# London Pinball Birthday Shenanigans at The Grasley Garage!

**Source:** Pinball Shenanigans  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2025-10-29  
**Duration:** 29m 29s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p68oWUCNf64

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## Analysis

Mike Dimus from Pinball Shenanigans documents a team-based pinball tournament at The Grasley Garage celebrating Cory's birthday, featuring ten teams competing across multiple games with prize money and custom trophies. The event showcases competitive pinball gameplay, social dynamics, and highlights scoring imbalances in certain games like Al's Garage Band, with Team Flipping the Bird (Kevin and Dutch) ultimately winning the tournament.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Al's Garage Band has severe scoring imbalances, described as 'quite possibly the worst game for scoring imbalances of all time' — _Mike and Cory discuss this while selecting the final game; they deliberately chose it for the finals because of these imbalances_
- [HIGH] Team Flipping the Bird (Kevin and Dutch) won the tournament and the $100 prize — _Explicitly stated at tournament conclusion with prize distribution shown on screen_
- [HIGH] Greg Beal was recovering from injury but returned to compete in the tournament as part of Hip to Flip team — _Mike introduces him as 'Beal. He's got a sore hippie recovering and he's back in action. But now he's hip to flip.'_
- [HIGH] The tournament was not IFPA sanctioned — _Mike explicitly states: 'This is not an IFPA sanctioned event. Otherwise, Al's Garage Band may have not made it into the final game.'_
- [HIGH] Ten teams competed in the tournament across multiple game selections — _Full team roster listed at beginning: Big Daddy CC, Biz Stags, Flipping the Bird, Hip to Flip, Jen and Shawn team, Pinball Santa, Ramage Incorporated, Rusty, Sharks, and Team T House_

### Notable Quotes

> "Quite possibly the worst game for scoring imbalances of all time"
> — **Mike Dimus**, ~1:07:00
> _Describes Al's Garage Band's competitive viability issues; explains why it was selected as final game despite (or because of) imbalance_

> "This is not an IFPA sanctioned event. Otherwise, Al's Garage Band may have not made it into the final game."
> — **Mike Dimus**, ~1:08:30
> _Clarifies tournament is casual/house rules, not official competition; acknowledges Al's Garage Band wouldn't meet IFPA standards_

> "You are officially banned from toing ever again"
> — **Mike Dimus (to someone tilting)**, ~1:07:15
> _Humorous commentary on competitive play; tilt behavior during high-stakes final game_

> "It's like you want to win, but you also kind of want to lose"
> — **Tournament participant**, ~45:00
> _References the absurd 'nibs' prize for last place, creating comedic tension between winning and losing_

> "Nibs for everybody. Everybody's a winner. Everybody's a loser."
> — **Mike Dimus**, ~45:30
> _Celebrates final resolution of last-place competition; lighthearted tournament conclusion_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Mike Dimus | person | Host of Pinball Shenanigans YouTube channel; organizer and commentator of this tournament event |
| Cory | person | Birthday celebrant whose tournament was hosted at The Grasley Garage; owner of London Pinball machine |
| Kevin | person | Member of Team Flipping the Bird; tournament winner alongside Dutch |
| Dutch | person | Member of Team Flipping the Bird; tournament winner alongside Kevin; provided snacks for event |
| Ramon (Ray) | person | Mike's tournament partner on Team Ramage Incorporated |
| Greg Beal | person | Team Hip to Flip member; recovering from injury but competed in tournament |
| Dan Shadic | person | Community member who commented on Mike's London Pinball photo in group chat; was supposed to be part of Team Sharks but had to bail |
| Alex | person | Created custom tournament trophy and coasters; participated as part of Team Biz Stags with Jenna |
| Chris White | person | Team Eat Fighter member; described as 'one of the best street fighter players in the universe' |
| Jay Eaton | person | Team Eat Fighter member; described as 'one of the best eaters in the universe' |
| The Grasley Garage | location | Venue hosting Cory's birthday tournament; features multiple pinball machines including Al's Garage Band and Ripley's Believe It or Not |
| Team Flipping the Bird | organization | Tournament winning team consisting of Kevin and Dutch; won $100 first prize |
| Team Ramage Incorporated | organization | Team consisting of Ray and Mike (Dimus); finished lower in standings |
| Team Hip to Flip | organization | Team consisting of Julie and Greg Beal; made it to final four |
| Team Eat Fighter | organization | Team consisting of Chris White and Jay Eaton; described as dark horses; made it to final four |
| Al's Garage Band (Goes on a World Tour) | game | Pinball machine used as final game; notorious for severe scoring imbalances; features multiball and extremely high jackpot values |
| Ripley's Believe It or Not | game | Pinball machine used in tournament; featured in competitive play during later rounds |
| The Addams Family | game | Pinball machine used in tournament round 1 play |
| Road Show | game | Pinball machine used in tournament play |
| Medieval Madness | game | Pinball machine used in tournament final four competition |
| World Cup Soccer | game | Pinball machine featured in tournament play |
| Flintstones | game | Pinball machine used in tournament competition |
| Bride of Frankenstein | game | Pinball machine featured in tournament play; players discuss wizard mode strategy requiring 12 shots to complete |
| London Pinball | company | Pinball machine manufacturer/brand; Cory owns a London Pinball machine; team members wore London Pinball merchandise |
| Pinball Shenanigans | organization | YouTube channel hosted by Mike Dimus; this video documents the tournament event |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Team-based pinball tournament format and organization, Game scoring imbalances and competitive game selection, Social/casual pinball community events
- **Secondary:** Specific pinball machine mechanics and gameplay strategy, Prize structure and tournament incentives
- **Mentioned:** London Pinball brand visibility and community engagement, IFPA tournament standards vs casual play, Pinball equipment customization and modifications

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.85) — Enthusiastic, celebratory tournament atmosphere with playful competitive spirit. Friendly trash-talking, supportive commentary about other teams, and inclusive tone throughout. No negative sentiment toward games, manufacturers, or participants. Strong emphasis on community, fun, and shared experience.

### Signals

- **[business_signal]** Implicit signal that some pinball games have fundamental design flaws (Al's Garage Band scoring imbalances) that limit their competitive viability and create balance issues (confidence: medium) — Organizers acknowledge the game is unsuitable for IFPA play specifically because of scoring imbalances, yet still selected it intentionally for entertainment value
- **[community_signal]** London Pinball brand engagement through tournament sponsorship/hosting and merchandise promotion; Cory's birthday machine serves as event centerpiece with custom 3D-printed promotional item (confidence: medium) — Repeated references to London Pinball, custom 3D-printed logo item, team members wearing London Pinball merchandise, and emphasis on Cory's machine throughout event
- **[event_signal]** Large team-based birthday tournament at The Grasley Garage with 10 teams, custom trophies, and prize money; demonstrates vibrant local pinball scene and organized casual competition (confidence: high) — Full tournament bracket, multiple game selections, team rosters, prize distribution, and extensive video documentation
- **[competitive_signal]** Tournament reveals strategic complexity in pinball games: players discuss multiball timing, shot sequences, wizard mode requirements, and scoring strategies across multiple machines (confidence: medium) — Detailed commentary on Bride of Frankenstein requiring 12 shots for wizard mode, Al's Garage Band multiball and jackpot strategies, and scoring imbalance exploitation
- **[design_philosophy]** Al's Garage Band identified as having severe scoring imbalances that make it unsuitable for competitive IFPA play; organizers deliberately selected it for finals because of these imbalances (confidence: high) — Mike explicitly states it's 'quite possibly the worst game for scoring imbalances of all time' and notes 'This is not an IFPA sanctioned event. Otherwise, Al's Garage Band may have not made it into the final game.'

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## Transcript

So, the other day in our group chat, I posted a picture of me with my London Pinball, and Dan Shadic said, "That's a great place for the London Pinball logo."
Oh, yeah.
I'm Mike Dus and this [music] is Pinball Shenanigans. Hi, doggies. Oh, [ __ ] All right, the Cory's birthday bash. What did I call it? Where'd it go? Where's the title here? Cory's birthday split flapper clone. Clone. We had some technical difficulties. Uh had to clone the tournament software a couple times. Anyway, it has begun. Here's my partner, Ramon. Team Ramage Incorporated. Yeah,
that's Ray and Mike. R A M Ramage Incorporated. Get the get the reference. No, I didn't think so. There's only one person here that does. Anyway, we started and you and I got to buy. So, uh here's our teams. So, thanks Alex for making this cool trophy. That's awesome. He also makes these cool coasters. Oh, and Kevin and Dutch provided the craziest smorgusborg of munchies. Smorgesborg. I I play too much pinball. It's a board, not a Borg. Look at all these munchies. We got Doritos, two kinds of Doritos, two kinds of mayards, got almonds, two kinds of Oreos, two kinds of nibs, all kinds of chips. We got Ronald hanging out. We got Big Boy hanging out. Anyway, where was I? Oh, our teams. Okay, so here's here's our uh here's our teams. Let's go over these quickly. Here we've got Big Daddy CC. That's Cory and Denise. I can't read. I need glasses here. I'll use Kevin's glasses. All right, here we go. I can see. Yay. Biz stags. Alex and Jenna eat fighter. That's Chris and Jay eats. Got flipping the bird. Kevin and Dutch hip to flip. Julie and Greg Beal. He's got a sore hippie recovering and he's back in action. But now he's hip to flip. Jen and Shawn are awesome. That is Jen and Shawn. Pinball Santa is John Trist and Zack. Ramage Incorporated, Ray and Mike. Uh Rusty is Sean Russell and Tyler. We got Sharts, Mark, and Linda Arts. Dan, Shadock, Mark Arts came up with Sharks, but Shadock had to bail. So, sorry, Linda, you are part of the team sharks now. Uh, and we got team T House, Mike and Stephanie. So, round one is underway.
And they're all packed in like sardines. Yeah, we tried to create a couple arena banks so that everybody wasn't nestled together, but uh invariably we screwed up and people are all back to back to back. But come on, eat fighter. Let's go. Here's Rusty. Rusty in action here on Adam's family. There's Big Daddy CC against team house tea team tea house on road show. I want to see this uh let's see that uh sexy mug of yours. It's like the double mug. Oh yeah.
Now we got team flipping the bird over here against Hip Flip. How you guys doing?
What the [ __ ]
Oh my god. Half a billion.
Their first ball was 10 million.
Oh wow. Hell of a second ball.
In the final.
Oh, the final draw. Toughest shot in pinball. You're back.
Greg's back. He's hitting that final draw shot. Watch out for this guy. All right. And then uh yeah, just kind of walking around here. showing the action. Oh, where is uh Cory's cool new uh London pinball logo 3D print thingy. We had Alex uh make up a cool thing for uh Cory. Oh, also we told everybody to wear their London Pinball merch and uh it looks like most people did. So, London pinball. London pinball. London pinball. London pinball. London pinball. London pinball. Okay. Where's this 3D thing though? I want to show. Not 3D. 3D printed. Oh, there it is. Look, I just search around in random bags. Here you go. That's pretty cool. All right. Team Big Daddy Cece here. playing against uh flipping flipping the bird. What did you do?
We were one shot away from the wizard mode. Monsters of Brock,
but the game is not over yet.
No, it's not.
But I'm very I'm feeling it's very unlikely we're actually going to get the bride and then complete the bride again.
Oh, yeah. I got to restart it all over again.
We got to relight restart it and then repeat it.
Okay. But it is possible. And you're you're player one. So, we're going to see if you can pull that off here. Let's see what uh Big Daddy CC can do here. These guys are down by what, a couple hundred million points.
I want to Yeah, I want to say they're about 15 now. Maybe we're at 204.
Oh, yeah. So, there's a slight bit of work to do.
I'm not sure at this point because they're running Mummy and then they're almost for their Charles Wolf Man and their Frankenstein multiballs already. So, I don't know. Yeah, it does not want to show the score at all.
No, it's uh cuz Mummy Mayhem's running.
I can't even see it on your screen, though.
Uh well, you know, I could kind of zoom in and maybe we could see a little bit, but
it's almost bull crap.
Oh [ __ ]
Hey, you got another ball. You got another ball. It's not over just yet. Here we go. Uh, Big Daddy, you got some work to do.
All right, let's see if these boys can pull off the uh
a really good chance that when we hit the scoop, the award is going to be start ball and chain.
Is that good?
Go for the scoop. That's the bride. That's the All right, there's the strategy here. Going for the scoop.
There's a very good chance it's going to it's going to immediately start ball and chain if we hit the scoop. [music]
I love the strategizing. Uh, we need to complete the bride's mode. Like the bride of Frankenstein's mode.
See all the instruments on the bottom?
Yeah.
The last instrument they need to light up.
We were one shot away from getting it, too, which is up to you.
Um, so six shots starts the bride and six more shots finishes her.
So we need 12 shots.
Ah, fail. You didn't get to the wizard mode. Do you suck
run pinball Santa and flipping the bird on Flintstones Ramage and hit the flip on World Cup soccer buzz stag bis stags and rusty and on medieval madness big daddy CC and eat fighter
eat fighter get ready fight let's just lurk around for a minute
so we get to eat Those targets Three troll bombs. That can be useful.
I got the ball stuck in the troll.
Side launch. All right, let's check out the standings.
Team Ramage Incorporated ain't doing so hot. Oh, Kevin and Dutch flipping the bird are on top and uh Ramage Incorporated at the bottom. And where is uh Big Daddy Cece? Oh, right here. Okay, they're still active. Still lots of time to go. It's 9:00 and we're I think playing till 10:30. These guys are catching up. Another 100 million [music] to go. Hip to flip. I
think they had a strike opportunity there. Shoot. Search. I don't even know what this mode is. Nice shot. Kids have been rescued. Shoot center lane. Oh, is this like the move your car mode? Ooh, three-way combo for 20 million. Oh, they were getting close. They were getting close.
You guys got us.
Get out.
Get out. We didn't even get like
And the results are in.
We got a match. We got a match.
Oh. Oh, that was close.
The agony of defeat. Good game.
That's our first loss.
Oh, really? Oh, wow.
The team to beat. All right, we got tie break action right here. The winner of Big Daddy CC and Hip to Flip will go to the final four for all the money, the glory, the fame, the fortune, and the hardware. And uh Big Daddy CC is at a big deficit right now. And ooh, that's not good. They have 3 million to hip to flips 13 million on ball two. We'll see what happens. All right. Big Daddy CC Cory Cook. This is their last chance. This is it. Let's see if they can pull it off. That is a resounding no. They did not pull it off. Hip to flip moves on to the finals. All right, we're down to the finals. The final four.
This is the cut off line. If you didn't make the cut off line,
he's even worse.
Yeah, do that. tried him already.
So we got flipping the bird, Kevin and Dutch, Rusty, Tyler and Sean,
Eat Fighter, Jay the Neighbor, and Chris White and Hip to Flip Craig Peele and Julie. Moving on to the finals.
Check this out. $100, $60, $40, $20. There's money and of course hardware on the line. It's intense over here on Ripley, believe it or not, right now because we are playing for
nibs.
Nibs. Whoever wins this game does not actually get the nibs cuz we are playing for last place to determine who is the worst of the best.
So, here we go.
We got a tie right here. An exact tie. between these two teams
to determine who is officially going to win the nibs. Want to see the stats? Okay, ball three. Oh my god, it is close.
All right, here we go.
Less than 100,000.
It's terrible.
I know. I know. of Zach John Terrest here. Believe it or not, Bigfoot award. Oh, that's money.
I know. If Alex loses, he'll be very happy to win nibs. But
it's like you want to win, but you also kind of want to lose.
There's also There's also the long nibs.
There is long nibs. These are the short nibs. And you know, like there is the long nibs. That is an upgrade. That's That's 400 g. And this is 225 g. I say we let the Kevin Loza choose. Kevin Loza chooser. It's looking pretty bad. I mean, good for you guys at the moment. Super dead last.
Super dead last.
Yeah. Not tied for last.
Officially super dead last. We'll see what happens here. Okay, this is it for all the marbles.
to uh
1.4 million.
Alex wants to sandbag so hard. Oh, million points. Oh my god. A million out of nowhere. All of a sudden. All of a sudden it's anybody's game. I know Alex wants to win, but he also wants to lose. It's a conundrum.
What's he going to do? Oh, baby.
Some ribbon, some spinners. Oh, some idle shot. It's getting close. 2.7 3.4. [music] Oh, did you start a multiball? No, not a multiball round. Could have hit the spinner. Spinner's big money here. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god.
2.8. Here we go. Jewel collected for 75,000. 2.9 B for Bozo. Charles Wolf left orbit. Oh my god. Never see that shot through the pups. And they barely survived it. 3.4 million. Is that it? Is that it? What's the score? Oh my god. It might be over. I don't know. I need to see the scores. What did they have? What? What? What? What did you guys have? It's so close. The results are in.
You guys might have pulled it off here.
How close is this?
3.4 to 3.6. And the winner, I mean last place winner of the tournament.
There you guys go. I'm sorry you guys won. [laughter]
Nibs.
You know what? Nibs for everybody. There we go. Everybody's a winner. Everybody's a Kevin Loza. Congratulations.
What are these guys called again? Flipping the bird.
Are you farting?
I am farting.
Did you notice?
Oh [ __ ]
Yes. Do these guys. Oh, five times the fun.
Oh my god. 100 million.
That is five times the fun. [music] All right. Well, they uh just leaped into the lead. [laughter] All right. We're down to the final game of the night, boys and girls. It's going to be on your favorite game in the lineup.
I don't mind this game. This is a horrible competitive game. It's
You said it's got some scoring imbalances.
Uh, yes.
Really?
I think it's quite possibly the worst game for scoring imbalances of all time.
We kind of may have picked this game as the last game partially for that reason.
Not we, you.
Well, you know, Cory, it was Cory.
Cory had something to do with it. Cory had something to do with it. He had a lot to do with it. But we've got
three to zero to five to four going into the last game here. What happened? Eat fighter. Damn. I was rooting for you [ __ ]
Son of a [ __ ]
[ __ ] up this last game just to
do. Yeah, do it.
It is ball three. Trash talking is encouraged.
All three.
Last game of the night.
Shake it up. Shake it up. [laughter]
This is it for all the marbles. I'll record the last ball
for each of the teams here.
Oo, that was [clears throat] a nice little uh
I'll go to the playfield cam. One moment. We're all having fun.
Whoever is having fun has already won.
That's the discussion that's going on behind me right now.
Oh, multiball is ready. [music]
Is this multiball?
It is multiball. Oh, wow. And um Pip Flip has three points currently. If they win, they'll have six. I
think the flippers doing extra points.
And uh 50 million it
100 million for the next jackpot here, I think. Some people don't love that we picked El's Garage Band
goes on a world tour as the final game.
13 seconds, 11 seconds or something. We're in New York.
Dr. Skins the drummer. Rocking ramps is happening. Whoa. 100 million jackpot. Is that for real?
150 million jackpot.
You noticed why I didn't want to play this game.
Ah, that's the scoring imbalance you were talking about.
Yeah.
6 million to half a billion.
Yes.
I've exited.
That's what makes it so awesome and a perfect game for the finals. You are officially banned from toing ever again.
This is not an IFPA sanctioned event. Otherwise, Al's Garage Band may have not made it into the final game. Half a billion points.
Nice job. Wow. And you didn't tilt off this time.
Left flippers counting points next, didn't you?
Oh [ __ ] Left.
Okay. Left flippers counting points.
Chris hit the left flipper a whole lot of times.
Put the left flipper a lot.
All right. Team eat fighter. We got Jay Eaton. Chris White. Chris White is like one of the best street fighter players in the universe.
Jay Eaton is one of the best eaters in the universe. There. Therefore, we have team Eat Fighter. These guys been on terror. These guys are the underdogs. The black horses. Is that what it's called? Black horse.
Dark horse.
Dark horse. Thank you. [laughter]
They're the dark horses of the tournament. They were in first for the longest time. Unfortunately,
they can't take first, but they can certainly make a statement. Multiball was ready. Multiball was ready. The billions were ready for you.
Hope we still make a statement.
Statement can still be made here. All right, here we go.
Shny boy Russell,
Tyler.
Shny boy Russell and Tyler. What do you get out of that?
Rusty.
Team Rusty. Here we go.
Yes, I am.
Multiball is ready. Why the flipper so freaking bad?
Oh, nice nudge. Nice nudge.
THEY'RE GOING TO MOCK. WHOA. BACK KICK. DOUBLE BACK KICK.
WHOA. [screaming] KICK. Double back kick.
I've never seen that move. The I've seen the back kick, but not the double back kick. That was incredible.
Where's the slow-mo replay?
You need that. Just need to go up the middle. [screaming]
Another multiball ready.
The disc [ __ ] Mike.
All right. Is the flipper supposed to be like that when it wants to hit the multi?
They uh they vibrate. The flippers vibrate. It's like a feature.
It's like dead.
Here we go.
Yeah. Yeah.
Flipping the bird.
Got four points.
They need to
They need a second at least to tie.
That was a warning.
Multiball is ready. It'
be cool to see some bonus pinball here. Oh, there it is. Multiball
spam the disc.
You got a trap. Hold it.
I think [music] if they Oh, the uh jackpot value is building quickly.
Got 1 million.
Keep that. Keep that. Just need pretty much one jackpot, I believe, to guarantee them a uh tie break. There's going to be a restart here.
You [clears throat] got a warning.
Reset.
Video mode lit.
That was That's just the way LMGs are, man. I' I've replaced the coils in this thing. That's the way
Oh, is that the restart?
Yeah.
Wow.
The game. No nudging. Got two warnings.
No nudging allowed.
Two warnings. Okay. Wow. One jackpot should guarantee a tie break, but I don't know for sure.
50 million up the middle.
Oh, one last millisecond.
Oh, is that going to count? It did not count.
42.
I think we're done for right now. There's no way you can get that.
I think you just need 5 million to potentially force a tie break if my math is right, but it's probably not. just go off.
Oh, don't mash too hard.
Mash it up for two.
If these guys get two and you guys get three,
we have a tie.
We have a tie.
But if they
We got 28 million. Is that Is that enough?
Yeah. Well, if you win the game, then uh you win the whole tournament. So,
that's going to look that's looking pretty unlikely cuz we have to redo. Yeah.
All right, let's uh do some math here, but I think we have bonus pinball. I missed the last ball on creature, but uh flipping the bird takes it down. Oh, yeah. There's That's right. There's actually money involved. [music] Check this out. $100 for first.
I just want to say before we accept cash price, I just want to say congratulations [music] to Julie and for putting up such a sight in our collection.
Absolutely. They did good. And they made us work. Everyone here made us work for our win. So,
secondary shout out to Eat Fighter. They put up a good battle.
Absolutely.
Here. Yeah. Here it is. Here it is. All right,
let's see. Let's see here for the photo. There you go. Yeah, nice. Lovely. Here, grab $100 out of that pile and give the rest to the runner-ups and Cory Cook of London Pinball. He sucked. [music] He's not here. He left. He lost.
Yes, they do. Bring him one, two, three pinball machines. He don't care. [music] Don't in a week and you won't be ABLE TO NOT STARE in those shenanigans. We can't resist. Best [music] YouTube channel you don't want to miss. Invol Garage fixing pins. No matter how [music] you look at it, we all win. comes a shiny boy scoring high on each pin. This guy [music] only knows how to win. A while back, he sold Mike is Stranger Things. THESE TWO ARE LIVING LIKE KINGS. Pinball [music] shenanigans. We can't resist. Best YouTube channel you don't want to miss. [music] Authorities garage fixing pins. No matter how you look at it, we all [music] win. We all win. We all win. Duchess Kevin's kid who's a master on the silver ball. Winning weekly tournaments is typical. At the tournaments, [music] he might be number two, but Mike Diver, he's coming for you. [music] Pitball shenanigans. We can't resist. Best YouTube channel you don't want to miss. [music] All 40s garage fixing pins. No matter HOW YOU LOOK AT IT, we all win.

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 0d082954-e7c8-414a-a1e6-aa384fe9c2fd*