# Episode 206: Neil McRae, UK Open TD

**Source:** Pinball Profile  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2019-07-09  
**Duration:** 18m 23s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.pinballprofile.com/episode-206-neil-mcrae-uk-open-td/

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## Analysis

Neil McRae, a UK pinball tournament organizer and Flip Out London co-founder, discusses organizing the Five Days of Pinball event in London (July 15-21) featuring multiple tournaments including the UK Open, the growth of pinball venues in London, his personal arcade collection, and the challenges of running a major tournament for the first time.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Flip Out London has 50-60 games of various eras and attracts a core group of about 50-60 players — _Neil describing Flip Out's current state and membership base_
- [HIGH] Stern games take approximately two months by boat to cross the Atlantic to UK — _Neil explaining supply chain delays for new Stern releases in UK_
- [HIGH] Tilt (Birmingham bar) has approximately 25 pinball games, the second-largest location in UK after Flip Out — _Neil describing UK pinball venues and their game counts_
- [HIGH] Five Days of Pinball will run five tournaments across multiple London locations from July 15-21 — _Neil outlining the full event structure_
- [HIGH] UK Open will use head-to-head format with 5-6 person groups playing eight games each, followed by double elimination finals — _Neil describing UK Open tournament format adopted from Trent Augustin's Expo model_
- [HIGH] Pinball Heaven is the primary Stern dealer and main distributor for JJP and Chicago Gaming in UK — _Neil identifying Phil's Pinball Heaven as his go-to supplier_
- [MEDIUM] England received early access to Star Wars, Beatles, and Munsters pinball games — _Neil recalling receiving games ahead of typical US distribution schedule_
- [HIGH] Neil's personal arcade contains 20 games including Deadpool, restored Meteor, The Shadow, Batman 66, and Black Knight (incoming) — _Neil describing his current arcade collection_

### Notable Quotes

> "Two things, that the games don't break. I mean, that is so important. Number one, most important, the games don't break."
> — **Neil McRae**, ~45:30
> _Identifies key TD priorities; reveals maintenance/reliability as critical tournament concern_

> "That's what I want to do. I want to run a weekend like that. So I'm hopeful that we can do that."
> — **Neil McRae**, ~41:00
> _Shows Neil's motivation to emulate NYC Pinball Championships' success at UK Open_

> "London's not a cheap city, so taking space is expensive, but we've kind of almost got it self-sustaining."
> — **Neil McRae**, ~28:00
> _Indicates Flip Out's business model and challenges operating in expensive UK market_

> "The community that came together to help each other. Normally competitors suddenly want to help each other, you know, for the good of the people."
> — **Neil McRae**, ~57:00
> _Reflects on 9/11 experience; demonstrates broader theme of community cooperation_

> "You just want everything to be smooth and simple so that people are talking about the pinball and not talking about the TD."
> — **Jeff Teolis**, ~47:00
> _Articulates fundamental TD philosophy: execution should be invisible, focus on gameplay_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Neil McRae | person | UK-based pinball enthusiast, Flip Out London co-founder, tournament director for Five Days of Pinball and UK Open |
| Jeff Teolis | person | Host of Pinball Profile podcast |
| Flip Out London | organization | UK pinball club in London with 50-60 games, founded by Neil McRae and ~10 others; operates as members club with ~50-60 core players |
| Five Days of Pinball | event | Multi-tournament event in London, July 15-21, featuring five tournaments across multiple venues with UK Open as main event |
| UK Open | event | Main tournament of Five Days of Pinball; head-to-head format with double elimination finals; ECS-sanctioned event |
| Pinball Heaven | organization | UK pinball retailer run by Phil; Stern dealer and main distributor for JJP and Chicago Gaming |
| Tilt | organization | Pinball bar in Birmingham, UK run by Kirk; holds ~25 pinball games; known for beer selection and restoration work |
| Chief Coffee | organization | Coffee bar in London owned by Sam; hosts pinball; venue for Five Days of Pinball frenzy tournament |
| Martin Ayub | person | Runs Pinball News; supporter of UK Open event |
| Phil | person | Runs Pinball Heaven; Stern dealer and JJP/Chicago Gaming distributor in UK; supplies Neil's arcade |
| Matt Vince | person | Runs on-location pinball company; organizing frenzy tournament at Chief Coffee for Five Days of Pinball |
| Kirk | person | Runs Tilt bar in Birmingham; competitive pinball player; operates second-largest UK pinball venue |
| Trent Augustin | person | Runs tournaments at Expo; UK Open adopted his head-to-head/double elimination format |
| NYC Pinball Championships | event | Referenced as model for UK Open; run by Levi, Tim, Paul and others; inspired Neil's tournament approach |
| Deadpool | game | Latest game in Neil's personal arcade; described as fantastic with design by Gomez |
| Black Knight | game | New Black Knight game; Neil played it at Sunshine, has one on order for his arcade |
| Batman 66 | game | 2016 Stern game in Neil's arcade; described as relatively old in modern release cycle; superhero themed |
| Meteor | game | Restored vintage Stern game in Neil's arcade; Neil appreciates Stern games from that era |
| The Shadow | game | Bally/Williams game in Neil's arcade; described as great competition game |
| Pinball News | organization | Pinball media outlet run by Martin Ayub; supporting UK Open event |

### Topics

- **Primary:** UK Open tournament organization, Five Days of Pinball event structure, Flip Out London venue and growth, UK pinball scene growth and expansion, Tournament director responsibilities and best practices
- **Secondary:** Pinball supply chain and game availability in UK, Neil's personal arcade collection, UK pinball venues and locations

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.82) — Neil is enthusiastic and optimistic about UK Open, Flip Out London's growth, and the expansion of UK pinball community. Positive reception of new games (Deadpool) and venue partnerships. Genuine passion for pinball evident throughout. Tangential 9/11 discussion briefly becomes somber but resolves with appreciation for community and NYC.

### Signals

- **[community_signal]** UK pinball community organizing major international tournament event with European qualification system (ECS) sanctioning and anticipated European player participation (confidence: high) — Neil noting ECS tournament status and point qualification system drawing European players; first large UK tournament
- **[community_signal]** Pinball News (Martin Ayub) formally supporting UK Open as event supporter, indicating media partnership for major European tournament (confidence: high) — Neil: 'Martin Ayub, who runs Pinball News, he's one of the supporters' helping run UK Open event
- **[competitive_signal]** UK Open positioned as ECS-sanctioned major European tournament with 'big points on offer' and described as 'biggest...event' in UK by size and player quality (confidence: high) — Neil: 'There's like a big European pinball championship...It's probably in the UK The biggest Whopper event Just because of the size And also the quality of players that are coming'
- **[event_signal]** Five Days of Pinball multi-tournament event announced for July 15-21 in London featuring five tournaments across Chief Coffee, Flip Out London, with UK Open as main event (confidence: high) — Neil detailing full five-day event structure with specific dates, venues, and tournament formats
- **[licensing_signal]** UK received early access to Star Wars, Beatles, and Munsters pinball machines ahead of standard distribution schedule; reasons for early access unclear (confidence: medium) — Neil recalling early access: 'we had Star Wars early...Beatles early...Munsters quite early' but noting 'kept a bit quiet' and 'occasionally strange things happen'
- **[market_signal]** UK pinball venue expansion observed with multiple new bars/clubs adding pinball games; Flip Out London self-sustaining despite London's expensive real estate market (confidence: high) — Neil describing growth from single Flip Out location to multiple venues (Chief Coffee, Tilt, other bars); Flip Out members club model working despite high rent
- **[community_signal]** Neil McRae leveraging tournament experience from travel and attendance at major events (NYC Pinball Championships, Expo) to inform first-time TD approach for UK Open (confidence: high) — Neil: 'you get to go all over and see different pinball tournaments, so you can kind of take the best from each' and adopting Trent Augustin's Expo format
- **[product_strategy]** Stern game releases reach UK approximately two months after US release due to Atlantic shipping logistics (confidence: high) — Neil stating 'two months on a boat to cross the Atlantic' creates consistent supply chain delay for UK market

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## Transcript

 it's time for another pinball profile i'm your host jeff teols you can find our group on facebook we're also on twitter at pinball profile emails pinball profile at gmail.com and please subscribe on either itunes stitcher or google play i'm sitting here in manhattan getting ready for the new york city pinball championships with my good friend neil mccray he's been a guest on the show before and he was here last year too he's here again hey neil how are you i'm great jeff it's good to see you it's good to see you too i know you're into pinball in fact i'm looking at your luggage it's got all these stickers of all these different pinball places you've been on so probably pretty easy to identify when you're coming into laguardia i want to talk to you about tournaments because you go to a lot of tournaments and when you go to a lot of tournaments you kind of get the bug you know maybe i could do one of these well that's what neil mccray is going to be doing and it's not just a little one, is it? No, we're doing a UK Open, which is like a big European tournament in London, and kind of a few tournaments around it, and I'm kind of the TD, and I'm running it. For some crazy reason, I thought I'd volunteer to do that, and I'm really looking forward to it. Wow, you Brits and Scots, my goodness, you know, you've got the birth of Archie, and now you've got to have a birth of this big pinball tournament. But the UK Open, it sounds exciting. It's happening in July. What's going to be happening there? It's not just one tournament. It's a few. Yeah, so we thought we'd put a reason behind it for people to come for a few days. So we're actually running five tournaments in what we're calling the five days of pinball in London, starting on a Wednesday night and then going through five nights to Sunday, and then with the kind of finals on the Sunday for the main tournament, which is the UK Open. I love London. And I said to you when you told me when the tournament was, I said, look, I've only got one weekend. I'm busy in July. Any other weekend, I'll come to this event. I love London. Of course, it had to be on the weekend. My son has a baseball tournament, but that's okay. Next year, I'll plan ahead. But the weekend is? It's the 15th. So we start on Wednesday the 15th, and we go through to the 21st of July. We have a tournament in two or three different locations. The first one is a place called Chief Coffee, where we're going to have a frenzy tournament where you play lots of games and you move around those games very quickly. And Matt Vince, my good friend, is running that as part of this. And then on the next day we have Flip Out which is our big pinball club In London We're having a special league night That's not just also for the Flip Out members but for others to come in And play as well So we're having a tournament that night And then the UK Open starts on the Friday night and the UK Open Is three events It's the UK Open main Which is kind of a normal main tournament Not pump and dump it's head to head So you're grouped into There's like five or six groups And you play everybody in your group Head to head Which is quite challenging, takes up a lot of time But luckily for us we've got a lot of games We've got a lot of space so we think we can do it So it means you'll play eight games against your Opponents Then you go into a double Eliminational final Very similar in fact, I nicked it from Trent Augustin And he does a great job At Expo I nicked that exact same format because I really enjoy playing. You like big brackets. Yeah, I like big brackets. Well, I like playing pinball, and you get a lot of pinball in that. Plus, we've got the games, we've got the space, so why the hell not? So that runs kind of Saturday and then into Sunday. Meanwhile, we're also doing classics, which is Pump and Dump. So we've got a bunch of classic games, Pump and Dump, and then the top eight go into a final. We'll run finals. We're going to live stream it. On the Saturday, if you haven't qualified, we're going to run, this is the other tournament, We're going to run a kind of a friendly, fun tournament on the day as well, just so that if you're here, you've got pinball to play, basically. And that's the five days of pinball. That's pretty impressive. And that's a big undertaking. Now, when you and I have talked before, space has always been an issue in the UK, which is funny because you love space so much, but outer space. Is it safe to say that we're seeing pinball grow in London and there are more locations? Yeah, absolutely. I think it so we came together I am about ten of us and we created flip out London basically ten of us are big pinball lovers we want to get people together get the most out of the game run tournaments run events so we hired this space we rent it we pay the rent and then it a members club you can join and you can come and go and use it when we open and we got about 50 to 60 games there of all kind of eras some really rare Italian games some you know the usual Suspects Attack from Mars etc But there's enough of a group of people that makes that work from a financial point of view because, you know, London's not a cheap city, so taking space is expensive, but we've kind of almost got it self-sustaining. We run big events there all the time. You know, we've got a core group now of about 50 or 60 players, which is fantastic. And then there's other places, Chief Coffee that Sam owns great. He's another one of our big supporters at Flipout. He has a coffee bar with pinball. And then we're starting to see many more bars and clubs put one or two games in. So Phil from Pinball Heaven and Matt Vince, they both run on-location companies, and they've started to roll out a lot more games into pubs and clubs. So it's really starting to begin, you know, the momentum. and probably, I guess, probably where the U.S. might have been maybe four or five years ago, where you started to see one game pop up here and there. Hey, that's how it starts. And then, you know, like you say, it snowballs. Whether you're a home collector or not, you start with one, and then, oh, there's a couple more, and then you're like Neil, and you build an arcade. But Marc Silk was talking about that Pinball Heaven. It sounds like they're really a fascinating place and really doing a great job. Phil, who runs Pinball Heaven, and Kirk, who runs Tilt, that kind of hosts all the pinball-having games. It's a really great bar in Birmingham. Got some really nice... If you like beer, it's the place to go. Beer and pinball, really great place in Birmingham. He's got about 25 games there. It's the next biggest place after Flip Out. And he's got all the latest and greatest games, but also some really great classics. Like, they just put a beautiful funhouse in there that Pinball Heaven restored. Some really nice games. Kirk's a brilliant player as well, and a really good guy. So if you're in the UK, a visit flip out and visit tilt for sure. Now, I know a lot of people listen to this podcast for pinball information, whether it's to find out about a person, about a tournament. But really, what a lot of people do listen to this show for is to learn a little bit about politics. I know you don't think so. So let's just dumb it down for people and talk about what Brexit means and what's that going to be like in July in Robert Englunds. I'll be honest with you. I think no one will notice the difference. It is the biggest noise. So I work in the telecommunications industry, and the amount of effort I've had to put into this. And believe me, I want to stay in Europe. I think the closer our people are together, the better the world is. But we made a decision, fine, okay, let's get on with it. Unfortunately, our government needs a good kick up the backside, as I might put it. But genuinely, I think Brexit will have no meaning. You know, we might be out of Europe, but the simple fact is that Europe's the next closest place that you can go. You can't move where the UK is. So my view, no one will really notice any difference. And there'll be another thing to blame for why things aren't great for some people. For me, I just try and look forward, make the best of it. So I'm trying to figure out, okay, in a world where Brexit exists, how can I make the best out of it? Simple as that. I like your outlook. You know, in Canada, we have that every once in a while. People bang the drum about Quebec and just, you know, oh, are we going to leave too? And I think now maybe we can see what happens with Robert Englunds and Brexit as an example. You know what? I'm going to skip politics right now. I'm going to go back to pinball if that's all right, Neil. Hell yes. Okay. Tell us about your arcade because I remember when you were first building it. What's it like now? What have you got there? It's great. I got 20 games in there. Space is not a problem and it's kind of one in, one out. Latest game I got was Deadpool. Fantastic game. Gomez and the gang really nailed that. Really fun game. I got a restored Meteor. I really like the stern games of that era. They're beautiful to play. a couple of other Bally Williams games, The Shadow which I think is a great kind of competition game and recently spending a lot of time playing Batman 66, it's an old game but I just love it, again another great It's an old game? Well it's in the kind of fast moving, Pimble launched every three months now, it's a relatively old game, I mean it's 2016 when I went to Stern's factory and they unveiled it and I'm kind of a superhero nut so there's so much to it, there's so much different ways you can play it when I'm playing and the Joker laughs or the Penguin laughs, it just makes me laugh. I just think the whole thing's hilarious. So, yeah, and I've got, yesterday at Sunshine, I played Black Knight, a new Black Knight game, really great. I've got one of them on the way, so that's the next new game on its way in. And then something will have to leave, won't it? Yeah, and something will probably go to flip out. So we've got space there, so this is one of the useful things for those like me who hoard I don have to worry about selling it I probably move one of the games into Flipout which means all the members can benefit from it In Robert Englunds is it easier to come across newer games than older games I think it's probably 50-50, actually. It's probably not a lot of difference. Pimble Heaven is where I get all my games from. Phil's got a good stock of games and all the latest ones. He's a Stern dealer. He's also the main distributor for JGP and Chicago Gaming. So he's my kind of go-to guy. And, you know, the challenge we have is Stern wants a new game. It takes, like, you know, two months on a boat to cross the Atlantic. So we're always a bit behind. Wait a minute. Didn't Robert Englunds have the first Star Wars game, though? I think I remember Levy playing it when Gary Starr was there. That is true. I think we also had an early Beatles as well. Well, that makes sense. Yeah, that does make sense. But that was kept a bit quiet. Yeah. Occasionally, strange things happen. So we had Beatles early. We had Star Wars early. Actually, we had Munsters quite early. I was able to play that in January. At Pinball Heaven they had it. Yeah, and, you know, again, sometimes we get lucky. Other times it's... So quit whining about this boat, Neil. I mean, it sounds like you're doing fine with the new games. No, absolutely. We're doing fine with the new games. And in old games, you know, we have a great forum, Pinball Info. It's like a UK forum. Best place to buy games. Avoid eBay. Avoid all these other places because it can be risky. But there's a good community there. You realize eBay's a major sponsor of Pinberg. And you're wearing a Pinberg shirt. don't avoid eBay definitely don't avoid eBay in fact buy more s*** on eBay right now stop what you're doing, buy from eBay the Neil McRae endorsement it's not that eBay is bad there's some certain characters there well you've got to check their ratings yeah exactly and you're spending a lot of money on a pinball game it's the same with Craigslist or Kijiji in Canada buyer beware ok I get what you're saying now what are the big things that you're worried about as you get ready for your UK Open? What are the things that you as a TD think, OK, got to make sure we do this because they did it right? Two things, that the games don't break. I mean, that is so important. Number one, most important, the games don't break. There's nothing more frustrating than mid-game, you know, something doesn't work. Second thing is that the kind of tournament software and the process of running the tournament works. I didn't even know your answers, by the way, but those are the two in my books too. Yeah, I mean, I ran a small tournament where I didn't get the number of rounds right and it just caused a load of chaos for a few minutes. I was able to work my way out of it, but you just want everything to be smooth and simple so that people are talking about the pinball and not talking about the TD. That's my goal. Good point. That's my goal. Yeah. Now, are you having some complex rules made up first so that everyone can see it and then you don't have to kind of make a judgment on the fly? Well, so we're going to base our rules off the kind of if-pa-pa-pa rule base and one or two tweaks to that that just suits kind of Europe a bit more, but nothing dramatically different. No swearing, yellow cards for swearing, no machine abuse, all that sort of stuff. Large failures, small failures, we run them the same. Every third game you have to sing God Save the Queen, I know. Yeah, only if you're Welsh. No, I think literally the goal is that everyone comes in, has a great tournament, goes home, talking about the tournament. Much like last year when we came to NYCPC, I know Levi and Tim and Paul and all the guys that run NYCPC, some I met last year, they put a lot of effort into it, and it was just such a fun weekend. I thought, that's what I want to do. I want to run a weekend like that. So I'm hopeful that we can do that. I've got a great bunch of supporters, the Flipout members. Martin Ayub, who runs Pinball News, he's one of the supporters. Oh, good. So we've got a good bunch of guys that are going to help run it, and hopefully they won't mind me being the boss for the weekend. But other than that, I'm really looking forward to it and hoping that everyone goes home talking about great pinball. Well, it's always tough for a first-time launch tournament, but you've got a lot of experience with your travels. You get to go all over and see different pinball tournaments, so you can kind of take the best from each. Now, as we're here in New York City, we were talking about things to do because we're here a couple of days early, and you get to see some of the wonderful sights here. And I know you're going to see the Statue of Liberty. It's something that you and your wife haven't seen before, so maybe you'll enjoy that and you'll see that. You know, you check it off the list. Okay, done it, check it. And I said, hey, have you gone to the 9-11 memorial? Because to me, it's just breathtaking. And what did you tell me? Yeah, I went to – it meant quite a lot to me. I was actually here on business in Manhattan the day that horrible event happened And normally actually I normally stay in a hotel um called the marriott financial which was right next right next door and that hotel was full so i was actually staying in the marriott in times square and we have a the company i worked for at the time telecommunications there's a couple of big telecommunications nodes in that part of town one on 25 broadway and one on 60 hudson street which are right in that kind of area where where all that happened so i spent a few days here afterwards um trying to keep things running like the planes are down too you couldn't go anywhere i mean even just getting off manhattan was challenging because all the thought you know they kind of stopped pretty much everything um you know i shout out to mary at the time they really looked after us but it was it was a harrowing time and you know i always had something new york's always just it's just one of those places that you know is it's an amazing place to go and actually the world trade center i studied at university the guy who built a japanese architect i studied his lift design because the lift design for the building was was kind of very modern very new so you know it was a terrible thing lots of horrible things happened that day but new york's has got a special place in my heart the people here got a special place in my heart and i was trying to help keep telecom stuff running so that you know people could make calls and stuff which was challenging it's not a question i've asked actually some of my new york friends you know were you out and about trying to help in other capacities like what were the big needs the days after that the big i mean the big need for me was like family at home yeah get home now right that was the that was kind of the number one need the other need was is it over there was kind of a sense that everyone was kind of quite tentative and what's normally quite a chatty friendly city you know you could feel that there was that someone had stepped back a little bit you know i went down to where 60 hudson street is and there's a huge telco kind of data centre there. It's been there for, I don't know, 20, 30, probably longer than that, 40 years, since I've been in the industry. And I just went down there and said, hey, can I help? You know, is there anything you need? Because there was no power, they run on generators, but, you know, being a Brit, probably, you know, it was like, well, you know, we've got our own people here. So you kind of think, okay, you guys know what you're doing. And actually, it sounds somewhat crazy now, but one of our sites on 25 Broadway was on generator power and we're starting to run out of diesel because it had been on for quite some time. So it's like, okay, we need to get a tanker onto the island. And, of course, you just couldn't. Yeah, so fortunately, I mean, this was one of the highlights of my career in many respects. The community that came together to help each other. Normally competitors suddenly want to help each other, you know, for the good of the people. So one of our competitors figured out how to get diesel on, shared it with everybody, and then we just used the same process. And actually, I'm really proud to say the bit of stuff that my company looked after through the whole thing was servicing and helping through the whole period. So it's a tragic thing. And what they've built down there, if you haven't seen it, go see it. It's beautiful. I think I've been three times. And you're right. It moves me every time. And you learn something different. And it is special. And like most of us, our age and even slightly younger, you'll never forget that day and where you were and what happened. But thank you very much for sharing that story, and thank you very much for letting us know about the UK Open happening in July in London. And, boy, you've got your hands full, but I think it's going to be a great show, and I wish I could be there. Yeah, I'm really looking forward to it. It's getting closer and closer, and then it will start to become very real because it's the next big thing for me, and then off to Pimberg afterwards. So, yeah, I'm really looking forward to it. Flipoutlondon.com if you want to find out more about it. We've got a lot of the European crowd coming over. It's an ECS tournament So we have this European qualification system So you get points towards ECS And there's like a big European pinball championship That you can play in So there's big points on offer It's probably in the UK The biggest Whopper event Just because of the size And also the quality of players that are coming Alright, Neil, all the best to you And I hope you and Mandy enjoy your time in New York Thanks, Jeff, it's good to see you This has been your Pinball Profile You can find our group on Facebook We're also on Twitter at Pinball Profile Email us, pinballprofile at gmail.com. And please subscribe on either iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play. I'm Jeff Teolis.

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 09af1fe0-dd4f-4f4a-a4d6-f8d60ef1a1cc*