# Too Pissed Off to be Happy about the Third Choice

**Source:** NYC PinPod  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2026-04-27  
**Duration:** 67m 23s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.spreaker.com/episode/too-pissed-off-to-be-happy-about-the-third-choice--71658998

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## Analysis

NYC PinPod episode covering Pinball NYC league results from mid-April 2026, including the Scrappleland Spring Fling tournament (44 players, 10-hour qualifying), Stern Army RWI, and detailed standings updates for both Left and Right Flipper divisions. Hosts Benjamin Furiga and Eric Swedeland discuss competitive landscape, venue updates, machine maintenance issues reported via Pinball Map, and upcoming events including the SSPL finals and Allentown tournament.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Scrappleland Spring Fling on April 18th had 44 players competing in 10-hour qualifying (2pm-midnight) on a bank of 10 games — _Eric Swedeland describing the Spring Fling event directly_
- [HIGH] Alex Kelly won the Spring Fling A Finals, Tommy Ortega finished 4th after driving bus all day — _Benjamin Furiga reporting Spring Fling results_
- [HIGH] As of April 22nd, 2026, there are 363 pinball machines in New York City at 74 public locations per Pinball Map — _Eric Swedeland citing Pinball Map data_
- [HIGH] Danger Danger (Right Flipper division) clinched top seed with 8-1 record and 116 points, making them undefeatable for the division — _Eric Swedeland reporting final standings_
- [HIGH] Benjamin Furiga's Colliders are in position to potentially make Orbit playoffs if they beat Mutants 16-0 AND Parliament loses to Lion Persons — _Eric Swedeland explaining complex playoff math for Left Flipper division_
- [HIGH] Stern Kiss at Hop Shop in Staten Island has non-functional left flipper and extremely low volume (~5%) — _RatQueenSteph review on Pinball Map, April 22_
- [HIGH] Big Lebowski at Sunshine Laundromat has 75 playfield lights out and non-registering captive ball on Jaws — _Mini Flipper report on Pinball Map, April 21_
- [MEDIUM] PBM (Pinball Map user/developer) removed Super Panic Ball from Arcade Fight Eye lineup and commented 'it's not here, right?' — _Eric Swedeland discussing Pinball Map updates and speculating PBM's identity_
- [HIGH] Metallica Remastered was removed from Sunshine Laundromat lineup on Wednesday — _Eric Swedeland reporting machine updates from Pinball Map_
- [HIGH] Zen Zokniak won Stern Army's April RWI at Rulo's with 4.76 Whoppers and chose Uncanny X-Men, James Bond, and Simpsons Pinball Party for finals — _Eric Swedeland describing RWI results_

### Notable Quotes

> "I would have been pissed off, pissed off and then probably too pissed off to be happy about the third choice."
> — **Benjamin Furiga**, ~16:30
> _References the episode title; humorous reaction to Zen Zokniak's finals game selections at the RWI_

> "We list what is there. Isn't that interesting that the user is PBM and that the pronoun is we? Isn't it also interesting that a few things happen to address accuracy or inaccuracy?"
> — **Eric Swedeland**, ~2:15:00
> _Speculative commentary suggesting PBM may be a Pinball Map developer/maintainer, not just a user_

> "left flipper is fucked up. The plunger thing was unscrewed, so I had to try and pull the screw bit to get the ball going. And it was so quiet, like they put it at 5% volume or something. Overall, a piece of shit."
> — **RatQueenSteph**, ~2:00:00
> _Pinball Map review of Stern Kiss at Hop Shop; captures maintenance and operator issues at NYC locations_

> "if we got a 12-4 win and Parliament wins at all, because they're only three points behind them at 5-3, so 6-4 and any number of points that wins means that they are in front of two-for-oners."
> — **Eric Swedeland**, ~1:40:00
> _Complex playoff qualification math showing how narrow margins are in Left Flipper division_

> "They will be the top seed. They have beat the division, period. Danger Danger is in the top spot with an eight and one record and 116 points."
> — **Eric Swedeland**, ~1:50:00
> _Emphatic declaration that Danger Danger has mathematically clinched Right Flipper division dominance_

> "I got there late in the afternoon, I guess. How many hours? It started at 2 p.m. What time did qualifying end on Saturday night? Midnight. Ten hours of qualifying."
> — **Benjamin Furiga / Eric Swedeland**, ~8:00
> _Establishes the marathon length and logistics of Spring Fling qualifying event_

> "Everything's coming up Milhouse."
> — **Benjamin Furiga**, ~2:35:00
> _Humorous aside about discovering old Herb 13th tournament trophy; shows personal connection to local competitive history_

> "Worms made the trek from Queens to Barcade, Brooklyn to face off with the most majestic Deluxe Horses. Quite. After an epic match, it all came down to a tiebreaker for the win, and your worms emerged with the W."
> — **Worms.pinball (Instagram story)**, ~1:20:00
> _Team Instagram narrative of match result; shows community engagement and team identity-building_

> "Listen, just remember that. Anyone who's out there saying like, ah, our team had a rough beginning and it just can't happen. These guys made it happen."
> — **Eric Swedeland**, ~1:55:00
> _Commentary on Harry's Hand Grenades' comeback to secure in-lane playoff spot despite poor start_

> "Balls of Steel can't get out of the Orbit playoffs, but they won't have a bye necessarily if they lose, unless some other people also lose."
> — **Eric Swedeland**, ~1:35:00
> _Illustrates the intricate tiebreaker and standings dynamics in competitive league format_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Benjamin Furiga | person | NYC PinPod co-host, pinball player, member of Colliders team (Left Flipper division), tournament participant |
| Eric Swedeland | person | NYC PinPod co-host, pinball tournament director in NYC, Stern Army RWI participant |
| Alex Kelly | person | 2025 state champion, won Scrappleland Spring Fling A Finals on April 18 |
| Tommy Ortega | person | Competitive player, finished 4th in Spring Fling A Finals, hosts Silver Ball Sunday at Single Cut Beersmith |
| Greg Pavarelli | person | Scrappleland Spring Fling assistant director, top finisher in qualifying |
| Harlan Aida Linda | person | Scrappleland Spring Fling tournament director |
| Zen Zokniak | person | Won Stern Army April RWI at Rulo's on April 19, scored 4.76 Whoppers |
| Matt Grady | person | 2024 state champion, finished 3rd in Spring Fling A Finals after tiebreaker with Tommy Ortega |
| Stephen Perillo | person | Competitive player active in Greenpoint/Williamsburg area, finished 2nd in Spring Fling A Finals |
| Jess Warren | person | Stern Army April RWI director at Rulo's, board game group organizer |
| Scrappleland | venue | Greenpoint, Brooklyn pinball venue, hosted Spring Fling (44 players, 10 machines, bank of games), 70-80+ machine collection |
| Rulo's | venue | NYC pinball venue, hosted Stern Army April RWI on April 19 |
| Buttermilk Bar | venue | NYC pinball venue, hosts Pinball NYC matches and South Slope Pinball League finals |
| Sunshine Laundromat | venue | NYC pinball venue, hosts Pinball NYC matches, has Big Lebowski and Metallica Remastered machines |
| Pinball NYC | organization | Competitive pinball league in NYC with Left Flipper and Right Flipper divisions, team-based league format |
| Stern Army | organization | Pinball community organization, hosts RWI (Rapid-fire Whoppering Initiative) tournaments |
| Pinball Map | product | Community-driven database/map of pinball machine locations, as of April 22, 2026 shows 363 machines at 74 NYC locations |
| Colliders | organization | Pinball NYC Left Flipper division team, Benjamin Furiga is a member |
| Danger Danger | organization | Pinball NYC Right Flipper division team, clinched top seed with 8-1 record and 116 points |
| Stern Kiss | product | Stern pinball machine at Hop Shop in Staten Island, reported with non-functional left flipper and low volume |
| Big Lebowski | product | Pinball machine at Sunshine Laundromat, reported with 75 lights out on playfield and non-registering captive ball on Jaws |
| Metallica Remastered | product | Pinball machine removed from Sunshine Laundromat lineup on Wednesday |
| Spring Fling | event | Scrappleland tournament on April 18, 2026, qualifying format with 44 players, 10-hour session |
| South Slope Pinball League (SSPL) | organization | NYC pinball league, finals scheduled for late April 2026 at Buttermilk Bar |
| NYC Flipper Sport Association | organization | Pinball NYC Left Flipper division team, currently in Orbit playoff bye position |

### Signals

- **[competitive_signal]** Spring Fling 26 qualifying ran 10 hours (2pm-midnight) with 44 players competing in best-game format on a bank of 10 machines, with queue depth never exceeding 4 games, demonstrating efficient tournament logistics (confidence: high) — Eric Swedeland: 'It started at 2 p.m. What time did qualifying end on Saturday night? Midnight. Ten hours of qualifying.'
- **[competitive_signal]** Playoff seeding in both Pinball NYC divisions extremely tight with narrow point margins (1-3 points) determining bye vs in-lane playoff distinction, creating high stakes for final week matches (confidence: high) — Multiple standings details showing teams 1-3 points apart determining playoff tier qualification
- **[venue_signal]** Multiple NYC venue machines reported with significant maintenance issues: Stern Kiss (non-functional left flipper, 5% volume), Big Lebowski (75 lights out), Godzilla (weak flippers), James Bond (missing Odd Job spinner) (confidence: high) — RatQueenSteph review, Mini Flipper report, WeHaveAWinna review, Flipper Fiend note on Pinball Map
- **[operational_signal]** Pinball Map entries show inconsistent venue information (e.g., Super Panic Ball at Arcade Fight Eye removed/re-added, disputed presence in back room, Strikes & Spares 1977 Bally at Gutter), suggesting operator confusion or inadequate communication with database maintainers (confidence: medium) — User PBM removing machines and adding notes like 'it's not here, right?' with implied insider knowledge
- **[community_signal]** Teams actively using Instagram and Discord for match narratives and community building (Worms.pinball Instagram story, Third Ball/Trolls Discord message), suggesting growing social media integration in local competitive scene (confidence: high) — Worms Instagram story quoted in full, Third Ball Discord message to Trolls pre-match
- **[market_signal]** Scrappleland made playfield adjustments to back row pin arrangement (removed diagonal corner pin, added 3 pins, pushed back) suggesting active equipment maintenance and optimization (confidence: high) — Benjamin Furiga directly observed changes on April 18 during Spring Fling
- **[venue_signal]** NYC venues show rapid machine circulation: King Kong Pro added to Transmitter Brewing, Stern Star Trek LE added to Scrappleland (junkyard removed), WWF Royal Rumble removed from Coyote Club, Stern X-Men Pro 2012 added (confidence: high) — Multiple Pinball Map updates documented April 20-22
- **[competitive_signal]** Left Flipper division playoff qualification involves multi-layered tiebreaker scenarios where single teams' results cascade through multiple other teams' fates, with some teams mathematically unable to be eliminated (e.g., Balls of Steel guaranteed Orbit, Danger Danger mathematically dominant) (confidence: high) — Extended discussion of Parliament/Colliders/Mutants playoff math with 11+ conditional outcomes
- **[product_concern]** Hop Shop Stern Kiss machine has systemic operator neglect issues: non-functional left flipper (plunger unscrew-able), extremely low volume (5%), described as 'piece of shit' by player, suggesting poor operator oversight or maintenance (confidence: high) — RatQueenSteph Pinball Map review detailing specific defects and critical assessment
- **[community_signal]** Pinball Map community discussion emerging around utility and accuracy of listing rare/niche machines (Super Panic Ball) that tournament directors must remove pre-event vs. enthusiasts seeking, revealing tension between database comprehensiveness and operational practicality (confidence: medium) — User debate between R Kate and PBM about Super Panic Ball listing utility and Pinball Map's philosophy
- **[event_signal]** Allentown pinball tournament and show scheduled for May 1-2 (two days), with NYC podcast hosts recommending it as major shopping/tournament destination with strong track record for game purchases and setup services (confidence: medium) — Benjamin and Eric promoting Allentown event, noting multiple NYC residents have had positive experiences purchasing games there
- **[competitive_signal]** Harry's Hand Grenades team demonstrates comeback arc: long early-season losing streak followed by 4 wins in recent weeks, securing in-lane playoff spot despite poor start, illustrating seasonal volatility and the importance of late momentum (confidence: high) — Eric Swedeland: 'They made it happen... After a long drought to start the season... can still get to 500, and they have guaranteed themselves a spot in the in-lane playoffs'

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## Transcript

worsening sound Happy Sunday, Pinfolk, or whatever day you're listening. This is NYC Pinpot, in which a panel talks location pinball in New York City and nearby surrounding areas, at least sometimes. My name is Benjamin Furiga. My initials are BCF and I'm going to spend 20 hours in a car this weekend. My name is Eric Swedeland. My initials are HIP and I'm a pinball tournament director in New York City. On this week's pod, we will run down local competition results just through Tuesday. We're going to get you the Pinball NYC results. In ball two, we'll do the things we usually do, the venue updates and the bullet journals. But again, it's going to be short. And in Ball 3, we'll have a few snippets. It might be a little bit less Ball 3 and a little bit more like, you know, that bonus time, like at the end of Haunted House or Electra or whatever. Let's get started. Let's talk about competitive pinball in New York City for just a bit of this week. Forgive me, folks. I am traveling, as I said in my intro. I'm going to be in a car for 20 hours this weekend. And we're not going to be able to record the podcast this weekend. So we're doing it a little bit early because we very much wanted to get Pinball NYC results in between the 9th and 10th weeks of the right flipper and the 10th and 11th weeks of the left flipper divisions. So we're doing brief things for the things that are limited to the week for balls one and two. And then we're going to do a little sort of mini game, a little add on in all three. But let's talk about that competitive pinball. You went to the Spring Fling on Saturday, right? That's right. On Saturday, April 18th, 44 players came out to Scrappleland in Greenpoint, Brooklyn for the Scrappleland Spring Fling 26 qualifying. Directed by Harlan Aida Linda, assisted by Greg Pavarelli, and a whole host of players who were also granted scorekeeper access in the Matchplay app so we could all check in everyone else's scores. A host of hosts, if you will. Indeed. We had 40 entries to spend on a bank of 10 games in this best game qualifying. A few players managed to get through all 40. Wow. I personally managed to get through 24 of them and I was there most of the day. I got there late in the afternoon, I guess. How many hours? It started at 2 p.m. What time did qualifying end on Saturday night? Midnight. Ten hours of qualifying. Forty would be hard in ideal conditions to get in, I imagine. The queues were pretty fast. Not bad. I don't think they ever got much deeper than four. And usually you could find something shorter. And yeah, the games went quick. Right, they're Peter's machines. Yeah, I probably was there for maybe a good seven hours and all the standing on the concrete really took a toll on my feet. Sure. How many entries? So I made 24 entries. I did my first I did my first 10 and then I just worked on whatever my lowest was until it wasn't my lowest anymore. At the end of the night, I wound up in 22nd place, which was good enough to qualify for the B finals. At the top of the A Finals, Alberto Santana, Greg Pavarelli, Nint Hu, and Tommy Ortega would all become bus drivers on day two. Tommy's the only one of those four who got through facing upstart Matt Grady, 2024 state champion, really 2025. He defended in 2025 state champion Alex Kelly and Stephen Perillo, whose name we've been saying a lot around the top of things happening in Greenpoint and maybe also in Williamsburg. Alex Kelly came out on top despite Tommy having driven the bus all day. He drove him to Beatles, James Bond and Johnny Mnemonic. I presume those were banked, but I don't know for sure. Stephen Perillo came in second and then Tommy and Matt Grady played a tiebreaker and Grady got third. And Tommy Ortega came in fourth in A. You qualified for B, but I have a feeling you didn't play it. That's correct. I skipped on the Spring Fling finals. Instead, in the B finals, Taylor Connolly came out on top, besting Tomei Tenisovsky, Christian Klossner, and Zach Till in the final round. And it looks like Tomei maybe snuck in because you were not present. Entirely possible. Yeah, nice work. That's a that's a great way to get second. Looks like Alex got 40.94 Whoppers for his efforts. Well, also on Sunday, and the reason why I wasn't at the Spring Fling Finals, it was Stern Army's April RWI held at Rulo's and directed by Jess Warren with assistance from me and a ham and bean stew by Bart. Uh-huh. Twelve players came out for five rounds of group match play, which then cut to four for finals. Zen Zokniak won the day, besting Rob Wong, myself, and Billy Vazine. Huh. Zen picked up 4.76 Whoppers. I won the raffled Foo Fighters Translite. Cool. Did anybody win a t-shirt? Nobody beat the cat during the proceedings. Okay. I just want to say I see Zen chose Uncanny X-Men and James Bond and Simpsons Pinball Party. In the finals and I would have been pissed off, pissed off and then probably too pissed off to be happy about the third choice. On Monday, April 20th, all over New York City, Pinball NYC's left flipper division had its 10th round. Now, most of these teams are playing their ninth game, but it's the 10th round. Balls of Steel finally got their bye this week. Parliament went to Gebhard's Beer Culture where the lesser players beat them 8-8. The lesser players picked up their first win in their first match and their other win in their last match. They started and finished strong. Intermission Dolores was slated to play host to the two-for-oners at Commonwealth, but the 9-0 score makes me believe that that's a forfeit. And it ends Intermission Dolores' four-match losing streak. The Mutants went to Skylark, where the Pin Pals hosted them, and Mutants picked up a 9-7 win. The Mutants have been alternating losses and wins since Week 3, and the trend held true this week. This win almost certainly clinches an Orbit playoff berth for them. Rulo saw Lion Persons visit the Aristocrats and Lion Persons won 9-7. Lion Persons lost their first three, but they're taking a six-match win streak into the final week. Special Wenlit went to Scrappleland and Special Wenlit came away with a 12-4 win over the Pinbots. Special Wenlit lost their first six and won their last four and will be waiting for an in-lane playoff seeding. Your New York City Flipper Sport Association came to visit us colliders at Buttermilk. And y'all won nine to seven. Ah, it was a nail biter. It was a nail biter. It came down to the end of the last game. It came down to ball three on Twilight Zone, a player four. And not entirely undramatically either. Real good one. Yeah, that puts y'all in the driver's seat for the top seat in the Orbit playoffs. That's you're there's still a week to play for you and Balls of Steel both. But that that like I said last week, you were exactly eight points behind them. So if you won at all, you were going to be in front of them. I'm pretty sure if math if my math maths, then, you know, you might be one point in front of them. We talk about the standings in a minute. Nine is bigger than eight, but only just only just. And speaking of that, the Deluxe Horses hosted the Worms at Barcade, Brooklyn, and Worms picked up an 8-8 tiebreaker win. There's a Worms story this week on Instagram. Worms.pinball writes, what a week in Worms story. Worms made the trek from Queens to Barcade, Brooklyn to face off with the most majestic Deluxe Horses. Quite. After an epic match, it all came down to a tiebreaker for the win, and your worms emerged with the W. One week to go in the regular season, and worms all over the world are wiggling with excitement. Quite. There's 15 teams in the division. Ten teams have had a bye, which is to say five teams have not. So there will be five matches and five buys next week. Sitting at the top of the left orbit playoff picture, New York City Flipper Sport Association and Balls of Steel both have a record of 7-2. Our NYCFSA has 85 points, Balls of Steel 84. I believe I had that. Lion Persons and the Mutants are both 6-3 with 85 and 83 points. Currently sitting in fifth place, the two-for-oners have a record of six and four with 83 points. They'll have a bye next week. That's the same number as the mutants, right? Mutants can't go below them with a loss because they have the same number of wins. So everybody who's already above them is definitely above them. Parliament is just under them at five and four in terms of points. And we colliders have a number of points that if we won, I think it might be true that we would almost necessarily. Oh, no, I guess we'd have to get a biggish win. We'd have to get a 12 to move ahead. Well, 11 for the tie. And I think, did we beat them or did they beat us earlier this season? We played them earlier this season. How did it go? Let's find out when. You went to Gebhard Spear Culture where they got you 12-4. That's right. So 11 doesn't do it for us. It would have to be 12. That said, if we got a 12-4 win and Parliament wins at all, because they're only three points behind them at 5-3, so 6-4 and any number of points that wins means that they are in front of two-for-oners. Five and five could leave them vulnerable to us colliders and the pinbots at five and four. Currently, the left in lane playoffs would feature your colliders in with a bye week and the pinbots at five and four. The aristocrats are five and five with 83 points. That's all they'll be getting. They had some big wins this season. They also won the first several and then like and then like went around the city with authority and beat up on some really good teams. Both Special Winlet and Intermission Dolores have records of four and six with 80 points and 69 points, respectively. Nice. Special Winlets, four wins all came in the last four weeks, by the way. And the 12th place team is Worms with a record of three and six and 62 points. But the Deluxe Horses are also three and six and have 60 points, just two behind them. And let's just point this out, too. They were just tied at eight this past week. They both got eight points last week, but Worms got the win. So that that win, the points didn't get them in front, but the win did. The Pin Pals are 2-7 with 54 points, and the lesser players have finished their season with a record of 2-8 and 60 points. You played on Tuesday. What happened all over this city? On Tuesday, April 21st, it was Pinball NYC's right flipper division's ninth round. Ball Drainers went to Scrapple Land to see Scrapple Squad and picked up a 9-7 road win. Ball Drainers have won two in a row after they had a little losing streak. They were undefeated for longer than anyone else in this division, and then they lost a couple, but they're back on the right side now. Skylark saw Everybody Loves the Sunshine come to visit Pinnister Six, and the visitors got a 9-7 win. Everybody Loves the Sunshine's win ties them in record for the last Orbit playoff run, but they're 10 points behind. So they're tied in record, but they still have a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to do. No Quarters for Laundry hosted Rest in Pinball, parenthetically RIP, at Solid State. And the home team got a big 14-2 win. That big win for No Quarters bolsters their resume for the Orbit playoffs. At this point, they would have to lose big to miss the Orbit division playoffs. Neptune's Treasure went to Jack Barr to face Schlubbs and got a strong 11-5 road win. That big win really shakes up the standings in the Orbit playoffs. It virtually ensures Neptune's Treasure's birth and it knocked Schlubbs out of bi territory, I think is what we're going to find out in a second when we talk about the standings. Trolls and the third ball were at Midway. Trolls got a 13-3 win on the road, and I heard it was quite a party. I'm glad to hear that. Trolls hadn't won since week one, but they got another one this week, and that vaults them into the 12th seed. They are currently sitting in the in-lane playoff picture because of that win. Was there a Trolls story? There was a short troll story this week. Look, I love a short story. Give me a Broadway show that's 90 minutes, no intermission. I don't need two hours and ten. Bartender. 21s? Us. No, 22. And a picture of a couple trolls sitting with a birthday cake. Also, on Sunday at the RWI, Jess pointed out to me that the third ball sent a message to trolls using the discord. Okay. Hey, hey, team trolls on the Tuesday Night League. The third ball's event manager here. We're excited to play you tomorrow night. Since it's our final home game, we've invited a lot of people to come out, watch, and celebrate a great season so far. It's going to be a bit of an event, and we just wanted to give you a heads up beforehand so it isn't a surprise when you arrive. Following the match on Discord Troll Monica wrote update it was lit We had a blast hanging out with you guys Yeah of course You went to At The Wallace on Tuesday night We Butterballers went to At The Wallace to see Harlem Globe Flippers and the home team got an 11-5 victory over us. Johnny came marching home to Buttermilk and I imagine we'll talk about that in Ball 3. The Globe Flippers, with that win, put themselves into bye territory, I think is what we'll talk about in a moment. Harry's Hand Grenades hosted the replays at Bar Grade Harry, and the home team got a 10-6 win. That's their fourth win after they had a long drought to start the season. They can still get to 500, and they have guaranteed themselves a spot in the in-lane playoffs after a long drought to start the season. Listen, just remember that. Anyone who's out there saying like, ah, our team had a rough beginning and it just can't happen. These guys made it happen. The Pin Babes came to Buttermilk Bar to see Danger Danger and the home team got a big 14 to 2 win. Danger Danger did it again. Like speaking of making it happen, they are a win and an insurmountable number of points ahead of the rest of the division. They will be the top seed. After nine weeks, they have they have beat the division, period. Danger Danger is in the top spot with an eight and one record and 116 points. Four teams have a record of seven and two with 94 points. Harlem Globes flippers slip into the buy slot with 90 points. Neptune's Treasure is in third. 87 points makes the ball drainers fourth and 86 points puts the schlubs in fifth. They were in second last week. That I said before, it just knocked them out of a bye. I didn't even realize that it took them down quite this far. No Quarters for Laundrie has a record of six and three with 91 points and sits in the sixth spot. It's totally worth mentioning that you just said 91 for them and not over 90 for any of the 7-2 teams except for Harlem Globe Flippers. So they look pretty good, even a win behind everybody else there. Currently at the top of the in-lane playoffs, Everybody Loves the Sunshine is also 6-3 but have 80 points. Pinister Six and Butterballers both have records of 5-4, but Pinister Six has 74 points and the Butterballers have 70. Harry's Hand Grenades has a record of 4-5 with 64 points. Scrapple Squad is 3-6 with 59 and rounding out the in-lane playoffs, Trolls are 2-7 with 55 points. Currently outside the playoff picture, Reston Pinball has a record of 2-7 with 52 points and the Pinbabes are also 2-7 with 47 points. So that's 3-9 points behind the Trolls respectively to get into the in-lane playoffs. The replays are 1-8 with 56 points and the third ball is 0-9 with 31 points. And they probably have the biggest fan club in the league this coming week. So like, look, there's after we've recorded this, there will be things that happen. There's going to be an SSPL finals, right? Qualifying week six. Sixth week of qualifying. And then we'll talk about that and the finals probably next next week. There's going to be there won't be a scrapple league between now and the next time there are two weeks off there. There will be two No Bro Presents Thursday Night Strikes. There will be the things we talked about that will happen this weekend on last week's pod and the things we'll talk about in the schedule on this week's pod. And we'll probably talk about most of those things, if not all of those things next week. But between now and then, here's what's going to happen, at least in Pinball NYC. On Monday, April 27th, Pinball NYC's left flipper division will contest its 11th and final round at bars all across the city. Well, a few fewer than normal. The two for oneers, the lesser players, Intermission Dolores, the aristocrats and the third ball will all have their bye week. Two-for-oneers are pretty close to safe, but if Colliders and Parliament both win, then they'd have a buy in the in-lane playoffs instead of a berth in the Orbit playoffs. The lesser players are out of the playoff picture entirely. I hope that they play Parfala again soon. If both Worms and Deluxe Horses win, Intermission Dolores will be knocked out with that buy. Anyway, if Colliders, Pinbots and Parliament all lose Parliament by a 14 to 2 blowout or greater, the aristocrats could make the Orbit playoffs. If Parliament scores at least three points, then the aristocrats are in the in-lane playoffs. Or if Colliders lose, aristocrats will have a bye in the in-lane playoffs, in fact. Parliament will be going to Barcade Fideye to see Lion Persons. Parliament is not guaranteed an Orbit playoff berth like we just talked about. They've got three straight losses and they are facing the league's hottest team. They are tied in record with both of the teams that are currently chasing them. It would take a lot for Pinbots to get past them. It would take a bit for us Colliders to get past them too. Well, Benjamin, your colliders will be hosting the mutants at Buttermilk Bar. If the mutants forfeited, they'd be tied with the two for oneers and, you know, barely assailable. A win here could get them into buy territory in the Orbit playoffs. Colliders need a win and for Parliament to lose to get above the Orbit in-lane playoff line. And it is technically true that if Colliders win 16-0 and Parliament by tiebreaker, that Colliders would also make it. There is a way in which both teams could win, but it is so at the margins that literally mutants have to get zero points against us, but also show up. That seems like an almost non-possibility. But it's at least mathematically possible that if they get a tiebreak win and we get a 16-0 win, I think we make the Orbit playoffs and they have a buy in the inlay. I think that's how that would work. At the Wallace, we'll see the Pinbots come to face our New York City Flipper Sport Association. They have a chance, the Pinbots, to get into the Orbit playoffs, but they need Parliament to lose and to outscore us colliders by six points. Win or lose, outscores by six points. NYC FSA would likely maintain a bye with a win. It would be pretty hard for you to have a win and not also end up with a bye at the end of all this. The Deluxe Horses go to Skylark to see the Pin Pals. Whoever wins that match would make the in-lane playoffs if Worms lose. And Worms are going to Midway to see Balls of Steel. So Worms have won three of their last four, two by tiebreak. Balls of Steel lost to Lion Persons in week nine, but they're going to be looking for a win to maintain a bye in the playoffs. If they lose, they'll still be in the Orbit playoffs. Balls of Steel can't get out of the Orbit playoffs, but they won't have a bye necessarily if they lose, unless some other people also lose. On Tuesday, April 28th, actually all over the city, not like that abbreviated all over the city shit we were talking about a minute ago, round 10 of Pinball NYC's right flipper division will be convened. Trolls will host Danger Danger at Barcade Fidi. Trolls won with 13 points last week and Danger Danger won with 14. We'll see who can run it up this week. The Pinbabes will visit your Butterballers at Buttermilk Bar. Pinbabes are in the mix for the final spot in the playoffs, and they're visiting the same venue for the second week in a row. For us Butterballers, it would take a huge win and a lot of help to make the Orbit playoffs, but we could get a buy in the in-lane playoffs with a win. Scrapple Squad will go to Sunshine Laundromat to visit Everybody Loves the Sunshine. Scrapple Squad has lost two in a row as they face their Greenpoint rivals. Both teams are fighting for the right to play in a playoff division. Everybody Loves the Sunshine can move up to the Orbit playoff with a win and some help. Scrapple Squad can solidify their spot in the in-lane playoffs. The third ball will visit Barcade, Brooklyn, where if they travel like the Cubs, maybe they'll bring a crowd to rest in Pinball's home. RIP and Pinbabes had identical big losses last week. Third ball is hoping they can grab their first win in the final week of the season on the other side of the BQE. Pinnister Six will visit Rulo's where the replays will be their host. Tinnister Six lost last week, but they're still in position for a bye in the in-lane playoffs. They need a win and a lot of help to transcend to the Orbit playoffs. The replays are a win behind the bottom of the in-lane playoffs, but they've scored a lot of points for a one-win team. So if the two-win teams lose and they win, they'd likely get in. Schlubbs will go to At The Wallace to visit the Harlem Globe Flippers. This match will probably determine who will have a bye in the first week of the Orbit playoffs. And in particular, interesting because one of them last week was in the one position and the other was in the other position and they flipped in the last week. Harry's hand grenades will go to Milo's yard to visit Neptune's treasure. I believe both of those teams are pretty solidly just, you know, in their playoff slots. No quarters for laundry will visit ball drainers at Jack Bar. They're fighting for home bar advantage in the Orbit playoffs. Scrapple League's off on Wednesday this week. Also next week, I think, right? That's right. But Thursday night strikes at Jack Bar, 7.30 sharp, Thursday, April 30th. Also on Thursday, it will be the finals of South Slope Pinball League at Buttermilk Bar at Pinball 8 o'clock. On Friday, May 1st, May Day, it'll be a good day for workers and a good day for, you know, the people to be in a steel town. So go to Allentown, Pennsylvania, where you can play in the tournament that Greg was talking to us about in Ball 3 just last week. Wait a minute, that happens on Saturday too. It's a two-day tournament. And it's a two-day show. He wants you to enjoy the show. And if you were like, hey, how do I buy a pinball machine? I bet you fivers to donuts that if you think you know where the pinball machine goes in your apartment and you live in New York City and you're like, I want to buy one. I bet you fivers to donuts that you can go make a deal and you can find someone who lives here who will help you get it here and set it up here. Or if not, who lives here, who lives nearby, who's got some resources to help out. Allentown is a place to buy games. That's that's one thing I know. I know a lot of people who have bought games at Allentown and had good experiences doing it. And also on Saturday, National Herb Day at a private location in Brooklyn. You're ready to celebrate, Benjamin? Oh, it's Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass is what Eric is showing me. He's got a record covered here. I had Herb Alpert and Tijuana Brass on cassette, personally. You know, it's interesting, this Herb Day, because I found something on my trophy shelf. Well, OK, I found something that my cat knocked off my trophy shelf that I had put there, which was an envelope that said Herb 13th and an amount of money. And I was like, this was a trophy from something. I remember this was a trophy from something. But what would I ever have played in that was only a Herb event? That was only a right because Herb is only the best game part in theory of the of the like that's the qualifying bit, the Herb bit. And it makes sense now where I got this. It was probably roughly a year ago or roughly two years ago, roughly an exact number of years ago that I won that. It's all coming back together. Everything's coming up Milhouse. On Sunday at Single Cut Beersmith in Astoria, Queens, Tommy Ortega will host Silver Ball Sunday at Single Cut 37 at 3 p.m. It's in Astoria. It's not quite like playing that Ghostbusters game that JNS told us about in Ball 2 last week down the way in Astoria. It's a lot better, actually. It's a lot harder, but it's a lot better. As of April 22nd, 2026, there are 363 pinball machines in New York City at 74 public locations. Thanks to the creators and users of Pinball Map for this data, here are machine updates from the past week. I want to drop in a quick mention because I think I said that Pinball Map said there were 67 games in Ball 2, And then we heard Greg say that there were over 70 games at Scrapple Land or over 80 games in Ball 3 or something like that. And I'm positive that there are that many in the room. And maybe something changed about what was on Pinball, Matt, between the time we talked about it and the time that it started. But I imagine that the 70 was, you know, a very fair assessment of the collection, but also a rounding up. Maybe you'll tell me different. Maybe the updates tell us something different. When I was there on Saturday for the Spring Fling qualifying, the back row that you would be facing as you walked in the front door at the very far back had been slightly adjusted to take away the diagonal corner pin on the left side of the row and three more pins were put into that space and it was pushed back just a little bit. Well, also on Saturday, on the Pinball map, user RatQueenSteph tried out the Stern Kiss at the Hop Shop in Staten Island that we so recently heard didn't have a plunger. RatQueenSteph said, left flipper is fucked up. The plunger thing was unscrewed, so I had to try and pull the screw bit to get the ball going. And it was so quiet, like they put it at 5% volume or something. Overall, a piece of shit. Yeah, word rat queen stuff. I also appreciate the determination. Someone else was like, fuck this, it doesn't work, don't put your money into it. And this person was like, oh, hold my beer, I'm gonna make it work. On Saturday, Transmitter Brewing got a King Kong Pro, a Strikes and Spares 1977 Bally was added to the gutter Lower East Side by user IGM28, and then pretty quickly removed from the lineup by user PBM. User PBM commented, please stop adding this Bally machine to this location. It's not here, right? Not if you don't know the secret code to the back room. Not if you don't know how to get back where the pin setters roll at the gutter. On Sunday user Mini Flipper visited Sunshine Laundromat They let us know that the Big Lebowski has 75 of its playfield lights out and the captive ball does not register on Jaws On Monday, user R Kate commented about the Super Panic Ball on the pinball map at Arcade Fight Eye. They said, at Sick Hands, what purpose does it serve being on here? I don't think it's a common case for Pinball Map users to seek it out specifically, and it's kind of annoying for tournament directors to remember to remove before starting a tourney. And then user PBM commented, Sick Hands is right. It's technically a pinball machine. It's rare. And any annoyance you experience when using another service has very little to do with Pinball Map. We list what is there. Isn't that interesting that the user is PBM and that the pronoun is we? Isn't it also interesting that a few things happen to address accuracy or inaccuracy? And in fact, it's not here, right? Question mark. Is PBM Pinball Map? I do think PBM is Pinball Map. Yeah. Who is saying it's not here, right? Unless they walk into the room. I was thinking a Pinball Map developer who is in Oregon. Walked into the room. I don't think they went into the room. So why would they remove it and say it's not and ask the question, is it here? Yeah, I don't quite understand that. Also on Monday, a junkyard left Scrapple Land and a Stern Star Trek limited edition was added. On Tuesday, user WeHaveAWinna went to Bar Great Harry and tried Godzilla. They said Godzilla flipper still very weak. WeHaveAWinna. It's on maybe all of those roller coaster games. It should be on Funhaus. We Have a Winner is a great username. User Flipper Fiend played the James Bond 60th anniversary at Scrappleland and noted odd job spinner hat missing, though otherwise functional. Agreed. I also kind of liked it because I knew exactly where the post was. And the Metallica remastered was removed from the lineup at Sunshine Laundromat. On Wednesday, a WWF Royal Rumble was removed from the Coyote Club and a Stern X-Men Pro from 2012 was added. I absolutely despise WWF Royal Rumble, but there is still Sarah McLachlan music running through my head when I see that there will not be one on site in the city. Well, so look, it's only been a little bit since we talked. I played on Saturday. We talked on Friday. I played on Saturday. You also played on Saturday. You didn't just play on Saturday. You played on Saturday. You talked to Greg on the roof of Scrapple Land on Saturday while apparently some babies were bowling behind you. I'm not sure what exactly I was hearing in the background, but there was something that sounded very much like bowling or something. And small children who were delighted to have been involved with whatever it was. But it was also awesome and thank you for getting, you know, thank you and thank Greg, you know, I will thank him when next I see him in person, but also please thank him on my behalf the next Wednesday you see him because that was awesome. But you were there. How'd that go? Well, I will point out I also played last Friday. Oh, goodness. After we recorded, I went over to Jess's for our board game group. And after that finished up, Jess and I played a few games of Party Animal. Oh, right. Oh, and Fishtails 2, I think. It got to be very late. That's how it would be. Yeah. When you play pinball in a living room, that's how it'd be. I was fairly late on Saturday, planning on going to the Spring Fling qualifying. The G train was running in sections. And as I later found out, the 7 train had a track fire in the tunnel. And so it wasn't running between Queens and Manhattan. Oh, so it was lucky then I chose to take the ferry to Greenbelt. Requires a ferry transfer. Okay. To get there from Sunset Park. They're not on the same route, but pretty easy to do. It's a simple enough transfer and a very pleasant ride. It's just like you roll up to a dock and then you just make sure to not leave a turnstile and go to another place. Yeah, I just walked across. I just walked straight off one onto the other. Basically, they were facing each other and they were at the same time. So that was a very nice ride and it was a beautiful day. Yeah, Spring Fling was fun. We don't get herb tournaments. Not very often. And the big ones. Yeah, yeah. Well, and this one was more Harvest-like than NYC PC-like, right? I mean, this one was a day of doing it at a place that had enough games to do it. In this instance, you didn't need to double anything up. You know, the Harvest needed to double up the banks. Yeah, and then there wasn't a classics division or a women's division. There was just the Pokemon side tournament, which I decided not to participate in the side tournament. And as it turns out, I only got 24 of my 40 into the main anyway. Right, right. So where was the time going to come from to do it? Yeah. Well, look, I played on Saturday. I went to Buttermilk and it was an incredible rarity. My wife joined me. I yeah, like I usually on the weekend when I'm like, hey, I'm going to go across. I'm going to go walk through the park and play pinball. And I know that you don't actually want to play pinball when you get to the other side. But maybe you want to walk through the park with me or maybe like, you know, there's something else you want to do on the other side of the park and yada, yada, yada. And usually she's like, yeah, that's cool, but go ahead and go like walk a mile and like watch a ball roll around on a table if you want to, asshole. I'm going to do something more important than that. But she came with me this time and, you know, and 100 percent was just like, yes, I could use the walk and I will bring my book. And so she sat at the bar and had a couple of drinks and hung out with Allie. We ran into MMC and by we ran into MMC, I mean to say that he walked into the room and my wife comes to Buttermilk so rarely that despite the fact that I think, you know, he would generally recognize her in an open space, irrespective of me, that he walked in. And as I understand it, got a drink, was hanging out, was, you know, maybe not going to play pinball at all and saw me in the back and asked Ali, hey, is that Benjamin back there? And when my wife turned around and said yes, that he was like, what? All right. Hi. Like there was a jump scare moment. But yes, I never quite got my feet under me and I felt like I wasn't playing very well when I was there. I feel like I haven't been playing very well recently. That's how I felt on Saturday when I was there. What about RWI? Well, I was playing pretty darn well at RWI to get myself into the Final Four. Before MMC was there too, Jess had pointed out to me that because I wasn't at the Spring Fling finals, despite qualifying for the B division finals, I would be ranked 25th for the Spring Fling submission to the IFPA. Whereas if I had gone to B, I could have gotten that best 17th place. Right, you could have got 17th. And Jess surmised that my third place finish at RWI would be worth more Whoppers than as much as I gave up by dropping in the Spring Fling. I checked today. She was right. I got 1.16 Whoppers for third place in RWI and I lost 0.76 Whoppers for falling to 25th place in Spring Fling. Sounds like a net of 0.4 Whopper. The whole thing ran pretty efficiently and we were done well in time of karaoke starting at 830. By 830, most of the pinball people had left and no one had yet shown up for karaoke. Oh. So you could torture everyone. Exactly. Everyone being basically just Bart and someone sitting at a table. Right, right. But I did I did two karaoke songs. OK, one by Nana Grizzle. And then one I've mentioned before on the podcast during our bullet journals at Scrapple Land. I sang Dr. Worm by I might be Giants. Right. And then what happened on Monday when first I saw you? Did I walk in? You sang Dr. Worm by They Might Be Giants. I walked into Buttermilk the next night and it was in my head. When first I saw you on Monday night, you walked in and sang me a song about a worm. I greeted you. I said, happy Monday. You said nothing else to me until you had finished eight bars of whatever it was or 16 bars of whatever it was that you were singing. And I was like, all right, I don't know what's happening exactly here, but okay. You tolerated me. People tolerate me all the time. Everyone deserves it. But also, you know, I just didn't understand what was happening. That was all. Yeah. And then it was Colliders and NYC FSA night at Buttermilk. And what a great night. Yeah. Yeah, it was really fun. For the second Monday in a row, I didn't feel like I had my best pinball and I was frankly upset about my performance in the first two rounds. But, you know, I still I had fun. I there are a few things I know and they are that I had a lot of fun playing pinball at Buttermilk because you know what I was doing playing pinball at Buttermilk. Yes. It's a little bit of a blur. I remember, do you remember Matthew coming by from Rulo's? Yes, Lewandowski. Yeah, Matthew Lewandowski came by. He was waiting for his tacos from around the corner. They were playing at Rulo's from across the way. Our round two was just about wrapping up. I think I was playing Twilight Zone and Twilight Zone had gone long and the first one beat out both of the Attack from Mars's. And then I was playing in the second one, I think already by the time Matthew walked in and they were still in round one as our round two was ending because he told me Dante had got a billion points on his first ball of King Kong over at Rulo's. So player one, ball one, that's how they started. Have you had one thing we were checking out on Sunday at RWI is this Scorbit best game contest. Don't know nothing about that. They have in. OK, so. Scorbit now has a digital payment system where you put money in your Scorbit wallet and then you can start up games at Rulo's with the money from the wallet. Also, they're having a high score contest on King Kong. They seeded it with $500. And then each entry essentially, I think, cost the user $3. There's a dollar to start the machine, a dollar into the prize pool, and then I guess the other dollar to score it for the initial $500 or whatever. But it's it's five hundred and seventy dollars. I think I saw a notification maybe earlier today. OK. At the moment. But I think Dante is at the front of that leaderboard with a five bill maybe. Well, I like to say that there's not actually such a thing as a professional pinball player if you try to measure what a professional is against how they make their living. But if enough companies started doing something like that, there'd be more than the handful that there actually are. I mean, I went to Rulo's for just a minute to visit them as round four was starting. I saw Chris and I shook some hands and kissed some babies. And it did seem like at the time it seemed like it was a fait accompli for lion persons. But I think it was still like just at the end of round two that they were like waiting on the last game of round two to end. When our round four was about to start. After you left, I wound up hanging out at Buttermilk fairly late again with some of my teammates from NYC FSA. Alex Kelly got lost in the zone for the first time. Oh, cool. That was fun. Yeah. Yeah, that's a good one. And that's that takes that. That's one of those things that you have to stand there for a minute to do. Like, yeah, I was talking to women for a long time. And yeah, Alex was just playing Twilight Zone over there. And then and then he goes, oh, my gosh. Yeah. You have to hit a lot of inlanes and then scoops. That is how you start the modes to to get there. You have to hit the in lane and then to light it and then the scoop. And, you know, it could be the lower scoop or the upper scoop. And I think the inline is the thing that lights it on the other side. I could be wrong. Well, on Tuesday, Butterballers went up to my Monday home bar at the Wallace to face Harlem Globes flippers. It was my flip flop week. Yeah. Did you wear flip flops? I didn't, but I did have a slightly coordinated outfit when I decided to wear this mermaid T-shirt that was a gift from Adam Robinson. Oh, cool. And I was like, well, of course, then I'll put on my mermaid necklace. Oh, cool. And then topped it with my new New York Sirens hoodie. Uh-huh. Are the sirens mermaid themed somehow also or just nautical broads? I think of sirens as broads on islands. I think you can interpret sirens how you like. You can be a mermaid or maybe it's, you know, the wee-oo-wee-oo chant that the crowds do. Okay, fair enough. Okay it a short week but we got a few Electra units and I think that there a speaking of at the Wallace last night that you might have to express right here in ball three It might not have fit quite exactly in balls one or two What do you got Well, a thing happened last night at the Wallace, and I have an inkling that it's the sort of thing that's going to start happening more often because of the release of Pokemon. Because there's a popular license that people who aren't pinball people want to play. That's, I think, what you're saying because of the release of Pokemon. That's what I believe we're going to say here. Indeed. During the second round of our match last night, Globe Flippers called a double on Pokemon. And a few casuals had started playing it. I like to call them civilians if that's okay. Sure. That's a great, that's much better in fact. Because that's kind of how I want to frame this. Right. Framing them as civilians. In fact, tenures to them civil rights, right? They're civilians. They have civil rights. There were three young people and playing Pokemon, single player games, rotating. And the two who weren't playing were leaning over the glass and very, you know, very much enjoying seeing it all happening. Right. And I feel like with all the all the necessary tact, a member of the Globe Flippers asked, oh, hey, could we play next? We'd like to play the Pokemon. That's we're having a league and we're going to be our next games. And they were very offended at being asked to move. They're like, play another one. We want to play this one. Right. And, you know, we tried a couple of times, I think, to be nicely, but they reacted very strongly. Uh-huh. Started shouting. Oh, my. Or maybe not shouting, but raised voices. Yeah. We, you know, offered them like, hey, here's a dollar if you'd like to play this other game that we're not going to use this round. We'll pay for your games. Right, right. And for them, yeah, yeah, that's always my tack. I actually start with that when I ask someone. Yeah, yeah, definitely. And I mean, look, I also recognize this as a mark of privilege for myself. I don't care about that dollar. Some people might care a lot more about that dollar than I do. But it's easy for me to walk up to someone and say, without recognizing my privilege, excuse me, can I buy you a game or you and your three friends a game? On whether you want to stand here and wait for me to play this because we're doing a thing and it's organized and this is the next thing we're supposed to do. Or whatever, like, you know, go play another game, whatever you want. I will buy your next game, wait for you to finish your previous and buy you your next game before you put money in. Please and thank you. Can I treat you to your next game? Usually people are amenable. But it's interesting that there will be exactly this kind of side effect when we have a license that will expand the tent. There might be growing pains as the tent expands too, right? Right. Yeah. They they did after a little bit move to another machine with vocal protest. And yeah, I just I want to consider that this is going to be a more common scenario, I think, in the near future. And how best can we interact with the civilian excited by the new license and not put them off? Right. But also, I mean, there's arcade etiquette. You put your quarter on the glass, you're next. You take turns. Yeah, that's right. And that's how, yeah. That's right. So there's also got to be a learning curve. I'm also not just putting, yeah, but also if you're an arcade, I mean, you're right, you're right, there would be a learning curve, and I don't know who these folks are or if they have any kind of arcade experience, although Pokemon seems like the sort of thing that would have a lot of crossover in the arcade world because a lot of Pokemon happened in, I think, many more than one video game. I think many more. I know the card game was maybe the very first thing and there were cartoons and whatnot, but I think there have been a lot of these video games. So yeah, I think there should be a little bit of that understanding, but also a learning curve. But yeah, let's make that a gentle curve. I was chatting with Adam Robinson about it. And he related to me a story of his first interaction with Pinball League in New York. New York City. Now, I know Adam was playing pinball before he moved to New York. Yeah. He described having recently moved to New York City and going to play pinball at Treadwell Park when a league night came in and asked him to move so they could use one of the pins. And he didn't take it well. And in fact, out of out of spite camped on it. Right. So it's yeah, maybe it's a just a natural reaction. Let's also recognize here that Adam Robinson is a very reasonable and intelligent person. That's like when when you say like he didn't take it well. I I don't I also don't know how he was approached versus how these people were approached. I presume because I know a lot of people who are in the room when about the story from last night. I presume that compassion was at the front of all of these interactions, at least in the first approaches. And, you know, that I don't know how Adam was approached. I know that a team that was a predecessor of the lesser players played at Treadwell Park on Monday nights. And I would never have expected them to have been awkward socially about that. I've never played on Tuesday nights and there was a Tuesday night team there for a while. I don't know how those folks were. I also think that place, man, if you have any personal space issues, there were two table tennis tables behind you. And there might be people crawling under your pinball machine trying to grab a pinball or a table tennis ball when you're trying to play pinball there. It was chaos. And I can also see just already being in a place of shields up when someone comes to you in that situation and being like, grrr. And I don't, you know, I don't at the Wallace. Man, if you also told me that there were people who were playing Jenga there five minutes before that, then I would say, yeah, I understand where those people felt like the world was closing in on them and they needed to protect their space. But I mean, I, you know, league nights at at the Wallace, the pinball teams pretty much take up all of the the upper space. Right, of course, where the pinball is. And it's a small amount of space, a lot of pins there. Civilians will mostly avoid it. Yeah. But Pokemon, such a license, it still draw people in, even with this intimidating crowd. Yeah, I see that. I see that. And I have a slight side story, which is almost the opposite reaction from someone who was also very hostile to what I thought were compassionate approaches. There was a night that we colliders were visiting, this has been several seasons ago. We were visiting Barcade, Brooklyn. We were visiting the Deluxe Horses. And we were there on a Monday night. It was very shortly after Whitewater had been put in. And it might have been like we were visiting the first Monday night after it was put in and I was like, well, this is one of my best games like on the roster of every game that I can play. This is one of the ones that I'm best at. So like I want to go play it in particular if they're not yet familiar with how this one plays and see if I can just wail on it. And if so, I know something about an advantage that I have this night. And I showed up and there was a dude who was sitting on it and, you know, he played a game and I walked away and played another game. And I imagine he played two or three games and I went by and probably went back and got another beer. And, you know, I really loosely sweated him and tried to give him some time. Really loosely, not like was never up in his business. And then at a certain point I was like, nope, it's like getting on seven o'clock here. I want to I want to touch this game before the match because there's no reason it wouldn't be in to call. I want to touch it. I want to know how to play it. And when he I waited for and I should give this person the grace of them. I don't know their pronouns. They presented as masculine in my mind, but Forgive me. And when they finished a game after several games in a row that they had played, I walked up and said, excuse me, could I join you in your next game? I would I'd be happy to pay for both of us. But And there was a very hostile reaction. To that. And in particular, when I said, look, I'm not trying to take you off. I just I'm about to play this potentially in a league match later tonight. And I would love to play it once to know how it plays between now and then. They were just like, look, you have league later and then I won't be able to play. But now I can play it. And so let me play it. They were aggro enough that I was like, look, I'm not going to fight with you. So go ahead. I like I thought I was just asking to join you in playing a game, which I guess is offensive. I'm going to go somewhere else. And I went away. And later, probably 20 minutes later, Jess Warren, Collider's captain, walked in and had almost the same experience, you know, sweated a little and then came back and asked, can I join you? And instead and they just threw up their hands and walked away at that point instead of instead of even engaging on the question seemingly. And then I got to come join Jess and play a game. But also, like, you know, I guess I guess that kind of was a story that worked out where I win. But also I felt bad for the person, but but also weird about I've got a reverse side of this. And I wouldn't have known Zen Zokniak at the time, but I know for a fact that this was Zen Zokniak that I interacted with. I was playing, there was a bar right up Washington Avenue from where I live called 706. There were Monday and Tuesday night teams there for a minute. Woody was on many of them. Some members of Special When Lit were on one of them, I think. I was there on a Monday night playing just as a civilian and a visiting team that I now know was Zen's visiting team, which would have been coming from the arcade on the Lower East Side at the time, Two Bits Retro Arcade at the time. But I was there playing and this team was here visiting. And I was just like, hey, I understand you guys are here for League and I don't want to be in the way. And when the League starts, I will get out of the way. But also, I would like to continue playing. And if you guys want to join me in these games, there are only two games here. You're going to play both of them tonight. You know, or I didn't know what the rules were at the time. I wasn't playing in the league yet. I was an entire civilian. But like I remember that happening and also being like, OK, I want to be respectful. I don't want to be the dude who's totally fucking up everyone's night. But I also, you know, it's six o'clock. I want to play pinball. Their thing starts at eight. I'll get out of the way if there are eight people standing around waiting to play pinball. But there are six of them right now, and I can play with three of them, and someone else can play with the other two, you know. And they were cool about it. I remember Zen, like, saying to his team, this guy is, what's your name? Great. Benjamin's going to join us for the, you know, for a little bit, and here's what he just told me about the way that Totan is playing. Because I'm sure I gave him a game note or two. Be friendly. But I also, you know, I don't know. Personal space is so interesting, particularly in New York. And that seems to me like what is at base here, at the base issue here is, you know, I want to do this, but I want to do this other thing. So how do we, we're at an impasse. We both want to do a thing and we can't both be doing it at the same time. How do we solve it? This is one of the great problems and also one of the great opportunities of living in a giant city. Well, Scrapple League keeps growing and Pokemon is obviously drawing a lot of attention. And so I just want to make sure we keep in mind that Pinball is for everyone. That's all for this week's pod. Hit us up on your email machine at nycpinpod at gmail.com or you can leave us a voice message at speakpipe.com slash nycpinpod. Join us next week when we'll probably have a pretty big ball one since I think we're going to cover two weeks worth of Wednesday through Sunday in addition to the final week of the regular season for Pinball NYC. In Ball 2, we'll do the usual things. And again, it might be just a little bit bigger because there's a couple more days we're going to talk about. And I think and hope in Ball 3 that we're going to talk about what your summer team league opportunities look like and maybe hopefully have a few words from some of the organizers of those leagues. Whatever you're up to between now and then, go get them, pin folk. 12 players came out. Whoa. Excuse me. That had too much ham and bean stew.

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v5)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-06-06 | Item ID: 3d05a5dd-f23a-4aca-8b63-f8dca78749da*