# Episode 316 - BCF goes to Rochester **Source:** NYC PinPod **Type:** podcast_episode **Published:** 2024-12-18 **Duration:** 27m 27s **Beat:** Pinball **URL:** https://www.spreaker.com/episode/episode-316-bcf-goes-to-rochester--63364408 --- ## Analysis NYC Pinpod host Benjamin documents his first visit to Rochester Pinball Collective for the Fall Royal Rumble tournament in December 2024, capturing audio dispatches throughout the weekend. He describes the 5.5-hour drive from Brooklyn, the venue's excellent setup and collection, his participation in both Herb (best game) and Max Match Play tournament formats, and his 13th-place finish out of approximately 50 players. Two NYC players (Dante Oliva and Alex Jim Kelly) advanced to the top eight finals. ### Key Claims - [HIGH] Rochester Pinball Collective is located in an old piano factory called Piano Works in East Rochester, NY, approximately 10 minutes from downtown Rochester. — _Benjamin directly visited and described the venue location and real estate development._ - [HIGH] The Fall Royal Rumble featured 10 tournament machines in two banks of five, with 6 games counting toward Herb qualifying scores. — _Benjamin participated in and documented the tournament structure and scoring format._ - [HIGH] Bruce (tournament director) chose not to compete in the tournament despite being tournament director, citing a principle about directing and playing simultaneously. — _Benjamin's conversation with Bruce and direct observation of his role._ - [HIGH] The Strong Museum of Play downtown Rochester recently accepted and displayed portions of Steve Epstein's collection from the former Broadway arcade. — _Benjamin visited the museum and reported on the Steve Epstein collection display._ - [HIGH] Approximately half of the tournament participants were from New York City, with NYC players Dante Oliva and Alex Jim Kelly reaching the top eight finals. — _Benjamin observed NYC player concentration and final tournament results._ ### Notable Quotes > "I got the impression I think I'm 10 minutes from downtown Rochester... It's an amazing arcade. I don't really know what to say about it other than just it's an amazing pinball arcade. If you find yourself anywhere near Rochester with a little bit of time to spend, my god, go here." > — **Benjamin (NYC Pinpod host)**, ~14:00-16:00 > _Strong endorsement of Rochester Pinball Collective as a destination venue._ > "Bruce has forgotten more about how pinball tournaments should run than I will ever know. And I think it's very clear that he brought his experience to bear here." > — **Benjamin**, ~18:00 > _Recognition of Bruce's tournament operation expertise and venue setup quality._ > "I felt a little bit overwhelmed by the availability of the games, if I'm perfectly honest. I could have probably blown through $50 worth of entries." > — **Benjamin**, ~15:30 > _Observation about the depth and quality of RPC's pinball collection._ > "It's been a hell of a fun day... But unfortunately, Eric Russell handed my ass to me in the finals. He played great and I did not." > — **Benjamin**, ~55:00 > _Benjamin's competitive experience and reflection on his performance against strong player._ > "I landed in 13th on the weekend out of 50 some players and played a very poor second round, but I did get through one round of the playoffs." > — **Benjamin**, ~80:00 > _Final tournament result and self-assessment of competitive performance._ ### Entities | Name | Type | Context | |------|------|---------| | Benjamin | person | NYC Pinpod host who traveled to Rochester to document the Fall Royal Rumble tournament; finished 13th out of ~50 players in Herb format. | | Rochester Pinball Collective | organization | Pinball arcade venue located in an old piano factory (Piano Works) in East Rochester, NY; hosted the Fall Royal Rumble tournament in December 2024. | | Zach Sharpe Fry | person | Stern Pinball marketing representative and competitive player who participated in Fall Royal Rumble; competed against Benjamin in tournament finals. | | Bruce | person | Tournament director at Rochester Pinball Collective with extensive tournament experience; chose not to compete in the event he directed. | | Eric Russell | person | Competitive pinball player who defeated Benjamin decisively in Max Match Play finals and was competing in the Herb format. | | Mark Giorgio | person | Co-owner of Rochester Pinball Collective; competed against Benjamin in Herb finals group. | | Dante Oliva | person | NYC pinball player who advanced to top eight finals at Fall Royal Rumble. | | Alex Jim Kelly | person | NYC pinball player who advanced to top eight finals at Fall Royal Rumble. | | Strong Museum of Play | organization | Museum in downtown Rochester that recently accepted and displayed portions of Steve Epstein's collection from the former Broadway arcade. | | Steve Epstein | person | Former owner of Broadway arcade whose pinball collection was recently acquired by Strong Museum of Play for display. | | Fall Royal Rumble | event | Pinball tournament hosted by Rochester Pinball Collective in December 2024 featuring Herb and Max Match Play formats. | | Chris Nociglia | person | Competitive player who competed against Benjamin in Herb finals. | | Sanjay Shah | person | Competitive player who competed against Benjamin in Herb finals. | | Thomas Milburn | person | NYC pinball player whom Benjamin narrowly passed in Herb qualifying standings on Spanish Eyes. | | Eric | person | Co-host of NYC Pinpod who approved Benjamin's decision to release a solo dispatch episode instead of regular group episode. | | Madeline | person | Co-host of NYC Pinpod who approved Benjamin's decision to release a solo dispatch episode. | | Piano Works | organization | Real estate development/building in East Rochester that houses Rochester Pinball Collective arcade; described as eclectic strip mall with cool neighbors. | | Caitlin | person | Competitive player whom Benjamin defeated in Max Match Play. | ### Topics - **Primary:** Tournament venue quality and organization, Herb and Max Match Play tournament formats, Rochester Pinball Collective arcade collection, Competitive pinball player performance and matchups - **Secondary:** NYC to Rochester travel logistics, Historic pinball collection preservation (Steve Epstein collection), NYC player participation in regional tournaments, Tournament operation and management best practices ### Sentiment **Positive** (0.85) — Benjamin expresses enthusiasm and admiration for the venue, tournament organization, and overall experience. Positive about player interactions and the event structure despite competitive disappointment in finals (13th place finish). Only minor frustrations expressed about travel logistics and competitive performance, which are presented with good humor. ### Signals - **[business_signal]** Strong Museum of Play actively acquiring and displaying significant private pinball collections (Steve Epstein/Broadway Arcade collection) indicating institutional interest in pinball history preservation. (confidence: medium) — Benjamin's museum visit report of recently accepted Epstein collection with items already on display. - **[community_signal]** Rochester Pinball Collective establishing itself as a well-organized tournament venue with professional operation standards comparable to major regional events. (confidence: high) — Benjamin's detailed observations of tournament setup, stool assignments, game banking, queue management, and Bruce's experienced tournament direction. - **[competitive_signal]** Zach Sharpe Fry actively competing in regional tournaments outside of Stern marketing activities and maintaining tournament presence. (confidence: high) — Benjamin's documented interactions with Sharpe in tournament play, including facing him in Herb finals group. - **[event_signal]** Fall Royal Rumble at Rochester Pinball Collective confirmed as significant regional tournament attracting ~50 players with strong NYC participation. (confidence: high) — Benjamin's documented participation and observation of approximately half the field being NYC players with two advancing to top eight. - **[venue_signal]** Rochester Pinball Collective successfully drawing players from NYC and Capital Area for multi-day tournament events, indicating geographic reach and player willingness to travel. (confidence: high) — Benjamin's observation that approximately half of tournament participants were from NYC, with separate NYC and Capital Area player contingents maintaining informal seating areas. - **[venue_signal]** Rochester Pinball Collective arcade demonstrates high-quality collection including wood rails, electromechanicals, and modern games in an aesthetically pleasing historic location. (confidence: high) — Benjamin's enumeration of specific machines (Surfside, Toreador, Bazaar, Papa Duke) and expressed amazement at collection depth and availability. --- ## Transcript Happy Sunday pin wait a minute happy month wait a minute probably happy Tuesday pin folk we'll see when I actually get done editing this this is NYC pin pod in which just for this one episode just a dude is gonna talk about the Royal Rumble at the Rochester pinball collective I'm gonna talk in this episode about my experience when I went to Rochester. It was because of my travel schedule that we could not record a regular episode this week. And so I am going to present what you will now hear in lieu of that. Eric and Madeline and I all talked about this in our text thread. they blessed the idea that I would release an episode. I happen to be doing something super cool and pinball related. So I, knowing that we weren't going to release an episode, captured some audio while I was there in both my hotel room and at the venue. And I am going to try to edit something together that describes my experience there with all of the bits that I got. So here goes nothing. Let's talk about the fall Royal Rumble at the Rochester Pinball Club. This is Monday night, Benjamin, talking to you after I've got home. I just want to point out that I say Rochester Pinball Club several times that I should be saying Rochester Pinball Collective. The good news is I'm not an actual journalist. The bad news is I don't want to be the guy out there who's just asking questions. Back to Thursday night, Benjamin. We had Zach Fry on to talk about this event in advance of it a couple of weeks ago. And I had just at the time figured out that I had a couple of vacation days that I had to use before the end of the calendar year, that the holidays weren't going to eat up. And so I was able to make a plan and get to the Rochester Pinball Club for the first time. I want to outline how the whole weekend went here. I am, full disclosure, recording this from my hotel room in East Rochester, which is the Rochester Pinball Club is in East Rochester, New York. I don't get the impression. I think I'm 10 minutes from downtown Rochester. I rented a car. I drove up yesterday on Thursday, December 12th. I left Brooklyn at about 10 a.m., maybe a little bit after. My day started, as so often happens when you're leaving New York City, by the benchmark of when I was supposed to arrive on my calendar app, Monday Night Benjamin here, GPS app being pushed back and pushed back and pushed back as complications ensued vis-a-vis city traffic. And I had the unfortunate experience of having a love tap hit and run on Canal Street at 10.30 a.m. or 11 a.m. by the time I'm crossing Canal Street on my way to the Holland Tunnel. One of those Isuzu trucks that have almost no hood out front, they have the engine under the driver, was trying to pull out of a parking space without realizing that I was next to him somehow. And he just gave me a little love tap. And then I pulled over, unfortunately, double parking in a lane of traffic and started to open my door. And the dude spun out around me and turned down the next street. I, of course, took a picture of his truck, but when I was able to survey the damage, there wasn't any, and I paid for the lost damage waiver on the rental car. So it was five and a half hours of wheels spinning on the road to get up here, if you haven't been or haven't driven or wanted to know what driving is like. But what struck me about the trip in the car, other than the love tap on Canal Street and the hit and run asshole, which truly struck me, if you get my drift, the better part of the last two hours on the road were spent on these little state highways. Two-lane, one of them might have been a U.S. highway, but two-lane roads that, you know, mostly go through farmlands and areas like that, you know, large swaths of land that are not densely populated. and that was a little bit bothersome to me although it made it seemingly quicker according to the mapping program but i realized this was this is my own damn fault that when i got on what i'm going to call these back roads off the interstate and onto these you know new york 11 or us 52 or whatever exactly all the letters and numbers are there weren't gas stations anymore And, you know, as an urban person, I just assume that all of my needs are going to be served, you know, within five minutes of where I am. And so worth considering Monday Night Benjamin here just pointing out that I was on all interstates on the way back. And you can do it that way. It said it was going to be longer on my mapping program Thursday, Benjamin. That was the better part of the last two hours of my drive. It was probably an hour and 20 minutes of the last two hours or something like that. And so that was a little bit unnerving just because I stupidly allowed myself to get there and had not filled my tank of gas yet in my rental Kia Soul. And I was watching the numbers. When I noticed it flip from under 100 miles left I was like oh well you know I better find a gas station soon But it just be whenever I whenever this map gets me back on the interstate It was an unnerving 45 minutes pinfolk I had about two more miles of gas left than the mapping program was indicating it was going to take me to get to my hotel. So that was a little bit unnerving. You know, I figured that there would be some signs of life before I got to the hotel anyway. But it was also a little unnerving. And also just I don't love those two lane highways. and on the way back if there's any kind of Carl Weathers that makes me frightened about the drive I will almost certainly take more time and just stay on the interstates the best news was after all of the travails of my travels if you will I pulled in to Rochester and pulled into the driveway of my hotel at just about exactly the moment that it was getting dark I used the daylight on Thursday the way that I wanted to use the daylight on Thursday. Monday night, Benjamin here again. I only included all of that verbal masturbation that is the last seven minutes because this podcast is about New York City pinball players. And so you need to know what it takes to get to Rochester if you want to drive there. There are flying options. There is a train option, although the finals would have been very difficult unless I was also taking Monday off. if I were using the train. Now, here's Benjamin after qualifying on Thursday night. As soon as I sort of got all my stuff unpacked and nested in my hotel room, I headed to the Rochester Pinball Club. I think I was the first guest who is not a member of Rochester Pinball Club there. Zach Fry had been putting in entries because it started at 5 o'clock I got there probably 5.30, 6 o'clock and he had been putting in some entries I think Bruce had been putting in some entries Monday Night Benjamin here Bruce had not been putting in any entries he and I discussed it he does not like to play in tournaments that he directs I super respect him for it it feels to me like the effort should allow you to play but I appreciate the dedication I had basically free reign of the tournament machines outside of the few members who were around for a couple hours. I did not go to town. I didn't go crazy on on herb entries, although that's probably what I should have done. I probably should have just like stood in front of each one and pounded money into it, pounded entries into it until I was satisfied with the score and then moved to the next one. I felt a little bit overwhelmed by the availability of the games, if I'm perfectly honest. I could have probably blown through $50 worth of entries. I got to tell you, the place is amazing. It was a little bit difficult for me to figure out how to get in. I will say that. It's in this place. It's called the Piano Works, as you heard Zach say right here on NYC Pinpot a few weeks ago. They're in an old piano factory. It's an interesting space, and they have a lot of cool neighbors. It is a strip mall, as Zach described it, but I don't think that exactly does it justice. It's a really cool and eclectic spot, the greater real estate development that they're a part of. I get there, and it's an amazing arcade. I don't really know what to say about it other than just it's an amazing pinball arcade. If you find yourself anywhere near Rochester with a little bit of time to spend, my god, go here. They had the place set up really nicely for the Herb bit of it. They said all the games that were going to be in the Herb tournament in two banks of five, effectively, one on each side, there are 10 games, with a center aisle that is taped off for, you know, do not stand. or if you're back here, you must be in this X'd off area. They had a couple of tables to sort of control access into the herb playing area. And they had stools set up outside that area that had tape on them, marking them off as this is, if you're next in queue on game X, this is your stool. Sit here. I thought it was really well laid out for this particular purpose. I think they have a really strong look. Bruce has forgotten more about how pinball tournaments should run than I will ever know. And I think it's very clear that he brought his experience to bear here. That's actually almost exactly what I said to him in Buffalo. He was not a tournament director there. He was a tech. he i i frankly i hoped that he would be able to compete but i don't think that he spent very much time competing in buffalo at the beast but i think when i at the end of the weekend when i thanked him i i think i just said thank you for bringing your experience to bear on all of this like you all of his experience was really valuable even though he wasn't a tournament director he knew when to tell the tournament director what to tell them and how to tell them and everything to do he was an incredibly valuable member of that team, whether or not he was supposed to have been a member of that team. Here, he's definitely supposed to be a member of the team. And it's clear the way this is laid out that some people who have played a lot of big tournaments have thought about how to lay this out. The collection is amazing. I played at least four games yesterday, not in the tournament bank. that I had never played. I took photos of scores on Gottlieb's Surfside, Toreador, which is a wood rail that has just an amazing setup. I'm sure I'll talk about that sometime. I played Bazaar, B-A-Z-A-A-R, not B-I-Z-A-R-R-E. I thought I played it pretty well. That was pretty exciting That was an old electromechanical And I played another wood rail and I forgotten what it was but I walked up to it and I was immediately struck by the cigarette holders that were still on the wood rails I loved that That was a great little detail. I know I'm going to have a lot of fun this weekend. I did have a lot of fun qualifying last night. I know I'm going to have a lot of fun because of this collection. And I'm also going to, I believe today I'm recording this on Friday. I believe I am going to today go to the Strong Museum where they've recently accepted bits of Steve Epstein's collection, some of which are apparently already on display. If you don't know that name right off the top of had Steve Epstein, had the Broadway arcade. So I'm excited to go there. I'm excited to play in these two simultaneous formats. I'm going to try to get as much Herb in as I can. I'll let you know what else happens throughout the weekend. You should reach your destination by 3.57 p.m. That was my GPS telling me how long it would take me if I started right now from this parking garage after I visited the Strong Museum of Play downtown while I'm here for the Fall Royal Rumble 2024. Not only was there something super cool there in that there was a big pinball room at the end of the, or pretty close to the end of the sort of path of the museum, but also I went into a butterfly garden and I found out that I splashed a little bit of tomato sauce on my lapel and my vest at lunch because there were some butterflies that were really excited about me. It was super cool. I didn't get to see any of the Steve Epstein stuff, but now I'm off to the venue to go pump and dump for a couple hours. It's about 10 o'clock and I snuck back into the corner at the Rochester Pinball Collective to report how my day has gone. I showed up right when they opened at four o'clock and took advantage of the short cues and very slowly built upon my herb scores. I did some good work in later rounds in the max match play, including beating fellow Collider, Caitlin, in my next-to-last game, and rolling two games, Little Chief and Embryon, while I played them. That was pretty fun. The Classics Match Max play is over. It's about half New York City people here, which is pretty cool. And I imagine that the next dispatch you'll hear from me will be in the quiet of my hotel. But I am enjoying the hell out of this place, and I am enjoying the hell out of this tournament. I am surprisingly finding myself, even though I got up at 5 a.m. with the energy to stay until 11 o'clock and certain that I will be back at 10 o'clock tomorrow or 9 o'clock tomorrow, I think they'll let me. So, look, I'll tell you what happens as I go. But boy, oh boy, pin folk, this is a fun time. Happy Saturday, pin folk. It's about 845 a.m. I'm going to leave for RPC from my hotel very soon, but I wanted to check in. Here's what I've done so far today and where I stand. I left last night somewhere around the top 16, but it looks like the top 24. That's in the herb, but it looks like the top 24 is the cut line. In max match play, I was just above the line so far. There will be two more sessions today in that, I believe. and then some finals will start this evening, I believe. But in the Herb, I sat down and looked at my scores, figured out what I needed to work on, and I focused on Surf and Safari and Rush because these are two that I think I can improve on. I don't think I really got a hold of, but that are on my card right now. And I feel like they are... Rush is one that I don't actually know that well, but it's one I think I can get a hold of because it made sense to me. It seemed like it was playing well. And Surf and Safari is one I don't think a lot of people know, but I also think there's a really tight pack right around where my score is. And so if I can just improve on my score by a little bit, there's a lot of impact there. I can get a lot more points in the Herb. So those are the things I'm going to focus on in this first hour of the Herb qualifying, which happens before max match play starts again at 9 a.m. No, at 10 a.m. today. But it's 845, pinfolk. I got to get going. I got to get to RPC so I can get these entries in. I got an hour of hopefully somewhat short queues while people are sleeping in. All right. More dispatches later, hopefully from RPC itself. A brief interlude about the two formats. I talk about the herb and I talk about the max match play. Herb is also called the best game. There's a bank of games. Some percentage of them count on your scorecard at the end. Whoever has the highest score on it gets 100 points. Whoever has the next highest score in this instance, I think got 97 and then 93 and then 92, 91, 90 linear down. In this instance, there were 10 games and six of them counted on your scorecard. that's what i mean when i say herb and when i say max match play head to head but you don't wait for everybody to finish round one before you start you go play your game and you submit the score and when enough people have re-entered the pool of i'm waiting for a game you get reassigned a game against someone who is also not assigned a game. Happy Saturday again, pinfolk. This is my first dispatch with just one hour left in the Herb finals from the venue. It's been a hell of a fun day. I played great in the max match play. I'm I'm sure I'll have more to say about it in the aftermath, but unfortunately got my ass handed to me in the finals by Eric Russell He played great and I did not I also misunderstood some things about how the games could be picked had to be picked etc But that was my own fault And I working on my herb entries with this one hour left. I'm above the line at the moment, But we'll see if it's actually going to stay that way or not. There's still, you know, planning of work to be done in this hour. All right. I snuck back into the corner of the Rochester Pinball Collective, where the New York City and the Capital Area contingents have had their chairs set up throughout the course of the week. qualifying is just wrapping up in the herb at the moment i uh did through some last minute heroics on uh spanish eyes uh just past thomas milburn of new york city uh to in the qualifying and will be i think 14th but uh there's still a few games being completed at the moment and we'll probably hear Bruce making an announcement in a moment if there are any tiebreakers. And if there aren't any tiebreakers, we might hear Bruce telling us all to get the fuck out of here as soon as possible so everybody can go home and sleep and we can come back here in the morning and do it all over again. Finals tomorrow. Happy Saturday, Pinfolk. Happy Sunday, Pinfolk. This is the first dispatch from the Herb finals. I'm going to play my best. We're going to play some pinball. What can be so bad? And hopefully, I'll be rapping at you after my first three games and a victory. But between now and then, I will be doing my thing, and I'll check you in a minute. All right. Happy Sunday again. I just played my first game in the finals. I got second place on, like, 2000. Mark Giorgio, I'm trying to say his name right, but I probably got it wrong, who's one of the co-owners here, is in my group. Zach Fry, who's one of the co-owners here, is in my group. Chris Nociglia is in my group. And I beat Chris and Zach, but not Mark in the first round. We'll see what happens in round two when we're going on to Judge Dredd. It is just after the second game in round one for me. We played Judge Dredd as our mid-game, and I got fourth place, unfortunately, after a shitty drain. But I am sitting with two points and facing someone with three and someone with five and someone else with two. And so I pretty much need a win or at least to be one in front of the three-pointer, which is Zach Fry. So hopefully that's what will happen on Lethal Weapon 3, our third game. I just got through the first round of the finals by the skin of my teeth, having bested Zach Fry on Lethal Weapon to get through. Mark Jajurio and I will, I believe, go through to face Sanjay Shah in his group, and I've forgotten who the other person is. but oh eric russell actually i think who has who beat me handily in max match play yesterday and who also i was kind of hoping to make some ground on for the state championships this year but i don't think it's going to happen at this tournament uh because he's been kicking my ass so i'm going to play sanjay and mark and eric russell we're going to be the dirty old man group in the finals and we'll let the young guns fight it out somewhere else all right i'll let you know how it goes in the round of 16 i was a little bit too focused on the play to remember to record in between the rounds but i had i recorded one last thing in rochester happy sunday just one last time before i pull out of the parking lot of the piano works in rochester which houses the rochester pinball collective. I landed in 13th on the weekend out of 50 some players and played a very poor second round, but I did get through one round of the playoffs. I got my way through. As I am leaving, two New York City players, Dante Oliva and Alex Kelly, are still in the top eight. but I and the other New York City players who were in the top 16 have been eliminated so those two are left I'm going to start my drive so I can do most of it with some daylight in front of me and hopefully I'm somewhere that there's some lighted highways and stuff by the time it turns dark so I'm leaving at about 1 30 this has been a great experience I thanked everyone up here whom I knew to thank including just other participants but this was a really fun time. I say this as I am still sitting in the parking lot and about to pull out. If you've got a chance to come up to the Rochester Pinball Collective sometime to play a tournament, give it a shot. This has been a lot of fun. Thank you so much for your grace if you made it this far in the episode and you're probably a saint. Thank you to my co-panelists, HIP and MXL. I appreciate you giving me the leeway to take this platform and do this for this week. I hope that you found some kind of value in it. I appreciate your listening. You can always reach out to us at nycpinpod at gmail.com. You can connect with us on Facebook at facebook.com slash nycpinpod. And of course, you can check out the blog at nycpinpod.wordpress.com. You can check out Eric's blog at no one wants to talk about CompetitivePinball.com. We'll see you next week sometime. I think it's going to be a regular Sunday night release. The three of us will be back. We'll run down Pinball NYC's final week, and we'll run down what it looks like for the state championships. The standings will be mostly complete at this point. There will only be a few events remaining. Between now and then, whatever you're up to, pitiful. Go get them. _(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_ --- *Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 567da284-3609-4f10-b1f5-e920bec8adc7*