# Episode 287: Thank you Pinburgh & Replay FX

**Source:** Pinball Profile  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2020-11-25  
**Duration:** 40m 54s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.pinballprofile.com/episode-287-thank-you-pinburgh-replay-fx/

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## Analysis

Jeff Teolis hosts a tribute episode reflecting on the closure of Pinburgh and ReplayFX, two major pinball tournaments held in Pittsburgh. The episode features clips from a Facebook Live stream, direct messages, and recorded testimonies from community members sharing memories of attending these events, emphasizing the tournament's role in building friendships and bringing the global pinball community together.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Pinburgh reached 1,000 participants in 2019 and was the largest pinball tournament in the world — _Jeff Teolis directly states 'Last year, PINBURG grew to 1,000 people' and later references 'the biggest tournament in the world'_
- [HIGH] Women's International Pinball Tournament (WIPT) grew from 64 to 128 participants with waiting lists — _Jeff states 'It started off at 64 people, sold out instantly. And then they doubled it, 128. That also sold out. Waiting lists for the women's biggest tournament in the world.'_
- [HIGH] Pinburgh was held at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh — _Multiple references to the convention center being 'almost bigger than football stadium-size' with detailed descriptions of the venue_
- [HIGH] Holly Koskinen won WIPT in its second year (2019) — _Jeff states 'Holly Koskinen won it last year' and Scott Vieth's recorded message confirms Holly won in 2019_
- [HIGH] Bowen Kerins gave up competitive ranking opportunities annually to serve as co-TD at Pinburgh — _Jeff states 'he gave up this tournament every year to be one of the co-TDs' and explains Bowen prioritized running the tournament over chasing IFPA World Champion ranking_
- [HIGH] The tournament expanded from ~615 participants in 2015 to 1,000 by 2019, with consistent sellouts — _Jeff describes attendance growth: '615 in 2015' through '840' to '1,000 in 2019. And it still sold out.'_
- [HIGH] ReplayFX featured video games, arcade, cosplay, music, and other entertainment beyond pinball — _Elizabeth Cromwell shared a clip of stormtroopers on Dance Dance Revolution; Jeff notes 'There was just something for everyone at ReplayFX'_

### Notable Quotes

> "The tournament brought us together, but it was the social stuff... if you never got to go to it, that's a real kick in the teeth, I'll tell you that."
> — **Jeff Teolis**, early
> _Core insight into Pinburgh's cultural value beyond competition_

> "It kind of feels like a death in the family. But whenever a death in the family happens, first of all, no one died. I hope everyone's safe. But when a death happens, I like to think of the good times and the memories."
> — **Jeff Teolis**, mid
> _Frames the community's grief while maintaining perspective and encouraging positive reflection_

> "The first year I came to Pimberg Papa was for the games, probably like many of us. He writes, every subsequent year, I came back for the people. We all did."
> — **Joe Cherovino (via chat)**, mid-late
> _Encapsulates the tournament's evolution from competition venue to community gathering_

> "I was just trying to respect your boundaries. I was like, yeah, but we're like brothers, like you got a hug."
> — **Crystal Gemnick (recounting James Mulvanen)**, late
> _Example of online-to-offline relationships solidified at Pinburgh_

> "You look for it. You circle it on the calendar... she went, airfare and all, to go on TD, to give back."
> — **Jeff Teolis (regarding Tracy Lindbergh)**, mid
> _Illustrates sacrifice and commitment of volunteer organizers_

> "I can honestly say they are both equally incredibly exciting and satisfying experiences... I've heard that from many people that volunteer."
> — **Joe Cherovino (via chat)**, late
> _Documents the rewarding nature of volunteering at major tournaments_

> "The nerds ruled that day. Well done, everybody."
> — **Jeff Teolis (referencing Hillary Clinton event at same venue)**, mid
> _Humorous moment highlighting the magnitude of Pinburgh relative to political events_

> "It was one of the places where I realized that I love shows and that I want to work shows and I want to always go to shows as much as possible."
> — **Crystal Gemnick**, late
> _Demonstrates how Pinburgh shaped career paths within the pinball community_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Pinburgh | event | World's largest pinball tournament held annually in Pittsburgh, reached 1,000 participants by 2019, now defunct as of November 2020 |
| ReplayFX | event | Multi-day gaming and arcade convention in Pittsburgh featuring pinball, video games, cosplay, and entertainment; defunct as of November 2020 |
| Jeff Teolis | person | Host of Pinball Profile podcast (est. 2016), longtime Pinburgh attendee and MC, pinball community organizer and media figure |
| Kevin Martin | person | Founder/primary organizer of Pinburgh and ReplayFX; made the difficult decision to close both events |
| Bowen Kerins | person | Elite competitive pinball player who annually volunteered as co-TD at Pinburgh despite ranking implications |
| Holly Koskinen | person | Competitive pinball player who won Women's International Pinball Tournament (WIPT) in 2019 |
| Tracy Lindbergh | person | Tournament director from Arizona, WIPT volunteer, multiple Pinburgh attendee |
| Crystal Gemnick | person | Host of The Plum podcast, Pinburgh attendee and volunteer, met community members including James Mulvanen at the tournament |
| Joe Cherovino | person | Pinburgh photographer and volunteer, documented events for the community |
| James Kuntz | person | Producer for Papa TV, worked with Jeff Teolis on Pinburgh broadcast coverage and finals production |
| Doug Polka | person | Pinburgh staff member involved in game configuration and tournament logistics |
| Elizabeth Cromwell | person | Co-founder of Women's International Pinball Tournament (WIPT) at Pinburgh |
| Mark Steinman | person | Pinburgh staff member who managed console/arcade area operations |
| Fred Cochran | person | Pinburgh staff member involved in tournament organization and logistics |
| Scott Vieth | person | Pinburgh volunteer and attendee who worked console section and witnessed Holly Koskinen's WIPT win in 2019 |
| Roger Sharp | person | Legendary pinball player, 2015 Pinburgh winner, mentor figure to community members including Jeff Teolis |
| Zach Sharp | person | Competitive pinball player who won Pinburgh in 2015 |
| Women's International Pinball Tournament (WIPT) | event | Tournament founded by Kate Martin, Jess DiNardo, and Elizabeth Cromwell at Pinburgh; grew from 64 to 128 participants with waiting lists |
| David L. Lawrence Convention Center | organization | Large-scale Pittsburgh venue that hosted Pinburgh in recent years; previously hosted other events |
| Papa TV | organization | Production company that filmed and broadcast Pinburgh finals and ReplayFX coverage featuring commentators and high-quality production |
| Pinball Profile | organization | Interview podcast hosted by Jeff Teolis, established November 2016, featuring in-depth conversations with pinball community figures |
| The Plum | organization | Podcast hosted by Crystal Gemnick covering pinball topics and community |
| Keith Elwin | person | Elite competitive pinball player mentioned in context of tournament participation and ranking |
| London, Ontario Pinball League | organization | Canadian pinball league that had a dedicated presence at Pinburgh with the 'Canadian table' |
| Scrapple Land | organization | Pinball venue referenced in relation to Greg Pavarelli's tournament organization work |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Pinburgh and ReplayFX closure, Community memories and personal stories from tournament attendance, Impact of tournaments on friendships and community building
- **Secondary:** Women's International Pinball Tournament (WIPT) growth and success, Volunteer and staff contributions to running major tournaments, Tournament logistics, venue management, and game configuration, Broadcasting and spectatorship of competitive pinball events, Future of large-scale pinball tournaments and community gathering spaces

### Sentiment

**Negative** (-0.75) — Episode expresses deep sadness and grief over tournament closure while celebrating positive memories and community impact. Tone is reflective and melancholic rather than angry. Framed as 'death in the family' but with gratitude for past experiences. Some attempts at humor to lighten mood.

### Signals

- **[business_signal]** ReplayFX closure referenced financial pressures; speculation about accumulated overhead and debts requiring asset sales; Keith Elwin mentioned losing income from tournament sponsorship/participation (confidence: medium) — Ashley Ludwig asks 'Why do they need to sell the machines?' attributing to 'a lot of overhead' and 'a lot of money to be owed'; Jeff jokes about Keith Elwin's '$15,000 annual pay cut'
- **[community_signal]** Pinburgh served as primary annual gathering and relationship-building opportunity for distributed pinball community, with many attendees traveling internationally specifically for the event (confidence: high) — Multiple testimonies describe meeting friends 'only once a year' at Pinburgh, with international attendees (Australia, Canada, etc.) making it a priority pilgrimage
- **[event_signal]** Pinburgh and ReplayFX announced closure in November 2020, ending a major annual gathering for 1,000+ players from across North America and internationally (confidence: high) — Jeff states 'On Wednesday, November 18th, we heard the sad news about the demise of Pinberg and ReplayFX'
- **[sentiment_shift]** Strong emotional response from community to tournament closure; described as feeling like 'death in the family' by multiple participants; widespread nostalgia and grief (confidence: high) — Jeff frames closure as 'a death in the family' and multiple community members express loss and sadness through direct messages and chat comments
- **[community_signal]** Volunteer participation at Pinburgh required significant personal sacrifice; elite players like Bowen Kerins gave up tournament play and ranking opportunities to serve as TDs (confidence: high) — Jeff explains Bowen 'gave up this tournament every year to be one of the co-TDs' despite 'That's big whopper points if you're chasing the number one title'
- **[competitive_signal]** Pinburgh attracted elite competitive players competing for rankings and IFPA recognition; tournament was on-circuit major event affecting national competitive standing (confidence: high) — References to A/B division competition, playoffs, perfect 12-0 medals, and impact on IFPA World Champion qualification
- **[event_signal]** Women's International Pinball Tournament (WIPT) rapidly grew from 64 to 128 participants with waiting lists, indicating strong female participation growth in competitive pinball (confidence: high) — Jeff states WIPT 'started off at 64 people, sold out instantly. And then they doubled it, 128. That also sold out. Waiting lists for the women's biggest tournament'
- **[market_signal]** Large-scale pinball tournaments required substantial venue infrastructure, volunteer coordination, and financial management; closure suggests challenges in maintaining event sustainability (confidence: medium) — References to convention center magnitude, months of planning, detailed game configuration, broadcast production, and logistical coordination required to run tournament

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## Transcript

 Thank you for the day. Those endless days, I'll take the days you gave me. I'm thinking of the days. I won't forget a single day of the evening. It's time for another Pinball Profile. I'm your host, Jeff Teels. you can find everything on pinballprofile.com, past episodes, subscriptions, and more. You can find us on Twitter and Instagram at pinballprofile, email us pinballprofile at gmail.com. On Wednesday, November 18th, we heard the sad news about the demise of Pinberg and ReplayFX. The following day on Facebook, I recorded a live video and read many of the comments from the thousands of people that are in that Facebook group. I didn't know how many people would watch it, as it turned out, because it's such an important topic and event for so many people. Many people watched the video. So you're going to hear clips from that recording, and I'm also going to insert some direct messages sent to me, plus a few recorded messages as we reflect on PINBURG. Last year, PINBURG grew to 1,000 people, and the tournament was flawless. There are so many people to thank at Papa, in Pittsburgh, volunteers that made this possible. People are chatting right now, and I'm going to read your chats here on Facebook Live. Joe Fox, the absolute greatest weekend of the pinball year. It really was. It was something, because here we are going to Pennsylvania, to Pittsburgh, a place I had never been to before until Pinburgh, let's be honest, and I fell in love with the city. But really, it was a chance for all of us to kind of get together from all parts of not only the United States and Canada, but the world. And we would all flock there for this big tournament. The tournament brought us together, but it was the social stuff. I think of Canada. We had the Canadian table, big Canadian flag draped over it that a lot of people from the London, Ontario Pinball League set up, and Julie Dorsters, Mike Dimes, and those kind of people. And you could always spot it out. And in between rounds, you'd kind of head back there and tell great stories of what happened. Maple Pinball, Maple, didn't get a chance to attend. That's what I'm really actually feeling sorry for is not that it's gone. I wish it was still here. I understand why it's gone. I'm sad for the people that never got a chance to experience what an incredible tournament this was. The replay foundation, the music that went on, the video games, all that kind of fun stuff. That was what it was all about. Several days, just so much fun. And if you never got to go to it, that's a real kick in the teeth, I'll tell you that. If you did go, you've got memories forever. And you can say you were at the biggest tournament in the world. Who else? We've got Ryan Kuyper. last year was my only time going. Brian Cosner, I've never been. Maybe it will come back. Hope so. Will it come back? Let's be honest. That's a big, big undertaking. And it got me thinking about just tournaments in general and how much work goes into these tournaments. Doing Pimberg was months and months of planning. A lot of other tournaments are too. But when you are going to host a thousand people that are spending good money to be there, you have to think of every detail. And that was one of the things that Pimberg did so well. This match play tournament that was always on time. You knew when you would start. Some rounds might go a little late, but they were so good at keeping time. And then it grew. The Intergalactic, the second biggest tournament in the world that raised all kinds of great money for charity. And then a few years ago, Kate Martin, Jess DiNardo, and some other wonderful people, Elizabeth Cromwell, created the Women's International Pinball Tournament, WIPT, which was spectacular. Nicole Bernier won it the first year. Holly Koskinen won it last year. And that was growing and growing. It started off at 64 people, sold out instantly. And then they doubled it, 128. That also sold out. Waiting lists for the women's biggest tournament in the world. So that was pretty cool. I see Morten Serbisogen from Norway writes, this is another example of an event, Pindberg. It is easy to think I'll do it next year because of practical reasons. And then suddenly the reality hits. I postponed. It's too late. Unfortunately, that is the case with this. But it does get me thinking about other tournaments. and there are a lot of tournaments all over. Obviously not right now with COVID-19, but they'll be back and we need to support them if we are interested in these continuing. And the best way you can do that is offering to help. Maybe it's volunteering, maybe it's scorekeeping, maybe it's, can I help move a machine? Whatever the case may be, that goes a long way. And if everyone could do that, it would also be rewarding for the people running the tournaments in the sense that I'm getting something back for, I'm getting, you know, I'm doing this for other people, I'm giving up my time, but I'm reaping the benefits here. I'm seeing how excited people are to fly here, to drive here, to get hotel rooms, to spend all this money on food, to buy the T-shirts and whatnot. That goes a long way and makes them think, yeah, I'll do this again next year or maybe I'll make it grow, whatever the case may be. Scott Vieth from Ohio sent in this clip. Hey, Jeff. Sorry I missed the show tonight. I was hoping to jump on there or at least offer up a memory. But I figured since I didn't get the chance to then, I was out doing stuff. I would just record you something quick and send it your way. Rocking my replay effects shirt from back in 2017. I've been wearing them all lately. The memory that came to mind that I mentioned in chat was the very last thing that I remember happening while the show was open. And I guess even when the show had closed because it was just after that. We were in the process of starting to shut everything down over in the console lounge. It was Sunday, 2019, 4.45 or so. And I start to see on my phone, my phone starts blowing up. I'm hearing from all my friends back in Columbus, some were in the crowd, some were back home, and everybody's saying, our friend Holly's in the finals. She just had this amazing game. So I rush around with my hotspot and all the gear that I had over in the console section, and I crank up a Twitch stream because we're on the other side of the convention center. We're still 500 feet away from everything that's happening. The place is so darn big that even that stage all the way over in the corner there is a blip. That's all it is. So I'm turning it on to check it out. I'm watching this whole thing. And Mark, God love him, is running around over on our section because the first thing that happens at the end of the show is Mark and Fred and everybody, they're rushing to get people to help us in the console section because we've got to box up hundreds of consoles. We've got to put TVs on skids. We got to do all kinds of stuff so they can run it all out of there on Monday. And the whole time this is happening right at the very end, this is maybe 510, 515, right as the show had ended. The last couple of people are leaving and I see it on the Twitch stream and I hear the screams from over across the convention center that Holly had won. And so I am hooting and hollering and jumping and having a great time. and all of this literally in the ear of the guy running the show, Mr. Mark Steinman himself. So we're doing that while we're in the thralls of tearing down everything and getting it ready, but I just thought it was fun to think about that as a neat memory to think about, that someone you know, someone from your hometown and your pinball leagues gets to win one of the biggest tournaments in the entire world and the biggest women's tournament in the world up to that point and probably now for some time, sad to say. and I'm hyped for her. I'm hyped she's still the whip champion. She'll be the whip champion now for eternity until something else comes up. So props to her, props to everybody that's helped put this show on for the past five years. I'm blessed to have been a very, very small part of it and I'm blessed to have been able to make one part of it that maybe a lot of the pinball people maybe didn't even get a chance to see because they were so immersed in Pinberg got to do over in the console area and we had a great bunch over there And I miss him already. I missed him this year when it didn't happen back in July and August. And, you know, it's going to be a full time job keeping in touch with everybody. But one that I relish and look forward to. But as far as the story goes, all the props in the world to Holly because she earned it. And it was pretty neat to be a fan on the other side of the convention center, a quarter mile away. By the time this story goes for about five years, she'll have been three miles away on the other side of the river. These are the things that should turn into tall tales. But this one is very true because she did a great job. So I just thought I'd share it. And I just thought it'd be fun to share with you. So peace out, Jeff. Have a good one. Thank you for doing the podcast, as you always do. And I hope you're doing well up in Canada. And I hope everything's good in your world today, too. Back to the live stream recording. Eric Stone. Yes, some people. I would only see once a year, and it was at Pinburgh. Boy, that's the kick in the teeth. That's the biggest thing for me right now is I think of how many people I've met at Pinburgh that are who I consider friends now. And it was this tournament that brought it together. I'm going to show you a picture here. This is from, I'm pretty sure this is from my first Pinberg. So this would have been 2015. And I'd only been playing competitive pinball for a year. And somebody said to me, you should check out this Pinberg tournament. And at the time, it was just under 700 people. They had room for 700. I think it was 615 in 2015. It was the year Zach Sharp won. Raymond was second. Keith was third. And I knew nothing about pinball other than I loved it. And somebody says, you should get your picture with that guy right there. And we did. And I'm so glad we did because now we're very good friends. But this was my first pinball. Left to right, that is my buddy Randy Whiteford from the TCPL. Myself in some god-awful shorts. The one and only Roger Sharp. Dan Bitterlick and Steve Martin. And Dan and Randy were the guys who really got me into competitive pinball. But they told me about the history of Roger Sharp. And I was fascinated. And we are very good friends now. And my pinball dad, if you will. So it's those kind of things, those kind of memories. I remember meeting Tracy Lindbergh for the first time and she from Arizona is a wonderful great player but also great tournament director Knows her stuff knows the rules And we were playing round one She was super excited I got super lucky that round one I actually was 12 Only time ever it never happen again. Didn't matter. I could have been 0-12. We all had fun. And she's snapping pictures of every round and stuff. And I remember seeing her over and over again at other tournaments and stuff. She later went on to look after a lot of bells and chimes in Arizona, but also later gave up her time. This is the biggest tournament in the world. You look for it. You circle it on the calendar. And then when they gave you the dates, you knew where you were going to be next year, next summer. She went, airfare and all, to go on TD, to give back. Those kind of special stories are what Pinberg means to me. I'm sorry I'm ranting and raving here. I really have nothing prepared to say other than just this one hurts. It's hurting all of us. It kind of feels like a death in the family. But whenever a death in the family happens, first of all, no one died. I hope everyone's safe. But when a death happens, I like to think of the good times and the memories. So back to the chat. I see, hello, Kevin Chow. Ryan Kuiper, greatest pinball experience ever had. You're right there, TurboGrafx-7. Andy Rosa. Boy, he had to be happy with what his son did in 2019, but Andy's no slouch himself. Something we look forward to all year. It was surreal in person. It was pure happiness. Tommy Beasley, who runs Klee Pin. Another great tournament. That's usually September in Independence, Ohio. He's saying hello. And Pat Schatzer, Al Anonymous on Twitch. Pinberg was the highlight of my year, meeting new people and playing on games you've never seen before. That was something. We all know the new modern games. We've all had our hands on that, and maybe you see them in local collections. But when you went to Pinberg or you went to Papa, boy, you knew you were going to see games you've never, ever seen before. and you'd go to the Bob Matthews EM guide or you'd go to Pintips or the great one that Corey Halloose created. PinballSpinner, I think it was, pinballspinner.com. Pretty fun, if you ask me, to see all these games and then put up your hand if you ever went out of turn and was disqualified or tilt through on an older game. We've all done it. Everybody's done it. But the thing is, you always did it once and then you hopefully never did it again. Jon Norris, a wonderful, wonderful pinball designer for years with Gottlieb, now with Deep Root. He could never get a ticket, always sold out. Okay, there's one saving grace with replay effects now gone. There aren't any, but F5 buttons have now been saved with replay effects going away. I make a joke, but there's no jokes to be made. I did text Keith Elwin. I sent him a note. but I said I'm sorry about the $15,000 annual pay cut you're going to be taking. We're all sad, but great memories. No question about it. Ashley Ludwig, who does wonderful things in East Rochester, New York. I don't know if you've ever seen some of the restorations that Ashley does. Why do they need to sell the machines? That's a lot of overhead, and I assume there's a lot of money to be owed. I haven't talked to anybody from Papa or from the ReplayFX. I just thought it was too soon. It might even be too soon to do this now, but I kind of wanted to hear from you. I'm going to read some direct messages now. Greg Pavarelli writes, I got a taste for Pinberg the first time I made it into the A Division, but fell short after a really challenging day two. My most memorable moment playing was winning a perfect 12 medal while hungover in the last round after being eliminated. I'll never forget commentating the finals with Bowen by the stage the year I was still battling cancer mid-chemo. What I'll miss most of all, though, is staying with the Pinball family at Mahesh and Amy's house. Last year, we all celebrated Daniele's second place with a few drinks. Max Baskin from Maryland writes, Thanks, Max. I'm glad Tracy Lindberg from Arizona chimed in. She wrote, but there's a part of me that believes arcades will come back when the world improves. But the scope of Pinberg replay, not sure I can see it coming back. So it hurts so much more. I've been holding August 2021 as my thing to look forward to, praying that it could happen. Alas, I think we all were hoping 2021 would be a possibility, Tracy. Understandably now, as we know the details, just not the case. Eric Russell from Syracuse writes, Pinberg memories. The first time being there, just taking in the massiveness of it. My first time was the first year in the convention center. Another year was the first time I got a 12-0 medal, with very mediocre scores that probably didn't deserve to win one game, much less four. Fast forward a couple years, and the second perfect 12-0 medal, this time with more legitimate scores. However, that was offset by an 0-12 in the final round that year, after seeing my playoff chances slip away after a close loss on a Luckbox EM called Magic City. How many people have a 12-0 and an 0-12 in the same pinberg? Can't imagine many, Eric. Then last year, making a good run in B division playoffs until face-planting in the semifinals and taking 8th place. Still earning enough to cover the trip, at least. Also, just in general, getting to hang out with people who you don't see very often and meet new people from all over the world. Always a great and unique experience. Definitely going to miss it a ton. Thanks, Eric. Scott Elliott from Columbia City, Indiana writes, Just watched your live stream about an hour too late. Thank you for giving a small place to grieve in a way. 2016 was my first ReplayFX as a stand-up arcade collector. I remember seeing everyone gathered around the stage watching one guy play pinball and thought, I couldn't even imagine that. But I got into competing myself, and 2019 was my first pinball. I believe it was the fourth or fifth round I got a chance to rematch Phil Birnbaum after he knocked me out at the Nationals in the second round of Vegas earlier this year. I remember being up on him in the last ball of at least two of the four games, and then he just came back and crushed me, old Chicago especially. But he was so fun and engaging that I couldn't be mad. I was just happy to see him again and compete. I made A division that year, but not the finals. My last round, I got to play on the stage and finish by playing Willy Walker for the first time ever, and won. Thanks for sharing, Scott. Elizabeth Cromwell didn't send me a note. I know, obviously, she's definitely hurting about this, but she did send me one of her favorite moments, and it was a clip of stormtroopers in cosplay on the Dance Dance Revolution machine. Cosplay. We haven't even talked about how great that was. There was just something for everyone at ReplayFX. We certainly focus in on pinball, but that really, just a part of it. The video games, the cosplay, the music, there was so much. And luckily, you can see a lot of these great videos of ReplayFX, and especially Pinberg, thanks to Papa TV, and thanks in part to James Koontz. He was one of the producers there and put together just an incredible production, and he writes, Just watching the stream from last night, thanks for the kind words. I'm going to miss our times making those finals special for the players and the crowd. Special indeed, James. I know I'm very proud to have just a small part in that. Really, it was the players, the crowd, the staff who made it just incredible. Back to the live stream recording. Derek from Pintastic. I think the Pinball Hall of Fame will be the next Pinberg. Jeez, you know, I never thought of that. They certainly have the games. That's also a volunteer basis, and we'll see what Tim and the crew do there. That's something you've got to remember, though. I think of Fred Cochran and some of the other staff at certainly Doug Polka, and I'm forgetting some of these other wonderful people, that took the time to figure out how the banks would be, how the games would play. Would they play too long? Would rubbers need to come off? Would the tilts need to be adjusted? Would ball saves? All those types of things, again, to make this match play tournament perfect and timed out. Sanjay, memories forever. Sanjay, yes, we're going to see each other again, I know, once this COVID thing's all done. Brian Broyles, Brian who runs Portal in Georgia. I've got to get there, Brian, and I will. He writes, I used to go to Papa headquarters twice a year, the Papa World Championship in Pinberg. Before it moved, it was like a family reunion. Brian, that's probably where we met. You're right. Absolutely. And, okay, I thought of another possible good thing from this. Again, I'm making terrible jokes. California Extreme and Southern Fried Gaming Expo will never have to worry about conflicting with Pinberg again. I can't believe they did that a couple times. You don't mess with Pinberg. You see the date and you go, we're moving. Pinberg, that's it. Tommy. Hi, Tommy. Stephen Silver, who created Heist for P3's multimorphic great system. He never got to go. Sad. He'll probably never get to. That's the thing. You think of the buildup of this tournament, and we're talking about the second generation of Pinbird. A hundred people continued, continued, grew outside the PAPA facility. I can't remember if there was another place before the David L. Lawrence Center. Historians will know. But I remember when it went to 400, and then 700, and then 800, and then 840. and then the 1,000 in 2019. And it still sold out. That is crazy to think of, that that many people just won it. I mean, that's it. This tournament was many people's only tournament of the year, or only big tournament, only time they would go out of town. Stacey Borg, who is in Melbourne, Australia. Man, I wish I'd flown across before the world blew up. We'll get back there, Stacey. But as you say, they will be back, no doubt about it. There are a lot of passionate, passionate people in Pittsburgh. And that's the one thing that I always was impressed with is that these people gave up their time, not just the day of, not just the weekend, like taking days off work, maybe losing salary, whatever the case may be, using their vacation time for the benefit of all of us. You know, I think of, obviously, Kevin Martin starts with him and the tough decision that he had to make for this. But let's not forget how he kept this afloat for many, many years. So as sad as we are we have to be just as thankful that we got to play in Pinburgh and that it existed for so long with people like Kevin Doug Polka Elizabeth Cromwell Mark Steinman I think of AJ and John Replogle Fred Cochran who I mentioned earlier Petey and Virginia Bart Hendrickson, Brian Dye. A lot of good people gave us many, many great memories. James Kuntz, who I worked with. My first Pinberg was 2015. I mentioned that earlier. Ta-da! Still have the shirt. Still fits. I'm not that chubby yet. There were other Pinbergs as well. and then of course it didn't happen this year but I know a lot of people purchased this because it was pretty cool. I tied for first at Pinberg 2020. Josh Sharpe this was an opportunity I hope you bought the shirt come on man. But 2015 was my first year. 2016 was my second year of Pinberg and also my first year of pop-up. It was the year Pinball Profile was created in November 1st 2016. So I'd only been doing this thing for seven to eight months and I was asked to MC at Pinberg be there on the stage and talk to people. Can't tell you how cool that was to be asked. And then to apparently have done a good enough job that they asked me in 2018, 2019, it would have been 2020, but that meant a lot to me. And James was the producer who I worked with and behind the scenes a lot for Papa TV as well. Wonderful standup guy. And I hope to see more work from you guys. Back to the chats. Joe Cherovino. Oh, I am not even reading your chat right now. I'm just thinking of Joe. How many people that went to Pimberg on Facebook would change their Facebook profile picture to a great shot that Joe Cherovino has taken. Hands up right here. In fact, my Walter Day trading card picture was a picture from me at Pimberg taken by Joe Cherovino. So thank you, Joe. The first year I came to Pimberg Papa was for the games, probably like many of us. He writes, every subsequent year, I came back for the people. We all did. That was it. Robert Byers, they need to add a donation section to paying entry fees. Certainly would help. A lot of people have pride and don't want to ask that difficult question. So I respect that. Maybe we have to take the onus and ask, is there any way we can help, including financially, if you can? There's a lot of people chatting here, and I'm going to get to every one of you. So please type away because I don't like talking about myself. Frank Nielsen, I've never been so lucky as to experience one of these great tournaments, but I already miss it. Was really hoping to get the chance someday. Jen Rupert, who does a wonderful YouTube series. memories of hearing the class of 1812 from across the convention center. And that convention center, boy, that was a big undertaking. I just couldn't believe when you went there how big it was. And me telling my non-pinball friends about this almost bigger than football stadium-size arena full of pinball machines, players, video games, consoles, concert stage, it blew you away how big it was, the magnitude of it. Remember a few years ago, remember 2016 was raining outside. There was going to be an outdoor convention for Hillary Clinton as she was running for president back in the time. Carl Weathers didn't allow that to happen. They moved the David L. Lawrence Center, not to where Pinberg was. No, no, no. These pinball machines were huge. These thousands and thousands of people to go see Hillary Clinton walked the catwalk to go to some other room in the David L. Lawrence Center, much smaller than what Pinberg was. And they're walking by the catwalk and they're like, what is this? This is pretty impressive. The nerds ruled that day. Well done, everybody. Joe Cherovino, as someone who has seen both sides of Pinburgh, both as a player and as a volunteer, I can honestly say they are both equally incredibly exciting and satisfying experiences. I've heard that from many people that volunteer. Bowen Kerins is one of the world's greatest players of all time, and he gave up this tournament every year to be one of the co-TDs. That's big whopper points if you're, you know, chasing the number one title, or things like the IFPA World Champion, whatever these big tournaments are. And I asked him several times why. It's because he got more back from doing this and knowing that they put on a great show. So many people wanted to come back. And we were talking about the convention center. I remember being there, and they had these games in the back room. They kind of, an old configuration was, if you'd been there the last few years, where the bands were playing, they actually had banks there. And it got a little dark, certainly after 6 o'clock. So, heaven forbid you play a game like Centaur. You get into multiball. Lights go out. You don't see anything. Okay? This is before pin stadiums and stuff like that. What do they do? They make changes. They move the games around. They reconfigure. They always were adjusting. The first year they had that stage, I think it was the Zach Sharp year that he won. The stage wasn't the most stable. And they went back to the convention center. And then the next year and every other year, rock solid. The commentating that went on, that was pretty cool. The fact that this big, big audience was there, plus people watching on YouTube or on Twitch. They got to hear the commentators talk as they're watching great monitors and everything else. That was kind of a cool stadium experience. I know you see it a lot in the eSports, but for pinball, that was pretty awesome. I had a chance to talk to Crystal Gemnick, host of The Plum, about her Pinberg memories. Hi, Jeff. I'm doing well. How are you? Good, thank you. I know Pinberg meant a lot to you. It sure did, yeah, as it did so many other people. was one of the places where I realized that I love shows and that I want to work shows and I want to always go to shows as much as possible. So it was a fantastic place. I mean, I met so many people again, as a lot of us did. That was the whole thing about Pimberg. You went for the pinball, but you realized when you came out of it, it was the people that you met. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. And it's funny because the first time that I went, I actually did not play in Pimberg. I only went exclusively to ReplayFX, and I got to experience Pittsburgh as well as the ReplayFX event. So I got to go and play all of those machines in that big free play area, and then after, I guess it's Thursday night or Friday night, they open up some of the banks to people to come in and play late at night. So I got to do that, and I enjoyed it so much that everybody said, well, next year you come back, you should compete, and I did. I got a ticket and it ended up being just a really wonderful experience, not just competition wise as far as, you know, learning how to play tournament pinball a little bit better and having that experience, but also, again, meeting people. meeting people. My first time playing at Pimberg, I met a friend and I might be getting my dates mixed up because when you go like three or four years in a row, they kind of start to meld together. I don't know if I'm the only one that has this sort of like a hard time and all of my memories kind of like, oh, was that 2019 or was that 2018? I can't remember. But definitely one of those years, either 2018 or 2019, I met my really good friend, James Mulvanen, who was a friend that I had made through the dead flip stream. He was a follower. He's one of like the best trolls on the show. And we just always had a really great dynamic, you know, just just communicating with each other through through the through the stream. And I met him at Pinberg one of those years. And I was playing actually I was playing in that Stern Stern had like a booth set up where where they were, you know, they had a couple of games set up and you know, their whole their whole deal. And he came up to me, I heard this voice behind me. And he said, Crystal, and I turn around and there he was, James, this person who I had known for quite a while from the internet. And he was reaching his hand out to shake my hand. And I just look at him and I go, Jimmy. I gave him this really big hug. And it was so it was so funny, like talking to him about it. Now he was like, you know, I was just trying to respect your boundaries. I was like, yeah, but we're like brothers, like you got a hug. So that entire weekend, I pretty much spent with with him and Corey, his his wife, who, you know, the three of us ended up becoming kind of like a little family that weekend. We did everything together. This must have been the first time when I was not actually playing in Pinburgh, which is funny because the following year, the three of us were also inseparable whenever we could be because we were all on each other's banks. And his wife, Corey, ended up being sort of our like Pinburgh mom, bringing us Gatorade and snacks and stuff like that. But it really developed a really special bond between us. And I mean, I messaged him today. I said something along the lines of like, hey, man, I know I tell you this all the time, but I'm so grateful that I got to meet you at Pemburg and that we're such good friends now. And if it weren't for Pemburg, I mean, possibly I could have met him at another show, but it was just such a special experience to get to spend that time with him and Corey and to get to know them and play pinball. How many people have sustained those friendships that came from something like Pemburg or got them more into pinball? It's proven that pinball is a great community, and that's why we flock there. So another great memory for sure, and I know you're going to be talking a lot more about it on the plum. Yeah, yeah. I asked. It's so funny because I saw your post this morning about this, and I was like, hey, wait a minute. That was my idea. But ultimately, there are so many people who have memories to share, and it's great to hear from all ends. But, yeah, I'm also asking for some stories. I'm probably either going to read them out loud or, you know, if anybody has any kind of an audio, just send it along to theplumpinballpodcast at gmail.com. I would love to hear more stories. Like, send them in. And I really want to hear, like, a weird story. I hear all these really, like, heartwarming stories, which are awesome and great, but I would just love to hear, like, something weird, something crazy. If you've got it, send it my way. Got to be something with a bouncy castle or those bungees. I think there's some fun that happened there. I think I was over the age limit or weight or maybe both. But that was the great thing about ReplayFX. It was such a wonderful time. And I think a lot of podcasters are certainly going to share their thoughts on it. I mean, it's on everybody's mind for sure. So, Crystal, thank you very much. And I look forward to another edition of The Plum. I love what you've been doing lately, Mike Vinikour, Marty Robbins. And you're back. It's good. I am back. Thank you so much for having me, Jeff. Pinberg was so important to so many people. but also for this show, Pinball Profile, because I looked forward to seeing so many different people and reaching out and finding just little bits about them. I would turn them into recap shows, like episode 146 215 and many many others You can find those on the website and you can hear the excitement of the people that participated All right Max Baskin Thanks for doing this Jeff I could only pop in for a second, but appreciate the hell out of what you're doing for the community. Hopefully when things aren't so pandemic-y, that's a word, sure, I'll get a chance to see you at another tournament down the road. You're damn right you will, Max, and everyone else, because that's what I'm looking forward to, seeing the people. That's kind of why I did the whole Pinball Profile World Tour, to get into all these different places and some good memories, just like Pinberg. All right. Derek brings up a point. A few years ago, they had this thing for streamers and podcasters and pinball media, if you will. The Trash Talker Invitational created by Chuck Webster from the New Robert Englunds Pinball League. I guess it's something they had done for a while. Pretty fun, pretty out of hand, but some incredible experiences happened there. So we played a mini Pinberg, if you will. It was awesome. By the way, I should say, won by Marty Robbins, my partner on Final Round. Marty Robbins and the head-to-head team won. But did he win? I think he did. Yeah, he did win. He did win. I knew he beat us, but I was thinking, did he advance? Yeah, he did. He won it all. Mrs. Pin was playing in it, and she was so excited. Just still really new into pinball. And that Chuck Webster puts Mrs. Pin in a group with, this is who she's playing here. This is a group of four. Names you might have heard of. Raymond Davidson, who was on my team. as David Raminson. I kind of had a few ringers. Steven Bowden was playing. Adam Becker, a former Pinberg winner. And Mrs. Pin. In maybe her third, fourth, fifth tournament ever. That was really fair, Chuck. Doesn't matter? No, this is what's so great about Pinberg and pinball. On any given day, anybody can do it. The game was Algar, the big wide body. You know those three targets with the three captive balls on the right-hand side? Tough game. Who won that game? It was Mrs. Pinn who kicked those three. It was so cool. I mean, that's a Pinburgh memory forever. And I wasn't even in that group, but I'll never forget that one. Hello to Shannon Stafford, a great player at Florida OBX, terms like that, Sebastian Faceman. This bleep pandemic is destroying everything. Well, hopefully you're wearing a mask, everyone. Hopefully you're staying safe. We are seeing vaccine success coming out. Fingers crossed we'll get there soon. We're all frustrated. Trust me, we're very frustrated, but we can get through this. I don't know this to be true or not. Christopher Doyle writes, apparently ReplayFX was $100,000 in the red after Pinberg 2019. I don't ask, and it's not my business to know the numbers. I don't know whether that's true or not. What I do know from talking with Doug Polka is that the biggest fundraiser of the year for ReplayFX, or for the Replay Foundation, was Pinberg and ReplayFX. So when that didn't happen in 2020, you can only imagine. Maybe the writing was on the wall there. They had different divisions. I mean, we all know Keith Elwin just went back-to-back. We saw Colin MacAlpine win his first. I mentioned Zach Sharp and Adam Becker, other winners. It wasn't just about those people. There was the B divisions. There was the C. There was the D and even the E. And you felt like a champ if you were in those playoffs. It didn't matter what division. And they had monetary prizes for the ABCD. That's pretty cool. So I want you to think of this. When they had 1,000 people, and I don't believe the division was paid, so forgive me. I'm going to assume they weren't. I know they had trophies and whatnot. But just the A, B, C, D. 40 people made the playoffs. There's four different divisions there, A through D. That's 160 people out of the 1,000 that got paid. That's pretty good. And again, it's not all about the ringers and the top elite players. So a lot of people could hang their hats on that. Derek Thompson, he runs Yegpin in Edmonton, another spectacular tournament, part of the Stern Pro Circuit. Great player. 2013 Pinberg was my first competitive tournament, and then I was hooked to competitive pinball. It'll be missed. This was the thing that turned me into competitive pinball. I was playing local leagues and stuff, but seeing the other tournaments that were out there, yeah, I have to agree with you, Derek, for sure. Derek's talking about he went to 2013, became hooked in the tournament scene, and now he runs a Stern Pro Circuit event. That doesn't happen without Pimberg. Again, from Norway. I love EMs, and I know the reputation Pimberg has had. A really amazing collection of oddities. Like faces. High hand. As much as we hate high hand, don't you love seeing it there? Or Doodlebug, or some of these other great games that just become instant classics when they're on the stage and they're there in the finals. But anyway. Jeff Nieport. I went to my first Pimberg when I was 16. It was still in a hotel. Wow. 18 years later, I found Papa. Two years later, it's gone. Poor Justin Charlton writes, 2020 was supposed to be the year of many firsts, Pinberg being the most exciting. It's too bad, Justin. I know you've got some good things there in Michigan and Ann Arbor, if I believe. But yeah, Pinberg is something special. Rob Frost, can't wait to meet most of you. I got into the game at the worst time, but this is the best subculture I've known for 35 years of life. Will be up soon enough. I think so. Miles Cameron. Miles plays in the Toronto Pinball League. He won the E. He wrote, he won the E. All right, there you go. And they did pay. Oh, he said they did pay. So more than 160 people. Some other Pimberg memories, the gatherings we talked about. Jack Danger had a big, big gathering, and he did it several years. I think it was on the Thursday night at the pub, kind of kitty corner to the David L. Lawrence Center. I had been a couple times. That place was packed and a great way to, you know, now you're not playing, so you have the time to meet people. So I always liked that Jack did that. I think the people I met for the first time was at Pimberg was like Mark from Reno, Nevada. I always enjoyed seeing Alexander Ward from Georgia, although I know I met him at Louisville Arcade Expo first. I mentioned Tracy Lindbergh. Juana Summers I met. She's now on the IFPA Women's Advisory Board. Laura Fraley, even though she likes to make fun of me sitting on a stool. Love Laura. She's great. Her and Clark. Seeing Chris Stevens in the top four back-to-back years, that's pretty impressive, especially for the local boy there. And Chris, we won't see that, unfortunately, for a while. but the lighter side is you won't be late for a round either, so it works out there. Great photo ops, the Whipped, that Intergalactic, again, the charity, the variety of games I wrote down. Match play format. A lot of tournaments don't do this anymore, and I can think of the ones that do. The 24-hour battle at the Sanctum does it. That's good because, first of all, the only problem is you've got to play 24 hours and it's about 16 rounds, but that match play format is fun, and they kind of use the same format as Pinberg. Free Gold Watch does it as well, too, for City Champ in San Francisco. So the match play format is still out there. We see a lot of pump and dumps. We see a lot of pop of tickets. Last year, in 2019, one of the greatest rock guitarists today, Mark Mark Tremonti of his Mark Tremonti Group and Alter Bridge and Creed before that, he just showed up. He's a big diehard pinhead. He's friends with Fred Cochran. They arranged to go. Mark's not even playing in the tournament, but he's checking everything out. He's in love with it. I hope there were a lot of people that got to do that kind of thing, that just saw the experience. I know in 2018, I brought my three sons, Shane, Brady, and Carson. Shane and Brady had no interest in playing in the pinball aspect. They played pinball games on the side, and that was a good thing. There were all kinds of games. But they had a great time just playing the consoles. And I mean, Carson and I were playing Pimberg. That was fun. It kept busy. We'd kind of meet up in the breaks, and I'm glad they got to experience that. So 2019, standing in line at Intergalactic, I saw somebody I knew, knew of, didn't know personally. Went up to him, introduced myself. It was Steve Epstein. So I was thrilled to, I know I talked his ear off for 20, 25 minutes. And then we later did a pinball profile, got to know him. Saw him later in November at Freeplay Florida. Came to a pinball profile world tour event, which meant a lot to me. And then, of course, this damn 2020, he gets sick and we lose him. So I'm thankful for Pinberg for giving me that opportunity to see an absolute legend. Dave DeLuga, winning C Division first year out and never looking back, learning so much about so many games and seeing all your pin geeks from around the world. I'm going to wrap things up here, but I really wish everyone had a chance to go to this at some point. Even the people that don't play pinball competitively. because this one event, I think, created so many different fans of pinball and tournament pinball, competitive pinball. I've been to a lot of other tournaments. Most of them, I have a great time. It's not always the case, but I don't know too many people that went to Pinberg or ReplayFX and said, yeah, it just wasn't for me. Are you kidding? You were circling the calendar. When is it next year? Sign me up. F5, F5, all that kind of stuff. And now it's gone. So whether it's local arcades, whether it's tournaments, when we get back to competitive pinball with IFPA, Do what you can and support in any way you can. Volunteering, financial, it would go a long way. It would help sustain these tournaments and these events. Hopefully we don't lose any more. But again, thank you to the people at Papa and Replay Foundation for so many years. I know it was tough news for everyone, but hold your heads high because you've created so many pinball fans. You've created these tournaments that everyone thrives to have that kind of same status. It's something to be proud of. and we've got a lot of great memories, a lot of great photos, great friendships. You made Pittsburgh a wonderful destination, a chance to see your lovely city, and I hope some way, somehow, we will all get back there for some other event. ReplayFX, Pinberg, thank you, thank you, thank you for the incredible memories. Going to be missed for sure, but never, ever forgotten. This has been your Pinball Profile. You can find everything on pinballprofile.com. We're on Twitter and Instagram, at pinballprofile, and you can email us, pinballprofile at gmail.com. I'm Jeff Teels.

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