# My Thoughts on The Pinball Industry Awards

**Source:** Cary Hardy  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2021-01-29  
**Duration:** 11m 52s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ty4nKigFvD8

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## Analysis

Carrie Hardy provides critical commentary on the Pinball Industry Awards, praising production quality but criticizing the "Best Music in Pinball" category winner (Guns N' Roses) over crafted scores like Rick and Morty. She discusses her own nomination in "Excellence in Filmography," acknowledges Slow Mo Guys' win alongside Emoto, and explains her reluctance to judge content creator categories due to the small, interconnected pinball community.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] The Best Music in Pinball award should go to composers who crafted music specifically for pinball, not pre-existing songs licensed into games — _Carrie Hardy explicitly states this is a 'black and white thing' and her main disagreement with the awards_
- [MEDIUM] Guns N' Roses' music was created many years ago and not crafted for pinball, while Rick and Morty music was specifically composed for pinball by Scott Denisi — _Carrie's explanation of why Guns N' Roses shouldn't have won the music category_
- [MEDIUM] Everyone in the filmography section received approximately 70-80 seconds of screen time — _Carrie states she counted timing by saying 'mississippi' and notes Todd Tuckey may have received the most time_
- [HIGH] Emoto deserves recognition because she creates pinball content on a weekly basis, works with Marco Pinball streaming, did Stern content, and edited the Twippy awards — _Carrie's direct statement about Emoto's work ethic and contributions_
- [HIGH] Production value and editing of the Pinball Industry Awards was top-notch — _Carrie's opening statement specifically praising the production quality and editing by Zach_

### Notable Quotes

> "There is one wtf that I'm going to get to in a moment but...everything else is subjective in this show."
> — **Carrie Hardy**, ~0:20-0:40
> _Sets up her main criticism of the awards while acknowledging subjectivity of most categories_

> "Every person in this category is all their content and all their efforts is 100% primarily pinball related, except for one. And that one is the one that won."
> — **Carrie Hardy**, ~1:15
> _Refers to Slow Mo Guys winning filmography despite not being pinball-exclusive creators_

> "I think are even more often than that and not so much recognized and I'm fine with it...but just the one video that they've only done when it comes to pinball and yet we give them an award okay all right"
> — **Carrie Hardy**, ~2:00-2:15
> _Core criticism that one-video creators shouldn't win over weekly/monthly content creators_

> "This is where i feel like if i was in the committee i would be digging my heels in...best music in a pinball machine because I feel like that award should go to some some people or a company that put someone behind a computer or behind a piano whatever and crafted this stuff for the purpose of pinball"
> — **Carrie Hardy**, ~4:30-5:00
> _Direct statement of her main WTF moment about the music category_

> "I definitely did not want to be a judge in this for pinball content creators mainly I guess because the fact that there was only going to be a small group of us"
> — **Carrie Hardy**, ~6:30-6:50
> _Explains her reluctance to judge peers due to community size and interconnectedness_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Carrie Hardy | person | Pinball content creator and YouTuber providing analysis of the Pinball Industry Awards; nominated in Excellence in Filmography category |
| Zach Sharpe | person | Editor of the Pinball Industry Awards production; praised for technical execution and editing quality |
| Emoto | person | Pinball content creator and friend of Carrie Hardy; creates weekly streaming content with Marco Pinball, does Stern content, edited Twippy awards; won Excellence in Filmography alongside Slow Mo Guys |
| Todd Tuckey | person | Pinball content creator nominated in filmography category; Carrie watched his reaction video to not winning and noted tension between his fanbase and Carrie |
| Brian Allen | person | Designer of 'Flippin' Off Cancer' t-shirt available on silverballswag.com |
| Slow Mo Guys | person | Content creators who won Excellence in Filmography at Pinball Industry Awards for one high-quality pinball video; not exclusively pinball-focused creators |
| Scott Denisi | person | Composer who crafted the music specifically for Rick and Morty pinball game |
| Slash | person | Guitarist; Carrie references his involvement in creating Guns N' Roses music (implied for pinball context) |
| Marco Pinball | person | Streamer/content platform; Emoto does weekly streaming collaboration with Marco Pinball |
| Pinball Industry Awards | event | Awards show recognizing achievements in pinball; featured filmography and music categories among others; production quality praised but music category winner criticized |
| Twippies | event | Referenced as separate awards; Emoto edited Twippy awards the previous year; Carrie mentions being aware of various opinions about pinball awards generally |
| Rick and Morty | game | Pinball machine with music specifically composed by Scott Denisi; nominated for Best Music in Pinball but did not win |
| Guns N' Roses | game | Pinball machine that won Best Music in Pinball award; Carrie argues it shouldn't have won because music was pre-existing, not composed for pinball |
| Stern Pinball | company | Referenced in context of Emoto's content creation work |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Pinball Industry Awards credibility and voting methodology, Best Music in Pinball category controversy (Guns N' Roses vs. original compositions), Content creator recognition and award fairness
- **Secondary:** Community dynamics and judge conflicts of interest in small pinball community, Pinball content creation quality vs. quantity debate, Production quality of awards broadcast

### Sentiment

**Mixed** (0.45) — Carrie is appreciative of production quality and overall awards concept but frustrated with specific category decision (Best Music). She's respectful toward winners but clear about disagreement on merit. Tone is generally collegial but contains pointed criticism of award voting logic.

### Signals

- **[community_signal]** Small pinball content creator community creates conflict-of-interest concerns around peer judging; prominent creators reluctant to judge other creators due to interconnectedness (confidence: medium) — Carrie explains she refused to judge content creators and personalities specifically because of the small group size and personal relationships within community
- **[community_signal]** Best Music in Pinball award to Guns N' Roses challenged by prominent content creator Carrie Hardy as fundamentally wrong category decision; argues pre-existing licensed music should not compete against purpose-composed pinball scores (confidence: high) — Carrie states this is her only 'WTF moment' of the entire show and describes it as 'black and white' issue of principle, not subjectivity
- **[sentiment_shift]** Shift in discussion about award fairness regarding single high-quality vs. sustained body-of-work contribution; Carrie suggests one-video creators should not compete against weekly/monthly content producers for recognition (confidence: medium) — Carrie's critique of Slow Mo Guys winning over consistent content creators, though she acknowledges their quality and audience reach
- **[event_signal]** Pinball Industry Awards maintained high production standards with professional editing and consistent presentation timing across all nominees (confidence: high) — Carrie specifically praises Zach's editing work and confirms all filmography nominees received approximately 70-80 seconds screen time

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## Transcript

 Now, out of the entire show of the Pinball Industry Awards, there was only one time, literally, that I was like, what the f- Quick little shout out to this t-shirt I'm wearing right here, Flippin' Off Cancer. It is designed by Brian Allen. It's available on silverballswag.com. I highly recommend it for those of you out there that are you know anti-cancer and love pinball so like me so uh just like once again it's one of those shirts I saw it it spoke to me it's personal and I bought it and I highly recommend it for those of you out there that feel the same moving on to the pinball industry awards I'm going to try to make this video quick because it doesn't need to be long honestly and I got to get to bed because I got work in the morning but first off uh let's get it out of the way production value on this was top notch without a bad doubt zach uh i know you did the editing for this uh bravo you did a great job it looked sound good and everything so production quality for this entire show was damn good now going on to the contents of the show this is something that i'm very well aware of that all of this is subjective the way things were voted for it's all subjective there is no like guarantee this person should have won this and this was deserved by this or whatever i'm perfectly content with that but there is one wtf that i'm going to get to in a moment but i guess i feel like i guess i need to mention the category that i was in and that was excellence in filmography now honestly i was just you know grateful to be even just nominated to be even in there. So I knew that I wasn't going to win. It's one of those things where I was like on there and like, I got a message saying, Hey, you've been nominated. I'm like, Oh, okay, cool. That's awesome. But it wasn't like, Oh, I'm going to win. Like, no, I knew I wasn't going to win. Um, but it's one of those things where, cause I think I, I honestly hoped for others to win kind of thing. You know, it's one of those things, like I said, I felt good just being nominated. So just to be recognized, I mean, that's great. That's awesome. So when it goes through all of them, when I saw all the nominees, it was one of those things where I'm like, okay, good. Every person in this category is all their content and all their efforts is 100% primarily pinball related, except for one. And that one is the one that won. Well there was two people that won it. But the one that won it, I thought it was pretty funny, was the slow guys And nothing against the slow guys because they got a very large audience they did well for pinball they get millions of views guys so if anything like recognizing them i get it um and their content for that one video for the year of 2020 which mind you was only in the last couple of months but still they made something in 2020 that one video was awesome but it again was one video so that kind of shows everyone else that's in this hobby that you know what i guess in the end it really is quality over quantity i mean you just make one good video you put all your time and effort into like a 15 20 minute video then you can be recognized even further or you have the other individuals that make content on a weekly monthly basis some of them I think are even more often than that and not so much recognized and I'm fine with it like I said I knew it wasn't gonna win if I would have won I would have been like no really no kind of thing but that was one of those things where I was like I was like really slow-mo guys and I was anticipating them to win when I saw them on the nominee thing I'm like yeah it's gonna be slow-mo guys and i kind of don't agree with it i guess on the basis of the fact that they just did the one video yes great quality video was awesome great for the hobby but just the one video that they've only done when it comes to pinball and yet we give them an award okay all right but luckily they gave an award to emoto and emoto is someone that is a friend of mine and she works very hard She does pinball every damn day when it comes to all kinds of things. She does weekly basis with Marco Pinball streaming with them. She's done Stern stuff. She did the Twippy editing last year, guys. She's definitely someone that does need to be recognized. By all means, I feel that she definitely deserves the Excellence Award. So I had no arguments against that. But the slow-mo guys, I was like, ah, okay, whatever kind of thing. At least Emoto got it. So that was where I laid on that. Then that leads me to my final topic, and that is my WTF moment for the show. And that was when it came to best music for a pinball machine. Because, like I said, everything else is subjective in this show. What people think and how they feel, the way things look and stuff like that. I get that. But I want to say my opinion. This is a black and white thing here. guys when you say best music in pinball and then guns and roses takes the trophy where their music was created like made many many years ago nowhere near for the intent of a pinball machine like it was already done it wasn crafted meticulously for the purpose of pinball it was crafted for various other reasons i sure Slash can go into details of how he went about creating these songs anyways then you had the other one which was rick and morty which was crafted by scott denisi and effort was put in there for the purpose of pinball this is where i feel like if i was in the committee i would be digging my heels in and i'm hoping that when they do release their meeting minutes that they are stating that they will i'm kind of curious of what all is going to be in this section when it comes to discussing best music in pinball because i not nothing against guns and roses music guns and roses music is fine nothing wrong with it but it shouldn't win an award for best music in a pinball machine because I feel like that award should go to some some people or a company that put someone behind a computer or behind a piano whatever and crafted this stuff for the purpose of pinball instead of just going yeah this is a good song we'll take that put it into a machine done we win an award guys so that's really my only WTF moment and one that I like disagreed with where I was just like, no, that shouldn't be right. But that's probably subjective as well, but I'm looking at that more of a black and white thing. By all means, if there is counter-arguments to that, I'm sure, Zach, you can hit me up and we can discuss it or whatever. But that was the only thing through the entire show where I was like, no, I don't agree with this kind of thing. But other than that, everything else was good. It's one of those things where whenever I was a judge for the games, guys, so I definitely went in there and my only goal was to judge the games. If I was going to have to judge like personalities or content creators, I would have not done it. I didn't want to at first after I had already like submitted my application and everything. Someone was telling me that, no, I would be voting for other people and stuff like that. Also in the industry excellence awards. I was like, no, I don't want to do that. I don't want to vote for people like that in this and be all critiquing others and stuff. I mean, I guess I mean, I kind of do that with the Twippies, but I definitely didn't want to be a judge in the media kind of thing. because there's only a small group of us, whereas you have the masses of people, much more variety and chances of people having their own minds and opinions of it. I don't know. It's just my thinking on that. I'm just kind of scatterbrained, throwing spaghetti at the wall right now when I'm talking about this, guys. But I definitely did not want to be a judge in this for pinball content creators mainly I guess because the fact that there was only going to be a small group of us And I don know I just I didn want to be that on other content creators, especially ones within my field. Now, I know there's plenty of you out there that don't care for the awards that are in pinball. A lot of you think that, you know, why do we have them we don't need them i know there's plenty of you out there that have all the opinions in the world and speaking of opinions todd tucky i happen to peruse over to your channel to watch i guess your reaction to not winning the filmography section as well and i couldn't help but notice there's definitely a couple of people that are really good fans of yours that don't really care for me very much but it is what it is you can't be lied by everybody and i get that that's that's fine but it's one of those things man like i wish i would have been in the chat just to be like uh well nice to see you know i just would have loved to respond to a couple of the people that were talking stuff whenever my section came up and i guess that's something i want to point out too guys because i was curious during the filmography section even myself during my own section i was cringing like how long is this going to go on me i did it because it did feel long i was like this is a lot of time um i kind of feel a little uh weird about this and i was only praying that everybody else at least got the same amount of time so i timed it and yes everyone got anywhere between uh i want i'm i'm gonna say i counted it i literally just counted out loud mississippi less lee so it's not a complete accurate science but everyone got at or around 70 to 80 seconds. I actually think, Todd, you got the most time. So there's that. But everyone was about the same amount of time when it came to, you know, just showing content to you. But that's really all I'm going to say about the Pinball Industry Awards. Like I stated before, great production value. If you would like to watch this award show, I will put a link in the description down below for your viewing pleasure. For those that did watch it, what did you think about the show? Am I completely wrong about best music in pinball? Let me know in the comments down below. And as always, give me the thumbs up if you like what you've seen. And if you haven't already, hit that subscribe button down below. That way you can be notified whenever I upload something for your viewing pleasure. And until next time, guys, peace out. Outro Music

_(Acquisition: youtube_groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 87ea49fb-460c-4ea8-aff4-0a2c86ac4578*