# Episode 330: Jim Belsito – INDISC 2022

**Source:** Pinball Profile  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2022-01-17  
**Duration:** 27m 0s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.pinballprofile.com/episode-330-jim-belsito-indisc-2022/

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## Analysis

Jeff Teolis interviews Jim Belsito, organizer of INDISC 2022, discussing the tournament's relocation from the Museum of Pinball to Riverside Convention Center in California. They cover logistical challenges, the expanded tournament structure (8 events over 4 days), game selection including new Stern LE titles, sponsorships, and community features like the Discord channel for trivia and announcements.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] INDISC is relocating from Museum of Pinball to Riverside Convention Center due to museum closure — _Jim states Museum of Pinball 'is now gone' and Riverside Convention Center 'came up' as solution after extensive venue searching_
- [HIGH] Jim Belsito is bringing 60-65 games to INDISC 2022, mostly from his personal collection — _Jim: 'Me and a few other people. Jake Collins has got some...But yeah, majority of mine.'_
- [HIGH] The main Open Championship will feature 18 games, possibly 19 — _Jim: 'Same as two years ago, 18. Wow. Possibly 19, but probably 18.'_
- [HIGH] Women's and high-stakes tournaments are now on separate game banks (8 games each) rather than sharing machines — _Jim: 'The high stakes of women's were on the same bank. That has now been separated...women's bank that has eight games, and there's going to be a high stakes bank that has eight games.'_
- [HIGH] Godzilla LE will be featured in the main tournament lineup — _Jim: 'You're bringing in a new Stern LE. Wow. I don't buy a lot of LEs, but we bought this one.'_
- [HIGH] The IFPA Open grand prize is a Premium-tier Stern Pinball machine — _Jeff: 'It is? It is, yes. I didn't know that. It was two years ago, too. It was a premium Munsters last time.'_
- [HIGH] Sudden Death roller game will use modified ROM software to eliminate randomness in mystery award selection — _Jim describes ROM that 'removes the random...every fourth mystery award' with fixed 1.5 million jackpot_
- [HIGH] Eric Stone won the IFPA Open in 2020, Keith Elwin won classics in both 2012 and 2013 — _Jeff: 'Eric Stone was the big winner of...Keith Elwin won the main in the classics'_

### Notable Quotes

> "For us, it's always been for the love of the game. I mean, this has never been a profit-making adventure, for sure."
> — **Jim Belsito**, ~22:00
> _Reflects organizer philosophy and commitment despite financial losses_

> "The museum was 45 minutes away. So there's a little bit of benefit there also. Just got to do it faster."
> — **Jim Belsito**, ~8:30
> _Acknowledges practical trade-offs between convenience and logistics_

> "You've created a monster. You've put in so much time and effort."
> — **Jeff Teolis**, ~63:00
> _Recognition of how INDISC has grown from 2012 to 2022_

> "We'll have heat this year. I mean, Museum of Pinball, great, great place. Wish we still had it, but there was no heat."
> — **Jim Belsito**, ~41:00
> _Practical improvement at new venue (climate control vs. cold Museum)_

> "Discord, by the way, is working really well. It seems to be really. All the years before, it's always been kind of a mishmash between Facebook and till forums. It's nice having everything all in one place."
> — **Jim Belsito**, ~35:00
> _Community infrastructure upgrade for organization and engagement_

> "Alien Star is a one-trick pony game, I'd call it. But it's so fun trying to get there. It's challenging."
> — **Jim Belsito**, ~28:00
> _Game selection philosophy and gameplay characteristics_

> "You can get into Riverside and Uber there or whatever, and then you don't really need to. You don't need a car."
> — **Jim Belsito**, ~40:00
> _Venue accessibility advantage over previous Museum of Pinball location in Banning_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Jim Belsito | person | Co-organizer of INDISC tournament; collector/operator bringing 60-65 machines; runs arcade game-related business near Riverside |
| Jeff Teolis | person | Host of Pinball Profile podcast; media sponsor of INDISC |
| INDISC | event | Annual pinball tournament held in Riverside, CA; running since 2012; includes IFPA Open Championship plus 7 other events (women's, classics, high-stakes, seniors, kids divisions) |
| Riverside Convention Center | event_venue | New venue for INDISC 2022 (February 3-6); replaces Museum of Pinball; located 16 miles from Ontario Airport |
| Museum of Pinball | event_venue | Previous INDISC host in Banning, CA; closed/no longer available; had extensive game collection and climate control issues (no heat) |
| Jake Collins (Jay Collins) | person | INDISC team member; provides games; handles artwork, banners, signage; tech support for machines |
| Carl D'Angelo | person | INDISC team member; handles Never Drain software; scorekeeper volunteer coordinator; runs IE Pinball streaming |
| Bob Matthews | person | INDISC team member; creates trivia clues; provides volunteer support |
| Eric Stone | person | IFPA Open winner in 2020 and 2021 |
| Keith Elwin | person | Won INDISC main and classics events in 2012 and 2013 |
| Riverside Game Lab | venue | Arcade venue with 22 machines; partner venue near Riverside Convention Center; Alex Tran is owner |
| Stern Pinball | company | Sponsor providing premium-tier machine as IFPA Open grand prize; released Godzilla LE |
| Godzilla LE | game | New Stern Pinball limited edition; selected for INDISC main tournament lineup; Jim purchased this LE |
| Sudden Death | game | Williams/Bally roller game; modified with custom ROM to eliminate randomness; featured in INDISC classics |
| Alien Star | game | Classic pinball game; featured in INDISC open; pump-and-dump mechanic; tight spinner setup at Jim's machine |
| Michael Welch | person | San Diego player; formerly won many INDISC trivia questions; now part of trivia team creating puzzles |
| Damian Sharlini | person | INDISC team member; handles sponsorship communications and acquisition |
| Chuck Casey | person | New INDISC team member; City of Riverside employee; liaison with convention center |
| Alex Tran | person | Owner of Riverside Game Lab; helped coordinate venue meetings with City of Riverside |
| Emoto | person | Filming INDISC content for IE Pinball streaming |
| Gene X. Wong | person | Photographer capturing images for INDISC for multiple years |
| Pinball Profile | organization | Podcast hosted by Jeff Teolis; media sponsor of INDISC |
| IE Pinball | organization | Streaming platform; will broadcast IFPA Open tournament coverage |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Tournament organization and logistics, INDISC 2022 venue relocation, Game selection and diversity, Competitive pinball structure and divisions
- **Secondary:** Community engagement via Discord, Sponsorship and financial sustainability, Tournament history and evolution
- **Mentioned:** Operator and collector infrastructure

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.85) — Optimistic tone about tournament relocation despite challenges; pride in event growth; appreciation for team and community support; minor nostalgia for Museum of Pinball but enthusiasm for new venue improvements

### Signals

- **[business_signal]** Jim Belsito removed 60-65 revenue-generating machines from locations to transport to INDISC; minimal operational impact due to size of collection but demonstrates resource commitment (confidence: high) — Jeff: 'are you taking games out of some of your sites to bring to InDisc? Because there again is another really generous offer...Jim: 'a lot of them...Some that are definitely coming off-site'
- **[business_signal]** INDISC operates non-profit model; historically loses money; prioritizes prize fund over operational expenses through sponsor partnerships and vendor fees (confidence: high) — Jim: 'For us, it's always been for the love of the game. I mean, this has never been a profit-making adventure' and 'everything was going to the price line to make as big a price as we could'
- **[community_signal]** Discord implemented as primary communication platform for INDISC replacing fragmented Facebook/Tilt forums approach; 50+ concurrent users during podcast episode (confidence: high) — Jim: 'It's nice having everything all in one place' and 'You're on the call with me right now. I just turned on the Discord for Indus. There are 50 people online right now.'
- **[community_signal]** Multi-year sponsor portfolio established including Stern Pinball (grand prize), Marco Specialties, Scorbit (scoring software), Captain's Auction, Coin Taker, On Tilt, and Comet Pinball (confidence: high) — Comprehensive sponsor list provided; Jeff: 'You've got some great sponsors' leading into acknowledgments of 8+ organizations
- **[competitive_signal]** IFPA Open established as newest IFPA major championship; attracts players globally; grand prize is premium-tier Stern Pinball machine; 40 people in playoffs (confidence: high) — Jeff: 'The newest major in the IFPA, the IFPA Open...If you're a competitive pinball player, this is a go-to event...40 people in the playoffs'
- **[event_signal]** INDISC expanded from 2-event structure (2012-2013) to 8 separate events across 4 days in 2022, including separate women's and high-stakes banks (confidence: high) — Jeff: 'you've expanded over the past few years the classics into two different days, two different events...you've got a wonderful women's tournament...seniors championship...little kids events'
- **[event_signal]** INDISC 2022 relocated from Museum of Pinball (Banning) to Riverside Convention Center due to museum closure; venue change required extensive planning and multiple site evaluations (confidence: high) — Jim: 'Museum of Pinball...this home of Indisc. Now that's gone. And I cannot imagine what you had to do to get to this Riverside Convention Center.'
- **[announcement]** Godzilla LE confirmed as new Stern Pinball release in main tournament lineup; Jim Belsito purchased despite not typically buying LEs (confidence: high) — Jim: 'You're bringing in a new Stern LE...I don't buy a lot of LEs, but we bought this one. So far, I'm pretty happy with it.'
- **[competitive_signal]** Sudden Death roller game modified with custom ROM to remove randomness and standardize mystery award progression for tournament fairness (confidence: high) — Jim explains ROM 'removes the random' mystery award selection and 'now it's actually a game...actually, wow, fun game to play'
- **[venue_signal]** Riverside Convention Center provides climate control (heat), food options (Food Lab with 9 restaurants, 2 bars), and hotel proximity absent from Museum of Pinball location (confidence: high) — Jim: 'We'll have heat this year' and discussion of Marriott, Hyatt Place, Hampton Inn nearby; Food Lab compared to Museum's 'food trucks'

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## Transcript

 It's time for another Pinball Profile. I'm your host, Jeff Teels. You can find everything on pinballprofile.com. All your subscriptions, past episodes and more. We're on Twitter and Instagram at pinballprofile. Check out our Facebook group and you can email us pinballprofile at gmail.com. It has been a long time coming, but finally, we're almost here. It's the IFPA Open and InDisc. It's at the Riverside Convention Center, a new place, and joining us right now, one of the organizers, Jim Belcedo. Jim, what a ride to get to here. Good evening, sir. Yes, what a ride. I mean, let's look back. So 2020, very successful, the first time with the IFPA Open, a new world championship that Eric Stone was the big winner of, And, of course, all the other events, you added the Classics Target Match Play event, which is going to be part of 2022. It was just getting bigger and bigger and bigger, but so was something else, this little pandemic thing that unfortunately shut down 2021. But other things happened too. I mean, that's one thing. Okay, well, we'll cancel for a year. We'll come back. Oh, the Museum of Pinball, this home of Indisc. Now that's gone. And I cannot imagine what you had to do to get to this Riverside Convention Center. How hard was this? That was a tough road. I think we had a lot. We had extra time to do it this time. We had a year off. But it was a tough road. We searched a lot of different sites. We started looking at some of the sites we already had. We were looking at our Riverside Game Lab. We were looking at places around the city also and different venues that already had games. Nothing was big enough, which we thought was going to be big enough. And so Riverside Convention Center came up. We have a new member of the team this year. It's Chuck Casey, who also works for the city of Riverside. and he was helpful in getting that kind of started also. And then also the owner of Game Lab, Alex Tran, who deals with the city a lot also. So we were able to put meetings together and several meetings together and meeting with different people and numerous times and back and forth on a few things. But it seems like it's going to work out. It is a very nice facility. I mean, Riverside is not a big town like New York or L.A. or anything, but it's a good town with a lot of stuff. I mean, all the hotels are there. You can basically Uber there and stay there a few days and get everything you need as far as staying in town. But hopefully this works out. It's a big, it's a big, it's definitely a big change. I mean, the museum was, wow, what a great place to have access to and have access to, you know, the space and all those machines and being able to load in four weeks early and load out four weeks after. It's so much easier than, you know, oh, got to get in here on Tuesday or Wednesday and got to get out by Monday. You know, so it's, that's definitely tougher. I guess one other benefit is it's, you know, my shop is actually where I do my business, which is, you know, arcade game related, is just a mile away. So museum was 45 minutes away. So there's a little bit of benefit there also. Just got to do it faster. Yeah, it's very accessible, too. I mean, it's only 16 miles from the Ontario airport and you're 100 miles away from Seven Airport. So there's a lot in there, too. I mean, certainly you can get into LAX. But yeah, Banning was kind of in the middle of nowhere. I mean, yeah, the facility was spectacular, all those different games which you utilize for classics, target match play. So I see that's the first on the schedule. Well, you had the games there at the Museum of Pinball. This is a convention center. It's going to have lots of space and a lot of other good things we're going to talk about, but the games aren't there. So that means somebody's got to bring them. And you and I were talking earlier, 60 to 65 games you are bringing in? Me and a few other people. Jake Collins has got some that he's a partner with mine that we should control in Game Lab also. And also, you know, director of the tournament also. But yeah, majority of mine. Once again, you know, obviously pandemics are bad, but obviously we were, you know, closed for a year. You know, my business is not essential in any way. On this show it is. We had a lot of extra time, you know, through 2020 to spend time working on pinball machines. There was nothing else to do. so that was good as far as I mean you know good in a way that something positive got done so that helped still it's a lot of yeah I mean before I would bring I think we would bring 20 or 30 games and then we use the rest there and you know so many different options there using stuff like Cosmic Princess and things you're never going to see again and then I sold tons of money there also but yeah I mean still working on them now I'm going to use every day of these three weeks to finish these things up which is And, you know, of course, they get folded up when they're done and cross our fingers when we bring everything over there, and they actually still work when they're being set up again because games don't like to be moved in any regard. So it's a big haul. Still missed that great collection. I mean, there was so many things we could pick from. But, I mean, my collection's not small. It's not like the museum. But hopefully we'll get everything over there and everything will be working. Well, Jim, can I ask, you're bringing a lot of games. Jay's bringing some games. There's certainly going to be a full slate. You've got the Classics target match play that kicks everything off on Thursday, February 3rd. Yeah, 2020 really stunk for operators with arcades not being essential services. But can I ask, are you taking games out of some of your sites to bring to InDisc? Because there again is another really generous offer on your part that, you know, these are revenue generators for you on site that you're shutting down for a few weeks to bring to this tournament. So, yes, a lot of them. I mean, there's some that are definitely coming off-site. Most of them are already off-site. Thankfully, you know, we have enough machines to swap them out with something else that we're not using. So I'm not saying that. I wouldn't say we're going to have any spots. There might be a couple missing at the game lab that will get replaced. But, I mean, there's 22 machines there. So if two disappear, you know. Gotcha. That's not going to be a big deal. But, you know, thankfully, you know, there's enough machines where I was able to put some more out and get the ones in I need to get in. There's still a couple I need to go grab. and a couple of J's spot out there at his place that need a grab. But, yeah, I mean, thankfully enough machines. You know, I started collecting back in the early 90s when this was a little easier to do. Can't imagine having to start collecting now at the way the prices are these days. Pretty insane. So thankfully I started a long time ago, and I have enough games to move around. And between the friends that I have here, you know, enough to move around. That's great. So here we are in 2022. The first InDisc was 10 years ago. some guy named Keith Elwin won the main in the classics and those were the only events He did the same thing in 2023 Elwin wins again for the classics Kaylee George was the main winner but then you started to expand a little bit In 2014 you got an A main and a B main so you got kind of two sets of finals Then it just started to grow and grow and grow, and here we are right now. We've got, it kicks off with a classic target match play. At the same time, got the Open Championship, so qualifying three days for that major event. And again, Eric Stone, the big winner last year. you've expanded over the past few years the classics into two different days, two different events, more opportunities. You've got a wonderful women's tournament. Stephanie Traub won that last year. You were the high-stakes winner last year. I know you're modest, but that was pretty impressive, considering that was the only thing you played in, which was fitting that you won, because yourself and Bob Matthews and Carl D'Python Anghelo give up so much of your time. So it was nice to see you get in a little bit and then be the winner there. So high-stakes is back. If you've got a seniors championship, you've got little kids events, it just keeps growing. You've been given all these hurdles with the pandemic, with the Museum of Pinball, and yet you still find a way to do this. Was there ever any thought between the main parties that, okay, the signs are saying we just can't do this, it's too difficult, or did you just find a way and want to keep growing this thing? I don't think that ever came up. We wanted to, since 2012, this is something we've always wanted to do. and do it hopefully better than most. So that never came up. It was challenging there trying to find a spot, for sure, and then trying to find something that wasn't going to cost a bloody fortune, which is difficult. Obviously, the museum was, wow, we didn't pay for that. I mean, that was go ahead and use it, and then we charged the people to come, and it worked out. In fact, they even paid us for how many people came through, and money went back to the prize fund. They were giving us a bonus for how many people came through the door and paid their ticket prices. So, yeah, this is a big reversal. As a pinball player and someone who travels a lot and goes to different competitions, I don't think any player ever begrudges having to pay a fee to a facility and that money doesn't go back into the pot. It's understood. There are expenses for tournaments, and this has a lot of expenses. I know you have sponsors, and we'll get to your sponsors in a bit, but there are huge expenses. You're bringing 60 to 65 machines there. the hours that you're dedicating to this, the rental trucks, whatever else you have to use to bring this stuff in, the manpower, the techs, all that kind of stuff, the tablets, the list goes on and on. And those expenses are understood to players. So, yeah, it's a little different than the Museum of Pinball, but it's still going to be a great tournament. For us, it's always been for the love of the game. I mean, this has never been a profit-making adventure, for sure. I mean, usually, I mean, probably up to last year, it was always lose a lot of money. But that wasn't the point. It was our main goals. And there was things with tournaments in the past where you would go and you would spend a whole bunch of money. And it's like, wow, you know, the price went away. I won $500. It's like, hmm, you know, they had it taken away more than that as far as paying all this stuff off. So our goal was always to have a tournament where it was clean, where the money going for entries and whatever was going. Everything was going to the price line to make as big a price as we could and as good a tournament as we could and have unique games and have games that work really well. You know, I'm always trying to find games that have never been used before and no one wants to touch. And all of a sudden, oh, we could make something out of it. But it was, you know, where the money was going to the right spot, not just to pay expenses or whatever. Just make it where you're actually playing for big, sizable pots. And that was from the start, 2012. I mean, that was always our main goal, and it still is. So hopefully that will continue. You talk about some of the games that are being used. By the time this episode airs, we can say some of the games that will be in the open. First of all, how many games in the open, the main lineup? Same as two years ago, 18. Wow. Possibly 19, but probably 18. Another big difference this year also is class in this. The high stakes of women's were on the same bank. That has now been separated. Nice. Hence more games. So there's a women's bank that has eight games, and there's going to be a high stakes bank that has eight games. So that's a big difference this year also. That's great. And then, of course, Classics. I think another thing with Classics, too, I think the last year when we had two, we used a lot of the same machines. We're going to try to – there might be a couple duplicates as far as – but we're going to try to change the way that it's going to be set up. You have your Classics match play on Thursday, but then on Friday and Saturday it's two separate Classics tournaments. Hopefully Friday we'll turn on these machines without having to do a lot of moving, and then the next day these machines will be turned on. So it'll be a little bit more differences than the actual Classics instead of playing the same games twice on two separate tournaments. So that's the big changes scheduled for this year. So fun. And again, by the time this airs, here are some of the games that you're going to see in the main bank, in the open. You've somehow, someway found a way to put roller games in there. So what's going on with Sudden Death? That's what I want to know about. So it's not random anymore. Is that a Siren ROM? I don't believe. This is Jay Collins' machine. It's actually sitting at the game lab right now. I can't remember who made the ROM. It's been out for a while. I don't know if it was sworn or not, but it basically removes the random, ooh, go for the wall. So now it's every fourth mystery award. Okay, that's good. So everybody gets the same chance to get to it. You've got to shoot four mystery awards. And then the rest of the game doesn't need anything. I think the jackpot, I think it's set where the jackpot just stays at a million and a half, so that doesn't change. And so that takes care of all the randomness of the game. So now it's actually a game I've always, I've actually never owned one, Never was ever thought of owning one. It wasn't one of my favorite Steve Ritchie games. He's made a lot of great games. But now it's actually, with this new software, it's actually, wow, fun game to play. It's all about score balancing, and that random thing was very difficult. So that's good to hear. You've got WWF Royal Rumble, LaserCue, Godzilla LE. Not just Godzilla Pro, not even a premium. You're bringing in a new Stern LE. Wow. I don't buy a lot of LEs, but we bought this one. So far, I'm pretty happy with it. So that'll be there. Any word on whether code will be updated between now and then? You know, I need to give that gentleman a call. There's no wizard mode on it yet. I mean, right now, the game is pretty solid, but hopefully we'll see some more. Here's a game I love that you've got in the open, Alien Star. And for those that were at Expo in Chicago, it was in the classics. But that's different. That's a pump and dump. You can play that over and over again. The great thing about Alien Star is you know you light the in and you rip the spinner And that is how you blow up the game But with Indisc you got a five ticket Are you going to risk your ticket for something like Alien Star Maybe you do it on your first game. Did I get it? Oh, I didn't. This ticket's going to stink. Maybe this ticket's for defense or something. Anyway, that's a fun game that you've put in there. Agreed. It's a one-trick pony game, I'd call it. But it's so fun trying to get there. It's challenging. But when you get there, and especially on mine, because, boy, we want to talk about juice spinners. This thing is crazy. I was watching the one in Chicago. It's like, that spinner was like, eh, it wasn't really moving too much. But if you watch this one at full value, wow. Well, the one thing about Chicago, there wasn't a tilt bob in it. Oh, that helps too. That thing, I don't know how it was standing on four legs by the end of it because, you know, it was a workout to play that game. But it was fun. This one's playing so nice. I would figure, I mean, we haven't figured all the, not the challenges, but the goals for games. I would figure that one's probably going to be rolling and you win the. Bounties? Bounties. Thank you. I'm glad you're around. Couldn't think of that word. You've also got Dirty Harry and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. These are some of the ones that are announced in the open. Women's Bank's got Barbed Wire. It's got Monster Bash. Rock will be there. and some of the classics you've announced at this recording. Big Game, Sinbad, Stargazer. I am so thrilled that Stargazer is going to be in a tournament. Such a wonderful game. It is a great game. You've got Flash Gordon and Prospector. And a lot more of those to come. A lot of those to come for sure. So very exciting to see these games. And the women are going to be very excited, at least I'm excited, about their bank. I mean, you've only got three of them there so far. but wow I'm going to have to keep a watchful eye on people trying to throw wigs on and get in that bank because I think it's I think it's I think it's awesome but that's just me I really hate it but I think it's a great bank if people are wondering how these games are getting announced in the past there used to be trivia clues on tilt forums but what you can do now is go on to the indisc discord I highly recommend it there's all kinds of things on there there's the rules there's announcements you've got travel tips and of course these trivia clues and answers You must be having so much fun with this. Yes, I always do. Discord, by the way, is working really well. It seems to be really. All the years before, it's always been kind of a mishmash between Facebook and till forums. It's nice having everything all in one place. People are able to discuss back and forth. You're on the call with me right now. I just turned on the Discord for Indus. There are 50 people online right now. They were waiting for you to give a trivia question. I know it. Probably coming. There's some other trivia going on too, which I've got to get done with this. I'm going to put another clue down. Let's, for some reason, someone answered it while we're doing this. We'll have to. We'll get to some trivia in a second here. In fact, we'll have an exclusive pinball profile trivia question, a chance to win prizes. But we'll get to that near the end of the show. So we want to tell you about some of the other things going on at INDISC. Again, the new location, and I've got to tell you, and you've seen my fine physique, the one thing that really jumped out at me at this new location was this little thing called the Food Lab. Nine restaurants, two bars. That's a little different than the Museum of Pinball. Yeah, nine restaurants compared to, well, you know, being in Banning or a couple food trucks, I guess. Yeah, pretty cool place. That came before the Game Lab. It's actually right next door to the Game Lab. Of course, in the Game Lab, everything, all this stuff's going to be right across the street from the convention center, which is really nice. Like I said, you can get into Riverside and Uber there or whatever, and then you don't really need to. You don't need a car. You can just walk to everything you need to. whether it be food, drinks, entertainment, it's all right there. But, yeah, the Food Lab is kind of like the thing that's kind of going around everywhere these days, but it's kind of the upscale food court. You know, no more Charles Pizza and McDonald's sitting in there. It's all like, you know, mom and pop restaurants that are, you know, all different kinds of food, you know, all over the map. Good stuff. Great stuff. Check it out. Again, go to indisc.com for all this information. And, again, check out the Discord channel. But that's another thing, too, is when you were at the Museum of Pinball, and for someone like me that was out of town, it was not exactly easy to get to as far as, are you going to go to LAX, are you going to go to Palm Springs, Ontario, but there aren't as many planes to go there. Well, it was a bit of a challenge to get there. So you rented a car, and then you got to the Museum of Pinball, and then, okay, I want to grab something to eat or go to my hotel. It wasn't exactly right there. By the way, this is the only thing I can find. It's impossible to find flaws within this. This is the only thing I can possibly say was inconvenient. But that's all now gone because you've got the Marriott Riverside right there. You've got the Hyatt Place. There's the Hampton Inn. It's all right there. You can walk. The Ontario Airport is 16 miles away. I think this is going to be bigger and better. And one more thing that you're forgetting. We'll have heat this year. I mean, Museum of Pinball, great, great place. Wish we still had it. Best of the best, but there was no heat. So there was a few years there where we were stuck at the corner or whatever, and it was like, woo, we're all wearing jackets. But, you know, that was part of it. Jim, I'm coming to Southern California in February from Canada. Is there snow on the ground? If we ever got complaints, it was always about that. I have to wear a jacket while I'm playing pinball. Boo-hoo. Boo-hoo. It's one of the nice things. And, you know, I think that's, I think whether it was Carl or Bob, the other people that help you out there, one of them said to me, I think that's purposely why you hold in DISC in kind of January or February, the winter months, so that people can kind of get away from maybe some of the colder Carl Weathers up north. Absolutely. That was the reason we picked January. First of all, to get away from pretty much all the other events, the big events. Over the years, they kind of creeped towards us a little bit. But that and then you can come here in January and most of the time have some pretty nice Carl Weathers. In a couple of years, it didn't work out, but it wasn't snowing. It was just raining or something. But yeah, that's one of the big reasons for it's a nice place to go in January. Not very many states can say that. So we've got the Open, the newest major in the IFPA, the IFPA Open. So this tournament attracts so many people from all over the world. If you're a competitive pinball player, this is a go-to event. Why? It's the newest major, the IFPA Open, in which the winner will receive a brand new pinball machine from Stern Pinball. Lots of prizes, 40 people in the playoffs. it's just spectacular. It's really well run too. You're going to be able to watch it on stream on IE Pinball, follow along on the Never Drain software. But it's really the pinnacle tournament. And a lot of people have said this is their favorite tournament of the year So that the big event there But you also got the two classics You got the women You got the classics target match play high stakes seniors kids There's a lot going on there. What makes it possible, too, let's be honest, is you've got some great sponsors. We mentioned this has brought you in part by On Tilt. Comet Pinball has been great. Awesome. Long-time sponsor, Captain's Auction Warehouse. Coin Taker has been spectacular. Capital Corridor Pinball League. You've got the Riverside Game Lab, which we mentioned. Scorbit's been a big sponsor over the years. And it's kind of, let me say, as a scorekeeper, and we're always looking for volunteers at Indisc for scorekeeping, so please get in touch on Discord. In fact, if you do a couple hours, they'll give you some tickets to play in the tournament, so they reward the scorekeepers. But Scorbit just makes it so much easier. Oh, gosh. It's awesome. Yeah. Also want to thank Pin Monk, Marco Specialties, and finally, of course, Stern Pinball with their grand prize. And it's a premium machine also, so not just a pro. It is? It is, yes. I didn't know that. It was two years ago, too. It was a premium Munsters last time. Well, that's pretty cool. Of course, the Food Lab's a big sponsor, too, but I think you've already talked about them, so it probably counts. Oh, the Food Lab's going to be well-paid. Let me just tell you that right now. They're a big sponsor. Let's get to some trivia right now. And again, go to the Discord, but here on Pinball Profile, we've got a special, unique, exclusive trivia question. I don't even know what the question is. I certainly don't know what the answer is, but I do know there are prizes involved. And on this, on Discord, if you get one question right, you win a prize. Jim, what's the prize? You win an Indus pin or an Indus patch. Nice collector's item. If you get two questions right. You get an Indus t-shirt. And if you are so brilliant that you can get three questions right, and there are people that do this. You could biggie the entry into any division except for high stakes and all the other stuff, too. Pin, a patch, shirt, and the entry. You definitely want to win three. You have so many people that are interested in this trivia, and the clues are obscure. Let's just call them for what they are. But they all make sense once you know what the answer is. Got to make them challenging. In fact, you had someone that used to guess quite a few of them, Michael Welch. Yeah, Michael Welch from San Diego. So, yeah, he used to win all our trivia. And then when he was maxed out, he'd help everybody else in San Diego win our trivia. So now he's on our team. Yeah, now he's coming up with something a little different, some puzzles. Again, all in the Discord. But right now, a little exclusivity here on Pinball Profile, a proud media sponsor of InDisc for the last few years. And I thank you for that because it is certainly a wonderful destination. I'll be there every year if you ask me. Okay, we're going to try to guess this pinball machine. We won't give out what the final answer is, but where do you want people to guess? So just on our Discord page, on the trivia answers page, where all the other ones are. So you'll have to answer this on Discord. Jim, can you give us a clue to what this pinball machine may be? This clue is courtesy of our third team member, Bob Matthews. Oh, God, I have no chance. So here it comes. It's only four words. It's pretty easy. And it's from Bob? It's from Bob. Only four words? Yeah. That's at least until the high stakes trivia come out, then that's a lot more words. Yeah, yeah. So are we ready? Yeah. Okay, here it goes. So here's the clue. Meatloaf steals the show. How is steal spelled? Steals, S-T-E-A-L-S. Okay, I wasn't sure if there was a pun in there. There's a little bit of emphasis on that word. Meatloaf steals the show. I don't even know where to start. You said the focus is on the word steals. like stealing locks. Well, the first word is important, too. Meatloaf. So do I have to think of... You know who Meatloaf is, right? I know the singer, yeah. Marvin Adai. Yeah, okay. He had Bad Outta Hell. He had Paradise by the Dashboard Light. Two Outta Three Ain't Bad. He had a lot more than that, too, right? And those are his biggies. Yeah, I guess so. Okay. Check out my Meatloaf catalog, I guess. I can do anything for love. That's not pinball related. You've got me stumped. But if you know, go to Discord. You'll see the pinball profile, a little hashtag, and maybe you'll come away with a winner. I'm curious to see how this goes. Me too. It's going to be fun. February 3rd to the 6th, Riverside Convention Center, a new location for Indus, the IFPA Open, the World Championship, eight tournaments over four days. You've created a monster. You've put in so much time and effort. You're just one of many people that have made this possible. Who else has been behind this? Indus has a great team. All through these years, I've had a couple of new members the last couple of years. But, of course, Carl with all the software he does and never drained software and everything with that. That's awesome. It always has been. Jay Collins does all our artwork and banners and signage. And, of course, he's a tech, too, like myself. So all the games and using some of his games. Damian Sharlini doing all our sponsorship things, sending out all the letters, talking to all the possible sponsors and getting them on board. And obviously, we're having the best year ever. So doing a great job there. And Chuck Casey helping us with the City Riverside things with the convention center. And, of course, every day on Discord we're constantly going around and throwing ideas at each other. So much interaction between all of us. It's a great team. It's just one of the many reasons we like to go to that. I know Emoto Harney is going to be excited filming a lot of this that you'll see on IE Pinball. Absolutely. Gene X. Wong and his great orange photography capturing such spectacular images for years to come. I'm glad it was able to happen because it wasn't easy to get here, but we're here. February 3rd to 6th in Riverside. Jim, I look forward to seeing you. Looking forward to seeing you too, Jeff. Thanks for all you do. Find out everything on indisc.com, I-N-D-I-S-C.com. Of course, check out the Discord channel and hope to see you at the Riverside Convention Center. This has been your Pinball Profile. You can find everything on pinballprofile.com, past episodes, subscriptions, and more. We're on Facebook. We're on Twitter and Instagram at pinballprofile. And you can email us pinballprofile at gmail.com. I'm Jeff Theolos. Thank you.

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 84c2d6e4-b226-4299-ba11-e015934428db*