's plan or God's cruel joke on me, I'm not sure which.

-[Mark} At first, McClean was just a cheap place to store his games.

Then the light bulb went off.

John renovated this building, and Arcadia was born.

He owns several other buildings in McLean, and eventually wants to turn downtown into a family friendly attraction with an expanded arcade and restaurant.

But for now, John is pretty busy fixing machines.

- The biggest problem I have in here is people's quarters getting stuck, 'cause they don't even know the basics.

Most of these kids have never put a quarter in anything.

- [Mark] There are games you might've played 50 years ago.

- So I got these old rifle games.

Those are from the early '70s.

- I remember those.

- [John] Yeah.

(rifle firing) - [Mark] And games you probably have never seen, like this one from Japan.

- Well, I started importing these various cabinets.

I didn't even know what this game was.

I just saw, oh, it's another game in my favorite cabinet.

So I bought it and had it sent here, and it's ended up being the funnest game in here.

(upbeat music) (machine speaking in foreign language) - Stage one, pulling whiskers out of a scarecrow's head, maybe?

I don't know.

(machine beeping) - [Mark] Personally, I love the shooting games.

- Hasta la vista, baby.

- [Mark] But even the most basic games take me back to 7-Eleven or the mall, where I fed the machines all my quarters throughout my childhood.

- All right, let's go for a ride.

Boom!

See ya.

Here I come, Princess.

But the ape takes off with her.

-[Mark] Morgan Moody and her brothers bond with their parents next door at Pinball Paradise, which is in an old bank building.

- It's always been a family tradition to come here every Christmas Eve.

And we usually stay at the pinball place, and me and my dad try and compete to see who can win the most.

- [Mark] No matter the age, reliving memories and making new ones happen every day here in McLean.

- 'Cause you can see their inner child come out here.

- But when people walk in here, they're all smiling, and that just warms my heart, you know?

To have a place where...

It's like an escape, where people can come and just forget about the troubles for an hour.

- [Julie] Outside, the Airbnb looks like a modern home, unassumingly blending into the Bloomington neighborhood.

But inside, it's like another world.

Bright colors swirl amid retro decor, old school video gaming cabinets and throwback fun like foosball.

Welcome to the Arcade House, which looks like a Day-Glo rec room on steroids.

(gentle music) It's the handiwork of husband and wife, Andy Battery and Marie Poundstone, who originally planned a much more conventional inn.

- We built the... We started with Airbnb, they were gonna tear down the house, so we bought it, we remodeled it completely.

I actually built this garage to have it as a storage space, and then one day, Marie was like, "Let's turn it into a game room."

And from that point on, we just kept adding stuff.

- [Julie] But the game room grew and grew.

More video games, plus ping pong, pool, and other playthings.

All that stuff came from all over, even out of state.

- Essentially, what happens is Marie finds a deal somewhere and sends me on a mission to go pick it up.

About everything you see in here, it's been second hand, and we would just go pick it up in wherever it was at and bring it back and bring it back to life.

- [Julie] But bringing them back to life has involved a lot of experimentation.

- I faked it until I made it.

I watched a lot of YouTube videos, a lot of googling.

- [Julie] Parts of the house such as the kitchen and one bedroom have a conventional look, but a second bedroom boasts funky movie house decor, plus there's a nook for kids created by one of the couple's own children.

- Where shall we put this?

- It's got video games, a TV, toys, and it's just like a scene from Mario.

- [Julie] In fact, running the Arcade House is a family affair.

- We do have kids that range from 16 to newborn.

They've helped us a lot around here, like we've talked about earlier, from designing the closet to helping with the basic maintenance around the house.

It takes all six of us to make it happen.

- [Julie] The backyard offers more.

A hot tub, burn pit, lounge chairs, and other amenities.

The Arcade House has been a hit among travelers and families, as well as a host site for bachelorette parties, wedding showers, and other gatherings.

Visitors are encouraged to mark their special occasions on a special memorial wall.

- People that have had a wedding here, they've signed the wall with their wedding date.

We've had people propose on the deck by the hot tub here.

There's a lot of kind of history with this little door.

- [Julie] Visitors have come from all over.

Even as far away as Japan.

- People from all over the world that came and signed it.

(gentle music) - [Phil] Seeking a healthier diet, Jeremy Zobrist discovered a financial opportunity.

Where?

Inside a pumpkin.

A gooey, gooey pumpkin.

Zobrist runs Top Fox, a three-year-old snack food factory.

(machine whirring) The chief product there is known as Pop-Roasted Pumpkin Seeds, sold in multiple flavors and in 5,000 stores nationally.

The inspiration came when Zobrist and his wife, Sarah, decided to eat fewer processed foods, especially for snacks.

- We wanted something that was easy to eat, very crunchy, also very healthy.

- [Phil] The 47 year old is a fourth generation farmer who grew up on the family spread near the Woodford County village of Congerville, about 20 miles southeast of Peoria.

Eight years ago, online dating connected him to Sarah, then living in South Carolina, but soon to relocate to Central Illinois.

The two wed seven years ago and have two young children.

When the couple first got together, Jeremy Zobrist didn't think much about his diet, especially between meals.

- I used to eat a Snickers bar and a Mountain Dew in the afternoon.

My wife, Sarah, is the love of my wife, and she has Crohn's disease.

And Crohn's disease is an autoimmune disease that is inflammation in your intestines, and food can kind of exacerbate that.

- [Phil] A typical recommendation calls for a healthy diet without processed foods, so the couple began to eat better.

- So essentially, what you do is you cut out a lot of sugar, because there's a lot of sugar that's put into processed foods.

- [Phil] Soon, he saw the effects of improved food choices.

- So I lost probably 40 pounds almost.

Got more energy, and that was when I was first, like, connected, like, okay, what you eat does impact how you feel, and how you feel does impact how you live life.

- [Phil] He still missed his afternoon candy bar and soda pop, so Zobrist, whose family farms historically have included pumpkins, found other options.

- You know, a glass of ice water and something like pumpkin seeds was a good substitute for me.

A lot of the pumpkin seeds that are on the market right now have a hard fibrous shell around the seed, and so you kind of have to either, you know, chomp through those, or you have to kind of spit those shells out.

- [Phil] Was there an easier, better way?

Zobrist grabbed some of the family grown pumpkins, harvested and cleaned their seeds, then removed their shells.

In their kitchen, he and his wife experimented with cooking the bare seeds, pinpointing a method they call pop roast.

- And then we realized if we pop roasted it, it would be very crunchy.

And I think there's something in all of us that we like crunch.

It's just associated with snacking.

- [Phil] Many Crohn's sufferers must limit their intake of seeds, which can aggravate the condition.

But Sarah Zobrist has no problem with pumpkin seeds.

Plus, unlike snack chips, pumpkin seeds have nutritional upsides.

- They're very healthy for you.

So like, they have 10 grams of protein per serving, they have zero net carbs, and if you add a little, you know, seasoning to them, they're quite tasty.

And I'm a big believer that if it doesn't taste good, long term, it's not sustainable, right?

- [Phil] Seasoning was key.

After trying different herbs and spices, they came up with some tasty flavors such as Himalayan salt, chili-lime, barbecue, and caramel apple.

They quickly realized such a product might be marketable, so they formed a team to launch a business venture.

But what to call it?

Zobrist and others brainstormed names to describe the snack choice that's wise and smart.

- We were like, what about Fox?

You know, somehow that's a critter that kind of has some of those characteristics.

And then we thought about Red Fox for a little while, and then I was like, "Well, you got, like, top dog, top gun, what about Top Fox?"

And it stuck.

(machine whirring) - [Phil] Top Fox Snacks set up shop, two massive sheds, actually, just outside Congerville village limits.

That was in 2020.

Since then, Top Fox seeds have taken off, landing on shelves in 5,000 stores nationwide, including local Hy-Vee stores.

Soon, Kroger will carry the seeds as well.

Going forward, Zobrist wants to boost production.

One of the challenges involves the messy process of cleaning seeds from all that pumpkin goop.

- We bring all the wet seed that's very slimy, right?

We've all cut open a jack-o'-lantern and we know how slimy that stuff is.

And we bring that seed back to this facility.

And we have special dryers that dry the seed, and you have about 24 hours to dry that seed.

- [Phil] So, the factory has been setting up a new and faster drying process.

- We're working on converting it to a continuous system so we can get more throughput and more efficient drying.

- [Phil] Such improvements, as well as overall company growth, are exciting to Carroll, a Congerville native who grew up with many of his 34 coworkers.

He has been at Top Fox for five years, starting when he was in high school.

- It's really fun for me to be able to work on something that I'm passionate about right in my hometown.

- [Phil] Zobrist also smiles at the notion of a continued upswing at Top Fox, including its role as an economic driver for his hometown.

- It means a lot to the community, I think, because it's future, it's growth.

- [Phil] In Hollywood, there are rules about Fight Club.

- The first rule of Fight Club is you do not talk about Fight Club.

Second rule of Fight Club is you do not talk about Fight Club.

- [Phil] But that's Hollywood.

This is Peoria.

And the Peoria Fight Club wants you to talk about Fight Club.

Talk about it, come see it, click on the videos, share and reshare social media posts, make a big deal about it, because that's how Peoria Fight Club chases its dreams.

Many of its videos get thousands of views.

Sometimes more.

More eyes mean more publicity, and that could mean a big break.

- By the end of next year, I should be pro, if not before then.

- [Phil] That's what Robert Bryant likes to hear.

He owns and runs Peoria Fight Club.

And every week, his videos get comments not from just fans, but also pro boxers and pro promoters.

- You never know who gonna see that and wanna sponsor you, promote you, maybe even invite you into their camp.

- [Phil] Bryant has dreams of his own to one day become a professional promoter.

For now though, he pushes Peoria Fight Club.

It's like he tells his boxers.

- The more you go, you put in the work, it will pay off.

- [Phil] Bryant is 34 and works in a foundry, but he long has enjoyed boxing, and five years ago, he started Peoria Fight Club as a youth outreach with the theme, guns down, gloves up.

Inside his garage in West Peoria, he still trains kids when parents ask for his help, mostly with youngsters who seem to have anger management issues.

- What I come to find out is not that they need to fight, more than they just need to take out stress.

So I might set a timer for three minutes and just say, "Punch the bag and don't stop."

By the time they done, they're not angry.

They most definitely don't have the energy to wanna hurt nobody.

- [Phil] After training legions of kids, Bryant realized that some wanted to continue boxing as young adults.

Maybe even to someday try to make some money.

- And get recognized for that.

Like I tell 'em, as long as you put the hard work in, dedication, and stay out of trouble, I'm more than willing to share it with you.

- [Phil] Bryant stages what he calls underground boxing matches, mostly at nightclubs.

There are championship belts and five weight classes.

There is no admission fee, but he takes donations to defray costs, such as for a medical team he hires to be on hand.

Boxers don't get paid, but Bryant tries to help them out when need be.

- Some of our fighters coming from long ways.

Some of these guys, maybe they do need a meal or something, you know?

Now, we don't offer them nothing.

If they come and they're like, "Oh, man, I ain't got enough gas."

"Let's go to the gas station, I'll give you some gas or something to get back home, but I'm not gonna offer you this to come fight."

- [Phil] Sometimes, boxers get tips.

- Let's say a fighter walks out of the ring, victorious, and this certain fan appreciated and liked the fight, he might give him 25, $50, say, "Hey, great fight, man," you know?

I done seen some fans when we were at Club Truth giving fighters like $200 'cause they liked the fight so much.

I done seen that.

It doesn't happen all the time, but when we're inside and have big crowds, it happens more than not.

- [Phil] But most of the time, fighters get nothing.

- So the money, you're not gonna make the money until you get to the pros, so that's just one thing you gonna have to accept in this game.

The money not gonna come till the pros.

- [Phil] So why do it?

Why train so hard month after month?

Why travel to Peoria from across the state?

For many boxers, it's all about exposure.

Bryant's matches can draw hundreds of fans, and one time hit 1,500 spectators.

- And that was the capacity in that building, so we had to start turning away.

- [Phil] Plus, his social media videos draw legions of viewers.

That's why boxers have come to Peoria from California, New York, and many points in between.

They're looking for a big break, and Peoria High grad, Armond Palmer, has grabbed big name attention.

- He even has an invite from Floyd Mayweather's gym.

This is amazing, coming from Peoria.

- [Phil] A lightweight, Palmer says he needs to stretch out his stamina.

To turn pro, he needs to be able to spar for 40 minutes nonstop, and he's about halfway there.

- You gotta be dedicated.

- [Phil] For now, Palmer says he has found community with Peoria Fight Club.

- It's just positive.

It bring people together, have a good time, watch good fights, special moments happen.

A lot of special moments.

- [Phil] Like what?

- Knockouts.

- [Phil] He has a dozen or so of those out of 20 fights.

Bryant says those are the kinds of performances that draw eyeballs to the fight club.

And the attention is good for Peoria, he says.

For instance, all those boxers coming to Peoria?

- Like, literally, come to Peoria, get a hotel, eat at our restaurants, bring the people with 'em, fight, go home the next day.

So to me, like, that's something.

Now, imagine that on a major scale, like if I'm hosting events at Peoria Civic Center, now we have hundreds of people coming to watch this and doing the same thing.

I just think it's a start, it's a good thing.

- [John] Like his boxers, Bryant also dreams.

One day, he hopes to put together boxing matches that would draw 2,000 fans or more.

- I know we can do those numbers, 'cause I done turned so many people away at my doors for years now, so I just need to get in one time.

- [Phil] And even amid MMA, kickboxing, and other such sports, Bryant says that Peoria Fight Club has a solid future.

- As far as boxing holding its own against that, boxing will never go anywhere.

It's like the granddaddy of it all, you know?

Has to go all the way back to Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, and all of them, even Jack Johnson.

Boxing's forever.

(intense music) (boxers laughing) (funky music) (funky music continues) - Welcome once again to delightful Worth Township, Illinois, in my garage, for another edition of "8-Track Time Machine", where we look into the sounds and the songs of the greatest period of pop music, the 8-track era.

Now, I'm curious, do you have any favorite one-hit wonders, those songs that somehow became super popular before the band or the artist just disappeared forever?

Then you'll wanna celebrate on September 25, which is National One-Hit Wonder Day.

Now, here at "8-Track Time Machine", we could spend all of this episode and plenty more just going through all of the biggest one-hit wonders of all time, but we don't have all that time.

But we do have time for "8-Track Time Machine"'s top three one-hit wonders!

In the 1970s, there were two big fads, novelty records on the radio and martial arts on TV and in the movies.

In 1974, Carl Douglas put both of these together for this smash.

♪ Everybody was kung fu fighting ♪ ♪ Those cats were fast as lightning ♪ ♪ In fact, it was a little - Talk about a hit.

The single sold a whopping 11 million copies, and the 8-track had a catchy title, "Kung Fu Fighting and Other Great Love Songs".

But none of those songs caught on, nor did anything else that Douglas released, including the follow-up song, "Dance the Kung Fu".

So eventually, he headed to Germany, where he's still in the music business, and almost 50 years later, reaping the rewards of "Kung Fu Fighting".

Two couples got together to form Starland Vocal Band to put out this 1976 song, which in retrospect, sounds a little creepy.

And the thing that's really weird about it is it got its title from a happy hour menu.

But what they're singing about is a different kind of afternoon delight.

♪ Rubbin' sticks and stones together makes the sparks ignite ♪ ♪ And the thought of lovin' you is getting so exciting ♪ ♪ Sky rockets in flight, afternoon ♪ - It not only hit number one, but won two Grammys, including Best New Artist, beating out competitors that included, and I can't believe this, Boston.

They beat out Boston with this song.

This group was so popular, they even had a variety show.

But by 1981, the group broke up, and so did, eventually, both couples.

But still today, if on any afternoon you go out and just squint really hard and look up, you might see some sky rockets in flight, and maybe even enjoy a little afternoon delight, whatever that means to you.

In the 1960s, the band Mungo Jerry was founded by singer, songwriter, and guitarist, Ray Dorset.

The band didn't do too much until 1970, when he came out with this shuffling little ditty.

♪ In the summertime, when the weather is high ♪ ♪ You can stretch right up and touch the sky ♪ ♪ When the weather's fine ♪ You got women, you got women on your mind ♪ - This happy, carefree tune really clicked with listeners across the globe.

It hit number three in the US, but did even better across the world.

It hit number one in more than 15 countries.

That's impressive to be sure, but why did "8-Track Time Machine" pick this song as the number one one-hit wonder?

Well, it didn't sell just in 1970, it has kept selling.

In fact, it has sold, get ready for this, 30 million copies.

30 million.

That makes it one of the greatest selling singles of all time.

And it certainly makes it the best all-time selling one-hit wonder.

(funky music) (bright upbeat music) (bright upbeat music continues) (bright upbeat music continues) (funky music) (upbeat music) - I have the perfect make ahead sandwich for a summer picnic.

It's inspired by the pan bagnat.

It's soaked in olive oil and stuffed with ingredients.

The spread is the star of the sandwich because it has so many flavors.

I have chickpeas, capers, pitted Kalamata olives, artichoke hearts, and some chopped red bell pepper.

Let's pulse it until it's nice and combined.

(blender whirring) You just want a nice, coarse chop.

Now I'm gonna add some basil and some lemon juice just to brighten up the flavor.

Give it a few pulses.

(blender whirring) And about three tablespoons of olive oil.

I've got my baguette here, and I've scooped out the center to make room for all the ingredients.

This spread gets better by the hour because the flavors get a chance to meld together.

My family loves this spread.

I find they go right into the refrigerator and eat it just like hummus.

You can even make this a day ahead of time.

Just keep it refrigerated.

Now, depending on your taste buds, you can add some smoked turkey or ham, or both, if you'd like.

Of course, a layer of cheese.

My favorite is provolone, but you can use a cheese of your choice.

And I like to top it off with some fresh watercress or arugula, either one works great.

It adds a whole nother layer of flavor.

Drizzle with some olive oil.

I give it a generous drizzle.

And don't worry, it'll soak in by the time you're ready to eat.

What I like to do is give this sandwich a good press.

And I leave it in the refrigerator for a couple hours before serving, and voila, the perfect pan bagnat for a memorable picnic.

- That was a great show.

We learned lots of tips.

I think I learned some self-defense moves from those boxers.

- Oh, yeah.

And I learned about a new snack, and I think it's gonna give us a lot of energy.

You know what we can do with all that energy?

- What?

- Get ready for the next big show for all you out there.

- "You Gotta See This".

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues)